WHY
WE NEED REVIVAL
TODAY
By Pastor Max
Solbrekken, D.D.
“Wilt Thou not revive us
again: that Thy people may rejoice in Thee?” (Ps.
85: 6); “For My people have committed two evils;
they have forsaken Me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them
out cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water.”
(Jer.2: 13)
“If My people which are
called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My
face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven,
and will forgive their sins and heal My land.” (2
Chron.7: 14)
“Come now, and let us
reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet they
shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they
shall be as wool.” (Is. 1: 18)
“Behold I stand at the
door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will
come in to him, and will sup with him and he with Me.”
(Rev. 3: 20)
FRANCIS SHAEFFER, a
celebrated theologian wrote in 1971: “We are on the verge of
the largest revolution the world has ever seen – the control
and shaping of men through the abuse of genetic knowledge and
psychological reconditioning.”
Francis Shaeffer based his
projection on what was happening in the beginning of the seventies,
as well as the prophecies given in the Holy Scriptures 2000 years
ago! Undoubtedly, Shaeffer was referring to the brain
washing technique used in the Soviet Union and
Communist China.
The most dangerous ‘psychological
reconditioning’ however, has been slyly and cleverly forced
upon millions of children in our schools and
unsuspecting parents by the media, during the last two or
three decades through ‘political correctness!
POLITICIAN’S COURSE
DESTRUCTIVE!
In the early seventies, Pierre Trudeau
charted a course that would destroy our civilized, respectable
and time-honoured laws on capital punishment, divorce,
homosexuality and bestiality, abortion and
marijuana use!
Regrettably, he succeeded in making things
“abhorrent” to most Canadians “seem less
reprehensible” to a gullible public! His political cronies have
since escalated his concepts and now the brain washing is almost
complete!
In this little booklet I try to convey the
heart - beat of God regarding the Church, for which Jesus
Christ “gave His life as a ransom”
and rose from the dead in power and great glory!
As true believers in the Eternal God and
His Son Jesus Christ whom He sent to redeem lost mankind, we embrace
the Holy Bible as “the only rule for faith, morals and
ethics”. We reject all other teachings and
philosophies that do not agree with His Word!
The Protestant Reformers rejected the
corrupt church of the Middle Ages, by taking a definite position on
‘What is truth and what is only human invention’
regarding Eternal Salvation and the rule for faith and morals!
GOD’S
WORD: THE ONLY RULE FOR
FAITH & MORALS!
The
term used to articulate this belief was ‘Sola
Scriptura’,
meaning
‘The
Scriptures Alone’! The
Bible alone is the final authority in matters of faith and morals. We
rely on none other! We reject all teaching that adds
to the Word of God or
takes away
from the Word of God.
Sola
Scriptura means
that the Holy Bible is the ONLY revelation from God to mankind for
salvation. It is the only basis for truth!
The Old
Testament states: “Thy
Word is truth” (Psalms
119:142), and in the New Testament Jesus Christ confirms that
statement to the letter. In His High Priestly prayer to His Heavenly Father, Jesus declared: “Thy Word is truth.” (John 17: 17)
Our
Lord confirmed the authority of the O.T. Scriptures: “Think not
that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to
destroy, but to fulfill. For
verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot (Greek,
iota) or one
tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.”
(Matt.5 17,18; 24:
35)
“Jesus
answered and said unto them: “Ye
do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God.”
(Matt.22: 29). Our Master warned those who put tradition before the
Word of God: “Making
the Word of God of none effect through your traditions which ye have
delivered: and many such like things ye do.”
(Mark 7: 13)
Since
only the Holy Scriptures are inspired, we REJECT TRADITION as being
necessary for salvation! Forty
six times in the
Bible we find the words: “It
is written.”
JESUS SAID: ‘IT IS WRITTEN’!
Renouncing
the devil in the ‘wilderness temptation’, our Lord said: “It
is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that
proceedeth from the mouth of God.”
(Matt.4: 4). And He stated: “The
Scripture cannot be broken.”
(John 10: 35)
The
Bible says: “All
Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness. That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly
furnished unto all good works.”
(2 Tim.3: 16-17)
“Knowing
this first, that no prophecy of the Scriptures is of private
interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of
man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”
(2 Peter 1: 20-21)
HERE
IS A STRONG WARNING!
The
Bible declares: “Every Word of God is pure: He is a shield unto
them that put their trust in Him. Add
thou not unto His words, lest He reprove thee and thou be found a
liar.” (Prov.30:
5-6);
“And
when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar
spirits and unto wizards (spiritualist
mediums) that peep,
and that mutter: Should not a people seek unto their God, for a living to the dead? To
the law and to the testimony: if
they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no
light in them.”
(Is.8: 19-20)
“For I testify unto every man that
heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall
add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that
are written in this book. And if any man shall take away from the
words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part
out of the Book of Life, and out of the Holy city, and from the
things which are written in this book.” (Rev.22: 18-19)
The
HOLY
BIBLE
says:
“If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater:
For this is the witness of God, which He hath testified of His Son.
He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he
that believeth not hath made Him (God)
a LIAR, because he believeth not the record God gave of His Son.
“And
this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life, and this
life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life: and he that hath
not the Son of God hath not life.” (1
John 5: 9-12)
Recently, a survey was taken among Norway’s
Lutheran State Church pastors in the region of Oslo and
district regarding ‘belief in Hell’! Out of
nineteen pastors who were asked if they believed in a literal Hell as
the Bible and the Lutheran Church teaches, all answered that they
did not!
The great philosopher and theologian, C.S.
LEWIS, wrote regarding Hell: “There is no doctrine which I
would more willingly remove from Christianity than this. I would pay
any price to be able to say truthfully that all will be saved.”
Being true to the
Holy Scriptures, however, was more important to C.S. Lewis than to
allow his natural mind to be convinced otherwise!
The Roman
Catholic Church, which used to say that it never changes, changed
again recently regarding the doctrine of Hell.
During
his weekly address to the general audience of 8,500 people at the
Vatican on July 28, 1999, Pope
John Paul II rejected
the reality of a physical, literal hell as a place of eternal fire
and torment. Rather,
the pope said hell is separation, even in this life, from the joyful
communion with God.
Hell
is that – separation
from God – and it
is a lot more! IT IS A PLACE OF TORMENT
unlike anything we
could imagine. It is a place of eternal regrets and torment.
Fire
and brimstone is only a
type of the eternal
judgment the Bible states awaits Satan, the Beast and the False
Prophet and all those reject Jesus Christ our Lord Who shed His
precious blood to save us all!
The
Bible declares
the reality of hell (Heb. 6:1, 2). Jude
taught that hell is a real, literal place of fire and torment (Jude
3, 7). St. Paul
wrote of the vengeance of God and everlasting damnation (2 Th.1: 8,
9). St. John
described hell as a real place (Rev. 14: 1 0; 20:10-15; 21:8).
Jesus
Christ taught that
hell literally exists, is eternal and that those who reject His
perfect sacrifice for their sins will spend eternity in that place!
(Matt.13: 41, 42; 18:8, 9; 25:41- 46; Luke 16:19-31).
The
Bible warns: "Let God be true, but every man a liar" (Rom.
3:3, 4)
MARTIN LUTHER STOOD TRUE!
At
his heresy trial at Worms,
Germany on April
18, 1521, Martin
Luther – the
brilliant scholar and theologian - was asked to recant his Gospel
writings. At the risk of being burned at the stake like John Huss,
Bishop Latimer, Bishop Riddley and other reformers before him, Luther
replied:
“Unless
I am convinced by Scripture and plain reason I do not accept the
authority of popes and councils, for they have contradicted each
other. My conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I
will not
recant
anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe.
Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise. God help me. Amen.”
WINSTON
CHURCHILL made a great point when he said: “If
there was more Hell preached from the pulpit, there would less Hell
in the pews.”
Shortly after World War 11, Churchill was invited to speak at the
University of Norway in Oslo.
Here
are some of his remarks: “To
make excuses for myself I could name the teachers of my youth who
denied Christianity. But I will rather lay the blame on myself. Then,
perhaps, I will find One Who will carry that load for me. Nothing can
come up against the Christian ethic as the leading light for a
people’s future. Christianity is the safest spiritual foundation
for a people.”
BLAISE
PASCAL, French mathematician, scientist and philosopher (1623-1662),
stated: Man is an
incomprehensible Monster, at once Sovereign Greatness and Sovereign
Misery… If they turn their back on God, one of two things can
happen. They will think they are gods and become insane or turn to
carnality and become animals.”
ABRAHAM
LINCOLN said: “I
now see as never before the preciousness of God’s love in Jesus
Christ, and how we are brought near to Him as our Father through Him.
Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity,
and a firm
reliance on Him, Who has never yet forsaken this
favored land, are
still competent to adjust in the best way, all our present
difficulties.”
GEORGE
BERNARD SHAW stated: “I
am ready to admit after contemplating the world and human nature for
sixty years, that I see no way out of this world’s miseries but by
the way that would be found by Christ’s will.”
AUGUST
STRINDBERG, the noted Swedish author stated shortly before his death:
“Clearly said, I
ascribe all my misfortune to this one fact, that I have been Godless!
An individual that has broken contact with God cannot receive any
blessings. All this talk about being ‘being your own man and making
your own happiness’ is chaff.
“If
the Lord does not build the house, they labour in vain who build it.
That is the whole truth! That misfortune can also strike a person of
faith, we know. But the outcome is not the same. These accidents seem
only like trials
that pass over
and leave peace in their wake.
“A
curse rests upon everything that an ungodly person puts his hand to.
If money comes his way, it will disappear like it came. Nothing
remains, nothing prospers in the life of the ungodly!”
MALCOLM
MUGGERIGE, well-known British writer and former atheist, observer at
World Council of Churches Convention (before 1980) wrote: “One
may be excused for noting that institutional Christianity is
inexorably extinguishing itself. At Uppsala one could clearly see
that they agreed on almost everything as they believed almost
nothing. They reminded me of a group of drunks that I observed in a
country bar, in my youth. Individually they would have fallen over,
but collectively they managed to remain upright.”
Muggeridge’s
counsel to a troubled world is worth listening to. He writes: “Christ
is the only answer to an insane world… they will not understand
that the trouble with the western civilization is not economics, but
more – good and evil! They are thinking they make things work by
policies, inventions, but man will never live on this planet without
God.”
CHURCH
OF ENGLAND:IN
SPIRITUAL TROUBLE!
The
Church of England has recently been challenged by Paul
Eddy
to proclaim Christianity as the only way to salvation and offer
strategies on how to evangelize Muslims.
Senior
church leaders as well as some Muslim figures have voiced anger at
the motion proposed by Paul
Eddy –
a lay member of the church’s General Synod, according
to BBC. Eddy, along with traditionalist Anglicans, argues that the
church should stop avoiding hard questions about its beliefs.
The
Church of England must make it clear that it believes in what the
Bible says about Jesus being the only way to salvation,
he said. Currently training to become a priest, Eddy believes that
being upfront about the church’s beliefs will be helpful to
Muslim-Christian relations.
“Most
Muslims that I’ve talked to say, ‘I
really wish that Christians would stop watering down their faith and
expecting us to do the same,’”
Eddy said on BBC
Radio Four on Sunday.
“Until we
start really saying what we really believe in our faith, there will
be no respect.”
Also,
Muslims expect Christians to believe that Jesus is the only way to
God, Eddy noted. “They
will expect us – if we’re true Christians – to try to
evangelize them, in the same way they will expect us, if they’re
true Muslims, to adopt their faith,”
he said.
But
the problem is that the church, in an effort to be inclusive and to
avoid offending people of other faiths, has “lost
its nerve”
and has “not
doing what the Bible says,”
he noted.
"Both
Christianity and Islam are missionary faiths,"
Eddy pointed out.
"For
years, we have sent missionaries throughout the whole world, but when
we have the privilege of people of all nations on our doorstep, we
have a responsibility as the state church to share the gospel of
Jesus Christ."
He
urges Anglican bishops to give church members advice on how to
evangelize, and how to better support Muslims who have converted to
Christianity, and are now ostracized by their communities.
WILLIAM
PENN, after whom the great state of Pennsylvania is named made this
powerful statement: “If
there is any kindness I can show, or any good thing that I can do for
my fellow human beings, let me do it now, and not detour or neglect
it. I shall not pass this way again.”
DO
NOT THINK ANY
SIN IS TRIVIAL!
ROBERT
MURRAY McCHEYNE – the mighty man of prayer – wrote in a letter:
“I am deepened in
my conviction, that if we are to be instruments in such a work
(revival),
we must be purified from all filthiness of the flesh and the spirit.
“O,
cry for personal holiness, constant nearness to God, by the Blood of
the Lamb. Bask in His beams, lie back in the arms of love, be filled
with His Spirit – or all success in the ministry will only be your
own everlasting confusion.
“Do
not think any sin trivial; remember it will have everlasting
consequences. O, to have Brainerd’s heart for perfect holiness, to
be holy as God is holy, pure as Christ is pure, perfect as our Father
in heaven is perfect…
“How
much more useful might we be, if we were only more free from pride,
self conceit, personal vanity; or some secret sin that our heart
knows. O, Hateful sins that destroy our peace, and ruin our souls.”
McCheyne
stated: “Men
return again and again to the few who have mastered the spiritual
secret, where life has been hid with Christ in God. These are of the
old time religion, hung there to the nails of the cross!”
WILLIAM
BOOTH said:
“There have been
more than enough conferences and congresses, and committees and
deliberations. It is time to act! We have not a moment to lose. No
more doubt! No more delay!
“Arise
ye children of Light, and buckle on the armour bright, and now
prepare yourselves to fight against the world and Satan.
We are called
to fight with Him and for Him with every particle of strength we have
to the last gasp. That is enough!”
A.W.
TOZER declared: “Any
REVIVAL that comes to a nation, and leaves people as much in love
with money as they were before, is a falsehood, and it’s from the
devil.”
JOHN
WESLEY said: “God
does nothing apart from prayer and everything through it.”
ANDREW
MURRAY stated: “The
power of the Eternal world have been placed at prayer’s disposal.
It is the very essence of true religion, the channels of all
blessings, the secret of power and spiritual life.
“It
is at the same time the highest and holiest work to which man can
rise. It is fellowship with the unseen and most ‘Holy One’! It is
on prayer that the promises of God wait for their fulfillment, the
Kingdom for its coming, and the glory of God for its full
revelation!”
GIROLAMA
SAVONAROLA, a
Roman Catholic bishop stated in 1497:
“Come here,
wretched Church… In your lechery, you are a shameless whore. Once
you blushed for your sins, but not now. The priests (Roman Catholic)
used to call their sons nephews: now they are not nephews, but
sons plain and
simple.”
– from the ‘Men of the Renaissance’ by Ralph Roeder.
MARTIN
LUTHER stated: “Three
things make a preacher: prayer, the Word of God and suffering. The
greatest trial to undergo is to have no trial.”
Regarding
prayer, Martin Luther said: “If
I fail to spend two hours in prayer each morning, the devil gets the
victory through the day, I have so much business I cannot get on
without spending three hours daily in prayer.”
A
preacher said on the 70th
anniversary of his ordination: “God
cannot stop loving us.”
THE
GREATEST TRAGEDY!
LEONARD
RAVENHILL stated: “The
greatest tragedy is a sick Church in a dying world. If Jesus preached
like we preach today, He never would have been killed.”
ST.
PAUL declared: “For
we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves
your servants for Jesus’ sake.”
(2 Cor.4: 5); “For
the preaching of the cross is to THEM that perish foolishness, but
unto US which are saved it is the power of God.”
(1 Cor.1:18)
Christian
Theology is exclusive! One is either saved or lost. There is no in
between. There is no compromise! To SINNERS who reject the Gospel the
preaching of the cross is foolishness but to BELIEVERS it is the
power of God that brings Salvation!
Without
doubt, St. Paul has to go down in history as the most brilliant
theologian that ever lived. Not only was he an intellectual genius -
not like many of
the pin-head elites of today
– but he was filled
with the blessed Holy Spirit, endowed with wisdom, given a special
calling, supernatural dreams, visions and even taken to Heaven where
he witnessed things he could not reveal. (2 Cor.12:1-7; Luke 23:43;
Acts 22:17-21; Gal.1:11-16; 2:2)
St.
Paul declares: “For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the
wise, and will bring to NOTHING the understanding of the prudent.
Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this
world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
“For
after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it
pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to SAVE them that
believe. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after
wisdom.
“But
we preach CHRIST CRUCIFIED unto the Jew a stumbling block and unto
the Greeks foolishness; But unto THEM that are called, both Jews and
Greeks, Christ the Power of God and the Wisdom of God.” (1
Cor.19-24)
Again
the Holy Scripture divides believers from unbelievers. He saves those
who BELIEVE the gospel of His crucified and risen Son, Jesus Christ.
All others who do not believe are lost. The
gospel is also inclusive, because it saves all JEWS
and GREEKS
who believe!
Anyone
who has taken the time to study the Words of Jesus Himself will know
that He declared Himself the Only begotten SON OF GOD! (John 3:16).
He stated: “I am the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE and no man cometh
unto the Father but by ME.” (John 14:6)
Our
Lord and Saviour said: “Come unto Me all ye that labour and are
heavy laden and I will give you rest.” (Matt.11:28); “I am the
TRUE VINE and My Father is the husbandman... ye are the branches: He
that abideth in Me, and in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit:
for without Me ye can do nothing.” (John 15: 1-7)
“I
am the BREAD OF LIFE: He that cometh to Me shall never hunger; and he
that believeth on Me shall never thirst. But I said unto you, That ye
also have seen Me, and believe not. All that the Father giveth Me
shall come to Me; and him that cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast
out.” (John 6: 35-37)
ONLY
CHRIST CAN SAVE: ALL
OTHERS ARE SUBSTITUTES
It
is important to notice the exclusivity
of the Gospel as well as its inclusivity!
Make no mistake about
the fact that there is Only ONE way to God and Heaven and that is
through His Son Jesus Christ Whom He sent to be the propitiation,
satisfying the demands of Divine Justice.
Through
His vicarious all-atoning death on the CROSS our Lord Jesus Christ
satisfied the demands of Divine Justice as the Lamb of God dying for
fallen man and liberating a fallen world from servitude to the world,
the flesh and the devil as well as purchasing a place in His Kingdom!
The
Bible says: “Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath had made us
meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who
hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us
into the Kingdom of His dear Son: In Whom we have redemption through
His blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the
Living God, the first born (First in Rank):
“For
by HIM were all things created, that are in Heaven, and that are in
earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions,
or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for
him: And He is before all things and by Him all things consist.
“And
He is the head of the body, the Church: Who is the beginning, the
firstborn from the dead
(the first to die and be resurrected):
that in all things He might have the preeminence.” (Col.1:
12-18).
St.
Paul states: “But
now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of
them that slept (died) for since by man came death, by man came also
the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in
Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order:
Christ the first fruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at His
coming.” (1 Cor.
15: 20-23).
CHRIST HAS DIED! CHRIST IS RISEN! CHRIST WILL COME AGAIN!
The Holy Bible
which is God's Word to a lost and dying world gives us hope. And that
HOPE is Christ Jesus Who purchased our eternal salvation through His
vicarious (substitutionary)
death for us on Golgatha and His glorious and victorious resurrection
from the dead!
He
invites you, my friend, to call upon His name in sincerity and truth.
He will answer you and He will save and deliver you through his shed
blood and by His divine Holy Spirit! Amen.
