Where Shadows Hide The Sun The Last Years

“Amen, Lord. So be it!” Dave waited on God and heard him speak. And now he wishes he hadn’t. The team is finally unified, ready to declare Jesus. But will they get the chance? When the riots begin, and Jed calls for a lockdown . . . When the mosques shout in anger, and an embassy burns . . . When his daughter’s dreams reveal the spiritual battle . . . Dave must cling to what he knows and pray: pray for his students; for his friend who’s in prison; for his daughter who’s going blind; for the demonic to leave his home. Pray. Pray. Pray. And lie to his teammates. Dave can’t go back. There’s no un-seeing Jesus.

"I'll do anything--I'll even preach!" As a boy, Dave cut a deal with God to save his life. Decades later, Dave and his friends are on his final street-preaching trip. "Jesus came for all, so we should go to all!" With that attitude, Dave fights spiritual resistance as he and his young family endeavor to leave the life they've known and join a team of missionaries stationed in an increasingly militant Islamic country. "God's calling is clear," Dave's pastor reassures him. Yet Dave is unaware of how catastrophic his sin will be . . . or the dangers his children will face . . . or how deep the calling will go . . . in the land where shadows hide the sun.

“Amen, Lord. So be it!” Dave waited on God and heard him speak. And now he wishes he hadn’t. The team is finally unified, ready to declare Jesus. But will they get the chance? When the riots begin, and Jed calls for a lockdown . . . When the mosques shout in anger, and an embassy burns . . . When his daughter’s dreams reveal the spiritual battle . . . Dave must cling to what he knows and pray: pray for his students; for his friend who’s in prison; for his daughter who’s going blind; for the demonic to leave his home. Pray. Pray. Pray. And lie to his teammates. Dave can’t go back. There’s no un-seeing Jesus.

There was commotion everywhere. People were getting dressed or looking for things. The atmosphere was unreal, unbelievable. I know they all felt the same as I. A rope was tightening around everyone's neck-the end has come. It is like seeing the angel of death manifest in the form of a policeman. No one among us spoke. Except for the rustle of everyone getting ready to go, it was quiet. We were living a nightmare. It could not be real, but it was and yet I refused to believe it. Somehow, at least in me, there was a spark of hope. I pretended to look for things, all the while my mind raced through the possibilities, the ideas of escape, running away, or somehow just disappearing. I was desperate because my immediate chances were poor. I couldn't see myself leaving this house with the rest of the group. One thought ran over and over in my mind, I must get out of this mess.

Dismissing oversimplified and politically charged views of the politics of Shi'ite Islam, Said Amir Arjomand offers a richly researched sociological and historical study of Shi'ism and the political order of premodern Iran that exposes the roots of what became Khomeini's theocracy.