A
TRUMPET-CALL TO REVIVAL
BY
THE CHRISTIAN FUNDAMENTALS ASSOCIATION
The Sixth
Annual Convention of the World’s Christian Fundamentals Association, assembled
in
First of all, we desire to re-affirm in most unequivocal
language our abiding and unshaken faith in great periodical revivals as God’s
usual method of calling a sinning and sorrowing world to righteousness and
peace.
In both the Old and New Testaments we find again and again the
record of mighty spiritual awakenings which came down from above. In
times of idolatry, distress, confusion, war, and wickedness, the voice of
Prophet in the Old Testament, and Apostle in the New, was always present to
summon the people back to the God of their fathers. In subsequent history we know that periodical
revivals have been God’s plan through the generations. In the Sixteenth Century there was a great
spiritual awakening led by the Reformers.
In the Seventeenth Century there was another awakening, known as the
Puritan movement. In the Eighteenth
Century, in the days of darkness and Deism, there was another great spiritual
awakening, led by the Wesleys. In the Nineteenth Century there was a mighty
turning to God in the
In each and every one of these revivals the times were characterized by political chaos, corruption
in priestcraft, lawlessness on every hand, broken-down home life,
worldliness in the church, grossest immorality in society, and the
darkness of skepticism.*
[* An accurate description of what we see all around us today! - Ed]
In the second place, in
this day of multiplied voices,* each proclaiming a new gospel which is
not the true Gospel, we feel the necessity of restating and declaring the
character of revival that is needed. It
is a revival that comes from above rather than from below; a revival that comes
in the name and authority of Him Who “cometh from above and Who is above all”; a revival that holds forth the Word
of light to shine in the midst of a “crooked and perverse generation” and, as David prayed, “according to Thy Word,” the whole Bible as supernaturally
inspired, the final and complete revelation of God’s will to man concerning
man’s redemption; a revival that again, in New Testament fashion, relies
absolutely on the Holy Spirit to “convict men of sin, and of righteousness, and of
judgment,” to quicken the
souls that are dead in trespasses and sins, and to make men new creatures in
Christ Jesus; a revival that uses heaven-anointed men rather than
human-appointed machines; a revival that proclaims Jesus the Christ as “the only name given under
heaven whereby we must be saved”; a revival that sets forth His atonement on the cross for our sins and
His resurrection from the grave for our justification; a revival that calls men
to repentance for their sins and confession of Christ, the Lord, as their
Saviour; and a revival that will quicken the conscience and cause and compel
men to “bring
forth fruits meet for repentance.”
[* When in
“The enormous confusion amongst so-called Christian churches is still
growing. A person not believing but
not wanting to approach Jesus Christ will
encounter a complete mess. Apart
from Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons and other groups there are numerous evangelical churches – the Pentecostals, the
Baptists, the Brethren, the Presbyterians, the
Catholics – an enormous mess indeed. … (1 Cor. 1: 12, 13).
Each church
has its own interpretation of the Bible.
In some cases there are deviating ways of thinking even amongst the
churches of the same denomination. So
pluralism has found its way into Christianity, and it seems as if there wasn’t
an ultimate and correct understanding of the Holy Scriptures at all, and all
depended on the way a person looked upon it.
There is a terrible lack not only
of knowledge but also of order.
Paul described the true unity amongst Christians as
follows … (1 Cor. 1: 10).
God gave us the key to the understanding of His Word
by the precious bequest of the Holy Scriptures – the Holy Spirit. He alone makes it possible for his children
to have the same understanding of the word.
So how come that these different interpretations
exist? The Bible and the Holy Spirit are not considered having the absolute
priority concerning the understanding of the Scriptures; men do not allow the
Word to uncompromisingly rebuke them.
That is why the Word is interpreted individually by people.
Due to this fact there are so many kinds of interpretations
and finally churches and congregations. Man is not willing to subordinate his
lusts, sins and habits to the Word of God, which would mean to give them up. He
doesn’t want to radically deny and change his old ways of living and thinking
and soothes his conscience by interpreting the Word in a way suiting his
personal demands and then chooses a church accordingly. …
In former times Satan vehemently tried to fight the
Christians by severe persecution. … Today
he deceives them by means of enticing offers of the world. Disguised as [an] angel of light he has entered the churches and
makes them come closer to the world. For
instance, today a majority of the Christians calmly watch TV – although the [many] TV programmes are the greatest sources of tempting; they
adapt themselves to the world by following the dictate of fashion,
…
(1 John 2: 15, 16).
By approaching the world a Christian gradually
loses his power, the joy of the early days of belief and the victory over
temptations. False prophets in sheep’s
clothing then manage to deceive Christians by making them believe that the
reason for this weakness was that they had not yet experienced the so-called
‘spiritual baptism’. Instead of living
separated from the world to get back the blessing of the Lord, many seek this
experience not knowing that they fall into a trap. In this way Satan has deceived the entire
evangelical scene. He sits in the centre of the church. … [See
Rev. 2: 13]. When
the enemy comes in, Jesus is not there anymore. …
God wants us to flee from all opportunities to sin. For it is written: ‘Be ye holy; for I am holy,” (1 Pet. 1: 16).
The only
possible return to the fullness of the Spirit and the first love is repentance,
refraining from sin and separation from the world. Without
renunciation no authority, without cross no power, without holiness no joy. There are but a few people having crucified
their flesh with the affections and lusts and thus separated from the habits of
the flesh and the world. ‘And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and
lusts,’ (Gal. 5: 24).
Let’s go, … Sanctify yourself. This is the only way to get the first love from God, the victory over
all temptations, and immense joy. …
We are neither Catholic, nor Evangelical, nor
Jehovah’s Witnesses, nor Mormans, nor any other
denomination. … We just call ourselves Christians.”]
Third, It is our conviction that the
revival that is needed is one that will magnify the local church as Christ’s
one institution, which is the pillar and
ground of the truth, and that gives the called and anointed ministry of God
its rightful place and leadership as ambassadors of Christ, who stand between
the living and the dead.
Fourth, The necessity for a revival
is self-evident. Men of all classes,
creeds, sects, and races fully realize there must come a great spiritual
awakening or civilization is utterly broken down. As stated by an editor of one of the leading
Fifth, There are many happy results
of a heaven-sent revival. First of all,
the lost are saved. This was the one
mission of Christ the Lord to the earth, Who said, “For the Son of Man is come
to seek and to save that which was lost.” We believe and
declare most emphatically that if men
are made over inside they will change their environment on the outside; that if
men are born from above, regenerated within by the Holy Spirit, the old things
of dishonesty, impurity and wickedness are passed away and all things are made
new.
Sixth, A revival is needed also to quicken and
strengthen the faith of the ministry.
We believe that God has ordained that the world shall be saved by “the foolishness of preaching,” that it is his plan to call,
separate, anoint, and send forth ministers to a lost world.
Seventh, Who is there among us
whose heart does not break and bleed over the flood-tide of worldliness that is
sweeping through our churches?
Iniquity abounds, and only the blindest can deny that we are in perilous
times when men are “lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents,
unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers,
incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady,
high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.”
Eighth, A revival is the only hope of
saving the youth of the land to faith in a personal God and in His Holy
Word. It is with the deepest sorrow that
we are compelled to admit that too often
we find scepticism dethroning sincere and personal faith in the things of
Christ, heaven, and immortality. On
every hand parents have been made to weep bitter tears over the fearful departure from the true faith
by their sons and daughters who have been swept into the maelstrom of modern
infidelity.
Ninth, All loyal citizens, as well as all true Christians,
regardless of racial, political, or religious differences, are alarmed at the rapid increase of divorce. A noted authority on sociology in one of our
leading American universities said recently, “At the
present rate of increase of divorce the next generation will witness the
disappearance almost entirely of the sanctity of marriage.” Of all institutions none is more sacred than
the home, and it is the first of all institutions, for He has declared in His
Holy Word, “Therefore
shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife,
and they twain shall be one flesh.”
Tenth, That we
are in a time of lawlessness and increase in crime none can deny. Confidence in authority and law has been
undermined. The public conscience needs
to be quickened. Men in high as well as low estate are guilty of the most
shocking acts of dishonesty, graft, and crime. The whole nation, regardless of
political parties, has been compelled to bow its head in shame and humiliation
over these startling revelations. The only effective cure for dishonesty, for
graft, for crime, for lawlessness, is not any particular theory of government,
not any particular school of thought or philosophy, but history shows the only
effective cure has come from above by the operation of the Holy Spirit on the
consciences of men. In times of
great spiritual awakening God, in fulfilment of His purpose and according to
the multitude of His tender mercies, sends “the times of refreshment from the presence of the
Lord.”
Eleventh, On the question of preventing war, parliaments,
congresses, cabinets, chancelleries the world around are still meeting,
debating, and burdened statesmen of all schools and classes are searching by
what manner of means they may avert another and more terrible war than that
just past. If
Twelfth, There is nothing new that we
can add to the Scriptural requirements for a revival. In the old days the Word of God said, “If My people,
which are called by My
name, shall humble themselves, and
pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear
from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
THEREFORE: We call upon God’s people
everywhere, ministers, and laymen, in city and in country, of all denominations
to join with us in deepest heart contrition, confession, and turning to
Almighty God, and make the prayer of the prophet of old the cry of the hour: “0 Lord, revive Thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years
make known; in wrath remember mercy.”
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