JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis are not Satanic

How God is Operating in the Post Modern Era

Why is the magical Harry Potter so popular? What does it mean that it's Presbyterian Christian author has become the first billionare-author in history?

Why is Lord of the Rings, a fairy tale, considered the finest book of the 20th century by literary scholars? What was the shift from just 20 years ago when no scholar would admit to enjoying it?

Why did movie critics give the Lord of the Rings a whooping record high 96% thumbs up rating? And why did this fairy-story set the largest December weekend opening ever?

Why has the highly mythical Star Wars captured the current generation as it has?

Why are Christians generally considered out of the loop?

Welcome to the Post Modern (Post Christian) Era.

So what's happening? I believe the stones are crying out. God is doing something different as the church regresses into silent isolationism, and irrelevance. God is speaking through popular culture to the culture.

I was at a Community Bible Church this past Sunday and someone asked me if The Lord of the Rings movie was a good thing. "It's about wizards isn't it. It sounds so occultish to me," she said.

I have heard this before. So, I told her that J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of LOTR, was the one who introduced C.S. Lewis to Jesus Christ.

She then asked who C.S. Lewis was.

I said, "He wrote The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe." I explained a little bit about the story. She interrupted me and said, "A Christian isn't suppose to write about witches and magic? It's like Harry Potter. It is very wrong. Children could become curious about satanic things".

And I knew there was no way to go forward in the conversation.

This story represents the struggle going on in the Christian world. The culture has changed and the Church is finding it difficult to change with it. The Modern Era has crashed. And the Post Modern Era has dawned. And it looks for truth and meaning in Fairy Tales, Myths, Fantasy and Art. Consider these ten top grossing films:
1. Titanic
2. Star Wars
3. Star Wars Episode I
4. E.T.
5. Jurassic Park
6. Forest Gump
7. The Lion King
8. Star Wars Episode VI
9. Independence Day
10. Sixth Sense

They are mostly mythical, fairy stories and fantasy. And people are eating them up. All of them have parallels found in the Bible. God is speaking to this culture through its mythical movies.

Among those people who claim to have no religion, 78% agree that "God performs miracles" (University of New York study). Somehow God is speaking and breaking through. These are exciting times.

Geoffrey Hill in Illuminating Shadows notes:
"As ironic modern worshippers we congregate at the cinematic temple. We pay our votive offering at the box office. We buy ritual corn. We hush in reverent anticipation as the lights go down and the celluloid magic begins. Throughout the filmic narrative we identify with the hero. Vilify the antihero. We vicariously exult in the victories of the drama. And we are spiritually inspired by the moral of the story, all while believing we are modern techno-people, devoid of religion. Yet the depth and intensity of our participation reveal a religious fervor that is not much different from that of religious zealots.

C.S. Lewis said, "I suspect that men have sometimes derived more spiritual truth sustenance from myth they did not believe than from the religion they professed.

Jesus said the fields are ready for harvest and Tolkien and Lewis have given us an example to follow.

What are your thoughts
Do you think JRR Tolkien and Lewis were on target writing about magic, wizardry and mysticism?