{What's On Your Kindle?} Randy C. Dockens on Stele Prophecy Pentalogy
Kalem lives through the death of his brother by the hand of the King which occurred when he was very young. Now that he is older and can act, he is emotionally torn between his anger over his brother’s death and the love he is finding in someone who supports the King. 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. How can he choose which direction to take? Yet he must choose before his fate is sealed.
Edvin experiences heartbreak during troubled times as his sister-in-law loses her unborn baby and his girlfriend dies from plane crash injuries. Yet he is not the only one. Thousands around the globe experience the same events happening in their lives and to their loved ones. How can he make sense of the apocalyptic world in which he now lives? Yet an unexpected destiny awaits him.
Ya’akov gets approved for a once-in-a-lifetime adventure, but he gets caught in a nightmare of manipulation and deceit, which ultimately leaves him abandoned at sea not remembering who he is or how he got there. Despite such a start, he finds a destiny greater than anything he had ever dreamed possible.
Princess Me’ira breaks protocol and falls in love with someone not vetted by prescribed law. Her decision will yield unpreventable heartache to either herself or to those closest to her. While unknown to her, the decision she makes sets a future in motion she could never have anticipated.
Janet discovers how to increase teleporter efficiency to an all-time high, but her work is rejected by the King. Her selfish pride sets in motion a plan of revenge that has devastating consequences far greater than she ever imagined.
Each story is stand-alone, yet they all intertwine into a unique whole that paints a picture of a future time in which we may all find ourselves one day.
The Stele Prophecy Pentalogy Series is available at Amazon.
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
Welcome, Randy! Your series, Stele Prophecy Pentalogy, sounds absolutely awesome. Can you tell us the story behind that intriguing title?
Randy: The main character, Kalem, is an archaeologist and discovers a stone stele that contains writing which seems to prophesy about the current King being overthrown by someone called the Overtaker and implies there are at least seven of these stelae. He is on the search to find these other stelae so he can know the full prophecy which they seem to be telling. He is excited about this because ever since he was around eight or nine years of age, he developed an animosity for the King because his older brother, Peter, was taken by the King due to an act of rebellion. Now that Kalem is in his twenties, he wants to prove the King to be false and he feels these stelae are the path for him to do so. Therefore, since these stelae are one of the key elements to the novels’ story this is the reason for the title of the series.
Can you tell us a little about some of your main characters?
Randy: I will address the main character of each book:
Kalem is the main character in Mercy of the Iron Scepter. As stated above, he is an archaeologist who discovers stone stelae containing a prophecy that seem to be about the current King and how, one day, an Overtaker will come on the scene and replace him. He meets Angela who seems to be the key to this prophecy, yet he finds her supportive of the King. Although he tries not to, he falls in love with her despite her convictions and has to decide if he is going to believe with her that the current King is the one who brought the world out of chaos into its present state, which many call the Refreshing since all sickness and maladies, and even death, no longer occur in the time in which they live, and he will bring the world into an even greater utopia going forward, or if he will believe the words on the stelae which imply that a coming Overtaker will replace the current King and bring in a time of ultimate freedom to everyone. His choices have greater consequences than he could ever imagine.
Edvin is the main character in Promised Kingdom. We first meet Edvin in the first book as someone who lived prior to, and through, the Refreshing and helps Kalem with his stele discoveries. This novel is about his backstory and how the world went from a time of chaos after the vanishing of all children on the earth as well as many adults until the time of the Refreshing which is the backdrop for the first book. When the disappearances bring chaos to the world, Edvin is chosen to be on an elite team to protect the rising leader, Hatim, who becomes known as the world President, and is touted to have the skill to bring the world out of its chaos. Yet, as time goes on, he discovers he is really on the wrong side and President Hatim is actually leading the world toward an apocalypse. When the prophecy of a coming Messiah actually occurs, Edvin’s son is born just as the Messiah is descending upon the Earth from the Heavens. This Messiah conquers and takes the world from President Hatim, establishes the time known as the Refreshing, and declares that Edvin’s son will become the first priest in his new kingdom.
Ya’akov is the main character of Hope Renewed. He is Edvin’s son and as he approaches the age of becoming the first priest born into this new kingdom, he has doubts that he wants this prescribed destiny for himself. He is given the chance for an adventure by helping to bring new teleporters online so humans can travel from place to place instantaneously. He uses this time to try and get perspective on his life. Yet, through a series of events, he loses his memory. During this time, he meets a woman named Hadassah who he falls in love with. She helps him understand who he really is and what he wants to do with his life. This helps him embrace his destiny with renewed enthusiasm because his world view of what it means to be a priest for the King changes from a negative perspective into a positive one. His destiny becomes more than he ever dreamed possible.
Me’ira is the main character in Darkness in the Light. She is the daughter of Jeremiah, labeled as the Prince to the King who leads the world in the worship of their Messiah, their King. Jeremiah was in the previous two books and was a prophet in Promised Kingdom who helped Edvin to understand what Scripture said about the coming Messiah was true. Once the kingdom of the Refreshing is established, the Messiah crowns Jeremiah as his Prince. Me’ira is the youngest daughter of Jeremiah and has a feisty spirit about her. She feels that the established protocol requirements and duties for someone born Royal are too restrictive and passé, and falls in love with a non-royal, named Galen, before he can be vetted properly. It is discovered that his true parents are somehow tied to a prophecy that is against both the King and her father, but by this time Me’ira already has an emotional investment in Galen. She feels she has a solution to her problem where she can keep her father safe and at the same time be able to marry Galen. Her decisions have consequences that she could never have predicted.
Janet is the main character in Iron in the Scepter. She is a commodities analyst who discovers a protocol for making the teleporter efficiency between transporting people and food crops the highest anyone has ever achieved. Yet, she feels the King is not supportive of her work, and she works against the King when she hears about the potential prophecy of an Overtaker coming who would dethrone the King and establish what she believes to be true freedom of thought. Her pride consumes her to the point that she is willing to risk her children to help her achieve the establishment of the coming Overtaker. This ties into the first book as her oldest son, Peter, is the one taken due to rebellion, and her youngest son, Kalem, is the one she trains to be an archaeologist so he can find the stelae that will prove the coming of this Overtaker.
Where is your book set and why did you choose that particular location?
Randy: The setting of my books in this series is at many places around the world, but the main location is in Jerusalem, Israel, because that is the base of operation for the King, also known as the Messiah. Kalem and his friends must travel to many places around the globe because the stelae are hidden in various strategic places on each continent.
Many Jewish and Christian denominations have a belief that one called the Messiah will one day come to earth and set up an earthly kingdom and this will be a time of great peace and prosperity where sickness will be a thing of the past, and maybe even death itself will be abolished. The controversy lies in who is this Messiah and how will this kingdom come about. This book series is about this kingdom.
Not only is there confusion and controversy about who the leader of this kingdom will actually be, there is much confusion about what will occur during this magnificent time of our future history. I wanted my readers to get a good flavor of what life during this time may be like and be able to understand and experience it for themselves.
For example, in my first book, Mercy of the Iron Scepter, I wanted people to experience the wonderment of this time with all the peacefulness, beauty, and unity that will exist during this time. In Scripture it talks about this Messiah, this King, to reign with an iron scepter. That means he will deal harshly with the sin of rebellion. So, I show what that looks like, but also show that there is a merciful side to this harshness as well. While the King deals immediately and decisively with rebellion, he is also loving and wants the best for his citizens of the world. I show that side of him in this novel as well.
Another thing many are confused about is that sacrifices will be made again during this time of our future history. As most Christians believe, Jesus Christ came as the promised Messiah the first time he came to earth fulfilling the Law of Moses and became the sacrifice that the Mosaic Law required for the redemption of mankind. Therefore, today, we no longer have sacrifices. So, what would make them be needed in our future? My novel, Hope Renewed, helps the reader to understand the purpose of these sacrifices as they travel with Ya’akov as he goes through his adventure and the decisions he makes about his destiny.
Another aspect to this future time is that someone named the Prince is introduced in the book of Ezekiel in Scripture. There are various beliefs as to who this person is. Through my book, Darkness in the Light, as one goes through the struggles which Me’ira endures, one will see that this Prince is not the Messiah and is not King David as some purport. This novel gives a reason for him being a separate individual from these and what his duties will be for the citizens of the world during this future time.
Then there is the aspect of dealing with human depravity. While this is a time of peace, harmony, and wonderment, there will be those who are still not satisfied with the status quo. I want people to understand that while we have dark spiritual forces today that make many do bad and evil things, even when those forces are held at bay (which will be true during this future time), the heart of mankind can still be evil and against God. People born during this time still need a Savior and their decisions, just like ours today, can have eternal consequences. As readers go through the storyline of Janet in Iron in the Scepter, we cheer her on to make the right decisions even though deep down we know she likely will not. It is similar to when we knew Anakin Skywalker would turn into Darth Vader, yet we kept hoping that he would not make those fateful decisions that we knew he was going to make.
What part would you say was the most exciting to write about?
Randy: I wanted to write about something that would prove to be exciting to read but at the same time be something the reader can learn about and contemplate.
I think one aspect that I like about this series is that it shows that no matter the circumstances or the time in which one lives, it does not alter what humans have to go through and the decisions they must make. People are people no matter in what historical timeframe in which they live. Just like Kalem, we struggle with knowing what is really true and don’t realize that truth is what determines our ultimate destiny. And like Edvin, we struggle to find significance in this life and sometimes we must go against what seems like the best solution for our career just because it is the right thing to do. Me’ira, just like us today, struggled with finding true love, and our decisions can have consequences that ripple through time for many generations. Then, just like Janet, we sometimes let pride get the better of us and cause us to make decisions that are unwise and actually hurt the ones we love even though we think we are doing something for their good when it is really not good at all.
This series is sort of done in layers. One can get a great story with action, adventure, mystery, and even romance set in a science fiction or futuristic type of backdrop. If that is all a reader wants, it’s there! But if one wants to better understand the background of the story and its significance, not only to the story but to their own lives as well, that is also there. One can enjoy, contemplate, or even do both.
What's next for you?
Randy: After this series, I have written two additional series: The Erabon Prophecy Trilogy and The Adversary Chronicles.
The Erabon Prophecy Trilogy is a true science fiction story where an astronaut gets flung so far into the depths of our galaxy that he has no hope of returning. He finds refuge on a planet where creatures are anatomically much different from himself. And to his amazement, he finds that he is tied to one of their prophecies which states that a forerunner to the return of their deity, Erabon, will arrive and reunite their clans which are scattered over six different planets. Although beyond his comprehension, he discovers that he is that forerunner!
The Adversary Chronicles is a four-book series of different biblical stories that show how the Adversary, Satan, has interfered and intervened in many human endeavors. These are likely familiar biblical stories but told in a novel and unique manner. They are told from an angelic point of view. Mainly from the view of Mikael, the archangel. The fourth book of this series is not from the Bible itself, but from a modern point of view to show how the Adversary is still alive and well today but is still up to his same tactics, but just using more modern technology to try and achieve his dominance over the Earth.
I am currently working on a series that is tied to a more modern prophecy that is touted by many Christian prophets alive today. Many are saying that Scripture implies that the Spirit of God will cover the earth like the waters cover the sea, and its fulfillment is just around the corner. I wanted to show what this could potentially look like for our future. This is the genesis of The Cities of Light Series, with the first book of three coming out in the near future: Beacon of Truth. The third book of this series will then tie back into the Stele Prophecy Pentalogy which we are discussing today. I hope you check it out.
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