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Sam
06-27-2008, 09:44 PM
I recently came across a book titled “The Glorious Revival Under King Hezekiah” by Wilbur M. Smith. It has a copyright date of January 1937. The copy I have also says there was a revised reprint edition in October, 1954.

Here are some quotes from it.

not for years has there been such a consciousness of the need for a real revival in our country as at the present time. Our religious papers are talking about it, ministers are speaking of it from their pulpits, young people at Bible Conferences are encouraged to pray and labor for a great advance in the Church of Christ. Even our secular papers, now and then, give expression to a longing to see a great renewal of religious life in our land, e.g. the “Wall Street Journal,” which, a few weeks ago, in an editorial, said:

What America needs more than railway extension, Western irrigation, a low tariff, a bigger cotton crop, and a larger wheat crop is a revival of religion, the kind that our fathers and mothers used to have, a religion that counted it good business to take time for family worship each morning right in the middle of the wheat harvest, a religion that made men quit work a half hour earlier on Wednesday so that the whole family could get ready to go to Prayer Meeting.
this was from page 5

On pages 6 and 7 he lists 9 revivals found in the Old Testament
1 in the household of Jacob (Gen 35;1-15)
2 under Asa, king of Judah (2 Chron 15:1-15)
3 under Jehoash,king of Judah ( 2 Kings 11, 12; 2 Chron 23, 24)
4 under King Hezekiah (2 Kings 18:4-7; 2 Chron 29-31)
5 under king Josiah (2 Kings 22, 23; 2 Chron 34, 35)
6 under Zerubbabel in which the prophets Haggai and Zechariah played a part (Ezra 5, 6)
7 in the days of Nehemiah in which Ezra was the outstanding figure (Neh 8:9; 12;44-47)

He also includes two more but says there are not many details available. These would be
8 revival under King Jehoshaphat (2 Cron 17:6-9)
9 Revival at Nineveh at the time of Jonah.

On pages 7 and 8 he lists nine outstanding characteristics of each of the first 7 revivals in the above list:
1 they occurred in a time of deep moral darkness and national depression
2 they began in the heart of one consecrated servant of God who became the energizing power behind the revival, the agent used of God to quicken and lead the nation back to faith in and obedience to God
3 each revival rested upon the Word of God and of preaching and of proclaiming the law of God with power
4 all of the revivals were marked by a return to the worship of Jehovah
5 each revival witnessed a destruction of idols (except the last two, which occurred after the Exile, when no idols were to be found in Judah)
6 in each revival there was a separation from sin (there is one single exception and that is in the revival under Asa, where, though we believe there was such a separation from sin, the brief account of the revival does not record it)
7 in every revival there was a return to the offering of blood sacrifices
8 almost all of the revivals resulted in a period of exuberant joy and gladness among the people of God (the only two revivals where such joy is not recorded, though it easily may have been manifested, are those in the house of Jacob, and during the reign of Josiah)

Sam
06-27-2008, 09:45 PM
In the preface, he lists seven primary revivals in the New Testament
1 At Sychar (John 4)
2 the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost in Jerusalem (Acts 2)
3 the revival under Philip at Samaria (Acts 8)
4 under Peter at Caesarea (Acts 10)
5 under Paul at Antioch of Pisidia (Acts 13)
6 under Paul at Philippi (Acts 16)
7 under Paul at Ephesus (Acts 19)

Sam
06-27-2008, 09:47 PM
Wilbur M. Smith was not Pentecostal. As far as I remember he was Presbyterian. In the preface he writes about revivals which have occurred since the original date of 1937 when the book was first published:
We have in the meantime entered upon a new day for revivals, among the more notable being those in Brazil, in northern Indo-China, in South India, in the New Hebrides, and elsewhere, but especially in London, where through the anointed ministry of Dr. Billy Graham, the western world has seen the greatest revival of our century with the most remarkable outpouring of the Spirit of God over a prolonged period since the days of Dwight Lyman Moody. The entire Christian Church now takes new hope in the possibility, even in this desperate, dark and probably closing age, of a world-wide revival before our Lord shall return.

As I said, Wilbur M. Smith was not Pentecostal. Probably all of us here would speak about Azusa Street as being the greatest revival of the last century. A liberal like me would also include subsequent periods such as:
- the Healing Revival under Branham, Allen, Coe, Roberts and others in the nineteen fifties
- the Latter Rain Movement in the nineteen forties and fifties
- the Jesus People
- the Charismatic Movement

bkstokes
06-27-2008, 11:21 PM
Thank you Sam for bringing this to our attention! Lord bless.

commonsense
06-27-2008, 11:44 PM
This is a great historical record as well as good insight on the topic of revival.

The more things change, the more they remain the same.

Sam
06-28-2008, 10:09 PM
These are the definitions of revival and revive from a dictionary I have at home.

Terms:
Revival (noun)
1. the act of reviving or the condition of being revived
2. a restoration to use, acceptance, activity, or vigor after a period of obscurity or quiescence
3. a new presentation of an old play, motion picture, opera, ballet, or similar theatrical vehicle
4. a reawakening of interest in religion
5. a meeting or series of meetings for the purpose of reawakening religious faith, often characterized by impassioned preaching and public professions of faith

Revive (transitive verb)
1. to bring back to life or consciousness; resuscitate
2. to impart new health, vigor, or spirit to
3. to restore to use, currency, activity or notice
4. to restore the validity or effectiveness of
5. to renew in the mind; recall
6. to present (an old play, for example) again

Revive (intransitive verb)
1. to return to life or consciousness
2. to regain health, vigor, or good spirits
3. to return to use, currency, or notice
4. to return to validity, effectiveness, or operative condition

The English word "revive" comes from a Latin word "revivere"
which comes from "re" meaning again
and "vivere" which means to live

Revive and revival mean therefore a return to life, a renewing, a restoration, a recycling, a rebirth, a repair, a refurbishing, etc. In each case it seems to be a returning to a former condition.


The word "revival" does not occur in the King James Bible. The word "revive" occurs 7 times. The word "revived" occurs 6 times. The word "reviving" occurs twice.

It is used of
-reviving a person's spirit (Isaiah 57:15; Gen 45:27; Judges 15:19),
-as a request in prayer for reviving an individual (Psalm 138:7)
-or reviving God's work (Psalm 85:6; Hab 3:2)
-a reference to returning or restoring (Ezra 9:8,9)
-Israel returning from spiritual death to spiritual life (Hosea 6:2)
-actual return to life of someone who had died physically (1 Kings 17:22; 2 Kings 13:21; Romans 14:9) when the spirit, soul, or life returned.
These references are from the King James Bible. In some other versions, other words such as "preserve," renew," "relief," or "new life" are used.

In the Book of Judges, we find time after time where God's people went their own way then called upon the Lord and they were renewed or revived. This vicious cycle has been used as an outline for the Book of Judges under the terms "Rebellion, Retribution, Repentance, Restoration and Rest," or "Sin, Sorrow, Supplication, and Salvation."

There are several instances in the Old Testament where there had been spiritual decline and then through the influence of a Godly king and/or prophet there was a return to God and to His ways. As with all revivals, these were just temporary.

There are also times in our history where there was coldness, indifference, or deadness which were changed to times of increased devotion and zeal.

Sam
06-28-2008, 10:14 PM
REVIVALS OF RELIGION

This phrase is ordinarily applied to the spiritual condition of a Christian community, more or less limited in extent, in which a special interest is very generally felt in respect to religious concerns, accompanied with a marked manifestation of divine power and grace in the quickening of believers, the reclaiming of backsliders, and the awakening, conviction, and conversion of the unregenerate.

Theory of Revivals. -- The progress of Christianity in the world has rarely, for time, been uniform. Its growth in the individual and in the community is characterized by very obvious fluctuations. Like all things temporal, it is subject to constant change, exposed to influences the most varied and antagonistic. Now it makes rapid advances in its conflict with sinful propensities and developments; then it is subjected to obstructions and reverses that effectually check its onward course, and result in spiritual declensions.

The natural is ever at enmity with the spiritual. "The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other." Growth in grace is attainable only by ceaseless vigilance, untiring diligence, unremitting conflict, and a faithful improvement of the opportunities and means of spiritual advancement. Any relaxation in the strife with moral evil tends to spiritual retardation: the evil gets the advantage over the good; the religious fervor abates; the soul becomes lukewarm, cold, dead.

As with the individual believer, so is it with the community. A church, a sisterhood of churches covering a large section of country, by reason of the predominating influence of some worldly interests, -- the greed of gain in a season of great commercial prosperity, the strife of party during a highly excited political campaign, the prevalence of a martial spirit in a time of international or civil war, or the lust of pleasure in a time of general worldly gayety and festivity, or any absorbing passion for mere temporal good,-- may be so diverted from the direct pursuit of holiness, and the prosecution of the work of advancing the kingdom of Christ, as to lose, to a considerable extent, the power, if not the life, of godliness. The spiritual and eternal become subordinate to the worldly and temporal. The blight of spiritual declension settles down upon them, and attaches itself to them with increasing persistency year by year. Such has been the history of Christian churches everywhere.

The ancient people of God were rebuked with great frequency by their priests and prophets for their proneness to spiritual declension. "My people are bent to backsliding from me." "Why is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding?" This proneness was continually coming to the surface, in the days of Moses and the judges, under the kings, and both before and after the exile. Judges and rulers, priests and prophets, Deborah and Barak, Samuel and David, Elijah and Elisha, Jonah and Daniel, Ezra and Nehemiah, were raised up to beat back the waves of corruption, to arrest the tide of degeneracy, and to heal the backslidings of the people. The fire was kept burning on the altar only by repeated divine interpositions, resulting successively in a revival of religion.

Similar tendencies have from the beginning been developed in the history of the Christian Church: Ephesus loses her first love, Laodicea becomes lukewarm, Sardis defiles her garments, Philippi and Corinth yield to the blandishments of worldly pleasures. Worldliness and carnality, leanness and spiritual death, succeed, too often, a state of pious fervor, godly zeal, and holy living. The annual narratives of ecclesiastical communities bear painful testimony to this degenerating tendency.

Such being the testimony of universal experience to the proneness of human nature to decline from the spirit and power of godliness, how, it is asked, is this tendency to be checked? Obviously the true and only effective and appropriate remedy for a season of spiritual declension is a season of spiritual revival. Such a season, by whatever agencies or instrumentalities brought about, by whatever adjuncts of questionable propriety it may be accompanied, and of greater or less extent, may properly be termed "a revival of religion."

These manifestations, moreover, are to be regarded as the result of a special and peculiar effusion of the Holy Spirit. All spiritual life, all progress in the divine life, whether in the individual or in the community, in the church or in the nation, is the Spirit of God. The whole period of grace, from the Day of Pentecost to the final judgment, is properly termed "the dispensation of the Holy Spirit." Every true convert is begotten of the Spirit, and so becomes a child of God. The Spirit is always in and with the church, carrying forward the work of redemption.

Sam
06-28-2008, 10:20 PM
"What was the Protestant Reformation, that beginning in the fourteenth century under Wiclif, and continued under Hus in the fifteenth, at length culminated in the sixteenth under Luther and Calvin, and a host of kindred spirits?" It was a special dispensation of the Spirit, whereby the minds of men everywhere in Christian lands were turned towards the utterances of the Divine Word, the errors of the Papacy were discovered and renounced, the truth as it is in Jesus apprehended and embraced by multitudes, and the churches built up in the faith of the gospel. It was a great and general revival of religion, whereby converts in tens of thousands were born of the Spirit of God. So thorough and wide-spread were those conversions, that the fires of persecution were kindled in vain. In spite of princes and prelates, converts to the pure faith of the gospel were made all over Germany, Switzerland, France, Holland, and Great Britain, and not a few in Spain and Italy. It was the greatest revival of religion that the world had witnessed, and the church enjoyed, since the days of Constantine.

Revivals in Great Britain and Ireland. -- From that day, all along the centuries, the annals of the church abound in testimonies to the reality and efficacy of these special effusions of the Spirit. The Church of Scotland was born anew in the great revival under Knox and his brethren. "The whole nation," says Kirkton, "was converted by lump." Near the close of the sixteenth century, under the ministry of such divines as Wishart, Cooper, and Welsh, all Scotland was visited by an extraordinary effusion of the Holy Spirit. So mightily were men affected, that the whole General Assembly, four hundred ministers and elders, while renewing their solemn league and covenant, with sighs and groans and tears, were swayed by the Spirit, as the leaves of the forest by the "rushing mighty wind" of the driving tempest.

Similar scenes were further witnessed in Scotland, beginning in 1625, at Stewarton, extending through the land, and into the north of Ireland, and eventuating in that remarkable display of divine grace in the Kirk of Scotland, where, in June, 1630, under the preaching of Bruce and Livingston, "near five hundred" souls, in one day, were brought under deep conviction of sin, and presently into the light and liberty of the gospel. So, too, in 1638, on the occasion of signing the covenant, the whole country was stirred as by the mighty hand of God. "I have seen," says Livingston, "more than a thousand persons, all at once, lifting up their hands, and the tears falling down their eyes," as with one heart they vowed to be the Lord's. Such was the
preparation in Scotland, and in England also, for the great reformation, that issued in the Commonwealth under Cromwell, and the prevalence of Puritanism in the Church of England.

The Great Awakening in the Eighteenth Century.-- A period of great degeneracy, profligacy, and corruption, succeeded the restoration of the monarchy, extending into the next century. At length, in 1730, an era of spiritual revival was ushered in, under the preaching of the Wesleys, Whitefield, and a host of like-minded men of God, during which the churches of England, Scotland, and Ireland, were visited with a wonderful refreshing from the presence of the Lord. The wave of divine grace extended to the British Colonies in America, where, under the preaching of Edwards, and Bellamy, and the Tennents, and others of kindred spirit, the churches everywhere, in and out of New England, were so graciously and powerfully revived, that the period has ever since been known as "The Great Awakening," so many were the revivals of religion among the Christian people of the Western World.

These visitations of the Spirit were followed by the French War and the war of the American Revolution, resulting in a great decay of piety, and a wide diffusion of scoffing infidelity and profanity. During this period, here and there a church or neighborhood was favored with a gracious outpouring of the Spirit; but, for the most part, the churches in America were brought into a most lamentable state of spiritual declension. At length, in 1792, "commenced," says Dr. Griffin, "that series of revivals in America which has never been interrupted. I could stand at my door in New Hartford, Litchfield County, Conn.," he adds, "and number fifty or sixty congregations laid down in one field of divine wonders, and as many more in different parts of New England."

The Grand Era of Modern Revivals. -- All over the new settlements in the Western and Southern States of America, particularly in Kentucky and Tennessee, a work of divine grace, resulting from a special outpouring of the Spirit, beginning in 1796, and continuing for a dozen years or more, completely remoulded the character of the people, and led large numbers to forsake their sins and unbelief, and to connect themselves with the church. Again: after the war with Great Britain (1812-15), many of the churches were favored with revivals. Especially was this the case in the years 1827-32, when, under the preaching of Nettleton, Finney, and other evangelists, and by means of protracted meetings of four days' continuance, or longer, revivals were multiplied all over the land.

Very marked, also, was the wave of spiritual grace, that, beginning in the city of New York early in 1858, shortly after a season of widespread bankruptcy, spread from city to city, and town to town, all over the United States, until, within a single year, nearly half a million of converts had been received into the churches. It was confined to no denomination, no section, and no one class, in the communities where it prevailed. It was a great and wonderful revival.

During the year 1837 a work of peculiar power began at a mission station at Hilo, in Hawaii, under the preaching of Mr. Coan, and continued for a period of five years, during which 7,557 converts were received into that one church; 1,705 having been admitted the same day, July 1, 1838. Since the days of the apostles, the world had scarcely witnessed so wonderful a display of divine grace. And now, within the past five years (1878--83), a still more powerful movement of the Spirit in the Telugu Mission, India, has resulted in bringing more than twenty thousand hopeful converts into the churches; the accessions during the past year (1882) averaging not less than two hundred per month.

The evangelical churches in America very generally, and to a considerable extent in Great Britain and Ireland, as also in the British Provinces, most heartily believe in revivals of religion, look for them, pray and labor for them, and derive much of their vitality from these effusions of the Spirit. A large proportion of their ministry have been converted in revivals. A class of preachers known as "evangelists," or "revivalists," devote themselves wholly to their promotion. Here and there, serious irregularities have been introduced by enthusiasts, and much harm done to religion. These offenses, however, are exceptional, and of very limited influence. Very generally, revivals of religion are regarded by the best people as mighty helpers to the churches, and as most salutary in their influence over the church and the world.

Sam
06-28-2008, 10:24 PM
ENGLISH METHODISM

English Methodism came largely as a reaction against English rationalism and the general spiritual and moral decline of the English nation. John Wesley (1703-91) was the man who called the revival into existence, but he was ably assisted by his brother, Charles Wesley (1708-88), and by George Whitfield (1714-70). John Williams Fletcher (1729-85) was also prominently connected with the founding of Methodism. John Wesley was the organizer, George Whitfield was the great preacher, Charles Wesley was the hymn-writer, and John Fletcher was the theologian of the movement.

John and Charles Wesley were reared in a religious home and greatly influenced by a godly mother. Their father was an Anglican clergyman, rector of the county parish of Epworth. While attending Oxford University, they were members of a group of young men who met for the study of the Bible and other books. This society became gradually more religious. The young men fasted twice a week, prayed much, and visited prisons and the sick. Other students began to call them the "Holy Club" or "Methodists" because of their strict methods of living. They and George Whitfield were all ordained as ministers in the Anglican Church. In 1835 John and Charles left England to be missionaries in the newly established colony of Georgia, but their work was so unsuccessful that they soon returned to England. Charles in 1736 and John in 1738. On the journey to America they met some Moravians and were impressed by their peculiar peace, calmness, and gentleness. They impressed John Wesley with the necessity of a personal experience and assurance of salvation. John did not have this. Then, on May 24, 1738 at 8:45 p.m. at a society meeting on Aldersgate Street while listening to the reading of Martin Luther's preface to the Epistle to the Romans, he had a definite conversion. He later wrote in his diary, "I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and
an assurance was given me, that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death." Charles Wesley and George Whitfield had already had similar experiences. In these specific conversions the evangelical Methodism was born. They began to preach a definite conversion experience followed by holy living. They were soon rejected by the established clergy and began to hold meetings outdoors. The outside meetings at Bristol gathered audiences that at times numbered twenty thousand. Although at first there was no intent to split from the Anglican Church, the number of converts grew so rapidly that they were organized into societies which were composed of bands or groups which were divided into classes of 12 for mutual edification and encouragement. By 1784 the Methodist societies formed into churches or congregations and were given the right to ordain ministers and administer the sacraments. Missionaries were sent to America.

Methodism exerted a world-wide influence. It quickened the spirit of English evangelism. It awakened a new spirit of humanitarianism, especially by its prison reforms and by its fight against slavery. It promoted the modern Sunday School, and founded tract and Bible societies. It greatly stimulated Protestant interest in foreign missions.

Sam
06-28-2008, 10:26 PM
THE GREAT AWAKENING

What is called the "Great Awakening" in America was contemporaneous with the Methodist revival in England.

There were a large number of unchurched people. Religion had played a prominent part in the settlement of America but interest soon waned. Lack of organized churches and schools, shortage of worthy pastors, the rough frontier life, constant border warfare, and energy needed to settle a new continent had a demoralizing influence on colonial society.

But changes came. The Great Awakening was first noticed among German Mennonites, Dunkers, and Moravians in Pennsylvania. By 1726, through the revivalistic preaching of Theodore J. Frelinghuysen to the Dutch Reformed people of northern New Jersey there were numerous conversions. By 1728 the revival movement had spread to the English and Scotch Presbyterians through the preaching of Gilbert Tennant, a young Presbyterian minister of New Brunswick, New Jersey. In 1734 an awakening started among the people of Northampton, Massachusetts under the ministry of Jonathan Edwards. Edwards preached a series of sermons on justification by faith. The result was a great interest in personal religion. Within a year more than three hundred persons, nearly all the people in town above sixteen years of age, professed conversion. From Northampton the revival spread down the river and along the coast to the Middle and Southern Colonies. In Virginia it had greatest progress among the Baptists. From the Baptists it spread to the Methodists and the German Lutherans were strongly influenced. The Episcopal Church took an attitude of opposition.

The high tide of the Great Awakening came in 1740-1741 during George Whitfield's second visit. Thousands of people came to his meetings and there were many conversions. He visited the other revival preachers from the other areas and brought the various movements together. Jonathan Edwards and other New England ministers joined in the itinerant evangelistic work. Their great appeal was to fear. This is seen in the famous Edwards sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" which he preached at Enfield, Connecticut in July 1741. Meetings included groans, outcries, convulsions, fainting, visions, ecstasies and unbridled denunciation of all who did not agree with the revivalists. There was a reaction against what were considered excesses and the movement lost much force and popularity. However, many important results were registered. There was a general quickening of religious life, a revival of personal religion, a large increase in church membership, and a higher general standard of morality. Missionary and benevolent enterprises were promoted in the colonies and many denominational and religious schools were founded.

Sam
06-28-2008, 10:27 PM
THE SECOND GREAT AWAKENING OR CANE RIDGE REVIVAL

In the years following the Revolutionary War, moral and religious life reached another low. Churches had been destroyed, ministers and parishioners had been killed, congregations had been scattered, vital religion had been neglected and very few new ministers had been trained. Civil war between Patriots and Tories had fostered the growth of crime and immorality. Excessive debt threatened to sink the newly formed republic. English Deism and French naturalism and atheism swept over Europe and America. Infidelity and atheism became fashionable, especially among students and those who considered themselves educated. Princeton had only two students who professed themselves to be Christians in 1782 and the Yale College Church had only five professing Christians in 1783. Among the middle and lower social classes an appalling religious and moral indifference prevailed. Atheistic literature circulated widely.

This serious religious and moral depression was soon followed by a remarkable spiritual awakening. The "Second Awakening" started in the eastern states in the late eighteenth century, and the "Great Revival" started west of the Alleghanies during the opening years of the nineteenth century.

Churches in Western Pennsylvania experienced a quickening during the years of 1781-1787. In Virginia the movement started with a prayer meeting of four students hidden in the woods. The revival spread rapidly. Presbyterian ministers were sent out two by two through the neglected regions. Under the leadership of Presbyterians James McGready and William McGee and Methodist John McGee the "Great Revival" assumed its largest proportions in Kentucky and Tennessee during the years of 1799-1801. Thousands came from far and near, bringing provisions for camping over the weekend. This was the origin of camp meetings. The camps at Red River, Gaspar River and Muddy River in 1800 and at Concord and Cane Ridge in 1801 were particularly notable. The Cane Ridge camp meeting was held at Cane Ridge, Kentucky in August 1801 and was attended by about twenty-five thousand people including the Governor. Seven platforms were erected so seven ministers could preach at the same time. Presbyterian, Methodist, and Baptist preachers exhorted the crowds for seven days. During these meetings there were a lot of "manifestations" which caused later division. People would leap, shout, dance, jerk, weep, laugh, bark like dogs, and fall to the ground, Women were known to jerk so violently that their bonnets would fly off and their combs would fall out and their hair would crack like a whip.

Sam
06-28-2008, 10:28 PM
REVIVALISM UNDER CHARLES FINNEY AND D.L. MOODY

Charles Finney was born in Connecticut in 1792 and his family soon moved to western New York. He studied and practiced law from 1818 to 1821. He was converted in 1820 and decided to preach. He was licensed by the Presbyterian Church in 1824 and was known as a fiery evangelist. He preached throughout New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and the New England states. His most remarkable revival was in Rochester, New York where nearly three thousand were converted. He died in 1875.

Dwight Lyman Moody was born in East Northfield, Massachusetts in 1837. He became a shoe salesman at the age of 17. A year later he became a Christian as a result of a man visiting and witnessing to him at his place of employment. At age nineteen he started a business in Chicago. There he gathered a group of poor boys from the streets and became their Sunday School teacher in the church he attended. In 1858 he opened a mission Sunday School which soon developed into a Church. He began to preach although he was discouraged by church officials and he never was ordained as a minister. He gave up his business in 1860 to devote his time to gospel work. He was employed by the Christian commission among the soldiers in the Civil War. He served as president of the Y.M.C.A. from 1865 to 1869. In 1871 he was joined by Gospel singer Ira Sankey and they worked together for more than twenty years in the large cities of England and the United States. During a four month visit in London they held 285 meetings attended by 2,530,00 people. During his lifetime Moody personally spoke to and prayed with thousands of people.

Ron
06-28-2008, 10:30 PM
Sam, I am trying to keep up with your posting, it is good and notable subject.

Sam
06-28-2008, 10:31 PM
THE WELSH REVIVAL OF 1904

Wales had seen the hand of God move powerfully in revival many times. The last widespread revival in 1854 had brought 100,000 into the Kingdom. Since then scattered outpourings had led to the conversion of a 100 here or 200 there, but nothing to touch the nation as a whole. At this time the nature of the Christianity being practiced was beginning to change. The publication of the Origin of Species in 1859, the rise of Liberalism and the "Higher Criticism" had combined to weaken confidence in the Bible as the Word of God. The church was becoming less relevant in everyday life as men and women looked to science to answer their problems. The church responded by departing from its teaching of the cross and offering a Gospel that was man-centered.

A man by the name of Evan Roberts, a miner and blacksmith with little training or theological background, was an instrument greatly used to bring revival to the land of Wales. He asked for permission to hold a meeting at his home church. He spoke very slowly and quietly and the meeting went on until late in the night. Young men and women were deeply touched and openly spoke of God's saving Grace in their lives. Tears and songs of praise continued until nearly midnight. The next day this was the talk of the town and when Mr. Roberts arrived for that evening's service the chapel was packed. People who seemed very unlikely to become Christians were declaring new-found faith and joy. News of dramatic conversions, confession of sin, and songs of joy spread rapidly. Wherever Roberts went the Holy Spirit brought deep conviction of sin and a new spiritual dimension into the lives of formerly cold church-goers. Roberts was not an expository preacher and his method was prayer and exhortation, leading to a moving of the Holy Spirit bringing deep conviction. The meetings went on for many hours - often for more than 10 without a break. People lost all sense of time and churches were so full that crowds gathered outside until they could somehow squeeze their way in. The remarkable thing was that once the revival had started it was not limited to where Roberts was speaking. Others "caught the fire" and the Spirit moved throughout Wales in great power.

The revival changed every aspect of the lives of those it touched. There was a dramatic decline in drunkenness, bars were deserted as each night the churches were packed with worshippers. The bars were not the only places to be emptied. Dance halls, theaters, and football matches all saw a dramatic decline in attendance. The courts and jails were deserted and the police found themselves without any work to do. The story is told of policemen who closed their station and formed a choir to sing at the revival meetings. Long-standing debts were repaid, church and family feuds were healed and a new unity of purpose was felt across the denominational divides.

Perhaps the most dramatic change that took place was that worked in the hearts of the miners. These men did back-breaking toil in cramped conditions with the constant threat of roof-collapse and explosive gases. Yet when the Holy Spirit touched them, He transformed their lives to such a degree that the pit-ponies could no longer understand instructions given to them, so accustomed had they become to receiving blows and being sworn at! The men worked with a renewed vigor that set production figures soaring. When work was done they would hurry home for a quick meal and a bath and then be off to the chapel until the early hours of the morning, singing hymns as they went!

There was a new excitement about eternal things. Family devotions and public prayer meetings were started and continued regularly for years. The sales of Bibles increased to such a degree that the shops sold their entire stocks. Everywhere there was a new spirit of prayer and an urgency to preach the Gospel. The effects of the revival were not confined to the Principality. Reports of the events in Wales were distributed internationally in newspaper and magazine reports. It is estimated that 150,000 people were converted. An estimated twenty percent of these left the traditional churches and joined the newly formed Pentecostal Fellowships.

Sam
06-28-2008, 10:33 PM
THE PENTECOSTAL REVIVAL

The Pentecostal movement generally traces its beginning to the Bethel Bible School in Topeka, Kansas. Here under the leadership of Charles Parham, in a prayer meeting in the early hours of 1901 people began experiencing a manifestation called glossalalia or speaking in an unknown language or tongue. This experience was called the baptism in the Holy Spirit. This message of the Spirit baptism was carried to Houston, Texas in 1905 by Lucy Farrow who pastored a church there. She had visited Topeka, Kansas and had been baptized in the Spirit. An interim pastor at the Houston church, William J. Seymour, formerly of Cincinnati, Ohio, was asked to come to Los Angeles to hold a meeting and possibly assume the pastorship of a church there. When he went he preached about the Holy Spirit baptism. The message was not accepted by the Los Angeles church and when he returned for a subsequent meeting he found that he was locked out of the church. He moved in with a family on Bonnie Brae Avenue and there meetings continued for several weeks. He would stand on the front porch and preach to those who assembled on the lawn and in the street. When the crowds became too large, an old building at 312 Azusa Street became available. At one time the building had been a church but had recently been used as a livery stable. On April 14, 1906, William Seymour held his first meeting at the Azusa Street facility.

On April 18, the Los Angeles Times had a report of "a weird babble of tongues" amid "wild scenes" in the mission. By May more than a thousand persons were trying to enter the small 40 by 60 foot building. Some were curious, some were doubters, and some were looking for an experience to draw closer to God. Meetings were held 3 times a day and 7 times a week for about 3 years. Thousands came from all over the world and received a personal Pentecost. From those meetings in Los Angeles the Pentecostal movement has grown and spread throughout the world with millions of members.

Sam
06-28-2008, 10:35 PM
THE HEALING REVIVAL

In 1946, an unknown Baptist minister from southern Indiana named William Branham suddenly made news by holding campaigns where healing was promoted. Among Pentecostals, healing had been taught and practiced for years. It was commonly known as "divine healing," and in conjunction with the message of salvation was included in what was termed the "Full Gospel." William Branham had been asked to come to St. Louis, Missouri to hold a meeting for Pastor Robert Daugherty. Here he prayed for the pastor's daughter. She had been dying but was healed in answer to prayer. Crowds came to the church and healing of the sick was emphasized. From there Brother Branham went to Jonesboro, Arkansas where he conducted a meeting at the Bible Hour Tabernacle. Over 25,000 people from 28 states attended the meetings. With these meetings, the post World War II Healing Movement was born. As testimonies of incredible healings increased, Branham's fame and ministry grew. Within months he had assembled a management team which included Jack Moore, pastor of a large United Pentecostal Church, plus Gordon Lindsay and Ern Baxtor. In April, 1948 Gordon Lindsay initiated a magazine called "The Voice of Healing" to publicize the ministry. Within a few years the magazine became the voice of dozens of healing evangelists who were criss-crossing the country and traveling into foreign countries with the message of God's healing power. As early as 1950 over 1,000 healing evangelists gathered at a Voice of Healing convention.

Another well known minister who was part of the Healing Revival is Oral Roberts. He has been identified by historian David Harrell as "one of the most influential religious leaders in the world in the twentieth century." Harrell contends that Roberts has influenced the course of modern Christianity as profoundly as any American religious leader. Oral Roberts was healed of tuberculosis as a youth. In 1947 he launched an ecumenical healing ministry. During the next 30 years, he conducted over 300 major healing crusades and personally prayed for over one million people. In 1955 he initiated a weekly television program which took the message of healing into millions of homes. His radio broadcast was heard on over 500 stations.

When the Healing Revival attracted hundreds of thousands of Americans from all denominational and cultural backgrounds, the Charismatic Movement was born.

Sam
06-28-2008, 10:38 PM
THE LATTER RAIN MOVEMENT

Another movement that was parallel to the Healing Revival was known as the Latter Rain. As Pentecostal churches grew larger and developed into denominations there were many who longed for "the good old days." About the same time as the Healing Revival when people from outside Pentecostal churches were coming into contact with the "Full Gospel" a group rose up with a call to return to "Pentecost" and the work of the Holy Spirit. The Latter Rain movement was very much like the early Pentecostal movement at Azusa Street. The movement was characterized by many reports of healing and other miraculous phenomena, in contrast to the previous decade, which was described by Pentecostals as a time of spiritual dryness and lack of God's presence. It stressed the imminence of Christ's second coming which was to be preceded by an outpouring of God's Spirit. The outpouring on the Day of Pentecost was called the "former rain" and the outpouring that would happen before the second coming of Christ was called the "latter rain." There was a great emphasis on laying on of hands and the gifts of the Spirit.

The Latter Rain movement originated at Sharon Orphanage and Schools in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, Canada. On February 12, 1948 there was a special move of the Holy Spirit at the school. The report was that "all Heaven broke loose upon our souls and heaven above came down to greet us." The report goes on to say "Soon a visible manifestation of gifts was received when candidates were prayed over, and many as a result began to be healed, as gifts of healing were received." When people became aware of what was going on people came from all over North America and other parts of the world to participate in camp meeting conventions. By 1949 the North Battlefield leaders were becoming less central in the movement as it spread and leadership arose in other areas. The churches which were started or influenced by the Latter Rain movement were usually independent congregations with little or no central organization so its impact is not fully evident. Many involved in the Latter Rain Movement became part of the Charismatic Movement of the 1960s and 1970s.

Sam
06-28-2008, 10:41 PM
THE CHARISMATIC MOVEMENT

The term Charismatic Movement has been described as the "new Pentecost" and is said to be "the occurrence of distinctively Pentecostal blessings and phenomena... outside a denomination and/or confessional Pentecostal framework." It refers to manifestations of Pentecostal type Christianity without being affiliated with Pentecostal denominations. Its beginning is usually considered to be April 3, 1960 when Father Dennis Bennett of St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Van Nuys California told his congregation in all 3 morning services that he "had been led to receive the power and fullness of the Holy Spirit, and how this had included the gift of unknown tongues." After the second service an associate priest had resigned and a church officer called for Bennett's resignation. After the third service, Father Bennett announced his resignation. The Bishop of Los Angeles then wrote a pastoral letter to the people of St, Mark's, temporarily forbidding any group to meed under parish auspices if "speaking in tongues is encouraged or actually engaged in."

One of the leaders in a prayer group within the church contacted "Newsweek" and "Time" magazines, which then ran stories under the headlines, "Rector and a Rumpus" (July 4) and "Speaking in Tongues" (August 15). With these reports the Van Nuys story with its emphasis on glossalalia became known to many. It was this publicity that first generated the sense of a new movement of the Spirit. The newness was seen as the Pentecostal blessing in an historical church setting.

Actually, the Charismatic Movement goes back farther than that. During the time of the Healing Revival as evangelists were holding large campaigns, people were not only being healed but many were being saved and many were being baptized in the Spirit. The evangelists were ordinarily Pentecostal but their ministries were not under the control of their Pentecostal denominations. People receiving the Spirit baptism were often members of traditional denominational churches but they did not leave those churches. The Full Gospel Businessmen Men's Fellowship International (FGBMFI) was associated with many of the healing evangelists and was conceived of as a group of Spirit filled business men ministering to non-Pentecostals. Their meetings were designed to be times of "charismatic" fellowship for non-Pentecostal Christians. An article in an early edition of the FGBMFI magazine "Voice" stated, "God never intended that the Full Gospel or Pentecostal groups should have a monopoly on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit." The idea was then and is now that the Baptism in the Holy Spirit is an individual work of blessing and empowerment and is not expected to be accepted by denominational churches and incorporated into their creeds.

Years ago if a person experienced the Spirit baptism they left their church and joined a Pentecostal Church. In the Charismatic Movement this is not necessary. In 1949, Lutheran pastor Herald Bredesen received the Spirit baptism and remained in his denomination. Since then other pastors have received the experience and have also remained in their denominational churches. Today there are millions of Spirit baptized Christians both within and without Pentecostal churches.


WORLD WIDE REVIVAL

Many expect some large, world wide revival to occur prior to the second coming of Jesus. My personal opinion is that we are experiencing that revival right now all around the world. There are reports of millions of people coming to Christ in China, South America, Africa, etc. As far as I understand the Bible, there is nothing that has to happen before Jesus returns. It could happen at any moment. I believe we are living in the last days when He is pouring out His Spirit upon all flesh just like He promised.

Sam
06-28-2008, 10:44 PM
In a previous article on Revival I mentioned Charles Finney who was a prominent evangelist in the nineteenth century. The part about Finney read as follows:

"REVIVALISM UNDER CHARLES FINNEY AND D.L. MOODY

"Charles Finney was born in Connecticut in 1792 and his family soon moved to western New York. He studied and practiced law from 1818 to 1821. He was converted in 1820 and decided to preach. He was licensed by the Presbyterian Church in 1824 and was known as a fiery evangelist. He preached throughout New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and the New England states. His most remarkable revival was in Rochester, New York where nearly three thousand were converted. He died in 1875."

Below are some pages from a book by Kenneth Hagin titled, "The Interceding Christian." He talks about Charles Finney and the important part that prayer played in his evangelistic successes.

"Charles G. Finney stands out as one of the greatest exponents of evangelism since the days of the Apostle Paul. All theologians and church historians agree that Finney had the greatest success of any individual preacher since the days of Paul. Furthermore, in Finney's revivals 80 percent of all his converts stayed saved.

"In no other revival since the days of Paul has this been true. Moody was mightily used of God. Yet church historians agree that not more than 50 percent of his converts remained.

"Since the turn of the century we have seen a great revival in the Pentecostal movement. Yet Pentecostal leaders, both past and present, agree that not even 50 percent of the converts remain true to God. No one has had the success Finney had. Yet he never used any kind of gimmick. He didn't rely on sensationalism; he depended solely upon prayer.

"In his autobiography we read that when Finney would go into a town for a revival, almost the entire town would turn to God. After one such revival in which practically the entire city was converted, the only theater in town had to close down because no one attended. All the 'grog' shops, Finney's term for what we know today as beer joints, also had to close down after the revival.

"What was the secret of Finney's success? He said, 'There is no more secret, no more mystery to having a revival than there is to a farmer's reaping a crop. If the farmer tills the soil, puts the seed in the ground, and trusts God for the rain, then when the time comes there will be a harvest.'

"Finney had an elderly man working with him who was semi-retired from the ministry. People called him 'Father Nash.' Father Nash would go ahead of Finney three weeks in advance of a planned revival to try to get two or three people to enter into a covenant of prayer with him. Some one asked Finney what kind of man this Father Nash was. 'We never see him,' they said. 'He doesn't enter into any of the meetings.'

"Finney replied, "Like anybody who does a lot of praying, Father Nash is a very quiet person.'

"Show me a person who is always talking and I'll show you a Christian who never does much praying.

"'On one occasion when I got to a town to start a revival,' Finney said, 'a lady who ran a boarding house contacted me. She said, 'Brother Finney, do you know a Father Nash? He and two other men have been at my boarding house for the last three days, but they haven't eaten a bite of food. I opened the door and peeped in at them because I could hear them groaning, and I saw them down on their faces. They have been this way for three days, lying prostrate on the floor and groaning. I thought something awful must have happened to them I was afraid to go in and I didn't know what to do. Would you please come see about them?'

"'No, it isn't necessary,' I replied. 'They just have a spirit of travail in prayer.'

"Finney prayed much himself. Rising every morning at 4 o'clock, he would go out into the country and pray until 8 o'clock."

That is from pages 25 -27 of "The Interceding Christian."

Sam
06-28-2008, 10:49 PM
A few years ago while I was attending the Cincinnati Vineyard, one of the pastors passed on a request for me to provide some information on the subject of revival. The articles above are what I provided for her. Some of the material was copied from articles I found on Google. Other stuff came from some other sources. After reading something on revival a couple of days ago I thought I would pass these older articles on in case any of you are interested.