This Present Darkness

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Summary: Review of This Present Darkness
Review: Absolutely the most awesome book I have ever read!!! Just read it for yourself.

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Summary: Unrealistic and inaccurate....
Review: I had this book for 8 years before I finally got around to reading it. Now I know why. It was not worth my time to read it. Even though I realized before that God was not really in this book, I didn't put it down because I like to start what I finish.
The first problem I had with the book is that there are too many main characters. So many that I mixed them up and couldn't really keep them straight.
The second problem is that it really is not an accurate portrayal of the spiritual realm or of how God operates. I mean does God really not interact personally with people? Does he just send angelic spirits to fight off demonic spirits?
The third problem is that the book portrays all interpersonal problems such as marital strife, break-ups, and problems with children and parents as if these things were caused by demons. Any havoc in anyone's life is portrayed as being caused by attacks from demons. Even the loss of a business is considered a demonic attack.
The fourth problem for me is about the demons themselves. What biblical evidence do we have that demons have big fat black saggy butts or yellow eyes or even wings or that they breathe smelly yellow "stuff"?
The fifth problem is in the author's portrayal of the use of binding prayers. The book is written from a skewed understanding of binding and loosing prayer principles. The biblical teaching of bind and loosing is that we bind sin in peoples' lives and hearts and loose forgiveness in their hearts and lives. That is the context of binding and loosing as taught in Matthew 18. The book teaches that we bind the devil and evil spirits. This is not biblically based or accurate at all.
The book is ridiculous. It is not a good or accurate portrayal of spiritual warfare in my opinion.

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Summary: Beats Steven King by far! Best action/suspense book ever!!!!
Review: This Present Darkness is by far the most thrilling/action and suspenseful book that's ever been written. Frank Perettis detailed view on the spiritual assaults that occur everywhere in this book will make your bones shudder. Never has prayer been so effective nor so important in everyday matters, mentally and physically. If this movie would go into motion picture production using the book as a direct baseline, using several of the computer/technological advances for the heavenly and dark forces, the movie would be stunningly extravagant! I strongly encourage anyone, Christ followers or non-believers, to read this novel, if you think you can handle it.

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Summary: Extremely scary - but not in the way the author intended!!
Review: Skimming this book was the most I could endure (unfortunately a "zero-stars" rating was not one of the options), and I can think of no better way to express my sentiments than to quote Bruce Bawer, the author of the excellent, eye-opening, and thought-provoking book *Stealing Jesus: how fundamentalism betrays Christianity*:

"It cannot be stressed too strongly...that [*This Present Darkness*] is intended not as a fantasy but as a picture of the way the world actually is. It's a world in which the immensely human Jesus who preached and lived a gospel of love is replaced entirely by a fantasy Jesus who stands at the head of an army of beings with names like Triskal and Krioni who seem to have been dropped in from some Norse myth."

"As far as one can tell, all the humans in this book are white, as is the most prominent angel, who is tall, blond, Nordic, and handsome; the demons, however, are invariably described as black and hideously ugly. (Peretti mentions their blackness repeatedly.)"

"Summed up neatly [in this book] is the way legalistic Christians...feel about the changes they're living through. Their modest knowledge of history enables them to believe that the past was simple, virtuous, and changeless; their undereducation makes it easy for them to be confused and daunted by what they see happening around them."

Bawer also quotes the theologian Mark A. Noll on this point: "[This book] shows an evangelical community unwilling to sift the wheat from the chaff in the wisdom of the world, unprepared to countenance the complexity of mixed motives in human action, and uninterested in focusing seriously on the natural forces that influence human behavior."

Bawer continues: "Peretti makes it clear throughout who the enemies are: ...churches that preach the oneness of humanity and universities that fill your children's heads with ideas that challenge the things you've taught them."

"Peretti does a very fine job of exploiting his audience's resentments, fears, and prejudices - their sense of intimidation by higher education, their desire for a "tougher" God with black-and-white answers, and their wish to believe that evil is *out there* and that they are the saints of God."

One scene in particular "is very effectively designed to reflect legalistic notions of family and church relationships out of control. In the legalistic view, the husband should be the unquestioned leader of his home, and the pastor the unquestioned leader of his flock."

The wife of the town's fundamentalist pastor is "in good legalistic fashion, consistently meek and supportive of her husband..."

In a nutshell: "The plot of *This Present Darkness* is the stuff of paranoiac fantasy."

Rating:
Summary: This Present Darkness
Review: This Present Darkness is a ok book in my oppinion. Though it was hard to follow, it had a well thought out plot and had intresting characters and a cool conflict. Overall this book is worth reading and I would suggest it to someone who likes a medium action and intresting, mysterious read.

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Summary: this present darkness
Review: I thought This Present Darkness was a good book that kept you guessing till the end. The characters were well defined and diverse at the same time. The book has plenty of action to keep you interested. The only problem with this book is that it drags on a little too long. But if you like action and and a good plot I reccomend This Present Darkness.

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Summary: A waste of my time
Review: I enjoied the Christian Theme of this book but it was a waste of my time. I did not appreciate the length of this book. The author spent most of his time adding MORE Characters rather than leading to the climax. I do not feel that this book streinghtened my beliefs. I am afraid that i now will judge this author's book negatively just beacuse this book was so poorly written.

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Summary: Blade of the Righteous!
Review: This outstanding novel is an excellent personification of spiritual warfare, slowly building suspense up to its explosive conclusion.

As a former small town reporter myself, I can appreciate the details of the life the characters lead. They were very accurate.

This book also vividly describes the nature of angels and demons, but take it with a grain of salt, as it is fiction.

The conclusion is mind blowing, and this was one of the few books I've read where I was so excited I had trouble reading.

Check it out!

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Summary: Ephesians 6:12 revealed!!
Review: Never has a book opened my eyes to the realities of the spiritual realm around us! Christians, read this book and realize the power of prayer! It is written with passion, and great use of vocabulary! Highly recommended.

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Summary: Real book
Review: ... Even though it is a fiction novel that and not based on any truth, it gives people a good example of what is going on in the battle of spiritual warfare!!!! We often don't really think about what is going on behind the scenes when we get angry, scared, on hurt. But this gives us an idea of the battle when those things are going on in our lives. ...