The Hemlock Letters

Photo by Clark Young on Unsplash

An apologetic short satire, with an updated epistolary (email) style, addressing the present human condition, with its unique temptations and challenges, as presented from the vantage of ones who would tempt, trick, and deceive from the shadows.

My dear Hogweed,

It has been a while since we last spoke but I have been asked (or rather ordered) to help you out. The mission, as always, is simple: destroy the work of the Enemy.

I know you’re thinking, why do I need help when there’s already so much chaos, fear, and anger? You think because there is so much chaos and turmoil the job will be easy, but let me remind you that everything can change in an instant. Yes, the humans are afraid of the disease, divided politically, and ready to fight one another all in the name of justice and peace.

Yet, it is precisely at these times when all it takes is a flash for all their eyes to be opened to the truth.

I would much rather we had followed the original plan of castrating the Church through dulling her senses, but it appears the Enemy has decided to wake up the Church instead. Humans love to think but hate to change. All you need to do is lull them into a sense of normality and the occasional interesting aha! moment and they are as useless as a flashlight during the day. The Enemy knows it is easier to awaken someone with a nightmare than a dream. Even the most exciting dream beckons for more sleep.

But I digress.

Tell me everything there is to know about this “family”. I am eager to hear about this father, mother, and daughter. Tell me about their histories, their likes, and their dislikes. I want information not only regarding their spiritual weaknesses, but also their bodily ones. Tell me of their successes and strengths. You young demons think everything is about exploiting weaknesses and failures, but you are all wrong. I will tell you more after hearing about the people we’ve been assigned.

Your loving uncle,

Hemlock

My dear Hogweed,

I have reviewed the dossier you provided. You have quite the textbook yet intriguing family to work with. Here are your orders. Pay close attention:

First, understand the goal of the Enemy. The Enemy wants to establish His kingdom on earth by causing people to turn from themselves to Him, to hear His voice, and to join Him in His work. The best way to subvert this is to make people hear and trust their own voices over the Enemy’s. One of the most powerful ways to do this is to blind them with our kind of love and justice.

The Enemy’s version of justice is not merely to help the poor or punish the wicked, but to bring things to the truth of what they were meant to be. Our justice is one where people bring things to their truth of the ways things should be. And when I say love, I do not mean the Enemy’s version. The Enemy’s version of “love” is to live for the other and to give oneself up, to humble oneself and to serve the other even at the cost of oneself, trusting in the Enemy to have His way.

What a disgusting idea.

You and I know that true love is to put oneself first and to hold others to what we know is right. If you love someone, you will make them do what is best for the world. Remember that Man? The Man with the power to rule the world and vanquish armies? He believed saving the world meant laying His life down for the world. And look what happened. Do you think Judas would have betrayed that Man if He had used His power? Do you think Judas would have killed himself if that Man had used His power? (Though who am I to complain? His death was our gain.) That Man’s own people were under the tyranny of Rome and He just offered Himself for death. Judas’s rabbi, with all the power of the Enemy, decided dying was better than making the world a better place. His choice did not save His people who continued to suffer after His death. He did not know love.

Teach your targets to love and seek justice in such a way that life becomes a story of “us vs. them.” Make sure they believe they are the center of the story, not the Enemy.

Now, let’s examine the girl:

The daughter believes that “Black Lives Matter”. Through seeing Black people killed by police in the news, she is beginning to see injustice in the world system. Her eyes are opening up which could endanger our plans, but with the right shift we can take her desire for justice and reparation and turn them into discord, inflexibility, and self-righteousness.

Take her past as an example. She grew up in the United States, and as she grows older she is beginning to see the injustices she had not seen before. Growing up, her parents told her that being guāi meant listening to her elders and not speaking unless given permission. Yet, in school, she was given low grades for not speaking up. Instead of using these experiences to bridge divides, we can turn these experiences into bitterness and isolation. We can either make her angry that her parents never prepared her for life in the U.S., or we can turn her anger at the system that didn’t honor her home culture.

Every time one culture overshadows another (and if two cultures meet, one inevitably will overshadow the other at some points), encourage her to pick a side. The trick is to create an enemy out of the other person or group. Her professors in college told her she spoke “good English”, even though she was born in the United States. Turn this experience into anger at “those” insensitive white professors. In her Christian college group, the white students were always the first ones to speak and the ones people turned to as leaders. She always thought it was odd, but thought she was just being too sensitive. She’s now realizing she sees this same dynamic today both at work and in her church where most of the decision-makers are white. (Unlike those early believers who raised up Hellenistic leaders when the community had neglected the Hellenistic widows, the leaders in the present Church of the Enemy often fail to raise up and give up their power to leaders from groups with less power in their midst. They think bylaws are all it takes to keep things “fair”.)

In her May 31st journal entry, she wrote about her realization of how Western her church life has been. Her theology, hymns and songs, and style of worship are all based on Western culture. She can’t name one theologian who is not white. Although her church group has different cultures represented, most of the leadership from pastors to elders are white. Use these emotions to contort her thirst from a thirst for justice to an inordinate demand for her definition of justice. Shape her vision by making her feel powerless in her communities both at work and in church circles. Remember, our goal is division between her and other humans and between her and the Enemy.

Nurture within her a natural distrust and doubt of those who do not look like her and grow her disappointment in the Enemy for allowing injustice to thrive. Don’t have her complain directly to the Enemy but have her question the Enemy and His intentions. Have her treat the Enemy as a concept rather than a person. You don’t talk to concepts, and concepts are powerless in themselves. Encourage her to see the Enemy in this way and have her grow in either internal bitterness from keeping everything to herself. If she must speak, have her speak the truth out of bitterness or frustration for her own form of justice. Make her feel like she has to choose a side.

Being home during this pandemic and seeing the stories of people like George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement has given her a lot of time to think about life and reflect on how much injustice has been in her life. As she processes things, have her parents invalidate her pain. I will explain two ways to divide her from her parents in my next communication.

Until then, continue to overindulge her belief in her sense of justice without letting her get constructively involved, and keep her eyes on herself.

Your loving uncle,

Hemlock

My dear Hogweed,

In my last letter, I taught you how to scheme against the girl. Now we will focus on her parents.

Her father had to work hard to get to where he is now. He has grit. A well respected engineer, nothing was handed to him.

He had to deal with discrimination at work and without English as his first language. He is what many humans would call “blessed”.

Blessings from the Enemy can easily be used by us, oftentimes more easily than suffering. Blessings can make humans feel more at home on earth, causing them to forget the Enemy from whom they draw life. As one of their muses said, “It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of everyone; the living should take this to heart.” [1] Because humans enjoy blessings, it is easy to turn blessings into their main aspiration and into the sign of the Enemy’s favor. Remind the father what your other uncle Mammon taught you: a blessing is just due payment for good deeds. (Remember, you must remind him within his innermost values and not his conscious understanding. No good Christian would say blessings are earned, but most believe this inside. A good way to nurture this idea in a human is to whisper that the Enemy loves them more when they succeed and that the Enemy does not love them as much when they mess up. Another way to strengthen this idea is to shape how they judge others. Let them think someone suffers because they have done something wrong, even if they don’t know what, and let them respect someone who is “successful”, no matter how they found their success.)

Her father worked hard to earn his advanced degree, and he worked hard to buy a home and provide for his family. Keep him satisfied by what he has earned and build in him a desire to protect what he has earned. Continue in this theme through his community. Have his church group focus on living a good, virtuous life, one where the goal is a kind of peace that gives comfort in their relationships and in their communities. Keep them preoccupied on correcting perceived faults in others outside their immediate circles. Doing so foments self-righteousness all while fostering inaction, and keeps them from interacting constructively with those outside. Let them define what is good by what they’re used to and what is evil by what threatens the status quo. Let them elevate King David for being a man after God’s own heart and in the same breath put down Martin Luther King Jr. for his adultery. By doing so, they become more and more righteous in their own eyes which will make them more and more “holy”, set apart for themselves.

The Man once said no one lights a candle to hide it and salt without flavor is good for nothing. What makes darkness powerful? It is the lack of light. Persuade them to keep their light for themselves and as they do, they will only see strong contrasts. They will not understand all the shades of darkness outside and that they and their institutions cast shadows as well. Even more importantly, if they fail to see the shades, then they will fail to pray against the fullness of our darkness.

In the same way, keep the father in a regular routine, spending time only with those like him, loving those who are just like him. The Enemy wants to break down barriers. We want to put up barriers. The Enemy wants people who lose their lives for His sake. We want people who want to save their own lives.

Keep the father from seeing how he was able to enter the United States more due to the effects of the Cold War than because of his own abilities. You may not remember, but during a time when the United States wanted to support its image as an egalitarian democracy abroad, it needed to break down its discriminatory immigration laws. In order to keep up with the Soviet Union, it needed more specialized and skilled workers. The 1965 Hart-Celler Act [2] abolished the national origins quota and gave preference to individuals with specialized skills. Without the passage of this law, the father may have never made it into the United States.

Don’t let him see how he was unable to pay for passage to the United States without the support of his family and how he happened to live at a time in history when his talents were in demand. Make him an advocate for order and discipline in the world. Tell him that his daughter is acting foolish and that she is going to end up creating a world without order. Remind him of the suffering in his own country and turn his attention towards protecting the United States of America and preventing his daughter from experiencing what he did. In other words, use the power of unbelief and fear. Can he really give up his daughter for the sake of the Enemy? Of course not!

Would the Enemy really tell him to allow disorder that may hurt his family? Would the Enemy really want his family to be put at risk? Sow doubt in his heart. Every thought spent depending on himself will be one less thought depending on the Enemy. Have him pray without listening, praying for protection rather than the full will of the Enemy. Did the Enemy really ask his family to lay down their lives? He trusted the Enemy to give peace to his life, not take it away.

Little does he know the power the Enemy has entrusted in him to lead his family. Nor does he remember the Enemy’s command to do so without exasperating his child. This man could be dangerous to our goals, but with the right coaxing we can make him only dangerous for what he considers right. Remember, if he thinks he is doing this for love, our kind of love, then he will be willing to do anything for what he believes is right and deaf to what anyone else has to say, especially the Enemy. Instead of leading his family to trust the Enemy he can tear apart his family for the sake of his family.

Remember the greatest things: unbelief, doubt, and fear. But the greatest of these is fear.

Your loving uncle,

Hemlock

My dear Hogweed,

In my last message I did not mention the mother. She has worked hard to raise her daughter, support her husband, and keep the peace at home.

What does it mean to “keep the peace”? It is to ensure people aren’t disrupting your community. This peace is a lack of arguments and a show of respect in the presence of someone else. While the Enemy would think of “peace” as some kind of shalom or wholeness, we want to encourage a peace that is peaceful on the outside, one without conflict or arguing. The operative word is “outside”. This peace is one where people smile at one another outwardly but inwardly stab one another. This peace is one where someone asks himself or herself, “Why are they really acting that way? Do they actually care?”, constantly critiquing what other people do. We want people to make assumptions about one another, question motives, question effort, and question heart.

Incapacitate the mother by having her enforce silence on both sides when arguments arise. While a lack of conflict may not be as ideal as a full blown argument, it also leaves out the possibility of reconciliation and prevents the Enemy’s kind of “love” from its full expression. Better yet, make the mother feel as though she has no voice at all, both at home with her family and in the Church. Keep her in fear of stepping on someone’s toes and disrupting the peace. Every time a mother gently corrects the father in “love”, or draws attention to some pathetic cause in the Church, it threatens to stoke revival. Imagine if the family prayed together as often as the mother would like to suggest it pray? No, no. Remind her, our peace is safer than progress. Imagine if the family prayed together, sought the Enemy together, or even listened to one another without making judgments! Keep them away from this at all costs.

Encourage the mother to soothe her daughter in private by saying that the father is passionate and just wants what is best for the family. Encourage her to soothe her husband when they’ve climbed into bed for the night by telling him their daughter is just in a phase and repeat that phrase those humans say in the U.S. that “you must not have a heart to not be a Democrat when you’re young and you must not have a brain if you’re not a Republican when you’re older”. Keep the mother away from praying with the father for the Enemy’s will to be done. If the mother does pray, keep her praying for the keeping of peace rather than the making of peace.

If she must take a side, have her choose either the father’s or the daughter’s side but never the Enemy’s.

Remember, have her keep the peace, but not make peace. And again, do not forget, keep them all away from the Enemy.

Your loving uncle,

Hemlock

My dear Hogweed,

The ongoing pandemic has put this stressed family together in one place. Purpose to make them feel less and less understood by one another and more and more burdened by one another, so by the time the pandemic ends they will be at war with one another. Continue to examine their tendencies, exploit them, and then build up pressure on the cracks that form in their relationships with one another.

First, note their tendencies. Humans care more about their intentions than the impact of their actions. Many failed apologies begin with, “I’m sorry you feel that way, but I didn’t mean to hurt you” which is another way of saying “I feel bad, but you shouldn’t be upset because I didn’t mean to do it”. Humans hate admitting mistakes and reflexively justify themselves. Thankfully, the human who confesses to wrongdoing without adding another word is extremely rare.

Now let’s put all of this together: people care more about their intentions than the impact of their actions on others. People also hate to admit mistakes.

What best exploits these tendencies? Misunderstandings.

Misunderstandings are powerful because someone wrongs another without meaning to. The offended is bothered by the offender. The offender is bothered by the offended. Misunderstandings exist because people can’t read the minds of others and misunderstandings keep going because people are too proud to admit this. Everyone lives as if life is one huge game of poker; show your hand and you’ll lose. We both know the Enemy doesn’t gamble, but let’s not talk about what that means.

Done right, you can pile up more and more offenses on each end until they lose touch with one another and grow accustomed to this detachment.

Let’s start with the mother. From raising her daughter to driving her to all her school activities and listening to her daughter’s many complaints in life, she has always been there for her daughter. Since her marriage, the mother has managed the finances at home, reminded her husband of all his work and church commitments, and cooks and cleans the home. She gave up her own career aspirations for the sake of her family. Now that everyone’s home, she will expect that the father and daughter help out more with cleaning up and cooking, even though they’re not used to it. And here is where you can exploit another human weakness.

Humans are terribly inaccurate when they interpret their emotions. They have a tough time separating physical weakness and laziness from their emotions. Sometimes the solution to their irritability isn’t a discussion with the other person but food for their stomach or some extra sleep. This is also true of addictions. Addictions come from desires but humans often misinterpret what they’re addicted to. Are they really addicted to that TV show or overworking, or are they more addicted to escaping their own world or trying to prove their own worth? Use their imprecise interpretation skills to interpret their weaknesses as something wrong with everyone else and not themselves.

The father and daughter aren’t used to helping out at home and their bodies are wired to resist change. Hedge this resistance with a belief that they work hard already and shouldn’t need to help. Tell them both that they need and deserve rest from the tasks at home.

The husband grew up with the women in his life doing all the cleaning and cooking. Tell him that this isn’t his job; his job is to pay the bills and provide. His wife’s job is to cook, clean, and maintain the home. While the Enemy wants the husband and wife to serve one another sacrificially, make them think the Enemy calls them to only respect the norms they grew up with.

The daughter’s more willing to help but just distract her by encouraging her to check out just one more thing whether that’s a news article, another Instagram post, or some Netflix show she needs to catch up on. Like fuel for fire, these things only satisfy for a moment but become necessities once normalized. Since time is limited, every moment burned away is a win for us.

Together, have the father and daughter avoid housework and not realize how hard the mother works. (And try to keep the father and daughter from having leisure time together, lest some form of charity blossom. We never know what to expect when that happens). Take note, misunderstandings do not only come through actions. They can also come from a lack of actions. Encourage the mother to dwell on the lack of respect she receives. Turn her eyes to others and compare her husband to other husbands. Tell her that other husbands respect their wives and point out the wife who has a successful career as someone she could have been like if she hadn’t married the man she’s married to now. Encourage her to imagine herself in a different life and what could be. Separate her from reality. Again, keep her mind from connecting her neediness with a need for the Enemy.

As for the father, spur on his arguments with his daughter about these Black Lives Matter protests, or rather, haha, riots. Remind him of his pleasant days with his wife and daughter from years ago when everything seemed so simple. Contrast his pleasant memories with all the arguments and disrupted peace he now has with his daughter and the confusion he has with all these terms she keeps bringing up. Microaggressions? Systemic racism? What do these words even mean? Keep him confused and frustrated. Confusion helps make people frustrated and when frustrated, they will blame others when their pain actually comes from their frustration of not understanding. If he does bother to understand in his mind, keep him from wanting to understand in his heart.

When the protestors say “No justice! No peace!” make the father believe that the protestors are causing needless chaos. The truth is that the Enemy’s “peace” cannot exist without justice just as Dou E’s spirit in that traditional Chinese play had no peace without justice. [3] There is a cost involved in the Enemy’s kind of “peace” which involves disruption, but don’t allow the father to see this. If you can make the father desire our peace over the Enemy’s “peace”, you will move him to our cause. For although the Enemy’s “peace” requires justice, our peace cannot exist with justice. May it snow every June for all eternity.

Again, remind him of the disruption to his peace all these protests have made. Why are they all just looting now? Sure, there are racist people out there, but do we need to riot now? I had to fight for everything we have and that was amidst all this “racism” you say is there. If I could do it, why can’t they? Make they and them his words of choice when speaking of others rather than we and us.

Keep him from realizing that life is complicated, that everyone has different experiences with different effects. Or perhaps even better yet, get him to mentally agree that people have different experiences but not have empathy or compassion for those experiences. If you do this, you’ll be able to keep him blind forever. The amusing thing about humans is that they equate mental assent with fulfilling their responsibility to the Enemy. Keep the humans mentally putting themselves in the shoes of others without actually putting those shoes on and you will do well. Finally, make sure their arguments stay away from seeking the Enemy in prayer together.

As for this daughter, you need to be careful as young people are apt to change and harder to set in one way as they haven’t had time to set their mind’s habits. On the other hand, they are very susceptible and sensitive to their peers and the general ethos around them. Make the daughter think her parents are unreasonable and not capable of having a conversation by pointing out how they are so stubborn (and don’t let her see her own stubbornness). Make her undervalue her parents’ experiences and wisdom.

Fuel her beliefs with friends who won’t challenge anything she says and make her doubt the older generation and whether they care or not. Tell her that her parents’ generation is the one that ignored global warming, created existing systemic inequities, and perpetuates white supremacy. Tell her that her generation knows much better. She doesn’t know how much her parents have sacrificed to create the home she now lives in and keep her ignorant of that fact. Make her feel morally and intellectually superior to her parents which will help harden her from any true conversation. Pitting one generation against another will do much for our cause. The truth is that her father deeply cares for her, but trivialize his care for her in her eyes so that they can never seek the Enemy together in one accord.

If you do these three things well: pull the mother from reality, push the father into defending his family at all costs, and prejudice the daughter against the older generation, then you will do much to tear down the work of our Enemy.

Your loving uncle,

Hemlock

My dear Hogweed,

Thank you for your update on yet another fight between the daughter and her father. You’ve turned the father’s heart against his daughter and the daughter’s heart against her father. Human relationships can be like water dams. One small crack is all we need to turn something small into something big. Just be careful to keep both father and daughter from dealing with the small cracks in their relationships. They may be able to fix a small crack but once the dam breaks open it will require a complete rebuilding which most people won’t bother to undertake.

I love how the daughter got angry because her father went to the store without a face mask. It’s a good thing their state does not require face masks to be worn in public so this can even become an issue. Like father, like daughter. She’s angry because she’s afraid he could get sick and die, and he’s angry because he’s afraid all these regulations will destroy the economy and make him unable to protect and provide for his wife and his daughter.

Use this break in their relationship to harden them. Encourage the daughter to think that her father doesn’t respect science and that all of his cohort of conservative parents are ignorant. Help the father believe that his daughter is too sensitive and brainwashed by the liberal media.

As an aside, it’s a bit hilarious how many of the Enemy’s people think that the point of their Christianity is to repair the divide between conservatives and liberals using concepts from that Book. Even that Book can be used in fleshly ways. They fight a spiritual war for fleshly reasons, using spiritual tools for fleshly ends. While they may succeed in making people tolerate one another, human hands alone can only keep peace; they cannot make peace. To make peace is costly and only possible with the Enemy. But that doesn’t mean they won’t try on their own :).

Keep up the pressure.

Tell the daughter that the “gospel” (I put quotations because how can it be “good news”?), is stuck in a disconnected spiritual realm. Ask her what the point of praying is when there is so much action needed. Tell her there’s too much injustice that has been stewing for decade upon decade; action is needed! Let urgency become her master and shame of inaction be her guide. There is no time to wait on the Enemy and seek His voice. We can make good use of human power that fails to connect with the will of the Enemy. Not only that, humans not properly set apart for spiritual warfare can be used as weapons of our own. Those who fail to take solitude with the Enemy cannot see themselves accurately. Use her anger against injustice to blind her to herself, and use her father’s arguments as fuel for how blind her father is (in comparison to herself). The one who believes she can see most clearly is profoundly blind. The more she walks in this belief, the harder it will be for her to accept when she is wrong.

Tell her the “gospel” is imperialistic and only justifies the strong. So many humans have wielded the “gospel” with their fleshly desires that they have bulldozed cultures around the world. The Enemy knows that His true “gospel” actually brings about flourishing of cultures, but just remind her of those western missionaries who used the “gospel” to wipe out cultures after their own western governments had already taken land, resources, and people for their own profit. Always present the “gospel” as a dominating culture of specific traditions rather than a door to reconciliation between a culture and its people with the Enemy (which we know may lead to different, almost heretical traditions and practices in the eyes of its outside presenters). Make her feel that the “gospel” oppresses the weak. By doing this you will distance the daughter from really knowing and trusting the Enemy and His message which makes our jobs infinitely easier.

Help the father and mother to feel comfortable with the status quo. They worked hard and should reap the fruits of their labor. While they may sympathize with the injustices faced by Black people, remind them that hundreds of thousands of babies are killed each year by abortions. What are a few lives when compared to so many? Make the argument an “either/or” argument. Whatever you do, keep them from realizing that the Enemy calls them to both. Keep them from realizing that action doesn’t have to be political but can involve their own sets of feet. Don’t let them see that just because there are two major political parties and people they admire doesn’t mean they have to only do and believe what their parties do and believe.

Make daughter, father, and mother all believe that it’s an us or them battle and all or nothing. Keep them from thinking about the Enemy’s version of laying down your life for another.

I know you want to be entrusted with a province instead of a single family, but you need to see the bigger picture: as you and many others succeed in dividing each family, you will cause divisions to form between larger groups. What’s true in many homes will be true in the community. Divide a family and you can divide a community. Divide the Church and you will weaken the Enemy and strengthen our cause.

Continue to press the daughter and father into their respective bubbles and you’ll start to reap the fruits of your labor.

Your loving uncle,

Hemlock

My dear Hogweed,

I could go on and on about what must be done, but everything good must come to an end. It is time for me to move on to my next assignment and as I go, I’d like to leave a few words with you.

First, remember the Enemy is dangerous. We must keep humans from seeking the Enemy and using the weapons he has given them.

The weapons of their warfare are surely mighty, but there are a few ways we can get around them.

Make them forget they have them: Although rationality has proven to be a thorn in our sides, it always proves to be one of our greatest assets. The Enemy has given them their minds to work hand in hand with their heart, and to be subservient to His Spirit. In elevating the heart or the mind, we have won.

For example, the virus. Make the family either solely focus on public health practice or dilute the danger of the virus. The daughter needs her gloves, her mask, and to social distance. In all of the preoccupation in grabbing her gear, she’ll neglect to pray for her protection. We want to cut the connection between her and the Enemy as frequently as possible. She’ll find that her life is more in her hands than it was before, thus invoking pride. Now that she’s kitted out in her hazmat suit whenever she walks outside, you can really work on undermining everything the Enemy has worked for. Remove her charity.

It’s quite simple to turn the daughter into a paragon for public health. Anytime she sees someone without a mask or in a group, remind her of the efforts she’s made to keep others safe, and therein arises a weapon. Bitterness. She finds satisfaction in being better/more righteous than others, but she’s really poisoning her own well. If she overly values intelligence, we can get her this way.

Make the parents focus on the Enemy’s will and avoid safety precautions. With luck, we’ll have a target or two down. Have them focus on news of low numbers and dismiss reports of deaths with those of existing viruses like the flu.

Be warned, the family has some experience in following the Enemy, so they may not forget their weapons, but there is a way you can render them useless.

Make them use their weapons wrongly

What the humans don’t realize is that all spiritual discipline yields more fruit on our side if it doesn’t induce them to love our Great Enemy or their neighbor. I will give you a little cheat sheet on how to transform what they trust most into what we can rely on.

Prayer: Their chief weapon. Make prayer less about a fight against the normalized oppression of Satan (prince of this world) and more about keeping the status quo. If you can’t stop them from praying, keep their prayers focused on themselves, especially about their failures. It’s a way to put them on the throne of their own heart and not their enemy. Also, keep them from being still and listening to the Enemy.

The Word: We don’t even need to subvert it. They do it themselves. Have them read it with their preconceived notion in mind, and instead of conforming to what might be a contrary truth, it will reinforce their own belief. They often turn the Enemy and His voice into their own voices. The Enemy’s way should bring them discomfort, but they often use it to reinforce what they want to be true.

Fellowship: Everyone’s stressed, which can be really good or bad. When they decide to spend time with one another (which you should avoid at all costs), two things: no prayer and no enjoyment. If they pray in a group of two or three, our plans can be foiled. They’re much more dangerous then. Keep them dishonest with one another about what’s really going on in their lives and hearts and have them talk about little trivialities. If they complain, even better. Enjoyment is dangerous as well especially in a time like this. Any fun can remind them of the blessings of our Enemy.

Fasting: Keep your patient’s attention on the lack of food and not on the Enemy, and you render it innocuous. It’s also quite entertaining to watch.

Praise: Not much we can do to combat this, but if you want to keep your patient from true praise, whisper this in their ear: “I can be doing something other than praising God right now.” They will suddenly feel the need to be “devout,” and do something “more substantial.” You can easily suck joy right from them.

Finally, if they must, have them misdirect their fighting towards other people. Have them use these spiritual weapons on each other. Have them use the Word to attack and tear down, not to build up. If they’re too nice, have them avoid using the Word to speak truth for the other. Remember, the Enemy’s love is only defined with two words: patience and kindness. Keep them inpatient and unkind to one another and you will find great success.

My dear nephew, the war goes on and we must kill, steal, and destroy as much of the Enemy’s work as possible. If the family becomes aware of your strategies, do not worry. Many are aware of our plans and still easily outwitted. Just make sure they do not learn dependence on the Enemy (and each other) and keep them away from hearing and obeying His voice.

Your loving uncle,

Hemlock

Epilogue

Hogweed.

What happened? All was going well, and somehow you fouled this whole business up, didn’t you?

I read your report on the last argument between the father and the daughter. You vile, young tempter. You had them in checkmate, but you let him say it didn’t you. Have the daughter storm out, have the mother interrupt with peacekeeping, make their fatigue get the best of them. But you didn’t do any of the above did you? You let him say it.

“I’m sorry.”

Two words unraveled our plans. And instead of stepping in then, you allowed him to say what he was sorry for.

“I’m sorry that I didn’t listen to you just now. I feel like I haven’t been doing a good job of that lately.”

You simpleton. Not only did you allow him to give a sincere apology, but he apologized to her (a person). Not a cause, not a group of people, but to his daughter, thus fulfilling their great commandment.

Of course the daughter began to cry. You could have used this as well, but you let her babble out her own sincere apology with no measure of pride between her pathetic sobs. At that time, I could see your feeble attempts at reminding the daughter of all that the father said to her before. But it was too late. He had already hugged her. That action might have undone all we’ve worked for. Physical contact. Humans are amphibians, so what’s done in the spirit affects them spiritually (and vice-versa), and in that moment, it wasn’t simply her broken, insensitive father who was hugging her, it was our pernicious Adversary.

You seem not to understand. This moment doesn’t undo their arguments, disagreements, or conflicts. In fact, I anticipate more of them. But they are now on the firm foundation of charity. Whenever one of them is knocked down by the other, they will land in the meadows of mercy for one another because of THIS moment. Two apologies and a hug.

We don’t have time to replace you with another tempter, but if I could, I would. There are still ways to attack, but we have given the Enemy space to operate. Let’s try to move through the daughter’s friendships. Give me a full work-up of who she’s spending her time with virtually. We can still salvage this debacle if we can drive a wedge between parents and daughter and keep them all from the Enemy’s voice.

Your disappointed uncle,

Hemlock

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[1] Ecclesiastes 7:2, NIV

[2] also known as the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965

[3] The Injustice to Dou E, also known as Snow in Midsummer, is a Chinese play written by Guan Hanqing (lived from 1241-1320). It is a story about Dou E, a woman who suffers injustices her entire life until she is executed for a crime she didn’t commit. Before her execution, she says three things will happen if she is innocent, one of which includes snow in the sixth lunar month. A few years later her ghost appears to her father who goes on to bring the truth to light.