J.V. Colt

In my childhood, going as far back as I can remember, there was not a time when I did not want to serve God. I went to church and did the best I could, but I got discouraged and said, “I’ll quit.” And I did quit. I left the church, left God, and even denied Jesus.

At the age of twenty-one, I was a brokenhearted man of the world, loving the dances, the stage, and the gaiety of life. Yet many times when at college, amid all its worldly pleasures that charm young people—even in the midst of great banquets and balls with hosts of friends and classmates—I would become so intensely sad and lonely that it seemed my heart would break. I would steal away in seclusion and weep. My condition became so unbearable that I found myself in the clutches of drugs.

Later, I entered business for myself. Money was coming in and my friends were calling me an exemplary man, a business success, but I had sorrow and grief in my heart. Such condemnation would sweep over my soul night after night that I would get up and walk the floor.

I ran from church to church, lodge to lodge, thinking perhaps there was someplace that could satisfy my heart’s longing. There was something inside me calling for a reality that was never satisfied with the nice things I had in this world.

One night, a professional man came to my place of business and said, “Let’s go see a spiritualist.” I went and I was hooked; that very night the devil fastened the fangs of that thing on my life. My wife and I started going to have fun—to get a release from suffering. We would sit at the séance table and the medium would tell us we were nearing the fifth heaven. We got nearer to Hell, though. Instead of bringing peace, spiritualism left a sting. Sorrow and remorse followed us everywhere. For years we tried to find satisfaction in that delusion.

Sin had wrought havoc in my marriage and in our home. It had blasted our hopes and ambitions, and in 1915, my home was in distress. My wife and I were in sorrow as well as sin. She was contemplating suicide, and we had three children who needed a mother. We had friends, we had a good business, we had prestige, but these had all failed us. We sat on the banks of the Umpqua River as she cried, and I told her we would get back to God and start over. She said, “No, it can’t be done.”

Just at that time in our lives, when we needed Jesus the most, we came into contact with the old-time religion. I went to the Apostolic Faith mission and heard people testify. I felt the power of God, and it did not take long to know I wanted what those people had. God said, “This is the last chance for you.” My wife told me it was not for her, but I said, “Lord, I am going to take the way. You take care of my home and family.” Up at a little altar bench, I knelt and turned my heart toward Heaven. I said, “God be merciful to me a sinner.” It was only a few minutes of prayer, but, oh, the change God made in me! The sin passed out of my life and victory came in. Christ rolled away the burden, and happiness and rejoicing filled my heart. I had been filled with spiritualism, but God Almighty broke those chains. He took me out of that horrible delusion. He eradicated it from my life.

God also saved my wife and gave us a happy home. Sin had nearly wrecked our home, and there was no earthly hand that could have helped us, but today there is rejoicing in that home through the power of Jesus Christ.

I never knew it was possible to feel the presence of God way down in the depths of your heart from day to day, and to know that you are saved and can live without sin. I am glad I found the people who were living this. I am glad they told me how to get it. Now I am happy and content, because I am free and right with God.

I worked for a good many years in the large department stores handling hundreds of employees. I had a good chance to test God. He kept me when I came up against the many problems I had to contend with. People would come to me and say, “I have never seen you mad. How do you do it?” I would tell them, “It is not me. It is God in me who does it.” I am glad I was able to be a Christian right on the job. I am not ashamed to proclaim this Gospel.

God has been my Friend and my Healer. When I was almost at death’s door, unable to utter a word, I just breathed a prayer out of the depths of my heart and God healed me and raised me up. This old-time religion is far better than all the glitter this world ever afforded me. I certainly recommend it.