Alba Green

I was just a young man on the downward road. I spent my time in pool halls and seeking the pleasures of the world; all it gave in return was sorrow and remorse. In a little meeting, I went to the altar and poured out my heart to God. He wonderfully saved my soul; the peace God put in my soul that night I never knew a man could have!

God took out the blasphemy, the temper, and put in victory. Habits and old appetites for sin were gone. I wanted to go and pay all the debts I said I never would pay, and take back things I had stolen. The power to “go, and sin no more” was mine.

As I went down into the coalmines the next morning, at the bottom of the shaft, I heard one of the boys use a common swear word. Something spoke in my soul and said, “You are changed.” For years I had been an awful blasphemer; but that day I turned around in utter surprise as if I had never heard a swear word before. The glory of God was in my soul because of the change in my heart.

He wonderfully saved my soul; the peace God put in my soul that night I never knew a man could have!

A few years ago I was shipwrecked on Puget Sound, about four miles from shore. We struck a sunken log or something in the middle of the Sound and the boat filled with water and went down in two or three minutes. On board with me was an infidel. The waves went over me, but I looked up to God and said, “Glory to God, I have Jesus Christ!”

The infidel had made fun of me that morning, but he turned around and said, “I’m glad somebody on board has faith.” I was glad I had Jesus Christ. I began to pray and said to the infidel, “Well, there is a God, isn’t there?” He prayed and said, “Lord, I am not ready to go.” But I could look up and say, “Lord, I am ready to go.” My sins were all sent before to judgment.

I saw the infidel washed from the piece of deck we were riding on, and I lost sight of him in the darkness. After four or five hours in the water, I got ashore and reached a fish camp. The next morning we found the body of the infidel. The sheriff said to me, “We have picked up lots of men on this beach, but they were dead when we got them. You are a lucky man.” I said, “Yes, but it was God,” and I witnessed to the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. When the first wave went over me that day, the promise came—“The waters shall not overflow you.” I praise God for this wonderful Gospel!

Several years ago, I met with an accident, and fell about fifteen feet off a ladder, and broke my arm in two places: one just below the shoulder and one above the elbow. Two or three different doctors who examined me said it was an awful break, and that I would not use it again. I looked away to the Lord and said, “Lord, You know what it is all about. I don’t know.” I didn’t have a fear in my heart. Down through the years I had trusted Him; now I was lying on a hospital bed and I could trust Him again.

I thank God today for this wonderful Gospel.

They put me in traction for about two weeks, and then they put my elbow in a cast. They told me to come back in a week and they would take that cast off and put another one on my shoulder. When they took the cast off they sent me to the X-ray room. After they looked at the picture, the doctor came back. He said, “Green, you can go home.” I asked, “What about this shoulder?” He said, “It is all well.” It took just two weeks, and I was a man almost 72 years of age. I have the use of my hand. People say, “It is a wonderful miracle; they cannot understand it. A child would have been in a cast longer than that.” But my bones are together and all right today.

It has been over 57years ago, that God saved my soul, and I can say I have found Him a Friend that sticketh closer than a brother. God has taken care of me, my wife, and my children. We have trusted Him in sickness, even to death’s door; but He has not failed us. I thank God today for this wonderful Gospel.

Alba Green was born 8-17-1882, and saved at 22 years in 1904. He brought his family to Portland in May 1921 to attend the Apostolic Faith Church. His first meeting was on Friday night, and his brother took him up to meet Sister Crawford. She asked him what he felt about the meeting. His remark was: “There is enough power to convert the world.” The next day he was at the campground helping to build the tabernacle.