THE GREAT GOSPEL OF JOHN
VOLUME 5
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
Jesus in the region of Caesarea Philippi. (cont.) Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 16
- Chapter 191 -
John's fire miracle.
John says, "Look, like this!"
2
John simply spoke and said, "This wood burn here on the stove and in the other huts!" and in an instant the fire in the huts burned brightly.
3
At this both clapped their hands over their heads in amazement and said, "No, that can only be possible for a God! We have indeed seen fire created already by the magicians with the means of rubbing their hands, but simply through the word "never! You must have had some secret powder with which you sprinkled the wood in genuine magician's speed "which however neither I nor anyone else noticed "and the powder must have then soon caught fire in contact with the wood; the ancient Egyptians are supposed to have had such a powder. Otherwise that is a purest, very most incomprehensible miracle!"
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John said, "Things would naturally be best explained with that certain powder; but I took the liberty to remove this affliction in all your huts as you will immediately convince yourselves "and so the certain Egyptian fire powder may now take care for itself!"
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Hardly had John said this, when the neighbors hurried up partly with fear and partly with joy and hastily told what had happened in their huts.
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Alone Aziona calmed them down and said, "Just return to your huts quite calmly and comforted; for we already know what you have met!"
7
At this the bringers of the news hurried home and prepared themselves for their meager meal.
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But now also Hiram said, "Yes, my dear and wonderful friends, now I will head home too for a short time, in order to consume my certainly already cooked fish without salt or other spices; but then I will immediately be back at your service!"
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Said John: "Remain here and be our guest along with Aziona's household!"
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Hiram said, "Noblest friend that would really be more than much too much from your goodness to me which is constantly more and more incomprehensible! But I must care for your accommodation for the night as well, and so it is necessary that I go home for a little and prepare at least for one of you, because of the limitation of space, a comfortable camp for the night!"
11
John says: "Neither is that necessary, for our ship, on which we can all sleep very well, has been already set up for that; but perhaps we will remain the whole night in the open air under the trees on the beautiful grass as is usual, and so you no longer have to worry about anything."
12
Hiram said, "Yes, if so, then certainly I will remain here without further ado! Only there is one unpleasant thing about this area, particularly at night; that is the great abundance of all sorts of evil crane flies and other flying insects; then there are here also a great number of vipers, who at night come out of their holes into the open air and often bother us very much. There are certainly here also a great number of storks and cranes, which fly to this area in hordes and catch their very rich meal; but nonetheless the scum increases so significantly that every evening there is enough to satisfy a good ten times as many storks and cranes. For this reason spending the night in the open air is nonetheless not a very pleasant thing. I would be for preferring to spend the night on the ship, where one does not need to worry about the insects, nor the crane flies and even less the vipers in the rooms!"
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John says: "Do not be concerned about all that; for neither the one nor the other should bother you all today, or ever again!"
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With this John left the hut and came back to us and wanted to tell Me everything that had now happened.
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But I praised him and said, "Everything was in the best order for these people from Me! But I will now tell you something else!"