“The Da Vinci Code”– The Real Conspiracy Revealed

1. “The Da Vinci Code”–The Real Conspiracy Revealed Jeff Chacon John Oakes

2. 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.

3. 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

4. So, is it a good book? Trailer for the movie: “Seek the truth” • A lot of research behind this book • Very bad scholarship underlying the premises of the book

5. The fictional conspiracy of the book • Quote from The Da Vinci Code • “…almost everything our fathers taught us about Christ is false.” (page 255, DVC)

6. 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

7. 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.

8. The premise of the Da Vinci Code (cont.) • Western Christendom is a conspiracy of epic proportions.

9. But what is the real conspiracy? • The Real conspiracy is that of Dan Brown. • His co-conspirator is Satan himself.

10. 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!

11. The real conspiracy of the book • We need to liberate ourselves from the worship of Jesus as the God the Son!

12. The real conspiracy of the book • We need to liberate ourselves from the ignorant belief that the Bible is inspired and authoritative!

13. 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 cover-up.

14. Let’s piece this hidden puzzle together as we read excerpts from The Da Vinci Code (DVC) and ask ourselves this question: • Where is Dan Brown really leading us? • (Note: some of this material appears in the book, but not in the movie.)

15. 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)

16. 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)

17. 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)

18. 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)…”

19. 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)

20. The real conspiracy • The real conspiracy in The Da Vinci Code is where author Dan Brown is leading his readers. • But is this really where we want to go?

21. The real conspiracy • Replace religion with humanismand place our trust and confidence in ourselves rather than in God?

22. 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?

23. The real conspiracy • Praise pagan sexual fertilityritesas appropriate worship?

24. 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.

25. 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)

26. The real conspiracy • Group sex is a spiritual act? • Immorality is how we experience God?

27. No wonder the Apostles warned us about the destructive teachings of the Gnostic heretics!

28. 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.”

29. The real conspirator • But this is not about author Dan Brown… • Satan is the real conspirator behind The Da Vinci Code

30. 2 Corinthians 2:11 • “…in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.”

31. Satan seduces us to sin • (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)

32. 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”.

33. Satan’s scheme revealed • Sex is “a cherished route to spiritual fulfillment”?

34. Satan seduces us to doubt • 2 Corinthians 11:3-4 • “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.”

35. 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.”

36. Decoding The Da Vinci Code • Let’s explore 10 false claims in The Da Vinci Code…

37. FALSE CLAIM #1 • Christianity is simply a compilation of pagan religions such as Mithraism and Mystery Religions such as the Greek Cult of Dionyssus

38. 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)

39. 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.

40. The TRUTH • 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)

41. 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.”

42. 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.

43. 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.

44. 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!

45. 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…”

46. The TRUTH • 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.

47. 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.

48. 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)

49. 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)

50. 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.