“The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon.” – G.K. Chesterton
In our modern world one unfortunate result of our intense skepticism of anything we can not see with our eyes is a general disbelief in anything fantastical. This means that we no longer believe in spiritual beings like angels and certainly not in mythical creatures like dragons. Yet, dragons are more real in this world than aliens, UFOs or Global Warming. In fact, our very existence depends on our belief in dragons.
Pet Dragons
One cause behind our general disbelief in these fierce winged creatures is due in so small part to the portrayal of dragons in films. For example, there is the infamous “Puff the Magic Dragon,” who was featured in a television film released in the 1970s. This meek and cuddly dragon was based off of a dragon featured in a song made popular by the group Peter, Paul and Mary in 1963. Additionally, the song itself is based off of a poem written in 1959. In it a young boy is friends with a dragon named Puff and they go on an imaginative adventure.
This type of “friendly” dragon has continued to be featured in films as most recent as How To Train Your Dragon (2010) and How To Train Your Dragon 2 (2014). While not as friendly as Puff, the main character is able to successfully tame a dragon and they become best friends.
Smaug the Terrible
Yet, dragons are finally getting their proper portrayal in The Desolation of Smaug. Dragons are not cuddly creatures that you want to have on your side; instead they are fierce creatures who are greedy, powerful and only desire destruction. Smaug is a great example of how dragons were usually depicted in Medieval literature. Dragons were not meant to be your friend, but were real creatures that you needed to do battle with.
Mythical and Real at the Same Time
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Statue of Archangel Michael
at the University of Bonn,
Photo: Michael Jaletzke
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Certainly the natural existence of fire-breathing dragons is up to debate, however, they truly do exist in various forms in our world today. Traditionally, the dragon symbolized evil, but more importantly the dragon symbolized Satan; the serpent of all serpents. From the book of Genesis to Revelation, Satan is shown as a dragon:
And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; she was with child and she cried out in her pangs of birth, in anguish for delivery. And another portent appeared in heaven; behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems upon his heads. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bear a child, that he might devour her child when she brought it forth; she brought forth a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which to be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days. (Revelation 12:1-6 emphasis added)
Saint Michael the Archangel proceeds to defeat the dragon and throughout the ages numerous heroes in literature follow his example and slay the Evil One.
We Must Do Battle
Satan is real and his demonic minions are active in the world today. This means that we must daily do battle with the dragon and defeat him. Saint Paul speaks plainly about the reality of this battle:
For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12)
Saint Paul even goes further to explain that if we are to be victorious in this battle, we must put on the armor of God:
Therefore take the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the equipment of the gospel of peace; above all taking the shield of faith, with which you can quench all the flaming darts of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. (Ephesians 6:13-18)
This armor consists of truth, righteousness, gospel of peace, faith, salvation and the word of God. Above all, Paul ends with an exhortation to “pray at all times.” Therefore, in order to defeat the dragon, we must beseech God and His heavenly army of angels to assist us. We can not win this battle alone. If we try to do this on our own, we will fail.
The Disguise of Dragons
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The Antichrist pictured in the center upon a platform
with Satan behind putting his hand through his cloak |
Lastly, dragons certainly do not reveal themselves in the same form. Often they will be obvious and certainly suggest evil things. However, they may even appear to be good. A depiction of satan and the “Antichrist” that I particularly would like to point out is one found in Orvieto, Italy. In the beautiful church, there is a series of paintings in a side chapel that reveal how the Antichrist will appear at the end of time. He is shown to be entirely in likeness to Jesus Christ. He looks, sounds and for all purposes looks like Jesus Christ. Yet, the painting reveals that satan is behind this figure and is controlling him. This is a stern warning to all of us that the dragon may even appear to be doing good and great things, but his motive is to allure us and take us away from Christ. If we ever seem to be following someone or something that appears good, but takes us away from Christ; beware, the dragon is behind it.
Dragons are real and can take many forms in our modern world. Therefore, we must always be on guard to fight him with the armor of God. Do not be fooled by the cunning of a dragon, who only seeks to lure you away from God.
Even more so, tell your children that dragons do exist. They need to know that there are evil things in this world that need to be conquered. At the same time, make sure to tell them that dragons can be defeated. They are not your friends and certainly should not be trained.
And above all things, as Bilbo Baggins would say, never laugh at live dragons. They are real and not to be trifled with.
