Prayer Request for Sunday 4/29

1. Derik & Mandy: strike at Pantex; brother & sister-in-law
2. Angie: her friend Jan Dressler with health problems; employee's father with health problems
3. Tornado Victims
4. VBS
5. Military around the world
6. Ben: finals coming up
7. Angie & Shawn: friend John Scott headed for Irag for military service
8. Jim Knutson: health issues

**If I have forgotten any please let me know.

What We Covered Last Sunday 4/28

• We started our look at the Ancient Gnostic View of Knowledge. We looked at how they saw knowledge (gnosis) as being hidden, revealed by enlightened messengers, mystical, individualistic and purely subjective (verses objective), and truth being relative.
• We heard quotes from both the early Church Fathers (defenders of the Faith) and some modern day defenders. I will list some of these at the end of this posting.
• We examined Jude 8 and Deuteronomy 13:1-5. I will provide further commentary on these texts later on.

The Church Fathers' Response to Gnosticism:

• "Indeed, take away from the heretics(Gnostics) the wisdom that they share with the pagans, and let them support their inquiries from the Scripture alone. They will then be unable to hold their ground." Tertullian
• ”We call those heretics “empty” for they are destitute of the counsels of God and of the traditions of Christ. Their dogmas originate with themselves and are therefore bitter- like the wild almond.” Clement of Alexandria
• “The heretics insist that the apostles did not reveal everything to all men. Rather, they say that the apostles proclaimed some things openly and to all the world, but that they disclosed other things only in secret and to a few.” Tertullian

The Modern Gnostic Manifestations:

• “Gnosticism is experiencing something of a revival, despite its historical status within Christianity as a vanquished Christian heresy.” Doug Groothius
• “The perennial war of ideas develops few new weapons systems. In the intellectual combat between the New Age movement and orthodox Christianity, the points of conflict were recognized by the early church(in the Gnostic heresy) eighteen hundred years before New Age celebrity evangelist Shirley MacLaine spoke to her first disembodied spirit.” Doug Groothuis
• Michael Horton agreeing with Harold Bloom that “The American religion, regardless of the denominational label, is Gnosticism. It is not merely a New Age or left-leaning phenomenon. It is swallowing the culture whole, and with it, much of modern Christianity.”

What We Are Covering Sunday 4/29

**I apologize for just now getting this out.

• We will continue our look at the Ancient Gnostic Worldview focusing on their view of Knowledge, Morality and Humanity.
• When looking at their view of Knowledge we will examine the following passages: Jude 8; Deuteronomy 13:1-5; Jeremiah 14:14; Jeremiah 23:27, 32; Jeremiah 29:8
• If we have time we will at least begin another look at Ancient Gnosticism and the Biblical Content: 1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:18-24; 1 John 3:4-10; 1 John 4:1-6, 15; 1 John 5:1, 5-12, 18-20; 2 John 7-11

Articles on Gnosticism Both Ancient and Modern

1. This article comes from the Holman Bible Dictionary entry on Gnosticism. By the way if you can ever pick up the Holman Bible Dictionary it would be a great resource.

2. The New GnosticismIs It "The Age of the Spirit" or "The Spirit of the Age?" by Michael Horton- This is a long article but if you were only able to read through the 9 characteristics of Old Gnosticism and some of the section on the New Gnosticism it would be greatly beneficial.

3. Gnosticism defined on the online Theological Dictionary.

Prayer Requests for Sunday 4/22

1. Derek & Mandy- strike at Pantex
2. Praise for successful ladie's retreat
3. Men's leadership conference this weekend- Doyle Roth the speaker
4. Tornado Victims around the Panhandle
5. Virginia Tech- families of victims; Mr. Cho's family
6. Steve Simms- ministry planning; apartment
7. Mandy's brother & sister-in-law- salvation

**If I have missed any please feel free to add them as a comment. Thanks.

A Review of What We Covered Sunday 4/22

• We finished the Ancient Gnostic view of God and Reality. Concerning the Ancient Gnostic view of God the main thing to know is that ancient gnosticism believed in an unknowable, impersonal (no relationship) God that is so separate and protected from creation that only through special knowledge (more on this later) can human beings know him. They also despised a lesser so-called god who is the evil creator of this evil world called the universe and some of these gnostics equated this god with the God of the Old Testament. Concerning the Ancient Gnostic view of Reality the main thing to know is that the universe is dualistic- matter (anything physical or material) is evil and anything spiritual (non-material) is good. The created universe is meaningless.
• We also looked at 1 Timothy1:3-7 and 2 Peter 2:1-3 to see some examples of early gnostic thought. I will provide more commentary on these passages later this week.
• Folks, I want to encourage you to not become frustrated or discouraged with this material. As I stressed Sunday morning it will begin to come together once we get to the modern day manifestations and to the biblical apologetic or defense.

Two Good Blog Entries for "The Secret" by Al Mohler

• "It's All About You? The Truth About "The Secret"
• "There Are No New Heresies--New Thought Isn't New"

"The Secret" Website: Modern Manifestation of Ancient Gnosticism

If any of you are interested in doing any research on "The Secret" here is their official website.

What We Are Covering Sunday 4/22

• We will continue our look at the Ancient Gnostic worldview. Keep in mind that the purpose of us looking at the gnostic worldview is to better understand what they believed and why they believed it.
• We will continue our look at more passages under section B. Ancient Gnosticism and the Biblical Content- 1 Timothy 1:3-7; 2 Peter 2:1-22; 1 John 1:1-4.
• If time allows we will begin to look at some responses to Ancient Gnosticism from some of our courageous predecessors.

**I know the weekends are always busy for all of us but I encourage you, if you have the time, to take a look at the passages that we plan on covering for class Sunday. This will give you an opportunity to develop questions or comments for our time together in study.

Prayer Requests for Sunday 4/16

1. Derek and Mandy- the strike at Pantex
2. Mandy- her brother and sister-in-law
3. Craig- trouble in brother's church First Baptist New Castle, Indiana
4. Men's Conference
5. Women's Retreat
6. Husbands/Fathers as wives are at Women's Retreat
7. VBS
8. Steve Simms will be here Tuesday
9. Lindsay Palmer- recovery from surgery

What We Covered Last Sunday 4/16

• We started a new series entitled "Ancient Heresy in Modern Times: A presentation of ancient Gnosticism, its modern manifestation and the Biblical apologetic."
• Introductory Points: Ancient Gnosticism has made a comeback in many ways but the most well known route to the modern era has been seen in two top sellings books: "The Davinci Code" and "The Secret."
• Introductory Quote by Albert Mohler: “You see, sometimes the church does not remember this, but it is the church’s responsibility to anathematize. That is something we don’t talk about very much, but it is the church’s responsibility clearly to declare as false anything which stands against the true gospel of Jesus Christ. We live in a harmonious age when everyone wants to nod at everything, smile appreciatively at everything, and not pass judgment on anything. In the midst of such an age, however, the church is called to say “no” and to identify the false as false. Otherwise we cannot truly honor the truth.
  What we are experiencing now in the modern age is that the old heresies are coming up all over again. It is a bit like rewinding history, and all the ancient heresies that were tried long ago, opposed by the church, and declared by the church to be false, they are coming back.”
• In this series we will look at these three main points: 1. The Ancient Gnostic Worldview
  2. The Modern Gnostic Manifestation 3. The Timeless Biblical Apologetic
• We will examine the appropriate biblical texts each morning.
• We looked at two definitions of "gnosticism": 1. “A theological error prevalent around the time of Christ. Generally speaking, Gnosticism taught salvation is achieved through special knowledge (gnosis). This knowledge usually dealt with the individuals relationship to the transcendent Being. It denies the incarnation of God as the Son. In so doing it denies the true efficacy of the atonement since, if Jesus is not God, He could not atone for all of mankind and we would still be lost in our sins.”
  2. “A movement in early Christianity, beginning already in the first century, which 1)emphasized a special higher truth that only the more enlightened receive from God, 2)taught that matter is evil, and 3)denied the humanity of Jesus.” Millard Erickson
• We started looking at the first point- The Ancient Gnostic Worldview and we also examined some passages of Scripture that address an early form of this heresy.

**If anyone has any questions please don't hesitate to call me (372-1949) or email me at contender9876@aol.com.

Not Just Another Blog

As if cyber world needed another blog in an already over loaded blogosphere, here is an additional one but I hope to make this one worth our while. I thought that a blog would be a useful tool for at least five reasons: One, I can provide some supplemental material that will go along with whatever we might be studying. Two, I can provide you with links to helpful Bible study websites that could be beneficial in your own personal study or as you prepare for our study time together. Three, if anyone misses a Sunday they will be able to go to the blog and get caught back up. Fourth, I will be able to let you know what we will be covering the following Sunday in class. Five, it provides us with a place to have dialogue about our study, current issues, prayer requests, etc. I encourage everyone to utilize it as much as we can.