Faces of ‘88

The CT news staff tracked down several individuals who appeared on our pages in 1988:

Former detective Joe Daniels’s Christian stance against abortion (CT, June 17, 1988, p. 63) led him to resign from the Jackson, Mississippi, Police Department last May. It was an act of repentance, he said, for arresting three abortion protesters participating in an Operation Rescue rally.

Since that time, Daniels has applied for membership in the Jackson chapter of Right to Life and expects to participate in future Operation Rescue missions. Daniels has temporary work as a truck driver and plans to re-enter Mississippi College, a Baptist liberal arts college located in the Jackson area, to pursue a major in church music.

Edgar Whisenant (CT, Oct. 21, 1988, p. 43), the former space engineer and current Rapture prognosticator, continues his end-times studies from his Arkansas home. His booklet, On Borrowed Time, predicted Christ’s return between September 11 and 13 of 1988.

Though unwilling to make a specific prediction, Whisenant told CHRISTIANITY TODAY he believes his former prediction was a “shout for the Bridegroom,” to prepare God’s loved ones for Christ’s imminent return. Revised calculations, he said, indicate the Rapture should occur approximately a year from his original prediction.

When Steve Hiatt (CT, June 17, 1988, p. 69) refused to implement a careertraining program allegedly based on New-Age concepts, his boss fired him. Hiatt filed a civil suit against his former employer last February in an attempt to set a legal precedent against government financing of such programs. His case goes to trial this month.

Since his initial suit, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued new guidelines protecting employees’ rights against New Age training. Hiatt now owns a thriving cardealership in Tacoma, Washington.

Sandinista police broke up a peaceful opposition rally in the Nicaraguan village of Nandaime last July 10, arresting over 40 participants. One was Roger Guevera Mena (CT, Aug. 12, 1988, p. 60), secretary of the Democratic Coordinator, a coalition of opposition groups.

Guevera’s initial six-month prison sentence by a police court was suspended, but he remains in prison along with 37 other opposition members, awaiting a retrial set in civil court. Human-rights observers caution that since the new presiding judge recently served as an officer in the Sandinista military, Guevera could receive the maximum 30-year sentence.

Ukranian evangelist and dissident Vladimir Khailo (CT, Feb. 6, 1988, p. 40) immigrated to the United States with his wife and 18 family members last January. Despite assistance from church members and human-rights groups, Khailo has experienced trouble adjusting to his new environment. He suffers paranoia—in part from drugs forced upon him during his six-year ordeal in a Soviet psychiatric institution—and has cut ties with the church in suburban Chicago that initially helped him immigrate.

Khailo declined an invitation to address President Reagan, although he has traveled to Germany to meet with other Soviet refugees on at least one occasion.

Conservatives were shocked this spring when embattled Attorney General d Meese unexpectedly fired his spokesman, Terry Eastland (CT, June 17, 1988, p. 66), for “not adequately defending” him against criticisms. Eastland is now a resident scholar at the National Legal Center for the Public Interest, conducting a study on the independent counsel law. Eastland, a member of Fourth Presbyterian Church in suburban Washington, is also a political commentator on National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered” program and is writing a book on conservatism and the presidency.

One of the most popular songs on the radio last Christmas featured the voice of six-year-old Sharon Batts (CT, March 4, 1988, p. 51). The song, “Dear Mr. Jesus,” was a prayer for abused children and prompted thousands of requests for it to be played on secular stations nationally.

Sharon has spent this year performing across the country at fund raisers for child-abuse causes and is already booked through October 1989. She does schoolwork as she travels and recently finished her fourth-grade science-fair project, according to her mother, Jan.

Earlier this year, Sharon joined about 75 other Christian artists to record the song “Carry the Light,” written by Christian singer Twila Paris. The song is a plea to reach the whole world with the gospel.

In 1988, the District of Columbia saw a record number of drug-related homicides—a fact that highlights the importance of antidrug efforts like those of Willie Wilson (CT, Oct. 7, 1988, p. 46) and his Union Temple Baptist Church. About 30 young people now participate in daily group-counseling sessions as part of the new program Wilson started earlier this year to help teenagers make the transition from treatment clinics to normal life. The church has also just produced a training manual for teachers or parents who want to start drug-abuse prevention clubs in local schools.

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