CHAPTER TWO


John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
 2 He was in the beginning with God.
 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
 7 This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe.
 8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.
 9 That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.
 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.
 11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.
 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:
 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
 (NKJV)

And, as we touched the beginning of the universe, we now touch the beginning of Jesus' ministry by meeting the first Christian evangelist, John the Baptist.  His public ministry begins when he wanders into the woods, begins living off the land and preaching that the Messiah is coming soon.  He develops followers by word of mouth and they, in turn, bring others to hear him and share the message.  He had the main qualification for any evangelist, he was "sent by God,"  Any one in any ministry needs that qualification.  John cites it as the ONLY qualification.

Then John the Apostle deals with another myth:

"Mandaeism or Mandaeanism (Modern Mandaic: is a gnostic religion  (Aramaic manda means "knowledge," as does Greek gnosis) with a strongly dualistic worldview. Its adherents, the Mandaeans, revere Adam, Abel, Seth, Enosh, Noah, Shem, Aram and especiallyJohn the Baptist, but reject Abraham, Moses and Jesus of Nazareth.^[3][4]

"According to most scholars, Mandaeans migrated from the Southern Levant to Mesopotamia in the first centuries CE, and are of pre-Arab and pre-Islamic origin. They are Semites and speak a dialect of Eastern Aramaic known as Mandaic. 

"Their etymology suggests that the Mandaeans may well be the only sect surviving from late Antiquity to identify themselves explicitly as Gnostics.

"Other scholars^[who?] derive the term mandaiia from Mandā d-Heyyi (Mandaic manda ḏ-hiia "Knowledge of Life," reference to the chief divinity hiia rbia "the Great Life") or from the word (bi)mandi,^{[1]:81[1]:167} which is the cultic hut in which many Mandaean ceremonies are performed (such as the baptism, which is the central sacrament of Mandaean religious life

 "Occasionally, Mandaeans are called Christians of Saint John, based upon preliminary reports made by members of the Discalced Carmelites mission in Basra during the 16th century.

"The evidence about Mandaean history has been almost entirely confined to some of the Mandaean religious literature. There is some suggestion made by some authors that Mandaeanism was formed post-Christianity as opposed to pre-Christianity, contrary to what the Mandaeans themselves claim."

(Above quoted from Wikipedia.  Feel free to read the entire article  if you wish.)

A form of this religion existed  during the Apostle John's life  thus he included that John the Baptist was a witness, not the light.  (John hits at Gnostic belief throughout his Gospel.  We will discuss those points as we proceed to other verses.)  And John added these verses:

John 1:19 Now this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?"
 20 He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, "I am not the Christ."
 21 And they asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the Prophet?" And he answered, "No."
 22 Then they said to him, "Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?"
 23 He said: "I am 'The voice of one crying in the wilderness: "Make straight the way of the LORD,"' as the prophet Isaiah said."
 (NKJV)

And the Paul spoke of John in Acts 13.

24 "after John had first preached, before His coming, the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.
 25 "And as John was finishing his course, he said, 'Who do you think I am? I am not He. But behold, there comes One after me, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to loose.'

 (NKJV)

So, for two thousand years, recorded testimony existed from the Apostles and the Baptist himself saying directly he was not the one messiah,  he was only one crying in the wilderness, that the real thing was coming, even that it was standing among them.  Some of John's own followers became disciples and apostles.  Some later came to Christ:

Acts 19:1 And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples
 2 he said to them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" So they said to him, "We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit."
 3 And he said to them, "Into what then were you baptized?" So they said, "Into John's baptism."
 4 Then Paul said, "John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus."
 5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
 6 And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied.
 7 Now the men were about twelve in all.
 (NKJV)

But, guess what?  Disciples remain who's ancestors simply didn't listen, who had a "greater knowledge".  Their leader vanished, beheaded by Herod.  They rejected Christ and took his standard bearer as him.  The Bible's testimony ignored, called a lie.  

Gnosticism operates that way.  The Bible is either not truth or half-truth.  The simplicity of the 
gospel requires something else, something only the sect attacking it knows.  Meditations, exercises, rare books, secret rites, a blinding flash all leading to KNOWLEDGE.  

"GNOSTICISM IS THE TEACHING based on Gnosis, the knowledge of transcendence arrived at by way of interior, intuitive means. Although Gnosticism thus rests on personal religious experience, it is a mistake to assume all such experience results in Gnostic recognitions. It is nearer the truth to say that Gnosticism expresses a specific religious experience, an experience that does not lend itself to the language of theology or philosophy, but which is instead closely affinitized to, and expresses itself through, the medium of myth. Indeed, one finds that most Gnostic scriptures take the forms of myths. The term “myth” should not here be taken to mean “stories that are not true”, but rather, that the truths embodied in these myths are of a different order from the dogmas of theology or the statements of philosophy."

I promise you I knew nothing of this perfectly suited statement when I started this chapter.  It comes from research in reading the opening of "the Gnostic Worldview" from gnosis.org.  The essay is credited to Dr. Stephen Hoellner, who ranks as a Gnostic Bishop. How you become a bishop of people who have an internalized personal revelation and don't believe in a theology becomes an unanswered  question.

The ideals of Gnoticism underpin the New Age movement. It seeks to combine all religions under one roof.  It wishes for all to believe as they do.  You may have seen the COEXIST bumper sticker composed of all those religious symbols. As Hoellner says:

"All religious traditions acknowledge that the world is imperfect. Where they differ is in the explanations which they offer to account for this imperfection and in what they suggest might be done about it. Gnostics have their own -- perhaps quite startling -- view of these matters: they hold that the world is flawed because it was created in a flawed manner."

"Many religions advocate that humans are to be blamed for the imperfections of the world. Supporting this view, they interpret the Genesis myth as declaring that transgressions committed by the first human pair brought about a “fall” of creation resulting in the present corrupt state of the world. Gnostics respond that this interpretation of the myth is false. The blame for the world’s failings lies not with humans, but with the creator. Since -- especially in the monotheistic religions -- the creator is God, this Gnostic position appears blasphemous, and is often viewed with dismay even by non-believers."

If it's all myth and the Bible is not recorded truth, it becomes easy to interpret the "myth" anyway you wish. And you can claim it's wrongly interpreted because you have a personal revelation.  And this is where it leads:

"The Gnostic God concept is more subtle than that of most religions. In its way, it unites and reconciles the recognitions of Monotheism and Polytheism, as well as of Theism, Deism and Pantheism.

"In the Gnostic view, there is a true, ultimate and transcendent God, who is beyond all created universes and who never created anything in the sense in which the word “create” is ordinarily   Understood. While this True God did not fashion or create anything, He (or, It) “emanated” or brought forth from within Himself the substance of all there is in all the worlds, visible and invisible. In a certain sense, it may therefore be true to say that all is God, for all consists of the substance of God. By the same token, it must also be recognized that many portions of the original divine essence have been projected so far from their source that they underwent unwholesome changes in the process. To worship the cosmos, or nature, or embodied creatures is thus tantamount to worshipping alienated and corrupt portions of the emanated divine essence.The basic Gnostic myth has many variations, but all of these refer to Aeons, intermediate deific beings who exist between the ultimate, True God and ourselves. They, together with the True God, comprise the realm of Fullness (Pleroma) wherein the potency of divinity operates fully. The Fullness stands in contrast to our existential state, which in comparison may be called emptiness.

"One of the aeonial beings who bears the name Sophia (“Wisdom”) is of great importance to the Gnostic world view. In the course of her journeyings, Sophia came to emanate from her own being a flawed consciousness, a being who became the creator of the material and psychic cosmos, all of which he created in the image of his own flaw. This being, unaware of his origins, imagined himself to be the ultimate and absolute God. Since he took the already existing divine essence and fashioned it into various forms, he is also called the Demiurgos or “half-maker” There is an authentic half, a true deific component within creation, but it is not recognized by the half-maker and by his cosmic minions, the Archons or “rulers”."

This links to the previous chapter, obviously, because John has already said there is one god, the Creator,and one Son, a part of him, who molded a perfect world.  This is why the so-called gnostic gospels and other writings were rejected when the Bible was compiled. Gnostics do NOT believe in God or Christ as they truly are.  One separate from his creation but totally involved, so involved that he became one of the human beings so he could relate to them.  Such a being as Christ could never be divine or a true part of God in their belief system since that god is safely distant from his creation.  They try to arrive at a God who matches their reason, rather than accepting the God who created them.  God can't live up to their ideal. A God close to his creation must somehow be less than perfection.

 The attitude was probably best presented by Harlan Ellison in his short novel "The Deathbird".  In it, snake is Adam's friend who, like Prometheus, enlightened humanity to its true place and does so again in the End Times.  God is a doddering, insane old man who thinks his crumbling creation is just fine,  It  won SF awards for best fiction, indicating the spiritual place SF was at in 1974 and where it is now, blending New Age philosophies with fantasy and science fiction  themes.

Most gnostic  mythology lays claim to a scientific foundation by drawing on the work of Jung and his disciple,  Joseph Campbell, a theory of psychology based on the notion that these "truths" come from a common unconscious source,  a "racial memory", which is expressed in myths. Hoellner writes:

"Throughout the twentieth Century the new scientific discipline of depth psychology has gained much prominence. Among the depth psychologists who have shown a pronounced and informed interest in Gnosticism, a place of signal distinction belongs to C. G. Jung. Jung was instrumental in calling attention to the Nag Hammadi library of Gnostic writings in the 1950's because he perceived the outstanding psychological relevance of Gnostic insights.

"The noted scholar of Gnosticism, G. Filoramo, wrote: "Jung's reflections had long been immersed in the thought of the ancient Gnostics to such an extent that he considered them the virtual discoverers of 'depth psychology' . . . ancient Gnosis, albeit in its form of universal religion, in a certain sense prefigured, and at the same time helped to clarify, the nature of Jungian spiritual therapy." In the light of such recognitions one may ask: "Is Gnosticism a religion or a psychology?" The answer is that it may very-well be both. Most mythologems found in Gnostic scriptures possess psychological relevance and applicability. For instance the blind and arrogant creator-demiurge bears a close resemblance to the alienated human ego that has lost contact with the ontological Self. Also, the myth of Sophia resembles closely the story of the human psyche that loses its connection with the collective unconscious and needs to be rescued by the Self. Analogies of this sort exist in great profusion.

"Many esoteric teachings have proclaimed, "As it is above, so it is below." Our psychological nature (the microcosm) mirrors metaphysical nature (the macrocosm), thus Gnosticism may possess both a psychological and a religious authenticity. Gnostic psychology and Gnostic religion need not be exclusive of one another but may complement each other within an implicit order of wholeness. Gnostics have always held that divinity is immanent within the human spirit, although it is not limited to it. The convergence of Gnostic religious teaching with psychological insight is thus quite understandable in terms of time-honored Gnostic principles."

In the late 1980's, not long before his death, Campbell did a series of interviews with Bill Moyers which appeared on PBS as "The Power of Myth."  (That title influenced my own "The Failure of Myth.")  Campbell unveiled a lifetime of study aimed at showing the linkage of all myths.  The public notoriety of his view comes mainly from Campbell's influence on George Lucas as expressed in the original "Star Wars" trilogy.  Campbell's teaching of the ongoing battle of father and son fueled much of the trilogy. The popularity of the Jung/gnostic views due to the trilogy, resulted in many of them permeating Hollywood. (And other industries,  For example, the word gnostic gets a red underline telling me I must capitalize it.) We'll discuss the views which Campbell tried to tie with Christianity as they arise in John's Gospel.  We'll also discuss the effect on media  presentation and actual productions.

For now, let's return to John's message:

 9 There was the true light, even the light which lighteth every man, coming into the world.
 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world knew him not.
 11 He came unto his own, and they that were his own received him not.
 12 But as many as received him, to them gave he the right to become children of God, even to them that believe on his name:
 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.


One gnostic belief sometimes concerns the battle of light and darkness, but  gnostics believe that all light is good and all dark has elements of light in it.  They follow the expression of Yin and Yang,  the circle with two amoeba shapes  one black, one white each with a dot of the other color in the amoebas' main bodies.  No spiritual discernment exists in the teaching because the "truth" emanates from the individual and outside sources become unimportant unless they affirm the personal experience. The gnostic light calls an individual to free himself from the bounds of this world.

John knew an angel of light existed who was NOT on the side of God's true angels. John understood light itself was not purity. that physical light could be wielded by either evil or purity.  The spiritual light of the world gave life to every man since all was created through him.  But sin separated men from God, made them blind to the spiritual light, something gnosticism denies.

True light arrived to the Jewish people, the three remnants of the 12 tribes, and the majority didn't know him.

But to those who did, those who received him, those who comprehended that he was Messiah, those who believed on him, not in a being permeating the universe, not in Mazda or Apollo, Because the other myths are  exactly what they say they are: creations of man's mind, understandable to man's mind, comforts to him in his life like fine wines or warm beds, comforts for this world, not for the eternal waiting out there.

Christ came to say he was "the light of the world."  Believing on HIM was the way to eternal life, eternal living, not eternal dying.  That he came to baptize in the Holy Spirit, to reveal the truth that the other "truths" were not what they pretend.  Something John knew to stress.

And, in John 1:14-34 we have the testimony from both Johns;


 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
 15 John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, "This was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.'"
 16 And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.
 17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
 18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.
 19 Now this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?"
 20 He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, "I am not the Christ."
 21 And they asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the Prophet?" And he answered, "No."
 22 Then they said to him, "Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?"
 23 He said: "I am 'The voice of one crying in the wilderness: "Make straight the way of the LORD,"' as the prophet Isaiah said."
 24 Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees.
 25 And they asked him, saying, "Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?"
 26 John answered them, saying, "I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know.
 27 "It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose."
 28 These things were done in Bethabara beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
 29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
 30 "This is He of whom I said, 'After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.'
 31 "I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water."
 32 And John bore witness, saying, "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him.
 33 "I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.'
 34 "And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God."



John the Apostle reports John the Baptist's testimony in exacting detail.  The first witnessing for Christ.  The voice crying against that wilderness,

In 34, the apostle continues to separate Christ  from the myths with the phrase "the Son of God"  reminding the Greek listener/reader of HIS mythology, where there are numerous sons and daughters of various gods.  New Age believers, harking back to the old myths, tell the tale of Perseus in the movies Clash of the Titans and Wrath of the Titans.  With extensive references to Perseus as the son of Zeus and emphasis on Zeus and Hades being brothers, both as elements of light(ning) and the darkness of Hades.  But a singular Creator now calls to both through his singular son, saying, He is the one way, not some blend of beliefs, not some fictional comfort, but a true way to know God and to be with him forever, here and there

And in 14, John opens a presentation against the gnostics,  "The word", a part of God, a separate but fully God part of God "became flesh."  This offends the gnostic sensibility, denies their notion of a creation made imperfect by an imperfect creator who was not a true part of the distant perfect creator.  The testimony denies their idea that all religions could be unified, It is impossible if there is only one way.  No wonder the worshipers of John the Baptist deny the true Christ.  No place can exist for worshiping other "gods" or "beliefs".  John testifies that their most basic belief is wrong.  Since it is the building block of everything else, gnosticism cannot stand to the Christian believer.

And, as with true testimony, John the Baptist's testimony led to others following Christ:

John 1:35 Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples.
 36 And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, "Behold the Lamb of God!"
 37 The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.
 38 Then Jesus turned, and seeing them following, said to them, "What do you seek?" They said to Him, "Rabbi" (which is to say, when translated, Teacher), "where are You staying?"
 39 He said to them, "Come and see." They came and saw where He was staying, and remained with Him that day (now it was about the tenth hour).
 (NKJV)

Can you hear him across time?  Is his voice gravelly from eating bizarre foods or does it sound like the honey he drank from the honeycomb?  Is his wild hair off-putting or laughable?  Is his seeming madness repellent?  Does he cry against the Pharisee in you that thinks you can earn your way into whatever you imagine as heaven?  What do you imagine?  A place where your dreams come true?  A place where you get some promised reward of gems or sex or feasting?  Of becoming an angel yourself or of ruling your own planet?  Does that voice in the wilderness reach into your heart even today?  Does it lift you up to see one who came to undo our failings, to patch our wounds, to unseal our fate, heal our guilt, not just tell us to pretend it's not there, and wash us clean by sacrifice we were never worthy to make?   Do you hear him calling over the Shreks and the Avengers, over the Super Bowl and the reruns of whatever crime scene show you've come to adore?   Can you hear him over the atheist screaming of Ricky Gervais or Bill Maher? Over the nihilist fantasy of "The Walking Dead"?

Listen to his voice;  "Behold, the Lamb of God."  Because it cries against all that surrounds us at this moment as we watch TV or recall a marvelous game with last second heroics or try to shovel out of a foot of snow.  Against all of our momentary anesthetics and petty humble chores and pains.  A cry that says:  "He's the truth.  Listen to him.  Follow him and be saved!"  If you don't, if you haven't taken him as Savior, please open your heart to him now.  Please ask him to reveal himself and take your life into his protection.Vital facts live behind that voice.  It sounds from a man come to tell you about the Savior, not from one claiming to be the Savior, from one who believed in a perfect Creator, not a jumble of lesser gods.  From one knowing the people of his time needed salvation even as we need salvation today. So that voice calls from then, across time, until the last soul to hear it turns to Christ.  Please listen and be saved.

Because the Second Failure of Myth becomes apparent:  Myth focuses on the human being and his vision of God.  It is created by man to meet man's biological need for God.