Obsessed by hidden guilt for his condemnation of Jesus, Pilate feels threatened at the coming of the Holy Spirit to the believers on the Day of Pentecost; thus, he thinks the "Jewish" God has come back to kill him for causing the death of God's Son. Pilate's meeting with the High Priest's servant, whose severed ear Jesus healed, causes mixed emotions; now Spirit-filled, Malchus must tell Pilate God's truth-which is good but also frightening: "You proud and stubborn man. . . repent before I enter the gates of Caesarea." When Pilate learns that Claudia is miraculously pregnant, he fears for her and their unborn child; when she gives birth on the day Jesus promised, he gives credit to some friendly "Unknown" God, setting up an altar and worshiping him in her dressing room. Pilate is so afraid that "his Enemy" will send some believer to kill them that he can't enjoy his blessings. Ellen Whitman Bynum is a retired teacher of languages-Spanish, French, and English. A story-teller from childhood, in her early teens she became an avid reader, especially of novels with religious themes. After years of marriage, child-rearing, and teaching, in '90 and '92, she and her husband made two guided tours to the Holy Land where she visited the sites featured in this book-the third to be published in her fourteen-book series of biblical historical novels, THE EAGLE AND THE STONE, which deal with the Early Church from 33 through 42 A.D. from the viewpoint of the Romans. In her writing, she has used a variety of biblical, historical, and archaeological materials-including copies of the National Geographic Magazine going back over half a century. Readers like her short chapters and believable characters. They tell her that that she has the gift of combining scholarship with simplicity and readability.