This Present Darkness

“My arrest! I was trying to explain who I was to the cop, I was trying to show him my press card, he only took my purse and camera away from me and handcuffed me, and I looked over toward the dart throwing booth again and I saw Brummel watching. He ducked out of sight right away, but I swear I saw him watching the whole thing! Marshall, I went over this all last night, I replayed it and replayed it, and I think…well, I don’t know what to think, but it has to mean something.”

Bernice is new in town, but she is already beginning to get a feel for the local characters. As a journalist, she is used to working with law enforcement, and so her assessment of Brummel is evidence of her being a good judge of character. Her false imprisonment is the first domino in the investigation that will lead to the discovery of the plot to take over Ashton. It also functions as a frame for the narrative structure since the novel begins and ends with people being falsely imprisoned and eventually set free.

“Brummel was ecstatic, and shot out his hand to shake on it. As Marshall took the hand and they shook, he almost felt he had sold part of his soul. Did Marshall Hogan really say all that? I must be tired, he thought. Before he knew it, he was standing outside Brummel’s door. Apparently their meeting was over.”

Marshall begins his meeting with Brummel in a rage, intent on asserting himself as a major player in the town, but leaves in a state of self-doubt. Thanks to his ability to draw on the hypnotic powers of the “inner circle,” Brummel convinces Marshall to simply let his guard down and leave. Brummel will eventually abandon the group’s beliefs, but at the start of the novel, he is wrapped up in the movement and acts as a plot catalyst.

“Like a slimy black leech, the little demon clung to him, its taloned fingers entwining Marshall’s legs like parasitic tendrils, holding him back, poisoning his spirit. The yellow eyes bulged out of the gnarled face, watching him, boring into him. Marshall was feeling a deep and growing pain, and the little spirit knew it. This man was getting hard to hold down.”

Peretti’s descriptions of how the angels and demons exist and interact with the material world is inconsistent at times, but the way the demons interact with people is graphically illustrated. The demons act like paranormal parasites, attaching themselves to people and influencing their decisions and thoughts without being noticed. When humans put up resistance, however, they weaken.

“Guilo could hardly control himself. His big sword slipped with a metallic ring from its sheath, but Tal’s strong arm held him back. ‘Please, captain!’ Guilo pleaded. ‘Never before have I only watched this happen!’ ‘Bridle yourself, dear warrior,’ Tal cautioned. ‘I will strike them only once!’ Guilo could see that even Tal was severely pained by his own order: ‘Forbear. Forbear. He must go through it.’”

The presence of the angels in town is quickly demonstrated not to be a panacea; their presence won’t solve all the town’s problems. The detailed dialog and interactions emphasize the theme of The Reality of the Spiritual World. In contradistinction to the demons, who act individually without impunity, the angels have strict codes of conduct. In certain situations, as this one in which Marshall is being attacked, they follow orders to watch and wait, intervening only to save a life and nothing else, allowing humans to be tested.

“Marshall was ready to be tough on himself. ‘Yeah, I can accept that, all right. I’ve been asking for it for years. I had it coming.’”

Marshall’s relationship with his daughter has been strained for years and was part of the reason for the family moving to Ashton in the first place. However, up to this point, Marshall’s been unable to change his behavior and habits. Finally faced with the reality of losing his daughter, and after facing his trial with demons in the middle of the night, Marshall is beginning to see what is most important in life. His conversion does not happen immediately, but this admission is the first step in the process that will be consummated in the final chapters of the book.

“She took it as a compliment. ‘And have you looked over that flyer of elective courses Langstrat is teaching?’ Marshall picked it up from his desk and could only shake his head incredulously. ‘What in blazes is all this stuff? “Introduction to God and Goddess Consciousness and the Craft: the divinity of man, witch, warlock, the Sacred Medicine Wheel, how do spells and rituals work?” You gotta be kidding!’.”

Bernice and Marshall are investigating Juleen Langstrat and are beginning to discover that she seems to be more than a psychology professor. Finding a list of course descriptions, they discover that Langstrat is teaching far outside the field of psychology and lending respectability to the occult subjects on account of her credentials. This introduces the theme of Christian Teaching in Opposition to New Age and Occult Practices as it is the first hard evidence the two discover concerning the New Age and occult ties at the heart of the Ashton conspiracy. In turn, this alerts Marshall to their potentially negative influences on his daughter.

“The telephone rang. Time froze. The bedroom registered on her retinas. The telephone rang. She was in her bedroom. There was blood on the floor. The telephone rang. The knife fell from her hands. She could hear voices, angry voices. The telephone rang. She was on her knees on the floor of her bedroom. She had cut her finger. The phone was still ringing. She called out hello, but it still rang. ‘I won’t fail you,’ she said to her visitors. ‘Leave me. I won’t fail you.’ The telephone rang.”

While the novel is not in the horror genre, there are moments that inject a sense of dread into the narrative. Here, the use of the repeating ringing telephone drives home the relentless nature of the forces into which Langstrat has tapped and which refuse to leave her alone.

“OLIVER YOUNG WAS a real showman; he could work an audience right down to each tear or titter and time it so well that they became just so many puppets on a string. He would stand behind the pulpit with incredible dignity and poise, and his words were so well-chosen that whatever he was saying had to be right.”

Oliver is set up as an ideological foil to Hank, and he is characterized as possessing many personality traits that Hank lacks. Oliver’s rhetorical and charismatic gifts allow him to lead his congregation to believe his words, whether or not they align with Christian teachings.

“Rafar tapped the ground with his sword, and Triskal immediately felt the iron hands of two demons clamping his arms from behind. He looked toward Mary. She was looking for the key to the car door. She was getting into the car. Another demon stretched out his sword and pierced the hood of the car. Mary tried to start the engine. Nothing happened.”

When angels and demons are interacting with one another and with humans as well, their interactions are differently ordered. The angels and demons have to specifically choose to interact with humans, otherwise they are invisible and incapable of being detected by the senses. Here, the choice is to intentionally cause damage to the car engine, accomplished easily by the greater power of the demons in comparison with human beings.

“Tom swung the little gate open at the end of the counter and Carmen followed him into the office area. ‘Let me show you what the devil’s going on here,’ he said.”

The reader is aware of Carmen’s vague intentions thanks to her interaction with Hank and Mary in a previous chapter, and so the reader may question what her intentions are here in searching for a job at the paper where Bernice and Marshall are conducting their investigations. When the reader later discovers Carmen’s betrayal, the turn of phrase involving the “devil” becomes a moment of foreshadowing in regard to her intentions.

“The Universal Consciousness Society is holding a special fund-raising and promotional dinner in New York for its many cohorts and members in the United Nations […]. She’ll be closely escorted, but this will be the one time she’ll be out from under the Strongman’s demonic cover. The Spirit knows she plans to get away and make contact with one remaining friend on the outside […].You must arrange for her to succeed.”

Here, the angel speaks of “the Spirit,” referring to the Holy Spirit, and the angels are the ones who God has ordained to carry out this mission. The Spirit is only referred to sparingly, but each time it is in the context of arranging a particular plan and giving commands.

“HANK STARTED THE Sunday morning service with a good rousing song, one Mary performed on the piano particularly well. Both were in good spirits and feeling encouraged; in spite of the approaching sounds of battle, they sensed that God in His infinite wisdom was indeed working out a very mighty and effective plan.”

The Ashton church may seem small, but it is not out of the ordinary in regard to its numbers and influence. Part of Peretti’s characterization of Hank and Mary is that they are very normal and typical small-town Christians.

“The fervency slowly began to rise; the prayers became more and more earnest. Someone started a simple song of worship and those who knew it sang, while those who didn’t know it learned it. In the rafters the angels sang along, their voices smooth and flowing like cellos and basses in a symphony.”

The interaction between the angels and humans is even less than the interaction the humans have with the demons. Rarely do the angels directly intervene or interact with the people they are guarding and guiding, but Peretti demonstrates the Christian understanding of worship here by depicting the angels and humans praying and singing together even when the humans don’t realize it.

“Marshall could feel it, just as strongly as before: that fierce, gut-wrenching terror he had felt that other night. He tried to shake it off, tried to ignore it, but it was there. His palms were slick with sweat; he felt weak. He looked around for a weapon and grabbed a fireplace poker. Keep your back to the wall, Hogan, keep quiet, look out for blind corners. It was dark in here, the shadows were very black.”

A skeptic, Marshall is in the midst of investigating what Ted Harmel has to say and doesn’t quite know what to think of it. He assumes that there’s been an intruder, or that something is amiss, and only realizes that he feels scared. This is his second experience in the novel of the supernatural, and he seems far more sensitive to detecting the presence of evil in the house than he had been previously when a similar demonic attack happened directly to him. This is due to his growing acceptance of faith.

“‘Bobby,’ said Hank, bending down and speaking gently, ‘Bobby, can you hear me?’ A demon clapped his hands over Bobby’s ears. Bobby did not hear Hank’s question. Hank, hearing from the Spirit of God, knew what the demon was doing. ‘Demon, in the name of Jesus, let go of his ears.’”

Illustrated throughout the novel, there is a difference between demonic oppression and demonic possession. Many horror novels and films that have demons for antagonists depict possession, where a demon will take over the person and control them completely. Demonic oppression, however, deals with being the center of a demonic attachment without having been completely possessed. This is what is happening to Bobby, who is being directly oppressed by the demon attempting to thwart his conversion and repentance.

“Marshall kicked the door shut with his foot without looking away from all these people now gathered, no doubt to have it out with him. Oliver Young was there, as was Judge Baker, County Comptroller Irving Pierce, Fire Marshall Frank Brady, Detective Spence Nelson from Windsor, a few other men Marshall didn’t recognize, and finally the mayor of Ashton, David Steen.”

Marshall had been tracking Oliver, Brummel, and others for some time at this point. Bursting into the room now, however, he finds that the conspiracy has roots even wider and deeper than he had first expected; He comes to find out that practically the entire town infrastructure is in league against him (and all those who opposed Omnicorp’s plans).

“Andy was clear and direct. ‘Bobby, you need to have the Holy Spirit in your life. You need Jesus if you want to stay free of those things.’ ‘I’m ready, man, I’m ready!’ Bobby said. Right then and there, Bobby Corsi became a new creation.”

The language of becoming a “new creation” is taken from the Bible, specifically the Second Letter to the Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come” (Revised Standard Version). Though different Christian denominations have interpreted this verse differently, all agree that true allegiance to Jesus and the Christian faith results in the person becoming a brand new person.

“There stood Lou Stanley, together with his wife Margie. They were holding hands. Lou smiled timidly and asked, ‘Hi, Hank. Is this where you’re holding the prayer meeting?’ Hank believed again in miracles.”

The catalyst for the tension in Ashton to begin with had been Hank’s decision to excommunicate Lou on account of his infidelity, but excommunication always comes with the proviso for repentance and admittance back into the church community. It is a rehabilitative act, meant to encourage the person to do the right thing and act morally. Finding Lou at his doorstep was the intended goal of Hank’s initial act; Lou’s voluntary choosing to be faithful, making the right decision, and rejoining the church.

“TAL REACHED THE mountains and soared up their steep face, climbing, climbing, easing back his speed. He continued to slow as he neared the top, and then, just as he crested the summit, he stopped all motion and all sound, and let himself glide down the other side silently, invisibly.”

The novel is not a work of theology, and the description of how angels move around in the world is meant to be conducive to the plot. Classical Christian teaching on angels is that they are immaterial creatures, and even if they choose to be manifest as visible creatures on occasion, they are not bound by the same physical restraints as humans. The idea that an angel would need to change speeds as they moved is a descriptive device to dramatize the novel’s events and not based on the Bible’s description of angels.

“It was scary hearing his very words coming out of the machine, words that could tell the Network anything and everything.”

Marshall suspected the office was tapped, but finding incontrovertible proof gave him the ability to ask for help in taking down the company. It was also the apex of his own personal danger, as he now risks the corporation silencing him.

“She could not distinguish her physical pain and sickness from her emotional exhaustion and despair. A few times she got confused and lost her bearings and couldn’t make out any of the street signs, and it was then that she almost cried, slumping against a fence or a wall. But she remembered Marshall throwing himself into the jaws of those lions for her sake, and she couldn’t let him down.”

At the climax of the novel, both Marshall and Hank end up in jail, but Bernice escapes thanks to Marshall’s act of self-sacrifice in allowing himself to get caught. Bernice is inspired by Marshall’s sacrifice, eventually ending up back at her car from which she grabs some spare change and limps up the road. Her resilience and refusal to be defeated emphasizes the theme of Personal Responsibility and Moral Corruption.

“‘Marshall,’ Hank said excitedly, unable to sit still, ‘this is of God! Our being here is no accident. Our enemies meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. He’s brought the two of us together just so we could meet, just so we could put the whole thing together.’”

A fundamental core of Christian teaching is that God works all things out for the good eventually—even through the bad intentions of others. This is part of the doctrine of divine providence and is something Hank believes intently. Marshall is introduced to the reality here in prison, where he can no longer continue to believe in pure chance and coincidence, especially when he has been affected by various miraculous and fortuitous events throughout the narrative.

“But the Strongman could feel the presence of the Lord God enter the room with this man. The demon monarch knew who this was. ‘Busche! The praying man!’ And Hank knew whom he faced. The Spirit was crying it out very loudly within Hank’s heart, and that face…‘The Strongman, I presume!’ said Hank.”

The battle’s tide turns whenever the demons are opposed by the humans and angels together. With Hank entering the room charged with the power of God—through the Holy Spirit—the Strongman recognizes that he is clearly outmatched. Under his own power, Hank would be overpowered easily; but since he is under the direct influence of the Spirit and accompanied by angelic warriors, he presents as a formidable foe even to the most powerful demon in the story.