JB Richards

Yehuda bar Yeshua, more familiarly known to his family and friends as Thomas, knows he has a Sacred Mission to fulfill on this Earth, but his faith in that Mission and in Yeshua is now shaken to its core. His father’s slumped and lifeless body still hangs from the rough wooden cross looming high above him. “This was not the way things were supposed to be,” he murmurs, numb with grief as he looks up at his father’s bloodied and disfigured face. He does not expect an answer, but still, he finds it difficult to leave. He must meet his great-uncle, Joseph bar Abram, who is begging a favor from Roman Praefectus of Judea, Pontius Pilate. “His body must be taken down and buried before Shabbat. Only then can I accomplish my task,” Thomas reminds himself as he looks upon the grieving faces of his grandmother, Mary, his aunt, Sali, and his mother, Miriamne. “I should stay with them, but I have no choice—I must go.”

All weekend, the Romans and the Jewish council conduct intensive searches to arrest those who have ties to the young preacher from Galilee. Pilate and the Head Priest, Caiaphas, agree that anyone associated with Yeshua’s movement must be captured and eliminated—particularly his family members. The frightened disciples gather together in several hiding places throughout Jerusalem, Bethany, and Aramathea to keep vigil while Miriamne, Mary, and Sali, along with Joseph bar Abram and a few of his closest friends, hastily attend to Yeshua’s body. With Shabbat upon them, the men and women return from their grim task, but no one seems to notice that Thomas is missing . . . no one except his cousin, Mark bar Andrew.

Thomas and Mark met only three short years ago, but the two boys have been inseparable ever since. Thomas, his mother, and little sister, Sarah, had accompanied Yeshua to Capernaum to visit his sister, Sali, and her husband, Andrew bar Jonas, just after the family’s return from the Indus. It was there that Mark’s father and his older brother, Simon Peter, helped recruit many of Yeshua’s closest followers—including the two brothers, James and John bar Zebedee, fishermen whom Yeshua had jokingly nicknamed the Sons of Thunder for the ruckus they always caused.

After following his uncle for three years, Mark believes—as his father, Andrew, does—that Yeshua is the Promised One . . . the Messiah. Mark had felt the enormous energy streaming from Yeshua’s body whenever He performed a healing, demonstrated a miracle, or exorcised a demon. But to his amazement, he senses this same energy coming from Thomas from time to time—especially when he gives in to his emotions. Mark suspects that Thomas has inherited his father’s Gift, but he is truly stunned when he goes off in search of his missing cousin and discovers his true identity as a Malach—an Angel of the Lord.

After hearing the rumors of Yeshua’s miraculous resurrection spreading like wildfire across all of Judea and Galilee, the authorities are more determined than ever to root out and destroy the Galilean upstart’s family and followers. In fear for their lives, Miriamne’s uncle, Joseph, and his fellow Sanhendrenite, Nicodemus, work quickly to plan an escape for her and her family. To make the journey together, however, would be too dangerous, and so Miriamne and Sarah—accompanied by her siblings Martha and Lazarus John—are spirited away to Alexandria, Egypt while Thomas and Mark are set upon a familiar road East—one that will take them far from everyone and everything they hold dear . . . back to the very beginnings of Yeshua’s ministry.

Follow Thomas and Mark on the Journey of a lifetime and discover what it means to be a true friend and an Apostle of the Lord in “Thomas the Twin: The Sefer Revealed”

Publication date to be announced.