Today I'm happy to host a writer friend of mine, Brad Francis, on my blog. I recently read his new book The Savvy Demon's Guide to Godly Living, and it made an impact on my life in a way few books ever have. Here's Brad to talk a little more about the story and what inspired it, then I'll be back on with my review of the book at the end.
-Annie
First of all, I want to thank you, Annie, for giving me the
opportunity to come to your blog and talk about my new book. The Savvy Demon’s Guide to Godly Living is
the longest book I've ever written, and in many ways the most challenging, but
I’m very pleased with the final product and am glad to put it out into the
world.
It all begins with a drunk demon. His name is Melchior and
the reason he’s been drinking is that he’s so bored with his day-to-day life. He’s
assigned to an entire church full of Christians. They’re active in church
activity—attending services and programs, classes and studies—but their impact
on their community is nonexistent...which means that Melchior has nothing to
do, so he’s bored out of his mind. He ends up visiting the pastor of the church
to tell him exactly what he’s doing wrong and inadvertently starts a revival in
the process. What happens as the result of that visit comprises the bulk of the
book.
Why did I write it? You can probably guess based on the description.
I’m concerned about the state of the Church, both in the United States where I
live and around the world. Nominalism seems to run rampant anywhere that has a
legacy of Christianity. We hear wonderful reports of the way faith is spreading
in the Muslim world and in places of intense persecution. I’m certainly not
trying to suggest that there is no one passionately following Christ in the US,
but the statistics show that: regular churchgoers live nearly identical lives
to the rest of the world, rarely (if ever) share their faith, and do not make
disciples. That’s what the research indicates. Does anecdotal evidence paint a
different picture?
And, I assure you, I am not observing all this from some
sort of high horse, scoffing down at good-hearted believers who have gotten off
track. A great deal of the temptations and distractions in this book come
directly from my personal experiences. I feel the pull of the world. I wish I didn't. I wish I always lived a life in line with what I know to be true. I wish my life looked more like the godly men and
women whom the Holy Spirit develops throughout the course of this book. Maybe
that’s one of the differences between fiction and real life. I know that God is
working in me, but, alas, the progress is slower than it is for my characters.
Of course, maybe they’re much quicker to surrender to His will than I am.
These are some of the issues I was working through
personally while writing this book. I’m blessed and excited to see that God has
already started to use this novel in the lives of some of its readers, and I
hope and pray that He uses this story for His glory.
That, after all, is what it’s all about.
-Brad
Biography
Brad Francis is the author of the Christian fantasy
series The Magi Chronicles and the best-selling short story The Book of
the Harvest. He is also a published playwright and his short scripts are
performed in churches around the United States. Brad lives in Radcliff,
Kentucky, with his wife, Shannon, and two daughters, Madison and Sage.
He writes to glorify God.
Annie's Review of The Savvy Demon’s Guide to Godly Living
* * * *
Though I expected to enjoy this book (and I certainly wasn't disappointed), I didn't anticipate being changed by it.
Brad Francis’s writing style reminds me of a Christian
version of Douglas Adams. As I read, I
often caught myself laughing out loud at his ridiculous descriptions, witty
word usage, or dryly humorous commentary by “the Narrator.” But then I would find myself gulping guiltily
as some unapologetically direct, pulling-no-punches remark struck home. Prepare to be both entertained and convicted
(and perhaps occasionally moved to tears) in your journey through these pages –
not an easy combination to pull off, but Brad Francis does it and does it well!
As much as I enjoyed the read, I wouldn't necessarily
recommend The Savvy Demon’s Guide to
Godly Living to all readers. If it
had a rating, I think it would be at least PG-13 for drug use, profanity, sex,
and violence. (The profanity is almost all
blanked out except for the first letter, but it’s obvious what words the
characters are saying.) However, very few
instances of these are gratuitous, at least in my opinion. Brad Francis certainly doesn't condone such activities
or treat them lightly. The first few
chapters, especially, deal with what certain people’s lives are like before
they give them over to the Lord’s control, and the author paints a realistic
picture of the vices they are involved in.
Most of that tapers off early on in the story, however, as the
characters begin to change. Still, some
of the content near the beginning (and a little that keeps showing up here and
there through the rest of the book) could be offensive to some readers, so if
you’re sensitive about such things, brace yourself.
Having said that, I really think that reading The Savvy Demon’s Guide to Godly Living would
be a worthwhile experience for most Christian adults, especially pastors and
those involved in ministry. Not an
entirely pleasant experience at times, perhaps, but valuable. It forced me to take a closer look at the
practical side of how I live out my relationship with the Lord, and it reminded
me that being religious doesn't equal following Christ. A few nonfiction books I've read have had similar
(though for the most part less powerful) impacts on my spiritual life, but I
don’t recall ever reading a novel that’s managed it anywhere near this
effectively. I’m grateful for the ways
God has used this book to reshape my outlook and renew my sense of purpose in
living for Him.
The only reason I didn't give The Savvy Demon’s Guide to Godly Living five stars is because, from
a storytelling point of view, I felt that it sagged a bit in the middle. The beginning sucked me in right away, and
for the first third or so of the story, I could hardly put the book down. The last third was equally gripping, holding
my attention right up to the end. But the
pace slowed in the middle with what – at least to me – seemed more information
than necessary about the characters’ activities and processes of spiritual
growth. While everything that took place
would certainly have been crucial to the characters’ own lives if they were
real people, I felt that some chapters were a tad heavy on details and events
that didn’t really add to the story for readers.
Overall, reading The
Savvy Demon’s Guide to Godly Living was a moving experience that impacted
me far beyond what I had expected. I
think it would be almost impossible for anyone who is (or wants to be) serious
about their faith not to be changed after reading it. Though I seldom reread books, this is one I
will probably pick up again sometime, at the very least so I can look back over
all the sections I highlighted and ask myself whether I’m living them out the
way God nudged me to at the time. Praise
the Lord for the way He can use even a work of fiction to work in us and bring
us closer to Himself!
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