The Gospel of Judas

Cain - Cainites - Kenite - Rechabites

The Cainites produce a fictitious history of this kind, which they style the Gospel of Judas. See the connection with the ZOE concept. The view of Elaine Pagels, the mother of modern Gnosticism, try to make Judas into a co-worker. However, in all of the blather, no one seems to note that in the literature of that period the GOSPEL OF JUDAS was an ongoing Satanic effort by the "Son of Perdition" to destroy Christianity. Nor, do any of them have any awareness that the Psalms and the Type of Ahithopel proves that JUDAS would be the vile enemy of Christ. He is still sold in the "dens of thieves and houses of merchandise." His method was--from the beginning--the use of music to DIVERT or bleed off Worship due only to God.

This all ties back to Cain where Eve was WHOLLY SEDUCED and Cain was "OF" that wicked one. The word for serpent in the garden means a "Musical Enchanter." The Book of Enoch and other documents shows that the FALL was caused by Satan teaching the youth how to form mixed-sex choirs, use instruments and seductive clothing. The Book of Jude is a parallel.

Schaff wrote:

The Cainites boasted of the descent from Cain the fratricide, and made him their leader. They regarded the God of the Jews and Creator of the world as a positively evil being, whom to resist is virtue. Hence they turned the history of salvation upside down, and honored all the infamous characters of the Old and New Testaments from Cain to Judas as spiritual men and martyrs to truth.

Judas Iscariot alone among the apostles had the secret of true knowledge, and betrayed the psychic Messiah with good intent to destroy the empire of the evil God of the Jews. Origen speaks of a branch of the Ophites, who were as great enemies of Jesus as the heathen Celsus, and who admitted none into their society who had not first cursed his name. But the majority seem to have acknowledged the goodness of Jesus and the benefit of his crucifixion brought about by the far-sighted wisdom of Judas. A book entitled "the Gospel of Judas" was circulated among them.

I would say that much of modern theology holds this view: the evil Father was the "god" of "his" dispensation, the Son was the "god" of his dispensation but the GOSPEL was not finished and is still fermenting in an OLD WINESKIN which must be destroyed, and the "Spirit" god of this dispensation which negates ALL but seven facts ABOUT Jesus Christ.

No wonder that such blasphemous travesty of the Bible history, and such predilection for the serpent and his seed was connected with the most unbridled antinomianism, which changed vice into virtue. They thought it a necessary part of "perfect knowledge" to have a complete experience of all sins, including even unnamable vices.

Some have identified the Ophites with the false teachers denounced in the Epistle of Jude as filthy dreamers, who "defile the flesh, and set at naught dominion, and rail at dignities," who "went in the way of Cain, and ran riotously in the error of Balaam for hire, and perished in the gainsaying of Korah," as "wandering stars, for whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever." The resemblance is certainly very striking, and those heretics may have been the forerunners of the Ophites of the second century.

See Psalm 41 etc., in the translation in the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Students of the Bible will remember that after Israel fell into musical idolatry at Mount Sinai, according to Stephen in Acts 7 and other Old Testament versions, God turned Israel over to worship the starry hosts. At the same time, he QUARANTINED the civilians away from the "like the nation's" sacrificial system. The trumpet could all ASSEMBLY but could not sound the alarm: this included playing instruments and making a joyful noise before the Lord. This was the warrior's panic chant.

Psalm 41 prophesied that Judas would NOT succeed in THIS MUSICAL triumph over but the Levitical Warrior's did mock Him right to the cross.

From these DSS Psalms we see that when Jesus is victorious He will "play" the instruments which God gave him and NOT with mechanical instruments.

See the War Rules in the Dead Sea Scrolls.

"Murder of Abel," bas-relief panel by Jacopo della Quercia, 1425-38, on the porta maggiore of S. Petronio, Bologna, Italy Alinari--Art Resource
I WILL BOOST this with additonal information to prove that the the SON OF PERDITION is the same Judas indwelled by an UNholy spirit: the Judas bag was attached to the flute case and was "for carrying the mouthpieces of wind instruments." This fulfilled the prophecy of Psalm 41 and the word ALARM or TRIUMPH OVER.

There are many non-Biblical accounts similar to Cain and Abel. The contest was between Satan and Christ: The seed of Christ sought to honor God through right living and faithfulness to the Word of God. On the other hand, the seed of the serpent sought to use music and other means of seduction to BLEED OFF worship due God for themselves.

The god of this world:

Satan has authority over this world, the fallen angels and those who are unsaved. He uses these people as his angels or evangelists:

And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will. 2 Tim 2:26

However, by overcoming the world John says that we can know that we are OF GOD:

And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness. 1 John 5:19

Jesus refused to speak to the high level Jews except in parables. This was because they had been blinded and could not grasp spiritual truth:

But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but, by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every mans conscience in the sight of God. 2 Cor 4:2

But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: 2 Cor 4:3

In whom the god of this world (aion or age) hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. 2 Cor 4:4

God permissively uses Satan on those who do not believe:

He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. Jn.12:40

Those SEED planted by Christ are added to His church or kingdom:

Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Col 1:12

Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: Col 1:13

Cain was a principle seed of Satan intending to destroy Christ by destroying the holy line of Abel

Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brothers righteous. 1Jn.3:12

H7014 qayin kah'-yin The same as H7013 (with a play upon the affinity to H7069 ); Kajin, the name of the first child, also of a place in Palestine, and of an Oriental tribe:--Cain, Kenite (-s).

H7013 qayin kah'-yin From H6969 in the original sense of fixity; a lance (as striking fast): spear.

H6969 qun koon A primitive root; to strike a musical note, that is, chant or wail (at a funeral): lament, mourning woman.

Cain is said to have HANDLED musical instruments:

Gen 4:21 And his brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ.

H8610 taphas taw-fas' A primitive root; to manipulate, that is, seize; chiefly to capture, wield; specifically to overlay; figuratively to use unwarrantably:--catch, handle, (lay, take) hold (on, over), stop, X surely, surprise, take.

H8608 taphaph taw-faf' A primitive root; to drum, that is, play (as) on the tambourine: taber, play with timbrels.

H8611 tôpheth to'-feth From the base of H8608 ; a smiting, that is, (figuratively) contempt:--tabret.

H8612 tôpheth to'-feth The same as H8611 ; Topheth, a place near Jerusalem:--Tophet, Topheth.

Gen 4:22 And Zillah, she also bare Tubalcain, an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron: and the sister of Tubalcain was Naamah.

Cain was of that evil one and Judas was controlled by Satan: both are connected with music and of the world.

It is important to read the Classics because the JUDAS / JUBAL / GENUN theme is almost universal.

Amphion Greek version of Cain and Abel

Antiope was a daughter of Nycteus, and Zeus had intercourse with her. When she was with child, and her father threatened her, she ran away to Epopeus at Sicyon and was married to him. In a fit of despondency Nycteus killed himself, after charging Lycus to punish Epopeus and Antiope. Lycus marched against Sicyon, subdued it, slew Epopeus, and led Antiope away captive. On the way she gave birth to two [p. 1.339] sons at Eleurethae in Boeotia.

The infants were exposed, but a neatherd found and reared them, and he called the one Zethus and the other Amphion.
........... Now Zethus paid attention to cattle-breeding,
........... but Amphion practised minstrelsy,
........... ........... for Hermes (Mercury) had given him a lyre.

But Lycus and his wife Dirce imprisoned Antiope and treated her despitefully. Howbeit, one day her bonds were loosed of themselves, and unknown to her keepers she came to her sons cottage, begging that they would take her in. They recognized their mother and slew Lycus, but Dirce they tied to a bull, and flung her dead body into the spring that is called Dirce after her.

And having succeeded to the sovereignty they fortified the city, the stones following Amphion's lyre; and they expelled Laius. He resided in Peloponnese, being hospitably received by Pelops; and while he taught Chrysippus, the son of Pelops, to drive a chariot, he conceived a passion for the lad and carried him off. [p.1.341]

Note 5: Compare Paus. 9.5.7ff. The two brothers are said to have quarrelled, the robust Zethus

blaming Amphion for his passionate addiction to music
........... and urging him to abandon it for what he deemed
........... the more manly pursuits of agriculture, cattle-breeding and war.

The gentle Amphion yielded to these exhortations so far as to cease to strum the lyre.

"The discussion between the two brothers,
........... the one advocating the practical life and
........... the other the contemplative or artistic,
........... seems to have been famous.

It is illustrated by a fine relief in which we see Amphion standing and holding out his lyre eagerly for the admiration of his athletic brother, who sits regarding it with an air of smiling disdain. See W. H. Roscher, Lexikon der griech, und röm. Mythologie, i.311.

Apollonius represents Zethus staggering under the load of a mountain, while Amphion strolls along drawing a cliff twice as large after him by singing to his golden lyre. He seems to have intended to suggest the feebleness of brute strength by comparison with the power of genius.

H. Bamford Parkes notes:

"What primative men... wanted from the gods was health and strength, riches and long life, and they hoped to attain these things chiefly by ritual and sacrifice rather than by good conduct.

The methods of early religion always remained largely magical, and its motivations thoroughly materialistic." (H. Bamfort Parkes, Of God and Men, p. 36).

"Agriculture may at first have been a feminine occupation. It is a plausible theory that the women of a tribe first realized that seeds thrown away near their encampment were producing sprouts and deduced the possiblity of deliberately planting them.

Early agriculture was associated everywhere with an emphasis on the femine principle in nature and among the gods on the analogy between human sexuality and the fertility of the earth." (Parkes, p. 40-41)

"Pastoral religion, moreover, remained relatively free from degrading rituals.

Worshiping chiefly divinities of the sky and the weather, and seeing them definitely in masculine forms,

pastoral peoples did not usually deify the processes of sexual reproduction or regard human sacrifice as more than an extreme and unusual expedient; and their gods, being nomadic rather than fixed to particular localities, and not normally represented by means of images, could be universalized and spiritualized more easily than the peasant deities." (Parkes, p. 48).

Cain Britannica Members

in the Old Testament, first-born son of Adam and Eve, who murdered his brother Abel (Genesis 4:1-16). Cain, a farmer, became enraged when the Lord accepted the offering of his brother Abel, a shepherd, in preference to his own. He murdered Abel and was banished by the Lord from the settled country. Cain feared that in his exile he could be killed by anyone, so the Lord gave him a sign for his protection and a promise that if he was killed, he would be avenged sevenfold.

The biblical story may have intended to explain why a certain tribe, called Cain, had a special tattoo mark and why this tribe always severely avenged any murdered member. The story also may explain why that tribe lived the nomadic rather than the settled life. Some biblical critics believe the tribe of Cain was the Kenites.

According to Irenaeus and other early Christian writers, a Gnostic sect called Cainites existed in the 2nd century AD.

Kenite

member of a tribe of itinerant metalsmiths related to the Midianites and the Israelites who plied their trade while traveling in the region of the Arabah (the desert rift valley extending from the Sea of Galilee to the Gulf of Aqaba) from at least the 13th century to the 9th century BC.

The Kenites' name was derived from Cain, whose descendants they were believed to be. The Kenites are mentioned several times in the Old Testament.

The father-in-law of Moses, Jethro, was a Kenite, and as priest-leader of the tribe he led in the worship of Yahweh, whom Moses later revealed to the Hebrews as their own God whom they had forgotten. In the period of the judges (12th-11th century BC), it was a Kenite woman, Jael, who killed the general of Israel's enemies, the Canaanites.

Settling among the Israelites, Amalekites, and Canaanites, the Kenites apparently became absorbed into the tribe of Judah. Conservative groups of Kenites retained their nomadic way of life and beliefs and practices, however, and one such group, the Rechabites (2 Kings), fought alongside the rebel and future king of Israel, Jehu (reigned c. 842-c. 815), against the Omri dynasty and the worshipers of the Canaanite god Baal.

Moses endulged in a sacrifice with Jethro and compromised the nation. When the people ROSE UP TO PLAY they were engaging in the musical and perverted festivals.

Jethro

also called REUEL, OR HOBAB, in the Old Testament, priest of Midian of the Kenite clan, with whom Moses took refuge after he killed an Egyptian and whose daughter Moses married (Exodus 3:1).

After the Exodus, Jethro visited the Hebrews encamped at the "mountain of God" and brought with him Moses' wife and sons. There he officiated at a sacrifice to God that was attended by Aaron and the elders of Israel. He also suggested that Moses appoint able men to assist him in judging his people, thus founding the Hebrew judiciary (Exodus 18). Jethro's Kenite descendants settled in Judaean territory in the Negev and were on friendly terms with the Hebrews in the time of Deborah, Saul, and David.

On the basis of Exodus 18, some scholars have suggested that Yahweh was the god of the Kenites and was introduced to Moses and the Israelites by Jethro.

Rechabite

member of a conservative, ascetic Israelite sect that was named for Rechab, the father of Jehonadab. Jehonadab was an ally of Jehu, a 9th-century-bc king of Israel, and a zealous antagonist against the worshippers of Baal, a Canaanite fertility deity. Though of obscure origin, the Rechabites apparently were related to the Kenites, according to I Chron. 2:55, a tribe eventually absorbed into Judah in the 10th century BC.

The Rechabites were separatists who refused to participate in agricultural pursuits, drink wine, or engage in other practices associated with the Canaanites. Believing that the semi-nomadic way of life was a religious obligation, they herded their flocks over much of Israel and Judah. They were fervent followers of Yahweh, the God of Israel, and are best known for their connection with the slaughter of the worshippers of Baal during the revolt led by Jehu. According to later Jewish tradition, the Rechabites intermarried with the Levites, the priestly class.

Cainite From: Britannica Members or Here

member of a Gnostic sect mentioned by Irenaeus and other early Christian writers as flourishing in the 2nd century AD, probably in the eastern area of the Roman Empire. The Christian theologian Origen declared that the Cainites had "entirely abandoned Jesus."

Their reinterpretation of Old Testament texts reflected the view that Yahweh (the God of the Jews) was not merely an inferior demiurge, as many Gnostics believed,

but that he was positively evil because his creation of the world was perversely designed to prevent the reunion of the divine element in man with the unknown perfect God.

The Cainites also reversed biblical values by revering such rejected figures as Cain (whence their name), Esau,

and the Sodomites, all of whom were considered to be bearers of an esoteric, saving knowledge (gnosis).

These biblical persons were said to have been punished by a jealous, irrational creator called Hystera (Womb).

The Cainites also honoured Eve and Judas Iscariot and had gospels bearing their names.

The Cainites are sometimes called libertine Gnostics for believing that true perfection, and hence salvation,

comes only by breaking all the laws of the Old Testament.
The violation of
biblical prescriptions was, therefore, a religious duty.

Because it was difficult to violate all biblical laws during a single lifetime, the Cainites did not look for salvation in the created world but rather escape from it.

Their subversion of biblical stories allowed them to use Sacred Scripture to support their dualistic view of existence.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. I , Book One, .

Chapter XXXI.-Doctrines of the Cainites.

1. Others again declare that Cain derived his being from the Power above, and acknowledge that Esau, Korah, the Sodomites, and all such persons, are related to themselves.

On this account, they add, they have been assailed by the Creator, yet no one of them has suffered injury.

For Sophia was in the habit of carrying off that which belonged to her from them to herself.

They declare that Judas the traitor was thoroughly acquainted with these things,

and that he alone, knowing the truth as no others did, accomplished the mystery of the betrayal; by him all things, both earthly and heavenly, were thus thrown into confusion. They produce a fictitious history of this kind, which they style the Gospel of Judas.

Cain and Abel had different fathers. Cain is from the Hebrew:

What the Bible Says:

I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and

the word of God abideth in you, and
ye have
overcome the wicked one. 1 Jn.2:14

In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. 1 Jn. 3:10

For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. 1 Jn. 3:11

Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brothers righteous (innocent). 1 John 3:12

Woe unto them for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core. Jude 1:11

What is the meaning of Cain?

Qayin (h7014) kah'-yin; the same as 7013 (with a play upon the affinity to 7069); Kajin, the name of the first child, also of a place in Pal., and of an Oriental tribe: - Cain, Kenite (-s)

The Jubal or Genun son of Lamech story has Satan teaching him how to seduce mankind with music.

Judas and the gloss

Cain: Qanah (h7069) kaw-naw'; a prim. root; to erect, i. e. create; by extens. to procure, espec. by purchase (caus. sell); by impl. to own: - attain, buy (-er), teach to keep cattle, get, provoke to jealousy, possess (-or), purchase, recover, redeem, * surely, * verily.

See the Hermes (Mercury, Logos) connection.

Cain is:

Qayin (h7013) kah'-yin; from 6969 in the orig. sense of fixity; a lance (as striking fast): - spear.

Qiynah (h7015) kee-naw'; from 6969; a dirge (as accompanied by beating the breasts or on instruments): - lamentation.

And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day. Amos 8:10

Quwn (h6969) koon; a prim. root; to strike a musical note, i. e. chant or wail (at a funeral): - lament, mourning woman.

Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for cunning women, that they may come: Je.9:17

When the Musical Mouring Team tried this

"Matthew alone mentions the hired 'flute players'; beside them would be found the hired wailing women with hair streaming, beating their breasts and filling the air with loud moans and bursts of sobs...

Paid mourners were professionals at the business, and the custom of having them in houses of mourning and at funerals dates far back, even beyond the times of Jeremiah (9:17), and is found among Jews and pagans alike. Naturally, Jesus would order these people out and hush them;

a deed such as he was about to do called for the decency and the dignity of silence." (Lenski, Matt. p. 375).

Jesus politely invited them OUTSIDE. When they mocked (like speaking in tongues) Jesus CAST the out "more or less violently" using a word meaning "to CAST out DUNG."

Berowsh (h1265) ber-osh'; of uncert. der.; a cypress (?) tree; hence a lance or a musical instrument (as made of that wood): - fir (tree).

What is the Judas Connection?

This Judas bag is from the Greek:

Glosokomon (g1101) gloce-sok'-om-on; from 1100 (speaking in tongues) and the base of 2889; prop. a case to keep mouthpieces of wind-instruments in, i.e. (by extens.) a casket or (spec.) purse: - bag.

It is made up of two words:

1. Glossa (from Strong's g1100) means "speaking in tongues" especially an unacquired one.

2. Kosmos (g2889) means the "orderly arrangement" or the "adorning" world. this is derived from (g2864 or Komizo which means "to carry off."

Kosmos (g2889) kos'-mos; prob. from the base of 2865; orderly arrangement, i.e. decoration; by impl. the world (in a wide or narrow sense, includ. its inhab., lit. or fig. [mor.]): - adorning, world.

"Yet, through all there was an overarching harmony. The Greek word cosmos which we translate by universe originally meant beauty and harmony.

The Pythagoreans discovered mathematical formulae for the musical harmonies. They believed in the harmony of the sounds produced by the movement of the stars.

Therefore, they spoke of cosmic harmony of the spheres, each of which has a different sound, but all together creating a harmonious sound. If you delete the half-poetic, mythological elements from such ideas, then you can say that they had a universal, ecstatic interpretation of reality." (Tillich, Paul, A History of Christian Thought, Touchstone, p. 333).

 

Judas the Sicarri: His Judas Bag is attached to the spotted Flute Case.

The Siccari went into a crowd and stabbed the enemy with a dagar. Then, they yelled, "Murder, foul murder, catch the murderer." The Judas bag was "for carrying the mouthpieces of wind instruments." Therefore, the SOP was a sign which is not silent to those awake. And the 'pollution' of music was universal:

"In these bands are all the gamblers, all the adulterers, all the unclean and shameless citizens.

These boys, so witty and delicate, have learnt not only to love and to be loved,

not only to sing and to dance,
but also to
brandish daggers and to administer poisons; and unless they are driven out, unless they die, even should Catiline die, I warn you that the school of Catiline would exist in the republic.

But what do those wretches want? Are they going to take their wives with them to the camp? how can they do without them, especially in these nights? and how will they endure the Apennines, and these frosts, and this snow? unless they think that they will bear the winter more easily because they have been in the habit of dancing naked at their feasts. O war much to be dreaded, when Catiline is going to have his bodyguard of prostitutes! M. tullius Cicero.

Continuation of Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. I, Book One, Irenaeus.

Chapter XXXI.-Doctrines of the Cainites.

2. I have also made a collection of their writings in which they advocate the abolition of the doings of Hystera. Moreover, they call this Hystera the creator of heaven and earth. They also hold, like Carpocrates, that men cannot be saved until they have gone through all kinds of experience. An angel, they maintain, attends them in every one of their sinful and abominable actions, and urges them to venture on audacity and incur pollution. Whatever may be the nature of the action, they declare that they do it in the name of the angel, saying, "O thou angel, I use thy work; O thou power, I accomplish thy operation!" And they maintain that this is "perfect knowledge," without shrinking to rush into such actions as it is not lawful even to name.

See Rubel Shelly becoming ALL things to ALL people. In several parts.

3. It was necessary clearly to prove, that, as their very opinions and regulations exhibit them, those who are of the school of Valentinus derive their origin from such mothers, fathers, and ancestors, and also to bring forward their doctrines,

with the hope that perchance some of them, exercising repentance and returning to the only Creator, and God the Former of the universe, may obtain salvation, and that others may not henceforth be drown away by their wicked, although plausible, persuasions, imagining that they will obtain from them the knowledge of some greater and more sublime mysteries.

But let them rather, learning to good effect from us the wicked tenets of these men, look with contempt upon their doctrines, while at the same time they pity those who, still cleaving to these miserable and baseless fables, have reached such a pitch of arrogance as to reckon themselves superior to all others on account of such knowledge, or, as it should rather be called, ignorance. They have now been fully exposed; and simply to exhibit their sentiments, is to obtain a victory over them.

4. Wherefore I have laboured to bring forward, and make clearly manifest, the utterly ill-conditioned carcase of this miserable little fox. For there will not now be need of many words to overturn their system of doctrine, when it has been made manifest to all. It is as when, on a beast hiding itself in a wood, and by rushing forth from it is in the habit of destroying multitudes, one who beats round the wood and thoroughly explores it, so as to compel the animal to break cover, does not strive to capture it, seeing that it is truly a ferocious beast; but those present can then watch and avoid its assaults, and can cast darts at it from all sides, and wound it, and finally slay that destructive brute. So, in our case, since we have brought their hidden mysteries, which they keep in silence among themselves, to the light, it will not now be necessary to use many words in destroying their system of opinions. For it is now in thy power, and in the power of all thy associates, to familiarize yourselves with what has been said, to overthrow their wicked and undigested doctrines, and to set forth doctrines agreeable to the truth. Since then the case is so, I shall, according to promise, and as my ability serves, labour to overthrow them, by refuting them all in the following book. Even to give an account of them is a tedious affair, as thou seest. But I shall furnish means for overthrowing them, by meeting all their opinions in the order in which they have been described, that I may not only expose the wild beast to view, but may inflict wounds upon it from every side.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. III

Appendix. Against All Heresies. Tertullian

Chapter II.-Ophites, Cainites, Sethites.

To these are added those heretics likewise who are called Ophites: for they magnify the serpent to such a degree, that they prefer him even to Christ Himself; for it was he, they say, who gave us the origin of the knowledge of good and of evil. His power and majesty (they say) Moses perceiving, set up the brazen serpent; and whoever gazed upon him obtained health. Christ Himself (they say further) in His gospel imitates Moses' serpent's sacred power, in saying: "And as Moses upreared the serpent in the desert, so it behoveth the Son of man to be upreared." Him they introduce to bless their eucharistic (elements). Now the whole parade and doctrine of this error flowed from the following source. They say that from the supreme primary Aeon whom men speak of there emanated several other inferior ones. To all these, however, there opposed himself an Aeon who name is Ialdabaoth. He had been conceived by the permixture of a second Aeon with inferior Aeons; and afterwards, when he had been desirous of forcing his way into the higher regions, had been disabled by the permixture of the gravity of matter with himself to arrive at the higher regions; had been left in the midst, and had extended himself to his full dimensions, and thus had made the sky. Ialdabaoth, however, had descended lower, and had made him seven sons, and had shut from their view the upper regions by self-distension, in order that, since (these) angels could not know what was above, they might think him the sole God. These inferior Virtues and angels, therefore, had made man; and, because he had been originated by weaker and mediocre powers, he lay crawling, worm-like.

That on, however, out of which Ialdaboath had proceeded, moved to the heart with envy, had injected into man as he lay a certain spark; excited whereby, he was through prudence to grow wise, and be able to understand the things above.

So, again, the Ialdaboath aforesaid, turning indignant, had emitted out of himself the Virtue and similitude of the serpent; and this had been the Virtue in paradise-that is, this had been the serpent-whom Eve had believed as if he had been God the Son. He plucked, say they, from the fruit of the tree, and thus conferred on mankind the knowledge of things good and evil. Christ, moreover, existed not in substance of flesh: salvation of the flesh is not to be hoped for at all.

See the FALSE DOGMA of Sophia and ZOE (the Beast and female instructing principle.) And the Hypostasis of the Archons to see how ZOE forces the "ignorant" Jehovah to worship HER with musical "worship."

Moreover, also, there has broken out another heresy also, which is called that of the Cainites. And the reason is, that they magnify Cain as if he had been conceived of some. potent Virtue which operated in him; for Abel had been procreated after being conceived of an inferior Virtue, and accordingly had been found inferior.

They who assert this likewise defend the traitor Judas, telling us that he is admirable and great, because of the advantages he is vaunted to have conferred on mankind; for some of them think that thanksgiving is to be rendered to Judas on this account: viz.,

Judas, they say, observing that Christ wished to subvert the truth, betrayed Him, in order that there might be no possibility of truth's being subverted. And others thus dispute against them, and say:

Because the powers of this world were unwilling that Christ should suffer, lest through His death salvation should be prepared for mankind, he, consulting for the salvation of mankind, betrayed Christ, in order that there might be no possibility at all of the salvation being impeded, which was being impeded through the Virtues which were opposing Christ's passion; and thus, through the passion of Christ, there might be no possibility of the salvation of mankind being retarded.

But, again, the heresy has started forth which is called that of the Sethites. The doctrine of this perversity is as follows.

Two human beings were formed by the angels-Cain and Abel. On their account arose great contentions and discords among the angels; for this reason, that Virtue which was above all the Virtues-which they style the Mother-when they said that Abel had been slain, willed this Seth of theirs to be conceived and born in place of Abel, in order that those angels might be escheated who had created those two former human beings, while this pure seed rises and is born. For they say that there had been iniquitous permixtures of two angels and human beings; for which reason that Virtue which (as we have said) they style the Mother brought on the deluge even, for the purpose of vengeance, in order that that seed of permixture might be swept away, and this only seed which was pure be kept entire. But (in vain): for they who had originated those of the former seed sent into the ark (secretly and stealthily, and unknown to that Mother-Virtue), together with those "eight souls," the seed likewise of Ham, in order that the seed of evil should not perish, but should, together with the rest, be preserved, and after the deluge be restored to the earth, and, by example of the rest, should grow up and diffuse itself, and fill and occupy the whole orb. Of Christ, moreover, their sentiments are such that they call Him merely Seth, and say that He was instead of the actual Seth.

1 John 3:11 For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning,

Disciple of Christ: that we should love one another.

Disciple of the Devil: Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brothers righteous. 1 John 3:12

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