Arthur Owen Blessitt, a world-famous Christian preacher, was born on 27th October in the year 1940. He drew his first breath in Greenville, Mississippi. However, the father of his owned a cotton farm, and so the family had to move to Louisiana when Arthur Blessitt had been little yet. When he was just 7 years old, Arthur began to worship after visiting some revival meeting.


Career Experience

Since then, the career of Arthur Blessitt was directed towards the Christian church. At the end of the 1960s, Arthur Blessitt began to preach to the young people of the California’s Hollywood. Right at that time, he got a nickname “Minister of Sunset Strip”. His career of the evangelist preacher implied preaching to all people, including rock stars, flower children, future actors, teen prostitutes, runaways, hippies, and drug addicts, and he has successfully been doing so.

A notable happening occurred in the year 1968: Arthur Blessitt opened a coffee store, named “His Place”, right near a go-go bar. In that coffee house, he placed a large cross on the wall, thanks to which he became recognized among many people. On the Christmas morning in the year 1969, he made his first cross-walk that covered the distance from Los Angeles up to Washington. A couple of years later, he made the premier overseas cross-journey that began in Northern Ireland.

That was the time when he became famous throughout the world. He carried his cross to many African countries, as well as Lebanon, which was in the state of war then. His numerous cross-walks included visits to such countries like North Korea, Iraq, Iran, China, Vietnam, Libya, Israel, Palestine, Cuba, South Africa, India, Afghanistan, Somalia, as well as the Soviet Union’s Russia, Ukraine, and the Baltic States. He continued his preaching mission and attempted to obtain peace in the world also by meeting the states’ leaders and religious authorities, in particular George Walker Bush, Muammar al-Gaddafi, Pope John Paul II, and Billy Graham.

Up to date, he has had walks via 323 countries; however, he does not seem to stop cross-walking. In 2009, there was released a documentary titled “The Cross: The Arthur Blessitt Story”, the director of which was Matthew Crouch. By the way, there are red, brown, or yellow colored Arthur Blessitt stickers that people may see on the streets, and there is an inscription on them: “Smile, God Loves You.” They have become so popular that one may find it in a random U.S. shop. However, concerning the net worth of Arthur Blessitt, it is unavailable to the public.

Personal life

There is, however, a dark spot in the biography of Arthur Blessitt, too. He had six children with his first wife, Sherry Anne Simmons, and they are named Jerusalem, Joseph, Joshua, Joy, Joel, and Gina. A huge scandal erupted when he decided to divorce his wife and marry another one, named Denise, which is prohibited by any religion. Moreover, he made the things worse when he said that it’s the God who told him to separate from his former wife, since it was hard to believe that the God could tell him to divorce and marry a model, who was 30 years younger than him.

However, he and Denise adopted a daughter whose name is Sophia. They live together in Denver, Colorado. Moreover, Arthur Blessitt is active on Facebook where he has over 7 thousand followers.

Publications

Arthur Blessitt has published a considerable number of books, and some of them are: “The Cross: 38,102 Miles, 38 Years, One Mission” (2009), “Give Me a “J” (2006), “Arthur’s Blessitt’s street university” (1978), and others.

Last Modified: Apr 7, 2020


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