The Ghost of C S Lewis 2: Appearing to J B Phillips
In this final part, we explore the case of C S Lewis appearing to Bible translator, J B Phillips. Part 1 (Joy) can be found here.
Imagine watching TV, when all of a sudden, a friend appears in your living room with words of encouragement. These words to help you complete an incredibly important task that you’ve been struggling with. How would it feel, if you knew the person had died? How would you feel if it happened a second time, a week later? This is what happened to J B Phillips, whilst working on translating the Bible into modern English. The ghost of C S Lewis appearing to J B Phillips gave him encouragement in this task.
J B Phillips and C S Lewis as Friends
Bible scholar J B Phillips [1] was working on translating the Bible into modern English, beginning with the Pauline letters. This was taking place during World War II. He wrote to Lewis explaining his difficulty with time constraints and the present lack of study material available.
He sent a copy of his translation of Colossians to Lewis, who wrote back to him saying of his work: ‘“It’s like seeing an old picture after it’s been cleaned”’ and suggested he complete his task for the whole of the New Testament [2]. This encouraged him to complete his New Testament Modern Translation (1960) and Phillips gives thanks to Lewis for his encouragement [3].
An Unexpected Visit
Phillips describes how he was sitting in his chair at home watching television with his wife a few days after the death of Lewis [4]. All of a sudden, Lewis appeared to him:
‘sitting in a chair within a few feet of me, and spoke a few words which were particularly relevant to the difficult circumstances through which I was passing. He was ruddier in complexion than ever, grinning all over his face and, as the old-fashioned saying has it, positively glowing with health.’
Phillips, 1967:89
This apparition of Lewis was a few days after his death on 22nd November 1963. Unfortunately, news of Lewis’ death had been buried by news of the assassination of JFK on that very same day.
Phillips clarifies that Lewis had not been on his mind at the time. This is an important point: in crisis apparitions, the deceased are often uppermost in the minds of the grieving. This was no crisis apparition of Lewis to Phillips.
A week later, Lewis appears a second time to Phillips, repeating the same message, this time whilst he was reading in bed [5].
If there was the potential for Lewis to pass on further encouragement to his friend, Lewis would have taken it. Given that Christianity has traditions within it that understand the ‘Communion of the Saints’ [6] as the Body of Christ, both living and those passed over, encouragement from fellow believers that have passed over shouldn’t be considered abnormal, or even demonic.
Phillips’ Wife Meets Adrian Plass
Plass [7] describes a post-sermon meeting he had with Phillips’ wife, and his excitement at being able to ask her if what Phillips had written about his encounter with Lewis had really happened. She confirmed the account, explaining that she was there with him in the room at the time and heard Phillip’s side of the conversation, even though she was not able to observe or hear the presence of Lewis [8].
Summary
It is not possible to say for certain what was happening in this case, but Phillips’ wife being unable to see and hear Lewis, and Phillips being able to see and converse with Lewis has overtones of the story of Elisha and his servant, one being unable to see, and one whose eyes were open to see the heavenly army [9], and suggests it is the Lord who opens our eyes to see spiritual things, not our active seeking of psychic abilities through magical or necromantic methods, which may cause all sorts of spiritual issues for us.
Conclusion
It must be pointed out that Phillips did not actively seek the deceased Lewis for help. Lewis initiated the appearances. This is in direct contrast to Saul’s attempt to initiate contact with Samuel, which was condemned by God. In deliverance ministry, one should not actively seek out to summon contact with a spirit. Instead, one should discern what is already present and deal with them by appropriate testing.
To those who say these were evil impersonations of Lewis, I urge you to test the fruit of these apparitions. I also ask you this…
Would an evil spirit really give encouragement to help a Bible translator work to put the Bible into the language of millions and millions around the world, a translation that would lead to people coming to know Jesus as Lord and Saviour?
No, that would be absurd. Perhaps we need to rethink our theology of the dead, in that case. This isn’t a special one-off either, there are plenty of cases like this in the history of Christianity and beyond.
We shall explore other paranormal encounters by Christians, some positive, some negative. All stranger than we think, and challenging to our ways of seeing the world through modernist, rationalist eyes.
Bibliography
Phillips, J. B. (1967) Ring of Truth – A Translator’s Testimony, London: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd.
Phillips, J.B. (1981) The New Testament in Modern English, Suffolk, UK: The Chaucer Press Ltd.
Plass, A. (2006) Blind Spots in the Bible – Puzzles and Paradoxes that we tend to avoid, Oxford: The Bible Reading Fellowship.
References
[1] Phillips, 1967:16.
[2] ibid. 17.
[3] Phillips, 1981:vii.
[4] Phillips, 1967:89.
[5] ibid. 89-90.
[6] Hebrews 13:1 and The Apostles Creed
[7] Plass, 2006:76-79
[8] ibid. 79.
[9] 2 Kgs. 6:15-17
In 1976, was in the navy , fighting lots of demons. It was in December, goal was to say goodbye to everyone, and never return to my hometown. On my previous leave in the summer or whenever, struck a friendship up with a younger brother of a guy I went to school with, played football etc. That December when I returned, was at the same bar, feeling really isolated, asked another person I knew if they had seen Chris around, was told he died in a car accident a few weeks before that. I thought that sucked, accepted it, and moved on. A couple of days later, in comes Chris, he comes over and sits down. I told him that I heard he died in a car accident, he said he had heard that rumor as well and laughed. We sat and talked for a couple of hours, was the last time I saw Chris. He was going to college in Missouri, I had been out of high school about 3.5 years, most of my friends had moved on going to college, was just a way of life. Gary , who was Chris’s older brother, got his PHD in Language, and teaches in the United Arab Emirates. On Friday, was thinking about some of the people I knew who had died in the service. For some reason, thought of Gary, then about Chris. I realized, I hadn’t checked where Chris was. So I googled the Chris’s last name, found an obit for his mother. Usually you can tell where the siblings are located through the obit. It said Gary was in the UAE, and she was proceeded in death by her husband, and son Chris. I wondered when Chris had died, went to find a grave, showed me he died two weeks before I got home in 1976. The conversation I had with him that night, helped settle a lot of demons, helped me go out with my sister’s best friend, who I married a year later , probably not the best move looking back at it. Helped me come up with a search and rescue improvement, that the navy and coast guard adopted, and the other armed forces modified it, for other means. Finding out Chris had died, a couple of weeks prior to getting back, makes me question a bunch of stuff, and the first is my sanity. I know the conversation helped me out a great deal, although I didn’t realize it at the time.
As a Christian we are steered vigorously away from anything deemed ghostly or mediumistic with good reason. However as a near 15 year old I was awakened very suddenly one night to feel the presence of my maternal grandmother beside me . I knew it was her without question and her perfume was prevalent. I put my bedside light on and the feeling went pronto. This happened about three times and the flashing light alerted my parents noticing the reflection on the landing window. My father needing to rise early was not best pleased and threatened to take the light bulb out.
The final time I put the light on he came to see why I was ignoring him and came to my room to ask why. I burst into tears and explained ” I think something has happened to Grandma”. At the same time the phone went and my mother went downstairs to answer it. On returning she said the cottage hospital had called to tell my mother my grandmother had died 10 minutes previously. I was a bit hysterical, knew nothing of her being in hospital which was not unusual with her chest problems and refused to sleep in my bed that night so swapped with my father. My mother said I was the first person my grandmother would have thought of having cared for me so much as an infant.
Interestingly I sat in the very chair CS Lewis apparently appeared in when visiting Vera Phillips who I knew while living in Swanage when had a house group meeting in hers and JB’s home some time after JB’s death. She revealed that to me personally and I am convinced of the authenticity of JB’s experience. Vera was a lovely lady and very down to earth.
Hi Elaine,
Thanks for such a heart-warming story of the posthumous visit of your grandma. We’re rightly told not to go seeking to initiate contact with the departed, but when they do come to us, we can test the fruit, and this seems a healthy way of her letting you know that physical death is not the end.
I’m in awe that you were able to sit in that very chair at the Phillips’ home, and that you knew them personally. I too am convinced by the account.
Bright blessings to you!