Though reared in a religious home and delivered miraculously 
        from death time after time, my father did not follow the path  of 
        Christ  as a young man.  Because of his wit and persuasive gifts, 
        he  had  become popular with the men of the  community.   He  had 
        developed  into a pretty rough-and-tumble fellow, even  going  so 
        far as to smoke cigarettes and drink alcoholic beverages.
        
             On  the other hand, my mother was very quiet  and  retiring.  
        Her  grandfather, Andrew Dickson, had been such a  quiet,  gentle 
        man.   She  never  once  heard him  raise  his  voice.   And  her 
        grandmother, although of a different disposition, was a righteous 
        woman.   If one would try to talk jokes or foolishness she  would 
        say,  "Idle words.  Idle talk."  She would tell  people  whenever 
        they were out of line in their conversation.
        
             Mother's  life had centered mostly around the  church  since 
        her  birth.  She had learned to play the piano on a huge,  ornate 
        grand  piano which her father purchased for a very modest amount.  
        Then, to please his lovely daughter, he purchased a newer upright 
        piano with money received from selling a fine horse. Mother  soon 
        became a gifted pianist and a talented singer.
        
             She  had  not had an easy life, however.  She was  always  a 
        sickly  child and suffered from rheumatism long before  she  ever  
        went to school.  It was called  inflammatory rheumatism, and from 
        time  to time it created great swelling in her legs.  At the  age 
        of  fourteen   Mother  experienced such an  encounter  with  this 
        condition that she was not expected to live.  It
        
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        affected her eyes as well, and for two weeks she was blind.  Soon 
        the condition became even more serious, spreading into the entire 
        nervous  system.  For days she lay helpless, unable to  move  her 
        limbs  or  see the hand that fed her.  The Lord,  in  His  mercy, 
        spared  her,  and  she  was free  of  serious  attack  from  this 
        particular illness until after I was born.  Upon another occasion 
        she  contracted  a  serious case of measles.  So  my  Mother  had 
        experienced a great amount of suffering before she met my father.
        
             When  God brought my parents together, He began to create  a 
        deepening  love between them.  Mother wasn't aware that  Dad  was 
        drinking  and  smoking,  but she did know that he  was  not  born 
        again.  She insisted that he attend church with her.

             Then  came  a Sunday night that was to be written  down  for 
        eternity.   Revival  services were being held in  the  old  brick 
        church  at the edge of Windsor, the one that sat on the banks  of 
        Stony Creek.  Though the attendance had been fair, there had been 
        no  real  stir  in  the meeting for two  or  three  weeks.   This 
        particular  evening  Mother  persuaded my father  to  attend  the 
        meeting,  for Dad was not interested in religious things at  all.  
        In fact, the night before this memorable Sunday, Dad had been  on 
        the  streets  of  Windsor entertaining the  town  people  with  a 
        comical  auction of any stray dogs that happened by.   His  plans 
        were far from God's Kingdom.
        
             But in service that Sunday night, at the time of invitation, 
        Uncle  Addison Fletcher came back and started talking to my  dad.  
        "Eldon," he declared, "you need to be converted."  Uncle  Addison 
        was  such a different man that few people could  understand  him.  
        As  he continued talking to my father, Dad suddenly stepped  into 
        the aisle and found himself kneeling  at the front before he knew 
        it.   He had no intention of being saved, but Addison talked  him 
        into it.
        
             At  the  altar  he tried to pray, but  was  unable  to  find 
        release from the burden upon his heart.  People came to pray  and 
        counsel with him, but they could not lead him to
        
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        victory  either.  Then a woman who Dad didn't  particularly  like 
        came over and began to pray.  Soon the glory began to fall.   She 
        prayed  Heaven down and my dad stepped into the Kingdom  of  God.  
        He  was transformed from head to foot, born a new  creation,  and 
        his  name was written down  in the Lamb's Book of  Life. 
        Hallelujah! God had used a person Dad didn't especially appreciate
        to help him to salvation.
        
             Dad had been such a man of the world that many who had known 
        him as a sinner came to the revival services to see him  on fire 
        for  God.  He was so transformed, so miraculously  changed,  that 
        his  conversion seemed to stir the community and open the  secret 
        chambers of that revival.  During the previous two or three weeks 
        the  preaching  had  produced  no  noticeable  result.   Now  the 
        obedience  of one man began to spark revival flames,  and  others 
        were  soon  responding to the call of Christ upon  their  hearts.  
        "After that," Dad told me, "it seemed as if we had a  countryside 
        revival.   Some  twenty-seven  young  men  were  saved  in   that 
        meeting."
            
             For  many  weeks after his conversion my father had  a  most 
        unusual anointing upon him.  He has told me. "Though I was just a 
        babe  in Christ and knew very little scripture,  almost  everyone 
        God sent me to would be saved.  Of course, I wouldn't go talk  to 
        anybody  unless I had a real strong `impression'  or  `impulse'."  
        (He  recognized  the  guidances of God as an  impression  on  the 
        soul.)   Mother  has  said that she does not  remember  a  single 
        person who did not give his heart to Jesus once the Lord sent  my 
        father  to speak to him.  Somehow the Lord worked through him  to 
        melt the hardest hearts.
        
             Here he was just converted, a youngster of eighteen, and God 
        was  working so marvelously through him.  In testimony  meetings, 
        when one sat down, he was up and going again.  Some of the  folks 
        thought  him rather strange and unpredictable. I  rather  imagine 
        that a number of the church people who had never really been born 
        again felt
        
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        a  little  uncomfortable around him.  They would  have  preferred 
        that he not do such unplanned things as testify, exhort people to 
        obey God, and speak to individuals about their souls.  Dad  might 
        not have known the Bible declared it, but he was a living example 
        of the phrase,  "For as many as are led by the Spirit of 
        God, they are the Sons of God." 
        
             Since Dad probably heard very little instruction  concerning 
        obedience to the Holy Spirit, God had to put this awareness  into 
        his  heart.  In all my years in the ministry I have seldom  heard 
        obedience  preached  from  the pulpit.  In fact,  after  God  has 
        anointed  me to share on the absolute necessity of  obeying  God, 
        dear ones have told me that they have never heard a single sermon 
        on obeying the Holy Spirit in all the years they have  faithfully 
        worked in the church.
        
             A great portion of the people in our precious churches don't 
        even  know about the life lived in obedience to the Holy  Spirit, 
        yet  obedience is the very heartbeat of Christianity.   If  there 
        isn't obedience, the spiritual blood stream stops.  If we are not 
        following God's guidances daily, our spiritual circulation is cut 
        off.    This  organic  spiritual  relationship  with  Christ   is 
        suggested  in First John 1:7--"If we walk in the light as He is
        in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood 
        of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin."  This 
        implies a continual cleansing and purging as we walk "in the light,"
        or in other words--"in His guidance."
        
             Ordinarily,  many  churches have not stressed  a  day-by-day 
        obedience  to  the Holy Spirit.  They have  primarily  emphasized 
        adherence  to  biblical  commandments  and  to  certain   earthly 
        patterns.  But the written Word and the Living Word  go together; 
        they  are  inseparable.   If we in the  church  are  not  vitally 
        connected  to  God  by the Holy Spirit so that  obedience  is  in 
        process  constantly,  we are like a body in which the  heart  has 
        stopped beating. We are either dead
        
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        or  dying,  for disobedience is sin; and sin is a  dying  process 
        which takes us to death.
        
             A  few  days after his conversion, Dad told  his  sweetheart 
        goodnight  at her door in Windsor and headed the buggy home.   It 
        was  a good distance to his dad's farm some two-and-a-half  miles 
        northeast of Parker, and the hour was late.  Looking up into  the 
        starry sky that night, he said, "Oh Jesus, you have done so  much 
        for me, and I have been such a terrible sinner.  Is there any way 
        that I can atone for my wickedness and evil life I have lived?"
        
             And  in  the deep blackness of the night, as  clearly  as  a 
        picture  painted before him, he saw an old abandoned church.   It 
        was called Plainview Church, located near Gaston, Indiana,  where 
        he  had  sowed his wild oats.  The Holy Spirit spoke to  him  and 
        said, "Go back to that old abandoned church and hold a meeting."
        
             I can't tell you exactly how Dad felt when God revealed this 
        to his heart, but I know that he was both surprised and thrilled.  
        He  probably  didn't know the Bible as well as many  children  do 
        now,  because he had never read the Word much in eighteen  years.  
        It  had  been  read  to him a few times,  but  he  scarcely  knew 
        Genesis from Revelation, so to speak.  He was anxious, however, to
        do God's will.
        
             The  Helm family had been gone from Gaston only about  three 
        or  four  months  and  were  well known  by  almost  all  in  the 
        community.  Dad  wrote to the minister at  Gaston,  Rev.  Rector, 
        telling  him  what the Lord had revealed.   His  letter  probably 
        wasn't  much  encouragement to the pastor,  because  my  father's 
        spelling  was  not  very  good.   But  Rev.  Rector  wrote   back 
        explaining  that three retired ministers had been trying to  hold 
        services  at Plainview Church for two or three weeks without  any 
        results.   The  services had been neither well attended  nor  had 
        there been movement from the people.  He wrote, "We have tried to 
        have revival and haven't had any results.  But, if God is sending 
        you,  we  will try to get things ready.  You  come  ahead."   The 
        announcement went out that
        
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        Eldon Helm, the young man who had been so wild and adventuresome, 
        was coming to hold revival at Plainview.
        
             It took courage for this dear man of God to let a  youngster 
        of eighteen return, by his own announcement, to begin revival  in 
        his home community--especially when three  experienced  ministers 
        had  been unable to see any results after two to three  weeks  of 
        preaching.  But the key to what was about to happen was that  God 
        had  truly ordained this revival effort.  It was not a  religious 
        activity begun in the flesh, but a tiny branch in the Kingdom  of 
        God.   The great God of Heaven had sent my father to that  little 
        church.
        
             I would like for you to hear about this unique meeting in my 
        father's  own words, as he told me of this precious  guidance  of 
        God several years ago:
        
               "I  was  eighteen, going on nineteen, in a  cold  January, 
             1908."  Dad told me.  "The church was  two-and-a-half  miles 
             southeast of Gaston.  I got off the train on a Saturday  and 
             went  to  the home of my good friend, Willie  Stotler.  They 
             took me out to Plainview the next evening.  I had been saved 
             just three weeks to the day.
        
               "The  first  night of the meeting the church was  so  full 
             that some people stood in the doorway.  Even in the cold  of 
             January the windows were opened to permit the people outside 
             to look in.  Folk had come to see if it were true that I was 
             holding  a  meeting,  because  I  knew  everyone  there  and 
             everyone knew me.  I had been quite a mischievous fellow.
        
               "When it came time for the message, I don't know whether I 
             even  preached.  I just read the scripture and  talked,  and 
             the  Spirit was upon me.  The Holy Spirit hit the crowd  and 
             the meeting was on.  Folks later made the remark to me, `The 
             first  night that you stepped into the pulpit you said  that 
             we  were going to have a great meeting, and you said  it  so 
             emphatically we just knew that we were.'  Of course, God had 
             promised  it and had sent me there: that is why people  felt 
             the power.
        
               "There  were  no visible victories that first  night,  but 
             after that I don't believe there was a meeting day or  night 
             when there weren't folks at the altar.  Sometimes the  altar 
             would be full."
        
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             The  power  of God's Spirit upon that community  was  to  be 
        evidenced  during the day as well.  One young lady, who  knew  my 
        father  prior  to his conversion, experienced  this  wonderfully.  
        When she first heard that Dad would be returning for services she 
        laughingly  said, "I know why Eldon Helm is coming back  here--he 
        is  coming just to see me."  But when deep conviction seized  her 
        Sunday  night,  it became evident that such was not  his  motive.  
        The next day, while she was washing dinner dishes, God fell  upon 
        her  in  such a strong wooing that she couldn't resist  His  call 
        upon  her  heart.  She was converted at the  dishpan,  threw  her 
        dishcloth in the air and shouted through the house for joy.
        
               "God was there in such strength," Dad told me.  "The  days 
             of  trances  had  been over (so we thought)  long  ago,  but 
             people felt the power of God so tremendously that they would 
             fall in trances.  God gave wonderful  victories--eighty-four 
             truly  converted, several reclaimed, and many helped.   Some 
             of  those  who were saved became  preachers.   That  revival 
             lasting  two weeks and two nights, was one of  the  greatest 
             meetings  I  have ever been in.  But just as clearly  as  He 
             told me to begin the meeting, God told me to close it.  Some 
             thought  we  shouldn't end the meeting at all,  for  on  the 
             final  evening six or seven were at the altar.  But God  had 
             revealed to me that we should close it, and that is what  we 
             did.
        
               "Many  who  had  gotten victory in this  meeting  were  so 
             hungry  for  the Word, however, that the next  evening  they 
             streamed  to the Methodist Church in Gaston, which had  been 
             endeavoring  to conduct a revival even before  our  services 
             began.   And  the Lord just bounced the meeting  right  over 
             there!  My, they had a revival!  Many were redeemed in those 
             old-fashioned, Holy Ghost services."
        
             And  God began to use my father in various revival  meetings 
        among  the churches.  Without question, the hand of the Lord  was 
        upon him.
        
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