Gnostic Insights by Cyd Ropp, Ph.D.

October 25, 2025 The Gnostic Antichrist

Welcome back to Gnostic Insights and the Gnostic Reformation on Substack, and I’d like to welcome our new readers and listeners.

What is the Antichrist? By definition, of course, the Antichrist would be the opposite of the Christ. So, before we understand the Antichrist, it would be helpful to understand what we can about the Christ.

Christ, according to the Tripartite Tractate of the Nag Hammadi Scriptures, is composed of the Aeons of the Fullness, both in their aggregated entirety known as the Pleroma of the Fullness of God, or the hierarchy of the Fullness of God, along with their personal individual forms, which are the Aeons, the infinite infinity of variations of the Son that are called the Fullnesses or the Aeons or the Totalities. So the Christ is powered by the full force of the Holy Spirit, the Son, and the Fullness of God. The Christ has all the mojo of the ethereal plane.

In order to restore memory, reason, and redemption to the second-order powers, the Aeons of the Fullness, every one of them individually and all of them collectively, gave glory in unison to their Father while praying for a helper to bring peace to the deficiency and forgiveness to Logos. Out of their focused prayer, a unique fruit emerged, one that contained all of the capabilities and powers of the Fullness along with all of the love and eternal qualities of the Father, and that is what we call Christ or the Christ. So here’s how the Tripartite Tractate describes the Christ.

“They gathered together asking the Father with beneficent intent that there be aid from above from the Father for his glory, since the defective one could not become perfect in any other way unless it was the will of the Pleroma of the Father, which he had drawn to himself, revealed, and given to the defective one.”

And the defective one, in this quote, has to do with the Demiurge that arose from the Aeon known as Logos.

“Then from the harmony and a joyous willingness which came into being, they brought forth the fruit which was a begetting from the harmony, a unity, a possession of the Fullnesses, revealing the countenance of the Father of whom the Aeons thought as they gave glory and prayed for help for their brother with a wish in which the Father counted himself with them. Thus it was willingly and gladly that they brought forth the fruit. And he made manifest the agreement of the revelation of his union with them, which was his beloved Son.

“But the Son in whom the Fullnesses are pleased put himself on them as a garment through which he gave perfection to the defective one and gave confirmation to those who are perfect, the one who is properly called Savior and the Redeemer and the Well-pleasing One and the Beloved and the One to Whom Prayers have been Offered and the Christ and the Light of those Appointed in Accordance with the Ones from Whom He was brought Forth, since he has become the names of the positions which were given him. Yet what other name may be applied to him except the Son, as we previously said, since he is the knowledge of the Father whom he wanted them to know.”

This paragraph describes the fruit of the Aeons called the Christ, that he possesses all of the traits, that is the names of the positions and all of their characteristics, all of the virtues of all of the Aeons of the God Above All Gods, and all of that essentially adds up to the original Son of the Father that came directly from the Father. So the Son and Christ aren’t exactly the same because the Christ was created later than the Son. However, the Son and the Christ share the same characteristics, so by this time it is the Son.

That’s kind of confusing, but they are different entities because they were created in different ways. The Son is directly emanated from the Father itself, from the original consciousness. The Son is the monad version of the otherwise illimitable Father.

But the Christ is the Fullness of God, both as the Fullness itself and the individual Aeons that had differentiated out of the Son, all rolled up together, with the blessing of the Father. So it’s a slightly different character, yet they do have all the characteristics. So I can see why the Tripartite Tractate finally rolls it up into saying, you might as well say, it’s the Son.

And this is interesting about the Christ.

“Not only did the Aeons generate the countenance of the Father to whom they gave praise, but they also generated their own. For the Aeons who give glory generated their countenance and their face. They were produced as an army for him, as for a king, since the beings of the thought have a powerful fellowship and an intermingled harmony.”

And by the way, we’re talking about the Fullness of God. We’re talking about the hierarchy of the Fullness of God and all the Aeons, the infinite number of Aeons that dwell in the Fullness of God. And so when the Christ was formed, he came forth not simply as Jesus Christ with the face of Jesus. He came with the face of every single Aeon of the Fullness of God. So he’s a composite individual, whereas the Son is actually a singularity, at least in the beginning, before he differentiates into the Fullness. But the Christ stays a multiplicity rolled up into one. All is one. That’s the difference between the Son and the Christ. The Son is One and stays One and then differentiates later. But the Christ comes in as all of the differentiations, plus the Son, plus the blessing of the Father.

The Aeons of the Fullness are known as the First Order of Powers. We living creatures are the Second Order of Powers. The Army of the Christ is the Third Order of Powers. Because of the fractal nature of all things, “as above, so below,” there is not only a Third Order Power for every First Order Power—the Aeons that comprise the Fullness of God—there is a Third Order Power for every Second Order Power. These Third Order Powers overlay us Second Order of Powers when we repent and are redeemed. Redemption is the maneuver that installs the Third Order of Powers within our souls, bringing the remembrance of the Father, love, and error correction to us living creatures.

So what is the Antichrist then? The Antichrist is the shadow of Christ. The pleroma of the Antichrist mirrors the Third Order pleroma of Christ.

Christ and Antichrist

The Antichrist is not alive. We know that because it arises from the Fall and therefore it is not infused with the light and life of the Pleroma, the Father, and the Son. Nor is it Aeonic, as it is not considered a fruit of the Pleroma. So it cannot express Aeonic traits, such as the various facets of love known as virtues, nor operate through the cooperative nature we call the Simple Golden Rule.

There are many episodes devoted to the virtues and to the Simple Golden Rule. So if you go to GnosticInsights.com and do a search in there, well, just read through all the titles of the assembled podcasts that are all living there. See, in your podcast host, you’ve only got the latest. But if you go to the homepage, Gnostic Insights, they’re all there. So you can go back to the beginning of the podcast and catch up with us that way.

The Antichrist arises after the Fall, and so it does not recognize the hierarchical structure built upon the harmony of the Fullness. In place of that harmony, the Antichrist operates through the application of power, and its only goal is power. The Antichrist does not know the hierarchy of the Fullness, nor does it come from their assigned roles and places. Lacking the Pleroma’s cooperative design, the Antichrist exists in a state of perpetual disturbance driven by self-centered ambition.

Now, this is all the same as the description of the Demiurge at this point, because the Antichrist is like his head henchman. See, he’s the Antichrist. He’s the inverse of the Christ. So if the Christ is the savior of all of us second-order powers because we’ve forgotten the goal and we’ve been estranged from the love of God, the Christ brings back the correction, the correcting algorithm, I like to say, to our original programming.

But the Antichrist then would be bringing the Demiurge’s anti-life, anti-consciousness, anti-free will, anti-virtue programming of the Demiurge. The Antichrist and the imitations of the Fullness that exist as a result of the Fall, that would be the imitations and the deficiencies, the archons, are only interested in,

“exalting themselves in lust for dominion, each one of them according to the magnitude of the name of which he is a shadow, fantasizing that he would become greater than his fellows.” (Tripartite Tractate, verse 79).

So these phantoms all represent values contrary to the originals of the Fullness. They’re the inverse of the virtues. Those of the imitation give rise to,

“fighters, warriors, troublemakers, rebels, and other such disobedient types driven by the will to dominate.” (Tripartite Tractate, verse 80)

The Antichrist is therefore some sort of ungodly expression of the material universe. Again, by definition, its goal would be to block the mission of the Christ, placing itself as the rightful alternative to the redemption and salvation of the Christ.

Now we know the mission of the Christ is to restore the fallen Logos, who is now the Demiurge, by reminding the fallen Aeon and those under its control, (which would be the archons), of the gnosis of the originating Father and the Pleroma of the hierarchy. So the Antichrist, as the inverse of Christ’s mission, would encourage us to forget about the Father above and the Holy Spirit that infuses life. We would also be encouraged to forget that we are second-order powers sent from the Pleroma above to do battle against the Fall.

And the way the second-order powers were designed to do battle against the Fall isn’t by anger or violence. It’s by love. The only way you can disarm hatred, rage, violence, fear, is with love. You can’t reason it there. You can’t bully it there. You can’t make laws to force it to be there. The only way you can do it is to love them. And when they see your love, they will be reminded of the Father. We are the emissaries of love, and that is the armament by which we are supposed to do battle.

It’s our Aeonic duty to stand against vice in favor of virtue. So whenever you allow temptation to take you down a road of vice rather than a virtuous path, you are enabling the Antichrist. You are enabling the archons in the Demiurge. You’re making them stronger. You become part of the problem. That’s why it’s important to be virtuous and to be loving, charitable, forgiving. That’s the only way we can win the hearts of those who have fallen.

The Antichrist would encourage us to operate according to our ego’s desire to place ourselves at the center of the universe rather than following the will of the Father. And whereas the Christ contains and mirrors every aspect of the Father and the Son, the Antichrist mirrors every aspect of the Demiurge created from the Fall away from the Pleroma. Therefore, the Antichrist is an imitation and an inversion of the original Fullness of the Aeons broken out of the hierarchy of cooperation and infused with isolated striving for power and domination rather than the glory of unity and a joyful willingness to help others. The Antichrist serves the needs of the Demiurge rather than the will of the Father. In the name of peace, it brings war. Instead of prosperity, it brings dependency. Instead of free will, it mandates conformity.

Now, historically, many have nominated the Catholic Pope as the Antichrist as he appears to displace Christ as God’s messenger and Redeemer. The big one that’s making the rounds now, of course, is many people think that President Trump is the Antichrist. Elon Musk could be the Antichrist because all of the artificial intelligence that he’s leaning towards and the brain implants and the global communication served by one singular source. George Soros, that’s another good nominee, in my opinion. So could Bill Gates also be considered a nominee for the Antichrist, because the Antichrist always comes as a do-gooder, and he wins the hearts of people by doing tremendously good deeds and big works, big gigantic works that are almost unhuman, and they would be if he’s actually the Antichrist.

But the gnostic interpretation would be that none of these humans can actually be the Antichrist because humans are Second Order Powers and the Antichrist is a shadow figure—the shadow of Christ. The Antichrist is a demiurgic power, not a human. Sure, someone could favor the Antichrist and invite its powers to rule them, but the human is not the Antichrist.

In 1951, a very popular figure in religion, Catholic Bishop Fulton Sheen, said,

“The Antichrist will not be so called, otherwise he would have no followers. He will come disguised as the great humanitarian. He will talk peace, prosperity, and plenty, not as a means to lead us to God, but as ends in themselves. He will tempt Christians with the same three temptations with which he tempted Christ. He will have one great secret which he will tell to no one. He will not believe in God, because his religion will be brotherhood without the fatherhood of God. He will deceive even the elect. He will set up a counter church. It will have all the notes and characteristics of the church, but in reverse, and emptied of its divine content. It will be a mystical body of the Antichrist that will, in all externals, resemble the mystical body of the Christ.”

And that was from Sheen’s book, Communism and the Conscience of the West. The three temptations of Christ referred to by Sheen are, one, seeking our own satisfaction rather than God’s will. Two, manipulating God’s will in order to achieve personal gain, power, and glory. And three, to ultimately believe we deserve to be Gods.

Now, while I agree that powerful humans reflect the spirit of the Antichrist, I don’t think that the Antichrist will be found in a singular human being, but rather as a dark spirit arising from the Fall. I’m inclined to nominate the Demiurge itself as the father of the Antichrist. It seems to me, likely, then, that the Antichrist is a fractal vibration that reinforces the Antichrist mission across all times, places, and people. As the Demiurge is the maker of heaven and earth, it is certainly within its power to flood our cosmos with ever-increasing delusions designed to lull us into the three temptations of Christ in the most pleasant possible way.

This age that we live in is rife with narcissism. Narcissism is the self-centered, ego-driven belief that puts our desires ahead of others’ needs and desires. The narcissist does not reach out to others with aid and information for the betterment of all. The narcissist only pursues their own agenda. That this is a narcissistic age should take no convincing to any of you out there, right? We can all see it. Selfies, exercise machines that mirror ourselves as we work out, the often-repeated phrase, you deserve this, used to sell us everything from juicy hamburgers to universal government programs, all speak to our ego’s need for comfort and power at all cost.

Indeed, it would seem that our narcissistic egos, when given their full, unbridled reign, blossom into the spirit of the Antichrist. So there is no singular Antichrist human, but as many Antichrist as there are fully blossomed egos. The Antichrist is to be found within the often-repeated mantra that we can take care of each other and build a better tomorrow without God. That more and more powerful governmental and corporate entities will satisfy our needs and give us that paradise on earth that will dispel hunger, climate change, poverty, and inequality, for the betterment of all. That we can live forever through technological manipulation. That we deserve everything we desire—kinkier sex, fancier food, stronger drugs, more stuff dropped on our porches by Amazon. That these are the things that will make us happy, that this will bring us fulfillment. No, that is exactly the spirit of the Antichrist.

I went to the website called Christianity.com, and I’m looking at their article on the Antichrist, and they have several points that describe the Antichrist. I’ll hit them real fast here.

In 2 Thessalonians, Paul describes the Antichrist this way,

“He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.”

Now putting himself in the temple doesn’t have to be literal. The temple represents the Ten Commandments. It represents the Ark of the Covenant. It represents orthodoxy and prayer. And so putting himself in the temple is like saying that the Antichrist is establishing himself in the place of God’s law.

In the book of Revelation, the Antichrist is referred to as the beast. That’s Revelation chapter 13. The beast emerges from the sea, symbolizing chaos and evil, and is given power by the dragon representing Satan. The beast’s reign is marked by blasphemy against God, persecution of the saints, and a relentless quest for global domination.

The prophet Daniel provided a glimpse into the nature of Antichrist in Daniel, chapter 7, describing him as a boastful king. This king speaks against the Most High, oppresses the holy people, and seeks to change set times and laws. Daniel’s vision emphasizes the arrogance and audacity of the Antichrist, highlighting his efforts to undermine God’s order and authority.

Okay, this must be where they’re getting the Trump accusation from. But the odd thing is that the people in general that are accusing Trump of being the Antichrist, well, they’re not all that worried about undermining God’s order and God’s authority. They want to set up a unitary control system, so they’re already in the pocket of the Demiurge, for the most part. Daniel 7 verse 8 says the Antichrist is portrayed as a little horn with a mouth that speaks boastfully. This imagery signifies his initial insignificance, but eventual rise to power.

Daniel 7 verse 25 says he will speak against the Most High and oppress his holy people, and try to change the set times and the laws. The holy people will be delivered into his hands for a time. I just have to laugh at people who are saying that Trump is the Antichrist, because that would put them to be the holy people. And obviously, they think of themselves as the holy people. It’s a holy crusade. The left versus right, it’s a holy crusade. But if you’ve been with us for a while, you realize that these holy crusades are a yin-yang situation. They’re perfectly balanced. It’s the never-ending war. Neither side can claim righteousness, because they have both entered into the war, and that never-ending war is a game that the Demiurge plays.

The Antichrist will be powerful and perform miracles. These miraculous acts are meant to authenticate his false claims and persuade many to follow him. Okay, well, here’s where the Elon Musk type of accusation could be made, because Musk does incredible things, and he’s changing technology from retro-engineering captured spaceships, or wherever the heck he’s getting his ideas from. In 1 Kings 18:38, it says that by replicating the miracles performed by the prophet Elijah in the Old Testament, the Antichrist seeks to present himself as a powerful prophet or a divine figure. In Revelation 13:3, the beast receives a fatal wound, but is miraculously healed, astounding the world and leading people to worship him.

And the Antichrist performs other miraculous signs. 2 Thessalonians 2:9 says that all sorts of “displays of power through signs and wonders” suggest a variety of miracles, not specified in detail, but intended to awe and deceive the masses. Okay, and speaking of awing and deceiving the masses, have you seen those new 3D holographic projections that don’t require any screen to be projected on now? I saw gigantic whales swimming through the sky. That’s a weird thing to see. So we have that technology right now in the form of AI and holographic projections combined, virtual reality, enough to fool even the elect, if that were possible, as it says in the New Testament.

Ultimately, the Antichrist will persecute Christians in particular, attempting to extinguish their faith and loyalty to God. And this phase of persecution will be marked by intense suffering, oppression, and a systematic effort to undermine and destroy the Christian faith. Now that is currently going on in other nations. It’s not going on in the United States, but it does go on in Africa, where thousands, I heard the other day that 65,000 Christians had been slaughtered in one of these African nations, and I forget which one. So these are systematic efforts to undermine and destroy the Christian faith by killing the Christians. So that is not a holy act, that is a demiurgic act, or a satanic act, or an Antichrist act.

And then during that period that’s called the Tribulation, in Revelations 13:7, the Apostle John’s vision says, “it was given power,” that is, the Antichrist “was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language, and nation.”

And so it’s a global authority and power, which we’re coming into that stage right now. Particularly if we succumb to this idea of universal digital IDs, and then you top it off with changing from actual money that you can hand to people to digital Bitcoin type of money, well then that will be the, in my opinion, the entry into the age of the Tribulation, because there will be no resistance possible. Everything will be controlled. It’s all about power and dominion. It’s not about making things better. It’s not about making people richer, or healthier, or happier. It’s about power and dominion. So it’ll be a very dark age, the Tribulation. We will be persecuted and put to death and hated by all nations, and turned over for torture and death.

But the good news is that the Christ will then come. See, that’s what the whole Armageddon thing is about, that the actual Christ comes with the army of Christ and overpowers the Antichrist, because Christ has all the mojo to do so. The Antichrist only arises from the Demiurge, and it never had the power of the ethereal plane. But apparently it’s going to be this period of Tribulation, this final Armageddon, not to kill off the followers of the Antichrist, or to kill and torture them, instead of them killing and torturing us. It’s to show them love.

So I think that when Christ comes with the army of Christ, they’re just going to love everybody. They’re going to love everybody. And the battles that are being fought will lay down their arms. They will give up, because they’d rather be in love, and they will see the truth of God. Because He’s going to come so that none can deny Him. The Christ will make Himself manifest, and everyone will be able to see Him. And everyone then will feel the love of Christ, and it won’t just be a mythological claim.

Okay, tell me what you think of these ideas. I’d love to hear what you think of the Antichrist, or who you would nominate. Or if you think I’m off track on something, tell me what you think is the right answer to these questions. Until next week, God bless us all, and onward and upward.

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