Gift from Creator Tells the Good Story 3
3
GIFT OF GOODWILL
1In those days a man named Gift of Goodwill (John) appeared in the desert places of the Land of Promise (Judea). He began to speak out a message that was loud and clear, 2“It is time to return to the right ways of thinking. Creator’s good road from above is close. It is time to begin walking it.”
3The prophet Creator Will Help Us (Isaiah) told about him long ago when he said, “A voice is howling in the desert, ‘Clear the pathways! Make the path straight for the coming of the Great Chief!’#3:3 Isaiah 40:3”
4Gift of Goodwill (John) came wearing a buffalo robe, with a deer-hide#3:4 Lit. garments of camel’s hair and a leather belt sash around his waist. The food he ate was grasshoppers and wild honey.
5The people were coming from Village of Peace (Jerusalem), from all over the Land of Promise (Judea) and the territory surrounding the river Flowing Down (Jordan). 6They came admitting to their bad hearts and broken ways and participated in the purification ceremony.#3:6, 11, 13 Baptism
SPIRITUAL LEADERS WARNED
7When he saw the Separated Ones (Pharisees) and Upright Ones (Sadducees) in the crowd watching, he cried out to them, “You nest of poisonous snakes! Who warned you to run and hide from the coming storm? 8You are like trees without fruit. Prove to others, by the way you live, that you have returned to the good road. 9Do you think you can say, ‘Father of Many Nations (Abraham) is our ancestor’? Do you not know the Great Spirit can make these stones into his children? 10The tomahawk is already at the root of the trees, and the ones that have no good fruit will be cut down and tossed into the fire.
PURIFICATION CEREMONY WITH FIRE
11“I perform the purification ceremony with water, for the ones who have returned to the right way of thinking. But there is one you do not know, who is right here with you, and even though he comes after me, he is much greater. I am not even worthy to bend down and untie his moccasins. He is the one who will perform the purification ceremony with the fire of the Holy Spirit! 12His harvest basket is in his hands, to separate the grain from the husks. He will store the good grain in his barn, but the husks he will burn up with a fire no one can put out.”
THIS IS MY MUCH-LOVED SON
13Gift of Goodwill (John) then looked up and saw Creator Sets Free (Jesus) wading out into the water of the river Flowing Down (Jordan). He had come from Circle of Nations (Galilee),a journey of many days, for the purification ceremony, 14but Gift of Goodwill (John) tried to stop him.
“Why are you coming to me?” he asked humbly. “I am the one who should come to you.”
15“This is the way it should be, for now,” Creator Sets Free (Jesus) answered. “It is the right thing to do,to bring honor to the ways of Great Spirit.”
Gift of Goodwill (John) agreed to perform the ceremony. 16As soon as Creator Sets Free (Jesus) came up from the water, he saw the sky open. The Spirit of Creator came down like a dove and rested on him. 17A voice from the sky spoke like distant thunder, “This is my much-loved Son, who makes my heart glad!”
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