Copyright © 2015 by Evan Ansot. All rights reserved.
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This novel is a work of fiction. Names, descriptions, entities, and incidents included in the story are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, events, and entities is entirely coincidental.
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ISBN: 978-1-68237-935-6
Fiction / Religious
15.08.21
God begat Adam who begat Seth who begat Enos who begat
Cainan who begat Mahalaleel who begat Jared who begat
Enoch who begat Methuselah who begat Lamech who begat
Noah who begat Shem who begat Arphaxad who begat Cainan
who begat Shelah who begat Eber who begat Peleg.
Peleg begat Reu who begat Serug who begat Nahor
who begat Terah who begat Abraham who begat Isaac who
begat Jacob who begat Judah who begat Perez who begat
Hezron who begat Aram who begat Amminadab who
begat Nahshon who begat Salmon who begat Boaz who
begat Obed.
Obed begat Jesse who begat David who begat Solomon
who begat Rehoboam who begat Abijah who begat As,
who begat Jehoshaphat who begat Joram who begat Uzziah
who begat Jotham who begat Ahaz who begat Hezekiah
who begat Manasseh who begat Amos who begat Josiah
who begat Jechoniah.
5
Jechoniah begat Shealetiel who begat Zerubbabel who
begat Abiud who begat Eliakim who begat Azor who
begat Zadok who begat Achim who begat Eliud who begat
Eleazor who begat Matthan who begat Jacob who begat
Joseph who begat Jesus who begat Joseph who begat Bron
who begat Alain.
Who begat Joseu who begat Aminadab who begat
Catheloys who begat Manael who begat Titurel who begat
Frimutel who begat Boaz who begat Marcomer who begat
Faramund who begat Chlodio who begat Merovech who
begat Childeric who begat Clovis who begat Clotaire who
begat Chilperic who begat Clotaire.
Clotaire begat Dagobert who begat Clovis who begat
Theodoric who begat Bertrada who begat Claribert who
begat Bertrade who begat Charlemagne who begat Pepin
who begat Bernard who begat Pepin who begat Herbert
who begat Beatrix who begat Hugh Magnus who begat
Hugh Capet who begat Robert II who begat Henry I.
Henry I begat Hugh Crepi Magnus who begat Countess
Elizabeth de Vermandois who begat Countess Gundred
de Warren who begat Waleran de Newburgh who begat
Alice de Newburgh who begat Isabel Maudit who begat
Sir Walter de Beauchamp who begat Giles de Beauchamp
who begat John de Beauchamp who begat Sir Walter de
Beauchamp who begat Elizabeth de Beauchamp who begat
Sir Robert Dudley who begat Sir Edward Dudley who
6
begat Sir Henry Dudley who begat Sir Edward Dudley
who begat Sir Walter Dudley.
Walter Dudley begat Sir John Dudley who begat Sir
Nicholas Dudley who begat Sir Edward Dudley who begat
John Dudley who begat Robert Dudley who begat Wayne
Dudley who begat Thomas Dudley who begat Charles
Dudley who begat Thomas Dudley who begat Edward
Dudley who begat Rodger Dudley who begat Wayne
Dudley who begat Ronald Dudley who begat Alfred
Dudley who begat Edward Dudley.
There are 128 generations from God to Edward Dudley,
born November 21, 1963, in Manistee, Michigan.
7
1800–2000 bc
“Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy
country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house,
unto a land that I will shew thee. And I will make of thee
a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name
great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them
that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee
shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 12:1–3,
kjv).“And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was
separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from
the place where thou art northward, and southward, and
eastward, and westward: For all the land which thou seest,
to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever. And I will
make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man
can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also
be numbered. Arise, walk through the land in the length
8
of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee”
(Genesis 13:14–17, kjv).
“In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram,
saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river
of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates” (Genesis
15:18, kjv).
“And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make
nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee” (Genesis
17:6, kjv).
“And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou
shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the
north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 28:14, kjv).
God made an agreement with Abraham a long time ago.
God promised Abraham these three things:
1. The promise of land. God called Abraham from Ur
of the Chaldeans to a land that He would give him.
2. The promise of descendants. God promised
Abraham that He would make nations out of him.
3. The promise of blessings to all families of the Earth
through His offspring.
9
Mount of Olives, Jerusalem, Judea
“And, being assembled together with them, commanded
them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait
for the promise of the Father, which saith he, ye have heard
of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall
be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.
When they therefore were come together, they asked of
him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the
kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, it is not for you
to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath
put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that
the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses
unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria,
and unto the uttermost part of the earth. And when he had
spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up;
and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they
looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two
10
men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye
men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This
same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall
so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven”
(Acts 1:4–11, kjv).
After Jesus had risen up with the clouds, the apostles
Philip and Bartholomew, along with Joseph of Arimathea,
escorted the pregnant Mary Magdalene back to Bethany to
the house of their friend Lazarus. With them was her two-
year-old son Joseph.
11
Caesarea, Samaria
It seemed to Philip that ever since the day when Jesus
ascended to the Father from the Mount of Olives, the
church of Jesus Christ began to divide among itself. The
leaders of the twelve apostles began to disagree as to the
doctrine of their Lord and how they perceived him. Without
a shepherd to guide them, the sheep disagreed about their
perceptions of the way of the Lord. Passionate arguments
took place that led to apostles departing from each other
creating widespread division amongst the faithful.
There was a faction that was at first led by Peter but
a few years later, led by James, the brother of our Lord,
who believed that all the Jewish rituals and observances
should be held, just as Jesus had done while He was in
the flesh. This group believed that new converts should be
circumcised, just as had been Jewish tradition begun by
the covenant between God and Abraham and carried on
12
to the present day. That the Sabbath and all holidays be
observed, including the Passover. They argued with reason
that since the Master practiced Judaism so should all his
followers. Philip partially agreed with this doctrine, but
unlike James, Matthew, Simon the Zealot, Jude, and the
Church of Jerusalem, he felt that it should be voluntary and
not mandatory.
Too many rituals for the newly converted gentiles to take
in, Philip thought. Judaism is a family belief system and a way of life that can take generations for those who wish
to master its practices. The pagans of Europe would have a
difficult time holding up to the Judaist form of Christianity.
Simplicity is the key to gaining newfound believers, and
Judaism was anything but. “We must not make this too
difficult for them,” argued Philip to the church of Jerusalem.
“This is a gift from God, not something to be worked
toward, not something to be earned, the price has been
paid.” Philip felt that rules would only choke the spirit and
remove the blessings given to the church from the Father.
On the other hand, the newly converted Paul had
changed everything. He, along with now Peter, Andrew,
John Mark, Luke, and several other disciples, believed that
the only requirement was belief that Jesus was the Messiah
and you would be saved by faith in the belief of that. This
opened up the way to all the gentiles of the world.
Paul had been traveling to Greece and Asia Minor,
preaching the word to the masses and proving that he was
13
firmly committed to the message, but Philip wondered if
Paul actually knew Jesus. Peter had vouched for Paul to
Philip, but he was still unconvinced. Paul wasn’t there for
three years as the others had, and Philip figured that Paul’s
knowledge had to be limited to secondhand information.
Whom is he receiving all his knowledge about Jesus from? Is he divinely inspired or is there a political agenda? he thought.
Philip had questioned Paul about all this, and afterward he
still wasn’t quite sure.
Paul had talked of a miracle on his way to Damascus
that had changed him. Considering all the miracles that
Philip had seen so far in his life, he believed that the former Pharisee had told the truth. His only concern was that Paul
was getting knowledge from the apostles about the life of
Jesus whose views were different than his own. Then again,
Philip was a bit more mystical than the rest as the Master
had told him from time to time. But what it really came
down to was that Philip didn’t trust Paul. There just wasn’t
that much to like about the legalistic Pharisees.
Apostles were teaching that Jesus was the son of God,
which is the truth, but what they weren’t teaching is that
the Lord is also the son of Man. He ate, fished, drank wine,
laughed, joked, prayed, and shed tears with them.
Philip remembered back to the time when Jesus heard
of the news that John had been murdered. Never in Philip’s
life had he seen a person grieve so much. Jesus had wept all
night long and the following day, refusing to be comforted.
14
There was a special kinship between Jesus and John that
only those two could share in. That time period was shared
by the apostle as well due to Philip spending two years of
his life with the Baptist himself. Many tears were shared
that Sabbath day between the two. Philip was able to see
the human side of Jesus better than others due to the time
each spent with the Baptist.
Jesus was indeed the son of God, but he was definitely
the son of Man as well. There was a human side to him
that wasn’t being taught to the masses. This human side
of Jesus needed to be shared to the newly converted, and
Philip would see that it would be done. Yet this doctrine
seemed to be getting stifled by those with an agenda that
put Jesus as a God and not a man-God.
Jesus had also loved a woman, the Magdalene, and no
one was talking about that. The Lord was every bit a man
as the rest was. Even more so in Philip’s mind as he saw
Jesus being the definition of a man’s man. After all, he
learned of being a builder from his father Joseph and was
used to working with his hands. He also helped the others
bring in nets of fish in Bethsaida and Capernaum; this was
something men did and was not a job for the weak. This
was not being taught among the churches, and it concerned
Philip and his eternal sidekick Bartholomew. They had
spent long nights talking extensively on this subject, and
the direction of the early church was different then what
they envisioned. Philip wondered what power was behind
15
this movement to make Jesus someone he wasn’t. Why are
they hiding facts about Jesus’s life? Who is behind all of this?
What concerned Philip the most was that a good
majority of Jesus’s teaching was being left out. Bartholomew
agreed with him that the main focus of Jesus’s message
was that the kingdom of Heaven lied within us. That the
primary mission was to show what we are all capable of.
Paul and others were putting the savior on a pedestal that
Jesus shied away from. In Philip’s mind, Jesus wanted to lift
all the apostles up to his level and not put himself above
the rest. Jesus had considered them all brothers and, not
servants nor he their master. They were all elevating Jesus
to a level Philip thought that the apostle had not witnessed
in his three years with the teacher.
Jesus’s message was for everyone to join Jesus at that
level. That the Lord was the firstborn Son of God but not
the only one. In Greece, Philip had intense arguments with
Paul over this issue but for naught. Paul and his band of
followers were bound and determined to create a church
that had a false doctrine. Paul was deifying a friend of his,
and Philip took great exception to this.
He remembered an argument in Ephesus where Philip
and Paul went nose to nose.
“Pharisee, who do you think you are? You act like you
traveled with him for three years like I have,” said Philip
with much volume to his voice.
16
“My name is not Pharisee. It’s now Paul. Jesus himself
gave me that name,” said Paul.
“I don’t care what name he gave you. Stop teaching a
false doctrine,” said an angry Philip.
“All my teachings are divinely inspired by Jesus. And I
will continue to do the Lord’s bidding,” said Paul; his face
a beet red.
“He’s the son of God, but he’s also the son of Man,
and don’t you forget that, Saul of Tarsus,” said Philip as
he walked away from the man. Before leaving he looked
back at Paul and his followers, pointed his finger toward
them, and shouted out, “Remember that he had a family. A
wife, a child, and another on the way! Don’t be making my
friend into someone that he isn’t!” He hadn’t talked to Paul
since that encounter nor did he care to. Yet Paul’s form of
Christianity was becoming quite popular while the truth
was sadly being thrown to the wayside.
In India and to the east where Thomas and Matthias was
and in Egypt and Ethiopia, where Philip and Bartholomew
had been, they were being taught that we are all one and
that the kingdom of Heaven lay within us. This was also the
gospel being taught here at Caesarea by Philip as well. The
people here welcomed the gospel that we are all one, sons
and daughters of the living God. No one apostle or disciple
being above anyone else. Asking whatever you wish for in
Jesus’s name and it will be done through the power of the
17
Holy Spirit that lies within each of those who choose the
way of the Nazarene.
Lastly, what bothered Philip the most was that women
as a whole were being left out of the discussion. Jesus had
confided much knowledge to his companion, Mary of
Magdalene, and she was being shut out of the equation
from the early church. She spoke in such mystical terms
that had been shared to her by her mate, and because of
jealousy of the other apostles, they were ostracizing her for
it. This feeling of jealousy seemed to be getting worse as
each year passed by since the crucifixion. Peter had all but
told Mary that her opinion didn’t matter, that she was a
woman who needed to be silent, that he and not her was the
“apostle to the apostles.” That had led to another argument
between Philip and a fellow apostle. This time, it was Peter
who received the wrath of Philip.
The Jewish followers of the way in Jerusalem were used
to having women in the outer courts and men in the inner,
and old habits had died hard. But that wasn’t how Jesus
treated them. There were many women who followed the
Lord during those days, and now they were being treated
as second class.
The church was split in at least three different directions:
Mary Magdalene with Philip, Thomas, and Bartholomew
in her corner; Paul with Peter, Andrew, John Mark, and
Luke in his corner; and James with Matthew, Simon, and
18
Jude in his. Schisms abounded as to the early doctrine of
the way.
John, being the youngest, was caught in the middle of
this madness and refused to take sides. He tried to play the
part of peacemaker, but because of his youth during those
days of walking with the Lord, not many listened to him.
Philip and John had expressed concerns to each other as to
the direction of the church and agreed that the division was
not what the Lord had in mind when he taught the twelve
apostles. They agreed while working together in Asia Minor
that what was happening was truly a house divided.
Tears of sadness followed by years of prayer had changed
nothing. Something had to give. It would, but it wasn’t the
result Philip prayed for.
Many nights Philip would be knelt down praying, “Lord
here my prayer.
“I give thanks to you for your many gifts given me this
and every day. The fields are bountiful for the harvest, but
the laborers are not united. We argue, Lord, over your
message. Is this the way you intended it? Are we to be a
house divided, and if this is so, then why would you make it
that way? I cannot go to their side, for I know it is false, yet they won’t come to me.
“Please unite your house, wash away our sins, and clothe
us in white. I await your return, amen.”
Deep down, Philip felt that the Lord’s church was being
hijacked by some unseen force. It was a house divided, and
19
if it continued on its present path, it wouldn’t stand. He
was going to teach what he knew the truth of Jesus, and if
it conflicted with the others, well then, let things fall where they may.
Maybe it was the Lord’s will that this was done. Philip
didn’t know, but in 42 ad he was a deeply concerned apostle
over the church of the Lord. Something had to give.
20
Caesarea, Samaria
Philip was in the middle of addressing the church of about
twenty followers who had assembled at his house when he
saw his lifelong friend and fellow apostle, Bartholomew,
open the door. He stopped for a moment and continued on
with his teaching.
“They said to him, ‘Why do you love her more than all
of us?’ The Savior answered and said to them, ‘Why do I
not love you like her? When a blind man and one who sees
are both together in darkness, they are no different from
one another. When the light comes, then he who sees will
see the light, and he who is blind will remain in darkness.’”
He paused at the sight of his brother in Christ.
Bartholomew had a troubled look on his face and was
motioning in an urgent manner with his hand that said
he needed to talk now. Philip finished his sentence then
21
excused himself from the faithful and moved toward the
entryway of his house to greet the formidable, burly man.
“What is it, my friend?”
“We’ve got trouble,” answered Bartholomew.
Philip turned toward the congregation and instructed
another to finish with the services. He then told his wife,
Deborah, that he’d be stepping outside to talk to his fellow
companion in the way.
Bartholomew looked anxious and worried, pacing back
and forth. Something was definitely troubling him. He
pulled Philip by the cloak, took him outside, and said, “I
just received a message from Lazarus. His whole household,
with Mary Magdalene and her children, are on their way
here from Bethany.”
“The whole household?” asked Philip.
“Yes, his wife and children, his sisters Mary and Martha,
as well as Joseph of Arimithea, Sidonius, and others.”
“Joseph too?”
“Yes, it seems as though they’ve run into trouble, and
they had to leave immediately.”
Bartholomew was generally an extremely calm, stable
presence. It took a lot to make him get this excited. Philip
wondered