GREETINGS

¹From Small Man (Paul), called to be a message bearer for Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One, and from Safe and Strong (Sosthenes), our spiritual brother.

²To the members of Creator’s sacred family who gather in Village of Pleasure (Corinth).

I write to you, the ones who have been made holy in harmony with the Chosen One, Creator Sets Free (Jesus), who have been chosen to walk the road of life with him in a sacred manner. I also write this to all people everywhere who call out to and put their trust in Creator Sets Free (Jesus) our Honored Chief and all that his name represents. He is their Honored Chief and ours.

WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT

³Great kindness and peace to you from our Father the Great Spirit and from our Honored Chief Creator Sets Free (Jesus), the Chosen One. ⁴I am always giving thanks to Creator for you, for the gift of his great kindness given to you in Creator Sets Free (Jesus), the Chosen One. ⁵He has blessed you with the right words to speak and a deep understanding of all things. ⁶So we can now be sure that your lives are telling the true story of the Chosen One. ⁷This shows that you have all the spiritual gifts you need as you wait with pounding hearts for the great revealing of our Honored Chief Creator Sets Free (Jesus), the Chosen One.

⁸He will keep your feet on solid ground and guide you to the end of the trail so that you will have a good reputation when the day comes for our Honored Chief Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One to be revealed. ⁹Creator can be fully trusted for these things, for he is the one who chose you to walk side by side with Creator Sets Free (Jesus), who is the Chosen One and our Honored Chief.

FIRM WORDS OF CORRECTION

¹⁰My sacred family members, I come to you representing our Honored Chief Creator Sets Free (Jesus), the Chosen One. I am speaking to you from my heart with firm words. To keep the family from splitting into opposing groups, you must seek harmony with each other and speak with one voice. In this way, you will be joined together with one mind and purpose.

¹¹My sacred family members, some who gather at the house of Tender Grass (Chloe) have made it clear to me that there is much conflict among you. ¹²It was told to me that one says, “I follow Small Man (Paul).” Another says, “I follow He Tears Down (Apollos).” Another says, “I follow Stands on the Rock (Cephas).”1 And someone else says, “I follow the Chosen One.”

¹³Has the Chosen One been broken into pieces? Was Small Man (Paul) killed on a cross for you? Did you participate in the purification ceremony2 under the name of Small Man (Paul)? ¹⁴I thank the Great Spirit that I performed the purification ceremony^b for only Curly Hair (Crispus), Glad Heart (Gaius), and no one else, ¹⁵so no one can say their purification ceremony^b was done in my name.

¹⁶I also remember that I performed the purification ceremony^b for Headdress of Many Feathers (Stephanas) and his family, but I do not remember performing the ceremony for anyone else. ¹⁷For the Chosen One did not send me to perform the purification ceremony.^b He sent me to tell the good story, not with the wisdom found in high-sounding words, because that kind of wisdom empties the cross of the Chosen One of its power.

THE WISDOM OF THE GREAT SPIRIT

¹⁸The message of the cross seems foolish to the ones who are walking a path to a bad end. But for us who are being set free and made whole, the message itself is the power of the Great Spirit.

¹⁹For it has been written in the Sacred Teachings, “I will tear down the wisdom of the ones who see themselves as wise and undo the understanding of those who think they know all things.”3

²⁰So then, where are the ones who think they are wise? Where is the scroll keeper who explains the meaning of our tribal law? Where is the trained speaker of this present world? Has not the Great Spirit made the ones who are trusting in the wisdom of this world look foolish? ²¹In his great wisdom Creator knew that the world through its wisdom would not come to know him. So his heart was glad to rescue and set free the ones who trust in the “foolishness” of the good story we tell.

²²The people of the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel) require powerful signs. The Wisdom Seekers (Greeks) search for wisdom. ²³But we tell the good story about the Chosen One, who died on a tree-pole—the cross. This message puts a stumbling stone in the path of our Tribal People and is nothing but foolishness to the Outside Nations. ²⁴But to the ones who have been called out from among our Tribal People and the Wisdom Seekers (Greeks), the Chosen One is the power and wisdom of the Great Spirit. ²⁵Creator’s foolishness is wiser than the wisest of human beings, and his weakness is more powerful than the strongest of all.

WHO CREATOR CHOOSES

²⁶My sacred family members, take a look at your own calling. In the eyes of the world, there are not many wise or powerful or of noble birth among you. ²⁷For the Great Spirit has chosen the foolish to shame the wise and the weak to shame the strong. ²⁸He has chosen the ones the world looks down on, those who seem to have nothing to offer, to bring to nothing the ones the world looks up to. ²⁹In this way, no one will be able to boast when they stand before the Great Spirit.

³⁰It is the Great Spirit himself who has brought you into harmony with the Chosen One, Creator Sets Free (Jesus). The Chosen One has become Creator’s wisdom for us. He put us in good standing and made us holy, by paying the highest price to set us free.

³¹This brings full meaning to the Sacred Teachings that say, “Let the one who boasts boast in what the Great Spirit has done.”4

WISDOM FOR THE SPIRITUAL

¹My sacred family members, when I came among you to tell you about Creator’s mysterious ways, I did not use big words or high-sounding wisdom. ²For I decided not to know anything while I was with you except about Creator Sets Free (Jesus), the Chosen One—and his death on the cross. ³I came to you as a weak human being in fear and trembling. ⁴I did not come with strong words or great wisdom, but with the Spirit showing his power in my weakness. ⁵In this way your trust would not rest on the wisdom of human beings, but in the Great Spirit’s power.

⁶On the other hand, there is a wisdom that we speak among those who are mature in the Chosen One. It is not the wisdom of this present world or of its rulers, who are fading away. ⁷Instead, with a strong voice we make known the wisdom of the Great Spirit. A wisdom that is mysterious and hidden away in Creator’s heart. He decided long ago, before the world began, that this wisdom would be for our honor.

SPIRIT WISDOM

⁸None of the rulers of this present world have understood this wisdom. If they had, they never would have killed our great and shining Honored Chief. ⁹The Sacred Teachings tell us that no human being has ever seen or heard or imagined all the good things the Great Spirit has planned for the ones who love him.5 ¹⁰But Creator has revealed these things to us by his Spirit.

The Spirit searches everything, even the deep things found in the mind and heart of the Great Spirit. ¹¹No one can know the thoughts of another except for that person’s own spirit. In the same way no one can know Creator’s thoughts except his own Spirit. ¹²We have not received the spirit of the world, but we have received Creator’s Spirit. This is how we can know the things that have been gifted to us by the Great Spirit.

¹³So when we speak, we do not use words taught by human wisdom. Instead we use words taught by the Spirit—speaking in a spiritual manner about spiritual things. ¹⁴Humans without the Spirit are not able to see the things revealed by Creator’s Spirit. These things sound foolish and are beyond their understanding, for they must be interpreted in a spiritual manner. ¹⁵On the other hand, the spiritual are able to see into the meaning of all things in ways the unspiritual do not understand.

¹⁶“For who understands the mind and heart of the Great Spirit and can sit in council with him?”6 But we who share his Spirit do understand the mind and heart of the Chosen One!

MILK FOR SPIRITUAL INFANTS

¹My sacred family members, the first time I came to you I could not speak to you as I would to the spiritually mature. Instead, I had to speak to you as I would to the unspiritual, as infants in the Chosen One. ²I had to feed you with milk, since you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are not ready. ³As long as there is jealousy and fighting among you, are you not unspiritual and walking like weak and broken human beings?

⁴When one of you says, “I follow Small Man (Paul),” and another says, “I follow He Tears Down (Apollos),” does this not prove you are walking like weak and broken human beings? ⁵Who is He Tears Down (Apollos)? Who is Small Man (Paul)? Only servants who with the help of our Honored Chief led you down the path of trusting. ⁶I planted the seed, and He Tears Down (Apollos) watered it, but it was the Great Spirit who made it grow.

⁷So it does not matter who plants or who waters. What matters is the one who makes the plants grow. ⁸The one who plants and the one who waters both share the same purpose, and each will be honored according to how well they have served. ⁹For we are working side by side with the help of the Great Spirit. You are Creator’s garden where he grows good fruit, and you are the sacred lodge where he has chosen to live.

BUILDING THE SACRED LODGE

¹⁰In his great kindness Creator gave me the wisdom of a skilled lodge builder. I set the stone in place for the lodge to rest on, and others are building on what I laid down. But each person must take care to see how the lodge is to be built. ¹¹For this lodge cannot be built on just any stone, but only on the stone that has already been set in place. That stone is Creator Sets Free (Jesus), the Chosen One.

^12-13Each builder must use the right building materials, for a day is coming when the quality of each one’s work will be tested by fire. Then it will be clearly shown whether the builder has used gold, silver, and costly stones, or wood, dried grass, and corn stalks. ¹⁴If what has been built survives the fire, then the builder will be honored. ¹⁵If what has been built is burned up, then the builder will have no honor and will lose all that was done. The builder’s life will be spared, but as one who has escaped through the fire.

TRUE AND FALSE WISDOM

¹⁶Do you not know that Creator’s Spirit lives in all of you, making you his sacred lodge? ¹⁷Creator will bring ruin to anyone who ruins his lodge, for Creator’s lodge is holy, and you are his sacred lodge. ¹⁸Do not trick yourself. All who think they are wise in the ways of this present world need to become foolish, so that they may become wise in Creator’s ways. ¹⁹For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the eyes of the Great Spirit.

Our Sacred Teachings tell us, “He is many steps ahead of the wise who think they can trick him.”7 ²⁰They also say, “Human beings may think they are wise, but Creator can see how weak and empty their thoughts truly are.”8

²¹So you can stop bragging about human teachers! ²²Men such as Small Man (Paul) or He Tears Down (Apollos) or Stands on the Rock (Cephas) are all yours in the Chosen One. All things are already yours—whether it is this world, or life, or death, or today and all the days that will follow. ²³For you are of the Chosen One, and the Chosen One is of the Great Spirit.

SERVING IN A SACRED MANNER

¹So you should think of us message bearers as servants of the Chosen One who have been entrusted with the sacred task of making known the mysteries of the Great Spirit. ²The ones who have been chosen for this sacred task must walk it out in a sacred manner, to prove they are worthy of it.

³I am not at all troubled about how worthy you think I am, because deciding how well I have performed this sacred task is not up to you or any human council. It is not up to me to decide how well I have done. ⁴I know of nothing in which I have failed, but this does not prove me to be in the right. That decision belongs to our Honored Chief.

⁵So do not keep deciding these kinds of things ahead of time. Instead, wait until the coming of our Honored Chief. On that day he will shine his light on the things hidden in darkness and make known the plans of all human hearts. The Knower of Hearts will then give to each person whatever honor is due.

WISDOM LEADS TO HUMILITY

⁶Now, my sacred family members, I have made an example of myself and He Tears Down (Apollos) so you will not get big heads bragging about how one teacher is better than another. You should not think of human beings beyond what is written in our Sacred Teachings.

⁷Who made you better than others? Do you have anything that was not gifted to you? If it was a gift, then why do you behave as if you gained it by yourselves? ⁸You think you need nothing more. You think you are well-to-do. You think you have become grand chiefs with no help from any of us! How I wish you really were. Then we could serve together as chiefs.

MESSAGE BEARERS ARE IN THE WORST PLACE

⁹I am thinking that the Great Spirit has put us message bearers in the worst place. We are like captured warriors being dragged through the village pathways to their death—for all to see. He is making a big show of us to all the world, to both humans and spirit-messengers. ¹⁰We look like sacred clowns for the Chosen One, but you are seen as his wisdom keepers! You seem powerful, while we are seen as weak.

¹¹Even now we are hungry and thirsty. We are dressed in rags. We are often badly beaten and wander about with no regular place to lay our heads. ¹²We have had to work hard with our own hands to have enough to eat. We have blessed those who cursed us and have been patient with the ones who bring harm to us. ¹³To those who speak against us, we wage peace. To those who walk in the ways of this world, we are the mud they scrape from their moccasins and the buffalo chips they wipe from between their toes. Yes, to this very day we message bearers have suffered all these things.

WISDOM FROM A SPIRITUAL FATHER

¹⁴I tell you these things not to shame you, but to give you wise counsel as my much-loved children. ¹⁵Even though you may have countless spiritual teachers to instruct you in the ways of the Chosen One, you do not have many spiritual fathers. It is Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One who has made me a spiritual father to you through the good story. ¹⁶So I urge you to follow in my steps as I show you the way.

¹⁷This is why I sent He Gives Honor (Timothy) to you. He is my trustworthy and much-loved son in our Honored Chief. He will remind you of how I walk the road of life with Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One. He will guide you with the same message I teach everywhere at every sacred family gathering.

A WORD OF WARNING

¹⁸There are some of you who have become puffed up, thinking I will not come face to face with you. ¹⁹But I will come to you soon if that is what our Honored Chief wants. Then I will see whether these puffed-up ones speak only hollow words, or whether Creator’s power is behind their words. ²⁰For Creator’s good road does not depend on talk alone but also on power. ²¹Which is better? Should I come to you with a big stick, or with love and a gentle spirit?

IMPURITY AMONG THE SACRED FAMILY

¹I have heard from many that there is an impurity among your sacred family members, the kind of impurity not found even among the Outside Nations. A man is having relations with his stepmother, the wife of his father. ²Why does this make you proud? You should be weeping tears of sadness for this man. For his own good and yours, he should be removed from among you.

³Even though I am absent in body, my spirit is there with you. In this manner, I have already decided what must be done on behalf of this man. ⁴So when you gather together representing our Honored Chief, my spirit will be there with you. Then, with the power of our Honored Chief Creator Sets Free (Jesus), ⁵hand this man over to Accuser (Satan) so that his broken human ways may die and his spirit may be set free and made whole in the day of our Honored Chief.9

FALSE PRIDE SPREADS LIKE YEAST

⁶You have become prideful. This is not good. Do you not know that just a little yeast will spread through the whole lump of bread dough? ⁷You must cleanse yourselves from this yeast of false pride.10 Then you will be a new, clean lump of dough, which is what you really are in the Chosen One and what you have been created to be. For the Chosen One is our Passover Lamb who has given his life in sacrifice.11

⁸So then, we should not eat this ceremonial meal with the old bread dough filled with the yeast of wrongdoings and evil ways. Instead we should feast with a new piece of bread made without yeast, filled with honesty and truth.

THE SACRED FAMILY MUST BE KEPT PURE

⁹When I wrote to you before, I told you to stay away from those who walk a path of sexual impurity. ¹⁰But I did not mean with the people of this world who walk in this way or with those who behave like tricksters to steal from others. I did not even mean with the ones who pray to spirit-images. To stay away from people like these, you would need to leave the whole world. ¹¹What I meant was for you to stay away from any who call themselves sacred family members who walk in these ways. This includes those who walk in sexual impurity, those filled with greed, and those who pray to spirit-images. It also includes big-mouth troublemakers, drunks, and thieves. You should not even eat a meal with any sacred family members who walk in these ways.

¹²Our task is not to make guiding decisions for those outside the sacred family. Our task is to make these kinds of decisions within our sacred family. ¹³It is up to the Great Spirit to judge the ones on the outside. So then, you must remove the one who has done this evil from among you.

KEEPING DISAGREEMENTS WITHIN THE SACRED FAMILY

¹How can any of you, when you have something against another, be so bold as to take your dispute before those outside our sacred family? The outsiders who decide these matters have no understanding of our ways. Why not call a council within the sacred family to decide these things?

^2-3Do you not know that Creator’s holy ones will decide for the whole world who has done right and who has done wrong, both for human beings and spirit-messengers? If you will take part in such a great matter as this, are you not able to call together a sacred family council to decide on small matters for your daily lives?

⁴If you have your own councils to decide on these matters, why would you let outsiders who have no standing in the eyes our sacred family decide these things? ⁵Have you no shame? Is there no one among you wise enough to restore harmony between sacred family members? ⁶Instead, one sacred family member takes another to be judged by those who know nothing of our spiritual ways. ⁷When this happens, you have already lost everything! Why not let yourselves be wronged or cheated? ⁸Instead, you wrong and cheat the members of your own sacred family.

WALKING THE WRONG PATH

⁹Do you not know that the ones who wrong and cheat each other will not share in the blessings of Creator’s good road? Do not let anyone mislead you. Anyone who walks an impure path of uncontrolled desires,12 or anyone who prays to spirit-images, or any who are unfaithful in marriage, or weak men who let other men use them for sex, or any who abuse the sacred gift of sex with each other. ¹⁰Nor those filled with greed, or drunks, or big-mouth troublemakers, or those who behave like tricksters—none of these will share in the blessings of Creator’s good road.

¹¹Some of you used to walk in these ways, but no more. You have been washed clean. You have been made holy. You have been given good standing in the eyes of the Great Spirit. All this was done through the name of our Honored Chief Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One, and by the Spirit of our Creator.

FREEDOM MEANS DOING GOOD

¹²Someone has said, “I am free to do whatever I desire.” This may be true, but not all things one can do will lead to harmony with each other. So then, even if I am free to do whatever I desire, I will not let my desires tell me what to do.

¹³It has been said, “Our stomachs want food, so why not give our stomachs what they want?” But we must remember that Creator will do away with both the need for food and for stomachs. We should use our bodies for the purpose they were created for, not for uncontrolled desires, but to bring honor to our Great Chief.

¹⁴Creator has raised up our Honored Chief from death to life. The same power that raised him will also raise up our bodies in the same way. Do you not know that this means that we are part of the body of the Chosen One? ¹⁵Should I take a part of the body of the Chosen One and join it to someone who trades the use of their body for possessions? May it never be so!

¹⁶Can you not see that a man who joins together with such a woman becomes one body with her? For it says in our Sacred Teachings, “The two will be joined together and become one body.”13 ¹⁷But the one who is joined together with our Honored Chief is one spirit with him.14

¹⁸Run away from these kinds of impure desires. No other broken human ways affect the body in this way. The ones who treat sex in this manner are going against Creator’s purpose for their own bodies. ¹⁹Or have you forgotten that the Holy Spirit lives in you as Creator’s gift to you, and that your body is not your own but is his sacred lodge? ²⁰A great price was paid to make you his own, so use your body to bring honor to the Great Spirit and not dishonor.

GUIDANCE FOR MARRIAGE AND SEXUAL RELATIONS

¹Now I will give an answer to the things you wrote to me about the sacred gift of marriage and sexual relations. I think it would be a good thing not to marry or have sexual relations. ²But because of the strong temptation to misuse these desires, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. ³Both husband and wife should honor each other in marriage and fulfill each other’s sexual needs. ⁴In this matter neither wife nor husband have the right over their own bodies. Their bodies belong to each other.

⁵So do not deny each other unless you both agree for spiritual reasons such as prayer. Only deny yourselves for an agreed-upon time, then renew your relations with each other. In this way, if you lack self-control, then Accuser (Satan) cannot tempt you.

⁶I am not telling you what you must do. I am only guiding you by what I have learned as a weak human being. ⁷I wish that everyone could be unmarried just as I am, but the Great Spirit has gifted each of us in different ways.

⁸Now I will counsel those who are not married or widowed: Follow in my footsteps and remain as you are. ⁹But if any of you lack self-control, you should get married, for that is better than letting your desires burn like a wildfire.

GUIDANCE FOR MARRIAGE IN THE SACRED FAMILY

¹⁰To those who are married I give this instruction, not from me but from our Honored Chief: A wife should not leave her husband, ¹¹but if she does, she is to remain as one who is unmarried, or go back and work things out with her husband. And in the same manner, a husband should not leave or send away his wife.

¹²I know nothing more about this from our Honored Chief, but here is my counsel to all the others: If a sacred family member has a wife who does not trust in our spiritual ways, but she is willing to live with him, he should not send her away. ¹³It is the same for a wife who has a husband who does not believe. ¹⁴For both husband and wife, even if they do not believe, are made holy by being joined in marriage. If this were not so, your children would be ceremonially impure, but now they are holy.

¹⁵But if the one who does not believe wants to end the marriage, let it be so. In a situation like this a sacred family member is not bound, for the Great Spirit has called us to live in harmony with each other. ¹⁶So I give this counsel to both wives and husbands who find themselves in this situation: How can you be sure that you will guide your marriage partners away from their broken ways to be set free and made whole?

¹⁷In every situation you find yourself, walk in a manner pleasing to the Great Spirit. This is the guidance I give to all the sacred families Creator has called me to serve.

WISE COUNSEL FOR NEW FOLLOWERS

¹⁸Any man who has participated in the cutting of the flesh ceremony before he was called should not remove the marks of that ceremony. In the same way, any who have not participated in the ceremony have no further need to participate. ¹⁹Whether or not you participated in that ceremony no longer means anything. What has meaning is walking the road in the ways of the Great Spirit.15

²⁰All should walk in a good way in whatever condition they were in when called to follow Creator Sets Free (Jesus).

²¹Were you a slave when you answered the call? Think nothing of it. But if you are able to gain your freedom, do so. ²²Remember, the one who was a slave when called by our Honored Chief is his freedman. In the same way, the one who was free when he was called is now a slave of the Chosen One. ²³A great price was paid to set you free, so do not become slaves to human beings.

²⁴My sacred family members, all should walk in a good way in whatever condition they were in when they were called to follow Creator Sets Free (Jesus).

COUNSEL FOR THOSE WHO ARE NOT MARRIED

²⁵Now about those who have not yet married. I have no instructions from our Honored Chief in this matter, but I will give you my counsel as one whom our Honored Chief in his kindness has proven to be worthy of trust. ²⁶In the light of the troubled times we face, it would be a good thing for a man who is not married to remain so. ²⁷So then, if you have a wife, do not look for a way out of marriage. Have you been freed from a wife? Then do not look for another. ²⁸But if you do marry, you have not done wrong. If a young maiden marries, she has done nothing wrong. But those who marry will find it hard to face troubled times in this world, and I want to keep you from those things.16

²⁹Here is what I am saying to you who are members of the sacred family: There is not much time left before these troubled times come. So those who are married should now prepare themselves to live as if they were not. ³⁰It is not the time to wallow in tears and self-pity, or for glad hearts and festivals, and it is not the time to gather many possessions. ³¹Those who depend on the world as it is must be ready to let go of it, for the world as we know it will soon pass away.

³²I want you to walk free from worry about these things. A man who is not married can give all his time to please our Honored Chief. ^33-34But a man who is married will have to give more of his time to the things of this world in order to please his wife. It is the same for a woman who is not married, or for a young maiden. They are able to give all their time to our Honored Chief, to keep their body and spirit holy and pleasing to him. But a married woman will have to give more of her time to the things of this world in order to please her husband.

³⁵I am saying these things for your own good, not to put a rope around your necks, but so that you will be able to keep both eyes on our Honored Chief as you walk his good road.

COUNSEL FOR NEW MARRIAGES

³⁶Now in the case of a man who has been promised in marriage to a young maiden, and his desire for her is becoming strong: if he wants to marry her and is no longer able to wait, and she is of age, then it is not wrong for them to marry.17

³⁷On the other hand, if a man has a strong heart, if he is able to bridle his desires, and has decided for himself not to marry the promised young maiden, then for him it is the right thing to do.

³⁸So the one who marries has done a good thing, and the one who does not marry is doing even better.

³⁹A wife is bound by the law of marriage to her husband as long as he lives.18 If her husband dies, she is then free to marry whomever she desires, but only to one who belongs to our Honored Chief. ⁴⁰I think she would be much happier to remain unmarried. That is how I see it, and I think Creator’s Spirit also agrees with me.

OFFERINGS TO SPIRIT-IMAGES

¹Now I will give my answer to you about offering food to spirit-images. We may think we know all the answers about these things. Knowledge puffs up the individual, but love strengthens and builds up the sacred family. Knowledge makes big heads, but love makes big hearts. ²Those who think they have all the answers still have much to learn, ³but the Great Spirit knows the ones who love him.

⁴So as to eating food offered to spirit-images: we know that none of this world’s spirit-images can take the place of the one Great Spirit, for he stands alone and is above all created things.

⁵There are spirits in this world and in the spirit-world above that are called powerful spirit-beings or spirit-rulers. Even if there are many of these, ⁶for us there is only one Great Spirit. He is the Father from whom all things exist, and we were made for him. Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One is the only Honored Chief. Through him all things were made, and we were created for him.

⁷But not all human beings have this knowledge. There are some who are familiar with spirit-images. So when they eat food they know has been offered to a spirit-image, they feel bad about it deep inside. Their understanding is weak, and so they feel they have done something wrong. ⁸Now, the truth is our good standing with the Great Spirit has nothing to do with what we eat. Eating food will not make us any worse or better in the eyes of our Creator.

⁹But you must take care not to use this freedom you have in a way that could make a weaker family member stumble along the path. ¹⁰If these weak family members were to see you eating in a lodge dedicated to a spirit-image, they might find strength in the moment to go along with you and eat this food, even though they feel deep inside that it is wrong to do so. ¹¹Your knowledge would cause them to lose their way, and you would end up bringing harm to a sacred family member that the Chosen One died for.

¹²When you wrong family members in this way, you have wounded them in their weakness, and you have done the same to the Chosen One. ¹³So then, if what I eat causes any of my family members to stumble along the path, then I will never again eat meat in a way that will make them stumble.

SMALL MAN DEFENDS HIS CALLING

¹Am I not free? Am I not a message bearer? Did I not come face to face with Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One? Are you not the fruit of the work given to me by our Honored Chief? ²Others may not see me as a message bearer, but I must be in your eyes. You are the proof that our Honored Chief has chosen me.

³Here is how I will answer the ones who have decided to put me on trial: ⁴Do we message bearers not have the right to expect food and drink from you? ⁵Do we not have the right to travel with a wife, as do the other message bearers, such as the brothers of our Honored Chief and Stands on the Rock (Cephas)? ⁶Or is it only Son of Comfort (Barnabas) and I who have no right to these things and are forced to work to provide for ourselves?

⁷What nation would not care for the warriors who fight to keep them safe? Who plants a vineyard and is not permitted to eat fruit from it? Who watches over a flock of sheep and does not drink from its milk?

⁸I am not just looking through human eyes, for our Sacred Teachings tell us the same things. ⁹The law given to us by Drawn from the Water (Moses) says, “When an ox is used to harvest corn, do not cover its mouth and keep it from eating.”19

Do you think the Great Spirit was only speaking of oxen, ¹⁰or was he also speaking about human beings? Yes, he meant it for human beings also, because the one who plows the ground does so in the hope of a good harvest, and the one who gathers the corn expects to share in the harvest.

¹¹If we have planted spiritual seeds into your lives, is it too much to ask for you to meet our physical needs? ¹²If you have given others this right, should we not expect the same? But we have not asked for this right. Instead we have taken this burden on our own shoulders. In this way, nothing will stand in the way of us telling the good story of the Chosen One.

¹³Do you not know that the ones who perform the sacred ceremonies eat food from the sacred lodge? And that the holy men who tend to the altar receive their share of the ceremonial meat offered there? ¹⁴In the same way, our Honored Chief instructed his followers that the ones who are tellers of the good story should receive their living from the good story.20

SMALL MAN LAYS DOWN HIS RIGHTS

¹⁵But as for me, I have not asked for this right, and I am not saying this so you will give it to me. I would rather die than have anyone take away my dignity in this matter. ¹⁶I should not be given special honor for telling the good story, for it is a burden that has been laid on my shoulders. Trouble waits for me if I have failed in this sacred task! ¹⁷If I chose this for myself, then I would expect to be honored for it. But if this was chosen for me, then I am only a keeper of this sacred task, requiring no special honor.

¹⁸So what honor do I take to myself? It is my honor to tell the good story without expecting anything in return. In this way, I lay down any rights that I could ask for as I tell the good story. ¹⁹For even though I am free and a slave to no man, I have made myself a slave to all, in order to win many more.

FINDING COMMON GROUND

²⁰When I am among my own Tribal Members, like them I honor our traditions that I might win them over to the good story. To the ones who are under the law, I come under the law when among them, even though I am no longer under our tribal law. I do this to gain their respect and win them over to the good story.

²¹When I am among the ones who are outside of our tribal law, I consider myself as also outside of our tribal law. Even so, I am not truly outside Creator’s law, but under the law of the Chosen One. I do this to gain their respect and win them over to the good story.

²²When I am among those who are poor and weak, I join with them in their struggle. I look for common ground with everyone, so that I can tell them the good story that will make them whole and set them free. ²³I do all of this so I can tell everyone the good story, so that together we may share in its blessings.

RUN THE RACE TO WIN

²⁴Do you not know that in a race there are many who run, but only one is honored for winning the race? So run with the honor of winning in mind. ²⁵All who make it their aim to run in races work hard and practice self-control in all things. They do this for a headdress of flowers that only grows old and fades away, but we who follow Creator Sets Free (Jesus) do this for a spiritual headdress that will never grow old or fade away.

²⁶So when I run, I do not run in circles but toward a goal. When I fight, I do not swing my arms like a wild man. I aim my punches. ²⁷I am rough on my body and bring it under my power, so that after I have instructed others, I myself will not grow weary and drop out of the race.

LESSONS FROM THE SACRED STORIES

¹My sacred family members, never forget that our tribal ancestors, who are our spiritual fathers, when they left Black Land (Egypt) were all guided to safety under a cloud. They all walked through the Red Sea on dry land when the waters opened before them. ²The cloud and the water became for them a purification ceremony21 that was performed by Drawn from the Water (Moses). ³They all ate the same spiritual food ⁴and they all drank the same spiritual drink. They drank from the spiritual rock that traveled with them, and that rock was the Chosen One.

⁵But the Great Spirit was not pleased with most of them, so their dead bodies were left scattered over the desert wasteland.

⁶We should see in this story a spiritual warning for us today. It means we must not desire wrong things like they did. ⁷We must not honor spirit-images, as some of our ancestors did, for our Sacred Teachings tell us, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and then got up to dance and sing in honor of the golden calf.”22

⁸We must not give in to wrong sexual desires, as some of our ancestors did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day.23 ⁹We should not put our Honored Chief to the test, as some of our ancestors did, and were killed by poisonous snakes.24 ¹⁰And we must not grumble, as some of our ancestors did, who were then destroyed by the spirit-messenger of death.25

¹¹These things happened to them as a warning to us. These stories were written down so we would learn not to walk in their footsteps. We are the people who live in the time when Creator’s plan has reached its full meaning and purpose.26 ¹²So the ones who think they stand strong should watch out that they do not fall.

¹³You are not so different from your ancestors who all faced temptation. All human beings are tempted in similar ways. So remember, the Great Spirit is faithful. He will not permit you to be tempted beyond your ability to resist. For when temptation comes, he will show you how to break free from it and stand firm.

¹⁴So then, my much-loved family, break free and run away from following after spirit-images and what they represent. ¹⁵I speak to you as wisdomkeepers. You are well able to decide for yourselves if what I say is true.

¹⁶Think about it in this way: When we give thanks and drink from the cup Creator has blessed, are we not participating ceremonially in the blood of the Chosen One? When we ceremonially break and eat the frybread, are we not participating in the body of the Chosen One? ¹⁷For we who are many all eat from one piece of frybread. This shows that we are all one body.

¹⁸Think about those who by human ancestry are of the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel). When they eat from the sacred offerings, are they not participating in the sacred altar?

¹⁹So am I saying that a spirit-image or the food offered to a spirit-image is anything at all? ²⁰No, but I am saying that when the Outside Nations offer food to spirit-images, they are not offering it to the Great Spirit but to evil spirits. And I do not want you to participate in following those evil spirits.

²¹You cannot eat both from the cup of our Honored Chief and from the cup of evil spirits. In the same manner, you cannot eat bread from the ceremonial table of our Honored Chief and from the table of evil spirits. ²²Are we trying to anger our Honored Chief by making him jealous? Do we think we are stronger than he is?

²³We may be free to do anything we desire, but not all things we can do will lead to harmony with one another or with the Great Spirit. Not all things bring help and strength to each other. ²⁴So then, no one should seek only what is good for oneself, but also what brings good to others.

²⁵Go ahead and eat the food offered at the trading posts without asking any questions. Then you will not have to trouble yourself about it. ²⁶“For the earth and all that is in it belongs to the Great Spirit.”27

²⁷In the same manner, if you are invited to the home of someone who is not a member of the sacred family, eat whatever is set before you without asking any questions. Then no one’s sense of wrong or right will be questioned. ^28-29But if they say to you, “This food has been offered to spirit-images,” do not eat it. Not because you think it is wrong to eat, but for the sake of the one who told you.

But someone might say, “Why is my freedom to eat being decided by what someone else thinks is right or wrong? ³⁰If I give thanks for it, then why should anyone be able to accuse me of wrongdoing?”

³¹Here is my answer: whatever you do, whether it is eating or drinking or anything else, do it all to bring honor to the Great Spirit. ³²Walk softly in a manner that will not offend Tribal Members or Wisdom Seekers (Greeks) or anyone who belongs to the sacred family of the Great Spirit.

³³This is the manner in which I also walk. For I am not looking out only for my own good, but also for the good of others. I do this so they too may be set free and made whole.

FOLLOWING TRADITIONS

¹Walk this road of life following in my footsteps, as I also walk this road following in the footsteps of the Chosen One. ²I have great respect for you. You have never forgotten to hold on to the things I have taught you. You have followed the traditions that I entrusted to you in the same manner that I gave them to you.

³Here is another tradition I want you to understand: the Chosen One is headman over each and every man, giving each one loving guidance. In the same way the husband is headman over his wife and his family, giving them loving guidance. In a similar manner the Great Spirit is headman over the Chosen One, giving loving guidance to all.

⁴So then, any man who prays or speaks for the Great Spirit with his head covered brings shame to his head.

⁵But any woman who prays or speaks for the Great Spirit with her head uncovered brings shame to her head. She would then be the same as a woman who has cut all the hair from her head.29 ⁶If a woman is unwilling to cover herself in this way, she should cut off all her hair. But if this would bring shame to her, then she should cover her head.

⁷A man should not cover his head, for man was created to reflect the image of the Great Spirit and bring him honor. But the Great Spirit took the woman from the man’s side to bring honor to the man. ⁸In the beginning the man came first, and then the woman came from the man. ⁹For the man was not created because the woman needed him, the woman was created because the man needed her.

¹⁰It is for this reason that a woman who prays or speaks for the Great Spirit should wear on her head the sign of her right to speak. In this way, she will show respect to the spirit-messengers30 who watch over the sacred family.31

¹¹On the other hand, because of our Honored Chief, we should see that women need men and men need women. ¹²For even though the first woman was made from the man, men are now born from women, and both come from the Great Spirit, who created all things.

¹³So you must decide for yourselves whether it is right for a woman to pray to the Great Spirit without a covering on her head. ¹⁴Does not our own tradition and culture teach you that it is not natural or honorable for a man to wear his hair long, ¹⁵but that for a woman to wear her hair long brings honor to her? For her hair is given to her as a natural covering.

¹⁶Anyone who does not agree with me about these things should know that in the Sacred Families of the Great Spirit we follow no other tradition.

SMALL MAN BRINGS STRONG CORRECTION

¹⁷As I instruct and guide you in these things, I find nothing honorable about your gatherings. For when you come together, you are doing more harm than good. ¹⁸First of all, when you have your sacred family gatherings, I have heard that you divide up into opposing groups, and I can see some truth in this. ¹⁹For these kinds of splinter groups are certain to happen and make it easy to see who among you walks in a good way and who does not.

²⁰At your gatherings, you are not eating the ceremonial meal in the manner given to us by our Honored Chief. ²¹For each one of you hurries to fill his own belly first, with no thought for the hungry among you. So then, one has too much to eat, and another too much to drink, while others remain hungry and thirsty.

²²This should never be! Do you not have food and drink in your own homes? Are you trying to shame those who are poor? Have you no respect for Creator’s sacred family? What can I say to you? Did you think I would speak well of you for this? I will not!

THE CEREMONIAL MEAL OF THE CHOSEN ONE

²³This is the sacred tradition that came from our Honored Chief, a tradition that I have received and passed on to you: On the night that Creator Sets Free (Jesus) our Honored Chief was betrayed, he took some frybread. ²⁴He then gave thanks to the Great Spirit, broke the frybread into pieces, and said, “This is my body, broken for you. Eat it to remember me.”

²⁵In the same manner, when the evening meal was over, he took the cup of wine, gave thanks to the Great Spirit, and said, “This cup represents the new peace treaty, brought into being at the cost of my lifeblood. Whenever you drink this cup, drink it to remember me.”

²⁶For until our Honored Chief returns, each time you ceremonially eat from this frybread and drink from this cup, you are retelling the story of his death and its full meaning and purpose.

THE WRONG WAY TO EAT THE CEREMONIAL MEAL

²⁷For this reason, if you eat from the frybread or drink from the cup of our Honored Chief in a way that does not honor him, you will have to give an answer. For you have dishonored his body and blood. ²⁸Before you eat the frybread and drink from the cup, you should think deeply about yourself and the part you have played in this story. Then with good hearts you may eat and drink.

²⁹All who eat and drink without recognizing that this is the body of our Honored Chief will bring judgment on their own heads. For they have not thought about what it means to take part in the body of the Chosen One. ³⁰It is for this reason that many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen into the sleep of death.32 ³¹But if we would be deeply honest with ourselves, we would not need to be judged.

³²When the Great Spirit judges us, it is for our own good to teach us how to walk in his ways. Then we will not be found guilty along with those who walk in the ways of this world.

³³So then, my sacred family members, when you gather to share in this ceremonial meal, show respect and wait for each other. ³⁴If you are hungry, you should eat something at home before you come. In this way, you will not be found guilty in the way you treat the body of the Chosen One and those who belong to him.

I will give further instructions about the other things when I come to you again.

UNDERSTANDING SPIRITUAL THINGS

¹Now, my sacred family members, you have much to learn about spiritual things, so I will teach you what I know. ²For you know that when you followed the ways of the Outside Nations, their spirit-images tricked you and led you from one false path to another, even though they have no mouths to speak with. ³So now you should know that no one who is guided by Creator’s Spirit says that Creator Sets Free (Jesus) is cursed. You should also know that no one can say from their heart that Creator Sets Free (Jesus) is the Honored Chief unless guided by the Holy Spirit.33

DIFFERENT KINDS OF GIFTINGS

⁴There are different kinds of spiritual giftings, but they all come from the same Spirit. ⁵There are also different ways of serving, but the example to serve comes from the same Honored Chief. ⁶Creator’s power works in different ways through different people, but it is the same Great Spirit who is at work in all of them.

⁷It is in these many ways that the Holy Spirit makes himself known in and through each of us, for the good of all.

⁸Creator’s Spirit gives to one person words full of wisdom, and the same Spirit gives another person words full of knowledge. ⁹The Spirit gives a different person great faith and still another healing powers by the same Spirit. ¹⁰The Holy Spirit gives to one person miraculous powers, to another the power to speak Creator’s words. To another the Spirit gives the ability to tell good spirits from bad ones. To another the Spirit gives the ability to speak in different languages, and to another the ability to interpret those languages.

¹¹The power to do all these things comes from the one Spirit. It is this Spirit who decides which powers are to be given to each person.

THE BODY OF THE CHOSEN ONE

¹²Human beings have one body made up of many parts that all work together. It is the same for the body of the Chosen One. ¹³For through the one Spirit we all participated in the purification ceremony34 that joined us together into one body. That body is made up of Tribal Members, Wisdom Seekers (Greeks), slaves and free. But none of that matters because we all drink living water from the same Spirit.

¹⁴Now, the body is not made up of one part but of many. ¹⁵If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not part of the body,” would that make the foot any less a part of the body? ¹⁶If the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,” would that make the ear any less a part of the body? ¹⁷If the whole body were an eye, how could it hear? If the whole body were an ear, how could it smell?

¹⁸But in his wisdom the Great Spirit has given each body part its own place, so it can fulfill the purpose it was created for and make Creator’s heart glad.

¹⁹If all the parts were the same, how could there be a body? ²⁰Even though there is only one body, it was made to have many parts. ²¹So the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you.” Neither can the head say to the feet, “I have no need of you.”

²²But the parts of the body that are thought to be of little use are needed just as much as the other parts. ²³The parts we see as lowly we honor by wrapping them in beauty. We respectfully cover those parts of the body that should not be seen. ²⁴But the more publicly respectable parts of the body do not need this kind of treatment. So the Great Spirit has put the body together in a way that gives more honor to the parts that need it the most. ²⁵This makes it clear that Creator’s purpose is to keep the body of the Chosen One from division. It shows each of us how much we need each other.

²⁶If one part of the body hurts, the whole body hurts. If one part of the body is honored, the whole body celebrates. ²⁷So then, together you all form the body of the Chosen One, and each one of you has a place in that body.

²⁸The Great Spirit has set in place those members of his body that he has gifted to care for his sacred family.35 He set in place first message bearers, second prophets, and third wisdomkeepers who teach. After that comes some with miraculous powers, some with healing gifts, some who help and serve, some who bring guidance, and some who have the gift of speaking in other languages.

²⁹Can you see that not all are message bearers, or prophets, or wisdomkeepers? That not all have miraculous powers, ³⁰or healing gifts, or the gift of speaking in other languages, or interpreting those languages?

³¹I want you to set your hearts on the chief gifts, the ones that will bring the greatest blessing to the sacred family.

Now I will show you the most beautiful path of all.

THE WAY OF LOVE

¹I may have the gift of speaking in both the languages of human beings and of spirit-messengers, but if I fail to love, my words become like the screech of a cat or the yelping of a wild dog.36

²I may have prophetic powers and the ability to see into sacred mysteries and understand all things. I might even have faith strong enough to make mountains move. But if I fail to love, I am nothing.

³I may give all my possessions to the poor and give my body to be burned as a sacrifice, but if I fail to love, I have gained no honor.

⁴Love is patient and kind. Love is never jealous. It does not brag or boast. It is not puffed up or big-headed. ⁵Love does not act in shameful ways, nor does it care only about itself. It is not hot-headed, nor does it keep track of wrongs done to it. ⁶Love is not happy with lies and injustice, but truth makes its heart glad. ⁷Love keeps walking even when carrying a heavy load. Love keeps trusting, never loses hope, and stands firm in hard times. ⁸The road of love has no end.

The time will come when prophets are no longer needed, when people will stop speaking in unknown languages, and when the need for knowledge will fade away. ⁹For we only know some of the story and can only prophesy small parts of it, ¹⁰but the time is coming when we will know the whole story from beginning to end.

¹¹When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, and I saw through the eyes of a child. But when I became fully grown, I put my childish ways behind me. ¹²For now, it is as if we are looking at a poor reflection in muddy water, but then we will see face to face. For now, my knowledge is full of holes, but when that time comes, I will know the Great Spirit as well as I am known by him.

¹³But until then, these three remain—faith, hope, and love—and love is the greatest!

GUIDANCE FOR SPIRITUAL GIFTINGS

¹Above all other things, make love your aim. Keep the desire for spiritual gifts burning in your hearts, but most of all for the gift of prophecy. ²Prophesying is better than speaking in unknown languages, because the ones who speak in unknown languages do not speak to human beings, but to the Great Spirit. No one understands them, for they speak mysteries in the Spirit.

³On the other hand, the ones who prophesy speak to human beings in a language they understand. They speak words that give strength, courage, and comfort. ⁴The ones who speak in unknown languages give strength only to themselves, but those who prophesy give strength to the whole sacred family gathering.

⁵It is my desire that all of you would speak in unknown languages, and even more that you would prophesy. Now, the ones who prophesy do a greater thing than the ones who speak in unknown languages, unless someone explains the meaning of what is said. Then the sacred family would be strengthened.

⁶So then, my sacred family members, what if I came to you speaking only in unknown languages? What good would it do you? For unless my words reveal something new, or give deeper understanding, or speak a prophecy, or bring forth a teaching, you will learn nothing.

⁷Some things such as drums or flutes, even though they have no human life, must make sounds that have the right beats or tones, or no one will know what they are hearing. ⁸If an eagle bone whistle37 is not sounded in the right way, who will prepare for battle? ⁹In the same manner, if you speak in an unknown language, how will the hearers know what is being said? The sound of your voice will be lost in the wind. ¹⁰A great number of languages are spoken throughout this world, and all tribes understand their own language. ¹¹If I do not speak the language of a tribe, they will not know my language and I will not know theirs. Our languages will sound strange to each other.

¹²Here is what I am saying to you: since you have such a strong desire for spiritual powers, desire those powers that will help the sacred family grow stronger. ¹³So the one who speaks in an unknown language should pray for the power to interpret its meaning for others.

¹⁴Now, if I pray in an unknown language, I am praying with my spirit and not in a language my mind understands. ¹⁵So what is the right thing to do? I will pray with my spirit and also with my mind. In the same manner, I will sing with my spirit in unknown words and with words I understand. ¹⁶So then, if you only give thanks in an unknown language, speaking with your spirit, then how could someone who does not understand say “Aho! May it be so” at your prayer of giving thanks? ¹⁷For you may be praying in a good way, but it does not help others to grow spiritually strong.

¹⁸I give thanks to the Great Spirit that I speak in unknown languages more than any of you. ¹⁹But at our sacred family gatherings it would be better for me to speak five words of instruction that all can understand than to speak ten thousand words in an unknown language.

²⁰My sacred family members, do not think in childish ways. In the ways of evil be as innocent as a baby in a cradleboard, but in your understanding of spiritual things be as wise as an elder.

²¹It has been written down in our Sacred Teachings, “I will speak to my people through the mouths of people with strange languages,” says our Honored Chief, “but even so my people will not hear me.”

²²This means that unknown languages are a sign for how Creator speaks to the ones who do not want to hear him,38 but prophecy is a sign for those who want to hear what the Great Spirit is saying.39

²³So then, if everyone at a gathering of the sacred family began to speak in unknown languages, and if someone came to the gathering who knew nothing about these things or who did not walk in our ways, would they not think you had lost your minds? ²⁴But on the other hand, if everyone prophesied, the secrets hidden in their hearts would be made known, and they would clearly see how their broken ways will bring them to a bad end. ²⁵They would then humble themselves before Creator and tell everyone that the Great Spirit truly walks among you.

GUIDANCE FOR SACRED GATHERINGS

²⁶So, my sacred family members, what is the path forward? When you gather for ceremony, each one has a gift to share. Some may sing sacred songs, and others might bring a teaching or tell a story. Some might share something new that has been revealed to them, while others may speak in an unknown language and then tell the meaning of it. All these things must be done in a good way to help others grow strong.

²⁷Only two or three should speak in unknown languages. Let each of them speak, one at a time. Then someone must interpret the meaning of what has been said. ²⁸If no one can interpret, let the speakers of unknown languages remain silent during the sacred gathering and speak quietly in their hearts to the Great Spirit.

²⁹In the same manner, only two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh what has been said. ³⁰But if anything is revealed by the Spirit to another who is seated in the circle, the first should stop speaking and give way to the other. ³¹The prophets should speak one at a time, so that all may learn and find comfort in their words. ³²Prophets have power over their own spirits, ³³for disorder and confusion do not come from Creator, for he is the Great Spirit of peace and harmony. This is the way these things are to be done wherever Creator’s holy people come together at our sacred family gatherings.

GUIDANCE FOR WOMEN IN THE SACRED GATHERING

³⁴During our sacred gatherings wives should remain silent, for they are not permitted to speak out of place. They should remain under the guidance of their husbands, as our Sacred Teachings tell us. ³⁵So then, if they have any questions, they should ask their husbands at home, for it is a shameful thing for a married woman to speak out of place during our sacred gatherings.

³⁶What are you saying to me? Did the message of the Great Spirit come first from you who gather in Village of Pleasure (Corinth)? Are you the only ones whom Creator has entrusted with his message? ³⁷If anyone among you thinks of himself as a prophet, or thinks of himself to be spiritual, he should be the first to see that my instructions come from our Honored Chief. ³⁸Any who set aside what I am saying are only showing how ignorant they are.

³⁹I say to you once more, my sacred family members, fan into flame your desire to prophesy and do not forbid speaking in unknown languages. ⁴⁰Let everything be done with respect, in a good and orderly manner.

SMALL MAN RETELLS THE GOOD STORY

¹Now, my sacred family members, I want to talk to you about the good story. I was the one who told you the good story, which you took to heart and continue to stand firmly on. ²This good story will set you free and make you whole as long as you hold on tightly to the truth of it. If not, then your faith would have no meaning.

³This is the first and most important truth I passed on to you: The Chosen One died for our bad hearts and broken ways, just as our Sacred Teachings foretold.40 ⁴The Chosen One was buried, and on the third day his dead body was raised to life, which our Sacred Teachings also foretold.41 ⁵Then he showed himself alive to Stands on the Rock (Cephas) and his twelve message bearers. ⁶After that he showed himself to more than five hundred of his followers at the same time. Most of them live to this day, while others have fallen into the sleep of death. ⁷He also showed himself to He Leads the Way (James), then to all the message bearers.

⁸Last of all the Chosen One showed himself to me, as if I were a child that was born past its time of birth. Among the message bearers I am the least. ⁹I have no right even to be called a message bearer, since I hunted down and brought harm to Creator’s sacred family. ¹⁰But because of the gift of his great kindness, I am what he has called me to be. His gift was not wasted on me. I worked harder than any of the message bearers. But it was not me. It was the gift of his great kindness at work in me.

¹¹It matters not whether you first heard the good story from me or from the other message bearers. This is the story we tell, and this is the story in which you have put your trust.

UNDERSTANDING THE RISING FROM THE DEAD

¹²So then, if the good story tells us that the Chosen One has risen from the dead, how can any among you say there will be no rising from the dead? ¹³If there is no rising from the dead, it would mean the Chosen One has not risen. ¹⁴If the Chosen One has not risen, then the story we tell means nothing, and your faith is a dried-up spring. ¹⁵If it is true that the dead do not rise, this would mean that we falsely represented the Great Spirit when we told everyone that he raised the Chosen One from the dead.

¹⁶If the dead are not raised, then the Great Spirit did not raise up the Chosen One. ¹⁷If this were true, your faith would have no meaning, and your broken ways would still rule over you. ¹⁸It would also mean that our sacred family members who have fallen asleep in death while trusting in the Chosen One have faded away, never to rise again. ¹⁹If our hope in the Chosen One is only for this life, then we should be pitied more than all other human beings.

²⁰But the truth is the Chosen One has risen from the dead! He is the firstfruits of the harvest to come. He is the first to rise from the dead and the sign that all who have fallen asleep in death will also rise.

WHEN WILL THE DEAD BE RAISED?

²¹Since death came through a human being, the victory over death has also come through a human being. ²²Everyone dies in Red Clay (Adam), and everyone comes to life in the Chosen One.²³But all in their own time. The Chosen One rose first—the firstfruits of the harvest to come. Then, when the Chosen One returns, all who are his will live again.

WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THE DEAD ARE RAISED?

²⁴Then, after the Chosen One has brought down all rulers, powers, and authorities, the good road will reach its goal. Then the Chosen One will give the well-traveled good road over to his Father, the Great Spirit. ²⁵But until then, he must continue his chiefly rule until he has defeated and humbled all his enemies.42

²⁶Then the last enemy—death itself—will come to an end. ²⁷For it says in the book of Sacred Songs43 that the Great Spirit has put all things under the power of the True Human Being. But when it says that “all things” are put under his power, this does not include his Father, the Great Spirit. For he is the one who gave the Chosen One this power in the beginning.

²⁸And once all things surrender to his power, the Son will then honor his Father, turn all this power over to him, and take his proper place under his loving rule. In this way, the Great Spirit will bring all things into harmony with himself.44

MORE ANSWERS ABOUT THE RISING FROM THE DEAD

²⁹If there is no rising from the dead, then what do the ones who perform the purification ceremony45 for the dead hope to accomplish? Why perform this ceremony for them if the dead do not rise? ³⁰If the dead do not rise, why would we message bearers keep putting our lives in danger? ³¹I stare death in the face every day. I say this not to boast in myself but in what our Honored Chief Creator Sets Free (Jesus), the Chosen One, has done in your lives. ³²If the dead do not rise, why would I risk my life fighting with the wild beasts at Village of Desire (Ephesus)?

If the dead do not rise, some will say, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”46 ³³But do not let people who think like this fool you, for bad company will bring ruin to good character. ³⁴Return to the right way of thinking and stop walking in broken ways. Some of you have no understanding of the ways of the Great Spirit. It is to your shame that I have to speak in this way. Have you no respect for yourselves?

HOW DO THE DEAD RISE?

³⁵Now someone may ask, “How do the dead rise? What kind of body will they have when they come back to life?”

³⁶How can one be so foolish? When you plant a seed, it does not come to life unless it first dies. ³⁷The seed that is buried does not look like the full-grown plant that it will become. It is only a seed, perhaps of wheat or something else. ³⁸But the Great Spirit gives it the body he wants it to have. He gives each seed its own kind of body.

³⁹Two-legged human beings and four-legged animals and winged ones and fish all have bodies of flesh, but each one has its own kind of body. ⁴⁰There are bodies in the sky above and on the earth below, but each of them has a special kind of beauty. ⁴¹The sun shines with its own blinding brightness, the moon reflects the light of the sun with a beauty all its own. The stars have a bright-shining tapestry that has no rival, and each star is beautiful in its own way.

⁴²This is how it will be when Creator raises the dead to life. Our death-doomed bodies, which have been planted like a seed into the ground, will come to life never to die again. ⁴³When our bodies are planted into the ground, they are plain and weak. When they rise to life, they will be beautiful and strong.

⁴⁴Our bodies are unspiritual, made from the earth and planted into the earth when buried. But when our bodies rise from their earth graves, they will be spiritual bodies—made from the spirit-world above. If there is an earthly body, there must also be a spiritual body.

⁴⁵It is written in our Sacred Teachings, “The first man, Red Clay (Adam), became a living being.”47 But the last Red Clay (Adam),48 the Chosen One, became a life-giving spirit. ⁴⁶But it was not the spiritual body that came first. It was first the earthly body and then the spiritual.

⁴⁷The first man came from the ground and was made of dirt. The second man, who is our Honored Chief, came from the spirit-world above. ⁴⁸The ones born on earth are like the man who was made from the ground. The ones born from the spirit-world above are like the man who came from above.49 ⁴⁹Just as we have worn the image of the man from the earth, we will also wear the image of the man from the spirit-world above.

⁵⁰My sacred family members, here is what I am saying to you: human beings, in their death-doomed flesh-and-blood bodies, cannot share in the full blessings of Creator’s good road. Neither can bodies that die share the same blessings of bodies than cannot die.

⁵¹Behold! I am about to show you a mystery. We will not all fall into the sleep of death, but all of us will be changed. ⁵²It will happen faster than the blink of an eye, when the eagle bone whistle50 sounds for the last time. When it sounds, the dead will come to life never to die again, and we will all be changed. ⁵³For these old, worn-out, death-doomed bodies must be taken off, and our new bodies that will never die must be put on.

⁵⁴When this happens, the saying that has been written down in our Sacred Teachings will find its full purpose and meaning, “Death has been defeated, let the victory dance begin!”51 ⁵⁵“O Death, where is your victory? O Grave, where is your sting?”52

⁵⁶For our broken ways give death its sting, and our broken ways give the law its power. But no more! ⁵⁷We give thanks to the Great Spirit, who has given us the victory over our broken ways and over death through our Honored Chief Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One!

⁵⁸So then, my much-loved family members, you must stand strong, with your feet planted firmly on the ground. Never give up working hard for our Honored Chief, for you know that what- ever you do for him will never fade away.

OFFERINGS TO HELP CREATOR’S HOLY PEOPLE

¹Now, in respect to the taking of offerings to help Creator’s holy people who live in Village of Peace (Jerusalem): I am giving you the same instructions that I gave to the sacred families who gather in the territory of Land of Pale Skins (Galatia).

²When you gather on the first day of the week, take from as much as you have been blessed with and set it aside. Keep it in a safe place until I come. In this way no offerings will need to be taken when I come. ³Then, when I arrive, I will send your trusted messengers, along with letters of approval, to Village of Peace (Jerusalem). ⁴If you think it wise for me to travel with them, we will walk the road together.

⁵But on my way to you I must first pass through Land of Tall People (Macedonia). After that I will come to you ⁶and perhaps stay for a while, or even for the winter. Then when I leave, you can sing a traveling song over me as I continue my journey to wherever I may go.

⁷I am trusting that it is Creator’s plan for me to stay with you for a season, instead of just passing through. ⁸But for now I will be staying at Village of Desire (Ephesus) until the Festival of Weeks, ⁹for a wide path filled with new possibilities has opened before me, even though there are many trying to block the way.

¹⁰If He Gives Honor (Timothy) comes to you, calm his fears about being with you, for he is working at doing what the Great Spirit wants, just as I am. ¹¹So make sure no one looks down on him. Then send him on his way in peace, for I am waiting for him to come to me along with other brothers in the sacred family.

¹²Now about our spiritual brother He Tears Down (Apollos): more than once I have encouraged him and others to come and stay awhile with you, but for him it was not a good time to come. He will come to you when the time is right.

SMALL MAN’S FINAL WORDS

¹³Keep your eyes wide open. Stand firm in the faith. Be brave and strong. ¹⁴Let love be the reason behind all that you do.

¹⁵Do not forget about Headdress of Many Feathers (Stephanas) and all who live in his house. They were the first to follow the way of the Chosen One in Land of Sorrow (Achaia). They set their hearts to serving Creator’s holy people. I beg of you, my sacred family, ¹⁶to follow their guidance and to walk in the footsteps of all who serve in this manner.

¹⁷It made my heart glad when Headdress of Many Feathers (Stephanas) and Lucky Man (Fortunatus) and Man of Sorrows (Achaicus) came to me. They have been walking in your footsteps by helping me while you have been away. ¹⁸My spirit has been renewed by them in the same way they have renewed yours. You should make sure men like these are given the honor they deserve.

¹⁹The sacred families who gather in Land of the Rising Sun (Asia) send their greetings to you. Strong Eagle (Aquila) and Lives Long (Priscilla)55 and the sacred family that meets for ceremony in their home also send warm greetings to you in our Honored Chief. ²⁰All the sacred family members send their greetings to you. Welcome each other with a holy kiss.

²¹I, Small Man (Paul) write this final greeting with my own hand.

²²Let all who fail to love our Honored Chief be cut off56 from the Chosen One!57 Come, O Honored Chief, Come! (Maranatha!)58

²³May the gift of great kindness that comes through Creator Sets Free (Jesus) remain with you. ²⁴May the deep love I have for all of you in the Chosen One, Creator Sets Free (Jesus), find its way into your hearts.