John! Episode Three

Book excerpt: This is the third episode in the adventures of teenager John, the youngest apostle of Jesus. He became known as the disciple Jesus loved (John 13:23) and later wrote the Bible books of the Gospel of John, three Letters of John, and the Revelation of John. In the last years of the first century AD he was known as John the Elder, the revered leader of the Church of Ephesus. As with any teen, John and the other teens among the disciples would make mistakes and be unsure of themselves. But they had Jesus and the older disciples to rely on, including Johns married brother Peter and the former tax collector Matthew. Danger and death threats followed in the tracks of Jesus throughout his travels in AD 29, and John was close by his side most of the time. This is historical fiction. It is historical, for it strives to be true to all that is known about the characters, their locations, and their actions from the Bible, from archaeology, and from other historical sources. It is fiction, for it fills in the blanks with a tale told by the author. Endnotes refer to the Bible verses which contain the stuff that really did happen. Enjoy the story, but remember that it is only part nonfiction, and the rest is in the realm of possibility.