Are you, like me, a science fiction buff? I still remember when Star Trek first aired on television. I looked so forward each week for the next episode. Then came Space 1999, then Star Wars, then Dune, and then Battlestar Galactica. Next came the litany of Star Trek and Star Wars movies. Needless to say, I loved them all. There are so many others I could name, but I think I’ve already dated myself. You get the picture though, right?

Of course, I wanted to write a science fiction series. Yet, the question came as to how I would do that when I don’t really believe there are aliens or other occupied worlds because I don’t see that being supported in the Bible. But there is always that inkling in the back of my mind of a what if possibility. One evening when dining with friends, I let that what if hypothesis go forth in my brain and imagination. Our ideas went far and wide and even verged on the ridiculous. Yet, one thing came to light which I agreed with wholeheartedly: if there are aliens and God is the God of the universe, then they, too, would serve the same God as we do.

That became the genesis of my science fiction series the Erabon Prophecy Trilogy. The story is, of course, set into the distant future. In the first book Myeem, an astronaut is flung into the far reaches of the universe due to an interstellar gate accident. He then finds himself on a foreign planet with no hope of getting home. As he tries to understand this new culture, and their anatomical differences being so different from his own, he finds other strange things that shock him. One is that several of their words seem to sound very similar to Hebrew, and second, to his greatest surprise, he is somehow touted to be the prophet these people are expecting to arrive before their deity, Erabon, returns to them.

He then discovers that those in this solar system used to be united on a single planet, but due to a civil war they became divided across six different planets with a moratorium on space travel. Yet, the prophecy indicates that a prophet would come and unite them all once again and usher in the return of Erabon.

Each planet challenges him in many ways and often puts his life in jeopardy. He and the friends he gathers on each planet travel to each subsequent planet to help them know what their deity, Erabon, has left for them and how he wants them all to reunite and usher in his return.

The first book, Myeem is about his experiences on Myeem, a water planet, and on Eremia, a desert planet, where he undergoes several exploits to get individuals on each planet to unite and understand the message their deity, Erabon, has left for them.

The second book, Sharab, is about his travel to Sharab, the fire planet, and to Ramah, the mountainous planet, where he again undergoes many trials to help those individuals unite and understand what Erabon wants from them.

The third, and final book, Qerach, is about he and several of his friends traveling to Qerach, the ice planet, and then to Aphia, the air planet. Again, he must convince those on these planets to also unite so they can prepare themselves for Erabon’s return.

He completes his mission and Erabon does return and sets up a utopian-type planet where they can all live in harmony and unity. The theme of unity through diversity is throughout. While, I feel, this trilogy is a fast-paced, fun-to-read story, there is more to it as well. Just like these followers of Erabon became fractionated, so have the followers of Christ become fractionated as well. Perhaps we need to take a lesson and understand how we can unite in Christ once more like they were in the early church in the book of Acts.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

There were two empires which existed in New Testament times: Roman Empire and Parthian Empire. More is known about the Roman Empire from a Biblical perspective because much of the New Testament comes from Paul’s writings, and he did his traveling within the confines of the Roman Empire. However, although Judaea was part of the Roman Empire, it seems this did not preclude travel between these two empires. There is evidence of this fact in Acts 2 where Jews and Jewish proselytes from Parthia were present in Jerusalem for Shavuot, or Pentecost (Ac 2:9).

In addition, the Bible states that while Paul was an apostle to the Gentiles, Peter was an apostle to the Jews (Ga 2:8). There is evidence that many of the original apostles took many trips into Parthian territory to spread the gospel by ministering to those of Jewish and Israeli descent.

The end of Paul’s first missionary journey within the confines of the Roman Empire marked the first big controversy. It seems Paul and Barnabas were not the only ones going throughout Asia Minor (Turkey today) teaching about Jesus Christ. However, these other groups were stating that one had to first become a Jewish proselyte before becoming a Christian and had to keep the Law of Moses as a perquisite for salvation (Ga 2:16). Paul wrote the book of Galatians to address this issue as well as to defend his authority and credibility. Indeed, there were those coming from Jerusalem to Antioch preaching this same doctrine (Ac 15:1). Paul and Barnabas strongly admonished them which then led to a trip to Jerusalem for a discussion with what has become known as the Jerusalem Council (Ac 15:2). Titus also accompanied Paul and Barnabas He was used as an example of a Gentile being a Christian but not being circumcised (Ga 2:1-3). There were believers from the Pharisee sect which strongly believed in keeping the Law of Moses for salvation and so, again, much debate ensued. However, Peter got up and told of his encounter of how God accepted Gentiles without circumcision and so everyone was then more willing to hear of Paul and Barnabas’ account (Ac 15:7-12).

Afterward, James reminded everyone of the prophecy in Amos (Am 9:11-12) which speaks of the temple of David being restored and even Gentiles worshipping God with Israel (Ac 15:13-18). It seems James recognized the current age would focus on the Gentiles. However, God would not forsake Israel, but would return and fulfill all his promises to them. The council and all those present then wrote a letter to the believers in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia to admonish them to abstain from meat sacrificed to idols, from blood and things strangled, and to be sexually pure (Ac 15:29).

Although the Jerusalem Council made this statement, this did not end the debate. Paul had to deal with this issue continually. Paul consistently taught that keeping the Law did not lead to salvation; therefore, Gentiles did not need to be circumcised or follow other outward manifestations of being a Jew to be saved (Ro 8:1-4; 1Co 15:56; Ga 2:16; Pp 3:9; 1Tm 1:8-11). Paul also taught that from a spiritual point of view, there was no longer any difference between Jews and Gentiles (Ro 10:12) because God had now brought the two together spiritually as one body (Ep 2:14-18). He taught that the mark of a Christian is the circumcision of the sin nature and not anything physical (1Co 7:19; Cl 2:11). Teaching otherwise was ruinous to one’s faith (Tt 1:10-11).

Although this was an area of controversy in the early church, it really was not the major divisive force which drove Christian Jew and Christian Gentile apart. There is evidence that many Jews (Christian or not) and Gentile Christians were living together as late as the fourth century. This implies there was a blended culture which developed between the orthodox Jew and the Christian Jew. These Jewish believers were called “minim” by the orthodox Jews. Its Hebrew meaning is “believers,” but has been translated as “heretic” by later Jewish authorities. Owen Chadwick, a historian who has extensively studied early church history, as well as others, have often used the Jewish liturgy, “May the Nazarenes and the heretics be suddenly destroyed and removed from the Book of Life,” as evidence of the final separation of the orthodox and Christian Jews. However, it is likely that this was evidence of a resurgence of the Christian Jew and not the reverse.  Both Christian and orthodox Jews fought together in 132 AD to fight Emperor Hadrian’s push to abolish circumcision. However, the Christian Jews abandoned their support when Rabbi Akiva declared their military leader, Bar Kochba, to be the Messiah.

It’s always interesting how man is the one to create the derision which God never intended. We can’t seem to keep our biases at bay. If only we could look at everyone else as God sees them. It would change not only our lives, but those of the entire world. One day, it will happen. Are you looking forward to it?

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens