LION OF BABYLON BY DAVIS BUNN

 LION OF BABYLON BY DAVIS BUNN is very interesting, and a "must read" for those who are interested in Iraq and Iran and the plight of Christians in the Middle East.  It is a story of trust between different nationalities and beliefs, and of Christian love and compassion between believers of different backgrounds and traditions.  
Marc Royce is asked by Ambassador Walton to go into Iraq to look for Alex Baird, who has gone missing with two other Americans and an Iraqi pastor.  It is believed they have been kidnapped.  Alex Baird is his best friend, who helped him go on living when his wife had a stroke and died months later.  It is a dangerous mission but Marc is determined to get Alex out alive.  When he gets to Iran he finds that there are also children missing, and he and Sameh, a Christian lawyer who is most concerned about the missing children, and has been asked by Hassan to find his kidnapped son, build up a special relationship of trust.  Sameh welcomes Marc into his family, and his wife, niece, and her daughter, become very fond of Marc as well.  Sameh is a courteous man who loves his country and wants to make a difference.  He dreams of an Iraq where those of different Muslim sects work together with the Christians to make a better Iran.  He is amazed at this American, Marc, who has such compassion for  foreign children who he does not even know! 
Both the U.S. and Iraqi governments are afraid that if the Christian element gets involved in trying to solve the kidnapping of Alex Baird and his companions - all Christians - they will complicate an already explosive situation in the Middle East.  The moderate Muslims want to walk hand in hand with the Americans in order to make a better Iraq.  The Iranian leaders, on the other hand, are trying to cause discord amongst the Iraqis in order to be able to control a weak Iraqi government.  It is an exciting and well written story with a lot of Scriptural truth.

WONDERLAND CREEK BY LYNN AUSTIN

WONDERLAND CREEK by LYNN AUSTIN takes place during the Depression in America.  Alice Ripley, a pastor's daughter who lives with her parents in a small town, is a librarian who lives her life vicariously through the characters in the novels she reads.  She is devastated when her boyfriend, Gordon, breaks up with her for reading a novel during a memorial service (he is the son of the undertaker and is following in his father's footsteps) and when she loses her job at the library due to cutbacks.  She feels her life is over, but has no idea what is in store for her when she leaves the safety of home and sets off for Acorn, Kentucky, to take books that she has collected to the library there for distribution to the people who live in isolated areas.
Although she is horrified at the conditions in Acorn, and her living conditions in the library are extremely primitive, she gradually comes to love the people she interacts with there and realizes that at last she is living her own life instead of living in the pages of the novels she reads.  She has one adventure after another, is exhausted and terrified a great deal of the time, has to learn to cook, plant a vegetable garden and ride a horse, amongst other things.  The intrigue and danger she encounters are such that she knows that no-one at home will believe that she is telling the truth about her life in Acorn when she gets back.  There is mystery, attempted murder, missing treasure and even romance with a charming fiddle player - all the ingredients she would expect to find in a really good novel, only this time she is living it instead of reading about it!
Through Lillie, the ancient black woman who has brought Mack up and now lives at the library with him, she learns what true Christianity is - a relationship with Jesus and not a list of rules to follow.  She comes to realize that when we are in the Lord's hands He leads and guides us according to the plans He has for our lives and we don't have to try and "fix" everything ourselves.  
She loves books, and is thrilled to be able to take books to people in outlying areas, some of whom can't even read.  What starts out as a "do good" operation of collecting books for the less fortunate, leads to adventure and a life lived to the full. She comes to see what is really important in life, and is ashamed of the self-centredness and self-pity she indulged in when her life, as she knew it, was over.      
The colourful characters she comes to know, including Lillie's horse Belle, all play a part in her growth as a person.  She feels responsible for Lillie, Mack and June Ann, and knows she cannot go home until the mystery of who shot Mack is resolved. 
The novel is well-written and exciting and the characters are well portrayed.  There is humour and love and a good Christian message. 

THE TWELFTH IMAM & THE TEHRAN INITIATIVE BY JOEL C. ROSENBERG

THE TWELFTH IMAM & THE TEHRAN INITIATIVE by JOEL C. ROSENBERG can be read as stand alone novels, but I suggest that you will get more out of them if you read them one after the other.  These two books are very interesting as they are full of end time prophecy, both Christian and Muslim, politics - Middle Eastern, American and Jewish - and they take place mostly in Iran, America and Israel.

The Twelfth Imam starts in Iran with Charles and Claire Harper escaping Iran during the student uprising of 1979 and taking Dr Mohammed Shirazi and his wife with them.  David Shirazi and Marseille Harper meet when their fathers take them on an annual fishing trip in September 2001.  Claire Harper is killed in the 911 disaster and it affects both families very badly.  We follow David and Marseille's story through both books.
David goes through a rough patch, but he is recruited by the CIA due to the fact that he is an Iranian and speaks the language fluently.  He is a very patriotic American citizen and is thrilled to be serving his country in this way, and he also feels that he will be avenging the death of Marseille's mother.
The Iranians have built nine nuclear warheads, and have detonated one, causing an earthquake.  The Americans send out their agents, David Shirazi, who goes by the name Reza Tabrizi, and Eva Fischer, who have been told to find out where the warheads are and all they can about the situation.  David goes in as a German businessman selling state of the art phones to the Iranian Government.  These phones can actually be tapped by American intelligence, but the Iranians believe David when he assures them that they are absolutely secure.
David finds out as much as he can about the Twelfth Imam, and is sent by the head of Iran Telecom to an expert on the subject, Dr Alireza Birjandi.  Dr Birjandi is a secret follower of Jesus Christ, and he shows David the truth and urges him to accept Him as his Saviour.  However it isn't until David is going through all kinds of life threatening situations that he eventually surrenders his life to Christ.
The Twelfth Imam comes onto the scene, performing all kinds of "signs and wonders" and successfully drawing most of the Middle Eastern countries into the Caliphate, an autocratic Shia Muslim body ruled by him.  He radiates terror and expects absolute obedience.  He makes no secret of his hatred of the Jews and the Americans, but pretends that he is a man of peace!  He has the American president completely duped.
David saves the lives of the Malik family and helps them defect to America.  Najjar Malik is  the top physicist in the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran after his father in law is murdered.  Najjar wasn't aware that his father in law was in fact producing warheads and that Iran was going to use these weapons to annihilate first the Jews and then the Americans.  The Lord appears to him and to his wife and mother in law at the same time, although they are not in the same place, and he is miraculously delivered from those who are hunting him down. Once in America, he bravely and illegally leaves the safe house where he is staying and goes to two radio stations to tell the world what is happening in Iran and to tell his beloved Iranians that the Twelfth Imam is an imposter and that they should follow the One True God, before it is too late.  Many followers of Islam are converted to Christianity when they hear him speak to them in Farsi and other Middle Eastern languages.
The Tehran Initiative is the name given by the Iranians to their plan to wipe out Israel and America.  In this second book we see the world on the brink of war. The Americans are afraid that the Israelis will strike against Iran first in order to stop a second Holocaust, and the Israelis are disappointed in the non-committal attitude of the American president, who is more interested in not rocking the boat in order to make sure of an extra term in office. There is also the problem of the escalating oil price. David is upset that he is putting his life on the line getting information for the American government, and nothing is being done with it. 
He has to keep his cover and is not allowed to tell anyone that he works for the CIA, but he tells his father in confidence as his mother is dying of cancer and he feels awful that he has to give so many excuses as to why he can't stay with his parents at this very difficult time.  To his amazement and great relief his father is very proud of him and gives him his blessing.
He is sent back to Iran after a brief visit to his mother and father and an even briefer one with Marseille, his childhood sweetheart.  All hell is about to break loose in the Middle East and David bravely goes through torture and danger in order to stop the destruction that could be caused by Iran's nuclear warheads being loosed upon Israel and the rest of the world.  
The story is well told and is full of scriptural truth.  We are kept in suspense all the way, wondering when war will break out and who will strike first.  It is action packed and full of intrigue. We get an insight into the rise of the Antichrist and the struggle that will take place in the last days.  I feel that although these books are works of fiction they should be read by anyone who takes freedom seriously, and also by those of us who take Christianity seriously, who realize the importance of Israel and the Jewish people in God's plan for mankind, and who are interested in End Times prophecy.