Sunday, October 12, 2008

Tired Of The Obama Revival? How About A Real, Ole Time Revival?

With the current decimation of the stock market, the prospect of an all Democrat government, murder, anti patriotism (provided by the Dems), unprecedented immorality,"green" deceivers, the bare faced lying of the media, academia, and even ministers, this United States of America is in need of a Higher Power. The Dems have anointed their higher power in the form of Barack Hussein Obama. He seems to have graciously accepted the Messiahship, although Jesus Christ, when tried to be made an earthly king, escaped to a mountain (John Chapter 6).

Revivals throughout American history reenergized a country that had lost its moral compass.

In his social and political study of the United States, Democracy In America, Alexis de Tocqueville wrote, "the religious atmosphere of the country was the first thing that struck me on arrival in the United States." Would Tocqueville remark this today, or would he more notice the secularism/Marxism?

Quick Look At American Revivals "For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." Isaiah 57:15

Johnathon Edwards - Between 1730 and 1770 there swept over the American colonies from Maine to Georgia a religious revival known as the Great Awakening. The revival movement, unlike the earlier doctrine of the Puritans, promised the grace of God to all who could experience a desire for it. Great Awakening -"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," emphasized the just wrath of God against sin and contrasted it with the provision of God for salvation; the intensity of his preaching sometimes resulted in members of the audience fainting, swooning, and other more obtrusive reactions. The swooning and other behaviors in his audience caught him up in a controversy over "bodily effects" of the Holy Spirit's presence

Wesleyan Revivalism was preaching for instantaneous conversion, a clear pattern of public religious services, regular religious instruction of adults and of children, the meeting of the core of faithful believers in intimate fellowship groups, and charitable works. Since Wesley regarded revival as the unpredictable work of God's Holy Spirit which could work in quite powerful and bizarre ways he tolerated the emotional excesses which often attended Wesleyan revivals. In all of this Wesley was a debtor to his own religious and cultural background and heritage, and to his intelligent, pragmatic reflection upon his own experience. His revivalism was a synthesis of his own, hard won values and experience-not a secondhand synthesis of men like Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, and Nicholas von Zinzendorf. In 1739 Wesley followed Whitefield to Bristol, where a revival broke out among the miners of Kingswood. At that point Wesley's true genius surfaced through his ability to organize new converts into Methodist "societies" and "bands" which sustained both them and the revival. The revival continued under Wesley's direct leadership for over fifty years. He traveled some 250,000 miles throughout England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, preaching some 40,000 sermons.

Whitfield - Circa 1740 Mr. Whitefield's sermons were suitable to the circumstances of the town, containing just reproofs of our backslidings, and, in a most moving and affecting manner, making use of our great profession and great mercies as arguments with us to return to God, from whom we had departed. He first took to preaching in the open air on Hanham Mount, Kingswood, in southeast Bristol. A crowd of 20,000 people gathered to hear him. Even larger crowds - Whitefield himself estimated 30,000 - met him in Cambuslang in 1742.Benjamin Franklin once attended a revival meeting in Philadelphia and was greatly impressed with Whitefield's ability to deliver a message to such a large audience. Franklin had dismissed reports of Whitefield preaching to crowds of the order of tens of thousands in England as exaggeration. When listening to Whitefield preaching from the Philadelphia court house, Franklin walked away towards his shop in Market Street until he could no longer hear Whitefield distinctly. He then estimated his distance from Whitefield and calculated the area of a semi-circle centred on Whitefield. Allowing two square feet per person he realized that Whitefield really could be heard by tens of thousands of people in the open air. He then became Whitefield's publisher and friend, though he never shared Whitefield's beliefs. Whitefield was also known to be able to use the newspaper media for beneficial publicity

Cain Ridge Kentucky 1800 It started at a communion service and it began with a Presbyterian serving communion. It was kind of a community communion service and a woman had a manifestation of the Holy Spirit. These extraordinary services exploded into the Cain Ridge camp meeting. The firey preaching started at sun up and didn't stop until well into the night. Many people fell to their faces as the weight of their sins struck them cold. Others sang and danced as they felt the presence of God in their midst. Thousands flocked to Cain Ridge to experience a touch from God. The Revival of August 1801 at Cane Ridge was the climactic event of the Western Great Revival. It was estimated by military personnel that some 20,000 to 30,000 persons of all ages, representing various cultures and economic levels traveled on foot and on horseback, many bringing wagons with tents and camping provisions. Because of the numbers of people attending and the length of the meeting, Cane Ridge has become the metaphor of the Great Revival. Historical accounts recall the contagious fervor which characterized the meetings that continued day and night. Descriptions abound of individuals, taken by great emotion, falling to the ground, crying aloud in prayer and song, and rising to exhort and assist others in their responses to the moment. Worship continued well into the week following the serving of Communion on Sunday, in fact, until provisions for humans and horses ran out.

The sacramental gatherings of the Presbyterians, already undergoing transformation by the time of the August 1801 Cane Ridge Revival, contributed to the growing camp meeting revivals. Participation by Methodists added an emotional evangelical quality that Presbyterians had previously tried to hold in check. Baptists attended, however, many were in a parallel meeting of the South Elkhorn Baptist Association.

Charles Finney - HOW A REVIVAL IS TO BE PROMOTED. "Flood tides of revival glory," said his biographer, Miller, were seen in the Rochester revivals, 10,000 were converted in one meeting, the whole city converted by 1832 and hundreds of thousands were gathered in the complete series of Western Revivals (1825-32).

A revival consists of two parts; as it respects the church, and as it respects the ungodly. I shall speak to-night of a revival in the church. Fallow ground is ground which has once been tilled, but which now lies waste, and needs to be broken up and mellowed, before it is suited to receive grain. I shall show, as it respects a revival in the church,

1. What it is to break up the fallow ground, in the sense of the text.

2. How it is to be performed.

I. WHAT IS IT TO BREAK UP THE FALLOW GROUND?

To break up the fallow ground, is to break up your hearts--to prepare your minds to bring forth fruit unto God. The mind of man is often compared in the Bible to ground, and the word of God to seed sown in it, and the fruit represents the actions and affections of those who receive it. To break up the fallow ground, therefore, is to bring the mind into such a state, that it is fitted to receive the word of God. Sometimes your hearts get matted down hard and dry, and all run to waste, till there is no such thing as getting fruit from them till they are all broken up, and mellowed down, and fitted to receive the word of God. It is this softening of the heart, so as to make it feel the truth, which the prophet calls breaking up your fallow ground.

II. HOW IS THE FALLOW GROUND TO BE BROKEN UP?

1. It is not by any direct efforts to feel. People run into a mistake on this subject, from not making the laws of mind the object of thought. There are great errors on the subject of the laws which govern the mind. People talk about religious feeling, as if they thought they could, by direct effort, call forth religious affection. But this is not the way the mind acts. No man can make himself feel in this way, merely by trying to feel. So if a man thinks of God, and fastens his mind on any parts of God's character, he will feel--emotions will come up, by the very laws of mind. If he is a friend of God, let him contemplate God as a gracious and holy being, and he will have emotions of friendship kindled up in his mind. If he is an enemy of God, only let him get the true character of God before his mind, and look at it, and fasten his attention on it, and his enmity will rise against God, or he will break down and give his heart to God.

D. L Moody enjoyed little success during his early revivals. By 1870, however, he had become a full time evangelist. In 1872, Moody and Sankey went to England where his successes began. Four hundred responded to his first sermon. In 1873, they returned to the United States but again faced spotty successes. Only after a second trip to England did their American work take off. Moody established many of the contemporary revival methods. He began using massed choirs, ushers, advance preparation committees, and tickets for admission. The three "Rs" characterized his preaching: ruin by sin, redemption by Christ and regeneration by the Holy Spirit.

Pre Church of God Of Tennessee Revival In North Carolina Circa 1886. William Bryant, a layman. Cherokee County, North Carolina. "Some of the worshippers were 'so enraptured with the One to whom they prayed that they were curiously exercised by the Holy spirit,' speaking in languages unknown to those who heard the ecstatic utterances." This revival took place near the Tennessee, North Carolina boarder. Richard G. Spurling, Baptist Church pastor in Cokercreek, Monroe County, Tennessee, concerned about traditionalism, legalism, ecclesiolatry, called a conference in 1886 at the Barney Creek Meetinghouse. A union was formed to reassert the intrinsic doctrines of the Bible and the vital matters of Christian service, to "restore primitive Christianity and bring about the union of all denominations." Eight persons responded to come forward, those "desirous to be free from all man-made creeds and traditions . . . willing to take the New Testament for your only rule of faith and practice."

Welsh Revival Probably the most significant predecessor to the Pentecostal revival in America was the revival in Wales. Prayerful preparation had gone on for many years, but the spark was kindled through a young miner by the name of Evan Roberts. In the fall of 1904 he felt compelled through a vision to return home from the college he was attending.

Fire on Azusa Street - 1906 - "Everything about the Azusa Street Mission fascinated me — especially the prayer or ‘tarrying room’ on the second floor."Usually one hundred or more black, brown, and white people prayerfully waited there for the Holy Spirit to come upon them. Dozens of canes, braces, crutches and blackened smoking pipes leaned against the barn-like walls.

"Many times waves of glory would come over the tarrying room or meeting room, and people would cry out prayers of thanks or praise as they received the baptism in the Holy Spirit.

"Meetings used to go past midnight and into the early hours of the morning. Hours there seemed like minutes. Sometimes after a wave of glory, a lot of people would speak in tongues. Then a holy quietness would come over the place, followed by a chorus of prayer in languages we had never before heard.

"Many were slain in the Spirit, buckling to the floor, unconscious, in a beautiful Holy Spirit cloud, and the Lord gave them visions.

"How I enjoyed shouting and praising God. During the tarrying, we used to break out in songs about Jesus and the Holy Spirit: ‘Fill Me Now,’ ‘Joy Unspeakable,’ and ‘Love Lifted Me.’

"Praise about the cleansing and precious blood of Jesus would just spring from our mouths. In between choruses, heavenly music would fill the hall, and we would break into tears.

The Assemblies of God has its roots in the Pentecostal revival of the early twentieth century. This revival is generally traced to a prayer meeting held under the leadership of Charles Parham, at Bethel Bible College in Topeka, Kansas, on January 1, 1901. The "awakening" or "revival" spread rapidly to Missouri, Texas, California and elsewhere. In 1906, a three year revival meeting under the leadership of William Seymour began at Azusa Street Mission in Los Angeles that attracted believers from around the world.

American Tent Revivals - Gathering of Christian worshipers in a tent erected specifically for revival meetings, healing crusades, and church rallies. Tent revivals have had both local and national ministries.The tent revival is a development of the old camp meetings in which religious people gathered to hear a preacher. In the continental United States, tent revivals have ranged from small, locally based tents holding perhaps a hundred to large organizations with a fleet of trucks and tents able to hold thousands.

Most tent revivals in the U.S. have been held by Pentecostal or Holiness Christians who not only adhered to evangelism but believed in speaking in tongues (glossolalia), healing the chronically ill, and in some cases resurrecting the dead. As radio and television began to play an increasingly important part in American culture, some preachers such as Oral Roberts, a very successful tent revivalist, made the transition to these media. Such pioneers were the early televangelists. Also of note: Oral Roberts, RW Shambach, A.A. Allen, Jack Coe, Rex Humbard.

Billy Graham - In 1958, Billy Graham led an evangelistic campaign in his home town of Charlotte, North Carolina that lasted from September 21 to October 25. The meetings, which were held at the joint invitation of most of the churches in the city and the surrounding area, were held in city's Coliseum, with overflow crowds watching the meetings on closed circuit television in the Ovens Auditorium next door. Total attendance for the five weeks was 423,387 people, of whom 17,653 came forward. (If the rallies at nearby Fort Bragg on October 13 and Fort Jackson on October 26 are included the totals become 490,387 and 19,560, respectively.)

Jesus People Movement Of The 1960's The Jesus movement was the major Christian element within the hippie counterculture, or, conversely, the major hippie element within some strands of Protestantism. Members of the movement are called Jesus people, or Jesus freaks. The movement arose on the West Coast of the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and spread primarily through North America and Europe, before dying out by the early 1980s. The Jesus movement left a legacy of various denominations and other Christian organizations, and had an impact on both the development of the contemporary Christian right and the Christian left, as well as Jesus music, which greatly influenced contemporary Christian music. The movement itself helped to create various musical subgenres such as Christian rock and Christian metal.

There are an asundry revivals I have not mentioned such as Brownsville, Latter Rain, Toronto Blessing, Promise Keepers, Full Gospel Businessmen, Kathryn Kuhlman, Benny Hinn, Vinyard Movement, Todd Bentley, Rick Warren, and so on that has effected a larger part of the Christian population. Some are "not quite right," and others may be totally heretical. Saint Paul might remark, "Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will: The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds: But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel. What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice."

There are, of course, revivals still occurring in churches across the United States, even today. Not nearly as there were over 20 years ago. Maybe we have been to fat and happy to be interested in being revived. I am sure that an Obama presidency, a Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid Congress and some lib judges on the Supreme Court will be enough cause people to cry out to God. Even if McCain and the Repubs win,we still need it.

PS. Thanks to everyone I borrowed from on the internet

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