Fate, Fire and a Teenage Girl: Part 4: Believers and Nonbelievers

This meeting wasn’t quite as dramatic as the last one, but it was good never-the-less. Win was there again and so was Steve. Lee was there also but he was strangely quiet and not at all in charge any more since Win came. By now, I knew almost everyone’s name. We sang and talked a lot particularly about the end of the world.  One girl, at only age 15, was a former drug addict. Her brother was a big dealer. I begged Win to pray over her, but I don’t know if he did.

At the next meeting, Bobby spoke in tongues and saw visions for two people in the room. Both of them, he concluded, were being tempted by the devil. Out of one of them he cast devils. The other one refused to allow him to do it. Later, we learned he was going to buy some weed that night. The other one was going to study to become a priest. His name was Richard. After Bobby shouted for a few more minutes in tongues, this priest guy gets up and starts talking about his supposed experiences with the Holy Spirit. Then, Bobby came over to him and said God was hurt just then by a spirit of pride. The priest answered and told him to quit shouting. “Jesus was a gentle person and never shouted,” he said, being annoyed by Bobby’s behavior. All this time Steve had been sitting quietly over to one side. So he got up to leave. Win spotted him and asked him if he could pray over him. Steve agreed to it.

 “Now, everybody, watch his eyes!” Win yelled. He asked Steve to close his eyes as he prayed over him. When he opened them sure enough they had changed! They were softer. Quietly, Steve said good-bye to Win who was smiling so hard his teeth looked like they were going to split open. He was probably thinking: “Yes! Steve has been defeated!” And so he had. Maybe he was more of a believer now.

Win then interrupted Richard and said Jesus did shout when he wanted to and quoted examples from Scripture. Next, there was a long discussion on pride and who had it in the room. Richard accused Bobby of “extreme showmanship” and questioned all of our motives for going to these meetings. The priest got some of us upset and some of the girls were even crying. He was trying to confuse us it appears. Finally, he left and we all relaxed.

Since it was August 2^nd, I asked the group to pray me on the anniversary of my Father’s death. I guess that’s why I cried so much that night. I still missed him. Also, I secretly prayed for Aunt Dorothy to be healed and for my Grandma who was again in the hospital for an infection. She had fallen and broken her jaw. Finally, the meeting was over. Luu then walked in during this episode and I asked her if we could go home because Mom was worrying about us. She said it was fine with her. I looked at the clock as we were leaving and it was almost 12 o’clock! We arrived home safely and now a few days later I’m wondering about the whole thing. So until next Monday at the same time and place, we will go again. Who knows how the Lord would move then?

Fate, Fire and a Teenage Girl:Part 3-The Breath of God

I visited the Gardeners again the next day and we sat around and discussed the Bible and how Christ was coming back soon and how we would all be going up in the Rapture. Aileen said there would be another meeting tomorrow night at a different house and you guessed it, Win would be there. I decided to observe him more carefully, since the Gardeners fully believed that he was a modern day apostle.

So Monday night came and this time Luu drove me to a Spanish-style house that looked a little haunted. The sky was dark and thunder was rumbling in the distance. I thought to myself: “Oh boy, this night’s going to be a strange one!” And it was! The first bit of news was that Lee who was the big doubting Thomas of our previous meeting wasn’t going to be here tonight because his car broke down a few days ago. "Mmmm," I thought. "That's interesting."

The meeting didn’t start until 8:30. Steve was there but where was Win?? Most of the same people from last time came but there was an older man there this time with a tape recorder.

We soon started singing and in the middle of: “…they’ll know we are Christians by our love…” I turned around and there he was! This time he came with a fellow girl disciple. He recognized me by a nod and I said “Hi.” We sang a few more songs after that. Then we shared, but I didn’t get time to say anything.

 Next, Win started a half hour discussion of the power of Christ. One girl asked him a question. “I knew of a boy who was filled with the Spirit but he fell out and went back to grass, acid and drugs. What can I do for him?” He replied: “All those who accept Christ and fall out, Christ will bring back. I, around a year ago, was prayed over, but I continued taking drugs and partying. But God got back at me. I worked in construction and I would carry these huge beams on my shoulders. One day I was carrying one when I felt the presence of Jesus behind me and he told me ‘Now you know how it feels to carry a cross.’ On February 28, 1971, I came back to the Lord.”

“Yeah,” she said, “My friends think I’m straight, but when they offer me temptations like drugs, and I admit I don’t want them, I feel silly.”

“Well, you shouldn’t! I’m as straight now as you can get. Everyone in this room should be straight. Christ said “Straight and narrow is the way of the Lord.”

He also said “Evil is growing by leaps and bounds. Why I could go into a small store in downtown Tampa and buy a package of human fingernails or bones or the blood of animals. Yes, the middle ground is fast disappearing. There used to be some people who could go to church, guarantee they were saved and forget about God. Well, that in between state is falling apart fast. Either you’re for Christ or you're against Him.”

He spoke a little more and told us some more stories about the power of God. Then the man with the tape recorder was introduced as a priest from Biafra who told us about what he had gone through.

Next, Winn prayed over everyone there. Then Bobby who was a guy wearing steel-rimmed glasses, got up from a sitting position. Win got in front of him and held out his hands and they pressed their palms together. Win demonstrated the breath of God. He blew on him. As soon as he did, the other guy fell peacefully backwards and two other boys caught him and laid him down. Everyone laughed quietly, although why it was so funny, I cannot put into words. In fact after this happened we were all in a much happier and united mood than we were at the previous meeting except for Steve who was very quiet and did not talk as much as he had the last time…(to be continued....)

Fate, Fire and a Teenage Girl: Part 2:The Meeting

He, the mysterious man, was supposed to be talking to this particular group for the first time. That afternoon upon returning home I read the newspaper. I came across a movie ad: “Willie Wonka’s Chocolate Factory: anti-pollutionary, anti-establishment, scrumdidiliumptious FUN!” The picture of the actor, Gene Wilder, looked just like the guy whose real name I found out later was “Win”. However, I gave him the secret nickname of “Willie Wonka” and only me and my sister, Linda knew it.

Luu, a friend of Mrs. Gardener, drove us to the meeting which was at a different home. It was getting dark when we got there. I was hoping this would not be like the meetings I didn’t like. It opened with some singing and then a prayer or “sharing time” when everyone shared an experience in Christ. The two guys in charge were Lee and Steve. Win came in sometime during this part of the meeting and sat quietly. Next, he went into a back room. We got into a discussion of the difference between concern and worry. This was so boring that it got me settled into a sleepy state of mind. Suddenly, Win came out and sat down again. The other two guys were finished with talking and then Win asked them if he could say a few words.

He then jumped up and shouted: “What was Jesus the Man really like? What manner of man is this that the wind and the seas obey Him? What manner of man was this who ordered evil spirits out of a man and into pigs which ran off a cliff? Yes, the day of the Lord is soon! And everyone in this room has great gifts! You will be able to heal! You will be able to speak in other tongues! You will be able to see visions and you will prophesy! God has chosen you, the youth, to carry out His Word and to fight the forces of evil which are growing. A great man will rise to power in America and if you want to buy something at a store you will need his mark on your forehead! If you think this Vietnam War was bad, this nation has not yet known the wars there will be in the future. I was a drug addict and I dipped into witchcraft, sorcery, yoga, existentialism, sensitivity and ESP but God was after me. Christ wanted me to do His work for the End is near.”

Everyone just looked at him and a silence fell in the room. Then, Lee and Steve tied him down in a lengthy discussion of misusing the gifts of the Spirit. Soon the meeting was over and Luu came and picked us up. I felt scared by his sermon. A heavy weight of impending disaster fell on me. But I couldn’t wait to return and hear him once again…

 

Fate, Fire and a Teenage Girl: Part 1: The Mysterious Stranger

At the age of 15 I got saved on the sidewalk. I’ve told the story about how a girl read a tract to me called “The Four Spiritual Laws” outside my high school and I accepted Christ. She advised me to attend their New Life meetings. This is the story of what happened after that. I did not know the Bible at all or where to begin as a Christian so these were my first attempts at figuring it all out. I did not understand at that point what God’s will was or anything about God so my language wasn’t very Christian yet.

 So these are my insights about it written in my own hand. It was July 20, 1971: a very turbulent time for our country and for me. At that time, I was recovering from my father’s death and still attending the Catholic Church.

These are my own words to tell the story for you with some fixing of language and punctuation here and there - from many years ago.

Remember fate?

Since my father died two years ago, fate has definitely been in control of my life. Whenever I want something, I get it. And so, 3 months ago I went to Rome because I wished I could go and God answered my wish. When I came back I wished for something else: I could go to a religious meeting that was more worthy of attending than the boring New Life meetings at the Winter Park Youth Center. I was disillusioned with their approach. Something was missing. I quit going when I came back from Rome. So I read the Bible and figured I could understand God more by reading it than going to those meetings anyway.

Then one day I learned that the Gardeners, our neighbors, were involved in a religious movement concerning the Holy Spirit and its gifts. Walt Gardener wanted to pray over my Aunt Dorothy who was in a wheelchair. I didn’t know exactly what “pray over” meant but I knew it had something to do with casting out devils. At first, I didn’t believe too much in it. Meanwhile, Mr. Gardner visited Aunt Dorothy to pray over her but she was too busy to let him do it. Maybe in a month or so he will try again.

So I continued to read the Bible and read about the Acts of the Apostles. “Boy!” I thought, “Those apostles really did wonderful things. I wish that I had lived back then when the glory of Christ was so real and such wonderful things happened.”

 So Fate decided that I would have my way.

One day I decided to go over to Mr. Gardener’s house because Mom had dropped Grandma off there to help Mrs. Gardener, Aileen, with her sewing. So I walked in and told Grandma that Mom was waiting out in the car for her. Grandma answered: “Tell her to come back and get me after she returns from the store. I’m not done yet.”

“Ok,” I answered, “and I’ll stay here with you until then.” (I said that I knowing strange things sometimes happened at the Gardener’s house and a crazy-looking van was parked in the driveway…) So I went and told Mom and walked back in again. Some people were there who were getting ready to leave – a mother and two small children.

Grandma was saying, “I want this young man to pray over me.” She pointed to a strange looking guy. I say “strange” not because he looked really strange but rather because of the wild look in his eyes. (They were blue by the way and he had wavy blonde hair…) We walked into the family room and he asked Grandma: “Where does it hurt?”

“Like a doctor, I thought.” Then I thought: “Some kinda nut.”

So then he prayed over her.

“Ahhh,” I thought again. “He must be one of those Jesus-freak-children-of-God-type nuts!”

Then Mom came in and he prayed over her and ordered out the spirits of loneliness and frustration. He howled at the top of his voice: “Jesus, touch her!” (It was at this moment my mother accepted Christ.)

Mom started to cry. He also prayed over me and I got very excited and hot and my hands went numb.

“Wow,” I thought, “He’s very strange, indeed.”

That night, Mrs. Gardner said, there would be a prayer meeting and “the man” would be there to speak.  So we decided to go and find out more about him…(to be continued.)