DULUTH, Minn., June 16, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- What happened to the Magi after they visited the Christ child in Bethlehem? No historical record is known to exist that answers that question for sure, but Jack Salmela offers an intriguing hypothesis in his well-researched new novel, The Messiah Medallions (now available through AuthorHouse).
Maybe, suggests Salmela, the Magi returned to east Persia and, as the years passed, became alarmed at how events unfolded: Most Jewish people rejected Christ as the Messiah and those who thought otherwise were persecuted by the Romans. Salmela draws heavily on that assumption to craft his tale, in which the ancient Magi found a Sacred Order. This secret society forms the backdrop to The Messiah Medallions, a futuristic murder-mystery that begins more than 2,000 years ago.
The ancient books of the Persian Avesta prophesy that all four points of the Christian cross will someday appear in the night sky. That day will be imminent when twin gold medallions, separated when the Magi departed Bethlehem, come together once again. Salmela then switches gears to the year 2020 and the adventures of a group of college friends in Boston. A supernova appears in the night sky and the students scramble to understand its meaning within the context of their various fields of research. One of the students, Tim, is working on a new theory of time travel when he becomes the target of someone who wants to end his research - and his life. Everything comes to a head when the group discovers that the famous synchronized emanation theory of time travel developed by Dr. Ernest Sullivan is wrong, exposing a government conspiracy in the process. At the same time, the medallions come together in South Dakota, symbolizing to modern members of the Secret Order that the cross in the sky will soon appear. The miraculous power of the medallions triggers the downfall of a corrupt organization and hastens the return to peace that Christ sought for all mankind.
Salmela graduated with a degree in civil engineering from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, in 1980. He and his wife, JoAnn, have been married for nearly 20 years and have a 12-year-old daughter, Annelise.
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