Free Republic

On April 5, 1967, representatives of the San Francisco Oracle, the Diggers, the Family Dog, the Straight Theater, and other parts of the Haight-Ashbury hippie scene held a press conference to announce the formation of the Council for a Summer of Love. The event scored friendly media notices: The next day’s San Francisco Chronicle described the coalition as “a group of the good hippies,” defined as the ones who “wear quaint and enchanting costumes, hold peaceful rock ’n’ roll concerts, and draw pretty pictures (legally) on the sidewalk, their eyes aglow all the time with the poetry of love.” ......

For Pastor Chuck Smith, the big issues are undebatable. For Chuck Smith Jr., also a pastor, it's not so crystal clear. Something had to give. From his pulpit in Santa Ana, Chuck Smith's voice thunders with certainty. He denounces homosexuality as a "perverted lifestyle," finds divine wrath in earthquakes and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and promises imminent Armageddon in a deep, sure voice. If his message is grim, the founder of the Jesus People and the Calvary Chapel movement bears the ruddy good cheer of a 79-year-old believer who insists he has never known a day's doubt or despair....

How the Charismatic movement has changed for the worse. In the l950s and thereafter, the charismatic movement seemed to come out of nowhere. That is because, regardless of what position one takes on speaking in tongues or not speaking in tongues, the Lord God Himself moved upon His worldwide church in very unique ways. There were Anglican / Episcopal rectors, Protestant ministers and missionaries, Catholic nuns and priests who were brought alive in the Holy Spirit. They did not all agree on everything; but those come upon by heaven did agree that their souls were being changed anew toward Christ....