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Pagan Gnosticism, Christianity and the Founding Fathers

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 Pagan Gnosticism, Christianity and the Founding Fathers

Richard J. Castillo, Ph.D.

Abstract

Many scholars now believe that the founding of the United States was a product of Pagan Gnostic
beliefs. And the continued success of American democracy, uniting disparate peoples from all corners
of the Earth, who have managed to live with each other, mostly in peace, is directly attributable to the
Founders’ unshakable belief in religious universalism, and rejection of fundamentalism. Of course,
there are some notable exceptions in American history, like the genocide of the Native Americans, the
slavery of African Americans, and the continuing systemic racism in the United States. But the
Founders should at least be given credit for establishing the philosophical foundation for a future in
which all Americans are truly seen as being created equal, and endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable rights, including freedom of religion. By adopting the religious universalism of the Pagan
Gnostics, Jesus and his followers were able to accept Romans, the military occupiers of their homeland,
as their spiritual brothers and sisters, because they had direct experience of a deeper spiritual unity
among all peoples. This was Jesus’ message of peace and unity, inspired by the spiritual enlightenment
gained through Gnosticism. It is the religious universalism of the pre-Christian Pagan Gnostics, taught
by Jesus, preserved by medieval Gnostics, in spite of persecution and mass murder, and bequeathed to
us by the 18th Century Freemasons, that has allowed the American democratic form of government to
persevere. Hopefully this message will never be lost.

Christian Origins

Christianity can only be properly understood by looking at its historical origins. During the last

few decades an explosion of historical and archeological research has unearthed a tremendous amount of

new information about Christianity’s social, political, and cultural origins in the centuries immediately

before and after the birth of Jesus. What these new data reveal unequivocally is that Christianity is not

unique among Middle Eastern religions of the First Century C.E. (Common Era), and in fact, has very

clear antecedents. Christianity developed from a mixture of Orthodox Judaism and various types of

Pagan Gnosticism. This mixture, occurring in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Centuries B.C.E. (Before Common
 2

Era), could be called Jewish Gnosticism and would have been considered a heretical form of Judaism

by Orthodox Jews in ancient Israel.

In the 4th Century B.C.E., the Macedonian King, Alexander the Great conquered Greece, Asia

Minor (present-day Turkey), Syria, Israel, Egypt, Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), Persia (present-day

Iran), and northwestern India (present-day Pakistan and Afghanistan). This was the beginning of the

Hellenistic Period in Middle Eastern history, and it brought together the great cultures of that region

under formal Greek rule and allowed an extraordinary mixing of religious traditions. Religious beliefs

and practices such as ancient Hindu Yoga and Buddhism from India, Egyptian mysticism,

Zoroastrianism from Persia, Mithraism from Mesopotamia, and Judaism from Israel, all mixed with

Greek religions, such as Platonism, Pythagoreanism, and the Eleusinian Mysteries.

All of the foreign religions were considered to be Paganism by Orthodox Jews, and therefore

forbidden according to the Jewish Law (Torah). However, this powerful mix of Pagan cultures known

as Hellenism (from Greek Hellas = Greece) was highly attractive to many Jews. Hellenism influenced

Jewish culture by bringing Pagan languages, religions, politics, law, theater, education, philosophy, and

government to the Jews through Greek cities established throughout Israel. Hellenism spread quickly

and invasively throughout Jewish culture and society. Many Jews spoke Greek as their first or second

language and some were heavily influenced by Pagan religions.

All of the Pagan religions from various parts of the Greek Empire were universalistic in their

view of the gods. In other words, all of the various gods from Pagan religions were perceived as the

same gods with different local names. To the Pagans, the Greek god Zeus was the same as Osiris in

Egypt or Yahweh in Israel. To Pagans the gods were the same, only the names were different. This is

called religious universalism. Of course, this did not sit well with Orthodox Jews who were

monotheists, and whose god Yahweh was not considered to be the equivalent of Zeus. Orthodox Jews
 3

practiced religious fundamentalism. For the Orthodox Jews, there was only one God, and the only

proper way to worship God was the Orthodox Jewish way. Nevertheless, Hellenism was so attractive to

some Jews that a mixing of Orthodox Judaism and various Pagan religions from throughout the Greek

Empire occurred, especially among the educated classes beginning in the 3rd Century B.C.E.

Particularly attractive to educated Jews were the Pagan Gnostic (from Greek gnosis = spiritual

knowledge) religions of the Hellenistic Period (320 B.C.E. to 381 C.E.). Instead of mere belief in the

gods and ritual animal sacrifices to worship and propitiate the gods that was common among the

religions of the masses, Gnostic religions employed various mystical or meditative techniques to “know”

divinity or God directly within themselves. Jewish Gnostics came to “know” God within themselves

through meditative practices involving a subjective death of their temporary personal self, and rebirth as

an eternal Spiritual Self. This adoption of Pagan Gnosticism by Jews in Israel beginning in the 3rd

Century B.C.E. forms the historical roots of Christianity, and where the Jewish Gnostics broke away

from Orthodox Judaism.

Gnostic Dualism or Dissociation

There is a strong dualistic emphasis in the Gnostic traditions. This means that all people are

believed to have two selves—a temporary personal self and an eternal Spiritual Self. According to

Gnosticism, most individuals do not experience their divine Spiritual Self. They identify with their

physical bodies and their personal minds, and never experience the divinity within. Therefore, the goal

of Gnosticism is to temporarily kill off the personal self so that the Spiritual Self can shine through in

the consciousness of the individual. A subjective death of the personal self, comprising the mind and

the body, and an experience of “rebirth” as a divine eternal Spirit that only witnesses the activities of

the personal self is common to all of the Gnostic traditions. The ancient Greeks referred to this death of

the temporary personal self and rebirth as the divine Spiritual Self as apotheosis, which literally means,
 4

“a human becoming a god.” In Hindu Yoga, the two selves are known as the jiva (temporary personal

self), and the atman (eternal Spiritual Self). Hindus refer to this idea of having two selves as being

Twice Born. In ancient Greek and Christian Gnosticism, the two selves are known as the eidelon

(temporary personal self) and the daemon (eternal Spiritual Self) (see Freke and Gandy, 1999). In the

Christian Gnostic gospel, The Acts of John (97-102), Jesus states,

“You heard that I suffered, but I suffered not. An unsuffering one was I, yet suffered. One pierced was
I, yet I was not abused. One hanged was I, and yet not hanged. Blood flowed from me, yet did not
flow.”

These seemingly contradictory statements make sense because the Jesus the Gnostic has two selves—

one involved with the world, and one that only witnesses those events as if they were happening to

someone else.

Modern psychology refers to this type of split in consciousness as dissociation. From the

standpoint of modern psychology, Gnosticism is based on the process of psychological dissociation or

splitting of consciousness into two selves—a personal self engaged in the world, and a second self that

only witnesses the activities of the personal self. Modern psychology refers to this specific type of

dissociation as depersonalization (see Castillo, 1990, 1991).

In the New Testament, Jesus refers to this experience of death of the temporary personal self and

rebirth as the divine Spiritual Self as being Born Again. In John 3:3-6, Jesus states,

“I am telling you the truth: no one can see the Kingdom of God without being Born Again.” “How can a
grown man be born again?” Nicodemus asked. “He certainly cannot enter his mother’s womb and be
born a second time!” “I am telling you the truth,” replied Jesus, “that no one can enter the Kingdom of
God without being born of water and pneuma. A person is born physically of human parents, but is born
spiritually of pneuma.”
 5

Here Jesus is referring to Gnostic initiations (baptisms) by water and pneuma. The Greek word

pneuma used by Jesus means air or breath. English versions of the Bible usually translate pneuma as

“spirit,” but this is a mistranslation. Here Jesus is saying that to see the Kingdom of God, people must

receive a Gnostic initiation by air or breath that refers to secret oral teachings that allow initiates to

transcend their personal selves and directly experience the divine Spiritual Self within.

The metaphor of being “Born Again” is used deliberately by Jesus, because the subjective

experience is one of death of the temporary personal mind and body, and rebirth as the eternal Spiritual

Self. In the Gnostic traditions, the individual goes into a deep trance state, which transcends the

personal mind and body. The metaphor typically used is crawling back into the womb of the mother and

thereby reversing the birth and gestation process. By going into a profound trance beyond all forms of

thought to a formless Absolute (or Emptiness in Buddhism), the Gnostic initiate dissolves himself back

into the Divine Mother. The Gnostic communes there with the Divine Mother for a time, gaining the

Spiritual Wisdom (Greek = sophia) of her divine state, and then travels back to the world through the

birth canal and is reborn as a divine Spiritual Self. The personal self is still there, but the individual now

has two selves in consciousness--the personal and the Spiritual, and now has the knowledge of his own

eternal Spirit gained from the Divine Mother. This is also a Virgin Birth. This is not a physical birth

that resulted from physical intercourse, but a spiritual birth that resulted from spiritual intercourse with

the Divine Mother, who Herself remains a perpetual virgin even though she has given birth to

innumerable Spiritual Selves.

Initiations. All Gnostic traditions have initiation rituals. There are usually three levels of

initiation starting with a novice or apprentice stage, then a fully accepted member stage in which the

person has received secret oral teachings, and a third master stage in which the person has achieved
 6

spiritual enlightenment. In Greek Gnosticism (and therefore Christianity) these initiation rituals are

called baptisms (from Greek baptezein = to initiate). The three levels of initiation are usually

associated with three rituals of baptism by water, air or breath (secret oral teachings), and fire. In

ancient Greek and Christian Gnosticism there were four levels of human existence: physical,

psychological, spiritual, and Gnostic. Those who had received no baptisms or initiations existed at the

first level and were called hylics (from Greek hyle = unconscious matter) because they were like

unconscious matter that identified only with the physical body and were dead to intellectual and spiritual

things. Those who had received the first baptism by water were called psychics (from Greek psyche =

mind) because they were thought to identify with their mind or ego and had not transcended beyond the

level of the mind. Those who had received the second baptism by air or breath were called pneumatics

(from Greek pneuma = air or breath) because they had received secret oral teachings that would allow

them over time to transcend the mind or ego and experience their divine Spiritual Selves. Those who

had received the third baptism by fire were called Gnostics (from Greek gnosis = spiritual knowledge)

because they had achieved direct experience of the divine Spiritual Self. It was called baptism by fire

because the profound trance experiences were thought to “burn up” one’s karma or sins and ignorance

of spiritual things.

The Mandaeans

By the 1st Century B.C.E. a group of Jewish Gnostics had developed who were called the

Mandaeans (from Aramaic manda = knowledge). The spiritual leaders of the Mandaeans were called

Nasoraeans (from Greek nasaraioi = guardians/custodians of the Truth). The Mandaeans existed as a

Jewish Gnostic sect before the birth of Jesus and were centered in northern Israel in Galilee and

Samaria. They had rejected the rituals of Orthodox Judaism that were focused on animal sacrifices in

the Jerusalem Temple, and instead were practicing Jewish Gnosticism. They had also abandoned eating
 7

meat (i.e., were vegetarians) and were pacifists or practitioners of non-violence in the same manner as

the Pagan Gnostics such as Greek Pythagoreans, Buddhist monks, and Hindu Yogis. Like the

Pythagoreans, Buddhists, and Yogis, they also believed in reincarnation, a Divine Mother, and had

adopted a belief in astrology similar to the Mesopotamians and Egyptians. They also used Greek

numerology or gematria. They were different from Pythagoreans, Buddhists, and Yogis in that they

rejected celibacy. Marriage and family were central tenets of the Mandaean religion. They were

mostly Jews, but included some Greeks and Romans in their membership. Allowing Greeks and

Romans, whom Orthodox Jews viewed as unclean foreign invaders, in their congregations was

acceptable because they believed in religious universalism. The Mandaeans did not discriminate (even

against Greeks and Romans) because all gods were the same. They also believed in gender equality

and shared all their possessions communally among the members of the group. Orthodox Jews

considered the Mandaeans to be heretics because they rejected the traditional temple worship of God

through animal sacrifices, believed that all humans contained divinity within themselves, practiced non-

violence, and accepted women and non-Jews as equals.

By the early 1st Century C.E. the Mandaean movement had grown and was now found in all

parts of Israel. At this time the leader of the Mandaeans was John the Baptist. John was known as,

“the Baptist,” by Orthodox Jews because they considered him to be the leader of a heretical Jewish sect

practicing Gnostic baptisms. Baptisms are Pagan Gnostic rituals of initiation, and were not part of

ancient Orthodox Judaism. Some Jewish scholars have suggested that perhaps John’s baptisms by water

were equivalent to the Jewish mikvah in which an individual performs a ritual bath to cleanse himself of

sin before going to the Temple to worship. But a baptism is not a bath, it is an initiation into a Gnostic

religion, and John was not known as “the Mikvah Bather.” Nor would a mikvah cause him to be seen as

an outsider and heretic by 1st Century Orthodox Jews.

 8

The Essenes

Another Jewish group influenced by Hellenism of the early 1st Century C.E. were the Essenes.

The Essenes were a small monastic group centered in Qumran near the Dead Sea. We know the Essenes

had Hellenistic influences because they were celibate monks. Monasticism was not part of ancient

Orthodox Judaism, and was mostly found in the Gnostic traditions of that era, for example,

Pythagoreans, Yogis and Buddhists. Pagan monasticism itself originated in India, and was brought to

Israel during the Hellenistic Period. We also know that the Essenes had abandoned traditional animal

sacrifices in the Jerusalem Temple and were vegetarians. They were also very hostile toward the Jewish

High Priests in Jerusalem, whom they considered to be illegitimate and corrupt.

The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947 near Qumran, and thought to belong to, and partly

authored by, the Essenes, has given historians extremely valuable insights into early 1st Century C.E.

Jewish beliefs and practices. The Dead Sea Scrolls describe a belief in two Jewish Messiahs who would

arrive together. The first Messiah was believed to be a political and military leader who would lead the

Jews to victory in battle over the Romans, and re-establish a legitimate and independent Jewish

Kingdom of God. This first Messiah needed to be of the House of David, that is, a direct descendant of

the ancient Jewish King David. The second Messiah needed to be a High Priest of the Line of Aron,

that is, a direct descendent of the traditional High Priests of Israel.

In their political beliefs, the Essenes were not pacifists and universalists like the Mandaeans, but

were Jewish Zealots, that is, they believed in the forcible expulsion of the Romans from Israel, and the

violent overthrow of King Herod, whom they considered to be an illegitimate Roman puppet. King

Herod (the Great) was only half Jewish, and not descended from King David. Moreover, he seized the

throne from the legitimate Jewish king at the head of a Roman army that placed him in on the throne of

Israel. After seizing the throne, he removed the legitimate High Priests in the Jerusalem Temple and
 9

replaced them with priests not of the House of Aron, who were loyal only to Herod and the Romans. In

the Jewish-Roman War of 66-70 C.E. the Essenes actually went out to do battle with the Romans, and

were slaughtered to the last man.

It is not known how widespread the belief in two Messiahs was in Israel in the 1st Century C.E.,

but was certainly there in the Essene community. It may have also been there among the wider group of

Zealots. Some scholars have suggested that the Zealots promoted the idea that Jesus and John the

Baptist were the two expected Messiahs. Jesus was a direct descendant of King David through his

father Joseph. John came from a family of High Priests of the Line of Aron. Jesus was also a

descendent of the High Priests of the Line of Aron through his mother Mary. Jesus and John were

second cousins as their mothers were first cousins. Jesus and John fit perfectly the royal Jewish lineage

requirements for the two Messiahs, whom some believed would save them from the Romans (see Tabor,

2007).

Jesus As Messiah

It’s possible that the Zealots may have arranged Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem after the

beheading of John the Baptist by King Herod, expecting Jesus to lead an armed revolt against the

Romans and King Herod (son of Herod the Great) and restore an independent Jewish Kingdom of God.

However, the Zealots were sorely disappointed when Jesus turned out to be a believer in non-violence

(like the Pagan Gnostics), who told the oppressed Jews to “turn the other cheek” and to “render unto

Caesar that which is Caesar’s,” that is, be peaceful and pay your taxes to the Romans without complaint.

Jesus was a Gnostic Universalist, who accepted Romans as equals, and who believed that the

Universal Kingdom of God was realized by changing one’s state of consciousness, from the temporary

personal self, to the eternal Spiritual Self, that is, being “Born Again.”
 10

Jesus the Gnostic was not going to lead the Zealots to victory in battle over the Romans, and this

may be why he was rejected and betrayed. Judas Iscariot, the betrayer of Jesus, was a Zealot. Among

the Zealots was a feared group of assassins called the Sicarii, after a curved dagger--a sica—that they

used to murder their political opponents, mostly Roman soldiers. Judas Iscariot literally means “Judas

the Dagger Assassin.” When Jesus failed to instigate an armed revolt against the Romans during

Passover, the Zealots may have wanted him out of the way and arranged for his arrest and trial by the

Orthodox Jewish authorities, and subsequent execution by the Romans.

Jesus and the Birth of Christianity

Because of persecution by Orthodox Jews, and the beheading of their leader John the Baptist by

King Herod, the main body of Mandaeans fled to Iraq during the 1st Century C.E., and still live there

today as a unique group practicing Gnostic religion (although they are currently being persecuted by

fundamentalist Muslims as an unintended consequence of the American-led Iraq War (2003-2011 C.E.),

and some are therefore relocating to the United States). After the execution of John the Baptist around

the year 30 C.E., Jesus the Nasoraean became the spiritual leader of a splinter group of Mandaeans who

chose to stay in Israel rather than fleeing to Iraq. These people became the first Christians (from Greek

christos = anointed with the spirit of God). The Mandaeans who fled to Iraq have always maintained

their original Gnostic belief that everyone has divinity within them, and rejected the later fundamentalist

Christian belief that Jesus is the one and only “Son of God.”

Jesus the Nasoraean’s message was one of salvation through gnosis (gaining direct knowledge of

one’s divine Spiritual Self by being Born Again through the Divine Mother). Some scholars have

argued that Jesus did not intend to start a new religion, but only to reform Orthodox Judaism (see Butz,

2010). These scholars point to the Gospel of Matthew (5:17-20) as evidence where Jesus states,
 11

“Do not think that I have come to abolish The Law [Torah] or the prophets; I have come not to abolish
but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until Heaven and Earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a
letter will pass from The Law until all is accomplished.”

What these Jewish scholars fail to realize is that Jesus was a Jewish Gnostic who spoke in the

coded language of allegories and parables so as to not arouse the anger of Orthodox Jews while speaking

in public. What he is saying is that all is accomplished when Heaven and Earth pass away. Heaven

and Earth pass away in a state of deep meditative trance. When the Gnostic reaches this state of

enlightenment through meditation, he gains the direct spiritual knowledge (gnosis) to fulfill The Law.

Thus, it is by transcending Heaven and Earth through Gnostic practice that the Gnostic becomes a truly

spiritual person. At this point the enlightened Gnostic no longer needs the Jewish Law (Torah) to guide

his life. Similarly, in Matthew 6:5-6, Jesus states,

“When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites! They love to stand up and pray in the houses of worship
and on the street corners, so that everyone will see them. I assure you they have already been paid in
full. But when you pray, go to your room, close the door, and pray to your Father who is unseen.”

Here Jesus is advocating a Gnostic form of private meditation instead of the public rituals of

Orthodox Judaism. The disdain for the Jewish Law is also clearly found in the Letters of Paul, where he

states, “All who depend upon the works of The Law [Torah] are under a curse;” and “Christ redeemed

us from the curse of The Law” (Galatians 3:6-11; 3:13-14). Paul also states in Romans (7:6), “Now

having died, we are out of the purview of The Law that kept us down.” In saying, “Now having died,”

he is referring to the death of the temporary personal self and the birth of the eternal Spiritual Self. By

gaining knowledge of his own divinity the Gnostic is no longer bound by the dictates of the Jewish Law

(see Freke and Gandy, 1999).

 12

Some scholars argue that Paul was scornful of Orthodox Judaism because his ministry was

primarily among the Greeks and Romans, far from Jerusalem. He was therefore not bound by the

dictates of the Jewish Law [Torah]. These scholars point to Jesus’ brother James who was the leader of

the Christians in Jerusalem after the execution of Jesus. James was clearly more of a follower of the

Torah than Jesus or Paul, and argued with Paul about the need for Greek and Roman converts to

Christianity to follow the Jewish Law. Some scholars argue that James’ views are a better indicator of

the beliefs of early Christians about the Torah than Paul’s, because James was Jesus’ brother, and Paul

never actually met Jesus except in visions after Jesus’ death (see Butz, 2010).

However, James was the leader of the Christians in Jerusalem, the center of Orthodox Judaism.

The Christians in Jerusalem were surrounded by a vast community of Orthodox Jews. If the Christians

were perceived to be challenging the authority of the Jewish Law they could be executed as heretics.

The Jerusalem Christians tried to be perceived as Orthodox Jews for their own safety. Despite their

efforts to appear Orthodox, Jesus’ brother James, and other early church members in Jerusalem were

still executed by the Orthodox Jewish authorities as heretics. James had to appear to be more of an

Orthodox Jew than Paul because of the political pressures in Jerusalem. Paul’s view of the Jewish Law

is probably more consistent with Jesus’ actual views.

Jesus frequently used the metaphor of a fruit tree to describe his views on religion. For example,

“You will know them by what they do. Thorn bushes do not bear grapes, and briers do not bear figs. A

healthy tree bears good fruit, but a poor tree bears bad fruit” (Matthew 7:16-17). Jesus’ view of

Orthodox Judaism is illustrated in the Allegory of the Fig Tree.

On his way back to the city [Jerusalem] one morning, Jesus was hungry. He saw a fig tree by the side of
the road and went to it, but found nothing on it except leaves. So, he said to the tree, ‘You will never
again bear fruit!’ At once the fig tree dried up (Matthew 21:18-19).
 13

In this allegory, Jesus is searching for the fruit of authentic spirituality in Orthodox Judaism, but

finds only leaves (hypocrites), and curses the religion of his ancestors to be dried up and “never again

bear fruit.” Also, when Jesus went to the Jerusalem Temple, he “drove out all those who were buying

and selling there. He overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the stools of those who were

selling pigeons” (Matthew 21:12). Here Jesus is protesting the practice of animal sacrifices in the

Jerusalem Temple, which was the central ritual of worship required for all Orthodox Jews. In his most

radical statement, Jesus says,

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the world. No, I did not come to bring peace, but a
sword. I came to set sons against their fathers, daughters against their mothers, daughters-in-law against
their mothers-in-law; your worst enemies will be your own family” (Matthew 10:34-36).

Clearly, Jesus was intending to start a revolt--but not against the Romans (some of whom he

accepted as his own spiritual brothers and sisters)—but against the fundamentalism of Orthodox

Judaism itself, which would split family member against family member. Jesus was a Gnostic

Universalist who saw the fundamentalism of Orthodox Judaism as being hypocritical and destructive.

For this, Jesus and many of his closest followers were executed as heretics.

The Mythical Jesus

The contents of the New Testament were written 40 to 150 years after the death of Jesus, and

none of the stories about Jesus were actually written by eyewitnesses to his life and death. All of the

Jesus stories were based on earlier oral traditions, and no one knows who actually wrote them (see Tabor

and Jacobovici, 2012). Furthermore, the Jesus stories are filled with Gnostic mythological motifs

borrowed from earlier Pagan gods such as Osiris, Dionysus, Shiva, Mithras, Adonis, and Bacchus (see

Freke and Gandy, 1999). For example, in the mythology of Shiva the Hindu god of Yoga (circa 500
 14

B.C.E.), he travels to the Devadaru Forest in India, home to Vedic priests who are conducting rituals of

animal sacrifice to worship their god Indra. Appearing as an ordinary yogi, Shiva tells the priests that

their animal sacrifices are useless, and that they should instead gain Gnostic enlightenment through the

practice Yoga meditation. The outraged priests place a curse on Shiva to kill him. Shiva allows his

human self to be killed, but then returns in his fiery Spiritual Form and destroys the entire world in an

infinite fire, along with the unbelieving priests, proving to them the superiority of his Gnostic religion

(see Castillo and Shapiro, 1986).

So many similar coincidences exist in the story of Jesus and earlier Pagan Gnostic mythologies

that some scholars have suggested that Jesus never actually existed except as a literary invention of the

New Testament writers (see Freke and Gandy, 1999). It is clear that the writers of the New Testament

took bits and pieces of the actual life of Jesus and mixed them with stories borrowed from Pagan

Gnostic mythology. They turned the mortal and enlightened Gnostic Jesus into the one and only Son of

the Jewish God for purposes of converting a largely Gentile audience to the new monotheistic religion.

Thus, some scholars see this invented Jesus as a purely mythological figure (see Freke and Gandy,

1999). Indeed, until very recently, there was no solid historical or archeological evidence to support the

actual physical existence of Jesus outside of the New Testament.

The Jesus Family Tomb

In 1980, archeologists from the Israeli Antiquities Authority excavated a tomb belonging to a 1st

Century C.E. Jewish family in Jerusalem. The tomb contained 10 stone coffins (called ossuraries), all

with the bones of the deceased still inside. Six of the coffins had names inscribed on the sides, all of

them matching the names of Jesus’ family members, including Jesus himself. Because these were

common names in 1st Century C.E. Jerusalem, the archeologists concluded that the grouping of names

matching the Jesus family in a tomb was merely coincidence. Twenty-five years later, in 2005, other
 15

archeologists reconsidered the evidence, including a detailed statistical analysis of the grouping of

names in a single tomb, and came to the conclusion that it was far beyond a statistical doubt that this

was indeed the family tomb of Jesus the Nasoraean (see Jacobovici and Pelegrino, 2007). In a more

recent statistical analysis of the data, Biblical historian James Tabor (2007) has come to the conclusion

that the chances of this tomb belonging to some other Jesus besides the Nasoraean are 1 in 42 million!

This tomb and its contents are the first conclusive physical evidence for the existence of Jesus the

Nasoraean in the 1st Century C.E., and the fact that he was a mortal man who was not resurrected from

the dead, but left his mortal remains here on Earth, and did not “ascend bodily into Heaven,” as stated in

the New Testament.

Interestingly, carved over the door of Jesus’ tomb is a large chevron with a circle in the

middle. This large symbol obviously carried spiritual meaning to be carved over the door of a family

tomb. It is virtually identical to a symbol still used today by the Freemasons. The upward pointing

chevron symbolizes a stonemason’s compass or square, and the circle symbolizes The Sun. In modern

Freemasonry, this symbol signifies Gnostic enlightenment. Some scholars have argued that there is an

unbroken line of Gnostic belief and practice from Jesus the Nasoraean to the modern-day Freemasons.

In the New Testament there is evidence that Jesus was a stonemason. Most people today believe

that Jesus was a carpenter. This has resulted from a mistranslation of the Greek word tekton in the New

Testament. Tekton means “builder” in Greek. Architekton means “chief builder,” which is where we

get the English word “architect.” When the New Testament was translated from the ancient Greek into

modern European languages, the European translators assumed that a tekton in ancient Israel was using

the same materials as European builders and translated tekton as “carpenter.” Europe is a wet climate

with abundant wood supplies for building. Israel is mostly desert where builders primarily use bricks

and stones for their construction projects. The New Testament says Jesus was a tekton, as was his father
 16

Joseph. According to legend, Joseph, and therefore Jesus, was not only a direct descendant of King

David, but also of Hiram Abif, the architekton of Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem that was destroyed

by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.E., and also, the chief figure in the mythology of Freemasonry.

Ancient Middle Eastern peoples considered architecture to be a sacred science that involved

esoteric knowledge gained from mathematics, and especially geometry. Ancient scientists observed

nature and found recurring geometric patterns and formulas throughout the natural world. They deduced

that God had created the world using geometry, and they assumed that they could understand the mind

of God by understanding the mathematics and geometry that God used in the Creation. This was the

origin of ancient science—the observation of nature and its analysis by mathematics. It’s quite possible

that Jesus combined Gnosticism with ancient stonemasonry and architecture in his personal beliefs.

This is what is suggested by the large symbol over the door of his family tomb.

The Roman Catholic Church

The New Testament was written at two levels of understanding—the exoteric or outward

meaning--and the esoteric or secret meaning (see Freke and Gandy, 1999). This was done by the

Gnostic writers of the New Testament to convey a simple meaning to believers at the first level of

baptism, and to convey a deeper meaning to those who had received the secret oral teachings of the

second (pneumatic) baptism. The secret hidden meanings in the New Testament, such as that regarding

the fulfillment of the Jewish Law, were only apparent to those who had received the pneumatic (secret

oral) initiation.

The vast majority of people who were converted to Christianity only received the first baptism

by water. At this level they were taught that the story of Jesus in the New Testament was a true

history. They were not told of the secret Gnostic meanings contained in the New Testament. Only

those who received the second pneumatic baptism were told about the secret meanings contained in the
 17

stories. At the secret allegorical level, pneumatic initiates were told that Jesus’ death and resurrection

were symbolic of the death of the temporary personal self and birth of the eternal Spiritual Self. Jesus’

“virgin birth” and “resurrection” were allegories and not literally true.

Most early Christians did not learn the esoteric (secret) teachings. Instead, the exoteric

(outward) meaning became the most common understanding of Jesus. This contradiction in teachings

did not present a major problem until the 4th Century C.E. when Emperor Constantine decided to unite

the Roman Empire by promoting a common fundamentalist religion for all Roman subjects. In 325

C.E. he convened the Council of Nicaea to determine what the core theology of the new common

religion would be. It was at this Nicene Council that the exoteric (outward) teachings of Christianity

became the fundamentalist dogma of Constantine’s imperialist religion, declaring Jesus to be the one

and only “Son of God,” equivalent to the Supreme Being in the Jewish Bible [Torah]. Subsequently,

Gnostic Christianity survived mostly undisturbed until 381 C.E. (the end of the Hellenistic Period) when

Emperor Theodosius issued an imperial decree declaring exoteric (outward) Christianity to be the

Roman Catholic Church, that is, the only legal religion of the Roman Empire (see Winkelman and

Baker, 2010). By the late 4th Century C.E., Christian Gnostics had to pretend to be Roman Catholics or

be executed as heretics.

With the imperial decree establishing the Roman Catholic Church by Emperor Theodosius in

381 C.E., all of the dozens of overtly Christian Gnostic Gospels that existed by the late 4th Century

C.E. had to be destroyed or hidden, including the Gospel of Thomas, which many scholars believe to be

older than the four Gospels of the New Testament, and therefore more representative of the true

teachings of Jesus. Most scholars now believe that the 4th Century C.E. Roman Catholics banned the

Christian Gnostic Gospels and edited out all overtly Gnostic teachings in the New Testament that they

chose to include in the Christian Bible. The Christian Bible, as we know it today, was put together in
 18

the 4th Century C.E. by Roman Catholic scholars as an anthology containing ancient fundamentalist

Jewish writings—the Old Testament—and only those Christian texts edited and considered acceptable

by the fundamentalist Roman Catholic Church—the New Testament (see Erdman, 2005). Dozens of

Gnostic Gospels were banned and destroyed. The fundamentalist Catholic Church that emerged from

this essentially political process, emphasized obedience to the Roman authorities, and fear of divine

retribution for disobedience. This was a religion ideally suited to the imperialist purposes of the

emperors who wanted political control over the many different ethnic groups living in the Roman

Empire. It also instituted Christian fundamentalism as an overriding component of Western

civilization until the 18th Century Enlightenment led by the Freemasons.

Medieval Gnosticism

The Knights Templar. Shortly after the conquest of Jerusalem in 1099 C.E. by a Christian army

during the First Crusade, a group of nine knights from southern France appeared before the newly

proclaimed French King Baldwin of Jerusalem requesting an appointment as a group of knights who

would protect Christian pilgrims on their journeys from Europe to the Holy Land. They received their

appointment, and were called the Knights Templar because they were housed in the remains of King

Herod’s Temple that had been destroyed by the Romans in 70 C.E. during the Jewish-Roman War (see

Picknett and Prince, 1997).

The story of the Knights Templar is wrapped in mystery and legend. What is known about them

is that they were a sect of aristocratic knights and celibate monks who revered John the Baptist,

were highly trained in warfare, but being so few in number they could hardly protect many Christian

pilgrims, and for their first nine years in Jerusalem, did not make any effort to do so. Instead, they

excavated tunnels beneath the ruins of Herod’s Temple. Modern archeologists have explored these

tunnels and found Templar artifacts within them. According to legend, they were looking for a great
 19

treasure that was buried there by wealthy Jewish aristocrats and priests in 70 C.E., just before the city

was destroyed by the Romans. According to this legend, the wealthy aristocrats and priests who had

buried the treasure fled to southern France for safety and settled there. The Knights Templar were

supposedly their direct descendants, and knew about the buried treasure because its existence and

location had been preserved as an oral history within their families for over 1000 years. Whether this

legend bears any truth is unclear. However, when the Templars returned to Europe after nine years in

Jerusalem, they were fabulously wealthy and had the means to establish a vast network of forts and

castles stretching from Europe to Jerusalem. Besides wealth, during their time in the Middle East, the

Templars also gained advanced knowledge of architecture and civil engineering (probably from

Muslims) that enabled them to become the builders of cathedrals. The Templars became the financiers

and builders of the great Gothic cathedrals of the High Middle Ages in Europe (e.g., Chartres, Notre

Dame).

The Knights Templar are also central to this story because they were practicing Gnosticism.

Scholars disagree about the origins of the Templars’ Gnosticism. Some suggest that they learned

Gnosticism from remnants of Gnostic groups who had survived in the Middle East (e.g., the Mandaeans)

more or less underground since the time of the early Christians. Others suggest that Gnosticism was

preserved as a secret family tradition within the Templars’ own families since fleeing from Israel in the

1st Century C.E. It is known that Jesus had followers among the Jewish priesthood. Joseph of

Arimathea was a wealthy Jewish priest and early follower of Jesus who lived in Jerusalem. Joseph of

Arimathea’s family tomb may have been recently found by archeologists directly next to the Jesus

Family Tomb in Jerusalem (see Tabor and Jacobovici, 2012). In any case, after returning to Europe in

the early 12th Century C.E., there was a tremendous growth of Gnostic Christianity in southern France

and northern Italy where the Templars were primarily headquartered.

 20

The Cathars. The Cathars (from Greek katharoi = the Pure Ones) were a large group of

Gnostics who largely inhabited the same areas in Europe where the Knights Templar were

headquartered. This overlap in space and time could be mere coincidence. The origin of the Cathars’

Gnosticism is shrouded in mystery. In their beliefs and practices, they were essentially identical to

ancient Middle Eastern Gnostics (e.g., Mandaeans). They had three levels of baptism, were vegetarians,

universalists, believers in non-violence, believed in reincarnation, and a Divine Mother, practiced gender

equality, and communal sharing, revered John the Baptist, and rejected the Catholic Mass because it

was the re-enactment of a human sacrifice. They rejected the Catholic doctrine of the Holy Trinity, or

Jesus as the one and only “Son of God.” Instead, they promoted the idea of the Holy Grail.

The story told to the non-initiated about the Holy Grail is that it was the cup used by Jesus

during the Last Supper. But this was only a story told to make it sound Roman Catholic. However,

even this story was objectionable to the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, because the story implied that

true salvation only came from finding the Holy Grail. The Catholic Church offered the blood and body

of Christ everyday in the Catholic Mass, so the idea that one needed to go on a quest to find the Holy

Grail to achieve salvation was an insult to the Catholic Church, and a rejection of the Catholic Mass.

In reality, the Holy Grail referred to the grades or levels of initiation (from Old French graal,

from Medieval Latin gradalis) found in the medieval Cathar religion itself. The story of the Holy Grail

is an allegory referring to how one goes on a quest to achieve enlightenment through the process of

Gnostic initiations, thereby gaining Spiritual Wisdom (sophia) from a Divine Mother. Tarot Cards,

which appeared in France during this period, are visual symbols describing this Gnostic quest, and are

most likely of Cathar origin. The card representing the Gnostic enlightenment in the Tarot deck is the

“The World.”
 21

Catharism was spreading so rapidly in southern France and northern Italy during the 12th and

13th centuries C.E. that the Catholic Church launched the Albigensian Crusade (named after the town

of Albi in southern France) to wipe out the Cathars. The Albigensian Crusade began in 1207 and lasted

until 1229. Tens of thousands of the non-violent Cathar men, women and children were slaughtered by

a Catholic army during this period (see Winkelman and Baker, 2010).

The Knights Templar were not targeted by the Catholics during the Albigensian Crusade

(probably because they were still a powerful military order), but a century later the Christian Crusades in

the Holy Land had ended and the Templars’ military prowess had atrophied. In 1307 the Pope declared

the Templars to be heretics and ordered their arrest, torture, and execution. On October 13, 1307

(Friday the 13th), most of the Knights Templar were arrested. They were officially disbanded by the

Pope seven years later in 1314.

The Freemasons

Not all of the Knights Templar were arrested and executed as heretics. Some of them escaped

the Catholic authorities and fled to Scotland. The King of Scotland had recently been excommunicated

by the Pope, so Scotland was a relatively safe place for the remaining Templars to hide from the Church.

Most scholars now believe that the Templars used their knowledge of architecture and civil engineering

to blend into the local Scottish stonemason guilds. For the next three hundred years, from the 14th to

the 17th Centuries, they were practicing stonemasons, while still keeping alive their secret tradition of

Gnosticism. They hid their three-level Gnostic initiations by calling them “Apprentice,” “Journeyman,”

and “Master” masons. They were called free-masons because they were free to travel to job sites,

unlike the serfs of that time who were not allowed to travel without the permission of their local

aristocracy.
 22

In the 17th Century, the Scottish free-masons, who were secretly Gnostics, began to leave the

craft of stonemasonry (operative masonry) and became middle-class gentlemen, still maintaining their

Gnostic practices (speculative masonry). Gentlemen’s clubs called Freemason Lodges were first

opened in the 17th Century, and the first Freemason Grand Lodge was opened in London in 1717.

Gnosticism and Founding Fathers

Eighteenth Century Freemasonry is important to Americans and the establishment of democracy

and freedom of religion in America, because many of the Founding Fathers, including George

Washington, Benjamin Franklin, James Madison (author of the U.S. Constitution), John Hancock, Paul

Revere, and others, were Freemasons. The guarantee of religious freedom in the U.S. Constitution is a

direct expression of their Gnostic Universalism, and a rejection of the Christian fundamentalism that

was at the center of Western civilization since the late 4th Century C.E.

The symbol the Founding Fathers chose for the Great Seal of the United States (on the dollar

bill) is a symbol of Gnostic enlightenment traceable back to ancient Egyptian Gnosticism. The capital

city of the United States, Washington, D.C., is filled with Gnostic symbolism, from the layout of the city

streets, based on sacred geometry, to the Washington Monument (an Egyptian obelisk) representing

Gnostic enlightenment at its center, to the many monuments and buildings patterned after Pagan Greek

and Roman temples (see Mann, 2006). For example, The Jefferson Memorial is a replica of The

Pantheon in Rome, a Pagan temple dedicated to the worship of all the gods (pantheon). Inside the

Rotunda of the Capitol Building is a giant mural entitled The Apotheosis of Washington, depicting

George Washington becoming a god (apotheosis), surrounded by Roman gods and goddesses including

Mercury, Minerva, Ceres, Flora, Pomona, and Neptune. Standing atop the Capitol Building is a statue

of the Pagan Goddess of Freedom dressed as a Native American princess. The Capitol Building, the
 23

White House, and the Washington Monument themselves appear to be arranged as a kind of tribute to

the Divine Mother, in that they mimic the arrangement of stars in the constellation Virgo (The Virgin).

If you look at a photo of the National Mall in Washington, taken from the sky, you will see the

shape of a giant vulva, representing the Divine Mother. The small circle at the top of the Reflecting

Pool represents the clitoris; the Reflecting Pool represents the labia; and the large circle surrounding the

Lincoln Memorial represents the vaginal opening. This shape represents the Cosmic Vulva or Divine

Mother who provides Enlightenment through being Born Again to those who practice Gnostic religions,

including the Freemasons.

The Freemasons certainly have a sense of humor. They secretly put a Cosmic Vulva right in the

center of Washington, D.C. without telling anyone. It’s there if you have the eyes to see it (I’m sure

some joker will come along and nickname it the Federal P***y). Washington can logically be described

as a city dedicated to the Divine Mother, a Pagan Goddess.

Many scholars now believe that the founding of the United States was a product of Masonic

Gnosticism. And the continued success of American democracy, uniting disparate peoples from all

corners of the Earth, who have managed to live with each other, mostly in peace, is directly attributable

to the Founders’ unshakable belief in religious universalism, and rejection of fundamentalism.

Of course, there are some notable exceptions in American history, like the genocide of the

Native Americans, the slavery of African Americans, and the continuing systemic racism in the United

States. But the Founders should at least be given credit for establishing the philosophical foundation for

a future in which all Americans are truly seen as being created equal, and endowed by their Creator with

certain unalienable rights, including freedom of religion.

The imperialism of the Roman emperors perverted the original Gnostic Christian message of

peace and unity, and unleashed the violence and hatred of religious fundamentalism onto the entire
 24

Western world, which still haunts us to this day. Unfortunately, remnants of religious fundamentalism

still motivate hatred and conflict in America, the Middle East, and elsewhere. Fundamentalists equate

various forms of religious discrimination with holiness. Some Jewish, Christian, and Muslim

fundamentalists even call for perpetual war until the entire world can be cleansed of non-believers.

From the Gnostic perspective, religious fundamentalists claim to be devoutly spiritual, but lack any true

spiritual knowledge. This is what Jesus saw in the hypocritical fundamentalists of his own time.

A government based on religious fundamentalism in a society with disparate religions

automatically establishes a system of discrimination that privileges one religion over the others. This

makes that society politically unstable. Those modern-day Americans who call for the establishment of

a national government based on Christian fundamentalism betray the original vision of the Founding

Fathers, and sow the seeds of political discord, division, and conflict.

By adopting the religious universalism of the Pagan Gnostics, Jesus and his followers were able

to accept Romans, the military occupiers of their homeland, as their spiritual brothers and sisters,

because they had direct experience of a deeper spiritual unity among all peoples. This was Jesus’

message of peace and unity, inspired by the spiritual enlightenment gained through Gnosticism. It is the

religious universalism of the pre-Christian Pagan Gnostics, taught by Jesus, preserved by medieval

Gnostics, in spite of persecution and mass murder, and bequeathed to us by the Freemasons, that has

allowed the American democratic form of government to persevere. Hopefully this message will never

be lost.

For Further Reading

Baigent, M. (2006). The Jesus Papers: Exposing the Greatest Cover-up in History. San Francisco:
HarperCollins.
 25

Butz, J.J. (2010). The Secret Legacy of Jesus: The Judaic Teachings that Passed from James the Just to
the Founding Fathers. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions.

Castillo, R.J. (1990). Depersonalization and Meditation. Psychiatry, 53, pp. 158-168.

Castillo, R.J. (1991). Divided Consciousness and Enlightenment in Hindu Yogis. Anthropology of
Consciousness, 2, pp. 1-6.

Castillo, R.J., & Shapiro, S.I. (1986). Mind, Phallus, and the Transpersonal Self: The Yogic Symbolism
of the Linga in the Mythology of Shiva. Studia Mystica, 9, pp. 59-66.

Ehrman, B.D. (2005). Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why. San
Francisco: HarperCollins.

Freke, T., & Gandy, P. (1999). The Jesus Mysteries: Was the “Original Jesus” a Pagan God? New
York: Three Rivers Press.

Jacobovicci, S. & Pellegrino, C. (2007). The Jesus Family Tomb: The Discovery, the Investigation, and
the Evidence that Could Change History. San Francisco: HarperCollins.

Mann, N. R. (2006). The Sacred Geometry of Washington, D.C. New York: Green River.

Picknett, L., & Prince, C. (1997). The Templar Revelation: Secret Guardians of the True Identity of
Christ. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Tabor, J.D. (2007). The Jesus Dynasty: The Hidden History of Jesus, His Royal Family, and the Birth
of Christianity. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Tabor, J.D. & Jacobovici, S. (2012). The Jesus Discovery: The New Archaeological Find That Reveals
the Birth of Christianity. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Winkelman, M., & Baker, J.R. (2010). Supernatural as Natural: A Biocultural Approach to Religion.
Chapter 1: Anthropology and the Study of Religion (pp. 5-30). Chapter 3: Consciousness and Spiritual
Experiences (pp. 60-87). Chapter 10: Supernatural Evil (pp. 270-296). Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Prentice Hall.

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