Eye of the Oracle

February 4, 2008 at 9:34 pm (Family Life, Religion)

A little background first: My daughter has been reading the ‘Dragons in our Midst’ series. She enjoyed the first two books, even to the point of reading them to her brothers. My wife and I looked at them first (obviously) and didn’t see any problem with them. My wife even posted a review of them in her blog. BUT… We picked up the 3rd book from that series, and the first book from the next series (which was also a prequel to the ‘Dragons in our Midst’ series). She initially read the first few chapters, and got a strange feeling about it. I read the first chapter and told her to not read any more. We felt that since she had recommended them in her blog, she really should post the new information and warning about them. My daughter also had a problem with the third book, and stopped reading it a few chapters from the end. It makes me immensely proud that she was able to hear the ‘still, small voice’ that it took me better than a quarter century to finally recognize.
My daughter’s post is at her birdwhisper blog, and my wife’s is at her blog. My wife’s blog is subscribed to by the author’s feed-reader, which notified him immediately of the post with the name of his book. Obviously he wasn’t happy about it, and left a comment on her blog – and also at my daughter’s blog – and also as a forum topic on his fan-forum. This generated a lot of comments, which I feel that I need to address.

Many of the comments drew a comparison between his series and the ‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘Narnia’ series. They also defended his series as being Biblical, but also fantasy fiction. Honestly, I was impressed by the comments. Knowing that they were coming mostly from teens, they were more articulate and respectful than comments I’ve seen coming from adults. My response follows:

Less than half way through the first chapter – about the point where Samyaza was trying to trick the angel guarding the garden of Eden, an internal alarm went off. The holy spirit was warning me about it, and some of the names sounded familiar. Upon investigation, I found that most of them are referenced in heretical writings. Good enough for me – I stopped reading and none in MY house will read them again.

There is a significant difference between ‘Eye of the Oracle’ and other fantasy fiction such as the ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy, or ‘Chronicles of Narnia’. The difference being that EOTO has a biblical story retold with ‘extras’ added to it, specifically extras that are from heretical writings. LOTR and Narnia have non-biblical stories, and therefore are free to include anything they like. Christian interpretation can found in them, but you have to be looking for it. An even broader case can be made for them exemplifying moral behavior – the struggle of good vs. evil, an individual prevailing against an overwhelming opponent, friendship and loyalty, etc. Because they are not re-telling a Biblical event, the standard that we hold them to is much lower. Do they romanticize wrong behavior? Are negative consequences shown and properly attributed? Christian fiction has the additional requirement to edify God, AND to be theologically correct.’Eye of the Oracle’ takes a well known Biblical story, and re-tells it. When dealing with the Bible, we MUST treat it honestly. There can be NO artistic license taken with it’s text. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. (Gal 5:9) This is most especially true when the ‘extras’ added to the Biblical narration are from apocryphal and heretical sources, as is the case with ‘Eye’. Claiming ‘It’s just fiction’ does nothing to remedy that problem.

Was the ‘Passion of the Christ’ Christian fiction, or was it a corrupting of true doctrine by incorporating the visions of Anne Catherine Emerich (http://www.olrl.org/prophecy/emmerich.shtml)? If your pastor told you that it was more holy to pray for souls in Purgatory than for living sinners, that the saints are more powerful on their feast days, that Christ suffered more from a wound on his shoulder than any other, and that he was subsisting entirely on communion wafers, you would leave that church and never look back.

Was the ‘Da Vinci Code’ harmless Christian fiction, or a corrupting of true doctrine with Gnostic heresies by incorporating the gospels of Thomas, Philip and Mary? If they’re true, and Christ wasn’t a man and didn’t die on the cross, then where does salvation come from?

Is ‘The Last Temptation of Christ’ harmless Christian fiction? It includes a disclaimer to that effect at the onset before the movie, before ‘speculating’ on all of the different ways that Satan may have tried to seduce Him.

One of the items that commenters seem to be stuck on is the idea of the Nephilim. Nephilim (strongs # 5303) is NOT translated into English in many versions of the Bible. Selectively ‘transliterating’ a Hebrew word for giant/tyrant/bully doesn’t give it a different meaning. There is no reason to make ‘sons of God’ in Genesis 6 mean something different than it does in Romans, where all who are ‘led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God’. And IF they were some hybrid, then they ALL DIED during Noah’s flood (Gen 7:21-22). As appealing as the idea of a god/man hybrid is (Greek & Roman myths are full of them), the only ‘Christian’ sources are the heretical ‘Book of Enoch’ and ‘Book of Giants’.

‘Eye of the Oracle’ is especially dangerous because it corrupts sound theology by mixing (capital T) Truth with fables and heressy.

Sure, it’s ‘just a story’ and you won’t confuse it for Truth. You’re grounded and strong enough to be able to tell the difference, right?

WRONG.

Without looking it up, see how well you can Biblically answer these questions. How many angels sang to announce the birth of Christ to the shepherds? How many wise men traveled to see Jesus after he was born? When did the wise men see Jesus? If you got them wrong, your knowledge of the Bible has been tainted by our ‘Christmas Culture’. Perhaps you can tell me how many angels God placed to guard the garden of Eden, and how many of them held flaming swords? If you’ve read ‘Eye of the Oracle’, your answer will differ from God’s.

Those who treat most of the bible stories as allegory or legend probably don’t have a problem with it – the details change, but the essence of the story remains the same. I, however, believe that the entire Bible was written by God working through human instruments, that ALL of the words are true and significant, and that they will remain that way forever. As such, any scripture story re-told as fiction must be held to the highest standard of biblical accuracy, neither adding nor subtracting. ‘Eye of the Oracle’ does not meet this standard.

And, specifically in response to Mr. Davis, who said:

• “You are doing harm to a series that God is using in a powerful way to change people’s lives for the better.”

God can use dishonorable vessels for honorable purposes. It is our responsibility to NOT lead children even one step down a path that has the potential to cause them harm. Something about a ‘mill-stone’ comes to mind. From what I have read of your work, you have an incredible talent. Judging by your forum and comments I have seen, you have an intelligent and devoted following.  It is a shame that your work has the potential to confuse them about sound doctrine.