This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness

This Present Darkness is a timeless work of art in that it peels back the veil of a world just as real as ours that many choose to ignore. This particular book is a double treat because the reader gets to continue walking the path of enlightenment in Piercing the Darkness without having to buy a separate book. All encompassing, the two-story work is a rare gem not to be overlooked.

Without question the best I've yet read from this author. I could not put down this down. I found myself reading into the wee hours of the morning. The end of each page is a cliff-hanger for the next. Brilliant work brilliantly done.

I was captivated by these two books the first time that I read them years ago. I wore out my paperbacks & this hardcover was a must have for my library. God is alive and well, looking out for us in all His Glory. These books are a reminder to pray without ceasing>

My books were in excellent condition. One is a gift & the other is to replace a book I had previously made a gift of.I wanted to make sure I had both This Present Darkness & Piercing The Darkness in my own library. The two novels in one book was just what I wanted.

Peretti is one of my all time favorite authors and when I read these for the first time when I was little it opened my eyes to the spiritual battles that are always raging around and for us. I think everyone should read these because of the way Peretti lays out Scripture and pulls you in for a ride that will take your breath away in suspense.

I was pleased with the product even though it does show signs of a little wear. Personally it was a bit overpriced due to those signs to the book jacket. I rated it according to how I like pristine product for the price I paid.

The small town of Ashton which houses an even smaller college, has some very strange even mystifying things, going on within and around it's city limits? Why? And what's with all the New Age classes and weird, occultic happenings? Supernatural sightings, tarot cards, astrology, numerology, yoga, trans-meditation, reincarnation and death, coupled with a multitude of secrets, are fast becoming the norm. Why? Especially, when Bernice Krueger takes one to many photos and ends up in jail? And the police chief is not only caught up in a romantic scandal but a political one, as well. A Pastor by the name of Hank Busche has some insightful information and comes to aid Bernice but, the price is high. For in the midst of all the this, a suspicious suicide takes place and a mysterious and powerful broker arrives from New York. What's the connection? And how does a sleepy town go from a relaxing, friendly atmosphere, to being a mainstay dark and sinister terror within it's borders? And why are all the evil entities suddenly converging upon the town of Ashton? And what can the people do, to refute and eradicate such wickedness from their midst? PIERCING THE DARKNESS: In this sequel to THIS PRESENT DARKNESS, Bernice meets Sally whose past is filled with occultic involvement. But her break with the realm of darkness makes her a dangerous liability to satan and his cohorts. Particularly, a coven of witches that want her dead. Spells, incantations, hexes, vexes, enchantments and pagan ritual practices and information that Sally can attest too, makes her a target by way of demonic death. But, the angels of Glory are protecting her and a powerful, spiritual warfare between the unseen realm of angels and demons, follows. Riveting adventure reading with every turn of the page. Two written volumes, both in one, hard bound book. And in between 813 pages of non-stop written action, it comes complete with jam packed occultic, mystery adventure, that will compel you to take the day off from work, so you can read these 2 in 1 thriller books, uninterrupted. Be sure to mute the mobile phone, too. You'll be glad you did. Nina Kish

Two of the best selling Christian novels in history, now combined. With This Present Darkness, Peretti broke onto the scene by graphically tearing back the veil between the human and the spirit world. Descending upon the small town of Ashton, angels, demons, and strongmen engage in a vivid battle and we, the reader, see it all unfold. Ever wonder what exactly a guardian angel actually may do? Here's one possible scenerio. While Peretti's theology on the subject may not be perfect (many of his ideas are pure speculation, but that's why it's "fiction"), he does most definatly give us a bold reason as to why prayer is so vital. Why prayer does, in fact, move mountains and can turn the tide in unseen spiritual battles that are taking place around us (as in the book of Daniel). Both of these books are fast paced and highly entertaining with a powerful theme. Before the Left Behind series, no other Christian novels were as widely read.

My personal opinion stands that this was an excellent book. It was a great tale of good and evil with Christian themes. The only way it blessed me was that it reminded me that there is a God who loves me a whole stinkin' lot. But this book isn't for everyone...
I've noticed that this novel got either great reviews or horrible ones. I believe it's because people treated it more as concrete theology than a work of fiction. Wherever your beliefs stand concerning the spiritual realm, this book should not mold your way of thinking, nor should you treat it as a work of heresy. If you are closed minded and have extreme issues with others' ways of life. This book may not be for you.
Putiing all of the deeper meanings of the book aside, This Present Darkness was fairly written. It grabbed your attention from the first page. However, the ending I thought was rather anti-climatic. In addition, if you are a light reader, this book may not be for you as well. There are a lot of characters in the story and it to some, it may be confusing sorting them all out. My father didn't like the book because of this reason. Otherwise, the book was not too shabby.

This book cpativated my every waking moment until I finished reading it. I want so much for this representation of the spriritual war to be true because I now feel empowered to do something about the persistent evils that pervail in our world. I learned how important our prayers are and what a difference they make every day. I learned that we must ask for God's help if we are to recieve the full benefit of his glory. I believe more than ever in the power of praying in groups and defeating Satan's plans that intend to only destroy through deception and manipulation. Anyone at any level will find this story incredibly interesting and action-packed through the vivid descriptions and suspense.

What's the essential difference between a drama and a fantasy? Peretti buys (and sells) the central fantasy of "Christian fiction": that good and evil are psychological accidents, predispositions which are not the result of complex struggles and ambiguities. He mythologizes evil as dark angels acting in antipathy towards morally uninteresting humans. The popular sentiment is that "that's what demons are like," but this begs the question of what evil actually _is_. It doesn't seem to infect Peretti's characters, except as a kind of benign virus for which Christ is the cure. Real evil, obliquely referred to but never described in its murderous, lusty human detail, never shakes the reader's bones. As for the character's moral struggles, the author could hardly make them less complex if he gave them white and black hats. Peretti cannot handle evil as it really is: instead his mythologizing of evil misleads the reader into living out not a drama but a fantasy devoid of psychological and spiritual truth

I realize it's fiction. But I think Peretti, through his writing, is giving us a great deal of insight into the spirit world. His angels. His demons. His humans!
It's important to me that there's more to gain here than just a good read. If entertainment is all there is to it, there are thousands of well writen secular novels already. But Peretti's novel is edifying and affirming to me as a Christian, a Christian that believes there's more out there than just the sweet by-and-by.
The Bible itself shows us that angels are among us. And Peretti shows us how and what they're doing.

If you loved This Present Darkness, you'll love this sequel, too. Sequels are hard to do well. If it's too much like the original, it seems like a tired rehashing -- been there, done that. If it's too different, those who enjoyed the first story may not have the same feeling about the follow-up. Peretti does a great job of avoiding both extremes. All the action and suspense of the first book are there. Some familiar characters return, but new characters and situations are introduced so the plot seems fresh without losing the "feel" of TPD. Both books are fantastic.

For years students asked me what I think about Frank E. Peretti's popular novels, This Present Darkness (Wheaton: Crossway Books, c. 1986), and its sequel, Piercing the Darkness (West¬chester, IL: Crossway Books, c. 1989), so I read them during the recent Christmas vacation. The title of the first books comes from Ephesians 6:12: "For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness . . ." (RSV). That of the second comes from John 1:5: "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it" (RSV). Spiritual warfare, an enduring conflict between demonic and angelic beings which becomes localized in human beings and activities, is both books' central theme.
This Present Darkness takes place in a small American town, Ashton, which is targeted for takeover by demonic powers. An evil multinational empire, Omni Corporation, has gained control of much of the town and is poised to purchase Whit¬worth College, its most significant institution. A fundamentalist preacher, Hank Busche, and a few praying folks, plus a courageous newspaper editor, Marshall Hogan (who finds Christ as his personal Savior toward the end) thwart the plot--with the direct and dramatic assistance of multiplied scores of angelic warriors under the skilled military direction of Tal. The second work, Piercing the Darkness, shares with the first a few common characters (namely Marshall Hogan) and many characteristics: a small town, Bacon's Corner; a corrupt policeman; a fundamentalist church (whose school is at the center of the plot; a college, Bentwood, which allows demonic influences to flourish; and a central figure, Sally Roe, who through assorted adventures finally finds the Lord. It has some new wrinkles as well: a witches' coven, satanic rituals, and a generally hostile judicial system.
I'll not deny you the pleasure of enjoying the books' suspense and adventure, both of which keep the pages turning, by divulging further details, but I think I've indicated the general drift of the two stories. So let me evaluate them. First some positive notes. The books read well. Peretti knows how to tell a good story, full of suspense and action. Though not necessarily the mark of great literature, I applaud those books which I'm compelled to finish quickly just because I've been drawn into the plot and want to follow its unfolding--and I found myself anxious to resume reading these books until I'd finished them. While Peretti's novels will never be critically acclaimed for their literary artistry, they are, in my opinion, well-crafted mystery stories which are clearly superior to much "Christian" fiction, which too often turns to preaching rather than engaging the imagination.
Secondly, I generally like the portraits Peretti presents of contemporary believers. They're up-front about their faith, yet they're not locked into some of the petty legalisms which sometimes serve as stereotypes of true believers. They're not super-saints, but they're admirable, credible folks. While I found the books' plots more engaging than the characters, which lack the psychological or spiritual depth a Dostoevsky would provide, the main characters are credible and easily elicit the reader's affection and concern.
Thirdly, I applaud Peretti's effort to take seriously the reality of spiritual warfare, clearly a biblical teaching--and, incidentally, one central to the monastic movement of the Early Church, where monks like St Anthony went to the desert to do battle with the forces of evil. Though few writers can bring it off as did Milton in Paradise Lost or C.S. Lewis in The Screwtape Letters, the presence and power of angels and demons deserve our atten¬tion.
On these three counts I applaud Peretti's novels. They're good fiction--readable, instructive, far better evening fare than most TV pro¬grams, even the "Christian" variety. Reasonably mature, theologically balanced believers, will find them enjoyable. Yet I can't fully endorse the books. For one thing, they include a sustained (if often muted) judgmentalism, a polemical predisposition which has marred so many of the fundamentalist-modernist battles which have raged within American Protestantism for the past century. Peretti's "true believers" in This Present Darkness seem localized in the Ashton Community Church; those in Piercing the Darkness in the Good Shepherd Church. Both are independent, fundamentalist, Bible churches. Those attending the Ashton United Christian Church, a clearly "liberal" denominational congregation, whose pastor is part of Omni Corporation's machinations, appear less than bona fide believers. Those who truly know God, it seems, are magnetically drawn to the "remnant" joined with Pastor Hank Busche and thereby aligned with the angels. Though it's not a major theme, it's a judgmental message clearly articulated: only those who share Peretti's worldview (fundamentalistic; separatis¬tic) deserve to be labeled "Christian." This message doesn't appear in Piercing the Darkness, however, since no churches other than The Good Shep¬herd Community Church play any role in the action.
Both books, however, clearly portray colleges and universities as fertile fields, virtual hothouses, for demonic activities. They both feature professors who are deeply involved in New Age/occult activities and who adversely influence some of the protagonists. To a degree, I share Peretti's concern here, for institutions of higher learning, encouraging as they do an elitism which easily degenerates into intellectual pride, certainly cultivate the "secular humanism" and "ethical relativism" which tend to subvert Christian doctrines and standards. Yet I doubt, all things considered, that educational institutions are any more demonic than corporate board rooms or athletic locker rooms . . . or local church board meetings, for that matter! Still more, one could gather from Peretti that anyone interested in non-Christian religions or concerned with ecological ethics is automatically hand-in-glove with demonic powers. I'll grant that some occult activities do seem rooted in Oriental religions; some environmentalists have reverted to a pagan reverence for Mother Earth. But consis¬tently linking environmental sensitivity with de¬monic possession not only strains this reader's patience but runs counter one of the most basic Christian beliefs: God made and sustains the world He called "good."
Beyond my discontent with Peretti's judgment¬alism, the second area which concerns me is doctrinal. I'm no authority on "demonology" (a subject discussed in a host of new books, such as Peter Wagner's Engaging the Enemy: How to Fight and Defeat Territorial Spirits, which apparently argues specific demons have been assigned specific geographical sites, and Wrestling with Dark Angels). But I recently read George Mallone's Arming for Spiritual Warfare (IVP, 1991), and reacted somewhat the same I did to Peretti.
Despite my lack of either personal experience with or in-depth reading about the subject, Per¬etti's lengthy passages describing the various spirit beings and their constant combat, along with a clear portrayal of demonic possession and angelic assistance, leaves me wondering where in Scripture or Church tradition Peretti finds his ideas. To assert such human maladies as "Despair," "Fear," "Gossip, "Adultery," or "Deception" are in fact demons must be challenged. Without question we're tempted to do evil things. There's a demonic dimension to all temptation and sin. But to ex¬plicitly equate human weaknesses and sins with specific demons cannot, in my opinion, be allowed. There's a certain Manichaeism, a certain Gnosticism, a certain metaphysical dualism, which seeps into such presentations. Down through the cen¬turies orthodox Christians have had to continually struggle to maintain the central affirmations of the Faith: God is good; creation is good; the Incarnation really shows that God entered into this very physical world and assumed a very real human nature.
The very notion that a demon, or demons, can fully enter into and possess a person (as, for example, "Stongman" possesses the main villain, Kaseph, in This Present Darkness, or Amethyst pos¬sesses Amber in Piercing the Darkness) runs counter to much traditional theology. For as one of the great spiritual masters, Francisco de Osuna, in¬sists, "in the spiritual nothing except God can penetrate and infuse the essence of something else. Like a light the pierces glass or very clear water, God penetrates and infuses the essence of the soul, or an angel, in such a way that even the soul thus affected does not know how this is accomplished, only that it is done" (The Third Spiritual Al¬phabet, p. 185). If only God can spiritually in¬dwell the essence of a person, no demon, not even Satan himself, can fully possess a human being. Evil beings may tempt, or influence, but since they are not God they cannot rival his power. Now Osuna himself asserts: "If you wish to be spiritual you must regard yourself as a spiritual warrior," (ibid., 202), so he knows the reality of spiritual warfare. He understands that the demonic powers attack us from without, not by entering into our very being. Still more, "As Saint Bernard says, our enemy is weak and can vanquish only the people who wish defeat" (ibid., 203).
In defense of Peretti, Jesus did cast out a multitude of demons from the demoniac on the shores of Lake Galilee. But that seems to me to be an exception, not the rule, both in Jesus' ministry and in the record of the Early Church. Just as some Christians err by disbelieving or disregarding Satan and his subordinates, so too others err in believing too much, or too readily, in them. Peretti's constant references to spirit beings, whose actions regularly impact the very physical world we humans indwell, claim too much, far too much. In time, quite frankly, I just skim¬med through the sections detailing the discussions and activities of the two contending spiritual "armies." To have written as subtly about demonic and angelic activities as they seem to actually be would have made the "supernatural" sections of the book much less dramatically evident--and their treatment more believable.
Rightly read, by folks who allow Peretti lati¬tude to range far afield in his imagination, the "spiritual warfare" passages may be tolerable, if less than artistically satisfying. But some readers--young readers especially--may, in fact, take Peretti as literally as they take Scripture. Thus they're tempted to see devils in every human failing, demonic possession in every chemical or emotional addiction, and God somehow impotent (ex¬cept insofar as his saints pray and thus empower angelic beings to slaughter their adversaries). Still more: whereas C.S. Lewis' demons, either invisible or appearing as well-manicured stock-broker types, prove credible, Peretti's, sometimes described as reptiles, insects, or other nefarious animals, sometimes smelling up the place they occupy, removes them to the land of unreality (for this reader, at least).
Those who need to consider the reality of angels and demons, unfortunately, will rarely read this book. Many who do, equally unfortunately, already pin demonic labels on diseases and dis¬couragements, on assorted human failures, and short change both our ability to freely function and God's prevenient grace, everywhere efficacious in restraining evil and illuminating good.
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I was totally hooked when reading this book, and it was very entertaining endeed. Even though the spiritual warfare around us daily, and the power of prayer is very real, I sure hope people dont take this book as total spiritual truth and total theological correctness. REMEMBER-- This book is a FICTION novel BASED on real spiritual facts! Do not let it confuse you in some of the details... The real guide for our lives and what you should base your beliefs in is the Holy Bible! Keep christian fiction books for what they are made for: entertainment!

A very powerful book this is! Mr. Peretti's descriptions are bold and clear, and his strong dialogues flow from one page to the other as he takes us in a whirlwind of spiritual warfare. 'This Present Darkness' is a novel that's guaranteed to keep many a midnight flask burning. It's hard to explain how captivating this book really is, you have to read it for yourself. The story is set in the small town of Ashton, and its inhabitants are the target of an evil, spiritual kind: demons. They have one mission and that is to take over the entire town and bring new world order. Except for the prayers of a young pastor, his wife and a few firm believers of God, the others are prey to the clutches of evil, leading to demon-possessed lives. The action and description of the fight between good and evil spirits, the angels and demons, is solid, and covers detailed accounts that will keep you page turning and amazed! A must read!

I read these years ago and just recommended them to a troubled Christian I have been debating on line with. They are by far the best Christian novels ever written, nothing even close. All of the faults of the Left Behind series will not be present in these captivating, exciting and scary novels about what's behind the everyday struggles we live with. Both books should be read, but the second one, Piercing the Darkness, is more sophisticated and complex, dealing with the every day world we currently live in, and more frightening as we can identify with both the good and the evil characters more than we might be ready for.

Both these books delve into the biblical realm of spiritual warfare. A group of Christians come together with help from above to get rid of the New Agers/Satanists in the community who are out to abolish Christianity...with demons controlling them. Very descriptive stories about the battles that we have here on Earth as Christians against the many foes Satan throws our way. Imagine seeing the world through spiritual eyes! These are the first books I've read by Frank Peretti and I plan on getting his later works.

Although this book was written in fictional form the story line and the evil spirits that try to come at the lives of the characters seem so real and who really knows. . . There were never dull moments and from the point I picked up the book I found myself hurrying to get back into it's pages each free moment. Even after I finished the book I found myself wondering IF there were spiritual forces at work in my life too. I read it about 10 years ago now and still often think of the story. I loved it!!

'This Present Darkness' was the very first Christian novel I read. It scared the heck out of me! I quickly passed it on to friends and relatives so they could be scared, too! Makes you want to mind your p's and q's. I believe in the presence of good and evil, and Mr. Peretti writes an entertaining version of it that I hope to never actually see. I think I'd faint on the spot!
'Piercing the Darkness' was almost as good.

I just finished both The Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness. These were my first Peretti books and I truly enjoyed them. I decided to pick this book up when things in my life were not going so well and everything around me seened to be falling apart. What wonderful books. Some of the scences in these books reminded me of times when I felt the fear of evil as these characters did. Reading these reminded me of Gods love for me and no matter what he will always love me all I have to do is ask. This book took me some time to read, about a month, but it was a great journey. I would definitely recommend these books to Christians and non-Christians. These books have a thrill and a suspense that all can enjoy.

Peretti has done what few authors have proven capable- producing a Christian novel that is not sub-standard in the writting department. All too often, Christian novels place preaching above prose. I'm not putting down preaching, but if someone is trying to communicate something about God in a fictional book, then it's important the the quality of writing be up to the task. Most times, it is not. Peretti has not fallen into that trap. Both Darkness novels are every bit as good as the best fiction writers. They work first as good literature and second as good Christian novels. That's important, because if the novel is poorly written, then nobody is going to get to important messages contained therin. The only other Christian novel I've read that matches Pereti is We All Fall Down by Brian Caldwell. It is perhaps the best written Christian novel I have ever read and I would strongly recomend it, as well as Peretti's books to any Christian who also happens to be a lover of great literature.