Book Review: The Visitation by Frank E Peretti (1999)

Official Goodreads Summary

Travis Jordan, a widower and burned-out pastor, hoped to disappear into the quiet, unassuming town of Antioch, Washington. Then a man claiming to be the new Christ arrives, performing miracle after miracle, and the national spotlight soon follows.

As the town escalates in its religious fervor, Travis must battle with his own questions about his faith and the increasing extremism and zealotry overtaking the town. The startling secret behind this visitation will ultimately push him into a supernatural confrontation that has eternal consequences.

My Review

I don't remember a time in my life when I wasn't reading Frank E. Peretti's Christian fiction. I read his Cooper Kids series when I was a tween, graduated to his spiritual warfare duology when I was a teen (probably waaaaay too young, in hindsight, but I regret nothing), and have now read every novel he has ever written, some of them multiple times.

One of his books that I've read multiple times is The Visitation, that was originally published in 1999 but many aspects of it still remain relevant today. People love a hero, we love to be followers of the person who has it all together and can fix all the things that are wrong in life through this method or that belief. Just sit down and scroll through the cult section of Netflix docuseries. You'll be appalled at how often people are misled and fooled by a charismatic leader who's been hit with the "lucky stick" and obtained a cult following.

It had literally been a decade since I last read The Visitation. But I had a strange, burning need to buy a copy, as if it had some nugget of truth that I needed to encounter right now. Turns out, that was the Holy Spirit's leading. I feel a lot like Travis Jordan sometimes. Burned out and tired of faking an enthusiasm that I don't feel for all the "church things." I'm not burned out on God, but on church, I am majorly burned out.

I'm a middle of the road kind of person. And I would like to think that I'm not easily fooled or pulled into causes or party lines. I know what I believe in and that's what matters, but I don't have to advertise my beliefs everywhere. And I do not appreciate feeling like a whole section of the American Christian church has been taken over by a certain political candidate. Now, who you vote for and why is your business. But no political party or candidate is my God, and I find myself cringing at the cult-like following that's developing for a certain someone.

I don't know or care what Mr. Peretti's political views are. He might completely disagree with my middle of the road stance and that's fine by me. He's allowed to. But The Visitation helped me continue to wake up to the reality that Jesus saves and everyone else is a counterfeit. Any church leader or political leader who claims to have all the answers, well, they're a counterfeit. What I look for in leaders is servant leadership, that they know they still have a lot to learn from the people round them, and that they are completely fallible and prone to mistakes.

Anything else and you've got a Brandon Nichols arriving in a small town, working signs and wonders, and the entire Christian population proclaims him as Jesus instead of stopping and thinking "hmm, where is his power coming from?"

I don't know. I'm probably super sensitive to the political season right now. Politics always drain me, and never more so than right now. But one thing that didn't drain me was re-reading The Visitation. It is 500+ pages long and I breezed through it in a few days, just like I always have before. It's a brilliant novel by a brilliant storyteller and I will continue to love it. And now I own it so I can pick it up for a thrilling re-read whenever I want.

One last thought, be careful who you make your god.