Back in the 50’s there was a well-known radio host/comedian/song writer in Hollywood named Stuart Hamblen who was noted for his drinking, womanizing and partying. One of his bigger hits at the time was “I Won’t Go Hunting With You Jake, But I’ll Go Chasing Women”.
And along came a young preacher holding a tent revival. Hamblen had him on his radio show and let him plug the revival, and Hamblen himself showed up at one of the meetings.
Early in the service the preacher announced, “There is one man in this audience who is a big fake.” There were probably others who thought the same thing, but Hamblen was convinced that he was the one the preacher was talking about (some would call that conviction of sin), but he was having none of that. Still the words continued to haunt him until a couple of nights later he showed up at the preacher’s hotel door around 4 a.m. and demanded that the preacher pray for him. One witness reported the singer was “broken up and crying as the evangelist said, ‘We’ve been praying for you for weeks.’”[1] They talked until 5 a.m. at which point Stuart dropped to his knees and with tears, cried out to God.
But that is not the end of the story. Stuart quit drinking, quit chasing, quit everything that was “fun”. And he began to lose favor with the Hollywood crowd. He was ultimately fired by the radio station when he refused to accept a beer company as a sponsor. He began to write Christian music.
One day an old friend named John took Stuart aside and told him all your troubles started when you “got religion” and asked if it was worth it all. Stuart answered simply, “Yes”. Then his friend said, “You liked your booze so much. Don’t you ever miss it?” And the answer was, “No.” John then said, “I don’t understand how you could give it up so easily.” And Stuart’s response was, “It’s no big secret. All things are possible with God.” To this John said, “That’s a catchy phrase. It sounds like a song.”
As they say, the rest is history. The song Stuart wrote in 1950 was “It Is No Secret” –
It is no secret, what God can do.
What He’s done for others, He’ll do for you.
With arms wide open, He’ll welcome you.
It is no secret, what God can do.
By the way, the friend was John Wayne, and the young preacher who prayed for Stuart Hamblen was Billy Graham, at his famous 1949 revival in Los Angeles. And even though Hamblen lost his radio job because he objected to an ad for alcohol, the Prohibition Party nominated him as their candidate for President of the United States in 1952. Hamblen finished fourth, despite appearing on the ballot in only twenty-one states. And now you know “the rest of the story.”
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1. The original internet version says Hamblen was drunk and begged the evangelist to pray for him, but he refused, saying, “This is between you and God and I’m not going to get in the middle of it.” The above version is from the eyewitness account of Grady Wilson quoted in Mikkelson’s article. Mikkelson’s “Urban Legends” verifies the validity of the above story.
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BreakPoint Commentary, April 14, 2015, Eric Metaxas
“The Story behind ‘It Is No Secret’: What God Can Do”
I never thought I’d get to talk about Billy Graham, Elvis Presley, and John Wayne all in one BreakPoint commentary. Stay tuned for the amazing story behind a famous gospel song.
We’ve all had the experience of getting a song stuck in our head for an extended period of time. If you’re really unfortunate, that song may be one by Christopher Cross or Air Supply.
But sometimes these “earworms,” as they are dubbed, can lead to good things.
That recently happened to one of us right here at BreakPoint. While reading a biography of the early 20th century evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson, my colleague and friend Roberto Rivera found himself humming and singing the gospel song “It Is No Secret (What God Can Do).”
He’s not sure why the song popped into his head; he couldn’t recall ever singing it before. But once it entered his consciousness, it didn’t leave. While driving the next day, he searched for the song on Spotify and listened to two very different versions: the first by the great gospel singer Mahalia Jackson and the second by Elvis Presley.
At this point, he looked up the song on Google to find out who wrote it. And what he found was the kind of story that you can’t make up.
Fittingly, Roberto found the story on Truth or Fiction.com, which like Snopes.com, verifies and/or debunks rumors or urban legends floating around on the web.
As the site tells, “It Is No Secret” was written by Stuart Hamblen, who is regarded as one of radio’s first “singing cowboys.” Hamblen, the son of a Methodist minister from Texas, didn’t handle his fame very well. As Wikipedia tells us, his drinking, and the brawling and “destructive behavior” it produced, landed him in jail “many times.”
This all changed in 1949 when Billy Graham appeared on Hamblen’s show as a way to publicize what would become the historic Los Angeles Crusade. While on the show, Graham invited Hamblen to attend the crusade, and Hamblen accepted. Later, Hamblen contacted Graham and asked if they could meet and talk. And it was then that Hamblen committed his life to Christ.
Sometime later, a friend of Hamblen asked him about the rumor going around Hollywood that Hamblen had changed his ways. Hamblen replied that it was no secret what God had done for him and what God could do for his friend, too. The friend then replied that Hamblen should turn those lines into a song.
That friend’s name was John Wayne. No kidding.
So Hamblen followed Wayne’s advice — he wrote it. “It Is No Secret” became the first song to reach #1 on the Gospel, Country, and Pop charts. Think about that: a song that tells us that “with arms wide open, he’ll pardon you” reached #1 on the Pop chart. Thank you, John Wayne.
It’s been recorded many times, arguably most famously by Elvis Presley. Also by Johnny Cash. Perhaps the greatest illustration of the song’s lasting impact is that “the original manuscript of the song ‘It Is No Secret’ is buried in the cornerstone of the Copyright Buildings of the Library of Congress.” Wow.
Singing cowboys, Billy Graham, John Wayne, Elvis and a song about God’s restorative power. As I said, you can’t make this kind of story up.
But God can. And that is the point of Hamblen’s song. God longs to, as my friend Thomas Howard wrote in “Christ the Tiger,” (great book),”restore to you the good which your own foolish mistakes have cheated you.”
That’s no secret. That is the good news.
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Copyright (c) 2015 Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with permission. “BreakPoint” is a radio ministry of Prison Fellowship Ministries.
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[Original illustration at this number was deleted for being obsolete]