Commentary

Cameron is certainly entitled to preach the shamanic gospel of Avatar. Christians, however, need to be aware of what they are being fed along with the overpriced popcorn.

It is a general lack of discernment among them that is often maddening and spiritually treacherous for the upcoming generation of believers. The maddening part comes when professing believers attempt to read Christianity into popular movies that are thoroughly antichrist.

It happened with Star Wars, the Harry Potter series, and too many others to list. It’s a foregone conclusion that we will see much of the same for Avatar.

Christianity Today, for example, often leads the way in anointing the world’s popular delusions as Christian. In its supported blog site directed at women and titled Her·meneutics (ironically a play on the word that fosters accurate Bible interpretation), a female Princeton Seminary student writes the featured article, suggesting that the character of Grace (mentioned above) may have been “Avatar’s Christian character,” and then adds a qualification, “Well, Christian-ish anyway.”

Christian-ish?! James Cameron would be appalled at the suggestion; I am angered. The only insertion of any thing “Christian” in the entire movie is the name of a floating mountain range (“Hallelujah”) and the mention of the Lord’s name, which is used as a curse word. That’s also a paradox for a story set more than a thousand years from today, seemingly far removed from the religious content missionaries supposedly used to “spoil the purity” of the noble savages.

Although Christianity has obviously died out in the movie’s future setting, ironically its God remains in the psyche and on the foulmouthed lips of the characters in the movie.

Christianity Today, the Emerging Church Movement, Rick Warren’s Global P.E.A.C.E. plan, and those among some mission and parachurch organizations (e.g., those that follow the leadership and teachings of C. Peter Wagner) have a penchant for trying to find buried nuggets of Christ in the culture, or accommodating Christianity to the culture, and vice versa. Many are about sanctifying and redeeming the paganism of a society, or at least trying to harmonize and work with all religions.

This is all fodder for syncretism and ecumenism. They are contributing to the religion of the Antichrist.

A. W. Tozer took such an endeavor to task by noting that Moses did not enter into a panel discussion with the Israelites for finding some spiritual merits of the golden calf, nor did Elijah trade edifying insights with the prophets of Baal, and neither did Jesus seek a meeting of the minds with the Pharisees. Furthermore, promoting a “group hug” among contradictory religions with the intention of solving the world’s problems is a grand delusion at best.

Isaiah, speaking for Jehovah God, makes His view absolutely clear: “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this [God's] word, it is because there is no light in them” (Is 8:20).

Warnings are also clear in the Word of God that a great spiritual battle is being waged all around us, that we are in the days of rampant apostasy in the church, and that we are being subjected to an increasing anti-christianity in the world.

What then must a believer do? We must diligently follow the Lord’s prevention and protection program, the heart of which is found in Psalm 1: “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”

But certainly there’s more: prayer and fellowship, for example. We need to circle the wagons at times–for spiritual protection, counsel, encouragement, and ministry to one another.

If such things become our disciplined practice of life, though the Apostasy dries up the spiritual environment around us, we and our families nevertheless shall be fruitful in the Lord.

Read prior article in Part III of our series, “The Avatar Gospel”

This series was adapted from the excellent disposition published by, ‘The Berean Call.”