The Gospel of Thomas: Sayings 68 to 76: On Persecution, Inner Alchemy, and the Pearl of the Kingdom

If you’ve ever been hated for speaking the truth—or just for refusing to drink from the same poisoned chalice as the rest of the world—then this stretch of the Gospel of Thomas will feel like home.

These sayings speak to the ones on the edge. The ones who are walking away from the mainstream circus and stepping into something far more dangerous—and far more beautiful: their truth. Their divine. Their real.

From persecution to pearl-chasing, these verses aren’t for the faint-hearted. They’re for the ones with ears to hear and fire in their bellies.

Let’s dive in.

(68)

Jesus says:

(1) “Blessed are you when(ever) they hate you (and) persecute you.

(2) But they (themselves) will find no place there where they have persecuted you.”

Stephen James’s Reflection:

There’s a lot of persecution gone on lately for people speaking the truth. The tech overlords have their claws in everything—censorship, shadowbanning, and virtue-signalling tyranny. But the good news? Jesus already called this. You’ll be hated, mocked, called names… but you’ll be blessed. Why? Because those places where you stood tall—they’ll never be able to touch you there. That’s soul territory. It’s where you win.

(69)

Jesus says:

(1) “Blessed are those who have been persecuted in their heart. They are the ones who have truly come to know the Father.”

(2) “Blessed are those who suffer from hunger so that the belly of the one who wishes (it) will be satisfied.”

Stephen James’s Reflection:

Persecution isn’t just external. It’s in the heart too. The real battle is internal—the heartbreak, the longing, the hunger for truth when you’re surrounded by junk food for the soul. The hunger is sacred. And it’s setting you up for divine satisfaction. Let them scoff at you now—your feast is coming.

(70)

Jesus says:

(1) “If you bring it into being within you, (then) that which you have will save you.

(2) If you do not have it within you, (then) that which you do not have within you [will] kill you.”

Stephen James’s Reflection:

One of the most powerful things Jesus ever said. If you don’t bring your true divine self online, it’ll crush you. This world will eat you alive without that inner compass. But if you’ve got that internal spark lit? You’re good. That flame will carry you through the darkest madness this planet can throw at you.

(71)

Jesus says:

“I will [destroy this] house, and no one will be able to build it [again].”

Stephen James’s Reflection:

This is the divine wrecking ball. The false structures are going. They have to. The illusion of safety, of governments and gurus and pharmaceutical pied pipers—it’s all crumbling. And it’s beautiful. Let the house fall. Something better’s being built from the ashes.

(72)

Jesus says:

(1) A [person said] to him: “Tell my brothers that they have to divide my father’s possessions with me.”

(2) He said to him: “Man, who has made me a divider?”

(3) He turned to his disciples (and) said to them: “I am not a divider, am I?”

Stephen James’s Reflection:

Jesus wasn’t here to play petty games of inheritance and squabbles. He wasn’t here to play legal mediator for lost souls obsessed with material crumbs. He was here to wake people up. The truth divides. It burns. But it’s not here to settle your petty grievances—it’s here to burn through your illusions.

(73)

Jesus says:

(1) “The harvest is plentiful, but there are few workers.

(2) But beg the Lord that he may send workers into the harvest.”

Stephen James’s Reflection:

There are souls everywhere waiting to wake up. But who’s willing to go into the trenches and pull them out? Not with force—but with love, clarity, and truth. Few. The harvest is ready. The world is ripening into crisis. So… are you showing up?

(74)

Jesus says:

“Lord, there are many around the well, but there is nothing in the .”

Stephen James’s Reflection:

Everyone wants to drink. Everyone’s crowded around the “well” of truth—but most have nothing to offer. No water. No wisdom. No presence. Be the one who brings the water. Fill your well first. Because right now, it’s bone dry out there.

(75)

Jesus says:

“Many are standing before the door, but it is the solitary ones who will enter the wedding hall.”

Stephen James’s Reflection:

Crowds don’t get you in. Popularity doesn’t get you in. It’s the inner journey that unlocks the wedding hall—the sacred union of masculine, feminine, and divine child within. That’s the real ceremony. Not found in crowds. Found in solitude.

(76)

Jesus says:

(1) “The kingdom of the Father is like a merchant who had merchandise and found a pearl.

(2) That merchant is prudent. He sold the goods (and) bought for himself the pearl alone.

(3) You too look for his treasure, which does not perish, (and) which stays where no moth can reach it to eat it, and no worm destroys it.”

Stephen James’s Reflection:

When you find the pearl—that thing, that frequency, that truth—sell everything. Not just literally. Sell your illusions, your conditioning, your attachments to the false world. Because the kingdom is a pearl. Small, precious, and worth everything. Nothing can touch it. Not Gates. Not governments. Not death.

Final Thoughts

These sayings aren’t here to make you comfortable. They’re not Sunday School stories or bedtime fables to lull you to spiritual sleep. They’re a wake-up call. A gut-punch to the soul. A match struck in a dark cave.

What makes them powerful—what makes them dangerous—is their refusal to compromise. There’s no middle ground here. You’re either persecuted for the truth or drunk on lies. You’re either inside the wedding hall or you’re just milling around the door waiting for a miracle that never comes.

Jesus isn’t offering you a get-out-of-hell-free card—he’s handing you a mirror. He’s showing you that the kingdom of God isn’t somewhere out there in the clouds. It’s a state of being that you remember, reclaim, and embody. But only if you’re ready to die to everything that isn’t true.

It’s about radical honesty. Inner alchemy. Burning away the bullshit to find the pearl within.

And that pearl? That’s the treasure. That’s the kingdom. That’s the part of you that cannot be colonised, corrupted, or co-opted—not by power, not by money, not by governments, not by Gates.

The world is standing before the door. The workers are few. The well is dry.

But the ones who choose to go in… they will light the lamp.

And others will follow.