Fire in our hearts - The Jesus Army

FIRE IN OUR HEARTSAWAKE O ZION!Evangelicals at Oxford were cautious of our influenceamongst the students there and the mother of one girl involvedwith us feared that her daughter would be subject tobrainwashing, low-protein diet, sleepless nights and religiousfanaticism.So Mum came to a chapel meeting with a tape recorder.The worship was charismatic. That was bad enough. ThenNoel preached on repentance and whole-hearted followingof Christ. The man was obviously some kind of dictator, holdingpeople in sway by his hypnotic personality!She decided to bring along a GP and a psychiatrist friend,and as her daughter was just under twenty-one, they wereable to get her provisionally confined under a section of theMental Health Act. But after psychiatrists could find no evidenceof brainwashing, the matter was dropped and she returnedto us. It was an isolated incident, but a pointer to themisunderstanding and persecution that lay ahead for us.From within rose some disunity. Brian, who had been a keyfigure from the early days, struggled with our lifestyle nowhis family was at the Hall. The radical lifestyle, challengingenough for us singles, was a culture shock for the averagecouple. The self-contained flats provided privacy for the nuclearfamily but some found it hard to integrate into the rathermotley ‘family’ at the Hall. Brian and his family began to withdrawfrom the life of the house. We found this isolation difficultto accept and Ralph and others gently entreated him.But the gulf widened and eventually the family left. It was agreat loss.154