And she said, The glory is departed from Israel: for the ark of God is taken. 1 Samuel 4:22
The glory was with Israel, but it was never with Fox TV.
With their new show Sleepy Hollow, the writers have taken great liberties mixing Washington Irving’s American tale with the Biblical narrative.
The only elements that seem to exist from the original story are the location, the name of the main character (Ichabod Crane), the first name of his love (Katrina) and the villain is headless. After that, nothing is the same.
Taking a short story and mixing it with apocalyptic scenes give the show a twists that deviates from anything considered accurate.
The bible isn’t the only thing that is weaved into this new cinematic experience. Mythology, Paganism, Demonoly and Freemasonry have all found their way into each episode as it takes the viewer deep into it’s story.
In their own words the writers (Kurtzman & Orci) describe how they are shaping the content.
Since the storyline has a connection to the Bible, what stories are you being inspired by from that?
Kurtzman: I think we gravitated toward the Bible as being really relevant to our storytelling once it became about the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse.
Orci: There are a lot of characters that we are inspired by in The Bible. There are a lot of characters that play into coming in and out of the apocalypse — The Seven Signs, what’s our version of that and who can we adapt that that’s not so obvious? Even the population of Sleepy Hollow is 144,000 — that’s a number from the Bible. There are a lot of details from the Bible, but we’re not trying to do the Bible literally. But the Bible in a more general sense as a marker for American history; we’re being inspired by American history and the legends of our cultures.The Bible is the starting point, but we want to visit various cultures’ interpretations of religion and posit the idea of any bible in any culture is, in a way, a description and an impressionistic interpretation of the one true world religion that we must all be somehow apart of. (empasis supplied)
Kurtzman: Everyone has different interpretations of the Bible and what it means. Ultimately, whether you believe the stories literally or you think they’re allegory or metaphor, they are about how we live our lives and they are a search of meaning of why we’re here on the planet and what our purpose is as a species. Each story raises a question about how we live our lives, so in that sense, it’s the best and the first drama. It really is. It’s an endless well that we can draw from.
In Episode 4 The Lesser Key of Solomon revolves around a book supposedly written by the biblical king that details how to conjure, release and control 72 demons. Found in Dutch reformed Church one article about the episode inaccurately depicts the book as part of the last book of the bible, Revelation.
A revised English version of this book was publlished by Alister Crowley. Like it’s author The Book of the Goetia of Solomon the King has been invluential to those who practice the occult arts. Crowley has been sited to be highly influential in the workings of modern day artists such as the Beatles.
While it may seem Avant Garde to use the bible in works of fiction and mix the two, the book of Revelation offers a warning in the last chapter to those who would attempt to change the meaning of what God has written.
For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. Revelation 22:18-19
The bible is clear that no man can serve two masters, that we cannot be double minded.
Amos 3:3 asks, Can two walk together, except they be agreed? Mixing the bible and fiction doesn’t agree. God does not condone the unification of themes which He explicitly condemns with His letter of love, a letter of warning to the human race.
Let us be careful not to place the two-edged sword in the sheath of darkness.
We cannot use Hollywood as the foundation of our theology, or the glory will depart from us as well.
http://www.pluggedin.com/tv/stu/sleepy-hollow.aspx
http://www.charismanews.com/culture/41064-sleepy-hollow-draws-inspiration-from-book-of-revelation
http://www.tvguide.com/news/sleepy-hollow-alex-kurtzman-roberto-orci-1070348.aspx
http://religimedia.wordpress.com/2013/09/16/swing-and-a-miss-will-sleepy-hollow-connect/
http://guardianlv.com/2013/10/sleepy-hollow-review-the-lesser-key-of-solomon/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lesser_Key_of_Solomon
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Hollywood has long used Bible stories as themes in movies but are they telling the same inverted truths as the early gnostics? Are they ultimately leading you to believe that God is evil and the devil is good?
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