Faith in A True Believer

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."