Outreach

Trying to Have Revival

154 Comments

“Revival” is a word that shows up a lot in fundamentalist preaching and writing without ever really being fully explained. We know we all need a personal one and our church has one every spring and our country will go to hell in a hand basket without one but what exactly one is remains a little vague. As far as I can tell it goes something like this…

It will all start when people in churches across the country start to do a lot more stuff. They’ll hold long prayer vigils and throw out their Richard Simmons workout videos and force their children to tithe on their allowance money. Then God will look down from heaven and say “Gee Whilikers! I’d better send the Holy Spirit to revive those people! They look exhausted from doing all that stuff!”

And then the Holy Spirit will fall, only not really because we already have all the Spirit we’re going to get and there’s no second blessing or any of that Pentecostal type stuff. But either way, the Spirit will see to it that lots of good stuff will start to happen all over everywhere and people who otherwise would have scads of free will about whether or not they want to get saved will suddenly lose it and get saved whether they want to or not and the church house will be full of folks just lousy with tithes and offerings and we’ll finally finish the extension on the fellowship hall and give all our missionaries an extra ten dollars a month.

And once enough of these folks get saved and baptized and join Independent Fundamental Baptist churches around the country then the whole nation will turn around and we’ll get a good Independent Fundamental Bible-Believing Baptist in the White House and the Supreme Court who will outlaw all kinds of stuff we don’t like and bring prayer back to schools and (most importantly of all) cut our taxes and make sure we don’t run out of nukes.

But as good as all that sounds, the reason why it hasn’t happened yet is that some of you resisted the Spirit’s call to come forward last Sunday during the sixth verse of Is Your All on the Altar and then on your way out you didn’t sign up to clean the church bathrooms this month and then you went home and went to bed wearing shorts and in that rebellion you are HOLDING BACK REVIVAL!

Revival: It’s a work of the Holy Spirit that is totally dependent on you.

154 thoughts on “Trying to Have Revival”

  1. Somewhere the earth is quaking as Charles Finney cheers and shouts in his grave.

    This is an argument I decided not to have with my fundy friends and relations. It’s too deeply entrenched and my attention span is too short to tackle it.

    1. As soon as I started reading this post, I wanted to curse Finney. But does this tendency not illustrate that IFB’s are inherently Pelagian, and therefore, by definition, heretics (as defined by Orthodox, Catholics, Lutherans, Arminians, Calvinists, and most of the rest of Protestantism)?

      2. Yup. That’s exactly right. Even as recent as Jonathan Edwards, one of the IFB revival gods, not only Pelagians, but extreme Arminians were openly branded heretics by the rest of Christianity for their distortion of the gospel.

  2. I like that you can schedule a revival.

    “Our Spring Revival will be held April 8-14. So pencil the Holy Spirit on your calendars.”

  5. Our last fundy church preached standards so high and guilt so strong that we would have a large groups of church members get “saved” every couple years. As the sound guy, I sat in the sound booth just shocked and saddened at the manipulation that I watched. I am certain one young military wife was saved 3 times in 4 years. She always doubted because she was always trying to be good enough but she nor any of us can ever make it that way.
    You can’t revive what not alive, Dead Religion!!
    “Don’t miss a night! That will be the night God wants to talk to YOU!”

  6. Whenever I’d read about the Second Great Awakening and other revivals of the past, I’d think, “If my church was back then, they’d be HATING it! All that emotional crying and weeping and throwing oneself down on the floor in front of the pulpit. Also it started sweeping through town; my church would never want to be part of something that OTHER churches were experiencing.” Revivals in the past sounded a bit too extravagantly emotional for our staid world. So, yeah, I always wondered what it was supposed to APPEAR like if we ever “got” it.

    The only thing that I thought would probably come with revival would be somehow a supernatural desire to prefer to be in church every evening being yelled at by a minister instead of relaxing at home in comfortable clothes with potato chips and soda, watching TV. I always used to wonder if the reason people used to flood out to services back 150 years ago was that there was nothing else to do. They didn’t even have radios back then. I always felt guilty thinking that, but most preachers I heard would drive me crazy having to listen to night after night, week after week: either they were really boring or they were practically spitting in anger or they told REALLY manipulative stories that made you cry or feel bad but deep down made you uncomfortable because you knew your emotions were being played with. Blech. Blech on the whole thing.

    1. Of course, PW, it was considered entertainment! Before radio or tv, in a time when people stayed in their communities, anything or anyone that came to town was entertainment. Circuses, theater shows, evangelists, etc.

      It was a time for people to gather, dress up, be entertained, and something to talk over after.

      1. True! Preachers today never ADMIT it was entertainment though. They just guilt-trip you because back THEN people LOVED to come to services, but YOU!! You pathetic loser would rather stay home and watch American Idol. How dare you say you love the Lord? You only love being entertained!! Your heart is FAR from God! Oh, for the days when a whole town would come out to listen to the Word of God! We live in the Laodicean age, folks, and God is going to SPEW you out of His mouth!

        1. Think of it as a woman back then. We can sit at home and sew, do laundry, clean the house, or we can ignore it all and get prettied up for a night out.

          Housework took all day (laundry took 2), then there was the cooking, too.

          A night out on a Summer night would have been welcomed.

        2. If today’s IFB pastors had their way, there would be no tv or radio or internet so they would be the only entertainment in town.

        3. “….We can sit at home and sew, do laundry, clean the house…..”

          Natalie – Do you mean you don’t do all that stuff now? :mrgreen:

        4. Well, of COURSE, I do… I also churn my own butter and cook everything from scratch… I even have my own grist mill.

          (the grist mill comes in handy for my liquor still out back)

        5. @Natalie – I do all that stuff now, but it’s because I’m a filthy, filthy hippie, and not in submission to my husband, so it doesn’t count. 😉

        6. @UptownHippie – That’s cool! I was joking of course with what I said, but I do truly cook and bake a lot of things from scratch. I learned how to make butter at my fundy high school (girls were REQUIRED to take a year and a half of home ec), but forgot it all.

          But, I love to cook, and a lot of things that I make take hours because I do them the hard way.

      2. Please watch the MarJoe series! He’s out of the Charasmatic camp but you see alot of the IFB mentality in his con-game as well. And at least Marjoe exposed the whole preachertainment industry in the end. I have more respect for Marjoe in the end than I do say a Phil Kidd, or a BULL GIPP, or any of their ilk.

        http://persifler.wordpress.com/2010/08/24/marjoe-1/

        all 10 parts are posted.

      3. I gather that people’s attention spans were much longer in the days before electronic media (films, TV, radio, computers, etc.).

        Long lectures (hours long), for example, were very popular public entertainments. Without any amplification, of course.

        I read that Harry Houdini’s usual act was to have people bind him with handcuffs, chains, ropes, straitjackets, and so on, and then disappear behind a curtain, or into a box or other container (a large milk can was one of his props). He would be there, in some cases for hours, while the audience waited and pretty much nothing happened. Then he would emerge, having freed himself of all the restraints. If the same act were done now, I suspect most of the audience would walk out after 30 minutes or so.

      4. I always thought the portrayal of revival in Tom Sawyer was pretty accurate. Everyone lives a “holy” life after the revival – for about two weeks.

        3. Sure sounds like the old self-righteous church of kalmazoo (or whatever city that was in the ray stevens song) to me.

        4. Looks like that tree could be loaded with squirrels… now they have a whole tent full of nuts… In that sleepy little town of Pascagoula.

          Wait a minute is that Brother Love’s Traveling Salvation Show? 😯 Whooo- Hooo!

          “Hot August night and the leaves hanging down
          and the grass on the ground smellin’ sweet
          Move up the road to the outside of town
          and the sound of that good gospel beat
          Sits a ragged tent where there ain’t no trees
          And that gospel group tellin’ you and me
          It’s Love Brother Love say Brother Love’s traveling salvation show
          Pack up the babies and grab the old ladies and everyone goes
          ‘Cause everyone knows Brother Love’s show
          Room gets suddenly still and when you’d almost bet
          You could hear yourself sweat he walks in
          Eyes black as coal and when he lifts his face
          Every ear in the place is on him
          Startin’ soft and slow like a small earthquake
          And when he lets go half the valley shakes
          It’s Love, Brother Love say Brother Loves traveling salvation show
          Pack up the babies and grab the old ladies and everyone goes
          ‘Cause everyone knows ’bout Brother Loves show
          (Halleluja) Brothers (Halle, halleluja) I say brothers”…. 😎

          More lyrics: http://www.lyricsfreak.com/n/neil+diamond/#share

  7. in 2002, my old church had revival services with a preacher who had just been at BJU for bible conference. i heard the exact same message twice which, among other things, gave a timely warning against listening to music by “petra, stryper, and rez band.” i’m sure he’s been preaching that same message word for word since 1988.

      1. ha ha… Al Jolson.

        Yeah, and that unholy “Smile” song by Charlie Chaplin is straight from down under.

  8. My former IFB church would have twice yearly “revival” services, which everyone was expected to attend (besides inviting the neighbors). They were expected to go pretty much like this.

    The church I now attend hasn’t had a revival service since I’ve been here (and probably not for some time before that, either). For some reason, I don’t feel the least bit guilty for not feeling guilty about this. 😈

  9. Evil thought: What if lighting hit that tree and it fell straght over and crushed the tent? A sign from God or satanic oppression? :mrgreen:

      1. Hey, this reminds me. Yesterday, I was organizing my little library, and my KJV kept falling down away from my other books. No matter what I did, it kept falling down. What’s funny (and this is the honest truth), the book beside it was a book that I bought at the Billy Graham Library, so I think that explains it.

        I think the KJV didn’t want to fellowship with the Graham book and start a different library on the other side of the house.

    2. True story from the Civil War.

      There was a revival in the Confederate camp and at the end of the service, 10 men came up to line the Mourner’s Bench and confess their sins and ask Jesus into their lives. Unbeknownst to anyone in the camp, a tree had been smouldering outside of the tent for days. At the moment the men were at the Mourner’s Bench, the tree fell over and killed all 10 men.

      I guess they went straight to glory!

    3. “Evil thought: What if lighting hit that tree and it fell straght over and crushed the tent? A sign from God or satanic oppression?”

      That depends. If it’s one them Toronto blessing/Brownsville Revival type of things, then it’s definitely a sign from God that the place is filled with liberal apostates. But if it’s something like a Sammy Allen camp meeting or true fundy service, well then it’s definitely satanic oppression.

  10. I”m pretty sure Revival means, “Man, the money is down. We gotta guilt these folks back up to generous 😀 .”

    3. Because

      ~tithing,
      ~faith promise missions,
      ~the building fund,
      ~vacation Bible school donations,
      ~church nursery donations,
      ~giving to pastor’s 7 year anniversary as our sheppard fund,
      ~Christian day school principal’s birthday fund,
      ~the “bus needs a new transmission fund”,
      ~”boy we sure could use new hymnals fund”,
      ~”let’s pave the parking lot fund”
      ~insert yours here

      has sucked the life out of them. 🙄

  11. This post is true. I always hated going to tent meetings when I was a kid. They always had them in the summer it seemed. In the deep south where I grew up that meant you would be uncomfortably hot and slowly drained white by mosquitoes.

    1. My church went one better. They’d have “camp meeting” revivals at the teen concentration camp… er, children’s home an hour away from church and out in the middle of nowhere. Yeah, whatever, but people went!

    1. Who nailed Darrell? I thought the guy was married!

      Fo shame!!!

      (sorry, I couldn’t resist… this site has sent my mind straight to the gutter)

    2. This feels like a “DamnYouAutoCorrect” type hilariousness, but I don’t think you can blame auto correct for omitting “it”.

      2. RobM you DO know that people who read that autocorrect thing are going straight to hell without passing go and no $200?

  14. “And once enough of these folks get saved and baptized and join Independent Fundamental Baptist churches around the country then the whole nation will turn around and we’ll get a good Independent Fundamental Bible-Believing Baptist in the White House and they Supreme Court who will outlaw all kinds of stuff we don’t like”

    That sounds more like hell then revival. But I grew up hearing something along these lines. Basically the thought was that this country is going down hill fast and the reason is because we need a revival. I thought then, and still think now, that the cure is worse then the disease. When you really hear out what a Fundy wants politically I don’t think they quite realize that it has been tried before and failed. Just look at the early part of the 20th century. In fact, after the fundamentalists tried and failed to enforce their morality much of the rest of the century was sort of a reaction to it. All the foundational laws or rulings that “prove” we are declining as a nation were in large part a reaction to their failed attempt at morality. If that is revival I don’t want it.

    “Revival: It’s a work of the Holy Spirit that is totally dependent on you.”
    And that really hits close to home. That is what it is all about. Revival was a symbol of self works to gain favor with God. That is essentially all it was, so unlike the great awakening or any other early american revivals. They constantly point back to those revivals, but completely miss what made those revivals work.

  15. Ok, I’ve thrown out all of my Richard Simmons workout videos and the assorted colorful outfits inspired by Richard that I would wear while working out.

    Now I’m just waiting to hear God say “Gee Willikers! 😀

    1. Okay, Greg. Now that I know what you look like from the YouTube vids, I just got an image of you in Richard Simmons couture.

      I could have lived my whole life without that image.

      😉

    2. I’m not getting rid of my Richard Simmons video. For one thing, he came up with a good workout for people with limited mobility. For another, after actually seeing him in person, I would up respecting him way more than I do any IFB preacher. At least RS is the real deal, which is more than I can say about certain evangelist-types.

      1. He is the real deal, and I have to say, he seems to genuinely love life and sincerely care about people.

      2. Richard Simmons is for real. I don’t think he’s faking anything.
        His style is sort of too sweet a flavor for my taste, but he seems to do a lot of good for a lot of people. At least, he consistently treats other people with love, which is not true of some of the evangelists we discuss here.

    1. So true.

      While I’m not sure I buy postmillenialism theologically, it does make for some excellent fiction. One of my favorite book series ever is Chris Walley’s Lamb among the Stars trilogy. (I’ll add an amazon link later when I’m not on my mobile.) Highly recommended.

  17. I haven’t heard “Is Your All on the Altar” in years, but as soon as you mentioned it, I remembered how much I hated it. Here are the words. If you think for more than a few seconds about what this hymn teaches, it’s terrible. It’s just completely terrible. The last verse especially: “Who can tell how much more God will love us if we put our all on the altar? P.S. If you’re not sure what your all is, ask your pastor/CEO. He’ll be happy to illuminate.” 👿

    1. You have longed for sweet peace,
    And for faith to increase,
    And have earnestly, fervently prayed;
    But you cannot have rest,
    Or be perfectly blest,
    Until all on the altar is laid.
    * Refrain:
    Is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid?
    Your heart does the Spirit control?
    You can only be blest,
    And have peace and sweet rest,
    As you yield Him your body and soul.
    2. Would you walk with the Lord,
    In the light of His word,
    And have peace and contentment alway?
    You must do His sweet will,
    To be free from all ill,
    On the altar your all you must lay.
    3. Oh, we never can know
    What the Lord will bestow
    Of the blessings for which we have prayed,
    Till our body and soul
    He doth fully control,
    And our all on the altar is laid.
    4. Who can tell all the love
    He will send from above,
    And how happy our hearts will be made;
    Of the fellowship sweet
    We shall share at His feet,
    When our all on the altar is laid.

    2. *twitch* *shudder*

      And that’s just from the theology – I can only imagine from the scansion and context the droopy, chromatic dirge that goes with it.

    4. It is classic Fundy theology, isn’t it? And here I always thought I didn’t like the song because I was rebellious.

    5. Argh! How many songs do I know by heart that are actually inaccurate (as well as extremely dated musically)? I’d never evaluated that one, but you’re right – vs. 4 says God will pour more love on me if I give Him my all. Sigh.

      Life was easier when I just blindly sang the hymnal without thinking. Now I have to actually evaluate the songs by biblical standards. What a lot of work! :mrgreen:

      1. Isn’t that part of the problem though. When we can’t paint everything as black or white, we actually have to use discernment and wisdom and apply them to the situation.

        Unfortuanately, when people think for themselves, they become harder to control, which is what many pastors/leaders want to do.

        1. Bingo! It is about control.
          The Pulpiteers are ok with you thinking… so long as you are thinking the right way like they have told you you should think. So, stop and think about your thinking and make sure that you are thinking the way your pulpiteer would think so that your thinking is in line with his thinking. Son’t go thinking for yourself, that is the kind of thinking that allows wrong thinking to enter in the fold and sheep are too dumb to think for themselves, that is who they have an undershepherd there to do their thinking for them. Only Wolves think for themselves and when they do that they attack the undershepherd, and scatter the sheep. And any attack on the undershepherd is an attack on God himself.
          Sheep must be controlled because sheep are stupid: you are stupid:
          that means you are a sheep:
          therefore you need a shepherd to rule over you.

          So what do you think about that? 😯

        3. Remember the BORG! My wife and I refer to the Borg a lot when it comes to IFB. “Resistance is futile!”

  18. “Revival: It’s a work of the Holy Spirit that is totally dependent on you.”
    Great summary! Well done Darrell. 🙂

  19. I always wanted to know why they wanted to have so many revivals… I guess it is because they knew the Church was dead and needed to be revived. God isn’t in these outward displays.

    1. I think it has to do with their inability to believe that church members will listen to God on their own. Also, you can’t leave them at loose ends for very long or they’ll start gossiping.

      When the United States was more of an agrarian society, the revivals came after harvest and before spring planting. I remember in one of the Little House books, Laura was creeped out in the revival meetings.

  21. Sounds like someone has been reading “Why Revival Tarries,” by Leonard Ravenhill.

    “Yeah, I’m working my way back to you, God
    With a Burning Love inside.
    Yeah. I’m working my way back to you, God
    With righteousness un-denied.” 😎

  22. I pretty much grew up within revivalism. This post does bring back some really uncomforatble feelings (even though I have been out for more than a decade.

    All jokes aside, I think Christ’s words regarding making little ones stumble, millstones and the depths of the sea is PARTICULARLY applicable to these “revivalist” phoneys. 👿

  23. One of my biggest struggles to this revivalist mentality is that it all comes down to ME. IF God didn’t bring revival then there is someone who is not right with God, hindering His moving. Whenever I walked away from one of those meetings and I hadn’t felt the “moving” of the Holy Spirit manifested in me with tears, a run to the altar and a plea of ” Woe is me, I am undone, Lord slay me!” I felt like I was the one hindering thousands from getting saved and the world being spared for another day.
    Seriously.
    Am I the only one who just felt covered in guilt or was that truly “conviction”…?

    1. And here’s the whole problem with the mentality of “hindering God”… He’s GOD!

      If He can use a donkey, He can use anything.

      1. And, I feel the same way about the argument against birth control. If God wants to create a life, He’s going to do it regardless of our futile efforts. That’s why women get pregnant on birth control.

        People think they have way more control over life than they truly do.

        *stepping off my soapbox*

        1. Uh … are you saying birth control has no effect? That’s demonstrably untrue. (And thank God for birth control, by the way.)

          But I think your main point is that nobody is as powerful as God, which is certainly true.

        4. Oh, Don, Gary’s just a big bully who’s a meany and he’s now on my Not Speaking To List and I’m taking my butt cushion and moving to the other side of the church from him, because I’m so offended.

          (jk, Gary… hugs hugs) 😉

        5. That birth control stuff didn’t do anything for those girls I was sharing glasses of water with, apparently.

        7. Birth control means nothing to God. I know a woman whose husband had a vasectomy before they got married, and she just had her third baby.

          (Me? I think I’d sue the doctor that did the procedure!)

        9. Susan, I don’t think that the fact that a doctor botched an operation is proof of God’s will, but then I can’t claim any perfect knowledge of what God wills.

        10. Here’s the way I look at that. The ONLY way life can be breathed into a human being is if God wills it. We don’t put the soul and spirit of a human into them. Sure, DNA says that they’ll be brown-haired and stubborn, etc. But, the very heart of that person, the part that will live eternally, comes from God.

          HENCE, if a life happens, then God allowed it to happen and thus, was God’s will. It may not have happened in perfect circumstances, but He still allowed it. And, that’s why life is so precious.

          That’s all I’m saying.

      2. For the record, I wasn’t calling anyone a donkey, I was saying that no one can hinder God. 😉

    2. Y-e-a-h, pretty sure that was manufactured guilt from works sanctification preaching.
      Looking back I get whizzed off at myself for that whole load of guilt I would feel sometimes thinking I was the “hindrance” in a service. Ticks me off more that that crap is preached as truth. Wish I could go back to one of those guiltfests and stand up and shout BULL GIPP! God have mercy on those pulpiteers who saddle folks with that crap.

      *dismounts soap-box…Sticks the landing*

        1. Oooh, here I am picking on you at the same time you’re standing up for me above…

          I should feel bad… but…

          😉

    3. It’s guilt, not real conviction!

      My poor hubby is so super-sensitive that he gets guilted to death at revival altar calls. He hates altar calls. Unfortunately, now that I’ve got him to a church that doesn’t do them (at least not in the same way as the Fundies and SBCs), he thinks it’s wrong that they’re not there. The programming is way too deep.

      Is there any such thing as guilt addiction? 🙁

      1. I would have to say, Yes there is. It is part and parcel of the cult mentality. Guilt is a highly charged emotion, and emotionalism is a halmark of Fundieism.

        1. Isn’t that funny…being addicted to guilt and harsh condemning preaching…its strange because it is so wrong yet when you sit under someone who doesn’t scream or make you feel crushed by guilt you feel like something is missing…detoxing from the IFBX world is just a messed up thing sometimes..

        2. You are right, Don. The leaders of these “churches” want you to be addicted. When I brought the subject up to one of them, he smiled and said he was addicted to breathing…and food. Wow! Switch and bait or something like that.

        3. @ I am His Beloved: I can relate. When I got into a healthy church, I thought this can’t be a good preacher. He’s not manipulating and intimidating.

          And he wasn’t. He was giving the Holy Spirit room to work.

        4. It’s sort of like thinking meat has to be well-done and gristly to be good for you. Then you get a deliciously cooked, medium rare filet mignon and you think, “This is meat? Really?” Oh, yes, and it’s good! And preaching can be convey the meat of the Word and still be devoid of the yelling, manipulation, guilt trips, hyperbole, etc.

        5. Absolutely yes, there is such a thing as being addicted to guilt. It’s a form of self-flagellation, self-imposed penance. If I FEEL bad enough about it, maybe somehow I can atone for my sin.

          Pour some grace into those wounds. Try something like good preaching on the iPod or even some solid music (Tenth Avenue North’s song “You Are More” makes for some excellent meditation–look on youtube). Or, hey, curl up with the gospels or some good St. Paul for a bit.

  24. The most incidious part of revivalism is it has the same effect as a junkie coming down from his high… just like the dope addict the spiritual junkie will do anything to get back there to that orgasmic emotional, spiritual, experience.

    That is why you see so much legalism in these burnt over areas. That is why Mt. Airy, NC is the IFB captial of NC. They had a “revival” break out up there in the 80’s… When the euphoria died down and they actually had to face the reality of the Christin life, they couldn’t handle it and they have been trying to get back to those “Old Paths” ever since.
    To this day you hear the sermons up there about the time of Revival in Mt. Airy… and they are still trying to get another fix like that. They settle for a weekly fix of how to live their life so that God will hook’em up with another dose of Revival. 🙁

    1. Agreeing w/ Don about the “emotional high” effect. People walk down an aisle, “surrendering their lives” and “leaving their all on the altar”, hoping that whatever struggles, hidden sins they have will just automatically disappear. It’s completely discouraging when the next day, you find yourself doing the SAME SIN again. What? Didn’t I just leave my all on the altar last night??

  25. This post will definitely make the top 10 for 2011. I never did understand how anyone could schedule revival. Our former church scheduled one every October. Last year’s featured guest speaker was Dr. (muffled cough, clear throat) Ron Comfort. We already had one foot out the door by that time. Needless to say, we sprinted to freedom from there.

    1. Someone a few posts back had a wonderful testimony of his mother and father getting saved at a Ron Comfort meeting many years ago, as I recall the guy’s father had been a terrible drunk, and now he and his wife have been living for the Lord ever since. Praise God!

      1. God can work with or in spite of our best efforts. Just because people got saved under someone’s ministry does not mean that they are doing everything correctly.

        Fundies tend to believe that a person must be doing everything right for God to work (or we would get in the way), and so it was always an interesting conversation when someone would complain about Billy Graham or someone like that. I would ask then ask them if people converted under his ministry were legitimate. After a long pause they would answer yes, and then I would say something to the effect of, “Well, if God is using Billy Graham’s ministry to bring people to himself, then I am not going to complain about him.” Then there would be a tremendous awkard silence followed by, “I guess so.” Paul even said something similar when people were complaining about other preachers.

      2. I agree that God can use anyone to reach the unsaved. As a matter of fact, He doesn’t need a pastor or any of us for that matter. (Believe me if He can use me, He can use anyone.) What I do know is that I have heard Ron Comfort preach on several occasions and had several disgreements with some of what was said and did not appreciate his style of calling people out. He would ask all to bow their head and close their eyes during the invitation. Then during the alter call he would point people out who raised their hands if they didn’t come forward. “You, lady with the red hair wearing the blue sweater in the back, you raised your hand. Why are you not at the alter?” Several members of our church, including deacons, ask the pastor to NOT have him back. Unfortunately our requests were not honored and that was just one more reason for us to move on.

        1. The first church where I was a YP at, during revival one of the families brought their sister and her girlfriend.
          The evangelist during the invitation walked halfway down the isle to where they were sitting, and in front of everyone asked if he could pray with them about their lifestyle.
          They never came back and we lost the family too.
          It broke my heart to watch this unfold in front of me.

  26. I never realized that I had such power. Like the proverbial Dutch Boy with his finger in the dyke, I have the power to personally hold back the floods of revival. Oh that my influence would extend into some secular areas. I’d put my scruples on hold and go to Las Vegas and pull up a chair to the blackjack tables.

      4. :snerk:

        I can’t believe we had two slipups in one thread. George is getting a little feisty.

      7. Every once in a while, it’s nice to see how many people paid attention in their spelling class. Looks like a few people stayed awake.

    1. I think he should promptly find the closest revival service and go forward during the invitation, repenting of not only using a minced oath, but putting it in the mouth, so to speak, of God Himself. Pray for our dear brother Darrell. Sin lieth at the door.

      1. I totally agree, PW, and he’s hindered me several times. In fact, these days, I’ve found myself going OUT to eat instead of doing all the cooking at home, actually TALKING to my husband instead of doing my crocheting, and having dreams of going on a vacation in places where there is no independent, fundamental, KJV, soul-winning church.

        Yep, I blame my whole sinful lot on Darrell.

        Mmm-hmmm.

        1. Well I certainly hope when you go out to eat you are not doing so at an establishment that serves alcohol. A weaker brother/sister could see you going in and think “well Natalie’s in there boozing it up, think I’ll go home and drink a fifth of vodka” :mrgreen:

      2. And causing us weaker brothers and sisters to sin.

        PW, I thought you wrote “closet” revivals. Come to think of it, that might work well.

  28. I sometimes pray that God would bring revival to ME. It is MY heart that needs to be changed. America, Politicians, other churches…those are things that I have no control over. The lust, pride, and idolatry in my heart…that is what scares me.

    I’m going to try to start there and point the finger at myself before I look down on anyone else.

  31. “Ain’t been no revival since they started messin with my bible…”

    Said very loudly holding the KJV with one hand over the head and the index finger pointing towards the crowd!

  32. This might be your best post ever Darrell..

    “Revival: It’s a work of the Holy Spirit that is totally dependent on you.”

    This is so right on the money. WOW

  33. I was a student in my church’s academy last revival so I got a double wammy. When my friends and I were uneffected we were thought to be fools and scorners. About two weeks later, my youth pastor showed everyone Scripture that eventually led to my escape from religion. All the students were reading their Bible in their free time and we were never happier. The church and staff didn’t like this at all and eventually 4 families (my youth pastor’s and mine included) left and were labelled as heratics.

  35. Been to more than one IFB “revival”. I always thought it strange that the same people who preached against bake sales/yard sales/etc, saying that “God will support His own!” were the same ones who allowed guest preachers and singers to bring their wares to sell. Of course when I questioned it to my IFB boyfriend I got a stern lecture on how that was the only way they made money and they were entitled to be paid for their services. He missed the point entirely.

    1. Always liked how the pastors friends and family could come by and they would be allowed to preach a revival and of course a generous love offering was given. Nothing like using church members.

  36. My grandmother’s pastor’s wife (fundamentalist Southern Baptist) posted a youtube video of Paul Washer (not a IFB but still a fundie, I believe) on Facebook about Revival. I am tempted to watch it but being OCD and recovering from spiritual abuse, I can’t relapse and trigger my fear.

    But if any healthier brothers and sisters want to watch.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cosxzl41E9E

  37. Jessica, I’ve experienced the same thing. I always come back here to get the sense knocked back into me. 😉

    1. You also write “OMG”! Your blasphemy and indecency (the shorts) must be the primary reason widespread revival has not swept across America. I hope you’re proud of yourself, Greg. 😉

    2. What if I don’t wear anything to bed? I’m holding back revival. Shame on me!

  41. Revival is indeed a work of the Holy Ghost. However The Lord will draw nigh unto us when we draw nigh unto Him. If in fact if we have a desire for revival many times the Lord will grant it. The problem is many do not have a desire for it. I would assume “Revivals” are scheduled to try to cultivate that desire within his people through music, worship, and preaching. It cannot be a work of man. However God does honor His Word and inhabits the praise of His people.

  43. The whole thing is awesome, but that second to last and last paragraph sent me into a giggling fit. Magnifico!!! 😆 You are a genius with your sentence structure, Darrell.

  44. I will say that is good to desire revival and to pray for it. and keep on praying for it. we should keep our hearts and minds open to what GOD wants to do, HIS way. God does weird stuff sometimes.

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