Yes! We have heard from several youth pastors who have created ways to use this book with their students. One wrote to us with this account:
Our class of 10-20 students met for 45 minutes each Sunday morning before service. The general format was to discuss some character or incident or demonic letter in the novel based on the reading students had done that week. We chose a more topical approach (rather than going chapter by chapter through the book) when we realized some were reading more diligently and that others had different kinds of questions. The topics we covered, more or less in order, were these:
- the role of demons and the notion of spiritual warfare
- youth culture and a proper teen outlook
- magic and the occult
- competing spiritualities
- purity and teen sexuality
- dating as teens
- abortion, what is it and can a Christian ever have one
- abortion, what does it mean to be made in God’s image
- family relationships, teen behavior, and Christ
- grief, how to grieve, how not to grieve, what the Bible says about grieving for Christians
Each topic was discussed first in terms of the novel and then in light of scripture. We averaged half a dozen passages and verses per session, looking at both old and new testaments.
Our teens thoroughly enjoyed the book and the discussions. Several students looked up the prequel story, Lord Foulgrin’s Letters, and are reading it now. Here are three great quotes from my students during our study of The Ishbane Conspiracy:
- “Rob, he’s kind of a jerk sometimes.”
- “You know, Foulgrin and Ishbane, they argue like an unhappily married couple.”
- “I really liked the novel, because now when I want to do something sinful, I ask myself if they, because that’s how I think of them, ‘they,’ are trying to convince me to do it or not.”
Another youth pastor created discussion outlines for his 14-week study of Ishbane Conspiracy with a group of high school students. He generously gave us permission to share them, so you can find all of his discussion question outlines posted on our website.
