It’s absolutely hysterical that he presents the ultra strict, abusive school environment as a leftist nightmare when it’s been traditionally Christian schools doing that shit… 🤣
I love how Frank is clearly pissing himself in fear about the idea of something like "Nightmare Academy" existing as if there aren't fundie abuse factories disguised as schools in real life.
Don't you see, though? When the government teaches you that sometimes boys feel like they're girls or vice versa and that's ok then that's evil gommulistism brainwashing destroying society and killing the human race. But when a Fundie starts a literal, actual cult then that's just a "necessary measure to fight gommulism"
As soon as I saw Frank's name I had two thoughts: "Wow, he's still alive?" And two: "He still doesn't know what he's talking about." In my very late teens, well meaning friends kept leaving Frank's books (This Present Darkness was one I just got so sick of) on my car, or sending them to me. I got tired of the fear mongering nonsense. "Why would satanists give a sh!t what we're doing? Why would they care?" You'd think I was asking them to do something terrible. So I did it myself. I found a few folks who claimed to be satanists and I asked them. When they stopped laughing (which took a while) I was informed that no, they don't think about Christians at all. After talking with them, I went on to meet with people from many other religions, religious traditions, etc. After years of this, I left organized religion. I'd rather become a decent human being than spend my life afraid of shadows. Love the makeup! I was laughing right along with you.
I dont ever comment but 2 things I gotta say: 1. As a Christian, this tuff sounds so crazy. I hear you talk about fundies a lot and Im just so freaked out. It leaves me wondering about how different white and black churches are. And obviously growing up in a Black church, slavery and the treatment of the Indigenous people wasn't something we happily said "at least we're Christian now! ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ" 2. The hair and makeup are giving what needs to be gave!!!!
If you really want to give yourself a scare go learn about christian dominionism , the christian identitarian movement and the sordid beginnings of the religious homeschooling movement in the USA starting in the 60's and 70's. They did concern themselves with everything they perceived as "secular" in public education, but unfortunately one of the big issues that unified a lot of conservative white christian into what is now referred to the New Christian Rights or simply Christian Rights movement, was the end of legal school segregation.
I grew up going to an alternative experimental project-based learning public school where we called our teachers by their first names to disencourage authoritarianism on the part of teachers. It also had a specific focus on social-emotional learning and environmental science. Ngl, I had a great time, my teachers were so nice, and I didn’t take a test until I was 13. And in 6th grade we covered election topics and I chose women’s reproductive healthcare and we got to volunteer with Planned Parenthood before they came and taught us sex-ed. It was a pretty fun way to grow up, though I imagine it’s a fundie’s worst nightmare. I just like to think of what Frank would think of my K-8. I think he would be horrified, but most people who went tend to really enjoy the system.
As an outsider from Europe, American Christianity feels sooo disconnected from the core Christian values that it feels like a whole different religion sometimes. Like it is literally fighting against so many things that the Bible teaches.
speaking as an american, you’ve hit the nail right on the head! especially surreal is seeing rich people try to deal with the “camel through the needle” story
I vividly remember the dog food scene in House. It was supposed to be a metaphor for sin, but had all the subtlety of a herd of charging rhinoceroses in a tea shop.
To be fair, the American school system is awful. Not for the reasons Frank thinks, but I'm still recovering from middle school 10 years later. Excellent video btw, I've been enjoying your channel a lot lately ^o^
The more Christian fiction I learn about, the happier I am that my mom never forced my brother and me to go to church or be religious at all (and she grew up Pentecostal, so she definitely could have)
OMG, I totally forgot about Peretti. Thats a unique reading trauma from middle school I thought I’d blocked out. The really weird part is I was reading VC Andrews and Margaret Atwood at the same time. 🥴 I’m not sure what the hell was going on in my family.
The "Is what you just said true or false?" schtick is basically just fundies having a belly laugh at anybody not having a rigidly dogmatic view of truth. Like...I'm a Buddhist, and I'd have to give a 30m improvised Dharma talk to actually answer that question, which I *very* much doubt is what fundies want when they ask it.
Rachel as someone who’s been watching you a while, I’d like to recommend a really good memoir by pearl Lowe called all that glitters, about her cocaine problem and how fame affected her. It’s amazing
you mentioned that not every christian supports facism and i completely agree! i mean, im an atheist but the thing is, i completed my education in the same catholic school. looking back at it, the experience was very different than yours. i remember having classmates from different religions, and even during prayer time in the small chapel we had in school grounds, students of different religions were simple not obligated to participate, and every one were cool with that. i also remember my religion teacher who were a former priest teaching about all the different religions and the subjectivity of the bible. we did a workshop about it where every kid brought to school a project about a different religion! Mine was about Xintoism a japanese religion, there was a friend who even brought satanism for us to learn about, and all of that was suggested by the professor. We were always thought about different point of views and how religion fundamentally works. i studied the bible probably more times with more details and critical thinking than any fundy. all of this might be surprising considering that the teachers were all christian, some were nuns and former priests like my professor.
Oh my god, my hyper religious aunt gave me this guy's books! I think I still have this?! There were multiple books she gave me. The whiplash I felt when I recognized the cover and it all came back, oh no!
i'm only a couple minutes in but i appreciate the taglines on the cover of both books. for house: "the only way out is in." for nightmare academy: "the only way to solve the case is to step inside the nightmare." feels very rinse and repeat. kind of disappointed that the hangman's curse didn't have such a catchy tagline...
you give me so much hope for the kids being indoctrinated into christofacism right now. they tried it on you, and _you figured out they were wrong._ you're a good person with strong moral stances and values. it's wonderful to see that kids who grew up Truly In It are not doomed to believe that horseshit forever, and can grow into kind and thoughtful people. i'm thankful that you talk about your experiences! thanks for the interesting listens while i crochet! i'm working on a crocodile plushie right now 🐊 hope you have a beautiful day!!!
As somebody who was put in the special education system, I can safely tell you that public schools are bad and I was locked in rooms for days on end and only let out to go home, the rooms had the the windows boarded up, and it was a square that they would turn out the light and leave me in the darkness of. No doorknob on that door side. This book could have covered any of those terrifying situations, made the teachers into the nightmare monsters of reality, it could have gone full package. Public schools are a mess, but homeschooling often lets abusers get away with it too, and there is no way that Christian schools are any better I know that my mom joked that if I went to a same-sex Christian school I would have came out gayer than I already am(she was supportive of my identity and comfort). My dad would have lost his mind over that and beat me more though.
the irony of trying to vilify public school using the traits and features of private school? how did he mess up that badly that he couldn’t even get that right?
Funny that Fundies are so upset about the concept of Objective Truth, when Rightwinger Karl Rove famously said, "We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality - judiciously, as you will - we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.”
this reminded me of when I was in private fundie elementary school and I asked to switch over to public school, at the ripe age of 12… because I was so concerningly aware that I truly wasn’t learning anything valuable or applicable to the real world… so glad I switched tho
As someone who has seen the aisles upon aisles of Christian books at my library and local bookstores, how did I not know that there is such thing as Christian thriller/mystery lit?! Thank you so much for reading this for our horror and entertainment.
Oh man, I'm so excited for this, we never read this, but we had all the cooper kids books growing up. My dad wants to read them to my nieces and nephews now...
My dad read us all the Cooper Kids books when we were younger and we loved them. It helped to frame them as Christian fantasy, a little. Like I'm a Christian, but even I'm not willing to believe in half the stuff Peretti writes about. I mean, sasquatch, literal dragons representing evil, ghost giants from Bible times?
Oh my god, the Hangman's Curse movie had a lil chokehold on me and my sisters growing up 😭 I'm so pumped for this vid. Also the bangs look so good on you!!
I had to read "This Present Darkness" by Peretti in high school (cus I went to a private Christian school in the Tampa Bay area). It's longer, more fear mongering about liberal education, and a terribly portrayed fantasy element of angels fighting demons invisible to the human eye. Bad Christian books aside, I'm not a fundie Christian anymore, mostly thanks to that "liberal education," i.e., interesting courses and friends that didn't judge me for being religious at the time. Now DeSantis is doing a hostile takeover of that school (New College of Florida), which will definitely lead to other red states doing the same. And my conservative family thinks I'm the one that's been indoctrinated...
I read so much Perretti as a kid. I started with the Cooper kids series and then This Present Darkness, Prophet, and then the book that messed me up for a long time The Oath. Never read the Veritas books or House but I saw the movies but I had started to watch mainstream horror at that point and was not impressed. Great review!
I loved the Cooper Kids! I had a box set of the first four. Genuinely thrilling action sequences, like Indiana Jones for kids. Perretti isn’t a bad writer craftwise (or wasn’t in the 90s-I’ve seen reviews of more recent books that are kinda yikes) but the Christian dogma is really thick
@@alisaurus4224 I would agree. The early stuff kept me reading but then the books really got boring at a certain point. I'd be curious to go back and see how the books I enjoyed as a kid read now that I am older 🤔🤔🤔
I have to admit, Peretti gives me a sense of nostalgia because he was one of my first introductions to horror as a genre. Possibly *the* first, but couldn't swear to it.
Listen,,,,, I was obsessed with The Veritas Project when I was younger,,,, my nana bought me the first two books for my eleventh birthday (I think) and I reread them SO MANY TIMES,,,, but this video is so accurate
Yo my baptist mother bought me Flowers in the Attic, the whole series (because the books were banned in our district) and I read them at the age of 12 🥴 I'm thinking about commissioning you to read just so I'm not alone in thinking it's super inappropriate for a 12 year old.
The core memory I have of the first book in this series was I thought it was just going to be a paranormal horror book and then there was the "two kids win an argument with a science teacher that evolution is wrong" thing. And there was also something at the end about converting to Christianity or going to jail or something? I don't remember it too well since I was reading it at tennis sectionals.
oof this unearthed an old memory of reading the hangman's curse when i was 13 in the live-laugh-love christian bookstore in my hometown also interesting how nightmare academy sure sounds a lot like my experience in private christian education 🧐
I was listening to this while cooking and accidentally turned on a game on my phone with spooky music and it fit so well I thought it was part of your video 😂
Please bless me with your makeup skills 🙏🏽 Edit: also your organisation skills man like every time I look at your library I'm just mesmerised, I could never get it so perfect 😭
I grew up in a Christian home and still am a Christian. I read This Present Darkness series and the Left Behind books and all sorts of Christian books growing up. I also went only to public schools until I graduated from high school - I did go to a Christian college. I'm in Canada, and while the fundies here are the same as in the States, the evangelicals here in Canada tend to be liberal compared to the US evangelicals. I attended a a couple of evangelical churches and found this to be so from an early age. Evangelicalism here is still conservative compared to most of Canadian society, but compared to US evangelicalism, it's definitely considered "worldly" by many in the US version. I'm talking about my experiences back in the 1980s when I was in my adolescence. I'm not sure what it's like now in evangelical churches, as I attend a church in a different branch of Christianity. So I'm going by my experiences from back then. Things could be the same or different, although I was shocked to find out that a large number of people I went to church with have been huge Trump supporters back when he was running for president and was president. I will never understand why any Christian would support him when he's obviously never really lived as a Christian, despite what he says. But anyway. Yet we still read the same books and saw certain things the same way. I mention this because one of THE major differences, aside from Canadian evangelicals generally being more open to outside ideas and not being quite so strict about a lot of things, as well as well as not having our political views so tied to our churches and the like is our view of schools. Yes, some people I went to church with homeschooled their children or sent them to Christian schools, but overall, everyone sent their children to public schools and didn't see the public school system as a threat to how we as children and teenagers would develop. There wasn't the fear that we would be stolen away by the big bad world as many in the US did and still think. Our parents knew that the education we received in public schools was just as good, if not better than, most Christian schools at the time. There was one private Christian school that had a K to grade 12 programme that provided a great education, and another one that, at the time, went from grades 8 to 12, and was also excellent. Now this second one is also from K to 12. Those of us who attended public school weren't ruined by it, and we weren't scarred for life by going there. We learned to think for ourselves and to decide for ourselves. We were also allowed to develop our own interests and become our own people instead of just following what our parents wanted us to become. My parents were also really good at letting my brother and I pursue our own interests. Yes, they wanted us to become Christians - we both did - and to live that way, but they also accepted us for who we were and let us think for ourselves. They knew that it was important for our health and well being to not be smothered or censored or forced in any way to see things a certain way. It angers me and breaks my heart when I see parents, well meaning as they may think they are, trying to force their children into a certain mold, whether it's religion or sports or anything else, and not letting them become who they really are or to try to find their own way in the world. I understand that an author's viewpoints and beliefs will always come out in their writings, whether they're blatant obvious or not - mine do when I write - and I appreciate that Frank Peretti is open about coming from a form of Christianity. I don't like when people hide it. What angers and frustrates me, though, is when authors like Frank Peretti try to bring fear of "the world" and of public schools and other such things into it, when they try to make it seem like everything that isn't Christian is wrong. It's not. Some things just are and aren't right or wrong. It's fine to enjoy books and shows and movies and music not of a Christian viewpoint. Just because a person listens to music by someone not of the same viewpoint doesn't mean that that's going to turn someone away from being a Christian, or whatever. I watched this video because I was interested to see what you'd have to say about this book, which I haven't read and don't intend to. I'm sure that if I had, I'd see it the same way that you do. It seems to me that Frank Peretti was just trying to bring more fear into the world instead of trying to see that the world's not all bad and that a public school education isn't going to ruin a person. Anyway, this comment's already more than long enough - sorry about that! I sometimes get rambling and find it hard to stop if I get into a rant. :) Rachel, I'm glad that you were able to break free of your upbringing and discover who you really are and that you're free to share your views with us. Sharing your love of books and the like is a great way to do that, and thank-you. :) Thank-you, too, for being fully aware that not all of us Christians are the same and that we're not all fundies who have such a narrow view of the world or are afraid of it.
The content was amazing as always! Ok, since I got that out of the way, can we talk about how 🔥you look? The bangs, the shadow, the graphic liner… chefs kiss!💋
I haven't thought about Frank Peretti in years, I read all of the Cooper Kids books as a child, but I can't imagine how different I would see them now after deconstructing
Wait . . . one of these girls in the academy has a Walkman? A WALKMAN? Apparently, fundies think that tech is evil, because who the hell has owned a WALKMAN past 1990?
I grew up Fundy and have read most of Frank peretti's books including this book and house. I've also read a lot of Ted Dekker. It is quite the come down once you clear out of that mindset
I recall reading his books on spiritual warfare like This Present Darkness, and one about Prophet linked to election campaign... That was decades ago, but this title is new to me
Holy shit. Frank Peretti is a mood filled with a bunch of childhood fundie flashbacks! 🤣🔥 Keep up the awesome work, Rachel! I always find some kind of catharsis when you review fundie books and talk about your experiences; I'm sure so many of us do. ❤️
I remember reading this book. I was so clueless I didn't know what it was trying to argue, and the propaganda just made a whooshing sound as it went over my head.
That wrap up saying that most of the bad guys were academics that were unknown to the public but deeply influential is the fundie version of the conclusion of many Agatha Christie books that turned out to be deeply anti-socialist
the naming "objective truth" is extra stupid because christian marriage has women change their last names all the time. How is that a good thing but changing a first name isn't?
I legit laughed out loud when you described Hangman's Curse as a god awful movie because my favorite podcast, God Awful Movies, actually did an episode on it.
Hey Rachel, I'm no parent so I'm not judging but I was curious to know how you do (or plan to) teach your kids about religion. I feel like your insight might be helpful to me in the future.
Hey! So I actually allow my kids to attend Sunday school with my family members for now, but I also have them engage with other religions via books, videos, and have my friends send them videos telling them about the different religious practices they engage in. Sometimes we will do things like celebrate Yemoja day. We read books about Jewish Passover. I tell them that they can believe whatever they want when they grow up and that they choose what to believe and they have to let others choose what to believe.
holy shit. i remember reading this book as a 12yo at my fundie christian school library. it scared the crap out of me! i still remember it all these years later but couldn’t remember what the name of the book was. so wild that you made a video on it!!
I was raised Catholic, but I definitely remember performing popsicle stick plays with the Apostles and Dinosaurs. The nuns did not appreciate when I tried to get the triceratops to eat Judas, but it would have solved a lot of problems imo.
Wow... I found it! I wondered what that audiobook that was being played in Grade 7 was at the Christian school. I think I missed a whole lot but there was a part where they go and try and use a telephone. I looked it up on Google Books and that part is in it! 🙂
Oh my god, I remember reading this in high school (Fellow ex-fundie here). And the first one....hell I think we owned the movie...I know we owned House....>.> I had completely blotted this out of my memory
I'm waaaay out of the age group who would've read these books, but the video & this comment made me curious enough to Google Hangman's Curse. It certainly sounds like... something. And given the book's fundie origin, I find it "interesting" that the villain's name is Bloom.
I’m saving this to watch later but I couldn’t leave before telling you how great you look with bangs!! I’m not a bang person, mainly because I look atrocious in them and I’m salty, but dammit, they look good on you!
Frank Peretti has been annoying me since I was ~8 years old. SO MUCH HATE for his work. Never thought I'd see the day when a TH-camr reviewed one of his books.
It’s absolutely hysterical that he presents the ultra strict, abusive school environment as a leftist nightmare when it’s been traditionally Christian schools doing that shit… 🤣
You are late for your son's vaginoplasty! See if you can keep the dicksaw as a momento!
But it's on our tax dollars ;)
Peretti is also a creationist. His grasp of reality leaves much to be desired.
I love how Frank is clearly pissing himself in fear about the idea of something like "Nightmare Academy" existing as if there aren't fundie abuse factories disguised as schools in real life.
Don't you see, though? When the government teaches you that sometimes boys feel like they're girls or vice versa and that's ok then that's evil gommulistism brainwashing destroying society and killing the human race. But when a Fundie starts a literal, actual cult then that's just a "necessary measure to fight gommulism"
"Communism is when no Walkman" is unintentionally hilarious
Okay, question: your comment says posted 12 hours ago but the video went up 20 minutes ago. What is this witchcraft?! How?? 😂
@@_wvo youtube be youtube, I guess
@@_wvo I think some people might have early access to the videos. I saw another comment from 18hrs ago so 😆 that's my best guess.
@@_wvo I'm a patron, so I get early access to the videos.
@@eduardaarrais you are correct! People who join the Patreon get early access.
Just started the review and it needs to be said: as an Alisha I do not claim nor authorize this representation.
Don’t worry. The book characters spells it Elisha. You’re in the clear!
@@ReadswithRachel Phew! I feel as though I just dodged a bullet
as an Elijah, nor do i
As soon as I saw Frank's name I had two thoughts: "Wow, he's still alive?" And two: "He still doesn't know what he's talking about."
In my very late teens, well meaning friends kept leaving Frank's books (This Present Darkness was one I just got so sick of) on my car, or sending them to me. I got tired of the fear mongering nonsense. "Why would satanists give a sh!t what we're doing? Why would they care?" You'd think I was asking them to do something terrible. So I did it myself. I found a few folks who claimed to be satanists and I asked them.
When they stopped laughing (which took a while) I was informed that no, they don't think about Christians at all. After talking with them, I went on to meet with people from many other religions, religious traditions, etc. After years of this, I left organized religion.
I'd rather become a decent human being than spend my life afraid of shadows.
Love the makeup! I was laughing right along with you.
So many bad memories related to This Present Darkness. So glad you got out too!
@@AidenFeltkamp oh I kept looking at the book cover and seeing "Frank Peretti Does Dark Academia" and laughed and laughed.
@@spookyfirst9514 omg too true. that's hilarious!
The bangs are giving Lucy Lawless energy and I love it
That is a high compliment because I fucking love Xena
I was just going to say that!
I was trying to figure out what she was reminding me of.. thank you. This is it 💗🫶🏻
The real Nightmare Academy was the misconceptions we projected along the way!
It’s absolutely jaw dropping how often fundies and others similar walk FACE FIRST into the point and STILL miss it.
I dont ever comment but 2 things I gotta say:
1. As a Christian, this tuff sounds so crazy. I hear you talk about fundies a lot and Im just so freaked out. It leaves me wondering about how different white and black churches are. And obviously growing up in a Black church, slavery and the treatment of the Indigenous people wasn't something we happily said "at least we're Christian now! ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ"
2. The hair and makeup are giving what needs to be gave!!!!
If you really want to give yourself a scare go learn about christian dominionism , the christian identitarian movement and the sordid beginnings of the religious homeschooling movement in the USA starting in the 60's and 70's. They did concern themselves with everything they perceived as "secular" in public education, but unfortunately one of the big issues that unified a lot of conservative white christian into what is now referred to the New Christian Rights or simply Christian Rights movement, was the end of legal school segregation.
I grew up going to an alternative experimental project-based learning public school where we called our teachers by their first names to disencourage authoritarianism on the part of teachers. It also had a specific focus on social-emotional learning and environmental science. Ngl, I had a great time, my teachers were so nice, and I didn’t take a test until I was 13. And in 6th grade we covered election topics and I chose women’s reproductive healthcare and we got to volunteer with Planned Parenthood before they came and taught us sex-ed. It was a pretty fun way to grow up, though I imagine it’s a fundie’s worst nightmare. I just like to think of what Frank would think of my K-8. I think he would be horrified, but most people who went tend to really enjoy the system.
As an outsider from Europe, American Christianity feels sooo disconnected from the core Christian values that it feels like a whole different religion sometimes. Like it is literally fighting against so many things that the Bible teaches.
speaking as an american, you’ve hit the nail right on the head! especially surreal is seeing rich people try to deal with the “camel through the needle” story
I LOVE the way you keep saying “Frank!” like he’s a really silly guy with his silly opinions 😄
I vividly remember the dog food scene in House. It was supposed to be a metaphor for sin, but had all the subtlety of a herd of charging rhinoceroses in a tea shop.
That pretty much sums up franks writing 🤣
To be fair, the American school system is awful. Not for the reasons Frank thinks, but I'm still recovering from middle school 10 years later. Excellent video btw, I've been enjoying your channel a lot lately ^o^
The more Christian fiction I learn about, the happier I am that my mom never forced my brother and me to go to church or be religious at all (and she grew up Pentecostal, so she definitely could have)
OMG, I totally forgot about Peretti. Thats a unique reading trauma from middle school I thought I’d blocked out. The really weird part is I was reading VC Andrews and Margaret Atwood at the same time. 🥴 I’m not sure what the hell was going on in my family.
Omg this man scared the crap out of me in my childhood too! Ugh I so appreciate you. I was raised in a fundie pentacostal cult. I FEEL your pain. 💜
You know a video is good when Rachel bursts into laughter within the first five seconds
The "Is what you just said true or false?" schtick is basically just fundies having a belly laugh at anybody not having a rigidly dogmatic view of truth. Like...I'm a Buddhist, and I'd have to give a 30m improvised Dharma talk to actually answer that question, which I *very* much doubt is what fundies want when they ask it.
Rachel as someone who’s been watching you a while, I’d like to recommend a really good memoir by pearl Lowe called all that glitters, about her cocaine problem and how fame affected her. It’s amazing
If you like that, you'd probably like Jeannette McCurdy's "I'm Glad My Mom Died", but it's about some pretty horrific abuse.
@@naomistarlight6178 I’ve read it, it’s extremely good
you mentioned that not every christian supports facism and i completely agree! i mean, im an atheist but the thing is, i completed my education in the same catholic school.
looking back at it, the experience was very different than yours. i remember having classmates from different religions, and even during prayer time in the small chapel we had in school grounds, students of different religions were simple not obligated to participate, and every one were cool with that.
i also remember my religion teacher who were a former priest teaching about all the different religions and the subjectivity of the bible.
we did a workshop about it where every kid brought to school a project about a different religion! Mine was about Xintoism a japanese religion, there was a friend who even brought satanism for us to learn about, and all of that was suggested by the professor.
We were always thought about different point of views and how religion fundamentally works. i studied the bible probably more times with more details and critical thinking than any fundy.
all of this might be surprising considering that the teachers were all christian, some were nuns and former priests like my professor.
Holy crap that is the complete opposite of my Catholic school experience lol
Oh my god, my hyper religious aunt gave me this guy's books! I think I still have this?! There were multiple books she gave me. The whiplash I felt when I recognized the cover and it all came back, oh no!
i'm only a couple minutes in but i appreciate the taglines on the cover of both books. for house: "the only way out is in." for nightmare academy: "the only way to solve the case is to step inside the nightmare." feels very rinse and repeat. kind of disappointed that the hangman's curse didn't have such a catchy tagline...
I misread the first one as "the only way out is sin"
Rachel!! The hair! The makeup! Stunning 🥰 Thanks for the new video btw!
you give me so much hope for the kids being indoctrinated into christofacism right now. they tried it on you, and _you figured out they were wrong._ you're a good person with strong moral stances and values. it's wonderful to see that kids who grew up Truly In It are not doomed to believe that horseshit forever, and can grow into kind and thoughtful people. i'm thankful that you talk about your experiences!
thanks for the interesting listens while i crochet! i'm working on a crocodile plushie right now 🐊 hope you have a beautiful day!!!
As somebody who was put in the special education system, I can safely tell you that public schools are bad and I was locked in rooms for days on end and only let out to go home, the rooms had the the windows boarded up, and it was a square that they would turn out the light and leave me in the darkness of. No doorknob on that door side. This book could have covered any of those terrifying situations, made the teachers into the nightmare monsters of reality, it could have gone full package. Public schools are a mess, but homeschooling often lets abusers get away with it too, and there is no way that Christian schools are any better I know that my mom joked that if I went to a same-sex Christian school I would have came out gayer than I already am(she was supportive of my identity and comfort). My dad would have lost his mind over that and beat me more though.
the irony of trying to vilify public school using the traits and features of private school? how did he mess up that badly that he couldn’t even get that right?
This look is bringing me such joy
Funny that Fundies are so upset about the concept of Objective Truth, when Rightwinger Karl Rove famously said, "We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality - judiciously, as you will - we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.”
omg, love the bangs and make-up! 💜
I was raised Christian but not fundie and it's really fascinating to hear about.
this reminded me of when I was in private fundie elementary school and I asked to switch over to public school, at the ripe age of 12… because I was so concerningly aware that I truly wasn’t learning anything valuable or applicable to the real world… so glad I switched tho
Teacher from Florida here. Girl, help! There’s a lot wrong with education, but hoo boy, it sure ain’t communism and the devil.
"They can't be programmed" 🤣🤣🤣 I AM FUCKING SCREAMING. Oh my god. I actually believed this about myself.
I don't comment often, but I wanted to let you know that you've become one of my favorite booktubers lately !
Thank you so much!!
I read The Hangmans Curse and all it did was made me terrified of brown recluse spiders
As someone who has seen the aisles upon aisles of Christian books at my library and local bookstores, how did I not know that there is such thing as Christian thriller/mystery lit?! Thank you so much for reading this for our horror and entertainment.
Oh man, I'm so excited for this, we never read this, but we had all the cooper kids books growing up. My dad wants to read them to my nieces and nephews now...
My dad read us all the Cooper Kids books when we were younger and we loved them. It helped to frame them as Christian fantasy, a little. Like I'm a Christian, but even I'm not willing to believe in half the stuff Peretti writes about. I mean, sasquatch, literal dragons representing evil, ghost giants from Bible times?
Oh my god, the Hangman's Curse movie had a lil chokehold on me and my sisters growing up 😭 I'm so pumped for this vid. Also the bangs look so good on you!!
your makeup is so pretty!! And holy moly what a throwback to Frank Peretti, I read so much of his crap when I was a fundy, love you for doing this lol
They always accuse Those Others of doing the things they actually want to do. Thanks for your insider perspective on this!
I had to read "This Present Darkness" by Peretti in high school (cus I went to a private Christian school in the Tampa Bay area). It's longer, more fear mongering about liberal education, and a terribly portrayed fantasy element of angels fighting demons invisible to the human eye.
Bad Christian books aside, I'm not a fundie Christian anymore, mostly thanks to that "liberal education," i.e., interesting courses and friends that didn't judge me for being religious at the time. Now DeSantis is doing a hostile takeover of that school (New College of Florida), which will definitely lead to other red states doing the same. And my conservative family thinks I'm the one that's been indoctrinated...
Oh my god this dredged up memories of high school so bad. I totally remember reading this and the first one just because they were new and there.😂
I read so much Perretti as a kid. I started with the Cooper kids series and then This Present Darkness, Prophet, and then the book that messed me up for a long time The Oath. Never read the Veritas books or House but I saw the movies but I had started to watch mainstream horror at that point and was not impressed. Great review!
I loved the Cooper Kids! I had a box set of the first four. Genuinely thrilling action sequences, like Indiana Jones for kids. Perretti isn’t a bad writer craftwise (or wasn’t in the 90s-I’ve seen reviews of more recent books that are kinda yikes) but the Christian dogma is really thick
@@alisaurus4224 I would agree. The early stuff kept me reading but then the books really got boring at a certain point. I'd be curious to go back and see how the books I enjoyed as a kid read now that I am older 🤔🤔🤔
I have to admit, Peretti gives me a sense of nostalgia because he was one of my first introductions to horror as a genre. Possibly *the* first, but couldn't swear to it.
This video made me cackle so hard even as I was reeling from reliving religious trauma lol. Thank you for doing what you do. 💜
Haven’t commented in a while. However, thank you so much for being so open about your trauma. I am here for you and I believe in you!!!
Listen,,,,, I was obsessed with The Veritas Project when I was younger,,,, my nana bought me the first two books for my eleventh birthday (I think) and I reread them SO MANY TIMES,,,, but this video is so accurate
Yo my baptist mother bought me Flowers in the Attic, the whole series (because the books were banned in our district) and I read them at the age of 12 🥴 I'm thinking about commissioning you to read just so I'm not alone in thinking it's super inappropriate for a 12 year old.
The core memory I have of the first book in this series was I thought it was just going to be a paranormal horror book and then there was the "two kids win an argument with a science teacher that evolution is wrong" thing. And there was also something at the end about converting to Christianity or going to jail or something? I don't remember it too well since I was reading it at tennis sectionals.
Your makeup and hair look so good Rachel!
Oh thank you! ❤❤❤
oof this unearthed an old memory of reading the hangman's curse when i was 13 in the live-laugh-love christian bookstore in my hometown
also interesting how nightmare academy sure sounds a lot like my experience in private christian education 🧐
I second that last statement 110%
I was listening to this while cooking and accidentally turned on a game on my phone with spooky music and it fit so well I thought it was part of your video 😂
Please bless me with your makeup skills 🙏🏽
Edit: also your organisation skills man like every time I look at your library I'm just mesmerised, I could never get it so perfect 😭
Oh my god. This was one of my FAVORITE series when I was younger 😅 I was so sad there were only two books
I don’t ever plan on reading a Frank P. book but I loved your review of this. Oh, and your bangs are 🔥 🔥 🔥 😊
Totally diggin on those bangs!
Yes ma’am ❤
I grew up in a Christian home and still am a Christian. I read This Present Darkness series and the Left Behind books and all sorts of Christian books growing up. I also went only to public schools until I graduated from high school - I did go to a Christian college. I'm in Canada, and while the fundies here are the same as in the States, the evangelicals here in Canada tend to be liberal compared to the US evangelicals. I attended a a couple of evangelical churches and found this to be so from an early age. Evangelicalism here is still conservative compared to most of Canadian society, but compared to US evangelicalism, it's definitely considered "worldly" by many in the US version.
I'm talking about my experiences back in the 1980s when I was in my adolescence. I'm not sure what it's like now in evangelical churches, as I attend a church in a different branch of Christianity. So I'm going by my experiences from back then. Things could be the same or different, although I was shocked to find out that a large number of people I went to church with have been huge Trump supporters back when he was running for president and was president. I will never understand why any Christian would support him when he's obviously never really lived as a Christian, despite what he says. But anyway.
Yet we still read the same books and saw certain things the same way.
I mention this because one of THE major differences, aside from Canadian evangelicals generally being more open to outside ideas and not being quite so strict about a lot of things, as well as well as not having our political views so tied to our churches and the like is our view of schools.
Yes, some people I went to church with homeschooled their children or sent them to Christian schools, but overall, everyone sent their children to public schools and didn't see the public school system as a threat to how we as children and teenagers would develop. There wasn't the fear that we would be stolen away by the big bad world as many in the US did and still think. Our parents knew that the education we received in public schools was just as good, if not better than, most Christian schools at the time. There was one private Christian school that had a K to grade 12 programme that provided a great education, and another one that, at the time, went from grades 8 to 12, and was also excellent. Now this second one is also from K to 12.
Those of us who attended public school weren't ruined by it, and we weren't scarred for life by going there. We learned to think for ourselves and to decide for ourselves. We were also allowed to develop our own interests and become our own people instead of just following what our parents wanted us to become.
My parents were also really good at letting my brother and I pursue our own interests. Yes, they wanted us to become Christians - we both did - and to live that way, but they also accepted us for who we were and let us think for ourselves. They knew that it was important for our health and well being to not be smothered or censored or forced in any way to see things a certain way.
It angers me and breaks my heart when I see parents, well meaning as they may think they are, trying to force their children into a certain mold, whether it's religion or sports or anything else, and not letting them become who they really are or to try to find their own way in the world.
I understand that an author's viewpoints and beliefs will always come out in their writings, whether they're blatant obvious or not - mine do when I write - and I appreciate that Frank Peretti is open about coming from a form of Christianity. I don't like when people hide it. What angers and frustrates me, though, is when authors like Frank Peretti try to bring fear of "the world" and of public schools and other such things into it, when they try to make it seem like everything that isn't Christian is wrong. It's not. Some things just are and aren't right or wrong. It's fine to enjoy books and shows and movies and music not of a Christian viewpoint. Just because a person listens to music by someone not of the same viewpoint doesn't mean that that's going to turn someone away from being a Christian, or whatever.
I watched this video because I was interested to see what you'd have to say about this book, which I haven't read and don't intend to. I'm sure that if I had, I'd see it the same way that you do. It seems to me that Frank Peretti was just trying to bring more fear into the world instead of trying to see that the world's not all bad and that a public school education isn't going to ruin a person.
Anyway, this comment's already more than long enough - sorry about that! I sometimes get rambling and find it hard to stop if I get into a rant. :)
Rachel, I'm glad that you were able to break free of your upbringing and discover who you really are and that you're free to share your views with us. Sharing your love of books and the like is a great way to do that, and thank-you. :)
Thank-you, too, for being fully aware that not all of us Christians are the same and that we're not all fundies who have such a narrow view of the world or are afraid of it.
I think this might be my favourite of all your videos so far. Just excellent
OMG BANGS LOOK SO GOOD ON YOU
Thank you!
Haven't watched the video yet but I had to say how pretty your makeup is!!
❤ thank you!
Holy cow, the ghost of CS Lewis just told me this guy needs to take it easy with the allegory...
Communism is when no Walkman 😔
OMG, I'm getting "This Present Darkness" flashbacks.
The content was amazing as always! Ok, since I got that out of the way, can we talk about how 🔥you look? The bangs, the shadow, the graphic liner… chefs kiss!💋
Thank you so much!!
I haven't thought about Frank Peretti in years, I read all of the Cooper Kids books as a child, but I can't imagine how different I would see them now after deconstructing
I’ve been loving the custom “thanks I hate it” memes for each video!
Makeup looks fantastic🥰😘😍
Ok but I loved Hangman’s Curse and the movie. And the fact that Frank plays a character in the movie and is the best character!
Wait . . . one of these girls in the academy has a Walkman? A WALKMAN? Apparently, fundies think that tech is evil, because who the hell has owned a WALKMAN past 1990?
I learn so much from your videos.
That author has Habsburg chin energy.
I grew up Fundy and have read most of Frank peretti's books including this book and house. I've also read a lot of Ted Dekker. It is quite the come down once you clear out of that mindset
I recall reading his books on spiritual warfare like This Present Darkness, and one about Prophet linked to election campaign... That was decades ago, but this title is new to me
Holy shit. Frank Peretti is a mood filled with a bunch of childhood fundie flashbacks! 🤣🔥 Keep up the awesome work, Rachel! I always find some kind of catharsis when you review fundie books and talk about your experiences; I'm sure so many of us do. ❤️
I remember reading this book. I was so clueless I didn't know what it was trying to argue, and the propaganda just made a whooshing sound as it went over my head.
first of all, I am LOVING this hair and fringe on you, gosh you look stunning 😍
That wrap up saying that most of the bad guys were academics that were unknown to the public but deeply influential is the fundie version of the conclusion of many Agatha Christie books that turned out to be deeply anti-socialist
the naming "objective truth" is extra stupid because christian marriage has women change their last names all the time. How is that a good thing but changing a first name isn't?
I legit laughed out loud when you described Hangman's Curse as a god awful movie because my favorite podcast, God Awful Movies, actually did an episode on it.
Let’s goooo I missed this one yesterday, needed something good to watch with my smoke 💚
Oooh, your bang! Love it! I'm jealous you look great both ways! I look ridiculous without bangs!
Makeup is killing me with how gorgeous
Hey Rachel, I'm no parent so I'm not judging but I was curious to know how you do (or plan to) teach your kids about religion. I feel like your insight might be helpful to me in the future.
Hey! So I actually allow my kids to attend Sunday school with my family members for now, but I also have them engage with other religions via books, videos, and have my friends send them videos telling them about the different religious practices they engage in. Sometimes we will do things like celebrate Yemoja day. We read books about Jewish Passover. I tell them that they can believe whatever they want when they grow up and that they choose what to believe and they have to let others choose what to believe.
@@ReadswithRachel ok thanks. That's good thinking. Let them decide for themselves.
As a Christian, I swore off Christian ‘Fiction’ years ago. In fact, I’ve recently sworn off Christian non-fiction because it’s mostly fluff.
Holy hell, this was exhausting to listen to. You are way stronger than I.
holy shit. i remember reading this book as a 12yo at my fundie christian school library. it scared the crap out of me! i still remember it all these years later but couldn’t remember what the name of the book was. so wild that you made a video on it!!
Rachel the bangs look amazing on you, you look so cute!!
I read Peretti when I was young as well. Yikes on several bikes.
Frank never got over having to share his toys and now he's incredibly bitter about it.
off to a great start with this video, i love to see you have fun
Sometimes knowing there are books like this out there makes me laugh, and sometimes it just makes me sad 😅😢
Now you gotta read "Monster." It's Frankie's creationist bigfoot horror novel.
His WHAT
@@ReadswithRachel It's somehow even more bizarre than it sounds.
I was raised Catholic, but I definitely remember performing popsicle stick plays with the Apostles and Dinosaurs. The nuns did not appreciate when I tried to get the triceratops to eat Judas, but it would have solved a lot of problems imo.
😂
Wow... I found it! I wondered what that audiobook that was being played in Grade 7 was at the Christian school. I think I missed a whole lot but there was a part where they go and try and use a telephone. I looked it up on Google Books and that part is in it! 🙂
Oh my god, I remember reading this in high school (Fellow ex-fundie here). And the first one....hell I think we owned the movie...I know we owned House....>.> I had completely blotted this out of my memory
Isn't the Hangman's Curse one where it was spiders and sugar or something absurd like that? (Heard it on God Awful Movies)
That’s the one!
I'm waaaay out of the age group who would've read these books, but the video & this comment made me curious enough to Google Hangman's Curse. It certainly sounds like... something. And given the book's fundie origin, I find it "interesting" that the villain's name is Bloom.
I have never read anything by Frank Peretti, but love your bangs!
I can’t get over how the characters’ names are Elijah and Elisha 😂 Like are these twins from Middlegame???
I went to high school with twins named Lionel and Linette, which I feel like is kind of the same thing
I’m saving this to watch later but I couldn’t leave before telling you how great you look with bangs!! I’m not a bang person, mainly because I look atrocious in them and I’m salty, but dammit, they look good on you!
Frank Peretti has been annoying me since I was ~8 years old. SO MUCH HATE for his work. Never thought I'd see the day when a TH-camr reviewed one of his books.