Verse For Today

And he went with a multitude into a high place and sat under a red and white spotted mushroom and spoke to the people saying, "Is there any relation between all this brain damage drugs are supposed to cause and the number of junkies who turn Jesus freaks?"

Revival Bursts out

Two points can be made in favour of the Christian Union's Lunch-rime Revival Hour, the first is that the idea had not been blatantly stolen from the organisers of Ripple, the second is that none of the advertising was misleading. We all knew what to expect, This last point no doubt explains why the room was filled almost exclusively by the already converted and in turn this could explain why no-one laughed openly at the mighty evangelist, Muri Thompson.

The deeply meaningful choruses usually a feature of revivals, proved in fact to be only a gimmick designed to draw the sinners within reach of Muri Thompson's powerful charisma. The sermon or exhortation, started almost immediately and followed the classical evangelical order of service except that no collection was made for the extension of the kingdom.

The guilt generating part of the service revealed Muri at his best, the straight delivery, the superb logic, the economy of language, all contributed to the creation of an atmosphere in which the still small voice of the spirit could be heard at its clearest. Justice cannot be done to the argument in so small a space, but basically Muri showed us that every action, no matter how altruistically performed, is always open to the criticism that self-interest is, deep down, the motivating factor. Now every christian knows the saying of the Gospel according to John which says "Verily anything that thou likest to do is a sin" so we were all straightway convicted in our hearts and there was a great wailing and a gnashing of teeth.

But Muri, being a man of great mercy, then revealed to us the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ and taught us that if we were genuinely repentant then we'd get let off the hook on judgement day. It was at this point that Muri introduced his trump card, he offered the sceptics (for the first time since Isaiah called down fire) a verification of God's existence. All we had to do was go home and pray "God, if you're real I want you to show yourself to me" and, provided we were sincere, we'd get to see God.

I was very impressed by this, so on Thursday night I thought I'd give it a try.........Lo and behold this bloke in a red boiler suit turns up and offers me a win with the bonus bonds if I go and heckle Mr. Adams-Schneider next day. He pointed out that the second part of John 10: 10 reads "I come that they may have life, and have it to the full."

by have Cunningham.

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In University

A week of Gather for Jesus propaganda in preparation for Friday evening's rally in Civic Square culminated in a lunch-hour meeting in the Union Hall at which three distinguished personalities (?) ventured to give their accounts of a belief in Christ.

Mr Adams-Schneider, true to his "honourable profession" (he said it), embarked on a vociferous discourse that at times seriously threatened to challenge the accepted supremacy of Billy Graham, and judging by the response at the end of his 'campaign' the audience was either with him from the start or else he had indeed accomplished a miraculous conversion.

He did however state his firm belief in three basic principles of Christianity- (i) that all men (and women) are equal, (ii) they need a Saviour in Jesus and (iii) whoever accepts him shall have eternal life.

His refusal to be drawn on the question of how he reconciled his belief in the equality of all men with his Party's attitude to apartheid evoked some loud criticism, especially when he stated that the central problem of apartheid was political and that he had been invited to give a talk on his Christian belief, but would willingly return to a discussion on apartheid at a later date.

Marcus, after hitting out at the professional hecklers, spoke of how he had "seen the power of Christ working". He lamented that society was both apathetic and greedy and what was needed above all was love. "Christ opens the mind and gives the love that society needs".

From the auditorium, James K. Baxter commented that he would not wish to quarrel with the man who recognises good but does not know where it comes from, so that chanting Christ's name can become a noise. What about a man like Ghandi?

Although Marcus was quite prepared to admit his recognition of other great teachers for their manifestation of a particular quality, for him, Christ embodied all these qualities. In conclusion, he expressed the wish that the student body might only examine Christian teaching as much as it did Eastern philosphy.

Dean Hurst spoke briefly, and observed that some people try to push others into their mode of belief instead of sitting down to help them work out their own. "It's easy to sit in judgement -but we must accept people as they are and lead them to Christ."

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