The Gelsemine Correspondence: Concerning Involvement in the Church

Welcome back to our second installment of the Gelsemine Correspondence, a fictional imagining of what might have occurred had two demons written letters back and forth to each other to try and lead a teenage girl astray. As always, this is a complete work of fiction that I wrote to try and portray the spiritual warfare we face, and how we respond to it.

My biggest inspirations are the Screwtape Letters by C.S Lewis and My Dear Hemlock by Tilly Dillehay. In some ways, this is a retelling of the stories that already exist, and I pray that I will wield it well. ♥

Thanks for reading, and if you have any thoughts, comment below! I'd love to know what you're thinking. :D

~Mira

My darling Foxglove,

I apologize for my late reply to your last missive. G.A.S.H (Grouping of Archives about Stygian Humans) has been in a complete state of disarray with Belladonna's retiring, and I graciously stepped in to help them set themselves in order. It's been quite the task, and in doing so I have uncovered the files concerning the period of the Second World War. What an exciting time for our work that was!

But I digress.

You write about your girl's attendance of church. Honestly, Foxglove, I can hardly make sense of your scribblings when you write in such a panicked frenzy. Do try to calm your nerves next time before sending me such a mess to work through. One cannot think properly when they have lost their head.

What I am able to make of the jumbled mess is that your girl’s family attends church regularly, and that they are not one of those one-time-a-month angels. (Those types are marvelous to work with– so easy to meld and shape without the stench of other believers always gumming up the works!)

They also attend a non-denominational church, or so I gather. Well, this presents several different paths, that you must explore and learn about. Lucky you. 

The first path is that the church is not really a church at all. Being non-denominational can mean that a church is a jumble of beliefs and statements that really makes no sense at all, and the leaders of the church refused to be tied to any stronger church that would tell them that their dearly held convictions are wrong. In churches like these are where you find disorganized groups of mortals who have no idea what the church actually is- to them, it's a social gathering twice a month with super-bowl parties and easter services, and nothing like the organization that people would actually die for in the First Century.

But the second path is incredibly dangerous, and from what hadn’t been smudged by your fingers, I am hypothesizing that this is the type of church your girl belongs to. This type of church is firmly rooted in what they believe to be the purest form of the [gospel]* and is usually filled with long-time servants of the Enemy; that is, people who have been on the “narrow road” for years and years and are able to wield a sword most effectively. They are incredibly dangerous, and the first step in keeping your girl safe is to lead her away from these types. 

Really, in some ways, the church can work in your favor. There is a master list of strategies that I have pulled out of the archives for this purpose. Not all of them will be applicable to your case, but put to use the ones that are.

1.) Teach her to view the church as something for grown-ups. 

Teenage girls are such interesting beings, because they are right at that tender age that is not quite an adult and not quite a child. They are caught between shouldering responsibilities and also being sent out of the room for mature discussions. This will lend itself towards frustration with the stage of life they are in currently, and this is where you can nudge her when it comes to her thoughts about the church. 

As her annoyance with this trying stage of life grows, cultivate her to avoid anything that she labels as “for the grown-ups”. This is often useful regarding responsibilities around the home, but when applied to the church, it is particularly valuable. 

And as for the adults, they themselves have created a culture that allows the young people to be minimally, if at all, involved. We have taught them to think that church work is so important that it couldn’t possibly be done by a teenager. Imagine what might happen if sixteen-year-old Jimmy accidentally places the slides in the wrong order for the worship! 

They forget that the Enemy himself commanded his followers to build a rich, diverse group of people with different ages and talents, and oftentimes the younger generation has so much to offer. We have most effectively buried the younger generation’s offerings until they have almost nothing to offer the church, and so we are crippling the church from the knees down.

Make them look past what the Enemy has set before them, and they will be halfway down the path that leads to discontentment and pride. 

2.) Make her believe that volunteering or putting time into the church is unnecessary.

The Enemy has done one of the most despicable acts by setting up the church, and the humans are blind to it. They fail to see that he has essentially sold them into slavery to each other. They happily provide meals for one another, host potlucks, donate gift cards and even pray over members of their church. One would almost think they enjoyed their lives of drudgery. 

However, your girl is very new to the idea of church life, and since she has never known anything else, it should be easy for you to condition her to become almost numb to this culture. 

She will gradually begin to subconsciously think that the church doesn’t need her gifts. She shows up every Sunday, doesn’t she? Why should she go out of her way to spend an hour of her Sunday morning in the germ-filled nursery, or flipping slides for the service in the sound booth? 

If she goes to a larger church, the idea that they have enough volunteers and that they don’t need her would be another easy idea to put in her head. Just make sure you do it gradually, so that her parents don’t become startled by her sudden change of attitude. This will also give Venefica time to wheedle the father out of church ministry. 

(Speaking of Venefica, darling, she tells me that you were seen toying with the mother. Now I know that she is a shameless gossip without a proper thought in her head, but all the same, do try to stay on your task. If you do your job well, the girl is yours to enjoy. But how I would hate to have to destroy you so soon!) 

This philosophy has the added benefit of making her neglect to study the passages in her bible– more coming soon on how to handle her effort to wade through the Enemy’s book– that specifically command churchgoers to serve their church. If she doesn’t know about these passages, then she will no qualms at all about refusing to serve the church, because she won’t believe she is disobeying the Enemy himself. 

3.) If church work is unavoidable, make her loathe it with every ounce of her being. 

I suppose that it’s likely that Venefica will have a difficult time pulling the father out of the board of elders. If that is the case, no doubt he will insist on his daughter being on the worship team, or some other nonsense. 

When this inevitably happens, your best course of action is to turn her focus inward. Make her think about how much she sacrifices for her church. Teach her to become bitter at how no one seems to understand how much she really does for the church. 

Make her hate it, make her hate it, Foxglove, and she will be forsaking the Enemy’s bride! I feel almost giddy at the thought. What a joy it is to wreak havoc on such a disgusting band of followers of the Enemy, and to undo that ridiculous metaphor you find woven all throughout His book! 

Being overcome with the happiness of this idea, I think I shall end the workday for now and go pay a visit to my favorite soul we have in the holding bay. Rumor has it that he was a dictator in his lifetime and did all sorts of wicked things to earn him his prestigious room in the house of Our Father Below. Last I heard, they were going to throw him into the pool of fire to see if he could come up with any new curses to throw at the Enemy's face. If he has, we might just have to put them on file.

Compose yourself before sending me another letter, and think hard on what I have said.

Cordially,

Lady Gelsemine, Senior Temptress and Head of T.E.A.R (Tempters Engaged in Activities leading to Ruin).

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*Lady Gelsemine's editor took the liberty of censoring a particularly strong word here and replacing it with what it most closely resembles. She begs the Great and Honored Lady to forgive her of this breach of propriety.