C.S. Lewis vs. L. Frank Baum

Bible Inspires World Acclaimed Literature



Another author for children, that publicly professed his inspiration came from the bible, was not always a promoter of the book, in fact, he was an atheist for many years, C.S. Lewis. Perhaps his most famous of tales are the “Chronicles of Narnia,” which is also approved for reading in the public education system. The first time I read this series was when I was in the fifth grade, my teacher Mrs. Harley read us the series over time, and all of us were hooked by the genius to stir our imagination of this wonderful piece of literature.

As of the date of this publication, located in the C.S. Lewis Reading Room library at Queen’s University in England, is a written response from C.S. Lewis addressed to the then 10 year old Anne Jenkins. Curiously, she inquired to her parents what was meant by the following passage from his Novel “The Silver Chair" It was a little bit at the end of The Silver Chair.” Her parents at the time did not know an answer.

“It was where the dead king Caspian is brought back to life by Aslan the lion’s blood and Eustace says ‘hasn’t he died’ and the lion says ‘yes he has died, most people have you know, even I have, there are very few people who haven’t.’

The young Anne inquired from her parents once more, what does he mean by saying that most people have died? It was then they simply could not answer, and said that she should write the Belfast born author and ask him.

There is a widely held view that the C.S. Lewis Narnian Chronicles carry a predominantly Christian theme. As far as Anne is aware, her letter is the only known document from the author providing support for the evidence that Aslan represented Jesus Christ.

In the letter Lewis simply states that the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe tells the story of the “Crucifixion of Christ and the resurrection.” He also explains that the story of Prince Caspian “tells the restoration of the true religion after the corruption.”

C.S. “Jack” Lewis grew up in Ireland born November 28, 1898. Until his mother passed away from Cancer the young Lewis enjoyed a joyous existence, love of his brother, and a nanny. The young lads were shipped off to boarding school in England where they would experience some of the darkest days of their lives. Jack recalled thinking that at his school, it was “always winter but never Christmas.”

Under the mentorship of William T. Kirkpatrick, as a young man he was prepared to enter Oxford University with a focus of philosophy and logic. World War I put that to an end abruptly,  but does emerge from battle avoiding death. Back home and attending Oxford he impressed his peers to the extent they were certain that a higher power was helping him, and came away with stunning achievements.

During his education at Oxford, he befriended J.R.R. Tolkien (author of The Lord of the Rings) who certainly helped him see the value in the bible and challenged his atheism. Mr. Lewis said that he fought greatly up to the moment of his conversion, noting that he was brought into Christianity like a prodigal, “kicking, struggling, resentful, and darting his eyes in every direction for a chance to escape.” It is good news this happened to him, because his works after that helped to change the course of imagination for any who have read his works. Giving even more fantasy world imagery as one passed through the wardrobe.

During World War II Lewis and his brother took in four children from London that fled the city for safety. Despite this being a distraction for Jack, ultimately he was inspired by their presence and transposed them into the main characters for his first book written for children, “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.” If I were to take the time to diagram this series, I should find the same underlying bible blueprint that Baum used, and can not help but assume Jack was inspired or even influenced by Oz, considering this literature was penned before it’s American publishing date of 1950.

L. Frank Baum was not atheist, fascinated with the bible story, and due to growing up on a vast estate he had no shortage of time to ponder what the symbols meant. Even though he veered into theocracy, no doubt because his foundational knowledge of the bible was very high.  According to my previous book, “The
Origin of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” it became clear he had as much knowledge
as the Freemason founders of the USA. We can see this in a quote from Thomas Paine’s book the age of Reason published in 1776. “The right to every man his own opinion! He who denies to another this right, makes a slave of himself to his present opinion, because he precludes himself right of changing it.”

C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and L. Frank Baum were in essence not proving the story of the bible to be true in using the psychological patterns of the stories, but rather, saw the universal aspect of how all human beings relate to the world they are born into. Each man would follow their God imagery, and thereby, be free from serving the inner world of another, which technically is impossible. That is to say, the thoughts appear to us, they do not appear to anyone outside us.

A government that is operated under divine rule, or the pretense of divine rule is practicing a theocracy. The meaning of the word “theo” is equal to God and “cracy” is equal to government.  In this context, it translates to authorities that claim unlimited power in the name of God or other supernatural forces. To the obvious reader, this would lead one to believe Baum was pro civil government dictating religion, on the contrary, from his writing of Oz calling it “uncivilized” it translates to the government of the mind. Oz is not a ruling government of elected officials outside of Dorothy, they are the ruling powers in her power of imagination, that is to say the power to reason and think for herself. From here one can begin to see what is meant by unlimited power. 

To further clarify, there are many governments, including the United States, in which leaders claim to be inspired by God, or to obey the will of God. This does not, in practice, make civil government a theocracy. What makes a government a theocracy is when lawmakers believe the leaders are governed by the will of God, and write laws predicated on this belief. We find this on the freemasonry symbolism of the dollar bill, “In God we trust.” Not that man is God, but that every human is governed by God an internal government process to reason and think all mankind is born into, regardless of race, creed, color or origin.



Unlike C.S. Lewis, perhaps due to the era of 1900, Baum did not reveal the source of his discovery was inspired from the bible. Theocracy was still a tainted topic, the belief of what God is to mankind, was still up for debate, and a highly volatile topic. In reality, Mr. Baum was often accused of being a liar, but in truth, he was just a master at telling tall tales. Often times people confuse the two, lies are hurtful, tall tales are educational and meant to instruct in a sneaky sort of way.