Jesus Birth

I am here, Jesus.

I was born in Bethlehem, as you know, in a manger, and when I was a few days old my parents took me to Egypt, in order to avoid the soldiers of Herod who were sent to destroy me, and who did kill a great number of male infants of less than two years of age. 

The Bible story of my birth and the flight of my parents and the murder of the innocents, is substantially correct; and I only wish to add to it, that when my parents arrived in Bethlehem they were not compelled to seek the manger of a stable in order that I might be born, on account of poverty, for they were supplied with funds and everything that was needed to make my birth comfortable for my mother; and as a matter of fact my father was not poor in the world's goods as poverty was considered in those days. 

The Bible says the wise men came and brought offerings of gold and frankincense to my parents, or rather to me, but my parents have told me that it did not amount to so very much, so far as the money value of the same was concerned, and that their expenses of fleeing to Egypt was met by the funds that my father had prior to his reaching Bethlehem. 

After they arrived in Egypt my father sought the home of a Jew, who was his relative, and lived there for a long time, doing the work that his trade fitted him to do; and by his work supported the family, and to an extent, educated myself and my brothers and sisters, for I had four brothers and three sisters, and were all, except myself, born in Egypt. ..
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Yes, I know it was said that my mother was told of the object of my birth and what a blessed woman she was, but this is not true. My mother, as she has told me, had no reason to suppose that I was different from other children born of men.

The story of the Angel of God coming to her and telling her that she must submit to the birth of a child who would be begotten by God or by His Holy Spirit, and that she, as a virgin, should bear and give birth to that child, is not true, for she never in all her life told me that she had any such visitor; and I know that she would be as much surprised, as are many men, that such a thing as the birth of a child by a virgin could take place.

So you see the Bible account of my being begotten and all the attending circumstances are not true. 

My father, Joseph, never supposed at anytime that I was not his child, and the story of the angel coming to him and telling him that he must not put her away because of appearance is not, true, because he never in all my conversations with him, intimated that I was other than his own child. 

Your brother and friend,

Jesus.