The Pack of Cigarettes

One of these suspicious “guard dogs” who worked in the children’s meetings often sat and stared at us intently with a suspicious gaze. Without a doubt, he was trying to catch us doing something wrong.

One time I had a big bunch of keys in my pocket. Through the fabric they must have looked like a small packet, and this brother was certain it was a pack of cigarettes. All of a sudden—in the middle of a testimony—he threw himself on me, knocked me down and emptied my pockets. His disappoint­ment was great when he found nothing more than a bunch of keys! He didn’t only choke me physically that day, he almost choked the very life of God out of me! Thank God for my mother and her fervent prayers and exhortations—I felt that her life and godly fear preserved me during those years of upheaval.

In these early years of youth, I felt like I was a target, and I began to wonder about many things. How could they behave like that toward me and several others in my family? Person­ally, I believe it had a lot to do with the fact that my father didn’t agree with the leading brother about raising children. I got a knot in my stomach every time my father went up to speak after the leading brother had spoken about child rear­ing and discipline. My father would say: “That’s not the way my father [Johan O. Smith] did it!” Of course, that aroused quite a bit of irritation among the leading brother’s “subjects” (who had confidence in him), and their wrath and dislike flowed onto us children. It is not so surprising for me that al­most all of the people who worked that way are outside the church today—with the exception of a few who repented. I have learned from experience that God pays careful attention to such things and reveals Himself in His time with power and dignity.