BEN F. VICK, JR.
I learned this morning that Jimmy Allen, long time professor at Harding University and well- known evangelist, passed away. He was 90 years old. The last few years of his life he had dementia and was in a care facility in Garland, Texas, close to his daughter, Cindy.
The first time I heard Jimmy Allen was on a record which our Bible teacher at Georgia Christian School played. The sermon was “What Is Hell Like.” It was powerful. While at Alabama Christian College (70-71), I heard him on the lectureship, I believe. There were many responses to his sermon. When the song leader concluded the invitation song, brother Gus Nichols stood up and said let us sing a little more, because he thought there were others who were on the verge of obeying the gospel. Others did come forward. Then, in the fall of 1971 I started attending Harding College. I heard him in a gospel meeting at the College Church. Powerful preaching. I took his class on the book of Acts. He had his students memorize Acts 2. We had to write verses 1-21 at the midway point of the semester; then, verses 22-47 for the last part of the semester. We had to get every word right. I audited his class on the Restoration Movement, and still have his typed notes for that class. I wish I would have taken his class on Romans. I had a few private discussions with him on his view on the Holy Spirit.
Brother Allen participated in sports at Harding, as long as he was able. He was a good athlete. He was as Asahel, “as light of foot as a wild roe.” He was on the faculty’s flag football team as a half-back. He played softball. He loved basketball and would often play in pick up games against and with the students. As the manager of the basketball team, I had to walk through the faculty dressing room, and taped to his locker was written: “The Gunner.” When I played against him in basketball, I tried to block his shot at every opportunity. He accused me of fouling him (can you believe that?). Even when we corresponded years later, he said that the only way he would play me one-on-one would be if there were a referee present. I wrote him back and told him that I could ref the game because I had been a basketball official in Indiana for many years.
Though we had some differences doctrinally, I loved him and appreciated his ability to preach. No man in my lifetime in my judgment, was as powerful of a preacher as he. He as the old farmer would say could “shell down the corn.” He had strong convictions and was not afraid to express them whether you agreed with him or not. He did not put up with people talking or cutting up while he was preaching. He would call them down publicly in a heartbeat. I heard him at the church of Christ in Greenfield, Indiana, in March of 2009. In that small auditorium, a young couple sitting up near the front, was not paying attention. He paused in his sermon and let them know that what he had to say was more important than what they were saying.
One of the characteristics I appreciated about Jimmy Allen was his willingness to change his view if he realized he was wrong. Brother Allen wrote, “A brother who says, ‘I haven’t changed any of my Biblical views in the last twenty-five years,’ has not had his head in the Bible.” In his autobiography, Fire In My Bones, he has a chapter in which he mentioned his changed views. He was a Staff Sergeant in the army, but when he went to Harding, J. D. Bales influenced him to become a conscientious objector. He believed that he could still serve in the military as a medic. While I was at Harding, I heard a discussion on the college radio station a debate between Bales and Allen on this issue. Bales had switched his position, but Allen was still a C.O. at that time. Allen said that he could take Bales’ previous arguments and use them against Bales’ changed view. After 30 or 40 years, Allen changed his view back to his former position.
Allen changed his view on divorce and remarriage, but not for the better. Brother Allen once held that Isaiah 7:14 was a straight-line prophecy, applying only to the virgin birth of Christ (Matt. 1:18-25); later, however, he changed his view, teaching it has a double fulfillment. He also believed that instrumental music was not authorized in New Testament worship but would no longer say it would cause one to miss heaven. Allen once taught that the early church had official deaconesses, however, further study caused him to change his view. On the subject of baptism, Allen came to the view that one did not have to understand that baptism is for the remission of sins in order to be scripturally baptized. Brother Allen changed his view on hell being endless. In his well-known sermon,” What Is Hell Like?” he expressed the truth: He taught that hell was endless. However, several years back, he changed his view, saying that hell was not endless. The writing of Moses Lard influenced him greatly.
Over the years I discussed several of his changes with him. I corresponded with him at length on his view that hell was not endless. I encouraged him to read the Campbell-Skinner debate. Finally, he stated, “All I can say now is that I will have to rethink the matter….Perhaps I would have done better to have left it out of the book. Whatever hell is, we still want others to miss it.” (Ltr. 3/15/05). I agree, he should have left that section out of his book.
I believe the last time I heard Allen preach was in Greenfield, Indiana, in 2009. As I was leaving the auditorium, I started to shake his hand, but he said, we may not see each other again; so, we hugged. I left with a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes. I called him after the death of his wife, Marilyn; he was so lonely. The last time I saw him was in March of 2013. I had a debate with Jeff Asher in Russellville, Arkansas, and I stopped in Searcy with my son and his wife to visit with brother Allen. He seemed glad to see me. He gave my son one of his books. As we were leaving, he said hold on, I want to show you something. He returned in a minute or so and showed us he could still wear his army jacket which was issued to him while in the service. He was still in good shape.
My thoughts and prayers are with the family. There is to be a memorial service at the College church in Searcy, Arkansas, this coming Tuesday. “Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel?”