Jonathan Edwards preached his famous ‘Great Awakening’ sermon- “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, on July 8, 1741 at Enfield, Mass. (later Connecticut). When I studied “Sinners…” in seminary it was presented as a bad example of ‘hell fire’ sermons that no modern minister would or should ever dare to preach. In Church History class, it seemed like no one could figure out why it became so famous.

Obviously, you had to of been there and the Holy Spirit had to of shown up in an amazing way, and from all accounts that certainly was the case. According to reports of the occasion, Edwards quietly read the sermon with very little flare, but when he started talking about natural un-regenerated people being held in the hand of God over the fiery pit of Hell, a great commotion broke out in the congregation with quite a few folks being convicted by the Holy Spirit. Here is an excerpt from the sermon:

“So that thus it is, that natural men are held in the hand of God over the pit of hell;

they have deserved the fiery pit, and are already sentenced to it; and God is dreadfully provoked,

his anger is as great towards them as to those that are actually suffering the executions of the fierceness of his wrath in hell,

and they have done nothing in the least to appease or abate that anger,

neither is God in the least bound by any promise to hold `em up one moment;

the devil is waiting for them, hell is gaping for them, the flames gather and flash about them, and would fain lay hold on them, and swallow them up;…”

It is said that when Edwards spoke with this imagery of Hell, that some in the church that day actually felt and saw the fiery pits of hell beneath their feet and smelled the burning sulfur. Historians find those accounts to be suspect (I don’t). However, regardless of what really happened, many came to Christ that day following Edward’s invitation at the end:

Therefore let everyone that is out of Christ, now awake and fly from the wrath to come.

The wrath of almighty God is now undoubtedly hanging over great part of this congregation:

let everyone fly out of Sodom:

“Haste and escape for your lives, look not behind you, escape to the mountain, lest you be consumed” [Gen. 19:17]

What if Edwards preached his famous sermon today? Probably a better question- could it be preached today?:

1. The board of Elders would meet to vote on whether Pastor Edwards should be retained.

2. The UCC denomination would distance themselves from Pastor Edwards ‘negative’ theology. Pastor Jeremiah Wright would probably be a spokesman at a press conference.

3. The Professors at Yale University where Edwards graduated from would condemn the ‘exclusive’ theology of the sermon and promise to censure any future books or publications.

3. One lady with an unbelieving husband, in the congregation that day, would be on the evening news condemning the Pastor for scaring them and saying that a loving God would send ‘good folks’  like them to an everlasting Hell.

4. On “55 Minutes” TV show over the next weekend, a psychologist from Harvard would explain how it was all a hoax, that Edwards obviously hypnotized the entire congregation with his ‘hellish’ imagery just to increase the size of his church and get larger offerings. After all, Edwards is a maniac with 10 children.

5. On Bible Radio, the Dr. Smiley the chief cult headhunter would explain that the ‘Hell experience’ was similar to what ‘mind control’ cults subject their members too.

6. Jewish rabbi Dr. Conn on the weekend ‘Religion Dialogue’ TV show would be offended that Edward’s implied that ‘righteous people’ who don’t believe in Christ would end up in Hell. The Right Rev. Dr. Bishop Wonderful of the Episcopal Church would agree and sympathize. Dr. Ali of the Islamic U. would find that it is the first time that he actually agreed with a Rabbi.

Dr. Donald, the famous atheist, would point out that it confirms what he said in his latest book about religion being a divisive force that needed to be controlled. Pastor Charlie of the 20,000 member Valley Community Church would explain that most Christians today preach about the ‘love’ of God and how preaching about Hell is not the norm and actually a bad idea if you want to grow a large effective community organization and church reaching out in today’s culture.

The panel would conclude by agreeing that ‘God’s love for all people’ needed to be stressed today in the face of radical fundamentalist religion.

7. Osama Muhammad the al Queda leader would come on Algazerra TV and lay out plans to send Edwards and his entire congregation to hell in the name of Allah. After all, a visiting Muslim student converted to Christ that day.  

8. There would be at least 10 blog posts about how the service reminded them of the ‘so-called’ Toronto revival. According to reports, there were all sorts of undefinable noises coming from the congregation.  Some sounded like animals and many were flat on their faces just unintelligently moaning and groaning.

God could never be the author of such a confusing uproar. After all, show me in the Bible where anyone ever experienced the fires of Hell beneath their feet!

…If Edwards preached his famous sermon today!            

This is the first and maybe the last in a series of posts exploring what it might be like if certain revivals started today.  Enjoy:

…..If Azusa Street started today:

1. The LA Fire Dept. would shut down the meetings. Too many folks stuffed in a dangerous wooden barn.

2. OSHA would come by and fine the church for lack of disability ramps, restrooms, and parking.

3. The neighbors would complain because of all the noise and traffic caused by the gatherings. Plus those all night services must stop.

4. The Mayor would order the church banished from the city: ” After all, we already have enough churches and not one of them help with the city budget. Besides churches are all suppose to meet at schools or in industrial parks outside the city limits, accept for the old ones which were built by ‘real’ denominations 50 years ago. Also, WalMart was interested in that property and we are just going to have to condemn it anyway.”

5. According to the ‘Biblical Answer Man’s’ chief cult headhunter: ” The last ones we know of who spoke in tongues were Joseph Smith and Brigham Young of the Mormons in 1835″.

6. Fundamentalist Bible teacher, Dr. Cliff proclaims on the radio that “Tongues and all those gifts ceased when the ‘perfect’ Bible came– I Cor.13 proves it!”

7. Google ‘Azusa Street revival’ and you would get 2 pages of critical articles from folks who haven’t been there with theological reasons and expose’s of why it can’t be from God. Then this is followed by 10 folks who claim they went to a service at Azusa Street “with an open mind, but…”.

8. RelTV would probably refuse to televise the meetings because…” Pastor Seymour is a horrible speaker and the music is terrible!”

…..If Azusa Street started today!            

Jesus and his disciples were healing folks right and left, yet John the Baptist sent some of his group to find out what was up.  It was not going the way he had expected: “shall we look for another?”

That is a lot like what is happening at Lakeland. Some folks are being healed and many are being blessed, and yet there are even more Christians who would paraphrase John the Baptist and ask- “Is that all there is –shall we keep looking?”

I would be inclined to agree with some of the critics except that I firmly believe that we are just at the beginning of a sovereign move that will not be limited to Florida, but will sweep across all of North America and eventually to the UK and Europe. Already, I have personally heard of dozens of churches and ministries in America that have seen an obvious increase in healing in 2008.

John the Baptist obviously had some preconceptions about the Messiah and what would happen when he came. A few miracles and healings didn’t look anything like the revolution he expected. But it was just at the beginning! 2,000 years have come and gone and most of us still don’t have a clue what Jesus is doing and what he is waiting for.

We have to remind ourselves that whatever is happening at Lakeland, it may be just at the beginning. I wonder how past revivals would have survived the onslaught and glare of 24 hour TV and Internet. What did Wales and Azusa Street look like after a month and a half into it?

So many of us have read about past revivals and expect God to do the same thing again, full blown and mature at the start. We forget that each sovereign move was new and strange for those who experienced them at the time.

My Own Expectations

Myself, I am looking for a revival that sweeps across all of North America and effects 1000’s of churches in hundreds of places. A revival that crosses all the man-made divisions and denominations. Then like a tidal wave engulfs the UK and washes up on the shores of France and Northwestern Europe. A revival coming soon near you.

So many are looking for Jesus to come for his church, I’m looking for him to come to it. Come to it? What exactly does that mean? I’m not entirely sure what that means except it’s a ‘word’ that I keep hearing in the Spirit and it’s going to be good.

The church is going to get closer to Jesus, there will be a changing of the guard, ‘churchianity’  is going down, and his people will hear his voice in a profound way. I say, Come Lord Jesus and surprise us!   

(Photo: Karen L. Willoughby -Baptist Press)

Here’s an update on the Jena revival began on Feb. 17 in a Jena, Louisiana Baptist church which didn’t even have a pastor at the time. Now it has spread across racial lines and is bring healing to a community that was severely divided by a racial incident at the Jena highschool.

Last year, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton led a rally in this town of 3,000 that saw some 20,000 people descend upon Jena in support of “Jena Six”. Now in the same field, a tent holding 1,000 has been set up for the continuing revival.

L&A Baptist Church pastor Jimmy Young said concerning the revival:

“In the Bible, seven is the number of completeness. God is doing a complete restoration and unification work here in Jena, so it is only fitting that the seventh week finds us at the same location where thousands gathered on Sept. 20 of last year.”

Received this devotional today from Charisma Online. I have read a lot of comments about the Toronto move and how things got out of control. Can’t believe how many articles there are out there demonizing the Pastor who led it–John Arnott. Anyway, here is a small taste of his teaching up front and personal in a devotion and guess what the topic is?:

Christ Wants Control

Today’s message is from John Arnott.

Our church was praying for revival, just as many of yours are. We realize now we forgot to ask what revival would look like. When the Spirit of God came, it was like an explosion. We saw people literally being knocked off their feet by the Spirit of God—when no one else was near them. Others shook and jerked. Some danced, some laughed. Some lay on the floor as if dead for hours. People cried and shouted.

We wanted everything to be orderly and calm. The church needs to function in an orderly way so the body of Christ is edified, the people are blessed and there is not mass confusion. Yet we have seen times when the Holy Spirit has come on everyone so strongly that He has almost taken over entirely. I have felt that I might as well sit down and let the Lord take it because such power was being poured down on the people.

The Holy Spirit reserves the right to fall upon the people, even during the preaching of the Word. He did this to Peter in Cornelius’ house (Acts 10:44). But because of our fears or pride, we want to be in charge. Pastors and leaders are prone to try to be in control of what happens in their churches. They don’t like somebody coming along and rocking their boat—even if it’s God doing the rocking.

Because we’re human, sometimes things in the church are done inappropriately, and we need the wisdom of God to integrate renewal into our communities and churches. But the real question is this: Who is in control? I think Jesus wants His church back. He wants to take control.

TODAY’S PRAYER:
Lord, I ask You to take full control of my church. If our boat needs to be rocked, please rock it!