Two Devilish Resources

Here are two more resources to go along with our current teaching series on Evil + The Goodness of God.  

OK, so these two recommendations may be a bit different from the norm; but, nonetheless, I think they can help underscore some of the things we are discovering together as we study the reality of evil in the world as described in the Scriptures.

Devil by M. Night Shyamalan:
Devil (also known as The Night Chronicles: Devil), a film based on story written by M. Night Shyamalan.  I'm not going to give the story away, but five strangers get trapped in an elevator of a Philadelphian building and one of them is the devil.  It's just a movie, so, of course, things are a bit over-the-top. You must that in mind.  But I think the movie does a great job revealing the devilish ways of the devil and how evil is defeated - e.g., the movie begins from the devil's perspective entering Philadelphia (everything is upside down) and at the end, after a powerful scene of confession and forgiveness, the devil leaves (and everything from the opening scene is right-side up).

Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis: 
Both shocking, eerie, and amusing, C S Lewis's satire The Screwtape Letters was a bestseller in its day - selling over half a million copies. The book can be a challenge to understand, because everything is morally reversed. So, as you're reading, you have to remind yourself that the 'Enemy' referred to is actually God, and that the way of life advocated by Screwtape is the exact opposite of a good Christian life. 

Screwtape is a senior devil whose job is to increase misery on Earth. He achieves this by carefully targeting humans and then providing them with an array of temptations that can take their minds away from God.  Under Screwtape's charge is his nephew Wormwood, a young devil - still learning the ropes of devilish activities. In the book, their dialogue records their efforts to turn a young man from his newly-adopted Christianity back to 'Our Father Below' (i.e., Satan). Wormwood receives detailed instructions on how to exploit the man's weaknesses and bring him permanently around to sin.

Each chapter deals with a different temptation such as a lack of neighborly love, smugness, lust, etc...