Go, And Sin No More
This is a true story, so far as I can reconstruct it from memory, with specifics changed only to make the account impersonal. It is taking place in one of our large cities, where hippies abound.
A preacher made contact with a young couple, living common-law and enjoying (?) the freedoms (?) of this permissive age. They had no real aim in life, and no guide-lines for self- improvement or the building of character. They saw their friends ever seeking, never finding a meaning for life in drugs and dissipation. There was no hope, for there was no faith for its foundation; and religion had long ago been abandoned as organized irrelevance, shot through with hypocrisy. But they allowed the sky man to talk, out of sheer boredom.
Now this preacher was untrained in social studies. He had little formal education, and had not read up on the psychology of modern youth. He preached for a church which organized no youth Movements, had no social hall, and thought the gospel of Christ, not pop-music parties, was the power of God unto salvation. All this out-of-date preacher knew to do for the hippies was to love them for Jesus sake, and point them to the Lord for the remission of their sins — and he called them sins too!
But something in his sincerity and the obvious rightness of his appeal touched them. He set before them the Bible — authoritative — commending itself by its very message. He showed them the unselfishness of Gods love and pled with them to change their heart, life and state. They obtained a New Testament, and studied it. Soon they admitted their sinful condition, and showed a desire to correct their misspent life. They assured the preacher their love for one-another was genuine, so he urged them to marry. A quiet ceremony followed. A few weeks later they were baptized.
The withdrawal from unkempt hair and beard, extreme make-up, mini-mini skirts, etc., was slow — but members of the church were tactfully patient and understanding. And as former associates of this couple began to see the change in their life — the new hope, and radiant faith — they began to ask questions. How did you do it? and Could we escape too?
While I was there for a meeting the preacher asked me, almost apologetically, if I would be hurt if he missed a service. It seems five or six others, in like circumstances, had asked him to come and talk with them. I said I would be very disappointed if he failed to go.
Several couples have now been converted to Christ, and Their efforts have expanded the contacts for more of the same. There is no publicity given — no spectacular announcements made. There have been, and will continue to be failures. But I will not forget the gratitude of those faithful ones; how they listened to sermons and hungered for more.
I wish more of my brethren were converted hippies, or converted preachers, or converted anything!!!