I was a college student. I was studying oceanography. I was also in a rock band and enjoying life. Then because of an overdose on LSD I had a near-death experience. I literally felt my soul leaving my body and going off into this throbbing dark tunnel where I was speeding up and it felt like I was transitioning from time into eternity. I wasn’t ready. That experience shook me up.
I met an Indian Guru. I met a man named Yogi Baja and began studying under him. I liked the intense disciplined regimen. We got up every morning at three-thirty in the morning. We were involved in meditation, yoga or some aspect of our practice until five-thirty in the afternoon. I went into it very very deep to the point where I eventually became a teacher.
I was teaching Kundalini Yoga at four universities in Florida. I had about three hundred students who considered me their Guru. I got a letter from an old friend of mine who told me that he had walked into a church and heard an audible voice say Jesus is the only way. He wrote me and told me all about it. Well, I wrote him back and said, “Larry, I’m glad for you that you found Christianity as your path but I believe all paths lead to the same ultimate goal. Initially, I rejected that idea but the letter kept eating at me over a period of several weeks.
Meanwhile, the Tampa Tribune newspaper did a big article on me and I thought it would increase my class attendance. Instead, it alerted this prayer group in town to start praying for me on a continued basis. They had a twenty-four-hour prayer chain and they assigned somebody to be fasting and praying for me every hour of every day.
One day, just out of the blue, I decided maybe Larry has picked up on something I missed. I am going to dedicate one whole day to the Lord Jesus Christ. Then I’m going to ask Him to give me some kind of supernatural sign today. So, instead of doing my normal Yoga regimen, instead of meditating, chanting mantras, reading the Bhagavad Gida and all the other things we did on a daily basis. All I did was read the Bible and pray to the Lord Jesus. That afternoon I was hitchhiking. I had to walk or hitchhike everywhere because I had made a commitment to own no material things. All I had was one change of clothes and a few eating utensils. Remember, I am still praying. Even though I had left my house, I was still saying over and over, “Jesus, if you are the answer, if you are the only way to the Father, give me a supernatural sign today.” When I opened the door to the van, I looked in and my heart jumped. On the ceiling of the van was a picture of Jesus that this guy had taped there. I knew this was it. This was my encounter. This was my answer. A few minutes later he turned around and said, “friend, can I ask you a question?” I surprised him. I said, “yes, what is it?” He said, “have you ever experienced Jesus coming into your heart?” I said, “no, but when can I?” He gave me this totally surprised look like you are not supposed to give in that quick. He said, “you can wait and come to our prayer meeting tonight.” I said, “I don’t want to wait for a prayer meeting. If I can find Jesus I want to find Him right now.” So we discussed some elements of salvation for a few minutes and then I knelt down in the back of the van with him and prayed a simple prayer. I knew all of a sudden that everything I had believed before was false and the Bible was true. It was this inborn knowledge that I had that I had finally connected with the truth.
That afternoon I went to my yoga class at the University of South Florida and announced to them that it would be the last meeting. We didn’t even do yoga that day. I just shared my testimony about how I found Jesus. Most of my students became Christians as well. That week I went back to all of my classes and did the same thing. I shut down my yoga ashram. My life was completely, completely changed.
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