A missionary in Honduras is forced to confront a church elder in Texas after a local woman admits to an affair resulting in pregnancy. The elder is given a chance to sweep the affair under the rug by agreeing to pay a modest amount of child support. Rather than pay support for his child, the elder sets out to destroy the mission, a school and feeding program for impoverished children. The attack successfully eliminates funding for the mission, forcing the missionary to take action in the States. Listen in as unseen spiritual forces in a battle for the souls of hundreds of children.
From The Author
Pharisee is a story 20 years in the making. In April 1990, I gave my life to Christ and purchased my first Bible. I paced to read the Bible within a year, from cover to cover. While I did mostly achieve that goal, I found myself flipping forward to the Gospels after every book or two of the Old Testament. By the time I had finished the Bible, I had read each Gospel Account three times. One thing that really stood out in the Gospels was the amount of time and energy the Lord spent dealing with the religious leaders or "Pharisees". Although Pharisees per se, are not exactly commonplace in our culture, one might sometime encounter a prideful or religious spirit. I have to believe that God's Word is eternal and that we even have lessons to learn from the Pharisees. When we come to Christ, we are cleaned and saved. The challenge then, is to not condemn those that may not yet know Christ. Nor are we to judge and condemn our fellow brothers and sisters. Paula and I brought our four children to Honduras in 2006 to run an orphanage and show them the love and light of Christ. I hope that we have been a positive influence. I know for certain that we have removed some very negative elements from the home, or rather, the Lord has. In helping down here I have seen that we have made a greater influence on the people we love back home than we did in our prior 15 years of marriage.
I, by no means, believe that everyone should weigh anchor and move to a foreign country as part of their own personal "mission". I believe my mission to Honduras was berthed in a vision the Lord gave me before I turned 10. No, I was not a Christian back then but the Lord can speak to anyone he wants. For that matter, this mission to Honduras is His, not mine, not ours. So onto the book. Pharisee is a story; but a story based on our experiences both in the USA and on the mission field. We've been blamed for all kinds of things. We've been lied to, targeted for assassination, shot at, robbed and just about everything you would expect in a fallen world. Of course the worst hurt of all comes when your "friends" betray you.
Even still, there is the mission; mothers and children, abused and abandoned and the fathers whom are just trying to earn enough to feed their families in an honest way. They are who we are here for. Pharisee borrows from some of these experiences and incorporates them into a story that I hope entertains and teaches about the perils of pride mixed with religion. I sincerely hope that the book is a blessing to its readers. Christianity is not an easy path. In fact, without the Lord's help and grace, it is impossible.
About the Author: Mark Colbath has been a software engineer for 22 years. He and his wife Paula direct an orphanage in Honduras and have done so since 2006. He still writes software today in order to fund the orphanage and provide jobs for the needy families. Mark married his wife Paula in 1991. They have four school age children. "Pharisee" encapsulates a lot of true struggles and first hand experiences within the church and Honduras. Mark became a Christian in 1990 and been involved in church since then. Mark is an avid student of scripture, sometimes leading him to question the direction and accepted norms of the modern church. This story touches on those questions. Born and raised in Texas. His career briefly had him working in Manassas, Virginia near Washington, DC. Most of his career was spent in the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas area working for various Fortune 500 and other local companies. The US Patent and Trademark Office credits six software engineering patents to Mark.
