The Evils Of Gnosticism, Part 2

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Hidden In Him

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In Part 1, I discussed the essence of Gnosticism. It is a Satanic counterfeit to True Christianity. It paints the Old Testament God as an evil being, and presents "Jesus" as the son of a supposedly "higher" god the Jews knew nothing about.

In Part 2, I will go into detail on where this religion started. It began in the pages of the New Testament, with a man referred to by scripture as Simon of Samaria (Acts 8). The Book of Acts describes the original encounter the apostles had with this magician and how that encounter led to conflict and warnings, but it's when you look into the writings of Christian leaders from the next century that you get the full story of what happened afterwards. I will not be covering the doctrines Simon taught regarding sexual sin here. That will be for next study. But I will here give this brief history of how the religion started first, and it is an interesting study in how this battle all began long ago.

God bless to all who read the following,
- H

The Early History Of Simon: The Sorcerer Of Samaria

- The following passage in Acts describes the churches first encounter with Simon the Magician, the man who would go on to become one of the early church's worst and most dangerous spiritual enemies:

- Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is rightly called the Great Power of God.” They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery. But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.
- When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria. When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
- But Simon, having seen that the Holy Spirit was given by the laying on of the apostles’ hands, offered them riches, saying, “Give me this authority as well, so that on whomsoever I may lay my hands, he may receive the Holy Spirit.” But Peter said to him, “May your riches come to ruin with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be obtained by riches. There is no part nor share for you in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. Repent, therefore, of this your wickedness, and ask the Lord God if [this] thought of your heart may truly be forgiven you. For I perceive that you are subject to the poison of bitterness and the bond of iniquity." And having answered, Simon said, “You pray to the Lord on my behalf, so that nothing which you have spoken may come upon me.”(Acts 8:9–24)

- Some writers claim Simon only faked being a Christian during this time, but the passage above strongly suggests he truly did believe only that had some grave spiritual weaknesses: Due to his subjection to demons, Simon was filled with bitterness and also addicted to sin. As Peter said to him:

- Repent... and ask the Lord God if [this] thought of your heart may truly be forgiven you. For I perceive that you are subject to the venom of bitterness, and the bondage of iniquity. (Acts 8:23)

- The word picture used here suggests that Simon's true spiritual state was revealed to Peter by God, and possibly through a vision. The words, "For I perceive that you are subject to the venom of bitterness, and the bondage of iniquity" paint the picture of a man entwined with serpents who were biting into his body and filling him with poison. The Greek word used here was used to translated a Hebrew word that referred to the poison snakes filled their victims with. In other words, Peter saw through the Spirit of God that Simon remained bound by demonic spirits who were still holding him in bondage to both sexual immorality and bitterness towards others. Not by coincidence, Simon was nearly always depicted by church artists as surrounded by demons:

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- To speculate on how Simon was being poisoned with bitterness towards others would be pure conjecture, but it's possible that he may have made himself some enemies during his time as a sorcerer. Possibly some now chided the former "the Great One" over his newly demoted status within the community. This would account for why he now offered to pay the apostles for a return to a place of greater respectability and authority in the new religion.
- Whatever the case, Peter informed Simon that he had no part whatsoever in the matter of administering the Holy Spirit. Filled with resentment, he would pick only those whom he approved of to lay hands on while rejecting those he did not. The power to withhold the Spirit would thus become a weapon in his hands, and a means of once again controlling the people of Samaria. Even worse, so long as he was still bound by his lusts, sexual exploitation might have naturally followed.


Simon Returns To Practicing Sorcery

- Whatever the case, Simon's bitterness was such that he did not repent after being warned by Peter. Rather than wishing to humble himself under the Hand of God and be lifted up in due time (as Paul had to), Simon returned to the practice of magic and serving the Devil, apparently seduced with the temptation of becoming an even greater sorcerer than he was before, able to work demonic miracles even greater than those the apostles were performing. As early Christian tradition states:

- This Simon, then... not putting faith in God a whit more, set himself eagerly to contend against the apostles in order that he himself might seem to be a wonderful being, and devoted himself with still greater zeal to the study of the whole magic art, that he might better bewilder and overpower multitudes of men. (Irenaeus, Ante-Nicene Fathers, V.1, P.347)

- Evidence of the magic arts Simon was practicing can be seen today in the amulets and rings recovered from the 2nd and 3rd centuries which would be used by Simon's successors, magicians and occultists who would eventually come to be called "the Gnostics."

- The mystic priests belonging to this sect both lead profligate lives and practise magical arts, each one to the extent of his ability. They use exorcisms and incantations. Love-potions, too, and charms, as well as those beings who are called "Paredri" (familiars) and "Oniropompi" (dream-senders), and whatever other curious arts can be had recourse to, are eagerly pressed into their service... [they are] called Simonians, and from them "Gnosis" (i.e "knowledge") falsely so called, received its beginning, as one may learn even from their own writings. (Irenaeus, Ante-Nicene Fathers, V.1, P.348)

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- Such amulets prove beyond reasonable doubt that Simon and his successors were employing the use of demons to perform their miracles, for as was revealed to Harold Pittman back in the 80s, he was shown in a vision that the specific class of demons responsible for teaching mankind the practice of black magic, witchcraft and occultism appeared to be half-animal and half-man, very similar in appearance to the satyrs of Greek mythology and the pantheons of the Egyptian and Babylonian religions.
- Abraxas, the Gnostic "god" pictured on the magic ring and amulet above, bears similarities with many of the Egyptian gods depicted on temple walls, an observation which is no coincidence. The early Egyptians were great adepts at the practice of magic, a claim even confirmed by the Biblical account of how Moses dueled with the Egyptian magicians as he stood before Pharaoh. Men like Cerinthus, who was a successor of Simon and likewise adept in practicing magic arts, were specifically mentioned by the early church fathers as having been educated in the wisdom of the Egyptians (See Irenaeus, Ante-Nicene Fathers, V.1, P.351)

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(Continued next post).
 
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Hidden In Him

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The Rise And Fall Of The First False Christ

- According to church tradition, the Devil eventually inspired Simon to travel to Rome and perform great signs and wonders in the city during the reign of Emperor Claudius, i.e. at right about the same time this Second letter to the Thessalonians was being written by Paul.
- In a letter he wrote to Emperor Titus and the Roman Senate decades later, the Christian leader Justin Martyr complained about the following:

- ... after Christ’s ascension into heaven the devils put forward certain men who said that they themselves were gods. And not only were they not persecuted by you, but they were even deemed worthy of honors. There was the Samaritan, Simon, a native of the village called Gitto, who during the reign of Claudius Caesar in your royal city of Rome did mighty acts of magic by virtue of the art of the devils operating within him. He was considered a god, and as a god was honored by you with a statue ... And the man Menander, likewise a Samaritan of the town Capparetæa, a disciple of Simon and inspired by devils, we know to have deceived many while he was in Antioch by his magical art. (Justin Martyr, Ante-Nicene Fathers, V.1, P.171)

- Justin Martyr brought this complaint up again later in the same discourse:

- But the evil spirits ... put forward the Samaritans Simon and Menander, who did many mighty works by magic, and deceived many, and still keep them deceived. For even among yourselves, as we said before, Simon was in the royal city Rome during the reign of Claudius Caesar, and so greatly astonished the sacred senate and people of the Romans that he was considered a god... (Justin Martyr, Ante-Nicene Fathers, V.1, P.182)

- And according to the Greek philosopher Celsus, Simon openly professed to be "the Christ" come again during his own sermons, when he would say things like the following:

- I am God, or a son of God, or divine Spirit. And I have come... you see me returning again with heavenly power. Blessed is he who has worshipped me now! But I will cast everlasting fire on all the rest, both on cities and on country places. And men who fail to realize the penalties in store for them will in vain repent and groan. But I will preserve forever those who have been convinced by me. (The Other Bible, P.604)

- While both Justin Martyr and Irenaeus testified that Simon appeared before the Roman senate during the reign of Claudius, this would not be the only or final time Simon would attempt to convince the Romans he was "the Christ."

That's enough for now. In the next one, I will show what his doctrines were. The church fathers recorded them clearly. They were a perversion of "grace" into a license to sin sexually. This is what letters like Jude and 2 Peter especially dealt with. By the time those letters were written, the followers of Simon's theology were "creeping into the church unawares" to seduce people into sin (Jude 1:3-4; 2 Peter 2:14-22).
 
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Hidden In Him

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Is this false form of "Christianity" going to return in the end-times, and be the religion behind which many false "Christs" arrive according to prophecy? It has already started. There are several members here who are Gnostics, only they currently operate under cover because they use Christian language, and because most are not aware of what they are actually saying they get away with deception in plain sight.

But let's review some modern sources on Gnosticism, so I can show you what they teach and practice. Magick is very much still a part of Gnostic practice, in fact more than ever. The following piece was written in 2019, and I will highlight signifiant statements and words and return to them:
___________________

The Gnostic Witch’s Rite of the Five Seals
JANUARY 16, 2019 ~ KATIE DEMAR

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The Rite of the Five Seals is a baptism of Sethian Gnosticsm intended to activate the Christ consciousness of the initiate. I developed this interpretation of the ritual as part of my completion of the first year of a two-year healing craft program taught by Crow Song Healing Arts. You can read about that process here.

Excerpts for this ritual are taken from Trimorphic Protennoia and The Secret Book of John. I edited some of the language from the excerpts, especially in relation to gender. Barbelo, the Aeon that bestows the baptism, refers to itself as both “she” and “he” and uses the pronouns interchangeably. Likewise it refers to the unknown god of Gnosticism as Father, Mother, and Mother-Father... Additionally, Abraxas is not mentioned by name in Trimorphic Protennoia. The text where that name appears is missing, but I wanted to keep with the pattern of invoking three cosmic beings for each stage of the baptism so I called to Abraxas...

Before enacting the Rite of the Five Seals it is important to establish a daily spiritual practice to be the bedrock from which your magic can grow. For myself, this took the shape of regular meditation and journeying; establishing a working altar that I tended to daily; and developing a working relationship with spirit allies and guides, placing biodegradable offerings on the altar to feed them. The shape of this practice will change from person to person. The important part is to have something that can sustain you through the ritual process.
The Gnostic Witch’s Rite of the Five Seals

___________________

Ok, first off, she specifies that this magick ritual is to "activate the Christ consciousness" within oneself. This is the occult "Christ" that they serve, whereby they can identify themselves as "Christians" when in fact they are occult practitioners. She also makes reference to the higher "god" of Gnosticism (whom is supposedly superior to the ignorant God of the Old Testament) as being both "Mother and Father." You will see this being taught on the forum; that "god" is both male and female, and they are equals. She then makes reference to Abraxas. This is the same "god" depicted on the picture of the magick amulet I posted.

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Abraxas is not a god, it is a demon, and of a class specifically charged with promoting false religion, witchcraft, demon worship and host of other religious beliefs specifically to turn men away from the One True God. Notice that Abraxas must be "invoked" through witchcraft in order for this witch's rite to be successfully performed, and that it also involves "developing a working relationship with spirit allies and guides."

This should be enough to make it obvious that Gnosticism is not true Christianity. It is an imposter religion designed to deceive believers into thinking that its practitioners are "Christians" when they are not. They are in fact deceivers, and dangerous people to associate with if one is not educated in these things and able to recognize what they are actually saying. The dangers are multiplied in that they still use magick and witchcraft to cast spells on unsuspecting people, to further their own ends.

I will continue posting material on this religion in succeeding posts. It is important that the true body of Christ knows how to distinguish the tares from the wheat.

God bless,
Hidden In Him
 

Heart2Soul

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Wow, alot of interesting stuff there!