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Frank E. Peretti (b. January 13, 1951) is a novelist who focuses primarily on Christian topics, especially those surrounding spiritual warfare. He has also been a minister licensed to preach in the Assemblies of God churches. He was born in Canada and raised in Seattle, Washington. Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... January 13 is the 13th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1951 (MCMLI) was a common year starting on Monday; see its calendar. ... Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. ... In English usage, nationality is the legal relationship between a person and a country. ... A literary genre is one of the divisions of literature into genres according to particular criteria such as literary technique, tone, or content. ... Christian literature is writing that deals Christian themes and incorporates the Christian worldview. ... A novel is an extended work of written, narrative, prose fiction, usually in story form; the writer of a novel is a novelist. ... Christians believe that Jesus is the mediator of the New Covenant (see Hebrews 8:6). ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Currently the Assemblies of God USA and Assemblies of God organizations around the world make up the worlds largest Pentecostal denomination with some 51 million members and adherents. ... City nickname Emerald City City bird Great Blue Heron City flower Dahlia City mottos The City of Flowers The City of Goodwill City song Seattle, the Peerless City Mayor Greg Nickels County King County Area   - Total   - Land   - Water   - % water 369. ... “Washington State” redirects here. ...

(He is not to be confused with Dr. Frank J. Peretti, an Arkansas state medical examiner best known for his testimony in the contoversial trial of the West Memphis 3). The West Memphis 3 are three boys tried and convicted for the murders of three children in the Robin Hood Hills area of West Memphis, Arkansas, United States during 1993. ...

Peretti's early success

Peretti, an English and Film major at UCLA in the 1970s, initially became involved in Christian music as a way of combining his interests in art and faith. After a number of years, however, he switched gears, and began working on his first book, This Present Darkness. Binomial name Ucla xenogrammus Holleman, 1993 The largemouth triplefin, Ucla xenogrammus, is a fish of the family Tripterygiidae and only member of the genus Ucla, found in the Pacific Ocean from Viet Nam, the Philippines, Palau and the Caroline Islands to Papua New Guinea, Australia (including Christmas Island), and the... The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, inclusive. ... Front cover of This Present Darkness This Present Darkness, published in 1986, is a Christian novel by Frank E. Peretti. ...

In 1986, This Present Darkness was released and achieved remarkable sales success (remaining in the CBA top ten best seller list for over 150 consecutive weeks) -- its story of a demonic threat to a small town, and the Christians and angels who fend off that threat, captured the imaginations of many readers across the United States. The sequel, Piercing the Darkness (1988), was also well received. Together, the two books have sold more than 3.5 million copies to date. Another book, Prophet (1992), combined Peretti's now-signature focus on the spirit realm with the issue of abortion. 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The abbreviation CBA can refer to: Canadian Bar Association CBA, the CBC Radio One station in Moncton, New Brunswick CBA-FM, the CBC Radio Two station in Moncton Christian Brothers Academy Companhia Brasileira de Aluminio Credit Bank of Albania In basketball: the Chinese Basketball Association, the pre-eminent basketball league... This Present Darkness, published in 1986, is a Christian novel by Frank Peretti. ... 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Front cover of Prophet Prophet is a Christian novel by Frank E. Peretti published in 1992. ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ...

Developing his craft

Peretti reportedly felt bad about his early books' success -- he insisted that he had not yet developed his craft as a writer sufficiently, and began working with secular publishers and editors in an attempt to improve his writing. The result, The Oath (1995) has sold 860,000 copies worldwide, and was the recipient of the 1996 ECPA Gold Medallion Book Award for Best Fiction. The Oath left behind the world of angels and demons developed in previous books, but didn't abandon the fantastic: in it, Peretti tells the story of a fictional logging town in Washington and how a bargain its founders once made with a dark force has backfired. This article concerns secularity, that is, being secular, in various senses. ... The Oath is a 1995 novel by Frank E. Peretti. ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) is an international non-profit organization promoting excellence among Christian publishers. ... The Gold Medallion Book Award is given by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association to honor works relating to Christianity. ... “Washington State” redirects here. ...

After releasing The Visitation (1999), a story of a town in eastern Washington visited by a man who claims to be Jesus reincarnate, Peretti made a departure from writing his popular novels. In 2000, Peretti released The Wounded Spirit, an autobiographical story of his childhood struggles with physical disfigurement and an examination of how society emotionally abuses and scars children. Front cover of The Visitation The Visitation is a 1999 novel by author Frank Peretti. ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... This article is about Jesus of Nazareth. ... 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

In (2005), Peretti released Monster, a novel about a monster that is real. Continuing his path begun with The Oath and further by The Visitation he writes a story that deals less with spiritual warfare and more of a morals thriller. He explores many angles of survival of the fittest and brings up objections to evolutionary theory. According to Peretti, the book was purposely written in such a way as to represent a film^{[citation needed]}. 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Monster is a novel written in 2005 by Frank E. Peretti (often referred to as: The Stephen King of Christian Fiction). Altough Perettis call to literary fame came with his breakout 80s novels: This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness the talented author has strayed from his original... The Oath is a 1995 novel by Frank E. Peretti. ... Front cover of The Visitation The Visitation is a 1999 novel by author Frank Peretti. ... The creation-evolution controversy (also termed the creation vs. ... This article is about evolution in biology. ...

Peretti has also written two series of books for younger readers -- the Cooper Kids Adventure Series (8 books) for pre-teenagers, and the Veritas Project for teens, which has released two books to date (2004). The Veritas Project is a series of books written by Frank E. Peretti. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

On April 1st, 2006 Peretti released with co-author Ted Dekker the novel House. This latest novel appears to follow in the footsteps of his earlier works The Oath and The Visitation in its rather horror based nature, but it also incorporates the spiritual elements present in This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness. For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ...

Films of Peretti's work

Peretti's first book in the Veritas Project series, Hangman's Curse was released by Twentieth Century Fox as a film (DVD: 2004). In this film, Peretti has a small role as an eccentric professor. It was a limited release in theaters and appears to have been successful enough to encourage the film producers to continue developing Peretti's books into films. The Visitation is currently released on DVD and Video by Twentieth Century Fox. It stars Martin Donovan (Saved!) and Edward Furlong (Terminator 2: Judgment Day). Tilly was also made into a movie by a pro-life group, Love Life America in 2002 and was shown on both PAX TV and briefly on the EWTN show Defending Life. Peretti is interested in making more of his books into films and has written a screenplay for Monster. His next project will be The Oath. His newest book, House, co-authored with Ted Dekker, has been made into a movie and is in post-production^{[citation needed]}. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Martin Donovan (1957, California) is an American stage and movie actor. ... Saved! is a 2004 satirical teen comedy film written by Brian Dannelly and Michael Urban, and directed by Dannelly. ... Edward Furlong (born Edward Walter Torres on August 2, 1977 in Glendale, California) is an American actor best known for playing young John Connor in Terminator 2: Judgment Day and playing Danny Vinyard in American History X. The son of Eleanor Torres, Furlong was born in Glendale, California, near Burbank. ... Terminator 2: Judgment Day (commonly abbreviated T2) is a 1991 movie directed by James Cameron and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, and Robert Patrick. ... Tilly is a novella (only 126 pages in length) by Christian author Frank Peretti. ... Pro-life is a term representing a variety of perspectives and activist movements in bioethics. ... The PAX Network, PAX TV, PaxNet, or simply PAX, is a broadcast and cable television network formed in 1998. ... EWTN - or The Eternal Word Television Network - is a television and radio operation that broadcasts Catholic religious programming, via satellite and shortwave radio. ... Ted Dekker is a novelist currently under contract with Thomas Nelson. ...

Peretti lives with his wife in northern Idaho.

Critical Reviews

Christian book reviewers have generally praised Peretti's novels as entertaining stories with complex interwoven plots. Some critics have suggested that Peretti's novels This Present Darkness, Piercing the Darkness and The Oath belong in the genre of horror. Irving Hexham describes the novels as "sanctified Stephen King". James Lewis suggests that the novels permit Christians to "indulge in reading good horror/adventure stories without the pangs of guilt they might feel reading secular stories."

Steve Rabey indicates that This Present Darkness has an effective technique in heightening the story's tension by portraying the plot on two levels: the human to human interactions between characters, and the angelic-demonic influences. However Rabey criticized the novel for its "simplistic approach to good and evil" and its "overdone" descriptions of New Age characters.

J. Lanier Burns found the "style is engaging" with a vivid plot, but argued that This Present Darkness presented a world view that "is dualistic to an implausible, unbiblical extreme". He found a "disturbing lack of emphasis on the sovereignty of God".

Michael Maudlin appreciates the novels as supernatural thrillers with fast-paced plots. However Maudlin faults Piercing the Darkness for its "forced apologetics, stilted dialogue, and stereotyped characterizations."

Theological Criticisms

Peretti's fictional portrayal of spiritual warfare reflects in part his background in the Assemblies of God churches and the contemporary focus of Pentecostal writings on the demonic. His concept of Territorial Spirits reigning over cities is paralleled in non-fiction works in theology and missions by Pentecostal writers such as C. Peter Wagner, Larry Lea, Ed Silvoso and Ed Murphy. Currently the Assemblies of God USA and Assemblies of God organizations around the world make up the worlds largest Pentecostal denomination with some 51 million members and adherents. ... The Pentecostal movement within Protestant Christianity places special emphasis on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. ... A belief held by many Charismatic and Pentecostal Christians and promoted by Kingdom Now theology, Territorial Spirits are thought to be demons who rule over certain geographical areas in the world. ... Charles Peter Wagner (1930-) is a former professor of Church Growth at Fuller Theological Seminary School of World Mission. ...

As his novels have been widely sold and read throughout Evangelical, Charismatic and Pentecostal churches, Peretti's fiction has excited the imaginations of pastors and non-clergy alike on the subject of spiritual warfare. Michael Maudlin^{[citation needed]} reports that some readers have been so enthused they have declared that This Present Darkness is the best book ever written after the Bible. Others have added the novels to the list of text-books recommended for use in bible college courses on non-Christian religions. The word evangelicalism usually refers to religious practices and traditions which are found in conservative, almost always Protestant Christianity. ... The charismatic movement began with the adoption of certain beliefs typical of those held by Pentecostal Christians —specifically what are known as the biblical charisms of Christianity: speaking in tongues, prophesying, etc. ... The Pentecostal movement within Protestant Christianity places special emphasis on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. ...

Some critical reservations have been expressed by a number of Evangelical and Pentecostal writers that many readers are using Peretti's novels as manuals on prayer, exorcism, spiritual warfare and as guidebooks about the New Age. For example, Kim Riddlebarger expresses alarm that many readers have "redefined their entire worldview based upon a novel" and insists that the Bible does not call upon Christians to "engage in spiritual warfare as a combat between angels and demons." ("This Present Paranoia", pp 278 and 279). Saint Francis exorcised demons in Arezzo, fresco of Giotto Exorcism (from Late Latin exorcismus, from Greek exorkizein - to adjure) is the practice of evicting demons or other evil spiritual entities from a person or place of which they have possessed (taken control of). ... New Age describes a broad movement characterized by alternative approaches to traditional Western culture. ...

Irving Hexham rejects Peretti's depiction of the New Age as confirming a negative stereotype. Hexham observes that Peretti's novels reflect the anxieties that many fundamentalist and evangelical Christians have about secular society, the mass media, the social sciences and tertiary education. He is also disturbed "to see the way Frank Peretti has become a popular and oft-quoted authority on the New Age" because "his actual qualifications in religious matters are minimal." ("The Evangelical Response to the New Age", p. 157). Irving Hexham (April 14, 1943) is Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. ...

Scholars in the field of Christian missions, such as Paul G. Hiebert and A. Scott Moreau, detect an unbiblical theology of demons in the novels. Hiebert indicates that Peretti's novels reflect a much wider cultural problem, namely the lingering influence of pre-Christian religious ideology.

Children's videos

Peretti has also made a number of children's videos (and associated audio tapes and books), in which he takes on the persona of Mr. Henry, a slightly eccentric inventor and Bible teacher. While the format is unusual, it contains none of the controversial theology of his adults' books.

Bibliography

Cooper Kids Adventure Series

• Door In The Dragon's Throat (#1) (1985)
• Escape From The Island Of Aquarius (#2) (1986)
• Tombs Of Anak (#3) (1987)
• Trapped At The Bottom Of The Sea (#4) (1988)
• Secret Of The Desert Stone (#5) (1996)
• The Deadly Curse Of Toco-Rey (#6) (1996)
• The Legend Of Annie Murphy (#7) (1997)
• Mayday at Two Thousand Five Hundred Feet (#8) (1998)

Other An excellent Young Adult fiction story written by seasoned veteran of the thriller genre: Frank Peretti, Toko-rey has all the elements of an Indiana Jones tale mixed up with Stephen King fantasy/horror and tied up with a good dose of religion. ...

• This Present Darkness (1988)
• Tilly (1988)
• Piercing the Darkness (1989)
• All Is Well, The Miracle of Christmas In July (1991)
• Prophet (1992)
• The Oath (1995)
• The Visitation (1999)
• The Wounded Spirit (No More Bullies) (2000)
• The Veritas Project: Hangman's Curse (2001)
• The Veritas Project: Nightmare Academy (2002)
• Monster (2005)
• House (2006)

Front cover of This Present Darkness This Present Darkness, published in 1986, is a Christian novel by Frank E. Peretti. ... Tilly is a novella (only 126 pages in length) by Christian author Frank Peretti. ... This Present Darkness, published in 1986, is a Christian novel by Frank Peretti. ... Front cover of Prophet Prophet is a Christian novel by Frank E. Peretti published in 1992. ... The Oath is a 1995 novel by Frank E. Peretti. ... Front cover of The Visitation The Visitation is a 1999 novel by author Frank Peretti. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Please wikify (format) this article as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ... Monster is a novel written in 2005 by Frank E. Peretti (often referred to as: The Stephen King of Christian Fiction). Altough Perettis call to literary fame came with his breakout 80s novels: This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness the talented author has strayed from his original... House is a 2006 horror novel co-authored by authors Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker. ...

External links

• Official site
• Frank Peretti's blog