I believe that it was Vance Havner who said, \u201cEvery revival begins in a cave, and ends in a cathedral.\u201d \u00a0It is a succinct way of saying that no great move of God is going to last. \u00a0History proves that this is the truth. \u00a0Long ago I watched film by Luis Palau entitled, \u201cGod Has No Grandchildren.\u201d \u00a0It was about the 1904 Wales revival. \u00a0The Wales revival was so powerful that the populations of entire cities were saved.\u00a0 Jails were unused, pubs were closed from lack of customers, and the police force was idle. \u00a0So accustomed were the animals to vulgarity that miners and other ones had difficulty getting their horses and mules to respond. \u00a0Years later, Palau went to Wales to discover how the revival had fared and found only symbolic remnants. \u00a0Among the remnants were churches that had become pubs now frequented by drunken soccer fans. \u00a0Linked arm in arm, they swayed back and forth while singing their team’s victory song to the tune of \u201cWhat a Friend We Have in Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n
We should not be surprised today at the many denominations that appear on the brink or in the clutches of full blown apostasy. \u00a0Neither should we desire to stay in those denominations in order to retain the trappings. \u00a0The people of God who are determined not to sink into the mire of compromise and sin do not get to keep the \u201ccathedral\u201d when apostasy arrives. \u00a0As always, they must go back to the \u201ccave\u201d and start all over. \u00a0The common mistake is for the remnant to believe that when revival dies they will somehow keep the \u201ccathedral\u201d and all its earthly benefits. \u00a0They are convinced that against all odds they will manage to fan the flames of revival back to life. \u00a0Unwittingly, they shift the focus of the battle from defending and maintaining the truth to fighting for rights to the \u201ccathedral\u201d. \u00a0The question looms; if they were not capable of keeping spiritual death from coming in, how are they now strong enough to force it out?<\/p>\n
Truly, God has no grandchildren.\u00a0 Every generation needs its own revival.\u00a0\u00a0 I’ve come to the conclusion that a true revival needs a \u201ccave\u201d. \u00a0There is something about faith that makes it work best from the point of need rather than from a position of sufficiency. \u00a0It may well be the reason why God calls \u201cthe weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty\u201d(1Corinthians 1:27). \u00a0Apostasy seldom if ever breaks out in a \u201ccave\u201d. \u00a0But faith thrives there. \u00a0We are stripped of our sufficiency in the \u201ccave\u201d. \u00a0It is a place of recognizing and understanding our inadequacies and our dependency upon God. \u00a0The \u201ccathedral\u201d is quite otherwise.<\/p>\n
But how does revival die? \u00a0Is it simply because we move from the \u201ccave\u201d to the \u201ccathedral\u201d? \u00a0Of course not. \u00a0As revival bears fruit, and souls are added, the \u201ccave\u201d becomes too small and inconvenient for us. \u00a0We gradually move into the \u201ccathedral\u201d singing \u201cVictory in Jesus\u201d as we go. \u00a0Everything is fine until the generation upon whom revival had fallen passes on. \u00a0Generation cedes control to generation until a generation (usually the third one) takes control that never knew God supernaturally. \u00a0They know much about God, but they have no relationship with Him. \u00a0The proof is that the leaders of that generation always attempt to know God through unbiblical means and methods. \u00a0They insist with absolutely no biblical evidence that it is not the way the ancestors would do it, that God has commissioned them to do it differently. \u00a0We are seeing that paradigm today as denominational leaders delve into Contemplative Spirituality and other pagan practices while claiming a greater experience with God. \u00a0Shamelessly, they court demons, dismantle every godly landmark, discard sacred truth, and call it new and improved Christianity.<\/p>\n
Of all people who stand before God on Judgment Day, I would not want to be the ones who refused to revisit the \u201ccave\u201d and that killed revival in the \u201ccathedral\u201d. \u00a0Those people always surface when the fire of revival grows lukewarm or cold. \u00a0It is proof that no matter how evil, how bizarre, how apostate, or destructive Satan’s plan is, there are always people standing ready to accept the job at the price offered.\u00a0 All they need is the support of enough people to secure their positions. \u00a0The truth is that there are always enough lukewarm or cold professing Christians to give them authority over the masses.<\/p>\n
Today, God is sending out a call; \u201cWould you forsake everything to follow Me?\u201d \u00a0Satan is also sending out a call; \u201cWill you join me in uniting the world’s religions?\u201d \u00a0The people who were born in revival answer \u201cyes\u201d to God’s call. \u00a0Their answer requires full surrender.\u00a0 The ones that were born in the religious doldrums of Laodicean<\/em> lukewarmness are excitedly answering Satan’s call. \u00a0Their answer requires compromise.\u00a0 It is the classic and time-honored battle between the \u201ccave\u201d and the \u201ccathedral\u201d, between the old paths and a way that seems right unto men (Proverbs 16:25). \u00a0Every true Christian has to decide if they can let go of the \u201ccathedral\u201d and, as Elijah did, meet God in the \u201ccave\u201d. \u00a0It’s a simple but often difficult choice; requiring one to wash with tears of repentance the glitter of the \u201ccathedral\u201d from his or her eyes.<\/p>\n When Lot’s family were fleeing God’s judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah, the only factor that could prevent their complete deliverance would be to look back. \u00a0Lot’s wife could not help herself and was destroyed. It is the same type of choice true Christians have to make today. \u00a0Will we stay in the \u201ccathedral\u201d and die, or will we with total abandon to God flee from its apostasy and soon to arrive judgment and not look back?<\/p>\n Vance Havner made another statement that is relevant here. \u00a0He said, \u201cI was born in the fire, and I’m not about to die in the smoke.\u201d\u00a0 I pray, \u201cFather God, kindle in us a fiery heat that burns out the chaff and every other thing that hinders Your will in our lives!\u201d \u00a0If He is calling us to meet Him in the \u201ccave\u201d again, then to the \u201ccave\u201d we must go. \u00a0It is there that we will hear His still, small voice and receive a fresh commission. \u00a0In the \u201ccathedral\u201d we will only join the march of those that have aligned their compasses to the path of apostasy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I believe that it was Vance Havner who said, \u201cEvery revival begins in a cave, and ends in a cathedral.\u201d \u00a0It is a succinct way of saying that no great move of God is going to last. \u00a0History proves that this is the truth. \u00a0Long ago I watched film by Luis Palau entitled, \u201cGod Has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","post-preview"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paIm2N-ai","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=638"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":639,"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638\/revisions\/639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}