Mama's God

My mother was raised Baptist, and didn't want to have anything to do with Pentecostals and what they stood for. There was a revival in our little country school building and my dad started going to this revival, and my mother said, "Dave, don't get mixed up with this bunch." But my dad continued going, and finally my mother went and felt the presence of God and became so hungry for what those people had.

Mama prayed continually, day and night. She would go up on the hill in the woods above our house; you could hear her praying for a long ways. She would make those hills ring crying out to God.

One day when Mama was praying and churning milk out on the screened-in porch, a voice, an audible voice, spoke to her, saying, "Repent, and be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." Mama knew nothing about the Bible, and had been told by her Baptist Mother that the Holy Ghost was only for the Apostles.

After this experience she went back to the revival and God filled her with the Holy Ghost, and she lay on the floor laughing for hours, speaking with other tongues as the Spirit gave the utterance. Then Mama was baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ, just like they did in Acts 2:41.

Mama lived a victorious life in God through the most difficult times that anyone could go through. My dad didn't go on with God, and he beat my Mom unmercifully, and she was not allowed to go to church. He would try to force her to do things that were wrong, and go to places that she knew were wrong. I have seen Mama almost lose her life because she refused to do what was wrong. When I was a child I watched helplessly while my dad would beat and choke my Mom unconscious; then pour water in her face, and bring her back to consciousness, and then continue beating her.

Mama lived for God in this condition for thirty years and was not allowed to go to church. But Mama knew what she had living inside her. I never knew  of more of a saint than my godly Mother.

Then when I was fourteen years old, I was spending the night with my grandmother. My dad had come home drunk and beat my Mother and my sister until you could hardly recognize them. My sister never fully recovered from that beating. My little sister knew enough to go and get help. The police were called and my dad was taken to jail for the first time, after beating my Mom for over thirty years.

My brother persuaded my dad to sign divorce papers, instead of filing charges, because he knew that my dad would die in prison. The Tucker Farm is known as the roughest prison in the entire country for its brutality. My brother knew if the Judge saw the condition of my Mother and my sister that he would no doubt rot in the Arkansas prison.

My brother, who had fought in World War II, told my dad that if he came around Mama and us children just one time, that he would kill him. I guess my dad believed him, because he never came around us anymore.

I began to live at the age of fourteen. It was like an animal being let out of a cage. Then my Mom started taking us to church, and, oh, how I wish the whole world could have seen my Mother rejoicing that night. Friend, this is the power of the Holy Ghost. It can take you through any thing Satan, that old serpent called the devil, can bring against you.

Mama raised five children and sent us to school by herself. She worked at the Arkansas State Hospital, and had to put up with a lot of ridicule and being ostracized from the other workers and her supervisors because of her walk with God. One day we came home and Mama was wailing and crying out to God. We thought surely that some member of the family had died or was in critical condition. We said, "Mama, what has happened?" When said, "Oh, my son, they have taken away my Sunday off." Church was Mama's life. They could take away her Sunday, but they could not take away the love of God out of her heart. Mama went to church when she could. She never missed a service unless she absolutely had to. Revival services in those days lasted several weeks, even months at a time, and Mama was there every service that she wasn't working.

Mama received a plaque one year on Mothers' Day at the Arkansas Camp Meeting in Redfield, Arkansas for Mother of the Year. She was so proud of that little plaque.

Mama went to be with the Lord in December, 1994. In just a few days she would have been ninety-four years of age. Just before her passing after a stroke, Mama couldn't say anything that we could understand, although she was continually trying to get something across to her children. But very few words could be understood; but one day a lady that Mama had witnessed to came into the Intensive Care Ward and said, "Sister Peeler, I'm going to sing you a song that you taught me." Mama had been almost lifeless for days, but when this beautiful lady started to sing that song, "Won't We Have A Time, When We Get Over Yonder," Mama sat up in bed with such a heavenly glow on her face, started clapping her hands and began to sing those words as plainly as she ever could, in a clear and loud voice, with a smile on her face that only the Hold Ghost could have put there. You would have had to have seen it to have really understood the power of the Holy Ghost that was there to take  her home.

I had to go back to Arizona because of my job, but just a few days later Mama passed on to be with the Lord.

At the funeral, three of her pastors that had pastored the Church through the years preached her funeral. Her current pastor told how that he had asked Mama, "Sister Peeler, are you ready to go  home?" And she said with a big smile, "Oh, Yes." Then she broke out singing in a booming voice. And then she breathed her last breath.

Folks, the Holy Ghost will keep you if you will cherish Him as Mama did. A year after Mama's burial, I went back to Arkansas and visited Mama's grave. When I started reading the scripture that my youngest sister and her son had put on Mama's grave stone, I couldn't help but weep, because no  other scripture in the entire Bible could have been more appropriate for Mama. Romans 8:18—For I reckon the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the Glory which shall be revealed in us.

I believe it takes the power of the Holy Ghost to take us through the trials and tests that we face day by day, and to come out victorious on the other side.

Because of Mama's faithfulness there are five preachers and two preacher's wives. Oh, the power of Jesus' Name. "Ye shall receive power after the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the world."

It is not as simple as some people say it is. Just repeat a simple prayer after someone else. We must return to the book of Acts. We must return to Pentecost. "Ye shall receive power 'after' the Holy Ghost is come upon you." Only then are we true witnesses to this lost and dying world. Jesus said, "Ye must be born again of the water and of the Spirit to even see the kingdom of God." We must complete the birth. Until we complete the birth, we are stillborn. Water baptism in the Name of Jesus Christ is imperative, Acts 8:26-39. Acts 10:45-48; Acts 19:1-6; I Corinthians 13:1. Mark 16:16. "He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved." Acts 2:38; Acts 2:41; Acts 8:16. Acts 8:26-39, Philip explained the scriptures to the Ethiopian Eunuch. Philip's understanding of the scriptures had been opened by Jesus in Luke 24:44-53. This man had the scriptures explained to him. Philip didn't say, "Just repeat after me Romans 10:9-13," because the book of Romans was not written for many years after that. The book of Romans is an Epistle written to saints, a well-established church that was established in the book of Acts. The Epistles were written to teach people how to live a Christian life.

You can't find a plan of salvation in the book of Romans and neither can you find a plan of salvation in the Gospels. We must go to the book of Acts for the plan of salvation

We must not have an agenda—our own agenda—not a denominational agenda, not a religious agenda; but a Holy Ghost Book of Acts agenda. If we will do this we will reap the end time harvest. We are so concerned about numbers that we give them a watered-down plan of salvation, which is not a plan of salvation at all. This makes us an enemy of Jesus Christ, Philippians 3:17-21.

Without the infilling of the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking with other tongues, you do not have the power to live right. You can not live holy without the power of the Holy Ghost. We must be endued with the power to be able to successfully reach a lost and dying world. You can't give something that you do not have. The reason preachers teach people that it is impossible to live free from sin, twenty-four hours a day, is because they can't live above sin until they have obeyed Jesus. Do not try to reach the world until they are endued with power from on high. Acts 1:1-8; Acts 2:1-4; Acts 2:38; Acts 2:41; Acts 8:16; Acts 10:46-48; Acts 11:15-18; Acts 19:1-6. Until we have fully obeyed Acts 2:38 we are not fully equipped to take the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world. Without it causes men to be caught up in false doctrine. The church was born in the fire of the Holy Ghost and if you wan to know what is the true church, then start at the first verse of the first chapter of the book of Acts and just keep reading through the book of Revelation. This is the only honest answer that we can give, when someone asks, "What is the true church?"

I believe that we are about to reap the true harvest of the charismatic movement, but we are going to have to return to Pentecost in its fullness. The people asked Peter and the rest of the Apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" Acts 2:37, and Acts 2:38, 39 they were given the answer. In Acts 2:41 they obeyed. Acts 2:42 they continued steadfastly in the Apostles' Doctrine. Peter's doctrine became the Apostles' Doctrine. Paul said, "That we are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and the Prophets, Jesus Christ himself, being the chief cornerstone, Ephesians 2:20. Paul tells Timothy, "Take heed to thyself and to the doctrine, and ye will save yourself and them that hear you." I Timothy 4:16. I Timothy 1:3, No other doctrine. Then Paul warned of false prophets and false teachers, not sparing the flock.