As high school graduation neared, some local companies handed out job applications. I filled them out, and by graduation was able to choose between two jobs. The first company offered two years of engineering school and the chance to work half-days as a machinist in a clean comfortable environment. The second company wanted to put me in a dirty machine shop with no air-conditioning, and no educational bonus. But I was naive.
In my youthful idealism I did not listen to my parents, and therefore did not make the obviously wise choice.
Instead, I accepted the second option, and began working in less than ideal circumstances. My reasoning was that I had decided to go to Bible college, and did not feel I would work at the better factory long enough to repay them for the free education!
I quickly regretted turning down the better offer and promised God that if the other company called again and asked me to reconsider I would see that as a sign and would go to work for them. But honestly, it seemed that the chance of this happening was next to nothing, and I really thought I had made a terrible mistake. I am so thankful that sometimes God intervenes when we make dumb decisions.
After two weeks, the first company called back and indeed did ask if I would reconsider. I believed this to be a miracle, and so it was that I quit my first job and began a job at the Woodward Governor Company. Ultimately, I would gain two years of engineering education and ten years of work experience in an aerospace environment.
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Coincidental invitations
After entering the engineering program, Gary, one of the other students, invited me to a youth Bible Study. That evening, as I was getting ready, there was another little miracle. My sister Karen was also getting ready to go somewhere, and I was surprised to learn she had also been invited to this exact same Bible study! So Karen and I rode together, along with her friend Laura who invited her.
That night, there were about fifteen youth in attendance, and some at the Bible study placed their hands on Karen's head and shoulders and began praying for her to receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. Suddenly, she began sobbing, and then laughing and speaking rapidly in what sounded
like
another
language.
This
was
quite
uncharacteristic for her. For both of us it was our first experience with the phenomenon of the Biblical gift of speaking in tongues, and we had happened upon a service similar to the one in Acts chapter eight where people were praying to receive it.
This then began a period where I actively sought to also speak in tongues, for I wanted what Karen had, and rationalized that I wanted all that God could offer. I was intensely seeking the experience, but nothing was happening.
And then, a few months later after a particularly inspiring youth meeting I felt unusually grateful to God and was singing worship songs in private when it happened.
Suddenly, my tongue began moving rapidly in what was clearly another language. I was amazed at the precise rhythms and sounds, and then as quickly as it started it stopped. It was as though, to my dismay, my mind regained control over my tongue. Even so, I was left with a deep sense that God loved me enough to let me experience this, and that speaking in tongues could be a genuine spiritual experience.
Over the years, however, I have tried on occasion to 36
experience this gift again without success. During the following decades I have attended churches of various denominations, and have come to the conviction that the experience can be both beneficial and divisive – a perspective that is Biblical. I believe the beneficial aspects are often that it simply increases the faith of the one who experiences it. However, in the book of Acts God also used it to speak to those who spoke other languages.
It is biblical that tongues is one of the least gifts, simply because it has little value unless others happen to speak that language. The workaround that Paul gives us is that when tongues are spoken in public they should also be publicly interpreted. But then the interpretation has the greater value.
For me, the bottom line is that sensitivity to the Holy Spirit is needed when exercising any spiritual gift in any setting. That sensitivity is sometimes lacking. On the other hand, I have met many Christians who have never spoken in tongues, yet clearly have experienced God's amazing presence in their lives, and are excited about their relationship with Jesus. For these reasons, I have found that I feel at home in any church that honors Christ passionately, without regard to whether or not they encourage the gift of tongues publicly. The bottom line is that I believe in God's eyes your denomination is not what matters, but rather it is your relationship with Jesus.
Karen healed
About this time, a healing evangelist named Roxanne Brant held a week of services at First Assembly in Rockford.
My sister Karen and I attended, along with others from our youth group.
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Roxanne did not fit the stereotype of a “faith healer”, for she had a gracious and quiet personality. In her services, she led people into the presence of God with worship songs to a degree that I had not experienced in church services prior to that.
Karen was praying for healing from back pain after a classmate pulled a chair out from under her as she sat down.
Vertebrae in her back were dislodged by the fall, and it took frequent trips to the chiropractor to put them back in place.
However, during one service, Roxanne looked directly at Karen and told her that her back was being healed. Karen says that her back then became hot, and after that she no longer suffered pain. When the chiropractor called she went in to see him. He said that the bones were still in place, and she told him that God had healed her. He replied that he gets that a lot.
A low resolution photo of Roxanne Brant in the 1970s.
At the time, Roxanne Brant seemed controversial.
She said that God showed her that the Watergate scandal, which had just broken in the news, would become a major event for America. She also foretold a recession, predicted 38
earthquakes would become more common, and said that persecution of Christians would increase. For Florida, she said that flooding would be a problem for about one-fifth of the state, which caused her to change her plan to buy land in southern Florida, and instead buy land in Jacksonville. She also warned of major power outages, and said she saw the word “Storm” in big letters. Then she claimed that in the future, store shelves would be lined with herbal supplements which God had created for our health.
It was actually this last claim that caused me the most doubt, partly because I had no belief at the time that herbs could be beneficial. But other things also troubled me. She insisted that earth's poles would begin to melt causing sea levels to rise, even though in those days scientists were telling us we were entering another ice age. Global warming was not even a concept in those days. The bottom line? It seems everything I recall her saying has happened, or is coming to pass, and these memories have given me greater confidence that God knows the future. •
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