Cracking the Code

A Look at the Da Vinci Code from a Christian persperctive.


On May 19 the world will be exposed to a new look at the formation of the church and the person of Jesus Christ. Many will be deceived into thinking that Jesus Christ was much less than a God figure and that the church is just one big conspiracy and cover-up.

Of course I’m talking about the release of the movie “The Da Vinci Code” based on the best selling novel by Dan Brown. His book has already sold over four million copies and has been translated into several languages and now the movie will bring his message to a whole new audience.

The Code
The Da Vinci Code is described as a complex tale of intrigue and conspiracy. I follows a Harvard professor of religious symbology and a cryptologist for the French version of the FBI as they investigate a mysterious murder and find themselves in the middle of the ancient quest for the Holy Grail. The story is fiction but Brown contends the book is historically accurate and therein lies the problem.

While being interviewed on NBC’s Today Show, Brown was asked, “How much of this is based on reality?” He replied, “Absolutely all of it. Obviously, Robert Langdon (the book’s main character) is fictional, but all the art, architecture, secret rituals, secret societies – all of that is historical fact.”

Keep in mind that Dan Brown is not a theologian or a church historian. He mixes more fiction than fact in his novel. His theories draw heavily on alternative views of the historic Jesus such as the Gnostic Gospels and the work of the Jesus Seminar. The bible warns against this in II Timothy.

For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. II Timothy 4:3-4

The Deception
Millions will be deceived when this movie releases because they will think they are watching something on historical fact and the reality is that the movie and the book are nothing but fiction.

The premise of The Da Vinci Code is simple: Jesus was not divine and the church is lying. As people walk away from the movie or when they put down the book they would have been told that Jesus was not divine, that he married Mary Magdalene and had a child with her. You will also discover that it was Jesus’ desire that Mary be the head of the church and that the church has been covering these secrets up, at all cost, for centuries.

This is again addressed in the bible in I Timothy.

Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. I Timothy 4:7

You cannot learn theology from a novel and unfortunately that is what many people are doing with this book. The danger is for those people who are “seeking” the truth about God and Jesus Christ. They are under the assumption that what they are reading and watching are historically accurate and it helps them form their view of Jesus and the church.

For anyone who has knowledge of Christian history The Da Vinci Code will leave you scratching your head.

The Answers
There are too many errors in the Da Vinci Code for it to be accepted as historical fact. Here are a few of the errors that I came across.

* The pagan religion Wicca was invented during World War II and has no relics.

* Constantine never commissioned a new Bible.

* Brown claims that Paris was founded by the Merovignan royal family; the city was actually founded by Celtic Gauls called the Parisii in the third century BC.

* He claims that Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman empire but that didn’t happen until Theodosius in the late fourth century.

* Brown says that the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in the 1950’s (page 234. They were actually found in 1947. He also refers to these scrolls as among “the earliest Christian records” (page 245). These scrolls are Jewish, with nothing Christian in them.

*He says that “Jewish decorum” would have forbidden “a Jewish man to be unmarried” (page 245). This just isn’t true. The Essene community that stored the Dead Sea scrolls was made up of unmarried male celibates.

* Brown states that Jesus was not considered divine until the Council of Nicea (page 233). This is not true either. The Old Testament makes it abundantly clear that He was divine and the early church fathers attested to this fact as well, years before this council even met.

* He also states that the divinity of Jesus was established by a “relatively close vote” at Nicea (page 233). But only two of more than 300 church leaders voted against the creed, that is a long way away from a close vote.

* It also says on page 341 that, “Every faith in the world is based on fabrication. That is the definition of faith – acceptance of that which we imagine to be true, that which we cannot prove.” It should be noted that Christianity is a religion in and of history. Archeology has verified the bible’s accuracy and reliability over and over. To date, over 25,000 sites have been discovered which establish the accuracy of innumerable details in the bible.

* Brown actually gets the most important name in the book wrong. Leonardo Da Vinci was not, is not, called Da Vinci. Da Vinci means “from Vinci.” Art history books, dissertations, librarians, scholars – none of them refer to the artist as Da Vinci, but Leonardo. As Welborn notes, calling him Da Vinci is really like referring to Jesus as “Of Nazareth.” Getting the name of the central character wrong is enough to douse anyone’s inner spark.

If you are a person who is seeking the truth about Jesus Christ, God and the church then you need to know that the answers are found in the bible and Christian literature not in fiction.

The Reaction
Should Christians read The Da Vinci Code and see the movie? Yes, because this movie is an amazing opportunity for the church to step up and respond. As believers and defenders of our faith in Jesus Christ we should look for non-confraternal ways to reach out to people and show them the difference that a relationship with Jesus Christ can make in their lives. This book and movie will give Christians everywhere the opportunity to talk with people about the real Jesus. I just pray that they make the most of that opportunity.

15But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect. I Peter 3:15

Crisis of Faith and Obedience

In the book of Numbers chapter 13 the Israelites have reached the borders of the land of Canaan. God instructed them to send spies into the land to see that it really was as good as He had promised (verse 19). They were also instructed to see how the people of the land lived, whether in the open, in tents, or in fortified cities.

The spies stayed in the land forty days and discovered that is was a prosperous land just as God had promised. They were able to cut such a large and heavy cluster of grapes that two men carried it on a pole between them.

Verses 27-29 record the report the spies gave to the congregation of Israel. Only Joshua and Caleb insisted that by obeying the Lord they could take the land. Unfortunately the people listened to the ten spies who said that it was an impossible task that God had asked them to do.

How many times have you failed to follow God’s plan or will for your life because you thought it was too difficult? History is dotted with the stories or ordinary people who did extraordinary things with their lives because they allowed God to do through them the things that were impossible for them to do on their own.

However history is full of ordinary men and women who remained ordinary because they did not have the faith to be obedient to God in the face of difficulty.

In the next chapter (14) we find the people of Israel are angry at Moses and at God because God is testing their faith and obedience. They became determined to appoint another leader and return to Egypt (verse 4). They were willing to go back and be slaves instead of show absolute faith in the God that had led them to this point without fail.

As idiotic as that sounds to you and I are often no different when we decided not to follow God for various reasons. We return to the slavery of ourselves and selfish desires every time we turn away from God.

God was ready to destroy the Israelites for their lack of faith and disobedience but Moses interceded for them. Because of Moses’ intercession God pardoned the people. You and I also have someone who intercedes on our behalf when we are disobedient. Jesus Christ becomes our advocate. His death on the cross made pardon for our sins which is all the more reason to be obedient.

Because of his love for us and the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross we do have forgiveness and redemption for our spiritual failures but there will still be consequences to our disobedience.

Because of the people’s lack of faith none of those twenty years old and up, who had complained against the Lord, would not see the promised land (verses 29-32).

The numbered men were 600,000. Over the next thirty-eight years and a half, which is 14,508 days in the wilderness, the Israelites would see the death of forty-two or forty-three men a day, three to four men an hour. The next thirty-eight and a half years in the wilderness would be a constant funeral, a sad reminder of their lack of faith and obedience.

What is your crisis of faith? I pray that it leads you to strength and obedience instead of disobedience. Have the faith to cross the river and understand that God will not send you anywhere alone nor will he lead you to failure.

Learning How to Worship from Leviticus

The book of Leviticus contains no time span but it does give the means by which Israel could have access and fellowship with God. We can learn from the Israelites and the guidelines that God put before them in regards to the areas of worship and our personal relationship with God.

Chapters 1 through 7 details the way offerings and sacrifices are to be made. We can learn from that in the sense that many of us struggle to give to the church or to God if it involves sacrifice. Whether we are giving of our time or our money it is an act of worship and worship should involve sacrifice. In fact if it doesn’t then what is it worth to God? Have you truly made him Lord of your life if you only worship when it is convenient?

Chapter 8 contains the record of the preparation for Aaron and his sons to enter the office of high priest and the priestly offices. This was the final step in putting the worship system in place and the Lord affirms the new system in chapter 9.

24 Fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar. And when all the people saw it, they shouted for joy and fell facedown.

God is not random. He is organized and it is all for a purpose. There are specific ways we are supposed to do things. He has organized a way of life that allows us to make the most of everything from the way we relate to people to the way we relate to Him. That is why He gave the law to the Israelites so that they would learn how to live under His guidance.

God responded in fire because they were about to enter the land of Canaan and the inhabitants there believed that the pagan god Baal was the god of fire. By using this response the Israelites would know that it was their God, Jehovah, who was not only the God of fire but the God of all.

God even has a specific order for our worship. He doesn’t desire our worship for our glorification but for His. When we come to worship we should make the focus about Him and Him alone.

In Chapter 10 we find Aaron’s two sons bringing an “unauthorized” fire before the Lord in opposition to what He had commanded. It was not an offering to the Lord and it was not a sacrifice. Aaron’s sons brought the offering in order to bring attention on themselves and their new positions in the priestly office and thy paid the ultimate price for it.

1 Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense; and they offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, contrary to his command. 2 So fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD.

We cannot worship God on our own terms. God has put all things in order and worship is one of those things. When we try to customize our own way of worship we take the focus off of God and put in on ourselves. In essence we are making the same mistake the Nadab and Abihu made.

Resurrection – Fact or Fiction

The Resurrection is the supreme miracle of Christianity -- it’s at the very heart of the faith. If it never happened, Christianity collapses into mythology and billions of people have been deceived. If it did happen, it authenticates everything Jesus did and said -- and believers have the guarantee of eternal life and forgiveness of sins. Jesus staked His entire reputation on the Resurrection -- if it didn’t happen, everything that Jesus said and did is open to question.

I would like to present you three pieces of evidence, that when taken together, will provide convincing proof that Jesus rose from the dead.

1. The Empty Tomb

The Bible teaches that after Jesus was crucified Jesus his body was wrapped in linen cloth and placed in a solid rock tomb. A very large stone, estimated to weigh about 2 tons, was then rolled in front of the entrance to the tomb.

After this boulder was in place, a contingent of up to 16 Roman soldiers was assigned to secure the tomb. Some pictures you may have seen show one or two men standing around in mini-skirts, holding a spear in their hands. That’s simply not the case. These were trained soldiers assigned to protect the area.

Matthew 27:66 tells us that in addition to the Roman guard, they put a tamper-proof official Roman seal on the stone. Anyone who made it past the Roman soldiers would then have to break this seal, thus incurring the wrath of the Roman law.

In spite of all these precautions – the stone, the soldiers, and the seal – the tomb was empty that first Easter morning!

Critics down through the years have not been able to refute the empty tomb -- instead they’ve come up with other possibilities. Maybe the disciples stole the body? But this seems far-fetched when you consider that this group of cowards would have had to overpower armed soldiers, roll away a two-ton boulder, dispose of the body, and then manufacture a myth about His resurrection -- a myth that they gave their lives for.

Another possibility would be that the religious leaders disposed of the body. But, this has some serious flaws as well. If they had removed the body, all they would have had to do is parade the remains through the streets of Jerusalem and they would have derailed Christianity from the very start. But, they couldn’t produce the body because the body was no longer dead.

Christianity rises or falls on the empty tomb. It is the one silent and infallible witness. Critics cannot explain it away. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then where is the body? Leaders of every other religion died and stayed dead. That’s not the case with Jesus. He claimed that He would rise from the dead on the third day -- and that’s exactly what He did. The empty tomb validates His claim.

2. Multiple Witnesses

The most outstanding proof that Jesus rose from the dead is that more than 515 eyewitnesses saw him on 12 different occasions.

Acts 1:3
“After His suffering, He showed Himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that He was alive. He appeared to them over a period of 40 days and spoke about the kingdom of God.”

Jesus gave unquestionable proof that He was alive! After His resurrection, He made an appearance to a woman in the cemetery. Later that same day, He walked through a closed door and talked with his frightened followers who were huddled in Jerusalem. In the evening, he walked side by side with two men as they made their way down a road. The bible tells us that he spoke with over 500 people after his resurrection.

1 Corinthians 15:3-6
“For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, He appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.”

3. Changed Lives

Those who met the Resurrected Jesus have had their lives totally transformed. The Resurrection is validated by the changed lives of His followers.

After Jesus was put to death his disciples hid behind locked doors out of fear but something changed them. These ordinary men were transformed from frightened wimps into one of the most effective missionary organizations the world has ever seen. What motivated them to go everywhere and proclaim the message of the risen Christ? Was it for money? Power? Fame? No!

Every one of them had come from doubt to determination, from confusion to conviction, from fear to faith. Look at how they died and determine if you think that they were making up the resurrection.
• Matthew was killed in Ethiopia
• Mark was dragged through the streets until he was dead
• Peter, Simeon, Andrew, and Philip were crucified
• James was beheaded
• Bartholomew was flayed alive
• Thomas was pierced with lances
• James, the less, was thrown from the temple and stoned to death
• Jude was shot to death with arrows
• Paul was boiled in hot oil and beheaded

The only thing that could have possibly changed their lives so dramatically was the Resurrection of Jesus Christ? Every one of these guys could have lived if they had said just one statement: “He is dead.” But they refused because they knew He was alive!

Not only did the resurrected Christ impact this group of individuals, His life-changing power has transformed people from the third decade of the first century down through today. The combined testimony of changed lives attributed to the risen Christ runs into the billions.

Jesus has changed my life. And I know that He has changed many of yours as well.

How do you explain away the empty tomb? Second, how do you argue against multiple witnesses? Finally, how do you get away from the fact that the Resurrected Christ changes lives?

My First Easter as a Pastor

I just experienced my first Easter Sunday as a pastor and what an amazing experience it was. Our church hosted an Easter breakfast for church members and the neighborhood. It was difficult to count how many people showed up for the breakfast because there were a lot of people moving around but there were well over 60 people there.

After the breakfast we had an Easter egg hunt on for children on the church lawn. It was pretty successful. We had enough children there that we had to break them into four different age groups and do separate hunts.

The hunt led into our worship service which was the largest service we have had a Mayfair since I became pastor. There were 151 people in attendance! I know it is Easter and everyone goes to church on Easter and Christmas but considering that we were in the 50’s and 60’s in attendance less than a year ago we have come a long way.

We had a family join the church at the end of the service as well. The Lord has really blessed our work at Mayfair and we are experiencing both spiritual and physical growth from it. Thank you for your prayers and support for our ministry.

The Gospels vs. the gospel of Judas

There has been a lot of noise regarding the gospel of Judas and its contradiction to the four Gospels in the bible. Before you rush to refute the bible based on this newly released ancient manuscript that portrays Judas as the best friend of Christ let me give you a few facts.

No one knows who wrote the gospel of Judas. It is linked to a sect of second century Gnostics. The biblical Gospels were written by four men who were with Jesus during his three years of public ministry, saw him betrayed, crucified and witnessed his resurrection first hand.


The gospel of Judas could be dated as late as A.D. 180 whereas the latest possible date for the biblical Gospels is A.D. 70. With over 100 years difference the possibility of the gospel of Judas being a fist hand account is next to nothing. So if you are truly seeking the truth about the accounts of Christ in the bible who would you listen to, someone who was an actual witness or someone who passed down second hand information a century later?

There are many alternate accounts of the life of Christ! There are many contradictions out there in but they haven’t passed the test of time. That is why they were not canonized and why they were not included in the biblical scriptures.

I believe that the biblical account of Judas is accurate and true. I also believe that every man/woman should make their own decisions regarding the validity of the bible but that they should all be fully informed as well.

Fellowship

I preached on fellowship yesterday. Unfortunately for most people when they think of fellowship in connection with the church the first thing that comes to mind is the image of food. However, that is a far cry from what the bible describes as fellowship.

In his book “The Body” Chuck Colson states the following:

Surveys show that the number one thing people look for in a church is fellowship. But what most modern westerners seek is a far cry from what the Bible describes and what the early church practiced. No term in the Christian lexicon is more abused than fellowship.

A biblical description of fellowship is found in the book of acts describing the early church. Acts 2:42-47

42They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

In the New Testament the word fellowship literally means “a communion”, a participation of people together in God’s grace. When we have fellowship it should be based on the fact that we live for and serve Jesus Christ.

Here are three of the benefits that we receive from fellowshipping with other believers.

1. Fellowship meets a basic human need, people to live with.
2. Fellowship provides us a family for living.
3. Fellowship gives us an emotional benefit, support.

We talk about having the light, “Well, I used to do so-and-so but I saw the light and now I don’t do that anymore.” Paul talks in the book of Ephesians about having eyes of our heart enlightened or illuminated. Even the cartoonist describes a thought as a little light bulb. To say that God is light means there is nothing that God does not know either about us or about anything else.

Morally it speaks of the holiness of God. If you wanted to use one word to describe God it would be Holy. The bible says, “Be holy as I am holy.” God is absolutely holy! John said, “God is light.” That is a positive. Then he uses the negative, “In Him is no darkness at all.”

In the Greek it’s a double negative. There is no, not any, none, not a shed of darkness in God at all. The basis of fellowship is this light.

If we are to have fellowship with God, we must walk in the light, we must walk in the light because God is light.

As far as the service itself we had a ton of people out sick. There has been a stomach virus going around OKC, my family and I had it all week, and we only had 69 people in worship.

The big news of the day is that it seems as if our church has found a worship minister. When I came to Mayfair as pastor last July there were no staff members here. We have since call a youth minister, missions and outreach minister and a family minister but we have struggled in finding a worship minister.

After much prayer and consideration several committees got together and met with a man yesterday afternoon for the second time and decided to recommend that our church call him as our minister or worship. I am really happy and excited about this!

Changing Directions

I have decided to rethink my approach to this blog. My original attempt was to provide a place for people to find ministry helps, devotions and church/ministry links. While I believe it was a good idea I just didn’t have the time, or talent, to make that work. That is why it has set without any updates for over a month.

So I’ve decided to make Abundant Living my personal blog about the life of a small church pastor. I will be a place for me to rant, vent and share. It’s also a good way to help keep family and friends up on what God is doing at our church and in my life. If you think about it there really is no greater life than one lived in the will of God. That truly is the abundant life!

After serving as a youth minister for almost thirteen years I surrendered to pastor my first church in July of last year. It was a struggle for my family and I. We had lived in a small town in northeastern Oklahoma for the last three years and we loved it. We served at a great church and were in charge of a great ministry in a great community. Even though I had felt the Lord calling me and had surrendered to pastoral ministry almost two years earlier I never thought I would be a pastor this early in my life. I honestly planned to stay in student ministry until well into my forties but here I was at age 31 being called to pastor a church.

Saying yes would mean moving my family back to Oklahoma City and taking over a church that was smaller in attendance than what I currently had in my student ministry. The first Sunday I preached at Mayfair we had 43 people in our worship. I can remember questioning my decision to move here while I was preaching the message.

God has been faithful to our calling and to our church. He has blessed us with over 40 new members in the last eight months. Needless to say it has been a tremendous blessing the way God has blessed our church with growth especially for my family. When we first arrived at Mayfair there were no children the same ages as mine. Now there are enough children that we have the need to begin a children’s church program.

Last month members from Mayfair served on the mission field as five members from our church went to Panama for a week. Two members from other churches even tagged along with us.

To this point things have been good and I pray that they keep getting better. I am sure the struggles will come along the way but Jesus never promised us the easy life it was the abundant life that he promised and desires to freely give.