Christian Heresies of the
First Century:

    Simonians of Acts 8, Simon wanted to buy with money the power of the Spirit, believed in the transmigration of souls, and denied the humanity of Jesus Christ.

    Cerintheians, denied that God was the creator of the world; held that after the Resurrection Jesus Christ would establish a terrestrial kingdom where the just would spend a thousand years in the enjoyment of sensual pleasure; and denied the divinity of Jesus Christ.. Reputed by St. John in the Gospel and the Epistles (watch! Jehovah's Witnesses)

    Judaizers, who wanted to make Christianity a branch of Judaism:

    - Circumcisers, the heresy may be summed up in the words of Acts 15:1: "But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brethren, ‘Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.’" Condemned in the First Council of the Church in Jerusalem, in Acts 21:15-26.

    - Nicolaitans of Rev.2:6 and 2:15:
      In the Letter of Jesus to the Ephesians he congratulates them because You hate the works of the  "Nicolaitans" (2:6) it is a good thing!...you hate the liberal ones, exactly the opposite of the Judaizes, those that call themselves Christians, but live like pagans, in adultery, approving abortion, homosexuality, social injustice, underpayment to the employees... they call themselves Christians, but they go to church 4 times a year, with the occasion of a baptism or marriage or funeral.... they have no Christian community life at all... and there are many like those today!.
    In Letter of Jesus to Pergamos, the Nicolaitans are welcome, and that's a very bad thing to do (2:15).

    - The Synagogue of Satan of Rev.2:9:
      I know the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan (Rev.2:9)
    The "synagogue of Satan" of 2:9: Yes, Satan has his own synagogue!, looking Jewish and being false!... it also appears in 3:9, in the church of Philadelphia: It claims to liberate the world, but it is a lie!... in Christianity today there are false adulterated Jesus... like Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Masonry, Rosicrucians, New Age, New World Order... they slander and persecute any good humble Christian...

    - The "Throne of Satan" (Rev. 2:13):
        ¹³I know where you live-where Satan has his throne (Rev.2:13)
    In Smyrna it was the Synagogue of Satan, here, in the Letter of Jesus to Pergamos, it is the Throne of Satan Itself: The Christian leaders, bishops, priests, pastors and preachers with political and social power, earthly possessions, living in adultery and immorality...

    - The "doctrine of Balaam" (Rev.2:14):
       ¹⁴Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: You have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality.
    As in Numbers 22 (25:2, 31:16), holds the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice immorality... Those who should have been speaking for God led the people astray. The once faithful wife, became a prostitute... I pray it is not the history of your life and mine!.
    - At that time, among others, it was Aryanism., claiming that Jesus was not God... Jehovah's Witnesses claim the same today...
    - And Nestorius: Since Jesus was not God, the Mother of Jesus was not the Mother of God... both heresies were condemned at the Council of Ephesus in the fifth century... but there are many denominations today who do not honor the Mother of God, and some even talk bad about the Mother of Jesus and even hate her... watch out!.    

    - The Nazareans or "Jewish-Christians":
      They are Jews who became Christians but retained many of their former customs and beliefs, including gentile and Jewish ones, while those initiated into deeper levels became well versed in deeper Essene doctrines. It is also probable that these New Testament Nazarenes accepted both gentile and Pharisee Jews, along with many of their customs and varied beliefs, into the outer fringes of their society.
    Being the most viable and growing sect of their time, these Nazarenes eventually became the melting pot, especially after the fall of Jerusalem in 68 A.D., for a wide array of converts from all seven of the ancient Jewish sects, several Samaritan sects, numerous gnostic and Pythagorean groups, as well as converted and semi-converted Roman and Greek pagans. Nazareans  Nasaraeans and Ossaeans

Docetism:
    Docetism was an error with several variations concerning the nature of Christ.  Generally, it taught that Jesus only appeared to have a body, that he was not really incarnate, (Greek, "dokeo" = "to seem").  This error developed out of the dualistic philosophy which viewed matter as inherently evil,  that God could not be associated with matter, and that God, being perfect and infinite, could not suffer.  Therefore, God as the word, could not have become flesh per John 1:1,14, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.. "  This denial of a true incarnation meant that Jesus did not truly suffer on the cross and that He did not rise from the dead.
     The basic principle of Docetism was refuted by the Apostle John in 1 John 4:2-3.  "By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; ³and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; and this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world."  Also, 2 John 7, "For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist."
     Ignatius of Antioch (died 98/117) and Irenaeus (115-190), and Hippolatus (170-235) wrote against the error in the early part of the second century.  
     Docetism was condemned at the Council of Chalcedon in 451. Docetism

Gnosticism:
    "Gnow", "to know", pre-Christian but adapted after Christ, they say "secret knowledge is what saves", a kind of secret knowledge of Christ, like some modern visionary mystics. Dualism of good and bad is another aspect of Gnosticism. 1 John was written against some of the errors that Gnosticism promoted
    The gnostics were a sect older than Christianity itself. They had already used Jewish faith as a basis with which they mixed many eastern myths as well as Greek philosophy (gnosis = knowledge).
    Due to the multitude of influences, gnosticism varied largely in its forms. With the emergence of Christianity bits and pieces of Christian faith were integrated into gnosticism.
    The main differences with Christianity and gnostic belief were that God, who was purely good, could not have created the world, as the world contained evil. Hence gnosticism created a mythology much like Greek mythology in which numerous other forces were the children of God. These children in turn created our world. One such child was Christ who descended to earth to share his knowledge, some secret knowledge of which the gnostics claimed to be only part of their religion (the unwritten, verbal knowledge passed on by Christ). Also associated with gnosticism are the beliefs that all matter was evil, including the human body and that Christs' divine spirit only descended into the man Jesus with his baptism and left him before his crucifiction, leaving the man, not the Messiah to suffer on the cross.
    The greatest challenge to traditional Christianity posed by gnosticism was by Marcion (AD 100-160). The son of a bishop, probably even a bishop himself, Marcion came to Rome somewhen after AD 138. With his expulsion from the church for heresy, his followers formed themselves into a separate body, calling themselves the Marcionites, though they are also known as the first Dissenters.
    Gnosticism survived long into the middle ages, and echoes of it are still to be heard in the teachings of the current day theosophical movement. (Marcionism survived until about the fifth century AD.)
    The danger of gnosticism is easily apparent. It denies the incarnation of God as the Son. In so doing, it denies the true efficacy of the atonement since, if Jesus is not God, He could not atone for all of mankind and we would still be lost in our sins. Heresies  Gnosticism Gnosticism  Gnostics  Gnosticism

Neo-Gnosticism:
    Jesus, for the Gnostics, was either a magician, an ascetic, or a sexual deviate who initiated his followers by means of secret ceremonies acquired in his visit to India.
    St. Paul, in Colossians fights this heresy, defending the uniqueness of the person and redemptive work of Jesus Christ in the face of suggestions that Jesus was only one of the many angelic intermediaries between God and man. He also emphasized that salvation was complete in Christ, countering the legalistic ascetism of Gnosticism (Colos.2:20-30).
    The "Serpent", in Eden revealed to Adam and Eve "secret knowledge", and the Gnostics claim they have guarded this "secret knowledge" through history.. so, this secret knowledge actually comes from the Serpent, from Satan!.
    Influential": It has no official organizational apparatus, but forms the theological foundation of many modern cults and has even formalized a belief structure of his own, the Neo-Gnosticism, with several Gnostic Churches, among them, the one established in Colombia by Victor Manuel Gomez, now lead by Julio Medina. Their influential literature is the fourth-century "Nag Hammadi Codices", "The Secret Gospel", "The Gospel of Thomas", "The Forbidden Gospel".

Agnosticism:
    "A-gnow", "not to know", also pre-Christian, deny the existence of God, like modern atheists, Communism... Agnosticism is a concept, not a religion. It is a belief related to the existence or non-existence of God. An agnostic is a person who feels that God's existence can neither be proved nor disproved, on the basis of current evidence.
    Romans says that the existence of God is obvious and we know God for His works... and Paul calls the agnostics "fools", "they are without excuse":
        ¹⁸The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, ¹⁹since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. ²⁰For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.  
        ²¹For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²²Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools ²³and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. (Romans 1).
    Ask the Beasts!, says Job: Who made the jaws of the tiger?... who made the heart of an insect!... (Job 12:7-16).  Agnosticism   Agnosticism