Modern Day Prophet? Robert Anson Heinlein

one of my favorites.

Angelina, this book is a very touching and heartfelt story, complete with suspense, intrigue, comedy, passion, confrontation, cool gadgets, supernatural powers and love. I always cry at the end when I read this book.

Michael Smith is a love child born during the first manned mission to Mars. The ship crashes and he is the only survivor of the crash, an infant. He is rescued by Martians and raised by them; sorta.

30 years later humanity returns to Mars to discover that he is alive and that based on the laws of Earth, the exclusive owner of the planet Mars (never mind that Martians have been living there under the crust of the planet for hundred's of thousands of years. Everybody wants to get their hands on Michael. But a sweet and feisty nurse realizes that his days are numbered and breaks him out of a Government Hospital and takes him to find her friend and journalist who could help expose the plot to replace Michael with another person who would they could use to manipulate the public and also interplanetary affairs.

While on the lamb with Michael, the nurse discovers that Michael, besides being adorably cute and innocent, he has tremendous powers that scare her half to death, which in turn scares Michael half to death and he ends up slipping into a self induced coma. So Gillian the nurse ends up having to cart Michael off the rest of the way to safety in a suitcase. Eventually she gets him into the fatherly hands of Jubal Harshaw who is well connected and perhaps can help sort out the pawn game being waged.

Jubal arranges for Michael to be left alone and begin his learning of what it means to be a human being; since he was raised by Martians, that is all he knows. Also Jubal wants to understand the range of Michael's abilities. Eventually Michael embarks on a journey of self discovery and in the process starts his own church to really help the people by giving them freedom and power, instead of taking it away like he sees the churches of the day doing to the people; enslaving them and taking their money. At Michaels church, since he is the richest man on Earth, you can take money from the collection plates, when he passes them around they are already filled with cash. But that is just the beginning. Michael starts to teach his followers how to think and speak Martian and they all end up developing the same powerful abilities as him.

His powerful abilities are levitation, telepathic communication, the ability to turn matter into energy in essence making them disappear. He also has the ability to sexually stimulate his love partners using telepathy and telekinesis.

Michael ultimately becomes hated by the Christians of the day because they believe him to be the Antichrist and they plot to kill him. On the eve of destruction, Michael who could make all of them disappear in an instant chooses instead to allow them to kill him; so he can resurrect himself in spirit and prove to the rest of the world that the whole religion thing is a big fat lie.

It is a really cool story to read.

Is it scary?