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About The Main Contributor: TESTIMONY
Life is filled with coincidences but
with God there is no coincidence, but rather a
divine coordination and orchestration of incidences
for the eventual fulfilment of His purpose. Well
this is perhaps the best way to explain why someone
who, having lost interest in Church during his
teenage years although raised in a Christian home,
have matured to write The People's Proverb's Worship
and Devotional Study Bible; and also why someone who
has never written anything in poetry or shown any
interest in poetry before his salvation has
translated the Bible using the framework of this
poetic language, common to Jewish scriptures.
Dr. Milton Maye recalls some of the
incidences that, looking back he has no doubt that
God was co-ordinating and orchestrating to make the
People's Proverbs Bible a reality.
"For me I grew up guided daily by the
love and fear of God but very disenchanted with the
church. During my teenage years I refused to attend
church and I was never a regular reader of the
Bible. I bought my first Bible at the age of 18yrs
after I left home and had began to work and study. I
immediately embarked on a mission of discovery of
the Word of God. Although my father was a pastor, I
believed that his God would never be mine unless I
discovered Him for myself. My trip of discovery took
me through the Bible from cover to cover two times
within the next two years. I employed a disciplined
approach of five chapters daily before I embarked on
my professional accounting studies and was able to
complete the Bible within twelve months doing this
consistently. On the third time through the Bible I
began visiting churches and before completion I gave
my heart to Christ during a Hank Williams crusade in
Montego Bay Jamaica in 1993; this after I was
visited in a dream the night before. I was baptized
on December 25, 1993 at the age of 22yrs."
This was the first incidence in the
life of Dr. Milton Maye that led to the writing of
the People's Proverb's Bible. He developed a love
for the Word of God and a discipline of Bible
reading then that continued with him throughout the
years and inspired initially by his inquisitive and
judicious nature. Milton Maye is confident that this
captive spirit of study and passion to read the word
will engage and transfer itself to every reader of
this Worship and Devotional Study Bible.
The second incidence in what Dr. Maye
no longer believes to be coincidences but rather
coordinated incidences was his passion to share the
Word with others. Immediately after he got saved in
December 1993, he began buying Bibles in batches at
the local Bible Society and started taking them on
numerous witnessing missions, giving them to unsaved
and challenging them to read through the Bible. The
impact of the Bible on his life had led Milton to
believe that the Word needed no accessories; it
works.
Dr. Maye asserts that this book is a
progression in his passion to see people everywhere
read the Word and be engaged by the spirit of the
Word. In 1996 the author of this book
attended Caribbean Christ for the Nations Bible
Institute and two years later joined the staff there
in a senior leadership role in the area of business
and management for a committed period of two years.
The lessons, interactions, excitement praise and
prayer discipline, and the Word of God received on
this campus and the experience shared by the variety
of speakers that passed through annually, no doubt
is one of the many incidences that have impacted
this book.
These years of disciplined worship
has lent itself to a lifestyle of worship that is
not only evident in the People’s Proverbs Worship
and Devotional Study Bible, but is a captive
ingredient that will enhance and influence the
lifestyle of every reader as they are drawn into
spontaneous worship.
The Proverbs Worship and Devotional
Study Bible with its many inspiring poetic
expressions and useful quotations was not a
premeditated work, but instead, according to Dr.
Maye is simply a development of the series of
co-ordinated events orchestrated by God. “My wife,
Loraine was essential in helping me discover the
writing style used primarily throughout this Bible
version, and my love, devotions and ardent study of
the word provided the expression. This project soon
became a new approach for me of reading through and
studying the Bible, but this time it was a matter of
working my way through. The standard one year
timeframe I used for reading the Bible through soon
became my target. I started writing the People's
Proverbs Bible in September 2003 and finished the
first draft of the entire Bible in early October
2004. During the process of writing the book of
Genesis the work took shape and the introductory
summaries were added to facilitate efficiency. These
summaries did not take long to write and once
finished it made the chapters easy to complete since
they were not only catchy summaries but they
constitute the structural framework and writing
style of the chapter. They were the construction
plans of each chapter. The many styles, approaches
and variety content contained in the People's
Proverbs Bible were developed and inspired as the
work progressed."
The original intent of this Book was
not for publishing but as the work developed it
became apparent to the author that this could be an
effective tool to expose individuals to the Spirit
of the Word and inspire in them the desire for
Worship, Devotions and Study of the Word which he
had always believed to have its own efficacious
power. Looking back, Milton Maye has no doubt that
the shaping of his life and these incidences
mentioned were coordinated and divinely orchestrated
incidences leading to the fulfilment of God's
purpose in ordering this work; and no, they are
simply not mere coincidence. Milton Maye has subsequently
successfully completed a number of courses in
biblical and religious studies and has attained a
doctor of philosophy, religious studies degree with
Friends International Christian University along
with an accredited doctor of ministry degree. |
