SMALL MAN DEFENDS HIS AUTHORITY
8You might think I brag too much about my authority in the Chosen One, but I am not ashamed to boast, for he gave me the right to build you up, not to tear you down. 9I say this so you will not think I am trying to make you afraid with my letters.
10It has been said by some, “In his letters his words carry much weight and power, but face to face his words are weak and empty.” 11Those who say this should think again, for what we have said in our letters when away we will do when we are among you.
12We dare not measure ourselves or lump ourselves together with those who beat their own drum. For when they measure themselves against each other and compare themselves one with another, they show that they have no wisdom.
13So then, unlike the others, we will not boast beyond the territory Creator has assigned to us. It is a far-reaching territory that includes you who live in Village of Pleasure (Corinth). 14We did not overstep our boundaries when we came to you, for we were the very first to reach all the way to you with the good story about the Chosen One.
15We do not overstep boundaries or take for ourselves honor for what others have done. Instead, our hope is that, as your trust in us grows, our sacred task among you will reach out and touch many more. 16When that time comes, we will be able to tell the good story to villages beyond you. In this way we will never take for ourselves honor for what others have done.
17For it says in our Sacred Teachings, “Let the one who brags boast in what the Great Spirit has done.”13
18For it is not the ones who honor themselves that are proven worthy, but only those who are honored by the Great Spirit.
TRUE AND FALSE MESSAGE BEARERS
1Since you have already been patient with me, I hope you will put up with my boasting a little longer. 2I am jealous for you with a jealousy that comes from the Great Spirit. For I have promised you in marriage to one husband, the Chosen One, to give you to him as pure as a maiden who has never been with a man.
3Long ago the evil snake used his trickster ways to take Life Bearer (Eve) down the wrong path.14 I fear that, in the same manner she was tricked, false message bearers may take you down the wrong path in your thinking and lead you away from your single-hearted loyalty to the Chosen One.
4I say this because you seem so willing to put up with someone who tells you about another Creator Sets Free (Jesus) who is not the same Creator Sets Free (Jesus) we told you about. You are also willing to welcome a different spirit from the one you welcomed from us. You even welcome a different good story from the good story we told you.
5I do not think I am any less of a message bearer than any of these puffed-up ones you have been listening to. 6I may not speak with a smooth tongue, but I know what I am talking about. For we have made ourselves clearly understood to you all.
7Was it wrong for me to humble myself by giving you Creator’s good story without charge in order to bless you? 8I felt as if I were stealing from other sacred families when I took gifts from them to serve you. 9While I was with you, I did not ask any of you for help, even though I was in need. Some sacred family members who came from Land of Tall People (Macedonia) gifted me with everything I needed. In this way, I was able to keep myself from becoming a burden to you, and I mean to keep it that way.
10I speak truth from my heart with the Chosen One as my witness. No one throughout the territory of Land of Sorrow (Achaia) will be able to keep me from walking true to my boast in what the Chosen One has helped me to do. 11You may ask why I will not let myself become a burden to you. Do you think it is because I do not love you? The Great Spirit knows I love you!
12I will keep walking this same path, so that these puffed-up message bearers will have no solid ground to walk on when they brag that they walk in the same manner that we do. 13The ones who make this boast are false message bearers and lying tricksters. They represent themselves as message bearers of the Chosen One, but the regalia they wear does not represent who they truly are. 14This should not surprise us, for Accuser (Satan) falsely represents himself as a spirit-messenger wearing bright and shining regalia. 15So it is no surprise that the followers of Accuser (Satan) would falsely represent themselves as servants of Creator’s right ways. The path they walk will take them to a bad end.
SMALL MAN SPEAKS LIKE A FOOL
16I will say it again: I want no one to think of me as a fool. But if you think of me in that manner, then let me speak as if I were a fool so that I can brag some more. 17To be clear, I am not speaking as our Honored Chief would have me speak. Instead, I will speak as a fool who brags too much. 18Since there are so many who brag about who they are and what they have done, I will now do the same!
19If I speak as a fool, this should help you understand me better, for you are so wise that you are glad to put up with many foolish things. 20You even let others rule over you as if you were their slaves. You put up with them when they devour your goods, trick you, look down on you, and insult you. 21Shame on me! I was not strong enough to treat you so badly! But if others can boldly brag—I speak like a fool—I dare to brag just as much.
THE MARKS OF A TRUE MESSAGE BEARER
22Are they Tribal Members (Hebrews)? So am I! Are they of the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israelites)? So am I! Are they descendants of Father of Many Nations (Abraham)? So am I!
23Are they servants of the Chosen One? Some may think I have lost my mind, but I want to brag even more! I have worked harder. I have been in prison more. I have been beaten more times than I can count. I have faced death many times. 24Five times I have been beaten with thirty-nine strikes of the whip by the people of my own tribe. 25I was beaten with clubs three times. Once I was almost killed when they threw stones at me. I was shipwrecked three times, and I drifted on the deep waters of the sea for a night and a day.
26Many times I have traveled far and wide. On these journeys I faced dangers from raging rivers and desperate outlaws. I have faced threats from my own people and from the people of the Outside Nations. I have faced dangers in villages, dangers in the desert, dangers at sea, and dangers from false sacred family members. 27My hands have been worn to the bone with hard work. On many nights I have gone without sleep. On my journeys I have been hungry and thirsty, often without food, with no blanket to keep me warm.
28Alongside all these challenges, each day I am weighed down with my deep concern for all the sacred families under my care. 29I feel the weakness of any who are weak. I burn with fire in my inner being every time someone is turned away from the good road.
30If I must boast, I choose to brag about the things that show how weak I am. 31The Great Spirit who is the Father of our Honored Chief Creator Sets Free (Jesus), who is blessed beyond the end of all days, knows that I speak the truth.
32When I was in the village of Silent Weaver (Damascus), the governor representing the ruler named Brave One (Aretas) was on the lookout to capture me. 33I had to sneak away from there by being lowered in a basket through an opening in the village wall.
SACRED VISIONS AND SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES
1It does not seem like a good thing for me to keep “bragging like this,” but I now want to tell you about the sacred visions shown to me by the Great Spirit.
2-3Let me tell you the story of a man I know, a follower of the Chosen One. Fourteen winters ago this man was taken up into the highest place in the spirit-world above.15 If this happened to him in the body or outside the body, I do not know. Only the Great Spirit knows. 4This man was taken up into Creator’s Beautiful Garden,16 where he heard mysterious words that human beings are not permitted to speak.
5I will brag about that man, but as for myself I will boast only in how small and weak I am. 6It would not be a foolish thing for me to brag about this, because I would be speaking the truth about myself. But I will hold back from saying too much, so that none of you will think too highly of me beyond what you hear me say and see me do.
7The things that were shown to me were so mysterious and powerful that I
was given a thorn to stab me where I was weak, a messenger from Accuser (Satan) to prick my pride and keep me humble. 8Three times I begged our Honored Chief to remove this thorn from me.
9“The gift of my great kindness will give you the strength you need,” our Honored Chief said to me. “For the greatness of my power comes to the ones who understand how weak they are.”
So then, I am glad to brag even more about how weak I am, so it can be clearly seen that the power resting on me comes from the Chosen One. 10That is why I can take joy in those things that show how weak I am. Others can insult me, mistreat me, hunt me down, and make things hard for me, all because of my trust in the Chosen One. For when I am weak, Creator’s strength becomes my own.
11I may be acting like a fool, but you are to be blamed for it. You should have shown honor to me, for I am no less a message bearer than these puffed-up ones, even though I am nothing. 12The powerful signs and wonders that mark one as a true message bearer were performed among you with great patience. 13What have I done for the other sacred families that I have not done for you? Only that I did not become a burden to you. You must release me from this wrong!
14I am now ready to come to you for a third time. Once again I will not be a burden to you. I want you, not what you can give to me. For it is the parents who should provide for their children, and not children for their parents. 15It would make my heart glad to give all that I have and all that I am to you. If my love for you is so great, then why is your love for me so small?
16-17Since it is clear that I did not ask anything for myself, do you think I acted like a trickster to fool and cheat you by sending others to collect the offering? 18When I sent Big Man (Titus) and the other spiritual brother to you, did they take more than they should? You know that they did not. For Big Man (Titus) and I walk together in the same spirit on the same path.
19Have you been thinking all this time that we have been trying to prove ourselves to you? We have nothing to prove to you, for we speak with the words of the Chosen One and under the eyes of the Great Spirit. You are our much-loved ones, and everything we do is to lift you up and make you strong in him.
20But I fear that when I come to you we will not be walking in step with each other. I might find among you that there will be arguing, jealousy, uncontrolled anger, selfish desires, forked tongues, boastful talk, and hostile ways. 21This makes me afraid that when I come to you again the Great Spirit will humble me in front of you. For I will weep many tears for the ones who have been following their bad hearts and have not turned away from walking in impurity and uncontrolled sexual desires.
FINAL WORDS OF WARNING AND ENCOURAGEMENT
1This will be the third time I will be coming to you. It says in the Sacred Teachings that it takes two or three witnesses to prove a wrongdoing.17 2When I came the second time, I warned the ones who were doing wrong, and now I warn the rest of you. When I come this time, I will not take pity on anyone. 3You who seek proof that the Chosen One is speaking through me will get all the proof you need. Do not think that the Chosen One is weak in this matter. His power is at work among you. 4Yes, he was nailed to a tree-pole—the cross—and died as a weak human being, but he now lives by the power of the Great Spirit. In the same way we, like him, are also weak human beings, but you will see that, like him, we also live by the power of the Great Spirit as we walk together with you.
5Take a good look inside yourselves to see whether you walk true to what you believe. Put yourselves to the test. Do you know who you truly are? Do you not understand that Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One lives in and among you? Or have you failed the test of walking true to this in your own lives? 6It is my hope that you will come to know that I and my fellow workers have not failed this test.
7We are sending our voices to the Great Spirit, praying for you to do nothing wrong. This is not to make it look as if we have passed the test, but so that you will do what is good and right even if it looks as if we have failed. 8For we must stand firm on the truth and not walk away from it. 9So if our being weak means that you are strong, it makes our hearts glad. It is our prayer that you will become strong and mature followers of the Chosen One.
10I am writing this letter to you while I am away, so that I will not have to speak sharp words like this when I come to you. Instead, I want to use the power our Honored Chief has given me to build you up, not to tear you down.
LAST WORDS
11Last of all, my sacred family members, let your hearts be glad. Mend your ways, walk side by side with each other, sharing the same purpose and living in harmony with one another. In this way, the Great Spirit who gives love and peace will walk with you on the road of life.
12Welcome each other with a holy kiss. All of Creator’s holy ones who are with me send their greetings to you.
13May the gift of great kindness that comes from our Honored Chief Creator Sets Free (Jesus), the Chosen One, along with the love of our Creator remain with you as you walk hand in hand together with the Holy Spirit.
Aho! May it be so!
SMALL MAN TO THE SACRED FAMILIES IN LAND OF PALE SKINS
GALATIANS
GREETINGS AND FIRST WORDS
1-2From Small Man (Paul), and from the spiritual brothers who are with me. To the sacred families who gather in Land of Pale Skins (Galatia). I was chosen to be a message bearer not from human beings or through human beings, but through Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One and through our Father the Creator, who brought the Chosen One back to life from the world of the dead.
3I greet you with the great kindness and peace that comes from our Father above and from our Honored Chief, Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One. 4He is the one who laid down his life for us to set us free from our bad hearts and broken ways. He did this to rescue us from the evil and worthless ways of the world we now live in. This is what our Father the Great Spirit wanted him to do. 5All honor belongs to our Father the Great Spirit to the time beyond the end of all days. Aho! May it be so!
A FALSE TELLING OF THE GOOD STORY
6The Chosen One called you by the gift of his great kindness to walk the road with him. I stand amazed that you would so quickly walk away from him to follow a different good story. 7Not that there is another good story, but there are some who are causing trouble for you by trying to change the meaning and purpose of the Chosen One’s good story.
8Should anyone, whether it be one of us or even a spirit-messenger from the spirit-world above, tell you a different good story from the one we already told you, let that person be cut off1 from the Chosen One. 9I will say it again: if anyone should tell you a different good story from the one you have already welcomed, let that person be cut off from the Chosen One.
10Do these words sound as if I am seeking honor from human beings or from the Great Spirit? Do you think I am trying to please human beings? If that were true, then I would not be a willing servant of the Chosen One.
SMALL MAN TELLS HIS STORY
11My sacred family members, I want you to know that the good story I have been telling you did not come from the mind of human beings. 12It did not come to me from human beings, nor was it taught to me. This good story was revealed to me by Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One.
13-14You have heard the story of how I used to walk as a traditional Tribal Member. I was becoming a leader in my tribal nation and was following our tribal traditions far ahead of anyone else my age. You also heard how with great fury I hunted down and brought harm to Creator’s sacred family.
15But when I was on the way to the village of Silent Weaver (Damascus),2 the Great Spirit stopped me in my tracks. He is the one who chose me while I was still in my mother’s womb and called me because of the gift of his great kindness. 16It made his heart glad to show me the truth about his Son, so I would tell his good story to all the Outside Nations.
After this happened, I did not look for guidance from flesh-and-blood human beings. 17Neither did I go to Village of Peace (Jerusalem) to learn from
the ones who were message bearers before me. Instead, I went away into Land of Wanderers (Arabia), and after that I went back to Silent Weaver (Damascus).
18Then after three winters I traveled to Village of Peace (Jerusalem) to learn from Stands on the Rock (Cephas-Peter) and remained with him for fifteen days. 19While I was there, the only other message bearer I saw was He Leads the Way (James), the brother of Creator Sets Free (Jesus) our Honored Chief.
20I promise you, with the Great Spirit as my witness, that I am telling you the truth about these things. I am not lying!
21After that I went into the territories of Bright Sun (Syria) and Turns Over (Cilicia). 22The sacred families of the Chosen One in Land of Promise (Judea) had not seen me face to face, 23but they did hear about me. They heard, “The one who was attacking us is now telling the good story he once made war against.” 24And they gave the Great Spirit the honor for what happened to me.
THE COUNCIL AT VILLAGE OF PEACE
1Then after fourteen winters had passed, I went once again to Village of Peace (Jerusalem) along with Son of Comfort (Barnabas) and Big Man (Titus). 2It was the Great Spirit who revealed to me that I should go. I met in a private council with those who seemed to be the spiritual leaders and explained to them the manner in which I tell the good story to people from the Outside Nations. I wanted them to understand so that they would not try to undo all that I had done or wanted to do. I wanted to make sure I was not running a race I could not finish.
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