Caleb Lazarus

March Character Interview

Patricia Parrington ~ March 1, 2025

Hello my lovely readers and fellow book-lovers! For those of you who are new here, I, your fancy host Patricia Parrington, have the pleasure of interviewing characters from books all over the world.

Today we have here with us Caleb Lazarus from the adult religious fantasy books Wicked Demons and The Warriors by Jessy Lynn. Jessy is an emerging author whose storytelling intertwines themes of love, identity, and struggle for acceptance, drawing inspiration from her own experiences. Her writing explores human relationships and how differing viewpoints can coexist.

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Meet Caleb

Welcome to Fable Features!

[Patricia smiles at her guest then smooths out the skirt of her burgundy dress.]

I just got this. Do you like it? I think it’s my new favorite. What’s a favorite piece of clothing you own?

It looks good on you, ma’am. But, you ask what my favorite piece of clothing is? Um. Uhhh. I don’t know, ma’am.

[Caleb rubs the back of his neck, chuckling.]

I wear mostly black jeans.

I like anything modest. Modest clothes. I think men and women should dress modestly. I guess I can say I like my church clothes the best. I always wear a suit to church because before she died, my mother would always say, “If you can dress up to go out with your friends or on a date, you can dress up for God.”

I like that idea!

Do you have any close friends? What are they like?

My best friend is Rachel. She's amazing.

Just an FYI, she actually saved my life. See, I almost committed suicide when I was thirteen, but she saved me. It's been hard for me, but she's been there every step of the way.

Oh, and when my parents died, and the state separated me from my sister, she was my rock. It was a long, gruesome fight, first to become emancipated and then to get custody.

And now I have custody of Sarah, and Rachel’s always there when I need someone to babysit.

Now, anyway. Let's see. What's she like? Well . . . she’s a Hispanic who can't speak Spanish and hates spicy food. She's quick-witted. I've never seen her lose an argument because her brain thinks up counterarguments way too fast. You have to watch her. If she don’t know, she will make it up. But she will speak with such conviction. Listen, she's so good, she could convince you the sky is green.

Ummmm. Let's see. Oh. She hates wearing the headscarves to church but does it anyway because she loves seeing how happy it makes her mother.

You know, I think the world of Rachel. She's special.

The man who ends up with her is going to be a lucky guy.

[Patricia smiles as she listens.]

She sounds like an amazing friend. How’d you guys first meet?

Well, actually, our dads have been best friends since middle school. My dad moved to West Chester from the city that year.

My dad,

[Caleb chuckles,]

said he met Uncle Dominic when he saved his life. Uncle Dominic was going to get beat up by a bunch of guys, but my dad saved him. Later, he realized why they wanted to beat him up.

[Caleb laughs.]

Dad said, Uncle Dominic has too big of a mouth for someone who can’t fight.

[Caleb puts his head in his hands, catching his breath.]

He always said that man hasn’t shut up since they met.

[He sighs with a sad smile.]

I like this Uncle Dominic! Even if he does have a big mouth. Sounds like he has a big heart, too.

How do your friends describe you?

If you can't tell by now . . .

[Caleb snorts.]

Jesus fanatic would probably be the first thing anyone says. Devout. Catholic. Christian. Church boy. You name it.

I believe in Jesus. I believe in the bible.

I talk about Jesus any chance I get. I tell everyone Jesus is the only way into heaven. I make sure everyone knows he loves all of us; he doesn't love our sins. He came down from heaven not to abolish the law but to fulfill it. He came to live the perfect, sinless life we should be living but can’t, to die the death we all deserve but won't have to suffer if we believe in the name of Jesus Christ. He died on that cross for all of us. We all have a chance to be saved. For all who believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

That’s so cool to see how passionate you are about Jesus! When did you first decide to follow Jesus and believe in his name?

My parents sent me to public school so I could go to school with Rachel. You know they assign those book reports and let you choose the book? Well, I would do my book reports on books in the Bible.

[Caleb laughs.]

I was young when I knew Jesus was the way.

I don’t have a

[He mimes air quotes]

“fun” coming to the kingdom story. I was raised in the church. And I know most people raised in the church aren’t faithful followers of Christ until many years later. I know most people have a story of how they became reborn. But I was quoting Scripture before I could ride a bike.

I started learning to write and read when I was two because when my mom read me bedtime stories, they were stories from the Bible, and I was mesmerized. I wanted to read with her. I wanted to take notes.

[Caleb chuckles.]

Contrary to popular belief by atheists, we don’t read from the actual Bible to children. We have junior bibles that share the Bible’s stories but remove a lot of the graphic language and put the stories in simple terms a child could understand.

The book was called: My First Bible. That wasn’t enough for me. Imagine me at four years old begging my mom to teach me how to read the

[Caleb mimes air quotes again]

“big book.”

[Patricia laughs.]

Your mother must’ve been so surprised! That’s cool that you were so on fire for Jesus at such a young age.

What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever had to do?

Admit I was gay. It drove me to try and kill myself. I don’t want to be. It was also hard to admit I don’t want to be alone forever.

Wow, I can’t imagine. That must be so hard. I’m glad Rachel was there to stop you from killing yourself.

[Patricia shakes her head.]

Why don’t we transition to a more lighthearted question! How many chickens do you think it would take to bring down an elephant?

David took down Goliath because he had God in his corner. One chicken can take down an elephant if God wills it so.

[Patricia grins and nods.]

You make a good point! Although it would still be bizarre to see one lone chicken taking down an elephant. Speaking of surprising things, what would be incredibly surprising if it happened tonight?

The whole world realizes Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Everyone realizes that no one is going to the Father except through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Not only would it be surprising, but it would be the greatest day of my life. Praise Jesus. Hallelujah. Do you know what would be even better? If Adam and Eve had never fell and released sin in the world.

That would be wonderful! I for one would love a world that wasn’t corrupt and had never fallen into darkness.

What makes you feel safe?

Oh, come now. You know. The King of all kings. The Lord and Savior. The Lamb of God. The Son of Man. The Prince of Peace. The Good Shepherd. The Alpha and Omega.

Come on, Jesus is all you need. Can I get an amen, ma’am?

Jesus Christ. He makes me feel safe. There is nothing to be afraid of with Jesus on your side. Demons are scared of Him, even they bow to the Lord. One day, every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord.

Wow, that’s cool to hear how Jesus makes you feel safe. Has there ever been a time when you were in a scary situation and Jesus helped you feel safe during it?

Hmm. I hope you have a few minutes.

When my parents were murdered in that drunk driving accident, my sister and I became orphans. NY wouldn’t give custody of me and Sarah to our godparents because of something they know nothing about. Uncle Dominic got arrested for assault a few years ago because a man showed his penis to Sarah. I think he reacted accordingly. My dad did, too, because he bailed Uncle Dominic out and paid for his defense.

But NY called him violent. They said he was unfit to raise a young girl. They came to take us away during my parents’ funeral.

They separated us. They sent me to this place in Dutchess County. It was the only place that offered me a bed. They sent my sister to a foster home in the city. They were abusive. My parents raised us to know Jesus. They kept trying to force their beliefs onto her. I am proud she was strong, but she shouldn’t have had to be at that age.

The state sent her to a house that hit her instead of to her godfather’s house, who would rather die than raise his hand to her. And they sent me to some nightmare shelter in Poughkeepsie, over two hours from my house, and I never felt so alone. I didn’t belong there. That is first. I was surrounded by hoodlums who did things like weed and cigarettes. It was clear I didn’t fit in there.

But Jesus stayed with me.

I wanted to be angry. I tried to run away, but something kept me calm. Something kept telling me to wait. I trusted God. So I waited. A few months later, I turned sixteen. And . . . it sounds crazy to someone who doesn’t believe. But on my sixteenth birthday, I grabbed my phone, and you know those stories on the first page of your Android about different stuff it thinks you would be interested in? Well, I check those every day. My news feed is about churches, Jesus, Christian groups, charities, volunteer opportunities . . . you get the gist. But the first story that day was about Emancipation.

I scrolled past it, though.

Later that day, a delivery driver wasn’t supposed to be there. He had the wrong address. When I walked downstairs, I saw him trying to figure that out with the caretaker lady. When he saw me, he took off his jacket. And his shirt had some weird design on it. But it said: BAD RELIGION. Under that, at the bottom, it said: EMANCIPATION OF THE MIND. My takeaway

[Caleb snorts]

at the time was bad religion. A little later, one of the worker ladies asked me if I wanted to watch a movie with the other kids, and I asked what movie they were watching. And she said, Emancipation.

And I still didn’t get it, but God is patient. Later, as I watched YouTube shorts, I saw a video of a girl talking badly about her parents and having just lost mine, I rolled my eyes and was about to skip. But I don’t know. Something stopped me. And she said it. She said that word again. She got emancipated. I clicked on the full video, and she explained what she did and other stuff.

I understood. God was trying to tell me what to do all day.

I started the process to become emancipated. It was easy. My parents left plenty of money for me. They also already signed the house into my name years ago. It was already paid off. I satisfied the court that I could take care of myself. After I was legal, I started petitioning to take custody of my little sister.

Then NY decided to make my life hard again, and they let anyone contest the will as long as they have a sob story, I guess. One thing led to another, and all my dad’s assets were frozen. They let my dad’s mother and sister contest the will, and neither Sarah nor I knew who they were when they showed up that day because Dad didn’t talk to them. Uncle Dominic was the one to recognize them.

They blamed Uncle Dominic for not seeing Dad. They said I only wanted the money. They accused me of orchestrating my parents’ death. And the judge just sat there, letting them spew nonsense. And he believed they had a case and . . .

Money doesn’t fill the hole. I found myself contemplating ending it all again. The first judge I saw on behalf of Sarah denied me before he even heard what I had to say. Then, I was forced into a trial to dispute my dad’s assets. I promise, without Jesus, I wouldn’t be here telling you this story right now.

Now, my dad’s assets are still frozen. I had to quit school to get a job. I petitioned the courts for full custody two more times. I was awarded custody of my little sister. It’s been challenging. I don’t know what I’m doing. But I have people helping me when they can.

[Patricia leans back slowly against the couch with a long breath.]

Wow. Thank you for sharing all of that. You’ve gone through so many hardships and are still standing here before me today. Your faith sounds so strong—I admire that.

[She cocks her head, curious.]

What advice would you give your younger self?

I don’t know what I would tell myself. I believe everything happens for a reason. I believe we learn at the pace God dictates. All who He calls upon comes when he’s needed. See, I have regrets because I’m human. But I don’t think I would want to give younger me advice even if I could because everything I did, shaped me into who I am and who I will be. See, one day, God might call on me to do a specific job and I will be the only one suitable to do that job because of my specific experience.

That’s fair. And I admire your positive outlook on everything that happened to your younger self and how God might use it!

[Patricia glances at her wrist and stands.]

Sadly, looks like our time has come to an end. Thank you for coming out today, Caleb! It was a pleasure getting to know you and your lord Jesus Christ.

End of interview.

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Want to Read More?

The books that Caleb appears in, Wicked Demons and The Warriors, just went on a small hiatus. But don’t worry! The series will return soon, and in the meantime, feel free to check out his author Jessy Lynn’s social medias: X/Twitter, TikTok, and YouTube.

Author Jessy Lynn

Caleb Lazarus

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See Ya Next Time

Aaand that's all the time we have today. Thank you, readers, for coming. And thank you, Caleb, for letting us get to know you! See y'all next time.

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Please note that erotica and content with excessive vulgar language will not be accepted.

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