Exposed: The Charismatic Excesses ‘Jesus Revolution’ Conveniently Left Out

By Marsha West

Beware of supposing that a teacher is to be trusted because although he holds some unsound views, he yet ‘teaches a great deal of truth.’ Such a teacher is precisely the man to do you harm: poison is always most dangerous when it is mixed with wholesome food. ~ J.C. Ryle

When the Jesus movement hit southern California beach towns like a tsunami during the 1960s, mainline Reformed denominations suddenly seemed out of step with what was happening in the culture. The mood dramatically shifted almost overnight. Protestant Creeds and Confessions and long-held traditions were frowned upon by the counterculture generation dubbed “hippies.” The inerrant, sufficient, infallible, God-breathed Word of God would no longer be the final authority for faith and life.

Early on, Calvary Church pastor Chuck Smith began reaching out to hippies and welcomed them into the small church he pastored — and young people showed up in droves. Those barefoot “dirty hippies” became what was known as “Jesus freaks.” The Jesus movement soon morphed into the Calvary Chapel movement as many other Calvary Chapel churches were planted by those who came and went, those who would eventually establish a global church network.

Not long afterwards the Market-driven Church became the evangelical model for the right way to “do church.” The Purpose-Driven/Seeker Sensitive movement was built on utilitarian pragmatism – whatever works. In other words, if churches build it to look like the culture, seekers will come.

But the march toward pragmatism and a market-driven paradigm is not what this piece is about. It’s about a book based on the 1960s Jesus People movement by Greg Laurie & Ellen Vaughn. Greg Laurie’s memoir was recently made into a movie, Jesus Revolution. Some of you may have read the book or gone to see the movie by now. Even so, hang in there because many important details were conveniently left out of the movie, which I’m going to bring to light, details you’ll no doubt find shocking.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Jesus Revolution, but are aware of who Greg Laurie is, his memoir will transport you to the tumultuous 60s & 70s and the events that occurred during what was deemed the “revival” that ushered in the Jesus movement. Back then many young people heard the name Jesus for the first time in their lives. The message that spread up and down the California coast and far beyond was that Jesus Christ would save sinners who were bound for hell if they would give their lives to Him. Through the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit, hippies, bikers, prostitutes and druggies came to faith in Christ, repented of their sins and were baptized in the Pacific Ocean (or elsewhere). Let there be no doubt that the 60s & 70s revival was Good News for those who truly got saved.

Out of the counter-culture Jesus movement another movement emerged that drew many “Jesus freaks” through the doors of Calvary Chapel (CC) located in Costa Mesa California. The main characters in the movie frequented the church Pastor Chuck Smith led — Lonnie Frisbee and Greg & Cathe Laurie.

Although the Lauries are important to the story, the principle focus of this piece is Chuck Smith and Lonnie Frisbee, the catalysts for the CC movement.

First Up, Chuck Smith

Many of America’s self-professed prophets claim to know not only when, but even the hour the rapture of the Church will occur. For example, in the 1970s Chuck Smith predicted that the rapture would occur before the end of 1981. In The 1980s: Countdown to Armageddon best-selling author Hal Lindsay claimed that if his calculations were correct the world was about to end. Edgar Whisenant gave us 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be In 1988. A couple of other best-sellers you may recall are John Gribbin and Stephen Plagemann’s The Jupiter Effect and John Hagee’s Four Blood Moons. Lest we not forget Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins’s (father of Dallas Jenkins, producer/writer of The Chosen) best-selling books were made into movies that caused people to become fearful that they’d get Left Behind.

Hindsight is 20/20, so we now know that the predictions in those books turned out to be nothing more than eisegesis and wild speculation. In a word, false.

Books such as these are purchased largely by professing Christians who simply want a glimpse into the future in order to be Rapture Ready. Looking into the future is A-OK with God, right? I mean, inquiring minds want to know what their future holds. It never occurs to them that they are helping to line the pockets of those who write these sorts of sensationalistic books. Not surprisingly, gullible Christians make up the audience the writers and movie-makers market to.

But I digress.

Recently I posted a piece on Jesus Revolution over at Christian Research Network. The author of the article referred to Pastor Chuck Smith as a “charismatic false prophet.” That description of revered CC’s founder did not go over well with some people. Actually, Pastor Chuck was indeed a charismatic. No argument there. However, many CC Facebook friends did not take kindly to the author’s use of “false prophet” even though there is no denying that Smith was accused by some of his admirers of falsely setting a date for what dispensationalists refer to as the Rapture of the Church.

In my research I’ve amassed a plethora of information on this topic. Following are a few excerpts from a 2012 article I stumbled on:

In his 1976 book The Soon to be Revealed Antichrist Chuck Smith writes, ‘we are living in the last generation which began with the rebirth of Israel in 1948 (see Matt. 24:32–34).” You will search in vain in the three verse’s Smith references to find any mention of “the rebirth of Israel.” He repeats the claim in his 1978 book End Times: “If I understand Scripture correctly, Jesus taught us that the generation which sees the ‘budding of the fig tree,’ the birth of the nation of Israel, will be the generation that sees the Lord’s return. I believe that the generation of 1948 is the last generation. Since a generation of judgment is forty years and the Tribulation period lasts seven years, I believe the Lord could come back for His Church any time before the Tribulation starts, which would mean any time before 1981. (1948 + 40 – 7 = 1981).” (Costa Mesa, CA: The Word for Today, 1978), 35.)) If this prophetic math sounds familiar, it’s because the same end-time logic was used by Hal Lindsey in The Late Great Planet Earth in 1970.

In order to cover himself against charges of date setting, Smith wrote that “it is possible that Jesus is dating the beginning of the generation from 1967, when Jerusalem was again under Israeli control for the first time since 587 B.C. We don’t know for sure which year actually marks the beginning of the last generation.” ((Smith, End Times, 36.)) A 1967 starting point to begin calculations and a 40-year generation would mean the rapture should have taken place before 2000. While it sounds like Smith is simply engaging in conjecture, in his book Future Survival, which was first published in 1978 and updated in 1980, his prophetic dogmatism is retained:

We’re the generation that saw the fig tree bud forth, as Israel became a nation again in 1948. As a rule, a generation in the Bible lasts 40 years. . . . Forty years after 1948 would bring us to 1988. ((Chuck Smith, Future Survival (Costa Mesa, CA: The Word for Today, [1978] 1980), 17.))….Smith wrote in 1980 that from his “understanding of biblical prophecies, he was “convinced that the Lord [would come] for His Church before the end of 1981.” He did add that he “could be wrong” but went on to say in the same sentence that “it’s a deep conviction in my heart, and all my plans are predicated upon that belief.” ((Smith, Future Survival, 20.)) Notice the last statement. He may have voiced some doubts, but actions speak louder than words. He made plans based on his beliefs that were founded on his “understanding of biblical prophecies.”

…..

In a March 30, 1989 interview with William Alnor, Smith admitted that he “was guilty of coming close” to “date setting,” and this was wrong. ((Chuck Smith’s interview with William M. Alnor in Soothsayers of the Second Advent (Old Tappan, NJ: Revell, 1989.)) But when we look back over Smith’s statements about the timing of specific prophetic events, we can see that he did more than come close to date setting. He wrote, “We’re the generation that saw the fig tree bud forth, as Israel became a nation again in 1948.” (Source)

Clearly, Smith’s predictions were wrong. The interpretive method he relied on to make such predictions was wrong. In 2013 he passed from this life having to face the reality that he had been wrong about when Christ would rapture His church.

Ironically, in his book Dateline Earth: Countdown to Eternity, Smith criticized another date setter, Edgar Whisenant, for predicting Jesus would return in September 1988. Smith chided: “He was certainly well-intentioned—including about his revised prediction of September 1989, when September 1988 came and went—but he was also dead wrong.” Whisenant was dead wrong? Smith was also dead wrong in his “this generation” prediction.

I’ll include more on Chuck Smith’s false predictions in the Resources below, as space doesn’t allow for more narrative on this subject. One link you’ll want to check out is CC pastor Mike Winger’s recent podcast where he shared with thousands of subscribers what he discovered when he investigated Chuck Smith’s date setting.

Jesus Revolution covered a few of CC’s controversies. One such controversy that was the not-so-hidden-secret that sexual improprieties were tolerated within the CC movement. Why was Lonnie Frisbee called Chuck Smith’s “dirty little secret”? I’ll comment on that in a moment. But first let’s take a look at the infamous “apostle/prophet/mystic” Lonnie Ray Frisbee, his relationship with CC’s founder, and his ongoing battle with the spiritual forces of evil. You don’t want to miss this!

Jesus People, Chuck & Lonnie

With a glazed look in his eyes from tripping on LSD which he was no stranger to, a “dirty hippie” showed up at the Smith home with his daughter’s boyfriend in 1968. “Along Fair Drive in Costa Mesa, the boyfriend picked up a hitchhiker with flowing brown hair, flowing scraggily beard and a Bible clutched against his dusty shirt. The random hippie was Lonnie Frisbee.”

Some say that Lonnie saw in Chuck Smith a father figure he desperately needed. Soon thereafter they joined forces to spread the gospel to a multitude of hippies who made their way to CC from all over the place.

The story goes that the pastor and the hippie “went on to stand side by side off Little Corona beach, dunking thousands of young people in the chilly waters for the most informal and joyous of baptisms. At his Calvary Chapel, Smith taught about the End Times on Monday nights and Frisbee packed in the hippies on Wednesday nights. Church membership skyrocketed. Young people around the land heard about “the hippie preacher in Costa Mesa” who was goofy, brusque and looked as if he’d just walked out of the Bible. “People say I look like Jesus,” he once said, “and I can’t think of anyone else I’d rather look like.”

The Dark Side Of The Frisbee

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil (Heb 5:12-14).

Lonnie Frisbee came from a broken home and was raised by his mother. He was a troubled child who ran away from home multiple times and missed so much school that he could barely read and write. At age six he was raped by a male babysitter, not a onetime occurrence. The sexual abuse went on for years and affected everything about him. At 15 he left home for good and became entrenched in Laguna Beach’s gay underground.

A “spiritual seeker,” Frisbee would often read the Bible while tripping on LSD. He claims he became a Christian while reading the Gospel of John on an LSD-induced high while on a “vision quest” near Palm Springs, California. The group he was with baptized him in Tahquitz Falls. He later said that on a different acid trip, after his conversion, he had “a vision of a vast sea of people crying out to the Lord for salvation, with Frisbee in front preaching the gospel.”

…..

Calvary Chapel’s Chuck Smith was smitten. “I was not at all prepared for the love that this young man would radiate,” Smith said. Smith put Frisbee in charge of one of Calvary Chapel’s ministries, “The House of Miracles,” which ministered to hippies, addicts, and street people. Frisbee led a Wednesday night Bible study that quickly attracted thousands and became an “on ramp” for the early growth of Calvary Chapel. All this despite the fact that Frisbee – though by now married – continued to use drugs and engage in homosexual liaisons….

Before we move on, it is important to point out two things. First, radiating love does not qualify a person for ministry. Pastor and expository teacher Chuck Smith knew the Bible’s teaching on the qualifications for ministry. (See 1 Timothy 3:2 and Titus 1:5-9) Knowing full well that the loving young hippie was unqualified, why did he permit Frisbee to take the helm of one of CC’s ministries? Secondly, his ex-wife, Connie, knew that her husband was in rebellion against God. In Frisbee: The Life and Death of a Hippy Preacher she admitted “At the end of the marriage he told me that he had been staying late in some gay bars.”

…Still, Frisbee’s powerful personality and speaking style had a remarkable impact. The House of Miracles grew and eventually spawned 19 communal houses. It eventually migrated to Oregon and became an important “Jesus Movement” commune, which at one time had 100,000 members in 175 homes spread across the country.

Also, Frisbee was an early influence on later Calvary Chapel leaders Mike MacIntosh and Greg Laurie. But Frisbee’s demons hounded him. He became involved with such fringe charismatic teachers as Kathryn Kuhlman. As the Calvary Chapel movement matured and started seeing the excesses of the “Jesus People” movement, Smith and Frisbee had a break in 1971. Frisbee and his wife divorced in 1973, and Frisbee became a part first of the controversial Shepherding Movement led by Bob Mumford, and then John Wimber’s Vineyard Movement. (Source)

For some, John Wimber is a household name. Most people are unaware that for a short time Frisbee was part and parcel of the Vineyard movement that Wimber led and was instrumental in promoting all its charismatic excesses. What was the Wimber-Frisbee relationship like? They fed each other’s demons:

John would speak and Lonnie would minister. They were the dynamic duo. Lonnie got up there and he’d wave his leather coat and the power of God would come and people would be falling all over these old pews in these Baptist churches. And Lonnie would start climbing over the pews and start laying hands on people saying, ‘Speak in tongues! Speak in tongues!’ And he’d hit them in the forehead and they’d instantly begin to speak in tongues. So I was blown away by that…” (Steve Zarit, Vineyard church member – (Source)

What about his involvement with evangelist Kathryn Kuhlman? According to Margaret English-de Alminana, Kuhlman “helped to shape a generation of Pentecostal/Charismatic theology and praxis by reintroducing a depth of spirituality which harkened back to the teachings of the mystics. She introduced the concept of spiritual silence to a generation of Sawdust Trail Pentecostals known for their exuberant and lively worship services, and she popularized the experience of being “slain in the Spirit.”

Moreover, Kuhlman introduced the concept of silence. What exactly is this mystic practice? It is a “spiritual vernacular known only to Roman Catholics at the time and altogether unspoken by classical Pentecostals, whose services were marked by lively clapping, stomping, shouting, and eruptions of glossolalia, trademarks of the Sawdust Trail tradition. In contrast, Kuhlman would draw her crowds to a hush.

“During one service when a man continued to murmur in tongues under his breath, she spoke to him directly from the pulpit, demanding absolute silence. Her obstreperous crowd complied for endless minutes of utter silence, eventually broken by numerous individuals around the room being slain in the Spirit and dropping to the floor. The phenomenon of being slain in the Spirit, experienced as early as in her ministry with the Parrotts, was brought into the public fore by Kuhlman, who during times of special “visitation” saw entire sections of an auditorium of hundreds at a time undergo the experience.” (Source)

Lonnie Frisbee dedicated three books to that wolf in sheep’s clothing. Why do I call her a wolf? There are a few reasons. One that drew my attention was that Kuhlman was a so-called “faith-healer.” During her show she would invite people to come on stage and when they were a few feet away she would lay hands on them and “slay them in the spirit.” (There is no biblical precedent for this practice.) Kuhlman continually did this to people in front of a huge audience. Moreover, she blamed this unbiblical practice on the Holy Spirit. Uber heretic Benny Hinn, a disciple she never met, sat in the audience during one of her shows and incorporated her antics into his own stage act! There’s a video on YouTube showing Hinn visiting her grave, something he does every few years. He speaks softly, reverently of the woman he says touched his life….the woman he met the Holy Spirit through.

Kathryn Kuhlman was also a false prophet as you will see in a video produced by Jordan Riley posted below. Jordan has included a clip of her telling a group of young people that they’d be the last youth generation before Jesus Christ returns. Like Benny Hinn, Lonnie Frisbee spoke of the word-faith heretic in glowing terms: “This unusual and unique woman [she was certainly that] taught me about the Holy Spirit and she is my absolute hero of the faith.” (Source: Lonnie Frisbee with Roger Sachs, Not by Might nor by Power: the Jesus Revolution). According to Good Fight Ministries (video below) he went to see her teach many times at the Shrine auditorium and he believed that in some ways he carried her mantle.

Surprisingly, Chuck Smith was guilty of endorsing Kathryn Kuhlman. This is evidenced in this video from her show I Believe In Miracles where Chuck Smith sat smiling while Frisbee chirped about his belief in Jesus and his changed life. The mesmerized audience applauded while Lonnie claimed that sin had been totally washed from his heart by the “baptism of the Holy Spirit.”

That, however, was a blatant lie. Even after his so-called conversion, his egregious sins against God continued. During the show, Kuhlman gleefully introduced Pastor Chuck Smith who seemed delighted to be there. His round face was beaming as he watched Lonnie fabricate his testimony.

Spiritual Discernment – Not So Much

After researching Chuck Smith for this piece, I now have serious concerns regarding his spiritual discernment, and lack thereof, while he was overseeing the Jesus People movement early on, and for several years afterwards. This lack of discernment is highlighted in some of his early books. As I showed you, Smith indulged in speculation that led to date setting which caused confusion and disillusionment in the Body of Christ.

While researching Jesus Revolution, I watched a YouTube video of Ruslan KD interviewing Greg Laurie. Laurie did his best to gloss over Lonnie Frisbee’s not-so-hidden sexual sins, i.e., the sin of sodomy. Laurie failed to mention that while Frisbee was working with CC under Pastor Smith’s authority, some people in the church were aware that on weekends he’d have sexual relations with men. On Sunday morning he’d crawl out of bed, go to church…and preach a sermon. During that time, he was married to his first wife Connie, so the sins of adultery and lying were at play. The screen writers chose to exclude these important details from movie goers. What they learn instead is that “Lonnie died in 1993, still preaching the good news and dreaming of another Jesus Movement.”

The truth is that in 1993 at the age of 43, Lonnie Ray Frisbee succumbed to AIDS and died a horrible death. His service was held at the famed Crystal Cathedral, the ginormous glass building erected by Robert Schuller of The Hour of Power. (After Norman Vincent Peal popularized the “power of positive thinking,” Schuller glommed on to it and greatly encouraged New-Thought, man-centered, self-esteem theology.) One can’t help but wonder why Lonnie Frisbee was buried in the Chrystal Cathedral Memorial Gardens.

The Bible makes it plain that believers are to mark and avoid those who cause division in the church. And yet Lonnie Frisbee aligned himself with self-serving rank heretics such as John Wimber, Kathryn Kuhlman and Robert Schuller.

I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them (Romans 16:17).

Although they parted company in 1971, Chuck Smith spoke at Lonnie’s funeral. His former pastor and mentor proclaimed to mourners that he was a spiritual son to him, also a Sampson-like figure who was “powerfully anointed by God” but a victim of his own struggles and temptations.

Victim?

For Pete’s sake. Lonnie Frisbee indulged in drugs and homosexuality much of his life – he died of AIDS. This will undoubtedly ruffle some feathers, but here goes. All that I’ve learned about Lonnie’s lifestyle causes me to wonder if he was truly saved. Some people who knew him believe he repented of the lifelong sins of drugs and sodomy, while others say he remained unrepentant. My question is, did he repent of false teaching before he died? No one seems to know the answer.

There’s a 1990 video below that was recorded during a talk Frisbee gave shortly before his death in 1993. Near the beginning of his talk, he shared that his calling is “apostolic” in nature. “I am a seeing prophet. I am a mystic. I have experienced what Roman Catholics call infused prayer with God.” What exactly is infused prayer i.e., infused contemplation? In a nutshell—and this is important–it is an ancient Roman Catholic mystic monk practice many Evangelicals have embraced. Infused contemplation is supposedly “infused by God and is not attained by human effort. It is called the prayer of union…” What’s described here is contemplative prayer (CP) which is highly unbiblical. The aim of CP is to “lift the individual from the earthly mundane into a higher “spiritual plane.” In other words, CP takes practitioners into altered states of consciousness whereas biblical prayer is spending time talking with God. CP seeks to experience God in an inexplicable way. It’s an experience unlike anyone else’s. What is biblical prayer? In short, it is spending time analyzing and meditating upon God’s sacred Word.

Lonnie Frisbee shared with the audience that he was a mystic and practitioner of infused prayer. He might as well have boasted that he was in the process of transitioning to Roman Catholicism. Evangelicals will always steer the sheep away from going over the cliff that is apostate Roman Catholicism for the reason that it holds to a works-based salvation that saves no one. Frisbee didn’t know that? Of course he did!

Steve Zarit (above) revealed what went on as Wimber and Frisbee ministered to a church full of people. Where in Scripture do we see the Apostles behaving like complete buffons? Did Wimber and Frisbee’s “performance” bring glory to Almighty God? No! Make no mistake. Both men were false teachers.

Lonnie Frisbee held beliefs that were in opposition to what the Holy Spirit inspired Scriptures teach. Unfortunately, Chuck Smith and other Calvary Chapel leaders chose to overlook Lonnie’s sin and the charismatic excesses he introduced to new converts, who were completely devoid of biblical understanding and discernment, under some sort of misguided notion that people getting saved and quickly baptized was all that mattered.

If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works (2 John 1:10-11).

Quick Digression

Speaking of Catholic mystics, an actor who has become famous overnight, recently visited Lonnie Frisbee’s grave site. You will be astonished to learn the actor’s name and why he felt compelled to visit Lonnie’s grave. The famous actor is….drum roll please….Jonathan Roumie! For those who are unfamiliar with the name, he’s best known for playing Jesus in The Chosen and most recently Lonnie in Jesus Revolution. Jonathan Roumie is a devoted Roman Catholic. During an interview he admitted that he spoke to the deceased “prophet-mystic.” Wearing a serious expression, he revealed the following to Kate O’Hare:

I sat by [Lonnie’s] grave and prayed a rosary with him. The space to his right is empty. So I got to sit down…At one point I even laid down because I just thought it would be kind of interesting to try and connect in some way…I said, “Lonnie, I want to honor you with this film…if it’s a good idea that I do this film, have somebody give me a sign, have God give me a sign. The minute the words left my mouth, behind me there was a door left open to the cathedral, and this giant cord rang out for about 5 seconds. So I heard that and I was like, OK, thanks for that.”

Could this get any weirder? (Partial interview below)

Last But Not Least, Connie

In March 2023 Mark Ellis interviewed 75-year-old Connie (Frisbee). Connie told Ellis that she had seen Jesus Revolution and that the film provoked a strong reaction. According to the writer, “the filmmakers failed to contact Connie or consult her about the movie.”

“I can tell you that 90% of the movie isn’t true,” Connie maintains. “The truth is that dealing with people is very messy. And they want to make it very tidy. They’ve tidied it all up so much that it just stinks to high heaven to me — and whitewashed it. That’s not how it was.

If the truth were known, I wouldn’t look so good. Lonnie wouldn’t look great. Chuck Smith wouldn’t look good. Greg Laurie wouldn’t look good. But who would look good? God would be looking stellar,” she said.