Preparing for Revival Fire

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Preparing for Revival Fire

Jerry Steingard

Jerry Steingard is pastor of the Jubilee Vineyard in Stratford, Ontario, Canada. In January 1995, he wrote these revised reflections on the 'Toronto blessing'.

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God's presence intensified (fullness)

God's purposes accelerated (fulfilment)

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We have been enjoying a 'season of refreshment' from the presence of the Lord (Acts 3:19) in Ontario during the past twelve months. We are calling it renewal, a precursor to revival. It began when John Arnott, pastor of the Toronto Airport Vineyard invited Randy Clark, Pastor of a Vineyard church in St. Louis, to come and conduct four nights of meetings in Toronto, commencing on 20 January, 1994. (Randy Clark had been prayed for by Rodney Howard-Browne several months previously.) The Lord surprised everyone by coming in power! Toronto Airport continues to run nightly meetings, except Mondays.

Conservative estimates are that at least 75,000 different people have attended from around the world, of which 10,000 are pastors. Many of these leaders have been significantly touched, refreshed and are consequently seeing their churches renewed.

Randy Clark and John and Carol Arnott came to our church, Jubilee Vineyard Christian Fellowship, the first weekend in February, 1994, to lead meetings with us. Many of us had already been touched by the services in Toronto, but the presence and power of the Holy Spirit were dramatically manifested in our midst on this weekend. As pastor of this church of about 275 people, it was overwhelming for me to see the auditorium floor strewn with bodies like the slain upon a battlefield!

All the strange phenomena that have often accompanied revivals of the past were happening right before my eyes with adults, teens, and children alike - falling, shaking, jerking, visions, prophecies, healings, laughter and tears! On the one hand I was thrilled; I knew this was of God. Yet I was stressed out because a pastor likes to have a good handle on what is happening with those in his flock. I personally have been refreshed and touched by the Spirit of God time and time again in this fresh move of God and in ways never experienced before. The same goes for my wife and three children. In fact my kids often beg to go to the meetings! They love to see God move.

In February we ran nightly meetings for three weeks, then went to only Thursday nights. Christians from many other churches in the area have come and been touched and now good things are happening in their churches.

I am thrilled to see much good fruit in our people in all this. We have observed that God is presently refreshing his people as well as empowering them for service. For example, the shaking is often an impartation of prophetic and/or intercessory gifts. In the first few weeks we saw about a dozen converts, a couple of dozen prodigals return to the Lord, an increase in hunger for the reading of God's word, worship and passion for Jesus, more prayer activity, physical and emotional healings, demonic bondages broken, repentance, and reconciliation in relationships.

We are seeing God raising up an army of intercessors, worshippers, prophetic people and teams to go out and minister elsewhere. We are finding the principle true: 'freely receive, freely give'. We get to keep what we are willing to give away!

This move is not about us, not about the Vineyard. It is about God and his grace and sovereignty. And we are believing God for more waves of his Spirit to come - not just to refresh and renew the church but to powerfully touch our neighbourhoods, our cities, and the nations with full blown revival.

Let us continue to embrace the cross, submit to Scripture, and also 'keep in step with the Spirit'. 'The kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power' (1 Corinthians 4:20).

'Now is the time of God's favour, now is the day of salvation' (2 Corinthians 6:2).

Preparing for revival

Winkie Pratney (1994:8,9) suggests we try this little survey with Christians:

How many of you know we need a revival?

How many of you want a revival?

How many of you know what a revival is?

How many of you have ever experienced a true revival?

Most would raise their hands to the first two questions. In fact, according to George Gallup, Jr., in the eighties, 80% of U.S.A. wanted a revival - including the lost! But very few would have an idea as to what a genuine revival really is, let alone ever experienced one.

It is imperative at this time in history that we get a better handle on this thing called revival. Hopefully this paper (used as seminar notes on the subject) can be of some help in this need for understanding by responding to the following six questions:

1. What is revival?

2. Why is revival needed?

3. When has revival occurred before?

4. Should we expect to see revival again soon?

5. What hinders revival?

6. How can we promote revival?

1. What is revival?

The term revival is not technically found in the Bible. Neither is Trinity for that matter, yet both concepts are found throughout the Bible.


Various forms of the verb revive are frequently used as well as such words as restore, renew, awaken, and refresh, for example:

Psalm 85:6 - 'Will you not revive us again that your people may rejoice in you' (prayer request).

Isaiah 57:15 - 'I revive the spirit of the humble and revive the heart of the contrite' (promise of God).

The theme of revival is described at times in such terms as an outpouring of the Spirit (like rain or fire falling or wind blowing), the renewing of God's mighty deeds (Habakkuk 3:2), the glory of the Lord returning to his temple (Malachi 3:1), God healing the land (2 Chronicles 7:14) and the time of God's visitation with his manifest presence (Micah 7:4; Luke 19:44).

(a) Definitions and descriptions of revival

* To revive is 'to live again' (1 Kings 17:22; 2 Kings 13:21).

* 'When God comes down [Isaiah 64:1,2], God's Word comes home [Nehemiah 8-9; Acts 2:37], God's purity comes through, God's people come alive [Acts 2, overflow of joy and vitality], and outsiders come in' [Acts 2:41, 47; 1 Corinthians 14:25 'God is really among you'] (Packer 1984:244-245; Scriptures added).

* 'The inrush of the Spirit into a body that threatens to become a corpse' (D. M. Panton, cited in Wallis 1956:46).

* 'Revival is man retiring into the background because God has taken the field. It is the Lord making bare his holy arm and working in extraordinary power on saint and sinner' (Wallis 1956:20).

* 'Revival is divine military strategy; first to counteract spiritual decline, and then to create spiritual momentum' (Wallis 1956:45).

* 'Revival is like a rocket ship that gets us back up into the orbit of New Testament Christianity' (Charles Simpson, sermon 27 May 1994).

* God's presence intensified (fullness), God's purposes accelerated (fulfilment); (based on Bryant 1984:72-91, 169).

(b) Characteristics of revival

Revival is usually comprised of two stages: internal revival or 'renewal' (the church is set on fire and prodigals begin to come home) followed by external revival (conversion of those outside on a mass scale).

'True revival is marked by widespread repentance both within the church and among unbelievers' (Wimber 1994:4).

This repentance is the result of God coming in power, revealing his holiness and our sinfulness. One comes into the agonising grip of a holy God and is brought under awesome conviction. This manifested presence of God creates a divine 'radiation zone'.

Here are two examples:

During the 1859 revival, no town in Ulster was more deeply stirred than Coleraine. A schoolboy in class became so troubled about his soul that the schoolmaster sent him home. An older boy, a Christian, went with him and before they had gone far, led him to Christ. Returning at once to school, this new convert testified to his teacher: 'Oh, I am so happy! I have the Lord Jesus in my heart.' These artless words had an astonishing effect; boy after boy rose and silently left the room. Going outside the teacher found these boys all on their knees, ranged along the wall of the playground. Very soon their silent prayer became a bitter cry; it was heard by another class inside and pierced their hearts. They fell on their knees, and their cry for mercy was heard in turn by a girls' class above. In a few moments, the whole school was on their knees! Neighbours and passers-by came flocking in and all as they crossed the threshold came under the same convicting power. 'Every room was filled with men, women, and children seeking God' ...

During the same 1859 revival in America, ships entered a definite zone of heavenly influence as they drew near port. Ship after ship arrived with the same talk of sudden conviction and conversion. A captain and an entire crew of thirty men found Christ at sea and arrived at port rejoicing. This overwhelming sense of God bringing deep conviction of sin is perhaps the outstanding feature of true revival. Its manifestation is not always the same; to cleansed hearts it is heaven; to convicted hearts it is hell (Pratney 1994:24-25).

2. Why is revival needed?

Throughout biblical history and church history the hearts of God's people perpetually cool off and harden towards him, creating the need for revival. Nehemiah 9:25-28 describes this cycle or pattern of spiritual decline and renewal which involves six stages (Lovelace 1979:62-80):

1. God's people are alive and in love with him.

2. Spiritual decline - hearts are subtly cooling off.

3. Hearts of stone.

4. The Lord disciplines those he loves (for example, Israelites were taken into exile).

5. Cry for mercy - intercession and repentance.

6. God pours out his Spirit and revives his people.

Where in this cycle is the church in this country today?

3. When has revival occurred before?

The Bible records at least a dozen revivals within its history (Kaiser 1986:12-13) and many movements of renewal and revival took place prior to and including the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century and the Puritan and Pietist movements of the 17th century. Here I will focus upon the major revivals of Europe and North America of the last 250 years.

Note that the intensity of a revival may last only a few years, but the effects are felt in the church and society for decades to come.

The First Awakening (1727-80)

1727-80 (approximate dates) in Germany: Count Zinzendorf and the Moravians, with unity, prayer (their 24 hour prayer vigil lasted over 100 years!), and missions. Their motto was 'To win for the Lamb that was slain the reward of his suffering.'

1734-60 in North America's 13 colonies: Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield, with prayer and preaching.

1740-80 in Great Britain: John and Charles Wesley and George Whitefield with outdoor preaching and class meetings (home cells).

Revival brought many social reforms including the abolition of slavery in Great Britain. Some historians believe this revival saved England from a bloody revolution like the one in France.

Then came a gradual spiritual slide. By 1794 moral conditions had reached their worst. For example, John Marshall, Chief Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court, a concerned believer, wrote his assessment to Methodist Bishop Madison of Virginia stating, 'The church is too far gone to ever be redeemed'. The famous agnostic Voltaire declared, 'Christianity will be forgotten in 30 years'. Later Voltaire's home became the headquarters for the Geneva Bible Society (Relfe 1988:26).

The Second Awakening (1792-1842)

1792 in England: William Carey, 'Father of the modern missionary movement' took as his motto, 'Expect great things from God, attempt great thing for God.'

By about 1800 revival fires were burning once again in the U. S. A. In the East, Timothy Dwight was used in the college setting. On the Western frontier, James McGready, Barton Stone and Peter Cartwright gave leadership.

In 1821 Charles Finney, a lawyer, was converted and became an evangelist and social reformer. This revival was characterised by evangelistic camp meetings, social reforms and missions. Finney's ministry overlapped the second and third awakenings.

The Third Awakening (1857-59)

1857 in North America: Called 'the Prayer Revival' it began when Dr Walter and Phoebe Palmer from New York City went to Hamilton, Ontario in early October. Revival broke out, then went south of the border.

Jeremiah Lanphier, a business man, began noon prayer meetings in New York City in September 1857. Within 6 months, up to 10,000 business men were praying daily for revival.

J. Edwin Orr states that 'revival went up the Hudson and down the Mohawk. The Baptists had so many people to baptise they could not get them in the churches. They went down to the river, cut a square hole in the ice and baptised them. When Baptists do that, they really are on fire!' (Relfe 1988:48). The revival spread from New York to Philadelphia and throughout the country. The emphasis was on prayer.

Revival spread to Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland as well.

The fruit of this revival was 2 million converts (1 million within the church, 1 million from without) and in the following years slavery was abolished, and there were reforms in prisons, labour, education, and medical care.

Fourth Awakening (1904-7)

1904-5 in Wales: Youth and children featured in the Welsh revival. The key leader was Evan Roberts, aged 26 (and his brother Dan, aged 20, and his sister Mary, aged 16). Leaders came from around the world and were humbled to see how God used teens and children. Evan and others were not eloquent preachers but good followers of the Holy Spirit.

Their motto was 'Bend the church and save the world'. Evan Roberts' vision of seeing 100,000 converted in Wales was fulfilled in less than one year. People got converted just reading about the revival in the newspapers!

Crime dropped off to the point where many courtrooms and jails were empty and judges and police had very little to do. Horses in the coal mines were accustomed to obeying commands that involved yelling and cursing. Since the vast majority of miners were converted, the horses were confused with commands that were humane and wholesome, so the horses needed retraining!

Prior to the revival Wales was in a frenzy over their favourite sport, soccer. With the revival, the stadiums stood empty. No-one preached against soccer. The players and fans had simply become so captivated with the Lord that they were no longer interested in the game (Joyner 1993:51).

The fire spread throughout Great Britain, Scandinavia, Europe, Africa, India, Korea, as well as the U.S.A. The pastors of Atlantic City, New Jersey, reported only 50 adults not converted in a population of 50,000! The First Baptist Church in Paducoh, Kentucky, had 1,000 converts in two months and the elderly pastor, Dr J. J. Cheek, died of exhaustion (Krupp 1988:22).

In California, Bartleman, Seymore, and Smale were impacted by the reports and booklets on the revival in Wales in 1905 as well as from letters of encouragement from Evan Roberts. Shortly thereafter the Azusa Street Revival erupted into the great Pentecostal Revival that saw 5 million converts from 1905-7 and continues to impact millions of lives to this day.

Twentieth century

The twentieth century has been called by some 'The Century of the Holy Spirit'. Although we have not witnessed a major revival since the turn of the century, since 1947 God has been bringing smaller scaled revivals and renewal movements such as:

1947-53 - the Latter Rain movement in western Canada and the U.S.A.

1949 - Hebrides Islands, Scotland.

Here is a wonderful example of how a revival causes a geographical area to become a divine 'radiation zone' of conviction and repentance.

Duncan Campbell, en evangelist, came to the Island of Lewis in the Hebrides Islands. On the first night of his arrival, he preached in a church building. When he left the building at 11 p.m. he found 600 gathered outside, 100 from the nearby dance hall, the other 500 who had been awakened, got out of bed, and felt compelled to walk to this place. Campbell preached the gospel to them till 4 a.m., at which time he was requested to come to the police station where 400 people were gathered, baffled as to why they were there. On his way to the station he came across other people along the road who were crying out to God for mercy! Revival continued for 3 years with 75% of the converts coming to Jesus outside of church buildings (Krupp 1988:26-7).

The 1960s and 1970s saw the emergence of the charismatic renewal movement, including the Jesus Movement of the early 1970s.

The 1980s and 1990s saw the 'Third Wave' movement' or the 'signs and wonders' movement and the 'prophetic' movement. Peter Wagner describes three waves of the Holy Spirit in this century, each continuing to be used by God: the Pentecostal movement, the charismatic movement (largely in the Catholic Church and mainline Protestant churches), and the 'Third Wave' movement which is primarily impacting the evangelical churches.

4. Should we expect to see revival again soon?

YES!

Many 'third world' countries in Africa, and Central and South America, as well as China and Korea, have been experiencing revival fires for a number of years.

Why should we expect to see revival again soon?

a. Biblical texts that create such expectation include:

Habakkuk 2:14 - 'for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.' (Reinhard Bonnke, evangelist in Africa, says, 'not one spot stays dry at the bottom of the sea.')

Joel 2:23 - 'He sends you abundant showers, both autumn (early) and spring (latter) rains.' Early rains soften the ground, making it suitable for ploughing and sowing. With the approach of harvest, heavy rain (latter) returns to swell and mature grain and fruit in preparation for the time of reaping. Pentecost marked the beginning of former rains. After the Reformation, outpourings became more distinct and significant. Latter rain is in preparation for the day of harvest.

Joel 2:28, 31 - 'I will pour out my Spirit on all people ... before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.'

Acts 2 - Pentecost, a partial fulfilment of Joel.

Acts 3:19,20 - 'repent, turn to God, .....

John 14:12 - 'will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these' (miracles). Not fulfilled yet!

John 17 - In his priestly prayer, Jesus prays for Christian unity. This prayer has not been fulfilled yet. Of all the prayers the Father answers, would not his Son's be answered? Rick Joyner says, ' Jesus is coming back for a bride, not a harem.'

Ephesians 5:26,27 - Jesus is preparing the bride to be presented to himself as pure, holy and radiant.

b. Based on previous patterns, revival usually occurs in a day of deep moral and spiritual bankruptcy. 'Before a great awakening, there must come a rude awakening' (Murillo 1985:11). The worst of times, in other words, precipitates the best of times. Who could deny the desperate need for a mighty revival in our day? Famine, poverty, pollution, war, crime, abortion, drug abuse, massive economic instability, and such like, stare us in the face. Nate Krupp (1988:34) argues that 'we are at a point in history where it is either world revival or world destruction.'

c. Church historians, theologians and church leaders are predicting it. Many leaders have discerned that God is up to something big! He's preparing new wineskins for the new wine, a fireplace for the fire, and barns for the harvest. Many even say that previous revivals are but a rehearsal for the big ones to come. 'Our study of awakening movements only turns up what appear to be rehearsals for some final revelation of the full splendour of God's kingdom... It is hard to believe that God will not grant the church some greater experience of wholeness and vitality than has yet appeared in the stumbling record of her history' (Lovelace 1979:425).

d. Many prophets of our day in unison are expecting it in the 1990s and beyond. These include Mike Bickle, Paul Cain, Rick Joyner, and John Paul Jackson.

e. The growing emphasis on prayer. Prayer mobilisation today is unprecedented in history. Examples include men's prayer movements, women's intercessory groups, youth in schools, Marches for Jesus, '10-40 Window' prayer project, city wide pastors' prayer fellowships, and so on. History demonstrates that revival is always preceded by a groundswell of prayer.

f. It's God's heart to bring revival. He longs to renew, restore, awaken us, and redeem humanity much more than we want him to. God is committed to renew his people and see the nations come to himself. 'Ask of me and I will make the nations your inheritance' (Psalm 2:8).

5. What hinders revival?

Don't be a 'fire-fighter' or a 'wet blanket'.

From a safe distance of several hundred years or several thousand miles, revival clearly looks invigorating. What could be more glamorous than a mighty work of God in our midst, renewing thousands and converting tens of thousands. ... But if we find ourselves in the midst of revival, rather than being invigorated, we may be filled with scepticism, disgust, anger, or even fear...

The irony of revivals is that they are so longed for in times of barrenness, but they are commonly opposed and feared when they arrive. ... The hostility in never to the idea of revival, which is ardently prayed for, but to God's answer to our prayers and the unexpected form it may take (White 1988:34, 39).

Why does revival produce all this opposition?

'We grow angry when we are scared. We fear what we cannot understand' (White 1988:41).

a. Fear of change and losing control

We are creatures of habit (as in nostalgia, traditionalism); changes unsettle us. We fear the unknown, the unfamiliar, and the unpredictable.

b. Fear of emotions

We should be scared of emotionalism, the artificial manipulation of emotion, but emotion itself comes from seeing, from understanding. When the Holy Spirit awakens people, he seems to cause them to perceive truth more vividly ... people see their sin as stinking cancer that will kill them and see the mercy of the Saviour with the eyes of those who have been snatched from a horrible death (White 1988:51).

Jonathan Edwards called emotions 'holy affections' and said they are essential for spiritual life. A hear heart (heart of stone) is an unaffected heart, a heart not moved by divine truth and revelation.

c. Fear of bizarre behaviour

Examples of unusual behaviour in revivals include shaking, jerking, falling, weeping, screaming, laughing, prophesying and being 'drunk in the spirit'.

Three questions must be asked about this:

i. Has it happened among the people of God before (the biblical and historical precedence)?

ii. What is the fruit of it?

iii. How do we explain these phenomena?

i. Has it happened before?

Yes, these phenomena of bizarre behaviour have happened among God's people during heightened spiritual activity. Martyn Lloyd-Jones points out that

it comes nearer to being the rule in revival that phenomena begin to manifest themselves - phenomena such as these ... people are in agony of soul and groaning ... sometimes people are so convicted and feel the power of the Spirit to such an extent that they faint and fall to the ground. Sometimes there are even convulsions, physical convulsions. And sometimes people seem to fall into a state of unconsciousness, into a kind of trance, and many remain like that for hours (1987:110-111).

There are also certain mental phenomena... You will find this phenomena of prophecy, this ability to foretell the future, frequently present (1987:135).

Martyn Lloyd-Jones goes onto say that 'these phenomena are not essential to revival ... yet it is true to say that, on the whole, they do tend to be present when there is a revival (1987:134). John White's research has brought him to the same conclusion.

Note these biblical examples:

1. 1 Samuel 10:11 - Saul was in a trance, prophesying when the Spirit came upon him (also 1 Samuel 19:23-24).

2. 2 Chronicles 5:13-14 - The glory of the Lord filled the temple so the priests were unable to stand to minister.

3. Ezekiel 1:28; 3:23; 43:4; 44:4 - Ezekiel fell face down before the glory of the Lord.

4. Daniel 8:17-18 - Daniel collapsed and sank into a deep sleep during a vision and an angelic visitation (also Daniel 10:7-11 - no strength left; on the ground trembling).

5. Matthew 17:6; Luke 9:32 - On the Mount of Transfiguration the disciples fell face down to the ground, but also became heavy with sleep.

6. John 18:6 - When the soldiers came to arrest Jesus they fell to the ground when Jesus said, "I am he".

7. Matthew 28:4 - On the morning of Jesus' resurrection the guards at the tomb 'shook and became like dead men'.

8. Acts 2 - At the Day of Pentecost the place shook, they spoke in strange tongues, and they behaved like being drunk. Peter responded (Acts 2:15) that 'they are not drunk as you suppose'. Paul makes a comparison between being drunk with wine and being filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18).

9. Acts 9 - Saul on the road to Damascus fell to the ground, blinded by the glory. Later, in a trance-like condition he had a vision (2 Corinthians 12).

10. Revelation 1:17 - The apostle John said, 'When I saw him I fell at his feet as though dead.'

Not only in Scripture do we find that frail human bodies are affected by the manifest presence of God, but most revivals in history have had physical and emotional manifestations of the Holy Spirit. Some examples:

1. Jonathan Edwards, the great leader of the First Awakening of the 1730s and 1740s in New England wrote to a friend saying, 'many of the young people and children appeared to be overcome with a sense of the greatness and glory of divine things ... and many others at the same time were overcome with distress about their sinful and miserable state and condition; so that the whole room was full of nothing but outcries, faintings and such like. ... many were overpowered and continued there for some hours (Stacy 1842:546 in DeArteaga 1992:39-40).

2. John Wesley and George Whitefield spoke of the strange physical phenomena that took place in their meetings in England as well. Wesley describes in his Journal:

Monday, Jan. 1, 1739 - Mr Hall, Kinchin, Ingham, Whitfield, Lane, with about sixty of our brethren. About three in the morning, as we were continuing instant in prayer, the power of God came mightily upon us, insomuch that many cried out for exceeding joy, and many fell to the ground. As soon as we were recovered a little from that awe and amazement at the presence of his Majesty, we broke out with one voice, 'We praise Thee, O God; we acknowledge Thee to be the Lord' (MacNutt 1990:98).

Following the two events of John Wesley's Aldersgate experience, May 24, 1738, and this January 1, 1739 encounter, the supernatural element in his ministry became more pronounced. For fourteen years it was hardly there; for the next fifty it was (MacNutt 1990:98).

3. MacNutt (1990: 104) tells us that early in George Whitefield's career,

when he was working with Wesley in England and people started to fall, Whitefield decided to register a protest by letter: 'I cannot think it right in you to give so much encouragement to these convulsions which people have been thrown into in your ministry.' Ironically enough, when Whitefield came to confront Wesley in person he found himself reprimanded by reality, for when he, Whitefield, was preaching the next day, 'four persons sunk down close to him, almost in the same moment. One of them lay without sense or motion. A second trembled exceedingly. The third has strong convulsions all over his body, but made no noise, unless by groans. The fourth, equally convulsed, called upon God, with strong cries and tears. From this time,' Wesley writes, 'I trust we shall all suffer God to carry on his own work in the way that pleaseth him.'

'By the time he journeyed to America, Whitefield's preaching was ordinarily accompanied by people toppling over:

Some were struck pale as death, others were wringing their hands, others lying on the ground, other sinking into the arms of their friends' (Dallimore 1980:392-3, cited in MacNutt 1990:104).

4. Bishop Francis Ashbury, appointed by Wesley in 1771 as a missionary to the colonies, was a very disciplined man who insisted on meetings being conducted in a proper fashion, yet his meetings were characterised by shouting, falling, crying, and the 'jerks' (MacNutt 1990:107).

5. At the Cane Ridge camp meetings of 1801, which featured mostly Presbyterian preachers, one observer reported that

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 piteous accents... While witnessing these scenes, a peculiarly-strange sensation, such as I had never felt before, came over me. My heart beat tumultuously, my knees trembled, my lip quivered, and I felt as though I must fall to the ground... Soon after, I left and went into the woods, and there I strove to rally and man up my courage...

After some time I returned... 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 (Johnson 1955:64-5; MacNutt 1990:109).

6. Peter Cartwright, one of the prominent camp meeting evangelists in the Kentucky area, spoke of the phenomena of the 'jerks': '... no matter whether they were saints or sinners, they would be taken under a warm song or sermon and seized with a convulsive jerking all over, which they could not by any possibility avoid, and the more they resisted the more they jerked... The first jerk or so, you would see their fine bonnets, caps and combs fly; and so sudden would be the jerking of the head that their loose hair would crack almost as loud as a wagoner's whip' (Cartwright 1956:17-18).

7. Charles Finney, at the village schoolhouse near Antwerp, New York, describes the phenomena of falling under the awesome power of God's presence and conviction: 'An awful solemnity seemed to settle upon the people; the congregation began to fall from their seats in every direction and cry for mercy. If I had a sword in each hand, I could not have cut them down as fast as they fell. I was obliged to stop preaching' (cited in Pratney 1994:24).

8. Note how the Quakers and Shakers got their nicknames!

Yes, cases of physical phenomena have been observed throughout the ages whenever there has been heightened spiritual activity.

ii. What is the fruit of all this?

Jonathan Edwards wrote a treatise in 1741 called The Distinguishing Marks of a Work of the Spirit of God. Edwards asked his readers to assess the awakening by looking past the enthusiastic behaviour and seeing the ultimate spiritual fruit. He argued that the authenticity of God's hand in the revival was demonstrated by five 'sure, distinguishing, Scripture evidences'. It

1. raises the esteem of Jesus in the community;

2. works against the kingdom of Satan;

3. stimulates a greater regard for the Holy Scriptures;

4. is marked by a spirit of truth;

5. manifests a renewed love for God and people (Edwards 1971, 1984:109-115).

In his concluding section, Edwards exhorted his readers not to oppose the Spirit of God in the revival for this is to commit the unpardonable sin of Matthew 12:22-32. Edwards' warning went unheeded by and large. By 1742 a majority of the New England clergy had come to the conclusion that the Great Awakening was merely an epidemic of emotionalism and what was needed was a return to sound theology. Rev. Charles Chauncey of Boston became the brilliant champion against the revival. He effectively articulated all the doubts, fears and criticisms of the revival. His books became best sellers and ensured the defeat of the Awakening. 'When Whitefield arrived in 1744 practically all the pulpits were closed to him, and the wind had gone out of the Awakening' (DeArteaga 1992:52).

It's worth noting the fruit at the end of the lives of these two prominent figures, Edwards and Chauncey. In 1757, Edwards became president of Princeton, but when he arrived in the area there was a threat of a smallpox outbreak. To set an example, he was quick to volunteer to take the experimental vaccine. He became ill and died. Chauncey became one of the founding theologians of Unitarianism which discarded the Trinity and advocated universal salvation. Chauncey is no longer considered a hero who saved the people from emotionalism. He is now 'seen as a religious bureaucrat who defended the status quo without comprehending the deeper issues of revival' (DeArteaga 1992:54).


iii. How do we explain these phenomena?

We must recognise the element of mystery in God's dealings with us. We should hold explanations tentatively and humbly.

Some explain it as the work of Satan. However, Martyn Lloyd-Jones questions, 'Why should the Devil suddenly start dong this kind of thing? Here is the Church in a period of dryness, and of drought, so why should the Devil suddenly do something which calls attention to religion and the Lord Jesus Christ? The very results of revival, I would have thought, completely exclude the possibility of this being the action of the Devil... [see Luke 11:14-18]. If this is the work of the Devil, well then the Devil is an unutterable fool. He is dividing his own kingdom; he is increasing the Kingdom of God... There is nothing which is so ridiculous as this suggestion that this is the work of the Devil' (Lloyd-Jones 1987:141-2).

What is the true explanation?

When God sovereignly visits an individual or group of human beings, his manifest presence and power often affects their bodies in some way. John White (1988:23) states, 'God is, of course, present everywhere. But there seems to be times when he is, as it were, more present - or shall we say more intensely present. He seems to draw aside one or two layers of a curtain that protects us from Him, exposing our fragility to the awesome energies of his being.'

Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1987:145-6) tells us that 'we must never forget that the Holy Spirit affects the whole person... You see, man is body, soul, and spirit, and you cannot divide these... Man reacts as a whole. And it is just folly to expect that he can react in the realm of the spiritual without anything at all happening to the rest of him, to the soul, and to the body... these phenomena are indications of the fact that some very powerful stimulus is in operation. Something is happening which is so powerful that the very physical frame is involved.'

Lloyd-Jones also argues that such strange phenomena are a means that God uses to get our attention (1987:145). God is shaking us to wake us up (Ephesians 5:14).

God is also humbling us! Paul Cain says, 'God often offends the mind to reveal the heart.'

Both John White and Martyn Lloyd-Jones conclude that although a small portion of such strange behaviour would be of the flesh (the person's own need for acceptance and attention) or a demonic manifestation, the bulk of such activity in revival originates from the power and glory of God.

We should not be fixated on the manifestations, but on the person of the Lord Jesus Christ!

4. Fear of disorder

Charles Spurgeon, the great Baptist preacher, declared that 'revival is a season of glorious disorder' (Relfe 1988:8).

Martyn Lloyd Jones (1987:103) points out that 'always in a revival there is what somebody once called a divine disorder. Some are groaning and agonising under conviction, others praising God for the great salvation. And all this leads to crowded and prolonged meetings. Time seems to be forgotten. People seem to have entered into eternity. A meeting may start at six-thirty in the evening, and it may not end until daybreak the next morning with nobody aware of the passing of the hours.'

We don't like it when meetings get messy and unpredictable. It is embarrassing and offensive to most of us. But John White (1988:35) reminds us that 'revival is war, and war is never tidy. It is an intensifying of the age-old conflict between Christ and the powers of darkness.'

John Wimber (1985:31) offers this analogy: 'When warm and cold fronts collide, violence ensues: thunder and lightning, rain or snow - even tornadoes or hurricanes. There is conflict, and a resulting release of power. It is disorderly, messy - difficult to control.'

Understandably we prefer peace, decency, and order. We say, 'God is a God of order' but we must realise that to bring in order is sometimes a disorderly process... Chaos and darkness flee but they create a ruckus as they leave (White 1988:44).

Edwards was so convinced of this disorderly process as part of the work of God's Spirit that he cried, 'Would to God that all the public assemblies in the land were broken off from their public exercises with such confusion as this next Sabbath day (1741, 1984:127).

Again, John White (1988:45) argues that 'if we insist that revival must be "decent and orderly" (as we define those terms) we automatically blind ourselves to most revivals. Like the dwarfs in C. S. Lewis' children's story The Last Battle, we may spit out heavenly food, for to us it looks like, smells like, tastes like dung and straw.'

Question: Am I missing the burning bush for trying to keep the lawn cut?

5. Fear of controversy

We all shy away from controversy. However, the fact remains, 'renewal has always been controversial and will always be controversial. We must be ready for it (Mallone 1985:42).

Jonathan Edwards said, 'a work of God without stumbling blocks is never to be expected' (Works 2:273).

John Wesley prayed, 'Lord send us revival without its defects but if this is not possible, send revival, defects and all (Bartleman 1980:45).

If we find a revival that is not spoken against, we had better look again to ensure that it is a revival... No one would pretend to claim that every revival burns with a smokeless flame (Wallis 1956:26).

Remember, wherever Jesus or the apostle Paul went there was confrontation. Riots and controversy occurred. Luther, Wesley, Whitefield and Edwards were extremely controversial characters in their day - some kicked out of their churches! But once the dust settled centuries later, they have come to be highly revered and seen as fighters for orthodox Christianity.

----------

Further objections and concerns that many may find themselves struggling with are included here. I am indebted to Bill Jackson of Champaign, Illinois Vineyard for his unpublished paper of April, 1994, called 'What in the world is happening to us?' for the following section extracted from this paper with his permission.

1. It's hard to understand

A. Our presupposition: If it were God, I would understand it. ...

B. All through the Bible, God revealed himself in ways that were hard to understand.

1. God's chosen people for the most part misunderstood Jesus. Pharisees said he was in league with Beelzebub, which was a term for the devil.

2. The disciples didn't understand the mission of Jesus until the Holy Spirit came (Acts 2).

3. The Jews as a whole never understood that God's heart was for all the nations. Even the disciples were shocked that God would offer the gospel to the Gentiles, law free. They muse in amazement in Acts 11:18, 'So then God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life!'

4. Historically, God has moved in ways that are hard to understand. The classic example of this is martyrdom. Martyrdom has always been an explosive key to church growth. One of the early church fathers, Tertullian, said, 'The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church'.

2. It makes me afraid

A. Our presupposition: If it were God, I wouldn't be afraid.

B. Visitations produce fear throughout the Bible.

1. Lightning, thunder, and smoke on Mt. Sinai (Exodus 19).

2. Daniel in Chapter 10 had a great vision: 'I had no strength left, my face turned deathly pale, and I was helpless.' The angel, Gabriel, had to say, 'Don't be afraid,' because he was terrified.

3. Great fear seized the whole church in Acts 5 when Ananias and Sapphira dropped dead through a prophetic word when they lied to the Holy Spirit.

C. Note: This fear is not the same fear as that which comes from Satan. 2 Timothy 1:7 says that God has not given us a spirit of fear. The devil's fear robs us of faith and hope and renders us incapable of love. There is, however, a godly fear that the Bible says is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10). It is this kind of fear that is produced by divine visitations. It results in a more godly life.

D. How could a visitation of a holy God on sinful people not produce fear?

1. How could our finite minds expect to understand the infinite ways of God? He is completely beyond us and holy.

2. Fear is caused by:

a) the holiness of God coming in contact with our sinfulness.

b) our anti-supernatural world view. Since we have no supernatural category in our western world view, when we encounter the supernatural we encounter the fear of the unknown. It causes the psychological state known as cognitive dissonance. We receive data that does not fit and it causes feelings of insecurity.

3. It causes division

A. Our presupposition: If it were God, there would be no division.

B. There are two kinds of division:

1. When the kingdom of light clashes with the kingdom of darkness, it causes godly division. Jesus said he had not come to bring peace but a sword. 'A man's enemies will be the members of his own household' (Matthew 10:36).

2. Backbiting, slander, and rebellion are ungodly because they cause the kingdom to be divided against itself.

C. Godly division is thoroughly biblical:

1. Korah was judged for his rebellion against Moses (Numbers 11).

2. Jesus caused division wherever he went.

3. The inclusion of Gentiles in the church caused division (Acts 15).

D. Godly division is thoroughly historical:

1. The Great Awakening broke out in New Jersey in 1725 and was violently opposed by more traditional churches.

2. G. Campbell Morgan called the Pentecostal Movement 'the last vomit of Satan'.

3. Leaders in the previous move of God often persecute the present one.

4. God over-rides my faculties

A. Our presupposition: God is always a gentleman and would never force anything upon us.

B. The Bible seems to say something else:

1. God is God and he does what he wants. In Isaiah, God says, 'I say my purpose will stand and I will do all that I please" (46:11).

2. God over-rode Balaam in Numbers 23 and caused Balaam to prophesy against his will.

3. God over-rode Saul and his men in 1 Samuel 19, and caused them to prophecy instead of killing David.

4. Jesus blinded Paul on the road to Damascus against his will.

5. God's killing of Ananias and Sapphira is the ultimate over-ride.

6. Far from treating us gently, God has promised his people persecution.

5. It causes me to be the centre of attention

A. Our presupposition: If it were God, he would not do it publicly.

B. Quite to the contrary, God often uses the person to be the message:

1. In Ezekiel 4-5, Ezekiel is told by God to lie on his side, naked, to shave his head and beard. God made him the centre of attention because he, himself, was the message.

2. Jeremiah was told to smash a jar in Jeremiah 18-19 to draw attention to his message.

3. Hosea was told to marry a prostitute as a message to the nation of Israel.

4. Ananias and Sapphira can be used as yet another example because their dead bodies were the message.

5. Stephen was 'glowing' when he was killed.

6. It doesn't happen to me

A. Our presupposition: When God moves, the same things happen to everyone.

B. Biblical perspective:

1. It's simply not true that some people seem to be 'favoured' while others are not. God's love is for the whole world. Under his sovereignty he treats everyone in a way that is beneficial for them. God ultimately determines what is best for us.

2. Jesus healed only one man at the pool of Bethesda despite the fact that there were many sick present (John 5). This in no way meant that God loved the man who was healed more than the ones who weren't. Jesus said that he only did what he saw the Father doing and the father was somehow loving all those at the pool that day.

7. A final caution

A. It's okay to have questions about what is happening but we must try to be honest about the motive behind our questions. What causes the questions?

1. If it's because of your personality, that's okay. But let's not let our personalities keep us from being touched by God during this season of divine visitation.

2. If it's because you are a 'noble Berean' (Acts 17:10-11), that's to be commended.

a) Search for the truth diligently.

b) When you find it, press in.

3. If it's because you are afraid:

a) Ask God why.

b) Don't run. If this is God, then you would be turning your back on him.

B. After the crucifixion, the disciples had questions too. The Jesus who walked with two of them on the road to Emmaus and opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures is the same Jesus who walks in our midst by the person of the Holy Spirit (Luke 24:13-35). He will open our minds as well (Jackson 1994).

----------

My conclusion to this section:

Today we need the fire of God. Some are afraid of wildfire but there are always enough 'wet blankets' around to dampen it.

On the Day of Pentecost, the crowd responded to the supernatural manifestations of the spirit in three ways: some were amazed, some perplexed, and others mocked. Each generation has been no different.

Walter C. Kaiser, Jr. (1986:25) urges us to study past revivals because 'once we know how the Lord has acted in the past, we should be better prepared to accept the special working of God when it arrives... Every one of our preconceptions and built-in limitations concerning what God can or cannot do or what he is likely or not likely to do in exact detail must be jettisoned.'

In other words, don't put God in a box. Let God be God! He is the Great I Am, not the Great I Was! His thoughts are not our thoughts and his ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55). We should expect to have difficulty understanding and agreeing with the way God does things at times!

We are wise to take the advice of Martyn Lloyd-Jones: 'we must be careful in these matters... What do we know of the Spirit falling on people? What do we know about these great manifestations of the Holy Spirit? We need to be very careful lest we be found fighting against God, lest we be guilty of quenching the Spirit of God' (White 1988:13).

6. How can we promote revival?

Taking a survey on the street, a reporter asked a hurried pedestrian, 'Sir, do you know the two greatest problems in the world today?' The man responded, 'I don't know and I don't care.' Without missing a beat, the reporter declared, 'You got them both!' (ignorance and apathy).

We can overcome ignorance and apathy concerning revival. How can we promote revival?

1. We need to care

We need to care that God works in our nation. Note that Nehemiah had a cushy job as a cupbearer to the king but left to rebuild the walls.

2. We need to get informed

We need to get the big picture!

Read the Bible. Read biographies of leaders of past revivals. Go where the fire is, such as conferences and places where God is moving powerfully, and get first-hand exposure and experience. It is irresponsible to criticise that which you know nothing about. Slander is sin.

3. Cultivate daily intimacy with the Lord

This is what John Wimber calls 'developing a personal history with God'. Develop personal disciplines that cultivate a passion for Jesus such as prayer, fasting, Bible study, worship and obedience in the small things.

Jack Deere (1993:201) urges us to pray the following prayer on a daily basis: 'Father, grant me power from the Holy Spirit to love the Son of God like You love him (John 17:26).

Don't despise the day of small beginnings. Learn to hear God's voice and catch his heart. Get spiritually prepared so that when God's zero hour strikes, you're fit for action.

4. Intercessory prayer

Note these Scriptures and quotes, and many like them:

2 Chronicles 7:14 - 'If my people... will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.'

Isaiah 62:6-7 - 'You who call on the Lord, give yourselves no rest, and give him no rest till...'

Isaiah 64:1 - 'Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down.'

'God does nothing but in answer to prayer' (Wesley).

'Prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance; it is laying hold of his highest willingness' (Luther).

'Prayer is rebellion against the status quo' (David Wells).

'Prayer humbles us as needy and exalts God as worthy' (John Piper).

'Give me Scotland or I die' (John Knox).

'There has never been a spiritual awakening in any country or locality that did not begin in united prayer' (A. T. Pierson in Bryant 1984:40).

'When God has something very great to accomplish for his Church, it is his will that there should precede it, the extraordinary prayers of his people' (Edwards, Works 1:426).

Some argue that revival is sovereign and you can't do anything to make it happen, while others say you can pray and bring it about. I believe God initiates the prayer that precedes a revival; and in this hour he is stirring the church to be united, aggressive, and persistent in prayer for God to act and move again.

5. Be willing to pay the price

Are you willing to receive a divine 'baptism of desperation', a 'holy dissatisfaction' that puts your reputation, dignity and personal peace at risk?

We need to have the courage to be honest with God and say with Oswald Chambers, author of My Utmost for His Highest, 'If what I have is all the Christianity there is, then the things is a fraud' (Brown 1991:28).

We must force a crisis in our lives... when our very being aches with desire for his visitation, when we are consumed with hunger for his reality, when we radically cut back on other activities in order to seek his face, then we are ripe for transformation (Brown 1991:29).

We need to surrender our puny agendas, our need for security, safety and comfort zones. As Hebrews 11 tells us, we are not to shrink back and displease the Lord but to become risk-takers in this adventure of participating in the Kingdom of God.

Christians ought to be old friends with risk and when a church or an individual Christian builds a wall of safety, something very basic to the Christian faith has been violated... Christians ought to be the most gutsy people on the face of the earth (Brown 1983:113-114).

We must have more confidence in God's ability to lead us than in Satan's ability to deceive us (Deere 1993:215; see also Luke 11:11-13).

Arthur Wallis (1956:10) says, 'If you would make the greatest success of your life, try to discover what God is doing in your time and fling yourself into the accomplishment of his purpose and will.'

We, like Peter in the boat during a storm, need to hear Jesus' words, 'Do not be afraid,' and his invitation to 'come' and walk on water with him.

God's gracious disposition is always toward revival and he only looks to see if there is a people, a generation who dares enough and cares enough to pay the price. 'Now is the time to sanctify ourselves for tomorrow God will do wonders among us' (Joshua 3:5).

References

Scripture quotations from the New International Version of the Bible (1973, 1978, 1984).

Bartleman, Frank (1980) Azusa Street. Logos.

Brown, Michael (1991) Whatever Happened to the Power of God? Destiny Image.

Brown, Stephen (1983) If God is in Charge. Nelson.

Bryant, David (1984) With Concerts of Prayer. Regal.

Cartwright, Peter (1956) Autobiography of Peter Cartwright. Abingdon.

DeArteaga, William (1992) Quenching the Spirit. Creation House.

Deere, Jack (1993) Surprised by the Power of the Spirit. Zondervan.

Dallimore, Arnold (1980) George Whitefield. Vol. 2. Crossway.

Edwards, Jonathan (1974, 1992 reprinted) Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vols 1 & 2.

Banner of Truth.

Edwards, Jonathan (1741, 1984) The Distinguishing Marks of a Work of the Spirit of God.

Banner of Truth.

Jackson, Bill (1994) 'What in the World is Happening to Us?' Unpublished paper.

Johnson, Charles (1955) The Frontier Camp Meeting. Methodist University Press.

Joyner, Rick (1993) The World Aflame. Morningstar.

Kaiser Jr., Walter C. (1986) Quest for Renewal (Revival in the Old Testament). Moody.

Krupp, Nate (1984, 1988) The Triumphant Church. Destiny Image.

Lloyd-Jones, Martyn (1987) Revival. Crossway.

Lovelace, Richard (1979) Dynamics of Spiritual Life. InterVarsity.

MacNutt, Francis (1990) Overcome by the Spirit. Chosen.

Mallone, George (1985) Canadian Revival: It's Our Turn. Welch.

Murillo, Mario (1985) Critical Mass. Anthony Douglas.

Packer, J. I. (1984) Keep in Step with the Spirit. Revell.

Pratney, Winkie (1994) Revival. Huntingdon House.

Relfe, Mary Stewart (1988) Cure of All Ills. League of Prayer.

Wallis, Arthur (1956) In the Day of Thy Power. Cityhill.

Wallis, Arthur (1979) Rain from Heaven. Hodder & Stoughton.

White, John (1988) When the Spirit Comes with Power. InterVarsity.

Wimber, John (1985) Power Evangelism. Hodder & Stoughton.

Wimber, John (1994) Equipping the Saints, Fall Quarter.

__________________________________________________________

(c) Jerry Steingard, 707 Downie Street, Stratford, Ontario N5A, Canada.

Used with permission.

Renewal Journal $\#5 (1995:1), pp. 41-60.

http://www.renewaljournal.com/

Reproduction is allowed as long as copyright is included with the text.

Communicating the Gospel in a secular postmodern culture

Andrew Halloway is Publishing Manager for Christian Publicity Organisation in Worthing UK. (He was previously an editor and writer at CWR, who among other things produce the daily notes EDWJ/Every Day Light, also available by email from Crosswalk.com. CPO produces evangelistic leaflets, tracts, booklets and overprinted invitation cards for church events. They have always based their ministry on two vital principles:
• that evangelistic literature should be as modern, lively and graphically well-designed as secular material.
• that editorial content should relate to the things that people are interested in, and only then offer, in a non-preachy accessible style, the Christian angle.
These two essential communication principles are equally important in online evangelism. Andrew kindly shares his view of these principles.


As secular culture has moved further and further away from Christianity, it has become increasingly necessary to change the traditional evangelistic approach in order to communicate the Gospel. On the whole, we can't earn an opportunity to be taken seriously when talking about Jesus or God until we have connected with people on issues they are already interested in. We have to earn the right to be heard.

In the not too distant past, there was a time when most of those who weren't card-carrying Christians at least had an understanding of the claims of Christianity, and assented to its view of the world and its morality, even if they didn't have an active faith themselves.

The situation is now completely different: Christian values are competing with a vast array of other competing values, and people are either ignorant of the basics of Christianity or misunderstand them. In the West we have reverted to a pagan culture which is comparable with the first-century Gentile Romano/Greek world that the first Christians found themselves in Jesus' own ministry was to the House of Israel, and though he had a few significant 'evangelistic' encounters with Gentiles, he never left the environs of Judea, Galilee, Samaria and Decapolis. In contrast, he commanded his disciples to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth. That meant that his disciples would have to tackle evangelism in a different way to preaching the Gospel in the Jewish monotheistic context they had been used to. However, much of Acts features the apostles going to Jewish communities in the pagan world before reaching out beyond that. Therefore, there aren't too many examples in the Bible of how the Early Church evangelized the Gentile world, but we know from history that they certainly succeeded. However, the Apostle Paul's sermon at Athens on 'the unknown God' is perhaps the best example we have of the kind of evangelism that we now have to engage in, in our own post-Christian culture.

We can see two important points from Paul's Athenian speech:
1. Paul started where the Athenians 'were at'. He took one of their own beliefs/interests and used it as a starting place to explain the Gospel - a bridge from their world to the Gospel.
2. He also went to where the cultural leaders were - the Areopagus - rather than asking them to come to the Jewish synagogue.

These two points explain CPO's approach, and that of many other evangelistic agencies, and we're surely not the first. Most of our directly evangelistic literature is designed to link to an interest that people already have, and ideally it is used not to invite people to a normal church service but to an event designed to link to those interests too.

To take an example, one of our most successful genres of evangelistic literature has been sport-related - successful not only in terms of numbers of items being used, but in terms of reaching people with no or little previous interest in Christianity. Our 1998 World Cup booklet contained 75% purely football interest articles, with only 25% Christian content. It was a gift that was useful to the football fan, met their interests, and genuinely celebrated football with them. At the same time, it used their interests to introduce them to people involved in football - but who also have a Christian faith, and then to explain why.

The most successful use of the booklet was when churches put on football 'clinics', showed World Cup games on big screens and invited fans to watch with them, or arranged other football related events. In that way, Christians were entering their world, their territory, instead of expecting them to come into the Christian 'world' of normal church in the first instance. Another example would be our tract about the film 'Titanic'. Capitalizing on the success of that film, the tract explained the story of someone who was actually on the Titanic in real life, and how that Christian gave his life to save another. The similarity with Christ giving his life to save us was then explored. This again was very successfully used by churches. Our posters too have taken media interest subjects and used them to spark thought about Christianity, whether that be major movies, well-known TV adverts, or whatever.

For the Internet, the parallels are obvious. A site about Christianity will only attract those already searching or interested in faith. For those whose interests lie elsewhere, Christians should be developing web-sites that connect with those interests, and then bring in the relevance of Christianity to those interests.

There will be accusations that we are 'tricking' people - but is it dishonest? People are free to leave a site and surf somewhere else if they get turned off. It is no different to an advertiser using your interests to make you want their product, except in our case only the Holy Spirit can really activate interest in our product - we just have to provide the bridge for people to walk across.

Of course, this isn't the only method of evangelism that works, but it is one that becomes increasingly important as antagonism to 'traditional
religion' grows in our society.

Paul famously became 'all things to all men in order to reach some' - we must do the same, without compromising the message. Jesus' two parables about banquets (Matt. 22 and Luke 14) involved people being invited to a banquet, who didn't come. So the host told his servants to 'go out' into the streets and bring the outcasts in, rather than those who might have been expected to want to come. In the same way, we must go out of our Christian sub-culture and into the prevailing culture to meet people where they are at, 'on the street', with an invitation to a banquet of life.

To ensure that we can make good 'bridges', not ones that will fall down, we need to be as familiar as possible with contemporary culture. There's nothing worse than trying to be 'trendy' and failing because you're 'out of date'. The need is to keep your finger on the pulse of what interests the target group you are trying to reach. It's so easy to get so wrapped up in Christian activities and terminology that we lose our ability to communicate to non-Christians. Surveys show that many new Christians lose their circle of non-Christian friends, yet we know that the most successful evangelism is friendship evangelism!

Keeping up-to-date with current affairs is essential for finding relevant subjects for creating 'bridge-building' evangelistic material. Much political and social news has a moral dimension which presents opportunities to bring in the Christian message, and to which the Christian faith has the ultimate answers. But it mustn't just be a 'the Bible says' type approach because we are dealing with a post-Biblical generation that respects no authority, least of all traditional religious authority. We need to demonstrate the wisdom of a particular teaching from the Bible before presenting the source itself. The skill of apologetics is needed like never before!

It is essential to keep in touch by maintaining non-Christian friendships, but also to immerse ourselves in the secular media - reading newspapers, magazines, watching TV and films, and increasingly, surfing the net, etc.

Here at CPO I keep an up-to-date file on a range of moral/social/ethical subjects from current affairs, plus testimonies from well-known people, quotations from secular people that may prove a Christian point (little do they know!), plus files on a range of current 'hot' issues like genetics, the environment, Internet, or whatever seems to be making the news regularly, so that when a need to write on something like this occurs in the future I already have some relevant source material. On a personal note, outside of work I also periodically write a 'Christian comment' in a local newspaper, which keeps me looking out for what people are interested in, so I can then write on a topical subject.

This requires effort and time, and sometimes what we have to watch or read may not be what we enjoy, it may be distasteful and not exactly filling our minds with 'whatever is noble, whatever is pure' etc. So we have to keep our critical faculties open, and be careful not to absorb secular values ourselves, whilst attempting to understand and stay familiar with them. But one thing is certain - if we don't do this, we will end up being unable to relate to non-Christians. In fact, in the past, the majority of Christians who have been in the faith for more than a few years have probably become incapable of being effective evangelists because they have so little in common with non-Christians. This was partly due to the 'come out from them and be ye separate' mentality which prevailed in some evangelical denominations in past decades - where going to theaters, cinemas, pubs, clubs, etc. was 'worldly' and a sin in itself. They seemed to forget that Jesus was accused (falsely) of being a drunkard and a sinner because he himself mixed with sinners and went to their homes. He was loved by the sinners despite being holy himself. It was the religious that despised him. It's a case of we need to be 'in the world, but not of it'. That's real 'separation', real holiness.

http://www.gospelcom.net/guide/resources/secular.php

The Ragamuffin Gospel

A Word Before
The Ragamuffin Gospel was written with a specific reading audience in mind.
This book is not for the super-spiritual.
It is not for muscular Christians who have made John Wayne and not Jesus their hero.
It is not for academicians who would imprison Jesus in the ivory tower of exegesis.
It is not for noisy, feel-good folks who manipulate Christianity into a naked appeal to emotion.
It is not for hooded mystics who want magic in their religion.
It is not for Alleluia Christians who live only on the mountaintop and have never visited the valley of desolation.
It is not for the fearless and tearless.
It is not for red-hot zealots who boast with the rich young ruler of the gospels: "All these commandments I have kept from my youth."
It is not for the complacent, hoisting over their shoulder a tote-bag of honors, diplomas, and good works actually believing they have made it.
It is not for legalists who would rather surrender control of their souls to rules than run the risk of living in union with Jesus.
If anyone is still reading along, The Ragamuffin Gospel was written for the bedraggled, beat-up, and burnt-out.
It is for the sorely burdened who are still shifting the heavy suitcase from one hand to the other.
It is for the wobbly and weak-kneed who know they don't have it altogether and are too proud to accept the handout of amazing grace.
It is for inconsistent, unsteady disciples whose cheese is falling off their cracker.
It is for poor, weak, sinful men and women with hereditary faults and limited talents.
It is for earthen vessels who shuffle along on feet of clay.
It is for the bent and the bruised who feel that their lives are a grave disappointment to God.
It is for smart people who know they are stupid and honest disciples who admit they are scalawags.
The Ragamuffin Gospel is a book I wrote for myself and anyone who has grown weary and discouraged along the Way.

Michael Card Lyrics

[ancient.jpg] [ancient.jpg] Ancient Faith Trilogy [1989-1992] [beginnin.jpg] [wisdom.jpg] [theword.jpg] Ancient Faith Overture THE BEGINNING THE WAY OF WISDOM THE WORD: RECAPTURING THE IMAGINATION 1. The Beginning 2. In The Wilderness 3. Jubilee 4. Lift Up The Suffering Symbol 5. The Word Is So Near 6. Meditation #3 Shema 7. God Will Provide A Lamb 8. They Called Him Laughter 9. Asleep On Holy Ground 10. A Face That Shone 11. Barocha 1. The Way Of Wisdom 2. Under The Sun 3. Job Suite (Story, Lament, God, & Response) 4. Arise, My Love 5. How Long? 6. The Death Of A Son 7. My Shepherd 8. Search Me And Know Me 9. Meditation #4 Selah 10. My Help 1. The Prophet 2. So Many Books... 3. Then They Will Know 4. Recapture Me 5. Song Of Gomer 6. Who Can Abide? 7. Through The Eye 8. Valley Of Dry Bones 9. Will You Not Listen? 10. The Kingdom 11. I Will Bring You Home Heal Our Land (Song For The National Day Of Prayer) The Beginning In the beginning was the Beginning In Him it all began All that they had was God and the garden The woman and the man Before Creation learned to groan The stars would dance and sing Each moment was new, every feeling was fresh For the creature, king and queen But deep in the heart of the beautiful garden Forbidden fruit was found And they were deceived, disobeyed and were driven From that holy ground But beside the tree of disobedience The Tree of Life did grow The gift of its fruit an eternal beginning But they would never know CHORUS: The Beginning will make all things new New Life belongs to Him He hands us each new moment saying My child, begin again My child, begin again You're free to start again This very moment is filled with His power That we might start anew To break us away from the past and the future He does what He must do And so the Alpha brings to us this moment to commence To live in the freedom of total forgiveness With reckless confidence With reckless confidence REPEAT CHORUS In The Wilderness CHORUS: In the wilderness, In the wilderness He calls His sons and daughters to the wilderness But He gives grace sufficient to survive any test And that's the painful purpose of the wilderness In the wilderness we wander In the wilderness we weep In the wasteland of our wanting Where the darkness seems so deep We search for the beginning For an exodus to home And find that those who follow Him Must often walk alone CHORUS In the wilderness we're wondering For a way to understand In the wilderness there's not a way For the Way's become a man And the man's become the Exodus The way to holy ground But wandering in the wilderness Is the best way to be found CHORUS Groaning and growing Amidst the desert days The windy winter wilderness Can blow the self away CHORUS And that's the painful promise of the wilderness Jubilee The Lord provided for a time For the slaves to be set free For the debts to all be cancelled So His chosen ones could see His deep desire was for forgiveness He longed to see their liberty And His yearning was embodied In the Year of Jubilee CHORUS: Jubilee, Jubilee Jesus is our Jubilee Debts forgiven Slaves set free Jesis is our Jubilee At the Lord's appointed time His deep desire became a man The heart of all true jubilation And with joy we understand In His voice we hear a trumpet sound That tells us we are free He is the incarnation Of the year of Jubilee CHORUS To be so completely guilty Given over to despair To look into your judge's face And see a Savior there REPEAT CHORUS Lift Up The Suffering Symbol They grew tired of bread from heaven and of Moses and of God They longed to live the life of slavery once again So they muttered and they grumbled and they whimpered and they whined With each faithless word, sank deeper into sin He took the pain of pain once more to write upon their hearts A lesson they had been so slow to learn And writing in the sand the fiery serpent came to call With a holy message and a bite that burned CHORUS: Lift up the suffering symbol and place it high upon a pole Tell the children to look up and be made whole So Moses made a metal snake and nailed it to a pole Sent out the saving word so they would know That the symbol of their suffering was now the focus of their faith And with a faithful glance the healing power would flow In time the brazen serpent became an idol in the land And they left the living God to worship clay When they forgot their suffering soon true faith had disappeared And so some idolize a brazen cross today REPEAT CHORUS The Word Is So Near The Word is so near To your heart and your tongue With the one you confess And acknowledge the Son With the other believe And are justified And find life in knowing It was for you He died No, it's not up in heaven Where your thoughts could not reach Nor beyond the ocean On some distant beach No, the Word is so near In the innermost part It's alive on your lips, it abides in your heart The Word is so near To your heart and your tongue With the one you confess And acknowledge the Son With the other believe And are justified And find life in knowing It was for you He died Meditation #3 Shema Shema, Israel Shema, Israel Shema, Israel Adonai Eluhenu Adonai Adonai Eluhenu Adonai Adonai Eluhenu Adonai Echad (Hear, Israel) (Hear, Israel) (Hear, Israel) (The Lord your God, the Lord) (The Lord your God, the Lord) (The Lord your God, the Lord) (Is One) God Will Provide A Lamb Three days journey to the sacred place A boy and a man with a sorrowful face Tortured yet faithful to God's command To take the life of his son in his own hands CHORUS I: God will provide a lamb To be offered up in your place A sacrifice so spotless and clean To take all your sin away Here's wood and fire, where's the sacrifice? The questioning voice and the innocent eyes Is the son of laughter who you've waited for To die like a lamb to please the Lord? CHORUS I A gleaming knife, an accepted choice A rush of wind and an angel's voice A ram in the thicket, caught by its horns And a new age of trusting the Lord is born CHORUS II: For God has provided a Lamb He was offered up in your place What Abraham was asked to do, He's done He's offered His only Son! What Abraham was asked to do, He's done He's offered His only Son! They Called Him Laughter A barren land and a barren wife Made Abraham laugh at his wandering life A cruel joke it seemed then to call him the "father of nations" A heavenly prank? A celestial joke? 'Cause grey hair and babies leave no room for hope But hoping was something this hopeless old man learned to do CHORUS: They called him laughter for he came after The Father had made an impossible promise come true The birth of a baby to a hopeless old lady So they called him laughter 'cause no other name would do A cry in the darkness and laughter at night An elderly couple sit holding him tight An improbable infant, a punchline, a promise come true They laughed till they wept then they laughed at their tears This miracle baby they'd wanted for years Would make a Messiah who'd give us impossible Joy REPEAT CHORUS Asleep On Holy Ground A stone for a pillow, as hard as his head He slept on holy ground The dreaming deceiver he dreamt of a ladder With angels up and down And the ladder was a way, the stairway was a sign The gates of heaven open wide revealing the divine CHORUS I: Asleep on holy ground he lay, oblivious to the night Inside his head and heart were full of inexpressible light Soon he would be confronted by the friend that we most fear Asleep on holy ground he lay, deceitful, blessed seer The dream that he dreamt now transformed to a nightmare As he wrestled with a man The unearthly power of his Beloved opponent Made Jacob understand That the wrestling was the way, the struggle was the sign He limped away, his lesson learned, now Israel was defined CHORUS II: He limped away on holy ground, awakened from the dream Having learned his costly lesson from the Way of the Nazarene That pain's the path to blessing, Love will fight us to be found And God remains a dream to those who sleep on holy ground REPEAT CHORUS II A Face That Shone He ate the bread of heaven Drank water from the rock And the grumbling children followed Like a misbegotten flock He climbed up on a mountain They couldn't even touch Who'd have known that one encounter Could have ever meant so much And up upon that high place In a cleft of solid stone His face was set on fire As the God of Glory shone He alone had seen it And had lived to tell the tale But because they feared the fire He had to hide behind a veil A face that shone with the radiance of the Father Though it had known and endured dark desert days A face that shone with the glory of Another So the prophet would discover As the glory was fading away He was the Bread from Heaven He would be the smitten Rock He had twelve confused disciples They were His bewildered flock When He climbed upon the mountain He took Peter, James and John In the face of pending glory They soon began to yawn As He prayed while they were sleeping He was transfigured into Light His face a flash of lightning His clothes so burning bright So Moses finally saw the face Before he'd hidden from Then came a voice from heaven "This is my beloved Son" The face that shone is the Glory of the Father And he had known from the start that it was so The face that shone had let the light shine out of darkness And we're changed into His likeness As we gaze upon the Son But you and me we tend to flee from shining faces We see the glow and then we know that we're undone They shine His light into our emptiest of spaces With their bright and shining faces Reflect the radiance of the Son The face that shone is the Glory of the Father And he had known from the start that it was so The face that shone had let the light shine out of darkness And we're changed into His likeness As we gaze upon the Son Barocha The Lord bless you and keep you The Lord make His face shine upon you And give you peace And give you peace And give you peace forever The Lord be gracious to you The Lord turn His face towards you And give you peace And give you peace And give you peace forever And give you peace And give you peace And give you peace forever The Way Of Wisdom The Way of Wisdom starts out With a step of holy fear And it makes its way alone By every good word that you hear It has to do with passion And it has to do with pain It has to do with One Who has both died and rose again Died and rose again CHORUS: And the Way of Wisdom is living The Path of Peace is forgiving Behold the Man of Meaning Behold He is the Lord The Way of Understanding lies In not how much you know For the pathway is a Person That you come to love and so You can stop pretending That it all depends on you For it's not how much you love As much as how much He loves you How much He loves you CHORUS The Way of Wisdom beckons us To find the end of fear That perfect love pursues For Wisdom did not come To simply speak the words of truth He's the Word that makes us true The Way of Wisdom starts out With a step of holy fear That's only the beginning And there's much more, that is clear The path leads on to love And love is fearless in its ways For Love Himself was not afraid To die that we'd be saved To die that we'd be saved REPEAT CHORUS Under The Sun He was a king, a teacher The wisest in the land Driven by a passion Just to know and understand He opened wide his eyes Sought to see beyond the lies And found a world beyond his understanding Under the sun He saw the vanity of vanities He bravely looked at life And saw futility Torn between the facts he saw And all he ever had believed Between his hopes and what he'd clearly seen He hoped it might be wisdom So he set himself to learn But found the more the knowledge The more sorrow and concern And so he turned to pleasure To folly and to cheer But still his laughter Tasted of his tears Under the sun It was all vanity of vanities In wisdom or in wine He found futility In knowledge or in folly For the wise man or the fool Hopelessness will always be the rule And yet there is a time For everything that's under heaven A time to run, a time to stand and fight So in the face of cold despair No matter what seems right Remember, darkness drives us to the light Under the sun True there is vanity of vanities But there is more to life There is security Remember your Creator In the days when you are young And He will be your hope Under the sun Job Suite HIS STORY Blameless and upright, a fearer of God A man truly righteous, no pious facade One about whom God was accustomed to boast And so one whom Satan desired the most One day the accuser came breathing out lies "It's Your holy handouts, his faithfulness buys" In one desperate day his possessions were lost His children all killed in one raw holocaust His children all killed in one raw holocaust And yet through it all Through the tears and pain He worshiped his God Found no reason to blame Once more the Deceiver denounced and decried "It's skin for skin, and hide for hide, Strike down his flesh and he'll surely deny And confess that his praying has all been a lie." "Very well, take him," the Holy One sighed But you must spare his life, my son shall not die So Job was afflicted with terrible sores Sat down in the ashes to wait for the Lord Sat down in the ashes to wait for the Lord And yet through it all Through the tears and pain He worshiped his God Found no reason to blame HIS LAMENT INTERLUDE: A throne of ashes A crown of pain A sovereign of sorrow A mournful reign May the day of my birth be remembered no more May darkness and shadow come and claim it once more Why did I not perish on that dreadful day And sleep now where kings and counselors lay What I dreaded most has now come upon me Why is light given those in misery? I loathe my own life, so my tears fall like rain As I find that there is no peace in my pain Lord, send a Comforter now to my door So that this terror will frighten no more A Counselor between us, to come bear my oath Someone who could lay a hand on us both These friends of mine are no comfort to me So deafly they listen, so blindly they see Their words and their doctrine, they all sound so true The problem is Lord, they're all wrong about you! I know my Advocate waits upon high My Witness in heaven sees the tears that I cry A true intercessor who will condescend To plead with God as a man pleads for his friend If I've been untrue, if I've robbed the poor If I'm without guilt, what am I suffering for? God would not crush me for some secret sin And though He slay me still I'll trust in Him I know now that my Redeemer's alive He'll stand on this earth on the day He arrives And though my own body by then is no more Yet in my flesh I know, I'll see the Lord I'll see the Lord, I'll see the Lord HIS GOD Who is it that darkens my counsel? Who speaks empty words without knowledge? Brace yourself up like a man And answer me now, if you can Can you put on glory and splendor? What's the way to the home of the light? Does your voice sound like the thunder? Are you not afraid? Where were you when earth's foundations were laid? Who gave the heart its wisdom? The mind its desire to know? Can you bind the stars? Raise your voice to the clouds? Did you make the eagle proud? Will the ox spend the night by your manger? Did you let the wild donkey go free? Can you take leviathan home as a pet? If you merely touched him, you'd never forget Who is it that darkens my counsel? Who speaks empty words without knowledge? Brace yourself up like a man And answer me now, if you can HIS RESPONSE I am unworthy, how can I reply? There's nothing that you cannot do You are the storm that calmed my soul I place my hand over my mouth I place my hand over my mouth Arise, My Love Arise, my love, my lovely one come The winter is past and the rains are gone The flowers appear, it's the season of song My beautiful one, arise and come with me Who is it that appears like the dawn? As fair as the moon, as bright as the sun Show me your face, let me hear your voice My beautiful one, arise and come with me CHORUS: Set me like a seal on your heart For love is unyielding as the grave The flash of it is a jealous fire No flood can quench For love is as strong as death Arise, my love and come with me Before the dawn breaks and the shadows flee You ravished my heart with just one glance My beautiful one, arise and come with me CHORUS BRIDGE: Do not arouse or awaken love Until it so desires Arise, my love, my lovely one come The winter is past and the rains are gone The flowers appear, it's the season of song My beautiful one, arise and come with me I am my love's, my beloved's mine Arise and come with me How Long? How long will you forget, oh Lord? How long, how long? How I long to see your face, oh Lord How long will you hide? How I struggle with my thoughts, oh Lord How long, how long? Suffer sorrow in my heart, oh Lord How long will you hide? How long? How long? Look on me and give an answer Lord How long, how long? Give me light or I can live no more How long will you hide? My foes rejoice when they see me fall How long, how long? "We have overcome him now", they call How long will you hide? How long? (...will you hide from me) How long? How long? (...until you set me free) How long? Still, oh Lord, You are so good to me How long, how long? My heart rejoices how you set me free How long will you hide? Lord, I sing for what I'm hoping of How long, how long? How I trust in your unfailing love How long will you hide? How long? (...how long) How long? How long? (...will you wait forever) How long? The Death Of A Son Eli, Eli (My God, my God) La ma sabach thani? (Why have You forsaken me?) Eli, Eli La ma sabach thani? Why are you so far from saving me? So far from the words of my groaning? By night and by day I cry out in pain So why do you not answer? Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One In you our fathers trusted They cried out to you and were saved They were never disappointed I am a worm, no longer a man La ma sabach thani? (Why have You forsaken me?) They have pierced my feet and hands La ma sabach thani? I looked for comforters, but found none Oh, how could you forsake me? Oh, my Strength, come quickly, come Come now, oh Lord, and save me For You would never despise or disdain The suffering of the afflicted In the congregation I will proclaim That from the grave You lifted me In the miry depths I sink La ma sabach thani? They gave me vinegar to drink La ma sabach thani? La ma sabach thani? My Shepherd The Lord is my Shepherd And so I lack nothing In meadows of green grass He lets me lie down Beside the still waters He patiently leads me Restoring my soul Restoring my soul For His holy Namesake He guides me by right paths Though I may stray to The vale of deep darkness I fear no evil For You are there with me Beside me Your rod and staff They comfort me You prepare a table Before my enemies My head you've annointed My cup's overflowing Your goodness and mercy Will follow me all the days of my life And I'll make my homeplace In the house of the Lord Search Me And Know Me Oh my Lord, You search and You know me You know when I sit, You know when I rise You know what I think, You know where I'm going Nothing oh Lord, can hide from Your eyes You close me in, behind and before me You shield me with Your mighty hand Such knowledge is too wonderful for me Too much for me to understand Where can I go to flee from Your Spirit? And from Your presence where can I hide? Behold up in heaven You're there beside me In the depths of the darkness You're by my side And if I rise on the wings of the morning Or settle on the far side of the sea Even there Your hand will guide me For Your right hand is holding me And if I say the darkness will hide me The night will shine as bright as day So search me Lord and loving lead me In Your everlasting Way My Help I lift up my eyes To the hills From whence shall come My Help? My Help is from The Lord God Maker of heaven and earth He will not give to the moving of your foot Nor shall slumber, He who keeps thee Behold, He'll not slumber Nor will He sleep He who keeps Israel The Prophet Reluctant ride in the middle of the belly of a whale (Jonah 1,2) A wheel on fire in the middle of the sky (Ezekiel 1:15f) Abandoned baby kicking on the side of the road (16:6ff) And a wife has died but you're denied the right to cry (24:18) Three men walk out protected from a furnace of flame (Daniel 3:19ff) One man cries out from a miry well (Jeremiah 38:6ff) See a man in the myrtles (Zechariah 1:10) And women with the wind in their wings (5:9) Understand what these seared lips can tell CHORUS: I am the prophet and I smolder and burn I scream and cry and wonder why you never seem to learn To hear with your own ears with your own eyes to see I am the prophet, won't you listen to me? I am the prophet, won't you listen to me? I hold out hope to everyone who hears and understands The Word of God can echo in the voice of a man He's the shadow of a great rock in a dry and weary land (Isaiah 32:2) With the names of the ones He loved carved into His hands (49:16) CHORUS The sorrow in His anger, my eyes weep His tears His life alight in me I am the sword that cuts His people apart (Hosea 6:5) I speak the Word that comforts their faithless hearts (Isaiah 40:1) REPEAT CHORUS So Many Books... There is a hunger, a longing for bread And so comes the call for the poor to be fed More hungry by far are a billion and more Who wait for the Bread of the Word of the Lord CHORUS: So many books, so little time So many hunger, so many blind Starving for words, they must wait in the night To open a Bible and move towards the Light There'll come a time, the prophets would say When the joy of mankind will be withered away (Joel 1:12) A want not for water, but a hunger for more A famine for hearing the Word of the Lord CHORUS The Word won't go out Except it return Full, overflowing (Isaiah 55:11) And so we must learn REPEAT CHORUS Then They Will Know I will speak I will wait I will send prophets among them That they might hear That they might see And understand how much I love them Then they will know that I am Father Then they will know I am Lord They'll walk with Me And be My people I'll walk with them as their God As their God (Jeremiah 7:23; 11:4; 13:11; 24:7; 30:22; 31:1,33; 32:38; Ezekiel 11:20; 14:11; 37:23) I will strike I will scourge And carry out vengeance upon them But I will heal the wounds I make (Hosea 6:1) And tenderly take them back to me Then they will know that I am Father Then they will know I am Lord They'll walk with Me And be My people I'll walk with them as their God This is heaven This is salvation This is their great hope and Mine He will come My own Son A Word faithful hearts can't help hearing And by His death With His last breath A Father's forgiveness comes flowing Then they will know That I am Savior I am Redeemer and Friend (Isaiah 63:16) Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14) The God who is with them The God who gives all He can He is salvation He is the kingdom To know Him is paradise Then they will know that I am Father They they will know I am Lord I am Lord Recapture Me Fleeing what I do not know Recapture me, recapture me I flee to where I cannot go Recapture me The bridge between my heart and mind Recapture me, recapture me You come across myself to find Recapture me You come and knock on imagination's door You come to show to know You Is what eyes and ears are for With ears that hear but not receive Recapture me, recapture me With eyes that see but can't perceive Recapture me Your paradox and poetry Recapture me, recapture me They speak one sacred certainty Recapture me You come and knock on imagination's door You come to show to know You Is what eyes and ears are for Through prophets' madness make me wise Recapture me, recapture me Through foolish faith open my eyes Recapture me With sacred words, with silent words Recapture me, recapture me You're the Living Word that must be heard Recapture me Recapture me Song Of Gomer Don't know what He sees in me He is spirit, he is free And I, the wife of adultery Gomer is my name Simply more than I can see How he keeps on forgiving me How he keeps his sanity Hosea, you're a fool CHORUS: A fool to love someone like me A fool to suffer silently But sometimes through your eyes I see I'd rather be a fool The fondness of a father The passion of a child The tenderness of a loving friend An understanding smile All of this and so much more You've lavished on a faithless whore I've never known love like this before Hosea, you're a fool CHORUS This God of yours would not have told To lift a love that you couldn't hold And though time and time again I flee I'm always glad to see you coming after me Simply more than I can see How he keeps on forgiving me The wife of adultery And Gomer is my name Who Can Abide? A mighty storm is rising (Jeremiah 25:32) A darkness in the land (Joel 2:2, Amos 5:18) But surely this must be a light To those who understand That all the prisoners of this Hope (Zechariah 9:12) Are about to be set free As in one lightning moment A familiar face at last they see CHORUS: Who can abide the Day of His Coming? Who can withstand the final Call? If you do not stand by faith You will not stand at all (Isaiah 7:9) You will not stand at all The Valley of Decision Begins to overflow (Joel 3:14) With some confused, bewildered And some who seem to know That this sad separation Was their choice so they can tell He simply speaks the sentence That they have passed upon themselves CHORUS Surely this must be our God Behold the One we trusted in (Isaiah 25:9) He has come at last to save us He has forgotten all our sin (Isaiah 43:25) REPEAT CHORUS Through The Eye CHORUS: Through the eye They must always believe a lie Who see with and not through the eye With and not through the eye You may see what angels long to see (I Peter 1:12) Hear the Harvest's harmony Leave the prison of your shame Hear the sound of your own new name CHORUS Through the eye We see Salvation has come alive And only those who will see survive With and not through the eye Only the eyes of the heart perceive That the deaf and blind can hear and see That insanity's saner than sanity That only a slave can be truly free CHORUS Through the eye We see our Life it has come alive And only those who will see survive With and not through the eye With and not through the eye Valley Of Dry Bones Behold a valley filled with bones Bones on every side A valley vast, the floor so full Of bones so very dry The Lord did ask Can these bones live? Might these bones rise once more? What else was I to say but You alone can tell oh Lord A legion now alive A resurrected army A living, holy host Of a people born again They prophecy, O son of man Cry out to this dead hoard And when they come to life again They'll know I am the Lord And as I spoke what I was told There came a rattling sound As bone to bone they formed a mass Of bodies on the ground Your dead will come alive Their graves will lie abandoned And all those dwelling in the dust Will wake and shout for joy (Isaiah 26:19) And then I called upon the winds Upon these slain to breathe At once they stood upon their feet A mighty, vast army A legion now alive A resurrected army A living, holy host Of a people born again Your dead will come alive Their graves will lie abandoned And all those dwelling in the dust Will wake and shout for joy (Isaiah 26:19) Will You Not Listen? Is not He who formed the ear Worth the time it takes to hear? Should He who formed our lips for speaking Be not heeded when He speaks? Will you not listen? Why won't you listen? God has spoken love to us Why will you not listen? Listen to the sacred silence Listen to the Holy Word Listen as He speaks through living Parables that must be heard Will you not listen? Why won't you listen? God has spoken peace to us Why will you not listen? He spoke a word of flesh and blood Flesh and blood that bled and died Bled and died just to be heard How could you not hear this Word? Why will you not hear this Word? Will you not listen? Why won't you listen? God has spoken hope to us How could you not listen? Why will you not listen? The Kingdom So near and yet still so far, far away So close, and yet still to come Concealed, the seed is mysteriously growing In hearts that will listen and hear A treasure that's hidden, a pearl of great price A fortune for fools who believe CHORUS: A kingdom of beauty, a kingdom of love A kingdom of justice and peace A kingdom that hold all the wilds of creation A kingdom where children will lead (Isaiah 11:6) For now this kingdom's a land of the lowly (Ezekiel 29:14) A place for the tired, plundered poor Now our gentle King comes in the peace on a donkey (Zechariah 9:9) But then on a charger for war (cp Revelation 19:11) A battle in heaven, a war on the earth To shatter the long darkened seige CHORUS Not by our own strength And not by power of might (Zechariah 4:6) But by His Spirit it comes Blinded eyes will see And deafened ears will hear (Isaiah 29:18, 35:15) The praise from the lips of the dumb REPEAT CHORUS I Will Bring You Home Though you are homeless Though you're alone I will be your Home Whatever's the matter Whatever's been done I will be your Home I will be your Home I will be your Home In this fearful, fallen place I will be your Home When time reaches fullness When I move My hand I will bring you Home Home to your own place In a beautiful land I will bring you Home I will bring you Home I will bring you Home From this fearful, fallen place I will bring you Home I will bring you Home Heal Our Land (Song For The National Day Of Prayer) Forgive, oh Lord And heal our land And give us eyes To seek Your face And hearts to understand That You alone Make all things new And the blessings of the land we love Are really gifts from You CHORUS: If My people will humbly pray And seek My face and turn away From all their wicked ways Then I will hear them and move My hand And freely then will I forgive And I will heal their land Unite our hearts In one accord And make us hungry For Your peace And burdened for the poor And grant us hope That we might see A future for the land we love Our life, our liberty REPEAT CHORUS