Book Review: Ascent from Darkness

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You need to read this book. If I could buy everyone I know a copy, I would. I can’t.

But I’m going to buy somebody one. Details below on how you can win it.

Ascent From Darkness is Michael Leehan’s story, and I can almost guarantee you’ve never heard or read a story like this one.

Ascent from Darkness will remove blinders. If you’re a Christian, it will equip you. If you’re a Satanist, it will show you what’s really going on. (I know you think you know, but I dare you to read it.) If you’re an atheist, or of another faith/religion, it will challenge you and – hopefully – give you the courage to ask some hard questions.

Michael gave himself to the devil as a young man in a lot of pain. He tells a very honest story of the pleasure and power he got from Satanism. He details what he remembers of rituals and spiritual encounters, assignments, and experiences. He writes candidly about the struggle that developed and deepened within him, about the times he knew he was wrong but chose pleasure and power and submission to darkness.

The stories he tells along the way will change you because they will change the way you see the world. Some of it is almost too extraordinary to believe.

Like the assignment to murder Pastor Craig Groeschel, as mentioned in the video below. The first time I saw it I thought, “Okay. He thought about it, maybe formed a loose plan, but whatever.” Truth: he spent a year studying the security at that church until he was given the date that the assignment was to be carried out. He knew exactly how to do it. As he sat, armed, in the lobby that morning he was certain he wouldn’t be alive for more than a couple more hours.

It’s intense.

A dozen times I thought it couldn’t get any worse for Michael, but it kept getting worse. And as I finished each chapter I thought, “Okay, here comes the turn-around,” but it kept not coming.

Then, finally, I cried through the last chapter of the book. Michael describes how the Father encountered him, and pulled him from the deepest darkness a human being could experience on earth. (I don’t even mean I was sniffling and teary-eyed: I pretty much sobbed.) Michael’s deliverance is an amazing lesson/reminder of God’s amazing power and love.

If you are a passionate believer, read this book: It will encourage and equip you. If you are a new or lukewarm believer, read this book: It will inspire and ground you. If you are a Satanist, it will teach and free you. If you are an atheist, Muslim, Hindu, Buddist, etc., it will challenge you.

I don’t know how anyone could come away from Michael Leehan’s story unchanged. The way you see the world, God, evil, religion, and your faith – whatever it is – will be rocked.

So, want a free copy? I’m going to buy one for someone. Here’s how you can throw your name in the hat:

Leave a comment. In the comment you must (1) promise me you’ll read it, and (2) promise me you’ll lend it out to anyone who will read it until it’s so dilapidated that it falls apart. I’ll randomly select one comment on Monday (the 19th) evening and email the winner for a mailing address.

Video: Mike Leehan

I just got his autobiography, Ascent from Darkness, from BookSneeze. Pretty amazing stuff so far.

Book Review: Has God Spoken?

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Scores of apologetic works line bookstore shelves these days (where bookstores still exist). Hank Hanegraaff wrote one of a different spirit, however, than any of the others in my experience (which, I’ll grant, is limited).

My issue with most apologetic works lies in identifying the audience. Who does the apologist write for? Some maintain that they write for the atheist, the skeptic, but how many atheists really peruse Amazon.com for a book that sets out to prove them wrong? Maybe a few, and I applaud them.

Other apologists seem to write for believers. They assume a certain level of faith, they default to God is God when they can’t resolve an issue, etc. Some of this invaluably builds-up the faith of believers, but unless they make a serious study of it they can’t regurgitate much of the information.

Enter Has God Spoken? Hanegraaff writes for the believer talking to the skeptic. He seems to know that most atheists will not pull his book off a shelf, and he knows by experience – as host of the Bible Answer Man program – that most believers find themselves ill-equipped to defend the integrity of the scripture. Hanegraaff presents sound arguments, great history, and a strategy to help the reader remember what she reads.

Hanegraaff likes acronyms. He uses them well, and after the first couple of chapters I could easily sit back and recite his main points based on the acronyms he provides. Whether or not he over-uses the tool by the end of the book, each reader may decide. I lost track, although anyone serious about learning the material would probably be able to make the most of all the acronyms with little trouble.

The book in its entirety fleshes out his main acronym, MAPS. He uses MAPS, “to place in your mind the four-part line of reasoning by which you can demonstrate that the Bible is diving as opposed to merely human in origin” (xv). Manuscript Copies, Archaeologist’s Spade, Prophetic Stars, Scriptural Lights.

The last word of each of those breaks down further. To help you remember what is so special about Manuscript Copies, he assigns COPIES to Copyist practices, Oral culture, Papyrus and parchment, Internal evidence, External evidence, and Science of textual criticism. SPADE, STARS, AND LIGHTS all break down to help the apologetics student defend each of their arguments as well. A couple of the chapters have even more acronyms. It might be comical, if it didn’t work so well.

Do you read apologetics? What’s your favorite book or resource?