Upcoming books from Walking the Line Publications: The Enhanced New Testament  Volume I and II Excerpts from ancient manuscripts detailing stories, legends, and little known facts about the people, places, and events of the New Testament  Back Cover Information:   This book is not a commentary on the New Testament! Instead, the author provides actual quotes from ancient Jewish and Christian sources that provide insight into the people, places, and events surrounding the life of Jesus. There are hundreds of books, letters, and other ancient Christian and Jewish manuscripts, not included in our modern Bible, that provide additional information about the life of Jesus, his Apostles, and the early Christians.               The sources used in this book are varied: historians such as Josephus (a Jew) and Eusebius (a Christian); philosophers such as Philo (a Jew) and Origen (an early Christian); sacred manuscripts such as the Mishna (the Oral Law of the Jews), the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Nag Hammadi Library, the Pseudepigrapha and Hagiography (Christian writings not included in the Bible); and many other Apocryphal sources of information relating to the New Testament. The author has carefully gleaned through these ancient sources and gathered together in one volume many “pearls of great price” relating to the New Testament.   Jesus Christ was a Jew. His earthly parents were Jews, and he was raised within a Jewish culture. In addition, all of the men chosen by Jesus to lead the church he created were Jews. Understanding Jewish culture at the time of Christ, and knowing what the Jews of that time believed and taught, is crucial for anyone striving to know Jesus as a person.   This book will help you understand the religious doctrine the Jews believed prior to the birth of Jesus, and will detail many of the specific laws and rites every Jew was required to perform. It will also give you the historical background of the political and cultural events that led up to the birth of Jesus.   This book also quotes ancient sources that describe in detail the structure and beliefs of the early Jewish and Christian churches. It also documents changes that occurred to the church Jesus created after the death of the original Apostles and the dramatic suffering many Christians were forced to endure because of their beliefs.   All of this information, and much, much, more is provided, not as a commentary, but through actual quotes from ancient sources that had first-hand knowledge of the events they were describing! Through reading the words of these ancient Jews and Christians, your understanding of the New Testament will truly be “enhanced”! Mail Call: Hand Painted Envelopes from Father to Son during World War I This is a coffee table book containing photocopies of hand-painted envelopes used to send letters from a father living in Ohio to his son serving in France during World War I. It also contains excerpts from the letters these beautiful envelopes enclosed. Back cover information: When Walter Myers enlisted in the Army during World War I, his father, Ross, painted an original patriotic design on each envelope into which the family placed their letters.  At one time Walter had to ask his father to stop decorating the envelopes because his mail was being stolen for their art.  Walter carried the envelopes in a leather pouch through the trenches and difficult living conditions as he moved from place to place.  At one time they were lost but, fortunately for Ross’ posterity, were found again. The envelopes were frequently displayed in one of the windows of the largest department store in their hometown of Steubenville, Ohio.  Also displayed were his leather case, gas mask, maps, and a captured German officer’s helmet. After returning home from France in 1919, Walter joined his father’s business and became noted for his design of church and club interiors. John Ross Myers was a noted Scenic and Renaissance Ornament artist of the 1900s in the tri-State area of Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania.  He studied art at the Cooper Institute of Art, later called the Cooper Union.  While studying in New York City, he earned money for his schooling by painting on the Brooklyn Bridge.  In the early 1920s he traveled to the Holy Lands and the Mediterranean Area to research the ornamental painting for which he became well known. The excerpted letters included in this book are those written from Walter TO his family and carefully saved by his mother, later passed down to his daughter, Nancy Myers Hopkins.  Many of them were written on YMCA stationery. The combined envelopes and letters present an historical record of the war and home fronts between Feb 5, 1918 and May 3, 1919.  Walter was assigned to the Army Air Service Corps, 5th Balloon Company and fought in the Meuse-Argonne Defensive Sector and was involved in the engagement at St Mihiel, France.