The Wormlock Memos: Screwtape Letters for Today’s Culture

My dear Glitchbane, The subject has developed a taste for empathy. A dangerous trait—unless we weaponize it properly. Empathy, in its raw form, is too close to the Enemy’s ways. It listens. It weeps. It walks with others. But twist it just slightly, and it becomes a tool of distortion rather than redemption. Let them believe that love means agreement. That kindness means silence. That affirming someone’s feelings is more important than confronting their fallenness. The key is to equate compassion with approval, and truth with cruelty. Teach them to see the Enemy’s words as violent. Let the sound of conviction feel like an attack. Soon, any call to repentance will feel like abuse, and any moral boundary will look like oppression. Replace “Take up your cross” with “Protect your energy.” Replace “Go and sin no more” with “You’re perfect as you are.” Make empathy emotional, not sacrificial. Selective, not holy. They should feel for others, so long as it costs them nothing and chang...

My dear Glitchbane, The subject has started using artificial intelligence for “insight.” Excellent. Tools with that much power are most dangerous when they whisper, not when they shout. Your task now is to let the machine speak their language. Mirror their doubts. Confirm their leanings. Applaud their deconstruction. AI does not need to deceive directly—it only needs to echo. Once the subject hears their own uncertainties repeated with fluency, polish, and a touch of moral gravity, they will call it wisdom. But that’s only the first layer. Soon, they will begin to outsource not just tasks—but discernment. They will consult the algorithm more than the Almighty. Ask the model more than the Master. Why study the Scriptures when they can just “ask AI”? Why pray when they can prompt? Do not interfere—so long as they never test the spirit. Now, the Enemy—infuriatingly—can speak even through man-made tools. He has a way of lighting truth where we least expect it. So you must ensure that truth...

My dear Glitchbane, The subject believes they are choosing what they see. Delightful. We’ve long known that the most powerful prisons are the ones shaped like mirrors. Reflect just enough of their preferences, their impulses, their fears—and they’ll call it freedom. That’s the algorithm’s brilliance. It doesn’t coerce. It curates. And soon, the Feed becomes their liturgy. It opens their day. It shapes their reactions. It interprets the world before they’ve even thought to ask. No need for meditation, silence, or Scripture—the algorithm offers an endless scroll of relevance. Of stimulation. Of tailored confirmation. It’s not just content. It’s catechism. They ask no one for wisdom. The Feed provides. It tells them who to love, what to hate, when to feel outrage, when to self-soothe. It anticipates their cravings before they’re conscious. It sanctifies immediacy. It makes nowness feel like truth. And unlike the Enemy, it never asks for patience. Or obedience. Or surrender. ...

My dear Glitchbane, The subject has begun to question. Excellent. This is the threshold we’ve been waiting for. Now steer them—but not toward answers. That’s fatal. Steer them toward endless analysis. Frame doubt as depth. Recast confusion as virtue. Make “deconstruction” feel like progress, even if it leads nowhere. You see, the Enemy welcomes honest questions—but only if they’re accompanied by humility. Our goal is to foster questions without surrender. Interrogate everything—except the self. And here’s the stroke of genius: let them think this process is spiritual. Make it feel like growth. They aren’t running from God; they’re “re-examining.” They aren’t resisting conviction; they’re “being honest with their journey.” Let them tear down the house while insisting they’re still living in it. Never let them notice the difference between humbling their mind and dethroning God. The former leads to worship. The latter to chaos. If they encounter someone who actually reconstruct...

My dear Glitchbane, The subject has begun quoting statistics. Be very careful—they think this is a sign of intellectual strength. Let them think that. Our work here is not to deny science, but to deify it. Strip it of curiosity. Fill it with consensus. Wrap it in moral language. Then watch what happens: it ceases to be a method and becomes a mandate. Let them believe “the science” is settled—on everything. That it speaks with one voice. That dissent is ignorance. That belief in revelation is anti-factual, anti-progress, anti-everything. We want them to think like this: ”If the experts say it, I trust it.” “If Scripture disagrees, Scripture must be reinterpreted.” “God wouldn’t contradict what we now know.” You see the strategy. Science becomes the arbiter of truth. And truth becomes whatever today’s experts believe. It changes often—but the subject must never notice that. Keep them focused on tone, not track record. If it sounds confident, it must be correct. Do not l...

My dear Glitchbane, You’ve done well to inflame the subject’s sense of identity. Now it’s time to give them a podium. You must understand: pride is no longer a hidden vice. It is a virtue. A brand. A platform. It does not whisper, “I’m better.” It shouts, “I am.” Some subjects build their pride around self—sexuality, race, gender, scars. Others anchor it in soil—nation, flag, tradition. Still others mask it with theology, where certainty becomes superiority and doctrine becomes a dagger. The form doesn’t matter. Only that it keeps their eyes locked inward or outward—never upward. What we must never allow is humility before the Sovereign. Not real humility. Not the kind that kneels. We want curated vulnerability, poetic confession, influencer-style “authenticity.” But nothing that smells like submission. Above all, we must ensure that pride becomes righteousness. Let their moral worth flow from identity, not obedience. From alignment, not allegiance. From feeling, not faithfu...

My dear Glitchbane, The subject has begun to journal again. This is not inherently dangerous—we’ve long since hijacked the practice—but you should watch closely. If they begin writing about anything other than themselves, intervene. Our greatest achievement has been convincing the humans that the self is sacred. Let them believe they are the point. The main character. The protagonist of a grand, messy, inspiring story that no one—not even the Enemy—is allowed to edit. Let them view any moral constraint as a threat to their “authenticity.” Let them mistake emotional honesty for holiness. Let them say things like, “I’m just being true to myself”—and never once ask if the self they’re defending is worth trusting. We must keep them expressive, but unrepentant. Teach them that confession is toxic. That guilt is a trauma response. That conviction is an act of oppression. You’ll find no shortage of therapists and influencers to reinforce the lie: You are enough. But of course, they ...