Galatians 1:9, “If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.”
C.S. Lewis (1898-1963) is one of the most widely admired, quoted and
eloquent religious authors of the 20th century. Unfortunately, Lewis appears
to have had churchianity without Christianity. Granted, it sure does seem at
a glance from reading Lewis's awesome quotes that he was saved. However, any
honest born-again Christian would have to conclude that C.S. Lewis had
issues after researching his writings further.
For example, in the following quotes Lewis clearly states that his official position is “to explain and defend the belief that has been COMMON to nearly all Christians at all times.” In other words, he accepts unsaved Roman Catholics and Mormons as being true Christians simply because they believe in Christ (i.e., the common belief)...
“You will not learn from me whether you ought to become an Anglican, a Methodist, a Presbyterian, or a Roman Catholic. This omission is intentional. There is no mystery about my position…the best service I could do was to explain and defend the belief that has been common to nearly all Christians at all times” (Mere Christianity, p. 6-7)
“And, whatever you do, do not start quarrelling with other people because they use a different formula from yours” (Mere Christianity, p. 284-5)
C.S. Lewis wouldn't criticize any religion because he was a part of the Devil's New World Order. Well you'll learn the truth from me, that is, Salvation is NOT found in ANY religion; but rather, in a Person—the Lord Jesus Christ!!! What Lewis foolishly calls a “different formula” in the preceding quote, the Bible calls “another gospel,” cursing anyone who dares to preach it...
Galatians 1:6-9, “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. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.”
Notice that another gospel is NOT ANOTHER the Bible says! There is ONLY one gospel. There are no formulas. The Word of God forever defines “the gospel” in 1st Corinthians 15:1-4...
“Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.”
The gospel (good news) is that Jesus Christ died, was buried and resurrected from the dead three days later.
But wait a minute! Doesn't every heathen, unsaved, hellbound, Catholic and Mormon believe that Jesus died, was buried and resurrected? Yes, they do. The reason why they are satanic cults, “cursed” as the Bible teaches, is because they ADD to the gospel. Thus, they teach ANOTHER GOSPEL. Catholicism requires the keeping of “seven sacraments” to get to Heaven in their religion. This heresy is known as “sacramental salvation.”
One of those sacraments is water baptism. The false teaching that you have to be water baptized to go to Heaven is called “baptismal regeneration.” Biblically, water baptism is simply one's profession of faith, and NOT required to be saved. You become born-again (or born anew) by the Spirit of God in response to your faith in the Word of God (i.e., the gospel).
The Gospel is the Good News that Jesus DIED on a cross for our sins, was BURIED and bodily RESURRECTED for our sins (1st Corinthians 15:1-6). If you receive the gospel as full payment for your sins, then you are forgiven and saved eternally by Jesus precious blood (1st Peter 1:18-19).
In another place, Lewis foolishly says this:
“I think that every prayer which is sincerely made even to a false god or to a very imperfectly conceived true God, is accepted by the true God and that Christ saves many who do not think they know Him.”
SOURCE: C.S. Lewis, Letters of C. S. Lewis, (New York, Harper and Row, 2001), p. 428
Shockingly, Lewis says:
“as I believe, Christ, fulfills both Paganism and Judaism.”
SOURCE: C.S. Lewis, Reflections On The Psalms, (New York, Mariner Books 1964), p. 129
As you've just read, C.S. Lewis ascribed to an occult view of salvation, that is, believing that there are many paths to the light (God). In sharp contrast, the Word of God is extremely exclusive, proclaiming that there is ONLY ONE WAY to Heaven, and that one way is by grace alone, through faith alone, in JESUS CHRIST ALONE! John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; NO MAN cometh unto the Father, BUT BY ME.” Lewis is teaching a false plan of salvation. The Biblical gospel of Christ's death, burial and resurrection EXCLUDES ALL FORMS OF SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS, ADDITIONS OR OBLIGATIONS. This means that NO ONE can be saved by following the heresies of Roman Catholicism, Judaism, Mormonism, Buddhism or any other religion that teaches a false plan of salvation. Eternal life is a free gift (Romans 5:15)... freely provided (John 3:16), freely offered (Romans 10:13) and freely received (Revelation 22:17).
Something is very wrong with a respected theologian who refrains from warning people about the damnable cult of Roman Catholicism. The Catholic Church is not a New Testament Church! Instead, Roman Catholicism is a satanic manmade religion that has led billions of souls into the eternal fires of Hell.
Lewis held to an occult idea of Christ being found in all religions, and he refused to believe that all of the Bible was inspired by God...
He believed in a type of “soft universalism.” “[H]ere are people who do not accept the full Christian doctrine about Christ but who are so strongly attracted by Him that they are His in a much deeper sense than they themselves understand. There are people in other religions who are being led by God’s secret influence to concentrate on those parts of their religion which are in agreement with Christianity, and who thus belong to Christ without knowing it. For example, a Buddhist of good will may be led to concentrate more and more on the Buddhist teaching about mercy and to leave in the background (though he might still say he believed) the Buddhist teaching on certain other points. Many of the good Pagans long before Christ’s birth may have been in this position” (Mere Christianity pp 176-177)
... Perhaps these are why renowned Welsh preacher D. Martin Lloyd-Jones warned that C.S. Lewis had a defective view of salvation and was an opponent of the substitutionary and penal view of the atonement (Christianity Today, December 20, 1963). And in a letter to the editor of Christianity Today, February 28, 1964, Dr. W. Wesley Shrader, First Baptist Church, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, warned that “C.S. Lewis … would never embrace the (literal-infallible) view of the Bible” (F.B.F. News Bulletin, Fundamental Baptist Fellowship, March 4, 1984)
SOURCE: How “Christian” was C.S. Lewis… and Why is He an Evangelical Hero?
The simplicity of the gospel is easily perverted when C.S. Lewis dilutes it, reshaping it to embrace heretical false religions like Roman Catholicism that teach the lies of sacramental salvation, baptismal regeneration and works salvation. Lewis propagated such a shallow view of salvation that even satanic Mormons (who deny Christ's deity) still praise Lewis today, years after his death in 1963, as a great theologian. In reality Lewis' works are being used today more than ever to promote ecumenicalism and apostasy in our churches.
The simple old adage is still true: you are known by the company you keep. The same applies in the realm of citation. Although I greatly admire many of the following spectacular quotes by Lewis, I will not quote him in articles to prevent people from thinking that I endorse the theological positions of this heretical man. Nevertheless, I think the following truthful quotes by Lewis are worthy of mentioning here...
- "Can a mortal ask questions which God finds unanswerable? Quite easily, I should think. All nonsense questions are unanswerable."
- "You don't have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body."
- “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”
- “The very man who has argued you down, will sometimes be found, years later, to have been influenced by what you said”
- "My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust?"
- "The real problem is not why some pious, humble, believing people suffer, but why some do not."
- “God, who foresaw your tribulation, has specially armed you to go through it, not without pain but without stain”
- "An explanation of cause is not a justification by reason."
- "Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither."
- "Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil."
- “When we lose one blessing, another is often most unexpectedly given in its place”
- "Experience: that most brutal of teachers. But you learn, my God do you learn."
- "The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of 60 minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is."
- "Nothing that you have not given away will ever be really yours."
- “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”
A C.S. Lewis Fact
Sheet!
by Jack Kettler 2013
Many American Evangelicals celebrate and attempt
to own C.S. Lewis as one of their own. C.S. Lewis was professor of medieval
and Renaissance English at Cambridge University, and there is no doubt that
Lewis was truly an intellectual. However, being an intellectual or highly
educated does not guarantee fidelity to the Word of God or that you will
even be a Christian. In what follows, the diligent reader will be shocked to
discover some of Lewis' real beliefs.
To start, consider this shocking Universalistic heresy from C.S. Lewis' the
Chronicles of Narnia:
“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.”1
What is Lewis saying in this chapter? According to Lewis, those who
sincerely serve the devil (Tash) are actually serving God (Aslan) and will
eventually be accepted by God and allowed into heaven. We should recognize
this as outright heresy. Unfortunately, many people believe that God will
save unbelievers and followers of pagan religions without faith in Christ
along with Lewis.
Some may attempt to save Lewis from this shocking heresy by saying that this
quotation is from The Chronicles of Narnia, which is allegorical and because
of this, it should not be taken literally as something Lewis really
believed.
Is this a valid defense of Lewis? Consider this next quote from Mere
Christianity:
“There are people who do not accept the full Christian doctrine about Christ
but who are so strongly attracted by Him that they are His in a much deeper
sense than they themselves understand. There are people in other religions
who are being led by God’s secret influence to concentrate on those parts of
their religion which are in agreement with Christianity, and who thus belong
to Christ without knowing it. For example, a Buddhist of good will may be
led to concentrate more and more on the Buddhist teaching about mercy and to
leave in the background (though he might still say he believed) the Buddhist
teaching on certain other points. Many of the good Pagans long before
Christ’s birth may have been in this position.”2
In another place, Lewis says this:
“I think that every prayer which is sincerely made even to a false god or to
a very imperfectly conceived true God, is accepted by the true God and that
Christ saves many who do not think they know Him.”3
Shockingly, Lewis says:
“as I believe, Christ, fulfills both Paganism and Judaism.”4
What does the apostle Paul say? Every person who is outside of genuine faith
in Christ are dead in their trespasses and sins! (See Ephesians 2:1)
Was Lewis an Evangelical on Scripture? Lewis has this to say:
“all Holy Scripture is in some sense – though not all parts of it in the
same sense – the word of God.”5
“Naivety, error, contradiction, even (as in the cursing Psalms) wickedness
are not removed. The total result is not ‘the Word of God’ in the sense that
every passage, in itself, gives impeccable science or history. It carries
the Word of God....”6
Lewis separates himself from a Protestant view of Scripture:
“whether a particular passage is rightly translated or is myth (but of
course myth specially chosen by God from among countless myths to carry a
spiritual truth) or history.... But we must not use the Bible (our fathers
too often did) as a sort of Encyclopedia out of which texts...can be taken
for use as weapons.”7
The weapons of our warfare are not carnal. See 2 Corinthians 10:4. But in
contrast to Lewis, Scripture is our most powerful weapon.
In contrast to confessional Protestants, Lewis believed the Scriptures and
Christ himself were in error:
“Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till
all these things take place,” as “certainly the most embarrassing verse in
the Bible.” And: “The one exhibition of error and the one confession of
ignorance [Mark 13:32] grow side by side. That they stood thus in the mouth
of Jesus himself, and were not merely placed thus by the reporter, we surely
need not doubt.... The facts, then, are these: that Jesus professed himself
(in some sense) ignorant, and within a moment showed that he really was
so.”8
Was this an isolated statement by Lewis? Consider:
“Either this [John’s Gospel] is reportage, though it may no doubt contain
errors, pretty close up to the facts; nearly as close as Boswell. Or else,
some unknown writer in the second century, without known predecessors or
successors, suddenly anticipated the whole technique of modern, novelistic,
realistic, narrative.”9
It what could be taken for a Neo-Orthodox statement, Lewis says:
“It is Christ Himself, not the Bible, who is the true word of God.”10
Jesus believed in Hell, did Lewis? Consider the following:
“And every state of mind, left to itself, every shutting up of the creature
within the dungeon of its own mind--is, in the end, Hell”11
Consider Lewis on purgatory:
“Of course I pray for the dead. The action is so spontaneous, so all but
inevitable, that only the most compulsive theological case against it would
deter me. And I hardly know how the rest of my prayers would survive if
those for the dead were forbidden. At our age, the majority of those we love
best are dead. What sort of intercourse with God could I have if what I love
best were unmentionable to him?
I believe in Purgatory.
Mind you, the Reformers had good reasons for throwing doubt on the 'Romish
doctrine concerning Purgatory' as that Romish doctrine had then become.....
The right view returns magnificently in Newman's DREAM. There, if I remember
it rightly, the saved soul, at the very foot of the throne, begs to be taken
away and cleansed. It cannot bear for a moment longer 'With its darkness to
affront that light'. Religion has claimed Purgatory.
Our souls demand Purgatory, don't they? Would it not break the heart if God
said to us, 'It is true, my son, that your breath smells and your rags drip
with mud and slime, but we are charitable here and no one will upbraid you
with these things, nor draw away from you. Enter into the joy'? Should we
not reply, 'With submission, sir, and if there is no objection, I'd rather
be cleaned first.' 'It may hurt, you know' - 'Even so, sir.'
I assume that the process of purification will normally involve suffering.
Partly from tradition; partly because most real good that has been done me
in this life has involved it. But I don't think the suffering is the purpose
of the purgation. I can well believe that people neither much worse nor much
better than I will suffer less than I or more. . . . The treatment given
will be the one required, whether it hurts little or much.
My favorite image on this matter comes from the dentist's chair. I hope that
when the tooth of life is drawn and I am 'coming round',' a voice will say,
'Rinse your mouth out with this.' This will be Purgatory. The rinsing may
take longer than I can now imagine. The taste of this may be more fiery and
astringent than my present sensibility could endure. But . . . it will be
disgusting and unhallowed.”12
Lewis on man's sin or depravity:
“...when the consequence is drawn that, since we are totally depraved, our
idea of good is worth simply nothing - may thus turn Christianity into a
form of devil worship”13
Lewis had more to say on this:
“I disbelieve that doctrine [total depravity], partly on the logical ground
that if our depravity were total we should not know ourselves to be depraved
and partly because experience shows us much good in human nature.”14
As seen above, Lewis believed non-Christians could be saved. Consider Lewis
on how people are saved in the Christian world:
“There are three things that spread the Christ-life to us: baptism, belief,
and that mysterious action which different Christians call by different
names - Holy Communion, the Mass, the Lord's Supper”15
Lewis' sacramental understanding of salvation:
“There are three things that spread the Christ-life to us: baptism, belief,
and…the Lord’s supper…. And perhaps that explains one or two things. It
explains why this new life is spread not only by purely mental acts like
belief, but by bodily acts like baptism and Holy Communion…. God never meant
man to be a purely spiritual creature. That is why He uses material things
like bread and wine to put the new life into us.”16
Lewis on evolution:
“If by saying that man rose from brutality you mean simply that man is
physically descended from animals, I have no objections…. For long centuries
God perfected the animal form which was to become the vehicle of humanity
and the image of Himself. He gave it hands whose thumbs could be applied to
each of its fingers, and jaws and teeth and the throat capable of
articulation, and a brain sufficiently complex to execute all material
motions whereby rational thought is incarnated. The creature may have
existed for ages in this state before it became man…. We do not know how
many of these creatures God made, nor how long they continued in the
Paradisal state.”17
“… for we have good reason to believe that animals existed long before men…
For long centuries God perfected the animal form which was to become the
vehicle of humanity and the image of Himself … God caused a new kind of
consciousness to descend upon this organism”18
“…Man, the highest of the animals”19
“If … you mean simply that man is physically descended from animals, I have
no objection”20
“...but he (man) remains still a primate and an animal”21
Lewis' denial of the creation account and Adam's historicity,
subverts the critical point made by Paul in Romans about how sin and death
came into the world:
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through
sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned: (For until the
law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not
sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type
of Him who was to come. But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by
the one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by
the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. And the gift is
not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which
came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came
from many offenses resulted in justification. For if by the one man's
offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance
of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the
One, Jesus Christ.) Romans 5:12-17 If sin and death existed in the world for
millions of years prior to Adam, then the Scriptures would not be true. I
will take what Paul says in Romans as truth instead of the speculation of
Lewis.
C.S. Lewis held that the Biblical Genesis account came from
pagan and mythical sources:
“I have therefore no difficulty accepting, say, the view of those scholars
who tell us that the account of Creation in Genesis is derived from earlier
Semitic stories which were Pagan and mythical.”22
Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones of historic Westminster Chapel of London reservations
regarding the theology of C. S. Lewis:
“C. S. Lewis was essentially a philosopher, his view of salvation was
defective... Lewis was an opponent of the substitutionary and penal theory
of the Atonement”23
In conclusion, I'm not saying Christians should not read the writings of C.
S. Lewis. I'm saying Lewis should be read with discernment and not
recognized as an evangelical. In fact, Lewis would not have been able to
answer this essential Presbyterian membership vow to be accepted as a
communicant member: Do you believe the Scriptures of the Old and New
Testaments to be the Word of God, the only infallible rule for faith and
life? In light of the above quotations, surely the reader will agree.
Notes:
The Theology of C. S. Lewis by Dr. Cornelius Van Til
End of article
Mr. Kettler is an ordained Presbyterian Elder and the owner of http://www.Undergroundnotes.com where his theological, philosophical and political articles can be read. He has worked in corporate America for over 30 years and is now realizing his dreams as a successful home business entrepreneur. Permission is hereby granted to reprint this article as long as my web site is retained in the biographical information.
1st Kings 21:20, “...thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the LORD.”
