“The Da Vinci Code”– The Real Conspiracy Revealed

1. “The Da Vinci Code”–The Real Conspiracy Revealed By Jeff Chacon San Diego Church of Christ

2. “The Da Vinci Code” • A fictional mystery novel by Dan Brown (2003) • Worldwide bestseller • Over 60 million copies in print • Translated into 44 languages

3. Barna Research Group… • The Da Vinci Code has been read “cover to cover” by roughly 45 million adults in the U.S. – that’s one out of every five adults (20%). • That makes it the most widely read book with a spiritual theme in America other than the Bible.

4. Barna Research Group… • 24% (11 million) adults consider The Da Vinci Code to have been a helpful spiritual document. • 2 million adults said that they changed one or more beliefs or religious perspectives because of the book’s content. • The Washingon Post: “Read the book and be enlightened.”

5. “The Da Vinci Code” • Recently turned into a major motion picture with Tom Hanks; directed by Ron Howard • Movie trailer: “Seek the Truth” • We are led to believe that The Da Vinci Code will reveal to us the truth. • Q: But what is the real truth behind The Da Vinci Code?

6. The fictional conspiracy of the book • The premise of this book is that there is a conspiracy by the Catholic Church to cover up the true story of Jesus.

7. The fictional conspiracy of the book • The title of the book comes from the claim that Leonardo Da Vinci was a member of a secret society (The Priory of Sion) entrusted with the secret truth about Jesus.

8. The fictional conspiracy of the book • The secret of this group is that Jesus had a daughter by Mary Magdalene, named Sarah, and that their family tree extends all the way to the present day – a living royal bloodline.

9. The fictional conspiracy of the book • The sarcophagus containing the bones of Mary Magdalene and ancient documents that tell the true story of her life, according to this secret society, is the true Holy Grail, since Mary’s womb is the metaphorical chalice that bore the royal bloodline of Jesus on earth.

10. The fictional conspiracy of the book • The church, not wanting the truth of Jesus’ humanity to be known, has conducted a massive cover up for over 1700 years to conceal this truth from the public.

11. 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)

12. The real conspiracy of the book • But what is the real conspiracy of The Da Vinci Code? • Where is author Dan Brown leading us?

13. The real conspiracy of the book • If Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married and had a child…

14. The real conspiracy of the book • And if Jesus was not truly the Son of God, but merely another mortal man like the rest of us…

15. The real conspiracy of the book • And if Jesus entrusted the future leadership of the church to Mary Magdalene instead of the Apostle Peter…

16. The real conspiracy of the book • And if Jesus and the early church shared the pagan belief that the world is divided into two halves, masculine and feminine, with the feminine half referred to as “the sacred feminine”, and the feminine counterpart to God referred to as “the divine goddess”, who is equally worthy of worship…

17. The real conspiracy of the book • And if the Emperor Constantine led the early Church at the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. to cover all this up by burning all the so-called “alternative gospels” that supposedly exposed these truths so that the male-dominated clergy would wield more power…

18. The real conspiracy of the book • And if “enlightened” people throughout the centuries like Leonardo DaVinci, Botticelli, Sir Isaac Newton and Victor Hugo were a part of a secret society that devoted itself to protecting these truths, giving hints of them in their art and planning one day to make them public so that mankind could be liberated from the destructive effects of male chauvinism in the name of God and enter into a new era of enlightenment where we worship many Gods and Goddesses, or better yet, where don’t need religion at all…

19. The real conspiracy of the book • Then obviously we have all been the victims of a massive conspiracy, and it’s time to liberate ourselves from these lies!

20. 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!

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

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

23. The real conspiracy of the book • And ultimately, we need to liberate ourselves from the tyranny of religion altogether!

24. 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.

25. The real conspiracy of the book • We can be free to see Jesus as “just another good teacher” as the early church supposedly did – not as the Son of God.

26. The real conspiracy of the book • We can be free to see the Bible as simply a good book, as the early church supposedly did – not as the uniquely inspired and authoritative Word of God.

27. The real conspiracy of the book • And ultimately we can be free from the tyranny of religion altogether so that we can live independently from God! • This is the hidden agenda in The Da Vinci Code, the real conspiracy…

28. 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.)

29. 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)

30. 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)

31. 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)

32. 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)…”

33. 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)

34. 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?

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

36. 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?

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

38. 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.

39. 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)

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

41. The real conspiracy • And this is the sole means to becoming spiritually complete and ultimately achieve “gnosis”? (“Gnosis” is the Greek word for “knowledge” from which “the Gnostic Gospels” get their name.) • Sex rites are man’s only bridge from earth to heaven?

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

43. 1 Timothy 6:20-21 • “Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge, 21which some have professed and in so doing have wandered from the faith.”

44. 2 Peter 2:1-3 • “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.”

45. Cont. • Even the vulgar way that the fictional male experts (Leigh Teabing and Robert Langdon) tell the fictional female character (Sophie Neveu) about the supposedly hidden secret of Jesus and Mary Magdalene’s relationship (the Holy Grail) exposes the book’s ungodliness – hardly a book to be followed in the moral and spiritual areas it claims expertise: • Note: this dialogue is not in the movie script.

46. Excerpt from DVC • “Langdon sighed. ‘I was hoping you would be kind enough to explain to Ms. Neveu the true nature of the Holy Grail.’ • Teabing looked stunned. ‘She doesn’t know?’ • Langdon shook his head. • The smile that grew on Teabing’s face was almost obscene. ‘Robert, you’ve brought me a virgin?’ • Langdon winced, glancing at Sophie. ‘Virgin is the term Grail enthusiasts used to describe anyone who has never heard the true Grail story.’ • Teabing turned eagerly to Sophie. ‘How much do you know my dear?’ • Sophie quickly outlined what Langdon had explained earlier… • ‘That’s all?’ Teabing fired Langdon a scandalous look. ‘Robert, I thought you were a gentleman. You’ve robbed her of the climax!’ • ‘I know, I thought perhaps you and I could…’ Langdon apparently decided the unseemly metaphor had gone far enough. • Teabing already had Sophie locked in his twinkling gaze. ‘You are a Grail virgin, my dear. And trust me, you will never forget your first time.” (page 248-249, DVC)

47. This is a book of spiritual enlightenment? • This is a book that is more credible than the Bible?

48. Matthew 7:15-19,20 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit… 20Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.”

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

50. 2 Corinthians 2:11 • “…in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.”