GREETINGS AND FIRST WORDS

^1-2From Small Man (Paul), and from the spiritual brothers who are with me. To the sacred families who gather in Land of Pale Skins (Galatia). I was chosen to be a message bearer not from human beings or through human beings, but through Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One and through our Father the Creator, who brought the Chosen One back to life from the world of the dead.

³I greet you with the great kindness and peace that comes from our Father above and from our Honored Chief, Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One. ⁴He is the one who laid down his life for us to set us free from our bad hearts and broken ways. He did this to rescue us from the evil and worthless ways of the world we now live in. This is what our Father the Great Spirit wanted him to do. ⁵All honor belongs to our Father the Great Spirit to the time beyond the end of all days. Aho! May it be so!

A FALSE TELLING OF THE GOOD STORY

⁶The Chosen One called you by the gift of his great kindness to walk the road with him. I stand amazed that you would so quickly walk away from him to follow a different good story. ⁷Not that there is another good story, but there are some who are causing trouble for you by trying to change the meaning and purpose of the Chosen One’s good story.

⁸Should anyone, whether it be one of us or even a spirit-messenger from the spirit-world above, tell you a different good story from the one we already told you, let that person be cut off1 from the Chosen One. ⁹I will say it again: if anyone should tell you a different good story from the one you have already welcomed, let that person be cut off from the Chosen One.

¹⁰Do these words sound as if I am seeking honor from human beings or from the Great Spirit? Do you think I am trying to please human beings? If that were true, then I would not be a willing servant of the Chosen One.

SMALL MAN TELLS HIS STORY

¹¹My sacred family members, I want you to know that the good story I have been telling you did not come from the mind of human beings. ¹²It did not come to me from human beings, nor was it taught to me. This good story was revealed to me by Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One.

^13-14You have heard the story of how I used to walk as a traditional Tribal Member. I was becoming a leader in my tribal nation and was following our tribal traditions far ahead of anyone else my age. You also heard how with great fury I hunted down and brought harm to Creator’s sacred family.

¹⁵But when I was on the way to the village of Silent Weaver (Damascus),2 the Great Spirit stopped me in my tracks. He is the one who chose me while I was still in my mother’s womb and called me because of the gift of his great kindness. ¹⁶It made his heart glad to show me the truth about his Son, so I would tell his good story to all the Outside Nations.

After this happened, I did not look for guidance from flesh-and-blood human beings. ¹⁷Neither did I go to Village of Peace (Jerusalem) to learn from the ones who were message bearers before me. Instead, I went away into Land of Wanderers (Arabia), and after that I went back to Silent Weaver (Damascus).

¹⁸Then after three winters I traveled to Village of Peace (Jerusalem) to learn from Stands on the Rock (Cephas-Peter) and remained with him for fifteen days. ¹⁹While I was there, the only other message bearer I saw was He Leads the Way (James), the brother of Creator Sets Free (Jesus) our Honored Chief.

²⁰I promise you, with the Great Spirit as my witness, that I am telling you the truth about these things. I am not lying!

²¹After that I went into the territories of Bright Sun (Syria) and Turns Over (Cilicia). ²²The sacred families of the Chosen One in Land of Promise (Judea) had not seen me face to face, ²³but they did hear about me. They heard, “The one who was attacking us is now telling the good story he once made war against.” ²⁴And they gave the Great Spirit the honor for what happened to me.

THE COUNCIL AT VILLAGE OF PEACE

¹Then after fourteen winters had passed, I went once again to Village of Peace (Jerusalem) along with Son of Comfort (Barnabas) and Big Man (Titus). ²It was the Great Spirit who revealed to me that I should go. I met in a private council with those who seemed to be the spiritual leaders and explained to them the manner in which I tell the good story to people from the Outside Nations. I wanted them to understand so that they would not try to undo all that I had done or wanted to do. I wanted to make sure I was not running a race I could not finish.

³The good news is that Big Man (Titus), who was with me, was not required to participate in the cutting of the flesh ceremony, even though he was a Wisdom Seeker (Greek), that is, from an Outside Nation. ⁴The ceremony was talked about because some who were not true sacred family members had been sneaked in. They crept in to spy on the freedom we have in Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One and to make us slaves to their understanding of our tribal law. ⁵But we stood firm and gave them no ground, even for a moment, so that the truth of Creator’s good story would be preserved for you.

⁶As for those leaders who are supposed to hold such a high reputation, their reputation means nothing to me, for the Great Spirit does not judge by outward appearance. Those leaders did not add one thing to the good story that I tell.

⁷Instead, it became clear to them that I had been given the sacred task of telling the good story to the Outside Nations,3 just as Stands on the Rock (Cephas-Peter) was to our Tribal Members.4 ⁸For the Great Spirit who gave Stands on the Rock (Cephas-Peter) the calling and power to be a message bearer to our Tribal Members also gave me the calling and power to serve the Outside Nations.

⁹So when He Leads the Way (James), Stands on the Rock (Cephas-Peter), and He Shows Goodwill (John), who seemed to be the spiritual leaders,5 came to understand that I had been given this sacred task, they joined hands in agreement with me and Son of Comfort (Barnabas). They agreed that we would go to the Outside Nations and they to our tribal nation. ¹⁰They asked only that we would not forget to help the poor, a desire that was already burning in my heart.

SMALL MAN’S CONFLICT WITH STANDS ON THE ROCK

¹¹After that, something else happened that I need to make clear: when Stands on the Rock (Cephas-Peter) came to stay for a time at the village of Stands Against (Antioch), I had to take a stand against him face-to-face, to clearly show that what he was doing was wrong.

¹²From Village of Peace (Jerusalem) He Leads the Way (James) sent some men to Stands Against (Antioch). Before they came, Stands on the Rock (Cephas-Peter) would sit and eat with the sacred family members from the Outside Nations. But after those men came, he separated himself from the sacred family members from the Outside Nations, for he was afraid of what these Tribal Members might think of him.

¹³Then all the other Tribal Members joined with him in his cowardly ways, so that even Son of Comfort (Barnabas) was drawn into their false-faced ways.

GOOD STANDING DOES NOT COME FROM KEEPING THE LAW

¹⁴When I saw that they were not walking true to the meaning of the good story, I said to Stands on the Rock (Cephas-Peter) in front of everyone there, “You, who are a Tribal Member, have been living in the same manner as the people from the Outside Nations. So how is it that you would force them to follow the traditions of our Tribal Members?

¹⁵“We who are Tribal Members by birth are not like those ‘outcasts’ from the Outside Nations who do not keep our law. ¹⁶But we who follow the Chosen One know that working hard to keep our tribal law does not put us in good standing with Creator. For good standing comes through trusting in what Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One has done. As Tribal Members we have put our trust in him, so that our good standing comes from trusting in the Chosen One and not by working hard to keep our tribal law. For no human being will be put in good standing with Creator by working hard to keep the law.

¹⁷“If we Tribal Members, while seeking to be in good standing by trusting in the Chosen One, are also found to be outcasts and guilty of wrongdoing, can it be said that the Chosen One is leading us into broken ways? May it never be! ¹⁸For if I were to rebuild the things I have torn down, that would prove that I was wrong from the first and make me a lawbreaker. ¹⁹It was through our tribal law that I died to our tribal law, so that I could be set free to live for the Great Spirit. When the Chosen One died on the cross, I died with him.

²⁰“My life is no longer my own, for my life belongs to the Chosen One, who lives in me. The life I now live in my weak human body, I live by trusting in the faithfulness of the Son of the Great Spirit, who loved me and gave up his life for me. ²¹I cannot do away with the gift of Creator’s great kindness, for if good standing with Creator could be gained through the law, that would mean the Chosen One died for nothing.”

WORKING TO KEEP THE LAW OR TRUSTING IN THE CHOSEN ONE

¹O you foolish ones who live in Land of Pale Skinned People (Galatia)! Did someone put a spell on you? Was it not clearly shown to you that Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One was put to death on a tree-pole—the cross? ²I have one chief question to ask you: Did the Holy Spirit come to you because you worked hard to keep our tribal law, or because you heard and trusted in the good story we told you?

³Have you become foolish enough to believe that a journey begun in the power of the Spirit could be finished by weak human strength? ⁴I cannot believe that you have traveled so far just to end up at a dead end.

⁵Does Creator give you his Spirit and work his power among you because you are working hard to keep our tribal law, or because you hear and trust in the good story we told you?

LESSONS FROM THE SACRED TEACHINGS

⁶It was the same for Father of Many Nations (Abraham), for it says in our Sacred Teachings, “Father of Many Nations (Abraham) put his trust in Creator. This is what gave him good standing in the eyes of the Great Spirit.”7 ⁷It should now be clear to you that the true sons and daughters of Father of Many Nations (Abraham) are the ones who trust in Creator.

⁸It was foretold long ago in our Sacred Teachings that it would be through trusting in him that Creator would give good standing to all the Outside Nations. The good story was told to Father of Many Nations (Abraham) when Creator said to him, “It is through you that I will bless all nations.”8 ⁹So then, all who walk the same path that Father of Many Nations (Abraham), the man of trusting, walked are also blessed with good standing.

¹⁰All who seek good standing with Creator through working hard to keep our tribal law are under the law’s curse. For it is written in our Sacred Teachings, “Cursed is anyone who does not perform all that is written down in the book of the law.”9

¹¹It should be clear for all to see that no one is given good standing in the eyes of the Great Spirit by keeping our tribal law, for “The ones in good standing will find life by trusting.”10 ¹²Our tribal law is not about trusting. It is about doing. As our Sacred Teachings tell us, “It is the ones who keep doing what is written in the law who will find life.”11

SET FREE BY THE CHOSEN ONE

¹³The Chosen One paid a great price to set us free from the law’s demand about doing by taking on himself the law’s curse. As it is written in our Sacred Teachings, “Anyone who has been hanged upon a tree-pole is under a curse.”12 ¹⁴This was done so that the promise made to Father of Many Nations (Abraham) to bless the Outside Nations would come to them through Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One. In this way we can all receive the promised Spirit by trusting in him and what he has done.

¹⁵My sacred family members, I will now speak to you from a human point of view. Once a peace treaty has been made between human beings, no one can change or put an end to the agreement. ¹⁶It is the same for the promises made to Father of Many Nations (Abraham) and his descendants.13 The promises were not made to many descendants—but only to one. And that one descendant is the Chosen One.

¹⁷Here is what I am saying: our tribal law, which was given four hundred and thirty years after Father of Many Nations (Abraham), does not undo the peace treaty Creator made with him or do away with the promise. ¹⁸For if sharing in these blessings depends on walking the path of the law, then the promise falls to the ground. But the Giver of Life promised it to Father of Many Nations (Abraham) as a gift of his great kindness.

THE PURPOSE OF THE LAW

¹⁹So then, what was the purpose of our tribal law? The law was added because of bad hearts and broken ways, but only until the coming of the Chosen One, the descendant to whom the promise was made. The law was put in place by spirit-messengers through a go-between. ²⁰A go-between is only needed when there is more than one. But the Great Spirit is one.

²¹Does this mean that our tribal law is against Creator’s promises? It does not! For if laws had the power to give life, then good standing with Creator would have come through our tribal law. ²²But our Sacred Teachings make it clear that because of broken ways Creator has rounded everyone up into one corral, so that the promise he made to Father of Many Nations (Abraham) would be sure to find its way to all who trust in what Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One has done.14

THE WAY OF TRUSTING

²³Before this way of trusting came, we were rounded up and held firmly under the guidance of our tribal law until the time came when the way of trusting would be made clear. ²⁴Our tribal law was like an elder who watched over the children and told them how to do every little thing, but only until the coming of the Chosen One, who would give us good standing by the way of trusting. ²⁵But now that the way of trusting has come, we are no longer children needing someone to watch over us and tell us what to do. ²⁶For we are all sons and daughters of the Great Spirit through our trust in Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One. ²⁷All of you who participated in the purification ceremony15 of the Chosen One have put on the regalia of the Chosen One himself.

²⁸It no longer matters whether you are Tribal Members or Wisdom Seekers (Greeks), slaves or free, male or female. For in Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One you are all one people. ²⁹And since you belong to the Chosen One, you are a descendant of Father of Many Nations (Abraham) and the ones who share in the blessings of the promise Creator made to him.

SET FREE TO BE MATURE SONS AND DAUGHTERS

³In the same way, we were also children held in bondage under the spiritual powers that rule this world. ⁴But when the time was right, Creator sent his Son, who was born of a woman and born under our tribal law. ⁵He came to set free17 the ones who were under the law, so that all of us could take our place in Creator’s family as mature sons and daughters. ⁶Because this is true of you, Creator has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out from within us, “Abba! My Father!”

⁷So then, you are no longer slaves to the spiritual powers of this world that use the law to accuse you and bring you under bondage. You are now taking your place as mature sons and daughters ready to share in the family blessing promised by the Great Spirit.

DO NOT TURN BACK TO THE OLD WAYS

⁸Before you fully knew about the Great Spirit, you served spirits that do not share the nature of the Great Spirit.18 ⁹But now that you know the Great Spirit, and even more, that the Great Spirit knows you, how is it that you desire to turn back to serve those weak and pitiful spirits that use the law to make you their slaves? ¹⁰This is what you are doing when you require people to take part in things like special days, moon cycles, ceremonial seasons, and yearly festivals, in a useless attempt to gain the blessing of Creator’s good road. ¹¹I am worried that my work among you has come to nothing.

¹²My sacred family members, I beg you to become like me, for I was once like you when I served those weak and pitiful spirits—but now I am free. You did not treat me in a bad way when I first came to you. ¹³As you know, I was sick and weak in my body when I first told you the good story. ¹⁴But even though the weakness in my body was hard for you to bear, you did not look down on me with scorn or turn away from me in disgust. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were a spirit-messenger from Creator, or even as if I were the Chosen One, Creator Sets Free (Jesus) himself.

¹⁵Have you lost your desire to be such a blessing to me? I am telling you the truth that in those days, if it had been in your power, you would have sacrificed anything to help me, even your own eyes. ¹⁶Do you now see me as an enemy because I speak truth to you?

¹⁷These false teachers I am warning you about are working hard to snatch you away from us and win you over to their way of thinking. They do not truly care about you. They only want more followers to help them spread their lies. ¹⁸Yes, to win people over is a good thing, but only when it is done for the right reasons, and not just when I am there with you.

¹⁹My little children! Once again I am like a mother struggling to give birth to a child. My struggle will continue until the Chosen One has been fully formed within you. ²⁰O how I wish I were there with you so we could speak face to face! Then we could sit in counsel together, where you could hear my heart and not just my words. I do not know what to do about you.

WHAT IT MEANS TO BE UNDER THE LAW

²¹So then, you who wish to remain under our tribal law, are you ready to hear what it means to be under the law?

²²Let me tell you a story from our Sacred Teachings. Father of Many Nations (Abraham) had two sons. A slave named Wandering Woman (Hagar) gave birth to one son, and Noble Woman (Sarah) gave birth to the other. ²³The son born to the slave woman was born because of broken desires, by trying to force Creator’s promise to come true. The son born to the free woman was born because Creator himself made the promise come true.

^24-25This story reveals a deeper truth. These women represent two peace treaties between the Great Spirit and his people. One peace treaty was made from Mountain of Small Trees (Mount Sinai), where our tribal law was given. This mountain is in Land of Wanderers (Arabia) and is represented by Wandering Woman (Hagar), whose children are all born into slavery. Wandering Woman (Hagar) also represents the present-day Village of Peace (Jerusalem), for this village and its people remain in slavery.

²⁶But the Village of Peace (Jerusalem) from the spirit-world above is represented by Noble Woman (Sarah), the free woman. This Village of Peace (Jerusalem) is our mother, and we are her children, born in freedom.

²⁷For it is written in our Sacred Teachings, “O childless woman who has never given birth or felt the pains of childbirth, dance for joy and shout as loud as you can! For the woman who was barren has more children than a woman with a husband.”19

²⁸Now you also, my sacred family members, are children born of promise. For it was by Creator’s promise that He Made Us Laugh (Isaac) became the child of Father of Many Nations (Abraham).

²⁹At that time the one who was born from broken desires hunted down and brought trouble to the son born of the Spirit’s promise. The same kind of thing is happening today from our own Tribal People.

³⁰But what do our Sacred Teachings tell us? “Send the slave woman and her son far away. For the son of the slave woman cannot share the family blessings with the son of the free woman.”20

³¹So then, my sacred family members, we who trust in the Chosen One are not children of the slave woman but of the free woman.

THE THING THAT MATTERS MOST

⁵But through the Spirit we keep trusting in the Chosen One for good standing and aim our hearts toward Creator’s right ways. ⁶So then, in Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One, whether or not you participate in the cutting of the flesh ceremony does not matter. What matters is walking out our faith on the road of love.

⁷You were walking in a good way. Who talked you out of following the path of truth? ⁸That counsel did not come from the one who called you to follow him. ⁹It has been said, “A little yeast will spread through the whole lump of bread dough.”

¹⁰But I am sure that our Honored Chief will bring you back into agreement with the truth. As for the one who is troubling you, whoever he is, his ways will come back on his own head.

¹¹My sacred family members, if I still teach that the cutting of the flesh ceremony is needed, then why am I under attack? If that is what I truly teach, then the story of the cross of the Chosen One would make no one stumble. ¹²If only those false teachers who are trying to force their way on you would go the whole way and cut it all off!

FREEDOM TO LOVE AND SERVE

¹³But you, my sacred family members, have been called to walk in freedom. Do not use this freedom to walk in weak and broken human ways. Instead, walk in love and serve each other. ¹⁴For all of our tribal law finds its full meaning and purpose in this one instruction, “Love your fellow human beings in the same way you love yourself.”21 ¹⁵If you keep on acting like wild animals, biting and snapping at each other, watch out! You may end up wiping each other out!

WALKING WITH THE SPIRIT

¹⁶So I say to you, if you keep walking by the Spirit’s guidance, your weak and broken desires will no longer lead you down the wrong path. ¹⁷For our broken human desires go against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit go against our broken human desires. They are at war with each other, and this struggle keeps you from doing the things you want to do. ¹⁸But if you follow the guidance of the Spirit, you are not under tribal law. You have been set free to follow the Spirit!

THE WRONG PATH TO FOLLOW

¹⁹We all know the things our weak and broken human ways lead us to do, things such as walking in impure ways, giving in to dark desires, ²⁰following after spirit-images, and participating in witchcraft. Also hostile ways such as fighting, jealousy, lashing out in anger, arguing and making trouble, and dividing into opposing groups. ²¹Our broken ways also lead us to want what belongs to others, to become drunks, and to participate in wild parties. It is things like this that I am warning you about. For I have already warned you that the ones who walk in these ways will not share in the blessings of Creator’s good road.

THE FRUIT OF WALKING WITH THE SPIRIT

²²On the other hand, if we follow the guidance of the Spirit, our lives will bear good spiritual fruit. The Spirit will grow in us the fruit of love and joy, peace and patience, kindness and goodness, faithful hearts, ²³gentle ways, and self-control.

Our tribal law has nothing to say against those who walk in these ways. ²⁴For the ones who belong to Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One have nailed their weak and broken humanity to his cross. This puts to death all their wrong desires and broken ways.

²⁵Since our life comes from the Spirit, let us dance in step with the Spirit and follow the Spirit’s guidance. ²⁶In this way we will not become big-headed troublemakers who are jealous of each other.

CALLED TO BE BURDEN BEARERS

¹My sacred family members, if someone among you has given in to broken ways, you who are guided by the Spirit should lead this person back to the right path in a spirit of gentleness. But keep a close eye on yourselves, for you may be tempted to do the same kind of thing. ²Bear each other’s heavy burdens, this way you are walking a path that brings full meaning and purpose to the law of the Chosen One. ³The people who see themselves as something when they are nothing have become their own trickster.

⁴Each one of you should take a good look at your own deeds. Then you can feel honor in the good you have done without comparing yourself with others. ⁵For all of us have our own burden basket to carry.22

GOOD AND BAD SEED PLANTING

⁶The ones who are instructed in the message of the Chosen One should share all good things with their teacher.

⁷Let no one mislead you. You cannot make a fool of the Great Spirit. Whatever you plant is what you will harvest. ⁸If you plant the seeds of your own broken humanity, you will harvest only death and decay. But if you plant the seeds of the Spirit, then from the Spirit you will harvest the life of the world to come that never fades away, full of beauty and harmony. ⁹Never grow tired of doing what is good. For when the time is right, we will reap a harvest of good things as long as we do not let our hearts fall to the ground. ¹⁰So then, whenever we are able, we should do good to everyone, and most of all to the members of our sacred family.

FINAL WORDS TO REMEMBER

¹¹Take a good look at the large letters I use to write to you with my own hand! ¹²These men who try to force you into participating in the cutting of the flesh ceremony do so for the wrong reasons. They do not teach the full meaning of the cross of the Chosen One out of fear of being hunted down and harmed by their own Tribal Members. ¹³For even those who have participated in the cutting of the flesh ceremony do not themselves keep our tribal law. They only want you to participate in the ceremony so they can brag to others about what they did to your body.

¹⁴May I never brag except in what our Honored Chief, Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One, has done by dying on the cross. For I was nailed to the cross with the Chosen One. That is how I died to the ways of this world and how the ways of this world died to me. ¹⁵So it no longer matters whether one participates in the cutting of the flesh ceremony or not. What matters is that you are a new creation in the Chosen One.

LAST WORDS

¹⁶May peace and mercy rest on all who walk true to this way of seeing and thinking, and on the people of the Great Spirit who together form the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel).

¹⁷Last of all, let no one trouble me any longer, for on my body I bear the scars that mark me as a follower of Creator Sets Free (Jesus).

¹⁸My sacred family members, may the gift of the great kindness of our Honored Chief, Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One, guide your spirit on the road of life.