Riders of the Pale Horse (40 page)

International Herald Tribune
July 5, 1993

The true security nightmare is a nuclear weapon locked in a trunk in the parking lot at Washington's Union Station. Even a crude atomic bomb could level buildings for miles around ground zero. The resulting fireball would radiate at the speed of sound, incinerating every bit of steel, concrete and human flesh in its path and igniting a holocaust that would make Dresden look like a birthday candle. What's keeping a terrorist group from going nuclear? Building an atomic bomb requires two things: knowledge and material.

Newsweek
July 12, 1993

A nightmare scenario confronts Western governments trying to grapple with the problem of fundamentalism in Egypt: the government of President Hosni Mubarak falls, to be replaced by an Islamic regime; Egypt joins the Islamic government in Sudan to subvert the already shaky regimes in Algeria and Libya and then turns east to undermine the Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia. By the end of this century Israel will be surrounded by radical governments, millions of refugees will have fled to Europe (further destabilising already weak economies), leaving Europe, the Middle East and North Africa in a state of armed confrontation which has not been seen since the Second World War. For the past few months the intelligence community and policy makers
have been trying to measure the enormity of the challenge posed by the spread of Islamic fundamentalism. What is now understood is that unless action is taken to combat the growing political and military power of the fundamentalists, there will be serious economic and political consequences that could undermine the entire international community.

The Times of London
August 22, 1993

On Sunday Gadhafi invited the world's two most notorious Palestinian terrorists, Ahmed Jibril and Abu Nidal, to visit Tripoli, perhaps to set up headquarters there. The Libyan leader told a cheering crowd in the town of Azizia that the invitations were meant to defy the United Nations.... Intelligence reports link Jibril and his General Command organization to the planning of the Pan Am massacre, which cost 270 lives.

Washington Post
December 15, 1993

Criminal groups are already trafficking in nuclear materials and could conceivably acquire nuclear weapons one day.

Newsweek
December 13, 1993

(Author's note: This book originally went to press in early 1994.)

“I looked and there before me was a pale horse!
Its rider was named Death,
and Hades was following close behind him.
They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill
by sword, famine and plague.”

R
EVELATION
6:8

Acknowledgments

I would like to use this acknowledgments section not only as an opportunity to express my thanks to the many people and organizations who helped me in the development of this book, but also to share with readers some of the challenges of this research. In order for this story to ring true, three very difficult topics had to be researched—the conflicts of the Chechen-Ingush region, the current threat of dissemination of nuclear armaments, and the rise of Islamic fundamentalism. I am thankful I did not realize how much work would be involved before beginning this project, but God blessed me throughout.

In addition to library and archival research, most of my novels are based on scores of personal interviews. This requires developing a huge pool of potential contacts. In preparation for
Riders of the Pale Horse,
I approached dozens of organizations with experience in evangelical efforts in the Middle East and North Africa. What surprised me was how difficult it was to find even one person involved in Middle Eastern evangelism who was willing to speak with me. The reasons for this reluctance were some that I had never faced before. Perhaps the reader would find it of interest to hear of three of these experiences:

In late 1992 a conference took place in London entitled “Islam and the Suffering Church.” Authorities on the Christian movement in Muslim countries were brought in from various Asian, Middle Eastern, and African states. In order to attend, a request had to be made at least two weeks in advance, and had to include the name of the participant's local pastor. Only after the pastor was contacted would a ticket be issued. Arriving participants were required to present both
ticket and passport in order to gain entry. No late entries were permitted, no matter what their credentials.

The general secretary of one Middle East evangelical organization told me bluntly that his missionaries had insisted that nothing be either stated or written about them, as it endangered both their efforts and their lives. In view of this fear, they had disbanded their magazine eight months before.

My publisher in the United Kingdom was able to make a contact for me with an Anglican missionary who had just returned from Jordan the previous month. The interview was done by telephone, and the man used an assumed name. I was required to promise in advance that I would not attempt to name either him or the organization that had sent him overseas.

Over thirty contacts were made, and resulted in only five interviews, all of them under clandestine conditions. When I asked for reasons behind their caution, I was presented with the polarity of the situation. On the one hand, every missionary with whom I spoke repeated over and over how kind and hospitable and friendly the vast majority of Arabs were. The dangers, they related, came from a small but very lethal minority. It was essential, they told me time and time again, that if I wished to have my story reflect the truth of today's Middle East, I could not describe the Arabs as being either generally dangerous or evil or anti-Christian. It would be as incorrect as describing every American as being a member of the Ku Klux Klan.

Those with whom I was able to speak related numerous conversion stories, many involving entire families. They also spoke of many other cases where families were quite happy to accept a new Christian convert within their clan. They described how essential it was for young Arabs, who now saw the burning fanatical anger offered by Islamic fundamentalism, to be shown a grace-filled alternative. They discussed the joy that filled their lives when they saw the living God awaken a new heart.

But they also spoke of the danger.

Danger caused by a minority, yes, but still a danger. And as the number of fundamentalists grows, so too does their threat. I offer three examples:

A missionary working in Pakistan and the Central Asian states told me that after several of his converts had been discovered and murdered, they had decided to structure their church in the form of cell units, as were used by war-time underground armies. It assured that if any were caught and forced to talk, they would only be able to implicate a few of their fellow believers.

In the late summer of 1992 a group of Philippine guest workers were arrested in Saudi Arabia and flogged until they bled. Their crime was attending a Christian service. I discussed this with several missionaries, as the Saudis were generally considered to be tolerant about the worshiping habits of guest workers. The general consensus was that they had become very vocal in their worship service, praising God and singing loud enough to be heard outside the hall. One staunch fundamentalist with political clout who overheard them was offended enough to insist on punishment. Laws calling for such punishment still exist in Saudi Arabia. It is also a crime for a Saudi to convert to Christianity—under penalty of death by beheading. It is also a capital crime to publicly proselytize for Christ.

When one person who had tried to set up a meeting for me was met with a stone wall, he apologized by relating the following story: Some years ago, three sisters converted to Christianity in an unnamed Arab state. When their mother learned of this, she responded by putting strychnine in their food. For many missionaries who had experienced such atrocities firsthand, to openly discuss their work was to invite unnecessary danger.

Once again, it must be stated that this is the work of a minority. To condemn all Arabs because of the fanatic fury of a few is not only ludicrous, it is wrong. I have tried very
hard in this work to clearly differentiate between the threats presented by a minority and the tolerant acceptance shown by most Arabs. While they may not choose to adopt our faith, the majority of Middle Eastern citizens are most willing to listen. And discuss. And argue. All of this is a part of both their nature and their hospitality.

The danger, both to Christian evangelism and to the western world as a whole, rests within the radical minority. This hazard is growing as the power base of Islamic fundamentalism extends wider and wider. This is the threat that must be vigilantly watched. This is the danger that must be clearly understood. This is the threat that must be checked.

Dr. Robert Parsons is the former director of the Russia desk of the BBC World Service, and now runs their Moscow office. He lived in Georgia a number of years and traveled extensively in the Caucasus region. He proved a most able teacher, both in regard to the current conflicts sweeping the region and the mentalities and cultures behind the various factions.

Yuri Goligorsky is the BBC editor for Russian Current Affairs. In the midst of the Russian parliamentary crisis, he was kind enough to walk me through the various cultural and political currents at work in the Caucasus.

Because of the four different wars enveloping the Caucasus region, travel up into the highlands was dangerous. I was able to fill many of the visual gaps thanks to the very able staff of the British National Film Archives, a part of the British Film Institute. Their archives contained documentaries on the region dating from as far back as 1928 to as current as two months ago. I would like to thank in particular Simon Baker and Bryony Dixon, who first led me through the extensive research catalogues, and then placed a chamber at my disposal for the hours and hours required to review the work.

Mr. Roy Gonzalez is a telecommunications engineer with Science Applications International Corporation, which among other things is partly responsible for the current
renovation of the Pentagon's communications equipment. The idea for Rogue Robards came from a conversation with him about his experiences in Vietnam.

Dr. Christoph Bluth is a professor of international politics at the University of Essex and one of the world's leading authorities on strategic and tactical nuclear armaments. I am most grateful for his careful and thorough introduction to the current dangers of nuclear proliferation.

Dr. Edwina Moreton is diplomatic editor at
The Economist,
and is one of the magazine's chief authorities on the current political and economic struggles in the former Soviet empire. She was most helpful in drawing together the myriad of details and separate incidents into a cohesive whole.

Dr. Sugden is director of the Oxford Center for Mission Studies, a library and study center for over two dozen graduate theology students from almost as many countries. Their beautiful facility contains a wealth of resources, most especially in the persons who study there. The gentleman with whom I worked mostly, who must remain unnamed, is a perfect example. He is training to go back as a missionary to a Muslim population in Asia. I am indeed grateful to Dr. Sugden for opening his center to my research activities and for making the required introductions.

Professor F. Jahanpour of Oxford and Reading Universities proved to be a rare find—someone capable of taking historical events and trends and shaping them into a logical succession that led to the events of today. His summary of the roots of current Islamic fundamentalism was both clear and exciting. He truly made both the people and the circumstances live for me.

In February 1993, a symposium was held in London on Islamic fundamentalism and power sharing within their countries. I was the only American attending, and one of only four or five westerners. It was a conference by Islamic fundamentalists and for fundamentalists. The issues included whether or not democracy was a principle permitted by the
Koran, and whether fundamentalists should be willing to form coalitions with nonbelievers. This high-powered meeting took place in London because it was one of the few places on earth where the speakers could safely assemble. Representatives included top-level political officials and academics from Jordan, Algeria, Tunisia, Kuwait, Egypt, and other Islamic countries. Much of their discussion is reflected in portions of this book concerning the fundamentalist attitude toward democracy and the West. While their disagreement over the place of democracy was fiery, their attitude toward the West seemed universally hostile.

As I mentioned previously, making contact within Middle East missionary programs was enormously difficult. As the rise of Islamic fundamentalism results in an increasing risk to the missionaries themselves, their families, and their converts, they have begun steadily closing all doors to disseminating information. Even magazines and newsletters about their work are now being closed down.

I am therefore tremendously thankful that five missionaries were willing to put aside their justifiable concerns and speak with me at length. My heartfelt thanks must also go to the three dozen people who acted as both my advocates and my introduction to these people. It was an enormously time-consuming practice for all involved, and the process taught me almost as much as the interviews themselves. Naturally, no names will be given here. These people taught me at a multitude of levels, both in the development of this book and in my own spiritual growth. I can only hope that as they read this novel, they will feel that I have portrayed them and their work with honesty and admiration.

All of the stories of Christians presented in this book are true. They come to me from people who experienced them firsthand. For obvious reasons, their names cannot be given here. Nonetheless, I wish to offer my sincere thanks for speaking to me so openly and my prayers for their continued safety.

It should be noted that Aqaba does not have a major
Palestinian camp in its vicinity. The Palestinians who emigrated there from Beersheba and other southern Israeli towns after the '67 war have more or less been fully assimilated into the society. For the sake of this story, a camp situated on the outskirts of Amman was relocated here. Conditions are as they were described in these pages.