In my previous post, I traced the pattern of revival preceding national crises in American history from 1620 to 1945, and noted that prior to World War II, the United States experienced some manifestation of spiritual awakening prior to any national or international crisis. Before that post, I noted the “strange spirit” animating Post-modern Evangelicalism in our own time. My original intention was to make one long post from  those two posts, but I realized the topic was far too broad to condense into one article of a thousand words or less. I offer this third note as a conclusion to the thoughts stated in the previous two posts. After reading this observation, you may wish to go back and read the other two. But if you want the condensed version, here are the main points of my previous posts:

First, I noted that in the last ten years, a different spirit now animates Post-modern Evangelicalism than that which energized previous generations of American Protestants.

Second, I noted the cycle of spiritual revival preceding national crises in American history from 1620 to 1945.

I concluded my second blog by briefly noting the “New Evangelical” movement that sought to promote revival in the Post-World War II world, but they never saw the spiritual awakening for which they hoped. In a later blog, I may examine why I think their actions were not blessed with revival. But I will save those thoughts for another time. Nonetheless, since the close of the 1950s, consider the crises that have plagued our nation, and note carefully that none of these events were preceded or followed by any manifestation of true spiritual revival:

1960-Disputed Presidential election between Vice President Richard Nixon and Senator John F. Kennedy

1962-Cuban Missile Crisis with the Soviet Union

1963-Assassination of President John F. Kennedy

1964-Gulf of Tonkin incident which led to the escalation of the Vietnam War (which continued until 1975)

1968-Assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; later that same year, riots broke out at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

1960’s and ’70s-Cultural/Sexual Revolution

1972-1974-Watergate scandal and resignation of President Richard M. Nixon

1975-1980s-Inflation, monetary crisis, energy crisis, and a growing national debt by our Federal Government.

1979-Iranian hostage crisis

1987-Iran-Contra Scandal

1990s-first widespread public embrace of the “LBGTQ+” agenda

1991-First Gulf War

1995-Oklahoma City bombing

1998-President Bill Clinton is impeached by the U. S. House of Representatives; he is the second president in American history to have such charges brought against him.

2000-Presidential Election crisis resolved only by a strongly disputed decision from the Supreme Court.

2001-9/11 Attacks in New York City and Washington, D. C.

2002-American Invasion of Afghanistan (an occupation that continues as of this post)

2003-2012-U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq

2005-Hurricane Katrina disaster

2008-Great Recession, collapse of the housing market, and subsequent years of economic hardship

2012-the Benghazi terrorists on the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in 2001.

2013-Boston Marathon Bombing

Despite all these crises that have afflicted our nation, we have not seen one manifestation of true spiritual revival. Furthermore, there has been no great attempt by Christians as a whole to even seek the Lord’s favor and blessing upon the churches of Christ in this land. Instead, the people of God have grown obsessed over political power, cultural influence, religious polemics, gaining influence with unbelievers, and most of all, playing the game of infiltration within the ranks of religious apostates. Along with all these trends, we have witnessed a growing apathy towards doctrinal precision, towards the Biblical exercise of church authority and church discipline in regards to both doctrine and practice, and worse still, a blatant disregard for the Biblical teaching regarding the ministry of the Holy Spirit and the absolute authority of the Word of God in all matters of faith and practice.

Based on this historical observation, here is my question:

Where is the heart of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ in the United States of America today?

That is a question I cannot answer, for only Christ can render a true judgement in this matter. But I can answer for what is in my own heart. And some day, each of us will be required to give an account to Christ regarding what is in our hearts and in our lives in this time in which we live.

And depending how each one of us answers to this question, our response could reflect what the future of the American church will look like for the rest of this century. And that is a question every true believer should consider carefully.

It is not an exaggeration of historical facts to state that the United States of America was founded as a result of true spiritual revival. I will never forget sitting in my Colonial American history class during my junior year of college as our professor asked us who we thought was the true founder of the United States. Most of us volunteered answers like “George Washington,” “John Adams,” “Patrick Henry”, and “John Hancock” among others. But he vehemently shook his head to all those answers. Once he had rightly humiliated us, this professor, a strong independent Fundamental Baptist, dogmatically asserted that the true founder of the United States, spiritually, theologically, philosophically, economically, and politically, was . . .

. . . JOHN CALVIN.

During the course of my undergraduate and graduate studies, I learned his assertion was correct and that the founding of our nation was intricately linked to the events of the Protestant Reformation (1517-1648). Among the first generation of Europeans who landed on these shores over four centuries ago, many came primarily for religious convictions, and those convictions also influenced their descendants for generations. But along with that theological heritage, the first three centuries of American history also experienced God’s special blessing of revival, and often before times of national crisis. While I don’t want to read too much into this “cycle” of revival and crisis in our past, for only God can render a true judgement of such matters, consider the following  pattern that occurs from the 1620s until the 1920s:

The 1620s and ’30s marked the arrival of the Pilgrim Separatists and later the English Puritans on the shores of New England. They came to establish a pure Christian commonwealth as well as to fulfill Christ’s command in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). Thus, one might argue that American democracy was born as a result of spiritual revival. This revival was followed by a spiritual decline manifested in the Half-Way Covenant along with other crises such as Indian wars, colonial disputes with the English Monarchy and later the Salem Witch trials. This decline culminated in many New England churches embracing Unitarianism, Rationalism and Deism.

In the 1730s and ’40s, God again brought a spiritual revival to all the thirteen colonies through the ministry of Jonathan Edwards, the Tennants in Pennsylvania, Samuel Davies in Virginia and the itinerant ministry of George Whitefield among others. This “Great Awakening” raised up a godly population who endured the trial of the War for Independence (1775-1783) while guarding our nation from the bloody excesses experienced by later revolutions in France and other European nations.

In the 1790s, revival broke out on the frontier in places like western Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Kentucky, lasting until the early 1800’s and preceding the national trauma of the War of 1812 (1812-14).

In the 1820s, many college campuses in the Northeast experienced the Second Great Awakening. This revival continued until 1850, despite the fact that that its theology and practices were corrupted by the New School Presbyterians, most notably Charles Finney, who tried to produce revival through man-made techniques. This period of revival preceded the sectional crisis that resulted in the great Compromise of 1850, and prevented the War between the States for another ten years.

In 1857-1858, the famous Prayer Meeting revivals spread through the larger cities of the Northeast, as if to prepare the nation for the great blood letting of the War Between the States (1861-1865). Then during the last year of the war itself (1864), revival spread through the Southern armies as if to prepare the Southern people for the great tragedy known as Reconstruction, a darker chapter in American history than the war itself.

During the 1870s and ’80’s, an evangelist by the name of Dwight Moody was raised up, leading revival meetings around the nation. Though the doctrinal content of his preaching was not as deep as revivalists of earlier generations, nonetheless, his preaching softened hearts and brought many souls into Christ’s kingdom. This revival was followed by the Economic Depression of 1893 and later the Spanish-American War of 1898.

In the early 1900s, spiritual revival manifested itself through the Bible Conference Movement, which gave birth to numerous Bible institutes and later the Fundamentalist Movement of the early 1920s and 1930’s. This manifestation of revival was followed by the terrible tragedy of World War I.

In the 1920s and ’30s, a smaller manifestation of revival spread throughout parts of the United States under the preaching of men such Wilber Chapman, Billy Sunday, Bob Jones, Sr., Gypsy Smith and Dr. Harry Ironside. Like the Moody revivals, the doctrinal content was weak, and at times, their methods were unconventional when compared to previous generations. This manifestation of revival was perhaps the smallest and weakest yet experienced in our land. Nonetheless, a witness for Christ and His gospel was given, hearts were softened, and souls were saved. This spiritual awakening was followed by the tragic events of World War II.

In the aftermath of the second World War, some prominent Evangelicals professed their desire to see another spiritual awakening in the midst of the twentieth century. These men later took the title “New Evangelical” and included such preachers and theologians as Harold Okenga, Carl Henry, Harold Linsell, Wilbur Smith and their most prominent spokesman, Billy Graham. While they hearkened to the revivalist traditions of the New School Presbyterians of the nineteenth century, their movement soon divided over doctrinal disputes regarding Inerrancy, the authority of scripture, ecclesiastical separation, and social activism among other matters. They never saw the revival hoped for and by the late 1960’s, their influence had quickly waned.

And since that time, what have we witnessed in our nation? I will consider that question in a third post on this subject, but here is my final thought:

Prior to the 1950s, our nation experienced a series of revivals before major crises. But since the 1950s, in spite of many manifestations of the “Christian religion,” we have not witnessed spiritual revival like the kinds I have noted here. It is now 2014, and almost 90 years have passed since we have seen a true spiritual awakening in this country.

Again, I asked the question from my previous post:

What is Christ doing among His church in our land and in our time?

One unique theme in American history is continual periods of spiritual awakening among Protestant Evangelical churches. These periods of revival roughly span the first three centuries of our history (1620-1920), beginning in the colonial days when Europeans first landed on these shores. Many of those settlers were influenced by the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century-the greatest revival the Christian church has ever known since the time of Pentecost (See Acts 2). Any reputable historian, be they Christian or not, will acknowledge that these periods of spiritual revival gave Evangelical Protestantism such a prominent position in American society that one cannot understand the unique web of American history without understanding the character of American Evangelicalism.

Ten years ago (some time in late 2004), I was struck with a troubling observation regarding the current condition of American Evangelicalism:

The spirit animating Post-modern Evangelicalism is radically antithetical to previous generations of American Evangelicals who either experienced revival first hand or were positively influenced by the spiritual heritage of past revivals.

This “strange” spirit is now driving Post-modern Evangelicalism far beyond any traditional boundaries that Evangelical Protestants once held as non-negotiables of the Christian faith. Though this “new” spirit has been around for almost 6 decades, it is manifesting itself in in bolder ways and in two deeply troubling trends:

First, Post-modern Evangelicals are more engaged in political and cultural activism than at any other time in American history. It is true that in the past, Evangelicals were strong social activists who opposed many social ills (especially in the early decades of the nineteenth century). But in our time, the Evangelical influence in shaping public debate (both politically and culturally) is so strong that even non-religious entities now view them as their own separate voting bloc that needs courted, wooed and cajoled like every other clique in our diverse society.

Second, while Post-modern Evangelicals are proving themselves as skilled apologists and aggressive activists for Christendom at large, many of them have abandoned the language, belief systems and practices of both the Truth and Spirit of Biblical and Historic Christianity (See John 4:24, II Timothy 3:5).

For the last ten years, this observation lay in jumbled, disorganized mess in the back of mind until last summer, when I had a conversation with a young friend of mine about the condition of Post-modern Christianity and its striking contrast to previous generations of Evangelical Protestants. During our discussion, I remember struggling to find a Biblical manner to express what I was trying to communicate regarding the radical theological and philosophical changes I see unfolding within American Protestantism. Soon after that talk, the Lord drew me to a statement in Ezra chapter 3 that I believe expresses well what I was trying to communicate. Since this past summer, I have attempted to state those thoughts in written form. This blog is the result of those meditations.

The account in Ezra 3 records the dedication of the foundation of the second temple after Israel’s seventy years captivity in Babylon. But what is noteworthy is the description concerning the reaction of God’s people to this event:

“Then all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid. But many of the priests and Levites and heads of the fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this temple was laid before their eyes.”

(Ezra 3:11b-12)

When I read these words, I asked this question: why did the older generation weep when they viewed this second foundation of the temple? The answer is stated verse 12:

The older generation had seen first hand the glory of the temple that Solomon had built generations earlier, and they had also witnessed the destruction of that temple by the Babylonians in 587 B. C. This second foundation was smaller and less glorious than the temple Solomon had built.

As I meditated upon these words, this observation strike home to my heart: this text expresses well the radical changes I have observed within Post-modern Evangelical Christianity for the past ten years.
A survey of the history of revival and crisis in American history (a subject I will examine in my next post) reveals that the last significant manifestation of a true work of the Spirit of God among the true churches of Christ that was not limited to region or few congregations occurred in the decade of the 1920s, immediately following the first World War (1914-1918) and preceded the historical crises of the Great Depression and the second World War (1939-1945).

I was born in 1977, and my formative years were the decades of the 1980s and 1990s. Though I would argue that the spirit of Protestant Evangelicalism was already quite weak even then, nonetheless, I still remember a spiritual sensitivity among the people of God that I encountered during those years. But in the thirteen years of the post 9/11 world, I have observed more spiritual hardness among professing believers than at any time I remember in the years leading up to the 9/11 terrorists attacks.

Here then is my observation: Almost ninety years have passed with no wide spread spiritual awakening among the true churches of Christ in our land. I think this fact should move believers to meditate upon this question:

What strange work of providence is Christ doing among His church in our time?

This is a question to which I wish to devote more time in future posts.