PEARL P. POE

 

PEARL P. POE

In the spring just before I was twenty-four, I was working on the railroad. I bought a young

cow from a neighbor. She was to be fresh in a few days. I was to give him so much for the cow,
and if she brought a male calf, he was to pay me $5 and get the calf before it was a week old. She
had a nice heifer calf, and I gave it to my wife. We let it have plenty of milk and fed it good. It
grew fast. One day in early October, my wife went to see her folk. When I passed by my
neighbor’s, I saw a dressed baby beef hanging in his yard. When I got home, there was $5 and a
small piece of paper, saying, “I came up and got my calf.” It was then worth about $40. I became
very angry and purposed to go to the road, fight the man, and kill him.

I was soon on the road and I could hear a wagon coming. I knew it was my neighbor. Then,

for the first time in ten years, I heard the voice of God: “Pearl, what you do on earth you will have
to give account of at the judgment, and what you do not do, you will not have to give account of.” I
turned and climbed through the fence. I would not look back. I could hear him passing, but God had
spoken. I went home, picked up the milk pail, and when I came to the lot, my cow was there
looking for her calf. I told her my wicked neighbor had murdered her calf. And I patted her on the
neck and said, “I am sorry.” She looked at me as if she wished she could speak.

I sat down to milk, and when I was about half through, I was thinking of God speaking to

me again and I said, “Praise the Lord.” It frightened the cow and she ran from me. I called to her
and she stopped, raised her head high, and I told her to come back, for I was just praising the Lord
for speaking to me. She trusted me and returned to the lot and I finished milking.

I had become discouraged, thinking that I might never be saved, but now God had spoken to

me and it inspired hope. The next day I resigned my job. I told the man I worked with that I was
going to move to Oskaloosa, Iowa, straighten up, and be a Christian. I moved to Oskaloosa, got
work on the M. & St. L. railroad, building cars. It was not until about the first of the year that I
became deeply convicted of my sinful life through another dream.

 

I saw a black object light near where several of us railroad men were. I said, “That is

Satan.” Just then I saw an angel passing through the air going southeast, and slowly I said, “The
angel of the Lord. I am following Him.” I seemed to go without human effort. I was soon in the
center of Africa. It was noon; I saw the sun nearly overhead. I saw a rainbow with a strange color
in it. I said, “This is the sign of the end of the world,” and I knelt and prayed “O Lord, clean me out
and fix me up for heaven.” There was a great blast of fire and I was in it, but felt no harm. I awoke,
went back to sleep, dreamed the same dream again, and prayed the same prayer, but this time I
came back to my work on the railroad. As I returned, I asked God to deliver me, and told Him I
would serve Him. I awoke again, but not to go back to sleep. I was pondering the dream in my
mind and could not sleep. When I left for work that morning I took a chew of tobacco. It tasted
awful. I spit it out and have never taken another chew, nor craved it, since, and that has been over
34 years. God was answering the prayer I had prayed in my dream, by cleaning me out and getting
me ready for heaven.

Conviction for sin deepened. I had not been in a meeting for over five years, and I had

become so discouraged during the last year that I had been tempted greatly to end my life by
self-destruction, but God prevented.

I became desperate in my seeking and praying. I spoke to the man with whom I was

working and told him I was quitting sin and was going to give my heart to God. He said, “You are
too wicked.” That only deepened the conviction. He said, “Anyone who curses like you do, won’t
get saved.” In my desperation that night I went into a spare room, got down on my knees, and
prayed, “Oh, God, I am through with the life of sin. If You never forgive me and I die and go to
hell, I will go serving You.” I meant it. That night at the supper table, I looked my wife in the eyes
and said, “Wife, if I straighten up and live a Christian life, will you?” She smiled, tears filled her
eyes, and she said, “I have been waiting a long time to hear you say that.” I said, I am going to.”

After supper I picked up a little old Bible that I asked for when my grandmother — my

mother’s mother — had passed away As I read it, my wife said, “Aren’t you going to lodge tonight?”
I answered, “Wife, I have been lying to you. I have been going to the show, not to the lodge, then
stopping at the pool hall, but I am not going any more.” Who was preaching to me? The Lord. He
had convicted me of sin and I was through with the whole mess of it.

That night (a Saturday) a leaflet, announcing a revival meeting at the Lighthouse Mission,

was placed on our porch. I said, “Wife, let’s go.” We did and she went forward. The old devil, the
deceiver, said to me, “You have done all you can do now. Just profess it,” and I did not go to the
altar. The Lord showed me that if I professed, I would be a liar. I went home, but not to rest. I
rolled and tossed most of the night. In the night I told the Lord that if He would just let me live until
I could get to the meeting Sunday afternoon (they did not have morning service), I would go
forward.

I sat on the front seat and cried through the preaching. When the altar call was given, I felt I

was bound; I could not go. My feet would not move. I was crying aloud now. Finally, I fell — it
seemed I was going; to hell. But between where I stood and the altar, in my falling I cried in
desperation, “Oh, save me, Jesus.” When I hit the altar, I was saved, reclaimed, and I knew it, for
the love of God came into my soul. I had lost love for all people a while before this. Oh, I

 

respected them, but love was gone. I went home, erected a family altar that to this day I have kept
up. I told my wife, who was so glad I had gotten saved, that I supposed I would get my call to
preach again. I will never forget her looks and words: “Again? I never knew you ever had a call to
preach or I would never have married you.” I said, “Yes, I backslid over it, but have never told
anyone.” And I am sure that the largest percent of backsliding today is because God has asked
individuals to do something they are not willing to do and they grieve the Holy Spirit. That night as
I prayed, God spoke, “Now, will you go preach for me?” I said, “I will, Lord.” He said, “Would
you be willing to go to Africa?” I said, “Yes, Lord, anywhere,” and I meant it, and it holds good
today. I will go anywhere He calls. He is my leader, my All in all.

That night I had a vision. I was standing in a beautiful yard with fruit trees to my right and

tall fir trees to my left, and a beautiful house behind me. I was looking west in the evening. The
lane was over-arched with limbs of elm trees. I saw a man walking slowly toward me. I
recognized that it was Jesus. He said, “Follow me.” We were in front of the house. We crossed the
lane, went through a fence, and, after we had walked some distance, He turned and faced the place
I had left. He said, “See that beautiful home?” I said, “I do.” He said, “That represents the homes of
America. See those fruit trees?” “Yes.” “Those represent fruit-bearing Christians. See those tall fir
trees?” “Yes.” “Those represent preachers in America. Follow Me.” We were soon in a barren
land; not a living thing — no trees, no weeds, nor grass. Jesus sat down Hindoo style, and began to
pick up handfuls of black, sandy, loam soil. He said, “See how rich this soil is?” I said, “Yes.” He
said, “This is in the heart of Africa. I have many millions of souls here that have never heard the
gospel. You sow the seed and I will reap the harvest.” I said, “I will.” Then He said, “East of here
England has her breweries — the whirlpool of hell, and thousands are drowned in it each year. The
Catholics and Mohammedans are pressing in on the North and West and thousands more are
deceived by them and will be eternally lost.”

The next morning as I was going to work, I found a picture of Africa describing exactly

what the Lord had showed me in the vision. I overtook a group of the railroad men with whom I
worked. I was a new creature — happy in the Lord. They saw the change in my looks, my habits,
and my talk. One asked, “What has happened to you?” I said, “The Lord Jesus has saved me and He
is in my heart.” One of them spoke up, “Ah, you can’t get it that way — get so good all at once you
quit everything.” I said, “Thank God, I did.” Some said, “Oh, you will soon be back.” Some gave
me a day, then a week, a month, six months, a year, as time went on. But it only made me more
determined to be true.

Without ever hearing a holiness sermon preached, I saw my need and became an earnest

seeker. Three days after I was converted I asked some of the men to come to the service and one
came. They chose a song, “The Holy Ghost Has Come,” and it set my heart aflame. Several began
shouting. I had never heard that before and, as they shouted, I thought of the man I had asked to the
meeting, Satan took advantage of me and began to lie to me. He told me that man would tell the
other men at the railroad and they would make fun of me. Satan put his disapproval on the shouting
and stirred carnality in me until I was angry. I was sitting on the front seat and had made a couple
of remarks that were not good. Just then the preacher, blest as he was and who could nearly have
touched me with his finger, said, “Now Brother Poe, lead us in prayer.” I had only been saved
three days and now in a state of anger and disgust. I was in no shape to lead a congregation in
prayer, but I was honest. We went to our knees. All was quiet. I started to pray, “Oh, dear Lord, if

 

You will forgive me for being in this place, I won’t be found like this again. And if You can help
some poor soul here, do it for Jesus’ sake, Amen.” Under the anointing the man preached on the
need of salvation. When the meeting was dismissed, I would not look around until I felt sure all
had gone home. I felt I never wanted to see again that man that I had asked to come. Satan gave me
an awful tussle. When we stepped off the Mission steps to go home, I said, “Wife, we have started,
we won’t quit. We will go to a certain church down town. They don’t act that way down there,” and
they didn’t; they were too dead. Now wouldn’t it have pleased Satan if he could have gotten me in
one of his refrigerator churches?

We had prayer after we got home and nothing more was said. We had prayer the next

morning before I went to work, but I went with a heavy load on my heart and mind. It became so
heavy about 9:00 a.m. that I climbed up in the car for a moment of prayer. The Lord said, “Did I
not cause you to weep over your sins?” I said, “Yes.” “Did I not make you rejoice when I forgave
you?” “Yes, Lord.” Then He said, “I have a second benefit that will destroy this other feeling.” I
began at once to seek for light and deliverance. I got out of the car and went back to work,
determined to go through with Jesus.

Going to work that morning I had not walked fast; I arrived just in time to punch my card. I

did not want to meet the man I had invited to service. He worked several blocks from where I did
– he at the north end of the rip track, I pretty well to the south end. After I had had my prayer, I
looked up and saw him coming about two car lengths away. I went to the far end of the car that I
was working on. He came around the car. When he got to one end, I would be at the other. That
happened twice. He knew I was dodging him, so he crawled under the car and came up in front of
me. He said, “How are you?” I said, “Not so hot.” He said, “I know what the trouble is. Old Satan
tried to make you think I would tell the men and we would make fun of you. I saw it bothered you
last night when they were shouting.” I said, “Yes, it is all true.” He said, “I came down to
encourage you. Don’t give up. I am not a Christian, but when I get it, that is the kind I want. I
enjoyed the shouting and my wife has that kind. She has prayer in our home and gets to shouting.
About that time, Satan, the old devil, went sneaking away somewhere, as I told him he had done
the tempting and accusing. I could hardly wait to get home to say, “Wife, come on, let’s get the
children ready and go to the Mission.” She said, “I thought you weren’t going any more. “Well, we
are. God showed me I needed something more — the second benefit.” Then I saw these words,
”Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.” I wanted to
see the Lord and became an inquirer for holiness. The only answer I received was, “Brother Poe,
let the Lord lead you. He will show you.”

I waited a few nights. They were preaching repentance. At the close of the altar call no one

had responded. I said, “May I speak a word?” The preacher said, “If it is in the will of God.” I
said, “I don’t know about that, but I know I am forgiven, and I know I am converted, but there is
such a hunger in my heart for something more, I can hardly stand it. I am going to the altar and if
there are any others who feel like that, will you come, too?” I was told that about fifteen others
came, but I was there for myself. After earnestly praying for God to satisfy that hunger, someone
said,” Ask God to sanctify you.” I did not know what the word meant, but I asked the Lord to
sanctify me. Then, as I was getting along quite well in prayer and felt the nearness of the Lord,
someone said, “Give up all you know and all you don’t know,” and that confused me. Then they

 

said, “Now you are the gift and Jesus is the altar. Get up and claim the work.” I arose and said,
”My heart is still hungry. I am not satisfied.”

I went home to pray it out, and about three in the morning I reached a place of utter

abandonment of my life to God. I arose to my feet and said, “O God, I will stay here till I die or be
sanctified. Here, Lord, I give myself to Thee; it is all that I can do.” My will submerged into His
will. My heart was purified and cleansed — the hunger has gone and I was filled. The Spirit said,
”Read the sixth chapter of Romans.” I did not know where to find it, but when I had located it, I
read, “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him,” and I knew that my old nature was
dead and cleansed. Then, “As ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to
iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.” I
knew I had yielded. If people will get under enough conviction to truly repent and get a bedrock
experience of regeneration, with a clear witness, you won’t have to coax and beg and pull to get
them to seek the Holy Ghost in His sanctifying power. God sanctified me ten days after my born
again experience.

I was saved the third of January, sanctified the thirteenth, started preaching the seventeenth,

and from that day until June nineteenth, I missed only three nights in service and preached most of
those nights.

Source: “The Power of God in a Redeemed Life”
by Pearl P. Poe

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THE END

 

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HOW THEY ENTERED CANAAN
(A Collection of Holiness Experience Accounts)
Compiled by Duane V. Maxey

Vol. I — Named Accounts