I believe it is because people are hungry for spiritual truth and this movie including the story and characters are similar to the truth found in the scriptures. Please do not get me wrong, I am not saying that the Matrix was made with the Gospel in mind, (maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t), but I am using it as a parable to reflect the Gospel and point out the many similarities between the Message and the Matrix. Either way this movie made you think how easily we can be deceived by the reality that is presented to us. If we see the same reality everyday, we do not question it, yet what we experience everyday is but an atom of truth in a universe and reality far bigger than we can all imagine. Now I am going to show you some similarities when comparing The Matrix with the Gospel.
Matrix Message
Basically this movie is about a world that has been created to hide the truth from humans in which people are kept in bondage and slavery without them knowing it. That world is called The Matrix, which is a computer generated world designed to simulate the peak of human civilization which has now been destroyed in a nuclear war. The majority of the world’s population is oblivious to that fact that their world is not real, but digital and they continue living out their daily lives, without even questioning their reality. The main character Neo, knows that something is not right with the world he lives in, and he is eager to learn the truth. He is offered the truth from a character called Morpheus. Morpheus proclaims that Neo is the One (chosen one) who will eventually destroy the Matrix. For this to happen, Neo must first overcome the Sentient Programs who are the Agents that can jump into anyone’s digital body. They are the Gate Keepers and they hold all the keys to The Matrix. This movie reveals the truth gradually and it is this unraveling of the truth that keeps the audience captured.
Gospel Message
Basically the gospel message is truth about this world we live in, that is controlled byevil powers in high (spiritual) places. However the earth and the universe were created/programmed by God; the world system was created by man, but inspired by Satan. Satan is the called the god of this world/age in scripture. This world is full of deception and contains just about every lie in the form of philosophies and religions, but persecutes the truth. All people who trust in the world, are not willing to be unplugged in order to see the truth and the truth can only be revealed to those who are searching for it. So many people live out their daily lives oblivious to the fact that there is a God who created a perfect world/state called Heaven. The bible tells us that we cannot love the world and love God at the same time, so we all have a choice. Do we want the truth or do we want to continue living a lie? In the gospel and scriptures, we find that the main character is God and Jesus (Yashua) is the son of God, who came into this world and altered this reality with countless miracles. He is the chosen one of God who came to free man from bondage to sin and slavery to this world and ultimately to deliver us out of this present darkness and into the glorious light.
Similarities
- The Matrix is the world, (not the earth) it is deception.
- Morpheus represents John the Baptist who’s mission was to proclaim the “Chosen One”.
- Neo represents the Messiah or any believer who has been born from above by the Spirit of God.
- The Oracle represents a Prophet.
- The Agents or Sentient Programs “Gatekeepers” represent the demons who hold the keys to this world. They have the ability to jump into people and use them at their will, just like Demons who can enter into people if they are open to them.
- Cypher represents Judas Iscariot, but the name may be derived from Caiphus the high priest blamed by history for manipulating Pontious Pilate to kill Christ. It could also be a play on the words Lucifer. In the Matrix, Cypher was one of the group, but chose to go back into the Matrix and betray his friends. He was promised wealth and a measure of fame, instead he was killed. Judas in the Bible did the same thing. He betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, but later committed suicide.
Neo’s original name is “Thomas” Anderson and this reflects his unbelief. Neo at first refuses to believe the truth, just like the biblical character known as “Doubting Thomas”, seeing is believing. “Anderson” means “Son of Man”. So he is a doubting Son of Man. His name is later changed to Neo, which means “New”, but Neo is also an anagram of One. He is often called the One in the movie, just as Jesus proclaimed that he was the One. The Chosen One of God.
Near the beginning of the movie, Neo is told to meet Morpheus under “Adam bridge”. He is picked up in a car and driven to see Morpheus. On the way Neo has the choice to leave them or continue. Trinity tells Neo that she knows that he no longer wants to go down that road, as he knows where it leads too. This reflects the biblical truth that we must leave our old lives in “Adam” the first Son of Man and choose a new life in God through Jesus Christ the second Son of Man or new Adam. As the scriptures say, All in “Adam” die, all in Christ shall live. Had Neo chosen to leave at that point, he would have gone back to his old life by simply getting out of the car. This road represents his old life. Instead however, he chooses the new life by remaining in the car and not going back to Adam bridge. He eventually meets Morpheus who will reveal the truth to him.
In the movie Neo asks Tank why he doesn’t have a plug in the back of his head like everyone else. Tank says it is because he and his brother Dozer were born free of the Matrix, and he says that he is a true human “A Child of Zion”. Zion is the only city that the humans have left, or the only city where humans are free. In the bible, Zion is the city of David (the great king). The city which God loved and showed his favorand the city of the messiah.
Near the end of the movie the Agents are trying to get into Morpheus’s head and extract the information and codes to the Zion Mainframe. This is similar to the fact that all those who belong to God are children of Zion, and Jesus has put the Kingdom of God within us. The Bible says that Jesus has also given us the Keys to the Kingdom. The secrets to the Kingdom of God are inside every child of God.
Morpheus states that “when the Matrix was first built, there was man born inside who could change and shape the Matrix at will, it was he who freed the first of us, the Oracle prophesied his return and when he returns he will hail the destruction of the Matrix”. Well this represents Jesus mission because he was born in the world and he went around doing miracles (shaping this reality), he freed the first people, his disciples and then he died and rose again from the dead, so that he could free all of humanity. It is prophesied that he will return as King and destroy this present world system and bring the world under his rule.
We see in the ‘The Matrix’, that Neo overcomes the Agents and starts the destruction of The Matrix after he dies and comes back from the dead. This is similar to what Jesus did when he died, because he went to hell and destroyed the power of the one who had the keys of death, that is the Devil. Jesus took the Keys of Death and Hell from him and overcame this world and death itself. Jesus died on the cross, but returned three days later, proving he is indeed “the One” and declaring the end of this world and bringing in the reign of the Kingdom of God. It’s a miracle now celebrated as Easter and the ‘The Matrix’ movie was actually first released on Easter. It also has to be noted that it was Trinity’s love that brought him back from the dead and of course it was God that raised Jesus from the dead and we also know that God is love.
In the movie, Neo meets the Oracle, but just before he meets her, he sees other potential messiahs. These potentials perhaps represent the many religions such as Buddhism (there is no spoon) and New Age. Of course Neo turns out to be the one, the true Messiah, and this is also reflected in the beginning of the movie when ‘Choi’ tells Neo “Hallelujah. You’re my savior, man. My own personal Jesus Christ”. When Neo finally meets the Oracle, she asks Neo if he is “The One” and she eventually tells him that he “looks like he is waiting for something” and prophetically says “your next life”. This also demonstrates that we all need to except the new life in God that he offers all of us. In the end Neo dies, but comes back, and is able to defeat the Matrix in his new life. Likewise we too can overcome this world when we die to sin and live unto Christ, who is our new life. In our own strength, we cannot defeat the World and the Evil One only when we receive new birth in God through faith. The scriptures say that we must die to ourselves and live unto Christ. Even Christ died to give us life and 
victory. And so it is in the Matrix, Neo dies and from this point on, he hails the destruction of the Matrix.
Notice that Neo had a choice of the red pill or the blue pill. We too have this choice. Do we want to know the Truth (the red pill) or do we just want to forget about it and wake up and believe whatever we want to believe (the blue pill). The color red is also significant, as it represents suffering or blood. It is also interesting to note that many bibles have a habit of putting the words of Jesus in red and we must remember Jesus words, “I am the Way the Truth the Life, no man comes to the Father except through me”. Now we must realize that the truth is not the easy way, and there is measure of persecution for all those who want the truth, (including death for some), just as the agents in the Matrix relentlessly pursued and tried to kill those who were free from the Matrix. But the truth sets us free from our bondage to sin and slavery to this world and wakes us up to the deception and lies that are all around us. Remember that the truth is not the easy way to start with, but it is better than living a lie and in the long term it leads to total freedom and eternal life with God, who is love.
Also the characters in the Matrix show their disgust at Cypher wanting to be returned to the Matrix and Morpheous even says to Neo at one point, “if you could return to the Matrix, would you want to”. This is a fitting description of how disgusted God is when a believer returns to the world after being set free, “like a dog returning to his own vomit“.
The software training programs in the movie represent the Word of God and the Scriptures that teach and train us, for the battle between Light and Darkness. The jumping program where Morpheus teaches Neo to jump from one building to another, mirrors the experience where Peter walks on water, but because of fear, Peter falls into the water and Jesus reaches out his hand to save him. In the movie Neo also falls when he attempts his first jump from one building to the next. Its all about faith. Morpheous even says to Neo just before he jumps, just let it all go. Jesus said to his disciples cast off the cares of this world and take upon ourselves, only the responsibility that Christ gives us. In other words he was saying, let it go, free yourself from the cares of this world, because the cares of this world, choke the Word of God.
In the movie, The Matrix is the world that is pulled over peoples eyes, so they cannot see the truth. Well the world we live in is the deception that Satan pulls over our eyes, that blinds us from the truth, that there is a Kingdom far greater than this present world and that kingdom belongs to God who created us. That is why we must have faith and see with our spirits rather than our physical eyes. The Bible says that this world is our enemy and it caters for the sinful desires of men. We must overcome it. The bible also says that the world and all visible things are temporary but the truth is eternal. This world is trying to hide the truth from us. In other words, any philosophy is okay, except the truth.
The scriptures tell us that we do not fight against flesh and blood, rather spiritual powers. Like it would have been pointless fighting those bound in the Matrix to destroy the Matrix. In the same way the Agents in the Matrix, who hold the keys, needed to be defeated to set the people free from the Matrix. The scriptures tell us that we need to fight the spiritual powers that bind people and not the people themselves, so they can be set free.
Morpheus and Neo are inside a training program that was very similar to the Matrix itself, (The one where the woman in the red dress appears). Morpheus says to Neo, “If you are not one of us, then you are one of them (an agent)”. This also resembles the words of Jesus, “if you not against us, you are for us“.
Those that were imprisoned in the Matrix are like those who cannot let go of this world. We are trying to set their minds (soul) free, but they are part of that system and until they are free of the system, the Agents “Demons” can use them.
Conclusion
Like the Matrix, the physical world was made. Everything in the physical realm was created (programmed) by God. Galileo once said that God created the world with mathematics. Everything in the physical realm has mathematical code including DNA that makes up your body. In the Matrix the code is digital and the DNA code of a human body in this world is the digital projection of yourself in the Matrix.
In Luke 19:40-41 we read the following: ‘Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” In other words, nothing can stop God being praised and nothing can stop his message, even if the Church were silent, God could make the stones sing his praises. So does the Matrix preach the gospel? Is it the Gospel on steroids? Well that’s a matter of opinion, but remember this: The rules or laws of The Matrix can be broken in the same way that laws of the physical realm can be broken if we live in the Spiritual Realm.
- We can walk on water.
- We can raise the dead.
- We can heal the sick.
- We can be transported from one location to another.
Salvation
Only if we know the One, the Chosen One. If you do not know Jesus as your Savior then read on. Jesus Christ the Son of God came to earth to set us free. God created the world through him and for him, yet the world didn’t recognize him, because the world is under the control of the Evil One (Satan). Jesus is the awaited Messiah and the Savior of this world. He is our only way for us to reach God. Jesus suffered and died and rose again, so that you could be set free from all deception which comes from your own sins, this world and the Devil. Romans 3:23 says for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, John 3:16 tells us that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whomever would believe in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. If you would like to be saved from this world which leads to sin then destruction, and come into Gods glorious light then please feel free to pray (in red) the prayer below. If you mean what you say then God can work with this confession to reveal all truth to you gradually as you are ready and willing. You will then be able to fulfill the special purpose that you were created for. It is true that you can really know God and you were created to worship him in a unique and special way that God made for you and no one else. Saying this prayer is like taking the Red Pill. Your life will begin to tumble down a rabbit hole as you begin to see the truth. You must be willing and teachable. God cannot work with you if you harden your heart. If however, you think this is just a load of garbage, then you are welcome to take the blue pill and believe whatever you want to believe. At this point you might as well leave this page, but I pray that God will have mercy on your soul and give you other opportunities in the future. Only you can make this decision. If you want to take the red pill, then read on.
A prayer
Dear Heavenly Father.
I come to you in the name of Jesus.
I ask you to forgive me from my sin as I forgive everyone who has sinned against me.
I believe Jesus is the Son of God and He died for my sins.
I declare to you that I will serve you and obey you for the rest of my life and I ask for your strength right now so I will not fall back into my old life.
I will serve you Lord starting from now and I pray that you would help me to hear your voice, so I can be lead by your Spirit.
Please save me from temptation and deliver me from all evil.
I ask you Lord for the strength to love you more than anything else.
I also ask you Lord that you help me to meet the right people that will help me and encourage me to love and serve you more.
Amen
Some Advice
If you prayed to God and really meant what you said, then you have clearly invited God to come into your life. It is now up to you to listen, talk to and obey God. If you continue in your faith till the end of this life, you will continue to live with God in his dwelling place. Your next step is to ask a believer about baptism. Once you are baptized, you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and you will become an empowered believer.
It is also important for you to associate with others who have true faith in God, so you can be trained and encouraged in God’s ways. This will enable you to become a spiritually mature person who intimately knows and loves God. Remember that God will lead you to such people, you need to hear his voice and follow the prompting of his Spirit. He will speak to you in your heart (spirit). His voice is an inner knowing in your heart. Do not expect a verbal human voice.
May God bless you richly as you seek and serve him. May your new life be one of great adventures and victories in God.
Proclaimer.
