Shadowed

Shadowed by Jerry Jenkins

In the wake of a miracle of global proportions, National Peace Organization operative Paul Stepola has been exposed as a double agent—serving the Zealot Underground of people of faith in an atheistic world while sworn to persecute them. Now he and his family are on the run, targets of the very agency he has served for so many years.
Follow him and his wife Jae and young children, Brie and Connor, as they try to elude capture and sentencing for treason.
In this rapid-fire conclusion to the best-selling series, the laws banning the practice of religion around the globe are on the brink of collapse. The tide is turning . . . but personal, family hostilities threaten to end in disaster before the world comes to its senses.

--Shadowed by Jerry Jenkins, Copyright ©2006 by Jerry B. Jenkins, published by Tyndale House Publishers

My Review ***WARNING*** Spoilers follow

Completing the trilogy, Shadowed picks up immediately where Silenced left off. Dr. Paul Stepola, an agent for the National Peace Organization and a clandestine believer in Christ in an era where religion is outlawed, is on the run again, this time with his wife, Jae and their two children.

Thanks to what would soon be referred to as “the Incident,” that being the death of every first-born male child of non-believers, Paul, Jae and their children retreat to the Columbia underground, where Paul works with the elders to keep everyone safe and secure until they can figure out what to do next.

And again thanks to “the Incident,” atheists and agnostics across the world seem to have no choice but to believe that God is real. Worshiping is optional, but believing isn’t, except for those whose hearts are completely hardened. But the number of worshiping believers is rising, to include Felicia, Paul’s assistant at the NPO, and Bea Ballum, Ranald Disenti’s right-hand. Unfortunately, Felicia and Bea are not very effective as double agents and they are soon eliminated.

It was sooo much fun listening as Jae’s father was dressed down by his old friend in the Army, whom he goes to for help in destroying the underground. He’d built himself up into this invincible warrior only to find out he was nothing but a paper tiger. (It was beautiful…I loved it!)

But Ranald does not go quietly. His descent into a kind of madness is obvious as he sets up a face-to-face meeting with Paul in—of all places—the former National Cathedral in downtown Washington D.C. At the same time, he hires a private army to launch an attack on the Columbia Underground’s headquarters. He ordered the attack, knowing full well his own daughter and grandchildren might be among the casualties. (Yeah, that’s how far gone he is.) But the attack lasted only as long as his funds and the Underground suffers no casualties. Paul meets with Ranald and, though Paul is injured, Ranald is arrested after confessing the crimes he himself had committed. All on video, of course, for the world to see.

In the end, as you might suspect, the laws banning religion are repealed and those who believe in God are allowed to worship again without fear of persecution. But the story doesn’t end with a nice, warm, fuzzy feeling. Not quite.

“Despite tears of joy, Paul had to wonder how long the reprieve would last. How long before the world once again fell under the shadow of persecution.”

Almost makes you wonder if another series might be in the offing…

I give this story FOUR STARS.

I did have one problem with the story, and it’s the growing writer in me that had the problem. I’ve always been taught to keep the story focused on the plot. You can weave a secondary and maybe even a tertiary plot line in, but keep your focus on the main plot. Side trips that do nothing to enhance the plot should be eliminated. Jenkins takes a number of side trips in this story, which made me wonder if perhaps he was padding the story to make it reach the required length for publication. I think some of the side trips could have been eliminated without changing the plot one iota (do we really need to know how “Greenie” got his nickname?) while some topics were repeated several times (Felicia berates Paul at least three times for not warning her about “the incident” before it happened).

Someone who hasn’t accepted Christ, or is only a casual worshiper, may come to appreciate the varying “How I Came To Christ” stories, perhaps even finding themselves in the same position as Bea or Felicia or Greenie or Jack. Reading their stories may make them want to study God’s Word more and if that happens, that’s a wonderful thing and makes those side trips worthwhile. As a writer, I think some of them should have been eliminated and the focus kept more on the plot. But then, I’m still an amateur and Jerry Jenkins has sold millions of books. Who’s to say who’s right and who’s wrong?

Silenced

Silenced by Jerry Jenkins

In a world where government and the NPO (National Peace Organization) ban the practice of religion, believers are forced to hide their religious values or suffer the consequences. Double-agent Dr. Paul Stepola, a new, but secret believer, is an educated advisor on religious studies and works for the NPO. The underground church is in mortal peril following the apocalyptic events in Los Angeles, which have only cast further suspicion upon Christians. When Paris, Rome and London are attacked by terrorists, the NPO sends Stepola to Europe to infiltrate the Christian underground, thinking the terrorist is among them. Meanwhile, Paul struggles with how to tell his family about his newfound faith without raising the suspicions of his ruthless father-in-law.

--Silenced by Jerry Jenkins, Copyright ©2005 by Jerry B. Jenkins, published by Tyndale House Publishers

My Review

Following Soon, Silenced continues the story of Dr. Paul Stepola, an agent for the National Peace Organization a clandestine believer in Christ in an era where religion is outlawed.

Silenced also focuses more on Jae, Paul’s wife, as she slowly begins to wonder if perhaps she had been wrong about God all her life. Paul has become more attentive to her, treating her like he did when they first fell in love. It’s making Jae fall in love all over again with her husband. When Paul is called to Europe, she finds herself at loose ends and asks her father if he can find any office work for her at the NPO.

In the meantime, she’s begun to listen to the New Testament discs Paul left behind. At first, she’s skeptical of the stories she hears, but rather than turning away, she finds herself compelled to listen to more and more. Once in Washington D.C., Jae is briefed on her new assignment by her father. She won’t be doing office work, however. Paul is now suspected of being a double agent and they want her to help them trap him.

In Europe, Paul makes quick work of establishing contact with the Christian Underground while he searches for the man claiming responsibility for the attacks in Rome, London and Paris. It’s becoming clear to him that this man is not a true believer and Paul doesn’t hesitate to use his contacts to bring the man to the swiftest and most final of judgments, earning him additional accolades from Bern, the seat of the world government and silencing his detractors in the NPO.

Before Paul takes the terrorist down, however, the head of the world government has announced that everyone in the world has 60 days to sign a document swearing their allegiance to the world government and renouncing any ties to any religious groups. Paul knows he cannot sign the document for doing so would be a denial of God and he cannot deny what he believes. Through his contacts in the Christian Underground, he releases a manifesto, telling Bern that if the document is not withdrawn within 40 hours, God will recreate the tenth plague of Egypt, where the first-born son of all non-believers will die.

When Jae joins Paul in Paris, Paul knows it’s finally time to clear the air between them. How will Jae react when she hears what Paul’s become? How will he react when she admits she may be turning the same way? And when Bern fails to withdraw the loyalty decree, will God act as Paul’s manifesto described?

Of course God acted as Paul’s manifesto described. Jerry Jenkins ended the first book in this series on a miracle, it’s only natural that he’d end the second the same way, too. Unfortunately, this means Jae’s brother has died, and Ranald, Paul’s father-in-law, now knows for certain that Paul has become a traitor because Paul’s own first-born son, Connor, is still alive.

I have to admit, once I finished this story, I immediately clicked over to the third book, Shadowed and began listening. I didn’t even take a break to clear my mind over what happened in the story, just moved right on into the third. This is why I like to collect all the books in a series before reading them…I just can’t wait to find out what happens next!

Come on back in another week or so to find out how this exciting trilogy ends!

I give this story FOUR AND A HALF STARS.

Soon

Soon by Jerry Jenkins

Paul Stepola, an agent working for the National Peacekeeping Organization (NPO), has been assigned to enforce compliance with the world government's prohibition on religion. Paul relishes his job and is good at it. He is determined to expose underground religion--flush it out, expose it, and kill it--until his life is turned upside down and he is forced to look at life in a different way.
As Paul begins to unravel the truth about what he has found, events taking place around the world start to make sense. Something big is coming--something that can't be stopped. And it is coming soon.

--Soon by Jerry Jenkins, Copyright ©2004 by Jerry B. Jenkins, published by Tyndale House Publishers

My Review

In 2004, in the midst of finishing up his best-selling “Left Behind” series with Tim LaHaye, Jerry Jenkins wrote a separate trilogy, also dealing with the End Times. The first book in this trilogy, Soon, introduces us to Dr. Paul Stepola, an agent for the National Peace Organization. Following the religion-based World War III, all religions of the world have been outlawed. The map of the United States has been redrawn, reducing the number of states from 50 to 7, and the country’s name changed to the United Seven States of America. The NPO is the USSA’s agency dedicated to keeping the peace, in part by eradicating any covert religious factions that may rear their ugly heads.

Paul, who doctored in religious studies, is an eager participant in the agency’s fight against religion. When a new department is formed to fight one-on-one with these factions, Paul joins them and is quickly drawn into the front lines of the battle. Injured on his first assignment in San Francisco, he relishes the fact that he was able to kill two of the zealots and wound a third. On his next assignment in Houston, a member of the Christian sect there is beaten to death in front of him, but Paul does nothing. He’s on the verge of making his third kill when an oil well explodes, blasting a column of white light into the sky and Paul is blinded.

Determined to get to the bottom of the events, Paul studies the New Testament for clues, but the more he studies, the more he begins to question his own lack of faith. Before his trip to San Francisco, Paul uncovered a letter from his now-deceased father where his father proclaimed his belief in God. His leader and mentor in the Army had been outed as a believer and was killed. Now he was experiencing events that could only be described as miracles. He chooses to make the leap of faith…and his sight is miraculously restored. (Is any of this starting to sound a bit familiar to anyone?)

Paul becomes a double agent of sorts, carrying out assignments for the NPO while alerting the Christian underground to any attacks that may be coming their way. Christians across the country have been praying for the persecuted and praying for a sign that will wake the world up and show them how wrong they have been for denying God. When God grants their prayers—in a most stunning, amazing, hard-to-believe fashion—will the world finally change their ways?

Tune in to Silenced to find out!

No, seriously. Soon ends on this miracle and we don’t know how the world reacts until we start reading the next book (which I will start tomorrow).

I purchased Soon when it was released and read the first two or so chapters, then decided to put it aside and wait until the other two novels, Silenced and Shadowed were released so I could read all three books in the series back to back. Here it is, six years later, and I’m finally getting around to reading them—or rather, listening to them as I’m listening to audio versions I checked out from the library. The books I bought are buried in storage and I don’t know when I’m ever going to see them again.

I was a bit startled listening to some of the anti-Christian passages. The people of this era who embrace the anti-religion laws speak with such disdain toward believers that I had to remind myself that the story was written by Jerry Jenkins, a man of faith. The antipathy toward Christians is so harsh, and yet so very believable for the society Jenkins created that openly eschews religion. If the events he wrote of ever truly came to pass, I can imagine this is exactly how those who hate religion would speak.

Paul’s conversion is believable considering his experiences, but I couldn’t help wondering why it didn’t come sooner. Paul has a doctorate in religion so he’s studied God. I can’t help wondering how someone can go so far as to get a doctorate in something without coming to believe in it or didn’t already in his heart believe in. Of course, to get his degree, Paul had to study a number of religions, not just Christianity, and of course, events had to happen in the manner and time Jenkins plotted them, so I can accept this little oddity. But to me, it is just that…odd. I mean, how can you study religion and not believe? Even just a little?

I also found it a bit odd that Paul doesn’t see himself in Saul. Saul, in the New Testament, persecuted and killed Christians before he was blinded by a bolt of light on his way to Damascus. After three days, God restored his sight and Saul became Paul, a believer in Christ. Dr. Paul Stepola persecuted and killed Christians before he was blinded by a bolt of light. Okay, he wasn’t on his way to Damascus and it took more than three days for his sight to be restored, but once he chose to believe, his sight was restored. I can only assume Jenkins didn’t point out the similarity to his readers because he wanted them to make the connection for themselves. Which I did .

Other than these, I found the story to be a good and engaging read, even if it was a times a bit scary. Jerry Jenkins is a terrific writer and I can’t wait to start the next book in this series, Silenced.

I give this story FOUR AND A HALF STARS.