Dikurios
My brothers Greek name was Dikurios but we called him Brother. Brother was the oldest. He was just a decade older but we could not have become more different. We both had Jewish roots and we both studied under the same Rabbi but time and experience had changed my Rabbi into a different and more loving and merciful man.
Brother was egotistical, self centered, arrogant and driven. We both communicated effectively within the scope of our environment but he wanted to lead and I wanted to serve. He desired to lead and I preferred to join and cooperate. Brother became a well respected leader in our government and our father boasted about him often and he looked at me with those eyes that said you should be more like your Brother. I knew what he was saying but I avoided any acknowledgement nor did I have any desire to become my Brother.
When I was in my late twenties I met another male that greatly impressed me with his words and his thoughts. He had learned much from his own Father and he wanted nothing more than to do the same work his Father did. I have to admit that the very first I met my new Friend I desired to have his Father as mine because my father was not like my new friends at all. My father was the same as my Brother.
My Brother became a leader in our government and he served with the same zeal as my father would have. He always desired to be the best at everything he did. He was filled with selfish ambition and our father congratulated him everytime they met. He told Brother that he was bringing great honor to our family name.
Soon my Brother stopped coming around and my father was sad. I tried to comfort him but I could not soften his heart. He was sad beyond my reach and as much as I tried I could not reach him. My Brother had created a new role for himself within our government.
My Friend had died at the hands of our government and my Brother had infiltrated my Friends family of students but he was a deceiver and not a believer he paid others to write him words of patience, kindness, forgiveness, mercy and love while he found ways to deceive others into believing that he was a messenger of my Friends Way when he was nothing but a liar. He gave the government what they needed when he created leadership roles within my Friends family which was absurd because my Friend had made it very clear that he was their only leader. But many new disciples in my Friends family have been led astray and they have began to follow my Brother the Liar instead.
I wrote a short composition about my Friend and I gave it to one of his students whose name was Simon. He said he would share it with others. I often eat a piece of unleavened bread and drink a cup of wine in remembrance of my Friend who taught me much about love and life. He even taught me how to forgive my Brother.
JM
Seven in Three
It has been a long journey for me and even now I find myself lacking in the confidence of your acceptance of my offering. My name is not important because I do not desire to be your teacher or your leader for we have only one. I am a mere messenger, one with no message of my own. I offer you 3 names and 7 documents with these names. Matthew, Mark & John. They contain the distillation of His words and my hope is that they will assist you in changing lanes from the wide road to the narrow road. And my only desire is that we may meet someday in the kingdom. I apologize for any obfuscation in the message but it was His choice and not mine. I apologize to any of the other writers and if we meet in the kingdom I will apologize in person and if we don't meet then I will presume that we will have received our just rewards.
E-Sword Link
The E-sword PC desktop is a great study and search tool. Most of my searches are done without using Regular Expressions but if you have a tough one the Regular Expressions can locate some very unique combinations. I'm usually happy just to get it down to a single book or just the opposite, what books it is in. I read the NLT a lot and when I need a more rigorous translation I just switch to it in seconds. Once you start using the search tool you won't ever want to be without it.
estudysource.com
