The Devil Rides (Preacher Man-Volume 3) by Murray Pura

Preacher Man - Volume 3 - The Devil Rides

It's been a bad week for Pastor Jude Aaron Blackstone - he's at the centre of an FBI investigation, his girlfriend and him have split, a new sheriff doesn't want Jude to give him any trouble, and life just isn't what it should be. But things are about to get worse. A famous End Times speaker is coming to town and when he teaches something from the Bible, it becomes obvious that what he teaches goes - not only do people take it in hook, line, and sinker, but the events he talks about actually occur. Which would be fine if he was preaching about faith, hope, and love. But when he's teaching from the Book of Revelation about the seven seals, the seven trumpets, 666, and the Beast, it's a recipe for disaster. Especially when those events are not being orchestrated by God but by the devil himself. Jude is about to face a weekend from hell head on, and if hell has its way, there won't be a United States of America come Monday morning or a Jude Aaron Blackstone either.

The Guru's Review: 

I am fortunate that when I was introduced to this series, the first three were released so I have been able to enjoy reading them one after the other. Now I have done this, I have to wait patiently for Pura to write the fourth volume. I pray the author is successful in achieving this sooner rather than later. In the meantime, I have bought another of his novella series, The Name of the Hawk, and will get into that! 

In this third novella, Pura adds more character and plot development to Blackstone and his budding relationship with Sierra. From the description of this novella, their relationship ends as it appears Sierra is not what she first appeared to Blackstone. This twist has a direct and influential bearing on the plot and adds more revelation about Blackstone's past but also Sierra's. I am really hoping that in the fourth novella more will be explored and developed about this relationship. It fits in very nicely with the general theme of the whole series and adds to the depth of suspense, action, and spiritual warfare aspects of this volume and the one to come. 

The description in the book blurb I found very interesting. A visiting end times speaker preaches about the book of Revelation and then the events described in this book comes to pass in the town of Diamondback. I would never have imagined this myself if I was thinking of a plot line so this grabbed me with my interest and curiosity more than piqued. 

Again, this is one filled plot with action, suspense, the supernatural, mystery and intrigue. I was shocked when I discovered the reason why Blackstone and Sierra split, but once this is out there it adds a further layer of mystery and intrigue to the plot. I lived in hope while reading the rest of the novel that Pura would reunite and reconcile them. Not going to give any spoilers away on this topic other than what the book description has already. 

The supernatural aspects of the book of Revelation coming to life in the town of Diamondback makes for a great read and keeps you guessing as to why and how until Blackstone joins the dots correctly and arrives at the most logical conclusion in the supernatural world, that there could only be one other person or entity that could do this. Yes, our enemy of old and the greatest deceiver, satan! While I speak of the supernatural, the description of the showdown between Blackstone and satan himself is intense, albeit short, but memorable, and Pura has employed a very important practice of spiritual warfare, that of prayer, worship and standing firm in Christ. In this confrontation, these practices and the chanting of the Benedictine monks, bring the Shekinah glory of Yahweh to defeat satan. 

This spiritual warfare practice of prayer runs through all the books in this series and in this volume, Pura has constructed what Blackstone calls The Wall and he engages this just before confronting satan, 

(Speaking of the Skekinah glory of Yahweh),

How does something like this happen?

Prayer. Worship. And God responds in a manner of His choosing. All our pastors were praying and anyone else they had time to notify. But I also asked Dies Irae to put up The Wall. That's a connection to men and women who pray like some boxers fight-hard and long and with plenty of sweat. They are all over the world and belong to two thousand different denominations. Whenever I had to go into the pit of hell in Europe I asked for The Wall. It meant a half a million people were praying for me within minutes. An army of God. They never knew the details. Just that someone was facing satan head on and that many lives and souls were at stake.  

If we all had this as described above, it would take the concept of a Prayer Chain to the next level! But this does not detract from the power of prayer that is available to all of us who have a relationship with Jesus or that we are not to abandon the prayer chains and other forms of prayer support and practice we have in place now.  

Another spiritual warfare principle is also expressed when the residents of Diamondback and the ministers in Blackstone's ministers fraternity suffer the manifestations of the plagues mentioned in Revelation after being preached by Eugene Hawkins, the visiting end times speaker, Blackstone instructs them to stand firm in their faith, and stand their ground in Christ, 

We'll get the plague!

You won't get anything but protection if you arm yourself with Christ........He is your salvation! Not your good deeds or your faithfulness or your thoughts on the Trinity! He is! 

So prayer, worship and standing firm in our faith, and in Christ, is what we use in spiritual warfare and what Pura's message is in this novel. Pura educates the reader while in the midst of the action and suspense of that part of the novel. He does this so well. 

I am so looking forward to the next volume in this compelling and addictive series. 

Highly Recommended.