Andre Page

I thank God that fifty-six years ago, I heard this wonderful Gospel—that there is power in the Blood of Jesus to save.

As a boy back in the state of Illinois, I went to church and Sunday school, but my heart was full of sin and I thought I knew more than my parents did. I was unruly and did not want to come under my folks' admonition. I thought if I went out into the world and sought for happiness, I would find it, so I left home at the age of fourteen. I wanted to have my own way, and I did, but it brought sorrow, misery, and heartache into my young life.

I traveled the country looking for a good time, and at the age of seventeen, came to the city of San Francisco. I did not know much about the sinful life when I landed in that big town, and I never expected to go deep into sin, but I was easily led in that direction. I soon became a drunkard and a cigarette fiend on the Barbary Coast with thousands of other young men. I had been looking for something real, but found only heartache and sorrow. The God of Heaven had been talking to my heart since I was a young boy in Sunday school, but I did not know how to get right with Him.

I joined the United States Army in 1901 during the Spanish-America War, and traveled across the world. When my term was up, I was dropped in San Diego, California. I wandered back up the coast and rented a room in Oakland, California, across the bay from San Francisco.

In 1906, Florence Crawford, the founder of the Apostolic Faith Church, came to town to preach in a holiness church hall. The pastor had gone to the Azusa street revival to receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and left her in charge while he was away.

By this time, I was without a ray of hope, and I was contemplating taking my own life because I thought I had nothing to live for. I went to the meetings three nights in a row with a bunch of other young men. We sat together in the back of the hall. On the first night, I hung my head in my hands and wondered why I was ever born into this world.

I heard the men and women of the Apostolic Faith praising the great God of Heaven for what He had done in their lives. They spoke with such authority that I could not help but believe they really had what they said they did. I thought, If God would give that experience to me I would give Him my life. What they were telling about was the very thing I had been seeking all of my life. I had joined two different religious organizations hoping to find the satisfaction that these people were talking about.

After the first two meetings, I went back to my hotel room and was unable to sleep, because God was talking to my heart. On the third night, one of the testimonies came from a young man who had left a good home and spiraled into a life of sin as I had. It made me think of my own godly mother. As I sat there, hot tears flowed down my cheeks and I wondered if God would even hear a prayer from me. Then Sister Crawford got up to preach, and during the sermon pointed to us boys in the back of the hall and fairly dared us to prove God. She said, “Young men, if you will pray, God will hear and answer your prayer." I was stunned. Those words meant so much to me. They put hope in my heart. They told me God loved me.

After the service, I made my way to the altar while shaking under the mighty convicting power of God and fell prostrate at a little pine bench. I opened up my heart, and my soul just melted before God. I did not have to pray long, I just said, “God, be merciful to me a sinner” and the load of sin fell away. When I stood up, it seemed as if I were walking on air. That old burden of sin was gone and in its place were joy, peace, and happiness. That night, God gave me victory and power over the old life of sin and sent me on my way rejoicing.

I have had no desire to go back into the things of the world since God saved me. I love the Gospel today and the fellowship of God's people.