Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Progressive Christian
INNER CIRCLE: Powers of Darkness

INNER CIRCLE: Powers of Darkness

Last updated on: April 18, 2025 at 3:51 pm by Keith Giles

0 Comments

INNER CIRCLE: Powers of Darkness 2025-04-18T15:51:42+00:00 Keith Giles

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

“The high spiritual powers [Archons] wanted to deceive humanity, because they saw that humanity had a kinship with the Divine. [So] they took the name of those that are good and gave it to those that are not good, making words deceptive and joining them to what is without being and without goodness. They alienate with simulations and appearances, making a free person into a slave. These harmful powers [Archons] do not want human beings to see the Truth, [so] they instill in them a taste for blood sacrifices which people offer to them [not God]; what was alive becomes dead and their offering becomes murder. But the Child of Humanity [Anthropos] who offers himself to God can be killed [because] he is alive.” [The Gospel of Philip vs. 13-14]

Several ancient theologians, including the Apostle Paul, refer to angelic powers or spiritual authorities in the heavenly places as a way of communicating the reality of spiritual darkness and deception. These Archons are personified as beings who manipulate humanity for good or evil, but most often are portrayed as agents of darkness who work against the flourishing of Truth among the Nations. Here, the author of the Gospel of Philip describes them as “high spiritual powers” who specifically “wanted to deceive humanity” out of a sense of jealousy for our “kinship with the Divine.” What they want to do is to confuse those who are made in the image of God and to deceive them by twisting what is good and applying it to what is not. The end result is a form of spiritual slavery where darkness covers the eyes of humanity and our intrinsic love for God is distorted into the butchering of animals and a cult of blood sacrifice that even many of the Old Testament prophets declared wasn’t something that God never commanded [Jeremiah 7:21-23; Isaiah 1:11-31; Hosea 6:6; Psalm 40:6-8; 51:16, and that New Testament prophets like Jesus outright declared that God did not desire [Hebrews 10:5-10].

Exposing the Darkness

Here, then, is a condemnation of the entire sacrificial system. The need for a Priesthood, or a Temple, or an animal sacrifice was a distortion of the Truth and a twisted, bloody distortion of our desire to know God into something dark and deceptive.

The end of this murderous flow of innocent blood as an acceptable worship of God is, at last, exposed and dismissed for what it is: an abomination to the God of love and light.

The Truth is now revealed: We have always “had a kinship with the Divine” and there is no need for anyone to die – not animal or man – in order to experienced this connection with God. Those who have been enslaved to death and blood can now be set free from this darkness and step into the light of God’s eternal presence and love.

The Child of Humanity

The system that turned living things into dead things has been upended and exposed so that the God of Life can reign eternally over all creation; turning darkness into light and the dead into the living.

The Child of Humanity [or the “Son of Man”] which is alive within every single one of us is what makes us both human and divine. We are the realization of the Christ in the flesh. We are the incarnation of Christ in human form. Our purpose is not to suffer and die, but to thrive and shine as the light of the world, reflecting the love of God and the life of God wherever we go.

Or, as the Gospel of John puts it:

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it… He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to be called Children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” [John 1:5;10-13, emphasis mine]

To be clear, everyone is a Child of God, but until we awaken to this reality—or better yet, realize that the illusion of separation is exactly that—an illusion that the powers of darkness have used to deceive us about who we are and what is true—we cannot see who we are and who our Father is.

Now that the Light has come, the darkness has gone, and all that remains is the Truth of our Oneness with God and with one another.

The new book from Keith Giles, “The Quantum Gospel of Mary and the Lost Gospel of Truth” releases on May 20 from Quoir Publishing. “The Quantum Sayings of Jesus: Decoding the Lost Gospel of Thomas” is available now on Amazon. Order HERE>

Keith Giles is the best-selling author of the Jesus Un series. He has been interviewed on CNN with Anderson Cooper, Coast to Coast Radio with George Noory, USA Today, BuzzFeed, and John Fugelsang’s “Tell Me Everything.”

He co-hosts The Heretic Happy Hour Podcast and his solo podcast, Second Cup With Keith which are both available on Spotify, Amazon, Apple, Podbean or wherever you find great podcasts.

Previous Post

April 11, 2025

INNER CIRCLE: The Name Unspoken

Next Post

April 25, 2025 INNER CIRCLE: Bread From Heaven

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"Googled: “In psychology and everyday language, intelligence is the capacity to learn, understand, reason, think ..."

Herm

AI Is A Gateway to the ..."

"It's so weird to me how anyone thinks that getting basic income is in any ..."

Scott Santens

AI Is A Gateway to the ..."

"Sounds very much like what Pope Leo wrote in Magnifica Humanitas - a lot of ..."

ffeineandsugar

AI Is A Gateway to the ..."

"As it is written in the canonical Gospels:But as many as received Him, to them ..."

Herm

INNER CIRCLE: God’s Transcending Love

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Art Biblicism Christian Politics Cosmic Christ Deconstruction Discipleship Dispensationalism Divine Unity Ekklesia End Time Stuff Eschatology Evergreen Following Jesus Gender General Christian Topics Gnostics God's Love Gospel of Judas Gospel of Mary Gospel of Philip Gospel of the Kingdom Gospel of Thomas Gospel of Truth Hell Historical Jesus Inner Circle Investigative Reporting Islam LGBTQ Issues Marriage Mental/Emotional Health Mystery Non-Duality Philosophy Podcast Poetry Politics Poverty Preemptive Love Prophecy Psychology Quantum Theology Racism Reconstruction Satire Sex Technology Theology Uncategorized Universalism

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was Ruth's mother-in-law?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Hannah Elizabeth Mary Naomi

Books by This Author Books by Keith Giles

See All Titles »