(A couple days after I finished, I found myself interviewed by a reporter from the station I think Peretti modeled Channel 6 on. He depicts conflicts in the newsroom well too. By toning the supernatural elements down, I think Peretti only makes his story stronger. Sometimes a few people act out of character (and did Carl really need a haircut once he was saved?), but generally the characters are good. Peretti also describes a family in conflict well: godly (but very domestic) parents with a worldly but loving son, and a grandson (Carl, product of a broken family), trying to sort things out. Peretti does an excellent job of telling the story from a Biblical point of view (in particular, the writings of John the apostle), while presenting the skepticism and cynicism of worldly observers through the eyes of other characters. Like the prophets in the Bible, "John" is in for a rocky road. Frank Peretti shows, in this prophetic novel, how such courage might affect a news anchor who meets God. History has often been changed by people who stood alone for truth against power: Solzhenitsyn hiding his writings from the Soviet secret police, Benigno Aquino stepping onto the tarmac at Manila International Airport, a lone Chinese man facing down tanks.
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