In part 1, part 2, part 3, and part 4 of this series, I told the personal story of why I left a great job to write full time. But I never would have quit my job without believing I had a compelling story to tell.

The Idea

My first glimpse of The Kingdom vs John Reid was a courtroom scene. Jesus is one of the attorneys, the devil is the other, and God is the judge. An ordinary family man, John Reid, has died but does not know it yet. He is on trial for his eternal life.

I started digging into John’s history. What kind of man is he? How does he treat his wife and daughter? Is he an honest employee? A faithful friend? What are his secrets? The man standing accused before God came into focus. At times, I wanted to shake some sense into him. But, more often, and, more importantly for a fiction writer, I found myself rooting for him.

Next, I turned to the lawyers. Writing the devil was easy. He could boldly quote and misquote scripture. He could sweet talk naive witnesses into betraying their loved ones. He could lie, manipulate, and confuse. In short, there were no rules, no lines he wouldn’t cross to get his way.

Jesus, on the other hand, was nearly impossible to write. Every time I tried to put words in His mouth I cringed. Would Jesus really say that? How do I write perfection? What if I’m wrong? It was paralyzing.

God, the judge, was equally difficult. He wasn’t fooled by the devil’s cleverest tricks. He always sided with His son. Where’s the drama in a courtroom where the outcome is never in doubt?

The Cast

I soon realized that I needed to recast several characters. So, I hired new attorneys and a new judge.

I recruited Nicolaus Pratt to lead the prosecution. He’s sharp, charismatic, and relentless in his pursuit of justice. He prides himself on knowing all aspects of his case. He pours over every minute detail from the defendant’s past. He watches the jury with keen eyes to maximize the impact of his every quip. He comes into this case riding a long hot streak of convictions, and he has no intention for that streak to end with John Reid.

I assigned David Schaefer’s two-man firm to represent the defendant. He’s young, idealistic, and fiercely determined to protect John from the ultimate punishment. He believes in the power of forgiveness and mercy. His hope is the saving grace of Jesus. He refuses to back down, even when the odds are heavily against him.

I withdrew my heavy hand and let each attorney present his case unencumbered. If I didn’t know who would win until the very end, neither would my readers.

I replaced the perfect judge with a flawed human being. This gave me the freedom to impanel an imperfect jury. Every juror brought their own personality, perspectives, and prejudices with them. I spent time getting to know each one, their background, their desires, their fears. Then I locked them all in a room to debate John’s guilt and to decide his fate.

The Kingdom

The new cast needed new scenery. So I plucked the story from the afterlife and dropped it here on Earth. I needed a government that concerned itself with ordinary sins. And so it was that the Kingdom was born.

The Kingdom is a modern theocracy that makes a severe interpretation of the Bible the law of the land. Breaking one of the Ten Commandments can result in a prison sentence or even death. The bar is set even higher by Jesus’s sermon on the mount. Even your thoughts can make you guilty of a capital crime.

Of course, policing the thoughts and personal lives of a whole nation of individuals is impractical. Instead, the Kingdom makes a spectacle of convicting the handful of unlucky people who find themselves in the royal prosecutor’s cross-hairs. It is thought that fear of becoming the next John Reid will drive the rest of the populace to obedience.

Layering

As the book came together, I began to unearth different layers of meaning in the story.

At its core, the book is a story of the battle for one man’s heart. John Reid has a comfortable life, a great job, and a beautiful family. But his complacency has blinded him to the pain his loved ones endure right before his eyes. When all is revealed at trial, he can no longer ignore his part in their suffering. He must decide what to do with this knowledge before it’s too late.

John’s story is part of a larger battle for the heart of Christianity. The prosecution uses the Bible to argue the many ways John disobeyed God and the punishment that disobedience deserves. The defense uses the same Bible to argue that mercy should triumph over punishment. The tension between these two approaches to the Bible explodes in the jury room as jurors attempt to determine what is true and what is right.

The outermost layer puts these two battles in the context of a society where the separation between church and state has disappeared. Would the Kingdom’s thirst for power distort the teachings of the church? Could people of faith genuinely share the Good News in a place where disbelief was illegal? What would happen to people of other religions or no religion in such a society? Would this man-made theocracy be a utopian dream or a dystopian nightmare?

Hope

The story I began morphed into something much more compelling and multi-faceted than I could have imagined when the initial idea struck me. Characters I thought were minor players turned out to have important stories of their own to tell. The heroes and villains became complex human beings that I wanted to continue exploring in future books. Symbols and themes sprung from surprising places. It was truly a thrill to write.

The book also challenged my thinking and reshaped my views on a number of issues. I was driven again and again to the Bible for guidance. What I found there I’ll carry with me for the rest of my life.

When I set out to write this book, I wanted to do more than entertain. I wanted to challenge my readers’ assumptions, stir their consciences, and bring out their own stories. My hope for you is that this book sparks critical thinking, encourages difficult questions, and invites you to consider Jesus’s answers.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5