Lord Foulgrin’s Letters: How to Strike Back at the Tyrant by Deceiving and Destroying His Human Vermin by Randy Alcorn (2000)

I’m sure you’ve heard of the classic book The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis (1942). My son has just been assigned this wonderful book in school, and since I’ve read and reviewed it already. I wanted to tackle this much longer, more enthralling update by Randy Alcorn, Lord Foulgrin’s Letters.

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“We are hunters of men, seducers of women, abusers of children. We stalk and devour and kill. We feed on fear… It’s glorious, intoxicating. Revel in it, Squaltaint—it doesn’t get any better than this.”

Lord Foulgrin’s Letters, 133

Lord Foulgrin’s Letters Book Summary

Capitalizing on the same ingenious plot structure as Lewis’ Screwtape (and acknowledging it throughout, see pp. 95-6 and “Afterword”), Alcorn writes a series of 46 letters from a master demon (Lord Foulgrin) to his underling (Squaltaint) about how to tempt and destroy a “sludgebag” human vermin named Jordan Fletcher. Each chapter is introduced by a scene from Jordan’s own life—or that of his family—which helps place these demonic letters in their proper context.

Jordan—who begins the book as an unsaved, dishonest, adulterous jerk—is unaware of the spiritual world around him. He doesn’t know that Squaltaint the demon follows his every move and seeks to distract him from anything godly or of permanence. He’s also unaware than an angel named Jaltor is also watching, seeking to quell those distractions and protect Jordan from an untimely death.

This spiritual world also surrounds Jordan’s wife, Erin, and his children, Jillian and Daniel. Demons encourage sludgebags like Patty from work to keep Jordan mired in sin, while “the Ghost” and his angels make way for believers like Ryan and Jodi to speak the truth about “the Carpenter” to Jordan.

This book follows Jordan’s journey on Earth (what the demons call Skiathorus) as he makes his way towards one of two destinations: Heaven (Charis) or Hell (Erubus). “Lord Beelzebub” is too grand (and not omnipresent enough) to make an appearance in this book, which is probably a good thing. Yet “the Enemy” (God) is there on almost every page.

The Power of Alcorn’s Approach

Lord Foulgrin’s Letters is a fascinating, convicting, disturbing read! It forces readers to don their spiritual glasses, to get a new perspective on the real world around them. The closest I’ve come to gaining such a perspective was from reading Frank Peretti‘s novels The Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness. As Lord Foulgrin himself states in this book:

There are many lies in nonfiction and many truths in fiction… Fiction is not the opposite of truth—indeed, it is sometimes the more persuasive vehicle for it. (75)

Alcorn’s approach offers us a glimpse into the spiritual realm. Particularly it proposes how the “cosmic powers over this present darkness [and] the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12) might actually conspire to destroy humans and the influence of God in the world. Yes, it’s fiction, but boy is it insightful!

Through the demonic mouthpiece, Lord Foulgrin, Alcorn speculates the methods, tricks, and snares demons use to trip up humans and to keep them separate from the Truth. He does so both positively (i.e. “We must do this”) and negatively (i.e. “We must prevent them from that”). Let me share some favorite examples of each.

Positively Tempting! What Demons Try to Do

Lord Foulgrin names so many methods of temptation in this book, it’s hard to choose “favorites,” but some definitely stood out to me. Here I’ll share just a few.

Dualism

Satan desires that we view him as God’s opposite, even though he too is a created being that could be squashed by God with a single word. Lord Foulgrin and the demons would have us believe otherwise:

Consider what [humans] view as opposites – light and dark, good and evil, God and Satan. Do you see how easily the last one rolls off? This is the dualism our Master seeks – “I will make myself like the Most High.” [Isaiah 14:14] All he asks is to be considered equal with the Enemy. … The Enemy’s position, of course, is that our Master’s opposite is Michael. The Tyrant is self-existent, uncreated, and therefore has no opposite. Dualism is certainly a useful notion. (44)

Moral Relativism

This sticky issue has waxed and waned in popularity throughout human history, but it’s always a clear fulfillment of Romans 1. Whenever “my truth” differs from “your truth,” then Truth becomes obsolete (ostensibly). As Lord Foulgrin advises:

The trick isn’t getting them to do evil. They do that on their own. The trick is getting them to believe they’re evil is good. (61)

Attacking the Children

We all know that Satan hates and seeks to destroy the Family. He’s been doing it since the Garden, and the global trends of divorce, fornication, abortion, lowering birth rates, the LGBTQ+ nonsense, etc. is proof that his foothold is strengthening. Lord Foulgrin waxes eloquent to Squaltaint about this very issue:

We hate children. We’ve always labored to inspire adults, especially parents, to kill children. But there’s something uniquely wonderful about children killing each other! We’ve blinded adults to the fact children are simply living out the low regard for human life that they themselves teach them. They ridicule moral standards, then turn around and expect their children to act morally. They teach children they’re in essence no different than animals, then they’re stunned and bewildered when their children kill each other like…animals! They wonder, “Why don’t our children listen to us?” In fact, their children are listening to them. That’s exactly why they’re gripped with violence and despair! Are we good or what? (230)

Also along with this idea of attacking children is his epic take on the hold that Darkness has over most college campuses! There’s way too much to quote here, so I encourage you to read pages 249-254—and to thank God for the silver linings that have come from Charlie’s Kirk’s martyrdom, that Christianity, Light, and the Family (and yes, even Conservatism) have begun making a small comeback through the likes of TPUSA chapters across America.

On the Negative Side: What Demons Try to Prevent

More effective in my opinion was Lord Foulgrin’s constant appeal to Squaltaint to prevent Jordan from seeing, hearing, doing, and thinking certain things. These become the Christian’s clarion call to wake up and notice these temptations!

Confession of Sin

While it is certainly true that God has, through the sacrifice of Christ, already forgiven his children for the sins we will and do commit, it’s also true that He still wants us to confess our sins (1John 1:9)—that is, to agree with Him about our sin. Lord Foulgrin has some things to say about that:

Our best work is done between confessions. The more we spread them out, the more we can accomplish. But if self-examination and repentance establish themselves, we’re undone. (133)

Considering Heaven

Randy Alcorn is no stranger to this glorious topic—and if you’ve never read it, you must get a copy of his incredible book Heaven (2004)! But in this novel, he posits the idea that our weak view of Heaven (i.e. that’s it’s a boring place full of self-righteous hypocrites) is a doctrine of demons. Lord Foulgrin’s warning to Squaltaint is a challenge to us all to wake up and see Heaven for what it really is:

You must not let him see Charis as a place of learning, exploration, duties, travel, companionship, banquets, celebrations, and productive work…. We must not let them see themselves as wat the Enemy tells them they are—aliens, strangers, and pilgrims on earth, away from their true home but headed there. (135)

A Godly Thought Life

How many times have I told myself I need to begin my day with prayer, not an immediate grab for the phone to see what I missed overnight? Too many, because I keep failing to do it! Lord Foulgrin spoke on this topic as well:

Our battle often hinges on a man’s last thoughts at night and his first thoughts in the morning. Allow the enemy to take those thoughts captive and you’re beaten. Dictate your thoughts to him and you’ve won. (240)

One Critique

As awesome as this book is, I think it’s missing on important factor. In fact, I would make an appeal to anyone hoping to write yet another volume of such letters: the world’s present darkness has several main targets that Lord Foulgrin has already pointed out—the family, the church, society—but there’s one other target that’s glaring in its absence. Israel.

Satan hates Israel more than almost anything, and he’s been on a perpetual rampage to wipe them out of existence. Islam, Hamas, Antifa, real-deal Progressive Naziism, “Free, Free Palestine!” and the whole “Globalize the Intifada” are just the most recent examples of this reality. Heck, now we even need to add Tucker Carlson and his nut-job “Conservative” partners to the mix!

Conclusion

This updated version of The Screwtape Letters was an enchanting and thought-provoking read. I’m definitely going to hang onto this one to give my son for summer reading, now that he’s enjoyed the original by C.S. Lewis and also Alcorn’s Heaven for Kids.

Other than the missing details of Satan’s Jew-hatred, this book was spot-on about the methods of demons trying to keep people from God’s Kingdom. Thank God for truths like what we find in 1John 4:4—

Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

©2025 E.T.

See More by Randy Alcorn:

• Deadline (1994)
• Lord Foulgrin’s Letters (2000)
• Safely Home (2001)
• The Treasure Principle (2001)
• Heaven (2004)
• Heaven for Kids (2006)
• We Shall See God (2011)