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Andrew Wommack is a Word Faith teacher who has had great success in spreading his message across the world. In this video, you will hear him espouse his heretical teachings, along with a sound Biblical response.
GNOSTIC TEACHINGS
The radical and subversive nature of Gnosticism can best be appreciated when contrasted with the teachings of Scripture. The Bible reveals that an all-powerful God created the earth and the universe (Genesis 1:1). This magnificent creation was produced according to a well-thought-out plan (Psalm 139:14; Proverbs 8:22-31; Job 38). Everything God made was very good (Genesis 1:10, 18, 21). God created human beings in His own image (Genesis 1:27). Male and female were created as separate genders for the purpose of marrying and reproducing in a family context (Genesis 1:28, 2:22-25). Satan, in the form of a serpent (Ezekiel 28:13), deceived the first human beings by insinuating that God was a liar and was withholding valuable information from them (Genesis 3). Adam and Eve were banished from the garden paradise for disobedience. Jesus Christ died for the sins of mankind, making it possible to be reconciled to God, receive the Holy Spirit, gain eternal life and participate in the future kingdom of God (John 3:16-17; Acts 2:38; Mark 1:14-15).
Gnostic teaching totally reverses nearly every detail of these biblical accounts! Gnostics taught that the real God is unknowable and incomprehensible. This world "is a stupendous mistake, created by a foolish or vicious creator-god" (Mystery Religions in the Ancient World, Godwin, 1981, p. 84). Humans are merely "fragments of the universe... sediment from a lost heaven" (Lacarriere, pp. 16, 19). This evil, incompetent god was self-conceived by Sophia (goddess of wisdom) and later seduced Eve, who then gave birth to Cain and Abel. The serpent was actually sent by the true God to teach wisdom to Adam and Eve before they were unmercifully expelled from the garden. This wicked god, the Jehovah of the Hebrew Scriptures, tricked people into worshiping him as the true God, and the Old Testament "is the story of his tyranny and egotism" (Ibid., p. 85). The villains of the Bible (Cain, Esau, the Sodomites, etc.) are regarded as heroes by Gnostics for standing up to this evil god!
In Gnostic belief, salvation is obtained not by accepting the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for our sins and changing our life, but by learning secret knowledge. For Gnostics, knowledge comes from within oneself—not from revealed Scripture, yet the Bible says just the opposite (Proverbs 3:5; John 17:17)! For Gnostics, this world is evil; the body is the evil—a corrupt prison for the soul—from which one must seek to escape. Marriage and procreational sex are also seen as evils dreamed up by the wicked creator-god. The real hope, to Gnostics, is not to see the future kingdom of God, but to regain an imagined past, freed from the fetters of this world (spirit from matter, light from darkness) in a timeless and incorporeal Kingdom of Light. It is not hard to see why the ideas of Simon and his followers "flew in the face of the whole Apostolic doctrine and the teaching of Jesus" (Lacarriere, p. 47). Gnostics literally turn the Bible upside down!
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one faction as anti-sex another faction is sex without boundaries
PERVERTED PRACTICES
Some of the most controversial teachings of the Gnostics had to do with the lifestyle they advocated. Marriage and procreational sex were scorned as the distractions of a wicked god. This led to drastic extremes! Certain teachers, such as Marcion and Valentinus, advocated asceticism (self-denial). They forbade marriage and taught that Gnostics should remain celibate. Initiates already married were told to abstain from sexual relations for life (After Jesus, Reader's Digest, 1992, p. 132). Since some Gnostics taught that Adam was created without gender, the ideal state one should aspire to is androgyny—where sexual identity is suppressed or eliminated. The Gnostic Gospel of Thomas states, "when you make the male and female into one, so that the male is not male and the female is not female... then you shall enter the kingdom" (Unearthing the Lost Words of Jesus, Dart and Riegert, 1998, p. 54). Celibate asceticism—denying one's sexuality and abhorring marriage—was a way of achieving this androgynous ideal and becoming like the true God.
However, other Gnostic teachers advocated just the opposite! Simon Magus appears to have rejected marriage and promoted free love! Gnostics saw laws given by an evil creator-god as restrictive and inhibiting. They taught the "practice of free love must be the means of bursting out of the social straight jacket specifically invented to stifle its [love's] liberating spontaneity... in the promiscuity of men and women lies the true communion" (Lacarriere, p. 51). Some Gnostic sects participated in orgiastic rites of almost indescribable perversion. The idea was that to extirpate evil, it must be practiced until it is exhausted! This stood in marked contrast to the biblical admonitions to "flee sexual immorality" (1 Corinthians 6:18-20) and avoid all forms of evil (1 Thessalonians 5:22).
Let us glean some of the ideas presented by these early fathers of Christianity:
Women are the root of all evil -
(This contradicts God's own words in Genesis 1:31 and also contradicts directly 1 Timothy 6:10)
Those who have sex with their wives for pleasure are adulterers -
(This contradicts the definition of adultery in Greek and Hebrew, not to mention many scriptures, such as Leviticus 18:7-23)
Marriage only exists only after the Fall of Man -
(This contradicts Genesis 1:23-24, as it states the marriage design and that Eve was one flesh with Adam, both prior to the Fall)
Christians marry only to produce children -
(Although this one is less in error than most of the other statements above, it does contradict the Song of Solomon, which has nothing to do with producing children and everything to do with the joys of love and sex.)
Women are the Devil's Gateway. Meaning, sin was a result of you, via sex and temptation. -
(Here we see the influence of Gnosticism and Platonism on sex. Apples were considered the fruit, as it symbolizes sex in ancient times. Hence the woman had sex with the man early, and this is where sin came from. And it is assumed the man is somehow without sense when a woman seduces. However, none of this is from scripture. This is all a cleverly devised fable, which we are warned against believing. Further, it contradicts Genesis 3:1-8, as it says they ate a fruit, not that they had wild premarital sex or ate an apple. Last, God created woman as a helper, not as a devilish gateway to sin. Today, we laugh at this viewpoint, however, this is the ground on which many ideas in the church derive. )
Women are temptresses. -
(When I read this, it reminds me of the mindset of many muslim societies. It is not the man's fault, that he wants to have sex with a woman, but rather the woman for tempting him. This is just passing blame. Every man is responsible for his actions, as is made clear in these passages: 1 Peter 4:5, Matthew 3:8-12, Ezekiel 3:18. Further, this assumes a general state of evil within woman, which is greater than sinful nature, which is not accounted for within scripture).
Women's only function is to bear children. -
(Again, this would contradict both God's design of woman as a "helper", equal to man, contradicts Song of Solomon and simple common sense).
yes gnostic and new age have merged... very deadly stuff..
and just try and talk about sex on this site 90000pages oabout homosexuals.. but you can't talk about sex...and it is sick like they are all virgins or the most innocent of blushing brides. and we have to know neither is the truth..
as a matter of fact today at Facebook someone posted that some in Europe has passed law that two people who are not in quarantine together and are caught having sex indoors can be put in jail.. or fined..
so it turns out the lefties did want to know everything that does in our bedrooms !!!
But seems they prefer you do it outside in the street or in a parade..
and no you can t make this stuff up..
Richard, The Bible is a spiritual book recording revelations from God. They can NOT be over-spiritualized, but they can be and have been over-carnalized by our carnal-minded ancestors.
I agree with your statement.
All Bible is Gnostic type (myth mixed with truth) evolution of consciousness archetypical guide.
anti-sex doctrines like "no sex before marriage" celibacy for catholic priests and nuns, etc are not biblical many of them ar from gnostic and similar doctrines that view sex and the body evil
The Ancient Roots of Our Judeo-
Christian Sexual Prohibitions
It's regrettable that St. Augustine's influence and the negative appraisal of sexuality, based on his own struggles to be chaste has so impacted negatively with Christian tradition.".
Christianity and Sexuality
The Damaging Results of Faulty Teachings
1. Christian Anti-sex Drives From the 2nd Century Onwards
#USA
The First Few Centuries:
“Christianity was still managing to create a very unhappy sexual climate which made ordinary people rush in droves to adopt extreme and even eccentric solutions.... time and time again, from the 2nd century on, heresies have sprung up within Christianity which say that sex and the body are evil. [...] One of these heresies was Catharism [but] the first of these anti-sex heresies, however, was Encratism which sprang up during the 2nd century. It produced a number of scriptures, like the Acts of Thomas and the Acts of Paul, which all say that sex is degrading and that it is only celibacy which will bring us to the Kingdom of Heaven. These scriptures were read and enjoyed for a long time by perfectly orthodox Christians. [...] That these texts were read by non-Encratists for centuries, who found nothing extraordinary in the idea that sex is evil and that married couples must abstain from 'this filthy intercourse' (Acts of Thomas xiv) shows that the average Christians were getting a very negative image about sex. Indeed it is difficult to see how Encratists different from the Orthodox. When the Acts of Andrew says that marriage is a 'foul and polluted way of life', is that really very different from St Jerome's remark: 'If we abstain from coitus we honour our wives; if we do not abstain, - well, what is the opposite of honour but insult?' (Adversus Jovinian I,7)? When the Encratist Acts of John says that sexual intercourse is 'an experiment of the serpent... the impediment which separated from the Lord,' we are getting very near to the eventual Orthodox view which linked sin and sex.”
"The Gospel According to Woman: Christianity's Creation of the Sex War in the West"
Karen Armstrong (1986)2
“Whereas in Late Antiquity, sexual renunciation was valued as part of a male ethics of self-mastery, by the 5th century AD, Christian ideals promoted virginity and sexual abstinence for men as well as women. [...] Sexual desire came to be blamed for binding humans to their worldly obligations to spouse or children. It prevented them from concentrating on spirituality in furtherance of the coming of the kingdom of heaven, and preparation for the afterlife. [...] Celibacy and purity came to be valorized, whereas sex and desire became policed. [...]
A key influence in this development was Augustine (354-430 AD), one of the founding fathers of Western Christianity, whose gloomy teachings developed the influential doctrine of "original sin" which presented sex as the cause of the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden narrated in Genesis. Augustine declared that sexual intercourse in paradise would have taken the form of "a gentle falling asleep in the partner's arms" had Adam and Eve not fallen prey to carnal desire, and that "lustful sex is the enemy of God".
"Sexuality: A Very Short Introduction"
Veronique Mottier (2008)7
The Middle Ages and Dark Ages
“The Penitentials (guides for the clergy about how to judge the various sins of the faithful) show that in the early Middle Ages the Church was trying to enforce total abstinence on married couples. Sex was forbidden while a woman was pregnant, menstruating or breastfeeding, which was very prohibitive considering the extreme frequency of pregnancy, because, of course, contraception was forbidden. Sex was also forbidden during Lent and Advent, on Ember days and also on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. It was also forbidden before receiving communion. By the time a virtuous and law-abiding couple had found a spare Tuesday which did not fall into any of these forbidden periods they were probably sexually paralysed. [...]
The later Middle Ages added some refinements to the list of forbidden days. Different writers and sermons recommended different days but the list was formidable. Thus sex was forbidden: on Thursdays in honour of Jesus' arrest, on Fridays because of his death, on Saturdays because it is Our Lady's day, on Sundays because of the Resurrection and on Mondays in commemoration of the dead.”
"The Gospel According to Woman: Christianity's Creation of the Sex War in the West" by Karen Armstrong (1986)8
“Marriage was all the more viewed with suspicion due to the dangers of the temptations of the flesh, which reflected the works of the devil. As Pope Innocent III formulated this dilemma in the 13th century: "everyone knows that intercourse, even between married persons, is never performed without the itch of the flesh, the heat of passion and the stench of lust". The Protestant theologian Martin Luther shared this distaste for marital intercourse, declaring that "had God consulted me in the matter, I would have advised him to continue the generation of the species by fashioning them out of clay".”
"Sexuality: A Very Short Introduction"
Veronique Mottier (2008)7
“In England between the 13th and 16th centuries ... up to 90% of the litigation handled by church courts was about combating fornication, adultery, sodomy and prostitution. The punishments were often savage. When the Reformation got going in the mid-16th century, the zeal for rooting out illicit sex went up another notch. Harsh new national laws were passed, such as a statute in 1534 that made buggery a capital offence. In 1552 a revision of canon law meant that adulterers could face life imprisonment or exile. Sexual transgressors were often whipped, publicly humiliated and even branded. [...]
The assumption in early modern England that sexual persecution was essential to good social order was not unlike that of the more conservative Islamic republics today. It was partly rooted in religion and the looming threat of hellfire. It was also a product of patriarchal attitudes that saw women as the property of fathers or husbands.”
The Economist (2012)9
Thankfully, from the Enlightenment, Christianity lost much of its power in England, and in Europe, and the strict condemnations now fall onto deaf ears. According to Oxford historian Faramerz Dabhoiwala, who specializes in canon law, the key driver behind that change "was the spread of religious tolerance and nonconformity, which eroded the church's authority"10.
Many Christian institutions still fight "the good fight" against sexuality. One modern example is the success of the Shaker community in the USA, whose members live in chastity - men and women's accommodation were separated, even those of married couples11. But the main and obvious beacon for the anti-sex nature of the Church is the Catholic Churches policy of chaste clergy. To rise above the laity to the class of god's holy representatives on earth, you have to completely abstain from sex. This Christian abhorrence of sexual human nature became very influential and was partially a reaction against "Judaism, which disapproved of abstinence"3. This misguided message has been, as we will see later in this text, responsible for more sexual dysfunction in adult males than any other force of history.
Jesus, in his sermon on the mount, said this about oaths:
But I tell you, don’t take an oath at all: either by heaven, because it is God’s throne; or by the earth, because it is His footstool; or by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great King. Neither should you swear by your head, because you cannot make a single hair white or black. But let your word ‘yes’ be ‘yes,’ and your ‘no’ be ‘no.’ Anything more than this is from the evil one.
– Source: Matthew 5:34-37, Holman Christian Standard Bible
Nowadays many churches require that prospective members sign a document referred to as a Membership Contract, a Church Membership Covenant, or simply a Church Covenant.
Make no mistake: whichever term is used for the ‘agreement’ or ‘affirmation’, these signed documents are contracts.
Some of these legal documents appear quite innocent. Others make you sign away certain rights and/or force you into making specific promises. Oaths, in other words.
These promises are usually related to
the church’s authority structure
specifically, your commitment to obeying the leaders
finances
in particular the flow of money from you to the church
then explain this from the gnostic gospel of thomas
Gospel of Thomas Saying 114
(114) Simon Peter said to them, "Mary should leave us, for females are not worthy of life." Jesus said, "See, I am going to attract her to make her male so that she too might become a living spirit that resembles you males. For every female (element) that makes itself male will enter the kingdom of heaven."
What is your issue with this text from GoT ? I hope you understand that it is not sex issue.
Myth #4: Gnosticism was more favorable towards women than traditional Christianity.
This is a big one. Popular perceptions are that the orthodox Christians oppressed women, but the Gnostics liberated them. But, again, the truth is not so simple.
On the contrary, the historical evidence suggests that women flocked to traditional Christianity in droves. Indeed, they may have outnumbered the men almost two to one. Rodney Stark in his book The Triumph of Christianity argues that this is because Christianity proved to be a very welcoming, healthy, and positive environment for women.
It is also worth noting that some of the Gnostic leaders’ supposedly pro-woman stance is not all it is cracked up to be. The Valentinian Gnostic Marcus was actually known for bringing women into the movement so that he could sexually seduce them (Irenaeus, Haer. 1.13.5).
Moreover, the Gnostic view of women seemed particularly negative if one considers the final verse in the Gospel of Thomas: “For every female who makes herself male will enter the kingdom of Heaven” (logion 114). It is hard to see this as an endorsement of women!
(114) Simon Peter said to them, "Mary should leave us, for females are not worthy of life." Jesus said, "See, I am going to attract her to make her male so that she too might become a living spirit that resembles you males. For every female (element) that makes itself male will enter the kingdom of heaven."
This is nothing new. In Buddhism, it was believed, that a female may not become a buddha, an enlightened one. I think, same was in Jainism. I forgot who it was, that had to "wait for rebirth as a man to become enlightened".
When Gautam Buddha allowed women to become bhikkuni, female monks, he said - this will ruin my teaching. And so it happened.
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