The Songs of Galileo: Book 1: Voice of God

God's newest messenger is a rock star. But are his songs really divinely inspired or the delusions of a sick mind? Angel Waters is the lead singer and songwriter for Voice of God, a contemporary Christian band of little renown. But with the release of Do Unto, the band finds itself with a crossover hit, and now fans-both Christian and secular-are clamoring for more. As Angel's lyrics become more universal in theme and his music more heavily rock 'n roll, he is accused by band members and fans of abandoning his Christian ministry to spread a New Age message in conflict with the Bible. The controversy deepens when Angel admits he's been having visions and his songs are the result of direct revelations from God. Is Angel blessed or is he crazy? As Angel, the press, and the psychiatric community seek to find the answer, legions of fans who both love and hate him continue to grow. The Songs of Galileo comes at a time when the forces of intolerance and fanaticism are exceedingly powerful. As the story unfolds, readers will find themselves embarking on a mysterious spiritual odyssey in a search for the ultimate Truth. Voice of God is the first book in The Songs of Galileo trilogy. Look for On the Road to Paradise and Dark Heart of the Knight. On sale soon.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Sometimes emotion can impede performance. Nearly everyone is familiar with the effects of stage fright. You re standing before the crowd, needing to impress your boss or your parents or your teacher. Your mouth gets dry, maybe your eyelid twitches, or you feel like you can t control your bladder. You try to swallow, but can t do that either. You finally form the words only to have a squeak or a croak betray you into the microphone. But sometimes emotion can make you better, and it doesn t seem to matter much which emotion it is you are experiencing. Fear and anger can be just as useful as love or confidence in the right setting. On the Oakland Athletics world championship baseball teams in the 1970s the players hated each other, often arguing and even fighting in the locker room before games. But somehow they were able to channel that emotion into superb effort on the field. For Voice of God, this night was like the World Series for those great Athletics teams. They went onto the stage angry. That emotion, that anger, carried through their music and gave it an edge it had never had before. Prior to Angel joining the band, reviews of Voice of God concerts had always used terms like gentle, melancholy, and ballad. The reviews following the concert in Indianapolis used terms like angry, driven, pulsating and raw. And Angel realized it was good. The crowd loved it and the band members, somehow recognizing what was happening, were able to rise to the occasion while maintaining and feeding on the anger. The fervor of the crowd grew in proportion to Voice of God s intensity as they approached the final song, Do Unto. Terry, the guitarist and band leader, let the last notes of the next to last song die out completely. He waited until the crowd quieted as much as he could expect. Then he stepped to the microphone, the single spotlight focused on him, sweat running down his face and matting his hair, shirt sticking to his chest, and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, we would like to close with a song none of you had heard of until a few weeks ago, but which I think you probably know by now." With the first chord the crowd surged towards the stage, yelling, screaming, pushing and shoving. Angel would never be able to quite explain his emotions on seeing that wave of humanity rise toward him. It was equal parts fear and excitement, apprehension and longing. The security guards were nearly overwhelmed, but managed to hold the crowd at bay, bodily throwing several people off the stage and back into the crowd. As he sang, Angel became aware of two events that would change his life forever. One was occurring on his left where Tony had quit playing his bass guitar. Instead, he was standing in front of his microphone screaming as loud as he could at the crowd. The words were indistinct to Angel, but the meaning was clear. Tony had decided to take matters into his own hands. He didn t think Voice of God should be playing rock and roll music, even though it was apparent the audience loved it when they did. Rather than play the song he blamed for the band s abandonment of Christianity, he took the opportunity to proselytize, to convince this audience that they needed to change, telling them to embrace Jesus, to cast sin out of their hearts, to deny Satan and be born again. That s ironic, Angel thought, since Do Unto is a song about the Golden Rule, you would think Tony would love it. He can t hear the message through the music. Angel looked behind him to see Tiny and Terry! mouthing words at Tony, but there was too much noise to hear what they were saying. The other event was much more powerful. At the edges of Angel s vision, closing in from all directions at once, was a light. The light was intensely bright with a pearl-like luminescence. It was mostly white, but had a pink tinge at the edges. And as he sang, the light began closing in all around him, as if he were at the center of a collapsing sun. At first, he lost sight of the seats and people in the upper deck. Soon he had lost all of the seating except that on the floor, and then that began to disappear in the blinding glare as well. Angel continued to sing, but watched in amazement as the light seemed to swallow first the frizzy, Afro-style hair, and then the head, the chest, the whole body of a young man in the front row. The closer the light came to him the faster it seemed to move. As it swept up the aisles towards the stage Angel frantically looked around to see if the other members of the band saw it too. But apparently they hadn t, because Dietrich, Red and Terry! were still playing. Tony was still yelling into the microphone. Tiny had quit playing the drums and was climbing out from behind them, intent on stopping Tony s harangue. But no one else seemed to see the light. The light washed over the stage and eliminated all the noise around Angel as easily as a storm wave erases a child s writing in the sand. As the light engulfed Angel a sense of peace, comfort and fulfillment such as he had never known gently embraced him. He had never been so happy, so content. And then unsought ideas began to form in his mind, and Angel knew he had been touched by God.

About the Author

Marty's previous efforts as an author resulted in his being tortured by the Spanish Inquisition for heresy. He died while on the rack. Apparently, he didn't learn his lesson, because in this incarnation he's still writing and the religious establishment still isn't happy with the results.

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