CHAPTER TWENTY
One time I was called to hold a meeting at a certain place. A rich man, who professed to be a Christian, came to me and said, "Brother Poe, I want to support this meeting. I will pay all the expenses, and I want to give you an offering -- a good one that will take care of your family." He told the pastor the same. There were several persons saved and sanctified in the meeting which continued for four and one-half weeks. One Sunday afternoon, there were twenty-three at the altar. Just as I knelt to pray, the glory struck my soul. I began to shout. I had no more control over it than I could fight back a cyclone with a tooth pick. When I got so I could see, there was not a person at the altar. The people were like bees swarming, shouting, running, and praising the Lord. The man who had made the above promise, was a man who would say, Praise the Lord, and make quite a bit of noise, but when it came to Holy Ghost shouting, he was out. That day he stood with his mouth open, looking on.
That night, while preaching, I felt that someone was getting his or her last call. In the altar call we pulled for an hour for a young man who had driven several miles to be there. He was crying all the while I was preaching. I went to him and told him that Jesus could heal his broken heart (that was my text that night), but he did not come. His father was dead. He had a sister and a mother, a little farm and some debts. He had been going with a wealthy girl who was to have come to the service that night. When the boy went after her, she told him that she was quitting him to go with another boy. The other boy was wealthy, but had some bad habits.
The boy went home from service, convicted and heartbroken, got his shot gun and two shells, kissed his mother and sister good-bye, and drove over to where his girl friend lived. There was snow on the ground. The moon was in full. He fixed the gun on the fence by the barn, fastened a fish cord to the trigger, stepped in front of the gun, pulled the cord, and both barrels discharged their death charges. They missed his heart just a little. He fell, got up, took a couple of steps, and fell. He did this three times before he died. The farmer heard the report of the gun, but thought it was someone hunting, so paid no attention. The boy was found dead the next morning. The girl married her choice, to great sorrow.
The meeting closed and the man, who promised to care for me and my family's expenses, did not give me enough to pay my carfare. In a few days a bank closed. He lost $17,000.00; in another he lost $12,000.00; and in another he lost more. Cattle prices dropped and he lost $4,000.00 more. He told some of the folk that attended the meeting of his losses. A girl spoke up, "Good enough for you. You promised to take care of Brother Poe and his family's expenses, and you didn't give him enough to pay his train fare home. If you had given him a few hundred or even one hundred, God would have told you what to do and you could have saved your money. But money is your god." When I heard of it, I felt sorry for the man, but admitted that what the girl had said, no doubt, was ordered of the Lord.
In a dream one time I saw a certain man coming to meet me. I saw a pit, and a ladder going down into the pit. I saw Satan put a false ladder at the end of the one already there. If anyone would put his weight on the false ladder, he would fall. I saw fire far, far below. The man whom I saw started down the ladder. I called him by name and warned him of his danger, and told him not to go a step farther or he would fall into hell. The dream so impressed me that the next morning I wrote a letter. Using iodine to make it look more like flames, I drew a picture, and told this man of his danger. I told him that he had started down the ladder and that if he went another step, he would go to hell.
The next day four other preachers and I were going down the road in a car. I was driving. I pulled to the side of the road, stopped, told the men my vision briefly, and said, "That mail carrier is visiting, and in a few minutes it will be too late." We were over a hundred miles from where that man lived. We began to pray and prayed until the burden lifted. A few weeks later I saw the man. He had gotten saved and here is the story.
The man had seen something that was heartbreaking and had meditated upon it. He had gone to the hay mow to hang himself. The mail carrier had stopped at a neighbor's and talked for about an hour. I had edged the letter in black. Finally, he said to the neighbor, "I have a letter edged in black; I had better hurry on and deliver it." He honked his horn at this man's mailbox. The hired girl ran out to get the mail, and saw the letter to the man edged in black. She had seen him go in the barn some while before, so she hurried to the barn, opened the big door, and called, "You have a letter from Pearl." Hearing him answer, she looked up. He had a rope tied out over the driveway to the track in the haymow and the other end tied around his neck. He was standing on a beam, ready to jump. He untied the rope from his neck, read the letter, and prayed through.
Suppose I would have said, "Oh, that is just a dream. No use to write." Or suppose I would have said, "Well, we are in a hurry and these preachers will not understand," and would not have prayed. Oh, how we ought to be careful to obey the leadings of the Spirit. We would see a great deal more accomplished for God if we were more obedient.
One time a preacher called me to help him in a meeting in a Friends church. I took all the money I had and started to a town seven miles from the place where I was to help him. On my way over there, as I was walking, a man in a new car had the driver stop and pick me up. The aged man asked me where I was going and I told him. When we stopped at his house I asked where I could find the evangelist. He said, "I have been attending the meeting. You come and stay with me." They had a large house. He was a high-degree Mason and his wife, an Eastern Star. They were members of another church in the town.
We went to meeting early and he introduced me to several people. The singer, I knew well. The evangelist came just in time for prayer. He looked around, and said, "I see Brother Poe is here. He is a minister who is passing through; we will ask him to lead in prayer." I had had a feeling all the way down that I would not get to preach, but still felt I was in Divine order in going. When the preacher said, "He is just passing through," for a moment it seemed a hard blow, for it was not so; he had sent for me. After that I had risen above that statement, I had freedom in prayer and asked God to make people truthful and honest by convicting them of all sin. The man preached. The folk I stayed with said, "We cannot understand this. You say he wrote for you to help, and he says you are just passing through." I showed them the letter and asked them to say nothing to anyone about it. We talked until midnight. Both were under awful conviction for sin. We began to pray. They prayed up against their lodge. He stopped praying and told me how he felt. I said, "Praise the Lord. I had to give up the lodge to get saved." They vowed they were through with the lodge and everything of sin and the world, if God would give them an experience by which they could know for certain that they had been born again. A few moments later they were both on their feet, saying, "It is true! It is true! We know it!"
The morning following, after we had had prayer, the man left the house and was gone about an hour. When he returned, he said, "Brother Poe, I have several families gathered in a home down here. We want you to come and read a Scripture, and tell them how to really know they are saved." When I arrived, there were over twenty persons there, I read Matthew 18:1-5, talked a while, and we started praying and seeking the Lord. Several prayed through. The elderly man with whom I was staying, had told them how God had really saved him and his wife, and how they gave up the lodge.
After dinner we attended a cottage prayer meeting of the Friends. I was asked to read a Scripture and comment a little. We had a free time praying, but one old fellow, who chewed tobacco, prayed up against it and stopped. No one had mentioned tobacco. The evangelist and his singer were not at the prayer meeting.
The next morning, the old gentleman where I was staying had another group of inquirers for the way of holiness, and he and his wife were on hand for the blessing. I gave them several verses of Scripture, and we had prayer meeting from ten until one. Most of them experienced the witness of a pure heart and knew they were sanctified. That night I met and talked with a few outside the church. The evangelist recognized me only as a tramp preacher. However, I was asked to pray each night and had freedom in doing so. I told one of the men that I felt I should leave and go back home the next morning, and would like to catch the train at a stated time. I also told the folk where I stayed how I felt.
The next morning the elderly man went up town. I was praying, "Lord, help me to get enough money to get out of this country." While I was getting ready, the man with whom I had talked the night before drove up, and said, "I have come to take you to the train." I bade the lady of the house good-bye. She had so royally entertained me. She was wiping tears, and said, "We thank God for sending you our way. Pa and I felt God would have us give you ten dollars, but he has gone up town and has all the money but a dollar." I don't know when a dollar looked so big, but in order to catch the train we had to leave before the mister returned. When we reached a store, the man who was taking me to the train, stopped, ran in, and returned with a little paper sack of change. He asked me to count it. It was ten dollars. He was shedding tears when he said, "That is yours. God told wife and me last night that you did not have any money." I began to cry and thanked him for it. His two daughters were in the back seat. They began to cry and before we had reached the station, both of them claimed to pray through. God told another family that I did not have any money and for them to take me ten dollars. They missed me by a few seconds. I saw them coming just as our train pulled out. They sent it on to me. May the sweet memories of those dear people always remain in my mind and may we all meet in heaven.
The latter event happened during the year that I was on the farm of which I told you earlier.
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