How Christian Comedian Jeff Allen Found Christ After Reading Ecclesiastes
By Movieguide® Contributor
In an interview with The Christian Post, Christian comedian Jeff Allen shares his journey to defeating addiction and finding God.
“I had a vision one day of being in the back of the car, you’re on a journey, you’re with your parents, you’re a kid. And then they pull into a rest area, and they just leave, and you’re left on your own as a child to navigate your way through life. And I thought that’s what recovery was for me,” Allen shared.
His journey is documented in his new book “Are We There Yet? My Journey from a Messed Up to a Meaningful Life.”
Allen explained how, at age 30, he entered a 12-step program for recovery, but it was not until seven or eight years later that he committed his life to Christ.
“That’s kind of what the book is about is that seven- or eight-year period of a search for some sense of meaning,” he explained.
Allen shared that he turned to “books and self-help” to overcome addiction.
“Everything kind of quenched the thirst. The way I can describe it, it was a spiritual thirst, which I didn’t know,” he said. “So, everything I had and brought into my life quenched it but didn’t sate it.”
His addiction nearly ended his marriage. Movieguide® reported, “At the time, he and his wife planned to divorce but decided against it while driving to the courthouse. Instead, his wife took their kids for the summer and told him to get a grip on life.”
He turned on some Bible tapes he had received previously and found himself in Ecclesiastes.
“When I read meaningless, meaningless, all in life is meaningless, I went ‘yes!’ And I felt if that was true, then there must be other things in that book that were true,” Allen explained.
He continued to read the Bible and decided to give his life to Jesus.
“I just got on my knees and said, ‘Jesus I’m yours,’” he revealed.
“And I’ve since spent the past 20 years trying to live up – I’m nowhere near it, but I’ve tried to live up to what that means as a child of Christ,” he told Fox News.
“I’m way short. I fall short every day. It’s like Blaise Pascal’s wager, where he says as a Christian, what have I lost? At the end of my life, if it turns out to be false — I was a better husband, a better father, a better citizen and certainly a better comedian,” Allen explained.
His new book explores his testimony in detail.
“If you have struggled to find meaning in your life, this book is for you,” a description of the book reads. “With his trademark humor and unflinching honesty, Allen will point you to the only One who can answer the question, ‘Are we there yet?’ You’ll know when you’ve arrived.”
His current comedy tour, also called “Are We There Yet,” runs through April 2024.
Movieguide® previously reported on Allen’s testimony:
Comedian Jeff Allen revealed how Christ saved his life, turning him from alcoholism and a failing marriage to a loving man filled with the Holy Spirit.
Allen’s life had been marred by anger, and he took his rage out on his wife and those around him by verbally berating them and making nasty jokes.
“I worked inside out,” Allen told CBN, explaining where his jokes came from. “I had female club owners who wouldn’t hire me…[because of] the way I talked about my wife. Tammy would come out occasionally to a show, and she’d leave in tears…”
“In the end, it turned out to be a cliche,” he shared. “The meaning comes from your family, your friends…all the stuff that I kept looking at [as] meaningless and pointless. But until I connected to the source, the author of life, then this life made no sense to me at all.”
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