Adventure author Michael J. Scott answers five questions about
The Lost Scrolls (Ellechor Publishing):
Dr. Jonathan Munro is thrust into a world of international criminals who will stop at nothing to claim the location of the missing autographs of the New Testament. Is it the find of the century, or a costly fraud?
Why would a reader seek out your book?
There aren’t a whole lot of Christian books for men, and I hope to help fill that niche. I want this book to attract the same kind of audience as the National Treasure movies, DaVinci Code, readers of James’ Rollins Sigma Force books, or even the Cotten Stone mysteries by Lynn Sholes and Joe Moore. The difference is that I’m revealing genuine facts within my story that support the Bible, rather than attack it or undermine it in any way.
What benefit will a reader likely experience from having read your book?
Aside from enjoying a good story, I hope to educate the reader as to the reliability of Scripture. So much has been called into question in fiction — which communicates information to a whole lot more people than non-fiction can — but the actual reliability and evidences for the New Testament is being ignored, downplayed, or worse yet, denied. Christianity isn’t simply true in a spiritual sense, it is factual and historical, as well.
What is your book’s key message?
The theme of The Lost Scrolls is integrity — whether it’s the integrity of the Church as a whole in sending someone after the autographs, the integrity of the Bible as it relates to manuscript reliability, or the integrity of the central characters. Will Jonathan sell himself out to possess the scrolls, or to win love? Will Isabel trade love for security or wealth? Will Demetri turn his back on his conversion to obey his religious leaders?
Most importantly, what does a man profit if he gains the whole world, and loses his soul (Matthew 16:26)? I hope, through this novel, to entice readers into asking these same questions. What is their integrity worth?
Why were you inspired to write this book?
Back in college, I remember wondering what had happened to the original manuscripts of the New Testament. Repeatedly I would see popular magazines around Christmas and Easter always calling the historicity of the Bible into question. It wasn’t until the blatant challenge of The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown that I started thinking how frustrating it was that there weren’t enough Christian archaeological suspense stories to counter its misinformation, and none that really addressed the issue of Biblical reliability.
What makes your work stand out from its competition?
The Lost Scrolls presents the truth claims of Scripture against the claims that the Bible is so ancient it must be unreliable. Moreover, it is a fun, engaging story that will keep the reader entertained and on the edge of their seat. The ending even took me by surprise, so I think it will surprise and satisfy the reader as well.