Bookblog: Letters to Malcolm (Chiefly on Prayer) by C. S. Lewis

As I left for vacation a few weeks ago, I wanted to take several books in case of rainy days. I read Piper’s Don’t Waste Your Life (see earlier post on that book) almost in its entirety on that trip and did not get around to the second book in the stack. I chose Letters to Malcolm because I could not decide if I wanted to read a C. S. Lewis book or a book on prayer. So, here I found both in one volume. This was C. S. Lewis’s last book, written about six months before he died and published some time after his death. (Incidentally, he died the same day as JFK, 11/22/63).

Letters to Malcolm presents to the reader one side of a two way dialogue between Lewis and “Malcolm.” We do not get to read Malcolm’s letters, but Lewis’s replies usually help us to know what in on Malcolm’s mind. Many people often ask, “Who is Malcolm?” Some assume it is Malcolm Muggeridge (I think I have even taught this in the past). In actuality, it seems that Malcolm is a fictional character, with just enough biographical information given to make him believable, but not too much where someone might say, “Ah, I know who Lewis has in mind here.” All we know of Malcolm is that he and Lewis have been friends since college, and have kept in touch over the years. We know he is an Anglican layman with a wife named Betty and a son named George.

It is hard to say if the “Lewis” who “writes the letters” is a characterized persona or if he is Lewis-proper. There are certainly readily recognizable streams of thought and biographical details that are consistent with the “real C. S. Lewis,” but there are a few surprises thrown in to keep us guessing. The daily deluge of letters that Lewis received and wrote undoubtedly gave him plenty of fodder for his “letter-writing” books like this one and The Screwtape Letters. It has been said that some of his most informative writing was in his letters, and we are thankful that so many of his letters have been preserved for us in print today.

It seems that about ten years earlier, Lewis set out to write a book on prayer, but it was abandoned shortly after beginning. This is hinted at in Letter XII when he says, “But however badly needed a good book on prayer is, I shall never try to write it. Two people on the foothills comparing notes in private are all very well. But in a book one would inevitably seem to be attempting, not discussion, but instruction. And for me to offer the world instruction about prayer would be impudence.” So, with Letters to Malcolm, Lewis is able to write that book on prayer, which is very instructional, although it comes across as a couple of friends (“on the foothills” means that they have not yet ascended the heights of spiritual greatness) just sharing their ideas.

As the two men dialogue (bear in mind, we only get to see half of the dialogue), we get to listen in and glean from their insights. Some of the discussion is practical, some philosophical, most theological, and some is even humorous (but you have to enjoy Lewis’s sense of humor to pick up on this). On the practical level, Lewis deals with when, where, and how we ought to pray, whether or not we should use “ready-made prayers,” and the pros and cons of having a prayer list.

There is rich theological insight given throughout the book. For instance, Lewis says, “We say that we believe God to be omniscient; yet a great deal of prayer seems to consist of giving Him information” (Letter 4). His description of how God answers prayer outside of time sounded much like Middle Knowledge: “I would rather say that from before all worlds His providential and creative act (for they are all one) takes into account all the situations produced by the acts of His creatures. And if He takes our sins into account, why not our petitions?” (Letter IX). The final letter finds a scathing attack on theological liberalism (the anti-supernatural liberalism of his day) which is as relevant today as it was when he wrote it. He writes, “A man who first tried to guess ‘what the public wants,’ and the preached that as Christianity because the public wants it, would be a pretty mixture of fool and knave” (Letter XXII).

Conservative evangelicals will be uncomfortable with Lewis’s discussion on several topics. He advocates a view of Purgatory, which though not the Roman Catholic view, is no less palatable to evangelicals today. He also advocates prayer for the dead, a practice that most evangelicals today would say belongs wholly in the Catholic camp. On the subject of the Lord’s Supper (remember the Letters are “Chiefly,” not exclusively, on prayer), Lewis vacillates between Catholic and Protestant positions saying he is uncomfortable choosing one to the exclusion of the others. While we bristle at his openness to such a diversity of viewpoints, one has to confess that it is refreshing to see such an appreciation for the various tributaries of our Christian heritage.

Refreshing is an appropriate word to describe Letters to Malcolm. Perhaps no part of it is more refreshing than the honest and candid confession found in Letter XXI about just how difficult prayer can be. He says near the book’s end, “… by talking at this length about prayer at all, we seem to give it a much bigger place in our lives than, I’m afraid, it has. … Well, let’s now at any rate come clean. Prayer is irksome. An excuse to omit it is never unwelcome. When it is over, this casts a feeling of relief and holiday over the rest of the day. We are reluctant to begin. We are delighted to finish. While we are at prayer, but not while we are reading a novel or solving a cross-word puzzle, any trifle is enough to distract us.” So prayer is for us a duty, a chore, an irksome task. But this is because we are in “the school-days.” Soon these days will be past, and what we now view as duty will become spontaneous delight.

In the meantime, Letters to Malcolm just might help some reader to make the most of his or her prayer time by teaching us how to do it well, and how to understand just what happens when we do it. I would recommend it to anyone interested in reading on prayer, or reading C. S. Lewis’s canon. Knowing that he died shortly after the ink dried makes it a sentimental read for Narnians like myself, even though I believe that he has smuggled in some strange ideas past the watchful dragons in this book.

DaVinci Decoded: Defending the Faith Against the DaVinci Code

At my Grandfather’s funeral in the Fall of 2003, I was asked by two family members what I thought of the book “The Da Vinci Code.” When I mentioned that I had never heard of it, they looked at me as if I had a third eyeball. They began to summarize the plot to me, and I just laughed. I said, “Where did you come up with this book?” Come to find out, it was a best-seller. I said, “Well, it is a work of fiction, and there is absolutely no historical basis for any of the things the book is suggesting, and I think it is just a harmless piece of trash written by some kook!” But, as the weeks and months went by, I began to see the book everywhere, and I began to get questions about it from several other folks, and I started seeing TV documentaries about these things. So I started looking into it.

At Christmastime, I saw my relatives again who asked me about it initially. I told them, “You know I have learned a little more about this book you guys were talking about, and like I said, there is no historical basis for the claims of the book, so you know, I wouldn’t worry too much about it.” But the popularity of the book continued to soar, and it is not even out in paperback yet (releases on March 26, 2006). Once a book hits the shelves in paperback, it opens itself up to the masses in even greater numbers. Then I heard that a major motion picture is in the works. And I began to see Christian writers publish books refuting the claims of the novel, and hearing Christian radio personalities deal with the issues, and I became even more curious. The thing that concerned me most was that most of the “Christian” information I was reading and hearing about the book was poorly stated. I was hearing arguments against the book that were full of holes. Any intelligent person who believed the claims of the Da Vinci Code could easily defeat the arguments I was hearing.

So I knew I had to read the book, and try to articulate a response to the claims of the book in a way that was both biblically sound and intellectually responsible. So this series is the fruit of that study, I call it “Da Vinci Decoded.” And we will examine the issues raised in the book carefully over the next several weeks.

What is the Da Vinci Code (DVC)? Simply put, it is a novel by Dan Brown. I had never heard of Dan Brown before, but now, his name is almost a household word. Sales of his previous books have gone through the roof in the wake of the popularity of DVC. The book is a sequel to Angels and Demons, although each stands alone quite well, and a sequel to the DVC is allegedly in the works. DVC has been in the upper ranks of the bestseller lists since its release in March of 2003. After three years, the book still listed at number 10 on USAToday’s top 150 list on 3/9/06. It has been in the top 150 of that list for 155 weeks. The Illustrated Edition entered the top 150 list in November, 2004, and remained in the top 150 for 33 weeks, peaking at number 7. For the week ending February 25, 2006, it was still number 3 on the NYTimes best-seller list. There have been well over 40 million copies of DVC sold, in 44 languages, and it is being acclaimed as one of the most widely read books in recent history. Its publisher claims it is the biggest selling adult novel of all time. The book elevated Dan Brown from relative literary obscurity to Time Magazine’s list of the “World’s 100 Most Influential People.” On May 19,2006, it will be released to theaters as a major motion picture. Ron Howard is the director and Tom Hanks plays the lead role in the film. We don’t even have time to address the rush of sales on the books related to DVC that have flourished since Brown released DVC three years ago.

Now, I would like to tell you, I have read DVC cover to cover, and I must say, it is a great read. If you like mystery and suspense, conspiracy and international adventures, you will really enjoy it. It is 454 pages and I read the entire book in two sittings. I couldn’t put it down. Dan Brown is definitely in the right business. He tells a great story. HOWEVER, the book is built on a very ANTI-Christian foundation. It is not that it is merely NON-Christian, it is rabidly ANTI-Christian, and that presents a bit of an issue for us.

Some would ask why all this fuss over a fad novel anyway? I think David Klinghoffer, writing in National Review, did a good job summarizing what is at stake in DVC. “What’s at stake in the Davinci Code is nothing less than traditional Christianity itself … If true, this theory would overturn some of the central beliefs of Christians” (qtd in Garlow & Jones 23).

The claims of DVC are either ridiculously false, and should be exposed as such for the benefit of all who read it, or else, if they are true, these claims are the death blow to the church, the Bible, and our traditional understanding of who Jesus is. This is not child’s play. These are serious issues at stake, and for those of us who believe in a real heaven and a real hell, the issues have eternal consequences. We have been given, in the pages of the New Testament, a mandate to defend the faith and explain to those in our culture why we choose Christ from the menu of religious options available to us.

Jude 1:3 – Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.

1 Peter 3:15 -- But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence

But several folks have asked me, “Why bother? Why waste all that time? After all, its only fiction?” Sure, it is only fiction, but here is the problem. Dan Brown claims it is more than fiction. He claims it is based on historical facts. In the Frequently Asked Questions section on Dan Brown’s website, www.danbrown.com, he says, “It is my belief that the theories discussed by these characters have merit.”

In an interview with Charles Gibson on Good Morning America, Brown said that if he had been asked to write a piece of non-fiction on these things, he would change nothing about what he claimed in the novel (Bock 3).

Beyond this, every reader of DVC is confronted off the bat with a bold claim. On page 1, in gigantic print at the top of the page is the word “FACT:” Below that word is the following, most of which will not make sense to you if you haven’t read the book, but hopefully will after I summarize the plot momentarily.

Fact: The Priory of Sion—a European secret society founded in 1099—is a real organization. In 1975 Paris’ Bibliotheque Nationale discovered parchments known as Les Dossiers Secrets, identifying numerous members of the Priory of Sion, including Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, and Leonardo da Vinci. The Vatican prelature known as Opus Dei is a deeply devout Catholic sect that has been the topic of recent controversy due to reports of brainwashing, coercion, and a dangerous practice known as “corporal mortification.” Opus Dei has just completed construction of a $47 million National Headquarters at 243 Lexington Avenue in New York City. All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate.

So from the beginning the book is claiming to be more than just a novel. And the media have understood that Brown’s intention is not merely to entertain the masses. The New York Daily News said, “His research is impeccable.” Library Journal said DVC is “a compelling blend of history and page-turning suspense,” a “masterpiece,” that “should be mandatory reading.” Publisher’s Weekly said it is an “exhaustively researched page-turner about secret religious societies, ancient cover ups and savage vengeance.”

Does Dan Brown come to the table simply for the purpose of entertainment, or does he have the intention of “evangelizing” us into his school of thought? Consider the following:

In Angels and Demons, the previous book to DVC, Brown writes: “Faith is universal. Our specific methods for understanding it are arbitrary. Some of us pray to Jesus, some of us go to Mecca, some of us study sub-atomic particles. In the end we are all just searching for truth, that which is greater than ourselves.”

But that is just a line from a novel, right? We can’t judge Brown on that can we? Well, compare that statement to the following one, found in the FAQ on danbrown.com. When asked if he was a Christian, Brown responded:

Yes. Interestingly, if you ask three people what it means to be Christian, you will get three different answers. Some feel being baptized is sufficient. Others feel you must accept the Bible as immutable historical fact. Still others require a belief that all those who do not accept Christ as their personal savior are doomed to hell. Faith is a continuum, and we each fall on that line where we may. By attempting to rigidly classify ethereal concepts like faith, we end up debating semantics to the point where we entirely miss the obvious--that is, that we are all trying to decipher life's big mysteries, and we're each following our own paths of enlightenment. I consider myself a student of many religions. The more I learn, the more questions I have. For me, the spiritual quest will be a life-long work in progress.

On the ABC Special, Jesus, Mary and Da Vinci, Brown said, “I began as a skeptic. As I started researching the Da Vinci Code, I really thought I would disprove a lot of this theory about Mary Magdalene and Holy Blood and all of that. I became a believer” (Bock 3).

Now I am not into book burning and censorship and all that, and I believe a man has a right to write what he wants and you have a right to read what you want. John Milton said in his defense of free speech entitled Areopagitica, “If it be true that a wise man, like a good refiner, can gather gold out of the drossiest volume, and that a fool will be a fool with the best book, yea or without book, there is no reason that we should deprive a wise man of any advantage to his wisdom, while we seek to restrain from a fool that which being restrained will be no hindrance to his folly.” If you want to go read DVC for yourself, I wouldn’t stand in your way. I would just warn you to keep in mind that his book has a patently anti-Christian worldview, and that as a believer in the theories of which he writes, Brown would like nothing more than to undermine your confidence in the Bible and historical Christianity. And hopefully you would not buy into Brown’s ideas hook, line and sinker without thinking through them critically.

However, I do believe that your spare time could be spent much more productively than reading this novel. And I know that some of you would have no desire to read it, and I can’t say as I blame you. But, if you don’t know what is going on in the book, you will have a hard time following our studies for the next few weeks, so I want to summarize the plot for you, and I will try not to give away too many surprises for those of you who may read it.

The book begins with the murder of the curator of the Louvre Museum in Paris. In his dying moments, he has positioned himself as Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, and surrounded his corpse with symbols and encrypted messages, in his own blood and with a marker only visible under black light.

Robert Langdon is a Harvard professor called in to make sense of the symbolism. He is joined by the curator’s granddaughter, a cryptologist named “Sophie Neveu.” Now, you should be aware that Brown is doing something clever with her name. It means literally, “New Wisdom.” And throughout the book, she is going to be enlightened with this “new wisdom,” and we get to take it all in with her. In fact one of Brown’s comments about the book is, "One of the aspects that I try very hard to incorporate in my books is that of learning," he says. "When you finish the book—like it or not—you've learned a ton” (http://www.bookpage.com/0304bp/dan_brown.html).

Of course, these two become suspects of the murder, and flee the police, leading to an exciting chase across France, England, and Scotland for clues, and ultimately, we hope, to solve the murder mystery.

It probably sound pretty innocent so far, not to mention interesting and exciting. Indeed, it is. The entire adventure takes place in less than 24 hours.

By deciphering the codes and clues, Langdon and Neveu determine that this murder has something to do with the legendary Holy Grail. So they enlist Langdon’s friend, Leigh Teabing. By the way, here again, Brown is doing something with the names. The primary source from which Brown drew his information is Holy Blood, Holy Grail by three authors: Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln. Brown has taken two of their names, and Leigh becomes the historian’s first name, and he rearranges Baigent to make Teabing, for his last name. So in essence he is saying that this wise historical scholar is a walking, talking edition of Holy Blood, Holy Grail.

Teabing sits the two down, and with Langdon, they explain to Sophie the “new wisdom” she has been lacking. There are some historical “facts” that have been deliberately hidden for centuries. What are they?

• Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene and had a daughter named Sarah.
• Jesus intended Mary Magdalene to lead the church, but the male apostles refused his wishes and shunned her.
• After the crucifixion, Mary and Sarah escaped to France, and established the Merovingian line of French royalty.
• Mary Magdalene is the Holy Grail. Teabing explains to Sophie, “When Grail legend speaks of ‘the chalice that held the blood of Christ’ … it speaks, in fact, of Mary Magdalene—the female womb that carried Jesus’ royal bloodline” (DVC 249).
• The Christianity we have come to know is based on lies invented to suppress women and turn people away from worshiping the “divine feminine”, the true goddess who has been worshipped for all human history in every culture through sex rituals.
• “Almost everything our fathers taught us about Christ is false.” (p235)
• Constantine and the Council of Nicea invented the deity of Christ for their own political advancement.
• These “secret facts” are kept secure by the Priory of Sion.
• Founded in 1099, related to Knights Templar
• Leaders included Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, and of course, Leonardo Da Vinci
• Da Vinci embedded clues to these secrets in his artwork, including, “The Last Supper.”
• A Catholic organization known as “Opus Dei” will go to any length (even murder) to keep these “facts” hidden.

Now, somehow, even as a college history major, I missed some of this stuff in my educational process. But according to Teabing, “The royal bloodline of Jesus Christ has been chronicled in exhaustive detail by scores of historians.” And Teabing shows Sophie a row of several dozen books (hardly what I would call exhaustive, hardly what I would call scores).

Four of these books are named:

The Templar Revelation

The Woman with the Alabaster Jar

The Goddess in the Gospels

Holy Blood, Holy Grail (It is interesting that in Feb. 2006, two of this book’s authors, Baigent and Leigh filed a copyright infringement suit against Dan Brown alleging he plagiarized their book. Their book had come to be viewed as a joke after being thoroughly debunked for about 20 years. It would seem that Brown should sue them for royalties off their renewed sales hike.)

Needless to say these have not been on the Pastor’s Book of the Month list recently. These books are all built on the premise of these supposed facts concerning Jesus. And we are told that there are many books of Scripture that affirm these things too, only the mean old church would not allow them to be printed in the pages of the Bible.

So, with all this, it is easy to see that DVC raises many issues that we need to confront. My guess is that many of you have already had questions asked about some of the things in this book, and others of you will be asked once the book is more available in paperback, and especially once the movie comes out. So, in order that we are prepared to give every man an answer, to give a reason for the hope within us, we need to discuss several issues over the next few weeks.

Was Jesus married with children?

Who is Mary Magdalene?

Who is Constantine, and what was the Council of Nicea?

How did we get our New Testament, and is it reliable?

What are these “other scriptures”?

Did the early leaders of Christianity suppress women?

Now, you notice, we will not devote an evening to the study of secret societies, and Opus Dei and the Priory of Sion, and other intriguing mysteries. We aren’t even going to spend time on Leonardo Da Vinci. Why not? Because those are simply sideline issues. If we can validate the historical Christian position on these other issues, it makes very little difference what Da Vinci believed, what the Priory of Sion may claim, and how Opus Dei operates. However, because those are very intriguing parts of the book, we need to make a few brief comments about them.

Leonardo da Vinci lived nearly 1500 years after Christ. Therefore to draw historical details about the life of Christ from his artwork would be the equivalent of someone drawing a picture of this very church service in the year 3506.

Some of the supposed clues of DVC involve Da Vinci’s paintings. For instance, in The Last Supper, Brown would have you believe that Da Vinci painted Mary Magdalene to the right of Jesus. Three questions must be asked: First, is Judas Iscariot pictured or not? In the gospel accounts, Judas is reaching for the bowl simultaneous with Jesus (Matthew 26:23), as one man is in this picture. If this person is not Judas, then I don’t really understand who else it could be.

Second, if this is Judas, and the person to Jesus’ right is Mary Magdalene, then where is John? Now, I will grant believers in the DVC that the figure does look effeminate. The Apostle John was always painted as a very young man. Therefore he is always seen with fair skin and clean shaven to distinguish him from his older counterparts. The picture, as we have it, is a perfect rendering of John 13:21-24. John, speaking of himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved, is reclining next to him, and Peter motioned to John and said, and we can assume he whispered, “Ask him which one he means.” And then it says that John leaned back against Jesus. Now that means that he leaned away from him to hear Peter, which is exactly what we see in this picture. Now, if this person is Mary Magdalene, then I need help understanding where John is. If the dark haired figure reaching for the bowl is Judas, and the person to the right is Mary, then counting heads, someone is missing from the table, and I cannot imagine it would be John.

Third question: Let’s suppose Da Vinci did paint Mary Magdalene there. So what? Leonardo da Vinci was not at the Last Supper. He doesn’t know who was there. He could have painted Mickey Mouse there for all I care, and it won’t affect how I understand the Bible. The Bible is my guide for interpreting artwork that comes along 1500 years later. I am certainly not going to use a piece of artwork to interpret the Bible that came 1500 years before.

Opus Dei is a legitimate Catholic organization. You can visit their website at www.opusdei.org. I would refer you to that site for specific questions about them. I can tell you that they were founded in 1928 by a priest named Josemaria Escriva, who died in 1975 and was declared a saint by Pope John Paul II in 2002. It is called a personal prelature of the Catholic Church. The Opus Dei website explains, “A personal Prelature is a jurisdictional entity within the Church's hierarchical structure, presided over by a prelate, answerable to the Sacred Congregation of Bishops, and to which laity and clergy can belong. It is established by the Holy See for specific pastoral or organizational purposes, and it is governed by statutes given it by the Holy See. The word personal indicates that it is defined by persons, whereas, for example, dioceses and parishes are defined by geographical areas.” They do occupy a rather elaborate headquarters in New York City.

Now, Opus Dei is not without it’s critics who claim that the organization encourages its members to use some questionable tactics of disciplining themselves. One of the primary critics is the Opus Dei Awareness Network (www.odan.org). On their website are documented claims of personal experiences involving some of these practices, such as the ones frequently mentioned in DVC: corporal mortification through the cilice and the discipline.

Now to all of this, I say, I do not have an opinion concerning Opus Dei. If they do the things their critics accuse them of, they deserve criticism. If they do not, then so be it. However, I believe that the Roman Catholicism has erred in that they have elevated tradition and the office of the pope to equal standing with the Bible. So, I will not defend Opus Dei, nor any other group affiliated with Roman Catholicism, because I believe they are foundationally and fundamentally flawed.

There is probably no feature of DVC more intriguing and seemingly more well developed than the historic secret society known as the Priory of Sion. With connections to the famed Knights Templar and the mysterious brotherhood of Freemasonry, this hidden fellowship of the intellectually elite has guarded the secret of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, the Holy Grail, and this farce we call Christianity for round about 1000 years. They are keeping the surviving descendants of Jesus and Mary Magdalene safe from those who would snuff out the holy bloodline in order to protect their religious fairy tales, but when the time comes, they will make all their claims and evidence public.

It is too bad for Dan Brown that it is all a hoax. Dan Brown relies on Holy Blood, Holy Grail for most of his information on the Priory. The authors of that book were dependant on information provided to them by Pierre Plantard, a man with a shady history of anti-Semitism and a criminal record for fraud. In 1954, after being released from a jail sentence for fraud, Plantard and three friends started a small social action group for the cause of calling for more low-cost housing. They registered themselves with the French government under the name “Priory of Sion,” drawing on the name of a nearby mountain. The organization dissolved in 1957, but Pierre Plantard kept control of the name.

Over the next twenty years or so, Plantard forged a series of documents concerning this alleged bloodline of Jesus and Mary Magdalene, which ran through the historic kings of France, and currently was active in, of all people, Pierre Plantard. He began using the name Pierre Plantard de Saint-Clair, claiming that the Saint-Clair family were the descendants of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. During this time period, using the name Priory of Sion, Plantard began to recruit followers and begin a campaign to restore the French monarchy to its rightful occupant (namely, Pierre Plantard!).

With his followers, Plantard stashed their forged historical documents in the National Library of Paris. Among these documents, which were labeled, “Les Dossiers Secrets”, was a list of past masters of the Priory of Sion, those named by Brown: Boticelli, Newton, Hugo, and da Vinci.

But the truth about the Priory of Sion came out finally in 1993 when Plantard became involved in what was known as the Pelat Affair. Roger Patrice Pelat was a close friend of French President Francois Mitterand. Pelate became involved in a securities scandal, and consequently committed suicide. In the investigation that followed, it was discovered that Plantard had given Pelat the title of Grand Master of the Priory of Sion. Plantard was brought into court to testify under oath, where he admitted that the Priory of Sion was a hoax, and he had made the whole thing up. A thorough search of Plantard’s home uncovered many forged documents, most of which were claims that Plantard was the rightful king of France. When the court heard all of the testimony and saw all of the evidence, Judge Jean-Piere Thierry ruled that Plantard was a harmless crank and issued him with a stern warning against playing such games in the future.

In 1996, on a BBC documentary, Andre Bonhomme, the original president of the Priory of Sion said, “The Priory of Sion does not exist anymore. We were never involved in any activities of a political nature. It was four friends who came together to have fun. We called ourselves the Priory of Sion because there was a mountain by the same name close by. I haven’t seen Pierre Plantard in over 20 years and I don’t know what he’s up to but he always had a great imagination. I don’t know why people try to make such a big thing out of nothing.”

While Plantard claims that the organization dates back to 1099, it seems we can only trace it back to the 1950s, and rather than finding a line of French kings, we find only a French criminal who dreamed of being King. There is evidence of Catholic monastic order called the Order of Our Lady of Zion which was founded around 1100, and ceased to exist in 1617 when it was absorbed by the Jesuits. There is no evidence that there is any connection between this group and the Knights Templar. However, in 1698, a Father Vincent wrote that there were during the Crusades some knights attached to the Abbey of Notre Dame of Sion who took on the name of the Knights of the Order of Our Lady of Zion. Whether they were affiliated with the ancient monastic order is debatable, but we can be sure that they knew nothing of this fraudulent organization founded by Plantard in the 1950s.

Pierre Plantard died on February 3. 2000.

There has been a wave of Christian publications released in recent days concerning the claims of DVC, and I have read most of them and would recommend most any of them, but each has its particular niche. In particular I would recommend Darrell Bock’s Breaking the DaVinci Code, Erwin Lutzer’s The Davinci Deception, or The DaVinci Hoax by Olson and Meisel. For those looking for a very quick treatment of the issues, let me recommend, Richard Abanes’ The Truth Behind the DaVinci Code, and Hank Hanegraaff and Paul Maier’s The DaVinci Code: Fact or Fiction. I am indebted to all of these books and many others in guiding my research for these studies, and if I fail to document something, you can probably find the information readily accessible in any one of these books.

Allow me to conclude tonight by quoting from Darrell Bock’s excellent book, Breaking the Davinci Code. He says, “It is my view that novelists do not necessarily make good historians, and that matters when a topic like this one is portrayed in such an entertaining way as quasi nonfiction. It is especially important when several ideas build into a huge theory—and each part of the construct is suspect. It is also important when, here and there, one can spot an agenda expressed through the novel’s key characters. It would not be right just to complain, however. Our role is to explore the labyrinth of these ancient ideas and studies. Claims are easy to make on each side of the discussion. We need to consider what we know and what is debated” (Bock 4).

Now, let me say some reasons why I am glad that this book has received the attention that it has. First, it demonstrates to Christians the importance of studying theology and church history. Second, it opens tremendous doors for us to share the truth about our beliefs with the world. Third, it reminds us of the power of good art as a vehicle for communicating a message. The DaVinci Code ought to be a wake-up call to Christian artists to stop cranking out "kitsch" and start producing high quality art (novels, movies, etc.) to convey our worldview. It speaks poorly of us when the world produces DaVinci Code and Million Dollar Baby and we crank out Left Behind. In recent years, we have seen good art like the Passion and Narnia, but we have yet to break the stronghold of liberalism in Hollywood. The popularity of Narnia was overshadowed by the controversy of Brokeback Mountain. Fourth, DaVinci Code tells us the importance of recapturing and renewing our understanding of the symbols of our faith. I am not advocating "iconography" but I am suggesting that we lost something when we moved away from symbols that represent our faith and our Lord. We need to recapture imagery in our communication. Fifth, the DaVinci Code stresses the importance of critical thinking, a practice that is rare in our day. Ten minutes in any public library doing good research would debunk most of the claims of Dan Brown. Finally, the Davinci Code gives us an opportunity to demonstrate the differences between biblical, historical, orthodox Christianity and the many perversions of it that have developed over the last 2,000 years.

So I hope that you will join me in the coming weeks as we look carefully at the questions that the DVC raises, and you will think through these matters and what we may believe in the wake of these challenges to our faith, and how we can defend our faith to those who are asking us questions about the DVC. The studies will be fun, they will be challenging, they will be relevant and helpful, so I hope you will hang in with me through them. I will try to have time available at the end of each study for Questions and Answers. We will also try to make tapes available of each of these studies.

Philippians 3:1-3 -- Safeguards for Christ's Servants

The grace of God is the most amazing force I know of. By it, not only are we rescued from our sins and reconciled to our Creator, but also by it we are empowered to serve Him. And we do not serve Him to gain His favor; we serve Him out of love for Him because He showed us His favor when we did not deserve it. That is what grace is. Now think about this grace – grace that was not content to let us perish eternally because of our sins; grace by which God would condescend to take upon Himself human flesh; grace by which this incarnate God – Jesus Christ – would receive our nails and our death; grace by which He would conquer our death through His resurrection; grace by which He would call us unto Himself for salvation, fill us with Himself for sanctification, and empower us to serve Him; grace that will lead us to our heavenly home when our task and time on earth are done. Anyone who thinks they deserved one speck of this because of their self-righteousness and pseudo-goodness is deranged. This is grace of an inestimable magnitude. And as recipients of that grace, we serve Him in love and gratitude, still dripping wet from the shower of blessings He has bestowed on us.

Now let me ask you, in light of this, why it is on two separate occasions Paul warns us not to grow weary in our well-doing? Once in Galatians and once in 2 Thessalonians Paul suggests that it is possible that blood-bought, Christ-following, Spirit-filled, God-loving people might become weary in the service of their magnificent Lord. Is this possible? How could our joy ever diminish? In light of all that God has done for us in Jesus Christ, how on earth could we ever grow weary in serving this great God? Can it be? Oh yes, my friends, it is possible, and it is as near certain as any other thing I know. That is why in the passage before us today, just three short verses here in the third chapter of Philippians, Paul issues some safeguards for servants of Christ.

He says, “To write the same things again is no trouble to me, and it is a safeguard for you.” In other words, this is a reminder of something they have heard before. Perhaps he had written them an earlier letter, or spoke to them about these concerns while he was with them. Certainly he has alluded to the issues earlier in this letter. But he says, it is no trouble for me to repeat it. This is not being redundant. Being redundant is repeating or elaborating on something beyond what is necessary. This is because it repeats or elaborates on something beyond what is necessary. (See that is redundant). But repetition is not always unnecessary. Sometimes repetition is needed for emphasis, for instruction, or for clarity. Paul says, “It doesn’t bother me at all to tell you this information again.” And the reason is that it is for their benefit – as a safeguard for them.

One reference defines “safeguards” as “a precautionary measure warding off impending danger or damage.” The Greek word used here means safety, security, certainty. That is what Paul wants for the Philippians. Not in a physical sense, but a spiritual one. He wants to make sure that their faith is anchored deep in the solid rock of Christ, and teetering on shifting sand. In fact, the writer of Hebrews uses this same term in Hebrews 6:19, where he says, “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast.” That word sure is our word translated safeguard here in Philippians 3:1. So what are these safeguards which Paul reminds us of here—safeguards that keep our faith anchored in Christ, that prevent us from growing weary in well-doing?

I. Rejoice in the Lord (v1)

In 2:17-18, Paul urged the Philippians to share the joy that he had in the midst of his present circumstances and pending danger. Now, this reminder is issued as a safeguard for us: Rejoice in the Lord! We need to hear this very carefully, lest our soul anchor be uprooted, and we grow weary in well-doing for Jesus. All of us can understand this as a command to be joyful. But all of us would readily admit that nothing is more difficult in the midst of some dilemma, some tragedy, some heartaching disappointment, than to say, “OK, it is time to flip the joy switch and start rejoicing.” And this creates confusion, disillusion, and sometimes even depression in Christian people who know they ought to have joy, but who are unable to find any in the midst of their present situation. There are two things that need to be considered in this admonition.

A. The Source of Joy

Joy is not something that is manufactured by our own effort. The reason we grow frustrated trying to produce joy in our lives is that we are unable to do it. “Joy” is fruit of the Spirit. It is found in that list in Galatians 5:22-23 where Paul says that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. These are characteristics that the Holy Spirit produces in the lives of those whom He indwells. If you are born-again, God’s Spirit lives in you. And the evidence that He is in you is His production of these characteristics. You can’t create this fruit. You bear it. And you don’t bear it by effort. You bear it by abiding.

What did Jesus say in John 15? “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” And when you abide in Him, you realize that your life is in His hands, that He loves you, that He is big enough to handle anything that comes your way, and that He has spoken truth to you in His word. In fact, Jesus associates abiding in Him with His word abiding in you. And when you cease striving, and start abiding, resting in Him, He begins producing His fruit in you through His Spirit. And joy is part of that fruit.

But there is yet another point that needs to be considered about this joy:

B. The Sphere of Joy

Does Paul say “Rejoice in your circumstances?” Some of you know how it feels to gnaw away at your fingernails in anxiety as you wait for them to call your name, and you walk down that silent, sterile hallway to that cold and uncomfortable room where the doctor will walk in just a moment and tell you that the test results are in, and you have cancer. Does Paul suggest here that you rejoice in cancer? Fire breaks out in your kitchen and faster than you can imagine, engulfs your entire house. Does he say, “Rejoice in the flames!”? Tragedy strikes and a young child is killed. Rejoice in the death? No, a million times, NO! We are admonished to rejoice in the Lord!

Much of what we encounter in life is no cause for rejoicing. But what we must remember is that our lives are not defined or dictated by our circumstances. Our lives are in God’s hands. And He loves us! He is good! And though we may not be able to rejoice in our cancer, or in our tragedy, or whatever our circumstances are, we can treasure God so highly that our joy in Him overshadows our circumstances and sustains us through them.

You know Psalm 23? “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,” David says, “I will fear no evil, for You are with me.” Whatever might be in that valley, David says, God is with me, and He is bigger than anything in that valley, and because He is with me, I am not just walking into the valley, I am walking through it! That means I am going to come out on the other side! Even in the valley, I can rejoice in the Lord. Even in that MRI chamber, closed in, confined, that pounding sound in our ears, we can rejoice in the Lord. It doesn’t matter what they find there. It may be horrible news. We can rejoice in the Lord. With the smell of the smoke still in our nostrils from the blaze, we can rejoice in the Lord. At the graveside – you don’t rejoice in the tragic death. But you can rejoice in the Lord.

You see friends, this is a safeguard for us. Because in the midst of our service to the Lord, we will encounter difficulties on many levels in our lives. And we aren’t careful, we will begin to grow weary because we are trying to produce joy on our own in the midst of difficult circumstances. But if the anchor of our soul would be rooted deep in the rock of Christ we must heed this safeguard – Rejoice in the Lord! Allow Him to produce the joy in you as you abide in Him, and remember that no matter what life brings our way, He is the fuel and goal of our joy.

The first safeguard: Rejoice in the Lord. The second …

II. Beware of Spiritual Troublemakers (v2)

Paul uses three terms, to describe three aspects of the troublemakers that the Philippian church was dealing with. These three terms all refer to the same group of people. In fact, in the Greek text, all three terms begin with the same letter, giving a little alliteration to the description. These troublemakers were known as the Judaizers. Their basic premise was that in order for a Gentile to become a Christian, he had to first become a Jew. Their creed is found in Acts 15:1—“Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”

Here are the terms Paul uses to describe them: dogs, evil workers, and false circumcision. With each of these terms is the repetition of blepete, translated “beware,” but also carrying the sense of “Look out for.” In other words this is not a warning of some unrealized potentiality. Paul is saying, “They are out there, and you better watch out!”

So these three terms, though initially all used to describe three aspects of one group, may for us point to some common troublemakers that we need to take safeguards against, and be “on the look out for.”

A. Beware of hypocrites (Dogs)

It was common for some Jewish people to look down their noses at Gentiles and refer to them as dogs. Now, we aren’t talking about cute little puppies here. Dogs were seen in the streets eating filth and scavenging out of garbage heaps. So this term was applied to those who did not follow Jewish dietary laws. They were dogs, they were wild beasts who needed to be kept outside of the friendly confines of God’s holy covenant. But notice the irony here, as Paul says it is the Judaizers who are dogs. They are the ones, in spite of their harsh judgment of others, who find themselves outside the covenant. And though they may practice perfect obedience to dietary laws, they are no more righteous or acceptable before God because of it. A dog that eats steak is no less a dog than one who eats garbage.

In our day, the same sort of religious hypocrisy can be found. Folks who boast of their abstinence from alcohol indulge in gluttony. Someone will judge a person for cheating on a spouse and think nothing of cheating on his or her taxes. Someone will lie about not being a liar so that they can tell lies about someone who is a liar. You get the idea. These judgmental comparisons are made which make the sins of others look big and our own look small. That is the kind of hypocrisy that Paul says we need to look out for. These are the dogs of our day. In the service of Christ, two dangers will confront us. First, that we will begin to grow weary in our well-doing and begin to condemn others who do not share our burdens and priorities. In that regard we may become “dogs,” hypocritically judging others. Second, in our service to Christ, someone somewhere at sometime may begin to lob judgmental allegations against us, and if we are not on the look out for such dogs, we will let them derail our service to Christ and steal our joy in the Lord. So, Paul reminds us – as a safeguard – to watch out for these troublemaking hypocritical dogs.

B. Beware of misguided religionists (evil workers)

The people with whom Paul and the Philippians were dealing were those who considered themselves very holy and righteous. They considered themselves part of the spiritual elite because of all the good work they did for God. All others who were not like them were considered evil. So, they set out to convert people to be like them. And Paul said the ironic thing is that they are the evil workers. They are like those Pharisees that Jesus said would travel around on land and sea to make one convert, but when they do he becomes twice as much a son of hell as they are.

The Judaizers were shipwrecking the faith of new Christians and those who were interested in Christianity by undermining the true gospel of salvation by grace through faith. Rather than teaching that in order to be acceptable before God, one had to accept Jesus’ death as the payment for his or her sins and the gift of God’s forgiveness and new life, the Judaizers were teaching that they had to be circumcised and follow ceremonial laws. Were they sincere and devout? Absolutely, but they were absolutely wrong. And rather than ushering people into God’s kingdom, they were leading them farther and farther away.

We have no shortage of those who claim to speak for God today who have a list of simple steps a person must take to be religiously in the right. They are not all crooks and liars (but some are). Some are sincerely committed to their teachings. However, they are sincerely misguided, and they are performing a great evil by leading people away from the open arms of God and directing straight toward the open gates of hell through their false teaching. We must be careful not to depart from biblical teaching ourselves, and we must keep an eye out for others who do. This is a safeguard for us, to prevent us from growing weary in our well-doing and keep us secure in our service to Christ.

C. Beware of false believers (false circumcision)

Now he says they are mutilators, sometimes translated as concision or false circumcision. Now, the thing about this term, false circumcision, is that it is not based on the Greek word for circumcision (peritome, which is used in v3), but on a word that means mutilation or cutting against (katatome). They cut themselves just like the law required, sure enough. But the Law never claimed that circumcision would make anybody righteous. So, if they were lost when they started cutting, they were just as lost when they finished. All they did was mutilate themselves without drawing one inch closer to God. They looked like true believers, they had been through the same ritual anyway. But there was never a transaction of grace whereby they received the righteousness of God by His grace. They were trying to become righteous on their own, a feat none of us can accomplish, and they were disregarding the righteousness that God desires to give to those who come to Him by faith. If they were of the “true circumcision,” Paul says they would worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh. Rather, these mutilators worshiped, not in the Spirit of God, but according to the letter of the Law. Their glory was not in Christ Jesus, but in their own self-righteousness. They put all their faith, hope, and trust in their flesh, rather than in the promises of God.

My friends if there is a greater danger before us in our day, I don’t know what it is. There are so many who have been baptized. So many who have joined a church. So many who regularly attend church. And so many who believe that by doing these things they are going to become right with God. But friends, if you never hear me say another word – hear this please: The doing of any of these things will by no means make you right with God. So how do we become right with God, and why do we do these things? First, we can ONLY become right with God by receiving His grace through faith. Believe that Jesus died for your sins, and that if you receive Him, you will be forgiven, and you will be given a righteousness that you cannot attain to on your own. Nothing you do – God has done it all and He offers it to you freely for you to receive. Why then do we baptize, and why do we attend church, and why do these things that are associated with our Christian faith? We do them not in order to be made right with God, but because we have already been made right with God, and we do them to help us grow in our understanding of what it means to live for Him. But beware! Churches are full of false believers. Denominations are full of false believers. You ask, “Even Immanuel?” I would say that Immanuel is by no means exempt from being home to some who think that the doing of religious things will make them right with God. And if that is the case, then they are false believers, whether they be members, deacons, Sunday School teachers, or pastors. True believers are those who worship in the spirit of God, glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.

Oh, Paul says, let me remind you of something here, it is a safeguard for you – beware of these troublemakers who are false believers, who are hypocrites, who are misguided religionists.

I know I’m too late for some of you. You have already been thrown off track by a chronic loss of joy or some attack from a troublemaker. But I am here today to remind you that this is always going to be a danger for those who follow Christ. So we need to just take these warnings to heart as safeguards. When the time comes and we have lost our joy, we need to take a refreshing step back and say, “OK, am I trying to manufacture this joy on my own? Or do I need to abide in Christ and let the Holy Spirit manifest this joy in me?” And when we are in the midst of discouragement or pain or suffering, we need to remember that it is not in those circumstances that we rejoice; it is in the Lord. And when the troublemakers come, don’t be alarmed. You were expecting them, right? If not, then you let your guard down. You forgot about the safeguards. Learn your lesson and keep moving forward for Jesus. We’re always going to have hypocrites, misguided religionists, and false believers. But we have to make sure that those descriptions don’t apply to ourselves, and that we don’t let them stand between us and God. Remember this simple lesson of spiritual geography: when a hypocrite is standing between you and God, the hypocrite is closer to God than you are.

The Task -- All Nations

The following post is from Baptist Press.

WORLDVIEW: 6.5 billion people: Each one needs to hear
Mar 9, 2006
By Erich Bridges
Baptist Press

RICHMOND, Va. (BP)--It came and went quietly, but the human race just passed a significant milestone: On Feb. 25, at 7:16 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, the world’s population reached 6.5 billion, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. It happened less than seven years after the number of people worldwide reached 6 billion. That total, in turn, was reached only 12 years after the 5-billion mark was surpassed. The new count of 6.5 billion is more than twice the size of the population in 1960 -- and four times the number of humans alive at the beginning of the 20th century. Global population is not speeding toward the huge, unsustainable masses some demographic doomsayers have long predicted. But it continues to grow. The 7-billion mark will be reached in 2012, according to forecasters. More than 9 billion people will walk the earth by 2050, they estimate, before the global total begins to level off.A few trends and specifics: -- On average, 4.4 babies are born each second.-- Most population growth continues in the nations of the global South and East. “Virtually all of world population growth now takes place in developing countries,” reports Carl Haub, senior demographer at the Population Reference Bureau. “Europe now has more deaths than births each year.... The few developed countries that still have more births than deaths -- such as the United States –- owe much of their growth to immigration from developing countries.”-- The poorest countries continue to have the highest birthrates. Women average five or more children in countries where per capita annual income is $1,000. In contrast, mothers bear an average of two or fewer children in nations where per capita income tops $12,000.These numbers have many social and political implications. In the spiritual realm, however, the most urgent message for Great Commission-minded Christians is this: Our evangelization task is unfinished. Mission researchers tell us that, at most, one in every 10 people on earth is a born-again follower of Christ.The regions of greatest population growth -- and, often, greatest physical poverty -– also tend to be the regions with the greatest concentrations of spiritual lostness. Case study: West Africa, a major focus of Southern Baptist missions this year. Malaria, AIDS and other diseases are widespread there. Life expectancy is under 50 years. Malnutrition is high; literacy is low. Half of West Africans live on less than a dollar a day. More than 350 of West Africa’s 1,612 people groups have no access to the Gospel. Half of the region’s entire population of 287 million is unreached (less than 2 percent evangelical). The Wolof people of Senegal and Gambia, for example, number nearly 4.7 million -- with fewer than 100 evangelical believers. The 30.3 million Hausa people, the region’s largest unreached group, are less than 1 percent Christian. International Mission Board missionaries currently work among only 52 West African people groups. South Asia is home to 1.45 billion people. That includes the more than 1 billion people of India, a nation that will overtake China as the world’s most populous if growth trends continue. In all of South Asia, evangelical Christian believers comprise less than 2 percent of the population. In recent years Southern Baptists and other Great Commission groups have made enormous progress in engaging (assigning missionaries, plans and resources to reach) all the world’s unreached megapeoples –- those with more than 1 million members. Now they are focusing on engaging the hundreds of untouched groups with populations between 100,000 and 1 million. “But ‘engaged’ doesn’t mean ‘evangelized,’” stresses International Mission Board President Jerry Rankin. “Our goal is for every person to hear the Gospel. How can they respond unless they have heard?”The church has many God-given ministries, but giving the lost the opportunity to hear the Good News of Jesus remains our top priority. According to Jesus’ Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20, the way to accomplish it is very specific: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations (peoples), baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit; teaching them to observe all that I commanded you....”“We have had a tendency to dilute the Great Commission to mean whatever we do in missions, evangelism and ministry,” Rankin observes. “(But) in the Greek language, ‘make disciples’ is one word; it is an imperative verb and the object is ‘all peoples.’ “God’s heart and mission is that all peoples know Him. Our mission can be no less.”In a lost and chaotic world of 6.5 billion, we need the clarity of God’s mission more than ever.--30--Erich Bridges is senior writer with the Southern Baptist International Mission Board.

1 Samuel 13: The Anatomy of Sin

What follows is a rough outline sketch of the message I presented Sunday evening, February 19. I am indebted to the good (but not great) commentary, 1, 2 Samuel (NIV Application Commentary) by Bill Arnold. I know some guys who love this series, and some even say they take it straight to the pulpit. I just don't think it is that good -- frankly I don't think any commentary should be a substitute for a pastor preparing his own messages for his own flock each Lord's day. However, I consult commentaries because I don't know it all, and neither do the guys writing the commentaries, but together we are in a conversation about the text, sharpening the point toward truth in exegesis (what the text says) and hermeneutics (what the text means), and then in homiletics (what we preach about the text). In this case, the commentary helped me develop the outline of the passage.


1 Samuel 13: The Anatomy of Sin

I don't know many Christians who would wake up in the morning and say, "I really hope I sin today." But I don't know many who lie down at night and say, "Thankfully, I didn't sin today." We don't want to sin (I trust), but we often do. How does this happen? Let's learn from Saul's errors here and try to recongize these patterns in our own lives as well.

I. Fixation on the moment at hand (vv5-8)
* Failure to remember lessons and testimonies from the past.
* Failure to consider consequences for the future (see vv 13-14)

II. Execution of Partial Obedience (vv 8-9)
* The timing of the matter is only part of the equation.
* Acceptance of the boundaries of one's position, responsibilities, and authority is another.
* Saul may be kind, but he is not the Supreme Authority. God is. And Saul is answerable to God and His prophet/priest. Saul's attitude demonstrates a pride that refuses to accept his limited authority and the authority of another over him.

III. Rejection of responsibility (vv 10-12)
* The blame game (just like Adam and Eve)
* Making sin small. Anytime we do this, we are in great danger. To minimize sin is to minimize the cross, which is blasphemous at best, completely and absolutely anti-Christ at worst. We should recognize and accept the magnitude of our sins so that we can fully experience the magnitude of God's grace. John Wesley said, "There is no little sin because there is no little God to sin against. In general, what to us seems a small offense, to him who knows the heart may appear a heinous crime."

There are many parallels between this story and the story of the Fall in Genesis 3. We see the same patterns there and in our own sins as well. Saul was right where God wanted him to be -- he was anointed, Spirit-filled, empowered by God for the task at hand. But all it takes is a moment of ceasing to trust and obey for a downfall to occur -- in Saul's life, in my life, in your life.