Lord Foulgrin’s Letters are written by a demon to his subordinate Squaltaint. Lord Foulgrin advises Squaltaint how to tempt and deceive Jordan Fletcher, the human “vermin” or “sludgebag” to whom he’s assigned.
Referring to God as a “Tyrant” and “the Enemy,” Lord Foulgrin is a proud, demanding and devious rebel with an inflated sense of self-importance.
As Christians, we are on Satan’s hit list. Demons are out to get us. They are devoted to deceiving and destroying us, as a means of lashing back at God, the Creator who evicted them from heaven when they rebelled. This vast army is led by Satan, the dark lord, who wages war against us and the righteous angels who defend us.
Imagine what a major coup of military intelligence it would be if we could place a wiretap in Hell’s war room. What if we could plant a bugging device where we could overhear our enemies assessing our weaknesses and strategizing how next to attack us?
Of course, we would have to weigh and measure their words-after all, they’re liars. But if they didn’t know we were listening, we could learn a great deal from their insights about us, how the war is going, and which of their strategies are working on us and which aren’t. What an opportunity to see what they have up their sleeves!
Wouldn’t every defense attorney love to overhear a conversation between two prosecutors going after him and his client? Wouldn’t every coach want to know the scouting report on his team, what’s being said about them and what plays are being drawn up by the opposing coach? There’s nothing like seeing your adversary’s game plan unveiled.
In Lord Foulgrin’s Letters classified correspondence has fallen into our hands, sensitive information we were not intended to see. By reading the letters we are peeking, eavesdropping on our enemy. Our eyebrows raise, our ears tingle, for we are the subject of the conversation. We overhear a dialogue about how to deceive us, ruin us, keep us from God, and make us miserable and unfruitful. What we learn should prove invaluable in devising a counterstrategy to the attacks.
Lord Foulgrin’s Letters deals with such diverse subjects as work, marriage, raising children, the occult, sexual temptation, love, shame, pride, ethics, the claims of Christ, conversion, church, worship, prayer, finances, honesty, church, false doctrine, evangelism, evolution, choosing a college, suffering, heaven and hell...and a lot more.
Lord Foulgrin’s Letters-unlike The Screwtape Letters on which it bases its premise of demon writing to demon-precedes each letter with a scene that establishes setting, develops characters and tells a story. This will draw in fiction readers who are interested not just in issues, but in real people in real places who are part of a real story.
While this book is fiction, the premises on which it is based are solidly biblical. Martin Luther believed the devil so real that he threw his ink well at him. But Luther also reminded us “the devil is God’s devil.” He encouraged us to jeer and flout the devil because “he cannot bear scorn.”
We should not take the devil lightly, but we should also realize he is on a leash held by an omnipotent and loving God. We should neither underestimate nor overestimate his power. We must know our God, know ourselves, and know our enemy. Lord Foulgrin’s Letters is designed to help us better know each.
For more on this subject, see Randy Alcorn’s book Lord Foulgrin’s Letters.