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CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE I was conducting a meeting in Muscatine, Iowa. There were seekers from the first night. About the fourth night, a woman came to the man who was with me and said, "Brother, pray for me." He had a keen spirit of discernment. He looked her straight in the face and said, "I won't do it. All you want is sympathy. You need to get down and pray through." The next morning we were called out of bed to pray with a couple. After they had prayed through, the woman where we were staying said to my helper, "I think you misjudged that woman last night." He said, "No, I didn't; there she comes now looking for sympathy." When she came in, she began to talk to Brother B____ and he said, "I did not misjudge you. You are here now looking for someone to sympathize with you. You need God." She then admitted that she had been backslidden for a long time. By 5:00 a.m. we had prayed for seven different persons. Among those who came to pray was a very large woman. After praying awhile for her, she said, "I cannot get through. I have a restitution to make." She left with the woman where we were staying. When those two women returned, the large woman said, "I didn't get it fixed up and I am lost." I said, "Well, you go on to work and keep in an attitude of prayer. And I will be praying." She and another woman had had a fight over their children. That night she was at the church early. I said, "Now, I want you to do what I tell you to do at the altar service." She promised that she would. While I was preaching, I located the other woman though I had not known her before. I gave the altar call and some responded. I went to the one I had located, at the end of the seat. I asked her to go to the altar. She said that she was not going. I said, "Oh, yes, you are. You are under such condemnation now that you can hardly stand it. You are talking to the wrong person. Come on. And taking hold of her arm, I gently pulled her into the aisle and got behind her, took hold of both arms, and took her to the altar. She had on high-heeled shoes. She tried to brace her feet, but I let her down until her high heels were like sled runners, and up to the altar we went. I said, "Now, Sister, pray, for I perceive you are in the gall of bitterness." And she did pray. Then I said to the large woman, "You get down right here by the side of her and pray." Both prayed for a few moments, then they looked at each other. The one said, "I will forgive you." The other said, "I will forgive you." I said, "Now, since that is not the way, you will be fussing again before a week has passed. Pray some more." They both looked at me, and I continued, "Pray till you are sorry, and God will show you what to do." We all prayed. Then it was the same thing over. I said, "That is not it. Pray on." They were soon really praying, squalling, and boohooing. They raised their heads, and the large woman said, "I want you to forgive me. I am to blame." The other woman said, "No, you aren't; I am. I started it; I have been hateful," and they hugged each other and God forgave them. Don't fool yourself in thinking you are right with God until you follow Matthew 6:14-15. If we do not from our hearts forgive, neither will God forgive us. An incident very similar to the one just given was experienced in Spickardsville, Missouri. The song leader asked me to pray for him, saying that he had a dormant spirit. As the meeting progressed, the crowds increased. On the third night an elderly man, the father of the song leader, was in the service. He was a preacher from a church which believed that water baptism was the only way into the new birth experience. After I had presented the plain way of repentance, the elderly man arose and asked me to tell those folk the way into Jesus. I knew what he meant, but I again laid the ground work of repentance. He arose again and said, "I adjure you by the living God to tell these folk the truth." Again, I gave it Biblically, chapter and verse. He arose the third time and I asked, "Brother, do you mean by water?" "Yes, like in Peter." I said, "All eight of those folk were in the ark, not in the water. Now, Brother, we appreciate your being here, but if you don't intend to listen, your absence is appreciated more. The next day he told everyone he met not to go to that meeting, for a deceiver was there preaching that you can be saved without being baptized. That night the house was full. I told the son to tell his father that I thanked him for advertising the meeting, and that any time he could come and behave, we would welcome him. I preached fifty-one sermons in that place -- all on holiness, but one. One night while several were at the altar, a girl from the Christian church came to the altar. She prayed until she fell under the power of God. It frightened some, but I had seen such several times before, so I told the folk not to touch her, but to leave her alone. In a few moments, her face began to shine, she smiled and opened her eyes. She arose, put both hands as high as she could, walked the aisles, praising God, with her face shining and tears flowing. Oh, what glory! Others rushed to the altar, but all did not have faith. Some would not believe because they did not fall under the power as the girl had done. Another young woman, from a Baptist Church, came to the altar. She was very haughty and proud, painted and powdered extra heavy, decked with jewelry and wearing a big fur. Every time we gave the altar call she came. She would feel her hair and place her fur just so. She did not kneel but hunkered down at the altar. One Sunday night she started to the altar. She started to trot; her fur fell in the floor; she dropped to her knees before getting to the altar and began to cry for mercy. She did not feel to see if her hair were all right, both hands were in the air, her head back, and tears plowed lines through the powder and paint. Soon she stood as if she were reaching heaven; and she did with her prayers. Off came her jewelry, she laughed and cried, and had the time of her life. I tell you, people, it pays to pray through. Thank God there is victory. One night a couple made confessions one to the other, not to the public. As I shook hands I said to one woman, "That is what it takes to be in the clear." It hit the nail on the head. She informed me that she would not make restitution. I said, "You will or be lost, if you have any to make." I was to preach the next morning at Star Light, Missouri, eighteen miles from Spickardsville. That woman was so angry toward me that after she got home she told her husband he had to take her to Star Light, for she wanted to slap my face. So to Star Light they came. I was preaching about Benjamin when they arrived. I said, "Until Jacob let Benjamin go with his brothers, he did not know the fullness of joy that awaited him." The woman had nothing to say. They were both in the service at Spickardsville in the afternoon, and her husband came to the altar. Later he arose, walked a bit, and returned to the altar. I said, "Brother, you have something to make right. Make the patch bigger than the rent." He went to the singer and said, "Can you forgive me?" The singer said, "If you will confess all and come clean." He was in private but before me. He said, "You know, I have been going to your house when you were not home, and have been laying with your wife. Can you forgive me?" "If you will not do it any more, he said. Back to the altar he went, and such praying as that singer did until that man got through! He went to his wife and asked her to forgive him. She was so angry that she looked purple. She professed but did not have victory. That night the singer's wife was at the meeting. When the altar call was given, she ran to the altar. I went to the woman who was going to slap my face, and said, "Come on, now. She hesitated. I said, "Sister, you are going and you just as well walk." She took me for how I meant it, and I helped her to get right down beside the other woman. The woman, who had been living the bad life, said, "Oh, I am so sorry for what I have done. Please forgive me." The other woman said to me, "Brother Poe, she is not in earnest." I said, "That is none of your business, it is up to you to forgive her or go to hell." You may say, "Strong medicine." Yes, but the kind that cures, if it is taken. This patting on the back and saying, "That is all right. Just believe you are all right," will not work until conditions are met. Those women repeated their dialogue a half dozen times or more. Each time I would urge them to pray, repent, and tell the one that she would either forgive or go to hell, and each time she would go a little deeper. Finally, she let all holds loose and begged God to forgive. She turned to the other woman and said, "Oh, my Lord, help me. Then calling the other woman by name, she said, "Oh, please, forgive me." "I do forgive you from my heart," was the reply. They went into one another's arms and hugged and wept. The stubborn woman said, "This is the first time in my life I have had my will broken. Oh, I am so happy!" At the beginning of the meeting the pastor of that church told me how he used tobacco, had fights, and when in Colorado Springs had received the baptism. I said, What baptism?" He said, "Of tongues." I said, "Man, the baptism with the Holy Ghost and fire is no such baptism." Then I showed him that he was not even saved. He saw it and we prayed for about an hour. He was reclaimed and said, "I used to preach under the anointing, but for twenty years I have been a backslider." He was sanctified the next day. He preached a funeral the third day and those who knew him said, "The old dry stick is on fire." Well, Amen! That is what God can do if we will be honest and pay the price. One night while in that meeting, a man and a woman came in. I had never seen them before. She sat down about the center of the church. He sat on the front seat beside the pastor. In a little while I was "in high," preaching. He began to jerk and twist and say, "S - e - e - e." The Lord said, "Rebuke him." I said, "Lord, what shall I say?" I was preaching while this was going on between me and the Lord. He began jerking as if he had St. Vitus Dance. I said, "Thou child of the devil, full of all subtlety, unless you repent you will shake worse than if you had St. Vitus Dance when you are in hell; professing to be a Holy Ghost preacher and putting up with another man's wife, claiming she is your wife." The jerks were over. Both the man and woman turned pale and beads of sweat came out on their foreheads. I tell you, it is not possible to cover sin. God, by the Holy Ghost, will uncover it in a Holy Ghost meeting if the preacher obeys God. After the altar service a man came to me and asked if I knew that man and woman. I did not. "Well, how did you know about them?" "I didn't; but God told me to rebuke him and what to say." He said, "That is my wife, and the man claims to be a preacher. He will get out in a meeting among the tongues churches and will speak in an unknown tongue, then tell them the Lord wants him to send for his wife. They will be gone two and three months at a time. He speaks in tongues and she interprets. When they have no other meeting, they come back here and tell me I have to forgive her or I can't go to heaven. Then she will stay with me a while and he will call for her again." He asked, "Now, do I have to keep on forgiving?" I said, "You surely do, Brother, if you expect to get to heaven, but you don't have to live with her." Then he asked what I would do. I said, "I never like to say, but I will in your case. I would go home and, if they are there, tell them that you will no longer tolerate that way of doing. If you want her to stay with you, tell her it is up to her to make the choice, but that she cannot go on this way." She decided to leave the good man. Now, don't mistake me; not all the Pentecostal people are like that, neither do they all tolerate such. But I do want you to see right here: the devil can fool folk with "tongues", but he cannot fool the Holy Ghost. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is a purging, purifying, and cleansing of the heart from inbred sin; not one of the gifts, but the Gift himself. Read Hebrews chapter ten, and think on some of the verses. The first verse speaks of perfect; the second, purged; the fourteenth, He hath perfected them that are sanctified. To purge means to make holy, a cleansing out of the old nature. God, the Holy Spirit, comes in to dwell in a clean temple. In verse fifteen, the writer tells us that the Holy Ghost is a witness to us. Ephesians 4:30 tells us what He does -- seals us, Notice, these are the evidences that one has the Holy Ghost. He not only fills us, He teaches us and leads us. And as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. One time I was led to get in my car and go from northern Missouri to the southern part of the state. I took my oldest daughter with me. We had tire trouble and when we arrived at the pastor's home, he and his family were in their "pick up". He said, "Get in Brother Poe. It is time we were going to the meeting. We announced it to begin tonight." It was Saturday night, and a fine crowd present. I was asked to preach, and the revival was on. On Sunday I mentioned how I had felt led to come. I noticed some look at others. On Monday I was asked by the pastor about my statement. He said, "We sent you two letters -- the last one was a registered one with money for your trip." I said, "I did not receive them." They had come but I was not told about them. But my Lord knew, so he had the Holy Spirit to lead me. A large number of folk were saved, among them several school teachers. May God bless the memory of those people. I have many landmarks of experiences, and no doubt I am coming near my journey's end. I have fought to hold my own; I know I have made mistakes, but that was not the fault of the Holy Spirit. And if in anything anyone feels that I have done wrong in any way, I humbly say, "Forgive the mistakes of my head, they were not of the heart." I have been so blest at times, I felt I could not live unless God checked the glory. One time I had a very heavy burden for a missionary. I wrote saying, "Do be careful. You are in great danger." The missionary thought, "Oh, we are always in danger; I see nothing different." The burden increased and I wrote again with a stronger warning about being careful. About the time my letter reached there, one night the burden became so heavy. I prayed very fervently. God gave me a mind picture of that missionary's cottage and location -- the yard and the brush along a path that led back of the house. I saw the missionary getting ready to go out the back door. It was night, but the moon was shining through scattered clouds. Back of one of those bushes a large witch doctor had crouched; his intentions were to kill that missionary. I screamed, "Oh, God, don't let him do it; make him get away." There was a rustling in the brush. He turned his head to see what it was and the missionary passed him. The noise continued. I prayed again, "Lord, make that man leave." He became afraid and sneaked away. The burden lifted. The next morning that witch doctor left the community. I met that missionary in Chicago when they were on their way home from the field. We visited a while. I explained about my burden, and described the mission house and yard, and told about that certain noise, They remembered the noise in the bushes. I described the man, and they verified the fact that he was seen going down the road, leaving the community the next morning. We must pray for our missionaries, and one for another.

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