APOSTATE CHRISTIANITY,
GNOSTICISM, CATHOLICISM
& THE NEW AGE MOVEMENT
Irenaeus (115-202 AD), Pastor of Lugdunum in Gaul (now Lyons), gives us some history behind Gnosticism which was the first satanic attack against God's Word (Genesis 3:1-6). Irenaeus was the disciple of Polycarp (70-156 AD), Pastor of the Church in Smyrna, who was taught by the Apostle John. It was John who wrote his First Epistle against Gnostic corrupters (i.e. 1 John 1:5, 2:23, 4:3 5:7) the false teachings of which are similar to Rosicrucianism and our many faceted modern New Age Movement. Irenaeus tells us that Simon the sorcerer (Acts 8:9-13, 18-24) was regarded as the father of Gnosticism. The people of Samaria called Simon "the great power of God" (Acts 8:10; cf. Mark 14:62; Luke 22:69). John was present in Samaria when Peter rebuked Simon for trying to buy the power of the Holy Ghost (Acts 8:14-24). According to Irenaeus Simon the sorcerer's faith was feigned and he used incantations, love-potions, charms, exorcisms, and was in contact with beings called "Paredri" (familiars) and "Oniropompi" (dream-senders) [Against Heresies 1.23]. Hippolytus (170-236 AD), Pastor of the Church in Portus near Rome, records that Simon allegorized the scriptures in order to support his false teachings, especially Genesis [Refutation of all Heresies 6.5-10]. Irenaeus also tells us that Gnosticism received its doctrines from pagan Greek philosophers like Pythagoras, Homer, Plato, Aristotle, and others [Against Heresies 3:3]. Some of the major heresies of Gnosticism include:
1. There are 30 gods (Aeons) outside of time and space (Pleroma). [Irenaeus, Against Heresies 1.1-3] (Isaiah 45:5, 46:9)
2. The goddess Sophia created a tyrant creator angel, Demiurge (The God of the Old Testament), who was not aware of the Aeons and thought he was the only God. Demiurge created man but Sophia gave him spirit. [Irenaeus, Against Heresies 1.5] (Psalms 34:8, 100:5, 135:3, 145:9)
3. Sophia sent the serpent (an angel) into the garden of Eden to free Adam and Eve. By eating of the tree Adam and Eve were set free through true knowledge (gnosis). However, Demiurge raped Eve many times and she gave birth to other evil creator angels (serpent seed doctrine). [Irenaeus, Against Heresies 1.30] (John 8:44; Revelation 12:9)
4. Some people are predestined to hell, while others are saved by doing enough good works. Other people have spirits sent forth from Sophia predestinating them to salvation regardless if they act good or evil. So the most "perfect" of them addict themselves to evil deeds and are in a habit of defiling the women they convert. [Irenaeus, Against Heresies 1.6-7, 4.37] (2 Peter 3:9; Romans 3:19-20; Ephesians 2:8-9; Luke 13:5; John 14:6; Acts 4:12)
5. All matter is evil and not capable of salvation. It will eventually be destroyed. [Irenaeus, Against Heresies 1.7, 23] (Luke 24:39; Philippians 3:21; 2 Peter 3:12-13; Revelation 21:1)
6. Mantras to effect nature (as in Hinduism and Kabbalah). [Irenaeus, Against Heresies 1.14-15] (Deuteronomy 18:10-12)
7. Perfect knowledge is obtained by baptism, spiritual marriage and last rites (sacramentalism). [Irenaeus, Against Heresies 1.21] (Titus 3:5; Galatians 2:16)
8. At death some souls enter an intermediate state to be purged of the animal nature (purgatory) before going into the Pleroma (full divine powers). [Irenaeus, Against Heresies 2.29] (John 19:30; Hebrews 10:10)
9. Reincarnation. [Irenaeus, Against Heresies 2:33] (Hebrews 9:27)
10. Christ descended upon Jesus at his baptism and left before Jesus went before Pilate (adoptionism). Sophia wouldn't allow Christ to suffer. [Irenaeus, Against Heresies 1.7] (1 John 5:7; John 1:14; Matthew 1:23; Micah 5:2)
Justin Martyr (100-165 AD) was born about the time John, the last apostle, died. Justin saw Jesus, "the Word" or Logos (John 1:1, 14; 1 John 1:1, 5:7; Revelation 19:13) as a separate being from God and subordinate to Him. Justin wrote, "There is ... another God and Lord [the Word] subject to the Maker of all things [the Father] ... above whom [the Father] there is no other God. ... He [the Word] who is said to have appeared to Abraham, and to Jacob, and to Moses, and who is called God, is distinct from Him [the Father] who made all things ..." (Dialogue with Trypho, 56). Justin speaks of the Logos as "another God ... distinct from [the Maker of all things]," but the Word of God declares:
1 John 5:7: "For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and THESE THREE ARE ONE."
Deuteronomy 6:4: "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our GOD IS ONE LORD."
Hebrews 1:1-3: "God ... hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds; WHO BEING THE BRIGHTNESS OF HIS GLORY, AND THE EXPRESS IMAGE OF HIS PERSON, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high." (cf. v. 8)
Philippians 2:5-7: "Christ Jesus ..., BEING IN THE FORM OF GOD, THOUGHT IT NOT ROBBERY TO BE EQUAL WITH GOD: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men."
1 Timothy 2:5: "For there is ONE GOD, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus."
The Scriptural explanation of the Holy Trinity is demonstrated by the fact that God created man in His own image. The Bible records that "... God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. ... So God created man in his own image" (Gen. 1:26-27). Part of God's image includes being a tri-unity, and since man is in His image, man is likewise a tri-unity of "... spirit and soul and body ..." as stated by the Apostle Paul (1 Thess. 5:23). A man has three parts, but is one person. God too has three parts, but is one God. The Hebrew word "Elohiym" translated "God" is plural and must be at least three. Furthermore, notice the great Old Testament definition of who Jehovah is, "The LORD our God is one LORD" (Deut. 6:4). The word LORD here is translated from the Hebrew word "יהוה" (Jehovah meaning The Great I AM; The Eternally Existing One), and that word "God" again is from "Elohiym." Therefore, the passage can be interpreted, "Jehovah our Trinity is ONE Great I AM."
Tatian (120-180 AD) was one of Justin Martyr's disciples and like Justin, he embraced Gnosticism. Irenaeus condemned three errors in Tatian's teaching: "He invented certain invisible 'aeons' [gods] like those of the Valentinians; he denounced marriage as 'corruption and fornication' .... he denied the salvation of Adam." Tatian wrote a synthesis or "harmony" of the Four Gospel called the Diatessaron" (through the four) around 170 AD. While the Diatessaron agrees with the Old Latin and the Syriac Peshitta, it omitted about a quarter of the text of the Gospels (including Matthew 1:1-17, 18:4; Mark 1:1, 6:53, 15:25; Luke 1:1-4, 3:23-38, 7:6-7, 24:12; John 1:6, 2:12-13, John 7:53-8:11). Like Justin, Tatian's doctrine of Jesus Christ was totally heretical. He said, "... the Logos descended to Jesus and was mingled with his soul; the Logos dwelt in him as in a temple." According to Tatian the means of creation was the "dynamis logike (the power in words). At first there proceeded from God the Logos who produced the world by creating matter from which the whole creation sprang.
Tatian's false doctrines of Christ, and of "dynamis logike" or word power ring of the heresies of the modern Word of Faith Movement. Kenneth Hagin (1917-2003) has been dubbed the father of this "Christian" movement, but its first proponent was actually Essek William Kenyon (1867-1948). 
Kenyon was a Free Will Baptist preacher who got involved with the New Age teachings of the New Thought movement which came to prominence in the late 19th century. New Thought emphasizes the metaphysical beliefs of positive thinking, creative visualization, healing, the Law of Attraction (thoughts influence chance), esoteric energy (all things are interconnected) and other Hindu and occult teachings. Kenyon mixed some of these diabolically opposed doctrines with Christianity. Numerous New Age cults were spawned by the New Thought movement, the largest being Unity School of Christianity or Unity Church. Hagin's hybrid theology was heavily influenced by Kenyon's teachings. Hagin preached a four-part formula for receiving God's promises: "Say it; Do it; Receive it; Tell it." Hagin said, "Often you create your own negative situations yourself with wrong thinking, wrong believing, and wrong speaking. So start believing according to God's Word. Then begin making positive confessions of faith and victory over your life. ... You will never receive anything from God beyond the words you speak. ... If you don't like what you have in life, then begin to change the way you are thinking, believing, and speaking. Instead of speaking according to natural circumstances out of your head, learn to speak God's Word from your spirit. Begin to confess God's promises of life and health and victory into your situation. Then you can begin to enjoy God's abundant life as you have what you say!" Many preachers and teachers have been influenced by Hagin's New Age teaching. Some of the most recognized include Kenneth Copeland, Joel Osteen, Benny Hinn, Frederick K. C. Price, Creflo Dollar, Joyce Meyer, Jerry Savelle. Like Justin and Tatian the Word of Faith teachers blaspheme the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to their heresy:
Frederick Price said, "Jesus was on the earth just a man, not the son of God." (Tape #RP 19, May 1993)
Benny Hinn wrote, "Had the Holy Spirit not been with Jesus, He would have sinned. That's right, it was the Holy Spirit that was the power that kept Him pure. He was not only sent from heaven, but He was called the Son of Man -- and as such He was capable of sinning. ... Without the Holy Ghost, Jesus would have never have made it." (Good Morning, Holy Spirit, Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1990, 135-36) Wait, it gets worse!
Kenneth Copeland, in relating what Christ supposedly told him, says, "don't be disturbed when people accuse you of thinking you are God ... the more you get to be like me, the more they are going to think that way of you. They crucified me for claiming that I was God. But I didn't claim I was God. I just claimed I walked with Him and that He was with me" ("Take Time to Pray," Believer's Voice of Victory, #15, 2 February 1987, p. 9). Copeland also said, "You don't have a god in you, you are one." ("The Force Of Love" tape # 02-0028) He further says, "When I read in the Bible where [Jesus] says, 'I Am,' I just smile and say, 'Yes, I Am, too!'" ("Believer's Voice of Victory" broadcast on TBN, recorded 7/9/87)
Kenneth Hagin himself said, "You are as much the incarnation of God as Jesus Christ was" (The Word of Faith, December 1980, p. 14).
1 John 2:18-23: "Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. But YE HAVE AN UNCTION FROM THE HOLY ONE, and ye know all things. I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. WHO IS A LIAR BUT HE THAT DENIETH THAT JESUS IS THE CHRIST? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also."
1 John 4:1-3: "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that JESUS CHRIST IS COME IN THE FLESH is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that JESUS CHRIST IS COME IN THE FLESH is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
2 John 7-11: "For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that JESUS CHRIST IS COME IN THE FLESH. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST, hath not God. He that abideth in THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.."
An antichrist can be one who is against Christ, or one who puts himself in the place of Christ. The latter is a major doctrine of the New Age Movement, namely that we can obtain Christ consciousness. The true Christ, however, came in the flesh (John 1:1, 14). He did not become Christ or obtain Christ consciousness, but was already Christ when He stepped out of eternity past to enter Mary's womb (Luke 1:30-35; cf. Isaiah 9:6-7), when he was born (Matt. 1:21-23; cf. Isaiah 7:14), and all His life, and He continues to be THE ONE AND ONLY CHRIST, now! "Hereby know ye the Spirit of God ..." (1 John 4:2) Remember, the Lord Jesus told us that "... the Spirit of truth ... will guide you into all truth: for He shall ... glorify Me ..." (John 16:13-14).
Clement of Alexandria (150-215 AD) was a disciple of Tatian and was likewise a Gnostic. It is wise to keep in mind Luke 6:40 here, "The disciple is not above his master: but everyone that is perfect shall be as his master." Clement founded a Theological School in Alexandria, Egypt. He followed Platonism, and taught reincarnation, there is no heaven or hell, no blood atonement of Christ, and no infallible Bible. By far Clement's most famous student was Origenes Adamantius commonly known as Origen.
Origenes Adamantius (184-254 AD) or Origen for short is the arch-heretic of the ages, and the hero of Bible correctors and Catholicism alike. He was the disciple of Clement, and like his teacher was also a Gnostic. He became the leader of the school in Alexandria after Clement. He is best known for his editing a six version, six column Old Testament called the Hexapla. Origen followed the Greek philosophy of Plato, Pythagoras and Plotinus. He corrupted the Word of God with the teachings of the philosophers and with Gnosticism. Virtually all the modern Bible versions follow Origen's corrupt Bible. Here are some of Origen's doctrinal heresies:
"They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error." (1 John 4:5-6)
Today we have a continually evolving bible coming closer and closer to the New Age Religion of ancient Gnosticism and Roman Catholicism, the two horns of the second beast of Revelation 13.
In the early 1920's Foster Bailey (1888-1977) and his wife Alice Bailey (1880-1949) founded Lucifer Publishing (name later changed to Lucis Trust). In her book, The Externalization of the Hierarchy, Alice states, "The Christian church in its many branches can serve as a St. John the Baptist, as a voice crying in the wilderness, and as a nucleus through which world illumination may be accomplished. ... The church must show a wide tolerance, and teach no revolutionary doctrines or cling to any reactionary ideas." (New York, NY: Lucis Pub. Co., 1957, pp. 510, 511.) She wanted Christendom to shut up and assist in bring about the acceptance of the New Age concepts of self-realization, illumination and the Golden Age of Aquarius. The ultimate goal is the destruction of Biblical Christianity. Roman Catholicism is clearly on board with Bailey's agenda. The Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) documents states:
"... In Hinduism men explore the divine mystery and express it both in the limitless riches of myth and the accurately defined insights of philosophy. They seek release from the trials of the present life by ascetical practices, profound meditation and recourse to God in confidence and love. Buddhism in its various forms testifies to the essential inadequacy of this changing world. It proposes a way of life by which man can, with confidence and trust, attain a state of perfect liberation and reach supreme illumination either through their own efforts or by the aid of divine help. ... The Catholic Church rejects nothing of what is true and holy in these religions. "
Jesuit priest William Johnston explains how it happened, "... Overnight the Catholic Church which had been a Western institution exporting its wares to the East became a world community. Asian and African bishops and theologians assembled in Rome and, with their European and American confreres, acknowledged that the Spirit of God is at work in all peoples and in all religions. Since then, most theologians recognize non-Christian religions as valid ways."
The Gnostic nature of Catholicism is seen not only from its history, but also in the fact that it adapts to and assimilates pagan and eastern religions so easily. For example to the right we see Pope John Paul II receiving the Mark of the Hindu goddess Durga, the consort of the god Shiva. By the time this photo was taken, however, the pope had already been involved in several pagan rituals on his 1986 trip to India. Three days prior to taking this photo in Madras, India on February 5, 1986, the Pope had also taken the Mark of Shiva on his forehead. It is the red mark seen on the foreheads of so many Hindus signifying their devotion to Shiva. Here we see the two horns of the second beast of Revelation 13. The horns signifying seats of power. The powers being Catholicism and the New Age movement. The Vatican's goal of ecumenicalism is seen in her efforts to unite all the religions under her wing.
On October 27, 1986 and again on January 24, 2002 Pope John Paul II hosted first 160 and then 200 shamans, animists, imams, witch doctors, patriarchs, monks and rabbis from around the world for a prayer summit at Assisi, Italy. The world's religious leaders including the Dalai Lama (considered by many Buddhists to be a god), Islamic Mullahs from nine countries, Hindus, Zoroastrians, native American shamans, African animists, Jews, Catholics and Protestants assembled together to pray for world peace. Pope John Paul II declared, "We will stand side by side asking 
God to give us peace." Pope John Paul II has demonstrated broad ecumenical support by publicly hosting these religious leaders from all over the world, and has also done so in many books, seminars, on the Internet and by official sanction. Popedom has set an ecumenical agenda, which the world loves and accepts.
With New Age and ecumenical beliefs being advocated not only by Roman Catholics, but also by "Evangelicals," like Billy Graham, Rick Warren, Kenneth Copeland, Paul Crouch and Joel Osteen, it appears that the desired goal of a one world religion is closer to being achieved. The New Age aspiration to establish a one world religion lead by a "Christ Leader" is being met by the Pope and his Church. All of this ought not to surprise any believer, for the Bible has warned us of the end time Apostate Church system and her daughter harlots (Rev. 17). Christians cannot remain silent in the face of this apostasy. A further watering down of God's Word will continue to accommodate the unbelievers of the various New Age and other religions.
"Beloved, ... ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." (Jude 3)
"We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not." (2 Peter 1:19 - 2:3)
REFERENCES:
1. Alice Bailey, The Externalization of the Hierarchy, New York, NY: Lucis Pub. Co., 1957, pp. 510, 511.
2. The Mystic Plague, Catholicism sets a Spiritualist Agenda by Richard Bennett.
3. Le Roux, Abbe Daniel, Peter, Lovest Thou Me?, Instauratio Press, Australia; 1989, pp. 155, 156
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