Oliver Covenant

Book 1 - Awakening
1. Auflage 2011
ISBN: 978-1-908374-05-9
Verlag: Impressions Print and Publish
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 281 Seiten

'In the sixteenth century there was a french philosopher by the name of Nostradamus who prophesised that in the late 20th Century an Angel of Death shall waste this land' 'A holocaust the likes of which this planet has never seen Now I ask you Do you believe this to be True ?' Philip Parris Lynott 1949 - 1986

Autoren/Hrsg.

Oliver, Robert

Leseproben

Chapter 2

For 40 days he moved among them, telling them of his fate, how could this be so? They had all seen him die on the cross, ridiculed by the Romans and shunned by ‘his’ people.

‘Save yourself if you are the one’ screamed the crowd and went away laughing as he called for his father. When it was over, Joseph of Arimathea and two other disciples took him down and removed him to the place where he was to be laid. When the Magdalene summonsed them the next morning, their incredulity was stifled by their panic. Suppose they were blamed for hiding the body in order for the prophecy to appear to be true. Was the Nazarene indeed the ‘chosen one’ as foretold in the scripture, if so why did he leave them so soon, if not, where was the one that could help them now.

Peter was angry; he had still not come to terms with his denial and was committed to protecting out the truth. He had questioned the woman from Magdalene but was suspicious that she knew more than she was telling. His anger had stemmed from the fact that he had done all that was asked him and had even arranged for the physician to be silenced. He was even prepared to deliver the ‘gospel’ as he had been instructed but he needed more in order for him to perjure himself on the scale that he was about to undertake.

He had yet to ‘see’ him but James and John had talked about walking in the light and Iesus, talking to them. He wasn’t there when Thomas claimed to have felt his wounds but he knew enough to know that they were doomed if they tried to distance themselves from his teaching. They couldn’t just go back to being fishermen and tax collectors, no, the Nazarene had put them on a path and Peter knew he had to follow, to see if the time had indeed come for the kingdom of Israel to be restored.

There was also the question of the messages he was receiving as he slept in his bed at night compelling him to praise the Nazarene as the true son of God, that was what he was told to believe, why was he doubted so, the conflict of the agreement that he had made with the Nazarene and the other man, a man Peter did not know, a man who kept his face covered when he spoke.

He was so sure of his following initially, hadn’t he been on the Mount of Olives and seen the light from heaven, he had been given the message to go forth and spread the good news. He returned from that place to Jerusalem along with the other 10. He was sure that the role that Judas had been given would become clear even though he couldn’t understand why the Nazarene had to be ‘betrayed’ by one of his own, everybody knew who he was, as for what he was, that was a different story. Peter didn’t know that the forces at hand had conveniently announced that Judas couldn’t live with his act of betrayal and had committed suicide, whatever Peter’s search for the truth, he knew that he’d be dead as quickly as Judas was if he failed to fulfill his role. Judas had been buried outside the walls of the city, he had hanged himself earlier in the day of the death, people said that he kept talking about what was to come, the message had been lost and that they would not succeed.

Peter had been told that the ministry must continue so he sent the 10 off on their way to spread the gospel of the Nazarene and tell the people of the happenings in the city and then baptise them in the name of the Nazarene. He didn’t question the granting of tongues to the 10 nor did he question Thomas when he claimed to have removed his doubt, he was the leader now and was expected to deliver the message as agreed.

The crowd was growing restless as Peter came to the front of them; some of them were shouting blasphemies and were encouraged by the Pharisees in the crowd to abuse Peter. He stood, with his hands raised and prayed to his God

‘Brothers, no one can deny that the Patriarch David himself is dead and buried, his tomb is still with us. But since he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn him an oath to make one of his descendants succeed him on the throne, that man is the Nazarene’.

Hearing this the crowd asked what they must do

‘You must repent and every one of you must be baptised in his name’.

Many of the crowd rushed forward to comply; this same scene was taking place all over Palestine. Pilate sent for the Sadducees of the temple and said to them

‘I crucified this man on your say so as a blasphemer, I released the scoundrel Barrabbas to attack and scourge my patrols and now I am faced with this new problem, just who do these Christians think they are?’

The Sadducees warned Pilate that if he did not persecute these apostles then he would have riots and unrest on his hands. They themselves had warned the apostles never to speak of this so-called ‘miracle’ again but the one called Peter did not take any notice. They hired brigands to attack gatherings of these Christians but when they were brought before the courts, there was no way to punish them, the Sadducees were losing control and Pilate appeared to be their only chance.

They knew that the apostles all used to meet by common consent in the Portico of Solomon and whilst no one ever joined them, the people were loud in their praise. People had come crowding into the city from all the surrounding towns asking for favours of every kind and claiming miracles as they left.

The high Priest arrived to the place with all of his followers and had all of the apostles arrested. They were taken in front of the Sanhedrin the following morning; the high Priest demanded an explanation. He warned them that they had already received a warning not to preach.

‘You have filled Jerusalem with his teaching and seem determined to blame us for the death of the Nazarene.’

Peter stood up and addressed the gathering

‘Obedience to God comes before obedience to men’

At that, a Pharisee called Gamaliel stood up and asked that the men be removed. When this was done, he addressed the Sanhedrin and warned them not to take these people lightly. He suggested that if they were left alone they would disperse in the way that some of the other rabble-rousers had dispersed.

‘If this movement is of human origin it will break up of its own accord’.

The High Priest, mindful of Gamaleil’s status as a doctor of the law, relented but agreed with his priests that attacks and assaults should be organised to assist with the task. He then summonsed the apostles, ordered that they be flogged and warned to desist in their preaching.

The word spread right across the country, the Romans were now crucifying any Christian that was found worshipping their God in public. The Emperor himself had brought Christians to the coliseum and watched them die for their God. There were rumours however that officers in his own army was converts to this God and in some cases were protecting these ‘Christians’ on pain of their own death, one of the praetorian generals had recently caused a furore in the coliseum by claiming he was wearing the robe of the Nazarene as the lions savaged all around him, he claimed protection from the beasts and they did not touch him, he was crucified and burnt as a challenge to this ‘God’ and for the pleasure of Caesar.

Despite all of this pain and suffering, people in Cyrene and Alexandria, in Cilicia and Asia were converting to this God despite their apostles and messengers being stoned to death. As quickly as one was killed, another took his or in some cases her place.

There was bitter persecution started against the church, a man known only as Saul led this persecution with great zeal, he wanted the total destruction of the church and went from house to house arresting men and women and committing them to prison. Saul was a very embittered man, at first he had embraced this new cult, he was impressed with the way in which they spread their word and he went forward asking what he must do to join them, he was told to relinquish all of his worldly goods and take the word to the people.

He asked what the word was and was told that it would course through his veins and he would be saved. Saul didn’t like being told this and decided to test their belief, he persecuted them at every opportunity, even threatening to slaughter the original apostles and had gone to the high Priest and sworn allegiance to him. The high Priest cultivated his hatred and very soon Saul was as feared by the Christians as Peter was revered.

One day, the high Priest sent for Saul and told him that he was to go to Damascus and purge the city of Christians, he was to bring any that he found back to Jerusalem, if they resisted, he was to slaughter them. Saul arose early the next morning, inspected his cadre and set out for the long journey to Damascus. On the second day of the journey, the group had made camp for the evening and Saul was in his tent when he heard a disturbance outside. One of his men came forward; he had with him a woman.

‘She claims to be the Magdalene’ said the guard. Saul dismissed him and led the woman into the tent.

‘Who are you’ he commanded.

‘My name’ replied the woman ‘is Mary and I am of Magdalene’

‘You were with the Nazarene’ exclaimed Saul

‘Yes’ replied Mary ‘and he has to know why you persecute him so?

Just as Saul was about to strike her for her insolence, he became aware of a bright and shining blue like light radiating from the woman, he looked at her and she spoke in a voice like no other voice he had ever heard

‘Do...