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TOGETHER MAY – JUNE 2022
Inside War: From the

Jungle to the Jordan - The BOOK REVIEW

True Story of Tony Maisey

Reviewed by Rosemary Johnson

Tony Maisey travelled to Peru in search of a things happened when he left
witch doctor to cure him of his self-inflicted her side, even to walk down a
sickness. He described himself as a ‘criminal’, street to consult a travel agent.
‘a violent knife-wielding thug’, an ‘armed robber’ Stella was a woman with her
and a ‘global drug dealer’. He had ‘done it all’ own problems, flaunting other
and ‘seen it all’ and ‘got my hands on most of men in front of him.
it’ and his wrongful activities had made him
wealthy. He wrote off a stash of his money Inside War presents twenty-
buried in the ground somewhere in south first century Christians with
London. Inside War is about his frantic quest for a challenge, which becomes
inner healing. more insistent throughout the
book. Do we believe Maisey
In Peru Maisey experimented with ayahuasca when he tells the reader that a
ceremonies, drinking the potion offered by the devil-creature physically entered
shamans (witch doctors) – another drug to him? Or do we regard this sort of
chase out all the others which had rendered him thing as the stuff of horror films?
‘paranoid, depraved and sick’. At the second The devil-creature, and also
ceremony he attended, he saw a devil-creature Maisey’s feeling that someone
with wrinkly skin, which wailed, squealed and or something is controlling him,
clicked, emerging from one of the other tourists. could be horror film material. Do
The thing then entered Maisey himself through we take literally those stories in
his mouth, down his gut, and then he felt it the Bible of demonic possession,
inside his stomach. such as the Gerasene demoniac
Too frightened afterwards to do any more (Mark 5:1–13, and also in
ayahuasca, he was sitting in his dormitory Matthew and Luke’s gospels)?
during a ceremony a few days later, trying not Or do we attempt some other
to hear what was going on a few yards away, contemporary – and possibly
when he heard the devil-creature wail, groan scientific – explanation? Perhaps
and click from inside him. In desperation, half- we could explain away Maisey’s
remembering from his childhood a stained-glass experiences as the hallucinations ISBN 9781610362665/BridgeLogos/
window showing Christ on the Cross, he prayed, caused by his longstanding abuse Tony Maisey/PB/162 pp/£12.99
‘Help me … Jesus, help us.’ The following of recreational drugs and alcohol. Special price of £9.99 from KCLCT until 31 July 2022.
morning, the shaman asked him if he had been The worst of his horrors occurred
praying, the inference being that his prayers had following the second occasion Challenge) writes in the inside cover, ‘You won’t
disrupted the forces conjured up by ayahuasca. when he took part in an ayahuasca ceremony, be able to put the book down. I couldn’t.’ Nor
and they continued for three years. You could
Maisey had never attended church and didn’t argue that the potion he drank blew apart the could I. Written in the first person, this is Tony
know the Jesus he had been praying to. He mind of a man whose resistance was already Maisey’s story throughout, told with searing
couldn’t understand how the God of the Bible weakened through cocaine, which is actually honesty and sparing himself no embarrassment.
of two thousand years ago could help him, more potent, and more likely to scramble his He believed he had ‘gone too far’ (his own
a criminal from South London, but he was mind, than ayahuasca. On the other hand, words), but, as he found out, however low we
becoming fascinated by it all, particularly the his description of the devil-creature reflected sink, God is with us and ready to restore us. All
book of Exodus. He would learn, bit by bit. we need to do is to seek
depictions of the beasts in Revelation. Him out and humble
He was attracted to Stella, another member of Maisey asserted that his stumbling journey ourselves before Him.
ayahuasca group. Initially, his response was towards Christ was hindered by the devil-
measured and mature, holding back from creature and also by what he eventually decided
another relationship whilst in a fragile state, was the malign influence of his friend, Stella, Tony Maisey is an
but he was drawn to her nevertheless, in part until he managed to shed both. He inferred an engaging guest
willingly, in part by something controlling him even more fundamental question: do we, modern speaker who
which he didn’t understand. On a conscious level and superior, believe in the devil? shares his gripping
Maisey leant emotionally on Stella, believing that life changing story with a wide range of
she was the only person who would not assume The author’s style of writing is straightforward, audiences from radio, to prison inmates, and
he was suffering from mental health problems direct and compelling. Don Wilkerson (Co- to the public on the streets of London.
when he spoke of the devil-creature. Yet strange Founder of Teen Challenger and Global Teen
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