Novel Review: Those Who Dwell Upon the Earth by James D. Sanderson

I reviewed this novel on 07/10/19 in another blog, now defunct.

Those Who Dwell Upon the Earth. 

What will we do when the nations of the world finally resort to the ultimate violence - nuclear weapons? When the world economy collapses. When the world goes to war? Will we choose even more violence and chaos to solve our problems, or will we find some other way?

Will we Christians choose to follow Christ, building loving communities, caring for others, finding forgiveness and living the way of nonviolence? And if we do choose this way, what will that look like?

'Those Who Dwell Upon The Earth' is a novel about a small Christian discipleship group that decides the time has come to choose this new way. Over time their tiny community grows into a full-blown movement. At that point, they are seen as a threat to the authoritarian government that has taken away our civil liberties. Who will prevail?

Before the end times come the bad times - the Troubles. How will we as Christians respond?

Perspective by Peter:

I was asked by the author to review this novel. I was intrigued by the description that asked so many pertinent, challenging and confronting questions for Christians:

• What will we do when the nations of the world finally resort to the ultimate violence – nuclear weapons? When the world economy collapses. When the world goes to war? Will we choose even more violence and chaos to solve our problems, or will we find some other way?

• Will we Christians choose to follow Christ, building loving communities, caring for others, finding forgiveness and living the way of nonviolence? And if we do choose this way, what will that look like?

• Those Who Dwell Upon The Earth’ is a novel about a small Christian discipleship group that decides the time has come to choose this new way. Over time their tiny community grows into a full-blown movement. At that point, they are seen as a threat to the authoritarian government that has taken away our civil liberties. Who will prevail?

• Before the end times come the bad times – the Troubles. How will we as Christians respond?

Sanderson sets out in this novel to answer those questions and show how it could be done and the price to pay in doing it. It is a very biblically based novel. Sanderson weighs heavily on this and it pays off. He has obviously done his research both Biblically but also politically, economically and socially.

This would be the only novel that I have come across that explores in great depth what it means to live for Christ and live out His teachings in the worst possible scenario. It is confronting to read and imagine as we currently live in the opposite culture and economy. But we all know that as Christians our future before Christ returns is going to be problematic and instead of being materialistic and self-reliant as we are now it will be the opposite of this in that futuristic world ".....where nations of the world finally resort to the ultimate violence – nuclear weapons? When the world economy collapses. When the world goes to war? When the human race chooses even more violence and chaos." We will have nothing to rely on as it will be all stripped away. This novel shows that. But what is interesting and contributes to our difficulty in being prepared for this is in today's world is that we do live more of a life that is self-reliant and materialistic, even amongst Christians. Not all, but maybe the vast majority. And as soon as we become Christians, we should be living reliant of God and living out the Bible's instruction for living and those of Christ's that the Bible mentions here in whatever period of time we find ourselves in.

Sanderson successfully shows what it is like once those conditions in the future have occurred. It is bleak, most of the population are destitute unless they are wealthy by being in the corrupt and greedy elite that exists. The division between the rich and poor is the greatest of all time in this novel. It is very obvious. It is black and white. You are either in the poor group or the greedy, corrupt elite group or you are not. This latter group exists from the levels of authority up, the police force, manufacturing, the levels of local and federal government.

Against this setting, Sanderson has created his novel. He shows us another way, a way that is of Jesus and outlined in the Bible. Here his research into past revolutions pays off. He uses the main character of Jesus (same name as Jesus Son of God), but not the one and same. This character is called Jesus as his mother had a feeling he would be destined for doing some good so she named him after her Saviour.

Jesus shows pretty much that he is human only, he even has his doubts, as we all do. The death of his wife from the greediness and corruptness of the hospital and government system fueled his motivation to seek a better way of living and providing for everyone's needs on every level. Fighting this greedy and corrupt way of life following the Troubles (the period of time before the current setting of this novel, where the Great Collapse occurred, followed by the Great Bombardment, then the Great War, that lead to the Great Dark Age that is now the setting and time of this novel).

Jesus of this novel becomes convinced that the non-violent way of protest and revolution is the way to behave and live in this Great Dark Age. Sanderson pulls together so many biblical tenets, sayings of Jesus, Biblical references that is is very convincing. One has to only look at this life on earth tho see that he lived and preached a non-violent way. However, the violence he showed in the Temple was righteous anger towards those who had denigrated the Temple and used it for a purpose it was not meant to have. This is very different from the motive of violent revolution and protest by mankind since then.

I can only think of one term to describe how the Jesus of the novel, encouraged, modelled and lived in this oppressive, corrupt Dark Age. That is Kingdom Living. It is not only based on non-violence but on building a self-sustaining community where everyone places the other above themselves and lives to provide for each and every one of them. Hence, we have Jesus setting up in this community, a clinic for the sick, barter system and a type of monetary system, food provision, sanitary and hygiene, nurture of the land for best produce without depleting the soil of nutrients (very much a throwback to what we now know about leaving the land fallow). Interesting that in this community there is no need for any "Police" or justice system as everyone was mentored to live fair and justly and to be treated the same. Sounds idealistic but that is only because we have never experienced that in any of the government systems in the past or even the present. But the main difference here is also that in the community that the Jesus of the novel creates, the Spirit encourages them to become followers of Christ (therefore Christian) either upon their entrance into the community or later as they experience life where all their needs are met and they see the benefits of non-violence toward each other but especially towards their oppressors, those of the greedy and corrupt elite and of the local and federal government. Reminds me of the lyrics to one of the songs I grew up with,

"We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord, We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord And we pray that our unity will one day be restored, And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love Yeah they'll know we are Christians by our love, 

We will work with each other, we will work side by side, We will work with each other, we will work side by side And we'll guard each man's dignity and save each man's pride, And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love Yeah, they'll know we are Christians by our love.".

 Every instance where Sanderson has the Jesus of the novel, espouse more of the Biblical tenets of living like this and of non-violence is one refreshing and uplifting account. Sanderson uses this novel to not only do this to the Christian reader and challenge the non-Christian reader as well but to show how this message is just as important in the past but more so now. We are heading for this more and more each day. Persecution of Christians in third world countries or those countries who are intolerant of any other religion or belief that poses a threat to them (and Christianity appears the only belief system that poses this) is not nowadays just confined to those countries with this track record. Western countries are following suit. Slowly, everything that shows you follow the God of the Bible or live the way encouraged therein or says anything against society's way of life is considered hate speech and treated as terrorism. The penalties do not sway from either a monetary fine, imprisonment or death.

I can see why Sanderson calls this novel a novel of social protest. In the guest post concerning the background of this novel, he states, in response to the increasing division between the rich and poor,

‘Those Who Dwell Upon The Earth’ is a novel of social protest much like John Steinbeck’s ‘The Grapes of Wrath’.  One of the primary criticisms of ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ was that it presented a philosophy of communism. It is that same criticism that is likely to be levelled against ‘Those Who Dwell Upon The Earth’.  When, in the extreme case of corruption, violence, and oppression in a government, the common people are forced to rise up and take control of the mechanisms of power, some form of communism may be the result.

There are several differences between a communist state and a church community.  First and foremost is belief in God and the Bible, and a commitment to following the prompting of the Holy Spirit.  There is a huge difference between a totalitarian police state and a loving and benevolent Father God.

The second difference is found in the voluntary nature of giving and sharing in the Christian community as found in Acts 2:42-48, and other places, and the mandatory ‘sharing’ that is found in a communist system.  Being forced to contribute does not lead to loving care for one another. It leads to deceit and fear and anger.

The third difference between a communist state and a Christian community is the general sense of wanting to comply with God’s will, as opposed to being forced to comply with a central committee or power, or a single dictator.  There are many other differences as well.

‘Those Who Dwell Upon The Earth’ anticipates what it would look like for a small Christian disciple group to act and lead in a world that has suffered the great agony of financial collapse, nuclear bombardment, and another world war.  How would their way be different from the way of the world?

What we see in this novel is not a turn toward communism, but a way for people to move forward in the loving embrace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  This is truly a different kind of Christian fiction. It is literary, intelligent, action-packed – being thrust forward by a sense of community movement – and very important for today’s Christian trying to ‘make it’ in the real world.

Even when I read that before this novel, I knew I was going to be challenged and may be convicted of some of the attitudes and behaviours I have allowed to exist and influence me. But this is the beauty and success of fiction. It not only entertains but educates, instructs, uplifts and edifies, the latter three I see more and more in Christian fiction when the author is obedient to the Spirit and is writing for Him. I applaud Sanderson for writing this novel. As Christians, we are to encourage each other, we are to be a conduit of the Spirit, we are to show each other how to live according to what the Bible and Jesus teaches. Sanderson has found an effective way to do this.

To contrast the way of non-violence to achieve a revolution against the corrupt, greedy and unjust government system, Sanderson shows how the ends do not justify the means. To illustrate this, he has two opposing factions, the Fist of Christ and the Bright Star who use violent means and other tactics to overthrow this government and its greedy and corrupt system, but who end up becoming corrupt themselves and not unified, not at peace with themselves or achieved their aims. Sanderson even has these two factions meet with the Jesus of the novel to discuss tactics and each of these factions does not understand his non-violent means and they leave empty-handed. In the end, it is this community and those like them that are non-violent based and live according to the tenets of the Bible and the direction of the Spirit that are the ones that are successful and a force to be reckoned with in this revolution against the corrupt ruling system.

I would say this is not a character-driven novel, but one that is mainly plot-driven. Due to the message that Sanderson wants to portray as discussed above, it needs to be this way to show how the dynamics of this message play out. However, I agree that as far as showing Christians/humans showing care and concern for each other and the love of Christ and being Christ-like toward each other and everyone else, you would expect that the author would show at least enough characterisation to make them credible and relatable for the reader and for same to see how this is possible in real life and not just as part of the plot of a novel.

I found Jesus of the novel to be very much like Jesus of the Bible without considering him to almost be God-like in this depiction. This former Jesus shows if we are in tune with the Spirit by humility, obedience and constant communication through prayer, and living out His tenets, those in the Bible and being a conduit for the Spirit, we can be transformed by Him. This character seems to be the only Spirit-filled character in the novel. But he does stand out as a Pastor to follow not just because we follow Pastors but in this case, because he does live as a man of God and one where God is with him.

Through the Jesus of the novel, Sanderson shows how we need to be very conversant with the Bible and its tenets, equally with those of Jesus and what He instructed us to do contained in this book as well. And not just to be conversant with this but to have the understanding of what it means in order to live it out as our modus operandi. It is more of a way of life, it becomes part of your faith and motivated by the Spirit that lives inside you and the transformation that only He provides and achieves in you.

This is one very different novel that what most Christians will read. I can see it being criticised for being preachy, but for such an important message Sanderson has been instructed to deliver, to place too much emphasis on the action and plot arcs would water down this message and make it invalid. If I was this author, I would ignore all criticisms of such and any others. This is a spirit-filled novel, it is rich in the Word, rich in its tenets, examples, bible verses and stories. It is one with an important and timely message for those Christians with discernment for all and anything relating to the Spirit and what He wants his followers and those seeking Him to hear, in this case with increasing persecution of Christians and the eradication of all things Christianity and God wise before the "Troubles" to come leading up to the return of Christ. Those who feel it is too preachy or saturated with the message of the Spirit can always cease reading, close the book and their hearts to this message and move on.

Sanderson has thought, due to the nature of the message of this novel, that a Reader's Guide is warranted. I highly recommend this. It gives a summary of events in each chapter and some snippets of the themes running throughout them. However, this does not replace reading the novel as you get the full appreciation of it when you do so. It also contains more of his reasons for writing it and about the themes and message of the novel, together with the structure and style of the novel. Finally, at the end, there are Discussion Questions for Group Study. For those readers who would not be in a group study, I found these questions good to answer myself. 

Highly recommended.   

The three ratings below are based on my discernment:

World Building 5/5 

Characters 4/5 

Story 5/5

The two classifications below are based on the booklet, A Spiritual System for Rating Books by David Bergsland:

Spiritual Level 4/5

Enemy Spiritual Level 3/5

Overall Rating: 4.2/5
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Spiritually, based on my review and on the aforementioned reference booklet, A Spiritual System for Rating Books by David Bergsland (Radiqx Press) and that Those Who Dwell Upon the Earth contains elements of the criteria of what constitutes Christian Redemptive Fiction outlined in this booklet, together with David Bergsland, we bestow to James Sanderson, the

Reality Calling Redemptive Fiction Award

Congratulations, James!

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Reviews help promote an author’s novel to potential readers and encourage the author to keep writing. Reviews also help get the author’s message (and God’s message) to the reader, whether Christian or not, who may need encouragement and support in their lives while being entertained by the story.