Dark Places

Research for my series, Lions and Lambs, has taken me to some dark places.

The first book, And Then Came a Lion, took me into the horrific world of pedophiles. I was shocked at how much goes on, especially the amount of human trafficking. I discovered a wonderful organization working with local law enforcement to find missing children. Posting photos of missing children has led to the rescue of thousands.

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

My second book, Lions Among the Lambs, deals with a serial killer, the leader of a cult belonging to the amoral religion of Palo Mayombe. The crimes and cult details were taken from a true story. I can't imagine people capable of this kind of violence.

Adolfo Constanzo Synopsis

The third book in the series, The Lion, the Lily, and the Lamb, explores the world of psychopaths. These characters are as frightening as the pedophiles, human traffickers, and cults.

Portrait of a Psychopath

Now, the fourth book goes into another series of horrific crimes, Medical Fraud and Health Care Serial Killers. If the other books didn't give me nightmares, this group might.

Michael Swango | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers 

Farid Fata, Doctor Who Gave Chemo to Healthy Patients, Faces Sentencing - NBC News 

The redeeming theme of these stories (and mine), God brings good out of evil, and good people work diligently to stop them.

After hours of research, it is good to come back to my own world, which is relatively safe from these predators. I am thankful they are a small part of humanity when you look at the billions of people living on this planet. 

God seems to emphasize this during my devotions, offering extra consolation, and hope., which I include in my stories. I want my readers to know God is everywhere, in everything, and not a single thing escapes his notice. 

There will be justice, and forgiveness, at the end of our lives. We who repent will be welcomed into a paradise where there will be no killings, violence, hate, or fear.

I See Trouble, Lord, I See Trouble

Image courtesy of  Naypong, at FreeDigitalPhotos.net 

The world is terrified of ISIS and their cruelty, and that is justified. However terror is close to home as well in the form of our own brothers and sisters in Christ. Have you witnessed the animosity Christians have against each other? I am not talking about the Spanish Inquisition or the religious persecutions in England where Christians burned other Christians at the stake. I am talking right here, right now, in our own time, our own country, our own neighborhood and church.

I've seen different sects go after each other’s throats over differences in dogma, even small differences in service preferences. I've witnessed heated debates over trivial interpretations of scripture, one word verses another, while the original meaning remains intact in both translations. One church believes they are right and everyone else is wrong, and some are willing to go beyond verbal abuse to physical violence, even to the point of killing. All in the name of Christianity. One woman confessed to me that just seeing a cross caused her to weep with fear. How far from Jesus’ example we have fallen? He must be weeping right along with this poor woman.