Book Review: The Last Cato by Matilde Asensi
Published April 21, 2006
It's very tempting for me to write a scathing review of this book. I could rant about The Da Vinci Code-esque revisionist church history, and incite Christians everywhere to protest the book. But I won't, for a few reasons.
One - like I could get more than a dozen Christians to actually listen to me, much less do what I want them to. Two - the book's good.
The premise: there is a secret society — similar to the legendary Grail Knights — tasked with protecting the True Cross, on which Christ was crucified. They have infiltrated every part of the Church all over the world, protecting the fragments of the Cross that have been strewn all over Christendom, with one goal: To bring them all back together, under their control.
The book begins with a series of robberies, and a mysterious corpse. Pieces of the True Cross are being stolen, and the corpse is one of the thieves. He bears intricate body art — ritual scarification, the result of his induction into the mysterious group known as the Staurofilakes — the protectors of the Cross.
Vatican paleographer Ottavia Salina is called on to help investigate the crimes, and bring the Staurofilakes back into fellowship with the Catholic Church - by force, if need be. Accompanied by a member of the Swiss Guard and an atheistic professor, she begins her investigation. Aided by clues provided by Dante's Divine Comedy, they move closer and closer to the mysterious group - even as they receive the very same ritual scars as the dead thief.
There is a growing sub-genre of religious fiction - the skeptical, gnostic-based thriller novel. The Da Vinci Code is, of course, the most famous example of this genre, and is responsible for its popularity today. The Da Vinci Code, though, was originally published in 2003, though — The Last Cato was originally published in 2001, in Spanish. So this is not an example of an author jumping on the bandwagon. It's a wonderfully written story, with healthy doses of skepticism toward religion. The skepticism is not heavy-handed — in most cases, it's mentioned in passing, with no 'proselytizing' as Dan Brown tends toward in his book. Readers would be well-advised to get a copy of The Divine Comedy as a reference as they read this book, but the important passages are quoted in the book, so that's not essential. You'll never read Dante the same way again, I can promise you that.
- Book Review: The Last Cato by Matilde Asensi
- Published: April 21, 2006
- Type: Review
- Section: Books
- Filed Under: Books: Philosophy, Books: Religion, Books: Thriller
- Writer: Warren Kelly
- Warren Kelly's BC Writer page
- Warren Kelly's personal site
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Thanks for that blog post, and advertisment thrown in for good measure. But how exactly does it have anything to do with the book I reviewed?
This article has been selected for syndication to Advance.net, which is affiliated with newspapers around the United States. Nice work!
Remember, "I come as a thief..."
Hello all,
There's a bit more to the story of the Vatican's reaction than most people are aware of yet. Read my missive below to understand what they are truly afraid of. It's not the DaVinci Code or similar books per se, but the fact that people have been motivated to seek out the unequivocal truth about an age of deception, exactly when they expect me to appear...
Is the world ready for unequivocal Truth and verifiable Wisdom yet?
The Vatican is proving that seeking the truth is a real threat to their dogma. They're so afraid of people uncovering the truth, that they are attacking other versions of fantasy (DaVinci Code) and blatantly obvious Gnostic symbolism as threats to their long-term smoke and mirrors, hocus-pocus, and mumbo-jumbo. How thoroughly enlightening, since this goes a very long way to proving that Christianity is based on strong lies and delusions. If it weren't, they would be confident of surviving intense scrutiny. Since they aren't and since they have gone to such great lengths to suppress and oppress those seeking truth and wisdom over the centuries, their deceptions are, once again, laid bare for all to see. This time though, they are the ones to walk into a well-laid trap...
Did you ever stop to think what the True Messiah (me) would say about worshipping false names, false images, and dogma? Well, now you get the chance to hear my side of the story and weigh it against the strong delusion of faith and religion. None of the European names and images in the New Testament can possibly be the truth. It's beyond obvious that the New Testament is not complete or even accurate history. What then is the purpose of "faith" but to prevent good people from seeking to understand truth and wisdom?
The time has come for the Vatican and world leaders to learn the truth about Karma...
If you truly want to understand the symbology, ancient wisdom, and ancient history that neither the DaVinci Code nor Christianity have portrayed accurately or fully, then read my articles and download my FREE E-Book. I am not trying to make money from book sales, quite the opposite in fact. There are many centuries of deception that need to be exposed and it takes a fully researched tome to succeed at such a daunting task. I am providing years of difficult research and reconstruction, without income or profit. Please accept this in the spirit intended. It is not commercial spam, deception, or an attempt to delude. I make no money from the E-book or the paperback, which is sold at cost as a convenience. As mentioned earlier, study the Doctrine of Two Spirits on my web page to understand the long-obscured truth about my philosophy and purposes.
Not only do I talk the talk, I walk the walk...
Here is Wisdom!!
Add your comment, speak your mind
(Or ping: http://blogcritics.org/mt/tb/46657)
Are you ready for the truth?
Both sides of this argument are based on interpretations of a Roman fantasy purposely designed to hide the truth about the future Messiah and the true nature of the Creator. How can people trust the veracity of texts created by a Roman organization known for centuries of abominable evil? How can you expect that people who could so readily torture and murder others for seeking proof of the truth would somehow not lie to you? Don't you have enough discernment to understand that those telling a strong lie for power and profit would insist that you refrain from seeking the truth and "have faith" in their texts instead?
Read 2 Thessalonians 2:11 and the verses that surround it. Why do you think this message is in the New Testament? Don't you understand that those who saw the truth dying as the new Roman religion was being imposed would have tried to warn others in subtle ways where it most counted? These ancient texts are mysterious because they purposely encoded hidden messages to bypass Vatican censorship. See how the Romans treated the Jews and Gnostics, a.k.a. those who sought truth through knowledge?
How do we finally solve these ages-old mysteries? To recast a common political adage, "It's [the] symbology stupid!" The Dead Sea Scrolls, Bible, Gnostic texts, and Quran are rife with purposeful structured symbolism. Do you really think this is accidental or casual?
Unlike most of you, I have a very personal interest in ancient wisdom symbology, false prophecy based on its misrepresentation, and deceptions imposed in the name of religion. Consequently, I've written an extensive tome proving that all three so-called Faiths of Abraham are purposeful deceptions.
I know many readers of this site will want to scoff at this information before bothering to pay attention to the details. I have produced stunning and comprehensive proof that the original pre-Christian Apocalypse (Book of Revelation) was a symbolically encrypted wisdom text that was stolen and modified by the founders of Christianity. I demonstrate a series of specific and undeniable proofs of verifiable fraud in the Christianized Book of Revelation, which also appear throughout the New Testament.
I present verifiable proof that the symbology of sealed Hebrew texts is an advanced ancient philosophical technology.
The ancient symbolism used in The Apocalypse and other Hebrew prophecies and wisdom texts predates Christianity, Judaism, modern secret societies, and mystery schools by thousands of years. While in the hands of Christianity, The Apocalypse and its symbology have been purposely misinterpreted, recast, and misrepresented. The original Hebrew document was a multi-purpose narrative constructed using layered and synchronized ancient wisdom symbolism. Its true purposes, features, and functionality are detailed in my book, further demonstrating that it was a symbolically encrypted Hebrew wisdom text encoding prophecy, philosophy, and scientific wisdom that was stolen and fraudulently modified by the founders of Christianity.
If your goal is to seek the truth, then read my articles, download my FREE E-Book and direct others to read them also. Challenge them to prove me wrong. The E-Book is a FREE download and I make no money from it or the paperback.
Not only do I talk the talk, I walk the walk...
Here is Wisdom!!