"It always helps to have a bit of prayer in your back pocket. At the end of the day, you have to have something and for me that is God, Jesus, my Catholic upbringing, my faith ... God has been good to me. My faith has been good to me in the moments of deepest suffering, doubt and fear."
-Pierce Brosnan, interviewed by IrishCentral in 2014
James Bond is one of God's greatest earthly warriors.
There is nothing in the Ian Fleming novels that acknowledges him as a religious man, but his creator did compare Bond to a modern-day St George who kills wicked dragons. While Fleming noted that Bond isn't particularly likeable and has some "perceptible vices," we can be sure he stands on the side of good. The films took this even further, evidenced by a clear differentiation between the hero and the villain – while the hero avoids innocents paying the price of his actions, the villains never care about hurting innocents or their plan involves killing innocents. Bond strips out of this world the "wicked dragons" who endanger the lives of us mere mortals. Even more than that, he risks the most precious thing a man could have —his own life— to save people who would even ignore his existence. While families were having lunch in Istanbul, Bond was down there almost drowning in a sinking nuclear submarine to prevent a meltdown that would have killed them.
This is why God wants Bond to live and always gives him an escape plan—either through his wits, his gadgets, or that one ally who saves his life from an impossible situation. A clear example happens in The World Is Not Enough, where 007 is trapped in a nuclear silo by Renard with an explosive rigged for detonation, and Christmas Jones opens the blast door, paving a way out. As Psalm 20:6 reminds us, "The Lord gives victory to his anointed. He answers him from his heavenly sanctuary with the victorious power of his right hand." Dr Jones' appearance at the right place and time wasn't coincidence. This was God helping one of his best warriors.
Notably, the code number that identifies Bond is the seven. This is a number that frequently appears in the Bible, generally symbolizing completion or perfection, healing, and exoneration. A number associated with God's doings, while the six (which represents 'GoldenEye's traitorous MI6 operative Alec Trevelyan) has the opposite qualities and is frequently associated with the number of the Antichrist in the Book of Revelation. This makes sense when we consider the former agent 006 as a darker version of 007. Unsurprisingly, the demise of this villain even has some Luciferian vibes as the hero makes him fall from a blinding height (“They will bring you down to the pit, and you will die a violent death in the heart of the seas, pierced with many wounds” – Ezekiel 28:8).
Happy Resurrection Day, dear readers!
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