The Bible was not put together for the first 350 years of the Church. It was only after scandals emerged from Gnostic abuse of the "Gospel of Thomas" that the Church was forced to determine which scriptures were canonical and which were not. They used three rules to evaluate the writings:
- Not one word in the text could disagree with the historically accepted words of Christ.
- The author must have been either an Apostle or a companion of an Apostle.
- Parts of the text were currently in use as Christian liturgical texts.
The Gnostics made use of many non-canonical writings to support their scandalous behavior and demonic theology, such as: "Gospel of Thomas", "Gospel of Marcion", "Gospel of Basilides", "Gospel of Truth", "Gospel of the Four Heavenly Realms", "Gospel of Mary", "Gospel of Judas", "Greek Gospel of the Egyptians", "Gospel of Philip", "Gospel of Perfection". Gnostics employ the "break a taboo to remove its power over you" ruse to cap off their pathetic secret ceremonies. It starts with "lets discuss the unspeakable", moves on to "masturbation is natural" and "fantasies are healthy", and generally culminates with a scandal or a crime. It always creates misery in the name of making us immune to it. It is a boiling frog technique whereby the unpalatable is made palatable with familiarity.
Gnosticism has generated a wide variety of inventive stories about Lucifer's Fall, from the perspective of the unjustly punished hero. Another marker of Gnosticism is the graduated degrees of interpretation of Gnostic texts that may reveal secret knowledge to the initiated or enlightened few. Gnostic religions like Mithraism, Manichaeism, Zoroastrianism, Sethianism, Valentinianism, Bogomilism, Catharism, Mandaeism, Hellenistic Judaism (Kabbalah), Hermeticism, Rosicrucianism, Theosophy, Freemasonry and Scientology believe that salvation comes from secret knowledge.
Paganism was also plagued by mystery religions that revolved around Lucifer's Fall, but since the Pagans did not know about Lucifer or his Fall, their stories are even more cryptic (see Orphism) than the Gnostic stories. However, the important elements may be discerned: A divine spark has been entrapped in earthly matter, and once freed this divine spark will give us godlike powers. In the Gnostic view, the evil that men do emanates not from their own flawed natures, but is the result of a flaw in the cosmos they inhabit, a flaw which they can repair.
In the Gnostic mystery religions, the truth at one level is shown to be a lie at the next level. The candidate is led by the nose from level to level, held in deliberate ignorance until he (generally these secrets are held between men since men are more susceptible to crimes of pride) ultimately discovers that he has committed himself to Lucifer worship. Freemasons find themselves participating in conspiracies and ceremonies they would have rejected in disgust if they had not been subjected to years of incremental "in depth knowledge".
This method is absolutely opposed to Christianity. Christians of every rank, from pope to pastor, from preacher to born-again all know the full truth of the gospel. They might not all understand the Word equally, but there are no secret interpretations. Plenty of people openly discuss their understanding of various bible passages, and the best are taught in every corner of the world. In any case, salvation comes from open dedication and service, not secret knowledge.
However, the gospels do contain enough wisdom to challenge even the most wise. This is what atheists do not understand and what the Gnostics deny. The Gnostics attempt to use numerology, eisegesis and the occult to extract worldly power from holy texts. They cut down the trees in order to find the forest, missing the entire point. They waste their days searching for an Earthly Kingdom when they are TOLD time and time again that His kingdom is NOT of this world. The prince of this world is Lucifer, and this is the demon they end up serving.