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So this is the answer to John Lennon's "Imagine no religion." But there are also biblical allusions.

Right. My main character is, interestingly enough, a guy named Paul, and he is a parallel to the biblical Paul because he's assigned by the National Peace Organization to root out believers and kill them. Eradicate this underground movement.

But along the way he sees the light. And yet, instead of coming out and writing the New Testament, he keeps working for the government, but he's really a supporter of the church now, so his life is on the line every day.

So it's not just a polemic—there's positive themes and humor here.

That's a hard thing to do in a book that's so dark. People know that I like to be funny. How can you find any humor in that kind of situation?

But usually it's by making bureaucrats into buffoons. That always works.

But there is always hope. And in fact, that's the difference between this novel and the competition in The New York Times best-seller list. When my wife and I visited Romania back before the fall of Communism, I despaired. I thought, these poor Christians are living underground, they can't get permits for anything and are persecuted for their faith. How will it ever change? And when the revolution came, a lot of people made the mistake of thinking it was a political revolution. It was a spiritual revolution. These people stood in the square, 200,000 of them, and chanted, "God is alive."

Between 9/11, the Left Behind series, and now writing Soon, how has everything helped you focus on your own calling and mission as a writer and as a Christian?

Well, it really has sobered me. And I find that I have the same reaction to the writing that the reader does: I feel more urgent about my faith, more aggressive about it, more expectant of the return of Christ.

And there's this feeling. I heard it when I was a teenager and speakers tried to wake us up—and I don't think I woke up until I was 50. But they said that at some point they are going to have to choose up sides and pay the price. At some point when we're adults we realize we don't have time for anything else. This is it.

Copyright © 2003 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Visit DickStaub.com for audio and video of his radio program (4-7 p.m. PST), media reviews, and news on "where belief meets real life."

Recent Dick Staub Interviews include:

Why Frederica Mathewes-Green Loves Icons | Yes, we ask the saints to pray for us, she says. They are still living members of the church after all. (Sept. 9, 2003)

Sheila Walsh Says Stop | The author, singer, and popular speaker talks about learning to put praise above performance (Sept. 2, 2003)

Trusting in a Culturally Relevant Gospel | Os Guinness says that evangelicals have never strived for relevance in society as much as they do now. Ironically, he says, they have never been more irrelevant (Aug. 26, 2003)

The Long War About Science | Larry Witham, the author of Where Darwin Meets the Bible and By Design, talks about faith, science, and how the battle has evolved. (Aug. 19, 2003)

Kevin Leman Talks About Sex, Baby | The author of The Birth Order Book looks at the private lives of Christian couples in Sheet Music: Uncovering the Secrets of Sexual Intimacy in Marriage. (Aug. 12, 2003)

Why God is like Jazz | Donald Miller, author of Blue Like Jazz, talks about why Christians need writers who honestly deal with their faults and why penguin sex is an apt metaphor for believing in Christ. (Aug. 5, 2003)

A Gerontologist Gets Older | David Petty, author of Aging Gracefully, has long taught about the process of aging. Now, he is personally learning that one of the most important aspects is the spiritual side. (July 29, 2003)

Carmen Renee Berry's Unabashedly Consumerist Handbook to Ecclesiology | The author of The Unauthorized Guide to Choosing a Church helps seekers find their best congregational fit. (July 22, 2003)

Are Darwinists Immoral? | Benjamin Wiker says Darwinism isn't science per se: it's just a reiteration of a 2,300-year-old philosophy (July 1, 2003)

J. Budziszewski Knows That You Know What You Know | Even though you may not know it yourself. (June 24, 2003)

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September (Web-only) 2003, Vol. 47