Gnosticism

I just recently found out that the ancient heresy of Gnosticism is still alive today! I thought it was something that was just around during Biblical times… but I was wrong.

I was having a conversation with someone who told me that early Christians believed in reincarnation (for those of you who don’t know what that means, it is the soul that journeys through time occupying different bodies through different lifetimes. The aim of reincarnation is to teach the soul different lessons in order to enlighten them). Obviously this is not a Christian belief. Nowhere in the Bible does it mention multiple lives. As this was not the first time I had heard that, I decided to do some research and found that there is some minute truth to this statement. There was a group of heretics within the Christian circles, called the Gnostics, who believed in reincarnation:

“[Gnosticism] emphasized spiritual ‘resurrection’ (i.e. spiritual rebirth) and physical ‘resurrection’ (i.e. reincarnation) as opposed to a resurrection defined as people sleeping in their graves… Christian Gnostics held the view that if spiritual resurrection was not attained in one lifetime, then the soul would be subjected to as many reincarnations as it takes until spiritual rebirth is attained.”

www.near-death.com/experiences/origen06.html

In essence, what the Gnostics are saying is salvation for all, “If you don’t get it right the first time, don’t worry there’s always next time,” giving people a false hope.

Another thing they believe is that the world we live in is evil. Only the spiritual side of us is good.

“Gnosticism is a Greek philosophical belief, which encompasses the persuasion that all matter is evil, and in contrast, spirit is good. For example, it taught that the human spirit and soul is imprisoned within the evil material body. Therein departing from the fundamental biblical concept of good and evil.”

http://www.itac-israel.org/church/Gnosticism_Dualism.htm

Again the Bible never says that all matter is evil. God created everything and, as Genesis recounts, the Lord said it was good. Matter is not evil it is good. What we do with matter, as humans with sinful natures, might be an entirely different thing. God’s creation is good, wholesome and beautiful.

As I was researching I came across a name I’ve been familiar with since I was a child. He is a modern day “prophet” also known as the Sleeping Prophet. His actual name is Edgar Cayce and is one of the main names out there in the esoteric world. I found a quote by him on one of the sites:

“Gnosticism is the highest form of Christianity.”

http://www.near-death.com/experiences/origen06.html

I was flabbergasted! Firstly because Gnosticism is still very much alive today and people refer to it as such but also because that was the last thing I expected to hear by Cayce. I knew he called himself a Christian but I also knew that his walk and deeds didn’t correspond to his claim. As a result I kept going with some research and found that Cayce has received some or most of his information by putting himself in a trans.

“For forty-three years of his adult life, Edgar Cayce, the Sleeping Prophet demonstrated the uncanny ability to put himself into some kind of self-induced sleep state by lying down on a couch, closing his eyes, and folding his hands over his stomach. This state of relaxation and meditation enabled him to place his mind in contact with all time and space. From this state he could respond to questions as diverse as, "What are the secrets of the universe?" to "How can I remove a wart?" His responses to these questions came to be called "readings" and contain insights so valuable that even to this day individuals have found practical help for everything from maintaining a well-balanced diet and improving human relationships to overcoming life-threatening illnesses and experiencing a closer walk with God.”

http://www.edgarcayce.org/edgar-cayce1.html

“This state of relaxation and meditation enabled him to place his mind in contact with all time and space.” To me this is a scary statement. What is this ‘all space and time’ referring to? Is it a voice? A state of just “knowing?” And the most important question to me is; why do you need a trans in order to get ‘in touch’ with it?

Deuteronomy 18:9-13 states:

“When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD, and because of these detestable practices the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you. You must be blameless before the LORD your God.”

If the Lord is not the one talking to Edgar Cayce, if the Lord isn’t the ‘all space and time’ then who, or what, is it? Personally, I believe it’s demonic. If it’s not from God there is only one other place it can come from; His enemy Satan.

Another interesting thing about Gnosticism is the fact that they get a lot of their “knowledge” in the Gnostic writings. Here are a few examples:

The book of Thomas the Contender

The Gospel of Thomas

The Secret Book of John

The Pisti Sophia

The Gospel of Philip

The Apocalypse of Paul

All these writings have one thing in common: they are masquerading as “true” biblical texts. Unfortunately this is a view commonly held by a lot of people. They also believe that the Bible we have today has been tampered with and so is unreliable. Hence they rely on those texts and not the Bible. What I find really interesting about these so-called gospels is that they were all written in the 2^nd and 3^rd century A.D! If I am wrong please correct me! As far as I’ve found they were written 200-300 years AFTER Christ’s crucifixion! The Christian Bible, and I’m mainly talking about the New Testament writings here, as we know it today was written within 100 years of Christ’s death:

“The oldest, probably the book of James, written as early as 45 A.D. The Book of Revelation is the youngest book of the New Testament, written about 95 A.D.”

http://www.juliantrubin.com/biblefacts.html#24

What would you consider the real writings to be? Books that came well after Jesus lived or books that were written within a lifetime of when He lived? Also the Bible is one of the most documented ancient writings in the world. Here is a chart illustrating some of the more known historical documents that we read today. These are documents we take for granted and often don’t question their validity.

Author	Date Written	Earliest Copy	Approximate Time Span between original & copy	Number of Copies	Accuracy of Copies
Lucretius	died 55 or 53 B.C.		1100 yrs	2	---
Pliny	61-113 A.D.	850 A.D	750 yrs	7	---
Plato	427-347 B.C.	900 A.D.	1200 yrs	7	---
Demosthenes	4th Cent. B.C.	1100 A.D.	800 yrs	8	---
Herodotus	480-425 B.C.	900 A.D.	1300 yrs	8	---
Suetonius	75-160 A.D.	950 A.D.	800 yrs	8	---
Thucydides	460-400 B.C.	900 A.D.	1300 yrs	8	---
Euripides	480-406 B.C.	1100 A.D.	1300 yrs	9	---
Aristophanes	450-385 B.C.	900 A.D.	1200 yrs	10	---
Caesar	100-44 B.C.	900 A.D.	1000 yrs	10	---
Livy	59 BC-AD 17	---	???	20	---
Tacitus	circa 100 A.D.	1100 A.D.	1000 yrs	20	---
Aristotle	384-322 B.C.	1100 A.D.	1400 yrs	49	---
Sophocles	496-406 B.C.	1000 A.D.	1400 yrs	193	---
Homer (Iliad)	900 B.C.	400 B.C.	500 yrs	643	95%
New Testament	1st Cent. A.D. (50-100 A.D.	2nd Cent. A.D. (c. 130 A.D. f.)	Less than 100 years	5600	99.5%

http://www.carm.org/christianity/bible/can-we-trust-new-testament-historical-document

As we can see from the above chart, if we question the Bible, which obviously is the most reliable document we have, then we need to question Plato, Euripides and even Aristotle! The Bible has not been tampered with. What we are reading today is as true now as it was then.

Gnosticism is a very real thing to us today, especially within the occult, esoteric and New Age practices. As believers we need to know about it, research it and ultimately bring people to see the One and Only, the Creator of all time and space. If Cayce was only able to get ‘in touch’ with all time and space, we have a personal relationship with its Creator! Don’t be afraid of stepping out and letting people know whom it is that you worship. People need to hear the truth!

If you know more information that I might have missed please comment!