TIATA10
X. The Son of Man
⎈ Jesus the Magi ⎈ The Gnostics ⎈ The Fall of Man ⎈ Christian Thieves of Heathen Wisdom
[BACK TO CHAPTER IX]
"When he was with us He gazed at us and at our world with eyes of wonder, for His eyes were not veiled with the veil of years, and all that He saw was clear in the light of His youth.
Though He knew the depth of beauty, He was for ever surprised by its peace and its majesty; and He stood before the earth as the first man had stood before the first day.
We whose senses have been dulled, we gaze in full daylight and yet we do not see. We would cup our ears, but we do not hear; and stretch forth our hands, but we do not touch. And though all the incense of Arabia is burned, we go our way and do not smell.
We see not the ploughman returning from his field at eventide; nor hear the shepherd's flute when he leads his flock to the fold, nor do we stretch our arms to touch the sunset; and our nostrils hunger no longer for the roses of Sharon.
Nay, we honour no kings without kingdoms; nor hear the sound of harps save when the strings are plucked by hands; nor do we see a child playing in our olive grove as if he were a young olive tree. And all words must needs rise from lips of flesh, or else we deem each other dumb and deaf.
In truth we gaze but do not see, and hearken but do not hear; we eat and drink but do not taste. And there lies the difference between Jesus of Nazareth and ourselves.
His senses were all continually made new, and the world to Him was always a new world.
To Him the lisping of a babe was not less than the cry of all mankind, while to us it is only lisping.
To Him the root of a buttercup was a longing towards God, while to us it is naught but a root."
– Kahlil Gibran, Jesus the Son of Man
Jesus the Magi
"Palestine in the first century was a very troubled part of the globe. For some time the Holy Land had been fraught with dynastic squabbles, internecine strife, and on occasion, full-scale war. During the second century BC a more or less unified Judaic kingdom was transiently established – as chronicled by the Old Testament books of Maccabees. By 63 BC, however, the land was in upheaval again and ripe for conquest… One must visualize a conquered land and a conquered people, ruled by a puppet regime that was kept in power by military force. The people of the country were allowed to retain their own religion and customs, but the final authority was Rome."
– Holy Blood, Holy Grail,
Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, Henry Lincoln
In the last century before Jesus' birth, the Holy Land had been conquered by the armies of Pompey, and fell into Roman control. Rome however, was spread too thin and was too preoccupied to set up a system of direct rule. Instead, Jerusalem was ruled by a line of 'puppet kings' whose power could still be traced back to Rome. These kings were the Herodians who were Arabs, not Jews. First was Antipater from 63 – 37 BC, followed by his son, Herod the Great who ruled until 4 AD.
In the year 6 AD, Judea was finally put under direct Roman rule. There were many sects within Judaism in this time. There were the Sadducees, a small and wealthy group who actually collaborated with the Romans. The Pharisees were more progressive and brought much reform to Judaism. Contrary to the Gospel's depiction of them, they were strongly opposed to Rome. The Essenes were a mystical sect who held a great influence, and we will return our attention to them later on. There were many smaller sects as well, and we begin to get the idea that all these groups were in a place of need. They had long expected the arrival of the Messiah, many predicting that he would come at just that time. They had been waiting so long. Now, split into various sects and oppressed by Roman rule, they were desperate, and Rome was on a power trip.
In the same year as Rome established direct rule over Judea, a Pharisee known as Judas of Galilee created a movement made up of Pharisees and Essenes. It was a revolutionary military group known as the Zealots. Later in the year 66 AD, they would front a great uprising of Judea against Rome, though Rome would crush them, the first in a long line.
Rome at this point was already expanding in territory and power at a rate that was frightening to most, especially the Jews. Opposing such a massive power was a daunting task. We can see, from this perspective, that the eventual 'crucifixion' of Christ was a way of keeping that power, and afterwards, the annexation of Christianity as the state religion, was a tactic used to the very same end. Is it not a bizarre curiosity that Rome would kill Jesus and then claim him to be God Almighty, and that this same God would now be speaking directly to the populous by means of only the Romans who had killed him?
Of the life of Christ, very little can be said at all that would not be argued by someone. Some believed he was the human incarnation of God. Some believed he was the Son of God. Some believed he never actually 'existed' in the physical realm at all, but was a sort of spirit entity, an emanation of divinity. Some believe he never existed in any form at all. Others still believe that was the culmination of many events pertaining to many different individuals. We have nothing but the word of others to use as sources in these matters.
For those who use the Bible as the definitive source for the life of Jesus, much is still to be desired. The gospels rarely stray from the final three years before the crucifixion and therefore say very little of his early life. It must be acknowledged, therefore, that what is said of Jesus in the Bible is incomplete, and within the information that is included, a great portion is only metaphor. There are plenty of examples in the Bible of very literal life lessons in morality, and also many stories meant to convey higher meaning to those initiated, just as we find in mythology and other sacred texts. These portions are guised in parable and to those who can read the implications of such stories, it is clear that they mean something entirely hidden from the layperson. As this format runs through the whole of the canon, the stories of Jesus life are no exception.
For instance, the myth of Immaculate Conception and birth by a virgin is a story found within countless other religious traditions when describing the birth of their prophets. Mithra, for example, was born of a virgin in a stable around the year 600 BC. Siddhartha Gautama was said to have been born of the virgin Maya in the same era. Dionysus, honored in the Mysteries, was also apparently born of a virgin in a stable and it was said that he also turned water to wine. Adonis was a Babylonian god born of the Virgin Ishtar. Krishna was born of the virgin Devaki, and Zoroaster as well, was said to have been born of a virgin. As we may remember, within the Temple of Man at Luxor, there is also a scene of the annunciation of a virgin birth.
The date of December 25th is also a symbolic metaphor held sacred by ancient traditions. It seems strange that the Bible describes the night of Jesus birth as though it was in the springtime, and when we look into this, we realize that it makes more sense than the December date. There was no consensus within the various followers of Jesus on a birth date for him until much later on. In fact at around 200 AD, Clement of Alexandria writes;
"There are those who have determined not only the year of our Lord's birth, but also the day; and they say that it took place in the 28th year of Augustus, and in the 25th day of Pachon (May 20)… Further, others say that He was born on the 24th or 25th of Pharmuthi (April 20 or 21)."
Clement contradicts himself by offering two dates, yet neither are in the Winter. It wasn't until the mid fourth century that a date was decided upon. The 25th of December was chosen specifically for a simple reason – this was a date celebrated by many varied Pagan religions all across the known world. It was a day of celebration for the Sun God who was thought to be reborn on this day, called Sol Invictus. The Winter Solstice takes place on December the 21st, and at this point, the Sun reaches its all time low in the sky. These are the shortest days of the year and when observing a sun dial, the Sun appeared to stop for a moment before ascending once again. The 22nd, 23rd, and 24th then served as a time when the Sun seemed to have 'died', and on the following day (the 25th), the birth of the Sun (son) was celebrated. This is also represented by the Crucifixion of Christ (the cross itself standing for the constellation of the Southern Cross which appears in the sky at this time) and his three days of 'death' before his resurrection. For this reason, the metaphor of the birth of the savior was constructed to represent this Pagan concept within countless older traditions. This is also why so many older traditions also use the metaphor of a death and resurrection after three days. By the time Christianity decided to choose a date for their own savior's birth, it would only have made sense for them to reuse this ancient holiday in the hopes that the pagan people would feel more comfortable in celebrating with them, and therefore adopting the Christian savior. The christmas tree as well was a pagan symbol, honoring the principle of that which lived through the cold season – that which was reborn.
We will continue to see the blatant pagan customs that were Christianized to the benefit of the Papacy in the following pages, but we must first examine the life of Jesus in the aspects that we know were not simply the restating of older stories in the context of his life. There are two opposing images of Jesus that have come down to us today. One is the image described by the church, the other is that described by every other source. These two different pictures are absolutely mutually exclusive, and the one given by the religion 'in his name' is fundamentally opposed by all the secret and hidden texts and traditions that have only recently been surfacing. These sources tell of a Jesus very different from the Roman Catholic version.
Even the Jesus described in the Bible stands directly against most of the attributes of the Roman Catholic Church. We must wonder at the fact that Jesus taught his followers not to kill, but to love their neighbors as they love themselves. Yet we find the later church massacring whole nations. We find Jesus overturning the tables of money changers, yet the Vatican remains one of the wealthiest establishments in the world. Clearly something has been twisted.
The alternative view of Jesus is that of a Mystic – a trained healer and a man who held a high position within certain secret schools. As we have mentioned, the Jews of his day were split into many sects, the most prominent of which were the Sadducees and Pharisees. Another group was known as the Essenes, which Jesus was likely a member of. The Essenes operated more like a mystery school than the rest of Judaism. They took vows of confidentiality before being allowed to receive the secret teachings. This group was very strict in following the laws set forth for Yahweh's chosen people. They led lives of purity and perhaps for this reason, the Essene congregations were very limited. It is thought that perhaps within Jesus' community there were 200 or fewer members of this sect, and less than two thousand in total.
Yet for such a small religious movement, the Essenes had a profound impact on our history. Some believe that it was they who eventually took the Ark of the Covenant from the Holy Land and brought it to its final resting place in Africa, specifically Egypt, and later Ethiopia. Perhaps the possession of the Ark of the Covenant was one of the secrets held within the community. The punishment of death was threatened to any who would betray the secrets of the Essenes, and it is clear that this was no empty threat. These were desert dwelling people, and many sources indicate that in the earlier parts of Jesus life, he was initiated in the wilderness before leaving the community to become a traveling healer.
The word that has been used to designate such a traveling healer, characterized by vows of poverty and oaths to uphold a very simple and pure lifestyle,was Nazar, Nazaria, (pl) or Nazorite. The Essene equivalent title was Therapeute – their own wandering physicians. The Essenes and Nazars, were very similar in content and structure. Both, along with the Ebionites and other sects, were all varied versions of the Ancient Theurgic Mysteries. Thus the scriptures that speak of Jesus the Nazarene do not refer to the city of Nazareth, but to the occupation of Jesus. In fact the city of Nazareth was not on record as having existed in Jesus time, and so it is very possible that Mathew 2:23 was a complete falsification, either original or else added in at some point in history, to lead away from the fact that Jesus was a trained healer and to imply instead that he was from the city that did not exist. "And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene." Indeed, if Nazareth had existed at that point, then it would certainly have been found in the immaculate records of the Romans, yet it is not.
It is said that in his early years Jesus traveled a great deal and spent time in India, studying under masters of wisdom there, but also that he received his initiation in Egypt, where he also spent a handful of years. Though this is difficult to prove, and it is not my intention to do so at this time, as there are many Gnostic teachings and publications that discuss this idea. Perhaps Jesus did receive initiation into highly protected secrets, and whether it was from the Essene community or the Egyptians or Hindu Brahmans, it is likely that he had a well rounded esoteric education. We see a life that was dedicated to the magical arts. We see a trained adept who possessed incredible talent.
How do we know? We have been left many clues. For one thing, his use of metaphors and parables demonstrate Essenian custom. This was a popular way to speak when being asked of the secrets one may hold. To instruct those who 'Do not Know', examples and metaphors must be used. Matthew asked of Jesus,
"Why speakest though unto them in parables?"
"Because, it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but to them it is not given. Therefore, I speak to them in parables; because, they seeing, see not, and hearing, they hear not, neither do they understand."
If this is not a dead giveaway of Jesus' position within the Mysteries, then perhaps the Sermon on the Mount offers a better example;
"Give ye not that which is sacred to the dogs,
Neither cast your pearls before swine;
For the swine will tread them under their feet
And the dogs will turn and rend you."
We get the idea that this is a teacher who would speak of how to live virtuously to all the people he comes into contact with. This he will do in parables and illustrations to make it easier for the imperfect minds to grasp. While alternatively, Paul says, "We speak wisdom among them that are perfect," acknowledging a whole other curriculum that is understood only by the Adepts.
It was common among the ancient mysteries to classify the participants into two categories, the Neophytes and the Perfect. These obviously correspond to the outer and inner teachings that we have been discussing. We will see this system arise again with the Cathar Perfecti of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. It was the Perfect who were learned in the knowledge of the Elysium, the Kingdom of Heaven. The transition from the Neophyte into the Perfect involved gaining the ability to see God in the purest form. This meant liberation from the body. Thus, the teachings of Jesus were separated into the lower and higher wisdom. This was the style of the Greek/Pythagorean Mysteries and the Essenes. To put it plainly, this was the way of the Mysteries.
Beyond these implications in his speech, we find other references that are a bit more clear and obvious, though certainly controversial. For example, Jesus was often accused of practicing Egyptian magic. H. P. Blavatsky explains,
"They even ventured to call him a magician and a deceiver of the people… In the Gospel of Nicodemus (the Acta Pilate), the Jews bring the same accusation before Pilate. 'Did we not tell thee he was a magician?' Celsus speaks of the same charge, and as a Neo-platonist believes in it. The Talmudic literature is full of the most minute particulars, and their greatest accusation is that 'Jesus could fly as easily in the air as others could walk.' St Austin asserted that it was generally believed that he had been initiated in Egypt, and that he wrote books concerning magic, which he delivered to John. There was a work called Magia Jesu Christi, which was attributed to Jesus himself. In the Clementine Recognitions the charge is brought against Jesus that he did not perform his miracles as a Jewish prophet, but as a magician, i.e., an initiate of the 'heathen' temples."
Indeed, since Blavatsky's time, certain books have emerged through archaeological excavations in Egypt that appear to have been written by Jesus himself, though the world is largely ignorant of this. At a certain point, the case for 'Jesus the Magician' enters into the realm of that which is still, today, active tradition and yet guarded by initiation. I would say only that if one wanted to go looking for Jesus' lost books, they may find them.
BRUCE CODEX?
In the Museo Gregoriano, is found some of the most intriguing evidence. On a sarcophagus are carved in bas-reliefs depictions of Christ's miracles. This is an original among the arts that would later become mosaics and engravings that represented visually in a sense, the New Testament. We see Jesus resurrecting Lazarus. He appears beardless and "equipped with a wand in the received guise of a necromancer whilst the corpse of Lazarus is swathed in bandages exactly as an Egyptian mummy." (Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled)
It is worth noting that there are very few depictions of Jesus from the first century when his teachings, dress, customs, etc. all were fresh in mind. Instead, we have hardly any records of him until the days of Constantine, when no one could remember his image. Even in the year 400 AD, it was considered an atrocious sin to attempt to represent the bodily appearance of Christ. Several of these depictions did exist in the form of painted portraits, and even gold and silver images. These were kept secretly, and not by those of the Catholic faith. It is strange to acknowledge that it was the Gnostics and Pagans that would preserve the image of Christ while Rome neglected to do so. This strange fact gives legitimacy to the hypothesis that the Roman Church was trying to invent their own Jesus, while the Gnostics sought to preserve the real one.
This grey area of history allowed for the Catholic Church to put whatever face they desired on Jesus' name. It is what eventually led to our common day dilemmas as to the true identity of one of the most influential people ever to walk the Earth. So much speculation is now clouding the pool to the point where we can no longer see the bottom of it, but it seems that these clues point us in a direction very different than the conventional Catholic theory. There is no arguing his massive influence on our modern culture, but it has been greatly warped and distorted by the church established in his name. It is as though everyone knows that he was truly a divine being, but falsely believes that he would have agreed with the Church's positions. This is one of the greatest deceptions ever to infiltrate the human consciousness.
Alternatively, it is becoming more and more obvious that Jesus was a Mystic and opposed to the Dogmatic ways of massive institutions, religious or political. His stand against oppressive forces such as money changers, prison guards and Roman officers give the idea of a revolutionary mind far ahead of his time, yet courageous enough to speak up. Once again this confuses the situation, in which the Roman Empire would use his name to control people and even commit genocide in his name.
Another note to be addressed is that John the Baptist may have been a member of the Essenes as well. Certainly he was an initiate of the mysteries. Jesus and John both preached that this was an end of an Age. This is an interesting clue, as it turns our attention back towards the more ancient doctrines teaching of the world's astrological ages. It refers to the time cycles, which were apparently the dominion only of the priests, Qaballists and chiefs of the Essenes. It was said that these few had 'mystic books', and predicted future events, knowing the length of these cycles.
It is interesting that Jesus time was directly placed on the cusp between the age of Aries and that of Pisces. Therefore, with his high knowledge in these matters, he would know that it was his place to span the gap and usher in the new era. Is it possible that by acknowledging the 'End of an Age' Jesus and John were referring directly to the dawn of the precessional Age of Pisces?
Perhaps this would bring to mind the popular image of bumper stickers we might see on the highway showing Jesus name inside the shape of a fish. Interestingly enough, the Nazaria and early followers of Christ were known for marking out their temples and places of importance with this image – two arcs crossing to represent a fish. The symbol is called the Ichthys, which is pictured here and written inside. It is also interesting to note that the Arab term Nasrani, actually meant 'lots of little fishes'. Was this the meaning behind the Nazaria? Were they the little fishes of Jesus, swimming out into the world and spreading his teachings? Was this an allusion to the vesica pisces found in the flower of life? Is it not, when turned upright, a reflection of the Omega, which was a symbol of the greatest importance to Jesus?
It may also strengthen such a theory to acknowledge that when Jesus walked upon the water, he came to the disciples from the sea. Telling them to cast their nets at that time, they caught so many fish that their boat nearly capsized. Perhaps this is another allusion to the metaphor for the astrological age that he represented.
These 'little fishes' made up the community of Nazaria. The Essenes, as we have seen were an older sect that only show up in history in the century surrounding Jesus' life. It is no wonder why the Bible fails to mention the name of this group, as it was the aim of the church to phase them out of public knowledge and cut off the theory that he was a member before it became common knowledge. It is for this reason that we still today have very little information about the sect. It is very likely that these two groups (Nazaria and Essenes) were very closely related and that towards the top of the priesthood, they may have been indistinguishable. Also mixed into this community was the Jerusalem Church; perhaps the first official church of Jesus teachings. This was established by the Nazorean sect. A final group is also mentioned often by researchers called the Qumran Community. It is almost certain that this group was Essene, and that these were the people who hid the Dead Sea Scrolls in the caves of Qumran later on.
Here we come to understand that all these groups were likely interrelated and perhaps truly one in the same in several ways. Certainly they all held a common goal and this was to preserve the true religion when they saw the incoming tribulations of the Roman Church approaching. It was these people who would become the Gnostic Christians.
"2/26/75 Research by Stephen Goranson: I. Here are some correlations in the Dead Sea Scrolls to the statement in 5749-8, p. 1, par. 2 [Par. 3] that the Essenes studied "astrology, numerology, phrenology, and those phases of that study of the return of individuals – or incarnation."… II. Possible supporting evidence for the readings' assertion that some of the Essenes lived on Mt. Carmel: …" Circulating file, Cayce
CAYCE's CHRIST
MARY and the GRAIL
Johannites
INDIAN JESUS
The Gnostics
As we enter into the story of the Gnostics, we arrive at Alexandria – the City of Knowledge. At this point, Egypt and Greece had openly shared much knowledge. Both languages were used at that time in Alexandria. It was a safe place for Christians, who were still persecuted in Rome under Nero. It is understood that this was the trend for Jesus' followers – that Egypt, specifically Alexandria, was where the first formations of Christianity were actually congregating. They focused on converting the Jews and also the indigenous and Graeco-Roman populations. We are now referring to a period spanning roughly three hundred years immediately following Jesus' death and preceding the birth of the Roman Catholic Church, yet Alexandria had already exited for about as long, before Jesus time.
The city was founded by Alexander in 331BC. Though the same ports had been a great center of learning for ages previously, Alexander, the student of Aristotle, bolstered up the universities and library with knowledge from every corner of his new empire. Never in our history was so much knowledge brought together in one place, available for all to discover. Alexandria represented the brightest beacon of hope for humanity, particularly in the West, since the great Golden Age.
It was a mixing pot of beliefs, and the Christian presence gave rise to several groups, separate from one another based on fundamental principles. For instance, right from the start there were the 'Literal' Christians, who were very militant and exoteric, and on the other hand were the Gnostic Christians who interpreted the inner, esoteric teachings of Jesus. A third major group was the original Egyptian tradition, which remained 'pagan' seeing no need for abandoning a tradition that had never failed them. This could be called the Cult of Isis and Osiris, or the Hermetic School. Several other names may well refer to the remains of the traditional Khemetic religion that had existed for millennia beforehand.
The mystery schools, for the most part, fell in between the Hermeticists and the Gnostics, as all of these allowed for each other's influence, in fact, they were not mutually exclusive in their beliefs. The odd one out in this situation was really the literalist, close-minded Christians, who, from their very beginnings, seem to have been set on using Jesus' name to build a control system. This form of the religion is the one that, in a roundabout way, survived. Not only did they survive, but they also came to slip into the security of Rome, destroyed Alexandria and burned the ancient libraries to the ground. It is therefore apparent that this sect learned of all the secret wisdom and chose to keep it to themselves, obtaining a monopoly on the secret doctrine and destroying all those who threatened their exclusiveness. That is why they declared all others who possessed such wisdom heretics and pagans. We will return to this breed in a couple centuries. The Hermeticists, as well, can wait for a greater description. For now, we must focus on the 'heresy' known as Gnosticism.
This group as previously stated, was the outcome of the mystical initiatory groups that were closely surrounding Jesus. For this reason, it is they who may have held onto a much more accurate understanding of his teachings.
Blavatsky writes, "The Christian Gnostics sprang into existence toward the beginning of the second century, and just at the time when the Essenes most mysteriously faded away, which indicated that they were the identical Essenes, and moreover pure Christists, viz.: they believed and were those who best understood what one of their own brethren had preached."
The Gnostics were the type more willing to collect all wisdom available and build their philosophy from this standard. We know that the focus of Alexandria was to create an environment suitable to this process. This suggests that the Gnostics had access to many different forms of knowledge, which were forged in the Alexandrian furnace into their own belief structure. The word Gnosis simply means knowledge, and knowledge was the core of Gnosticism. It was an order formed for the sole purpose of preserving this very important knowledge, essential to the full realization of the human purpose. It is with this understanding that we can safely say the Gnostics were at least strongly influenced by the Essenes, if they were not (at least some of them) direct descendants of the Essene tradition. Another strong influence, which we already know, were the Greek Mysteries and with them, Platonism and Pythagoreanism, which may have originally been taken from Egypt, but certainly returned there with Alexander.
It is regrettable that most of the information we can find today about the Gnostics was preserved by Catholicism, the winner who wrote the history – and the enemy of the Gnostics. However, in 1945, near the modern town of Nag Hammadi in Upper Egypt, a collection of thirteen leather-bound scrolls was found buried in a jar by a large boulder. The young man who discovered them brought the scripts back to his home where his mother used some of them for kindling. The majority of the codices soon found their way to the black market in Egypt, some coming to America. Eventually, most of this priceless information was gathered together to be analyzed.
As the texts were translated, it soon became apparent that these were Christian gospels, ones that had not found their way into the New Testament. The Gospel of Thomas claimed to be secrets spoken by Jesus to his 'twin', Judas Thomas. All in all, a total of fifty-two separate texts survived out of approximately twelve and a half codices, and these came to be known as the Nag Hammadi Library. Later, much of it would be known as the Gnostic Gospels or Apocrypha.
The papyrus used in the bindings was subjected to direct scientific dating processes, and linguistic analysis of the Coptic script ensued as well. This put their age to between 350 and 400 AD, just about the time when Gnosticism came under attack by Constantine, but the age of their content was a different story. The Coptic language was a sort of hybrid of Egyptian and Greek, and was the vernacular of Egypt at the time. Scholars generally estimate that the original texts dated from between 120 and 150 AD. Some, such as the Gospel of Thomas, have been cited to be possibly as early as the second half of the first century, (50 – 100 AD) as early or earlier than Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. In other words, it is possible and likely that some of these texts were actually written closer to the time of Christ than the four gospels contained in the New Testament. This is a very striking possibility.
The impression is that there may have been many other texts which were at some point 'edited out' of the Catholic Canon – the evidence of which is supported by other of the Nag Hammadi texts such as the Gospel of Phillip, the Gospel of Truth, and the Gospel of the Egyptians.
To add more mystery to the texts, several references are found within them to something of the effect of a secret society, referred to as 'The Organization'. Apparently the mission of the Organization was to preserve this Gnosis, as well as to build monuments as representations of the spiritual places. In other words, this would be the group that was responsible for hiding the texts.
In studying the Gnostic Gospels, we find the existence of knowledge that is perhaps a great deal more accurate as to the teachings of Jesus than those included in the Bible. Certainly it was far more revealing in certain ways and some aspects of the texts directly contradicted the books that were used in the Bible in the most fundamental ways.
The books claimed that all matter is equated with evil and that the body of flesh is an imprisonment of the otherwise free soul. The concept of Dualism was a central theme. It was believed that there existed a God of goodness and light, as well as a God of darkness and hatred. It was believed that the Earth and the entire material universe, including our human bodies, were created by the Evil God. Our souls, however, were creations of the Good God, and strived to return to their perfect state outside of gross matter.
The physical earth, it was believed by the Gnostics, was a prison intended to cause us to forget our true nature. They believed that ignorance was equal to enslavement, while knowledge equated freedom. They believed that mankind was the battlefield for a cosmic struggle in which forces of deception aimed to pull us out of the light of wisdom. This dualism perhaps reminds us of the Zoroastrian philosophy, but the general framework is the very same ancient doctrine that all the wisdom traditions believed in – ultimately, the soul is harnessed and it must be freed.
With dualism comes the concept that Christ was never actually born in the flesh, but was an apparition – that it was a contradiction for divinity to be cased in the inherently evil flesh and material. Many Gnostics claimed that Jesus' stay on Earth was an illusion, and that even his crucifixion was carried out with a 'borrowed body.' This is not an unpopular theory. In fact there are many today who believe that instead of dying on the cross, a surrogate died for him, and he left for India where he lived out his days. In fact, there is a tomb in India, which all of the locals believe to be the final resting place of Jesus.
This goes hand in hand with the idea that he and Mary Magdalene were a married couple and had children, but that she had left for Europe after the faked crucifixion. Nevertheless, this is a whole other issue, and though these theories may be true, and perhaps this information was part of the secret that the Gnostics held onto, it is not relevant enough to our purposes to make a full inquiry thereto at this point. Besides, there are many other popular works that discuss these theories in full.
The Gnostics were exposed to the last remnants of the Egyptian Wisdom Religion. They apparently also honored Osiris and perhaps this was, more so than Zoroastrianism, the source of their dualistic beliefs. They saw Jehovah, the God of the Old Testament as well as the Christians, as the deceiving demiurge and representation of material creation, who placed mankind on Earth to serve Him, deceiving us into the belief that he was the almighty GOD. They viewed Him more like Bacchus or Set even. In the Gnostic view, the Serpent of Genesis was the true savior. When he told Eve to eat of the Tree of Knowledge, (Gnosis) it was taught that she and Adam became enlightened and did, indeed, find the discernment between Light and Darkness. This angered the crafty architect who then expelled them from the Garden before they would obtain immortality, and equality with Himself.
Clearly, if the Gnostic tradition was inspired of truth, then the Catholic Church was not guilty of misinterpreting the Word, but of inventing it. Such an invention would clearly demonstrate an intentional effort to not only misguide the public, but to lead them to a conclusion exactly opposite from the truth. Indeed, while the Gnostics encouraged the individual to seek out the Holy Gnosis, the Church would tell their flocks that God favors those who follow directions and never question 'Divine Authority'.
Genesis was transformed into a moral philosophy instructing all Christendom never to touch the 'Tree of Life', or the Sephiroth. Considering the Essenes were overall, a Kabbalistic sect, Jesus was in fact preaching the lessons of the Tree of Life. His magic and philosophy was pulled, through Kabbalist Essenes, as well as directly, from the Egyptian source. This high wisdom of Egypt, he blended with Brahmanical studies in the East, making him one of the most knowledgeable people on earth.
Isn't there one major and obvious ommission when we compare the the supposed Christian Doctrine with that of Egypt and India???
It is generally held that the Mandeans, Ophites, Manicheans, Messalians, Carpocratians, Paulicians, Marcionites and Albigenses were all generally Gnostics sects. Opposed by the literalist Christians, they were accused of practicing heretical rites in their meetings, though the true crime of these groups may only have been to have the tenacity to think for themselves and to speak their minds in ways that contradicted the orthodox christians. This was, in those days, a very dangerous criminal act.
It was only a matter of time before the militant, controlling Christians found a common bond with the state. Let us remember that Rome was determined to maintain complete control. This meant it must have an absolute hold on all knowledge. For the Gnostics to be in possession of a great truth, and worse yet, attempting to spread such knowledge was counterproductive to the cause of Rome. Therefore, all the Gnostic sects came under fire.
With these two fundamentally opposed enigmas, the obvious question we must ask is, which one was right? Though the answer may seem obvious with an understanding of the situation, to establish the truth we must inquire on what grounds the Great Church claims supremacy to the Gnostics. Once again, Mme Blavatsky can answer,
"Apostolic succession, undoubtedly. The succession traditionally instituted by the direct apostle Peter. But what if this prove a fiction? Clearly the whole superstructure supported upon this one imaginary stilt would fall in a tremendous crash. And when we do inquire carefully, we find that we must take the word of Irenaeus alone for it – of Irenaeus, who did not furnish one single valid proof of the claim which he so audaciously advanced, and who resorted for that to endless forgeries… Though he was undoubtedly a man of the shrewdest intellect and great learning, he fears not, in some of his assertions and arguments, to appear an idiot in the eyes of posterity, so long as he can "carry the situation." Twitted and cornered at every step by his not less acute and learned adversaries, the Gnostics, he boldly shields himself behind blind faith, and in answer to their merciless logic falls upon imaginary tradition invented by himself."
Apostolic succession, then, is the clear answer. The Church at Rome claimed that the Papacy was a direct line originating with Jesus himself, (through Peter) and therefore was the only authority capable of interpreting the Word of God. Irenaeus writes:
"But since it would be too long to enumerate in such a volume as this the successions of all the churches, we shall confound all those who, in whatever manner, whether through self-satisfaction or vainglory, or through blindness and wicked opinion, assemble other than where it is proper, by pointing out here the successions of the bishops of the greatest and most ancient church known to all, founded and organized at Rome by the two most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul—that church which has the tradition and the faith with which comes down to us after having been announced to men by the apostles. For with this Church, because of its superior origin, all churches must agree, that is, all the faithful in the whole world. And it is in her that the faithful everywhere have maintained the apostolic tradition"
It is hard to believe he didn't just say, "Trust me. We are the authentic tradition and there are none others who can share this claim." Augustine does no better to explain this assumed right to the throne of spiritual influence.
"There are many other things which most properly can keep me in [the Catholic Church's] bosom. The unanimity of peoples and nations keeps me here. Her authority, inaugurated in miracles, nourished by hope, augmented by love, and confirmed by her age, keeps me here. The succession of priests, from the very seed of the apostle Peter, to whom the Lord, after his resurrection, gave the charge of feeding his sheep, up to the present episcopate, keeps me here. And last, the very name Catholic, which, not without reason, belongs to this Church alone, in the face of so many heretics, so much so that, although all heretics want to be called 'Catholic,' when a stranger inquires where the Catholic Church meets, none of the heretics would dare to point out his own basilica or house".
Here the devout Catholic scribes record Peter, primarily, but also make mention of Paul. If we begin to look into Paul we find strong hints of personal connections to secret orders and Mystery religions. "That Paul had been, partially, at least, if not completely, initiated into the theurgic mysteries, admits of little doubt. His language, the phraseology so peculiar to the Greek philosophers, certain expressions used but by the initiates, are so many sure ear-marks to that supposition." says Blavatsky.
Paul writes,
"We speak wisdom among the perfect or initiated, not the wisdom of this world, nor of the archons of this world, but divine wisdom in a mystery, secret – which none of the Archons of this world knew."
Paul and Plato, A. Wilder
He can mean little else in this passage save that he was initiated into the mysteries, and this wisdom which none of the archons knew, seems to be a reference to the Basileus of the Eleusinian Mysteries. The Basileus was responsible for supervising the rites and was an archon of Athens – one of the chief mystics. This position was within the interior or Greater mysteries, which only a very select few could enter.
Blavatsky continues, "Another proof that Paul belonged to the circle of the "Initiates" lies in the following fact. The Apostle had his head shorn at Cenchrea (where Lucious, Apuleius was initiated) because "he had a vow." The nazars – or set apart – as we see in the Jewish scriptures, had to cut their hair which they wore long, and which "no razor touched" at any other time, and sacrifice it on the alter of initiation. And the nazars were a class of Chaldean theurgists."
Irenaeus claimed that Paul and Peter were the two "most glorious apostles", whose direct line of teachings came down to become the line of Bishops. Let us remember the span of several centuries between the original apostles and the first formation of the Catholics. In other words, nobody could ask Paul if he really did support this religious structure, or if it really was built upon Jesus' teachings.
Paul's position as an initiate, however, implies that he would have been far more likely to teach the Gnostic tradition. After all, the Mysteries themselves were a different version of this very same Gnosis, the knowledge that leads to salvation and freedom. This is opposed to the view of the Catholic Church, claiming his lineage, which shut out all faiths besides its own. This was not the way of the Mystic, who shared a much closer bond with those who preached the Gnosis; those founders of the Greek philosophy schools and of Alexandria.
What about Peter? As we saw a moment ago, Augustine claimed only his name as the direct descendent of the church, while Irenaeus claimed them both. Peter was said to have hated Paul, mostly out of jealousy for his superior Greek learning. He saw Paul as 'polluted' with the Gnosis, the wisdom of the Greek Mysteries.
The name Peter actually meant 'interpreter' in Phoenician and Chaldaic, and by extension implied the title of hierophant. The word, hierophant, comes from the Greek ta hiera, meaning 'the Holy', and phainein, 'to show'. It was the title of the chief priests in the Eleusinian Mysteries and considered to imply an interpreter of sacred mysteries and arcane wisdom who brings his congregation into the presence of divinity.
The name also represents the stone or PETRA, which does the very same. (Petroglyphs are pictures in stone and petroleum, extracted from stone.) This is the stone of destiny, implied to be in the hands of Peter. It may very well tie in to the caves of Petra, in Jordan, which, before their popularity and tourism, may have been a well kept secret of the proto-Gnostic schools. In this sense, perhaps Indiana Jones was not so far off when portraying the Ark of the Covenant's location there. Perhaps some great treasures were stored at Petra at times, and perhaps this including the Stone of Destiny. Perhaps the Stone of Destiny is related to the stone tablets of the ten commandments, stored in the Ark.
Blavatsky writes of Peter, "biblical criticism has shown before now that he had probably no more to do with the foundation of the Latin Church at Rome, than to furnish the pretext so readily seized upon by the cunning Irenaeus to benefit this Church with the new name of the apostle – Petra or Kiffa, a name which allowed so readily, by an easy play upon words, to connect it with Petroma, the double set of stone tablets used by the hierophant at the initiations, during the final Mystery. In this, perhaps, lies concealed the whole secret of the claims of the Vatican… There is in these facts some reminder of the Pope to be the successor of Peter, the hierophant or interpreter of the Christian religion."
The name is connected also with PTR, found inscribed on the coffin of Queen Mentuhept of the Eleventh Dynasty of Egypt. Similarly, the Aramaic and Hebrew 'Patar' also signifies an 'interpreter', and Pitrum is the term for interpretation of a text or a dream. The Stone of Destiny, or at least part of it, was the pillow on which Jacob rested his head when he dreamed of the Kingdom of Heaven and the ladder that reached up into the sky. Was this ladder the human spine, reaching up to the throne of GOD, the pineal gland? Was this stone the very same as the Philosopher's Stone of the Alchemists, which was the purified light body, or heavenly vehicle? Was it the very same stone taken to Scotland by the Templars – the counterpart to the Grail? It is merely a metaphor for the solidified light body but is it also a physical artifact – always tied in some way the land where it resides and in some way, radiating a power from the place it is kept. Let us entertain the notion at least, as we read Genesis 28:
"10 And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. 11 And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep.12 And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.13 And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; 14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15 And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. 16 And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not.17 And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. 18 And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it.19 And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first. 20 And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, 21 So that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the Lord be my God: 22 And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee."
Keeping mind that the LIGHT body is made of light, let us note that he 'lighted upon a certain place' – either a geographical location or a anatomical location. He went to sleep and to the dreaming state or perhaps trance, in which DMT is released by the brain. The ladder was set up on Earth, or Malkuth, and extended up to heaven, or Yechidah. I'd bet that such a ladder had 33 rungs, just as those found on the tracing boards in the 33 degrees of Scottish Rite Masonry and the 33 years of Jesus life, leading to ascension – the 33 vertebrae of the spine. In verse 12 we see that the angels of GOD ascend and descend on this ladder, the very same tree of life, and the sacred secretion flowing down the spine and back up in its purified form. We then see many references to Jacob's seed, seemingly implying his family line, but in this metaphor, relating again that is it the sexual energy that must be purified into the key that opens the door of heaven. In verses 16-17, is the place referred to the land that Jacob camped in, or the pineal center of the brain, where GOD resides? Jacob turns the stone into a pillar and anoints it with oil, just as the spinal fluid, purified through light bathes the third eye. The place called Bethel or 'house of GOD', (which Merriam Webster's dictionary defines as 1: a hallowed spot, 2a: a chapel for nonconformists, b: a place of worship for seamen) was first called LUZ, or light. Again, what begins as light is formed into the stone – the astral body. Verses 20 and 21 depict Jacob saying, more or less, that if this was all real, and if he can access this nirvanic experience once more, he will be fully convinced that this is indeed the true GOD. He sounds as if in shock from the intensity of what he's seen, as if he is unsure if it was real.
Finally he says, "And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house". This is Malkuth or Yesod, the foundation, and the Root Chakra. The Middle Pillar is the spine. The third eye is the house of GOD – Bethel. We know that El means God in Hebrew and beth is the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet with a numerical value of two. The two petals of the Third Eye Chakra and the Two hemispheres of the brain are these two opposing principles representing the house, and GOD representing the unification of these two (Chiah and Neschamah) into unity within the house.
What does this all mean? Only that it would have served the purposes of the Church to use Peter, whose name is a loose reflection of the Stone of destiny and therefore of the divine right to rule or of direct acces to GOD. His name means interpreter. It would appear that he was the interpreter of the message of Christ, though it is nearly impossible to 'prove' who was the most worthy to carry the scepter of Jesus. Regardless, the church was claiming it's own authority to the direct lineage nearly 300 years after it happened – they could have used any disciple's name.
In a manuscript from the first century, one of the few not destroyed by Christian vandalism, we find many references to a character known as the 'Judean Illuminator', who is said to communicate only through his Patar, which was written in Chaldaic characters as opposed to the rest of the text composed of Greek and Demotic. It states that this Illuminator, who rarely breaks his contemplative solitude, inhabited a cave, and that his interpreter would hear his teachings through a hole in a partition which conceals the master from his students. He would convey the message to the students along with explanations of the teachings. This is similar to Pythagoras who instructed his neophytes from behind a curtain in his cave.
We will find nothing but the words of Irenaeus and later, Eusebius and Augustine, to tie the Bishops of Roman Catholicism to the lineage of Peter or Paul. This is not enough to override the inherent contradictions found between the polar opposition of Christ's teachings and those tainted lessons of the Church in his name. To put it plainly, Jesus and his disciples taught mystical doctrines, while the church taught only morals and dogma. While one sought to illuminate humankind as to the state of the soul, the other sought to give just enough instruction to preserve order with examples of virtuous behavior while at the same time controlling the minds of their flocks through fear. This contradiction of teachings is enough to prove that the Roman Church did not deserve the self-given authority that it was allowed to claim.
It seems as though while the Gnostics were busy collecting and preserving the true doctrine, the Church was busy taking said knowledge and changing the names so as to fit it all into a comprehensive format, using Christian terminology, and it would later be known as the New Testament. In following, this Canonical Anthology of the divinely inspired words of Jesus' apostles, failed to include the Gnostic Gospels.
Around the end of the second century, many ideas were circulating in oral traditions claiming to be the true words of Christ. These, at the time were regarded as an authority that had not yet been merged with the written gospels. It was Irenaeus who realized the advantage of having a written document over the oral traditions.
Graham Hancock and Robert Bauval covered a great deal of Gnostic history in their collaborative work, The Master Game, which states:
"Although the Gnostic leader Marcion had prepared his own canon some time before – much to the consternation of the Catholics – few of the other proliferating Gnostic sects of the period accepted it and the possibility that they would ever be able to agree amongst themselves for sufficiently long to put a representative Gnostic canon together seemed remote.
Amongst the proto-Catholic group there was no such hesitation. Knowing that those who controlled the written document would effectively have 'the control of authentic tradition', they launched their own initiative to compile and create a canonical New Testament. Since this group was dominated by men like Irenaeus who regarded their own views as infallible and were intolerant to the views of others, they were naturally inclined to label whichever texts or traditions supported their views as belonging to the authentic apostolic line and to cast into the outer darkness as inauthentic any that contradicted them."
So, then, perhaps the real factor that allowed for the success of the Catholic Church was the trust that people put in the written word; that and the Roman military. These claims are what eventually led to the near extermination of the Gnostics under the law of Constantine.
Constantine himself had a reputation as an excessively cruel leader. His only hope for redemption came from the Catholic Bishopry, to whom he granted tolerance in exchange for 'salvation'. This brings us to 313 AD, and at this point, Constantine still refused to interfere with any of the other forms of religion circulating the Roman territories. It was a position that he would defend consistently, with only this one exception, and this seemed to be obviously attributed to the pressures of the Bishops. Around 324, he addressed the situation of the heretical faiths (all but the Catholics). This was followed by confiscation of their properties and other persecutions. The words of Eusebius, Constantine's adoring biographer, have preserved his speech to our day.
"Be it known to you by this present decree, you Novations, Valentinians, Marcionites, Paulians and those called Cataphrygians, all in short who constitute the heresies by your private assemblies, how many are the falsehoods in which your idle folly is entangled and how venomous the poisons with which your teaching is involved, so that the healthy are brought to sickness and the living to everlasting death through you. You opponents of truth, enemies of life and counselors of ruin! Everything about you is contrary to truth, in harmony with ugly deeds of evil; it serves grotesque charades in which you argue falsehoods, distress the unoffending, deny light to believers…
Accordingly, since it is no longer possible to tolerate the pernicious effect of your destructiveness, by this decree we must publicly command that none of you henceforward shall dare to assemble. Therefore, we have also given order that all your buildings in which you conduct these meetings… not only in public but also in houses of individuals or any private places… are to be confiscated… and handed over to the Catholic Church… and thereafter no opportunity be let for you to meet so that from this day forward your unlawful groups may not dare to assemble in any place either public or private."
This is quite a drastic change from his usual tolerance allowed to such groups. It can really only be explained by the growing power of the Catholic Clergy and his desire for redemption which only they would grant him. At the time that this notice was given, Constantine was on his deathbed and his baptism into the Catholic religion seemed like a safe bet to him. There were no others willing to offer such a cruel dictator redemption in his afterlife, and so he took what he could get. This selfish and pitiful move on the part of Constantine changed the world forever as it allowed for the self-righteous Catholic Bishopry to take the driver's seat in Rome. They were given the security of the state as well as the power to eliminate all those who disagreed with them – truly a sad turn of events.
In studying the varying sects of overlapping beliefs including contradictory ones that were present in the first few centuries AD, we find on one end of the spectrum, the Gnostics whom we have already discussed in detail. On the other hand, we find a group of what we've called Militant Christians, who had formulated from the ranks of the literalists. These two ends of the spectrum both claimed direct apostolic authenticity, but while the Gnostics sought not to impose their beliefs on others, encouraging individuals to come to them and gradually unfold their own spirituality, the more militant side certainly intended to impose their beliefs, ultimately in want of congregations who were completely indebted to their will. Blind faith was to be the weapon used and no other system was to be tolerated. The Gnostics believed in allowing for personal revelation and inspiration while the militants claimed to be the only authentic path to salvation.
It was the weak will of Constantine that allowed for the militant Christians to slip into the security of the State. Besides, they were more prepared, having already compiled a collection of those writings that demanded such an unquestioning faith while avoiding the release of the illuminating Gnostic Gospels. At this point, they began the attack on all other sects, claiming them heresies. In this way, the Great War of the Catholic Church had begun, and this war, as we will see, has not ceased to our present day.
By the year 380, Catholicism would become the official state religion and by this time, the 'Organization' would scribe fresh, Coptic versions of the Gnostics Gospels, (or the Nag Hammadi library) bury them in a time capsule for later generations to discover, and finally enter into a dormant state. The Dead Sea Scrolls as well, would be hidden in the caves of Qumran. At this time, Alexandria, the greatest collection of wisdom and learning that the world had ever seen, was destroyed, and all the libraries were burned. At least this is what we are told. Yet, all was not lost. The Gnostic tradition was preserved underground until it was thought safe to resurface such ideas.
Christian Thieves of Heathen Wisdom
Let us acknowledge what happened to the ancient wisdom that forms the core of this work. We will remember that it speaks in large scale time periods, of astrology and the incoming effects of the stars, of the nature of the soul and of how to access the Divine Ground, or how to attain a level of purity suitable to seeing beyond the immediate, material reality. So what did happen to this wisdom?
From Egypt, Chaldea, Mesopotamia, and India this knowledge came. Its first move was to hide itself in mystery schools and secret fraternities. It also took on a Hebrew format called Kabbalah. When the Great Teacher came to earth, he was immersed in these various forms and began teaching this wisdom to all, in the hopes that such gnosis would set humanity free. However, in the first few centuries AD, a scheme was developed in order to turn this wisdom inside out so that it might be used to the benefit of the Catholic Bishopry, and eventually Rome as well. In order to preserve this control, the new church outlawed all forms of knowledge that would illuminate the people to the point where they would see through this veil and find control over their own lives. For this reason, Alexandria had to be snuffed out, and the Roman Church was the only institution in the world that had anything whatsoever to gain from such a travesty.
If this was the case, and the proto Catholics were the ones who burned Alexandria, would it not make sense that they would first take all the information for themselves? The whole event smells of a false flag, and it is unlikely that the Church would merely destroy this wealth of knowledge without securing it first for themselves. Though it is difficult to prove without access to the Vatican Archives, it quite possible and likely that all the books of Alexandria were stolen or copied and taken to Rome before the fire. David Wilcock, for one, claims this to be the case. He claims that the only documents burned at Alexandria were tax documents and census receipts.
It is a bold accusation, but one worth making. In the modern world, this is equivalent to the CIA stealing the internet from the world and sending the rest of us back to the stone age. If it is such an insane claim, then why is the world not given access to the books at the Vatican? Why are they held under such extreme protection? Everyone on earth knows that the Vatican hides the most important documents on the planet, and why do they not open their doors as the Alexandrian Library did? Just think about it. Wilcock has claimed the existence of books at the Vatican, over 10,000 years old, that show plans for building UFO-like vehicles, though if one simply reads the Vedas, this is nothing new. Who could trust such a controlling entity, who had snuffed out the prevailing light of wisdom and hid it all under lock and key? Nobody could, and so the masses were forced to adopt the perveted teachings. If the entire population is threatened by death to adopt the religion, quite soon that religion will become adopted.
The greatest irony in the whole situation, however, must be the fact that the entire Christian religion was, and still is, the largest pagan religion in the world. Those rituals and beliefs which they executed whole populations for practicing were all everyday functions of their own church. The Vatican itself is now perhaps the world's largest epicenter of self-declared 'heretical' practices and knowledge. The archive libraries of the Vatican contain the greatest collection of occult texts since, and perhaps including, Alexandria. It may be said that the largest Mystery Religion the world has ever seen is still today called the Roman Catholic Church. For as much as they call these practices and concepts heretical and pagan, when practiced by the church itself, these occurrences become miracles, or testaments of their divine authority.
Nothing about the new church was new, and it had very little to do with Jesus' teachings in specific. The system that was built simply renamed all the old wisdom Christianity, and sifted it through the smoke screen of Rome. All the wisdom that would illuminate the congregations was edited out. All that insisted on the divine right belonging exclusively to it was emphasized. The New Testament was formed from whichever texts were chosen, and the rest were declared heretical. The Council of Nicea was the true fall of humanity.
Just as the Greeks had renamed the Egyptian Gods, and the Romans renamed the Greek Gods, here Rome renamed all the wisdom it could find in Christian terms. Of course, the existence of such a great prophet as Jesus provided the perfect backdrop for the new faith to establish itself. Jesus, being out of the picture, could not stand against those who were now stealing his name and the unequalled wisdom of the ancients.
The Christian Clergy practiced magic and sorcery. Roman Pontiffs were imitators of the Hindu Brahmans. The doctrine of the Holy Trinity was of Pagan origin, stolen from the Kabbalistic Tree of Life and from Isis, Osiris and Horus. Exorcisms were initially an important source of income, yet if anyone else should be caught performing such rituals, they would be burnt at the stake. Egyptian Obelisks decorate Vatican City. The list continues.
We can and will find that the Vatican practices all that it calls heresy and labels these acts as divinely inspired when performed by them alone. It contradicts the true teachings of Jesus in every way, killing when Jesus said to love thy neighbor, and love thy enemy as thyself. It has become an enormous industry, while we find the true ascetics abstaining from worldly desires. It has declared itself the only path to salvation and communion with God, while Jesus taught that God existed within, and that there lies salvation as well.
Through the following chapters, we must keep in mind this great controversy surrounding the authenticity of the Church of Rome. Once backed by the Roman Empire, the self-exalted Catholic Church was not easy to oppose. We must remember that we are dealing with two fundamental opposites, one which seeks to illuminate the masses by means of knowledge, and the other seeking complete control over all the population. One sought to rule with genuine care, aiding the people, while the other sought to rule by fear controlling the people.
Being the unfortunate winner of the battle, Catholicism, took hold of the entire Roman Empire, and the world came to be very dark in terms of intellectual, philosophical and spiritual understanding. The teachers of the Gnosis, however, were hidden underground and had not given up. They would wait a long time before allowing for the resurfacing of the Gnostic ideology.
Next Chapter:
XI. The Gnostics Return
"If God understood all things from the beginning and knew that His angels would in the future become demons, because of the character which He himself gave them from the beginning (because all the causes which would make those angels become demons in the future arose entirely within His providence and it did not please God to make them otherwise than He did), it of necessity follows that the afore- said angels could never in any way have avoided becoming demons. And this is particularly true because it is impossible that anything which God knows to be future may be in any way changed so that it does not come to pass in the future—above all, in Him who from eternity knows the future completely, as we have just seen explained.
How, then, can the unlearned say that the aforesaid angels could remain good, holy, and humble with their Lord for all time, since it was from eternity utterly impossible in God? They are therefore by the most valid reasoning forced to confess that, in accordance with their thesis God knowingly and in full awareness created and made His angels of such imperfection from the beginning that they could in no way escape evil. And so God himself, of whom the words good, holy, just, wise, and righteous were used above, who is above all praise, as was previously declared, was the whole cause and origin of all evil—which is obviously to be denied. For this reason we are required to acknowledge two principles. One is good. The other is evil, the source and cause of the imperfection of the angels and also of all evil."
– The Book of Two Principles (Cathar Text)