Short Book Review: If I Were the Devil

If I Were the Devil: Seeing Through the Enemy's Smokescreen: Contemporary Challenges Facing Adventism (Paperback)

(Adventist Book Center link)

By George R. Knight

I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I ordered this book. I couldn't just drop into an ABC and browse through it, so I went strictly on experience with the author's other books. I've found that Dr. Knight to be articulate and engaging.

This particular book, being a collection of articles, speeches, and papers, has a different "feel" than most of his other works. Since each "chapter" is a standalone work, there is repetition of arguments and themes throughout the book. By the second half of the book, I found myself skimming through a lot of the text where the material repeats earlier pieces, or where the material seems to get bogged down in details that I personally could not get interested in following.

That's not to say this book is boring. It is far from that. I found the portions that are more narrative in style, where Dr. Knight narrates Adventist history to be very interesting and worthwhile. He shows how the Adventist church got to be what it is.

Dr. Knight's passion for the Adventist church exudes through the pages of this book. His observation and conclusion is that the current Adventist structure and system are flawed, and more likely than not, severely, but he does not want to see the church die. He wants to see radical surgery performed so that the church can once again approach maximum effectiveness in accomplishing the purpose for which God chose to raise up this movement.

And what is the purpose of the Adventist church? Dr. Knight suggests that it is the Three Angels' Message of Revelation 14:6-12. Specifically, he believes that this message calls the Adventist church to a worldwide mission to proclaim (1) "the Second Advent;" (2) "the end-time importance of God's commands;" (3) "the importance of having faith in Jesus." (p. 295)

Dr. Knight additionally calls for balance: Balance between proclaiming the truth and performing acts of service; and balance between proclaiming the distinctive doctrines that make Seventh-day Adventists who they are, and proclaiming beliefs that Adventists share with other Christian groups.

Dr. Knight, in the closing pages writes, "If I were the devil I would do everything I could to unbalance church leadership. I would not be overly concerned with the direction of the imbalance, just so long as most leaders were off center in some way or other." And then Dr. Knight goes on to briefly list some of the imbalances. And then he continues, "Better still, I [the devil] would aim at getting the various factions of Adventist leadership divided and arguing with each other. With those tactics I would have very little to fear." (p. 295)

This book certainly gave me some things to think about. Do I agree or disagree with Dr. Knight's suggestions and in what way? What do I believe to be the mission of the church? How do I relate my mission to that of the church? What does it mean to be balanced? Am I balanced or imbalanced in my approach to the gospel? What does it mean to be a Seventh-day Adventist Christian? Why am I one, and why do I continue as one?