Will there be a Great Last Days Revival?

September 16, 2010 at 9:59pm

One fact becomes immediately clear when reading eschatological verses.  That is, there will not be a great worldwide revival during the period before the Antichrist is revealed.  Further, there will not be a third Great Awakening as one Fox News host has predicted.  Instead, there will be widespread complacency, apathy, followed by a great apostasy and as a result chronic deception.  It will begin with a time of great stress, which will produce doldrums in Christianity.  The increase of wickedness in the world system will add to the doldrums.  Professing Christians will cease to pray, to make a daily effort to draw nearer to God, and spiritual weakness will affect many.  They will look for any means to keep some excitement in their religious lives and most pastors will accommodate them.  The sad truth is that this period has already arrived. 

During this time, the natural response of pastors is to get people revived.  But do they really know what revival is?  Most of them believe that revival is a demonstration of emotion in every church meeting.  In fact I have observed many pastors trying to put the cart before the horse, so to speak.  They try to stimulate the people into hyper-emotionalism with excitement in the belief that this will cause a revival.  Such a method may cause an event and God may even save and heal sincere souls who come seeking Him.  But revival is not caused by excitement or emotion.  Instead, it is the works of revival that manifest these factors.   Pentecostal/Charismatic revivals have historically been accompanied by great excitement and hyper-emotionalism.  One would expect it to be so when souls are being saved and miracles are occurring.  But a true revival is when the people first come to repentance and full surrender to God.  Revival is bringing back to life that which is dead or near dead.  People who no longer pray, study God’s Word, or meditate on His attributes, have come to depend on excitement and emotionalism.  Then there are the ones who have become apostate.  They may still attend church meetings, but they no longer believe in their hearts that Jesus is the Son of God, and that He died for their sins.  Once a person enters the state of apostasy, he or she will not desire spiritual things.  The only way to excite such a people is to give them carnal excitement.   That is what is occurring in many evangelical church meetings today. 

Most modern revivals appear to draw people to a particular venue or to adulation of an individual.  Just as Roman Catholics flock to weeping statues or apparitions of the Mother Mary, it is as if the masses expect God to manifest Himself in a certain place, for whatever reason.  This is not to say that God does not send revival to particular venues or greatly use certain individuals.  Instead, I am saying that He is not a respecter of persons or places, and will revive anyone or use anyone who will draw near to Him with all of his or her heart.  Do that and one does not have to run around the world to find God.  He will come to that person who seeks Him with a whole heart.  A true revival brings people back to intimacy with God. 

Having stated that, I will go on to point out the probable result of a great revival in the last days as it occurs on a personal basis.  If a true revival occurred today, the immediate result would be people waking up to the period that we are in and what they might need to prepare for the future.  An individual would no doubt recognize the encroaching darkness and imminent dominance of wickedness on a worldwide basis.  He or she would probably not be running about giddy with joy or bubbling with excitement.  Instead, they might be asking God to prepare them to face the difficult times ahead.  Are we seeing this type of results in present revivals?  We have to ask ourselves if we need a revival of emotion or do we need an equipping revival.  If we are headed into the darkest and most dangerous period in the history of the earth, we might need to ask God what it will take to get through it and remain overcomers.  I have discovered that I cannot get very far with emotion.  However, the strength, knowledge, and experience that trials have generated in me prepare me for the coming storm.  The more I face adversity the more confidence I have that I can stand.  

As I previously stated, revival is bringing back to life that which is dead or near dead.  At the risk of appearing smug, I will state that I believe that I have spiritual life and therefore have no need of a revival.  However, I will take all the spiritual substance that God offers me because I do not know what great trial lies ahead.  If we have spiritual life, certain characteristics will manifest in our nature.  We will be grateful for each day that we can sense His presence, and think about lost souls continually.  It is very difficult nowadays to win them to Christ in a true conversion, but we must try.  Additionally, we will think about the multitudes that are unaware of the dangerous time and are thus unprepared.  We should have an overwhelming unction to warn them.  Further, we will clearly see the line of demarcation between awareness and unawareness and instantly recognize which side of it an individual is on.  I must say with all sincerity that there are millions of professing Christians that have no spiritual life.  They have no clue as to what is about to descend upon this world and our nation.  As a result, they cannot help themselves much less anyone else.

In my opinion, this is neither the day of the evangelist nor the time of emotional and exciting revivals.  Instead, it is the day of prophets and sober warnings to prepare people for unprecedented tribulation.  It is a time of trials and daily struggles for which we will one day be grateful.  Persecution of Christians is coming to America.  People who are unprepared for it will succumb to whatever is offered to exempt them from persecution.  Multitudes may acquiesce to a diabolical decree in order to avoid hardships.  This they may do in the hope of riding out the storm until better times arrive.  The problem with that line of thought is that better times will not arrive until Christ appears at the end of the age.  It will be too late then to repent of their compromise. 

Therefore, we have to determine what can better prepare us for imminent tribulation with persecution.  Should we be involved in a charismatic event, imbibing excitement and given ourselves over to hyper-emotionalism?  Will there not be a false sense of power and security, which is nothing more than a whitewashed wall built with untempered mortar?  Should we not rather be praying, daily battling trials and hardships, and incrementally adjusting to the harsh reality of the encroaching darkness?  God’s Word tells us to be sober, vigilant, and alert.  He warns us to be aware of the time and to be prepared, which includes having a reserve of oil.  We are warned about great deception, of very powerful lying signs and wonders, and of cold love, deaf ears, and lost love for truth.  A major work of Satan is to prepare people for defeat by eroding their love for truth until it completely dissolves.  What would replace love for truth?  Historically, love for truth has always been forsaken for the love of teaching, preaching, or prophecies promising good times, fortune, pleasure, health, and all the comfort factors, which is very desirable.  We could wish for those things myself, but in times of danger we should regard pure and clear truth as most important and essential. 

My advice is for people to spend as much time as possible praying and reading the Word of God.  Each person needs to be able to hear God clearly and recognize evil and its falseness.   We ought to eagerly accept truth no matter how unpleasant it may be.  Last, we must avoid anything that clouds or diminishes the sense of intimacy with God.  Each person must realize that if he or she is going to survive the last day’s deception, he or she must take responsibility for his or her own spiritual condition immediately.  We must not trust in a pastor or another spiritual leader, event, or thing, to do this critical task.  No one is going to put oil in our lamps or reservoirs for us.  There will be no free ride, no immunity from the consequences of irresponsibility, and I’m not certain one will have a second chance when things develop beyond a certain point.  I don’t know when or where that point will occur or if there will be any warning as we approach it.  Therefore, I am taking no chances and I advise everyone to adopt the same attitude. 

Many professing Christians will not accept this message.  They listen to preachers and teachers who are speaking more positive words to them.  It is what the majority of professing Christians desire.  Of course, it is much more appealing to be carefree than careful.  However, this is not a game.  It is not a fire drill.  It is the real thing.  We’ve entered a very dangerous period.  Watch where you walk, and what you accept, whom you associate with and limit your indulgences.  May God be with you.