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The Secret of Spiritual Security

Chapter 35 of the Gospel of Thomas for Awakening

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Jesus said, It is not possible for anyone to enter the house of a strong man and take it by force unless he binds his hands; then he will (be able to) ransack his house. (35)

Jesus is not giving us instructions on how to be a thief, he is telling us how to not be overcome and looted spiritually. Of course, it is all symbolic of the way the spirit which dwells in the house of the body becomes rendered helpless and despoiled.

Many are the thieves that lurk about seeking to steal our spiritual and mental property. In Revelation Jesus says to us: “Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown” (Revelation 3:11). Our crown is our spiritual destiny which the Beloved Disciple outlined, saying: “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (I John 3:2). And Saint Paul: “The mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, now is made manifest to his saints: to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:26, 27). The revelation of our inner Christ is our crown which we must guard diligently against losing to thieves.

And who are these thieves? Anything which hinders or erodes our spiritual progress. There are a lot of them, which is why we have to be so vigilant against their incursion into the house of our mind and heart. The hands that bind are the inhibition of our spiritual powers and the knowledge of their use, for they are the tools of our self-evolution. Once we lose our spiritual insight and empowerment, we shall become enslaved and ruthlessly pillaged by the thieves we let into our house through neglect and carelessness. The result is often–if not usually–spiritual death.

This is no idle fancy or exaggeration. Throughout my life I have seen people who were doing well and progressing spiritually suddenly fall and become totally ruined in body, mind and spirit. Very few ever recovered from it. I have known people that radiated goodness and purity, whose love and dedication for God were unquestioned. And I have seen them struck down by even small things that they were not on their guard to resist. Their hands were bound and they lost the life of the spirit through that bondage. Their grief and misery pervaded the rest of their lives. One or two escaped from the swamp, but remained crippled for the rest of their life, dim in consciousness, mechanical and rote in their religious life.

So we must make our hands strong and skilled and be on our guard at all times. As Saint Paul further said: “Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip” (Hebrews 2:1). Pararrueo means to slip from our grasp the way water taken in our hand escapes our grasp. It also implies an extremely easy slipping away–again like water.

The best way to keep our spirit-hands strong is simple: constant use through always pushing onward to new spiritual territory, never letting them rest, but always busy in the real work, the “one thing needful” (Luke 10:38-42). If we do so, then Jesus guarantees that we shall have “treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth” (Luke 12:33).

Read the next article in the Gospel of Thomas for Yogis: Live Carefree

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Chapters in The Gospel of Thomas for Awakening

  1. The Open Secrets
  2. Seeking Is More Than Just Finding
  3. Seeking the Kingdom Realistically
  4. The One Goal
  5. From the Seen to the Unseen
  6. What Jesus Wants Us To Do
  7. Eat Or Be Eaten
  8. Fishing Wisely
  9. The Inner Field
  10. Guarding the Flame
  11. What Will You Do?
  12. Who Shall Lead?
  13. The Unspeakable
  14. When Virtue is Vice
  15. Father in Heaven; Father on Earth
  16. Divine Discord
  17. The Divine Gift
  18. The Origin is the End
  19. Original Being
  20. A Mustard Seed
  21. Disciples of Jesus
  22. How to Enter the Kingdom
  23. Unity of Vision
  24. Where is Christ?
  25. Love and Protect
  26. Seeing
  27. The Fasting and Sabbath of the Spirit
  28. How Jesus Saw the World
  29. Hidden Treasure
  30. One
  31. The Power of Unbelief
  32. Spiritual Strength
  33. Speak It Out
  34. The Blind
  35. The Secret of Spiritual Security
  36. Live Carefree
  37. Unashamed Before God
  38. At the Source
  39. The Religion of Ignorance
  40. Within God
  41. Spiritual Gain and Loss
  42. Move On
  43. Challenging the Master
  44. The Source of Good and Evil
  45. Great in the Kingdom
  46. Impossible Duality
  47. Peace That Moves Mountains
  48. Back to the Source
  49. Children of the Light
  50. Here and Now
  51. Seeing Yet Blind
  52. Outer Ritual or Inner Growth?
  53. Infinite Transcendence
  54. “Hate”
  55. True Understanding
  56. Wheat and Weeds
  57. Finding Life
  58. Live and Die Not
  59. “Lest Thou Also…”
  60. Who Will Die; Who Will Live
  61. The Path of Unknowing
  62. Awakened by Death
  63. Turning Ourselves Away
  64. Gullibility
  65. The Rejected is Truly Accepted
  66. All–and Nothing
  67. The Blessings of Persecution
  68. Life or Death Lie Within
  69. Admission
  70. Not a Divider
  71. Seeking the Harvest
  72. Thirsting in Vain
  73. Who Shall Enter?
  74. Unfailing Treasure
  75. The All Speaks
  76. Well-dressed Ignoramuses
  77. True Blessedness
  78. A Duplication
  79. Balancing the Inner and the Outer
  80. Near and Far
  81. Seeing the Unseeable
  82. Seeing Your Unknown Side
  83. Our Forefather Adam
  84. Blessed Homelessness
  85. Doubly Wretched
  86. Onward and Upward
  87. Twofold Life
  88. The Yoke of Christ
  89. Knowing the Unknown
  90. Asking and Hearing
  91. Give Not…
  92. Seeking and Knocking
  93. Right Generosity
  94. The Expanding Kingdom
  95. The Fulfilled Universe
  96. Taking Stock
  97. The Spiritual Family
  98. Three Debts
  99. Father and Mother
  100. Exoteric Religion
  101. Ready for Invasion
  102. Penitential Discipline, Anyone?
  103. Daring to Know
  104. Ending Duality
  105. “I Love You More…”
  106. At the Source
  107. Finding the Hidden Treasure
  108. Having Come to the End
  109. Immortal and Above the World
  110. Body and Soul
  111. Where is the Kingdom?
  112. Male and Female?
  113. In Conclusion
  114. Glossary
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