By Ginny McCabe
Ben Alexander was an amazing man of God. He traveled the world sharing the gospel, touching millions of people across the globe. The late Alexander, an internationally renowned evangelist and founder of Exposing Satan’s Power (ESP) Ministries, came out of a spiritualist background in England. Later, he came to the United States and devoted his life to Christ, warning Christians about the dangers of the occult.
Exposing the work of Satan while sharing the good news of God’s mercy and grace, Ben preached in churches, spoke at conferences and conventions, and met personally with men and women trapped in the occult. In addition to his autobiography, Out from Darkness, Ben created and published numerous video lessons and online messages, appearing on programs like CBN’s “700 Club” and Dr. James Kennedy’s “Truths That Transform.”
In 2001 Ben was featured in a multi-part documentary produced by Christian Kingdom College, Winchester, Virginia. Radio co-host Charles Doughty introduced Ben to their audience with a simple but accurate summary of Ben’s life and ministry: “We have with us in our studio a very interesting man, a former spiritualist from England, now an evangelist and Christian author, brother Ben Alexander. He’s my brother in Christ. He loves the Lord, and he loves New Testament Christianity; but it hasn’t always been that way. He’s had a hard, rocky road to the cross of Calvary.”
A Troubled Childhood
What makes Alexander’s story so powerful is that he experienced many of the things he spoke about firsthand. He was born on December 25, 1920, to a widow named Golda Alpern, who gave him up for adoption immediately. He grew up in London and was raised in the Jewish faith by adoptive parents. His only sibling, his brother, Morrie, was also adopted. Both his mother and father passed away before he was 18. Through a series of tragic events, which began at a young age, Ben immersed himself in spiritualism.
At age 11, he remembered being awakened by the screams of his father, who was crying out, “Please, God, don’t let me die. I don’t want to die, God. Help me!” Alexander said he was terrified when he heard those words. He recalled, “I can never forget what happened that night. It was in the early hours of the morning that I believe the seeds of spiritualism were sown. (It was) the fear of death.”
Ben believed his father’s fear of death had much to do with the way he lived. Ben observed, “Why was [my father] afraid? Well, he lived like so many men live today as if they have a thousand years to live. For starters, he was a wife-beater. He was always beating my mother. She always had black and blue eyes, and bruises all over her face and body.”
In addition, his father was having an affair with the woman next door. She gave birth to a child who looked just like his father. Now the time had come, he was about to die, and he could only scream in fear.
In the early hours of the morning, they took Ben’s father to the hospital. A few hours later they brought him back in a closed coffin which was placed in the middle of the living room. Ben wasn’t aware of what was going on until he woke up the next morning, noticed that the furniture had been moved, and saw the coffin.
“I knew it was him, and I was literally terrified when I saw this. It was awful. Terror struck my heart,” Alexander said. At the time, he also remembered talking to God, saying, “Please, God, don’t let me die. I don’t want to die, God.” He was frightened. He hadn’t been taught anything about life after death.
Alexander attended a Hebrew school several days each week after public school. There he learned a few traditional prayers along with the Ten Commandments. He was also taught that he could fast once a year and he would be forgiven for his sins. So, the idea of death struck his heart and frightened him.
Sadly, Ben’s parents never told him he was adopted. He learned the truth indirectly. “They never told me they adopted me. The neighbors told me, and I did find a document,” Alexander said.
The Alexander family lived in a two-room home in the slums of London’s East End. After Ben’s father died, his mother felt she had no way to provide for her family. “My mother was a very illiterate woman. We were very poor, and when [my father] died, there was no money coming in, and she couldn’t earn a living. So, she turned to prostitution. These were very traumatic times for me, because as it was, where I lived was a red-light district, anyway,” he said.
Over the next seven years, Ben grew more introverted and ashamed. At the age of 17, another trauma took place in his life. His mother died. She died in the hospital of bronchopneumonia and was buried the same day. Three days later, Ben had a vision of his mother, appearing in front of him. Although he said he didn’t know it at the time, he was seeing an “apparition,” a ghost or ghost-like image of a person. He said his mother was a fortune teller as well, not as an occupation, but as entertainment.
From Darkness to Light
In his autobiography Ben shares story after story of how he went from darkness to light, and how he not only came to know Christ personally but became a Christian evangelist and popular author devoted to warning others of the reality and dangers of spiritualism.
Eventually Ben quit school. He bounced around from the military to the tavern. He drove a cab. He drove a bakery route. He experimented with life and that experimentation took him into the pits of hell. During that time, he became one of the leading spiritual activists in London. His passion for the occult led him to the United States for the purpose of spreading spiritualist activity throughout the country.
When Alexander arrived in America, his soul was tormented. “I felt like a fugitive. Fear of death, hopelessness, and guilt seemed to be my lot,” he said. However, during his first year in the U.S., he was introduced to Christianity through the love and kindness of the Huntsinger family.
“It was a long drive from Santa Monica to Norwalk on Sunday, February 14, 1965,” Ben wrote, “but it turned out to be the most important day of my life. I sat in the service and listened to the minister, whose name was Orrin Kingsriter. This was the first time that I had ever actually attended a worship service.”
When the service ended, members of the church came to him and warmly welcomed him. He had never experienced this kind of care and concern before. Alexander tells how Kingsriter and the people at the church prayed for him, shared Scriptures, and ultimately led him to Christ.
After living in darkness for so long, Ben became a light for Jesus. He grew passionate about sharing the story of his personal transformation. He frequently traveled to Christian conferences, churches, and missionary events, and was interviewed on thousands of radio and television programs. His expertise was rooted in sound biblical truth, and he touched millions of people’s lives.
In his endorsement of Out From Darkness, teacher and author Knofel Staton wrote,
“I know of no single man who is more courageous, faithful, open to grow, and flexible as Ben Alexander. Although he is well known and in demand, he is willing to take a telephone call from anyone and spend hours on the phone with that person. He has made himself continually available and accessible. Ben Alexander never meets an unimportant person, nor encounters an unimportant issue in that person’s life. He literally pours himself into people and allows people to pour themselves into him.
Staton added that his greatest takeaway from reading Ben’s autobiography “is knowing the Christ, who changed Ben Alexander and who uses him.”
A Continuing Ministry
Ben was 50 years old when he and his wife, Miranda, founded Exposing Satan’s Power (ESP) Ministries. In the decades that followed, the two were constantly on the go, speaking across the country and counseling individuals. Their ministry continued for nearly 50 years until Ben’s death on February 19, 2018.
The core of the ministry’s message has been to warn against Satanism and the occult and to tell others about the transforming power of God’s love. Alexander said many times in his talks and interviews that young people are often introduced to the occult through seemingly harmless avenues such as the Ouija board, Dungeons and Dragons, and fortune tellers.
“Praise the Lord, I found the light. That realization of that first taste of Christianity brought refreshing hope and chased away the darkness in my life. I discovered I was loved,” Alexander said in the book.
Exposing Satan’s Power Ministries continues through the ministry website, www.espministries.com. Ben’s lectures and lessons are available as YouTube videos on a variety of topics from abortion and astrology to the powers of darkness and wicca.
Ginny McCabe is a journalist, author, and freelance writer living in Cincinnati, Ohio.
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