R.T. Kendall's Blog, page 4

Cuban Music

Cuban Music

I used to tell the members of Westminster Chapel I love Cuban music – yes, afro-Cuban, salsa – you could say “worldly” music. But I did not realize that many Cubans who become Christians give up that sort of music.

When I was first introduced to the Spring of Life Church in Miami, Florida – some years ago – by Pastor Dr. Joaquin Molina, I told the congregation how much I love Cuban music, that of Aragon, Fajardo, Celia Cruz and Orquestra Riverside of Havana. The people were quiet. The pastor explained later that Cubans who are converted do not listen to that kind of music! Oh dear.

But they not only forgave me, when I was there a couple years ago the music group actually did some Christian songs to a Cuban rhythm. I loved it.

There is more. Last week I attended their annual Christmas gala. When initially invited I said, “Sorry, I will be in too much jet lag from Shanghai”. The pastor then said, “There will be Cuban music”. I replied, “I’ll be there”.

I was there. It happens that they have world class musicians in their church. For example, Richie Ray (Youtube “El rey de la salsa”). He was voted “King of Salsa”, is one of the creators of combining salsa with classical music (Beethoven, Mozart), has 14 million gold albums. In the church is also Gerardo E. Rodriquez, a trumpet player of world class, has played twice to packed house at Madison Square Garden in New York. You must listen (three minutes) to him play the attached. But you can listen to snippets of his playing on Youtube.

http://rtkendallministries.com/wp-content/uploads/RISE-ME-UP-MASTER-.mp3

It was so thrilling to be at the Spring of Life Christmas gala – also to preach to these lovely people in Miami. I love these people, I love Cuban coffee, eating at the Versailles Restaurant and mixing with their staff.

Are you shocked that I love Cuban music? Well, will it help you to know that the great J. I. Packer, greatest theologian in the world today, loves New Orleans jazz?

Why pray to the Father?

Why pray to the Father?

There are sincere Christians around who struggle in prayer when it comes to the issue: to Whom should we pray? To God the Father, God the Son or God the Holy Spirit?

Does it matter? Perhaps not. The thief on the cross addressed Jesus: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Luke 23:42). And Stephen, among the first seven deacons and the church’s first martyr, addressed our Lord Jesus just before he died: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” (Acts 7:59).

What about praying to the Holy Spirit? There is nothing wrong with this; after all, the Holy Spirit is God as much as the Father and the Son. Hymns modern and ancient have sung directly to the Holy Spirit:

“Holy Spirit, we welcome you” – Chris Bowater (b.1947).

“Holy Spirit, truth divine, dawn upon this soul of mine” – Samuel Longfellow (1819-1892).

These things said, I want to make the case for praying—generally speaking—to God the Father. Keep in mind that there is no rivalry in the Trinity; the persons of the Trinity heap praise on each other. The Father doesn’t mind that we pray to His Son or to the Spirit; the Holy Spirit doesn’t mind that we pray to the Father or to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Why then pray to the Father?

Seven reasons for addressing our prayers to the Father

First, Jesus directed us to do so – at least twice – as in the Lord’s Prayer.

“Pray then like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name’” (Matt.6:9).

“When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be your name’” (Luke 11:2).

Second, Jesus always directed His own prayers to the Father. For example,

“I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise” (Matt.11:25).

“Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you”(John 17:1).

The only time Jesus called Him Godwas when He was dying on the cross and cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt.27:46). This was the moment when all our sins were transferred to Jesus: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor.5:21). It is called propitiation – when Jesus turned the Father’s wrath away.

Third, the Apostle Paul let us know that he prayed to the Father:

“I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named” (Eph.3:14-15).

Fourth, the Father is omniscient—that is, He knows the future as perfectly as He knows the past and present. Jesus admitted that He did not know the day of His Second Coming (Matt.24:36). Whether He—along with the Holy Spirit—knows the future as perfectly as the Father is an understandable deduction we might make (cf.Matt.28:18). But the Scriptures do not directly address this.

Fifth, to affirm the God of the Bible – the Father. To show we are not ashamed of Him.Jesus said, “The Father is greater than I” (John 14:28). Was this statement merely an act of humility?  I don’t think so. I believe it is true – for more reasons than I will attempt to unravel here. At the same time we must never forget that the Word – logos –was in the beginning with God and the Word was God and nothing was made without the Lord Jesus (John 1:1-2; Col.1:16-17). Jesus is God as though He were not man and yet He was man as though He were not God; He was and is the God-man. But there must be a good reason Jesus said, “The Father is greater than I”. And Paul makes an interesting eschatological statement: “When all things are subject to him [Jesus], then the Son himself will be subjected to him [the Father] who put all things in subjection under him, that God [the Father] may be all in all” (1 Cor.15:28). I am not able to explain all that this means. But I have felt for a long time that the least mentioned and the least honored and most neglected person of the Godhead among some Christians in our generation is God the Father. Many books are written about our Lord Jesus Christ, and an incalculable number of books are written about the Holy Spirit (I myself have written at least three books on the Holy Spirit). It is my opinion that Jesus Himself would applaud books written about His Father – the least understood and most hated person of the Trinity. The world does not generally send vicious attacks upon Jesus but rather God the Father for allowing suffering.

Sixth, only a Christian can refer to God as Father. The Muslim can’t. Think about that. No Muslim considers Allah as Father—ever! But you and I can. Even the liberals who refer to God as Father of all men and women because of their universalism bring no glory to God for doing this. You and I have the high and inestimable privilege of calling God Father. Only the believer in Jesus Christ can rightly do this.

Seventh, when you get to know God as He is in Himself, you will be overwhelmed with worship. Moses requested, “Teach my your ways . . .” (Exod.33:13). Too many of us pray in order to get something from God. Try this, getting to Know Him as He is in Himself. You may find yourself saying, “I am so grateful to have a God like this”. You will find yourself saying, “God, I love your for being just the way you are. I would not change you even if I could”. Yes.

What a mighty God we have!

Finally, if it is not of great consequence whether to pray to the Father, to Jesus or to the Holy Spirit, why make a case for praying to the Father? I answer: I want to be as biblical as I can be. I want to be God-centered and Christ-centered in my theology and in my preaching.

A Spark

A Spark

“Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark” – James 3:5 (NIV).

“Adairville was wherethe spark camethat ignited the Second Great Awakening. The first camp meeting began at Red River Church House” – Ricky Skaggs.

If a woman began shouting in the middle of taking the Lord’s Supper, should she be stopped? Or encouraged?

That is a question a guest preacher may have been wrestling with when he was in charge of the Lord’s Supper at the Red River Meeting House in Logan County, Kentucky in June 1800.

What happened was this. A woman began shouting spontaneously and loudly during the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper at a service in Logan County, Tennessee in June 1800. This led eventually to the Cane Ridge Revival of 1801. That a woman shouting led in some way to the Cane Ridge phenomenon is a historical fact and not under dispute. What could be debated is whether her shouting and what followed afterwards was the work of the Holy Spirit, the flesh or the devil.

I have referred to the Cane Ridge Revival of 1801 in several of my books, the first of these being in Stand Up and Be Counted. That small book offers a biblical rationale for giving an invitation for people to confess Christ publicly after preaching the Gospel. Billy Graham kindly wrote a brief foreword to it. I have since sought to learn all I could about the Cane Ridge Revival, known as America’s “Second Great Awakening”, the first being the New England Awakening that took place mostly in Massachusetts and Connecticut in approximately 1735-1750.

I happened to tell Ricky Skaggs that I was preaching in a Baptist church in Adairville, Kentucky. He wrote back immediately and made the statement above regarding “the spark” that ignited the fire that led to America’s Second Great Awakening. I had forgotten that this small town in Logan county is very near where the old Red River Meeting House was located – a spot of vital importance in American church history. When I arrived at this church I inquired if there might be anyone around who could tell me more about what happened there almost two hundred years ago?

There was. A couple whose property is adjacent to the Red River Meeting House shared a lot of valuable material with me. They had dozens of articles and letters written by eye witnesses of what happened in 1800 – a year priorto the Cane Ridge Revival of 1801. The more I read of what they kindly gave me the more I was gripped. I began to see that what I learned from these papers warranted a chapter in this book. What I discovered is not new to the scholars who have written on this era of American church history. But much I learned was fresh to me. Sadly there are no dates or names on many of the documents, but these copies are in my files and appear authentic to me. It should be noted that some of the people quoted in this chapter were not skillful or educated writers, neither did they always say things as clearly as we would wish.

Because the Red River meeting house is in Logan county and Cane Ridge is in Bourbon county – both being in Kentucky, some hastily assume the two outpourings of the Holy Spirit are one and the same. Whereas the two phenomena are organically connected, they are a year apart and a hundred miles apart. Logan county is approximately one hundred miles west southwest of Bourbon county where Cane Ridge is located. Cane Ridge was where America’s second Great Awakening eventually took place a year later – in August 1801.

It is what happened in the summer of 1800 in Logan county that equally fascinates me – the spark that ignited in the old Red River Meeting House.

       James McGready (1763-1817)

One of the important figures that eventually led to the Cane Ridge revival – sparked off initially in 1800 – was James McGready, a 37 year old Presbyterian who moved from North Carolina to Logan county, Kentucky in 1796. It was his ministry that paved the way for what would happen in June 1800. He had been rejected by his church in North Carolina for preaching what was called “revival doctrine”. In a word: he talked about the witness of the Holy Spirit consciously assuring a person that he or she was truly born again. This was perceived by many of his hearers as  new teaching – if not heretical, and it did not set well with many Calvinists who assumed that their moral living proved they were truly converted and therefore among God’s elect. McGready never wavered on his Calvinism – believing in Divine election, but stressed that people should have intimacy with God – sometimes called experimental religion. He became the pastor of three churches simultaneously in Logan County – the Red River meeting house, one at Muddy River, near Russellville, the other by Gasper River. The entire membership of the three churches consisted of less than a hundred people, with two or three dozen in each of these small meeting houses. There was constant opposition to his preaching in these places of worship.

McGready spoke, lived and preached before an audience of One. He learned to be unafraid of man and listened to God. One who knew him said of him:

“Like Enoch, he walked with God. Like Jacob, he wrestled with God . . .. Like Elijah, he was jealous for the Lord of hosts. . . He was remarkably plain in his dress and manners. . . He possessed sound understanding and a moderate share of human learning. The style of his sermons was not polished, but perspicuous and pointed; and his manner of addresswas unusually solemn and impressive. . .he was hated, and sometimes bitterly reproached and persecuted, not only by the openly vicious andprofane, but by many nominal Christians, or formal professors, who could not bear heart-searching and penetrating addresses, and the indignation of the Almighty against the ungodly, which, as a son of thunder, he clearly presented to the view of their guilty minds, from the awful denunciations of the word of truth. Although he did not fail to preach Jesus Christ, and Him crucified, he was more distinguished by a talent for depicting the guilty and deplorable situation of impenitent sinners, and the awful consequences of their rebellion against God, without speedy repentance unto life, and a living faith in the blood of sprinkling”.

You must keep in mind that McGready had not been trained in “seeker friendly” type of ministry. The preaching of “hell fire and damnation” was an assumption that lay behind all he taught.  He did not think twice about. It was said that McGready “could almost make you feel that the dreadful abyss of perdition lay yawning beneath you and you could almost hear the wails of the lost and see them writhing as they floated on the lurid billows of that hot sea of flame in the world of woe”. One person remarked that his voice “was like a trumpet, you could hear it with ease” several hundred yards away.

What happened in June 1800 was the culmination of McGready’s preaching for the previous four years in Logan county. There were tokens of revival during those years, with a number of people being converted at Red River – but also in the Muddy River and Gasper River Meeting Houses. There were other ministers involved as well at various times during these years, so one must not place undue amount of credit to McGready alone. In fact McGready was not the preacher in the pulpit when the spark ignited, as we will see below. But a great sense of the presence of the Holy Spirit was felt in all his three congregations in the years leading up to June 1800.

McGready placed a strong emphasis on the Lord’s Supper. He managed to get a number of the people to sign a covenant. He presented to the members of his congregations for their approval and signatures a covenant that included these words; to this they affixed their names:

“We unite our supplications to a prayer-hearing God for the outpouring of his Spirit, that his people may be quickened and comforted, and that our children, and sinners generally, may be converted. Therefore, we bind ourselves to observe the third Saturday of each month, for one year, as a day of fasting and prayer for the conversion of sinners in Logan county, and throughout the world. We also engage to spend one half hour every Saturday evening, beginning at the setting of the sun, and one half hour ever Sabbath morning, from the rising of the sun, pleading with God to revive his work”.

     The spark

The year 1800 “exceeds all that my eyes ever beheld on earth”, wrote one observer. Rev. McGready planned to have different ministers to speak in services on a Sunday, Monday and Tuesday in June 1800. It was agreed that the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper be carried out on the Monday. “This was the greatest time we had ever seen before. On Monday multitudes were struck down under conviction”. On the previous Sunday a number of Presbyterian ministers plus a Methodist minister participated in the services. A sense of the presence of God reportedly set in. The services that Sunday were said to be “animated and tears flowed freely”.

But nothing extraordinary was noticed until Monday – during the sacrament – when a visiting Presbyterian minister named William Hodge from Sumner County, Tennessee was preaching and conducting the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper and preaching. One reported:

 “Many had such clear and heart-piercing views of their sinfulness, and the danger to which they were exposed, that they fell prostrate on the floor, and their cries filled the house. . . those who had been the most outbreaking [sic]sinners were to be seen lying on the floor unable to help themselves, and anxiously inquiring what they should do to be saved . . . persons of all classes, and of all ages, were to be seen in agonies, and heard crying for redemption in the blood of the Lamb”.

Strange as it may seem, by all accounts this outpouring of the Spirit began with a woman shouting loudly and spontaneously during the service centered on the Lord’s Supper. All the documents I have found regarding the Monday service at the Red River Meeting House state what follows or coheres with this account:

 “A woman at the extreme end of the house unable to repress the violence of her emotions, gave vent to them in loud cries”.

Another witness reported it this way:

“A woman in the east end of the house got an uncommon blessing, broke through order, and shouted for some time, and then sat down in silence”.

Another account simply states:

“A woman in the east end of the house shouted tremendously”.

There is a consensus that “this was the beginning of that glorious revival of religion in this country, which was so great a blessing in thousands; and from this camp meetings took their rise” (Methodist Magazine 1820, vol. IV).

There was to be an intermission after the Lord’s Supper, but the people did not leave their seats. Instead they “wept in silence all over the house”. An acute sense of the Holy Spirit’s presence reportedly settled on the people. An eye witness named John McGee described his experience in this service, stating that the guest preacher William Hodge “felt such power come on him, that he Quit [sic] his seat and sat down on the floor of the pulpit – I suppose, not knowing what he did.” He quoted Rev. Hodge as saying  “a power which caused me to tremble was upon me.” He added:

“There was a solemn weeping all over the house. Having a wish to preach, I strove against my feelings. At length I rose up and told the people I was appointed to preach, but there was a greater than I preaching, and exhorted them to let the Lord God Omnipotent reign in their hearts, and to submit to him, and their souls should live”.

Keep in mind that William Hodge was a visiting preacher, not the pastor, although the pastor Rev. James McGready was in the congregation. Rev. Hodge described what happened next:

“I left the pulpit to go to her [the woman shouting], and as I went along through the people, it was suggested to me: ‘You know these people [being Presbyterians] are much for order – they will not bear this confusion. Go back, and be quiet’. I turned to go back,and was near falling. The power of God was strong upon me; I turned again, and, losing sight of the fear of man, I went through the house, shouting and exhorting with all possible ecstasy and energy, and the floor was soon covered with the slain. Their screams for mercy pierced the heavens, and mercy came down. Some found forgiveness, and many went away from that meeting feeling unutterable agonies of soul for redemption in the blood of Jesus”.

In a word: the woman shouting was the spark.

Some observations

When the preacher “left the pulpit to go to her”, it was possibly to quiet her. Some report that it was to comfort her. It is not clear whether the “suggestion” was in Rev. Hodge’s own mind – from what he called “the fear of man” – or if someone was audibly cautioning him.  All we know is that he said, “I turned to go back”. That apparently meant he changed his mind that he approach the woman. Therefore after making a few steps toward the woman he made the decision to go back to the pulpit and sit down. This could have been the crucial, if not the pivotal, moment. He obviously changed his mind about going up to her. To comfort her would have ensured that the work of the Spirit would not be quenched. To quiet her would have been a “Presbyterian” thing to do, to say, “Calm down sister”. Or quietly escort her out of the Meeting House.

But he did not go to her; he did not stop her.

The suggestion, “These people are for order and will not bear this confusion” was probably in his own mind – that he feared what all the people might be thinking when this woman shouted and kept shouting. It was the “fear of man” that put this suggestion in his mind. Even if someone audibly made the suggestion to him, he rejected it. He may have felt he should comfort her; he may have felt he should quiet her to show he wanted “order” and therefore leave no room for allowing confusion. In any case he says that he overcame fear. Perhaps he had wondered what Rev. McGready the pastor might be thinking. We will see below that McGready was somewhat nervous about what happened.

In a word: the guest preacher William Hodge was an unsung hero of what became the Cane Ridge Revival a year later. He deliberately decided notto approach the woman and got over what anyone might think and began exhorting as he did. I would add: it was the Holy Spirit on him that emancipated him from the fear of the people. One can be sure that Hodge exhorting as he did affirmed and comforted the woman who did the shouting.

What we know is that – thankfully – no one stopped the outburst: the spark. Hodge instead proceeded to exhort the people. The result was that many men and women,  “overwhelmed with conviction, fell to the floor and would remain prostrate and motionless for hours”. But when they arose “with the shout of victory, they would testify that they were conscious through the experience”. In other words, though on the floor motionless, they were fully aware of what was going on.

After the Red River service, Rev. McGready was said to be surprised and astonished at the apparent confusion in the Meeting House. He asked, “What is to be done?” An elder looking in at the door and seeing all the people on the floor “praising or praying” said, “We can do nothing. If this be of Satan, it will soon come to an end; but if it is of God, our efforts and fears are in vain. I think it is of God, and will join in ascribing glory to His name”. Those who arose from the floor were reportedly  “shouting praise for the evidence felt in their own souls of sins forgiven for redeeming grace and dying love”.

It was further reported that “there remained no more place that day for preaching or administering the Supper”. I assume this meant no place for continuingto administer the Supper since it seems to have begun. But after the woman shouted and the people began to scream and fall to the floor, apparently Hodge did not preach his prepared sermon, nor did they finish administering the Supper. The people were so much under the influence of the conscious presence of the Holy Spirit that they did not move. Around forty-five people professed to be converted that evening.

Such was the result of the spark that caused a historic fire in Logan County.

We have observed that Rev. McGready the pastor was not in charge of this service. He possibly would have known the woman – whether she was an upstanding woman of God or an unstable person with emotional problems. To comment on what McGready might have done had he been leading the service would be unprofitable speculation. What we know is, a guest preacher was in charge.

We cannot enter the woman’s mind – whether she was worshipping in ecstasy or feared for her own soul. Either way it was – in my view – God’s conscious presence that precipitated her shouting. The Cane Ridge Revival that followed in 1801 is good evidence of that.

One more comment: it is my opinion that the guest preacher William Hodge would almost certainly have put out the Spirit’s fire had he reached the woman and calmed her down. The Apostle Paul’s word, “Quench not the Spirit” (1 Thess.5:19), is relevant here. Had Rev. Hodge stopped her shouting in front of all present, the atmosphere would have changed abruptly. The weeping would probably have stopped. There probably would have been no people prostrate and motionless on the floor. We would therefore never have heard of the Red River Meeting House. And there would have been no Cane Ridge Revival a year later.

But thanks to Hodge’s “turning back” from approaching the woman, the Spirit was not quenched.

When we get to heaven we can watch a video replay of the whole scenario.

As a consequence of the Monday service at Red River this same sense of the presence of God spread to McGready’s two other congregations. During June, July and August of 1800 the people from all three congregations witnessed the same phenomena. It was always entirely spontaneous. Nobody had prayed for this woman to shout as she did. No one expected this. For all I know, nobody wanted it. But once the woman shouted – and was not stopped, the people began to fall. The exact same thing thus continued all summer in the three Meeting Houses in Logan County. People came in covered wagons to camp and to see what was going on.

Whereas the “falling exercises” that prevailed so extensively in McGready’s three congregations were unprecedented in Logan County, they were not without precedent elsewhere. The same kind of falling was referred to as “swooning” during the New England Awakening. Jonathan Edwards’ wife was in such a state for several days. She said she was overwhelmed from experiencing “my dearness to Him and His nearness to me”.

These “bodily exercises” reappeared the following summer in Cane Ridge, as we will see below.

    The horrible fear of being lost

When we who live in Britain or America in the 21stcentury read about these revivals of over two hundred years ago, it is hard to get into the skin of the people who were so emotional. It is natural for us to dismiss it all as irrelevant for our day since these people were uncultured, uneducated and unsophisticated. There is certainly truth to this. But there is another factor we might not have thought about. The preaching of eternal damnation was common but generally made no impact at all until the revival came. The assumption in all that Rev. McGready taught and preached was that if you were not converted – and did not know you were born again by the witness of the Spirit – you would go to hell forever. And yet this preaching alone made little or no impact on society. The frontiersmen in those days who did not go to church were known for their disregard for the church or anything sacred but rather known for their wickedness, debauchery and dishonesty. Not only that; the influence of Thomas Paine, to be examined below, had left many people with the feeling that there is nothing to worry about since the Bible is not true and there is consequently no heaven, no hell, no God. That assumption had spread to the grass roots.

It was the Holy Spirit sovereignly stepping in that changed all this. The famous meeting in Red River – and its spreading to the other congregations – came after three to four years of praying and fasting of the faithful few. Therefore when the Spirit of God came down men and women were – literally – shaken rigid. The fear of being lost – or not being chosen – did not bother people in the world who were uninfluenced by the Spirit. But when the Holy Spirit set in, everything changed. So much so that men actually came to the services to scoff but were themselves stricken by the Spirit and laid flat out on the ground.

It must be realized therefore that both in Red River and in Cane Ridge that the fear of being eternally lost – or in some cases the fear of not being one of God’s elect – surfaced only when the Holy Spirit came in power. This is was what lay behind the groans and their falling down helplessly. They suddenly feared for their own eternal destiny. For that reason the Spirit’s witness that they were saved and not eternally lost gave them ecstatic joy that caused the noise that could be heard. The most important factor was the issue of assurance of salvation. In some cases there were two stages of emotional outburst: (1) the groans that came from the fear of being lost and (2) the overwhelming sense of relief that finally came that one was not going to hell but was saved. The latter was the main thing that caused the loud shouting. The relief, assurance and joy that people received led them to yell to the top of their voices.

This was thus the beginning of “camp meetings”. People travelled from Sumner County in Tennessee, probably following Rev. Hodge, to Logan County, Kentucky. There was only one covered wagon present at the meeting at Red River, but more wagons came to Muddy River. This practice of people coming in covered wagons to camp and stay around rapidly increased from then on.

            The Age of Reason

Prior to the movement of the Holy Spirit in Kentucky in the late eighteenth century was a fast growing sense of unbelief in the Bible. What McGready and his fellow Presbyterians fought against was not only skepticism among believers but an ever-increasing atheism in society generally.

Thomas Paine (1737-1809) was born in England. His book The Age of Reason, written largely through the influence of the French atheist Voltaire (1694-1778), became widely read. He came to the British American colonies in 1774. He espoused the position of the colonists in the American Revolution. This gave him considerable acceptance. Paine had learned through his time in France that the French people had strongly rejected religion and sacred things. He then wrote The Age of Reason in 1793-94.It was written against the Bible as being the word of God. It became a popular book and had an extensive circulation – including in Kentucky. As a result, the Bible found a place only in religious families. It was estimated that among “intelligent” people who called themselves Christian toward the close of the eighteenth century that the majority of the population were either professed infidels or skeptically inclined. For example, there were few in the professions of law and science who would avow their belief in the truth of Christianity.

It was during this religious dearth that the revival had its origins in Logan County, Kentucky as well as what we will observe below in Bourbon County, Kentucky. The ministries of men like James McCready had to overcome the prejudices of many people who had succumbed to the influence of Thomas Paine.

It may be wondered, how there could have been a “Bible belt” throughout the South in the past several generations? It was therefore not reason or logic but the power of the Holy Spirit that overcame much of Paine’s influence. Barton Stone, referred to below, would later observe, “The effects of this meeting [referring to the Cane Ridge Revival] through the country were like fire in dry stubble driven by a strong wind”. It was concluded by J. M. Peek in The Christian Review (1852): “Infidelity received its death blow during that revival period”.

       The Cane Ridge revival of 1801

The Rev. Barton Stone (1772-1844), a convert of McGready from several years back, became the pastor of a Presbyterian church in Cane Ridge in Bourbon County, Kentucky. Hearing of what was going on among McGready’s three congregations, he traveled to Logan county in the summer of 1800 in to investigate. Stone wrote:

“The scene to me was new, and passing strange. It baffled description. Many, very many fell down, as men slain in battle, and continued for hours together in an apparently breathless and motionless state. . . After lying there for hours, they obtained deliverance . . . With astonishment did I hear men, women and children declaring the wonderful works of God, and the glorious mysteries of the gospel. Their appeals were solemn, heart-penetrating, bold and free. Under such [preaching]many others would fall down into the same state . .  .

“My conviction was complete that it was a good work – the work of God; nor has my mind wavered on the subject. Much did I then see, and much have I since seen, that I considered to be fanaticism; but this should not condemn the work. The Devil has always tried to ape the works of God, to bring them into disrepute. But that cannot be a Satanic work which brings men to humble confession and forsaking of sin – to solemn prayer – fervent praise and thanksgiving, and to sincere and affectionate exhortations to sinners to repent and go to Jesus the Saviour”.

While present in Logan County, Barton Stone noticed many covered wagons that carried people from various places to observe these unusual phenomena. He suggested that people meet the following year at Cane Ridge, this being a more suitable place for camp meetings. Word spread quickly. The following summer thousands came in their covered wagons from near and far to meet for fellowship and Bible study. This took place in August 1801. Crowds were estimated from ten to twenty thousand, one observer even estimated thirty thousand.

A general camp meeting began at Cane Ridge on August 6, 1801.That is when people began to arrive in their covered wagons. On the Sunday morning August 9th a Methodist minister, William Burke – some sources state that he was a lay minister – arrived apparently expecting to speak, but received no invitation from the Presbyterians in charge to preach or have any part in the services. Sometime after ten o’clock that morning he found “a convenient place on the body of a fallen tree”. Some reports state that the fallen tree was about fifteen feet above the ground. He began “reading a hymn with an audible voice”, and, Burke reported, by the time “we concluded singing and praying we had around us, standing on their feet, by fair calculation ten thousand people. I gave out my text . . . ‘For we must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ’ (2 Cor.5:10 KJV). Burke stated that “before I concluded my voice was not to be heard for the groans of distress and the shouts of triumph”. The following statement is reported by a Baptist historian, quoting William Burke:

Hundreds fell prostrate to the ground, and work [of the Holy Spirit]continued on that spot till Wednesday afternoon. It was estimated by some that not less than five hundred were at one time lying on the ground in the deepest agonies of distress, and every few minutes rising in shouts of triumph. . . I remained Sunday night, and Monday and Monday night; and during that time there was not a single moment’s cessation, but the work went on, and old and young, men, women, and children, were converted to God. It was estimated that on Sunday and Sunday night there were twenty thousand people on the ground. (This was quoted by historian Frank Masters, 1953, “The Great Revival of 1800 in Kentuky 1799-1803).

This phenomenon continued through Wednesday during which time there were reportedly no fewer than five hundred on the ground at any moment. At first it was feared that these people were dead. Panic set in with some.They had trouble finding a pulse. Sometimes only two beats a minute. But after a few hours without exception these people got up and shouted to the top of their voices with joy and assurance that they were truly saved. It has since been called “America’s Second Great Awakening”. The “sound of Niagara” came to mind as people could hear the shouts of men and women and children from nearly a mile away (reported in William Martin, A Prophet with Honor – authorized biography of Billy Graham). Whereas the Great Awakening in New England lasted for fifteen years or more, the Cane Ridge Revival lasted approximately four days – mainly from Sunday through Wednesday. It shows how much God can accomplish in a very short period of time. On Thursday people began returning to their homes, having to get to their jobs. Barton Stone wrote, “A particular description of this meeting would fill a large volume, and then half would not be told”.

  Some concluding observations

The spark referred to in James 3:5 had to do with controlling the tongue. The slightest unguarded comment could be a spark that set a forest on fire.

The spark that ignited the revival in Logan County, Kentucky – leading to the Cane Ridge Revival – could have been extinguished. It is impossible to know whether the preacher William Hodge initially intended to shut up the woman who started shouting or if he was going to comfort her. In either case, he did not approach her but turned back and let her continue. And the rest is history.

I have wondered what kind of vulnerability it might take that you and I would be a spark today. Are we so orderly and sophisticated that our usual way of doing things will put out the Spirit’s fire?

Would you be vulnerable? Would I?

I suspect if a woman shouted in the middle of the Lord’s Supper today – in any church, she would be immediately silenced. I also fear that if I myself were conducting the Lord’s Supper and this happened, I would be very suspicious, very uneasy and very keen to have her stopped. On the other hand, if I had a great sense of the conscious presence of God when this happened, I’d like to think I would not interrupt it. It is very hard to imagine what it was really like in those days.

In the years that followed the Cane Ridge Revival, there emerged diverse opinions theologically. First, not all those involved in the Cane Ridge Revival were Calvinists. Many Methodists joined with the Presbyterians in this meeting. As we saw, William Burke was a Methodist. There were a few Baptists. There were also some ministers both in Logan County and Bourbon County churches that reportedly abandoned their Calvinism. This included Barton Stone who eventually left the Presbyterian church. He became a founder of the Christian Church, also known as the Disciples of Christ. Whereas James McGready never wavered in his theology he never made much of his belief regarding election and predestination. Second, there was a division in the aftermath of Cane Ridge as to whether a minister needed to be educated. Presbyterians were strong on this point – that a minister should be well educated before being ordained. But because of the spontaneity and enablement that characterized much of the preaching that came out of the Cane Ridge Revival, many felt it was quite wrongfor a preacher to be educated.

I myself grew up in Ashland, Kentucky – some one hundred miles from Cane Ridge. The effect of the Cane Ridge Revival went all over Kentucky and into neighboring states. There was still a widespread feeling in my area that preachers did not need to be formally educated. I was influenced by many uneducated evangelists and pastors. None of them (as far as I know) had university degrees. Some of these men helped to shape my thinking as I grew up.

There is a striking similarity between the preaching content in the first Great Awakening in New England and the preaching content in America’s Second Great Awakening: both dealt with the future judgment and people’s final destiny. First, you may recall that James McGready’s preaching in Logan County was described as having an emphasis on hell. God eventually honored this with the spark that ignited the fire that led to the Cane Ridge Revival.  Second, Jonathan Edwards’ sermon “Sinners in the hands of an angry God” – preached July 8, 1741 in Enfield, Connecticut – was about eternal punishment in hell. God honored this with such conviction that people held on to church pews and tree trunks to keep from sliding into hell. The world never forgot it. When people think of the New England Awakening they often think of Edwards’s sermon immediately.  Third, William Burke took his text in Cane Ridge from 2 Corinthians 5:10 – “We must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ”. God honored Burke’s preaching by thousands being convicted and falling helplessly to the ground – as “men slain in battle”, observed Barton Stone. This is largely what is remembered when people think of the Cane Ridge Revival.

There was another strange phenomenon that came from Cane Ridge: a certain style of preaching. What I did not report above was that there were at times at least five different men preaching simultaneously among the crowds of thousands at Cane Ridge. Some report that there were seven different men preaching – some from tree stumps, some from covered wagons. I am not able to describe this style in writing. These men were not preaching from prepared manuscripts. The best I can do is to say that many preachers in those days not only shouted loudly but needed to take a deep breath between nearly every word or two as they exhorted! It was as though they were gasping for breath as they preached. I honestly suspect that at first this couldhave been a result of the Spirit’s power – the kabodh (Hebrew word for heaviness but often translated glory) on them. But after the revival subsided there were those who needed to keep this up – to prove that they still had the anointing. Or to have the “hoyle” (hwyl) as they would say in Wales!

          The Toronto Blessing and Cane Ridge

One further observation. One of the earmarks of the “Toronto Blessing” that emerged in 1994 was the falling, often accompanied with laughter. Joy. This also happened in the Cane Ridge Revival. There were at least three differences. First, the audible groanings and the ecstasy at Red River and Cane Ridge came in the context of the preaching of eternal judgment. When the Holy Spirit endorsed the preaching of people like James McGready the Presbyterian and William Burke the Methodist the people were suddenly seized with conviction of sin and fear of being hopelessly lost and fell helplessly to the ground. Their groanings were so loud that Burke himself said he could not hear his own voice. The phenomena that characterized the Toronto Blessing, so far as I can tell, came apart from the preaching of eternal judgment. This does not invalidate the Toronto Blessing; it is a difference worth noting.

Second, the main result of people falling in Cane Ridge was their getting undoubted assurance of salvation. This came by the immediate and direct witness of the Holy Spirit. There was no intellectual process by which men and women needed to concludethey were saved; that is, no need to reason, e.g., “All who trust Christ’s death on the cross are saved; but I trust Christ’s death, therefore I am saved”. It was an immediate witness of the Spirit that bypassed reason that gave them this assurance. With the Toronto Blessing however, assurance of salvation did not appear to have been a problem for most people to begin with, as far as I know, although this could have been the experience of some. The testimonies varied of those who were affected by the Toronto Blessing. Some laughed uncontrollably for several minutes, sometimes for an hour or more. It was a time of great joy and freedom. Assurance of salvation, then, was not an issue as far as I know; it was an experience that set people free from different kinds of bondage. Some professed physical healing. I know personally of a lot of people who received prophetic words while they were on the floor that changed their lives. I also know of some who did not particularly receive anyconscious feeling; they simply fell because they “couldn’t stand”.

Third, whether in Logan County or Bourbon County, those “falling exercises” were always spontaneous. There was crying, laughing, shouting, jumping, running and barking. The Toronto Blessing – which I supported and still do – was characterized by many of these manifestations except that they came largely – but not entirely – through the laying on of hands. Some criticize the Toronto Blessing because its manifestations mostly followed the laying on of hands. But people criticized the revivals in Logan and Bourbon counties where the manifestations were spontaneous. There have always been the “antis” and there will always be. The lack of spontaneity does not nullify genuineness, but I think it is still a difference between Cane Ridge and Toronto that is worth noting. I would only add that the Toronto Blessing offers an invitation to become vulnerable – to see how earnest one is to get more of God. It can be humbling and embarrassing. Those who are adamantly against and opposed to this – as if waiting for God to knock them down spontaneously – will likely be passed by.

And if one is looking for a biblical basis for such unusual phenomena, consider these words – remembering too that God often offends the mind to reveal the heart:

“God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong” (1 Cor.1:27).

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts”(Isa.55:8-9).

In this age of ever-increasing atheism, skepticism, unbelief and absence of emphasis on God’s wrath, the Final Judgment and eternal punishment, I predict it will not be erudition or logic that will turn the tide. It won’t be legislation by Parliament or Congress that will turn things around. Neither will it come by being “seeker friendly” or being overly cautious not to offend people.  It will come through the unashamed proclamation of the God of the Bible and bold preaching of the pure Gospel of Jesus Christ – butwith power that is largely unseen today.

We truly need another Great Awakening. We must pray for power like what was observed in the day of John Wesley, Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield. Raw power similar to what I have written about in this chapter.

How far are we willing to go in our commitment to see the Holy Spirit come in power today? Or is the fear of man a greater influence on us?

How interested are we in being governed by an audience of One?

Are you willing to be the spark that could set a forest on fire?

 

 

Fairview Church of God

Fairview Church of God

Some of my friends may recall that I was the pastor of the Fairview Church of God, Carlisle, Ohio for 18 months – July 1962 to December 1963. They were arguably the worst 18 months of my life!

In 1962 one of my earliest mentors recommended me to this church. At that time I was a door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman. I accepted the call believing that my mentor and I had a future ministry together. He was aware of my Calvinism but assured me that this church would accept what is preached as long as one showed it to them in the Bible. They had a motto: “No creed but Christ, no law but love, no book but the Bible”.

In a very short period of time the church became disenchanted with my teaching. It led to a heresy trial (when other ministers of the same movement were called in to judge me). The charge: that I preached Jesus is God. A further trial brought in more ministers of the area who heard testimonies from some of the people of the church. The charge was broadened to include false teaching on the nature of faith and salvation. Nothing was resolved, but those against my ministry urged the members to sign a petition that I must leave. They needed one more vote to oust me, but I knew I should leave. I preached my last sermon there on December 29th1963. Louise and I drove away that day with a U-Haul-it trailer behind our Pontiac with all our earthly goods. We headed for Fort Lauderdale, Florida where I resumed my secular work as a door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman. That December 29th was the most traumatic day of my entire life.

The previously mentioned mentor for some reason totally turned his back on me within months after I arrived at Fairview, refusing to get involved. He did not even call to say good-bye. Every time the phone rang I hoped it was him.

All of the members of that church have deceased except one – Arrean Murphy, now 89, who was devoted to my teaching. She has since become a member of a church of the same movement in Franklin, Ohio. She invited one of the deacons of the Franklin church to watch the documentary I did on Martin Luther on TBN – which commemorated the 500thanniversary of the reformer’s nailing of the 95 theses on the Wittenberg door of the Castle Church on October 31, 1517. That deacon got in touch with me and asked me if I would come to the church in Franklin – to preach the Gospel of justification by faith. I did it this past weekend (August 4-5, 2018).

It was rather funny as I thought about it. The teaching that got me in trouble 58 years before was what they asked me to preach! I did and we had a lovely weekend. They have asked me to come back. As for my old mentor, he became one of the most respected preachers in the area if not the denomination. He died three years ago. I was asked to preach his funeral – which I did. As former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher once put it, “It’s a funny old world”.

Dr. Anita Davies (3 October 1932-17 July 2018)

Dr. Anita Davies (3 October 1932-17 July 2018)        

Dr. Anita Davies was a protégé of Dr. Margery Blackie, the homeopathic physician to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Dr. Davies was a qualified medical doctor and a perceptive practitioner of homeopathy. Whereas homeopathy is often disdained –especially in America, it has been given respect in the UK owing to the Royal Family’s well-known support of it. Dr. and Mrs. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, both medical doctors, were great users of homeopathy.

In many ways Dr. Anita was our physician. She came to our London flat regularly to check my blood pressure. Anita rang our door one evening – the night before Louise was prepared to go into hospital to have a breast removed. Louise had already bought a special gown for the hospital. Her mind was made up to get it over with! But Anita pleaded with Louise: “You don’t have cancer”. “But how do you know I don’t have cancer ?”,Louise asked. “Because you don’t!”, said Anita. Anita had a gift of perceptiveness that went beyond medical training. Anita canceled the surgery for Louise and took Louise personally to the top consultant surgeon in London that deals with breast cancer. After examining Louise, the consultant said to me: “I would not operate on your wife today or tomorrow”. That was thirty years ago.

Although Dr. Anita attended Westminster Chapel from the first day I arrived, she claims she was not truly converted until she enrolled in the Evangelism Explosion course – designed by the late D. James Kennedy. After the sixth week into the course  the light broke through on her for the first time – that Jesus the God-man had by Himself paid her debt on the cross. She subsequently asked me to baptize her. Shortly after that she took me to meet her mother, then in her eighties. I had the privilege of leading her mother to Christ.

We went through many trials and tribulations at Westminster Chapel – those twenty-five years being “the best of times, the worst of times” – to quote Charles Dickens. Dr. Anita Davies stood firmly behind our ministry – even when it led her slightly outside her comfort zone! During the past sixteen years since our retirement Dr. Anita would always come to hear me preach – and managed to spend time with us year after year.

She is now in Heaven. She is there because Jesus Christ the God-man paid her debt on the cross—and Anita transferred her trust in her own good works to the finished work of Christ. She would want all who read these lines or hear these words to know this – and do what she did.

 

July 13, 2018

July 13, 2018

Dear Friends:

“Thus far has the Lord helped us” – 1 Samuel 7:12.

Today – my 83rdbirthday – finds me with TR in Nelspruit, South Africa. It has been an interesting week. When something unusual or exciting takes place it is easy to exaggerate at the time (like saying “that’s the best meal I ever ate” when you will probably say it again!). So I will be cautious.

TR and I spent the first three days of this week in Pemba, Mozambique with Rolland and Heidi Baker and some of their team. Some of you may recall that I was in Mozambique two years ago, but was disappointed that I did not go to the bush – where the miracles seem to happen. However, I was invited back. The way was paid for. But I mainly wanted to go to the bush – as did TR. After the visas were granted and our round trip booked, we were told that it would not be possible to go to the bush. Not only that; many of the Iris team were being sent away, visitors to Iris were not being allowed – and the only choice was to go to Nelspruit, South Africa. It was there I would be able to speak to some 240 students who had hoped to be in Pemba. We were of course very disappointed, but decided do go to Pemba anyway – even if we were not allowed in (the tickets were paid for). We decided to make the most of it, assuming we would be spending all the time in Nelspruit. There are too many details to cover in this letter. But in a word: (1) it was a miracle that we were allowed into Pemba; (2) to our utter surprise we were allowed to go to the bush. It was sort of an island to which there were no roads. The only access was by a one- hour boat ride with a dozen others which then had to moor several hundred yards off shore. We then waded in mud and water and walked for over a mile to find a village that the Bakers did not know existed until recently. The village was behind the mangroves and out of sight from Pemba or the sea. We waded through the mud and found the village. It had a population of 920, so the chief of the tribe told me. We had visits with different groups of the locals. All of them live in grass huts. I was allowed to go inside one of them. It was dark inside. I could barely see the beds. There is no electricity. No toilet facilities. No water; one walks six hours to get water. Our second visit was with the tribal chief of the village. To everyone’s amazement, he listened to the Gospel as I was being translated; another 30 or 40 people gathered around and listened. When I asked him if he would like to receive Jesus Christ he said Yes. Keep in mind he has been a person of another faith all his life as are the overwhelming majority of the people of Mozambique. I gave him a prayer to pray aloud in front of the others. He did so. Other who stood around and listened also prayed the prayer.

Heidi had visited the village four times in the recent past. Her request to build a church building was rejected by the same chief four times. He finally allowed permission for them to build a multi purpose building that would provide a tank to collect water for the whole village too. This no doubt softened him. Whatever, she was thrilled when the chief prayed aloud to receive Christ. I must tell you I emphasized Jesus’ death on the cross and shedding of His blood. This is contrary to the belief of the people on this island.

But there is more. The reason we went to the island was to dedicate the church building. We therefore went into the building for which this permission had been granted. There are no seats yet, but room for possibly 100 people. The people stood, dozens and dozens of children sat on the floor. I prayed then that this church would be dedicated to the Lord Jesus Christ, praying for the sprinkling of His blood upon all the people and the premises.

However, I should mention something that happened before we prayed. I was asked to pray for a man with elephantitis. I felt so sorry for him. It was the first time I met anybody with this disease. I prayed twice, but God did not seem to answer my prayer. I was disappointed. However, two feet away from me Heidi began praying for a mother who was a deaf mute. The mother was holding her baby. She had never heard anything in her life nor had she ever been able to speak a word. When Heidi prayed for her she asked the lady to say “Jesus”. The reply was loud and clear: “Jesus!” She then began to make sounds which no one around had heard her make before. I saw and heard this with my own eyes.

There were many other important things that happened while in the area – e.g., my speaking to two hundred Mozambiquan men through a translator who were there to learn the Bible. I presented the Gospel. I would estimate that well over a hundred prayed the prayer aloud, then stood to show they were unashamed of what they had just prayed.

You might also like to know that Rolland and I bonded theologically during this time. He and I have a lot in common except this self-effacing husband of the adored Heidi has a lot more humility than I have. The fruit of our friendship may become evident down the road.

I write an open letter like this twice a year, but I did not think I would be writing as I have in this letter. I will now write about other things.

It has not only been an interesting week but also an interesting year so far. Since writing on my birthday twelve months ago today God has continued to open doors in different parts of the world. I am amazed that I still have the strength to travel as I do. I do watch my weight and exercise (including 20 or more push-ups daily). Most of all I am thankful that there are those out there who still invite me to preach. I am honored and very humbled. I give God ALL of the honor, glory and praise.

My book Popular in Heaven, Famous in Hell is out next month. I have begun my next book – An Audience of One. Based upon my life verse – John 5:44 (“How can you believe, if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God?”), this book can be summed up in the words of Sam Hailes, editor of the UK magazine Christianity.Referring to Billy Graham he wrote: “He may have preached to millions but Billy Graham lived for an audience of one”  (Christianity April 2018). I would deeply appreciate your prayers as I continue to write this book.

We return to Nashville August 1st. We have a very heavy autumn – including Qatar and Shanghai. We have been invited to Korea and Beijing for 2019.

Your prayers for each of us mean more than I could ever say. I hope a number of you would put us on your daily prayer list. I know that’s asking a lot! But I’m asking!

God bless each of you who read this.

Warmest appreciation and thanks.

RT and Louise, TR, Annette, Toby, Timothy and Tyndale, Melissa and Rex.

 

A Tastes of Mozambique

Meeting the villagers

Praying with the Chef

 

 

Louise

Louise

Today – June 28, 2018 – is our 60th wedding anniversary. It happens that we are in Hong Kong, one of my favorite cities in the world. We did not choose to be here because of our anniversary; I had agreed to preach here, knowing we would be coming from London. So we came a couple days early to have some time alone on our anniversary. This way we also saved our children from having to make a big fuss over us had we been in Nashville at this time.

I want to tell you about Louise.

First, read Proverbs 31:10-31 – that is Louise. An extremely rare jewel. Worth more than rubies (my favorite gem; after all, I was born in July!).

Second, she is as beautiful today as she was the day I married her. Have a look!

Third, no woman on earth could have put up with my faults, flesh and frailties as she has done. No one. Only God knows what she has had to live with. Her reward will be great in Heaven.

Fourth, she loves God with all her heart, soul, mind and strength. Her prayer life exceeds that of many, many people in the ministry full-time. She has been this way for years. She began reading the entire Bible through from cover to cover yearly beforeI met her. She never wanted to be a preacher’s wife, by the way; it was the last thing she wanted. But I can honestly say she is the best minister’s wife I have ever come across.

Fifth, she is highly intelligent. Only a few get to find this out because sadly I get the lion’s share of the attention. She is much like Mrs. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, wife of my chief mentor. Louise’s I.Q. is higher than mine; she could have earned an Oxford D.Phil. in Shakespeare easier than I did in theology. The funny thing is, I had no idea of this when I met her. I just fell for her – that’s it. I didn’t realize all I was getting in this beautiful package. God was infinitely gracious in preserving her for me. My Dad had prayed for years, “Don’t let R. T. fall in love with the wrong girl”. Prayer answered!

Sixth, she has been a supremely good mother. Whereas I put my ministry first (to my regret), she put the family first. It is to her credit, not mine, that our children have turned out so well. I’m happy to say that both T. R. and Melissa truly appreciate her.

 Seventh, she is the best grandmother I ever saw in my life. Amazing. Our grandchildren love her so much. I can’t imagine how they will grieve when she goes to Heaven. I am happy to report that she is in good health; her mother lived until she was 97!

I could go on and on. But now let me pray:

Heavenly Father, thank you for Louise. Apart from saving me, she is further proof how much you love me. I also thank you for T. R. and Melissa. You have given us two wonderful children. Thank you for Annette whom you gave to T.R. Thank you for their children Toby, Timothy and Tyndale. Thank you for Rex whom you gave to Melissa. Sprinkle the blood of Jesus by Your Holy Spirit on all of us. Protect us from the evil oneand guide us by your Spirit until You call us Home. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

 

Billy Graham

Minutes after I got off the train today in Preston, England – where I am to address 100 ministers in preparation for the Franklin Graham Festival over here in September, I was told that Billy Graham went to Heaven this morning.

I wonder if, when we are in Heaven, we will get to see a DVD replay of Billy going to glory and being welcomed by Jesus. I could not help but wonder what this would be like. I had the same thought in 1981 when my mentor Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones died. What is it like in Heaven when people like these men enter Glory?



As the photo in my tweet shows, Billy preached for me at Westminster Chapel in May 1984. His visit coincided with the worst trial of my life—when half of my deacons turned against my ministry and hoped to see me gone soon. Some of them were not too happy with my inviting Billy. As many know, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones refused to support Billy Graham’s meetings in London. But it is worth noting that Mrs. Lloyd-Jones, who supported me until the day she died (I preached her Memorial Service in 1991 at Westminster Chapel), came to the service to hear Dr. Graham.



Tens of thousands of articles and obituaries will be written about Billy Graham in the next few days. His relationships with presidents. With Her Majesty the Queen. The millions he preached to. Many of us will want to tell our own stories pertaining to Billy. One of the highlights of my ministry was having him preach for me. He spent an hour and forty-five minutes alone with me in my vestry two days before. He went to the hospital with a nose bleed later that afternoon. There were fears he would have to cancel, but he didn’t. He left his hospital bed (you can see the identity band on his left wrist in my tweet photo of him) to preach for me. Despite rumors he would not show up – due to being in hospital – Westminster Chapel was packed from top to bottom. Had those rumors not spread the crowds would have been lined up and down Buckingham Gate.

He was a true friend. I can’t say we were close friends – not many can. But he was a true friend, always answering my letters, giving me recommendations when I needed them. I’m sure his comment regarding my three volumes of Understanding Theology made a huge difference in sales. He endorsed my book Tithing and wrote a brief forward to Stand up and be Counted (a theological defense of giving an invitation after the sermon). I have preached at his training center – The Cove – annually for some ten years. His daughter Ruth wrote a Foreword for my next book Popular in Heaven, Famous in Hell. 
 
When I came home after that hour and forty-five minutes with him in my vestry, Louise asked: “What was it like to meet Billy Graham?” I replied after a few seconds to ponder it, “He’s so simple. He is so simple”. By that I mean uncomplicated. Unpretentious. He signed my Bible that day – adding Philippians 1:6ff to his name. Then he prayed for me.

His closest friend T. W. Wilson – who patiently waited outside my vestry for that hour and forty-five minutes – also became a good friend. T. W. wrote a book The Key to Everlasting Joy. Billy wrote the Foreword for the American edition but at T. W.’s request his British publisher asked me to write the Foreword for the British edition. “We need a Brit for the edition over here”, they said to me. “But I’m not a Brit”, I replied. “Yes you are”, they said. It was my greatest compliment in 25 years in England!

Good-bye Billy. What an impact you have made on this planet. Utterly indescribable. Words fail. I hope to have more time with you one day. I thank God for you. Good-bye, Billy, good-bye.

 

Philippians 1:12

Philippians 1:12

“I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me, has really served to advance the gospel” (ESV).

Two things made me think of Philippians 1:12 this week. The first came right after I wrote the blog about my experience in Bimini – preaching on Hebrews 13:8. Some readers may recall that I referred to that moment as being the greatest anointing experience of my ministry. And so it was. You must remember however that anointing is by degrees. I doubt not that I had a measure of anointing from my first day at Westminster Chapel till the last. I preached approximately 3,250 sermons at the Chapel. But the kind of anointing I always dreamed of came only once during my twenty-five years at Westminster Chapel. It was when we came to Philippians 1:12 in my series of sermons on Philippians. I will never forget that moment as long as I live. When I sat down after preaching that sermon, I thought to myself: “At last the unction has come. This is it – what I have always wanted”. I was not the only one that felt that way. Everybody felt it. The place was electric. Everyone was talking about it.

Two hours later Graham Paddon, one of our deacons, admitted he was dreading to speak to me. “I have some disappointing news. Your sermon this morning was not recorded. The man who does the tape recordings was sick and forgot to let us know. I am truly sorry”.

Imagine this. Two times in my sixty-three years of preaching I had an undoubted touch of supernatural power. Twice. And neither of them was recorded. Supernatural means “above” what is natural. Something that has no natural explanation. It is what every preacher wants. I have had it twice.

I have thought a lot about this over the years. Why are these two sermons not available? They don’t record sermons in Bimini. But we did at the Chapel. Surely these sermons would bless the church. Why are these sermons not available?

I don’t know. Do you?

That said, one of our other deacons then suggested, “Not to worry; you are preaching in Bromley next week; just repeat that sermon from Philippians 1:12”. Good idea. So I did. And guess what? It did not even come close to the power and authority I had in the pulpit at Westminster that morning when I first preached on Philippians 1:12. Not even close. Explain that.

I have the notes from Philippians 1:12. I used the exact same notes the following week when I preached in Bromley. But what I actually said at Westminster that Sunday morning was not to be found in those notes. I had suddenly departed from my notes that day when I preached it at Westminster. I simply just took off. I have only a vague recollection of what I said.

It reminds me of an occasion when someone asked George Whitefield if he could print the sermon Whitefield had just preached. Whitefield replied: “Yes, as long as you can get in the thunder and lightning”.

The thunder and the lightning. That cannot be put in words. I suspect it is the element of surprise that partly makes the anointing the anointing – that is, if you are there to hear the original sermon preached. Proof of this: read Whitefield’s sermons. They are dull. You would take no notice of them if you did not know they were Whitefield’s. You simply had to be there.

I do wish I could recall what I said that morning when I first preached on Philippians 1:12. I remember this much – perhaps ten per cent of what I actually said: I suddenly found myself touching on the enigmas of life – those things in our past which we continue not to understand. Were we right when did what we did? Were we wrong? The answer is, as it came out in my sermon: it doesn’t matter. What matters is the furtherance of the Gospel! That’s all that matters.

When Paul wrote those words in Philippians he was fully aware that some people’s perception of his wisdom and integrity was at stake. He had gone right against the godly opinions and prophetic utterances that warned him not to go to Jerusalem (see Acts 21:4;10-14). Not a single person believed he should go to Jerusalem. He went anyway. Was he right? Was he wrong? Most people would say the great Apostle Paul absolutely did the right thing. But Luke – who wrote of these prophetic utterances in Acts 21 – didn’t think so! So was Paul right? Was he wrong? It doesn’t matter, says Paul; all these things have fallen out unto the furtherance of the Gospel!

It happens that Philippians 1:12 had been signally used in my life – in April 1956. In the middle of a huge crisis that would lead to my father disapproving of me Philippians 1:12 instantly came to my mind. It was an extremely critical moment. I had no idea what that verse said but I immediately pulled the car over and opened my Bible to find out:

“I would that ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened to me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel” (KJV).

That verse and that moment were to hold me steady for many years. In the light of what had happened in the previous week back in April 1956 it was sufficient to assure me that God was at the bottom of what was going on. But some of the strangest things also occurred. Very strange. It therefore made me question over the years: was I right? Was I wrong? According to Philippians 1:12, it doesn’t matter. All that matters is whether the Gospel is advanced! Not whether you or I was right or wrong in this or that!

The second thing that made me want to write this blog seems so very silly. But it was this. I had not been to Bimini for a good while and I so wanted to go there and do some bonefishing. But the weather forecasts were not good. Besides, January is the worst month in the year for bonefishing; the cold weather scatters the fish. I went anyway. The weather was horrible. I spent an entire eight hours fishing in the rain. You have heard of singing in the rain? I was fishing in the rain. With the aid of my guide I caught one little three pound bonefish. Embarrassing. But I did manage to present the Gospel to him; he prayed to receive Christ. I came to my hotel room soaking wet – including my shoes (and I brought no extra pair). I asked the housekeeper to put my shoes in a dryer, but nothing worked. In the meantime I managed to present the Gospel to her and she prayed to receive the Lord.

As for the bonefishing trip, it was a bit of a disaster. Was I right to go? Was I wrong? It doesn’t matter as long as the Gospel was advanced. It was.

Bimini

Bimini

I experienced possibly the greatest anointing of my ministry several years ago – not at Westminster Chapel but in Bimini, Bahamas. But let me first introduce Bimini to you.

Bimini is a small island located about 60 miles east of Miami, Florida. Native population is less than 2,000. It claims to be the bonefishing capital of the world, but so does Islamorada, Florida. I have spent more time fishing in Islamorada. Islamorada probably has larger bonefish – average 6 to 8 pounds but Bimini has more bonefish although smaller in size – average 3 to 5 pounds. And yet Bimini boasts of the world record bonefish caught on a spinning rod (16 pounds).

A lady came into the vestry of Westminster Chapel years ago and asked, “What is bonefishing?” I replied: “It is a requirement for membership at Westminster Chapel!” (I hope you know that was a joke.) To understand bonefishing see the Introduction to my book Worhiping God. Or just Google “bonefishing”. It is a rare sort of fishing, combining hunting and fishing simultaneously. You need a guide if you expect to see one or catch one.

I first went to Bimini in 1966. I fell in love with that place and have probably been there 40 times. I have fond memories of Bimini – having won a prize for the most bonefish caught (over 60) in a tournament there in 1968, and the largest bonefish (11 pounds) in a tournament in 1969. The prime minister of the Bahamas, L. O. Pindling presented me with a trophy. In those days the New York congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. – also the senior minister of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem – spent a couple years in exile in Bimini, owing to alleged financial indiscretions. He took Louise and me out on his boat – called Adam’s Fancy – one afternoon. I have taken a lot of friends to Bimini over the last fifty years – among Ernest C. Reisinger, Dr. O. S. Hawkins and the late John Paul Jackson.

The legendary fishing guide Sam Ellis – known as “Bonefish Sam” – took me fishing many times. He was famous for fishing royalty. He once made the cover of Life magazine. He appeared on the TV program “To Tell the Truth”. But in his old age he began preaching and pastored a small church in Bimini. He invited me to preach for him a number of times but one time in particular was most memorable and is one of the two reasons why I am writing this blog.

When we were at Westminster Chapel (1977-2002) we took six weeks of holiday time every summer. We always came to the Florida Keys. But there was one Sunday during our vacation in which I preached at the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale and also for Bonefish Sam in Bimini the same day. The morning service was quite liturgical, attended by two thousand worshipers. I wore D. James Kennedy’s rather ornate robe, walked behind the choir down the center aisle as they processed into the huge auditorium and sang the first hymn. And then I preached an old sermon. All went according to plan.

Later that day I flew to Bimini – in time for Sam’s service in the part of Bimini called Baileytown. The contrast was rather striking. All of the nineteen worshipers stood and exclaimed, “Praise the Lord”, to Sam’s opening word, “Praise the Lord”. “I say praise the Lord”, shouted Sam. “Praise the Lord”, said all. “Thank You Jesus”, Sam proclaimed. “Thank You Jesus”, the people joyously responded. This was repeated at least four or five more times. Wearing my short sleeve shirt and trainers, I smiled as I thought of the change of liturgy compared to being at Coral Ridge that morning.

Then all of us went to our knees for prayer time. All prayed aloud at the same time. As I knelt I began to ask the Lord for guidance on what to preach. I could easily repeat the same sermon I preached at Coral Ridge that morning. But all of a sudden the greatest sense of the manifest presence of God I had known in twenty-five years came on me. The presence of Jesus was so real that seeing Him would not have made Him feel more real. For some reason Hebrews 13:8 came to me: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever”. I began to ask myself, “In what sense is Jesus Christ the same?” Answer – in several ways. But it came to me in a way I had not really thought about: He looks the same. His appearance has not changed. This “same” Jesus (Acts 1:11, 2:36) has not changed from being the man Christ Jesus (1 Tim.2:5). Not only that; He still has the nails scars in His hands (John 20:27).

Moments later I spoke to those nineteen worshipers. I was given power to convey to those people how the appearance of Jesus is the same yesterday and today and forever. It was an amazing twenty minutes or so. Totally indescribable. Utterly beyond the natural level of ordinary experience. I could not work that up if you paid me a billion dollars tax free.

I could not help but ask: “Lord, why don’t You give me anointing like this at Westminster Chapel? After all, I reach the world in my own pulpit. Why didn’t You do this today at Coral Ridge – when two thousand of America’s movers and shakers were present?”

Even though I have preached in Sam’s church in Bimini since that memorable evening they still talk about the night I was there and described the nail scars in Jesus’ hands. I have preached on Hebrews 13:8 all over the world since that evening but never once have I experienced the kind of anointing that I had that night.

Why? You tell me.

The other reason I am writing this blog is because I am in Bimini this week – to do some bonefishing. Bonefish Sam is now in Heaven. I took John Paul to Sam’s grave a few years ago. This week I am with a different bonefish guide. I think of John Paul. I think of Sam. Of O.S. The good old days. Nothing is like it was. There is something inside some of us that wants to experience “the good old days”. But we can’t go back.

And yet we can! Because Jesus is the same.