June 1972
As I mentioned in my last blog I went through a time when I believed Christians could be demon possessed. I began seeing it everywhere, even in finger nail biting habits. OK so I eventually saw the light while reading the scriptures and came to the conclusion that Christians couldn't be demon possessed like I thought. But I did learn something in the long run...we have power over spiritual matters and we are expected as Christians to use that power.
Billy was a friend from the ship I was on. Like Tommy he was a drinker before he became Christian and like Tommy he liked to fight before he was a Christian. While I was still looking for demons around every corner I got a call from Billy's wife asking me to come over right away because something bad had happened to Billy. So I hitchhiked the 20 or so miles it took to get to their apartment.
I knocked on the door at 1:30 in the morning and was told to come in. Billy was there and his wife was next to him. She had been beaten. I noticed that Billy's pants were drenched from urine as he got up from the couch I also saw that he had intense hate in his eyes. "What's he doing here?" he yelled as he came straight for me. I saw immediately the hate and the demonic in his eyes... and I knew what I was dealing with.
Now as an ex hippie wannabe I didn't fight. I ran from most fights, was afraid of them and whenever they started I would usually get out quickly unless I knew the other person was like me a non fighter - than I fought. But as a Christian I wouldn't fight with anybody, however, Billy was a fighter and that usually would have scared me, but as he plowed toward me, I got bold. I commanded "In the name of Jesus, get behind me Satan!"
Billy immediately dropped to the ground and wept. Minutes later he passed out.
When he woke up he appologized to me and to his wife. He was still very drunk but was right with his God. I found out later that Billy had been drunk once before as a Christian and witnessed to everybody on the ship while he was staggaring around - the unbelievers liked to spread that story.
Billy told me that he and his wife had a fight that night so he left the apartment to cool down and get a drink. He also told me that as he took the first drink he could feel Satan enter.
Was Billy demon possessed? Absolutely not. Had he an experience with Satan? Yes. So what's the difference? Even if I had not been there, when he sobered Satan would no longer be latching on. Call it what you will, but it is not possession.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
The Weird Girlfriend
June 1971
She was annoying and bothered a lot of people. She demanded a lot of attention and seemed to cry out, "Look at me everybody!" I've met so many like her since then, they're usually wounded from childhood and attention starved. She was not only attention starved but she was super hyper. She was a disaster and yet...she was very cute.
I asked her out on a date and took her to a Christian concert. It was nothing great, we had fun and when the night was over she took me inside her house to meet her parents and then into her bedroom where she showed me pictures of herself in a bikini. I had a strange feeling she was trying to let me know she wanted to go bed with me. Fortunately I didn't feel tempted whatsoever.
On the way home that night I decided I would continue to go out with her, but only for the sake of discipling her - she needed spiritual direction / help. I actually felt it was my Christian responsibility to help her. I believed she needed me to help her spiritually.
I took her to another AG church the following Sunday because I was too embarrassed to take her to South Side Assembly where people knew me. After the service I hung around and met a guy who was in the Navy, who immediately after introductions started talking to me about his tour of duty in Honolulu.
He told me that in Hawaii he was going out with a girl for the sole purpose of discipling her. He told me he had the best intentions and had no interest in her sexually, but as he discipled her things went wrong and he fell into sexual affair with her and backslid.
I took my date home that night and never saw her again. And as for my responsibility to help her out in the faith, I decided to put her in God's hands.
I never saw the Navy man again because I never went back to that church again. But I think I should have told him that night that his story was straight from heaven - he saved me from a crud load of trouble.
She was annoying and bothered a lot of people. She demanded a lot of attention and seemed to cry out, "Look at me everybody!" I've met so many like her since then, they're usually wounded from childhood and attention starved. She was not only attention starved but she was super hyper. She was a disaster and yet...she was very cute.
I asked her out on a date and took her to a Christian concert. It was nothing great, we had fun and when the night was over she took me inside her house to meet her parents and then into her bedroom where she showed me pictures of herself in a bikini. I had a strange feeling she was trying to let me know she wanted to go bed with me. Fortunately I didn't feel tempted whatsoever.
On the way home that night I decided I would continue to go out with her, but only for the sake of discipling her - she needed spiritual direction / help. I actually felt it was my Christian responsibility to help her. I believed she needed me to help her spiritually.
I took her to another AG church the following Sunday because I was too embarrassed to take her to South Side Assembly where people knew me. After the service I hung around and met a guy who was in the Navy, who immediately after introductions started talking to me about his tour of duty in Honolulu.
He told me that in Hawaii he was going out with a girl for the sole purpose of discipling her. He told me he had the best intentions and had no interest in her sexually, but as he discipled her things went wrong and he fell into sexual affair with her and backslid.
I took my date home that night and never saw her again. And as for my responsibility to help her out in the faith, I decided to put her in God's hands.
I never saw the Navy man again because I never went back to that church again. But I think I should have told him that night that his story was straight from heaven - he saved me from a crud load of trouble.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
The Orange VW
August 1972
I had off 10 days in August to go home to Milwaukee, travel to the family cottage in Minaqua, WI and buy a new car. I had enough of hitchhiking and was getting a new car - a brand new orange VW bug for $1,895.
I've already mentioned that my family is a bunch of artists, well I am good with drawing letters, so I painted my own racing stripe on the driver side that said, "Jesus Is Lord." It was flawless. It was cool.
After awhile I bagan putting stickers on it, first the bumpers and eventually other places as well. A year I had an accident with it. I was in Miami, FL, it was rush hour traffic, I had bald tires, it had just started raining, and the pavement changed to a real smooth surface. I fish-tailed going 65 mph and then the car spun out of control moving through all 3 lanes, hitting the guard rail and then sliding through all three lanes again settling at the edge of the road.
I was shaking, but somehow I avoided every car and a tractor-trailer who nearly missed me as I slid back and forth on the freeway and the car did pretty well having only a damaged fender. The police man at the scene saw my stickers plastered on the car, saw one that said "Honk if you love Jesus," and asked me if I honked.
Within weeks of getting the car, Ray put brackets under the dash for me to keep my bible and it had no air conditioning - months later I drove through the desert with
the windows rolled up because the outside air was hotter than the inside baking going on.
In 1975 with almost 70,000 miles the orange VW was totalled and I spent a month in the hospital after being unconscious for 24 hours. But that's another story.
I had off 10 days in August to go home to Milwaukee, travel to the family cottage in Minaqua, WI and buy a new car. I had enough of hitchhiking and was getting a new car - a brand new orange VW bug for $1,895.
I've already mentioned that my family is a bunch of artists, well I am good with drawing letters, so I painted my own racing stripe on the driver side that said, "Jesus Is Lord." It was flawless. It was cool.
After awhile I bagan putting stickers on it, first the bumpers and eventually other places as well. A year I had an accident with it. I was in Miami, FL, it was rush hour traffic, I had bald tires, it had just started raining, and the pavement changed to a real smooth surface. I fish-tailed going 65 mph and then the car spun out of control moving through all 3 lanes, hitting the guard rail and then sliding through all three lanes again settling at the edge of the road.
I was shaking, but somehow I avoided every car and a tractor-trailer who nearly missed me as I slid back and forth on the freeway and the car did pretty well having only a damaged fender. The police man at the scene saw my stickers plastered on the car, saw one that said "Honk if you love Jesus," and asked me if I honked.
Within weeks of getting the car, Ray put brackets under the dash for me to keep my bible and it had no air conditioning - months later I drove through the desert with
the windows rolled up because the outside air was hotter than the inside baking going on.
In 1975 with almost 70,000 miles the orange VW was totalled and I spent a month in the hospital after being unconscious for 24 hours. But that's another story.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Revival at Home
AUGUST 1972
By the time I got home in August 1972 Cindy and David were going to church regularly at Elmbrook and attending "Forever Family" during the week - the bible study fellowship begun by Wyn Couchman. In Madison, WI my older brother Marc was also beginning to go to church regularly, having broken up with his long-time girlfriend because she didn't want to join him on his new spiritual journey.
The last time I had been at home I was absurdly zealous, leaving Christian literature everywhere and destroying all my albums. I suppose I did everything wrong, but I heard Marc talking to his girlfriend on the phone saying that this form of Christianity made sense. Now months later he was in church and living the life of a new-born Christian.
The first night I was home I spent alone with my sister Mary (the second youngest in the family of seven kids). I wanted to talk to her about Christ but was afraid to. Inside I thought she was too hardened to care, so I said nothing until she asked, "So how's this Christianity going?" I asked her what she thought about Christ and that within several minutes she was praying to receive Christ.
The next day I drove to Northern WI to my parents' summer home. The whole family was there as well as our next door neighbor (from Milwaukee) Paul, who was Dave and Eric's friend. Paul and I got into a discussion about religion, Christ, and the world. He kept on bringing up problems with Christianity, "What about people in Africa who have never heard?" "Why do bad things happen if God is good?" etc. These are questions that are very common among people who are looking for ways to discount the God of Chrisianity. They are also questions I could not answer, neither can I today.
To be sure I gave a few of the pat answers, "There is suffering in the world because of sin," and so on, but the answers went nowhere and seemed hollow. Finally, I looked at Paul and said, "I don't know the answers, but I do know this: Jesus died for you. What are YOU going to do about it?" We ended the conversation with that.
That same day I saw my brother Eric walking up the path so I asked him what is he going to do about Christ. He said he already believed. I asked him why he still lived the way he did and also told him that believing is not enough, for after all, the devils also believe.
Shortly after my youngest sister Pat came into the house and I asked her what she was going to do about Jesus. She wanted to give her life to Christ, so we prayed.
During the next few days my 2 brothers and Paul were discussing Christianity and decided that it made sense. I was told that Paul with whom I had the argument was feeling different.
Days later, back in Milwaukee, I was driving my new orange VW. David was in the front and Paul and Eric were in the back. I had not talked to Paul since our argument and asked him, "Paul, would you like to give your life to Christ?" He said yes, so while I drove he repeated a prayer with me to become a newborn Christian. Years later Eric told me that he too prayed in the car with Paul.
At Elmbrook Church all of my brothers (except Marc who was going to a Madison church) and all of my sisters met up with all 5 of my cousins who had recently become Christian. I began to realize somebody out there had been praying for us and the one who came to mind was the one who always told us she was praying for us - Grandma Winnie - the same one I had mockingly warned my brothers, "Watch out because Grandma is praying for us."
Before I went back to the ship in FL my sister Cindy introduced me to a friend she met at church. Cindy kept talking to her friend about her older brother who had become a new Christian after being in drugs and one day Cindy showed her a picture of me. The girl couldn't believe what she saw. Only a year and a half ago, she sat next to me in History class and prayed for me every day because she knew I was stoned day after day.
By the time I got home in August 1972 Cindy and David were going to church regularly at Elmbrook and attending "Forever Family" during the week - the bible study fellowship begun by Wyn Couchman. In Madison, WI my older brother Marc was also beginning to go to church regularly, having broken up with his long-time girlfriend because she didn't want to join him on his new spiritual journey.
The last time I had been at home I was absurdly zealous, leaving Christian literature everywhere and destroying all my albums. I suppose I did everything wrong, but I heard Marc talking to his girlfriend on the phone saying that this form of Christianity made sense. Now months later he was in church and living the life of a new-born Christian.
The first night I was home I spent alone with my sister Mary (the second youngest in the family of seven kids). I wanted to talk to her about Christ but was afraid to. Inside I thought she was too hardened to care, so I said nothing until she asked, "So how's this Christianity going?" I asked her what she thought about Christ and that within several minutes she was praying to receive Christ.
The next day I drove to Northern WI to my parents' summer home. The whole family was there as well as our next door neighbor (from Milwaukee) Paul, who was Dave and Eric's friend. Paul and I got into a discussion about religion, Christ, and the world. He kept on bringing up problems with Christianity, "What about people in Africa who have never heard?" "Why do bad things happen if God is good?" etc. These are questions that are very common among people who are looking for ways to discount the God of Chrisianity. They are also questions I could not answer, neither can I today.
To be sure I gave a few of the pat answers, "There is suffering in the world because of sin," and so on, but the answers went nowhere and seemed hollow. Finally, I looked at Paul and said, "I don't know the answers, but I do know this: Jesus died for you. What are YOU going to do about it?" We ended the conversation with that.
That same day I saw my brother Eric walking up the path so I asked him what is he going to do about Christ. He said he already believed. I asked him why he still lived the way he did and also told him that believing is not enough, for after all, the devils also believe.
Shortly after my youngest sister Pat came into the house and I asked her what she was going to do about Jesus. She wanted to give her life to Christ, so we prayed.
During the next few days my 2 brothers and Paul were discussing Christianity and decided that it made sense. I was told that Paul with whom I had the argument was feeling different.
Days later, back in Milwaukee, I was driving my new orange VW. David was in the front and Paul and Eric were in the back. I had not talked to Paul since our argument and asked him, "Paul, would you like to give your life to Christ?" He said yes, so while I drove he repeated a prayer with me to become a newborn Christian. Years later Eric told me that he too prayed in the car with Paul.
At Elmbrook Church all of my brothers (except Marc who was going to a Madison church) and all of my sisters met up with all 5 of my cousins who had recently become Christian. I began to realize somebody out there had been praying for us and the one who came to mind was the one who always told us she was praying for us - Grandma Winnie - the same one I had mockingly warned my brothers, "Watch out because Grandma is praying for us."
Before I went back to the ship in FL my sister Cindy introduced me to a friend she met at church. Cindy kept talking to her friend about her older brother who had become a new Christian after being in drugs and one day Cindy showed her a picture of me. The girl couldn't believe what she saw. Only a year and a half ago, she sat next to me in History class and prayed for me every day because she knew I was stoned day after day.
Friday, February 13, 2009
The Jehovah Witness and His Friend
AUGUST 1972
With a new VW I no longer needed to hitchhike. Instead, I was able to pick up hitchhikers and on my drive from Milwaukee to Jacksonville, I did just that. On the freeway somewhere between those two cities I picked up 2 guys hitchhiking.
I don't remember how we got on the topic of Christ, in those days I just found ways to bring Christ into the conversation. I looked for any opportunity and the opportunities came. Most people I talked to didn't have a problem with it either. Sometimes people would argue and in those cases I let them say their say and let it go; but most of the times they would listen and oftentimes they would make decisions for Christ. Preaching the Gospel was rarely offensive to others.
I do remember one time I was on the beach in Ft. Lauderdale at the same time a lot of Jesus People were witnessing. I was talking to one guy about Christ when his friend came by and said, "If I see one more Jesus Freak, I am going to hit him." The guy I was talking to corrected him, "This guy's different, he makes sense." But his friend got the upper hand and they left.
Back to my drive back to FL from WI. I picked up these 2 guys and somehow we got to talking about Christ. Both were into drugs, one was brought up Christian and the other brought up Jehovah Witness.
Now understand, Jehovah Witnesses believe that only 1,000 people will go to heaven, because at one time the religion was less than 1,000, but once the church grew bigger than 1,000 the doctrine changed. They still teach that only 1,000 will go to heaven, but the rest they say, will live on the earth that will be changed into a paradise.
During our conversation, the guy who was brought up Christian rededicated his life to Christ which annoyed his JW friend and seemed to spark new dedication to JW. While we continued our dialogue the rededicated Christian and I got excited about heaven. His Jehovah Witness friend said, "I'm not going to heaven!" We both knew that he meant he was going to live on the earth forever, but we both chimed in, "I'm going to heaven!"
With a new VW I no longer needed to hitchhike. Instead, I was able to pick up hitchhikers and on my drive from Milwaukee to Jacksonville, I did just that. On the freeway somewhere between those two cities I picked up 2 guys hitchhiking.
I don't remember how we got on the topic of Christ, in those days I just found ways to bring Christ into the conversation. I looked for any opportunity and the opportunities came. Most people I talked to didn't have a problem with it either. Sometimes people would argue and in those cases I let them say their say and let it go; but most of the times they would listen and oftentimes they would make decisions for Christ. Preaching the Gospel was rarely offensive to others.
I do remember one time I was on the beach in Ft. Lauderdale at the same time a lot of Jesus People were witnessing. I was talking to one guy about Christ when his friend came by and said, "If I see one more Jesus Freak, I am going to hit him." The guy I was talking to corrected him, "This guy's different, he makes sense." But his friend got the upper hand and they left.
Back to my drive back to FL from WI. I picked up these 2 guys and somehow we got to talking about Christ. Both were into drugs, one was brought up Christian and the other brought up Jehovah Witness.
Now understand, Jehovah Witnesses believe that only 1,000 people will go to heaven, because at one time the religion was less than 1,000, but once the church grew bigger than 1,000 the doctrine changed. They still teach that only 1,000 will go to heaven, but the rest they say, will live on the earth that will be changed into a paradise.
During our conversation, the guy who was brought up Christian rededicated his life to Christ which annoyed his JW friend and seemed to spark new dedication to JW. While we continued our dialogue the rededicated Christian and I got excited about heaven. His Jehovah Witness friend said, "I'm not going to heaven!" We both knew that he meant he was going to live on the earth forever, but we both chimed in, "I'm going to heaven!"
Thursday, February 12, 2009
The Vision
November 1972
I wanted to be spiritual more than anything. I wanted God to talk to me regularly and when I heard preachers and Christian teachers, it seemed like God talked to them all the time. I wanted that for me too. I had a few times where it was clear to me that God was talking to me through a song, or a friend, or even a quiet something inside. But it wasn't enough, I always wanted more, so I began mistaking my own feelings and thoughts for those of God's voice.
In the middle of all this I had a real vision. I was at Ray's house lying down on his sofa and I went almost but not quite asleep. In the vision I saw a rock in the distance and it was awesome and beautiful. I marvelled at it and said, "I want to build my house right here!" But then I heard a voice saying, "Why don't you build on the rock?"
I got up from the couch and made nothing of the vision / dream, because it made no sense to me, but within four months I would know exactly what it meant and I wasn't too proud of what I learned.
I wanted to be spiritual more than anything. I wanted God to talk to me regularly and when I heard preachers and Christian teachers, it seemed like God talked to them all the time. I wanted that for me too. I had a few times where it was clear to me that God was talking to me through a song, or a friend, or even a quiet something inside. But it wasn't enough, I always wanted more, so I began mistaking my own feelings and thoughts for those of God's voice.
In the middle of all this I had a real vision. I was at Ray's house lying down on his sofa and I went almost but not quite asleep. In the vision I saw a rock in the distance and it was awesome and beautiful. I marvelled at it and said, "I want to build my house right here!" But then I heard a voice saying, "Why don't you build on the rock?"
I got up from the couch and made nothing of the vision / dream, because it made no sense to me, but within four months I would know exactly what it meant and I wasn't too proud of what I learned.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
The Prophecy
I was driving around some guys from church and some of their friends when one of the girls said she had some messages from God. Supposedly she had a gift of prophecy which meant she could prophesy about our lives and about our futures. She began with the others telling them how they struggled and how God was going to help them and so on.
When it was my turn she told me that God had plans for me to become a great prophet.
I was floored. I didn't expect that and was absolutely awed by what she said. When I got back to the ship that night I thought about it over and over. What I did not see was how close this was to my LSD experience 2 1/2 years previously when I was told that God would make me a great musician after the death of Hendrix. I didn't connect the lines and fell into the trap.
When it was my turn she told me that God had plans for me to become a great prophet.
I was floored. I didn't expect that and was absolutely awed by what she said. When I got back to the ship that night I thought about it over and over. What I did not see was how close this was to my LSD experience 2 1/2 years previously when I was told that God would make me a great musician after the death of Hendrix. I didn't connect the lines and fell into the trap.
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