Book Review - Michael Leehan - Ascent From Darkness

Many Christians go through their walk without ever really considering the idea of spiritual warfare as something real and tangible.  Even though the Bible clearly tells us that's where our battlefield is, a lot of people push that to the back of their minds as being some kind of metaphor.

Michael Leehan knows better.  In his book Ascent from Darkness: How Satan's Soldier Became God's Warrior, he takes the reader on a real-life, painstakingly chronicled journey of his commitment to satanism, a commitment which consumed over twenty years of his life.  Far from the Hollywood-stereotype goatskin pants-wearing, bonfire-dancing "devil worshipper," Michael was a family man, a business man, and even a close friend to many Christian men.  However, he openly gave his life over to Satan at an early age, intentionally disrupted the work of churches, sowed discord among congregations, an preyed on "lukewarm" Christian women.

Anyone who has been involved in spiritual warfare will immediately recognize the honesty and truth in Leehan's description of his spiritual encounters.  Others might know many of the same types of people he runs into in various churches around the country.  There is a lot that is familiar here.  Still, some of the scenes Leehan stages literally had my heart pounding in my chest. There were times I would read multiple chapters at a time, because I could not put the book down.  Indeed, I read the whole thing in four sittings.  It was that engrossing.