By Jessica Brown
Pastor Perry Case sat down recently to discuss his newly published book. Titled “Know Your Enemy,” his fledgling effort is not what many will think of as a happy story.
“This is my first time writing a book,” the pastor says, adding that any writing he’s done has been either sermons or music.
The decision to write a book came to him while leading a Bible study at First Christian Church in South Jacksonville. “ A few years ago I worked up a four-week Bible study that I decided to call ‘Stranger Things,’” he said. “It was actually about the stranger things of the Bible.”
Case said he wanted to focus on the things that aren’t often addressed in sermons or self-help books. The idea was to expose and explore one of the biblical realities most would prefer to avoid. “I got the material in the studies written and realized there was one character it all had in common,” he says. That character goes by many names in the Bible — Satan, the Devil and Lucifer, to name a few. The name Case thought encompassed them all seems ominous, to say the least: the Enemy. He felt called to share the truth of who that individual is with his readers — to know their enemy.
Emboldened by the enthusiastic response by the members of the study, the pastor moved forward with the idea of authoring a book. “I told the class I was really thinking about taking the material and breaking it down into a book,” he says. That material makes up a four-part book with each part breaking down into five chapters.
From explaining the biblical role of Satan since the beginning of recorded time until his role in the present, “Know Your Enemy” seeks to make the subject matter less of a myth and more understood. “The Devil is one of the most misunderstood characters in the Bible,” the pastor says.
In addition to clearing up common misconceptions, the book also provides a clear definition of Hell. “The idea is that heaven is a place for good people and hell is a place for bad people,” Case says, “The truth is more nuanced than that.”
Case, who is now the lead pastor at The Chapel in Jacksonville, will be holding book signings on Thursday, June 25 from 5-8 p.m. at Chapter II Events in Jacksonville and on Friday, June 26 from 5-8 p.m. at the Neikirk Building in Mount Carmel. The book can also be purchased on platforms like Kindle, Apple Books and Amazon or at perrycase.com — or ordered from your local bookstore.
