Bertha Bohrer

I think I am the most unlikely person to be in this church, but I thank God for bringing me here. I was reared in Switzerland, and one day the Lord laid it on my heart to come to America. I did not know why. My own mother could not understand why I wanted to go so far away from home, but the Lord knew.

I was raised a Roman Catholic; I had never been inside another church and had never owned a Bible. From the time I was six years old I confessed my sins to a Catholic priest. I didn’t know the Bible was the Word of God. I trusted in a purgatory. I thought if I didn’t get to Heaven I would go to purgatory and be purged there. But I thank God that this is the place where we get purged.

“We will pray for you right here.”

One day, the Lord performed a mighty miracle in my neighborhood, which opened my blinded eyes. I had a neighbor, a young man, who had walked with crutches for fifteen years. His mother had tried doctors and medicines, but all failed. He was given up as a hopeless case, but thanks be to God, someone handed them an Apostolic Faith paper. It told how God heals the sick and how He could also heal their boy; so the mother requested prayer for him. The Apostolic Faith people came out to their home to pray for him but he had just left the house to go to the doctor. They met him in the woods on his way to the streetcar and they told him they had come to pray for him. He wanted to return home but they said, “We will pray for you right here.” They sat him on an old decayed log, anointed him with oil (according to James 5:14) and prayed the prayer of faith. The Lord healed him right there—healed him instantly! He got up and threw aside his crutches and walked around the woods praising God for what He had done for him. They returned to his home but his mother had gone to visit a neighbor. They called her, and when she saw her son walking without his crutches, she nearly fainted. She told me they had a real prayer meeting, praising and thanking God for what He had done for the boy. I knew that young man well. Many times when I had gone to his home, he would be lying like a dead person. The mother told me, “He won’t last much longer,” but after the boy was healed, he gained weight and became strong and healthy.

It was through this miracle that we were brought into the Apostolic Faith Church. My father-in-law was ailing at the time and the mother of the boy who was healed said, “Why don’t you take him to the Apostolic Faith people? They will pray for him.” I told her that I didn’t think he would go, as he was such an unbeliever, as were all of his boys. We talked to my father-in-law and he said, “I will go if somebody takes me” but none of his sons wanted to take him. I told my husband, “He’s your father and you better take him.” My husband finally consented to it. One evening they went to church together. My mother-in-law came to my home and we waited for them to return. It was 10:00 o’clock then 11:00 o’clock, and finally midnight and still they were not home. We were just going to call the police as we were terribly worried, but then the streetcar stopped and they stepped off. They were so happy, that their faces were shining. They told us what a wonderful place it was and all about the wonderful testimonies they had heard. I told my husband, “It must be a funny place when two such unbelievers can say it’s such a wonderful place!”  I said, “I won’t believe it until I see it for myself,” but being a Roman Catholic, I was afraid to go. I told my husband many times, “I will leave you before I leave the Catholic Church!”

“I will leave you before I leave the Catholic Church!”

One Friday night I went with him, but I told him not to take me to the front because I might laugh. That night, for the first time in my life, I heard people testify of what God had done for them. Something whispered to my heart, “Can you say that?” I couldn’t. They said that God had saved them. Of course, I didn’t know what they meant. They gave an altar call and asked if there was anybody there who wanted prayer. I raised my hand and went to the altar, but I didn’t know what to do or what to say. They told me to pray with them, but I told them, “I can’t pray with you, I’m a Roman Catholic and I confess my sins to the priest.” I knew I was a sinner but I thought everybody else was too, so I didn’t get saved. I just kept looking around.

As we left that night, my husband asked me what I thought of the people now. I told him, “If I can get what they have, I will leave the Catholic church.” I knew these people had love and peace. I could feel it. I was under conviction for about four days, and then I asked my mother-in-law, a strict Roman Catholic, to come with me to the church. I said, “It is night time, and none of our Catholic friends will see us.”

He is the best friend I have ever had.

We took our prayer books and rosary and went. I said, “I’m going to the altar and try God for myself.” I thought we only had to go to the altar once. After I went to the altar, I didn’t know what to do. I looked around again but I couldn’t see anybody with a prayer book or rosary. They prayed for me again but I didn’t know what to say or what to do. I couldn’t understand it. I was hungry for God. I became really earnest and looked up to God, asking him to have mercy on me and give me what these people have. Right then the Spirit of God came in, and I could feel the precious Blood of Jesus flow over my soul and the praises of God just flowed out of my heart. Then the people came and prayed with me again and told me to ask God to sanctify me. I didn’t know what it was but I asked Him and He sanctified me! Then they said to ask Him to baptize me with the Holy Ghost, and He did! I felt so happy and so free. I knew all my sins were gone. I had peace in my soul and all I could do was to praise God. I had never praised God before, in fact I never heard any Roman Catholic praise God.

All the way home on the streetcar that night I praised God. I didn’t care who was looking at me—I was so happy and free. When we reached home, my mother-in-law opened the door and said to my husband, “Here, I bring you an angel!” He knew what she meant—that God had done something for me.

I had been bound with an awful temper but God took it out that night. I confessed it many times to the priest and asked him what I should do. He said to try not to say anything when trouble came up. Well, I tried but it didn’t help, so I gave up trying. I prayed many rosaries and prayers for my sins, sometimes more than what the priest said to do. Many times as I walked home from church with my friends, we said that confession didn’t help us much because we committed the same sins over again, but I thank God, Jesus set me free.

My conversion stirred the whole neighborhood. Many people came to my home and I would tell them what Jesus had done for me. The Catholic priest even came to see me and I told him what Jesus had done for me. Many years have come and gone now, and there have been trials and tests to go through but the Lord has always helped me. He is the best friend I have ever had.

I have much to thank God for. My only prayer to God is that He will keep me faithful to the very end.