Will America Turn Back to God — E.A. Johnston

Historical Revival and a Longing for Spiritual Awakening

I've spent the last few decades of my life in the study and research of historical revivals. I've had to travel great distances here in America and across the pond in Great Britain to visit actual scenes where God moved in revival.

I've stood in John Wesley's pulpit both in Bristol and in London. I've stood in the pulpit where George Whitefield preached his first sermon in St. Mary the Crypt in Gloucester, England and by the stone which marks the spot where he preached his last sermon to 4 ,000 people in the open air in Exeter, New Hampshire in New England.

I've stood in awe on the ground in Cambuslang, Scotland where the fire fell in revival as Whitefield preached to 30 ,000 people standing on the preaching brace. I've walked the ground where Jonathan Edwards preached his famous sermon Sinners in the Hands of a Mighty Angry God to where an eyewitness said the minister had to desist from preaching because of all the shrieks and shouts.

I've knelt at the graves of David Brainerd and Azahel Nettleton and stayed there in silent prayer as I felt the solemnity of a holy God as the fragrance of their fruitful lives lingers on. I've had seasons of powerful prayer in the crypt below the pulpit of the Old South First Presbyterian Church in Newburyport where Whitefield's mortal remains lay.

I've prayed on top of Round Top as I've knelt at the grave of D .O. Moody. I say all these things, friends, because I want you to know I've immersed myself in the study of revival to such a degree that the very subject stirs a deep longing within me to see revival in our day.

America's Need for Another Great Awakening

I know many serious Christians who have been praying for revival for a long number of years now. Why aren't we seeing revival? Will America ever turn back to God? The last time America saw spiritual awakening was in 1858 during the mighty prayer revival which began under a layman, Jeremiah Lamphere, in New York City and spread across America like a prairie fire.

But that's 160 years ago. Why haven't we seen revival in this country like that since? During the great awakening of the 18th century under the ministry of George Whitefield it was reported by Benjamin Franklin that after Whitefield preached in Philadelphia you couldn't walk through town at night without seeing lamps on and windows and hearing families praying in their homes up and down the streets as they had private times of devotions and prayer.

During the second great awakening in western New York where Charles Fanny labored in revivals it was said, and I quote an eyewitness, that for four months during the summer and fall of the year of the revival one could scarcely go out at any hour of the night without hearing individuals or companies of individuals praying in the fields and groves in several directions at the same time.

And six years after revival the place was still so religious that it was impossible to get up a ball or to have a circus. When I study revival, friends, I find a common denominator that runs throughout them all and it is this.

Revival's Doctrinal Foundation and Spirit of Prayer

When God came down to visit man in revival people ceased their daily routines to cling to the brink of eternity. I want to read you a paragraph from Charles Fanny's memoir from the second great awakening on the doctrines he preached.

Now, I want you to know I part company with Fanny on parts of his theology because he did not believe you were born with a sinful nature but my Bible says otherwise. And I want you to hear what he says about the topics and doctrines he preached during these seasons of revival.

And I want you to compare, friends, what Fanny preached in his day during those wonderful scenes of spiritual awakening in the land as compared to the nonsense most of us preach about today while we see not even a spark of revival fire anywhere.

Here now are his words and the doctrines he pressed upon his hearers. The doctrines preached in promoting that revival were those I have preached everywhere. The total moral and voluntary depravity of unregenerate man, the necessity of a radical change of heart through the truth by the agency of the Holy Ghost, the divinity and humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, his vicarious atonement equal to the wants of all mankind, the gift, divinity, and agency of the Holy Ghost, repentance, faith, justification by faith, sanctification by faith, persistence in holiness as a condition of salvation, and indeed all the distinctive doctrines of the gospel were stated and set forth with as much clearness and point and power as was possible to me under the circumstances, and a great spirit of prayer prevailed along with brotherly love and Christian fellowship.

Preaching Repentance, Faith, and Holiness Without Fear

Those are his words, and I can see why, friends. God used Fanny in revivals despite some of his faulty theology. He was still a man who followed hard after God and who loved the souls of men. God is looking for a man today who will preach his truth with conviction and who will not fear man but Almighty God, who will call all sinners to their duty of repentance and faith and warn them of the horrible consequences of a burning hell, and to experience such a radical change of heart through regeneration that they then go on to pursue a life of holiness unto God as they go out and bring others to God.

The Nations' Spiritual Decline and God's Sovereign Outpouring

Will England ever turn back to God? Will Scotland or Wales or Ireland ever turn back to God? Will America ever turn back to God? I don't believe they will. Psalm 110 .3 declares that people shall be willing in the day of thy power.

We are all so far gone that God is going to have to turn us by a powerful outpouring of his plentiful effusions of grace into land where men and women and boys and girls cease their daily routines and are melted down under the awful solemnity of a holy and almighty God as they hang on the very brink of eternity.

A Call to Fervent Prayer for Revival

Pray for revival, friends. Pray hard. We need revival in our day. Let us pray.