D Monk, my primary source is indeed the Bible.

However, it is not my only source.

I do historical research, and then transform what I have discovered in history into novels that I write:

Glass half-Full, Glass Chimera, Smoke, King of Soul.

The biggest problem that my evangelical brethren are experiencing now is not the Bible.

It is, in fact, their willingness to follow a manipulative authoritarian because their sectarian leaders have been duped.

If my Christian fellow-travelers would actually read their Bibles, they would discover a very inconvenient truth.

Those early Christian believers, Peter, Paul, et al were persistently persecuted, jailed, derided and even tortured by both secular Roman authorities and religious authorities. This was true of the prophets who went before them.

But the counterintuitive truth of Christian faith is actuated in that historical record, which reveals: during the post-Christ period of extremely active expansion, Christians were being persecuted in a very big way, including being fed to lions in Nero's Rome.

Christian faith thrives on persecution. That's what the book reveals.

This counterintuitive truth is especially true of Christ himself. Christians who bother to read their primary texts will encounter the hard truth that Jesus caught more flak and shit from powerful players--secular and religious--than they ever suffered from the masses.

And through it all, the Christ taught: Love your enemies.

Christians ought to respect and abide by the .gov, as Paul advised them to do, and write off this confusing world, because we have a better destiny awaiting us on the other side of this present life.

The king-wannabee who now rules the republican party has nothing to do with our centuries old legacy. He is a manipulator and an imposter who was smart enought to dupe some religious leaders who had gotten a little too close to the maelstrom.