The Revivalists

 

“It must be remembered, too, that the political condition of the country was such as constantly to agitate the public mind, and divert attention from spiritual things…Thus from 1744 to 1783, during a period of almost 40 years, the public mind was continually agitated by political questions.”

From a Handbook of Revivals by Henry C. Fish. 1874

 

Among revivalists up until 2023 there was a level of unity, but it was the case that even the modern-day revivalists needed to repent. As we all must do at some point.

UK Christian media, especially radio, considered revival an important issue. United Christian Broadcasters (UCB) in particular, held it within their organisations vision. Also Premier Christian Radio. But God TV were kind of all over the place.

In the UK and in the US there did seem to be unity among revivalists on the issue of revival itself, in that nearly all believed that there would be at least one further awakening. What confused me was that what had taken hold of the imaginations of many Christians, including those who were partisan in their support of revival, was that there would be only one more and that it would be worldwide. This idea, of a final worldwide revival, seemed to have been born from the sheer bad state of much of the world and the constant bad news. And an obscure Old Testament prophecy which said that the knowledge of God would one day fill the whole earth. People would look around and despair. If it is possible to give up hope, people gave it up - or at least held a very cynical view of the future. Especially because of all of the false dawns.

But there was a problem with the idea of a worldwide revival which would sweep millions, even billions, into the ‘Kingdom of God’. And that was that a worldwide revival had never happened before. I thought it unlikely, although some past revivals had been international and passed between America, the UK and Europe. Historically revivals can be slow to spread (both in time and geography).

There were also a significant number of revivalists who believed that when God acted, it would somehow separate the sheep from the goats, the wheat from the tares. But once again, it seemed to me, that this was what happened at judgment day and not during a revival. The desire to see people clearly separated into good and bad categories seemed to be largely based on the significant hurts which many had experienced. It wasn’t simply a matter of justice - to see the guilty punished and the innocent receive compensation - there was a definite desire for revenge mixed in with justice.

Besides this, a lot of the talk was speculation, in that no-one really knew what a revival would be like unless they had been to a country where there was one happening. The contemporary prophets were fairly united on the issue - almost all saying that God would send another revival. Even the Jeremiahs among the Christian prophets said that there would be at least one more after or during a major crisis. When the prophets prophesied some disaster, I was quick to listen. Because this seemed to me to be more realistic and, based on experience, more likely. But there was usually an element of hope in their prophecies. Some of the prophets would relentlessly prophecy good things and more than once I read a prophecy only to think: ‘useless’.

The revivalists tended to be interested in this wackier side to the faith. They are kooky, often in a good way. But the kooky Christians didn’t seem to care much what the more sensible Christians thought and, on the whole, simply wanted things to get better. Still, there were many arguments.

The consensus seemed to be that there would be one final, worldwide revival before the end of the world. It was bold and imaginative, even if it had never happened before. In fact, many of the prophecies were highly imaginative, using words and metaphors which were both clever and inspiring.

For instance, a revival could be likened to a tide, or a river or to an outpouring of rain. There were many metaphors - it was likened to the sun shining, to a pregnancy and giving birth, to dry bones coming alive again, to the wind, to all kinds of natural growth. Colours were often used in the description - favouring golden drops of rain, or bright white figures. Pictures of Christ went into visions of wild lions and other respectful (and some less respectful) visions. But for those who took offence, I wonder what they would make of the classic, well-loved poem by Francis Thompson ‘The Hound of Heaven’ which effectively likens Christ to a dog. No-one complains about that. (I’m sure that if some things were not already in the Bible, people would say they were offensive (for example the New Testament saying that Christ became ‘sin’ for us on the cross)).

However, there were excesses. Some of the descriptions, especially from the fringe of the fringe, were too much. I don’t want to dwell on this subject, or on the subject of false revivals or false believers. The heresy hunters do a perfectly good enough job on all this and, to be honest, it is a spiritual minefield. The heresy hunters were on the opposite side of the fringe and largely did not believe in any further revivals. I think they might say they only believed in a true revival, but there were excesses among them too with some of the accusations effectively being libel. They were also driven by conviction. So, when a prominent Christian revivalist went too far, they could be helpful to restore the right mind of people and remind us to be discerning.

 

But as I say, the revivalists needed to repent, along, possibly with the heresy hunters. Along, of course, with myself. We should practice what we preach.

There was also a general feeling that a modern-day revival would mean a significant amount of pressure. This was at odds with my hope that a revival would bring greater freedom (since where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom). Perhaps the freedom would come later? We didn’t know, as there was no revival. Also, there was perpetual anticipation. Someone might announce that there would be a revival in the next year, or the next month, but these dates often came and passed with no revival in the UK. The prophets often got it wrong and their defence was that people hadn’t prayed enough or that an event had occurred, it just hadn’t been noticed. It had been this way since the start - there had been many independent national days of prayers (the Queen and King unwilling or unable to call for one). But each time, the gathering would not succeed. When some of these gatherings started to require payment from individuals, I really started to worry. God didn’t want our money but it was quite clear that the Church seemed to, on the whole (although even this is complicated because often the Church uses the money selflessly to help others). The consensus was that the reason we had no revival was because we were not praying enough. Or that we needed to repent more. Or that revival tarried because it was all in God’s timing.

But as usual, even with the hope Asbury gave, it was Catch 22. No revival, no repentance. No repentance, no revival. No revival, little prayer. Little prayer, no revival.