Trumpet Ministries,Gnosticism
Back to THE SECOND GOAT
The philosophy of Gnosticism was prevalent at the time of the birth of Christianity. Although Gnosticism appears in several forms, two of the central ideas are (1) salvation is obtained through specialized knowledge; and (2) matter is evil and spirit is good.
We can see both of these ideas working in Christian theology. Salvation, as preached today, consists primarily of our knowledge and acceptance of the facts concerning Christ, His sacrificial atonement and His bodily resurrection. If we agree to these we are saved regardless of our behavior. It is salvation based on specialized knowledge. This is Gnosticism.
Since the central purpose of the new covenant is to change our behavior, not to merely change our beliefs, we can understand how destructive modern preaching is to the Kingdom of God. Even though the Book of James informs us clearly that faith without works is dead, most of the preachers of today proclaim triumphantly that we are saved by "faith alone." Yet the inspired Scripture states unequivocally that we are not saved by faith alone.
Satan could not care less about what we believe. It is when we begin to serve God that Satan becomes enraged, for righteous, obedient behavior on our part signals the end of his kingdom.
It probably was the Gnostic belief that matter is evil and spirit is good that caused the change in the Christian hope from the coming of the Kingdom of God to the earth to the flight of the believers to the spirit Paradise to make their eternal home there.
The Scriptures do not teach that we are to make our eternal home in Heaven. The Scriptures are quite materialistic in viewpoint. God pronounced the material creation "very good." The Lord Jesus came in order to redeem the physical creation from the hand of Satan. Even our mortal bodies are to be redeemed.
Evil came to us from the spirit realm, not from the physical realm.
Christianity is the opposite of Gnosticism.
It probably was Paul’s emphasis on setting our affection on things above that caused the early believers to receive some of the ideas of Gnosticism. They did not realize that Paul referred to the development of the Kingdom of God in the spirit realm prior to its coming to the earth.
We see, then, that both humanism and Gnosticism, intentionally or not, act to destroy the necessity for righteous behavior. Yet the creation of righteous behavior throughout the universe of God is the purpose of the new covenant.
All religions have special furnishings and architecture, special mysteries, and a required code of conduct—all except Christianity. Satan has been successful in convincing the Christian churches that there is no required code of conduct, we are saved by grace through faith. Therefore the Christian churches are not bearing the Divine testimony, because the Divine testimony is not in belief but in good works. Men must see our good works before they will glorify God.
Back to THE SECOND GOAT