Note at this point that these are not things that Gnostics will teach you, rather they are things that they do.
Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 7:15-20.
“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore BY THEIR FRUITS YE SHALL KNOW THEM.”
The things that these false prophets do are motivated by Selfishness, they come from the fallen Human heart and are Human Nature. Today I am going to be addressing Narcissism.
Narcissism is a disorder in which a person has an inflated sense of Self i.e. chronic Selfishness.
In Greek mythology, Narcissus was a hunter who was so proud of his beauty that he disdained those who loved him. One of his lovers was a woman named Echo. Echo loved Narcissus but he used her and despised her love and ended up breaking her heart. A young man also desired Narcissus’ love so much that he took his own life to prove his devotion to Narcissus’ striking beauty. Eventually the gods became angry because of all the pain that Narcissus was causing and so they decided to lay a trap to punish him.
One day as Narcissus walked by a pool of water, he stopped to get a drink and seeing his own reflection in the water, he became so overcome by lust that he ended up killing himself because he could not have the object of his desire.
People who have this chronic Selfishness are often dubbed Narcissists because like Narcissus they do the things that they do out of a motivation to please themselves, but I purpose that this is also the natural progression of a Human being who is not corrected when they do what they want to do at the expense of others.
As Jesus said to those Jews who believed on Him in John 8:44-45,
“Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.”
Thus we see that through the fruit that the Narcissist produces you can identify him and who his father is.
Note how James describes the Narcissist in James 1:21-25,
“Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.”
Jesus also addressed the Narcissist in Revelation 3:14-22,
“And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.”
As we can see the Narcissist is in fact living in a blind fantasy known as Cognitive Dissonance.
Jesus went through a long rebuke of the Narcissists of His day in Matthew 23 where He calls them “blind guides” who “strain at a gnat and swallow a camel”.
The Narcissist hears the word of God but he does not think that he has to obey it because he thinks that he is spiritually superior to others because he knows what the word of God says. He is a Double-Minded Pharisee who thinks that he is rich and dressed in pure garments before God because he has Knowledge and does the rituals that society thinks they are supposed to do but in his heart and in secret and even at times in public he does what is wrong and expects his record to remain clean before God and men. The “emperor has no clothes”. What’s more he has been Validated by other sinners and those who he has managed to deceive. He has further been Validated by his father the devil who he perceives to be God. But Jesus sees his deeds, and the angels keep perfect records.
Beyond this when he is confronted by his fellows for his Sins the Narcissist engages in Blame-shifting and Gaslighting.
Blame-shifting is when a person does something wrong or inappropriate, and then dumps the blame on someone else to avoid taking responsibility for their own behavior. (https://www.psychopathfree.com/articles/5-types-of-narcissistic-blame-shifting.388)
Gaslighting is a form of psychological manipulation in which the gaslighter tries to cause the person confronting them for their Sin to question their own motivation and judgment, often evoking in them cognitive dissonance and causes them to loose confidence in themselves and their motivations and judgements. Using denial, misdirection, contradiction, and misinformation, gaslighting involves attempts to destabilize the victim and delegitimize the victim’s beliefs. Instances can range from the denial by an abuser that previous abusive incidents occurred, to the staging of bizarre events by the abuser with the intention of disorienting the victim. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaslighting)
Note what the Narcissist is doing. He is calling Evil Good and Good Evil. He is making the Truth a Lie and he is making a Lie the Truth. He is destroying the foundation of Reality and he is making it impossible for himself and others around him to be Saved from Sin, because no one is taking responsibility for their own actions.
Note what Isaiah said in regard to the Narcissist in Isaiah 5:20-25,
“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink: Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him! Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. Therefore is the anger of the Lord kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and their carcases were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.”
I would like to point out that the Gnostics of the modern churches are spiritual Narcissists who defend and cater to the Wicked and Evil while condemning those who Jesus defines as “the guiltless”. These false prophets have crept into the modern churches and taught that you can be a Sinner and be Born Again at the same time. They thus define the Sinner as just “a lost sheep who doesn’t know who they are in Christ yet” while they accuse those who they have no evidence of committing Sin of being Liars and Wolves when they say that they have not Sinned since they were Saved FROM Sin when they got Born Again.
Remember that John wrote 1 John to make a clear distinction between the children of God and the children of the devil. John said that “he who is born of God CANNOT Sin.”
“He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. 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. For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.” -1 John 3:8-11
That’s a clear line-in-the-sand. Sin is the clear evidence of someone NOT being Born Again.
So what are people who are Born Again and Free FROM Sin supposed to do with someone who Sins while claiming to be a Born Again Christian?
First of all, if you see someone calling themselves your brother or sister (in Christ) Sinning against you, you are to rebuke him and if he repents you are to forgive him, (see Luke 17:3-4)
“Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.”
Lets take the example of Matthew 18:15-17
“… if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.”
If on the other hand this brother or sister is known to be Sinning without Repentance (a clear evidence of being in the Flesh) then you should follow Paul’s instructions in 1 Corinthians 5:11-13
“But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolator, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat. For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.”
Note how Paul referred to this in 1 Corinthians 5:5 & 1 Timothy 1:20
“… deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.”
“Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.”
You see if someone like those that Paul is writing about is claiming that they are Born Again and yet they are Sinning against God and men, they CANNOT help but Sin. They are in Pride and any fellowship that you have with them will validate their iniquity. The only thing that gets through to them is to cut them off.
Remember Psalm 18:26-28
“With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward. For thou wilt save the afflicted people; but wilt bring down high looks. For thou wilt light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.”
If they will not hear you when you try to call them to Repentance, Excommunication is the only Godly option.
I think that the best example of an Excommunication is The Declaration of Independence
https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript
It is the equivalent of a divorce from an abuser. It lists his long list of abuses and declares a departure from the relationship. Even so the people of God must COME OUT of fellowship with the Narcissistic spirit of Gnosticism and Believe the true Gospel of Jesus Christ.
As Gabriel said, “… thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall Save his people FROM their Sins.” -Matthew 1:21
As Jesus said, “I came not to call the righteous, but Sinners to Repentance.” -Luke 5:32
Jesus answered, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, YE MUST BE BORN AGAIN.” -John 3:5-7
As Peter said, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” -Acts 2:38
As Ezekiel said, “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.” -Ezekiel 36:26-27
As Jude said, “Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.” -Jude 24-25
Do you have #FreedomFromSin ?
The Gnostic Doctrine of Free Will
The Gnostic Doctrine of Know Thyself
The Gnostic Doctrine of God Helps those who Help Themselves
The Gnostic Doctrine of the Mystery of Iniquity
The Gnostic Doctrine of Narcissism
