The Chronicles of Narnia
Hollywood and I have had a hard time for the last twenty years or so. There are so many times when the worst person in the film, as in The Shawshank Redemption, was the Bible believing evangelical. Catholics, of course, have had it just as bad, suffering through endless portrayals of priests being corrupt pedophiles deserving only of our contempt.
Not only did Hollywood denigrate Christians and their leaders, the film and TV industry also has championed all sorts of immorality and portrays adultery, fornication and homosexuality as hip and free thinking. No wonder Christians and the entertainment industry have had a falling out.
Then came along the film, The Passion of the Christ, which no Hollywood studio would back, yet Mel Gibson produced anyway, putting up all of his own money (about 30 million dollars). It has now grossed over 610 million worldwide in box office and video sales. Put that together with the success of The Lord of the Rings and Hollywood executives were starting to listen.
Disney has been one of the first to step forward. They have owned the rights to CS Lewis’ incredibly successful The Chronicles of Narnia for some time. And now they see there is a real market for family friendly, God honoring movies. Disney poured 150 million dollars into production of just the first book. And now they are planning to spend, in partnership with others, 200 million dollars in promotion.
This is an exciting time. Why? Because the Gospel is so clearly presented in the Chronicles of Narnia story. The star character is Aslan, “the lion known by another name in another world.” As CS Lewis wrote to one of his fans about this story of who Aslan was, he responds, “Well, I want you to guess. Has there ever been anyone in this world who:
1) Arrived at the same time as Father Christmas
2) Said he was the son of the Great Emperor
3) Gave himself up for someone else’s fault, to be jeered at and killed by wicked people.
4) Came to life again
5) Is sometimes spoken of as a lamb (see the end of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader) "Don’t you really know His name in this world? Think it over, and let me know your answer.”
This story is all about Jesus Christ, His atonement for sin and resurrection. I know God will use this film to plant His seed in people’s hearts. Our hope is that we will be there with answers when people start asking questions anew about Christianity.
Several of the sermons in November will deal with the themes brought up in this book like, what if there were only winter and no Christmas? This and other messages will reinforce the Bible truths that we have known for so long, but are now put in this novel way through Dr. Lewis’ famous series. Please come and bring your inquiring friends. They will want to know, is there really another world on the other side of the door? There is, you know. It’s the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven. Let us discover this together in the month of November.
To listen to a 15 minute message revealing more insight to The Chronicles of Narnia, click here.
