Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Putting Paul in plain English by Stephen M. Miller Bible blog of award-winning bestselling Christian author, Stephen M. Miller. for Tuesday, 20 December 2016

 Putting Paul in plain English by Stephen M. Miller Bible blog of award-winning bestselling Christian author, Stephen M. Miller. for Tuesday, 20 December 2016
Putting Paul in plain EnglishBy Stephen M. Miller
DEAD EPHESUS. Paul wrote one of his most upbeat letters to Christians in Ephesus, one of the biggest and busiest towns in the Roman Empire. It's a ruin today. The river silted up and business dried up. Photo by Djenan-Kozic, Wikimedia.
I WANTED TO WORK ON A HAPPY BOOK in the Bible, as I continue paraphrasing for the Casual English Bible.
It has been a vicious year for those of us who follow the news—and especially for news journalists and former news journalists like myself. We still seek the truth in a day when people instantly accept rumors and lies as God’s honest truth…even after the facts finally surface.
It’s kind of impossible to imagine that 2017 will be any different?
So at least in my work, I wanted to hear an upbeat message of hope.
I turned to Paul’s letter to first-generation Christians in Ephesus, a city on the west coast of Turkey. It’s in ruins today, and a tourist stop for folks tracking the travels of Paul.
Turns out, the book of Ephesians is shaping up to be one tough paraphrase. Lots of abstract ideas and religious clichés that don’t mean much to folks outside the church. And then there’s stuff that even the Bible experts can’t understand.
Here’s my first pass at the first chapter—just a rough draft. See what you think. I’m open to suggestions. But keep in mind that I’m doing this for Bible newcomers.
Ephesians 1. Say good things about God“Hello. Paul here.”
1:1. From: Paul, appointed by God as an official messenger[1] of the Messiah,[2]Jesus.
To: God’s devoted people—all the followers of Jesus living in Ephesus.[3]
1:2. May you experience the kindness and peace that come from God our Father and from our leader[4] Jesus, the Messiah.
Why we compliment God
1:3. We owe thanks to God, the father of our leader, Jesus the Messiah. He has given us every wonderful gift that’s available in heaven. He has done that because we’re family now—the family of the Messiah.
1:4. God chose us. Even before he created the world, he decided that we should be his children, devoted to him and goodhearted.
1:5. Before we ever gave God a thought, he decided to adopt us into his family. He worked the adoption through Jesus and was delighted with how it turned out.
1:6. We thank him for his kindness. He honors us by the way he has treated us through his beloved Son.
1:7. We’re free, no longer held hostage by our sins. We are forgiven. God paid our ransom out of the wealth of his kindness and through the blood of his Son.
1:8. He lavished us with his kindness, which shows how well he knows us and understands us.
1:9. God let us in on his secret plan involving his Son. God did this because it delights him.
1:10. Here’s the plan. When the time comes, God is going to bring everyone and everything together—in heaven and earth. The Messiah will rule it all.
1:11. We’ve got an inheritance waiting for us. It’s something God planned long ago. He has the power to do whatever he decides to do.
1:12. Those of us who have already put our hope in the Messiah did so because God chose us long ago. Through us, others will see God in his glory and rave about him.
1:13. You heard the Good News, the true story of how God saved you. You believed in the Messiah. When you made that decision, God claimed you as one of his own. He sealed that relationship with you by giving you the Holy Spirit—as he promised he would do for us a long time ago.[5]
1:14. That’s our guarantee, people. God’s Spirit in us guarantees that we’re in his family and we’ve got the family inheritance waiting for us. God saved us, we belong to him, and we thank him for being such a glorious savior.
Paul’s prayer for Christians
1:15. I have heard about you folks. I’ve heard that you put your faith in the Lord Jesus. And I’ve heard that you express your love to all believers.
1:16. I want you to know something. I can’t stop thinking about you or thanking God for you. You’re always in my prayers.
1:17. I ask the glorious God of our leader, Jesus the Messiah, to give you spiritual wisdom. I’m asking that he allows you to see what others can’t, and that he helps you get to know him better.
1:18. I’m praying that you will grow in your understanding of the hope God gave you. Because he has called you one of his own, you are rich. The wealth of his inheritance is yours, as it is for all people devoted to him.
1:19. I’m praying, too, that you will one day discover how incredibly powerful God is—and that this power is available to those of us who believe in him. How much power is it? Well, it’s the same power
1:20. that raised the Messiah from the dead and that gave him a seat on a throne at the right hand of God in the spiritual dimension of heaven.
1:21. God put him in charge. The Messiah is the boss of everyone—every ruler, authority, power, government. You name it, he’s the boss of it. Not only now, but in the days to come.
1:22. God gathered up everything and set it at the feet of the Messiah. Everyone looks up to Jesus now because he’s in charge. He looks out for the church, too.
1:23. The church is his body on earth. His presence fills the church—and can fill everyone in every way.[6]
Casual English Bible
Notes[1] 1:1. The word in the language Paul used, Greek, is apostolos, from which we get the English word apostle. The word means “official messenger,” such as a delegate or an ambassador sent to deliver a message. The title “apostle” came to mean disciples handpicked by Jesus to tell his story and spread his teachings. The title usually referred to the 12 original disciples of Jesus as well as Paul, who met Jesus in a miraculous encounter while traveling to Damascus to arrest Christians (Acts 9:5).
[2] 1:1. “Messiah” in the original Greek language of the New Testament is Christos, from which we get the word Christ. It means “Anointed One,” as in “anointed by God.”
[3] 1:2. “Ephesus” doesn’t show up in the oldest copies of this letter. One presumption is that it was added later.
[4] 1:2. The original Greek word for “leader” is kyrios, often translated “lord” or “master.”
[5] 1:13. Joel 2:28-29.
[6] 1:23. More literally, and cryptically, the church is “his body, the fullness who fills all in every way.”
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 Abe leaves home at age 75 by Stephen M. Miller Bible blog of award-winning bestselling Christian author, Stephen M. Miller. of Olathe, Kansas, United States for Saturday, 17 December 2016
Abe leaves home at age 75By Stephen M. Miller
When God called Abraham to leave his home in what is now Turkey and go to what is now Israel to start a new nation, Abraham was 75 years old and childless. A Visual Walk Through Genesis, page 71.
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 Leader’s Guide & Atlas for Luke just released by Stephen M. Miller Bible blog of award-winning bestselling Christian author, Stephen M. Miller.
Leader’s Guide & Atlas for Luke just releasedBy Stephen M. Miller
BIBLE STUDY FOR CHRISTMAS. Yesterday I finished and released a new leader's guide and atlas for the Gospel of Luke...with the favorite Christmas story. It's available as a PDF download for a buck.
I SCRAMBLED to get this done before Christmas. Just in time for a Christmas Bible study, I’ve finished and released the Casual English Bible Leader’s Guide & Atlas for the Gospel of Luke.
It has 260 discussion questions and answers for Bible study leaders, along with an atlas of 28 high-definition maps that track the story of Jesus from Bethlehem to Calvary.
Publishers aren’t particularly keen on publishing leader’s guides because there are only so many leaders, don’t you know.
But I’m fairly keen on making it as easy as possible for Bible newcomers to study the Bible, so I’m doing this anyhow.
You can download the 80-page PDF for a buck. That’s a dollar, not a male deer, although I might consider a trade like that.
You can take a look at the index of maps at this page on the Casual English Bible website: Index of maps for Luke.
I also created a guide and atlas for Luke’s sequel, the story of how the church started. It’s the Casual English Bible Leader’s Guide & Atlas for Acts. Index of maps for Acts.
Ephesians next
I think I’ll work next on adding the book of Ephesians to the Casual English Bible…with a leader’s guide and atlas. After the 2016 election cycle, I need a happy book like Ephesians. And I think I may need it all the more in 2017.
10 free books
By the way, the first 10 Stateside people to buy a copy of the Casual English Bible Leader’s Guide & Atlas for the Gospel of Luke will get a free, signed copy of one of my books…which retail for anywhere between $10-$20. You get to pick one of the following freebies:
Merry Christmas.
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 Song of the pregnant virgin by Stephen M. Miller Bible blog of award-winning bestselling Christian author, Stephen M. Miller.Song of the pregnant virginBy Stephen M. Miller
MARY'S MAGNIFICENT SONG. The Virgin Mary shows up in Luke's story of Jesus as a lady who wrote one of the most beautiful songs in the Bible. Some scholars say they wonder if Luke wrote it a generation later in an attempt to capture the joy he figured Mary felt. Art by Richárd Juha, Wikimedia.
MARY WAS QUITE THE SONG WRITER, considering the probability that she didn’t get much of an education, what with being a girl in a man’s world.
Her song shows up in the Gospel of Luke. As Luke tells the story, Mary burst out into poetic praise of God after her relative Elizabeth confirmed that Mary was to become “The mother of my Lord” (Luke 1:43).
Before that, all Mary apparently had was the word of an angel, as if people would believe that story.
But now she had backup. Somehow Elizabeth also knew that unmarried virgin Mary was pregnant with a special child.
Bible experts debate where the song came from.
Many Christians, perhaps most, seem to believe that Luke reported the actual words of Mary, and that the inspired words came from her heart as it overflowed with joy.
Others say they wonder how Luke, writing his story a generation after the fact, got his hands on the careful notes someone took as Mary spoke. The guess, in fact, is that no one took notes, and that the words are one of the following:
  1. Luke attempted to express the happiness Mary felt, using his own words on her behalf.
  2. Luke picked up a song that churches sang and he adapted it for Mary’s story.
Whether the words came from Mary or from Luke, most Christians would agree that they are both inspired and inspiring.
Mary’s magnificent song
Mary said,
“I can’t keep quiet about the Lord.
I’m so happy about what God has done for me,
Look at me. A servant. Not important at all. Yet important to God. From now on, people will call me blessed.
Mighty God, the Holy One, has done amazing things for me.
For others, too. He shows mercy to people of every generation, to those who respect him.
He’s a powerful God, no doubt about that. Powerful enough to send the proud and the vain into hiding.
Powerful enough to unseat the world’s top officials, who are soon forgotten. Powerful enough to write humble souls into world history, never to be forgotten.
He feeds the hungry with food for body and soul. He serves the callous rich a cold shoulder and invites them to leave.
God has treated his people of Israel to mercy.
He does it—and will keep on doing it forever—because of promises he made long ago to our ancestors: to Abraham and to all of his descendants.”
Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months before going back home.[Luke 1:46-56, Casual English Bible]
Casual English Bible
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 Why circumcision? Ouch by Stephen M. Miller Bible blog of award-winning bestselling Christian author, Stephen M. Miller.
Why circumcision? Ouch By Stephen M. Miller
In the contract God made with Jews, Jewish men didn’t sign on the dotted line. They cut: circumcision. One guess about why God chose circumcision: context clue. It targeted the part of the body that would play an important role in producing the Jewish nation. A Visual Walk Through Genesis, page 88.
Casual English Bible
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 On the Jericho Road by Stephen M. Miller Bible blog of award-winning bestselling Christian author, Stephen M. Miller.
On the Jericho Road By Stephen M. Miller
JERICHO ROAD. Jesus trudged a winding path up into the desolate Judean Hills on his way to the cross. Jerusalem was an all-day trip 20 miles (33 km) away and nearly three-fourths of a mile higher than Jericho, in the valley. Map copyrighted by Stephen M. Miller.
IT WAS THE LAST LEG of Jesus’ trip to the Cross.
In an all-day trip, he headed 20 miles (33 km) uphill—a winding climb about three quarters of a mile up from Jericho, 846 feet below sea level (248 m) in the Jordan River Valley, to Jerusalem, elevation about half a mile high, at 2582 feet (787 m).
I’ve been creating maps for the Casual English Bible online beta edition of the Gospel of Luke. I’m nearly done.
It’s a bit odd studying the death of Jesus when we’re celebrating his birth.
But I noticed something surprising about how these two stories work together, and Mary’s role in it.
In my Bible study group last week we talked a lot about Mary, and about the feelings she must have been developing for her coming baby. We talked, too, about the extent of a mother’s love after a child is born and even when the child is grown.
I played a video of my daughter singing one of the songs she sings to her son, Owen, who will be a year old on December 30. The song is “Be Still,” written by Isaac Slade, Joseph King, David Welsh, Ben Wysocki. The song begins with this assurance:
Be still and know that I’m with you
Be still and know that I am here.
There’s a powerful verse that seeks to soothe in the worst of times:
And when you go through the valley
And the shadow comes down from the hill
If morning never comes to be
Be still, be still, be still.
As the song draws to an end, two more lines grab my heart and squeeze:
If no one is standing beside you
Be still and know I am.
I created a homemade video of this song, using my daughter’s voice humbly recorded on her cell phone. I wove that video into videos and photos I had of Owen, so that the lyrics matched the scenes.
The message of the song my daughter sang to her boy seemed clear to me: “I’m here for you. I’ll always be here for you.”
The surprising link to the Christmas story hit me with such force that it pumped tears into my eyes the moment the thought arrived.
The song my daughter sings to her baby isn’t just a song Mary could have sung in Bethlehem. It’s a song she could have sung at Calvary.
She was always there for her boy.
Free books for Christmas
Christmas is coming and I’ve got some books I’d be happy to give away to people you think might actually read them.
Here’s the catch. The books aren’t for you. They’re for someone you know.
Below are books I have to give away, as long as they last.
If you know of someone who might like one, email me. Pick out a book and send me the person’s name and address. I’ll sign the book to them and mail it to them. No charge.
Here are the books available, first come first served.
Casual English Bible
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 Is it okay for a Christian to punch a liar? by Stephen M. Miller Bible blog of award-winning bestselling Christian author, Stephen M. Miller.
Is it okay for a Christian to punch a liar? By Stephen M. Miller
READ, THINK, TALK. It's a prescription for fighting the infection of the New Normal that treats lies as the truth. A little prayer for a discerning Spirit wouldn't hurt, either.
SOMETIMES I’D LIKE TO SMACK A LIAR, to shut them the dickens up. They’re usually on TV, though, so it would be counterproductive.
I’ve chased the truth for all of my career. First as a newspaper journalist. Then as a writer of Christian material.
I’m not the guy who wants his preconceived notions stroked. I want to know if I got it right or wrong…or if I have to live in the maybe, since we can’t know everything.
In recent years, lying has become not only acceptable in our culture. God help us, it has become believable.
People are believing the invented history they are hearing.
Even if the facts are clearly presented, people continue to believe the liar who keeps lying.
As a former newspaperman and now a Bible history researcher and writer, I can tell you that the source of the stuff we let our brains feed on is everything.
Everything.
Life is too short to read, listen to, or watch sources that distort the truth or fabricate history.
You’ve probably read recently that Russia is getting accused of launching fake news to drive people like cattle in the direction they want the people to go.
If they are doing that, they aren’t the only ones.
Christians should be people who seek the truth.
I say “should be” because it has been my personal observation that some Christians want nothing more than to be assured they are right. Especially when they are wrong.
God’s people are supposed to act like they’re part of his family.
Here’s God when it comes to lying.
“God can’t stomach liars” (Proverbs 12:22).
“God hates…he loathes with a passion…a tongue that lies” (Proverbs 6:16-19).
In our current culture that feeds on misinformation, the words of a prophet seem pitifully descriptive.
“Our wrongdoings stare us down; we know in detail what we’ve done:…Spreading false rumors, inciting sedition, pregnant with lies, muttering malice. Justice is beaten back, Righteousness is banished to the sidelines, Truth staggers down the street, Honesty is nowhere to be found, Good is missing in action”(Isaiah 59:12-15).
Tips from a newsman & Bible researcher
Here’s how I try to avoid getting taken in by fake news, twisted truth, and opinion passed off as fact.
Buy a newspaper and read it. The reporting in most major dailies is usually objective, except for the writing of columnists and the material on the opinion pages.
Download free news apps such as those from the Associated Press, Reuters, and the BBC. Again, these news reports are generally even-handed and an honest reporting of the truth as it’s best available.
Do not spend much time watching broadcast news. Many of the Big Boys are not objective. If the reporter is telling what he or she thinks, it’s not news. It’s an editorial. The worst offender I’ve seen is Fox News, which doesn’t let the truth get in the way of their agenda. It strokes conservative viewers and inflames progressives. MSNBC is heavily slanted the opposite way, but it doesn’t usually serve their audience a diet of fictional stories, as Fox sometimes does—the “Birther” lie, for example, which said the president wasn’t born in the USA. Some people in my own church actually believed it.
Do not listen to radio programs that say bad things about people, but don’t back up their charges with documented facts. By “documented,” I mean from reliable, professional news outlets like those I’ve mentioned. There are lots of others, including the major newspapers.
I practice what I preach.
I read the Bible plenty, which is probably why I hate lies so much. But every day I also read what’s going on by checking out the news sources I mentioned. And I subscribe to my local newspaper.
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 Promised Land of Syria, Jordan by Stephen M. Miller Bible blog of award-winning bestselling Christian author, Stephen M. Miller.
Promised Land of Syria, Jordan By Stephen M. Miller
Genesis says the land God promised Abraham is more than Israel. It includes a piece of Egypt, a nice chunk of Jordan, and nearly half of Syria – with Damascus. A Visual Walk Through Genesis, page 82.
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 The second-greatest love by Stephen M. Miller Bible blog of award-winning bestselling Christian author, Stephen M. Miller.
The second-greatest love By Stephen M. Miller
I LOVE MY GRANDSON. Enough to pose for a photo with him while he expresses his discontent.
MY ONLY GRANDSON threw up in the palm of my hand yesterday.
I was holding him at the time. He’s 11 months old and sick with a stomach bug, it seems.
His upchuck didn’t actually target my hand. Instead, my hand intercepted his upchuck. Half of it, anyhow. The rest rolled down my left pant leg and onto the carpet I was trying to protect.
As I stood there with my left arm holding my grandson and my right hand holding a scoop of my grandson’s twice-warmed breast milk I thought, “This is kinda yucky.”
I think the same thing when my grandson or my only granddaughter, nine months old, fill their diaper with an explosion of friendly fire that consumes everything on them and that sprays me into collateral damage.
“The greatest love a person can show is to die for his friends” (John 15:13).
A close second would be to catch their upchuck or to change their diaper.
There’s nothing unique about me catching my grandson’s gutchuck or changing messy diapers while smiling and singing happy songs.
Love does that to us.
It makes us do creepy things for the benefit of people who need creepy things done to them.
I’m using “creepy things” in a good way here.
Out of curiosity, what creepy things has love made you do?
This is not a rhetorical question. I’m wondering how far love can push us.
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 Peter welcomes a new breed of Christian by Stephen M. Miller Bible blog of award-winning bestselling Christian author, Stephen M. Miller.
Peter welcomes a new breed of Christia n By Stephen M. Miller
MAKING A CASE. Peter and Paul both had to take on the early Christian leaders to convince them that it was okay to let non-Jews join the movement. It was a hard sell. Painting by El Greco.
WITH ALL THE “US” AND “THEM” going on around the world these days, there are clues in the Bible about how to handle that problem.
The problem of “Us” and “Them” has been around for a long time. Peter dealt with it at the very beginning of Christianity, which started as a Jewish Messianic movement…all the first Christians where Jews who taught that Jesus was the Messiah God had promised to send to save them.
Acts 11. Peter’s colleagues become his criticsPeter defends baptizing non-Jews
11:1. Word spread that non-Jews had accepted the message of God and joined the group of believers. The apostles[1] heard about it. So did other believers who were scattered all over the territory of Judea.[2]
11:2. When Peter got back to Jerusalem, criticism greeted him. Jews who followed Jesus were not happy.
11:3. They said, “Hey, you went into the house of uncircumcised men—they weren’t our people! You even ate with them!”
11:4. Peter calmly told them what happened. He started at the beginning.
11:5. “I was in the city of Joppa. When I was praying, I went into a trance and saw a vision. An object came down from the sky. It looked like a giant bedsheet getting lowered from all four corners. It came down next to me.
11:6. I looked to see what was inside. I saw four-footed animals, wild animals, some reptiles, and some birds.
11:7. Then I heard a voice. It said, ‘Get up, Peter. Go butcher something and eat it.’
11:8. But I said, ‘No way, sir. These animals aren’t kosher. I’ve never eaten anything but kosher food.’
11:9. But the voice answered, ‘What God has cleaned is kosher. So don’t think it’s not.’
11:10. This happened three times to me. Then everything lifted back into the sky.
11:11. Now listen. At that very moment three men arrived at the house where I was staying. They came from Caesarea with a message for me.
11:12. The Spirit told me to go with them right away. So I went. Six believers came with me. When we got there, we went inside the man’s house.
11:13. He told us he had seen an angel standing in his house. He said the angel told him, ‘Send messengers to Joppa. Tell them to go and get a man named Simon, also known as Peter.
11:14. This man will explain how you and everyone in your home[3] can be saved.’[4]
11:15. Well, as I started to talk to the group, the Holy Spirit came and entered everyone in the house. It reminded me of the first time the Spirit came to us.
11:16. Then I remembered something the Lord said: ‘John baptizes people with water. But you’re going to get baptized with the Holy Spirit.’
11:17. So here’s the question. If God gave those non-Jewish people the same gift he gave us when we put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to stand in God’s way?”
11:18. When Peter’s critics heard that, they shut up. When they finally spoke again, it was to praise God for what Peter reported. They said, “My goodness. God is inviting even the non-Jews to reject their sinful way of living.[5] He’s giving them eternal life, too.”
Notes[1] 11:1. See note 1:2.
[2] 11:1. See note 10:37.
[3] 11:14. “Everyone in your home” would likely include family as well as slaves—everyone under the authority of Cornelius, the head of the household.
[4] 11:14. “Saved” to live again after dying—eternal life (11:18; Luke 21:19).
[5] 11:18. The Greek word refers to “repentance.”
This excerpt is from the Casual English Bible, an easy-reading Bible paraphrase I’ve been working on. At the moment, I’ve been adding maps to the Gospel of Luke. Acts already has a bunch of maps. Like this one. I’ve bundled them with a leader’s guide in a 70-page PDF that’s downloadable for a buck. The guide has hundreds of Q&A for small-group Bible study.
Casual English Bible Leader’s Guide and Atlas for Acts
Discussion questions for Acts 11
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