CHAPTER TEN
When I arrived home my wife said, "A man was here this morning wanting to hire you. He will give you $4 a day." He was a good holiness man. So after doing some needed things the next morning, I set out, walking, to go see the man. About a mile from our place there was a railroad. As I started to walk up the tracks, it seemed that Jesus met me. No, I could not see Him, but His presence was real. The Lord said, "Pearl, what are you going to do about that call to preach? What are you going to do about this work?" I said, "Lord, you know I didn't get but $36 last year." He said, "Did not you fare better than this year?" I said, "Yes, Lord." He said, "I called you to preach the acceptable year of the Lord, not part time." I lifted my cap, knelt down, and said, "O Lord, I will preach the gospel, if I never see my family alive again; if the last friend forsakes me, and I get so poor I have to go barefooted and make my clothes from grain sacks." The Lord said, "You furnish the man; I will furnish the places and the grace. I will give you the message and take care of you." That was the biggest deal I had ever heard of. I took the Lord's promise and said, "I will do it." Oh, Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! He has done that very thing. He has furnished the grace, the places to preach, my clothing, and supplied my needs to this very day.
I got up, walked right on toward where that man wanted me, but I walked in the presence of God. When I came near where the men were working and where the man wanted me to work, it seemed the Spirit began to move on and I had to nearly trot to keep up with Him. I spoke to the men. The man that wanted me to work said, "Wait a moment." I said, "I don't have time." Then he said, "Do you want a job?" I called back, "No, I have one with the Lord," and hurried on. I walked five miles farther, nine miles in all, and came into Oskaloosa, Iowa. I went into the Leader Store. One of the clerks came up to me and said, "Anything I can do for you, Mr. Poe?" I said, "No, I am just waiting on my Lord." He looked at me and turned to leave when in stepped a preacher. He said, "Well, praise the Lord, Brother Poe. What are you doing?" I answered, "I am cut loose to do anything, anywhere the Lord wants me." "Will you go with me to West Grove, Iowa, and hold a meeting in a Friends Church?" "I will." I walked back that nine miles, prepared to go to the meeting and didn't have a cent. I borrowed a dollar from my mother. That paid most of my way and I caught rides the rest of the way.
With no money, I could not even send a penny postal card home.
Christmas came in a few days. I could send no greetings to my family. I was asked to eat dinner at a rich man's home. His rich brother was there. The table was loaded with a bountiful meal. I was called on to ask the blessing, but wept while doing so. I asked to be excused; I couldn't eat. We were poor and I did not know how my family was faring. I had arranged for them to get anything they wanted at the store, but I could not even send a card to them.
I went out behind the barn and wept and told God I was glad He had saved me, sanctified me, and called me, and asked Him to especially bless my family and give me many souls. I meant it when I told Him that I intended to go through with Him at any cost.
The next day I received word, "Daughter Ethel has double pneumonia and double mastoids. Come home." I went to get my things, and the Lord said, "You told me you would preach if you never saw your family alive again," and I could not go home. By this time we were having seekers in the meeting and a great visitation from God in the community, inasmuch that I was being accused of hypnotizing people. The second day word came, "Ethel is worse. Come home at once." Again the Lord reminded me of my promise. In about three days the doctor wrote. He didn't think Ethel would live and thought I should come home. Again the Lord reminded me of my promise and impressed me that if I went home before He released me, she would die. If I expected Him to keep His promise, I must keep mine. The future hung on this.
I stayed for two full weeks after getting word of Ethel's illness. Eighty-seven people claimed to be saved and sanctified in that meeting and 23 were called to the Lord's work.
I was given a dollar right after Christmas so I was able to write home. I wrote many times telling my wife that as soon as I felt the Lord would let me, I would come home. Poor woman, how the enemy must have tormented her during this time, for she didn't know the awful battles I had been going through and what I had promised the Lord.
The day I left for home, the church folk made up an offering and gave me $160. I owed more than that for rent and groceries, but how thankful I was for it. I was called to pastor that church until the yearly meeting. I accepted, and we had no Sunday services without seekers.
When I arrived home from the meeting, we had company. Poor little Ethel had been given up to die. She had not slept for five days. Great sores were on her head, and the water that came from her ears had nearly eaten through. She appeared almost dead.
I had eaten no dinner or supper and I had walked three miles to get home. It was now 9:00 p.m. I asked if there was something to eat, and was told that a hypocrite such as I did not need anything to eat, and other bad words accompanied the statement. I said nothing. After I had eaten a little fruit, my wife said, "You will have to go down town and make arrangements to take Ethel to a specialist." I said, "May I pray first?" The reply was, "God will not hear a hypocrite like you pray."
I read three verses of Scripture, "Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do." "These signs shall follow them that believe." "They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. I knelt by Ethel's head (she was lying on her mother's lap) and said, "Dear Lord, I can trust You to heal my girl on these promises," and touched her head that was so sore. I prayed a few words and thanked Him for healing her. By this time she had quit moaning and had gone to sleep. There was great rejoicing in my heart. I calmly said, "She is healed, but I will go as you have asked." When I returned, Ethel was sleeping soundly. About 4:00 a.m. she aroused and said, "Drink." It was given her, and she went back to sleep at once.
The next morning as I was getting ready to go to the specialist, a neighbor woman came in. She asked wife about Ethel. She replied, "She is asleep now." At that moment the car drove up to take us, and the neighbor slipped out the back door. Ethel did not wake up until the doctor wakened her. He checked her lungs and her ears, then double checked her. He said, "There has been a miracle; she is healed. Take her home and feed her." We were soon back home, happy in the Lord's doings.
As I was putting on my work clothes, that same neighbor woman came again. She had not seen me and did not know that I had come home. She and some others had stirred up the people that when I should return, I should be mobbed, tarred and feathered. She asked, "How is Ethel?" Wife said, "Her father came home last night and he read some verses from the Bible and laid hands on her and said, 'Lord, I can trust You to heal my girl on that.' And the Lord did. The specialist examined her well and said, 'There has been a miracle; she is healed.' " The woman said, "Where is Pearl?" Wife said, "Changing his clothes." The woman quietly slipped out the back door and went home. The news soon spread. As I met different ones of my neighbors, they would ask me to forgive them.
I began to make arrangements to move to town. I still owed by landlord. He came over at my request. I told him that I wanted to settle up and would sell my cow. He said, "That offer that I made you still stands good." I said, "No, Joe, that cow is giving bloody milk. If you want to pay me market price for a cow like her, you can have her. I will still owe you some. She brought, over the scales, nearly forty-six dollars. I let a feeder have the calf, and I paid the rent. About four months later I saw Joe. I asked "How did the cow come out?" "She quit giving bloody milk in about a week. She is the best milk and cream cow I ever owned." Well, thank the Lord, I was as honest with that man as I would have wanted him to have been with me. I know my Redeemer liveth, and man must give an account of any dishonesty. God keeps the records, and His book is true.
One night about a year after the Lord had told me that if I would furnish the man He would supply the message, a place to preach, and my needs, I had three letters, each of them asking for a meeting on the same dates. I spread the letters out on a chair and knelt down to pray to know where the Lord wanted me to go. I said, "Dear Lord, here are three places all asking for the same date. I do not know where You want me." I was impressed, "Cedar Rapids, Iowa." "But, Lord, I have no call for there, but if you want me to go, I am ready." It was clear, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I went up-stairs, kissed the children and wife, and said, "I won't be here when you get up. I am to go at midnight tonight on the train. Wife asked, "Where?" I told her. She said, "But you don't have any call there." I replied, "Yes, I have. I have just heard from Heaven and I am to go to Cedar Rapids." I caught the train at midnight, went to Washington, Iowa, and had to wait ten hours for a train to Cedar Rapids.
A blinding blizzard blew up and our train came near being snowbound. They had to buck high drifts. When I got on the train, I met a professor from the State Teacher's College. He saw that I was a clergyman, and asked of what faith. I told him I was a fundamentalist. He laughed a devil-like laugh and said, "Ho, ho, we are going to make you fundamentalists lay your Bibles down in twenty years." I said, "We who?" He said, "We, the Atheist Association of America." I said, "How?" He replied, "We are going to put teachers in the schools to do it. We will put in textbooks with no morals, take out the Bible, teach evolution, and promote games." He continued, "You church folk put on your meetings in the fall and winter. We will put on games and keep the students so busy they cannot attend your meetings. You teach modesty; we are going to teach the young folk not to think seriously on any thing, and that all the God there is, is in nature, and any part of nature they serve is God. When we get them to be immodest, nature will make its demands."
I asked, "Mister, am I hearing you right? Do you mean to say that your plans are to teach our young people that living a loose life sexually is God?" "Yes, sir," was his reply. Then I talked to him about Romans one and part of chapter two. He moved to another seat and I followed him. When he sat down, I sat down beside him. I said, "Mister, you started this, but I will finish now, and God will finish hereafter." God helped me to put it plain to him. Then I told him my experience. He said, "That I cannot argue with you." Then he said, "You know there are forty billion stars." I said, "No, and neither do you know it. In the first place, you can't count to twenty billion, and another thing, God fixed the stars and no one knows how many there are." Then I went back to my subject of warning him, and quoting Scripture until he was like Felix -- he trembled.
I had never been in Cedar Rapids before, and it was dark and with this awful blizzard, I again prayed for needed guidance. After walking a few blocks, I stopped on a street corner and prayed again. I was impressed to look up. There was a large electric sign -- Jesus, the Light of the World. I was sure that was the place. I saw a light in the building. I found the front door locked, so I went to a side door, stepped inside, and saw a man standing behind a counter. Supposing me to be a transient and a stranger, he asked, "What can I do for you?"
I told him of my letters, my praying, and how God had led me there. That man hopped over the counter, grabbed me, hugged me, and shook me until a lot of snow fell down our necks. With tears in his eyes he said, "I never had a more definite answer to prayer in my life, except when I prayed through to be saved." He continued, "Last night at 9:00 p.m. I was praying, 'Lord, send someone here to preach. We need a revival, and the Mission must be kept open each night. Wife is sick, and father is in California. Please send Your man.' " I was there. He told me to "take over" and he hurried home after showing me to the "prophet's chamber" and telling me that I would eat my meals on the third floor with the matron and warden of the rescue work. That night we had about a half dozen come in off the streets for service and about thirty-five who stayed in the building. The meeting got off to a good start and ran for over five weeks. Many prayed through and several were sanctified.
It was at this place where I was given my first suit. Someone had given me a Prince Albert coat, but I felt condemned in wearing it. I felt I had not "proved it," so I asked the brother who ran the mission if he knew who could wear it. We gave it to an elderly Methodist preacher, and I preached in my shirt sleeves.
That night as I got down on my knees, I told the Lord of my need of a suit. I believed what He had promised, and the next morning a man from Marion, Iowa, manager of a clothing store, brought a new suit and handed it to me. I asked him if it were for the mission. He said, "No, it is for you. I couldn't go to sleep last night and, as I was praying, God told me to take a suit and give it to a man at the mission and described you." I had always wanted a dark gray suit. From then to now, I have always had one. I have bought one new suit and felt condemned for doing it. He supplies. Oh, what a wonderful Savior.
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