One Lady's Experience
at the Christian School House
Mrs. __________________
British Columbia, CanadaMy personal testimony...
In 1988, my son (who is now 26) was beginning grade 4 in the Christian school. I have always believed in being very involved in the education of my children. Towards the end of summer vacation, I was at the school participating in a work bee to get the school ready for the upcoming school year. As I was cleaning the book room, I picked up a book from a shelf and had an immediate "check or red flag" in my spirit. I was not familiar with the book or the author, and at the time, I had been a Christian for only 5 years and was not completely aware of what to do with "red flags" yet. So, I put the book back on the shelf and dismissed the "check" I had felt, reasoning to myself that this was a Christian school with Christian teachers. If there were a problem with the book, I reassured myself, it would not be here.
A month into the new school year my son came home from school and told me they were reading a new book at school and recited the title of the book to me. Again, I received the same strong "check" in my spirit, but again, trusting my sons teachers, I shrugged it off and let it pass. A couple of weeks later my son woke up in the middle of the night screaming in terror because he had been having a nightmare about the characters within this book.
The title of this book: was The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. At this point, God had definitely gotten my attention. I responded with, "Yes, okay Lord, I'm sorry, I will get a copy of the book, I will read it, and I will find out what's in it. So, I not only read the book, I researched the book. To my utter amazement, the heroes, heroines, and villains are made up of the characters from Greek and Roman mythology. C.S. Lewis' use of these characters was no mistake as these characters all appear accurately depicted and well researched in the context with which they appear in the story. I discovered that this fascinating children's story (by secular, worldly standards, not mine) is filled with the characters of Greek & Roman idolatry.
My research began an exhausting year-long battle with the Christian school board to have these books removed from the school along with other occult and New Age promoting books the principal had opened the door to. And yes, I received "hate mail" from so-called Christians who supported the principal, loved the Chronicles of Narnia, and condemned my audacity to question the writings of C.S. Lewis. (In the end, the principal committed adultery with the father of one of the children enrolled in the school, divorced her husband, was fired by the school board, and married the other man).
Why did God choose to speak to me about The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe? My best guess is probably because I was ignorantly oblivious to the author's credentials. At the time, I was a blank canvas with no preconceived mindsets about C.S. Lewis. Because I hadnt grown up in a Christian home, I had never heard of Lewis so I didn't have him elevated to the status of an man on a pedestal who could "write" no wrong.
Here are some examples from my research and a small portion of what I have discovered:
In the story, the first character that Lucy encounters is Mr. Tumnas the Faun. The description that C.S. Lewis has given of Mr. Tumnas seems to bear a striking resemblance to typical illustrations of the devil?
From the waist upwards he was like a man, but his legs were shaped like a goats (the hair on them was glossy black) and instead of feet he had goats hoofs. He also had a tailand his skin was rather reddish too. He had a strange, but pleasant little face, with a short pointed beard and curly hair, and out of the hair there stuck two horns, one on each side of his forehead.
Among the Romans, fauns were wild forest deities with little horns, the hooves of a goat, and a short tail. They accompanied the god Faunus & the goddess Fauna. The Greek counterpart to Faunus is the god Pan. (Pan is the horned god invoked by many neo-pagans. Wicca, witchcraft has become the largest neo-pagan movement in North America. Wiccans honor the old gods & goddesses of mythology). The Romans connected their Fauns with the Greek satyrs, wild and orgiastic drunken followers of Dionysus, the god of wine and revelry.
Early in the story, Lucy's new friend Mr. Tumnas, the Faun is reminiscing about the "good old days." He states, "....old Silenus on his fat donkey would come to visit them, and sometimes Bacchus himself, and then the streams would run with wine instead of water and the whole forest would give itself up to jollifications for weeks on end." [Emphasis added]
Silenus - In Greek mythology, a lecherous woodland deity. The son of Hermes (messenger of the gods). Silenus was usually depicted drunk, and he could be compelled, if caught in a drunken sleep, to prophecy the future.
Bacchus - (Dionysus- the son of Zeus) In Greek and Roman mythology is the god of wine and revelry, in whose honor immoral and drunken celebrations would be held, at which the celebrants danced, drank, and generally engaged themselves in drunken frenzies and orgiastic worship. Female attendants of Bacchus were known as the Maenads.
Is this the sort of behaviour the whole forest would give itself up to for weeks on end that Mr. Tumnas, Lucy's new friend is fondly reminiscing about???
In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe Mr. Beaver is explaining the origin of the white witch. He states, "She comes of your father Adam's --(here Mr. Beaver bowed) your father Adam's first wife Lilith. And she was one of the Jinn. That's what she comes from on one side."
Lilith (Hebrew: Night Monster) female demon of Jewish folklore; her name and personality come from the Babylonian-Assyrian demon called Lilit or Lilu. According to Jewish folklore, Lilith was the first wife of Adam. She was banished from the Garden of Eden when she refused to make herself subservient to Adam. When she was cast out, she was made into a demon figure, and Adam was given a second wife, Eve, who was fashioned from his rib to ensure her obedience to her man. In Rabbinic literature, Lilith is variously depicted as the mother of Adam's demonic offspring following his separation from Eve, who left him because of their incompatibility. A superstitious cult associated with Lilith survived among some Jews as late as the 7th century A.D.
Jinn - (sing. Jinni) In middle eastern and Islamic mythology, they are supernatural beings, usually a spirit or a demon lower than an angel, able to assume human or animal form. Jinn are unique to Arab paganism. Jinn are the "mythical bad guys" of Arab culture.
It seems that the Christian community as a whole is extremely divided on this issue. This is a highly explosive topic, and I learned very quickly that in some "Christian circles" questioning the writings of Clive Staples Lewis is closely akin to questioning the Holy Spirit inspired Bible. It has completely amazed me that Christians either openly see the dangers of this literature or they are blindly enthralled & captivated by it. Most Christians do not realize that Lewis did not write the Chronicles of Narnia as a Christian allegory. He wrote them because he was genuinely fascinated with mythology.
To some degree, we've all been affected by the world's philosophies. But those philosophies should be discarded as God leads us into a knowledge of the truth. Yet, it's difficult to discard them when they are seen and accepted as "Christian" allegory by so many highly respected Christians.
Seventeen years later, I am increasingly concerned with the growing popularity of a book series that is so widely distributed and promoted as Christian literature. What makes the situation even more dangerous is that the Chronicles of Narnia have now been made into a movie and many unaware Christian parents are allowing their children to gobble it up with an amazing lack of discernment. Christian parents need to wake up! Despite the best intentions of Christian store owners everywhere, not everything that is promoted as "Christian" material or that is sold in a "Christian" bookstore is truly Christian.
God gives us the gift of discernment, and as Christians, we cannot take the gods and goddesses of Greek and Roman mythology and make them into literary heroes for our children.
Make no mistake, the Greeks and the Romans worshiped these mythological deities as their gods. The majority of their worship however did not take place in temples but in peoples homes. Prayers were said and an offering was made, usually of wine. People would also think about these gods as they went about on their normal daily routine.
However, for a particular request a worshipper would take an offering directly to a gods temple. Each god had their own temple. Within these temples the priests or priestesses made sure that the rules of offering were followed. The temples were seen as the gods home on Earth. Inside the temple stood a statue of the god to whom the temple was dedicated. Usually at the temple entrance was an altar where worshippers would bring food, drink, or animals for sacrifice by the priest.
Acts 19:23 And the same time there arose no small stir about that way. 24 For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain unto the craftsmen; 25 Whom he called together with the workmen of like occupation, and said, Sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our wealth. 26 Moreover ye see and hear, that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods, which are made with hands: 27 So that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at nought; but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth. 28 And when they heard these sayings, they were full of wrath, and cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians. 29 And the whole city was filled with confusion: and having caught Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul's companions in travel, they rushed with one accord into the theatre. [Emphasis added is mine, I thought it was an appropriate & timely statement]
Steve Van Nattan: Verrrrrrrrrrrrrrry Interesting, folks-- Witchcraft in your religion will lead you to the theater. Hmmmmmm
Diana was the Roman name of Artemis, the Greek goddess of love and fertility, and Ephesus was the home of her great temple acclaimed as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Clearly, from these verses there were craftsman who were making considerable financial profit from the worship of the goddess Diana, and they saw the gospel as a huge threat to their source of income.
Acts 14:8 And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother's womb, who never had walked: 9 The same heard Paul speak: who stedfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed, 10 Said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked. 11 And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men. 12 And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker. 13 Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice with the people. 14 Which when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out, 15 And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein:
The following is a transcribed quote by Phil Phillips, author of Turmoil in the Toy Box as he appeared on the radio station KNTR during the program Point of View with Marlin Maddoux, October 4th, 1988. He was responding to a 18 year old young lady who had called into the radio program to describe how she had become involved in the occult.
And the problem with C.S. Lewis books, Chronicles of Narnia, its not that Lewis was an ungodly man, but that he used the evil pagan gods as his heroes in the series, and he himself said it was not a Christian allegory, and the problem Im seeing is that kids get involved reading them, they read them over and over and over again. Then they go into Lord of the Rings and then they go further into the modern day literature thats available today, and it leads them into a confusion about who God is and what Hes about, and it gives them a desire and a taste for the occult and for Satanism.
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