The Da Vinci Code

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        (page references to The Da Vinci Code(DV###) by Dan Brown are from the paperback version –

  • Publisher: Corgi Adult; New Ed edition (1 Mar 2004) – Language: English - ISBN-10: 0552149519 - ISBN-13: 978-0552149518)

In the New Testament of the Bible, John’s Gospel, chapter 8 - verses 31-32 say:

Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you really are my disciples.

Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”

The Da Vinci Code is a thriller novel about treachery, religious fanaticism, murder, ancient conspiracy, secret societies, erotic spirituality, feminism and intrigue. In 2003 these elements popularized a novel by a former English teacher Dan Brown (Phillips Exeter Academy, New Hampshire USA), which has become a phenomenon.  It raises thought provoking questions on important subjects, not usually part of many people’s thinking such as:

  • The reliability and historicity of the Bible.
  • The true nature of Jesus Christ.
  • The activities of church leaders through the church’s formative years.

People are talking about and asking about Christianity who may not normally have given Jesus a second thought.

The Plot

According to the plot of the Da Vinci Code, Christianity was started by a Jesus whom others thought of only as a prophet.  He made no claims on divinity.  He was married, and his wife was Mary Magdalene, who Christ handpicked to lead the church.  After the crucifixion, Mary was forced to flee from Jerusalem for fear of Peter who was incensed that Jesus had chosen Mary to become the leader of the followers of Jesus. (DV248).

The church then spread the rumour that Mary was a prostitute to discredit her and erase the ties to Jesus.  The male church leaders then began “the greatest cover-up in human history” (DV249).

Although Mary survived she did so only through the love and loyalty of some Jewish protectors with whom she found refuge in France.  It was there she gave birth to Jesus’ daughter, Sarah.  The two women remained in hiding all the rest of their lives, to avoid certain death at the hands of the church.  The male leaders of the anti-Mary Magdalene church changed the original ‘pagan’, goddess-worshipping church into a Jesus-worshipping, power-crazed den of evil-doers who further perverted Christ’s teachings to further their own political agenda (DV233-234).

Mary’s story would have been lost forever had it not been for her protectors who kept a record of her ancestors and bloodline, which grew quietly in France until in the 5th century it intermarried with the French royal family, and created a lineage known as the Merovingian bloodline (DV257).

The church relentlessly tried to annihilate all the evidence and tried to destroy the records that told “the true story of her life” (DV257).  These documents were stashed beneath Herod’s temple in Jerusalem with other important documents and gospels and also Mary Magdalene’s bones.  Searching for this treasure was what part of the Crusades was about – gathering and destroying information. The search for the Holy Grail was never about the cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper, but was all about looking for the links to Mary Magdalene.

The church failed in it’s attempt to eradicate the truth about Mary, because the Knights Templar – created by a brotherhood called The Priory of Sion – stopped the plan.  The Priory was founded by a descendent of Jesus and Mary the French king, Godfrey of Bouillon in 1099.  He passed the truth of Jesus and Mary’s story on to preserve it.  The Knights Templar recovered the precious documents and then blackmailed the Vatican giving the Knights limitless power and wealth.

In October 1307, Pope Clement V conspired with Philip IV of France to round up the Knights Templar and kill them all.  Because of the speed of the round up, very few escaped to survive, but those who did had the documents and passed them to the Priory of Sion for safekeeping.  This knowledge has been put to the world in a series of images, codes and symbols leading people who will look, to the Holy Grail – the sacred feminine – Mary Magdalene.

So where does Leonardo Da Vinci come in?  He was a member of the Priory of Sion – in fact a Grand Master – as was Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo with other historical figures.  Look at the Mona Lisa, The Last Supper and the Virgin of the Rocks (all by Da Vinci) to see the codes, symbols and clues that reveal Leonardo’s own worship of the sacred feminine (the goddess), his disdain for traditional Christianity and the truth about Mary Magdalene.

That’s the plot of the story, so, what is really going on in the Da Vinci Code book?  It seems like a 454 page outpouring of hatred and attacks against Christian beliefs, the Bible, early church leaders and the Catholic Church.  Dan Brown (DV235) says “almost everything our fathers taught us about Christ is false”.  As a novel, you can say what you like in fiction however the Da Vinci Code opens with a “fact page” which ends by claiming “all descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents and secret rituals in this novel are accurate” (DV15). In an interview with Ed Morris, Dan Brown says, “when you finish the book – like it or not – you’ve learned a ton”.  This seems to imply that the book is fact, and this has been picked up by the media and passed on.  USA Today referred to the novel as “historic fact with a contemporary storyline”. (Dec 11 2003) Popmatters.com said the book was a “fact-based thriller”. Counterculture called the book “a good yarn within a richly factual context”.  Charles Taylor of salon.com described the novel as “a fast-paced romp through 2000 years of Christianity’s darker secrets”. (27/3/03) “The most amazing thing about this novel is that it’s based on fact”.  Richard Fox, historian from University of Southern California says, “Really the book is in many ways about how bad the church is”.

So, the novel has caused a stir. It raises issues as basic as is Christianity true or not?

Christian author Richard Abanes says “Extrico subjectio quod verum ero evidens”.  That’s not Harry Potter!  It’s Latin for – “untangle the subject and the truth will be evident”.

John 8: 31-32 says:

Jesus said “If you hold to my teaching you are really my disciples, then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free”.

The important bit here is that this is a conditional clause. “If” we hold onto Jesus’ teachings, they will set us free to live as He promised.

Fact or Fiction?

  1. Goddess/pagan symbolism is hidden in the Chatres Cathedral in Paris (DV7)

            Actually,

  • the gargoyles are not pagan symbols, but were put there by the Christians to ward off evil spirits
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  •  the labyrinth is not pagan symbolism but was purposely put inside many  Churches and Cathedrals because the Christians knew the maze would attract people’s interest, so they put them inside to attract ‘pagans’ in!)
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  • Rose window (circle) is not the representation of the sacred feminine but a very common architectural feature particularly in French Cathedrals of the Medieval period.  The website Medieval Architecture: The Rose Window gives interesting aspects on this idea.
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2.      The Pentacle/pentagram represents the female half of all things – the sacred feminine. (DV36).

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   Actually,

  • the pentacle is an ancient astrological sign for Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, Saturn and Venus
  • Pythagoras used it to symbolize health
  • Empedocles, a philosopher, used the pentacle to symbolize spirit, earth, air, and water
  • Satanists use the sign upside down to represent rebellion

3.      Tarot were designed to pass on ideologies banned by the church. (DV92)

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    Actually,

  • Tarot cards were invented by gypsies from the east for divination the late1300’s
  • similar type cards were invented by the Muslims as playing cards back in 1200’s
  • Tarot cards are nothing to do with the church
  1. The Scrolls Emperor Constantine tried to destroy managed to survive.  Dead  Sea Scrolls in 1950’s and the Coptic Scrolls in 1945 at Nag Hammadi.  TheVatican tried very hard to suppress the release of these scrolls. (DV234-235).
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            Actually,

  • Dead Sea scrolls are not Gospels at all, they are Pre-Christian Jewish portions of every Old Testament book except Esther, commentaries, documents and business records.
  • The Qumran community didn’t write anything about Jesus
  • The Nag Hammadi scrolls were 4th century Coptic manuscripts –and contrary to the claim made in the Da Vinci Code there were 12 not 80!
  • The texts are known as the Gnostic Gospels
  • Gnosticism in it’s simplest, barest definition holds that spirit is good, flesh is bad.  The Supreme Being let out several spiritual beings, all less than the one before.  Earth was created by a low being, so is bad.
  • In the Gospel of Thomas are found these words:  “Simon Peter said to them ‘Let Mary leave us, for women are not worthy of life’.  Jesus said “I myself shall lead her in order to make her male so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males.  For every woman who will make herself male will enter the Kingdom of Heaven”.

The Da Vinci Code states that Jesus was a radical feminist – these words, alleged to have been said by Jesus show a rather different case.  The way for a woman to enter the Kingdom is to become a man – that doesn’t match with His treatment of Mary Magdalene and other women in the New Testament.  (He let her listen to Him and be taught by Him, there were women who travelled with Him, Luke’s Gospel records several incidences where Jesus upholds women and to the “unclean” woman who had been bleeding for years He said, ‘daughter your faith has made you whole.’)

 

  1. It was the Council of Nicea in 325AD where church leaders decided by vote to make Jesus divine.  Until that moment in history, Jesus was viewed by His followers as a mortal prophet. (DV233)

A man named Arius believed Jesus was not God but a created god – sort of – more man, less God.  318 bishops met and declared Arius a heretic.  Out of the 318 bishops who met, 316 voted against Arius’ opinion and 2 agreed with him.  That’s not ‘a relatively close vote’ as is quoted in the Da Vinci Code.  (DV315).  As a result, the Nicene Creed was formed to stabilize Christian doctrine.  Emperor Constantine called the council together, but the canon (books in the Bible) content was not formalized until 367AD when Bishop Atherasius proclaimed the 27 New Testament books that had already been agreed on and were in use by the Early Church.  The Christians in the Churches had already decided which they knew were from God and which were not.

            Before the Council of Nicea, church leaders wrote:

            Ignatius:          “God Himself was manifested in human form” (AD105)

            Clement:         “It is fitting that you should think of Jesus Christ as of God”(AD150)

            Justin Martyr: “The Father of the universe has a Son. And He…is even God”             (AD160)

            Irenaeus:        “He is God, for the name Emmanuel indicates this” (AD180)

            Tertullian:        “….Christ our God” (AD200)

            Origen:           “No one should be offended that the Saviour is also God…” (AD225)

            Novatian:        “…He is not only man, but God also…” (AD235)

            Cyprian:          “Jesus Christ, our Lord and God” (AD250)

Methodius:     “…He truly was and is…with God, and being God…” (AD290)

Lactantius:     “We believe Him to be God” (AD304)

Arnobius:        “Christ performed all those miracles…the …duty of Divinity” (AD305)

The Da Vinci plot is based on:

1)                 Christ NOT being God

2)                 Symbols everywhere giving clues as to the sacred feminine

3)                 The Gnostic gospels telling the real Jesus story

4)                 The church suppressing the Gospels

5)                 Mary Magdalene being married to Jesus, bearing His daughter her ancestors marrying into the French royal family

6)                 The secret documents being kept by the Priory of Sion and the information coded into Leonardo Da Vinci’s paintings.

However:

  • Jesus claimed to be God and Biblical accounts say His disciples saw Him that way, so did the early church.
  1.       Every time Jesus used “I am” He was claiming to be God.  The 4 Hebrew letters that make up the word that translates into English as “I am” are the 4 letters that make up the name of God – YHWH
  2.       Luke chapter 4 quotes Jesus as saying: “the Spirit of the Lord is on me to bring Good News”.  Jesus was quoting from the Old Testament book of the prophet Isaiah, and the Jews recognised this to be referring to the coming Messiah - part of the Bible, where God’s Son was being described.

                                                                  III.      There were four miracles the Jewish people believed Messiah would do when He came:

  1.   Heal a leper
  2. Cast out a dumb demon
  3. Heal a man born blind
  4. Raise someone from the dead

Jesus performed all four miracles during His ministry and the reaction each time was very different to when He performed any other miracle. The Jewish leaders, the Jewish people all recognised what He was saying – He was claiming to be Messiah – God’s Son.

  • The symbols in the Da Vinci Code have no evidence to support the claim that they are secrets that represent the sacred feminine
  • The Gnostic Gospels don’t seem to represent the Jesus that we see in the New Testament
  • It’s simply not true that the Church hid any Gospels and there was no one person who decided the Canon – Christians did – the Church that had been growing and worshipping Jesus since it’s inception at Pentecost.

So, we need to ask questions, do some research and make our conclusion:

  • Did Mary Magdalene marry Jesus?

  • What about the Priory of Sion?

  • What do Leonardo’s paintings really show?

Mary Magdalene – Wife or Witness?

The Da Vinci Code states:  “The marriage of Jesus and Mary Magdalene is part of historical record”.

Dan Brown cites only one piece of evidence which he finds in the Nag Hammadi literature, the Gospel of Philip.   

 

“And the Companion of the [   ] is Mariam the Magdalene. The [   ] Mariam more than [   ] Disciples, [   ] kissed her often on her [   ].

 

If you assume that the word missing from the first bracket is Master or Saviour or Teacher, referring to Jesus, then there are still several problems with this text.

  1. The Gospel of Philip was written after AD250 – that’s 220 years after Jesus
  2. There are huge, strategic gaps in the text
  3. The word “Companion” is the Greek word ‘Koinonos’ and this is not the usual word used for wife or spouse.  The Da Vinci Code says the text is written in Aramaic when actually it’s written in Coptic
  4. The same word “companion” is used in Luke 5:10 where it refers to fishing partners and it’s used again in Matthew 23:20 where it means, “taken part with”.  All usages of this word have non-sexual meanings in every other place it is found, so if Mary was Jesus’ “companion” there is no sexual/marriage content.  The word is most commonly used to mean ‘trusted friend’.
  5. Dan Brown makes much of Jesus kissing Mary.  However, also found in the Gospel of Philip is this quote:

“it is by a kiss that the perfect conceive and give birth.  For this reason we also kiss one another”. 

That’s not actually true is it, so when Philip later quotes that Jesus, “often kissed her on her [        ], what are we to make of it?

  1. In the New Testament, in 1 Corinthians 16:20, it says “Greet each other with a holy kiss.”  Again, in 1 Peter 5:14 it says, “Greet each other with a kiss of love.”  The Eastern tradition is for people to greet each other with a kiss.  This does NOT signify marriage!!!
  2. It is the Jewish tradition for men to marry, but there are notable exceptions –   John the Baptist and Paul in the New Testament.  In 1 Corinthians 7:8 Paul says “Now to the unmarried and to the widows I say: it is good for them to stay unmarried as I am.”  It was certainly not required for Jesus to be married.
  3. The Da Vinci Code states that the fact that Mary is sitting at Jesus’ right hand side in the Last Supper painting means that the missing chalice means Mary is the missing Holy Grail and that’s proven by the V shape made between Mary and Jesus and that this represents the womb in which the seed of Jesus would be carried.  Da Vinci Code states that Mary and Jesus are “mirror images of one another.  Jesus wearing a red robe and blue cloak is the inverse of Mary Magdalene who is in a blue robe and a red cloak”.  Da Vinci Code also states, “Peter leans menacingly towards Magdalene, slicing his blade like hand across her neck”.  Bruce Roucher the curator of European Decorative Arts and Sculpture at the Institute of Chicago, says that John’s appearance reflects the way Florentine artists traditionally depicted Jesus’ closest disciple:  “St. John was invariably represented as a beautiful young man whose special affinity with Jesus was expressed by his being seated at Jesus’ right”.

Slate magazine bluntly pointed out, “If Da Vinci thought John looked like a girly man, that’s one thing, but a girlish-looking figure in a painting isn’t proof that Mary was present at the Last Supper, let alone that Jesus and Mary were married”.

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Other commentators have made the following points about the painting:

  • Jesus is actually the central figure and the other disciples are in groups of 3.  The painting is balanced, and the focus is on Jesus, not on Jesus and the disciple to His right.
  •  If the figure next to Jesus is not John, where is he??
  • The coloured robes could mean nothing, particularly as the red clothes are almost certainly not coloured (expensive), but if the colours are important, it’s John not Mary who’s the mirror image of Jesus.
  • The V shape between “Mary” and Jesus need not represent Mary’s womb (chalice), it might be V for Veritas (the Latin for truth).
  • Peter looks to be pointing in the original painting, rather than “slicing”, but in any case, the Bible tells that He whispered to John during the Last Supper.

John 13:21-27 says, “Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, ‘I tell you the truth, one of you is going to betray me.’  His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which one of them He meant.  One of them, the disciple Jesus loved, was reclining next to Him.  Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, ‘Ask Him which one He means.’  Leaning back against Jesus, he asked Him, ‘Lord, who is it?’ Jesus answered, ‘It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.’”  It is likely that it’s this whispering that Leonardo Da Vinci is trying to portray.

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  • The identification of Mary Magdalene as a prostitute comes from the supposition that the story at the end of Luke 7:36-50 is about Mary and that it’s the same Mary mentioned in Luke 8: 1-2. The Da Vinci Code says that the Early Church taught this heresy purposely to discredit Mary and reinstate Peter as the head of the church.  However, it was not until 591AD when Pope Gregory preached an Easter sermon in which he connected the two that the thought was mentioned, so it could not have been the Early Church’s attempt at conspiring against her to ruin her reputation.  Importantly, Mary couldn’t be discredited because she was clearly changed.  In 1969 the Vatican corrected centuries of possible misrepresentation and acknowledged there was no need to make Mary a repentant harlot/prostitute.

In the Nicky Gumbel booklet “The Da Vinci Code – A Response”, page 14, he asks the following question:

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“Is there any evidence that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene?”

 

There are at least a dozen references to Mary from Magdala (a town on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee) in the four Gospels of the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John):

  • She is described as a woman who had suffered from demonic possession and from whom Jesus expelled seven demons (Mark 16:9; Luke 8:2)
  • She is one of the women who accompanied Jesus in his ministry (Luke 8:2)
  • She was a witness of the crucifixion (Matthew 27:56; Mark 15:40; John 19:25)
  • She was present at the burial of Jesus (Matthew 27:61; Mark 15:47)
  • She was a witness of the empty tomb (Matthew 28:1-10; Mark 16:1-8; Luke 24:10)
  • After his resurrection, Jesus appeared to her alone at the tomb (Mark 16:9; John 20:1-18)

 

Even the Gnostic ‘gospels’, taken at face value, do not suggest that Jesus was married, let alone that he had a child.  It is interesting to compare another Gnostic text, the Second Apocalypse of James, which describes the risen Jesus imparting his secret mysteries to James by kissing him on the mouth and calling him ‘my beloved’.  This is a non-sexual symbolic act.  However, the incident bears striking similarities to the extract in the ‘gospel’ of Philip, alleged to provide evidence of Jesus’ marriage to Mary Magdalene.  Further, the ‘gospel’ of Philip was probably written 250 years after the events it describes, bears no relationship to historical reality and is regarded by scholars as an allegory of the relationship of Christ and his Church.

 

Indeed, it is interesting that while “The Da Vinci Code” suggests that these Gnostic ‘gospels’ were earlier than the New Testament documents, the ‘gospel’ of Philip actually quotes from the New Testament (eg 1 Corinthians 8:1, 1 Peter 4:8, Matthew 15:13).  This surely is good evidence that the ‘gospel’ of Philip was written after the New Testament and not before.

 

There is, therefore, not a shred of historical evidence that Jesus married Mary Magdalene.  Even more fanciful is the suggestion that between them they gave birth to a daughter and that their descendants were kings of France.  This is indeed pure fiction.

To complete the puzzle we need to look at the Priory of Sion and the Knights Templar. (DV157)

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According to the Da Vinci Code, the Priory was founded in Jerusalem in 1099 by the King of France.  The Priory then created a military arm – a group of 9 knights – known as the Knights Templar, in order to retrieve the Magdalene documents from within the ruin of the Temple.

However, the truth is somewhat different.  There have been three Priories of Sion:

  1. A Roman Catholic monastic order founded in Jerusalem at the monastery of Our Lady of Mount Zion in 1100.  It ceased to exist in 1617 when it was absorbed by the Jesuits.
  2. This Priory has been traced to a Frenchman Pierre Plantard (1920-2000) who in 1942 founded an anti-Masonic, anti-Jewish group known as the Alpha Galates.  Then in 1953 following the publication of his magazines, which were a mixture of anti-Semitic, pro-Nazi, strange mythological spirituality, he gets jailed for 6 months for fraud and embezzlement.  In 1956 he formed a social club devoted to the cause of low-cost housing.  This Priory dissolved within a year.
  3. The 3rd Priory, also started by Plantard began in the early 1960’s when he became obsessed with the idea of becoming an occult master and a descendent of kings.  He began a crusade to bring back the French monarchy, and forged a series of documents in the 1960’s and 1970’s to ‘prove’ the existence of a bloodline from Jesus and Mary, through the Kings of France right up to the rightful heir to the throne who is guess who? None other than Pierre Plantard!!

In 1993 Plantard’s name came up in a political scandal involving a close friend of President Francois Mitterand.  In court, under oath, Plantard admitted he had made up the whole Priory of Sion scheme and forged the documents that supported his claims.  He was given a stern warning and dismissed as a harmless crank.  The claim that Leonardo Da Vinci was part of the Priory of Sion was taken from Plantard’s documents.  The Da Vinci Code simply rehashes this fiction.

The Knights Templar were founded as a military religious order in 1118 by Hugh des Payens, a knight from Burgundy and by Godfrey of St. Omar, a knight from northern France.

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No documents were found beneath the Temple Mount nor was there any blackmail to the church.  The Knights were not rounded up by Pope Clement but by France’s King Philip IV in 1307.  They were taken into custody, not executed.  When Pope Clement heard what Philip had done, he annulled the entire trial against the Knights and suspended the powers of the Bishops involved.  After torture, 72 knights confessed to the Pope in 1308 – proof that they were still alive (!) - so he opened a new commission to investigate the charges against the knights.  In Spain, Portugal, Germany, Cyprus and Italy the knights were found innocent and released.  In Philips’s France things were different and 54 knights Templar were executed in 1310.  In 1312, the Order was dissolved.

When we look at the claims made in the Da Vinci Code, there is:

  • No evidence that Jesus worshipped the sacred feminine and not the Father
  • No evidence that the Gnostic gospels were suppressed because of the truth about Mary Magdalene and Jesus
  • No evidence that Jesus was married to Mary or that she had His child
  • No evidence that Leonardo Da Vinci was part of the Priory of Sion
  • No evidence that the Knights Templar found or kept safe any secret     documents.

Erwin Lutzer says, “As a novel, it works; as history, it is a house of cards that can be toppled by the slightest breath of truth”.  (The Da Vinci Deception).

The Bible makes it clear that Jesus, the Son of God was fully human and fully divine.

The human Jesus:

            He began life as a baby, born from a woman (Luke 2:6-7).

            He went through the development stages of childhood (Luke 2:52).

            He worked as a carpenter (Mark 6:3).

            He became hungry and thirsty (Matthew 4:2; John 19:28).

            He became tired and fatigued (Mark 4:38).

            He experienced sadness and sorrow (John 11:35).

            He became amazed (Matthew 8:10).

            He functioned with limited knowledge (Matthew 24:36).

            He became angry (Mark 11:15-16; John 2:13-17).

            He was apprehensive about his impending suffering (Matthew 26:38).

            He became disappointed (Matthew 26:40-45).

            He bled and died (John 19:33-34).

The divine Jesus:

            Jesus claimed he would judge the world at the end of time (Matthew 7:21-23; John 5:22).

            Jesus claimed he should be honoured as much as God (John 5:23).

            Jesus claimed he could impart eternal life to people (John 5:21, 40).

            Jesus claimed that to see him was to see God (John 14:9).

            Jesus claimed that to know him was to know God (John 8:19).

            Jesus claimed that to hate him was to hate God (John 15:23).

            Jesus claimed he could forgive sin (Mark 2:5, 10).

            Jesus accepted worship and being called “God” (John 20:28-29).

            Jesus claimed titles exclusive to God (John 8:56-58).

            Jesus claimed he and the Father are one (John 10:22-33).

            Jesus claimed he had been with God in heaven and shared divine glory (John 17:5).

            Jesus claimed he could hear and answer prayer (John 14:14).

            After the resurrection, Jesus claimed he was omnipresent (Matthew 28:20; John 14:23),

There were two huge issues in the Da Vinci Code:-

  1. The search for the Holy Grail was nothing to do with the cup/chalice Jesus used at the Last Supper, but was actually the receptacle, the holder of Jesus’ blood – that’s Mary Magdalene’s womb.

HOWEVER, the Bible teaches that it’s not Mary’s womb, but the Church – the People of God – that holds all kinds of people who have been touched by the effect of the blood of Jesus.

  1. Jesus married and His wife was Mary Magdalene.

HOWEVER, the Bible teaches that Jesus did not marry while here on earth, but it’s true that one day He will be the Bridegroom – at the marriage of the Lamb of God – Jesus Christ to His church, His Bride.  Revelation 19: 7-9 says, “Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him the glory!  For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready.

The Bible says   “Truthful lips will be established forever, but a lying tongue is only for a moment”.  Proverbs 12:19

Jesus says          “I am The Way, The Truth and The Life.  No-one comes to the Father except through me”. John 14:6

If you have looked closely at the claims of the Da Vinci Code and have decided that they do not reflect historical evidence, you may want to learn more about the real Jesus as described in the Bible.  Read the Gospel of Luke in a modern translation of the Bible – the New International Version or even The Message.

If you feel that you know about Jesus but would like to get to know Him for yourself, you may want to pray this prayer, taken from a booklet called “Minus to Plus” written by Reinhard Bonnke:

Dear Heavenly Father,

                        

I respond to your invitation and come to you in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ

 

I come with all my sins, heartaches and addictions.  I turn away from evil and turn to you Lord Jesus.  I put my faith in you alone.  You are the Son of the Living God.

 

I believe with my heart what I now confess with my mouth: You are my Saviour, my Lord and my God.

 

Thank you for accepting me as your child.  I open myself for your Holy Spirit and I will follow you all the days of my life.  I believe you and receive you.

 

I ask it in the name of Jesus.

Amen!

If you have prayed this prayer and meant it, or a similar prayer that asks God for forgiveness and says that you trust Jesus to be your Saviour, then you have joined millions and millions of Christians around the world.  You are a child of God – a treasured possession of the Most High God, and you have your name now written in what the Bible calls the Lamb’s Book of Life.  Heaven is your home and your eternal destination.  On this earth, your job is to be part of the People of God, letting the Holy Spirit work through you to help bring about the rule and reign of the Kingdom.

To help you, join a Bible-believing, Jesus-preaching Church near you, and get involved in the work there.  Attend the Church regularly so that you can learn about the teachings of Jesus and the ways in which God needs us to live in this world.

Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you really are my disciples.

Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”