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I put Books to the Test of Life
To give an accurate definition of Gnosticism we cannot do better than quote from a very learned article written on the subject by Rabbi Ludwig Blau, Ph.D., Professor at the Jewish Theological Seminary of Budapest, Hungary:—
"Gnosticism is an esoteric ('hidden, secret') system of Theology and Philosophy. . . Gnosis is neither pure philosophy, nor pure religion, but a combination of the two with magic, the latter being the dominant element, as it was in the beginning of all religion and philosophy. . . . .Jewish Gnosticism unquestionably antedates Christianity, for Biblical exegesis had already reached an age of five hundred years by the first century of the Christian era …. There is, in general, no circle of ideas to which elements of Gnosticism have been traced and with which the Jews were not acquainted . It is a noticeable and noteworthy fact that heads of Gnostic schools and founders of Gnostic systems are designated as Jews by the Church Fathers . Many Gnostic elements have doubtless been preserved in the Kabbalah {The Kabbalah and the Talmud together form the basis of modem Judaism. The Kabbalah regulates the spiritual life of Jews, and the Talmud the material.}, together with magic and mysticism …"
Here it must be explained that Jewish magic consists in experimenting with the hidden forces of the human body, producing mass-hypnotism, etc. Such experiments are apt to produce physical wrecks, destroying the will-power of resistance, and should only be permitted under scientific control.
The first notorious head of Gnosticism was Carpocrates, a Jew of Alexandria, who lived under the reign of the Roman Emperor Hadrian (A.D. 117-138). Carpocrates' s son Epiphanes was the author of a work entitled "Justice" which advocated a very outrageous form of Communism. More than 60 different sects of Gnostics arose; they all had mysteries, initiation rites and ceremonies, and also signs and symbols. The tenet common to all of them was Dualism, or the co-existence of two principles, one good and the other evil, or God and Matter. God could not approach matter, and from this was derived the teaching that the soul could not be sullied by the actions of the body. Hence Gnostics fell into licentiousness and perversion, their esoteric (or hidden) doctrine being that nothing was really evil by nature.
Gnosticism spread rapidly amongst the Jews, who in their turn regarded the establishment of Judaism over the world as one of their chief aims. They proselytised at different times in great earnest, {The Ashkenazim (or German) Jews, which compose nine-tenths of the Jewish nation, are the descendants of the inhabitants of the Khazars Empire, who were converted to Judaism by Jewish missionaries in 720 A.D.} so that first Rome and later the Christian Church forbade the embracing of Judaism. "The Jews fully believed that it was their destiny to be a light to the nations and they acted upon this belief. They attracted the Gentiles to their synagogues, they sent out preachers among the pagans to spread their teaching far and wide," writes the Jew, Nonnan Bentwich. It was when he was forced under cover that the Jew stealthily pursued his aim and attacked the spiritual and intellectual stronghold of the Gentiles of whatever religion, Christian, Mahommedan or Buddhist, by means of subtle penetration, i.e., destruction from within.
Diffusion of Gnosticism among the Gentiles.
From the second century onwards, hundreds of sects with more or less Gnostic teaching embodied in their tenets arose to combat or distort Christianity (e.g., Manicheism), and with the advent of Islam in the 7th Century, the same thing happened to Islam. A Gnostic sect of Mahommedans was founded by a Yemen Jew, Abdallah ibn-Saba (Cir. 640) called Shi’ism, which was both religious and political in character. Over 400 years later, the terrible sect known as the Assassins was founded by the Shi’ite Hasan Saba, protected by a Jewish Caliph who had deposed the legitimate Mahommedan. The Jews followed the Arabs throughout the latter's conquests until their defeat by Charles Martel in 732, and were permitted to enter Arab schools and universities. It was under Arab influence that the Jews first studied Medicine and Astrology, although they rapidly perverted these sciences into magic practices, so that the Islamic Caliphs were obliged to promulgate laws forbidding Jews to teach or practise medicine. On the other side, the Jews settled in communities or Kahals in all the newly-formed Aryan nations of Europe, establishing a monopoly in trade, and undermining Christianity by the formation of Gnostic groups such as the Albigenses, who, in spite of the fact that they called themselves Christians, are described by Pope Innocent III in a letter to the King of France in 1205, as having
"by their usurious practices gotten into their power the goods of the Church, occupied castles, acted as stewards and managers for the nobles, had Christian servants and nurses on whom they committed abominable crimes. On Easter Day they walked in the streets and offered insults to the Faith, maintaining that He whom their ancestors had crucified was only a peasant. Their houses remained open till the middle of the night and served to receive stolen goods; assassination even occurred. …" {Bouquet XIX, 471 ).
"Gnosticism is an esoteric ('hidden, secret') system of Theology and Philosophy. . . Gnosis is neither pure philosophy, nor pure religion, but a combination of the two with magic, the latter being the dominant element, as it was in the beginning of all religion and philosophy. . . . .Jewish Gnosticism unquestionably antedates Christianity, for Biblical exegesis had already reached an age of five hundred years by the first century of the Christian era …. There is, in general, no circle of ideas to which elements of Gnosticism have been traced and with which the Jews were not acquainted . It is a noticeable and noteworthy fact that heads of Gnostic schools and founders of Gnostic systems are designated as Jews by the Church Fathers . Many Gnostic elements have doubtless been preserved in the Kabbalah {The Kabbalah and the Talmud together form the basis of modem Judaism. The Kabbalah regulates the spiritual life of Jews, and the Talmud the material.}, together with magic and mysticism …"
Here it must be explained that Jewish magic consists in experimenting with the hidden forces of the human body, producing mass-hypnotism, etc. Such experiments are apt to produce physical wrecks, destroying the will-power of resistance, and should only be permitted under scientific control.
The first notorious head of Gnosticism was Carpocrates, a Jew of Alexandria, who lived under the reign of the Roman Emperor Hadrian (A.D. 117-138). Carpocrates' s son Epiphanes was the author of a work entitled "Justice" which advocated a very outrageous form of Communism. More than 60 different sects of Gnostics arose; they all had mysteries, initiation rites and ceremonies, and also signs and symbols. The tenet common to all of them was Dualism, or the co-existence of two principles, one good and the other evil, or God and Matter. God could not approach matter, and from this was derived the teaching that the soul could not be sullied by the actions of the body. Hence Gnostics fell into licentiousness and perversion, their esoteric (or hidden) doctrine being that nothing was really evil by nature.
Gnosticism spread rapidly amongst the Jews, who in their turn regarded the establishment of Judaism over the world as one of their chief aims. They proselytised at different times in great earnest, {The Ashkenazim (or German) Jews, which compose nine-tenths of the Jewish nation, are the descendants of the inhabitants of the Khazars Empire, who were converted to Judaism by Jewish missionaries in 720 A.D.} so that first Rome and later the Christian Church forbade the embracing of Judaism. "The Jews fully believed that it was their destiny to be a light to the nations and they acted upon this belief. They attracted the Gentiles to their synagogues, they sent out preachers among the pagans to spread their teaching far and wide," writes the Jew, Nonnan Bentwich. It was when he was forced under cover that the Jew stealthily pursued his aim and attacked the spiritual and intellectual stronghold of the Gentiles of whatever religion, Christian, Mahommedan or Buddhist, by means of subtle penetration, i.e., destruction from within.
Diffusion of Gnosticism among the Gentiles.
From the second century onwards, hundreds of sects with more or less Gnostic teaching embodied in their tenets arose to combat or distort Christianity (e.g., Manicheism), and with the advent of Islam in the 7th Century, the same thing happened to Islam. A Gnostic sect of Mahommedans was founded by a Yemen Jew, Abdallah ibn-Saba (Cir. 640) called Shi’ism, which was both religious and political in character. Over 400 years later, the terrible sect known as the Assassins was founded by the Shi’ite Hasan Saba, protected by a Jewish Caliph who had deposed the legitimate Mahommedan. The Jews followed the Arabs throughout the latter's conquests until their defeat by Charles Martel in 732, and were permitted to enter Arab schools and universities. It was under Arab influence that the Jews first studied Medicine and Astrology, although they rapidly perverted these sciences into magic practices, so that the Islamic Caliphs were obliged to promulgate laws forbidding Jews to teach or practise medicine. On the other side, the Jews settled in communities or Kahals in all the newly-formed Aryan nations of Europe, establishing a monopoly in trade, and undermining Christianity by the formation of Gnostic groups such as the Albigenses, who, in spite of the fact that they called themselves Christians, are described by Pope Innocent III in a letter to the King of France in 1205, as having
"by their usurious practices gotten into their power the goods of the Church, occupied castles, acted as stewards and managers for the nobles, had Christian servants and nurses on whom they committed abominable crimes. On Easter Day they walked in the streets and offered insults to the Faith, maintaining that He whom their ancestors had crucified was only a peasant. Their houses remained open till the middle of the night and served to receive stolen goods; assassination even occurred. …" {Bouquet XIX, 471 ).
