Abuse in Frank Peretti's "This Present Darkness" and "Piercing the...

Abuse in Frank Peretti's "This Present Darkness" and "Piercing the Darkness":

Abuse of women and children is a common theme in Peretti's infamous novels about spiritual warfare, "This Present Darkness" and "Piercing the Darkness." However, every single time it comes up, it is a false allegation provoked by demonic possession.

The first time this happens is in "This Present Darkness." One of the main characters, Marshall, is accused by his own daughter of rape. This is due to a false memory implanted in her head by a demon.

A few pages later, one of the villains, Carmen, makes up a false rape allegation as a distraction from her crimes. She, too, is possessed by a demon.

And a mere few pages after that, the pastor of a local church, Hank, is falsely accused of rape after unsuccessfully trying to exorcise Carmen.

This theme continues in "Piercing the Darkness," where a main character named Tom tries to exorcise a demon out of a ten-year-old girl in school, after first spanking her. That girl, Amber, accuses Tom of physical abuse.

This accusation is supposed to be false because Peretti condones spanking by teachers. Tom's own children get taken away by an evil Child Protective Services lady because of the abuse allegations.

It is remarkable that, given how rare false allegations of abuse are (less than ten percent), Peretti chooses to ignore how common abuse is and instead portrays every single "victim" as a demonically-possessed liar.

Peretti also makes the helpers, the people supporting these fake victims (like the CPS lady), out to be villains as well.

These portrayals are cruel, false, and dangerous caricatures of abuse survivors and survivor advocates.