Walter Robanske

My grandfather was a prosperous farmer in the Province of Bessarabia, then a part of Russia. Prior to World War I, one of his sons was conscripted into the Cossacks and when he came home, had many stories to tell. My father, who was fourteen at the time, listened to what life was like in the military and purposed in his heart to have no part in that kind of lifestyle. He promised to serve the Lord if He would keep him from it.

At age fifteen, my father immigrated to Canada, sponsored by another older brother who was already there. Then, in the process of time, he came to America where he met my mother and married.

After starting a family, my parents visited Portland, Oregon, to seek medical treatment for my father. While in Portland, they met some people from the Apostolic Faith Church. These people had what my father had been looking for, so in 1926, when I was four years old, we moved into a little house in the southeast area of Portland and began attending the Apostolic Faith Church.

In that house was an old German Bible. I could not read German but my parents could. I was a little fellow, and that Bible was generously illustrated with pictures. At times when I would ask, my mother would tell me about the meaning of some of the pictures. One of them was of a Man with something on His back. It was quite detailed, and it bothered me. I spoke to my mother about it and she began to tell me about Jesus and what that Cross meant. In my lively youthful imagination, I said, “If I were there I would fight it.” She just smiled and did not say anything, and the picture continued to bother me.

As the years went by, I was brought to the Apostolic Faith meetings. I heard the sermons and testimonies of wonderful miracles in the lives of people and began to realize I had a responsibility to face. I remember how God used to talk to me. His Word would search my heart, and often I would have trouble going to sleep.

One evening when I was in my mid-teens, I did something about this. I prayed. I wrapped up my whole life in a simple prayer, and then Heaven came down and glory filled my soul. I thank God for that night. It meant a change in my life. After that, I was able to live a Christian life at school, on the job, and through four years in the Air Force. It was not by any strength of my own, but through the help and grace of the One who paid such a tremendous price.

I thank God for the living reality of the Gospel, the ever present help in time of need when things of life press and dangers arise. I enlisted in the United States Air Force during World War II and left home facing a hot war. A few days out of New York, we ran into a terrific storm. I stood back on the high poop deck as the spray and rain whistled around me. I did not know what lay ahead and there were many things to trouble my mind, but a hymn came to me: “A Shelter in the Time of Storm.” Though I was far from Christian friends, the Lord was with me. I had confidence that the God who notes the sparrow’s fall was well able to take care of me. And He did! He brought me through the hottest of the conflict.

One time I was in a building in London, England, during an extensive air raid on that city. That particular area of the city had never been bombed before, but that day bombs were falling all around. When the siren went off, everyone scattered. I did not know where the air raid shelter was so I was left behind. Everything happened very quickly and there was no time to think or pray. However, I had an assurance in times like these that the prayers of the saints back home would carry me.  

I stood between two posts about three feet apart. It was comforting to know that my life and soul were in the hands of One who was stronger than the world. In my soul there was peace and not turmoil. I was glad that my conscience was clear, whatever the outcome, and I said, “Lord, Your will be done.”

It was all over in an instant. The building across the street was in pieces no bigger than my fist and there was a gaping hole in the ground where it had stood moments before. My building was on fire, and I fought the flames all that night, but God had spared me.

The Gospel is real. It is good. It is not just a figment of someone’s imagination or an unproven theory, but it is a living reality. I have tested and proved it for over sixty years under many conditions and found it is good to serve the Lord.

Walter Robanske served as co-pilot of the Wings of the Morning plane which was used during the 1960s to transport ministers and Gospel workers to various evangelistic fields. He also sang bass in the Watchmen Quartet for several decades.