20th Century Outpourings of the Holy Spirit and the Healing of Cultural Divides

Direct link: https://youtu.be/pfjTusDGJA0?si=0F-tGo3BI1ALp_DX

We filmed a new video with our friend Dave which discusses three major movements of the Holy Spirit in the 20th century.

There were three principal movements that had an emphasis on the empowering of the Holy Spirit in the 20th century: the Pentecostal movement, the Charismatic Renewal, and the Third Wave.

Some of the positive aspects that accompanied these movements included: a powerful increase in evangelism, an acceleration in missionary activity, and growth of Christian communities and churches.
But there was also another positive aspect that accompanied these outpourings that I want to touch on in this article.

Healing the Divide 

There was a healing of the serious divide that had permeated the American culture during the time of these different movements. To those who were willing to receive what the Lord was doing, walls of division were brought down within their ranks.

In the mid-1800’s, America was so divided over the slavery issue that it actually had a civil war. Unfortunately, many forget today that people fought and died, giving up their own lives, to abolish slavery. 
That being said, there was still quite a divide after the Civil War, and Jim Crow laws kept the divided situation at hand, especially in the South, where black people were kept in separate situations.

Then in the early 1900’s, the very man God raised up to lead the Pentecostal Revival was actually a child of slaves that had been emancipated, something we don’t often hear about. 

William Seymour, who ended up becoming the principal leader of the Pentecostal Revival at Azusa Street in Los Angeles, was black as well as blind in one eye. Another leader of the revival was Lucy Farrow who was also black as well as a woman preacher. She became known as the Queen of the Pentecostal Movement for her gifting in leading so many into the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.

It says in 1 Corinthians 1:27: “God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.”

 

William Seymour definitely fit that bill in the context of his time, as did Lucy Farrow, as did Lonnie Frisbee later in the Jesus People/Third Wave Revival.

 

The Color Line Erased 
During the Azusa Street Revival

 

The book Azusa Street shares how black as well as white and Hispanic believers, all worshipped together at these meetings, and it specifically points out that the color line was erased. These believers were forerunners experiencing healing of cultural divisions, leading the way a half century before the Civil Rights movement ever even appeared.

 

In fact, there were those who came to the revival and testified of having to repent of racial biases, having been convicted by the Holy Spirit when they encountered the atmosphere in the revival.

 

In fact, a prominent preacher named Gaston Cashwell said he received a crucifying of his racial prejudice at Azusa Street. He then had the black people there pray for him and received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. 

 

Afterwards, he did a tour of the South, leading many there into the Baptism of the Holy Spirit as well, and helping expand the Pentecostal movement amongst the churches and new Pentecostal denominations. 

 

In fact, as Pentecostal churches spread throughout the South, black, white, and Hispanic people, as well as others, worshipped together regularly in those churches, defying Jim Crow laws.

 

In the Director’s Cut of the movie The Apostle, Robert Duvall explains that this was one of the aspects he was seeking to portray in this film, in addition to other themes: There in the Jim Crow South, there was racial harmony and unity amongst the Pentecostal and Holiness fellowships. Duvall also wanted to portray the fact of how God often uses people who are quite flawed to carry out His purposes.

 

The Jesus People 

 

Likewise, Lonnie Frisbee often shared with us how in the Jesus People Revival, there were “John Birchers,” a very right-wing group that supported Vietnam, who regularly locked arms in worship services together with long-haired Hippies who had been part of the anti-Vietnam War protests in that era.

 

There had been a very heavy and serious divide that plagued the nation as the war carried on, and anti-war protests were raging throughout the country. 

 

Things got so bad that four protestors were shot dead during a protest in Ohio. This, along with the political assassinations and divisive things that also took place in that era, horribly divided the country. That division first began to experience healing by the believers within the Revival.

 

One conservative commentator friend who was not a part of the revival, but closely observed its positive effect, stated: “If it wasn't for the Jesus People Revival, I don't know if this nation would have survived.”

 

 

In Other History

 

Likewise, Charles Finney, who was mostly known for his powerful preaching of the Gospel and the revival surrounding his ministry that took off during the Second Great Awakening in the 1800’s, also opposed slavery and preached that there needed to be an end to this vile practice.

 

Similarly, John Wesley, who was a revivalist in England in the 1700’s, known for his tireless ministry of preaching up and down the British Isles  as well as the signs and wonders that accompanied it, also encouraged and supported William Wilberforce, who was a member of the English Parliament, to bring an end to slavery in the UK. The abolition of slavery was actually accomplished by Wilberforce—who was a strong Christian—through his tireless efforts, which took place more than 30 years before the abolition of slavery in America.

 

The Open Secret

 

One of the open secrets not regularly discussed about the Jesus People Revival was that Lonnie Frisbee and others like Fred Waugh, from the very beginning, were regularly taking new converts and leading them into the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, which included praying for their healing, inner healing, deliverance, and moving them on to discipleship.

 

This propelled the movement and replicated it into other areas, but also further washed away divides in the blood of Christ. There were many whom we have known personally that came out of the Jesus People/Third Wave Revival, who ended up working with the poor and homeless, refugees, AIDS patients, and so on.

 

What can heal those things that plague us? Only the Blood of Jesus and the power of His Holy Spirit! Revive us again, oh Lord!

 

However, we don't need to wait for a mass revival to be personally revived! Just invite the Holy Spirit to fill you, empower you, baptize you, and ask Him to wash away every dark thing that is not of Christ in your life. He will surely renew you and you will have your own personal revival.

 

And if you haven’t made a decision and don't know Christ, invite Him into your heart as your personal Lord and Savior and repent of your sins, and then move on to inviting the Holy Spirit to fill and empower you.

 

I want to quote a few well-known Christian leaders that are not regularly thought of as Charismatic or Pentecostal, and their encouragement to seek the filling and empowering of the Holy Spirit in each of our own lives personally:

 

Martin Luther, leader of the Reformation—

 

… Look to the kindness and grace of Christ… Call upon him… Pour out your heart before him and say …here is an empty vessel that needs to be filled! Fill me, oh Lord!  I am weak,  strengthen me, I am cold in love, warm me and make me burn… I am a sinner but thou art righteous …. But by faith you credit me with your righteousness… increase my faith and trust!

 

You need to be baptized with the Holy Spirit the rest of your lives regularly and continually lest you fall back into the world and unbelief.
(Both quotes excerpted from Luther’s Sermons, Vols. 3 & 4)

 

Billy Graham, one of America’s greatest evangelists—

 

Rely constantly on the Holy Spirit, remembering that Christ dwells in you through the Holy Spirit (if you have received Christ as your Savior and Lord). Do not ask Him to help as you would a servant. Ask Him to come in and do it all. Tell him how weak, helpless, unstable, and unreliable you are. Stand aside and let Him take over all the decisions of your life… Let go of all those inner tensions and complexes and rely completely on Him.

 

The Bible commands us to be filled with the Spirit (Eph 5:18) Seeking to be filled is not an option, but a command to be obeyed…! And something that is to be continual and ongoing!

(Excerpted from the book  Peace with God  by Billy Graham)

 

Chuck Smith, founding pastor of Calvary Chapel Churches and a Jesus People leader:

 

I am convinced that the greatest need in the church today is a renewal of teaching on the subject of the Holy Spirit. Only then will you and I be empowered to go into the world as effective witnesses for Jesus Christ. The only hope for our nation today is a spiritual awakening that begins in the church with a fresh movement of the Holy Spirit upon the lives and hearts of the saints of God. And that takes the epi, the baptism with the Holy Spirit.

(From: Living Water: The Power of the Holy Spirit in Your Life p. 282 by Chuck Smith.)

 

In the revivals mentioned above, there was a heightened awareness and revelation of one’s weakness and the utter and complete need for God’s grace and power before the outpourings took place. And thus, this is something we must not forget or resist, but rather, come before the Lord in humility and learn to rely on HIS grace and power, instead of self!

 

A Reflection on Charlie Kirk

 

It is hard when something like this happens, this young leader so tragically shot down in this way. 

 

However, the Bible says God can work everything together for good for those who love Him and are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)

 

It is impressive and amazing to see so many people, young and old, coming together in prayer and worship throughout the nation and the world in response! The memorial event was quite impressive with all the worship and so much sharing of the Gospel! Lord, let it spread into a full revival!

 

Revival has healed this nation before, and we now need it again.

 

Have your own personal revival first by asking the Holy Spirit to fill and empower you personally, and seek to walk in the Holy Spirit and pass it on to others. As that old Jesus People song says: “It only takes a spark to get a fire going … You spread His love to everyone, You want to pass it on.”

 

America has been a land of Revival… and there were Revivals as well as the Reformation that spread throughout the world that also touched the founding of America. 

 

Lord revive us again in Jesus’ name!

 

Much love and blessings,

Bryan and Mercedes

 

To learn more on these topics, below is a list of video and audio programs we’ve done on different historical revivals:

 

▪️From the Reformation to America 

▪️The Hernhutt Revival 

▪️The Mayflower Pilgrims

▪️The Great Awakening 

▪️John Wesley 

▪️George Whitfield 

▪️The Cain Ridge Revival and Camp Meetings 

▪️Charles Finney’s Conversion and Baptism in the Holy Spirit 

▪️The Pentecostal Revival

▪️Harald Bredesen and the Charismatic Renewal 

▪️Lonnie Frisbee and the Jesus People and Third Wave Revival 

▪️New Video: Overview of the 3 Major Movements focused on the Empowering of the Holy Spirit in the 20^th Century 

Remembering the Mother's Day Outpouring

While celebrating Mother’s Day yesterday, the significance of the day in contemporary Christian History came to mind, a history some may actually not be aware of:

It was at a Mother’s Day service a few decades back when Lonnie Frisbee gave his testimony at Calvary Chapel Yorba Linda (which met in the High School Gym at Canyon High School in Yorba Linda) and then invited the Holy Spirit to come and move amongst the congregation. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit that followed started a revival that went out to the nations.  

Calvary Chapel Yorba Linda at Canyon High School.

John Wimber leads worship at Canyon High School.

Calvary Chapel Yorba Linda experienced a full blown revival following that outpouring.  It would later became a Vineyard Church and pastor John Wimber, who had experienced his first Power Encounter on that Mother’s Day, so impacted by it all, began teaching and ministering on the power of God. The ministry and revival birthed that day would go out to the nations. 

This revival subsequently became known as “The Third Wave” a name coined by Fuller Seminary Missiologist Peter Wagner. Praise God that power and fire is still moving! I personally got baptized in the Holy Spirit back then in the Canyon High School Gym at  Calvary Chapel Yorba Linda where the outpouring of the Holy Spirit became a regular thing. 

Bryan is prayed for by Lonnie Frisbee and Jill Austin.

I wrote a piece on this outpouring and my own experience some time back and have included some links here to that article for more reading, as well as links to other articles and videos we’ve done regarding this subject.

Blessings to you!

Article from the Anniversary of the Mother’s Day Outpouring:

http://gwmgracenotes.blogspot.com/2010/05/thirty-year-anniversary-of-mothers-day.html

Jesus People Revival Video:

https://youtu.be/0OgfmU13sPI?list=PL9zt0pZyg_bP4yvJ-QVmM1zeZtvTZv5Z7

Reflections on Frisbee and the Jesus People and The Third Wave Revival:

http://www.graceworldmission.org/Jesus_ppl_revival.html

Wild Encounters in the Desert:

http://reflectionsftroad.blogspot.com/2011/11/encounter-at-tahquitz.html

Martin Luther's Conversion: Born Again Into Amazing Grace

We were just ministering out in the High Desert area where we experienced an outpouring of the Spirit, the Lord touching even eight- to twelve-year-old kids with His presence, while tears streamed down their faces.  It is such a demonstration of God’s unearned and unmerited grace available to all of us, when you see the Holy Spirit minister the love and power of God upon even little children such as these.

As we come upon another October 31^st  (Reformation Day), we look back and remember the grace that Martin Luther experienced and the stand of faith he took for the truth:

Martin Luther’s Conversion: Born Again Into Amazing Grace

Martin Luther's Conversion Video: http://youtu.be/AUncn84rr48

We often hear of powerful revivals of the past like “The Great Awakening," “Cane Ridge,” or “The Finney Revivals” and how awesomely God moved.  Something largely forgotten though, is the foundation that needed to be laid early on before these moves of God could take place.  They did not come about in a vacuum, and it was not the endless fasting or prayer of some super holy dude in a cave somewhere that brought them about either. The foundation was laid through that little event called “The Reformation” which became the platform from which these moves of God sprung forth:

It is important to understand the connections since those that were used in the later revivals had foundations which can be directly linked back to the Reformation!

How one of the main figures of the Reformation, Martin Luther, came to saving faith in Christ, is a story that needs to be understood, if one wants to understand how God used the later revivalists:

Having spent an inordinate amount of time as a Catholic monk repeatedly performing every ritual stipulated by the church, Martin Luther still found no peace before the Almighty.  Having understood he was a sinner, he faced the following dilemma:  How much sin needs to be confessed, or how much fasting performed, or how many Hail Mary’s recited, or prescribed ritualistic prayers repeated?  If we are sinners, can we ever really do enough works to pay for our own sins?  And if that be the case, how much is enough?  There is always a sin one may forget to confess or a prayer that one might have recited incorrectly—if one really needs to say required prayers as the Church dictated—and on and on!

God’s providence saw Luther forced into the Scriptures to face his dilemma.  He was doing so much confessing that his superior in the monastery, Staupitz, sent him away to study the Scriptures.  In fact, frustrated with Luther, Staupitz said to him in jest: “Go out and commit some real sins and then come back when you have something actually to confess!”

           

Luther was very earnestly trying to find salvation while most monks grew weary with endless rituals.  They would actually mock while performing the so-called sacraments. In fact, while in Rome, Luther was taken aback at the brazen attitude of the priests who ridiculed out loud: “Bread you are and bread you shall remain!” mocking the very idea of the strongly held Catholic tenet of transubstantiation while they yet performed it. The loose morals of the priests in Rome who had harems of both boys and girls also shocked him as he saw debauchery everywhere including amongst the clergy.

Having been sent away by his superiors to rid the monastery of this troubled soul, Luther was forced into the Bible, a Bible that was only in Latin back then. 

Lest one thinks this was a normal turn of events it must be understood: Reading the Bible wasn’t the order of the day at that time because the church since the 1200’s had forbidden the laity to read the Bible. Only church clergy, i.e. priests, cardinals, bishops, were allowed to read it and they could do so only in Latin.  Most, however, weren’t familiar with Latin, except the smattering of highly educated. 

Unlike most people, Martin Luther could actually read Latin, and  do so quite well since he was a former law student who had dropped out of law school in order to join the monastery.

So, forced into the Scriptures, Luther there sought to find an answer to his dilemma: 

If God be just and holy and I be a sinner then how much good works can actually ever be enough?  There is always something I fall short in and always a sin I overlook in confession… The way of the Church if truly followed was obvious: Man relying upon his own works or confession or rituals or sacraments could never really satisfy the justice of God and assuredly receive salvation; relying on one’s own works was an empty hope set to fail in the end.

Also ordered to love God as a tenet of Catholicism, Luther says: “I hated him instead since the justice of God means we are surely condemned. Although I was an impeccable monk I still stood before God as a sinner troubled in conscience and had no confidence that my merit would assuage him.  Therefore I did not love a just God…but hated him and murmured against him.”

This was until the light broke. Luther pondered and meditated over Paul’s letters in the New Testament until he saw the connection:  The justice of God brought forth by Christ in the New Covenant is that justice by where which Christ on the Cross took on our sins and satisfied God’s justice, paying for our sins once for all. He did the work of salvation for us we couldn’t do for ourselves:  On the cross, wrath and mercy were fused, and God Himself in the person of Christ paid for our sin, taking on the punishment for sin upon Himself.  The One who knew no sin, nor had committed any, actually became sin (2 Cor. 5:21) when he went to the cross and paid the price for us that we might become children of God.

                       

In his own words he explains how the light of revelation broke over him: “Night and day I pondered Paul’s letter to the Romans… Then I grasped that the justice of God is that righteousness by which through grace and sheer mercy God justifies us by faith.  Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors to paradise.  The whole of Scripture took on a new meaning and whereas before the justice of God filled me with hate it now became so inexpressibly sweet in greater love.  This passage of Paul [Rom. 1:17] became a gate to heaven…”

           

“If you have a true faith in Christ as your savior, then at once [you should understand] that you have a gracious God.  For faith leads you in and opens up God’s heart and will that you should see pure grace and overflowing love…to behold God in faith you should look upon his fatherly friendly heart in which there is no ungraciousness…”

In the New Covenant instituted in Christ we are no longer under judgment or wrath or condemnation of any kind, yet there are those believers that still live under those things and the accompanying guilt and shame that come with it. They live as though they are still under the Old Covenant and thus feel the force and sting of the law. Christ, however,  has fulfilled the law for us at the cross and brought us into a relationship of grace and love in Him, and the price has been paid once for all on the cross by Jesus.

He wiped out the written Law with its rules. The Law was against us. It opposed us. He took it away and nailed it to the cross. Colossians 2:14

“Where sin abounded grace abounded all the more.” Romans 5:20 

Grace is a greater force than sin, and thus overcomes it when a person will but put their faith in the one who went to the cross and fulfilled the law and the prophets and paid the price once for all for us.  Grace overcomes sin and vanquished it through the cross, not through human effort but through the sacrifice made by Christ where the grace of God flows to us.  The light shines in the darkness and the darkness does not overcome it; the light overcomes the darkness!

This conversion where Martin Luther was born again changed not only Martin Luther’s life, but set forth a chain of events that would later be known as the Reformation.  On October 31^st—the eve before All Saints Day—Luther posted his Ninety-Five Theses on the Castle church door in Wittenberg in a response of protest to the Church’s sale of indulgences—forgiveness tendered for payment rendered which would reduce the amount of time in purgatory (a manmade place created by Catholicism between heaven and hell where one must suffer still for sins)—which lit the flames that fanned into the Reformation.

Luther’s subsequent writings, preaching, and outspoken efforts on the grace of God carried the message throughout Europe and the world, and indeed it was the Reformation and at times Luther’s actual message itself, derived from Paul’s words in Scripture, that set many revivalists aflame:         

*John Wesley was converted when his brother dragged him to church one evening.  The message had Luther’s preface to his commentary on Romans being read.  It was during this message from Luther’s commentary that Wesley was converted.  The Spirit of God warmed his heart setting him aflame to preach the Gospel all over the British Isles and bringing forth revival! 

*The Hernhut Revival which birthed the first Protestant missions movement came about when a group of Lutherans and Moravians (spiritual descendants of Reformer John Hus, from Bohemia—modern day Czech Republic—whose teaching mirrored Luther’s) experienced an outpouring in Hernhutt, Germany.

*Revivalist George Whitfield, prince of preachers from The Great Awakening, was converted when he was given a reformer’s book that told him fasting and praying didn’t save him.  He became so angry that he was ready to throw the book in the fire, until he searched the Scriptures and found the grace that sets captives free. “What a burden was lifted off my shoulders,” he cried as he brought forth revival fires!

*Jonathan Edwards experienced the flames that would fan into revival when he saw that the Early American colonies must get back to the Gospel: “During a message on Salvation by grace through faith there came a great acceleration of the Spirit.”  This would later explode into full revival when Whitfield poured gasoline on those flames by preaching on “The Righteousness that is by Faith!”

*Charles Finney experienced a radical conversion and baptism in the Holy Spirit. He says: “It was shown me that justification by faith through grace is a present experience to be received and known now.”

*Amazing grace continued to sweep up many a poor and unexpected soul into the loving arms of a merciful God for those that would turn to Him in repentance and faith, including an old slave trader by the name of John Newton who turned to Christ and found mercy for his hideous deeds, later penning the very words to the song “Amazing Grace” that have been some of the most famous in all of history.

We’ve been blessed to walk the very streets in Germany in the towns of Wittenberg and Eisenach and Eisleben and Worms, and to feel the cold damp sting of a winter’s frost in the Wartburg Castle, the very places where some of the pivotal events of the Reformation took place. We have peeked into, and even felt ourselves, something of an understanding of the price paid for preaching the Gospel when every force seems mounted against you, and our earnest desire is that you also should understand this Amazing Grace given in Christ the Savior who paid it all for us.

Video: Martin Luther and the Reformation--http://youtu.be/WDr66ITavlI

Martin Luther: The Priesthood of all Believers Video--http://youtu.be/05_lc7EtsfM

Happy Fourth of July!-- America's Reformation and Revival History

Hope you have a great Fourth of July!  While most of us are busy enjoying fireworks or a barbeque or something of that sort, it is important to pause a moment afterwards, hopefully you take a moment to reflect and read a bit here, and think a little bit about what exactly led up to the birth of one of the most unique nations in history.

One angle not talked about much regarding this topic is just how much the Protestant Reformation is tied into the birth of America. The secular "History Channel" recently did a program that declared: “without Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation there would be no America!”  Pretty startling but true words from a secular institution, words that we should take a look at and see the reality of what happened:

At the signing of the declaration of Independence, according to renowned historian Sydney Alhstrom, 75% of the signers of that history-making and trailblazing declaration were of Puritan background, the others were mostly Separatists and Quakers.

All of them: Puritans, Separatists, and Quakers, are products of the Protestant Reformation.  This points to the enormous impact and influence the Protestant Reformation—a movement that Martin Luther unintentionally started when he refused to bow down to men’s traditions, instead choosing to stand firm on the Word of God alone—had upon the very formation of the American Nation.   

The roots can be traced back to the enormous influence of the Word of God.  It was the Bible's very words of grace and mercy in the books of Romans and Galatians that brought Luther into his born-again experience.  This in turn led him to stand against the false teachings of penance and dead works for forgiveness that were taught by the Catholic church which was wedded to the state at that time. 

Luther's struggle with the condemnation he felt under the man-made system of rituals and dead works in the Catholic system led him to throw off the yoke that had been pushing his face down into the mud of condemnation for far to long.   When he finally came into the revelation of God’s grace he threw off that oppressive and tyrannical yoke of medieval Catholicism.  

A great throng throughout Europe who had had enough as well began to do the same.  This revelation of grace found in Scripture was so freeing and life-giving that Luther was thus willing to stand up against the tyranny of his day and speak the truth and he inspired others to do likewise.  He became more than willing to suffer the reproach of men and even face certain death and martyrdom that came with doing so (he was pronounced as a heretic and the church sought to have him put to death but the prince of his region abducted and hid him in a castle to spare his life.) 

In the process of standing up he directly influenced many others to do the same and to stand up for the truth, no matter what the cost, and a great Reformation began to spread throughout Europe. 

This willingness to throw off the yoke of tyrannical oppression followed suit later in the American colonies when they grew tired of the oppression and tyranny of the English monarchy, who wouldn’t even allow them to print a Bible in their own English language.  The first American English language Bible was printed in 1782 by the Congress of the United States after independence had been established.

When Luther took his stand  there was a ripple effect throughout Europe, including in Great Britain.  People like Thomas Cramner (archbishop of Canterbury) who were influenced by Luther began to turn back to the truth of the word of Scripture.  Though Cramner was later martyred for his faith, the Reformation spread throughout Great Britain and other like the Puritans adopted its principles.  In Scotland reformer John Knox also had come into the truth and he directly influenced the thinking of many early American revolutionaries. 

The Reformation in Great Britain spread in many ways and groups like Puritans who wanted to Purify the church were spawned.  The Puritans saw the need to have a life filled with the Spirit and felt tradition bound forms of worship just didn’t cut it.  They were pushed to the fringes of English society.   In time it led to this Protestant group coming to the New World seeking, amongst other things, freedom to worship as they saw fit.

America was discovered by an Italian who was underwritten by the Spanish, with many others like the Dutch and French finding their way here long before the English.  However, it would nevertheless be the English, and more specifically this unlikely group of English Christians known as the Puritans, that would have such an important influence on the formation of the emerging nation.

Though not the first on the scene by any means, it was in fact this large movement of English Puritans that began to come in more and more numbers and form colonies that would have the biggest impact with their Christian ideals, and would eventually have the greatest influence in the creation of a new independent nation.

Early Puritans were unique amongst Protestants in that they saw as essential the need for the work of the Holy Spirit in one’s heart and not just mere Bible knowledge for the head; they were thus known as some of the first “Protestant-Mystics.”

They came, willingly facing starvation, hardship, privation and even death. Why were these English Puritans so ready to suffer in this primitive and undeveloped land where other colonizers had given up and fled for their lives? According to historian Alhstrom it was for a very specific and yet simple reason:  They saw it as their duty to the Great Commission to come and establish the Gospel in this new land.  They saw it as a place they not only wanted to influence, but also where they would have the freedom to worship as they saw fit without the bounds, traditions, controls, and persecution of the Established Church.  

The moniker "Puritan" came from their desire not to be purer or holier than others—popular misconception notwithstanding—but rather it developed from their roots in the Reformation and their desire “to see the church purified from papal pollution of false doctrines and teachings and be brought back to New Testament foundations.”

Indeed their allegiance to the Great Commission caused them to see the New World as their mission field, and so they came and willingly suffered for the establishment of the Gospel in this land. 

America’s foundations have so much of the Christian faith running through them, much more than we have been told by the deceptive institutions of our day, like public schools, whose favorite activity seems to be to rewrite and redact history.   Rewriting history was one of the control tactics of the Communists, by the way, and especially Stalin, who actually said: “If we rewrite history we can control the people.”  Scary to think this what is going on in American public schools and universities in our day.  Stalin’s values have become the status quo as history is re-written in such a way as to expunge the reality of the Christian impact and influence on the history of the American nation.   Can anyone detect Satan’s hand in all this revisionism?

The awesome thing though is that when you just know a bit of what took place you see that “The Kingdom of God”, and “God's Word of Truth”, has impacted the US’s history far more for the good than we could ever imagine.

America not only had those like the Puritans come here early on in direct response to The Great Commission but it also had many revivals in its early days and through its history that set the tone for the foundation of faith that was laid.  These revivals made a huge mark on the early American frontier and set a tone of faith and belief in the truth that shaped the landscape of the early American experience.

Revivals like The Great Awakening and the Cane Ridge Revival shook and shaped things in a massive way.  Revivals have kept sweeping on throughout different periods as well, bringing salvation and the power of God to untold multitudes in the process.  Revivalist Charles Finney experienced a conversion and baptism in the Holy Spirit that led him to go throughout America and see great revival fire spread all over.

We owe a debt of gratitude to the great cloud of witnesses who went before us suffering to establish God's truth and influencing history to do the same.

Have a look at some of these video and audio programs we’ve done when you get a chance, doesn’t all need to be done in one day. In the meantime when you see, or have seen some fireworks, remember God’s fire made it all available.

* Reformation to America  (audio only--video is not yet ready for prime time play J )

* Martin Luther and the Reformation

* The Great Awakening

* The Cane Ridge Revival

* Charles Finney conversion and Baptism in the Holy Spirit  (audio)

* John Knox and the Scottish Reformation

* John Knox and the King James Bible

* Article on the King James Bible and the Reformation

* Video on American Christian Roots by historian David Barton