The Black or White Chronicles by John Aubrey Anderson
Book One: Abiding Darkness
Book Two: Wedgewood Grey
Book Three: And if I Die

I am not a fan of Christian fiction. I have read very little of it, but what little I have read I have found to be generally lame as literature and theologically weak, at best. The theme of these books, spiritual warfare, has received especially bad treatment and so increased my skepticism. So when I began this series, I expected to trudge joylessly through the first volume, pat myself on the back for graciously giving my time to this work, and move on to better things. Not exactly overcome with enthusiasm, I began . . .

The setting of The Black or White Chronicles is the segregated South of the 1940s and continuing into the ’60s. The story revolves around Moses Lincoln “Mose” Washington, the great-grandson of a slave and operations manager of the local cotton gin, Amanda “Missy” Parker, the daughter of the gin owner, and their families. The community provides a variety of colorful characters.

The story begins in 1945 with seven-year-old Missy Parker, her twelve-year-old brother Bobby, and eleven-year-old Mose “Junior” Washington, who form an inseparable confederation known in the community as “those Parker children.” Basically good kids, they routinely get into the kind of mischief that naturally germinates in childish imaginations, such as building a crude boat out of siding stolen from one of Mr. Parker’s cotton sheds.

The action begins when Missy Parker is singled out for a demonic attack. In a dramatic scene on Cat Lake, demons possess several cottonmouth water moccasins and attack the three children as they play at the Cat Lake Bridge. In the ensuing struggle, Mose Junior saves Missy’s life, sacrificing his own in the process. Out of this tragedy, an unlikely friendship is formed between the two disparate families. More importantly, Missy and her family come to know Christ through the witness of the Washington family.

And that is all I am going to give away.

I found in these books a few pleasant surprises:

1. Any work of fiction that deals with spiritual warfare will inevitably be speculative. Scripture simply does not tell us enough about the spirit realm of angels and demons upon which to build a good novel. One of my fears before reading these books was that they would be filled with the kind of wild, paranoid nonsense that seems typical of those obsessed with “spiritual warfare.” However, I was relieved to find nothing of that nature in these stories. While the author’s descriptions of angelic and demonic activities are necessarily speculative, I don’t believe he went overboard with it. Other than the dubious claim that everyone has their own personal guardian angel, I found no blatantly unbiblical representations of angels or demons.
2. The sovereignty of God was clearly presented. Throughout the book, the belief is repeated that God is in control, that Satan can do nothing that God does not allow, and that believers need not fear the powers of darkness.
3. The Gospel is fairly accurately presented, and its proclamation is made the primary goal of the protagonists throughout the books. There is a definite element of decisional regeneration, but there is also an emphasis on genuine repentance and faith, and on God’s sovereignty in drawing sinners to himself.

I do have couple of complaints about these books. One, and an admittedly small one, is the presence of a few common clichés: there are apparently no unattractive women in the South. Most of them are beautiful, and many of them are jaw-droppingly stunning. There are also no bad cooks in the South. All the food, wherever you go, is the best you’ve ever had. The men—the good ones, anyway—are all brave and steadfast, the dogs are all smart . . . you get the idea. My next complaint is more substantial: the third volume, And if I Die, left too many loose ends untied. A fourth volume is almost demanded to bring the saga to a satisfactory end. Bring it on!

Admittedly, I picked up the first volume, Abiding Darkness, with a negative attitude. After the first couple of chapters, I remarked to my wife that it was a combination of Stephen King, Jack Chick, and Garrison Keillor. By the end of the book, I was ready to dig into the second. I did not expect to enjoy even one of these books, but I must admit that I enjoyed all three. They were entertaining, inspiring, and fun. If you’re looking for something to lighten up your reading schedule, The Black or White Chronicles could be just what the doctor ordered.