Intellectuelle

GIGO (Garbage In, Garbage Out). Be careful little eyes what you see. Think on these things. Guard your heart. All of these things, besides the fact I don’t want to be scared, deter me from partaking in those kinds of things.

Amen, Lexie! I have learned that lesson, sometimes the hard way, over the years---and I am really trying to impress the importance of this on my children.

It's a little embarrassing for me to admit, but as a young teenager, I became fascinated with the whole idea of vampires after reading Bram Stoker's 'Dracula'. I started looking for at the library for any books on the subject of vampires--which on those days, fortunately, turned out to be few to none. But I did finally stumble across another book on vampires and the vile things in it (which would be nothing compared to what you could find in a public library, now 30 years later) upset me so much that it cured me of my fascination with the topic. A couple of years later, I spotted Anne Rice's "Interview with the Vampire" the first of many in her vampire series. But by then I had been thoroughly convicted and convinced of the evil of dabbling in that topic and I recognized that my former interest still left me susceptible to being drawn to it. So I never even cracked the cover of any of Rice's books.

But I understand the underlying fascination with the supernatural. An interest in the supernatural can (and usually does) lead individuals into greater and greater darkness. But a recognition of the existence and power of things beyond the natural world can also be the vehicle that God uses to lead someone out of darkness into the Light. I am sure Ms. Rice still has a long way to go in her journey towards the Light (don't we all!). And I pray that, unlike many celebrity conversions that appear to be a flash in the pan, that she is able to survive the weeds that choke out so many sprouting seeds. (I tend to mix metaphors, if you haven't noticed :-) ) She will be making this journey, publicly, through her writing--and in it, I am sure we will see both the remnants of her darkened understanding as well as her growing understanding of the Light. I look forward to reading my first Anne Rice novel when it is published this November. Whether it will be the last one I read remains to be seen.

Via the Thinklings I found a blog where Ms. Rice actually commented. One thing I took from it was that she is indeed a talented writer whose writing really touches people. In light of that her book on Jesus should be a good read. You'll have to post a review, Debra. ;)

She apparently just commented on a blog I read regularly, too. I have been in the "Er, a relatively new revert presuming to write a novel from Christ's point of view??!!" camp, but after reading her comment, I'm seriously willing to give her the benefit of the doubt, and looking forward to reading the book. I'm praying for her, too - and also for her vampire/goth fans who will read this novel.

"Make what you will of this novel, but know that for me it was serious from the beginning. I believe in Him. I wrote it for Him. This is where my life, novels and all, has led. It's the book I never found; the book I want to read; the book I want to give. It's the Jesus of the gospels in time and space. If I make you think of Him for the first time in your life as real, then I will have succeeded. If I make you feel you were there for a little while, then I have succeeded. If I make you believe in Him as the Son of the Virgin Mary, visited by shepherds who saw angels, and Magi with gifts, then I have done all right. It's worth the risk. I don't want to make a mistake for all eternity. I want to get it right. Anne Rice, Nashville hotel, on tour for Christ the Lord."

I like your description of the camp you were in.

Give her kudos for being so bold about her intent and for being willing to risk her career.

I also like her willingness to ineract on blogs and on her site.

I don't agree with her on homosexuality being a rights issue, but that doesn't mean she can't write a compeling novel about Jesus' life that can be used to touch people.

If I make time to write and read about it, I need to make sure I make time to pray for her and the readers of the book.

While I do agree with the GIGO philosophy to a large extent, I am a big fan of the Patricia Cornwell crime novels (except for the last two which have really gone downhill) whose main character is a medical examiner who is always dealing with violent deaths and performing gruesome autopsies.

There is absolutely nothing romantic about them, as there definitely is with the Anne Rice books (I read the first few about Lestat the Vampire, and they definitely make being a vampire seem, well, almost *sexy*...gross, huh??)

For the record, many years ago I was a big Anne Rice fan, and read many of her books. Then my Lord found me, and the darkness within her writings no longer held the same appeal for me (well, spiritually speaking, though my *flesh* still was tantalized and wanted to keep reading, I no longer had the liberty), not to mention I recognized the spiritual origin of them for what it was, pure evil…I also quit reading Stephen King (another fave). *smiles*

Anyways, I’ve certainly found this discussion interesting. I went over to Cadmus’s blog and read all of the comments there under his post about A.R.’s book, which he linked at the Thinklings, including the posts by Anne Rice herself. Among some other troubling things she said (”Gay Christians” and God’s children being Christians, Buddhists or Hindus, etc.), what I found to be quite telling as to her where she is in her spirituality is the following excerpt from the commment she posted on 9/12/05, which I’ve pasted here (I hope that this is okay? Just thought it relevant to this discussion).

Anne Rice wrote, “I continue to be a Catholic because I profoundly respect the unbroken 2000 year old tradition of teachings, scholarship, and the ongoing revelations of the saints. But I think what is important in this world is that you go with the religion that brings you closest to God. Howard Storm the mystic said this actually. When he was in Heaven with the angels, he asked them : What is the best religion? And they said, ‘The one that brings you closest to God.’”

So, to me she’s sounding like my Unitarian Universalist Grandmother. Hmmm…in my estimation, that’s the enemy’s ploy of the day. It by its very nature denies WHO HE IS, the ONLY King of Kings… This is too bad, but ’tis what I’d expected really. It seems to me a most natural progression of the spiritual deception that she’d handed herself over to years ago. I was not surprised when I first heard of her “conversion”, but I sure did feel a foreboding dread…and now I know why.

*sighs* Nope, seems to me this work must be just another shade of deception, probably darker than her first. It troubles me more anyways. I shall stop now before I get to rambling, just though I’d share my 2 cents, fwiw.

I’m sure her intentions are good though, and I pray that she would find the true Messiah spoken of in the Scriptures, for I don’t think that one with His Spirit residing within them would proclaim that any religion will suffice… for He is a jealous God, and the only Way.

Thanks for the update, Beth....and for sharing your thoughts.

Her quote, "But I think what is important in this world is that you go with the religion that brings you closest to God." is contray to Jesus saying "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life."

I'm also reminded of Satan being an angel of light.

Though I can't endorse her as a Sunday school teacher, I can pray that the Holy Spriti will use her book to draw her and others the truth of Jesus.

(Now I REALLY need to go feed my kids!)

Thanks for the heads up, Beth. I will approach this book very carefully. What has given me pause about her talk of conversion is her immediately jumping into writing a work of fiction about Jesus. Even very mature Christians would tread very carefully tackling something like that---if they would try something like that at all.

Lexie, I agree that the 'angel of light' warning probably is something to think about here. Sometimes when the dark loses it's marketing appeal, the Enemy will use some aspect of 'light' or 'truth' to sell some very dangerous ideas. It's like sugar coating poison.

Perhaps where she is now is only a brief waystation on her journey to the Cross--but she obviously still has a long way to go...