Sunset Strip

[excerpt from Voice in the Wilderness, vol. 4, Revival in the Wings]

“Jesus Christ is coming back to Earth again. Repent or perish!”

I still remember standing there on Sunset Strip hearing these hippies telling me to repent.  Long hair, raggedy old T-shirts, and patched jeans — straight out of the drug culture of the 60’s.

I gotta tell you, I was a little put off.

I thought Christians had to have a wife and kids, a two-car garage, a 9-to-5 job, and carry a briefcase.  What was this?  This wasn’t what I thought a Christian was supposed to be.  Even their Bibles were worn and tattered.  Weren’t they supposed to all nice and pretty?

And what was all this stuff about repentance and a burning Hell? Who did they think they were telling me I had to repent?  After all, I knew about God and had plenty of theories of my own. I didn’t need anybody to tell me about God.

But there was this fire in their eyes and intensity about them that riveted me.  I had never heard a message preached like this before.  Everything I had heard was about how much God loved me, so I figured that if there was a Heaven, everybody was going there … unless, of course, you were really, really bad.

But that’s not what they told me.  They spoke about being “born again” and feeling the Spirit of God save my soul.  Huh?  Where’d that come from?  I never heard that in the churches I went to when I was a little kid.

And then there was always that line about keeping the commandments of God.  It seems that the only way that I would be able to do that is if I got saved first.

Well, I had news for them – I didn’t want to keep the commandments of God. I was having too much fun, and I did not want to become a Christian.  Besides, if God loved me, then what was the big deal?

But it was a big deal.  And these people would not quit. 

I don’t know how many of these Jesus Freaks I blew off with my philosophies about God, but no matter how smart I thought I was, there was no denying that they had some kind of fire burning inside them that I couldn’t figure out, and I just had to know what it was.

Now, at this time, there were all kinds of freaks running around with new “spiritual” ideas, and you really had to sort through some crazy stuff.  Some of them were so whacked-out that they would run around chanting and playing tambourines in orange robes with their heads shaved (except for a pony tail that God was supposed to grab to pull them up to Heaven).  If that’s what you had to do to get to Heaven, then I was ready to take my chances with Hell.

Others floated around like they were in some dream (or on some drug – I never could figure out which), and everything was “beautiful”.  Yeah, in your dreams.

Another group was started by a well-known science fiction writer.  Oh boy, that really made sense, didn’t it!  Apply all these science fiction principles to your life and call it a fancy name.  Thanks, but if your foundation was built on science fiction, then so were your ideas about God.

Then there was the “Children of God” who preached that God’s Love meant you could do anything you wanted – have free sex, take drugs, whatever.  Well, then what was the point?  I was already doing that, so why did I need God to tell me it was okay.

But these other guys were serious about the Gospel, and that’s what made them stand out in the crowd.  There was something different about them, and if they were right, then I wanted to know.  I figured that if they were just on another trip, then I would know when I went to their services.  (Besides, they served a free meal after services, and I was hungry.)

It did not take but a few minutes after walking in the door before I knew that they were for real.  I didn’t hear some new trip about God – I heard an old-fashioned Gospel and found myself at the altar asking a God that I wasn’t sure about to save my soul.

Now, if that had been all there was to it, I’d have walked out after services and kept on going my own way, but it wasn’t.  Imagine my surprise when I felt the Spirit of God come down and wash away all the sins that I didn’t even know I had committed.  Something incredibly supernatural happened to me right then and there, and I knew I was a new creature in God. I didn’t understand what happened, but I knew I was saved!

That was over 50 years ago, and that Gospel is just as strong today as it was back then.  That’s why I don’t preach a Gospel of ideas or theology, but a Gospel of power.

If you don’t have that, then maybe — just maybe — you’re missing out on the most important thing in life.  If the fire of God is not burning in your heart, then maybe you need to find out why.  Maybe you need that same supernatural experience of Salvation.

There are a lot of paths to take in Life, and many of them sound good, but only one leads to the Cross. There may be 50,000 philosophies about God in this world, but only one of them is the Truth and has the definite power of God to change your life.

That’s the one I have chosen … and it has made all the difference in the world.

[Excerpt from “Revival in the Wings”, vol. 4 of A Voice in the Wilderness] Available at:  http://www.revivalfire.org/books