First off, this guy has a cool name. I heard about him on
Joel Osteen. Arthur Blessitt, 74, has carried on foot a 12-foot cross for Jesus
to every country on earth since Dec. 25, 1969. Through wars, deserts,
jungles--over 41,323 miles. The Guinness Book of World Records lists this as
The World’s Longest Walk. This modern day pilgrim has faced a firing squad in
Nicaragua, was almost stoned in Morocco, attacked by police in Spain, almost
choked in Hollywood, survived a pistol attack in Florida and a man in Indiana
tried to burn the cross. He has been arrested 24 times, been through 54
countries at war, fasted 40 days, run for President of the United States from
1974 to 1976 and has walked with 70,000
people across Poland. Billy Graham has walked with him, Pope John Paul II has
welcomed him to Rome, Yasser Arafat has welcomed him to Beirut and he has slept
in Prime Minister Begin's house in Israel.
He said his wife Denise and he are but simple servant
followers of Jesus. They pray for peace on earth, love in every heart and God's
blessings upon all people.
In the 60s, he was ministering to hippies, Hell's Angels,
runaways, addicts, prostitutes, flower children and would-be actors, dubbed the
minister of Sunset Strip.
As a boy, his father managed a cotton farm in Northeast
Louisiana near Oak Grove down the road from a tiny community he called
Goodwill. Sometimes Arthur would drift with the water that was to be brought to
the workers. His dad fussed. Arthur heard Jesus say to obey his dad and to
realize that Jesus was training him to hear his voice and obey him so he would
be able to go where Jesus was leading him.
At every step of Arthur's journey, the Lord showed which
road to take, when to start walking, when to stop, when to drive and when to
park. He said it all begins with small,
simple steps.
Traveling to Saudi Arabia with a cross is harder than
carrying buckets of water in cotton fields, he said. The cross has a wheel
because it would lose wood. They have varied from 110 pounds to 45 pounds.
It began when Jesus spoke to Arthur, not in an audible voice, but
in his heart and mind. He said, “I want you to take the cross that is hanging
on the wall in His Place and carry it across America.” The joy of the Lord
washed over Arthur like ocean waves. Then
the Lord spoke more. “I want you to take the cross onto the roadsides and
streets to identify my message in the streets with the common man. I am going
to put the gospel on television, on the radio, by your walking. I want you to
bear witness to my life and my love, proclaim my peace in the streets.”
Soon afterward, 28-year-old Arthur was lying in a hospital bed and heard a doctor proclaim that he had an aneurysm
and needed immediate surgery. Sometimes he became numb on much of the right
side of his body. This time a stroke had
landed him in the hospital, leading to a battery of tests. However, he decided
that he would rather die in the will of God than live outside of it. If he
carried the cross, he would be at peace whether he lived or died. But if he
stayed home, he knew he would rot inside from a mixture of doubt, fear and the
knowledge that he had refused the call of God. Faith and reason had wrestled in
his heart. Faith won and he would never look back.
Three conditions Arthur mentioned when walking were
exhaustion, heat and traffic. He has survived auto crashes, snakes, baboons,
elephants and crocodiles. He's slept in hammocks. The roadsides were littered
with bottles, rocks, sticks and rubble. He learned that when you stumble on
life's roadways, you want to fall into the arms of Jesus, not away from him.
Fall into grace and love.
Arthur has found the cross to be a universal symbol of God's
love that breaks down the barriers of language and culture. He witnessed people
feeling the presence of the Lord. He says he is not holy or that the cross is,
but the hand of God is upon the walk and people experience His glory as word
spreads about it.
My favorite story was when he was in South Africa. He saw a
man with no eyeballs. The man touched the cross in a tender and loving way from
top to bottom. It was so moving that the entire audience wept. This blind man
brought passion and freshness to the meaning of the cross. The man without eyes
saw things most people are blind to. It was obvious whom he trusted. This man
had already chosen to follow Jesus and he lived in the safety of his embrace.
Another woman was taking her last run before planning to
drown herself in the sea until she saw the cross. Arthur said he will never
forget what she then said: “Now I have life.”
In 1984, he was in Midland, Texas, and wrote in his journal:
"A good and powerful day. Led Vice President Bush's son to Jesus today.
George Bush Jr. This is great. Glory to God." He was preaching and W. was
there. They spoke by phone some afterwards and saw each other in 1999 at a
campaign fundraiser and prayed together like they had before.
He once told Jimmy Carter he needed to be up front about his
faith in Jesus. Shortly after the Florida primary, Carter came around and said
he was born again. Arthur was in Africa when he got a message from the Lord to
run for President himself. He believes his
running had an impact on proving that voters want to know what candidates
believe in their hearts about God. Are they followers of Jesus? Do they try to apply the values of their
faith in decisions? Arthur did get one
percent of the primary vote in Florida and New Hampshire, by the way.
Arthur met the South African ambassador who said his most
treasured gift was a straw donkey because that is what our Savior rode in on. A
lot of people talk about being upwardly mobile, but that day he and the
ambassador could see that God wants servants to be downwardly mobile.
He said he always gave it his best in carrying the cross. He
kept his shoulders back, head up, made eye contact and smiled.
Other highlights: God will deal justly with each person. If
you hold on to tormenting words or deeds, it will destroy you.
Every time Arthur eats or drinks he says, "If there is
anything in my body that should not be there, cleanse it. If there is anything
I need that is not there, put it in and make everything work perfectly in
Jesus' name."
I learned the word handi-capable.
Arthur lives in Littleton, Colo. He still carries the cross on special crosswalks in the U. S. and around the world. He has no problems with his feet, legs or back and no pain anywhere. He has seven children and 11 grandchildren and one great-granddaughter. His children have shared in the crosswalks in many nations.
Interesting facts:
Longest walk in a day - 72 miles in 24 hours (with help); 47
miles (alone)
Most apt country to be arrested in - USA
Most angry toward the cross - Amsterdam, Holland and
Tetouan, Morocco
Greatest welcome to the cross - Papua New Guinea, Poland,
Spain, India, Lithuania, Kiribati, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Guatemala &
West Africa
Worst poverty - Chad; Mozambique, Djibouti, Ethiopia, India
and Bangladesh
Most beautiful views - Mount Kilimanjaro, Kenya/Tanzania;
Mount Cameroon, Africa; Mount of Olives facing Jerusalem; Sea of Galilee,
looking toward Mount Hermon; Mount Sinai; Norwegian Coastline; Antigua;
Guatemala; a Swiss valley with lake and mountains beyond Tierra del Fuego
(Chile); Penguins nesting in Antarctica; Icebergs in Greenland, and Bronzal
Pass in the Hindu Kush - Pakistan-Afghanistan
Most beautiful City - Jerusalem
A few historical places and moments with the cross -
Washington, D.C. 1970, 1980; Olympic Stadium, Berlin, Germany; the Coliseum in
Rome; The Pantheon in Athens, Greece; the pyramids of Egypt; Cebu City in the
Philippines at Magellan's Cross; carrying the cross across the Panama and Suez Canals;
the cross at the top of the world's biggest pyramid in Cholula, Mexico; October
31, 1987 Hollywood, CA completed the distance around the world at the equator
24,901.55 miles; China Wall and Red Square, Moscow; Cross above the walls of
Babylon; North Korea; Completed every nation and major island group June 13,
2008 Zanzibar in Indian Ocean; Cross carried back to Hollywood to Grauman's
Chinese Theatre for the premiere of the movie "The Cross"; Lifting
the cross up at second base at Yankee Stadium, New York in front of 40,000
people.
Highest mountain climbed with the cross - Mount Fuji, Japan
(12,388 ft) Bronzal Pass, Pakistan-Afghanistan border (18,200 ft - 5,547 M.)
Deepest into the earth cross carried - Carlsbad New Mexico
(850 feet)
Lowest point below sea level cross carried - Dead Sea (1,200
feet)
Worst cold weather - Golan Heights, Syria-Israel; Rome to
Assisi, Italy; Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada; Antarctica and Baltic Republics
Hottest temperature - Jordan Valley; Chad; Yemen, Iraq &
Djibouti (135 degrees plus)
Coldest temperature - 20 degrees below in Nova Scotia,
Canada
Worst food - Squid in ink in Spain, monkey leg in Africa,
rat soup in Belize. He has eaten iguana meat and eggs and fish eye balls.
Best food - Freshwater shrimp in El Salvador and fresh
salmon in Finland
Cross stolen - Christmas Day 1979, Assisi, Italy
Best road pets - El Salvador del Mundo (parrot), Central
America; Basco (rabbit), Spain; Belfast (dog), Northern Ireland; Loretta
(parrot) South Africa - USA; HRH Windsor (dog) U.S.
Biggest animal scares - Green Mamba snake in Ghana; baboon
attack in Kenya; elephant chase in Tanzania; crocodile attack in Zimbabwe
Number of people prayed for, blessed or saved at the Cross -
Many millions but only God knows
Worst jail - Concord, New Hampshire
Biggest crowd preached to: Half a million, Atlanta Rock
Festival, 1970; Washington for Jesus Rally, half a million, 1980
