From the desk of the Flutecrafter

trashed another 2500 spam tonight, hopefully I’ll be finished with the great clean-up in a couple more days.

to you folks that pass this way on the web, I apologize for throwing up my hands at the spam storm. The last 2000 or so spam comments that I have deleted has made a bit of a dent in the backlog, and I will tend to the rest as time allows.

Any actual comments that get swept up in my mass deletions, I apologize for.

more later.

John Harrington is cycling across America in support of education.  He’s gone a couple thousand miles so far and is blogging about it when he is able.  Thanks to Jim Gilliland for cluing me in to what’s going on.

I’m three days into my new job now.

Looks like it will be an interesting field service position with lots of different equipment to learn.

As a former witch, I always appreciate it when a book of this nature comes out that is both factually based, and non-hysterical in style. “Generation Hex” fits the bill quite refreshingly on both counts. I have to admit that I was somewhat skeptical when Generation Hex was brought to my attention, as many Christians who have tried to write such a work have fallen far short of the mark. I stand humbly amazed, however, by the transparency of Marla and Dillon on the issue of having to relearn who Wiccans are. This is instead of running with the preconceived notions which are prevalent in the church as a whole. Generation Hex has many good points to it’s credit, not the least of which are the quotes from some of the Wiccans that were interviewed during the research phase. I have also found that Generation Hex deals fairly with both the common beliefs of Wicca and with the cultural backdrop that helps influence our young people to make the choices necessary for walking a magick path. An especially nice touch was including a chapter written by a former witch. In short, I highly recommend Generation Hex as informative and well written. I believe that this book would be especially important for youth Pastors to have available to them.

Here are a few questions that I felt important, along with Marla and Dillon’s answers:
What was it that led the two of you to the topic of Wicca?

Marla:

When I was in college, I met a girl who introduced herself as a “white witch.”
At that time, I didn’t know enough about Wicca and witchcraft to engage her in a spiritual conversation. I regret that I missed out on the oportunity to share my faith with her. So when Dillon asked me to consider partnering with him to write Generation Hex, I wanted to take the opportunity to learn more about this spiritual belief system and especially to research the reasons why so many young women are getting caught up in this practice.

Dillon:

Two things for me.
First, I served as a youth and college pastor for about a decade before my current writing position. The number one religious movement my students asked about, more than Islam, Buddhism, or Kabbalah was Wicca or witchcraft. I had little knowledge or experience in the area, but found that teenagers were very pleased if I would look up the information to answer their questions, often involving friends or even family members.

Second, I had coauthored three different projects on other religions that included discussions on Wiccan in which I realized very little was being published in this area from a Christian perspective. I talked with my coauthor Marla about writing a book where we actually talked with people involved in Wicca and shared their stories in a way that was respectful yet also shared distinctions from biblical Christianity. She was up for it, as was my publisher (a huge answer to prayer), and we were off and running.

For the next question, I am curious as to whether or not either of you have discussed your findings on Wiccans with your pastors yet, especially the youth pastors and what their responses were.
Marla:
I have discussed it with the pastor of my parents’ church, who is a good friend. I spoke about Wicca at their church a few months ago. The youth pastor at Stonebriar is a personal friend of ours and is aware of the book. They are definitely interested and seem to grasp the need for more teaching on this topic.

Dillon:
One of my pastors (I won’t mention which one) likes the idea but doesn’t completely understand the rapid growth of witchcraft among the general public. This is typical from my experience. Many Christians are too separated from general non-Christian culture to notice the trends taking place. Wicca now owns a full section in bookstores, witchcraft-related films and books dominate bestseller lists, and public schools, prisons, the military, and government are all having to re-evaluate policies of religion as they relate to Wicca as a religion.

My experience with this issue and the church has been somewhat a mixed reception, over the years. So I am very interested in how the Christians you have spoken to in your interviews are reacting to the message of your book.
Marla:
Some Christians are interested and excited about the book, while others seem to think, “Why make a big deal out of nothing?” or “Why blow this Wicca thing out of proportion?” Many people are not aware of what a driving force Wicca and witchcraft truly have become. Of course, this is a part of the deception of our culture. We want to be wise and balanced in our approach to this belief system and its adherents, creating open dialogue and discussing the practices and values of Wicca compared with those of Christianity. In our culture, it’s so easy to be led down an alternative spiritual path. Our goal is to be honoring to those who are seeking truth.
Dillon:

Most Christians are interested, but unfamiliar with witchcraft. Some of our interviews have included lots of callers asking about tarot cards, Ouija boards, and voodoo, none of which are specific to Wicca. Wicca, in the minds of many, is a catch-all to Christians for anything related to the paranormal. Much of our time is spent helping people overcome stereotypes (some of which I had going into Generation Hex) to help people understand that those in Wicca are people in need of Jesus just like you and me.

Obviously, as a former witch, I was somewhat late in life getting to church.
And further, I have never been to Seminary.
So, could you tell me how, or if, your time in church and Dallas Theological Seminary prepared you for what you would find during your research for Generation Hex.
Marla:
My church and seminary training gave me a solid spiritual foundation, so I wasn’t afraid to research a somewhat “scary” topic like witchcraft. I was glad to have a biblical view of what I believed about the Bible, God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and Satan before I began to research the book. My parents did a good job of raising us to think theologically and critically about what we were reading and encountering, and that has helped me as an author.
Dillon:
Seminary training prepared me to know God’s truth as shared in the Bible. When I see spiritual movements offering other alternatives to biblical teaching, I can usually easily spot them and help people struggling to spot the problems of combining other spiritual practices to their Christian faith. However, I did not take a class in seminary on world religions or anything specific to Wicca. These are areas I’ve researched on my own primarily because they came up in my involvement with students.
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I was greatly encouraged by the answers from both Marla and Dillon to my questions and highly recommend this work to any Christian that would like to understand Wiccans and where they are coming from.

You can purchase Generation Hex at Amazon and you can read an excerpt from the book here.

Other readers will be commenting on this work and you should be able to find their blogs here.