Demystifying Jesus of Nazareth. Parables and miracles.

Demystifying Jesus of Nazareth

Parables and Miracles

Andrew Agbonlahor

Published by Andrew Agbonlahor at Smashwords

Distributed by Smashwords

Copyright 2016 Andrew Agbonlahor

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Content

Introduction

Dedication

Foreward

Chapter 1: John the Baptist baptizes Jesus.

Chapter 2: Be fair when you judge others.

Chapter 3: The twelve are sent out.

Chapter 4: Teaching by parables and stories.

Chapter 5: The yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Chapter 6: The chief priests and elders plan to trap Jesus.

Chapter 7: The hated thing that destroys.

Chapter 8: The crucifixion, rise and ascension.

Part two

Analyzing miracles and parables: Faith and humility.

Closing.

Thanks and tips.

About the author.

Introduction

On this journey we will be looking at and examining the life, teachings, parables and miracles of Jesus of Nazareth, and for some reasons we will be doing all of this looking at Jesus as a man and not as God. I feel the need to bring some facts about my life, which I feel relevant to this book to my readers. I was born in Nigeria, West Africa and today I’m also a Brazilian citizen. I have lived in Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Russia and Brazil and I have also visited Holland, Luxembourg, France and Ukraine. In Nigeria where I was born witchcraft, voodoo, juju, black magic and evil magic are a traditional issue and this means most Africans have no choice but to participate in these manipulations at some points in their lives. These are not strange to my ears because I was born in Nigeria. I am mentioning this because some people might discover these manipulations and then they might feel like they have discovered the most powerful secrets in the world. People should never think for one moment that a deity they discovered somewhere here on earth is the creator or the savior. I want such people to ask themselves, how did these religions or manipulations come about? Who made it possible for all these manipulations to exist? Who gave man the intelligence to discover and put these into use? Who is the creator of the plants and herbs so much used by witch doctors, voodoo priests, evil magicians and sorcerers? The answer: Alpha and Omega, the Lord our God. People should know that whatever kind of manipulation they may discover on earth, the intelligence of the Lord God reigns supreme above all of these and discovering these manipulations is just a part of our journey through life on earth. The Lord our God is too intelligent, his intelligence is unmatched for all eternity. I want people who discover any of these above mentioned manipulations to know that to dwell in and practice these manipulations is to dwell in darkness. These priests and priestesses will show you some magic and you will be thrilled, but in reality they are taking you into the depths of darkness where there is no light. This is why Jesus of Nazareth talks about the light that shines in darkness. Human beings tend to want to have things and see things, so people want to see their god if possible and see him acting. What draws people in reality to dwell in all these manipulations are our own indiscipline, our concepts and pre-concepts, our anxiety, impatience and our personal flaws.

I also want my readers to put something in mind as we go on this Spiritual journey, and that is for my readers to know that the intelligence of the Lord our God is unmatched. We will be diving deep into religious and Spiritual aspects of life. I don’t want my readers to think after reading this book that they could/should go out and judge people or point fingers at people. It could be people at home or people at work or on the streets. Our lives on earth are just experiences and we will all have to go through so many different situations and all of these situations are a part of our learning process on our Spiritual journey. But sometimes if possible it is good or helpful to be fore-warned. In this way we can make better decisions and avoid or alleviate a lot of suffering. I will advise Christians, Atheists, non believers, Muslims and people from all religions to read this book when I have finished because I will be sharing things that I have been privileged to learn in my life. Things that I didn’t learn in school but in my meditations, visions, prayers, journeys and suffering, through this I hope I will be able to help lots of people know who they truly are and what they are capable of achieving, naturally and spiritually without the help of any sorcerer or witch doctor.

I was a very angry little boy when I was growing up, it must have been due to the Life style in Africa and also the social problems of the African society, as a result of this I didn’t believe in Jesus Christ until the age of 12. Saying I didn’t believe in Jesus is an understatement, in fact I had disregard for the name Jesus because I was brought up to believe that the story of Jesus is just the white man’s joke on Africans, but I was also brought up to believe strongly in God. In all African dialects, there is a name for God. For example, in Nigeria where I was born, God is known as Osanobua in the Edo tribe which is my tribe. In the Yoruba tribes he’s known as Olorun, which means owner of the heavens. In the Ibo tribe he’s known as Chineke. In the Northern tribes of Nigeria, where the people are mostly Hausas and Fulanis, the Lord our God is known as Allah. The Northern tribes of Nigeria are mostly Muslims. The Lord our God is the one who Africans believe to be the creator of the world, the one with the unmatched intelligence and no matter which deity Africans are offering sacrifices to, they always call on the Lord our God to bless their offerings. Africans believe that these deities are messengers of the Lord our God. It is also very important for you my readers to know that a majority of these tribes also believe in so many different deities to whom they offer sacrifices. I can go on and on as Nigeria has over 100 tribes that speak different dialects. You can imagine the mental confusion that children growing up in many African countries have to live with at very young ages, we had to accept Christianity and at the same time respect our traditions, cultures and elders. However, at the age of twelve I had an argument with a family friend about Jesus Christ and she was very shocked to find out that I didn’t believe in Jesus. A few weeks after the argument a voice began to trouble my mind and telling me constantly that I wasn’t being wise not believing in a person that I knew nothing about and the voice began to tell me, you’ve always had your bible, why don’t you read about this Jesus of Nazareth? I finally decided to read the New Testament; I read the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and for the first time in my few years on earth I discovered why I was unhappy, I finally found the one that I could identify with in the world. Everything Jesus said and preached was like something inborn for me, I didn’t have to read his teachings and parables several times to understand what he was trying to say, even the disciples of Jesus sometimes had difficulties in understanding his teachings, but I did not even at the age of twelve. From then on Jesus of Nazareth became my all time hero until today. Along the years I have gone through unimaginable tribulations, antagonisms and attacks because of my love for Jesus and I never once thought of leaving him. Life without Jesus for me is no life at all; it’s like wandering around lost in this world because his words and teachings are the only truth that never changes.

Today, at over 50 years of age I have read the bible a total of 6 times, after the sixth time I stopped reading the whole bible and started reading parts of the bible when praying and online with my religious communities. Why read the bible six times some of you may ask? The more you read the bible the closer you get to God and the more that is revealed to you. If you can read the whole bible you will receive a great gift and this gift is the story of your life. Unfortunately I can’t tell you where exactly your story is in the bible but I know that the stories of all our lives are in there. Even if I knew where people’s stories were in the bible, I wouldn’t tell them because we all need to read the entire bible since there are numerous revelations to discover and infinite lessons to learn. The Holy bible contains the stories of all our lives; the way we were born, the way we live, the way we should be living, the problems we face, temptations and sufferings, the way to avoid and resolve our problems, lessons to be learned and how to achieve happiness. Every one of us will find his/her own story written uniquely and complete in the bible, because nothing will happen on earth that hasn’t happened in a similar way in the past. We will find our life stories occurring in the lives of people who lived thousands of years ago, and we will know why we suffer and what we can do to avoid suffering so much. For you to find your story and identify it you need to read the entire bible once, for you to memorize your story and use it for your own benefit and get close to God, you need to read the entire Holy Bible a minimum of three times. The more we seek God and the closer we get to God, the more he reveals to us and uses us. Writing from my experience I would advise People to read the Bible a minimum of 3 times during a period span of 10 to 30 years, the first reading should be as a teenager as early as at thirteen years of age. There is no need to rush, the reading of the entire Bible could be done in 6 months to 1 year and the more time you spend with your Bible the closer you get to God and the more he loves you and reveals things to you. The second reading should be done at one’s late twenties. Again reading without rush to digest information and possible revelations that might come to you, the third reading should be done during your late thirties to early forties. Why all of this you might ask? It’s a spiritual process of discovering who you are, when you read and time passes you need to compare your life with what you’ve read. You need to read again as your life progresses and changes happen in your life, and again compare the changing events in your life to what you are reading. It’s like studying with God, an education which you won’t get at any school. Don’t be surprised, as you read God will begin to reveal things to you, maybe during your first, second or third reading or maybe during all your readings you will receive revelations about you or other people or work to be done. When you read the Bible you will discover your story and you will also discover your favorite books of the Bible, but I want you to pay special attention when you read the books of Psalms, Proverbs, John and Ecclesiastes. I promise you a great and wonderful change will occur in your life when you’ve read your Bible 3 times and then you will give your own testimony.

Now I would like to pass on a few things from my own experience. It’s important for us to know that whatever kind of intelligence the Lord has imparted to us should be used for the betterment and good of mankind. God gives everyone of us his children intelligence, some people call it divine gifts; some people might even mistakenly or unknowingly call this gift witchcraft, whatever people call the gift there is a problem only when people use their gifts to deceive, destroy or lead mankind away from God. I will be grateful if my readers would like to discuss my book with me after reading or if my readers would like to ask me questions, for now you can find me on twitter @aagbonlahor where we can discuss issues and I can answer questions from readers. All my readers should feel free to contact me. We’re all going through a learning process here on earth, I love to learn and I’ll tell you that no one man or woman knows everything and no one man or woman is an island. I will go on to explain what I’ve been ordered to explain and this will be my little contribution to humanity in our infinite world. People talk about the end of the world and many people have a lot of fear about many things but I’ll tell you, to be born, to die and for the world to come to an end are all God’s responsibility and decision. People should not contemplate, worry about or try to influence these events in anyway, because things always turn out to be more complicated when people try to control these events.

We are very anxious and impatient beings, as a result of this many people don’t give God enough time to fix their problems before they go out desperately seeking whatever kind of help they might find out there and in the event most people end up jeopardizing or almost ruining their lives. Be careful who you ask for help, God gives to all of us sufficient strength spiritually and physically to go through life on our journey. When you lack physical strength, tap into your spiritual strength for completion and vice versa. There is an African proverb that says, When a hen finds itself in unknown territory it stands on one foot, just in case it needs to dash away. Whenever you get desperate and about to try something new, unproven or something you’re unsure of, it would be a good idea to behave like the hen. Then you’ll have a little chance if things don’t turn out right. We can always try to change or influence destiny but sometimes no matter how much we try, if God has put a stamp and declared that it can’t be changed, you can try all your life and as hard as you can but you won’t be able to change destiny. People will have to go through what they’ll have to go through in this world, it’s just part of their learning process, but sometimes a stitch in time saves nine and a word for the wise goes a long way. God is good. God increases our spiritual strength and understanding with time. Between the ages of 17 and 23 we receive and perceive spiritual growth, the same happens between the ages of 27 and 34, 37 and 43 and finally between 46 and 54. The spiritual growth from this latter period is what we usually use to channel our lives to the end, although we continue to receive spiritual growth from time to time, we begin to get older and physically tired. I urge you to pay attention to your lives, during these age periods I’ve mentioned which you have passed and the age periods I have mentioned which is still to come, reflect on the past periods and take note of your lives in the periods still to come.

It pays to wait on God. God uses everybody and anybody for his works whenever he chooses, it could be a good guy or a bad guy, it could be a man or a woman, could be a child or an adult, could be a poor or rich person it doesn’t matter. The most important rules with God are to love and obey him and also treat people kindly and do good deeds. The holier one tries to be and the holier one tries to live his/her life the more temptations will come ones way, so some people think their lives will be easier if they just follow the trends of the world and fit in. It is important to note that whichever way you decide to live your life, maybe the way of the world or the way of Lord, we’ll all have to drink our cups of suffering. If we try to live the way God has ordered, our lives will be difficult but at the end we’ll have cause to be happy because the Lord God always wins, he never loses and most of you know this. The Lord our God has the world