Charity's Views on Gnostics

This is a conversation I had with Charity, a Professor CIE, and Hope, a Teacher CIE, in 1995, when I was studying some books by Biblical scholars regarding those early Christians who did not accept the teachings of the bishops of the early Christian Church. They were known as Gnostics, and they claimed to have direct superior knowledge of spiritual matters.

Charity: What you have to realize is that in that realm of cultures, our teaching aspects were basically to the humans alone. There was nothing that was trying to do our talking for the humans. It was ourselves doing the teaching.

Ralph: They were all Gnostics? You did not have a professor sitting there collecting students to teach?

Charity: What you have quoted in terms of us as priests or pastors or reverends or bishops, the pope, there was none of that. Our teaching was direct at that point in time. When part of the Great Teacher came down onto your earth.

Ralph: The one called Christus -

Charity: The one that has been called Jesus Christ,

Ralph: I'm saying that it was a matter of the times, and there were the Gnostics who were saying, "Look to your Essence and listen and pay attention since that is where you are getting all the answers." Also, they could only deal with highly mature people. They could not deal with baby Essences. Obviously they were not ready for this. Now, when you are doing that, you are dealing with a small percentage of the total population. Maybe 8% of the population can do that to begin with. A church can't afford to operate on only 8% of the population. They need a lot more to pay the costs to run those churches and to fill up its seats. So the bishops decided that they must make it easier to get into their church. So all they needed to do was say, "Everybody come in here, say this little ritual, dunk your head under water, and be baptized, and you can be a member." Now it's a lot easier to get a lot of people that way then to expect them to learn anything while maturing.

Charity: So, in other words, believing in something that will take care of you humans for a eternity is a lot easier than trying to come to the realization yourself that you are what you are and you need to take care of yourself along with others. Is that not correct?

Ralph: I'm pointing out that the Gnostics were interested in personal spiritual improvement. And they spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to do this, the same as I have.

Charity: Of course you have.

Ralph: And they had their teachers, like you, trying to assist them in this search. OK. They didn't get many people joining their little groups because not too many people wanted to sit around and try to improve themselves by philosophizing.

Charity: It was too difficult?

Ralph: Yes, and there is only a certain small portion of any society that are interested in doing that. There are others out there more interested in raising cows, or collecting taxes, or running armies, or doing those things they got praised for by the other people. Well, the church decided they couldn't afford to run on only this small portion of society that were looking for truth within. They wanted to be available to the masses. They went after the other 92% instead of the 8% who were Gnostics. Now what are these other 92% doing? You give them a simple set of rules. "You can become a member of our club if you will swear allegiance to our leader, pray to our leader, say hello to our flag, and follow this little set of rules.” You can learn that in five minutes. But to sit and think and philosophize and learn about yourself, that takes years. They weren't going to wait around for that.

Charity: We can understand that.

Ralph: So they wanted a volume of people who would fill up the churches. Who are folks going to lead around if they don't have a mass group? They are not going to lead Gnostics around. Gnostics aren't even going to listen to bishops in the first place.

Charity: Ok, you're correct.

Ralph: So that's where the organized churches went for the masses. To do that, you have a baptism, you have a ritual, you have a small code of beliefs. "Jesus Christ died, etc." Believe that – you're in. "Yes, I believe in Jesus Christ." Well, our inmates out at prison are doing this all the time in the chapel. They are very immature people spiritually.

Charity: Of course.

Ralph: But they become part of the whole worldwide body of Christ this way. Now, that's quite an accomplishment for people who have been on the outs.

Charity: Right, we understand that.

Ralph: So, that was a very practical way to go instead of expecting – you're not going to recruit into the church very many Gnostics because they are not going to listen to the bishop.

Charity: Right

Ralph: They are of no use whatsoever in raising money to build a new chapel.

[Here Charity leaves and is replaced by Hope, a Spiritual Teacher.]

Hope: We keep telling yourselves to keep looking inside at Michael.

Ralph: That is the Gnostic view of things versus the religious hierarchical view where only the bishop knows how you should think.

Hope: If you humans chose to relinquish listening to your Essences, then that is your choice.

Ralph: Well, obviously I don’t, but now the other thing is that we are in a cultural shift now.

Hope: You are going totally off our field.

Ralph: No I'm not. Because what you are teaching is for us taking responsibility for number one, our thinking, secondly, our actions.

Hope: Of course,

Ralph: Now if we can keep that concept in mind, personal responsibility, and not passing on to you or Charity or anybody else.

Hope: That is most correct. You humans have to do it on your own. We are here to guide you, to find your own answers.

Ralph: And you have supplied the Essence who has the answer for that particular issue you have a question about.

Hope: What you need to do is contact it and find it. A lot of humans have it buried so far beneath them that they it’s impossible at times to find it.