Lowell C. Montgomery

There is gratitude in my heart that a young man invited me to an Apostolic Faith meeting. I told him I did not need salvation. I said, “I do not smoke cigarettes, drink, carouse around, or play cards.” (I was too cheap to do any of those things.) I was not a thief, and I did my work faithfully. I thought I was all right.

However, I am thankful I went with him anyway. My mind goes back to that first meeting. My wife and I sat in the back row. When people testified, I thought, “O God, I would give my right arm if I could stand before a group of people like this and say I was saved!” The Lord spoke to my heart, “It is going to take everything you have and everything you ever hope to have to get this old-time religion.”

My eyes were opened. I found out I was not so good. There was sin in my life. I had a covetous heart. Everything I got hold of, I wanted to keep, and I did keep it! I deprived my little wife of things she could easily have had. She would bring her check home from work, and I would take it and put it in the bank. She would ask me for something she should have, and I would say, “Do you need it?” Right there and then, a quarrel was on. Because of my covetousness, our home was nearly broken up.

“Lord, sink or swim, live or die, I’ll serve You.”

That Sunday night I realized a responsibility lay upon my shoulders. What was I going to do with the Gospel call? I went out—condemned!
The next morning, someone asked me how I liked the service. I replied, “I didn’t like it at all. I didn’t like the singing, the testimonies, or the preaching, and I am not going back!” He said to me, “You might like it better next time.”

God’s people prayed for us. Months later, my wife and I did go back and continued to do so. God strove with my heart. One time I went out to my car, put my head on the steering wheel and cried like a baby. My wife said, “If you want to go pray, I will wait here.” But I wouldn’t humble myself to do it.

The night finally came when I bent my knees at the altar of prayer and cried to God to have mercy on me, a sinner. The enemy of my soul said, “You can’t get it.” I said, “I guess I can’t.” I got up to go, but I couldn’t find an empty aisle to get out. So I went back to the altar and dropped on my knees once more. I said, “Lord, sink or swim, live or die, I’ll serve You.”

In a flash God saved my soul. The Lord put peace into my heart and took my sins away. The covetous heart was changed!

I went back to the same job on Monday morning with joy in my soul. The Lord helped me do the things I thought were going to be hard. I took my employer into the back room and told him, “Roy, I cannot work here any longer. I was down at the Apostolic Faith Church, and I prayed and God saved my soul; I can’t sell tobacco anymore.” He said, “You won’t have to do it.” He moved me to the meat department.

Before my conversion, I liked to hear the cash register ring. But when the Lord saved my soul, He took the love for the dollar out of my heart.

A little later, the Lord sanctified me. It was wonderful! I knew I was sanctified. After that I heard about the baptism of the Holy Ghost. I did not know what it was, but I said, “I want it, and with God’s help, I’m going to get it.” God baptized me with His Holy Spirit and empowered me for His service.

My wife and I would not have stayed together much longer if I had not gotten saved; but the Lord saved both of us, and we have been married almost forty-nine  years. That is what God did for us. He took away our sins and set us free. We have a happy home, and we have had a wonderful time together these many years serving the Lord. I am thankful that I cast my anchor in the right direction forty-four years ago, and it still holds.

Reverend Lowell C. Montgomery was a minister of the Apostolic Faith Church in Portland, Oregon for many years, and he also served as Secretary of the corporation. Though plagued in later years with many physical difficulties, he modeled a cheerful and loving spirit, and his hearty smile was a lift to everyone with whom he came into contact. He went Home to his reward in 1977.