Book Release!

Available for purchase on Amazon

Those who have established a daily Bible reading time have found that one of the great benefits is the revelation the Holy Spirit will bring on a somewhat regular basis. One of these occasions happened to me in 1984 while Cheryl and I lived in Waxahachie, Texas where I was attending Southwestern Assembly of God Bible College. On a certain day, I was reading in the book of Genesis about the birthing of the sons of Jacob whose mothers were Rachel & Leah, and their maidservants, Bilhah and Zilpah. The names of these sons became the names of the 12 tribes of Israel. (There’s a bit of a twist with Joseph who never was named as an Israelite tribe. Rather, his son Benjamin had two sons; Manasseh and Ephraim; who were called “half-tribes” and took Joseph’s place among the tribes.)

I used the New International Version of the Bible in my Bible reading and the version I owned gave footnotes at the bottom of the pages which gave the Hebrew meaning of each of the names of Jacob’s sons. The Holy Spirit drew my attention to these footnotes, and it came to me that the names of these sons revealed the spiritual progressions God has for every believer. These progressions begin with Reuben whose name means “see, a son; new beginnings”. The last son, Benjamin, means “the son of my right hand”. I realized that God had laid out a spiritual map that began with salvation (Reuben) and ended with heaven (Benjamin). I was also amazed that the two sons of Benjamin reveal our passage from this life to eternity. Manasseh means, “to forget the struggles of my father’s house”, while Ephraim means, “twice fruitful”.

Cheryl and I moved to South Africa in October, 1985. During our four years of missions and ministry work there we met several American missionaries who lived near us. One of these was Ron and Christy Bishop. Ron is very knowledgeable in the sphere of the Old Testament. While visiting at his home one day I mentioned to him the revelation concerning the sons of Jacob. He gave me a book by Gwen Shaw of “End Times Handmaidens” ministry as he felt that it might bring even more knowledge and understanding of Israel’s tribes. The book’s title was “An Introduction to the Tribes”. Not only did each chapter give the meaning of the names of Jacob and Benjamin’s sons, they also identified and explained the significance of the gemstone and symbol of the tribes of Israel. These tribes are named after the sons.

This book gave even more confirmation that the tribes of Israel served as a spiritual roadmap for believers. The names, gemstones and symbols of the tribes clearly lay out the progressions God intends each believer to walk in and embrace as they serve Him on earth. In South Africa I put together a series entitled “The Progressive Christian Life”. I was able to teach this to the Zulu pastors and at a multi-racial Bible school in Durban where we served as missions pastors.

I am excited that as the years have gone by, I have finally written a book which has the title “The Path of the Righteous”. I have gained more understanding and insight in the Bible and the sons of Jacob and what they represent in these years. This book is now published on Amazon and I placed an order for the first 100 yesterday. They will be available to the congregation at Tree Of Life Church soon, I will also be mailing some of them out to family and friends before Christmas. You can also find this book on Amazon and order your own or read it on Kindle. I see this book being a valuable tool in the realm of discipleship and I will soon be working on writing and publishing an accompanying workbook so it can be taught in churches, Bible Schools, and home Bible studies. I am also looking forward to being freed up to begin writing my next book, “The Goodness of God”.