Distant Contact (COIL Legacy Book 1) by D. I. Telbat

DISTANT CONTACT: Book One of The COIL Legacy

In DISTANT CONTACT, Book One in The COIL Legacy Series by D.I. Telbat, we find that a distant shadow hovers over the Caspertein family. Greed and Muslim extremism threaten to erase America's beloved family as killers rise to avenge an accidental death.

There may be no hope for family reconciliation before it's too late. Wynter Caspertein is a primary target of a sword-wielding assassin. Rudy Caspertein is presumed dead but struggles to survive in the Arctic.

In the midst of Middle East terror, the estranged brother emerges. Titus Caspertein scoffs at the danger and flies to the aid of his sister. His Russian companion, Oleg, joins him, and the two undercover COIL agents juggle the needs of persecuted Christians with the Iranian threat that spans from the Ozarks of Arkansas to the deserts of Syria.

Join D.I. Telbat as he draws us into a COIL saga of faith and conflict, dark plots of Christian persecution, and the perseverance of men and women who trust Jesus Christ for strength and final victory.

Distant Contact follows the Prequel, Distant Boundary. It includes a free map download, a character sketch, Endnotes featuring Vision Beyond Borders Refugee Ministry, and a Bonus Chapter from the next book in the series, Distant Front. Cover design is by Streetlight Graphics.

The Guru's Review:


The prequel to this new series, Distant Boundary, was seen as a worthy successor to the original COIL series, and a great entre (novella) to this new Legacy series. What a main course this next novel has been!

I have thoroughly enjoyed this novel. It has been a wise choice on Telbat's part to continue this series with the character of Titus Caspertein. It has breathed a fresh air into the series and allowed it to be taken to the next level. That is not to say that the first series was getting stale or boring; far from it. I wondered why Telbat has done this. Why could he not just do this with one of the other COIL agents from that series? We were already endeared to them so that would have engaged us to this new series. From what I can see, there is a parallel to the apostle Paul here. Just as God took an enemy of God and made him one of His most valued and successful ambassadors for Christ and His mission on earth, so too has Telbat done the same with Titus Casperstein. Is the message here that God can do the same today to those who are actively against Him and turn them towards Him? You bet it is, and He can and He does do this and will always do so. He did this with all those who are followers of Jesus to this day. I pray that any reader who does not know Christ will identify themselves in Titus and see what God can do when they realise their need for Him. Just as Titus did. Like him and Oleg, and the other characters who have become Christian through the witness to them from other COIL agents, they all came to the end of their rebellion and sinful lives, realising its futility and emptiness, that it needed to be filled with something sustaining and satisfying. And when that happened, they found the only solution was Jesus Christ, Artos Zoes (the Bread of Life, John 6:48-51) and Living Water (John 7:38).

I loved Telbat's further development of Titus' character in this novel. Seeing him grow more into a disciple of Christ and show more of Christ's character is one of the elements of this series that I find uplifting and satisfying. I guess the best example that showcases this is when he asked God how he should respond to Rashid's infiltration into his house and family. Pre-conversion, Titus would have followed his own plan of action and confronted Rashid in the way his reputation had dictated over the past two decades. But this time, he found peace, reassurance and a calm resolve when he realised how Jesus would have handled this. I pray that any reader, Christian or not, would receive the message here and apply it to their lives. The Christian to see that they need to die to self and be obedient to Christ and His ways. The non-believer to see that there is a better way to deal with life's tribulation other than what they only know. This better way leads to restoration and relationship. I know that every reader of this novel will presume that Rashid will accept Jesus in the next novel. Everything is leading to this. What joyous expectation and anticipation for the next novel! Bring it on, David Telbat! And when he does, we will see it is because the light of Christ shone through Titus. Absent was there of judgement, criticism, arrogance, deceit, from Titus towards Rashid, just brotherly love, acceptance and a sense of family and belonging. All the things that Rashid never had but attracted him like a moth to a flame. It was this witness that nullified his greed, selfishness, murderous intent and covetousness of the priceless artefact but led him to see in Titus something that he so desperately desires.

I must confess that I was tense and fearful of every account of Rudy's survival against one of the harshest environments on earth. This was tempered by the inclusion of one of my favourite breeds of dogs, the St Bernard and Rudy's faith. A St Bernard is living with us at the moment (my son-in-law's dog) and despite their size, they are a great breed and personality. And a lot of fun. And yes, they are a hunting dog of sorts and fiercely protective. From Rudy's faith in action, we see how is allows us to overcome and endure such dire circumstances. When Rudy could see the end coming, he engaged in prayer and into the only lifeline that could save him from death. When we submit our circumstances into His hands, let go of our independence and self-reliance, God delivers. In Rudy's case, God revealed that He is Yahweh Yireh (God our provider), El Roi (God who watches over me) and Jehovah Mefalti (The Lord my Deliverer).

If there is one thing that a Telbat novel has encouraged me to do is this: pray before starting reading. This way, I can be sensitive to what God wants to teach me in the novel. Collectively, from his novels, there are many snippets contained therein of how we are to live for Christ and learn more about:

who God is, his many attributes and their names,
discipleship, dying to yourself,
obedience to His Word,
laying down your life so others can live
listening to the Spirit, putting yourself before others
developing a character of integrity, unconditional love towards humanity including our family and spouse,
standing up for Christ
living out your faith
loving the sinner but not the sin
praying for your oppressor or those persecuting you,
who you are in Christ, 

I have said in many of my reviews that I don't believe Christian fiction should entertain solely. I want it to: 

• encourage my walk with God,
• not deviate from known biblical doctrine, and not lead a non-believer astray or promote false doctrine, honour God,
• not encourage worship of the created (eg Angels) instead of the Creator (God). 

After reading every Telbat novel, I finish with all the above criteria all ticked. Telbat's novels reveal not just the mind and heart of the author, but more importantly, more of the heart and mind of Christ. And it is this that God wants so desperately to do with every Christian author as they allow the Spirit to guide them as they write His message through fiction. I also am encouraged when I see through an author's fiction that they have a heart after God, just like David from the Bible. I see this in David Telbat! While he continues to this and writes novels that reflect God's heart, I will read his work.

After reading this novel in this new series, I finish it uplifted and looking forward with eager anticipation to the next one, Distant Front. 

Highly Recommended. 

World Building 5/5

Characterisation 5/5

Story 5/5

Spiritual Level 4/5

Enemy Spiritual Level 3/5

Overall Rating 4.5/5

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spiritually, based on this review and on the following reference booklet,

A Spiritual System for Rating Books by David Bergsland, and that Distant Contact contains elements of the criteria of what constitutes Christian Redemptive Fiction outlined in this booklet, I award D. I Telbat with

The Reality Calling Redemptive Fiction Award

Congratulations, D.I. Telbat!

To read an excerpt or to buy this novel, click on the BUY/PREVIEW words on the image below:

Triple Time by C. Kevin Thompson

Triple Time (The Blake Meyer Thriller Series, Book 2)

A Looming Attack. A Loathsome Abduction. A Lethal Assassin. 

Supervisory Special Agent Blake Meyer has an impossible choice to make. After thwarting a massive biological attack on the continental United States, the contagion is still missing and in the hands of the enemy. So is his family. Abducted as an act of revenge.

The clock is ticking, and the chances of finding his wife and children wane with every passing second. The assassin behind it holds all the answers.

Or does she?

Three demands. Three choices.

Blake Meyer knows what must be done...but can he accomplish it before it's too late? Time is literally of the essence. And double time will not be fast enough.

The Guru's Review: 

Mama Mia! Can this series get any better? I reckon that readers of the first novel will agree that this is as good as or better than its predecessor. 

Thompson takes the reader on another action-packed, thrilling ride as the plot deepens with more twists and turns. Will the events of 1999 in Ireland ever end? What more could come out this event? When you think Thompson has revealed everything, he adds more details! And does this not deepen the plot and strengthen it so? You bet it does! Managing all these twists and turns shows Thompson to be quite a master. There are much to-ing and fro-ing from the various plot lines. While this can be problematic and annoying in other novels, Thompson avoids this. He turns this into a strength. Not only for pace but for the action and thriller aspect as well. When you start wondering about such and such, lo and behold, there is the update in the next chapter! 

Other pillars of this series are Thompson's writing talent and his creativity. This is coupled with how he has applied the influences from TV shows such as The Blacklist, Blue Bloods, 24, Criminal Minds, and even that of Star Trek. He is also a fan of Sherlock Holmes.

One thing, amongst many others, that Thompson has remained consistent, is the amount of research he has conducted. It is one thing to do this in preparation for a novel but quite another to apply this effectively to it. Another one of Thompson's strengths. He has seamlessly integrated this so that it forms a rich and solid environment that is realistic and against which this plot flows well. 

In novels such as this, it is tempting for it be constructed as plot driven rather than character driven. Like it predecessor, this novel is the latter. This allows for the exploration of Blake's emotions and reactions as a husband, father and soldier. I was really impressed how Thompson showed the conflict of emotions that Blake experienced as these three aspects/roles reacted against each other while he tried valiantly to find his family, 

Furious and frustrated, his battered mind staggered about like a bludgeoned boxer. Thoughts of the last week swirled into a hazy, static-filled mass of conflicting rhetoric. The soldier wrestled with the husband and father inside his soul as he strode down the hallway. 

Another, 

The inner struggle between the family man, the agent, and the soldier inside Blake intensified. This turmoil made him indecisive. For the first time in a long time, he didn't know what to do next. The soldier inside screamed orders: Get off your butt and find the people who kidnapped your family! They're terrorists, and they need to be shot! The agent shouted back, No! They need to be brought to justice! Capture them, and they may help you find the contagion. 

The family man-the husband and father-covered his ears with this hands as he sat in his own shower, lamenting his condition. He didn't care about the country anymore. He didn't care if his family's abductors lived or died. 

He just wanted his family back. Safe and sound. Without them, not much else mattered."

And it continued, 

With his body weary and his emotions raw and unruly, he knew that once he got into "combat mode," the soldier in him would override everything else. Getting to that state of mind was the difficult part, though. The feelings of the father inside kept getting in the way. The father wanted to kill everyone who hindered the rescue of his family. The father was about to lose his mind. And that's what the soldier could not afford to do. Nor the agent. 

And at times, he had to force the issue with himself, 

Blake closed his eyes. His emotions swelled. You have to be the soldier now. Not a husband or a father. That's too painful. There will be time for grieving later. 

There are many more examples. I found these instances heart rendering as I could relate to the husband and father side of Blake. What an overwhelming and fierce struggle it must be to have the soldier part of him fight these two sides. I was almost in tears. These examples show how well developed he has characterised Blake as the main protagonist. This is powerful writing and shows how this plot being character-driven is one of the successful pillars of this series. And while it is like this, I will drop everything to read the next instalment. I am so glad that Thompson has planned 6 books in this series. 

Great to see some favourite characters back in this instalment as well, such as Scarfano and Kelly. These two form a solid support system for Blake. I am further endeared to them as see them more as an essential part of this plot and Blake's success as the operative that he is. Yet, they do not detract from Blake being such an independent operative and self-made man's man. I am glad that at least these two will continue in the remaining series and even have larger roles as this seems to be a natural progression from the last novel to this one. 

I did not cope well with the attack on Blake's family, relatives and friends, the bombing of his household and the kidnapping of his wife and children. I hate plot lines like this but accept that this is part and parcel of this type of genre as well as real life. This kidnapping is part of the main theme of these two novels which is human trafficking. This is a subject dear to Thompson's heart. He has teamed up with World Hope International on this issue and will contribute 10% of his authorly earnings to this cause. In this novel, Thompson depicts the rawest, grittiest and most inhumane side of human trafficking compared the more political type of HT as depicted in 30 Days Hath revenge.

He has described and depicted this inhumane side of human trafficking well in this plot. Using Blake's family as its subject, he exposes the mentality and attitude of the human trafficker, 

First, make all you can while you can in one of the most hellish, heartless, and horrific business operations ever created by sinful man. Even if that means greasing some wheels and palms along the way. You may have to get out quick someday. 

Second, don't allow do-gooders to judge what you do. This business has been around forever, even in biblical times. So, if Joseph's brothers-his own flesh and blood- could sell him to a band of Midianite merchants on their way to Egypt, surely he (Morozov, human trafficker) can do this same with people with which has no relationships. 

And last but not at all least, don't look too deep into your victim's eyes. For as a trafficker, one wrong move could make you...care. Compassion is a worthless emotion. 

Thompson uses Morozov's character to exemplify these characteristics. He also shows how a human traffic network works. And this seems to be one very carefully structured mafia-type operation. Morozov's character is depicted as one evil creature motivated by money, greed, hatred, and a sadistic, contemptible disregard for human life. I fully supported Sarah in her many reactions towards him. He really pushed my buttons with his behaviour! 

Thompson also uses a main character to show what it is like for the human trafficking victim. As much as I was angered and incensed by Morozov, I was equally empathetic towards this victim. Her testimony is sad, tragic and devastating, 

......there is no crime more inhumane. Murder, stealing, rape are all single acts. Selfish acts. They are bad. but human trafficking commits all of them at once-and more. Stealing, rape, torture, drug addiction, and ultimately a slow death. And if you are fortunate enough to escape or are released, you never recover fully. How can you? Your life has been forever altered, forever, scarred, forever ruined. The memories haunted you. You wake up in the night sweating from the nightmares. And you can never get your innocence...your purity back. 

I was not surprised at the twist that occurred with one of the main characters. I was suspicious of this character in the previous novel. Seeing that this current novel ends with a cliffhanger, the full extent of the betrayal and deceit of this character will become clearer in the next instalment. This is another of the many reasons I am looking forward to Book 3. Bring on August! 

Speaking of cliffhangers and twists, the events that comprise this twist I did not see coming. It forms not only the cliffhanger but sets the entire pace and flavour for the next novel. Another part of this ending is that Blake is no closer to finding his family. Their demise is left with one highly emotional response from Sarah. 

I have the same comments about the spiritual aspects of this novel as its predecessor. From those comments, Thompson made mention on his website to these spiritual shortcomings he says, 

"HOLD ON TO YOUR HATS! BLAKE ISN'T DONE YET."

I am very encouraged with this statement. Harrison, like in the previous novel, continues to witness to Blake in various small ways. And like real life, these small opportunities can reap huge rewards in relation to one's eternal future when God has his way. 

All in all, this novel takes this series to the next level of mystery, intrigue, suspense and sets the flavour for the rest of the series. This is one great series. Thompson has found his niche in life. 

Strongly Recommended. 4.5/5 Stars.

World Building 5/5

Characters 5/5 

Spiritual Level 3/5 

Story 5/5 

Enemy Spiritual Level 0/5

Overall Rating: 4.5/5

To buy or read a preview of 30 Days of Revenge, click on the BUY/PREVIEW icons below:

Harvest of Prey by Alexander Preston

Harvest of Prey

A team of naturalists find themselves facing a nightmare beyond anything they have ever known - and the product of unspeakable evil.

Philip Caster, a former Green Beret now working as a zoologist, leads an international team in Indonesia whose revolutionary new program may spell salvation for the endangered Sumatran tiger. They will release six artificially-conceived cubs into the wild, accompanied by their surrogate mothers. The effort will prove the feasibility of in vitro breeding as a new tool against extinction. But its success is overshadowed by the sudden emergence of a horror beyond reckoning. Something has been unleashed in the forests of Sumatra. A life-form never meant to walk the earth. One that claims humanity as its only prey. 

As death unfolds around them, Caster and his circle of friends must uncover the truth behind an abomination: the instrument of dark and all-too-human forces pursuing a twisted ideological vision. Their creation has killed already - and their plans will consume millions more.

The Guru's Review: 

I first came across Alexander Preston when he advertised this novel in one of the Facebook Christian author/reader groups. I was intrigued by the description and the topic. I offered Alexander an Author/Novel spotlight post in this review blog to highlight the themes in the novel and why he wrote it. This gives a very good insight into the novel and the various influences that it is based on. 

One of the very first things that I noticed about this novel is how well it is structured and written. Preston has a competent and confident command of the English language. It is not just the words he uses but how he includes them into his sentence structure. I have not read a novel like this before in this regard. I had to read the same sentence or paragraph twice in some instances. I used the dictionary feature of the Kindle also many times on each page and you appreciate this feature when you read a novel such as this. There were so many words that I have never come across before. When you discover their meaning you can see how masterfully Preston uses them to his writing advantage. This has led me to see how the English language can be used to progress a novel above what we commonly see. By saying this, I am not saying that other authors who do not write like Preston have written mediocre or substandard novels. 

I find that when an author describes the body's physical reaction to a severe, even horrific situation, it needs to be exactly what the human body experiences as the reader can then relate. They may have even experienced the same or similar. It should not be depicted as something foreign or that the reader might think "what?". Preston's depiction of having Caster experience a physical reaction that only affected his bowels when seeing many horrific scenes seemed to me to be a bit unrealistic. I would have expected a few more physical symptoms such as diaphoresis (sweating), pallor, elevated heart rate (tachycardia and palpitations), dizziness, to name a few, but not all in every circumstance. Here are the examples, 

"....he was aware only of a gnawing, cavernous feeling in his bowels....."

"It did nothing to dispel the hideous sensation that rose up from inside his bowels..." 

"Caster felt a cold tightening of his bowels which sent a near-nausea climbing up the back of his throat..." 

"His bowels gurgled in protest, and he was forced to divert his gaze and clench his teeth."

Preston wrote these examples in such dire, horrific circumstances, but I could not relate to this as a single physical occurrence to this stressor! I can overlook this as it is not a major flaw and does not detract from anything relating to the plot or the author's message. He at least showed that the circumstances Caster were in evoked a strong physical reaction to a severe/horrific event. This type of inconsistency can be easily fixed in his future writings. It is his first novel after all, and I understand what a minefield authors go through when composing a novel and getting it right, albeit for the first time. 

Preston has developed the entire plot very well. There is good cohesion between the events with the suspense and horror of the killings. This is balanced with suspense and intrigue from the manipulation of science, the evilness and corruptness of the scientists involved and those in the corporations pulling the strings. It more than keeps you reading and coming back for more. Amongst all this, Preston has developed the main characters well, especially Philip Caster. I was instantly rooting for Caster as he was so masterfully framed for murder and his determination to prove his innocence and bring all to justice. Preston shows how military training can form the basis of this determination or enhance it when it is part of his character (as in personality, not character as in a novel). This manipulation of science brings up the themes that undergird the message of this novel. In the Author/Novel spotlight mentioned previously, I asked Preston why he wrote this novel and he replied, 

Harvest of Prey has been written as a kind of “modern parable” to illustrate the moral implications of certain contemporary ideas, primarily the more radical wing of environmentalism and the value (or lack thereof) it places upon human life. At the same time, it also touches upon the ethics of genetic modification as well as the philosophy of science itself (primarily the different approaches implied by atheistic materialism vs. Judeo-Christian theism). These have all been featured before in fiction, but few have explored their full potential for a powerful story. I’m hoping to break new ground by introducing a gripping, visceral theme of Good vs. Evil that can reach the moral imagination of readers across a variety of faith (or agnostic) backgrounds.

Preston achieves this very well in this novel. His presentation of these themes through the plot and characters clearly defines the issues at hand and the ethics involved. It was quite an education that added much more layers of information to the little that I knew of these issues. His solution to these issues is brilliant and shows a depth of research and much thought out and applied reasoning and logic. From this, I am reminded from the same Author/Novel spotlight of the influences that shaped Preston's writing and ideas, including the novels that these authors have written on similar issues or inspired him. These include: 

• State of Fear by Michael Crichton 
• Merchants of Despair by Robert Zubrin 
• Watchers by Dean Koontz 
• Monster by Frank Peretti 
• Rainbow Six by Tom Clancy 

When I read why Preston wrote this novel, I was expecting some Christian/biblical themes or portrayal of faith in the main characters or minor characters. But there is none. Preston has deliberately omitted this in this novel and plans to do so in those novels that follow in this series. He has reasons for doing so, which I have no choice but to accept. He offers some explanation as to why this is so, 

Harvest of Prey is not, strictly speaking, “Christian fiction” but rather “fiction written by a Christian”. I’ve taken this approach for several reasons. The primary one is that denominational boundaries (and their accompanying doctrinal disagreements) can make the term “Christian” a dicey one. It’s fully possible to place two self-described “Christians” in the same room and have each of them deny the other’s right to that label. Calvinist Christians, for example, have fundamentally different views on salvation from, say, Roman Catholic Christians (incidentally, I myself embrace neither of these two doctrines – I belong to a little-known denomination with precursors among the Anabaptists and Mennonites). Also, Harvest of Prey, although it discusses faith (at length, in a few places), is not concerned with the protagonist’s attainment of personal salvation – I’ve omitted that particular element for the prior doctrinal reasons (I intend to use it, however, for a future historical fiction series set during the biblical era).

Despite accepting these reasons, I am disappointed somewhat. The consequences of omitting Christian/biblical content, (specifically the protagonist's attainment of personal salvation and not constructing this as Christian fiction due to "....denominational boundaries and their accompanying doctrinal disagreements making the term Christian a dicey one") just reduces this novel (and any other novel for that matter for the similar reasons) to a clean read. While there is nothing wrong with this as such and on its own, there are novelists out there who are not Christian who also create clean reads. For me, due to Preston's reasons for this omission, places Harvest of Prey on the same level as these other clean read authors. I just question whether a Christian novelist should let obstacles such as these, stop them from basing their novel solely on Biblical principles, themes or doctrines. However, Preston does plan to include the "...issue of personal salvation" in a "...future historical fiction series set during the biblical era". I am looking forward to this. 

I am by no means attacking or undermining the author by these comments, just giving my perspective. 

Moving on from this, I regard this novel as a well-written, masterfully constructed, full of action and adventure, mystery and suspense, with controversial scientific and environmental themes dealt responsibly and intelligently. 

Even though it is not written as Christian fiction as such or written from a Christian worldview, I highly recommend this novel. 5 Stars.

To buy or read an excerpt, click on the BUY/PREVIEW icon below: 

Guest Post: Author Parker Hudson on Spiritual Warfare

If you follow my reviews in this blog and have checked out my bookshelves on Goodreads, you will have discovered I read novels that involve spiritual warfare.

I love the plot, the depiction of the biblical principles of spiritual warfare. This not only entertains but increases and strengthens my faith. It shows me how these principles are lived out in the characters and storyline. These novels also show me the background of the author on this topic.

They must know about spiritual warfare to novelise its principles, right?

Well, I managed to find (rather stumbled across) a blog post that proves my point. When I read this, I knew I had to ask Parker if I could post this.

It is one very concise and informative piece and it forms the basis of Hudson's novels. It definitely honours the Word of God.

Another reason I asked Hudson, is that too many Christians either do not know about spiritual warfare or deny its relevance. And as Hudson points out below, this is exactly what Satan wants.

So sit back and let Hudson enlighten you about the reality of spiritual warfare. We can only be better equipped to fight the enemy and know more about his tactics by doing so.

Over to you, Hudson: 

Spiritual Warfare

by Parker Hudson | Apr 29, 2017

This post is written primarily to believers. It will make little sense to others, and even believers don’t typically spend much time focused on Spiritual Warfare, which is exactly what Satan wants and makes his destructive mission much easier.

Satan particularly hates believers because we will spend eternity where he began but can never return: in Heaven with God.  He does everything he can to lie and to confuse, ensuring that as few people as possible accept Christ’s free gift of salvation.  Despite his lies, if someone nevertheless becomes a believer, Satan then does all he can to make that person feel ineffective in telling others.

His goal is to take as many with him as possible, including our families, to an eternity without God—an eternity of indescribable sorrow and pain. Our critical role as believers is to fight back, particularly for those we love.

My friend Ken Boa has a very full and concise section on Spiritual Warfare in his advanced discipleship book Conformed To His Image, which I strongly recommend.  This is a huge subject, worthy of many words, not just a short post. Some of what follows, therefore, borrows from Ken’s well-written summary.

I want to touch here on three important aspects of Spiritual Warfare.

First, Satan is real. He is a personal, created being, with intellect, emotion and will. Christ refers to Satan’s fall in Luke 10:18, and the New Testament mentions Satan 120 times.  For a believer to deny or ignore the daily reality of demonic forces at work to destroy us is to parse Christ’s teachings in a way that would not be condoned on any other subject.  If one believes that Jesus is the Son of God who died for our sins, then as a sinner saved by grace, one also has to believe in Jesus’ many teachings on Satan.

Second, there are really three separate but related aspects to Spiritual Warfare: the world, the flesh and the devil. 

The flesh is our inherent sin nature.  As Boa writes, even as believers, “no one has to be forced into selfishness, pride, gluttony, self-pity, lust or bad temper.”  The flesh can never be reformed or improved through some self-help program; it can only be overcome and buried on a daily basis by walking in submission to the rule of the Holy Spirit.  As believers, to battle the flesh we need to pray daily for the fruit of the Spirit and give Him free reign to overcome the temptations that inevitably come our way.

The world refers to the external forces which promote an attitude of independence from God, the result of all our individual sin natures working together.  As the world becomes darker and more secular, there is ever more fertile ground for indulging the flesh and pulling people away from God’s principles and truths.  Media, entertainment, education, weak families, peer pressure—all combine to make a world in which the Creator is at best a second class after-thought. And His good purposes for us are lost in constant temptations or just plain busyness.

To push back against the world’s lies requires believers to renew our minds with the truths of Scripture. Boa writes, “We need to internalize biblical values through a daily program of reading, memorizing, meditating, and personalizing Scripture.  This has a price tag:  it takes time and discipline.”

The devil and his demons then use the first two–our inherent sin nature and the ever darkening world’s enticements–as ports of entry to influence, oppress, and ultimately, in the worst cases, to control us.  Like Satan, demons are real and personal beings, with intelligence, emotion and volition. According to Boa, approximately 25% of Jesus’ ministry deals with deliverance from demonic affliction—hard to ignore!

At the first level, using both our flesh and the world as pathways, “demons seek to plant thoughts in our minds, influence our emotions, and weaken our wills.  They inject deceptive, accusing and condemning thoughts and attitudes that are opposed to the truth of Scripture.” If given freedom to continue without being checked, their work can lead to oppression and control, and they then must be confronted directly and commanded to leave, relying on the power of the Holy Spirit and the prayers of the saints.

Being saved from demonic influence—whether their influence, oppression or control—is a large subject.  But Boa lists seven conditions which are always needed for deliverance:

1. Salvation. Without Christ, there is no hope of victory over the powers of evil.
2. Willingness. We must want to be set free.
3. Confession. To reclaim any ground that we have yielded to the adversary.
4. Renunciation. Make a clean and permanent break.
5. Forgiveness. We must forgive all who have wronged us.
6. Submission. Acknowledge our complete dependence on Him.
7. Resistance. When the other conditions are met, we must use Christ’s authority to command the demonic forces to leave.

In my own life, I’ve found that I need to pray, study, and then pray some more.

Third and finally, I am struck by how the family is designed by God to be the first line of both defence and offence when battling spiritual darkness.  By weakening and destroying the family, Satan furthers all of his purposes. So it is our daily responsibility to defend and build up families, starting with our own.

Husbands and fathers, the family is our first and most important responsibility.  God has put us in charge.  What will we report about our family on the day that we meet our Judge face to face?  Can anything be more important than where our wife and children spend eternity?

We’ll look at Spiritual Warfare and the family more in a later post.  For now, there is no better place to start than on our knees.

The original post can be found here. 

Thank you, Parker, for composing this blog post about a very significant but important principle of our Christian discipleship. I pray it encourages the Body of Christ to embrace this and incorporate this in our daily walk with God.

30 Days Hath Revenge by C. Kevin Thompson

30 Days Hath Revenge

Book 1 of the Blake Meyer Thriller Series!

A Clandestine Mission. A Cryptic Message. A Chaste Promise.

Blake Meyers dreamed of a peaceful end to a dutiful career with the FBI. Married now, his life was taking him in a new direction--a desk job. He would be an analyst. Ride it out until retirement. Be safe so he could enjoy family life.

But when a notable member of the IRA is murdered in his London flat, Blake's secretive past propels him into the middle of an international scheme so twisted and sadistic, it will take everything Blake possesses--all of it--to save the United States from a diabolical terrorist attack.

The Guru's Review: 

Reading this novel gave me yet another confirmation that just because this is a debut novel it does not have to be a dud or you feel the author needs to put in more hard yards before they publish next. 

I was immediately taken in by this novel. Not just with the plot and charactersation but with the writing. Thompson writes very well. It is immediately evident. This is one very strong asset to him as an author. His command of the English language and how he constructs it for this novel forms one very solid foundation upon which the plot, pace and charactersiation rest. It did not surprise me to discover that Thompson has won Awards for his writing, the first edition of this novel was a Silver Medalist in the Readers' Favorite 2013 Book of the Year Awards in the Christian Fiction category. 

The pace in this setting is frenetic. It never lets up. It is this that keeps you coming back for more. In some novels of this genre and calibre, it can end up with the characters being in a plot driven storyline and the main character being taken for a ride with the fast paceness of the plot. Here, the reader can feel that everything is happening to the main character or characters and they have no or not much control over what is happening to them. In this novel, Thompson has avoided this pitfall. It is very much a character driven plot. This lends itself very well to Blake being able to use his extensive experience and knowledge of his field to find out answers to the terrorist threat to his present and that of the world's population.

Just as Thompson has an excellent, competent command of the English language, the same degree of expertise can be said for the construction of this novel, the characters but especially the plot. There are no thin areas of plotlines, characterisation or pace. There is depth to all these aspects. Blake is one self-made man who knows who he is and what makes himself tick. He is extremely relational and even before the events and characters of his past start to influence him, Thompson has developed him enough to have the reader endeared to him and on his side. This bides well when the events of his past threaten him and the rest of the world. You are already on his side and rooting for him. Doing it this way establishes his credibility as a character and gives the reader the confidence to continue to read without any doubt of Thompson's development of Blake. 

Another aspect of Thompon's characterisation is the layered construction of the plot and how this affects Blake. The terrorist plot that exists in Blake's past that is now affecting his present also adds layers to the professional and personal life of Blake and his family. It sets the stage for him to show how versatile and resourceful an agent he is, in simultaneously fulfilling the responsibilities his profession as an Agent and protecting his family. 

I can see why Thompson is successful with this novel. He as researched it well and applied it effectively. Clues to this success can be found from his Amazon bio: 

He is a huge fan of the TV series "24," "The Blacklist," "Blue Bloods," "Designated Survivor," and "Criminal Minds." He loves anything to do with Star Trek, is a Sherlock Holmes fanatic, and reads lots of books.

Apart from Blake, I have a soft spot for Harrison Kelly. I really enjoyed this character. It is an asset for an author's ability to successfully depict the nationality of the character. While reading the sections involving Kelly and Blake, I felt very much at home with his mannerisms and language as Thompson has depicted Kelly as pretty much how us Australians speak and behave. 

I also enjoyed Agent Julee Scarfano. She seems a more than capable operative and is very good as being a go-between for Blake and Connell when Blake needs to bypass the restrictive rules and regulations of the FBI in order to go rogue. I hope that Thompson includes Julee in the remaining 5 novels in this series. The almost love-hate relationship between Connell and Blake adds another layer of suspense that I enjoyed. This seems to be a characteristic of novels in this military, special ops genre. I never get sick of the main character thwarting and bypassing rules and regulations to get things done in dire circumstances of a mission when rules and regulations would restrict its outcomes. Connell seems to waver between sticking to the confines of the FBI operation procedures and giving Blake what he needs within this. He fails miserably and nearly loses Blakes respect for him or at least has it damaged. 

This novel is described by Thompson and others as a Christian thriller due to its exclusion of sex, profanity and other gore. I would challenge this. These exclusions make this a clean read and that does not make it Christian. Some secular authors write clean reads with these exclusions and their novels are far from being Christian. 

What makes this a Christian thriller is the inclusion of spirituality based on Biblical themes and doctrines and who God is. There is only a little of this in this novel. I felt that if it was omitted, it would not have any great impact on the overall plot or even on Blake to whom it was directed. Consequently, this omission would have made it a clean read and indistinguishable from a secular novel. However, with this inclusion, Thompson gets Blake thinking about the meaning of life (cliche not intended!), the question of evil and its effects on the human race and where he all fits into this. There was potential there for Thompson to develop this further and as a result, develop the character of Harrison who is the sole Christian character and who provides the spiritual/ biblical input to Blake. I hope that this is included more and developed further in the sequel, Triple Time, and the remaining books 3-6 that are to come over the next few years. 

Maybe I expected more of these Biblical themes and spirituality due to the fact that Thompson is an ordained minister. I have found from reading other novels from Ministers/Pastors they have no problem including Biblical themes of redemption, salvation, evil, death, spiritual warfare, sexuality and other themes concerning the ills of this world (suffering, addictions, domestic violence, to name a few) in greater detail than what Thompson has, without it being preachy or "fire and brimstone" type narrative. 

The above is the only shortcoming I see in this novel. I have thoroughly enjoyed it and the writing ability of this author. I am glad to have approached him to write a review and be part of his launch party for this series. 

Strongly Recommended. 4/5 Stars.

World Building 5/5

Characters 5/5 

Spiritual Level 3/5 

Story 5/5 

Enemy Spiritual Level 0/5

Overall Rating: 4.5/5

To buy or read a preview of 30 Days of Revenge, click on the BUY/PREVIEW icons below: