Decades ago, I read the gospel portion of the Bible retelling Christ’s words and actions. Some of the verses spoke to me as commandments. During this same period I began focusing my study on finding all the verses of instruction in the gospels, and since then I have organized these verses. Having assembled a finished copy for myself as well as my friends and relatives, I decided to offer it to you as a book titled Christ’s 40 Commandments through Westbowpress.com and Amazon.  Though the original book is applicable to everyone, I wanted to especially target those in church work; therefore, I reprinted it with the addition of blank note pages and titled it Christ’s 40 Commandments for Use by Those in Ministry. These books are available in softback, hardbound, and E-book.

DEVELOPMENT OF BOTH BOOKS –

1st book – CHRIST’S 40 COMMANDMENTS

As I recall, it was in the two years of 1987 and 1988, when I was reading the gospels in the Bible before Easter, that I created lists of verses categorized by Christ’s commandments. My original copy was handwritten because like most people, I did not have a home computer. I had a computer in my office at work for my secretary but it was not for personal use. Knowing this manuscript needed to be properly composed on a computer, I placed the project aside.

In approximately 2003 I compiled the content on a home computer. Bullet points seemed the logical way to organize the wealth of literary material. I now realize that this was a novel idea. At that time I titled the manuscript, Christ’s Commandments – an Annotated Concordance of the Gospels in the Bible. I did not proceed further with it.

In 2011 the New International Version (NIV) Bible– the most widely read translation – was revised. In 2013, I revised my manuscript using that Bible as source material. I wanted my book to be published by Thomas Nelson / Zondervan since they are associated with the NIV. I was directed to Westbow Press which is one of their subdivisions. My manuscript was accepted. In 2014 and 2015 I spent extensive time tweaking the copy. To make the book more approachable, I renamed it Christ’s 40 Commandments.

As a former teacher and author of mathematics material, I equate the three sections of the book with the three areas of a bell curve. The left tail begins slowly with introductory material and builds upward with general content. The center, tall, high-density area (pages 25-191) consists of Christ’s commandments followed by associated verses. Lastly, the right tail winds down with the presentation of various appendices.

The book obviously is useful to those in ministry and to church attendees but I am also giving the book to some individuals unfamiliar with Christianity. This has shaped my presentation. I believe it was on the morning of December 28, 2015 when I saw the name “Thomas” in one of the entries that I realized my Moslem and Hindu friends would not know who Thomas is. I could say “an apostle” but that too might be an unfamiliar word to them. I recognized that I needed an Appendix H to define the Biblical names and terms used in the book. I spent the entire day scanning all the verses and writing the related definitions. For example, I listed “Thomas” as “One of the 12 apostles; he doubted the resurrection” and listed “Apostles” as “The 12 closest followers to Jesus.” That evening, Christ’s 40 Commandments was complete. It was published in January 2016.

2nd book – CHRIST’S 40 COMMANDMENTS FOR USE BY THOSE IN MINISTRY

My friend of over 40 years stated, “The book needs a dark cover to sit beside a Bible.” One of the University of Oklahoma Engineering Ph.D. students basically suggested, “It needs the cover to say ‘Ministry’.” Following these suggestions I had the book reprinted. The content is still for everyone, yet this second book specifically targets those involved in preparing sermons or Sunday school lessons. To facilitate notetaking, I included 43 blank pages in the back. I titled it, Christ’s 40 Commandments for Use by Those in Ministry.

(For the differences between the two books see the “WHICH TO CHOOSE” tab.)

Most scholars own a dictionary; many own a thesaurus. Most Christians own a Bible; many may obtain one of these two texts. A prayer is offered that it will be a useful resource for all.