This episode covers the most popular fictionalization of spiritual warfare of all time, This Present Darkness by Frank Peretti. Come bear Witness as the citizens of Ashton battle the demonic forces of new age spirituality and community college professors.

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Introduction

Written by Frank Peretti in 1986, This Present Darkness has sold over 2.5 million copies since its publication and was on the CBA best sellers list for over 150 consecutive weeks. The title comes from Ephesians 6:12: 

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rules, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

The story revolves are the small fictional town of Ashton, where demons are driving out angels. Their methods include incorporating new age philosophy into the community college curriculum. While the book is fiction, many spiritual warriors still treat it as a kind of how-to manual on exorcisms, prayer, and spiritual warfare. The book many involve silly beliefs if taken literally, maybe the book itself is good? RationalWiki does not take this position: 

Despite the fact that This Present Darkness is popular among Christian reading circles, it is an AWFUL book, complete with weak and poorly developed characters, stilted dialogue, an irrational plot, hackneyed conflict, straw man depictions of the occult, paranoiac conspiracy theories, and general intolerance.

Synopsis

Bernice Kreuger is a reporter for Ashton’s local newspaper Clarion. After taking a photo at the annual Ashton Summer Festival, she is arrested on the false charge of prostitution. When she is released, she discovers her film has been destroyed.

The editor in chief of Clarion Marshall Hogan is incensed and confronts police chief Alf Brummel about the incident. Brummel claims it was all a misunderstanding and tells Hogan to drop the issue. Unpersuaded, Hogan begins an investigation into the incident. What they uncover is a plot for The Universal Consciousness Society to buy the local community college and indoctrinate the students to their New Age beliefs. 

The Society learns of Hogan and Kreuger’s investigation and retaliates by buying the Clarion and Hogan’s house. Then they throw him in jail on the trumped-up charges of murder, adultery, and molesting his daughter. Thankfully Kreuger is able to avoid arrest and escape.

While this investigation is going on, the pastor of the Ashton Community Church, Hank Busche, learns that Ashton is infested with demons and tries to figure out why they have descended upon Ashton. Once again the Society learns of his actions and has him arrested for rape. But for some reason the Society decides to put Busche in the same jail cell as Hogan, allowing them to compare notes. Also, during this time Pastor Hank leads Marshall to the Lord.

At this point in the story, the perspective shifts to the battle between the angels and demons. The angels look like humans and are in charge of specific areas of the earth. Their wings are manifestations of “heavenly forces”. They wear armor and wield weapons, mainly swords. Demons are “ink-like shadows in the darkness, flowing from shadow to shadow, until the time comes when they truly reveal themselves”. They are “monstrous beasts with bat-wings and armor. Combat ranges from one-on-one battles to army-level conflagrations in the “unseen realms” above us.

Back on earth, Kreuger contacts the County Prosecutor, the State Attorney General, and the Feds. On learning this, Brummel releases Busche and Hogan, who work to fight the Society along with a “local” demon who has been demoted via a more powerful demon and wants to take revenge.

Angels and Demons

They were tall, at least seven feet, strongly built, perfectly proportioned. One was dark-haired and sharp- featured, the other blond and powerful.

Later we are introduced to a demon that is descending up the local church in Ashton,

This shadow had a shape, an animated, creaturelike shape, and as it neared the church sounds could be heard: the scratching of claws along the ground, the faint rustling of breeze-blown, membranous wings wafting just above the creature’s shoulders. It had arms and it had legs, but it seemed to move without them, crossing the street and mounting the front steps of the church. Its leering, bulbous eyes re-flected the stark blue light of the full moon with their own jaundiced glow. The gnarled head protruded from hunched shoulders, and wisps of rancid red breath seethed in labored hisses through rows of jagged fangs. It either laughed or it coughed—the wheezes puffing out from deep within its throat could have been either. 

The Battle in the Local Church

Suddenly, as if colliding with a speeding wall, the creature was knocked backward and into a raging tumble down the steps, the glowing red breath tracing a corkscrew trail through the air. With an eerie cry of rage and indignation, it gathered itself up off the sidewalk and stared at the strange door that would not let it pass through. Then the membranes on its back began to billow, enfolding great bodies of air, and it flew with a roar headlong at the door, through the door, into the foyer—and into a cloud of white hot light. The creature screamed and covered its eyes, then felt itself being grabbed by a huge, powerful vise of a hand. In an instant it was hurling through space like a rag doll, outside again, forcefully ousted. The wings hummed in a blur as it banked sharply in a flying turn and headed for the door again, red vapors chugging in dashes and streaks from its nostrils, its talons bared and poised for attack, a ghostly siren of a scream rising in its throat. Like an arrow through a target, like a bullet through a board, it streaked through the door— And instantly felt its insides tearing loose. There was an explosion of suffocating vapor, one final scream, and the flailing of withering arms and legs. Then there was nothing at all except the ebbing stench of sulfur.

So those two angels kicked this demon’s ass basically. So what the fuck was that you might ask? Well, one angel lets us know that it was either a “spirit of harassment” “Or doubt … or fear. Who knows?” One angel tells the other that was one of the smallest ass demons he has ever seen! Either way, they let the reader know that this is a massive concentration of these little fuckers and we’ll soon find out why.

They walk into the church to see this “man of God”. They describe the small-town church as they walk into it. There’s a bulletin board with various requests like sick missionaries, groceries, or babysitting needs. There’s some boring-ass congregational business meeting next Friday. Oh, also just so you guys are aware, the weekly offerings were down from last week as well as the attendance from 61 to 42. These angels finally see the holy of holies, “In the center of the worn-carpeted platform stood the little sacred desk, the pulpit, with a Bible laid open upon it.” This isn’t the most important part though, 

… A soft, muffled sobbing from the end of the right pew. There, kneeling in earnest prayer, his head resting on the hard  wooden bench, and his hands clenched with fervency, was a young man, very young, the blond man thought at first: young and vulnerable.

Anyways, this little fellow is passionately praying. The two angels watch him in awe and call him, “the little warrior”. The blonde angel says, “Yes. This is the one.” He’s there non-stop praying for his town. So these two angels discuss how there are others out there like him. There’s going to be a major batter, all these people will get hurt and so will they, but they’re going to fight anyway,

They stood over the kneeling warrior, on either side; and at that moment, little by little, like the bloom of a flower, white light began to fill the room. It illuminated the cross on the back wall, slowly brought out the colors and grain in every plank of every pew, and rose in intensity until the once plain and humble sanctuary came alive with an unearthly beauty. The walls glimmered, the worn rugs glowed, the little pulpit stood tall and stark as a sentinel backlit by the sun.

And now the two men were brilliantly white, their former clothing transfigured by garments that seemed to burn with intensity. Their faces were bronzed and glowing, their eyes shone like fire, and each man wore a glistening golden belt from which hung a flashing sword. They placed their hands upon the shoulders of the young man and then, like a gracefully spreading canopy, silken, shimmering, nearly transparent membranes began to unfurl from their backs and shoulders and rise to meet and overlap above their heads, gently undulating in a spiritual wind. Together they ministered peace to their young charge, and his many tears began to subside.

Oh Lookie Here another demon

COULD ANYONE HAVE seen him, the initial impression would not have been so much his reptilian, warted appearance as the way his figure seemed to absorb light and not return it, as if he were more a shadow than an object, a strange, animated hole in space. But this little spirit was invisible to the eyes of men, unseen and immaterial, drifting over the town, banking one way and then the other, guided by will and not wind, his swirling wings quivering in a grayish blur as they propelled him. He was like a high-strung little gargoyle, his hide a slimy, bottomless black, his body thin and spider-like: half humanoid, half animal, totally demon. Two huge yel- low cat-eyes bulged out of his face, darting to and fro, peering, searching. His breath came in short, sulfurous gasps, visible as glowing yellow vapor.

The EVIL Whitmore College

Here we are introduced to the very secular, very evil Whitmore College. And not just Whitmore College, but Stewart Hall HOME OF THE PSYCHOLOGY DEPARTMENT! A character named Sandy takes a class called “Psychology of Self”!  Marshall Hogan is introduced as the owner/editor-in-chief of Ashton’s town newspaper, the Clarion. So Marshall is visiting his daughter Sandy and makes his way to one of the lecture halls near Room 101 where he hears this horror coming from the classroom,

“So if we settle for a simple ontological formula, ‘I think, therefore I am,’ that should be the end of the question. But being does not presuppose meaning … and meaning doesn’t necessarily come from thinking, for some have said that the Self is not the Mind at all, and that the Mind actually denies the Self and inhibits Self-Knowledge …”

Yeah, here was more of that college stuff, that funny conglomeration of sixty- four-dollar words which impress people with your academic prowess but can’t get you a paying job. Marshall smirked to himself a little bit. Psychology. If all those shrinks could just agree for a change, it would help. First Sandy blamed her snotty attitude on a violent birth experience, and then what was it? Poor potty training? Her new thing was self-knowledge, self-esteem, identity; she already knew how to be hung up on herself—now they were teaching it to her in college.

Long story short the dad goes in and sits in the back of the classroom and the teacher glares at him and asks him to wait outside. Pretty sure she’s a demon that tries to creep upon him as he fucks up his relationship with his daughter and two angels named Guilo and Triskal come down again and cause that “demon of complacency and despair” to disappear into the shrubs.  

The Angel Meetup

In one world we have Hank that whiny, constantly praying, little pastor of that tiny ass church in that tiny ass town. He’s mowing the lawn at his church while in the other world right on top of that boring world is Triskal and Guilo talking about how Hank is the ONE! He has called all these spiritual warriors here. They introduce the celestial warriors. First, there was, 

Nathan, the towering Arabian who fought fiercely and spoke little. It was he who had taken demons by their ankles and used them as warclubs against their fellows.

Armoth, the big African whose war cry and fierce countenance had often been enough to send the enemy fleeing before he even assailed them. Guilo and Armoth had once battled the demon lords of villages in Brazil and personally guarded a family of missionaries on their many long treks through the jungles.

Chimon, the meek European with the golden hair, who bore on his forearms the marks of a fading demon’s last blows before Chimon banished him forever into the abyss. Guilo had never met this one, but had heard of his exploits and his ability to take blows simply as a shield for others and then to rally himself to defeat untold numbers alone.

Tal, the Captain of the Host. It was so strange to see this mighty warrior standing in this humble little place. Guilo had seen him near the throne room of Heaven itself,  in conference with none other than Michael. But here stood the same impressive figure with golden hair and ruddy complexion, intense golden eyes like fire and an unchallengeable air of authority. Guilo approached his captain and the two of them clasped hands.

Want to know who the enemy is guys? Tal lets us know. It’s none other than “Rafar, the Prince of Babylon.” All the angels are freaked the fuck out because this bitch is hard to kill and was only once defeated when Babylon fell and I guess is back now. Here’s a description of Rafar, 

Drawing a charcoal streak across the sky, a sinister black object flew over the mountaintops and began to drop into the valley, piercing through the paper-thin layers of mist that hung in the air. Cloaked by oppressive spiritual darkness and silent as a black cloud, Ba-al Rafar, the Prince of Babylon, floated along. He stayed close to the contour of the mountainside, maneuvering on a course that weaved this way and that among the dead snags and rocky crags. The canopy of darkness followed him like a cast shadow, like a tiny circle of night upon the landscape; a faint streak of red and yellow vapor trailed from his nostrils and hung in the air behind him like a long, slowly settling ribbon.

Tal tells the angels they are not to fight,

“And we are not to fight, we are not to resist!” Guilo exclaimed. “I will be most fascinated to hear your next order, Tal. We cannot fight?” “Not yet. We’re too few, and there’s very little prayer cover.”

They all get pumped up and echo in unison, “For the saints of God and for the Lamb!” By the way, Peretti reminds us yet again that Pastor Hank is CONSTANTLY praying. He’s even praying aloud while mowing the church’s lawn.

The Demon Meet up

The demon meet up in the following pages is located at Whitmore College. The demons in attendance are:

• Complacency

• Lust

• Deception

• Murder

• Lawlessness

• Jealousy 

They are all trembling meeting up with the feared powerful demon mentioned earlier. The Prince of Babylon: Rafar. We get a great description of Rafar in this passage, 

[Rafar] was bigger than any they had ever seen before, a giant demon with a lion-like  face, fiery eyes, incredibly muscular body, and leathery wings that filled the room.

Professor Juleen Langstrat

Albert Darr, a young professor at Whitmore College is discussing what he knows about this evil Professor Langstrat to a reporter for the Ashton paper named Bernice. So apparently the small town’s chief of police is meeting with her weekly for special spiritual consultations. The young professor explains, 

Bernice, Professor Langstrat is, how should I say it? Not a ground level person. Her areas of study go beyond anything the rest of us have had any desire to tamper with: the Source, the Universal Mind, the Ascended Planes”

Bernice asks so what is, “this stuff, This Source, and This Mind?”

Darr continues, “As nearly as we can tell, she derives it from the Eastern religions, the old mystic cults and writings, things I know nothing about and don’t want to know anything about. As far as I’m concerned, her studies in these areas have caused her to lose all contact with reality. As a matter of fact, I may even be mocked and maligned among my peers for saying this, but I don’t see Langstrat’s advances in these areas as anything other than foolish, neo-pagan witchcraft. I think she’s desperately confused!”

In case you guys were curious about signing up next semester for Professor Langstrat’s elective courses according to this book she’s teaching the following:

• Introduction to God and Goddess Consciousness and the Craft

• The Divinity of Man

• Witch and Warlock

• The Sacred Medicine Wheel 

• How do Spells and Rituals Work 

• Pathways to Your Inner Light

• Meet Your Own Spiritual Guides

• Discover the Light Within 

• Harmonize Your Mental, Physical, Emotional, and Spiritual Levels

• Being Through Hypnosis and Meditation

• How to Enjoy the Present by Discovering Past and Future Lives

• In the Beginning Was the Goddess 

Oh, and just so you are aware Professor Langstrat is hypnotizing all the college kids and even other adults who come get sessions from her. The entire Psychology Department at Whitmore College was under her spell at this point. As well as the Humanities Department, the Philosophy Department, and even the Biology and Pre-Med programs for some reason.

In chapter 23 Juleen Langstrat convenes with a demon in some sort of trance to communicate with Rafar. Meanwhile, piles of ungraded term papers sit on her coffee table, but it can be difficult to focus on your duties as an educator when you need to meet “with the Ascended Masters, the Spirit  Guides from the higher planes.” 

Nearing the final battle of Ashton we discover Professor Langstrat has evil plans for the town of Ashton,

Our purpose here is to combine our psychic energies to assure the success of today’s venture. Our long-awaited goal will soon be realized: the Whitmore College  campus, and afterward the whole town of Ashton, are going to become a part of the New World Order.

Rafar eventually possesses Langstrat who is later shot and killed.

The Ashton Community Church Votes Whether or Not to Kick Out Pastor Hank Busche

Angels, of course, are in attendance in this tiny ass church for this very important vote. Two angels Triskal and Chimon are discussing one of the shitty Christians, Brummel as he prays pathetically and “Triskal asked Chimon, “Getting any strength?” Chimon answered, “Why? Is somebody else going to pray?” So prayers can offer cover for demon enemy fire and it also gives angels physical strength. The angel Guilo has to battle with the demon named “Cheating” because that son of a bitch was trying to affect the votes to make sure this pastor was voted out of the church! As the ballots were being drawn,

The two men took the offering plates full of ballots to a back pew. A flock of flapping, hissing demons converged on the scene, wanting to see the outcome.

But it was a TIE! But WAIT,

… the two demons posted around the church saw something very unsettling. Just about a block up the street were two old women, hobbling toward the church. One [Edith Duster] walked with the assistance of a cane and a helping hand from her friend. She did not look well at all, but her jaw was set and her eyes bright and determined… Her friend, in better health and stronger, kept up with her, holding her arm to support her and talking gently to her.

These demons are going to have none of this. These old bitties are going to break the tie in favor of the young non-stop praying pastor, 

“What Edith Duster needs is a stroke,” murmured a sickness demon, drawing  his sword. Perhaps it was simply luck, or incredible coincidence, but just as the demon lunged forward with great speed to slash at the arteries in Edith Duster’s brain, the other woman moved to open the door and stepped right in the way. 

The tip of the demon’s sword struck the woman in the shoulder, which could have been concrete; the sword stopped short. Sickness did not, but catapulted over the two women and fluttered like a fractured kite into the churchyard as Edith Duster moved inside. Sickness gathered himself up off the ground and screamed, “The host of heaven!” The other demon guard stared at him blankly.

As expected, Pastor Hank takes wins the vote and stays the pastor of the small church. This news was so profound, so devastating, so powerful it affects both worlds, the physical world in Ashton and the spiritual realm. How do the demons respond? 

With cries and wails of rage, demons scattered everywhere, erupting through the roof and sides of the church like shrapnel and fanning out in all directions over the town. Their cries became a loud, echoing drone of savage fury that rang over the whole town like a thousand melancholy factory whistles, sirens, and  horns.

How did the tiny town of Ashton respond? 

That night the police were busy. Fights broke out in the local taverns, slogans were spray-painted on the courthouse, some cars were stolen and joy-ridden through the lawn and flowers in the park.

Later on, we hear more about old lady Edith Duster. Pastor Hank goes to visit this oracle and she tells of a time she was younger in China and felt faint because a medium or spiritualist was trying to put a spell on her. She said she sees angels in her dreams that remind her of her son. Of course yet again blonde hair and looks almost “Scandinavian”

The Cave and the Demon Controlled Kids of Ashton

Pastor Hank and Angels Krioni and Triskal walk into The Cave, a local seedy arcade joint that blared metal music and was packed with kids. “Krioni and Triskal tried their very best to look meek and nonthreatening as they followed him [into the Cave].”

Here’s another amazing passage from the book so good I just have to quote it, 

One lone proprietor sat behind his little cash register in the corner, reading a girlie magazine whenever he wasn’t making change for the game players. Hank had never seen so many quarters in one place.

Here were kids of all ages, with few other places to go, congregating after school and all through the weekends to hang out, hang on, play games, pair up, wander off, do drugs, do sex, do whatever. Hank knew this place was a hell hole; it wasn’t the machines, or the decor, or the dimness—it was just the pungent spiritual stench of demons having their heyday. He felt sick to his stomach.

Here we meet some kid named Ron Forsythe who was,

barely visible under the three demons, a very confused and disoriented victim of their destructive influence. They clung to  him like leeches, causing him to stagger to and fro as they fought to avoid the goading tip of the big warrior’s sword.

Hank cast out the three demons clinging to Ron (which were named Divination, Rebellion, and Sorcery.) The kids of Ashton are not safe. Not only are they playing video games and looking at Maxim Magazine but they are into evil shit. Ron Forsythe explains what’s happening in the Ashton highschool!

The kids are messing around with Satanic stuff like you wouldn’t believe. We used to trip out on drugs; now it’s demons.

Ron admits he thinks he at one point was possessed. He says, 

I know I was. Man, I heard voices talking to me, telling me to get some drugs, or steal something, all kinds of horrible things. I never let my folks know where I was, I never came home, I’d end up sleeping in the weirdest places …  and with the weirdest people.

I’ll tell you when I think I got into the Satanic stuff: it’s when I had my fortune told. Hey, that’s when I caught it, no doubt.”

“Aw, they’re all over the place,” someone else moaned. “Well that just goes to show how far off-base this town has gotten!” Cecil Cooper protested. “There are more witches and fortune-tellers around here than Sunday school teachers!”

In chapter 26 Pastor Hank casts out a demon living in Bobby. 

Hank addressed the spirits. “I want to know how many are in there. Speak up!” One demon, a smaller one, ducked inside Bobby’s back and shrieked, “Nooo!” The scream came belching out of Bobby’s throat. “Which one are you?” Hank asked. “I won’t tell you! You can’t make me!” “By the name of Jesus—” The demon responded immediately, “Fortune-telling!” Hank asked, “Fortune-telling, how many of you are in there?” “Millions!” Triskal jabbed Fortune-telling lightly in the flank. “Awww! Ten! Ten!” Another jab. “Aww! No, we are five, only five!”

The Evil Cabal meets in NY

Tal is being asked by a silver-haired angel general to go pull out a woman named Susan from a swarm of demons in NY. The general says, 

The Universal Consciousness Society is holding a special fund-raising and promotional dinner in New York for its many cohorts and members in the United Nations. Tal’s first response was, “Is there prayer cover in New York?” But the general assures Tal that he will have it.

As the elite arrive at the NY hotel where they will meet the angel Guilo says to Tal 

“A significant gathering, captain,” Tal nodded and continued watching. Amid the limousines were many taxis, also carrying a vast cross section of humanity: Orientals, Africans, Europeans, Westerners, Arabians—people of great power, esteem, and dignity from all over the world. “As written in the Scriptures, the kings of the earth,” Tal observed, “being made drunk with the wine of the great harlot’s immorality.” “Babylon the Great,” said Guilo. “The Great Harlot arising at last.” “Yes, Universal Consciousness. The world religion, the doctrine of demons spreading among all the nations. Babylon revived right before the end of the age.” “Hence the return of the Prince of Babylon, Rafar.”

The angels and demons duke it out in the alley behind the hotel but this isn’t the real battle no! The real battle is coming and it’s in the flyover town of Ashton.

Marshall and the Demon/Angel Battle

There’s a lot of great demon/angel battles in this book. Too many to cover actually. In fact, in chapter 29 there is a car chase scene with demons and angels battling for control of the vehicles. Here’s a fun passage from that, “Guilo returned the blow, their swords locked for a moment, arm against arm, and then Guilo made good use of his foot to cave in the demon’s face and sent it tumbling out over the canyon.” So that’s fun. But what about Marshall? What’s going on with him?

Marshall goes to Ted Harmel’s house. Ted was the owner of the Clarion before Marshall. He finds the place destroyed and Ted lying on the bed having shot himself in the head. Then suddenly, 

Shrieks! Thunder! Fangs bared to bite! The demons exploded from the walls, corners, every nook of the room and like arrows went for Marshall’s heart… The whitest hot light traced brilliant fiery arcs, a searing edge that cut through the flock of evil spirits like a scythe. Parts of demons tumbled into nothingness; other demons imploded and vanished in instantaneous billows of red smoke. Waves of spirits still poured down upon the one lone man who stood there in reasonless terror, but suddenly this man was surrounded by four heavenly warriors robed in glorious light, their crystalline wings  unfurled like a canopy over their charge, their swords blurring into waving, swirling sheets of brilliance.  

The air was filled with the deafening cries of hideous spirits as blades met flanks, necks, torsos, and demon after demon was flung aside in pieces that instantly disintegrated and vanished like vapor… [An angel] Nathan gutted one demon and sent it spiraling through the roof, leaving a red trail of vapor until it vanished. With his sword he slashed; with his free hand he collected demons by their heels.  Armoth and Senter whirled in a high-powered blur, mowing through demons as through grass. Cree threw himself against Marshall and kept his wings spread to protect the stunned man… And then, almost as suddenly as it had begun, it was over. No demon remained; none had escaped.

The Final Battle for the Soul of Ashton

Pastor Hank is falsely accused of rape charges so he’s thrown in jail. According to the book, 

It had not been the most enjoyable of evenings: they had stripped him, searched him, fingerprinted him, photographed him, and then stuck him in this cell with no blanket to keep warm. He had asked for a Bible, but they wouldn’t allow him to have one. The drunk in the next cell had thrown up during the night, the writer of phony checks in the cell after that had a very dirty mouth, and the mugger in the next cell turned out to be a very vociferous, opinionated Marxist.

As Pastor Hank and Marshall sit in jail, accused of crimes they didn’t comment, we find out that “Ashton had become a police state.” We are introduced to Strongman, who is the leader of a demonic organization who was the one who commands Baal-Rafar to take the little town of Ashton in the first place. He wants to turn the city into a city of witchcraft and new age beliefs. You know like New York City. Meanwhile, old lady Edith leads the Ashton Christian locals to pray in unison and worship songs naturally erupt outside of the jailhouse.

The two of them listened for a while, and then, startling Marshall a little, Hank started singing too. It was a song painting Jesus Christ as a victorious warrior and the church as His army. Hank knew all the words, of course, and belted them right out. A little embarrassed, Marshall looked around. The two car thieves in the next cell were still too dumbfounded to complain yet. The phony check writer only shook his head and went back to his paperback novel. Some other guy in the last cell, offense unknown, cursed a little, but not too loudly. “C’mon, Marshall,” prodded Hank. “Jump in! We just might sing ourselves out of this place.”

And it wasn’t just Ashton that was praying. Oh, fuck no. the book states that Ashton had 32 cities of prayer cover. But Rafar is watching over the town of Ashton waiting for battle. 

Rafar rose from his big branch, his gamemaster’s seat of power, and stood on the hill, looking out over the little town of Ashton with his leering yellow eyes as his hordes of attending spirits gathered around him. His muscular arms rippled, his expansive black wings rising  behind him like a royal train, his jewels gleaming and glittering in the sun.

But so is Tal. He springs into action by playing a trumpet, 

The trumpet went to his lips, and the call went forth like a shock wave to shake the heavens. It echoed across the valley and back again, and back again, and back again. With wave after wave it washed over the ground, it deafened the demons, it soared down the streets and rumbled through the alleys, it rang in every ear with volley after volley of notes, building higher and sounding longer, and the still, thick air was shattered with the sound. Tal blew and blew as he soared over the town, his wings flashing, his garments glowing. The moment had come.

Finally, Tal and Rafar do battle. And this is just like a scene out of a James Bond or Mission Impossible film, 

Tal saw him [Rafar] disappear through the roof of that building and dove after him. The black tar roof came at him, growing in an instant from the size of a postage stamp to more than the eye could see. Tal plunged through it. Roof, room, floor, room, then pull up, then down a hall, through a wall, up again, turn back, follow that smoke, through an office, follow up a wall, dip through a floor, rush along, the passing walls slap, slap, slapping the eyes and rushing past like speeding freight cars.  A smoking black missile followed by a flaming comet roared down the hall, down through several floors, back up again, right through the office and over all the desks, up through the ceiling panels, up through the roof and out into the open sky again.

So meanwhile the police are about to unload on Strongman who was possessing a guy that Hank pleaded with the police to not shoot. 

The police aim their guns [at the Strongman-possessed man]. What was this nut going to do next?  Hank shouted, “No, take it easy! It’s not him!” They did not understand that statement at all. Hank stepped forward and gave it one more try: “Strongman, I know you can hear me. You are defeated. The shed blood of Jesus has defeated you. Be silent and  come out of him and depart from this region!” Now the police were aiming at Hank!

Rafar chops off Tal’s wing and just as Tal is about to be defeated by Rafar to even the score for the whole Babylon battle loss he suffered, 

Edith Duster … sunk to her knees. She was pale. The saints gathered around. “Should we call an aid car?” someone asked. “No! No!” Edith cried. “I know this feeling. I’ve felt it before. The Lord is trying to speak to me!” … Edith started to weep. “There’s still an evil spirit out there,” she cried. “He’s doing great mischief. His name is … Raphael … Raving …” Bobby Corsi spoke up. “Rafar!”  Edith looked up at him with wide eyes. “Yes! Yes! That’s the name the Lord’s impressing upon me!”

So Edith rebukes Rafar in the name of Jesus Christ. The Ashton faithful yell out, “We bind you!” and “We cast you out!” There apparently was a puff of sulfur. Then in gruesome fashion but for the Lord Tal tears open Rafar with his sword. As Rafar twitches all impaled he mutters, “But … for … your … praying saints! But for your saints …!” All the humans of Ashton were freed from jail and reunited. They embraced while “tears dripped all over everybody.”

The custom is for Tal to play the goddamn trumpet before and after a victory but he was too injured and exhausted to do it so he pushed his duty onto General angel Guilo,

Guilo thought about that for one short moment, then started guffawing, then slapped Tal on the back and sailed into the air. The victory signal went forth loud and clear, and Guilo even did a tight corkscrew climb for effect. “He loves to do that!” said Tal. The General laughed.