In every generation there have been revivals, massive moves of the Spirit that changed the course of history. In every revival, there were believers like you who chose to answer the call to become the one in their generation. Discover your call to be the one in your generation. Welcome to Revival Radio TV, I'm Gene Bailey. Listen, today is one of those. You need to sit down. Whatever you're doing, sit down. Get your notebook out because you're going to want to hear these stories.
Because I've got a special guest. Vep Ellis. Junior. Sir, thank you for being here. On Revival Radio TV. There is so much history with you and your family and what God's done through the years. You are prime prime candidate for revival. So we wanted to get this. We've been working on getting our schedules lined up for years, actually, now, I believe to be able to get yours. So thank you for coming. Let's start back in the beginning with the Pentecostal history of your great grandfather.
Tell me that story. Well, how did he get saved, anyway? Well, this is quite a story. In the twilight of the 19th century, as the wounds of the Civil War slowly knitted themselves into scars across the American landscape, a curious tale began to unfold. It's a story that invites us to ponder the nature of faith, destiny, and the invisible threads that weave through our lives. Picture, if you will, a young boy named James Benton Ellis, born into the harsh realities of a postwar South.
By the tender age of ten, he had already weathered storms that would break many an adult spirit, the loss of both parents leaving him adrift in a world that seemed indifferent to his plight. But was it truly indifference, or was there perhaps an unseen hand guiding his path? One day a wandering preacher arrived at the Ellis homestead.
Now, one might dismiss this as mere happenstance, but let us consider for a moment what divine purpose was at work to bring two souls together at precisely the right moment. This preacher, weathered by years of traversing dusty roads and preaching to hardened hearts, carried with him a satchel of Bibles. They weren't merely books, but vessels of something far more profound. James's father, a man hardened by life's trials, rebuffed the preacher's offer of a Bible. But why such vehemence?
What is it about faith that can provoke such strong reactions, even in those who claim to have none? He didn't want the Bible in the house, and he didn't want the preacher in the house. And so he told him, you'll have to leave. And so the preacher decided, well, I'll give you a family Bible. That way it'll be good for your children. And my great grandfather, Jack Ellis, got offended that he would think that he couldn't afford the Bible if he wanted it. Oh, yeah.
So he said, you've got to leave and leave now. And so that old Methodist preacher took his Bibles in his satchel, walked out of the house and read the book. It says that his mother rebuked his dad for being so rude to that Methodist preacher. But that elderly preacher walked out to his buggy and started to get into his buggy. And my great grandfather, who was nine right, followed him out to the book at to the buggy and said, sir, what kind of book is that? That makes my daddy so mad. Wow.
He said he said, I looked down, he looked down at me. But in the book he said, you know, I looked up and said, I sure would like to have one of those in the message. Preacher said, son, is he took a New Testament out of his satchel. He said, I'm coming back in this part of the woods. In several weeks. And if you have read this book, when I come back through here, I will give it to you. And he stuck it in my great grandfather's overall back pocket, and he road it off.
Young James, watching from the shadows, was drawn to this mysterious book that seemed to hold such power. What compelled him to follow the preacher? Was it simple, childish curiosity? Or was he responding to a call that resonated beyond the realm of the physical? Under the vast canopy of stars, James began a nightly ritual of reading the New Testament by firelight. One might ask, what drives a child to such dedication?
Is it possible that in those quiet moments, as the flickering flames danced across the pages, James was tapping into something ancient and profound? Was it that still small voice calling him? When the preacher returned and found that James had not only read the book, but internalized its message, he was astounded. But should we be surprised? Or should we instead wonder at the capacity of the human spirit to connect with ideas in the word of God that transcend our everyday existence?
The tale suggests that James's official moment of finding faith came later within the walls of a church. But I invite you to consider, had the true transformation not already occurred on that hillside under the silent watch of the stars? What is it about solitude and nature that can sometimes allow us to hear that still small voice, moving us to forge a connection to the divine than any man made structure.
As we reflect on James Benton Ellis's story, we're left with the revelation that resonate through the ages. What truly ignites the spark of faith? Is it just words on a page? No. It's the very words of our creator that resonate in our hearts, given as a gift of life from the kindness of a stranger or something far more ineffable. In the end, perhaps the greatest mystery is not what happened on that hillside, but how God called this young man for his purpose.
He would be instrumental in spreading the spark of revival that began in Azusa Street and spread throughout the South by this young man who found God alone in the woods by firelight, in the pages of a little worn New Testament that would change the world. He believed the book. He believed what was in the New Testament, but he didn't know much about faith or how to activate his faith. And he sought to be safe. You know, they used to tarry a lot. Yes, he said, I went to church.
They were having a meeting. I went, I went to the altar every night, and I'd grown in my own, and I would pray. But he said I couldn't pray through. Right. But they didn't understand. We're so blessed today to have the understanding that we have not that we understand everything, but we have so much more understanding than they did.
But he knew it was for him, so he kept praying, and several nights he would finally he said, when I prayed that last night, he said, I felt like I was going into hell. If he said, I felt we got a big, dark, deep, dark. He's coming over me. And all of a sudden I heard a voice says, you're saved. Get up. And he said, I stood up. He said, where am I? What have I been doing? Yeah. He said, I'm saved. And he said, that was the beginning.
Wow. And he said, those weeks that he spent getting up at night and reading the New Testament, he had he had developed a plan of Bible reading and prayer and singing that he maintained all of his life. So it all started with James Benton Ellis. And I'm proud to say I have my middle name is Benton. Yeah. That's great. Well, I'm just I'm sitting here listening to the story. This is amazing.
You know, of course, now you think about a nine year old again, breaking out of the house and building the fire over the hill. And that would be scary enough as it is. But while the the commitment. Do you know what his dad, you're your great great grandfather. Well, how did he respond to him with his Bible? Well, when he came home after receiving his salvation and and getting the that confidence.
And then he was born again, he went home and told his dad, and his dad just looked and said, well, I hope you can live it. He said, I, I expected a better reaction than I received, he said. But my mother was very pleased. He said it wasn't long after that that we started to go on to church. Occasionally they would go into Methodist churches, right? That's where he was going. In fact, when he was 13, he started teaching a boys class. How about that?
And the class doubled for friends coming from other churches that he played, played with would come to come to that boy's class. And he taught the boys class at the Methodist Church. They were that was in the area. That's amazing. And when he was 17 or 18, he was teaching a young man young man's class. I mean, because he is so saturated himself with the Word of God, he can teach. And he did receive a second blessing.
He understood there were some holiness people, and he was nine when he was saved, right within a year later, maybe. I'm not sure what the sequence was. Or two years later, he heard about the holiness group. There were people preaching holiness, sanctification, a sacred, definite word. And, he started seeking the blessing. And he got that blessing as well. And then it wasn't too long. I heard about the Pentecostal blessing he had been already.
He had already received his, exhorting lessons, you might say. And so he about, I think if I remember the dates, it was after, it was after 1900. It was between 1900 and 1910 that, Reverend Barclay came through blunt County, and that area was preaching on the Holy Spirit and Pentecost, and he heard about it, but he wasn't quite sure about it. So he started kind of investigating about that, and he studied about it, and he knew it was scriptural.
What a voice inside his head and said, if you get involved with these people, your ministry is over. You know, and so and so he would seek the blessing and the Holy Spirit, baptism of the Holy Spirit. And yeah, it went to a few of the meetings he was seeking, but he wouldn't receive. And he had heard about Burkhalter coming. And so he went to the church, and he and his wife walked into the church. And it actually, I think, was a methodist church.
And, before his wife got to her seat, she was baptized in the Holy Spirit. And he said I was following her. I was just quick to receive it. But he said, when that was knelt, when I knelt at the altar, I would seek it, seek the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And then some time later, they had asked him. He had pastored that church for a while. As we as the days go by and the years go by. And he was it was about, and it was after 1910. But he he would fill in for the pastor.
He did, you know, he would he would pastor some and, and he was out evangelizing. That was his main calling was evangelizing. And he went to this meeting because he was invited. But the invitation was, you need to come down here and straighten these people out. Oh, really? Because they're gibberish. They're saying they're speaking. Oh, yeah. You know, and he said, so he's here. I went down there and I sat right behind the preacher.
I was on the platform because I, I had pastored there some and, and he had pastors that you need to speak, you need to say something to the people. So he got up and he told me, said, now I'm not received the blessing, but I will have to say it in scriptural. And when the preacher finished preaching, he's up behind the pulpit. Be in to seek it. I said, yeah. And he said, I received the blessing, but not when that committed. Struggling. He sure the devil kept telling me, you receive this blessing.
You don't preach. No. The message you never had your career in ministry is over. But he said, I finally said, I heard a voice say it to me. Behold, I have set before you an open door, and no man can shut it. Yeah, and that's you receive his blessing. So take us to the Church of God. How did that had the connection there? Well, it was sometime after that that, that church, you God preacher came through there and let me build it up to this.
He was pastoring that one church, and he came to pastor that church. And when he did, the board met him and said, we hear that you have received. That experience, baptism of the Holy Spirit. So the board not just said, you can't preach here this Sunday morning. So he looked at him and said, well, I tell you what, where is the line at this property? Stop. And the board says at the road, he said he said, I looked across there and he turned to the people.
He said it was the biggest crowd we'd had ever had. I guess the word had gotten out. Yeah, I bet it had. And he said, well, folks, I've been told I can't preach in the building today. So across the road over there, there's a stump I'm going across there this morning to preach my morning message. If you want to hear me, you follow me across there and I will preach. The whole congregation followed him across the road to hear him preach that Sunday morning message.
The deacons of the church came up to him and said, well, we don't have anybody left, so you might as well come back over here and preach. So you went back into the church and he preached, and it was just a blessing. But how he got into the Church of God, that same pastor guy that he first hear, heard preach about the Pentecostal experience had invited some people from around in Tennessee, from the Church of God. And he they invited him to join the Church of God.
And when he did, of course, he immediately began to preach. And all over Alabama he had 27 churches under him. He was an overseer. The assignment to be overseer over the Alabama Wright region. Region. Yeah. And he walked well, he said there were times I had to walk 27 miles on a Sunday to preach and to all the churches that were under my he didn't have a any other way, as he was said. I had no other way of conveying conveyance.
Right. He said, I walked, but, he eventually became a legend and the Pentecostal and Church of God, and he was the third president of what then was called Lee Bible College is now Lee University. Right. And, but he was served on the executive committee of the Supreme Council, but he started churches all over Alabama, and he was shot at he was thrown in jail. But he said, I never missed one of my assignments. How about that?
One time he was put in jail because they told him, you can't come here and preach this message in this county. He said, well, I've already got my tent up. So they came and arrested him, put him in jail, and somebody had called the governor, and the governor had called the the sheriff and the mayor and said, you leave that man alone. So they let him out of jail, and he went back and preached the preach, the first message. And that tent that they had set up for him to preach in.
And, at that same meeting there in Alabama near Straight Creek, there was a man that came, into the into the tent on an afternoon riding a horse, and rode the horse into the tent and shot three shots toward him. And he missed. Wow. And then they had the meeting that night. I bet you I bet they had a meeting that the help me. He said. Oh, he said the crowds got bigger. Better. They got bigger every time. And he said another time at that same meeting went for weeks.
He said a man came in after the meeting was over. He wanted to talk to the preacher. He said, I had a singer with me. So we were staying in the tent. And so he said, this man came into the into the tent, wanted to talk to the preacher, and he said, I can see the man had either a dagger or some large knife up his sleeve. Right. And he said, the spirit of the Lord, the voice of God said to me, I ask him, what do you want? And what did he said, I won't talk to you outside.
He said, what's the Lord said to me? Follow him. The do not be afraid. If you show fear, he will kill you. He said. I walked behind that man outside the tent and he said I was three feet behind him, and he turned around and lunged at me five times, and he said the knife stopped within six inches of my chest, six inches five times. The man had a wild look on your face. He was shocked. It was if some power stopped him. Well.
The man turned after five lunges and ran, jumped over the hedges and ran away, he said. The next night, a tall, lanky man came into the service, said, he looks familiar to me. But it was dark then that he came and he said the man came to the altar. After the message he said, I went down and knelt beside him, began to pray with him and he was groaning and he was grieving and he was reaping weeping. He finally said, I've got a confession to make. I've got a confession to make.
The man finally said, I came here to kill you yesterday. And he said, I tried to kill you five times. I lunged at you. It was if someone had stopped my arm or I hit a wall every time I'd come at you. And he said, I ran away. But he said, I've never been a religious man. I've never believed in a God. He said I was paid to kill you. Wow. And he said, but how would to receive salvation? What? You're talking about the man who got saved that night. How about that powerful story?
It is a powerful. Another. Another time. Well, who paid him? Do you ever find out? I didn't, I didn't find out, but think about it. Is. And and there are many stories like this in this book. In fact, let me just throw this an aside here. Back when Doctor Hagan started preaching at Sheridan End about the word of faith and speaking of faith, and he was criticized a lot and and the word of faith was criticized a lot. Oh, yeah. At I told my dad, don't my brothers. I said, you know what?
He's not doing any different than what my great grandfather did. That's right. And they were having miracles and the crowds were growing, but they had opposition. There were a lot of opposition. And this one meeting they had the the physicians and the county didn't want him there. Most of them, when he'd go to a community or a town to preach, he'd be met with leaders of the town. And the sheriff sometimes said, you can't press that word here. You can't preach it here.
And he he said, well, I'm going to. Yeah, you know, but he had set up his tent and, the doctors in the community gathered up the worst invalid in the county and brought it to his meeting. And he said when they brought her and they brought her in an armchair and brought her right down the aisle and set her up at the altar. And you can hear. You can hear a pin drop, everybody. What this is all about. It was challenging. We're going to see for you who you are.
If you say if you can do what you say, you can do is. I walked down to the lady and I said, what can I do for you? She said, I believe you can hear me. Can you hear me? He said, no, I can't hear you right. But the God I serve can. And then he said, are you saved? She said, I got religion 40 years ago and said, well, are you still saved? She says, it's none of your business. Yeah. He said, well, I can't do anything for you until you change the spirit with which you're in.
You get to change your spirit, change your attitude right? But she and she challenged him. He said, well, I have a proposition for you. If I pray for you and God heals you, will you confess? Will you testify that the Lord healed you? Will you accept that proposition? She said, I guess so. He prayed for her. She got up out of the chair and walked out, didn't say a word, just kept turning around looking at him. He was still standing at the altar. She walked for a walk out. Walk out?
She went out to get in her buggy and to be and to go home. Well, they had obvious had a great meeting that day. I'm sure they did. The next night I could have been Sunday morning. I can't remember what it was. He's in the pulpit and she comes to the to the tent where they're having this service, and she runs down the aisle and she says, I'm saved. I'm saved, I'm healed. He said, well, when did this happen? She said, when I was in the corn field praying this morning, the Lord saved me.
How about that? And he said, I experienced my first example of the gift of healing that hit operating through him, then through him, the night before, because she was she really wasn't much of a believer, right? But he said, I experienced and saw the gift of healings. I made the miracle. Working of God is real. One more story about James Benton Ellis, my great grandfather. Okay. He was thrown in jail. Really? In Jacksonville, Alabama.
And, when he was in the jail, he he began to preach to the prisoners. And almost all of them were saved. And then and they and of course, they let him out. Interesting story, years later he was walking down the streets of Birmingham, Alabama, and a man walks up to him and said, Reverend Ellis, you don't remember me, but I've been preaching the gospel for years. And I was one of the prisoners that got saved. How about Jacksonville, Alabama?
Now, about about seven years ago, my brothers and I did a...we had a homecoming and we and a sister Judy, and we went to Jacksonville, Alabama. My brother David went into the jails. Is this the jail that was here around 1930? Something like that. And they said, yes, why do you ask? This is where my great grandfather was imprisoned here for preaching the gospel. What's his name? That lady said, James Benton Ellis. She said, I've heard of him.
All those years later, all those years later, they still remember the revivals of James Benton Ellis after all these years. And then. Amazing. All right, so that's just the beginning. That's the beginning of the story. And the show's almost over. James Benton I'm still stuck back in a nine year old boy getting a Bible. I am too. You know, I'm like, wow, what a great what a great legacy your family has.
But listen, the thing you know, we always talk about here on Revival Radio is that you can be the one. And not to discount what you think, because you never know what God's doing. Just like that little boy who wanted a Bible. And he got it, and he read it. And look what God did in his life. It didn't. It wasn't all roses all along the way. No, but he he came through the other side. So I want to pray for you real quick. Heavenly father, thank you for everyone watching.
Let us take today the beginning of the story of how we can be the one, and to not despise small beginnings, but to realize who you've made us to be. Or I thank you for these great saints that we talk about. I thank you for James Bennett Ellis and what he's done. And, father, I thank you that as we go forward in our week, we'll remember this story and how God reached out and touched a nine year old boy. In Jesus name, Amen. All right, listen, there's a phone number on the screen.
You can call if you need prayer. You want to. Maybe you want to experience salvation like that nine year old boy figured out when he read that Bible. Go call the number and let people reach out to you. We got some qualified ministers right there on the other end. Until next time. We're going to keep this story going. It has just started. You have no idea what we're about to get into. Thank you. And we'll see you next week. If you would like to, to be a part and give your financial donation.
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