Preface: This post is the extended response to a post Adam (The Krebs Cycle) made on his blog concerning the (overreaction) by Christians to the DaVinci Code. 

(Adam’s original post "Hysteria") :
I don’t understand why there are people coming out of the woodwork over The Da Vinci Code. The book is fiction. If your religion and belief system is so fragile that it can be torn down by the movie adaptation of what is basically a pulp novel starring Tom Hanks and Audrey Tatou then I suggest you seek and subscribe to a higher truth.

The Power of the Code…

I find this whole thing rather humourous… I’ve noticed that it is the Roman Catholic Church that seems to be the most visibly upset over this "DaVinci Code".

What it all boils down to… is power.

Which is fitting, since the RC Church is arguably one of the most powerful church/organizations in existence.

No group of elites will easily give up its power (either real or perceived).

Those who truely hold to the beliefs in Christ, that He is the Son of God, risen from the dead, and that He is both Judge and Redeemer - will have no problems with the "DaVinci Code"… for thier God is one who is Soveriegn, and is the author of all power.

True Christians will not fear any "loss of power", because by themselves, they have no power.

For them, it is Christ’s Word - God’s words - which is power, (Greek: dynamis) and it is the Christians’ power when they live to Him.

True Christians should not be concerned with much more than living thier lives to please Jesus Christ, and doing His work (Matthew 28:16-20)… as opposed to hawking political agendas, or getting caught up in big-money politics.

As for the various denominations and church and parachurch organizations (Focus On the Family, and those kinds of groups) with vested interests in the government, or in industry, or other sectors of influence in our lives…. they have MUCH to fear from this spectre, this supposed "loss of power".

Thier faith (the parachurch powers) is less in God than it is in the power of their own devices to exert thier influence in the world.

The same is true for any HUMAN organization, regardless of its actual religion or belief system: if its power (or perceived power) appears threatened, it will work to either deny, or eliminate that threat.

The Pharasaic rulership of Judea - the Sanhedrin - felt threatened enough by what Jesus preached against them in order to plot His destruction; He challenged thier legalistic attachment to the Mosaic Law, while they had hearts that were just as wicked and corrupt as the sinners they preached against.

Sure, many "christians" are bothered by this book by Dan Brown. So what? What is Jesus thinking on the matter?

He is God: He is not in the least worried by whatever ill some folks may think (or write) of Him, according to Psalm 2:1-5 :

1) Why do the heathen (the nations of the world) rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?

 2) The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed (Jesus), saying,

 3) Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.

 4) He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the LORD shall have them in derision.

 5) Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.

Check, please!

Therefore, it is not the (true) Christian’s place to loose any sleep over this kind of thing. If God is God, He is more than capable of preserving His people from something as picayune as some guy’s book, and reproving… or even punishing… those who make light of His Word.

Dan Brown is only a recent challenger to Jesus’s claims to perfect, sinless manhood and perfect, divine Godhood; there are nearly 2000 years worth of other writings that have come before him.

Yet [a fellow blogger, name remoived] (mockingly?) said,

"Your fiction conflicts with my fiction; hands off my fiction! (snicker)"

I’m rather thinking that God will have the last laugh.  

No mere book that has been written is able to convince a man of the guilt he has for his sins, and of the judgment of Hell; much less, save his soul.

God’s word has. It did so for me, who has been no less of a sinner than anyone who has posted a comment here (on Adam’s blog), or read (that) blog.

In fact, I might be bold enough to say that I have been a sinner exceeding what many readers who read and post (there), but this might not be a profitable thing for me to boast in, except that God’s grace for salvation be revealed as something stronger still.

2 Peter 1:21 says:

20) Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.

21) For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake [as they were] moved by the Holy Ghost.

And now for the REAL Devil in the Details.

Back to the power thing… it could well be … that if there is a real Jesus Christ who did all the things that He supposedly did in the Bible…

… then it would also be true that His avowed enemy (and ours as well) - who is called the "Devil" and the "Serpent" and the "Destroyer", the "father of lies" - or simply Satan, (if you prefer) he just might feel threatened enough by Jesus’s claims and deeds to try refuting them and casting doubts at every turn.

Ever since the Garden of Eden, this has been Lucifer’s charm, his "lightest feather of doubt" against God’s inerrant word:

"Yea, hath God said…?" (Genesis 3:1)

Then again, most "intelligent" people will dismiss the idea of Satan as being some nasty little Pan-like, pitchfork-bearing imp, a medieval construct that the RC Church used long ago to keep the serfs happily toiling away on thier lords’ manors.

I propose this: That the among greatest evils that the Devil ever done, was to convince the "intelligentsia" of this world… that neither he nor God ever existed.

Or as another twist, that The Devil would claim that God (Yahweh, the Judeo-Christian God, and His Son, Jesus) is a satan (an accuser and an adversary), and Lucifer is a god.

The above statement could be deemed true by bending some semantics… : God is an adversary against sin and wickedness, and as a Holy and Righteous God, is able to judge us for our sins; Lucifer (specifically, the fallen angel we call Satan) is called the "god of this world", (2 Corinthians 4:4) who is a false demonic god specifically given dominion over unbelievers living on earth for a short time.

However, most folks will be quite content never to question the false god (Lucifer) who holds them captive in the cruel bondage of sin and shame. I know it took me a while to listen to God trying to wake me up and convict me of my wretchedness, my sins that had earned for me a death sentence to an eternity in a Hell of fire (Romans 6:23).

The bottom line, folks… is that one of the following cases is the true case, and the other false:

(1) God (and Jesus) are who they say they are, and (a) a terrible judgment for our sins remains, from which (b) only Jesus’s atonement - His sacrafice and resurrection from the dead can save us, IF we believe in Him…

— OR —

(2) God is a liar, and the myriads of His followers have chosen to give thier lives to Him in vain.

Thus, everyone’s fate is to be worm food, and in all likelihood, we will have left this planet utterly unsustainable for any future generations after us…. thus sealing the coffin for humanity at large.

But let God be found true, and every man a liar: if He is true, then ALL of us will someday stand before God, whether to face judgment and condemnation to an eternity in fiery hell… or the reward of eternal life (in Christ).

Wasn’t this originally about Power? You bet it is - it is all about God’s Power:

 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. (Romans 1:16)