One Story

God

Psalms 139, Acts 17

This is a story about God.
Who is God?
He is the one who made the earth and everything in it, and he is the boss of heaven and earth.
He, the Lord, made everything. If he made everything,
do you think that he has to live in a little building that someone made?
Not at all! Not him. He doesn't have to do that.
He doesn't need people to do anything for him.
He doesn't have any sort of needs. He's in need of nothing.
He's the one who made us and gave us life.
And he is the one who gives us what we need.
Out of one man, he made everyone in every country.
He knows what we want before we want it, and he knows what is going to happen before it happens.
And He knows what is going to happen in every country and every life.
And he does all of this so we can look for him
and find him and make Him the king of our life.
And do you know? He is not far from us.
He is very close to each one of us.

Angels

Let me tell all of you a true story about when God threw some of the angels out of heaven.
Long long long time ago, before God had made the world,
he alone was there.
Anyways, he made the angels.
And he made the angels to worship him and do what he told them to do.
When he started to make the world, the angels made noise and jumped because they were so happy that he was making the world.
Anything that God did, they just worshipped him and gave him praise constantly.
Anyways, the angels, God gave them a position.
But some of them didn't want the position that God gave them.
So they did wrong and left the jobs God gave them, so God threw them out of heaven.
Those that he threw out of heaven, they are called demons or evil spirits.
And he threw them in a place called hell. Now if you don't know what hell is,
hell is a place where people suffer--the fire never stops burning.
You never stop crying when you go to hell because you keep burning.
But Satan was the demon leader for all the angels that God threw out of heaven.
And he didn't like God--God was his enemy, because he always tries to turn against God
and turn people against God, too.
He and the demons always go around in the earth up to now and do all kind of bad things to people and destroy their lives.
And he tries to make them do what God says not to do
and makes people suffer.

Creation

Genesis 1

This is the story about how God made everything.
A long, long time ago, there were no people.
So we know what happened because God told the prophets long ago. Do you know what a prophet is? Prophets are people that God talks to, and they tell others what God said.
In the beginning there was nothing at all here, nothing at all, except God and His Spirit.
And then God looked and said,
"I want to see some light"
And then he separated the light from the darkness.
And then he split up the water from the land. He pushed the water in one direction, and the land was dry.
Next, he made plants, all different types of plants, he made to grow on the earth.
And then he said, "I am going to make the sun and the moon and the stars to shine down." And he did that.
After that, he put fish in the waters. All types of fish he put in the sea.
And then he made all types of birds to fly in the air.
The next thing he did was make all kinds of animals:
All kinds of animals he made.
Then he made something called man.
He said, "I'm going to make man to be like me." And so you know what he did? He bent down
and he took some dirt in his hand, and he rubbed it and shaped a man
and made the man to be like him.
But then he went near to him and blew into his nostril. So he started to breathe, and man started to live.
And then he put man in a place called Eden.
Eden was a very big garden, filled with lots of things. All kinds of trees and plants
And He put the man who he called Adam in there.
And you know when you have a lot of trees there are some things that need to be taken care of.
So he said to Adam, "I want you to look after the garden."
Then one by one, he brought the animals to Adam,
He brought all the animals to Adam to name them,
and one by one, Adam gave them all types of different names.
And after a while Adam looked around and saw that none of them looked like him.
So then God said, "I want Adam to have someone to keep him company and help him."
So do you know what he did? He made Adam fall asleep.
And when he was fast asleep, he opened his side, and he took a rib out of Adam's side.
And with the rib, he made something that looked almost like Adam called a woman.
And later, Adam called the woman Eve.
And Adam was happy, so happy. He was glad that he had somebody that looked just like him.
And Adam and Eve were as naked as when they were born.
But they did not even know. They did not feel any way about it. They were not ashamed.
Then God looked
at the animals, He looked at the fish, He looked at the birds.
He looked at all the trees.
Oh, God was glad! He was too glad when He looked around and saw all of the things.
And then, because it took God six days to do all of that,
on the seventh day, he just rested from everything he made.

Curse

Let me tell you a story about Adam and Eve. In the Garden of Eden where Adam and Eve lived,
God put two special trees in the middle of the Garden.
The Tree that makes you know wrong from right and the Tree of Life. And He warned them
not to eat from the Tree that makes you know wrong from right, or else they would die.
Now out of all the creatures that God made, none of them were as crafty or bad as the serpent.
One day when he was talking, he asked the woman,
"What? God really said you all were not to eat any of the fruit in this garden?"
So the woman said, "That is what I'm telling you. He said
we are free to eat of all of them except for the tree in the center of the garden.
Because the day we eat from that tree, we will die.
So the Serpent told her, "Listen. Don't bother with Him at all. That is not true.
He knows that the day that you taste this tree
you are going to know everything just like him."
Now the woman saw the fruit and it looked so pretty.
She sunk her teeth into it. And who told her to do that?
Her eyes opened wide and she passed it to Adam, who was right there with her.
And he also tasted it.
Immediately, his eyes opened.
And the two of them realized they were naked just like they were born.
So they went and took some leaves
and made an apron and covered themselves.
During the cool of the day, God went into the garden
and that is the time He went down to talk to Adam and Eve.
They went to hide themselves in the bushes.
So this day, when He was walking in the garden,
He started to call out, "Adam, where are you?"
So Adam said, "We are hiding
because we are naked."
So God said, "Naked? Who told you that you are naked?"
So Adam said, "It's not my fault, you know, because
this woman that you gave me gave the fruit to me and I tasted it
And Eve said, "Don't blame me!
It's the serpent here who tricked me, so I ate it."
So after they were blaming each other, the Lord turned to the serpent
and He said, "Because you made these two people that I created
to disobey me, you know what I'm going to do?
You and this woman will be the biggest enemies from this day
and her children will crush your head and you will bite their heel."
Now the reason God said this
was because He knew the serpent was none other than Satan,
the King of all the demons.
After that, God turned to Eve and said,
"The kind of punishment I'm going to give to you is whenever you bring children into the world, you will suffer.
You are going to suffer a lot.
And this man beside you will rule you."
After that, God turned to Adam and said,
"Because you chose to listen to this woman
rather than me, do you know what I'm going to do.
In order for you to get a little food,
you're going to have to sweat.
Sweat day and night in order for you and your family to get a little something for you to eat. And you'll have to work hard til the time comes for you to die. Yes, you will die."
Then God
got some animal skin.
And with the animal skin, he made two aprons to cover them.
Then God said, "The people, Adam and Eve, are just like us now.
And they know right from wrong good from bad
and if the day that they eat from the Tree of Life,
they are going to live forever.
And God turned them out of the garden.
And to stop them from ever entering the Garden again,
He placed a big angel at the entrance to the Garden.

The Flood

This is a story about Noah and the big boat God told him to build.
Now after God threw Adam and Eve out of the Garden,
they started to have a lot of children, their children had children, and so on. So a lot of people came on the earth.
But they were very very wicked, and they just got more wicked.
And it really upset God because he made people. He was sad that he made people, and it hurt him.
But there was this one man named Noah who God loved.
He did what God said, and made God the King of his life. And God was happy with him for that.
But wickedness was still on the earth, and it angered God. So after God couldn't take the wickedness anymore, he told Noah, "Noah, I want you to build a big boat.
Because I cannot take the wickedness on this earth any longer
because people are too wicked, and I'm upset that I made them.
So this is what I want you to do.
I want you to take your wife, your sons, and their wives
and two each of each animal, the man and the woman.
All of you go in the big boat, because I am going to destroy this earth with rain because I can't take the wickedness any more.
And I'm going to save all of you.
And this is what I want you to do. Build a big boat, and I'll tell you how to build it.
I want a window near the top,
I want a big door.
And I want you to build it in three parts--I want a top, middle, and bottom part.
So Noah built it just how the Lord said.
When the boat was finished, God told Noah to go into the boat.
So Noah, his wife, his children and their wives,
two each of each animal, the man and the woman that he said he wanted in there because he'd save everything in the boat--all of them went into the boat.
And God was the one that closed the door.
And then rain just started to fall. It rained and rained and rained
until the water started to come up
little by little
until it got so high that it pushed the boat off of dry land.
And there was just water all around the boat.
But everything else around that was not inside of the boat was dead.
All the beasts, all the persons who were not inside of the boat, all of them got destroyed and died. So it rained for days, and they were in the boat for days.
But God remembered the promise he made to Noah and his family.
And the boat rested upon a mountain
because the rain stopped. So Noah and his family waited, and the water started to go down a little.
So Noah sent out a bird to see if it could find any land.
So the bird came back after a while, and Noah knew that it didn't find land because if it found land, it wouldn't come back.
So he had the bird rest and they waited. So Noah sent it again.
And this time, he went and he came back, but this time he had a branch, so Noah knew that land was near.
So Noah had it rest again, then after a while, he sent it out again, sent out the bird again.
And Noah waited and waited and waited, but it did not come back, so Noah knew it had to find somewhere to land. So Noah knew land was near. And the water was going down.
Until God told Noah, "It's time to come off the boat now, you and your family."
So they came off the boat
and Noah and his family praised God.
And God told them, "I want you all to have children again,
that I can put people on this earth, since I killed off the wicked ones."
And I'm putting a rainbow in the sky.
It is a sign so you remember what I did.
And God said,
"I'm not ever going to destroy the earth with rain again."

Abraham

Come, let me tell you a story of Abraham, a man who trusted God and did what He told him to.
After the flood--remember the story about Noah and the flood? Noah and his family started to have children.
Now Noah's children then had children, and it just continued like that til the whole Earth was full of people. And a long time later, a man named Abraham came from Noah's family.
Abraham's wife was named Sarah, and he had a nephew named Lot. They lived together with their whole family.
And Abraham and his wife Sarah didn't have any children. And one day, God said to Abraham,
"Go. Go from where you're living. Leave your family, and I'm going to bless you.
Your family will be a large nation and a strong nation.
And I'm going to make your name famous, and I'm going to bless everyone because of you."
So Abraham, Sarah, and Lot, left where they were
and went until they reached a land called Canaan.
When they reached Canaan, God told Abraham, "You see all this land? This is going to be for your family."
So Abraham, his wife, and his nephew lived there in Canaan.
They started to get rich and they started to get a lot of animals and more people that worked for them.
And they got so much that the place became crowded and you know what they started to do? The people started to fight.
So Abraham told Lot to look around and choose where he wanted to go, and he, Abraham, would go in the opposite direction.
So Lot looked around, and he saw the green land, a nice piece of land, and you know he chose that land.
So Abraham just went the opposite way, and later, God told Abraham, "I'm going to bless you. I'm going to bless you a lot."
So Abraham was wondering how God was going to bless him when he didn't have one single child,
and there was nobody to get the blessing when he was dead. So God told Abraham,
"I'm going to bless you and Sarah with a male child. Just look at the stars in the skies." That's what God told him. God said, "Your family is going to be larger than that."
Abraham had a lot of faith and believed what God said.
So God saw him as a good man because he had so much faith, and this made God very happy.
But Sarah, she took the matter into her own hands.
She knew she couldn't get pregnant.
So she brought her maid to her husband told her maid to sleep with her husband so they could have a child. Now that kind of thing happened in those days and people didn't think it was wrong.
So Abraham slept with the maid, and they had a male child.
But that wasn't the child that God promised. So God told Abraham,
"I said I'm going to bless you. I'm going to give you a big family.
A big nation, and even kings are going to be in that family."
And later, God told him, "A year from now, you and Sarah are going to have a child."
So Sarah was home, and she heard when God told Abraham that they were going to have a male child.
So Sarah started to laugh a lot to herself and said, "I'm old! I can't have a child."
But just like that, Sarah got pregnant and she had a male child.
And she called him Isaac, which means laughter.

Isaac

Now this is a story about Isaac.
Now remember that God told Abraham that when his wife Sarah was old, they were going to have a boy child.
The same thing happened. When Sarah was old, they had a boy child, and they named him Isaac.
Now when Isaac was still a boy, God tested Abraham
to see how much faith he had and how willing he was to obey him.
So he told Abraham, "Abraham, I want you to go up to a mountain--Mt. Moriah--
and sacrifice your son. Yes, your only son, that boy child which you love so much.
I want you to offer him as a sacrifice--I want you to kill him, burn him, and offer him as a sacrifice to me. "
Back then, people used to offer sacrifices to God for different reasons.
They used to get animals, sheep and goats and so on, and kill them and burn them and offer them as sacrifices to God so He can be pleased.
Now when God told Abraham this, he didn't even question God.
He just started to get everything ready for the trip to Mount Moriah.
He got the wood, he got the knife, he got something to light the fire, he got some of the men who worked with him,
he even got his son and he got a donkey and they started on their way to the mountain.
Now when they got closer to the mountain, Abraham told the men who worked for him,
"You stay here with the donkey and Isaac and I are going to go on top of the mountain to worship God and when we are finished, we'll return here to meet you."
So then Abraham gave Isaac the wood to carry and he got the knife and the thing to light the fire and they started on their way to the mountain.
Now while they were on their way, Isaac said to his father, "Daddy, I see we have everything for the sacrifice.
I see we have the wood, we have something to light the fire, but I don't see the lamb for the sacrifice."
So Abraham told him, "God is going to give us a lamb to sacrifice, so don't worry."
So they continued to walk and when they reached the top of the mountain, Abraham took the sticks to make the fire.
And he tied up his son and as soon as he raised his hand, just about to cut his throat...
At the same time, an angel from God came and told Abraham, "Abraham, no! Don't kill your son!
Now I see that you love God so much that you're even willing to sacrifice him for God."
Then Abraham looked up and he saw a sheep tangled in a bush.
So Abraham took the sheep. He killed him and burned him and offered him as a sacrifice to God instead of his son.
So the angel said, "This is what God says.
Because you love me and obey me so much, I'm going to make your family a big nation.
And everyone in the world is going to be blessed because of you."
So Abraham and Isaac returned to the bottom of the mountain and they met up with the men who worked for Abraham, then they went home.

Joseph I

I'm going to tell you a story about Joseph. Remember Isaac, Abraham's son? Well he had a son named Jacob, and Jacob lived in a land called Canaan.
Jacob had two names---Israel and Jacob---but most people called him Jacob.
Now he had twelve sons, and out of the twelve sons, he loved one the most
because he had him in his old age. His name was Joseph.
Now Joseph looked after the animals in the field
and brought back news to the father about what his brothers did.
Now Jacob loved his son so much that he made a beautiful coat for him.
A nice, fancy, long coat for him to wear.
Now the brothers were jealous because Jacob made the coat for Joseph, and they hated him.
Now one day, Joseph had a dream and he told his brothers about it. He said,
"One day, we were out in the field, gathering the plants when all of a sudden,
my plant stood tall but your plants were bowing down to my plants."
So the brothers asked him, "What is the meaning of this? Are you going to rule us? Who do you think you are?"
Now because of Joseph's dream, they hated him even more than before.
So one day after that, the brothers went to a far land to feed their animals, and Joseph was with his father
and his father sent him to see what his brothers were doing. While Joseph was far off,
the brothers saw him coming and then they said, "Don't you see that the dreamer is coming?"
So they decided that they would kill him, throw him in a hole, and go home to tell their father that a wild animal had killed him.
So when Joseph came, they took off his coat, threw him in a hole, and left him there. Imagine that! They threw their own brother in a hole and left him there to die.
Now just as they were sitting, eating their food, they saw a group of men who sold and traded things to people.
And they said, "Rather than having him bothering our conscience, we won't kill him.
We are going to make some money off of him by selling him to these men as a slave."
So they sold him to the men as a slave, and when the men reached Egypt, they sold him to a man named Potiphar.
Now while all this was taking place, the brothers took Joseph's coat
and killed a goat and threw the blood on the coat so it looked like a wild animal killed Joseph. And they took it to their father, and said, "Daddy, we found this coat.
We think it was Joseph's."
So the father was upset and heartbroken because it was his favorite son that died.
Now while Joseph was a servant at Potiphar's house, Potiphar realized that everything that Joseph did turned out good because God was with him.
So Potiphar made him the boss over everything he had.
Now Joseph looked good, and because Potiphar's wife was wanting him, she begged Joseph to have sex with her.
So Joseph said, "No, I can't have sex with you because your husband placed me in charge of everything that he owns.
And the only thing that he didn't put me in charge of is you, and if I have sex with you, I'm going to sin against God (i.e. do wrong and hurt God)."
So after that, the wife was still begging Joseph to have sex with her.
When Joseph realized what was happening, he started to avoid her.
Then one day, when Joseph and Potiphar's wife were alone in the house, the wife grabbed him and said, "Come and have sex with me NOW!"
And Joseph tore away, and just as he was running away, his shirt came off in her hand. And he ran out of the house.
Now when Potiphar's wife realized that Joseph ran away,
she started to make noise, calling the servants, saying, "Come here! Come here!"
She started to lie about Joseph and say, "My husband brought a servant here in my house and he came into my bedroom
and tried to rape me. Don't you see that I have his shirt in my hand to prove that he tried to rape me?"
Now when Potiphar heard all this, he was very, very upset.
So he found Joseph and threw him into jail, even though he didn't do anything wrong.

Joseph II

This is the story about Joseph and his brothers.
Even though Joseph was thrown into prison for something he didn't do, God was still with him.
God was so much with him that they put him over all the prisoners.
One day, two of the prisoners had dreams, and Joseph was able to interpret the dreams that they had because God was with him.
He told one of them, "This dream means that you'll come out of prison and get back your old job.
And for you, this dream means that you are going to die."
And just like how Joseph said it was going to happen, it happened that way.
A couple of years after that, the king of Egypt had a dream, but no one was able to tell him what the dream meant, not even his obeah-men (men who deal with witchcraft and black magic).
So one man said, "I know this man with whom I was in prison, and he was able to tell me what my dream meant."
So the king sent for Joseph out of prison, so that he could tell him what his dream meant.
So when Joseph went, the king said, "I heard that you are the man that can tell everybody what their dream means."
So Joseph said, "It's not me. It's because God is with me why I can tell you what your dream means. So tell me your dream."
So the king said, "In my dream, there were seven big, fat cows that were eating some grass.
Then all of a sudden, seven hard, bony cows came and ate the fat cows. What does this mean?"
So Joseph said, "Boy, the dream means that this land is going to have seven good years
when the people would have everything they want to eat and drink.
But seven years after that, the country is going to go through bad times where nothing is going to be there to eat or drink.
So you know what you need to do? You need to get a smart man to lead the people
and help them to save some of the food in the good years so that when the bad years come, they won't die of hunger."
So after the king listened to him and realized that God's spirit was with Joseph, he said, "You know what? I think I'm going to make you this good man.
I think I want you to help these people to save the food so they won't be hungry in the bad seven years.
I'm going to make you so high that you are going to rule everybody, and the only person that you won't be higher than is me."
So just like that, Joseph moved from being a man in jail
to being a man that ruled over the whole of Egypt.
So everything happened just like how Joseph said it was going to happen. Seven good years were there, and then seven bad years after that.
But during the seven good years, because Joseph made the people save their food,
at the end of the good years, they had so much food that they were able to sell to other lands.
Now when the seven bad years came, all the lands that were around Egypt were going through the bad times, too.
They didn't have anything to eat or drink, so they came to Egypt to buy food.
Now remember Jacob, Joseph's father and brothers? They lived in Canaan.
And Canaan was a place that went through the same bad time where they had no food, no water, nothing.
Jacob sent his sons to Egypt to buy food.
When Joseph's brothers came to him, they bowed down to him because they wanted to buy food, but they didn't know who he was.
But Joseph knew that they were his brothers, but he didn't say anything.
Now remember that they were the same brothers that sold Joseph into slavery
and the same brothers that he told about the dream about them bowing down to him.
So after they bought their food and they went home, they realized that Joseph didn't charge them for the food.
So then after that, they came back to Egypt to buy more food.
But this time, Joseph saw when they were coming and had a big dinner for them
and he still didn't tell them who he was.
So when they reached and had their dinner and their stomachs were full and they were going back home,
Joseph ordered one of his servants to hide his favorite cup in one of their bags.
And he sent them off. When they were a ways off,
Joseph sent his servant to search for his cup in their bags.
So the servant said, "Hey, you all wait! One of you stole my master's cup, and I came to look for it.
So the brothers say, "Us? We are honest men and we would never steal from your master!"
Anyways, the servant still searched their bags and found the cup in one of their bags.
So when the brothers realized that the servant had found the cup in their bag, they were very frightened.
So the servant took them back, and when he brought them back,
Joseph sent everybody out of the room so he and his brothers could be by themselves.
Now when they were alone in the room, Joseph started to cry. After a while, Joseph looked at his brothers and said,
"You don't see it's me? It's ME, Joseph!" After the brothers realized that it was really Joseph,
all of them were frightened because they knew that it was they who sent Joseph to be a servant.
Then didn't know what Joseph was going to do to them. They knew that Joseph was in a position so he could either make them live or die.
But Joseph said, "No, no, no. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. Although I know you betrayed me and sold me to be a slave,
God had a different plan. So everything turned around for the good because
I am now in a big position to help you get food so that you can't die from hunger
so my father's family can continue to grow.
So he hugged them. When the king heard about it, the king told Joseph,
"Joseph, have your father and your family come to live in Egypt."
So Joseph sent for his father and family and they came to live in Egypt.
And Jacob and Joseph's family continued to grow, and after a while, so much of his family was there that you couldn't even count them.

Moses

This is the story about Moses.
Now Jacob was the same person they call Israel.
Now I don't know if you remember him, but he was the one that went to Egypt because there was a drought in Canaan.
After he arrived in Egypt, his children started to have children
until there were lots of them, so they called them the Israelites because they were named after Jacob.
They had a king of Egypt who was afraid of all the Israelites because there were so many of them,
so he made them slaves.
And he made a rule that all the baby male children that belonged to the Israelites had to die because he was afraid of how many Israelites there were.
But the Israelites had a special male child who's name was Moses.
His relatives placed him in a basket in the river to keep him from dying.
Then the king's daughter found him and raised him like he was her own child.
After he became a grown man, he started to walk around. And one day when he was walking around,
he saw an Egyptian beating one of the Israelites
and he didn't like that, so he killed the Egyptian. But after he killed him,
he went away to a distant place because someone saw what he'd done.
After Moses reached his destination, he started to live with a different family
and he was a shepherd. So one day when he was out looking after his sheep,
he saw a bush that was on fire, but it wasn't actually burning.
Then he heard God speaking from the bush and God told him,
"Moses! I want you to return to Egypt to rescue my people."
But Moses started to question himself and to say to himself, "I can't speak!
What can I tell the king? Who am I to go to a king?"
But God told him, "I will be with you and I'm going to send your brother Aaron with you."
So he and Aaron met up and both of them went to Egypt to see the king.
When they went to the king, they told the king, "God says he wants you to let go of his people,"
The king decided he wouldn't do it and in fact, he made them work even harder.
So when God saw just how hard the Israelites had to work and heard them cry out for help,
he told Moses and Aaron "Go back to the king and tell him I say to let go of my people."
So when they went to the king and told them what God said, he still wouldn't let go of the people.
So God told them, "I'm going to do something to make the king let them go, and everybody will see that I am God."
So he made all sorts of bad things to happen.
First, He made the water turn into blood, but the king still said that he wouldn't let God's people go.
God sent a lot of flies all over the place, LOTS of flies (i.e. flies like rice) but the king still said he wouldn't let go of the people.
He even caused a lot of bad storms, but the king still said he wouldn't let them go.
So after God did so many things to pressure the king to release them, the last thing he did
was to make the first male child of all the Egyptians die.
After that, the king just gave up and just begged the Israelites to go. "Just go, just go."
So they left Egypt, all 600,000 of the Israelite families.
And Moses told them that God wanted them to remember that day
So every year, they would celebrate how God protected them and freed them from slavery. And they would call it the Passover.
So after the Israelites left Egypt, the king changed his mind
and sent his army behind them. But when the Israelites reached the Red Sea,
God just opened the waters and let the Israelites pass through. So the water was on the two sides and the Israelites passed through the middle.
But when the king's army came behind them, God just closed back the sea and they were all drowned.
And Moses got to take the people out of Egypt, just like God said.
And all of them started to sing to God and worship Him because God did what He said and took all of them out of Egypt.

The Golden Calf

Now this story is about when God taught the people that they shouldn't worship anyone but him.
Now after God rescued the Israelites from the Egyptians, Moses took them to a place called Mt. Sinai.
Now when they were camping at the bottom of the mountain,
Moses went up to talk with God at the top of the mountain.
Now while he was there, God told them, "I rescued my people from Egypt
and now all they have to do is listen to me and follow my rules
and they're going to be the best people on this earth, as far as I am concerned. I love them a lot."
Now Moses went back to the bottom of the mountain to tell the people what God had said.
And they said,
"We'll do anything that God says. We'll just follow all of his ways and rules." So God gave his people ten rules about how to live for him. And one of the rules said that his people should never worship nothing or nobody but him, God.
So Moses returned to speak to God, but this time he really stayed a long time.
He stayed away forty days and forty nights.
Now while he was with God, God was showing him all sorts of things,
and he gave him a set of rules for the people to follow.
Now while Moses was up the mountain speaking with God, the Israelites began to wonder, "What's going on with Moses? We don't see him."
And they started to say, "Maybe something bad has happened to Moses. What could have happened?"
And they decided in their minds, "You know, we're going to do something. Since Moses is gone, we're going to need somebody else to take over. We're going to need a new god. We're going to need a new god to lead us."
So they started to take off their gold, even the gold they were wearing, and melted it down and made it into the shape and form of a cow.
And you'll never believe what the people did.
They started to bow down and worship the cow, and after that, they had a big party.
Now God, on top of the mountain, saw everything and he was really, really angry. I'm telling you, he was very angry.
God said, "You know, I'm going to kill all of them because they broke my rules. As far as I see, the people are so stubborn!"
Moses said "No, God, no! You can't do that! Remember the promises that you made.
That Abraham's generations would see all the land you promised him.
You can't kill them! You can't kill them!"
And you know what? God listened to Moses. And because Moses prayed to God, He changed His mind.
He didn't kill them all.
But because they sinned, because they messed up, He had to punish them. He had to deal with them.
So on that same day, three thousand of them died just like that
because they worshiped somebody else other than the one true God.
All those people died to pay for their sins.

The Promised Land

This is the story about when God led the people to the land that He'd promised them.
About this time, God told the Israelites to go up and take the land that He'd promised them.
And He would go with them and help them.
Now God had already said that he wanted them to kill everybody that was there because the people that lived there didn't worship God. So God didn't want the Israelites to mix with those people and catch the bad ways of those people and start to worship false gods.
So the people sent twelve men to go look around the place and see what was going on over there
and see how the people there lived.
When they returned, ten of the men said,
"There are lots of giants there.
We can't beat them. We can't get rid of them. We look grasshoppers before them. We can't do it."
But two of the men, Joshua and Caleb, they said, "It's good! We can do it! It's a land that's big, and it's rich and green over there!
We can kill all of them because God is going to go with us."
But because of the bad report by the other ten men, the people believed them.
So they started to mourn and behave badly and ask God
"Why did you bring us out of the land of Egypt if you knew that we were just going to stop here.
Did you bring us here to die? We don't have a chance against those people. They'll beat us."
Because they didn't do as God said, God became very angry.
So God told them, "Since you didn't obey me and do what I said,
you're just going to stop here in this dry, stony place for the next forty years
until everybody is dead except Joshua and Caleb."
And that is exactly what happened. They remained there forty years until everyone was dead except Joshua and Caleb.
And a new set of Israelites grew up.
Then God used Joshua to lead them into the Promised Land.
When they got into the Promised Land, they only killed some of the people that lived there. They didn't kill all of them.
So, they didn't do exactly what God said, because God told them to drive out and kill everyone.
So they settled down in the land that God promised them and lived beside the other people.

Gideon

This is the story about a man named Gideon.
After the death of Joshua and Moses,
the children of Israel began to sin.
So God chose men called judges to lead them.
Every time they chose one and they died, he'd have to go back and choose one of them again,
and so God would have to choose another one again.
But this time the children of Israel were so much into their sin
that he just left them and allowed their neighbors, the Midianites, to overtake them.
When the Midianites came, they would take all they had.
The Midianites stole their crops. Everything they had, the Midianites would take it.
And the Israelites prayed to God and said, "God, send somebody to help us."
So God heard their prayers. So the angel of the Lord appeared to this man they called Gideon.
He was in a hole shaking out some wheat because of the Midianites. He was afraid they would take what he reaped and what he had.
So God told him, "You are a strong man. I am with you." Gideon said, "Look. I heard You brought our people out of Egypt and gave them victory. Why are you allowing the Midianites to treat us like this? The Midianites are destroying us." And so God told him, "I'm going to give you strength. I'm going to make you strong and give you victory over the Midianites."
He said, "Me?
Not me! I'm the least among my people."
And God said, "Yes, you!
I'm going to give you victory over the Midianites for the Israelites.
And I'm going to make you a strong man."
Around that time, the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon. He called all the men from all over Israel. He called men from all over the place (i.e. from the east, the west, the north, and the south). And he gathered 32,000 soldiers, ready to fight.
Gideon said to God, "If you're really going to help me get the victory, prove this to me.
Tonight, I'm going to put some wool out in the open
and I want you to allow dew to fall on the wool but leave around it dry."
And in the morning when he woke up,
dew fell on the wool and around it was dry.
So he told God, "Don't be upset with me. I just want to make sure you'll be there with me.
Now, make around the wool wet and make the wool dry." Who told him to do that!
And the same thing happened.
But God told him, "Look! You have too many men!
If I allow these men to fight and get the victory, they are going to believe that they were the ones to get the victory.
I don't need all these men. I'm going to tell you what to do. All those who are cowards, tell them to go back home.
And Gideon told them, "All those of you who are cowards (i.e. fraidy-fraidy), go on and go back home."
And you know what happened? A lot of them left.
And you know how many men were left? Ten-thousand men were left.
Then God told Gideon, "Gideon, I believe you still have too many men."
And God said, "I'm going to send you down to a stream (i.e. gut) that has running water.
And the men that take water with their hands and lap the water like dogs,
those are the ones I want in the army."
And Gideon sent all the men down by the gut to drink water, and you know what happened?
Only 300 of them took the water in their hands and lapped it like dogs.
The rest of them were kneeling down and drinking, and God said, "Look.
Let that 300 men be the army, and we will win the war with the 300 men."
That was a small amount of people, but that was what God said.
That 300 would be the army
to fight against the Midianites and all the other people around them.
But if you want to see people, there were many people there (i.e. people there like sand,).
There were the Midianites, camels and people all over, but Gideon only had 300 men.
But Gideon said, "I'm going to divide you all into three.
A hundred go with me, a hundred go north, and a hundred go that way." And he gave each of them a trumpet with a pitcher, and a lamp was in the pitcher (i.e. that looked like a flamboux).
"And when we reach the spot where the Midianites are camping,
I'm going to break my pitcher and blow the trumpet.
When you hear me break my pitcher and blow the trumpet, I want you to do the same."
And when Gideon went down there and went he got close to where the Midianites were camping,
he broke his pitcher and he blew his trumpet. And when the others heard, they started to do the same, too.
And the Midianites, they started to get frightened. Scared!
Then started to get mixed up and didn't know what they were doing. They began to fight against each other.
That night, the small amount of people wiped out the Midianites.
And you know what happened? God delivered the Midianites into the hands of Gideon.

Samson

This is the story about Samson in Dialect. After Gideon died, the
Israelites did all sorts of wicked things.
So God allowed a group of people called the Philistines to rule them.
Now there was an Israelite man and woman,
and they never had any children.
So one day, an angel from the Lord went to see the woman
and told her that she was going to have a child. She was going to have a son, in fact.
And this child would be a special kind of child and he would help save his people from the Philistines.
She must never put a razor to his head or cut his hair,
and he must never drink alcohol (i.e. rum).
So she was excited. She ran and told her husband.
And when the time came, they had the baby.
And the Spirit of God was with him.
And God put in him a gift, a gift that he was very strong.
One day, he was walking along a footpath, and a lion rushed out at him.
The Spirit of God came over him, and you know what he did?
He took his bare hands---you heard what I said---his bare hands
and he ripped the lion in pieces!
After that, he became a judge of Israel like Gideon, and he led his people for twenty years.
Then one day, he fell in love with this Philistine woman. Her name was Delilah.
Anyways,
The leaders of Philistine told her, "You know, Delilah,
we want to find out what it is that makes him so strong.
There must be a secret to his strength,
so Delilah, if you could just find out the secret for us,
we will pay you a lot of money."
So one day, she said, "Oh, Samson!
How come you're so strong? What makes you so strong?"
So he just said,
"I'm strong, but if you get seven cords to tie me up,
that will take away all my strength and just make me weak like anybody else."
So when she heard this, she tied him up with the cord
and when he was well tied up, she called out, "Samson, the Philistines are coming!".
And Delilah had some Philistine men hiding in her room.
But before she knew anything, he just opened his arms and was free.
The cords could not tie him up. So she went back to him and said,
"You are mocking me. Why are you mocking me so?
I'll give you a next chance.
Tell me the truth. How come you're so strong?"
Samson said, "If you get some new rope and tie me up, that will make me weak."
So she got the rope and tied him up, and the same thing happened like the first time.
She had her friends waiting in the room
so when she tied him up, they could overpower him
But he just tore the rope apart and freed himself.
So she was very angry, and she said, "I'm going to give you a last chance, Samson.
Tell me the truth. How come you're so strong?"
So he said, "If you put my hair in seven braids and weave them,
that is the way you can trap me. That will make me weak."
So she did the same thing. She weaved his hair,
and then he just pulled himself and freed himself.
So she started to nag him and nag him all the time, asking him what made him so strong.
And he couldn't take it any longer, so he decided, "I'm going to tell her the truth."
He said, "If you just shave my head and I lose my hair---see, razor has never touched my head you know, because I am dedicated to God---
I will just become very weak."
So one day when he was with her and she had his head in her lap, and she rocked him (you know how a woman rocks a man) So he fell asleep. And she called in the men and had the men shave his head. And at that time, the Spirit of God just left him (i.e. flew out of him).
When he woke up and the men came and rushed out to grab him, he found he had no strength.
His power was gone. So they tied him up and dug out his eyes
and they took him a prisoner. They tied him up in chains and took him to this place.
But little by little, his hair started to grow back.
So one day, all of the leaders of the Philistines had a big party
so they could celebrate, and they worshiped their god.
There were a lot of them. In the upstairs section of the building, they had like three-thousand people.
So when the people were half drunk, they said, "Let us call Samson. We want to tease him."
So they said "Let's call him and tease him.
Let's see the man that was so strong." So they called him.
So by this time, Samson's hair had grown back again.
So he prayed to God,
"Just give me another chance. Just one more chance.
Just let me be able to get rid of all these people who dug out my eyes."
After he finished praying, he grabbed on to the two main pillars of the building
and he put his strength into it and he pushed.
When he pushed, the pillars got away and fell down
and all the people came down BOOM. (vocal SFX of building tumbling)
All of them were dead---every last one of them.
And this time,
Samson killed more Philistines than he ever did in his lifetime. And that is the story of Samson.

David's Annointing

I want to tell you a story about David. In those days, they had the Israelites.
There was a great Israelite prophet whose name was Samuel. Do you know what a prophet is?
A prophet is a man who loves God and God loves him.
He talked to God and God talked to him, and whatever God told him to say, he said. That is what a prophet is.
Samuel was a prophet and Samuel had some sons who ruled Israel.
In those days, Israel didn't have any king. They had people who are called judges who ruled the people, like Gideon and Samson.
Those were the people who settle quarrels, and if you had a quarrel, the judges were the ones who said who was right and wrong.
Well, Samuel's sons did that for the Israelites.
After a time, Samuel's sons began to behave badly. They started to take bribes and to give judgments that were wrong.
Instead of judging right wrong, they gave wrong right and right wrong.
The people went to Samuel and said, "Samuel, your sons are not like you.
We want a king. Everybody else around us has a king. We want a king. A king like everybody else.
Samuel got vexed and went to God. He said, "God, what am I supposed to do?."
God said, "Samuel, it's not you they don't like anymore. It's not you they are vexed with.
It's not you they've stopped following (i.e. their minds are turned from). It's me they've stopped following (i.e. their minds are turned from.)
So it's not you they are vexed with. They don't want me to be their king anymore. They don't want me at all.
Anyway, tell them I say if they want a king, they will have a king. But a king is not good for them.
A king will be trouble. Tell them I said that."
So Samuel went back to the Israelites and said, "God said,
You are not supposed to have a king because kings are not good. Kings will not treat you good. Kings will take your young boys and take them to war and kill them. Kings will take the young girls and tell them to cook for them and slave for them. If you have any fields that you plant, when they reap, you will have to give the king some of what you reaped."
But whatever Samuel said about the king, they said, "We don't care.
We want a king like everybody else. Give us a king."
Samuel went back and said, "God, they are not listening to me."
God said, "Samuel, if they want a king, I will give them a king."
So God looked upon Saul to make him king. Saul was a tall man and he had a big stature.
He was good-looking and his face was good-looking (i.e. smooth). Saul looked good and God said, "That is who I'm choosing to be king.
Samuel, go and anoint him. Get your horn and oil and pour it on him."
So Samuel did what God said. He got his horn of oil, he chose Saul to be king, and he threw the oil on his head to show that he was the one God chose. And the Spirit of the Lord entered Saul. And Saul became king.
And Saul tried his best in the beginning. He really tried hard and tried his best.
But after a long while, I don't know what happened to him.
But he started to do all kinds of things. When God told him to do something, he did it halfway. He didn't do it good at all.
He started not to do what God said, he started to do what he wanted to do. And God was sorry he made Saul king.
And the Israelites also started to disobey God. When God told them to do something, they did not do it.
So God took His Spirit away from Saul
because Saul didn't do what he told him to.
So he called Samuel and said, "Samuel, I'm done with Saul. I am going to choose a new king for Israel.
I am going to tell you who he is. He is in Bethlehem.
So what I want you to do is go to Bethlehem and look for Jesse.
Jesse has some sons and it is one of Jesse's sons that I will make king."
So Samuel got up and went to Bethlehem to look for Jesse.
When the people saw him, they knew that he was a prophet and they were afraid of him, because they thought he came to rebuke them (i.e. cuss them off) and tell them they were sinning, so they were afraid.
So when Samuel went, he said, "I did not come to make any trouble. I came in peace.
I just came to do what God told me to do." He told Jesse and his sons to come.
So Jesse came and brought out one of his sons.
The first one was tall. He was handsome. His face was smooth and he was good-looking.
So when Samuel saw him, Samuel said to himself, "That has to be the one that God wants."
But God said to Samuel, "Samuel, not because he's good-looking.
Not because his skin is smooth and he looks so nice. That is not the one that I want.
Because I am not like you. I am not like people. I do not look at the outside.
On the prettiness they have on the outside or how their skin's smooth or all that.
I look at the inside, at the heart, what their mind says, and what their character is.
The inside of the person, not the outside.
So that is not the one I want." So Samuel had Jesse bring another son.
Samuel was now beginning to understand what God meant so he said, "No, not that one."
Jesse brought a third son. Samuel said, "Not that one."
Jesse brought all of his sons, all of them, but Samuel said, "It is none of them."
Then Samuel said, "But Jesse,
you don't have any more sons? That is all of them? Because God told me it is none of these."
Jesse said, "Yes, I have a little boy out in the field minding sheep."
Samuel said, "Bring him to me. I'm not moving until you've brought him to me."
So they brought David. David was young and he looked very nice.
And God said, "That's the one I want to be king."
So Samuel took up his horn of oil,
he poured the oil on David's head, he anointed him, and as soon as he poured the oil on his head,
the Spirit of God entered David.

David and Goliath

This is a story about David and the giant. A long time ago, they had two sets of people living on the same land.
One set was called the Philistines and the next set was called the Israelites. Remember the Philistines? They were the same ones that ruled Israel when Samson lived.
The Philistines thought that they could take on anyone (i.e. bad, bad, bad).
They thought they were stronger than the Israelites.
And they had a big man in their army.
He was very tall (i.e. like a lamppost).
He was so tall that you had to look way, way up in order to see him.
All of the Israelites were afraid of him.
Whenever he came out and looked towards the Israelites side, he told them,
"Send a man. Send a man. And if the man you send over here beats me,
then you can rule us.
But if I beat the man, then we will rule over you. Send over your man. I'm waiting."
The Israelites were very nervous.
When they heard that, they were afraid (i.e. their legs started to tremble)
because they didn't have a man who would go.
Anyway, David was at home and his father said,
"I made something for you to take to your brothers."
So the father sent it with David
because his other children were fighting in this same war but they were on the front lines of the war.
When David went and heard the man come out again
and he began to curse the God that David and the Israelites served,
David got very angry.
And David said, "What kind of man is cursing our God and he does not know the kind of God that we serve?"
So David went to King Saul and told King Saul,
"I want you to let me fight this man. I can fight this man."
And King Saul told David, "You're just a little boy, a child! What do you know about fighting?"
But David said, "Yes! I can fight him!
When I was looking after my sheep, a lion came, and I tore him apart.
A bear came and I just beat him.
The Lord gave me victory over the animals and I know the Lord will give me the victory over this man."
So King Saul said, "OK, OK, Alright." So King Saul gave David his war clothes.
But when David put them on, you should have seen him! David couldn't walk well (i.e. he bobbed and weaved), he could hardly walk. Even the sword that King Saul gave to David (that looked like a machete), David couldn't manage it.
And David said, "Look, I can't manage these things."
So David just went down by the stream (i.e. gut) and got five smooth stones.
And he had something they used to throw stones, they call it a sling. They used them in those days just like we use a catapula.
Yes, David got five stones and went back to where they were fighting.
So David went towards the man, and when the man saw David coming, he said, "What? Do you think I'm a dog? You come to me with a stick to beat me? I'm going to kill you today and feed you to the animals!"
But David said, "You come to me with a sword, but I come to you trusting in the Lord and His power,
and God is going to give us the victory today."
The man began to raise his sword and go towards David.
David just aimed and put a stone in his sling and went ONE--TWO-- BASH!!!
Right in his forehead! And the stone sunk deep into his forehead.
And the giant stumbled over and the giant stumbled over and he stumbled over and fell (i.e. went BIGGY-DING-BIGGY-DING-BIFF!).
And when the Israelites saw this, they started to run after the Philistines.
They chased them and killed all the Philistines.
And they got the victory that day. The Lord gave the Israelites the victory over the Philistines that day.

David and Bathsheba

This story I'm going to tell is about King David and Bathsheba.
Now God made David king over all Israel. You remember how when David was young, he killed the giant?
Well, when David became king, he was very popular and the people liked him a lot because he was a good king.
One time, the Israelites were at war when David was king.
But David didn't go to war to fight at that time. He stayed back in Jerusalem.
One afternoon, he went on his roof and he looked out.
He saw a woman who was bathing, and she was so very very pretty.
So David sent somebody to find out who she was. When they came back, they said, "Her name is Bathsheba. She is the wife of Uriah."
But David still called her, even though he knew she was Uriah's wife, and because he was the king, she had to go.
So she went to David, and David slept with her, and sent her home.
Some time later, the woman sent word to David, "David, I'm going to have a child, and it's yours."
So you know what David did? David decided to send for the woman's husband, who was fighting on the battlefront.
He sent to call Joab---the man in charge of all the men who fought---he said, "Joab.
Send Uriah to me." So Joab sent for Uriah, and he came.
David said, "Uriah, go home, take it easy and relax."
He thought Uriah would return and sleep with his wife, but he didn't.
Uriah stayed outside King David's palace and slept at night with the other servants.
The next morning, King David called Uriah and asked him, "Uriah, why didn't you go home?"
Uriah said, "King David, you mean I should stay home? How could I stay home
when there are men out there on the battlefield, getting killed, sleeping in the pasture.
And while this is happening, I am at home, eating and sleeping with my wife? No, I can't do that! That's not right."
So David said, "Uriah, stay a little while longer." So the next night, he called Uriah again and said, "Uriah.
Come see me." So when Uriah came, he gave him lots of food to eat and lots of liquor (i.e. rum) to drink.
So Uriah ate everything, drank everything, and David thought that when he was drunk, he'd go home and sleep with his wife.
Uriah didn't do that. Uriah stayed outside the palace again and slept with the other servants.
The next morning, David realized that plan just wouldn't work.
And do you know what he did? He sent another message to Joab. And he sent the message with Uriah in a letter!
He said,
"Put Uriah in the worst part of the battle, the part where he's sure to get killed."
So Joab did what David said and put Uriah in the worst part of the battle, and sure enough, he got killed.
Then he sent the message back to David to tell him, "Uriah is dead."
When Bathsheba heard that her husband had died, she was sad, she cried, she grieved for her poor husband.
When she was done grieving, David sent for her.
David married her, and her baby son was born.
But God was very angry with David and what he did
because what David did wasn't right at all. He killed a man just because he wanted to sleep with the man's wife. That wasn't right.
So, God sent Nathan, the prophet, to David.
So Nathan went to see David, and he told David a story.
Do you know what Nathan said? This is how the story went.
"Now there were two people. A very rich man and a very poor man.
The rich man had lots of goats, lots of sheep, you know, lots and lots. And the poor man just had one ewe.
And the poor man really cared for the ewe like it was his child, looking after it, he fed it well, he tried to keep the ewe alive.
One day, a stranger came to the place where the rich man was and the rich man wanted to give him some food and to look after him.
So instead of taking one of his goats or one of his sheep, do you know what he did?
He went and couldn't find anything else to take (figure of speech meaning he didn't bother looking for anything else) but the poor man's only ewe.
And he gave the dressed ewe to his guest to eat.
When David heard the story, he was so angry, very, very angry (i.e. blood flew up to his head), and he said, "What? Someone did this?
Who did that? The person who did that should have to die. He's so wicked, He has to die."
When David said that, Nathan said, "King David, you are the one I'm talking about. You did this."
When David realized this, that what he had done with Bathsheba was the same thing the man had done with the ewe, he felt bad, and David said, "I have done wrong and hurt God."
And Nathan said, "Because of that, God is angry with you. He's going to punish you. That child you had with Bathsheba is going to die."
And David mourned for the child.
David felt so bad and was so sorry for what he did with Bathsheba, he begged God's pardon. And you know David's character? He knew how to say sorry.
He said he was sorry, and God listened.
And God forgave him for what he had done.
But just like the Nathan the prophet said, the child that David and Bathsheba had together died.

Solomon

The story I'm going to tell you is about Solomon. Do you remember the story about David and Bathsheba? Well, the child they had died.
But David and Bathsheba had another child named Solomon.
Now when David became old, he decided his son Solomon was the one he wanted to follow him, so he made Solomon king.
When Solomon became king, one night he went to sleep, and he woke up in his dream.
He dreamt that God told him, "Solomon, anything you want, I will give you. Ask for anything I'll give it to you."
So Solomon said, "God, I'm young, you know.
And I'm trying to rule Israel, your people,
and I'm trying to make the right decision when people come to me to judge what is right and wrong.
I don't know if I can really do it, so I'm going to ask you, God, to give me the kind of mind
so that I can make the right decisions about what is right and wrong." So he asked God to give him that---to give him wisdom.
When God heard Solomon, He said, "I'm so happy with you, Solomon
that you have asked me to help him judge between good and evil, right and wrong.
I'm so glad that's what you've asked for. Because you could have asked for long life, but you haven't asked for that.
You could have asked for plenty riches, and You haven't asked for that.
You could have asked how to kill off your enemies and get rid of them, but you haven't asked for that. I'm so pleased, this is what I'm going to do.
Solomon, because you asked for wisdom and haven't asked for those other things, I'm going to give you all of that and more.
I'm going to give you wisdom so that you can judge between right and wrong, good and evil. I'm going to give you that.
I'm going to give you so much wisdom that people are going to say before you, there was no one like you, and after you, there was nobody better than Solomon.
And when you die, people following you are not going to know half as much as you.
And on top of that, I'm going to give you riches---plenty of money."
One day, two prostitutes came to Solomon with a matter. This is what the matter was about.
One of them said, "It's only the two of us who live together--no one is in the house but the two of us.
And I gave birth to a male child, and a few days later, she also gave birth to a male child as well.
And one night, her child died. Do you know why, King Solomon? In the middle of the night, she lay down on her child!
And when she realized that she had lay on her child, she got up while I was still asleep, King Solomon.
And she took her dead child and put him at my breast
and took my boy child from me and put it at her breast.
So when I woke up in the morning and went to nurse my child, I found that my child was dead. Can you believe it?
And I looked in the child's face in the morning, and I realized it wasn't my child. It was her child."
So then one woman said, "Wait! It's your child who died and the live one is mine. But the other said, "No.
The dead child is yours and my child is alive."
So King Solomon listened to them.
And they continued arguing about whose child was dead and whose was alive, arguing about the matter.
King Solomon said, "You say that the dead child is hers and the living child is yours.
And she says the living child is mine and the dead child is yours. OK."
So King Solomon said, "Guards!!! Bring me a big knife here." So they fetched the knife.
And King Solomon said, "Chop the child in two. Chop the child. And give half to one and half to the other."
Well, when the one who really gave birth to the child and whose child it was,
when she heard that, she said, "King Solomon, don't kill the child. Give it to her. I prefer for you to give her the child."
And just listen to what the one whose child it wasn't said.
She said, "Chop the child up so the child is then neither hers nor mine."
And Solomon, remember I told you that King Solomon was wise and he knows who is right and who is wrong,
and how he has plenty of head understanding and heart understanding.
Well, this is what he said. He said, "Give the living child to the one who said don't chop up the child, because she is the mother of the child."
When everyone heard the wisdom of Solomon and the decision he made, they realized he was a great and wise king. Now God had always wanted Solomon to be the one to build the temple for him.
Well, Solomon decided that he was going to build a temple for God.
So he got all the things and Solomon built the temple.
And God was so pleased when Solomon built the temple that He said, "Solomon, if you do everything I say.
If you don't disobey me but do everything I say,
and don't do what you want to do but do what I want you to do, just like your father David,
I'm going to promise you something, Solomon. Your child, and your children's children, and your children's children's children,
all the way down the line, there's always going to be one of your descendants on the throne of Israel.
They are the ones who are going to rule Israel from now until."
Now God had told the Israelites, "Look. Don't take any foreign women to be your wife,
because when those women come to live with you,
they're going to bring all their false gods and turn you away from me.
That's what they're going to do. So I'm giving you a warning. Don't bring any foreign women in your house."
But after a while, Solomon didn't do what God told him.
And he started to take all kinds of wives from all kinds of people.
He took wives from here and there and everywhere, all types of women. He loved women so much.
Anyways, he brought all the women into his house. And when they came, they came with all their false gods and everything,
they turned Solomon's heart away from God. Solomon did not remember the only true God.
He started to worship other gods and do all kinds of things.
And God decided he was going to punish Solomon. He was angry with him. So God told him,
"Solomon, you haven't done as I told you. So you know what's going to happen?
I'm going to take Israel away from all of you.
But because I like your father, David, I'm not going to take everything away from all you.
I'm going to give you one piece, one small part of Israel, Judah. That's what you're going to have.
And so God divided Israel.
And he just left Solomon's child with one small part called Judah.

Elijah

This is a story to prove that the God of Israel, the God of Abraham, Isaac, is the true God.
After Solomon and David died, Israel was split into two. One
part was Israel and one part was Judah. The northern part, Israel,
rebelled and set up their own kingdom, they made their capital city
Samaria. And the people went to Samaria to worship false gods
like Baal, but they still worshiped God too.
Now one day, they decided to have a showdown because Elijah,
one of the prophets of God, told the people of Israel
that they had to choose between Baal and the living God.
So they decided to have a showdown to prove who had the real
and true god, the god that was going to come through.
So the prophets of Baal, they numbered 450. They decided to go against one man, Elijah.
So you had 450 false prophets against one for God. So the false
prophets went first. They build up some little wood things. They
wanted to see whose god would burn up the wood things with
fire. And they slaughtered a bull and put the bull on the wood
thing.
So they started to call out to Baal, saying, "Baal, Baal, burn up the bull, burn up the sacrifice."
And they called repeatedly, but nothing happened.
And they called until noon.
So Elijah started to mock them and say, "Well, what are you doing?
Maybe he's sleeping. Call on him a little while longer.
Maybe he's on vacation.
Maybe he's gone to the bathroom.
Maybe he's just gone to do something and he's going to return.
Call a little louder and maybe he'll hear you."
So they kept on calling, but Baal didn't answer and the wood just
stayed there and didn't light. And they started to cut up
themselves and danced, but nothing happened.
So Elijah said, "You know, it's my turn now."
And Elijah dug a trench around his wood thing, and he cut up the cow and put it on the wood.
Then he said,
"You all, wet up my sacrifice. Wet up the bull. Get those barrels of water and wet them up.
Wet them up yourselves." So the people really wet the bull.
So they wet up the bull and the water went all around, all on the wood thing.
It was so soggy and wet.
Then Elijah called on his God.
He said, "God, the true living God of Israel,
Make everyone see that you are the true God. Answer me so the people will know that You have brought them back to you."
And all the sudden, the fire came from heaven and started to burn
up everything--the sacrifice, the wood, and everything. It even
burned up the water.
And the people said, "This is the true God."
And they started to worship God.
So then the people grabbed all the false prophets of Baal, and Elijah killed all of them.
And that day, they realized, "Hey.
This is the true, living God." And they started to worship God.
And that day, God's name was exalted.

Micah

This is the story about a prophet called Micah.
Now the people in Israel and Judah began to worship false gods again.
Remember how Elijah was up against all those people who worshiped the false god Baal?
Anyways, the people of Israel stopped following (i.e. stopped noticing) the rules of God.
So God told Micah, a prophet, to warn the people!
(Micah's voice) “Because all of you are sinning so much and not worshiping me, you know what I'm going to do? I’m going to destroy Israel and Judah.
And the country of Babylon will take away the people of Judah and make them slaves because they disobeyed me.
But then one day, I will bring you all back to Israel, back to Jerusalem. And I’ll be the king there, and people will come from all over to worship me.
And everybody there will be safe and live in peace and have enough.
And I will send you a new king, and he will come from Bethlehem in Judah. And he will bring a lot of peace."

Isaiah

This is the story about Isaiah the prophet.
Now, you remember that Israel had been split up into two. The north part was still called Israel, and the south was called Judah.
Well, the king of Israel decided he was going to attack Judah!
So the king of Judah was frightened! But God sent Isaiah the prophet to the king of Judah to give him a message.
Isaiah said, “Boy, don’t worry. Israel will never attack you. Soon, Israel is going to get mashed up."
Then God told the king of Judah to ask him for a sign to prove that what he said was true.
But the king said, “No! I’m not going to test God like that!”
So Isaiah said, “Boy, you’re trying God's patience! Look, God's going to give you a sign. A virgin is going to get pregnant and have a boy, and they’ll call him Immanuel, which means ‘God with us.”
Well, do you know what? When the people of Judah heard that Israel was going to get mashed up, they were happy! Happy that Israel would be destroyed!
But God didn’t like that, so he said he was going to let them get destroyed, too.
But then Isaiah said, "You know, that the hard time won't last forever. A child will be born from David’s family, and his kingdom and his peace will never end. He will be a king that rules with justice forever."

King Hezekiah

Let me tell you a story about a king who will come. Well, Israel got destroyed because they worshiped other gods, just like God said. Another country came and took over.
And some people from that country came and lived in Samaria, the capital of Israel, and they worshiped plenty of false gods.
Some Israelites who still lived there too, and they mixed with those people and married them. And you know what those people did? The worshiped the real God AND false gods.
Well, one day, some big men from Babylon came to visit Jerusalem in Judah.
And the king of Judah welcomed them and even showed them around. He showed them all the treasures of gold and silver in his palace, he showed them everything.
Then Isaiah came and asked him, "Who were those guys? Where did they come from?
The king said, "They were from Babylon."
So Isaiah said, "Well, what did you show them in your palace?"
The king said, "I showed them everything—all my treasures."
So Isaiah said, "Well, listen to this message from God. The time is coming when everything you have—all the treasures you and past kings have stored up—will be carried thru the WILDERNESS (i.e. bush) to Babylon.
Nothing will be left. Some of your own family will be taken away. They will work in the palace of Babylon's king."
But later, Isaiah also said there was good news. He said, "Don't worry.
Listen, One day a voice in the wilderness will start shouting, God is coming, get ready for him, get the road in the WILDERNESS (i.e. bush) ready."
And another time, God told Isaiah to say, "Then a new kind of king will come. He is my servant, and my Spirit will be with him.
He will be a light to guide everybody in the world. And he will free the jailbirds who have been in jail so long.
Later, God told Isaiah to say, "But he’ll have to die.
They'll take him to kill him just like sheep are taken to get killed, but he won’t say anything.
And in the end, I will honor him as a great and mighty man is honored.

Daniel I

This is a story about Daniel.
Do you remember that Israel was split into two---Israel and Judah?
Hardly anyone in this kingdom was doing what God told them to do.
All they were doing was worshiping other Gods and all kinds of things that God didn't want them to do.
Because of this, God allowed other kingdoms to come and destroy them. And the kingdom that destroyed Judah was Babylon.
Now when Babylon destroyed Judah, they sent the people to become slaves.
And out of all the people, they chose the handsome, strong ones to be the slaves to the king.
And in this set of people, there was a man by the name of Daniel. Now Daniel was a good man who lived for God.
After a while, the king had a dream. And no one could tell the king what his dream was or the meaning of the dream, not even his obeahmen (sorcerers). So the king said he was going to kill all the smart men in his kingdom, including Daniel, because no one could interpret his dream.
Then Daniel came and told him, "Do you know what? God can tell you the meaning of your dream because he knows what your future holds."
So Daniel told him what his dream was and the meaning of it. Then Daniel said,
"In your dream, a statue was there that was divided into four parts.
All of a sudden, a big rock came and broke the statue.
And this rock started to grow into a mountain.
Now this dream means four kingdoms are going to be--yours and three others.
And after a while, God's kingdom is going to come and overthrow all the kingdoms of the world.
And his kingdom will never end."
So when the king heard this, he started to respect Daniel and gave him a high position in the kingdom.

Daniel II

This is a story about how Daniel's God took care of him. Now a long time after Daniel told the king what his dream meant, a new king started to rule over Babylon.
Now this king respected Daniel so much that he wanted Daniel to rule over the whole country.
The men who worked with Daniel were very jealous, so they did whatever they could to try and get Daniel into trouble. They tried to bring him down.
Now they started to search and search to try and find anything they could to get Daniel into trouble.
But they realized that the only way they could get him into trouble was if it had something to do with the way he lived for God, because he always lived for God.
So the men went straight to the king. They went to the king and said,
"King,
you're so good, you should make a rule that no one should pray to anyone but you.
So the king made the rule.
And the rule said that if any one prayed to anyone else beside the king, they would be thrown in a hole that was full of lions.
So Daniel heard about the rule, but that didn't stop him. He continued to pray to God like he always did every day.
He opened his window and continued to pray to God. He didn't hide, he just continued to pray to God.
And the same men that encouraged the king to make the law, they saw Daniel praying and went and told the king.
They said, "King, didn't you make a law that said that no one should pray to anybody but you?" And the king said yes.
So the men said, "Daniel is there and he is praying to his God."
When the king heard this, he was upset because he really liked Daniel.
And although he liked Daniel, he had already made the rule that anyone who prayed to anybody other than him would be thrown into the hole with lions.
And a rule is a rule--he couldn't break it. So he threw Daniel in the hole with the lions.
And all the king could tell Daniel was, "Daniel, I hope your God will save you."
And they covered the hole. Now the king went, but he couldn't eat anything
or even sleep because he was so worried about Daniel in the hole.
So early the next morning, the king rushed to the hole and opened it and looked down and
he called, "Daniel, Daniel! Did your God save you?"
Then unexpectedly, he heard Daniel say, "Yes, my God saved me! My God made the lions' mouth close."
And as soon as the king heard this, he just couldn't believe it!
He let them take Daniel out of the hole, and everyone could see that not even a scratch was on Daniel!
So the king got the men, the same men that got him to make the rule in the first place, he got them and threw them into the hole.
And before they could even reach the ground, the lions tore them up and killed them.
And so after that, the king sent a message to all the countries in the world
to say that Daniel's God is the real God and that His kingdom would never end.

Jesus' Birth

This is a story about how Jesus was born. Now, a long time after Daniel died, the Israelites finally got to go back to Israel. Now remember, Israel was the place that God promised to Abraham and his descendants long ago and the same place they called the Promised Land. So after the Israelites returned to Israel,
people started to call them Jews because they saw that a lot of them came from the land of Judah. And they built a new temple, since the old one was destroyed.
And then after a while,
the Romans came and took over.
Around this time, a woman was there whose name was Mary.
Now she was engaged to a man named Joseph.
And he was a good man.
On this day, an angel came and told her,
"You're going to have a male child and you are going to call his name Jesus.
He is going to be the Son of God, and God will make him a king and give him the same kind of power his ancestor (i.e. great-great-great-granddaddy) David had.
And his kingdom will never end."
Now Mary asked the angel
how this was possible because she knew she was a virgin.
So the angel told her, "It is going to happen because God's Spirit and His power will make it happen.
With God, nothing is impossible." And just like he said, Mary got pregnant.
So Joseph, because he realized that he and Mary had never had any sort of sexual relationship, started to doubt.
So Joseph planned to break off the engagement, but then
because Joseph was a good man and didn't want to embarrass Mary, he decided to do it in secret.
So while Joseph was thinking about this, he fell asleep.
And while he was sleeping, an angel came to him and told him in a dream,
"Joseph, this child that Mary is going to have, she didn't get it through a man.
God put the child in her.
You must call the child Jesus because he is going to save the people from all their sins."
So Joseph decided that he would stay with Mary.
But he didn't have a sexual relationship with her until after she had the child.
All this would happen just as God had said a long time ago
through his prophet, Isaiah. He said that the virgin would get pregnant and have a boy child
and everyone will call him Immanuel, which means "God with us."
Now around this time, the Roman ruler set a law
which stated that everyone should return to their homeland in order to pay tax.
Now because Joseph came from David's family, he had to return to Bethlehem
because that was his homeland.
So he and Mary went to Bethlehem.
When they reached Bethlehem, there was no space for them to stay
and Mary was in labor, so they had to find some place to stay.
The only place they could find to stay was in a place full of animals.
So they went in, and after Mary had her child, she placed him in a feeding tray.
Now that night, God sent an angel to the shepherds who were in the field watching their animals.
And he said to them, "Have you heard? I'm bringing good news that is going to make everyone happy.
In Bethlehem today, the king that God promised was finally born!
He is the one that is going to save all the people
and he is there, wrapped up in cloth."
After that, a lot of angels came down from Heaven
and started to praise God with him and to worship Him.
So the shepherds said, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see what the angels were telling us about! And when they went, they found Jesus in a feeding tray.
Afterwords, they went and told everyone about what they'd seen and heard
and they praised and worshiped God because everything had happened just as the angel had told them.

Jesus' Baptism

This is a story about a man who baptized people. Thirty years after Jesus was born, a man named John was preaching in the bush.
His message was, "Turn from your evil ways, stop sinning, and turn to God because He will rule as king."
A long time ago, God told Isaiah---I don't know if you remember Isaiah, but he was a prophet---this is what God told Isaiah to say: "A voice will shout
that God would be coming, so make sure you are ready and get the road ready for him."
Now John's clothes were made from animal fur and he wore a leather belt, and all he ate were locusts and honey.
People from all over came to John to get baptized and to hear John preach.
When they admitted to their sins and said they were sorry, he dunked them in the river.
When he saw the religious leaders coming, he spoke harshly to them and told them, "All of you are a set of snakes that are coming up here.
Show me from the way you live that you have really stopped sinning and have turned to God.
I baptize with water those who stop sinning and turn to God
but somebody is coming soon and is far greater than me,
Someone like me is not even good enough to take off his shoes. He will baptize you with the God's Spirit and fire."
The next day when John was preaching, all of a sudden he looked up and said,
"Look at him there! The one that I was telling you about! There he is coming. He is the one God gave us to take away everybody's sins." It was Jesus he was talking about.
So Jesus went to him and told him he wanted to be baptized, but John said to him,
"I am the one that needs to be baptized by you, so why are you coming to me?"
Jesus said to him, "I have to do it, because I have to do everything the way God says," so then John baptized him.
After he was baptized, Jesus came out of the water and the sky opened
and the Spirit of God came down on him like a dove and settled.
And a voice from Heaven said, "This is my child. I am proud of him and I love him a lot."

Satan tempts Jesus

This is a story about when Satan tempted Jesus. After Jesus was baptized, the Spirit of God led him into the desert so that Satan could tempt him.
Now in the desert, Jesus did not eat for forty days or forty nights, so he was real hungry.
All of a sudden, Satan came to him and told him,
"If you are really God's son
turn one of these stones into bread."
(Jesus voice)(choops) "Listen, let me tell you something.
In the Bible God told Moses this rule: People aren't supposed to live by bread alone
but by everything God says."
So Satan took Jesus on top of the temple to tell him,
"Jump off because you say you're God's son.
And prove who you are by jumping because I know the Bible says
that He will cause the angels to watch over you
and you won't drop because they'll catch you, so just jump off."
(Jesus' voice) "The Bible also says you're not supposed to test God."
So Satan took Jesus on the top of a large mountain and showed him a picture
of every kingdom, every nation, every country,
and told him, "Do you see all this? All of this belongs to me.
All you have to do is to bow down and praise me and I will give you all of these."
(Jesus' voice) "Don't you know the Bible says you can only serve one someone, and that is God. It's only him you should worship and work for.
So just leave me alone!"
After that,
Satan just went away until he got another chance, and the angels took care of Jesus.

Nicodemas

This is a story about a man named Nicodemus. Now after Satan tried to tempt Jesus, Jesus started to do all kinds of miracles.
And plenty of people started believing that he really was the king that God promised.
Around this time, they had a powerful leader.
He belonged to a group of religious leaders, and they called him Nicodemus.
Now Nicodemus waited until night to go see Jesus where he was, and said to him,
"Teacher, we know for sure you are from God
and you are a teacher
because nobody can do the things you do unless God is with him.
So Jesus told him, "Listen. I'm telling you the truth.
Unless you are born over, you cannot see God's Kingdom and have God as the king of your life."
(Nic voice) "How can a man be born again when he is old?
Can he crawl back into his mother's belly and be born again?"
(Jesus voice) "No. Check this out.
You're born the first time from your mother
but the second birth I'm talking about is when
God's Spirit makes your spirit have life.
After this happens, that's when you can see God's kingdom."
(Nic voice) "How is this possible?"
(Jesus voice) "You are a teacher of Israel and do not understand these things?
God loved everybody so much, he sent the only son he has to the earth
so that anybody who believes in his son and trusts that he will do what he says
will not just die. They will have life that lasts forever.
See, God sent his son from Heaven to be a light in the world!

Jesus Heals the Leper

This is the true story of how Jesus made people better.
After Jesus was walking around and teaching the people,
a lot of people started to follow him because he made them better from their sicknesses.
One day, a man came to him.
His skin was covered with sores because he had leprosy.
So he came to Jesus and said, "Jesus, I know you can heal me.
So if you want to heal me, heal me."
So Jesus said to him, "Yes, I want to make you better."
So Jesus stretched out his hand touched him and he got better instantly.
But one day, when Jesus was teaching some people in a house, the house was full of a lot of people.
And some men came to look for him with a friend.
The friend was sick, really sick. He was paralyzed; he couldn't move.
So when they came and saw the house was full of people, they climbed up on the roof
and made a hole in it and put their friend down right in front of Jesus.
And this showed Jesus how much they believed that he could heal their friend.
So he said to the friend, "Friend, I forgive you of all your sins."
After Jesus said that, the religious leaders who were in the house and who really didn't like Jesus at all,
they started to wonder "Who does he think he is? God? Only God can forgive people."
But Jesus knew exactly what they were thinking.
So he looked at them and said, "Why are you all thinking those kind of thoughts.
Which one do you think is better? For me to tell him to get up and walk or for me to forgive all his sins?
But just so you can know I can do both because God gives me the power, watch this!" So Jesus turned to the man and said,
"Get up and walk. Take up your rug and go to your house.
So just like that, the man got up, took up his rug, and went his way.
All the people in the house were surprised because they had never seen anything like that.

The Lord's Prayer

This is a true story I'm going to tell you about the Lord's Prayer.
Lots of people were following Jesus, so you know what he did?
He went on a mountain and sat down and started to teach them.
He even taught them how to pray.
He told them not to be like the people on the street corners who just want to show off so people can see them
and those in the church who just pray really loud so that people can hear them
and those who repeat the same thing again and again.
Jesus told them to pray like this:
"Go by yourselves, close your door, and speak to God,
and He will hear you and reward you." That's what Jesus said.
Then this is what he said next. "Let me give you a way to pray." So he started like this.
"Our Father in Heaven, make everyone respect you because you are the holy one.
Come set up your kingdom down here and we want you to be our King.
Do what you want to do on the earth
the same as it is done in Heaven.
Give us our food for today,
forgive us for the wrong that we do
the same as we pardon those who do wrong against us.
Don't let me go anywhere I'll be tempted to sin,
and save us from Satan."

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

This is a story from the Bible about when Jesus fed a lot of people.
This story starts when one of Jesus' friends died. Remember John, the one that baptized Jesus? Well, the king had somebody chop off John's head.
When Jesus heard the news, he decided to go in a boat with some of his followers just to spend some time by themselves.
When they got out of the boat, they suddenly saw a huge crowd of people following them.
The reason they were following him was because they'd heard about all the miracles Jesus had done, how he'd healed people and so on.
Anyhow, Jesus didn't turn them back. He just taught them about God's kingdom
and he healed their diseases.
Anyways, it was getting late, and one of Jesus followers turned to Jesus and said,
"Jesus, tell these people to go away because it's getting late and there's nothing for them to eat here."
Jesus turned to him and said, "Why don't you feed them?"
But another follower turned to Jesus and said,
"Well, the only thing that we have to eat is 2 fishes and five loaves which a little boy brought along."
And Jesus told his followers, "Tell the people to sit down."
There were about 5000 men, and this amount didn't include the women, so there were a lot of people there.
So while everyone was seated on the ground, Jesus took the 5 loaves and the 2 fishes
and he prayed over the food.
Afterwords, he told his followers to share the food, the bread and the fish,
and as they were sharing the food out, the food just got plentiful.
And everyone had food, and there was even some left.
And the people ate until their stomachs were full.
Jesus then turned to his followers and told them, "OK, pick up the food that was left back."
and after they'd finished picking up the food, they got about twelve baskets of food! Twelve baskets of extra food!
Anyways, when the people saw that Jesus had performed this miracle by feeding all of them with just 5 loaves and 2 fish,
they decided he'd have to be their king. So they decided they were going to make him their king and planned to force him to do it even if he didn't want to.
But because Jesus knew what they were planning, he just went away quietly.

Waterwalk

This is the story about the time when Jesus taught Peter to have faith.
After Jesus fed the five thousand, he went into the mountains to pray because he wanted some time alone.
So he sent his followers to the other side of the water.
So the men got in their boat and started to go.
On their way, the wind started to pick up, and the sea started to get really rough.
And the waves, as well, started to really get rough all around them.
And the boat was going to and fro.
Then they saw something coming toward them, and they said, "Well! What's that?
That looks like a ghost!" When the men looked, they saw somebody walking on the water.
They started to shout out, "Ghost! Ghost! Ghost!"
Then they heard a voice coming from over where the something was, saying, "No!
It's me, Jesus!" And Jesus truly was walking on the water.
And Peter said, "Jesus, Jesus! If it is really you, tell me to come! If it's really you, make me come!"
So Jesus said, "Peter, come, come."
Then Peter went down out of the boat to join Jesus walking on the water.
And then Peter started to walk on the water just like Jesus was walking on the water.
And Peter did well. But all of a sudden he focused on the wind and the waves all around him,
and the wind and water was rough, and he got frightened and he shouted out, "Jesus, Jesus, help!"
And then he started to go under, so Jesus just put his hand out and held him and told him
"Peter, what's up? You started to lose faith! What made you doubt?"
Then Jesus took him into the boat.
As soon as Jesus climbed into the boat, the wind and the waves just stopped and everything got calm again.
Then the men said, "This is the son of God, truly! This is really the son of God."
And the men just started to worship him.

Jesus' Power over Demons

This is a story about Jesus and his power over demons. After Jesus walked on water, he went all over the place healing and teaching people. He did lots of miracles. One day, Jesus was on top of the mountain teaching his three closest followers.
When he came from off of the mountain, he saw a crowd of people arguing.
He asked them, "What are you arguing (i.e. cursing) about?"
Then a man came out of the crowd and told him,
"Teacher, I brought my child for you to make him better. He cannot talk
because a demon is inside of him and stops him from talking
and whenever this demon is inside of him, he throws him to the ground really hard
and makes him start to dribble and grinds his teeth and makes him tense up.
I asked your followers to take it out of him, but they could not do it."
So Jesus said, "(sigh) You people that do not believe.
How long will I have to put up with you?
Just bring the boy for me."
And when the demon saw Jesus, he started to shake the boy and throw him on the ground.
Jesus asked, "Since when is he going on like that?"
The father said, "Since he was a little boy.
The demon always makes him fall into the fire and into the water and tries to kill him.
Have a little mercy on us and help us, please.
If you can do anything, do it!"
So Jesus said, "If I can do something? Once you have faith, anything is possible!"
So then the father answered, "Yes, I believe. But please help me believe when I don't believe."
Then Jesus talked to the demon in the boy and this is what he told the demon:
"Come out of him and don't come back again."
Then the demon in the boy screamed and shook him, then he just came out.
And he looked like he was dead. He so looked like was dead that everybody in the crowd thought he was dead
until Jesus held the boy's hand pulled him up til he got up.
Now everybody was surprised. After Jesus went inside,
his followers came to him and said, "How come we could not do it?
So Jesus told them, "You do not pray enough, and you do not have faith.
Once you have faith as little as a little seed
you can do anything, down to tell a mountain to move."
Later on, Jesus told his followers something else.
"Some people are going to betray me and kill me,
But watch, you see. After I die, three days later I will raise from the dead."
His followers could not understand what he meant, but they did not ask him anything else.

The Adulteress Woman

This story is about when Jesus was teaching us not to judge people.
Jesus was teaching a crowd of people in the temple in Jerusalem.
At the same time, there were a group of religious leaders who did not like Jesus at all.
They tried everything they could to catch him--
they wanted him to say something wrong.
They caught a woman that had sex with a man other than her husband,
and they brought her before Jesus and the crowd of people and said,
"Teacher, we caught this woman having sex with someone other than her husband.
And according to the rules God gave Moses, if you catch anyone having sex with someone other than their husband,
we're supposed to stone them to death.
What do you think we should do?"
They only said that to try to catch Jesus and see what he would say.
Jesus bent over and started writing in the sand.
He didn't say anything---he just started writing in the sand.
Now while he was writing, the religious leaders asked him, "What?
What are we supposed to do? Say something! Say something! What are we supposed to do?"
Now Jesus knew that the religious leaders were right about what the rules said. So after a while, Jesus got up and he looked at them and said,
"Alright. If you want to stone her, stone her.
But which one of you has never sinned, throw the first stone."
After a while, he bent over and continued to write.
And when the religious leaders heard this, they started to think.
All of them started to drop their stones and walked away.
After a while, Jesus looked up and realized everyone had left. It was just he and the woman.
So he asked her, "Woman, where are the men
who were trying to judge you and get you into trouble?"
She said, They're not here. They're gone."
He said, "OK, since none of them judge you, I will not judge you either.
But go and don't sin any more."

The Good Samaritan

This is a story about Jesus teaching us how we should love everyone. The story goes like this.
One day,
a religious leader who really knew his Bible asked Jesus a question because he wanted to trick him.
So he asked him, "So Jesus, what do I have to do to live forever?"
So Jesus asked him, "What does the Bible tell you to do?"
He said to Jesus, "I must love God with everything in me and I should love my neighbor like I love myself."
So Jesus told him, "Do this and you'll live forever."
"So Jesus, who's my neighbor then?" That's what he asked Jesus. Now this man thought that his neighbors were just the Jews.
So Jesus answered him in a story. "One day, a Jewish man was walking down the road.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, some thieves came and stole everything he had.
They took away his clothing, beat him up, and left him at the side of the road to die.
Now while he was at the side of the road, a religious leader from the temple
saw him there and just passed and went about his own business, saying not me.
Shortly after, a worker who worked in the same temple passed by
and saw him there, and he also just left him there and went about his business.
Then, a Samaritan passed, saw him there, and went to go assist him.
Now remember the Samaritans? They were a set of people who the Jews just couldn't agree with. And it was a Jew that had been beaten up and had his clothes stolen and everything! Now back to the story.
The Samaritan went, wiped off the blood, and put him on his donkey.
Then took him to a house where he rented a room
and stayed with him and took care of him til morning.
The next morning, he called the owner and gave the owner some money and told him
"Take care of this man. I'm going to go take care of some things, and I'm going to come back for him, and when I come back and you need more money, I'll give it to you."
So Jesus asked the teacher, "Out of these three men, which one was his neighbor?"
And the religious leader said, "The man that went out of his way to help the Jewish man who was at the side of the road."
So Jesus told him, "Go ahead and do the same thing that man did and be a good neighbor." Well, that is the story of how Jesus taught all of us to love one another.

The Prodigal Son

This is a story about a man with two sons. Jesus was always teaching the people
and sometimes when he was teaching, some people with bad habits would come listen
but the religious teachers did not like that
because they believed that Jesus should not be friendly with those people.
Jesus was telling a story about a man who had two sons.
Now, the youngest son decided that he wanted his share of the things his father had for him,
so he went to his father and told him,
"Father, I'm ready for my share of your belongings."
So his father gave him his share of what he had.
A few days after, he took his belongings and went to a far land.
After he went to the far land, he started to spend off all of his money
on all kind of wildness.
Soon after, he realized that his money was gone
and there was hardly any food in the land because there was a drought at that time.
After he became very hungry,
so he decided to go to a farmer to beg him for a job.
So the farmer sent him out to his land to feed the pigs.
At that time,
even the pig food looked good to him.
So he came to his senses and said, "Wait!
My father's servants eat a lot, til they even have leftovers,
and I am hungry and work in the pig sty.
As soon as I get home, I am going to ask my father for forgiveness
and tell him I've done wrong, and hurt him and God, and I'm not good enough to be his son,
and he should treat me like one of his servants."
So he decided to go home to his father.
While he was on his way home, his father stayed from a long way off and saw him coming.
So his father ran to hug him and kiss him because he missed him.
He told his father, "Dad, I'm really sorry
because I did wrong and hurt you and God, and I'm not good enough
to remain your son." (father's voice) "Wait, wait, wait, servants, all you come!
Bring the best robe and the best ring, and kill the fattest cattle we have!
We're going to have a party!
My son that I felt was dead has come back to life. I'm saying he was lost, but now we've found him.
So then, they started to celebrate.
Now, the older son was out in the fields,
and he stopped and heard all the music.
So he called one of the servants and asked him,
"What is happening?" So the servant told him,
"So you did not hear? Your brother has come home and your father is so happy that he is throwing a party."
So the son did not go in there.
Now after the father realized that the oldest son was out there and he was not coming inside,
he went to him and asked him,
"Son, why won't you come and join the party?"
So then the older son told him, "I have worked all my life for you. I have done everything you have said. I have done everything.
You have never given me even a little goat.
Now he has come back. You have given him the biggest cattle, you have given him a party.
And he went to a far land wasted off all your money
on whores and everything."
"Son, all your life, you've been there right beside me and everything I have is yours.
But today, we have to have a party!
Your brother that we felt was dead, he's come back to life! He was lost, and now we have found him!"

Judgment (Sheep and Goats)

This is a story about the sheep and the goats. Jesus, God's son, was walking with his followers
and one of them asked him,
"When are we going to know when it's the end of time?"
And he told them, "A lot of wars will be there,
earthquakes, drought, and famine,
and the wickedness in men will just be wickeder and wickeder and wickeder.
But the good news about me and my Kingdom---everybody must know about it---
everybody from every city, every town, every nation---they must know about it.
Then the end will come.
I will come and I will have all my angels
and I will sit on my royal seat.
Everybody from every nation, every city, and every town---
all of them will gather and I will split them up
like a shepherd separates his sheep from his goats.
The sheep will be on the right, and the goats will be on the left.
And I will tell the ones on my right,
"All of you who my Father has blessed---Come!
Take what God was getting ready for you for so long!
His Kingdom and everything in it.
Because when I was hungry, you fed me.
When I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink.
When everybody else acted like they did not know me, you took me into your house.
When I didn't have anything much to wear, you gave me clothes.
When I was very sick, you took care of me.
When I was in prison, you came to look for me."
So the ones that God was pleased with say,
"What? When did we see you hungry and give you something to eat?
When did we see you thirsty and give you something to drink? We don't remember that!"
And I will say,
"It's true.
When you help even the poor person on the road,
it's really me you were helping."
So then I will tell the people on the left that God wasn't pleased with,
"Go away. You're going to get all the evil God has for you.
Go into the fire that will never stop burning---
the same one that God got ready for Satan and the demons.
Because when you all saw that I was hungry, you all did not give me anything at all to eat.
When you saw me thirsty, you didn't give me anything to drink.
You behaved like you didn't even see me, like you didn't even know me.
I didn't have anything to wear, you didn't give me anything to wear.
I was very sick (i.e. sick like a dog) and you did not help me out.
I was in prison, and you did not even come to see if I was alright."
So the ones that God was not pleased with ask him,
"When did I see you sick and in prison and did not come to look for you?
I don't remember any of that!"
And I will tell them,
"I'm talking the truth when I say
that when you don't even help anybody,
and you don't even help the poor person on the street,
it was really me that you were hurting."
Then the wicked ones go away to face their judgment
in Hell, in the fire that will not ever stop burning.
And the ones that did what God said, they go and will live forever.

The Last Supper

This is the story of the last supper that Jesus had with his followers. Jesus and his followers decided to go to Jerusalem
and when Jesus start to teach at the temple every day, the religious leaders did not like him at all.
So they decided to think of how they could kill him.
Anyways, they couldn't come up with a plan since they realized that all the people liked him and always listened to everything he said.
At the same time, one of Jesus' close followers, a man called Judas, decided he would betray Jesus.
So he went to the religious leaders and asked them how much they would give him to betray Jesus.
So they decided to give him thirty pieces of silver, and from then on, Judas watched to see the best time when he could betray Jesus.
This week now, Jesus and his followers were celebrating the Passover.
The Passover is when God rescued all the Israelites in Egypt from slavery.
Since then, they hold the Passover every year.
When night came, Jesus sat down with His twelve followers
and while they were eating, he told them, "One of you will betray me."
When they heard this, they felt real bad
and one by one, they asked him, "Is it me you are talking of?"
So he told them, " I have to die just as the prophets said a long time ago.
but lowly is (i.e. a dog is better than) the man who is going to betray me. It would have been better if he had never been born."
Judas also asked if it was going to be him, and Jesus told him, "You said so."

So Jesus told them, "I won't stay with you much longer.
You will look for me and where I am going, you can't come.
So I am telling you, I am giving you a new rule--you must love one another.
Just like I love you, so you must also love one another.
When people see that you really love one another, they will know that you are my followers."
So Peter asked Jesus, "Jesus, where are you going?"
And Jesus said, "Where I'm going, you can't come follow me now. Not until later.
Don't worry. You believe in God and trust that he will do what he says, believe in me, too, and trust what I say.
My father's kingdom has a lot of houses.
If it wasn't true, I wouldn't have told you so.
I am going to get a place ready for you.
And if I go and get a place ready for you, I am going to come back.
So where I am, you'll be right there, too."
One of his other followers asked Jesus, "Since we do not know where you are going, how are we going to know the way to go?"
Jesus said to him, "I am the true way to go, the way that gives people life."
Nobody can come to my father except through me.
And you know what else? Soon, God is going to send His Spirit to be with you all the time. He will live inside of you and help you know all about God."

Jesus' Betrayal

This is the story about how they betrayed Jesus.
Now Jesus and his followers decided to go to a place they called Gethsemane. And when they reached there, Jesus told them, "Pray that God will help you not to do anything that would make you stop trusting me"
Then Jesus decided to go a little farther by himself and pray.
And he told his father, "Please, father, don't let me go through this here.
But anyways, it's not what I want to do, it's what you want me to do."
Just then, an angel came down from heaven to make Jesus stronger
because he was so sad (i.e. it burned his heart) that he started to sweat blood.
When he finished praying, he went back to where his followers were.
He found them sleeping, so he told them again,
"You better pray that God will help you not to do anything that would make you stop trusting me."
Just then, a big crowd, with Judas in front, started to go towards Jesus.
Then Judas stepped in front and kissed Jesus, like they used to greet each other in those days, because he wanted the people who were following him know which one was Jesus.
But Jesus stopped him and asked him, "You mean you really are going to betray me with a kiss?"
When Jesus' followers saw what was happening, they pulled their swords (i.e. cutlasses) and asked him, "Do you want us to fight?"
And one of them cut off the ear of a man in the crowd.
But Jesus stopped them and told them, "No! Don't do that."
Then he touched the man's ear healed him.
Next, he turned to the crowd and the religious leaders and asked them, "What?
Am I leading bad men that you've come with your swords (i.e. cutlasses) and your sticks to get me?
Why, when you saw me in the temple every single day,
you didn't arrest me then? But you've come for me now, in the night when all kind of darkness rules."
With that, they grabbed him and arrested him.

The Death of Jesus

This is the story about Jesus---when they arrested (i.e. locked him up) and killed him.
The religious leaders took Jesus down to where all the leaders were, and they started to ask him all kinds of questions, but Jesus wouldn't answer. And then hear what they asked him.
"Are you sure you're the Son of God?"
And Jesus told them, "You say so." Boy, can you believe it? (i.e. who told him to say that?)
When he said that, the leaders got vexed. And hear what they said.
"You see what I told you? You hear what I told you? You see how this man comes right out with his own mouth and says that he is the Son of God?"
Boy, and they hauled Jesus down to meet Pilate. Pilate was the Roman governor.
And they said to Pilate, "This man here tells people he is a king."
So Pilate took him and asked him, "Are you sure you're the king of the Jews?"
And he told Pilate, "Well, you said so." Then Pilate asked him, 'Why are you here then?' and Jesus answered, 'I'm not a king on this earth. My kingdom is not here on earth." So Pilate thought about what the religious leaders said.
But Pilate couldn't find anything that showed that Jesus was guilty, so he went out and told the people, "Look, I think this man is innocent.
He doesn't deserve to die." Can you believe it? (i.e. Who told him to say that?)
The people said, "Look. We want him dead. We want him dead!
Anyways, they had a custom to let one man go free from jail every year. So rather than Jesus, the people said, "We want Barrabas. Give us Barrabas."
But Barrabas was a murderer, you know. Boy, Barrabas killed people.
But still, the people wanted Barrabas to live and wanted to kill Jesus. And the people started to boo Jesus and shout at him, "Kill him!." So Pilate did what the people wanted.
So the people took Jesus away. And do you know what they did? The soldiers mocked him, and made a crown of thorns (i.e. Cassie). Boy, that was really bad. They made this crown of thorns (i.e. cassie) and they put it down on Jesus' head.
So they took some planks to make a cross to kill him on.
And when they made the cross, they put the cross on his back and beat him to carry the cross.
They took him to a mount, a rising called Calvary.
And they did it something like this. They made sure they put the cross on the ground, and they made him lay down on the cross.
And they put his hands right on the planks, and they got some nails, see?
They pounded the nail in his right hand, and they pounded it into his left hand, and they pounded it by his feet
so he would stay on the cross.
And the people put the cross straight up.
But do you know what he said? He looked up into Heaven and said, "Father, please forgive them
because they don't even know what they're doing." And so they said, "You say you're the king that God promised, so why don't you save yourself?" The soldiers mocked him. Oh, boy. They mocked him.
And at the same time, there were two other people who would be killed with him.
Yes, two thieves. Those people just stole. But one of them said, "Look.
Prove you're the king that God promised by saving us and yourself."
But the other one said, "Why don't you be quiet (i.e. hush your mouth) He didn't do anything wrong like us."
Then he said, "Look. Remember me when you start to rule in your Kingdom."
And hear what Jesus said. "Today, after we're dead, you're going to be with me in Heaven, a place like Paradise."
And you know what happened? It was daytime, you know, noon, about twelve-o-clock. And the whole place just turned dark. Man, the whole place turned dark. Boy, after that, Jesus just bowed his head and died.
And when he bowed his head and died, well! Right across in the village, you know,
the curtain in the temple just tore apart.
The earth started to shake like an earthquake.
And hear what the soldier said. One of the soldiers that saw everything, you know. Hear what he said.
"Man, this must be the son of God."
And this time here,
the soldiers took the spear and stuck it in his side just to make sure he was dead.
And boy, suppose you see water and blood came out of Jesus. Ahh.
And you know what happened? Some of Jesus' friends, after all this already took place, they went and asked Pilate for Jesus body.
And he gave them Jesus' body. And you know what happened?
They took Jesus body off the cross, and they wrapped it in a cloth, and put him in a tomb that was carved out of a piece of rock, like a cave. So the people rolled a big stone in front of the cave.

Jesus Comes Back to Life

This is a true story of how Jesus died and came back to life.
Some of Jesus' friends took down his body and wrapped it in a piece of cloth.
They put it in a tomb that was carved from a piece of rock like a cave
that nobody had ever used.
Then the religious leaders put some guards outside the tomb
to make sure no one stole Jesus' body. See, they remembered that Jesus had already said he would rise again on the third day.
The first day of the week, some of the women who followed Jesus got up early
and took spice to go where Jesus body was and fix it up.
When they got to where they were going, they saw the stone the men used
to stop the hole where the body of Jesus lay was rolled away!
They went inside the tomb and looked around, but they did not find Jesus body.
They started to wonder what happened
and after a while, they saw two angels in shiny clothes.
They were so frightened that they bowed their heads to the ground.
The angels asked them, "Why are you looking for the living where dead people are?
He is not here. He already rose up!
Remember he told you he'd have to get handed over to some wicked men who would kill him?
But on the third day, he would rise up."
After they remembered, they went and told the other followers and all the rest.
But the followers did not believe them at all.
Then Peter decided to go in the tomb
and when he stooped down, he saw the cloth.
So he left, wondering to himself what happened.
Then when Jesus' followers were talking together, all of a sudden, they saw Jesus right there with them.
They were all afraid and thought he was a ghost.
So he asked them, "Why are you afraid? You don't think it's me?
Look at my hands, my feet. It is I.
Touch me and see. A ghost does not have flesh on their bones like me."
He showed them the marks the nails left in his hands and feet.
But the men stood there, happy, but still doubting if it was true.
Then Jesus asked if they had something for him to eat
and they gave him a piece of cooked fish and watched him eat.
After that, a lot of people saw Jesus.
So in the end, they saw that he really was a living man.
So Jesus told his followers, "Remember, the prophets already said
that I would suffer and die and three days later, raise from the dead.
You've already seen all these prophecies come true.
I will pardon the sins of anybody who comes to me and says they're sorry.
But now all of you must wait for me to send God's Spirit to give you real power."
In the end he said,
"Go and tell the people in all the countries about what has happened. And make them followers. And teach them to follow all my rules."
Not long after he said so, Jesus rose up in the air and disappeared into the clouds
and left them staring at him.
Just they were straining their eyes for one last look at him,
all of the sudden, they found two angels dressed in white with them.
And the angels asked them, "Why are you staring in the sky?
Jesus already went to heaven, and one day,
just like he went, he will come again."
Now after Jesus rose up in the air in the clouds,
he took his royal seat right next to God to rule with Him.

God's Spirit

This is a true story about when the God's Spirit first came upon Jesus' followers.
Before Jesus went back to Heaven, he told his followers to wait, because he would send God's Spirit for them.
So his followers had a room in Jerusalem and they met every day and prayed and they waited.
One of the days, when they were there praying, they heard a loud loud loud noise like the wind that comes with a hurricane.
And then fire started to come down on their heads, but they did not get burned up.
And then they started to talk in all kinds of different languages that they didn't even know because God's Spirit came.
At the same time this was happening, there were many Jews in Jerusalem that came from all over the place.
And they heard what was going on, so they came to see.
When they saw the followers carrying on with all kinds of different talking, they wondered if they were drunk.
And some of them even wondered, "How can this happen, how can they talk? I hear my own language!.
And we hear them talking about all kinds of different things that God has done."
So Peter stood up and told them, "They're not drunk.
Don't you see? It's too early in the morning for them to be drunk.
But this is what the prophet Joel had talked about a long time ago.
God said he would give his Spirit to anyone.
Anyone who cries out (i.e. bawled out) the name of the king that God promised to save them, they will get saved.
But you see, God sent Jesus and he did all kinds of great things.
But all of you killed him.
And all of us saw what happened. All of us saw when he died and all of us saw when he rose again.
And now God has greatly honored Jesus, by causing him to rule right beside him in heaven.
So I want you all to know that the same Jesus who you killed
is the same king that God promised."
And when the people heard what Peter said, they were really upset (i.e. their bellies burned them).
They felt sorry and wondered what they were supposed to do now.
And Peter told them, "All of you should stop all your wickedness.
Tell God you're sorry and ask him to forgive you and get baptized.
And so you'll get the Holy Spirit.
This promise here is not for you alone.
It's for you, your children, your grandchildren, and everybody."
After Peter finished talking, three-thousand people got baptized that same day.
And after that, the followers met with one another all the time.
And they ate together and they looked after one another.
And every day, God got more people to join them.

Peter and the Cripple

This story is about how Jesus gives power to those who believe in him and do what he says.
This happened after Jesus died and returned to Heaven
and he sent God's Spirit to earth to be with his people.
One day, Peter and his friend were going to the temple to pray.
Normally on their way, this crippled man was always by the gate on the ground begging people. And when he saw Peter and his friend, do you know what he did? He asked them for money.
So Peter went to the man and said, "Look at me."
And when the man looked up at Peter, he thought Peter was going to give him money.
But Peter told him, "I haven't got any money to give you, but
because Jesus has the power to heal you, I'm telling you to get up and walk right now."
And when Peter held the man's hand the man realized he could walk,
amazing! (i.e. can you believe it?) The man started to praise and jump around because he was so excited that he was healed, because he never walked before.
And when the people in the area saw the man get up and start to walk, they just couldn't believe it! They were amazed!
Because remember, this man was crippled since his birth.
But Peter and his friend used this as a way to talk to the people about Jesus.
So Peter said to them, "Why are you looking at us like we did this with our own power? Jesus is the one that healed him! Do you remember the same Jesus that you killed that was raised from the dead? It's him. So stop your sins and turn to God, and God will forgive you."
So Peter and his friend continued to tell the people, "Now Jesus is back in heaven and he's just waiting for the day to come
when God will make everything new again."
But when the religious leaders heard their story, they didn't agree with what Peter and his friend were saying.
So you know what they did? They threw them in jail.
The next day after they had thrown them into jail, they brought them out and asked, "where did you get your power from?" (scornfully)
Peter told them, "It's Jesus' power that healed the man the other day,
and no one can get saved unless they call on the name of Jesus.
So if we call on him, he will save us!"
The men couldn't believe that Peter and his friend could be so bold, they weren't afraid, because they were just ordinary people.
They didn't go to university.
They had just spent a lot of time with Jesus.
But the men decided to let them go because they didn't really know what to do with them.
But before they let them go, they told them, "You can't go around the place and tell anyone about Jesus."
So Peter asked them, "What?
Do you think that God thinks we should obey you and leave him out?
I don't think so!
So we can't stop talking about Jesus because he does so many good things!"
So the men decided to just let Peter and his friend free. And Peter and his friend, when they let them go, they decided to go see some of their own people, Christians in the area.
So they prayed to God to make them bold
so they could go around and tell people about him without being afraid. And do you know what Jesus did?
Jesus answered them when they prayed and sent God's Spirit.
And the Spirit made them bold so they could continue to talk about Jesus without being afraid.

Phillip and the Ethiopian

This is a story about the Ethiopian.
When Jesus sent God's Spirit on the earth to be with his followers them,
a lot of them spread out and they went to spread the news about Jesus.
A while after Peter and John were let out of jail, there was a follower called Philip.
Now an angel came to Philip and told him to go south.
When Philip went south, he saw a fancy horse and cart.
So God's Spirit told him to go by the horse and cart.
When Philip went by the horse and cart, he saw and Ethiopian man inside,
reading loud out of a book that Isaiah the prophet had written a long, long time ago. (i.e. donkey years)
So Philip went up to the man and asked him if he knew what he was reading.
So the man asked him, "How in the world am I going to know what I am reading when no one has explained it to me?"
So the Ethiopian man told him, "Jump in."
Now, this Ethiopian man was an important person in Ethiopia, and he even worked for the queen.
So he was a really important man in Ethiopia. Philip got in the horse and cart with the man.
This is what the man was reading:
"The man will have to die.
They'll take him to get killed just like you take sheep to get killed, but he won’t say anything."
And the Ethiopian man wanted to know, "Was Isaiah talking about himself or someone else?"
So Philip started to tell the man that it was Jesus who Isaiah was talking about.
Anyways, after a while, they came upon a pond. And the Ethiopian was so excited
about Jesus because all the time, Philip was telling him about Jesus.
And the Ethiopian man said, "I want to be baptized right now in this pond!"
So Philip turned to him and said,
"If you really believe in Jesus,
I will baptize you."
And the Ethiopian man said, "I believe that Jesus is God's Son and the king that God promised."
And they got in the pond and Philip baptized him.
When Philip finished baptizing him, God's Spirit carried Philip away to another place
and the Ethiopian man was happy that Jesus saved him.
So he went back to Ethiopia and he was really really happy.

Paul

This is a story about Paul.
After Jesus went back to Heaven, there was a man named Paul. He lived at the same time as Philip and the Ethiopian. He was one of the religious leaders who didn't like Jesus.
Now Paul was very religious, and he even believed in God.
But Paul didn't believe that Jesus was the king that God promised.
And Paul hated Jesus so much that anybody who believed in Jesus, he hated them, too.
He hated them so much that he pulled them out of their house, threw them in jail, and wanted to killed them.
Now because he did all that, all the Christians ended up being afraid of him because they knew he didn't like them.
Now one day, Paul decided to go to a place named Damascus to go after all the Christians down there.
And he went with some of his friends. While he was on his way to Damascus,
all of a sudden, a bright light came out of heaven and Paul fell to the ground.
And when he listened, he heard a voice. The voice said, "Hey!
Why are you troubling me? Why are you troubling me and making all the people that believe in me suffer?"
So Paul said "Who are you? Who is that?"
And the voice said, "It's me, Jesus. The same person who you are hurting.
Now get up and go to Damascus, and when you arrive there, a man will tell you what to do."
So when Paul got up, he realized that he could not see because he was blind.
So his friends took him to Damascus, and when he reached there,
Paul did not eat or drink at all for three days.
Now a man was there who was called Ananias.
And Jesus said to him, "Ananias, I want you to go to this man and pray for him so he can get back his sight."
Now Ananias was a Christian, and Ananias knew that Paul did not like Christians.
So he did not want to go and he was telling Jesus, "But Jesus!
I've heard about all the bad things that man does to people that believe in you!"
And Jesus said, "Ananias, do what I say. Out of everybody, I choose him
to be the one to teach people about me."
So Ananias went to Paul and said to him, "Jesus has sent me to you so God's spirit can fill you and so you can see again."
And just like that, things like scales fell from Paul's eyes and he could see.
After that, Paul was baptized
and went and taught everybody else about Jesus.
Now the people were shocked because they were wondering, "Is this not the same man who was troubling everybody who believed in Jesus?"
But Paul still taught everyone about Jesus.
And the Christians lived in peace for a while.
And every day, more and more people believed and became Christians.
And God's Spirit gave all the Christians strength to live for God.

Paul and Silas

The story I'm going to tell you is about Paul and his friend, Silas.
Remember how Paul got the vision on the road to Damascus when Jesus spoke to him and he believed?
Well, God's Spirit told Paul to go all over the place to talk about Jesus. Everywhere he went, he talked about Jesus and told people how to make Jesus the king of their lives.
He spend a lot of time talking about Jesus. Well, he and Silas came to this village.
They met a slave girl who had a demon in her. And her masters had her working for them.
And they were making money from her, because she could tell people what was going to happen.
She could tell what their future would be.
She was constantly walking behind Paul and Silas, and this is what she was saying:
"People, Paul and Silas are the servants of the most high God and they can tell you how to get saved.
People, Paul and Silas are servants of the most high God and they can tell you how to get saved!"
So day after day, she followed Paul and Silas and said the same thing over and over.
And Paul was vexed because she was annoying.
So he turned to her and said to the demon in her,
"Because of the power Jesus has given me, come out of her." And just like that, the demon left her.
Well, when the girl's masters realized she no longer could tell the future,
they got vexed because they wouldn't get any more money from her.
So they got vexed with Paul and Silas and they dragged them to the magistrate court and told them, "Do you see these men?
Ever since they've come here, they've just caused confusion. They're telling us all sorts of things that aren't true about how we're supposed to live and so on.
They're just ruining everything and talking lots of stupidness."
So the people got so vexed, and the magistrates told them to beat up Paul and Silas, so they banged them up badly, and cut them up.
And the magistrate said, "Put them in jail."
And they put a man in charge of them and said, "Look.
You can't let Paul and Silas escape. No matter what happens, they mustn't be able to escape." So the jailer knew he couldn't let them escape, or he might be killed. So they dragged Paul and Silas and the jailer threw them in the deepest part of the jail.
But listen to this. While Paul and Silas were in jail,
they started to sing and pray and praise God in the middle of the night.
All of the sudden, (sfx) a huge earthquake destroyed the place,
and all the doors just broke open.
All the huge chains and things that were on Paul and Silas fell off. And all the other prisoners, all the things that tied them up just fell off as well.
And everybody could've escaped because the doors were wide open.
So the jailer thought that all the prisoners had escaped, and that Paul and Silas had also escaped.
So he was so afraid, he pulled out his sword to kill himself. But Paul shouted, "No, no, no, don't kill yourself!
We're still here. We haven't moved."
When the jailer heard that, he came to Paul and Silas and said, "Oh, what can I do? Just tell me, tell me, what can I do to be saved?"
And Paul said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved."
So the jailer took Paul and Silas and took them to his house. And Paul preached to everybody there.
And the jailer got some water and washed them up, all their cuts and bruises and all the wounds they got, he washed them.
And all of the jailer's family believed in Jesus when Paul preached to them, and they all got baptized right there. Then the jailer put down some food and they sat down and ate.
The next morning, the magistrate sent some people to the jailer to say, "Look.
Let go of Paul and Silas. We want you to make them free." And Paul said, "What??
Do you want me to go now, just like that, when in front of everyone, you picked up Silas and I
and took us to jail and beat us up and so on without a trial, and now you want us to go quietly? Oh no, that can't happen.
We're not going to go so quietly."
When they heard that, the magistrates begged Paul and Silas, "Just go away quietly, don't make any noise."
So Paul said OK. And they left.
But before they left that village, they went to visit the Christians and other believers like them, and they gave them some comfort and encouraged them.

Paul in Athens

Now this is a story about Paul in Athens.
One day, Paul was walking through a place called Athens.
And as he walked through, he noticed the people had all kinds of things built up---all kinds of altars with all kinds of false gods.
This made him very very sad.
So he started to tell the people there about Jesus and about God.
So the people took him before the important people there.
Now just so you know, the important people loved to just sit around all day and talk about the latest things that happened.
So they asked him, "Hey! What is this strange thing we hear you talk about?"
So he said to them, "I notice you are all religious already. All of you have all kinds of altars and all kinds of gods around here.
And you even have written on one of the altars, 'To the God We Don't Know.'
But this is the same god I am trying to tell you about!
He is the one who made the earth and everything in it, and he is the boss of heaven and earth.
He, the Lord, made everything. If he made everything,
do you think that he has to live in a little building that someone made?
Not at all! Not him. He doesn't have to do that.
He doesn't need people to do anything for him.
He doesn't have any sort of needs. He's in need of nothing.
He's the one who made us and gave us life.
And he is the one who gives us what we need.
Out of one man, he made everyone in every country.
And He knows what is going to happen in every country and every life.
And he does all of this so we can look for him
and find him.
And do you know? He is not far from us.
He is very close to each one of us.
And now, God is telling everyone everywhere to stop sinning and turn to him and make him king of your (plural) life.
Because he has already set a day when he is going to judge the world, and he has already chosen the judge.
And he proved this here when he raised this man from the dead."
Now after Paul finished talking, some of the people laughed at him.
But some of them turned to God and believed in Jesus.