 |
 |
 |
|
|
From Manson Family to Jesus' flockFormer cult member tells his story to members of Hanover church
York Sunday News About 30 years ago, Dennis Rice was dodging bullets for Charles Manson. The state wanted to put Manson to death. So Rice helped the Manson Family -- followers of Manson who lived at Spahn Movie Ranch north of Los Angeles -- rob an Army surplus store in Hawthorne, Calif. The plan was to "take out the whole jail" when they went to break Manson out of Los Angeles County Jail. They had about 160 guns stacked beside their van when the police showed up outside the store, and got into a seven-minute shootout with police. "That was Charlie's idea," Rice said about the plan when he recounted his story to an energetic crowd of about 80 members of The Potter's House Christian Fellowship Church in Hanover last week. At 64, Rice lost his bushy beard and instead dons a gray, grandfatherly mustache and a short, traditional haircut. He is changed now, he said. After about seven years in California State Prison at San Quentin for his involvement in the store robbery and the shootout, he accepted Jesus. "I went to San Quentin Bible School," Rice jokes, soliciting a few smiles from the group of energetic parishioners who gathered in the small church. Walking past the church, located in a strip mall off High Street, Rice could've been mistaken for a pastor. He could be seen through the large store-front windows standing on a platform behind a pulpit. On this night in Hanover, Rice wore small oval glasses, pressed pants, and shiny leather loafers with tassels on each shoe that jumped up and down as he paced the stage. The crowd would occasionally offer a "praise Jesus" or "amen" from the rows of occupied folding chairs. For the past 15 years, Rice has been sharing his story at prisons and churches. He founded Free Indeed Ministries Inc. in Tempe, Ariz., to show "what a subtle blend of drugs and sin and music" with the Manson Family did to his life, and what it can do to others, he said. Finding Manson: Growing up in Phoenix as the son of a prominent businessman, he started a rebellious streak at age 13, he said. After reading books by several philosophers who "were saying society was wrong," he became a nonconformist and wanted to "be the most bizarre kid in class," he said. He experimented with drugs and created his own God who approved of everything Rice was doing, he said. "I expected him to come down the street any day and hand me a joint and say 'Here, Dennis. Enjoy!'" he said. He was working in a California bookstore in 1970, a year after members of the Manson family killed seven people and were sent to jail, when he became affiliated with the group and began visiting Manson. "Charlie talked in parables and told little stories, just like Jesus," Rice said. And over the next year and a half, Rice said he began to think Manson was his spiritual leader. Rice was convicted of the robbery and went to jail twice for violating his parole by keeping in touch with the Manson family. "But the third time, something was different," he said. Finding Jesus: He said his mother was praying for him, and he learned of a friend who was "born again." He was placed in lockdown for about 100 days with a cellmate who did nothing but read the Bible all day long, he said. He began reading Christian magazines and learned that Charles "Tex" Watson, another Manson family member, was "born-again." More references to Christianity crept into his life, and soon, he started giving the idea of Jesus some credence, he said. Soon, he was reading the Bible six hours a day. He "felt clean" for the first time in 38 years, he said. "There's nothing but hope in that message," said Gettysburg resident Bob Breighner. A member of Potter's House, 44-year-old Breighner said Jesus saved him from a life of casual drug use. "You can try and find it in self help, changing your appearance, increasing your income, you're still going to come up short," he said. "Without Jesus, I don't know where I would be." "Look at the smile on his face," said Mike Nelson of Hanover, 38. "You can tell he has an inner peace." |
|
|