Missing “Crucial” Detail: the Cross of Christ
I looked at The Facade on two levels. The first is the storyline and craft. I am glad to have read this book. It presents a fictional scenario for the alien/demon connection in end-time events. I was engaged completely in the storyline. The plots and subplots worked well, and I especially liked how the documentation of the Roswell/Paperclip/experimentation theories worked into the plot but also informed the readers. The final scene persuaded me to not buy the sequel.
The second level I want to address is the message. The book presented the view of demons supported by church fathers in the early years, namely that demons were unholy offspring of angels with women. This is unsupported in Scripture. John Calvin addressed this idea in his Genesis commentary: “That ancient figment, concerning the intercourse of angels with women, is abundantly refuted by its own absurdity; and it is surprising that learned men should formerly have been fascinated by ravings so gross and prodigious.” When you start to bring into the dialogue extra-biblical sources, you compromise the principle of Sola Scriptura and open yourself up to misunderstanding and heresy.
Another and stronger objection I have to the message has to do with a premise that is unfounded: demons killing Christians, directly. Men can kill Christians. Demons no doubt have given rise to all the persecutions of Christians since Stephen. Demons can stir in men the desire and malice to kill. But to give a freedom to demons in fiction that they do not have in life undermines the victory that Christ wrought on our behalf (and undermines the integrity of the book’s premise). Christians are immune from them. And Christians are safe under the hand of a God through whom every demon must get permission for any act, i.e. the Book of Job.
The reason Scripture is void of any but a cursory explanation of the hierarchy or inner-workings of the demon world, is that it is God’s business. How he uses angels or manipulates demons in the answer of our prayers is a mystery the Bible clearly leaves unanswered. It is not really important, in the big scheme of things. We may wonder. But the obvious silence on the matter means that there are more important things to be thinking about. Our business.
Not, is a demon on my shoulder whispering for me to commit adultery, but rather, “God, give me help to overcome this temptation!” Not, what demon is blocking our church’s evangelism efforts, but rather, “God, bring salvation to our town. Give the believers strength and wisdom in their evangelism.” We should not give undue attention to the demonic realm. We should know it’s there, and remember “greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world.” So even if we come across someone that is demon/alien-possessed, we address Christ in the matter, “Jesus, I ask you to free this man from his chains.”
The most important point to remember is “undue attention” is what the prince of demons wanted in the first place, why he fell. My biggest problem with The Facade is that there is no Jesus Christ whose death brought victory and safety to his bride. The cross did nothing, in this scenario.
I recommend reading The Facade, and then following it up with this book, Chuck Lowe’s Territorial Spirits and World Evangelisation.
A quote from the above book says regarding Paul, in his epistles of Ephesians and Colossians, “First, he insists, the power of Satan has already been decisively broken …. We need not fear Satan’s power: Christ has much greater power and far higher authority …. Nor need we fear Satan’s vengeance …. Nor need we fear Satan’s dominion over the world …. Secondly, all this was done without our help or involvement …. The war has been won, and it has been won without us” (p57).
The main character of The Facade, Brian, is supposed to be a Presbyterian. He would have known this if he were a catechized Presbyterian. I agree that aliens are demons in modern garb. It’s great that this has been tackled in a religious scenario. However, the fiction it is preaching alongside the real facts of the alien “problem” creates a heresy. It declares that the author does not fully understand the implications for Christians in this field.
The testimonies of former victims on the Alienresistance website, praised in his acknowledgements, should have been enough to teach the author that the only way to rid oneself of alien influence is the name of Jesus.
