book review: Ascent From Darkness by Michael Leehan

“One Saturday afternoon as I sat on my red corduroy couch my heart filled with anger toward a God who seemed distant, even cruel. My tiny snatches of knowledge about this God of the Bible had built the picture of a tyrant in my mind’s eye…. Hadn’t God created a fear-based system with the threat of hell that forced people to bend their knees to Him, not out of love, but out of self-preservation? ….

Finally, I said, ‘God, I will not serve You. I will not serve a God of fear and punishment, who forces His victims into submission. I will serve the dark side.’ And I blurted out, ‘Satan, come into my life. You are now my god. Use me, have me, and control me for your purposes.” (Michael Leehan, Ascent From Darkness, Kindle Location 478)

Michael Leehan describes the incident, above, in his book Ascent from Darkness: How Satan’s Soldier Became God’s Warrior. His decision to serve Satan that Saturday was the culmination of years of disappointment and turmoil. His painful, undisciplined childhood was followed by a youth dominated by pain-killers and alcohol. His marriage began happily but ended in divorce after nine years leaving him hurt, lonely, and missing his three young kids. It was shortly after the divorce that he decided to give his life to Satan.

Most of Ascent From Darkness is a description of the next 20 years of Leehan’s life, spent in satanic servitude. It is a disturbing account of occultic entanglement, showing a dedication on his part that would put many Christians to shame. He did things like buy and carry copies of the Satanic Bible to put in church sanctuaries and Sunday School room, and infiltrate Bible studies and home groups to sow theological confusion and seduce women. At one point he observed a long fast to gain spiritual power. His arms were scarred from the numerous cuts he inflicted on himself while absorbed in spirit communication. His deepening involvement led to daytime blackouts when he channeled spirits and nights disturbed by spooky phenomena, fear, and torment. He obsessed over how to carry out his assignment to kill his girlfriend’s pastor and then commit suicide himself.

He eventually broke free in a miraculous encounter with God—an ending that made this dark book worth reading. Though some have criticized it because it deals almost exclusively with the dark years of Leehan’s life, I found the book a worthwhile read for other reasons as well:

• It disclosed the fearful price that Satan exacts in loyalty, obedience and servitude.

• It showed how Satan's promises are lies.

• It illustrated, by contrast, the light, life, freedom, and joy we have in Christ—things it's easy for us to take for granted, until we've experienced (vicariously, through reading about it was experience enough for me) what life on the dark side is like.

• It gave insight into what may be behind many of our society's bizarre and self-destructive behaviours (like the prevalence of cutting, the spirit of lust that has not only taken down lay-Christians but many pastors too, and rampant suicide) and gave clues as to how to minister to demonically oppressed people.

• Mike's spiritual zeal for and commitment to the dark side puts me to shame as I compare it to my zeal and commitment to Jesus.

Mike Leehan’s own words about why he wrote the book are powerful and instructive for those curious about the occult and those wanting to warn loved ones about the dangers of getting involved in it or help them break free from it:

"I have learned the only thing that evil can take over is darkness. Darkness invades our lives when we shut out the light of God's love. But where there is light, there cannot be darkness. Light pierces darkness and illuminates the truth.

We must realize that we are in a world that is spiritually intertwined. There is more to our existence than the obvious. We must open our eyes to see the spiritual realm, which is very real and very powerful. And we must learn the weapons of our adversary, not only to avoid becoming ensnared by darkness but to be able to reach into that darkness to rescue others, like me, with the light. We are instruments of change. We are powerful vessels carrying an eternal cargo of either life or death.

The reason for sharing my story in this book is to demonstrate the power of God over Satan and to show how merciful a God we have in heaven. To give Him the glory and praise, and to demonstrate the power of love over fear, to show the love our Father has for us, to let God's light expose the darkness—but mainly to facilitate the hope that by reading this story, people might turn to the King of Kings!" - Mike Leehan, Ascent from Darkness, Kindle Location 3462.

Title: Ascent From Darkness: How Satan’s Soldier Became Christ’s Warrior

Author: Michael Leehan

Publisher: Thomas Nelson, October 4, 2011, Paperback, 272 pages (Kindle version 441 KB).

·  ISBN-10: 0849947030

·  ISBN-13: 978-0849947032

I received this book as a gift from the publisher for the purpose of writing a review.

Linked to Semicolon Blog - Saturday Review of Books: July 21.

book review: Spirit of the Rainforest by Mark Andrew Ritchie

Title: Spirit of the Rainforest
Author: Mark Andrew Ritchie
Publisher: Island Lake Press, Second edition, 2000
ISBN-10: 0964695219
ISBN-13: 978-0964695214

Back cover description:

"The Yanomamo of the Amazon -- endangered children of nature or indigenous warmongers on the verge of destroying themselves? Now for the first time, a powerful Yanomamo shaman speaks for his people. Jungleman provides shocking never-before-answered accounts of life-or-death battles among his people -- and perhaps even more disturbing among the spirits who fight for their souls. Brutally riveting, the story of Jungleman is an extraordinary and powerful document."

Review:

The Yanomamo are a fierce tribe of Indians who live in the jungles of Venezuela. The story that Mark Andrew Ritchie tells in The Spirit of the Rainforest - A Yanomamo Shaman's Story is through Jungleman, one of the most powerful shamans of the tribe. The incidents Jungleman relates took place from approximately 1950 to the early 1980s. The stories were collected and transcribed by Ritchie during numerous visits to Amazonia when he talked with Jungleman, Shoefoot, Keleewa (Gary Dawson, son of missionary Joe Dawson who grew up with many of the story's characters, and translated the stories for the author in exchange for all author royalties from the book going to the Yanomamo people), and others.

From the 1950 fight with Potato Village to the 1980s when Jungleman is finally able to live at peace in Honey Village, his tales of events among the Yanomamo -- their tit for tat inter-village battles that inevitably lead to more anger, fear, treachery, and revenge -- fascinate and repulse.

Several things struck me about this story.

1. The reality of the spirit world and how it corroborates Bible accounts of Jesus interactions with the demonic. Though the Yanomamo encountered white men (nabas) of various kinds -- rubber traders, anthropologists and missionaries from various denominations -- it is when they met Pepe (Joe Dawson who worked under New Tribes Missions) that the spiritual conflict really began. Pepe and his family came to live at Honey Village (at the Yanomamo's invitation) where Shoefoot (Jungleman's protege and relative) was the shaman. Over time Shoefoot gave up his spirits. Here's what happened the next time Jungleman came to visit his brother-in-law and friend:

"When I pulled my canoe up to the shore at the mouth of the Metaconi I felt the usual excitement that comes with meeting old friends. But something was very different. What was it, I wondered.

'Don't go in here,' Jaguar Spirit told me. 'There's too much danger here. We are afraid.' It was the first time I had ever heard fear coming from Jaguar Spirit and it made me feel poor inside. My hands began to flutter and I held my bow tight to make them stop.

There can't be any danger here, I thought. These people are my friends. They have always been my friends. But it wasn't just Jaguar. All my spirits were crowding the shabono iin my chest and making a terrible noise about how afraid their were.

When I saw Shoefoot I was stunned. 'What has happened to your spirits?' I asked him, looking at his chest. I could see they were gone.

'I threw them away, brother-in-law.'

'What!' I whispered as hard as I could. 'How could you do that? Why would you do that?'

'I found the new spirit I was looking for,' Shoefoot said. 'Yai Wana Naba Laywa -- the unfriendly one. You know, our enemy spirit.'

'You can't have him!' I whispered in excitement. 'It's too hot there and he never comes out!'

It was a horrible visit for me. There was a spirit in Shoefoot's village that I couldn't understand. But it was powerful. That's why my spirits were so upset when I came. I hung my hammock next to Shoefoot and as soon as I lay down they were all there, every spirit I have, crowding my shabono.

'Please Father!' they all begged together. 'Please leave here. It's not safe here. We are terrified.' And they were. The new spirit in Shoefoot's chest had them all frightened like I had never seen them before.

He's my friend, I thought.

'He's no friend of ours! We hate him!' All my spirits talked at the same time. 'Please Father! Please don't throw us away.'

The thought of throwing my spirits away hadn't even come into my mind. Why would they say that to me?

'He'll want you to throw us away,' they said. 'You'll see. Please don't listen to him, Father!'

My spirits were right about that. Shoefoot and his new naba friends did want me to throw my spirits away. Shoefoot's new spirit would never get along with mine."

Compare with Mark 5:1-12, also Matthew 8 and Luke 8.

2. The Bible talks about unclean spirits. That is what these spirits were. The book is not a pretty or pleasant read. There is much violence, especially against women, with rape, bloodshed, vengeance, physical and sexual abuse -- and not all of it at the hands of fellow Yanomamo but also at the hands of various non-Indians (rubber traders and some of the anthropologists). The graphic nature is not gratuitous, though, but makes the story seem more believable, told as it is without taking the taboos of our culture into account.

3. The Bible describes Satan as a liar and the father of lies. Here are Jungleman's thoughts about his spirits when he was an old man:

"I wish I had known the truth about Yai Wana Naba Laywa when I was a young man -- it would have saved me so much pain and misery. But how could I? My spirits lied so much to me and tricked me. They were so beautiful, so wonderful, so hard not to want. They were the best at telling me split-truth. Now I'm at the end of this life, and I'm ready to begin my real life with Yai Pada.

If this book had one affect on me, it made me want to crowd close to Jesus -- and to have nothing to do with any other spirit. For they are active in our land too, though not feared as they parade in familiar costumes with names we all recognize like pride, unbelief, anger, greed, envy, revenge...

*********
Links of interest:

Anthropology case study including references to the work of Anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon and an interactive CD-Rom that he made of a Yanomamo ax fight in 1975.

More about the Yanomamo from the Hands Around the World site.

Another blog review with generous quotes from the book.