Lost Books of the Bible (154 page)

8. Then I said, "Eternal, Mighty One! Who is this Man who is insulted and beaten, who is worshipped by the nations and kissed by Azazel?"

9. And He answered and said, "Hear Me Abraham! The Man you saw insulted and beaten and yet worshipped by many, He is the Relief/Liberty/Freedom granted for (by) the nations of people who will be born from (out of) you in the last days, in the twelfth hour of the age of ungodliness.

 10. But in the twelfth hour of my last (final) age of my fulfillment will I set up this Man from your tribe (generation), whom you saw issue from among my people, and all who follow will become like (imitate) this Man, and they will be called by me (and they will consider Him to be called by Me) and they will join the others, even those who desire to change within themselves.

11. Regarding those who emerge from the left side of the vision, the meaning is this; there will be many from the (heathen) nations who will set their hopes on (trust in) Him. But those whom you saw from your progeny on the right of the vision who insulted Him and struck Him, many will be offended because of Him, but some will worship Him. And He will test those of your progeny who have worshipped Him in the twelfth hour at the end in order to shorten the age of ungodliness.

12. Before the age of the righteous begins to grow, my judgment will come upon the (nations/heathen) lawless (wicked) peoples through the people of your progeny who have been separated to me.

13. And in those days I will bring upon all creatures of the earth ten plagues, through misfortune and disease and the groans of their bitter grief. And this will be brought upon the generations of men because of the provocation and the corruption of mankind, because they provoke me. And then the righteous men of your progeny will survive in the number (amount/count) which is kept secret by me, and will hasten the coming of the glory of My Name to that place prepared before for those you saw destroyed in the vision.

14. And they will live and be established by the sacrifices of righteousness in the age of the godly, and they will rejoice in me continually, and receive those who return to me in repentance because their inner torment will be great for those who have wrongfully misused (mocked) them in this world.

15. And they will see the honor bestowed on those who are mine in the day of glory.  Abraham, see what you have seen and hear what you have heard, and take knowledge of all that you have come to know.

16. Go to your inheritance for behold, I am with you to the age."

Chapter 30

1. While He was still speaking to me, I found myself on the earth again, and I said, " Eternal One! I am no longer in the glory on high.

2. Still there is one matter which my soul longs to know and understand  that was not revealed to me.”

3. And he said to me, "I will explain to you the things you desired in your heart to know which are the ten plagues that I prepared against the heathen nations, and which have been destined to begin at the passing of the twelfth hour of the age of the earth.

4. Hear therefore what I tell you because it will come to pass. The first is the sorrow and pain of (need) sickness;

5. The second, the massive burning and destruction of many cities;

6. The third, the destruction and pestilence (sickness) of animals (cattle);

7. The fourth, hunger of the whole world and its people;

8. The fifth, among the rulers, destruction by means of earthquake and the sword;

9. The sixth, the increase of hail and snow;

10. The seventh, wild bests will be their grave (animals will kill them);

11. The eighth, hunger and pestilence will change their course of destruction (alternate with destruction);

12. The ninth, punishment (execution) by the sword and flight in distress;

13. The tenth, thunder and voices and destructive earthquake.

Chapter 31

1. And then I will sound the trumpet in the air, and I will send my ELECT ONE (chosen one), and He will have all measure of my power (He will have one measure of all my power).

2. He will summon my people (who were despised) from all nations, and I will send fire upon those who have insulted them and who have ruled over them in this age. And those who have chosen my desire and kept my commandments will rejoice with celebrations (parties) over the downfall of the men who continued to followed after the idols.

3. And I will take those who have covered me with mockery and give them over to the scorn of the coming age.

 4. I have prepared them to be food for the fires of Hades, and be in perpetual flight through the air of the depths of Hades (the underworld). And they will be the contents of a worm’s belly (Azazel).

5.  For they joined (a marital or sexual term) one to whom they had not been given to, and they abandoned the Lord who gave them strength.

Chapter 32

1. “Hear Me, Abraham, because you will see that in the seventh generation from you will go out into a strange land and the heathen will enslave and oppress them. And they leave the land of their slavery, after they have been mistreated for an hour of the age of ungodliness, and the heathen nation whom they will serve I will judge.

2.  And the Lord said this too, "Have you heard, Abraham, what I told you, what your tribe will encounter in the last days?"

3.  Abraham heard and accepted the words of God in his heart.

               “The Apocalypse Of Thomas” is also called “The Revelation of Thomas.” The differing names come from the fact that the word rendered “Apocalypse” means to reveal or make known.  This is the same title given to the last book of the New Testament. Its title in Greek is best interpreted as “The Apocalypse of John,” however the English book carries the title of “The Revelation of John,” or simply, “Revelation.”

               Very little of the history of the Apocalypse of Thomas is known. The only reference to it in ancient writings seems to be a single citation by Jerome in his chronicles written in the eighth to ninth century A.D.

               Two versions of the Apocalypse exist in Latin, the longer version seems to be a later development. The longer text makes use of metaphors and symbols similar to those used in the Book of Revelation. Both texts describe how the Earth will be destroyed and the dead will come back to life in the final days.

                The composition of the Apocalypse of Thomas has two distinct streams of thought. It is akin to Daniel in its form of prophecy, which describes events contemporary with the author and continues them into the future; yet it is also akin to John when the text describes the signs of the end.

               Historical references in the long text suggest a fifth-century date. The text speaks of a king who is a "lover of the law." The text refers to his two sons whose names begin with A and H. King Theodosius fits the bill and his sons have Latin names corresponding to the letters as follows: “
The first is named with the first letter A (as in Arcadius,) the second with the eighth letter H, (as in Honorius.) The first will die before the second.”

                The reference to the Latin alphabet would suggest that it was the original language of composition. This would place the earliest possible date of writing (and most scholars agree)  at about 300 – 400 A.D.

               Several manuscripts and fragments of the Apocalypse of Thomas have been found. The text presented here is the best combination of many texts. Since some are shorter than others and many are fragments, it was thought that by combining all of the better known texts a complete, longer and more complete version could be presented.

               The version presented here is based on a combination of the best manuscripts and translations found. They include the F. Wilhelm text of 1907, the E. Hauler work on the fifth century Vienna fragment, the Verona manuscript of eighth century, the 1755 Dionisi work, 1911 Dom Bihlmeyer text from Munich, and the Anglo-Saxon Old English version at Vercelli.

THE APOCALYPSE OF THOMAS

Chapter 1

1. This begins the letter of (from) the Lord to Thomas.

2. “Hear about the things that must happen in the last times.
The world will be shared between kings, then after that when the hour of the end draws near there will be seven days of great signs in heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be moved.

3. There will be famine, war and earthquakes in various places, snow, ice, and tremendous drought. There will be many open conflicts among the peoples, blasphemy, unrighteousness, envy, evil, laziness, pride and excess, and everyone will speak in the manner that he wishes.

4. And my priests will fight among themselves, and will sacrifice to me with minds of deceit. Because of this I will not look upon them. The priests will see the people forsaking the house of the Lord and turning to the world.

5. They will venture into restricted places in the house of God.  And they will claim many things and places for themselves that were lost and those things and places will become subject to Caesar in the way they were given before as poll-taxes in the cities, as it is with gold and silver. 

6. And the chief men of the cities will be condemned and their possessions will be brought to the treasury of the kings, and it will be filled.

7. There will be disturbances throughout all the people, and there will be death. The house of the Lord will be forsaken, and their altars will be despised, so that spiders weave their webs on them.

8. The place of holiness will be dishonored and violated, the priesthood contaminated. Distress will increase and righteousness will be overcome.

9. Happiness will die and gladness will leave. In those days evil will abound. People will cater to those of status and wealth. Hymns will stop coming from the house of the Lord. Truth will cease. Greed will abound among the priests. No upright man nor an upright priesthood will be found.

Chapter 2

1. Near the last days a king will arise. He will be a lover of the law who will not hold office for long but he will leave two sons.

2. The first is named with the first letter A (as in Arcadius,) the second with the eighth letter H, (as in Honorius.) The first will die before the second.

 
(Arcadius died in 408 A.D.- Honorius in 423 A.D.
The somewhat uneventful life of Arcadius is of less importance than the significant developments that occurred during his reign. Born around 377 A.D. to General Theodosius, Arcadius and his younger brother, Honorius, ruled the eastern and western halves of the Roman Empire respectively from 395. Arcadius was proclaimed Augustus in January of 383 at the age of five or six. In the following year, his younger brother was born. achieved the office of consul posterior in 386. The chance for having his own two sons ruling both halves of Rome not only seemed practical and feasible, but such an arrangement would establish their father as the head of a new dynasty. With thoughts in that direction, was made Augustus in 393 and accompanied his father west in the summer of 394. Even though Arcadius was nearing maturity and the age of consent he was placed again under the guardianship of the Prefect of the East. In January of 395, died and his two sons took theoretical control of the two halves of the Roman Empire.
).