Fairy Tale Spotlight: Acts of the Apostles [Book Review]

"Acts of the Apostles" is the forty-fourth book of the "Holy Bible," and it was more than likely written by Luke. The letter was written again to Theophilus and the writing style is extremely similar to that of Luke. And I would also like to say that he is a very good writer, and I find his direct style very relaxing. I would be happy to read anything the man ever wrote.

This is the first post-gospel book in the Bible. Everything here happens after the death and resurrection of Jesus. The world has to contend with that now, and the apostles now take center stage. They were told that there would come a day when the Holy Spirit would enter into them which would drive them to do amazing things in the name of Jesus. This day is referred to as Pentecost.

Now, as this blog is more of a summary of the things that stood out to me about this book, I won't go into every thing that happened. I do want to say however that these apostles went out and performed miracles in a likewise manner as Jesus did, but they did these miracles in His name. And that's the point. Without the advent of Jesus, they would have no power to do anything.

The Jews, namely the Pharisees, gave these men a lot of the same trouble they gave Jesus. They seemed far less cowardly about it this time around. Some of them did not make it. However, the story of "Acts" mainly revolves around two Apostles in particular: Peter and Saul (who is renamed Paul.) I had a little trouble trying to decide who excited me more. Both of these men were clearly under the protection of the angels of God. They would not be allowed to die until their time came. Heck, you couldn't even keep Peter imprisoned. God busted him out as proof that the things he was defending was real. Amazing stuff!

But Paul. Paul! Here was my hero of this particular book. Paul was originally someone who hatefully pursued the apostles. It was actually quite shocking just how angry this man was. Surprisingly, he gets a visit from Jesus himself which places the living Son of God as a character in "Acts." This turns the man named Saul's entire life a complete 180 in the other direction. It must have been amusing to God to have a man who everyone trusted to kill the Apostles to suddenly join them.

Although I am not completely sure, the way this book is written suggests that Luke was there with Paul for much of the way, obviously very inspired by all of these happenings. The story of Paul was extremely interesting and included some varied forms of storytelling that I had yet seen in the Bible thus far. And, yes, I know I am talking mostly about genre and not the more spiritual matters, but I can't help it. I'm a book nut!

With the story of Paul, you get a riveting courtroom drama which spans multiple court proceedings. People are lobbing hateful accusations against him, but the courts are having a little trouble figuring out what Paul has actually done to deserve being sentenced to death. Also the fact that he is a Roman politically complicated matters and ends up being a bit of a saving grace, not discounting that he was out rightly being protected by God as well.

This courtroom drama jumps right into a fantastic sea-fairing adventure with extremely detailed descriptions of the journey to Rome. There was a storm. The ship crash lands. Primitive natives take them in. Paul gets bit by a poisonous snake and lives. The natives think he is a god when this happens. Holy crap! Was this written by Merman Melville?!

So the second half of "Acts" is more exciting, but the whole book was very good. Weirdly, my version of this book had it titled as the book of "Apostles." This is weird, because I have never heard this book called that. It has always been either "Acts" or "Acts of the Apostles." Not sure what they were thinking. Even so, I highly recommend the book, especially the second half where it focuses entirely on Paul.

As a final caveat, it seems that Peter and Paul did not always get along with one another. I don't claim to know why this happened, but if I had to guess, it might just be because of the actions he took as Saul. It could also just be raw personality differences. I'm not entirely certain what it is, but I'll keep watch over the next books to see if its explained. Read this book and enjoy!

This blog was written on February 6, 2022.

Thank you for reading my blog! Did you enjoy it? Either way, you can comment below, or you can email me at tkwadeauthor@gmail.com. Also stop by my Amazon.com listing by clicking this link: https://www.amazon.com/T.K.-Wade/e/B07BQK9RTZ

Check out my books! Thanks!