items of interest

with contributions from Tom Harpur, David Waters

In 1969, Arthur Blessitt felt called by God to carry a cross that was on the wall of his coffee shop in Hollywood into every country in the world. In August 1998 he and his wife reached their last stop—North Korea.

Over the years, he has traveled more than 32,500 miles. He has been arrested twenty-four times and has been threatened by both wild animals and humans. On his return to the United States, he plans to carry the cross into every state; he has been in about half of them so far.

The only time he was tempted to give up was in 1973 when villagers in Liberia thought he was Jesus. He despaired, thinking that perhaps the venture was only glorifying himself. But he felt God telling him to persevere. Although his only motive was to obey God's direction, he adds, "Believers need to see that the world is open. ... So many of the church leaders ... have labeled certain places of the world 'impossible' or 'closed.' ... It's not true."

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