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208 Peretti, Frank E.
The climax of the confrontation in This
Present Darkness provides us with a good example
of how this “prayer power” is supposed to work.
In the final scene of the battle, Tal, leader of the
angelic host, crosses swords with Rafar, leader of
the demonic forces. At the same time, the
remnant of God’s human “warriors” engaged in
the earthly struggle are distracted by the dramatic
damage inflicted by their crusade. This distraction
interrupts the flow of “power” to Tal, so that
Rafar almost gets the better of him. At the last
possible moment, these Christians feel impressed
by the Lord to direct their prayer power against
the demon:
[Event in spiritual realm:]
Tal could only back away from the fearsome
onslaught of the demon prince, his one good
hand still holding his sword up for defense.
Rafar kept swinging and slashing, the sparks
flying from the blades as they met. Tal’s arm
sank lower with each blow. “The Lord . . .
rebuke you!” Tal found the breath to say
again.
[Appropriate Christian “prayer” response,
intuited by an elderly lady:]
Edith Duster was on her feet and ready to
shout it to the heavens. “Rafar, you wicked
prince of evil, in the name of Jesus we rebuke
you!”
[Effect of “prayer energy” in spiritual realm:]
Rafar’s blade zinged over Tal’s head. It
missed.
[Further “prayer” action in physical realm:]
“We bind you!” shouted the Remnant.
[Effect in spiritual realm:]
The big yellow eyes winced.
[Action in physical realm:]
“We cast you out!” Andy said.
[Effect in spiritual realm:]
There was a puff of sulfur, and Rafar bent
over. Tal leaped to his feet.
[Action in physical realm:]
“We rebuke you, Rafar!” Edith shouted
again.
[Effect in spiritual realm:]
Rafar screamed. Tal’s blade had torn him
open.
While Christians have always believed in the
power of prayer, the Darkness novels picture
prayer as having a fantastic, magical efficacy
against fallen angels. Such dramatic invocations
of God’s power—resembling exorcisms more
than prayers—provide the paradigms for evangelistic
campaigns, such as those of Larry Lea.
Lea, a popular televangelist and a leading proponent
of “spiritual warfare,” leads public gatherings
at which Christian “prayer warriors” rebuke
the devil, brandish imaginary swords, and speak
in tongues. Peretti’s vision of the nature of spiritual
combat has thus powerfully influenced
certain segments of the conservative Christian
community.
Peretti is a gifted writer, who is able to weave
together believable, this-worldly stories with
fantastic, “Dungeons and Dragons” struggles
between otherworldly angels and demons. The
results of this skillful juxtaposition are novels with
an eerie narrative landscape that evangelical
scholar Irving Hexham (1992) has described as
“sanctified Stephen King.” Peretti’s art has created
an exciting narrative world, imaginatively transforming
the realm of the ordinary and the everyday
into a kind of real-life Dungeons and Dragons
game, replete with supernatural phenomena,
psychic intuitions, quasi-magical powers, and
sword-swinging warriors. A fascination with the
occult is evident in Peretti’s descriptions of
demons: “He was like a high-strung little gargoyle,
his hide a slimy, bottomless black, his body thin
and spiderlike: half humanoid, half animal, totally
demon. Two huge yellow cat-eyes bulged out of
his face, darting to and fro, peering, searching. His
breath came in short, sulfurous gasps, visible as
glowing yellow vapor.” Although Christians have
traditionally believed in the guidance of the Holy
Spirit, the picture Peretti draws of highly personal
angels conveying guidance to the minds of God’s
saints makes Christian inspiration more lively and
dramatic. Peretti also pictures angels as capable of
materializing to help God’s chosen, as in This
Present Darkness when the angel Betsy materializes
to give one of the heroines, Bernice Krueger, a
short motorcycle ride. Once Bernice has reached
her destination, Betsy evaporates like some figure
out of an occult novel. As with many of the events