I interviewed Pastor Christopher Weeks on 19/05/19 in another blog, now defunct.
Today, I have Pastor Christopher Weeks as my guest. He has written a novel, 2085: The Rise and Fall of the Sisters and I am interviewing him about this. This novel describes a dark topic and may become controversial in its themes, that of a society where women rule as matriarchy and men are the weaker sex and those who fail to comply with The Sisters’ draconian laws are sent to labor in the factories as muted drones; drugged cogs in a heartless nation’s machine.
I have read many novels from Pastors and I find that they offer a unique perspective that is based on their pastoral experience. Many times I have read a novel and thought, is this author a Pastor? And every time, it turns out they are!
So sit back and let Christopher Weeks tell you about his journey to being a published author and how 2085: The Rise and Fall of the Sisters came about.
Hi Christopher, thanks for stopping by! How about we start with you telling us a little about yourself?
I am a 52-year-old pastor who feels like I am still 21 years young. I love Jesus, I owe him everything, but it took me a while to come to that realization. At the age of 23, I was working in downtown Cleveland, Ohio as a salesman for Honeywell when God decided to turn my life upside down. At the time I was still playing some rugby, drinking beer quite a bit, and I took my relational cues from Tom Cruise and his movie roles, so yes, I would sing “You Lost that Loving Feeling” to pretty girls in bars to try to impress them. Sad, I know.
But God had other plans, and I am sure he was tired of watching me embarrass myself. One day, my dad, who is my hero, lost his lucrative job. He just bought a large house with a huge mortgage and a month later he no longer had any income. It upset my mom terribly, she wondered why God would allow that to happen to us. I will never forget the night my dad had my mom and I sit down at the kitchen table and look into Scripture to try to understand God and his ways. All three of us came to realize that Jesus’ horrible death on the cross was not just a real event in real history, but it was a personal invitation for each of us to come and love his Father, God the Creator.
And so I believed the simple Gospel, which has completely changed my life forever.
It set me on a course to try to use my life in faithful service to Jesus. I was soon accepted in the master’s program at Moody Bible Institute, which is where I met my wife Michelle. After two years of study, I taught the Bible and Christian Ethics and Morality for a year in the former Soviet Union, and when we came home I was asked to be a youth pastor in a rural country church in Western Michigan apple country where I eventually became lead pastor. I really did not know what it meant to be a pastor, and I still don’t, which is why it is a miracle that the people at my church still keep me around.
I have been at this church for 23 years now, and I have seen God work. In that time God has blessed me with four fascinating children, who are mostly grown up now, and an Australian Shepherd dog named Raphael.
What inspired you to become an author and has it always been a desire of yours to write?
Here is how the desire to write began for me:
I was at a ministry conference and all the break-out sessions looked hum-drum. So I decided to try a session on writing, it looked like a good way to pass the 45 minutes. Teaching up front was a 5’ 2” hobbit of a man who worked in the editing department of Zondervan. He was rather round, wearing a long-sleeved shirt with suspenders and had thick-lensed glasses that made his eyes look three times larger than normal. I thought to myself, “What did I get myself into? This is going to be b-o-o-o-oring.” He began with a question, just one little question, and it set my heart on fire: “What if Paul the Apostle decided never to write any of his letters to the churches? Where would we be?”
I began to think, “That means no book of Romans or Ephesians, no Galatians, no Philippians.” Those books have completely and utterly changed my life. Paul, who was a religious man who was despised by many, met Jesus and then he decided to write. And now, because he wrote, I am different. He wrote because he had to. And it changed millions upon millions of people’s lives forever.
And I thought to myself, “What if you are supposed to say something and you decided not to because you let the opinions of others shut you down? Who would suffer?”
So I write. So I try.
The last 5 years I have decided to post online beginning with a little blog called Shopka and Coffee, which is now christopherjweeks.com. I just wanted to try. If I was bad, at least going public would reveal my ineptness. I would know right away if I was all washed up. And after about ten posts, it started. People came up to me and said thank you, others from my past reconnected, and many got mad! I know I make people mad. But did you know, sometimes to wake people up you have to make them mad?
Last year I was encouraged by some very persistent and honest friends to put my words to page, “Why not write your own book?” I shooed them away and said, “Forget it, no one will want to read what I have to write.” I am great at downing myself…as most people are. But a few of those friends kept after me until I believed it could be done.
Do you think there is anything significantly different about Christian Fiction, as opposed to non-Christian Fiction?
That is a tough question because most of the popular Christian fiction I have read is not that appealing to me. It is too cookie cutter, villain with a black hat and swashbuckling hero with a white cross who wins the Amish damsel in distress. So when I read, besides my regular intake of theological issues of the day, I only read secular fiction (I love dystopian novels) and non-fiction for fun. I like good writers who talk about life as it is, or could be in an interesting way, and most of the Christian writers I have read only talk about life in naïve simplistic ways. I do adore C. S. Lewis, Oz Guinness, and G. K. Chesterton. I wasn’t that aware of all the indie Christian writers (ie: Jess Hanna from The Crossover Alliance) until they started coming to my church. And it was from them that I saw that there are some Christian writers who are willing to write more true to life, meaning they are willing to create characters who are flawed and complicated.
When writing, how do you keep track of timelines, ideas, inspiration and such? By notes on the computer, a notebook perhaps?
I brainstorm ideas, about people, places, and situations on a yellow legal pad with a timeline. I also have another pad filled with characters. And I also have a pad with terminology that fits in my world. But the rest is just stored in my brain, and when I am sitting in the grass I just think, “Hmmm, what if?” And then I start writing.
Do you prefer to extensively plot your stories (plotter), or do you write them as they come to you (pantser)?
I am definitely a pantser. I read a book by Stephen King where he said, “Write the story you want to read and it will begin to write itself.” So I decided to do just that. I asked myself, “Chris, what would capture your attention?” So I would plot out the storyline with plot twists I think would look good in a movie, and as long as my characters stayed true to who they were, I would go where the characters took me. One of the characters in my book, Simone Gladstone, I originally wanted to be a terrible angry woman. But I began to like who she was, and much of what she says is what I wish people could be honest enough to say and do. It was a weird feeling, here was a character that turned almost into a real person the more I wrote, and I wanted to get to know more of her. And who she became really was fun to see.
Has being a novelist impacted your role as Pastor or vice versa?
No, I serve at a church where very few people read. They like to hunt, so getting them to pick up a book is like pulling teeth. They are not that impressed. As long as I still do their grandma’s funeral they will be happy with me! But I would say pastoring has helped me write better. My job is about knowing people, and what they do behind closed doors. So I think I have an idea of how dark some people really are.
What has surprised you the most about becoming a self-published author?
That someone like you would take your time and contact me. Or my mom would actually smile seeing the book as a product you can buy.
Now let's discuss your Novel.
What is 2085: The Rise and Fall of the Sisters about?
“Above the smoldering ashes of a demolished patriarchy stand The Sisters and their ruthless ironclad rule. This is a world where men are the weaker sex and those who fail to comply with The Sisters’ draconian laws are sent to labor in the factories as muted drones; drugged cogs in a heartless nation’s machine.
Celebrity Vlogger and Fashion Icon Beck Paris’ life is turned upside down when she unexpectedly meets a daring man who is more than willing to challenge the supremacy of The Sisters. Beck’s surprising interest in this man places both of them in the cross-hairs of the power-obsessed leader of the State, Dr. Simone Gladstone.
Can their love survive? Will women and the feminist struggle for control finally reign supreme? Beck will have to decide if gaining love is worth the risk of losing her life.”
So the story is simple: Beck Paris is tired of the world The Sisters created. And her only escape from their monolithic soul-killing regime is found in a man. Over time her heart warms to him and she realizes that the woman’s fight for superiority is all a façade. But the ruler of the State is not a woman to trifle with.
What are the Christian themes? Any particular message you want to convey?
I want to convey three main ideas:
- Marriage and family are what satisfies. It is a good and healthy thing.
- Woman are just as subject to greed, envy, and control as men are. So when they are given power they will abuse it too.
- Gender and biological experimentation get old, it is confusing and monotonous. If a person really wants to be whole, they will find that their original created gender and biology is what truly satisfies.
What inspired you to write this novel?
Hatred for The Handmaid’s Tale.
Based on your feelings for this novel that formed the motive to write 2085 as a Biblical response, readers would need to know what The Hand Maid's Tale is about:
Provocative, startling, prophetic, and more relevant than ever, The Handmaid's Tale has become a global phenomenon. Now, in this stunning graphic novel edition of Margaret Atwood's modern classic, the terrifying reality of Gilead is brought to vivid life like never before.
"Everything Handmaids wear is red: the colour of blood, which defines us." Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead, where women are prohibited from holding jobs, reading, and forming friendships. She serves in the household of the Commander and his wife, and under the new social order she has only one purpose: once a month, she must lie on her back and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are valued only if they are fertile. But Offred remembers the years before Gilead, when she was an independent woman who had a job, a family, and a name of her own. Now, her memories and her will to survive are acts of rebellion.
The Handmaid's Tale and its iconic images - the red of the Handmaids, the blue of the Wives, the looming Gileadean Eye - have been adapted into a film, an opera, a ballet, and multi-award-winning TV series. This groundbreaking new graphic novel edition, adapted and featuring arresting artwork by Renée Nault, is destined to become a classic in its own right.
Not having read your novel, the description hints of feminism of today's ideology. Are you expecting any criticism or heated discourse from feminists?
Honestly, I am not sure they will criticize it because it simply shows them a world when they are fully in control. They might actually like that, especially the part where men are reduced to mindless drones. It should be fun for them. I am not extolling any virtues of men that will make them happy, the male protagonist is a drinker, and my heroes are mostly all women. All I am trying to do is taking some of their political desires and showing them what would happen if they actually came true. Complete power and control do not make for a better world.
The only criticism I may get is that I over generalized and the characters are too unbelievable to make for a viable story. In some ways, I welcome criticism because that means they will read it.
What would you say in reply to this criticism?
I have four sisters and I will just tell them that they liked my book!
What research did you conduct in creating this novel?
I love reading about social and political issues. So I read a lot of opinion journalism and I have been keeping updated on the silly and outright ridiculous things the progressive pundits are saying. I also love to read dystopian novels, and 1984 has always fascinated me. So my creation comes from the question, “What could this world become if we really take the words of the progressive politicians seriously?
I have read many novels from Pastors. What made you branch out into this field as a Pastor? Jesus told parables to illustrate a message on various topics and this as a story method that we can relate to. Would this have anything to do with you branching out into this field?
Anger made me write. I was reading an article in the New York Times about the new Hulu show called “Handmaids Tale” and how the new Trump administration is going to bring it to reality. And I remember reading the book years ago and it was a really far-fetched dark story. And so I got a little irritated that a supposedly respectable new source really believed conservatism wanted to enslave women. And then the next week the Women’s March on Washington happened where Ashley Judd said, “I am a nasty woman!” And I thought to myself, Wouldn’t it be fun to write a story opposite of The Handmaid’s Tale where nasty Women are in control? So I wrote. I did it more for personal release and humor than parabolic teaching.
Why write a novel about this topic instead of a non-fiction narrative of the same?
Most everything I do every week is non-fiction, that is what a sermon is. But I wanted to write a story so I could come in through the back door with getting people to think. And it was also written for fun. I liked the idea and I wanted to run with it.
In this novel do you support any of your themes with Biblical verses, doctrines or apologetics
I hint at Biblical verses, and I try to show in the desires of the characters that they really want the world the way God designed it. In one part I have a feminist leader realize that her daughter’s desire to have a baby is a great thing. So when she is asked to betray her daughter and grandchild she couldn’t out of love for her family. This ultimately overrides extreme feminist ideology. So the Biblical worldview leaks out of the cracks of the atheistic worldview’s failure.
What kind of reaction are you hoping to receive from readers?
Secret satisfaction where the reader would say, “Ha, that is exactly what is happening in the world, and that is exactly how I feel.” I want them to see that all people are broken, even women. And people who claim they are LGBTQ often are LGBTQ for less than altruistic and morally good reasons. All people have depraved desires, and they will cloak those desires in moral platitudes and liberal notions of equality and fairness when all it often is a justification to flaunt their selfish desires in public without feeling guilty for it. Women and men are both human, both are part of the fallen race, and I want this book to pull back the curtain behind the “isms” and show how they are all covers for selfish agendas.
Here is how one of my characters, Duenna Black, thinks about it, “Duenna Black realized the win for the female gender was nothing more than a farce. Feminism was just like patriarchy, the only difference was the lipstick, pink ribbons and coiffed hair. The desire for power and pleasure was no less intoxicating in the heart of a woman than it was in the man. The only difference Duenna Black noticed between the two hierarchies was that The Sisters were better liars than the men. They played off a softer and gentler leadership, but they were just as brutal when it came to their endgame—all humans lusted after having control over others. Both men and women had hearts of flesh, weak and easily seduced. That was the ultimate tragedy.”
What message do you want readers to receive from 2085: The Rise & Fall of The Sisters (The Drone Chronicles Book 1)?
[bctt tweet="When people try to build a world out of spite and hatred, that same spite and hatred will boomerang back to destroy them. No one can create a new world without sin ruining it. So without God and following his design, the foundations of civilizations will always crumble.
What was the hardest part of writing your novel?
Believing that I have a voice. I still feel this way. By nature, I don’t feel like I have a right to be heard because I am not as accomplished or polished as real writers. So I write naively hoping someone will listen. The journey of writing is a joy, I really like it. I didn’t even mind the editing process because it was fascinating to see how clean you can make a story. But I still wonder why anyone would want to read what I have to say. I have been preaching at the same church for over 23 years and I always am amazed people will still come and hear me preach. I would get bored with me. So I carry that same apprehension into my writing.
Are any of your characters like you?
No, they are more like my dad. He was a man who sacrificed an awful lot for his six kids. And so I write to try to give the perspective of a man who is honorable and lives a quiet life. His love and masculine driven protection for his family as head of the house is ridiculed by the world and so I try to have a character that is caught in the results of callous feminism gone wild. I am not in my book myself because I am too boring of a person to write about. No one wants to read about the lazy guy who sits in the corner and reads.
How long did it take you to get your rough draft finished on your latest release?
Writing this book was a strange process. I started it two years ago just posting a chapter at a time on my blog. I didn’t even consider publishing it as a book, it was meant only as a weekly addition to my blog, to have something different for people to read. And then some friends said, “It sure would be nice to have the story in a whole book form because I hate waiting for the next chapter each week. And it is also hard to follow.” So another friend said they would help me put it together and edit. So after two years of fixing, adding, and editing it is ready to release.
What do readers have to look forward to in the future from you?
If 2085 has any traction I am already planning for two more books. But they scare me because the topics will be far more controversial than women’s rights and LBGTQ issues. The end of my book has a world that is going to be run by an African woman, and she is going to help bring reparations back to the Americas. So those who have more dark racial DNA will help rule the country. I just know how that may be extremely explosive!
Do you have any words that you’d like to leave us with?
Joy. I love joy, and I hope my writing brings joy to a potentially dark subject. Ultimately I believe in people, not politics. I know God can move those who are willing to be moved. But when you start categorizing people by gender, orientation, race you lose individuality. And you lose the ability to hear from God.
Your readers can keep in touch with you on the following social media platforms:
Website Twitter Facebook Amazon Author Page
Thank you, Christopher for being a guest on Perspective by Peter and enlightening us on your journey to becoming a published author and this novel that contain many themes of gender, marriage, feminism, all things that are up for redefinition nowadays that can only lead to the further discord as these take us away from how God had created us. No longer are we created in His image, fallen man and his rejection of God now create us in man's image based on these destructive ideologies. I applaud you for writing a Biblical response to these issues, we need more authors and even Pastors to do this, to defend God and His creation and the reasons He created us as He has.
To buy or preview 2085: The Rise and Fall of the Sisters, click on the image below:
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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.
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