In Christ’s Service
Vahan Dzayrakuyn Vartabed
"If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned (Galatians 1:9)"
The Bible warns us
about false preachers who disguise themselves in a robe of Christianity yet are
armed with a clear anti-truth and ant-Christian agenda. This goes back to the
time of Jesus when the Jews tried to confuse His followers and accuse Him of
false allegations. Two thousand years have passed since then, but not much has
changed. Since its release in 2003, the controversial fiction The Da Vinci
Code has sold over fifty million copies. A few days ago, a Hollywood movie
was released based on the same fiction. In both the book and the movie, the main
character is an invisible person: our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He is
silenced and made invisible so the author through the comments of his fictional
characters can scourge, slap, drag and crucify Him anyway He wants. Despite the
fact that many Christian leaders have dismissed the novel as a fiction, the fact
is that it is impacting our society and specially the youth.
Any student of the Scriptures and educated Christian knows that the author of this controversial fiction is following a very shrewd approach in mixing truth with fantasy. Every statement he makes to attack Christianity and undermine the 2000 year old holy tradition, is 50-75% accurate and the remaining 50-25 outright lie. For example, we all know that there was a pagan Emperor who converted to Christianity and was baptized on his deathbed. We also know that this emperor, Constantine, was instrumental in coordinating and presiding over an important meeting of Christian leaders. Furthermore, it is a fact that important decisions were made in this meeting. However, it’s a proven fact that Jesus’ divinity was not discussed in this council, and that Jesus divinity is emphasized in the Bible, foretold years before His birth by the Old Testament prophets. Jesus was proclaimed God as early as the first century, not only by the canonical Gospels but also by the 1st-3rd century church saints and martyrs years before Emperor Constantine was born. This is only one example of so many similar fabrications of sugarcoated poisonous information mixed fantasies and falsehoods.
I would not have been alarmed had the author made it clear that the
contents of the fiction are what the word means, fiction. Unfortunately,
the author goes out of his way to imply that the documents and rituals discussed
in his novel are factual. Furthermore, in many on his interviews he confirmed
that he believes his research regarding these matters is accurate. Still, my
fear would have been much less had we been living in a perfect Christian world.
The reality, unfortunately, is that many Christians do not know the basics of
the Christian faith, beyond the Sunday School stories, let alone living it.
As a faithful Christian community here in Holy Martyrs, the publication
of this novel and its popularity should be an alarming reminder that in a world
of democracy where both Christians and “Satan worshippers” have the same
tax-exemption status, and where the sacred and myth is bluntly mixed and
introduced as tolerance, or creative research, all we can do is to safeguard our
children’s faith. Let us make sure that we take all the steps necessary for
our children and grandchildren to know the foundations of our faith, the
truth, for which generations after generations were willing to give their lives
up, … and many did and continue doing.
In an effort to achieve the above we have put a special emphasis on the
educational programs in our parish. Please consider one of these activities as a
weekly commitment to learn and strengthen your and your family’s faith: four
Bible Study sessions a week, three schools, Adult Education courses, discussion
groups, monthly lectures and guest speakers, and the center of our worship: our
weekly gatherings on Sundays. Let us make sure our children understand the
Christian faith the Code of the Living God before they are deceived by the one falsely attributed to
a dead man: Leonardo Da Vinci!