The Da Vinci Code : Assault on Biblical Christianity

1. The Da Vinci Code: Assault on Biblical Christianity Dr. Jobe Martin Biblical Discipleship Ministries www.biblicaldiscipleship.org

2. OTHER RESOURCES: • Cracking Da Vinci’s Code, James Garlow and Peter Jones • The Truth Behind the Da Vinci Code, Richard Abanes • Breaking the Da Vinci Code: Answers to the Questions Everyone is Asking, Darrell Bock • The Da Vinci Deception, Erwin Lutzer • The Da Vinci Code Deception, DVD, Grizzly Adams Productions

3. GALATIANS 1:6-9 6 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.

4. What is the Gospel that we have received? • 1 Corinthians 15:3f • 3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: 5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:6 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. 7 After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. 8 And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.

5. DA VINCI CODE’S CENTRAL THEME: Almost everything our fathers taught us about Jesus Christ, the Bible and Church History is false! See: Dan Brown,The Da Vinci Code (New York: Doubleday, 2003), p.235, etc.

6. The “Code” says: “The Bible is a product of man, my dear. Not of God….[I]t has evolved through countless translations, additions, and revisions.…The Bible, as we know it today, was collated by the pagan Roman emperor Constantine the Great” (page 231). • This is “doublespeak!” If Constantine collated the Bible “as we know it today” and he died in A.D. 337, then all these “countless translations, additions, and revisions” must have occurred before 337, but we have manuscripts in Greek and Hebrew dated long before A.D. 337. • We can check it out, and Dan Brown is wrong!

7. Dan Brown’s Biblical research is either sloppy, or intentionally misleading! • Constantine died in A.D. 337. He did NOT collate the Bible. The Hebrew Old Testament existed long before Jesus was born. The Canon of the New Testament was nearly complete by A.D. 100 and was formalized and completed between A.D. 393 and 397= 60 years after Constantine died! • So the Bible “as we know it today” could not possibly have been “collated” by the pagan emperor Constantine the Great!

8. WHEN OUR CHRISTIAN FAITH IS ATTACKED WE CHRISTIANS MUST RESPOND!

9. “If the God of Genesis 1 is unreliable, so is the one in Psalms, the Gospel of John, and Revelation. He is the same One in Romans and Philippians, too. Either you utterly trust the God you meet in Genesis 1, or you have nothing else. He is the same. He does not change.” Pastor John Barnett, Tulsa Bible Church

10. 1 PETER 3:15 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.

11. JUDE 3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

12. PROVERBS 14:12 There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. [Deception]

13. In the last days the engine of Satan’s world system is fueled by DECEPTION!

14. II Corinthians 11:3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled (deceived) Eve through his subtlety (craftiness), so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. In other words:Don’t be deceived!

15. The engine of Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code is deception.

16. Dan Brown claims through his characters: • Christians were deceived by the 300 church leaders called together in 325 A.D. by Constantine at the Council of Nicaea (p.233). • Constantine used the Christians to solidify his political power base (p.234). • The Council of Nicaea altered the Bible and removed the truth of goddess worship (p.124). • The Council of Nicaea created the “divine” Christ (Jesus was not God until Nicaea said so p.233).

17. Dan Brown claims through his characters: • “Unbiased science could not possibly be performed by a man who possessed faith in God” (p. 149). • This assumption is so wrong: Most major sciences were begun by Christian scientists who were men of great faith in the God of the Bible—a God of predictability, regularity, symmetry, order and great power and genius! • See: John 1; Colossians 1; Hebrews 1 • Ref: The Defenders Study Bible, H. Morris

18. “Unbiased science could not possibly be performed by a man who possessed faith in God.” p. 149 • Following is a partial list of scientists with faith in the God of the Bible and the area of “unbiased science” they founded: • Joseph Lister--------Antiseptic surgery • Louis Pasteur--------Bacteriology • Michael Faraday----Electromagnetics • Robert Boyle---------Chemistry • Johannes Kepler----Celestial Mechanics • Charles Babbage----Computer science

19. John A. Fleming-----Electronics • Lord Raleigh----------Dimensional Analysis • Lord Kelvin------------Thermodynamics • Kelvin was a British Physicist and Mathmetician who gave us our first Trans-Atlantic cable, said: “If you think strongly enough, you will be forced by science to a belief in God. We must pause, face to face, with the mystery and miracle of creation.”

20. Louis Agassiz-------Glacial Geology • George Stokes------Fluid Mechanics • William Hershel-----Galactic Astronomy • Gregor Mendel------Genetics • Matthew Maury------Hydrography • William Ramsey-----Isotopic Chemistry • Ray Damadian—Magnetic Resonance Imaging

21. Enrique Fabret------Entomology “I can’t say I believe in God; I see Him. Without Him I understand nothing; without Him all is darkness. Every period has its manias. I regard atheism as mania. It is the malady of the age. You could take my skin from me more easily than my faith in God.”

22. Contrary to Dan Brown’s thinking, there would be no modern science without men of deep belief in the God of the Bible. Men who knew there were discoveries to be made because they knew the one true God of the Bible Who is the Creator of order, symmetry, predictability, purpose, function, life, design and beauty.

23. The things that scientists (and we average folks) observe in this universe, the creation by the God of the Bible, help us to understand the invisible attributes of the Creator. The universe screams of the existence of its Almighty Creator!

24. The Da Vinci Code denies the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ!

25. THE BIBLE CALLS JESUS, “THEOS.” Hebrews 1:8 “But unto the Son [Jesus] he saith, Thy throne, O God [Theos], is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.” • Jesus is called “Theos” (God) seven times in the New Testament.

26. THE BIBLE CALLS JESUS, “THEOS.”Matthew 4:5-7 • 5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, 6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. 7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God [Theos].

27. The Lord Jesus Christ is God--Theos. • In spite of what Dan Brown says in his fiction book, The Da Vinci Code, the Lord Jesus Christ is not just a man, He is God in the flesh! Jesus is Theos.

28. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown • 7,000,000 copies sold in 1st year. • More than a year on NY Times best seller list. • On every best seller list in America. • Estimated 30,000,000 readers 1st year. • Translated into 35 languages 1st year. • Discussed in colleges, high schools, businesses, neighborhoods, homes, etc.

29. The Da Vinci Code • Movie Rights sold to Columbia Pictures for $6,000,000. (May ‘06 release?) • Movie is directed by Ron Howard. • Has been the cover story of US News and World Report, Time, Newsweek. • Articles have appeared on every major Internet news service.

30. Da Vinci Code = FICTION? • This book attacks all the major doctrines of the Bible. • It slanders the identity of the Lord Jesus. • The book attacks the historical, orthodox foundations of true, Biblical Christianity. • The author says the novel is “fiction.” • Page one begins with “Fact:” in bold font. • Page one ends with: “All descriptions of art work, architecture, documents and secret rituals in this novel are accurate.” says Brown • Brown distorts fact to produce fiction!

31. Charlie Gibson interviewed Brown on Good Morning America: • Gibson: “If you were writing it [The Da Vinci Code] as a nonfiction book, how would it have been different?” • Brown: “I don’t think it would have…it is important to remember this is a novel about a theory that has been out there for a long time.” • Good Morning America, Nov. 3, 2003

32. Da Vinci Code = FICTION? • On the publisher’s credits page in the front of The Da Vinci Code is this statement: “All of the characters and events in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.” • Yet on page one under “Fact:” are listed: The Priory of Sion, Paris’s Bibliotheque Nationale, Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, Leonardo da Vinci and Les Dossiers Secrets. • Fact is immediately labeled “fiction.”

33. THE FIRST PAGE AFTER THE TITLE PAGE READS: • “F a c t : The Priory of Sion—a European secret society founded in 1099–-is a real organization. In 1975 Paris’s Bibliotheque Nationale discovered parchments known as Les Dossiers Secrets, identifying numerous members of the Priory of Sion, including Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, and Leonardo da Vinci. The Vatican prelature known as Opus Dei is a

34. deeply devout Catholic sect that has been the topic of recent controversy due to reports of brainwashing, coercion, and a dangerous practice known as ‘corporeal mortification.’ Opus Dei has just completed construction of a $47 million National Headquarters at 243 Lexington Avenue in New York City. All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate.”

35. Brown distorts truth to make fiction! • For example: There really is an organization called “Opus Dei.” • But Brown so thoroughly misrepresents Opus Dei in The Da Vinci Code that at this writing this organization is contemplating a law suit against Brown and his publisher. • For example: Opus Dei has no assassin monks.

36. By the way: • According to a BBC documentary, Les Dossiers Secrets were clandestinely placed in the Bibliotheque Nationale by a man named Pierre Plantard. Mr. Plantard fabricated the documents “…including the genealogical tables and lists of the Priory’s grand masters—Newton, Botticelli, Leonardo, and so on.” • See: McDowell, Josh, The Da Vinci Code: A Quest for Answers (Holiday FL: Green Key Books, 2006), p. 5. • The 1099 date appears to be a fabrication of Dan Brown--1950’s is more likely!

37. Da Vinci Code = NON-FICTION? • Brown presents Church History, Ancient Manuscripts, Archaeology, Canonicity, Theology, etc., and then distorts and misrepresents their historical and traditional meaning and understanding as taught by the true church down through the ages. • True history is twisted into a Gnostic/New Age worldview interpretation.

38. BROWN’S TWISTED HISTORY: The third major character of the book, Leigh Teabing, says, “These are photo copies of the Nag Hammadi and Dead Sea Scrolls,…The earliest Christian records. Troublingly, they do not match up with the gospels in the Bible.” • Attention: The Scrolls are NOT a “Christian document.” Dead Sea Scrolls: 225 Old Testament Manuscripts which never mention Jesus or Christianity since the Essenes were a Jewish sect. They in no way contradict the NT Gospels.

39. BROWN’S TWISTED HISTORY: • The Nag Hammadi texts were found in 1945. • The actual authors are not known. • They contain none of the books of the N.T. • The Nag Hammadi texts are early Gnostic. • Brown presents these spurious texts as more accurate and authoritative than N.T. Gospels. • Brown claims 80 gospels total, but there are actually only 4 or 5 other than Matt., Mk., Lk., J. • Brown likes the Gospels of Thomas and Phillip.

40. BROWN’S TWISTED HISTORY: • Brown quotes the Gospel According to Phillip, “And the companion of the Saviour is Mary Magdalene. Christ loved her more than all the disciples [….] The rest of the disciples were offended by it and expressed disapproval. They said to him, ‘Why do you love her more than all of us?’” • This is Brown’s primary proof that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married (See p.246). • The Bible is not true, but spurious documents like the Gospel According to Phillip are true?

41. AND ANOTHER THING: • According to Dr. Bentley Layton, an authority on these Gnostic gospels, the Gospel According to Phillip was written around A. D. 350. See: Bently, Layton, The Gnostic Scriptures (NY: Doubleday, 1987), p.326 • This is more than 250 years after the Biblical Gospels were written. • Should we not better trust the Gospels written closer to the actual historical happenings? • Does Dan Brown “edit” the Bible?

42. REVELATION 22:18-19 18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: 19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

43. Why did Brown writeThe Da Vinci Code? • Brown has said in interviews that his purpose was not to just write a fictional novel, but to promote his own understanding of Christianity and spirituality. • As far as I can tell, Brown seems to have a New Age-Eastern-Gnostic type of personal spirituality which is by no means evangelical-fundamental-Bible believing-orthodox Christianity (if his writings are accurately displaying his true beliefs as he claims).

44. CHRISTIANS: WE MUST DEFEND TRUE BIBLICAL FAITH • Acts 17:17 Therefore he disputed in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him.

45. CHRISTIANS: WE MUST DEFEND TRUE BIBLICAL FAITH • Acts 18:4 And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.

46. CHRISTIANS: WE MUST DEFEND TRUE BIBLICAL FAITH • Acts 19:8 And he went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God.

47. WHAT DOES THEDA VINCI CODE TEACH? • Leonardo Da Vinci hid coded messages in his paintings, especially in the famous fresco: “The Last Supper.” • Jesus right arm forms a “V” with the leaning body of John supposedly code for goddess worship. • John in the fresco is actually Mary Magdalene—wife of Jesus (according to Brown).

49. SOMETHING TO KEEP IN MIND: • Leonardo da Vinci was not present at the Last Supper—he was not an eye witness!

50. And something else: • There is no historical record that Mary Magdalene was sitting next to Jesus at the last supper, but what if she was—that would not prove to us that she and Jesus were married. And if she was married to Jesus, why would she be leaning on another man?