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Metropolitan basso Jerome Hines as he gets ready fo r sacred mnsic drama “ I Am The Way,” which he composed. b V n a .\ ' ^
Burning in My Soul
by Jerome Hines
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I T is A p r iv il e g e and an honor to be able to give testimony of my Saviour, Jesus Christ. And it is a joy to be able to give testimony of a living God who hears prayer, who answers prayer, and who guides the hearts of all men who will receive His Holy Spirit. I also want to testi fy of the wonderful changes He has wrought in me since He first spoke to me and offered me salvation for my sins. I wandered about for thirty years with an inner fire burning in my soul, an inner fire that relentlessly drove me here and drove me there. What was this fire? Some men call it ambition: in some, it is a sense of unfulfilled destiny. Other men can find no name for it. But some thing was missing in my life. What was it? First I sought the answer in sci ence. I spent six years getting de grees in chemistry and mathematics. I studied psychology, psychiatry, philosophy and many other subjects. None of them gave the answer or satisfied that internal fire. For what was I looking? I became a success ful opera singer, joined the Metro politan Opera, and sang in concerts and on television. Still, no satisfac tion to a restless soul. Then one day I found Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit, and I dis covered it was He whom I had been seeking all my life. How wonderful to find that burning fire quieted within me, to find my life complete.
I have now become a servant of the Lord. I am His tool to use as He sees fit, and I try to live accord ing to His will. In the few years that I have been His, He has led me only into truth, and I praise His name, for He is making me into the man He wants me to be—the man I am not. Several years ago, when I first began my vocal ministry with the Lord, I was much moved by the
beautiful singing of a man whose voice I heard on a recording. It was in a little Good Will Center of the Salvation Army in London. Soon af ter, I was in the Bowery Corps of the Salvation Army in New York City, singing a song which I later discov ered he had written, “ I’d Rather Have Jesus.” Maybe that is why I like it so much and love the mes sage. It is George Beverly Shea’s testimony in song. I feel a certain
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TH E K IN G 'S BUSINESS
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