Harlan Bishop

I praise the Lord that I have joy, hope, and peace in my heart. I thank God for the value of Christian training, and for the dividends it paid in my own family. I had the privilege of being brought up in the Gospel, of being reared in a Christian home in a large family. My mother was saved a number of years before I was born, when Brother Frost went out to Selma, Oregon, and preached the Gospel in a little school house.

Through the teachings in that Christian home, the sound doctrine of the Word of God was planted in my heart as a child. There were nine of us children, and we were taught to pray. We had a family altar in the home; every morning and every evening the Bible was read and we had prayer together. When we couldn’t get to church, we would gather around the piano and sing the old hymns. I’m glad God answers prayer. All nine of us children are in the Gospel today.

At a young age I realized that if I expected to make Heaven my home, I needed to have a change of heart; to have my sins forgiven. I needed to repent of my sins and call upon God for mercy. As a young boy in grade school, I asked God to forgive me of my sins. As I prayed, Jesus heard me and made a change in my heart. He took away the sin and condemnation and gave me victory over sin, and peace, joy, and happiness in my heart.

In 1943, we moved to Medford, Oregon, and became a part of the Apostolic Faith Church. How thankful I was that I could get into those early morning prayer meetings on Sundays and Wednesdays! It meant a lot to me.

In high school, the Gospel was still very real to me. I had a part-time job working in a box factory in Medford. I would take my Testament out during the noon hour and climb up in the midst of those lumber piles and read it.

I am thankful that down through the years Jesus has been real in my life, whether it has been in a Christian home, or in the Army, or on the job. I have seen miracle after miracle in our home and God has never failed. In every situation, He has proven true. The Gospel of Jesus has satisfied my soul and been the very center of my life. It is the joy of my life to serve the Lord.