“Every now and then we get a break from reality. A glimpse into the other world that is more real than the reality we live in 99 percent of our days. The Bible is about a world of demons and angels and great evil and even greater glory.”
What if you could travel inside another person’s soul? To battle for them. To be part of Jesus healing their deepest wounds. To help set them free to step boldly into their divinely designed future.
Thirty years ago that’s exactly what Reece Roth did. Until tragedy shattered his life and ripped away his future.
Now God has drawn Reece out of the shadows to fulfill a prophecy spoken over him three decades ago. A prophecy about four warriors with the potential to change the world . . . if Reece will face his deepest regret and teach them what he has learned.
They gather at a secluded and mysterious ranch deep in the mountains of Colorado, where they will learn to see the spiritual world around them with stunning clarity—and how to step into the supernatural.
Their training is only the beginning. The four have a destiny to pursue a freedom even Reece doesn’t fully fathom. But they have an enemy hell-bent on destroying them and he’ll stop at nothing to keep them from their quest for true freedom and the coming battle of souls.
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James L. Rubart is a professional marketer, speaker, and writer. He serves on the board of the Northwest Christian Writers Association and lives with his wife and sons in Seattle, Washington.
My Impressions:
James L. Rubart won the 2013 Christy Award for Visionary Fiction and the 2013 Inspy Award for Speculative Fiction with his novel, Soul’s Gate. After reading this book, I heartily concur with the judges’ ruling — Soul’s Gate will take you on a challenging journey into what a deeper life in the Spirit can be.
It is time for the prophecy spoken years ago to come true in the life of Reece Roth. It is time to train the men and women of the prophecy to live a life in the Spirit, to war for others’ souls. Dana, Marcus, and Brandon are the ready and slightly willing participants, but their training involves stepping way out of the box and their comfort zones. It has also gotten the notice of the other side, and demons will not hesitate to use everything they are allowed to thwart Reece’s efforts and his students’ training.
Speculative fiction (according to Wikipedia) is an umbrella term encompassing the more fantastical fiction genres, kind of a what-if type of writing that stretches and challenges the thinking of the reader. I think Christian fiction is very suitable to the speculative genre because of its grounding in the supernatural. God acts in ways we often don’t understand forcing us to live a life of faith, not of sight. Rubart employs the truths of Scripture to create a what-if world of journeying into the soul’s of others to wage a battle to tear down the strongholds created from the lies of the deceiver. In Soul’s Gate, Rubart shows a new way to pray, to worship, to fight the spiritual wars that are all around us, but unseen to most Christians. Dana, Marcus, Brandon and Reece have lies that must be demolished, lies that they cling to, that define who they are. The freedom that they achieve once the bonds are broken is beyond any they could have imagined.
Two things that I took away from reading Soul’s Gate are: 1) prayer involves more listening than talking and involves a big involvement in people’s lives and 2) that spiritual warfare is something very real that Christians should be on the look out for and embrace in their walk with Christ. This book got me thinking and thinking some more. There were parts that encouraged me and convicted me and some that moved me to tears. This book requires time to savor the truths expressed and as such is not a quick read. It also is not a pure entertainment read, although it did keep me turning the pages to see what would happen next in the adventure. So, I definitely recommend Soul’s Gate, but encourage you to make sure you have plenty of time to read it — do not rush this book!
Highly Recommended.
(I picked up a signed copy of an ARC of Soul’s Gate last year at the ICRS in Orlando. The opinions expressed are mine alone.)
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is an umbrella term encompassing the more fantastical fiction genres
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