What if the book of Revelation is a manual for dealing with persecution?
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Monthly Archives: August 2013
One week to go…
Less than one week until the official book launch! This will take place at Diamond Valley Baptist Church at both the morning service (9:30am) and the evening service (6:00pm). I will be preaching at both services, using two excerpts from the novel to provide an overview of the purpose of the book of Revelation.
Then, after each service I will be only too happy to sell you a copy of the novel – and sign it, too, if you would like…
So come one, come all!
DATE: 1st September, 2013
TIMES: 9:30am or 6:00pm
WHERE: Diamond Valley Baptist Church
309 Diamond Creek Rd, Plenty 3090 (Melway Reference: 11D7)
What if the book of Revelation made sense to those who first received it?
Official Book Launch Details
So what if the ebook has been out since September of last year. Who cares if the paperback has been available for a couple of months…
I am pleased to be able to announce the details of the official book launch of The Ephesus Scroll! It will be held as part of the regular Sunday services on the 1st of September at Diamond Valley Baptist Church.
The morning service starts at 9:30am and the evening service starts at 6:00pm. I will be preaching at both services, using two excerpts from the novel to provide an overview of the purpose of the book of Revelation.
Then, after each service I will be only too happy to sell you a copy of the novel – and sign it, too, if you would like…
So come one, come all!
DATE: 1st September, 2013
TIMES: 9:30am or 6:00pm
WHERE: Diamond Valley Baptist Church
309 Diamond Creek Rd, Plenty 3090 (Melway Reference: 11D7)
An Extended Review
If you were wondering what The Ephesus Scroll is all about and (more importantly) if it’s worth reading, check out this extended review written by Darren Cronshaw:
http://www.sightmagazine.com.au/stories/Books/ephesus29.5.13.php
(Thanks, Darren!)
The Ephesus Scroll on Facebook
Did you know that The Ephesus Scroll is on Facebook?
The page can be found at https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Ephesus-Scroll/513101255415392. If you “like” the page you will be able to stay in touch with up-coming events and even the occasional give-away!
The Cover Images
For those of you interested in the paintings on the cover of The Ephesus Scroll, this post is for you!
Both portraits on the front cover come from Roman funerary paintings – also known as mummy portraits – dated to the second century AD. The portrait of the man is in the Manchester Museum. (There is a great article about this particular portrait here.) In full, he looks like this:
Some people have noted that this man bears a striking resemblance to me. That is entirely coincidental! It is supposed to be how Loukas, the main character in the first century time-line of the novel, might have looked like.
The portrait of the woman is in the British Museum. (This link should take you to her page.) In full, she looks like this:
To be honest, she looks a bit old to be Iounia (who I imagined was in her late teens.) But once you crop, you can’t tell! I also had to smooth out some of the cracks (the one on her nose was a little distracting!) And then both faces were cropped and joined together to create what I hoped would be an evocative image:
The painting on the back comes from here, painted by a St. Petersburg artist from the “Artemis” group. This one was also cropped (to match the size and shape of the image on the front cover). In full, it looks like this:
Finally, if I am being complete, I should also mention that the scroll fragment on the front cover is actually from a New Testament Greek translation (also known as the Septuagint) of the book of Joshua, dated to approximately 200 AD. It is known as MS 2648. (For more details see here.)
New Year’s excerpt from “The Ephesus Scroll”
St. Petersburg – January, AD 2006
It was the opening seconds of New Years Day. Dima, Natasha and Marina were standing out in the cold, their winter coats wrapped tightly around their bodies, hats pulled down warmly over their ears, as a little way off Yevgeny stooped over to light the fuse of some fireworks. He was apparently successful, for he came jogging over to them, before quickly turning around to watch. All around them the sound of Russians ushering in the New Year could be seen and heard. And then, their own contribution was added to the light and noise: one after the other, more than a dozen brilliant balls of fire were shot high into the air above them before exploding into a million pieces of shimmering light accompanied by an electrifying and almost deafening sizzle. The last few seemed to speed up and the climax came as three went off almost simultaneously.
Dima realised he had been shouting “Hoorah!” as each firework had exploded, and suddenly he felt a little embarrassed. But no one seemed to have noticed. In fact, now he came to think about it, they had all been doing the same thing. Turning to Natasha, he gave her a big hug and a kiss. Then, he gave Marina and Yevgeny a hug and the traditional New Year greeting: “S Novym godom!”
With a shiver, Natasha exclaimed, “That’s enough. Let’s get inside!”
Everyone agreed. The temperature was around minus fifteen – not horribly cold, but cold enough. With the occasional flash of firework-light illuminating the path, they made their way across the snowy area in front of Dima & Natasha’s building. Within a few minutes they were removing their coats inside their apartment, ready to drink something to warm themselves up again.
Once everyone had a cup of tea or coffee made to their exacting specifications, Yevgeny posed a question to everyone: “What are your plans for this new year?”
There was a brief silence as everyone started thinking of something deep and profound to say. From outside could be heard the muffled bangs as the impromptu and unofficial fireworks display continued.
Marina was first.
“I am looking forward to the birth of our first child,” she said, simply.
This was news; Natasha leapt up, shrieking excitedly, to give Marina a special hug, and Dima solemnly shook Yevgeny’s hand.
“Congratulations,” he said to Yevgeny.
“Thanks,” he replied. “I, too, am looking forward to that occasion. It will bring many changes to us as a couple, but nothing we cannot face with God’s help and presence. It is also hard to separate a man from his work, so I am also looking forward to seeing what God will do in our church. We have much to be thankful for, but still many challenges to face.”
Natasha was back in her seat by this time. “Well, we are not expecting any additions to our family just yet,” she said, looking sideways at Dima with a smile. Then she looked rather serious. “Actually, I have been thinking about my parents recently. My father is drinking again, and my mother has basically kicked him out. They really need to become Christians, but I just can’t see it happening, and I don’t know what I can do. So I have been praying for them, and I want to visit them when I can.” However, Natasha’s parents lived in a town a few days train-ride from St. Petersburg, so a visit was a serious undertaking, one that did not occur too frequently.
“We will also pray for them,” said Yevgeny, as Marina nodded beside him. “And for you.”
It was now Dima’s turn to speak.
“You all know that I have become rather obsessed by the book of Revelation.” There was some laughter. “Well, I want to try and find a way of making the book more accessible to the church here in Russia. I’m not sure if I will write a book, or start a web site, or what. But I know that in the past, the church would really have benefited from having a proper understanding of Revelation. And who knows if the church may need it sometime in the future.”
“Indeed,” said Yevgeny, heartily. “And that reminds me! I have a little Christmas present for you.” He got up, went over to his satchel and pulled out a present wrapped in cheery Christmas paper. “Here, I thought you might find this interesting.”
“Thanks,” replied Dima, taking the present. He tore off the paper and found himself holding a book: The Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey.
“It’s a bit of a classic,” said Yevgeny. “Hal Lindsay wrote this book in 1970, in which he predicted that the return of Jesus would happen within about 40 years after 1948. As you may have noticed, Jesus didn’t return in 1988, so Hal Lindsey has revised his book quite a few times since. What you are holding, though, is his first version, which makes for very interesting reading.”
“Wow,” said Dima, “How did you get hold of it?”
“Amazon.com,” replied Yevgeny with a shrug.
“Well, thanks again,” said Dima. “I look forward to reading it.”
“And now,” said Yevgeny, solemnly, “let’s commit this year to God.”
They all bowed their heads as Yevgeny prayed. All in all, it was a good way to start the year.
The “Author Photo” Shoot
Just for fun, here are some photos from the author photo shoot. (Originally, this was supposed to be for my Facebook profile picture!) I did the photos myself, using our camera’s timer button, in our St. Pete apartment. So I had to position the camera, press the button, rush back to the sofa and get positioned. But it was even more difficult because I wanted to include our cat, Tiger. Here are the outtakes.
Here’s the one I eventually chose for Facebook:
But then, when it came to the author photo, I cropped out the cat and processed the result using Sagelight:
But I know (and now you do, too) that Tiger is sitting there right next to me!
Inspiration 3: Ephesus
Back in 2004 I was extremely fortunate to visit Ephesus. It was an amazing experience, one that really brought home to me that the events described in the New Testament have a real historical context.
Curetes Street
(I imagined that Loukas’ family lived somewhere on this street.)
A private residence on Curetes Street
(This could have been Loukas’ house!)
Ruins near the Fountain of Pollio
(This is the sort of wall I imagined coming apart during an earthquake,
revealing the hiding place of the scroll to Dima’s great-great-grandfather.)
Domitian’s Temple
(Domitian gave Ephesus the right to build the first temple on Ephesus dedicated to a living emperor. In return, the people erected a 7m-tall statue of Domitian in the temple.)
Domitian’s Statue
(The rest was made of wood and has not been preserved.)
Marble Street
(The Apostle Paul would have walked on these flagstones!)
The Great Theatre
(This was where the people of Ephesus chanted ‘Artemis of the Ephesians’.)
Not long after this visit, I started writing The Ephesus Scroll. In fact, the first version of the opening was set in the present, with Dima and Natasha visiting as tourists. Much of that version is based quite heavily on my visit to Ephesus – although we didn’t experience an earthquake or find a scroll of the book of Revelation! (You can read that version here.)