WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE “DA VINCI CODE”? Pastor James J. Barker
Text: II PETER 1:15-21 INTRODUCTION: 1. A book was published in 2003
entitled, The Da Vinci Code.
The author is a man by the name of Dan Brown. Since Mr. Brown is not a Christian and
since his book is a non-fiction novel, I paid little attention to it and have
had absolutely no interest in reading it. 2. In fact I consider reading
such books a waste of time.
Ephesians 5:16 says, “Redeeming the time, because the days are
evil.”
3. A couple of years ago I was
out knocking on doors and I met a young man that was very confused. He had many strange ideas about the
Bible and about the Lord Jesus Christ.
I tried to help him but I could tell he was under a very strange
delusion. It was not until later on
that I realized he had been repeating to me things that he had read in The Da
Vinci Code. Apparently this
young man believed that these writings were factual, but they are
not. 4. The problem with books and
movies like The Da Vinci Code is that they weave fact and fiction with such
recklessness that the average person assumes all their claims to be
factual. 5. As Dr. Shelton Smith says in
his critique, “The cleverness with which
the Brown book is done is significant. Any time you take real people, real
places and real events from some era of history and reset them into a fictional
context, you are going to make it very difficult for the average person to
separate fact from fiction. This is exactly what has happened with this book and
will happen with the movie version of it.” 6. The book has now sold more
than 40 million copies, indicating that many people have already been deceived
and led astray into spiritual darkness and
confusion. 7. Just the other day I read an
article on the Internet by Josh McDowell, a popular Christian writer, best known
for his book, Evidence That Demands a Verdict.
8. I was amazed to read that
Josh McDowell claims that often he has pastors tell him, “I'm ashamed to say
this, but I read The Da Vinci Code, and I really don't know what to
believe.” 9. They should be ashamed! In fact they should get out of the
ministry. 10. One woman e-mailed Josh
McDowell and said, “My son has been brought up in a Christian home. He went to a
Christian school and is part of a very good evangelical Bible-centered
church.” She said a year and a half
ago he read The Da Vinci Code book and he's walked away from his faith,
saying, “Mom, I don't know who to turn to anymore for truth” (WND, May 12,
2006). 11. A distraught man sent an
email to the Radio Bible Class, explaining that his faith was shattered after
reading this book. He said in his
email, “Is the last 25+ years I’ve been a Christian all a lie? Was Jesus just a man? Did it all really happen? Was He married to Mary Magdalene? Is everything I was raised to believe
just made up for the sake of money?
I have to know. I don’t know
where else to turn. Now I am
doubting if there is a heaven, a God, and Jesus. Please, help me! Please, in God’s name, help me. I’m
brokenhearted, confused, and still crying” (THE DA VINCI CODE, SEPARATING FACT FROM
FICTION). 12. I had no interest in
preaching about this book, other than giving out occasional warnings from the
pulpit. But now that the movie is
coming out, and it is being promoted with a big, expensive advertising campaign
I thought that perhaps it would be helpful to preach a message warning
our members about both the movie and the book. 13. The movie is scheduled to be
released into the theatres this week.
Many Christian organizations have been trying to fight it but their
efforts have been unsuccessful.
14. I am not surprised that
their efforts have been unsuccessful, and I can suggest several reasons why –
lack of prayer, lack of Bible reading, lack of zeal for God, etc. 15. I wonder how many of these
same Christians that are opposed to this film regularly attend prayer
meeting. 16. I wonder how many Christians
who oppose this film regularly attend Sunday night services at their
church. 17. I wonder how many Christians
who oppose this film go out soulwinning. I believe with all my heart that
if we get people saved and plugged into a good soulwinning church they will have
little interest in nonsensical books and movies like The Da Vinci
Code. 18. And if they do happen to
read the book they will have enough spiritual discernment to know it is poison
(cf. Hebrews 5:11-14). I. THE BOOK ATTACKS THE BASIC TEACHINGS OF THE BIBLE II. THE BOOK
GOES AGAINST HISTORICAL FACTS III.THE BOOK PROMOTES GNOSTICISM, PAGANISM, AND GROSS IMMORALITY I. THE BOOK ATTACKS THE BIBLE. 1. All one has to do is read an
article about the book and it is evident that Mr. Brown and the Hollywood people
who produced the movie do not believe the Bible is the Word of God.
2. Page 341 of The Da Vinci
Code says they have “scientific evidence that the NT is false
testimony.” They have no such
evidence but unfortunately many people will be deceived into believing
it. 3.
Dr.
Shelton Smith, the editor of The Sword of the Lord, wrote a good article
in the recent edition of the Sword.
He wrote, “Though the book and the movie are both absolutely
fictional, its author claims it is historically accurate. In order to perpetrate
his thesis, he has to diminish the reliability of the New Testament. Obviously
if the Bible be true, his work is quickly relegated to a mish-mash of
nonsense.” 4.
Here
is typical quote from The Da Vinci Code: “The Bible did not arrive by fax
from heaven … [it] is a product of man … not God … and it has evolved through
countless translations, additions and revisions. History never had a
definitive version of the book…more than eighty gospels were considered for the
New Testament …Who chose which gospels to include? … The Bible, as we know it
today, was collated by the pagan Roman emperor Constantine”
(p.231). 5.
God
put the Bible together. And history
certainly has had a “definitive version.” The Latin Vulgate was the
definitive version for over a thousand years, and the Authorized King James
Version has been the definitive English version since the Protestant
Reformation. 6.
In
the apostle Paul’s first epistle to Timothy, he refers to the Gospel of Luke as
“Scripture” (I Timothy 5:18 and Luke 10:7). 7.
In
his second epistle, the apostle Peter refers to Paul’s letters as “Scripture”
(II Peter 3:16). 8.
In II
Timothy 3:16, Paul writes, “All scripture is given by
inspiration of God, and is profitable for
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness.” 9. The early Christians knew
which writings were the inspired Word of God, and they knew which writings were
not (e.g., the so-called “Gnostic Gospels”).
10. NT scholar F.F. Bruce put it
this way, “The historic Christian belief is that the Holy Spirit, who controlled
the writing of the individual books, also controlled their selection and
collection, thus continuing to fulfill our Lord’s promise that He would guide
His disciples into all truth. This,
however, is something that is to be discerned by spiritual insight, and not by
historical research…The NT books did not become authoritative for the Church
because they were formally included in a canonical list; on the contrary, the
Church included them in her canon because she already regarded them as divinely
inspired, recognizing their innate worth and generally apostolic authority,
direct or indirect… what these (Church) councils did was not to impose something
new upon the Christian communities but codified what was already the general
practice of those communities” (The NT Documents, Are They Reliable?, pp.
21, 27). 11.
The Da Vinci
Code
teaches that the so-called “Gnostic Gospels” are the real Scriptures and the NT
we have is not true. I recall
witnessing to a cashier at Modell’s one time and he was fascinated with the
Gnostic writings. If you go online
you will find plenty of information on Gnosticism. It is a false philosophy diametrically
opposed to the true Gospel. 12.
The New Bible
Dictionary
says, “In a Gnostic context, ‘salvation’ is not understood in terms of
deliverance from sin, but as a form of existential self-realization.” This fits right in with the new age,
liberalism, etc. 13.
The Da Vinci Code
teaches
that the early Christians did not believe in the deity of Christ and this
teaching was not put forth until the 4th century when it was
proclaimed by the Roman emperor
Constantine. 14. The book teaches that the
emperor Constantine persuaded the Council of Nicaea to declare Jesus as the Son
of God by a vote, and it was “a relatively close vote at that.” 15. In reality only two out of
more than 300 Christian leaders failed to sign the creed affirming the deity of
Christ. It was hardly a close
vote! 16. More importantly, the Bible
clearly teaches that Jesus is God (cf. John 1:1; 20:24-29; I Tim. 3:16; Hebrews
1:8). The men who assembled at
Nicea were only affirming what all true Christians already believed. The purpose of the Council of Nicea was
to refute the false teachings of a presbyter (elder) named Arius, who denied the
deity of Christ. 17.
The Da Vinci
Code
teaches that our Lord was married to Mary Magdalene, and that they had children
together. In Greek and Roman
mythology the gods were married with children, but the Bible is not a myth.
18. To teach that Jesus and Mary
Magdalene were married and had children one would have to reject the entire New
Testament, which is precisely what The Da Vinci Code
does. 19. The book teaches a vast
cover-up of this supposed marriage between Jesus and Mary Magdalene. One reviewer wrote, “The book is also
filled with conspiracy theories. Everyone that ever was attached to a
conspiracy is involved, the Knights Templar, the Rosicrucians, the Vatican,
Opus Dei, the Freemasons, Nazis, the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Protocols of the
Elders of Zion, the Catholic church . The only group left missing are UFO’s.
Maybe they will appear in the sequel”
(letusreason.org). 20. According to The Da Vinci
Code, Mary Magdalene represents the feminine aspect of God, what Dan Brown
refers to as “the divine feminine.”
This may appeal to the women’s liberation crowd but it is contrary to the
Bible. But The Da Vinci Code
is full of goddess worship and all sorts of pagan
nonsense. 21.
The Da Vinci
Code
teaches that Mary Magdalene is the so-called “Holy Grail.” The Holy Grail is a medieval legend
about the cup from the Last Supper.
No one ever heard of this so-called Holy Grail until the 12th
century when it appeared in some of the legends about King Arthur and his
kingdom of Camelot. 22. Brown has now altered this
legend and claims the Holy Grail is not a cup but Mary Magdalene.
23.
The Da Vinci
Code
teaches that it was our Lord’s intention for Mary Magdalene to lead the church,
not the apostles. However, our Lord
gave the Great Commission (Matt. 28:16-20) to the apostles, not to Mary
Magdalene. 24. In Acts 15 the church in
Jerusalem called for a council to discuss doctrinal disagreements (Acts 15:1,
2). There is no mention of Mary
Magdalene being at this council – just “the apostles and elders” (Acts
15:2). According to The Da Vinci
Code, Mary and her baby fled to Gaul (France) after our Lord’s
crucifixion. He has absolutely no
facts to support this claim, though it is the key to his
story. 25. If the Lord were displeased
with the Jerusalem council, He would have said so (Acts 15:28; 18:9, 10;
22:17-21; 23:11; Rev. 1:11). II. THE BOOK ATTACKS HISTORICAL FACTS 1. Referring to Dan Brown and his book, the New York
Daily News states “His research is impeccable.” Once again we are reminded that the
Daily News is a tabloid for morons. 2. Since Brown’s # 1 object of attack is the doctrine
of the deity of Christ, let us consider that. In addition to the inspired
writers of the Bible, there were many well–known preachers (“Church Fathers”)
from the early Christian era (i.e., before the reign of
Constantine) who taught that the Lord
Jesus Christ was God.
3. Their writings are still being published and they
are not difficult to find. These
men include Ignatius (writing in AD 105), Clement (150), Justin Martyr (160),
Irenaeus (180), Tertullian (200), Novatian (235), Cyprian (250), Methodius
(290), Lactantius (304), and Arnobius (305). 4. Regarding Constantine, it is true that he was the
first Roman emperor to legalize Christianity. However, it is absurd to say that
he was the first man to proclaim Jesus God. The deity of Christ is taught in the NT
and was taught by the apostolic church. 5. Constantine was responsible for the Edict of Milan
in 313, which removed penalties for professing Christianity. Prior to his reign, many Christians were
persecuted and martyred.
Constantine also returned confiscated church
property. 6. In AD 325, Constantine convened the
First Council of
Nicaea.
The purpose of the council was
to resolve disagreements with a popular preacher by the name of Arius (from
where we get the term “Arianism”), who taught that Jesus was not God. The council of Nicaea decided against
the Arians. 7.
It should be stressed that
it was not only Constantine who affirmed the deity of Christ, but the majority
of men at the council. 8.
While he did many good
things for Christians, it is doubtful whether or not he was ever genuinely
saved. For example, Constantine
deliberately waited till he was on his deathbed before he was baptized. There is
no doubt that the Da Vinci Code theory that Constantine invented the
doctrine of the deity of Christ is nonsense.
9.
By the way, in case you were
wondering where the name “Da Vinci Code” comes from, Mr. Brown has promoted a
secret group called “the Priory of Sion.”
He says that many famous men have supposedly joined this group, including
the famous artist Leonardo Da Vinci. 10. However, the so-called “Priory of Sion” was
established as a make-believe association by a French con man named Pierre
Plantard in 1956! The whole thing is a hoax. “Priory
of Sion” documents allegedly going back as far as 1099 have been proven to be
forgeries. In fact, Plantard was
imprisoned in France in 1953 for fraud. 11. In 1993, Plantard admitted under oath to a French
judge that he had fabricated all the documents relating to the Priory of
Sion. The judge gave him a severe
warning but dismissed him as a harmless crank (TDVC, Separating Fact From
Fiction). But who would imagine
that a few years later an author would take this man’s fabrications and turn
them into a best-selling book and big Hollywood
movie? 12. Brown’s book says that to preserve their secret
about the true relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene, this Priory of
Sion group supposedly had Da Vinci place Mary Magdalene in his famous painting,
“The Last Supper.” 13. Even some worldly secular magazines have questioned
the accuracy of this book.
Here are some
questions and answers from Newsweek: ·
Did Leonardo include Mary Magdalene in his “Last Supper”?
·
Were Jesus and Mary M.
married? ·
Was Mary M. a
prostitute? ·
Did Leonardo hide clues about church secrets in his
paintings? 14. The Da Vinci
Code claims
that the New Testament is the result of a male-dominated church leadership, who
invented the Christian religion in order to oppress women and repress
goddess-worship. One of the arguments put
forth in The Da Vinci Code is that the Christian church has held back
women. However, the opposite is
true. The Bible and Christianity have elevated
women. 15. Here is an interesting
statement from D. James Kennedy, “Unlike the four Gospels, the Gnostic gospels
can be actually degrading to women. The Gospel of Thomas declares that a woman
cannot be saved unless God first changes her into a man (the very last verse of
Thomas, 114)” (WND, 5/9/06). 16. I did not know that so I
looked it up. “114. Simon Peter
said to them, ‘Make Mary leave us, for females don't deserve life.’ Jesus said, ‘Look, I will guide her to
make her male, so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males.
For every female who makes herself male will enter the kingdom of
Heaven.’” III. THE BOOK AND MOVIE PROMOTE GNOSTICISM, PAGANISM, AND GROSS IMMORALITY. 1. One of the themes of the book is the Gnostic teaching that the way to experience God is through sex (the book promotes sex orgies). 2. “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” (The Da Vinci Code). 3. The main character in the book (played by actor Tom Hanks in the movie) is “Harvard symbologist” named Robert Langdon. In the book he says to a woman named Sophie (a cryptologist), “For the early Church, mankind’s use of sex to commune directly with God posed a serious threat to the Catholic power base. It left the Church out of the loop, undermining their self-proclaimed status as the sole conduit to God. For obvious reasons, they worked hard to demonize sex and recast it as a disgusting and sinful act. Other major religions did the same . . .The next time you find yourself with a woman, look in your heart and see if you cannot approach sex as a mystical, spiritual act. Challenge yourself to find that spark of divinity that man can only achieve through union with the sacred feminine.” 4. The book is promoting
ancient paganism, with all of its filthy temple prostitution and sex
orgies. There is no such thing as a
“spark of divinity” in fallen man.
5. Colossians 2:9 says, “For
in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead
bodily.” CONCLUSION: 1. Here is an interesting quote from a pastor who is also a history professor and author of 15 books. His name is Dr. Paul Maier. 2. “Detailing all the errors, misinterpretations, deceptions, distortions, and outright falsehoods in The Da Vinci Code makes one wonder whether Brown's manuscript ever underwent editorial scrutiny or fact-checking.” 3. Let us conclude with II Timothy 4:2-4. |
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