The Spiritual Revival That Swept Through the Colonies
Editor’s note: This is the second in a four-part series exploring the need for America to transform from a culture of brokenness to a culture of life.
“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.”
It’s not exactly a politically correct thought, is it?
I guess it also wasn’t “PC” when Jonathan Edward’s delivered his sermon by that title before America was even a country.
The year was 1741, and Colonial culture was immersed in decadence and selfishness. God, in His mercy and unfathomable love, began drawing people to Himself across the Colonies, including inspiring Edwards to deliver a no-nonsense sermon to a congregation described as “thoughtless and vain.”
That bold sermon became a powerful force in the Great Awakening that created the moral foundation and intestinal fortitude required to launch, persevere through, and win the Revolutionary War, securing both a new nation and personal liberty.
Make no mistake: This revival was not rooted in some amorphous sense of spirituality, wherein each man determined what was “right” for himself based on desires and emotions. The revival was centered around the God of the Bible, who says who He is and commands how we should live.
Today, our culture again is suffering from thoughtless vanity as Americans increasingly reject God Almighty. Our many societal problems — from violence to rising suicide rates to abortion to drug abuse to failed families to sexual disorientation — all stem from our cultural failure to worship the one triune God, to recognize him as the Creator and ourselves as men and women created in His image.
We have forgotten that it is “He that hath made us, and not we ourselves” (Psalms 100:3).
Our churches fail to boldly proclaim the raw, beautiful, challenging, captivating Gospel of Jesus Christ and God’s immense love for us.
Our pastors too frequently deliver a candy-coated version of God’s love instead of the iron-clad love that cares enough to teach us how we must live in order to be whole.
Continue reading here.
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