(Clarence) Everett Wayne

I used to be one of the orneriest old rascals who ever walked on this earth. Most of my life was spent in the beer joints and around the card tables.

When I came to the Apostolic Faith Church, I was a rank sinner. I had stepped out of a card game—the thing that had cursed my life and broken up my home. As I sat at the card table that night, God talked to me. He said, “Old feller, except you do something, you’re a goner!” The Almighty was speaking to my heart, and I knew it. I pushed the pack of cards across the table for the last time. I got right up from that card game and left that place.

I remembered seeing the sign on the Apostolic Faith Church building which said, “Jesus, the Light of the World.” Thank God, He is the Light of the world! I had walked past that sign many times when I was drunk. I had never been inside the Apostolic Faith Church, but God said, “This is the place for you to go.” I went right to the church, passing up every beer joint along the way.

I could hardly wait until the service was over so I could go to the altar. My clothes were dirty, and I was dressed like a tramp, but I knelt at their altar. Not one of the Apostolic Faith people knew me, but they gathered around me and prayed that God would save me. I prayed also. I meant business with God, and He gave me an honest heart. I said, “God, be merciful to me, a wretched sinner.” God heard my prayer and answered. What a change! In a moment of time, the old habits and appetites were gone. I had committed unspeakable sins, but when Jesus came in, a mighty change was made in my heart. God took sin completely out of my life.

My past life was well covered up. I was a loner, and had pulled stunts by myself so there wouldn’t be anyone to squeal on me. But God sent me back over my past, and I straightened up things that could have put me behind prison bars for the balance of my life. I had committed every kind of sin except murder, and I had that in my heart. I went to a railroad company in Oregon and confessed to robbing their boxcars in Idaho. I confessed to armed robbery in Utah. Back in Wyoming, I was accustomed to drinking hard, and every now and then I would be broke, forge a check, and then get drunk on the money. I would get arrested and sent to prison. I had so mistreated my family that they couldn’t live with me.

I had deserted both the Army and the Navy, and was a man without a country. God helped me to confess to the government that I had stolen guns and clothing from them and that I was a deserter. I made restitution to the Navy after twenty-five years of being an outlaw. I had lost my citizenship, but God restored it.

Today I don’t have to sneak around the corners to see if the law is looking for me. God gave me a clear conscience and a clean life. I have joy, peace, and victory in this heart of mine because God is in it. It takes the power of God’s transforming grace to change a man and give him victory over his life of sin. I was hardly living at all before I came to the Lord, but things are different now. The peace of God fills my heart.