Revival?
Posted by appolus on February 16, 2023
I remember I was involved in some meetings in Scotland and Wales. The first one in Scotland was a large outreach to the community over several nights, the second one was a revival meeting in Wales. A dear brother, one of my dearest friends, a pastor from Oklahoma was going with me. He got a call from one of the moderators telling him in no uncertain terms not to have anything to do with me and that if he did, things would not go well for him. The problem? Apparently I was a Pentecostal. This man caused all kinds of problems and in his self righteousness did great damage to the meetings in Wales. Many , many years before that he had been involved in a “revival,’ therefore he “qualified,” to be in the revival industry. And believe me brothers and sisters, so much of it is an industry with books and conferences and so on. Revival in and of itself was worshiped. Where was Jesus? Why was His name not high and lifted up? Rather than pursuing Jesus, so many were simply pursuing ghosts of a bygone age, seeking to replicate it and any deviation from what they understood about it caused major problems.
There is a lot of talk about revival right now. I’ll tell you why I do not like that word. It competes with Jesus. If a move of God supposedly happens there are two broad groups of people who immediately respond. Group 1 says “It is definitely a revival.” Group 2 says “It is definitely not a revival.” And in these two groups are all manner of bias and that bias comes immediately to the fore. Somewhere in the middle is a group of people who would love to see God move, yet, because of the horrendous history of so called revivals in the past or churches who claim to have a revival every Sunday, they wait. They wait hopefully. They do not attack anyone. They do not make assumptions. They do however long to see a mostly religious Christendom actually encounter the Living God in ways that mean they can never return to the world from which they came.
If all you are talking about is revival, then you are talking about the wrong thing. If you are running with the crowd then you are most likely running in the wrong direction. It is Jesus first and last. It is His Word and the Baptism of the Holy Spirit that we rely upon. Without either, we can do nothing. If you are a cessationist then you have much greater problems than whether some meeting somewhere is of God or is not. This frenetic activity from the two broad groups of folk underlies a fundamental lack of Godly wisdom. In the days ahead, with the world coming to its end, and with gross darkness falling all around us, we will desperately need discernment and patience and wisdom from God above. Delusions, lying signs and wonders, angels of darkness appearing as angels of light, they are all going to increase with an alarming speed. Drawing close to God and His Word will be a vital aspect of our walk, and should always be, but all the more so as darkness descends. Draw close to Jesus brothers and sisters. Only by His name being lifted up will men and women be drawn to God. All other names, all other words, have no power.
A Call To The Remnant 
Anonymous said
Amen..
Revival? – Online Answers said
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Prayergate said
Hi Frank,
I don’t even want to share this, but I feel I must for “truth’s sake”.
I just found out that this is the 9th “revival” that Asbury has had.
I don’t know about the previous ones, but this one was totally PLANNED … it didn’t happen because the Holy Ghost moved. Man “moved” it!
Now, it’s turned into another Christian “fad” … everyone convinced this is the “revival” they’ve been waiting for.
It’s just like when everyone “hopped” on the Tod Bentley and Bethel bandwagons … reminiscent of all the other Christian bandwagons before it!
My heart hurts … because I first believed that it was, at the very least, a move from the Holy Ghost upon the hearts of young people towards repentance and true worship in the Spirit!
Sadly, this is NOT the case!
Discernment required in these days of false prophets saying “Lo, here is Christ. Believe them not!”
God Bless You Brother Frank,
Tim 😦
appolus said
Revival is not a word I even care to mention anymore brother, since it seems to relegate the name of Jesus to second position. I’m not surprised at your information, and therefore its like any other meeting that men organize, which I’m not against, where young people are worshiping Jesus, so more like a time of refreshing. I’ve always believed that the Body of Christ itself will be revived when persecution comes knocking at our door and dragging us out. When the enemy comes in like a flood. God will raise us up. His grace will be sufficient for us. I think we need to keep in mind that the Welsh revival was a series of meetings, all over Wales, which resembled a glorified prayer meeting, or, to be more accurate, a 1 Cor 14 service. …………bro Frank
Prayergate said
Yes … I appreciate your balanced viewpoint.
I was aware that I was speaking out of an intense attitude of disappointment stemming from the fact that they allowed the impression of a “spontaneous” move of the Holy Ghost instead of notifying everyone that it was a “scheduled” gathering (which, as you inferred, is quite acceptable under normal circumstances).
And I’m also aware that the Spirit can “move” in a gathering of Christians regardless of its origin.
Your assessment of the word “revived” is significant, for that is the real definition of what most of Christianity wants to call “revival”. However, they are not interested in the flip-side of the coin which deals with persecution … which ALWAYS occurs as a result of a true move of the Holy Spirit through His saints.
God Bless, Tim
appolus said
So many Christians don’t want to deal with persecution. I am reminded that the saints of Jerusalem were commanded to take the Gospel to all the nations and to make disciples. And yet, for the most part they did not, until the persecution came and “dispersed,” them. No doubt, for us soft saints in the West, the same kind of persecution will produce in us a similar response. The last great refining fire…..bro Frank