A few Wednesday’s ago, I made a remark about the “The Da Vinci Code” that seemed appropriate to share with those of us that are unable to attend the Wednesday night meetings.  I said, “The devil can read.”  Contributing to the conspiracy theory put forth in the book and movie is a fact that a preacher in the 7^th century AD proclaimed in a sermon that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute.  This is a fact that is found nowhere in Scripture.  One small error, that seems so insignificant, is being used 1400 years later to to support the premise that the church has been covering up Mary’s true importance.  The devil is the father of lies, and if it’s a lie, he’s going to use it, even if we’re the ones who lied.

I’m sure that the preacher that introduced this erroneous fact about Mary had the best of intentions.  I’m sure it helped to make the lesson “More interesting.”  Even today we see similar things done.  It’s just “more interesting” to have 3 wise men at the manger rather than an indeterminate number of wise men 1 1/2 years later in Nazareth.  It’s an insignificant error, but error none-the-less.  I’m sure as with Mary, the devil will find a way to use this.

One problem I have always been blessed with is my opinion that the Bible story is just plain interesting enough without embellishment.  The church is the “pillar and ground of the truth”.  (1 Timothy 3: 15)  We should all read our Bibles so we are familiar with the truth.  As Jesus sheep, we should be familiar enough with the truth that we recognize the Shepherd’s voice when we hear it.  As we follow Jesus’ teaching (And the life and love it includes), and stand for the absolute truth of the Bible, the world will see that the church is something different from that religious part of the world that claims to be the church.