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God's Assassins: The Dead Have No Fear of Dying

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Taking a quick look at the cover of Mark Paradise's novel God's Assassins, one might be misled. Such a cursory glance could easily give the impression that this is yet another Christian apocalyptic novel and it involves the Knights Templar to boot. As if we haven't had enough of books in either category recently! Such characterizations are true - the novel is in the Christian apocalyptic vein and it does involve the Knights Templar. But the similarities end there. Indeed, if you are dreading more of the cardboard characters that inhabit the fictional worlds of Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins or the crackpot conspiracy theories of Dan Brown, then you may breathe a sigh of relief.

Indeed, God's Assassins is far more than anyone would have expected. Mark Paradise has written a marvelous tale of intrigue, excitement, but also of holiness amidst a world gone mad. The Knights Templar - the heroes of this tale - are no Hallmark greeting card saints. These are fallen men whose holiness comes from having been called by God to something greater than their often sordid pasts.

Paradise centers his story on the character John Mills, a one-time mercenary of the French Foreign Legion with a violent past who is called by God for the a single purpose. He is drawn to lead the remnant of the Knights Templar is their greatest mission with the immediate future of humanity hanging in the balance. Yet this is not a mere adventure story - the tensest moments are often provided not by the scenes of action but those of self-struggle. The final victory depends not on the actions of any one man but the purification of the soul in preparing for the epic struggle.

The book is replete with themes that are anathema to the mindset of the contemporary culture: chastity, self-sacrfice, humility, and suffering. Through the struggles he endures, John Mills not only finds his way to salvation but to virtue. The line between virtue and vice is presented as one that can become blurred when one allows oneself to be seduced by the destructive allure of the wider path but is crystal clear when viewed eternally. Nowhere is this more telling than when Paradise deals with the angelic hosts whose eternal fate came down to one decision.

God's Assassins is not a book for those who shudder at the mention of violence. There are some extremely violent scenes in the book but not gratuitously so. Christianity is not, contrary to the popular image, merely a faith of passivity but one of spiritual warfare against principalities and powers. Mark Paradise has given us a truly Christian apocalyptic novel that avoids the triviality of so many in that genre. In the development of his characters, Paradise avoids the temptation to make his characters action heroes and instead presents those who are heroic in their souls. The result is one of the most satisfying works of Christian fiction in recent memory.