Daily Scripture thoughts, Books (biblical fiction, non-fiction, storybooks), books for blind

Historical Series: They Met Jesus

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All 8 books under one cover, 825 pgs, 9 x 8

Come meet the people who met Jesus.  You are one of them  Probably you are several of them. Go ahead and struggle with him as they did.  Laugh. Cry.  Do mental battle with him.  Emotional battle too.  Fight for your faith as they fought.  Pause to listen for what you’ve never heard before.  Then touch Jesus.

This is the story of faith in the impossible.   Hope in the inconceivable.  Love for the invincible.  It is the dreams of youth, the desperations of infirmity, the hopes of age, and the song of eternity.

Follow the suspense as each person in Jesus’ life comes to terms with who they are, and who Jesus is.  Jesus accepts them as they are.  But can they accept themselves as they are?  More than that, can they accept Jesus as he is?  Both God and man?  Both Creator and created?  Both King and servant?

It is the story of doubts explained away, animosities melted away, misunderstandings cleared away.  It is your story and mine.  For deep within each of us is everyone who ever met and struggled with Jesus.      

Do you have the courage to enter the lives of first-century strugglers?  

To sometimes go into their heart as their disbelieving-self struggles with their believing-self? Even in His infancy, Jesus awoke in them a longing that some did not even know they had.  Come along ~ if you dare ~ on a journey when THEY MET JESUS and the hearts of those who sometimes doubted.

BOOK 1:  STAR SONG. Mary was too young, Elizabeth too old, Joseph too gullible, the shepherds too smelly, Anna too senile, Simeon too idealistic, Salome too flippant.  The wise men should have minded their own business, Zachariah should have accepted he’d never have children.  King Herod dared control God, the Bible scholars dared interpret God.

BOOK 2:  DREAM MAKER. Pilate only tolerated his subjects, John the Baptist tried to change them, Satan threw up roadblocks that never seemed to work.  Future apostles Andrew was always bringing in outsiders, Philip insisted on proof, and Nathaniel was naive.  The Temple merchants lived off religion, Nicodemus tried to reform religion, and Peter’s mother-in-law dwelt in her religion.  The pagan Samaritan searched with hope, the nobleman probed with fortitude, the centurion encountered with power.

BOOK 3:  HEARTS AFIRE.  Future apostles Simon fought Rome and Matthew joined Rome, while Judas seemed the only level-headed one.  Zebedee sacrificed his sons, while a widow saw her son return to life.  People with demons fell desperately at his feet and lepers sought him in hopelessness.  Hypocrites condemned him; the morally paralyzed fought hi forgiveness.

BOOK 4:  FOLK HERO.  Religious leaders cornered him, theologians stalked him, the wealthy helped him.  For the commoner he conquered demons, controlled nature, created food, destroyed death.  Hometown friends tried to kill him, while cousin John gained a glory home.

BOOK 5:  FLOOD GATES. Jesus survived death threats, calmed misdirected power, talked with the spirit world.  He released people of handicaps, gave an adulteress hope, rested with friends, then raised the dead.  And the hypocrite religious leaders finalized plans to kill him.

BOOK 6:  PROMISE KEEPER. A traitor praised him, a woman crowned him, foreigners sought him.  The world ran after him, Judas ran from him, his apostles deserted him.  He held his own funeral service, then begged God to free him of his promise.  The religious leaders were unmasked, and King Herod wrestled with just who he was.

BOOK 7:  SHADOW OF DEATH. Pilate was cornered by the people, Simon was cornered by the executioners.  Jesus writhed in pain on the cross that should have been ours and invaded hell to provide escape for us.  The thieves struggled with their mortality, Joseph struggled with religiosity, the guards struggled with impossibility.  Jesus saw the women, pursued Peter, and enlightened the depressed.

BOOK 8:  COME FLY WITH ME. His apostles refused to believe, while Thomas declared him God. Jesus dared and prepared his apostles to conquer the world.  He interrupted his own memorial service and renewed five hundred of his closest friendships.  He helped his brother, James, over the last faith hurdle, turned the movement over to his apostles, then returned at last to the outstretched arms of his heavenly Father.  Religious leaders fought in vain to put out the new church’s torch, and Jesus invited the last apostle to visit him in heaven.

JUST WHAT IS A BIBLICAL HISTORICAL NOVEL?

It definitely is not adding to the Bible. That would be sacrilegious and disloyal to God who told us just exactly what he wanted us to know. I have too much respect for the Bible.

A biblical historical novel is a COMMENTARY IN NARRATIVE FORM. 

As I study deeply into the Bible account, I look up major words in the original Hebrew or Greek. Translators do not have the luxury of doing more than giving a single English word. If they gave a phrase for each word translated, the Bible would be zillions of pages long and we’d have to carry it in a wheelbarrow. For example, when the Bible says the soldiers took Jesus up the hill of Golgotha, the word “took” in Greek is to carry like a bowl.

I try to both educate and entertain.

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