All variations of Gnosticism had one central belief in common concerning the Bible. This belief was that the Old Testament was a revelation from one God while what is written in the New Testament is a revelation from a different God. The God of the Old Testament was evil since He created the world as per Genesis 1.

There are other troubling problems with the authenticity and claimed inspiration of Thomas' gospel. The book itself does not refer to the divinity of Jesus. In fact, it remains aligned with Gnostic beliefs that deny his divinity. Further Gnostic earmarks in the book are its continual references to Jesus' sayings as "secret" and "mysterious."

There are eleven dukes of Edom (Edom was another name for Esau, Jacob's brother) in the Bible. Although closely related to the house of Israel, a bitter hatred existed between the two peoples. The dukes, or chiefs, of Edom were Timnah, Alvah, Jetheth, Aholibamah, Elah, Pinon, Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, Magdiel, and Iram (Genesis 36:40 - 43).

The English word "flesh" appears 420 times, in 369 verses, in the King James Bible. It appears the most in the book of Leviticus (59 times) followed by Genesis (28) then the book of Romans (26). Its first two uses in God's word are linked to the creation of Eve from Adam's rib.

The Essenes were a New Testament religious sect that existed from the second century B.C. to the first century A.D.

John, before addressing the issue of using Godspeed, first warns his readers that deceivers (antichrists) are promoting the belief that Jesus did not come to earth as a flesh and blood human (2John 1:7). This deception, a gnostic heresy, is known as Docetism.

Perhaps Muhammad, whose principles are found in the Quran, was influenced by some kind of Gnostic teaching first taught centuries earlier. The four Gospels are very clear that Christ was killed by crucifixion, and that His death was not miraculously prevented. Rather, after He died, He was miraculously resurrected back to life again.

Canonizing the Bible The New Testament was written by, or its writing was supervised by, the chosen disciples of Jesus Christ. John, who near the end of the first century A.D. was the last living apostle, was uniquely qualified to canonize the Scriptures as he was of the Aaronic (Levitical priest) blood line.

How much influence did Gnostic or Hellenistic teachings have on early Christianity? Christian Apologetics Apologist Norman Geisler offers readers a systematic approach to understanding major worldviews and presents both the reasons and the …

All the Gnostic divisions in the church, in the second century, were united in denying the resurrection of the dead. We find the Colossian heretics introducing a worship of angels, "intruding into those things which they have not seen" and so, the "self-styled Gnostics" (1Timothy 6:20) are occupied with "endless genealogies," which were ...