{"id":97722,"date":"2026-09-04T10:10:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T15:10:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=97722"},"modified":"2026-09-04T10:10:46","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T15:10:46","slug":"an-ancient-heresy-is-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/an-ancient-heresy-is-back\/","title":{"rendered":"An Ancient Heresy Is Back"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\tby Dr. Thaxter Dickey<br \/>\nvia\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@watchinlight\"><em>InLight Media<\/em><\/a>\n<p>Some of today&#8217;s most popular spiritual ideas are actually just ancient ideas wearing new clothes.<\/p>\n<p>In this video, we explore the connection between ancient Gnosticism and modern spirituality-and why the New Testament warns Christians about ideas that elevate private spiritual experience, secret knowledge, intuition, and inner enlightenment above Scripture, obedience, and the life of the church.<\/p>\n<p>Gnosticism taught that special knowledge (*gnosis*) could lead to salvation and that the spiritual world was superior to the physical. At the heart of this worldview was a dangerous division between spirit and body. The result was a spirituality in which what a person believed or experienced internally could matter more than how they actually lived.<\/p>\n<p>But the Bible gives us a radically different test. The Christian life isn&#8217;t merely about what we know, feel, or experience inside. To know Christ is to walk in the light, keep His commandments, love our brothers and sisters, and live faithfully in the world God created.<\/p>\n<p>In this video, Dr. Thaxter Dickey examines how the Gnostic spirit can appear in modern Christianity and the wider spiritual marketplace-and offers practical, biblical solutions to combat the latest manifestation of this ancient false doctrine.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"An Ancient Heresy Is Back\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xrWC1mCGGZs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Dr. Thaxter Dickey via\u00a0InLight Media Some of today&#8217;s most popular spiritual ideas are actually just ancient ideas wearing new clothes. In this video, we explore the connection between ancient Gnosticism and modern spirituality-and why the New Testament warns Christians about ideas that elevate private spiritual experience, secret knowledge, intuition, and inner enlightenment above Scripture,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1488],"tags":[1663,546,591],"class_list":["post-97722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-video","tag-experience","tag-feelings","tag-gnosticism"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":17168,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/reflections-on-the-gospel-of-judas\/","url_meta":{"origin":97722,"position":0},"title":"Reflections on the &#8220;Gospel of Judas&#8221;","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 21, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by\u00a0Ethan R. Longhenry While\u00a0The Da Vinci Code mania continues to develop and grow throughout the world and while \"other gospels\" and \"alternative Christianities\" have become popular, we now see revealed to us yet another \"lost gospel,\" the Gospel of Judas. The National Geographic Society has done a good job of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/12\/Holding-a-Bible.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":39199,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-new-gnosticism-intellectualism\/","url_meta":{"origin":97722,"position":1},"title":"The New Gnosticism: Intellectualism","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 11, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffery Kingry via\u00a0Truth Magazine, March 22, 1979 The Gnosticism of the first century, which gave the apostles and teachers so much trouble, was a religion, not a philosophy. It was grounded in Dualism, a view that the state of man was divided; that only spiritual things were good, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":26999,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-are-the-gnostics\/","url_meta":{"origin":97722,"position":2},"title":"Who Are the Gnostics?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 7, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Ethan R. Longhenry In recent years a strong interest has arisen in \"alternative\" religions, and Gnosticism has received interest as an \"alternative\" to \"orthodox Christianity\". The recent success of Dan Brown's novel\u00a0The Da Vinci Code\u00a0has popularized this trend. The book speaks regarding \"over eighty gospels\" that were not chosen\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17172,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-gospel-of-judas-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":97722,"position":3},"title":"The Gospel of Judas?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 21, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Ron Lehde Tonight (April 9, 2006) the National Geographic Magazine is scheduled to present a television program that deals with an ancient work known as \u201cThe Gospel of Judas\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0It is a 26-page manuscript (ca. AD 300) that is a Coptic translation of a Greek manuscript that is at least\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/12\/Gospel-of-Judas-389px-Codex-Tchacos-p33.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":17662,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-was-paul-referring-to-when-he-talked-about-endless-genealogies\/","url_meta":{"origin":97722,"position":4},"title":"What was Paul referring to when he talked about endless genealogies?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 2, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In reading Albert Barnes' Notes on I Timothy, he talks about genealogies which are referring to the verse I Timothy 1:4 \"nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith.\" Albert Barnes states that the Hebrews\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":90755,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/profile-of-the-new-age-movement\/","url_meta":{"origin":97722,"position":5},"title":"Profile of the New Age Movement","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 26, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Warren E. Berkley via Guardian of Truth Definition Built on the assumption that we are all divine beings with supernatural potential, the New Age Movement asserts that through knowledge, enlightenment, and meditation, we can discover our own divinity. Then, in concert with other \"enlightened ones,\" we can create a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Notes&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Notes","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/notes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97722"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97722\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97725,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97722\/revisions\/97725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}