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GNOSTICS - KNOWING ONES

NOVEMBER 6, 2011

Several weeks ago I received a "Nugget" from Ray & Shelia Knight regarding Gnosticism that bore witness to my spirit. I asked him to further develop the thought to be shared with our readers, and he did. Their "Nuggets are very short writings; usually a small paragraph or two, but filled with wonderful insight. Ray & Shelia Knight lives in British Colombia, Canada. We have known them for many years, they have attended our conferences and stayed in our home. Are You A Knowing One?? Be blessed by this writing.

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WHAT WAS WILL BE NOW Could that be called ‘RESTORATION’? There is nothing new under the sun ... a timeless statement for most of those of this earth realm ... but in the spirit — unlimited possibilities?

Eccles. 3:15 That which has been is now; and that which is to be has already been (therefore that too is now!); and God requires (present tense ... now) that which is past. Confused? Now view this scripture in light of the spoken living word. Jesus said that His words were spirit and they were life (John 6:63). In the beginning was the Word ... that’s God. What He has spoken in times past is happening now. He has likewise spoken as to our future ... in Him (in the Spirit) it has happened. All this to cause us to grasp that God is in the timeless zone. Eternity is not endless time but timelessness. He that comes to God must believe that He is and He is the rewarder of those that diligently seek Him. He is still speaking and when He speaks, that is the word of the Lord. ‘Now is’ the rewarding time! … NOW is the time ... NOW is the day .... Now unto Him that is able .... Live in the now and do not allow time to dictate your life. Be established in present truth.

The subject of our search is present (now) truth. In the past 50 years Sheila and I have been led down a strange path (compared to the average path taken by Christian folk) which has included our meeting with many honored names in Christian circles, being led to many sources of learning in many places on this earth. In recent times we have been specifically led to delve into the lifestyle and writings of the Essenes and Gnostics; they have been given a bad name by the historic Church since the formation of ‘Christian’ doctrine by Bishop Constantine and the Nicean Council in AD 325.

Looking back over our lives, many aspects of what God was doing in the early years of the Church has been brought across our path. Some of the history, testimonies and accompanying beliefs of those early days were almost lost and with man’s help were excluded from our bibles ... but God has the last word! Restoration of that which is good is simply declaring ‘that which has been is now’. We have lived in community where we were taught to ‘prefer your brother’ (that means ‘me’ taking second place), to live off the land; to study the Scriptures daily alert for the ‘word of the Lord’; to enlarge one’s reading horizons while holding fast to that which is good. In doing all this we have learned to accept and love all men. Above all, we actually concluded that God can make Himself known to others of different backgrounds and we have learned that the Lord God is truly in control and is never taken by surprise.

So join us as we look at THE GNOSTICS and THE ESSENES — with an eye for all that is present truth. It is amazing just how many of these old Essene teachings and writings refer to that which God is bringing back to His Church in these days. The ‘reject’ label is being removed so we can more readily receive life from them ensuring that Christ is magnified in the whole. Surely we believe that the apostles and their disciples had their own revelations, teachings and testimonies? Just as today, we thank God for those who speak and write of those things they have learned while they have sought to know our Father. The Essenes were Jewish in foundation but later chose to break away from orthodoxy and focus on the coming king.

What a day we live in! So many treasures are being unearthed ... not that any discoveries replace the scriptural basis of our lives but rather they add to them bringing further understanding and challenges. Among God’s people there has been a general inbuilt fear of anything that is new. We in the west have thought ourselves as being superior with our knowledge in the fields of archeology, astronomy, astrology, the sciences and religion. Conclusions come from the available resources at the time of announcement or writing; but with these added resources our final picture (vision) is changing ... perhaps coming fully into focus!

The Essene way of life and their beliefs have been going for what seems like forever. Their influences appearing in all major nations that emphasized learning, teaching and the recording of their aspects of wisdom. The Essenes had a relationship with God paralleling the Old Testament records in our bible coupled with what we have come to call ‘the anointing of the Spirit’ ... an input that changed the natural into the supernatural — full of purpose. The Essenes in their day were treated like a ‘nation within a nation’. They opposed slavery and promoted vegetarianism which was easily followed as they lived in community.

In the early days of Christianity the Essene way of life, especially their spiritual life, was quite different to the adherents of the orthodox Church that was arising and was gaining in man’s control. Under the dominion of Rome, a development transpired that declared that all of the Roman Empire would be Christian. General Constantine was ordained a Bishop of Rome and shortly afterwards he convened a council at Nicea which stated what was to be included in the tenets of our Christian faith. Bishop Constantine along with the full council of biased bishops determined what the doctrines of the Church would be. Anything that opposed this selection or even appeared to oppose it was rejected, maligned and efforts made to destroy its influence. Among those writings were some 45+ scrolls, gospels and writing by other apostles, leaders etc. The common denominator of these writings that they objected to, was anything that took away the authority of Church leadership or control. From here on out it was submit or be excommunicated. The Essene communities suffered a lot of persecution as you can guess. They were not ready to see all their life-promoting writings destroyed. I believe that they heard from God to hide them in earthenware pots (that would keep out dampness) and place them in caves which happened to be close by.

Because of their stand for liberty, they were labeled as ‘Gnostics’ in a derogatory sense and by innuendo included the ‘Essenes’ title; simply, they were different! This was one of the influences that caused their dispersal and records show the Essenes moving to far places taking their gospel of peace with them. Some settled in Egypt close to the Nag Hammadi district and hid their writing collection in the caves of the area.

Among these Essene believers there was an emphasis of regular prayer. They were encouraged to worship God and hear from Him for themselves ... thus these ones would know what Father wanted — hence the devout ones were soon labeled ‘Gnostics’ or as the meaning of the word indicates ... knowing ones. There are myriads of believers in God but so few really know their father. The Essenes lived mostly in communities, the main one being in the Mount Carmel area where it is said that Joseph and Mary were influenced by the lifestyles of the adherents. This lifestyle most earnestly influenced the early days of Christianity and Christianity influenced the culture of the Essenes. As the Essenes spread the gospel far and wide across the earth, their understanding and ways surfaced in such places as Egypt, Europe, Tibet, Central America as well as South America and many other places.

Many of the Essenes believed that their lifestyle and basic beliefs about God, the world and one’s purposes originated in the days of Enoch**. Enoch’s name means teacher, initiator and who better to set the stage than someone who walked with God. They knew what the heavens were declaring and above all in their prayerful relationship with Father, learned the times and seasons within God’s plan of the ages ... they even discovered from the heavens that which those ages consisted of in some detail. [** EDMOND SZEKELY ‘s ‘From Enoch to the Dead Sea Scrolls’].

The Essenes were labeled ‘the knowing ones’ which is the basic meaning of the word ‘Gnostic’. GNOSIS from which ‘Gnostic’ comes means ‘positive knowledge in spiritual matters such as to have been mystically (we would say by the Spirit) acquired by the Gnostics’. The opposite to a gnostic is an agnostic. I was taught in my younger years that an Agnostic believed that there was a God but that He was beyond being communicated with... compared to an ATHEIST who plainly refused to believe that there was a Divine Being. An AGNOSTIC is one who believes that he cannot hear/communicate with God and have a built-in resistance to anything not tangible (i.e. supernatural) — the basis for skepticism.

These records of the teaching from the apostles as well as other special writings were originally mostly written in Greek with many translated into COPTIC which was an Afro-Asian language which the Christian Church utilized particularly in Egypt where there was an Essene community. It was used in the training of teachers etc.

The Gnostics I am convinced were mostly responsible for the preservation of these texts (called codices and/or tractates) which give added confirmation and detail as to our heritage including further insight into the character of many of the early saints. In these communities there were many gnostics who were hearing from God and being led by Him. This conclusion is not difficult to grasp when one emphasizes that they were a people of prayer. Their unlabelled influence spread into most of the known world and some of their thinking has surfaced in many of the leading world religions.

The Essenes were well aware of their connection with the heavens and also the earth. They were mostly vegetarians strongly believing that you become what you eat! Eat living food for it will gender life; kill your food and eventually its death will overtake you before you are old. You ‘died young’ if you died under 100! The Essenes were dedicated to and enjoyed learning not forgetting their recording the discoveries for a future generation... possibly us! Even though the ‘powers-that-be’ in the orthodox religious circles tried their utmost to squelch and destroy all these scripts, If the Church hierarchy could not destroy these records, they simply labelled them ‘heresy’ which labels have endured for many centuries ... until ...that which was is now! God knew that there would be persecution from ignorant folks, jealous of the confidence these Essenes had with God. He wanted the full record of His early Christian contact with His people to be kept as it would be strength and like a pattern in the day they were discovered. And they are ‘Thank You, Lord’.

Two thousand years later in Father’s plan, these treasures are unearthed ... scrolls and parchments etc. were stumbled upon in Egypt and nearly overlooked. Two years later another great cache of documents was discovered in the Qumran caves adjacent to the Dead Sea; these are referred to as ‘The Dead Sea Scrolls’ which give further insight to the life and faith in Biblical times. Most were written in Greek and as well as offering many, many insights and additions and confirmations to the Bible we know, they offered insights into the culture and community living of the Essenes. These discoveries brought to light the whole arena of that which Bishop Constantine endeavored to destroy. 1977 saw the publication in English of the treasures unearthed right on God’s time! They are gaining interest because of so much of their content is shedding light on where we are at in the Church today.

The love of God gets covered up whenever we are critical of others who have sincerely done what they believe is God’s will for them. Labels have an effect of closeting Christians ... so we avoid labels in this day ... but you will stand out when you come to truly know our Father ... Yes you just might be known as KNOWING-ONES (i.e. GNOSIS folk?) ... in a nice context!

God bless.

Contact for Ray & Shelia Knight- 1930knights@gmail.com

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