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Sovereignty: He Lied For Your Sins Paperback – November 17, 2017

by Rhys Hagan (Author)

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A self-gratifying Roman banker is desperate to make a name for himself in the volatile world of imperial finance. When he's offered a lucrative contract he can't fulfil, he considers the dying religion in his city of Jerusalem.

It soon becomes clear that faith is profitable if only he can find a man to spearhead his campaign and revive the churches. His idea comes to fruition when he meets a respected local wiseman—Jesus Christ.

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About the Author

Born and raised in a town of only 600 people in regional Victoria, Australia-Hagan has always had an interest in writing and all kinds of storytelling. After finishing high school, Hagan planned on attending University after a year in the Australian Army. However, when the time came for him to accept his position, he was participating in a training exercise and was unable to reply. In 2009, Hagan underwent training with the Australian infantry to become a rifleman. Many of his military skills would follow him in his transition to civilian life and heavily influence his writing. He assisted in training exercises based in a range of environments from arid plains to dense jungles which would see him qualified in weapons such as assault rifles, machine guns, and even rocket launchers. Years later, in 2012, the church congregation that Hagan and his family attended would reach a disturbing breaking point. The leaders of the group had become controlling to the point of publicly humiliating the members and, in some cases, assaulting them. Unable to justify their extreme actions, Hagan left with his family. With his ties to, what was later defined as a cult, severed, Rhys spent some time reconnecting with his family and building relationships. However, with one commitment finished he began looking for a new ambition. It was then that he returned to his life-long love-writing. Today, Rhys uses his life experiences coupled with hard work to develop his novels. He enjoys time with his family and is a regular at his local gym. As well as being a fan of whisky (especially Scotch from Islay), Hagan loves the film industry, basketball, a well-rounded meal, and appreciates theatre and performing arts.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Rhys Hagan Books (November 17, 2017)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 306 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1642049581
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1642049589
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 15.8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.98 x 0.69 x 9.02 inches

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Rhys Hagan

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From a small town outside Melbourne, Australia, Hagan spent his school years playing Australian rules football, Super Nintendo, and writing Pokémon fan fiction. 2006 was a big year for the author; after nearly drowning at a notorious beach, Hagan's parents endured an ugly break up. This led his mother to find support from a local Pentecostal church. A place which became a home away from home.

Upon returning from a gap year of military service, Hagan found what began as a small, community-focussed congregation had merged with a radical, international movement led by a self-proclaimed prophet. Rumours of abuse and gay conversion therapy circulated. Finally, Hagan witnessed his pastor assault a child, an action which forced him to confront the leader then leave.

Life after religion has been kind to Hagan who is now happily married and pursuing his love of writing. He still plays Nintendo and has the occasional kick of a football while working with kids at his local primary school.

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Trully

How To Stand For Something More Than Mainstream, Even In Jesus's Time!

Reviewed in the United States on March 28, 2018

I received an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review. Having read this book, I saw the darkness of people who function out of the greeds of society and how easily we brainwash ourselves. Those that hate anything or anyone including those with same or different beliefs are so similar. This book showed the realities of life sometimes aren’t nearly as extreme as the desperate Roman banker who would do anything for gain, even use Jesus nor those who would do anything for Jesus.

What is noticeable when reading this book is, most people are somewhere in a comfort zone with their beliefs and the religions they follow, just blindly following and this is where the author challenges the reader. Don’t blindly follow anything and know the roots of what the history of what you believe are. Don’t think it’s all so beautiful and found on sugar and spice, everything nice.

Later on, this novel shows faith comes too late if we wait until there’s nothing left to do but die. Focusing on others and their misdeeds only allows us to crucify ourselves in the end. Who are we to judge anyone else, including their beliefs? We have freedom of religion and speech and what we do to make this world a better place for all, a paradise on earth is what Jesus and all messengers came to do. We can have life and breath also and not be living!

Nonbelievers were shook by Jesus’ solidness. The disciples had faith but were still not as sure of how to walk in faith all the time. They still very much tapped into the changeable human qualities that creates more ups and downs for their lives but they knew how to stand up for something.

What’s interesting is who Jesus spoke to. If we all are one and connected the difference in what we read, who we believe in, the anger, hypocrisy, blasphemy wouldn’t be there, only how to get closer and unite. The message would be clear and the messenger wouldn’t be an issue. Showing how to live a life worthy of living so that when this body is shed, it’s no big deal is what message comes clearer near the end as reading this novel.

Not reacting to others accusations, threats, ignorance is a lesson Jesus showed over and over. Who prayed, believed, worshipped, believed the same as him wasn’t even relevant. Jesus could care less about these things so why should we? Know how to find and keep the truth is what this book was portraying because it’s easy to lie to oneself. This book took a lot of research and it was very interesting how truth was shared with fiction. This author really reached far into himself to really challenge everyone’s mindset.

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Jessica

What if everything you believed was wrong?

Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2018

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

To be honest I’m pretty amazed at the daring of the author to write a book like this. Fiction or not it directly takes on Christianity head on. For being bold enough to make a statement like that, I greatly respect the author.

What if everything that you were taught to believe was, in fact, a fiction created by power hungry people and the doctrine you follow was nothing more than one more piece of that fiction? What if your beloved Savior was nothing more than a poor man forced to pretend to be something he's not so that someone else could make monetary gains?

Rhys Hagan has re-imagined a whole new beginning to the Christian religion. The only thing that stayed the same was Jesus being a down to earth, humble teacher. All of the major players we know from the old Bible stories were present, but their stories were modified. Jesus, for instance, was married to Mary and their son was David. Regardless, the point of the story was the same. Amphion wanted to take on a contract and he needed money to do it so he used Jesus to spearhead a new religion.

“‘Hundreds, thousands of years ago, it was someone like me who started it all. A lie that was told to facilitate the agenda of the times. And, if I have my way, hundreds, thousands of years from now, the story of Christ will still be told. Only it will be adapted to suit the agenda of those times - a lie transposed for a modern purpose.’” (Page 307)

“‘Luke if there’s one thing to take away from Christianity, it’s that faith is profitable.’” (Page 307)

The author kept true to the brutality of the times with the torture chambers of the Romans and the violence that was favored. For me it was a little too gruesome but it was historically accurate.

I really think this was a remarkable and powerful piece of fiction. The author took a huge chance to write something that is this openly challenging to the Christian faith (fiction or not) and I have a lot of respect for that. I’m giving the book 5 stars because it was well thought out, researched and creative.

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JasonN

A writer out of his league and literary element

Reviewed in the United States on June 25, 2018

NOTE: I received this book as a promotional copy at no cost.
Unfortunately, this author is tackling a subject/genre that is clearly out of his league, and he lacks the talent to cash the literary check he's trying to write. You can't go into the area of alternative religious history and speculative history unless you really, really know your stuff. While Hagan's idea and plot is interesting, his writing is amateurish at times and clearly shows that at least at this point in his career, he's not ready for the big leagues. Perhaps with more practice and research his future efforts will be worthwhile.

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Amazon Customer

Great Read!

Reviewed in Australia on March 4, 2018

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This book was a great spin on an old story. I loved the way it was told from a different perspective, and to me it was a very real account of possibilities. Loved some characters and loved to hate.others. Great read.

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