Torch, Summer 2006

and manipulative), I will describe the core of the larger controversy: the conspiracy, the cover-up, and the truth. Remember that both the novel and the movie are fiction . However, in today’s world many people have a problem separating truth from fiction. Any movie that hints at real historical events takes on an authoritative and interpretative role in the minds of many. Some, for example, think that the 1960 movie Inherit the Wind is really what happened in the Scopes Trial in Dayton, Tennessee, in 1925. Oliver Stone is notorious for his reinterpretation of historical events, from 1991’s JFK to 2004’s Alexander . The conspiracies supposedly behind The Da Vinci Code are broader and deeper than anything that have come to the screen before. One woman was quoted as saying, “I read The Da Vinci Code and I will never go back to church again.” I have spoken to a number of Christians who say they refuse to read the book because they are afraid it will damage their faith. It is definitely time to “seek the truth”! Remember that both the novel and the movie are fiction . According to The Da Vinci Code , the following is really what happened in the first few centuries of the Christian era: Jesus Christ was a good man – a powerful teacher who taught love and morality. He gathered together a group of followers who spread His teachings throughout the region of Palestine. When Roman and Jewish leaders saw His popularity as a threat, they worked together to eliminate Him. Like most Jewish men of his time, Jesus was married. In fact, according to The Da Vinci Code , he married Miriam of Magdela, whom we know as Mary Magdalene, and they had a daughter whom they named Sarah. After Jesus’ death on the cross, which was merely a political execution, Mary and daughter Sarah moved to France where the line of Jesus continued, perpetuated through a royal family of leaders in France. Mary was not only the mother of the bloodline of Jesus; she was the recognized leader of the early church. In fact, the early church practiced several forms of worship of the sacred feminine. The conspiracy goes on to state that more than 80 gospels were written that tell the true story of these early years. The early church continued in goddess worship until the fourth century when Emperor Constantine, in an effort to consolidate his power, decided he needed this growing religion to reflect a social structure that would be more helpful to him politically. He called a council of church leaders in A.D. 325 in Nicea. According to the conspiracy, this council of more than 300 early church leaders narrowly voted to designate Jesus as divine; ordered the destruction of all but the four gospels that taught that Jesus was divine; and ruled that all the writings that described the sacred feminine were to be destroyed. Thus, the Christianity we have been taught all these years is a fiction, created by the pagan emperor Constantine in one sweeping political act. Constantine, however, was not able to wipe out all remnants of the “truth” about the early church. It was preserved through the Medieval Period and then by a secret society known as the Priory of Sion formed in 1099. Throughout the subsequent centuries, the Priory included such notables as Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli, Isaac Newton, and Victor Hugo. This group preserved the truth and passed it on from generation to generation. The focus of this truth is found in the secret of the “Holy Grail.” Throughout history, the Grail has been seen as the chalice or cup that Jesus used at the Last Supper. The chalice supposedly had mystical powers because it held the blood of Jesus. According to the conspiracy, the word for “Holy Grail” is really “royal blood.” The search is not for a chalice but for a person: Mary Magdalene. Through her, the blood of Jesus is held in the line of descendants. The story goes on to make a startling claim: there are documents which prove that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married and reveal the truth about the first two and a half centuries of the early church. The organized church cannot afford for these documents to be made public. Imagine the devastating impact this “truth” would have on the organized church. For that reason, the church has worked to keep it hidden. An organization called Opus Dei, says Brown, is a Catholic sect attempting to maintain the power of the church by keeping this information from being revealed. Opus Dei will use any means necessary, including assassination and extortion. T Summer 2006 / TORCH 5