BREAKING THE CODE –
The DA Vinci Code
Pastor David L. Brown, Ph.D.
© June 2006 by David L. Brown,
Ph.D.
The DA Vinci Code is the wildly popular
fiction novel by Dan Brown. To date, the book has sold 43 million
copies and has been translated into 40 different languages. The
movie, based on the book has proven to be a blockbuster as well.
The book opens with the discovery of a murdered Louvre curator,
who is found naked with a five-pointed star, a pentagram, carved on
his stomach.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the plot of this novel
we offer you the following summary which is found on the flyleaf of
the book –
While in Paris on business, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon
receives an urgent late-night phone call. The elderly curator of the
Louvre has been murdered inside the museum, a baffling cipher found
near the body. As Langdon and a gifted French cryptologist, Sophie
Neveu, sort through the bizarre riddles, they are stunned to
discover a trail of clues hidden in the works of Da Vinci – clues
visible for all to see and yet ingeniously disguised by the painter.
The stakes are raised when Langdon uncovers a startling link: The
late curator was involved in the Priory of Sion – an actual secret
society whose members included Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor
Hugo, and Da Vinci, among others. Langdon suspects they are on a
hunt for a breathtaking historical secret, one that has proven
through the centuries to be as enlightening as it is dangerous. In a
frantic race through Paris, and beyond, Langdon and Neveu find
themselves matching wits with a faceless powerbroker who appears to
anticipate their every move. Unless they can decipher the
labyrinthine puzzle, the Priory’s secret – and an explosive ancient
truth – will be lost forever.
As you read, The Da Vinci Code weaves a
tangled conspiracy web and most everybody loves a conspiracy. The
book that is neck deep in murder, intrigue, mystery, hidden
treasure, clandestine secrets, sensual rituals, secret codes and
more. However, Dan Brown, the author, has another agenda and that is
to attack Jesus Christ, the Church, Christianity, and those, like
myself, who identify themselves as Christians. But, why should we
even be worried about this book? First, author Dan Brown was
recently named as one of the World’s 100 Most Influential People by
Time Magazine. The Da Vinci Code book and movie is
influencing people. Here are some of the assertions made in the book
–
Almost everything we have been taught about Christ is
false
The recognition of Jesus as God was the result of a close
vote
Leonardo Da Vinci was a Grand Master of a secret society,
the Priory of Sion
His painting of the Last Supper reveals that Christ was
married to Mary Magdalene
Historical records assert that Jesus and Mary Magdalene
were married
Mary Magdalene is the Holy Grail
The Bible is the product of man not God & was put
together by Constantine
The New Testament is a false testimony
80 Gospels were considered for a place in the New
Testament.
Early Jews and Christians worshipped through sex, for sex
is a mystical spiritual act.
The deity of Christ was established by a close vote
The Gnostic Gospels are the earliest Christian record
Jesus was the original feminist and intended His church
to be headed by Mary Magdalene
Early Jews believed that the Holy of Holies of Solomon’s
Temple housed not only God but also His female equal,
Shekinah
-
Breaking The Code & Exposing The Lie That
The Book Is Based On Fact
Is the book fact or fiction? To be sure, it is
catalogued as a fiction work, but as Timothy P. Jones says, "If
the book’s claims were only treated as fictional, there probably
wouldn’t be so much interest. However, the author of The Da Vinci
Code doesn’t view his work as pure fiction." (Answers
to The DA Vinci Code; Rose Publishing; p.1). Is Jones
correct in his evaluation? Yes, I think he is and here’s why. On
page 1 of The DA Vinci Code we read these words –
F A C T :
The Priory of Sion – a European secret society founded in 1099—is a real organization.
In 1975 Paris’s Bibliothèque Nationale Discovered parchments known as Les Dossiers Secrets, identifying numerous Members of the Priory of Sion, including Sir Isaac Newton, Boticelli, Victor Hugo, And Leonardo da Vinci…
All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate. (Hard back edition of The Da Vinci
Code; by Dan Brown; p.1)
The author, Dan Brown, would have you believe his
fiction novel, The Da Vinci Code, is actually based on facts.
He has purposely gone about to blur the lines between fact and
fiction. Consider his interview with Matt Lauer, on The Today Show,
June 9, 2003.
Matt asked Dan Brown, "How much of this book is
this based on reality in terms of things that actually occurred?"
Dan Brown answered, "Absolutely all of it.
Obviously, Robert Langdon is fictional, but all of the art,
architecture, secret rituals, secret societies—all of this is fact."
The New York Daily News said of his book
The Da Vinci Code, "His research is impeccable."
(http://www.danbrown.com).
In light of the "FACT" declaration on the opening
page, and the author’s very public assertions that the book is
"Absolutely" based on fact, many people believe the book and
movie are based on facts. However, I contend that The Da
Vinci Code is a cunningly devised fable.
Before we expose the more significant deceitful
fabrications of the book I want to…
˜ Expose A Few of the Inaccuracies In the
Descriptions of the Alleged "Accurate" Artwork & Architecture" In
the Book
The book says that the Louvre’s Glass
Pyramid (designed by MIT & Harvard educated Ieoh Ming Pei and
added to the entrance of the Louvre Museum in 1989) was "at
President Mitterand’s explicit demand, [and] had been constructed of
exactly 666 panes of glass…." (Hard back edition of
The Da Vinci Code; by Dan Brown; p.21; hereafter D.C.)
However, on a recent visit to the Louvre, I discovered that their
own count is 673 panes of glass NOT exactly 666 panes of glass
as the book says!
Next we come to the painting the book identifies
as Madonna of the Rocks (DC p.134). The
actual name of this Da Vinci painting is Virgin of The Rocks.
The book says it hangs in a side room of the Louvre called
the Salle des Etats (DC p. 131). In fact,
it actually hangs in the Grand Gallery Hallway! Again, in the
book we see that Sophie Neveu is looking at the painting described
as 5 feet tall. Let me accurately describe the painting for you. It
is much larger than that - 6 feet 5 inches tall. It is in a massive
wooden frame behind glass. It is estimated the painting weight at
least 200 pounds. That is something you should note because on page
133 of The Da Vinci Code, Sophie lifts it off the wall. She
must have been quite some muscle-bound babe to lift a 200 pound
painting off the wall.
One final example of the inaccuracies in art come
in the book’s description of Da Vinci’s The Last Supper.
Leigh Teabing refers to the painting as a fresco on page
243-244. That is most definitely an error on the author’s part. If
the painting had been a fresco, it would have lasted through the
years and would have been clearly visible. The painting was a
tempera painting and not a fresco! It was something Da
Vinci was experimenting with. Tempra was a mixture of egg yolk and
vinegar mixed with oil and then painted on dry plaster. The
experiment was a disaster! The painting was completed in 1497-99. By
1568 painter-architect Giorgio Vassar said the painting was "so
badly preserved that one can only see a muddle of blots." By 1642,
when Dr. Francesco Scannelli went to see the painting he reported
"that it was in such a blurred state that it was difficult to make
out the well known subject of the picture."
What is the difference between a fresco
and a tempera painting? Here is how a fresco is made. When
the plaster is wet, paint is put on the wet plaster which
intermingles with the plaster. When the plaster dries the color is
permanent. The problem with a fresco: only a limited number of
colors can be used, the painting cannot be retouched and when the
plaster dries you have a permanent, unchangeable painting. Then,
there is the tempera. Leonardo wanted to experiment
with a new style he had invented - tempera (egg yolk and vinegar)
plus oil painting ON dry plaster. That way he could use more colors
and redo portions if necessary. This new style of painting turned
out to be a disaster. One artist described it this way – "The paint
almost immediately began falling off the plaster. The humidity was
causing the paint to separate from the plaster on which it had been
painted. Whole pieces of paint fell off the wall. Over the years,
the piece has been vandalized and nearly fell apart completely."
Upon close examination, the "FACTS" of the Da
Vinci Code crumble! Let’s look at some of the more important facts.
-
Breaking The Code & Exposing The Lie Of The
Origin And Nature Of The Priory of Sion
The cornerstone of the entire story is a secret
society called The Priory of Sion. The book claims that it
was established in 1099 AD. The book gets its name from Brown’s
claim that Leonardo Da Vinci was one of the Grand Masters of The
Priory of Sion. The objective of this clandestine organization
was to protect the "truth" that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were
married and had a child together. To aviod the wrath of the Roman
Catholic Church The Priory would hide their secret in
paintings, encrypted writings and architecture.
But, there is a BIG PROBLEM! There was no
secret society called The Priory of Sion founded in 1099 AD.
There was a medieval order of monks called The Order of Sion.
Here is what Answers.com says about this order –
"The Order of Sion was a medieval
order of canons which, according to a papal bull of the 12th
century, had abbeys on Mount Sion in Jerusalem, on Mount
Carmel, in Southern Italy (Calabria), and in France. The
Order occupied its ‘mother’ abbey, the Abbey de Notre Dame
du Mont Sion, built on the foundations of the original
apostolic Cenacle, or Coenaculum, traditionally assumed to
be the location of the Last Supper. The abbey was maintained
up until c1291, when it fell to the Muslims. Supposed
connections with the Priory of Sion are now believed to be
an hoax perpetrated in the 1960s in France."
In my research, here is what I have uncovered.
Historically, the Priory of Sion was founded in 1956 not 1099. Paul
Smith records this --
"The President of the 1956 Priory of Sion
was André Bonhomme. André Bonhomme was one of the four
founding members of the Priory of Sion in Annemasse in 1956,
along with Pierre Plantard. He is tired of being harassed by
inquiries about the nature of the association and doesn't
want any publicity – he refuses to be interviewed on
television or on radio. He doesn't understand where people
get the idea that the Priory was anything other than what it
was – just a small club of friends." In reality the society
was created to lobby for low cost housing in that area of
France. (see registration below).
(the perceeding documents are from --
http://priory-of-sion.com/psp/posd/regdoc.html)
This was the statement André Bonhomme
made to the BBC in 1996: "The Priory of Sion doesn't
exist anymore. We were never involved in any activities of a
political nature. It was four friends who came together to
have fun. We called ourselves the Priory of Sion because
there was a mountain by the same name close-by. I haven't
seen Pierre Plantard in over 20 years and I don't know what
he's up to but he always had a great imagination. I
don't know why people try to make such a big thing out of
nothing." (see
http://priory-of-sion.com/psp/id43.html).
Then there is information from the BBC 2
Timewatch documentary The History of a Mystery (1996):
"There's no evidence for a Priory of Sion
until the 1950s; to find it, you go to the little town of St-Julien.
Under French Law every new club or association must register itself
with the Authorities, and that's why there's a dossier here showing
that a Priory of Sion filed the proper forms in 1956. According to a
founding member, this eccentric association took its name not
from Jerusalem, but from a nearby mountain (Col du Mont Sion
Alt. 786 m). The dossier also notes that the Priory's self-styled
Grand Master Pierre Plantard, who is central to this story, has done
time in jail."
You should know about the character of Pierre
Plantard. He "was a lifelong charlatan and confidence trickster –
his 1937-1954 activities involving confidence trickery, anti-semitic
and anti-masonic activities are provided in File Ga P7 which
is available for public inspection at the Paris Prefecture of
Police, 9 Boulevard du Palais, 75195 Paris (Monsieur Claude
Charlot, is the Director of Museum Archives of the Bureau of
Associations at the Paris Prefecture of Police, for written
enquiries)." (http://priory-of-sion.com).
Indeed French anti-Semite, and jail bird, Pierre
Plantard had a "great imagination" and got himself into trouble with
it. He spent six months jail in 1953 for fraud and embezzlement or
as the official record reads, a ‘breach of
trust.’
The Priory of Sion disbanded sometime
after August 1956 when Plantard served another time in prison
between December 1956 and December 1957 over allegations relating to
"corruption of minors." But Plantard held on to the
name The Priory of Sion. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s,
Plantard put together a number of bogus documents which
"proved" the Jesus–Mary Magdalene theory, with French royalty being
their descendants. Plantard claimed that he himself was one of the
descendents of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. These bogus
documents, alleged to be ancient parchments were called Les
Dossiers Secrets. These documents are nothing but a
forgery penned in the 1960s and secretly deposited in the Paris
Library. While under oath, the judge asked Plantard about these
documents about Jesus and Mary Magdalene, and he admitted he made
the whole thing up. An associate of Plantard's conceded that
Plantard made the whole thing up. All this has been thoroughly
documented by several French books and a BBC special.
My point is simply this. The The Priory of
Sion, which is the cornerstone of Brown’s book, is a hoax!
The Jesus – Mary Magdalene theory that is the premise of the whole
book is a HOAX. It is FALSE, BOGUS, and PHONY. (For more specifics
get the book Cracking The Da Vinci’s Code by Garlow and Jones
published by Cook Communications).
Now, just in case you do not believe me, consider
what Glenn Whipp of the Los Angeles Daily News writes, "The experts
say: The Priory, a repository of all manner of conspiracy theories,
was a hoax created in 1956 by French anti-Semite Pierre Plantard."
(quote from The ChronicleHerald.ca, May 17, 2006; Halfax,
Nova Scotia).
Upon breaking the code we see, despite
Brown’s claim, The Priory of Sion, was not a real
organization founded in 1099 AD. Neither was it formed to guard the
Jesus-Mary Magdalene marriage theory. It was a very small
organization of friends founded in 1956 to lobby for low cost
housing.
-
Breaking The Code & Exposing The Lie That Jesus Was Married
To Mary Magdalene
On page 244 and again on page 245 of The Da Vinci Code we
read, "the marriage of Jesus and Mary Magdalene is a part of the
historical record."
Let’s consider what the New Testament has to say
about Jesus being married…………………………………!
There is a deafening silence on the subject. The
New Testament mentions absolutely nothing. Certainly Paul would have
cited the marriage of Jesus as his number one illustration, if it
were so, when he defends the right of Apostles to be married in 1
Corinthians 9:5 "Have we not power to lead about a sister, a
wife, as well as other apostles, and as the brethren of the
Lord, and Cephas?" But, neither he, nor any other New Testament
writer mentions or alludes to it.
So, since the New Testament does not mention the
marriage what does The Da Vinci Code mean when it says,
Jesus’ marriage to Mary Magdalene was "a matter of historical
record." (DVC, p. 244). What is this "historical record" that is being
referred to?
This assertion is made based on a passage from
the Gnostic Gospel of Phillip which was written some time
between 200 and 350 AD. While we will look at "Christian" Gnosticism
later in this article, you should know that scholars disregard the
Gnostic gospels as "not genuine, spurious and counterfeit."
Here is the supposed quote from the gospel
of Philip as it is given in The Da Vinci Code –
"And the companion of the Savior is Mary
Magdalene. Christ loved her more than all the disciples and used to
kiss her often on her mouth." (DVC, 246)
"As any Aramaic scholar will tell you, the word
companion, in those days, literally meant spouse." (DVC,
246)
Let’s take a look at what the gospel of Philip
really says –
"and the companion of the [ ?? ]
Mary Magdalene [ loved? ] her more than [ all? ] the
disciples [ and used to? ] kiss her [ often? ] on her
[ ?? ]." gospel of Philip 63:33-36.
This is really what the gospel of Philip says!
Why all the blanks? It is because segments of the original
manuscript were damaged, including this portion as you can see from
the picture I have included.
But, what about the word "companion"
that is said to mean "spouse" in Aramaic? This is almost
laughable because the gospel of Philip was NOT written
in Aramaic, but rather in Coptic (an Egyptian language written in
Greek letters as a result of Hellenization). The Coptic gospel of
Philip, found at Nag Hammadi, uses the coined Greek word
koinwnov - koinonos which is rightly translated
"companion." Of the 10 times it is used in the New Testament, not
once does it refer to marriage or sexual relationships. In fact,
Luke uses this term to describe James and John as Peter’s business
partners – "And so was also James, and John, the sons of
Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto
Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men." Luke 5:10
For the record, the common word for "wife"
in the New Testament is gunh – gune. Teabing’s claim, the statement
that Mary was Jesus’ companion, does not at all prove that
she was His wife.
I have broken the code! It is NOT a matter of
historical record that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married. In
fact, The Da Vinci Code invents a marriage between the two.
-
Breaking The Code & Exposing The Lie That
Jesus Was Only A Man and Not God
The Da Vinci Code claims that Jesus was
merely a "mortal prophet" and that "Constantine upgraded Jesus’
status to being divine in 325 AD at the Council of Nicaea. Here are
some quotes from the book.
"Jesus was a historical figure of
staggering influence…" DVC p.231
"Jesus was viewed by His followers as a
mortal prophet…a great and powerful man, but a man none the
less. A mortal." DVC p.233
"Jesus’ establishment as the ‘Son of God’
was officially proposed and voted on by the Council of
Nicea." Sophie asks, "You’re saying Jesus’ divinity was the
result of a vote?" Teabing aswers, "A relatively close vote
at that."
"Many scholars claim that the early
Church literally stole Jesus from His original
followers, hijacking his human message, shrouding it in an
impenetrable cloak of divinity and using it to expand their
own power." DVC p.233
"Constantine upgraded Jesus’ status
almost four centuries after Jesus’ death."
DVC p.234
"Thousands of documents already existed
chronicling His life as a mortal man."
DVC p.234
"Almost everything our fathers taught us
about Christ is false." DVC p.235
Let me break the code concerning Jesus Christ as
He is presented in this book. Noted scholar J.N.D. Kelly writes in
his book Early Christian Doctrines, that "the universal
Christian conviction in the centuries prior to the Council of Nicea,
had been that Jesus Christ was divine as well as human."
(The Da Vinci Hoax; Carl E. Olson and Sandra Miesel). He is
right. John the Apostle clearly believed that Christ was divine, the
Son of God and God the Son - John 1:1 "In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we
beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,)
full of grace and truth." Further, John records for us the
declaration of Jesus declaring Himself to be God - John 10:30
"I and my Father are one." Finally, 1 John 4:9 "In
this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent
his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through
him."
Then there is Paul. He wrote in his letter to the
Colossians "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and
vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the
world, and not after Christ. 9 For in him dwelleth all the
fulness of the Godhead bodily." Colossians 2:8-9 There is
another great Pauline passage - 1 Timothy 3:16 "And without
controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest
in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached
unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into
glory."
I also want to point out that the early church
leaders believed Jesus was divine. "Ignatius believed Jesus was God
manifest ‘in human form." Clement, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus,
Tertullian, Origin, Novatian, and Cyprian all believed Jesus was
God." (A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs;
David Bercot, ed., pp. 93-100)
Let me be more specific. In 110 AD, Ignatius of
Antioch wrote, "There is One God who manifests himself through Jesus
Christ his son." I want to point out that he wrote more than 200
years before the Council of Nicaea.
Justin Martyr said Christ was "the son and the apostle of God the
Father and master of us all."
Irenaeus of Lyons wrote in 177 AD, "all distinctions between the
Father and the Son vanish, for the one God made all things through
His Word.
Do you want to know what is ironic about this
whole claim that Jesus was not considered to be God until the
Council of Nicaea in 325 AD. The demons are smarter than the author
of The Da Vinci Code because they KNOW that Jesus is divine. They
know that He is the Son of God – "And unclean spirits, when they saw
him, fell down before him, and cried, saying, Thou art the Son of
God." Mark 3:11 (Also see Matthew 8:29; Mark 1:24; Luke
4:41).
Let me set the record straight! The "followers of
Jesus from AD 30 on, believed that Jesus was uniquely God."
(Answers To The Da Vinci Code, Rose
Publishing). In fact, the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD neither
needed to define nor did define that Jesus, the Son of God, was
divine. That was accepted by virtually all Christians. What they did
address was the exact relationship between the Son and the Father -
Were the Father and Son equal? Were They two persons? Were They one
substance? The reason they needed to answer these questions is
because around 320 AD Arius, a North African pastor insisted that
Jesus, the Son of God was a lesser god, created by God the Father
and therefore not God in human flesh and not eternally existent. 318
Church leaders gathered in Nicaea and summarized their commitment to
the belief that Christians had held from the beginning, that Jesus
Christ was uniquely God. The document is called the Nicene
Creed –
Πιστεύομεν εις ΄ενα Θεον Πατερα παντοκράτορα, πάντων
ορατων τε και αοράτων ποιητήν.
Πιστεύομεν εισ ΄ενα κύριον `Ιησουν Χριστον, τον υ΄ιον του
θεου, γεννηζέντα εκ του πατρος μονογενη, τουτέστιν εκ της
ουσίας του πατρός, θεον εκ θεου αληθινου, γεννηθέντα, ου
ποιηθέντα, ΄ομοούσιον τωι πατρί δι οϋ τα πάντα
εγένετο, τα τε εν τωι ουρανωι και τα επι της γης τον δι
΄ημας τους ανθρώπους και δα την ΄ημετέραν σωτηρίαν
κατελθόντα και σαρκωθέντα και ενανθρωπήσαντα, παθόντα, και
αναστάντα τηι τριτηι ΄ημέραι, και ανελθοντα εις τους
οθρανούς, και ερχόμενον κριναι ζωντασ και νεκρούς.
Και εις το ΄Αγιον Πνευμα.
Τους δε λέγοντας, ΄οτι ΄ην ποτε ΄ότε οθκ ΄ην, και πριν
γεννηθηναι ουκ ΄ην, και ΄οτι εξ ΄ετερας ΄υποστάσεως η ουσιας
φάσκοντας ειναι, [η κτιστόν,] τρεπτον η αλλοιωτον τον υ΄ιον
του θεου, [τούτους] αναθεματίζει ΄η καθολικη [και
αποστολικη] εκκλησία.
"We believe in one God the Father
Almighty, Maker of all things visible and invisible; and in
one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten of the Father, that
is, of the substance of the Father, God of God, light of
light, true God of true God, begotten not made, of
the same substance with the Father, through whom all
things were made both in heaven and on earth; who for us men
and our salvation descended, was incarnate, and was made
man, suffered and rose again the third day, ascended into
heaven and cometh to judge the living and the dead. And in
the Holy Ghost. Those who say: There was a time when He was
not, and He was not before He was begotten; and that He was
made our of nothing; or who maintain that He is of another
hypostasis or another substance [than the Father], or that
the Son of God is created, or mutable, or subject to change,
[them] the Catholic Church anathematizes."
If you will carefully look at the Greek text of
the Creed, you will see the underlined word ΄ομοούσιον
– homoousion, which means one and the same. Athanasius
had advised the Council to use that word because it meant Jesus had
the very same nature as the Father. The Council agreed. Out of the
318 preachers who attended the conference only 5 protested the
creed, and when the Creed was finally signed on July 25, 325 AD, all
signed it except 2, and Arius.
I have Broken The Code for you. The
Council of Nicaea did not upgrade the status of Jesus to
divinity as the book alleges. It merely reaffirmed what had
been taught in the Church since its founding – Jesus Christ is "true
God of true God."
-
Breaking The Code & Exposing The Lie That
The Bible Is False And Merely The Product of Man
In his book, Dan Brown attacks the inspiration,
canonicity and preservation of the Holy Scriptures. In The Da
Vinci Code the following statements are made –
"The Bible is a product of man…not of
God. The Bible did not fall magically from the clouds. Man
created it…." DVC p. 231
"The Bible did not arrive by fax from
heaven." DVC p. 231
"…the New Testament is false testimony."
DVC p. 341
"…the New Testament is based on
fabrications." DVC p. 341
What Brown writes in his novel, about the Bible,
is a LIE! Turn with me to 2 Timothy 3:16 – The Greek reads,
pasa grafh yeopneustov kai wfelimov prov didaskalian prov
elegcon prov epanorywsin prov paideian thn en dikaiosunh. The
English reads, "All scripture is given by inspiration of
God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for
correction, for instruction in righteousness:" Note the phrase "inspiration
of God," one word in the Greek – yeopneustov. The Greek
word means God-breathed. The Bible is not the product
of man but it was breathed out by God. Turn with me to 2 Peter
1:20-21 "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture
is of any private interpretation. 21 For the prophecy came
not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as
they were moved by the Holy Ghost." This verse teaches that
Scripture is not the product of man’s opinions, but God’s, through
the operation of the Holy Ghost.
It is clear that the writers of the New Testament
knew that what they were writing was inspired of God! Turn in your
Bibles to -- 1 Corinthians 2:13-14 "Which things also we
speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the
Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of
God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them,
because they are spiritually discerned."
It is Dan Brown’s work that is based on
fabrications, NOT the Bible. A good deal of the New Testament is
based on eye witness accounts. Consider 2 Peter 1:16-18
"For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made
known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but
were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For he received from God
the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him
from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased. 18 And this voice which came from heaven we heard,
when we were with him in the holy mount." Let’s add to that
1
John 1:1 "That which was from the beginning, which we have
heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon,
and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;"
We have broken the code again! It is Dan Brown’s
The Da Vinci Code, while claiming to be based on fact, is not
fact at all. It is filled with fabrications, false testimony, deceit
and out and out lies.
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Breaking The Code & Exposing The Lie that
Matthew, Mark, Luke & John Were The 4th Century Additions of
Constantine
"Any gospels that described earthly
aspects of Jesus’ life had been omitted from the Bible."
DVC p.244
These are photos of the Nag Hammadi and
Dead Sea scrolls…the earliest Christian records…these
unaltered gospels. DVC p.245 & 248
"Constantine commissioned and financed a
new Bible, which omitted those gospels that spoke of
Christ’s human traits and embellished those gospels
that made Him godlike." DVC p.234
"… More than eighty gospels
were considered for the New Testament, and yet only a
relative few were chosen for inclusion—Matthew, Mark, Luke,
and John among them." DVC p.231
"The Bible, as we know it today, was
collated by the pagan Roman Emperor Constantine the Great."
DVC p.231
I am one of the associate curators of a Bible
museum. Our museum has actual fragments from the Dead Sea Scrolls. I
have spent multiplied hours studying the Dead Sea Scroll find and I
can tell you with certainty that none of the documents found in
the caves above the Dead Sea have anything to do with Christianity.
On page 234 of The Da Vinci Code , Brown’s scholarly
character British Historian, Sir Leigh Teabing, claims that the
Vatican blocked the release of the Dead Sea Scrolls because the
scrolls revealed "glaring historical discrepancies and fabrications"
in the Bible. These errors are alleged to expose the hidden
political agenda behind the Modern Bible – which was to promote the
divinity of Jesus and thus secure Constantine’s power base.
The Dead Sea Scrolls, however, were mostly written before Jesus
was even born. They contain no New Testament writings and do not
even mention Jesus or the early Christians. They are not
Christian writings; they are Jewish writings believed sacred by
Christians. Not one of the 18,000 Dead Sea Scroll fragments
recovered either supports or even addresses what the
novel claims. Further, It is hard to believe that Jewish scholars
(or even atheistic scholars for that matter) would have participated
in a cover-up to protect Christianity.
Next, we come to the documents found at Nag
Hammadi, Egypt, which the book characterizes as "the earliest
Christian records" of "these unaltered gospels."
Inside an earthenware jar they found thirteen
leather-bound volumes containing fifty-two treatises. The books
included two Gnostic Gospels, the Gospel of Thomas and Philip. They
also found the Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles, A letter of
Peter to Philip and the Apocalypse of Peter and Paul. In his book
The Gnostic Discoveries, Marvin Meyer makes it clear all of the
writings were Gnostic in nature, and they were all written in
Coptic. Now, there is another important fact you need to know. The
Nag Hammadi texts were all written in the second and third centuries
AD. In The Da Vinci Code, Teabing claims that the Nag Hammadi
texts are "the earliest Christian records DVC p.245.
The truth is that every book in the New Testament was written
in the first century AD! In fact, Gnostic beliefs did
not begin to be mixed with Christianity until about 150 AD and
so-called Christian Gnostic sects virtually disappeared by the 6th
century. The only known exception was the Mandaean sect of
Iran/Iraq.
There is also something further I should draw to
your attention. Scholars disregard the Gnostic gospels as not
genuine, spurious, counterfeit.
Here are some facts that you should know
about Christian Gnosticism –
The name Gnostic comes from the
Greek Word gnosis, meaning knowledge. Gnosticism was
made up of elements taken from many syncretistic belief systems.
They combined elements taken from Babylonian, Egyptian, Asian, Greek
and Syrian pagan religions. Other elements came from astrology and
Judaism and later Christianity. There is a broad range of beliefs
among Gnostic systems.
Peter Jones, professor of New Testament at
Westminster Seminary California and director of Christian Witness
to a Pagan Planet says this about Gnosticism –
"Gnosticism is formed from the Greek term
gnosis meaning knowledge, but it means here a
particular form of knowledge, namely ‘spiritual experience."
Like all pagan spirituality, so-called ‘Christian’
Gnosticism engages in ‘sacred technologies’ (occult
meditations, chanting mantras, drumming, etc.) to access the
higher, spiritual self, the self that is part of God. In
this essentially out-of-body experience, all physical and
this-worldly restraints, like rational thinking and a sense
of specific gender, fall away. In a word, the experience of
‘enlightenment’ is both the rejection of the goodness of the
physical creation and an acquisition of the knowledge of the
divinity of the human soul."
Basically, Gnostics see the human soul as divine.
You look within for God.
There was no consensus on a Gnostic canon of
scriptures. Gnostic groups had no scruples about rewriting and
adapting other religions sacred writings to fit their fancy. Many of
their own works were circulated in different versions. Various sects
had their own preferred rendition. Further, Gnostic groups
had no unified doctrinal statement within Gnostic groups. In
fact, the Nag Hummadi find revealed that a variety of different
beliefs existed among different groups and individuals. For
instance, some taught celibacy and others did not.
Let’s take a look at some of the generally held beliefs of
Gnostic groups:
Salvation is by learning and understanding secret
knowledge. Gnostics were exclusivists, teaching that they alone
understood the teachings of Christ. They also taught that the
Supreme God of Truth is unknowable.
Gnostics also taught that the Supreme God created
a number of supernatural, but finite beings called Aeons.
A virgin Aeon named Sophia, gave birth to the inferior Creator-God
Demiurge who is know as Jehovah. Gnostics viewed
Jehovah as evil, arrogant and incompetent. They believe that "the
Serpent of Genesis spoke truth and the God of Genesis was a blind
and evil liar. Thus Eve was a heroine and Adam a wimp who quickly
converted to the ‘truth’" (Onward Gnostic
Soldiers; May 20 World, Peter Jones)
These Gnostics believed that the physical world,
matter and the human body were evil. However, trapped within people
was a spark of divinity that needed to be released.
Jesus Christ was looked upon as a revealer of
knowledge and a liberator telling them how they could be free of
Demiurge’s control and return to their spiritual home with the
Supreme God at death.
My point in telling you all of this is to make
you aware that Dan Brown’s novel, The Da Vinci Code is a
Gnostic novel. Gene Edward Veith correctly pointed this out in his
article The Da Vinci Phenomenon in the May 20th
edition of World Magazine. He says, "The Da Vinci Code is at
the forefront of a Gnostic revival….Mr. Brown and his
modern-day bestseller-turned-blockbuster resurrect that ancient
heresy. Religion here has to do with secret knowledge.
Spirituality is unrelated to what one does with one’s body. Religion
is a construction that exists primarily in one’s head."
It is clear; The Da Vinci Code preaches
another Jesus and a false Gospel. The Apostle Paul in his letter to
the Galatians had poignant words for those who advocate such lies –
"I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into
the grace of Christ unto another gospel: 7 Which is not
another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the
gospel of Christ. 8 But though we, or an angel from heaven,
preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached
unto you, let him be accursed. 9 As we said before, so say I
now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than
that ye have received, let him be accursed." Galatians 1:6-9
Let us move on to Brown’s statements - "…
More than eighty gospels were
considered for the New Testament , and yet only a
relative few were chosen for inclusion—Matthew, Mark, Luke,
and John among them." DVC p.231
"The Bible, as we know it today, was
collated by the pagan Roman Emperor Constantine the Great."
DVC p.231
You do not even need to do a deep study of the
canonicity of the New Testament to discover that Matthew, Mark, Luke
and John were recognized from the very beginning as the
authoritative accounts of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. The
Four Gospels of our New Testament were written between AD 40-90. The
Gnostic Gospels were written in the mid 100’s to 400 AD.
In fact, by the mid-100’s, at about the time the
earliest texts found at Nag Hammadi were being written, Iraneaus
wrote in his work Against Heresy – "Since there are four
quarters of the earth,…it is fitting that the church should have
four pillars,…the four Gospels." I should also tell you that I have
an exact facsimile of a fragment of the Gospel of John, chapter 18.
It is known as P52. It was found in Egypt and has been dated at
around 125 AD, which indicates that the Gospel of John was in wide
circulation by then.
The books of the New Testament were already
settled, long before the 325 AD Council of Nicaea. The Gnostic
gospels emerged later, and therefore are too late to be counted.
And, there were NOT 80 other "Gospels" circulating at the time
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John had been accepted by the church. Even
if you consider the other false gospels circulating at a later date,
there are only twelve and the true Gospels had already been accepted
by the end of the first century. The other false gospels were
clearly NOT "inspired Scripture."
The four gospels in our present Bible were chosen
for good reason. First, early in church history, four centers of
Christianity emerged: Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexander, and Rome. These
centers of Christianity used the four gospels in our present Bible.
Christian leaders who lived between A.D. 95 and 170 consistently
point to the reliability of the New Testament Gospels. Following is
a sampling.
1. Clement. Clement was a leading elder in the church at
Rome. In his epistle to the Corinthians (c. A.D. 95), he cites
portions of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and introduces them as the
actual words of Jesus.
2. Papias. Papias, the bishop of
Hierapolis in Phrygia and author of Exposition of Oracles of the
Lord (c. A.D. 130), cites the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and
John, presumably as canonical. He specifically refers to John's
Gospel as containing the words of Jesus.
3. Justin Martyr. Justin Martyr, foremost
apologist of the second century (A.D. 140), considered all four
Gospels to be Scripture.
4. The Didache. The Didache, an ancient manual of
Christianity that dates between the end of the first century and the
beginning of the second century, cites portions of the three
synoptic Gospels and refers to them as the words of Jesus. This
manual quotes extensively from Matthew's gospel.
5. Polycarp. Polycarp, a disciple of the
apostle John, quotes portions of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and refers
to them as the words of Jesus (c. A.D. 150).
6. Irenaeus. Irenaeus, a disciple of
Polycarp (c. A.D. 170), quoted from twenty–three of the twenty–seven
New Testament books, omitting only Philemon, James, 2 Peter, and 3
John.
7. The Muratorian Fragment dates to about
A.D. 175, and lists the four canonical gospels. Indeed, it lists 23
of the 27 books in the New Testament.
8. Papyrus 45, dated around A.D. 200, has
all four canonical gospels together.
Clearly, there are many early sources dating
between A.D. 95 and 150 that refer to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John
as containing the actual words of Christ. History is therefore on
the side of the New Testament Gospels.
Dr. Ron Rhodes points this out – "There are also
some 86,000 quotations of the New Testament from the early church
fathers and several thousand Lectionaries (church–service books
containing Scripture quotations used in the early centuries of
Christianity). In fact, there are enough quotations from the early
church fathers that even if we did not have a single manuscript copy
of the Bible, scholars could still reconstruct all but 11 verses of
the entire New Testament from material written within 150 to 200
years from the time of Christ."
Again, we have broken the code and shown that
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were NOT 4th century
additions to the Bible by Constantine.
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Breaking The Code & Exposing The Lie That
Jesus Intended Mary Magdalene to Be the Head of the Church
Here are the quotes from the book --
"The rock on which Jesus built His Church
... was not Peter ... It was Mary Magdalene."
DVC p.248
Jesus "intended for the future of His
Church to be in the hands of Mary Magdalene."
DVC p.248
Here is the truth -
Dan Brown’s statement alludes to Matthew 16:18 which says,
"And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I
will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it."
In this passage Jesus was not saying that
Peter was the rock upon whom the church would be built. Rather, He
was referring to Peter’s previous statement in Matthew 16:15-17
"He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? 16 And Simon
Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the
living God. 17 And Jesus answered and said unto him,
Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not
revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven."
Peter's confession was that Jesus was the Christ
would be the rock upon which the church would be built. There are a
number of factors in the Greek text that argue against the
interpretation that Peter was the rock. First, whenever Peter
is referred to in this passage (Matthew 16), it is in the second
person ("thou"), but "this rock" is in the third person (verse 18).
Moreover, "Peter" (petros) is a masculine singular term and rock"
(petra) is a feminine singular term. Hence, they are not referring
to the same thing. What is more, the same authority Jesus gave to
Peter (Matthew 16:18) is later given to all the apostles (Matthew
18:18). So Peter is not unique.
Look at Ephesians 2:20 "And are built upon the foundation of
the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief
corner stone." This verse affirms that the church is "built
on the foundation of the apostles and prophets," with Christ Jesus
himself being "the corner stone."
Two things are clear from this: 1. all the
apostles, not just Peter, are the foundation of the church; 2. the
only one who was given a place of uniqueness or prominence was
Christ, the corner stone. Indeed, Peter himself referred to Christ
as "the head of the corner" of the church (1 Peter 2:7) and the rest
of believers as "lively" or living "stones" (verse 4) in the
superstructure of the church. There can only be one head of the
church, and that is Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:23
tells us that "Christ is the head of the church: and he is the
saviour of the body." Colossians 1:18 "And he is the head of
the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the
dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence."
We have broken the code again! We have exposed
the Lie! Christ is the head of the Church, not Mary
Magdalene.
I could go on and on. However, you can see from
what I have published that The Da Vinci Code is a book filled
with lies in this book. So why is the book so popular? I think
Paul’s letter to Timothy gives us the answer –
"For the time will come when they will not endure
sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to
themselves teachers, having itching ears; 4 And they shall
turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto
fables." 2 Timothy 4:3-4
The Da Vinci Code is a Gnostic fable! Only
people who have turned away their ears from the truth will believe
what it is saying.
I have written this booklet for Christians, so
that they can follow Ephesians 5:11 "And have no fellowship
with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them."
When people question you about the teachings of The Da Vinci Code
to fulfil 1 Peter 3:15 "But sanctify the Lord God in your
hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to
every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you
with meekness and fear:"
I will end with Paul’s words to the Romans
"…Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good."
Romans
12:9
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