GREETINGS AND BLESSINGS

¹From Small Man (Paul), a servant of the Chosen One, Creator Sets Free (Jesus).

The Great Spirit has called me to be a message bearer, one who has been set apart to tell his good story. ²The Sacred Teachings tell us about this good story that was promised by the prophets from long ago, who spoke from the Great Spirit.

³This is the good story about Creator’s own Son. In his human body he was descended from Chief Much Loved One (David), ⁴and in a powerful way he was shown to be the Son of the Great Spirit when his human body was raised from the dead by the Spirit of all that is sacred.

⁵It is because of the gift of his great kindness that we have been chosen to be his message bearers. We are telling his good story to all Nations so they can put their trust in Creator, follow him in all his ways, and bring honor to his name. ⁶This sacred task is also yours, because you have been called to belong to Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One.

⁷I write this message to the ones who live in Village of Iron (Rome). You are all deeply loved by the Great Spirit and are called to be his holy ones. I send to you great kindness and peace from our Father the Creator and from our Honored Chief, Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One.

⁸First of all, I thank the Great Spirit, along with Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One, for all of you, because all over the world people are hearing about your trust in his good story.

PRAYERS AND DESIRES

^9-10The Great Spirit, whom I serve from my spirit by telling others the good story about his Son, knows how much I pray for you. I never stop bringing your name before Creator when I send my voice to him, asking whether this is the time that he will finally open the way for me to come and be with you.

¹¹I am longing to see you face to face, so I can pass on to you some spiritual gift that will give you strength, ¹²so that we can strengthen our trust in him and together become firmly rooted in the good story.

¹³I want you to know, my sacred family members, how often I have tried to come to you, but many things have held me back. I have desired to share in some of the spiritual fruit Creator has grown from you, in the same way I have from others who are of the Outside Nations.

¹⁴Because of the great debt of love that I owe, I must tell the good story to both the civilized and uncivilized—to all who walk in the ways of wisdom and to all who do not. ¹⁵And now I am able and ready to tell the good story to you who live in Village of Iron (Rome).

NOT ASHAMED

¹⁶I am not ashamed of this good story, for to all who trust in its message it has Creator’s power to set free and make whole. This is true, first for our Tribal People, and then to all the Outside Nations!1 ¹⁷For this good story tells about Creator’s great faithfulness to do what is good and right. It is the story of faithfulness and trust from beginning to end. It is written in our Sacred Teachings, “The ones in good standing will find life by trusting2 in what the Great Spirit has done for them.”

NO EXCUSE FOR HIDING THE TRUTH

¹⁸From the spirit-world above, Creator’s great anger is being shown to the ones who hide the truth by following their bad hearts and wrongful ways. ¹⁹The Great Spirit has a reason to be angry, because he has clearly made himself known to all human beings. ²⁰Ever since the world was made, his invisible, never-fading power and Sacred Spirit3 have been understood and clearly shown through the things that he has made.

So they have no good reason not to trust in what Creator has done for them. ²¹For even though they knew him as Creator, they did not thank him or give him the honor he deserved. This empty way of thinking took hold of their foolish hearts and led them into darkness.

FOOLISH WAYS

²²Even though they thought they were wise, they became only foolish two-leggeds. ²³They traded the beauty and honor of the Great Spirit, who has always existed, for carved images of short-lived human beings, winged ones, four-leggeds, and snakes that crawl on the ground.

²⁴For this reason the Great Spirit permitted them to go their own way and follow the dark desires found in their own hearts, desires with one another that failed to honor the sacred purpose their bodies had been created for. ²⁵In doing so, they traded Creator’s truth for something false, and honored and served created things more than the Great Spirit. He is the one who is to be given honor and blessing to the time beyond the end of all days. Aho! May it be so!

²⁶So then, the Great Spirit permitted them to go their own way to dishonor themselves by following these dishonorable desires. Their women traded what was their natural sexual desire for what was not natural. ²⁷Their men did the same things, giving up their natural desire for women and fanning into flame a hunger for one another, men with men, dishonoring their own bodies. In doing so, they had to face for themselves the end result of this wrong thinking. ²⁸Since they did not want to know the Great Spirit, he turned them over to their worthless ways of thinking, to do things that should not be done.

FROM BAD TO WORSE

^29-30Filled with these wrong ways, they followed their bad hearts and made evil their aim. Keeping all things for themselves and not sharing, they became filled with greed, hatred, and violence. This took them down a dark path of fighting and killing, of lies and telling bad stories about others. They became puffed up, disrespectful and arrogant, finders of new ways to do evil things, disobedient to parents, and they even began to hate the Great Spirit. ³¹This turned them into foolish, ruthless treaty breakers, with hearts like stone!

³²Even though they know that Creator is right when he says these worthless ways deserve death and will lead others there, they continue to walk in these ways, and even worse, they give their approval to other people who also walk this path.

WHO ARE YOU TO JUDGE?

¹But you who judge and decide the guilt of those who walk in these broken ways have no excuse for doing so. When you decide the guilt of others, you are only proving your own guilt, because you are doing the same kinds of things. ²For we know that when the Great Spirit decides the guilt of the ones who do this, his judgment is always honorable and true.

³Tell me, when you do the same kinds of things that you judge others for, do you think what you have done will be hidden from the eyes of the Great Spirit? ⁴Or do you hold bitter thoughts about Creator’s kindness, patience, and willingness to bear with others? Do you not know that it is the kindness of the Great Spirit that draws you back to the path of his right ways?

⁵Because your hearts are unwilling to bend to the ways of the Great Spirit, your lives are becoming filled with the things that make the Great Spirit angry. A day is coming when Creator’s great anger against these things and his decision to do what is right will be made clear.

CREATOR WILL BE THE ONE TO DECIDE

⁶Creator will honor each of us for what we have done. ⁷He will honor the ones who have walked with firm steps on a path of doing good, and those who seek to live in the ways of beauty, honor, and spiritual purity.4 The life of the world to come that never fades away, full of beauty and harmony, will be waiting for them.

⁸But the ones who live only for themselves, who refuse to walk the path of truth and stand against the right ways of the Great Spirit, will face a coming storm of great anger.

CREATOR TREATS ALL THE SAME WAY

⁹Trouble and sorrow await all human beings who walk an evil path. This is true, first of all for the members of the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel) but also for the Outside Nations.5 ¹⁰But beauty, honor, and peace await all who walk in a good way. To the Tribal Members first, and also for the Outside Nations. ¹¹For the Great Spirit does not favor one over the other.

¹²For all the Outside Nations who have followed their bad hearts and broken ways, even though they had no written law to follow, will come to a bad end. And all who were given the tribal law but also followed their bad heart and broken ways, their own tribal law will decide against them. ¹³For it is not the ones who hear the law who have good standing with Creator but the ones who do what it says.

CREATION’S LAW WRITTEN ON HEARTS

¹⁴If the Outside Nations, who never heard the law, naturally do what they know is right, the things instructed by the law, this natural law is all they need. ¹⁵They show that creation’s law is already at work within them, carved into their hearts. There is a voice deep within their inner being that speaks to them about what is right and what is wrong. ¹⁶The good story that I tell says there will come a day when the Knower of Hearts, through Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One, will bring to light what is good and bad about the secrets hidden in every human heart.

A WORD OF WARNING

¹⁷To those among you who call yourselves Tribal Members, who take your stand on tribal law and boast about your knowledge of the Great Spirit, ¹⁸because you have been instructed by this law, you are sure you know what Creator wants and what is honorable to him. ¹⁹You see yourselves as guides to the blind, lights to those in dark places, ²⁰wisdomkeepers to the unwise, and instructors of children. You, because you have the law, claim to be the holders of all truth.

²¹So then, you who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who tell others not to steal, do you take what is not yours? ²²You who instruct others to be faithful in marriage, do you sleep around from lodge to lodge? You who despise those who pray to spirit-images, do you steal from their sacred lodges?

²³When you fail to follow the same tribal law you brag about, you bring insult to the Great Spirit. ²⁴This is in agreement with the Sacred Teachings that say, “It is because of you that the Outside Nations are speaking against the Great Spirit.”6

²⁵The cutting of the flesh ceremony has honor if you follow the instructions of our tribal law. But if you fail to follow the law, your cutting of the flesh ceremony is worthless. ²⁶If someone who has never participated in the ceremony walks by nature in the right ways that the law teaches, then it will be as if he had participated in that ceremony.

²⁷So then, if someone from an Outside Nation, who never participated in the cutting of the flesh ceremony, does by nature what the law instructs, that Outsider’s ways will expose the guilt of the one who participated in the ceremony. For if he does not walk true to the whole written law, he remains guilty of breaking the law.

A MATTER OF THE HEART

^28-29Being a true Tribal Member is a matter of the heart, not of blood or ceremonial law. It is the same with the cutting of the flesh ceremony. It is a spiritual matter, not a physical one. One might perform the ceremony perfectly according to tribal law for all to see, but it is not what happens on the outside that counts. It is what happens spiritually, on the inside, that has true meaning. Such a person seeks honor from the Great Spirit and not from human beings.

THE BLESSINGS OF BEING A TRIBAL MEMBER

¹So, you might ask, “What advantage do Tribal Members have that others do not have? What good does the cutting of the flesh ceremony do for them?”

²Being a Tribal Member is a blessing in many ways. The greatest blessing is that they were entrusted with the Sacred Teachings of the Great Spirit!

WILL CREATOR BE TRUE TO HIS PROMISE?

³But, you might also ask, “What if some of them failed to honor this trust? Will their failure stop the Great Spirit from keeping his promises?”

⁴Never! Creator will be true to his promise, even if every human being fails to be true to him. This is what the Sacred Teachings say about Creator, “You will be true to your word and always decide what is best.”

⁵As human beings we might think that our wrongdoing only proves that the Great Spirit was right about us all along. Would we then be able to say that it is wrong for him to show his anger toward us?

⁶This is a weak way of thinking, for if this were true, then how could Creator ever make things right again for the whole world?

⁷“But if the Great Spirit is proved to be right by my failure to stand true, why am I found to be in the wrong?”

⁸If this were true, then we might as well say what some have accused us of saying, “We should do evil that good may come of it.” But their own words are proving them to be in the wrong and will take them to a bad end.

TRIBAL MEMBERS AND THE OUTSIDE NATIONS

⁹So what are we to say? Are we Tribal Members in a better place than the Outside Nations? I tell you without a doubt that we are not! For I have already made my argument that all human beings have followed their bad hearts and broken ways.

¹⁰It is written in our Sacred Teachings of our tribal law, “There is no one who stands upright. Not even one! ¹¹No one walks in wisdom. No one is seeking to walk with the Great Spirit. ¹²All have turned away from the good path to walk in worthless ways. No one is good and kind. Not even one!”7

¹³The Sacred Teachings also say, “Their throats are like open graves. They speak with forked tongues.”8 “From their lips come words full of snake venom.”9 ¹⁴“Their mouths are filled with bitter curses.”10 ¹⁵“Their feet are swift to shed blood. ¹⁶They leave behind a trail of misery and trouble wherever they go. ¹⁷The path of peace is beyond their way of thinking.”11 ¹⁸“They turn their eyes from the path of giving honor and respect to the Great Spirit.”12

ALL HAVE FAILED

¹⁹From these Sacred Teachings we can see that we Tribal Members have not followed our own tribal laws. Our Sacred Teachings have spoken against us, giving us nothing to say in our own defense, and proving that we, along with all the people of the world, stand guilty. And we must give an answer to the Great Spirit for what we have done.

²⁰So then, it should be clear to all that no one can be in good standing in the eyes of the Great Spirit by doing what our tribal law says. What is clear is that the law shows us how bad our hearts have become and how broken our lives truly are.

GOOD STANDING IS A GIFT

²¹But there is a way to be in good standing with the Great Spirit that does not depend on us keeping tribal law! Even our Law and the Prophets have spoken the truth about this. ²²We can stand in a good way before the Great Spirit by trusting in Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One and what he has done for us. This good standing is a gift to all who believe. It does not matter whether you are a Tribal Member13 or from any other nation. ²³We are all the same because all of us have followed our bad hearts and broken ways, ²⁴but because of the gift of his great kindness all of us are put in good standing with the Great Spirit through what Creator Sets Free (Jesus) has done to set us free and make us whole.

²⁵The Great Spirit sent Creator Sets Free (Jesus) to show through him the full meaning and purpose of the ancient mercy-seat ceremony, where our broken ways are washed clean when we trust in what the shedding of his lifeblood has accomplished.

The Great Spirit did this to prove that he was in the right when he released people from their bad hearts and broken ways in the ages past. ²⁶He also did this to show people in this present age that he has the right to put people in good standing with himself because they trust in what Creator Sets Free (Jesus) has done.

NO ROOM FOR BOASTING

²⁷There is now no room for anyone to brag or boast. Why not? Because the Great Spirit has given us a new kind of law, not one that depends on what human strength or desire can do, but one that depends on trusting in what Creator Sets Free (Jesus) has done.

²⁸Here is another way to see it. Good standing with the Great Spirit does not come by following our tribal law but by putting all our trust in what Creator has done for us. ²⁹For is not the Great Spirit the maker of all people, not just our Tribal People? Yes! He is the Great Spirit of all Nations!

³⁰Since there is only one Great Spirit and Creator, he will treat us all the same. We have good standing with him by trusting in what he has done. It does not matter whether we are Tribal Members who have the cutting of the flesh ceremony or whether we are people from the Outside Nations who do not have this ceremony. ³¹Does this new way of trusting in Creator Sets Free (Jesus) undo our tribal law? Not at all! Instead, it shows us the law’s true meaning and purpose.14

FATHER OF MANY NATIONS

¹How does our tribal ancestor, Father of Many Nations (Abraham), fit into this way of trusting? What can we learn from what he found? ²If Father of Many Nations (Abraham) found good standing with Creator because he earned it by hard work, then he would be able to boast. But not in the eyes of the Great Spirit.

³But what do the Sacred Teachings tell us? “Father of Many Nations (Abraham) put his trust in Creator. This is what gave him good standing in the eyes of the Great Spirit.”15

⁴We know that what people gain from hard work is not a gift, but something earned. ⁵But when people do no work but simply trust in Creator to release them from their spiritual darkness, this kind of trusting gives them good standing in the eyes of the Great Spirit.

⁶Chief Much Loved One (David) also speaks of the goodwill that is poured out on the ones who did no work to be in good standing in the eyes of Creator. ⁷He says, “Creator’s blessing rests on the ones who are released from their broken ways and those who have been set free from their wrongdoings. ⁸His blessing rests on the ones whose bad hearts and broken ways are not held against them by the Great Spirit.”16

⁹Is this blessing only for our Tribal Members who have the cutting of the flesh ceremony? Or is it also for the Outside Nations who do not have this ceremony?

Now we have already said that it was by trusting that Father of Many Nations (Abraham) had good standing in the eyes of the Great Spirit. ¹⁰So when was it that he trusted Creator and was counted to be in good standing? Was it before or after he performed the cutting of the flesh ceremony? We all know it was before. ¹¹He was given the cutting of the flesh ceremony to mark him as Creator’s own, as a sign that he had already put his trust in the Great Spirit and that he was in good standing even before he performed the ceremony.

This means Father of Many Nations (Abraham), just as his name says, is the ancestor of all the Outside Nations who believe and trust in the Great Spirit. Even though they have never performed the ceremony, they are now in good standing with Creator. ¹²He is also the ancestor of all of our Tribal Members who not only have performed the cutting of the flesh ceremony but who also follow the trust-filled path that Father of Many Nations (Abraham) walked before he performed the ceremony.

¹³The promise to Father of Many Nations (Abraham) that all the nations of the world would belong to him and his descendants did not come to him because he kept our tribal law, but because of the good standing that comes from trusting in the Great Spirit’s promise. ¹⁴But if the promise depends on walking the path of the law, then trusting means nothing and the promise falls to the ground.

¹⁵The law produces only anger for those who fail to walk in it. Where there is no law, only a promise, then no one would be failing to keep a law. ¹⁶That is why the promise comes from trusting in the gift of Creator’s great kindness, so that all the descendants of Father of Many Nations (Abraham) can be sure to receive it. This promise is not only for the ones who are under our tribal law, but for all who walk the same path of trust and faith that Father of Many Nations (Abraham) walked. For he is the father of us all!

¹⁷The Sacred Teachings tell us, “I have made you the father of many nations.”17 And in the eyes of the Great Spirit he is our father, for he put his trust in the Great Spirit, the one who gives life to the dead and speaks into being things that are not yet as if they already were.

¹⁸When all hope seemed to be gone, he trusted in the promise that he would become the father of many nations. The Great Spirit had said to him, “Your descendants will be like the stars, too many to count.”18

¹⁹When Father of Many Nations (Abraham) was about one hundred winters old, he could see that his body was as good as dead and that the womb of Noble Woman (Sarah) was barren. Even so, his faith did not become weak, ²⁰and he did not stumble from the path as he kept walking toward Creator’s promise. His trust grew even stronger as he gave honor to the Great Spirit. ²¹He knew deep down in his bones that whatever Creator had promised, he had the power to do. ²²This is why he was counted as one in good standing with the Great Spirit.

²³These words, “he was counted as one in good standing,” were not written down for him only, ²⁴but also for us, whom the Great Spirit will count among those who are in good standing with him, the ones who trust in him who raised our Honored Chief Creator Sets Free (Jesus) from the dead. ²⁵We are the ones who through our wrongdoings betrayed and killed him, but his rising from the dead proves we have good standing with the Great Spirit.

PEACE WITH THE GREAT SPIRIT

¹This good standing we have brings peace with the Great Spirit. This peace comes from trusting in Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One and what he has done for us. ²Our trust in him opens the way into Creator’s great kindness and is now the solid ground on which we stand. Now our boasting is in him, as we look forward to being the kind of people the Great Spirit created us to be, a people filled with his beauty and shining-greatness.

^3-4But we must also find joy in our sufferings on his behalf. For we know that when the trail gets rough, we must walk with firm steps to reach the end. As we walk firmly in his footprints, we gain the strength of spirit that we need to stay true to the path. ⁵This gives us the hope we need to reach the end of the trail with honor. All of this is because of Creator’s great love that has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who is his gift to us from above.

SET FREE FROM BROKEN WAYS

⁶When the time was right, while we were still weak human beings following our bad hearts and broken ways, the Chosen One died for us. ⁷It is not easy to find someone who is willing to die for a good person, even though we might find someone with the courage to die for a very good person. ⁸But here is the way the Maker of Life proves how deep his love is for us: even when we were still following our bad hearts and broken ways, the Chosen One gave his life for us. ⁹The lifeblood that he poured out puts our lives back into harmony and promises us good standing with the Great Spirit. What he has done sets us free from the storm of great anger caused by our bad hearts and broken ways.

¹⁰So, if the lifeblood poured out by the Chosen One has put us in good standing with the Great Spirit, then how much more will his life of beauty and harmony, which has defeated death, now set us free to walk in his ways!

¹¹But taking this a step further, we can now boast with glad hearts about what the Great Spirit has done through our Honored Chief Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One! He is the one who has restored us back into friendship with the Great Spirit!

FROM RED CLAY TO CREATOR SETS FREE

¹²Here is another way to see what I am saying. Red Clay (Adam) was the first human being to fail to live the life he was created for. His broken ways brought death to all who followed in his footsteps, for death comes from following bad hearts and broken ways. ¹³These broken ways were already at work in the world, even before our tribal law was given. But where there is no law, no one can be guilty of breaking it.

¹⁴Even so, death still came to all who lived from Red Clay (Adam) to Drawn from the Water (Moses), who gave us the law. Yes, death ruled over all who walked in broken ways, even over the ones who did not fail in the same way Red Clay (Adam) failed. But, as we will see, Red Clay (Adam) was in many ways like the one who would come later, the Chosen One.

¹⁵But not in all ways, for the false step of Red Clay (Adam) cannot be compared with the gift of Creator’s great kindness shown to us in the Chosen One. If one man’s failure brought death to human beings, then how much more will Creator’s great kindness, gifted to us through the goodwill of one man—Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One—overflow to all with new life!

¹⁶Here is another way to see it. Red Clay’s (Adam’s) one failure was repeated over and over again, bringing guilt and shame to all who followed in his footsteps. But the gift of Creator’s great kindness overcame those many failures and gave human beings a path to good standing with him once again.

¹⁷If death overcame all human beings because of the wrongdoing of one man, then how much greater will it be for the ones who receive this gift of good standing and overflowing kindness? I will tell you! Through Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One, they will guide others with the wisdom and honor of a chief as they walk this road of life!

¹⁸And if the false steps of one man led to guilt and shame for all human beings, then another man’s true and firm steps will bring life and good standing to all human beings. ¹⁹Again, if one man who followed his bad heart passed it on to many others, then one man who walks with a good and upright heart will pass on that good heart to many others.

THE LIFE OF THE WORLD TO COME

²⁰Our tribal law stepped in to show us how bad our broken ways had become, and this only made our broken ways grow worse. But the worse our broken ways grew, even stronger grew the gift of Creator’s great kindness. ²¹Our broken ways ruled over us leading to death. But the gift of Creator’s great kindness that gives us good standing with him now rules over us. This leads to the life of the world to come that never fades away, full of beauty and harmony. This is his gift to us because of what our Honored Chief Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One has done.

PURIFICATION CEREMONY

¹What can we say about this? Should we continue to walk in our broken ways so that Creator will show us even more kindness? ²This kind of thinking takes us nowhere! How can we who have died to our bad hearts and broken ways continue to walk that path? ³Or have you forgotten that we who have participated in the purification ceremony19 of Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One have ceremonially died with him?

⁴This ceremony shows that we have been buried with him in death, so that in the same way the Chosen One was raised from the dead by the power of our Father the Great Spirit, we should walk this new road of life to bring honor to him. ⁵If we have joined with him in his death, then, like him, we will also rise again to a new life. ⁶For we know that our old self was nailed to the cross with him, killing the evil desires in our bodies, so that our broken ways will not rule over us. ⁷For dead people can no longer follow their bad hearts and broken ways.

DYING TO BROKEN WAYS

⁸I will say it another way. If we have died with the Chosen One, we believe we will also live with him. ⁹For we know that once the Chosen One was raised to life from the dead, he would never die again. Death no longer has the power to rule over him. ¹⁰He died, once for all, to bring an end to humanity’s broken ways. The life he now lives is a life that brings honor to the Great Spirit.

¹¹So think about yourselves in the same way, dead to broken ways and alive to the Great Spirit in harmony with the Chosen One Creator Sets Free (Jesus). ¹²You must no longer give in to the desires of your weak human bodies, letting your broken ways turn you away from the good path.

¹³So then, you should no longer permit broken ways to use your bodies for wrongdoing. Instead, as people whom the Great Spirit has raised from death to life, offer your bodies to him for doing what is right. ¹⁴Your bad hearts and broken ways have no power to rule over you now, for you are not under the restrictions of our tribal law, but under the freedom that the gift of Creator’s great kindness brings.

FOLLOWING THE RIGHT PATH

¹⁵What then does this mean? Should we continue to walk in broken ways since we are not under our tribal law, but under the gift of Creator’s great kindness? Let that kind of thinking fall to the ground! ¹⁶You must know that if you follow a path, you will end up where it takes you. Which path will you follow? Will you follow the path of broken ways that leads to death, or the path that leads to good standing in the eyes of the Great Spirit?

¹⁷I am giving thanks to the Great Spirit! For even though you once followed your bad hearts and broken ways, you turned from that path, and now from the heart you follow the sacred ways that you have been taught. ¹⁸You have now been set free from your broken ways to walk a path of doing what is right.

WALKING IN A SACRED MANNER

¹⁹I am using weak human words to speak to weak human beings! You used to walk in impure ways and became the slaves of doing wrong, leading to even worse things. So now, in the same way, begin to walk as slaves of doing what is good and right, living life in a sacred manner.

²⁰When you followed your old ways, you did not even think about walking in a sacred manner. ²¹But what good came from the things you are now ashamed of? For those things are a sure path to death.

²²But now you have been set free from broken ways to follow the ways of the Great Spirit. Good fruit grows along this path as you walk in a sacred manner on the road that leads to the life of the world to come that never fades away, full of beauty and harmony.

²³Following the path of broken ways only earns us death, but Creator’s free gift to us is the life of the world to come that never fades away, full of beauty and harmony. This free gift is ours in the Chosen One, who is our Honored Chief Creator Sets Free (Jesus).

GUIDANCE FOR TRIBAL MEMBERS

¹Now I, Small Man (Paul), will speak to the members of the sacred family who understand our tribal law. You must know that our law applies only to someone who is alive. ²For example, under our law of marriage a woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives, but if her husband dies, she is released from that law.

³So if she gives herself to another man while her husband lives, she will be guilty of unfaithfulness to her husband. But if her husband is no longer alive, she would not be guilty of unfaithfulness. His death has released her from the law of marriage.

⁴So my sacred family members, when the Chosen One died in his human body, you died with him. This death released you from our tribal law, so you could join with the one who has been raised from the dead. So now our lives can bear much fruit for the Great Spirit.

⁵For when we walked in our broken human ways,20 the law stirred up our evil desires, so that we bore fruit for death. ⁶But now that we have died, we have been released from the law that kept us bound. We now walk in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of a law carved in stone and written with ink on paper.21

THE LAW IS HOLY, UPRIGHT, AND GOOD

⁷But if you think I am saying our tribal law is at fault or that it is the reason we walk in our broken ways, you are not thinking straight. What I am saying is that the law shows us how bad our broken ways have become. I would not have known that some desires are wrong if the law had not said, “Do not desire what belongs to another.”

⁸But my broken ways of thinking turned the law’s instruction into a temptation that created in me all kinds of wrong desires. For if there were no law, then the temptation to walk in broken ways would not be awakened. ⁹I once lived my life not knowing the law, but when I heard the law’s instructions, my broken ways came to life and I died.

¹⁰So the law’s instructions, which were supposed to give me life, instead brought death to me. ¹¹But it was my broken ways of thinking that tricked me and turned the law’s instructions into a temptation that ended up bringing death to me.

¹²So then, our tribal law is sacred, and its instructions are holy, upright, and good. ¹³Does that mean this good law brought death to me? No! It was my broken ways that did it, by using the law to stir up temptation in me, so I could see how bad my broken ways truly were.

THE INNER STRUGGLE TO DO GOOD

¹⁴For we know that our tribal law is spiritual, but I am a weak human being. My broken ways rule over me as if I were their slave. ¹⁵I do not understand why I do the things I do. I want to walk in a good way, but I end up doing the things I hate.

¹⁶And if I hate doing wrong, then it is a good thing for me to agree with the law that these things are wrong. ¹⁷So the part of me that hates doing wrong is not to blame. It is the broken ways that have taken root in my heart that hold me to this wrong path.

¹⁸I can now see that there is nothing good in this weak part of me22 that gives in to wrong desires, for it keeps me from doing what I know to be right. ^19-20But since I want to do what is right but keep doing what is wrong, then it is not I but the broken ways within me that keep me doing wrong.

A LAW OF BROKEN WAYS

²¹I can now see that no matter how much I want to do good, evil is right there with me—a law of broken ways—taking charge and ruling over me. ²²In my inner being I dance for joy in Creator’s law, ²³but there is another law, rooted in my humanity, that fights against Creator’s law in my thoughts and makes me a prisoner of the law of broken ways that has taken root in my weak and broken humanity.23

²⁴Someone have pity on me, for I am a man trapped in sorrow! Who will set me free from my broken humanity? ²⁵I give thanks to the Great Spirit, for he is the one who set me free through Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One!

So then, when I set my mind on what Creator Sets Free (Jesus) has done I serve Creator’s law, even though in my broken humanity I remain a slave to broken ways.

SMALL MAN LAMENTS OVER HIS PEOPLE

¹From my heart I speak truth in the Chosen One. I am not speaking with a forked tongue. My spirit is in harmony with the Holy Spirit when ²I tell you of the great sorrow that burns like a never-ending fire in my heart. ³If it would help my Tribal Family members to find the truth that would set them free and make them whole, I would be willing to be cursed, cut off from the Chosen One!

⁴They are members of the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel) and my flesh-and-blood relatives. They were chosen by the Great Spirit and taken into his family. They were given honor, sacred treaties and promises, laws to live by, and a sacred lodge in which to perform ceremonies.

⁵They are related to our honored ancestors Father of Many Nations (Abraham), He Made Us Laugh (Isaac), and Heel Grabber (Jacob), who are the human ancestors of Creator Sets Free (Jesus)—the Chosen One. He is the Great Spirit who is above all, over all, and blessed to the time beyond the end of all days. Aho! May it be so!

CREATOR’S PROMISE HAS NOT FAILED

⁶Even if my human relatives have turned away, this does not mean the promise25 of the Great Spirit has fallen to the ground. For not all who are from the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel) are the true Tribal Members. ⁷Just because they are descendants of Father of Many Nations (Abraham) does not make them the children of promise. For the Sacred Teachings say, “It is the descendants of He Made Us Laugh (Isaac) who will carry on your name.”26

⁸This means it is not the children physically descended from Father of Many Nations (Abraham) who are counted as children of the Great Spirit, but only the ones who are born because of Creator’s promise.

He Made Us Laugh (Isaac) was born because of a promise the Great Spirit made to Father of Many Nations (Abraham). ⁹For the promise said, “Next year at this time I will return and your wife Noble Woman (Sarah) will have a son.”27

^10-12There is more to this story. She Holds Together (Rebecca), the wife of our ancestor He Made Us Laugh (Isaac), gave birth to twins. But before they were born, the Great Spirit said to her, “The elder son will serve the younger.”28 The reason Creator chose one son over the other had nothing to do with what they had done, good or bad, but only to show that the Knower of Hearts chooses according to his own purpose. ¹³That is why the Sacred Teachings say, “My love caused me to choose Heel Grabber (Jacob) over Hairy Man (Esau).”

CREATOR WILL DO WHAT IS RIGHT

¹⁴Do not get the wrong idea. We are not saying that the Great Spirit chooses unfairly. ¹⁵We are saying the same thing that Creator said to Drawn from the Water (Moses), “If I want to show kindness to someone, that is what I will do. I will have pity on anyone I choose.”29

¹⁶The choice does not depend on the desire of one’s heart or the strength of ones legs, but on the pity and kindness of the Great Spirit.

¹⁷The Sacred Teachings make this clear when the Great Spirit said to Great House (Pharaoh), “I raised you up, so that when I defeated you, my power and reputation would be known to all the earth.”30

¹⁸So the Great Spirit does whatever he desires. He gives hard hearts to some and takes pity on others. ¹⁹But, some might ask, “If Creator is the one who decides these things, then what choice do we have, for who can stand against what he wants?”

SMALL MAN ANSWERS

²⁰How can anyone talk back to the Great Spirit? We are weak human beings with small minds who do not understand his ways. Does a clay pot say to its maker, “Why did you give me this shape?” ²¹Does not the one who forms the clay give it its purpose? From one lump of clay he can make one pot for ceremonial use and the other for everyday use.

²²So then, what if Creator, who has the right to show his great anger and power against pots of clay he is angry with, which are ready to be broken into pieces, has instead shown them great patience? ²³Does not the Great Spirit also have the right, from the treasures of his beauty, to pour out his kindness and mercy on pots of clay he has already chosen from the Outside Nations? ²⁴He did this so everyone can see how honorable he is. He still chose us, whether we are Tribal Members or from the Outside Nations.

THE SACRED FAMILY IS FROM MANY NATIONS

²⁵For the prophet He Helps Us (Hosea) has said, “To Nations who are not mine I will give the name ‘You Are My People.’ To Nations who have not known my love I will give the name ‘You Are Loved!’”31

²⁶He Helps Us (Hosea) also said, “In the same place where they were told, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘The family32 of the living Creator.’”33

²⁷But the prophet Creator Will Help Us (Isaiah) cries out to the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel), “Even though the number of the children of the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel) are as many as the grains of sand on the seashore, only a small number will return to be made whole and set free. ²⁸For very soon the word of Creator will be fully carried out on the land.”34

²⁹And just as Creator Will Help Us (Isaiah) has foretold, “If the Chief of Spirit Warriors had not left some of our descendants alive, we would have become like the people of Village of Bad Spirits (Sodom) and Village of Deep Fear (Gomorrah).”

THE PATH TO GOOD STANDING

³⁰What can we say about this? We are saying that the Outside Nations found good standing in the eyes of the Great Spirit even though they did not follow our tribal law. Instead, they trusted in what Creator has done. ³¹We are also saying that our own Tribal People, who worked so hard to earn this good standing by following the law, have failed.

³²Why did they fail? It was because they were depending on what they could do, by keeping the law, instead of trusting in what the Great Spirit would do for them. They tripped over the great stumbling stone,35 ³³just as it is written in our Sacred Teachings, “Be aware! For in Strong Mountain (Zion) I have set a lodgepole that many will trip over, a large chief pole that will make them stumble—and the hearts of all who trust in him will never fall to the ground.”36

SMALL MAN’S LONGING FOR HIS PEOPLE

¹Hear me, my sacred family! I want you to know that when I send my voice to the Great Spirit my heart beats with a great longing to see my own Tribal People set free and made whole. ²I speak the truth when I say that their dedication to the Great Spirit burns like a wildfire! But this fire has been set ablaze with no understanding. ³Since they did not understand Creator’s path to good standing, they tried to make their own way. But in doing so, they did not walk Creator’s path and never found good standing in his eyes. ⁴The law finds its true meaning and purpose in the Chosen One, for good standing with the Great Spirit comes from trusting in what he has done.

THE PATH TO GOOD STANDING

⁵Here is what the lawgiver Drawn from the Water (Moses) has written down about finding good standing by following the law: “The man who seeks good standing through the law must find it by keeping the law all the days of his life.”37

⁶But here is what is written down for the ones who trust in Creator for their good standing: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will go up into the spirit-world above?’38”—to bring the Chosen One down—⁷“or ‘Who will go down into the deep dark pit of the world below?’39”—to raise the Chosen One up from the dead.

⁸But if it does not say that, what does it say to us? It says, “The word is not far away from you. It is in your mouth and in your heart.”40 It is not far away in the spirit-world above or buried in the earth below.

So then, this is the message of trusting that we speak: ⁹if you will lift up your voice and make it known that Creator Sets Free (Jesus) is the Honored Chief over all the earth, and trust in your heart that the Great Spirit has raised him from the dead, you will be set free and made whole. ¹⁰For trusting comes from the heart and leads to good standing. Then the mouth says what the heart believes, which takes us down the path of being set free and made whole.

¹¹The Sacred Teachings tell us, “All who trust in him will never be dishonored or put to shame.”41 ¹²So it matters not whether one is a Tribal Member42 or from an Outside Nation,43 for the same one we call Chief is the Great Spirit of all people. He pours out his treasures on all who call out to him. ¹³For “anyone who calls out to our Great Spirit Chief Creator Sets Free (Jesus) will be set free and made whole.”44

GOOD STORY BRINGERS

¹⁴But how can anyone trust in or call out to one they have never heard of? And how can they hear if no one has told them? And how will his message reach their ears if no one is sent? ¹⁵Just as it is written down in the Sacred Teachings, “How beautiful are the feet of the good story bringers, who tell about the good things Creator has done for us through the Chosen One!”45

THE GOOD STORY AND THE TRIBAL PEOPLE

¹⁶But not everyone who heard this good story has trusted in its message. For the prophet Creator Will Help Us (Isaiah) has said, “Great Spirit, who has trusted in our message?”46 ¹⁷So you can see that hearing and trusting must walk together and follow the path given to us by Creator’s Chosen One.

¹⁸But our Tribal People have not heard this message, have they? Yes, they have! The book of Sacred Songs tells us, “The voice of the stars in the night sky has spoken to all the land. Their message has traveled the four directions to the furthest places on earth.”47

¹⁹But the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel) did not know that this message was also for the Outside Nations, did they? Yes, they did! For Drawn from the Water (Moses) was the first to say to them, “I will make you jealous by a nation that has no standing in my eyes,” says the Great Spirit. “I will make you angry by a nation that does not understand my ways.”48 ²⁰And Creator Will Help Us (Isaiah), speaking with bold words, also said, “A people who were not looking for me found me. I made myself known to a people who never asked for me.”49

²¹But here is what he has to say about the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel), “From the rising of the sun to its setting,” says the Great Spirit, “I have reached my hands out with love to people who are stubborn and fail to represent me in a good way.”50

CHOSEN AND BLESSED

¹If you think that I am saying the Great Spirit has turned away from his own people in the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel), you are mistaken. I am proof that he did not. I myself am a Tribal Member, a descendant of Father of Many Nations (Abraham), from the tribe of Son of My Right Hand (Benjamin). ²Creator has not turned away from ones he knew ahead of time would be his people. Do you remember the story of Great Spirit Is Creator (Elijah) as it is told in the Sacred Teachings, when he was complaining to the Great Spirit about the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel)?

³He said, “O Great Spirit, your people have put to death your prophets and have torn down your sacred altars. I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me!”51

⁴How does Creator answer him? “I have seven thousand men who have not bowed down to serve Dark Ruler (Baal).”52

⁵It is the same for the time we live in. There are some from among our Tribal People who have been chosen not by working to keep our tribal law, but through the gift of his great kindness. ⁶Now if they are chosen by the gift of Creator’s great kindness, then this choosing cannot come from working hard to keep the law, but only by his great kindness. Otherwise it would not truly be a gift.

ONLY A FEW HAVE FOUND THE PATH

⁷This means that only a chosen few have found what all the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel) were looking for. The rest have hearts that have become as hard as stone.

⁸It is written in the Sacred Scrolls, “Creator has given them over to a spirit that makes them slow to understand. To this very day, they have eyes but fail to see and ears but fail to hear.”53

⁹Chief Much Loved One (David), speaking of our tribes, also says, “Let their traditional food laws54 become a trap to catch them by surprise, so they will stumble and have their own ways fall back on their heads. ¹⁰Let the darkness blind their eyes, and let their backs be always bent under the weight of their broken ways.”55

THE WAY BACK

¹¹Have our Tribal People then stumbled with no way to get back up again? I tell you they have not! Creator knew ahead of time that they would fail, and he knew their failure would open the way for the people of all Nations to be set free and made whole. One reason the Great Spirit did this was to make the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel) jealous by giving the people from the Outside Nations equal standing in his eyes. ¹²But if the failure and loss of our Tribal Members brings such great blessings to the nations of this world, how much greater these blessings will be when they fully become the people he created them to be!

A MESSAGE TO THE OUTSIDE NATIONS

¹³I am now speaking to you who are the people from the Outside Nations. I consider it an honor that I have been sent to you as a message bearer. ¹⁴I make sure that my flesh-and-blood Tribal Members know how much I honor you, in the hope that it will make some of them jealous, so that they can also trust in Creator Sets Free (Jesus) to be set free and made whole.

¹⁵So think about it this way. If the turning away of our Tribal Members from the Great Spirit means that he then turned toward the rest of the world, to bring them back to himself, then what will it mean when our Tribal Members turn back to welcome him? It can only mean that they have come back to life from the dead!

¹⁶If the piece of ceremonial bread that is offered first to the Great Spirit is sacred, then the whole loaf is also sacred. If the root of a tree is holy, then its branches are also holy.

DO NOT THINK YOU ARE BETTER

¹⁷Some of the branches of this olive tree were broken off, and you Outside Nations have been grafted in from a wild olive tree. This means you now share in the health-giving sap that comes from the roots. ¹⁸So do not think that you are better than those broken-off branches. For you are also a branch supported by what the root supplies.

¹⁹But someone might say, “Those branches were broken off so I could be grafted in.”

²⁰What you say is true. But they were broken off because they did not believe, and you stand only by your faith. So do not get big-headed, but show deep respect. ²¹For if Creator did not have pity on the original branches, why should he have pity on you?

CREATOR IS KIND BUT MUST BE STRICT

²²So you can see how kind and how strict the Great Spirit can be. He was strict toward the ones who walked away but is kind toward you, as long as you keep walking in his kindness. If not, you also will be cut off. ²³And if the ones who walked away turn around and begin trusting again, then Creator has the power to graft them back in because of his great kindness. ²⁴It is not a natural thing for wild branches to be grafted into an olive tree that is grown in a garden. It is much easier for the natural branches to be grafted back into the same olive tree they were cut from.

ANOTHER MYSTERY REVEALED

²⁵My sacred family members, to keep you from being wise in your own eyes, I want you to know about a great mystery Creator has shown to me. A hardening of hearts has come upon a part of the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel) until the Outside Nations have fully entered in. ²⁶And this is the way all of the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel) will be set free and made whole.

As the Sacred Teachings tell us, “The one who Sets Us Free will come from Strong Mountain (Zion). He is the one who will turn Heel Grabber (Jacob) from his worthless ways, back to the ways of the Great Spirit. ²⁷This is the peace treaty56 I will make with them when I take away their bad hearts and broken ways.”57

ENEMIES OF THE GOOD STORY AND ALSO LOVED

²⁸Looking through the eyes of the good story, the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel) have become its enemy. But looking through the eyes of the ancestors, they are greatly loved because Creator chose them for his good purposes. ²⁹For the Great Spirit will never take back his calling and gifts once he has given them.

³⁰Here is another way to see what I am saying: In the past you Outside Nations said no to these ways of the Great Spirit. But now, because the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel) have said no to Creator’s good story, you have said yes to it, and received the mercy they turned away from. ³¹Since they have also failed the Great Spirit, they can now receive mercy from him in the same way you have. ³²Creator has rounded up into one corral all who have failed to do what he wants, so that he can show his great kindness and mercy to everyone.

GIVING HONOR TO THE GREAT MYSTERY

³³O how deep are the treasures of both the wisdom and knowledge held by the Great Mystery!58 His decisions go far beyond our weak ways of thinking! ³⁴“For who has understood the thoughts of the Great Spirit? Who has given him counsel?”59 ³⁵“Who could give him a gift that would require a gift in return?”60

³⁶For from him all things come, by him all things exist, and in him all things find their true meaning and purpose. All honor belongs to him, both now and in the world to come, to the time beyond the end of all days. Aho! May it be so!

BECOMING A TRUE HUMAN BEING

¹So then, my sacred family members, because Creator has shown us such mercy and kindness, I now call on you to offer your whole beings, heart, mind, and strength, to the Great Spirit as a living sacrifice. Do this in a sacred and spiritual manner that will make his heart glad.

²Do not permit the ways of this world to mold and shape you. Instead, let Creator change you from the inside out, in the way a caterpillar becomes a butterfly. He will do this by giving you a new way of thinking, seeing, and walking. Then you will know for sure what the Great Spirit wants for you, things that are good, that make the heart glad, and that help you to walk the path of becoming a mature and true human being.

WISDOM FROM SMALL MAN

³Because Creator, in his great kindness, has made me a message bearer,61 I give this message to each of you. Do not think too highly of yourself. Instead, understand that the Great Spirit calls us to different purposes in answer to our trust in him. ⁴For just as our bodies have many members and each member has a different purpose, ⁵it is the same way with the body of the Chosen One. We are members of his body, and each member belongs to all the others.

USE YOUR GIFTS IN A GOOD WAY

⁶Creator’s gift of great kindness has been poured out on us in many ways, giving us different kinds of gifts. If your gift is to speak the heart and mind of the Great Spirit in a prophecy, then let trust guide your words. ⁷If your gift is helping others, then give yourself to help others. If teaching is your gift, teach well. ⁸If your gift is to speak courage and strengthen the hearts of others, then speak bravely. The one whose gift is giving should not hold back. If your gift is leading, lead with honor. And the one whose gift is showing mercy and kindness to others should do so freely, with a glad heart!

MORE WISDOM FROM A WISDOMKEEPER

⁹Love with a true heart. Hate what is evil and hold on tight to what is good. ¹⁰Love like family and honor others by putting them first.

¹¹Be a good fire keeper, and never let your spiritual fire go out as you serve our Honored Chief. ¹²Let hope make your heart glad. Keep sending your voice to the Great Spirit, even when the road gets hard to walk.

¹³Give what you can to help the sacred family members62 who are in need. Open your homes and hearts to others.

¹⁴Bless the ones who seek to harm you. Bless and do not curse! ¹⁵Dance with the ones who dance for joy, and shed tears with the ones whose hearts have fallen to the ground.

¹⁶Seek to live in harmony with all. Do not think you are better than others. Walk the road of life with the humble of heart, and do not be wise in your own eyes.

¹⁷No one should pay back evil with evil. Do what you know to be honorable in the eyes of another. ¹⁸If it is within your power, walk the road of peace with everyone.

¹⁹My much-loved family members, do not take the punishment of others into your own hands. Instead, turn all anger and wrath over to the Great Spirit. For the Sacred Teachings tell us, “Punishment for wrongs belongs to me,” says the Great Spirit Chief. “I will make sure that wrongs are made right again.”63

²⁰You should do the opposite. “If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If your enemy thirsts, give him a drink. Your kindness will be like burning coals poured on his head, as his shame for the way he has treated you bursts into flame.”64 ²¹Do not let evil take over in your heart, but overcome evil with good.

GOVERNMENTS, RULERS, AND THE GREAT SPIRIT

¹The Great Spirit is over all powers and authorities that rule the lands. Since he is the one who created them to serve his purposes by providing protection and order for all, then each person should follow the laws that have been set in place. ²Do not rise up against these authorities, for you will be going against what Creator has put in place. This will only bring their laws down on your head.

³Rulers need only be feared by evildoers, not by those who walk in a good way. So do what is good, and the rulers should honor you, ⁴for they are Creator’s servants to bring good to you. But if you follow evil ways, you will have something to fear, for this will be a reason for them to use their power to punish you. When they punish evil, they are serving Creator’s purpose, for his anger is against all who walk a path of evil. ⁵So you should follow their laws, not just because of Creator’s anger against evil, but because you know deep inside it is the right thing to do.

⁶This is also the reason you pay taxes, so that government officials can serve the purpose given to them by the Great Spirit. ⁷So pay all the different kinds of taxes you owe, and show respect and honor to all. ⁸Owe no one anything but love. If you follow the trail of the law to its end, you will find love. For the one who loves others has found the law’s true meaning and purpose.

THE LAW AND THE ROAD OF LOVE

⁹There are many instructions in the law, such as, “Do not be unfaithful in marriage,” “Do not kill a fellow human being,” “Do not take what is not yours,” and “Do not long for what belongs to another.”65 All of these, and any other instructions there might be, all come together in this one saying, “Love your fellow human beings in the same way you love yourself.”66 ¹⁰Love does no harm to another, so loving others fulfills the purpose of the law.

^11-12So keep walking the road of love. This is what is needed for the times we live in. The night is almost over. The first rays of the new day are already shining! For the day when Creator will finish setting us free and making us whole is now closer than when we first began walking this road. We must turn away from the path of darkness and put on the war garments of light.

¹³Let the light of this new day guide you onto a path of honor. We must walk away from wild drinking parties, from sexual impurity and improper desires, and from arguing and jealousy. ¹⁴Instead, wrap our Honored Chief Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One around you like a blanket, and do not let your broken human desires control you.

FOOD, DRINK, AND SACRED DAYS

¹Welcome into our sacred gatherings those who are weak in their understanding of our spiritual ways. Do not try to prove them wrong about the things they have decided for themselves.

²One person trusts that all foods are good to eat, while another whose understanding is weak might only eat herbs and plants. ³The one who eats all foods must not look down on the one who eats only herbs and plants. In the same way, the one who eats only herbs and plants should not decide the other is wrong, for the Great Spirit has accepted both of them.

⁴What gives anyone the right to judge the servant of another? It is before the one they serve that they will stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Great Spirit has the power to make them stand.

⁵One person may decide that one day is more sacred than another, while another may decide that all days are the same. Each of you should be sure in your own mind that you have made the right decision. ⁶The one who keeps a day as sacred does so to honor the Great Spirit. It is the same for the one who eats all foods and for the one who does not. For they are both doing so to honor and give thanks to the Great Spirit.

LIFE, DEATH, AND HONORING THE GREAT SPIRIT

⁷For we who follow Creator Sets Free (Jesus) do not live or die to bring honor to ourselves. ⁸If we live, it is to honor the Great Chief with our lives. If we die, it is to bring honor to him with our deaths. So in life or in death we belong to him. ⁹The reason the Chosen One chose to die and rise to life again was to be Chief of both the dead and the living.

¹⁰Since this is true, why then do you look down on and decide the guilt of a sacred family member? For the time will come when we all will stand before the Great Spirit, and he will be the one to decide who has done right and who has done wrong.

¹¹For it is written in the Sacred Teachings, “As surely as I live,” says the Great Spirit, “Every knee will bow down to honor me, and every tongue will speak truth to Creator.”67

¹²So then, each of us must give an answer to the Great Spirit for how we have walked on this earth. ¹³Since this is true, we should no longer point the finger at each other. Instead, we should decide to never do anything that would make a sacred family member stumble and fall as they walk this good road.

THE GOOD ROAD IS A ROAD OF LOVE

¹⁴Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One has shown me that no food by nature is ceremonially impure, but if someone considers it to be impure, for that person it is impure. ¹⁵If you cause pain and sorrow by looking down on how a sacred family member sees food, then you are no longer walking the road of love. Do not let your strong feelings about food become the ruin of one for whom the Chosen One died.

¹⁶Give no one a reason to speak evil of what you see as good. ¹⁷For Creator’s good road is not about eating or drinking. Instead, it is about doing what is right in Creator’s eyes, about walking his path of peace, and finding the joy that comes from the Holy Spirit. ¹⁸For all who serve the Chosen One in this manner find goodwill in the eyes of the Great Spirit and will be honored by their fellow human beings.

WALKING IN THE WAY OF PEACE

¹⁹So then, let us walk the path of peace in a manner that lifts up and strengthens the heart of each person. We must not tear down the good things Creator has done because of how we see food. ²⁰While it is true that all foods are ceremonially pure, it is not good to force the way you eat on others and make them stumble. ²¹It would be better not to eat, drink wine, or do anything that would make a sacred family member stumble on the path.

²²So in these situations keep what you believe about these things between you and the Great Spirit. The ones who are doing what they know to be right have no reason to feel any guilt, for Creator’s blessing rests on them. ²³But the ones who are not sure they are doing right will feel their guilt, for whatever does not come from trusting in Creator comes from our broken ways.

THE STRONG AND THE WEAK

¹So we who are strong in our spiritual ways should be willing to lend a shoulder to the ones who are weak and unable to walk this road with firm steps. For this road is not only for our own good, ²but also for the good of all who walk with us. ³When the Chosen One walked this earth, he came not only to please himself but to help others.

The Sacred Teachings say, “The insults they spoke against you have landed on me.”68

⁴These words were written down long ago so we would learn from them. It is from the Sacred Teachings that we find the hope and strength we need to walk this road of life. ⁵I pray that the Great Spirit who walks beside you, keeping your steps firm, will help you walk together in step with Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One. ⁶In this way you will speak with one voice, giving honor to the Great Spirit, the Father of Creator Sets Free (Jesus) our Honored Chief, who is the Chosen One.

THE OUTSIDE NATIONS ARE SACRED FAMILY

⁷So welcome each other with open arms in the same way the Chosen One has honored the Great Spirit by welcoming you. ⁸This is what I am saying: the Chosen One came as a servant to our Tribal People, to show that the Great Spirit has kept the promises he made to our ancestors. ⁹He also came to show his kindness and mercy to the Outside Nations so they would also give honor to the Great Spirit.

For the Sacred Teachings say, “I will tell the truth about you to all the Nations, I will sing songs to them to honor your name.”69

¹⁰They also say, “Dance for joy, all you Nations, along with his people.”70

¹¹And again, “Give praise to the Great Spirit, all you Outside Nations. Let all people honor him!”71

¹²And again the prophet Creator Helps Us (Isaiah) says, “The one who is the root of Original Man (Jesse) will rise up to rule over the Outside Nations, and they will put their hope and trust in him.”72

A PRAYER FOR THE OUTSIDE NATIONS

¹³My prayer for the Outside Nations is that the Great Spirit, who gives you this hope, will fill you with the joy and peace that comes from trusting him, so that this hope will flow like a river through your lives by the power of his Holy Spirit.

¹⁴My sacred family members, I can see that goodness and wisdom have already found a home in you. You have become wise teachers able to instruct each other in the ways of the Great Spirit.

^15-16Even though this is true, I have used strong words to remind you about these things. I have spoken boldly because, in his great kindness, the Great Spirit has chosen me to be a holy man in the way of Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One. He has called me to perform the sacred task of telling Creator’s good story. In this way I can present the Outside Nations as a sweet-smelling smoke offering, pleasing to him and set apart in a sacred manner by the Holy Spirit.

SMALL MAN’S SERVICE TO THE OUTSIDE NATIONS

¹⁷The Chosen One Creator Sets Free (Jesus) has given me reason to brag about my work among you Outside Nations, but only to bring honor to Great Spirit. ¹⁸For I can only speak about what the Chosen One has done through me. He used my words and what I have done to bring the Outside Nations into step with Creator’s plan for them. ¹⁹It was through signs and wonders, done by the power of Creator’s Spirit, that I was able to finish the work of telling them the good story about the Chosen One. I traveled from Village of Peace (Jerusalem) all the way around to Land of Outside Nations (Illyricum).

²⁰It has been my aim to tell this good story to people who have never heard about the Chosen One. In this way I am not trying to build on the work that someone else has already started. ²¹For the Sacred Teachings say, “The Ones who have not been told about him will see, and the ones who have never heard will understand.”73

SMALL MAN’S DESIRE TO VISIT VILLAGE OF IRON

²²This is the reason it has taken me so long to come to Village of Iron (Rome) to see you face to face. ²³It has been my desire for many winters to do so, and now that I have finished my work here, it is my plan to see you ²⁴on my journey to Setting Sun (Spain). I hope to stay with you for a while, for some good food and talk, and then have you sing a traveling song over me and send me on my way.

²⁵But for now I am on my way to the sacred family members74 who live in Village of Peace (Jerusalem) to bring some much-needed help to the ones who live there. ²⁶For the sacred family members from Land of Tall People (Macedonia) and Land of Sorrow (Achaia) are happy to give of their goods to help the poor among our sacred family members in Village of Peace (Jerusalem). ²⁷For since the Outside Nations have shared in the spiritual blessings of our Tribal People, they are bound by honor to also share their material blessings with them—which they do with glad hearts!

²⁸Once I have brought to them this offering and delivered it safely to them, then I will visit you who live in Village of Iron (Rome) on my way to Setting Sun (Spain). ²⁹And I know that when I come to you, I will bring with me a heart-basket full of the blessings of the Chosen One!

WRESTLE WITH ME IN YOUR PRAYERS

³⁰My sacred family members, I now call on you by the power of our Honored Chief Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One, and by the love of the Spirit, to wrestle with me in prayer when you send your voice to the Great Spirit. ³¹Pray that he will be a shield to protect me from the ones in the Land of Promise (Judea) who have refused to believe our message. Also pray for the sacred family members in Village of Peace (Jerusalem), that they will have open hearts to receive what I bring to them.

³²Then, with the help of your prayers, and by the will of the Great Spirit, I will come to Village of Iron (Rome). Then with a glad heart I will be refreshed as we sit together with good food and much talk!

³³I pray that the Great Spirit of Peace will be close to all of you. Aho! May it be so!

LOVE AND GREETINGS TO ALL

¹I am sending to you Morning Light (Phoebe). She is of the sacred family that gathers at Small Seed Village (Cenchreae). She is a sacred servant75 and a woman of honor. ²Welcome her, as one who trusts in our Honored Chief, in a manner that brings honor to our sacred family. Help her with anything she needs, for she has helped not only me but many others as well.

³Give my greeting to Lives Long (Priscilla)76 and her husband Strong Eagle (Aquila), who have worked side by side with me as sacred servants of the Chosen One, Creator Sets Free (Jesus). ⁴They have risked their own lives for my sake, for which they have not only my thanks, but also the thanks of the sacred family members of the Outside Nations. ⁵Also greet the sacred family members who gather for ceremony at their house.

I also send greetings to Worthy of Praise (Epaenetus), our much-loved one, who was the firstfruits of Land of the Rising Sun (Asia), the first to walk the road with the Chosen One in that territory.

⁶Give my greeting to Tears of Sorrow (Mariam), who has worked tirelessly for you.

⁷I send greetings also to Victory Man (Andronicus) and Younger One (Junia), my fellow Tribal Members and fellow prisoners, who have a good reputation as message bearers. They walked with the Chosen One before I did.

⁸Greet Large Man (Ampliatus), who is a much-loved one in our Honored Chief.

⁹Greet Village Dweller (Urbanus), who has worked side by side with us for the Chosen One, and Ear of Corn (Stachys), who is also a much-loved one.

¹⁰Greet Stands Alone (Apelles), who by walking a rough road has proven himself to be a faithful follower of the Chosen One. Also greet Gives Wise Guidance (Aristobulus) and his family.

¹¹Greet Walks Brave (Herodion), a member of my Tribal Family. Greet the family of Sleepy Head (Narcissus) who are also in our Honored Chief.

¹²Greet Soft Garden (Tryphaena) and Sweet Garden (Tryphosa), who work hard for our Honored Chief. Also greet my much-loved friend Woman Rides Horses (Persis), another who has worked hard for our Honored Chief.

¹³Greet Red Man (Rufus), one who stands tall for our Honored Chief, and his mother, who has also been a mother to me.

¹⁴Greet No One Like Him (Asyncritus), Fire Starter (Phlegon), High Messenger (Hermes), Follows His Father (Patrobas), Keeps Things Steady (Hermas), and the sacred family members who are with them.

¹⁵Give my greeting to Likes to Talk (Philologus), Soft Haired Woman (Julia), Shining River (Nereus) and his sister, Bright Mountain (Olympas), and all the sacred family members who gather with them.

¹⁶When you greet each other, do so with a holy kiss. All the Chosen One’s sacred family gatherings under my care also send their greetings to you.

A WISE WARNING

¹⁷And now, my sacred family members, I warn you to be on the lookout and stay away from the ones who cause trouble and place stumbling stones in your path by teaching things that are against what you have learned. ¹⁸For the ones who do this are not walking in the ways of our Honored Chief and Chosen One. Instead, they are feeding their own selfish desires, and like tricksters they use smooth words and big talk to fool the hearts of the ones who lack wisdom.

¹⁹Even though you have a good reputation for following Creator’s ways, which makes my heart glad, I still felt the need to give you this counsel. But I want you to walk in wisdom toward what is good and to keep your path free from evil ways. ²⁰For it will not be long before the Great Spirit of Peace flattens the head of Accuser (Satan), that evil snake, under your feet.77 May the great kindness of our Honored Chief Creator Sets Free (Jesus) be your guide on the road of life.

²¹He Gives Honor (Timothy), who works side by side with me, greets you, along with Bright Light (Lucius), Healer (Jason), and Sets His Father Free (Sosipater), my tribal relatives.

²²I, Third Born (Tertius), the one who is writing this message from Small Man (Paul), send my greetings to you as one who also trusts in our Honored Chief.

²³Glad Heart (Gaius), who has opened his home not only to me but to all the sacred family, greets you. Much Desired (Erastus), who keeps track of the money pouch for the village, and Fourth Born (Quartus), a member of the sacred family, also greet you.

²⁴May the great kindness of our Honored Chief Creator Sets Free (Jesus) rest on all of you.78

²⁵I pray that the Great Spirit will make you stand strong and firm by my telling of the good story about Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One. From the time before all days this message has been kept secret, ²⁶but it has now been made clear. The Great Eternal One told his prophets to write this down in our Sacred Teachings, so that all nations would hear, put their trust in his good story, and follow all his ways.

²⁷May the Great Mystery, from whom all wisdom comes, be honored through Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One, to the time beyond the end of all days.