- "You must have often wondered why the Enemy does not make more use of His power to be sensibly present to human souls in any degree He chooses and at any moment. But you now see that the Irresistible and the Indisputable are the two weapons which the very nature of His scheme forbids Him to use. Merely to override a human will (as His felt presence in any but the faintest and most mitigated degree would certainly do) would be for Him useless. He cannot ravish. He can only woo. For His ignoble idea is to eat the cake and have it; the creatures are to be one with Him, but yet themselves; merely to cancel them, or assimilate them, will not serve. He is prepared to do a little overriding at the beginning. He will set them off with communications of His presence, which, though faint, seem great to them, with emotional sweetness, and easy conquest over temptation. But He never allows this state of affairs to last long. Sooner or later, He withdraws, if not in fact, at least from their conscious experience, all those supports and incentives. He leaves the creature to stand up on its own legs - to carry out from the will alone duties which have lost all relish. It is during such trough periods, much more than during the peak periods, that it is growing into the sort of creature He wants it to be. Hence the prayers offered in the state of dryness are those which please Him best. We can drag our patients along by continual tempting, because we design them only for the table, and the more their will is interfered with the better. He cannot "tempt" to virtue as we do to vice. He wants them to learn to walk and must therefore take away his hand; and if only the will to walk is really there He is pleased even with their stumbles. Do not be deceived, Wormwood. Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy's will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys."
-C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters
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suffer well 
OMG – I LOVE THIS! I’m laughing but it’s also frightening true… And I’ll never be able to hear that song again without seeing the evil Bush face.
It’s such a freakin’ awesome song – and I see from your Blogger profile that you’re a fellow fan (although probably not as devoted as I – no one is, really *sniff*)! I actually caught them in concert before I bought the album, so the first time I heard it was live, and OMG, amazing.
My hubby liked them before me (around the time that Music for the Masses and 101 came out) and he eventually converted me, so you probably are the more devoted fan. LOL
I’m so jealous! I would LOVE to see them in concert! We keep saying that the next time they tour, if they stop in any state that borders OK, we are GOING.