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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (April 16, 1997)
I , ... \ ■ •’ *. 1 : • . • • ' • • » • *• • ’ •• • * ♦*•* •• • „ * • •?• • . » r . • .* '* . • . • £ < . * • - ’ • w< , __ • “* * - > i 5 î » î * * ’v * E ' ka \ / -* *..• fc /* r t • . • * ; • . / • •r ' f Jh ' • ¿• • " 't & ’. • r. ■■■ • z • * ■ .J. * » . <- »<.'•» «rt e- • »% . • ' > '* . .* .* * v _ .. .' .•* . ■' - • • ' • . •>• ■• • m A A i - - MM* April 16, 1997 » T he P oru Helen Baylor has seen and expe rienced from the bottom to the top. and, by the grace ofG od, lived to tell and sing o f it all Her last album and video, The Live Experience, cata pulted her for the first time to the top o f the contemporary Christian charts and saw her return to familiar terri tory as well, holding the top 1 spot on the Billboard Gospel charts un der virtual lock and key for months Featuring 11 ot her best loved songs, and a compelling personal testimony, it succeeded in making Helen a household name in Chris tian music. And with her newest release. Love Brought Me Back, the music and the message only grew songs and Helen ’s vocals-both com manding and c a re ssin g -if s still the heart behind the music that speaks HELEN BAYLOR most powerfully. “There were so many moments when it was just me alone with that microphone,” Helen recalls, “and it was nothing but the Holy Spirit car rying things to a level beyond any thing 1 could achieve on my own. We did a version o f "A m azing Grace,” and on my vocal intro a sound came out that was straight from my childhood in the Pentecos tal church. 1 couldn’t replicate it now if 1 tried. It just poured out. “On “The Lord Is My shepherd,” my voice was scratchy and a little tired, but as I sang, the true meaning o f that scripture just began to well up within me. By strict standards, the performance could be called less than perfect, but the anointing was there and powerful. You can be tech nically perfect all day long, but that anoint in g -th e hand o f G o d -is a gift and you don’t treat it lightly. You receive it humbly and gratefully.” “ 1 thank God for the favor He shows, but Scripture says that we should never become respecters of into much more than the brilliantly persons,” Helen concludes. And I produced and performed project that never want people looking at me like it is. With a stellar roster of Los I’m any different ” Angeles’ finest musicians, powerful stronger. "The success of the Live Experi ence doubled, and even tripled the size o f our audiences,’ Helen ex plains, “but that just made me want to seek to do an even better job ot what I do . to really reach those people and let them know all that God has brought me through and hope that might help them in their own lives. I’m all for good, whole some, Christian entertainment, but I’ve got a calling on my life to go further—to reach into people s hearts and touch and be touched by who and where they are. the lUV. T • hat’s - J just " and observer Cardinal Joseph ‘Bernardin [eaves Tort land Chicago The Vatican has re placed the late Cardinal Joseph Bemardin with a Chicago native who could prove to be more outspo ken on Roman Catholic doctrine than his predecessor. Archbishop Francis E. George, 60, o f Portland, Ore., will be in stalled as head o f the nation s sec ond-largest archdiocese May 7, six months after B ernardin’s death from cancer. Like Bernardin, George is in line with the pope in opposing abortion, doctor-assisted suicide and the ordination o f women. In Portland, he was a vigorous oppo nent o f the state’s law permitting euthanasia. He also has shown a moderate streak. While bishop o f Yakima, Wash., where he served from July 1990 until his appointment to Port land last April, he joined other Catholic leaders in opposing two anti-gay-rights initiatives Is the "Next Level" just an ABC M o v ie of U»e W eek * . . to .L „ ..h O fln i» fa v n r- the cultists the . cult? One favor Things are all right for the old ite theory holds that M arshall Heaven’s Gate bunch after all. I he Applewhite, or Do, had been a 39 cultists who left us to board the victim of homophobia. An intoler big spaceship behind Hale-Bopp ant society had made him ashamed had tried several times to make o f his own sexual proclivity; there their own television movie, they minister in me.” fore he founded the cult. Indeed wanted to spread the word about It’s that same love and caring tor the New Yorker warned that “re Do and Ti and The Level Beyond her audience, and all humanity, that pressed hom osexuality” m ight Human. Their movie never got transforms Love Brought Me Back mean there are “several million made, although someone now will more Applewhites out there, roam make it for them. It will be shown ing the earth in search of dis on ABC as a "movie o f the week, ciples.” and a cultist who left the Heaven’s Frank Rich offered a related Gate compound before his friends __ __ ———— .. „.-mt inn In tm theory in the New York Times: An is a narrative ot hope.’ all killed themselves will work on empty society, even if not specifi The popularity of the movement H ie Hale-Bopp comet glowed in it as a consultant. They wrote to cally homophobic, was at fault. may also reflect a sluggishness in the sky above Manila Bay. but the him before they died, asking him to “ Here was a mass suicide suitable the established Catholic Church. El 50,000 ecstatic Christian followers go out and proselytize. for Better Homes and Gardens, Shaddai claims allegiance to the o f Brother Mike paid it no heed So far. he is not doing badly. lucrative to sell religion.” he wrote, and pointed out that the church, and followers are encour Its base, he said, is among the Flying saucers were the last thing on Newsweek got him tor an exclu Like some American evangelists aged to continue to attend Catholic cultists had been living in an up 700,000 overseas workers who are their minds. Their reward was here sive eight-hour interview, and fea who collect large donations, Velarde scale California suburb. Ameri the nation's leading earners o f for services. and now: good jobs, good health, tured him on the cover. Richard has come under fire here tor his cans yearn to live in places just like But in the huge crowd here, many eign exchange, sending home $8 good marriages, and, best of all, Ford, a.k.a. Rio Di Angelo, appears financial dealings. that, he said, but when they do they people said they had come for a billion to $10 billion a year. El in a black turtleneck, his face and I le has been criticized by the Phil money. feeling o f fellowship and spiritual find them sterile and hollow . Shaddai has chapters in some 30 At the high point of the rally on a shaved head artfully lighted. “Se ippine Securities and Exchange excitement that was lacking in tradi Therefore the suicides represent countries where Filipinos are em vast fairground beside the bay, thou crets o f the Cult,” the cover says, Com m ission for irregularities in the death o f the American dream. ployed as maids, entertainers, and tional services. sands ofpeople lifted their open wal although Newsweek had not found stock offerings from companies he And so on, and so on, along “ I am still a churchgoer, but here, construction workers. lets and bank books to the heavens to any worth sharing. Heaven s Gate controls, and a former associate has with many stories about contem the word o f God is more expanded, It is a solid financial foundation tor receive financial blessings from the did not practice exotic rituals, and accused him o f embezzling millions porary spirituality and longings to Mrs. Rene said. “ People are more a religious movement that asks its Philippines’ most popular evange its theology, such as it was, was of dollars in El Shaddai funds. find a faith. None seem to have intimate with each other, and there followers not only to donate 10 per list, M ariano Velarde, known as soupy. Moreover, the cultists were Velarde turns these setbacks into pointed out, though, that court is gladness and joy everywhere. In cent of their earnings but also to otter not interesting people. I hey had Brother Mike. grist for his sermons, incorporating decisions and government rules the church sometimes you feel people additional “seed money” that will help Some raised their passports in fled from life, renouncing family, them into the personal narrative that have done their best to remove are silent and cold.” them reap great financial returns. friends and sexuality long before hopes of a job abroad. is his central parable o f hardships religion from public life. Kidscan t Like almost everything in this “ Remember this: whoever sows “ Do you believe that without docu they set out for the spaceship. overcome. pray in school, while judges can’t politically engaged nation, where (gives) sparingly will also reap (re ments you can go to the United States Nonetheless we have not heard It is a pattern he teaches to his post the Ten Com m andants in campaign rallies often resemble re ceive) sparingly, and whoever sows with the help o f Brother Mike'.’” said the last o f them. In life they had followers His rallies are punctuated chambers, and no one can put up a vival meetings, El Shaddai has joined (gives) generously will reap (receive) a worshiper named Nene Arreliano. tried, and failed, to attract atten by the “testimonies" o f believers who cross or a Menorah in a public generously, an I I Shaddai pam the political tray. tion; in death, their hope is being “ 1 do.” say El Shaddai has changed their place. Meanwhile, “mainstream," In the last presidential election, phlet says, quoting from the Bible. E v an g elical m o v em en ts are realized. Even as Newsweek lives. in 1992, its open-air services with socially acceptable religious orga The transactions are straightfor sweeping this largely Roman Catho and Diane Sawyer on “ PrimeTime “ I had a heart attack, I lost my nizations continue to confuse faith their huge televised audiences be ward. Donation envelopes at the rally lic nation, with its undercurrent ot Ljve” — were fussing over Ford/ business, and my husband left me, and liberal politics. Witness al came an obligatory stop on the cam include a space on which a wor pre-Christian mysticism and ritual, DiAngelo, Time was reporting that said a member of the crowd, C ecilia paign trail. At one point, Fidel most any pronouncement by the shiper can describe the reward he but never has the Philippines seen a other survivors ofthe cult no longei Rene. “ But the Lord took care of Ramos, who is now president, found National Council o f Churches. hopes for. movement grow so fast and claim so trusted him. Heaven s Gate now that. Now I have a good business, my Perhaps we should not be so him self shaking hands uncomfort “ I call it transactional spiritual seems to be rent by a schism, and many followers. husband is with me, and I have a surprised then by the emergence of ably with the flamboyant former first ity,” said Randy David, a Philippine Founded a decade ago by Velarde, the other survivors have establ ished healthy body." lady, Imelda M arcos, under the cults and cultists. Heaven’s Gate sociologist. “You get something tor 57, a real-estate developer with a their own Website. Its first of f ering Kate Wiegele, an American an may have been delusional, but it your spirituality: a visa, ajob abroad, beaming gaze ot Velarde. religious radio program, the move __ “ Heaven’s Gate Away learn thropologist who has studied I I helped to fill a void. When God is Now with another election ap or maybe you get cured of an illness ment known as El Shaddai - a Returns to Level Above Human in Shaddai, said these narratives fol banished from the public square, it proaching next year, the inevitable or you win your wife or your hus Hebrew name for God — has a fol Distant Space” — carried greet low a pattern set by Velarde s own is easier for people like Do and I i question isbeingasked: Will Velarde band back if they are alienated.” lowing estimated at 5 million. ings from Do, I i and all the old personal story and are at the heart of to step in. Moreover, their ideas It is a transaction that Velarde him self run for president? It is a religion o f its time, when gang. The webmaster told Time: the movement’s appeal. “ Personally, I am no, interested may outlive them now, and attract happily acknowledges he is engaged the Philippines is just beginning to "This will be an ongoing site for "People learn tore-read their lives new believers. Look to the Web, in himself. His literature tells and in it, but 1 cannot close any av join the economic growth spurt of its years to come." in term sof a before and an after, she and wait for the ABC movie. What retells his personal story of real- enues," he said the other day, sug Southeast Asian neighbors. Meanwhile, the press continues said. “ When you analyze their sto gesting the possibility o f a new chap estate investments that paid oft, af do you expect? "M ike Velarde is a new kind of to look for meaning. What attracted ries it is not clear whether their lives ter in his personal narrative. “ Every ter a period of travail, thanks to his prophet, a prophet o f financial capi are actually better than before. Some body is pushing me. As you know, faith. talism.” said Alex Magno, a politi times the narrative may not com “ He used to sell real estate,” David only God knows the future.” cal scientist. “ This is a religion in pletely fit but they feel like it fits. It said. "I think he has found it more the age o f portfolio investment Faith, Mysticism, & Money Brother Mike preaches Call (503) 288-0033 to advertise in (T lji'IJo rtlan ii (O bserver (Fbbituiuy Lorraine Marie Olive "Cookie y y I orraine M ane Olive was born January 24th I960 in Portland. Oregon. TO^daughter ofH erbcrt Hoover Olivfe, deceased, and M arth^Van Areal«, Lorraine was found dead behind a dumpster in San Diego, California April 3, 1997 Cause o f death is still pending. Funeral Services were held in Portland, Oregon at the Sharon Seventh- day Adventist Church. Lorraine attended Sabin & Atkinson Elemeti ry School She was A tkinson's firs, black student body president She I entered high school at the age o f 12 years old. Lorraine attended John Adams High School. She also received her paramedic license and nur g certificate Lorraine mastered everything she put her heart into o f flower dona,ions a Lorraine Marie Olive two daughters, Laricka and Chore Coxeff. was set-up at ,heU.S. o f Washington Cascade Park, account number 2461043057. She is survived bv two daughters. Laricka Coxeff and Chere Coxeff Her mother Martha Van Arsdale Beltran Her step-father F lorent.no BeUram Step brothers Rubi. Eddie & Florentine Beltran Her sisters. Bal.nda ‘ Bowman. Diane Bergman and brother John L. Olive all of Vancouver. Washington Her brother Herbert Hoover Olive, Jr o f Portland. Orego , and brother B ri.n Lockhart of "Robert ” Lewis Olive preceded her in death on December 4 , 1985. He was O regon’s first heart transplant donor < • ï “How should I pray?” GOD 11 \ I & Cox Funeral Home 2736 N.E. 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