My goal in bringing The Last Guardian to life was to present basic biblical doctrine within an intriguing story framework, thus creating a book that would both entertain and enlighten its readers. Many of the fundamental principles of our faith are not widely understood today, even by many who consider themselves Christians, and without grasping these basics one cannot fully appreciate the sacrifice made by our Lord, nor the wonder of the grace that alone saves us. I hope this written “lamp” has helped shed some light and that you have enjoyed traveling alongside T. G. Shass.
This story is a work of fiction and nothing more. It was not written to serve as the genesis of a new theology nor is it meant to present a new slant on Christianity. As far as I know, our Lord and Messiah has never gone by the name of Ish, the Hebrew word for man. Nor has the world of Noron itself ever existed, other than in the imaginations of Dan Cheney and me. The name is a combination of the Hebrew words nora(h) (“terrible, horrifying”) and doron (“gift”). There is no “plane of existence” that did not know the Flood of Noah and no Egyptian diary that tells how such a place may be reached.
Where this story presents actual Christian doctrine, often through the words of Ish, it accurately does so, according to my own beliefs and those of many respected Christian scholars. The epilogue of the story borrows directly from the book of Revelation, and the theology appearing throughout the remainder of The Last Guardian was similarly drawn from the pages of both the Old and New Testaments.
The Last Guardian, however, is not a direct allegory of scriptural events. I was cautious in portraying Earth’s end times, making sure never to contradict or add to the biblical account as it is understood within the premillennial framework. The sequence of events in the Tribulation period will come to pass as prophesied, and there is no room for inventiveness there. On the other hand, the world of Noron provided a fresh canvas upon which I felt free to present biblical doctrines through occurrences and prophecies of a fictitious, allegorical nature. The world of Noron has its own set of Scriptures, its own prophesied chain of last-days events, and its own history. These elements are similar in some ways to those of Revelation but are not intended to match them exactly.
Where Earth and its history are portrayed, I endeavored to be as accurate as possible. Based upon recent studies, it is now believed in many archaeological circles that Amenhotep II was the pharaoh of the Exodus. Astanapha, a wholly fictional character, was placed by me into his court. All of the novel’s earthly (and lunar) locales, with the exception of a few of the landmarks said to stand in Ithaca, New York, are real places. The starry sky T. G. sees above the Colorado mountains in chapter 1 is indeed the exact sky an observer would have seen from that position on Earth, on that date, at that time of night. And yes, there really are 161 steps within the Cornell University bell tower.
I suspect this story will prove controversial, and most certainly it will not be everyone’s cup of tea. Just as there are many who feel that Christian rock music is inappropriate and does not properly serve our Lord, there are many who feel that extrabiblical fiction of this nature is extraneous and unnecessary. I understand and respect these viewpoints and the faith behind them.
I wish to emphasize that the character of T. G. Shass is not messianic in nature. Rather, his mission is much like that of the earthly John the Baptist combined with elements derived from the story of the two witnesses in the book of Revelation. These witnesses, like the fictitious T. G., will be invulnerable during most of their service on Earth and will be given control over the forces of nature. Even the death of the Voice in the Dark, as portrayed in this novel, is quite similar to that which will be suffered by these two witnesses of God—their execution will be seen by all the world, their bodies will be left on display as mankind celebrates, and a glorious resurrection will follow three-and-a-half days later. It should at this point be noted that T. G.’s resurrection is akin to that of Lazarus and not the final resurrection of the saints. Lazarus died a second time, and the same would have been true of T. G. had the story not reached its conclusion beforehand.
T. G. is shown to have been a Christian in his childhood, but as the novel opens we see that he has moved far from Christ. He is like many today who are hurt, seriously questioning, or even bitter due to circumstances in their individual lives. We do not lose our salvation during these times of disbelief, however severe that disbelief may be, nor can we ever lose it for any reason. As stated in 2 Timothy 2:13, “If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.” Each Christian is clearly stated in Scripture to be a part of the body of Christ, not simply a member of a club he or she can quit, or an employee who can be fired. For one to lose one’s salvation would be tantamount to the dismemberment of our Lord.
I attempt to convey through T. G.’s language and actions that although he is saved, he is not living a Christian life early in the story and has put up a wall between himself and God. He does not want to turn his life or circumstances over to Christ; he wants to be in control himself. He is not receptive to any leading of the Holy Spirit, Who attempts to intervene on T. G.’s behalf (such as when T. G. makes the poor decision to return to Noron via incantation). However, the irresistible redemptive power of God ultimately has its way with him. After realizing that Ish is indeed the Christ, T. G. asks forgiveness for his earlier disbelief, and his life is transformed to better serve our Lord’s divine purposes.
T. G. is merely the Voice, not the One Whose word he speaks. In everything, when acting within the Lord’s will, T. G. is able to act only because he is empowered by Christ; he does not supplant Him.
The world of Noron, as the reader observes, is morally corrupt beneath the thin veneer of physical beauty that surrounds it. In reality, however, a world that had never seen the Flood of Noah would certainly be a far more hideous place than I have portrayed here. We know that in the days immediately preceding the Deluge the thoughts of mankind were “only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5), and this condition, left to itself, could only have worsened. Evil cannot beget good. Assuming man would not have wiped himself out within a mere span of decades, a world such as Noron would by now have become utterly and sickeningly horrifying at every level of its existence. However, since it was not my intent to shock or to offend or to make the reader cringe with every page turned, I toned things down.
The world of Noron has one foot in Hell and the other on a banana peel. For this reason, I selectively and deliberately added scenes to this book that some readers will no doubt find quite disturbing. By having the family of the deceased sip from the goblet of blood at the Renewal ceremony, for example, I was able to provide evidence of Noron’s moral apostasy as well as portray its unholy communion with the Dark. The Renewal is a religious ceremony, not merely a magical incantation. The practice of drinking blood, while abhorrent, has been common in pagan religious rituals throughout Earth’s history.
Nor is the demonic possession presented in The Last Guardian pretty. It is not meant to be. We are dealing with an evil the likes of which few have seen face-to-face. Several Christian readers have told me that they believe those scenes that personify the Dark are among the most powerful and vivid in the book and drive home for them the nature of the Enemy. I chose not to water down these scenes, though my written words surely pale when compared to the actual depths of evil within the hearts of Satan and his minions. He and those under him are terrifying—I want my readers to experience that.
Through the deep moral depravity of Noron, I felt it was important to present some measure of commentary on our own culture and the ethical crises fecing America today. While Noron is not a true mirror, its dark glass certainly reflects something of ourselves. Similarly, I chose to give Noron a pseudo-Western culture, one with which T. G. (and the reader) could find some measure of common ground.
Despite the darkness it sometimes portrays, this book is about life and salvation, not death and horror. By showing just how wicked the heart of man is, the amazing love and grace of our Lord is by contrast seen more clearly as the infinite wonder it truly is.
This story, as you have read, takes the creationist point of view. After many years of weighing numerous secular and Christian studies involving the tangible, scientific evidence available to us, I have come to the conclusion that the creationist position provides a far better explanation of the known facts than does the ever-changing evolutionist viewpoint. I would urge my readers likewise to examine the scientific evidence for themselves, reach their own conclusions, and not merely accept the highly questionable theories set forth by many scientists today.
Though it is not widely known, most of the European scientific community has now abandoned the long-held concept of “spontaneous generation,” a cornerstone tenet of the theory of evolution. It is both mathematically and scientifically impossible for amino acids to have combined by chance to form rudimentary DNA, and these scholars finally recognize that fact. A void has resulted—how else could life have come into being? To fall back on “panspermia,” the theory that microbial life on Earth originally came from outer space via meteorite, would only move the problem one step back—where did that life come from?
Even in America today, a drastically modified version of evolutionary theory is touted. Known as “punctuated equilibrium” (the idea that evolution only happens in brief, rapid, and widely separated bursts), it is a desperate attempt to cling to a ramshackle theory that simply cannot explain the known facts. There are too many flaws in its assertions to hold up to any real scrutiny. The entire concept of evolution is a false faith, and that is all it is—a faith.
From a biblical standpoint, any noncreationist concept of origins, whether based upon evolution or “theistic evolution,” does irreparable violence to the Creation account as presented in Genesis. Either the Bible is true or evolutionary science is; the two cannot be harmonized. I have chosen to trust the former. In addition to the solid evidence I have studied, I have seen and learned too much ever to doubt the veracity of the Bible, and it has more than proven itself throughout history. The earth is young, as the Bible states. Most likely its age can be measured in thousands or tens of thousands of years, not the billions demanded by evolutionary preconceptions.
I am also persuaded that the increased occultic phenomena experienced today (UFOs, crop circles, ghost sightings, regression hypnosis, channeling, poltergeist activity, and the like) have come as a result of rising demonic activity as the return of Christ grows nearer. Many reported cases are hoaxes, to be sure, but those that are believed to be authentic have become increasingly numerous. These occurrences share many common traits—surrounding cold areas, secluded sighting locales, isolated power failures, psychic communication, and sensations of dread in the observer, among others. Throughout recorded time, the demonic realm has employed the tactic of discrediting the Bible with what appears to be observable, contrary “evidence.” For instance, where it is written that the souls of men leave the earth immediately upon death, “ghosts” are manifested. Where it teaches that all men are appointed once to die, “evidence” of past lives is created in the form of implanted, false memory. Where it teaches that the stars were made for the benefit of man for the telling of the times and seasons (an early Earth without physical seasons would need another indicator of when to plant and when to harvest), space beings from other solar systems—who bring with them New Age, specifically anti-Christian philosophies—make themselves known. These “beings” also communicate with us only by psychic means; no one has ever contacted a UFO by radio.
Linking these and other paranormal phenomena to demonic activity is a logical step, for they are ever-changing, self-contradictory puzzles that keep men chasing blind alleys, distracting many from the truth of the Bible and the urgent matter of personal salvation. During this current period of God’s grace, I believe this activity is restrained by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit—a limitation not shared by the fictitious world of Noron.
We must always weigh the apparent evidences confronting our eyes and ears against the well-established truths of the Bible—not the other way around.
Much of the doctrinal expression presented in The Last Guardian can be found in the exhaustive works of Charles C. Ryrie (of the Ryrie Study Bible) and Henry M. Morris, among others. In particular, I would like to recommend Ryrie’s Basic Theology, Morris’ The Genesis Record and The Revelation Record, and There’s a New World Coming and The Liberation of Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey. These books in particular contain excellent discussions of such doctrinal points as the pre-Flood, demonic effect upon the human bloodline, the existence of a global canopy, the mechanics of the Deluge, the overwhelming evidence for a young Earth, and insights into the doctrines of salvation and the prophecies of Revelation.
The theory of pre-Flood demonic interference in the propagation of man, as touched upon in The Last Guardian, is nothing new and indeed finds a basis in Scripture. This theory is not the only interpretation of Genesis 6:1-2, but it is the only one to take into account the revelation of other Scripture and actually presents the least historical and scriptural conflict.
One common interpretation, that which proposes that the term “sons of God” meant the ungodly family line of Cain, fails to explain how mere human procreation could have created the Nephilim, the exceptional giants said to have emerged among men. Also, it fails to explain why the term “daughters of men” should refer only to the female descendants of Seth, as the view holds. The earliest Jewish interpretation of the term “sons of God” was “angels” (see also Job 1:6). Replacing that term in the text, we get, “… angels saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful, and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose” (NKJV).
Scripture tells us that angels do not marry or procreate. We also know they do not blaspheme God, or disobey Him, or exist locked away in the Pit, or serve Satan. None of this can be said of demons, however. (I’m doubtful that Christ’s words in Matthew 22 concerning “the angels of God in heaven” can be used as unequivocally of these unclean spirits.) What can be expected of one should not necessarily be expected of the other. For example, the Bible nowhere mentions an instance of angels indwelling swine. Furthermore, it is possible that the demons locked away in the Pit (Tartarus) as stated in 2 Peter 2:4 and Jude 6 may indeed have been those who (theoretically) took human women for themselves and fathered corrupted children (whether directly or through intense possession of human males).
In Basic Theology, Ryrie states, “Though angels do not reproduce after their kind (that is, produce baby angels), they may have been permitted to cohabit with human women on this one occasion to produce human offspring.” He goes on to state that such direct demonic cohabitation with women is not necessarily the most likely interpretation of what occurred, but it is certainly possible and may well explain why a certain group of fallen angels is bound in Tartarus, where they remain even now. He states that their confinement “must be punishment for some sin other than the original one, and a unique sin at that.”1
We are told that Noah “found grace in the eyes of the LORD” and was “a just man, perfect in his generations” (Genesis 6:8-9, NKJV). This last unusual phrase may indicate that Noah’s family line was the last on Earth to maintain its genetic purity. The original Hebrew supports this interpretation.
The very existence of the Nephilim seems to prove that some measure of supernatural genetic interference did indeed take place on Earth. Why would the normal physical union of men and women suddenly have produced giants, and in such great numbers? Physical corruption in males directly possessed (we are shown repeatedly in the New Testament that demonic possession has a physical effect on the possessed) may well have altered the genetic characteristics of children born to them—likewise, the giantism in these offspring could have resulted from direct supernatural impregnation. We are not talking about some comingling of supposed demon DNA with that of a human—what we are addressing here is a simple, biological corruption of the human bloodline, physical damage done to existing genetic material in order to alter the physicality of man and change what he is.
Genesis 6:4 says that “the Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward” (NASB). Yet Genesis 7:21 states clearly that, in the flood, “all flesh died that moved upon the earth” (KJV). Only Noah and his family survived, shielded by God’s grace within the ark, so the Nephilim that arose in an obviously minimal fashion after the flood could not have been descended from those who were alive beforehand. Any post-Flood “race” of giants would by necessity have come through Noah’s lineage, through his sons and their wives. We are not told what their origin was, but it is possible that a second, abortive attempt was made by Satan to repeat his pre-Flood strategy, one stopped—perhaps—by direct divine intervention. The Philistine giant Goliath of Gath, a soldier almost ten feet in height, was apparently among the last of his kind. In any case, a brief re-emergence of such Nephilim does not wipe out any theory of gene pool cleansing, for the desired goal was accomplished—a pure bloodline was indeed preserved, through which Christ was ultimately born.
Speculations such as these are fascinating, but the main objectives of The Last Guardian are to provide an understanding of the workings of personal salvation and a better appreciation for the amazing, unbounded grace of God. The basics of biblical Christianity are wondrous in their simplicity yet complex in the fact that they come from a Mind so utterly above ours that we can understand Him only as our limited perceptions will allow, as He chooses to reveal Himself to us.
And He has. Make no mistake.
It is my hope that this novel has provided answers for those who may be questioning their faith or who simply wish to better understand their Lord’s great plan for redeeming fallen man. The absence of such answers caused me to reject Christianity for a time during my teenage years, as I mentioned in the author’s note at the beginning of this book.
The good news of Christian salvation is the most important message any of us can share with our fellow brothers and sisters. I encourage my Christian readers to acquaint themselves fully with the tenets of our faith, for this carries great weight in our daily witness. We live in a burning house, my friends, all of us, and those who can smell the smoke and see the flames must try to save those who cannot.
As Peter said, “always [be] ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence” (1 Peter 3:15).
Maranatha!
Shane Johnson
Arlington, Texas
July 2000
www.thelastguardian.net
1. Charles C. Ryrie, Basic Theology (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1987), 159.