Christian Gnostic Understanding of Satan The devil

Christian Gnostic Understanding of Satan The devil

The theology of orthodox Christianity places the devil in juxtaposition with God. As the one is presented for worship as the source and embodiment of all good, so the other is held up for detestation and dread, as the instigator and promoter of all evil. Practically, the one is regarded in the light of the good God, and the other as the bad god. It is the polytheism of paganism in its smallest form: and the philosophy of the ancients embodied in names and forms supplied by the Bible.

The first thing we have to address is the definition of Satan. While fundamentalists will tell you that Satan was present in the Bible from the very foundations laid in Genesis, history tells us a different story. The words Satan, Devil, demon, Lucifer, fallen angel etc. simply don't occur in the whole of the book of Genesis. Throughout the Old Testament, the one and only God is presented as all powerful, without equal and in no competition with any other cosmic force. The Old Testament makes it clear that any 'adversary' to God's people was ultimately under the control of God Himself.

The period between the Old and New Testaments saw the production of a huge volume of Jewish literature advocating a personal Satan. Jewish writings speak of a figure called Beliar, a kind of personal Satan figure. The Book of Enoch and the story of the "watchers" became accepted as dogma amongst the Jews- i.e. that the "watcher" Angels had sinned and come to earth at the time of Genesis 6 and married beautiful women. Thus the Book Of Jubilees, dating from around 104 B.C., claims that God placed "over all nations and peoples, spirits in authority, to lead them astray" (15:31). Why would the righteous God place His people under the authority of those who would lead them astray- and then judge us for going astray? Jubilees 5:2 blames the flood on the fact that the earth was morally corrupt, but it claims that the animal creation also sinned and brought about the state of corruptness which required the destruction of the flood- thereby taking the spotlight off human sin as the sole cause for the flood.

The Bible clearly states that the suffering and disease that there is in the earth is a result of Adam's sin; but Jubilees claims that all such illnesses were a result of evil spirits, "And we explained to Noah all the medicines of their diseases, together with their seductions, how he might heal them with herbs of the earth" (Jub. 10:12-13).

After the fall of the second temple Rabbinical scholars rejected all of the Enochian writings mentioning Satan as a literal, heavenly figure and fallen angels, and viewing Satan to symbolize evil inclination (malicious impulses) yetzer hara (Hebrew: יֵצֶר הַרַע‎)

Satan

SATAN is a Hebrew word that has been transferred to the New Testament and to the English. It denotes an adversary, an opponent or an enemy. It has been translated seven times: “adversary”; five times: “be an adversary”; once each: “resist” and “to withstand”; nineteen times: “satan” (as in Numbers 22:22; Matthew 16:23).

The Accuser (often said by clergy to be Satan) in the Book of Job is literally an agent of the court, much like Prosecutors in the modern legal system. There’s no indication that this is a fallen angel. (One has to ask, how on earth did a fallen angel even appear before God if said fallen angel is supposed to be suffering in the fires of Hell?) The original Hebrew word HaSatan simply means adversary or accuser.

The first place where it occurs is Num. 22:22 :--"And God's anger was kindled because he (Balaam) went; and the angel of the Lord stood in the way for an adversary (SATAN) against him."

It next occurs in the same chapter, verse 32 :--

"And the angel of the Lord said unto him, Wherefore hast thou smitten thine ass these three times? Behold, I went out to withstand (marg., to be AN ADVERSARY--a Satan to) thee."

In this case, Satan was a holy angel. Understanding "Satan" to mean adversary in its simple and general sense, we can see how this could be; but, understanding it as the evil being of popular belief, it would be a different matter. The following are other cases in which the word is translated "adversary," in the common version of the Scriptures:--

"Let him not go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he be an adversary (SATAN) to us" (1 Sam 29:4).

"And David said, What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah, that ye should this day be adversaries (SATANS) unto me?" (2 Sam 19:22).

"But now the Lord my God hath given me rest on every side, so that there is neither adversary (SATAN) nor evil occurrent" (1 Kings 5:4).

"And the Lord stirred up an adversary (SATAN) unto Solomon, Hadad the Edomite: he was of the king's seed in Edom" (1 Kings 11:14).

"And God stirred him up another adversary (SATAN), Rezon, the son of Eliadah, which fled from his lord Hadadezer king of Zobah."

"And he was an adversary (SATAN) to Israel all the days of Solomon" (1 Kings 11:23, 25).

Matthew 16:23 - “But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offense unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of MEN.”

The foregoing literal definitions indicate certain characteristics applicable to mankind and NOT to a superhuman evil god of the lower regions.

These definitions indicate characteristics of mankind, NOT a superhuman evil god.

The devil of popular opinion (the demigod of the lower region) cannot be found in the Hebrew Old testament writings.

The deceiving phase of mind in man that has fixed ideas in opposition to Truth (adversary, lier in wait, accuser, opposer, hater, an enemy). Satan assumes various forms in man's consciousness, among which may be mentioned egotism, a puffing up of the personality; and the opposite of this, self-deprecation, which admits the "accuser" into the consciousness. This "accuser" makes man believe that he is inherently evil.

Satan is the "Devil," a state of mind formed by man's personal ideas of his power and completeness and sufficiency apart from God. Besides at times puffing up the personality, this satanic thought often turns about and, after having tempted one to do evil, discourages the soul by accusing it of sin. Summed up, it is the state of mind in man that believes in its own sufficiency independent of its creative Source.

Satan--The Adversary, the great universal negative whose power is derived from the unlawful expression of man's own being. The serpent as "Satan" is sensation suggesting indulgence in pleasures beyond the law fixed by creative Mind.

The Devil

In the New Testament, the word DEVIL is derived from the Greek word ‘diabolos’ which literally means a slanderer, a false witness, or a liar, which can only apply to mankind and not to one of God’s heavenly hosts.

As Jesus applied "Satan" to Peter, so he applied "devil" to Judas: "Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is A DEVIL?" (John 6:70). Judas proved a liar, a betrayer, a false accuser, and, therefore, a devil. Paul, in 1 Tim 3:11, tells the wives of deacons not to be devils. His exhortation, it is true, does not appear in this form in the English version. The words, as translated, are "Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers (diabolous)." The same remark applies to 2 Tim 3:2, 3 "For men shall be... without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers (diaboloi)"; and to Titus 2:3: "The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers (diabolous)."

"Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he (Jesus) also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might DESTROY him that had the power of death, THAT IS, THE DEVIL."

On the supposition that the devil here referred to is the orthodox devil, or a personal devil of any kind, there are four absurdities on the face of this passage.

In the first place, to take on the weakness of flesh and blood was a strange way of preparing to fight a powerful devil, who, it would be imagined, would be more successfully encountered in the panoply of angelic strength, which Paul expressly says Jesus did not array himself in; for he says, "He took not on him the nature of angels" (Heb. 2:16).

In the second place it was stranger still that the process of destroying the devil should be submission to death himself! One would have thought that to vanquish and destroy the devil, life inextinguishable, and strength indomitable, would have been the qualification. Undoubtedly they would have been so, if, the Bible devil had been the orthodox devil--a personal monster.

In the third place, the devil ought now to be dead, or whatever else is imported by the word "destroyed," for Christ died nineteen centuries ago, for the purpose of destroying him by that process. How comes it then, that the devil is clerically represented to be alive and busier than ever in the work of hunting immortal souls with gin and snare, and exporting them to his own grim domain?

 The devil Christ has come to destroy is sin. If anyone doubts this, let .him reconsider Paul's words quoted above. What did Christ accomplish in his death? Let the following testimonies answer:--

"He put away SIN by the sacrifice of himself" (Heb. 9:26).

"Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures" (1 Cor 15:3).

"He was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities" (Isa. liii, 5).

"His own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree" (2 Pet 2:24).

"He was manifested to take away OUR SINS" (1 John 3:5).

Christ, through death, destroyed, or took out of the way, "the sin of the world ". In this, he destroyed the Bible devil. He certainly did not destroy the popular devil in his death, for that devil is supposed to be still at large, but in his own person, as a representative man, he extinguished the power of sin by surrendering to its full consequences, and then escaping by resurrection, through the power of his own holiness, to live for evermore. This is described as "God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh" (Rom. viii, 3). Sin in the flesh, then, is the devil destroyed by Jesus in his death. This is the devil having the power of death, for it is sin, and nothing else but sin that causes death to men. Does anyone doubt this ? Let him read the following testimonies:

By one man sin entered into the world, and death BY sin" (Rom. v, 12)

"By man CAME DEATH (I Cor. xv, 21).

"The wages of sin is DEATH" (Rom. vi, 23). "SIN hath reigned unto death" (Rom. v, 21). "SIN... bringeth forth death" (James i, 15). "The sting of death is SIN" (I Cor. xv, 56).

The devil, a Bible synonym for sin - abstract and concrete - existing as the spirit of disobedience in the children of men and embodied and manifested in the persons and institutions of present order of things.


Satan The devil is a personification of human nature this is not an abstraction but that physical principle of the animal nature, which is the cause of all its diseases, death, and resolution into dust. It is that in the flesh "which has the power of death" and it is called sin, because the development, or fixation, of this evil in the flesh, was the result of transgression. Inasmuch as this evil principle pervades every part of the flesh, the animal nature is styled "sinful flesh," that is, "flesh full of sin"; so that sin, in the sacred style, came to stand for the substance called man. In human flesh "dwells no good thing" (Rom. 7:17,18); and all the evil a man does is the result of this principle dwelling in him.

the devil

Same as Satan, which see. The "devil" signifies the mass of thoughts that have been built up in consciousness through many generations of earthly experiences and crystallized into what may be termed human personality, or carnal mind. Another name of the "devil" is sense consciousness; all the thoughts in one that fight against and are adverse to Truth belong to the state of mind that is known to metaphysicians as the Devil.

The "devil" is a state of consciousness adverse to the divine good. Other names for this state of consciousness are the Adversary, carnal mind, the accuser, and the old man. There is no personal devil. God is the one omnipresent Principle of the universe, and there is no room for any principle of evil, personified or otherwise.

Devil, how to overcome the--The Devil is overcome by denying his existence and by affirming universal Christ love for God and all men. The devils that we encounter are fear, anger, jealousy, and other similar negative traits, and they are in ourselves. Christ gives us the power to cast out these devils, thereby cleansing our consciousness.

Who is Satan in Gnosticism?

If we take, for example, the Valentinian Gnostic cosmogony, the Christian notion of Satan doesn’t come into play at all.

According to the sethian Gnostics The God of the Jews and the Christians is either Yaldabaoth or Sabaoth the ill-begotten son of Sophia, who gave birth outside of the normal pattern of reproduction for the Divine Syzygies in the Pleroma.

It is I who am God, and there is none apart from me.’  When he said this, he sinned against the whole place. And a voice came forth from above the realm of absolute power, saying,

“You are wrong, Samael,” that is, “God of the blind.” . . .

And he said, “If anything else exists before me, let it become visible to me!”

Samael  is an archangel in Talmudic and post-Talmudic lore; a figure who is the accuser (Ha-Satan), In the Apocryphon of John, On the Origin of the World, and Hypostasis of the Archons, found in the Nag Hammadi library, Samael is one of three names of the creator God, whose other names are Yaldabaoth and Saklas. 

In the system depicted by the sethians there is no satan and there is no need for one, for “Yahweh”—the God of Jews and Christians alike—himself acts as chief of the fallen angels who seduces and enslaves human beings. By declaring himself to be the supreme and unique God of the universe

The Albigenses or Cathari believed that the "the creator of the material world is the source of all evil (Albigenses by Nicholas Weber in Catholic Encyclopedia, 1907)

In the Old testament Yahweh is referred to as Satan by comparing 1 Chronicles 21, and 2 Samuel 24 In the Book of Samuel, Yahweh himself is the agent in punishing Israel, while in 1 Chronicles an "adversary" is introduced. The adversary seems to have been God; for we read in 2 Sam. 24:1, "The anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and HE moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah." The angel of God was a Satan to Balaam, as we have seen, and, in this case, God proved a Satan to Israel. Moved, doubtless, by the general perversity of the people, He impelled David to a course which resulted in calamity to the nation.

In contrast, Ptolemy, and other Valentinians steadfastly maintained that "the creation is not due to a god who corrupts but to one who is just and hates evil" (Letter to Flora 3:6). He carefully distinguished the Demiurge from both God and the Devil. According to Ptolemy, "he is essentially different from these two (God and the Devil) and is between them, he is rightly given the name, Middle" (Letter to Flora 7:4). He is "neither good nor evil and unjust, can properly be called just , since he is the arbitrator of the justice which depends on him" (Letter to Flora 7:5)

In the gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of Philip Satan and the devil never appear. however the devil appeas once in the Gospel of Truth  

Be concerned about yourselves. Don’t be concerned about other things which you’ve rejected from yourselves. Don’t return to eat your vomit. Don’t be eaten by worms, because you’ve already shaken it off. Don’t become a dwelling-place for the devil, because you’ve already brought him to naught. Don’t strengthen your obstacles which are collapsing, as though you’re a support. For the lawless one is nothing, to be treated more harshly than the just, doing his works among others. (Gospel of Truth)

To be “a dwelling-place for the devil” implies that the Devil enters us. “The lusts of other (sinful) things entering in” (Mk. 4:19) cause us to sin. Our lusts are described several times as physically moving into our heart from our evil nature where they are stored "an evil man brings forth evil things from his evil storehouse, which is in his heart, and says evil things. For out of the abundance of the heart he brings forth evil things." (Gospel of Thomas Saying 45)

Do not become a place for the Devil, for you have already defeated him defeating the devil or bringing him to naught refers to 1 John 2:13: ‘because you have overcome the evil one.’

From the use of the word in Matthew 6:13; 13:19, it is obvious that it is the flesh that John is referring to, and which these ''young men had conquered by their acceptance of Christ. The evil propensities of the flesh dominate the world (1 John 3:12; 5:18-19), but these "young men had come out of the world, and had learned to conquer the flesh.

The Gospel of Philip like the book of Isaiah (45:7) does not see good and evil as cosmic opposites instead—“light and dark, life and death, good and evil”—are in reality pairs of interdependent terms in which each implies the other.

Philip, on the other hand, interprets the human inclination to sin without recourse to Satan

The gospel of Thomas and Philip teach that within each person's heart lies the root of wickedness. This is Philip’s interpretation of the traditional Jewish teaching of the yetzer hara, which the rabbis called the “evil inclination.” So long as we remain unaware of “the root of evil” within us, Philip says, “it is powerful; but when it is recognized, it is destroyed.” 

45. Jesus said, "Grapes are not harvested from thorn trees, nor are figs gathered from thistles, for they yield no fruit. Good persons produce good from what they've stored up; bad persons produce evil from the wickedness they've stored up in their hearts, and say evil things. For from the overflow of the heart they produce evil."

The Root of Evil

Let each of us also dig down after the root of evil within us and pull it out of our hearts from the root. It will be uprooted if we recognize it. But if we are ignorant of it, it takes root in us and produces fruit in our hearts. It dominates us. We are its slaves, and it takes us captive so that we do what we do [not] want and do [not] do what we want. [cf. Rom. 7:14—15] It is powerful because we do not recognize it. As long as [it] exists, it stays active. .

Essential to gnosis is to “know” one’s own potential for evil. According to Philip, recognizing evil within oneself is necessarily an individual process: no one can dictate to another what is good or evil; instead, each one must strive to recognize his or her own inner state, and so to identify acts that spring from the “root of evil,” which consists in such impulses as anger, lust, envy, pride, and greed. This teacher assumes that when one recognizes that a certain act derives from such sources, one loses the conviction needed to sustain the action. In order to do evil— whether to indulge in an angry tirade, commit murder, or declare aggressive war—one seems to require the illusion that one’s action is justified, that one is acting for right reasons. This author holds, then, the optimistic conviction that “truth ... is more powerful than ignorance of error.”90 Knowing the truth in this way involves more than an intellectual process; it involves transformation of one’s being, transformation of one’s way of living: “If we know the truth, we shall find its fruits within us; if we join ourselves with it, we shall receive our fulfillment

https://www.gnosticdoctrine.com/2018/09/elaine-pagels-on-satan-and-devil.html

The Evil Inclination Jeremiah 17:9

The Evil Inclination

There are numerous texts about the Yetzer HaRa (the Evil Inclination, aka "Satan") in the Jewish Talmud. The Jewish sages were in no way monolithic in their understanding of the source of our human capacity to do evil. They all agreed that humans are born with it. Here are a number of selections which present proof texts for this:

The following curt statement by Reish Lakish is the most controversial understanding of the Evil Inclination:

Baba Batra 16a:

R. Simeon ben Lakish said: Satan, impulse to evil, and angel of death: all three are the same thing.

So how persuasive is the Evil Inclination?

Brachot 61b:

It has been taught: R. Jose HaGalili says, The righteous are swayed by their good inclination, as it says, My heart is slain within me.

The wicked are swayed by their evil inclination, as it says, Transgression speaks to the wicked, I believe, there is no fear of God before his eyes.

Average people are swayed by both inclinations, as it says, Because He stands at the right hand of the needy, to save him from them that judge his soul.

Raba said: People such as we are of the average.

Said Abaye to him: The Master gives no one a chance to live!

Raba further said: The world was created only for either the totally wicked or the totally righteous.

Raba said: Let a man know concerning himself whether he is completely righteous or not!

Three people never had any problem with the Evil Inclination:

Baba Batra 17a

Three there were over whom the evil inclination had no dominion: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob...

For the rest of us, however, who are the most susceptible to the wiles of the Evil Inclination?

SCHOLARS!

Sukkah 52b

Abaye explained, Against scholars more than against anyone;

as was the case when Abaye heard a certain man saying to a woman, ‘Let us arise now and go on our way.'

‘I will', said Abaye, ‘follow them in order to keep them away from transgression' and he followed them for three parasangs across the meadows.

When they parted company he heard them say, ‘Our company is pleasant, the way is long.'

‘If it were I,' said Abaye, ‘I could not have restrained myself,' and so he went and leaned in deep anguish against a doorpost, when a certain old man came up to him and taught him: The greater the man, the greater his Evil Inclination.

Even when we mourn, we're not safe from the Evil Inclination's influence:

Chagigah 16a

For behold R. Elai the elder said: If a man sees that his [evil] inclination is prevailing upon him, let him go to a place where he is not known, and put on black garments, and wrap himself up in black garments, and let him do what his heart desires; but let him not profane the Name of Heaven publicly!

R. Judah son of R. Nahmani, the speaker of Resh Lakish expounded: What is the meaning of the verse: Trust not in a friend, put not confidence in a familiar friend.

If the evil inclination says to you: Sin and the Holy One, blessed be He, will pardon, believe it not, for it is said: ‘Trust not in a friend,' and ‘friend' [Rea'] means none other than one's evil inclination, for it is said: For the inclination of man's heart is evil [Ra']...

Oy! The Evil Inclination is so bad that it's one of the things God regrets creating:

Sukkah 52b

R. Hana b. Abba stated: It was said at the schoolhouse, There are four things of which the Holy One, blessed be He, regrets that He had created them, and they are the following: Exile, the Chaldeans, the Ishmaelites and Evil Inclination.

‘The Exile', since it is written, Now, therefore, what do I here, says Adonai, seeing that My people is taken away for nothing; (Isaiah 52:5)

‘the Chaldeans', since it is written, Behold the land of the Chaldeans; this is the people that was not." (Isaiah 23:13)

‘the Ishmaelites', since it is written, The tents of the robbers prosper, and they that provoke God are secure since God brought them with His hand." (Job 12)

‘the Evil Inclination', since it is written, [And I will gather her that is driven away] and her that I have afflicted.(Micah 4:6)

Is there no hope against the Evil Inclination? Of course there is!

Sukkah 52b:

The school of R. Ishmael taught, If this repulsive wretch meets you, drag him to the Beit Hamidrash, the House of Study.

Despite the power of the Evil Inclination, we are still held responsible; we can beat it. The following selection deals with Psalm 4:5: Tremble and sin not; Commune with your own heart upon your bed and be still. Sela."

Brachot 5a:

R. Levi b. Hama says in the name of R. Simeon b. Lakish: A man should always incite the good impulse to fight against the evil impulse.

For it is written: Tremble and sin not.

If he subdues it, well and good.

If not, let him study the Torah. For it is written: ‘Commune with your own heart.'

If he subdues it, well and good. If not, let him recite the Shema'.

For it is written: ‘Upon your bed.'

If he subdues it, well and good. If not, let him remind himself of the day of death. For it is written: ‘And be still, Selah.'

Avot D'Rabbi Natan 16:

"The impulse of man's heart was evil from the time he was expelled from his mother's womb." (Gen. 8:21).

If you argue: "Is it not the Holy One Himself who created the impulse to evil, of which it is written, 'The impulse of man's heart was evil from the time he was expelled from his mother's womb?' Who then can possibly make it good?"

the Holy One replies, "You are the one who makes the impulse to evil stay evil.

How? When you were a child, you did not sin. Only when you grew up, you began to sin."

If you argue: "But no man can guard himself against it!"

the Holy One replies, "How many things in the world are even less bearable and more bitter than the impulse to evil, yet you manage to sweeten them.

Nothing is more bitter than the lupine, and yet, in order to sweeten it, you carefully boil it in water seven times, until it becomes sweet.

Now, if you sweeten for your need bitter things that I alone created, all the greater is your responsibility for the impulse to evil, which was placed under your control."

Baba Batra 16a

"Although you know that I am not wicked, and there is none that can deliver out of your hand."

Raba said: Job sought to exculpate the whole world.

He said: Sovereign of the Universe, You have created the ox with cloven hoofs and you have created the ass with whole hoofs;

you have created Paradise and you have created Gehinnom:

you have created righteous men and you have created wicked men, and who can prevent you?

His companions answered him: Yea, you do away with fear and restrain devotion before God.

If God created the evil inclination, He also created the Torah as its antidote.

Baba Metzia 32b

Come and hear: If a friend requires unloading, and an enemy loading, one's [first] obligation is towards his enemy, in order to subdue his evil inclinations.

Now if you should think that [relieving the suffering of an animal is Biblically [enjoined], [surely] the other is preferable!

Even so, [the motive] ‘in order to subdue his evil inclination' is more compelling.

The most extraordinary story about a sage overcoming his Evil Inclination is not found in the Talmud: it's from a midrash collection called the Tanchuma. However, because of its remarkable imagery, I'm including it here.

A story of Matia ben Heresh: He was rich and feared Heaven and, like R. Meir, his teacher, sat all his days in the house of study occupying himself with Torah.

Now, the splendor of his countenance shone like the radiance of the sun, and the beauty of his features resembled that of the ministering angels. It was said of him that never in his life had he raised his eyes upon a woman.

Once, Satan passed by and, seeing him, was overcome with envy as he said: Is it possible that there is a righteous man entirely without sin in the world? At once he went up to the height above, stood before the Holy One, and said, "Master of the universe, Matia ben Heresh:what sort of man is he in Your sight?"

God: "He is utterly righteous."

Satan: "Give me permission, and I will test him."

God: "You will not prevail over him."

Satan: "Nevertheless!"

So God gave him permission.

Satan went and found R. Matia seated and occupied with Torah. So he appeared to him in the guise of a beautiful woman, the like of which there had not been in the world since the days of Naamah, Tubal-Cain's sister, on account of whom ministering angels went astray.

Satan stood in front of R. Matia, who, upon seeing him, turned his back to him.

Satan went around and again stood in front of R. Matia. When R. Matia turned his face to still another direction, Satan was once more in front of him.

When R. Matia saw that Satan [in the woman's guise] turned up on all sides, he said to himself: I fear that the impulse to evil will gain mastery over me and cause me to sin.

What did that righteous man do then?

He summoned one of his disciples, who acted as his attendant, and said to him: My son, go and bring me fire and nails.

After he brought them, R. Matia passed the nails through the fire, then plunged them into his own eyes.

When Satan saw this, he was shaken, all but knocked out, and left R. Matia.

In that instant, the Holy One summoned Raphael, prince of healings, and said to him, "Go and heal the eyes of Matia ben Heresh."

When Raphael came and stood before him, Matia asked, "Who are you?"

Raphael answered, "I am the angel Raphael, whom the Holy One had sent to heal your eyes."

Matia: "Let me be. What happened has happened."

Raphael returned to the Holy One and reported to Him, "Master of the universe, thus-and-thus did Matia ben Heresh answer me."

The Holy One said, "Go and tell him: From this day and henceforth, fear not. I guarantee you in this matter that, throughout your days, the impulse to evil will have no sway over you."

When Matia ben Heresh heard God's guarantee from the angel, he was willing to accept the angel's healing and was healed.

The Evil Inclination
(continued)

There are numerous texts about the Yetzer HaRa (the Evil Inclination, aka "Satan") in the Jewish Talmud. The Jewish sages were in no way monolithic in their understanding of the source of our human capacity to do evil. They all agreed that humans are born with it. Here are a number of selections which present proof texts for this:

Brachot 61a

R. Nachman b. R. Hisda expounded: What is meant by the text, Then the Lord God formed [va-yitzer] man?

[The word va-yitzer] is written with two yods, to show that God created two inclinations, one good and the other evil.

R. Nachman b. Isaac demurred to this. According to this, he said, animals, of which it is not written va-yitzer (with two yods), should have no evil inclination yet we see that they injure and bite and kick?

In truth [the point of the two yods] is as stated by R. Simeon b. Pazzi; for R. Simeon b. Pazzi said: Woe is me because of my Creator [yotzri]; woe is me because of my evil inclination [yitzri]!

Or again as explained by R. Jeremiah b. Eleazar; for R. Jeremiah b. Eleazar said: God created two countenances in the first man, as it says, Behind and before have You formed me....
Sanhedrin 91b:

Antoninus asked Rabbi, "At what time does the impulse to evil gain mastery over man: at the time of his conception or at the time he is born?"

Rabbi: "At the time of his conception."

Antoninus: "If so, he would have kicked his way out of his mother's womb. Accordingly, the impulse to evil must gain mastery at the time of birth."

Subsequently, Rabbi used to say: This is one thing that Antoninus taught me, and Scripture supports him, for it is said, "At the door [through which the newborn child issues], sin crouches" (Gen. 4:7).
Avot D'Rabbi Natan 16:

Come and observe: a kid or a lamb, when it sees a pit, turns back, since in an animal there is no impulse to evil [to lead it to harm].

But an infant: the impulse to evil drives him headlong [to destruction], so that the infant places his hand on a serpent or a scorpion and is stung by it, or he places his hand on glowing coals and is burned....

The following text from Avot D'Rabbi Natan 16 is the most depressing statement about the Evil Inclination that I've read; it provides such a sense of futility about a child's development!

The sages said: The impulse to evil is [at least] thirteen years older than the impulse to good.

It begins growing with a child in the mother's womb and comes out with him. If the child is about to profane the Sabbath, it does not deter him;

if the child is about to take a life, it does not deter him;

if the child is about to commit an act of unchastity, it does not deter him.

Only at the age of thirteen is the impulse to good born in a child.<BR.
If then he is about to profane the Sabbath, it warns him: "You fool! Scripture states, 'Everyone that profanes it shall surely be put to death.' " (Exodus 31:14)

If he is about to take a life, it warns him: "You fool! Scripture says, 'Whoever sheds man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed.' " (Genesis 9:6)

If he is about to commit an act of unchastity, it warns him: "You fool! Scripture states, 'Both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.' " (Leviticus 20:10)

When a man stirs up his passion and is about to commit an act of lewdness, all parts of his body are ready to obey him. On the other hand, when a man is about to perform an act of piety, all his parts become laggard, because the impulse to evil in his innards is ruler of the two hundred and forty-eight parts of his body, whereas the impulse to good is like a man confined in a prison.
The following selections all try to describe the site and basic "nature" of the evil inclination

Brachot 61a:

Rav said: The evil inclination resembles a fly and dwells between the two entrances of the heart, as it says, Dead flies make the ointment of the perfumers fetid and putrid.

Samuel said: It is a like a kind of wheat [chittah], as it says, Sin [chattat] couches at the door.

Our Rabbis taught: Man has two kidneys, one of which prompts him to good, the other to evil; and it is natural to suppose that the good one is on his right side and the bad one on his left, as it is written, A wise man's understanding is at his right hand, but a fool's understanding is at his left. (Ecclesiastes 10:2)
Sukkah 52a:

R. Assi stated, The Evil Inclination is at first like the thread of a spider, but ultimately becomes like cart ropes, as it is said, Woe to them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart-rope.
Sukkah 52b:

R. Yochanan remarked, There is a small organ in man which satisfies him when in hunger and makes him hunger when he's satisfied, as it is said, When they were starved they became full. (Hosea 13:6)

R. Isaac said: A man's impulse to evil renews itself [in allure] every day, as is said, "Every impulse wrought by his mind was sheer evil every day" (Gen. 6:5).

R. Simeon ben Lakish said: A man's impulse to evil grows in strength from day to day and seeks to slay him, as is said, "The wicked watch the righteous, and seek to slay him." (Psalm 37:32)

And but for the Holy One who is his help, he could not withstand it, as is said, "The Lord will not leave him in his hand." (Psalm 37:33)
Shabbat 105b

"There shall no strange god be in you." (Psalm 81:10). What is the strange god within a man's body? It is none other than the impulse to evil.
Sotah 8a:

Rava said: We have a tradition that the impulse to evil dominates only what its eyes see.
Kiddushin 30b:

Our masters taught: The impulse to evil is hard to bear, since even its Creator called it evil, for He said, "From his youth the impulse in man's heart is evil." (Gen. 8:21)
Niddah 13b:

Rav stated: ‘A man who wilfully causes erection should be placed under the ban.'

But why did he not say, ‘This is forbidden?'

Because the man merely incites his evil inclination against himself.

R. Ammi, however, stated: He is called a renegade, because such is the art of the evil inclination: Today it incites man to do one wrong thing, and tomorrow it incites him to worship idols and he proceeds to worship them.
Sukkah 52a-b:

In the time to come the Holy One, blessed be He, will bring the Evil Inclination and slay it in the presence of the righteous and the wicked.

To the righteous it will have the appearance of a towering hill,

and to the wicked it will have the appearance of a hair thread.

Both the former and the latter will weep;

the righteous will weep saying, ‘How were we able to overcome such a towering hill!'

The wicked also will weep saying, ‘How is it that we were unable to conquer this hair thread!'

And the Holy One, blessed be He, will also marvel together with them, as it is said, Thus says the Lord of Hosts, If it be marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in those days, it shall also be marvelous in My eyes.

R. ‘Avira or, as some say, R. Joshua b. Levi, made the following exposition: The Evil Inclination has seven names.

The Holy One, blessed be He, called it Evil, as it is said, For the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth.

Moses called it the Uncircumcised, as it is said, Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart.

David called it Unclean, as it is said, Create me a clean heart, O Lord, which implies that there is an unclean one.

Solomon called it the Enemy, as it is said, If your enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat and if he be thirsty give him water to drink. For you will heap coals of fire upon his head, and the Lord will reward you;

read not, ‘will reward you' but ‘will cause it to be at peace with you.'

Isaiah called it the Stumbling-Block, as it is said, Cast you up, Cast you up, clear the way, take up the stumbling-block out of the way of my people.

Ezekiel called it Stone, as it is said, And I will take away the heart of stone out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh.

Joel called it the Hidden One, as it is said, But I will remove far off from you the hidden one.


　

The Serpent is not the devil but Adam

The Serpent is not the devil but Adam

The Serpent, through his lie, deceived the woman causing her to die. This is that devil who was a murder and a liar from the beginning, and Jesus says he was the father of those Jews who were making of none effect His Father’s words by their “traditions of men”, thereby deceiving the people. Here the “seed of the Serpent” is defined by Jesus as men who are deceived by the evil imaginations of their hearts.

If the seed of the serpent are men, then the forefather must have been “man”; and the temptation of the woman in the Garden of Eden was “the drawing away of her own desire and seduced”; however, it pleases God to designate this as a Serpent. Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals. Jesus said to his followers “be ye WISE AS SERPENTS but harmless as doves” (Matthew 10:16).

It is well known that serpents (reptiles) possess no particular intelligence to imitate. The nature of the curse pronounced is suggestive of something more than mere serpent life and intellect, so the serpent as used by the Lord is a figure of speech and symbolizes ungodly men. Also the curse upon the serpent was that “dust shalt thou eat” (Genesis 3:14) and “dust shall be the serpent’s MEAT” (Isaiah 65:25).

This is in keeping with God’s statement to Adam, “Dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return.” The reward (meat) of obedience is “Life” while the reward (meat) of disobedience is “Death” (dust). Adam and Eve associated and communed with the angels in the Garden of Eden.

They had no way of knowing what death was, they had not experienced it. The wicked thought in Eve’s mind (heart), relative to the Adam’s instructions, deceived her and it was recorded in the Bible as a conversation between a serpent and the woman. It was the same with Jesus. He had thoughts of temptation in his mind (heart) relating to his Father’s words; however, he was not deceived by them nor was he drawn away by the lust (desire) to use that great power given Him at His baptism for personal satisfaction and gain. So by one man’s disobedience, sin entered the world and death by sin, so also by one man’s obedience life has been made sure unto many.

We may deduce that the “Serpent” is a symbol of cunning and crafty deceit in the heart of man. So when a man “becomes as a child” and receives instruction by the “Word of the Lord” and his thoughts are those of the spirit then the cunning and crafty deceit and disobedience (the Serpent, that old devil and Satan) are crushed and put to death by the “spirit of obedience.” Of course we (men) can do nothing of ourselves but God gives us the victory through Jesus who accomplished the work perfectly.

Who is Lucifer Isaiah 14:12-14

Isaiah 14:12-14 How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer,son of the morning!
How you are cut down to the ground,You who weakened the nations!
For you have said in your heart:
‘I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I will also sit on the mount of the congregation
On the farthest sides of the north;
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I will be like the Most High.’.


These verse is used to prove that Satan is a fallen angel.

The words “devil” , “satan” and “angel” never occur in this chapter. This is the only place in Scripture where the word “Lucifer” occurs.

There is no evidence that Isaiah 14 is describing anything that happened in the garden of Eden; if it is, then why are we left 3,000 years from the time of Genesis before being told what really happened there?

Lucifer is identified in the chapter, but not with a rebel angel. It is clearly stated: "Take up this proverb2 against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased!" (vs. 4). (The preceding chapter is a prophecy against Babylon itself, but now the prophecy is directed against the king of Babylon). This is fullfilled in daniel chapter 4 with Nabuzzar going mad and daniel 5 with the writing on the wall A secondary fulfillment would be the overthrow of Gog or the Antichrist at Armageddon

Why is Lucifer punished for saying, “I will ascend into heaven” (v. 13), if he was already there?

5. Lucifer is to rot in the grave: “your splendour is brought down to the grave...and the worms cover you” (v. 11). Seeing angels cannot die (Lk. 20:35-36), Lucifer therefore cannot be an angel; the language is more suited to a man.

"Ascending to heaven" is symbol for increase in pride or exaltation, and "falling from heaven", symbolic complete humiliation. See Jer. 51:53 (refers to Babylon); Lam. 2:1; Matt. 11:23 (refers to Capernaum).

The meaning of Lucifer: day-star (mbd) "light-bearer" 1) shining one, morning star,

The passage in Isaiah regarding the day-star, or Lucifer (A.V.), is believed by many to refer to the fall from heaven of angels who had sinned against God; Lucifer, their leader, is supposed to be Satan. In so far as the literal understanding is concerned, this is a mistake; the text has no such implications. It refers to the fall of the king of Babylon, who had ruled in such brilliance and greatness, in such pomp and splendor, that Isaiah likened him to the morning star (Isa. 14:12; II Pet. 1:19).

The text in Isaiah, "O Lucifer, son of the morning!" signifies man's uplifting of the ruling ego (represented here by the king of Babylon), and attributing to the outward senses those qualities of light, understanding, and greatness that belong only to God. This is unfavourable and comes from the carnal mind in the individual; it must be overthrown, cast down and out of consciousness

Lucifer the thinking of the flesh or carnal mind in man that has fixed ideas in opposition to Truth. Lucifer assumes various forms in man's consciousness, among which may be mentioned egotism, a puffing up of the personality; self deception. This "self deception" makes man believe that he is genetically good.

Satan's Trinity its what the church teaches

Satan's Trinity

Satan's Trinity its what the church teaches 

My Brothers and sisters:

Awaken from your sleep of Ignorance and be aware of that which is they teach you.

This article is taken from Eureka: An Exposition of the Apocalypse by Dr. John Thomas it should be noted that Dr Thomas understood satan has a personification of sin or human nature and not a fallen angel: 

The "Reverend Divines" of all the schools, colleges, pulpits, and platforms of Satan's Christendom, whom Paul styles prophetically DAIMONIA; men, whose vocation is to seduce from the faith, and to draw disciples after themselves; "speaking lies in hypocrisy, having had their own conscience cauterized; forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats" (1 Tim. 4:1-3), all these "reverends" and "D.D.'s," and "divines," will be taken and abolished. A daimon in Paul's day, was a god, deity, or divine, that occupied a middle station between the "Dii Superiores," the gods of the first rank, theoi, and the people who worshipped them. In the mythology of the idol-worshippers daimones were "the souls of men of the golden age hovering between heaven and earth, and acting as tutelary deities: they formed the connecting link between gods and men, and so Aeschylus (Aesch. Pers. 620) calls the deified Darius a daemon: hence when daimones and theoi are joined, the daimones are gods of lower rank."

Now, according to the theology of the Satan, the theoi, or Supreme Gods, are what they call "the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost;" that is, really their Father the Devil, his Son Antichrist, and the Ghost of the Flesh. These are their "Holy Trinity" in whom they delight, and after whom they go wondering (Rev. 13:3). Next in rank below these are "the angels" whom they also worship in praying to them and dedicating to their honour the temples in which they perform their rites (Col. 2:18). With these also may be ranked what Satan styles, the immortal disembodied souls of dead men, women, and babes, which, being furnished with wings on their arrival "beyond the skies," become angels.

These "Saints and Angels" are "the ministers of grace" between the "Holy Trinity" of the Devil, Antichrist, and their Spirit, and their Heritage on earth, "the Clergy," who are the hierophants of their mysteries in the world. These imaginary saints and angels of Skyana are the daemones of the Satan's theology; the internuncios, or mediators, between his Trinity and men; the Guardians and Protectors of nations, tribes, and peoples; and the Patrons of their bazaars of spiritual merchandize, their benefit societies, holy days, and benevolent institutions. These mythological orders of Theoi and Daimones constitute "the providence" of the Satan's theology. As a whole, it is nothing but "the Old Serpent" heathenism in a new skin -- Bible names applied to devilish things.

The "First Person" in the Satan's Trinity, is a ferocious, inaccessible, and implacable divinity. He is represented by his priests as having created myriads of human beings with the certainty of no other destiny than eternal torture in fire and burning brimstone. That he has made "faith alone" the condition of escape from this; but that none of his creatures can have this faith unless he works it in them by the operation of his spirit, bestowed in answer to the prayers of his priests, clergy, or ministers; and even then he only grants it reluctantly in special cases, at the instigation of the combined supplications of "ministers," the Virgin and her Son, and the Saints and angels of the system. Read the liturgies of Rome and Canterbury; and listen to the random outpourings of the pulpit; and witness the tumults, uproars, and bawlings of the religion-gettings of the Satan; and the character of the gods and demons of their theology may be accurately inferred from their words, and works, in conventicle.

This implacability and ferocity of the "First Person" of the Satan's Trinity necessitated the institution of a mediator, whose function should be to make "the First Person" willing to save a soul, -- in other words, to make him placable. This mediation introduces "the Second Person" as a mild, inoffensive, amiable, and benevolent Eternal God -- the milk of all kindness compared with "the First Person," whose disposition is illustrated by the fabled Saturn, who is said to have devoured his own offspring. These two incompatible personages the Satan teaches are One God -- the one in a rage; and the other, expostulating, and soothing him, and affectionately interceding with him to spare certain miserable and guilty wretches whose thefts, adulteries, murders, covetousness, and other abominations, "have found them out:" but pleading for them in vain, until he promises to go and die on a cross in their stead. With this he is hardly restrained tin the sacrifice is accomplished; but being performed, he accepts it only in behalf of the few he may send "the Third Person" to mesmerize into "feeling good," and "experiencing a hope." But it would occupy too much of our space to unveil all "the DEPTHS of the Satan, as THEY speak." I have adduced the foregoing as the extreme necessity created dogmatically by the Satan, to impress upon mankind the indispensability of their ministrations. Whose prayers are so effectual as the Satan's, in bringing down "the Third Person," "God the Holy Ghost," into the unclean, and infidel, evil hearts of the wicked, to convert them, and to give them a feeling? -- 

A feeling of hope that they are forgiven? Whose "consolations of religion" are more comforting than the Satan's, to the wretch about to be swung off by the neck for rape, arson, and murder? -- or to the exhausted debauchee fast sinking into a drunkard's grave? Whose prayers so availing as the Satan's for the bringing down of the Holy Ghost into the hearts of tyrannic kings and governors, inflated senators, and muddle-headed legislative assemblies, that they may be anointed with a wise and knowing unction? This being the general conviction inwrought by the working of the Satan for centuries past, we find them in the order of things visible occupying the position of the Demons of their theology. They are the internuncios between their three eternal persons in one eternal person, on the one part; and "their people," on the other. Because, therefore, of this, they share in the Official character of their imaginary Demons. Hence Paul selected the adjective, daimonion, "of, or belonging to, a daimon," to designate them. According to him, "those who in later times apostatize from the faith, give heed to seducing spirits, even to the teachings of Daimonia." We look into the scriptures and learn what "the faith" is; we read the history of the past, and there we see the people calling themselves Christians, wholly given to idolatry and all sorts of abomination; in this we see the apostasy from "the faith;" we look around us, and see the same sort continuing in the practices of their predecessors; and in view of all this we inquire, To whom do these people give heed, and whom do they delight to honour? To this there is but one answer to the clergy as they happen to be led. The conclusion, then, is inevitable that the Clergy are the Seducing Spirits and the Daimonia of Paul, whose dogmatic depths are destructive and subversive of the faith he labored so ardently and valiantly to establish, and transmit to posterity uncorrupted by the traditions and foolishness of men.

Sin is in the flesh

Sin is in the flesh

Sin is in the flesh, the flesh is as the cloths we wear; the vessel, the shell - kept alive by the spirit, soul cannot keep organic life alive like a sperm cannot produce the egg, sperm must find the egg, going through a tiny bit of darkness and only one enters in. The flesh is sinful in nature, because of soul and is this souls fault? No. Yet soul is captive within the flesh of man. Soul is the higher intelligence of man and when soul mingles with the instinctual spirit of life, ego is manifested from the flesh, and is ego is blame. No. This is where all the gods came from, the imaginations of the ego through the soul who's come from the light. Soul is drawn by ego to image its the spirit having a human experience, this is not so. Soul is the true child of the Father. Its time for soul to awaken within I hope everyone's ready for the Lord wants none to perish.

The Holy Spirit and Evil Forces The Gospel of Philip

The Holy Spirit and Evil Forces

Evil forces serve the saints, for they have been blinded by the holy spirit into thinking they are helping their own people when they really are helping the saints.

So a disciple once asked the master for something from the world, and he said, “Ask your mother, and she will give you something from another realm.”

ever powers or rulers are tricked by the holy spirit

The rulers thought they did all they did by their own power and will, but the holy spirit was secretly accomplishing all through them by the spirit’s will.


The saints are served by evil powers [falsehood (sarx)–the evil powers love the lie due to the power it gives them to “lord it over” the saints], for they [the evil powers] are blinded by the Holy Spirit into thinking that they are serving an (ordinary) man [they are the religious and political rulers who cannot discern the things of the spirit and believe the saints are just ignorant natural men like themselves] whenever they do so for the saints [the saints who “do as they say but not as they do” are actually made stronger by suffering their injustices]. Because of this, a disciple [not said to be a “saint”] asked the Lord one day for something of this world [to satisfy the lusts of his flesh]. He said to him, "Ask your mother [“your” seems to signify other than the “holy” spirit, so likely the spirit of his belly], and she will give you of the things which are another's [Jesus knew that this disciple’s heart was not ready for the Truth and this is a cryptic way for Philip to tell us that we all have the power to generate what it is we “want” if our will is strong enough to get it. But the danger is that we are often misguided by our own heart idols and this can bring harm to ourselves and others as is expressed by Jesus when He says “another’s” – the “things of the world” are not in accord with God’s will but of the individual will which are often subjectively governed by evil powers (thoughts).  In such a nature, your gain usually comes at the expense of another - “who am I to judge another’s” was the term Jesus used with regard to those of the world for these are still at enmity with God and still belong to “another” i.e. influenced by the “pride of life” in the flesh]." (Philip 24)

The saints are served by powers of darkness, for the minds of the dark lords are warped so that they do not know what they are doing; they think they are serving darkness when they are serving Light. This is what happened in the Garden of Eden. When the gods of darkness tried to deceive the Aadamah, thinking they were increasing the power of darkness, they were actually furthering the cause of Light. Once, when a disciple asked the Lord for some physical thing, he replied, "You are approaching the wrong lord; learn to govern all the powers through proper principles, and there is nothing you cannot acquire or accomplish."

The Seed Gospel of Thomas Saying 57

Gospel of Thomas Saying 57

(57) Jesus said: The kingdom of the Father is like a man who had [good] seed. His enemy came by night and sowed weeds among the good seed. The man did not allow them to pull up the weeds. He said to them: Lest you go and pull up the weeds, (and) pull up the wheat with it. For on the day of the harvest the weeds will be manifest; they will be pulled up and burned.

"The Kingdom of the Father is like a man who had [good] seed.”

Seed cp. Saying 9 and signifies the word “The word,” it is perhaps needless to say, is a synonym for the class of ideas comprehended in the gospel, called “the word” because it has been divinely spoken (1Thess. 2:13), and “the truth,” because it is pre-eminently that form of truth without which men cannot live in the ultimate sense (Jn. 8:32). Also The Lord Jesus Christ identifies "the good seed" in verse 38 as "the children of the kingdom." "The good seed" must be the true seed of Abraham which is referred to in such passages as Luke 1:55; Acts 3:25; 7:5; Romans 4:13, 16, 18; 9:7, 8; Galatians 3:16, 19, 29; Hebrews 11:18; and the seed of the woman (Gen. 3:15), Rev. 12:17-in all of these passages the word for seed is identical to that for seed in Matthew 13. It was "the word of the kingdom" which was taught by the Lord Jesus Christ that produced this class of "good seed."

“His enemy came by night and sowed weeds among the good seed.” 

The enemy signifies the devil, some misunderstand this as a supernatural devil but in Matthew 13:28 see Rvm and Young‘s LT), the Lord was careful to phrase it: “A man, an enemy hath done this”, the rather awkward pleonasm emphasizing the need to identify with some evil human influence at work in the early days of the church.

consisting of the authorities of the nation, who everywhere stealthily neutralised the teaching of Christ, disseminating evil doctrines, and scattering wide their sypathisers and disciples, who drew away the people, and multiplied their own number greatly by the energy of their operations and the popularity of their influence.

The “night” signifies: the times of the Gentiles At John 9:4 Jesus spoke of “the night . . . coming when no man can work. Paul also uses the figure in reference to the Parousia (#Ro 13:12), where "night" seems to refer to the present aeon and "day" to the aeon to come. He also uses it in #1Th 5:5,7 where the status of the redeemed is depicted by "day," that of the unregenerate by "night," again, as the context shows, in reference to the Parousia. In #Re 21:25 and 22:5, the passing of the "night" indicates the realization of that to which the Parousia looked forward, the establishment of the kingdom of God forever. Type of Ignorance and Sin {#Ro 13:12 1Th 5:5 Re 21:25 22:5}

The “Weeds” or TARES tarz (zizania (#Mt 13:25 ), margin "darnel"): signifies contrasting “the wheat” or “the sons of the kingdom” with “the weeds,” “the sons of the wicked one.” It should be noted that the “weeds” are not, as some Jewish Talmudists and others once believed, a degenerate form of wheat. Wheat seed never transforms itself into weeds. This would be contrary to God’s immutable law: “Let the earth cause grass to shoot forth, vegetation bearing seed, fruit trees yielding fruit according to their kinds.” (Gen. 1:11, 12) This scientific fact exonerates the “Son of man,” Christ Jesus, the “sower of the fine seed,” from any responsibility for what happened in “his field.” The “fine seed” he sowed would never have become a crop of weeds. It could only produce “wheat,” or true “sons of the kingdom.” What later developed in his “field” was the direct result of his enemy’s deliberate and malicious oversowing of “weeds,” or “sons of the wicked one.”

16 Thus, Jesus’ illustration of the “wheat” and the “weeds” does much to explain the history of Christianity throughout the centuries. Historical facts show that after the death of the apostles Satan introduced among the congregations of true Christians many “weeds,” “oppressive wolves” and “antichrists,” just as Jesus, Paul, Peter, John and Jude had foretold. (Acts 20:29; 2 Pet. 2:1-3; 1 John 2:18; Jude 4) It has been just as Jesus stated: “When the blade sprouted and produced fruit, then the weeds appeared also.”—Matt. 13:26.
These “weeds” became particularly apparent during the second and third centuries, at which time such unscriptural doctrines as the inherent immortality of the soul, hellfire and the Trinity began to be taught by so-called church fathers. Many of these men were more philosophers than true Christian overseers faithful to the teachings of the Bible. The climax came early in the fourth century, when pagan Emperor Constantine fused this apostate Christianity with the pagan religion of Rome. Such counterfeit Christianity, in its Roman Catholic, Russian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox and Protestant varieties, has produced a bumper crop of “weeds” not only throughout the centuries but also right up until the present time.

“The man did not allow them to pull up the weeds; he said to them, 'I am afraid that you will go intending to pull up the weeds and pull up the wheat along with them.'“
“For on the day of the harvest the weeds will be plainly visible, and they will be pulled up and burned." Harvest signifies “the end of the world” (aeon) the Lord Jesus did not mean the end of the nation-world. He used the word aeon instead of kosmos. The harvest was to be at the end of the aeon, sunteleia tou aeonos: and not at the end of the kosmos. And this has two meanings the 1st the aeon in which he flourished Then he would send his reapers; namely, the Romans, his angels, or messenger (aggeloi) of destruction, to "gather out of his kingdom" of Judea, all the tare-like children of Israel, and cast them into the place of the Lord, "whose fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem" (Isaiah 31:9), where there should be wailing, and gnashing of teeth. When this should be accomplished the aeon would be finished, and the commonwealth of Israel should "be no more until He should come whose right it is to reign." (Ezekiel 21:25-27). "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.

57)# Jesus said, "The Kingdom of the Father is like a man [Jesus] who had [good] seed [the true Word of God]. His enemy [the devil - those with the spirit of anti-Christ] came by night [the two thousand year age of darkness in the world] and sowed weeds [institutions of false teachings/doctrine] among the good seed [the Truth]. The man did not allow them [the reapers] to pull up the weeds [remove these institutions]; he said to them, 'I am afraid that you will go intending [without the helper even our best intentions may lead to error] to pull up the weeds and pull up the wheat [the faithful who are still in those institutions and darkened by its falsehoods and have not yet "come out from her.."] along with them [leaving them void and empty].' For on the day of the harvest [the third day - when His "body" is raised up (which is also the seventh day) in the millennial Kingdom] the weeds [these institutions and their false teachings] will be plainly visible [to the Elect], and they will be pulled up [forsaken] and burned [destroyed]."

The Book of Tobit

The book of Tobit has all the outer trappings of a historical account however the book is best understood as an allegorical story. The story is intended to edify and to inspire faith in God

the author of Tobit uses Job as a model for Tobit  the two persons are both men of outstandingly good deeds and rightousness who thought they suffered and were tested job 1:6-2:10 Tobit 12:14 did not loss their faith job 31:37 Tobit 3:2-6  and ultimately were rewarded with even greater blessings job 42:10-16 Tobit 14:1-2

the moral sense of the book of tobit is that God answers our prayers

Tobit is a symbol of Israel's blindness 1enoch 93:8
Tobias is a symbol of redeemed Israel
Raphael is a symbol of God redeeming Israel
Sarah is a symbol of the nation of Israel in exile
Asmodeus – ruler of lust,the demon is an aspect of the misfortunes of Israel in exile in a gentile land
the demon is also a symbol of the fallen priesthood

Tobiah's marriage to Sarah can be taken as an allegory of Christ's mystical marriage to His Bride the Church. 

Just as Tobiah's marriage was made possible by the exorcism of a demon, Christ's marriage to the Church was made possible through the defeat of the Devil.

 Just as Christ's resurrection from the dead took place at the conclusion of the seventh day of the week-i.e., the ``eighth'' day-so Tobiah was the eighth husband of Sarah.

Christians who were used to symbolising Jesus as a fish would naturally see the fish of the Book of Tobit as a type of Christ. Just as Christ healed the sick and cast out demons, so it was the miraculous medicinal powers of the fish's organs that made possible the exorcism of Asmodeus and the healing of Tobit's blindness. 

The blindness and poverty of Tobit would represent Adam's bondage to sin and death, so Tobiah's healing of his father is like Christ's spiritual healing of Adam's sin. 

Hannah's grief at the departure of her only son Tobiah also reminds us of Mary's grief at the suffering and death of her son Jesus (Luke 2:34-35).

Again, the Sadducees' rhetorical example of a woman with seven husbands (Matt. 22:23-28) might be an oblique reference to Sarah,

the demon was "bound up by the angel" (ch.8:3)
neither the liver nor the heart or the bile of the fish per se were the objects that cured and drove out the demon, but were merely SYMBOLIC means, through which God performed the miraculous cure of Tobit, and the expulsion of the demon.  

Male and Female Demons The Gospel of Philip

Male and Female Demons The Gospel of Philip

The Gospel of Philip: 

The forms of evil spirit include male ones and female ones. The males are they which unite with the souls which inhabit a female form, but the females are they which are mingled with those in a male form, though one who was disobedient. And none shall be able to escape them, since they detain him if he does not receive a male power or a female power, the bridegroom and the bride. One receives them from the mirrored bridal chamber. When the wanton women see a male sitting alone, they leap down on him and play with him and defile him. So also the lecherous men, when they see a beautiful woman sitting alone, they persuade her and compel her, wishing to defile her. But if they see the man and his wife sitting beside one another, the female cannot come into the man, nor can the male come into the woman. So if the image and the angel are united with one another, neither can any venture to go into the man or the woman.
He who comes out of the world, and so can no longer be detained on the grounds that he was in the world, evidently is above the desire of the [...] and fear. He is master over [...]. He is superior to envy. If [...] comes, they seize him and throttle him. And how will this one be able to escape the great [...] powers? How will he be able to [...]? There are some who say, "We are faithful" in order that [...] the unclean spirits and the demons. For if they had the Holy Spirit, no unclean spirit would cleave to them. Fear not the flesh nor love it. If you fear it, it will gain mastery over you. If you love it, it will swallow and paralyze you.

in this part of the Gospel of Philip 65.1-66.7 the "evil spirit" and the "unclean spirits and the demons" are the passions of the flesh that is why Philip uses these expressions together "For if they had the Holy Spirit, no unclean spirit would cleave to them. Fear not the flesh nor love it. If you fear it, it will gain mastery over you. If you love it, it will swallow and paralyze you."

 thus unclean spirits are the thinking of the flesh and therefore we should not fear nor love the flesh only if we have the spirit of Christ (the Christ-Consciousness) can we fight against the flesh

male demons=wrath 
female demons=lust

The forms of evil spirit include male ones and female ones [evil spirits (thoughts and intents) are restricted to the “waters below” and therefore are male and female in form]. The males are they which unite with the souls which inhabit a female form [the physical female body], but the females are they which are mingled with those in a male form, though one who was disobedient [so these male forms were able to “hear the word” but fell out of the way - it seems to be more clearly explained below]. (Philip 46)

And none [who are “disobedient”] shall be able to escape them, since they detain him [“they do not go in yet hinder those who are from going in” this is about our personal battle between the spirit and the flesh] if he does not receive a male power [i.e. Christ in you”] or a female power [the “holy spirit”], the bridegroom and the bride [one needs both of these to unite in the bridal chamber (our heart) to conceive “regeneration” i.e. a son of God]. One receives them from the mirrored bridal chamber [the spiritual body (the image)]. When the wanton women [female demon] see a male [one who has the seed of Christ] sitting alone [not yet having received holy spirit (still using his own intellect and knowledge and not being guided by the spirit of truth)], they [the demons] leap down on him and play with him and defile him [they are able to subvert his mind towards the carnal nature]. So also the lecherous men [male demons], when they see a beautiful woman [one who has received holy spirit] sitting alone [has not yet received the seed of Christ (masculine seed) in them], they persuade her and compel her, wishing to defile her [they “wish to” but cannot for the holy spirit cannot be defiled – this one WILL eventually be drawn to and set-apart to Christ]. (Philip 47)

But if they see the man and his wife sitting beside one another [one who has both Christ (the masculine seed) in them and the holy spirit (truth and enlightenment of who and what you are) united as one in your heart] the female [demons] cannot come into the man, nor can the male [demons] come into the woman. So if the image [of God i.e. the heart of “man”] and the angel [holy spirit] are united with one another, neither can any venture to go into the man or the woman. (Philip 48) [Hence “What God has yoked together, let no man put asunder” – this is not the same as what men yoke together i.e. flesh to flesh – the Father yokes spirit to spirit (once you belong to Him it’s the end of the matter). Judas having not yet received holy spirit (true apprehension of who and what he is) was left vulnerable to the evil demon (the adversary which is that carnal nature which beguiles one into evil intent) who easily overcame him and used him for God’s own purpose – demons (evil thoughts and intentions) whether male (appealing to the brutish animal nature) of female (appealing to the emotions) are from within, they are the carnal and perverted nature of our subjective minds to the influences of others i.e. spiritual thievery and we all have these until they are destroyed (cast out of our hearts)]