The Kakos Realm

A graduate of Trinity Bible College, Christopher Schmitz has been in active ministry in Wisconsin since 2003 and holds a License to Preach with the Assemblies of God. He has been active as a Youth/Associate Pastor and has also been active as a volunteer and worship leader. He currently lives in Ashland, Wisconsin with his wife and children.

Grinden Proselyte was originally titled The Other Place; I started writing it my first year in college. I started writing it out of God-given inspiration as an outreach to those friends I had in the D&D culture who were engrossed with all things of a darker fantasy genre. I was always a gamer-geek, and had a few forays into the "darker" side of gaming, but for the most part, my gaming group stuck to lighter side games of a more friendly sci-fi nature (Star Wars, Battletech, Marvel Superheroes, etc.) than many of our friends and acquaintances who were going overboard with games more "on the edge" with games such as Magic the Gathering, D&D, White Wolf game systems(WoD), etc. Those games are often blatantly labeled as Satanism by many extremist "Christian" groups, and is done so incorrectly—or at least in a poorly handled manner that offends those whom are labeled, effectivley "turning them off" to Christianity.

Grinden Proselyte was written in such a way that a person could role-play within the realm that I was creating; I knew that if I could accomplish that, it would appeal to the audience that I was trying to reach, that is, hardcore gamers and people who have become consumed by roleplaying and gaming. I believe that there are many harmful aspects that are inherent in many different games (especially those centered around the mondern fantasy genre) but I do not automatically label them (and the players) as evil; I would agree that in some cases RPG and other related types of games can be harmful to the player, especially for those who don't have a firm grasp of reality or those who are drawn to a game simply because it allows them to act in harmful ways without actually participating in the real and immoral act. Those type of people will also have problems with video games, any sort of book (I'm thinking specifically of romance novels), television and movies, and even their thought life.

I would like to go on the record as stating that I do not play D&D for a couple of very specific reasons, the primary reason being that I would never want my participating in anything (be it a game or other decision--like a tatoo) to become another true Christian's stumbling block. While it is a Christian's duty to avoid participating in anything that has the appearance of evil, it is also our duty to be educated as to what we are labeling as evil or sinful. Certain things will appear sinful to one Christian and not to another (read Romans 14). Caution: I am not saying you must try everything first; that would be stupid...we have enough testimony over heroin that we know it is deffinatley bad, we do not need to try it first and then come to our own conclusions. The question, then, is how reliable and authoritative is the testimony, I think most of those "anti-D&D books written in the mid 80's and 90's" are full of terrible research and misleading information using scare tactics and bad data. Think about how you could twist facts and label something evil: Bread is evil, here is my data, 98% of convicted felons are "bread users," more than 90% of crimes are commited within 24 hours of eating bread, infants and children have choked and died on pieces of bread. The moral: be informed.

I truly believe that writing this novel was something that God has directed me to do. I have always felt a drawing to minister to those who were gamers (it is especially easy to form solid relationship bonds with these sorts of people). I have always felt that I was obeying God in completing this novel; I completed Grinden Proselyte when I felt directed too, having begun to write it and plan this fictional realm several years earlier, but felt compelled by God to cease writing because (in my opinion) I wasn't ready for it yet (by this I mean "smart enough,") to deal with the themes that come out in the book.

At the time of my novel's completion, I was dealing with some very legalistic people in the church I was on staff at as an associate pastor and an early sample of TKR:GP was posted on my personal website...this led to me being questioned in at least five instances as to whether or not I was playing Dungeons & Dragons, to which the answer was "no" every time (I take the commands to both "avoid the appearance of evil" and to not create a "stumbling block" very seriously). Unfortunately for me, when I preached that we need to accept the unlovely just as Jesus would, some people got riled up enough and were so offended that a Christian would write something within the fantasy genre that they threatened to leave the church, resulting in my being fired (a total surprise to me after weeks earlier recieving much praise).

I pray for people like this (and for churches plagued by 'religion,' not freed by a relationship with Christ.) In contemplating my shift in ministry (from vocational minister to an author) I have realized that, in general, people do not find salvation in church; if anyone just wanders in off of the street broken of spirit and looking for the answers to life it is because of the Holy Spirits prodding. People only get saved by the outside ministries that a church uses for outreach, whether that be street evangelism, food shelves, or visitation, I want to help souls be saved and I see too much garbage happening in the church in America to allow it too effectively minister. After all, Jesus commanded us to "go" to seek and save the lost, he did not call us to sit on our rears and tell others how to act if they want to be good enough to fellowship with us.