Alan Schmitt

In Their Own Words: The Testimonies of Those Whose Lives Were Transformed by the Birth of Jesus and the Death of Jesus Alan Schmitt

Children's Bible storybooks, children's Sunday school lessons, Bible story coloring books, flannel board Bible story presentations, and video of children's Bible dramas have all unwittingly conspired to create in our mind's eye a storybook image of the people in the Bible.

Even as adults, we have understood Bible characters as something less than human; we somehow want them to be sacred, different, set apart from who we are. In the process, we have failed to realize that people who lived two thousand years ago were much like each of us today. Like us, when they encountered Jesus, either as a baby in a crib or as Christ on a cross, their lives were transformed. Something happened. They didn't fully understand it. They just knew that something happened deep inside them. In the presence of the Son of God, they were brought to their knees, humbled by an overwhelming feeling of being in the presence of power and majesty.

The testimonies in this book are fictional, based on Biblical accounts and historical information. They are designed to give a real person glimpse into the minds and hearts of those who might have witnessed the events of the birth and death of Jesus. They represent a cross section of society whose lives were profoundly changed by Jesus.