Philippians, part 1, Linking to a Hebrew Letter

Hebrew letter "vav"

The book of Philippians links up with the Hebrew letter vav. Remember that the symbolic meaning of this little letter is nail or hook. It plays a very important part in Jehovah’s name. (I’ve written before about the symbolic meanings of the four letters in God’s Hebrew name. The name Jehovah or Yahweh is made up of the letters yod hey vav hey. These letters have symbolic meanings and they are Hand, Behold, Nail, Behold.)

Hebrew name for God (read right to left)

Merry Christmas Post

  MERRY CHRISTMAS

This is our first Christmas away from Big Pine Lodge (hence a picture from last year), but celebrating Christ's birth is just as exciting and wonderful as long as there is family around.

Thank you, Jesus, for being born to die for me. I could never pay for my owns sins, except through death and eternal damnation. You conquered death and washed my sins away, never to be remembered again. Thank you, thank you. I marvel at the cost to you to bear the sins of billions. I bow at the cross, but right now, in this season, I rejoice in your humble birth and sing the wonderful songs of Christmas.

Ephesians, part 2, Linking to a Hebrew Letter

Ephesians links to Deuteronomy and Daniel, 2 Old Testament books that match up to the Hebrew letter hey like Ephesians. Compare Ephesians 6:1 – 3 with Deuteronomy 5: 16

 1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— 3 “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”

 16 “Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

This commandment is found in Exodus, too, but does not include the blessing of long life there. Only in these hey books do things match up so nicely.

Ephesians, part 1, Pure Grace

Hebrew letter "hey"

Ephesians, another beautiful letter by St. Paul, is written to the saints in Ephesus. He covers the believer’s status in Christ through pure grace. He also writes about the walk, service and warfare of the Spirit-filled believer.

Hebrews is linked to the Hebrew letter hey which means “Behold!” so let’s behold what the Lord says. Turn in your Bible to Ephesians and read the first 14 verses of the first chapter. (Or if you're not near your Bible scroll down for the verses at the end.)

Ask yourself some questions. I’ve put the verse in parentheses to help you.

          1)      How many spiritual blessings do we get? (vs. 3)   

The Time Pacer - Goodreads giveaway

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Time Pacer

by Debra Chapoton

Giveaway ends December 04, 2017.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

THE TIME PACER, an alien teen fantasy adventure

THE TIME BENDER series

An alien teen fantasy adventure

A girl who can bend time plus a musical genius, divided by two intergalactic warriors, equals multiple problems of love and struggles on two planets.

Books 1 and 2 now available. Books 3 and 4 coming soon.

Gratitude Giveaway Hop

GRATITUDE GIVEAWAY blog hop a Rafflecopter giveaway

THE TIME PACER, excerpt

CHAPTER 1

♫ … hold your ground … ♫

“SO … HOW ABOUT this extragalactic nebula?” I took my eyes off the screen to wiggle my brows at Selina. She gave me “the look,” one she’d been giving me since we were twelve. I’d say something goofy and she, in her infinitely cute way, would shoot Cupid’s darts into my heart with a quick smile.

“Alex,” she said, casting a stern look at me, “don’t make me laugh.” There it was: her quick involuntary lip curl. If I said chocolate fondue now with a Swedish accent she’d lose it. She glanced away from me and over at Coreg who had his eyes tightly squeezed shut, hands above his head holding the spaceship’s control levers, feet tucked into the pilot divots, and concentration at maybe Mach 5. I’d been pacing along with him as well as I could for most of this journey, helping us get to his planet, Klaqin, in a fraction of the time. But, dude, I needed a break. My claustrophobia was threatening to resurrect itself in this cockpit.

I discovered I was half-alien, or rather half-Klaqin, a mere day ago and then

THE TIME PACER, book 2 in the Time Bender series

RELEASING NOVEMBER 16, 2017

THE TIME PACER

Sometimes the weight of the universe matches the weight of love.

Alex’s feelings for Selina are too great to let her go across the universe without him. He accompanies her into a far distant society on a planet of eternal sunshine, where schooling is more than indoctrination and their interstellar enemies are closer than they realize. 

Galatians, part 2, How it Links with Numbers and Ezekiel

Linking Hebrew Letters to the Books of the Bible

As a dalet book Galatians should link in some way with Numbers and Ezekiel. Here’s how. In Numbers 14: 33 – 35 God says:

33 Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the desert. 34 For forty years—one year for each of the forty days you explored the land—you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you.' 35 I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will surely do these things to this whole wicked community, which has banded together against me. They will meet their end in this desert; here they will die."

Then in Ezekiel 4: 4 – 6

Galatians, part 1, Justified by Faith

Justification

This is the third time we’ve had a dalet book. Remember the Hebrew letter dalet and what it means? Door.

Galatians was written by the apostle Paul. The Galatians had become the prey of the legalizers, the Judaizing missionaries from Palestine. They believed 2 false doctrines: one was that obedience to the law was mingled with faith as the grounds of the sinner’s justification and the other was that the justified believer was made perfect by keeping the law. Think about that. You might find that false doctrine resurfacing today. A sinner is justified by faith alone; there is no salvation by keeping the law. Don’t let someone tell you that you’re not getting into Heaven if you don’t obey the 10 commandments.

Read Galatians 2:16, 3:11,13 and 3:23-24:

16 know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.

11 Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, "The righteous will live by faith."13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree."23 Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. 24 So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith.

In chapter 4 Paul shows great concern for the Galatians:

 8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. 9 But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? 10 You are observing special days and months and seasons and years!

Paul marvels, "You are observing special days and months and seasons and years!" Yet these are not pagan festivals that he is referring to, but important dates on the Jewish calendar. We understand that there is a sense in which the observance of special days could be tolerated (Romans 14:5-6), but the Galatians are taught to observe them for justification before God and other spiritual attainments. Paul's position is that this is like returning to paganism, back to ignorance and enslavement. And this is also his assessment of the Judaizers' religion.

Next week we’ll look at how Galatians links with the other two dalet books.

The Time Bender

Sixteen-year-old Selina’s battle with APD (Avoidant Personality Disorder) seriously hampers her ability to socialize and find that oh-so-perfect boyfriend. When two interstellar teens target her for kidnapping because they’ve discovered she has the ability to manipulate time, she interprets their actions as flirting. She battles her APD to awkwardly engage in interpersonal contact, something she’s only ever been able to do easily with boy-next-door Alex. When the space teens lure her beyond Earth’s bounds and she realizes she does have a phenomenal time-bending ability, she must decide: can she leave Earth to help them and can she leave Alex?

THE TIME BENDER on Amazon

2nd Corinthians, part 2, Its Link to Leviticus

A Ministry of reconciliation. 

Read 2nd Corinthians 5: 17 – 21:

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Why is this important? Because it matches up to the first gimel book, Leviticus. See Leviticus 16:32 – 34:

2nd Corinthians, part 1, the Comfort of the Holy Spirit

Major Theme

2nd Corinthians was written by the Apostle Paul. Its major theme is always to be faithful to Christ. This epistle shows Paul’s state of physical weakness, weariness, and pain as well as his great anguish of heart over the distrust felt toward him by Jews and Jewish Christians. The letters tells us of Paul’s principles of action for ministry, the collection for the poor saints at Jerusalem and Paul’s defense of his apostolic authority.

2nd Corinthians teaches that God loves a cheerful giver. There are two whole chapters on the virtue of giving. The ministry of reconciliation is also a major theme.

1st Corinthians and Sexual Immorality

Major Themes

The apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth to inform them that he was sending Timothy to them and to give them some much needed reminders and instructions. His major themes are: divisions within the church, his own authority, sexual morality, what to do about food sacrificed to idols, the Lord ’s Supper, spiritual gifts, love, and the resurrection.

Let’s look first at the word division as it comes up in Young’s Literal Translation of 1st Corinthians 1:10 and 3:3:

 10 And I call upon you, brethren, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that the same thing ye may all say, and there may not be divisions among you, and ye may be perfected in the same mind, and in the same judgment,
 3 for yet ye are fleshly, for where [there is] among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not fleshly, and in the manner of men do walk?

There is a direct correlation to Exodus. 

See Exodus 8:23:

 23 and I have put a division between My people and thy people: to-morrow is this sign.'

THE TIME BENDER, YA light SciFi-Fantasy with Splash of Teen Hormones

What if you found out someone you love isn't 100% human?

Intergalactic warrior-in-training Marcum trades his spaceship for high school classes, basketball, and homemade pies in order to court Earth girl Selina. So what if his first motive is to exploit her obvious gift of time-bending—the ability to slow the passage of time—something that would be invaluable in fighting other aliens. Now he can’t help falling for her. When his planet’s leaders learn the secret of her gift they vote to breed her with Marcum’s arch rival, Coreg, whose ability to speed up time has helped him beat Marcum at every simulated battle they’ve practiced together. Creating a race of people with both abilities would make them unstoppable against their adversaries, the star cannibals.

Selina starts to fall for both Coreg and Marcum’s clumsy flirting, but she doesn’t fall for their attempts to entice her into galactic warfare. She hates video games like that. She’s afraid of heights. She’s never even been alone with a boy in a car, let alone a spaceship. And she doesn’t think Marcum’s spaceship is anything more than one heck of a science project until Marcum takes her to the moon and back.

It may seem like she can make a moment last for hours, but what’s the point if it makes those uncomfortable moments stretch out longer? Do Coreg and Marcum really expect her to give up everything she cares about—her best friend Alex, her special needs brother, Hershey’s chocolate—to go up, up in a rickety spaceship again and, dare she think it, fight? Nuh-uh, not gonna happen. Especially since one of them is too awkward to even kiss her.

But hormones are the same from one end of the universe to the other and a few almost-kisses have put stars in Marcum’s eyes. Nevertheless, keeping his loyalty to his planet means going along with Coreg’s plan to kidnap her. He hates himself for keeping Selina's fate a secret from her. Hates himself more for not going after that kiss. When his conscience becomes a black hole of love and guilt, betrayal seems his only option. The question is, whom should he betray?

And—why does Alex keep getting in the way?

THE TIME BENDER

THE TIME BENDER - Goodreads Giveaway

Who doesn't like free stuff? Here's a chance to get a paperback copy of my new release

THE TIME BENDER

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Time Bender

by Debra Chapoton

Giveaway ends September 18, 2017.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

New Young Adult SciFi-Fantasy Series THE TIME BENDER

THE TIME BENDER

Selina Langston can barely make eye contact with boys, let alone talk to them—except for Alex, her one and only friend. Although he has a psychic connection to her, even he doesn’t know she’s been receiving clairvoyant visions from the next galaxy. That is, until Marcum and Coreg, two god-like hotties from a planet called Klaqin, suddenly appear in school as foreign exchange students. Alex is suspicious, but Selina doesn’t think Marcum’s spaceship is anything more than one heck of a science project—until he takes her to the moon and back. While adjusting to her new found skill of socializing with boys, Selina unwittingly displays her unique ability to bend time, just what the galaxy-hopping pair were searching for.

Being pursued by two guys would be a dream come true for Selina, if she weren’t busy caring for her special needs brother or dodging snarky remarks from classmates who find her skin color disturbing. Add Alex’s confession of love, a stunning revelation about her ancestry, and a very confused Selina must choose between her heart and her head. And between Klaqin and Earth, before both are destroyed.

Rated PG-13

THE TIME BENDER

available in paperback , Kindle and Nook and other digital formats on Smashwords

New Young Adult Sci-Fi Series

Coming September 13, 2017

THE TIME BENDER

Book 1 in the 4 book series

An intergalactic warrior-in-training trades his spaceship for high school classes, basketball, and homemade pies in order to court an Earth girl who has an unexpected super power.

A Young Adult Sci-Fi Fantasy Adventure

When a chance encounter with a galaxy hopping space warrior drops Selina Langston down a rabbit hole of kidnapping schemes, time altering super powers and an occasional intergalactic battle, she must decide whether to trust her head, her heart or her hormones.

Until now sixteen-year-old Selina hasn’t had any prospects for a boyfriend. She’s been shunned by her peers due to her clumsy social skills and her oh-so-public blunders, not to mention her proclivity to think and speak in hashtags and stage cues. But then Marcum, a mysterious foreign exchange student, arrives by way of an interplanetary spaceship. Selina is entranced by his good looks and an awkward manner that rivals her own. Marcum is captivated by Selina’s power to lengthen time, something she didn’t even know she could do. This could be a match made in the heavens … if it weren’t for two factors that will keep them apart. And a galactic journey Selina can’t possibly survive.

This first book in a 4 book series releases September 13, 2017. You can pre-order now here.

Tweet: If you like #SciFi #Fantasy adventures you’ll love #TimeBender. https://ctt.ec/1cB7p+ via @Debra_Chapoton 

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Romans, part 5, More Benedictions than any other Book

Romans includes more benedictions than any other book in the Bible. Here they are. Romans 11:33-36; 15:13; 15:30-33; 16:20; and 16:25-27:

33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
   How unsearchable his judgments,
   and his paths beyond tracing out!
34 “Who has known the mind of the Lord?
   Or who has been his counselor?”
35 “Who has ever given to God,
   that God should repay them?”
36 For from him and through him and for him are all things.
   To him be the glory forever! Amen. 

13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

30 I urge you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. 31 Pray that I may be kept safe from the unbelievers in Judea and that the contribution I take to Jerusalem may be favorably received by the Lord’s people there, 32 so that I may come to you with joy, by God’s will, and in your company be refreshed. 33 The God of peace be with you all. Amen.

 20 The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.
   The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.

 25 Now to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel, the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, 26 but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all the Gentiles might come to the obedience that comes from faith— 27 to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen. 

Amen

Romans, part 4, the Intimacy of the Holy Spirit

In Paul’s letter to the Romans, chapter 8, we find the ONLY place in all the Scriptures where we learn an intimate fact about the Holy Spirit – that the Spirit prays for the believer:

 26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

The Holy Spirit intercedes for us! This is very comforting, as is another verse in Romans – 8:28:

 28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

How is this comforting?

Romans, part 3, the Perfect Symmetry between Sin and Sacrifice

Here are some other really cool things about Romans. In chapter 5, verses 12 – 21 we find the explanation of the perfect contrast between Adam and Christ. Read this slowly and thoughtfully because it is really deep:

 12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—

 13 To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law. 14 Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come.

 15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! 16 Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. 17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!

 18 Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. 19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

 20 The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, 21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Do you understand the perfect symmetry between Adam’s sin and Christ’s sacrifice?

Romans, part 2, Obvious Connective Links with Genesis

When we looked at the 2nd aleph book (Isaiah) we saw the connective verses about the potter (God) and the clay (man) that were in Isaiah and then reappeared in Romans, now we’ll look at the story that started in Genesis, the first aleph book, and finished in Romans, the third aleph book. Watch.

Genesis 17: 1 – 5:

Romans, part 1, Israel Will Be Saved

There are 66 books in the Bible. There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet. If you match up each book with a corresponding letter the first letter, aleph, goes with Genesis (the first book of the Law), Isaiah (the first book of the Prophets), and Romans (the first book of the Christian Epistles).

Romans was written by the Apostle Paul. Its major themes are the gospel of God, the redemption truth and reconciling the promises to Israel with the promises concerning the Gentiles. Its greatest teaching is the doctrine of grace. This book shows us that all are guilty before God but can receive justification through the righteousness of God by faith.

Let’s look first at Romans 3:25, 26:

Acts, part 2, Acrostic Clues

Let’s check the acrostic verses for clues as to what we want to focus on in Acts. (If you don't know what acrostic or alphabetic verses in the Bible are, read this.)

Psalm 119: 175:

175 Let me live that I may praise you,
   and may your laws sustain me.

Let me live. Literally the Hebrew says “Let my soul live.” That kind of gives us a longer range plan, doesn’t it? The Hebrew word for “live” is the root for “resurrection.”

Lamentations 4:22:

 22 Your punishment will end, Daughter Zion;
   he will not prolong your exile.
But he will punish your sin, Daughter Edom,
   and expose your wickedness.

Punishment will end. The Hebrew word here is “tamam” meaning “completed.”

Psalm 25:21:

21 May integrity and uprightness protect me,
   because my hope, LORD, is in you.

Integrity is the word used here to translate the Hebrew tav word “tom” which also means perfection, completion and moral purity. Taken together from these alphabetic verses we get the theme of living forever, all things being completed, finished.

Acts, part 1, a Quick Summary

Tav is the last of the 22 Hebrew letters and it links up with Song of Songs in the Old Testament and Acts and Revelation in the New Testament. The symbolic meaning of this letter is mark, sign or cross. We saw in the first tav book, Song of Songs, that there is a strong correlation between these books and this letter having to do with consummation and marriage. The number one major theme of the book of the Acts of the Apostles is the receiving of the Holy Spirit followed by the profession of Christ to the Jews at Pentecost and then to the Gentiles. This was the beginning of the Christian church which is, in all respects, the beginning of the Bride of Christ.

In Acts the first nine chapters recount the rise of the early church with Peter being the prominent character; the rest of the book follows with the conversion and ministry of the Apostle Paul. The book of Acts is written by the physician, Luke, who spent much time alongside Saint Paul, traveling and witnessing. In his previous book Luke wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the ascension. That book was written to a certain Theophilus, a man who was probably wealthy enough to help Luke get his information published, and Acts is also addressed to this same Theophilus. His name, by the way, means “lover of God” or “loved by God.” With that in mind I like to think that these books were written personally to me.

The thesis verse of Acts is found in chapter 1, verse 8, when Jesus says the following:

John, part 4, The Irrefutable Logic of a Blind Man

Jesus brings Light and Life. The blind man in John chapter 9 is in for the surprise of his life. Watch how he gets physical sight and how he gains another sense, too: spiritual sight. If you don’t know the story here it is in a nutshell:

Jesus and his disciples come across the blind man, Jesus heals him, the Pharisees are in an uproar because He healed on the Sabbath, there’s an investigation and the Pharisees kick the formerly blind man out of synagogue, and the story ends with Jesus revealing His divinity to the man who then gains spiritual sight.

Now, you be the blind guy:

You’ve heard the scriptures read, you know the prophecies, you hang around the temple all the time begging and listening. You hear some men talking about you. They’re asking their leader if you or your parents are responsible for your blindness. The leader says neither you nor your parents are responsible; he says that you’re blind so the work of God can be displayed in your life. You’re more alert. You hear them get closer and the leader puts something on your face over those rounds things that are called eyes, but have no function for you. He tells you to wash it off in the Pool of Siloam. You have some faith so you do.

What is this?! Is this sight?! This is unbelievable! You cannot contain your excitement. You find your way home and your neighbors think you’re an imposter. You tell them what happened. They ask how this could be. You say it was “the man.”

John, part 3, Jesus is God

As I studied this book I found several outlines by various commentators. They tended to divide the book up into 5 or 6 parts: 1st the opening or foreword in chapter 1 with the theme of the pre-existence of Christ, 2nd the beginning of his ministry, the “big reveal,” so to speak, up through chapter 6. Then the 3rd section is the next year of his ministry and how his claims were rejected (through chapter 12). I noticed that the verses with the word light stopped abruptly then (see last week’s post). The next section contains Holy Week, the passion, the crucifixion, burial and resurrection. The last section (chapters 20 – 22) is of the 40 days following His resurrection.

Back in verse 1 of chapter 1 we found that Jesus was eternal, was with God and was God. Let’s look at his claims found in John that He is God:

John 3:16  For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

John 6:32-35 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

 34 “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”

 35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

John, part 2, The Light of the Son vs. the Light of the Sun

Remember how in Ecclesiastes we found more instances of the word sun than in any other Bible book? There is not one instance of the word sun in John even though both books are linked by the Hebrew letter shin. And look at how John compares with the other three Gospel books:

There is no reason for such an absence other than to show God’s precision in His design of the Bible. Despite the absence of the sun look how the light shines in John:

The following are from the KJV:

John 1:4: In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

John 1:5: And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

John 1:7: The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.

John 1:8: He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.

John 1:9: That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

John 3:19: And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

John, part 1, the Pre-Existence of Jesus

The fourth book of the New Testament, JOHN, was written by the beloved apostle John around A.D. 90. This book is sharply different from Matthew, Mark and Luke. First of all it was written much later and most of the church already possessed copies of the other Gospels. These Christians wanted deeper truths and there wasn’t anyone better to write them than someone from the Master’s inner circle. John was the one who leaned on Jesus at the last supper, the one who didn’t flee from Christ’s judgment, the one who stood at the cross and received Jesus’ request to care for Mary.

Matthew, Mark and Luke are called the synoptic gospels because they include many of the same stories in the same order, thus they are synoptic (one view, of the same eye), but John doesn’t follow that pattern. In fact, we don’t even find the parables that are so prevalent in the other gospels. In John the themes are deeper, such as the pre-existence of Christ, His incarnation, the work of the Holy Spirit and Jesus’ relation to the Father.

The book of John can be divided into several major parts. It begins with the pre-existence of Jesus.

EXOTIQA by M. Black

BOOK: EXOTIQA

GENRE: YA Robot Cyberpunk Dystopia

LINK: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06WRWZRMN

BLURB: 

When the nation is controlled by a popular online program, those that deviate risk their lives. But that never stopped Fione. 

Read the second release by author M. Black, which fans of Divergent, Freelancer, iRobot,and The Glitch will enjoy. Filled with haunting questions of consciousness and artificial intelligence, identity and self-awareness, politics and love, life and death, the reader will be engaged in an entertaining story filled with futuristic technology. 

Set in the cyberpunk year 2055 in British Columbia, Canada, where humans are part robotic and robots are becoming more humanlike, the line dividing the two is becoming less clear. 

When sixteen-year-old Fione meets Maci, a twenty-one-year-old Flexbot who escapes from ImaTech located along the crust of the Coast Mountains, Fione’s life is taken on a roller-coaster ride of events that begins with trying to save Maci from ImaTech Corporation and ends with trying to save the country.

SCORPION from The Myriad Series by Cindy Stone

SCORPION from The Myriad Series by Cindy Stone

SCORPION 

An ancient power. A modern mystic. The enemy unleashed. 

It began as a day like any other, when Avery Adams, daughter of one of New York’s wealthiest and most influential men, is pushed from a crowded subway platform into an oncoming train. Is it chance, or the wheels of destiny set in motion, when Aiden Kane, expert martial artist saves her, and they are thrust into the apex of a ten thousand year old battle for power. 

Cool Words in the Gospel of Luke

Last week we looked at how Luke lines up and links with the Old Testament book of Proverbs. We saw how the word wisdom occurs noticeably in Luke and not the other gospels. I wondered if there were other words that would show up in greater numbers in the three resh books (Bible books that line up with the same Hebrew letter, in this case Proverbs, Luke, and 3rd John) if I did a search. Of course they would have to be words that started with this Hebrew letter. In The Bible Wheel by Richard Amiel McGough words such as physician (ropheh), to heal (rapha), friend (reyah), and racham (mercy, compassion and with different vowel points womb) are given as key words that link to these three books. I chose “friend” and did a search. Here’s my chart of what I found: