Elvin Phillips

As I was growing up, God granted me the privilege of having a Christian mother, but I did not always appreciate that. I turned away from Mother’s God and went deep into sin. I should have known better than to live as I was living, but I wanted to go out and enjoy life. I began going around to the roadhouses, dance halls, theaters, and those kinds of places. My actions didn’t bring joy, they only brought remorse. In four or five years, I found a whole lot of misery. Many a night I wet my pillow with tears wondering how I could get out of the mess I was in.

By the time I was twenty-one, I was married and we were starting a family. One day my wife couldn’t take life as it was any longer. She said, “I don’t care what Elvin does; I don’t care if he persecutes me; I’m going to start a Christian home.” That day in our bedroom she prayed, and God made a wonderful change in her life.

From then on she prayed Holy Ghost conviction upon me. I had thought life was miserable living with a mother and a sister who served God. It was even more miserable living with a praying wife. One Tuesday the load on my heart was so heavy that when I came home from work, I said, “Let’s go to church tonight.”

We went to an Apostolic Faith Church where I had the opportunity to pray. I dropped down on my knees at the close of that meeting, and prayed a simple prayer of repentance. The windows of Heaven opened and God transformed my life. He lifted the load of sin, took the remorse and the bitterness out of my heart, and gave me the old-time religion. The desire for booze left instantly. The filthy language was a thing of the past. I threw my pipe and cigarettes into the furnace that night, and I have not had one of them since. God took the love of those things out, and I could go out the next day and live above sin.

God has continued to have His hand over my life. In 1965, I was hit head-on in a car accident. God spared my life, but my backbone was twisted out of shape. For the next twenty-five years I lived in pain twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year. I slept very little at night, and many times walked the floor in pain. Then at a men’s prayer meeting, I told some of the others, “I can’t ask you to pray for my healing. I feel God may have left this pain in my body so I will always remember He saved my life. But do pray that God will help me sleep.” One of the men said, “Maybe you can’t pray for your healing, but we can.”

A few months later, I was praying before a church service. In my mind, I saw some of my loved ones who needed a physical touch from God. As I was praying for them, the mighty hand of God came down and touched my body.

The next morning I woke up at about 3:30 and started to thank God for His love. As I prayed, I knew something was unusual but couldn’t think what. Then I began to rehearse in my mind and thank God for the night before. Suddenly I realized that I was totally free of pain. God had healed me completely. Man had tried and was unable, but God did it.

I am enthused about this Gospel. I owe God my very life. I praise Him from the depths of my soul for the victory, the happiness, and the real joy I find in serving Him.