Screwtape: ‘Ludicrous games, unfulfilled promises’

An email from C.S. Lewis’ fictitious devil Screwtape has unexpectedly fallen into the hands of en.

My dear Wormwood,

you have had a great year. Beelzebub has heard of your labours and the whole Abyss offers congratulations on your work to undermine the wretched teaching of our sworn Enemy. Your success has been years in the planning, and you should be rightly proud of your mentoring of winnable staff in the despised Network of Light. As you know, we are unable to recruit religious agents directly to our cause and so rely entirely on souls apparently loyal to the Gate for the Sheep switching sides. Therefore, you should continue to develop your skills in helping the weak-willed to ‘broaden out’ (as I think you teach them to see it).