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Historical Imagination
Survival Secrets is the second book in The Magi’s Encounters series and follows Akilah and the Wise Men on a layered journey through Egypt, politics, threats, family wounds, and spiritual uncertainty. How did the idea for Survival Secrets first take shape?
Survival Secrets is rooted in the final verse the Bible records about the Wise Men. Matthew 2:12 says, “And having been warned in a dream to not return to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.” What seems like a footnote to their story is really a beginning. They couldn’t return home on the Roman roads because Herod would have alerted those guards to watch for the Wise Men and drag them back to Jerusalem in chains. Roman roads were peppered with watchtowers every 10 miles, and their guards’ main job was to snag runaway slaves and other “illegals.” The Wise Men were added to that list as soon as Herod realized they wouldn’t return to him as he’d commanded. So where did they go? Without access to Roman roads, their choices were limited. Judea’s geography further narrowed their choices. By process of elimination, I mapped the most plausible route they might have taken. It was circuitous and dangerous. They had to hide their identity to protect themselves from Herod and other enemies. I believe their returning home “by another route” was also the first acid test of their newfound faith–and each Wise Man responded to that challenge differently.
How did you balance biblical tradition with historical imagination?
The Bible is my north star for writing the series. It’s infallible in recording what happened, but it doesn’t always say why things happened. For that, I dig into world history, using accounts by 1st-century historians and other reliable resources to understand how world politics, religions, and culture influenced people’s thoughts, motivations, and actions. The Wise Men were priest-scholars in Magi society, a powerful, influential entity in the Parthian Empire. They were duty-bound to uphold the empire’s official religion, plus officiate for other religions. What if they suddenly believed in something other than what their empire’s official religion espoused? That’s exactly what happened with the Wise Men when they found Yeshua/Jesus. Think of what conflict and danger that caused for them. History records a lot about Herod as well as how the Roman and Parthian empires treated Jews long before Jesus’ ministry started. That tension is the backdrop behind Matthew 2:12. That tension is where I judiciously exercise my historical imagination.
One of the book’s strengths is its patience with faith as a process rather than an instant transformation. Why was that important to you?
A common misconception is that a person can “grow” their own faith–but the Bible doesn’t say that. The apostles could have asked Jesus for many things, but they said, “Increase our faith!” (Luke 17:5), They inherently knew that faith didn’t come from them, but from God. In that verse, the Greek word “increase” is the root of our English word “prosthesis.” It literally means “to add or increase.” Its connotation is to make something stronger and more functional–which is exactly what a prosthetic (and faith) does. Put another way, when we let God work in our lives, He lays down more train tracks to guide our lives, which increases our faith and strengthens our resolve to trust Him more.
Can you give us a glimpse inside Book 3 of The Magi’s Encounters series? Where will it take readers?
Geographically, Book 3 will take readers to the northern fringes of the Parthian Empire, where small, semi-autonomous vassal states form a buffer zone that controls the tensions between the mighty Roman and Parthian Empires. Emotionally, Book 3 shows each Wise Man’s faith on trial. It differs for each of them, but taking center stage is our main character, Akilah, whose pursuit of the prophesied child-king (Yeshua/Jesus) lands him in prison. Now he must answer to allegations of civil and religious crimes against the Parthian Empire that could cost him his life.
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Hunted by Herod’s forces and others who fear what the Magi know about Yeshua, Akilah and his companions flee into the Wilderness of Paran—a land as merciless as the enemies pursuing them. To reach Egypt’s safety, his caravan must survive the elements and the strain of maintaining their anonymity while protecting the many secrets that jeopardize their lives.
But the greatest danger isn’t the wilderness.
Bound by their shared knowledge of Yeshua, the group carries a truth powerful enough to upend empires yet tenuous enough to fracture their resolve. When calamity tears one Wise Man away from the others, the group’s newfound faith start to crumble. Faith once sparked by wonder is now tested by hardship and the silence of unanswered prayers.
Farther from their goal of returning to Persia than ever before, Akilah encounters Yeshua’s family again. Its ramifications raise the stakes for the Magi’s cost of belief in the Hebrew God.
Meanwhile, two thousand miles away, Akilah’s estranged cousin Farzaneh begins her own dangerous search for truth, uncovering secrets her husband carried to the grave after embracing the Hebrew faith.
Survival Secrets is a gripping continuation of the Magi’s journey. As they struggle to return home while facing an uncertain future, costly obedience replaces the early awe of their belief—underscoring that faith doesn’t travel in a straight line, endurance is often learned in the wilderness, and trust rests with an unfathomable, sovereign God.
Perfect for fans of biblical fiction rich in tension, clean adventure, and faith journeys shaped by doubt, hardship, and quiet courage.
Follow belief into dangerous territory.
Survival Secrets
Survival Secrets, by Lana Christian, follows Akilah and the Wise Men after their encounter with Yeshua, as their obedience to a warning sends them away from Herod and into a far more dangerous route home. What begins as an escape through the Wilderness of Paran becomes a layered journey through Egypt, Parthian politics, Nabataean threats, family wounds, and spiritual uncertainty. The title proves apt: nearly every character carries something hidden, and the novel keeps asking which secrets preserve life and which ones must be brought into the light.
I enjoyed how Christian turns a brief biblical afterthought, “they returned another way,” into a full-bodied adventure with grit under its fingernails. The desert is not decorative here; it presses on the caravan with hunger, fear, suspicion, and heat. Akilah’s leadership especially held my attention because he is not a polished saint but a learned man trying to shepherd people while his own convictions are still taking shape. His half-truths, hesitations, and burdens make him feel human, and the tension around Tallis adds a bracing current of danger.
What surprised me most was the novel’s patience with faith. The story doesn’t treat belief as an instant transformation but as something tested by thirst, politics, old grief, and the uneasy cost of knowing too much. Farzaneh’s storyline brings a welcome emotional counterweight to the caravan’s physical peril, and the historical texture, maps, customs, names, power struggles, and gives the book a pleasing density without smothering the plot. I found myself appreciating the way Christian lets scholarship and suspense share the same road.
This book is for readers who enjoy biblical fiction, historical fiction, adventure, and suspense with political intrigue and a reflective heart. Readers who like Angela Hunt’s biblical novels or the immersive historical sweep of Francine Rivers will likely feel at home here, though Christian’s focus on the Magi gives the story its own uncommon constellation. Survival Secrets is a thoughtful, sand-swept sequel that turns hidden knowledge into visible courage.
Pages: 338 | ISBN : 978-1649175021
