Here’s the link to Jehovah Unmasked: The True Identity of the Bible-God Revealed.  Such an eye-opener: describes the Key of Gnosis that Jesus came to give us, solves the Problem of Evil, shows the role of women in the early church as priests and bishops, Magdalene as Yeshua’s spouse and teaching partner, Sophia in the Old Testament, is a primer on REAL gnosticism, not that world-loathing flesh-hating gnosticism you have read about. Â
Jehovah Unmasked’s main premise is that the nasty, vengeful people-killing god in the Old Testament, “Jehovah” is not the loving God-the-Father Jesus came from. He is really Satan and/or the Demiurge especially when he sends “lying spirits of God to deceive the people” thru his prophets, and so forth. Â Half the time the Old Testament god is really Satan or Ialdobaoth, not the benevolent non-violent God who is All-Mother Sophia’s other half. Jesus himself told us this world is ruled by the Prince of Darkness and remember that’s why Satan had the “authority” to test Jesus and try to break him down — because Jesus had come to Satan’s turf to try to rescue (“save”) us. More about the good god and bad god all confused with one another at the link above. (Yes, it IS dualism, but it’s a good read and I like it, so there).
A verse the author quotes about everything making sense when we realize which I like:
“I am now at Home, spiritually, though I remain a pilgrim and a stranger in this world.†(Hebrews 11:13)
The author points out the fact that so many Westerners leave Christianity for reconstructed pagan religions, Eastern religions like Buddhism, Zen or Meditation / Vedanta from India.  He says:  “There is no reason to jettison your culture and embrace foreign religions to find spiritual Reality.  Gnostic Christianity is the inward, esoteric, mystical spirituality that so many Westerners are seeking in Far Eastern religions.  You can find spiritual Reality in the midst of Christianity.â€
Here is a short excerpt from the chapter entitled, GOD THE MOTHER
The Gnostic Christians took both God the Mother and God the Father into their hearts, and knew the fullness of Health or “Soteria,” and so should you. Translating “Soteria” as “salvation” usually obscures the real meaning, which is Health. Â See Strong’s Greek Lexicon #4991. Â “For the Jerusalem Above is free, and She is our Mother.” Â Galations 4:26. Â
….
Its quite plain these “church fathers” were full of themselves and … had real power and used it to suppress all feminine descriptions of the Divine as well as to suppress women in general. Â … This quote from the so-called “father of the Latin Church,” Tertullian (155-230 A.D.), serves as an example: Â “These heretical females! How uppity they are! Lacking any modesty they’re audacious enough to heal the sick, debate, catechize, exorcize and possibly even baptize!” (From “On Prescription Against Heretics“)Â
There is a lot of info in this book like that and all so nicely presented, easy to read, I flew thru the book and I am a very busy woman. Hah. Jehovah Unmasked is only $15.24 at Amazon here and you can read inside the book. Â The Table of Contents with its chapter titles is interesting in itself. Â Â
…Just call me one of those audacious heretic females. Â Sheesh.
Katia
Hi Katia
I can find nothing to disagree with. It is good to see others speaking their truth.
Love, peace and joy
Leon
Hi Katia,
You made me laugh! Yes you are one of those audacious heretic females! Keep it goin!
Regarding the piece you posted…the Gnostic idea that everything that is negative here on Earth is because of Satan, is somewhat akin to the evangelical Christian view of Satan as an external power that is responsible for everything negative that challenges us. It does offer a logical explanation of evil that the mind can grab hold of, that answers questions about the reason for, or the source of evil.
For me, while this myth creates a resolution and presents a story that offers an idea of where to place blame, it is quite a different myth compared to my ‘internal myth,’ which I have to admit is of course completely subjective. I see our ‘Everlasting Source’ as completely inclusive. So, for me, even the Gnostic concept of a separate evil ‘God’ would still reside within that ‘Everlasting Source,’ having descended in some way from it rather that being in opposition to it. But the thing is, that I don’t see what we call ‘evil’ as separate from the Creation.
I tend to gravitate to the idea that I will understand the reason for what we call ‘evil,’ after I pass on, after I enter the Limitless Light. Even though the world has been a sometimes painful place, there is much beauty and goodness that I hold on to. I retain the desire to wait to have full understanding about good and evil, to wait until after I leave my body.
It is true that our anger at the unfairness of certain things in life, is answered by the Gnostic myth that you quoted from, but I somehow prefer to press on and try to learn to enact the good things Jesus taught us, regardless of circumstance. It isn’t always easy and sometimes I fail, but I’ve got a hold of him now and he’s got a hold of me. His love is very strong, very powerful, and he always brings me back to the Path of Love.
This could ostensibly fit into the God of Love aspect of the Gnostic myth, but I still feel that its HOW me meet our challenges, how we confront and deal with negativity, that matters more than where we place the blame.
The good news is that In either ‘myth’ we can still hold tight to the God of Love!
Still “in school,”
Love,
Jennifer Reif
“The Holy Book of Mary Magdalene”
PS… “Part II” response:
REGARDING THE OLD TESTAMENT GOD
Hi again Katia,
Regarding the dark parts of the Old Testament God, I’ve long seen the dark stuff (the angry, punishing, judgemental God) as the work of the patriarchal ‘Old Testament’ scribes themselves, individual men who sought to control the population with fear, and to bring them in line with the “One God” of Moses, and to also (as a secondary goal) purposefully steer them away from the Goddess Asherah.
So I suppose this means that when the Gnostic myth identifies the evil aspects of the Old Testament God, as really being the ‘other’ or ‘bad’ God, I tend to cling to an alternate view. I see those darker aspects as the same darkness that lived inside the guys that were the writers, the ones that wrote down the myths, the stories, and the teachings in the Old Testament.
I mean, heavens, they wrote down the words, “Thou Shalt Not Kill,” and then proceeded to write about all of the times that it was acceptable, even advisable, to kill someone.
What’s so astounding is how people who revere the Old Testament fully, can find ways to rationalize into acceptability, its darkest parts. But of course here we are talking about it and so some of us certainly do see differently!
Love,
Jennifer Reif
Zdrastui Katia–I found your link at the Magdalene Line group. Thanks for the info. Having read TEO and TBOL, I will find Jehovah Unmasked. Good words in your blog but as always with humans it comes down to actions, which are usually lacking. I look for the day when women and men will be equal in love.
–Robert
Zdrastvi to you as well, Robert. And spasiba for checking out my blog. I hear ya about actions speaking louder than words. Here’s something I just read in Jehovah Unmasked:
“Catholic Christians with a patriarchal anti-female political agenda, persecuted those who would dare to speak or write of God in feminine terms.”
Even though Jesus in the Gospel of the Hebrews, refers to “My Mother the Holy Spirit” and many many early writings called her a “She”.
Hippolytus, a Roman Catholic priest and theologian of the 2nd Century A.D., quoted an early group of Gnostics, disciples of Mary Magdalene, referring to God the Mother and God the Father: “To You, Mother Divine, and to You, Father Divine, the Deathless Ones, the ones who beget the Divine Essence, we pray.”
–Hippolytus, Ref. 5.6.
For a long time this disparity between the sexes has been going on, but now She is awakening in the free countries of the West at least. We’ve come a long way baby we can say, and hopefully soon our sisters in Muslim bondage will be able to say the same.
–Katia
Dear Katia,
I enjoy your blog very much and ever since I was a little girl I have ALWAYS prayed “…to Dearest Father/Mother God…”
In God’s Perfect Love ALWAYS,
rosemary
Hello Katia, and friends…
Katia, you are one brave woman…I admire you for your stand. ..for the truth that is finally being revealed from darkness.
As the old saying goes: “the best man for the job…just may be a woman!!!”
Also, in Russian, there is an expression: “The man is the “head”……but the woman is the neck which turns the head!”
Keep on “turning” – and may you have many others behind you!.
Katia, I found your blog while I was searching for info re: Jehovah Unmasked. Please help me if you can. I’ve been searching for the alleged newer edition of the book. Both Lulu Press (the current publisher) and amazon.com sites specify the current edition as 204 pages, published by Lulu 2006 November. But every marketplace seller on amazon seems to be selling a 195 page 2005 edition (even by the previous publisher MoonTemplePress). I’ve seen the earlier edition. I ordered the alleged 2006 updated edition from amazon, but they sent me the 2005 MoonTemplePress edition, while I returned. Have you seen the Lulu 2006 edition? Do you know how I can get a copy? (Lulu is a print-on-demand service, and they do not answer emails, nor do they have any customer service, so I cannot get any verification from them.) Thanks for your time. Peace, Larry
Greetings!
Thank you +Katia for such a grand review of my first book, Jehovah Unmasked. I have not read all of the responses, but I’ve read a couple of them and wish to respond.
It is true that the OT is the result of the Yahwist, Elohist, Deuteronomic, and Priestly authors, the so-called Documentary Hypothesis. The authors were indeed patriarchal, often extremely so. However, even if no scripture in any culture had ever been written, Evil is still the universal human experience. It’s easy to say “All is One” if you are healthy, well off and well fed, and your children have not been assaulted by pederasts, or murdered by psychopaths. In other words, Evil still cries out for an explanation even in the absence of any patriarchs and their ravings. Talking about the patriarchal origin of El and Yahweh is simply a dodge unless one tackles Evil openly, realistically, and honestly. Monism is not the answer. If both Good and Evil proceed from the same Source, I have no desire to interact with such a Source. It is a schizophrenic, a very bizarre character indeed. No thanks.
It’s also easy to speak flowery Monistic words such as “All is One” or “Evil is just the absence of good” or other such superficial New Age nonsense. I assure you that a little girl being kidnapped, beaten, tortured, sodomized, raped, strangled, and dismembered is NOT the victim of a mere “absence of good.” SHE IS THE VICTIM OF EVIL! To tell me such an act proceeds from God or from “the absence of good” is to make me an enemy of God and of good. My sister Ronda was beaten bloody, raped, sodomized, and she died of a heart attack shortly thereafter. I could offer other personal tragedies involving Evil. Until one has experienced Evil one can speak such New Age things mentioned above.
The lie of Monism is the basis of the superstition, suffering and ignorance that India is chained to. If you read the oldest Buddhist scriptures, the Dhammapada (Part of the Tipitaka, or Three Baskets) you will see that Gotama was an out-and-out Dualist. Nirvana and Samsara are contrasted and differentiated in the strongest possible terms and imagery. Gotama said that after his death his Dhamma/Dharma would become corrupt. He was correct. It took only several centuries for Mahayana Buddhism to arise and begin to teach Monism. The Lie of all spiritual lies.
I am a Buddhist priest, though no longer practicing, so I have some knowledge of the subject matter. I have more than my share of personal experience with Evil and it is not a mere neutral “absence of good.” Evil is an active principle of Malevolence, and I pray that you never encounter it as I have. You will either collapse as some members of my family have, or you will embrace the reality that Evil is no mere “flip side of the coin of good.” If “God” has such a “flip side” I will never bow before such a being. I can fear and loathe such a being, but not love it.
For those who wish to retreat from this messy arena of reality, I can tell you that I too was once a Monist. I too had been sucked into the lie. I am a well fed, well off American. Such spiritual superficiality came as easily to me as any other well-fed healthy Monist. It takes an attack from Evil, the active principle of intelligent active Malevolence to shake one out of Monism. I assure you that survivors of Hitlers holocaust do not think of Evil as “the flip side of good” or “the absence of good” or any such other evasive descriptions I have read in New Age books and web sites. The holocaust survivors have looked Evil in its horrific face and they have genuine experiential knowledge of Evil. So have I, and I do not speak merely of what happened to my sister Ronda, I speak of my own physical and spiritual attacks from Evil.
Dualism takes courage and strength. It’s hard to take a thoroughgoing Dualist stand in this world. The world hunts down and kills all true Dualists, or absorbs them back into Monism.
I challenge the readers to…read Jehovah Unmasked. I go much more into detail with the problems arising from Monism than I do here. Like you, my time is limited, and I have already written what I have to say.
Thank you again +Katia for such a grand review.
Namaste,
Nathaniel J. Merritt
Fellow travellers,
I have been given much spiritual insight through powerful dreams. On the subject of evil, I had a dream once where an ‘angel’ (or light being) showed me a black whirlpool of energy, into which humans and some animals were being absorbed. A seductive, seemingly attractive and exciting energy was dragging them into a vortex of violent behaviour, e.g. domination of the weak, sexual- slavery, crime, war, pornography based on cruelty, prostitution, drugs, disease, death, imprisonment, etc.
It was a real energy, for when I moved forward to look closer, the ‘angel ‘ warned me not to go any further, or I could be caught. I was witnessing an actual dark force in a crime-ridden city area, into which hapless people were being sucked in. I could describe it as an astral/ thought energy, like a sticky spider’s web of deceit.
I feel that such energy vortexes can be contagious, especially when fanned by group hysteria, or mass brain-washing by dictators, or negative media. The Bible personifies it as Satan, while the psychologist Dr. Carl Jung called it the Collective Shadow.
I see it as a collective, subconscious, primitive energy, fuelled by the base nature or ego-bound ignorance. From this experience, I felt that it was certainly a real force to be aware of and avoided. We are all affected at times by this Shadow-side of evolution and knowing how substantial the influence is, has helped me to understand the nature of evil. It is often present in violent films, video games and crime-obsessed television. (Parents and media presenters in particular, need to be keenly aware of this.)
Fortunately I have also experienced the power of God or the Divine to transcend evil. For once when I was caught up in an obsession with somebody, I unexpectedly merged with the power aspect of the Divine or the Great Light. This was when I was deeply contemplating a new to me Buddhist concept ‘that the Buddha or the Universal Self is within’. Spontaneously and naturally, I entered such a state of being and immediately thought of what Jesus had said about ‘faith moving mountains’ — finding it to be surprisingly true. While in this state, I looked for my ‘problem relationship’ and at first could not see anything. Then I finally ‘found it’. It was a small ant which I symbolically flicked aside. After this, my actions proved the validity of the experience, when overnight, I no longer felt any negative attachment and ended the whole affair. Therefore, I have experienced both the real power of collective evil and at least once, a powerful transcendence of anger and individual obsessive behaviour. If I can experience this, anyone can.
Wishing you all the power to forge a path of truth and courage,
from a follower of the Tao of Balance.
Indeed you are a heretic, but all of us who see the truth are considered heretics. Wasn’t our master Jehashuah considered a heretic as well?
SO………LONG LIFE TO ALL HERETICS!
i looked on amazon and the price is approximately 59.00 not what you stated in your article oh well i won’t be getting that any time soon! My son and i are very interested int the book tho’ so where there is a will there is usually a way!
Dear Ingrid: You are right, there is a way. The author has generously given my seminary/church permission to distribute the pdf version of his book. Email me and I will send you the copy.
+Katia
Please send me the pdf version of the book : Jehovah Unmasked : the True Identitity of the Bible-God Revealed.
Thank you!
I would add to this pitting of dualism against monism the very interesting website of the Light of the Spirit Monastery in New Mexico: http://ocoy.org. I have spent years not only in actively studying and practicing various modes of Christianity, but as a resident in a Zen meditation center and in studying and practicing Vedanta, and my very strong inclination is that these monks have discovered the uniting thread between East and West. Abbot George’s book of commentary on the Gospel of Thomas is extraordinary. This is a very extensive website, but everything on it is extremely well presented and substantiated — a cursory review will serve no useful purpose other than to reinforce one’s own predispositions.
I am looking for a reasonably priced copy of Jehovah Unmasked by Nathaniel Merritt. Amazon is beyond my budget. If not, would appreciate anyone who could send the PDF version.
Many thanks.