In this special free, extended episode of Magic Like This, I’m joined by my friend, Lauren, who is a devout Catholic and clergy wife with a history growing up in the Evangelical church. As Screwtape encourages Wormwood to entice the Patient into “church shopping,” (i.e. a dissatisfaction with any one church community), Lauren and I look at what it really means to love the Bride of Christ in light of a Christian culture which, in today’s political atmosphere, can make church feel like an unsafe place.

Mentioned in this episode:

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Have you ever felt like your Christian faith is always chasing the rainbow’s end? Like the promise of eternity feels too distant and far away to matter right now? What if I told you that this chapter of The Screwtape Letters might single-handedly change your relationship with eternity and by extension, God Himself? That’s not an exaggeration. Current Oxford theology student, Blair Milo, joins me for this episode of Magic Like This as we discuss what is objectively my favourite of all of Screwtape’s letters.

Mentioned in this episode:

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

The Weight of Glory by C.S. Lewis

My essay on my Oxford interview: I tanked my Oxford interview, and this is what it taught me...

Surprised by Hope by Tom Wright

Click here for the Spotify Link for Paid Subscribers

How to become a paid subscriber:

Join the Book Club for £5 a month to get the extended, 1-hour version of each podcast episode (and join Book Club discussions) by clicking here.

Or, if you'd like access to the extended Magic Like This episodes AND my exclusive podcast, The Waffler, you can become a paid subscriber of my primary Substack, The Battle Cry, and I will comp you a paid Magic Like This subscription as well for one year. You can become a paid subscriber for £8 a month by clicking here. (NOTE: due to GDPR laws, you’ll need to message me to let me know that you would like to claim your comped Magic Like This subscription once you’ve subscribed to The Battle Cry).

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Oh dear. The Patient is becoming humble. Not artificially humble – no, but truly humble in a way that has Screwtape quaking in his boots. But ahh… for the counterattack. How can Satan sideswipe the rest and ease of true humility in exchange for something… manufactured and exhausting? In this episode, we dive deep into the mechanics of humility, and you might find that the invitation to be truly humble brings more ease and rest than you ever realised.

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Mentioned in this episode:

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. LewisMy essay on jealous: Dear jealous creative, what if this was the answer all along?Beauty is NOT “in the eye of the beholder.” C.S. Lewis on Beauty by Isaac Angel MezaGentle and Lowly by Dane Ortlund

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How to become a paid subscriber:Join the Book Club for £5 a month to get the extended, 1-hour version of each podcast episode (and join Book Club discussions) by clicking here: https://magiclikethis.substack.com/subscribe

Or, if you'd like access to the extended Magic Like This episodes AND my exclusive podcast, The Waffler, you can become a paid subscriber of my primary Substack, The Battle Cry, and I will comp you a paid Magic Like This subscription as well for one year. You can become a paid subscriber for £8 a month by clicking below. (NOTE: due to GDPR laws, you’ll need to message me to let me know that you would like to claim your comped Magic Like This subscription once you’ve subscribed to The Battle Cry): https://christinalynnwallace.substack.com/subscribe

For fellow writers:

My writing course for aspiring Christian authors re-launches on May 30th. Be the first to access it when the cart opens and save £150 by joining the waitlist: https://christinalynnwallace.myflodesk.com/waitlist

Join The Writer’s List to get writing tips rooted in Scripture and exclusive updates when I launch new writing resources: https://christinalynnwallace.myflodesk.com/writerslist

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This episode looks a little different from our usual Magic Like This content, and I realise that many of you have actually just discovered Magic Like This through the essay which I’m about to share (if so, hi and welcome! I encourage you to go back and start listening to our deep dive of the Screwtape Letters). But for those who have been here a while and don’t follow me over on The Battle Cry, here’s what you should know: from the moment that God revealed this recent spiritual truth to me, I knew that I needed to take the audio narration from my essay over on The Battle Cry and turn it into a Magic Like This bonus episode. I feel called to talk about this on every platform which the Lord has seen fit to give me, and thankfully, it’s extremely relevant to what we study here on the podcast.

Don’t worry, we’ll be back to our usually scheduled programming next week, but there is also a hefty chunk of C.S. Lewis in this essay, not only from Screwtape Letters but from Lewis’ beautiful autobiography, Surprised by Joy.

You can, if you wish, read the essay which is narrated in this episode by clicking below. I really pray that you feel the Holy Spirit with you as you listen and that you find a deeper sense of freedom as a result of the work that the Lord has called me to do here.Read the essay: https://christinalynnwallace.substack.com/p/the-truth-about-the-enneagram-that

How to become a paid subscriber:

Join the Book Club for £5 a month to get the extended episodes here: https://magiclikethis.substack.com/subscribe

Or, if you'd like access to the extended Magic Like This episodes AND my exclusive podcast, The Waffler, you can become a paid subscriber of my primary Substack, The Battle Cry, and I will comp you a paid Magic Like This subscription as well for one year. You can become a paid subscriber for £8 a month here: https://christinalynnwallace.substack.com

Currently reading:

The Screwtape Letters

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Screwtape’s 12th Letter feels like the most hard-hitting yet as he reminds Wormwood that the road to Hell, rather than overt and swift, is often a gradual one. Because Hell is not Satan’s first objective; his first objective is simply to move us further from God’s presence, and what better way to do that but subtly, right under our noses?

If you haven’t yet, I’d urge you to grab your copy of Screwtape and re-read Letter 12 before listening to this episode. While less dramatic in some ways, I find it more alarming in others because it draws our attention to just how easy it is to drift from intimacy with God without even realising is.

How to become a paid subscriber:

Join the Book Club for £5 a month to get the extended episodes here: https://magiclikethis.substack.com/subscribe

Or, if you'd like access to the extended Magic Like This episodes AND my exclusive podcast, The Waffler, you can become a paid subscriber of my primary Substack, The Battle Cry, and I will comp you a paid Magic Like This subscription as well for one year. You can become a paid subscriber for £8 a month here: https://christinalynnwallace.substack.com

Currently reading:

The Screwtape Letters

For fellow writers:

Join The Writer’s list to get writing tips rooted in Scripture and exclusive updates when I launch new writing resources: https://christinalynnwallace.myflodesk.com/writerslist

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The relationship between sex and humour was Screwtape’s particular focus in this letter, and while I personally have no prudish resistance to a “That’s what she said” joke, I did consider the YouTube documentary I’d just watched a few days ago: laughter was used as a buffer to minimise the reality of what was taking place here – namely, that society will happily exchange the beauty of sex for a cheap counterfeit, objectifying the human body in the process.

This phenomenon isn’t new, and it isn’t the point of Letter 11. The point is that there is power in our subtle behaviours. Never once had I considered the way that laughter (a gift from God which Screwtape himself admits is rooted in heavenly mirth) could be used as a way to permit a societal denial of true joy, true empowerment, true beauty. Humour can mask cruelty. Humour can make a coward look like a comic. One can deny the dignity of their own body, and with the right giggle in place, it becomes charming.

How to become a paid subscriber:

Join the Book Club for £5 a month to get the extended, 1-hour version of each podcast episode (and join Book Club discussions) by clicking below:

https://magiclikethis.substack.com/subscribe

Or, if you'd like access to the extended Magic Like This episodes AND my exclusive podcast, The Waffler, you can become a paid subscriber of my primary Substack, The Battle Cry, and I will comp you a paid Magic Like This subscription as well for one year. You can become a paid subscriber for £8 a month by clicking below. (NOTE: due to GDPR laws, you’ll need to message me to let me know that you would like to claim your comped Magic Like This subscription once you’ve subscribed to The Battle Cry).

https://christinalynnwallace.substack.com/subscribe

For fellow writers:

Join The Writer’s List to get writing tips rooted in Scripture and exclusive updates when I launch new writing resources.

Click here to find me on Fable.