Floyd Halcombe

I was brought up in a good home, but I soon found that something was missing in my life. One day in the State of Virginia, someone handed me a New Testament. On the way home I read the thirteenth chapter of Revelation, where it tells about the mark of the beast and the Antichrist. I was only twelve years old at the time, but it made an impression on me that was to follow me from then on.

It seems strange, being brought up as I was, that I should be ensnared in a life of crime. But it all started with my keeping the wrong company and going to the wrong places.

Later, I was married to a Catholic girl. At that time the priest came to me with the idea of bringing me into his church. I said, “I am not a Christian, never have been a Christian, but I have read the Bible, and under no circumstances would I ever go into the Catholic church.”

In Florida I became interested in horse racing. Then I was introduced to the Purple Mob in Detroit, Michigan and I soon became one of them. This was one of the worst decisions of my life. The Purple Mob was accused of perpetrating the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre in Chicago. I associated with some of the most noted gangsters in this country for a long time, covering territory between Michigan and Florida. With each passing day I became more deeply involved in the life of crime.

Later, I went to work for a car agency in one of the Midwestern states. They were dealing in stolen cars, and I soon found myself involved with them. Before long I became a fugitive from justice. I was beginning to reap a little of what I had sown. There wasn’t a place I could go that the law wasn’t after me.

My life became a series of arrests and imprisonments because of my crimes. On one occasion when I was in prison, I was locked in solitary confinement.

At that time, the Catholic priest came to me again. He told me: “If you will come into the Catholic church we will have you out of this place in thirty days.” He said, “I will be back in thirty days to get your answer.” I said, “I have the answer right now. Under no condition will I come into the Catholic Church.”

A light from Heaven came right through that steel cell and pierced my soul.

I wanted out of prison so badly that I would have done almost anything, but not that. While still in solitary confinement, a man came to me and said, “If you will pray to Satan he will get you out of here.” This was a terrible thing but I did it.

In thirty days I was out, but there was a catch to it. After I came out of that place I could not call my soul my own. I was bound under the influence of Satan. Before long I was back in prison with more time to do. I found that when you get under the power of Satan he will do everything he can to keep you there. I did things I never dreamed I would do.

It was after being in crime, and in and out of jails and prisons for years, that I fled to Mexico. When I returned across the border into the United States, the FBI picked me up. I was tried and sentenced to a term longer than I could possibly ever live.

With no hope of seeing the free world again, I became bitter. I was doomed to spend the rest of my life in prison, without any hope of pardon or parole.

It was during this time that a ray of hope came my way. Two ministers from the Apostolic Faith Church visited me. I also started to receive the Apostolic Faith paper from Portland, Oregon. A man who was in the prison for murder was converted and he encouraged me to seek the Lord. I began to think, was there hope for one who had wasted his life as I had? He saved the thief on the cross and others who had spent their lives in sin, but could He save me?

Before I could find out, I got mixed up in a prison riot, and some terrible things happened. I almost lost my life in the riot, and once again I found myself in solitary confinement – the “hole,” an eight-by-ten-foot cell with a huge iron door. My bed was the concrete floor and I was fed one meal every third day. Severe punishment was meted out for any infraction of the rules. At times, I was hung by my wrists. Men became more like animals than human beings.          

It was in this condition, like the Prodigal Son, I came to myself. Kneeling in the dark on the hard concrete floor of that prison dungeon, I called out to God.  

A light from Heaven came right through that steel cell and pierced my soul. Words fail me to tell of the radical and wonderful change the Lord made in my life. Surrounded by criminals and murderers, I proved it is possible, by God’s grace, to live a Christian life in the penitentiary.

A few days later an unusual thing happened. The two ministers from the Apostolic Faith Church came to see me again. I was given a pass to visit with them. (Usually a person can’t get a pass when in solitary confinement.) I am thankful from the depth of my heart to God for bringing me into contact with the Gospel. I went back to my cell and thought about what they had told me. I prayed, “Lord, if this is the way You want me to go, show it to me.” Miraculously, before long I was released.

If God hadn’t taken sin out, my life would not be worth a plugged nickel to me.

After leaving prison I went to a small city about fifty miles from St Louis, Missouri, to be with some friends and to be near my mother; but soon I felt the need to be among Christians. I moved to St Louis, and there at the Apostolic Faith Church, I found a real home among God’s people.

The Lord restored me to an honorable way of life, and He gave me the grace to straighten up my crooked past. I now have hundreds of Christian friends. It has been my privilege to travel the length and breadth of the United States, witnessing for the Lord in jails, penitentiaries and churches. I am happy to be associated with a people who believe and preach the Gospel in all its fullness.

I have had the opportunity, since coming into the Gospel, to witness to many of my relatives and have seen God come into their lives. An uncle of mine, who had led a very wicked life, was at the point of death. He had been responsible for the deaths of several people. The Lord impressed it upon me to visit him. After driving six hundred miles, I stood by his bedside and prayed with him. Just a short time later he passed out into eternity, but his last words were that he was going Home.

If God hadn’t taken sin out, my life would not be worth a plugged nickel to me. A relative told me: “If you had gone to psychiatrist or a priest, he could have done this for you.” I said: “There is no man who could have done this for me. It was only through the power of Jesus Christ.”

Words fail to adequately express my gratitude to Jesus Christ for redeeming my never-dying soul. If He could change this ruined life, take out the hatred and bitterness, and give peace and happiness to me, surely He can do the same for anyone who will call upon Him.      

There is a wonderful hope in my heart that I’ll anchor my ship in the Beautiful Harbor, where I shall dwell with Christ forevermore.