Checklist For Immortals, Part I: Morning Devotion

In the next three essays I will detailed the practices recommended on the Thomas Immortality Project. I use these daily checklists by placing them on the wall in the kitchen and it only takes a few seconds each day to date the list and check the activations off. Note: I usually do this immediately after saying the Holy Vow aloud and while the morning coffee is brewing. Please note: This checklist is meant as a guide and thus I would strongly encourage you to develop your own lists; moreover, every month I add, delete, merge and otherwise transform the lists. So be creative and find out what works for you!

I. Morning Devotion:

A. The Holy Vow—This is said aloud the first thing upon waking up each morning:

“Father: I give you everything—my life, my heart, my mind, my soul, my very being. Please give me your strength to do your will this day. Thanks, God!” 

The Holy Vow is your direct connection to God each day!

B. Immortal Connection:

“Father:  Thank you for the gift of life! Thank you for each breath I take! Thank you for each step I take! Moment-by-moment please let me be permanently connected to you at the Immortal Consciousness. Thanks, God!”

This second prayer to God is praising Him for the gift of life! The goal is to stay permanently connected to God throughout the day. Please note this assumes one has or is working on opening the crown chakra (located at the top of the head). 

C. Union with Jesus:

“Yeshua: Let me drink from your mouth so that I can be you. Please show me the hidden things you would have me see. Thanks, Yeshua!”

This prayer comes from saying 108 in The Gospel According to Thomas: “Whoever drinks from my mouth will become like me. I myself shall become he and what is hidden will be revealed to him.” Note that Yeshua is Jesus’ birth name and is what his followers call him by. 

D. Activating Jesus’ Words:

“Yeshua: Your words are Life! May your sayings vibrate at the Resurrection Frequency allowing me to be united with you as a Physical Immortal, right here, right now. Thanks, Yeshua!”

I say this prayer immediately before reading sayings from The Gospel According to Thomas aloud.

E. Union with the Holy Spirit of Truth:

“Holy Spirit of Truth: Please come into my being and direct my life this day. Show me original insights, models, new and old connections especially those which will lead to eternal life, Physical Immortality. Also, please help me make corrections when I am in error. Keep my safe and protected and let there be joy today. Thanks, Holy Spirit of Truth!”

This prayer is an invitation for God’s Spirit to guide your life this day. It also seeks protection, and joy.

II. Study of Jesus’ words in The Gospel According To Thomas.

a. Read aloud sayings after activating Jesus words as discussed above. The seeker can say one saying aloud or a group of sayings.

b. Reflect upon the meaning, asking the Holy Spirit of Truth to guide you. This takes about 15 minutes and I will sometimes use commentaries to see what various scholars have said about the saying. Moreover, the seeker will be able to reflect upon Jesus’ sayings throughout the day.

III. Resources for the Study of Jesus’ Words:

The Gospel According To Thomas, by A. Guillaumont,  et. al. See: The Gospel according to Thomas: Henri Charles Puech ... - Amazon.com

This is the original text translated from Coptic to English in 1959. It is a word-for-word translation and thus is highly recommended to any serious follower of Jesus. While the language is a bit stilted and there are a few translations errors (which were corrected in 1973) it is a translation, not a paraphrase. 


B. The Gospel of Thomas: The Hidden Sayings of Jesus, by Marvin Myer. See: The Gospel of Thomas: The Hidden Sayings of Jesus: Marvin W ...

This text, like every modern copy of Thomas, is a paraphrase since all the authors think it is okay to substitute Jesus original words with politically-correct language which is “gender neutral.” The problem here is that when one reads a text, he needs the exact words so that he can understand the connotation of inferred meaning from the text.

Example: In saying 3 of The Gospel According To Thomas, Jesus says:

 “When you come to know yourselves, then you will be known and you will realize that you are the Sons of the Living Father” (emphasis mine).

 In every modern paraphrase, we have “you will realize that you are the children of the Father.”

These two statements are not saying the same thing: When one says “he is the son of John Smith” there is connoted a kind of equality between the two, albeit, the father is still above the son. In contrast, when one says, “he is the child of John Smith” there is an implied dependency such that one will not necessarily conclude that there is a kind of equality in the relationship.

The reason I recommend Mr. Myer’s text is that while it is a paraphrase, he includes an excellent survey of Thomas in his introductory remarks, has insightful footnotes, and the text concludes with an essay by Harold Bloom who gives scholarly insights into Thomas. 

C. The Gospel of Thomas Annotated and Explained by Stevan Davies. See: The Gospel of Thomas: Annotated & Explained (SkyLight Illuminations ...

Warning: Mr. Davies does not believe Jesus Resurrected from the dead and thus is not a follower of Jesus.

Please note that the above warning probably applies to every modern-day scholar as nearly all mainstream New Testament scholars deny the Resurrection of Jesus and thus there are not followers of Jesus. Thus, the reader will need to look at these scholar’s comments with a jaundiced eye.

I recommend this text because in the Forward,  Andrew Harvey, the series editor, spends several pages illuminating saying 22 of Thomas and shows why this saying is pointing to Physical Immortality as Jesus commands us to transform ourselves from two into one, for there not to be male or female, for the inside to be like the outside, so that one can construct a new body.  Also, while Mr. Davies is not a follower of Jesus, he nonetheless has many insights into the history of Thomas and at times his comments are quite insightful. 

D. The Fifth Gospel: The Gospel of Thomas Comes of Age by Stephen J. Patterson. See:

This is an invaluable text for the Thomas student as Professor Patterson is the leading spokesman for Thomas scholarship. The reason to acquire this text are the essays: “Understanding the Gospel of Thomas Today,” which places Thomas in its historical context; “Nag Hammadi : The First Fifty Years” written by Professor James M. Robinson, the scholar who brought the nearly 50 ancient texts to the English-speaking world nearly 50 years ago. This paraphrase, of course, uses politically-correct language, but its footnotes are quite insightful as they offer the reader insight into the Coptic language and how terms would be translated into Greek. Moreover, a few of the paraphrases appear to be possible corrections in the original manuscript. Thus, I would recommend a serious follower of Jesus to obtain this text.

E. Jesus: Untouched by the Church: His Teachings in the Gospel of Thomas by Hugh McGregor Ross.  See:Spirituality in the Gospel of Thomas: Hugh McGregor Ross, John ...

This is a unique text in that it arranges the 114 sayings in Thomas according to the theme the saying is discussing. Thus, we have topics such as “Oneness,” “Finding the Light at the Centre,” and “The Way To the Kingdom.” I like his insights into what Jesus is saying and at times they are deep and profound. While Mr. Ross believes in an afterlife and thus thinks he will be united with Jesus after he dies, he still points to the many spiritual transformations a follower of Jesus would want to do. Thus, I recommend this text as somewhat quirky, but a joy to read as the it is written using calligraphy by John Blamires.