When my brother Harley was about fourteen years of age, he was saved and
living as true a Christian life as one would expect of a boy his age. It
seemed at this time that the enemy was especially operating through Father
to crush and discourage the child. God stirred up my soul to protect him
and to keep him from giving way entirely. One day Harley went on an errand
for Father and the mule that he rode accidentally got his ankle hurt. When
he returned, Father was very much displeased, and said to my brother, "If
you can do no better than that, you had better go to bed."
This was in the evening. I picked up the family Bible, walked across the
room to my father and said, "We are all willing to go to bed, but we
usually have family worship first. Won't you read and pray?" "You can read
and pray yourself if you want to," said he. So I sat down and read, and
then we knelt down and prayed; God's power came like a mighty wave from the
glory world, filling the room. When we arose from our knees Father had
disappeared.
A few minutes later, when one of my brothers went to the barn, Father said
to him, "What is that noise at the house?" My brother answered, "God has
given us the victory, and Mary is shouting." "Well," said Father, "that
won't do the mule any good;" but the boy answered quickly, "Well, we
weren't praying for the mule," and Father never said anything more about
the injury to the mule.
At another time Harley was lying very sick, and the enemy stirred Father up
to treat him cruelly. He told my brother that if he didn't get up, he would
give him a good whipping. He started to get the whip. In the meanwhile, my
soul was stirred to its limit; God seemed to move my very being to protect
the child. I knew that he was really sick and that the enemy was using
Father for his own purpose.
I went into the room where my brother was lying and stood near him. When
father returned, he could see me standing by the head of the old-fashioned
bedstead near one of its high posts. He knew by my looks that I was there
to shield the sick boy. He ordered me out, but I made no reply. He tried to
remove me by force from where I was standing; but I held on to the bedpost
until finally by a strong jerk he succeeded in loosing my hold and gave me
a push that threw me across the floor a number of feet away, where I fell
and went to praying. God answered prayer, and gave us the victory, and
Father left the room without another word. Before beginning to resist
Father, I had made up my mind to take the whipping myself, rather than see
my sick brother imposed upon; but God intervened, and I did not have to
suffer. Every time I interfered, Father seemed to realize that it was not
I, but God who was reproving him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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