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Nina and Michelle, are best friends with a passion for the Lord. They bring uplifting conversations, encouragement, and shared personal stories of overcoming and victory straight to your screen.
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From Tragedy to Victory: Lee Benton's Journey 0:02 We wanna honor God because He sees everything.0:10 You were born with a plan and a purpose. He's the God of all things possible. He's the God of all0:22 miracles.0:53 Welcome to Grace Grace with Naina Michelle. I'm Michelle Humphreys. And I0:56 am Naina Keegan. Welcome to the broadcast today. We have a real treat for you. We have a very special friend and guest on today. Michelle, do you want1:04 to do the intro? I would love to. Our next guest, so such a special guest, has worked in Hollywood, California as a professional actress for1:16 over 30 years, and the list is long of of films she's been in. Her passion for film and TV has now driven her to take on a producer role in the1:28 award winning series Victory Road with Lee Benton, and we would like to welcome the very beautiful Lee Benton to our audience. Welcome, Lee. We're so thankful you're here.1:40 Lee. Thank you.1:41 Thanks for coming on. Deeply.1:44 Oh, thank you for having me. It's been years since I've seen both of your beautiful faces, and, I'm very happy to be here with you. I love your show, by the way.1:54 Thank you. And and we're a big fan of you. And and right now, we are so interested in this awesome new book that you have. Lee has written a book called RSVP to Heaven, and2:06 it's it says her story, her life from tragedy to victory. And, you know, knowing you, seeing you, you're so beautiful, you're so, you know, just successful in so many wonderful things that we get to2:18 see all this victory part. But what are some of the tragedy things that, you know, I know being a preacher's kid in Hollywood alone had to be super, super hard. So if you2:30 wanna touch on some of that, like, what you went through before you got the victory.2:36 There's a whole chapter in my book called the decade of sorrows. And literally, I call it the Job journey. Many of us go through the2:48 Job journey. A lot of people think just because they accept Jesus as their savior that it's a cakewalk the rest of their lives. And the Lord said many3:00 are the afflictions of the righteous. Right?3:03 That's right.3:03 But the3:04 Lord delivers from them all.3:05 Right. Yes. He delivers us from them all. And, I don't wanna discourage people and for them to think, oh my gosh. It's gonna take 10 years for me. Everybody3:17 has their own time frame of a Job journey, and not everybody is called to be a general. I have a worldwide ministry as well, and I have been preaching or teaching. The3:29 I got ordained in 2014, but was teaching and preaching way before then. And, basically, we started my 11, my3:41 church in Hollywood at CBS Studios. And, the Lord blessed me right there on the lot at CBS. Wow. And you just celebrated 11 year anniversary, the church in Hollywood. I3:53 don't live in Hollywood, but I, am teaching and preaching. So I could use your prayers. 11 years of teaching in Babylon is what I call.4:05 So, yeah, you can imagine. I The warfare4:07 is real. I am sure.4:08 You can imagine. So in answer to your question, you know, there's, like I said, an entire chapter of calamity and tragedies that I went through that people4:20 will just kind of even my own family and friends never knew the depths of my sorrow. And at that time, you know, I was a series regular on a TV4:32 series called Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer. You know, I had done all the soaps, not all of them, most of the soaps, and, was our series regular on Mike Hammer, the4:44 detective series. And it was running, had a good 5 year run, and then got canceled. And, anyway, I had just purchased you know, bought into a Cuban4:55 restaurant in Beverly Hills. I had purchased a new condo. I had just you know, a lot of us on this TV series really, you know, we were5:07 number 1 on the air. We were like a NCIS, you you might wanna call it. It was a real successful detective series. And, you know, so none of us saw it coming that,5:20 you know, the star of our show, and I'm not slandering his name, whatever. He's living a good life and has changed his ways. But at the time, he had a real5:31 serious cocaine problem and went to England at the peak of our number 1 across the world, and we were number 5 in some nations.5:43 And he was he had smuggled cocaine. His habit was so bad, and I didn't know it. We didn't even know it. And so, basically, our show was canceled. Boom. And some of us that5:55 had made major purchases, and, I mean, what do you do without this? How do you carry on a show? They tried, you know, CBS and Columbia Studios, they6:07 tried to carry the show on after that, but you could only do so many, you know, flashbacks or reruns, without the main star. They incarcerated him in England. And,6:20 so we were yeah. So we were without our star for 9 months. And, then the show just from number 1 to it it just6:32 went to 0. And, basically, we'd lost so much so many of our followers because of the story and what they heard. And and so that was the6:43 beginning of the downfall, and I'm like, oh my goodness. Here we are, you know, we're used to a steady paycheck, all the, you know, the whole team on the show.6:55 And overnight, our show gets canceled.6:58 Now, Lee, when you went through that, now you're walking off the set for the final time, What were you thinking? Were you crying out to the Lord, or were was your heart not right with the7:10 Lord at that time?7:12 I was definitely walking with the Lord then. I came back, as a wayward rebel, went far away from the lord, and I came back to the lord, at7:24 that time. I see the show started in, 87. Oh, no. I'm sorry. This TV show started in let me think a minute. See, I got to7:36 LA in 82. The TV series started in 83. So we had a good run till 88, I believe it was. And answer to your question, yeah, because I'm trying7:47 to go through the time frame. I was walking with the Lord at that time and, had started leading no. I I started leading a women's7:59 prayer group, on a movie set. That was in 19 80. So yeah. So that's how my whole worldwide the church, the ministry started on a movie set in 19 80, and then it8:11 became it was birthed in my home on, my Monday night prayer groups. All of that is in the book. But getting back to your question, the it was so horrible that we were8:23 devastated. It's you know, you're used to, like I said, if for anyone to lose their job, Doesn't matter if you're a school teacher, a nurse, you know, an engineer, a doctor, to lose your job8:35 immediately, and you have no in no source. Yeah. And so I always thought that I would be back on another TV show right away. Hey, Lee. Because8:45 We are gonna we are gonna take a quick break, and we're gonna pick it up with that as soon as we get right back. You are watching Grace Grace with Nina and Michelle. We will be right back.8:54 I'm excited to announce that we're having our biggest Christmas sale ever. You get our brand new 6 piece my towels for only 29 98 or rejuvenate your bed with a MyPillow9:06 mattress topper as low as 99 99 or how about MyPillow bed sheets for as low as 24 98. There's pillow bedsheets for as low as 24.98 dollars There's something for everyone. Duvets, quilts, down comforters,9:18 body pillows, bolster pillows, and so much more. Well, I know my pillow products make for the perfect Christmas gifts, so I'm gonna extend my money back guarantee until March first 20 24.9:30 So go to my pillow dot com now or call the number on your screen. Use your promo code to get huge discounts on all MyPillow products. For example, you get our 6 piece towels for only9:41 29.98 dollars or get your very own MyPillow bed sheets for as low as 24.98 dollars It's our biggest Christmas sale ever. Get all your shopping done now while quantities9:53 last.9:54 Welcome back to Grace Grace with Nynah Michelle. We are here with the beautiful Lee Benton, and she was talking about walking off the set for the last time of her hit10:06 series. Lee, we can pick it up from here.10:10 Yes. My show was canceled, you know, suddenly, and the whole entire every actor on the set, producer, director, because as you10:22 know, to do a successful TV series, there's a good 200 people on the set, everyone, you know, to make a successful series. And, so we were all10:34 suddenly without a job. Boom. And so none of us saw that coming. And, I kept thinking any moment, because I had just gone with a new10:46 agent. And, and some of your larger, agencies, they are in charge of you know, they oversee and promote10:58 10 to 20. You know, they are over that group of actors or promoting and getting work for those people. So there's many different agents in an agency. Fast forward,11:10 I did not know that my agent who was repping me again, I'm thinking I'll just get another series, you know, because that's what a good agent does. They roll you over to11:22 another series right away. That's why you'll see actors on multiple different shows because when 1 is canceled, their agent is smart enough or manager will get them right on another series while11:34 they're hot. You gotta strike while your actor is hot. So, basically, I'm waiting and waiting and waiting for my agent to put me on another series.11:46 And, I I was starting to get nervous. Now I'm running out of money because now I had a mortgage to pay for, all your monthly bills that you can possibly imagine.11:59 I had a brand new Mercedes, back then at a 65000 dollars, you know, my hot bat bad mobile, I used to call it, all blinged12:11 out. It was totally paid for. My Mercedes was paid for, but, now I'm probably worth a hundred and 50000 whatever for that model. And,12:23 basically, I had bills. You know? I had bills as we all do. We have to have the mortgage and the homeowners and all this stuff. And savings12:35 is starting to dwindle down because why? I'm a big spender. Okay? I didn't know that some of them no. That was Tuesday that I didn't save more. But, you know, when you're12:47 a successful series, 5 years, we're number 1, and we're on a wolf. None of us saw this coming. And, Lee, did you have12:54 a little bit of where maybe you kinda get caught up in the Hollywood too, which there's a lot of materialism there And, you know, kind of keeping up with the Joneses. And was there, you know, probably feeling13:06 some of that because it would be hard not to, I would think. And to kind of be in that whole, you know, scenario like that, especially when you've grown up in the Lord and then, you know, trying13:18 to, you know, kind of make sense of both worlds really.13:22 You know? Well, and you had been a preacher's kid. Right? And so I'm sure it was thrilling to have all these material things.13:31 Well, that's what I was going to say is that I love my parents so much who have been in heaven for a while. I bought my dad a car. I remodeled some of their, you13:43 know, their home. I refurnished their home. I wanted to just give back to my parents.13:49 Oh.13:49 I was spending money. I was the kind that I I I was the kind. I am the kind that when I go well with my girlfriends, and I'm still trying to learn how to cut back on all of that. But14:01 I just like to pay for everybody at the table. That's just who I am. I'm a giver. So had I known that this decade of sorrows was coming, I would have really stocked up14:13 and saved up more than what I did. So months are passing and no work coming in. I'm like, what the so finally, I I call my agent,14:25 the agency, and asked to speak to I can't even remember his name. And they said, oh, he's been gone. And I'm like, what?14:33 Wow.14:33 I'm gonna find out, yes. I had not been represented. I no 1 had even pushed because he was in charge of me along with his bevy of actors.14:46 And he didn't notify me that he left. And here I am waiting for that next series regular role, and nothing friction.14:58 Did you think at this time that, like, maybe, Lord, what are you know, God, what are you doing in all of this? You know, because that's Absolutely. You know, like, where you might wanna take a step back and say, okay.15:10 Where am I off track? You show me. Yeah.15:12 And it's that dark night of the soul. So what was the Lord saying to you at that time, Leigh?15:17 Well, it's funny that you asked that because I, you know, I was continuously, praying and crying out to the Lord going, what in the world? When I I went into shock when I realized absolutely no 1 was15:29 representing me. Instead of the rest of the agency divvying up all the actors, they didn't. No 1 represented me and the crew that that this agent was over. And15:41 so, I just was in shock crying and saying, okay, lord. What is going on? And, I mean, literally, I was on I mean, doing all the celebrity tournaments,15:53 all the things that, you know, a publicist push covers of magazines, inquirer, on all the tabloids, paparazzi follow me around, and now 0, nothing. And16:05 I'm thinking and, again, like I was saying earlier, using up all my money on monthly bills, that I16:16 just really felt lost. Mhmm. I felt shame. I felt embarrassed. I felt, there was a lot, an array of emotions that I went through16:28 because I family and friends, everybody always looked up to me as the star, big TV star. You know? I did more TV than film, and16:41 now nothing. And I'm like, how am I gonna pay my bills? I'm gonna have to get a real job. I'm gonna have to actually crawl out of this and get a real job now to16:52 pay all of these bills. Basically, I took out because now I have creditors calling me. I'm trying to talk about it without losing it. Creditors are calling everywhere because I was17:04 spending a lot. And I'm like, can you just give me some more time? And, you know, they can be horrible. These creditors can be just so mean and horrible. I took out17:16 a 10000 dollar loan against my beautiful paid for Mercedes. And I know people watching this are probably going, she could afford that. I'm not gonna feel sorry for17:28 her. I can understand that. Yeah. I did live the high life. But when you're broke, you're broke. Exactly. And17:35 you know what, Lee? So many, people in our audience have been through that. We've all been through that, and, we are gonna talk more about that when we come back.17:46 I'm18:01 dollars Or how about MyPillow bedsheets for as low as 24.98 dollars There's something for everyone. Duvets, quilts, down comforters, body pillows, bolster pillows, and so much more.18:13 Well, I know MyPillow products make for the perfect Christmas gifts, so I'm gonna extend my money back guarantee until March first 20 24. So go to my pillow dot com now or call the number on your18:24 screen. Use your promo code to get huge discounts on all my pillow products. For example, you get our 6 piece towels for only 29 98, or get your very own MyPillow bed sheets18:36 for as low as 24 98. It's our biggest Christmas sale ever. Get all your shopping done now while quantities last.18:46 Welcome back to Grace Grace with Nina and Michelle. We have our beautiful dear friend, Lee Benton, on the program with us today. And Lee, you were just talking about just the hard times that you had fallen into.18:58 And so how did you with the Lord, how did you get out of that mess that you were in?19:06 Well, after losing my car because I took out a a loan, against my car. I had no car and then had to claim bankruptcy. The earthquake destroyed my home.19:18 They have to read it in the book. No 1 is gonna believe. You you can't make this stuff up. But, God, I never lost my faith in the Lord. If I had not had Jesus19:30 Christ inside of me, the Holy Spirit holding me up, hearing me through this dark time, I couldn't have made it. Amen. Could not have made it. So,19:42 yeah. I mean, I don't know how people get through life, but I want people to know that there is a time of redemption and that the lord does rescue you. And they have to see it in the book how the lord19:54 brought me. There's much there's much worse in there that happened. And the Lord did redeem me, and he restored me for the years that the locusts have eaten. Amen. And he put my20:06 feet on a high ground, and he has brought me into a wonderful place of blessings that I cannot describe. I feel just honored and blessed and that he wrote this book.20:18 He wrote this book, and it's regarding the RSVP prayer that he downloaded to me. It's basically the prayer of salvation. But the Lord said, I want you to tell everyone that the20:29 kingdom of heaven is like any nice event on earth that you get invited to. A nice banquet, a wedding, a nice dinner, you've gotta RSVP, or your name's not written20:41 in the guest list. Wow. And you just because there's no reserved seat. He said, I want everyone to RSVP to me out of their own mouths so I can write their name in my book20:53 and reserve the receipt. That's what this book is about. From all the victories that the Lord has now bestowed upon me and even writing this book, which is now across the world, I'd21:05 love everybody to it's a real easy read, and it's a great book to hand to give out as Christmas presents or anything, you know, as a present. I had a lady that just bought 20 to hand out to her21:17 family and friends that don't really know Jesus that and they don't know that their name is in God's big book in heaven. So this is a great witnessing tool, and it's it was written by him, inspired by him.21:29 And I'm blessed and honored to be able to talk about it on your show, and I'd be blessed to be able to pray it with you and your people. Shall I pray it with you?21:38 Well, yes. We would love for you to do that.21:41 Okay. It's real simple. He said, no matter what religion, no matter what race, he wants us all to be in heaven. And not just what we used to do as a kid or baptized or sprinkled or21:53 whatever. Whatever rituals we did younger in different religions as an adult, as a mature thinking human being, he wants us to be accountable and pray this prayer. And it's not called God's reservation22:05 book, it's called the lamb's book of life. Amen. So just pray with me if you don't know that your name is in God's big book in heaven, reserve your seat. So just say, heavenly father,22:18 in Jesus' name, I come to you a sinner and I ask you to forgive me of my sins as I forgive all those who sin against me. I believe that22:30 Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God who died for me and arose for me so that I can spend eternity with you. Please put my name in your book and reserve me a seat22:42 as I follow you, Lord, all the days of my life. In Jesus' name.22:46 Wow. That's beautiful. Thank you so much. But also, if you could tell our audience, you know, what what else you have going on. I know you have so much. You have a Christmas movie coming up. I know that you you're in,22:57 the works for a movie coming out, you said, in a year or 2 with Kevin Sorbo. You're just doing so much. So you wanna tell everybody where they can find you and see you and watch you Yes.23:07 And all that good stuff. Yeah. My website, I'm sure you have it up, leappenton dot org. They can find direct links to order the book. But the 2 movies, the23:19 1 coming up sooner is called Holiday Ranch. And, my friend David Novak and his partners wrote and produced it, and it's gonna be a great clean, incredible23:31 Christmas film that hopefully lives on forever. And, Holiday Wrench, I'm playing Sarah, the mother of the young star in the movie, and I'm excited. I think we're shooting that in Tennessee at a ranch23:43 there. I think it's right outside of Nashville. And, they are hoping to shoot that by January, this coming January. And then the movie with Kevin Sorbo is called A Prophet Like Me.23:55 And, that is gonna be it's gonna be a sequel, part 1 and part 2 movies. And, we are playing, the characters. I'm playing Elizabeth, the mother of the24:07 baby John the Baptist. Wow. And my husband is being played by Kevin Sorbo, Zacharias. So, I'm excited. The Lord is shaking things up. He's doing incredible24:19 Yeah. Incredible victories and blessings beyond our wildest dreams. He wants us to have our dreams. If they align with his dreams, he'll bring it to pass.24:30 Amen. Wow. Such a good, testimony of overcoming, you know, and that isn't that how God works. You know, he says, you know, you testify, you know, and that's how you overcome to the blood of the lamb and the word of24:42 your testimony. And Sure. Just by you telling people today, you know, just, you know, people who might see you and think, oh, she's got it all together. She's, you know, a successful actress. You know, people don't24:52 always know, you know, what you've been through. And here you are preaching the gospel in Hollywood no less, which has to be super hard. Do you want to25:04 just speak to that a quick minute about how difficult that must be to be? You're basically you're an outsider. You know, now you know there's so much persecution happening and things happening with Christians in general,25:14 canceling. So, you know, the fact that God's got you right there in the midst of all of that, that's that's gotta be, you know, difficult in and of its own.25:25 It's mind boggling. And I beg people everywhere I go, people who are I that I know pray fervently. I don't need just any prayer over me. I need fervent prayer partners that reach the gates of heaven.25:37 Amen.25:37 And because the Lord honors the fervent prayer. He hears all prayers, but he honors the prayers of a fervent fervent prayers of a righteous man and a woman. So I'm I know you all, you and your crew, pray fervent prayers,25:48 and I I encourage you please to add me and my church, the Lord's church. It's not mine. It's25:54 Lee, let us pray for you right now before we close this show. Lord, we thank you for Lee Benton Ministries. We thank you for all that she is doing. We thank you that you brought her26:06 out of the miry clay. You put her on solid rock, and her testimony is, about victory. And we thank you, God, that your victory is for others. Everyone hearing26:18 us right now and watching can have victory through Jesus, and we give you praise and honor and bless Lee in all that she does. In Jesus' name, amen. We also, Lord, we26:30 just ask that everything she touches will prosper and succeed for your glory and for your kingdom. Lee, thank you so much for being on our show today. We love you and we are so grateful for you. May God26:42 bless you, sweet friend. And we will talk to you soon.26:44 I love you. Love you.26:46 Does science disprove God? Is there26:49 a war between science and faith?26:51 We don't need God to create a universe. There's no evidence for God, and it's irrational.26:55 Is there no evidence for God?26:57 Am I delusional for my beliefs? It is delusional and stupid. Am I brainwashed? Do I ignore reason? Logic. Critical thinking. Science.27:14 RDOF uses logic and reasoning.27:17 RDOF has empowered my sons to defend their faith with facts.27:21 If you wanna be equipped to defend against the biggest objections to the existence of God, RDOF is the place for you.27:32 Has science really ruled out out God? Is faith at war with science? If you wanna be equipped to respond to these claims and more, check out r d o f dot org.27:49 The evidence he presents is so powerful and overwhelming.27:53 Incredibly compelling, yet easily understandable.27:56 We believe in rationality. We believe in reason. We believe in science, and we believe in the existence of God.28:03 I would leave every event with a mind boggling awe and assurance. I never believed in God. I just think it was craziness. RDOF confirmed my faith. RDOF confirmed my28:15 full belief, full faith in the Lord,28:19 man. To book a presentation or watch our free videos, go to r d o f dot org or find us on Facebook at RDOF events.In this video 0:00 From Tragedy to Victory: Lee Benton's Journey
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