Truths About The Da Vinci Code

 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE DA VINCI CODE

By Francis Fawkes, Th.D.

Recently, I have heard a lot about the movie The Da Vinci Code based on the novel by Dan Brown.  In this writing - which is fiction, and based upon distorted history - the author purports that Jesus had a romantic relationship with Mary Magdalene - or was in fact married to her.  So absurd and so laughable was this assertion that a number of people told me that they were not going to see the movie.  Their reason being, they did not want to support a lie.

However, there are those who think that the arguments for The Da Vinci Code are plausible.  My purpose in writing this article is to expose this satanic hoax.  I also want to show you that the real purpose in writing this book is to undermine your faith and destroy your soul.

Your Saviour and master, Jesus Christ was not only sinless, but he had no physical offspring.  In 1 Peter 2:22, Jesus’ sinless nature is confirmed in an eye-witness account: Jesus did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth.  At the foot of the cross, of all the people mentioned, no wife or sweetheart was named (John 19: 25-27).  Mary Magdalene did not flee with any offspring to France to perpetuate a royal French line of kings.  She died in Ephesus.

How did the author come to such a ridiculous conclusion that Jesus was married?  He inferred it from an imperfectly preserved passage in The Gnostic Gospel by Philip.  This passage was so fragmentary that no one could make complete sense from it, but he deduced marriage from it.  This is the height of intellectual dishonesty.

What are The Gnostic Gospels?  They belonged to a number of false gospels in circulation at the time of the disciples.  In them, the deity of Christ is denied and salvation is attained through secret knowledge.  St. Paul, at the time he was writing the epistle to the Colossians fought hard against dangerous cults of this type.  They threatened the Colossian church.  In verses 15 and 16 of Colossians chapter 1, Paul countered their arguments by revealing that Jesus is “the image of the invisible God” and the creator of all things.  This was his defense.

However, it is still a tragedy that we have inherited some of these false gospels today.  Among The Gnostic Gospels are The Gospel of Judas, The Gospel of Mary and The Gospel of Thomas.  These gospels were written 150 and sometimes 200 years after the historical events occurred.  Whereas, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts and the Epistles of St. Paul were eyewitness accounts and were written during the lives of the apostles.

It is insightful to observe that most scholars doubt that the purported authors wrote these false gospels.  You must be aware that a number of them are inconsistent with what the disciples thought and diametrically opposed to established Christian doctrine.

Case-in-point, The Gnostic Gospel of Philip could not have been written by the disciple because he believed that Jesus Christ was God incarnate.  One day Jesus was asked by Philip to show him the Father, God.  Jesus replied, “He that hath me has seen the Father; and how sayeth thou then, show us the Father?”  Thomas also believed that Jesus was God in the flesh, when he addressed Him as: “my Lord and my God.”

Bahamians must also continue to defend their Christian heritage.  It is totally irresponsible to expose the population to this kind of work at the risk of destroying their Christian ethic and faith.  Already, The Bahamas has problems with a very high murder rate; a record number of AIDS infections per capita, drug problems and other ills too numerous to mention.  Does any sensible person want to create further complications by attacking a belief system that gives its adherents a certain measure of protection and eternal salvation?

God has Already given us warnings.  In spite of hurricanes and economic challenges, we have not had a holocaust that has taken hundreds or even thousands of lives yet.  This is by the grace of God.  Take into consideration Hurricane Katrina and the deaths of 9000 people in New Orleans.  Prior to that was the “911” incident in New York.  What about the earthquakes in India occurring in the midst of their celebrations of false gods?  The Bible states that the nation that forgets God is turned into hell.

THE LAST SUPPER

Almost everybody is familiar with the painting - The Last Supper, by Leonardo Da Vinci.  Dan Brown claims that the person on the right of Jesus is Mary Magdalene.  As a matter of fact, it is supposed to be John.  This picture is not a true representation of The Last Supper.  In the Middle Eastern culture at that time, there were no tables and chairs as we know them today.  Jesus and his disciples ate in a reclining position each taking turns in dipping their bread in one pot in common!  Another mistake in Da Vinci’s painting is that there are a number of cups.  In reality, there was only one cup that was passed around.

Since the Bible has the reputation of being the most documented book of all antiquity, let it address the situation of false gospels and the erroneous teaching of this age:

“But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who secretly shall bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring themselves swift destruction.  And Many shall follow their pernicious ways, by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.  And through covetousness shall they, with feigned words, make merchandise of you; whose judgement now for a long time lingereth not, and their destruction  slumbereth not” (2 Peter 2: 1-3).

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Charles Darwin Deathbed Regret

THE DEATHBED REGRET OF CHARLES DARWIN

By Francis Fawkes, Th.D.

“How I wished I had not expressed my theory of evolution as I have done.”

Charles Darwin 1809 - 1882

There is an interesting story that I came across unintentionally.  It is an eyewitness report of Charles Darwin’s deathbed recantation of his theory of evolution.  In his book: “The Origin of Species”,  he postulated that life evolved from lower forms into more complex life forms.  He was the one that claimed man descended from the ape.  His theory was very controversial especially among Clergymen and Christians in general.  They believed that God created man in his image as expressed in Genesis 1:26 - 27.

Charles Darwin was trained to be a Clergyman of the Church of England.  After graduating from Cambridge at the age of 22, he gave up the Christian ministry to become a naturalist.  During his voyages on the Beagle – a ship, he observed the varieties of plants, animals and fossils in different regions of the world.  He noticed certain similarities in some species and came to the conclusion that simpler life forms evolved into more complex life forms.  Eventually, because of his false observations and the death of his daughter, he became an agnostic.  Before it was too late, Darwin repented of his apostasy on his deathbed.

Here are scientific facts that contradict the theory of evolution:

- The theory of evolution is only a hypothesis.  It is a logical fallacy based on a false premise, leading to many false conclusions in many other fields.  Darwin later realized this, but yet some scientists treat it as fact.  Evolution is really a fairy tale for adults.  It is the battle waged for the souls and minds of men through spiritual deception.  But the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds (2 Corinthians 10: 4).  The weapons that Paul used were the Word of God, prayer and spiritual discernment.  With these weapons, we can demolish the arguments of pseudo-science.  In verse 5, it further reads: “casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.  Yes, we have to cast down these reasonings that come from the imaginations of fallible men.  We must bring down every pretentious argument, every fallacy and every false concept that man exalts against the knowledge of God.

- Evolution is just a variant of the old medieval notion called spontaneous generation in which something can come out of nothing.  This was proven to be unscientific.

- The big-bang theory contradicts the scientific principle inherent in the second law of thermodynamics which states that all systems left on their own move from order to chaos.  The world, the solar system and the universe therefore, could not come from the big-bang.  In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.  All of it came out of God (Genesis 1:1).  Actually, the universe is in a state of decay after man sinned.  The odds of the universe coming into existence by random chance are 1 in 26 to the 44^th power.  In other words, it is not possible.

- In over 150 years, no real missing links have been found.  Darwin himself said that that the absence of transitional forms would prove his theory false.

- There are no real evolutionary links between fishes, reptiles, birds, lower mammals and man.  God created every species after its own kind (Genesis 1: 24 - 25).

- Some scientists believe that life came about through a series of mutations.  However, scientists claim that 99 per cent of mutations are harmful or lethal.  New life forms could not have come through a series of unfavorable mutations.

- In a study in which there were twelve missing links in the evolution of man, nine were proven to be extinct apes or monkeys.  Others were based on the remains of pigs and donkeys.  Some known frauds are the Piltdown man and the Ramapithecus man.

- The theory of evolution goes against the law of probability.  The odds of life coming into existence by through blind chance are 1 in 10 to the 40, 000^th power.  This is also an impossibility.  It had to come from God, the original designer.  In the beginning God created the Heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1).

- According to a brilliant English astronomer, Sir Fred Hoyle, the chances of higher life forms ever evolving is the same as a tornado sweeping through a junk-yard, assembling a Boeing 747 from the materials therein.

On his deathbed, realizing the error of his observations and his skepticism, Darwin admitted that “he was a young man of unformed opinions.”  He confessed that he threw out queries and suggestions, wondering all the time over everything, and to his astonishment, his ideas took like wild fire.  People made a religion of them.  In other words, Darwin did not really anticipate that his theories would gather such momentum.  Furthermore, he was surprised that what was a matter of theory was treated as a matter of scientific fact!

But Darwin later repented on his deathbed.  His Christian training began to assert itself.  As Darwin lay dying, he was found to be reading the Bible opened to Hebrews.  He was very concerned and desperately wanted to repent.  In another report, He requested a Lady to read the New Testament and arranged for Sunday school children to sing “There is a Green Hill far away.”  When this was done, Darwin said:  “How I wished I had not expressed my theory of evolution as I have done.”

Darwin’s theory of evolution had far reaching repercussions and it is discussed in today’s magazines and textbooks.  It also has implications in other disciplines such as politics, science, geology, history, humanistic philosophy, law and even in the New Age movement.  The sad thing about this is that it could lead to atheism, something that Charles Darwin would have despised later on in life when he found out the truth.  He, himself, admitted that something as infinitely complex as the human eye could not come about through blind random chance.  He would be mortally shocked and wounded to see that his error has been given universal recognition.

However, there is a ray of hope.  This is beginning to change especially in America.  Today The Intelligent Design movement is taking precedence over evolution in the schools.  This is because Christians are fighting back.  Two-thirds of Americans believe that creationism should be taught alongside evolution.  Forty percent of Americans believe in scientific creationism.  These people believe in a God and as they seek His kingdom and his righteousness they will be blessed (Matthew 6:33).

Darwin’s final Position

I believe that Darwin was saved.  He fully repented.  In Colossians 1:14, it states that we have redemption through His blood, even forgiveness of sins.  This is quite so, for the blood of Jesus wipes away all of our sins.  In Romans 3: 25, we read that “God has set forth propitiation though faith in His (Jesus’) blood, to declare His righteousness through the remission of sins that are past…”

Below are the words of the hymn that Charles Darwin requested:

THERE IS A GREEN HILL FAR AWAY

There is a green hill far away,

Outside a city wall,

Where the dear Lord was crucified,

Who died to save us all.

Refrain

O dearly, dearly has He loved,

And we must love Him too,

And trust in His redeeming blood,

And  try His works to do.

We may not know, we cannot tell,

What pains He had to bear; 

But we believe it was for us,

He hung and suffered there.

Refrain

He died that we might be forgiv’n,

He died to make us good,

That we might go as last to Heav’n,

Saved by His precious blood.

Refrain

There was no other good enough

To pay the pride of sin;

He only could unlock the gate

Of Heaven and let us in

 

Refrain

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Life After Death

ARE YOU CONSCIOUS AFTER DEATH?

By Francis Fawkes, Th.D.

At one time, the question of whether consciousness could exist independently of the body was a matter of philosophical and theological speculation.  As time progressed, objective scientific investigation revealed amazing results.  Medical science is fast accumulating hundreds of histories to prove that the soul survives bodily death.  At times, the formally deceased can recount what took place and what was said beyond their immediate surroundings.

Even atheists, who never subscribed to the supernatural, immediately became converts after a near-death experience/out-of-body experience.  I do not think that these atheists are hallucinating.

Ex-Atheist has a Near-Death Experience

THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT AND DEBUNKS MANY OF THE FALLICIES INVOLVING NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCES & OUT- OF-BODY EXPERIENCES

“There are a number of well documented cases of people having near-death experiences / out-of-body experiences, even during a flat EEG where brain and heart activity had ceased, returning with factual information which they had no prior knowledge of, and numerous cases in which the experiencers returned to life with information unavailable to them at the time of death.”

Aleroy.com: Question 18 about Near Death Experiences.

Blind people who during their lives have never had a sensation of sight were able to see things for the first time while out of their bodies.  Again, people who had near-death experiences were able to describe what was happening at a distant location or things during an operation that it was not possible for them to know.  Later, these findings were verified for them by others.  You can read this amazing book online: "Visions beyond the Veil" by H.A. Baker: http://www.godspeak.net/veil/veil_index.html

In the Bible, the dichotomy between soul and body is very apparent.  King Solomon relates: “then shall the dust return to the earth...and the spirit shall return unto God, who gave it" (Ecclesiastes 12: 17).

The apostle John also saw a great magnitude of nations before the throne in the spirit (Revelation 7: 9).  These were the souls of the saints that were executed during the great tribulation period.  They were quite conscious after death.

In 2 Corinthians 5: 8, St Paul says that “we are confident and will rather be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.”

Notice again that when the rich and poor men died, they went to separate places.  The rich man went to hell and lifted up his eyes in torment, and the poor man went to Abraham's bosom (Luke 16: 23).  Whenever, Jesus spoke in parables they were always based on true-to-life-situations – never on fantasy.  I find no exception to this.

Yes, Christian near-death-experiences are very real.  Read "Heaven is so Real”, by Choo Thomas.  Also "Divine Revelation of Heaven" by Catherine Baxter" which is a very popular Classic.

It is also very important to read the story of the Buddhist monk who really saw heaven and hell and came back a changed man.  He found out just in time that Buddhism was not the true path. Click the link below: http://bibleprobe.com/backfromthedead.htm

HOW TO DISTINGUISH THE GENUINE FROM THE COUNTERFEIT

It is very important to distinguish that which is true from that which is false in near-death experiences /out-of-body experiences.  You would notice that in various cultures, the experiences are alarmingly contradictory and diametrically opposed to one another.  There is incredible deception in the spiritual realm.  That is why Jesus Christ /God Incarnate has to be the standard of truth.  He said that, “I am the Way the Truth, and the Life, no man cometh unto the Father but by Me”, (John 14: 6).  Do these other beings preach another gospel opposing the Gospel of Jesus Christ: - reincarnation, works related-salvation and “no such thing as hell”?  This is terrible for these are Satan’s angels of light of which the Bible speaks.

Here is the test for all near-death experiences /out-of-body experiences.  If it conflicts with scripture, it is bogus.  This is St. Paul’s message to the Galatians:

^“…there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!

As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed.”

A FALSE GOSPEL

Now there is a counterfeit near-death experience told in a book called “Embraced by the Light” by Betty Eadie.  In her book she met Jesus, but it was not the real Jesus Christ of the scriptures.  This is possible because the spirits have the ability to take on the guise of anyone they desire.  This is how many psychic mediums are deceived when they are perceiving through clairvoyance the “deceased” spirits.  When they receive messages from them for loved ones, the medium never discerns that these are impersonating spirits.  The bible calls them familiar spirits.

“Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God” (Leviticus 19:31)

Jesus only talks of two destinies of a dead person - heaven or hell.  If you are in heaven you certainly are not going to accommodate a medium.  If you are in hell there is no means of escape.  So those entities have to be satanic in essence.

The false Jesus that Betty Eddie met told her that there was no hell, denied salvation through grace; denied the Trinity and said that everyone will go to heaven.  In so many words, the cardinal principles of the faith are denied.

In his book “Deceived by the Light” - Douglas Groothuis a scholar exposes what a fraud Betty Eddie is.  Consequently, we immediately see that these conflicting and opposing near-death experiences from other cultures are deceptive devices of the enemy for the ultimate destruction of humankind.  For more information click on the following links:

Deceived by the Light by Douglas Groothuis http://www.equip.org/articles/deceived-by-the-light

Many Christians were bought up to believe that life beyond the grave is not provable or demonstrable.  However, there is a factual basis for the survival of the soul.  It is just the people are indifferent to it and continue to walk in unbelief.  But remember that these experiences have been going on since time immemorial in all different cultures.  It is time that humanity stops questioning the obvious and accept the reality of these states.  Also, realize that through the power of the Holy Spirit we can differentiate the genuine from the counterfeit.  This is His function for He is also known as the Spirit of Truth.

Sources:

http://www.spiritlesson.com

http://www.thewordteaches.com/questions.htm

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Frequently Asked Questions About Salvation

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ON SALVATION

By Francis Fawkes, Th.D.

What is Salvation?

When most people hear of salvation, they think of escape from hell and securing a spot in heaven.  However, it is not just soul salvation, which is of the main and utmost priority.  It encompasses more.  Salvation comes from the Greek word Soteria that includes healing, financial prosperity, remission of sins, deliverance from demonic oppression, a renewed mind and many other benefits that follow it.  In other words, it is abundant living on the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual levels.  Salvation is also the redemptive plan of Christ to restore us to the position that we enjoyed before the fall of Adam.

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Can we attain salvation through good works?

Salvation cannot be attained through good works because God's standard is that we be sinless to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.  God's reaction to sin or impurity is destruction.  And all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).  Many religions like Buddhism and Hinduism try to attain it through meditation, good works and other types of spiritual disciplines.  But this is not the Way.  "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and not of yourselves, it is a gift of God - not of works lest any man should boast" (Ephesians 2: 8).  Therefore, salvation is a gift that you accept by believing that Christ died for your sins and was resurrected.  Again, we do not have to work for a gift - it is free of charge.

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If good works do not save us, then what purpose do they serve?

Good works are a by-product of your salvation.  If we are saved, we should manifest a Christian character that is motivated by the Holy Spirit - not by self-effort.  The purpose of the law is to make you sin-conscious and to act as a behavioral guideline after salvation.  Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith (Galatians 3: 24).  If salvation were a matter of a certain percentage of faith with a percentage of works as some believe, then you would be adding something to Christ's finished work on the cross.  "For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath something of which to glory, but not before God.  For what saith the scripture?  Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto Him as righteousness" (Romans 4:2 3).  Good works, however, determine your rewards in Heaven.

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How do we know that we are saved?

The moment we are saved, the Holy Spirit indwells in us.  There is a particular intuition or unction coming from the Holy Spirit that tells the believer that he is a child of God.  The Spirit himself beareth witness with our Spirit that we are the children of God - (Romans 8: 16).  There are also certain signs that follow the believer.  You may manifest any one or several of them.  In Mark 16:17 it states, "these signs shall follow those who believe: In my name they shall cast out demons; they shall speak with new tongues.  They shall take up serpents and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover."  Another way of knowing if you are saved is check to see that you manifest the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5: 22-23).  These are "love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and self-control, against such - there is no law."

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Do all religions lead to the same God?

All religions do not lead to the same God.  Allah is not a triune God and he had no son.  The adherents of Hinduism worship 30 million gods.  Buddhism is an atheistic religion and believes that the godhead is within.  Hinduism believes that salvation is attained when one achieves Samadhi.  This is a mystical state of contemplation in which one has achieved union with the universe or mistakenly with God.  They also believe that the godhead lies within.  The Buddhist's salvation is Nirvana, which is the complete extinction of the personality.  A series incarnations or meditation is the vehicle that will lead us to this kind of spiritual perfection.

Again, there can be no perfection outside Jesus.  The eastern mystics are probably developing powers of the mind and spirit that Adam had prior to the fall.  However, if the Holy Spirit is not guiding them in their deliberations, deception and deadly error results.  To dispel the deception that surrounds eastern mysticism, read: The Death of a Guru by Rabi R. Maharaj.  Islam on the other hand, proclaims salvation by good works out-balancing bad works on a scale of justice.  All of the aforementioned are not the prescribed way of the Master, Jesus.  Again salvation is a gift and is not attained by self-effort or works.  Whatever they achieve, cannot lead to God.  Whoever comes to God by some other means are both a thief and a robber, according to scriptures.

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Is there more that one mediator between God and Man?

Jesus said "I am the Way the Truth and the Life, no man cometh unto the Father but by me" (John 14: 6).  In 1Timothy 2:5, it is written "for there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the Man, Christ Jesus."  The other founders of different world religions outside Christianity have belief systems of their own making.  Others of them have founded religions based on the ideas of deceiving or impersonating spirits.  It is written in Genesis that the serpent (Satan) was the subtlest of the Beasts of the field.  In the world religions, he mixes truth with error to make false ideologies more palatable.  However, that 5 percent error in amidst 95 percent truth will destroy or kill you.  This is a very popular strategy in the spiritual world.

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What is the blood atonement?

In the Old Testament, the High Priest made atonement to God for his sins and the sins of the people by sacrificial animals.  These sacrifices were a daily chore.  The Hebrew word used in the Old Testament for atonement is Kaphar.  One of its meanings is to cover.  So the blood of animals covered up the Israelite's sins.  When Jesus Christ came, He made a new and better covenant.  Animal sacrifices stopped and He became the Sacrificial Lamb for once and for all (Hebrews 9: 11-15).  His blood shed on the cross not only covers up sins but also removes them.  There is no remission of sins without the shedding of blood (Hebrews 9: 22).  In 1John1:7 - it is written and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all unrighteousness.

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What is the Rapture?

Some people say that the word "Rapture" is not in the Bible.  However, if you look in the Latin Vulgate, you will find the derivation of the word.  In Latin, "rapturo" means caught up.  Nobody knows the exact time of the Rapture.  However, it was prophesied that when this generation (known as the terminal generation) will witness the preaching of the Gospel to all the ends of the earth, then shall the Rapture occur (Matthew 24: 14).  The blooming of Israel is also another landmark event.

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Do we all have to experience death to enter Heaven?

According to the Bible, we will not all die.  However, in the rapture, the dead will rise first and then the living.  Their souls from Heaven will unite with their resurrected bodies and they will be lifted up to be with Jesus.  There is also a second class of people that will never experience death.  Those are most likely the young people living in this present generation.  According to 1Thessalonians 4:17:  "Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord."   Again the Greek word "harpazō", which means to snatch or catch away, is used implying Rapture.  We shall also be changed in a twinkling of an eye (1Corinthians 15: 52 -53).

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