Apocryphon of Ezekiel

Fragment 1:

The lame and blind men in the garden

    A certain king of this world had a beautiful fig garden. In this garden he had growing some beautiful and ripe figs. In his kingdom were living two men which he had neglected. They were a blind man and a lame man. One night, the lame man conspired with the blind man to steal into the garden and help themselves to some of these figs. Leading the blind man to him with a rope, the lame man climbed upon his back, and acted as the eyes for the blind man. In this way, the two men managed to get into the garden, and eat the figs growing therein. When the king discovered that his figs were missing, he went to the blind man and asked him how such a thing could happen. The blind man responded by saying; "How could I have done this, I who cannot see?" Then the king went to the lame man and asked of him the same question. The lame man responded by saying; "How could I have done this, I who cannot walk?" The king then put the lame man on the blind mans back, and demonstrated how the two had worked together to accomplish there goal, and they were unable to deny it. It is in this way that the body is connected to the soul, and the two will be judged by what both have done, and endure no separate judgment.

Fragment 2

    Repent, house of Israel, from your lawless ways. I say to you, my people, "Even if the list of your sins stretches from heaven to earth, and if they are as black as they can be, and you turn to me, and with all of your heart say, 'Father', I will forgive you, and look on you as holy.

Fragment 3

    Look at the cow, She has calved, and yet she is pregnant.

Fragment 4

    In this manner, our Lord Jesus Christ also said, "It is what I have seen you doing that I will judge you for."

Fragment 5

    Therefore, he told Ezekiel ... "I will cure the lame, and heal the ill, those who have wandered away, I will return to the fold, and I will feed them upon my holy mountain ... and I will be their shepherd and I will be as close to the as a second skin."

* Apocrypha - (from the Greek word απόκρυφα meaning "those having been hidden away") are texts of uncertain authenticity or writings where the authorship is questioned. These texts may have been used in some churches by were never considered as part of the Bible

** Pseudepigrapha = (from Greek pseudes = "false", "epigraphe" = "inscription") are texts falsely attributed to biblical characters or times. These books were never part of the Bible & were never considered as scripture by the church at any time despite being published under such titles of "The Lost Books of the Bible" or "The Hidden Gospels". The church has always known about them & they were never "Hidden" & could be read at any University or college. There is no deep dark secret here, just publishers trying to make a buck with interesting book titles.

*** Noncanonical Literature =  Never part of the Canon or Bible.