A Mormon View

It would be difficult to interview every faith and every creed about their views. I have tried to stick to a handful here. Later I will be writing about new Gen Z believers as their view is obviously important. But for now, let’s see what the Mormons say (bearing in mind that they prefer to be known as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (and have often not even been to see ‘The Book of Mormon’… which might be just as well).

Me, “Are you a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? I am not but am interested on the view of this community concerning Christian revival. If you are a member, do you have a personal opinion on this topic at this time?”

Liam (from the US), “I really like that! Yes, in fact I'm a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I'm unfamiliar with the topic of Christian Revival. Could you expand?”

Me, “Yes, of course. It concerns what you think about things like the past American great awakenings - so perhaps 'awakening' would be the correct word. The idea of a lot of people becoming believers all at once. There are said to be miracles and a general atmosphere of love, gentleness and mercy (which is often lacking in the world these days). The idea is that God somehow makes a lot of things better and effectively heals a nation or area.

I wondered if there was a Latter-day Saints position on the topic? The theory is that it would make people a lot kinder to each other no matter what their sex, age, colour or creed. But so few people in the West have seen a revival that a lot of it is speculation.

What are your thoughts on it?”

Liam, “Correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding of a Christian revival is a mass event held by certain leaders of a church to gain more converts? The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is big into missionary work as you can tell. There’re over 50,000 full time missionaries around the world for the church, and the leaders of our church help in the work as well. So yes, they do speak to large groups of people. The purpose of this work isn't to convince people to join our church, but to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. So that we can all live with our Heavenly Father someday! Does that answer your question or are you meaning something else like a specific event that has happened?”

This was probably one of the few times I had encountered anyone willing to say they were confused as to what they thought a Christian revival actually was. The Mormons, though often friendly enough, are considered to be outside of Christianity because they do not believe the creed and their leaders have added some other creeds of their own.

 

However, they too receive discrimination (and discrimination is never deserved).

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.

Asbury - 2023

 

Did it all start here? It’s hard to say. Well, the true start of it all was really around 2000 years ago at a place named Calvary or Golgotha in the Middle-East. But, more recently, what about the pandemic? Maybe it was a mix of a number of events?

Some say it did start with the Asbury revival and then everything went quiet for a while, before it began to spread. Others say that the pandemic was the catalyst. But Asbury was significant. What I do remember was seeking out the sermon which was supposed to have started it all off and caused the American college students to remain worshipping God. The sermon was about love. It was about how we all have a lack of love and therefore a deep need of God. And I guess the sermon was about God being love (and the source of it).

I spoke to an American Christian around this time for his view.

Sam:

“Revival is always a personal matter - and response. It’s not something that is generally promoted or motivated by business or politics. Yet, the power of God through the effects of revival can transcend and effect positives in all areas of life and society.

The enemy doesn’t want revival - and will do everything within his power to thwart it. Yet, even the enemy’s power is limited to that of God’s. Believers have the Spirit of God within them - and that is more powerful than the enemy.

Remember, revival is an outpouring of the Spirit in a believer’s heart and life. It’s possible that revival will be limited to an individual - but, better for an individual to be affected by it, then not seeing it all. For whether we realize it or not, each of us has an impact on all who we meet. Our prayers and actions must not be to actively influence the masses, but rather to move us closer to God - for it is he who has the power to move heaven and earth.”

The Asbury revival began on February 8^th, 2023 following a sermon at the campus of Asbury University in Kentucky in the US. It caused a stir at the time, with students saying they felt the presence of God and long, simple worship meetings (on this Christian campus). Soon enough, people, largely believers, from across the US, and even the world, were flocking to the campus. There were reports of change, of miracles even, and of Asbury being a ‘thin place’ where God’s presence could be felt.

If it all started there, then the person who it started with was an unnamed college student who responded to the message with tears and conviction, followed by other, unnamed students, one by one. One name I can give you is Alexandra Presta, another student there. She was the first to run with the message and wrote for the online college newspaper ‘The Asbury Collegian’.

And she wrote this:

 

 “What was intended to be an ordinary service did not conclude as usual. Instead, a small group of students chose to remain in the auditorium after the service ended to continue praying and worshipping.

According to student accounts, the atmosphere shifted dramatically when one student began openly confessing sins to the group, which catalyzed a deeper spiritual engagement among those present. Undergraduate Alison Perfater, then the student body president, described the moment as one where "the atmosphere changed" and emphasized that the continuation of worship was unplanned and organic. Students began singing, praying, and sharing testimonies, and the gathering quickly took on a life of its own.

The event was not orchestrated or led by any specific individual or organization.”

 

This news spread. And it spread like a fire. Videos appeared on TikTok and Instagram. Before they knew it there were millions of views and it seemed as if everyone wanted to chase this spontaneous spiritual twister that had appeared. By February 15, the hashtag #asburyrevival had over 24 million views on TikTok, rising to 63 million by February 18. This 2023 revival (one which had happened before in 1970 at the Asbury college), was shaped by Gen Z’s use of technology.

It could be said that the revival at Asbury ‘ended’ when the university began to realise that the amount of people flooding their campus was too much to contain and the paying students were not concentrating on their courses. But even before they asked people to stop going there, it had spread to other US university campuses. 

To American Gen Z…

The LGBT+ Community and Revival (some thoughts)

This week’s entry is an opinion piece.

The Church of England made a serious attempt to help revival. Not just with the Alpha course (which has its critics), but with yearly initiatives like Thy Kingdom Come which encouraged Christians to share the gospel and pray for a handful of people. Like the innocent childlike thought: ‘If you could save five people in this world, who would you save?’ But this initiative came and went each year with only some success, but not the revival which many dreamed of. Like the yearly organised national days of prayer. There were dreams and visions. Azusa Street in the US had broken racial boundaries and birthed the Pentecostal movement. But there was still racism in the church. We should have known better. Especially when it came to our treatment of the LGBT+ community. We were effectively shooting ourselves in the paw by being so critical of them.

We need gay Christians as surely as we need female Christian leaders. But many preferred to criticise the community. In fact, the majority. But I am so liberal that I think we need LGBT+ Christians to offer apologetics and communicate with the LGBT+ community. They know more about the excesses and dark side of their community than anyone else. Every community has its dark side, including the Church (and so, when we assert our right to throw metaphorical stones, we should be aware that ‘people in stained-glass houses shouldn’t throw stones’. Or at the very least, keep the stones metaphorical and not physical).

I’m not entirely a progressive, I’m a moderate voice. Although I am a liberal Christian, rather than a conservative one. Labels hey? (May as well embrace them.) It is often said, in the continuing online debates, that there was no judgement - that a certain Christian loves gay people, but that non-marital sex is a sin. Traditionally the Church had always said this. But I thought we should know better than to effectively project the discrimination which we sometimes experienced onto any other people group. We should have said ‘The discrimination stops here and we are not going to pass it on’. Surely, we would have had God’s help in this? We claim he is with us after all. The LGBT+ community faces many of the same problems that other minorities face, despite the lip service from so many. Would this community be treated better in a revival? Who is a revival for - just a few or for everyone? But how are the progressive, liberal and conservative believers to be united when such issues have become dark, shadow creeds or shibboleths? Even the Bible verses which are used to condemn LGBT+ people are using words which, before translation, only apply to the highly promiscuous. And even they deserve love and dignity. Jesus did say something which apples to this issue. ‘Do not judge…’. It is ongoing.

But if revival is not inclusive then what is the point? You may as well only have it for a certain sex, a certain age group, a certain race and be done with it all. Why not let God decide who he wants involved? Besides, if you’ve been born on this earth, you are already involved.

Or maybe, to give an opposing view - the writer (i.e. me) is far too politically correct and worldly. To which I respond with a simple question: ‘Maybe, but what is more worldly than prejudice?’

It is unknown whether or not a full-blown revival would melt cold hearts on either side, but there is some precedent that certain discriminations can be removed as evidenced by the Azusa Street revival where racial tensions were sometimes resolved. But, in reality, pragmatically, these are ongoing issues which are unlikely to be fully resolved until kingdom come. At least a revival would be interesting for many, especially if debates were more civil.

This is only my opinion on the subject. Most of us will already have received enough brow-beating to need a lifetime of therapy.

A dry entry. Dry as a riverbed in a drought. Am I making something so fascinating, so boring again? Sorry. Let’s move on to something less tedious…

A UK Prophet’s View

 

Often either ignored or considered part of the Christian ‘loony fringe’, there are still prophets in the UK today. You may find them in certain Facebook groups, on YouTube, X and elsewhere. There is some disagreement among them, but one of the few unifying topics is a belief that the UK will again experience a revival. Most of the contemporary Christian prophets agree on this.

We tend to get prophets of all kinds in mainstream media, whose speculation effectively becomes a prediction, whether that be concerning climate change, politics, war or almost any other subject. Some of them are very well known and very well paid. The line between speculation and prophecy becomes very burred. The Christian prophets? Maybe less so applauded. But we have our modern-day Jeremiah’s too (and anyone who actually reads the book of Jeremiah could not fail to be impressed at the sheer tension between nationalism, treachery and loyalty which that prophet faced).

At the start of December 2022 this was posted in a Facebook group. To my eyes, it stood out as being the most accurate written picture of the state of the UK. Maybe it had been that way for some time. Britain was dying. And perhaps Christianity in the UK was too.

This particular prophet (who had largely been ignored, as true prophets tend to be) – had been speaking to God through prayer. Instead of giving her a vision of the future, he gave her a picture of how Britain really was. Britain was neither thriving and healthy, or asleep and dead. According to this prophet, Britain was very, very sick. That, she said, was the diagnosis from God himself.

 

Sarah (Prophet) 26/11/22

“I was chatting to Heavenly Father before bed when I really felt Him speak to my heart about the UK.

There is a connection between the state of the buildings and the state of the nation. I saw the two together, the UK represented by a mangy, emaciated lion and the run-down state of the government buildings. I think that it is no coincidence that vermin are literally overrunning those buildings!

As a nation we have gone around in cycles with God, of finding Him and losing Him, but every time He has brought us out of our darkness into His light.

I got a sense that there has been an ebb and flow almost like a wave of Holy Spirit washing upon these shores with each cycle, growing in power each time! A remnant of believers has always survived in each cycle to keep that flame alive and to cry out to Him for our nation.

We have been in another cycle of losing Him - things in this country have been allowed to fall into rack and ruin, God didn't do it, we did.

We turned away from Him. And we turned towards rationality, logic and science. And as we did this, our hearts grew cold and hard and we stopped caring. We stopped caring about ourselves, each other, our nation and the things we built with Him. We literally cut Him out of our lives and our country.

The things we turned to have only worsened the state of our hearts and nation. Without God, things are empty and dead. God brings life and light, He brings freedom and warmth, He brings healing, deliverance and cleansing. What He builds lasts.

All around us literal buildings are crumbling, institutions are slowly collapsing, things have been allowed to fester and rot, all symptoms of a Godless society.

I saw though, that if we can turn back to Him and welcome Him back, that the lion will be restored. I saw God heal that lion - it was well fed, its coat gleamed and it had a powerful roar!

I felt that the British people need to remember who they are, what our country stood for, our cultural history and our history with God. We no longer take pride in being a people of God and a nation of Christians - Africa now sends US missionaries! We no longer take pride in anything. And this is not the puffed-up pride that comes with vanity, but the pride in standing for truth, for standing up for the poor and sick, in standing up for our way of life. In standing up. 

It's time for repentance. We must accept our own failings for the state of this nation. I was shocked at how dilapidated these precious buildings are and so much in this country is in a state.

We need to say, ‘Yes, we as a nation and on an individual level have failed. We cut You out/let You be cut out. And we've let it fall into rack and ruin and I understand that we need You to sort it all out, please forgive us.’”

 

By December 2022 it wasn’t just Britain which was crumbling and dying. My only brother had been given weeks to live by doctors because of his brain tumour. It was like living a nightmare from which I could not wake up. Besides, everyone considers themselves awake. I think I was one of the few people who felt they were still asleep, and not all that free. But sickness doesn’t always lead to death and there is often a hope of healing.

How woke is that?

But in my brother’s case, God had decided this hope was not to be. When he died on Christmas day, my heart broke and the stars fell from my sky. A few months afterwards, his partner and our friend also died from cancer. I blamed God for it and was so angry that I didn’t speak to him for over a year (blogging about my grief weekly). In the end, after calling God names and settling on ‘jewel thief’, I decided to remain a believer. But it was touch and go for a while.