The Silver Conspiracy

With the eloquence of a gifted preacher, and in the ancient tradition of an Irish Storyteller, Pr. MacNeil has written a captivating novel by retelling the story of Jesus' betrayal. The story begins with the Apostle Peter's great confession of faith. Then it leads the reader through the significant events of Jesus' life and ministry as he travels through Galilee and Capernaum in the north to his final journey south to Jerusalem. Unique to this novel, as Pr. MacNeil draws out, is a pattern in Jesus life of avoiding death. Beginning with his escape to Egypt to avoid being murdered by Herod the Great, Jesus also escaped being stoned in Jerusalem, thrown off a cliff in Nazareth, and being drown in the Sea of Galilee. Added to that are the times he encountered those near death, and he healed them, and for those who had died, rather than mourn with the others in their grief, the Messiah raised them from death and shared in their joy as he restored them to life again. This novel comes to the first of several climaxes when Jesus avoids going to Bethany, and to his friend Lazarus to save him from death. When Jesus does arrive in Bethany four days later he must face the deeply grieved sisters, Mary and Martha, who are angered by Jesus' inaction. Now the Messiah must face up to what he has failed to do. In this he comes to personally feel the great loss and pangs of his friend's death and breaks down weeping. Now the question looms, will he break the pattern of avoidance and surrender to his own death or will he continue to avoid it as this too is in his power? Pr. MacNeil has taken the Gospel accounts of Jesus' life and betrayal and added such drama to it that it fills the imagination with how the details of this story might have actually played out. As a gifted writer, he captivates his reader's mind and then stirs their souls to the very end. With the scriptures as the basis of his story, he has added intrigue and fictional explanations that are true to the times, cultures and customs of lands they pass through. By combining his pastoral scholarship (M.Div.) with his training as a therapist (M.A.) he has masterfully portrayed the dynamic interactions of all the personalities of this novel. To all this he vividly brings to life the story by his excellent descriptions of the landscapes, the history of the people, and the major events that take place that were known to the people then but were not included in the witness of the scriptures.