At Oberlin, Finney also became known for advocating the abolition of slavery. He and his students helped lay the groundwork for the North’s moral opposition to slavery that would change the future of the nation just nine years later. Tragically, the people of the South resisted such desperately needed moral changes as the abolition of slavery and the restoration of freedom and justice to African Americans. Southern states began to secede from the Union upon the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, eventually resulting in a war that brought tremendous devastation on the country. Neither Finney nor the other revivalists can be directly blamed for the Civil War. Their desire, shared by millions of other Americans in the North and the South, was to see a peaceful process of national reform and renewal.
Finney was not perfect, of course, and he was by no means everyone’s cup of tea. His critics have accused him, for example, of being too emotional and theatrical in his preaching in the early years of his ministry, and this is a fair criticism. That said, he seems to have matured over time and was somewhat less emotional in his later preaching and teaching, to the point where some later criticized him for not being passionate enough in his preaching.
As noted previously, Finney was not a trained theologian. But this should by no means be a disqualifier. Many men and women who have been used powerfully by the Lord have not had formal theological training. Yet some believed Finney was not careful enough with his theology and his teaching of the Scriptures. Others saw Finney as an outright heretic. Both charges he vehemently denied.
While there are a number of theological areas in which one could take issue with Finney, let me note one here, as it is particularly relevant to whether we will see a Third Great Awakening. While Finney spoke often about the power of the Holy Spirit and wrote extensively about the role of the Holy Spirit in changing lives, he firmly believed that employing certain methods of ministry could bring about a revival no matter what. Whereas the Wesleys and Asbury taught that ministers should use certain methods based on biblical principles with the hope that the Lord would unleash revivals, Finney taught with conviction that if believers followed certain principles and took certain steps, God would, in turn, pour out his Holy Spirit, and a revival would ensue. “[Revival] is not a miracle,” he argued vigorously, “or dependent on a miracle. . . . It consists entirely in the right exercise of the power of nature. It is just that, and nothing else. . . . It is a purely philosophical result of the right use of the constituted means—as much so as any other effect produced by the application of means. There may be a miracle among its antecedent causes, or there may not. The apostles employed miracles, simply as a means by which they arrested attention to their message, and established its divine authority. But the miracle was not the revival.”[419]
I don’t believe this teaching is scripturally sound. Revivals and awakenings cannot be created by man. Only God can bring them about. There are certainly things that the Scriptures tell all believers to do to serve the Lord and seek to win a community and bless a nation. We’ll discuss these in the next chapter. Nowhere in Scripture, however, do we see that human actions guarantee a revival, much less a Great Awakening. Our test is our faithfulness to the Word, not the results that we see. Pastors and missionaries who faithfully preach the gospel in a community or a country for years but see little fruit will be rewarded in heaven for their faithful obedience to the Lord and his Word, not for their visible results. As the apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor” (1 Corinthians 3:6-8). We do our part, God does his, and only he decides whether to cause much growth or a little, to unleash a revival or an awakening or not.
That said, I don’t think Finney should be condemned or dismissed for believing that his methods would always cause revivals. He took certain actions, and they did bear much fruit. Many people did come under the conviction of sin. Many people did repent and give their hearts, souls, and minds to Christ. Nearly everything Finney did seemed to result in revival. So perhaps he can be forgiven for believing that other believers in other times and places would see the same results if they took the same actions.
Not surprisingly, then, Finney is widely regarded by historians as one of the key players in the Second Great Awakening. In the end, an estimated half million souls were converted through his preaching.[420] Indeed, one historian has described Finney as having had “a greater impact on the public life of antebellum America than any of the nation’s politicians.”[421]
Bottom Line
Like the First Great Awakening before it, the Second Great Awakening was not a panacea. It did not save every soul or solve every social ill. No revival ever has or will. Men and women always have the freedom to reject the Word of God and the mighty demonstration of his Holy Spirit. Take Judas Iscariot, for example. The Bible describes Judas as walking with and serving alongside Jesus for years. He saw Christ heal the sick and raise the dead. Yet Judas never actually received Jesus as his Messiah and Savior but betrayed him instead. Sadly, it happens. People reject Christ for all sorts of reasons, even in the midst of Great Awakenings.
The good news is this: the historical evidence is clear and compelling that many Americans found salvation during these periods, and American society as a whole was dramatically impacted and improved by both of these revivals. One piece of observable evidence in this regard is the explosive growth in the number of church congregations that were established in the wake of both Great Awakenings. Thomas S. Kidd, the historian and author of The Great Awakening: The Roots of Evangelical Christianity in Colonial America, noted that “as part of the stunning evangelical Protestant boom during that period, the total number of Baptist churches in America rose from about 150 in 1770 to just more than 12,000 in 1860.”[422] Mark Noll, in his aforementioned book A History of Christianity in the United States and Canada, wrote, “Particularly in the southern and new western states, Baptists became leaders in evangelizing the frontier population. By 1812, there were close to 200,000 Baptists in the United States. . . . By 1850, the total exceeded 1,000,000. By that time, nearly three-fourths of them were also cooperating in national missionary ventures.”[423] Likewise, Kidd’s research concluded that “in 1770, Methodists had a paltry 20 churches in America. By 1860, that number had swelled to just under 20,000.”[424]
And it wasn’t just white Americans who were coming to faith and filling the churches. African Americans were coming to Christ in unprecedented numbers during this same period as well.[425]
What’s more, Noll found that “the revivals of the Second Great Awakening increased interest in missionary outreach,” moving the Baptists to send out more than one hundred missionaries into foreign lands in the early years of the 1800s.[426]
At the same time, Christians during this period sought to put their faith into action to improve their neighborhoods and communities and the nation as a whole. They persuaded millions of children to enroll in Sunday school programs to learn about the Bible and pray for their nation. They opened orphanages and soup kitchens to care for the poor and needy. They started clinics and hospitals to care for the sick, elderly, and infirm. They founded elementary and secondary schools for girls as well as boys. They established colleges and universities dedicated to teaching both the Scriptures and the sciences. They led social campaigns to persuade Americans to stop drinking so much alcohol and to abolish the evil of slavery. These Christians didn’t expect the government to take care of them. They believed it was the church’s job to show the love of Christ to their neighbors in real and practical ways. They were right, and they made America a better place as a result—not perfect, but better.
“Asbury and Finney were representatives of the most visible religious movements between the Revolution and the Civil War,” Noll concluded in his history of American Ch
ristianity. “They were both charismatic figures. . . . They were both great communicators. . . . They both had broad visions of Christian society . . . defining Christian social responsibilities as clearly as they defined personal spiritual duties. Together with like-minded leaders of only slightly less influence, they established the revival and voluntary society as the foundations of American Protestant faith.”[427]
Such history is worth examining. I encourage you to study the leaders and dynamics of the Second Great Awakening more closely for yourself and discuss what you learn with family, friends, and neighbors. I think you will be deeply encouraged, as I have been, that God has shown tremendous grace and mercy to America during dark times in the past.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
WILL AMERICA EXPERIENCE A THIRD GREAT AWAKENING?
For me, the central question of our time for Americans is this: Will God in his grace and mercy decide to allow the American people to experience a Third Great Awakening?
If so, may this spiritual renaissance begin immediately, for we are desperate for his help. If not, then I believe our days are numbered and a terrible implosion is coming. There is no more middle ground, in my view. It is one or the other.
Unfortunately, I have absolutely no idea which way God will decide. I wish I did and could help prepare you for one outcome or the other. But as much as I long and pray for a Third Great Awakening, I simply don’t know how this intense drama is going to play out.
So for me, the second-most important question of our time for Americans is this: How will we invest our time, talent, and treasure now, before either revival or implosion comes?
In a moment, I will endeavor to lay out the approach my family and I are taking, in the hope that it will be helpful to you as well. First, however, I need to acknowledge that some people believe they do know for certain what is coming. While working on this book, I attended an event to pray and fast for our country. One of the speakers proclaimed with great conviction that America will soon experience a Third Great Awakening. His comment caught me off guard. The young man on the platform wasn’t simply asking God to bring about revival; rather, he was asserting to the audience that such a revival was a foregone conclusion, that we could bank on it. The audience erupted with wild applause, but I was troubled. Is the speaker correct? I wondered. Can we truly rest assured that God is going to save our country from economic, spiritual, and cultural implosion?
I have pondered and prayed over these questions for months. I have carefully studied the Scriptures and wrestled with a variety of passages. Unfortunately, I have to say that I remain as uncomfortable today as I was then by what this gentleman said to the audience and the way he said it, projecting an assurance that suggested he was speaking with scriptural authority. As we have noted, nowhere in Scripture is America specifically mentioned. Thus, nowhere in Scripture are we promised such a sweeping spiritual and moral revival. We can hope for revival in America, we can pray for revival—indeed, we absolutely should—but we cannot assert that it is a done deal. There is simply no biblical basis for doing so.
Some Americans—including many at that prayer-and-fasting event—point to 2 Chronicles 7:14 as a direct promise of another revival in America. In that passage, the Lord says, “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (NIV). Some believe that so long as they and their congregations ask God for a Third Great Awakening, this passage obligates God to grant their request. I wish that were the case, but we must be honest with the text. The entire seventh chapter of 2 Chronicles involves a series of very specific promises to—and warnings for—the Jewish people in the nation of Israel. We certainly should ask the Lord to apply the same principles to the United States. We certainly should humble ourselves, pray, seek Christ’s face, turn from our wicked ways, and ask God to hear us and forgive our sin and heal our land. And the Lord may very well decide to have mercy on us and rescue us as a nation, because the Bible tells us that by nature he is slow to anger and abounding in loving-kindness (Exodus 34:6). But we must remember that this passage is not a specific promise to us as Americans, and thus the Lord is under no obligation to say yes just because we ask.
Revivals are not man-made phenomena. Yes, God historically has used men and women to accomplish his will. And historically he has blessed nations that have turned to him in repentance en masse. But God is holy, and he is sovereign, and the Scriptures teach us that his ways are not our ways and his thoughts are much higher than our thoughts (Isaiah 55:9). He alone knows the end from the beginning. If God chooses to pour out his Holy Spirit on our nation once again in such a powerful and dramatic way, then to God be the glory. What a blessing that would be! But if God in his sovereignty decides that it is too late for America and chooses not to pour out his Holy Spirit on our nation in a Third Great Awakening, then to God be the glory as well. We cannot dictate outcomes. Rather, we can trust him to do the right thing and faithfully obey him day in and day out, come what may. The Lord is not a vending machine. We don’t put our prayer quarters in and get out whatever treat we ask for. God always answers our prayers, but sometimes his answer is no.
Do I hope that in the twenty-first century America experiences a revival—or a series of revivals—as dramatic as the awakenings of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries? Absolutely. Am I praying that we see such a revival soon? Every day. Am I fasting for God to move in his great power to rescue our country? More than ever in my life. Am I calling other Americans to fast and pray that we experience a Third Great Awakening? Indeed I am. That is, after all, the point of this book. I hope you will join in praying daily for such an outpouring of God’s love and redemption on our needy country.
Our challenges are too large for political and business leaders alone to solve. To be sure, Washington, Wall Street, and Main Street have critical roles to play in our nation’s recovery, and I wish them Godspeed in making the fundamental economic and fiscal reforms this country so desperately needs. But we need more than mere tax reforms to save us. We need more than spending and entitlement reforms in Washington. We need more than better jobs and stronger economic growth and truly balanced budgets. These are crucial to our survival, but by themselves they are insufficient. What we urgently need is a national U-turn. We require a wholesale national turning from our current path of pride, materialism, narcissism, selfishness, unkindness, and vulgarity. We need to turn away from violence against the unborn and rampant pornography and the assault on traditional marriage and the family. All of us as Americans need to turn away from our sins and plead for the grace and mercy and forgiveness of Jesus Christ. We need a renewed national hunger for the Word of God. We need once again to make a solemn national commitment to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit from this day forward.
At this point, nothing less than a Third Great Awakening will save us. These are not normal times. We are not facing normal problems. We dare not continue with business as usual. We cannot keep tinkering around the edges and procrastinating and living in denial. We are in mortal danger as a nation. We are on the verge of seeing God’s hand of favor removed from us forever. We are on the brink of facing God’s fair but terrifying judgment. Yet some deny God even exists. Others concede God exists but deny that we really need him. Some give lip service to being a “Christian nation” but deny Christ’s power, refusing to live holy, faithful, fruitful lives.
And now the hour is late. The clock is ticking. God certainly can save America. He has the power, and he has done it in the past, but he has made us no promises—and we dare not assume that because America has been such an exceptional nation in the past, she will forever remain so. How then should we live as we face the unknown?
What We Should Expect from the Church
A weakened country needs a strong and revitalized church.
There are an estimated 340,000 church congregations in the United States.
That’s an average of 6,800 per state. That’s about one congregation for every 900 people. Imagine how rapidly America would change if all of these 340,000 congregations were healthy, strong, brightly shining lighthouses, as God intended.
What if they were all faithfully teaching the Word of God book by book, chapter by chapter, verse by verse so the people of God would know the whole counsel of God? What if they were truly helping people repent of their sins, purify their hearts, and heal from their emotional and spiritual wounds? What if they were all actively assisting those recovering people to be able to turn around and care for others who are needy and suffering? What if they were all training their people to share the gospel with their friends and neighbors? What if every pastor was modeling the kind of personal one-on-one and small-group discipleship that Jesus and Paul modeled? What if they were training and equipping young people in the Word of God and in their spiritual gifts and helping them plant new congregations in the U.S. and around the world? What if they were truly caring for the poor and needy in their communities and in countries around the globe, not in lieu of sharing the gospel but as part of fulfilling the great commission? What if they were teaching their congregations to bless Israel and her neighbors in the name of Jesus and to show unconditional love and unwavering support to both the Jewish and Palestinian people?
This is what we should expect and pray for in the American church—that she would respond to the shakings God has been sending our way and get back to teaching and obeying the whole counsel of God.
We can’t know whether renewed devotion and obedience to Christ will move the Father’s heart to unleash an outpouring of the Holy Spirit as he has done in our nation’s history. But we can know for certain that if the church remains sluggish or asleep, we will one day have to answer before the Lord, face-to-face, for our failings.
Implosion: Can America Recover From Its Economic and Spiritual Challenges in Time? Page 27