W.E. Gotcher

In February 1939, I came in contact with a witness to this powerful Gospel. I went into my store one cold morning and an old gentleman was there. One of the clerks in the store cried out and said, “Here is the old fellow that lives above sin.” I said, “No one but Jesus ever lived above sin in this world.” The old gentleman answered, “I do!” I didn’t say anything, but I took home one of the Apostolic Faith papers that he gave me, and I read the marvelous testimonies in it.

The words struck a chord of response in my heart and spoke conviction to my soul. I did not let on to the old fellow when he came into my store again. I watched him and tried him for many days and he lived the life of a real Christian before me. He proved to me that he was a Christian, and it put me under conviction. One day, he looked me in the eye and said, “This Gospel is the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and there is no fanaticism in it.” That is what had worried me; I wondered if it was the fanaticism that I had seen in other places. When he said that, I said in my heart, I’ll take the way.

My wife was ill, and one day she called me at the store and said, “Something has to be done; I have to have relief or I will take my life. I cannot stand it any longer.”  I went to the doctor to get some medicine for her and then went back to my store. That old gentleman was there and he told me about people who would pray for my wife. He said God could heal her. He gave me the address to the Apostolic Faith Church. I went home and sat at my wife’s bedside. I told her, “Here are the pills. You can take them, but there is only One who can save and heal, and that is the Great Physician. If you only believe, He will heal you.” She said, “I believe,” and I said, “That’s enough.” I went back to the store and sent an airmail letter to Portland, Oregon. That was Friday. The next morning, she got up. She was well! She did a big day’s work and felt better than she ever had.

A few days afterward, I made my way out to a little cottage prayer meeting. I asked one of my clerks in the store to go with me. I dreaded going because it was in a private home, but the minute I stepped over the threshold I knew God was in that place. Tears started down my cheeks. The preacher seemed to preach a sermon just for my benefit. I was under such deep conviction that I sobbed throughout the entire service. I did not go to the altar that morning, but a few nights later I went back with one definite purpose in my heart, and that was to get right with God. I went down to the mourner’s bench and asked God to give me what that old gentleman had. I had seen make-believe all the days of my life; but I wanted something real that night. These people told me I could have it by praying an earnest prayer. I had prayed many prayers before, but those prayers were just from the collarbone up. I asked God to have mercy on me, a sinner. And He did.

God came down and saved my soul, right in that humble cottage prayer meeting. There were not more than a half-dozen people in that place, but God met me as I consecrated my life to Him. I promised God that if He would save me and give me what these people were talking about I would give Him my life for time and eternity. I meant it with all my heart. When I arose from the altar that night the burden of sin had rolled away. God had come down and made a new creature out of me. He broke every habit, every appetite, and every fetter that had me bound all my life. He set me free in a moment of time. God had come down and saved my soul after I had trampled the Name of Jesus under my feet for years.

I went back to the altar, and on the seventh trip to the altar God sanctified my soul. That same night, while the power of God was there, He baptized me with the Holy Ghost and fire. And that’s not all! Later, he saved my wife. As she stepped out into the aisle, she was saved, and then at that altar, sanctified.  

Praise God for a Gospel that preaches restitution that will make a man go back over his past crooked life and straighten it out. Before I was saved, I burned down my house and collected hundreds of dollars in insurance. I had to repay that. Then one day, I suddenly remembered that I had stolen $2800.00 from my wife’s grandmother, an elderly lady about ninety years of age. Everything turned dark. A man came up to me and said, “Are you sick?” I said, “Yes, I am sick.” The perspiration stood out on my face. That elderly lady lived on a pension, but she had inherited a little estate. She put the money in the bank and they appointed me co-administrator of the estate. I went to a lawyer, and through crooked courts and crooked lawyers we beat that poor old soul out of every dollar of that money.

I did not have the money to make it right, but as soon as I said in my heart, “God, by Your help and grace I will go back over my life and I will straighten it up,” I heard the Voice of Jesus say, “Go.” I knew God was with me. While at my store, I went to the telephone and called the Tribune to list my home for sale. I heard a Voice say as plainly as anyone speaks, “You might not have to sell that home.” The light of Heaven came down into that store, and it was as bright as the noonday sun. I had paid the price in my heart and promised God I would straighten up my life. Now He was helping me.

What do you think happened? I had a business that owed $10,000.00 more than it invoiced. I knew of no man that would have come in and taken it off my hands—my part of it. But in thirty days, a man came in and asked to buy my half-interest in that store. He wanted to know what I would take for it. I said, “You will have to give me time to think it over.” I prayed over it and put a price on it. I knew there were certain things about the business that were worth something. I gave him the price. He said, “I’ll take it.” We started taking inventory in June of 1939. The more we invoiced the business, the more we got in debt. It piled so high that he said, “I don’t know why I am doing this.” I said, “I know why you are. God will prosper you.” He said, “Do you think He will?” I said, “I know He will.” Three times he came to me and said, “I don’t know why I am doing this.”

Well, he gave me a check for more than enough to make my restitution and to pay the people I had defrauded. The business has more than tripled in value since that time, and that man is more than glad he did buy my half-interest. Don’t tell me there isn’t a God in Heaven! I thank God for the grace that helps a person go back over that old past, confess it, and pay everything back. Praise God for a Gospel like this!