The section in quotes was posted on a closed forum but I wish to include it here because it highlight the historical plight of women in the church, any church because of the historical prevalence of the Patriarchal system of governance.
It is very clear from the Gnostic Bibles that Mary Magdalene had an astute spiritual mind capable of understanding the deeper nuances of meaning in the teachings given by Jesus that usually went over the heads of other disciples. ( If I remember rightly, I had written more here at this point about women being predominantly active in the church, this is something that we can see everywhere especially in Spiritualist Churches which seem to be predominantly run by women. Therefore women should be able to hold an equal and rightful place in the running of a church if available and qualified to do so. That is my opinion anyway. The content may have become lost by not saving it properly.)
[Quote]It came to pass then, when the First Mystery had finished speaking these words unto the disciples, that Mary came forward and said: “My Lord, my mind is ever understanding, at every time to come forward and set forth the solution of the words which she hath uttered; but I am afraid of Peter, because he threatened me and hateth our sex.”
And when she had said this, the First Mystery said unto her: “Every one who shall be filled with the spirit of light to come forward and set forth the solution of what I say,–no one shall be able to prevent him. Now, therefore, O Mary, set forth then the solution of the words which Pistis Sophia hath uttered.”
Then Mary answered and said unto the First Mystery in the midst of the disciples: “My Lord, concerning the solution of the words which Pistis Sophia hath uttered, thus hath thy light-power prophesied aforetime through David:
“‘1. I will exalt thee, O Lord, for thou hast received me, and thou hast not made glad my foes over me.
“‘2. O Lord, my God, I cried up unto thee, and thou hast healed me.
“‘3. O Lord, thou hast led up my soul out of hell; thou hast saved me from them which have gone down into the pit.'” (Pistis Sophia, Chapter 72)[unquote]
From the messages of the True Gospel Revealed Anew by Jesus it is mentioned that Jesus was teaching His disciples the way to seek God’s Divine Love as a way to become at one with the Father and the phenomena of the Pentecost was the culmination of this.
However this knowledge was lost in the years following the Crucifixion so these messages given to James Padgett and later to Dr Samuels who himself was a Jew through the mediumship of automatic writing is a way of giving them back to humanity. Even the three points mentioned above indicate that Mary had been in receipt of the Divine Love which comes as the result of heart felt seeking and with it comes increased spiritual wisdom.
I believe that there is a passage in Pistis Sophia where Mary is able to travel into the spirit world to be able to observe her own spiritual state and it seemed to be a bit of an eye opener for her. Although she hadn’t actually died it is likely that she travelled to the lower realms where she could come face to face with her reality. This was something that I had intended to comment on at the time of reading but didn’t. I felt that she had been able to travel in much the same way that Emanuel Swedenborg was allowed to in order to be able to experience and report on the various spiritual realms which he wrote about in Heaven and Hell.
It could be that the first point refers to the fact that Mary has been able to gain wisdom and be able to hold her own against those who would seek to ridicule her in the physical world, but on the other hand it could also possibly be in reference to the third point also because it has been explained that the occupants of the lower realms seek to prevent those who wish to leave the Hells from doing so by dragging them back down with ridicule and the nastiness which is theirs and evil.
And point two could be a reference to Mary seeking the Divine Love and healing her.
There is also a conundrum here because of Mary stating that the answer was prophesied by David. If the answer was prophesied then it should be in the future and it has also been mentioned that the availability of Divine Love only became available to humankind after the coming of Jesus, who has been referred to as the Second Adam.
RGH