Birthing of the American Camp Meeting and the Cane Ridge Revival

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Pentecost to the Present: Book Two – Reformations and Awakenings, Jeff Oliver: “In 1796, James McGready (1763-1817), a Presbyterian pastor of three small churches in Kentucky, led his congregations to sign a covenant to pray every Saturday and Sunday morning and to devote the third Saturday of each month to prayer and fasting for revival. Three years later, McGready invited some other denominational ministers to join him at their annual Communion gathering at the Red River Church when the power of God came down. The following summer, they returned on the weekend of June 21-23, 1800, when the Presence of the Spirit became so intense the congregation was reduced to tears. On the third and final day of meetings, the Spirit again lingered. John McGee, one of the Methodist ministers started weeping and others soon followed. McGee then stood up and exhorted the crowd. Several women began shouting, and one in particular shouted above the others. McGee left the pulpit to go to her, but several warned him that the Presbyterians liked order. McGee described what happened as he headed toward the pulpit: ‘I turned to go back and was near falling; the Power of God was so strong upon me. I turned again and, losing sight of the fear of man, I went through the house shouting and exhorting with all possible ecstasy and energy, and the floor was soon covered by the slain.’

Jubilation!?

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Jeff Oliver, Pentecost to the Present: “In Augustine’s Homilies on the First Epistle of John, he repeatedly suggested that tongues had “passed away.” In a time when baptism had been largely reduced to the ceremonial sprinkling of infants, he even poked fun at speaking in tongues. Yet in his Expositions on the Psalms, Augustine spoke of a Christian phenomenon called jubilation, which he described as unpremeditated, incoherent singing that sounded much like modern-day sung glossolalia or singing in tongues: Words cannot express the things that are sung by the heart. Take the case of people singing while harvesting in the fields or in the vineyards or when any other strenuous work is in progress. Although they begin by giving expression to their happiness in sung words, yet shortly there is a change. As if so happy that words can no longer express what they feel, they discard the restricting syllables. They burst into a simple sound of joy; of jubilation. Such a cry of joy is a sound signifying that the heart is bringing birth to what it cannot utter in words. Now who is more worthy of such a cry of jubilation than God Himself, whom all words fail to describe? If words will not serve, and yet you must not remain silent, what else can you do but cry out for joy? Your heart must rejoice beyond words, that your unbounded joy may be unrestrained by syllabic bonds.

At one point Augustine argued that the witness of the Spirit’s Presence was no longer given by miracles but by the love of God in one’s heart for the church. Then as supernatural healings began occurring in public services in his own church and in his own time, and as he began to see and experience miracles in his own life and in the lives of others, his views progressed. In one of Augustine’s later and best known works, the City of God, he wrote: “Even now, therefore miracles are wrought, the same God who wrought those we read of still performing them, by whom He will and as He will.”

Should we be surprised? 1 Corinthians 14:15 Then what am I to do? I will pray with my spirit [by the Holy Spirit that is within me], but I will also pray [intelligently] with my mind and understanding; I will sing with my spirit [by the Holy Spirit that is within me], but I will sing [intelligently] with my mind and understanding also.

The Wind Blows Where It Wishes

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John 3:8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Exodus 1:8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.

Regarding the manifestations of the Spirit, from Genesis to our present age, we are in many ways like the new king over Egypt who did not know Joseph. Often we behave as children scooping up the oceans sand in a pail hoping to bring an ocean home, or as Bobby Conner once stated, “We are too familiar with an unfamiliar God” – (“God in a box” theology void of experiential reality). We become champions of our intelligence missing the glaring fact that it was this very “mountain” that Jesus chose to drive His Cross through.

Jeff Oliver, in Pentecost To The Present, Book One: Early Prophetic and Spiritual Gifts Movements states: So this question begs an answer: If these supernatural gifts never left the Church and if the Holy Spirit has been active throughout Church history, working through each generation to build Christ’s Church since the day of Pentecost, why haven’t we heard more about such activity?

Certainly, nothing in the Gospels or Acts indicated that signs and wonders would cease or that the Spirit of God would become passive or dormant. Indeed, the very notion of an inactive Holy Spirit contradicts everything the Bible teaches about His nature and character. This is like saying the wind hasn’t blown in over two thousand years!….The reasons for the relative historical silence are many, but a few are cited below:

  1. Sometimes historical records can be sketchy at best. Objects close in proximity – whether of space or time – are more easily discerned than objects far off….Today modern archaeology and the Information Age are rewriting history every day. Have you ever heard the term “Dark Ages”? This term was once used to describe a period of alleged intellectual and cultural darkness between the fall of the Roman Empire and the rise of the Renaissance (AD 500 – 1300), but starting in the nineteenth century an increased recognition of the accomplishments of that period led to a more restrictive use of the term. By the twentieth century, the term had been further narrowed until most modern scholars finally stopped using it altogether, finding the term false and misleading. In other words, there never really was a “Dark Ages.”
  2. It is not possible to record every miracle or event as it occurs, especially in times of spiritual fervor. Journalists are familiar with the inverted pyramid. Essentially, all important information is placed at the top of a story to capture readers’ interest while all remaining information, for the sake of time and space, is reported in descending order of importance. Likewise when the Spirit of God moved throughout history, it was not always practical or even possible to record every event as it happened.
  3. Until the twentieth century, many of the firsthand participants in spiritual revivals were largely illiterate….Even most early accounts of the twentieth-century Pentecostal movement were written by non-Pentecostals since many early Pentecostals could neither read nor write. Similarly, most information coming from Early and Middle Ages came from church fathers who were among the relatively few who could read and write….Likewise, many early accounts of the Spirit’s activities in the Church are secondhand and often from hostile witnesses. Consider this expose’ written about an historical Christian sect from a previous century: Devotees of the weird doctrine practice the most fanatical rites, preach the wildest theories and work themselves into a state of mad excitement in their peculiar zeal….Night is made hideous in the neighborhood by the howling of worshippers, who spend hours swaying back and forth in a nerve-racking attitude of prayer and supplication. They claim to have the gift of tongues and to be able to comprehend the babel. – This excerpt was printed in the Los Angeles Times on April 18, 1906, regarding a “tumble-down shack on Azusa Street” – essentially, the foundation of modern Pentecostalism. 
  4. It is simply human nature to take what we hear at face value, relying on conventional wisdom and prevailing thought for correctness. Few follow the Berean practice of searching the Scriptures daily to verify whether what is said is so….Horace Bushnell, a graduate of Yale during America’s Second Great Awakening, in one of the earliest known works on Continuationism (1858), provided an impetus for this series: It is very commonly assumed and has been since the days of Chrysostom, that miracles and all similar externalities of divine power have been discontinued….The Christian world has been gravitating, visibly, more and more, toward this vanishing point of faith, for whole centuries, and especially since the modern era of science began to shape the thoughts of men by only scientific methods. Religion has fallen into the domain of the mere understanding, and so it has become a kind of wisdom not to believe much, therefore to expect little. 

Strange Fire

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Leviticus 10:1-2 And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, and put incense on it, and offered strange and unholy fire before the Lord, as He had not commanded them.2 And there came forth fire from before the Lord and killed them, and they died before the Lord.

In 2013, Pastor John MacArthur, popular, national Christian radio and television teacher, promoted a conference entitled, Strange Fire. It’s purpose? Strange Fire, part of Grace to You’s Truth Matters conference series, evaluates the doctrines, claims, and practices of the modern charismatic movement, and affirms the true Person and ministry of the Holy Spirit. 

In 1833, the Church of Scotland excommunicated Pastor Edward Irving. His crime? He acknowledged that supernatural gifts, especially the gift of tongues, and any other miraculous manifestations of the Holy Spirit were available to every born-again follower of Jesus. What connection does this have with John MacArthurs’ Strange Fire Conference? In 1882 American Baptist pastor A.J. Gordon described Irving as a man of wonderful endowments” who “was accused of offering STRANGE FIRE upon the altar of his church because he thought to relight the fire of Pentecost.” Several old adages sum up the ironic coincidence: there’s nothing new under the sun, or those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.

Interwoven between my blog excerpts from author Frank Di Pietro I want to bring you up to speed regarding the FIRE of God that manifests in strange ways to those who do not know His History. Obviously God’s Ways are not our ways, and when He draws near He is truly a consuming FIRE. What we consider abnormal and strange is actually normal when it comes to the Presence of God manifested throughout Church history. Through this series of blogs I will introduce you to the writings of Christian historian Jeff Oliver who has written a series of books titled: Pentecost To The Present.

Book One: Early Prophetic and Spiritual Gifts Movements: “Continuationism is a theological term for the belief that gifts of the Holy Spirit like miracles, prophecy, and speaking in tongues, as recorded in Acts, have continued throughout Christian history until this present age. A continuationist or continualist is one who believes the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit are still distributed, still in use, and still needed, and that the same Holy Spirit who came on men and women of the Old Testament and on the apostles in the New Testament empowers Christians today with supernatural abilities. The teaching stands in contrast with cessationism, the belief that supernatural gifts ceased with, or sometime after, the original twelve apostles….others acknowledged that miracles continued past the apostolic age, ceasing sometime around the fourth century when the Canon (Bible) was finalized. This idea is based on an erroneous interpretation of 1 Corinthians 13:8-10 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. Though “when the perfect comes” clearly points to the Return of Christ, some, over the centuries, believed this phrase pointed to the (Canonization) of the Bible.

So this question begs an answer: If these supernatural gifts never left the Church and if the Holy Spirit has been active throughout Church history, working through each generation to build Christ’s Church since the day of Pentecost, why haven’t we heard more about such activity?

John Wesley argued that, “with the creation of the institutionalized Church, the love of many grew cold. Many practicing heathens became “Christians” and many Christians acted like heathens, thus grieving the Holy Spirit.”

Hebrews 12:25-29 warns of refusing the FIRE of God: See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. 26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27 This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire.

As everything in the world has been shaking you can rest assured that the Consuming God of FIRE – the ONE WHO is still speaking and hasn’t lost His Voice – is about to appear and before that event we will see some strange things indeed.

The Death of John Welsh

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King James had by this time assumed the thrones over both England and Scotland, and he vowed to imprison all preachers whose Gospel was not that of the State Church. Harboring for years an anger against the outspokenness of Welsh, the King was ready to make his move. Welsh’s final sermon at Ayr was on July 23, 1605. Its theme was “No Condemnation to God’s Elect.” On ending the sermon Welsh prayed, “Now let the Lord give His blessing to His Word, and let the Spirit of Jesus, Who is the Author of the verity, come in and seal up the truth of it in your hearts and souls, for Christ’s sake.”

Immediately after the sermon, the King’s men summoned him to force him to appear before a council in Edinburgh. Welsh would never see Ayr again. Welsh and other ministers were thrown into prison and indicted to stand trial. They went through the most unjust, illegal, and arbitrary proceedings that ended in a verdict of guilty to being heretics and traitors to the crown with a sentence of death.

Awaiting the date of execution, Welsh was delivered to a most brutal place of confinement called Blackness Castle. Welsh was put in a darkened dungeon that could only be described as “a barbaric foul hole that could only be entered through a hole in the floor.” The Castle still stands to this day, and the dungeon is an uneven floor with shelving rock, sharp and pointed so that a prisoner can neither sit, walk, or stand without pain. It was impossible to find comfort during sleep. There was no fireplace for warmth and no light to read by. For over ten months Welsh was imprisoned in this hell-hole.

After those ten months King James sent a letter to the council commuting the death sentence of the ministers and instead banishing them from the kingdom. Welsh was banished to France.

On arriving in France, Welsh immediately took on the Catholic oppression over the country and preached among the persecuted Protestants there. After years of playing cat and mouse with the church authorities, he was finally summoned to the court of King Louis XIII. The King then demanded of Welsh how he had dared to preach against the true Church on which principles his reign was founded. Welsh replied, “Sir, if your majesty knew what I preached, you would not only come and hear for yourself, but make all France hear it; for I preach not as those men who you are used to hearing. First, I preach that you must be saved by the merits of Jesus Christ, and not your own; next, I preach that you are the King of France, and there is no man on earth above you; but these priests whom you hear, subject you, the King, to a pope of Rome, which I would never do.” This totally disarmed the King of his anger and he instantly received Welsh into his royal favor, making him the King’s royal minister.

Living in relative peace to preach the Gospel, Welsh at this time was seized with an illness which his physicians said could only be removed by his returning to breathe the air of his native country. His wife then sought an interview with King James, who actually agreed to hear her. Dr. M’Crie, in his book the Life of Knox, records her famous interview with the King: “His Majesty asked her, ‘Who is your father?’ She replied, ‘John Knox.’ ‘Knox and Welsh,’ exclaimed the King, ‘the devil never made such a match as that.’ ‘That is quite right, sir,’ said she, ‘for we never asked his advice.’ He then asked her, ‘How many children did your father leave, and were they lads or lasses?’ She said, ‘Three, and they were all lasses.’ ‘God be thanked!’ cried the King, lifting up both his hands, ‘for if they had been three lads, I would never have enjoyed my three kingdoms in peace.’ She again urged her request that the King would give her husband his native air in Scotland. ‘Give him his native air! Give him the devil!’ the King replied. ‘Give the devil to your hungry courtiers,’ said she, offended at his profaneness. He then told her at last, that if she would persuade her husband to submit to the bishops, he would allow him to return to Scotland. Mrs. Welsh, lifting up her apron and holding it toward the King, replied, in the true spirit of her father and husband, ‘Please, your Majesty, I would rather have his head cut off and placed in my apron, than have him betray the truth!”

It took some persuading, but the King did relent, not to permit Welsh to return to Scotland, but to allow him to live in London. On arriving in London, Welsh immediately went to the pulpit and preached, but his time on earth was running out. Not long after that, he preached a long sermon, went home, and two hours later died in prayer in his fifty-third year of life. The doctors of that day said that Welsh died of “ossification of the limbs, brought on by much kneeling in his long and frequent devotional exercises.”

Rend the Heavens!

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“A dead ministry will always make a dead people, whereas of ministers who are warmed with the love of God themselves, they cannot but be instruments of diffusing that love among others.” – George Whitefield

“Men who long ago lost their anointing still ministers, using the same cliche’s and mannerisms. But they are not feared in hell; they are just ‘clouds without water.’ Lord, have mercy.” – Leonard Ravenhill

“What would the devil say about your life – Do they know you in hell like they know your Christ – Are you boiling hot or are you cold as ice. You live your life like a compromise – Holding on to this world you faith slowly dies – The spiritual battle that we fight every day – Are the demons concerned when we get down and pray – Tell me…What would the devil say about your life – Do they know you in hell like they know your Christ – Are you boiling hot or are you cold as ice…?” – Steve Camp, What Would the Devil Say?

“And the evil spirit answered and said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?” Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded… – Acts. 19:15-16

“And as the circumcision in the flesh, and not the heart, have no part on God’s good promises, even so they that are baptized in the flesh, and not in the heart have no place in Christ’s Blood.” – William Booth

Oh God, Wilt Thou Not Give Me Scotland?!

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Excerpt from The Fire That Once Was: Welsh was now at the point where he would soon take his place as one of he great Reformed Scottish Revivalists. After four years at Kirkcudbright he now journeyed to a town “to which his name has ever after been most closely associated.” In 1600, he arrived at the country-town of Ayr. Welsh would spend less than five years in this town, from August 1600 to July 1605, but it was here that revival fires would blaze.

Ayr, locally called Ayrshire, had over the years gospel seeds planted in her by other Reformed ministers. Even Welsh’s late father-in-law, John Knox, had visited and preached there occasionally. But at this day and age the state of Ayr had deteriorated to a rude and barbarous cesspool. The sanitation of the area was no better. On his way to Ayr, traveling on the King’s Highway, Welsh’s senses were overwhelmed with the sight of mounds and mounds of offal (piles of decaying animal parts) and other filth accumulated on each side of the road. The people of Ayr were, as expected, crude, barbaric, immoral, and ignorant. Common people feared to venture out of doors as gangs of ruffians controlled the streets. Welsh saw all this and his spirit was stirred within him: What a nation so polluted with all abominations and murders as thou art? Thy iniquities are more than the sand of the sea, the cry of them is beyond the cry of Sodom.

On his arrival at Ayr, the aversion to him as a minister was so strong that he could find no one in the town who would let him and his wife have a house to live in. He would eventually find a Christian merchant by the name of Stewart, who offered him shelter under his roof.

Strengthened by the Lord and the power of His Might, in prayer always…the Glory of God was falling over the town and Welsh praying fervently and preaching frequently, was having an eternal effect on the masses. Welsh was soon holding two Sabbath services, preaching from nine to twelve in the morning, and from four to six in the afternoon, and in between visiting those who needed grounding in the Word of God. Welsh’s preaching was so moving that those in the congregation could not restrain themselves from weeping under the intense presence of God in the services. Sometimes he would not preach but instead ask those present to just pray for Divine Assistance , at which time the weight of the Glory of God would fall on the shoulders of all.

In 1604, because of the unsanitary conditions which were common in those days, a fearful plague began to spread over the country. The plague moved westward from city to city, and the 3000 people of Ayr became more and more alarmed as it approached their city. Welsh used this time to call the people to repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, while at night he would spend hours praying for the mercy of God upon his congregation. Robert Murray McCheyne relates how one night during Welsh’s travailing before God this incident occurred: “He used to keep a blanket on his bed that he might wrap himself against the cold when he rose during the night to pray. One time his wife awakened and found him on the floor weeping. When she complained that he should be back in the bed, he said, “Oh woman, you do not understand. I have the souls of three thousand to answer for, and I know not how it is with many of them.”

Amazingly, the plague swept through all of Scotland but did not come near the town of Ayr. Soon the plague ended and hundreds of visitors would flock into Ayr, the City of God, and from far look into the Garden of Prayer where Welsh would spend many an hour in intercession. He was now renowned for his prolonged seasons of prayer. Borrowing from his late father-in-law, Welsh would cry out, “Oh God, wilt wilt Thou not give me Scotland! Oh God, wilt Thou not give me Scotland!”

The Intercessor John Welsh – Part 2

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In 1595, Welsh was offered and accepted a pastorate in the town of Kirkcudbright. Welsh and his wife could not find anyone in Selkirk, except one poor young man by the name of Ewart, that would lend them any assistance in moving their furniture to their new destination. Needless to say, I am sure Welsh felt relief as he knocked the dust of that city from his shoes and headed toward his new home. For all practical purposes it was not much different from Selkirk. Kirkcudbright was a hotbed of Catholicism, and its previous Reformed Scottish Church minister, Andrew Blyth, was murdered as a heretic in the town square for preaching reformation. It was his shoes that Welsh was sent to fill. Buoyed by his amazing prayer life, Welsh entered that town and pulpit wearing the full armor of God and wielding the Sword of the Spirit.

From the first day he arrived, the town was shaken by his powerful preaching. Worldliness and a religious spirit were the first strongholds he began to tear down. He next attacked the worship of idols and observation of man-made doctrines: “These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with the lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines of God the commandments of men.” Matthew 15:8-9

Next he preached against the lack of true repentance for sins, saying: “There is a godly sorrow which leads a man to life; and this sorrow is wrought in a man by the Spirit of God, and in the heart of the godly; that he mourns for sin because it has displeased God, Who is so dear and so sweet a Father to him. And even if he had neither a heaven to gain, nor a hell to lose, yet he is still sad and sorrowful in heart because he has grieved God.

Converts began to trickle in and soon the harvest was plentiful. The reformed Presbyterian message of Welsh and a few others soon overflowed into a great revival throughout Southern Scotland. It wasn’t only the people, but also the ministers, who were experiencing this wonderful “refreshing from the Lord.” By 1596 a General Assembly in Edinburgh was called, and over 400 men were present for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The business of the Assembly was prayer and the confession of ministerial sin. Many were humbled to tears of conviction and repentance for the sins of their office. The hours and hours of prayer that John Welsh spent over the years now seemed to be bearing fruit. David Calderwood described the scene on a Tuesday morning: “While they were humbling themselves, for the space of quarter of an hour, there were sighs and sobs, with shedding of tears…everyone provoking another by his example…. so that the place might worthily have been called Bochim; for the like of that day was never seen in Scotland since the Reformation, as every man confessed.

The Intercessor John Welsh

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Frank Di Pietro, The Fire That Once Was: John Welsh prayed. It was said of John Welsh that he thought a day “ill-used” if he did not spend seven to eight hours of it in prayer. At different times throughout the day he would stop what he was doing, retire to a secluded room or location, and boldly go before the throne of grace, that he might obtain mercy and find grace to help him in his time of need. (Heb. 4:16). It was his prayer life that sustained him. It was prayer that strengthened him in the trials and persecutions that were leveled against him. It was prayer that gave him the fortitude to continue preaching the Gospel in the face of adversity and peril. It was prayer that increased his intimacy with his Savior. It was prayer that not only changed the hearts of thousands but also an entire town to the things of God. It is said that the power in which a man walks in God is a reflection of the time he spends in prayer, and, oh, what power John Welsh walked in. You see, John Welsh prayed…. John Welsh, at the age of twenty, was on his way to his first ministry position. It was in the city of Selkirk, about thirty-eight miles south of Edinburgh (Scotland). His extraordinary character, intensity, and fervor for a moral and godly point of view, along with his unremitting and untiring zeal, soon led him to become an object of dislike and jealousy both to the clergy and the laymen of the organized church in the district where he was now living. The hatred with which he was persecuted by his peers, along with the realization of the lostness of the people, led him into a lifetime of intense prayer. It was here in Selkirk, a time of constant struggle, that he began his eight hours of daily prayer which he continued the rest of his life. Selkirk was a hard town. The people were poorly educated and, as Welsh says in his own words, “uncouth.” They refused to listen to him because they were content with the dead religion those in charge had been giving them. They resisted his ministry even to the point of violence. Welsh labored among the people of Selkirk for six years and it was a constant struggle. He would preach publicly once or twice each day, but to no avail. Praying unceasingly about the barbaric actions of the townsfolk, he would not let a night go by without the town witnessing his passionate and intense devotions before the Lord. Every night before going to bed, he would place a Scotch plaid (small blanket or shawl) on the side of the bed, that when he awoke in the cold of the night for his midnight prayers it would be handy to wrap around his shoulders. Agonizing with God in prayer he would ask that these hearts be changed, or that he be removed to a more suitable place for the Gospel. The answer would come soon.

The one good thing that came out of his sojourn in Selkirk was his marriage in 1594 to Elizabeth Knox, the youngest daughter of the mighty Scottish reformer John Knox. Knox is remembered for bringing a countrywide move of God that changed the whole of Scotland for a time. It was Knox that passionately cried out to God in prayer, “Give me Scotland, or I die.” So now another great man of prayer through marriage had been given the torch of revival for the land. Elizabeth was a positive influence on Welsh; being brought up from early years in the principles of Holy Scripture, she was a worthy helpmate in the trials and sufferings for the Gospel’s sake that would continue throughout their lives.

Wrestling in Prayer

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The Fire That Once Was, by Frank Di Pietro: “O brother, pray; in spite of satan, pray; spend hours in prayer; rather neglect friends than not pray; rather fast, and lose breakfast, dinner, tea, and supper – and sleep too – than not pray. We must not just talk about prayer, we must pray in right earnest.” – – Andrew A. Bonar

“In God’s Name, I beseech you, let prayer nourish your soul as meals nourish your body.” – Fenelon

“My present deadness I attribute to want of sufficient time and tranquility for private devotion. Oh! That I might be a man of prayer!” – Henry Martyn

“Every promise of Scripture is a writing of God, which may be pleaded before Him with this reasonable request: ‘Do as Thou hast said…Remember the Word unto Thy servant, upon which Thou hast caused me to hope…It is Your Word, will you not keep it? Why have You spoken of it if You will not make it good? You have caused me to hope in it; will You disappoint the hope that You have Yourself begotten in me?” – Charles H. Spurgeon

“Put Me in remembrance – remind Me of your merits – let us plead and argue together. Set forth your case that you may be justified…” – I AM (Isa. 43:26)

Rend the Heavens

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Frank Di Pietro, Rend the Heavens: “Jesus Christ carries on intercession for us in Heaven; the Holy Ghost carries on intercession in us on the earth; and we the saint’s have to carry on intercession for all men.” – Oswald Chambers

“God has no greater controversy with His people than this, that with boundless promises to believing prayer, there are so few who actually give themselves to intercession.” – A.T. Pierson

“I used to think the prayer should have the first place and teaching the second. I now feel that it would be truer to give prayer the first, second, and third place, and teaching fourth.” – James O. Fraser

The Great Persecution

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Frank Di Pietro, The Fire That Once Was, Chapter Two: Curse Christ! Never! For eighty-six years I have been His servant, and He has never done me wrong. How can I blaspheme my King Who saved me? Listen carefully: I am a Christian…You threaten a fire that burns for a time and is quickly extinguished…Yet a fire that you know nothing about awaits the wicked in the judgment to come…What are you waiting for? Do what you will.” – Polycarp at his martyrdom, 168 A.D.

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. – Jim Elliot, Missionary Martyr

Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. – Paul of Tarsus, 2 Timothy 3:12

In 64 A.D., just three years after the final events described by Luke in the Book of Acts, the first worldwide persecution broke out against the Christians. This was the first of ten general persecutions of the Church that involved the entire Roman Empire. It began when a fire broke out in the city of Rome and destroyed a large part of the city. The Emperor Nero, considered by many historians as insane, ordered the city of Rome burned and blamed it on the Christians so as to turn the wrath of Rome’s citizens away from himself. He declared Christians enemies of the state, and a terrible persecution broke out that lasted the rest of Nero’s reign. Nero was the first of the emperors to be declared “Enemy of the Most High God. ” To this the Roman historian Tacitus wrote:

“…To overcome this rumor [Nero setting Rome on fire], Nero punished with the most ingenious cruelty….Christians…A vast multitude were convicted…not only put to death but…either dressed up in the skins of wild beasts and perished by the cruel mangling of dogs, or else dipped in wax and oil and put on crosses to be set on fire…to be burned and used for lights by night….”

The third persecution under Emperors Trajan and Adrian was from 98-117 A.D. The Church father Ignatius was one of the thousands put to death:

“Now I begin to be a disciple….Let fire and the cross, let the companies of wild beasts, let the breaking of bones and the tearing of limbs, let the grinding of the whole body, and all the malice of the devil, come upon me; be it so, only may I win Christ Jesus.”

About 10,000 Christians were martyred during this time. With one persecution after the other, the enemy tried to wipe out the seed of the Church of Jesus Christ, each time instead making it stronger. Ernest Trice Thompson tells us what inspired such hatred of the Church during those awful years:

“More and more as time went on the empire itself became concerned to stamp out the stubborn resistance of the Christians. This rigorous policy of state, differing from its usual tolerant attitude toward various religious bodies, was justified by the charge of disloyalty leveled at the early Christians, based in large measure on their refusal to join in the worship of the emperor as divine.“

When you see the growth of the Church through these dark and deadly persecutions, you understand the power and the majesty of the Spirit of God. Instead of being totally annihilated, the Church always was victorious, even to the point of absorbing its adversary into the Christian way of life. Persecutions have continued over the centuries, only making the Church stronger. More Christians were martyred in the past 100 years than in all the past centuries combined. And yet according to Scripture, persecution of some sort will always be part of a true Christian’s life. Are you prepared? Are you ready? For Jesus has said, “…He who endures to the end shall be saved.” Matthew 24:31

The Great Persecution

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Rend the Heavens: Stories of Awakenings

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Frank Di Pietro, author of The Fire That Once Was, and Rend the Heavens wrote the following introduction: I had no comprehension that these writings would ever become a book. The Fire That Once Was started out as biographical emails to a few friends; those “few friends” soon grew to include hundreds. The emails were not only forwarded around the world but were also printed and handed out in churches. My wife, Melissa, was the first to see the vision, followed by other family members. At first, I thought they were just patronizing me, but one day after church, a female member who received the told me that many souls could be reached through these writings in the form of a book….

Recently Jackie and I finished reading Di Pietro’s final installment of writings regarding the Great Spiritual Awakenings and Revivals that have been taking place down through the centuries since the birthing of the Church. As we read about those who turned the “sparks” of the Spirit into roaring flames, I wondered: Would our people benefit from his writings in the same way? It is with a little apprehension that I submit to you some daily excerpts from Di Pietro in the hopes that it will encourage, and inform us of our “lost”, and forgotten history motivating us into action, fulfilling the call and purpose of us all who carry the “scars” of Christ in our hearts, etched forever on our souls.

Chapter One Excerpts: A True Disciple

“The blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church.” – Tertullian

“How shall I feel at the judgment, if multitudes of missed opportunities pass before me in full review, and all my excuses prove to be disguises of my cowardice and pride.” – Dr. W.E. Sangster

“God save us from living in comfort while sinners are sinking into hell!” – Charles Spurgeon

“O Nebuchadnezzar, it is not necessary for us to answer you on this point. If our God Whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up!” – Shadrach, Meshack, and Abed-nego