The 600-Year-Old Signal
Why the Christmas story is actually a spy thriller, and why you need to read it this weekend.
They had been watching the sky for six centuries.
By the time they saddled the camels in 7 BC, the Magi were executing a protocol handed down through generations of a secret order, waiting for specific coordinates to align.
This was a calculated mission.
The Architect
We know them as the “Three Kings” from the Christmas carols. But history tells a different, darker story. They were Magi. A caste of Persian astronomer-priests who served as kingmakers and political advisors in the Parthian Empire.
They were the scientists of the ancient world. Their pursuit was hard data.
So, how did a group of Persian occultists know to look for a Jewish Messiah? Why would they care about a baby born in a rival Roman territory?
The key to this mystery is buried in the Old Testament, in the life of a man named Daniel.
Six hundred years before the manger, Daniel was a captive in Babylon. He transcended survival through sheer genius. He rose so high in the imperial court that the King named him Rab-Mag. The Chief of the Magi.
Think about that. The greatest prophet of the True God was made the headmaster of a pagan order of stargazers.
He left them more than prophecy. He left them funding instructions.
Daniel went beyond interpreting dreams. He became a teacher.
He took the ancient Babylonian astronomy and injected it with Hebrew prophecy. He taught them the timeline. He taught them the signs. He planted a seed in the heart of the Persian intellectual elite.
The Extraction
Daniel died. Empires fell. But the Order remained.
For six hundred years, the students of Daniel kept the watch. Fathers taught sons. Scrolls were copied and recopied. They waited for the signal Daniel had promised.
When the alignment finally happened, they didn’t hesitate. They loaded the treasury. They crossed the border into Roman territory.
They walked into King Herod’s Jerusalem, a snake pit of paranoia and murder, and executed the extraction. They arrived bearing critical cargo: the funding for a refugee family’s escape to Egypt.
Without that gold, the flight doesn’t happen. Without the flight, the child doesn’t survive.
They executed the mission with precision. The gold was delivered. The warning was given. And under cover of darkness, the extraction was complete.
Unsealing The Magi
I wrote Unsealed: The Magi to rescue these men from the greeting cards. I wanted to show you the grit, the history, and the absolute courage of the men who walked into the lion’s den to fund the Kingdom of Heaven.
Readers are already calling it a game-changer:
“Finally the Christmas Story makes sense... This tale takes you there and then... Once you read this tale, you’ll understand the Christmas story, and the part played by the Magi, in ways you never expected.” — Theresa H.
“Breathes deep life, emotion, and realism into the characters... helping one to understand, appreciate, and connect with these stories in a beautiful and meaningful way.” — Pangaia
It is an espionage thriller set in the shadow of the Cross. And it is the perfect read for this weekend.
Because it is Christmas, I am keeping the Kindle edition FREE until Saturday.
The Weekend Double Feature
If you are heading to the theaters this weekend to see the new David movie, I have you covered there too.
I stripped away the stained glass to show you the raw, political, and violent world of the Shepherd King. If you want the history behind the movie:
History is better than myth.
<3EKO
It’s Friday. Next week is the Nativity. There is a lot going on in the world right now, and most of it is noise.
Mute soap operas. Listen to POTUS. Ignore static and focus on the signal.
I also want to say a simple thank you. Truly. Your support this year didn’t just buy books. It funded the architecture of this entire DIY operation. You are directly financing the creation and distribution of this work.
And this is just the beginning. Next year is our 250th Anniversary, and I plan to match that historical energy. Production will more than double in 2026.
I love you.
I absolutely love the perspective and insights by EKO. The view of the Institutional Church(s) 2000 plus year mission to create distance from God and insist on "trained professionals" to teach, exhort and encourage believers has done untold damage to understanding "THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS WITHIN YOU". Bravo on another inspired insight into yet another "religified" and obscured story.
"I love you." -- <3EKO
I love you too, EKO, and I wanted to share with you a comment regarding your (lovely, BTW) illustration of a chest full of gold bars. Specifically I wondered what gold bars looked like back then -- mint marks, purity, ... So I asked Brave's AI 'Leo' and here is what I learned:
Me: what did gold bars look like at the time of Christ
Leo: Gold bars as a standardized form did not exist during the time of Christ. The concept of standardized gold bars emerged much later, particularly in London during the 18th and 19th centuries, when rectangular cast gold bars became the industry standard for trade and investment. During the time of Christ, gold was primarily used in the form of coins, such as Roman denarii, or in the construction of religious and royal artifacts, rather than as ingots or bars. The earliest known gold bars date back over 5,000 years to ancient Mesopotamia, but these were rudimentary and varied in shape and size, not resembling the standardized bars of later periods. Therefore, there is no historical evidence of gold bars in the modern sense being used during the time of Christ.