Faith in A True Believer

By Alessandra Stanley/Washington

Shortly before 6:30 each weekday, the gray Toyota station wagon glides down the driveway and stops a few feet beyond the steel security fence in Great Falls, Va. Lieut. Colonel Oliver North rolls down his window to greet the watching press corps shivering in the dark. Ever cordial, the former National Security Council aide exchanges light banter with the group. A photographer warns him that an accident is already clogging commuter traffic, and North retorts in mock dismay, "You mean I have to listen to the news?" A few flashbulbs pop and North speeds down the narrow country road to U.S. Marine Corps headquarters near the Pentagon, where he has been assigned a routine desk job writing briefing memos for the Service Plans and Policy section.

North's career and reputation have fallen into limbo since Nov. 25, when he was fired by Ronald Reagan for his central role in the Iran-contra scandal. The man whom the President described as a "national hero" has become a pariah to the embattled Administration. White House aides depict North as an overzealous underling who misled his colleagues and superiors and perverted the President's foreign policy. When a high-ranking Reagan official asked about inviting North for dinner, the State Department's legal adviser, Abraham Sofaer, told him to "forget it."

But while the former NSC aide has been ostracized by official Washington, conservative admirers have rallied to his cause. North says he has received more than 10,000 letters of support from across the country, and some $60,000 has been donated to the Oliver North Legal Assistance Fund, established by North's friends in the Marines. The Conservative Caucus, a right-wing lobbying group, is also using North's name as a hook to solicit funds for the contras. The confusingly named Oliver North Defense Committee has raised $40,000 that will be used to lobby Congress for more aid to the Nicaraguan rebels.

North's most devoted supporters are the evangelical Christians with whom he shares a passionate faith. Although North was raised as a Roman Catholic, he is an active member of the Church of the Apostles, an Episcopal congregation in Fairfax, Va., noted for its charismatic practices. Members of & this congregation offer special prayers for him. Virginia-based Televangelist Pat Robertson dubbed the Marine a "sacrificial lamb" on his Christian Broadcast Network. In his present straits, North derives considerable solace from his religion. "His faith has been very important in this time of stress," says North's friend and fellow parishioner John Mumford.

In charismatic churches, worshipers occasionally experience faith healings and speaking in tongues (glossolalia). Despite his hectic schedule on the National Security Council, North always tried to find time for his faith. He attended Sunday services at the Church of the Apostles and participated in Bible studies at the monthly men's fellowship meetings. "He wasn't a celebrity," Mumford recalls. "He was there to worship just like the rest of us."

Among the NSC staff, Colonel North was discreet about his beliefs, but he has eagerly shared his experiences with outsiders. Two years ago, he told a complete stranger about a healing he had undergone. The Rev. Stephen King, an evangelical pastor at the Cherrydale Baptist Church in Arlington, Va., recalls that North sat down next to him in a barber shop and joyously recounted how a few years before he had been contorted by wracking back pain while in the field with a group of officers. One of the officers, a fellow charismatic, knelt down before North and prayed fervently. Moments later, North reported, his backache vanished. "He has a personal relationship with Jesus Christ," says King. "It's a driving force in his life."

Only a few of North's White House colleagues were aware of the depth of his faith. In his current straits, however, religious belief has apparently become more important to the swashbuckling Marine -- and more visible than ever. At the parking lot of Marine headquarters in Arlington, Va., North's gray station wagon is easily spotted. Alongside similar autos sporting SEMPER FI decals, North's car displays only one bumper sticker, the popular prolife slogan, GOD IS PROLIF-IC.