Revised version of False Witness highlights persecution of today’s church in India
What is our
responsibility for obtaining justice for those in need? Does the end always
justify the means? Randy Singer examines these questions while taking his readers
through twists and turns on a powerful journey in his novel False Witness.
This engrossing legal
thriller is a re-telling of Singer’s original novel by the same name. The
new version has many substantial changes—some designed to bring about
Singer’s original vision for the book inspired by his friend’s
funeral.
The deceased was
David O’Malley, Singer’s good friend and former client.
O’Malley’s wife had asked Singer to give her husband’s
eulogy. So, at the funeral, Singer talked about his friend’s generosity
and big heart. Everyone there had a David O’Malley story, so heads nodded
as he shared his. David’s pastor followed Singer in the pulpit. He spoke
about a man named Thomas Kelly. The man was a scoundrel involved in organized
crime. He turned on everyone he knew. “You don’t think you know
Thomas Kelly, but you do,” the pastor explained. “David
O’Malley was Thomas Kelly before he went into the witness
protection program—before he came to the Lord.”
Prior to that
moment, the only people that knew about David’s past were the government,
his family, Singer, and his pastor. There was utter silence as the pastor
concluded with a line Singer said he will never forget. “The government
can give you a new identity,” he said, “but only Christ can change
your life.” It was then that he decided to write this book.
But Singer also
wanted to draw attention to one of his passions. He wanted to highlight the challenges of
today’s church in India. He believes that most Western Christians are
unaware of the persecution of the church and the miraculous things happening
there.
India is a land of civil rights, in theory, but of
brutal oppression, in fact—especially for the 165 million members of the
Dalits, India’s lowest caste. During Singer’s first trip to India a
few years ago, he saw firsthand the systemic oppression of the Dalits (formerly
known as untouchables) through the Hindu caste system. Singer was astonished by
the fact that the world’s largest democracy was also a breeding ground
for the world’s largest human-trafficking operations, that it would allow
the exploitation of 15 million children in bonded labor, that it would tolerate
temple prostitution and other forms of sexual slavery, and that it would foster
economic and social systems that oppress nearly 25 percent of its people.
But there is a silver lining. A bond was formed
between the Dalits and Christians. The Dalits began asking the church to help
educate their children. Hundreds of schools sprang up, providing thousands of
Dalit children with an English-based education (critical to landing good jobs)
and newfound self-respect. The Dalits responded with another invitation:
“If this is the Christian faith, come start a church in our
village.” The result is that millions of Dalits and other Indians are
coming to Christ, drawn by a religion that believes the ground is equal at the
foot of the cross.
Singer was moved by the plight of the Dalit children,
struggling to throw off the yoke of oppression and replace it with real freedom
and dignity, so he committed to do his part because he believes that “no
child should be untouchable.” So he is donating every penny from the sale
of False Witness to the Dalit Freedom Network. His novel will take
readers from the streets of Las Vegas to the halls of the American justice
system and the inner sanctum of the growing church in India with all the
trademark twists, turns, and legal intrigue his fans have come to expect.
False Witness begins with
Clark Shealy, a bail bondsman with the ultimate bounty on the line—his
wife’s life. He has forty-eight hours to find an Indian professor in
possession of the Abacus Algorithm—an equation so powerful it could crack
all Internet encryption.
Four years later, law student
Jamie Brock is working in legal aid when a routine case takes a vicious twist.
She and two colleagues learn that their clients, members of the witness
protection program, are accused of defrauding the government and have the
encrypted algorithm in their possession. Now they’re on the run from
federal agents and the Chinese mafia, who will do anything to get the
algorithm. Caught in the middle, Jamie and her friends must protect their
clients if they want to survive long enough to graduate.
In this engrossing legal
thriller, Singer shows how God is a God of justice and how, in His time,
justice will be served.