Dune 2 -
Reflections on a Secular Messiah
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I went to see
Dune 2 this past weekend. I went to enjoy,
not take notes for a review, so I don't consider this a
formal movie review. Rather, it's an
informal reflection on themes
in this and other movies that deal with control of the
world and those who vie for that control -
whether those who would control it are presented as
a messiah (as in Dune) or a
megalomaniac (as in most other Sci-Fi and
Fantasy thrillers).
While megalomaniacs (like Loki and Thanos in The Avengers series, Sauron and Saruman in The Lord of the Rings, The Emperor and Darth Vader in Star Wars for a few examples) are easy to spot and the reason they are evil are equally easy to see, it is more difficult to see why secular messiahs, being false messiahs, can only be considered evil. Unless cast as the villain (as the megalomaniacs typically are) it's difficult to view the "messiahs" as evil because like the anti-Christ, they are typically cast as the hero, the rescuer of a downtrodden people or savior of the world and typically have powerful ability to draw you to themselves, whether through charisma or power. That, along with the appearance of being a hero, a type of savior tends to make you like them and root for them. But ultimately, being secular messiahs, they have severely limited abilities to manipulate the secular world, and thus leave you empty since they can provide you with no ultimate, eternal salvation and thus no hope. That being
said, for those who want a review type
summary: Sad because
the uninitiated - those ignorant of the
truth of the real messiah Jesus, will miss the appeal and reality of the
true messiah. And their Biblical ignorance
will blind them to who that messiah is, and
to what both real power and real salvation
is. And
the deceptive appeal of a secular messiah
will open them to the lies and appeal of the anti-christ
and the many anti-christs - who the apostle
John tells us have already come. (1 John
2.18)
Typical Qualities of Secular (and thus false) Messiahs and Would-be World Rulers
First let me clarify. Not all that are presented as would-be world rulers also present themselves as messiah. But they are all trying to either bring about their own vision of a perfect world (which of course requires them to be ruler), or save the world from what they perceive will cause certain destruction. Literally all the megalomaniac villains mentioned above have these motivations and thus fit the category. So while they are not presented as a "messiah", they are in fact in the role of a secular messiah - one who would, according to their beliefs, save the world, and remake it in their image. So perhaps a better broad category would be would be those vying to be "King of the world" or "King of the Universe" - which of course the true messiah is - being King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Rev 17.14, 19.16) But for simplicity and in keeping with the theme from Dune, I will refer to the broad category of these megalomaniacs and false messiahs simply as "secular messiahs."
8 Signs of a Secular (Non-Biblical) Messiah
1. The
Quest for Power 2. The Power is in an object that can be Controlled and Manipulated Since secular people either can't or have a hard time conceiving of spiritual power, the powers of a secular messiah are in material objects (typically) that can be manipulated.
3. They fulfill Prophecy, but there's never a mention of who the prophecy is from
4. Their followers want them to overthrow Earthly Oppressors This is true of the
Jews of Jesus day - who didn't understand
the mission of the messiah in his first
coming and wondered when he would overthrow
the rule of the Romans. (Acts 1.6-7)
5. If they have visions, they typically don't know what they mean Visions of
secular messiahs are usually used as
opportunities for them to attempt to change
the future, not confirm they know the future
and thus validate their identity.
6. Since they are mere humans with limited power their goals and aspirations are in question - whether they will succeed or not. Neither Neo
(The Matrix), Paul Atreides (Dune 2), or even
Aragon (The Lord of the Rings) are assured
of a victory. Indeed that's the entire point
of the movie - to see if they win, and if so
how.
7. If they die and rise again, it's only to prove they're the chosen one; it does not convey the same benefits to others. Like the Antichrist who appears to be fatally wounded, but survives[1], both Neo and Maud'Dib appear to die and be revived. (I say appear because it's in question if they really die. Indeed the "death" of Maud'Dib is only apparent since we're told his life signs are undetectable to all but the Bene Gesserit. But the fact that he still has life signs - however faint - means he's not really dead. In contrast the real messiah is dead for days - from the crucifixion on Friday (Luke 23.54) to the resurrection early Sunday morning (Mark 16.9, John 20.1-17) And the revival of the false messiahs is not the earth shattering victory over death that Jesus achieves. The secular messiahs barely escape death by the skin of their teeth. And their survival of death only proves to their followers that they are "the chosen one." Since they barely survived, they do not display mastery over death as Jesus did when he rose Lazarus (dead four days) from the dead (John 11.43-44) and himself (John 10.18). In contrast the victory of Jesus not only proves he's the messiah and chosen one, it allows him to give life to all who believe. (John 5.21, 14.19)
8. Secular Messiahs often have to be convinced - or convince themselves - they are the "chosen one"
In contrast
Jesus knows from his youth that he is the
Son of God (Luke 2.49) and had no problem
telling people if it would not hinder his
ministry (John 4.26). The so called
"messianic secret" motifs in the Gospels -
where Jesus tells his disciples not to tell
anyone he's the messiah (example: Matt 17.9)
is typically because he doesn't want the
people taking their false assumptions of
what the messiah will do (as noted above)
and hinder his ministry. (As they did in
John 6.15 - where they wanted to make Jesus
their
King by force so he had to hide himself
since that was not his mission.)
What do these Qualities have in Common? What these qualities have in common is the thing that defines secular people in general: a studied ignorance and ignoring of the true God. There is no recognition of God's existence, his almighty power, is complete omniscience and omnipresence - he misses nothing, his complete control of history, and his well developed, and announced plan for his messiah and the redemption of people. Since the secular are not interested, or do not believe in such things, the secular messiah does not and cannot benefit from the all inclusive power, knowledge and might of the almighty God.
Clearly
there is a world of differences between
secular messiahs and the true Messiah -
Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God who rose
from the dead. Unlike secular messiahs, by
believing in Jesus you can
have eternal life in is name. (John 20.31) I
mentioned above that I would provide John
MacArthur's teaching that demonstrates that
the Mahdi of Islam, the muslim
messiah, is in fact the anti-christ of the
Bible. (In passing clearly the name of the
Dune Messiah - Maud'Dib is intended to evoke
the muslim Mahdi.) Here is MacArthur's
teaching. Now you know.
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Notes 1. The Antichrist "seems" to have a fatal wound, but survives and thus he is the archetype for all the false and secular messiahs who likewise appear to survive or rise from the dead. Here is the scripture:
(I felt remiss for not including this originally
so it has been added post publication.)
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