It was going on 2:30 in the morning, and I was sitting cross-legged on the sidewalk across from Hard Times Café.  I had been there for the Jesus Kitchen starting at 10:00 that night, and since about midnight, I had been talking with two men, one of whom I had met previously at Hard Time.  He had been studying all sorts of religions, mythologies, and spiritualities, so I knew he was a little “out there”; but I must admit that I was not prepared to hear one of the things he told the other man sitting with us.  At one point, he honestly and solemnly said, “You know, I’ve met reptilian, humanoid, shape-shifting aliens… And they were really peaceful… And they showed me how to escape.” Hmm.  Reptilian, humanoid, shape-shifting aliens.  Interesting.  Now, to be frank, what disturbed me more than this statement itself, which I could pawn off as the result of a crazy acid trip, was the fact that the rather respectable-looking gentleman listening to him actually nodded his head and said, “Ohh…  Yeah…,” rather than, “What?!” 

This encounter reminded me what the Rainbow Gathering is really like.  As many of you know, I take part in an outreach there every year, and this year’s trip is rapidly approaching.  This will be my fifth time at the Gathering—a hippie, New Age, pagan festival, where tens of thousands of people show up to do a lot of drugs, talk about peace, revive the “free love” culture, and seek any number of spiritual experiences.  It is a dark place, full of people who have been deceived, who deceive others, and who seem willing to believe almost anything.  Last year, one man told me that when Jesus was three years old, he had been given a time-scanning device so that he could scan all of human history and collect everyone’s sins.  I also met a man who claimed to be sinless and said that anyone who still sinned was not really a Christian.  Every year, I meet people who I can tell are demonized, the “sinless” man being a prime example.  Every year, I meet many people who were raised in Christian homes and have walked away from their faith.  Every year, I meet people who have never heard the true Gospel and have rejected an idea of Jesus so warped that I also would reject it.

The people who attend the Gathering call themselves The Rainbow Family of Living Light, and every year I realize more that many of them are seeking light.  Yes, there are those who come simply for the free drugs and lack of institutional authority, but I believe that at some level, the majority of people are looking for the right things—peace, love, freedom, and joy.  Unfortunately, they are finding these things (or rather, cheap imitations of them) in all the wrong places.  We go there to represent Jesus in a place almost entirely devoid of the Gospel and to show these seekers that there is a true answer for the things they desire. 

Please pray for us as we minister at the Gathering.  It is a very spiritually oppressive place, and I do not take this trip lightly.  We will be leaving on June 22 and returning July 6.  I would very much appreciate your prayers that God would protect us spiritually, physically, and emotionally, and that he would powerfully establish his Kingdom at the Gathering.  We have seen God do amazing things there, and we expect that he will do so again; I look forward to sharing some of those stories with you when I return next month.

In other news, I am still working on raising support so that I can drop back to half-time employment this fall.  I have a few hopeful developments in this area, but I still need your prayers.  As time goes on, I see more and more things I want to invest in (the prayer requests on the back give some of the details), and I am desperate for more time to do them!  Your prayers and support are essential as I develop this support base, and I am so grateful for them.  You continue to be a huge blessing in my life, and I look forward to having the chance to share with you more of what God is doing through Steiger’s ministry.  God bless you!

Take hold of the life that is truly life!

Molly S. Waggoner

Thank you, and God bless you!

-MSW