Doubt and fear are the opposite of faith and courage. Whilst Good uses the voice of faith to encourage us, evil uses the voice of doubt to put us down. Whom should we follow? Whom should we serve? What decision should we make?

There’s only one way out of the fierce battle between these two voices: it’s to doubt the doubts!

To doubt doubts is to doubt the force of evil. When evil says: “Be careful”, “It might not work as you expect”, “It didn’t work for so and so”, our immediate response must be: “If God is with me, I want to see it with my own eyes that He is with me.” And then go ahead without fear.

This battle against doubt is fought inside of us, and that’s exactly where victory begins as well.

This is to fight the good fight of faith in order to take possession not only of a good life but above all, of eternal life (1 Timothy 6:12).

To believe in God is much more than to believe in His existence. It is to believe that He will do what He promised to do.

A frightening diagnosis, a curse of witchcraft, a death threat, and all else that terrorises the heart, are darts from hell to confront our faith. If our faith is based on the Word of God, none of these things will matter; however, if our faith is based on our emotions, the heart will tremble and collapse before the problems.

For this reason, the Spirit warns us not to look at things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal (2 Corinthians 4.17,18).

When we take intelligent faith into account, we do not accept doubts or give in to any “light and momentary” affliction, however difficult it might seem. On the contrary, we manifest a natural resistance as a result of our personal conviction! That’s when revolt comes in and we demand the fulfilment of the Word of the Eternal God.

This is to see what cannot be seen, to believe the impossible, to live from faith to faith and by faith.

How can a person understand this if he is not born of God?

Dear Apprentice Morphister,

I am delighted to hear that your patient’s mother was taken to hospital this last weekend. We want him to be in completely in doubt of his prayers for her, so make sure with Lomister, your colleague, that she gets worse somehow so his faith may be shaken.

There’s nothing like suspense and anxiety in a human’s mind. It’s a huge break for you and therefore you should take advantage whilst all these anxieties towards the mother’s health condition are diminishing his faith. Although, I must emphasize that in case he resists these doubts, you’ll have to face the fact that his prayers will be answered sooner or later and that if that happens, his mother will also want to convert.

The Enemy wants men to be concerned with what they do; our business is to keep them thinking about what will happen to them. Once your patient concentrates on what can or cannot happen to him, his family, and his mother in the future, his faith is inevitably shut off. It is funny how these earthlings get so deep into the things they can do nothing about such as their future or their past. They don’t realise that their past is gone and that their future depends on their present.

Some husbands lust after other women thinking only what could happen between them one day, not realising, of course, that what they’re actually doing is getting themselves in a big trap for the future. Their lust will eventually turn into reality and they will end up committing the adultery they have so much desired for only to find out they not only got a small percentage of what they thought they would get, but worst of all, they have destroyed their marriage and family altogether.

By distracting themselves of the present, these little worms fell right in our holes. In other words, their present builds up a problematic future for themselves with little influence from us. That is why I say to you, take the advantage of this whole situation – work together with Lomister in order to get your patient’s mother more ill so he may start doubting that his prayers will be answered one day.

The Enemy always work with the present, using faith in order for the present to make the future the expected blessing. He is aware of our continual manipulation of people’s faith and for this reason, He encourages through His useless servants to encourage people’s faith. And that is another way you can tackle your patient’s doubts. Keep him away from the church and servants of the Enemy. Get him distracted by the many problems in his life, making it difficult for him to take the time to go to church.

Besides, it is extremely important for us to keep our patients as far away from the light as possible. We all know that loneliness can trigger weakness therefore let it be his state of mind from now on.

Yours,

Chief Minthropis

(Based on the book ‘The Screwtape Letters’ by C. S. Lewis)

Question:

Bishop, this blog really helped me. I’ve felt powerless these days with the voice of doubts oppressing me with evil thoughts that God doesn’t exist. Please help with a reply. Many thanks.
- Candice

Answer:

Of course God exists and you acknowledged it when you said “evil thoughts”. Who other than God’s sworn enemy, the devil, would want you to doubt His existence? He is the one whispering those thoughts in your ear, but it is written, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” You have to resist these thoughts. Start by participating in the church meetings and listening to the testimonies of those whose lives were transformed by the power of God. I am sure that these doubts will disappear. After this has happened, you can build up your faith by participating in the Sunday morning and Wednesday night meetings.

Evil is relentless in suggesting doubts, fears and worries, and because of that, anxiety sets in. And then, it suggests quick solutions through some kind of “friendly” advice—just like with the man who built his house on the sand.

“You haven’t married yet? Oh… isn’t that too bad? If you’re not careful you’ll end up an old maid!”

This is just an example of a situation that makes a woman fear that God will not answer her prayers. Time goes by and anxiety grows, fomented by people used by evil.

That’s why it’s so important to invest in our faith daily. Only faith can drive away doubts, fears and anxiety.

Jesus said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan!” (Matthew 16:23).

Friends, never forget one thing: those who are not well will always be used by evil to spread evil.

Run away from them! Even if they have a godly appearance, run away from them!

Don’t allow them to fill your mind with rubbish, contaminating your faith with a lot of blah blah blah…

Use your ability to think and don’t be influenced by other people’s doubts.

“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful.” (Psalm 1:1)