A tyrannical government is determined to make England a mighty commercial empire. In France, Napoleon Bonaparte begins his rise to power, and with dissent rife, France’s neighbours are on high alert. Born on June 5th, 1949 in Cardiff, Wales, the son of a tax inspector, Ken was educated at state schools and went on to graduate from University College, London, with an Honours degree in Philosophy – later to be made a Fellow of the College in 1995.

You’ve written thirty-seven books, which have been sold in over eighty countries and translated into forty languages. Which has been your favourite to write and why? The long-awaited sequel to A Column of Fire, The Armor of Light, heralds a new dawn for Kingsbridge, England, where progress clashes with tradition, class struggles push into every part of society, and war in Europe engulfs the entire continent and beyond. the night is advanced, the day is at hand. Let us then throw off the works of darkness [and] put on the armor of light; I waited FOREVER for this to come out. I was on the library wait lists as soon as they existed. I also worried this might not live up to the first 3 (or 4) books of the series. After all, The Kingsbridge Trilogy started in 1989 and these last 2 releases were clearly just in response to the fans loving them, there being room is history for a couple more timelines, and the high probability that the book would sell. I'm OK with all that but I was just hoping it'd be good old-fashioned Follett historical fiction and I was not disappointed. And the repentance of Advent always comes with a note of promise. The one who comes is greater than we are, kinder and stronger and more real than anything we can imagine, greater than our own hearts, especially when they accuse us. Our first reading gives us a vision of the last days, of the mountain of the Lord shining out to all people, of universal peace and praise. That’s what we want, that’s where our hope lies; not just for ourselves, but for the whole creation, for the nations, for all living beings, for the earth itself.The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. the night did advance, and the day came nigh; let us lay aside, therefore, the works of the darkness, and let us put on the armour of the light;

The night is nearly over, day is almost here. Let us stop doing the things that belong to the dark, and let us take up weapons for fighting in the light.The night is nearly over, and the day has drawn near; therefore we should cast off the works of darkness and should put on the armor of light. Why is light so valuable and its loss so devastating? The revelations of the Restoration contribute much to our understanding about light. The analogies I will use this morning are based upon scriptures that refer to light as spirit, as truth, or as the power of God. Having light is evidence that Jesus Christ is part of our life. His light—His spirit, His truth, His power—inspires, motivates, comforts, capacitates, and protects. An abundance of light in a person’s life is manifested by virtues such as faith, hope, charity, patience, kindness, and humility. Outward signs of light are easy to recognize: respect, dependability, dedication to duty, modesty, obedience, and reverence for the things of God. When light is diminished in our lives, motivation toward spiritual things also diminishes to one degree or another. We are less exact in our commandment keeping and less dedicated to activities such as home teaching, Church attendance, temple attendance, scripture reading, and prayer—the very things that intensify light in our lives. With insufficient light we are more susceptible to temptation, and like a plant without the nourishment of the light of the sun, without the nourishment of the light of the Son of God, we can also weaken and shrivel and eventually die spiritually. I would like to issue a challenge: Sometime today take a piece of paper and divide it into two halves. On the right side list things that could intensify light in your life: temple attendance, attendance at all Sunday meetings, scriptures, prayers, repentance, service, and so forth. On the left side list things that you think, desire, do, say, view, or even places you go, that diminish light from your life. Then ask yourself in all honesty, “How can I improve in those things that intensify light, and what can I simply let go of that takes light away?” As in the story of Achan: “What accursed things do I do, say, think, or hold onto that drain my power?” This list can be compared to a dimmer switch that controls the intensity of light within our homes. Turn the dial to the right and light increases. Turn the dial to the left and the light dims. The decision as to which way we turn the dial is up to us.

Because it is only found where Christianity exists and exerts its proper influence. No man is seen in the armour of light but a true Christian. We find no instance in which the philosophy of ancient times made a warrior such as the apostle describes, armed him with armour like this, and led him on to victory. St. Paul tried whether Pharisaism would do; so that, "touching the righteousness of the law," he was "blameless." Yet he was held in the bondage of pride, and prejudice, and anger. Take our modern infidel philosopher, with reason and virtue on his lips, and with pride, selfishness, and passion in his heart.Forgiveness was essential in marriage, Charles said; it was virtually impossible for two people to live together for any length of time without offending each other occasionally, and sores must not be allowed to fester." Remember that this is not a balance sheet where the seven good things on the right side cancel out the five bad things on the left side, leaving us with two positives. If that was possible, I might reason, I can continue with the five things that take away light because I can easily counterbalance them and still come out on top. Somehow, feeling safe because of a balancing of the two is spiritually dangerous. The bad things we choose weaken the system so that sometimes we are unable to fully compensate by choosing good. In fact, the consequence of choosing bad, over time, is that the good doesn’t seem so good anymore. As more and more bad things are chosen, they become more and more desirable and seem less and less wrong. Another consequence of choices that rob us of light is that we don’t discern the good as clearly, and that leads to the possibility of delving deeper and deeper into the bad. When you are in the darkness, your eyes adjust, and it soon doesn’t look dark anymore. So, too, can we adjust to dark deeds and actually acquire a taste for the bad. My model for how a long book should be structured is Orley Farm by Anthony Trollope. It's a courtroom drama, and it's a very long book. We don't actually get to the courtroom until about seven-eighths of the way through. There's a circle of characters and every time there's a development in the story, he goes around the circle showing how the development affects each character, and it's just perfection. When I started to write long novels with The Pillars of the Earth I thought, that’s how you can have a big cast: you've always got to include them all and the best way to do that is in a logical, structured way. You can’t write a long novel with multiple characters and just play it by ear. It’s got to be structured, and Trollope’s plan for Orley Farm was a perfect example of a plan for a long novel. In previous interviews you’ve said that you were actually quite bored by history at school. What changed? Through the love for God and by faith in God and His Word, the person shall obey the words of God and apply His words in his or her life and walk after the words of God and abide in the Word. Through obedience to God, the person shall walk in love after the will of God. Sanctification

Salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armour of light.Freedom is near, but you could just miss it. Augustine could have missed his own conversion if he had not allowed himself just for a moment to be distracted. That child’s voice ‘Tolle, lege, tolle, lege, tolle, lege’ – it was like a bell ringing over his life – ‘take it, read, take it, read it, take it, read it’. A totally random event which startled him out of his fruitless weeping into opening the book. And the rest….well there’s a lot more we could say about Augustine, but not now. Amos is himself a survivor of the vile machinations of another of Follett’s bad actors, the grasping, merciless Alderman Hornbeam, who had hoped to take over Amos’s late father’s woolen-cloth business by calling in a large loan. And thereby lies another tale culminating in villainy foiled. Be that as it may, Amos is far from content, eating his heart out over the beautiful, but ambitious Jane Midwinter, who has set her sights on bigger prey. Meanwhile, Elsie Latimer, daughter of the bishop and his wife, Arabella, is pining over Amos — while Arabella entertains a forbidden desire for a weaver. In the past, Kingsbridge simply throbs with passion, requited and otherwise. Ken’s first major success came with the publication of Eye of the Needle in 1978. A World War II thriller set in England, this book earned him the 1979 Edgar Award for Best Novel from the Mystery Writers of America. It remains one of Ken’s most popular books. There was a new atmosphere since the stoning of the king’s carriage and the food riots: the British ruling elite were in an unforgiving mood. In Kingsbridge, shopkeepers gave no credit, landlords evicted late-paying tenants, and justices handed down harsh sentences." The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.