When people ask me if there is hope I usually say yes, but only if there is revival. By revival I don’t mean a renewal of patriotism or a clean up in government. Those are results of revival, not a cause. I mean a spiritual revival that takes place as people turn toward God. That involves listening to the Holy Spirit, repenting of their sins, trusting in the cleansing offered in the blood of Jesus and having the change of heart that effects the government, schools, media, business and city councils.
Historical American values of right and wrong have been based on a shared sense of Biblical standards. I am not saying that all Americans have been the kind of Christians I described above but they at least acknowledged the moral structure spelled out in the Bible. The consensus has been evaporating over the years and I don’t lay the blame at the feet of the pagans. It has been the fault of the church. The church has evolved in too many cases into just another pagan social club. That is why the site Maddogs Lair could say,
“Even the evangelical church is now corrupted mostly by the tax code and the corrupt system of tax dodges, credits, and deductions.”It is time for a revival it needs to start in the church.
The church has historically had a safety valve for the inevitable corruption that will set in eventually. It is called schism or, in everyday language, church splits. People tend to look on divisions in the organized church with horror. They should count their blessings. It was the Mother of All Church Splits, the Protestant Reformation that not only caused spiritual revival in northern Europe but compelled the Roman Catholic church to embark on the Counter Reformation, bringing revival to the Catholic church. Another well documented split was the Methodists from the Anglican church. Many historians will admit that the Wesley revival brought England back from the verge of a revolution similar to the one that had terrorized France. While Wesley remained an ordained Anglican minister until his death, his followers eventually left to start their own denomination.
It could happen again. It needs to happen in the church. In needs to happen in lukewarm believers. It needs to happen in you and me. So I have hope.
The option is oppression and dark times.
homo unius libri
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