Ashram Encounter with Jesus Led to Salvation

Ashram Encounter with Jesus Led to Salvation

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My years after high school centered upon work during the week and partying on Balboa Island on the weekends. A weekend party began early Friday night and ended sometime late Sunday. My house became one of the hot spots in Newport Beach for some five years.

But one day I grew tired of all the drinking and one night stands and thought it was about time I got married. Maybe that would bring a little more satisfaction and fulfillment into my life. So I ended up marrying a pretty girl from Newport but from the very beginning the relationship was a complete disaster. There was no foundation to the marriage and it ended after two years.

All through the 60’s I was heavily into the rock music scene. I saw in person the Beatles, the Doors, Jefferson Airplane, the Band, Elton John, and many other groups. Gradually I came under the Eastern religion influence of the Beatles and began searching for God.

Raised a Catholic, I believed in God’s existence but felt He could be found in any religion. After reading the popular book Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda, I joined Self Realization Fellowship, a Hindu offshoot that focused on cleaning yourself up through meditation, health foods, and yoga. I then began attending services at a beautiful ashram in Encinitas that overlooked the Pacific Ocean.

On the altar in the ashram were pictures of those considered prophets by Yogananda, including representations of Krishna, Buddha, Mohammad, Jesus and others. On one Sunday, in the summer of 1971, I was looking at the pictures and as my eyes settled on the one of Jesus, I heard within my spirit these words: “He’s not like the rest.” I pondered those words as I left the service.

That night my mother called and said she had been reading about an exciting new church that was open to young people and old, hippies and straights – it didn’t matter who you were.

The next Sunday I drove up to a small church (that would become much bigger) in Costa Mesa called Calvary Chapel, pastored by a wonderful man named Chuck Smith. He was speaking from the gospel of Luke and as I listened about the love of God I was deeply touched. As I drove home from that first service I found myself crying all the way down the freeway.

The following Sunday I listened to my second message from Luke and driving home I began weeping again. I pulled my little VW bug over to the side of the freeway and right there asked Jesus into my life. I was immediately born again. It was just an extraordinary moment.

I was baptized by Chuck at Little Corona del Mar beach a few weeks later and shortly thereafter, during a Sunday evening service, Lonnie Frisbee laid hands on me and I was filled with the Holy Spirit, giving me a passion and heart for God that has only increased. And since the beginning, God has given me two wonderful gifts – a hunger for His Word and a great joy in worshipping Him. Last Sunday, here in Laguna,  I was singing and worshipping God and rejoicing that I now knew Him. No longer was I searching. I was home.

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