Debra Ortiz 

As I sat to write the opening paragraph for my new book Treason, I had an unexpected vision of the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple of Solomon. The year was 588BC. In my minds-eye, I saw the ancient armies of Babylon together with a dark cloud of demons marching toward Jerusalem. Then the scene changed and I saw panic in the streets as the evil army ripped the city apart with murder and fire. In the midst of all this carnage, I saw satan gloating over the “defilement of the wife of God” in broad daylight. Off in the distance, the angels of God stood watching while making no attempt to intervene. They were somber and restrained. (see 2Kings 25).

With this vision, God had taken me back to the launch of the “Age of the Gentiles” that began when God’s Shekinah glory departed from Solomon’s Temple in 592 BC as witnessed by Ezekiel the prophet. It was 6 years later when the Babylonian army destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple (see Ezek 10:18 and 11:22).

According to Jesus in Luke 21:24: “Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” In fact, Jerusalem was ruled by various groups until the regathered Jewish nation reclaimed it on June 8, 1967. Many believe these events signal the end of the Gentile Age that began with the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon.

Treason follows the rise, fall, and rise of Israel and Babylon and juts into the future depicted in the book of Revelation. Told in story form, it is filled with solid biblical and ancient history, and generous endnotes. I call it a work of “faction” because it defies categories.