Want A Revival?
Many folks think a hunger for soul-winning is the key to sparking a revival. Others think that electing the right politicians will renew America spiritually. Not so, says theologian Gordon H. Clark. We live in an age where Christians are proud to be “practical” and “relevant,” and by that they really mean they avoid things like theology and intellectual challenges – "too abstract and difficult," they say. This paragraph by Clark really grabbed me.
There have been times in the history of God’s people, for example, in the days of Jeremiah, when refreshing grace and widespread revival were not to be expected: The time was one of chastisement. If this twentieth century is of a similar nature, individual Christians here and there can find comfort and strength in a study of God’s Word. But if God has decreed happier days for us, and if we may expect a world – shaking and genuine spiritual awakening, then it is that author’s belief that a zeal for souls, however necessary, is not the sufficient condition. Have there not been devout saints in every age, numerous enough to carry on a revival? Twelve such persons are plenty. What distinguishes the arid ages from the period of the Reformation, when nations were moved as they had not been since Paul preached in Ephesus, Corinth, and Rome, is the latter’s fullness of knowledge of God’s Word. To echo an early Reformation thought, when the ploughman and the garage attendant know the Bible as well as the theologian does, and know it better than some contemporary theologians, than the desired awakening shall have already occurred.
