What Tomorrow May Bring - What Ever Happened to Da Vinci Madness?
By Johnnie Sloan
Well, it happened. There was a catastrophic collapse in the wake of the phenomenon known affectionately to Christians as Da Vinci Madness (insert frightening 1920's radio drama music here for effect). What is the catastrophe, you ask? Bookstores across the country and in cyberspace are frantically trying to recover from the lackluster book sales related to this short-lived craze and are dramatically reducing prices on all things Da Vinci. I know that isn't qualified to be called a catastrophe, but it got your attention, right?
To ask why this deserves attention is a fair question. The answer is simply, how do we keep falling for this? Have you bought a book on Y2K lately, or Promise Keepers, or Mel Gibson's movie (Not the super violent one in theaters now, but the Passion), or 40 Days of Purpose, or any other countless waves that come and take the modern churchgoer on a wild ride. Oh, I almost forgot the Left Behind series that one of our church members picked up used at a fraction of the retail price online recently. Notice also I included Christian events as well as those that aren't (Da Vinci Code). This leads me to the point of the thesis.
Since I have walked with Christ there hasn't been a time when something wasn't "the thing." Either it is "the thing" that is threatening the fabric of our faith, like the Da Vinci Code or it is "the thing" that is going to catapult Christianity and cause a world-wide surge of mass conversion like Purpose Driven Whatever. By the way, I haven't seen all of those pretty "God Bless America" stickers since 9/11, have you? Before you cry cynical, let me expound. We are consumers. Even we Christians consume. We move from fad to fad (even with a stop at a pet rock if you can imagine). We are like sheep who eat whatever is put in front of us. We have just had a meal of very little nutrition in the Da Vinci crisis that just passed. I even taught a few weeks on it in church. I do not think it was time wasted because we focused primarily on the veracity of the Bible. This brings me to the next point.
What will it take to nail down in the mind of the Evangelical community that no weapon formed against God can succeed? That no cleverly written novel (which I thought wasn't that clever) is going to make a dent in the Kingdom of Christ? How can a second-rate fiction novel stand a chance when even the gates of Hell don't? And conversely, who do we think we are that some book or film we can produce is going to be worthy to compliment the eternal Word of God? We must stop thinking this way. There is a real danger underlying these faux ones. The Da Vinci scare wasn't real, neither was Embraced by the Light - Can't remember that one? I told you they weren't that strong. These things are not a threat to Christ and His Kingdom, but our ignorance of the Scripture is most definitely a threat to us as individuals. If we can be intimidated in thinking either that a film or book can be a hurdle or a help to the Almighty then we obviously need to spend more time studying His character in His book.
If I had waited just a few more months to write (maybe this
is the case now if you've read this too late) there would be almost a comical
tone to it. But, a couple of years ago, you couldn't turn on Christian radio or
go the bookstore and not notice that the Da Vinci Code captured America
for about fifteen minutes. What will it be tomorrow? Whose book is going to
revolutionize church? What film is going to cause books and tracts to fly off
the shelves (it's hard for me not to see the profit being motivational to this
cycle).
Whatever the next phase we go through, I pray Christians see through the thin
veil and notice the Devil isn't as big as he thinks he is. Nor is God as small
as some think He is. He is building His Kingdom and none can stop Him. We who
are firmly planted in the Word won't get fooled again to quote an anthem
of one of these supposed threats from the past! Sorry Leonardo; not this time.