gnosticism

Gnosticism- a first century Christian sect whose works and members were severely repressed and destroyed. They taught a number of things that seem to make allot of sense, but they didn't support going to an intermediary to know god and they didnt support an organization that claimed to provide this. To the fourth century Romans who formed the Niceen council, this was a threat -it undermined the whole system of the underclass seeking guidance from initiated men in robes sworn to uphold the status quo, strike fear into men's hearts, etc.
Jane Pagels' book Beyond Belief: the Gospel of Thomas describes some of these gnostic principles in Thomas' heretical, gnostic text. She says that messiah translates as "annointed one" and christos, in Greek means the same. I always thought they translated as savior and have checked her translation- wiki and other sources agree.
Now, annointed one normally meant, son of god, the chosen king of the Israelites on earth. We all probably remember that Jesus often called himself the son of man and this is true for all the gospels, it seems. This title is not "son of THE man" but rather a descendant of Adam -human. Pagels, a student of the Bible in Greek and other languages, says that while Son of god may have meant divine to the Romans, the Israelite title actually means a human vessel for God on earth, as was David (Beyond Belief 42).
Her main focus of the cannonized gospels is John, which she asserts was written with an awareness of Thomas because it has in it certain similarities not present in Mark Mathew and Luke. Both refer to Jesus as the light of mankind (40). But they differ as to what this means, while John says that Jesus is "the light of all humanity", and "God's ONLY begotten son," "Thomas teaches -that God's light shines not only in Jesus but, potentially at least, in everyone."(40, 34)
John writes that we ought to beleive and accept the cannon of the church. Thomas teaches us to use our own logic and self questing. "If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you" (32).
Now, who supports a rigid hegemony in the form of a church that would later kill, maim and torture millions in the name of the pacifist Jesus? Who makes it easy for the elite to hold a monopoly on truth and who teaches personal seeking based in reason and experience? Can you see why Thomas was supressed?