First Letter From Small Man To The Sacred Family In VIllage Of Pleasure 1 Corinthians

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.

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.

This could be because, in the traditions of the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel), some men would cover their heads and faces when they prayed, being ashamed of their broken ways. So covering their heads and faces would then be a sign of shame. The Chosen One has taken away all shame, so men should not cover their heads in shame when they pray.28

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.

This was most likely a strong cultural tradition that Small Man (Paul) was respecting. It might be similar to some of our Native cultures in which women are not permitted to sit at the drum with men or to dance in the circle without wearing a shawl. It would bring shame to her and her husband or to the sacred family. Small Man (Paul) only sets this rule for women who pray and speak for the Great Spirit, which would have applied only to those who were leaders in the sacred family. This tradition was most likely not for all times, cultures, and places.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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?

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.

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.

The Festival of Weeks Small Man (Paul) is speaking of is a ceremonial harvest festival that the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel) celebrated. It was called the Festival of Weeks53 or Pentecost, meaning “fifty,” because it was celebrated after seven weeks, on the fiftieth day, following another festival called Passover.54

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.

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.

Aho! May it be so!