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The Da Vinci Code Effect
by Tom Stewart
May 28, 2006
"Little children, it is the Last Time: and
as ye have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists;
whereby we know that it is the Last Time" (1John
2:18).
It comes as no surprise that part of the effect of Dan Brown's book, The Da Vinci
Code, is to generate a lot of money from both the sale of his book and the release
of the motion picture. Da Vinci Code movie fans continue to applaud the book's Grail
quest plot that Mary Magdalene is the Holy Grail and that Jesus of Nazareth had offspring
by Mary Magdalene, creating a presently surviving, royal bloodline. Literary critics
felt justified in condemning the book as poorly written, while film critics have
labeled the screen adaptation as boring, unwieldy, and plodding. Most agree that
Ron Howard attempted to faithfully stick to the essence of the book. Evangelical
Christians concluded that the novel gave Dan Brown the opportunity to deliver a pack
of blasphemous, vicious, anti-Christian lies in the name of being only a work of
fiction acting as a springboard to discuss faith, religion, and history. Poorly grounded
professed Christians may find themselves overwhelmed, when assaulted by Dan Brown's
seductive but ancient position that the New Testament is itself a pack of lies,
Jesus was merely a good man (which Constantine and others of the Council of Nicea
elevated to the position of God), etc. On the contrary, some curious seekers may
even inadvertently find salvation and sanctification, as they investigate the true
divinity of Christ and the entire trustworthiness of the Infallible Word of God,
i.e., "But these
[the Gospel of John] are written, that ye might
believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have
life through His name" (John 20:31).
Prophetically, however, the Da Vinci Code Effect is to prepare the way for the
Antichrist. Thoughtful Christians understand that nothing happens by accident.
"The LORD of Hosts hath sworn, saying,
Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall
it stand" (Isaiah 14:24). "I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace,
and create evil: I the LORD do all these things" (Isaiah
45:7). The recent groundswell of interest in The Da Vinci Code
testifies that Dan Brown has tapped into the interest and fascination of a large
number of people that the Church of Rome, in particular, has conspired to cover up
the truth about the nature of the so-called Holy Grail-- that it is not the chalice
or cup of Christ of the Last Supper, but it is the purported royal bloodline of Jesus
and Mary Magdalene. How could such a convoluted story be taken seriously by anyone?
But, as Dan Brown has written, "Everyone
loves a conspiracy." It is apparent that rebellious humankind
is more content to entertain the lie that denies Christ's divinity and His truthful
claim that "every one that doeth evil
hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved" (John 3:20).
How is The Da Vinci Code a preparation for the upcoming appearance of the
Antichrist? "Little children, it is the
Last Time: and as ye have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now are there many
antichrists [Greek, antichristos]; whereby we know that it is the Last Time"
(1John 2:18). This timely statement was inspired by the Holy
Spirit towards the end of the First Century AD. The Apostle John warned that many
antichrists were present nearly two millennia ago. Antichristos means both
instead of Christ, as well as, against Christ. He further noted that
Antichrist will deny two things: (1) the divinity of Jesus, i.e., "Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ?
He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son"
(1John 2:22), and (2) the humanity of Christ, i.e., "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" (1John 4:3). The Da Vinci Code gives a platform
to specifically deny the divinity of Jesus by allowing the fictional novel to propound
the premise that the historical Jesus was considered as only a man, and was not esteemed
as the Living God until the First Council of Nicea (325 AD). Dan Brown's fictional
novel becomes a lie, when he takes every opportunity to make Jesus only human, with
no apparent effort to make Him divine. Therefore, according to 1John 2:22, Dan Brown
qualifies as an antichrist. During the upcoming Tribulation Week, when the
Antichrist will sit in a restored Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, the Antichrist will
deny both the divinity and humanity of Jesus. "3 Let no man deceive you by any means:
for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that Man
of Sin [the Antichrist] be
revealed, the Son of Perdition; 4 Who
opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped;
so that he as God sitteth in the Temple of God, shewing himself that he is God" (2Thessalonians 2:3-4). Obviously, Antichrist will
claim Jesus Christ's true divinity, but he will also usurp Jesus Christ's true humanity
by claiming to be seated on Earth in Jerusalem in the restored Jewish Temple, while
the True Christ is still bodily in Heaven, "standing
on the right hand of God [the Father]" (Acts 7:56), i.e.,
Christ cannot be humanly present in two places at the same time-- to
be present on Earth is to deny that He could be humanly present in Heaven
(thus, denying the True Christ's humanity).
Dan Brown describes a warfare between the purportedly historical organization, the
Priory of Sion, and Opus Dei, established in 1928 as an international prelature of
the Roman Catholic Church. The Priory of Sion was believed by Dan Brown to be founded
in 1099 AD to protect the hereditary succession of Mary Magdalene-- the so-called
Holy Grail. He links this succession to the Merovingian dynasty of the political
thrones of Europe. In contradistinction, apostolic succession through Peter is Rome's
method of maintaining her religious power-- that is often in contention with the
secular seats of power. Regardless of the historical authenticity of the Priory of
Sion, it is significant that a secular author would depict a warfare between the
religious and political, for this is exactly what the Book of Revelation has prophesied
since the First Century AD. The Apostle John was inspired by the Holy Spirit to record
the mysterious identity of this institution of apostolic succession "arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with
gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand" (Revelation 17:4). John further describes this feminine
entity with the derogatory name, "MYSTERY,
BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH" (Revelation 17:5).
One of the seven angels, who will pour out the Seven Vial Judgments (Revelation
16), offered to John an explanation of the prophetic picture given
to the apostle nearly 2,000 years ago. "And
the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery
of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and
ten horns" (Revelation 17:7). Demonstrating
that divine knowledge expressed by the angel is far greater than conundrums, anagrams,
and secret symbols of any Satan inspired human conspiracy, the angel explains that
those "whose names were not written in
the Book of Life" (Revelation 17:8)
shall marvel, wonder, and even admire the "beast
that was, and is not, and yet is" (Revelation 17:8). Briefly, (1) Satan is the "beast
that was" (Revelation 17:8), for
he "shall ascend out of the Bottomless
Pit" (Revelation 17:8), (2) The
beast that "is not"
(Revelation 17:8) is the Antichrist, who was (at that time)
yet to be revealed, and (3) The Antichrist political, economic, and social system
of the world is the beast that "yet is" (Revelation 17:8). With double-entendre, the angel
describes BABYLON THE GREAT as sitting upon a "scarlet
coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns" (Revelation 17:3). "The
seven heads," the angel explains, "are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth" (Revelation 17:9). The "seven mountains"
primarily refer to a succession of seven kingdoms or empires, i.e., Egypt, Assyria,
Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, and Revived Rome; but, they also point to Rome--
the famed city historically identified by the ancient Romans as the City of Seven
Hills. The Papal Throne rules from "that
great city, which reigneth over the kings of the Earth"
(Revelation 17:18).
Again, in The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown depicts a warfare or antagonism between
Opus Dei and the Priory of Sion-- religious vs. political-- which is seen also in
the Book of Revelation, where the Beast or Antichrist (representing the political)
burns the Whore (representing the religious). "And
the ten horns which thou sawest upon the Beast [the Antichrist--
the political], these shall hate the Whore [the religious system represented by Papal Rome, i.e., the False Prophet], and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her
flesh, and burn her with fire" (Revelation 17:16). Though The Da Vinci Code makes the religious Opus Dei the hunter
and the political Priory of Sion the hunted-- while the Book of Revelation reverses
the positions with the religious system of the Whore more the victim and the political
system of the Antichrist more the villain-- the tension or warfare is the same. "Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images
of her gods He hath broken unto the ground [using the instrumentality
of the Antichrist]"
(Isaiah 21:9).
How does The Da Vinci Code have the effect of preparing the way for the Antichrist?
With 60.5 million copies of the novel in print (as of May 2006) and $77.1 million
for the movie's opening weekend-- compared to Spiderman ($114.8 million),
The Passion of the Christ ($83.8 million), and Jurassic Park ($47.0
million)-- even with the controversy fueling book and ticket sales, this is a significant
number of readers and viewers! What does this say about these people? First, The
Da Vinci Code reveals the interest and willingness of too many to view sympathetically,
Satanic symbols, occult imagery, and Antichrist associations, e.g., hieros gamos
(the ancient pagan, sex orgy ritual performed by Sophie's grandfather). Second, The
Da Vinci Code reveals the possible willingness of many of the readers or viewers
to entertain the idea that Jesus was merely a man and not God. Third, The Da Vinci
Code increases the willingness to distrust the integrity of the Bible as the
Infallible Word of God, i.e., just the opposite effect of Paul's words upon the Thessalonians.
"For this cause also thank we God without
ceasing, because, when ye received the Word of God which ye heard of us, ye received
it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the Word of God, which effectually
worketh also in you that believe" (1Thessalonians
2:13).
The Da Vinci Code, most significantly, gives respectability and receptivity
to the Antichrist, accompanied by blatant disregard and latent hostility to Jesus
Christ. "3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall
not come, except there come a falling away first, and that Man of Sin be revealed,
the Son of Perdition; 4 Who
opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped;
so that he as God sitteth in the Temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. 5 Remember ye not, that, when I was
yet with you, I told you these things? 6 And now ye know What [the Holy Spirit] withholdeth [restrains the Antichrist]
that he [the Antichrist]
might be revealed in his time" (2Thessalonians 2:3-6). Upon reflection, the success
of The Da Vinci Code points to how close we are to the advent of the Antichrist.
"7 For the Mystery of Iniquity doth already work: only He [the Holy Spirit] Who now letteth [Greek, katecho, restrains] will
let [Greek, katecho, will continue to restrain], until He [the Holy Spirit] be taken out of the way [at the Pre-Tribulational
Rapture, when the Spirit indwelt Saints are removed, thus removing the primary means
of the Spirit's influence upon the world]" (2Thessalonians 2:7).
More importantly, it should also be reminding us that the "end
of all things is at hand" (1Peter 4:7)
and the "coming of the LORD draweth nigh" (James 5:8), when the LORD Jesus Christ returns to
judge the world, i.e., "He hath appointed
a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man [Jesus Christ] Whom He hath ordained;
whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the
dead" (Acts 17:31). And, the Second
Coming of Christ is, of course, significant to the Saints on Earth, because He will
gather us before He comes again, i.e., "by
the coming of our LORD Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him" (2Thessalonians 2:1).Christian, fear not. God
will use even the clever blasphemy of The Da Vinci Code to accomplish His own purposes.
"Surely the wrath of man shall praise
Thee: the remainder of wrath shalt Thou restrain" (Psalm
76:10). LORD, make it to be so! Amen, and Amen.
"Blessed is he that readeth [the Book of Revelation], and they
that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein:
for the time is at hand" (Revelation 1:3).
Maranatha!
[For positive suggestions on your Endtime Christian conduct, please read our article,
"The
Restraining Influence of the Holy Spirit" ---New Window. A discussion of the nature and relationship
of the Beast and the Whore can be found in our Commentary on the Book of Revelation,
i.e., "Revealing the Mystery of Babylon the Great and the Beast" (Ch. 17) ---New
Window and "The Destruction of Babylon the Great" (Ch.
18) ---New Window. "Must There Be a Pre-Tribulational
Rapture?" ---New Window is our attempt
to answer the question in the affirmative. Our articles, "Antichrist Shall Come" ---New
Window and "The Amazing Humanity of Jesus Christ" ---New Window, offer additional information on the
subjects of the Antichrist and the humanity of Jesus Christ. Ian Paisley's "Christian
Foundations" demonstrates how the Bible is the Word of God ---New
Window, Jesus is fully divine ---New
Window, Christ's blood atoned for our sins ---New Window, and Christ bodily resurrected from the dead ---New Window.]
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