The word Gnosticism means “to know as the gods know” and is generally applied to heretical Christian movements of the second century with pre-Christian roots. Gnostic doctrines in all forms were denounced by the early Church Fathers because they involved direct contact with the spirit world.

The origins of Gnostic beliefs recede deep in the past. Before man was created, Lucifer, the most intelligent of all angels, rebelled when he learned that Christ, the Son of God, would be incarnated in human form and that angels were expected to serve mankind. His proud and arrogant response, “I will not serve,” led to his downfall, which involved irrevocable separation from God. From that moment on, his sole desire has been to portray himself as God, obscure the way of salvation through Christ, and lead all of humanity to perdition. Because of his opposition to Christ, the fallen angel Lucifer, now known as Satan, is often called the Antichrist.

Many believe the practice of gnosis dates back to the Garden of Eden. In the middle of the garden there were two trees—the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God, who created man with free will, desired that all his creatures choose to know, love and serve Him of their own accord. God endowed Adam and Eve with many gifts and perfect happiness. The only stipulation was that they were asked not to eat of the tree of knowledge, or gnosis, because it would bring evil and death into the world. Tempted by the serpent, our first parents disobeyed because of their desire to acquire wisdom. Their disobedience brought a curse upon mankind.

God, in his mercy, planned to send his Son at the right moment in time to redeem mankind from inevitable death. Following Christ’s way of salvation is the only way to recover eternal life and happiness with God. It involves what is often called “blind faith,” meaning fidelity to the promises of God contained in Scripture and the Church’s Tradition. Direct communication with the spirit world is strictly forbidden in Holy Scripture (Deuteronomy 18:10–12) because it is the source of every evil and constitutes the original sin of mankind. It involves breaking the requirement of faith and practicing idolatry by worshipping demons as gods, who grant knowledge and favors to humanity in return for fidelity to their false promises.

In 1945 a collection of Gnostic documents was found in a jar within the caves near the city of Nag Hammadi, Egypt. Although they date from the third century A.D., they preserve much older Gnostic traditions, all of which the early Church fathers found “repugnant.” According to several of these documents, Eve was taught gnosis by the serpent, a spiritual, feminine creature called “the Instructress.” The deceiving entity is also known as Pistis Sophia and has claimed a thousand titles throughout the ages, among them “queen of peace” and “Mother of God.” She is the “queen of heaven” described in Jeremiah 44 as the powerful goddess who led many of the Jews astray while they were in Egypt, which led to their destruction. Sophia also calls herself the spotless Virgin, the oldest of the old, the great physician, the benevolent one, the great magician, and countless other titles that describe her power and desire to rule.

The entity Sophia is now identified on the Internet as Mother Mary, formerly Isis, the Egyptian goddess, and Quan Yin, the Buddhist deity. She is only one of hundreds of “ascended masters,” one of whom is the Cosmic Christ, or Lord Maitreya, who promises he will come soon to inaugurate his millennial reign of peace on earth and solve our problems. Other demons have stolen the identities of many Catholic saints. They refer to themselves as “We” or “Us” and live in what they call the “Celestial Hall,” which is part of abyss.

Modern Gnostic doctrines subvert Christianity by portraying good as evil and evil as good. Gnostics believe that Yahweh, the God of Christianity, is arrogant, wrathful and capricious, which they say camouflages his deep insecurity because he is a fraud, a violent and demented imposter. Gnostics are convinced that Christianity is the source of all the earth’s woes because it eradiated the Gnostics, destroyed the Mysteries and pagan religions, and cast a spell of guilt and ignorance over the planet. The Gnostic Christos is not a God-man who redeemed mankind, but rather Anthropos, the man-god who does not demand faith as a condition for redemption. For Gnostics, the only requirement for salvation is to believe in messages from the spirit world. This all-important doctrine has spread throughout the world in many forms.

Gnostic doctrines now permeate every facet of modern society and even the Church is under attack. In the last hundred years there have been more Christian martyrs than ever before in history, the Bible may be declared “hate literature” in Canada if proposed legislation is passed, and anti-Catholicism is prevalent in the media and the academic world. Thanks to the proliferation of messages channeled through false prophets, occultists, and seers, spread primarily via the Internet, mankind is being indoctrinated in Gnostic “wisdom,” insisting that we let go of all that we thought and believed was true and real, i.e., our Christian beliefs and identities. This dying process will bring the individual to rebirth and bring about planetary oneness, the fulfillment of human potential, and utopia on earth.

Catholics are often enticed by false apparition sites and their messages, New Age beliefs and practices promoted by misinformed Catholics, and classes that teach people how to contact angels and spirit guides. Best-selling books like The Secret and Conversations With God appeal to our desire for success and happiness, but contain lessons on “spiritual awakening” from authors who claim to be special messengers. Workshops in renouncing one’s free will have even found their way into many parishes, disguised as the “Gospel of Deliverance” or the “Kingdom of the Divine Will.”

Many people have been deceived to believe that God will work great miracles and inflict terrible chastisements to convert the entire world, without understanding that God does not work in this way, but rather the Antichrist. Others accept any outward sign or cure as proof of the divine, unaware of the demonic powers behind psychic healing and spectacular wonders. Messages proliferate via the Internet, rosaries and scapulars are being promoted by occultists, and even the cross has been subverted by the forces of evil. It is imperative for Catholics to be informed about the underlying dangers of superficial piety, understand the necessity of striving toward union with Christ through prayer, know the promises and warnings contained in Scripture, and read the Catechism. Our salvation depends on knowing the Truth. Salvation is based on faith in Christ’s promises, not deceptive lies from the devil.

The Antichrist and his cohorts have one final opportunity to seduce mankind with great power, signs and wonders in the days preceding Christ’s Second Coming. Their power will not be destroyed until the end of the world, when Christ’s sword of truth sends them back to their infernal prison. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Christ’s coming will be preceded by a final great deception that will “shake the faith of many.” Christ spoke of it when he warned that there would be many false prophets before the end. He also forewarned that he would give us no signs other than his Resurrection because they are manifestations of the evil one, intended to deceive. Signs and wonders in the sky will be especially plentiful during the time of the Antichrist who, according to the Book of Revelation, will even make fire come down from heaven.

It is important to know that the Catholic Church does not believe in a temporal triumph of the Church on earth or in an earthly millennial reign of Christ. We are not to accept gospels other than that taught by Christ and his Church, be willing to die for our faith, and evangelize the gospel of Christ, not messages from unknown sources. The proliferation of false prophets, Gnostic doctrine, channeled knowledge, and occult activity may be alarming, but for the Christian it should be of no consequence whatsoever, except as an impetus to evangelize God’s loving plan for salvation. Our only concern is to make ourselves worthy of the promises of Christ, whose kingdom is not of this world. As Christ told us, he who seeks to save his life will lose it, while those who die for Christ’s sake will find eternal life.

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