God Given Revelation

In this testimony of the revelation given by God, as revealed by a brother in Christ, I can readily identify with the nature of a sinful life but of even greater significance is the forgiving nature of Christ. Our Lord said of such a person: Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little. Thy sins are forgiven (Luke 7:47-48). There is a corresponding love for what Christ has done in the working of forgiveness.

A Revelation (or Vision) as Revealed by a Brother in Christ

A revelation, vision, or whatever it was, revealed flames grabbing me by my arms when I was placing wood in the stove. I felt the flame and God's Spirit speaking to my soul revealing that my soul could be burning in Hell forever. Those words touched my heart as God had been dealing with me about a year before while watching Brother Swaggart on television. My sins were bothering me so bad, I wanted to get out of that condition but to stay at home and not go to church. I wanted to be saved but do my own thing. I would listen to Brother Swaggart, repeat the Sinner's Prayer Sunday after Sunday, but never get any relief. I had quit drinking several months before but living my life the same. I wanted to go to Heaven but on my own terms.
Another Revelation (or Vision)
God gave me another revelation, or vision, fairly close to the one at the stove. The other was what Brother Swaggert preached, that God would deal with you for a while and then leave you to your own devices. I would be lying in bed at night and look out a window at the end of the bed. I would see a silhouette of Jesus standing with His hands stretched out and as the days and weeks went by that silhouette kept going further away from the window. Afterward I told my wife I had to go to church somewhere.
Prior to the Revelations/Visions
I was already in torment from all the past drinking and taking Valium's. I would carry a little aspirin box full of Valium's and kept them with me constantly for when my nerves would get all tensed up. There is no telling the number of years I was dependent on them. I had been raised up in a Christian home. As a child when there would be a real bad storm my Mother would get us by the bed and we would pray. She tried to raise us up to go to church and live a good life. Her Dad was an alcoholic and she always told us when we grew up to please not drink.
I guess it was a thing that young people were doing back then, in a rural area, to get alcohol. In the bigger cities they were doing drugs but we were drinking beer, whiskey, and wine. I guess I had been drinking so much, running around, staying up, working, and losing sleep that it just ran my body down. I was drained physically and my nerves were shot. You could walk up and touch me and it was just like a bottle shattering. I would start quivering and shaking. I was tired of it, tired of living like that.
I had quit drinking several times before, for a period of time, and then would go out and either have a fifth of whiskey, or a case of beer, and be right back in the same old way. I was not a wino or anything like that, I just loved to drink, get out and ramble around, ride the country roads, and do different things; racing and things like that.
Good Time Charlie's
I can tell you stories after stories of my life prior to salvation. I had a man stick a 25 Caliber automatic in my mouth. I have been in some joints that you would go in and get your back up against the wall because you did not know what was going to take place.
One time we had been drinking and were in a place where they were playing shuffleboard. We were pretty good at shuffleboard and they were playing for a quart of beer. Whoever would win would share the quart of beer in Dixie cups. We were there several hours until closing time. A fight broke out and a guy attempted to pull out a knife. When he did I picked up a chair and placed one of its legs against his throat. I told him, "If you come out with that knife I'm going to run this chair plumb through your throat" and he just lay there. The fight wound down and we left.
Back then you did not have as good of tires as we do now. Another guy and I were going about 120 miles per hour on a narrow road, side by side, while another boy, who was with me, handed him a beer out the window while we were driving like that. Those old roads wasn't very wide, were rough with dips, and we would run those roads drinking all the time. It was only by the grace of God that we are still living and because of the prayers of others put up for us.

Soul Saving Experience
After the two revelations/visions my wife and I went to church. After the Pastor finished preaching his message I went to the altar and prayed. I do not remember what I prayed but just going forward was enough. I felt a cleansing come over me, a clean feeling, a freedom, that is unexplainable.
I had never felt so clean in all my life. The best way that I can attempt to describe it is like after you have been out working on an old car, machinery, or doing something that gets you real dirty, and nasty, hot and sweaty. Then you go in and take a good hot shower, soaping up real good, rinsing off, and then feeling refreshed. That same refreshed feeling came over me that day, after I finished praying, and that same peace has been with me ever since and I have just enjoyed the blessings of God.