Many of the early Hermeticists were Christian. For them the teachings of Hermes were part of (or a prediction of) Christianity.
This may seem strange from a modern viewpoint, but at the time there were several reflections in Christianity that seemed to match the Hermetic path.
To them (The Christian Hermes) it seemed that for years mankind had been trying to gain direct contact with the divine, to see the spiritual truth and to return to heaven. That all our spirituality, all the religions of the world, were our attempts to overcome our limitations and to be worthy to reach up to our creator.
God had heard the prayers and seen humanity’s efforts – and it return divinity had been sending messages in various forms via dreams, visions and prophets. This team effort was working and through our purification and divine progress, bit by bit, mankind and the divine were getting closer.
For them Hermes Trismagistus had obviously been a messenger (Hermes being the Greek messenger god) of the trinity (Trismagistus = thrice great). The logos, or word, he talked of was a reference to the coming of the greatest messenger (Hermes) of all, Jesus Christ.
The Hermetic works, and others of the time, appeared to have been written as part of a wave of positivity going throughout mankind as the time came near.
The divine hand was reaching down to grasp ours and as a race we could sense it!
Of course there were areas of theological disagreements, but these could be overlooked or slightly reworded (“corrected”) to be brought in line. Afterall, the Hermetic texts were written in advance of Christ so couldn’t be exactly right! The most important thing was that Hermetic rebirth was the same as being born again in Christ. As above so below, as on earth as it is in heaven.
Viewed in a Hermetic context, these Christian Hermeticists believed Jesus had come to take us beyond talking via burning bushes, dreams or rainbows, we were going to be able to throw away the rule books and let go of the tribal nature of various religions. Instead we would have direct contact with the divine in our hearts! It seemed to them that by working with such clear vision a ripple would go through mankind and soon this very world we live in would start to transform. As each and every one of us followed the Hermetic/Christian path we would rid ourselves of vices and gain spiritual insight. Every self-improvement, no matter how small, would raise the consciousness of the whole planet. Some groups were so inspired by this that they even believed the animals would join in this spiritual evolution. That as we became enlightened, peaceful and vegetarians, so would the animals. The Lion really would lie down with lamb.