Scarlet Robe Creations

All these evil things come from inside, and they defile a person. Mark 7:23 From inside, defiled. Not from that growing in the field, or roasted for the slaughter. From within, out of your heart, come thoughts, actions, and words that sully. From inside, immorality languishes. Out from the core of one's being come forth greed, lust, and any cause for pride. Take care then, to concern yourself less with what is placed  on the surface of your tongue and swallowed, then that which is expelled, as vomit, without kindness. copyright 2026 - Donald P James Jr https://www.amazon.com/stores/Donald-P.-James-Jr./author https://www.goodreads.com

Miracle of the Loaves - James Tissot They are hungry. They have come out from the villages, seeking to hear news of goodness. It is getting late now, still they gather, wanting more. They are hungry. The day has been long. They've listened to words, from a teacher, a prophet, from He who is the Word. They are hungry. They need so much more than bread. Feed them, as you have been fed. You think only of nourishment as loaves and fish, and forsake that which is eternal. copyright 2026 - Donald P James Jr https://www.amazon.com/stores/Donald-P.-James-Jr./author https://www.goodreads.com

You ran, perhaps filled with a joy unknown before. After the empty day that was yesterday, you had expected nothing more than more emptiness. You ran, the light frightened you, but the voice gave you strength, so you sprinted from the sight of stones and boulders. Would they believe you? Your euphoria had to diminish, a tiny bit, as you considered rejection. You were women, you had no voice among the men, your opinion had no weight except in His hearing. You ran, all the way to great city. It is what the light told you to do. Peter and John, they will doubt your words. Your excitable rambling will make little sense to the world. Miracles exist to fester doubt, and what is seen by the women, is never equal to what will be seen by men. copyright 2025- Donald P James Jr https://www.amazon.com/stores/Donald-P.-James-Jr./author

There is one among you, one who places a price on the will of God. He has listened to the voices of demons. He has opened the palm of his hands for coin, and the emptiness of betrayal. He will dine with the one, the teacher who he will kiss in greeting. He will set himself at the table, to share the Passover meal, then slip into collusion with those who were greatly pleased by his sin. copyright 2025 - Donald P James Jr https://www.amazon.com/stores/Donald-P.-James-Jr./author

James Tissot - Jesus Enters Jerusalem Hosanna! They lay down their cloaks, not for a stallion, prancing amidst the crowd, not for a centurion, robed with the honor of his rank. Hosanna! Their palms and branches cover not the dust from the hoofs of the beast who carry any dignitary of a puppet king. Hosanna! Their cloaks, the branches waved in celebration, shield a donkey's colt from soil, from kingdoms built on war. Hosanna! An itinerant preacher, a homeless vagabond, rides a beast burdened with humility. Celebrated as a king. Bringing a peace they cannot comprehend. copyright 2025 - Donald P James Jr https://www.amazon.com/stores/Donald-P.-James-Jr./author

James Tissot - Sick Awaiting the Passage of Jesus Along the road they gather, those who have heard and want to believe. Will healing bring them closer to the Word? Will sight help them to stand beneath His cross and see the son as He is? Along the road they call out. He will touch the leper. He will cause demons to submit. Will the wretched kneel in homage when they no longer bleed? Will they recall His name when He rises from a tomb? Along the road they plead. God hears them today and tomorrow. He needs but to walk past and allow you to touch the hem of His garment, and you will either sing of miracles, or explain away the sores that once bled. copyright 2025 - Donald P James Jr https://www.amazon.com/stores/Donald-P.-James-Jr./author

First of the commandments, the most important, one that stands out among all the rest, a scribe seeks an answer. Hear O Israel, the response flows with ease from the mouth of the chosen. Hear O Israel, love the Lord your God with every fiber of you being. And the second, there are two, which shape the answer sought. Hear O Israel, love your neighbor as you love yourself. Do these things and you will not be far from the kingdom you seek. copyright 2025 - Donald P James Jr https://www.amazon.com/stores/Donald-P.-James-Jr./author

He sighed deeply and said, "Why does this generation seek a sign." Mark 8:12 Anthony Van Dyck - Jesus and the Pharisees Seeking signs, a generation finding faith so abstract, and physical manifestations something to be pondered as of God, or the evil one. If the dead are risen from their eternal rest, will that foster faith? If the lame walk and the blind see, will that melt your heart? The Father asks you to come by faith. Those who need signs will always ask for proof and never believe what they have demanded. copyright 2025 - Donald P James Jr https://www.amazon.com/stores/Donald-P.-James-Jr./author

He wore a robe that flowed behind him.  His tassels were neat, and his scripture box was in place.  His strides were confident.  He was greeted with the nodded heads of respect.  Toward some he returned their respectful actions, on others he cast a scowl, a judgement. "Watch out for these." A man dressed in tattered garments said to those gathered round. The words caught the ear of the well-dressed man.  He approached the crowd as the man who spoke a warning pointed in his direction. "These teachers of the law," the man at the center of the crowd continued. "Of whom do you speak, Rabbi?" The well-dressed man spoke his final word with contempt.  He did not consider the man before him to be anything but a vagabond preacher with no real knowledge of the scriptures. "Answer me this." The man in tattered clothes stood up from the crowd and moved toward the ordained teacher of the law. "Do you not find pleasure in the respect given to you?" ...

A question. A question which can have but one answer. He who asks, has sought an answer, a moment before, to another query.  A question similar.  It's perspective different.  Others in the group of men answered with little hesitation.  Now, this second question is directed at you. The answer is on your tongue.  It tickles your mouth.  You have been with the one asking for a time now.  The answer is the reason you tossed your nets back into the boat, left your family, and stepped where he stepped. The others look at you.  The question they answered was so much easier.  They mimicked the responses of those in the crowds.  Now, your companions, your friends, look to you for an answer, for your answer to the question.  You have always been their rock.  You can hear the youngest among the group, asking to which side of the boat should the nets be thrown.  Often you were right, your instinct was good.  You knew the trade. N...

Decapolis brings a man whose ears are closed. Much has been said about the healer arriving from Tyre. He has drawn demons out of men possessed and sent the evil spirits into pigs, casting them to deep waters. Decapolis brings a man whose speech is garbled. They come as intermediaries, begging the traveler to simply lay His hands on their friend a man unable to ask for himself. Touching the ear, sacred saliva to a frozen tongue, the traveler of whom wonderous things are said, speaks a single word, Ephphatha! And the deaf have gained hearing, the mute can speak. Decapolis has seen a miracle in its streets. The district has been chosen to witness. There is reason to celebrate. But soon miracles are justified by skeptics and gossip puts limits on the love of God. copyright 2024 - Donald P James Jr https://www.amazon.com/stores/Donald-P.-James-Jr./author

These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain, they teach as doctrine the precepts of men. Mark 7:6-7   There is this human condition, we cling to. It is tradition. Someone long ago said it must be done in a certain way. We labor to do so without knowing why a certain task  is performed. A prophet said, when man's course was still young, that these people would honor with nothing more than their lips. They would speak worn out passages and kiss icons, while standing in the hypocrisy of traditions, and laws of their own design. Their worship is in vain, when molded by man's doctrine. The commandments of God have been overshadowed by the precepts of man. Tradition, a human condition, closing the doors of faith. copyright 2024 - Donald P James Jr https://www.amazon.com/stores/Donald-P.-James-Jr./author

Is He not the carpenter, the son of Mary... Mark 6:3 Mary's son. An insult spoken by those in His home town. Not Joseph's son, Mary's. He was a carpenter. He shows amazing wisdom, but still, He is the son of Mary. This is His home. This is where He spent his early years. He was but a boy, like any boy. Now He comes and speaks of things no rabbi has ever taught. May's son. Some will call Him as such, without knowing how they prophesize. They tie His lineage to his mother's name because they do not know His Father. copyright 2024 - Donald P James Jr https://www.amazon.com/stores/Donald-P.-James-Jr./author

The Raising of Jairus' Daughter - Vasilij Dmitrievich Polenov Conversation built on gossip, rumors, they do not know what they say. Yet they spread grief because it makes their life more livable. They sing of sadness and cry out loudly, as is custom, like fools. They do not know, they do not care. Sleeping or dead, still they make a sorrowful noise in the courtyard. Do not dance with them, nor sing the dirge. Do not give in to a grief they can't even taste. Today sleep will overcome the grave. The words will be spoken, "Talitha Koum!" and the child will wake. copyright 2024 - Donald P James Jr https://www.amazon.com/stores/Donald-P.-James-Jr./author

They shall know that a prophet has been among them  Ezekiel 2:5 Christ Walking on the Water - Julius Sergius von Klever You should be able to tell by the imprints left by his sandals. Is there evidence that a heavy beam was dragged behind him? You should be able to tell since he was shunned by those who knew him most, by those who'd seen him when he was less serious about life. You should be able to tell by the words spoken from his mouth, or by the results of his hands being laid on the afflicted. A prophet walked among you. The lamb stood in your presence and you said, "Not him.  He is just a carpenter. Not him.  He is unacceptable, even in his own home." copyright 2024 - Donald P James Jr https://www.amazon.com/stores/Donald-P.-James-Jr./author

It is Easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle  than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God Mark 10:25 Luke 18:25 Good teacher what must I do...? Have I succeeded along this road at any time? Have I followed your footsteps for just a moment along a beach? Have I been weary and turned to you without condition? Good teacher what must I do...? I have not taken a life. I have been faithful to my spouse. I have asked pardon for my offenses. Good teacher what must I do...? How do I give all that I've earned? How do I embrace a poverty I've never known? How am I to lay down my life for other? Good teacher what must I do...? I am the young man whose face has fallen. I am the young man who turns away saddened. Still, Good teacher, I am a child who seeks to pass through the eye of a needle. copyright 2024- Donald P James Jr https://www.amazon.com/stores/Donald-P.-James-Jr./author

And when they found him, they exclaimed; "Everyone is looking for you!" Mark 1:37 Everyone was looking for You. There is so much to do. Three years that will change the world more than any before, or any that will come. They will become addicted to Your presence, often without hearing a single word. Everyone was looking for You. The words of life eternal come from Your mouth. Those who do not listen, still see the miracles. So You go off in the early morning to pray, to ponder the ministry You've chosen. Everyone was looking for You. The mother of Simon's wife was healed, right before their eyes. You took from her a cross she did not know she was carrying. But others await. You cannot be possessed in earthly terms. There is much to do before You are betrayed. Everyone was looking for You, but only a few have come to search. Only a few have come to walk by Your side. One who will betray. One who will deny. One who will doubt. All who will question. copyright 2024 - Don...

If you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean. The leper says this, almost dares, just as we often do. If you are willing, if you want to. I've often spat those words out with an occasional bribe on my part. And the leper listens. He is told to perform the rituals stated by their law. Say nothing. But the healer knows. The leper will spread the flavor of this miracle everywhere. And still He touches the untouchable and heals his sores. If you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean. The sinner says this when he crawls at the pit's bottom. If you are willing, if you want to. Challenging the lamb's strongest desire. And we listen to words spoken and read, a passage of Holy Thought. And when we are told to speak, told to share our conversion, are we silent? copyright 2018 - Donald P James Jr https://www.amazon.com/stores/Donald-P.-James-Jr./author  

Follow me. The words catch the Pharisees and scribes, gathered to judge, by surprise. There are those who have spoken in hushed corners about this man. The leaders of the faith considered him no different than the others, until those praising his work stepped out into the light. Follow me. He had spoken these words to fishermen, tradesmen of a simple nature. The uneducated are moved by emotion and not knowledge. They are taught to rebel against their lot in life. They are immersed in the mire of existence and see not its wealth. Follow me. For what purpose does one stand up in his dusty sandals and walk in the steps of a wanderer, one who sleeps on stones. Do they have any idea where he will lead them? Will he take them to a life better than the one they have today? Follow me. Sinners, cast out by the law, who have never before glanced an eye toward God, without quickly looking away. They know they are unworthy. They make a slander of the righteous by thei...

Jesus sternly told the evil spirits not to tell anyone who He was.  Mark 3:12 Gustave Doré - Jesus Healing the Man Possessed with a Devil They were not to speak Your name, the evil that possesses men. They whispered in vile tongues when recognizing Your lineage. You ordered their silence when cast out from flesh and bone. Return to the bowels of a realm where sin festers without rest. The thing that screams when torn from the soul tastes Your name on its vile tongue. Filth of a demon cannot touch Your purity. Evil cannot pay heed to Your goodness. The order is stern and shadows submit, without choice, to the light. You hold governance over every entity created. For it is said, that once Satan, like Judas, was one of Yours. copyright 2017 - Donald P James Jr https://www.amazon.com/stores/Donald-P.-James-Jr./author