by Pastor Jack Hyles (1926-2001)
A LIVING ROOM REVIVAL
Not long ago one of my deacons joined me for an afternoon of soul-winning visitation. We had an exceptionally good afternoon, and as I recall, we won six or seven people to Jesus Christ. It was one of those days when sincerity seemed to be on the face of every convert.
During the process of the afternoon, we went to visit my mother's next-door neighbor. There was a warm and friendly reception. Shortly after I arrived in the home, the wife and teenage daughter excused themselves, leaving only the husband, my soul-winning partner, and me in the room. I did not know until later that the wife and daughter had gone to the back bedroom to pray that God would save the husband.
In about thirty minutes this man in his forties was sweetly converted. I asked him to go back and tell his wife, and it was then that we found the wife and daughter were praying for his salvation. He told his wife he had just been saved, and then Heaven came down. There was hugging, crying, laughing, loving, rejoicing, and almost shouting, all at the same time.
The next Sunday morning he walked the aisle in the First Baptist Church of Hammond and was baptized. A few days later I went by to see how he was doing. His wife said that he had been such a good husband through the years that she wondered how salvation could change him. This was answered, however, when she found him up early one morning. She went to the living room and saw him on his knees in private devotion and prayer.
Recently upon returning home from preaching in Indianapolis, Indiana, I called the office to talk to my secretary about some business. She informed me that the day before I arrived home the aforementioned man had suffered a heart attack, was rushed to the hospital, and soon passed away. Today he is in Heaven; yesterday he was on earth. Today he is with Christ; yesterday he prepared to be with Christ today. Hence, he has joined the hundreds of others that I have sent to Heaven.
