What is the Source of the “Force”?

The distinction between black magic and white magic is firmly fixated in the modern mind.  The propaganda of the New Age Movement and the influence of Jungian psychology through the Star Wars “Force” have effectively promoted this alleged distinction.

Although the belief that white magicians use magical power for blessing and benefit and black magicians use magical power for damage and harm is popular in modern culture, this distinction is not found in occult history.  UC history professor, Jeffrey Burton Russell, explains:  “Necromancy…was understandably regarded by nonmagicians as the most sinister aspect of divination.  In Medieval Latin, the original Greek root (nekros:  a corpse) was corrupted to the Latin niger (‘black’), whence nigromancy, the ‘black art.’  It is largely from this etymological confusion that the term ‘black magic’ derives.”1

Likewise, the Force utilized the distinctions.  The “dark side” of the Force is used for evil and the light side is used for good.  Nevertheless, the Force is the power of both good and evil.  The Force is not personal, rather it is an impersonal energy field permeating all of life.  Although the Force is not omnipotent, it is omnipresent; it is the equivalent of a Supreme Being.2  In actuality, the Star Wars movie is an elementary teaching on initiation into witchcraft.  The Force is the product of eastern mystical philosophy and as such is an abomination to God because it usurps His sovereignty and keeps men in darkness rather than Christ’s “marvelous light” (cf. 1 Pet. 2:9).

George Lucas even admits to the syncretism of religious beliefs in the Star Wars saga.  His invention of the Force is “an almost ‘academic’ exercise in refashioning ancient myths for modern audiences….It’s a distillation of a lot of mythological religious teachings.”3  Rather than an objective faith based on “many infallible proofs” (Lk. 1:3) the Force is an existential “leap of faith” into the dark.4  Scripture warns that man should not trust his feelings, which are deceitful (Jer. 17:9), but to heed the instruction of God’s Word (Jn. 17:17).

1 Jeffrey Burton Russell, Witchcraft in the Middle Ages (Ithaca, New York:  Cornell University Press, 1972), p. 9; note.

2 Norman L. Geisler and J. Yutaka Amano, Religion of the Force (Dallas:  Quest Publications, 1983), p. 8.

3 Bruce Handy, “The Force is Back,” Time magazine, 10 February 1997, p. 74.

4 Bill Moyers interview with George Lucas, “Of Myth and Men,” Time magazine, 26 April 1999, p. 94.