I have an odd attachment to author Anne Rice. She was the subject of the very first blog that I wrote on October 24, 2005. The blog was titled “Pray for Anne Rice”. Here is that article written almost five years ago.
I had heard the rumblings. The so called “Queen of the Occult”, Anne Rice, had embraced Christianity. Newsweek is reporting (breathlessly) that “It’s the most startling public turnaround since Bob Dylan’s “Slow Train Coming” announced that he’d been born again. “
I am old enough to remember well Dylan’s announcement in November of 1980 that he had “a truly born again experience.” I remember the excitement that Bob Dylan was going to use his considerable influence to lead thousands to faith in Jesus. So many of us were so excited that our faith was endorsed and confirmed by a super star. Dylan loves Jesus! I felt just a little bit more cool to be a Christian because the great Dylan had joined my team. The rock and roll world was appalled. Journalist Steve Turner remembers that “most of them (the critics) hoped the phase would be brief, for while Christianity might have saved Dylan’s soul, they believed it had damned his art. “
And then Bob Dylan disappointed me. Oh he did record some powerful songs about his faith. But he did not become what I wanted him to be. He did not become a vocal juggernaut for Christ. In fact, as time went by he rarely talked about his faith. He quit writing deep songs with lyrics proclaiming Jesus. He went underground and became evasive when asked about his conversion. And I threw him away. Because I didn’t care about Dylan as a fellow Christian and heir to the Kingdom. I cared about him as a marketing tool. He messed up my plan.
So when I heard about the very public redemption of Anne Rice I was both joyous and sad. I know millions of people will place unrealistic expectations on her. Christian magazines and programs and events will be scrambling to hear her testimony. Part of that is good. Her story of finding Jesus in the midst of illness and grief is inspiring. But every person who recognizes Jesus as Lord is an inspiring story of regeneration and grace. She is merely a fellow traveler on this journey to become more like Christ.
Pray for her.
Pray that she will grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, celebrate her great news. But remember she is just like you and me. A person who will make mistakes and who will say and do things that offend the easily offended Evangelical crowd. Imagine having your faith life made very public. I think of my life. You would have discarded me as a phony just as I wrongly discarded Dylan when I was younger.
Anne Rice is not a celebrity that we can use for our marketing. She is a sinner saved by grace. Nothing more. Nothing less. Perhaps God will use her considerable writing skills for His glory. She will work that out between her and her God. As for the rest of us the task is simple.
Pray for Anne Rice.
That was five years ago. And I have to tell you that I was not the least bit surprised to read on Beliefnet that Rice had “quit being a Christian,” although she remains “committed to Christ.”
“I quit being a Christian. I’m out,” she wrote on her Facebook page, in sections that were confirmed by her publisher.
My position today remains exactly the same. Pray for Anne Rice.
the Wandering Author
I thought I’d find a sensible reaction here, and you didn’t disappoint me. We all need prayers, and anyone in such a public position needs them more than most. Thank you, Dave, for respecting what I suspect must be Anne Rice’s very real anguish, and simply urging your readers to offer the one thing every one of us can always use – prayers.
I suspect I understand her anguish because I am torn. I am a writer because I have no other choice. It is what I am. I am also a follower of Christ. Not a very good one, perhaps, but I do try. And I am an outcast among Christians and writers. Among Christians, because I’m a writer. Among writers, because I’m a Christian.
It is late, and my frustrations over this are too many and too long to pour out here. Fiction writers are weird people at the best of times. (One newcomer to the writing site I spend the most time on once posted “Until I came here, I always thought I was crazy!” I know how he felt…) But trying to be a writer and a Christian at the same time is not easy. Being both of those [i]and[/i] being in the public eye? I’m convinced Anne Rice must take her faith in Christ very seriously, or she wouldn’t have stuck it out nearly this long.
Although you aren’t a fiction writer (without implying either is better or worse – each has its own purpose – there is a vast gulf between the two) you seem to have some real understanding of the terrible position she was and is in. So thank you for that. I’m sorry for rambling; this is a very emotional topic for me, and I’m struggling with a lot of my own issues right now.
Jackson
Dave, you quote Rice: “In the name of Christ, I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-Democrat.”
You then add: “My position today remains exactly the same. Pray for Anne Rice.”
Plenty of Christians share her sentiment. She — and they — don’t need your prayers, and those who don’t share her sentiment are not somehow better for it or better Christians. Such sanctimony is boorish in the extreme.
Patricia
Well said! And I think you and Anne Rice might be good friends. Dave, we need more people in the world like you!
Tim Laitinen
Oddly enough, I blogged about Anne’s announcement last Friday:
http://o-l-i.blogspot.com/2010/07/on-phone-with-anne-rice.html
Tim.
Nathan
Well said!