Elvin "Bud" Johnson

I love Jesus and I know that Jesus loves me. I want to thank God for Holy Ghost conviction. I was raised in the Apostolic Faith Church and I knew the way to go.

When I was a small boy, I went to church and I wanted to serve the Lord. I practiced the trombone and longed to play it in the church services someday. I loved to go to church on Sunday night. Brother Ray’s trombone would be lying on the top of the piano and he would get up and play it, and direct the congregational singing with it.

I anticipated Brother Rodman’s preaching. I loved to hear that highly educated man stand up at the pulpit. And I loved to hear the testimonies of those giants of God sitting on the front row of the platform. They would get up and tell of the great things the Lord had done for them, making them what they were supposed to be.

But the enemy of my soul came along, and the things of this world began to look bright to me. I laid down the trombone and went out into sin. Oh, how I rue the day that I thought other things were more important than God’s work!

Oh, how I rue the day that I thought other things were more important than God’s work!

I started with the boys, playing basketball. After we would get through playing, they would have some beer and cigarettes. I would partake of that. I went to work for the Canton Grill out on 82nd and Division when I was about sixteen or seventeen washing dishes. I would start about four o’clock in the afternoon and get off at one or two o’clock in the morning. Then, downtown we would go. It was one sin and then another.

Those first glasses of beer and those first cigarettes did not stop. I joined the United States Coast Guard and went around the world. It was not long until I was serving sin to its fullest extent. I smoked up to two-and-a-half packs of cigarettes a day and I was almost an alcoholic. Sometimes when I would be sitting on a barstool, in a stupor from drinking, I would try to tell myself, “There is no God.” I remembered, though, that when I was young, I had blood poisoning—streaks had gone up my leg. I limped up onto the platform to have the ministers pray for me and the Lord healed me instantly; I walked off without a limp.

One night, while sitting in a bar and looking at myself in the mirror, I wondered what life was all about. The bartender said to me, “Why are you so blue tonight?” I told him that I did not know why—but I did. I was sad because I knew that if I were to be cut off in my sin, I would go to Hell.

I am so glad for conviction, because I wasn’t really able to enjoy the sin. No matter where I went, or how far away, I would see before me the faces of those I had heard proclaiming the Gospel. I had been brought up in this church, and I could never forget what I had heard as a child. In my mind I could hear the Morning Star Quartet singing. It was the Lord talking to me.

My mother’s prayers followed me. She was a dear old mom who prayed and prayed and prayed. She would say to those that she knew were prayer warriors, “Pray for Bud, he is in the depths of sin.” I am so glad that one time, after being out on the old Atlantic for about twelve days, fighting a Northeaster, mom’s prayers got through. I thought that ship was going to sink, so I went into the ship’s library and got down on my knees and prayed like mom used to pray. I broke up a Catholic Mass that morning, but God broke the storm. We went in safe to New York harbor—covered with ice, but we were safe.

I had been brought up in this church, and I could never forget what I had heard as a child.

At age twenty-eight, I found myself in a terrible condition. One night, a man stepped up to me and put a gun to my stomach and said, “If I ever see you again, I will kill you.” From that time on God followed me day and night with conviction.

I came to church one Sunday afternoon to bring my sister to a young people’s meeting. Everything changed for me that day. I did not go downtown as I had planned, but instead, I parked my car nearby and walked through the front doors of the tabernacle. I sat down in the back of the auditorium.

At the end of the service, as I was about to make my exit, one of the ministers put his hand on my shoulder and asked, “Wouldn’t you like to come with me and pray?” Something within me leaped. I turned back around and down the aisle we went. I dropped on my knees, crying, and prayed as only a brokenhearted sinner can.

As I prayed, those who loved me gathered around me and prayed. Jesus heard in Heaven above, and a transformation took place in my heart—a heart that had been hardened by sin.

God wrought a work in my life that completely changed my desires; I began to live for Jesus. The craving for alcohol left me and it never came back. The desire for cigarettes was gone, as well as the cursing and the wild life. The Lord gave me power over all sin.

I had to make restitution. I got saved, and here came those trains I had ridden on. I am so thankful it was in my heart to make that restitution.

I was single for a few years after I got saved, and then lo-and-behold, if the Lord didn’t bring Shirley into my life. We have had these many years together. It has been a wonderful life serving the Lord together. He has been so good to us.

We have been in many places serving the Lord: in the Midwest for three years, in Hawaii for two-and-a-half-years, and up and down the coast. I am happy to be able to tell people everywhere I go that Jesus came into my heart, took out the sin and misery, and gave me peace, joy, and happiness.

The Lord gave me power over all sin.

It is wonderful to be in the family of God. For six weeks, the family of God prayed for me as I lay flat on my back. I could just lift my head enough for my wife to put the plate up there by my mouth, so I would get some food in. Ministers came to Yakima, Washington, to pray for me. At about four or five o’clock in the morning my wife would roust them up and say, “Come and pray for Bud. He needs prayer.” They would come and get down on their knees by my bed and pray. Then, the power would come down and the Lord would lift that pain, so I could rest for a while.

I thank God for a faithful assistant. I would call him and say, “Jimmy, come on before you go to school. Come and pray for me.” He would come and he would pray and the pain would leave.

I thank God for a faithful wife. All night long that pain would just be excruciating until finally I would say, “Honey, you have got to pray for me.”  Shirley would come around to my side of the bed and take hold of my hand. She would drop down on her knees and pray a couple minutes and the power would come down. The Lord would touch me.

One day I had to go to have an x-ray. The doctor said, “We know just about what we will find.” Rather morbid, but I did not have any fear. When he got through with those x-rays he said, “It is marvelous. This is wonderful.” He said, “There is surely somebody smiling down on you.” I said, “Doctor, if the Lord has touched me once, He has touched me fifty times. I knew I was going to be all right.”

I just cannot thank God enough for taking that load of sin off of my heart and off of my life and giving me peace. That is a wonderful thing – to be able to go to bed at night, lay your head on that pillow, and know that you have not sinned against God or man. It is just a wonderful life. I praise Him and thank Him that He has blessed me in so many, many ways. I have had peace for fifty-three years, and have had the opportunity to serve Jesus who loved me so much that He died that I might have life, and have it more abundantly.