It was September of 1974, and I still didn't really know God. I knew about God in terms of religion, but I didn't know Him personally. I was as lost as a goose in the fog. Then I got saved.


At the time this happened to me, I was in a bathroom in a hotel in Boston, Massachusetts. Of all places to get saved: in a bathroom. Why a bathroom? Because God knew I wasn't going to church.

God will always go wherever we are when we're ready to turn to Him.

I had been watching Billy Graham on television. When my wife told me that Billy Graham would be on TV preaching that night, I said, "I don't want to hear Billy Graham."

Cathy said, "Well, he's successful. He pulls more people into the stadium than you do."

I sat down on the floor saying, "To get this woman off my back, I will just sit here for a minute or two and watch this thing."

Then all of a sudden he started ministering and said, "If you're in a hotel room today...." In his altar calls he says that and finishes with, "...or wherever you might be, write me and I'll send you the same literature that I give the people here. And go to church next Sunday."

I immediately got up, went in the bathroom and gave my heart to the Lord. I was really being touched, and I didn't want Cathy to see me cry. It was the only place to be private in the hotel room.

After getting saved, I went back home to Louisiana. I had to submit to the authority of a pastor and become a part of a local church in order to learn about God. I knew God had placed me in the Body of Christ, and I made up my mind that I was going to be a good person. I would go to church and do all the things I was supposed to do. I just wanted to be one of God's helpers.

God breathed in me a spiritual hunger that was beyond human comprehension. I began reading the Bible, and I would read it out loud. I wanted my ears to hear what my mouth was saying. I didn't even care if I was reading it out loud in public. I wanted so much to be a witness for God.

Preaching on the Job
Then something happened while I was at my job. What I'm about to tell is mind-boggling, but it's the truth.

I worked for a truck line at the time. We were inside its office, which had no windows, when, all of a sudden, the lights went out. We were in pitch-black darkness and couldn't see a thing. I honestly believe God knocked out the electricity in that place. I will never forget it.

While in the dark, people kept saying to each other, "Don't walk around. You might fall down."

I had been trying to witness to my co-workers, but they didn't want to listen. Then it dawned on me: I'm going to preach to these heathens from hell! Though I was saved, I didn't have a lot of sense, but I had a lot of zeal!

I said to them, "Do you see this darkness? This is what you'll receive for eternity. You're going to hell if you don't meet Jesus Christ as your Lord. You'll go into a pit where the fire isn't quenched!"

I was really preaching away at them when the lights came back on. They all just looked at me.

I didn't know what to do then. I was a baby Christian. But it really caused a ruckus.

Two of the girls I worked with at the time were living with men. As a result of what happened that day, they went home, ran those guys off and gave their lives to Jesus. It was wonderful!

Source: Heaven: Close Encounters Of The God Kind by Jesse Duplantis.
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers