The Cross
Arthur Blessitt
Reviewed by Teresa Konopka
“The Cross: 38,102 Miles, 38 Years, 1 Mission” by Arthur Blessitt
is an
eye-catching book. After all, if a man can carry a twelve foot cross
around the world into every nation, he certainly must have some story
to tell. There are seventeen chapters that chronicle anecdotes of
Blessitt’s travels. They are not always in chronological order, but
they do have a unique organization. Also, each chapter starts out with
a handwritten-like font page or so with pictures that is reminiscent of
a journal of Blessitt’s.
Throughout the book, Blessitt does discuss the notion of accepting
Jesus into one’s heart. He speaks greatly of converting many different
persons to God, oftentimes with them crying in the end. While the
message is all hunky-dory, there are some red-flags that pop up to the
Christian reader as the book progresses. Blessitt says that he received
visions from God (after it is mentioned that he had medical issues with
his head), heard Jesus speak to him, and healed medical ailments in
Jesus’ name. This sounds very much so like an apostle / prophet of the
New Testament. However, he briefly mentions a divorce. One would think
that a prophet would not disobey God. In his defense, no one but Jesus
is perfect (as Christians recall, there was an apostle that denied
Jesus three times). Also, when talking about God, he does not
capitalize (e.g.- He versus he, and His versus his, etc). There is even
a Near Death Experience mentioned in the book. Sadly, the reader is
left wanting more than the sentence-or-two that is devoted to such an
awe-inspiring moment.
As for the cross, the feat of carrying it for so long is amazing,
although the reader does not know how the exact mileage was calculated.
Also, Blessitt had the convenience of a wheel on the bottom of his
cross, something which Jesus did not. Overall, Blessitt’s story is
fantastic and does hold reader’s attention. Readers just become
skeptical when certain areas of the book are not elaborated / expounded
upon. In the end, any man who says he has walked over 38,000 miles a
cross definitely deserves to have his story told.