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Tuesday, 06 June 2006 14:41 |
| Rev. T. Threadwell
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By JIM GENARO
Christians who would attack the ideas behind Dan Brown??s novel ?®The Da Vinci Code?∆ should learn to pick their fights, according to the Rev. T. Threadwell.
Threadwell, who is the director of the Hebron School of Ministry, presented a lecture titled ?®The Da Vinci Code Mystery?∆ to a small-but-enthusiastic gathering of about a dozen people at Ryan??s Family Steak House in West Asheville on May 23.
The talk was sponsored by the Full Gospel Businessmen of Asheville.
?®It seems like this has really got people in some kind of a huff,?∆
Threadwell said. ?®My thinking is, there??s bigger fights to pick than
Dan Brown.?∆
The movie ?? and the novel on which it was based ?? alleges that Jesus
and Mary Magdalene were married and had children, whose descendents
became the royal lineage of France through a number of complex
historical occurrences and the facilitation of secret occult societies.
Threadwell presented his own narrative of some of the historical events described in the book.
By biblical accounts, he noted, Mary was ?®delivered from seven demons.?∆
She was also the sister of Lazarus, whom the Bible says Jesus raised
from the dead and was at the crucifixion, standing beside Jesus?? mother
Mary.
?®The problem is that after Acts, chapter one, verse four, nothing more
is mentioned of her. But to be fair, there??s not much about Mary, the
mother of Jesus, either.?∆
Traditionally, there have been two viewpoints about what happened to
Mary Magdalene after the crucifixion, Threadwell said. The Eastern
Orthodox Church teaches that Mary went to the city of Ephesus, whereas
the Roman Catholic Church believes that she continued to travel with
the apostles preaching the gospel.
?®The problem is ?? do we have any evidence to back this up??∆ Threadwell asked.
According to ?®The Da Vinci Code,?∆ Mary settled in the southern region
of France. This area has several temples devoted to her, he noted.
?®Eleven centuries later, that whole area there was what we call ?¥Gnostic,???∆ Threadwell told the group.
Gnosticism was ?®a shapeless organization,?∆ he added. ?®They??re like the
New Age movement. It could be this and it could be that and it could be
something else as well. But they were for centuries the biggest pain
that ever there was to the church.?∆
Because the Gnostics did not believe in the existence of a ?®personal
god,?∆ they argued that Jesus could not be ?®god in the flesh,?∆ but
rather came to show humans the way to escape illusion through
?®knowledge?∆ or ?®gnosis,?∆ Threadwell explained.
Gnosticism had flourished in southern France and many later occult groups were influenced by its teachings, he said.
One such group was the Rosicrucians, an order of which Leonardo Da Vinci was a member, according to Threadwell.
?®It??s a fraternal order. You get to wear some strange uniforms, if you??re into that sort of thing.?∆
Another significant occult group that was active in the region during
this time was the Cathars, he said. The Cathars believed that ?®outward
works show your holiness?∆ and believed in sexual abstinence, a
vegetarian diet and reincarnation.
They were hated by the church, Threadwell noted, ?®mainly because they
showed the Roman Catholic church for being as corrupt as they were.?∆
Eventually, the church led a crusade against the Cathars, in which the
entire sect was slaughtered, as well as many people who had no
affiliation with the Cathars.
The philosophy of the crusaders was to kill everyone and assume that ?®God knows who belongs to Him,?∆ Threadwell said.
Though it is speculated by some that Mary Magdalene??s descendents were
involved with the Cathars, there is little evidence to prove this, he
argued. ?®My theory is, if it??s not in the Bible ?? it doesn??t tell you ??
then God doesn??t think it??s important.?∆
However, the issue is complicated, Threadwell admitted, by the use of certain historical facts within the story.
?®There is an element of truth about some of the things, but not about
everything. You can believe Mary Magdalene married Jesus and went to
live in France ... if you can believe that man came from a monkey,
because there??s no evidence of either.?∆
In 70 A.D., the Romans marched into Jerusalem, drove out the Jews and
renamed the region ?®Palestine,?∆ Threadwell said. ?®There has never been
so much blood shed over one city as there has been over Jerusalem.?∆
By contrast, when Muslim armies invaded the city many years later, they
allowed the Jews back in and did not kill anyone within Jerusalem, he
noted.
In 1095, Pope Urban II launched a successful crusade to reclaim the
city from the Muslims. It was at this time that an order of warrior
monks, known as the Knights Templar, was founded, ostensibly with the
purpose of protecting Christian pilgrims who traveled to Jerusalem.
Threadwell disputed this, saying that the Templars were actually
pursuing the vast treasure that was allegedly located underneath the
Temple of Solomon.
The Templars became extremely wealthy and powerful in medieval Europe
and used their wealth to establish a banking system that became the
foundation of modern banking, he said.
They were the first people to extend credit that was guaranteed by a
Templar order elsewhere, setting the basis for checking accounts,
Threadwell noted.
?®They would answer only to the pope. They were almost like the United Nations.?∆
One of the symbols of the Templars was the skull and bones, he said,
observing that this is still used today by the Skull and Bones Society,
a secret fraternal order based at Yale University, whose members
include both President Bush and former President Clinton.
A major element of ?®The Da Vinci Code?∆ is the role of the Merovingian
bloodline. This royal French dynasty was descended from King Merovi, a
French noble who allegedly had occult powers, Threadwell said.
Supposedly, Mary Magdalene??s descendants married into this dynasty, a claim that Threadwell said has no factual basis.
According to local folklore, Merovi??s mother was impregnated by a sea
monster, which Threadwell said can be read to mean that ?®someone not
from around here married into this family.?∆
However, he argued that whether or not Mary Magdelene??s descendents
became assimilated into the Merovingian bloodline is irrelevant. ?®We
base nothing on that,?∆ Threadwell said.
Threadwell also disputed claims that Da Vinci depicted Mary in his painting of the Last Supper.
Though he acknowledged Da Vinci??s occult interests, Threadwell noted
that Renaissance painters often used women models when painting men.
This, he argued, accounts for the feminine appearance of one of the
disciples depicted in the masterpiece.
Referring to the lineage of the Templars and the French aristocracy, a
man asked, ?®Is this where the anti-Christ is coming out of??∆
?®I??m not sure there??s going to be an anti-Christ, as such,?∆ Threadwell
replied. ?®I think that the whole system is anti-Christ. The word ?¥anti??
does not necessarily mean against ?? it means parallel.?∆
Another man responded, saying, ?®I thought there was just two lines ?? God and mammon.?∆
?®The sad thing about it is the number of Christians who do not know
what they believe in,?∆ Threadwell replied. ?®The average Christian does
not go to Bible study. They might go to one service on Sunday. How much
influence can a preacher have in 45 minutes, when people are immersed
in the outer culture?
?®We may be making Dan Brown wealthy, but he??s making the church look at its history,?∆ Threadwell acknowledged.
A man in the audience asked, ?®Given what you??ve said about President
Bush??s membership in the Skull and Bones Society ... do you see any
sort of satanic agenda behind his policies??∆
Without directly answering the question, Threadwell said that he has
qualms about the use of ?®an old Masonic Bible?∆ at the swearing in of
the president. He said it was interesting to note that at Bush??s
inauguration, rain prevented the book from being used.
?®The Bible clearly says that when a person is of two opinions, they??re unstable,?∆ he added.
Another man in the audience observed that much of what is known about
the Skull and Bones Society comes from Masonic Lodge members
themselves, who are infamously secretive about the true nature of their
practices.
?®The enemy??s at work,?∆ Threadwell responded. ?®We??re not called to track him down through secrets.?∆
He urged his listeners to avoid getting too caught up in studying these secret societies.
?®It??s the last days and when you get into things like the Illuminati, it??s just a black hole.?∆
However, he expressed confidence about the future. ?®I??ve read the end of the book ?? and we??re the winners.?∆
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