Will the world see a spiritual revival before the return of Jesus Christ? Is it our duty and calling to bring about that revival? If so, should it be done through a movement of spiritual gifts, tongues and modern-day prophets and apostles? I discuss here the fallacies of such faulty theology and false teachings on the subject.
WHAT WALKING IN THE SPIRIT IS
I was raised in a Salvation Army church in England. Despite some claims that the Army was resistant to the moving of the Holy Spirit, it’s been my lifelong observation that the Spirit was indeed moving at that time in many of the people who were members and who attended. How do I know? Did they speak in tongues often during services? Did they fall over at the front of the church? Did they prophecy and give words from the Lord?
No, they didn’t. But I’ll tell you what they did do. They were very big on worshipping the Lord and His Son with all their might and with great noise and passion. They read from the Bible and held it in reverence. They prayed together sometimes for lengthy periods, not as a quick thirty second prep for a long sermon from the pastor. They stressed holiness and distance from sin. They focused on the blood of Christ being poured out for our sins on the cross. And some of them were real Christians. By that I mean that they were loving, warm, humble and dedicated. They were true witnesses for their Lord.
They did have one song in particular which called for “another Pentecost”. But by that they didn’t originally mean to have a desire to fall over and babble, but to be filled with the power to be true witnesses. And in their own way they did that: literally marching in the public streets, singing songs and hymns about Jesus, and preaching aloud to anyone out there who would listen. Yes indeed, they were, in my eyes, often full of the Spirit.
EYES ON SELF-FULFILLMENT
Now we have a very self-centered form of worship claiming to be a movement of the Spirit. It’s all about me. It’s about what feelings I have, and how much supposed power I have, and what experiences I have, and what the Lord told me. This is not a movement of the Spirit: it’s a movement of self and self-deception, and of error, with very little if any awareness of the need for holiness or humility. There can be no true revival from this perspective.
GIFTS AND REVIVAL
Some Charismatic churches, denominations and movements are preaching-or rather, “prophecying”- a coming revival. Some even believe that we Christians are tasked with changing the world and bringing revival before Jesus Christ can come back. If this is the case, we all have a very long wait, while the wicked gain more and more control over our societies and our culture.
Do spiritual gifts bring about spiritual revival? No! Its the other way around! It’s holiness and repentance, obedience and humilty before our God which brings about a movement of the Spirit! Paul warned clearly about getting the cart before the horse:
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing (1 Corinthians 13: 1-2 NKJV).
Your claimed gifts will do nothing-have no power at all-if you are not grounded in the life God wants you to live. Your testimony and your witness will fall completely flat: it is worthless. And remember, if an unbeliever comes into your church and you’re all speaking in tongues at once (or you think you are) will they not think you are out of your mind (1 Corinthians 14:23)? Since this is the case, what “power” is there, in truth, in your tongues? None at all, because all true words, in whatever language, are created by God to convey meaning to the hearer.
STILL WAITING
At the tender age of seventeen I attended a mid-week service at the church of my girlfriend’s mother. There they prophecied (or thought they did) that a great revival was coming to the city and the world. That was forty-eight years ago. In following years I heard the same message, always at Charismatic gatherings. The latter rain was falling; the streams were running into the rivers, and all were growing into one mighty river of faith and power. This was, they said, the word of the Lord. The same message is being given today in some Chrarismatic circles. Why?
PLAYING GAMES WHILE THE WORLD BURNS
If you become untethered from the truth of the Word of God-the Bible-you become open to deception. If God is “doing a new thing”, but in truth all you really see is people falling over in church and the world continuing to descend into godlessness, confusion and chaos, how will you feel? If you’re determined, you will believe the lie that a great revival is just around the corner. All you have to do is speak in tongues more, hand more of your money over to the movement, and wait for it to happen. I’m sorry to say this people, but it isn’t going to happen-at least, not that way.
HOLINESS
We may well see local revivals, or even regional ones. But any true revival, seen as revival in the eyes of God, has to be firmly focused on holiness and repentance from sin. That means no more sleeping with your girlfriend. That means no more weed to make you feel good rather than trusing in God. It means getting back to the Bible instead of relying on whatever your favorite so-called “prophet” or even “apostle” has to say on a Sunday morning. It means actually believing what God has said about salvation and creation and righteousness, rather than what the culture in your church and the world as a whole says.
NOT OUR TASK
What about world-wide revival? Is that going to happen? I cannot say that the world will not experience revival for a time-perhaps it will. But I can tell you that it absolutely is not our task to put the world right or even to bring about revival, in order to bring about the return of Jesus Christ. The Lord God Almighty will alone decide (already has decided) on that Day, quite apart from anything we do or say. Perhaps the only influence we can have on the timing is our part in getting the gospel out to the whole world, though even that is carried out by the working of our God: He isn’t dependant on us to do even that.
THE REAL FUTURE
The testimony of Scripture itself is that rather than seeing revival before the coming of Jesus, the world will willingly slide into an abyss of wickedness before He comes. The danger of drifting away from Scripture and believing the so-called prophets is that you are drifting from truth, at your own peril, and at the peril of those you should be passing truth on to.
Here’s what Scripture actually says about the state of our world immediately before the coming of Jesus and associated events:
At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold (Matthew 24:10-12).
And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts (Revelation 9:21).
For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way (2 Thessalonians 2:7).
…that day will not come until the rebellion occurs (2 Thessalonians 2:3 NIV).
…that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first (the above reference in NKJV).
Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8 NKJV).
Because of rebellion, the Lord’s people and the daily sacrifice were given over to it. It prospered in everything it did, and truth was thrown to the ground (Daniel 8:12).
For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness (2 Thessalonians 2:11-12).
Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared (1 Timothy 4:1-2).
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, it’s those of us who know the truth of Scripture, who believe it and stand firm, who will make it through life and the difficult times to come,and who have the potential to influence others into the kingdom of God. Revivals may come and go, but the next truly great rivival will only take place on the day Christ steps back into our world.
Fuel for Faith, Food for Thought 