This is it! He left me an offline, asking me if we can talk on weekend. Well, at first, I was dopey happy about it, but when the message sank in, I started to feel dreadful. Why? Because it says in Meg Magazine that if the guy says, “Can we talk?” it means that he want to tell you something dead serious and important, and he’s gonna break it gently. It’s so over. Well, I’m prepared. Haha.
At last!!!!! I’m done with the book. Whoohoo!
THE TEMPLAR LEGACY
by: Steve Berry
Synopsis:
Cotton Malone, a one-time top agent for the U.S. Justice Department was now retired and living a quiet life in Copenhaagen, Denmark. His former boss, Stephanie Nelle flew all the way from the US to see him.
On the day of their meeting, Cotton sees someone snatched Stephanie’s shoulder bag. He pursues the man, who was described by the author as Red Jacket, because he’s wearing a red jacket, to retrieve Stephanie’s bag. Cotton corners the guy at a rooftop. The man jumps, as he shouted, “Beausant”, killing him. Stephanie took the bag from the corpse and when they were questioned by the Copenhagen police, Stephanie calls US government and both of them were released. She shunned Cotton away, leaving the former subordinate wondering.
Cotton follows Stephanie and learned what she was up to. Stephanie was up to something that her husband, Lars Nelle left. It’s a journal, actually, written by Lars himself. It’s all about the Knights Templar and their hidden treasures.
So okay, the Templars were ancient and noble knights, and they were forme during the medieval times. At first, I didn’t get what they’re all about, but after reading thouroughly, I understood that they dedicated their lives protecting the pilgrims who were travelling to the Holy Land. Later on, they started doing business, like banking, delivery, like FedEx or something like that, farming, baking and education. The recruits are the best men that they can find in middle-aged Europe.
Soon, the Templars’ forces grew strong and they became an army, fighting at wars in the name of the Lord. King Philip IX of France (if I’m made Clement pope, and in return, Clement will convict the Templars of Heresy, so that the treasures could be theirs.
Templars were exterminated, and the Templar master that time was Jacques De Molay. He was summoned by the pope and he had doubts so he instructed the templar seneschal, Gilbert de Blancheforte to hide the treasures and the Great Devise. I’ll explain the Great Devise later.
The seneschal hid it, and after so many years, it was found by a priest, named Sauniere found it. He used the treasure to build the Rennes-Chateau in Pyrenees. Sauniere never revealed it anyone, but he left some clues. After so many years, Lars Nelle started looking for the clues and solving the puzzle Sauniere left. Lars Nelle killed himself, leaving his journal with set of clues to begin with. Mark Nelle, his and Stephanie’s son followed him to the mountains to look for the Templars, the great devise and the treasure, but died in an avalanche and never returned.
Present day: Stephanie wanted to finish what his husband started. Cotton was involved, and with the help of the rich Dane, Henrik Thorvaldsen, who was Lars’ secret friend, and Cassiopeia Vitt, they were able to locate the great devise.
It turned out that Mark wasn’t dead. He became the Templar Knights’ (who were still existing in present day) seneschal. The present master had just died from cancer, an originally, he would be the successor. But the marshall, Raymond de Roquefort, wants to be the next master, so he manipulated the brothers to vote for him. Mark steals some books, wherein clues were written and escapes with Geoffrey, the late master’s assistant.
Steph discovers that her son wasn’t dead so they went to get the treasure. They found it, and of course, there’s De Roquefort. Roquefort was killed, and the found the Great Devise, with the treasure. Time to explain what Great Devise is.
Great Devise was the knowledge (or truth) that the Templars possessed, which made the royals and popes bow upon them. It was revealed at the last part of the book. That thing was the bones of Jesus Christ. You read it right. It’s the bones of Jesus Christ, and the book was saying that he never ressurected. With it, they found a translated arcticle, “The Testimony of Simon.”
THE TESTIMONY OF SIMON
from Steve Berry’s “The Templar Legacy”
I have stayed silent, thinking it better for others to preserve a record. Yet none has come forward. So this had bee written so that you will know what happened.
The man Jesus spent his many years spreading his message throughout the lands of Judea and Galilee. I was the first of his followers, but our numbers grew since many believed his words possessed great meaning. We traveled with him, watching as he eased suffering, brought hope and stirred salvation. He was always himself, no matter the day or event. If the masses lauded him, he faced them. When hostillity surrounded him, he showed no rage or fear. What others thought of him, said, or did never affected him. He said once, “All of us bear God’s image, all are worthy to be loved, all can grow in the spirit of God.” I watched as he embraced the lepers and the immoral. Women and children were precious to him. He showed me that all were worthy of love. He would say, “God is our father. He cares, loves an forgives all. No sheep will ever be lost from that sheperd. Feel free to tell God all, for only in such openess can the heart gain peace.”
The man Jesus taught me to pray. He talked of God, the final judgement, and the end of time. I came to think that he could even control the wind and waves as he stood so afar above us. The religious elders taught that pain, sickness, and tragedy were God’s judgement and we should accept the wrat with the sorrow of a penitent. The man Jesus said that was wrong and offered the sick the courage to become well, the weak the ability to grow a strong spirit, and non-believers the chance to believe. The world seemed to part at his approach, The man Jesus possessed a purpose, he lived his life to fulfill that purpose, and that purpose was clear to those of us who followed him.
But in his travels the man Jesus made enemies. The elders found him a threat in that he offered different values, new rules, and threatened their authority. Tey worried that if the man Jesus was allowed to roam free and preach change, Rome could well tighten its grip and all would suffer, especially the high priest who served at Rome’s pleasure. So it happened that Jesus was arrested for blasphemy and Pilate decreed he should ascend the cross. I was there that day and Pilate could not deny them.
In Jerusalem the man Jesus and six others were taken to a place on the hill and bound by thongs to the cross. Later in the day, the legs of the three men were broken and they succumbed by the nightfall. Two more died the next day. The man Jesus was allowed to linger until the third, until his legs were finally broken. I did not go to him while he suffered. I, and the others who followed him, hid away, afraid that we might be next. After he died, the man Jesus was left of his cross for six more days wile birds picked his flesh. He was finally taken from the cross and dropped into a hole dug from the ground. I watched that happen, then fled to Jerusalem by way of the desert, stopping in Bethany at the home of Mary called Magdalene and her sister, Martha. They had known the man Jesus and were saddened by his death. They were angry at me for not defending him, for not acknowledging him, for fleeing when he was suffering. I asked them what they would have had me do and their answer was clear, “Join him.” But that thought never occurred to me. Instead, to all who asked, I denied the man Jesus and all that he stood for. I left their home, returning days later to Galilee and the comfort of that which I knew.
Two who had traveled with the man Jesus, James and John, also returned to Galilee. Togethere we shared our grief over the loss of the man Jesus and resumed our life as fishermen. The darkness we all felt consumed us and time did not ease our pain. As we fished on the sea of Galilee we talked of the man Jesus and all that he did and all that he witnessed. It was on the lake, years ago, that we first met him as he taught from our boat. His memory seemed everywhere upon the waters, which made our grief even harder to escape. One night, as a storm swirled across the lake and we sat on shore eating bread ad fish, I thought I saw the man Jesus upon the mist. But when I waded out I knew that the vision was only in my mind. Every morning we broke bread and ate fish Remembering what the man Jesus once did, one of us woul bless the bread and offer it up in praise of God. This act made us all feel better. One day John commented that the broken bread was so like the broken body body of the man Jesus. After that, we all started to associate the bread with the body.
Four months passed and one day James reminded us that the Torah proclaimed that one hung upon a three is accursed. I told him that could not be true of the man Jesus. That was the first time any of us ever questioned the ancient words. They simply could not apply to one so good as the man Jesus. How would a scribe from long ago that all who were hung upon a tree were accursed. He could not. In a battle between the man Jesus and the ancient words, the man Jesus was the victor.
Our grief continued to torment us. the man Jesus was gone. His voice was silent. The elders survived and their messsage lived. Not because they were right, but simply because they were alive and speaking. The elders had triumphed over the man Jesus. But how could something so good be wrong? Why woul God allow such good to disappear?
Summer ended and the feast of the Tabernacle came, which was a time to celebrate the joy of harvest. We thought it safe to travel to Jerusalem and take part. Once there, during the procession to the altar, it was read from the Psalms that the Messiah shall not die, but shall live and recount the deeds of the Lord. One of the elders proclaimed that though the Lord has chastened the Messiah sorely, He has not given him over unto death. But rather, the stone that the builders rejected has become the head of the corner. In the Temple we listened to readings from Zechariah, which told that one day the Lord would come and living waters would flow from Jerusalem and the Lord would become become king over all the earth. Then one evening I came upon another reading from Zechariah. He spoke of a pouring out from the House of David and of a spirit of compassion and supplication. It was said that when we look on him wom they have pierced, we shall mourn for him as one weeps over a first born.
Listening, I thought of the man Jesus and what happened to him. The reader seemed to speak directly to me when he spoke of God’s plan to strike the shepherd so that the sheep may scatter. At that moment a love took hold of me that would not let go. That night I journeyed outside Jerusalem to the spot where the Romans had buried the man Jesus. I knelt above his mortal remains and wondered how a simple fisherman could be the source of all truth. The high priest and scribes had judged the man Jesus a fraud. But I knew they were wrong. God did not require obedience to ancient laws in order to achieve salvation. God’s love was boundless. The man Jesus had many times said that, and in accepting his death with great courage and dignity, the man Jesus had given one final lesson to us all. In ending life we find life. Loving is to be loved.
All doubt left me. Grief vanished. Confusion became clarity. The man Jesus was not dead. He was alive. Ressurected within me was the risen Lord. I felt his presence as clearly as when he once stood beside me. I recalled what he said to me many times. ” Simon, if you love me you will find my sheep.” I finally knew that loving as he loved will allow anyone to know the Lord. Doing as he did will allow us all to know the Lord. Living as he lived is the way to salvation. God had come to heaven to dwell within the man Jesus and through his deeds and words the Lord became known. The message was clear. Care for the needy, comfort the distressed, befriend the rejected. Do those things and the Lord will be pleased. God took the man Jesus’s life so that we could see. I was merely the first to accept that truth. The task became clear. The message must live through me and others who likewise believe.
When I told John and James of my vision they saw, too. Before we left Jerusalem, we returned to the place of my vision and dug from the earth the remains of the man Jesus. We took him with us and laid him in a cave. We returned the next year and gathered his bones. Then I wrote this account which I placed with the man Jesus, for together they are the Word.
De Roquefort was accidentally killed by Mark. They all went back to the Abbey Des Fontaines and Mark was made the new master. The old master had planned it all. It’s a test for Mark. With Geoffry’s and the chaplain’s help, he was able to defeat his rival.
The treasure would be the Templars’, and they all agreed to spend it with AIDS movement or something like that and famine prevention. As for the ossuary, with “Yeshua Bar Yehosef” (Jesus, son of Joseph) in and Simon Peter’s testimony, Mark said it would be seale away, because the world is content with what it knows.
Mark stayed at the Abbey, Cassiopeia went back to he chateu, Steph flew to the US while Malone and Henrik went back to Copenhagen.
The book was good. Steve Berry is brave. Unlike Dan Brown, who never got straight to the point in his Da Vinci code, Steve Berry had it bull’s-eyed. Whoosh, straight to the point. Jesus didn’t ressurected, that’s what the book conveyed. Pretty convincing, if you ask me. Plus, he just made it up all, including the Testimony of Simon Peter.
Though it’s against my belief (Duh, I’m a Christian), I’ll give 9 out of ten stars. That’s my kind of novel. You know, action-adventure, but there’s a hint of comic conspiracy.
