Dennis Muses on: Gospel Teachings That Didn't Make the Cut

The Gospel of Thomas

No Priests-No Ministers-No Church

"Know Thyself"

"The Gospel According to Thomas, commonly shortened to the Gospel of Thomas, is a well preserved early Christian, non-canonical sayings-gospel which many scholars believe provides insight into the Oral gospel traditions. It was discovered near Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in December 1945, in one of a group of books known as the Nag Hammadi library. The Gospel of Thomas was found among a collection of fifty-two writings that included, in addition to an excerpt from Plato's Republic, gospels claiming to have been written by Jesus' disciple Philip. Scholars have speculated that the works were buried in response to a letter from Bishop Athanasius who for the first time declared a strict canon of Christian scripture.^[1]

The Coptic language text, the second of seven contained in what modern-day scholars have designated as Codex II, is composed of 114 sayings attributed to Jesus.^[2] Almost half of these sayings resemble those found in the Canonical Gospels, while it is speculated that the other sayings were added from Gnostic tradition.^[3] Its place of origin may have been Syria, where Thomasine traditions were strong.^[4]"

The 114 Sayings of Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas

http://gnosis.org/naghamm/gthlamb.html

“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.” 
― Gospel of Thomas

“Jesus said, "If those who lead you say to you, 'See, the kingdom is in the sky,' then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, 'It is in the sea,' then the fish will precede you. Rather, the kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will become known, and you will realize that it is you who are the sons of the living father. But if you will not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty and it is you who are that poverty.” 
― Gospel of Thomas

The Gospels we have in Mark, Matthew, Luke and John are not the only ones written.  The were the chosen ones and came on the scene in the mid second century of the Christian era.  They are not eyewitness accounts and were not written by the men whose names were later added to give them credibility.  They were anonymous works to begin with. But they were the ones chosen and many many others, such as the Gospel of Thomas were not.  It should be plain to see why The Gospel of Thomas was not chosen.  While containing many of the same sayings of Jesus found in the Gospels , these two quotes, along with others were never going to make it into the organized Church canon.  The debate still rages over which came first, the Gospel of Thomas or the New Testament Gospels.  That each contained parts of the other is clear. 

How different the truth of Thomas than the Gospels.  Salvation came from within and it came from "knowing yourself".  Nothing here about blood sacrifices without which there can be no forgiveness.  Ever ask just why without the shedding of blood there is NO forgiveness of sins.  What's wrong with just saying, "I forgive you."?  Thomas is speaking of the inner work that is the spirituality organized  religion hates. 

Spiritual human beings are not prone to membership.  The religious love it. Spiritual humans don't follow all the rules being told "Trust and obey for the is NO OTHER WAY to be happy in Jesus...but to trust and obey!"    Their spiritual journey is inward.  They don't tend to take the rantings of priests and ministers too seriously. They probably hold on to their money with a bit more wisdom and only pull the big triggers they choose.  Pulling big triggers may not even be a part of their vocabulary.  In short, they can't be controlled, coerced  and they aren't compliant to the organization and certainly not to the Priests and Ministry as if they get the final say.  Today you get to know what your church tells you to know.  Today people sit and listen to others tell them how it all is.  You know,  Greetings-three hymns-opening prayer-sermonette-hymn-announcements-hymn-sermon-hymn-closing prayer.  You sit, you listen and others pour into you what you are expected to be, do and think.  You are told what "we" believe , when to meet so we can all believe it together and how much to give. 

How many sermons and rituals have you ever sat through just hoping it would end sooner than you knew it would?   Going within to find the Kingdom is simply never going to cut it with organized religion.  When Jesus said, "the Kingdom of God is within you" in the Gospels, The Gospel of Thomas proves he did not mean he, Jesus, as representing the Kingdom was among them.  It means it is  WITHIN you.  The Gospel of Thomas tells it's readers to go in and know yourself which is the hard work of a truly spiritual person.  And this was some of the most early teachings and beliefs of many of the earliest Christians.  The literalism and organization with it's some Apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some teachers and some helps...etc, came much later. 

“Jesus said, "If those who lead you say to you, 'See, the kingdom is in the sky,' then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, 'It is in the sea,' then the fish will precede you."  In other words, the birds are already in the kingdom ahead of you if you think it is in the sky and the fish are too if you think it is in the sea.  No...it is inside you and knowing yourself is a huge part of what the Kingdom is to Jesus of this gospel rejected.  

From my experience, most are afraid to go within and know themselves.  Mostly we don't know how to go about it.   It is much easier to let the Church tell you all about yourself.  Poor, miserable, blind and naked come to mind and certainly with a heart that is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.....needing priests to do sacrifice for you back then, or ministers and "the Church" in our times.  

"In the Thomas gospel, Jesus is presented as a spiritual guide whose words (when properly understood) bring eternal life (Saying 1). Readers of these sayings are advised to continue seeking until they find what will enable them to become rulers of their own lives (Saying 2) and thus to know themselves (Saying 3) and their legacy of being the children of "the living Father" (Saying 3). These goals are presented in the image of "entering the Kingdom" by the methodology of insight that goes beyond duality. (Saying 22). The Gospel of Thomas shows little or no concern for orthodox religious concepts and doctrines. Scholars have traditionally understood the Gospel of Thomas as a Gnostic text because it was found amongst other gnostic texts, was understood as being prone to a Gnostic interpretation by the early Church, and emphasized knowledge as the key to salvation, particularly in Saying 1. "

The Gospel of Thomas emphasizes direct and unmediated experience. In Thomas saying 108, Jesus says, "Whoever drinks from my mouth will become as I am; I myself shall become that person, and the hidden things will be revealed to him." Furthermore, salvation is personal and found through spiritual (psychological) introspection. In Thomas saying 70, Jesus says, "If you bring forth what is within you, what you have will save you. If you do not bring it forth, what you do not have within you will kill you." As such, this form of salvation is idiosyncratic and without literal explanation unless read from a psychological perspective related to Self vs. ego. (Some ministerial egos certainly need to be checked at the door before services)

What a different experience personal spirituality would be without the literalism and hierarchy of Church organization , ministry that must be obeyed and respected because they say to and the occasional rant on sending it in and pulling big triggers when in your heart you know just how stupid and foolish that would be.  The "Edifice Complex" as seen in Gerald Flurry and Dave Pack would be replaced by the much more rewarding inner work of the individual.  Instead of reaching the world with literalism and religion, we'd reach inward with a spirituality .  It is not a selfish thing, it is simply learning who you are and not having others decide who you need to be to please them. How different would one's spirituality be as opposed to their religious fears and compliance if the Gospel of Thomas had made it into the New Testament.  It would have changed everything.  

"The teaching of salvation (i.e., entering the Kingdom of Heaven) that is found in The Gospel of Thomas is neither that of "works" nor of "grace" as the dichotomy is found in the canonical gospels, but what might be called a third way, that of insight. The overriding concern of The Gospel of Thomas is to find the light within in order to be a light unto the world."

The modern version of The Gospel of Thomas

Instead of being asked "Do you know Jesus?",  we would have been asked by Jesus and those given to a kinder more gentle spirituality, "Do you know yourself?"  The ministry would have been both real helpers of your joy and facilitators of just how one might go about it instead of mere Title Takers to be obeyed as if they knew and you couldn't understand anything without them. Yourself is that part of you that you give up and lose when you allow priests, ministers and organizations that no Jesus of either Thomas or the Gospels probably ever intended to be what they have become today.*

Just sayin'...

*(PS  "I will build my church.."  was probably added to the text when the physical Church needed to be built long after Jesus did not actually return shortly)

Eric King: ET Is Real! The Government and News Media Ignores My Truth!

Mr. Eric King, the Mr. Know-it-All of Armstrongism now claims to be the worlds foremost authority on UFO's and extraterrestrials.

If the people on this planet knew exactly the extent of what was truly going on just outside earth’s atmosphere they may go into total shock. The United States government has tried to “keep a lid” on what is going on but they can no longer do so. The truth is out there. I wish to share just a little of what the true Worldwide Church of God [COGSR] knows regarding this important issue. Many of you know that COGSR has an extra department dedicated to studying science in light of God’s word. This department is known as “Science of Christian Thought” or SOCT. Much research has been going on in regards to understanding the Human Potential and the human brain. In the last two years we have been looking closely into the UFO phenomenon and we have even picked up good connections….people who have been studying this type of stuff since the early 60’s.-

What I am about to share with you cannot be proved and the news media has tried to ignore the facts all together. So let us look into this subject and get some clarity.

Most people think that if a person talks about UFO’s they must be a little crazy. It, like true Christianity, is not much for conversation these days. The facts show that there is indeed UFO activity in earth’s atmosphere and just outside earth’s atmosphere. NASA has documented much of this activity for a long time. During World War 2 many unknown crafts were spotted by fighter pilots doing things that the human technology of the time could not perform. Every country has reported such activity. Militaries from all over the world have documented such craft in their own air space.-

Eric's god did not know exactly how to create perfect humans so they could become god like he was.  God had to experiment on how to create.  Lots of mistakes were made till he got it right. 

God began to create many life forms over a long period of time. The angelic beings [IB’s] who once had the opportunity to inhabit glorified bodies and take care of our planet were now left going through the process of exchanging body for body and witnessing the effects of their sinful rebellion.-

The angelic beings wished that they could have remained the care takers of creation. About 47,000,000 years ago God created the lemur-like creature. These had forward facing eyes and were small little fella’s. They loved to climb things. And then about 30,000,000 years ago monkeys of all sorts were created. God placed most of them in what latter became South America and Africa. These creatures had hands and feet and good brains. The angels were hoping that God would create a more usable body for them.-

About 7,000,000 years ago God decided to create some very interesting beings. He created Sahelanthropus Ttchadensis. We have given this species the nickname “Toumai”. These creatures were the first to look like modern man in many ways but still fell short. These creatures exited for some time and developed a form of communication amongst them selves. God was taking pleasure in all of His great acts of creation. God loves to create! God can manipulate His laws and construct how He wishes. One thing to think about while contemplating all of this is the fact that God is using four material blocks to do all of this creating. These four blocks are; up & down quarks, electrons, and neutrinos. That’s all! Wow!

In Eric's world, the earth is millions and millions of years old - at least he got that part right!

Let us look at what SOCT has discovered thus far in our journey of the history of our planet. We have discovered that our universe was created 13.7 billion years ago. We learned that our galaxy is called the Milky Way Galaxy and was formed roughly 13.2 billion years ago. We learned that our solar system (4.6 billion years old) and our planet was formed and created by our Almighty God and that it was originally created to be inhabited around 6 billion years ago. We learned that God created IB’s [angelic beings] to inhabit and take care of our planet as “care-takers”. We learned that these angels failed and rebelled against God during what we call the Permian Period and the angelic war ended with what we call the KT extinction event at 65 million years ago. The angels had traveled to heaven and tried to war against God. As a result they were cast back to our planet which caused great devastation and the destruction of the dinosaurs. When the IB’s hit the Earth they caused four great craters.-

We learned that after this event God continued to create through additional periods. At the end of the KT extinction event God proceeded to create. We can start this new phase of creation with strength around 47,000,000 years ago. This brings us up to the last ice age which ended roughly 10,000 years ago. We understand that the first 4000 years of this time helped melt the ice and prepare the way for the Garden of Eden and the creation of the most recent and last human couple, Adam and Eve.-

Eric's fallen angels have been kidnapping earthlings and takingthemto other worlds to help populate the planets:

Now the Scriptures teach that mankind was “made a little lower than angels”. The angels are a bit more intelligent than we are. As a matter of fact we like to call them I.B.’s (Intelligent Beings). Of course the fallen angels have used their intelligence for the wrong purposes. Some of these fallen beings are taking life [from the Extractors Class] from our planet and are now “seeding” other planets for their use. As a matter of fact, there is a constant “coming and going” of craft to our planet.-

Eric's god is coming soon and only his group will be sought out by God and translated away because they are sooooooooooooooooo enlightened..

When it comes to the end of our planet Jesus Christ will send His angelic beings to gather His elect…the enlightened ones. Only those humans who have been “seeded” with the Holy Spirit will be allowed to enter the beginning of the restoration of our planet.-

Eric also wants you to know that he and only he has the REAL truth about UFO's. He knows the kinds of propulsion systems they use to fly their crafts with, how fast they fly, that President Regan was afraid of them and that they are here to be worshiped.

So what have we here at SOCT learned in our studies regarding the physical manifestations of this UFO phenomenon?

1-Intelligently Controlled Craft are visiting our planet.-

2-These craft are using a special type of nuclear power (perhaps nuclear fusion) and are using Hydrogen and Helium propulsion systems.-

3-They can travel 0-600 miles an hour in less than a second putting them at 30 G’s.-

4-Any being can survive any ‘G’ as long as the duration is extremely short.-

5-Most all of these craft are inhabited and are using electro magnetic charge systems.-

6-These craft adjust ionized air plasma using magneto propulsion systems.-

7-Craft have been witnessed traveling 1800 miles an hour and making up to 2200 mile an hour turns.-

8-Some of the fastest speeds are around 7000 and then able to “stop on a dime”. Extremely fascinating….to say the least.-

9-After 1950 an increase in craft numbers and bolder appearances of the crafts began.-

10-President Ronald Reagan was concerned about the beings being hostile.-

11-True Christians have to deal with the fact of their existence.-

12-True Christians are aware that some of these beings are seeking worship and are the source of all false religion.-

This information written by and released into the public on February 12^th, 2014 by;-

Mr. Eric William King [founder of COGSR & SOCT]

Ex-Philadelphia Church of God Members Say Church Is Evil and Oppressive

Exit and Support has a new letter up from former Philadelphia Church of God members.  This family had the sense to wake up and leave the cult.

Of all the various splinter groups of Armstrongism this one has the potential to be deadly to its members.

After reading Malachi's Message, we thought PCG was truly the church to attend. I'll have to say as rotten as Worldwide Church of God was it was nothing compared to the oppression and evil we felt in the Philadelphia Church of God.

Slowly and systematically Gerald Flurry started pulling in the reigns, cutting all family off, even people who gave us no trouble about the PCG at all. Pretty soon we were told we couldn't eat out, we had to eat there at services (every week). We were expected to bring dishes of food while they had people in there watching your actions and words. If they thought someone was a bit more relaxed and would open up and say things, they wanted to know how devoted you were to him (not God but Gerald Flurry).

We were assigned seats and could only sit where they wanted us to--next to people who tended to draw you out and question you about your loyalty. Flurry insisted people there were to be "family" to each other. It never worked for me as I really felt uncomfortable with everyone there. They all seemed like zombies to me--"yes men" that were devoted to Flurry. Their eyes were glassy, they stared ahead a lot, their conversations were nothing but buzzwords. No one was interested in anything you did or said outside of PCG. So you were encouraged to talk only about "the church."

----------------

One time we were all told we better be at services. A woman I knew who was in the last stages of cancer was told her she "better get to church or else!" Another woman I knew was in the hospital with cancer and the ministers insisted (against the doctor's advice) that she come to services that day. (She later died but the ministers didn't even care, attributing it to some "hidden sin" in her life.) When we all arrived that day, they had blocked the windows with black plastic and it was so dark in there you could hardly see. There were guards (bully-like men) by the doors. Some were at the entrance, some were where you go into the room for the services, and some standing at the bathroom door, intimidating people who entered, saying who could go in and how long they could stay. They said they were handing the information to Flurry.

After the woman who had cancer got home, she got up enough strength to phone the ministers and ask them to come to her home. She really told them off about a lot of things on her mind, including about others in there. When they started in on her she yelled at them to get out of her house and not to dare threaten her again!! Apparently, they then phoned Flurry and the next day they called her and said, "By the authority of Mr. Flurry you are disfellowshipped!" She later told me that she never felt so much peace in her life or felt so free of that evil place.

Read the entire letter here.