‘Revival or Bust’

This column was going to address the challenges faced by the church historically in the midst of unemployment, the virus upheaval and dramatic change. What a difference a week makes! The church faces challenges like never before and yet, the issues never change. To paraphrase C.S. Lewis, we’ve abandoned character and are surprised to see Antifa in our midst. To quell the violence that will likely be required will be a harsh government response. Of course this is not a long-term solution but a sign how bad things are. One analyst we listen to has been repeating over and over that for America it is, “Revival or Bust.”

Go back with me about 50 years as we look back to 1968, America was also in turmoil, Martin Luther King was assassinated and riots were triggered across America. This was also a time when protesters ringed the White House chanting, “Hey, Hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?”

Organized protests spread to almost all colleges and draft offices were vandalized. Robert Kennedy was assassinated in June of 1968.

In Chicago that August, the Democratic Convention was held prior to the election that fall. On the streets of Chicago, several thousand anti-war protesters gathered to show their support for McCarthy.

Mayor Richard J. Daley deployed 12,000 police officers and another 15,000 state and federal officers to contain the protesters. Oh, by the way, in 1968-69 we had the Hong Kong Flu spreading throughout the world. One million would die in the world and 100,000 in the United States.

Sound familiar?

But in 1967 it was also the “summer of love” with throngs of hippies descending upon San Francisco to celebrate drug experimentation and easy sexuality. What is surprising is this was the beginning of another “great awakening” or revival in America.

As many became disillusioned with life in Haight-Ashbury neighborhood a new set of hippie “Jesus freak” evangelists appeared in the Bay Area urging people to forsake drugs and promiscuous sex. This spread in 1968 and by early 1969 this Jesus movement had spread to cities like Seattle, Detroit and Fort Lauderdale.

The hotbed of the movement was in the Los Angeles area and a pastor there, Chuck Smith, opened his church that eventually started a denomination known today as Calvary Chapel that has spread across the country.

There is no doubt that when Americans see strife, economic pressures, natural disasters, the person in the pulpit generally gets the chance to speak to larger and more attentive, crowds. Jesus understood this very well.

When circumstances began to distract the attention of his faithful followers, especially as they began to perceive that something bad was on the horizon, he admonished them, “Let not your heart be troubled.”

So as the nation slides into a possible period of suffering, preachers should be voices crying in the wilderness about a better place. Some may object that to be too heavenly minded is to be little earthly good, but authentic believers understand what those in generations past grasped — when we set our hopes on things “above,” we can manage things here below so much better.

The writer of the Book of Hebrews talks, in chapter 12, about a contrast between things that can be “shaken” (read: this world, human life, created things) and “a kingdom that cannot be shaken.”

In a sense, this is exactly the fault line our nation finds itself on at this critical moment in our history. None of this is to say that we don’t need leadership. Of course we do: political, spiritual, familial, and otherwise. Even more, we need a population able to govern itself. As John Adams wisely said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

How do we know whether we need a revival? Historically, revivals are preceded by spiritual decline, marked by divisiveness, anger, continuous crises, addictions, and service without passion. The need for revival is simply a result of sin in our lives.

God uses speakers and preachers and prophets to start great awakenings. But all great revivals also begin when God’s people fall on their knees and pray in the background pleading with the Lord to unleash his power and let it fall. Revivals happen among the individuals who are converted and/or who return back to the Lord when they are transformed and empowered by the Spirit of God.

As we humble ourselves, begin to pray fervently, seeking the Lord’s face while we’re on our face before him, and most importantly, turning from any possible wicked deed, activity or even evil thoughts — our whole nation can be saved. Wow! Think about that. It is definitely worth applying this verse to our lives for the sake of our country. This can be done, one person at a time.

So let’s start this, even if it is only just the two of us. Are you with me?

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” — 2 Corinthians 5:17

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Bob Shillingstad’s columns appear Saturdays in The Press. Email Bob: bjshill@mac.com