Much of today's political, religious, and cultural issues have their genesis in the gnostic faith of abbot Joachim of Fiore (ca. 1135-1202). A Western Roman Catholic monk, Joachim's outlook on the history of man was and still is the source of schismatic movements within the Christian faith and a major influence on today's societal thought.

Because the church's 12th century leadership did not effectively counter Joachim's personal theology, Joachim's beliefs took root in the realm of ideas and have flourished to this day.

A Franciscan monk, Joachim of Fiore's theology challenged the prevailing Augustinian outlook on history. St. Augustine's analysis of history as being transitory was deeply rooted in scripture and the Fathers of the Church. Augustine wrote that the present day is a transitory time of fallibility and trial. And the church, with its belief in God and the Incarnate Son, are man's guiding light through the turmoil with a promise of eternal life at the end. Only God is forever. Therefore, only with an eye on God as our ultimate objective can we endure and begin to comprehend this world. The foregoing remains today's orthodox and Orthodox Christian view.

In contrast, Joachim of Fiore's outlook was dramatically different. Abbott Joachim's theology held that there are three great periods of history. The first encompassed the time addressed by the Old Testament. This period was eclipsed by the birth of God's Son, Jesus. The second period, therefore, is that time addressing the formation of the church in the New Testament. With the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, man entered into a third epoch.

It was during this latter and present epoch that Joachim's communicated theology caused profound changes that still affect us to this day. This last period was intended to be one in which mankind, with the Holy Spirit's counsel, was to evolve into a society of complete equality. All of society's problems would be overcome if man would pursue unselfish means. Essentially, Joachim believed that it was man's duty to pursue the establishment of heaven on earth and all of man's actions were to be directed toward this goal.

Joachim's private theology shared within the monastic order and society at large caused a fracture within the Franciscan community. It was St. Bonaventure, the Franciscan General Secretary, who had to combat Joachim's heresy. Although St. Bonaventure prevailed, his efforts were not forceful enough to uproot and counter Joachim's already disseminated beliefs - this according to then Reverend Professor Joseph Ratzinger, today Pope Benedict XVI.

As a consequence, Joachim's theology of history misinformed countless numbers of clergy and lay people through the decades and centuries that followed, flourished during the Enlightenment, and resulted in a vast array of ideologies from Marxism to socialism to liberation theology. Indeed, Joachim's beliefs are at the heart of present-day political and religious liberalism.

Tell the communists, socialists, and secularists, all in today's liberalism and other false ideologies, that their faith is undergirded by a discredited gnostic theology.