The Da Vinci Code;
Christians - Beware!
As I do with every item on this website, I dig in and thoroughly research the facts. This crap with the recent notoriety regarding first the book, and now the movie - the Da Vinci Code - by author Dan Brown, is entirely another thing. The information presented in the Da Vinci code is outright blasphemy. Period. I am infuriated that this blasphemy is getting so much air play through all forms of media. Let's begin with some factual information. The Biblical information will conclude this page.
I'd also like to add that The American TFP has already distributed a total of 225,000 protest cards across the country as part of a nationwide effort to stop The Da Vinci Code blasphemy. Including the petitions collected at Penn State University (my alma mater), 34,643 people have already signed on to this protest. The TFP is also about to publish a new book Rejecting The Da Vinci Code against the film and organize protests in front of theaters. Dan Brown is already signed up for having his toast delivered burnt (burnt, as in fires of hell!)...but to see Ron Howard, and the other noted actors in the film, jump on board, is simply a travesty. It goes without saying - we are definitely closing in rapidly on the end times prior to the Tribulation (Revelation).
1John 4:3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
The Da Vinci Code ...we should be saying to prepare ye the way for the antichrist! The people of this world are preparing their hearts for the coming world leader. As the world rejects the Bible and the Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, they are making their hearts ready for the coming Lawless One, spoken of in the book of Daniel and Revelation. The Da Vinci Code is conditioning the minds of the public in preparation for the antichrist to emerge.
The Da Vinci Code, which is an utter blasphemy of God, Christ, and the Christian Church is now a movie! People seek for signs of the end-time. What more signs do we need? The whole world is happy to receive a movie that paints Jesus Christ - God come in the flesh - as one who is guilty of incest; for we are all God's children, and God Himself came in the flesh as Jesus Christ, therefore, had Jesus Christ had sex with Mary Magdalene (His daughter because all souls are created by God), He would be guilty of the sin of incest per Leviticus 18:6. So, now, God is the sinner?!? What a sick, blasphemous twist! And "we," God's creation (the world that is), seem to "love to have it so" (Jer 5:31b).
1John 2:22 Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.
The Apostle John unabashedly begins his gospel with this statement upholding both Jesus' deity: John 1:1 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God..."...and his humanity: John 1:14 "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us." Again, Jesus himself was very clear on this point of eternally existing with the Father. Jesus took the same name as God's name in the Old Testament scriptures. When Moses asked what name he should use in referring to God, God told Moses, "'I AM' sent you." (And that makes sense - God has always existed, exists now, and always will exist - so, "I AM" summarizes it pretty well.) And, Jesus made the same claim. He said, "Before Abraham was born, I AM." John 8:58
"He (Jesus Christ) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible...all things were created by him and for him." Colossians 1: 15-16
The Da Vinci Code and its heinous assertions: Dr. Ed Hindson writes: "This dangerous humanistic diatribe, thinly veiled as a novel, is among the most seductive and destructive restatements of bygone heresies in modern time." the assertions from the Da Vinci Code:
-Jesus wasn't God
-Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married and had children
-The Bible isn't the Word of God
-The early Church invented the foundational doctrines of Christianity for the purpose of controlling the masses.
-The Church conspired to hide the truth
The Coptic Church and Gnosticism deny the Cross. The Coptic Church: "Coptic Christianity is an heretical Gnostic tradition which originated in Syria and proliferated in the early centuries A.D. through Clement's Alexandrian School in Egypt. Later history associates the Coptic Church with Druidism, euphemistically called "Celtic Christianity. This pagan sect, which migrated to the British Isles, claims that the literal bloodline of Jesus Christ exists today in a royal lineage called the Merovingian Dynasty. Today, the Coptic/Celtic Church is a formidable movement which is spreading its Gnostic heresy, based on counterfeit Scriptures, via the popular New Age Grail legends."
Isaiah 53:10-11 says, "Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities."
Luke 24:44 And he [Jesus] said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.
Luke 24:45 Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,
Luke 24:46 And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:
Luke 24:47 And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem
FOR THOSE WHO WILL REJECT THE DEITY OF CHRIST AND THE LOVE OF THE TRUTH:
2Thess 2:8-12 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
The Da Vinci Code is promoting "another gospel." As the public reads such fictitious nonsense found in The Da Vinci Code, their minds are being conditioned to reject the Lord Jesus of the Holy Bible. Thus they become open to reject His Deity and the authority of the Bible. As they reject the Lord Jesus Christ, whom they cannot see with their own eyes (for we must come to God by faith), they will accept the antichrist, whom they will see with the very own eyes.
The latest broadside against 'The Da Vinci Code' came from Archbishop Angelo Amato, the number two official in the Vatican doctrinal office which was headed by Pope Benedict until his election last year. Amato, addressing a Catholic conference in Rome, called the book 'stridently anti-Christian ... full of calumnies, offences and historical and theological errors regarding Jesus, the Gospels and the Church.' He added: 'I hope that you all will boycott the film,' per Philip Pullella of Reuters. All Christians should join in with like support against the blasphemy.
Da Vinci Code's Jesus - Fact Separated From Fiction:
Dan Brown's DA VINCI CODE presents Jesus as merely human, not divine. One of the chief characters in the novel states that third century Roman Emperor Constantine concocted the divinity of Jesus. This is not historically true. He also states there is nothing in the Bible supporting the divinity of Jesus. This is not historically true. This article sets forth the biblical passages accenting the divinity of Jesus Christ. Realizing that Brown has written a novel, and not an historical book nor a theological account, such authors can get by with saying just about anything. However, there are some readers of that novel who think of it in terms of historical and biblical accuracy. It is not accurate when it comes to the person of Jesus. It is not accurate when it comes to the person of Mary Magdalene. There are other points on which the author is historically incorrect; however, I point these out on two prime matters. Now to the biblical passages underlining the fact that Jesus is God: Jesus calls Himself God
Matthew 12:8
For the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath day.
Matthew 28:19
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.Mark 2:5-12
When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, "Son, thy sins be forgiven thee." But there was certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts, "Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only?" And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, "Why reason ye these things in your hearts? Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, 'Thy sins be forgiven thee'; or to say, 'Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk?' But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins," (he saith to the sick of the palsy,) "I say unto thee, 'Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house.'" And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, 'We never saw it on this fashion.'
John 5:17-18
But Jesus answered them, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him because he not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.
John 8:58
Jesus said unto them, "Verily, verily I say unto you, 'Before Abraham was, I am'." [compare with Exodus 3:14 - And God said unto Moses, "I AM THAT I AM," and he said, "Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, 'I AM hath sent me unto you.'"]
John 10:30-33; 36-39
[Jesus said,] "I and my Father are one." Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, "Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?"
The Jews answered him, saying, "For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God." [Jesus said,] "Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, 'Thou blasphemest'; because I said, 'I am the Son of God?'
If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him." Therefore they sought again to take him: but he escaped out of their hand...
John 13:13-14
You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.
Revelation 1:8
"I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending," saith the Lord, "which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty."
Jesus is called God by others or by the Bible
Isaiah 9:6
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.
Matthew 1:23
Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, "God with us."
John 1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 20:26-29
And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, "Peace be unto you." Then saith he to Thomas, "Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing." And Thomas answered and said unto him, "My Lord and my God." Jesus saith unto him, "Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed."
John 21:17
[Peter said to Jesus], "Lord, thou knowest all things."
Acts 20:28
Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
Romans 9:5
Of [the Israelites] as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever.
Revelation 17:14
These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.
Colossians 2:9
For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
All things created through Jesus (and thus, He existed before everything):
John 1:1-5,9-14
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. 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: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Colossians 1:12-20
Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: for by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: and he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; and, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
One cannot mix the TRUTH of the Bible with the fiction of The DaVinci Code! One cannot possibly believe the Bible and the Da Vinci Code simultaneously. Nor can one combine them to form another religion. You either believe the Bible 100% or you don't. You either believe Jesus died for your sins and rose again or you do not believe. You either believe that Jesus Christ was Divine and God in the flesh, or you do not believe. There is no middle ground here. The world will worship the antichrist because they will have rejected the TRUTH of the Gospel.
2Timothy 4:4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
Rev 19:11-16 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
Rev 19:20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
We must remember that the Bible is specific that the Messiah must come from (and came from) the lineage of David. We KNOW that Jesus is the Messiah for He is of the lineage of David but also He fulfilled the prophecies of the Old Testament concerning Messiah. (Isaiah 53, Isaiah 9:6, Zech 12:10, Psalm 22:16, John 19:37, Daniel 9:26, Psalm 16:10, Acts 13:37, Micah 5:2, Genesis 49:10, 1Chron 17:11) The Antichrist will claim to be a descendant of David, even though he is NOT. The Jews will be convinced that He is their long awaited messiah. Ah, yes, and the not so subtle anti-Gospel fiction of the Da Vinci Code is conditioning the minds of this age to accept the future antichrist. The antichrist will truly be the false messiah. And initially the Jews will accept him as their Jewish messiah UNTIL he violates their temple and blasphemes the God of Abraham.
Daniel 8:23-24 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practice, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
Dan 11:36 And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
Dan 11:37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.
Dan 11:38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.John 5:43, "I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive."
Jesus warned of this time for Israel in Matthew 24:
Mat 24: 15-22, When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.
Daniel 8:11-12 Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practiced, and prospered.
In order to gain the overall picture of what will take place in the end times, the words of Jesus, the Book of Daniel and the Book of Revelation - all must be incorporated into the Bible study in order to form the the final analysis. Let's take a look at just a few verses concerning the antichrist:
Notice that a MOUTH is given to the antichrist and POWER:
Rev 13:5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.
Once he has a mouth, notice that the antichrist utters THREE BLASPHEMIES against God. He blasphemes God's name. He blasphemes against the tabernacle, which in the Greek means "habitation." The Beast also blasphemes them that dwell in in heaven.
Rev 13:6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.
Dan 7:25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
And yes, brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus...something like this blasphemous book and movie - the Da Vinci Code, is certainly paving the way for the anti-christ to come in. If this were just twenty years ago, no one would have ever allowed such filth to make its way into public light. Things are changing, and the time to the Tribulation is getting closer, and closer. Let's take a more in-depth look at the blasphemy. You can believe whatever your heart and your mind tells you to. As for me, I hope Mr. Dan Brown (and everyone else who believes or is seduced or misguided by this crap) likes his toast very, very burnt. This includes the producers, those associated with distributing the movie, all those who will ultimately make money off said movie, and all whom have had a part in propagating this filth. Let's see what else we can uncover...
Dismantling The Da Vinci Code
By Sandra Miesel (used by permission)
“The Grail,” Langdon said, “is symbolic of the lost goddess. When Christianity came along, the old pagan religions did not die easily. Legends of chivalric quests for the Holy Grail were in fact stories of forbidden quests to find the lost sacred feminine. Knights who claimed to be “searching for the chalice” were speaking in code as a way to protect themselves from a Church that had subjugated women, banished the Goddess, burned non-believers, and forbidden the pagan reverence for the sacred feminine.” (The Da Vinci Code, pages 238-239)
The Holy Grail is a favorite metaphor for a desirable but difficult-to-attain goal, from the map of the human genome to Lord Stanley’s Cup. While the original Grail - the cup Jesus allegedly used at the Last Supper - normally inhabits the pages of Arthurian romance, Dan Brown’s recent mega–best-seller, The Da Vinci Code, rips it away to the realm of esoteric history. But his book is more than just the story of a quest for the Grail - he wholly reinterprets the Grail legend. In doing so, Brown inverts the insight that a woman’s body is symbolically a container and makes a container symbolically a woman’s body. And that container has a name every Christian will recognize, for Brown claims that the Holy Grail was actually Mary Magdalene. She was the vessel that held the blood of Jesus Christ in her womb while bearing his children.
Over the centuries, the Grail-keepers have been guarding the true (and continuing) bloodline of Christ and the relics of the Magdalen, not a material vessel. Therefore Brown claims that “the quest for the Holy Grail is the quest to kneel before the bones of Mary Magdalene,” a conclusion that would surely have surprised Sir Galahad and the other Grail knights who thought they were searching for the Chalice of the Last Supper. The Da Vinci Code opens with the grisly murder of the Louvre’s curator inside the museum. The crime enmeshes hero Robert Langdon, a tweedy professor of symbolism from Harvard, and the victim’s granddaughter, burgundy-haired cryptologist Sophie Nevue. Together with crippled millionaire historian Leigh Teabing, they flee Paris for London one step ahead of the police and a mad albino Opus Dei “monk” named Silas who will stop at nothing to prevent them from finding the “Grail.”
But despite the frenetic pacing, at no point is action allowed to interfere with a good lecture. Before the story comes full circle back to the Louvre, readers face a barrage of codes, puzzles, mysteries, and conspiracies. With his twice-stated principle, “Everybody loves a conspiracy,” Brown is reminiscent of the famous author who crafted her product by studying the features of ten earlier best-sellers. It would be too easy to criticize him for characters thin as plastic wrap, undistinguished prose, and improbable action. But Brown isn’t so much writing badly as writing in a particular way best calculated to attract a female audience. (Women, after all, buy most of the nation’s books.) He has married a thriller plot to a romance-novel technique. Notice how each character is an extreme type…effortlessly brilliant, smarmy, sinister, or psychotic as needed, moving against luxurious but curiously flat backdrops. Avoiding gore and bedroom gymnastics, he shows only one brief kiss and a sexual ritual performed by a married couple. The risqué allusions are fleeting although the text lingers over some bloody Opus Dei mortifications. In short, Brown has fabricated a novel perfect for a ladies’ book club.
Brown’s lack of seriousness shows in the games he plays with his character names - Robert Langdon, “bright fame long don” (distinguished and virile); Sophie Nevue, “wisdom New Eve”; the irascible taurine detective Bezu Fache, “zebu anger.” The servant who leads the police to them is Legaludec, “legal duce.” The murdered curator takes his surname, Saunière, from a real Catholic priest whose occult antics sparked interest in the Grail secret. As an inside joke, Brown even writes in his real-life editor (Faukman is Kaufman). While his extensive use of fictional formulas may be the secret to Brown’s stardom, his anti-Christian message can’t have hurt him in publishing circles: The Da Vinci Code debuted atop the New York Times best-seller list. By manipulating his audience through the conventions of romance-writing, Brown invites readers to identify with his smart, glamorous characters who’ve seen through the impostures of the clerics who hide the “truth” about Jesus and his wife. Blasphemy is delivered in a soft voice with a knowing chuckle: “[E]very faith in the world is based on fabrication.”
But even Brown has his limits. To dodge charges of outright bigotry, he includes a climactic twist in the story that absolves the Church of assassination. And although he presents Christianity as a false root and branch, he’s willing to tolerate it for its charitable works. (Of course, Catholic Christianity will become even more tolerable once the new liberal pope elected in Brown’s previous Langdon novel, Angels & Demons, abandons outmoded teachings. “Third-century laws cannot be applied to the modern followers of Christ,” says one of the book’s progressive cardinals.)
Where Is He Getting All of This?
Brown actually cites his principal sources within the text of his novel. One is a specimen of academic feminist scholarship: The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels. The others are popular esoteric histories: The Templar Revelation: Secret Guardians of the True Identity of Christ by Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince; Holy Blood, Holy Grail by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln; The Goddess in the Gospels: Reclaiming the Sacred Feminine and The Woman with the Alabaster Jar: Mary Magdalen and the Holy Grail, both by Margaret Starbird. (Starbird, a self-identified Catholic, has her books published by Matthew Fox’s outfit, Bear & Co.) Another influence, at least at second remove, is The Woman’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets by Barbara G. Walker. The use of such unreliable sources belies Brown’s pretensions to intellectuality. But the act has apparently fooled at least some of his readers—the New York Daily News book reviewer trumpeted, “His research is impeccable.”
But despite Brown’s scholarly airs, a writer who thinks the Merovingians founded Paris and forgets that the popes once lived in Avignon is hardly a model researcher. And for him to state that the Church burned five million women as witches shows a willful—and malicious—ignorance of the historical record. The latest figures for deaths during the European witch craze are between 30,000 to 50,000 victims. Not all were executed by the Church, not all were women, and not all were burned. Brown’s claim that educated women, priestesses, and midwives were singled out by witch-hunters is not only false, it betrays his goddess-friendly sources.
A Multitude of Errors
So error-laden is The Da Vinci Code that the educated reader actually applauds those rare occasions where Brown stumbles (despite himself) into the truth. A few examples of his “impeccable” research: He claims that the motions of the planet Venus trace a pentacle (the so-called Ishtar pentagram) symbolizing the goddess. But it isn’t a perfect figure and has nothing to do with the length of the Olympiad. The ancient Olympic games were celebrated in honor of Zeus Olympias, not Aphrodite, and occurred every four years.
Brown’s contention that the five linked rings of the modern Olympic Games are a secret tribute to the goddess is also wrong—each set of games was supposed to add a ring to the design but the organizers stopped at five. And his efforts to read goddess propaganda into art, literature, and even Disney cartoons are simply ridiculous. No datum is too dubious for inclusion, and reality falls quickly by the wayside. For instance, the Opus Dei bishop encourages his albino assassin by telling him that Noah was also an albino (a notion drawn from the non-canonical 1 Enoch 106:2). Yet albinism somehow fails to interfere with the man’s eyesight as it physiologically would.
But a far more important example is Brown’s treatment of Gothic architecture as a style full of goddess-worshipping symbols and coded messages to confound the uninitiated. Building on Barbara Walker’s claim that “like a pagan temple, the Gothic cathedral represented the body of the Goddess,” The Templar Revelation asserts: “Sexual symbolism is found in the great Gothic cathedrals which were masterminded by the Knights Templar...both of which represent intimate female anatomy: the arch, which draws the worshipper into the body of Mother Church, evokes the vulva.” In The Da Vinci Code, these sentiments are transformed into a character’s description of “a cathedral’s long hollow nave as a secret tribute to a woman’s womb...complete with receding labial ridges and a nice little cinquefoil clitoris above the doorway.” These remarks cannot be brushed aside as opinions of the villain; Langdon, the book’s hero, refers to his own lectures about goddess-symbolism at Chartres.
These bizarre interpretations betray no acquaintance with the actual development or construction of Gothic architecture, and correcting the countless errors becomes a tiresome exercise: The Templars had nothing to do with the cathedrals of their time, which were commissioned by bishops and their canons throughout Europe. They were unlettered men with no arcane knowledge of “sacred geometry” passed down from the pyramid builders. They did not wield tools themselves on their own projects, nor did they found masons’ guilds to build for others. Not all their churches were round, nor was roundness a defiant insult to the Church. Rather than being a tribute to the divine feminine, their round churches honored the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
Actually looking at Gothic churches and their predecessors deflates the idea of female symbolism. Large medieval churches typically had three front doors on the west plus triple entrances to their transepts on the north and south. (What part of a woman’s anatomy does a transept represent? Or the kink in Chartres’s main aisle?) Romanesque churches—including ones that predate the founding of the Templars—have similar bands of decoration arching over their entrances. Both Gothic and Romanesque churches have the long, rectangular nave inherited from Late Antique basilicas, ultimately derived from Roman public buildings. Neither Brown nor his sources consider what symbolism medieval churchmen such as Suger of St.-Denis or William Durandus read in church design. It certainly wasn’t goddess-worship.
False Claims
If the above seems like a pile driver applied to a gnat, the blows are necessary to demonstrate the utter falseness of Brown’s material. His willful distortions of documented history are more than matched by his outlandish claims about controversial subjects. But to a postmodernist, one construct of reality is as good as any other. Brown’s approach seems to consist of grabbing large chunks of his stated sources and tossing them together in a salad of a story. From Holy Blood, Holy Grail, Brown lifts the concept of the Grail as a metaphor for a sacred lineage by arbitrarily breaking a medieval French term, Sangraal (Holy Grail), into sang (blood) and raal (royal). This holy blood, according to Brown, descended from Jesus and his wife, Mary Magdalene, to the Merovingian dynasty in Dark Ages France, surviving its fall to persist in several modern French families, including that of Pierre Plantard, a leader of the mysterious Priory of Sion. The Priory - an actual organization officially registered with the French government in 1956—makes extraordinary claims of antiquity as the “real” power behind the Knights Templar. It most likely originated after World War II and was first brought to public notice in 1962. With the exception of filmmaker Jean Cocteau, its illustrious list of Grand Masters—which include Leonardo da Vinci, Issac Newton, and Victor Hugo - is not credible, although it’s presented as true by Brown.
Brown doesn’t accept a political motivation for the Priory’s activities. Instead he picks up The Templar Revelation’s view of the organization as a cult of secret goddess-worshippers who have preserved ancient Gnostic wisdom and records of Christ’s true mission, which would completely overturn Christianity if released. Significantly, Brown omits the rest of the book’s thesis that makes Christ and Mary Magdalene unmarried sex partners performing the erotic mysteries of Isis. Perhaps even a gullible mass-market audience has its limits.
From both Holy Blood, Holy Grail and The Templar Revelation, Brown takes a negative view of the Bible and a grossly distorted image of Jesus. He’s neither the Messiah nor a humble carpenter but a wealthy, trained religious teacher bent on regaining the throne of David. His credentials are amplified by his relationship with the rich Magdalen who carries the royal blood of Benjamin: “Almost everything our fathers taught us about Christ is false,” laments one of Brown’s characters. Yet it’s Brown’s Christology that’s false—and blindingly so. He requires the present New Testament to be a post-Constantinian fabrication that displaced true accounts now represented only by surviving Gnostic texts. He claims that Christ wasn’t considered divine until the Council of Nicea voted him so in 325 at the behest of the emperor. Then Constantine—a lifelong sun worshipper—ordered all older scriptural texts destroyed, which is why no complete set of Gospels predates the fourth century. Christians somehow failed to notice the sudden and drastic change in their doctrine.
But by Brown’s specious reasoning, the Old Testament can’t be authentic either because complete Hebrew Scriptures are no more than a thousand years old. And yet the texts were transmitted so accurately that they do match well with the Dead Sea Scrolls from a thousand years earlier. Analysis of textual families, comparison with fragments and quotations, plus historical correlations securely date the orthodox Gospels to the first century and indicate that they’re earlier than the Gnostic forgeries. (The Epistles of St. Paul are, of course, even earlier than the Gospels.)
Primitive Church documents and the testimony of the ante-Nicean Fathers confirm that Christians have always believed Jesus to be Lord, God, and Savior—even when that faith meant death. The earliest partial canon of Scripture dates from the late second century and already rejected Gnostic writings. For Brown, it isn’t enough to credit Constantine with the divinization of Jesus. The emperor’s old adherence to the cult of the Invincible Sun also meant repackaging sun worship as the new faith. Brown drags out old (and long-discredited) charges by virulent anti-Catholics like Alexander Hislop who accused the Church of perpetuating Babylonian mysteries, as well as 19th-century rationalists who regarded Christ as just another dying savior-god.
Unsurprisingly, Brown misses no opportunity to criticize Christianity and its pitiable adherents. (The church in question is always the Catholic Church, though his villain does sneer once at Anglicans - for their grimness, of all things.) He routinely and anachronistically refers to the Church as “the Vatican,” even when popes weren’t in residence there. He systematically portrays it throughout history as deceitful, power-crazed, crafty, and murderous: “The Church may no longer employ crusades to slaughter, but their influence is no less persuasive. No less insidious.”
Goddess Worship and the Magdalen
Worst of all, in Brown’s eyes, is the fact that the pleasure-hating, sex-hating, woman-hating Church suppressed goddess worship and eliminated the divine feminine. He claims that goddess worship universally dominated pre-Christian paganism with the hieros gamos (sacred marriage) as its central rite. His enthusiasm for fertility rites is enthusiasm for sexuality, not procreation. What else would one expect of a Cathar sympathizer? Astonishingly, Brown claims that Jews in Solomon’s Temple adored Yahweh and his feminine counterpart, the Shekinah, via the services of sacred prostitutes - possibly a twisted version of the Temple’s corruption after Solomon (1 Kings 14:24 and 2 Kings 23:4-15). Moreover, he says that the tetragrammaton YHWH derives from “Jehovah, an androgynous physical union between the masculine Jah and the pre-Hebraic name for Eve, Havah.”
But as any first-year Scripture student could tell you, Jehovah is actually a 16th-century rendering of Yahweh using the vowels of Adonai (“Lord”). In fact, goddesses did not dominate the pre-Christian world - not in the religions of Rome, her barbarian subjects, Egypt, or even Semitic lands where the hieros gamos was an ancient practice. Nor did the Hellenized cult of Isis appear to have included sex in its secret rites. Contrary to yet another of Brown’s claims, Tarot cards do not teach goddess doctrine. They were invented for innocent gaming purposes in the 15th century and didn’t acquire occult associations until the late 18th. Playing-card suites carry no Grail symbolism. The notion of diamonds symbolizing pentacles is a deliberate misrepresentation by British occultist A. E. Waite. And the number five - so crucial to Brown’s puzzles - has some connections with the protective goddess but myriad others besides, including human life, the five senses, and the Five Wounds of Christ.
Brown’s treatment of Mary Magdalene is sheer delusion. In The Da Vinci Code, she’s no penitent whore but Christ’s royal consort and the intended head of His Church, supplanted by Peter and defamed by churchmen. She fled west with her offspring to Provence, where medieval Cathars would keep the original teachings of Jesus alive. The Priory of Sion still guards her relics and records, excavated by the Templars from the subterranean Holy of Holies. It also protects her descendants - including Brown’s heroine. Although many people still picture the Magdalen as a sinful woman who anointed Jesus and equate her with Mary of Bethany, that conflation is actually the later work of Pope St. Gregory the Great. The East has always kept them separate and said that the Magdalen, “apostle to the apostles,” died in Ephesus. The legend of her voyage to Provence is no earlier than the ninth century, and her relics weren’t reported there until the 13th. Catholic critics, including the Bollandists, have been debunking the legend and distinguishing the three ladies since the 17th century.
Brown uses two Gnostic documents, the Gospel of Philip and the Gospel of Mary, to prove that the Magdalen was Christ’s “companion,” meaning sexual partner. The apostles were jealous that Jesus used to “kiss her on the mouth” and favored her over them. He cites exactly the same passages quoted in Holy Blood, Holy Grail and The Templar Revelation and even picks up the latter’s reference to The Last Temptation of Christ. What these books neglect to mention is the infamous final verse of the Gospel of Thomas. When Peter sneers that “women are not worthy of Life,” Jesus responds, “I myself shall lead her in order to make her male.... For every woman who will make herself male will enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” That’s certainly an odd way to “honor” one’s spouse or exalt the status of women.
The Knights Templar
Brown likewise misrepresents the history of the Knights Templar. The oldest of the military-religious orders, the Knights were founded in 1118 to protect pilgrims in the Holy Land. Their rule, attributed to St. Bernard of Clairvaux, was approved in 1128 and generous donors granted them numerous properties in Europe for support. Rendered redundant after the last Crusader stronghold fell in 1291, the Templars’ pride and wealth—they were also bankers—earned them keen hostility. Brown maliciously ascribes the suppression of the Templars to “Machiavellian” Pope Clement V, whom they were blackmailing with the Grail secret. His “ingeniously planned sting operation” had his soldiers suddenly arrest all Templars. Charged with Satanism, sodomy, and blasphemy, they were tortured into confessing and burned as heretics, their ashes “tossed unceremoniously into the Tiber.”
But in reality, the initiative for crushing the Templars came from King Philip the Fair of France, whose royal officials did the arresting in 1307. About 120 Templars were burned by local Inquisitorial courts in France for not confessing or retracting a confession, as happened with Grand Master Jacques de Molay. Few Templars suffered death elsewhere although their order was abolished in 1312. Clement, a weak, sickly Frenchman manipulated by his king, burned no one in Rome inasmuch as he was the first pope to reign from Avignon (so much for the ashes in the Tiber).
Moreover, the mysterious stone idol that the Templars were accused of worshiping is associated with fertility in only one of more than a hundred confessions. Sodomy was the scandalous—and possibly true—charge against the order, not ritual fornication. The Templars have been darlings of occultism since their myth as masters of secret wisdom and fabulous treasure began to coalesce in the late 18th century. Freemasons and even Nazis have hailed them as brothers. Now it’s the turn of neo-Gnostics.
Twisting Da Vinci
Brown’s revisionist interpretations of da Vinci are as distorted as the rest of his information. He claims to have first run across these views “while I was studying art history in Seville,” but they correspond point for point to material in The Templar Revelation. A writer who sees a pointed finger as a throat-cutting gesture, who says the Madonna of the Rocks was painted for nuns instead of a lay confraternity of men, who claims that da Vinci received “hundreds of lucrative Vatican commissions” (actually, it was just one…and it was never executed) is simply unreliable. Brown’s analysis of da Vinci’s work is just as ridiculous. He presents the Mona Lisa as an androgynous self-portrait when it’s widely known to portray a real woman, Madonna Lisa, wife of Francesco di Bartolomeo del Giocondo. The name is certainly not - as Brown claims - a mocking anagram of two Egyptian fertility deities Amon and L’Isa (Italian for Isis). How did he miss the theory, propounded by the authors of The Templar Revelation, that the Shroud of Turin is a photographed self-portrait of da Vinci?
Much of Brown’s argument centers around da Vinci’s Last Supper, a painting the author considers a coded message that reveals the truth about Jesus and the Grail. Brown points to the lack of a central chalice on the table as proof that the Grail isn’t a material vessel. But da Vinci’s painting specifically dramatizes the moment when Jesus warns, “One of you will betray me” (John 13:21). There is no Institution Narrative in St. John’s Gospel. The Eucharist is not shown there. And the person sitting next to Jesus is not Mary Magdalene (as Brown claims) but St. John, portrayed as the usual effeminate da Vinci youth, comparable to his St. John the Baptist. Jesus is in the exact center of the painting, with two pyramidal groups of three apostles on each side. Although da Vinci was a spiritually troubled homosexual, Brown’s contention that he coded his paintings with anti-Christian messages simply can’t be sustained.
Brown’s Mess
In the end, Dan Brown has penned a poorly written, atrociously researched mess. So, why bother with such a close reading of a worthless novel? The answer is simple: The Da Vinci Code takes esoterica mainstream. It may well do for Gnosticism what The Mists of Avalon did for paganism—gain it popular acceptance. After all, how many lay readers will see the blazing inaccuracies put forward as buried truths?
What’s more, in making phony claims of scholarship, Brown’s book infects readers with a virulent hostility toward Catholicism. Dozens of occult history books, conveniently cross-linked by Amazon.com, are following in its wake. And booksellers’ shelves now bulge with falsehoods few would be buying without The Da Vinci Code connection. While Brown’s assault on the Catholic Church may be a backhanded compliment, it’s one we would have happily done without. END. Note: Sandra Miesel is a veteran Catholic journalist. © 2003 Morley Publishing Group, Inc., the publisher of Crisis Magazine. Used by permission.
Some books from Amazon.com that are relevant for study:
Let's continue:
Breaking The Da Vinci Code
So the divine Jesus and infallible Word emerged out of a fourth-century power-play? Get real.
By Collin Hansen
I guess Christians should be flattered. Who knew the Council of Nicea and Mary Magdalene could be this hot? Thanks in large measure to Dan Brown's fictional thriller The DaVinci Code, early church history just can't stay out of the news.
Da Vinci Comes to the Big Screen:
If only a more worthy work could have prompted such attention. Brown first grabbed the headlines and prime-time TV in 2003 with his theory that Jesus married Mary Magdalene. But The DaVinci Code contains many more (equally dubious) claims about Christianity's historic origins and theological development. It's left to the reader whether these theories belong to Brown's imagination or the skeleton of "facts" that supports the book. Brown claims "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, Brown argues, church leaders who wanted to consolidate their power base (he calls this, anachronistically, "the Vatican," or "the Roman Catholic church") created a divine Christ and an infallible Scripture—both novelties that had never before existed among Christians.
Watershed at Nicea
Brown is right about one thing (and not much more). In the course of Christian history, few events loom larger than the Council of Nicea in 325. When the newly converted Roman Emperor Constantine called bishops from around the world to present-day Turkey, the church had reached a theological crossroads. Led by an Alexandrian theologian named Arius, one school of thought argued that Jesus had undoubtedly been a remarkable leader, but he was not God in flesh. Arius proved an expert logician and master of extracting biblical proof texts that seemingly illustrated differences between Jesus and God, such as John 14:28: "the Father is greater than I." In essence, Arius argued that Jesus of Nazareth could not possibly share God the Father's unique divinity.
In The Da Vinci Code, Brown apparently adopts Arius as his representative for all pre-Nicene Christianity. Referring to the Council of Nicea, Brown claims that "until that moment in history, Jesus was viewed by His followers as a mortal prophet … a great and powerful man, but a man nonetheless." In reality, early Christians overwhelmingly worshipped Jesus Christ as their risen Savior and Lord. Before the church adopted comprehensive doctrinal creeds, early Christian leaders developed a set of instructional summaries of belief, termed the "Rule" or "Canon" of Faith, which affirmed this truth. To take one example, the canon of prominent second-century bishop Irenaeus took its cue from 1 Corinthians 8:6: "Yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ."
The term used here—Lord, Kyrios—deserves a bit more attention. Kyrios was used by the Greeks to denote divinity (though sometimes also, it is true, as a simple honorific). In the Greek translation of the Old Testament (the Septuagint, pre-dating Christ), this term became the preferred substitution for "Jahweh," the holy name of God. The Romans also used it to denote the divinity of their emperor, and the first-century Jewish writer Josephus tells us that the Jews refused to use it of the emperor for precisely this reason: only God himself was kyrios. The Christians took over this usage of kyrios and applied it to Jesus, from the earliest days of the church. They did so not only in Scripture itself (which Brown argues was doctored after Nicea), but in the earliest extra-canonical Christian book, the Didache, which scholars agree was written no later than the late 100s. In this book, the earliest Aramaic-speaking Christians refer to Jesus as Lord.
In addition, pre-Nicene Christians acknowledged Jesus's divinity by petitioning God the Father in Christ's name. Church leaders, including Justin Martyr, a second-century luminary and the first great church apologist, baptized in the name of the triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—thereby acknowledging the equality of the one Lord's three distinct persons. The Council of Nicea did not entirely end the controversy over Arius's teachings, nor did the gathering impose a foreign doctrine of Christ's divinity on the church. The participating bishops merely affirmed the historic and standard Christian beliefs, erecting a united front against future efforts to dilute Christ's gift of salvation.
"Fax from Heaven"?
With the Bible playing a central role in Christianity, the question of Scripture's historic validity bears tremendous implications. Brown claims that Constantine commissioned and bankrolled a staff to manipulate existing texts and thereby divinize the human Christ. Yet for a number of reasons, Brown's speculations fall flat. Brown correctly points out that "the Bible did not arrive by fax from heaven." Indeed, the Bible's composition and consolidation may appear a bit too human for the comfort of some Christians. But Brown overlooks the fact that the human process of canonization had progressed for centuries before Nicea, resulting in a nearly complete canon of Scripture before Nicea or even Constantine's legalization of Christianity in 313.
Ironically, the process of collecting and consolidating Scripture was launched when a rival sect produced its own quasi-biblical canon. Around 140 a Gnostic leader named Marcion began spreading a theory that the New and Old Testaments didn't share the same God. Marcion argued that the Old Testament's God represented law and wrath while the New Testament's God, represented by Christ, exemplified love. As a result Marcion rejected the Old Testament and the most overtly Jewish New Testament writings, including Matthew, Mark, Acts, and Hebrews. He manipulated other books to downplay their Jewish tendencies. Though in 144 the church in Rome declared his views heretical, Marcion's teaching sparked a new cult. Challenged by Marcion's threat, church leaders began to consider earnestly their own views on a definitive list of Scriptural books including both the Old and New Testaments.
Another rival theology nudged the church toward consolidating the New Testament. During the mid- to late-second century, a man from Asia Minor named Montanus boasted of receiving a revelation from God about an impending apocalypse. The four Gospels and Paul's epistles achieved wide circulation and largely unquestioned authority within the early church but hadn't yet been collected in a single authoritative book. Montanus saw in this fact an opportunity to spread his message, by claiming authoritative status for his new revelation. Church leaders met the challenge around 190 and circulated a definitive list of apostolic writings that is today called the Muratorian Canon, after its modern discoverer. The Muratorian Canon bears striking resemblance to today's New Testament but includes two books, Revelation of Peter and Wisdom of Solomon, which were later excluded from the canon.
By the time of Nicea, church leaders debated the legitimacy of only a few books that we accept today, chief among them Hebrews and Revelation, because their authorship remained in doubt. In fact, authorship was the most important consideration for those who worked to solidify the canon. Early church leaders considered letters and eyewitness accounts authoritative and binding only if they were written by an apostle or close disciple of an apostle. This way they could be assured of the documents' reliability. As pastors and preachers, they also observed which books did in fact build up the church—a good sign, they felt, that such books were inspired Scripture. The results speak for themselves: the books of today's Bible have allowed Christianity to spread, flourish, and endure worldwide.
Though unoriginal in its allegations, The Da Vinci Code proves that some misguided theories never entirely fade away. They just reappear periodically in a different disguise. Brown's claims resemble those of Arius and his numerous heirs throughout history, who have contradicted the united testimony of the apostles and the early church they built. Those witnesses have always attested that Jesus Christ was and remains God himself. It didn't take an ancient council to make this true. And the pseudohistorical claims of a modern novel can't make it false. END. Collin Hansen is an associate editor of Christianity Today magazine. Copyright © 2003 by the author or Christianity Today International/Christian History magazine. Used by permission.
What does The Word of God - the Bible - have to say about all this?
I myself began studying the Bible intensely with The Shepherds Chapel Christian Bible study ministry about 16 years ago. I have always recommended them, and, they are sound regarding salvation issues, and are an excellent television ministry to learn foundational Christian doctrine, etc. As for endtime studies and something like this Da Vinci code...? I am certainly not an ordained minister. I am simply a Bible student who believes that "Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him." (Prov 30:5), and when any man or religious system disagrees with that "every word", I am content to "let God be true, but every man a liar" (Roms 3:4b). I also believe that that " every word " can today be faithfully found in the King James Bible.
Romans 3:3-6
3 For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?
4 God forbid: yea, let God be true , but every man a liar ; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.
5 But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? (I speak as a man)
6 God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world? KJV
Now, on to the question; which is basically: "' Why does something like the Da Vinci code go against God's Word...and...when does the endtime events (the Tribulation) commence?" And this is no easy thing to answer concisely; for, many errors must be corrected before moving forward with that answer. Unfortunately, at this time and in this short webpage, we shall not be able to correct all these errors. Let's start with the basics. The sealing: there is no "3 1/2 year 'sealing period'." Not in the Bible anyway. The only sealing in the book of Revelation is those sealed BEFORE the foundation of the world; and, those 144,000 sealed of true Israel (not today's antichristian so-called "Jews").
The Christian "in general":
Revelation 13:8
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him [the beast], whose names are not written in the book of life [i.e., are NOT Christians] of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world . KJV
Ephesians 1:3-13
1:1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus: [i.e., to ALL Christians, not just to some "special group of 'Elect' people"]
2 Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
8 Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;
9 Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, KJV
The 144,000:
Revelation 7:2-5
2 And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,
3 Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
4 And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.
5 Of the tribe of Juda were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand. [... etc. through verse 8] KJV
Yes, and now we need to study current events as they relate to Biblical prophecy, and moreover, to identify satan's servants in these endtimes; for, God's servants shall be mightily resisted and ruthlessly persecuted by satan's servants before (and especially during) the Great Tribulation. But there is a problem - No - there is a GREAT problem. Let me sum up that "great problem" in a few words: Satan's servants are being protected by lies and subterfuge; so much so, that any Christian teacher or preacher who dares to mention the so-called "Jews" with anything other than fawning praise is vilified as being a so-called AntiSemite or Neo-Nazi or other such undesirable fellow. So, at once, satan has a cloak by which he hides his busy servants. And busy they are!
Today, with the release of the movie version of the best selling The Da Vinci Code, which is an utter blasphemy of God, Christ, and Christian church! Yet people seek for signs. What more signs need we? The whole world is happy to receive a movie that paints Jesus Christ - God come in the flesh, mind you (!) - as one who is guilty of incest; for, we are all God's children, and God Himself came in the flesh as Jesus Christ; therefore, had Jesus Christ had sex with Mary Magdalene (His daughter!), He would be guilty of the sin of incest per Leviticus 18:6, etc. So, now, God is the sinner?!? What a twist! And "we," God's creation, the world that is, seems to "love to have it so" (Jer 5:31b).
Leviticus 18:1-6
18:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, I am the LORD your God.
3 After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do: neither shall ye walk in their ordinances.
4 Ye shall do my judgments, and keep mine ordinances, to walk therein: I am the LORD your God.
5 Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the LORD.
6 None of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him, to uncover their nakedness [engage in sexual intercourse]: I am the LORD. KJV
How happy the masses are to spread this filth! Yet, overthrown, lukewarm, salt-less, Biblically ignorant, and all-to-willing-to-please Christians object not. How far can the end be! You want a sign? Look at the TV this evening, see how Christianity is mocked, Christ hated, and God blasphemed. This could not be so, a scant twenty years ago. Today it is the norm in all (paper, film, sit-com, commentary, news, radio, satellites, cable, etc.) Judaic-dominated media venues. And they have only just begun to gather up steam! They are now completely and totally unhindered. You have now just begun to really taste full blown, unadulterated, uncloaked, blasphemy of God and Christ Jesus. The Da Vinci Code is JUST the beginning of it. You'll see much more in the months to come! But don't you dare mention the WHO that is that is doing this; for, if you dare mention them, then you are guilty of a thought-crime far greater than their absolute blasphemy of God - you are now an, oh my gosh!, a so-called "AntiSemite." Wake up people, will you please? You ARE seeing the end. Here we go...
"But...but...to say that 'the Jews' control all media is Anti-Semitism unleashed," the beguiled Christian may say. Well, if that is the case, then the International Judaics who wrote the Protocols of The Learned Elders of Zion were "unleashing" so-called "Anti-Semitism" when, as early as circa 1897, they boasted of the very fact that they had already by that time controlled the media. Who could assume that they somehow lost this control? They never lost it, they rather intensified their grip on it.
PROTOCOL No. 7
...[5.] We must compel the governments of the GOYIM to take action in the direction favored by our widely conceived plan, already approaching the desired consummation, by what we shall represent as public opinion, secretly promoted by us through the means of that so-called "Great Power" - THE PRESS, WHICH, WITH A FEW EXCEPTIONS THAT MAY BE DISREGARDED, IS ALREADY ENTIRELY IN OUR HANDS. ... ? The Protocols Of The Learned Elders Of Zion (circa 1897)
All local newspapers get their International News from localized global outlets, like namely the AP (Associated Press) and Reuters Newswire, etc., and through controlling the main information servers, the International Judaics control every story, other than the local news and want-ads, that appear each morning in every large and small town newspaper in the Western world (and beyond). And by controlling the main satellite feeds, they control the content of every television newscast globally that subscribes to their service. Your local newspaper does not have correspondents in the Middle East, at the World Bank, or at the United Nations; and your local TV news does not have reporters broadcasting live from China, Russia, South Africa, Canada, Great Brittan, Antarctica, the Congo, etc - they all are subscriber services. It is not at all difficult to place ones fingerprint upon every significant piece of information that hits the ears of the peoples of the world each and every day.
PROTOCOL No. 12
...[4.] NOT A SINGLE ANNOUNCEMENT WILL REACH THE PUBLIC WITHOUT OUR CONTROL. Even now this is already being attained by us inasmuch as all news items are received by a few agencies, in whose offices they are focused from all parts of the world. These agencies will then be already entirely ours and will give publicity only to what we dictate to them. ... ? The Protocols Of The Learned Elders Of Zion (circa 1897)
The sad fact, that no one seems to be willing to admit, is that what we now perceive to be Christianity shall fail. Else, how could the below come to pass in the world:
Revelation 13:4-8
4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?
5 And there was given unto him [given to the the beast by the dragon (see verse 4a)] a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.
6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. KJV
The "he" of verse 6 above, who opens his mouth in "blasphemy against God", is the first beast of Revelation chapter 13, it is the one-world system built-up by select men on this Earth; it is not the antichrist (satan), who doesn't arrive until verse 11; "And I beheld another beast..." (Rev 13:11a). A careful read of verse 4 and 5 above shall bear that out.
Question: Does the world suddenly "wake up one day" under domination by this beast system, or does it come in gradually with many centuries of groundwork? Question: Does this world system "just wake up one day" under the control of certain men, or do these certain men and their children and their children's children (their seed - Gen 3:15 ) slowly and methodically lay their plans and snares in place over the millennia - awaiting that great day when they can consummate this world in their god satan (antichrist)? Let every reader judge for him/her self.
Genesis 3:14-15
14 And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. KJV
So then, WHO is it today that we see nullifying the Bible and injecting false doctrine as the Word of God? WHO is it that blasphemes God and Jesus Christ today? WHO is it that is usurping the world for their god satan? Many people don't like referencing The Protocols Of The Learned Elders Of Zion because they have been lied to and have been told that the Protocols are an "Anti-Semitic Forgery." So, let's go to the Jew's holiest book of all, the Babylonian Talmud (appropriately named!), for information which no anti-christian Jew can deny: THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TALMUD: A Documented Exposé of Jewish Supremacist Hate Literature by Michael Hoffman. Take some time and read over the information for yourself. You can then make an educated guess. Am I saying all Jews are conspiring against Christianity? Certainly not. But, if you remember from the Bible, Jesus did identify which ones were from their father, the devil. Satan has been active since the beginning, and Jesus knew exactly who Satan's seed were - the Kenites.
The problem that I have with most modern pastors and the Christian Churches, in general, is that they clearly identify that there is a conspiracy to usher in the antichrist, and to hand God's world over to him (satan/antichrist); but, they steadfastly refuse to identify these conspirators, preferring rather to place them on a pedestal as the imaginary "our brother Judah," thus leaving their students in harm's way. I know (I think) why they do this. It is because (in my opinion) that they know that the International Judaics could bump their Bible study programs off the air in a minute. So, if this is the case, then our dear pastors and ministers and church leaders have also deferred to, and fallen under their control, "for fear of the Jews" (John 19:38). This is obviously not a good thing. But this "fear of the Jews" is not some new thing, and remember - they have crept in unaware since the very beginning:
Esther 8:17
17 And in every province, and in every city, whithersoever the king's commandment and his decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a good day. And many of the people of the land became Jews; for the fear of the Jews fell upon them. KJVJoh 7:1 After these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill him.
John 7:13
13 Howbeit no man spake openly of him [Jesus Christ] for fear of the Jews. KJVJoh 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Joh 8:33 They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?
Joh 8:34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
Joh 8:35 And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.
Joh 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
Joh 8:37 I know that ye are Abraham's seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.
Joh 8:38 I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father. (ie. Satan, the Devil!)
Joh 8:39 They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham.
Joh 8:40 But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.
Joh 8:41 Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God. (again, Christ KNOWS they are not God's children, but rather - the Kenites - children of the Devil/Satan!)
Joh 8:42 Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.
Joh 8:43 Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.
Joh 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. (Jesus putting it directly at them - they are Satan's children - the Kenites - they were pretending to be of God)
Joh 8:45 And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.
Joh 8:46 Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?
Joh 8:47 He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.John 19:38
38 And after this Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus. KJVJohn 20:19
19 Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. KJVMat 23:1-39 Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat: All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not. For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi. But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.
And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
Why look for overt "signs;" for, just as "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation" (Luke 17:20b), so too does antichrist's kingdom come in stealthily. There is a storm coming - nay - it has all but landed. Now do you see how dangerous something like this silly movie and book "The Da Vinci Code" can really be?! The media is pushing it, it is selling like crazy, and, in just the first three days alone, grossed over 250 million dollars! Yes the storm is coming... Don't you see it?
1 John 4:1-3
4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world [circa 80 A.D.]. KJV
Much more could be said, but, for the last time, who's listening? Now please understand that I do not accuse you the reader, nor anyone, but do be careful that you don't fall into the below prophesied group of end-timers...or well you can say of the latest blasphemy, Dan Brown's "the Da Vinci Code"- it's just a book right?; it's just a movie, right?!:
Mat 13:37 He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man;
Mat 13:38 The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;
Mat 13:39 The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.
Mat 13:40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.
Mat 13:41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;
Mat 13:42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Mat 13:43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.Mat 16:11 How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees?
Mat 16:12 Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.Mat 21:43 Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.
Mat 21:44 And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
Mat 21:45 And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them.2 Peter 3:1-4
3:1 This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance:
2 That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour:
3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. KJV
There are signs all around us - everyday they are coming to pass. I can't pick up a newspaper without seeing five to ten signs coming to pass - and that is every day! It really does become upsetting. You've got to know where to look, and you've got to know what to look for. They are there. And yet...oh, it's just a book/movie??? It's the beginning, folks, and there's going to be lots more of this stuff the closer it gets to the Tribulation.
As for the coming Tribulation? You seek unto it, but you shall not enjoy the day it begins - nor any day thereafter, till the end. Don't be so eager, it isn't going to be the "cake-walk" that certain pastors have made it out to be. See this article from Nick Googin's site - Watchmen's Bible Study Group: Scriptural Evidences That Christians Shall Die In The Great Tribulation. Amen! There are a whole lot of Christians getting dangerously impatient right about now. Eagerly expecting easy times at the end of this world, it seems that they have forgotten the ominous warnings of the Master, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ:
Matthew 24:21-22
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. KJV
Jesus was never one to exaggerate. And the page that the below Tribulation verse is on must be missing from their Bibles:
Revelation 6:9-11
9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
11 And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled. KJV
And regarding this Tribulation: what they are eagerly desirous to rush upon themselves, they won't gladly welcome upon arrival. What's that old saying (falsely attributed to the Bible, by the way), "Fools rush in where angels fear to tread"? And how will they hold-up when the stark reality of their situation sets in? That's the great danger caused by the Tribulation minimists. They make a lot of "hot house lilies" who hold up well in the protected environment of the glass house shelter, but fall easily when exposed to the harsh elements of an open world. Well, in the Tribulation, the world is going to open, alright; it's going to burst open right upon the heads of the Christian.
And who is ready? This fascination with outright blasphemy such as the Da Vinci Code is just the beginning, my friends.
Peace to you in Christ Jesus
CHRISTIAN BIBLE STUDY TOPICS
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