DeConick A.D

94
SUPERPOWERS AND MONSTERS
The Gnostic Monster Ialdabaoth
YHWH was the supreme God’s adversary. It was this point that the biblical
Gnostics rallied around, and it was this point that began to mark
them as the unique Sethian community. They began to toy with the idea
that YHWH must be like Lucifer, the rebellious angel-turned-demon. If
YHWH was jealous, angry, and ignorant, was he like Lucifer, who led a
revolt and was thrown down from high places? They thought so. They
were convinced that YHWH is a rebel, an apostate god.
The Sethians christened him Ialdabaoth, which means “YHWH God of
Hosts.” This title reflects YHWH’s well-known warrior alias in the Bible,
as the king who leads his armies of angels into battle to protect his interests.
For the Sethians, he is the king who leads his heavenly host in
an ongoing battle against the supreme God. He is like General Zod in
the Superman stories—arrogant, ruthless, a genocidal maniac who finds
pleasure in dominating humans with his super strength. The Sethians also
called him Saklas (fool) and Samael (blind god).
Because Ialdabaoth is viewed by the Sethians as a jealous, rebellious
angel, his creation is viewed as fallen, too. As his domain, he establishes
the cosmos, which includes the celestial spheres, earth, and the underworld.
He populates his domain with powers like himself, who make up
his army of heavenly host. The lieutenants in his army are perceived as
fallen angels or demons. They are called by the Sethians archons, which
means “rulers.” Each of Ialdabaoth’s lieutenants is given a territory to
oversee, which is a planet or an abyss of hell, and a special name of power,
which the Sethians derive from the various names of God recorded in the
Bible. Ialdabaoth, a monstrous lion-headed serpent, arrogantly declares
himself the one God and ruler over all creation, when he says in the Bible,
“I am God and there is no God besides me” (Deuteronomy 32:39; Isaiah
43:10–11, 45:5–6, 18, 22, 46:9, 47:8, 10; Hosea 13:4; Joel 2:27).
In fact, Ialdabaoth is ignorant of the existence of anything superior to
himself, until the moment when he hears a voice call down from above him,
“Man exists and the Son of Man.” He reacts in disbelief. He assumes that
the voice is only that of his luminous mother, Sophia, the great goddess of
wisdom. He does not realize that there are immortals superior to himself
and his mother, because he has been living exiled in a cloud since his birth.
Ialdabaoth was born an ugly monster, the unfortunate son of the
most beautiful goddess of light. Immediately, he becomes envious of his