[This appeared one or two days after Thanksgiving]

Eric Pryor, the self-proclaimed witch who [falsely claimed to have] led a pagan protest last month against televangelist Larry Lea, now says he has become a born-again Christian.

"This is a mystery to me, but I am denouncing my former practices", said Pryor, who opened a small emporium of witchcraft called New Earth Temple inside his Geary Street apartment in September.

Leading local pagans greeted Pryor's conversion with skepticism, noting that he only became known in Bay Area pagan and Wicca circles after Lea announced his Halloween "prayer army" crusade against the Bay Area's "territorial spirits" of witchcraft and moral perversion.

"Nobody ever heard of him or knew where he came from", said Starhawk, San Francisco's best known witch. "He is not tied to any respectable pagan groups. He seemed very eager for media attention."

During Sunday services last week, Pryor joined the altar call at Jubilee Christian Center in San Jose, a large charismatic church led by the Rev. Dick Bernal, a close associate of Lea.