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Matthew and Thomas · Urantia Radio

• 0:00
  Well, it's another day at Urantia Radio, and I sure am
• 0:03
  glad that you decided to check it out.
• 0:05
  And as you know, in the preceding episodes, we've been
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  taking a look at the Apostles 2 by 2.
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  I don't know if we'll go through all of them.
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  I'm wanting more just to convey the message that for a lot of
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  people who were introduced to the Urantia book, a really good
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  place to start, especially if you have any kind of Christian
• 0:23
  upbringing, are the papers depicting the 12 apostles.
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  And that would be in Part 4, paper 139.
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  And it is a great read and it's inspiring and you learn a lot
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  and you walk around in your head thinking about these guys and
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  then what their relationship was with Jesus as he walked the
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  earth. And the character descriptions
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  of each of these apostles is very much in depth.
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  And, and it's it's, it's a great read.
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  It's just an inspiring read. So we're going to continue with
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  Matthew and Thomas in this edition.
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  And then also I want to share a very interesting and ennobling
• 1:01
  letter that was submitted to the Mini Messenger.
• 1:04
  If you subscribe to the Mini Messenger over at the
• 1:06
  association, I think it is and I want to share with you and it
• 1:09
  has to do with Marancha Mota and just an interesting take by the
• 1:14
  author. So we'll get to that, all of
• 1:15
  that coming up. And then also the Urantia Book
• 1:18
  School is just around the corner.
• 1:21
  So once again, it is time to go back to school.
• 1:24
  And of course, the Ranchi Foundation offers free online
• 1:27
  courses from UBIS and it starts on April 21st to kind of an
• 1:32
  appropriate day, huh? That's when they start
• 1:35
  registering. So you can go online and you can
• 1:38
  register for class and you have all these different courses that
• 1:42
  you could take. And other people from around the
• 1:44
  world are also participating. And it's a reading and it's a
• 1:48
  writing exercise. And they have a moderator who
• 1:52
  guides everyone along. And it's a very nice, nice thing
• 1:56
  to do for yourself. And again, it's, it's, it's a
• 1:58
  way of studying the book in a social setting and at a very
• 2:02
  good pace, which is very important because we're all very
• 2:05
  busy in these days. And again, registration opens
• 2:08
  after Monday, April 21st. And then of course, the
• 2:11
  scientific symposium, there's only a few more days left.
• 2:14
  I think Tuesday is the cutoff if you want to make a presentation.
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  And the symposium is going to be in Chicago.
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  And they do this annually and that'll be on November 6th.
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  And those are the two big events coming up in the Urancha world.
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  So let's get to Matthew Levi and Thomas in just a second here.
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  We'll take a quick break for the sponsors and then we'll be
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  talking about the apostles and, and their story.
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  Matthew Levi. It's funny, we have a, a shelter
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  in town and they, they get a lot of publicity because they do a
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  lot to feed the children and clothe young people, people that
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  are in poverty, impoverished families.
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  And I, and after reading Matthew Levi recently and I made the
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  connection of how house it's a place of charity.
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  And when you read about Matthew, you'll better understand that.
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  So we'll take a quick break and continue on the Rancho Radio
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  podcast. Matthew, the 7th apostle was
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  chosen by Andrew. Matthew belonged to a family of
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  tax gatherers or Republicans, but was himself a customs
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  collector in Capernaum, where he lived.
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  He was 31 years old and married and had four children.
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  He was a man of moderate wealth, the only one of any means
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  belonging to the Apostolic Core. He was a good businessman, a
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  good social mixer, and was gifted with the ability to make
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  friends and to get along smoothly with a great variety of
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  people. Andrew appointed Matthew the
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  financial representative of the Apostles.
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  In a way, he was the fiscal agent and publicity spokesman
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  for the Apostolic organization. He was a keen judge of human
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  nature and a very efficient propagandist.
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  His is a personality difficult to visualize, but he was a very
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  earnest disciple and an increasing believer in the
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  mission of Jesus and in the certainty of the Kingdom.
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  Jesus never gave Levi a nickname, but his fellow
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  apostles commonly referred to him as the money getter.
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  Levi's strong point was his wholehearted devotion to the
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  cause. That he, a publican, had been
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  taken in by Jesus and his apostles was a cause for
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  overwhelming gratitude on the part of the former revenue
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  director. However, it required some little
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  time for the rest of the apostles, especially Simon
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  Zealots and Judas Iscariot, to become reconciled to the
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  publicans presence in their midst.
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  Matthew's weakness was his short sighted and materialistic
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  viewpoint of life, but in all of these matters he made great
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  progress. As the months went by.
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  He of course had to be absent from many of the most precious
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  seasons of instruction as it was his duty to keep the treasury
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  replenished. It was the masters forgiving
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  disposition which Matthew most appreciated.
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  He would never cease to recount that faith only was necessary
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  for the business of finding God. He always liked to speak of the
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  Kingdom as this business of finding God.
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  Though Matthew was a man with a past, he gave an excellent
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  account of himself, and as time went on, his associates became
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  proud of the publican's performances.
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  He was one of the apostles who made extensive notes on the
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  sayings of Jesus, and these notes were used as the basis of
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  Izidor's subsequent narrative of the sayings and doings of Jesus,
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  which has become known as the Gospel according to Matthew.
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  The great and useful life of Matthew, the businessman and
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  customs collector of Capernaum, had been the means of leading
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  thousands upon other businessmen, public officials
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  and politicians down through the subsequent ages.
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  Also to heed the engaging voice of the Master saying, Follow me.
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  Matthew really was a shrewd politician, but he was intensely
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  loyal to Jesus and supremely devoted to the task of seeing
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  that the messages of the coming Kingdom were adequately
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  financed. The presence of Matthew among
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  the 12 was the means of keeping the doors of the Kingdom wide
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  open to hosts of downhearted and outcast souls who had regarded
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  themselves as long since without the bounds of religious
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  consolation. Outcast and despairing men and
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  women flock to hear Jesus, and he never turned 1 away.
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  You know, there is sort of A and especially in today's modern
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  world, many people that are part of the world of industry and
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  they're busy and they're working their, you know, tails off to
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  make ends meet and succeed. And sometimes when you are so
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  focused on that you forget about, you know, the, the
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  spiritual aspects and the, and the long term meaning of what
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  you do and what you achieve. And I think in drawing this
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  Matthew, he drew one from that kind of mindset.
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  People who are just always obsessed with working and
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  making, making it go. And I, I think, you know,
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  tradesmen, financiers, bankers, people in high real estate and,
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  and here is a case where one of them was attracted to the
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  teachings of Jesus. And, and, and Matthew's legacy
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  is that he sort of made that an agreeable thing for people to be
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  religious and be successful at the same time in their material
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  life. And that's what Matthew has
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  brought to the table. Continuing on, Matthew received
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  freely tendered offerings from believing disciples and the
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  immediate auditors of the Master's teachings, but he never
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  openly solicited funds from the multitudes.
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  He did all of his financial work in a quiet and personal way, and
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  raised most of the money among the more abundant of the more
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  substantial class of interested believers.
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  He gave practically the whole of his modest fortune to the work
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  of the Master and his apostles, but they never knew of his
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  generosity, save Jesus, who knew all about it.
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  Matthew hesitated openly to contribute to the Apostolic fund
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  for fear that Jesus and his associates might regard his
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  money as being tainted. So he gave much in the name of
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  others or other believers. During the earlier months, when
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  Matthew knew his presence among them was more or less a trial,
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  he was strongly tempted to let them know that his funds often
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  supplied them with their daily bread, but he did not yield.
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  When evidence of the disdain of the publican would become
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  manifest, Levi would would burn to reveal to them his
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  generosity, but always he managed to keep still.
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  That says a lot about his his self-discipline.
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  He could brag and tell him, well, look, I'm the one that
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  made all of this possible. But he didn't yield to that
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  temptation. That's a man of strong
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  character. When the funds for the week were
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  short of the estimated requirements, Levi would often
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  draw heavily upon his own personal resources.
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  Also, sometimes when he became greatly interested in Jesus's
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  teachings, he preferred to remain and hear the instruction,
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  even though he knew he must personally make up for his
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  failure to solicit the necessary funds.
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  But Levi did so wish that Jesus might know that much of the
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  money came from his pocket. He little realized that the
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  Master knew all along about it. The apostles all died without
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  knowing that Matthew was their benefactor, to such an extent
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  that when he went forth to proclaim the Gospel of the
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  Kingdom after the beginning of the persecutions, he was
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  practically penniless. When these persecutions caused
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  the believers to forsake Jerusalem, Matthew journeyed N
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  preaching the Gospel, the Kingdom, and baptizing
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  believers. He was lost to the knowledge of
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  his former Apostolic associations, but on he went,
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  preaching and baptizing through Syria, Cappadocia, Galatia,
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  Bithynia, and Thrace. And it was in Thrace at
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  Lysimachia that certain unbelieving Jews conspired with
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  the Roman soldiers to encompass his death and this regenerated
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  public, and died triumphant in the faith of salvation.
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  He had so surely learned from the teachings of the Master
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  during his recent sojourn on earth.
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  Thomas was the 8th apostle, and he was chosen by Philip.
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  In later times he had become known as Doubting Thomas, but
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  his fellow apostles hardly looked upon him as a chronic
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  doubter. True, he was a logical,
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  skeptical kind of mine, but he had a form of courageous loyalty
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  which forbade those who knew him intimately to regard him as a
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  trifling skeptic. When Thomas joined the apostles,
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  he was 29 years old, was married, and had four children.
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  Formerly he had been a Carpenter in stonemason, but latterly he
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  had become a fisherman and resided at Terekia, situate on
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  the West Bank of the Jordan, where it flows out to the Sea of
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  Galilee, and he was regarded as the leading citizen of this
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  little village. He had little education, but he
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  possessed a keen reasoning mind, and was the son of excellent
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  parents who lived in Tiberius. Thomas had the one truly
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  analytical mind of the 12. He was the real scientist of the
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  Apostolic group. The early home of life Thomas
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  had been unfortunate. His parents were not altogether
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  happy in their married life, and this was reflected in Thomas's
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  adult experience. He grew up having a very
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  disagreeable and quarrelsome disposition.
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  Even his wife was glad to see him join the apostles.
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  She was relieved by the thought that her pessimistic husband
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  would be away from home most of the time.
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  Thomas also had a streak of suspicion which made it very
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  difficult to get along peaceably with him.
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  Peter was very much upset by Thomas at first, complaining to
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  his brother Andrew that Thomas was mean, ugly and always
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  suspicious. But the better his associates
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  knew Thomas, the more they liked him.
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  They found he was superbly honest and unflinchingly loyal.
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  He was perfectly sincere and unquestionably truthful.
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  But he was a natural born fault Finder and had grown up to
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  become a real pessimist. His analytical mind had become
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  cursed with suspicion. He was rapidly losing faith in
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  his fellow mortal men when he became associated with the 12
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  and thus came in contact with the noble character of Jesus.
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  This association with the Master began at once to transform
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  Thomas's whole disposition and to affect great changes in his
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  mental reactions to his fellow men.
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  Thomas's great strength was his superb analytical mind, coupled
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  with his unflinching courage when he had once made-up his
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  mind. His great weakness was his
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  suspicious doubting, which he never fully overcame throughout
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  his whole lifetime in the flesh. In the organization of the 12,
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  Thomas was assigned to arrange and manage the itinerary, and he
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  was an able director of the work and movements of the Apostolic
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  Group. He was a good executive and
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  excellent businessman. He was handicapped by his many
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  moods. He was one man one day and
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  another man the next. He was inclined toward
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  melancholic brooding when he joined the apostles, but contact
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  with Jesus and the apostles largely cured him of this morbid
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  introspection. Jesus enjoyed Thomas very much
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  and had many long personal talks with him.
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  His presence among the apostles was a great comfort to all
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  honest doubters and encouraged many troubled minds to come into
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  the Kingdom, even if they could not wholly understand everything
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  about the spiritual and philosophic phases of the
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  teachings of Jesus. Thomas's membership in the 12
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  was a standing declaration that Jesus loved even honest
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  doubters. The other apostles held Jesus in
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  reverence because of some special and outstanding trait of
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  his replete personality, but Thomas revered his master
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  because of his superbly balanced character.
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  Increasingly Thomas admired and honored one who was so lovingly
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  merciful, yet so inflexibly, just and fair.
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  So firm but never obstinate, so calm but never indifferent, so
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  helpful and so sympathetic, but never meddlesome or dictatorial.
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  So strong but at the same time so gentle, so positive, but
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  never rough or rude, so tender but never vacillating.
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  So pure and innocent, but at the same time so virile, aggressive
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  and forceful. So truly courageous, but never
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  rash or foolhardy. Such a lover of nature, but so
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  free from all tendency to Revere nature.
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  So humorous and so playful, but so free from levity and
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  frivolity. It was this matchless symmetry
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  of personality that so charmed Thomas.
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  He probably enjoyed the highest intellectual understanding and
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  personality appreciation of Jesus of any of the 12 in the
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  councils of the 12. Thomas was always cautious,
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  advocating a policy of safety first.
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  But if his conservatism was voted down or overruled, he was
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  always the first fearlessly to move out in execution of the
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  program decided upon. Again and again he would stand
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  out against some project as being foolhardy and
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  presumptuous, but he would debate to the bitter end.
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  But when Andrew would put the proposition to a vote, and after
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  the 12 would elect to do that which he had so strenuously
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  opposed, Thomas was the first to say, let's go.
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  He was a good loser. He did not hold grudges nor
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  nurse wounded feelings. Time and again did he oppose
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  letting Jesus expose himself to danger.
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  But when the Master would decide to take such risks, always was
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  it Thomas who rallied the apostles with his courageous
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  words. Come on, comrades, let's go and
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  die with him. Thomas was in some respect like
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  Philip. He also wanted to be shown.
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  But his outward expressions of doubt were based on entirely
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  different intellectual operations.
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  Thomas was analytical, not merely skeptical.
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  As far as personal physical, physical courage was concerned,
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  he was one of the bravest among the 12.
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  Thomas also had some very bad days.
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  He was blue and downcast at times.
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  The loss of his twin sister when he was nine years old had
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  occasioned him much youthful sorrow and had added to his
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  temperamental problems of later life when Thomas would become
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  despondent. Sometimes it was Nathaniel who
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  helped him to recover, sometimes Peter and not hit, frequently
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  one of the Alpheus twins when he was most depressed.
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  Unfortunately, he always tried to avoid coming in direct
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  contact with Jesus, but the Master knew all about this and
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  had an understanding sympathy for his apostle when he was thus
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  afflicted with depression and harassed by doubts.
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  Sometimes Thomas would go get permission from Andrew to go off
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  by himself for a day or two, but he soon learned that such a
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  course was not wise. He early found that it was best
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  when he was downhearted to stick close to his work and to remain
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  near his associates. But no matter what happened in
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  his emotional life, he kept right on being an apostle.
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  When the time actually came to move forward, it was always
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  Thomas who said, let's go. Thomas is the great example of a
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  human being who has doubts, faces them, and wins.
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  He had a great mind. He was no carping critic.
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  He was a logical thinker. He was the acid test of Jesus
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  and his fellow apostles. If Jesus and his work had not
• 19:00
  been genuine, it could not have held a man like Thomas from the
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  start to the finish. He had a keen and sure sense of
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  fact. At the first appearance of fraud
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  or deception, Thomas would have forsaken them all.
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  Scientists may not fully understand all about Jesus and
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  his work on earth, but there lived and worked with the Master
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  and his human associates. A man whose mind was that of a
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  true scientist, Thomas Didymus, and he believed in Jesus
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  Nazareth. Thomas had a trying time during
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  the days of the trial and crucifixion.
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  He was for a season in the depths of despair, but he
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  rallied his courage, stuck to the apostles, and was present
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  with them to welcome Jesus on the Sea of Galilee.
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  For a while he succumbed to his doubting depression, but
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  eventually rallied his faith and courage.
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  He gave wise counsel to the apostles after Pentecost, and
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  when persecution scattered, the believers went to Cyprus, Crete,
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  the North African coast and Sicily, preaching the glad
• 20:10
  tidings of the Kingdom and baptizing believers.
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  And Thomas continued preaching and baptizing until he was
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  apprehended by the agents of the Roman government and was put to
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  death in Malta. Just a few weeks before his
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  death he had begun the writings of the life and teachings of
• 20:28
  Jesus. And so there you have two
• 20:44
  stories of two men who had their lives completely changed by
• 20:49
  their meeting and getting to know the Son of Man.
• 20:52
  And they faithfully served their their role.
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  They took Jesus's words and, and his deeds and what they learned
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  of the man and the relationship that they had.
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  And they went out and spread the gospel of the Kingdom.
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  And it were not for the unseen friends that compose the 4th
• 21:11
  part of the Urantia book and the Revelation we would never know
• 21:14
  about these very unique men. I think that's one of the
• 21:18
  reasons why having known these names all of our lives and have
• 21:21
  having heard about them or heard them quoted in Scripture.
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  But to actually know, for example, that Thomas had a twin
• 21:29
  sister, there's nowhere in history where that is stated.
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  But it would explain some of his downcast moods that we do know
• 21:36
  about. And Matthew having the the bad
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  reputation of being a publican and knowing secretly that he was
• 21:43
  funding many of the the activities behind the scenes.
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  The apostles were not even aware.
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  Taking his own money and making sure to keep the program going
• 21:53
  for the the public teaching and the preaching of Jesus and these
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  12 men who dedicated their lives to following this man and
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  teaching his gospel to the rest of the world.
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  So truly a remarkable series and a great example of the the
• 22:08
  craftsmanship and the literary beauty of the Urantia book and
• 22:13
  and the Urantia papers. So Speaking of which, we're
• 22:16
  going to take a quick break and move on to the next episode.
• 22:19
  And it we're going to explore a wonderful letter that was
• 22:23
  submitted to the mini messenger that you may get in your inbox
• 22:28
  from time to time. And this one has to do with
• 22:31
  Marancha Moda. And if you're not familiar with
• 22:35
  it, we'll go over it in the next segment.
• 22:36
  So for for now, thank you. And if you've got questions or
• 22:40
  comments, don't forget you can always reach out to us a couple
• 22:43
  of different ways. You can e-mail us at your
• 22:45
  rancherbookradio@gmail.com or you can go online to
• 22:50
  yourrancherradio.org. And there is actually a comment
• 22:55
  field and you can either write or you can actually record
• 22:57
  something if you want to. And I'll be sure to get that
• 23:00
  message. And again, thank you for joining
• 23:02
  me on this edition of the Urantia Radio Podcast.