Gnostics, Gnostic Gospels, & Gnosticism

[Ronin Truth]

The Lost Doctrines of Christianity

The Secret Teachings

Ancient writings were discovered in 1945 which revealed more information about the concept of reincarnation from the sect of Christians called "Gnostics". This sect was ultimately destroyed by the Roman orthodox church, their followers burned at the stake and their writings wiped out. The writings included some long lost gospels, some of which were written earlier than the known gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The Gnostic Christians claimed to possess the correct definition of "resurrection" - based on Jesus' secret teachings, handed down to them by the apostles. The existence of a secret tradition can be found in the New Testament:

"He [Jesus] told them, ' The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables so that, they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!'" (Mark 4:11-12)

"No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began." (1 Corinthians 2:7)

"So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God." (1 Corinthians 4:1)

A fragment of the Secret Gospel of Mark, one of the Gnostic texts discovered, describes Jesus performing secret initiation rites. Before the discovery of Gnostic writings, our only knowledge of it came from a letter written by Church Father Clement of Alexandria (150 AD - 211 AD), which quotes this secret gospel and refers to it as "a more spiritual gospel for the use of those who were being perfected." He said, "It even yet is most carefully guarded [by the church at Alexandria], being read only to those who are being initiated into the great mysteries."

Clement insists elsewhere that Jesus revealed a secret teaching to those who were "capable of receiving it and being molded by it." Clement indicates that he possessed the secret tradition, which was handed down through the apostles. Such Gnostics were spiritual critics of the orthodox Church of what they saw as not so much a popularization as a vulgarization of Christianity. The orthodox church stressed faith, while the Gnostic church stressed knowledge (gnosis). This secret knowledge emphasized spiritual resurrection rather than physical resurrection. Indeed, the Gnostic Christians believed reincarnation to be the true interpretation of "resurrection" for those who have not attained a spiritual resurrection through this secret knowledge.

The New Testament talks about this gnosis (knowledge):

"Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues." (1 Corinthians 12:7-10)

"For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding." (Colossians 1:9)

The first-century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus states that the Pharisees, the founders of rabbinic Judaism for whom Paul once belonged, believed in reincarnation. He writes that the Pharisees believed that the souls of bad men are punished after death but that the souls of good men are "removed into other bodies" and they will "have power to revive and live again." The Sadducees, the other prominent Jewish sect in Palestine, did not emphasize life after death and according to the Bible "say there is no resurrection" (Matthew 22:23). From what we have just discussed, it is clear that what Matthew really states is that the Sadducees "say there is no reincarnation".

The following are some the secret teachings of Jesus from the Gnostic gospels that affirm reincarnation, revealing the secret knowledge:

"Watch and pray that you may not be born in the flesh, but that you may leave the bitter bondage of this life." (Book of Thomas the Contender)

"When you see your likeness, you are happy. But when you see your images that came into being before and that neither die nor become visible, how much you will bear!" (Gospel of Thomas)

In the Book of Thomas the Contender, Jesus tells the disciple Thomas that after death those who were once believers but have remained attached to things of "transitory beauty" will be consumed "in their concern about life" and will be "brought back to the visible realm".

In the Secret Book of John, reincarnation is placed at the heart of its discussion of the salvation of souls. The book was written by 185 AD at the latest. Here is the Secret Book of John's perspective on reincarnation:

All people have drunk the water of forgetfulness and exist in a state of ignorance. Some are able to overcome ignorance through the Spirit of life that descends upon them. These souls "will be saved and will become perfect," that is, escape the round of rebirth. John asks Jesus what will happen to those who do not attain salvation. They are hurled down "into forgetfulness" and thrown into "prison", the Gnostic code word for new body. The only way for these souls to escape, says Jesus, is to emerge from forgetfulness and acquire knowledge. A soul in this situation can do so by finding a teacher or savior who has the strength to lead her home. "This soul needs to follow another soul in whom the Spirit of life dwells, because she is saved through the Spirit. Then she will never be thrust into flesh again." (Secret Book of John)

Another Gnostic text, Pistis Sophia, outlines an elaborate system of reward and punishment that includes reincarnation. The text explains differences in fate as the effects of past-life actions. A "man who curses" is given a body that will be continually "troubled in heart". A "man who slanders" receives a body that will be "oppressed". A thief receives a "lame, crooked and blind body". A "proud" and "scornful" man receives "a lame and ugly body" that "everyone continually despises." Thus earth, as well as hell, becomes the place of punishment.

According to Pistis Sophia, some souls do experience hell as a shadowy place of torture where they go after death. But after passing through this hell, the souls return for further experiences on earth. Only a few extremely wicked souls are not allowed to reincarnate. These are cast into "outer darkness" until the time when they are destined to be "destroyed and dissolved".

Several Gnostic texts combine the ideas of reincarnation and union with God. The Apocalypse of Paul, a second-century text, describes the Merkabah-style ascent of the apostle Paul as well as the reincarnation of a soul who was not ready for such an ascent. It shows how both reincarnation and ascents fit into Gnostic theology. Click here for Apocalypse of Paul to read more.

As Paul passes through the fourth heaven, he sees a soul being punished for murder. This soul is being whipped by angels who have brought him "out of the land of the dead" (earth). The soul calls three witnesses, who charge him with murder. The soul then looks down "in sorrow" and is "cast down" into a body that has been prepared for it. The text goes on to describe Paul's further journey through the heavens, a practice run for divine union.

Pistis Sophia combines the ideas of reincarnation and divine union in a passage that begins with the question: What happens to "a man who has committed no sin, but done good persistently, but has not found the mysteries?" The Pistis Sophia tells us that the soul of the good man who has not found the mysteries will receive "a cup filled with thoughts and wisdom." This will allow the soul to remember its divine origin and so to pursue the "mysteries of the Light" until it finds them and is able to "inherit the Light forever." To "inherit the Light forever" is a Gnostic code for union with God.

For the Gnostic Christians, resurrection was also a spiritual event - simply the awakening of the soul. They believed that people who experience the resurrection can experience eternal life, or union with God, while on earth and then after death, escape rebirth. People who don't experience the resurrection and union with God on earth will reincarnate. Jesus states the following the Gnostic Gospels:

"People who say they will first die and then arise are mistaken. If they do not first receive resurrection while they are alive, once they have died they will receive nothing." (Gospel of Philip)

Paul writes in several places that resurrection involves a spirit body. Such a definition corresponds with spiritual resurrection and reincarnation:

"It [the dead body] is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body." (1 Corinthians 15:44)

"I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable." (1 Corinthians 15:50)

"When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ." (Colossians 2:13)

The Gnostics claimed their terminology was sprinkled through the Epistles. For example, the author of Ephesians uses the words "awake", "sleep" and "dead" in a Gnostic sense:

"But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said: "Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you." (Ephesians 5:13-14)

Some of the Greek words in the New Testament translated as "resurrection" also mean to "rise" or "awake". Therefore, argued the Gnostics, when Paul says people can be part of the resurrection, he is really saying that their souls can be awakened to the Spirit of God.

We know that in some passages Paul writes about the resurrection as a present rather than a future event:

"Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin - because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus." (Romans 6:3-11)

Colossians also seems to describe the resurrection as a present-day event:

"Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God." (Colossians 3:1)

"Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator." (Colossians 3:9-10)

In the above passage, taking off the old self and putting on the new is a code for the resurrection, which, again, is described as a present-life event.

The Gnostic manuscripts present a clear, simple and strong vision of the resurrection. First, the Gospel of Thomas disabuses people of the notion that the resurrection is a future event:

"His followers said to him, 'When will the rest for the dead take place, and when will the new world come?' He said to them, 'What you look for has come, but you do not know it.'" (Gospel of Thomas)

In the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus is saying that the resurrection and the kingdom are already here. We simply do not realize it - or, in the Gnostic sense, we simply have not integrated with them.

Jesus explained the concept of resurrection before raising Lazarus from the dead:

"Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day." Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" (John 11:23-26)

In these verses, Jesus tells Martha her brother Lazarus will "rise again". Martha mistakenly thinks Jesus means Lazarus will come out of his grave at Judgment Day. Jesus corrects her by stating that those who believe in Him will live, even before they die. Jesus is referring here to spiritual regeneration. Jesus also states that those who die believing in Him, will never die. This clearly implies reincarnation. The flip-side to this is that those who die not believing in Him, will have to die again (i.e. reincarnate). It is interesting to note that by raising Lazarus from death, Jesus is forcing Lazarus to live out the rest of his life only to die physically again. By raising Lazarus from death, Jesus seems to be demonstrating that one does not wait until Judgment Day to rise.

Jesus flatly tells Nicodemus:

"I tell you a truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." (John 3:3)

Nicodemus misunderstands what Jesus means by "born again":

"How can a person be born when he is old? Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!" (John 3:4)

In response, Jesus states:

"I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit." (John 3:5-6)

In context of these verses, Jesus is talking about the process of resurrection, that is, being born of water and being born of the Spirit. Jesus describes physical resurrection (to be born of water) and spiritual resurrection (to be born of the Spirit). They are two similar yet different processes. From these verses, the case can be made that Jesus taught the concept of resurrection as being physical rebirth as well as spiritual rebirth.

In the Apocryphal book Wisdom of Solomon, recognized by the Catholic Church, is the following verse:

"... I was given a sound body to live in because I was already good." (Wisdom of Solomon 8:19-20)

This verse raises the following question: How is it possible to get a body after you have already been good if reincarnation is a fact?

Flavius Josephus records that the Essenes of the Dead Sea Scrolls lived "the same kind of life" as the followers of the Greek philosopher Pythagoras who taught reincarnation. According to Josephus, the Essenes believed that the soul is both immortal and preexistent which is necessary for belief in reincarnation.

One scroll entitled "The Last Jubilee" mentions reincarnation. This scroll is about the "last days" during which time it says, a "Melchizedek redivivus" (reincarnate) will appear and destroy Belial (Satan) and lead the children of God to eternal forgiveness. Parts of this scroll has been unreadable and will be denoted by this '. . .' symbol. Here is it's message:

"Men will turn away in rebellion, and there will be a re-establishment of the reign of righteousness, perversity being confounded by the judgements of God. This is what scripture implies in the words, "Who says to Zion, your God has not claimed his Kingdom!" The term Zion there denoting the total congregation of the "sons of righteousness" that is, those who maintain the covenant and turn away from the popular trend, and your God signifying the King of Righteousness, alias Melchizedek Redivivus, who will destroy Belial. Our text speaks also of sounding a loud trumpet blast throughout the land on the tenth day of the seventh month. As applied to the last days, this refers to the fanfare which will then be sounded before the Messianic King." (The Last Jubilee)

Melchizedek was the High Priest described in the Bible. It is interesting to note that some early Christians believed Melchizedek to be an early incarnation of Jesus. If this is true and the above passage of the Dead Sea Scrolls can be believed, then the passage is very likely referring to Jesus Himself and His second coming.

The Dead Sea Scrolls indicate that the Jewish mystical tradition of union with God went back to the first, if not the third, century before Christ. Jewish mysticism has its roots in Greek mysticism which espouced reincarnation. Some of the hymns found with the Dead Sea Scrolls are similar to the Hekhalot hymns sung by the Jewish mystics. One text gives us unmistakable evidence of Jewish mysticism. It is called "Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice". Also, fragments of 1 Enoch, which is considered the oldest evidence of Jewish mysticism, were also found with the Dead Sea Scrolls. Since Jewish mysticism existed in the third century before Christ, as Enoch indicates, then it would certainly have been present in first-century Judaism. As stated earlier, this twin idea of divine union and reincarnation can be found in early Christianity and one can easily conclude that it was the key to the heart of Jesus' message.

Reincarnation has been a tenet for thousands of years for certain Jews and Christians. The Zohar is a work of great weight and authority among the Jews. In II, 199 b, it says that "all souls are subject to revolutions." This is metempsychosis or a'leen b'gilgoola; but it declares that "men do not know the way they have been judged in all time." That is, in their "revolutions" they lose a complete memory of the acts that have led to judgment. The Kether Malkuth says, "If she, the soul, be pure, then she shall obtain favor.. . but if she hath been defiled, then she shall wander for a time in pain and despair. . . until the days of her purification." If the soul be pure and if she comes at once from God at birth, how could she be defiled? And where is she to wander if not on this or some other world until the days of her purification? The Rabbis always explained it as meaning she wandered down from Paradise through many revolutions or births until purity was regained.

Under the name of "Din Gilgol Neshomes" the doctrine of reincarnation is constantly spoken of in the Talmud. The term means "the judgment of the revolutions of the souls." And Rabbi Manassa, son of Israel, one of the most revered, says in his book Nishmath Hayem: "The belief or the doctrine of the transmigration of souls is a firm and infallible dogma accepted by the whole assemblage of our church with one accord, so that there is none to be found who would dare to deny it. . . . Indeed, there is a great number of sages in Israel who hold firm to this doctrine so that they made it a dogma, a fundamental point of our religion. We are therefore in duty bound to obey and to accept this dogma with acclamation . . . as the truth of it has been incontestably demonstrated by the Zohar, and all books of the Kabalists."

The Original Religion
The Lost Doctrines of Christianity
Christianity Not New
The Secret Teachings
The Original Religion
The Spirit Realm
Paradox of Genesis 1
The Spiritual Ruler of This World
The True Destiny of Mankind
The Doctrine of the Trinity
The Plan of God
The Meaning of the Spring Holy Days
The Fall Holy Days
The Kingdom of God


Reincarnation Research Center

Hebrews 9:27 does not disprove reincarnation.
The Book of Revelation Teaches Reincarnation Part I
The Book of Revelation Teaches Reincarnation Part II
Pope Arrested for Believing in Reincarnation
Reincarnation in the Bible
More Scriptural Support for Reincarnation
Biblical Proof of Awareness after Death
Buddha: Proof of Reincarnation
Scientific Proof of Reincarnation
Reincarnation (old plan), Resurrection (new plan)?
Reincarnation: The Original Plan of God
Christian Reincarnation: The Long Forgotten Doctrine
Aquarian Gospel of Christ
Resurrection - The Amended plan of God
The Essenes
Christ Taught Reincarnation
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Sabbath: The Amended Plan of God part 1
Resurrection: The Amended Plan of God part 2
The Sabbath is a Rehearsal
Sabbath and the Buddha
The Tao of Sabbath
Seven Sabbath Meditations
How to Meditate
Advanced Meditation
The Parable of the King's Diamonds
Chester's Oral tests
And God said...

http://reluctant-messenger.com/Lost-Doctrines-Christianity003.htm

 

[Ronin Truth]

Gnostics

New Page -- 6 August 2003Updated -- 1 April 2007 ​

Gnosticism, its belief structures, history, and relevant texts are remarkably consistent with much of the Chronicles of Earth described elsewhere in this website. The connections to the Sumerian histories, stories of Anunnaki, Enki and Enlil, and even the modern day understanding of Mary Magdalen’s true role (as recounted, for example, by Dan Brown in his novel, The Da Vinci Code [1]), is nothing short of amazing. Gnosticism is thus an essential ingredient in understanding – from a wholly different viewpoint – the myriad events from the time of 600 B.C.E. to the present day.To appreciate this concept, it is important to consider various descriptions of Gnostics by diverse modern scholars. In the recounting and brief summaries of their views, one can obtain a better understanding of Gnosticism, and periodically gleam from this description aspects which account for the whole of the Chronicles of Earth, the Star Fire, and the current bewilderment of a dysfunctional world.
We begin with: http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/gnostics.html, i.e.
Gnosticism is: “A religion that differentiates the evil god of this world (who is identified with the god of the Old Testament) from a higher more abstract God revealed by Jesus Christ, a religion that regards this world as the creation of a series of evil archons/powers who wish to keep the human soul trapped in an evil physical body, [and] a religion that preaches a hidden wisdom or knowledge only to a select group as necessary for salvation or escape from this world.” The term ‘gnostic’ derives from ‘gnosis,’ Greek for ‘knowledge’. “Some scholars have theorized that Gnosticism has its roots in pre-Christian religions, instead of being merely an offshoot of Christianity.”
http://www.gnosis.org/gnintro.htm provides us with an extended excellent summary of Gnosticism. For example:“GNOSTICISM IS THE TEACHING based on Gnosis, the knowledge of transcendence arrived at by way of interior, intuitive means. Although Gnosticism thus rests on personal religious experience, it is a mistake to assume all such experience results in Gnostic recognitions. It is nearer the truth to say that Gnosticism expresses a specific religious experience, an experience that does not lend itself to the language of theology or philosophy, but which is instead closely affinitized to, and expresses itself through, the medium of myth. Indeed, one finds that most Gnostic scriptures take the forms of myths. The term “myth” should not here be taken to mean “stories that are not true”, but rather, that the truths embodied in these myths are of a different order from the dogmas of theology or the statements of philosophy.”Relevant aspects of Gnosticism are (from: http://www.gnosis.org/gnintro.htm):
Gnostics hold that the world is flawed because it was created in a flawed manner. By beginning with the fundamental recognition that earthly life is filled with suffering, it becomes evident that all forms of life are living in a world which is flawed and absurd.
Gnostics blame the world’s failings not on humans, but on the creator. “Since -- especially in the monotheistic religions -- the creator is God, this Gnostic position appears blasphemous, and is often viewed with dismay even by non-believers.”
“The ancient Greeks, especially the Platonists, advised people to look to the harmony of the universe, so that by venerating its grandeur they might forget their immediate afflictions. But since this harmony still contains the cruel flaws, forlornness and alienation of existence, this advice is considered of little value by Gnostics.
“Nor is the Eastern idea of Karma regarded by Gnostics as an adequate explanation of creation’s imperfection and suffering. Karma at best can only explain how the chain of suffering and imperfection works. It does not inform us in the first place why such a sorrowful and malign system should exist.”
Of particular importance is the Gnostic concept of God, which unites and reconciles the recognitions of monotheism and polytheism, as well as of theism, deism, pantheism, and quite possibly humorism(?). Maybe even fundamentalism. Or just Ismism.Gnostics believe there is a true, ultimate and transcendent God, a being who is beyond all created universes and who never created anything in the sense in which the word ‘create’ is ordinarily understood. Instead this God ‘emanated’ or brought forth from within Himself the substance of all there is in all the worlds, visible and invisible. However, much of the original divine essence has since been projected from their source and in the process has undergone some distinctly unwholesome changes in the process.
This process of change involves, in Gnostic myth, the existence of Aeons, “intermediate deific beings who exist between the ultimate, True God and ourselves. They, together with the True God, comprise the realm of Fullness (Pleroma) wherein the potency of divinity operates fully.”
“One aeonial being who bears the name Sophia (‘Wisdom’) is of great importance to the Gnostic world view. In the course of her journeyings, Sophia came to emanate from her own being a flawed consciousness, a being who became the creator of the material and psychic cosmos, all of which he created in the image of his own flaw. This being, unaware of his origins, imagined himself to be the ultimate and absolute God. Since he took the already existing divine essence and fashioned it into various forms, he is also called the Demiurgos or ‘half-maker’.”It is worth noting that in the first 34 verses of Genesis, “God” created the heavens and the earth. After that, the “Lord God” begins to really muck things up, expelling humans from an Eden, causing a Deluge, a massive language foul up with the Tower of Babel, and something often referred to as the “Wars of Gods and Men.”This results in a dualism, a world consisting of the stuff created by a false God, and yet having the light of the True God. The latter in its connection with humans results in what has been referred to as the “divine spark”.
According to: <http://www.gnosis.org/gnintro.htm>, "Humans are generally ignorant of the divine spark resident within them. This ignorance is fostered in human nature by the influence of the false creator and his Archons, who together are intent upon keeping men and women ignorant of their true nature and destiny. Anything that causes us to remain attached to earthly things serves to keep us in enslavement to these lower cosmic rulers. Death releases the divine spark from its lowly prison, but if there has not been a substantial work of Gnosis undertaken by the soul prior to death, it becomes likely that the divine spark will be hurled back into, and then re-embodied within, the pangs and slavery of the physical world. [emphasis added]
This aspect of Gnosticism is critically important, in that its description of “archons” is plausibly a direct reference to the Anunnaki, with Enlil being “the evil god of this world (who is identified with the god of the Old Testament) and Enki being the “higher more abstract God revealed by Jesus Christ” (see the first quoted paragraph of this webpage).
(4/1/07) See also The Gnostic Society Library and its webpage on The Hypostasis of the Archons, where it states, among other things:

"Their chief is blind; because of his power and his ignorance and his arrogance he said, with his power, 'It is I who am God; there is none apart from me.' When he said this, he sinned against the entirety. And this speech got up to incorruptibility; then there was a voice that came forth from incorruptibility, saying, 'You are mistaken, Samael' -- which is, 'god of the blind.'​

In addition to suggesting that Enlil was the 'god of the blind', we might also note in the Archons webpage, that it was "The rulers" who modeled man "as one wholly of the earth" but were unable to instill spirit and life. It was the spirit from the Adamantine Land and the voice from incorruptibility which created the living soul of Adam. Clearly, "Samael" cannot be believed merely because he claims to be the only god.
Gnosticism does believe that not all humans are spiritual (pneumatics) and thus ready for Gnosis and liberation. [For example, the current administration in Washington, DC] Some are earthbound and materialistic beings (hyletics) [aka greedy, “axis of evil” types], who recognize only the physical reality. Others live largely in their psyche (psychics). Such people usually mistake the Demiurge for the True God and have little or no awareness of the spiritual world beyond matter and mind. In effect they never go beyond the physics into metaphysics [the latter which by definition is “beyond physics”].Furthermore, Gnosticism does not believe evolutionary forces alone are sufficient to bring about spiritual freedom. “Humans are caught in a predicament consisting of physical existence combined with ignorance of their true origins, their essential nature and their ultimate destiny. To be liberated from this predicament, human beings require help, although they must also contribute their own efforts.”Accordingly, the Gnosticism drill seems to be that from the earliest times – particularly around 600 B.C.E., “Messengers of the Light have come forth from the True God in order to assist humans in their quest for Gnosis. Only a few of these salvific figures are mentioned in Gnostic scripture; some of the most important are Seth (the third Son of Adam), Jesus, and the Prophet Mani. The majority of Gnostics always looked to Jesus as the principal savior figure (the Soter).” At the same time, however, in the Gnostic view it is Christ’s teachings that are relevant, not his suffering and death. Ignorance – particularly of the willful kind -- is the problem. Salvation is an individual experience, stimulated and facilitated by Messengers of Light – a latter example possibly being Lucifer, “Bringer of Light” (often associated with Enki).
Interestingly, Gnosticism opposes any system of rules, such as “ethics” or “morality”. The view is that such systems (e.g. the work ethic) are the tools of the false god, and are ultimately designed to serve his nefarious purposes. Morality as an inner integrity which derives from the divine spark, on the other hand, is spiritually ideal.
According to: http://www.gnosis.org/gnintro.htm, “To the Gnostic, commandments and rules are not salvific; they are not substantially conducive to salvation. Rules of conduct may serve numerous ends, including the structuring of an ordered and peaceful society, and the maintenance of harmonious relations within social groups. Rules, however, are not relevant to salvation; that is brought about only by Gnosis. Morality therefore needs to be viewed primarily in temporal and secular terms; it is ever subject to changes and modifications in accordance with the spiritual development of the individual.”In today’s world, Gnosticism is often viewed in its classical Alexandrian form, wherein matters of conduct are largely left to the insight of the individual. This may include a non-attachment and non-conformity to the world, a “being in the world, but not of the world”; a lack of egotism; and a respect for the freedom and dignity of other beings -- something of a Common Law attitude.
When asked about death, Confucius reportedly replied, “Why do you ask me about death when you do not know how to live?” This answer is pure Gnosticism. In the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas, Jesus said that “human beings must come by Gnosis to know the ineffable, divine reality from whence they have originated, and whither they will return. This transcendental knowledge must come to them while they are still embodied on earth.”
Highly noteworthy is the Gnostic belief that death does not automatically bring about liberation from bondage [Bummer!]. If liberation is not forthcoming in life, then its back to the Wheel of Life of reincarnation. [Double Bummer!] The cycle of rebirths continue! Gnosticism does not directly emphasize reincarnation, but the essence of it implies a serious acceptance of the possibility.
http://www.gnosis.org/gnintro.htm, and its author, Stephan A. Hoeller (Tau Stephanus, Gnostic Bishop), notes that: “Theology has been called an intellectual wrapping around the spiritual kernel of a religion. If this is true, then it is also true that most religions are being strangled and stifled by their wrappings. Gnosticism does not run this danger, because its world view is stated in myth rather than in theology. Myths, including the Gnostic myths, may be interpreted in diverse ways. Transcendence, numinosity, as well as psychological archetypes along with other elements, play a role in such interpretation. Still, such mythic statements tell of profound truths that will not be denied. “Gnosticism can bring us such truths with a high authority, for it speaks with the voice of the highest part of the human -- the spirit. Of this spirit, it has been said, ‘it bloweth where it listeth’. This then is the reason why the Gnostic world view could not be extirpated in spite of many centuries of persecution.”“The Gnostic world view has always been timely, for it always responded best to the ‘knowledge of the heart’ that is true Gnosis. Yet today, its timeliness is increasing, for the end of the second millennium has seen the radical deterioration of many ideologies which evaded the great questions and answers addressed by Gnosticism. The clarity, frankness, and authenticity of the Gnostic answer to the questions of the human predicament cannot fail to impress and (in time) to convince.”Other sources, for example, http://members.aol.com/heraklit1/gnostic.htm, have written that there “is no reliable body of sayings or teachings of Jesus which represent his own views beyond reasonable doubt. The four gospels are only four out of dozens that were whittled down by the formation of the church canon, and by censorship and physical destruction of rival texts.”

This led to a wide diversity in interpretations concerning the life of Christ. Two of the Gnostic gospels – the Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of Eve, for example – are clearly pantheistic, stating that God or Christ is present in everything and everyone. At the same time, the Gospel of Thomas (found at Nag Hammadi in Egypt) rejects the flesh and woman, while fragments from the Gospel of Eve get into lurid sexual practices, including sexual orgies and sharing mates. Obviously, interpretation becomes a highly individual and/or collective practice!

One aspect, however, is particularly significant. Coitus interruptus was normal practice. Semen was collected and offered to the body of Christ before being consumed. The Gnostics also, apparently consumed women’s menstrual blood. This corresponds to the semen of the god being equivalent to The Golden Tear from the Eye of Horus, the semen of the Father of Heaven being the White Powder of Gold, and the menstrual blood being the Star Fire of the Goddess! Obviously, the Gospel of Eve is dealing with a wholly new interpretation than the one afforded by Thomas.http://members.aol.com/heraklit1/gnostic.htm, goes on to note that, “the power of the soul was found in semen and menses. But allowing semen to beget children in this world would play into the hands of the evil archon. So if by accident a woman fell pregnant, the sect would abort the fetus. They would pound it in a mortar, mix it with honey and spices, and eat it.” In effect, “the material world was ruled by an evil ‘archon’ or intermediate deity. The bodily flesh belonged to this archon, and would not be raised up.” The modern day equivalent to this might be in not supporting the Matrix!Allegedly, Jesus “was the first teacher of these practices. He took Mary (probably Mary Magdalene) to a mountain, took a woman out of his side and had sex with her, then drank his own sperm saying: ‘Thus we ought to do, that we may live’" The sect even claimed that when Jesus at the Last Supper spoke of eating his flesh and drinking his blood, he was referring to this practice.”[The accounts and texts are from: Wilhelm Schneemelcher, New Testament Apocrypha, James Clarke & Co-Westminster/John Knox Press, Cambridge and Louisville, 1990, and Philip Amidon, The Panarion of St Epiphanius, Oxford University Press, 1990.]http://www.religioustolerance.org/gnostic.htm provides an alternative summary of Gnosticism. It notes, for example, that Gnosticism was tolerant of different religious beliefs within and outside of Gnosticism – suggesting that Thomas’ and Eve’s differing views on sex were to be considered equally valid.This same site also provides an excellent history of Gnosticism. This includes the contention that Gnosticism’ many syncretistic belief systems combined elements from Asian, Babylonian, Egyptian, Greek, and Syrian pagan religions, from astrology, and from Judaism and Christianity. It is also suggested that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the LDS or Mormon Church) has adopted some of the ancient Gnostic beliefs and practices.
In terms of Gnostic beliefs, http://www.religioustolerance.org/gnostic.htm states that, Sophia, a virgin*, gave birth to a defective, inferior Creator-God; a lower god who created the earth and its life forms. “This is Jehovah, the God of the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament). He is viewed by Gnostics as fundamentally evil, jealous, rigid, lacking in compassion and prone to genocide.” Apparently, someone capable of allowing the human race to die by a Deluge. This lower god “thinks that he is supreme. His pride and incompetence have resulted in the sorry state of the world as we know it, and in the blind and ignorant condition of most of mankind.” The world had not been created perfectly and then degenerated as a result of the sin of Adam and Eve, but instead, “the world was seen as evil at the time of its origin, because it had been created by an inferior God.”
[*The original definition of virgin was, “A woman beholden to no man.”]
The latter, as mentioned before, is a good description of Enlil (aka Jehovah). Enki, on the other hand, always identified symbolically as the serpent, was honored by Gnostics. “They did not view the snake as a seducer who led the first couple into sinful behavior. Rather, they saw him/it [Enki] as a liberator who brought knowledge to Adam and Eve by convincing them to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and thus to become fully human.” [emphasis added] If humans could use their full brains and DNA genetic makeup, "become fully human" – as opposed to about the ten or fifteen percent they currently use – humans might well become, “as one of us”, i.e. as one of the Anunnaki, the Gods and Goddesses. Eating of the fruit (the ORME or ORMUS?) of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil – even potentially the semen and menses of… whomever – may be the route!
The timing of Gnosticism and its arrival on the stage of history may thus be linked to 600 B.C.E., the beginning of the Age of Pisces, and the overriding influence of Enki. Being closer to the history of the ancient world, it is likely the Gnostics were more accurate in their description of ancient reality – a reality which may very well continue to exist to the present day. The so-called myths of the Anunnaki and the Gods and Goddesses, and so forth, are seen in the Gnostic tradition as the way it was. And very likely, still is.
Finally, http://www.religioustolerance.org/gnostic.htm notes that most Gnostic texts were destroyed during various campaigns to suppress the movement – such as the burning of the Library of Alexandria by the Catholics. Despite these set backs, however, religious historians have determined that: Many Gnostics were solitary practitioners, Many texts were attributed to women,
Mary Magdelene was second only to Jesus in status, Ritual sex magic was practiced in some groups, and In some cases, new members were baptized by saying, “In the name of the Father unknown to all, in the Truth, Mother of All, in the One who came down upon

Jesus, in the union, redemption and communion of powers.”
The above reference to “the union” may likely have been the marriage of Jesus and Mary Magdalene (which explains her status in a patriarchal society). Again and again, beliefs and traditions from Gnosticism connect with the Anunnaki and History 009. This coincidence of beliefs and understanding about the world tends to mutually support each of the possibilities.
http://www.gnostics.com compares Gnostics with a Marxist “long awaited International Social Revolution” – which is something of a stretch! Yet at the same time, the site adds some interesting notes on the discovery of the Gnostic “secret books”.
For example, the 44 papyrus documents of the Gnostic Archive was found at Gebel et-Tarif (and yet called Nag Hammadi). Furthermore, they were very nearly lost a second time – “either as a result of nationalist bureaucratic bungling and petty scholastic intrigue, or by simply vanishing on the international black market”. Also, the young men who found the artifacts were unaware of their value to the extent they used some to warm their tea. “There’s no way to telling how much more Gnostic history had been lost by that little tea break.”
They go on to note that the Coptic Gnostic Texts are very likely far more valuable than the famous Nassene “Dead Sea Scrolls” of Qumran,“in that they reveal the essence of a religion that Christianity tried to obliterate.” At the same time, much of what we know about Gnosticism derived from a certain “Saint Epiphanius” who bravely allowed himself to be seduced by a Gnostic sect’s more attractive females – all for the cause of investigating the “cult” – and then once having infiltrated the ranks, this stalwart Christian handed a list of members to the Church for their immediate banishment!
http://www.gnostics.comalso notes that all pagan religions of the Mediterranean and the Near East had adapted their creeds to astrology -- which as accorded the status of a science. It was in this way that human were subjected to the Determinism and shackles of the Wheel of Fate. The jury is still out on that one.

http://www.halexandria.org/dward269.htm