Religion
Continued from Page I
them aloud, a few raised their arms, most simply
bowed their heads. In the quiet moments one could
hear the pinball machines in the next room.
One girl started singing a song of praise-her own
tune, her own words. Anothar did the same, and
eventually many voices were raised in a strangely
beautiful blend of many songs and words. Several
present, both men and women, cried softly.
Then, after embracing friends or clasping hands,
they went home.
Thursday night there was again much prayer and
singing, and this time they sang together, simple songs
iika "Amazing Grace" and The Lord He Is Risen
Indeed." They spoke in tongues and they
prophesied, and finally they elected six elders.
Three of the group's founders-Joe Orduna, Tim
Oglesby and Wesley Mabin-were among those named.
They were blessed with "the laying on of hands" by
the rest of the members, and then they took
communion.
In Corinthians 12. the Bible lists the nine gifts God
gave the early Christians, including the ability to speak
in tongues, prophesy, work miracles and heal the sick.
Most present-day churches believe these gifts were
withdrawn after the Bible was completed. Members
of Prayer and Praise do not.
These gifts, they feel, will remain until "that
which is perfect is come"-the second coming of
Christ. And that coming will be soon.
"It definitely is going to be within our lifetime,"
said Tim Oglesby. "The things that have been
prophesied and have come true within the last year,
within the last month, are amazing.
"There's an emphasis on young men and young
women experiencing Jesus, and I believe part of this
is the 'Jesus freak' movement. Some of it's fad, but
the great majority is valid."
"Freak" doesn't necessarily mean
long-haired-hippie-tuming-from-drugs-to-God. If they
use the term at all, it is more often in the same sense
that someone is called an art freak or a music freak
it shows where their interest lies.
One member did said he'd been on drugs before he
joined. He quit after the first meeting, then started
having flashbacks-at home, in class, even during a
Prayer and Praise meeting- even th6ugh he's been off
acid for a month.
He couldn't control them or tell when one would
hit him, he said, until he asked Jesus to come into his
life and help him. He hasn't had a flashback since.
Others, like Oglesby, had been brought up in a
model Christian family... people expected me to be a
preacher someday. I had known the Lord as my
personal savior, but I hadn't been baptized in the
Holy Spirit or felt God's love completely filling me.
'Then I went to a Full Gospel Businessmen's
Fellowship meeting here in Lincoln and really saw
that God wasn't a stale God off in left field. He was
there with those men, helping them every day in their
lives, and I wanted that feeling."
Oglesby said people going to Prayer and Praise for
the first time often feel the same way he did. "My
heart was convinced, but my mind still had a few
problems." Some call it a hoax or pure emotionalism.
Others he said, are immediately "turned on by being
in a meeting were Jesus is."
A similar campus group is the Campus Crusade for
Christ. The similarity stops with their goals, however.
At a Campus Crusade meeting, there is laughing,
talking and joking before the meeting and the songs
are the same ones they sing at church camp. About
GO students attend the meetings, mostly girls and
mostly clean-cut
The meeting starts with a "sharing period." One
girl told how she and a few friends went to visit a
church youth group in Henderson, and how
enthusiastic the high school students seemed. One girl
wanted to share the happiness this brought her
because she is from nearby York, "and I think there
is maybe one true Christian in York."
The lesson was given by Bob Querbach, one of the
Crusade's six full-time staff members. Many of the
members took notes.
Though there was no individual prayer,
prophesying or speaking in tongues, the Crusaders
believe in many of the same things members of Prayer
and Praise do.
For example, they also feel the second coming of
Christ is imminent "I won't say it will be tomorrow,
although it might, but I feel sure it will be during my
lifetime," said Querbach.
"There are signs, 40 or 50 of them, foretold in the
Bible and they're all starting to
converge-earthquakes, wars, iniquity, heart attacks,
drug abuse."
The best way to prepare for Christ's return to
earth, he said, is to be evangelists, to help , others
accept Jesus as their Savior.
Since the first Campus Crusade began at UCLA in
1951, over 400 campuses have formed their own
groups. That their growth coincides with other similar
movements, including the Jesus freaks, Crusade
members do not consider accidental.
"After all," Querbach said, "when we started, we
were considered freaks too. Some are good and some
are bad, of course, but as long as we're going in the
same direction, sure, we're with them."
Jim Engelkemier, part-time student and volunteer
staffer for Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship, agreed.
"I think it's great that Jesus can cross cultural and
class barriers like this, he said. "Expressions differ,
but inwardly the Jesus freaks have grabbed the same
idea we have-that Jesus is the key to understanding
the world and yourself."
Inter-Varsity (not to be confused with the
Fellowship of Christian Athletes-there, is no
connection with sports) puts its emphasis on small
prayer and Bible study groups which meet daily in
dormitories, off-campus and in the Union. Two weeks
ago they gave away nearly 13,000 copies of "Good
News For Modern Man," a version of the New
Testament, and sponsored a three-day conference in .
the Union.
"We're an evangelistic group," says George "Chip"
Stulac, Inter-Varsity adviser. "We want to make Jesus
Christ known to the whole campus community for
what He is. Christianity isn't a bunch of do's and
don'ts. And it isn't as if you never have any more fun
when you ask Jesus into your life.
"I have more fun now than I ever did before
because I'm happier; I can love instead of being
self-centered. I don't have to worry about my future
because if I accept Christ as my personal savior. He
has already paid for my sins."
With Christ, happiness doesn't have to rely on
external things, said Inter-Varsity president Bob
Larson. "The joy is always there, inside."
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