J.B. Ellis and the Open Door
Struggle walked with Alabama-born James Benton Ellis along every step of his Christian journey. But struggle always gave way to victory. His conversion came during his teen years after repeatedly seeking the Lord in revival services at the Cliff Springs Methodist church where he attended. When salvation finally came, following the benediction of the last revival of the year, it came in such a way that he never was tempted to doubt it.
Later, while ministering in Texas, Ellis became convinced that holiness was a Bible doctrine. He sought and received his sanctification in 1895. To his amazement, his testimony was received with rebuke and caused such a commotion that a grand jury considered indicting him for disturbing public worship.
In 1910 Church of God evangelist J. W. Buckalew was preaching in Alabama City and the surrounding communities. Ellis, who was teaching school at the time, received a panicked phone call from a steward of a nearby Methodist church. It seems that the local church had mistaken Buckalew for a holiness preacher and had invited him to preach. To their horror, about twelve members had already received the Pentecostal blessing. The steward suggested that Ellis, a former pastor of the church, might come to right the situation.
Ellis agreed to visit the church the following Saturday. But on Friday, the steward reported that most of the congregation had already received the baptism of the Holy Ghost and the steward himself was convinced of its truth. Little did the steward know that Ellis too already desired the experience.
True to his word, Ellis visited the church that Saturday–not to correct any problems but to seek the blessing. As he sought God the next evening, he struggled with what he knew would be for him swift and sure ruin in the Methodist church. The final attack of Satan was fear that every door of ministry would close.
Yet Ellis trusted the Lord, who brought to his mind the Scripture, “Behold, I have set before thee an open door and no man can shut it” (Revelation 3:8) Ellis responded, “Lord, if you’ll keep the door open, I’ll walk in.” That night Ellis received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. As expected, he immediately faced opposition. The next Sunday he was barred from preaching at his local church. But he found an open door in the Church of God.
Not long after receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit, Ellis was preaching at a water baptism service. In his autobiography he wrote, “I don’t think I ever saw so large a crowd at a baptizing. I preached a sermon standing on the spring seat of a wagon, which was placed on the ground for a platform. I looked up in the trees, and people were sitting on the limbs, so as to see and hear the preacher. For a long distance every way there was a packed mass of people. The Lord spoke to me and said, ‘Behold the open door.’ From that moment to this I have never lacked for opportunity to carry a message of full gospel to a lost world.”
J.B. Ellis (1870-1946) served the Church of God as teacher, state overseer, elder and superintendent of education.
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This article was written by Church of God Historian David G. Roebuck, Ph.D., who is director of the Dixon Pentecostal Research Center and assistant professor of the history of Christianity at Lee University. This “Church of God Chronicles” was first published in the October 2000 Church of God Evangel.
