Total Pageviews

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Ascent from Darkness How Satan's Soldier Became God's Warrior By Michael Leehan

I finished reading this book months ago. I had not published a review because I was a bit "speechless". The author tells, in short, his life story. The author describes a few childhood and young adult tragic situations that he had been through. Discouraged, not sure whether God really exists, he decides to live his life for Satan. The author recounts, briefly, incidents and actions that occurred as a result of his devotion for Satan. The author does not go into a lot of detail, but writes in the style that tries to elicit shocked reactions from his readers. Overall, I felt a lot of it was juvenile- such as leaving Satanic bibles at churches, and sensationalized, if even true. For example, the author briefly describes an incident where he encountered who he says was another Satanist, while checking out a house for sale with his girlfriend. The author claims that he and this man immediately sensed that each was a Satanist and proceeded to have heated words in a language only known to Satanists. Some how this language just spewed out if his mouth. No explanation as to how he learned it ... Other incidents recount terrifying hauntings, which he claims was even witnessed by a friend of his. Sounded like something out of a horror movie. The plot thickened when he describes how he was drawn to murder a prominent Pastor from a large, popular church. The author recounts how he was questioned for peculiar behavior by the church security and states he went into a trances and started channeling (a spirit/demon). Yet, the author never mentioned he had such powers previously in the book. To assure the reader, he states he had done this at times before this incident. No details; no explanation of how he got into channeling and previous results. There are just too many gaps in this autobiography. I found this book to be highly skeptical and it troubled me that the publisher would publish a book that had many problems- problems made worse by the authors "witnesses" that verify the truth of his story. The "witnesses" were people who knew him after he turned his life over to God. I'd love to hear witness accounts from people who actually witnessed the most horrific accounts, such as his girlfriend and his friend mentioned above. Yet, there are none. Relevant eye witness testimony is simply not included. People who did not witness the horrific and only knew the author after he turned his life over to God are not witnesses and cannot verify whether the author is truthful. Since the author did not provide relevant witness testimony when he identifies such witnesses makes it very hard to believe his story. The author states he had a muti-million dollar business that went under. The author does not provide any reasons for his loss. This only leads more credence that the author's story is either not true, grossly exaggerated or most likely a combination of the two. The author needs money. Period. I am very disappointed with the publisher's low standards. Much of this book could have been fact checked by relevant witnesses. Instead, the publisher seems to be more interested in profiting from what appears to be simply a sensationalized, grossly exaggerated and scantly true account of someone's claim to have been saved by God after serving Satan. I do not recommend this book whatsoever. Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."