Messianic Mixed Messages

Messianic: “of or relating to a messiah the expected king and deliverer of the Jews b. Jesus”

Home from a recent adventure, contemplating well meaning misguided attempts at seeking Truth.

The scene was a dinner party. An acquaintance queried, “Have you seen the new movie, ‘such and such’?” “I thought it had such strong messianic overtones that one should really see it!”

What wait a minute? There is something wrong here. The movie in question is not a morality play. It is not an allegory or simile like C.S. Lewis’s “Narnia” [1]. It is a Hollywood blockbuster. A film rated PG PG-13 for frightening violence and disturbing images. A ‘Christian’ professional with a Masters degree in Christian Counseling is explaining messianic messages in a box office movie not even remotely ‘Christian’ in intent. As stated, there is something wrong here.

Hollywood is not in the business of spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. Hollywood is in the business of making money. That is what they do. Hollywood makes movies to entertain to make money.

There is a disturbing trend here. The Lord of the Rings and Narnia sparked all kinds of ‘devotional’ and pseudo-spiritual guides designed to ‘appeal’ to wide audiences to explain Biblical Truth. Now there are people out there looking for messianic messages in any ‘blockbuster’. Understand the use of everyday anecdotes, stories, or movies, as a starting point to spread the gospel of salvation is not only smart; it is making use of available resources to fulfill the ‘Great Commission’ (Mark 16:15, crf. Matt. 28:18-20, Luke 24:46-47) [2]. However, looking for spiritual messages in mainline movies is inherently dangerous.

Here is the problem, how biblically grounded is the ‘messianic overtone’ in a movie? Two examples come to mind. First, consider an apple. An apple is an apple. Take a picture of an apple, and it looks like an apple. Have an artist draw a picture of the picture of an apple. Have another artist draw a picture of the apple in the first artist’s rendition, etc. Eventually and not very far removed, it no longer looks like an apple (or it looks like an apple but all kinds of things have been ‘added’, like the matte, frame, and background as each ‘artist’ adds their own unique touch).
Second, there is a ‘party’ game used in communication courses called ‘gossip’. The way it works is the first person in a group tells the second person a simple sentence. The sentence goes orally from one person to the next. The last person relates ‘their’ version of the sentence, and compares it to the original. Even among professional ‘communicators’ the ‘end’ version bears no resemblance to the original.

Here, the original is the Bible. The further we get from the Bible, the further from the Truth. The Bible is the original. We have it available. We do not need to look at a picture of it, or an artist’s rendition of an artist’s rendition of it. If we are searching for messianic messages, messianic overtones and Truth, go to the source.
In the book of Acts (17:10-12), we learn of the Bereans. Luke (the author) tells us some interesting things about the Bereans. “Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. (Verse 11) These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.” We quote Verse 11 to encourage Christians to search the Bible to make sure the doctrine they are hearing (or in this case seeing) is the Truth. It is a good verse. Notice it commends the Bereans for searching and making sure what they were hearing is true. Verse 12 tells us what the end result of searching the scripture is, “Therefore many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men.” Plainly, searching the Bible to verify Truth leads to belief in the Truth, not belief in someone’s rendition of truth.

Looking for ‘messianic overtones’ in a movie is not where to find Truth. This is not a debate about what movies one should see [3]. This is simply an admonition to seek the Truth where the Truth is. If a theme in a movie, play, or anecdote is a place to open a dialog to share the gospel - share the gospel. Do not fall prey to the ever increasing trend that searches for the Truth about Jesus Christ and salvation in pop-culture [4].

John 8:32, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Search for the Truth where the Truth is - in the Word of God.

[1] There has been heated debate all over the internet about C.S. Lewis’s works. One of the raging debates is whether the Narnia works are allegorical. Let us put that to rest here: “In an oft-quoted letter to a fifth-grade class in Maryland, Lewis wrote, "You are mistaken when you think that everything in the books 'represents' something in this world. Things do that in The Pilgrim's Progress but . . . I did not say to myself, 'Let us represent Jesus as He really is in our world by a Lion in Narnia': I said, 'Let us suppose that there were a land like Narnia and that the Son of God, as he became a Man in our world, became a Lion there, and then imagine what would happen.'" -- World Magazine, December 5, 2005

[2] A friend, at the same party remarked, “There are Biblical similes everywhere. Putting on a seatbelt in a car to be protected is like putting on the whole “Armor of God”!” (Referring to Ephesians 6:10-18) There are endless starting points to remind one’s self or start a conversation about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The problem is when we start looking at these not as reminders, but to ‘build’ our doctrine or beliefs on.

[3] The conversation about appropriate viewing, reading, or listening materials can spark a debate that will last until Christ’s return. When considering appropriateness the recommendation goes to the fundamentals of a ‘Christ-like’ attitude discussed in previous articles. One could simply ask, “Would I be viewing, reading, or listening to this if Jesus Christ was sitting next to me?” Oops, He is.

[4] This blog while it looks at history, politics, and current events is STILL trying to focus on the gospel of Salvation. There is an excellent place for both new and old Christians to build their fundamentals and foundational Truths of God. The "Pulpit of the Last Days" blog contains a lot of good material (to be sifted through and studied - as a Berean Christian). They present their material in ‘modular’ Bible Study format. While stressing the need for fundamental and foundational knowledge of doctrine, they also stress the need for a ‘Berean’ approach.