Estus Washington Pirkle (March 12, 1930 – March 3, 2005) was an American

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...

minister, evangelist, and filmmaker.

Early life

Estus Washington Pirkle was born in Vienna, Georgia on March 12, 1930. He was one of ten children to Grover Washington Pirkle and Bessie Nora Jones. He grew up primarily in Sycamore, Georgia. He graduated from Norman Junior College and attended

Mercer University Mercer University is a private research university with its main campus in Macon, Georgia. Founded in 1833 as Mercer Institute and gaining university status in 1837, it is the oldest private university in the state and enrolls more than 9,000 s ...

in Macon and

Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary The Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary is a Baptist theological institute in Fort Worth, Texas. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. It was established in 1908 and is one of the largest seminaries in the world. It ...

in Fort Worth,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. Pirkle became a pastor travelling through the

southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

, including his home state of Georgia, Texas,

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

and

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

. He met his wife Ann in Athens, Texas. Pirkle served at Locust Grove Baptist Church in

New Albany, Mississippi New Albany is a city in and the county seat of Union County, Mississippi, United States. According to the 2020 United States Census, the population was 7,626. History New Albany was first organized in 1840 at the site of a grist mill and saw mil ...

for 36 years.

Film work

In addition to his preaching, Pirkle was known for creating and starring in his own Christian films as well as writing numerous books. His films were directed by

Ron Ormond Ron Ormond (born Vittorio Di Naro, August 29, 1910 – May 11, 1981) was an American author, showman, screenwriter, film producer, and film director of Western, musical, and exploitation films. Following his survival of a 1968 plane crash, Ormo ...

(known for his previous works on

exploitation films An exploitation film is a film that tries to succeed financially by exploiting current trends, niche genres, or lurid content. Exploitation films are generally low-quality "B movies", though some set trends, attract critical attention, become hi ...

like 1953's ''

Mesa of Lost Women ''Mesa of Lost Women'' is a 1953 American low-budget black-and-white science fiction film directed by Herbert Tevos and Ron Ormond from a screenplay by Tevos and Orville H. Hampton who is given on-screen credit only for dialogue supervision. P ...

'') and produced by the Ormond Organization of

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...

. The first of these films was '' If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do?'' from 1971.

''The Burning Hell''

''The Burning Hell'' is a 1974 film created by Pirkle (directed by Ormond) as his interpretation of what the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...

has to say about hell.

''The Believer's Heaven''

The 1977 companion movie ''The Believer's Heaven'' gives Pirkle's interpretation of what the Bible has to say about heaven.

Legacy

Pirkle's preaching was sampled by

Negativland Negativland is an American experimental music band which originated in the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1970s. They took their name from a Neu! track, while their record label (Seeland Records) is named after another Neu! track. The co ...

for the song "

Christianity Is Stupid "Christianity Is Stupid" is a song from Negativland's 1987 concept album, '' Escape from Noise''. Background In the song, Negativland rearranges words and phrases to form a different meaning. They sampled phrases from a sermon by Estus Pirkle (f ...

". Filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn restored both ''The Burning Hell'' and ''The Believer's Heaven'' each for film festival showings and free streaming.

Bibliography

* (1968) ''Wintertime'', Moffitt Press * (1969) ''Preachers in Space'', Hiott Press * (1969) ''What Are You Living For?'', MP Religious Book and Record Co. * ''The 1611 King James Bible: a study'', The King's Press * ''A Ray for God, The Official Biography of Percy Ray'', The King's Press

Filmography

*'' If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do?'' (1971) *''The Burning Hell'' (1974) *''The Believer's Heaven'' (1977)Cinema Inferno - Google Books (pg.297)
/ref>

References

External links

*
The Burning Hell at byNWRIf Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do? at byNWR
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pirkle, Estus 1930 births 2005 deaths American evangelicals Christian writers American filmmakers People from New Albany, Mississippi