Deception

by Randy Alcorn

  “Maybe I will,” I said. “But right now, I want to present you two with a gift.”

  I pulled out a classy little bag, with two identical gifts in fancy wrapping paper. Clarence opened the perfectly tied ribbon while Jake ripped into his.

  At the same time they said, “A fountain pen?”

  “Rupert Bolin called this morning and had these sent over. I won a drawing.” I pulled another fountain pen from my pocket, same design and different color from theirs. “He reminded me that in an age of encroaching illiteracy, fountain pens are tools of articulation and civility. And since you write for a living, and I’m a budding novelist, I figure we can be the three literary amigos. Plus, Rupert says you can use them to write saucy letters to your wives.”

  “I have something for you too, Ollie,” Clarence said.

  He handed me an envelope. I opened it. My heart nearly stopped.

  “A fifty-dollar gift certificate to Krispy Kreme?”

  “The manager of the Krispy Kreme on 82nd sent it as thanks for mentioning them three times in my articles.”

  I stood up and threw my arms around Abernathy. “It’s like winning the lottery. I think I’m gonna cry.”

  Jake laughed. Clarence wasn’t so sure.

  See, Clarence has an agenda for me—to find Jesus. And I’ve got one for him. If he’s so happy about Jesus, I think he should let his face know about it. Like his daddy did.

  Sure enough, next moment a big smile spread across Clarence’s kisser. I was looking at Obadiah Abernathy.

  “Any final thoughts, gentlemen,” I said, “before we lay this case to rest?”

  “Noel didn’t look like a murderer,” Clarence said.

  “Murderers seldom do.”

  “To quote a brilliant detective, things often aren’t as they appear,” Clarence said. “You’d made up your mind about Jack, Noel, Karl, and Lincoln Caldwell. But you were dead wrong about all of them. You had to follow the evidence before you could uncover the deception.”

  I nodded. “Jake?”

  “Well, you’ve told us that you don’t believe God will bring justice. Or that Jesus is who He claimed to be—the only way to God. So if you were wrong about Noel, Jack, Karl, and Caldwell, could you be wrong about God too? Could you be wrong about Jesus?”

  “I suppose.”

  “Is Jesus important enough to justify you conducting an investigation?” Clarence asked.

  “Follow the evidence wherever it leads,” Jake said. “That’s all we’re asking you to do.”

  Clarence nodded.

  Apparently, it was unanimous.

  Epilogue

  FRIDAY, APRIL 25

  IT’S BEEN THREE MONTHS since I solved the Palatine murder and Donald Meyer was taken into custody. Rodney Meyer hasn’t been found.

  I’ve been hanging out a lot with Kendra. We’ve been to the Old Spaghetti Factory three times. We went April 3, Sharon’s and my anniversary. I told her stories about her mother and me in the original Spaghetti Factory thirty-five years ago. Kendra said she remembers us taking her there as a little kid and sitting in the streetcar. So on April 3 we waited for seating in the streetcar. I talked her into trying the Mizithra since no cows are killed to make it. She loved it. It was one of the best nights of my life.

  I’m back to one day a week with Jake and Clarence at Lou’s. We’re reading together—I forget what. Jake talked me into going with him to a recovery group thingie at his church. It wasn’t as lame as I expected.

  Lynn Carpenter and I made a list of fifteen pizza places in the greater Portland area. Last night we hit number seven, DiCianni’s, a new place in Gresham, with outdoor seating by a stand of honeysuckles, beautiful in the unusually warm spring weather.

  This morning the phone rang at 3:00 a.m. on the dot, according to those big red digits. I groped for the phone in the darkness.

  “Who died?” I groaned.

  “Daddy? It’s me.”

  “Kendra? Sweetheart? You okay?”

  “I went into a quick labor four hours ago.”

  “What? Need a police escort?”

  “Relax, make some coffee. I’m in the hospital, safe and sound. Things went superfast, one in a hundred the doctor said. Anyway, the bottom line—you have a grandson.”

  “The baby’s born?”

  “Yeah. And he’s adorable. He’s right here with me.”

  “He’s born?”

  “Yeah. Otherwise he wouldn’t be in my arms.”

  “No kidding?”

  “No kidding. Drink that coffee and it’ll all make sense.”

  “Wow. I’ll be there soon.”

  “And Daddy?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Guess what I named the baby.”

  “Baby Glock?” I thought that was pretty good for 3:00 a.m.

  She giggled. “No. Justice Oliver Chandler.”

  “No kidding?”

  “I can see Mom in him. You too.”

  I jumped up, switched on the French roast, hugged Mulch, gave him a Tender Tbonz Sizzlin’ Steak snack, and told him he had a nephew. Then I looked at my smiling mug in the bathroom mirror.

  Justice Oliver? Wow. That beat Jack Bauer or Nero Wolfe. It even beat Baby Glock. And I liked the initials: My grandson was a JOC.

  I’m driving to the hospital right now. Tonight I’ll round up my guns, unload them, and store them high, out of my grandson’s reach. And then I’ll get him a Seahawks jacket and pick out a couple dozen children’s books I can read to the little Sam-I-am.

  I’ve been waiting all my life to get good news from a 3:00 a.m. phone call. Well, this morning it finally happened.

  Maybe there’s a God after all.

  And maybe there really is a two thousand-year-old murder mystery worth investigating.

  Justice Oliver Chandler?

  No kidding.

  “And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones,

  who cry out to him day and night?

  Will he keep putting them off?

  I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly.”

  JESUS LUKE 18:7–8

  “Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment.”

  JESUS JOHN 7:24

  “Who are you?” they asked.

  “Just what I have been claiming all along,” Jesus replied.

  JOHN 8:25–26

  Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.

  HEBREWS 9:27

  DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

  Warning: Contains spoilers. Read only after you finish the book!

  Can you relate to Ollie Chandler? If so, in what ways? (Besides a fondness for pastry.) How are you different than Ollie? What do you like and dislike about him?

  What are some of your favorite scenes in Deception and why? Who are some of your favorite characters? (If you read the prequels Deadline or Dominion, in what ways is this book similar, and in what ways is it different?)

  What are your overall impressions of the book, positive or negative? What did you take away from it that might stick with you awhile?

  Why do you think Randy Alcorn named the book Deception? What forms did deception take in this book? What forms has it taken in your life or someone close to you?

  Ollie often feels like he’s on the outside looking in when he views the hope and faith in Jake, Clarence, Little Finn, and others. Has there been a time in your life when you experienced this feeling? Explain.

  Ollie hesitates to believe in a good God because he sees injustice all around him. Read Matthew 5:6 and Luke 18:7–8. What does Jesus tell us about those who long for justice, like Ollie, and the God who loves them?

  Ollie had a number of difficult questions for God such as, why do people suffer, why did He let Sharon die, and if He can make things right quickly, why doesn’t He? There are no easy answers, but what would you say to Ollie—or the Ollies you know? What hidden purposes might God have for the heartbreaking troubles people often face? (See an article by t
he author, “How Could a Good God Allow Evil and Suffering?” at www.epm.org/articles/allowevil.html.)

  Ollie drinks excessively to try to relieve the pain caused by his wife’s death and his struggling relationships with his daughters. What things do you find yourself doing to avoid feeling pain in your life? What other pain-relieving activities are common in our culture?

  When you read about Carly entering heaven, what touched you the most? How does your view of heaven compare with this scene in Deception? What do you think about the allusions to a future New Earth? Have you been taught to look forward to a New Earth, as 2 Peter 3:13 says we should be doing? (See the author’s book Heaven for more information on the New Earth.)

  Does reading about Professor Palatine’s after-death experience affect your views about hell? What struck you about it?

  When Sharon was sick and later died, well-meaning Christians made some unintentionally hurtful remarks to Ollie. Why do you think this sometimes happens? What do you say or do when someone you are close to is really hurting like Ollie was? What do you say to people who are without faith in Christ? Do you believe Romans 8:28 is true? Why or why not? Is there a right time and a right way to share what’s true, and a wrong time and a wrong way to do it?

  Jake and Clarence are loyal friends to Ollie. They’re usually sensitive to Ollie’s skepticism, yet they seem unapologetic for talking about Christ. What does this teach you about friendships with unbelievers? Also, Jake told Ollie the hard truth when he needed to. Do you think this was right? How do your friendships compare to Ollie’s with Jake and Clarence?

  If you’re not a Christian, what did you learn about Christians in Deception? If you are a believer, what did you learn about non-Christians, including how they view Christians? What misperceptions do Christians and non-Christians sometimes have about each other? How can we improve our relationships with each other? (What do you learn from Ollie’s respect for Obadiah Abernathy, whom he met in Dominion? Why was Ollie so touched by this old man?)

  Do you relate to Ollie’s heartache and struggles related to his children—one whom he lost, one who has chosen to cut off contact with him, and one, Kendra, with whom he doesn’t get along? Admitting that he wasn’t the best father, Ollie finally started working hard at his relationship with Kendra. Is it possible for difficult relationships with family members to improve over time? Why or why not?

  How do the following verses describe God? Deuteronomy 1:31, Psalm 68:5, Isaiah 49:15–16, Matthew 6:8–9, and Luke 13:34. How do they change or enhance your view of God as our Father or parent?

  In a scene with Sharon, the Lord tells her that we humans long for the light, but hate it because it hurts our eyes; that we sometimes prefer the comfort of darkness to the pain of sight. Are there situations in the world around you, or in your own life, that this describes? Explain.

  Jake told Ollie that death is not a hole but a doorway, but Ollie doesn’t know what to think. Read John 5:24. What are your own beliefs about life after death? On what do you base these beliefs? What do people in our society commonly believe about the afterlife, and on what do they base their beliefs?

  Seeing Jake’s and Clarence’s hope and faith, something in Ollie wants to believe, but his deeply ingrained belief system is that you can only put faith in what you can see. Whether you’re a Christian or not, what holds you back from fully believing the claims of Jesus Christ?

  A theme running throughout Deception is that many things are not as they first appear. What situations or people in the book ended up not being what they first seemed to be?

  “Examine the evidence. Then follow wherever it leads.” This quote was taped to Ollie’s fridge. At the end of Deception, Ollie decided to examine the two-thousand-year-old murder of Jesus mystery. Where do you think his investigation might lead? Have you undertaken that investigation? If so, where has it led you? If not, what’s keeping you from it?

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Randy Alcorn is the founder and director of Eternal Perspective Ministries (EPM), www.epm.org. Prior to 1990, when he started EPM, he served as a pastor for fourteen years. He has spoken around the world and has taught on the adjunct faculties of Multnomah Bible College and Western Seminary in Portland, Oregon.

  Randy is the bestselling author of twenty-five books (over 3 million in print), including the novels Deadline and Dominion (prequels to Deception), Lord Foulgrin’s Letters, The Ishbane Conspiracy, Edge of Eternity, the Gold Medallion winner Safely Home, and his 2007 children’s picture book Wait Until Then.

  His nonfiction works include Money, Possessions, and Eternity; Pro-Life Answers to Pro-Choice Arguments; In Light of Eternity; The Treasure Principle; The Grace and Truth Paradox; The Purity Principle; The Law of Rewards; Why Pro-Life?; Heaven; 50 Days of Heaven; and Heaven for Kids.

  Randy has written for many magazines and produces the popular complimentary periodical Eternal Perspectives. He’s been a guest on over six hundred radio and television programs, including Focus on the Family, Family Life Today, The Bible Answer Man, Revive Our Hearts, Truths That Transform, and Faith Under Fire.

  The father of Karina (married to Dan Franklin) and Angela (married to Dan Stump), Randy lives in Gresham, Oregon, with Nanci, his wife and best friend. They have three delightful grandsons, Jake, Matt, and Ty. Randy enjoys hanging out with his family, playing tennis, biking, conducting research, and reading.

  RANDY ALCORN FICTION

  DEADLINE

  When tragedy strikes those closest to him, award-winning journalist Jake Woods must draw upon all his resources to uncover the truth about their suspicious accident. Soon he finds himself swept up in a murder investigation that is both complex and dangerous. Unaware of the threat to his own life, Jake is drawn in deeper and deeper as he desperately searches for the answers to the immediate mystery at hand and—ultimately—the deeper meaning of his own existence.

  DOMINION

  When two senseless killings hit close to home, columnist Clarence Abernathy seeks revenge for the murders—and, ultimately, answers to his own struggles regarding race and faith. After being dragged into the world of inner-city gangs and racial conflict, Clarence is encouraged by fellow columnist Jake Woods (from the bestseller Deadline) to forge an unlikely partnership with a redneck homicide detective. Soon the two find themselves facing the powers of darkness that threaten the dominion of earth, while unseen eyes watch from above.

  RANDY ALCORN MORE GREAT FICTION

  LORD FOULGRIN’S LETTERS

  Foulgrin, a high-ranking demon, instructs his subordinate on how to deceive and destroy Jordan Fletcher and his family. It’s like placing a bugging device in hell’s war room, where we overhear our enemies assessing our weaknesses and strategizing attacks. Lord Foulgrin’s Letters is a Screwtape Letters for our day, equally fascinating yet distinctly different—a dramatic story with earthly characters, setting, and plot. A creative, insightful, and biblical depiction of spiritual warfare, this book will guide readers to christ-honoring counterstrategies for putting on the full armor of God and resisting the devil.

  THE ISHBANE CONSPIRACY

  Jillian is picture perfect on the outside, but terrified of getting hurt on the inside. Brittany is a tough girl who trusts almost no one. Ian is a successful athlete who dabbles in the occult. And Rob is a former gangbanger who struggles with guilt, pain, and a newfound faith in God. These four college students will face the ultimate battle between good and evil in a single year. As spiritual warfare rages around them, a dramatic demonic correspondence takes place. Readers can eavesdrop on the enemy, and learn to stave off their own defeat, by reading The Ishbane Conspiracy.

  Nonfiction titles from RANDY ALCORN

  THE TREASURE PRINCIPLE:

  Unlocking the Secret of Joyful Giving

  Bestselling author Randy Alcorn uncovers the revolutionary key to spiritual transformation: joyful giving! Jesus gave his followers this life-changing formula that guarantees not only kingdom impact, but immediate pleasure and eternal r
ewards.

  THE PURITY PRINCIPLE:

  God’s Safeguards for Life’s Dangerous Trails

  God has placed warning signs and guardrails to keep us from plunging off the cliff. Find straight talk about sexual purity in Randy Alcorn’s one-stop handbook for you, your family, and your church.

  THE GRACE AND TRUTH PARADOX:

  Responding with Christlike Balance

  Living like Christ is a lot to ask! Discover Randy Alcorn’s two-point checklist of Christlikeness—and begin to measure everything by the simple test of grace and truth.

  PROLIFE ANSWERS TO PROCHOICE ARCUMENTS

  This revised and updated guide offers timely information and inspiration from a “sanctity of life” perspective. Real answers to real questions appear in logical and concise form. More than 85,000 copies sold!

  WHY PRO-LIFE?

  Caring for the Unborn and Their Mothers

  Bumpersticker slogans prevail, but you want the facts. Prochoicers, pro-lifers, and fence-straddlers alike will appreciate the answers given here in a concise, straightforward, and nonabrasive manner.