Last week we went over the early heresy, and some don't even call it a heresy, but the Judaizers and what their false teaching was doing and infiltrating. But we see that example and how the weaker brother was a minority and they ended up getting the major voice and were pushing things that were contrary to the gospel. This week we're going to start actually looking at some of the very serious heresies. I think it was Irenaeus that actually started attacking this heresy early in the church, but we're going to look at scripture first and seeing what this Gnosticism looked like. So we're going to define these terms first. I do have a little asterisk there because there is a difference between Gnosticism and being agnostic, and we'll get into that as well. Then just Gnostics in history, the biblical examples, historical examples. Like I said, the early church fathers, especially in the second century were writing about this. This was, as you'll see even in the definition here, this is coming out of the Concise Oxford Dictionary as an adjective relating to knowledge, especially esoteric mystical knowledge. And that's the word Gnosis is where we get the word knowledge from. And as a noun, it was a heretical movement of the second century Christian church. So see, even that name is being attributed to a sect within the Christianity, teaching that esoteric knowledge of the supreme divine being enabled the redemption of the human spirit. We're going to show early in scripture how this was already starting to infiltrate, but as we see in the second century, it was taken off enough, like I say, Arrhenius. There were some others that wrote against it. I think Origen wrote against it. There were lots that were battling this Gnosticism. So let's just look at this Gnosticism for a minute. Like I say, it means knowledge, but the difference between being a Gnostic and being agnostic. Okay, does anybody know what the difference in that is? other than the linguist. It's pretty much knowledge, They know, okay? So a Gnostic knows, and that's why you can have a Gnostic theist, a theist Gnostic, who knows there's a God, as opposed to an agnostic, who we can't know. So that's the difference between Gnosticism and agnosticism. I know a lot of times we use the words interchangeably, and we're not really doing that. Like you can be an agnostic atheist, like I don't believe in a God, but I can't know for sure, as opposed to a Gnostic atheist who says, I know there's not a God. Of course, they don't know that. The whole argument of knowledge gets into it and we can get philosophical. But as a believer, it's like, I'm an agnostic theist. I believe there's a God. It gets into more, do you believe in all the gods? Again, we won't get into that philosophical argument. But an agnostic theist is, I believe there's a God, but I'm not sure. So you can see how even understanding those four little camps right there, you can see how your thinking might be influenced by somebody who speaks something that sounds right to you. And this is a big umbrella. Gnosticism covers a lot of stuff. Just on those four blocks that I gave you there, four squares, if you will, it covers a lot of stuff. So I just put some under this terrible drawing of an umbrella here. Okay, dualism, which we are going to look at. These are some broad beliefs. And I do like this chapter in the book, Know the Heretics. He does a good job. He goes a couple of different directions that I didn't want to take us into. But just understanding this dualism, first of all. And on your sheet there, I even have that. It's body and soul. or body and spirit, there's the physical and then the spiritual, and they believe that everything physical is corrupted and evil, including creation. So to them, creation is the fall, and the redemption is gonna be our spiritualness coming out of that physical prison, as it were. They believe that mankind has a divine spark, but it's captive to the physical. And so, of course, that's why, as we're going to see when we get to Scripture, though, those that believe in a physical, or they don't believe in a physical resurrection, only the spiritual, because physical is evil and corrupted, so you're trying to free yourself from that. And, yeah, salvation through enlightenment, casting out the physical, and it incorporates accepted Christian beliefs, though distorted to be unbiblical. Like, we'll see that, yes, there's an afterlife. Yes, there is eternity, but that looks different. Yes, there's a creator. There was a fall, but it looks different. So they're using very familiar Christian terms, but dualism, it opposes the physical and the spiritual. So even on that, the duality. Again, some more big words, there's dichotomy of man and the trichotomy. Some believe, and I'm, you know, in this camp, but I'm not going to argue the point there, that we have the body, and I'm going to put soul. Okay, that man is two parts. Some break it down, and again, there's even some differences on that. I'll put it under that, that we have body, obviously, and they'll have like mind, and soul, or spirit, so emotions or something. So there's a third part. Again. I like the two, especially when we start looking at it, there's more scripture supporting this idea. And so when it says spirit here and it says soul there, okay, to me, my understanding looking at the entirety of scripture, they're interchangeable. That's what it's talking about. And when it talks about like the mind and emotions and stuff, we're getting into another aspect that is not saying there's a third part. But even on that, there's the trichotomy or dichotomy. And that's different than like, I believe there's a body and a spirit. That's not the same as the dualist who says, think of that dualist and then dualist, you know, the play on the words there, they're in opposition. So that's just one avenue of thinking or understanding under this idea of Gnosticism. And I say, we'll see that in the Church of Corinth and then early church writings. So before we get into more discussion on the scripture part of it, another area was secret knowledge. And this was, again, this is a, taking that knowledge, knowledge is good, but it's a secret knowledge. So in order to attain this salvation, you have this knowledge. So you're basically evidencing yourself. I've got this little quote that we'll get back to in a second, but through gain knowledge, one can elevate themselves above the physical into a spiritual perfection. Self-knowledge is true knowledge of God. So that's how you know God is by knowing yourself. Does this sound familiar with some of today's thinking there? Knowledge of the Supreme God came only with Jesus appearing and delivering this knowledge. And I have a little sub point there that Marcionism, we're going to get into that next week. And that's going to show a divide in the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament was his belief. Like I said, which was kind of where I was before seeing the continuity of scripture. But if you look up there, I have this little poetry there and Without understanding where it came from, you're looking at this and it reads, you know, it's a nice little read there. Jesus appeared, put on that book, was nailed to a tree, and published the Father's edict on the cross. Oh, what a great teaching. Quick glance, are you going to see anything wrong with that statement? Yeah, this is a chapter or subsection. This is from the Nag Hammadi. They were discovered much later, but their Egyptian writings, they were basically the Gnostic Bible, the Gnostic sacred scriptures. That's what this Nag Hammadi is. So and this is one avenue there. I won't get into all their text. But yes, the supreme being created. Okay, but this is a corruption and he waited and he's not saying anything. He's silent, hands off. And then much later, he sent his messenger, Jesus, who's going to reveal to them now this knowledge that they can use to save themselves. that the Yahweh, they give him a different name even, the Yahweh of the Old Testament was a sub-god, not a, what do they call them, aeons or something, not a true god, and there are many of those. So yes, the Old Testament is completely excluded, which is why I said next week we're gonna get into that a lot more with Marcion. But they exclude that, and until Jesus came, Jesus appeared, you notice that wasn't, it wasn't an incarnation, that Jesus appeared and had this true knowledge from the Supreme God and then told men how to be saved. Again, if you're believing this Jesus existed and here's his words, how are you going contrary? But that's just part of the Gnostic beliefs that were infiltrating the church. I was hoping that Mary would have been here, but she's not. So I'm gonna have somebody else read John 1, 1 through 4, I believe that is. I love when you do that though, I really do. In the beginning was the Lord, and the Lord was God, and the Lord was God, and He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made in Him's light. And the light was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness is not over. This is where, and if you read John's first epistle, which some say it's a cover sheet to John, I don't know where you stand on that, but there is this element of Gnosticism. And even what he's saying right here goes contrary to this, but it is also something that the Greeks who were philosophers would understand. They're hearing logos, they're hearing knowledge. So this Gnosis, this Gnosticism is already something they're familiar with. Like, no, that knowledge isn't just something that's now here for you. It was in the beginning with God, it was God, and nothing was created without this. So it kind of is going against this duality there, and then the secret knowledge. So I said, I believe that John was attacking some of this in the early church, or at least trying to defend the deity of Christ and showing this unity between, you know, the triune God. Another avenue is mystical and mythical. And this goes into that, you say that Egyptian book. And I remember reading all the great stories and I loved all that. I don't even know what it was now, the unsolved mysteries and different things like, wow, this is cool. Oh, you know, whether it was the Loch Ness monster, different things, but people like this supernatural, this mysticism. This is another appealing thing to people. I put on here just some that are relevant as well. Emotional experiences or this idea of this over realized and over spiritualized beliefs. And we're going to get into that because that is in play a lot today. Even in eschatology, I know that, like I say, there are some eschatologies that get thrown under a bus and others that are They're ridiculed more because of things like this, like over-realized eschatology that you believe, and unless you're saying that there's nothing else to come, which is what we said on the Praetorists back when we looked at eschatology, there are avenues of grace that we can extend. But them, it was all done just waiting to die now in the spiritual realm, and that's it. So, this over-realized and over-spiritualized belief system. And then they had myth-building and mystical inclusions in worship. And that's why we also see it addressed not to worship the elements, because even in the ordinances that we have, baptism and the Lord's Supper, they tried to add in this mystical spirituality that was not necessary. You know, this is a sign, you know, like even if you're not speaking in tongues immediately after or something, so they're adding a spiritualization to this. And then the last part is this parasitical. That's something they'll do. This sounds good. Let me include this. All right, different aspects of different religions. And I'm always thinking of, if you've seen the Brandon Fraser mummy, the guy's backing away as the mummy's coming out. He starts pulling out all of his charms. He's speaking in, you know, Hebrew. This is when the mummy finally stops. But he's pulling out all these crosses, all the different medallions and stuff. I'm like, yeah, whatever religion is going to work for me today. So it's kind of an inclusion of all that. but they were joining with congregations under false pretense. So this is something else, and we will get into some scripture looking at that, how they were trying to get into it for whatever reason, different reasons. Even today, we can see it, especially with some of the false teaching and their motivation is clearly a monetary one. All right, that's not for all of them, but there is this idea of joining under this false pretense. And they say what's pleasing to the ears and appealing to many. Okay, I know there's a lot that wanna hear this hope, and yes, we wanna be hopeful, but where is your hope? And this idea of you gaining this knowledge and getting to a higher existence, if we're relying on ourselves, there's no hope in that. And then my last one is wolves in sheep clothing. Because that is an avenue that Paul's gonna attack in a few areas here, but I love the way he does it, because he's not where we saw last week Paul busting out people publicly for their beliefs. Here he's doing it, but he's also like, some of you are my brothers, you're just misled. I'm trying to correct this thinking that you have here. Okay, so now we're gonna look at some early church examples of Gnosticism. And I don't, this isn't the same thing as the Christian Gnosticism we see, but I wanna start in Acts chapter 13. because this is a first look at some of this infiltration that I believe this leans to like a seed of that growth. And I don't know if you're familiar with this, but Bar Jesus, the magician. All right, and he's trying to, you know, here comes Paul and Barnabas proclaiming this gospel, and these, you know, officials are listening to it, and he's like, no, I'm the one who's able to fleece them. I'm showing, you know, my magic divinations, and I'm their guide. So now these two are coming in. So somebody read Acts 13, six through eight. When they had gone through the whole island, as far as Cephas, they came upon a certain magician, He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul, and sought to hear the word of God. But Elimas, the magician, for that intermediate occasion, opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. So, and we see that a lot. We've talked about the Kabbalism last week too. So there is this mysticism that's been around long before we see Gnostic being attributed to a sect within Christianity. So here's a Jewish prophet. So even here we have this, this mysticism being included in Old Testament understanding. So this Jewish prophet, this magician, and of course not a, we think of the Wiccans today, you know, those with the supernatural powers who they're claiming to be, but this is using some, religion that's accepted, and then this mysticism. So that's why I say, to me, this is a seed of what we're gonna see infiltrating the church, and especially today, it's just rampant in some areas. But Paul's gonna address it again, and I like that it's Paul that sees this here, and of course, they are going to have to be told a couple times. We only have the two letters to Corinth, but in 1 Corinthians chapter one, and verses 18 to 25. the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning, I report. Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of his age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs, and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stubborn blot to Jews and folly to Gentiles. but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. So you see that, and it addresses both the Jewish believers and the Gentile believers. Whereas the Jewish believers were looking for a sign, And that's where you get the bar Jesus type of influence there. You know, yes, I'm pulling a quarter out from your ear. Ooh, I don't know what they were doing. Exactly. I hear magician. I think of, you know, street magicians, but, and then the Gentiles, I'm gonna put the Greeks here just because of the Hellenistic attitude. It was, And we even see that where Paul addresses, you're saying, you belong to this one, this guy baptized, or you're of this guy, or you're of that guy. Because even the philosophers had their disciples following them around. So the, you know, Aristotle, Plato, these different philosophical gurus, as it were, they had their own flock following them around. So people were, you know, this guy's wise. I mean, listen to him. If I even go back to the Acts, the proconsul was a wise man who was seeking knowledge. So, you know, God sends the messengers with the truth. And this magician did not like that because he was no longer able to have his hold on him. But the power of Christ is wisdom. So what they're both seeking is in Christ. And I said, I like that, because Paul's gonna address this again in the same letter. But this wisdom, and it's not wrong to seek wisdom, but what kind of wisdom? That's where it goes different with the Gnostics and this mystic secret knowledge. And there is this, I even got elitism over here, because that's what it is. Well, I have achieved the higher knowledge. So when you get to this area, talk to me. I only do that with my coffee. So you haven't quite got to my higher level there yet. But even thinking about that knowledge though, and even godly men, oh, you don't know about these doctrines here? So we got to be cautious of what we're doing there as well with this elitist attitude. That's why I say this is a big umbrella. So elitism can be under this Gnosticism because it's knowledge, you know, but if you are causing this division within the body, it's sin and it's incorrect. And it can lead you to these other avenues which are blatantly heretical. So also what we're trying to do is see the steps, see the signs that we're protecting ourselves and protecting each other from these things. Continuing on in 1 Corinthians, we're going to go to chapter 8. Now concerning the truth of the idols, we know that all of us possess knowledge. This knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by God. And I don't remember because again, I will refer to the linguist over here, but the quotations there, you know, but we know all of us possess knowledge. So he's this right here, Paul and his sarcasm. You know, all of us knows knowledge, but this knowledge, you know, I'm doing the air quotes, even puffs us up. And I just love that line though. If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. So even if you think you know something, that means you definitely don't know it. And this again goes to that elitism. So I say, he's not calling him out like some of the other examples that we see are John and his third letter to the erroneous teacher of the church. But here's some false teaching and Paul is trying to address it. Where's your knowledge? Does God know you? Are you known by God? Where's your knowledge? The power of Christ. That's where your wisdom comes from. So he's trying to battle this early stages of Gnosticism. I'm not saying that they're going full on with a lot of this, but in the Church of Corinth we do see, and I have Hedonism over here. Does anybody know what Hedonism is? So we kind of see two aspects of Gnosticism from the dualist in Corinth here. Pleasure. We also had on the other side of that the ascetics. So we had the ascetics that were like, we need to complete celibacy, do away from everything because physical is bad. This is how we become more godly is by foregoing all of the physicalness. Then you had the other side of that coin, the hedonist. Well, the flesh is bad and it's all just about the spirit anyways, let's just do whatever. Eat, drink, be merry. Oh, my father's bride, okay. So we see that they go just way off the tracks on that. Two aspects under that same umbrella of this Gnosticism, this knowledge. You think you know something, you don't know what you ought to know. So Paul is addressing that there. And then he's gonna address it one more time to the church at Colossae. In my other Bible, I had the tags. This one I don't now, so. I'm gonna be in chapter two on that. It's a little bit longer. So you mind reading 16 through 23? Therefore, let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or through bars or festivals, or a new moon, or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind. and not only fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations? Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch, referring to things that all perished as they abused. According to human precepts and teachings, These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism, and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. or Janu Moon, but especially that part there in verse 18, let no one disqualify you insisting on asceticism and worship of angels. So we see there's a couple of things going on here, this worship of angels and some even had it again going to this, this hyper spiritualization or this, you know, secret mystical power there. going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind. And he's addressing this because the ascetics, like I say, the flesh is bad, so don't eat this, don't drink that, don't handle this. And Paul's busting him out by human precepts there, that even in this severity of trying to stop this, there's no value of stopping the indulgence of the flesh, that that's not where it's at. Again, that's going back to everything he says. Paul does not contradict himself. That's in Christ. The power and wisdom are in Christ. But, you know, again, we see that. So here's the aesthetics. And this is the more spiritual words we see in Corinth. They have a more hedonistic attitude. There are believers in Colossae who are going the other area. And there were some in Corinth too, but here they're, you know, even the angel worship and such. So this is why, and this is one of the proof texts in the confession about the worship of angels as well, because it was taking place in the first century church. So I know I left a lot of notes on the last page, but here's where I'm hoping to get some help from you guys. And we are gonna see a lot of this in today. So just the contemporary relevance to us in the church today with regards to Gnosticism. who has some ideas of modern-day agnostics, not counting about the atheists. We understand that. Actually, I'd rather talk to an agnostic atheist, anyways, who doesn't know because when they at least know that they don't know, then that's something. Well, the parasitical needs to be instantly think of the Joyce Meyers, Joel Beans, Not what I meant by parasitical, but I... In what way is this Gnosticism, though? I have that as one of the examples, so let's discuss that, though. In what way? What is going on there? Because they read from the Bible. Right? Sometimes. They hold the Bible when they're shaking it and demanding stuff. It's more about saying what people want to hear to make them feel good to send in their money. I'm even thinking of the extreme cases of the Benny Hinn and this mystical power. All right? Or, and again, I have Dear brothers who have experienced or heard from somebody they trust about even the, we were talking about the leg thing, and you know, I heard creaking bones and I heard this and stuff like. I love you, but it's it's it's Gnosticism. It's a form of Gnosticism here. They've got this secret power, this special secret knowledge that helps them to do these things. Well, the apostles did it. Yes. And let's look at that in context. So I guess, like, what gives them the right to have that versus the other versus another man? Like, what is special about those kind of people that say that? Oh, we have special mystic powers versus like, why can't I have that? You know, like, what gives us a question? Like, what gives because they claim that. Should be. We get that, but then I say, well, you haven't achieved that yet. That knowledge hasn't been revealed to you yet. So keep searching. You know, even that I'm going on my walk about going to go on my spiritual journey. So there is that aspect. And again, this is why, and I have a, I hate saying really good friend because we definitely split up, but got totally involved in the Eastern mysticism. So going from a, you know, a man of the book missionary preaching the good news to completely, that last thing I saw, I was like, I believe the wrong thing for most of my life was the last thing that I'd seen written by him. And he's, you know, full on into the Eastern mysticism. So it's not that the church is immune to this and some of it is right in your face. This is an opposition, but it's, it's appealing. I want this knowledge or I have a, I have a happier emotion response from this than I do from, from this, you know, who wants to hear about what you did wrong and that there is an accountability. If I don't have to worry about that accountability to the next life. Yeah. Yeah. I will come back as that cockroach. Yeah, I think some of it, I mean, I don't, you see a lot of it in kind of costals, sort of, but I don't want to paint with a really... Yeah, no, absolutely. Because I know some seriously devoted to the work out in the costals, but you see this, you know, particularly, I can, a pastor here locally who started speaking in tongues, but it's only directed for those of you who've been given the gift of tongues. From behind the pulpit, you sit there and you go, what does that mean? Or you see some of it with dreams and interpretations of dreams. And somebody comes up to you and says, I had a dream. And you see that. amongst believers. But what I think is sad about all that is that you are not settled in your faith. So there's no real assurance of what you have in Christ because you're looking for these other things to validate that you are in Christ. And that's That's what Exodus 32 is about. It wasn't that they filled them with God. It's just that they needed to have a physical representation of God to say, take these letters. And they made it a bull or a cow or whatever. It must have been shiny, though. That's a golden image. I have a professor at seminary and he went to a, you know, speaking in tongues kind of place. And so, I don't think he should have done this, but he did, but he started speaking biblical Hebrew and then somebody gave an interpretation and it was not Like, when he started off, it wasn't at all, when he started walking, he goes, He goes, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, but the interpretation he got was not anything to do with any of that. Do I think he should have done that? No. Do I think it's sad? Yes. Did I laugh? But it is sad. But I did, I like the dualism part of it. Because you do get people that are trichotomous and dichotomous. I like the way Martin Lloyd-Jones handled that, which I thought was really well done in his doctrine on And he says, the easiest way, because he, this is a learned guy, and he goes, yeah, you know, blah, blah. He goes, material and material. Man is composed of material and immaterial. I, myself, I'm a dualist. I'm not a trichotomist. I'm not a, I mean, I'm not a, I'm not. I know what you mean. There's even that heart, mind, and soul. See, there's three. Is it though? Thor face, is it though? Sorry, yes, I'm speaking memes up here. Is that, show my... But yes, I had a word of faith is not because I have some good godly Pentecostal friends too. But there is that what I'm talking about is you see them on TV, you know, the fleecing, you know, the false teachers, you see the motivation. And after the past couple years, more and more of their congregations are seeing the motivation as well. So yes, as we were talking about last week, and you know, it's Again, a lot of people's faith was shaken because they put these men up high and then seeing them basically impotent to do what they said they can this past couple years. Now their faith is shaken because they were putting their faith in this man and his abilities and this secret knowledge and mysticism he had instead of what Paul says. It's the power of Christ. God knows you. You're known by God. That's where that comes in. Even the hedonism, that's today. I remember two things from, in basic training we had a sister platoon. We were one of the first co-ed classes, but one of the drill sergeants from a sister platoon said two things that I will never forget. They had nothing to do with my military career, but one of them was, Private Schnepp, you will have two eyebrows in my army. So, I still shave my unibrow when I think about that. Like, no, he's gonna get me again. Just out of nowhere, walking down the line, Private Schnipp, you have two eyebrows in my army. Stuck with me. But on one of the Sundays, and you could choose to go to chapel or you could choose to do whatever else you needed to, shine, do your laundry and stuff. And he's looking, I was beautiful. I was in South Carolina, beautiful sunrise. I see, I don't need to go to church to believe in a God. It's like, yeah. But what was that though? What was a supreme being? Yes, but what was the faith after that? Is it just this knowledge now that you can save yourself? Now I'm gonna do my self-reflection and I'm a god, godhood. Who do we know that has that aspect? But Christians incorporate that now. Ooh, I like this aspect of it. So we're gonna get, again, that goes to this mysticism side of it. And that's a whole lot of the new age. I knew some Christians that they love the crystals. Here's my healing crystal. I still, and again, same platoon, a guy used to sleep with the crystal on his forehead. That kept his chakras or whatever so he was refreshed the next morning. Like we're getting like two hours of sleep a night. I don't care what crystal you put on your head. You're gonna be tired just like the rest of us, bro. And if it worked, we would've all been wearing crystals, but nobody was after about that first week, so. I think the crystal you're looking for is illegal. This is recorded. I can cut out anything I want here. But you know, you had the same thing with people wearing the cross, or their Bibles. I have to keep a Bible in my car. I never opened it, never read it. It's my protection. But it's right there. I got a crucifix tattooed on my chest. I'm good, man. And there are some things that, that's why I liked, I don't remember who you said brought that, but the little cross and the writing on it. As long as you understand that that's not, It's not a sacred item, which some do, yes. I remember all the time before going to the jump, people giving out the, you know, the St. Medallions and the rosary beads and stuff. I'm like, man. Dude, I was an atheist and had a St. Christopher medal. Oh, every airborne paratrooper had a St. Christopher medal. And I got a St. Christopher medal. And how many people didn't like talking about God until jump time? Hey, snip, you pray for me too. I got the whole stick prayed for, bro. Because I'm afraid if one of us goes down, we're all going down. But it infiltrated the church. And I say, Irenaeus wrote a lot about it. This was a longer video. So if I can find one of the shorter ones, I may go ahead and roll it out to watch some of it. Because I believe that the author of this book does a good job on some of it. He's very knowledgeable. I definitely love going back and listening to the videos and reading his books again. Very knowledgeable on it. But he does go into a lot more of the historical side that if we want to go there, we can. But I'm trying to leave opportunities for it. We had a lot of rabbit trails last week as well. Paul seemed to be addressing a lot of these things, and again, he's the majority of the New Testament, but we get to see a lot of these examples, and praise God, they're recorded for us. There's nothing new happening today that wasn't happening then. They duplicated a lot of the tricks. Yeah, I think the thing with Gnosticism is that it's squishy. So Gnosticism is like Play-Doh. If you have a ball of Play-Doh and you start rolling it on the carpet, it just starts picking up stuff. And you try to squeeze it, it just kind of pops out of your hand. That's Gnosticism. Gnosticism is real subtle and Play-Doh-ish. Yes, it is subtle. It's silly putty or an umbrella or whatever you want. And Paul addressed that too. If you don't take a part in the resurrection, so this is our hope. So yes, again, that casting it off, I get it. I can't wait for a glorified body. I get that. Having a whole toenail ripped off is not fun. So yes, the body has its, but then the other extreme is, like I say, well, this body doesn't matter, so let's do whatever to it. Shall we send more? So there's this attitude and it's in Christianity, but Gnostics. And again, I go back to a little bit lesser level of this puffed up arrogance even, and I especially see it in a lot of the reform circles though. And it is, I have this knowledge. It's not secret knowledge, but I have this knowledge. So that also falls under this umbrella of Gnosticism. I have it there in the elitism. All right, and we get that, well, you're clearly in sin, so I have to call you out because you're sinning, because I understand what this means right here. Say, okay, the guy's been a believer for two weeks. I don't really know of many of the stories where somebody was completely converted. You do hear some of that, but I don't know anybody personally where, yes, they went off and you could definitely, oh, I don't even know if they sinned. If they sinned, it's all secret. They have this secret knowledge. But what are some other current areas? Godhood? Again, that man had a divine spark. So everything's taking place back here in the spiritual, the good. And then this supreme being is creating and now you're taking on this physical prison. So now you're going to earn your way back to this good on the other side. So yes, that you're a god. You have this divine spark. So not necessarily that you are the supreme god, but they also believed in this, the aeons, the sub-gods and stuff. So you can work your way up to a godhood. It's too easy, man. with something cool like Farfignoogin. Even in mainstream acceptable beliefs, though, that falls under the umbrella of Gnosticism. And of course, their founder, yes, this Word of God, I hear you, Paul, I hear you, but that's because you didn't have this book. You didn't have this secret knowledge book right here that I read with these golden lenses in my tent while wearing purple underwear or whatever it was. I don't know, but secret knowledge. A quick criminal search shows that he was a criminal before coming up with this. He used to be the, what do they call that with the water? And then the vining rod for the water. I'll tell you where the well is and stuff. And everything he did, though, fail, fail, fail. Let me try this. Ooh, I can get some people. I can get some people. And again, they are doing some good. So even going back to what we see about some good works, they're going to godhood, but they are doing good work. So it's appealing to people. They're not doing anything wrong. What are you talking about? Why are you guys bashing on them for? They're doing good for me here. Yes, I want to hear what you have to say. Please tell me more. a good chunk of the ones in their denomination don't even realize that... What they believe? What they're believing, what they're supposed to be obtaining, too. You know, because it sounds crazy. Well, I even love the first push, you know, we'll give you a free Bible. Call this number right now, we'll send you a free Bible, along with our book. Oh, you know what? Yes, Bible. That's got to be expensive. I don't have a Bible. And then you get their Book of Mormon. And then whatever their other writings are. But again, that's this secret knowledge. So that's how you're asking, well, how do I get this knowledge? That's not the case. You've got to go on your spiritual journey. And again, even Paul's addressing that, well, I'm of Apollos. Well, I'm of this guy. So they were also OK not being that guy, as long as they were associated with that guy. you know, Benny Hinn is the name. What about all those people that are catching the ones that he's slaying everywhere? You know, they're the nobodies, but they are happy to be associated with that, that spiritual guru. So it's okay to be, you know, the number two and number three man. And again, yes, I'm laughing. I laughed at when somebody put the Darth Vader noises in there in the lightsaber and he's throwing his jacket everywhere. I'm like, I'm terrible for laughing at this, but it's a mockery of what God's word actually says. And Anything else? I'm trying to go through at least one of the chapters a week. Last week we did two because the introduction was a little bit shorter. Some of them we're going to probably pair up a little bit more because there are some heresies that overlap. Like I say, Marcion is a form, again, under this umbrella. That's why I love that he does start off with this, though, after the Judaizers, because Marcionism is saying that, yes, that God of the Old Testament was a vengeful, hateful God. not to the God of the New Testament. So you don't need the Old Testament. They're not, that's not God's word. That's unnecessary, which as we said before, that's a modern teaching from a prominent name in Christianity. So any questions, comments?