Lester Frank

I was a church-going hypocrite, although I did not want to live a hypocritical life. I professed to be a Christian, but I could not stop chewing tobacco, lying, and stealing. I tried many times to quit those habits, but they had me bound. I attended church, and had even walked to the front one time. I was looking for something real, but the preacher just shook my hand and wrote my name in a book. I was baptized in water, and I joined the Endeavor, but these things did not change me. I needed salvation.  

I was discouraged and brokenhearted when I heard the Apostolic Faith people telling the way out of sin at a street meeting in Oregon City, Oregon. I listened to the people testify, and they pointed me to Jesus. They said God was real and He would hear and answer my prayers. They gave me one of their church papers. I took it to the mill where I worked and pondered over what it said.

Later, I went to an Apostolic Faith meeting in Portland, Oregon. At the close of the service I raised my hand for prayer and went to the altar. As I bowed my knees, God melted my heart. It was the first time in my life that my heart had melted. I cried out to God for mercy and said, “God, give me what these people have.” My whole life was wrapped up in those few words. It was the first real prayer I had ever prayed. God did a real work in me. He took out the sin and changed the very desires and nature of my heart. He set me free, breaking every habit and appetite that had a hold on my life; He took out the lying, stealing, and craving for tobacco.

The temper that I had been bound with was gone. Before, I would get mad at the least little thing and abuse my best friends. I quarreled and fought with the men at the mill all the time. It seemed I hated everybody, and I was not able to overcome that temper. Many times I went home and threw things around. My wife would sit holding the baby and crying. I seemed possessed. Though I was young in age, I was old in that kind of life. These days I love my fellowman, and I love my family.

When I received salvation, God healed my sick and afflicted body right at the altar. I had a terrible disease; my body was covered with eczema. I had been poisoned in a sulfite mill years before. Doctors and medicine had failed to bring relief. The doctors said I had the worst case of eczema they had ever seen. They exhausted their skills trying to cure me, even holding a torch to my body in the hope it would kill the germs. At work, I would tear off my clothes and rub medicine all over myself whenever I could. My chest was raw and bloody, so I had to stay wrapped in bandages. I was in torment all the time. When I prayed an honest prayer, though, the power of God came down and saved me and lifted that disease right off my body.

After God saved me I began to clean up the crooked trail I had left behind. I paid debts I had never intended to pay. God gave me the grace to make difficult restitutions and confess my wrongdoings. He helped me go to the paper company in British Columbia, Canada, and confess what I had stolen. I even apologized to an officer for a fishing violation. I told him my testimony and he grabbed my hand and said, “Stick to it. I know it is right!”

I praise God for the reality in my heart, and for joy, peace, and happiness—things I never had before. There is victory in this glorious Gospel.