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{HeartTouchers.com} *The Da Vinci Hoax* ______________________________________ If you enjoy this email service, I encourage you to spread the word to family and friends that we may bring inspiration the lives of many! If you are not on the list and this has been passed along to you, join us by visiting: http://www.HeartTouchers.com Be sure to check out our inspirational list just for teenagers! http://www.Heart4Teens.com ____________________________________________ The Da Vinci Hoax: A Tour de Distortion by Chuck Colson G. K. Chesterton famously said something to this effect: When people stop believing in God, they don't believe in nothing -- they believe in anything. A good example of this is Umberto Eco's novel Foucault's Pendulum, in which a group of friends program a computer to "write" a book about secret hidden knowledge. Titled The Plan, the book is the result of random links between things like Kabbalah, Rosicrucianism, the Knights Templar, and other crackpot ideas. While The Plan was intended as a prank, other people take it seriously, with tragic results. Well, Foucault's Pendulum shows us how gullible unbelieving people are. And this is particularly so in our postmodern age when truth doesn't matter. This phenomenon partly explains the remarkable success of The Da Vinci Code. Like Eco's novel, it's about a heretofore hidden knowledge that promises to let us in on the "true" history of Christianity. Author Dan Brown gives us a Jesus who neither died on the cross nor rose from the dead. Instead, He married Mary Magdalene and had children by her. This "sacred blood line" is the treasure safeguarded by groups like the Knights Templar and the Masons. And the Catholic Church, in a desperate attempt to cover up this secret, murders those who threaten to expose it. Devotees of The Da Vinci Code -- like the fictional fans in Foucault's Pendulum -- have trouble distinguishing fact from fiction. They visit places mentioned in the novel, and "Da Vinci Tours" are a booming business. With the upcoming film, interest in The Da Vinci Code will explode. Christians need to seize this teaching opportunity, preparing ourselves to answer questions readers are asking. The first is: Are the historical events portrayed in Brown's story true? Brown claims to have done extensive historical research and gives his readers no reason to doubt the novel's accuracy. Since the average person knows almost nothing about Christian history, they're vulnerable. For example, when Brown says that Knights Templar were put to death by the Catholic Church because they knew the "true story" about Jesus, people have no basis to question it, never having heard of the Knights Templar. Or when Brown says that at the Council of Nicea, the Vatican consolidated its power, most people are unaware that the Vatican didn't even exist in A.D. 325. It is our job to expose the falsehoods. We can learn to answer Brown's lies with the truth by reading books like Darrell Bock's Breaking the Da Vinci Code and Erwin Lutzer's The Da Vinci Deception. People flock to stories like The Da Vinci Code in part because all humans are searching for the secret knowledge that answers the mysteries of life. And when The Da Vinci Code debuts in May, millions more Americans will get a condensed tour de distortion. Knowing our neighbors will see this film, churches ought to begin to get ready now -- preparing to answer questions about it and to tell our neighbors that there is no secret knowledge about God. It's all in the Bible and all true. The good news is that The Da Vinci Code readers and viewers are seeking answers to the central questions of life. The challenge is for us to supply the true answers. Chuck Colson Chuck Colson is a syndicated columnist, international speaker, radio commentator, and the founder of Prison Fellowship and Breakpoint. He has visited prisons throughout the U.S. and the world and has built a movement working with more than 40,000 prison ministry volunteers, with ministries in 100 countries. He has written 22 books, which have collectively sold more than five million copies. His autobiographical book Born Again was one of the nation's best-selling books of all genres in 1976 and was made into a feature-length film. In 1991 Colson launched a daily radio feature called "BreakPoint," a unique and well-received attempt to provide a distinct Christian worldview on everyday issues and conflicts. The program is aired daily on over 1,000 radio outlets nationwide. Visit his website at: www.BreakPoint.org You may send correspondence to Mr. Colson at: c/o Prison Fellowship, 1856 Old Reston Avenue, Reston, VA 20190-3321. _________________________________________ Thought For The Day: "As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do." --Andrew Carnegie Verse for the Day: "Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do."--James 2:18 Kid's Thought For The day: "Whether your in or out, you usually want to be the other." Parent's Thought For The Day "Happy marriages begin when we marry the ones we love, and they blossom when we love the ones we marry." --Tom Mullen Coach's Thought For The Day "Hustle is: doing something that everybody is absolutely certain cannot be done. Earning a position because you learned it first, or stayed with it when everyone else gave up. Getting other players to say yes when they have already said no. The sheer joy of winning. Heaven if you are a hustler, torture if you're not." Writer's Thought For The Day: "I love being a writer. What I can't stand is the paperwork." --Peter De Vries Deep Thought For the Day: "How do you pronounce my name? With reverence." _________________________________________ Over 60,000 people have listened to popular Chicken Soup Author Michael T. Powers' free inspirational message entitled: "Breathing Life into Others". If you aren't one of them just visit: http://www.HeartTouchers.com and click on the link to listen to the free streaming audio message! __________________________________________ Video Imagery --Michael's Video Production Business Dear Michael, I just wanted to take a minute to thank you for the beautiful video you made for me! It was so special to see both of my parents in tears as they watched their children grow up in pictures before their eyes! I loved the way you made Estania's part set aside from the rest--that was the part that really got them! The music was beautiful. My mom kept blubbering, "What song is that?" I don't know how you did such a beautiful job with the video in such a short time. I really appreciate your doing it so quickly. You have a wonderful gift, and I thank God that you are using it to create such sentimental memories. I hope that I can find my niche like that in an area that I love. Your video gave us one of our most lasting Christmas memories! I hope yours was filled with moments to be treasured forever! Love, Trisha Silverhill, AL Let me make you a video from your photos! Check out my video production business by visiting: http://www.hearttouchers.com/video_imagery __________________________________________ Do you feel as if life has no meaning for you? http://www.greatcom.org/english/four.htm |
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Touching Lives - One E-mail at a Time! Author Michael T. Powers - HeartTouchers @ aol.com
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