In the story, Mr. Beaver is explaining the origin of the white witch. He states,

"She comes of your father Adam's --(here Mr. Beaver bowed) your father Adam's first wife Lilith. And she was one of the Jinn. That's what she comes from on one side."

Jinn - (sing. Jinni) In middle eastern and Islamic mythology, they are supernatural beings, usually a spirit or a demon lower than an angel, able to assume human or animal form.

Lilith (Hebrew: Night Monster) female demon of Jewish folklore; her name and personality come from the Babylonian-Assyrian demon called Lilit or Lilu. In Rabbinic literature, Lilith is variously depicted as the mother of Adam's demonic offspring following his separation from Eve his first wife, who left him because of their incompatibility. A superstitious cult associated with Lilith survived among some Jews as late as the 7th century A.D.

Early in the story, Lucy's new friend Mr. Tumnas, the Faun (who incidentally seems to bear a striking resemblance to typical illustrations of the devil) is reminiscing about the "good old days." He states,

"....old Silenus on his fat donkey would come to visit them, and sometimes Bacchus himself, and then the streams would run with wine instead of water and the whole forest would give itself up to jollifications for weeks on end."

Silenus - In Greek mythology, a lecherous woodland deity. The son of Hermes (messenger of the gods). Silenus was usually depicted drunk, and he could be compelled, if caught in a drunken sleep, to prophecy the future. Bacchus - (Dionysus- the son of Zeus) In Greek and Roman mythology is the god of wine and revelry, in whose honor immoral and drunken celebrations would be held, at which the celebrants danced, drank, and generally engaged themselves in drunken frenzies and orgiastic worship.
Is this the sort of behavior the whole forest would give itself up to for weeks on end that Mr. Tumnas is fondly reminiscing about???

Personal Testimony/Comments:
When our son was in the 4th grade at our local Christian School I participated in a work bee to get the school ready for the new school year. As I was cleaning the book room, I picked a book up from a shelf and had an immediate "check or red flag" in my spirit. I was not familiar with the book or the author, and I had been a Christian for only 5 years and was not completely aware of what to do with "red flags" yet. So, I put the book back on the shelf and dismissed the "check" I had felt, reasoning to myself that this was a Christian school with Christian teachers. If there were a problem with the book, I reassured myself, it would not be here. A month into the new school year my son came home from school and told me they were reading a new book at school and recited the title of the book to me. Again, I received the same strong "check" in my spirit, but again I shrugged it off and let it pass. A couple of weeks later my son woke up in the middle of the night screaming in terror because he had been having a nightmare about the characters within this book. The book's name: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. At this point, God definitely had my attention. I responded with, "Yes, okay Lord, I'm sorry, I will get a copy of the book, read it, and find out what's in it. So, I not only read the book, I researched the book. To my utter amazement, the heroes, heroines, and villains are made up of characters from Greek and Roman mythology. C. S. Lewis' use of these characters was no mistake. They all appear accurately depicted and well researched in the context with which they appear in the story. No mistake, this fascinating children's story (by secular, worldly standards, not mine) is filled with the characters of Greek & Roman idolatry. By chance or accident, I don't think so. My research resulted in an exhausting year-long battle with the Christian school board to have these books removed from the school along with other occult and New Age promoting books.

Why did God choose to speak to me about The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe? Probably because I was ignorantly oblivious to the author's credentials. At the time, I was a blank canvas with no preconceived mindsets. I had never heard of C. S. Lewis so I didn't have him elevated to the status of an exalted man on a pedestal who could write no wrong. It seems the Christian community as a whole is extremely divided on this issue. I learned very quickly that in some "Christian circles" questioning the writings of Clive Staples Lewis is closely akin to questioning the inspired Scriptures of God's Word. It amazes me that Christians either openly see the dangers of this literature or they are blindly enthralled with it.

Please, don't misunderstand me. It's not that I think Lewis was an ungodly man. In fact, I understand that he became a great defender of the Christian faith, and I understand that C. S. Lewis has written some wonderful books. I just don't include the Chronicles of Narnia in that category. I am writing this email now because once again I am becoming alarmingly concerned with the increasing popularity of a book that is so widely distributed and promoted as Christian literature. But even worse than before, now we are seeing the Chronicles of Narnia being made into a movie and a video game and Christian parents are allowing their children to gobble it up because of their complete lack of discernment. Christian parents need to wake up! Despite the best intentions of Christian store owners everywhere, not everything that is promoted as "Christian" material or that is sold in a "Christian" bookstore is truly Christian. That is why God gives us the gift of discernment.
~~~ Respectfully,
Linda in Canada - November 2005

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