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Original paperback cover of This Present Darkness


This Present Darkness is a Christian novel by Frank E. Peretti. Published in 1986, This Present Darkness was Peretti's first published novel for adults and shows contemporary views on angels, demons, prayer, and spiritual warfare as demons and angels interact and struggle for control of the citizens of the small town of Ashton.

Having achieved remarkable sales success, the book has sold in excess of 2.5 million copies worldwide and remained on the CBA top ten best-sellers list for over 150 consecutive weeks ater its release. It has been instrumental in promoting belief in Territorial Spirits.

Its title comes from Ephesians 6:12 (ESV) : "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places".

Peretti followed This Present Darkness up with a sequel in 1988, Piercing the Darkness.

Plot summary

This Present Darkness takes place in the small college town of Ashton. Bernice Kreuger, a reporter for the Clarion, Ashton's town newspaper, is falsely arrested on prostitution charges after taking a photograph at the annual Ashton Summer Festival. When she is released the next day, she discovers that the film in her camera was destroyed. Marshall Hogan, owner/editor-in-chief of the Clarion investigates possible corruption in the Ashton police department.

Marshall goes to the town police station/courthouse and confronts Alf Brummel, the police chief, about the arrest. Brummel denies any wrongdoing on behalf of the police department and insists it was all a mistake. Marshall leaves, not believing Brummel's story, and continues his investigation.

As the investigation continues, Marshall discovers that there are a number of new members of the board of regents at Whitmore College (where his daughter attends), all somehow connected to the New-Age movement. There are also rumors that the college is about to be sold to the mysterious Omni Corporation.

Just as Marshall begins to put the pieces together, he is falsely arrested for abusing his daughter. While in jail, he meets with Hank Busche, a pastor at the Ashton Community Church. Busche was arrested on false rape charges. As the two talk, they compare experiences and discover that the Omni Corporation is trying to take over the town.

Hank and Marshall are both released from jail and contact the FBI. The head of the Omni Corporation is arrested, and the demons are destroyed.

Critical Reviews

The novel has been the subject of both literary and theological criticism. On literary grounds several reviewers such as Irving Hexham and James R. Lewis suggest that the novel fits into the genre of horror. Reviewers such as Steve Rabey and Michael Maudlin appreciate the novel's complex multi-layered plot. However, they find the novel's characters typecast in simplistic roles of good versus bad. Other criticisms raised concern redundant passages in the novel, stilted dialogue and poor grammar.

Authority figures within the disciplines of Christian missions, such as A. Scott Moreau and Paul Hiebert, detect a dualist cosmology in the novels that is influenced by Zoroastrian and mystery religion myths. These critics also argue that the novel's depiction of angelic-demonic combat and spiritual warfare techniques are tinged with animist ideas. Christian apologists such as Kim Riddlebarger and Dean Halverson find the portrait of New Age spirituality to be exaggerated and unreliable. Ross Clifford and Philip S. Johnson claim that the conspiracy theory employed in the novel rests on a discredited interpretation of New Age.

The New Testament scholar Robert Guelich finds the biblical metaphor of spiritual warfare has nothing to do with combat with demons, and argues that the novel's view of spiritual warfare is seriously at odds with those passages in the gospel accounts and Paul's epistles that refer to spiritual conflict and demons. J. Lanier Burns faults the novel in its weak understanding of personal responsibility for evil and sin, and a correspondingly poor sense of God's sovereignty.

 •  • [ e]
Works by Frank E. Peretti
Adult novels This Present Darkness • Piercing the Darkness • Tilly • • Prophet • The Oath • The Visitation • Monster • House
The Veritas Project series
(teen fiction):		 Hangman's Curse • Nightmare Academy
The Cooper Kids Adventure series
(youth fiction):		 The Door in the Dragon's Throat • Escape from the Island of Aquarius • The Tombs of Anak • Trapped at the Bottom of the Sea • The Deadly Curse of Toco-rey • The Secret of the Desert Stone • The Legend of Annie Murphy • Mayday at Two Thousand Five Hundred Feet
Non-fiction: The Wounded Spirit • No More Victims • No More Bullies
Video series: The Wild and Wacky World of Mr. Henry
Films: Hangman's Curse • The Visitation • House

External links

A Christian novel is any novel that expounds and illustrates a Christian world view in its plot, its characters, or both. Any novel that deals with Christian themes in a positive way could also be Christian novel.

Twentieth century proponents of the form would include G.K.
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Frank E. Peretti
Born: January 13 1951(1951--)
Canada
Occupation: Christian Author
Nationality: Canadian
Genres: Christian fiction

Frank E.
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19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1950s  1960s  1970s  - 1980s -  1990s  2000s  2010s
1983 1984 1985 - 1986 - 1987 1988 1989

Year 1986 (MCMLXXXVI
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angel (Lat. angelus, pl. angeli) is a supernatural being found in many religions. In Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism, angels, as attendants or guardians to man, typically act as messengers from God.
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demon (or daemon, dæmon, daimon from Greek: δαίμων [ðaïmon]) is a supernatural being that has generally been described as a malevolent spirit, and in Christian terms it is generally understood as a Fallen angel, formerly of
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Prayer is the act of attempting to communicate, commonly with a sequence of words, with a deity or spirit for the purpose of worshiping, requesting guidance, requesting assistance, confessing sins, or to express one's thoughts and emotions.
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For the NES game, see Spiritual Warfare


There are various opinions and definitions for Spiritual Warfare, however it can be summed up in the following quote:
"Some speak of [Spiritual Warfare as being] the struggle between good and evil.

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B-side(s) Small Town (Acoustic Version)
Released 1985
Format 45 record
Recorded 1985
Genre Rock
Length 3:42
Label Riva Records
Writer(s) John Mellencamp
Producer(s) ???
Certification ???
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The abbreviation CBA can refer to:

Associations

  • California Bluegrass Association
  • Canadian Bankers Association
  • Canadian Bar Association
  • Canadian Booksellers Association
  • Chicago Bar Association
  • Christian Booksellers Association

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Territorial Spirits are thought to be demons who rule over certain geographical areas in the world.

This belief has been popularized by the novel This Present Darkness, as well as by the ministry of C. Peter Wagner.
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Epistle to the Ephesians is one of the books of the Bible in the New Testament.[1] Paul is traditionally said to have written the letter while he was in prison in Rome (around 62 A.D.).
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English Standard Version

Full name: English Standard Version

Abbreviation: ESV

Complete Bible published: 2001

Derived from: Revised Standard Version
Textual Basis: 19% deviation from Nestle-Aland 27th edition (NT)
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19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1950s  1960s  1970s  - 1980s -  1990s  2000s  2010s
1985 1986 1987 - 1988 - 1989 1990 1991

Year 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII
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Piercing the Darkness, published in 1988, is a sequel to Frank E. Peretti's novel This Present Darkness. It shows contemporary views on angels, demons, prayer and the spiritual realm.
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Irving Hexham (April 14, 1943) is Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He is married to Karla Poewe who is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Calgary, and is the father of two children, Jeremy and Janet.
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For other uses, see Dualism (disambiguation).


Dualism is the view that two fundamental concepts exist, such as good and evil, light and dark, or male and female. Often, they oppose each other.
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Religious cosmologies are ways of explaining the history and evolution of the universe based, at least in part, on the acceptance of principles that cannot be justified by accepted scientific arguments (those are otherwise generally considered via physical cosmology).
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Zoroastrianism is the religion and philosophy based on the teachings ascribed to the prophet Zoroaster (Zarathustra, Zartosht). Mazdaism is the religion that acknowledges the divine authority of Ahura Mazda, proclaimed by Zoroaster to be the one uncreated Creator of
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The term Animism is derived from the Latin anima, meaning "soul".[1][2] In its most general sense, animism is simply the belief in souls. In this general sense, animism is present in nearly all religions.
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For other uses, see New Age (disambiguation).


New Age is the term commonly used to designate the broad movement of late 20th century and contemporary Western culture, characterised by an eclectic and individual approach to spiritual
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Ross Clifford (born 1951) is an Australian Baptist theologian, political commentator, radio personality and author. A former lawyer who later joined the ministry, Clifford became a campaigner on moral issues while a suburban Sydney pastor in the 1980s.
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Frank E. Peretti
Born: January 13 1951(1951--)
Canada
Occupation: Christian Author
Nationality: Canadian
Genres: Christian fiction

Frank E.
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Piercing the Darkness, published in 1988, is a sequel to Frank E. Peretti's novel This Present Darkness. It shows contemporary views on angels, demons, prayer and the spiritual realm.
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Tilly is a novella by Christian fiction author Frank E. Peretti. Originally written as a radio drama for Focus on the Family in 1986, Peretti published it was a book in 1988. Tilly was made into a short forty-minute film in 2002 by Love Life America.
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Prophet is a Christian novel by Frank E. Peretti published in 1992. It tells the story about how the media covers the abortion issue.

Plot Overview

The main character, John Barrett, is a television news anchor.
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The Oath is an allegorical 1995 contemporary Christian fiction horror/fantasy novel by Frank E. Peretti. The recipient of the 1996 ECPA Gold Medallion Book Award for Best Fiction, The Oath
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The Visitation is a 1999 contemporary Christian novel by Frank Peretti. Taking place in the fictional wheat town of Antioch, located in eastern Washington, The Visitation
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Monster is a novel written in 2005 by Frank E. Peretti. It tells a story of a horrifying predator who terrorizes the woods of northern Idaho. The story deals with views on evolution, beneficial mutation, and natural selection.
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House
Author Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker
Country United States
Language English
Genre(s) Novel
Publisher WestBow Press (USA)
Publication date 2006
Media type Print (Hardback and Paperback)
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The Veritas Project is a short-lived Christian science fiction series of books written by Frank E. Peretti and targeted towards teenagers.

Overview

The Veritas Project is a government-funded team that investigates supernatural occurrences and crimes around the
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