[4] The book has sold in excess of 2.7 million copies worldwide as of 2013[update][5] and remained on the Christian Booksellers Association top best-sellers list for over 150 consecutive weeks after its release.

[6] Its title comes from Ephesians 6:12 (RSV): "For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."

They slowly uncover a plot to take over the town by buying the college, which is being carried out by the Universal Consciousness Society, a powerful New Age group and "worldwide front organization for Satan.

When he and Bernice are caught in a desperate attempt to keep society from winning out, he is arrested and thrown in jail, and she escapes, running off to find help.

Meanwhile, Hank Busche, the unwanted pastor of the little Ashton Community Church, discovers that there are many demons in the town and wonders why they have all congregated here.

The angels who wage warfare for the souls of mankind look and act similarly to humans—they have names, they are in charge of specific regions of earth, and they are propelled by heavenly forces that often manifest as wings.

On literary grounds, several reviewers such as Irving Hexham and James R. Lewis suggest that the novel fits into the genre of horror.

[14][15][16] Contextualizing the acceptance of the QAnon movement, religion scholar Julie Ingersoll notes the "widely influential" role of This Present Darkness in "[illustrating] certain views of the world and certain expectations that lend themselves to the development of a sense of embattlement and a cultural crisis that can be interpreted in apocalyptic terms.

"[17] Likewise, University of Notre Dame scholar Jason Springs connects the messianic beliefs of QAnon to "the same culture previously captivated and emboldened" by Peretti's spiritual warfare-themed novels.