Was lonnie frisbee gay
It had been decided that the sexuality of the hippie, Lonnie Frisbee, in the movie Jesus Revolution would not be addressed. Co-director Brent McCorkle explains. Lonnie Frisbee 'Never Considered' Himself to Be Gay, He Wrote in Autobiography, Michael Foust - Read breaking news headlies with a Christian perspective and commentary from Michael Foust.
frisbee: the life and death of a hippie preacher
Lonnie Ray Frisbee (June 6, – March 12, ) was an American Charismatic evangelist in the late s and in the s; he was a self-described "seeing prophet ". [1][2] He was known for his hippie appearance. [3][4] He was notable as a minister and evangelist in the Jesus movement. [5][6]. The sexual assault part was corroborated by Lonnie’s own writing and the interview his former wife, Connie, gave following the release of ‘Jesus Revolution.’ Lonnie was raped by his male babysitter from when he was six to eight years old.
Lonnie Frisbee died in of HIV/AIDS at the age of At his funeral, Chuck Smith took the opportunity to double down on his non-affirming message, lamenting Lonnie’s “unrealized potential.” I am reminded of the story of Peter and Cornelius in Acts chapter You can find my first post in the series here. But if you are up for it, put on your old Larry Norman or Keith Green records.
His early life pretty much mirrored that of his contemporary and fellow Californian Charles Manson. Frisbee grew up in an unstable home where he was exposed to the dark underbelly of s Californian society. He was sexually assaulted as a child, introduced to drugs in his teens, and at 15 he had his first homosexual encounter, which ultimately ushered him into the Laguna Beach gay scene.
Lonnie Frisbee was a hippie straight out of central casting — good-looking, wide-eyed, and mystical. He talked vaguely about becoming an artist or a dancer. He was a bearded, long-haired dreamer.
People said he looked like Jesus. He tried his hand at hypnotism and dabbled in the occult. He talked incessantly about UFOs. He was pretty much unemployable. This mattered little in California in the late 60s and early 70s. And so did Lonnie Frisbee. But things took a slightly different turn when Frisbee led a group of drug-addled friends on an LSD-fuelled pilgrimage into the desert outside Palm Springs.
Frisbee started reading the Gospel of John to everyone and before they knew he was baptizing his cadre of stoned hippies in the Tahquitz Falls. An evangelist had been born! At first the gospel according to Lonnie Frisbee included getting high, talking about flying saucers and reading the Bible, but he soon fell in with other Christians who directed him to a more conventional path. Kind of. The thing was, Lonnie was gay.
And filled with the Holy Spirit. He would walk the beaches during the day, converting young people seemingly at will. Then he would bring them back to the nightly church services for lashings of groovy Christian folk-music and intense Bible teaching. Afterwards he would dispense the Holy Spirit, leaving the room looking like a battlefield as young people hit the floor, began to shake and speak in tongues.
He was a freak. A Jesus freak. And soon he became a leading light of the so-called Jesus People, an organic movement of converted hippies, yippies and surfers that sprang out of Calvary Chapel. He was no ordinary hippie anymore. But he was no ordinary Christian evangelist either. His marriage had broken down in and he had started having sexual liaisons with men again.
Frisbee was tortured by it all. He was clearly touched by the hand of God. But he believed his sexuality was a sin.