Landmarkism or Baptist Successionism is ‘hot on the trail’ of something yet not taken seriously perhaps because of the ‘gnosticism’ label of some groups. The original texts of The Quran were to convert Persian Manichaean type gnostics into Acts 15 Messianic Noahides. Such information and term ‘gnostic’ should inspire one to examine the same perjorative slung at Paulicians, Bogomills, Abigensians, and mainly Cathars going back into late antiquity.
The litmus test for a gnostic: did they believe that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was evil and the serpent was good? If yes, it was a form of pagan gnosticism not Jewish. Or even to a lessor degree deny The Tanakh or Hebrew scripture’s god of a ‘text only’ religion of the Saducees and successive Kairites. Thus the oral tradition and its Oral Torah significance for the obedience of faith in terms of being righteous through revelation.
Although united to Jews under the umbrella of Orthodox Judaism, Messianic Noahides observing Noahide Judaism throughout the aeon, whether as Paulician Taziganoi, Cozlones or Bogomils, have been more dualistic than Jews. This is because it is safer and easier for the ex-gnostic, ex-pagan and ex-apostate to avoid evil under the concept of what Paul calls “ὁ Θεὸς τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου” which translates into English as “the god of this aeon”. We struggle not against flesh and blood.
Only the Pharisaical Episcopy is considered protected from the god of this aeon due to extra diligence in obverving all of the Mitzvot of the Torah. Of course, those who fail in extra diligence (mortification and vivafication in Christ) are just as susceptible to his deceptions as anyone else. The god of this age is the Yetzer HaRa, the Archon of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil with which mankind has been imprisoned ever since the Fall from Grace.
For this reason Messianic Noahides regard Yeshua Sar haPanim as having his own Edenic flesh not having used anything of this world except as one might wear clothing. This Miaphysite view has been mockingly reduced to Docetism by those opposed to Messianic Noahides.
This spiritual divide of a textual religion from observation and the obedience of faith is an important distinction, but how these group framed the spiritual world often sealed their fate before the religious authorities. Thus ‘pseudognostics,’ as those mentioned in the ‘Trail of Blood’ were simply called ‘dualists,’ but were really simple Messianic Noahides and with no affirmation from Christendom and subject to relentless persecution.
👉 Noah the Baptist
