Cheryl Ann Toliver

Wilderness Refuge: a Prophet's Kingdom Cheryl Ann Toliver

Valerio Tullus arrives in Judea in AD 22, disowned and despairing, yet hopes to redeem his honor and life. Instead, he faces many entanglements - with his subordinate Gaius Vincinius, Jewish leaders, a local scribe Eliezer, the Herodian family, Prefect Pontius Pilatus, and the children Simon and Anna, nephew and niece of Leah, a young Jewish woman whose own struggles to survive and serve God inspire him. Through these entanglements, Valerio's life becomes interwoven with Leah's and, when Vincinius attacks her, Valerio defends her. Death seems the only redemption, but, though Valerio doesn't know or understand it, the compassionate God of Leah and her family and her people has a different purpose for his life. Thus, in AD 28, as a powerful, strange prophet named Yochanan proclaims the coming of God's kingdom, to be ruled by a leader yet to come, Valerio can only wonder - what is this kingdom of compassion and justice Yochanan has announced? And what redemption will it bring?