The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown, published in March 2003, is claimed to be the best-selling novel of all time—certainly the best-selling novel in any one-year period. Over 40 million copies have been sold and it has been translated into over 40 languages!

While it may be politically incorrect to criticize other's religion, it seems to be open season on Christianity, especially all forms of Christianity that would seriously attempt to be biblically accurate, as evidenced in many of today's books, movies, and TV shows.

Now a movie adaptation of The DaVinci Code is being filmed. It is due to be released in theaters May 19, 2006, starring Tom Hanks.

The DaVinci Code has become a pop-culture phenomenon. Why is it so popular? Well, weird sells. And it has appeal for almost everyone. Murder-mystery fans! Romance novel lovers! History buffs! Suspicious conspiracy-theory zealots! Radical feminists! Present-day pseudo-intellectual Gnostics! And some art enthusiasts who may be wondering if there really are secret clues in the paintings by the Italian artist Leonardo DaVinci!

The DaVinci Code is riding a strange wave of interests: scandals in the Catholic Church and other churches; growing interest in apocryphal and Gnostic writings claiming to be gospel accounts of Christ; the "spirituality is good but religion is bad" mindset; burgeoning biblical illiteracy; and a general anti-Christian bias.

Our views and emotions are easily shaped by storytelling, whether in books or movies. Authors who have agendas often manipulate us as to who are the good guys or the bad guys.

In The DaVinci Code, with its sympathy toward "the sacred feminine" the good 'guys' are its goddesses, especially Mary Magdalene! This reinvented Christianity allows for a much looser standard of morality.

Defenders will say, "Why criticize The DaVinci Code? It's just a novel!" Yes, but it claims to be a historical novel.

To make that claim its historical parts should be true—which is usually not the case in this book. As a result, countless people are being deceived into believing a history which is nothing more than fantasy, not an authentic rendering of truth!

At the very beginning of the book is this statement: "All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate." In reality, it incorporates many inaccuracies.

But more serious are its outright fabrications and distortions of history and theology. The harm might be minimal for people who are well-grounded in the Bible and read The DaVinci Code as a purely fictional story. But countless readers who have very little biblical knowledge will form their primary opinions about the Bible and about Jesus Christ from this book! And because the book claims to have an accurate historical basis, many Christians have become confused and disturbed.

In this short commentary I can mention just few of the fallacies in this book. Thankfully, there are several books on the market and numerous websites on the Internet devoted to exposing the myths and heresies in it. The book Breaking the DaVinci Code by Darrell Bock gives a very thorough critique. By searching the internet you will be able to find much helpful information exposing the misleading ideas within the book.

If you haven't heard the main premises, get ready for a shock. This fictitious story presents Jesus Christ as a mere mortal prophet and the New Testament Gospels as "fabrications." Jesus supposedly married Mary Magdalene and she was carrying His child when He was crucified. This Mary fled to France, where she gave birth to a daughter named Sarah. Their descendants are living today, carrying on the royal blood line. The womb of Mary Magdalene was the legendary "Holy Grail," which held the sacred blood.

The story continues with more fictional premises: The truth about Jesus and Mary Magdalene was kept alive by a secret society called the Priory of Sion. An ongoing Catholic conspiracy, especially by Opus Dei, has prevented this truth from coming to light because of prejudice against women. The clue to Mary's prominent relationship with Christ is that she supposedly is the figure to Jesus' right in Leonardo daVinci's painting of "The Last Supper."

The theories in The DaVinci Code are not new. This book just revives and popularizes long-debunked heresies. The main theories are copied from a 1982 book: Holy Blood, Holy Grail.

A biblically based account of Jesus Christ, His message and His legacy is now available to you free of any charge or obligation. Just request, read online, or download your personal free copies of two of our most informative booklets: Jesus Christ: The Real Story and The Gospel of the Kingdom.