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Joel C. Rosenberg Answers The Faithful Fifteen
June 2005
 Joel C. Rosenberg --- author of the New York Times bestselling political thriller THE LAST JIHAD and its sequel THE LAST DAYS --- discusses the nuances of being an evangelical Christian from an Orthodox Jewish background, and explains the eerie coincidences between his novels and real-life events. He also shares the poignant, surprising, and sometimes humorous impact that his work has on his diverse audience.
FaithfulReader.com: What kind of testimony to your faith are you demonstrating in this book? If you are writing fiction, do you write fiction that is based upon your faith, or that has a message for the reader? Is your goal to demonstrate your faith in your writing?
Joel C. Rosenberg: U.S. News & World Report has called me a "modern Nostradamus" because the plots of my first two novels --- THE LAST JIHAD and THE LAST DAYS --- kept coming true. I concede my novels have seemed uncanny, even eerily prophetic, foreshadowing a war with Saddam Hussein over weapons of mass destruction and the death of Yasser Arafat long before those events happened. But I'm not a psychic or a prophet, and I don't call 900-numbers in the middle of the night to get story ideas. I am an evangelical Christian from an Orthodox Jewish background with an interest in end times prophecy; I also have fifteen years of experience in Washington that I use to make my political thrillers feel as real as possible.
THE EZEKIEL OPTION is, above all, a political thriller with a supernatural twist. Set after the fall of Saddam Hussein and the death of Arafat, a dictator rises to power in Russia and builds a nuclear alliance with the mullahs of Iran. The Kremlin suddenly demands that Israel disclose and dismantle its weapons of mass destruction in the next 30 days, or risk "regime change" from an international coalition, just as Iraq was forced to do. Will the White House risk a military showdown with Russia and her 10,000 nuclear warheads to protect Israel from another holocaust? Or Israel be forced to fend for herself? Then, as the crisis intensifies, new questions arise: Is the rise of a Russian-Iranian alliance against Israel actually the fulfillment of ancient prophecies found in Ezekiel 38 and 39? Is the apocalyptic War of Gog and Magog finally at hand? What would it be like to live at a time when the earth experiences the wrath of God? Would it motivate us to live more like Christ, or paralyze us with fear? Ezekiel 36 and 37 --- the rebirth of the State of Israel --- have already come true. Who is to say Ezekiel 38 and 39 won't happen soon?
For some readers, THE EZEKIEL OPTION will be pure summer entertainment. But some will be intrigued, as I am, with the possibility that all this is true, and that it may be a lot closer to happening than any of us realized. I was in Moscow last fall doing research for the novel and I found that when you talk to older pastors in Russia, they have no doubt the War of Gog and Magog is going to happen soon. They have been preaching it and getting their people ready for it for years. But most Russians, and certainly most Americans, have no idea what the prophecy says or how close its fulfillment may be. Perhaps THE EZEKIEL OPTION will inspire people to consider ancient prophecy and current events in a way they've never done before.
FR: When did you come to a saving knowledge of Jesus? Where are you today in your walk? Is your faith an important part of what you do?
JCR: I was 17 when I finally wrestled it through for myself and decided to become a follower of Jesus Christ. It was the most important decision I've ever made and it completely changed my life. I went from someone who was at best lukewarm about spiritual things to someone passionate about my love for Christ and my desire to share my faith with others. In the fall of 1985, I started a prayer group and Bible study in my high school, a move that provoked a lot more controversy than I had expected. At Syracuse University I got very involved in Campus Crusade for Christ. I smuggled Bibles into the Soviet Union in the summer of 1986, and got very involved in working with the Billy Graham Crusade when it came through Syracuse in the spring of 1988. I met my wife, Lynn, in Campus Crusade and our faith is central to our marriage, to how we raise our four sons, and to how we invest our time and resources. We believe the return of Christ is near. That's what drives us to share our faith as often as we can. We want everyone to have a chance to know Him personally and give their lives to Him while they still have a chance.
FR: Tell us about your church experiences --- how you grew up (or maybe didn't grow up) in the church, where you attend now, your involvement in your local assembly, etc.
JCR: My spiritual journey requires a bit of explanation. I describe myself as an evangelical from an Orthodox Jewish background. My grandparents on my father's side were Orthodox Jews. They were born in Russia. Both of their families escaped Russia in the early years of the 20th century when the Czar was wiping out town after town of Jews. By God's grace, they didn't settle in Poland or Germany or Austria. They made their way across the continent of Europe and eventually got to Ellis Island where, like any good Jews, they set up shop in Brooklyn. That's where my dad was born and raised in the Orthodox Jewish tradition, but he was a bit of a rebel. He left home at the age of 18 and left his religious traditions behind him.
Eventually, he met my mom --- an agnostic Methodist --- in Syracuse, New York, where they married and had me. It was the 1960s. They weren't part of the counter-culture, but they were spiritual seekers. They read the Koran and the Bhagavad Gita. They would take long walks and ask each other if it was possible to really know God. And after almost a decade of religious experimentation, they finally visited a church one Sunday morning where for the first time someone clearly explained that God loved them and had a wonderful plan for their lives, and that Jesus Christ was the only way for them to get to God. They had never heard that before. But my mom knew instantly that this is what they were looking for. She prayed to receive Jesus as her personal Savior and Lord that very morning. My father wasn't so sure. So they started attending a Bible study of the Gospel According to Luke, and six months later my dad came home from work one night and said he believed Jesus was, in fact, the Messiah. At the time, he thought he was the only Jewish believer in Jesus on the planet.
But actually his story was being repeated all over the world. In fulfillment of Ezekiel 36 and 37, God was not only beginning to draw His chosen people back to the land of Israel, He was drawing them back to Himself. The number of Jewish believers was growing, and I was very fortunate. God was doing a great work in my parent's lives. I could see them --- and their marriage --- changing, improving, and I knew it was only because of the power of Jesus. Eventually, my parents joined a community Bible church just outside of Rochester, New York, where I grew up. I think I made an initial decision to accept Christ as my Savior when I was eight years old, but as I mentioned earlier, it wasn't really until I was 17 that I really wrestled it through and got serious about my faith.
FR: Tell us about your current church family/fellowship. How does it influence your work?
JCR: Lynn and I joined McLean Bible Church in 1990, just after we got married and moved to Washington, D.C. The church had about 1,000 people involved when we joined. Today, it has close to 10,000. We're involved in discipling Gen-X leaders, leading small group Bible studies, and leading short-term missions trips to share Christ with those who have never heard of Him before. In terms of my work, we have a wonderful group of friends who pray for us and encourage us, and that's been a big help in making a transition from full-time political operative to full-time novelist.
FR: Who are your spiritual mentors? Your professional mentors?
JCR: Without question, my parents had the greatest spiritual influence on me. In college, I was discipled by Dr. T.E. Koshy, the evangelical chaplain at Syracuse University, and Nick DeCola, on staff with Campus Crusade. Each of them had a great influence on my life. Professionally, I've been blessed to work with some of the world's most influential and provocative leaders and communicators. Among them were Bill Bennett, Rush Limbaugh, Steve Forbes, Benjamin Netanyahu and Natan Sharansky. Each in their different way took me under their wing and I learned a great deal about developing and articulating one's core beliefs through them.
FR: Discuss your calling/mission --- as a writer, and as a Christian.
JCR: If you're going to write thrillers, your first and foremost objective has to be to thrill --- to grab people with the first few sentences and draw them into an adventure story that gets their heart pounding and holds their attention to the last page. I'm still learning how to do that, but that's my first objective. Along the way, I try to raise the spiritual temperature and get people thinking in new ways about the nature of evil, the reality of God, and the horrifying prophetic events that are not that far off. What's been interesting is to see the media response to my books, particularly talk radio and talk television. Because so many plot elements of my novels have come true, I've been on several hundred shows and talked about my novels and my faith with more than thirty million people in the last few years.
FR: What are your Scripture reading habits?
JCR: Every morning, I make time to read the Bible on my own. These days I'm studying a lot about the origins of the first Temple --- Solomon's Temple --- and about Ezekiel's vision of an end times Temple, since the rebuilding of the Temple is central to my next novel, THE COPPER SCROLL. After that, my wife and I have an hour of Bible study and prayer with our boys. They are voracious students of God's word and little prayer warriors. I wish I'd started this sooner with our kids, but we've been doing it every weekday morning for the past two years and it's really been a blessing for all of us.
FR: What books have most influenced your work?
JCR: That's a tough question. In terms of writing THE EZEKIEL OPTION specifically, I'd have to say the most influential book I read was a nonfiction work by Tim LaHaye called THE COMING PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST. He wrote it in 1984. I didn't come across it until around 1992, or so. It's now out of print, but it's an analysis of Ezekiel 38-39 in which LaHaye suggests that a season of peace and prosperity is coming to Israel, followed by a Russian-Iranian military alliance that will bring the world to the brink of the apocalypse and lead to the return of Christ. "The threat of this attack will terrify Israel into turning to God for help," Dr. LaHaye wrote in the introduction. "And their cries will not be in vain, for the Almighty will put on a demonstration of power unequaled since the plagues of Egypt and the parting of the Red Sea…. It is an exciting scenario, one that could well occur during our lifetime." For a Jewish believer in Jesus whose family escaped Russia because of Czarist persecution of the Jews, I was intrigued. I began to watch current events with a whole new perspective. THE LATE GREAT PLANET EARTH was also a fascinating book for me in terms of doing research for THE EZEKIEL OPTION, even though it's considerably out of date. I'd also have to say the enormous success of the LEFT BEHIND series opened my eyes to the idea that fiction is a powerful way to communicate truth.
FR: Do you read secular fiction at all? If so, who are your favorite authors, and why?
JCR: As a kid, I loved Ian Fleming's James Bond novels. As a believer I became a fan of Lewis and Tolkien's work. But during my career in politics, I rarely had time to read fiction of any kind, secular or Christian. Every Christmas, my sister-in-law would get me the latest Clancy or Grisham or Ludlum thriller and I'd try to read them over vacation before it was time to go back to work. Now that I'm writing full-time, I'm trying to read more to see different styles and genres. But the truth is I mostly read history, biographies of world leaders, and books about political and social trends. I just read a fascinating book called THE UNITED STATES OF EUROPE by T.R. Reid, a Washington Post correspondent who argues the Roman Empire is being rebuilt and Americans are paying no attention. I think Reid is right, and the prophetic implications are intriguing to me.
FR: What are your other media habits --- television, movies, music, etc.?
JCR: Lynn and I don't have time to watch much television, given our schedules. But we are diehard "24" fans (on DVD), and I confess I love old "Seinfeld" reruns. In terms of movies, we're thriller fans as well. I loved The Bourne Identity and The Bourne Supremacy and thriller classics like All The President's Men and The Fugitive. But I'd say my favorites are a toss up between The Lord of the Rings trilogy and Chariots of Fire.
FR: Do you and your family have any special faith-based traditions?
JCR: As a Jewish believer in Jesus, I lead our family in celebrating Passover each spring, right before Easter. The kids really enjoy it and it helps us better understand God's love for His people and the great drama of the exodus from Egypt.
FR: Tell us about your prayer life and habits.
JCR: My pastor in college, Dr. T.E. Koshy, used to say, "Joel, Lynn, we serve a prayer-hearing and a prayer-answering God, a wonder-working God!" I believe that. I've seen God do amazing things in answer to my prayers, not my strategies. It's my kids, though, who are the real prayer warriors in the family. They pray for our friends to get jobs, or to get married, and it happens. They prayed for a friend's mother to be healed from cancer, and she's now in remission. They're the ones who prayed for me to find a great agent (and I did), and the right publisher (and I did), and for my first novel to hit #1 on Amazon.com (which it did). Now they're praying for a great director to turn THE LAST JIHAD and THE LAST DAYS into major motion pictures. They take the words of Jesus seriously to "ask, seek and knock," and I'm very proud of them. They are discovering that our God is a personal God, a powerful God, a "prayer-hearing and a prayer-answering God," and I can't think of a greater lesson for them to learn.
FR: Describe what you believe the role of writing in religion is.
JCR: First and foremost, my job is to entertain. It doesn't matter what I believe, or what my characters believe, or what they say if people aren't drawn into the story and absorbed by the story. I have to admit I write from fear --- fear that people will put my novels down after the first few sentences, or the first page, fear that they won't get hooked and feel compelled to finish to the last sentence, even if they despise me or disagree with everything I have to say. I'm new to all this. Before THE LAST JIHAD, I'd never written a novel in my life. I'd never taken a class in how to write a novel. I'd never read a book on how to write a novel. So I'm learning as I go. I have a lot I want to say. I want to provoke people to think about things they've never thought of before. I want them to see the world, not just through political and economic lenses, but through spiritual lenses as well. How else can one see life clearly if not in three dimensions? But first things first: tell an exciting story.
FR: Tell us about one or more of your favorite encounters with readers.
JCR: When I first wrote THE LAST JIHAD I had no idea it was going to be successful. I was hoping for a few thousand copies to sell and to build from there. The idea that there are nearly a million copies of my novels in print now, in multiple languages, and in public libraries all over the country, is a dream come true. It means there are people out there who are taking their time submersing themselves in a world I have created. It's an amazing thing.
My favorite story is of the family who bought an audio copy of THE LAST JIHAD. They were listening to it on a trip and really got engrossed in the story. At one point, they all stopped at a rest area to use the bathrooms. The mother finished first and came back to their minivan, dying to know what would happen next. Twenty minutes later, her husband called on her cell phone. "Are you okay, honey?" he asked. "Yes, yes, I'm fine," she said. "Are you sick?" he asked. "No, I'm fine." "Then where are you? We're all standing here outside the rest area and we can't find you." She suddenly realized that when she had started the car and started listening to my audio book, she had absent-mindedly driven away, completely forgetting about her family. Mortified, she had to turn around and go back and get them!
FR: Would you share a story about someone you've brought to Christ or share how your writing has helped someone?
JCR: I have to say it's amazing to see how diverse the audience is for these novels. Bruce Willis and his manager loved THE LAST JIHAD. So did the former manager for Madonna, Michael Jackson and Shakira. Senior White House officials have loved them and written me letters of appreciation, as have senior officials in the Israeli government. Rabbis are reading them, as well as pastors, grandparents, and teenagers. Someone at the Department of Homeland Security requested a dozen signed copies of THE LAST DAYS to give to the Secretary and his top counter-terrorism officials. I've met CIA and Secret Service agents and members of the military who have enjoyed the books and shared them with colleagues. But in the summer of 2004, I met the first person who had actually prayed to receive Christ as a result of reading THE LAST JIHAD and THE LAST DAYS. It's humbling to think of the spiritual influence you can have in the life of someone you've never met.
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