UNEXPECTED LESSONS FOR THE CHURCH THROUGH JAMES CLAVELL’S “SHOGUN”
SHOGUN (1980) Dramatized on film miniseries by Richard Chamberlain, Yoko Shimada and Toshiro Mifune
DISCLAIMER:
This is not an endorsement of James Clavell or any of his works as godly teaching material or even to be reckoned to be on par with the Holy Scriptures or any Apostolic Teaching. This is a wake-up call to the Christian Church due to some unexpected lessons that has been learnt through not just reading the novel but also viewing the TV miniseries that was done in 1980, which is 5 years after this novel: “Shogun” was written.
James Clavell may be a brilliant novelist but he is certainly not a godly man nor were his works intended for godly purposes. Nonetheless, his novel, Shogun, has left some important lessons for the Church imprinted in history that should have been learnt. Notwithstanding the amount of blasphemy, fornication, pagan ideas as well as highlighting divisions between the Latins/Roman Catholics and Protestants, the lessons for the Church as found in the novel are invaluable.
All quotations of the Holy Scripture are to be found in the Authorized/King James Version. It is my intent that ultimately, the Holy Scriptures will be the standard along with everything that Christ taught us through His Word and His Blessed Apostles.
I leave this with you, dear Christian reader, for your edification and for the blessing of the whole Church.
God Bless.
Yours in Christ,
Thomas King
James Clavell’s “Shogun” (1975) as a novel
UNEXPECTED LESSONS FOR THE CHURCH THROUGH JAMES CLAVELL’S “SHOGUN”
Recently, I had encountered after so many years of reading it, the late James Clavell’s novel: “Shogun” (1975), in a way I had not encountered it previously. For the first time, I had the opportunity to view this novel as a dramatized TV series on DVD. It was amazingly faithful to the novel and notwithstanding the amount of untranslated Japanese dialogue, was intriguing insofar as story plot was concerned. As a piece of historical fiction, it used a historical period of 16th century Japan as well as 2 major characters loosely based in William Adams (an English navigator who landed in Japan at this time period) and Ieyasu Tokugawa (warlord and soon to be ruler over all of Japan): John Blackthorne and Lord Toranaga, respectively speaking. Whilst the novel, and for that matter, the series, was definitely not intended for any godly purpose, and in fact was quite anti-Christian and blasphemous at certain times, nevertheless it had many important lessons for the Church. As will be demonstrated in discussion of some of the scenes and characters, the lessons will be valuable. I will make a humble attempt to bring this to attention by first stating the lesson and then discussing the scenes and characters related to the lesson. Above all, the Holy Scriptures will be the main Teacher and hence God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) will be glorified.
- The values of the Church should impact the world, not the world impacting the Church
Blackthorne and Mariko, played by Richard Chamberlain and Yoko Shimada, respectively.
If there is one most valuable and priceless lesson to take away from “Shogun”, it is that. This is in line with clear teaching of the Holy Scriptures as stated in Romans 12:1, 2; Colossians 2:8 and Colossians 2:20-3:1-17. One of the scenes that highlighted this very clearly was when Blackthorne was being offered 3 women as consorts and the translator, Mariko, who was to be the lover of Blackthorne, (played by famous Japanese actress, Yoko Shimada), told him that these 3 women were to be offered to him for “pillowing” (a term used for sexual intercourse). He was not pleased with this idea since he understood that sex was not to be treated in a corrupt manner nor taken lightly. To make matters worse, Mariko then stated that if women were not appealing to him, then she could arrange for a boy for this purpose. Blackthorne responded angrily by stating: “Do you take me to be a God-forsaken sodomite?”, which was met with apologies by Mariko. Although Blackthorne was clearly not a God-fearing man, yet he clearly reflected the impact of the influence of the Church in the West in terms of values. Had England, and for that matter, the whole of Europe, had not been salted with the Church, then there would be no cause of outrage or shock at such behaviour. Unwittingly or not, the director had highlighted an important truth: When the Church has impacted the world, and not the world impacting the Church, then the world will be salted with the goodness and character of God. This is in accordance with Matthew 5:13-16 where our Lord Jesus Christ states clearly that the Church is salt and light to the world and its purpose is to see the world glorify God the Father, and for that matter, the whole Godhead (Father, Son and Holy Spirit).
Other examples in the novel and in the TV series of the salt of the Church affecting the world is seen when Blackthorne expresses shock and surprise at Mariko revealing to him that in Japanese culture, the wife and children are seen as property and therefore the husband could kill the wife, and the father could kill the children, without any good necessary. Whilst Mariko was clearly reflecting to him the pagan, godless thinking and behaviour prevalent in Japanese culture, Blackthorne (although not a godly person) was clearly shocked and disgusted. Why else would Blackthorne be disgusted, unless there was some clear Christian teaching in Europe regarding relations and values of family, and husband and wife? Whilst Blackthorne may be godless, he clearly received the salt and light of the Church as evidenced not only in these instances but also in clear Scriptural teaching regarding relations between husband and wife, parents and children in Ephesians 5:21-6:4 and Colossians 3:18-21.
In addition, Blackthorne expressed anger and indignation at the husband of Mariko, Lord Buntaro, over his ill-treatment and domestic violence towards Mariko, to the point that he was prepared to shoot Lord Buntaro. Had Buntaro not apologized, he would have done so. Within that scene, when Blackthorne sought to comfort Mariko, Mariko stated that she was the property of Buntaro, and therefore she “accepted” her fate. Why would a godless man such as Blackthorne have such strong feelings (besides romantic feelings towards Mariko), unless there was some clear Scriptural teaching impacting England and for that matter, Europe, regarding the above mentioned teachings on husband and wife, as well as the family?
Towards the end, it was Christian samurai (really Roman Catholic) who were willing to defend Blackthorne from a godless, profit-centered, selfish Portuguese arms-monger. Although on the outside this Portuguese arms-monger was supposed to act in the interests of the Church, yet his love for mammon exceeded any Christian belief to the point where he was even at odds with both the Jesuit Bishop in Japan and other Japanese Catholic Christian samurai. In fact, since that man wanted to kill Blackthorne in cold blood, the Jesuit Bishop, who was protecting Blackthorne at the time, not only opposed this man but also had the Christian samurai to come to Blackthorne’s defence to the point where they shot that evil minded man themselves. It is clear from this that the Church was meant to have the first and last word over the world and not the world over the Church. One would have normally expected the Catholic samurai to side with the Portuguese imperialist but such was not the case since the Christian samurai put morality and obedience to the Higher Law first and defended a life from cold-blooded murder as well as putting the Church first above the world.
From a Christian perspective, since we are citizens of the kingdom of God and heaven (Philippians 3:20), we put God’s values above the world’s sinful values. Heaven’s ideas are our ideas, not the world’s ideas. When this happens fully, the world feels this impact as it was in the days of the Early Church, to the point where the world stated: “These that have turned the world upside down…” (Acts 17:6). From all these examples, it is obvious that when the Church has a strong impact through adherence to Christ’s Teaching and the Apostolic Teaching without soiling herself with the sinful and pagan ideas of the world, then the world, and for that matter, nations themselves, will feel its impact and even be salted with Truth and Righteousness. In fact, even rulers will be able to be converted and thus further Truth and Righteousness further.
“Separation of church and state” never gave blessings to Europe and the West, and for that matter, the rest of the world. When God’s Law has impacted the law of a nation, then people will be better prepared to accept God’s grace, since the Law of God is the schoolmaster to point us to Christ. (Galatians 3:24). Even a godless drama and novel through the examples mentioned above prove this and more importantly, challenges the Church to purify herself and to impact the world and the nations through rejection of the world’s values and putting forward Christ’s values, even in government. The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof. (Psalm 24:1). The Law of God must permeate all things, and thus it is to impact the world with the Law of God and His Righteousness, yea, even the governments of our nations.
2. Beware of “cultural Christianity”
As citizens of heaven and not the world, we should always put the interests of the Kingdom of God-the Apostolic Church established by Christ as the head and built on the foundation of the Blessed Apostles and Righteous Prophets (Ephesians 2:20), first above any earthly national identity. This is clear and evident in Galatians 3:28. We are to purge out any evil traits in our earthly and fleshly identities and put on the new man (Ephesians 4:22-24).
In James Clavell’s “Shogun” and also in the history of Japan during the 16th century onwards, we are shown the dangers of placing culture above the teachings of Christ and the Apostles. This is evident in 2 of the scenes that shall be discussed along with a tragic historical phenomena. The first scene that this was evident was when Blackthorne asks Mariko how she as a supposed Christian hold to certain pagan beliefs (reincarnation and karma, living only for the moment, along with devaluing life to the point of treating it as the same as death). Mariko answered: “Yes I am a Christian, but I am a Japanese first.” This proves that such “converts” are superficial and in accordance with the parable of the soils, reveals that such “believers” have hearts filled with stones and thorns. (Luke 8:5-15). This also reveals that Mariko and other “cultural Christians” are not truly followers of Christ as is shown by her lack of disgust towards sodomite/homosexual behaviour as well as treating sex in a corrupt manner along with expressing other pagan beliefs, all of which was discussed earlier. It also proves that anyone who places culture before Christ and His Teachings are not true followers of Christ and are hypocrites. This applies to the West as much as it applies to the East.
Another scene whereby this “cultural Christianity” is evident is the scene where Urano decided to apostatize from the Catholic Church since he refused to accept the penance for his sin of fornication with a prostitute. The penance involved prayers for 30 days along with living on only rice and water, but more explicitly, scourging. Urano refused to accept this and thus was excommunicated, giving the reason: “I am samurai. I refuse to be scourged.” He then added: “I renounce the Christian God. I am Japanese.” This was not only a clear case of being one of those soils in the Gospel of Luke, but also of someone who has placed culture before Christ. In fact, it led to this man even committing apostasy against Christ. Whatever non-Catholic Christians feel regarding this whole issue of scourging in penance, yet I am certain that we can agree on one important conclusion drawn from these scenes discussed: “Cultural Christians” are never true followers of Christ and it will not take much for such people to become Judas since the grace of the Holy Spirit never took full hold of such hearts.
History also reveals a devastating result due to the practice of “cultural Christianity”. This is proven in the group in Japan who referred to themselves as “Kakure Kirishitan”-“Hidden Christians”. These people make claim that they were taught originally by Jesuit missionaries, particularly St. Francis Xavier. Whatever the basis of their claims, one thing has become certain: whatever practices that may have been taught to them by Jesuit missionaries, became so Japanized, and for that matter, perverted and paganized, that the Catholic Church never recognized them as part of the Church in the end. Whilst some may argue that they were originally persecuted by the government, and thus had to disguise themselves and their practices, yet it ended up being perverted beyond recognition. Instead of confessing Christ, such people ended up denying Him when push came to shove, and thus have incurred the curse of Christ on themselves, for they too will be denied before the Father. (Matthew 10:32, 33). Due to such perversion and denial, these Kakure Kirishitan ended up believing that Christ was only one of many Shinto deities (kami in Japanese), that the Virgin Mary was the same as the Goddess of Mercy in Buddhism and other pagan heresies. To this very day, not only do these very same people continue in damnable heresy, but also are obstinate about their refusal to accept orthodox Christian doctrine. All this is due to “cultural Christianity”: putting earthly cultural identities above the Christian Truth. This is worldliness in short and damnable heresy at its worst end.
Some may argue: “Didn’t Paul use culture as a means of outreach and mission?” and will then cite both Acts 17 and I Corinthians 9:20-23 as proof texts for “cultural Christianity”. When examined carefully, the Blessed St. Paul was not supporting the corruption of Christianity with the pagan beliefs and practices of the world but was merely showing wisdom in approach. The main purpose was to see the world won to Christ and His Kingdom. In Acts 17:23, he made reference to the inscription on the pagan altar in Athens: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD, and makes it clear that the Athenians were ignorant in their worship and that they were “superstitious” in v22. (Paul was not complimenting these pagans at all, contrary to what the modern perversions of the Bible would have you believe, and this term “superstitious” matches with the Greek word that literally means: “in fear of the demons”). It is true that the Blessed Apostle St. Paul bothers to quote their pagan poets in v28 but he does this to demonstrate the truth that is found in such pagan writers can only find its fullness in Christ, the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. (John 14:6). In fact, he goes on to state without compromise: “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Because He hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man Whom He hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead.” (Acts 17:30, 31).
As for I Corinthians 9:20-23, the Blessed Apostle St. Paul is discussing his manner of approach in order to win people to the Gospel. He thus uses the clearest and obvious examples: Jew, those under the Law of Moses, those without the Law of Moses and the weak. He does this for one reason that is constantly repeated: “that I might gain them”. He is talking about approach for the salvation of mankind, as clearly stated in v22 and v23. He is not compromising the Truth of the Gospel of Christ nor is he suggesting taking on false ideas or wrong behaviour to become part and parcel of the life of the Church. The Blessed Apostle St. Paul is still putting the Gospel of Christ first above any earthly identity. Never does he absorb falsehoods and heresies as part and parcel of the Church. If he did, then he would not go to great lengths to rebuke evil behaviour along with false ideas, as is evident in his Epistles to both the Galatians and the Ephesians, along with any other Epistle in the New Testament.
It is clearly evident from both the Holy Scriptures and the cited examples from “Shogun” that “cultural Christianity” is a damnable and deadly heresy that can only work to the destruction of many Christians. May this be a warning to the Church.
CONCLUSION:
The Church as a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation and a peculiar people (I Peter 2:9), should learn from this and seek to purify Herself before Christ our Divine Spouse, and also seek to impact the world with His Truth and Righteousness. We should not let the world impact us to the point of neutrality, fear and timidity. The more we let the world affect us, we become “cultural Christians” and not the salt and light in the world that Christ intended for us. The world will continue in darkness because we hid our light and became more lawless and wicked because of loss of saltiness.
We are not to be Nicolatines partaking in the doctrine of Balaam (Apocalypse/Revelation 2:14, 15) but rather bold warriors fighting Satan and his minions. (Proverbs 28:1,4). When the Church starts having this revival, then we can expect to have godly rulership in the world, which is most desperately needed. (II Chronicles 7:14, Ezekiel 22:30).
Hopefully, after this, if the Holy Scriptures have fallen on deaf ears in the Church, then maybe God by His grace will use even this godless novel and series to bring realization of what danger the Church is in now. May God use the ass of Balaam again to speak to such stubborn, stiff-necked people.
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