It is interesting that the philosophers developed their ideas seemingly based on human reasoning, which implies freedom from any spiritual inspiration (in contrast to, say, Moses meeting God on Mt. Sinai).

But did you know that Plato and Socrates said they were influenced by demons?

Before getting to their “demons,” let’s explore the idea of human reasoning vs. spiritual inspiration. On the one hand, we have the Gnostics, who viewed themselves as more or less “super spiritual,” and on the other hand, we have the philosophers, who considered themselves grounded in the physical world and “the sciences.”

Even still, the Gnostics did adopt Platonic ideas…

“That Plotinus was right in seeing strong Platonic tendencies in Gnosticism…has long been recognized…” Richard T. Wallis and Jay Bregman, “Introduction,” in Neoplatonism and Gnosticism (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992), 3.

Accordingly, Gnosticism can be viewed as a type of philosophy even if other philosophers disagreed with it. Gnosticism was, just as Trinitarianism now is, a mixed marriage of Christianity, philosophy, and mysticism. Neither Gnosticism nor Trinitarianism are wholly Christian, platonic, or anything else, but they have adopted elements from each.

“In its strict sense…the term [Gnosticism] denotes a group of systems…all of them opposed to Neoplatonism in that the ‘knowledge’ they sought was the product, not of philosophical reasoning, but of revelation by a divine savior.” John P. Anton, “Theourgia—Demiourgia: A Controversial Issue in Hellenistic Thought and Religion,” in Neoplatonism and Gnosticism, 26, fn 5.

Doesn’t that sound like a definition of Trinitarian Christianity with a different name? Trinitarians claim that their “Trinity” is a “mystery” and a “revelation” from a divine, not carnal, source. But we have seen that is simply not the case. It is simply eclectic just as Gnosticism was.

In other words, like Trinitarianism, Gnosticism adopted platonic ideas often without admitting it. Therefore, the practice of adopting ideas from philosophy without admitting it, and/or flatly denying it, is Gnostic in origin. Also, in both systems, Gnosticism and Trinitarianism, we see that partial influence from the world does not have to be exact or complete for bastardization to have taken place. Even though Gnostics adopted some elements of philosophy, philosophers still denounced them.

“Not only are the Platonists of the second century consistently ‘anti-gnostic’ in the structure of their thought; the Gnostics are only marginally influenced by Platonism.” Pheme Perkins, “Beauty, Number, and Loss of Order in the Gnostic Cosmos,” in Neoplatonism and Gnosticism, 277.

In other words, the philosophers were genuinely appalled when presented with the Gnostics’ wildly esoteric or mystical speculations. That is because they held to “reason” being the highest virtue rather than “revelation.”

But is that strictly the case? What then do we do with the fact of the daimons (demons) of Plato and Socrates?

“For the Greeks, the daimon was an entity somewhere between mortal and god… the daimon was external to the man whom it inspired and guided, making the person ‘possessed’ by this motivating spirit. It was partially this view of possession, and largely trying to weed out other religions, that led to the Christian view of daemons as wicked spirits.” https://daemonpage.com/socrates-daimon.php

“[The daimonic]…like all spirits he is intermediate between the divine and the mortal… He interprets…between gods and men, conveying and taking across to the gods the prayers and sacrifices of men, and to men the commands and replies of the gods; he is the mediator who spans the chasm which divides them, and therefore in him all is bound together…” Plato, Symposium, Translated by Benjamin Jowett, http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/symposium.html last accessed 5/2/2024.

“The daimōn stands between the divine and the human, at the intersection of metaphysics and ethics, and it is central to the identity of Socrates as an educator and philosopher. Indeed, the daimōn is essential to understanding how Plato conceptualizes reason…
“The portrayal of the daimōn as part of the soul shows what Plato means by “filling up space between” and “binding the all to itself.” The daimōn is stronger than just a messenger. It is a connection between the human and the divine that is more like an ever-present bridge.” Jacob Dvorak, “The Philosopher Within: The daimōn in Plato”, https://www.academia.edu/96717210/The_Philosopher_Within_the_daim%C5%8Dn_in_Plato, last accessed 5/2/2024

“The daimon Socrates listens to is a divinity that makes a political difference: it tells him what kind of relationship he should have with his fellow citizens and how he should conduct himself in public affairs. Thus, not only does Socrates have an unorthodox conception of piety and of what the gods want from the citizens of the city, but also he claims to receive infallible guidance from a voice that does not hesitate to speak to him about public matters.” https://www.britannica.com/biography/Socrates/The-charge-of-impiety

So, even though these philosophers sought a “knowledge” that was “the product of philosophical reasoning” they admit to being influenced by demonic spirits that even direct them in areas of social morals. That isn’t surprising considering that even the “Church of Satan” has laws of morality. This goes right along with the temptation in the Garden to “know good and evil” which really means to determine good and evil on one’s own. This means that being “demonic” does not necessarily mean being “amoral.” Rather, being demonic, or “like the devil”, means you, instead of God, get to determine your own morals, which, again, was his temptation in the Garden.

This also means that these demons (that have “plagued” philosophers about the triune nature of God) have been developing and perfecting this deception for a very long time under the guise of establishing morality. But it was a false morality that didn’t come from God. And that explains why they aren’t about to give it up easily.

Perhaps it is because the demonic realm itself is overseen by a triad of spirits that are to be revealed in the last days?

“¹³I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits, something like frogs; ¹⁴for they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole inhabited earth, to gather them together for the war of that great day of God the Almighty” (Revelation 16:13-14).

I don’t think, therefore, that it is any coincidence that the doctrine of the Trinity can be traced back to demon possessed philosophers and was ultimately imposed upon nominal Christianity through Imperial Decree by the legal heirs to the throne of Satan.

Who else could convince Christians to dogmatize (“make a law out of”) something God never said (i.e., “God is a Trinity of three persons in one substance”), which is supposed by them to be the most jealously kept and stringently imposed dogma of all? And wouldn’t it be just like the devil and his angels to trick people into imposing a “rule made by men” that would make those people’s worship empty and for nought?

“And they worship me in vain, teaching as doctrine rules made by men” (Matthew 15:9).

How much more so then should we expect that the legal heirs to the throne of Satan would be about Satan’s business? I’m talking about people who claim to hate these very same devils, yet readily embrace their schemes and devices invented to contradict God’s first commandment!

Such people, Jesus said, “draw near to me with their mouth, and honor me with their lips; but their heart is far from me” (Matthew 15:8).

Who else could convince self-proclaimed servants of God that His commandment to them was permission and license to creatively interpret it to mean something totally different by subjecting it to pagan philosophical categories of thought? If that doesn’t sound like a repeat of the transgression in the Garden, I’d be curious in hearing what else comes closer.

What else then, besides a spiritual deception, in the guise of human rationality (“yea, has God said…?”), could convince so many people that when God commands one, what He really means is three?

“For God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the assemblies of the saints” (1 Corinthians 14:33).

“3But I am afraid that somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve in his craftiness, so your minds might be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 4For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we didn’t preach, or if you receive a different spirit which you didn’t receive, or a different “good news” which you didn’t accept, you put up with that well enough” (2 Corinthians 11:3-4).

In Acts 16 we read, “16…a certain maid, having a spirit of Python, did meet us, who brought much employment to her masters by soothsaying, 17she having followed Paul and us, was crying, saying, ‘These men are servants of the Most High God, who declare to us a way of salvation;’ 18and this she was doing for many days, but Paul having been grieved, and having turned, said to the spirit, ‘I command thee, in the name of Jesus Christ, to come forth from her;’ and it came forth the same hour” (Acts 16:16-18).

Notice this maid was telling at least some truth! Why do we think demons aren’t subtle? Why do we assume they would never pass themselves off as messengers of light? I’m not suggesting that Socrates’ and Plato’s demons told the truth. I’m suggesting they mixed truth with lies, just like this maid. She was speaking from an unclean soothsaying spirit. Perhaps that demon in her was implying folks like her could be saved, by making a resemblance of a confession of faith, without true repentance from such demonic influences. In any case, the point to be made here is that such demons are not of God even though they may pass themselves off as such, or as knowledgeable about matters of truth. Remember these are servants of the father of lies, not the Spirit of Truth.

“¹³For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as Christ’s apostles. ¹⁴And no wonder, for even Satan masquerades as an angel of light. ¹⁵It is no great thing therefore if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works” (2 Corinthians 11:13-15).

“¹⁷The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” ¹⁸He said to them, “I saw Satan having fallen like lightning from heaven. ¹⁹Behold, I give you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. Nothing will in any way hurt you” (Luke 10:17-19).

Socrates and Plato derived their doctrines from deceptive demonic influences, as we see here. Their teachings are, therefore, quite literally “doctrines of demons,” and Paul prophesied that such would soon afflict the saints.

Imagine what would happen to those with less discernment than Paul being seduced to listen to the demon-possessed maid above? Well, that’s what happens with those who follow those hybrid “philosopher-Christians” (wolves in sheep’s clothing) of the 2nd thru 4th centuries into the same doctrines of devils produced by the Platonists!

Do you see that just because Constantine himself didn’t invent homoousios, or Trinity, doesn’t mean much? That is because those who went before him were themselves, like he was, under the influence of the same demons that plagued ancient Platonists. And it was from those demon-influenced Platonists that Numenius, himself a Platonist, literally did himself invent the idea of “three persons in the godhead”! And it was that influence that ultimately influenced Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Origen, Athanasius, and Arius, and the three Cappadocian fathers. All the emperors had to do was authorize and enforce the harlotry that these men had committed.

The trail of evidence they all left behind certainly does prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that is exactly what happened. And not all Trinitarians are in denial of these facts. But all Trinitarians are in denial that the doctrine of devils they espouse overturned God’s first commandment to us today just as much as the father of lies overturned God’s first given commandment in the Garden… using literally the same exact technique! And that is where the devil is most concerned at leaving his mark. Thus making the Trinity doctrine, quite literally, the mark of the beast, without which no man may “buy or sell” that is, operate within the beast’s system of harlotry religion.

The Bible says “No temptation has taken you except what is common to man. God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but will with the temptation also make the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13)

If philosophers can reason these things in their minds, and even Jewish mystics can justify adopting Hellenistic views, what makes Christians think they are above such temptations? If demons of lust, envy, Jezebel, etc., can afflict Christians even today, then so can these platonic-doctrine demons as well.

The same demons that are working on those in the world are also working on Christians. The question isn’t if they exist, the question is who gives in to their temptations. The answer is found in today’s Trinitarians of either the same-substance (Athanasian) variety or the like-substance (Arian) variety. As seen by the willingness of Satan’s legal heirs, either of those lies will suffice to further their desire of dominion over God’s people. It’s as if the Councils presided over by the legal heirs of Satan were just throwing different ideas against the wall to see which sticks.

Either one of the two positions proposed in these councils destroys the biblical definition of the son of God as given by God Himself in 2 Samuel 7:14.

Same with “Christ”. As long as the Councils landed on a version of Christ that was different than the son that God explained him to be and the apostles authoritatively preached him to be, then the highest officials of Satan’s kingdom would have accomplished their goal of perverting the gospel. It was just a matter of which lie would get them the most traction.

That’s because, for one thing, anything other than an incarnated deity would thwart the plans of demons to pass themselves off as gods incarnate as men, as we saw in Acts 14:11.

Thus, it really is no surprise that what the emperors authorized, as the legal heirs of Satan, were ultimately, the doctrines of demons.

“¹But the Spirit says expressly that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons, ²through the hypocrisy of men who speak lies, branded in their own conscience as with a hot iron” (1 Timothy 4:1-2)

“⁴I heard another voice from heaven, saying, “Come out of her, my people, that you have no participation in her sins, and that you don’t receive of her plagues, ⁵for her sins have reached to the sky, and God has remembered her iniquities… ⁹The kings of the earth who committed sexual immorality and lived wantonly with her will weep and wail over her, when they look at the smoke of her burning” (Revelation 18:4-5, 9).

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