Fire in our hearts - Jesus Army

FIRE IN OUR HEARTS
ON THE MARCH
One young man turned up at New Creation Hall who fitted
the bill exactly. He’d even been a soldier. Mark ‘Warrior’ was
twenty-three, a muscle man and a rebel. He’d seen the world
in the merchant navy and his arms were tattooed and scarred.
As a biker he’d smashed a lot of shop windows in Huddersfield,
fled the law and crashed his bike. He’d lived with the
Hare Krishnas, and ended up in the Spanish Foreign Legion.
He deserted, escaping in a yacht, but it ran aground, and he
was caught, flogged, imprisoned, and put to hard labour under
the scorching sun.
One day, in preparation for a ceremony at the Spanish
prison, Mark climbed a roof to fix a statue of Christ on to the
cross. Alone up there, the eyes of Jesus seemed to pierce his
soul. ‘I forgive you, Mark,’ they were saying. He broke down
and wept. On his prison bed, reading his Bible, the power of
God came upon him and he was baptised in the Spirit. The
Spanish officers were so shocked by the change that they
offered him promotion! He declined, and was released from
the Legion.
Mark arrived back in Huddersfield to find his family already
converted. The parish church was good, but Mark felt like a
caged lion. He wanted a twenty-four hour a day commitment.
He considered Bible college or a monastery, but the church
sent him down to us! Mark wasn’t disappointed. He wrote
later:
I walked into the Hall and the Spirit came on me again. I was on
cloud nine for three weeks. They had a church gathering in a
theatre and all I heard was Zion, Zion, Zion! But it was the
brotherhood that really amazed me.
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