No More Sympathy for the Devil

A few weeks ago I finished reading one of the best books I’d read in a decade. It had so many of the elements I’d been longing for in a book: spirituality, quality writing, fascinating characters, satisfying descriptions, folklore, fairies, history, and layers of rhythm. The book is called The Fall, by Chana Keefer. It’s book 1 of The Rapha Chronicles.

I have to say, the layers of rhythm were my favorite that I’d read since The Count of Monte Cristo. Layer one: the prose flowed like delicious poetry. Layer two: the oscillations between points of view had a beautiful, spiraling sort of rhythm. Layer three: the action, description, emotion and character development were each brought in what I considered perfect contrast and balance. Every portion of the book was told with beauty and skill, even when going back and forth between the physical and spiritual planes.

With as much as I loved this story, I didn’t agree with the theology in all of it (particularly a brief discussion between the Father and the Son), and neither did I consider it ‘history’. But I loved the story very much, and here’s why:

(and I’m going to be very honest with you here)

There were times, early on in my Christian walk, when I thought that eternal damnation for the devil was, at best, excruciatingly harsh. Some strange sense of misplaced pity stirred up sympathy in me for the devil. I wondered, secretly, if God, who is so incredibly forgiving, would pardon Satan at the end of the ages. I wondered if what the enemy had done was really so bad as all that.

After reading Keefer’s story in The Fall, I no longer have sympathy for the devil in any corner of my heart. I thank the author for that gift, and am so grateful to God for what He did in me through this book. Once you read it, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. And I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Right now, there’s a special on the paperback of The Fall. Check it out!

Where to find Chana Keefer:

Twitter

www.chanakeefer.com