The Greatest Story Ever Told
by Fulton Oursler
Copyright © 1949,1951,1975
Summary Copyright © July 1, 2023 by
Robert Wayne Atkins, P.E.
All Rights Reserved.
The following summary is for fair use and educational purposes only.
Introduction
The first four books in the New Testament of the Holy Bible are called the Four Gospels.
Those four books tell the story of the birth, life, death, and resurrection of God's Only Son Jesus Christ.
The first four book were named after the men who wrote them: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
- Matthew was a tax collector and he gave up his very profitable job when Jesus told him, "Follow me." (Matthew 9:9) Matthew was very well educated and he was qualified to write an accurate account of the events of Jesus' life because he was one of Jesus' twelve disciples.
- Mark was probably John Mark. He may have been an eyewitness to many of the events in the life of Jesus but he was not one of the 12 disciples selected by Jesus. He was selected by Paul and Barnabas to travel with them on their first missionary journey. Many years later Paul said that John Mark was very useful in spreading the good news about Jesus. According to Christian tradition, Mark may have written the book of "Mark" as it was dictated to him by the apostle Peter, or Mark may have collected and consolidated many of the sermons of the apostle Peter.
- Luke was a physician. Luke mentions himself for the first time in Acts 16:10 when he uses the personal pronoun "we." Luke was a traveling companion of Paul. Luke remained with Paul during all his hardships and during his final days in prison before Paul was executed for his faith in Jesus Christ. Luke wrote the book of "Luke" and the book of "Acts."
- John was a fisherman. He was one of the first four disciples called by Jesus. John was one of the three closest friends of Jesus (Peter, James, and John). Therefore John was an eyewitness to some events that the other nine disciples did not see. John wrote the books of "John, First John, Second John, Third John, and Revelation."
Each of the above men recorded for posterity the events of the life of Jesus. Matthew and John were eyewitnesses to the things they saw Jesus do. Mark may have been an eyewitness to many of the significant events in the life of Jesus, or he may have been a "secretary" to Peter and he may have recorded Peter's memories when Peter became older, or he may have been both. Luke was not only a physician but he was also a very skilled historian and he collected as much information as he could from as many eyewitnesses as he could find who told him what they had actually seen Jesus do.
The four Gospels give us a brief glimpse into the life of Jesus Christ. Some of the events are recorded in all four Gospels. But some of the events are only told in one Gospel.
The book "The Greatest Story Ever Told" is a consolidation of all four Gospels into a single story so that we can better appreciate what Jesus did while He was with us here on the earth. I hope you enjoy reading Mr. Oursler's book as much as I did when I first read it in 1976.
(Note 1: "The Greatest Story Ever Told" began as a weekly 30-minute dramatized radio broadcast in 1947. The show became so popular that a 30-minute episode was broadcast each week from 1947 to 1956 (9 years). In 1948 Mr. Oursler began converting his radio scripts into a book. When his book was published it sold more than 3,500,000 copies worldwide. The movie rights to the book were originally acquired by Twentieth Century Fox but the rights were transferred to United Artists. The movie premiered in 1965 and it received five academy award nominations. The original movie was 4 hours and 20 minutes long but it was shortened to 3 hours and 19 minutes. The movie is currently available on Amazon.)
(Note 2: The original 76 dramatized radio broadcasts are each between 27 to 30 minutes long. Each radio show has several different actors speaking the dialogues of the different people in the story, and sound effects are also used strategically when appropriate. All 76 radio shows are currently available for free download from LibriVox. They appear on LibriVox as OTR Greatest Story Ever Told. OTR is the abbreviation for Old Time Radio. Each of the 76 broadcasts is labeled with the three letters GST (Greatest Story Told), and then a six-digit number, and then a "hyphen," and then the title of the broadcast, such as "GoodSamaritan" or "TheResurrection" or "TheSaltOftheEarth" or "TheWidowsMite." One show was broadcast each week and after approximately 1.5 years the "reruns" were broadcast again. This continued for 9 years so each radio show was broadcast approximately 6 times during the 9 year period. If you take the time to download all 76 radio shows onto your mobile device then you could listen to a radio show at any time. For example, while you are driving between locations, or while you are waiting in a doctor's office, or while you are waiting for the oil to be changed in your car.)
May God Bless,
Grandpappy.
July 1, 2023.
A Few Brief Extracts from "The Greatest Story Ever Told"
Preface (Pages xii, xiv, xv):
This book is not offered as an explanation or an interpretation. It is rather an attempt to tell, faithfully, just what the four Apostles, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, assert to have happened in those thirty-three years of the life of Jesus. It is further, an effort to state the believing Christian's understanding of the meaning of those years. There is no intention here to rationalize or to hunt out symbolism. While sometimes dramatized, the story is completely faithful to the literal statements of the text. ...
With much help and counsel I have told here the great story once more -- the story of the greatest event in human history. For once upon a time and long ago it actually happened, according to the faith of true believers, among which the author counts himself.
God, who had fashioned time and space in a clockwork of billions of suns and stars and moons, in the form of His beloved Son became a human being like ourselves. On this microscopic midge of planet He remained for thirty-three years. He became a real man, and the only perfect one. While continuing to be the true God, He was born in a stable and lived as a workingman and died on a cross.
He came to show us how to live, not for a few years but eternally. He explained truths that would make our souls joyous and free.
This is the story of Jesus -- the greatest story ever told.
END OF PREFACE
* * * * * * *
Chapter Five: Hail, Mary! (Pages 32-34)
Feeling a little chill, for the night was damp, Mary had crossed the lower floor inside the house and mounted to the inner terrace. As she went up the steps to the platform she realized she was not alone. A tall figure was standing near the farther wall!
A stranger. An odd and altogether different stranger! Because he seemed to stand in light where there was no lamp, and a kind of silvery mist enveloped him as if the light were his cap and gown. Mary opened her mouth to speak, to demand who he was and what he wanted there, but he anticipated her with an unexpected greeting.
"Hail, Mary!"
The voice was kind and fathomlessly deep; such a voice as Mary had never heard before -- bass and yet tender.
"Full of grace!" the voice continued.
Hail, Mary, full of grace! She felt embarrassed and even more frightened.
"The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women."
She folded her hands and she knew then how she was trembling in every muscle. The stranger saw.
"Fear not, Mary."
She bowed her head. She must not be afraid. She knew she could trust this deep and tender voice. But she could not still her quaking. She closed her eyes and listened to the astounding words the stranger was speaking. She had found grace with God. She would conceive in her womb and bring forth a son.
She too! This was akin to the message that had come to Zachary for Elizabeth. Cousin Elizabeth was to have a son and his name must be John.
"And you shall call his name Jesus!"
"Jesus! He will be my son, Jesus! Jesus, son of Mary! I shall bring him forth and hold him in my arms and sometimes I shall give him to Joseph to hold too!" Her mind was a place of wild, birdlike thoughts, yet she must listen to all that the stranger continued to tell her: her son Jesus was to have the throne of David, his father --"
"And of all his kingdoms there shall be no end."
Then came her instant need for reality. The very human impulse that had made Zachary question his angel and lost him his speech as penalty now possessed Mary, too, for there was in her, as in us all, an insatiable necessity for the actual in the midst of the marvelous. Who this stranger was she did not know; yet the maiden who heard his words felt bound to question him.
"How shall this be done?" she asked in a whisper, "Seeing I know not a man?"
But there was no frown on the austere and shadowy face of the stranger. Instead, in the starry blaze of his eye she read only compassion. He took a step nearer and she saw the folded wings and knew him for what he was.
His voice lowered and deeper still:
"The Holy Ghost shall come upon you. The power of the Most High shall overshadow you and therefore also the Holy which shall be born of you shall be called the Son of God."
Mary felt stifled, suffocated, as she heard these incredible words. She to be the mother of a son who would be called the Son of God?
How could one little Narzerth girl take all that in?
The voice of the stranger was lowered into an intimate whisper:
"Your cousin Elizabeth ..."
He paused until she nodded, and then he went on.
"She also conceived a son. In her old age!. This is the sixth month with her that is called barren. Because with God nothing is impossible."
This was the reality she needed. For the angel had spoken truth as she knew it. It was true about Elizabeth. Well, then ..."
She looked up at him plaintively, her eyes half closed, her words coming so softly that she could barely hear herself speak.
"Behold, the handmaid of the Lord. Be it done unto me according to your word."
As if by incantation the angel vanished: one instant he was there, gone the next. And Mary, swaying and murmuring, crossed the floor and sank to her knees and lay upon her pallet and closed her eyes and wept and prayed.
END OF CHAPTER FOUR
Conclusion
Only a very small sample of Fulton Oursler's second book is included above. If you enjoyed reading the above extracts then please purchase a copy of "The Greatest Story Ever Told" and read the entire book. If you will do this then it is my opinion that you will experience a significant growth in your Christian faith regardless of how long you may have been a Christian.
Grandpappy's e-mail address is: RobertWayneAtkins@hotmail.com