“The Da Vinci Code”– The Real Conspiracy Revealed Jeff Chacon John Oakes A Very Popular Book 21% in the US have read the book. 25% of those say it was “a helpful spiritual document. 2 million American say they changed one or more religious beliefs because of the content of the book. Why So Popular? A great read… – – – – – – – Great suspense A smart premise Intelligent writing style, yet not over head of readers A love interest Titillating controversy A slap at authorities we love to hate A subtle appeal to our own pride to be smarter than those in power So, is it a good book? Trailer for the movie: “Seek the truth” o A lot of research behind this book o Very bad scholarship underlying the premises of the book The fictional conspiracy of the book o Quote from The Da Vinci Code o “…almost everything our fathers taught us about Christ is false.” (page 255, DVC) The Premise of the Da Vinci Code Jesus Christ was married to Mary Magdalene. Their royal bloodline is still in existence today A secret society known as the Priory of Sion has guarded and protected this “truth” for over one thousand years The conservative Roman Catholic lay group Opus Dei is in a murderous conspiracy to cover up the truth about Jesus and Mary Magdalene The Premise of the Da Vinci Code (cont.) The early church worshiped the Holy feminine/mother goddess. Mary represents the holy feminine—representing the divine goddess. The early church believed Jesus Christ was just a man—that he was not deity. Emperor Constantine changed Christianity. He created the myth that Jesus is God. He threw out most of the gospels—only keeping those of a small segment of Christianity which agreed with his premise. The premise of the Da Vinci Code (cont.) Western Christendom is a conspiracy of epic proportions. But what is the real conspiracy? The Real conspiracy is that of Dan Brown. His co-conspirator is Satan himself. The real conspiracy of the book We need to liberate ourselves from monotheism and sexism - the worship of only one God – and a male one at that – the God of the Bible! The real conspiracy of the book We need to liberate ourselves from the worship of Jesus as the God the Son! The real conspiracy of the book We need to liberate ourselves from the ignorant belief that the Bible is inspired and authoritative! The real conspiracy of the book Then we can be free to worship several Gods and Goddesses as the Israelites and the early Christian Church supposedly did before this massive coverup. o Let’s piece this hidden puzzle together as we read excerpts from The Da Vinci Code (DVC) and ask ourselves this question: o Where is Dan Brown really leading us? o (Note: some of this material appears in the book, but not in the movie.) Excerpt from DVC “The point here,’ Langdon said, motioning back to the bookshelf, ‘is that all of these books substantiate the same historical claim.’ ‘That Jesus was a father.’ Sophie was still uncertain. ‘Yes,’ Teabing said, ‘And that Mary Magdalene was the womb that carried his royal lineage. The Priory of Sion, to this day, still worships Mary Magdelene as the Goddess, the Holy Grail, the Rose, and the Divine Mother.” (page 275, DVC) Excerpt from DVC “…At its heart, the quest for the Holy Grail has always been a quest for Magdalene – the wronged Queen, entombed with proof of her family’s rightful claim to power.” (page 278, DVC) Excerpt from DVC “Teabing spoke more quietly now. ‘The quest for the Holy Grail is literally the quest to kneel before the bones of Mary Magdalene. A journey to pray at the feet of the outcast one, the lost sacred feminine.” (page 277, DVC) Excerpt from DVC “Sophie,’ Langdon said, ‘the Priory’s tradition of perpetuating goddess worship is based on a belief that powerful men in the early Christian church ‘conned’ the world by propagating lies that devalued the female and tipped the scales in favor of the masculine… Constantine and his male successors successfully converted the world from matriarchal paganism to patriarchal Christianity by waging a campaign of propaganda that demonized the sacred feminine, obliterating the goddess from modern religion forever (page 133, DVC)…” Excerpt from DVC “…we are currently in an epoch of enormous change. The millennium has recently passed, and with it has ended the two-thousand-year-long astrological Age of Pisces – the fish, which is also the sign of Jesus. As any astrological symbologist will tell you, the Piscean ideal believes that man must be told what to do by higher powers because man is incapable of thinking for himself. Hence it has been a time of fervent religion. Now, however, we are entering the age of Aquarius – the water bearer – whose ideals claim that man will learn the truth and be able to think for himself. The ideological shift is enormous, and is occurring right now.” (pages 289-290, DVC) The real conspiracy o The real conspiracy in The Da Vinci Code is where author Dan Brown is leading his readers. o But is this really where we want to go? The real conspiracy Replace religion with humanism and place our trust and confidence in ourselves rather than in God? The real conspiracy Extol the virtues of atheism as the supreme enlightenment and laud nature worship and polytheism as a step in the right direction? The real conspiracy Praise pagan sexual fertility rites as appropriate worship? The real conspiracy Here is the type of “worship” that this book exalts and commends to the reader… Note: in the movie, it is a brief flashback that Sophie (the main female character) has of seeing her grandfather engaged in a pagan sex ritual. Excerpt from DVC “He (Langdon) explained that although what she saw probably looked like a sex ritual, Hieros Gamos had nothing to do with eroticism. It was a spiritual act. Historically, intercourse was the act through which male and female experienced God. The ancients believed that the male was spiritually incomplete until he had carnal knowledge of the sacred feminine. Physical union with the female remained the sole means through which man could become spiritually complete and ultimately achieve gnosis – knowledge of the divine. Since the days of Isis, sex rites had been considered man’s only bridge from earth to heaven.” (page 335, DVC) The real conspiracy Group sex is a spiritual act? Immorality is how we experience God? No wonder the Apostles warned us about the destructive teachings of the Gnostic heretics! 2 Peter 2:1-3 and Gnosticism “But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. 3In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.” The real conspirator o But this is not about author Dan Brown… o Satan is the real conspirator behind The Da Vinci Code 2 Corinthians 2:11 o “…in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.” Satan seduces us to sin o (DVC) “Is it surprising we feel conflicted about sex?’ he asked his students. ‘Our ancient heritage and our very physiologies tell us sex is natural – a cherished route to spiritual fulfillment – and yet modern religion decries it as shameful, teaching us to fear our sexual desire as the hand of the devil.” (page 336, DVC) Satan’s scheme revealed According to The Da Vinci Code the reason we feel conflicted about sex is that modern religion has taught us to be ashamed of our sexuality and fear it as from the Devil. But our pagan ancestry and the cravings of our human physiology tell us that sex is “a cherished route to spiritual fulfillment”. Satan’s scheme revealed Sex is “a cherished route to spiritual fulfillment”? Satan seduces us to doubt o 2 Corinthians 11:3-4 o “But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.” Satan seduces us to doubt • • • (DVC) “Sophie looked skeptical. ‘My friends who are devout Christians definitely believe that Christ literally walked on water, literally turned water into wine, and was born of a literal virgin birth.’ ‘My point exactly,’ Langdon said. ‘Religious allegory has become a part of the fabric of reality. And living in that reality helps millions of people cope and be better people.’ ‘But it appears their reality is false.” Decoding The Da Vinci Code Let’s explore 10 false claims in The Da Vinci Code… FALSE CLAIM #1 Christianity is simply a compilation of pagan religions such as Mithraism and Mystery Religions such as the Greek Cult of Dionyssus Excerpt from DVC “Nothing in Christianity is original. The pre-Christian God Mithras – called the Son of God and the Light of the World – was born on December 25, died, was buried in a rock tomb, and then resurrected in three days. …The newborn Krishna was presented with gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Even Christianity’s weekly holy day was stolen from the pagans. …Originally, Christianity honored the Jewish Sabbath of Saturday, but Constantine shifted it to coincide with the pagan’s veneration day of the sun.’ He paused, grinning. ‘To this day, most churchgoers attend services on Sunday morning with no idea that they are there on account of the pagan sun god’s weekly tribute – Sunday.” (page 252, DVC) The Truth Brown offers no evidence for this Others make these claims. They fall into two categories: – Vague parallels which prove nothing – Mithra supposedly performed miracles (even though he is clearly a mythical figure) Ideas borrowed from Mithraism from Christianity, not the other way around. The TRUTH o No wonder the early Church apologist, Justin Martyr (160 A.D.) “referred to the Mithraic meal as a Satanic imitation of the Lord’s supper.” (First Apology, 66) Josh McDowell quote “With Christianity exploding onto the scene of the Roman Empire, it is evident that other religions adopted certain teachings or practices from Christianity in order to stem the tide of departing adherents and/or to attract Christians to their side.” The Bottom Line The god Mithra is a myth. This person never lived, so any parallels are spurious. Jesus really lived and he really did the things recorded in the gospels. The TRUTH And the claim that “Originally, Christianity honored the Jewish Sabbath of Saturday, but Constantine shifted it to coincide with the pagan’s veneration day of the sun (DVC)” is equally absurd. The truth on Sunday worship Acts 20:7 “On the first day of the week we came together to break bread.” Revelation 1:10 “On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit… From the first century, all available evidence, both biblical and extra-biblical, even from non-believers proves the church always met on Sunday. Dan Brown is not mistaken. He is lying! Justin Martyr quote – The early church father, Justin Martyr (100-165 A.D.), confirms that the 2nd Century church continued to meet on Sunday well before the time of Constantine: “And on the day called Sunday there is a gathering together in one place of all those who live in cities or in the country, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read…” The TRUTH o In summary, it is a false claim to say that Christianity is a compilation of pagan religions. The truth is that many pagan religions imitated Christianity. FALSE CLAIM #2 Nobody worshipped Jesus as God before the Roman Emperor, Constantine, made it mandatory. Jesus is simply a mortal man, not the Son of God. Excerpt from DVC – “Constantine turned Jesus into a deity who existed beyond the scope of the human world, an entity whose power was unchallengeable. …It was all about power… 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.” (page 253, DVC) Excerpt from DVC (speaking of the Council of Nicaea, in 325 A.D.) “My dear,’ Teabing declared, ‘until that moment in history, Jesus was viewed by His followers as a mortal prophet… a great and powerful man, but a man nonetheless. A mortal.” “Not the Son of God?” “Right,’ Teabing said, ‘Jesus’ establishment as ‘the Son of God’ was officially proposed and voted on by the Council of Nicaea. ‘…A relatively close vote at that.’ (page 253, DVC) The TRUTH From the very beginning of Christianity, Jesus was worshipped as the Son of God, some 300 years before Constantine and the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. The Truth John 1:1,2,14 The Word was God John 8:52 Before Abraham was born, I AM Titus 2:13 Our great God and savior, Jesus Christ Colossians 1:15-20 He is the image of the invisible God. Colossians 2:9 In him all the fullness of deity lives in bodily form. John 20:27 Thomas: “My Lord and my God” And many more. The Bible says Jesus is God. Reliability of text This passage from the gospel of John (chapter one), known as the Rylands Papyrus, has been discovered in an ancient manuscript, and has been carbon-dated at 125-135 A.D. This is “forensic evidence”, scientific proof if you will, that Jesus was clearly believed to be God at least 200 years before Constantine and the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. The early church fathers were unanimous about the deity of Jesus o Justin Martyr wrote of Christ, “being the first-begotten Word of God, is even God.” (First Apology, Ch. 63) o Irenaeus (A.D. 130-200) wrote about Christ, “our Lord, and God, and Saviour, and King.” (Irenaeus, “Against Heresies”, bk. 1, ch. 10) The TRUTH o Constantine did not “turn Jesus into a deity” in order to give the church more power. That is a false claim. The truth is that Jesus was worshipped as God by the Apostles and the early Christian church since the very beginning of Christianity, and that worship has continued to this day. 1 John 2:22 “Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ…” FALSE CLAIM #3 The four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) were personally selected by Constantine in 325 A.D. at the Council of Nicaea, to be included in the Bible because they were the only gospels that emphasized Jesus’ divinity and downplayed his humanity. Excerpt from DVC “Aha!’ Teabing burst in with enthusiasm. ‘The fundamental irony of Christianity! The Bible, as we know it today, was collated by the pagan Roman emperor Constantine the Great.” (page 251, DVC) Excerpt from DVC “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.” (page 251, DVC) Excerpt from DVC “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. The earlier gospels were outlawed, gathered up, and burned.” (page 254, DVC) The TRUTH Matthew, Mark, and Luke were written before AD 70; John before AD 85. The church chose the canon of scriptures in the first and second century AD. The Muratorian fragment has been dated to 180 AD. It mentions all the New Testament books except Matthew and Mark (but it says Luke is the third gospel), Hebrews, James, 1 and 2 Peter and 1 John as being inspired and therefore having apostolic authority. The TRUTH o The early church father, Irenaeus, only about 100 years after the four orthodox gospels were written, referred to them in his book, “Against Heresies”, saying that it was fitting that she (the church) should have four pillars. Later on he speaks of them as “the Gospels in quadriform.” (Ch. 3.11.8) When was the canon scripture assembled? The letters known as the Epistle of Barnabus, the Didache and the Letter of Clement of Rome have all been dated from around 100 AD. These authors quote from Matthew, Mark, Luke, Acts, Romans, I Corinthians, Ephesians, Titus, Hebrews, I Peter and others. The early church father Ignatius was martyred in 115 AD. In a set of letters he composed on his way to his execution in Rome, he quoted from nearly every New Testament book. Virtually the entire New Testament can be recreated from church father quotes pre AD 200. Did Constantine create his own list of inspired scripture in AD 325 at the council of Nicea? Answer: The New Testament Canon was developing by AD 100 and was virtually set and unchanged after AD 200. 125 years before Nicea. FALSE CLAIM #4 The Gnostic gospels (referred to as “the Sangreal documents” in the DVC) are unaltered, written before the orthodox gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John), and written by the early followers of Jesus. Excerpt from DVC “The Sangreal documents simply tell the other side of Christ’s story. …(they are) the Purest Documents – thousands of pages of unaltered, pre-Constantine documents, written by the early followers of Jesus, revering Him as a wholly human teacher and prophet.” (page 277, DVC) The TRUTH The “Purist Documents”? Hardly. The Gnostic gospels were forgeries – claiming to be written by the apostles, but actually written by imposters over 100 years later. The TRUTH o The Gnostics were never part of the mainstream of Christianity. They followed a combination of Greek philosophy and the mystery religions. o The Gnostics taught that the God of the Old Testament was an evil God, unlike the God of the New Testament. o The book of 1st John was written to oppose the Gnostic false teaching that Jesus did not have a physical body. “That which… our hands have touched—this we proclaim.” The Gnostic “Gospels” The “Gospel” of Thomas. Written about AD 150. Definitely not written by Thomas. A forgery. – 1:22 They said to him, "Then shall we enter the kingdom as babies?" Jesus said to them, "When you make the two into one, and when you make the inner like the outer and the outer like the inner, and the upper like the lower, and when you make male and female into a single one, so that the male will not be male nor the female be female, when you make eyes in place of an eye, a hand in place of a hand, a foot in place of a foot, an image in place of an image, then you will enter [the kingdom].“ – 1:114 Simon Peter said to him, "Let Mary leave us, for women are not worthy of life.“ Jesus said, "I myself shall lead her in order to make her male, so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every woman who will make herself male will enter the kingdom of heaven. The Gnostic “Gospels” (cont.) The “Gospel” of Judas was written about AD 170. – Obviously, Judas did not write it. Judas was Jesus’ closest apostle. – Judas did a favor to Jesus by betraying him. “But you [ie. Judas] – will exceed all of them. For you will sacrifice the man that clothes me. Are these the “purest documents” about Jesus? FALSE CLAIM #5 Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married. Excerpt from DVC “As I said earlier, the marriage of Jesus and Mary Magdalene is part of the historical record.” (page 265, DVC) Dan Brown: Da Vinci is hinting at the secret; Mary Magdalene was at the Last Supper The apostle John of Mary Magdalene? Raffaelo’s John the Apostle, 1503 Hans Baldung St. John the Evangelist c. 1515 Juan de Juannes 14451450 John the Evangelist The TRUTH The speculation that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married or romantically involved at all is a complete fabrication, and certainly not “part of the historical record” as author Dan Brown asserts. The TRUTH o There is a single verse in a Gnostic writing (“The Gospel of Philip” – not written by Philip) that says Jesus kissed Mary. But greeting friends with a holy kiss was common in the Bible (1 Corinthians 16:20 = “Greet one another with a holy kiss”), and had no sexual connotation. But even if that is what this Gnostic gospel writer had in mind, the “Gospel of Philip” is a forged document, written 150-220 years after Christ by an unknown author. So, it’s statement about Jesus isn’t historically accurate, and there is no other historical document to confirm this theory. FALSE CLAIM #6 God has a “powerful female equal” named “Shekinah”, and to experience wholeness with this deity, men must have sex with temple prostitutes as a pathway to union with God. Excerpt from DVC – “Early Jews believed that the Holy of Holies in Solomon’s Temple housed not only God but also His powerful female equal, Shekinah. Men seeking spiritual wholeness came to the Temple to visit priestesses – or hierodules – with whom they made love and experienced the divine through physical union. The Jewish tetragrammaton YHWH – the sacred name of God – in fact derived from Jehovah, an androgynous physical union between the masculine Jah and the pre-Hebraic name for Eve, Havah.” (page 336, DVC) The TRUTH Shekinah? Advocating sex with temple prostitutes? Are you kidding? (No, Dan Brown is not kidding.) Can you imagine Moses advocating sex with prostitutes in the tabernacle? The Hebrew word Shekinah means the glory of God. The idea that this is a reference to the female God is a total fabrication. FALSE CLAIM #7 The Bible is not inspired by God, and the New Testament is historically inaccurate and therefore unreliable. Excerpt from DVC “The Bible is a product of man, my dear. Not of God.” (page 250, DVC) “…presenting to the world thousands of ancient documents as scientific evidence that the New Testament in false testimony… the New Testament is based on fabrications.” (page 369, DVC) The Truth The Bible is by far the most reliable book of ancient history we have. Luke is a historian of the highest order. The evidence for the resurrection of Jesus is overwhelming. (www.evidenceforchristianity.org) Krishna is a myth, Mithras is a myth, Dionysus is a myth, Isis is a myth. Jesus was a very real person. FALSE CLAIM #8 That the term “heretic” was born at the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. and referred to those who “chose the forbidden gospels over Constantine’s version (DVC)”. Excerpt from DVC “An interesting note,’ Langdon added. ‘Anyone who chose the forbidden gospels over Constantine’s version was deemed a heretic. The word heretic derives from that moment in history.” (page 254, DVC) 2 Peter 2:1 “But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.” FALSE CLAIM #9 Author Dan Brown asserts that Christianity demonized Mary Magdalene in order to suppress her influence. The TRUTH Amy Welborn, in her USA Today article, “5 Biggest Flaws in Da Vinci”, points out that “Mary Magdalene is a saint. In every Gospel, she (Mary Magdelene) is cited as the first person to find the empty tomb. She was the second-most revered saint of the Middle Ages, after Mary, Jesus’ mother. That’s an odd way to demonize.” The TRUTH Ironically, the Gnostic “Gospel of Thomas”, one of Dan Brown’s primary sources for his allegation of sexism in the orthodox gospels, has passages in it that thoroughly demean women. From “The Gospel of Thomas” (supposedly quoting Peter) “Let Mary go away from us, because women are not worthy of life.” Then Jesus allegedly tells Peter that he will make Mary male so that she may enter the kingdom of heaven. Not much of a battle cry for women’s rights, and yet the “Gospel of Thomas” is one of the primary sources for Dan Brown’s feminist agenda. FALSE CLAIM #10 That the secret society known as the “Priory of Sion” actually existed in medieval times and had the noble task of protecting the bloodline of Christ. Excerpts from DVC “The Priory of Sion – a European secret society founded in 1099 – is a real organization… The modern Priory of Sion has a momentous duty… they must nurture and protect the bloodline of Christ (page 279).” The TRUTH The modern “Priory of Sion” was created in 1956 by Pierre Plantard. All documents “proving a bloodline” and a list of historical Priory members (such as Leonardo Da Vinci) were proven to be forged by a French court of law. Excerpt from the Wikipedia Encyclopedia on The Da Vinci Code, continued – “Arnaud de Sede, son of Gerrard de Sede, stated categorically that his father and Plantard had made up the existence of the Priory de Sion, the cornerstone of the Jesus bloodline theory – to quote Arnaud de Sede in the programme, ‘frankly it was piffle’… Detailed analysis of many other claims in the Da Vinci Code in the programme showed them to be unverifiable or unhistorical.” Conclusions The entire basis of the Da Vinci Code and its outrageous claims is a fabrication created to destroy faith in the truth about Jesus. Jesus Christ claimed to be God and he proved it by his miracles and by being raised from the dead on the third day. The New Testament we have in our hands is God’s authoritative word. The books were selected by the church in the first century because they had apostolic authority. “The Da Vinci Code”– The Real Conspiracy Revealed