------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Msg #: [211/226] Base: PAGAN-Spirituality Date : 13 Oct 93 20:52:13 Stat: Sent From : Jim Taylor To : All Title: A Picture of a Faith-Holder @INTL 93:9609/0 93:9004/0 One of the most perceptive fiction writers of our time is Gordon R. Dickson, originator of Dickson's Law, which I have found to be of immense spiritual and practical value. In his book, "The Final Encyclopedia", Dickson introduces and develops the character of a Faith-Holder by the name of James Child-of-God, second-in-command of a group of partisan warriors resisting the Occupying Forces on the world of Harmony. This is a fascinating character, as Dickson portrays him: a harsh old man, who has spent his entire life fighting against those whom he regards as the enemies of God. Not of his world, but of God. The current leader of his command is a young woman he raised from childhood while fighting and running and fighting again. Child-of-God was married for two and a half years, before the militia of the Occupying Forces killed his wife in a running battle. Child-of-God is now an old man, and the command has been fleeing the local militia for weeks. Finally, the old man's constitution gives out, and he elects to remain behind, while he still has the strength to give the militia a fight that can delay them significantly in their pursuit of the command. The hero of the book, Hal Mayne, briefly stays behind to help set up barricades and a field-of-fire for Child-of-God. At this point, let's take a look at these last moments in an old warrior's life: