New Moon, Same Lies

The Twilight Saga just produced it’s newest book in the Vampire-crazed literature scene -- New Moon, which is also the number one selling DVD in America. Before that we had the book Twilight and after New Moon will be Eclipse, then Breaking The Dawn. There is one thing true about capitalism -- if there is money to be made, we will exploit it and keep making the product. A Bing search of the word vampire produces 51,400,000 entries compared to Jesus at 101,000,000. At least the good guys are still ahead. From TV shows, to movies, to books, to blogs, to Facebook, to costumes and vampire paraphernalia, this fascination with vampires has bombarded our society like a lethal mine field that is killing, possibly millions of people. I am writing about this in view of the fact of the mass hysteria that has been created by the subject and because of a recent article I read from a woman who was one of the most prolific vampire writers -- Anne Rice, http://www.annerice.com/.

I said was. She started to write Christian fiction after the death of her atheist husband, Stan, who died of cancer in 2002. My recollection of her story was that she was the second daughter from an Irish Catholic background before her marriage. She says the fact her husband was an atheist did have an effect on her choosing to write vampire literature. I have personally

listened to her first two Christian books, Christ The Lord: Out of Egypt and Christ The Lord: The Road to Cana. I recently read her most current Christian fiction novel entitled Angel Time, which is the first book in a new series she is entitling Songs of the Seraphim. I am in no way debating her theology -- keep in mind these are books of fiction, but writing about God and His Kingdom versus Satan and his kingdom is a vast improvement.

In a recent interview, Anne confesses there is no rest and no peace without God. For 38 years, Rice was a “Christ-haunted atheist,” she says in a recently posted “I Am Second” video http://iamsecond.com/#/home/ Rice is the latest celebrity to give a video testimony on “I Am Second,” a movement which seeks to lift up Christ by declaring that He is first and we are second. Other celebrities who have given testimonies include former NFL Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy, former lead guitarist/co-founder of the metal band Korn, Brian “Head” Welch, and Major League Baseball Texas Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton.

Rice gained fame and wealth from her vampire novels (her books have sold 100 million copies, making her one of the most widely read authors in modern history), but internally she was increasingly dissatisfied with “the world in which salvation was not a possibility.” And the reason for the dissatisfaction was simple: “I really believed in God,” she says in the video. “Not only did I believe in Him but I loved Him and I wasn’t admitting it.” Her vampire novels were a reflection of her internal struggle living in the godless world she created. The vampire, she says, is a metaphor for the outcast and the person who feels cut off from God.

As mentioned earlier, Rice grew up in a Catholic home, but she rejected her faith when she was 18 to gain freedom and search for knowledge. "I felt that there were so many things forbidden to me as a Christian … I felt a desperate need to be free,” she recalls.

In the “I Am Second” video, Rice says she was reminded again and again “that as long as you are denying God you will not know any rest. You will not know any peace. You can’t save yourself through art. You can’t save yourself through music. You can’t do it through travel. You can’t do it through wealth,” Rice shares. “All your attempts at saving and transcending through other means will ultimately fail. You save yourself or God saves you when you turn to Him.” And since we can’t save ourselves, I will use a title of a movie that was made from one of her vampire books, we will be The Queen of the Damned and King as well.
 

After nearly four decades of denying God, Rice says she was finally ready to surrender to Him. “I surrendered the doubts,” she says. “Imperfectly and contrite, I went back.” And returning to Christ has changed everything in her life. For one, she no longer feels she can work with the vampire metaphor. “I wasn’t a person in a godless world [anymore], far from it,” she says. Now Rice devotes her time writing books that are “directly to God and devoted to Jesus Christ. I have changed and I have to do this,” she says with determination. “I have to write for Him.”

Hear this all you New Moon fans, no one is ever cut off from God! That is the same lie Satan has been telling since the beginning of time. Jesus loved the outcasts of His day (Read Matthew, Mark, Luke or John. See it for yourself.) as well as today! If we desire to overcome acedia in this area of our lives, then we must come to the realization that there are not outcasts in the world we live in. Jesus said, "the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out." (John 6:37) The Church has to do a better job ministering to the unclean. So why the vampire craze? Could it be a testimony of all the lonely hearts searching for acceptance and love yet not finding it? It’s time to shine the Light on this problem and watch the vampire craze slowly melt away.