June Newsletter : Challenging Times

The creation of Matthew is very nearly complete! More detail below. 

Sneak peek at the Book of Matthew

How will the long sermons look on Matthew? Here is an example from the Sermon on the Mount. You can see the commandment written that Jesus is talking about and also an allusion to an Old Testament example. In this case, the story of Cain and Abel. 

Challenging times

I have been asked many times if the lockdown has affected the business, well, yes it has. Firstly, all the bookshops and wholesale warehouses that supply online retailers have been shut. Secondly, all large events (comic cons, Christian conferences and the like) have all been cancelled. In total over the last three months, our income has dropped to just under a third of what we saw last year. 

Sadly we've also lost several monthly patrons due to people being out of work. If you are one of those people, please know we are praying for you.

We have faith that God will provide all we need, and I feel blessed that we completed the Kickstarter before things really kicked off with COVID. 

As I was writing and rewording this little section, I just received an email from Sputnik.co.uk  (a UK-based network of faith-driven artists) telling us they'd approved our application for £200 funding! I'm really encouraged by the precise timing and just know the Lord has his hand on the project. 

To help us please pray, tell your friends about the project, invite them to the social media groups and maybe buy some copies for your friends and local church library. 
 

Progress

All the comic pages are drawn. I'm just putting together the last few sketch pages at the end of the book now and Ryan and Leslie are completing the colours on the last few pages. Zondervan have OKed all the pages they've seen (95%). So it just needs proofreading and compiling into a print file. The plan is to submit it to the printers at the end of this month and have them out to Kickstarter backers by the end of next month!

Prayer 

Please keep us in your prayer, regarding provision and progress. Please pray there are no errors in the books that go to print and the NIV translation helps use sell more copies and get the books into new places and suppliers.

🔴 Weekly LIVE videos!  

Every week on a Friday at 1pm (UK) there is a new instalment of the Judges Bible study Live on FB, YouTube and our other Social media outlets. Here is the latest:

"The tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. " Matthew 27:52

Let's talk about Matthew 27:52-53 : The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.

This verse only event is only mentioned in Matthew's Gospel, but we shouldn't worry about that. I found this quote from St. Augustine "There is no reason to fear that these facts, which have been related only by Matthew, may appear to be inconsistent with the narrative present by any one of the rest [of the Gospel writers]… it would still have been perfectly legitimate to suppose, that as many astonishing things did place at that time… the historians were at liberty to select for narration any particular incident which they were severally disposed to instance as the subject of the wonder."

I am wondering two things. Who were the people raised and what happened to them afterwards?

Who were they? 

I've found some very interesting articles and regarding the identity of the holy people, it would clearly be Jewish holy folk ("old testament saints"), as I do not believe there would be "many" dead actual Christians in Jerusalem at this point.

I've heard a few theories about these "saints". One that I hadn't heard until recently was that at the resurrection Jesus defended to Hades and emptied out the good side of Hades (aka. those in Abraham's bosom, Luke 16:19-31) and from that point on in history, no believer went to wait in Hades but was "with the Lord" when they died. (See 1 Peter 3:19 also). This local resurrection, then, was an evidence God decided to use of that happening.

If this idea is new one on you, it might help to think about the fact that in order to inhabit the resurrected bodies the souls of these dead would have had to come from somewhere. So if some souls are being taken from Hades to Earth, why not free all the faithful souls?  

I believe this is a belief John Calvin ascribed, in his commentary on this verse he says "This was a particular portent in which God testified that His Son had entered death’s prison, not to stay there shut up, but to lead all free who were there held captive….  That is the reason why He, who was soon to be shut in a tomb opened the tombs elsewhere."

My ponderings on this make me also wonder if John the Baptist was among these resurrected. He was dead at the time, killed nearby and his family home was likely in or near Jerusalem (his father being a Temple priest). Just a thought.

What happened to the Resurrected people afterwards?

Some commentators believe they rose and lived mundane lives again and died again like Lazerus. Others that they returned to their graves once they'd testified. For me, it seems most likely that they were translated/ascended just as Christ did. This makes sense particularly if the idea presented above has merit as they are truly among those taken from Hades to be with Christ. 

What are your thoughts on the matter? 

Below, Ive linked a few of websites that discuss the matter is you'd like some further reading ;) 

• https://www.ucg.org/bible-study-tools/bible-questions-and-answers/what-happened-to-the-resurrected-saints-mentioned-in

• https://defendinginerrancy.com/early-fathers-resurrection-saints/

• https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/split-rocks-open-tombs-raised-bodies

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_27:53

Become a Patron : https://www.patreon.com/WordforWordBibleComic

May Newsletter- Success, winners and progress

May Newsletter 

The Kickstarter is now complete and we are on to finishing off the book and getting ready to fulfil all the Kickstarter orders!

Competition Winners! 

The competition was won by Adam Eveleigh and Esther Moreton, so now they are immortalised at the triumphal entry of Christ! They even have speaking parts! (Centre).

Results of the Kickstarter 

Below you can see a graph of how the Kickstarter concluded! The minimum target was £10,000 and ended on £16.598. We hit two stretch goal so the special books received by backers will have a special holographic lamination and Spot UV elements on the cover!

If you were a backer, thank you very much! If you haven't completed your backer survey (with your address etc) please do so today! We will be sending out a lot of the completed books straight away and so we will be downloading the backer information soon and we'd like it to all be there!

Sneak peek at the Book of Matthew

 

Satan appears to tempt Jesus. 

Support the comic with a small monthly contribution via Patreon 

Progress

During this time being locked indoors, I've been trying to make good progress on the pages of the comic! As you can see 192 are drawn and another 7 are in progress. There are only 219 comic story pages in the book so I'm not too far from completing those and then I'll quickly add the sketchbook pages and notes to the back and get it checked and then off to the printers! 

Prayer 

Prayer is such an important element in this project and we'd love you to continue asking the Lord to guide us and help us make the right creative choices! 

Everyone is being affected by the current situation, for us, one impact that book shops are closed and the Christian events are all cancelled. We are hoping that in September things will be opening up in time to sell the books at the September launch and the run-up to Christmas this year. So please continue to pray this situation will end so and we can return to normal.

🔴 Weekly LIVE videos!  

Judges 3:26-31 Bible Study

Judges 4:1-3 Bible Study

Judges 4:4-10 Bible Study

April: Funding Finishing. Free stuff and Face in the Bible

Funding Finishing

Hi everyone! We are really pleased with how the Kickstarter Campaign has gone so far! Many of you got in in the first 48 hours and that was great! Thank you so much. We are now in the last days so if you haven't got your unique rewards yet times in running out. 

And remember, the new books purchased through Kickstarter have special covers and when we hit the next stretch goal they will also have spot UV covers too. 

Free Gospel of Mark Kindle Gift!

To celebrate hitting the minimum target on Kickstarter for the Gospel of Matthew, we are making the full 180 page digital graphic novel available free!

This is a one time offer so please tell your friends and spread the news.  Available until April 7th only.

Share this link:  https://wordforwordbiblecomic.com/kindle-gospel-of-mark-free-all

Face in the Bible

Don't miss this Competition to win having your face drawn into the Gospel of Matthew triumphal entry scene. Just click the images and it'll take you to Facebook where you can enter by tagging a friend and sharing the post! 

🔴 The LIVE videos

The LIVE video series continues with the book you voted for! Use the link below to watch the last few. 

Judges 2:15-3:10 Bible Study

Judges 3:11-19 Bible Study 

Judges 3:20-25 Bible Study

Back the Kickstarter...

March: Kickstarter begins NOW!

I recently hit the launch button on the new campaign to fund The Gospel of Matthew: Word for Word Bible Comic. Please go there now and back the project and share it with all your friends! And remember, the new books purchased through Kickstarter have special covers and unique upgrades that will not be available after. 

It's so important to get off to a flying start on the Kickstarter platform (for popularity, features etc), so please don't delay if you're sure you will be backing.

This is the new cover that you helped create!

Please remember these three steps: 

Progress

The delivery date for Kickstarter backers is July. As you can see most of the book is complete. But this gives three months to complete the last part. 

 

🔴 The new LIVE videos

The LIVE video series has begun, with the book you voted for! Use the link below to watch the last few. 

Febuary: Big News and the count down begins!

February News!

It's just one month until the Kickstarter for The Gospel of Matthew begins! 

(To get this news in an email subscribe here: http://eepurl.com/bzpR9f)

The next newsletter will come out the moment the Kickstarter launches, so you'll be able to get in first and get the early bird deals before anyone else.

It's so important to get off to a flying start on the Kickstarter platform (for popularity, features etc), so please don't delay if you're sure you will be backing. Here are some exciting new elements to this campaign: 

• The copies bought through Kickstarter will be unique with special covers.

• We have several digital freebies for all backers planned.

• We've got exciting stretch-goals unlocking new physical items.

Big News: The NIV is here!

"Well, if they agree to those conditions, it'll be a miracle" - Wife, Siân

Did you spot it on the header? We did it! The Gospel of Matthew will be printed with the NIV translation! The most popular (#1 best selling) Bible translation for the past several years.

After running the gauntlet of obtaining the rights for over a year now, we finally have all three infinity stones: Biblica, Zondervan and Hodder. 

There was a lot of negotiation and prayer, but miraculously they agreed to let us use the words in a comic, which means reformatting their text, dropping the speech marks and the footnotes, capitalising or emboldening whole sentences and many more things they weren't too sure about. 

We believe this will open doors to getting into big suppliers, shops and giving new customers the confidence to trust the Bible comic. 

More info in the NIV: https://www.biblica.com/niv-bible/

🔴 New weekly LIVE videos

The LIVE video series has begun! Currently, they are scheduled for 1pm UK (8am EST) every Friday. They stream to Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter (as well as Periscope, Twitch, VK and Mixer). 

If you are opening this email straight away click below to watch the video LIVE. 

• https://www.facebook.com/Pillario

Below is an edited down version of last weeks show, explaining Judges 1:1-2

Sneak peek at the Book of Matthew

In the following pages, we see Mary delivering the news about the immaculate conception with Joseph and what follows. 

Prayer 

Thank you to all those who prayed that we'd be able to sign the NIV. Your prayers have been answered. 

This month and next, please pray and pray for the Kickstarter to smash its goals! To get media attention and hundreds of new people supporting the project! 

HAVE YOUR SAY: The Cover to the Gospel of Matthew

In 2018, thanks to your opinions and suggestions a template was established. Each Gospels cover will have the same format but the elements within it will be relevant to that specific Gospel.

These Elements are:

A- Jesus' appearance
B- The circle/halo behind Jesus
C- The significant event or place of this Gospel
D- The most significant female character
E- A period image to incorporate
F- What colour scheme (Mark was Blue)

When making suggestions think about if the element is better suited to another Gospel (E.g. Mary the mother of Jesus might be significant in Matthew, but she is more central in Luke). I'd love to hear your thoughts. You can add comments below, or head over to the Facebook post to see more comments and join the discussion there:

https://www.facebook.com/wordforwordbiblecomic/photos

More info:

A- Jesus' Appearance: In Mark, he was portrayed as the suffering servant. In John, he will be more divine looking as The WORD. In Matthew, the focus is on how he is the fulfilment of the OT Hebrew Scriptures, the King and the promised Messiah. The book is focused on the Jewish reader. So how should he look?

B- The Circle/halo: In Mark, this is the full Moon that hung overhead during the Passover where Jesus was arrested and tried, it forms a sort of halo. I was planning to do this on each but need 4 types to make it work. Alternatively, this could just be in Mark and there could be something else (a scroll etc) or nothing. Things I was thinking of was the Sun, the crown of thorns, a halo, a coin....... what' you got?

C- Significant event or place or beginning: In Mark, this was John the Baptist as it is the opening scene rather than the nativity. In this book, it could be the nativity to parallel the "beginning" aspect, or it could be another unique event of the Gospel (like the Magi visit), or it could be a significant place as the Mark image includes the Jordan River.

D- Significant Female Character: To balance the cover gender-wise its fun to include a female character. In Mark, it was Mary Magdeline as there is a lot of detail about her at the Ressurection. As mentioned, in Luke it will be Mary the mother of Jesus as she is so central there. But who should it be in this book?

E- Period Image: On all the covers we've done on all the books there are period images incorporated in the cover. In Mark, it was some contemporary philosophers and some original text from the Gospel of Mark in Koine Greek. Any suggestions for this one?

F: Colour scheme: As well as adjusting the elements the big thing will be choosing a dominant colour. As you can see Mark had dark blue as it matched the night sky that the Moon was in. What colour might suit this Gospel the best and way?

January: New year, new book

January Newsletter 

Now that it is the new year, we will be focusing on our next book, The Gospel of Matthew! It is now the run-up to the Kickstarter in March (details below).

New weekly LIVE videos!  

I am planning to post a live video once a week going through the pages of one of the comics, talking about things like the meaning of the verses and different scholars opinions, the historical references for the work, the creative choices like character design and colour pallets etc. I believe I will start with the Book of Judges. 

Please help me with your opinions on a few practical considerations in this 3 question tick box survey. (Estimated time to complete 1 minute) …

Take Survey

Below is a longer example from the Gospel of Mark. It was created for the patrons on Patreon. This one is a good example of the mixture of information about the scriptures, the historical period and some of the creative decisions involved. (Click on the image below) 

Video: Explaining the pages, Mark 8:9b-32

(You can get a video like this every two weeks if you become a patron and support the project for $5+ a month. Here: https://www.patreon.com/WordforWordBibleComic )

Kickstarter for The Gospel of Matthew MARCH! 

On Friday, March the 6th at 8 pm UK time (3 pm EST, 12 noon PST) we will be launching the next Kickstarter campaign! God willing!

That's only about 50 days away. 

This idea is that the book will be nearly finished and so you won't have too long to wait to receive it! Plus we've got plans to make the books received through KS extra special!

We've got lot's planned and special rewards and bonuses so it's going to be really exciting.

If you have a blog, YouTube channel or the like please let me know if you can feature the project at that time!

Follow me on Kickstarter :https://www.kickstarter.com/profile/word4wordbiblecomic/created
 

Sneak peek at the Book of Matthew

 

Matthew's Gospel begins with a genealogy of Jesus. But when reading it in the comic you won't be tempted to just skip over it as you'll even see many familiar faces! This is only two-thirds of the genealogy but many of these characters have actually been seen in the Bible comic before in one place or another.  

Progress

I have been able to make much more progress, as I have been able to incorporate the Mark pages into Matthew's gospel where the two coincided. You can see by comparing the two charts how much it has come along in just one month.

Prayer 

We are entering the last phases of potentially getting hold of the NIV translation, we believe it will be a step up for the project, so please pray God has his hand on the situation and it goes smoothly. 

As mentioned above this is the run-up to the Kickstarter, this is a great opportunity to pray into that. Please pray the campaign will get in front of as many people as possible, that it will really smash it's goals this time and exceed expectations! Please pray that Kickstarter add it to their "Projects We Love" and that I can wisely consider how to set the goals and design the campaign. 

Lastly, if you plan to contribute to the Kickstarter as a donation or pre-order, please pray on what you can pledge and if you can help us get the work out.