When I was holding a meeting in a certain state, some of the church said
there had been a couple of preachers holding services across the street
from the Church of God chapel, and some of the saints had attended their
meetings and became confused. They wanted me to preach against it. I said,
"I cannot do that. The Word of God says, 'Thou shalt not judge a strange
servant.' But I will pray the Lord to help me to meet them to get
acquainted with their teaching." I did pray earnestly that I might meet
them. Later I came to a town where I had to stay all night. I found twelve
preachers there who were trying to start a new spiritual mushroom or work,
and of the twelve preachers, two of them were the association preachers who
had been holding the meetings across from our chapel in the town previously
spoken of. I went to their service that evening and sat and prayed
earnestly that if God was displeased with this new work they were trying to
start, that the minister who was going to speak that night would have the
hardest time preaching that he ever had in his life.
A minister arose to preach. His preaching was Biblical, but he had a hard
time, while the other ministers kept on praying, "Lord, give the brother
the anointing." He worked and perspired until all of a sudden he sat down.
The ministers huddled together and talked and prayed and finally sent one
of their number out into the audience to talk with the people. He finally
wound up at me. He asked me a number of questions, whether I was saved and
sanctified, and then left. But the ministers seemed to be dissatisfied, and
sent another minister to me to investigate. At last he said, "I suppose the
sermon tonight scared you." I said, "No, that was a good sermon and I have
been preaching that way for over thirty eight years. That is the way the
apostles preached."
"Well," he said, "We didn't know there was anyone preaching like that."
Then I said, "But he had a hard time." "Yes," he answered, "He said he had
the hardest time he had ever had in his life, and he has preached from the
Atlantic to the Pacific and from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico and had never
met anything like that he said." "Yes, and he was preaching against me." He
replied, "Yes, and it was you that made it hard for him." Then I said, "I
prayed earnestly that the Lord would make it hard for him, if the Lord was
dissatisfied with his association."
The association must have died because I never heard of it again. It turned
out that the two ministers at that place were the two which held the
meeting previously spoken of.
Once at the South Dakota State Camp Meeting, on account of the weather, we
had the services in the chapel. One day a man came who said he was a
minister. No one knew him, but he looked like a good man. He asked for the
privilege of preaching and it was granted him. After he had been preaching
a while it was evident to all that he was badly confused, so the spiritual
ones commenced to lift their hearts in prayer to God to stop him, which He
did, insomuch that he left the platform and went to the stove to spit,
trying to clear his throat. However, there was nothing in his throat. He
tried again to speak, but he could not, so finally went out and left the
grounds. We never saw him again.
Brother Thomas Nelson and I held a meeting in Wisconsin and we had the same
kind of an experience as the one given above. The man in this case was a
professor in college and a real orator, but his religious doctrine was
unscriptural. Brother Nelson and I had given him the privilege of
preaching. We gave one another an understanding glance to be agreed in
prayer asking God to stop him immediately. He lost his voice and could not
continue speaking.
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