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Hi Joshua, (@storysmith)

Perhaps I just noticed the parallels because of the biblical study I have been doing.  I do know that the primary purpose of prophecy is not so much that God merely is wanting us to know the future, but especially that He wants us to know that He holds the future and has full knowledge of it so that we can trust Him as we move towards those things He tells us.   Jesus echoes this point:
“But I have told you these things so that when their time comes you will remember I told them to you. I didn’t tell you these things from the beginning, because I was with you.” [John 16:4 CSB]

Some of the present-day real-world problems foreshadow what God has revealed is coming.  God gives us prophecy and foreshadows things to come for good reasons.  It is okay to speculate about the real world, but there is something so much more satisfying when we look at it through the grounding and lens of scripture.  It lends a sense of authenticity that deepens even fantasy fiction.  Readers subconsciously seek some reference point by which they can begin to identify with the story.  It makes the world you’re creating feel real because it has recognizable shadows of the world we experience.

Part of the magic of Narnia was the child-like wonder that allowed readers to wonder if a place like that actually existed, or to wonder if the Aslan of the story really did appear in another truer form as hinted in “The Last Battle”.

When Jesus taught through parables the power of their special message was that the stories were relatable to their own lives.  Don’t fear to mix in touches of real-world truths.  It enhances the underlying truth of the thematic message.

C.S. Lewis never intended to write a specifically Christian tale, but he noticed something special happened with the stories when the Lion sort of leapt onto the pages he was writing.  Let your faith tap into your writing.