Sherlock Holmes And The Needle's Eye

Len Bailey is a professional radio commercial and voiceover actor and bagpipe player.  He attended high school at Markoma Bible Academy in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, and earned a BA in history from Trinity College in Deerfield, Illinois, as well as a journalism scholarship.  He lives with his wife, Denise and their three sons in suburban Chicago.

Emabark on a journey through the Old and New Testaments with Sherlock Homes and Dr. John Watson as they explore exotic and spice laden places in search of clues.
The detective and the doctor travel back in time with the help of a Moriarty-designed time machine to various Bible destinations, unlocking clues to ten Bible mysteries.  The most fascinating crime cases are those that are already solved, those that have been investigated by the police and brought to a swift, satisfying, and almost inevitable conclusion.  So it is with Bible stories which the reader may consider familiar and unremarkable.  But under Sherlock Holmes' close scrutiny these stories give up their hidden clues, their long-kept secrets.  Like jewels newly polished, they sparkle and shine with a fresh, introspective light.

Questions explored in the book are:

• Why did Ahithophel Hang Himself?
• In John 8, What did Christ write on the ground?
• In Matthew 23:35, why did Christ cite Zechariah son of Berechiah as having been murdered between the temple and the altar when it was really Zechariah son of Jehoiada?
• After the story of Christ's temptation, what did Luke mean when he wrote, "The Devil...left him until a more opportune time?"
• Why did the Lord lead Paul to begin his Macedonian missionary journey in such a dangerous place as Philippi?
• Why did David choose five stones before going out to fight Goliath?
• Why did Jesus delay in coming to Lazarus?
• Why is Jehoiachin's name included in Christ's genealogy in Matthew 1 when Jeremiah had prophesied it would not be?
• Why were Christ's birth and death considered to be "at the right time"?
• Why were the Israelites instructed to march about Jericho one time for the first six days, but seven times on the last day?

Sherlock Holmes and The Needle's Eye:  The World's Greatest Detective Tackles The Bible's Ultimate Mysteries can be read as an adventure novel or can be effectively used as a Bible study.  The Bible study guide included in the book is exceptionally well organized with investigative questions.  My fifteen year old daughter is a huge Sherlock fan and is using the book as her personal Bible study guide.  A group of her friends are excited about doing the study together as well.  I'm not sure there is a better commentary on a book than one that gets a group of teenagers excited about Bible study!

Warren Weirsbe says this about the book in his Foreword:

"Even if you are not a Bible student or a fan of Holmes and Watson, I urge you to read and enjoy this book.  You will especially appreciate the way Len has captured the 'Victorian atmosphere' of the original Arthur Conan Doyle stories, and as a bonus, you will also learn more about your Bible and how to study it successfully."

And if maybe you are a little skeptical about how such a concept as what is described here could work, you will find Len Bailey's article from the Huffington Post interesting.  You can read it by going HERE.

"In truth, Holmes and Watson are the halves of one man, any man, sliced down the middle into a head-half and a heart-half. Every person harbors rebellion toward God: we want to go our own way, to act in accordance with our wisdom and reasoning. But every person possesses a faith part, no matter how small: we want to believe that God (the real God) is a Father in whose arms we find forgiveness and in whose arms we can rest. This is the real beauty of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson: They represent every man.
Why Sherlock Holmes? Because Holmes and Watson combined, are us."  Len Bailey

Happy Reading,
Jennifer