GK Chesterton - evil spirits are diabolically jealous

More from Jousting with the Devil by Fr. Bob Wild on GK Chesterton.

Pages 77:

"Traditionally we understand evil spirits as haters of humankind, envious of our redemption by Christ. We are enjoying the light of Christ; they still live in the darkness they have chosen, and they are diabolically jealous. Thus, black magic becomes inhuman. Chesterton attributes cannibalism and human sacrifice, especially of children, to demons. And when we consider the plague of abortion in our own time, can we fail to see the demons' hatred of the human race at work: "But without dwelling much longer in these dark corners, it may be noted as not irrelevant here that certain anti-human antagonisms seem to recur in this tradition of black magic. There may be suspected as running through it everywhere, for instance, a mystical hatred of the idea of childhood:" (The Everlasting Man, p.122)

Chesterton is grateful that Rome defeated Carthage, and that Christianity did not have to contend with the Carthaginian child-eating Moloch, but instead with the milder Zeus and Saturn and Apollo. It is mostly in our own time that the perverse spirit of Moloch lures millions to commit abortion. And isn't it significant that when the Child of Peace entered upon his earthly pilgrimage the demons unleashed their fury in the destruction of the children in Israel? I highly recommend this chapter in The Everlasting Man as Chesterton's most extensive and penetrating treatment of the influence of demons upon civilization."

(Moloch is the ancient pagan God of child sacrifice.)

GK Chesterton - The devil tempts us with lies

More from Jousting with the Devil by Fr. Bob Wild on GK Chesterton.

Pages 72-73

BELIEF IN THE DEVIL MAKES YOU MORE CHARITABLE

"Awareness of the devil and his temptations is one of the factors behind Chesterton's celebrated charity towards his intellectual foes, towards everyone, really. He believed that erroneous ideas affected moral behavior, and that often people were not aware that their ideas were erroneous. (He said there were two kinds of people: those who hold dogmatic positions consciously, and those who hold them unconsciously—like George Bernard Shaw.) What he's saying—and a whole modern school of psychology (Cognitive Therapy) is built on this theory—is that maybe people are grouchy because they harbor pessimistic ideas, not pessimistic because they are grouchy; maybe people are sad and unpleasant because they have fatalistic and harsh ideas, not harsh because they are unpleasant people. And so on.  

The devil is the father of lies. If you believe that Satan is alive and active, tempting people with lies, you will be more charitable and compassionate. If we do not believe in the devil, we then naturally attribute all the evil in the world to human beings alone, and regard many of our fellow-creatures as, well, "fiendish;' when they might actually be tempted or tormented' victims. And, if we accept the reality of possession, this also will make us more charitable: "The assertion that a man is possessed of a devil is the only way of avoiding the assertion that he is a devil". (The Illustrated London News, April 28,1917. I remember reading of a New York Times editorial when the Nazi extermination camps came to light. It was quite explicit in saying that there must be some other source of evil in the world to explain such monstrosities.)

Of course, such compassion can be overdone. But it is a very common human opinion that there are evil things in the world of such magnitude (the Holocaust) that they can only be called devilish; and to say that there are no devils is really to conclude that all evil comes from human beings."

GK Chesterton - Satan doesn't like to be laughed at

More from Jousting with the Devil by Fr. Bob Wild on GK Chesterton.

From Page 63:

[Chesterton said] "Angels can fly because they can take themselves lightly."

To be able to take oneself lightly, to be able to laugh at oneself, is one of the healthiest of human traits. It is one of the signs of our transcendence, one of the "rumors of angels" in us, a kind of divine antidote to the exaltation of the ego.

Chesterton's following insight about the opposite of taking oneself lightly is less well known:

"Seriousness is not a virtue. It would be a heresy, but a much more sensible heresy, to say that seriousness is a vice. It is really a natural trend or lapse into taking one's self gravely, because it is the easiest thing to do. It is much easier to write a good Times leading article than a good joke in Punch. For solemnity flows out of men naturally; but laughter is a leap. It is easy to be heavy; hard to be light. Satan fell by the force of gravity. (Orthodoxy, P 128)"

The devil fell because he took himself too seriously, that is, he did not acknowledge his dependence on God; he did not accept the obvious truth that he was not the center of the universe. Thus, taking himself so seriously, he doesn't have a sense of humor; and he certainly doesn't like to be laughed at. And those Christians—like Chesterton—who draw comic images, of him, well, he probably doesn't like that either."

GK Chesterton - Secrecy is of the devil

More from Jousting with the Devil by Fr. Bob Wild on GK Chesterton.

From Page 60-61:

"SECRECY IS OF THE DEVIL

These early imaginative depictions of the demons still seemed rather odd until I came across the following insights that express another driving force behind his writing and thinking: a horror of secrecy. We should "put things on the table, say what you really think, expose your inner world to the light. So he didn't conceal his early fascination with demons. 

In the following passage he applies this line of thinking to thinking itself, to Christian and non-Christian art, and then to our major topic, talking about the devil. Generally, he thinks that secrecy is of the devil. But first about thoughts themselves: 

"Whenever you hear much of things being unutterable and indefinite and impalpable and unnamable and subtly indescribable, then elevate your aristocratic nose towards heaven and snuff up the smell of decay [read "devil"]. It is perfectly true that there is something in all good things that is beyond all speech or figure of speech. But it is also true that there is in all good things a perpetual desire for expression and concrete embodiment; and though the attempt is always made to embody it is always inadequate, the attempt is always made. If the idea does not seek to be the word, the chances are that it is an evil idea. If the word is not made flesh it is a bad word." (G.K. Chesterton, "The Mystogogue;' A Miscellany of Men (IHS Press: Norfolk, 2003)."

In another place he wrote: "I could fancy that men drew the Tempter with the curves of a serpent because they can be twisted into the shape of a question mark." (The London Illustrated News, Jan. 27, 1917) I interpret this to refer to world, the tempting question in the Garden, "Did God really say you must not... ?' One of the devil's ploys is to ask questions which make us doubt the word of God, the trustworthiness of God. 

Concealment of thoughts, in certain circumstances, can be a form of lying, used by the father of lies. He hates the light and the truth. So when he speaks it is often lying; and if he cannot or will not speak, or allow his followers to speak, the tactic is to remain silent and conceal one's plans, one's ideas. Above all he does not like to "put his cards on the table:""

GK Chesterton - The Church on the Offensive

More from Jousting with the Devil by Fr. Bob Wild on GK Chesterton.

From Page 48-49:

"I remember reading years ago in CS Lewis that the Church is involved in a "mopping up operation". This is not a very glorious description for the new evangelization! After the resurrection the victory has been won, Hades has been emptied, and the demons know that the main citadel has been taken, But as in battle when the capital has been taken, there are often forces out in the hills somewhere who haven't heard that the war is over—or refuse to accept that it is over. (A pertinent twenty-first century example was the holdout of Gaddafi loyalists in his hometown. All communication had been not know that Tripoli had been taken.)

It's the Church's mission to go into the whole world and tell everyone that the battle is over. The demons, who know that Christ has won the victory, keep trying to convince everyone—by lying, or by keeping the truth from them—that the battle is not over, that Christ is not God, that he has not risen from the dead, that you are still in your sins, and blah, blah, blah. The Holy Spirit, the Parakletos (defense lawyer in Greek) testifies that Christ has won the victory. 

'And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it:' (Matthew 16:18) Too often Christians understand this text as the Church being under siege, enclosed in a fortress surrounded by hostile forces as in Mansoul. On the contrary, the analogy is just the opposite: it is the gates of hell that are being attacked. In other words, the Church is on the offensive."

GK Chesterton - Jousting with the Devil - The series

Thursday, June 18, 2015
GK Chesterton - evil spirits are diabolically jealous

Tuesday, June 16, 2015
GK Chesterton - The devil tempts us with lies

Thursday, June 11, 2015
GK Chesterton - his battle with the Father of Lies

Thursday, June 11, 2015
GK Chesterton - Hell is a place to be avoided

Thursday, June 11, 2015
GK Chesterton - The Church on the Offensive

Friday, June 12, 2015
GK Chesterton - Secrecy is of the devil

Sunday, June 14, 2015
GK Chesterton - Satan doesn't like to be laughed at

GK Chesterton - Hell is a place to be avoided

More from Jousting with the Devil by Fr. Bob Wild on GK Chesterton.

From Page 25:

"Often mystics testify that before they received extraordinary graces they experienced a very profound and painful awareness of their sinfulness. This is a purification to prepare them for the beauties about to be revealed to them, and the graces they will receive. Perhaps these experiences of desolation are also given to the mystics to ground them in humility before the reception of more positive and exalted gifts of the Spirit.When Chesterton was asked what he thought about hell he replied that he had never been there himself, nor did he know anyone who had been there; but he understood it was a place to be avoided. But even if he hadn't been there, could he have been given a taste of hell?"