As I have noted before, when I write, my ideas may seem to wander a bit but I will attempt to put things together by the end.
I do believe that we are experiencing a revival. It's nothing like any prior revival, but that does not stop religious people from trying to make it that way.
I've heard of, and read about revivals for a long time. There was a preacher named J. Edwin Orr, he did some extensive research on revivals. There are a lot of audio recordings of lectures that he gave, some good stuff to listen to.
I've known several preachers that tried to have revivals, usually a series of meetings, maybe a week or so long but typically it's church people and in my experience not much influence on the community. Real revival breaks out and changes the area. The greed and pride of men typically cause revivals to end. I'm pretty certain that if the Holy Spirit began to move in most churches today, someone would try to capitalize on it with T shirts and bumper stickers. And that reflects on the church.
Vicki and I recently attended an "event" that we thought might be similar to Clay Clark's reawaken tour. It wasn't. Was more like a church service. I will say the beginning was good, the initial preaching was also good. But at the end, it was forced. I think that at a lot of these events, people try to recreate the meetings of Oral Roberts or Kathryn Kuhlman.
I have a lot of problems with the current organized religions. Religion represents formulas and rituals and for the most part, most denominational churches have fallen into rituals and formulas. Unfortunately it's what humans do, we make routines, even when we shouldn't. Many people joke that seminary studies should be called cemetery instead. From what I have seen and heard, seminaries teach how to build a church. A business plan. Most graduates end up with an abbreviated bible. Cliff notes on most of the Old Testament, about half of the psalms, all of the gospels and Acts, but only a few chapters of the rest.
In the last several years I have met three people that are or were pastors and never should have been. They learned that a seminary or religious degree, in a major denomination, is a guaranteed job and salary. And all that a pastor needs to do is prepare about 100-120 sermons for a lifetime of employment.
Today, across the country, in nearly every church you will find this pattern. Three or four songs, some announcements, a sermon, maybe one or two more songs and maybe an altar call. It's a formula followed pretty much universally.
Things are changing, have been for a while. There has been a move to more home churches for some time. The reality is that home churches are closer to the original design. Yet there is still something to be said for a larger gathering. I'm not a big fan of the mega church, too many people can get lost. But a modest size church has resources that can help each other grow.
We are experiencing a revival of sorts right now but it's certainly not like any other recorded. And it's not entirely spiritual. It's more an awakening of the masses to the areas where we have been deceived for many years. There has been, and continues to be massive amounts of fraud in most areas of our lives.
And this is my primary issue.
There are two scriptures that come to mind right now, both should be familiar. My people perish for lack of knowledge, and the truth shall make you free.
With all of the evidence today, it is easy to see that the network news media does not tell the truth. They spin stories for ratings, or even worse, fabricate news, spreading propaganda.
Most pastors refuse to take political stances in the pulpit, reasons are either the belief that politics should be separated from church, or the fear of losing tax exempt status. The tax exempt clause was a stroke of genius for evil forces, it has stifled so many preachers.
And this is where today's revival is coming from, the truth being brought forth. But it's not coming from most churches. There are a small number of groups, some are associated with churches and pastors, traveling across the country spreading truth. And it's making a difference. I know of a meeting with perhaps two thousand people, where an altar call was made and nearly half raised their hands. Maybe some had already accepted Christ before, but it's more than I've seen in my life.
It is my feeling that if the church, meaning the established organized churches, will not begin telling their members the truth, then when truth finally comes out they will leave.
Times today are certainly different form the first century. Even as short as 60 years ago news came from different sources. Consider that in any church in the 1930's through the 1940's news was word of mouth, from person to person. Today most people get news from a TV network and all news networks are owned and controlled by six people.
We are living a huge lie today. There is evidence of fraud in so many places and the church is not speaking out. I think that most pastors don't even realize, although I know some that do. Real news can be found from what's called alternative sources. Those sources are bloggers and internet users that are on the scene showing the truth.
It's important to tell people that salvation only comes from Christ, but it's also important to tell people that an experimental injection is killing people.
That scientifically wearing a piece of cloth on you face will not protect you. That our economy is collapsing.
The church needs to change, it needs to to do all that it can to inform the congregation on current events, and to insure that what it says is true.
This is the revival that's happening today. Truth is pouring out and people are hungry for truth. Any pastor that want's to fill their church, you need to start by telling the truth.
