This Book Brought Daredevil Evel Knievel to Faith in Jesus
By Movieguide® Contributor
Sometimes when we are struggling with our faith, we just need a push in the right direction. That was the case for daredevil stuntman Evel Knievel.
Knievel, whose real first name was Robert, believed that God was calling out to him amid his drunken, womanizer lifestyle, so he reached out to a trusted friend to point him in the right direction. The friend was none other than Kathie Lee Gifford’s late husband Frank Gifford. Gifford, in turn, directed Robert to read Lee Strobel’s book The Case For Christ, telling him “That’ll kind of explain everything.”
READ MORE: HOW GOD RADICALLY SAVED STUNTMAN EVEL KNIEVEL
Through reading that book, Knievel encountered God.
“Evel Knievel ends up having a radical encounter with God…radical, born-again experience,” Strobel told Kirk Cameron. “He is turned 180 degrees. When he is baptized, he tells his story with such passion and such clarity that 700 people got up and came up and received Christ, were baptized on the spot. When he died a couple years later, at his request on his tombstone it says, ‘Believe in Jesus Christ.'”
After his salvation, Knievel called Strobel.
“I answered the phone I said, ‘This is Lee,’ and he said… ‘This is Evel.’ And I thought ‘Satan has got my phone number. Is that even possible?’” the author joked. The two became friends and remained so until Knievel’s death in 2007.
“Most important to him above all was his new-found faith in Jesus Christ,” the stuntman’s website read after his death. “Just as he always took great care in surrounding himself with the best people he could depend upon to help him make his jumps during his motorcycle career, Knievel found his greatest friend of all in preparation for his final leap from life.”
“He was so overwhelmed by God’s grace,” Strobel said of his friend. “Here was this macho daredevil who became this humble, loving, and sincere follower of Jesus. It was an amazing thing to behold.”
READ MORE: REAL LIFE CASE FOR CHRIST AUTHOR LAUNCHES CENTER FOR EVANGELISM
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