ANNE RICE REJECTS "CHRISTIANITY?"

By Ken Silva pastor-teacher on Aug 4, 2010 in Current Issues, Features, Roman Catholicism

By Apprising Ministries correspondent Christine Pack of Sola Sisters

Author Anne Rice, best known for her Vampire Lestat chronicles which were popular in the 90s, rather famously “converted” to Christianity in 1998…which she has now publicly rejected.

But did she really convert in the first place?

The truth is that Anne Rice grew up Roman Catholic, became an atheist, then converted back to Roman Catholicism…which she has now rejected once again. And in fact, there really is no evidence that I can find that Anne Rice, who has said that Christian theologian N.T. Wright greatly influenced her “conversion,” has ever even heard the life-giving message of the true gospel:

Repentance and faith in Christ’s sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins.

Roman Catholicism teaches a salvation by works….this is not the gospel message of salvation…which is by grace alone….through faith alone….in Christ alone.

Anne Rice was interviewed by the White Horse Inn a few years back in which she talked about once again embracing her “childhood faith” (Roman Catholicism). The host of White Horse Inn, which is the teaching radio ministry of Michael Horton, for some reason did not challenge Rice’s Roman Catholic views. Now, I have had White Horse Inn recommended to me many times in the past few years as a great resource for teaching. But the truth is, that one interview so completely threw me, that I simply could not listen to White Horse Inn anymore after that.

You see, I am not concerned with the struggles of a Christian radio program in how they will work within the world system and continue to speak truth (which is the argument I’ve heard about why White Horse Inn would not challenge Rice publicly). I’m concerned about Anne Rice’s soul. I’m concerned about the resulting confusion for Protestant listeners who may not know all the finer distinctions about how and why Roman Catholicism is not Christian (and who therefore might not be concerned for Roman Catholic friends, neighbors and loved ones).

I’m not clear on the reasoning over at White Horse Inn on why they did not challenge Anne Rice on her (wrong) beliefs at the time they interviewed her, but I think Anne Rice’s recent – and very public – rejection of “Christianity” underscores in a big way why Christians are cautioned against yoking with unbelievers (2 Cor 6:14-15):

“Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?”

This passage cautions that we must not “yoke” with those who do not hold fast to the true faith that was “once for all entrusted to the saints”……whether that would be in marriage….or in public, ecumenical love-fests between Protestants and Catholics.

The truth is that it’s not Anne Rice who gets besmirched by all this, not really. It’s not even White Horse Inn, not ultimately. The bottom line is that God has been robbed of his glory in this whole mess. Somewhere along the way, it was decided that it was better to give a public forum to someone who is far, far outside of orthodoxy than to hold God up rightly and in a way that is honoring to him and to his character and nature. Now, do we always do that perfectly? Of course not. But White Horse Inn got on a very slippery slope when they decided to give a then practicing Roman Catholic a very public forum. I know that they had no way of knowing how this would turn out, but seriously, why wasn’t the fact that Anne Rice was a confessing Roman Catholic enough to give them pause? I’m not trying to throw White Horse Inn under the bus on this, but whether they know it or not, their radio program is held in very high esteem in reformed circles; and I would urge them, as gently and lovingly as possible, to be as cautious and biblical as possible in how they make decisions on whom they will share their teaching platform with.

Chris Rosebrough, host of the Christian radio program Fighting For The Faith, sets a good example on how to handle guests with whom he has significant doctrinal differences (i.e., Doug Pagitt, Whiskey Preacher, etc.). There are instances when Rosebrough will NOT challenge a controversial guest publicly while they are on the air with him. But what he will do is come on the air after any such shows have aired, and say something like, okay, I had this guest on who has different, even heretical beliefs, and I didn’t challenge him because I want his beliefs to be known…..BUT, just so you know, this is outside of orthodoxy, these are NOT Christian beliefs.

I can’t say that during the time I listened to White Horse Inn that I ever heard them do this. After the Anne Rice interview, I did listen to their show the next day to see if they would say anything about her Roman Catholic beliefs, but they did not. And that was when I stopped listening to White Horse Inn. I wasn’t angry, I just didn’t want to inadvertently get bad teaching that would confuse me. You see, I was a fairly new Christian, and though I was slowly learning, through studying God’s Word, how to discern good teaching from bad, I knew that there was a lot I didn’t know. But, I was starting to realize that good teaching mixed up with bad teaching was a bad combination for me, because, when listening to someone I regarded as very sound and biblical, I had a tendency to let my guard down. So White Horse Inn got shelved.

Let me close by saying that the issue in all this is not how to handle guests, who to share a platform with, etc. The issue is that Anne Rice is not a straying sheep…she is in much greater peril than that. She needs life-giving truth, and she needs to repent of her idolatrous view of God and humble herself before the one true God…the One I fear she has never known.