4 Thomas Act Six-I

4 Thomas Act Six-I

The Sixth Act of Thomas is in two long sections that are not structurally related to each other:

the first section consists of reports of a number of miracles, concerning a boy who murders a girl, who is subsequently raised from the dead;

the second long section is sort of a compilation of Gnostic doctrinal principles, each of which deserves some attention.

(We will not get to the second section for a few more weeks because I want to insert, between the first and second section, a sermon on Hell. I must do this because Hell figures quite prominently into the end of the first section.)

The Sixth Act of Thomas is a long cascade of miracles culminating in a guided tour of  Hell. As we will see next week, there are many, many, many reports, from ancient history forward, of such tours of the afterlife--including lots of very grisly images of Hell. Descriptions of Hell go all the way back to Gilgamesh, the Mahabarata, and the Greeks (for example Hades and Persephone, and the Orpheus legend); many of these ancient myths were revived in the Medieval Period onward, and it is certainly likely that Dante was aware, either of this tale from the Gospel of Thomas, or some account like it, in which hell, purgatory, and heaven are portrayed as having, you might say, characteristic architectural features.

The descriptions of Hell, from cultures around the world, and from distantly related time periods, consistently share many common features. Indeed, in recent parapsychological literature, we encounter many accounts of near-death experiences (NDEs) which include content that is the same or similar to this girl's tour of Hell. In the past few months, we have spoken several times on the subject of demon possession; therefore, it is surely not inappropriate to take a look at these demons' homeland--but more on that in a moment.

Now, on to the The Sixth Act of Thomas:

It's a very interesting tale and it begins in a very interesting way:

At the Eucharist feast, a young man comes forward to partake of the spiritual food, but when he reaches for the body of Christ, both hands wither and disappear. When  Thomas sees this, he immediately figures it is a telltale sign that this guy's hands are gone because he has done something wrong. What follows is very much like the Virgin Mary Miracles that are the subject of many Spanish Dance Songs of the Medieval period; these song texts portray Mary as a kind of combination Saint/Sherlock Holmes, who is able to figure out mysteries, find lost objects, or perform healings, or other miraculous feats.

So Thomas questions the boy with the withered hands, and the boy confesses that he has just come from a murder: he just killed his girlfriend. He tried to get her to marry him, and she just wouldn't do it; he got so upset that he killed her with his sword. Let's read that:

"I have done an evil deed, yet I thought to do somewhat good. I was enamoured of a woman that dwelleth at an inn without the city, and she also loved me; and when I heard of thee and believed, that thou proclaimest a living God, I came and received of thee the seal with the rest; for thou saidst: Whosoever shall partake in the polluted union, and especially in adultery, he shall not have life with the God whom I preach.

Whereas therefore I loved her much, I entreated her and would have persuaded her to become my consort in chastity and pure conversation, which thou also teachest: but she would not. When, therefore, she consented not, I took a sword and slew her: for I could not endure to see her commit adultery with another man."

[Sidebar: Imagine this boy's frustration with the girl, who not only won't be his wife, she won't even let them have a platonic friendship. It must have been maddening.

Here, it is worth emphasizing that Thomas, at very first hearing, immediately absolves the boy of blame by condemning an Evil Spirit as the primary motivator of the boy's wrong behavior. We will hear this demon speak, through the boy, as we heard the demons speak in two other Acts. The actions of the demon in this story are much the same as those of the demon in Act Three: the abrupt shifting from one emotional temperature to another,

(now plaintive:
"I have done an evil deed, yet I thought to do somewhat good,"

now legalistic:
"I entreated her and would have persuaded her to become my consort in chastity and pure conversation, which thou also teaches,"

now despairing:
"I could not endure to see her commit adultery with another man,)--

these are very characteristic Satanic strategies. Thus, it is not so difficult to read into certain subtle suggestions in the text, the idea that this boy was indeed led astray by Satanic influence.

The message here is that: we must constantly be on guard against this type of thing, the leading astray of our thoughts into unwholesome regions, by subtle subliminal suggestions, suggestions that make sense on the surface, but which do not serve the Truth. We must constantly be on guard against the false truths of Satanic Law, Pre-Resurrection Law. Indeed, the ease with which evil thoughts creep into all our minds is a reliable index of our spiritual advancement, and is, furthermore, directly linked to how quickly we are able to recognize Satanic justice for what it is, and to banish it from our conscious consideration.

In our culture, we preach self-determination; we insist that we are responsible for our own destinies. But, in light of the how quickly Thomas concluded that the boy was not to blame, it is therefore not so far-fetched to suggest that this text is saying: ALL the evil things that have ever happened on Earth have been responses to Satanic suggestion. Here is a gruesome image: visualize the whole world--see how, of all the people walking the Earth, each person is accompanied by an invisible demon, sitting on his shoulder, whispering wrong thoughts into his innocent ears. Unhappy but true? Maybe. After all, it is said that planting perverse lies in human minds is what Satan was sent into the world to do. And surely there are enough fallen angels to go around.

Here is Thomas's response to the boy's confession:]

"When the apostle heard this he said: O insane union how ruinest thou unto shamelessness! O unrestrained lust, how hast thou stirred up this man to do this! O work of the serpent, how art thou enraged against thine own!"

This first episode ends with a beautiful image of the healing, living waters; as all the elements of these miracles are symbolic, the water here represents the spiritual power capable of healing the boy's withered arms.

"And the apostle bade water to be brought to him in a basin; and when the water was brought, he said: Come, ye waters from the living waters, that were sent unto us, the true from the true, the rest that was sent unto us from the rest, the power of salvation that cometh from that power which conquereth all things and subdueth them unto its own will: come and dwell in these waters, that the gift of the Holy Ghost may be perfectly consummated in them."

The miracle healing, of the boy's hands, is a short spiritual journey all its own. The symbolism of the miracle, and the mechanism of the miracle, are so symbolic and archetypal that it really packs a punch. The boy's hands are withered because: it was with his hands that he committed the sin; when he realizes the sin, and invests his intentions in a higher power, which can WITNESS the psychic dagger in his heart, which has physically manifested as murderous acts; once he has removed the GUILT of his hands, by recognizing Satanic influence, he may restore his hands to physical health. An important underlying message of the story is that we must, on many levels at once, begin to understand that spiritual healing and power over death are all about focusing energy from higher dimensions into a particulate, focussed, physical manifestation.

After the boy's hands are restored by the Holy Water, Thomas is led to the girl's body, lying on the ground outside an inn. They bring the body inside, and, there Thomas, very simplistically put, brings the girl back to life. I say "simplistic" because the resurrection of this girl is an event of many stages, and many levels.  The raising of the girl from the dead is of especial interest because it involves the same principle of healing demonstrated by the miracle of the healing waters: that death is an intrusion of the powers of ignorance over a higher knowledge--that death, like withered hands, is state of mind. By proclaiming the higher knowledge, Thomas contrives to bring the soul of the girl back to the land of the living; but not until she has taken a tour of the afterlife.

It is noteworthy that the final resurrection of the girl is not effected by Thomas, but by the boy who killed her; with Thomas' guidance, he reverses his negative polarity, you might say, and does over the past with a positive charge.

A long time ago a friend of mine told me that the most important date in the history of man was:

the day he learned to change his past.

This is not a trivial idea. We have been affirming, in recent years, that most of the important spiritual realities exist OUTSIDE TIME. Thus, it is no surprise that Thomas' blessings can bestow on the boy's life the great-grand-daddy of all do-overs.

"And the apostle laid his hand upon her and began to say: Jesu, who always showest thyself unto us; for this is thy will, that we should at all times seek thee, and thyself hast given us this power, to ask and to receive, and hast not only permitted this, but hast taught us to pray: who art not seen of our bodily eyes, but art never hidden from the eyes of our soul, and in thine aspect art concealed, but in thy works art manifested unto us: and in thy many acts we have known thee so far as we are able, and thyself hast given us thy gifts without measure, saying:

Ask and it shall be given unto you, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you:"

[Sidebar: "Seek and ye shall find" always reminds me of  "He with eyes to see, let him see, and he who has ears to hear, let him hear." I am making two points here:

1. This story is majorly about discernment; "seeking and finding" certainly require "seeing".

2. Another peripheral point, here, is that: this line certainly indicates that there is a parallel connection between Revelation and the Gnostic Gospels; the numerous common threads to be found in the Gnostic Gospels and the accepted Gospels strongly suggests that the content in the Gnostic Gospels bears the stamp of legitimacy, and/or Revelation  is a Gnostic Gospel. Indeed, as we pursue our review of Revelation, more and more parallels between it and other Gnostic Gospel will become glaringly apparent.

Back to Thomas:]

"we beseech thee, therefore, having the fear of our sins; and we ask of thee, not riches, not gold, not silver, not possessions, not aught else of the things which come of the earth and return again unto the earth; but this we ask of thee and entreat, that in thine holy name thou wouldest raise up the woman that lieth here, by thy power, to the glory and faith of them that stand by."

[Sidebar: This is where the boy changes his past:

"And he said unto the youth ' Stretch thy mind towards our Lord,'"

I love the expression, "Stretch thy mind towards our Lord." That's such great, remedial, spiritual instruction, you know.

Stretching your mind toward higher consciousness is all about an act of will--it is all about extending your sense of self beyond the borders of your physical body and touching, with hyper-sensitivity, the next higher level of consciousness; it is about IDENTIFYING with a larger self that you can only experience through consciousness states similar to those of dreaming or praying. It would be quite something if everybody could learn to reach out with their minds and touch their higher selves; it they could, there would be no atheists in the world.

My son is an entrenched atheist. He refuses to entertain any possibility of life after death, or any higher-dimensional reality. To him, all the vast collection of para-psychic research, that affirms the existence of the soul, is dismissed as pseudo-science. And yet, he's terrified of death. If I could get him to reach out with his consciousness, just a little bit, so that he could, just once, sense a higher reality, a reality that is abundantly and eternally available to him--if he could just stretch out his mind, I think it would be a happier man.

Back to Thomas:]

"And he said unto the youth ' Stretch thy mind towards our Lord,' and he signed him with the cross, having sealed him: Go and take hold on her hand and say unto her: I with my hands slew thee with iron, and with my hands in the faith of Jesus I raise thee up. So the youth went to her and stood by her, saying: I have believed in thee, Christ Jesu. And he looked unto Judas Thomas the apostle and said to him: Pray for me that my Lord may come to my help, whom I also call upon. And he laid his hand upon her hand and said: Come, Lord Jesu Christ: unto her grant thou life and unto me the earnest of faith in thee. And straightway as he drew her hand she sprang up and sat up, looking upon the great company that stood by."

[Sidebar: And the hits keep coming! After the girl arises and recognizes the apostle, she tells the tale of her Near-Death-Experience:

"Dost thou who wast with me and unto whom I was delivered desire to hear? And she began to say: A man took me who was hateful to look upon altogether black, and his raiment exceedingly foul, and took me away to a place wherein were many pits, and a great stench and hateful odour issued thence. And he caused me to look into every pit, and I saw in the first pit flaming fire, and wheels of fire ran round there, and souls were hanged upon those wheels, and were broken against each other;"

In the esoteric literature Hell is often described as turning wheels. Tolkien's evil empires are visualized, in the movies, as dominated by pits of fire, and vast mechanical machines. A long time ago, in Los Angeles, I wrote music for a production of the Sartre play No Exit. This play takes place in Hell, so the stage director had the actors say their lines constantly circling around this coffee table; as the play went on, this circling became gradually more accelerated, and more hysterical, eventually climaxing at the point where the people realize they are meant to be each other's tormentors; and so they say, "Let's get on with it."

Back to Thomas:]

"and very great crying and howling was there, and there was none to deliver. And that man said to me: These souls are of thy tribe, and when the number of their days is accomplished they are delivered unto torment and affliction, and then are others brought in in their stead, and likewise these into another place. 

And I looked and saw infants heaped one upon another and struggling with each other as they lay on them. And he answered and said to me: These are the children of those others, and therefore are they set here for a testimony against them.

And he took me unto another pit, and I stooped and looked and saw mire and worms welling up, and souls wallowing there, and a great gnashing of teeth was heard thence from them. And that man said unto me: These are the souls of women which forsook their husbands and committed adultery with others, and are brought into this torment."

[Sidebar: It must be admitted that the Gnostic Gospels are preaching a certain type of Christianity. I think you might describe it as: Monastic Christianity. These authors consistently maintain that the highest spiritual calling is to those who are willing to give up all worldly pursuits and live a life of solitary spiritual conquest. Celibacy is considered a primary virtue, and adultery is considered a very high-ranking sin.

In another Gnostic work, The Book of the Dead, by Basilides, (ca. 150 A.D.), the question of sex is explored in its cosmic context:

"Tell us of gods and devils, accursed one! The god-sun is the highest good, the devil its opposite. Thus have ye two gods. But there are many high and good things and many great evils. Among these are two god-devils; the one is the Burning One, the other the Growing One. The burning one is EROS, who hath the form of flame. Flame giveth light because it consumeth. The growing one is the TREE OF LIFE. It buddeth, as in growing it heapeth up living stuff. Eros flameth up and dieth. But the tree of life groweth with slow and constant increase through unmeasured time."

Here, Eros is described as a flame that consumes and goes out (a typical Gnostic perspective). The spiritual life is here preferred over the physical life, as it increases "through unmeasured time".  Certainly the religious devotee must put his faith in higher things; but, of course, this is not quite what Jesus said: as we have affirmed many times, Jesus came to give us a Heaven on Earth; Heaven on Earth means, among other things, glorifying the physical. Therefore, it is not unreasonable to maintain that Jesus was supportive both of monastic Christianity, and what you might call Social Christianity. Calling it "Social" makes it sound kind of scientific, or cut and dried, or even vulgar. Perhaps what I mean is Mundane Christianity.

In any case, it will be apparent that the Gnostic concept of Eros is tainted with evil. So, as we consider the idea of "Social Christianity", a religion that allows us to glorify the physical, we can see that Jesus was able to reverse the polarity of evil, of Original Sin, just like Thomas, who, through the boy, reversed the polarity of death for the girl. What this means is that Grace converts death and evil into life, "through unmeasured time". One then wonders if death is not the same thing as evil, and, if by submitting to death, we are submitting to evil. Fortunately, this submission is unnecessary, with Grace always at our elbow, begging us to raise our consciousness and embrace the possibilities of cosmic forgiveness.

In The Gospel of Phillip, we read this statement that agrees with our ideas about Heaven on Earth:

"The Lord did everything in a mystery, a baptism and a chrism and a eucharist and a redemption and a bridal chamber. He said, "I came to make the things below like the things above, and the things outside like those inside. I came to unite them in the place." . . . Those who say, "There is a heavenly man and there is one above him" are wrong. For it is the first of these two heavenly men, the one who is revealed, that they call "the one who is below"; and he to whom the hidden belongs is that one who is above him. For it would be better for them to say, "The inner and outer, and what is outside the outer". Because of this, the Lord called destruction the "the outer darkness": there is not another outside of it. He said, "My Father who is in secret". He said, "Go into your chamber and shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father who is in secret", the one who is within them all. But that which is within them all is the fullness. Beyond it, there is nothing else within it. This is that of which they say, "That which is above them"."

Back to Thomas, and the girl's journey through Hell:]

"Another pit he showed me whereinto I stooped and looked and saw souls hanging, some by the tongue, some by the hair, some by the hands, and some head downward by the feet, and tormented with smoke and brimstone; concerning whom that man that was with me answered me: The souls which are hanged by the tongue are slanderers, that uttered Lying and shameful words, and were not ashamed, and they that are hanged by the hair are unblushing ones which had no modesty and went about in the world bareheaded; and they that are hanged by the hands, these are they that took away and stole other men's goods, and never gave aught to the needy nor helped the afflicted, but did so, desiring to take all, and had no thought at all of justice or of the law; and they that hang upside down by the feet, these are they that lightly and readily ran in evil ways and disorderly paths, not visiting the sick nor escorting them that depart this life, and therefore each and every soul receiveth that which was done by it.

Again he took me and showed me a cave exceeding dark, breathing out a great stench, and many souls were looking out desiring to get somewhat of the air, but their keepers suffered them not to look forth. And he that was with me said: This is the prison of those souls which thou sawest: for when they have fulfilled their torments for that which each did, thereafter do others succeed them: and there be some that are wholly consumed and some that are delivered over unto other torments.

And they that kept the souls which were in the dark cave said unto the man that had taken me: Give her unto us that we may bring her in unto the rest until the time cometh for her to be delivered unto torment. But he answered them: I give her not unto you, for I fear him that delivered her to me: for I was not charged to leave her here, but I take her back with me until I shall receive order concerning her.

And he took me and brought me unto another place wherein were men being sharply tormented. And he that was like unto thee took me and delivered me to thee, saying thus to thee: Take her, for she is one of the sheep that have gone astray. And I was taken by thee, and now am I before thee. I beseech thee, therefore, and supplicate that I may not depart unto those places of punishment which I have seen."

The Apocalypse of Peter is the source for much of this Infernal scene. The episode where the sinners are hanging by their tongues, or their feet, or their hands, is the very same Hell-symbolism that we typically encounter in medieval accounts. The writing is really quite charming in a way; furthermore, the truth of the symbolism is pretty potently obvious, when you think about it: a personal Hell is always going to consist of endlessly re-experiencing whatever thing you feel worst about in your life. So the person who is hanging by his tongue is not being subjected to torture by another--he is torturing himself, through the recognition and regret of his sin.

Thomas finishes up this episode with a tremendous sermon:

"And the apostle said: Ye have heard what this woman hath related: and there are not these torments only, but others also, worse than these; and ye, if ye turn not unto this God whom I preach, and abstain from your former works and the deeds which ye committed without knowledge, shall have your end in those torments."

"Shall have your end in those torments" is another way of saying, "What goes around comes around." It is a Karmic Law. And when you really start to think about it, the whole idea of Hell as the consequence of evildoing, as a punishment for evildoing, is sort of anti-Christian. Jesus came to take us above and beyond Karmic Law.

However, the specialization of the Hellish torments, each a vivid physicalization of a spiritual flaw, is very much within the realm of psychological possibility. We all suffer from the things we did, which we feel were the most wrong; and souls looking back on their lives in the afterlife environment, might easily create their own Hells by remembering and regretting the sins they committed in life, just like Jacob Marley in The Christmas Carol. But perhaps the act of facing those sins, reliving them, regressing and draining them of electrical charge, presents itself as a way out of hell. In the Mahabarata, Hell is seen as a place from which you might deliver yourself. However, in The Great Divorce, C.S. Lewis makes the point that: the self-condemning quality of Hell may result in an eternal "self-damnation" that is irrevocable, simply because the soul has deteriorated beyond the point of no return. We have suggested, before, that: on the final Judgement Day, it will not be Jesus, but, rather, the sinful themselves, who must pronounce their own eternal condemnations. Same deal.

As we will see next week, many ideas about Hell, expressed in the doctrines of various religions around the world, indicate that Hell does not actually have to be forever--that just about anybody can find a way out of Hell. Nevertheless, many of these Hell concepts do include the very disturbing idea that some souls are just a lost cause, and they actually do cease to exist--my worst fear.

Back to Thomas:]

"Believe therefore on Christ Jesus, and he will forgive you the sins ye have committed hitherto, and will cleanse you from all your bodily lusts that abide on the earth, and will heal you of all your trespasses which follow you and depart with you and are found upon before you."

[Sidebar: I love the idea that our sins follow us. In a way, we create our own hell in this life, and the afterlife, because our sins absolutely follow us. Perhaps when we are in the afterlife, we are more sensitive to the psychic charge of sin, and therefore suffer more. This is definitely an argument in favor of developing spiritual sensitivity.

Back to Thomas:]

"Put off therefore every one of you the old man, and put on the new, and forsake your former walk and conversation;"

[Sidebar: "Put off therefore every one of you the old man, and put on the new" is a slogan that we, at the Basin Bible Church, have celebrated in poetry and song  many times; indeed, this passage is a poignant reminder of that particular resonance to the story. It is always about being born anew, of putting the old man in his grave and resurrecting, out of his ashes, the NEW MAN.
Back to Thomas:]

"and let them that stole steal no more, but live by labouring and working; and let the adulterous no more fornicate, lest they deliver themselves unto eternal torment. And put away from you covetousness and Lying and drunkenness and slandering, and render not evil for evil: for all these things are strange and alien unto the God who is preached by me: but rather walk ye in faith and meekness and holiness and hope, wherein God delighteth, that ye may become his own, expecting of him the gifts which some few only do receive."

In conclusion, we have seen that the first section of The Sixth Act of Thomas tells a story of redemption and transformation. The Act also contains nuggets of insight bearing on many difficult doctrinal issues. The question of Hell has definitely opened up a subject that is of interest to everybody who is going to die. We will talk about that next time.

Let us pray: Jesus, thank you for the miracles. Thank you for the power to vanquish negativity with good, and thank you for leading us, in small tender steps, toward a higher consciousness. Amen.