“John Connor Taught Us to Fight Back Against Death – by Faith!”

  Lessons From the Outer Limits: But Our Weapons and Warfare are Spiritual – Part #6

 By Richard Allen – February 23, 2026

I believe that the 1984 Blockbuster Movie, “The Terminator” owes much of its success to the eternal themes that it touched, and the emotions it engendered. Like the other installments in this series: “Lessons From the Outer Limits,” this Blog will show some interesting parallels, but not necessarily exact matches to Gospel Truth. As we’ve seen in the first five Blogs, mankind has an inate sense that “we need to be saved by a being with power beyond our normal human existence.” And the most critical area in which we need saving is our struggle as mortal beings with the ultimate enemy, Death!  Fear of death has gripped the entire human race since the Fall of Adam and Eve (Hebrews 2:15). We try to flee from its clutches, paying billions of dollars in healthcare and miracle cures annually – all in the hope of cheating death. No matter how you cut it, death doesn’t really make sense. To Christians, death is an unnatural enemy – appearing foreign in a world where God is the source of life.

In the Terminator – the two main characters are: Kyle Reese, a Soldier from the not-to-distant future, and Sarah Connor, a young woman destined to bear a “Son” in our present day. We never meet her son, John Connor, the future “Savior of the Human Race” – but hear about John through Kyle Reese. As we will learn, Kyle turns out to be John Connor’s father!  The last character, a Cyborg Robot – part flesh and part machine – is much like an “Incarnation of the Devil,” sent back in time to destroy Sarah and her Son before he can save all humanity from ‘annihilation.’ In the future, the human race is fighting against world domination from our own technological advancements. In this future world, the cyborg-machine-entity is called ‘Skynet’ – a consortium of interconnected global computers and \machines. Man created these machines and weapons to control the whole planet – all in the hope of World Peace.  But when the Artificial Intelligence programmed into these computers achieves ‘consciousness,’ the machines logically conclude that human beings are the source of all conflicts and struggles on earth. So ‘Skynet’ decides: All human life must be eradicated! Once ‘Skynet’ had control of virtually all systems across the globe, the future battle was proceeding poorly for the handful of humans who tried to fight back.  But there was one man who stood up to ‘Skynet,’ and taught the rag-tag group of hiding humans to fight back: John Connor – whose initials, J.C. just happen to be the same as Jesus Christ! 

Technology is so advanced in the future that time travel is possible, so John Connor sends one of his most faithful foot-soldiers, Kyle Reese, back for a special mission – to rescue his mother from the T-800 Cybernetic Robot, which was also sent back by ‘Skynet’ to kill John Connor’s mother, Sarah Connor. From the Sci-Fi perspective of time travel, in the future, John knew full well that Kyle Reese was his father – which is why he sent him back in time to meet his mother. It’s quite ironic, but there are two Biblical pictures that parallel the movie’s main plotline: 1.) The “Emnity that Satan has for human beings – specifically “the seed of the woman” (Genesis 3:15). And 2.) The Son is “Eternal.” This is why Jesus told the religious leaders in His day: “Before Abraham was, I Am” (John 8:58). There is a twist on the Gospel Story, as in the Terminator – it’s the Son who sends the Father, not vice versa. The first Biblical Picture in the plotline is seen as a divine mystery portrayed in the Book of Revelation as the “dragon” (Satan), who stands before the Woman to destroy her child as soon as it’s born:

“And a great sign 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 pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. 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 give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it” (Revelation 12:1-4).

While many see the Woman in Revelation 12 as Jesus’ mother Mary or “natural Israel” – from a New Covenant viewpoint, the Woman represents the Israel of God, that is, God’s faithful people.  It was through these faithful people the Promised Messiah was to be born, that is, “born of a woman” (Galatians 4:4). The History of the Old Testament is the story of Satan seeking to prevent the “Promised Son” (Isaiah 9:6) from being born.  The movie opens with Kyle Reese appearing on a deserted Los Angeles street in the early morning hours, completely naked. Turns out that for a human to travel back in time, there is a restriction preventing the traveler from bringing any hardware or future weapons to help in the fight. Only a being “clothed in flesh and blood” (Romans 8:3) can make the trip through time. While the Cybernetic T-800 Terminator Robot is in fact a machine – it’s also clothed with “flesh” along with the Cyborg’s ‘Exoskeleton’ of metal. This ‘high-tech robot’ is virtually invincible by modern standards. And  ‘Skynet’ has sent the T-800 with only one objective: Terminate Sarah Connor.  

There are many parallels between Sarah and Mary, the mother of Jesus’ humanity. Sarah Connor is also an unmarried young woman, suddenly confronted by Kyle Reese, a ‘visitor from another future world’ – just like the Angel Gabriel’s Annunciation to Mary – to inform her that “she will be the mother of a son who will save mankind from ‘Skynet,’ and thwart the total destruction of the human race by “machines.” ‘Skynet’ had launched a nuclear holocaust to wipe out all flesh!  Sarah is bewildered and frightened by Kyle’s prophetic words – telling of future destruction and her own part in saving mankind by birthing a son, John Connor – who will be the Savior of the world! At one point, Sarah asks Kyle:

Sarah Connor:  “Tell me about my son.”

Kyle Reese:  “He’s about my height, he has your eyes.”

Sarah Connor:  “What’s he like?”

Kyle Reese:  “You trust him, he’s got a strength. . . I’d die for John Connor!”

As much as Sarah is frightenened and amazed at Kyle’s words of devotion to John (Jesus), Kyle himself does not know much about John Connor’s dad, only that he dies before ‘Skynet’ starts the nuclear war to “terminate” mankind. As the movie progresses, Kyle and Sarah become romantically involved – making it clear that Kyle is John’s father! And it was John himself who sent Kyle back to protect his mother – and to have a child with her. It’s obvious that Sarah herself would later tell John who his dad was, Kyle Reese.  For the rest of the movie, ‘Death’ (the Terminator) pursues Sarah with a vengeance, just as ‘Death’ pursues each of us. Sarah is finally saved by the combined effort of Kyle Reese, the Father – and John Connor, the Son who intervened from the future to rescue her. In one scene, the movie’s protagonist, Kyle Reese, explains to Sarah the singular mission of this Terminator (Satan-Death):

“It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead.” 

Ultimately, Sarah and Kyle are cornered in an automated factory where Kyle sacrificially gives his own life for Sarah to save her from “Death.” In the process, the Terminator is defeated and destroyed.  While the theme of ‘self-sacrifice’ is common in countless stories, as Comedian, Preacher and Writer, Andy Kind observed in Christianity Today:

“But why do we resonate with themes of rescue, self-sacrifice and redemption. I think because we are wired to respond to them. The temptation at this point might be to say, 'Well, it's not just Christianity – all religions have these themes.' But that's just not true. You will not find any other religion where God offers to rescue you. You cannot find another worldview where you are worth dying for. No other religion says that God is coming to find you, or where death itself can be conquered. With any other God, your cries for help are either unheard or unheeded.”  [ https://www.christiantoday.com/news/the-terminator-tells-a-very-old-story-and-its-good-news ]

The idea of God personally intervening in our lives to save us from death, is unique to Christian doctrine. But even more preposterous is the idea that God would personally leave the glory of heaven, become a man, and then suffer and die a humiliating death on a cross to redeem us. But this, in fact, is what happened. Apart from the confusion of ‘Time-Travel-Paradoxes,’ the movie shows us our desperate need for a Savior to save us from Eternal Death. Paul echoes these deep desires – woven into our very soul – when teaching the Church at Rome and the Athenians on Mars Hill:

“For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse” (Romans 1:19-20).

“And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for ‘In him we live and move and have our being’ as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are indeed his offspring’” (Acts 17:26-28).

Paul longs for men and women – even in our fallen state – to see God’s Divine and Eternal attributes – acknowledging that we need to be saved by a champion, if we are to defeat Death and have Eternal Life. This Savior is not John Connor or Kyle Reese, but Jesus the Messiah. This Jesus is now reaching out His hand, calling each of us to faith in Him, saying:  “Come with me, if you want to live!”

Soli Deo Gloria!