Harold Northup

I was a drunken logger when I stepped into an Apostolic Faith church with my mother in 1939. She thought I was too far gone for the Lord to do anything for me. In the logging camp, I lived the worst kind of life. Drink was all I cared about. I was a liar and a thief—I would even steal from my best friend. It seemed there wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do in sin.

I was miserable in the life I was living. My heart was full of sin and heartache. I was discouraged and down in the depths of despair. But in the darkest hour of my life, someone invited me to a church service.

As I sat in the meeting, I heard the sacred music and the Word of God. Oh how good the testimonies sounded to me! I heard an amazing story—that God answered prayer, delivered men from sin, and gave real peace. It all registered with me. I had been to many different churches, but I had never heard anything like that before. That was a real message to me. Tears began to fall as I realized that there truly was a God in Heaven and that He loved even me.

After the service, I went forward and just fell in a heap at the altar of prayer. I began to pour out my heart to the Lord. I didn’t know anything about salvation, so I just asked for mercy. I said, “God, will You please forgive me for the terrible life I have lived?” As I prayed, I gave my life unreservedly to God, and something happened. The Heavens opened and the love of God filled my soul. When that love came in, the old devil had to let loose. God filled my heart with more joy and happiness than I ever knew the human heart could contain. He gave me the peace I had searched for. It came right from Heaven, and changed the whole course of my life. I lost all my sins right there.

I went home to the logging camp singing the praises of God. I cleaned the tobacco and whisky out of my house; the desire for such things was gone. When I awoke the next morning, that wonderful peace was still there, and I was able to go to work among the loggers and live for God.

That first day, I dug out my dust-covered Bible which was brand new, and began to read it. I realized that I needed to make restitution for the many things I had stolen. I began to make restitutions and pay back debts. I went to one man who could have thrown me in jail. When I confessed to him, he didn’t know what to say so he walked out to his garden and picked me a bouquet of roses. I paid another man for a cow I had stolen from him. He thought it was wonderful.

In the logging camp, I worked on the high rigging and also ran a bulldozer. I have seen the Lord protect me in one hair-raising incident after another. Once, I was building a road and pushing rock over a cliff of about a hundred feet. I backed up at one point and watched the road where I had just been collapse and go crashing down the hillside. More than once I just missed being buried by an avalanche. One time, I was pulling a log when it got caught. As I was working it loose, a huge fir tree came down right where I would have been. Another time I got hooked front and back by a sixty-pound tong. God loosed those tongs or I would have been ripped from one end to the other. How I was spared was a mystery to many. Twice, I’ve been a passenger in a car that rolled, but I walked away both times. The Lord has had His hand over my life. I am thankful He guides through the storms.

I am also thankful that God hears and answers prayer. In 1972, I had a major heart attack. I had been working hard all day packing shingles. When I got home to the boarding house, the doctor was called. As soon as he had inspected me, he sent for an ambulance. I spent three days in the intensive care unit. Then for two weeks, I lay on my back in the hospital unable to even raise my hand. There was no fear in my heart, though. I told the doctor he didn’t have to worry about me, because I had made my peace with God. He remarked, “There are not many who can say that.” As he watched me recover from day to day he said, “It is amazing how quickly you are coming through this.” That was a revelation to me about how God takes care of a person.

In 1980 I had a stroke which was far worse than the heart attack. It was so bad that I couldn’t hold a conversation with anyone. I had to remain lying down most of the day. When the doctor examined me, he said the arteries in my neck were clogged and he would have to operate. I said, “Doctor, I am going to trust the Lord.” He said I might live three months, and then he went his way and I went mine. I think I have done pretty well. I drove from Port Angeles, Washington, to Portland, Oregon, this morning. I look forward to meeting Jesus someday to thank Him for watching over me.

What a thrill it is to serve the Lord and have the hope of eternity. That is worth everything. There is nothing I crave more than to make Heaven my home.