MYSTERY BABYLON, GNOSTICISM, AND THE FORCE

The first message is Jeff Cross's response to my earlier one which is below his

From: Jeffro X
Date: Sat Feb 25, 2006 10:15 am
Subject: Re: [cmnfolks] Mystery in Revelation I Timothy 6: 20 - Outstanding! jcstacy02
Offline Offline
Send Email Send Email
Invite to Yahoo! 360º Invite to Yahoo! 360º

Bernard,

This is outstanding info. on the connection between gnosticism and "the
force". Thanks much. Sorry for the delayed response: the slowness of the
cmnfolks postings pushed your email way down in my inbox and I finally found it
this morning.

I have an interview coming up on Tuesday where I will be talking about
"the force", so this is great material. I have been studying gnosticism lately
via a book Tom Collins recommended to me called "Primitive Christianity in
Crisis" by Alan Knight. It goes into great detail on the origins of Hellenistic
philosophy (which is really a religion of the stars and the heavens and not
secular 'philosophy' as we know it) and shows how Hellenism merged with
Christianity to form not only Gnosticism (which eventually dies out by the 6th
century), but also Valentinianism and Hellenized Christian doctrine as well.

Now as to the phrase "oppositions of science" in 1 Tim 6:20, that one is new
to me: I went and googled it (althought I now hate google and use www.use.com
whenever I can), it seems like alot of people are attributing this phrase to
evolution, Darwinism, etc., but Paul would have been originally talking about
gnosticism most likely.

The basic trend I'm seeing in this area is that with the advent of the World
Wide Web, more and more people are studying the world religions, and are
identifying a 'lowest common denominator', which is this 'force', and these
efforts are resulting in books like 'Ark of Millions of Years' and 'The
Uncovering' which actually make the claim that 'the force' IS the Holy Spirit.

This, to me, seems to be the final trap (prior to the tribulation) for all
those that refuse to come under the protection of the Blood of Christ, the
"pay-triot" community (as Randy calls it), the UFO-ologists (like all the folks
that listen to the Jeff Rense Show), and everyone else who rejects the Pre-Trib
Rapture, & rejects Religions as a whole but wants a way up and out of this New
World Order reality, up the 'Ascension staircarse', without going through the
door to the sheepfold.

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the
sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber." -
John 10:1

Thanks very much, God Bless, and I'll let you know if I find out anything new.

Sincerely in Christ,

- Jeff in Tx





bernard pyron wrote:
Jeff:

I looked at "mystery" from the Greek musterion in Revelation 17:5 and 7.

"And upon her head was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT< THE MOTHER
OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH...I will tell thee he mystery of
the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and
ten horns."

Musterion is used about 19 or 20 times in the New Testament, and in all texts
except three it refers to the mystery of the Kingdom of God, the mystery of
Christ, the mystery of godliness, and so on.

Paul uses musterion in II Thessalonians 2: 7 in saying "the mystery of
iniquity doth already work...: But here the mystery of iniquity is not esoteric
knowledge given to initiates in secret societies, but this mystery of iniquity
could be known in part by a revelation from God.

But in Revelation 17: 5 "musterion Babulon h megale" the mother of the
harlots and abominations of the earth." could refer to Babylonian Mystery
Religion as the origin of pagan and false religions, and of the secret societies
who claim descent from the Kaballah and Babylonian religion.

In Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words musterion is defined as
"primarily that which is known to the mustes, the initiated (from mueo, to
initiate into the mysteries...). Among the ancient Greeks, the mysteries were
religious rites and ceremonies...Those who were initiated into these mysteries
became possessors of certain knowledge, which was not imparted to the
uniniated."

Musterion or mueo in the Analytical Greek Lexicon Revised by Harold K.
Moulton says the word means "To initiate, instruct in the saced mysteries...a
matter to the knowledge of which initiation is necessary."

Strong's, for number 3466 (Geek), says musterion is a "secret or mystery
(through the idea of silence imposed by the initiation into religious rites).

On http://www.houlton.net/monk, for, Thayer's Lexicon, musterion is "A hidden
thing, secret...generally mysteries, religious secrets, confided only to the
initiated and not to be communicated by them to ordinary mortals...The secret
counsels which govern God in dealing with the righteous, which are hidden from
the ungodly and wicked men but plain to the godly."

Although musterion is used in the NT many times to talk about the mystery of
the kingdom of God, of Christ, of God's decrees and plans, the word as used in
Revelation 17: 5 and 7 could refer to the Babylonian Mystery Religion and to
esoteric religious knowledge given by that religion to the initiates.
Freemasonry, especially at its higher levels, is such a religion.

Albert Pike and other Masonic leaders acknowledge their debt to Kaballah and
to the Babylonian Mystery Schools.

Was Gnosticism influenced by Babylonian Mystery Religion? And did an early
form of Gnosticism exist in the First century?

Irenaeus, an early Church Father, in his Adversus Haereses in about 180 AD
claimed that Simon Magus was a Gnostic and an influential one. Apparently
Irenaeus thought the Simon Magus of legends and tales was the same Simon of Acts
8: 9-24, who wanted to pay Peter to give him the Holy Spirit. I don't know that
there is any real proof that the Simon Magus which Irenaeus - and also other
Church Fathers - writes about is the Simon of Acts 8. Justin and Tertullian
also mention Simon Magus in their writings.

On http:www.themystiuca.com it says that Hippolytus quoted Simon Magus as
saying "This is the Book of revelation of the Voice and the Name of knowledge
of the Great Infinite Force." Whether the Simon of Acts 8 actually wrote that
or not, it sounds like the "Force" of Daniel 11: 38, and of your discussion of
the Ark of Millions of Years, apparently accepted in part by Joyce Riley and
Dave VanKleist. Somebody was into this stuff in the second century at least and
this may hark back to the first century.

Albert Pike, the major leader of Freemasonry in the 19th century, said that his god is a force. Albert Pike, on page 102  of his book  Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Masonry (1871) says that

"The true name of Satan, the Kabalists say, is that of Yahveh reversed; for Satan is not a black god, but the negation of God. The Devil is personification of Atheism and Idolatry. For the initiates, this is not a Person, but a Force, created for good, but which may serve for evil."  This quote out of Morals and Dogma is found on:

http://users.1st.net/whitacre/Morals&Dogma.htm

Pike writes about the "Infinite God" as "the mighty cosmic force" again on Page 707 of Morals and Dogma.

Some of the early Gnostics seem also to have been into the god of forces of Daniel 11:38, "But in his estate shall he honor the God of forces:  and a god whom his father knew not shall he honor with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and peasant things."  The god of forces is not a person, but a force.

The "Christian" Gnostics taught that man can come to know hidden knowledge of
the nature of things and that this esoteric knowledge can be handed down to the
initiates, something which sounds a lot like Babylonian Mystery Religion and
secret societies.

Then there is I Timothy 6: 20, "O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy
trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science
falsely, so called."

The King James translates the Greek word gnosis as "science." It could have
been translated as knowledge. Paul might have been warning Timothy of more
false doctrines that only First Century Gnosticism. But Paul does identify a
kind of knowledge that is opposed to the Gospel of Christ and which is futile
for salvation and of being obedient to the Lord. In I Timothy 6: 20 "vain
babblings" is from one Greek word, kenophonias, which is from kenos, or empty,
and phone, a sound, that could mean futile noises or words, empty babblings, or
empty words.

Bernard



Jeffro X wrote: