At first I thought "Okay, a book from a demon's perspective trying to trick humans into never finding God could be interesting." I thought this could be a clever little marketing idea and thought seeing the tricks demons use could be interesting. But when I actually started to read this book, I realized how dangerous and misleading the teachings of this book are - they destroy the character of God subtlely and almost unnoticably. Without careful discernment, the reader will miss all the clever insinuations that God is really not good. While reading this book, I felt like Satan himself wrote this to trick Christians into a false view of God and I felt this book was blasphemous and disrespectful to God. While bashing demons, this book subtely also bashes God. So while we all already know demons are bad, what good can come from a book that teaches God is "The Adversary, dishonest, a liar, not powerful, weak, sneaky, etc"?
This book is all from the first person perspective of a demon. So our "main character" is a demon and the whole book is written from his evil eyes. This idea alone isn't that dangerous because we expect the demon to be evil. The problem comes when God's character is destroyed and God is painted throughout the book as "evil" "the Adversary" "dishonest" "a liar" "a trickster" "unscrupulous" "breaking God's own rules" "not all powerful" "not in control" "helpless" etc. What good can 180+ pages of lies about God help us love and worship our God? And what's with a full page drawing of a demon on every other page? Yuk... What Christian gets enjoyment out of drawing demons? And not just one. Try like 15.
This book destroys the character of God! And I think many younger Christians will not catch the false unbiblical teachings in this book. This book pretends to teach Christian ideas but fails. It asks "Why do bad things happen to good people?" But it never gives us a real true biblical answer. In fact, it avoids the answer and claims that God permits bad things but doesn't want them. This makes God a weak god who can't even create a world that works the way He wants it to work. This is a sort of Arminianism.
Disclaimer: I received this book free of charge from the publisher but I am not required to give a positive review in exchange for the book. This is my critical review of the book as if I had bought the book with my hard earned money.
"As One Devil to Another" is a work of literary satire that exalts the work of God through a fictional correspondence between demons, whom of course oppose the work of God. A recent review posted on Amazon may help you understand the genre:
ReplyDelete"Have you read The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis? Did you enjoy a peak into such diabolical correspondence? I did. At the end of those pages I had a better understanding of the enemy that seeks to destroy. That, friends, is a positive thing, and the same can be said of Richard Platt's work As One Devil to Another.
I must admit that reading these casual (but certainly not merciful) letters between Scardagger, a Temptation University student, and his mentor and uncle, Slashreap, can unnerve a person. It is a thing to approach with caution and prayer because our depraved minds can be deceived by the words of demons. Satan is a liar and always will be. One can't forget this as they read here. This book is fiction, yes, but the premise is real:
There is a real force working against the cause of God. (Jesus is referred to as "the Adversary." It is very difficult to read that word in relationship to one's Savior, but the point is definitely driven home.)
They have a real plan.
And they use every tool possible to accomplish their goal of capturing souls for eternal damnation.
This is dark, scary stuff that is necessary to understand.
The 184 pages of this book hold a sharp indictment of our society, such as it is (and continues to become). A satire, As One Devil to Another illustrates how our "enlightenment" is the greatest tool at Satan's disposal; how he and his minions make disgusting what God intended to be beautiful; and how our own insecurities and dispositions can be malleable material for Satan if we allow it.
When I closed this book late on a Sunday night I could feel the change in my soul. Because I had allowed my eyes to flit over the darkness of Satan's work I was more prepared to fight him when my feet hit the floor the next morning. Somehow reading the lies that demons believe about Jesus (because of their own pride, I'll add) reinforced what I know to be absolutely true about my Lord. Perhaps there is a bit of irony that reading demon correspondence strengthened my faith.
I wholeheartedly recommend As One Devil to Another to those who can prayerfully wade through the pages. But beware of sharing it with one who doesn't appreciate or understand satire. They might just believe what they read."