March 1, 2002 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article)

I have written several warnings about the popular C.S. Lewis, and I want to emphasize the danger of this man further. Recently a reader sent a quote from one of Lewis's Narnia series, "The Last Battle," from the chapter "Further up and Further in." Note the following very carefully:

"Then I fell at his feet and thought, Surely this is the hour of death, for the Lion (who is worthy of all honour) will know that I have served Tash all my days and not him. Nevertheless, it is better to see the Lion and die than to be Tisroc of the world and live and not to have seen him. But the Glorious One bent down his golden head and touched my forehead with his tongue and said, Son, thou art welcome. But I said, Alas, Lord, I am no son of thine but the servant of Tash. He answered, Child, all the service thou hast done to Tash, I account as service done to me. Then by reasons of my great desire for wisdom and understanding, I overcame my fear and questioned the Glorious One and said, Lord, is it then true, as the Ape said, that thou and Tash are one? The Lion growled so that the earth shook (but his wrath was not against me) and said, It is false. Not because he and I are one, but because we are opposites, I take to me the services which thou hast done to him. For I and he are of such different kinds that no service which is vile can be done to me, and none which is not vile can be done to him. Therefore if any man swear by Tash and keep his oath for the oath's sake, it is by me that he has truly sworn, though he know it not, and it is I who reward him. And if any man do a cruelty in my name, then, though he says the name Aslan, it is Tash whom he serves and by Tash his deed is accepted. Dost thou understand, Child? I said, Lord, thou knowest how much I understand. But I said also (for the truth constrained me), Yet I have been seeking Tash all my days. Beloved, said the Glorious One, unless thy desire had been for me thou shouldst not have sought so long and so truly. For all find what they truly seek."

TWO DAMNABLE HERESIES ARE TAUGHT HERE

Lewis is teaching damnable false doctrine here, and it is even more wicked, in that it is intended for the indoctrination of children.

First, according to Lewis, those who sincerely serve the devil (Tash) are actually serving God (Aslan) and will eventually be accepted by God. That is the heresy of universalism, and many hold to this false doctrine, believing that God will somehow receive unbelievers and followers of false religions into Heaven even though they do not know Jesus Christ in this life.

When I interviewed the head of the New Testament department at Serampore University (founded by William Carey in India) years ago, he told me the same thing. I asked him whether the Hindus will be accepted by God if they are sincere in their religion, and he replied, "Certainly."

Well, the Bible says certainly not! Ephesians chapter two tells us the condition of every person outside of regenerating faith in Jesus Christ. He is dead in trespasses and sins (v. 1), controlled by and living according to the working of the devil (v. 2), a child of disobedience (v. 2), dominated by the flesh (v. 3), by nature the child of wrath (v. 3), without Christ (v. 12), an alien and stranger from the covenant of God (v. 12), without hope (v. 12), WITHOUT GOD IN THE WORLD (v. 12), far off from God (v. 13).

In fact, the Lord Jesus Christ had already settled this matter long before the penning of Ephesians. In His conversation with Nicodemus, the Lord Jesus said categorically, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3). Nicodemus was a very sincere and religious Jew, and if any category of person could have gone to heaven without being born again, it would have been people like him. Jesus Christ said that it will not happen.

Furthermore, Lewis is teaching that salvation can be achieved by works and religious seeking, and that is a false gospel that is cursed of God in the book of Galatians.

"I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed" (Gal. 1:6-8).

There is only one true gospel, and that is salvation through repentance and faith in the blood of Jesus Christ; but there are many false gospels, and all of them claim that a man can be saved in some sense by good works.

Beware of the dangerous false teacher C.S. Lewis; and beware also of his friend, the Roman Catholic J.R. Tolkien.

For more about this see the articles "Tolkien and the Lord of the Rings" (Feb. 5, 2002) and "C.S. Lewis and Evangelicals Today" (Jan. 4, 2002) at the Way of Life web site. See the Daily Listings section under the date of the article.