Deconstructing "Da Vinci"
Compiled from articles by Julia Duin, The Washington Times; Collin
Hansen, Christianity Today; Jerry Falwell, WorldNetDaily
The Da Vinci Code, the best-selling novel by Dan Brown that asserts
as fact that Christianity is a man-made fabrication, has provoked
fierce opposition from Christians.
The central claim the novel makes about Christianity is that "almost
everything our fathers taught us about Christ is false." Why?
Because of a single meeting of bishops in 325, at the city of Nicea
in modern-day Turkey. There, argues Brown, church leaders who wanted
to consolidate their power base created a divine Christ and an infallible
Scripture--both of them novelties that had never before existed among
Christians.
In other words, in the gospel according to Dan Brown, the Bible is
just another book and Jesus is an overall good guy--but certainly
not the Son of God. Moreover, Mary Magdalene was His wife (who bore
Him a daughter, and moved to Southern France after His death) and
was the one He intended to carry on His church, rather than Peter--a
fact that the church has suppressed ever since, along with any sort
of female role in religion.
"Dan Brown's book isn't an innocent book. There is something
else going on here. At its very core is an attempt to reshape our
culture and Christian beliefs," says professor Darrell Bock of
the Dallas Theological Seminary, who calls the book's claims "ludicrous."
"[The author] wins your trust with fascinating facts that are
true, then misleads you with insights that are not," says the
Rev. Tim Floyd. "The book easily deceives readers by cleverly
mixing truths, half-truths, and complete falsehoods."
Was Jesus merely a great moral--and mortal--teacher and philosopher?
Let us consider the words of C.S. Lewis, who brilliantly defended
the fact that Jesus was in fact God: "I am trying here to prevent
anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about
Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't
accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say.
A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said
would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic--on
the level with the man who says he is a poached egg--or else he would
be the Devil. You can shut Him up for a fool. You can spit at Him
and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him
Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about
His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us.
He did not intend to."
(Jesus:) I will help you crack The Da Vinci Code,
My dear ones. The secret lies in the very distant past, in the Garden
of Eden. In fact, the secret is a lie, the words which the Serpent
uttered to Eve so long ago: "Hath God said?"
The Serpent is the same, the voice is the same, the method is the
same, and only the words have been brought up to date and put into
modern language for the sake of tempting today's Adams and Eves.
"Now, did God really say this? Listen, let me wise you up to
some historical facts here, a little bit of history, of art, of
architecture, of science and psychology. These are things that will
open your eyes and show you that you're actually gods yourselves.
You have godlike power within yourself, so you don't need to externalize
that power and create some man-made fiction of a God who rules over
all. And as for religion, well, look what a mess it's made of the
world!"
This is the Devil's sales pitch, and he tailors it to each new generation
or each new audience that seems receptive. He mixes a little of
the truth with a lot of falsehood. He applies a sugar coating to
his poison pill, to make it sweet to the taste and delicious to
the palate. It's only when it's eaten that it goes to work on you,
with terrible effect. You've heard of salesmen pitching "snake
oil." Well, this is the Snake himself, the Serpent, pitching
his wares.
In saying that this is the Devil's sales pitch, I do not mean that
the author is possessed or demonic. He is but a carnal man, and
the Enemy plays upon the nature of such men, their pride and intellect
and self-confidence, to get them to deliver and promote his message,
which comes very naturally to those who have such tendencies. They
often do so with skill and wisdom, as this man does in his story,
although this wisdom is not of the type that comes from above, but
is earthly, sensual, and devilish.
So there is a coating of truth on the falsehoods, as I said, for
all good salesmen know that they must get the customer to agree
with them before they can make their sale. The author creates sympathy
for the intellectual hero of his story, the professor motivated
and inspired by his knowledge, rationality, wit and cleverness.
At the same time, those who embody religion are portrayed as inflexible,
bigoted, power-hungry, materialistic, and even murderous in trying
to protect their so-called secret, and the author stirs up a dislike
for them, a hatred for them. He brings in many subtle little digs
at religion in an attempt to undermine your faith, rather than launching
a direct frontal attack at it or at Me.
There are truths in the book: Some of those who have claimed to
love Me and represent Me down through the ages have done neither.
Yes, the Old Church has often suppressed women and prevented them
from playing the role they were meant to play in the church, and
some churches continue to do so today. And yes, there are some true
historical and scientific facts in the story.
However, the truthful coating on the poison pill is a very thin
one, and before long the truths give way to half-truths, and then
to a mass of lies, and then to the most terrible lie of all--the
deceit that I was not the Son of God, your Savior and the Creator,
and did not claim to be, but that to the contrary, men created Me
and My role. This is a very large lie, a blatant one, but the Enemy
hopes you will swallow it because of the tasty coating of truth
that he has applied to it, making it appealing to the eyes and enticing
to the pride.
Those who know Me and My Word will not be taken in by such things.
Throughout My Word I proclaimed the truth: "In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He
was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew
Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But
as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons
of God, even to them that believe on His name" (John 1:1, 10-12).
Those who accused Me asked Me if I was Christ, the Son of God, and
I said plainly that I was (Mark 14:61-62). In fact, I told them
that if I had asked My Father, He would have sent more than 12 legions
of angels to protect and save Me (Matthew 26:53), but My mission
was to save you instead, to give you eternal life. You will find
this truth throughout My Word, and men today are only taken in by
such things because they know so little of My Word.
This book is a novel, a fiction, and those who are deceived by it
are those who know little of the truth, who wish the story to be
true rather than a fable, and those who do not truly know Me. They
may have a head knowledge of Me but they do not have a heart knowledge.
They know this or that about Me, but the truth has never penetrated
to their heart. In some cases, they may have even gone to church,
but the things they have seen and heard there have caused them to
harden their heart rather than open it. If they had opened their
heart to Me, they would know that I am no fictional fantasy created
of man, but that I am indeed the Son of God, and that I designed
their heart to be My home, My temple, which I long to fill with
love, hope, peace, joy, and every other good fruit of My Spirit!
This novel flows with the times you live in, this modern era, where
it is well thought of and even highly regarded to look down on those
with faith in Me, to criticize them, to exclude them, to persecute
them, whereas those with other faiths and beliefs are often exempt
from criticism and censure. If you want to believe in paganism,
druidism, goddess worship, or any so-called sacred heathen symbols
or New Age crystals, well, that's no problem to the world. They
are often happy to grant you this "freedom of religion."
But if you believe in Me and have the nerve to preach and proclaim
Me, that's a different matter entirely, and "freedom of religion"
no longer applies. They accuse you of being bigoted and intolerant,
the very things of which they are guilty themselves! This too has
been the Enemy's tactic since days of old, and is another part of
The Da Vinci Code which I reveal to you--a devilish strategy which
began long before Leonardo Da Vinci.
So, "Hath God said?" Yes, He has! I have said and do say
and will proclaim the truth, that I am the Son of God! Those who
wish to be certain can simply try Me; they can "taste and see"
that I am real, alive, divine, and that I love them and have eternal
life to offer them! Mine is no poison pill, which brings death,
but a fountain of life, springing up to eternal life! In fact, I
am the bread of life, and those who come to Me shall never hunger,
and those who believe on Me shall never thirst (John 6:35). "I
am the resurrection, and the life. He that believeth in Me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live, and whosoever liveth and believeth
in Me shall never die" (John 11:25-26). That is a truth that
you can base your life and your eternity on, not a fictional fable
cunningly crafted and devised by the Enemy of your soul. So "taste
and see that the Lord is good!" (Psalm 34:8). You won't be
sorry you did!
(Question:) Lord, can You please tell us if You
ever got married and had children?
(Jesus:) Of course I got married, and I had many
children! And guess who I married? I married you who believe in
Me! You are the Bride of Christ, as My Word says, and you're married
to Me in the spirit, as the Word explains. "Wherefore, my brethren,
ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye
should be married to another, even to Him who is raised from the
dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God" (Romans 7:4).
When it says "fruit" here, it means spiritual children--children
of God. Those who receive Me are the sons of God, and the daughters
too, for that matter! (See John 1:12; Romans 8:14; Philippians 2:15;
1John 3:1-2). You're My offspring, and I love you more than any
human father ever could.
As far as being married on Earth, no, I wasn't in the way you consider
it, and I didn't have any physical children. But I have spiritual
children every day, thousands upon thousands of them! In fact, you
can be one too, if you aren't already. All you have to do is ask
Me into your heart and you can be one of My children, and tell others
about Me and be My Bride, bearing even more children! Why not give
it a try? As a child of the King, you inherit the Kingdom--the Kingdom
of Heaven--and you can't beat that inheritance! It's out of this
world for sure!
Article courtesy of the END (End Time News)
The END is a nonaligned, nonprofit publication. All
articles published herein are for informational purposes only.
Opinions and viewpoints expressed in the reprinted news articles
are not necessarily those of the END editors.
Comments added by heavenly sources or by the earthly editors are
copyright © 2004 by The Family.
|
