LOVE'S SACRED SONG BY MESU ANDREWS

LOVE'S SACRED SONG by MESU ANDREWS is the story of Solomon's marriage to Arielah, a shepherdess from Shunem,  his treaty bride.  For Solomon, who already has many wives, it starts out as a contract to bring peace amongst the Israelites in the northern region, but he becomes totally infatuated with this godly woman who is so different from the many women he has known.  Solomon, with his upbringing in the palace, has never had the close family life that Arielah has had, and is thus unable to understand what love and commitment are all about.  Arielah's father, Jehosaphat, prince of Shunem, is to become the king's ambassador in the area in accordance with the terms of the treaty.  The people of Shunem are particularly angry about the fate of one of their daughters, Abishag, who comforted king David when he was dying, but who was looked upon as "tainted" and was not treated honourably by the royal family after his death.  
When Arielah is born Jehosaphat has a dream that his daughter, whose name means "lion of God", will marry the king and bring peace between Judah and Israel.
Arielah falls in love with Solomon when she sees him for the first time at the age of seven and knows in her heart she will marry him one day.  It is through the little shepherdess and her godly family that king Solomon comes to know what love really is. Although she is hurt by his behaviour she learns to forgive him and to love him unconditionally.  
God has given Solomon amazing wisdom, and in his desire to build his kingdom he makes treaties and trade agreements with  foreign kings and governors.  In exchange he is given many foreign wives.  Where he is so wise in worldly matters, he is sadly lacking in wisdom as far as love and commitment are concerned.  The wisdom God has given him serves him well in the world of commerce, but he lacks his father David's shepherd's heart.  David was a warrior king; Solomon is to bring peace to the land during his rule by using his great wisdom.  He is also to build the Temple that his father David wanted to build.  He is very aware of his duties to his people and the importance of obedience to Jehovah.
The novel is full of scriptural truth, and their love story follows the Song of Solomon.
There is intrigue, deception and jealousy, not only between the wives and concubines, but also between Judah and Israel.  There are men at court who do not have the king's or the country's best interests at heart.  These men, led by the cruel Ahishar, together with the twin Daughters of Jerusalem, stir up dissention and make the most of the jealousy in the harems and the pagan worship practised by the foreign wives and concubines, to try and usurp power in the kingdom.
The meaning behind Jewish betrothal and wedding practices are beautifully explained and we can't help but make the parallel between these and the betrothal and marriage that takes place between the believer and Jesus.
In this novel we are reminded of God's unending love for each one of us, how He alone brings about changes in our characters as we seek to be obedient to His will.  How it is perfectly safe to trust Him with our very lives and with the lives of those who are dear to us. He is the Great Shepherd, and it is often when we are alone, surrounded by His creation, that He speaks to us and shows us what to do.
We see Arielah's obedience, which very nearly leads to her death, and are reminded of the sacrifice of Christ when she speaks to the people of the north at the Passover festival, and her wounds remind us of the wounds of Jesus, our sacrificial Lamb.
God's mercy and grace, the importance of repentance and forgiveness and of obedience to His Law, run through the story from beginning to end.  
Jehosaphat is a godly man, and he is a father or "abba" to many, including to his son-in-law, king Solomon.  He honours his daughter's free choice and doesn't force her to marry the king, even though his heart breaks when he realizes what she will have to suffer to bring about peace in the kingdom and in Solomon's heart.
When Solomon is parted from Arielah after her attack, he not only realizes how much he truly loves her, but also comes to seek the Lord in true repentance.  This time, when he fetches her from her father's house, they do not go straight back to the court at Jerusalem, but they spend some time of restoration and refreshment at his vineyard.
The novel is beautifully written and the characters are very real and well portrayed.  Of course this is a work of fiction, but this does not take away from the truth of the story or the scripture that it is based on.  It is a really inspirational book and most enjoyable.
 

RARE EARTH BY DAVIS BUNN

RARE EARTH BY DAVIS BUNN is another Marc Royce adventure. This time he is sent to Kenya by Ambassador Walton to investigate suspected underhand activities at Lodestone, a company with its headquarters in the States, whose operatives supply food, tents, etc, as well as security, in the drought-stricken and war torn country.  He goes in undercover as a former accountant and is put in charge of getting supplies to the refugee camps. An Israeli aid worker, Serge Korban, has been kidnapped and he is also looking for him.
In the camp he meets Serge's sister Kitra, who works in the camp clinic. She dislikes him to start with, as she holds Lodestone responsible for her brother's disappearance, but when she sees his compassion for the poverty-stricken refugees, she comes to trust him.  Marc feels that he may at last be ready to move on, as it is over four years since his wife died.  He and Kitra have feelings for one another, but Kitra's life is complicated and he doesn't know if he can give up his life to become part of hers.
We see Marc's respect for both the elders at the camp and also for those that he meets in the slums of Nairobi. They have been let down badly by white men in the past who are trying to take over their land, but they trust Marc, especially when Philip, a young chief who is a believer in Christ, says he is sure that Marc is the deliverer he has seen in his dreams. They like his humility and commitment to help. 
He doesn't hurry them in their deliberations and he allows them all the time they need to make decisions.
Marc has to use all the skills learned in the military and during his time in the C.I.A. in the dangerous situation in which he and his allies find themselves.   
Marc goes to Israel at Kitra's insistance and  stays with her parents in a Kibbutz in the Judean desert.  In this desolate place they extract elements from rare earth which are used to manufacture components for  mobile phones and nuclear reactors, to name but a few. Now he understands why the villages are being evacuated - they are going to be taken over by the Chinese, aided by rogue African mercenaries. The Chinese already have the monopoly in the industry and can thus charge exhorbitant prices. This is the secret that Serge discovered and which led to his abduction.
Marc and Crowden, and those who are with them, have full permission from as far up as the White House to do what is necessary to stop the Chinese from appropriating the villagers' land, so as to counteract their monopoly.
Serge and Kitra have come to Kenya to search out the rare earth in order to have a supply for their kibbutz. They have come to "heal the land", as their way of extracting the substances from the earth is not harmful like that of the Chinese. In fact there are people that are being treated by Red Cross doctors for  unknown diseases which are directly caused by the extraction factory. They do not want to take away anything from the Africans, but they want to work together for the mutual good of both countries.
God has brought about an amazing miracle in Kenya where people from warring tribes have come to faith in Christ and are now living as brothers. Marc, as a believer himself, relates well to them, and also to Kitra's parents and the occupants of the Kibbutz who are Jewish believers in Christ the Messiah.
Philip, his uncle Oyango, and the other elders see Marc's involvement in their plight as a miracle as well.  They are so glad he has come to help them in a situation where they feel absolutely hopeless and helpless.
Davis Bunn has a good grasp of the culture and lifestyle of the African continent. The story is convincing and one can feel the dryness of the landscape, the brooding of the volcano and the fog caused by the ash. This fog serves its purpose when the villains at the extraction plant are overpowered by Marc and his men, who seem to be far more in number and whose blowing of the "vuvuselas" make one think of the destruction of Jericho when the Israelites blew the trumpets!
The story is exciting, the characters are well portrayed and there is a strong Christian message.





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WINGS OF REFUGE BY LYNN AUSTIN

 WINGS OF REFUGE BY LYNN AUSTIN 
I have read every Lynn Austin book I have come across, and I have enjoyed them all and gained a great deal of spiritual insight from her novels, but if I had to choose a favourite it would be WINGS OF REFUGE.  The setting in Israel, the characters spanning generations and how their stories are interwoven, make this a fascinating and inspirational read. We start with Abby, a forty-two year-old wife and mother of two, a history teacher, who travels to Israel with a church group to do some holiday archeological excavations.  She is going on this pilgrimage to try and get over the hurt and betrayal that she feels when her husband has an affair with a younger woman. Her first impressions of the Holy Land are shocking when a kind Israeli man who sat with her in the plane and helped her overcome her fear of flying by quoting psalms, is brutally murdered at the Ben Gurion airport and dies in her arms.  
Through her friendship with Hannah, Ben Rosen's cousin, Ari, her son-in-law, and Marwan a Palestinian Muslim, she is given a crash course in Israeli politics.  Through them and their stories, and what they dig up about Leah, a first century Jewish woman who goes from being a slave to being married to a wealthy tax collector, she learns the necessity of forgiveness.  Each of the characters in this book have a choice of whether they will forgive those who have hurt them and betrayed their trust, even those who are their sworn enemies.
There is so much biblical truth revealed in this novel as we follow all the characters and see how the decisions they make affect their lives and the lives of those round about them.  Their stories are very effectively woven together.  The mosaic that Hannah gives Abby, which had belonged to her daughter, reminds us that only God sees the full picture and that we don't always see why certain things happen in our lives, but that God's plans for each of us are perfect when they are woven into His perfect mosaic!
Through all that Abby goes through, she goes from being a nominal Christian and church-goer, to someone who chooses to walk closely with the Lord.  He becomes her strength in a strange land and in terrifying circumstances.
Our enemies don't deserve forgiveness, but Jesus forgave His enemies when they nailed Him to the cross, and the forgiveness He bought for us was very costly - He paid for it with His blood!  This fact should give us the strength to forgive others, even our worst enemies!






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I DARED TO CALL HIM FATHER BY BILQUIS SHEIK

I DARED TO CALL HIM FATHER by BILQUIS SHEIKis one of my most favourite books - right up there with FOOLISH TO BE WISE by Roy Peacock (see post June 2011) and APPOINTMENT IN JERUSALEM by Derek Prince (review posted February 2012). It is a wonderful book and one I have read and enjoyed many times. I was so glad to find a copy at a Christian bookshop recently when I was on holiday, as my original copy disappeared a while ago!
This is the story of Begum Bilquis Sheik, a wealthy Pakistani aristocrat who, after having two most unusual dreams, has a very real experience with the Lord Jesus. We see how, in her quest for the truth, she goes to see a young missionary wife, Synnove, who is led by the Spirit to explain the meaning of her dreams. She starts reading both the Bible and the Koran and is amazed when she find scriptures in the Bible that are in her dreams.
A nun, who is a doctor at the hospital where she takes her grandson, sees her reading the Bible. She explains her dilemma. After centuries of Muslim heritage, she sees,through reading both holy books, that Allah and the God of the Bible are not the same. She needs to know who she should follow. The nun shocks her by saying that she should speak to God as her Father! She asks herself which one is more like a father, and she sees that the God of the Bible is a loving Father to His children, and that we don't have to earn His approval by our works. Her close relationship with her own father draws her to the God of the Bible. Her earthly father loved her dearly and was never too busy for her.
She makes a decision to follow Christ that will change her life completely. As a Christian she will not only lose her elevated position and be looked down on as a sweeper, but she will be ostracized by everyone, including her own family. She also stands the risk of being murdered as an infidel.
Synnove Mitchell and her husband David, become her closest friends. We see the importance of meeting with fellow believers as she meets with them and the Olds' every week for fellowship. She is grateful to the Lord for giving her new friends to replace those she has lost.
This book teaches us so many things especially about the importance of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The Lord becomes everything to her and she is prepared to lose everything to follow Him. She wants to please Him rather than man, and doesn't want to do anything that would take her out of His loving presence, which she first felt as a beautiful fragrance while walking in her garden. She has never been very brave, but feels she can go through anything with Jesus by her side.
One of the hardest things the Lord asks her to do is to forgive her ex-husband Khalid. When she feels the Lord's presence leave because of her refusal to forgive him for treating her so badly, she cries out to the Lord to help her forgive him. After this she finds she can feel love for him and even prays for him. She knows this has to be the Lord's doing - she couldn't have done this in her own strength.
Bilquis has become rather a recluse after her husband Khalid divorced her, and she spends hours in her garden, restoring it to a thing of beauty. Her grandson, Mahmoud, lives with her, as her daughter and her husband cannot resolve their differences. She has adopted Mahmoud and he, his mother Tooni, and Bilquis are very close. When she becomes a Christian she is afraid that Mahmoud's father will take him away from her.
She is obedient and is baptized, even though she could be signing her own death sentence. She is desperately lonely and tries to reach out to her family and friends. She loves them, is upset that she is hurting them and prays for them regularly. 
She reads about the baptism in the Holy Spirit and asks the Lord to baptize her in the Spirit while she is alone in her bedroom. She loves the Word of God and spends hours reading the Bible.
When she is warned by God at the age of sixty to leave Pakistan, she does so, and she and Mahmoud live in the United States where she preaches the Gospel in obedience to her Lord.
This new edition has an epilogue by Synnove Mitchell which tells us about Bilquis and her experiences from her side of the story and also about the end of Bilquis' life.
This book is very inspiring, especially being a true story, and I recommend it very highly.



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THE SCROLL BY GRANT R JEFFREY & ALTON GANSKY

 THE SCROLL by GRANT R JEFFREY & ALTON GANSKY
takes place in Israel in the near future.  It is a prophetic novel with a strong Christian message, fast-paced and full of action. 
David Chambers is professor of archeology at Harvard.  He has also written books, given lectures and become quite famous with his discovery of Herod's tunnel in Jerusalem.  He used to love biblical archeology, uncovering so much proof of the truth of God's word, but gave it up and gave up on God as well, blaming his father for his disillusionment.  His father was an archeologist who stayed on in Israel at a dig while David's mother was dying of cancer.  David was very angry and believed the worst of his father without knowing the truth. He also blamed God for his mother's death and his father's supposed insensitivity. David had been engaged to Amber, also a doctor of archeology, but she broke off the engagement when he changed.  He became difficult to be with, was very volatile, and gave up on the Truth and on biblical archeology.  Amber is a committed Christian and her faith is very important to her.
David and Amber are thrown together when their friend and mentor, Abram Ben-Judah, asks each of them, without letting the other know, to join in excavations funded by American billionaire Trent and backed by the prime minister of Israel and Israeli military, to find hidden treasure from the Second Temple.  They are to follow the rather well hidden clues found in the Copper Scroll.
Nuri Aumann is also part of the team.  Nuri is a real thorn in the flesh to David, especially because of his friendship with Amber Rodgers, which looks like more than friendship to him!  They work well together, in spite of everything, but keep taking digs at each other.
The first treasure is found in an Essene cave.  David leaves in a huff when he feels they are not following correct scientific procedure and are in too much of a hurry, but Hiram Landau, who is in charge of their security "persuades" him to stay on.  the team members are fed up with David's anger, self absorption and childish behaviour!
The work is dangerous, especially when it is leaked to the media that the Jews are looking to rebuild the Temple.  A Hebrew student is shot and there is an explosion in the tunnel where the first treasure is found.
It is thought that Hussein Al-Malik, a former Jordanian archeologist turned terrorist, who has ties with Hamas, is behind all the violence and that he has infiltrated the project by inserting one of his men in the crew.  There is an exciting discovery made in a natural tunnel leading off Herod's runnel.  The enemy does all it can to destroy David and to stop the excavations.  They are not after the treasure, they simply do not want the Temple to be rebuilt.  
Ben-Judah wants to find the ancient Temple artifacts so that the Jews can rebuild the Temple according to biblical prophecy.  He feels this will make a statement to the world that Israel is here to stay.  The building of the Third Temple has been a dream of the Jews since the first century AD and could radically change the world.
David feels responsible for the deaths as he is team leader and he wonders whether the project is worth it after all, however, when he sees his mentor on his knees worshiping God, overcome by the discovery of the Holy Table of Shewbread and the Temple Menorah, he is deeply moved.
Ben-Judah is a godly man with a passion for the God of the bible.  For him archeology is "an act of worship and service to God."  This used to be the case with David too, until he turned away from God and started to see it merely as a way to make an income and be successful.  He has become a little too proud of his achievements and is surly and unpleasant to be with.  Ben-Judah says David is a passionate man and a great archeologist, and as they get more involved in the work, David's excitement mounts and he is drawn back to his love of the Lord and of biblical archeology.  He now reads the bible in order to have a closer relationship with his God and not just to find archeological clues.
In this book we are reminded of the importance of forgiveness, of self-control, of unselfishness and of not losing faith in God.  As the suspense builds up we wonder who the mole is, if the project will succeed, whether Amber will choose the more charismatic Nuri or whether she and David will get back together again.  The characters are well portrayed and the setting in the ever volatile land of Israel makes this novel an exciting read.  I can highly recommend it.





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ALLAH'S FIRE BY CHUCK HOLTON & GAYLE ROPER

ALLAH'S FIRE takes place in Lebanon. It is part of the Task Force Valor series. It is a very exciting book and has a strong Christian message. I have read all three of the novels and enjoyed them all. They can each be read as stand alone books, but I feel you get more out of them if you read them one after the other.
Liz Fairchild was brought up in Lebanon by her free-thinking parents, Charles and Annabelle, and her sister Julie. They are American, but have a great love for Lebanon and her people. Liz is a journalist and she has come back to Lebanon to interview Palestinian women in the refugee camps.
Julie, while studying in England, falls in love with a handsome Lebanese called Khalil. While living in Britain all goes well with their marriage, but when they return to live in Lebanon, their differences pull them apart. She is not as radical a Christian as her sister, but she has made a commitment to the Lord. She is afraid of telling her parents that she is a Christian because of her father's criticism of Liz's faith. It is when she is alone and afraid during her imprisonment that she learns to really trust in the Lord as her Saviour, and promises to profess her faith instead of keeping it hidden, if she manages to escape.
Julie and Khalil are at a reception at the Hotel Rowena, which is blown up by a terrorist group using a new explosive called ITEB, a liquid which explodes on exposure to air. Julie manages to escape through a window in the ladies, restroom, but she is abducted by three Palestinians.
John Cooper and the rest of the Task Force Valor team are seconded to the CIA and sent to Lebanon to find where ITEB is being manufactured and to destroy it, as it poses a terrible security threat. It is stored in bottles and looks like water.
John has always been a committed Christian, but when his friend Doc Vernon James is blown up when he is trying to help a young Islam woman who he believes is giving birth, he doesn't know what he believes any more.
When Julie disappears Liz's faith is badly shaken.
Julie and John met three years previously and lost touch with one another. They meet up again at this stressful time, and Liz, who goes off on her own to find Julie, becomes part of Task Force Valor's mission.
John and Julie not only find one another again, but their faith in a faithful God is restored.



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HARVEST OF RUBIES BY TESSA AFSHAR

HARVEST OF RUBIES by TESSA AFSHAR takes place during the reign of King Artaxerxes in Persia.
Sarah is a young Jewish girl whose father is a scribe in the royal palace, and she is the niece of Nehemiah, the king's cupbearer.  She lost her mother when she was young and her father, who is a very shy man, doesn't show her any affection, although he loves her deeply.  This makes her feel that she is unlovable.  She teaches herself to read and write, and is amazed that her father is supportive of her in this, which is unheard of for women at the time, and she feels that her value as a person is only in proportion to her ability as a scribe.  
Sarah turned from God when her mother died.  She used to recite psalms to her mother when she was dying, and later on we see how Nehemiah's wedding gift scroll comes to mean a great deal to her and how God's word helps her when she is unhappy in her marriage.
Uncle Nehemiah feels that the Lord has given her this special talent for reading, writing and languages for a special purpose, even as He used Queen Esther's beauty for the saving of the Jews in Persia when Haman was trying to destroy them.  Nehemiah is a godly man and wants her to fulfill her God-ordained destiny.
Sarah becomes Queen Damaspia's chief scribe and lives at the palace.  She loves her work and is good at it.   Her world is shattered when the queen arranges a marriage for her with a royal relation, a nobleman called Darius.  Darius' mother was Jewish and he promised her that he would not marry a woman who wasn't Jewish so the queen feels she has found the ideal candidate in Sarah.  Damaspia arranges this marriage in gratitude for Sarah's work in uncovering the truth behind a conspiracy to discredit her and cause dissention between her and the queen mother.
Sarah feels that God has abandoned her and that she has to do everything in her own strength.  She is outspoken and not good with relationships.  She has great pride in her work as a scribe and feels she will be worth nothing without it.  She feels that she is ugly and has nothing to offer her noble husband.  
After the wedding, at which she makes a complete fool of him and of herself by looking hideous - she had no patience for the preparations that women went through to look beautiful - he abandons her at his palace.  
Here she humbles herself and enjoys the beauty around her, after spending some time lying in bed and feeling sorry for herself!  Once she sees how her husband's estate is being run into the ground by a wicked and dishonest steward, she takes an interest in what is going on and puts herself in danger to get proof of his dishonest activities. 
She makes friends with the few loyal servants that are there and she also has her beloved maidservant, Pari, who is sent with her.  She also comes to love Darius's dog, Caspian. 
She learns a lot from the elderly gardener, Bardia, who teaches her that vines need to be pruned drastically in order to bring forth fruit.  She takes this lesson to heart and longs to produce "good fruit", even as she is being "pruned" in this strange situation in which she finds herself.  He also tells her a lot about Darius, who he has known since he was a little boy and who he loves dearly.  She begins to understand her husband better.  She finds Darius angry and sarcastic and is unable to make him understand that she did not hurt him intentionally.  He thinks she is a liar.  The picture Bardia paints of him is very different.  His pride was badly hurt by the wedding.
When Darius comes back he is grateful to her and she feels that at last she can be of use to him in sorting out his accounts and working as his scribe. She realizes how selfish she was on their wedding day and wants to make it up to him.   She doesn't see herself as being pretty, and cannot believe that anyone could possibly love her for herself.    
Darius and Sarah are called to the court at Ecbatana and it is there that she falls in love with him. He doesn't trust her and is about to send her away, but when she is attacked when out hunting with the queen,  he realizes that he cannot live without her.  At last she sees that, not only do people love her for herself and not for her achievements, but that God also loves her for herself.  She decides that, even if Darius never comes to love her, she is loved by the Lord, and that is enough.  
Darius is kind and thoughtful and they start afresh with what they have and leave the past behind them.  He is touched by her love for his servants, who are more friends than servants, and for his favourite dog, Caspian.
This book is rich with descriptions of life in Persia and at the king's palace.  It is beautifully written and we learn a lot from the way in which the characters deal with the situations and circumstances in which they find themselves.  We see how the Lord never lets His children go, even when they turn away from Him, and how He lovingly draws them back.  How He can bring forth a "harvest of rubies", not only from the pruned grapevines, but also in the life of someone who has learnt to trust Him  and who has become stronger through the difficulties she has been through.  I can highly recommend this novel.