The Gospel of Judas and the Gospel of Bush

"The Gospel of Judas" is in the news, from The New York Times to Pravda. I did not watch last night's National Geographic Channel program on The Gospel of Judas. I was reading LewRockwell's Blog instead. I have read two or three other writers on "The Gospel of Judas," including Jon Christian Ryter and Richard N. Ostling. A good post is found at NewsBusters.org

The first thing that strikes me about mainstream media (MSM) coverage is the seriousness with which "The Gospel of Judas" (GJ) is reported. The NYT says that "The text gives new insights into the relationship of Jesus and the disciple who betrayed him, scholars reported today." GJ is given more historical credibility than the four Biblical gospels, as though the reports of GJ are probably true, whereas the reports of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are probably not.

The influential Christian bishop Irenaeus, in his treatise Against Heresies, written in A.D. 180, denounced the Gospel of Judas as the product of a gnostic sect called the Cainites (Book 1, ch. 31, para. 1.). The Cainites believed they were descendants of Cain, who murdered Abel, and in the great conflicts of Biblical history, the Cainites side with Cain (obviously), Esau (who sold his birthright for "a mess of pottage") rather than Jacob, the Sodomites rather than Lot, and Judas rather than Jesus. Obviously these Cainites were full of "new insights."

The parallels between the Cainites and the Neo-conservatives are legion. The Gnostic Cainites believed Jesus was undermining "the rule of law" so to speak. Gnostics believed God did a lousy job of creating the world, but with their superior intellect and knowledge of hidden secrets, the Gnostics could re-order the cosmos. The Bush Administration knows "true" Democracies when they see them, and their superior wisdom gives them the right to overthrow "democratically-elected" governments if they fail to meet the standards of neo-con gnosis ("hidden knowledge"). James Bovard writes about the great irony of Bush efforts to "promote democracy":

The U.S. government is currently spending more than a billion dollars a year on democracy promotion [Bovard here speaks of propaganda, bribing media, etc., not the half-trillion that will be spent "establishing democracy" through the War on Iraq]. Yet Bush’s policies have subverted elected governments, corrupted foreign elections, and tainted democracy itself.

Bush often talks as if elections are sacred events which automatically confer vast blessings upon a nation. Yet, last June, Bush effectively urged Iranians not to vote, deriding their pending presidential election for ignoring “the basic requirements of democracy.” Bush declared that the elections will be “sadly consistent with this oppressive record” of the Iranian government. U.S.-financed television and radio stations, broadcasting in Farsi, also effectively urged a boycott of the election.

The U.S. government’s actions contributed to the defeat of Mohammad Khatami, a comparatively moderate reformer, and the victory of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , a fire-breathing hardliner. Ahmadinejad’s subsequent comments on Israel, the Holocaust, and other subjects sound almost Hollywood-scripted to help Washington persuade other nations that the Iranian government and its nuclear program must be suppressed at any cost.

It is unclear whether the Bush administration honestly wants to advance democracy in Iran - or whether it is merely creating another pretext to start bombing. But perhaps the rhetoric has all been a ruse. Perhaps invoking “democracy” is simply a smokescreen in pursuit of the NeoConservative goal of “benevolent global hegemony.”

Too many Americans support the new gnostic hegemony because they are not Libertarians, and do not reject the institutionalization of the initiation of force. The messianic leaders of "The Cult of the Omnipotent State" seek to supplant the teachings of Jesus in the minds of the masses, and they have made great progress.

Paul's first letter to Timothy deals with Cainitic ideas: "fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith" (1:4). Paul was like a Nazi who converted and joined the Jewish underground (1:13). (I am reminded of Paul Craig Roberts, former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan Administration, now a forceful critic of government -- only the Apostle Paul was a violent man, a murderer, who became a follower of the Prince of Peace, The One executed by the cult which the Apostle formerly followed.) Paul repudiated violence, and told us to pray for the Bush regime (2:1-6). We cannot overthrow the cult of violence using more violence.

The Bible tells us that the institution of violence, the cult which we call "the State," was the creation of the Cainites, whose "Gospel of Judas" is now being touted by the "MSCM" -- Mainstream Cainite Media. I have explored the Cainitic roots of the State in Appendix B of my website, The Death Penalty Debate.