Jonathan Edwards and the Great Awakening

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George Whitefield preached at Jonathan Edwards’ church in Northampton. Many were reminded of the revival they had experienced just a few years earlier. Edwards (1703-1758) was so deeply touched, he wept through the entire service, as did much of his congregation. Shortly thereafter, Edwards preached what would become his most famous sermon: “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.”

Here is an excerpt of that famous message: The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked. His wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else but to be cast into the fire. He is of purer eyes than to bear you in his sight; you are ten thousand times as abominable in his eyes as the most hateful, venomous serpent is in ours. You have offended him infinitely more than ever a stubborn rebel did his prince, and yet it is nothing but his hand that holds you from falling into the fire every moment. It is to be ascribed to nothing else that you did not got to hell the last night; that you were suffered to awake again in this world, after you closed your eyes to sleep. And there is no other reason to be given why you have not dropped into hell since you arose in the morning, but that God’s hand has held you up. There is no other reason to be given why you have not gone to hell since you have sat here in the house of God provoking his pure eye by your sinful, wicked manner of attending his solemn worship. Yea, there is nothing else that is to be given as a reason why you do not this very moment drop down into hell. 

Reverend Stephen Williams was in attendance at the Enfield sermon, with his diary entry for that day containing the following account of the congregation’s reactions during and after the sermon: [B]efore the sermon was done there was a great moaning and crying out through the whole house — “What shall I do to be saved?” “Oh, I am going to hell!” “Oh what shall I do for a Christ?” and so forth — so that the minister was obliged to desist. [The] shrieks and cries were piercing and amazing.

Interestingly enough, “fire and brimstone was not at all indicative of Edwards’ preaching. Most of his sermon’s were focused on God’s beauty and love. Personally, Edwards was a sensitive individual with a soft, tender voice, who meticulously read his sermons. Unlike Whitefield, Edwards was not a powerful preacher, but he was a powerful prayer who often spent days and weeks in prayer, sometimes devoting up to eighteen hours in prayer before delivering a single sermon. The result was a revival that transformed not only a community but an entire nation.”

The Great Awakening

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Pentecost to the Present – Book Two Reformations and Awakenings, Jeff Oliver: “Finally, in 1733, a revival broke out at Jonathan Edwards’ church in Northampton. During one six-month period in 1734, nearly 300 new converts had joined his church. In 1735, he wrote, ‘The town seemed to be full of the Presence of God…There was scarcely a single person in the town, old or young, left unconcerned about the great things of the eternal world.’ The revival featured many miraculous and ecstatic manifestations of the Holy Spirit, which some critics used to try to denounce the revival. This included outbreaks of laughter during the services; some experienced visions or ‘impressions’ and others fell into trances or ‘faintings,’ as Edwards called them. he said, ‘There were some instances of persons lying in a sort of trance, remaining perhaps for twenty-four hours motionless, and with their senses locked up; but in the mean time under strong imaginations, as though they went to heaven and had there visions of glorious and delightful objects.’

A History of the Jerks: Bodily Exercises and the Great Revival

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Douglas Winiarski, University of Richmond, April 9, 2018 writes: Between 1799 and 1805, the backcountry settlements of the early American frontier blazed with religious excitement. From western Pennsylvania to northern Georgia, middle Tennessee to the Carolina piedmont—but especially in the Bluegrass Country of Ohio—tens of thousands of frontier settlers gathered for multi-day, open-air religious meetings in which teams of Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian ministers preached from morning until late at night. Ministers claimed to have converted thousands at camp meetings during the first decade of the nineteenth century. From innovations in theology and hymnody to church organization and denominational proliferation, the Great Revival played a decisive role in the development of early American evangelicalism and the southern Bible Belt.  The revivals also stimulated the development of innovative new religious practices known collectively as the “bodily exercises.” Men and women in the throes of conversion collapsed to the ground, then rose up and began dancing. Others lay insensate for hours, enraptured with dramatic visions of heaven and hell. Camp meeting participants barked liked dogs, scampered up trees, engaged in trance walking, ran headlong through the woods, faced off in mock boxing matches, and burst into uncontrolled peals of holy laughter. Observers witnessed people speaking in unknown tongues and claimed to have heard music issuing miraculously from the chests of young converts.

A History of the Jerks: Bodily Exercises and the Great Revival

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Douglas Winiarski: Of the various somatic religious exercises that spread across the trans-Appalachian frontier and southern backcountry during the Great Revival, none drew more astonished commentary or more virulent opposition than “the jerks”: involuntary convulsions in which the subjects’ heads lashed violently backward and forward. More than half a century before the derisive phrase holy roller was coined to describe the ecstatic worship practices of Holiness and Pentecostal evangelicals in Appalachia, the subjects of these extraordinary bodily fits were known as “Jerkers.” Sometimes these spasmodic “shuddering” gesticulations of neck and head “operated like the hickups.” Other accounts described jerkers bouncing from “place to place like a foot-ball” or thrashing like a “fish, when thrown out of the water.” The “wondrous quickness” with which their necks pivoted back and forth reminded one observer of a “flail in the hands of a thresher.” The jerks purportedly struck riders on horseback, men plowing in the fields, boys at their school desks, young girls drinking tea, families at supper, people in bed, musicians at play, and nursing mothers. They erupted without warning and without regard to age, class, gender, or physical constitution. Pious saints and notorious sinners were “taken,” “seized,” or “attacked” by the jerks, which were often propagated from person to person like a “sympathetic contagion.” Witnesses recounted stories of the jerkers’ preternatural strength: diminutive women hurling 200-pound men to the ground; floundering men leaving imprints of their knuckles on the massive timber walls of pioneer log churches. Samuel Doak’s congregants near Jonesborough, Tennessee, even cut saplings in the woods surrounding their meetinghouse for use as “jerking-posts” to steady the afflicted.

Great Stirrings in America

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Pentecost to the Present – Book Two Reformations and Awakenings, Jeff Oliver: By the 1670’s, New England Puritan leaders began calling out for a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit to revive their languishing churches. Samuel Torrey, pastor at Weymouth, Massachusetts, began raising doubts as to whether the churches’ reform efforts were even possible without an effusion of the Holy Spirit and proactive prayer for revival. In 1705, Samuel Danforth, Jr. wrote: ‘We are much encouraged by an unusual and amazing Impression, made by God’s Spirit on all Sorts among us, especially on the young Men and Women.’ Danforth said he had no time for his regular pastoral duties because of constant visits from young people seeking salvation and believed it to be a sign of greater things to come. He said, ‘I think sometimes that the Time of the pouring out of the Spirit upon all Flesh, may be at the Door.’ In 1713, Solomon Stoddard of Northampton, Massachusetts, grandfather of Jonathan Edwards, wrote, ‘The Spirit of the Lord must be poured out upon the People, else Religion will not revive.’ He believed seasons of revival characterized by special outpourings of the Spirit were necessary to quicken believers’ faith, convert sinners, and make disinterested people interested in the things of God. In 1721, Samuel Whiting’s church in Windham (now Maine) saw eighty new people join the church in six months. Observing this, another minister wrote, ‘Pray that the Spirit may be poured out from on High on every part of the land.’ Then in 1727, an earthquake rocked New England. Suddenly churches everywhere were being filled with anxious people seeking salvation as church leaders began wondering if this was not the nature of all revivals to happen suddenly and unexpectedly. Revival did ensue but not for long.

Carnival of Preachers and Informal Prayer

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Pentecost to the Present – Book Two: Reformations and Awakenings: “One remarkable feature of the early camp meetings was the informal prayer groups that formed between the regular meetings. In these prayer groups, any man, woman, child, white or black, educated or not, could spontaneously exhort anyone within hearing distance. This earned the camp meeting its unofficial title ‘a carnival of preachers.’ In the regular meetings, Presbyterian, Baptist, and Methodist preachers took turns speaking as camp meetings were attended by all denominations, and all denominations experienced their fruit. In Kentucky alone between 1800 and 1803, the Baptists added 10,000 to their rolls, while the Methodists added 40,000. Peter Cartwright, an original convert of the Cane Ridge revival, wrote, ‘The work went on and spread almost in every direction gathering additional force till our country seemed all coming to God.‘”

Cane Ridge Revival Spreads

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Pentecost to the Present – Book Two: Reformations and Awakenings: From Kentucky, the camp meetings soon spread into Tennessee, West Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, and throughout the South. Some were as wild as the frontier itself. In North Carolina, yet another Presbyterian congregation held a similar series of meetings in 1801 in anticipation of revival, but nothing happened. Sorely disappointed, the pastor rose to conclude the last meeting when someone from the audience stood and shouted, ‘Stand still and see the salvation of God!’ Immediately, ‘a wave of emotion swept over the congregation like an electric shock.’ The physical manifestations and speaking in tongues reportedly made it ‘like the day of Pentecost and none was careless or indifferent.’ One University of Georgia student told of a meeting in which “they swooned away and lay for hours in the straw prepared for those ‘smitten of the Lord,’ or they started to flee away and fell prostrate as if shot down by a sniper, or they took suddenly to jerking with apparently every muscle in their body until it seemed they would be torn to pieces or converted into marble, or they shouted and talked in unknown tongues.’

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: “When McGready announced a similar meeting at his Gasper River Church in July, the response was overwhelming. Some came from as far away as a hundred miles, bringing their tents with them. The crowds grew so large they had to clear some underbrush near the church, build a pulpit, and set up log seats outdoors. The American camp meeting was born. Services lasted well into the night. When McGee preached that Sunday night, the Spirit again fell, and many who were seeking God were slain followed by cries and shouts of joy that seemed to drown out the preaching. In 1801, Barton W. Stone (1772-1844), another Presbyterian pastor, who attended the Red River meetings, decided to use McGready’s principles to start a series of meetings near his church in Cane Ridge, Kentucky. Crowd estimates were reported between 15,000 and 20,000. One minister who was present reported 3,000 slain in the Spirit at once with others breaking into loud laughter and still others running, shouting, barking like dogs, and making other strange sounds. One eyewitness reported, ‘The noise was like the roar of Niagara. The vast sea of human beings seemed to be agitated as if by a storm. Some of the people were singing, others praying, some crying for mercy in the most precious accents, while others shouted vociferously. A strange supernatural power seemed to pervade the entire mass of mind there collected…At one time I saw at least five hundred, swept down in a moment as if a battery of a thousand guns had been opened upon them, and then immediately followed shrieks and shouts that rent the very heavens.’

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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Read more

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

Rut, Rot or Revival?

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A.W. Tozer preached a sermon series titled: Rut, Rot, or Revival ~ The Problem of Change and Breaking Out of the Status Quo. In it he stated: “The treacherous enemy facing the church of Jesus Christ today is the dictatorship of the routine, when the routine becomes “lord” in the life of the church….When we come to the place where everything can be predicted and nobody expects anything unusual from God, we are in a rut. The routine dictates, and we can tell not only what will happen next Sunday, but what will occur next month and, if things do not improve, what will take place next year….That would be perfectly alright and proper for a cemetery….But the Church (and the Follower of Jesus) is not a cemetery and we should expect much from it, because what has been should not be the lord to tell us what is, and what is should not be the ruler to tell us what will be. God’s people are supposed to grow.”

We are supposed to be growing…spiritually. But Tozers’ sub-title says a great deal: “The Problem of Change and Breaking Out of the Status Quo.” What ever you want to call it, change, transition, transformation, or metamorphosis – the truth of the matter is it requires “death.” Within the world of everything vegetation there is an important step for the seed to become a plant, bush or tree: it has to be buried in the dark earth. In essence that seed of life has to be thrown into a “pit.” And not just any pit. A dark pit, made up of dark soil. How does soil become really dark? Many things sacrifice their lives, dying, to make the soil rich, and dark. The darker the soil, the richer the nutrients needed to spark life. The darker the soil – the greater the sacrifice. The greater the sacrifice – the grander the resurrection.

Physical truth often points to greater spiritual truths. For the seed to become a life-giving plant a change has to take place. It has to break out of the status quo. You see this symbolically throughout Scripture. Noah and his family are “buried” alive in a “coffin” floating on a flood of death. Joseph is thrown into a pit by his jealous brothers in order to resurrect into a “savior” for Egypt and its surrounding countries, and Jesus’ body was tossed into a “pit” in order to bring resurrection life to all those who would join themselves to His Body. Brad McClendon states, “The best place to sow seed is in the dark ground – then covered up in darkness. That’s what happens to God’s good seed. What happens to the seed – when we take it out of the pit? It dies and transformation is halted. When you reach a spiritual plateau, or “ceiling” – you are in His pit and He is trusting you to remain in order to birth something new in you.”

Ruts, and routines are accompanied by spiritual callouses, and plateaus. What moved us forward spiritually no longer does. It is during this season of the 10 Days of Awe that God reminds us we need soak in the “reign” of His Spirit, and reach for the new heights of His Son. Our spiritual plateaus become Jesus’ pits for our growing upwards.

What do we need to understand and accept? God’s seed – His Word and Spirit in us – grows better in pits, darkness, and storms. Noah, Joseph, and Jesus all trusted the Father for the resurrection. We must do the same. In the meantime, How can we have a good death? Do like any seed: soak up the rain, and stretch for the SON. And be encouraged, His Word is transfiguring you into the image of Jesus. Death is working in you – that His life might be actively at work in others. AS Isa. 60 states: the Glory of God WILL SHINE…upon His people. Be encouraged that you are conscious of the plateau and the callouses. That awareness comes only from the Spirit. That awareness is His invitation to shift, to change, and move to another level in your relating and relation to the Godhead.

Positioning Ourselves for More of God: Part 2 – Our Heart

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In Psalm 139, verses 23-24, the psalmist says: Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Ps 139:23-24 NIV)

Notably, the psalmist makes this request of God to “search” him right after he’s just informed us in earlier verses 1-4 (below) that the Lord, in fact, already knows everything about him. He tells us that the Lord has not only already searched him, but knows his every thought, exactly what he does, what kind of person he is, and every word that will come out of his mouth – before he even says it.

You have searched me, Lord, and You know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; You perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; You are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue You, Lord, know it completely. (Ps 139: 1-4 NIV)

John 2:25 confirms: “No one needed to tell Him about human nature, for He knew what was in each person’s heart.” (NLT)

So the question is, If God already knows all this, why then does the Psalmist specifically ask God to do something he knows He has already done? Is it some sort of rhetorical device, or is there more behind it?

The answer, I believe, is that its quite intentional. That in requesting God to “search” him, knowing God already knows him, the psalmist reminds us when we invite God into our heart, it is through a door of intentional and voluntary submission and contrition (Rev 3:20). This is the thing that God desires most from us: The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God. (Ps 51:17 NLT)

Or, in Isaiah: Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool; what is the house that you would build for Me, and what is the place of My rest? All these things My hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word. (Isaiah 66:1-2 ESV)

Thank You Lord for Your Word. It is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path so that we can seek You and find You. Lord, teach us how to be like the psalmist, submitting our hearts to You so You can find a welcoming place within us to rest. Lead us in all Your ways – continue to transform us and empower us – so that through our words and deeds we can glorify Your Name in greater ways each day. Amen

Notes From the Pastor

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God’s Calendar and Appointments (All Scripture!)

2 Timothy 3:16-17 states: All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 

When the above reference was first penned by the Apostle Paul, there was not yet a New Testament division in what we call the Bible. The Scriptures for New Testament believers, the followers of Jesus, was what we know as the Old Testament. This has profound implications for modern day believers who have assumed and been taught the Old Testament books of the Bible no longer apply. Jesus did not come to create a new religion. His goal was to change the hearts of all who were willing and set them free from the oppression of religion – rules without relationship; lies that stemmed from the Garden of Eden’s “fig leaf” religion: do this – to be…like God. What was Satan’s original lie? Did God really say? In other words, do not trust God, His Word, His Love and His Truth – and you can become your own self-centered, pride-filled god. Trust your god-like self to become good like God. 

The root of this lie has made its way into the heart of many a church-attender and infected Jesus’ family with the virus of religion. The good news is that Jesus and His Word still have the power to emancipate those who long for liberty and deliverance from the chaffing shackles of flimsy, fig leaf religion. They recognize something is missing in their day-in day-out routines – the fig leaf formats, practices, and routines that lack the ability to cover their sin and lead them to a living relationship with the Godhead.

This very God-breathed scripture states in Leviticus 23:1-2: And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘The feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts.

The Hebrew word for feast means appointment, or appointed time. Thus, in the Word of God we not only have His words, thoughts, and heart for His people, we have God’s Calendar Book. His Book of Appointments.

Chosen people Ministries: The holy days are prophetic in nature, and over the course of the year, provide a roadmap to redemption; Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, Pentecost, the New Year, Day of Atonement, and Tabernacles. They are similar in that each one involves worship, offerings, a rest from labor, and usually a reminder of a great event in the history of Israel. It is important to note the Hebrew word translated as “holiday” in Leviticus 23 is better understood as “appointments.”

Add to the weighty significance of these facts the startling realization that on every appointment designated by God in the Old Testament, an event of eternal consequence occurred. Passover (Pesach) ~ Crucifixion of Jesus; Seven Days of Unleavened Bread (Chag HaMatzatot) ~ the Sinless Life of Jesus; Feast of First Fruits ~ the Resurrection of Jesus; Pentecost (Shavuot)~ Birthing of the New Testament Church with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit; Yom Kippur or Atonement ~ Jesus making us at-one-with the Father in a moment. There are only two feasts, two of God’s Appointments that have yet to be fully realized: The Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah), and the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot). The season of the Feast of Trumpets, is also recognized within the time frame of the 10 Days of Awe, prophetically symbolizing when the rapture of every believer, Jesus’ Bride, will occur. Can you picture this? Imagine being “snatched up” (raptured)during this season of prayer, fasting and seeking to be near Jesus. Add to this the culminating crescendo of the final appointment, the Feast of Tabernacles, when Jesus will return with His Bride to rule over the earth. Now imagine during this time, the trumpet being blown. What action do you want to be found doing? Would you want to be in the process of preparing yourself to meet face-to-face with Jesus? Can you think of a better way to spend your time? Would it be absurd to believe that God is loving and knows that when we see Him face-to-face, we won’t want to be hanging our heads in shame? Would it be absurd to believe that He desires to see His children lifting their heads up to see and welcome Him when that trumpet blast is first heard? 

New Years Challenge – 10 days of Awe – Positioning Ourselves for More of God

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The Shofar of Rosh Hashanah has blown. The unmistakable echo of the ram’s horn marks the beginning of God’s New Year and provides a clarion call to God’s people to return to Him for absolution. The 10 Days of Awe, which began with Rosh Hashana, are underway. It’s a time appointed for cleansing and renewal; a window of preparation leading up to the final judgment that will occur on Yom Kippur. 10 days for the people to examine their hearts and assess their standing with God.

These high holy Days of Awe are the opportunity for sincere self-reflection, repentance, and the giving and receiving of forgiveness. For those that have made good use of the days – repented and earnestly sought God’s forgiveness – Yom Kippur will bring Atonement for sins and reconciliation with the Lord. (But only for the upcoming year).

Unlike our Jewish friends, Christian reconciliation has been secured forever through Jesus Christ. “…because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.” (Heb 7:24-25)

So then, as Christians, let’s use these High Holy days to instead focus on the amazing gift of Jesus Christ…and on preparing and positioning our hearts for more God and a deeper stronger faith. Let’s seek increase in every aspect of our relationship with Him so that we might better serve.

Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting. (Ps 139:23-24 NIV)

Amen

a brother in Christ

Rosh Hashana – Feast of Trumpets and What It Means for Christians

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Happy New Year! (From the Jewish Year 5783 to 5784) – From God, the Father.

Rosh Hashana, in Hebrew means head or beginning of the year, and marks the start of God’s new year as outlined in the Old Testament. Also known as the Feast of Trumpets, it is one of the seven appointed festivals prescribed by the Lord to Moses in Leviticus 23 and ushers in God’s process of renewal for the Jewish people.

The ten days between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) – which is the holiest day of the Jewish calendar – are the 10 Days of Awe, or the 10 Days of Repentance. During this period the Jewish people were expected to thoroughly examine their hearts and their standing before God; to repent and to give and seek forgiveness in preparation for receiving God’s forgiveness on Yom Kippur. According to Jewish tradition, the sincerity of one’s repentance and turning to God during these 10 days was instrumental in tipping the Lord’s judgment scale in their favor for the coming year. So, for Jews, God’s forgiveness on Yom Kippur was considered a temporary achievement. In order to keep your place in the Book of Life the process had to be repeated year-after-year.

While the importance of Rosh Hashana, the 10 Days of Awe, and the Day of Atonement in the Old Testament is God’s means of providing a process for his people to achieve and receive forgiveness and right standing can’t be understated, how should Christians view this today? Since we live under the New Covenant does this feature of Mosaic Law apply to us at all?

As a technical matter, no it doesn’t, because as Christians we no longer live under the Law. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.” (Gal 3:13) God, through Christ, provided a once-for-all way to forgiveness and reconciliation, “…He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us…” (Col 2:14). In fact, Paul specifically reminds us in Colossians 2:16: “Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.” In other words, our concern is no longer festivals and rituals to improve our fallen condition. Our sole focus is faith in the work of Jesus.

Hebrews 10:1-10 summarizes our much-transformed and improved circumstance nicely: For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

Therefore, when Christ came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll— I have come to do your will, my God.’ First, He said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them”—though they were offered in accordance with the law. Then He said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

So, since these festival days don’t serve the same purpose for Christians that they once did for the Jews, then how should we commemorate these days? By recognizing how God literally fulfilled his Jeremiah 31:34 promise to us: “For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” What can be more worthy of celebration than that?

What our God, through Christ, has done in providing a perfect and permanent means for our reconciliation should overwhelm us and fill us with unending gratitude.

For today, let’s meditate on God’s incredible goodness, let’s thank Him and acknowledge the absolute supremacy of Christ as our Savior and High Priest, and ask Him to help us be more like Him. Let’s challenge ourselves and our church family to seek a deeper relationship and a more active, empowered, Spirit-filled walk. Let’s pray against the spirit of complacency and for a new (kainos – recently made, fresh, recent, unused, unworn) spiritual awakening and revival. Amen!?

A brother in Christ

Ten Days of Awe Begins Tomorrow

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Revelation 20:12 I [also] saw the dead, great and small; they stood before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is [the Book] of Life. And the dead were judged (sentenced) by what they had done [their whole way of feeling and acting, their aims and endeavors] in accordance with what was recorded in the books. AMPC

Imagine the day when you will stand before Jesus and every word – thought, every action – taken, and every core motive that is the driving force behind every action – will be brought out in the open to be reviewed. Standing there will be Jesus and His holy angels. You will watch – as the One Who Loves you – clearly seeing how your sins hurt Him and the angels entrusted with your care. Wouldn’t you want the opportunity to erase that record of offenses before that great and terrible day?

Tomorrow begins what is known as the Ten Days of Awe. It is a time your loving Savior has provided to seek forgiveness, and restoration of all relationships. It is a time to make preparation in anticipation of the arrival of Jesus – when He will tabernacle among us. Could it be this experience was what they were trying to alleviate?

Lamentations 3:40 Let us test and examine our ways, and let us return to the Lord! AMPC

Psalm 139:23-24 Search me [thoroughly], O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there is any wicked or hurtful way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. AMPC

Scripture records that when we seek forgiveness He will forgive and wash us clean:

1 John 1:9 If we [freely] admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just (true to His own nature and promises) and will forgive our sins [dismiss our lawlessness] and [continuously] cleanse us from all unrighteousness [everything not in conformity to His will in purpose, thought, and action]. AMPC

Psalm 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. AMPC

Jesus’ Blood cleanses us from all sin. Yet, like any relationship in which you have hurt or offended another, you seek forgiveness to bring restoration to the friendship and relationship.

The Ten Days of Awe give you an opportunity to take account of your ways, seek forgiveness, and restoration to prepare for your soon and coming King. Take time, beginning tomorrow morning – Sunday, September 25 – to draw nearer to Jesus. Take this time to seek Him with whole-hearted obedience, worship, and prayer.

Rut, Rot, or Revival?

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A.W. Tozer preached a sermon series titled: Rut, Rot, or Revival ~ The Problem of Change and Breaking Out of the Status Quo. In it he stated: “The treacherous enemy facing the church of Jesus Christ today is the dictatorship of the routine, when the routine becomes “lord” in the life of the church….When we come to the place where everything can be predicted and nobody expects anything unusual from God, we are in a rut. The routine dictates, and we can tell not only what will happen next Sunday, but what will occur next month and, if things do not improve, what will take place next year….That would be perfectly alright and proper for a cemetery….But the Church (and the Follower of Jesus) is not a cemetery and we should expect much from it, because what has been should not be the lord to tell us what is, and what is should not be the ruler to tell us what will be. God’s people are supposed to grow.”

We are supposed to be growing…spiritually. But Tozers’ sub-title says a great deal: “The Problem of Change and Breaking Out of the Status Quo.” What ever you want to call it, change, transition, transformation, or metamorphosis – the truth of the matter is it requires “death.” Within the world of everything vegetation there is an important step for the seed to become a plant, bush or tree: it has to be buried in the dark earth. In essence that seed of life has to be thrown into a “pit.” And not just any pit. A dark pit, made up of dark soil. How does soil become really dark? Many things sacrifice their lives, dying, to make the soil rich, and dark. The darker the soil, the richer the nutrients needed to spark life. The darker the soil – the greater the sacrifice. The greater the sacrifice – the grander the resurrection.

Physical truth often points to greater spiritual truths. For the seed to become a life-giving plant a change has to take place. It has to break out of the status quo. You see this symbolically throughout Scripture. Noah and his family are “buried” alive in a “coffin” floating on a flood of death. Joseph is thrown into a pit by his jealous brothers in order to resurrect into a “savior” for Egypt and its surrounding countries, and Jesus’ body was tossed into a “pit” in order to bring resurrection life to all those who would join themselves to His Body. Recently I was at the “School of Life” led by Brad McClendon. He had some great insights into this whole process that I am borrowing from as I write this. During one of our sessions he stated that, “The best place to sow seed is in the dark ground – then covered up in darkness. That’s what happens to God’s good seed. What happens to the seed – when we take it out of the pit? It dies and transformation is halted. When you reach a spiritual plateau, or “ceiling” – you are in His pit and He is trusting you to remain in order to birth something new in you.”

Paul said it best in 2 Corinthians 4:7-12 However, we possess this precious treasure [the divine Light of the Gospel] in [frail, human] vessels of earth, that the grandeur and exceeding greatness of the power may be shown to be from God and not from ourselves.8 We are hedged in (pressed) on every side [troubled and oppressed in every way], but not cramped or crushed; we suffer embarrassments and are perplexed and unable to find a way out, but not driven to despair;9 We are pursued (persecuted and hard driven), but not deserted [to stand alone]; we are struck down to the ground, but never struck out and destroyed;10 Always carrying about in the body the liability and exposure to the same putting to death that the Lord Jesus suffered, so that the [resurrection] life of Jesus also may be shown forth by and in our bodies.11 For we who live are constantly [experiencing] being handed over to death for Jesus’ sake, that the [resurrection] life of Jesus also may be evidenced through our flesh which is liable to death.12 Thus death is actively at work in us, but [it is in order that our] life [may be actively at work] in you. AMPC

The world system is changing all around us at a dizzying pace. It makes those in church want to hunker down behind its four walls in hopes the storm will pass. We desperately cling to anything warm, and cozy providing us with a sense of “normal.” Truth is the darkness is only growing darker – but that is only because the seeds of light haven’t reached their destination – yet. What do we need to understand and accept? God’s seed – His Word and Spirit in us – grows better in pits, darkness, and storms. Noah, Joseph, and Jesus all trusted the Father for the resurrection. We must do the same. In the meantime, How can we have a good death? Do like any seed: soak up the rain, and stretch for the SON. And be encouraged, His Word is transfiguring you into the image of Jesus. Death is working in you – that His life might be actively at work in others. AS Isa. 60 states: the Glory of God WILL SHINE…upon His people.

Were You There?

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At the heart of the city of London is Charing Cross. All distances across the city are measured from its central point. Locals refer to it simply as “the cross.” One day a child became lost in the bustling metropolis.  A city police officer (A “bobby,” as they are referred to in London) came to the child’s aid to try and help him return to his family. The bobby asked the child a variety of questions in an attempt to discover where the boy lived, to no avail. Finally, with tears streaming down the boy’s face, he said, “If you will take me to the cross I think I can find my way from there.” What an apt description of the Christian life. The cross is both the starting place of our new life in Christ, but also the place we must return to, time and again, to keep our bearings in life. – Stuart Strachan Jr.

Today marks the day of all days, called “Good Friday” by believers around the world. At approximately 7AM, Roman governor of Judea, Marcus Pontius Pilatus, sentenced Jesus to die by crucifixion. At approximately 8AM, the patibulum, or cross beam was affixed to Jesus’ shoulders through ropes, as a soldier tied a rope around His waist and led Him through the streets of Jerusalem for all to see what happens when someone defies the power of Rome. The cross beam would have weighed approximately 50-60 pounds. Around His neck was hung the titulus crucis, a sign to be nailed to the top of Jesus’ cross declaring His crime: “King of the Jews”, written in Latin, Greek and Hebrew. The site of Jesus’ sentencing is believed to have been the Antonia Fortress built by Herod the Great, and called the Praetorium by Pilate. From that site to Golgotha would have been approximately .5 miles. The weather at that time would have been hot, and dry while the road would have been unpaved, and bumpy studded with scores of crevices made by carts and beasts of burden. As one approached the outside walls of the city the road would have begun to slope upward leading to the hill of Golgotha, or Calvary (the Skull). Fluid accumulated around Jesus’ lungs, as His body was almost numb from severe exhaustion, severe mental and physical sufferings, the flogging, and the nerve-racking, and lancinating pains from the crown of thorns. Jesus fell more than once as He journeyed to the Hill, and the final fall led the accompanying soldier, the exactor mortis, to enlist Simon of Cyrene to carry His cross the rest of the way. Jesus’ robe was literally glued to His Body by the clotted blood which was ripped from His body before His crucifixion. Nailing His hands first to the cross beam, the median nerve (we know it as the “funny bone”) was pierced sending bolts of pain searing through Jesus’ arms. Several soldiers were enlisted to lift Him up to the stipes, or upright post, that was mortised at the top, allowing the soldiers to simply lift and drop the cross beam onto it. Next the soldiers affixed Jesus’ feet either to the sides or the face of the cross, and rather than placing a nail through both feet, archaeological and forensic experts, have surmised that both feet were nailed independently of one another. If the feet were nailed to the face of the cross the median nerve would have also been pierced sending shooting pain up through Jesus’ legs.

At the sixth hour, or noon, darkness covered the land. This lasted 3 hours. One teacher aptly said, If God the Father had to turn His back on His Son, no one else was going to be able to look at Him. Some would see this darkness as a sign of coming judgment. One ancient writer recorded: “When the sun is obscured, it is an evil sign to the nations….when the moon is obscured, it is an evil sign to Israel, because Israel reckons according to the moon, the nations of the world according to the sun.” It was into this darkness Jesus entered into the deepest depths of suffering, as body, soul, and spirit enter a separation between Heaven and earth, God and mankind. It was here Jesus was suspended making a way for us to leave this earth and ascend into His Presence.

At the highest point of His agony, and the filling full of all of histories sins, Jesus stretched forth and shouted in Aramaic, “Ho Mashalam!” Which is one word in the Greek: “Tetelestai!” Our English equivalent is a phrase, “IT IS FINISHED!” And as Scripture records, “He bowed His head and gave up His Spirit.” Those who owed so much that they never could repay – had their debt canceled by He Who owed nothing. He paid our debt through His sufferings, “cancelling the written code that was against us and that stood opposed to us; He took it away, nailing it to the cross.” (Col. 2:14) This is the GIFT! You can’t pay for it, or earn it. You don’t deserve it, nor can you escape it. His cross, His death, His cry, echoes through the universe as a testimony that can never be reversed.

In relation to this event thousands, and tens of thousands, have identified with their suffering Messiah declaring, along with the Apostle Paul, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live but Christ lives in me!” (Gal. 2:20). We are reminded of the old hymn which asks, “Were You There”? This African-American spiritual probably predated the Civil War, asking the obvious question, placing each person who hears the question on the witness stand. The slaves who authored this song could readily relate to the sufferings of Christ, and the brutality of slavery. In the book titled, “Stories Behind the Traditions of Easter,” the author states: “Maybe the fact that spirituals were the joint cries and shouts of Christians looking for the freedom that only God could bring gives the message of this song much more impact. None of us were there in body when Christ died, but all of us need to go there in spirit. To understand the gift of salvation, each sinner must realize that he or she is a slave to the world: only then does seeing Christ on the cross make the impact all the more real.”