May, 2006 Newsletter

Go Back

“We destroy people’s arguments and every proud thing that raises itself against the knowledge of God. We capture every thought and make it give up and obey Christ."[2 Cor 10:5, NCV]

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown has been a best selling novel for the past few years. Why is there so much concern among Christians about this book? It is because a major motion picture based on the book is scheduled for release on May 19. The plot of the story revolves, in part, around a member of the Catholic organization Opus Dei who commits murder to conceal ancient evidence that the group believes would destroy the Christian faith. The concealed evidence is the idea that Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene were supposedly married, had a child in that union, and a group once headed by Leonardo Da Vinci has protected this information for centuries.

This conspiracy theory is nothing new; however, any suggestion that such facts could have been kept secret for two thousand years is absurd. This fictional story is an idea borrowed from Gnostic texts, not from the Bible. Gnostics believed in an occult salvation system, which taught that syncretistic knowledge can be gained by self-illumination.

On the book's front page, headlined "FACT", is this description of Opus Dei: “a deeply devout Catholic sect that has been the topic of recent controversy due to reports of brainwashing, coercion and a dangerous practice known as ‘corporal mortification.'" Obviously this doesn't sit well with the real Opus Dei. Brian Finnerty, Opus Dei's U.S. director, has been unsuccessfully trying to remove the “FACT” page, saying, “... people reading the book will be confused as to what's fact and what's fiction.”

Brown also contends in his book that the doctrine of the deity of Christ was invented by Constantine at the Council of Nicea (325 A.D.) in an effort to unify the empire. A character in the book states, “Until that moment [at the Council of Nicea] in history, Jesus was viewed by his followers as a mortal prophet... a great and powerful man, but a man nonetheless….”

This claim is absurd. He ignores the fact that all 27 books of the New Testament can be dated to the first century, and each one of them references the deity of Christ. It is one thing for the author to reject the deity of Christ; it is quite another thing for him to manipulate history to fatten his wallet. Don’t be misled by the fiction; read the real thing – the Bible. Let’s use this book/movie to talk about the real facts and introduce people to The Truth--Jesus. Let’s be ready to contend for the faith, as Jude 3 tells us.

—-Pastor Jim Sakurai

Go Back