THE PROMISE OF THE STAR
A Novel of Healing Presence
At first, the angel Starr appears to be just one of a vast multitude. She appears in the sky, barely noticed by most people. Somehow her light registers in the minds of three wise rulers, a proud young king, and his two advisors, from a land far to the East of Israel. These men, who have grown familiar with the Hebrew prophecies, knew of the significance of the heavenly vision and began their trek to the holy land.
Joseph and Mary see the angel Starr and file this vision safely away in the long list of “the glories of the Lord.” Starr’s light also appears to a family of shepherds, two brothers—the older hardened and bitter because life has treated him unfairly. In the Temple courts, two elderly saints don’t need to see the angel named Starr. They have the scriptures and pray continuously for the promised Messiah to throw off the wicked chains of Rome. The Messiah is the star they seek.
With these traditional and biblical characters, Stephen Phifer imagines the Nativity Story in realistic and graphic detail. In these pages, the Christmas story will become real and precious as your life is impacted by the truth of Jesus.
There is healing in His presence—this is not fiction; it is faith!
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Stephen Phifer is a third-generation minister of the Gospel. His 50+ years of ministerial and educational experience have served to keep him close to the Bible and to all generations of believers. Since he was a teenager, Steve has been active in music, writing, and theatre. His passion for the Lord Jesus and the worship arts show through in this work of what he calls “faith fiction.” Like historical fiction, faith fiction tells an imaginative fictional story against the backdrop of actual history.
The Promise of the Star was first written as a musical play for a Christmas production for Suncoast Cathedral Assembly of God in the late 1990s. Expanding the play into a novel was a unique experience for the author. Dr. Phifer is passionate about telling the Jesus Story in ways that will bring it home to contemporary readers. In The Promise of the Star, beginning with Mary, everyone who comes into contact with the Christ-child is changed—healed from the inside out.
Dr. Phifer is a native of Arkansas and holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music education and a doctorate in worship studies. He has two websites: StevePhifer.com, where he posts his writings on worship renewal, and PathofLifeDevotions.com, a daily devotional where he tells “The Jesus Story.” He and his wife, Freeda, an amazing musician and music educator, live in central Florida.
On this day, they would be joined by a husband, wife, and child at the temple to dedicate the boy, faithfully obeying the Law of God. Their faithful paths crossed. The old man and the elderly woman stopped. They looked at each other. … they knew the way the faithful know things that The Promise was before them.
THE PROMISE OF THE STAR
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