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I want to introduce you to a man

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who was one of the most powerful evangelists

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of the 20th century in America.

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His name was Ralph Barnard, and he was

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known as God's Hitchhiker Evangelist.

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In fact, that's the title of my biography

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on his life, God's Hitchhiker Evangelist, because Ralph

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Barnard had a 40-year itinerant preaching ministry

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that shook America from coast to coast with

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revival.

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Sometimes people would be carried away on stretchers

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from a Barnard meeting because they had become

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insensible.

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Sometimes sudden deaths would occur to those who

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stood in the way of his meetings.

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Sometimes entire towns were shaken in revival under

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his preaching.

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In one town in particular, 300 signatures were

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raised on a petition to run him out

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of town because his preaching was disturbing the

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residents.

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But it was the disturbing presence of Christ

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that upset so many when Barnard preached.

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Ralph Barnard had a way of getting under

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your skin when he preached like a splinter

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beneath your finger which gnaws at you and

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makes you wince.

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He could get you mad.

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He could get you under conviction, get you

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to the foot of Calvary, and at the

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feet of a Savior whose fountain of blood

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can wash all sins away.

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He preached the gospel in its purity and

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proper order.

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He often preached on the doctrines of ruin,

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redemption, repentance, and regeneration.

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I want to read you, friends, an excerpt

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from one of his sermons.

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This one's entitled, I Remember Dixie.

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Here now are his words.

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In my early ministry, I went to the

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world's largest oil town.

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There were 50,000 people there crawling over

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one another's backs to see who could get

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to hell the quickest.

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I was the only preacher there for 16

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months, and I watched men die.

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I preached an average three funerals a day.

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I preach as many as seven funerals in

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one day.

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I was just a boy of 23, and

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I lived with death.

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I lived in the county hospital where the

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old folks would be sent to rot and

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die, and when they were dying, they would

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call for the preacher.

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I lived in the houses of ill fame

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and the saloons where men would get shot

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and poor women would get shot or die

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of disease, and just before they died, they'd

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call for the preacher, and there they would

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look in my face and beg me not

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to let them go to hell.

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They would want me to pray for them,

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but it would be too late to pray

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for them.

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I remember Dixie.

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Dixie was the queen of the dance hall

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girls in my oil field town.

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When she came to die, she was just

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23 years old, but she'd already been married

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seven times and was now living in sin

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with an eighth man.

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I remember Dixie when she called for me.

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She'd been on the dance floor, and she

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was dancing with some man, and another fellow

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came and tried to take her out of

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the arms of the other man.

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They got into a scuffle, and somebody pulled

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the trigger, and instead of shooting the man,

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the bullet went to the vitals of Dixie.

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They carried her into the bedroom there.

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There was no use to take her to

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the hospital.

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They summoned the doctor and the nurse, and

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in a little while, my phone rang, and

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someone said, Preacher, Dixie is dying, and she's

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calling for you.

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When I got there, the doctor was gone,

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and the nurse was there.

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She said, Preacher, you can come on in.

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We've done all we can.

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There's no hope for Dixie.

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I went over and sat by the bed.

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I said, Dixie, this is the preacher, and

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you sent for me.

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What do you want, Dixie?

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Oh, she said, Preacher, don't let me go

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to hell.

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I said, Dixie, I wish I could keep

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you out of hell, but I can't keep

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you out of hell.

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She said, Preacher, won't you pray for me?

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I said, Dixie, I'm afraid it's too late

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to pray now.

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God never saved anybody unless they were brought

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to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus

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Christ.

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And so she said, well, Preacher, how do

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you do that?

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And the best I could, I sat by

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her bedside in that late midnight hour.

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When I could almost see death in her

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face, I preached unto her the law and

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the gospel.

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And when I finished, Dixie turned.

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I don't know how she had the strength

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enough to do it, but she turned and

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faced the wall with her back turned toward

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me, and great racking sobs filled the room.

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I thought they would tear her body in

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pieces.

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Great racking sobs came from Dixie's throat.

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In a little while, she turned back and

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looked into my face, and I saw hell,

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brother.

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I saw hell.

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Oh, I saw hell.

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And as I demanded that she repent right

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then and there, Dixie said, I can't repent.

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I can't repent.

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And God helped me.

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She died as she said that last.

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I can't repent.

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I carry the memory of Dixie's beautiful face

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around with me, and sometimes I wake up

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in the night and I hear that croaking

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voice, Preacher, I can't repent.

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I can't repent.

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The last words that girl ever said here

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on this earth before her body began to

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rot and her spirit went back into the

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hands of God who gave it the last

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word she ever said.

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I can't repent.

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I can't repent.