📖First Chapter: Mercy of the Iron Scepter Book One of Stele Prophecy Pentalogy #firstchapter

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Title: Mercy of the Iron Scepter

Author: Randy C. Dockens

Publisher: Carpenter’s Son Publishing

Publication Date: 01-Feb-2019

Pages: 450

Genre: Christian Fiction

After Kalem lives through the death of his brother by the hand of the King which occurred over a decade ago, he is now torn. Two prophecies stand before him. The one he wholeheartedly believes in places his life in danger just as it had for his brother. The other is safer but requires him to live a lie.
Kalem, an archaeologist, has unearthed steles which tell of a prophecy about a coming Overtaker who will oust the current king and bring everyone total freedom avoiding a coming apocalypse. He becomes close to Angela, the woman supposedly the key to fulfilling this stele prophecy, desires a romantic relationship with her, but is hesitant to act on his feelings. Her belief in the current king takes Kalem down an alternative view of the prophecy where the current king will bring everyone into an even better future home after saving all from annihilation. Can Kalem exonerate his brother and bring the justice he had always dreamed of? Or will he find his life is being manipulated to prevent the true prophecy from being fulfilled? Unfortunately, he finds deception in places he never would have suspected.
Mercy of the Iron Scepter is the first book of a new biblical end times prophecy series entitled Stele Prophecy Pentalogy by futuristic fiction author Randy C Dockens. This is not your typical speculative fiction novel about biblical end times prophecy as it combines bible prophecy with futuristic advances in science to describe a future home that is agrarian but also technologically advanced, like citizens using a teleporter. Plus, it provides a romantic read with a little tension added in to make it interesting.

Mercy of the Iron Scepter is available at Amazon.

First Chapter:

Chapter 1

Jubilee Calendar 19:6:2

Friends. Enemies. Those lines could get blurred tonight.

Kalem hugged the shadows as he made his way through the town. His town. This was where he grew up, but the fewer people who saw him tonight, the better. He scurried into the small park on the edge of town. It would likely be deserted at this hour. The contents of his backpack dug into his shoulder blade. That pain equaled the pain his heart had borne for more than a decade. He was now old enough to correct the injustice that had been done.

He climbed into the gazebo on the edge of the park. The Town Square was just ahead. Beyond the long-range teleporter was the Civic Center. The main part of town lay to his right. His destination to his left. He only had to scurry across the square undetected and head back into the shadows.

He started to jump over the gazebo railing and dart across the Square when suddenly the light above the teleporter came on. Kalem ducked and peered through the latticework of the gazebo. Having dark brown hair should be helpful tonight. Still, he pulled the hood over his head in case the light caught his auburn highlights. Two men appeared at the teleporter. He squinted in an attempt to see who they were, but he didn’t recognize them. Who were they? They wore nothing distinguishing. Just pullovers and khakis. Visitors to this part of mid-America were a rarity. Hopefully, this had nothing to do with his mission tonight. He shook his head. Couldn’t be. No one else knew.

Kalem held his breath until he knew which direction these two strangers would go. They seemed to talk among themselves for a few minutes and look around, and then they headed toward the town itself. Kalem slowly let out his breath. His plans could go forward. Once he knew the two strangers were out of sight, he jumped over the gazebo railing and hurried to the opposite end of the Town Square before the teleporter light turned off. This solved the problem of how to avoid its motion-activated sensor. He turned left and headed back into the cover of darkness.

In just a few minutes, Kalem came to his destination. This was the lodge his parents had helped build to hold Family Nights for all the farmers in the area to gather and for their kids to play together. It looked centuries old, but it was likely no more than a half-century since it was constructed. Ever since he could remember, everyone considered this lodge the showplace for the town. It sat by itself, nestled in the trees. Lights had been installed to highlight its red metal roof, which matched some of the reddish hues in the stones composing its outside wall, now highlighted with lights shining down from the eaves. The front door was made of clear glass; this was the only modern-looking part of the building. There were also lights along the fieldstone sidewalk going up to the entrance.

As Kalem opened the door to enter, he stopped and read the bronze plaque:

We have raised our Ebenezer (1Sa 7:12). This building demarks the change from pre-Refreshing to our current Refreshing, and from whom our help comes. Let us give glory and honor to our King.

Kalem shook his head. No, he wasn’t here to honor anyone tonight. He had no desire to give glory to this king—this false king. What he had in his backpack was all the proof he needed to bring down this one who took his brother. In this time of earth’s history, death did not occur unless it came by the hand of the King. Kalem shook his head. The King had no right.

Kalem opened the door and entered. The light smoky scent from the fireplace brought back so many childhood memories. Glancing around, everything still looked the same except for newer trophies lining the mantel of the huge stone fireplace forming the back wall of the room. He walked around small wooden tables scattered throughout the room and around the large wooden table near the fireplace. How long had it been since he had been here? While his friends stayed and became farmers like their dads, he had become an archeologist, a path to better understand what happened so many years ago. He had found what he needed. Now he just needed his friends on his side.

Kalem ran his hand along the stones. Memories of happy times with his friends and with his older brother, Peter, came flooding back. Peter always ensured, to all the kids’ delight, that a fire would be awaiting them in the fireplace for roasting marshmallows. This memory only heightened his desire to understand the why behind Peter’s banishment by the hand of the King—his banishment to the place of lost souls. He still missed his older brother terribly.

Kalem placed a few floating orb lights away from the windows to supply light, but not too much light. He hoped the dimmer the lights inside, the more the bright lights outside would disguise anyone inside the building. He pulled out a chair from the long table and sat with his back to the fireplace so he could see his friends enter.

He touched the T-band on his wrist. It displayed the time. He debated whether to use the holo-communicator in his T-band to call his friends. He shook his head. No, he wanted to see which of them were loyal enough to show up. He kept looking at the time. His heart rate increased and his palms became sweaty. This would be a lot to ask of his friends, but they admired Peter as much as he did. They would surely be supportive.

The door opened. Kalem stood. Five of his friends entered.

The largest of the group gave a wave. “Hello, Kalem.”

Kalem smiled. They had come—all of them. He went around the table and gave each a handshake and a quick hug, giving each a pat on the back. “Welcome. It’s great to see you.” He smiled and gestured for each of them to sit. “Thanks for coming on such short notice. We have a lot to talk about.”

About the Author:

Dr. Randy C. Dockens has a fascination with science and with the Bible, holds Ph.D. degrees in both areas, and is a man not only of faith and science, but also of creativity. He believes that faith and science go hand in hand without being enemies of each other.

After completing his bachelor’s degree in pharmacy from Auburn University he went on to graduate school at Auburn and completed his first doctorate degree in Pharmaceutics. He began his scientific career as a pharmacokinetic reviewer for the Food and Drug Administration and later joined a leading pharmaceutical company as a pharmacokineticist, which is a scientist who analyzes how the human body affects drugs after they have been administered (i.e, absorbed, distributed, metabolized, and excreted).

Through the years, he has worked on potential medicines within several disease areas, including cardiovascular, fibrosis, and immunoscience to seek and develop new and novel medicines in these therapy areas.

He has also had his attention on the academic study of the Bible. He earned a second doctorate in Biblical Prophecy from Louisiana Baptist University after receiving a master’s degree in Jewish Studies from the Internet Bible Institute under the tutelage of Dr. Robert Congdon.

Randy has recently retired from his pharmaceutical career and is spending even more time on his writing efforts. He has written several books that span dystopian (The Coded Message Trilogy), end-time prophecy (Stele Prophecy Pentalogy), science fiction (Erabon Prophecy Trilogy), and uniquely told Bible stories (The Adversary Chronicles). All his books, while fun to read, are futuristic, filled with science to give them an authentic feel, have a science fiction feel to them, and allows one to learn some aspect of Biblical truth one may not have thought about before. This is all done in a fast-paced action format that is both entertaining and provides a fun read for his readers.

He has also written some nonfiction books as well. One is to show how all humans are connected from God’s viewpoint by looking at biblical prophecy (Why is a Gentile World Tied to a Jewish Timeline?: The Question Everyone Should Ask). This book shows how all scripture is connected and inclusive of everyone. In addition, he and his editor have written two books about writing. The first is on writing techniques themselves and is entitled Mastering the ABCs of Excellent Writing: Creating Vivid and Colorful Stories that Readers Want to Read. This book not only addresses the techniques of writing, but what makes writing unique to each author. It conveys not only how to better hone one’s craft of writing but also the brand an author wants to portray. This helps an author make their writing unique as well as captivating for his/her audience. The second is a companion book to this one entitled Mastering the ABCs of Excellent Self-Editing: Framing Your Colorful Masterpiece to Keep Readers Engaged in Your Story. This is best used in conjunction with the first one. Yet, self-editing, though intricately connected to writing, is a distinct event. The better the quality of a writer’s draft manuscript when it is delivered to one’s editor, the higher the final quality of the manuscript will be for readers, and that is extremely important.

Dr Dockens is still not done. He has other creative ideas he is bringing forward as he is currently working on two new futuristic series. So, stay turned!

Website ➜ https://www.randydockens.com/
X ➜ https://x.com/RandyCDockens
Facebook ➜ www.facebook.com/Randy.C.Dockens
Instagram ➜ https://www.instagram.com/randydockens
Goodreads ➜ https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16453941

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