"Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power." (A quote often attributed to Alexis de Tocqueville)
It was 1800. The Revolutionary War was over. George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, George Whitefield and others who had been prominent in the founding of America were dead.
It was 1800. The Revolutionary War was over. George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, George Whitefield and others who had been prominent in the founding of America were dead.
God
Has No Grandchildren
A generation had arisen that knew little or
nothing of the Great Awakening that had impacted the Founders and given birth
to the nation. Spiritual indifference was rampant with less than 10% of the
population being connected to a local congregation. On the western frontier
many areas were completely devoid of Christian influence.
Profanity, lewdness, gambling and drunkenness were
on the rise. Negative influences from the French Revolution were reverberating
throughout the country. The most popular book was The Age of Reason by
Thomas Paine, in which he attacked historic Christianity.
Colleges that had been formed to train Christian
ministers had become hotbeds of agnosticism and infidelity. A popular fad on
campuses involved students adopting the names of well-known atheists such
Voltaire, Rousseau, Hume and others.
The Presbyterian Church distributed a letter in
which church leaders stated that they were “filled with concern and awful
dread” at conditions they beheld on every hand. They expressed the solemn conviction
“that the eternal God has a controversy with this nation.”
It
Only Takes a Spark to Get a Fire Going
A few concerned, devout believers began to pray
and fast for revival in the land. Some congregations signed
"covenants" in which the members agreed to fast and pray for revival.
James McGready, pastor of three Presbyterian churches in Logan County,
Kentucky, led his congregations in signing a covenant to pray every Saturday
and Sunday morning for revival and to devote the third Saturday of each month
to prayer and fasting. Out of these churches came the great Cane Ridge Revival.
As churches and individuals prayed, a Second
Great Awakening swept across the nation. However, it did not happen until
pastors, evangelists and college presidents took a stand for truth and
righteousness and began to boldly proclaim God's word.
The president of Yale, Timothy Dwight, the
grandson of Jonathan Edwards, decided to confront the situation at Yale
head-on. In 1802, taking the Bible as his guide, he preached a series of
messages in chapel on the unreasonableness of atheism, or infidelity as it was
then called. God confirmed the word preached and revival broke forth. One-third
of the 225 students came to new-found faith in Christ and others were renewed
in their faith. The campus was transformed.
The revival quickly spread to other college
campuses and students became the agents carrying the revival into the towns and
villages. Historian, Mark Noll, says, "Together with the promoters of
local revivals, they spread concern for renewal up and down the East Coast.
Soon there was hardly a locale in which Christians were not praying for revival
or thanking God for having received one."
On the western frontier pastors and circuit riding
preachers like James McGready and Peter Cartwright boldly preached God's love
but also hell-fire and brimstone messages in which they warned the populace to
flee to Christ in order to escape the wrath to come. Revival erupted and
spread. At Cane Ridge, KY it was estimated that as many as 20,000 may have
gathered for this campmeeting where the attendees shouted, ran and "fell
under the power."
Cartwright, a circuit riding Methodist evangelist,
said the revival gained momentum like a great tidal wave “until it seemed all
our country was coming to God.” Noll calls it "the most influential
revival of Christianity in the history of the United States."
America was transformed. Negative influences from
the French Revolution were broken. Desim and infidelity faded into the shadows.
People lived to do good and the Christian character of America was guaranteed
for generations to come.
He
Discovered the Key
A key to understanding this revival came from an
unlikely source--a French sociologist by the name of Alexis de Tocqueville.
When Tocqueville visited America in 1831 on the heels of this Awakening, he
exclaimed, “The religious atmosphere of the country was the first thing that
struck me on arrival in the United States.”
A quote historically attributed to Tocqueville but
not found in his writings has him attributing America’s rapid ascent to
greatness to her vibrant Christian faith, which was a result of the Second
Great Awakening. He reportedly said, “Not until I went into the churches of
America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the
secret of her genius and power.”
Tocqueville was right! The churches, not the
politicians, were the key to America’s greatness. The same is true today. The
answer does not lie in Washington D.C. or with the next election. Only when the
pulpits of America’s churches once again “flame with righteousness” will we see
America saved and changed for the good.
5
Necessary Ingredients
Here are 5 necessary characteristics or attitudes
that must be present in those who preach the Word if our pulpits are to again
"flame with righteousness."
1. We must love God more than we fear
people: We must be more concerned with what God thinks of us than with what
people think of us.
2. We must remember that we represent God
and His truth to the world. Take a lesson from Charles Finney, who as a
converted lawyer, always saw himself as representing God and arguing His case
before an unbelieving world and church.
3. Let’s remember that God has promised to
confirm His word--not feel-good sermons--with signs following.
4. We must preach in the light of eternity.
Determine to have no regrets when standing before Christ and giving an account
for how you have carried out His call and commission. (II Corinthians 5:10)
5. We must cover our preaching with prayer.
Our success in talking to people about God will be determined by our success in
talking to God about people. It was both prayer and the preaching of God’s word
that sparked The Second Great Awakening.
It happened before and it can happen again. Pray
for the pastors and Spiritual leaders of America, Canada and your nation. Ask
God to give them the boldness to proclaim His truth to this generation. Pray
that the pulpits of the nation will once again "flame with righteousness."
Dr. Eddie L. Hyatt is an author, historian
and Bible teacher with a vision for another great Spiritual Awakening in America, Canada and
around the world. His books on Spiritual awakening, including his most recent, The Faith& Vision of Benjamin Franklin, are available from Amazon and from his
website at www.eddiehyatt.com/bookstore.html
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