Make religion real and helpful
Some of you may remember Frank Peretti, that rock-'em, sock-'em author who brought us legions of vicious demons who attacked little towns and beat up the religious people.
Those books were so much fun some people began to take them seriously; an entire "movement of God" sprang up in churches and prayer groups. The praying participants called it "spiritual warfare," and little enclaves of piety began praying against the demons allegedly hanging around various cities and towns in the United States.
You remember Peretti's books, "Piercing the Darkness," "This Present Darkness," "The Oath," and now, his latest, "The Visitation" (Word Publishing, $24.99).
Every one of his books has been described as a page-turner, and they are not easy to put down once you've read the first chapter. A good storyteller, Peretti digs into his past as a Pentecostal preacher to find the most compelling aspects of a yarn.
Over the years, Peretti has been the golden star of the Christian book business. His blockbusters have sold better than many secular novels and so much better than almost any other Christian book that it's not worth talking about.
But inside this man is a questioning spirit, and he does not necessarily approve of the excess emotion surrounding his novels. Talk about armies of demons preying upon our modern cities makes him smile. He says he is a Pentecostal, but "I'm not very noisy." And he says some religion today must be thoroughly examined before he can buy the concept or the people in the pulpit.
"The gifts of the spirit are real -- when they're legitimate," Peretti said. "It's one of those big kinds of questions. You have to be able to ask uncomfortable questions such as, 'How do I know that is true?' But our churches tell us, 'You have to believe.'
"Then a sister gets up and goes on and on speaking tongues, and you can hear that she's repeating the same phrase over and over. But then the interpretation comes, and it doesn't match the enthusiasm. But you're not allowed to ask. Or a brother gets up and says he was healed but you can't ask questions. Or a sister gets slain in the spirit -- falls over backward in a dead faint -- but she does that every time, and you're not supposed to ask any questions. You can't ask, 'How do we know that's true?'"
Of course, we don't know if those religious experiences are true. They could be figments of some zealot's imagination or they could be just a matter of habit.
Peretti calls these experiences "binkies or nonnies," little things with which kids play. "They make people feel close to God," he said. "And they live from experience to experience, feeling close to God through outside objects. And a sister says, 'I have to bring my dancing shoes, 'cause if we don't dance then God hasn't visited us.' All you can hope for is they will live long enough and trust Jesus long enough that they will find a relationship with God."
Peretti's current bestseller, "The Visitation," is about a small community in the Pacific Northwest that is visited by angels, by messianic images and a weeping crucifix that allegedly heals. All of that spiritual power lands on Travis Jordan, a burned-out former pastor who wants to leave his past behind. But in great dramatic bites, Peretti tears apart the little world where Jordan is attempting to hide. You will find the results astounding.
The people in Peretti's latest book are not running from demons. In truth, they are running from themselves: the lies they have told, the bungling they have accomplished, the mistakes they have denied and the fraud they have perpetrated. Just as it does in real life, those human foibles eventually come home to roost.
If you have been asking rude questions in church -- such as "How do I know that is true?" -- this book may set you on edge for good. You may begin to ask questions more like, "How do I know this is true, please?" And it may drive you to make some demands, such as "Please let me see something that applies to my life."
Peretti doesn't want you to dump religion. But he expects that mature people will do what they can to make it real and helpful.
Clark D. Morphew
9-4-99
