Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!ginosko!usc!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: sdeering@athena.mit.edu (Scott E Deering) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: This Present Darkness Message-ID: Date: 22 Oct 89 17:33:40 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lines: 87 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu Hey everyone! I was wondering if anyone has read "This Present Darkness" or the sequal "Piercing the Darkness" by Frank Peretti (sp?). I just finished them and wanted to find out what other people think about them. I thought they were great; some of the best fiction I have ever read, secular or non-secular. The book was eye-opening in terms of spiritual warfare and for me it really drove home the seriousness of and need for consistent prayer, especially intercessory prayer. This was the kind of book that can spur you on to start praying and seeking God in a serious way once you begin to understand the meaning behind Ephesians 6 "We fight not against flesh blood but against principalities...". I had heard this passage taught several times before, but this was the first time I really began to see why saints need to pray and keep praying. It helped me in a time where I didn't "feel" like praying and my time spent with the Lord was suffering from the lack of power and peace I had once walked in. It was a time of spiritual apathy where you search for an understanding of why God commands us to do things (like prayer and worship). I had heard from many people, "You should always pray...", but for me it didn't strike home like it needed to for me to really motivate myself when no one was reminding me to. It was really a question of maturity and a sense of responsibility and purpose in light of what God has provided. I guess that we all reach a place in our spiritual maturity where you have to decide for yourself what the character of your walk will be and just how close to God you want to get. It's a question of will I passively sit by and do absolutely nothing or will I be like David and seek God with all my heart. Pastors and preachers can preach about prayer or whatever for years ,but until you really reach a place where you understand it and make a serious decision, the reality of the situation doesn't grab you. This is not a condemnation of anyone(aside from myself), but is a bit of personal testimony about how God is moving in my life and changing me for the better. He used this book to open my eyes, forcing me to examine the seriousness and earnestness of my relationship with him. He also used it to show me that I am in the midst of a spiritual war that has some very real consequences. There are only two options for any human in this conflict; be a warrior standing with God or be a prisoner of war. The prisoners of war come in two forms; those who are being used/abused by the enemy while being captives to sin and those who have been saved by God, but refuse to fight(i.e. remain neutral). The warriors are those who decide to take a stand and fight using the power and equipment that God provides for those who are redeemed by Him. The rub is that this is a war; there can be no bystanders or spectators since the goal of one side (the enemy) is the total destruction of all mankind, saved or unsaved. In other words there is no Switzerland and no neutrality; a person who refuses to fight or acknowledge that there even is a fight is simply a juicy target for a pounding or at least imprisonment for later torture. In terms of my apathy I realized that I couldn't play games with God and that I had to be serious about my life and my relationship to Him. This is not a depressing thought (being closeto God is better than anything else I have ever experienced), but it is a sobering one. While I don't look for an attack of the enemy under every bush, I do have to recognize that I am at war spiritually and that I do have a enemy striving to do me in. While I fight the good fight of my faith, the important thing is to rejoice with the fact that my name is written in heaven forever and that I have the victory in Christ(Luke 10:19-20). Well, this started out as a short post about the books, but I really wanted to find about some of the ideas and issues they raised. I have been blessed by them and want to find out what types of reactions other people have had to them. I'll probably post a review of the first (with hidden spoilers of course :-))sometime soon if anyone wants to hear about it and I hope to have some interesting discussions with whoever is interested. Bye for now... Scott Deering sdeering@athena.mit.edu 613-726-0014 856 Grenon Avenue Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K2B 6G3