The News #5

Most of us have no idea what God has done in past revivals, so we don’t know what to ask Him to do right now. It’s hard for us to exercise faith because we haven’t studied our history to see what God has done. What He’s done before He can do again. Most of you are probably aware that the 1800’s were a very spiritual time in England. Christianity had great influence. The country supported missionaries all over the globe. There were a variety of wide reaching reform movements the most prominent of which was the abolition of slavery.

Most people think that England was probably always like this even before the 1800’s and the Devil likes that just fine. One of the enemy’s favorite tricks is to try and convince us that everything he is trying to do is an inevitable result of progress. The lie goes something like this. “Way back in history, before there was science, everyone was superstitious and believed in religion. But now enlightenment has come. Science has proved that there is no need for a god because everything that exists is the result of natural processes. If people in past ages had known all the science we know now they wouldn’t have been so religious. The church can’t win because it is up against something it’s never been up against before. So society will become less and less religious. This is inevitable.” It is also a pack of lies.

To understand the lie, all you have to do is read enough history. The England of the late 1600’s through the mid 1700’s was a dark and desperate place. “Modern” ideas were widely circulated and many believed in the “new” teaching. They thought they were men of reason and they simply didn’t believe in the Bible any more. The results were catastrophic. The moral condition in England during this time was almost certainly worse than the moral condition of America today.

Alcoholism was pervasive. People got hooked on the stuff in their childhood. Crime was rampant. Skepticism and atheism ruled higher education. A nation that had once outlawed cruelty to animals became obsessed with spectacles in which animals would tear each other to pieces. Virtually everyone came to watch. They would throw a bull and a bear into a pit and watch them fight to the death. People actually enjoyed watching this stuff. People were advocating for the acceptance of polygamy. Things were in an awful condition.

Then in 1738 a voice rocked the nation. A recently ordained clergyman, only 22 years old, began to preach the gospel with amazing power. No building of the time could contain the crowds that came to hear him. His name was George Whitefield and if you had a proper education you would be very familiar with that name. George Washington is the political father of America. George Whitefield is the spiritual father.

Whitefield’s voice heralded what we now call the first great awakening. God moved in such power that within a very few years the very culture of the English speaking people’s was transformed. God has rescued His people from worse situations than the one we are in today. We must begin to believe that He can do it again and dedicate ourselves to pray in faith until He does.