I just finished reading “The Twelfth Imam” by Joel C. Rosenberg, and I’m astounded that the book was published in 2010, a long 8 years ago. It feels so fresh as if it were written this year. The story about the twelfth descendant of Mohammed (only a descendant of the Prophet may be called “imam”) who is predicted in Islamic culture to be the savior and appear to unify the Islamic world and bring about the destruction of all infidels. It swings between locales in the Middle East (notably Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia) and the United States, and between the time of the rise of Ayatollah Kohmeini and the emergence of Iran as a nuclear power. Although the book is fiction, I’ve learned a tremendous amount from it about the Islamic world, its geography, and its religion.

Probably the most important fact I gleaned from this book, is the concept that one is never sure as a Muslim that one is “saved” unless one commits suicide in the name of Allah. From what I’ve read, I get the idea that Islam is a works-based religion, in direct contrast to Christianity, which is faith-based. What a shocker! No wonder people are willing to die to ensure their salvation. Isn’t that what Christians want as well?

Even in Christianity, there has been a lot of works-based theology, much to discredit of those who preach it. As Paul, the apostle, stressed in many of his writings, we are saved by the grace of God alone. He warned us to not swing to the extreme, depending on grace to allow us to behave as we wish, ignoring the Spirit of God’s prompting in us to become holy. We can do nothing to earn the grace of salvation, but we should not only act as if we are saved, but react to that salvation, constantly striving to do God’s will and allowing the Spirit to transform our hearts. That is not “working out our salvation,” but responding to it.

The other thing I really liked about this book is , despite it’s appearance as a spy-thriller, many of its characters are unashamedly Christian and further, the book is not labeled as “Christian Fiction,” which is quite astounding. I’m not thrilled with that category, as you may imagine, because it assumes you need to separate stories that have Christians as characters from other stories that do not. I don’t see a “Jewish Fiction” or “Hindu Fiction” category in the library, so why “Christian Fiction?” Oh my, did the media let this one slip through the cracks and go mainstream? I celebrate the fact and wish Mr. Rosenberg a long and successful career!