The serpent arose from inside Adam and Eve as a whispering voice which prompted them to curiousity and rebellion, urging them to disobey Yaldabaoth and eat from the tree.

“Then the one who is wiser than all of them, this one who was called “the beast,” came. And when he saw the likeness of their mother, Eve, he said to her, “What is it that God said to you? ‘Don’t eat from the Tree of Knowledge’?”

She said, “He not only said ‘Don’t eat from it,’ but ‘Don’t touch it lest you die.’ “

He said to her, “Don’t be afraid! You certainly shall not die. For he knows that when you eat from it your mind will be sobered and you will become like God, knowing the distinctions which exist between evil and good men. For he said this to you, lest you eat from it, since he is jealous.” ^[1]

NOTES

“The cultists have been told not to talk, that conversing with “Satan” will allow “Satan” to get to them. They are advised to close their ears, not to listen, to shut “Satan” out. Often the cultists try to block themselves off from those around them with chanting or trances. They believe their new life is at stake.

The deprogrammer knows the recruits have been warned and trained to resist the outside world. He must somehow outwit the cultists. His ultimate goal is to restore the individual’s thinking and decision-making capacities. He wants the cultist to make a decision against the cult. He believes that this will happen when the cultist clearly and thoroughly understands the motives of those who recruited him, the methods they used and their effect on the cultist’s freedom and thinking abilities.

A turning point occurs when the recruit willingly or unwillingly begins to listen. At this point, the process becomes less confrontational and more conversational, even if the cultist is still arguing his cause. Perhaps now the cultist will begin to question, begin to see connections, and begin to see that he has been manipulated. When that happens, the final stage of”identification and transference” begins. The cultist sees he has been duped. The person who has accomplished this revelation is the deprogrammer. They two are on the same side. The cultist identifies with the deprogrammer. Together they become opponents of the cult.” ^[2]

1. ”On the Origin of the World.” The Other Bible. Ed. Willis Barnstone. Harper San Francisco, 1984. 71. [↩]
2. Johnson, Joan. The Cult Movement. Watts, 1984. 92. [↩]