Truth
or Fabrication?

The DA VINCI CODE

Fiction, Fact or History?

Pt-1

By Carlos A. Cedillo

Will it change western religion as we know it?—or will it strengthen Christian faith?

Dan Brown has caused a Tsunami in religious and secular society with his best seller and Hollywood production, The Da Vinci Code. The novel is a blend of suspense, mystery, drama and history—it touches on polemical events from Christian history and combines with code breaking in a complex scheme at the Louvre in France. Thus the story develops—immersed in obscurity and controversy.

What makes the book controversial?—Brown gives the reader a surreal flashback into history, searching out key religious events such as the Council of Nicaea of 325 AD, and a secret society-- the Priory of Sion. But there are other baffling theological aspects presented in the book-- provokingly designed to make the reader question what is truth concerning Jesus and the bible. His array of information – some factual as Brown claims in the introduction -- presents religious issues in an unexpected manner….affirming that almost everything taught by Christianity on Christ is false—that His divinity was the result of a voting process at the Council of Nicaea. Before the reader can digest the assault on Christ's divinity, the book jumps into an astounding diatribe that envisions Mary Magdalene as the figure to the right of Jesus in the famous Last Supper by Leonardo Da Vinci—not just envisions her as participating in Jesus’ Last Supper… but in his life as a pair-- as married.

At this point the reader will probably feel the need to double check Dan’s introduction…”Did he say it was fiction-- fact—or what?” --because unlike a novel or fiction, this writing presents certain historical events in such fashion as to cast doubt on the basic tenets of Christian belief and faith. The story subtly comes across as a true rendering of information and knowledge-- weaving back and forth between segments of real history and distorted history. In the first chapters it zeros in on a secret association whose historical origin lies amidst a twilight zone of partial truths, reality and non truths. Those who read the book may conclude that what they are reading is factual and true. Nevertheless, that uncertainty is shattered by the resulting evidence of thourough research and the simple truth, revealing key portions of this book to be cunningly crafted fabrication.

Now let’s examine some important aspects of the historical and religious pieces of this intricate mystery and the theological implications surrounding the Da Vinci Code.

Divinity of Jesus

The real purpose for the 300 bishops convening at the first Council of Nicaea (325 AD) was to oppose the Arius hypothesis on Jesus-

Arius had been in opposition to the fundamental aspects of Christian faith since early in the 3^rd century. His claim was that Jesus was a creature, a mere mortal, liable to fall, etc. It’s interesting to note that Arius came from Egypt where pagan religions were flourishing—the cult of Sol Invictus being the main one. This latter one worshiped the sun… considered as the Lord of the Roman Empire. It’s very likely there was religious jealousy and intolerance of the new religious movement of the early Christians. This was made evident by the extreme religious persecution that was leveled on Christians residing in Egypt.

The religious turmoil and division within the Roman Empire brought on by the Arius anti-divinity of Christ doctrines—made imperative the need of a formalized document that would encase the present Christian beliefs in God.— Beliefs and faith practiced as far back as AD 60 with the book of Mark (1) – and particularly the need for clarification of Jesus as the Son of God, as consubstantial or of the same substance as the Father. A vote was taken by the 300 bishops at the Council of Nicaea in favor of the new statement of faith, termed the Nicene Creed. But as such, there was no instance where the bishops were suddenly inspired to vote in Jesus as a divine entity-- as if it had just dawned on them who he was. As already mentioned, Jesus as the Son of God was at that time an established belief, as well as the resurrection. Even though Christian belief in the resurrection was not yet formulated in writing, it can be traced to within two years of that very event (2).

Concerning Arius, the Council voted unanimously against him and had his doctrine condemned-- and he was promptly sent into exile at Constantine’s command. This was the second time Arius was sent into exile—the first time was in 319 A.D. when Alexander condemned and exiled him for trying to prop up doctrine against the divinity of Jesus.

The Priory of Sion—proof of Jesus Christ’s royal bloodline through Mary Magdalene— or fabrication?

In the DVC introduction, Brown inserts a page of information on the secret society mentioned in his book--The Priory of Sion and the Dossiers Secrets—referring to these as fact. This alleged Priory is supposed to have been a secret society set up in the 11^th century. According to the narrative, its purpose was to preserve a secret having to do with the bloodline of Jesus Christ. The story claims that in 1975, certain documents or parchments were discovered at the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, known as the Dossiers Secrets (3). The DVC lists the dignified members who purportedly belonged to the association…. Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo and Leonardo da Vinci.

The documents found at the Paris library seemed to support the original story that took place in Rennes-le-Chateau, Paris—this story [Later shown to be a fabrication of Plantard, as well as the Dossiers Secrets (4)] was published in a book by Pierre Plantard, titled L’Or de Rennes (“Rennes’ Gold”) in 1967. However—in real life-- it was later discovered that it was not the librarians (as narrated in the DVC) but the associates of Plantard who found the documents in the library-- the same ones who planted the forged documents to begin with. Plantard’s book is about a buried treasure that was uncovered by Father Berenger Sauntiere at the village of Rennes-le-Chateau in 1885 (5). The treasure was to Sauntiere more valuable than gold…. for according to the story, he had found antique documents that sustained an old southern France legend assuming that Jesus Christ did not rise to heaven --- but that he had escaped to France with his wife, Mary Magdalene. (Although after the Roman torture and excruciating crucifixion and death—seems it would have been quite difficult to drag around with a woman all the way to France [6]). The author explains that Jesus and Mary Magdalene had children and had initiated a dynasty called the Merovingian Kings of France. Here Plantard gives his supposed meaning of the Grail Legends, the Holy Grail—that it’s the holy blood of Jesus Christ running through the veins of Merovingians (7). In the end Plantard expanded his story saying that he was the designer of the mystery Priory, as well as the last descendant of the Merovingians and that the blood of Christ was now in his veins. All seems quite astonishing and factual….however; it’s now been established that the Priory of Sion is a fabrication of Plantards imagination.

Massimo Introvigne, director for the Center of Studies of New Religions for Cesnur, considers the Priory is a forgery. He states the following: No reference to the Priory of Sion as an organization (led during the course of its existence by many famous people, including Leonardo da Vinci, 1452-1519) protecting the Merovingians and their legitimate claims to the throne of France against the Carolingians and further usurpers is recorded in history before the fabrication of the 1967 documents. The Priory of Sion itself was founded in 1956 by the key architect of the 1967 forgery, Pierre Plantard (1920-2000), but with different aims and by-laws. And no reference that the Merovigians protected by the Priory of Sion and mentioned in the 1967 documents are the physical descendants of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene ever appeared in print before the 1982 book Holy Blood, Holy Grail. (CESNUR - Centro Studi sulle Nuove Religioni diretto da Massimo Introvigne www.cesnur.org--Dan Brown and the London Court Case: After Many Bogus Conspiracies, A Real One Finally Surfaces)

Dan Brown eventually had to face a court case in London to defend himself against authors Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, authors of the Holy Blood and Holy Grail, for plagiarism. Brown won the case but in the final ruling, the judge declared the Priory of Sion a hoax (8).

(1)- Case for Christ—by Lee Strobel—pg. 10

(2)- Case for Christ—by Lee Strobel—pg. 12

(3)- The Da Vinci Code FAQ, or Will the Real Priory of Sion please stand up? By Massimo Introvigne-- Cesnur-- www.cesnur.org

(4)- The Da Vinci Code FAQ, or Will the Real Priory of Sion please stand up? By Massimo Introvigne-- Cesnur-- www.cesnur.org

(5)- Priory of Sion…. Forged documents—Wikipedia

(6)- Case for Christ—Lee Strobel—pg. 62-70

(7)- The Da Vinci Code FAQ or Will the real Priory of Sion please stand up? Cesnur—www.cesnur.org

(8)- Cesnur- Centro Studi sulle Nuove Religioni diretto da Massimo Introvigne—ww.cesnur.org—Dan Brown and the London Court Case-

Judge Confirms that the Priory of Sion is a Hoax

Carlos A. Cedillo is a full time member of the Family International

* * * *

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The Da Vinci Code
Fiction, fact or fiction?
Pt- 4

Old Testament Messianic Predictions

Quote from Lee Strobel’s Case for Christ book:

First I asked whether it's possible that Jesus merely fulfilled the prophecies by accident. Maybe he's just one throughout history who have coincidentally fit the prophetic fingerprint.

"Not a chance," came his response (Louis S. Lapides). "The odds are so astronomical that they rule that out. Someone did the math and figured out that the probability of just eight prophecies being fulfilled is one chance in one hundred million billion. That number is millions of times greater than the total number of people who've ever walked the planet!


The Family International
Hundreds and even thousands of years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the Old Testament Prophets predicted His coming. Their predictions were not just general ones that "a Messiah, a Savior, will come" etc., but specific prophecies about places, times and events that have been fulfilled in only one person who has ever lived-Jesus of Nazareth! In this brief lesson we have chronologically arranged several of the most outstanding Old Testament Messianic prophecies in the actual verbatim text of the Scriptures and followed them with their New Testament fulfillments.

His Birth

Prophecy: Nearly 750 years before Christ's birth, the Old Testament Prophet Isaiah prophesied: "The Lord Himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel."--Isaiah 7:14.

Fulfillment: In exact fulfillment of this prophecy, Mary was a young virgin engaged to be married to Joseph, a carpenter of Nazareth, when the Angel Gabriel appeared to her saying that she would bear a child. "Then Mary said to the Angel, `How shall this be, seeing I have not laid with a man?' And the Angel answered, `The Holy Ghost shall come upon you, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow you! Therefore that holy One which shall be born of you shall be called the Son of God."--Luke 1:26-35. (Immanuel means "God with us", and for those of us who have received Jesus into our hearts, that's Who He is: God is with us!)

Prophecy: "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!"--Isaiah 9:6. (Prophecy given 740 B.C.)

Fulfillment: This shows that the ancient Jews, unlike most modern ones, believed that God had a Son--Who was to be born in the flesh and Whom the prophecy said was to be called "The Mighty God".

Prophecy: Micah, prophesying in the eighth century B.C., predicted the exact village where the Messiah would be born: "You, Bethlehem, though you are small among the clans of Judah, yet out of you shall He come forth unto Me that is to be ruler over Israel; Whose existence has been of old, from everlasting."--Micah 5:2. (Prophecy given 710 B.C.)

Fulfillment: The Gospel says "Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea."--Matthew 2:1. Although the Jews knew that their Messiah was to be born there (Matthew 2:4-6), they didn't, as a nation, accept Jesus as their ruler. Nonetheless, the prophecy says that He "Is to be ruler". This takes place spiritually now for those who voluntarily accept His Messiahship, and will soon take place literally by force at His Second Coming!

Jesus' existence, as the prophecy says, "has been of old, from everlasting". Jesus said, "Before Abraham was (around 2,000 B.C.), I Am."--John 8:58. He was here referring to Himself as the eternal God Who revealed Himself to Moses in the burning bush as: "I Am that I Am" (Exodus 3:14), the eternal Son of God! (See also John 1:13,14.)

Triumphal Entry Into Jerusalem

Prophecy: The Prophet Zechariah commanded the people by the Spirit of the Lord to: "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King comes unto you: Righteous, and having Salvation; meek, and riding upon a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey."--Zechariah 9:9. (Prophecy given 487 B.C.)

Fulfillment: Five days before His crucifixion, as Jesus neared Jerusalem, He told His disciples, "Go into the village ahead of you, and at once you shall find a donkey tied there, and her colt with her: Untie them, and bring them to Me. And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them, and brought the donkey and the colt...and Jesus sat on them...and the multitudes that went ahead, and those that followed, shouted, saying, `Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord!'"--Matthew 21:2-10.Imagine!--The King of kings, God in the flesh, came riding into Jerusalem, meekly sitting on the lowly colt of a donkey, just as God's Prophet, Zechariah, had predicted over 500 years earlier!--And not only did Jesus fulfill this part of the prophecy, but the multitudes of Jerusalem who "rejoiced greatly" and "shouted" praises to Him as He entered the city were further proof that indeed, Jesus of Nazareth was "the King" of whom Zechariah had prophesied!

His Betrayal

Prophecy: Again Zechariah predicts: "And I said unto them, if you think good, give me my price; and if not, keep it. So they paid me thirty pieces of silver."--Zechariah 11:12. (Prophecy given 487 B.C.)

Fulfillment: "Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests, and said to them, 'What will you give me, if I deliver Him to you?' And they counted out for him thirty pieces of sliver."--Matthew 26:14, 15.

Prophecy: "And the Lord said unto me, `Cast it unto the Potter!--The handsome price at which they priced Me!' And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the Potter in the House of the Lord."--Zechariah 11:13. (Prophecy given 487 B.C.)

Fulfillment: "Then Judas, which had betrayed Him (Jesus), when he saw that He was condemned, repented, and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders...And he cast down the pieces of silver in the Temple, and went away and hanged himself. And the chief priests picked up the silver pieces, and said, "It is against the law to put this into the treasury, because it is the price paid for blood. So they decided to use the money to buy the Potter's Field, to bury foreigners in."--Matthew 27:3-6. The thirty pieces of silver were literally "Cast to the Potter...in the house of the Lord"!

His Trial

Prophecy: "By arrest and judgment He was taken away: And who shall speak of His descendants? For He was cut off from the land of the living: For the transgression of my people was He stricken."--Isaiah 53:8. (Prophecy given 712 B.C.)

Fulfillment: Jesus was arrested by the soldiers of the High Priest.--Matthew 26:57. After judging Him in their religious court and condemning Him to death, they bound Him and handed Him over to Pilate, the Roman Governor.--Matthew 27:1-2. "While Pilate was sitting in judgment...the chief priests and elders persuaded the crowd...to have Jesus executed."--Matthew 27:19-20. "Finally Pilate handed Him over to them to be crucified."--John 19:16.

Pilate himself knew that Jesus was innocent and had done nothing worthy of death, and that the Jewish religious leaders only wanted Jesus executed because of their religious jealousy, yet the religious leaders used their political leverage to force Pilate to have Him crucified anyway.--John 18:28-40;19:1-16; Luke 23:13-25; Matthew 27:18.

His Crucifixion

Prophecy: Around 1,000 B.C., King David prophesied: "Dogs have surrounded Me: A band of wicked men have encircled Me: They pierced My hands and My feet. I can count all My bones. People stare and gloat over Me. They divide My garments among them, and cast lots upon My clothing."--Psalm 22:16-18. (Prophecy given around 1,000 B.C.) (See also Zechariah 12:10;13:6.)

Fulfillment: That was written by King David, who died a natural death (recorded in 1Kings Chapter 1), so he wasn't talking about himself. But being a Prophet, he predicted the type of death that Christ would die! As it says in the New Testament, "then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus (pierced hands and feet), took His garments, and divided them into four parts, a part to every soldier; His undergarment remained. Now this garment was without seam, woven in one piece from top to bottom. They said therefore to one another, Let us not tear it, but let us cast lots for it, to see whose it shall be."--John 19:23,24.

Crucifixion, incidentally, was not practiced by the Jews of David's time. (They killed criminals by stoning!)--But David predicted this type of death for the Messiah--a method of execution that was to become one of the principal means of execution by the Roman Empire ten centuries later!

Prophecy: Here is another prophecy by David regarding "The Righteous", or the Messiah: "Many are the afflictions of The Righteous, but...He (God) keeps all His bones: Not one of them is broken."--Psalm 34:19-20. (Prophecy given about 1,000 B.C.)

Fulfillment: Many of God's righteous servants have had their bones broken, especially in their martyrdom--But Jesus was "The righteous", "My righteous Servant", as God called Him, Who through His death would "justify many" or make them righteous.--Isaiah 53:11-12. And to prove that He was "The Righteous" Who would "justify many", God didn't let any of His bones be broken!

Jesus was crucified on the eve of the feastday of the Passover. To ensure that the bodies of the two thieves and Jesus wouldn't be hanging there on the cross during the Jews' holy day (death by crucifixion sometimes took days), they broke the legs of the thieves, causing their bodies to sag, cutting off their respiration and bringing a quick death. "But when they came to Jesus, and saw that He was dead already, they did not break His legs."--John 19:31-33.

Jesus was "the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the World" (John 1:29), and was crucified at the time of the Jewish Passover, a religious festival when all the Jewish households killed a lamb as a sacrificial sin offering. Right at that same time, Jesus, "The Lamb of God", died for the sins of Mankind. The Lord had commanded that none of the Passover lamb's bones were to be broken (Exodus 12:46), and Jesus' death fulfilled this specific point also!

His Burial

Prophecy: "And He was given a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death."--Isaiah 53:9.

Fulfillment: In the eyes of His bitter religious enemies, Jesus was a criminal, a wicked man, and as He died, there were "two robbers crucified with Him".--Matthew 27:38. After His death, "a rich man...named Joseph...went to Pilate and pleaded for the body of Jesus. And when Joseph had taken the body, he...laid it in his own new tomb"--A grave with the rich!!!--Matthew 27:57-60.

His Resurrection

Prophecy: "For You will not leave My soul in hell (the grave, death); neither will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption (decay)."--Psalm 16:10. (Prophecy given around 1,000 B.C.)

Fulfillment: King David, who gave the prophecy, died and was buried in a grave and his flesh saw corruption and decay. But Jesus was raised from the grave and hell three days after His death, and "His soul was not left in hell (or in the grave), neither (did) His flesh see corruption (decay)."--Acts 2:27-31. As the Angel said to the mourners who came to Jesus' tomb, "He is not here, but is risen! Why do you seek the living among the dead?"--Luke 24:6,5.

Jesus is alive! The Scriptures show that He walked the Earth for 40 days after His Resurrection and was seen by hundreds of followers!--Acts 1:3; 1Corinthians 15:4-6. He then ascended up to Heaven where He sits at the right hand of the throne of God.-Mark 16:19.

Exact Year Of His Crucifixion

Prophecy: "Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and to build Jerusalem until the Messiah the Prince shall be seven sevens, and 62 sevens (or a total of 69): The street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times. And after 62 sevens shall the Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself."-Daniel 9:25,26. (Prophecy given 538 B.C.)

The city of Jerusalem was completely destroyed by the armies of Babylon when the Jews went into captivity and exile in 586 B.C. But 133 years later, in 453 B.C., Artaxerxes Longimanus, King of the Persian Empire, gave the Jews the commandment to go forth (from captivity into the land of Israel), "to restore and to build Jerusalem".

We know his decree was issued in 453 B.C., and that Jesus was "cut off" in 30 A.D. Therefore, if we add the 453 years B.C. to the 30 years A.D., it equals 483 YEARS. Let's see now if Daniel's specific time prophecy coincides with this:

The prophecy predicted that from the time of this decree until the death of the Messiah the Prince would be--how long?--"7 sevens plus 62 sevens"--or 69 sevens. 69 sevens would be 69 x 7, which equals 483. So Daniel predicted that 69 sevens of years, or 483 years, would pass between the issuing of the decree to build Jerusalem and the "cutting off" of the Messiah.--And that's exactly how many years did pass between 453 B.C. and Jesus' death in 30 A.D.!--What an amazing exact fulfillment of prophecy! And this astonishing prophecy was given in the year 538 B.C.--almost 600 years before Jesus the Messiah was crucified! It's also interesting to note that this 483-year period was divided into two periods: First a period of 7 sevens (49 years), then a period of 62 sevens (434 years). History reveals that it did take the Jews 49 years from the time the decree was issued to "rebuild the walls and streets of Jerusalem". Once Jerusalem was rebuilt, it was exactly 434 years (62 sevens) later that Jesus the Messiah was crucified!

Daniel's prophecy continues with undeniable proof that this Messiah had to be Jesus:

Destruction Of Jerusalem After His Coming

Prophecy: "At the end of 62 sevens shall the Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself: And the people of the ruler that shall come shall destroy the city (of Jerusalem) and the sanctuary (the Jewish Temple)."--Daniel 9:26. In other words, ac cording to this prophecy, after the Messiah's death, the city of Jerusalem and the Jews' Temple would be destroyed! Was it? Yes! Only 40 years later!

Fulfillment: After Jesus was cut off (or crucified in 30 A.D.), "not for Himself", but for the sins of the world, do you know what happened to Jerusalem and to the Jews' Temple? In 70 A.D., the Roman legions of the Emperor Vespasian ("the people of the ruler"), under his son, General Titus, marched in and burnt Jerusalem to the ground and so utterly destroyed their Sanctuary that not one stone was left upon another!

Jesus Himself, in a set of amazingly detailed prophecies given 40 years before these catastrophic events, predicted exactly what would happen! (See Matthew 24:1-2; Luke 19:42-44;21:20-24.)

Shutting Of East Gate After His Coming

Prophecy: "Then he brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary, the one facing toward the east; and it was shut. Then the Lord said unto me; This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the Lord, the God of Israel, has entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut."--Ezekiel 44:1,2. (Prophecy given 572 B.C.)

Fulfillment: When Jesus ("the Lord, the God of Israel") made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem on the back of the colt of an ass, He came from the Mt. of Olives and entered into Jerusalem's East Gate (Matthew 21:9-12), the gate which led into the Temple Courts, as it says here, "the outer gate of the sanctuary which faces toward the east."

In 70 A.D., the city of Jerusalem was utterly destroyed and it remained in ruins for centuries after. But in 542, the Moslem Sultan Sulieman rebuilt the walls of the city. Because the Jews who had rejected Jesus believed their Messiah was still to come and was yet to make His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Sulieman (who wanted to avoid the Jews rallying around a "Messiah" and rebelling) walled the "East Gate" completely shut, and thus unwittingly fulfilled the ancient prophecy of Ezekiel, "It shall be shut...because the Lord (Jesus), the God of Israel, has entered in by it." And the East Gate remains sealed shut until this very day!

Most Jews believe that the Messiah has not yet come, but according to these two fulfilled historical facts: 1) The destruction of Jerusalem, and 2) The walling up of the East Gate, the Messiah has already come!--And if it wasn't Jesus of Nazareth, who was it?

Who else was born of a virgin in Bethlehem, was called God, rode triumphantly into Jerusalem on an ass, was betrayed for thirty pieces of silver, was proclaimed innocent yet condemned unjustly to be crucified while soldiers parted His garments, was associated with the wicked in his death, was buried in a rich man's tomb and rose from the dead--all in fulfillment of Messianic prophecy! The answer, of course, is no one else but Jesus Christ!--And the prophecies that we have quoted here are only a few out of nearly 300 specific Old Testament prophecies which Jesus fulfilled!

Why (did Jesus die on the cross)?

Why did Jesus die on that cross?--Because He loved you! He loved you enough to take your punishment, to die and be separated from His Father for a while so that He could bring you the Love of God and Eternal Life! As another prophecy says, "All we like sheep have gone astray; each of us have turned to his own way, and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. There was no deceit in His mouth, yet it was the Lord's will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer. HIS soul (Jesus') shall be made an offering for sin, and by His knowledge shall My righteous Servant justify (make righteous) many; and He shall bear their iniquities!"--Isaiah 53:6,9-11. (Prophecy given 750 B.C.)

Jesus died for you!--And God gave all these prophecies and had them written down and preserved down through the centuries and millenniums so that your faith might be strengthened by them enough to believe that "God so loved the World, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."--John 3:16. Do you?

God loves you and Jesus is just waiting at your heart's door for you to open to Him. He says, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: If any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him and will sup with him, and he with Me."--Revelation 3:20. Would you like to receive Jesus into your heart? If you would, sincerely pray from your heart this simple prayer: Dear Jesus, I know that I've done wrong things and I'm sorry. I believe that You died for my sins and I ask You to please come into my heart and forgive me.-And please help me to live for You and others by reading Your Word and telling others about Your Love!--In Jesus' name, amen.

The Family International

Delving into The Da Vinci Code Part-3


Decoding the 70 Weeks of Daniel

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown has provoked theological questions--is Jesus truely the Son of God, or the promised Messiah? Is there a biblical cryptogram that can provide some answers?— Let's zero in on a prophecy given in 539 BC by the prophet Daniel foretelling with exact dating, the time of the messiah. As we have seen from Bible codes, there are many mysterious and important truths hidden deep within this tome. In the following pages we will follow Daniel as he receives a prophecy revealing a very important event-- the exact year when the Messiah was to be “cut off” (crucified).



During the Medo-Persian Empire in 539 BC, when Darius was ruler-- Daniel was then an old man over 80 years old, but Darius recognized his great wisdom and administrative abilities—and perhaps also because he had foretold the victory of the Medes (Daniel 5:28). So this prophet Daniel was having visions and prophesying and seeing the future. One day, about the time of the “evening oblation”; “Oblation” means offering or sacrifice, and the evening sacrifices were made in the Temple a long way from Jerusalem and the Temple had been destroyed nearly 50 years earlier and there were no longer any animal sacrifices, but this was at the time that they used to offer them… and Daniel had the following communication with Gabriel the Archangel (The bible-Daniel 9:21):

Daniel 9:22 And he informed me, and talked with me and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding.
Daniel 9:23 At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to show thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision.

Daniel had been praying for God to forgive his people (the Jews) and to release them from Captivity so that they could restore the Temple and the city of Jerusalem, and the Archangel Gabriel has now appeared to tell him when and how God is going to save them.

God tired to help Daniel understand these prophecies He gave him, even though most of the time he wasn’t able to understand them. (Dan. 7:28; 8:27, 12:8) The Lord was predicting the following prophecies literally hundreds, even thousands of years in advance before they ever happened, and Daniel didn’t actually have to understand. But he did have to write it down and put it on record so that we who are living in the Endtime would understand when the time came. (See the interpretation to Dan.8:26 (C) and 12:4)

Daniel 9:24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.

“Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people”: it’s important, first of all, to know what the meaning of the word “weeks” is. In the original Hebrew, the word used here is “shabuah”, which was used interchangeably for either the figure 7 or the weeks of the month. In this case, it would have been more accurate if the translators of the Bible had translated it as “sevens”, so this phrase would have read “seventy sevens”. But because “shabuah” was also the common name for the “week”—and also because they probably didn’t understand what the prophecy meant-- they translated it as “weeks”.

But it’s clear that the Lord wasn’t talking about the weeks of the month, because if you try to say these are merely literal weeks, it would have to have been fulfilled a little over a year later, and of course it wasn’t, so you couldn’t possibly interpret it that way. It didn’t happen in any little number of weeks, but it took hundreds of years!

The Lord was talking about “sevens” here, sevens of years, which makes a big difference! So to bring out the actual meaning whenever it uses the word “weeks”, we will follow it by the word “sevens” in brackets.
So “seventy weeks (sevens) are determined upon thy people”: How long is that? Seventy times seven years equals 490 years. 490 years are “determined upon thy people”. In other words, “within 490 years the full history of your people, the Jews, is going to be completed and this vision and this prophecy will be completely fulfilled, or ‘sealed up’!” To fully understand the meaning of this verse, let’s first study the more detailed time prophecies given in verse 25:

Daniel 9:25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks (sevens), and threescore and two weeks (sevens): the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.

From the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem”: As explained earlier under verse 3, Cyrus authorized the Jews to return to Jerusalem in 536 BC to build their Temple, but neither he nor the following Persian kings told them they could rebuild the city of Jerusalem itself or build up and fortify the walls, because they were afraid that the Jews might rebel again. (See Ezra 4:11-24; Nehemiah 6: 5,6) As long as the walls were down flat, they knew the Jews couldn’t cause trouble or defend themselves if they rebelled. The first Medo-Persian kings figured, “We’re doing you a favor even to let you go home and build your Temple.”

But finally, along came Artaxerxes, Longimanus, the fifth king of the Medo-Persian Empire, and he ruled from 465 to 425 BC. Artaxerxes was very favorable to the Jews (See Ezra 7:12-27; Nehemiah 1:11, 2:1-8).
In 457 BC (Ezra 7:6,7) Artaxerxes authorized Ezra the priest to go to Jerusalem and teach God’s Law and set up magistrates and Judges. (Ezra 7:25, 26)—And four years later, in 453 BC Artaxerxes issued this famous commandment to allow the Jews to rebuild the city and fortify its walls.

Some people question the fact that Artaxerxes made this edict in 453 BC, as it is not specifically mentioned in the Bible Handbook, for example, suggests that perhaps this commandment to restore and build Jerusalem happened in 457 BC when Artaxerxes let Ezra go to Jerusalem, but if you’ll check the book of Ezra, you’ll see that no commandment to build Jerusalem was given at that time. As nearly all the other Bible Handbooks say that 454/3 BC was the year that Artaxerxes issued his edict for the Jews to rebuild the city, that really isn’t a valid objection. The majority of the historians and Bible scholars say that 453/4 is the date the edict was given, and it fits Daniel’s prophecy exactly. So why question it?

“From the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem… shall be seven weeks (sevens) … the street shall be built again , and the wall, even in troublous times.” Why is this period of 49 years mentioned? – Because from the time that Artaxerxes gave the commandment in 453 BC that was exactly how many years it took them to rebuild the wall and the city! The reason the Lord mentioned these 49 years was because it was going to be very important to the Jews to know how long it would take them to rebuild the city itself and the wall for their self-defense. So the Lord foretold the future and predicted that it would take 49 years. – And that’s exactly how long it did take!

Despite Artaxerxes’ official edict in 453 BC, however, there was very little progress made for the following nine years, because whenever the Jews would start work on the wall, their more powerful hostile neighbors would stop them. In 444 BC, when Nehemiah, the king’s cupbearer, heard that the city and the walls were still lying in ruins (See Neh.1:1-4), he asked the king to allow him to go to Jerusalem to personally direct the rebuilding of the wall and the fortifying of the city. Artaxerxes granted him permission, even giving him the position of Governor. (Neh. 2:1-8; 5:14)

Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem, and within a period of 52 days the wall was rebuilt (Neh.6:15) – but rebuilding all the streets, the buildings and houses of Jerusalem itself was undoubtedly a slower process, and it took a full 40 years to complete it.

“Even in troublous times”: Despite the fact that Nehemiah had letters of recommendation from King Artaxerxes himself and was given an honor guard (Neh.2:7-9), he still suffered considerable opposition from the Jews’ enemies (See Nehemiah Chapters 4 and 6), and under constant threat of attack, he and his men had to work with a tool in one hand and a weapon in the other. (Neh.4:17)

That was the fulfillment of the first 49 year period; now let’s examine the second period of 62 sevens:

Daniel 9:26 And after threescore and two weeks (sevens) shall Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined!

“Threescore and two”: A “score” is an old English expression meaning 20, therefore “threescore and two” would be 60 and two, or 62 sevens, or 434 years.

As verse 25 said, “From the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven sevens (49 years), and threescore and two sevens (434 years). As we learned above, the first 49- year period involved the rebuilding of the wall, the city and the streets. And the Lord prophesied that after that would be another 483 years until the Messiah was “cut off”. Who was this “Messiah the Prince” that was “cut off”? It was none other than Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Prince of Peace! (Isaiah 8:6) – Who as Isaiah had prophesied hundreds of years earlier, would be “cut off out of the land of the living (slain)” (Isaiah 53:8) Now, 49 plus 434 equals a total of 483 years. So adding 483 years to 453 BC brings us to what year? – To exactly 30 AD! – The very year of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ!

We know from secular history that Jesus was born around the last part of 4 BC, (virtually the beginning of 3 BC), and at the beginning of His ministry, Luke 3:23 says, “And Jesus Himself began to be about thirty years of age.” So if He was born in late 4 BC, and after a little over three years of public ministry, was crucified around April, 30 AD. So here we have the 69 sevens of years, or 483 years, giving us the exact year of the Messiah’s crucifixion! This was prophesied in 538 BC, almost 600 years before Jesus the Messiah was crucified! The archangel Gabriel made it clear that the Messiah, the Christ, would die in 30 AD, and Jesus Christ was the only One Who fulfilled this very specific prophecy! – Proof that He is the Son of God!—And this is only one of over 300 Messianic prophecies fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth, written from 400 to 1,500 years before He was born!

Nearly all the historical books and Bible scholars agree that Artaxerxes Longimanus issued his edict for the Jews to rebuild the city about 453 BC. Now, the Jewish Passover was celebrated every year in the month of April (Leviticus 23:3-4), which was the first month of the year according to the Jewish calendar. (Exodus 12:2,3,6). Jesus was crucified at “the preparation of the Passover” (John 19:14,31), so we can pretty clearly ascertain that He died in April, 30 AD. So for Daniel’s prophecy to be fulfilled to the exact month, Artaxerxes would have to have given his edict exactly 483 years earlier, in April, 453 BC! – And this may have very likely been the month he did give it!
Some scholars, however, say the edict may have been given in 454 BC instead. This may be possible, but it does not change the amazing fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy at all. If the edict was made even as early as May, 454 BC – which is unlikely – It would still be technically within the 483rd year measuring from 30 AD till then. As you remember, this time prophecy was given in years, and as long as it is therefore fulfilled to the year, you don’t need to worry about trying to pin it down to the exact day or even month of the particular year.
So this prediction is astonishingly accurate, whether you want to say that the edict was made in late 454 or early 453 BC—Because 483 years after it was made, Jesus the Messiah was “cut off”, just as it said He would be!


D.B. Berg.


Ben Fighter


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Delving into The Da Vinci Code
Part-5


Seeking the Holy Grail

—A message from Jesus
You've probably heard about The Da Vinci Code—the novel that has become a bestseller and has now been made into a Hollywood movie. The claims in The Da Vinci Code have raised questions in many people's minds.

The story line involves a sequence of gripping mysteries and adventures that many people find intriguing. I love a good mystery Myself, and I enjoy watching people carefully put together the pieces of an intricate puzzle—whether it's archaeologists uncovering ancient civilizations, botanists unraveling the mysteries of the genetic structure of plants, or the average man and woman trying to make sense of current events. Life would be boring if there were nothing to discover, no theories to test, and no way to find answers to your questions.

After reading or watching The Da Vinci Code or hearing about it from friends, family, or the media, it's understandable to wonder whether the "revelations" in this story should affect your perspective on Christianity and the Bible and Me. A lot has already been written about the issues, and there have been many attempts to sort fact from fiction. Matters of faith aren't always easy to prove—if they were, it wouldn't take faith—but I have seen to it that there is enough evidence of the truth that those who are truly seeking will find it.

While The Da Vinci Code states untruths and I'm not happy about that, it is also sparking an increased interest in Me and My life. I am happy about that, because many people don't understand who I am or what I have to offer. They also don't understand that My Spirit does not dwell in temples made with hands (The Bible, Acts 7:48), and that neither can the masters of those temples claim to represent or speak for Me unless they truly know Me. Many who have assumed this role did not, and through the centuries many wrongs have been committed in My name. Men and women claiming to be My representatives have waged unjust wars, robbed the poor, oppressed the weak, and misled the masses in many ways.

One such misconception is the teaching that sexuality is evil. This false teaching has led to many problems in society today. In reality, sex is one of God's creations and is embraced in the Bible. It's a natural part of life and when done lovingly it's beautiful in My sight.

The religious authorities over the centuries have covered up many things. Yet the truth of My nature as the Son of God, the Savior, the One who has power to touch and transform your life has not been able to be repressed.

If you don't know Me yet, then I have a proposal for you: Rather than trying to figure Me out, why not give Me a chance to show you the truth? I am not just talking about right and wrong, or good advice, but supernatural truth. All that I am cannot be comprehended by the mind. You have to seek and understand with your heart. Why not see for yourself if I'm real and "the way, the truth, and the life" as I told My first disciples? (The Bible, John 14:6). Why not put Me to the test? Accept My love and presence into your life, and then see what I can do for you.

I can be your closest friend and confidant. I can help you when things go wrong and you need support. I can give happiness in place of grief, and I can bring beauty out of the ashes of failures and mistakes. Once you ask Me into your life, I will never leave you. That's a solemn pledge! I will always love and care for you in spite of everything, including your own faults and failings.

Once you connect with Me personally, then as you delve into what I have revealed in the Bible—and particularly in the Gospels—you will discover pure and life-giving truths within My Word. There's a personal message from Me to you within that book—it may have seemed encoded, but if you know Me, you'll begin to understand it. You'll find heavenly treasures worth far more than the Holy Grail.

All you need to do to start to receive all that I have to offer is open your heart and invite Me in. Just say, "Jesus, I'm willing to try You out. Please come into my life, show me how real You are, and give me Your gift of eternal life. Amen."

Did Jesus Marry? Yes! I am married to those who believe in Me and receive Me into their hearts and lives! As far as being married on Earth, no, I wasn't in the way you consider it, and I didn't have any physical children. Yet, I do have a wife to whom I am devoted. You who receive Me are the bride of Christ; you are married to Me in spirit. The apostle Paul wrote: "You should be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God" (Romans 7:4). I love you as a faithful husband loves his wife. I will be there for you always, I vow—for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, and even death will not part us.

Delving into The Da Vinci Code Part-2


Massimo Introvigne on The Da Vinci Code


(With permission from Massimo Introvigne we have included the following article)

CESNUR- Center for Studies on New Religions

The Da Vinci Code FAQ, or Will the Real Priory of Sion Please Stand Up?

by Massimo Introvigne
The Da Vinci Code is just a novel: why criticize it as if it were a history book?
People who ask this question usually have not read the page of The Da Vinci Code titled Fact, where the author, Dan Brown, asserts that «all descriptions of [..]documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate» and are based specifically on the fact that «in 1975 Paris’ Bibliothèque Nationale discovered parchments, known as Les Dossiers Secrets» which reveal the story of the Priory of Sion.

But do these «parchments, known as Les Dossiers Secrets», really exist?
At the Bibliothèque Nationale of Paris, certain documents called Les Dossiers secrets de Henri Lobineau were not «discovered», but rather deposited there, in 1967, not in 1975. They are not parchments but rather texts which speak about the way to interpret certain parchments, which were neither then nor now at the National Library of Paris, but were handed over by Pierre Plantard (1920-2000), along with a manuscript he wrote, to an author of popular books about «the mysteries of France» by the name of Gérard de Sède (1921-2004), who enhanced and published them as L’Or de Rennes ou la Vie insolite de Bérenger Saunière, curé de Rennes-le-Château (Julliard, Paris, 1967). As of today, the parchments (assuming they are in fact the same) seem to be in possession of a controversial French author, Jean-Luc Chaumeil, who claims to have received them from Plantard in the 1970s, while Les Dossiers secrets can still be found at the National Library in Paris.

Are the parchments and Dossier secrets authentic documents about the ancient Priory of Sion?
There is no doubt that both Les Dossiers secrets and the parchments are false documents, compiled in the year 1967, and all the people involved in the falsification have admitted it, even after a few years had passed. Gérard de Sède, who published them for the first time in his book L’Or de Rennes, in a book published twenty years later defined them as «apocryphal», inspired by a «market sensationalism» (G. de Sède, Rennes-le-Château. Le dossier, les impostures, les phantasmes, les hypothèses, Robert Laffont, Paris, 1988, p. 107). He even claimed that in L’Or de Rennes he had scattered enough clues to induce an attentive reader to the conclusion that they were false documents (ibid., p. 108). According to Gérard de Sède, the parchments were fabricated by Philippe de Chérisey (1925-1985), an impoverished French marquis who was a professional TV actor and a devotee of enigmatic riddles. Actually, de Chérisey not only has repeatedly admitted to the fabrication of these parchments, both in letters and published texts (Circuit, The Author, Liège 1968; L’Or de Rennes pour un Napoléon, The Author, Paris, 1975; L’Énigme de Rennes, The Author, Paris 1978), but from as early as October 8, 1967 (as confirmed by a letter from his lawyer, B. Boccon-Gibod, which the English researcher Paul Smith posted on his very detailed Priory of Sion web site), he began working - albeit without significant success up until his death - on getting paid, as it had been agreed, by Pierre Plantard and Gérard de Sède. Even the third of the Three Musketeers involved in the trick, Pierre Plantard, admitted that the documents were false. In April of 1989, in the first issue of the second series of his journal, Vaincre, Plantard granted an interview and declared that Les Dossier secrets (which are signed by a certain «Philippe Toscan du Plantier») are false documents fabricated by Philippe de Chérisey and by Philippe Toscan du Plantier, the latter being, he claimed, a young disciple of his who operated under the influence of the LSD (Noël Pinot, «L'Interview de Mr. Pierre Plantard de Saint-Clair», Vaincre [2a series], n. 1, April 1989). It is possible that in reality there was no such person as «Philippe Toscan du Plantier» (in this case, the name may have come from Daniel Toscan du Plantier, 1941-2003, a well-known figure in the French movie industry, certainly known to de Chèrisey, and who at that time worked for Gaumont), and the co-author of Les Dossiers secrets with Chérisey was Plantard himself. But the essential point is that all three of the authors of the Dossier secrets and other «documents» deposited during those years at the National Library of Paris have admitted, publicly and in writing, that they were false documents.

But what was so interesting about Les Dossier secrets, and why according to Dan Brown do they support the thesis of The Da Vinci Code?
According to Les Dossiers secrets de Henri Lobineau (which, incidentally, is a name invented by the same Three Musketeers), the legitimate heirs to the throne of France to this very day are still the Merovingians, dethroned in 751 by the Carolingians. Furthermore, contrary to public opinion, the Merovingians are not extinct but have surviving descendants still alive, the last of which in 1967 was Pierre Plantard, who was therefore the only true contender to the role of King of France (of course, under the improbable case of a restoration of the French monarchy). In order to protect the descendants of the Merovingians from the Carolingians and later from other enemies, a secret society was formed, the Priory of Sion, which - according to the false documents deposited at the National Library of Paris in the 1960’s - had as Grand Masters certain alchemists and esoteric personalities such as Nicolas Flamel (well known to Harry Potter readers, yet in reality an historical person born in 1330 and deceased in 1418), Robert Fludd (1574-1637) and the principal promoter of the Rosicrucian legend, Johann Valentin Andreae (1586-1654), as well as scientists such as Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) and Isaac Newton (1642-1727). The last of the Grand Masters would have been the writers Charles Nodier (1780-1844) and Victor Hugo (1802-1885), the musician Claude Debussy (1862-1918), the poet and novelist Jean Cocteau (1889-1963) and Msgr. Francois Ducaud-Bourget (1897-1984), a priest with ties to the schismatic Msgr. Marcel Lefebvre (1905-1991). Ducaud-Bourget (it was claimed) had transferred the position to Plantard. It was also claimed that, by pure chance, the truth concerning the Priory of Sion and the famous parchments, hidden in the parish Church of a small French village of less than one hundred inhabitants in the Aude region, at the foot of the eastern Pyrenees mountains, Rennes-le-Château, were supposedly discovered in 1897 by the local parish priest, Berenger Saunière (1852-1917), who, thanks to the knowledge of the secret, came into contact with the esoteric and political milieu of the time and became incredibly wealthy.

Wait a minute. In The Da Vinci Code, the main point is that the Merovingians, protected by the Priory of Sion, are not only the legitimate heirs to the throne of France but also the descendants of the children born from the marriage between Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene. Do not Les Dossiers secrets and the other documents talk about this?
No, in fact they do not mention anything about this. The part about the relationship between Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene originated between 1969 and 1970, when an English actor, Henry Soskin, who was mostly known for his role in the TV series The Avengers, became interested in the Priory of Sion. He later became a director (going by the name of Henry Lincoln) of documentaries about historical mysteries and lost treasures, and entered into contact with the threesome of Chérisey - Plantard - de Sède. Lincoln decided to re-write the story of L’Or de Rennes in a more suitable way, adapted for a British audience, presenting it first in three documentaries aired by the BBC between 1972 and 1979 and later in a book published in 1982 with the help of Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail (Jonathan Cape, London). Lincoln realized that the identity of the person who was the legitimate heir to the throne of France was not very interesting for his British audience. At the same time, Plantard introduced him into the microcosm of French esoteric organizations where he met Robert Ambelain (1907-1997), a well known figure in this milieu. In 1970, Ambelain had published Jésus ou Le mortel secret des templiers (Robert Laffont, Paris), in which he affirmed that Jesus Christ had a partner, while not being legally married, and identified this «concubine» as Salome. Lincoln meshed Ambelain’s story about the marriage of Jesus with that of the Merovingians suggested by Plantard, and «revealed» that the Merovingians protected by the Priory of Sion were important, not because they were the heirs to the throne of France, as much as because they were the descendants of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene. The latter suited Lincoln better than Ambelain’s Salome because both of her connection with the parish church in Rennes-le-Château and of the Medieval legends claiming that she escaped persecution and eventually settled and died in Southern France (sans «husband» and children, however, which were never part of these legends).

But did Lincoln know that the documents were false?
Yes: not only because in the French milieu of the esoteric organizations into which he was introduced more or less everybody knew they were false, but because Philippe de Chérisey had told him so, as can be seen by letters from Chérisey himself (some reproduced in Pierre Jarnac, Les Archives de Rennes-le-Château. Tome 2, Belisane, Nice, 1988). Actually, the weak point of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail was precisely that too many people knew about the dubious origin of the documents on which the story was grounded. Thus, after having dealt directly with Chérisey behind Plantard’s back, and then having turned down the marquis-actor too, in 1986 Lincoln and his associates launched a «sanitation» or «de-plantardization» of the Priory of Sion with the book The Messianic Legacy (Jonathan Cape, London). They presented as a great new discovery that which in certain French circles everybody already knew: Plantard was a con man (although perhaps not only a con man) and many of the documents were false. But some of the documents (the British insisted) were true. Perhaps Plantard was not the last descendant of Jesus Christ and the true Priory of Sion was not his organization. But, anyway, there were Merovingian descendants of the marriage between Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene. And there was a «genuine» Priory of Sion which was behind many contemporary events: the infamous Italian Masonic lodge P2, the scandals involving the Banco Ambrosiano, the schism of Msgr. Lefebvre, the Italian mafia and many others, in a tour de force which made the reader dizzy, and whose only common denominator was a quasi-pathological hatred of the «Vatican» and the Roman Catholic Church.

And so does The Da Vinci Code come from The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail?
So much so that two of the authors of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, Baigent and Leigh (also offended because Brown, according to them, has added insult to injury by calling the villain of the story Leigh - first name - and Teabing - an anagram of Baigent - as his last name), in October of 2004 filed a lawsuit against Dan Brown, accusing him of having plagiarized their book. In fact, we do find there already the Priory of Sion's connections with the Chapel of Rosslyn, the Church of Saint-Sulpice, and the idea that the Holy Grail is really the Sang réal, i.e., a person containing in herself the blood of Christ. «Lincoln has decided not to be part of the copyright action because of ill health, but is said to support it» (Elizabeth Day, «Da Vinci Code Bestseller Is Plagiarism, Authors Claim», The Sunday Telegraph, October 3, 2004). On April 6, 2005 Brown won the case on technical grounds (under British law, borrowing from a work of “history”, no matter how much controversial, is regarded as lawful, and Baigent & Co. always claimed that theirs was an historical rather than a fictional work), but the case did confirm both that Dan Brown got the key ideas for the Code from the British authors and that they in turn relied on Plantard's “elaborate hoax” - see full decision and Brown's interesting “autobiography” filed as an affidavit in the London case.

Could not The Messianic Legacy have it right, in the sense that false documents were fabricated in order to corroborate a true story? Starting from the beginning, the Priory of Sion does exist, doesn’t it?
It certainly does exist. It was founded on the 7th of May, 1956 at Annemasse by Pierre Plantard with statutes duly filed with the Under-Prefect of Saint-Julien-en-Genevois with the complete name of Priory of Sion - C.I.R.C.U.I.T (Cavalry of Institution and Catholic Rule and of Independent Traditionalist Union). Article 3 of the statutes give an account of the origins of the name, which is derived not from Jerusalem but from Mount Zion (Sion in French), a hill near Annemasse, where they were supposed to construct «a Priory which would be a center of investigation, meditation, rest and prayer» for what was intended to be one of the many small esoteric orders that were common at the time in France. Aside from that, the Priory of Sion was built along the model of the other organizations that Plantard had founded since he was 17 years old in 1937, with the names: Union Française, Rénovation Nationale Française and Alpha Galates. The common characteristics between these organizations and the Priory of Sion were that they all were political in nature (they were monarchists, and Plantard was originally interested in the monarchist movement Action Française, although at Annemasse it was involved, above all, in promoting low-income housing) and the fact that they never had more than a dozen members. Anyway, the Priory of Sion founded in 1956 at Annemasse in a sense still exists today, as a tiny organization within the larger subculture of esoteric societies of France.

But wasn’t the Priory of Sion an organization founded by Godefroy de Bouillon (1060-1100), as claimed both by the Dossier secrets and by Dan Brown in the «Fact» page of The Da Vinci Code?
During the 1960’s, when he was preparing the Dossier secrets hoax, Plantard - who, as we know, originally borrowed the name «Priory of Sion» from a hill in Annemasse where he intended to build a center for spiritual retreats - discovered in the history of the Crusades (by which he was often inspired for his fantasies) an «Abbey of Our Lady of Mount Zion» founded in 1099 in Jerusalem precisely by Godefroy de Bouillon, who later became King of Jerusalem after the First Crusade. The community of monks of the Abbey (and not «Priory», as the superior was called Abbot and not Prior) in Palestine continued to exist until 1291, when it was destroyed by the advancing Muslims. The few surviving monks took refuge in Sicily, where their community was extinguished in the 14th century. This was a very normal community of Catholic monks, without any ties to the Knights Templar, Mary Magdalene or esoteric secrets: the «recovery» of which by Plantard was simply the use of their name, and nothing else.

And what about those important people, like Leonardo da Vinci, Newton, Victor Hugo… Don’t they have some relation to the Priory of Sion?
Certainly not: neither do they have ties to Plantard’s Priory, founded in 1956; nor to the abbey of monks founded in Palestine, extinct in the 14th century. Actually, Plantard was inspired for his list of Grand Masters of the Priory of Sion by some of the lists of alleged «Imperators», i.e., supreme heads, and «distinguished members» of the AMORC, the Ancient and Mystical Order Rosae Crucis, which circulated in France, were AMORC was quite successful. AMORC had been founded in 1915 in the United States by Harvey Spencer Lewis (1883-1939), and Plantard was in contact with certain leaders of the French branch (some of them later left AMORC) dating back to the 1940's. Except for Cocteau and Msgr. Ducaud-Bourget (who, long before becoming famous, was vicar of the Paris church of Saint Louis d'Antin, where Plantard worked shortly as a sexton), all the names of the Grand Masters of the Priory of Sion can be found, coincidentally enough, in texts by French leaders of AMORC. Many esoteric societies established from the 18th to the 20th century give to their members mythical genealogies that would include the Knights Templar, Noah, Saint John or King Solomon, as well as famous people of literature and art. Usually, most of their members are aware of the merely symbolic and mythical character of these genealogies.

But didn’t Leonardo leave traces of his knowledge of the secret of the Priory of Sion in his Last Supper, where the person painted to the right of Jesus actually appears to be a woman?
This idea has been defined as «absurd» by one of the most learned scholars of Leonardo, Professor Judith Veronica Field, who teaches at the University of London and is the current president of the Leonardo Da Vinci Society (cf. Gary Stern, «Experts Dismiss Theories in Popular Book», The Journal News, November 2, 2003). Given that in a painting, everyone tends to see what he or she wants to see, more or less suggested by the reading one has done, it is important to point out that whether or not the person depicted on the right of Jesus is a woman or a man, is not that relevant to the issue at hand here. Neither is it necessary to return to the question of whether or not Leonardo was heterosexual, homosexual or bi-sexual, about which a vast amount of literature exists, or whether his preference for masculine forms which seem effeminate should be considered important in this debate. Whoever decides to get worked up over this issue is really forgetting the essential point. Admitting that Leonardo thought that the person sitting next to Christ in the Last Supper was a woman, we have to ask ourselves how this demonstrates that: (a) he thought that person to be Mary Magdalene; (b) the fact that Leonardo thought such a thing would somehow make it true; (c) Mary Magdalene participated in the Last Supper because she was Jesus’ wife; (d) the two had children; (e) those children should have governed the Church; (f) to preserve this truth a secret society was born, the Priory of Sion; (g) and Leonardo was a member of the Priory. As we can see, it is a long road to walk down. Of all these steps not only are there no proofs, but we do know with certainty by whom, when, where and how the legend of the Priory of Sion was invented.

What about the parchments found by the parish priest, Saunière, at Rennes-le-Château and taken to Paris for examination, after which the priest became a millionaire?
Such parchments never existed, although the priest, during the renovation of his church, discovered some archaeological artefacts, currently on exposition in the Museum of Rennes-le-Château, but which have nothing to do with either Mary Magdalene or the Priory of Sion. Saunière, who left meticulous records about what he did and how much he spent each day (also available for consultation at the same Museum), never visited Paris in his life. Nor did he become a millionaire, even though he became wealthy enough to be able to acquire property and build a villa and library tower. His real - as opposed to fictional - wealth was explained during the course of a canonical process against Saunière started by the Bishop of Carcassonne, Paul Félix Beuvain de Beauséjour (1839-1930), the acts of which are also available for consultation. Beginning in 1896, Saunière embarked upon a road - illegal from the point of view of both canon law and civil law, but not invented by him nor particularly mysterious - of «trafficking in Masses». Between 1896 and 1915 from his meticulous notes one can deduce that he received stipends for at least one hundred thousand Masses: five or six thousand a year at the high point of the operation. The documentation exists: both in terms of letters and announcements in which a «poor priest» asks for stipends for the celebration of Masses sent to convents or other individuals; as well as in terms of publications in pious magazines throughout all of France, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Italy - the list goes on and includes hundreds of benefactors approached many times over and recorded in accounts on a month-by-month basis. The objection, according to which at a time - unlike today - the Catholic Church did not tolerate that a priest could accumulate various intentions for a single Mass, it was impossible for Saunière to celebrate five or six thousand Masses a year, does not really makes the «trafficking in Masses» activity impossible, but certainly raises questions about the honesty of the priest: and it is an objection that is answered by itself. Simply put, the parish priest of Rennes-le-Château pocketed stipends for Masses that he would never celebrate.

Yet, aren’t there strange Satanic or Masonic symbols left by Saunière at Rennes-le-Château which would confirm his occult inclinations?
These are simply made-up stories. The works for the renovation of the parish church were commissioned by Saunière in 1896 to a famous company, the H. Giscard Père et Fils of Toulouse, which was solely responsible for the project. The H. Giscard company, founded in 1885 and in which several Giscard family members worked, was a firm which served numerous parishes, as well as the famous Carmel of Lisieux. Its headquarters have now been transformed into a Museum, but the great-nephew of the founder, Joseph Giscard, continues to work as a sculptor. The conventional style of the Giscard artists is famous in France and only the ignorance of some of those who propagated the Rennes-le-Château legend explains why certain symbols - found in many other Catholic churches around the world - could be interpreted as sinister or Satanic. Hence, we have the devil that supports the holy water basin (a demon evidently defeated by the holy water) or the words written above the entrance to the Church, Terribilis est locus iste, which simply come from the well-known vision of Jacob’s ladder in Genesis 28, 17. The Bishop of Carcassonne, Msgr. Félix-Arsène Billard (1829-1901), a rather conservative prelate who went to see the new church on the occasion of a missionary effort in the village during Pentecost, 1897, certainly found nothing objectionable And those who see in the Way of the Cross of the Rennes-le- Château church «Masonic» symbols should reflect on the fact that many symbols later used by Freemasonry were corporative and Catholic symbols long before they became Masonic. The Giscard artists of the 19th century were well known and appreciated in the Catholic world precisely for their conventional (at times, exaggeratedly so) style, rather bereft of any uniqueness or surprises.

It is also said that the French painter, Nicolas Poussin (1594-1655), in his famous painting The Shepherds of Arcadia, depicted a tomb which is found in Rennes-le-Château, indicating his belonging to the Priory of Sion and his knowledge of the secrets…
In a certain sense, among the so many enigmas of Rennes-le-Château, this is the most delightful. The so-called «tomb of Arques» mentioned above was commissioned in 1932 (in substitution for a tomb previously constructed in 1903 and which did not even vaguely resemble the one in The Shepherds of Arcadia) by Louis Bertram Lawrence (1884-1954), an American businessman of French origin. Buried there are Emily Rivarès Lawrence (1863-1932) and Marie Rivarès (1843-1922), respectively the businessman’s mother and grandmother, as well as two cats owned by Marie Rivarès herself and which had been embalmed. All of the administrative documents concerning these constructions and reconstructions are still in existence. The tomb can be considered vaguely reminiscent of the 17th century painting by Poussin. The painting was well known in its own right and it is possible that it somewhat inspired the 1932 project. In 1988, the tomb was demolished by the actual owner with the authorization of the competent municipal authorities (those of the township of Peyrolles), tired of seeing it profaned by vandals searching for the secrets of the Priory of Sion. In any case, Poussin obviously could not have reproduced in a painting of the 17th century a tomb built in 1932.

Even admitting that the Priory of Sion is a hoax, are there not proofs in the «Gnostic» Gospels that Jesus Christ married Mary Magdalene, and that the early Christian community did not think he was God? And was this not the reason why the Catholic Church arbitrarily chose the four «inoffensive» Gospels as canonical during the Council of Nicea of 325, backed by the military strength of the Emperor Constantine (280-337)?
Not true: there are several texts of the first Christian century in which Jesus is clearly regarded as God. By the time of the Muratorian Canon - which dates from around 190 A.D. - the recognition of the four Gospels as canonical and the exclusion of the Gnostic texts was substantially completed, 90 years before Constantine was born. In terms of Mary Magdalene, the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas, which Dan Brown likes so much, far from being a pro-feminist text, asserts that the greatness of Mary Magdalene lay in «[…] her having become a male». To Simon Peter, who objects that «Mary should leave us! Because women are not worthy of Life», Jesus responds: «Behold, I will guide her in such a way as to make her a male, so that she will become a living spirit equal to you males. Because every woman that becomes a male will enter into the kingdom of Heaven» (Gospel of Thomas, 114). Of course, here we see the Gnostic notion of androgyny which should not be taken literally: yet we are a long way away from feminism. Plus, no mention is made here of Jesus’ and Mary Magdalene’s children.

The Da Vinci Code implies that the Opus Dei is a «sect» which has entered into conflict with the Church in terms of its knowledge of the Priory of Sion’s secrets. Is this true?
In the first place, nobody can conceivably blackmail others on the basis of the «secrets of the Priory of Sion», which basically do not exist. These alleged secrets are part of a hoax which proceeds from Plantard to de Sède, from de Sède to Lincoln, and from Lincoln to Dan Brown. In terms of the Opus Dei (where, by the way, there are no «monks», contrary to what Dan Brown proposes in his book), not only it is an institution approved and praised by the Catholic Church, but its founder, José María Escrivá (1902-1975), has been canonized as a saint by the Pope in 2002. Dan Brown’s «information» comes from an association of ex-members and other people hostile to the Opus Dei, known as The Opus Dei Awareness Network (ODAN), mentioned explicitly in the novel, which is connected to a much larger «anti-cult movement» (whose controversial positions are amply criticized on this web site). ODAN’s aggressive opinions on Opus Dei and its founder are in no way shared by the Catholic hierarchy.

But how can such a bunch of wild claims attract 40 million readers?
This is a complicated question, to be examined from a sociological point of view. While leaving a more detailed discussion of this question for my forthcoming book on the subject (in Italian), I would simply suggest here that The Da Vinci Code brings together two types of social «tastes» which appear to be quite widespread: on the one hand, the notion of «conspiracies» and secret societies that dominate the world; and on the other hand, an increasingly unashamed and virulent anti-Catholicism.
CESNUR reproduces or quotes documents from the media and different sources on a number of religious issues. Unless otherwise indicated, the opinions expressed are those of the document's author(s), not of CESNUR or its directors.

http://www.cesnur.org/2005/mi_02_03d.htm

Delving into

THE DA VINCI CODE

Part 1
By Ben Fighter

Will it change western religion as we know it?—
or will it strengthen Christian faith?


Dan Brown has caused a tsunami in religious and secular society with his best seller and Hollywood production, The Da Vinci Code. The novel is a blend of suspense, mystery and drama —it touches on polemical events from Christian history and combines with code breaking in a complex scheme at the Louvre in France. Thus the story develops—immersed in obscurity and controversy.

Was Christ's divinity a result of a voting session at the Council of Nicaea?

What makes the book controversial?—Brown gives the reader a surreal flashback into history, searching out key religious events such as the Council of Nicaea of 325 AD, and a secret society-- the Priory of Sion. But there are other baffling aspects to the book-- provoking enough to make one wonder or question what is truth concerning Jesus and the bible. His array of information on religious issues is surprising and unexpected. The book asserts that almost everything taught by Christianity on Christ is false—that his divinity was the result of a voting process at the Council of Nicaea….. and the New Testament bible as we know it today-- specifically the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John-- were collated by Constantine, emperor of Rome. It goes on to say that other gospels out of a total of 80 were suppressed --supposedly because some of these would have put Jesus in a bad light. All this is explained as a political power play on the part of Constantine—in order to solidify his authority by using Jesus as his key player. But there’s more---the book envisions Mary Magdalene as the figure to the right of Jesus in the famous Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci—not just envisions her as participating in Jesus’ Last Supper… but in his life as a pair-- as married.

At this point the reader will probably want to double check Dan’s introduction…"Did he say it was fiction-- fact—or what?”--because unlike a novel or fiction, this writing portends to use certain historical events to cast doubt on the basic tenets of Christian belief and faith.— The story comes across as a true rendering of information and knowledge… but then flows into a subtle account of real history and distorted history— combines with a secret association whose historical origin lies amidst a twilight zone of partial truths, reality—and non truths. Those who read the book may conclude that what they are reading is factual and true. Nevertheless, one is left with a feeling of uncertainty as to the validity of crucial points in the book.

Let’s examine some important aspects of the historical and religious pieces of this intricate mystery and the theological implications surrounding The Da Vinci Code.

The first council of Nicaea established to confront Arius' doctrines doctrines against Christ

The divinity of Jesus as the Son of God was also an accepted tenet of Christian faith, prior to the meeting of 325 AD.

The real purpose for the bishops calling the first Council of Nicaea was to solve the problems that surfaced from the Arius hypothesis on Jesus. It was Arius who considered Jesus a mortal, not Jesus' followers. Arius had been in opposition to the fundamental aspects of Christian faith since early in the 3rd century. His claim was that Jesus was a creature, a mere mortal, liable to fall, etc. It’s interesting to note that Arius came from Egypt where pagan religions were flourishing—the cult of Sol Invictus being the main one. This latter one worshiped the sun… considered as the Lord of the Roman Empire. The intolerance and jealousy from pagan worshipers stirred up conflict against the early Christians. This was made evident by the religious persecution leveled on Christians residing in Egypt.

300 bishops meet to vote to establish a new statement of faith

The religious turmoil within the Roman Empire brought on by Arius' deviations from Christian doctrine—-made imperative the need of a formalized document that would describe revealed doctrine more accurately (doctrine of Christian beliefs and faith practiced as far back as AD 60 with the book of Mark [1]) – and particularly the need for clarification of Jesus as the Son of God, as consubstantial or of the same substance as the Father. A vote was taken by the 300 bishops at the Council of Nicaea in favor of the new statement of faith, termed the Nicene Creed. But as such, there was no instance where the bishops were suddenly inspired to vote in Jesus as a divine entity, as if it had just dawned on them that he was no ordinary human, but the true and supernatural Son of God. I reiterate, at this time Jesus' divinity was already an accepted belief and so was belief in the resurrection. And though at that moment in history, Christian belief in the resurrection had not yet been formulated in writing, it can be traced to within two years of that very event (2).

Concerning Arius, the Council voted unanimously against him and had his doctrine condemned-- he was banished from the Roman Empire at Constantine’s command. This was the second time Arius was sent into exile—-the first was when Alexander (319 AD) also condemned and exiled him with the same charge of trying to prop up doctrine against the divinity of Jesus.

The Priory of Sion—proof of Jesus Christ’s royal bloodline through Mary Magdalene— or fabrication?

In The Da Vinci Code introduction, Brown inserts a page of information on the secret society mentioned in his book--The Priory of Sion and the Dossiers Secrets—referring to these as fact. This alleged Priory is supposed to have been a secret society set up in the 11th century. According to the narrative, its purpose was to preserve a secret having to do with the bloodline of Jesus Christ. The story claims that in 1975, certain documents or parchments were discovered at the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, known as the Dossiers Secrets (3). The DVC lists the dignified members who purportedly belonged to the association…. Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo and Leonardo da Vinci.

The documents found at the Paris library seemed to support the original story that took place in Rennes-le-Chateau, Paris—this story [Later shown to be a fabrication of Plantard, as well as the Dossiers Secrets (4)] was published in a book by Pierre Plantard, titled L’Or de Rennes (“Rennes’ Gold”) in 1967. However—in real life-- it was later discovered that it was not the librarians (as narrated in the DVC) but the associates of Plantard who found the documents in the library-- the same ones who planted the forged documents to begin with. Plantard’s book is about a buried treasure that was supposedly uncovered by Father Berenger Sauntiere at the village of Rennes-le-Chateau in 1885 (5). The treasure was to Sauntiere more valuable than gold…. for according to the story, he had found antique documents that sustained an old southern France legend assuming that Jesus Christ did not rise to heaven --- but that he had escaped to France with his wife, Mary Magdalene. (Although after the Roman torture and excruciating crucifixion and death on the cross—seems it would have been quite difficult to drag around with a woman all the way to France [6]). The author explains that Jesus and Mary Magdalene had children and had initiated a dynasty called the Merovingian Kings of France. Here Plantard gives his supposed meaning of the Grail Legends, the Holy Grail—that it’s the holy blood of Jesus Christ running through the veins of Merovingians (7). In the end Plantard expanded his story saying that he was the designer of the mystery Priory, as well as the last descendent of the Merovingians and that the blood of Christ was now in his veins. All seems quite astonishing and presented as factual….however; it’s now been established that the Priory of Sion is a fabrication of Plantard’s imagination.

Massimo Introvigne, director for the Center of Studies of New Religions for Cesnur, considers the Priory a forgery. He states the following: No reference to the Priory of Sion as an organization (led during the course of its existence by many famous people, including Leonardo da Vinci, 1452-1519) protecting the Merovingians and their legitimate claims to the throne of France against the Carolingians and further usurpers is recorded in history before the fabrication of the 1967 documents. The Priory of Sion itself was founded in 1956 by the key architect of the 1967 forgery, Pierre Plantard (1920-2000), but with different aims and by-laws. And no reference that the Merovigians protected by the Priory of Sion and mentioned in the 1967 documents are the physical descendants of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene ever appeared in print before the 1982 book Holy Blood, Holy Grail. (CESNUR - Centro Studi sulle Nuove Religioni diretto da Massimo Introvigne www.cesnur.org--Dan Brown and the London Court Case: After Many Bogus Conspiracies, A Real One Finally Surfaces)

Dan Brown and his story eventually faced a court case in London where he had to defend himself against authors Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh of Holy Blood and Holy Grail, for plagiarism. Brown won the case but in the final ruling, the judge confirmed the Priory of Sion a hoax (8).


(1)- Case for Christ—by Lee Strobel—pg. 10
(2)- Case for Christ—by Lee Strobel—pg. 12
(3)- The Da Vinci Code FAQ, or Will the Real Priory of Sion please stand up? By Massimo Introvigne-- Cesnur-- www.cesnur.org

(4)- The Da Vinci Code FAQ, or Will the Real Priory of Sion please stand up? By Massimo Introvigne-- Cesnur-- www.cesnur.org

(5)- Priory of Sion…. Forged documents—Wikipedia
(6)- Case for Christ—Lee Strobel—pg. 62-70
(7)- The Da Vinci Code FAQ or Will the real Priory of Sion please stand up? Cesnur—www.cesnur.org
(8)- Cesnur- Centro Studi sulle Nuove Religioni diretto da Massimo Introvigne—ww.cesnur.org—Dan Brown and the London Court Case- - Judge Confirms the Priory of Sion is a Hoax {http://www.cesnur.org/cgi-bin/swish.cgi?query=Dan+Brown+court+case}


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Ben Fighter is a full time member of the Family International



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