Hello Mike,

I hope all is well in the Vinson family.

Got a question. Do you think there are books missing from the Gospel? I was scanning through YouTube the other day and listened to what seems to be the lost book of Thomas.  Do you feel it’s deceiving or possibly not truth? It was a narrator reading it.  It sounded pretty interesting but unsure of the truths.  Your enlightenment would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you again, and talk with you soon.

YBIC,
G____

Hi G____,

Thank you for asking about the “gospel of Thomas”.

I took the time to listen to a reading of this book, and I read along with the man narrating it.

In that reading the ‘Christ’ of this ‘gospel of Thomas’ says, “I am not your teacher.” This entire book, and that doctrine in particular, is in direct contradiction to everything said in 1 Corinthians 12 about how the body needs all of its members and about how “God has placed in the church” all the various functions of that “one body… the hand… the foot”, etc. The point being made is that we need each other and are not, as the gospel of Thomas would have us to believe, sufficient unto ourselves.

The more I listened, the clearer it became that this ‘gospel’ points inwardly indeed, but not to “Christ within you the hope of glory’, but to you within you the hope of glory and of life.

This is the typical gnostic teaching that you are your own savior simply because this book teaches that all knowledge of what is needed to find salvation is all within you and is of yourself independent of anything outside of you.

The gospel of Thomas does not mention the death and resurrection of Christ simply because the gospel of Christ places the spotlight on Christ Himself and our need for a savior Who is not innately within you.

All New Age Gnosticism, which is what this ‘Gospel of Thomas’ is, places “the creature” at the center of the universe, just as the scripture warns against doing:>

Rom 1:25  Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

Such a self-centered message as is in this book, sounds so very “spiritual”, and indeed it is:

Eph 2:2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

So the voice of Christ who said clearly…

Joh 14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

…is not to be found in the gospel of Thomas. What is abundantly clear in that gospel is the absence of the name of Jesus as our Savior, and the doctrine that you can simply say of yourself ‘I am the way, the truth and the life… my salvation is all within me separate and independant of Him’.

Christ actually tells us:

Joh 10:4  And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.
Joh 10:5  And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.

You asked:

Do you think there are books missing from the Gospel? I was scanning through YouTube the other day and listened to what seems to be the lost book of Thomas.  Do you feel it’s deceiving or possibly not truth? It was a narrator reading it.  It sounded pretty interesting but unsure of the truths.  Your enlightenment would be greatly appreciated.

Having given this question very great consideration both in Ambassador College and even since, I do not believe the holy spirit has lost any book which we need and must have. Even secular scholars all agree that the apostle Thomas had nothing at all to do with this spurious book claiming his name. They all agree that it was written hundreds of years after the death of the apostles.

Yes, indeed! This is a book of great deception because it sounds so very spiritual and because it is so very contrary to the doctrine of Christ that He, and He alone, is “the door to the sheepfold” and there is no other way than Himself. It is deceitful because it teaches that you need no one but yourself to come to know the Father, while Christ teaches:

Joh 14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Joh 17:3  And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

I hope these words do indeed serve to “enlighten” your understanding of what is the voice of our Lord.

YbiC, Mike