Allow me to sum up the answer to this ‘why’ question in one simple sentence: My novels contain ‘spirit-beings,’ whether angels or demons or other spirit-beings, because the theme of ‘Good vs. Evil’ is paramount in my novels. That is, ‘the Creator’ (aka God) and His angels and a part-human/part spirit being battling against the satanic character Corion and his demons (and those evil human characters that allow the evil to control them for power and money and control over Earth) for the souls of my prodigal band characters, their women, and more.
If one is going to write a novel based on ‘good vs. evil,’ spirit-beings (in my opinion) must be included. The beings in question likely depend on the religion themed in the novel. Any Christian-oriented novel likely contains at least a mention of and various Bible quotes by Christ, while some (The Shack for instance) contain various angelic characters.
Islam? Frank Herbert’s magnum opus, Dune (and the series as well), mentions the Madhi and practices such as jihad (the Fremen vs. the evil Baron Harkonnen and his crew controlling Arrakis-which sounds like the Muslim nation of Iraq), and the ‘Benejesuit Sisterhood’ allied with Emperor Shaddam the Fourth (which sounds like former Iraq leader Saddam Hussein), with the Sister on Arrakis allied with the Fremen. And Arrakis is mostly a desert, as with many Muslim nations, which produces ‘spice’ to power intergalactic ships, instead of oil that powers sea ships and cars and trucks, etc.
Judaism? Leon Uris, author of Exodus and various other novels related to the founding of modern-day Israel and more, provides various aspects of that religion.
Buddhism? I am sure folks have heard of Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha. who some claim is actually the real Buddha.
Hinduism? I haven’t read any novels about Hinduism but I am sure they are popular in India… But I did watch the movie The Deceivers starring Pierce Brosnan about the infamous Thuggee Cult that worships Hindu goddess Kali, like the god Shiva, only more evil. And then you have Rudyard Kipling’s stories related to India when it was a British colony, including Gunga Din-about Britain’s battle against that same Thuggee Cult!
And then you have occult and horror novels that certainly contain satanic-like characters, or human characters that live by evil. I’m sure the reader has heard of Dracula, based on the evil vampire Count Vlad the Impaler (whose surname just so happens to be Dracul, who lived in Transylvania). Then again, to prevent the vampire from consuming a non-evil character, the crucifixion-cross of Christ is used to repel the vampire.
Now, The Prodigal Band Trilogy novels are based on the Gospel of Luke Chapter 15 Parable of the Prodigal Son, where ‘the prodigal son’ wastes his inheritance on ‘riotous living’ and then, in the state of want, returns to his father and is feted with a fatted calf. Spiritually, it is the story of one who ‘leaves’ God, realizes the mistake, then returns to God (the ‘lost son’ becomes ‘found’ so-to-speak). While Christ’s parable does not contain spirit characters in the physical sense, spiritually, ‘the father’ represents God, who just so happens to see his son coming home. It is the spiritual characters of good (God’s angels called the Tooters as well as that part-human spirit-being, Morwenna—the Tooters’ agent so-to-speak) that guide the prodigal band into ‘returning’ to their Father, God, by repenting and accepting Christ as Lord and Savior and Redeemer.
That same ‘Father’ that guided me to write these novels so that readers who have not ‘returned to the father’ might choose to do so!
And that is why my novels contain spirit-beings, both good and evil, for this battle is truly a battle, physical as well as spiritual. For the forces of evil are doing everything they can to ‘defeat’ God; for ‘we wrestle not with flesh and blood, but with principalities, with powers….that rule this world, and wickedness in high places’ (from Ephesians 6:12).
Next posts will feature novel scenes backing this ‘why’. After all, Easter, aka Resurrection Day, is coming soon.
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