Three years ago I sent some of our editors out on the streets to uncover why non-Christians do what they do. We talked with drug dealers in Atlanta, teen runaways in Chicago, hard-core bikers in Daytona Beach and gay prostitutes in San Francisco in an effort to help Charisma readers better understand how to share Jesus’ love with people who don’t talk or dress like you and I.

The whole process gave me a burden for evangelism. But the reaction from our audience was mixed.

Some people loved the approach. One woman called to say that she wept for days after reading about an 18-year-old male prostitute I interviewed–and she pledged to pray for him regularly. In letters and e-mails, other readers begged for more articles that would blast them out of their religious comfort zones. “We’ve stayed inside the church too long. Take us outside,” they demanded.

So we proceeded to take you “outside”–to see things that we avoid discussing on

Sunday mornings in church. But not everyone has been eager to leave the G-rated safety of the sanctuary.

One reader tore a page out of the magazine and mailed it back, saying he did not want to look at pictures of filthy
sinners. When we did an investigative report two years ago about neo-pagans, readers rebuked us for interviewing witches. One woman said she would no longer
display Charisma on her coffee table since the image on the cover was disturbing. I guess it didn’t match her sanctified living room decor.

Recently I sent our senior writer, Andy Butcher, to report on the brave Christians who share their faith during the drunken revelry of Mardi Gras. But readers rebuked us for describing the immorality that occurs during that annual hedonistic festival.

After we published July’s cover story on the so-called “gay Christian” movement, readers threatened to cancel their subscriptions because the issue of homosexuality is “disgusting” to them. (Maybe they assume that if we ignore a problem, it will go away.)

I wonder what people will say when they read this month’s report on the underground Goth culture. You probably will never find our cover image on the front of Guideposts. But I hope the photograph and the article will provoke you to pray that God will visit a younger generation that is desperately seeking spiritual reality.

I’d like to put this issue to a vote:

* Should we continue to take our readers to the front lines of the culture war? Or should we be content to produce a nice, sanitized magazine with photographs of sunsets, mountain peaks and airbrushed Christian celebrities?

* Should we dare to go to bars, drug dens, covens and homeless shelters where real people are living and dying? Or would it be safer if we forgot those people and just huddled in the choir loft?

* Should Charisma have the guts to deal with today’s toughest moral and cultural questions–and risk a PG-rating? Or should we be more
concerned about offending the white-gloved Pharisees?

We are at a critical juncture today. The church is faced with an obvious choice: We can be religious, or we can be relevant. Jesus is concerned for the people “out there.” I don’t think He cares too much about your coffee table. *

Can the persecution of Christians lead to an even faster spread of Christianity than if believers aren’t afflicted for their faith? The evidence from the experience of the early church, Christian history and our own day is pretty clear: Yes.

The earliest Christian martyr on record is Stephen, murdered by the mob a very short time after the day of Pentecost itself. His death by stoning touched off a great counterattack against Christianity.

“On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered…[and] preached the Word wherever they went” (Acts 8:1, 4; NIV).

That early transmission of the Word of God became the pattern of Christian growth in the first few centuries A.D. along the trade and transportation routes of the entire Mediterranean area and Roman Empire. Persecution was not a permanent or universal feature of the early church, but it happened often enough to cause Christians to migrate frequently and establish new communities.

Northern Europe was not Christianized until less than a thousand years ago, after centuries of missionary effort. But the next rapid spread of Christianity occurred in the 16th and 17th centuries as a result of the Reformation. The
governments and established churches of nominally Christian countries fiercely persecuted the fervent new communities of believers. Christians migrated once more to areas where they could worship freely.

I saw two striking examples of this phenomenon in our own day while attending a conference in May in Barcelona, Spain. A Christian journalist from Khartoum, Sudan, who originally was from southern Sudan, explained how the war by the Khartoum regime against the Christian and animist south had led to the influx into the Khartoum region of some 2
million refugees.

To the dismay of the Islamic government of Khartoum, he said, there are now so many southern Sudanese Christians in the capital that Christians have been able to organize Christmas and Easter parades, undertake Bible translation work and distribute Christian literature.

Less than a mile from the conference was another example of a failed effort to persecute Christians. As two Chinese Christians from Beijing performed a brilliant classical guitar duet outside Barcelona’s Gothic cathedral, a third Chinese, a woman from Wenzhou in China’s Zhejiang province sold the duo’s CDs to the audience.

The wonderful irony of this is that in the 1960s Mao Zedong’s communists had tried to make Wenzhou a completely religion-free city. Any public
display of worship was illegal.

The result was that Wenzhou’s Christians learned how to spread the gospel and conduct their worship in small cell-groups hidden in private homes or away on remote hillsides. With the collapse of the Cultural Revolution in the late 1970s, Wenzhou emerged as the most highly Christianized city in China. Almost 30 percent of its people were fervent Christians.

But Wenzhou’s citizens also turned out to be highly successful retail entrepreneurs. They established business communities, and Christian communities, all over China, Russia and Europe.

In Barcelona, the largest of three Chinese churches is composed of Wenzhou Christians. In Paris it is not uncommon for a thousand Chinese Christians to come together for worship, most of them from Wenzhou.

Wenzhou and the countryside around it in China have some huge churches, some of them five-stories high and all paid for by contributions from newly wealthy merchants. Not surprisingly, the very visibility of Christianity in the city that once set out to eliminate its presence has annoyed the central government, which late last year ordered the destruction of dozens of unregistered church structures.

No sane person would wish persecution on any Christian community anywhere. But as the example of Wenzhou illustrates, what the enemy intends to suppress Christianity is often just as likely to cause it to spread more.

In June 1939, the United States turned away a ship carrying 937 Jewish refugees from Europe. Most of the passengers later perished in the Holocaust. Yet today, Christians are calling the church to repent for its silence 62 years ago.

Darkness overtook the SS St. Louis as it approached the Florida coastline on June 3, 1939. The lights of Miami winked in the distance, sending a faint signal of hope to more than 900 Jewish refugees aboard the German luxury liner.

The Jews had fled the terror of Nazi Germany and sailed across the Atlantic in search of asylum. As the ship lingered off Florida, a Coast Guard gunboat prevented passengers from jumping overboard and swimming ashore.

“We were so close we could see hotels on the beach,” says Liesl Loeb of Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, who was a 10-year-old passenger. “The mood was very grim. The captain thought maybe we could land illegally at night. But America sent military planes and the shore patrol to make sure we kept moving.”

Seeking refuge in America was a desperate move by the St. Louis. Days earlier, the ship had been denied entry into Cuba–her original destination–after the government revoked the passengers’ landing permits. Most of the Jews had sold their possessions to book passage, pay off corrupt German officials and buy visas.

For five days, the St. Louis wandered between Cuba and the United States, appealing to governments in North, Central and South America for mercy. The U.S. State Department refused to intervene in Cuban affairs, and telegrams sent by passengers to President Franklin Roosevelt were not answered. The American church also was silent.

The final rejection came from Canada, where immigration director Frederick Blair–a Baptist elder–announced that “the line must be drawn somewhere.” He believed that admitting Jewish refugees could destroy the country.

On board, despair and panic seized passengers as the St. Louis turned back to Hamburg, Germany. One crew member committed suicide by hanging. Aaron Pozner, a Jewish passenger, rallied some youths in a failed mutiny attempt on the bridge. Before the St. Louis had sailed for Cuba, Pozner was interned at Dachau concentration camp, where he witnessed the murder of Jews by hanging, drowning and crucifixion, and the torture and mutilation of others.

Jules Wallerstein, a surviving passenger, says his father told him on board that the Jews would commit suicide before the ship returned to Germany. “That to me was a shocker,” says Wallerstein, who lives in Norwalk, Connecticut. “I was 12 years old and realized it was the end of my life. My parents knew if we went back the trains would be waiting for us.”

As the ship steamed toward Europe, Captain Gustav Schroeder, who had compassion for the refugees and in 1993 received the title “Righteous Among the Nations” at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Israel, plotted to ship-
wreck the St. Louis off the English coast, set the vessel on fire and evacuate passengers ashore. But Great Britain, France, Holland and Belgium agreed to admit the Jews.

Months later, three of those countries were overrun by the Nazis as World War II erupted in Europe. Nearly two-thirds of the St. Louis Jews–including Pozner–perished in concentration camps.

A Call for Repentance

Sixty-two years have passed, and the doomed voyage is but a footnote in history. But a growing number of Christian intercessors believe God still holds the nations accountable for the St. Louis rejection. They say He is calling the body of Christ into repentance for its apathy and hostility toward Jews during the Holocaust.

“The St. Louis was a test to the nations, and the nations failed,” says David Demian, director of Watchmen for the Nations ministry in Vancouver, British Columbia. “When the ship returned to Europe the chancellor of Germany came on the radio and said: ‘We sent the Jews away, and nobody wants them. We will start our Final Solution.'”

Demian says the ship was uniquely positioned in history because it floated on the waters 40 days and 40 nights: “Noah was on the waters during the 40 days and 40 nights of rain when God judged the world. In His mercy, God is bringing the whole Jewish issue before the nations. How they react will determine whether they fulfill their destiny or come under judgment.”

During an intercessors conference in Jerusalem last September, Christians say God gave them a startling revelation as they brought sins of the nations before Him.

“We listed abortion, racism, rebellion. But God said the No. 1 sin is anti-Semitism,” says Rosemary Schindler, a prayer leader from California. “The Lord told us we won’t get a breakthrough in other sin areas until we address the first issue. God is weighing the nations to see if we’ll repent and receive a full redemption.”

They say repentance is a key in the healing process between Christians and Jews, and a step toward God’s ultimate plan of “one new man” described in Ephesians 2:14-16, when Jesus breaks the wall of separation and unites Jews and Gentiles to Himself.

But the wounds are deep and the divisions wide. Six million Jews perished under Hitler, but historians say millions more have died in the name of Christianity. Edward H. Flannery’s book The Anguish of the Jews is perhaps the most definitive work on anti-Semitism. The suffering documented by Flannery and other historians is chilling:

* During the Crusades in 1099, Christian soldiers under Godfrey de Bouillon locked Jews in a Jerusalem synagogue and set it ablaze, marching around the flames and singing the hymn “Christ We Adore Thee.”

* John Chrysostom (344-407), considered one of the most eloquent preachers in church history, said the Jews were “inveterate murderers, destroyers, men possessed by the devil.”

* A decree issued in Portugal in 1497 required that Jewish children under age 14 be baptized before Easter Sunday. Children and parents were torn from one another by force and dragged to baptismal fonts. Some Jewish parents killed their children by throwing them into rivers and wells to avoid conversion.

* Martin Luther (1483-1546) took the gospel to the Jews, but when they didn’t convert he became enraged, calling them “parasites on Christian society.” Nazi war criminals used his vicious attacks in their defense at Nuremberg.

Today, many Christian leaders say “replacement theology”–the belief that God is finished with the Jewish people and has transferred the covenant promises and blessings to Christians–has added another layer of anti-Semitism in the church. They point out that the teaching ignores hundreds of Old Testament prophecies about God returning the Jews to their biblical homeland for restoration and healing. Among the verses cited is Zechariah 12:10, which says God will pour out the Spirit of grace and supplication, and the Jews will look on the One whom they pierced and “‘mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son'” (NKJV).

“It’s clear in Scripture that when the ordinances of day and night cease,
He casts off Israel,” says Ramon Bennett, a Christian author and Bible teacher from Jerusalem. “The natural branches [Israel] were broken so the wild branches [Gentiles] could be grafted in. But the wild branch has become proud and doesn’t want the Jew back in.”

Seeking Forgiveness

Christian intercessors say, however, that reconciliation won’t happen until the church acknowledges and repents of its sin toward Jews. Nita Johnson, an international speaker and founder of World for Jesus Ministries in Clovis, California, says the church, not the cross, is the stumbling block to the Jews.

“We missed a divine opportunity to show the love of God to His ancient people when we didn’ as a refuge for Jews during the Holocaust,” she says. “Two-thirds of the church knows nothing about the Holocaust.

“To hear a figure of 6 million people dying is too mind-boggling. If you don’t get down into the pit of the pain and touch the Holocaust victim, it’s too easy to brush off. The human suffering was tremendous. The majority of the church closed its eyes, ears and heart.”

Johnson interviewed three elderly Jewish men in Florida for a book she is writing on Holocaust survivors. The men wept before her, stunned that a Christian would extend love and compassion to a Jew.

“They said: ‘The church has never cared about us Jewish people in 2,000 years. Why would they care now?’ I told them the church has an inaccurate understanding of God’s heart toward the Jewish people,” Johnson says.

But that division appears to be weakening as many Christians are seeking God with renewed intensity and, in the process, responding to His call for repentance. Last November, 250 Canadian Christians gathered at the Château Laurier Hotel in Ottawa, Ontario, to welcome 25 Jewish survivors of the St. Louis and seek their forgiveness.

In one night, decades of unforgiveness and bitterness began to melt away as the Jews were honored at a private dinner organized by Demian and Watchmen for the Nations. Baptist pastor Doug Blair, great nephew of the immigration director who rejected the St. Louis, offered an apology so tender that the survivors rose spontaneously to embrace him.

“I have come to beg your forgiveness for the deep, deep wrong that was done to you,” he said to them. “I understand very well that my name is not one dear to your you forgive me and let me call you my friends?”

St. Louis survivor and Miami resident Herbert Karliner, 75, was so touched by the demonstration of love that he continues to stay in contact with Demian.

“It was so amazing. We Jews are very skeptical because we always were persecuted by this one or that one,” says Karliner, who lost his parents and two sisters in the Holocaust. “But we saw so much love.

“A Canadian child wrote a letter that said: ‘Dear Jew, I’m so sorry we didn’t let you in because you are the apple of God’s eye.’ We have to love each other and forgive each other.”

Demian invited Karliner to speak at churches in Vancouver; Winnipeg, Manitoba; and Ottawa before the St. Louis dinner, and the Christian response was overwhelming. As Karliner shared his story in Vancouver, 400 Christians rushed forward, knelt at his feet and in tears asked for forgiveness.

“I was so moved I didn’t know what to do,” he says. “I was trying to lift them up, but I couldn’t lift up 400 people. I knew other Jews who were coming to the Ottawa dinner. I couldn’t tell them what I saw and felt. Nobody would believe me.”

His testimony sparked a similar response at an Ottawa church as hundreds of Christians formed a human shield around Karliner and several Jewish friends. The believers repeated the vow that Ruth spoke to Naomi in the Bible, “‘Your people shall be my people and your God, my God'” (see Ruth 1:16).

In June, St. Louis survivors attended the All Americas Convocation in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, during which Christian and government officials from the United States joined leaders who represented the 50 nations of the Americas to seek forgiveness for their silence in 1939 (see page 61).

“The ship was rejected exactly 62 years ago,” says Tom Hess, coordinator of the Florida reunion and director of Jerusalem House of Prayer for All Nations. “Isaiah 62 talks about placing watchmen on the walls who will take no rest until God makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.

“Watchmen were not on the walls 62 years ago when the U.S. government rejected [the St. Louis passengers] and sent them to the Holocaust. God is calling for a fullness of repentance and for watchmen to get back on the walls.”

Hess believes God was speaking last November as Americans waited expectantly for an outcome in the presidential election, delayed for weeks by ballot counts and legal challenges in Florida. “The three counties that were holding up the elections–Palm Beach, Broward and Dade–were the counties that the St. Louis passed while trying to land,” Hess says. “God got our attention during the elections. The rejection of the St. Louis was perhaps the most blatant act of anti-Semitism in U.S. history.”

Demian believes God desires to pour out His mercy on nations, but they must meet His conditions of repentance. In July 1999 he and 2,300 Canadian Christians met in Winnipeg to repent for anti-Semitism.

“The Lord is not looking for statements or signatures,” he says. “He is looking for tears, weeping, sorrow and travail. We spent 10 hours weeping and travailing before the Lord.”

During the Winnipeg gathering, Christians built a memorial altar with small stones so that “the next generation will remember what the Lord has done for Canada as their fathers and mothers humbled themselves and wept,” Demian says.

He believes twin rainbows that appeared in the skies over Winnipeg symbolized God’s affirmation. Demian says God then led him to organize the gathering for St. Louis survivors in Ottawa, the next step in Canada’s journey of reconciliation.

As the Jews entered the grand hall for the banquet, church leaders and guests broke into thunderous applause. The blast of a ram’s horn filled the room as tears streamed down the faces of Jews and Gentiles.

One survivor remarked: “I never had much of a wedding. I felt like a bride walking up the aisle on her wedding day.” *

Christians and Jews met recently in Florida to heal the wounds caused by a painful event in U.S. history.

Tears flowed as Christians and Jews laid a wreath on the waters of Florida’s eastern coast recently to help close a shameful chapter of American history. The floral tribute floated to sea from the same jetty where 62 years earlier U.S. Coast Guard ships had sailed into the Atlantic to turn away a shipload of Jewish refugees from Europe. Many of them were returned to their deaths at the hands of the Nazis.

Forty surviving passengers of the SS St. Louis, whose doomed attempt to flee Hitler’s persecution was immortalized in the 1976 movie Voyage of the Damned, came to Fort Lauderdale in June as guests of the All Americas Convocation, an international Christian prayer gathering. As the wreath floated away, many of the survivors threw the roses that had greeted them in their rooms into the sea in memory of lost loved ones.

The three days of remembrance and repentance occurred on the anniversary of the days in 1939 when the passengers of the St. Louis had waited off the Florida coast, hoping for asylum. Finally, after being refused admission by the United States, Cuba and Canada, the ship returned to Europe. Many of the 937 aboard subsequently died in the Holocaust.

Among them were Judith Steel’s parents, who perished in the Auschwitz concentration camp. As a 14-month-old passenger, Judith was more fortunate. Her parents gave her to a French Roman Catholic family who raised her for four years before she came to the United States at the end of the war.

Now a grandmother and cantor at her New York synagogue, Steel said the Fort Lauderdale ceremonies were an “unbelievable” experience.

“It was overwhelming. I had so much love shown to me,” she said. “I felt their hearts. I felt God’s presence so strongly.” Steel wept as 500 Christians who attended the convocation from across the Americas greeted her and the other survivors with a standing round of applause during a special reception.

The three-day event included a visit to the Holocaust Memorial in Miami and an evening ceremony during which several leaders publicly expressed their regret for what had happened. Organizers also presented formal statements of repentance from Gov. Jeb Bush and Mayor Jim Naugle of Fort Lauderdale.

Although the Florida gathering focused on events from more than half a century ago, recent headlines first spurred the idea for the initiative. Convocation leader Tom Hess convened the event when he realized the three Florida counties at the center of last year’s election-ballot controversy–Palm Beach, Broward and Dade–made up the very coastline along which the St. Louis had waited, hoping for entry.

“God was trying to show us that there [was] unfinished business that [had] to be dealt with in regard to the United States and repentance for the sin of rejecting
these people and sending them back to the Holocaust,” he said.

Two days before the November election took the United States to the verge of a constitutional crisis, a group of St. Louis survivors were guests at a reception in Ottawa, Ontario, where a group of Canadian Christians had repented for their country’s refusal to accept the refugees.

Steel, who also attended that event, said she hopes the message of the two gatherings will spread. “I have two children and two grandchildren, and I love them very much and don’t want anyone to ever go through something like [the Holocaust] again.”

---

Jeff King is a newspaper designer in Seattle and a free-lance writer. He lives in Marysville, Washington.

News Briefs

The following reports were released during the last month by Charisma News Service. Go to our Web site at to subscribe to the free weekday service or to access full-length versions of each day’s stories. The site also includes a search engine so you can access archived news.

AUTHOR TIM LAHAYE NAMED MOST INFLUENTIAL LEADER

Tim LaHaye was named the most influential evangelical leader in the United States of the last quarter century by The Evangelical Studies Bulletin, the newsletter of the Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Ill. The quarterly publication chose LaHaye over Billy Graham, Campus Crusade for Christ’s Bill Bright, Focus on the Family’s James Dobson and broadcaster Pat Robertson, Religion Watch (RW) said. LaHaye was credited with popularizing creationism in the 1970s, helping translate “therapeutic ideas into an evangelical context” with books about the “Spirit-controlled temperament” and writing books that “set the stage for the rise of the Moral Majority.”

COLORADO PASTOR SENTENCED TO 21 MONTHS IN PRISON
John Harris, who pastored First Assembly of God in Canon City, Colo., from 1991 to 1998, was sentenced in May to serve 21 months in federal prison for defrauding banks and other lending companies of $556,206. The judge also sentenced Harris to five years supervised release after he serves the prison term. In addition, Harris will be required to pay $364,802 in restitution to the victims. Harris and his wife, Linda, were indicted last September for falsely claiming the loans were for the church. Instead the money was funneled into a secret bank account. Linda Harris, charged with one count of aiding and abetting her husband, pled guilty to wire fraud.

JIMMY SWAGGART SUED FOR ALLEGED COPYRIGHT WRONGS
Heirs of the late Finis Jennings Dake and Dake Publishing Inc. have accused Jimmy Swaggart Ministries and publishers Wolgemuth & Hyatt of copyright infringement and plagiarism. The lawsuit says that Swaggart took portions of Dake’s works and published them as his own, Bloomberg News reported. The suit also claims that in some instances Swaggart acknowledged Dake’s authorship but did not seek a license to use the passages. Filed at the end of May, the suit says that Swaggart and his publisher had “wrongfully taken and used plaintiff’s proprietary works for their own benefit and profit.”

PENTECOSTAL PASTOR MURDERED IN MEXICO
A Pentecostal pastor who was run out of his town was found murdered in April in Oaxaca state in southern Mexico. Compass News said Gilberto Tomas Pizo, 48, was shot and killed as he went to pray at his church near Villa Hilalgo Yalalog. Pizo had a wife and five children. A delegation from the Oaxaca Evangelical Committee for Human Rights sent to Yalalog to investigate the pastor’s death was unable to reach the area because of poor road conditions and local people’s suspicion of outsiders. One newspaper said police had demonstrated “very little interest in solving the crime.” Local officials said Pizo had been forced to build his church on the outskirts of town when he decided to become a Pentecostal. In recent years local Roman Catholics have engaged in persecution of Protestants in Oaxaca.

ABC LAYS OFF RELIGION REPORTER
Peggy Wehmeyer, a Christian who has covered religion for ABC News since 1994, will leave in October as part of a cost-cutting exercise, USA Today reported. An ABC News spokesman said the network had pioneered religion coverage “and will continue to focus intensely on issues of spirituality through specials, documentaries and regular news reports across all of our news programs.” Wehmeyer was hired after World News Tonight anchor Peter Jennings lobbied for more coverage of religious issues.

SCHULLER LAUNCHES TELEMARKETING

California televangelist Robert H. Schuller, founder and pastor of the Crystal Cathedral, has turned to telemarketing, using 30-second, upbeat messages to invite listeners to watch his Hour of Power TV show or visit his Garden Grove church, The Los Angeles Times reported. Church officials say the innovative approach–which has reached more than 400,000 homes in a single week–has increased TV ratings and Sunday attendance. The campaign also triggered about 50 complaints out of 80,000 calls from people offended by the church’s marketing tactics.

CHURCH GIVING TAKES DOWNWARD TURN

Churches could face a crisis because of changing attitudes about the collection plate. According to researcher George Barna, giving to churches dropped significantly last year. Seventy percent of born-again Christians gave to the church last year, down from 84 percent in 1999. The survey also found that although 32 percent of believers said they tithed, a check of household income found that only 12 percent actually did.

BOOKS

A Tour Guide for Christian Travelers

The Christian Traveler’s Guide series
By Irving Hexham, general editor,

Zondervan, 224-256 pages, paper, $.

If you think it would be great to tour Europe with exuberant professors for less than $20 a country, then you can with The Christian Travelers Guide series. Whether you’re taking an armchair trip or actually packing your bags to visit France, Germany, Great Britain or Italy, each guidebook is a fascinating read.

You’ll find uplifting stories of heroes of the Christian faith as well as non-Christians who have had a startling impact on our beliefs. In France there are the creators of such masterpieces as Chartes Cathedral and Notre Dame. In Germany, visit Beethoven’s birthplace or experience the church’s struggle against Nazi paganism.

You become a pilgrim along with John Bunyan in Great Britain and see where John Wesley preached against slavery and converted thousands. In Italy you can see Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper, one of the many stupendous examples of religious art in Italy and once considered to be the “Bible of the illiterate.”

Each book offers an overview of the country’s history, literature, music, art, and architectural styles, as well as the 10 top Christian sites, and lists must-see places–the detailed descriptions spiked with helpful traveler’s tips. There also is a Web site at that lists additional hotel and travel information.

Written by educators of history, language, religion and art, these travel books guide you not only through the past, but also into a greater perspective of our Christian heritage.

Series editor Irving Hexham, a religion professor at the University of Calgary in Alberta, says: “Today, Christians are quickly forgetting their rich spiritual heritage as Christian biographies are replaced in popular culture by secular gossip. Popular magazines, radio and television are full of ‘lives.’

“But they are the lives of pop singers, film stars, television personalities and secular politicians. Instead of teaching spiritual lessons, they repeat trivia and revel in scandal. Something has been lost. And it is this something that can be recaptured by Christians who begin to search for their spiritual roots.”
–Marsha Gallardo

Answering Critics

The Revival Answer Book
By Michael L. Brown, Renew Books,
344 pages, paperback, $.

Michael L. Brown’s newest book is actually a refurbished release of Let No One Deceive You. In addition to a fresh title, the new version contains an introductory chapter providing a historical reflection on revival discernment. An appendix titled “Counterfeit Criticism: A Review of Hank Hanegraaff’s Counterfeit Revival” has been removed, and the tone of the book has been altered. Instead of confronting critics of the revival, Brown–head of Fellowship International Revival and Evangelism (FIRE) School of Ministry in Pensacola, Fla.– walks readers through relevant issues related to revival.

Unfortunately, defensiveness still laces Brown’s writing. In several chapters, the author is so committed to proving a point that he argues it into the ground. While some critics and readers will need to grapple with all the various angles addressed, a vast majority will find themselves wandering through rabbit trails they had never considered and will possibly get bogged down.

The greatest weakness of the book is also its greatest strength, as the title defends modern and historical revivals and reveals the foolish conclusions of critics. This is a great gift book for those who have made criticizing moves of God a hobby.
–Margaret Feinberg

Listening to God

How to Hear the Voice of God in a Noisy World
By Teresa Seputis, Charisma House,
216 pages, paperback, $.

Would you like to hear the voice of God clearly, directly and accurately? Teresa Seputis, author of How to Hear the Voice of God in a Noisy World, believes all Christians can hear the voice of God, are expected to hear His voice (see John 10:27) and are required to listen to Him–no exceptions.

An ordained minister and founder of GodSpeak International, Seputis contends that God is a communicating God. (“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,” John 1:1.) Therefore it is His nature and desire to talk with His children. She adds that God has created us with an innate ability to hear Him and that most believers fail to hear from God because they don’t recognize His voice.

Seputis clarifies that hearing God’s voice is not based on one’s personal holiness, nor the caliber of one’s personal relationship with God. Rather, it is God Himself who initiates and cultivates a relationship with intimate communication. He longs to meet believers in their everyday lives to speak with them about the big things and the little things.

The book provides practical steps to learn how to recognize God’s voice, as well as valuable information explaining how God’s voice does and does not sound. Seputis also instructs readers about what to do when they mishear God. How to Hear the Voice of God is insightful and intelligent, teaching readers as Eli taught Samuel to respond to God and position themselves to hear His voice.

–Donna Sullivan

MUSIC

A Reflective Storyteller

Conversations
By Sara Groves, INOTOF Music.

For those who enjoy music and lyrics over complexity, Sara Groves’ Conversations may be just what the doctor has ordered. Conversations is a 13-track offering that will comfort and encourage its listeners.

Borrowing from the age-old and proven paradigm of singer/songwriters such as Joni Mitchell and Carol King, Groves becomes a reflective storyteller: observing the beauty of life and standing wide-eyed before a world that was fearfully and wonderfully made. There are some strong stylistic similarities to Ginny Owens, Lisa Loeb and Carolyn Arends. This is both a virtue and a vice. The tracks are familiar and welcoming, but they do little to etch out a recognizable niche for Groves.

Sara Groves establishes no new ground with Conversations, but this shouldn’t deter anyone from giving this disc a spin. Each song is lovingly and thoughtfully crafted: mixing elements of sentiment with God’s mercy, grace and compassion.

Conversations is a complete album with solid lyrics, great production, warm, compelling vocals and strong musical accompaniment. Groves is wonderful and perhaps will be able to establish herself as a new and talented artist.
–Doug Joseph

Latin Rhythm

Dance el Ritmo
By Freddie Colloca, One Voice Records.

There are few musical genres that carry more compelling energy than Latin music. Freddie Colloca comes by this sound honestly. A pastor’s son residing in Miami, Colloca was born in Argentina and clearly draws on his rich Spanish heritage in his musical delivery. Dance el Ritmo (translated “Dance the Rhythm”) is an English version of the Dove-nominated album Más que un Sentimento and was released by the Christian Latin label One Voice Records. Yet the great music coupled with the joy and happy expressions on this disc don’t mask the message clear throughout Dance el Ritmo.

Colloca’s heart is clearly in drawing a new segment of listeners to hear the gospel. The combination of songs such as “In Your Eyes,” and Caribbean-
flavored “At the Cross,” mixed with “fun” cuts such as “Live It to the Limit” or “For Granted” make for an album that will appeal to a larger cross-section of believers. But in the end, the album includes more ballads and worshipful music than pop/dance cuts.

A Christian alternative to the exuberant, Spanish sounds of Marc Anthony and Ricky Martin, Dance el Ritmo delivers a well-produced, heartfelt project that would be a welcome addition to anyone’s pop/dance collection. Unlike these other artists, though, Dance el Ritmo is a complete album without the usual gaps in quality found in many other offerings. This quality results in a disc that has longevity beyond the pop tunes that will undoubtedly get radio airplay.
–Doug Joseph

Tennessee pastor Michael W. Smith took a break from his usual musical fare to record a live worship album at Carpenter’s Home Church in Lakeland, Fla., June 1. Smith said this album, along with his recent instrumental release, are recordings he has wanted to do his entire career.

“I’ve done it all–career, lots of records sold. But it doesn’t bring peace. I wish it hadn’t taken me so long to ‘s all about You. It’s not about me,” Smith says.

Joining Smith for the recording, slated to release in September, were several “friends” who asked to participate in the project. Dressed in black and serving as a choir of sorts were Geron and Becky Davis; Darwin Hobbs; Cindy Morgan; Out of Eden; Phillips, Craig & Dean; Chris Rice; Jason Perry and Nathan Walter
from Plus One; Mark Schultz; Amy Grant, and several others.

Opening with cuts from the Exodus project, Smith’s only previous foray into praise and worship, the set included praise and worship standards–songs Smith says he likes to sing in the car when he hopes no one is watching. Standouts include “Breathe,” “Heart of Worship” and “You’re All I Want,” with a stirring rendition of “Awesome God” at the close.

Wearing jeans and a simple blue shirt, Smith told the crowd he has seen an unprecedented passion for God within this generation. He encouraged them to participate in worship and not be spectators, adding that he believed some people would be healed or would come to know God through the service.
–Adrienne S. Gaines

Freddie García once was a heroin addict living for nothing more than his next fix. Today he and his wife, Ninfa, oversee a ministry that rescues people from the grip of drug addiction.

By 11:10 a.m., Victory Temple’s second Sunday service is packed. Male and female ushers–dressed in black pants, red polo shirts and red berets–help latecomers find their seats. Most of them are escorted to overflow areas and even onto the church platform. It’s a full house, but nobody is turned away.

Located in San Antonio’s Hispanic west side, Victory Temple draws about 800 people for its three Sunday services. At least half are former drug addicts, and the majority are Mexican-Americans.

Co-pastor Johnny Zamarripa and a team of musicians lead the congregation in exuberant worship that can be heard down the street. People sway and clap to the music. In between songs, a couple of former addicts share dramatic testimonies about how God saved and delivered them from drug addiction.

Though pastor Freddie García has already preached at the 9 a.m. Spanish service, he’s ready to go again. The 62-year-old minister uses Acts 17 as his text. He speaks in a normal tone of voice, needing no theatrics to command attention.

García’s gospel message is simple and to the point: “I don’t have a Ph.D., an . or a B.S.,” he declares with a slight accent. “I’ve got a born-again experience.”

Victory Temple’s sheep listen intently to their shepherd, whom the Lord delivered from drugs 30 years ago. Many of them say that if it hadn’t been for García’s love and self-sacrifice, they might not be sitting in the church’s wooden pews or metal chairs today. In fact, they may not even be alive.

A Crippling Addiction

In the early 1960s, García was much like the people he works with today: All he cared about was his next fix. A heroin addict, he had gone through several
federal- and state-funded programs, but the best psychologists in the country couldn’t help him kick his drug habit.

After moving to Los Angeles in 1965, he caught up with an old friend, who gave him a card that read, “If you’re hooked and need help, call Teen Challenge.” Determined that this would be the last program he would try, García checked into Teen Challenge.

By the third week, God had softened his heart, and he went forward for salvation at the close of a chapel service. At the altar, he realized he didn’t even know how to pray. He simply raised his hands and cried: “Give me a break, Lord! I’m tired of using all the drugs. Please forgive me of my sins and give me a break!”

After 16 years of drug addiction, García’s desire to do drugs was supernaturally taken away. He called Ninfa, his live-in girlfriend and mother of their two children, and explained what had happened. He told her that if she wanted to live for Jesus, too, he would marry her.

At a moving service held at Christ Memorial Church of God in Christ, pastored by Benjamin Crouch Sr., the father of gospel legend Andraé Crouch, Ninfa went forward for salvation. Immediately after the service, Crouch Sr. performed the Garcías’ wedding ceremony. His now-famous son played the “Wedding March.”

Within a few months, Freddie García enrolled at the Latin American Bible Institute in La Puente, California, where he graduated in June 1970. Three days after graduation, he and Ninfa moved back to San Antonio, their former stomping ground.

García visited the local Teen Challenge and indicated that he wanted to become involved with their program. After getting a flat no, he called Teen Challenge founder David Wilkerson and said, “David, I’ve gotten a calling from God, and I believe I am supposed to start my own program.” Wilkerson encouraged him to heed the call.

By faith, the Garcías opened their tiny home to the hard-core addicts they witnessed to in San Antonio. Before long, the house was full–men were sleeping wherever they could find a spot.

In desperate need of more space, García found a two-bedroom home to rent, with the option to buy. The home, which at one time had been a heroin distribution center, was on two acres. The Garcías fixed it up and called it Victory Home, and within a month, 35 men were part of the Christian-rehab program.

Despite extremely tight quarters, the Garcías never turned anyone away. That philosophy still applies today. “If we have no more beds, we’ll tell them, but we will never reject anybody,” Freddie says. “If Teen Challenge had said no to me, I would not be here today.”

The Garcías built Victory Home on four main ingredients: discipline, supervision, authority and love. As the home expanded, Freddie says he felt led to start a church, not only for those going through the program, but also for those who had graduated. God helped them find a building that, ironically, was once a bar, and they named it Victory Temple. It was a place where a hard-core drug addict could go and be accepted unconditionally.

After experiencing a transformation in their lives, several former addicts who had successfully completed the Garcías’ program went to Bible school. As soon as they finished, they launched Victory Homes in other Texas cities, with García’s stamp of approval.

But as new men came into the program and later wanted to go into ministry, García realized that financing their education was a problem. He also believed that God wanted him to follow Jesus’ example: to disciple men for ministry by showing them how to pray, fast, teach, counsel, witness and preach.

“Jesus commanded us to make disciples who will go out and reproduce disciples, who in turn will reproduce disciples and so on,” he says.

Román Herrera, who has served as home director of San Antonio’s Victory Home for eight years, says some people think García has a “unique ministry” by working one-on-one with former addicts. But Herrera believes García is just following Scripture. “He has set a pattern for us,” he says.

People outside the ministry also respect the Garcías’ faithfulness to God’s work. “Freddie and Ninfa are two of the greatest miracles I’ve witnessed over the years,” Wilkerson told Charisma. “Through much suffering, Freddie has maintained a rich anointing of the Holy Spirit on his life.”

Setting Captives Free

Today the Garcías’ ministry as a whole is referred to as Victory Fellowship, and it encompasses numerous outreaches both in the United States and overseas. More than 13,500 lives have been restored through the ministry–and countless others have been touched through a “multiplier effect.” Victory Fellowship now has branches in more than 30 locations, including every major city in Texas; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Denver; Fresno, California; and in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Peru, Argentina and Colombia.

Victory Home has been a catalyst to the organization’s growth. García is proud of the ministry’s success rate: He reports that at least 60 percent of the people who go through the program kick the habit. Those who stay longer than three months do even better.

“Anything over 10 percent, and you’re doing better than the government,” García says. “The federal government’s programs are failing. If they worked, I’d probably do it the same way.”

Though the ministry could desperately use federal grants, García says the only way he will accept government funds is if he can use his Bible-based approach. Victory Fellowship believes addicts aren’t fully cured until they have the God-given power to beat all life-controlling habits. Thus, the program focuses on a complete transformation of the mind.

“The tenacity of Freddie’s heart to rescue the perishing in the name of Jesus and then, with the Spirit’s help, to build into them a new way of thinking and ‘doing life’ has both blessed the church and astounded the critics,” says David Walker, pastor of Alamo City Christian Fellowship in San Antonio.

García believes the key to Victory Fellowship’s success in reaching the down-and-out is, quite simply, the Word of God. “When you are in school, they teach you how to make a living. The Bible teaches you how to live,” he says.

The new way of life drug addicts learn when they enter one of the ministry’s residential-rehab programs is very different from what they might have known before. At Victory Home, it’s “Jesus in the morning, Jesus at noon and Jesus at night.” The primary thrusts of the program addicts walk through as they seek freedom from drug abuse are twofold.

First, when an addict comes in for treatment, the home director explains the rules and regulations. If the person agrees to follow those rules, he is given a bed, and detoxification begins. (Some cities also have programs for women.)

A couple of caregivers who have already “kicked” the habit are assigned to the addict. They pray for him, give him rubdowns to make him more comfortable and even clean up after him if he gets sick. The detox time varies–usually anywhere from one to seven days, depending on the type of addiction.

“When the addicts come in the home,” says Ninfa, “they are weary and just want a place to rest. They understand it’s a Christian environment and that they will participate in the Bible studies–but they really don’t yet know what that means.”

The next step involves a full schedule of Bible studies, chapel services, discipleship and book reports. There’s no watching television and very little free time. Three times a day, the residents spend an hour in prayer. In short, it’s a spiritual “boot camp” in which they learn to put their complete trust in God.

The ministry’s rehab homes can’t easily be missed. Each home displays an “Outcry in the Barrio” sign, which is the title of Freddie and Ninfa’s book published in 1987. The book relates their testimonies and is given to anyone requesting a copy. Published in Spanish, English and Russian, Outcry in the Barrio has served as an effective witnessing tool.

The Victory Home located in San Antonio’s west side is the program’s largest, and it is in desperate need of an overhaul. Currently, there are enough beds for 48 men and 11 women. Neither area is climate controlled, which makes it miserable in the summer and winter. García hopes to build two dorms that each will hold 50 people.

He also wants to build a youth home for the younger crowd, those age 13 to 25. The Garcías’ 25-year-old son, Jubal, figured out that if they provided homeschooling for the youth, the program for teens could enjoy state approval. The participants would attend Bible studies in the mornings and do their classwork in the afternoons.

Alma Herrera oversees the Victory Home kitchen. She and several volunteers serve some 90,000 meals a year, and it’s nothing for them to make 300 to 400 tortillas at a time. “We have a Bible in one hand and hot food in the other,” says her husband, Román.

The program doesn’t cost anything to be part of, so Victory Fellowship relies on donations–groceries from local stores, clothing and money from individuals or churches. Each branch of Victory Fellowship operates as a separate nonprofit organization and is responsible for its own fund raising. When a Victory Fellowship is launched in a new location, Freddie García commits to supporting the work for one year.

The leaders and staff at Victory Fellowship earn meager wages. In fact, no one at San Antonio’s Victory Fellowship makes more than $500 a month–not even García. It is truly a faith-based ministry, and the staff relies on God to supply their needs, one day at a time.

Like the Garcías, the Herreras don’t have a normal life–but they love what they do. “We never thought we would be positive role models for others,” says Román, a former heroin addict. As home directors, the Herreras live with their children in the Victory Home and make themselves available all hours of the day and night for the residents.

In addition to new biblical concepts, many residents learn household responsibilities for the first time. “You’d be surprised how many people come here not knowing how to use a vacuum cleaner,” Alma says.

Anthony García is just one example of a lost soul who found his way through the ministry of Victory Home. García, who served nine years in prison, has been at San Antonio’s Victory Home for several months. He says he had a 30-year heroin addiction, and now that Christ has changed his life, he doesn’t ever remember feeling so good. He is finally able to think about the future God has in store for him.

Against the Odds

According to Robert Woodson, founder and president of the National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise in Washington, D.C., Victory Fellowship is one of the most effective drug and alcohol treatment programs in the United States.

In 1990, Woodson was combing the country for special people. Freddie García was recommended as a nominee for the Achievement Against the Odds Award–and he won. The Garcías were invited to Washington, D.C., and were honored by former President Bush in the Rose Garden.

As he was waiting to receive the award, García thought, If my mama and dad could see me now. Until he accepted Christ, García explains, he wouldn’t salute the American flag. “As a young boy, I got spanked in school for speaking Spanish,” he says. “I didn’t think that was fair because it was the only language I knew.”

He rebelled against the system and developed racist attitudes at a young age. But when he accepted Christ, García began welcoming all races into his home.

Today, García’s health is failing. Three years ago he was diagnosed with kidney disease and given a life expectancy of five years. Three days a week he endures difficult dialysis treatments.

“My kidney problem has slowed me down, but it hasn’t stopped me,” he says. The García home constantly buzzes with activity, and Freddie always makes time for those who need his input.

García spends the bulk of his day mentoring men. He is also planning for the ministry’s future by training Jubal, his youngest son, to take over the reins.

“We never wanted to push anything on our kids,” Ninfa says. “But when Freddie got sick, Jubal took over his dad’s class–and before he knew it, he was hooked!”

While García is the visionary for Victory Fellowship, he is quick to point out that the program isn’t his, or about him.

“To see our ‘sons’ come back during our pastors’ conferences and preach is a blessing,” he says. “I’m proud to see that they’ve gone on for the Lord–and I know that if something happens to me, the ministry is in good hands.” *

Kicking the Habit in Fort Worth

Women in Fort Worth, Texas, seeking deliverance from a drug or alcohol addiction now have a beautiful place to call home. In September 2000, the Fort Worth ministry of Victory Fellowship opened a $350,000 women’s home provided by History Maker Homes and other donors. Serving as home director is Ana Salomón, whose husband, Gerald, oversees the men’s home just a couple of blocks away.

“I was on crack cocaine for 14 years,” says Lynn Stafford, who has been in the program since Dec. 18. Stafford went to Victory Home after serving a 40-day jail sentence. She says God has delivered her from addictions to cigarettes, alcohol and crack. Stafford challenged herself to stay in the program for one year, but she says she will remain as long as God wants her there.

Also in the program is Mary Ann Castillo, who is unable to hear or speak. At first, Anna Salomón wondered how she would ever teach Castillo. Thankfully, another woman in the program knew how to sign and was a true godsend. Today, Castillo is a new creation, inside and out. She has even lost more than 100 pounds since coming into the program less than a year ago.

Castillo’s previous lifestyle involved prostitution to support her habits–cocaine, marijuana and alcohol. None of her eight children are permitted to live with her, but she is hopeful she will get to see them soon.

Just a block away, the Fort Worth men’s home is dilapidated but full of life. Assistant home director Anthony D. Anderson came into the program in 1984. A self-described “crackhead,” he stayed in the program for 15 months.

“The program is difficult at first because it’s so intensive,” Anderson says. “But it has to be because a drug addict’s mind is always moving. Until God transforms his mind, he isn’t able to sit still.”

Anderson has been trained by Freddie García at the ministry’s leadership academy. He’s now waiting to be launched into ministry. “Freddie is a man after God’s own heart,” Anderson says. “When I got to San Antonio, he took me under his wing and accepted me for who I was and began to impart in me the Word of God.”

Victory Home resident Jeremy Blevins has experienced love and acceptance from the Fort Worth “home boys,” which is what the residents are called. For seven years, he was addicted to drugs–primarily methamphetamines, a chemically produced drug that creates a sense of paranoia. His mom found out about the Fort Worth Victory Home and dropped him off at the front door.

“Getting out of the car was the best decision I made,” Blevins told Charisma. He wants to help others by telling them about Jesus and what He can do in their lives. “If He can change me, He can change anybody,” Blevins adds.

Victory Home takes in people from all walks of life. Drug problems are as real for the rich and famous–such as actor Robert Downey they are for poor kids living in the drug-infested areas of Fort Worth–such as Anthony D. Anderson.

“When crack came out, it was an urban problem,” Anderson says. “Now it’s America’s problem.”

According to Anderson, every drug addict he knows wants to change–they just don’t know how. As the men and women of Victory Home go into the streets of Fort Worth to share their testimonies, they are giving others a reason to believe that change is possible.

Stamping Out Drugs in Dallas

Though on a smaller scale than Freddie García’s program in San Antonio, the ministry at Victory Fellowship in Dallas relies on exactly the same methods to help people find freedom from drug addiction.

“If you go to a McDonald’s in Washington, D.C., you can expect to order from the same menu you would find in New York City,” says María Gomez, who serves as home director with her husband, Roy. “The same is true of Victory Fellowship. Every city you go to, you’ll see the same pattern.”

On Tuesday evenings, about 50 people meet at Victory Temple for Bible study. Half are “home boys” (the name Victory Fellowship uses for its residents), and the other half live in the neighborhood.

With fervor, the group begins with praise and worship. The words they sing represent their new faith in Christ: “I’ve made my decision; I’m going all the way / I’ve drawn the line, I’m going all the way / No turning back, I’m going all the way with the Lord.”

After a thorough Bible study, the members gather at the Victory Home, located just a couple blocks away in a low-income area of east Dallas. A woman points out that their next-door neighbor runs a crack house. Three children who live there take part regularly in Victory Temple’s outreaches and even walk over to Victory Home to get food.

Each room in the tiny Victory Home is packed with people. Somehow, about 15 men are able to eat, sleep and receive an abundance of spiritual training here. Providing guidance is Roy Gomez, who was saved in 1983 at Victory Fellowship in Houston. His wife, María, also found Christ when she ran away from Roy and checked into García’s Victory Home in San Antonio.

“We were once in the same condition as these guys,” Roy recalls. “We didn’t have [any] place to go. I am thankful for Freddie and his father’s heart.”

In the past, Roy’s drug of choice was speed, and it led to an 11-year addiction. At one point, both he and María had good-paying jobs–but lost everything due to their drug habits. Roy was physically violent, and his children would run and hide under the bed when he came home. Before she sneaked off with the kids to San Antonio, María tried three times to commit suicide.

After he went through the program in Houston, Roy met up with María in San Antonio. He was trained by Freddie García for two years, and God restored his relationship with María.

“When we were in training, it was difficult,” María says. “Roy was paid $15 every two weeks. But somehow, through God’s grace, we always had enough.”

After two years of training, Roy was placed as director of the Victory Home in south San Antonio. Within six months, 65 addicts had checked into the home.

At García’s request, the Gomez family moved to Dallas in 1988. Today, Roy and María are proud to have earned the titles of “Pop” and “Mom.” Even their three daughters have become accustomed to a full house.

Sometimes, men aren’t ready to commit to the program and leave early. “It’s a disappointment because there is a chance of them getting killed or dying of a drug overdose. Even my children cry if the guys leave,” Roy says. “It becomes like a family.”

Roy and María hold the Garcías in high esteem. “I respect and honor Freddie,” Roy told Charisma. “He has prepared over 65 people for leadership, and we were all once at the end of our ropes–deadbeats and drug addicts. He loves Jesus and loves to have a good time in the Lord.”

María praises Ninfa for her willingness to listen and provide wise counsel. Instead of offering her own advice, she turns to Scripture for answers to life’s problems.

At Victory Fellowship in Dallas, finances are tight. Fortunately, however, a new home is being built that will enable the ministry to expand and will give the Gomez family some breathing room. “I walk by faith,” says Roy, “and God always makes a way.” *

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Carol Chapman Stertzer is a former assistant editor of Charisma who now lives near Dallas. To contact Victory Fellowship, write P.O. Box 37387, San Antonio, TX 78237; or call (210) 433-0028.

Ah, summer! A time to relax, to vacation, to enjoy a change of pace. A time when it’s so hot where I live, you don’t feel like doing much of anything strenuous. A time to make an investment in your soul and spirit by reading a worthwhile book.

I’d like to recommend some I’ve enjoyed recently.

I appreciated Doug Weiss’ book Intimacy as much as any I’ve read this year. Weiss offers a practical, 100-day plan that will energize your relationship with your spouse and create the spiritual, emotional and physical closeness you’ve hungered for in your marriage. I learned so many things from the book that I kept asking myself, “Why didn’t I think of that?”

Jim Reeves’ first book, God Never Wastes a Hurt, contains stories from Reeves’ life as pastor of the 8,000-member Faith Community Church in West Covina, California, which has a ministry to hurting people. Reeves makes the point that when problems come, how we respond to the hurts determines if life will be full of depression and guilt or full of purpose and meaning. He writes about developing a lifestyle of forgiveness, seeing tragedies from heaven’s perspective and learning to reach out to others with power and authority.

How to Hear the Voice of God in a Noisy World by Teresa Seputis, another first-time author from California, is a practical manual that teaches the reader the ways God speaks and how to clearly recognize His voice. It certainly helped me fine-tune my spiritual antennae.

In fact, after reading only a few chapters, I had a dream in which I heard the Lord tell me to get out of bed and do something. Later when I talked to Teresa, she confirmed that I was learning to hear God’s voice in a new way.

Evangelist Benny Hinn’s book The Blood, a best seller several years ago, is now available in a new expanded edition and has been offered recently on Hinn’s daily TV program, This Is Your Day. It helps the believer discover the protection God offers through His blood covenant, making it clear that the blood is the source of God’s eternal grace, His plan to protect us from the attacks of the enemy and the means by which the anointing of the Holy Spirit comes.

In his new book Beyond the Shadow of Doubt, popular TBN speaker Mark Chironna asks the reader if he has a shadow of doubt hidden deep within him that sabotages his faith, undermines his confidence and holds him back from his dreams. As I read the book I felt as if Chironna were there in person mentoring me, helping me see how damaging doubt is and how I can find what he calls the “keys of the kingdom within [me]” to overcome walls of resistance and find inner congruence.

Finally, let me recommend a book that has become this year’s best seller for Siloam Press, our new line of books on health and nutrition from a Christian perspective: What You Don’t Know May Be Killing You by Don Colbert, M.D. When I read it, I gained a different perspective on things I had assumed were harmless.

Colbert asks the reader to consider why our toothpaste tubes say to call poison control if we swallow more than a small amount, what toxic metal could be in our mouths, what dangerous chemicals we ingest every time we eat and drink, and how emotions affect our immune systems. He also tells us which vitamins we need every day and how to detoxify our systems without causing more harm.

Colbert has also written more than a dozen Bible Cure booklets on topics ranging from heart disease to cancer to high blood pressure. Out less than a year, they have sold more than 500,000 copies so far.

You can buy these recommended books at most Christian bookstores including chains such as Berean, Family and Mardel, as well as secular chains that will order the books. They are also available online 24 hours a day at .

When you relax it’s good to put something beneficial into your mind and spirit. The Christian Booksellers Association’s motto says it best: “What goes in the mind, comes out in a life.”

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Stephen Strang is the founding editor of Charisma. He invites men to join him August 17-18 in Orlando, Florida, for New Man 2001. For information call (800) 837-0378.

They are called Goths, and they prefer black clothes and darker emotions. You may not know these people, but they are in your city tonight. Pray that somebody–maybe you?–will reach them.

A young woman is checking IDs on a Saturday night outside the Kitchen Club in Miami. In the glow of moonlight, her wan face radiates against the coal black of her lips, eyeliner, hair and clothing. Darkly accented patrons drift by her to be frisked before vanishing into this Goth club situated along a main street of the tropical city.

Everywhere inside the cave-like club there is black–on the floors, the walls, the ceilings. Jet black clothing shrouds hundreds of Gothic allies of the night who are here after midnight. They are adorned in capes, hoods, wings, spikes and chains or veiled with leather, lace, wool, fishnet, vinyl and velvet.

A young man and woman–slim, androgynous and decorated by huge shimmering fairy wings on their backs–glide like a pair of Gothic pixies along a twisting bar tempered by dim ruby light and draped with scarlet curtains. Beyond, it’s so dark you can’t see your feet.

Wham! wham! wham! goes a strobe light against the eyes, stabbing the blackness of the dance floor with thrusts of white. Figures caught in its eerie flash go jerking by–appearing, vanishing, reappearing.

“The bats have left the bell tower / The victims have been bled / Red velvet lines the black box / Bela Lugosi’s dead / Undead! Undead! Undead!” cries a song from the P.A.

Like one fluid form, a black mass of people move to the music in a dramatic underworld exhibition of how the “dead” can dance.

A young woman snakes with arms held high in the ethereal atmosphere. Black lace-up boots reach above her knees, and she wears a shiny black-vinyl miniskirt. She is shirtless, and only black tape shaped like Blair Witch crosses covers a scant portion of her upper torso. Nearby, a young man dances in a tight black skirt that hugs down to his ankles, and a woman in a black top and clear miniskirt pushes through the crowd.

Wham! wham! wham! against the senses goes the unceasing strobe, and the music cries again above the macabre regale: “The virginal brides file past his tomb / Alone in a darkened room / Oh, Bela / Bela’s undead!”

Celebrating Darkness

If you think the kind of Saturday night fever found in Miami’s Kitchen Club is uncommon, guess again. From Bondage A-Go-Go in San Francisco to Straightjacket in New York City to Release the Bats in Germany to The Blood Coven Bar in Brazil–similar scenes are everywhere.

Welcome to Goth culture.

Today, students from the country’s most elite universities gather at Goth nights called “The Crypt” and “The Fuse” in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the sprawling ManRay Club only a few blocks from Harvard and MIT. They hang out below a giant mural of bats that covers an entire wall lit by black lights.

They dance to Gothic, industrial and synthpop music within spider-web partitions made of chains. They shoot pool and drink while bloody vampire movies play on ceiling-mounted televisions.

Such clubs are a fixture–but only one–of the subterranean Goth culture that has emerged in the United States in recent years. Goths tend to see beauty in what society considers morbid–a pallid look, skull and skeleton designs, coffins, graveyards. Their tastes lie outside the mainstream–and that’s how they like it.

Beyond the glint and glare of everyday society the Goth subculture has spawned its own music, arts, fashion and distinctly alternative way of thinking. Since the 1970s, “Gothdom” has grown from its British grassroots into an international taproot for counterculture youth.

Bands old and new such as Christian Death, London After Midnight, The Electric Hellfire Club, Alien Sex Fiend and many others power the important musical side of the scene. They can be found in assorted record stores or in extensive catalogs such as the U.K.’s Nightbreed Recordings.

Contemporary novelists Anne Rice (Interview With the Vampire) and Poppy Z. Brite (Lost Souls) as well as 19th century dark muser Edgar Allan Poe are but a few literary favorites. Some Goths prefer comic-book series, such as The Sandman (Neil Gaiman) or Johnny the Homicidal Maniac (Jhonen Vasquez).

Gothic films hawking the imagery abound: The Crow, The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Nosferatu the Vampire (1922) and a slew of other vampire films. A staggering Gothic network exists on the Internet with newsgroups, listservs and chat rooms.

You might spot Goths by their dress–a classical Renaissance style with elaborate medieval-style shirts, gowns and topcoats–clothing that many of them make themselves–or the sharper-edged look of vinyl, PVC polymer, latex, or black leather fixed with metal studs or spikes. At The Inkubus Haberdashery in Miami’s eclectic Coconut Grove district you can pay $300 for a black trench coat made of PVC, $120 for a latex miniskirt, or $200 for a fierce-looking “armor” ring of silver and turquoise shaped like a talon.

Today’s Goths, who generally tend to be in their teens and 20s, have nothing to do with the Germanic Visigoths of Europe in the third and fourth centuries A.D.

Instead, they derive their cultural identity from bands such as Bauhaus, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The (Southern Death) Cult, The Cure, Ministry, and Sisters of Mercy, some of whom revolved around London’s Batcave Club during the late 1970s and early 1980s. These musicians launched what became known as a “darquewave” musical style that originated in punk music but stood out as a campy response to the happy image of disco that was popular at the time.

British band Bauhaus, named for the German architectural design school whose credo was “less is more,” is considered a progenitor of the subculture. Formed in Northampton, England, in 1978, Bauhaus debuted in 1979 with its spooky single, “Bela Lugosi’s Dead,” and the gaunt atmospheric guitars and creepy Buddy Holly-like vocals raised a generation out of the shadows.

Says Todd Mayville, 36, of Northampton, Massachusetts, a high-school teacher who’s been a Goth since 1984: “In college I saw David Bowie’s The Hunger, and it opens up with Bauhaus singing ‘Bela Lugosi’s Dead,’ and I just got chills. I was like: ‘Oh, what is this music? I need to have all of it!'”

Who Are These People?

The growth of the Goth movement in the last two decades has spawned a few misconceptions and misguided stereotypes–specifically, that the Columbine killers were Goths, that Goths worship Satan and that they all believe they’re “vampires”
who must drink blood.

Goths bristle when it’s suggested they hold the same beliefs that prompted the killing spree at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, in April 1999. Anders Mar, an administrative assistant in his 20s who lives in Portland, Maine, blames the stereotypes on posers who don’t authentically represent the subculture.

“I can speak for the true Goth population as a whole: The fact that these fakes have ruined our good name is a source of great anger to us,” he says.

“Each group has its bad seeds,” says Seth Gooch, 24, of Kalamazoo, Michigan. “Columbine doesn’t represent Goths as a whole.”

“We’ve really gotten a bad rap because of the Columbine massacre,” says Julie Peterson, 29, of Madison, Wisconsin. “Those who don’t conform are stereotyped as bad.”

David Hart, 51, a former concert promoter in Southern California for Christian artists ranging from Amy Grant to Stryper, has been a pastor to Goths in San Diego for close to 15 years. He says they are more likely to be passive and artistic than aggressive, more the type to sit in a room with candles and talk about literature.

“Their parents tend to be the opposite,” Hart says. “Goths tend to come from homes of two-career parents who are aggressively pursuing the American Dream. If anything, Goths are more likely to be suicidal than homicidal. Many are from families where they were parented from the philosophy of: ‘I’m too busy. Here’s $50. Go to the mall and let me work.’ The kind of thing that was going on with the Columbine killers.”

But surely all that black garb Goths wear means they’re evil. After all, the Columbine killers wore black trench coats.

And Goths are Satan worshipers, aren’t they? Most Goths scoff at the notion that they worship the devil.

Mayville grew up in the Episcopal Church and was an altar boy. His DJ name, D’Arcangel, is a play on the term “dark angel” or “the archangel.”

“My baptismal name is Michael. My DJ name is an homage to Michael the archangel. So I find it ironic with these Christians going off on me, saying you must be a devil worshiper.”

He also has to defend himself, as many Goths do, against accusations that his dark clothing means he’s evil.

“People will say: ‘You dress in black. Do you worship the devil?’ And I’ll say: ‘Well, priests dress in black and so does Johnny Cash. How come I can’t?'”

Peterson echoes: “I’ve never in my life met anyone who worships the actual being, Satan. Satanism is, in fact, humanism–the worship of self.”

Also exagerrated, Goths claim, is their shadowy reputation as “vampires.” Most members of the subculture are quick to say vampirism is a sideline interest or a fetish embraced by a minority within their ranks and that it is practiced nonviolently.

Those who do engage in it sometimes do so through a “live-action role-playing game,” or a LARP. Some players use a guidebook titled Vampire: The Masquerade, a sophisticated volume of genealogy and role-playing that reveals how to play a vampire or victim. Players at times will share blood in a ritual called a “Vauldrie,” which is used to create covenants or allegiances.

Frankie Guell, 23, of Miami, has witnessed the exchange of blood between friends on several occasions. He has never participated in the act, but he has been intrigued by vampire lore he says since his childhood when actor Bela Lugosi, who played one of the first Count Dracula roles in film, appeared to him in a dream.

“I’ve seen people cut with razors or using syringes–consenting partners–never nothing that would hurt another person,” he says. On such occasions, blood would be put into cups and shared, he adds.

“There is something very sexual about it,” he says. “It’s almost like you’re sharing yourself completely because your essence is going into someone else.”

Yet, deep below their outer trappings of music, fashion or fetish, Goths define themselves primarily as being those who possess the “soul” of a Goth.

“Most [of us] consider it internal,” says Steven Bensinger, 18, of Kalamazoo, Michigan, who works for a national Gothic retailer called Hot Topic. “I don’t dress strictly Gothic. If I did, I wouldn’t be a Goth if I didn’t have my clothes on.”

Though Guell initially was drawn to the scene by a fascination with horror, the friendships and acceptance he found appealed to him more. The desire for relationships, Mayville notes, is a greater key to the subculture’s attraction that its mysterious side.

“One of the universal aspects of the Goth subculture is that we’re very accepting as long as you’re being true to yourself,” Mayville says. “We don’t care if you’re a Christian, a Jew, a Muslim or a pagan. It doesn’t matter if you’re gay or straight. Be who you are, and we’ll accept you for who you are.”

Some Goths believe they are born with distinct Gothic personalities. Peterson believes that a person is born with an affinity for the subculture but chooses to embrace its dark aesthetics.

Hart has counseled many Goths who have been abused verbally, emotionally, sexually or physically. He says the “Gothic personality” tends to bury emotional suffering and that the style of dress sometimes is meant to reflect inner pain.

“Goths tend to be intelligent, sensitive and deeply introspective. They tend to hold their pain inside for a really long time and let pain define their lives–which is why some of them dress the way they do. They see their lives and their souls as tattered and dark, and they dress accordingly.”

“We are misunderstood and need an outlet for our intellect and creativity,” Hannah Syfritt, 25, a wife and mother in Phoenix, says of her subculture. “We need to be accepted for our emotions and style of learning and not just put on medication.”

Running From the Truth

Goths are outcasts who are desperately seeking acceptance, and they are running from established Christianity into the arms of Wicca, a neopagan religion of witchcraft and nature worship. Most Goths already have given up on absolute truth and are atheists. But the majority of the rest of them are Wiccans–most of whom were reared in Christian churches.

“A large percentage of Goths have come out of highly ritualized churches–Catholic, Episcopal, Presbyterian,” Hart says. “Because of this many are predisposed to the ritualistic nature of Wicca.”

Despite what they believe about God, Goths tend to be very spiritual, and sometimes this leads them to religions other than Christianity that promise power, something many Goths have lacked in life, Peterson says.

How then has the church lost such a sizable portion of its youth to the lure of unbelief, dark aesthetics and romantic paganism? Some say it’s because too many Christians aren’t willing to change with the surrounding culture.

“Culture changes, but the Scriptures do not. Yet the mainstream church’s mentality is: ‘I want you to have my cultural experience of Christianity,'” Hart says. “Goths come from a different framework and won’t have it.”

Bruce Wright, 40, a former Youth for Christ staffer and pastor of The Refuge in St. Petersburg, Florida, goes a step further. He thinks youth subcultures such as the Goths have no taste for Jesus because the U.S. church has diluted the Word of God.

“The Bible is sanitized and sounds like fairy tales to them,” he states. “They perceive that life is easy and that Christianity is a lifestyle that is prosperous and has no struggles.

“They expect those who know Jesus to be unselfish, but they see the church as a politically right-wing, elite social club who call themselves pro-life yet won’t help the poor.”

Horrific as the visage of Gothdom can be, there are some Christians who aren’t afraid of the dark. Outside the glint and glare of everyday Christianity they have spawned their own muisc, Internet life, and evangelism for Goths. They can be found in Christian Goth bands, on Christian Goth Web sites and even in churches for Goths, such as the First Church of the Undead in Orange County, California.

Most of them are just everyday Christians–such as Melody Bailey, who attends an Assemblies of God congregation in Slidell, Louisiana. Besides being a greeter at her church and a leader in her youth group, she reaches out to non-Christian Goths with friendship.

She’s also one of several people Charisma interviewed who became Goths after they became Christians. Bailey did, in part, because she “always liked to be
different” and because Goths “were way nicer to me than other people,” she says.

Dan Chick, 26, of Minneapolis, an Internet database developer, was a Christian when he became a Goth two years ago while attending the Cornerstone Christian music festival in Illinois, where he met Christian Goths.

“When my life started falling apart a few months later it was the Christian Goths who were there for me when none of my other Christian friends were,” Chick says.

Peterson is a Christian stay-at-home mom who homeschools her four children. She attends a nondenomenational church in Madison, Wisconsin, and is taking a hiatus from a ministry she started for Goths called Ex Nihilo.

In the meantime, she leads an Internet ministry called Xnetgoth that provides a way for Goths to network with one another and fellowship online. Like those she ministers to, Peterson is unashamedly Gothic.

“People stop and stare when I go grocery shopping with my kids. I wear all black. I wear dog collars and lots of silver jewelry,” she says. “I love to sit in the graveyard and contemplate life. I like to light all the candles in the house and dance to The Cure in my living room.”

Syfritt, who attends a house church in Phoenix and whose parents are former Foursquare pastors, says Christians need to learn to embrace more than “just the happy people staring at the back of your head every Sunday morning. It boils down to this: We are here to love God and love each other. If we do we do not know the heart of God.”

Syfritt and a growing minority of unorthodox Christians apparently have decided that if young people in the Goth subculture are going to hear the gospel, then believers must be willing to light a candle in the dark to reach them. *

One Saturday afternoon when I arrived at the church I attend, I was met at the curb by one of the leaders in our congregation. She was almost in tears. I asked her what was wrong, and she said she’d just had a serious argument with a student in my mentorship class.

As she explained the situation, I realized my student apparently had just finished saying and doing some very embarrassing things. I was somewhat taken back by what I heard because this student had been in my class for two years and should have known better.

I make sure all my students know that God will test them regularly–not with pencil-and-paper exams but with life experiences. As an instructor, I hear a lot of amens when I’m teaching a class or giving a sermon, but I’ve come to the conclusion that those shouts of victory aren’t genuine until we finish God’s test with a passing grade.

I caution my students to have no fear if for any reason they find themselves getting a failing grade on one of God’s tests. Why? Because they can be sure God will test them again and again until they pass that test according to His will for their lives.

As I began to stress this point to the student who had been engaged in the argument, I started to become even more disturbed by the response I was receiving from her about her actions. She told me that if I had been the one to offer her a word of correction–instead of the other leader–she gladly would have repented for her behavior because, she said, “I respect you, Prophetess Bynum.”

And that was the problem.

The apostle Paul explains it this way in 1 Corinthians 3:4-6: “For when one says, ‘I am of Paul,’ and another, ‘I am of Apollos,’ are you not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos…? I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase” (NKJV).

There was my student’s problem in Scripture as plain as day. Paul was saying that these leaders were servants, not heads of parties or factions the believers of that day were supposed to line up behind.

The Lord began to speak to me about how this carnal attitude of allegiance to Christian leaders instead of to Christ is a nationwide epidemic in the church. God has anointed pastors and teachers, and although millions have been blessed by their anointing, people hear the preached Word from the pulpit and then go after the one who’s ministering instead of pursuing the Word.

Many believers are stunted in their spiritual growth because they place their spiritual focus on a person. So instead of serving God, saints are serving other human beings.

That is why the young woman in my class was able to say, “I wouldn’t have ever done that to you, Prophetess.” If there had been a genuine conviction by the Holy Spirit that pointed her to the Word of God, then she would have known she shouldn’t have done that to me–or anyone else. This same carnal attitude causes people to say things such as, “I’m not going to smoke or drink because the pastor is around.”

Paul planted, Apollos watered, but it is God who is causing our hearts to mature and grow, Paul wrote. Now I understand why we’re lacking spiritually and in other ways. It’s because God gives the increase according to our growth, not in spite of our growth.

We must get beyond personalities in the church and make sure we get to God Himself. Romans 8:6-8 reminds us that to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Neither the flesh nor the carnal mind is pleasing to God.

People who are living in the flesh will do as the student in my class did. They will blow up at people, disrespect leadership, do things for show-and-tell–and then justify their actions. When we are properly planted in the Spirit, we will have a conviction about pleasing God and not man.

Remember, spiritual leaders such as pastors, evangelists, preachers, missionaries and others serve as “planters” in our lives. It is the Holy Spirit who waters us with His presence.

And it is God who increases us both in the natural and the spiritual realm because of our level of maturity. It’s time to grow up.

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Juanita Bynum is the author of the popular book No More Sheets (Pneuma Life). She will host her Weapons of Power women’s conference Aug. 30 through Sept. 1 at the Pensacola (Fla.) Civic Center.

Three unique pastors are reaching Goths for Jesus.

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With his 6-foot-1-inch, 295-pound frame topped by purple hair, tattoos and facial piercings, Steve “Pastor Freak” Bensinger, 41, couldn’t look less like your everyday pastor–except maybe when he’s also behind the wheel of the black 1985 Cadillac Hearse he drives.

“When you look like I do, you’ve got to know what you’re talking about,” he quips. So he studies 10 to 20 Bible chapters a day as pastor of Come As You Are Church in Kalamazoo, Michigan, a 50-member congregation he founded four years ago. A gentle giant, Bensinger holds four martial-arts black belts and used to smash bricks inscribed with “S-A-T-A-N”–a fitting skill for someone who says his ministry gift is breaking demonic bondages.

Bensinger represents a growing number of Christians who work outside of tried-and-true ministry traditions to reach an increasingly diverse, non-Christian American culture. Bensinger’s church–like The Refuge in St. Petersburg, Florida, and The Church on the Edge in Huntington Beach, California–specialize in ministering to people who don’t fit in most churches.

People such as the Goths.

Bensinger–with his son, Steven, 18, and church member Seth Gooch, 24, both Christian Goths–minister to the Gothic subculture by way of a “medieval outreach” held Thursday nights. They welcome Goths of all backgrounds, including Wiccans, and provide a meeting place, a meal, and medieval-style hobbies such as sword-play and dancing.

Bensinger began his ministry after first being denied ministry credentials with the Church of God (Cleveland, Tenn.) because he wanted to start a church much like he has today.

“We need to understand that God says don’t judge by appearances but by godly judgment. God wants us to look like Jesus,” he says. “I respect the Goths. God died for them just like He died for me. What will God think if they don’t want to come to Him because Christians offended them?”

Hundreds of miles away, Bruce Wright, 40, a former Youth for Christ staffer, founded The Refuge in St. Petersburg, Florida, eight years ago to minister to kids rejected by churches. He reaches out to Goths through concerts, coffeehouses, Bible studies and a weekly church service.

He often teaches them from the books of Ecclesiastes and Psalms because they identify with the books’ themes of emotional pain and the difficulty of knowing God.

“Goth kids relate to suffering,” he says. “They identify with the disaffectedness,
the vanity that Solomon felt materialism and addiction.”

A similar ministry approach is taken by Joey Roche, 46, who pastors the 150-member Church on the Edge in Huntington Beach, California. He’s married with five children but is a self-described “scary-looking guy with lots of tattoos” who plays in a punk band and preaches a strong repentance message.

His church is “living for God straight-up” and resembles a “Noah’s Ark thing,” he says. “A grandma will be sitting next to a kid with a blue Mohawk. It’s radical.”

“Church on the Edge is made up of believers who are fed up with the traditions of men,” Roche says. “No one is ever turned away because of how they look, talk or live before they come to the knowledge of the truth.”

And that includes Goths. A married Gothic couple lead worship at his church, where ministry is done through hardcore-music concerts, anti-abortion counseling and feeding the homeless.

“People have looked at me and said, ‘That’s the pastor?’ and boom! left right then,” Roche says. “But Jesus never told us to look right. He told us to live right.”