Paul Struhar

When I was a young man twenty-two years of age, I arrived in this city as a tourist. Sin had robbed me of everything; my health and everything good in my life was gone.

I grew up in the slums of one of the eastern cities. My father was a drunkard. I was brought up in that environment, and I am sorry to say that I followed in his footsteps. I learned to drink and gamble and carouse to my own sorrow. My father passed away when he was young—he paid an awful penalty for the life of sin he had lived.

I saw the error of my ways and wanted to turn over a new leaf, so I joined a church. I signed a pledge not to drink anymore and became the preacher’s right-hand man—even with all my sin. That did not take the tiger out of my heart or the sin out of my life. I would go to the church and then to the shows; to prayer meeting, and then to the pool hall. I was the social secretary of the church and ran the social functions, but there was still that desire in my heart to have my own way—and I had it. For years I struggled on and only became worse instead of better.

My mother was a Christian woman, but she was sick with tuberculosis, and the doctors could not help her. They ordered her to go to a sanitarium, but she did not want to go. Some of the Apostolic Faith people in Portland, Oregon, sent us a church paper. It brought joy to our hearts and my mother desired to go to Portland. One day she asked if I would take her. No one expected her to live long enough to reach Portland.

She hardly expected me to say that I would take her, but she had been praying and God was working on my heart. I said yes, as I was weary and ready to come. I thought I would have a good time, take a few months’ leave from my work in the East, and then go on down through California and back to my work in Pennsylvania. The doctor said it would be a good thing for me to do to build up my body.

When Mother asked me to put a “For Sale” sign on the house, I did it, and the next day it was sold and she had the money. When we reached Chicago, Illinois, she almost died, and we had to get off the train and let her rest for a day. I sent a telegram to my uncle in Portland to have the Apostolic Faith people pray for her. They did pray, and we got on the train again. Mother went to her berth, and there she prayed and consecrated her children and everything she had to God. The next morning as we traveled through Omaha, Nebraska, and she woke up healed. She never had any lung trouble or hemorrhages after that.

We were four days and five nights on the train. We arrived in Portland on a Sunday morning, and that afternoon I brought Mother and my two little sisters to the church to meet with the people of God. After the service, the ministers prayed for her on the platform and she walked many blocks back to where we were staying. The Lord wonderfully blessed my mother and permitted her to live for over thirty more years and to be a blessing to many people, in this country and in Europe, through her letters.

When our family was on the way to Portland, I had intended to pass my two little sisters on to our relatives upon our mother’s death. Instead, God healed our mother, and my sisters were reared under the sound of this marvelous Gospel and both gave their hearts to God.

That Sunday afternoon in the Apostolic Faith Church, the Gospel appealed to my heart. The church people told me that God would give me a new start in life, and I truly needed that. I had the courage of my convictions and raised my hand for prayer. They prayed, and I cancelled the rest of the tour and quit my job in the East. But still I didn’t go to the altar and get saved.

I am glad God sent me back over the old life to straighten it all out, and I had a wonderful time going back and paying the men I had defrauded.

It was my privilege to have an uncle in Portland, Oregon, who was a real Christian. I went to church that Sunday afternoon out of courtesy to him, and with the thought of arguing with the old gentleman, but what I heard in that service took all the argument out of me. I heard a few testimonies of the redeemed. A man testified who had been a drunken sailor and that got me, as my father had been of the same type. He said he was kicked out of his country, put in jail, had his teeth knocked out, and that he had done everything he knew to get rid of the liquor habit, but he couldn’t do it. I saw myself following in the same path. God had saved this drunken sailor and he was living a clean, respectable life.

For many months I went to the meetings. Then I bought a home far from church so I wouldn’t have to attend the services every night. I was working with some people from the Apostolic Faith at the car shops, and I began to get under such awful conviction that I couldn’t sleep. One night I settled it in my heart that I was going to get saved, and it seemed that the load lifted somewhat and I was able to sleep. The next morning I told one of the boys at work, “I want to get to the meeting tonight and make sure.” He said, “We can’t come after you tonight, but I will tell the workers about this and we will put a request in for you, and we will pray for you.” I was there that night to hear the request read!

After the service, I went to the altar, but couldn’t pray through to victory; my heart was so full of doubts. One day, while at work in the shop, I was painting the top of a boxcar and praying. I was thinking of the testimonies I had heard and wishing I had a testimony like that in my heart. That morning God began to deal with my heart. He began to show me what it would cost me. It wasn’t the few hundred dollars I had in the bank, but it was to completely surrender my heart and life to Him.

The thought of a restitution came up before me—something I wouldn’t have confessed for anything. Would I be willing to go back over that past life and straighten it up? I want to tell you, God keeps books, and although I had my life all hidden from my fellowman, God brought it all before me. I said, “Yes, Lord,” and God heard my prayer. I jumped off the boxcar onto a little platform, and my heart was full of joy. It was settled in my mind that I was going to make that restitution. Right there the witness came into my heart that I was saved. The Lord cleaned me up on the inside and on the outside right on the spot when He saved me. No more cigarettes, no more drinking, no more carousing, and no more blaspheming! The old life went out. I couldn’t tell how it went out, but it went.

The restitution that I needed to make was to a storekeeper who had employed me. I had taken his merchandise and money. God gave me the grace to ask his forgiveness and pay back what I owed. I am glad God sent me back over the old life to straighten it all out, and I had a wonderful time going back and paying the men I had defrauded.

God has helped me to say no to the sins that once had me bound and I have stayed with it. My tongue hasn’t slipped for over forty-two years. Though I have worked in the same environment among mechanics all these years, God has kept me. He restored my health gave me the strength to work hard. Today, I am a businessman in this city, with many men working for me, and God keeps me living an honest and upright life. I count it a privilege to live for Jesus.