On Sunday afternoon, August 2 of this year, a number of hippies attended one session of the Young Peoples Institute at Shirksville, Lebanon County, Pa. These folks were a part bus load of 12 young men and women, ranging in ages from 18 - 25, who happened to get together and had formed some kind of agreement to just go. They were from New York, Ohio, Switzerland, and a number of other places. Their bus had gone bad for the second time since leaving New York and was in a garage at Frystown for repairs. The Paul Mussers, members of the Shirksville congregation made contact with them offering any assistance they could give them and invited them to church. Nine of them responded favorably to the invitation. They entered the church respectfully and found seats near the front of the building. They listened attentively and participated in the singing. At least some them were familiar with the Bible and quickly found references referred to by the speakers in Bibles loaned to them by folks sitting nearby.
The speakers for the afternoon were the Brethren Aden Gingerich and Earl Moseman. Both speakers presented truth in a simple but profound and challenging manner. In the course of Bro. Gingerich's message he rather forcibly declared that he is not ashamed to be different from this world. To my surprise a number of these young folks gave assent to testimony with a noticeable nod of the head. Apparently they were under the same delusional idea that some Mennonites (certainly not worthy of the name) are under who think that to look wooly, ragged, and filthy is being non-conformed to the world. They seem to be willingly ignorant that this type of living simply worldliness gone to seed.
They were sociable and even invited some of us to tour their bus and see how they live. Included in the inhabitants of the bus were a rabbit, a dog, and two cats. The cats, dog and humans all enjoyed eating out of a common bowl. They seemed to enjoy answering questions placed before them: they were a harmless group who were vegetarian in diet, they have no privacy, no standards of purity, and exercise no moral restraints. One said that her parents were all for this kind of an excursion.
We don't know if our contact with the hippies did them any good or not. However, as we viewed the contrast between these morally and physically filth-laden and aimless youth and the regenerated, liberated, clean-cut purposeful youth present we praised God anew for "the grace of God that bringeth salvation" which "hath appeared unto all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world: Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." Titus 2:11-14.
Will you pray with us that the preached Word and the testimony of deliverance given to these mire lovers might some day bear fruit unto life eternal?
Will you praise God with us for His grace through which we can experience deliverance and live in the glorious liberty of the children of God?
– Aaron M. Shank