Ephraim

Ephraim was the second son of Joseph and Asenath (an Egyptian woman whom Pharaoh gave to Joseph as wife). He was Born in Egypt and his name has a meaning "Double fruitfulness".  There are few documents in the bible about his existence. He is a son of Jacob together with Reuben, Simeon, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Ephraim and Manasseh. Ephraim and Manasseh formed the house of Joseph.

Jeremiah (Weeping prophet)

Jeremiah is from the the town of Anatoth that belongs to Benjamin tribe and he is a son of Hilkiah (a High Priest). Jeremiah was also called as a weeping prophet. He was too young when he received the responsibility of saying words of God through him. Jeremiah said , “Alas, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.” But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. 8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord (Jeremiah 1:6-8). He become brave after saying this word. He preached and warned the people of Judah to turn into God and deny all of the false god that they are worshiping.

God called Jeremiah:

 He continue to do it during the time of king Josiah, Jehoiachin who just reigned 100 day And also Zedekiah. Jeremiah did this for forty years.  After King Josiah was dead dead, the people deeply fell into idolatry and Jeremiah tried hard to stop and warn them. King Joiakim led the people into idolatry and dis obeyed the law of Torah. Because of what Jeremiah is doing, he got beaten many times by the people who don't believe in him and he was accused as a false prophet. Jeremiah left his home  and God talked to him. While God is talking to him, he saw a pot. The word of the Lord came to me again: “What do you see?” , “I see a pot that is boiling,” I answered. “It is tilting toward us from the north.” The Lord said to me, “From the north disaster will be poured out on all who live in the land. I am about to summon all the peoples of the northern kingdoms,” declares the Lord.
“Their kings will come and set up their thrones
    in the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem;
they will come against all her surrounding walls
    and against all the towns of Judah.
I will pronounce my judgments on my people
    because of their wickedness in forsaking me,
in burning incense to other gods
    and in worshiping what their hands have made.
“Get yourself ready! Stand up and say to them whatever I command you. Do not be terrified by them, or I will terrify you before them. Today I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall to stand against the whole land—against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and the people of the land. They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord (Jeremiah 1:13-19). Jeremiah asked for someone to be with him because he felt that he can't do that alone. So Jeremiah met Baruch at that time to be his companion. He called Baruch and he said to Baruch to write everything that he will say. 

Baruch wrote the words of Jeremiah

So Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah, and while Jeremiah dictated all the words the Lord had spoken to him, Baruch wrote them on the scroll. Then Jeremiah told Baruch, “I am restricted; I am not allowed to go to the Lord’s temple. So you go to the house of the Lord on a day of fasting and read to the people from the scroll the words of the Lord that you wrote as I dictated. Read them to all the people of Judah who come in from their towns. Perhaps they will bring their petition before the Lord and will each turn from their wicked ways, for the anger and wrath pronounced against this people by the Lord are great.”

Baruch son of Neriah did everything Jeremiah the prophet told him to do; at the Lord’s temple he read the words of the Lord from the scroll. In the ninth month of the fifth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, a time of fasting before the Lord was proclaimed for all the people in Jerusalem and those who had come from the towns of Judah. From the room of Gemariah son of Shaphan the secretary, which was in the upper courtyard at the entrance of the New Gate of the temple, Baruch read to all the people at the Lord’s temple the words of Jeremiah from the scroll.

When Micaiah son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, heard all the words of the Lord from the scroll, he went down to the secretary’s room in the royal palace, where all the officials were sitting: Elishama the secretary, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Akbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the other officials. After Micaiah told them everything he had heard Baruch read to the people from the scroll, all the officials sent Jehudi son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to say to Baruch, “Bring the scroll from which you have read to the people and come.” So Baruch son of Neriah went to them with the scroll in his hand. They said to him, “Sit down, please, and read it to us.”

So Baruch read it to them. When they heard all these words, they looked at each other in fear and said to Baruch, “We must report all these words to the king.” Then they asked Baruch, “Tell us, how did you come to write all this? Did Jeremiah dictate it?”

“Yes,” Baruch replied, “he dictated all these words to me, and I wrote them in ink on the scroll.”

Then the officials said to Baruch, “You and Jeremiah, go and hide. Don’t let anyone know where you are.”

After they put the scroll in the room of Elishama the secretary, they went to the king in the courtyard and reported everything to him. The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and Jehudi brought it from the room of Elishama the secretary and read it to the king and all the officials standing beside him. It was the ninth month and the king was sitting in the winter apartment, with a fire burning in the firepot in front of him. Whenever Jehudi had read three or four columns of the scroll, the king cut them off with a scribe’s knife and threw them into the firepot, until the entire scroll was burned in the fire. The king and all his attendants who heard all these words showed no fear, nor did they tear their clothes. Even though Elnathan, Delaiah and Gemariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them. Instead, the king commanded Jerahmeel, a son of the king, Seraiah son of Azriel and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to arrest Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet. But the Lord had hidden them (Jeremiah 36:4-26).

The king burned the Scroll

When the king learned what Jeremiah has written, he burned the scroll. After the king burned the scroll containing the words that Baruch had written at Jeremiah’s dictation, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: “Take another scroll and write on it all the words that were on the first scroll, which Jehoiakim king of Judah burned up. Also tell Jehoiakim king of Judah, ‘This is what the Lord says: You burned that scroll and said, “Why did you write on it that the king of Babylon would certainly come and destroy this land and wipe from it both man and beast?” Therefore this is what the Lord says about Jehoiakim king of Judah: He will have no one to sit on the throne of David; his body will be thrown out and exposed to the heat by day and the frost by night. I will punish him and his children and his attendants for their wickedness; I will bring on them and those living in Jerusalem and the people of Judah every disaster I pronounced against them, because they have not listened.’” So Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to the scribe Baruch son of Neriah, and as Jeremiah dictated, Baruch wrote on it all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And many similar words were added to them (Jeremiah 36: 27-32).

Zedekiah son of Josiah was made king of Judah by king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. He reigned in replacement of Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim. Jeremiah was released from prison and God spoke to him that the Pharaoh's army that supposed to help you will go back to Egypt. Then the Babylonians will return to destroy us and burn us down (Jeremiah 37:6-8). Hananiah interfered and said “This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon. Within two years I will bring back to this place all the articles of the Lord’s house that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon removed from here and took to Babylon. I will also bring back to this place Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah and all the other exiles from Judah who went to Babylon,’ declares the Lord, ‘for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.’” (Jeremiah 28:2-4). Jeremiah shouted to Hananiah "You will die in one year!" and told the king "you will be a slave of Babylon!". Jeremiah make the king worried through his words and sent Jeremiah to prison again. He also said that the attack of Babylonians was a plan of the Lord. Then the Babylonians are approaching as Jeremiah had said. After what happened, The king's General thrown Jeremiah to cistern. When Ebed-Melek (official of the palace) knew about this, he talked to the king and wishes to release Jeremiah. When the king granted his wish, he immediately pulled Jeremiah to the cistern and gave him dress. After it, king Zedekiah talked to Jeremiah and ask him if he has anything to say that comes from the Lord. 

The king spoke to Jeremiah

Then King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet and had him brought to the third entrance to the temple of the Lord. “I am going to ask you something,” the king said to Jeremiah. “Do not hide anything from me.” Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I give you an answer, will you not kill me? Even if I did give you counsel, you would not listen to me.”. But King Zedekiah swore this oath secretly to Jeremiah: “As surely as the Lord lives, who has given us breath, I will neither kill you nor hand you over to those who want to kill you.”. Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “This is what the Lord God Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, your life will be spared and this city will not be burned down; you and your family will live. But if you will not surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, this city will be given into the hands of the Babylonians and they will burn it down; you yourself will not escape from them.’”. King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Jews who have gone over to the Babylonians, for the Babylonians may hand me over to them and they will mistreat me.”. “They will not hand you over,” Jeremiah replied. “Obey the Lord by doing what I tell you. Then it will go well with you, and your life will be spared. But if you refuse to surrender, this is what the Lord has revealed to me: All the women left in the palace of the king of Judah will be brought out to the officials of the king of Babylon. Those women will say to you:

“‘They misled you and overcame you—
    those trusted friends of yours.
Your feet are sunk in the mud;
    your friends have deserted you.’
“All your wives and children will be brought out to the Babylonians. You yourself will not escape from their hands but will be captured by the king of Babylon; and this city will[e] be burned down.” Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Do not let anyone know about this conversation, or you may die. If the officials hear that I talked with you, and they come to you and say, ‘Tell us what you said to the king and what the king said to you; do not hide it from us or we will kill you,’then tell them, ‘I was pleading with the king not to send me back to Jonathan’s house to die there.’”. All the officials did come to Jeremiah and question him, and he told them everything the king had ordered him to say. So they said no more to him, for no one had heard his conversation with the king (Jeremiah 38:14-27). Jeremiah remained in the guard's courtyard until Jerusalem was captured.

The fall of Judah

 Then it happened that the Babylonian attacked Judah with swords , arrows and fire. Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard of Babylon released Jeremiah. After the attack, Jeremiah went to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah and stayed with him among the people who were left behind in the land. The king, his sons and armies were brought in front of  Nebuchadnezzar and kill his sons and armies. The king of Judah became a slave of Babylon.

Paul (apostle to the gentiles)

At the age of 6, Saul (Paul) was schooled at the book of Torah and he also lived then in the midst of the Pagans. At the age of 14, he was sent to continue his studies in Jerusalem. His leader was worshiping their own god and whoever fight it was blasphemy. When he grown up, he had a mission which is to eliminate the name of Jesus in the earth and to persecute Christians. The he met Stephen, who is bravely preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Saul was the author of the assassination of Stephen which made Stephen the first martyr of Christianity. Many Christians were afraid for their lives so they spread to different places like Antioch, Damascus and Cyprus.

Paul was converted

He went to Galilee and while he is walking, he was thinking over Stephen whom he killed. it plays to his mind thinking how would Stephen forgive him for the things he have done like the holy spirit is convicting him. A light came in make him blind. Suddenly God spoke to him and commanded him to go to Damascus. There, he met Ananias who has one of the disciple of Jesus in Damascus. Saul  begged Ananias to baptize him and when Ananias laid his hands on Saul, a scale dropped from his eyes and his sight came back.Saul said, Saul the persecutor was dead and he was reborn as Paul.

Paul's journey

He went to Arabia and preached the gospel but he was rejected by them. Paul headed to Jerusalem to apologize for those he had persecuted. Barnabas welcome Paul but the other people whom he persecuted rejected him. He retired from his task as a persecutor and worked for his father for nine years but he never forget what God called him for. Peter and Barnabas went to Cyprus to preach the gospel. At the island of Paphos he met Elymas or sorcerer Bar-jesus and he shouted at him "you will be blind" and will not able to see the sun for a while and and the governor turned to be a Christian. At Antioch, he preached the gospel but they rejected saying "how could a man raised from the dead?". Then headed towards the Gentiles and this open the Christianity into a world religion.


Paul preached to the Gentiles
 (non-Christian people)

Paul and Barnabas went to Lystra where he perform another miracle that he make a lame man walk. They saw that the people were worshiping Zeus and Hermes and Paul and Barnabas told the people to turn away from idols but they were stoned away and they survived. After that journey, Barnabas went back to Jerusalem and Paul remained in Asia minor and wrote a letter of inspiration to his newly converted gentiles "remember that before, you gentiles were separated from Christ, you don,t have hope. You are no longer strangers but a members of households of God". One day Paul dreamed  of a man from Macedonia calling him . He realized that God is calling him to Europe. 

His first stop was at Philippi capital of Rome where all religions are tolerated. In staying there, Paul felt that the mind of the people were open for a new religion. The first person who embraced the faith was Lydia she took him to his house to be baptized and her family was first christian household in Europe. Paul was joined by Cylas and when they were going to the place of prayer, a female slave met them who is possessed by a spirit. She followed them for many days shouting "These men are servants of the most high God, who are telling you how to be saved". When Paul was annoyed, he turned around and cast out the spirit from the women and he said "In the name of Jesus Christ i am commanding you to come out of her". When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the Marketplace to face the authorities. They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar  by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.” The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. 

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”. Because of what happened Paul talk to the jail guard and baptized him to become a christian. When it was daylight, the magistrates sent their officers to the jailer to release them. The officers reported this to the magistrates, and when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, they were alarmed. They came to appease them and escorted them from the prison, requesting them to leave the city. After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia’s house, where they met with the brothers and sisters and encouraged them. Then they left. 



Paul went to many places around the world


When Paul was released from the prison, they went to many places such as Thessalonica, Berea, Athens, Corinth, Priscilla, Aquila, Apollos and Ephesus.


This is taken from Acts 19:8-22:

8 Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. 9 But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. 10 This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.

11 God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, 12 so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.

13 Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of the Jesuswhom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” 14 Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. 15 One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” 16 Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.

17 When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. 18 Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed what they had done. 19 A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas.20 In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.

21 After all this had happened, Paul decided to go to Jerusalem, passing through Macedonia and Achaia. “After I have been there,” he said, “I must visit Rome also.” 22 He sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia, while he stayed in the province of Asia a little longer.

Paul went to Jerusalem for the last time


Then after that Paul went to Greece to still preach the gospel and he went to Jerusalem for the last time. He was met by Agabus and he took Paul’s belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, “The Holy Spirit says, ‘In this way the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.’”. When the seven days were nearly over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him. They shouted "This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people and our law and this place. And besides, he has brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this holy place!". Paul took his followers to the temple , his followers tried to save him. The commander came up and arrested him. As the soldiers were about to take Paul into the barracks, he asked the commander, Aren’t you the Egyptian who started a revolt and led four thousand terrorists out into the wilderness some time ago?”. Paul answered, “I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no ordinary city. Please let me speak to the people.” After being permitted by the commander, Paul stood on the steps and motioned to the crowd. When they were all silent, he said to them in Aramaic.


This is taken From Acts 22:1-28

1 “Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense.”

2 When they heard him speak to them in Aramaic, they became very quiet.

Then Paul said: 3 “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. I studied under Gamaliel and was thoroughly trained in the law of our ancestors. I was just as zealousfor God as any of you are today. 4 I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison, 5 as the high priest and all the Council can themselves testify. I even obtained letters from them to their associates in Damascus, and went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished.

6 “About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me. 7 I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, ‘Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?’

8 “‘Who are you, Lord?’ I asked.

“ ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied. 9 My companions saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me.

10 “‘What shall I do, Lord?’ I asked.

“ ‘Get up,’ the Lord said, ‘and go into Damascus. There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do.’ 11 My companions led me by the hand into Damascus, because the brilliance of the light had blinded me.

12 “A man named Ananias came to see me. He was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews living there. 13 He stood beside me and said, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And at that very moment I was able to see him.

14 “Then he said: ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth. 15 You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard. 16 And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptizedand wash your sins away, calling on his name.’

17 “When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the temple, I fell into a trance 18 and saw the Lord speaking to me. ‘Quick!’ he said. ‘Leave Jerusalem immediately, because the people here will not accept your testimony about me.’

19 “‘Lord,’ I replied, ‘these people know that I went from one synagogue to another to imprison and beat those who believe in you. 20 And when the blood of your martyr[a] Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.’

21 “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ ”

22 The crowd listened to Paul until he said this. Then they raised their voices and shouted, “Rid the earth of him! He’s not fit to live!”

23 As they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air, 24 the commander ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks. He directed that he be flogged and interrogated in order to find out why the people were shouting at him like this. 25 As they stretched him out to flog him, Paul said to the centurion standing there, “Is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen who hasn’t even been found guilty?”

26 When the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and reported it. “What are you going to do?” he asked. “This man is a Roman citizen.”

27 The commander went to Paul and asked, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?”

“Yes, I am,” he answered.

28 Then the commander said, “I had to pay a lot of money for my citizenship.”

“But I was born a citizen,” Paul replied.

Paul's death

Paul was arrested after this. But even if they are arrested, He continue to preach the gospel. He and Peter baptized the newly converted Christians. After years, Emperor Nero burned the city for 7 days and seven nights. They put the blame to the Christians and they were persecuted at that time. Peter was killed through an inverted cross as he requested because he said he is not worthy to die the way Jesus died. And Paul wrote his last letter "i am ready to be sacrificed, and my time of departure is at hand, i have fight a good fight, i have finished my course and i have kept the faith". Romans came for him , he was brought out of the city and beheaded. Paul died as a martyr of Christian faith. And after 200 years Romans finally embrace the word of God.

Lesson:

Whatever our past is, it does not determine our future. Even how bad you are in the eyes of other people, we have a chance in the eyes of God. Whatever challenges or criticism we face, don't stop because you never know what God is planning for you. Its never too late to repent.