In this episode, the conversation explores how instability in childhood or early adulthood can quietly shape a person’s identity. When environments are unpredictable, people often learn to survive by becoming highly vigilant, carefully reading moods, adjusting behavior, and suppressing their own emotions to maintain safety or stability. Over time, these adaptations can create what psychologists often call a “false self”: not a deliberate deception, but an identity formed to survive circumstances. The hosts reflect on how many people discover that the person they present to the world is actually the version of themselves they once needed to be in order to navigate chaos or uncertainty.

Drawing from Letter 8 of The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis, the episode examines Screwtape’s insight about spiritual “highs and lows.” The demonic strategy, as described in the letter, prefers the spiritual “trough,” because that is where habits, good or bad, are truly formed. The discussion highlights the difference between emotional faith and steady faith, emphasizing that real spiritual growth is built through consistency rather than feelings. The episode concludes by helping listeners identify survival lenses that instability can produce, hyper-awareness, over-control, emotional suppression, and performance-based identity, while offering a hopeful perspective: God often brings healing not through dramatic moments, but by introducing steady, faithful consistency where chaos once shaped who we believed we had to be

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Introducing our new co-host, Micheal Blueitt, and the "Lenses" series

In this episode of The Screwtape Letters podcast: Confronting Evil in Our Time, host Ian Faith introduces new co-host Micheal Blueitt, launching a year-long deep dive into Lenses. The conversation centers on the subtle strategies of spiritual warfare first explored by C. S. Lewis, particularly distraction. Rather than dramatic evil, they examine how the enemy works quietly, shaping the way believers interpret reality and slowly separating them from God. The episode sets the tone for a more personal, vulnerable series focused not only on theology but lived experience.

A major theme introduced is the concept of “lenses,” the internal filters through which people interpret life. Micheal shares how fear-based, scarcity-driven lenses formed in childhood shaped his leadership, relationships, and marriage. These lenses, often built for survival, can distort reality if left unexamined. The hosts explore how trauma, upbringing, culture, and sin contribute to these distortions, and how unchallenged perspectives can lead to isolation, addiction, relational breakdown, and even despair. In contrast, Christian community, confession, and intentional reflection serve as corrective tools that realign vision with truth.

The episode ultimately calls listeners to courageous self-examination. Recognizing broken lenses is the first step toward healing. Growth requires removing distractions, embracing discomfort, confessing sin, and surrounding oneself with faithful community. Change may cost comfort, relationships, and pride, but it leads to spiritual clarity and deeper intimacy with Christ. The hosts close with reflective questions designed to help listeners identify hidden distortions in their own lives, inviting them into a year-long journey of spiritual recalibration and renewed faithfulness.

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The Screwtape Letters: Confronting Evil in Our Time podcast, hosted by Ian Faith, explores the real-world spiritual battles affecting families, faith, and peace. Born out of a desire to confront evil honestly rather than pretend everything is fine, the podcast blends biblical teaching, personal testimony, and practical encouragement to help listeners recognize spiritual deception, reject it, and pursue Christ wholeheartedly.

In this episode, guest David Mulldune shares his powerful life story, from poverty and years in orphanages to a childhood encounter with Billy Graham that planted early seeds of faith. Despite that experience, David’s teenage rebellion led to crime, expulsion from school, and eventually service as a combat Marine in the Vietnam War. There, exposed to violence and moral conflict, he wrestled deeply with guilt, fear, and the tension between survival and faith. Though he strayed into destructive choices, the internal spiritual struggle never left him, and he ultimately returned to Christ, recognizing that peace could not be found in the world’s offerings.

After the war, David rebuilt his life, pursuing higher education, entering the business world, and later leading companies while openly integrating his faith. He experienced both extraordinary financial success and devastating personal loss, including divorce and bankruptcy, yet saw God’s sovereignty in both prosperity and hardship. Eventually earning a seminary degree, David became passionate about encouraging Christian business leaders in the C-Suite to live boldly and authentically in the workplace. Now facing terminal cancer, he speaks with striking peace and clarity about forgiveness, eternity, and hope in Christ, viewing his diagnosis not as a tragedy but as an opportunity to witness, extend grace, and reflect the transforming power of faith.

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Ian Faith offers a thoughtful and appreciative review of The Screwtape Letters on stage, presented by Max McLean and Fellowship for Performing Arts at the Herberger Theatre in Phoenix. Approaching the production with both deep familiarity and cautious expectation as a longtime student of C. S. Lewis, Faith finds that the adaptation successfully honors Lewis’s original intent. Rather than leaning into satire or comedy, the play focuses on spiritual warfare, subtle temptation, and moral reflection, using irony and inversion exactly as Lewis intended. The result is a contemplative experience that provokes self-examination rather than shock or humor.

The production itself is praised for its discipline, design, and execution. With only two actors on stage for a continuous 90 minutes, Gregory Allen Jackson and Anna Reichert deliver commanding performances marked by precision and endurance. The staging, featuring a tilted platform, symbolic set elements, and restrained but effective lighting and sound, creates a vivid vision of Hell without overshadowing the text. Faith, not typically a theater enthusiast, emphasizes that the talent and craftsmanship alone make the performance exceptional, rating the acting a perfect ten.

Faith concludes that the play succeeds across a wide audience, from devoted Lewis readers to those entirely new to The Screwtape Letters. While the most immersed fans may wish for greater depth, he considers this a natural limitation of the medium rather than a flaw. The production works especially well as an entry point into Lewis’s ideas, inspiring reflection, conversation, and further study. Ultimately, Faith views Screwtape on Stage as an important and faithful work that challenges Christians to grapple seriously with temptation, faith, and salvation, and strongly encourages audiences to see it when it comes to their city. Rating 9.5 out of 10 well worth the time and money. It will enrich your life.

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This episode of The Screwtape Letters Podcast: Confronting Evil in Our Time features an in-depth interview with David Bates, co-founder and host of the long-running C.S. Lewis podcast Pints with Jack. Ian Faith and Galen Balinski open by sharing the heart behind their own devotional and podcast, born out of real spiritual battles, and welcome David as both a friend and an early supporter of their work. David shares his personal faith journey, describing how a childhood exposure to Christianity became a deeply personal commitment during university through prayer, Scripture, and formative encounters with God, particularly through practices like Lectio Divina that continue to shape his family life today.

David then traces the origins of Pints with Jack, which began organically as a small in-person reading group centered on Mere Christianity and unexpectedly grew into a nine-year podcast journey through much of Lewis’s major works. He explains how his early love for The Chronicles of Narnia reignited in adulthood, eventually leading him to Lewis’s apologetic, philosophical, and fictional writings. The podcast’s mission, he emphasizes, is to serve as an “on-ramp” for readers, helping modern audiences understand Lewis’s language, historical context, and interconnected ideas so they can more fully access the depth and coherence of Lewis’s thought.

The conversation closes with a thoughtful discussion of C.S. Lewis’s early life, loss of faith, and eventual conversion, shaped by suffering, war, and intellectual honesty. David highlights Lewis’s commitment to “mere Christianity” as a unifying core of the faith, transcending denominational divisions, an especially poignant theme given Lewis’s Irish upbringing amid sectarian conflict. The episode underscores a shared conviction between hosts and guest: that authentic Christianity should be evident in one’s life, marked by prayer, charity, and unity. Listeners are encouraged to explore Pints with Jack and continue the journey of confronting evil not through division, but through deeper faith, wisdom, and love centered on Christ.

Listen to the full episode on the Screwtape Letters Podcast - Confronting Evil in Our Time

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Our Guest, David Bates, Pints with Jack Podcast https://www.pintswithjack.com/

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The episode centers on the idea of catharsis, its roots in Greek tragedy and how it shows up today in social media outrage, reality TV, and public emotional outbursts. Ian and Galen contrast classical and modern understandings of catharsis with Christian wisdom, arguing that while emotional release is often celebrated as healthy or therapeutic, unrestrained emotion can become destructive when detached from truth, reason, and moral order. They frame catharsis as something that, when unchecked, stands in opposition to civilization itself.

Drawing from C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters, particularly Letter 22, the hosts explore how evil reacts violently to genuine goodness. Galen explains that Screwtape’s explosive response to a wholesome woman illustrates how evil cannot tolerate what is pure, ordered, and joyful. This insight is connected to modern cultural and political reactions, where perceived wrongs often provoke irrational fury rather than thoughtful engagement. They also reference contemporary thinkers and events to show how emotional manipulation, through media, fake news, and outrage cycles, fuels chaos and societal breakdown.

The conversation concludes with a call for wise emotional restraint and civil discourse, especially among Christians. Citing Scripture such as Proverbs 29:11, Ian and Galen emphasize that wisdom governs emotion rather than venting it freely. They discuss the role of social media as a catalyst for unhealthy catharsis and stress the importance of responding with love, discernment, and truth instead of rage. The episode wraps with reflections on the mission of the podcast and the encouraging reception of their book, Confronting Evil in Our Time, reinforcing their aim to help listeners navigate a culture increasingly driven by unchecked emotion.

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Ian Faith Co-Author of Confronting Evil in Our Time provides a reading of Chapter 15, "Breaking Anxiety's Grip.”

Introduction: In the quiet of his study, C.S. Lewis leaned forward, his fingers tracing the delicate lines of the manuscript that explores one of humanity's most profound spiritual struggles. Anxiety, he understood, was not merely an emotion but a demonic strategy, a subtle weapon designed to tear humans away from the sacred present.

The demonic realm understands something crucial: when our minds are fixated on potential disasters or imagined triumphs, we miss the sacred reality of today. This letter exposes how anxiety functions as a spiritual weapon, pulling us away from where God actually meets us, right here, right now. Lewis points out that the demonic will always try to get us to go in one of two directions: either tortured fear or stupid confidence. This revelatory tactic, once identified and confronted with a biblical strategy, will change how anxiety affects your life exponentially.

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This episode is an in-depth interview with Max McLean, an award-winning actor, producer, and founder of Fellowship for Performing Arts, whose career has been devoted to bringing Christian literature and Scripture to life on stage, screen, and audio. McLean is best known for his acclaimed portrayal of Screwtape in the stage adaptation of The Screwtape Letters and for portraying C. S. Lewis in The Most Reluctant Convert. He shares his own conversion story as an adult, describing how reading Scripture, especially the Gospel of John, and Lewis’s writings profoundly shaped his faith, awakening him to both the beauty of Christ and the reality of spiritual deception.

Beyond the stage, Max's voice has become a cherished companion to countless listeners through his narration of The Listener's Bible in multiple translations, earning him multiple Audie Award nominations. He's also recorded spiritual classics like Pilgrim's Progress and Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. Max has been honored with the C.S. Lewis Foundation Award for his contributions to dramatic arts and faith-based storytelling. He lives in New York City with his wife Sharon and their two daughters, and continues to create work that bridges faith, literature, and the transformative power of live performance.

The conversation explores McLean’s creative journey, his philosophy of faithful adaptation, and the challenges of translating Lewis’s deeply word-centered works into theater and film without losing their theological weight. He explains how The Screwtape Letters was adapted as a predator–prey drama with clear spiritual arcs, remaining true to Lewis while making it accessible to modern audiences. The episode closes with reflections on Lewis’s enduring relevance, current and upcoming projects, including national tours and film development, and a shared conviction that Lewis’s work remains vital for confronting evil, cultivating humility, and pointing people toward truth in an increasingly deceptive age.

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In this episode of The Screwtape Letters: Confronting Evil in Our Time, Ian opens with prayer and a teaching on the biblical relationship between faith and work, stressing that God calls believers to active obedience, not passive spirituality. Drawing from Scripture, he emphasizes integrity, diligence, and purposeful action, encouraging listeners to “sow seeds” through faithful effort rather than relying on prayer alone. Ian connects this message to everyday life, work, job searching, and spiritual growth, urging listeners to live out their faith through meaningful action aligned with God’s values.

The episode also highlights C. S. Lewis’s faith journey through The Most Reluctant Convert, the film starring and produced by Max McLean, which Ian strongly recommends for its thoughtful portrayal of Lewis’s conversion and the role of reason and faith. Ian ties the film to the current stage adaptation of The Screwtape Letters, noting its successful run in Phoenix and Tucson, and encourages listeners to attend. He closes with updates on the growing impact of his book Confronting Evil in Our Time, inviting the audience to share photos with the book, leave Amazon reviews, purchase the companion study guide, and look forward to an upcoming in-depth interview with Max McLean across the podcast’s platforms.

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In this special episode, Ian and Galen examine the recent freedom movement in Venezuela through a moral and biblical lens, challenging listeners to look beyond politics and international law to confront clear acts of evil. They frame the situation as a test of moral clarity, comparing inaction in the face of oppression to ignoring the abuse of an innocent victim. By drawing on contemporary and historical examples, Ian urges listeners to reassess how justice, sovereignty, and intervention should be weighed when human dignity is systematically violated.

Ian then traces the theme of freedom throughout Scripture, from God’s deliverance of Israel in the Exodus to the cycle of rescue in Judges, and ultimately to Christ’s mission to proclaim and bring true freedom. He emphasizes that God consistently hears the cries of the oppressed and acts to break both visible chains, such as political tyranny, and invisible ones, including sin, fear, shame, and spiritual bondage. Revelation, he notes, culminates this story by revealing and defeating the corrupt powers that enslave humanity.

The episode concludes with reflections drawn from C.S. Lewis and historical figures, stressing that courage is essential to freedom and that true liberation comes through submission to God, not autonomy from Him. Ian calls listeners to celebrate the hope and joy sparked by Venezuela’s deliverance while remaining vigilant and compassionate toward those still suffering under oppression elsewhere. Ultimately, he frames freedom as a core biblical and moral imperative, one that demands courageous action, moral discernment, and a willingness to confront evil wherever it appears.

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