This Present Darkness

I am reading this book from the 80's called "This Present Darkness" It
is pretty interesting. There are things I find helpful,
interesting,and even challenging; there are also things in it I find a
little disingenuous, ridiculous, or even deceptive.

It is a novel from a Christian perspective about how God works in the
world through unseen messengers or angels - and also how the devil
works similarly...

I think that calling Christians to prayer and connection with God out
of a recognition of the real demonic forces at work in our world is
always a helpful thing; and some of the descriptions he provides of
how those forces can work on us I think are telling - kind of like how
C.S. Lewis' "Screwtape Letters" does as well.

However, there is a mood of pride and arrogance in the theology of the
author and the protagonists that I think is destroying much of the
potential for evangelism in the American church. In the book, the evil
people are the educated, teachers, philosophers, politicians, and
mainstream Christians. Over and over again, they are labeled as
"liberal" and the evil comes out of "eastern religions". Now I don't
sponsor Buddhism as the best way of life or anything - but
Christianity itself grew out of the Eastern world - and to
characterize 'liberalism' as being satanic is a bit over the top I
think...Especially when its intentionally compared to the 'holy'
self-described fundamentalism of the book's protagonist.

I personally appreciate what the psychologist Victor Frankyl says in
his book "Man's Search for Meaning": "...there are two races of men in
this world, but only these two - the race of decent men and the race
of indecent men. Both are found everywhere; they penetrate into all
groups of society. No group consists entirely of decent or indecent
people. In this sense, no group is of "pure race"...

Pride is what led many of the Jewish people to miss the point when
Jesus came the first time; and pride is leading many Christians to
miss the point similarly today. I think what the book fails to
recognize is that 'all truth is God's truth', and that God is present
and working throughout the world in many ways - even beyond the
reaches of Christianity - even (dare I say) in spite of Christianity
at time.

May we all be living and working for God's kingdom - regardless of our
location spiritually.