The Gospel of Stephen King

When the horror novelist Stephen King was once asked why he wrote such gross stories, he said he did it because he had the heart of a small boy – which he kept in a jar on his desk.

With his beady eyes and I-just-killed-the-cat grin, King looks and sounds like a horror novelist. But when the Rev. Paul F.M. Zahl read several of King’s novels, he learned something new about the author: There’s a lot of faith behind his fright.

Zahl says some of the most stirring affirmations of Christian faith can be found in the chilling stories of King. The horror master has been preaching sermons to millions of readers for years, only most of King’s fans don’t know it, he says.

“People tend to think that Stephen King is anti-religious because he is a horror writer, but that’s completely mistaken,” says Zahl, a retired Episcopal priest who has written about King’s religious sensibility for Christianity Today magazine. “Several of his books are parables of grace in action.”

Want to read a powerful meditation on Jesus’ sacrificial love? Check out how King links the death of the mammoth death row inmate John Coffey (note the initials, J.C.) to Jesus’ crucifixion in “The Green Mile.” King’s “Storm of the Century” is a creepy retelling of Jesus’ eerie encounter with the demon called “Legion” in the Gospel of Mark’s fifth chapter. And King’s epic apocalyptic novel, “The Stand,” reads like a contemporary retelling of the Book of Revelation, with a little Exodus thrown in, Zahl says.

Continue reading at religion.blogs.cnn.com

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Evermyrtle

I have tried several time to read one of Steven King's books but could never get interested in what he was saying. It seemed "out of the world" to me, seems "W-I-E-R-D!!!
- Taquoshi
  
  Did you mean "w-i-r-e-d" or "W-e-i-r-d", or both?
  - Evermyrtle
    
    Both!!!
poacher

dean koont is a much more spiritual author than king. i enjoy both but imho koont is the stronger intellect.
- TSB
  
  Koontz.
- simon says
  
  crap Poacher !!
MsMaryPoppis

If Zahl is trying to say King is a "closet Christian", he is waaaaaaay in arrears. He needs to do some more indepth study of King. I'm more apt to believe his comment abt "he did it because he had the heart of a small boy – which he kept in a jar on his desk" is more accurate that anything I've read in this entire article.
- M Green
  
  I'm a pretty big Stephen King fan. I can tell you that he was brought up Methodists, and there ARE aspects of God, Hell, and Christianity in his work. BUT, he's a pretty liberal christian and Democrat. I am a conservative christian, so I have to read his stuff with a grain of salt–and sometimes skip paragraphs because of content. The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon is one of my favorite, but it's a pretty universalist view. SO, I don't really know what that makes him.
ONTIME

I have not read anything by King in a long time but I was never worried about his faith or politick because I feel quite capable of letting other have their say. He and Koontz were two of my steady reads for a long while, I don't feel I was influenced it was just a good yarn..
MontieR

WOW I hope the author has his medical marijuana card. He's definitely smoking something.
bd gear

If King is a good Christian, why is he such a big leftist?
- daves
  
  Because Jesus teaches us to be kind to our enemies and to treat everyone with kindness.
  - keyboardshark
    
    Leftists teach us that it's good to confiscate money, by the power of big government, from one segment of the population and redistribute it to another segment of the population from whom they can get the most votes. They also teach us that the government must control every aspect of our lives "for our own good", of course. Doesn't sound like Jesus to me. Try finding any of THAT in the Bible.
    - tbone
      
      Jesus wasn't a Conservative Republican by definition either, so what's your point? Remember when He said, "Give to Caesar that which is Caesar's and give to God that which is God's"
      - Vladimir
        
        No, Jesus wasn't a conservative republican, but conservative principles are in line with Christian principles, whereas the liberal agenda is in line with Satan's agenda.
      - keyboardshark
        
        You've got that right, Vlad.
      - keyboardshark
        
        The issue is not about the government's authority to impose taxes ("Give to Caesar that which is Caesar's), but about what they do with those taxes. If the taxes are used for national defense, or another program that benefits the population equally, fine. But redistributing tax money to other segments of the population is nothing but thievery. It is not acceptable to have the "steal from the rich, give to the poor" Robin Hood mentality, enforced by the power of big government..
Chris

How special – trying to appropriate an author's writings as "Christian" – why wouldn't they belong in the atheist corner?
- Dave
  
  Chris you athiest do it all the time so what the difference?
  Truth will be told and if you choose NOT to believe it is your choice, But what if your wrong?
  - CJM
    
    Because, Dave, that late, ingrate, benefactress, Madeline O'Hare, told them there is no God, no salvation, no grace, no Christ, ad nauseum—and her followers believe in her tenets. Therefore, they are a religious group that belives in nothing sacred and life has no hope. Sad, isn't it.
    - Vladimir
      
      Eternally sad.
- M Green
  
  Because he SAID he believes in God. We're just trying to figure out how much, and what God means to him. This is simply a conversation among Christians. There really is something wrong with you constantly accusing others of causing strife, and yet here you are, trying to find an edge to cause some yourself.
BYRON

Most christains are narrow-minded because of their belief's of their religion. The remarks of Jesus made I can not deal with.
- Dave
  
  BYRON? What remarks jesus made are you refering too?
- keyboardshark
  
  BYRON says: "Most christains are narrow-minded because of their belief's of their religion."
  
  Yes, you are right, we are narrow minded. We believe that all other religions are false and that Jesus Christ is the only Way to salvation. We are also narrow minded because we believe that what the Bible declares to be sinful is indeed sinful. And we are also narrow minded because we reject the ideas of man whenever those ideas conflict with the truth of the Bible.
  
  "Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."
  Matthew 7:14
  - Evermyrtle
    
    You are 100% correct!!!
- CJM
  
  Really Byron? I have always believed that same thing of atheists because they have no correct answer on how life actually began—it sure wasn't an amoeba because that tiny little speck of life had to have some origins (If anyone has ever heard how the amoeba got its start, please enlighten us), and no atheist can agree where this life had its beginnings. Evolution? Yes there is evolution in terms of adaptation, but each species had to learn to live within its environment so that leaves man's origination from an amoeba completely out of the picture. Man has always been man and an elephant has always been an elephant…besides, if all were evolved out of the amoebic stage of life, then why are they still around, looking just like they did at the beginning of life?
  - Dandy
    
    Not just the amoeba, but where did dirt come from. We live in time. God does not live in time.
Lughon

Seeing Christ as a Leftist is standard fare on the Christian Left. As Biship Sheen said, they put the cart before the horse. They think that because the early Christians sometimes shared things in common in the catacombs as monks still in monastaries, all you have to do if force people to do this to produce brotherhood. No the Brotherhood produced the sharing and not the forced sharing the brotherhood. And these were special circumstances and vocations to begin with: the ordinary way if family life and if you don't work, you don't eat as St Paul said.
- asg
  
  Paul disagreed with all things in common and changed that idea for Christians because he knew individual freedom begins to lose out to what was first, free choice to share (the initial all things in common idea) and results at some point into coercive regulation… it was a moral move on his part.
- tbone
  
  You cannot put Jesus into American political terms. He's neither Republican nor Democrat. He's way bigger than that.
  - Vladimir
    
    However, you can compare the political parties with Christ as the perfect standard. Conservatism is in line with the principles Christ taught and Liberalism is not. Determining which party is the most conservative is, therefore, extremely important for the Christian voter.
Old School Patriot

And Chuck Colson remarked once that the original Dracula by Bram Stoker was a weird apologetic for the gospel…why not just stick to the source, The Holy Bible. God knows what He wants to say and how to say it, with out it being wrapped in weird.
simon says

remember Zahl….Satan has been known to be able to quote Scripture as well .
see 2nd Cor 2:11 and 2nd Cor 6:14-15 and 2nd Cor 11:14

I LOVE THE EPISTLES OF THE APOSTLE PAUL BETTER !!
Laksman

Know ye all that Stephen King and Paul F M Zahl are agents of Satan. Satan quoted Scripture in Matthew 4:9 If you are the Son of God he said "throw yourself down from here. vs.10 For it is written (Psalm 91.11) "He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully: vs.11 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. Know ye all true believers, do not be deceived by false prophets in the last days, the enemy comes as an angel of light to deceive, kill and destroy the good work done by our Lord Jesus Christ.
- CJM
  
  And you know King and Zahl are "agents of satan" because?????????? How foolish of you..you make yourself appear to be narrow-minded and bigoted simply because these two do not believe or think the same way you do. People have the right to seek God and speak with Christ at their own level; who are you do decide otherwise.. Shame on you.
  - Laksman
    
    King and Zahl do not have to think like me. What they write is harmful not only to Christians but also to unbelievers and atheists. I am neither narrow minded nor bigoted, but a true believer who rests on the Holy Bible. Who is Zahl to write about King's connection with the holy Scriptures? Is it because Zahl puts Rev. in front of his name? People have the right to write what they like, but being a Rev. Zahl should not write nonsense. When people like Zahl and King write things contrary to the Holy Scriptures, Christians have the right voice their opinion and do not have to appear either narrow minded or bigoted.
msjallen

There is no stretch of one's imagination that Stephen King writes about anything in the Bible or about Christianity and why would anyone want to go to any other book besides the Bible to learn about living the Christian way of life?
CJM

Some people have the gift of writing, whether it's weird science fiction or authorized bibliographies or some other topic, others have the gift of healing through medical and/or spiritual practice, and so forth–each individual has their own particular interests. Man's talents are gifts from God–and how the person uses it is up to the individual. However, for some, the issue of Christ having a modern political agenda has been brought up as if Christ would choose one side over the the other. While God has generously blessed this Nation, it is simply foolishness to attribute some sort of political affiliation to Christ or God–neither are concerned with the politics of man for God said he was not of this world. I know that some are fanatical in claiming God/Christ's political agendas, but it is simply a figment of the individual's imagination. We all have choices and what we do with those choices is up to us individually.
The Watchman

The article regarding Stephen King's intent in his writings is irrelevant in the entire scheme of things. Only God and Stephen King knows Stephen's heart. The child's heart that Mr. King stated is in a jar on his desk, is a metaphor I believe. I tend to think that Stephen King keeps something from his childhood in a jar on his desk to remind him of something important to him. Reading meanings into facts not really in evidence are simply exercises in futility. The world is on fire, the moral compass is 180 degrees from where it should be, and we are discussing the supposed Christianity of a fiction writer. How pathetic is that?
Aristophanes

I find this to be a rather weird article. What makes the author of this article know what Stephen King was thinking when he wrote his books? I like King's books because they are well-written and, most of the time, good does win over evil (except in Cujo). Dean Koontz is the same way; but, I would not say Koontz is a Christian anymore then I would say King is a Christian. They write good books, that is it.
Despeville

The Stand will stand…
Jim Perry

Just as you can "find" the gospel in a deck of cards, you can find "Christian" themes and similies in the writings of a man who creates fiction from the knowledge and life experiences that reside within his mind, especially when those experiences include a knowledge of the Bible. Indeed, since God and the Bible address true and nitty-gritty facts of life, it would be odd if an astute observer of life, regardless of where his loyalties lay, did NOT cross over into these themes. That doesn't make him or his writings inspired by God. Therefor, they are, at best, worldly, and at worst, satanic. Which also does not prevent God from using Stephen King's insights to inspire readers. Spirituality, like beauty, is sometimes in the eye of the beholder. Though I consider him to be an excellent wordsmith and compelling story teller, I no longer read his books because I feel that the overall spirit of his books is incompatible with the Spirit of God.