Several months ago my son was sick over a weekend and we spent many hours on the couch plowing through nearly 200 pages C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia. At the same time I was reading through chapters 5 and 6 and found them and actually all of Who is Jesus as a powerful commentary about Narnia living.
During a pause in our read-athon I chatted with Kyle my son about the Calormenes (I think they are called.) I talked to him about how their speech is unique from the speech we find in the two previous books Lion, Witch, and Wardrobe & Magician's Nephew. The Calormenes speak with multi-syllable words and formality. They have a highly developed set of rules pertaining to social conduct and C.S. Lewis reinforces the formality and structure of their civilization with their vocabulary and speech patterns.
When I spoke with Kyle about their speech we were sharing about the subtle ways that C.S. Lewis (brilliantly in my opinion) creates unique pieces of "stand alone" literature while at the same time tying them to a series. I never thought for a moment as we chatted that perhaps he was also making a powerful, extremely relevant & personal-to-me poignant point about my susceptibility to the dark side of spiritual warfare. He nailed me .....AND I DIDN'T SEE IT COMIN' - until Chapter 6.
Although the Calormenes are a huge empire, they have no interest with invading Narnia, a small land. They don't want to mess with Narnia because Narnia they believe is infested with ancient demons & dark magic.
I didn't connect the their fear of Narnia with their formal speech until I read chapter 6 of Who is Jesus?
The Calormenes have no time or space for the demonic realm because they have filled their relationships with laws & rules of conduct. Their relationships are epitomized by ROLES and prescribed rules of conduct. They walk according to the ROLE. Speak according to ROLE. Since they are so "in control" Narnia appears "out of control." They are masters of ROLE CONTROL.
The connection is powerful for me. I think C.S. Lewis' point is and will continue to be that in those places (like where I grew up) where we think demonic activity is explained by physics, chemistry, and fall under our "control" are actually the places where demonic activity runs most rampant.
The Calormenes want to remain isolated from ancient demonic activity. The irony/reality is that the bondage of spiritual oppression was far heavier among the Calormenes; they simply denied its existence and resisted the light of truth which would reveal a "things" ultimate spiritual nature.
Simply put -- this chapter and in a very vivid & emotionally stunning way The Horse and His Boy, have knocked me to my knees and spurred me to confess: "Oh God, I say again, when I think I'm in control, that is again Lord actually when I am out of control" and perhaps easy prey for dark magic.
Savior!!! Keep saving!!!!!
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