bondage. As punishments, he tried to make humanity acknowledge him as God. Because of their lack of worship, he caused the Flood upon the human race, from which a feminine power such as Sophia or Pronoia (Providence) rescued Noah. Yaldabaoth made a covenant with Abraham, in which he was obligated to serve him along with his descendants. The Biblical prophets were to proclaim Yaldabaoth's glory, but at the same time, through Sophia's influence, they reminded people of their higher origin and prepared for the coming of Christ. At Sophia's instigation, Yaldabaoth arranged for the generation of Jesus through the Virgin Mary. For his proclamation, he used John the Baptist. At the moment of the baptism organized by Yaldabaoth, Sophia took on the body of Jesus and through it taught people that their destiny was the Kingdom of Light (the spiritual world), not the Kingdom of Darkness (the material universe). Only after his baptism did Jesus receive divine powers and could perform miracles. But since Jesus destroyed his kingdom instead of promoting it, Yaldabaoth had him crucified. Before his martyrdom, Christ escaped from the bodily shell and returned in the spiritual world. In popular culture In H.P. Lovecraft's short story The Horror at Red Hook (1925), Robert Suydam invokes Yaldabaoth (by the name Samaël) among the likes of Sephiroth and Ashmodai. In the SCP Foundation collaborative writing project, Yaldabaoth is a prominent figure in the mythologies of Sarkicism and the various traditions dedicated to worshiping Mekhane, religions that have a variety of origins in different canons, but are described on the Church of the Broken God hub page as having come from Ancient China. In Sarkicism, Yaldabaoth (also known as "Važjuma") is the principal power in the universe with six archons that levied several ordeals against the Sarkic prophet, Ion, who himself ascended to godhood upon overcoming them. It is the Sarkites' goal to surpass and destroy Yaldabaoth, and rejoin Grand Karcist Ion in their holy land, "Adytum" (also known as Adí-üm and Samādhi). In the Broken God religions, Yaldabaoth was a feral flesh god trapped inside the body of a wise mechanical god named Mekhane (also known as the Broken God) after an unclear struggle left them both unable to interfere with humanity and Mekhane becoming broken. The adherents (known as Mekhanites in some canons) of these religious groups, or "churches", believed Mekhane's sacrifice allowed humanity to advance technologically. It