"Now I have you under my power
Our love grows stronger now with every hour
Look into my eyes you'll see who I am
My name is Lucifer, please take my hand."
-Black Sabbath, N.I.B (Source:
Black Sabbath Promotes Satanism)
I never get tired of recommending Frank Peretti's novel,
This Present Darkness, and the sequel to that wonderful book,
Piercing the Darkness. While these books are purely fiction, I believe they convey very important truth for our time.
In a nut shell, they weave a powerful story around the Biblical text found in Ephesians 6:11,12:
"Put on the whole armor of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this word, against spiritual wickedness in high places."
I'd like to share a small portion of Frank Peretti's book,
This Present Darkness, in the hopes that it will inspire you to want to read the rest of the book (and if you read, This Present Darkness, you're going to want to read the sequel,
Piercing the Darkness!). Let me first introduce you to the characters that you will find in this excerpt:
Marshall Hogan: A newspaper man
Strongman: The devil or one of his chief demons
Demons: Fallen angels that serve the devil
Hank Bushe: The pastor of the local church
Alexander Kaseph: A rich and powerful man indwelt by The Stongman
Nathan, Armoth, Krioni and Triskal: Heavenly angels sent to protect Pastor Bushe and the Christians in the fictional town of Ashton, where this story takes place.
The lawyers: Clueless legal men hired by Alexander Kaseph
So without further ado, here is an excerpt from
This Present Darkness.
“They all knew where Hogan was supposed to be, but now, suddenly, shockingly, he was in the worst possible place: here!
“The Strongman's eyes took on an icy stare, and the demons attending him drew strength from the thought that the Strongman was invincible and diabolically clever. He would know what to do.
“'How did you get here?' Kaseph asked for them all.
“'I took the elevator!' Marshall Snapped. 'But now I have a question for you. I want my daughter and I want her unharmed. Let's deal Kaseph. Where is she?'
Kaseph and the Strongman only laughed derisively. 'Deal, you say? You, a mere man, wish to deal with me?' Kaseph took a few side glances at his team of lawyers and added, 'Hogan, you have no idea what kind of power you're dealing with.'
“The demons snickered along. 'Yes, Hogan, the Strongman cannot be tampered with!'
“Nathan and Armoth were not laughing.
“'Oh, no,' said Marshall, 'That's where you're wrong. I do know what kind of power I'm dealing with. I've had some really good lessons all through this thing, and some good lectures from my friend here.'
“Marshall opened the door, and in came Hank – and Krioni and Triskal – this time under no orders of peace.
“The Strongman jumped up, his jagged jaws gaping. The demons in the room starred trembling and tried to hide behind their swords.
“'Relax, relax,' said a lawyer. 'They're nothing.'
“But the Strongman could feel the presence of the Lord God enter the room with this man. The demon monarch knew who this was. 'Bushe! The Praying man!'
“And Hank knew whom he faced. The Spirit was crying it out very loudly within Hank's heart, and that face...
“'The Strongman, I presume!' said Hank.”
Strongly recommended reading:
