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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/ea-johnston/q-a-with-e-a-johnston/
Well, it's hot today without air conditioning. So we moved in here so I can be next to this fan. I hope you can hear me over it in the back of the room. Now we'll take some time from our main lecture for a brief period of Q &A.
We hate to write your questions down on the index cards, which I now have before me I will briefly address these one by one. Hopefully we'll have time to get to most of them. Let's see here. Dr. Johnston, how long have you been an expert on revival and what got you interested in revival?
Well, I don't like the word expert. I prefer to use the term Student, student of revival. I've been a student of revival for about five decades now my interest in revival began by reading gospel tracts as a teenager.
My very first job was at Bible Truth Publishers in Oak Park, Illinois. I was 14 years old and I swept the floor and ran the cash register in their little bookstore. They had racks and racks of these wonderful gospel tracts written by men like H .A. Ironside and McIntosh and others who were master storytellers about how the gospel could change the life of an entire community.
I remember there was one track in particular that always fascinated me. It described a wonderful revival that occurred in a mining town when the biggest sinner in town who was a infidel atheist, he was this big strong miner.
He got saved and his testimony alone spread through the village in a powerful revival. Then as I grew older I tried to read every book I could get my hands on regarding the subject of revival. I learned much about revival by reading books about historical revivals.
Well, let's look at this next question. Who has influenced you the most in regard to revival and did you study revival in seminary? Well, my main influences in revival have resulted in studying revival under men of revival of friends who were already experts and knowledgeable on revival.
The following men have been most influential to me. I learned a great deal about revival from Dr. Stephen F. Olford who was my homiletical mentor. I was in his first graduating class of his school of preachers.
And it was Dr. Olford who taught me a lot about revival in the beginning. He saw several localized revivals in his day and he was well versed on the subject and he and I would spend hours talking about revival and praying for revival.
Stephen Olford was the one who wrote the foreword to my very first book on revival which was Realities of Revival. I guess the second man who influenced me the most has been through my friendship with Richard Owen Roberts.
We've spent countless hours together discussing revival and praying for revival. He helped me build my personal library on Revival through his wonderful bookstore in Wheaton, Illinois and it was through his suggestion that I wrote my definitive biography on the life and ministry of Azahel Nettleton.
I originally wrote two volumes and he helped me edit it down to one volume. Thirdly, my friendship with Ian Murray has been most fruitful in regard to revival. I have all his books that he's written on revival and I spent some quality time with him in his home at Edinburgh when I was researching my work on George Whitefield.
Also Dr. Ted Randall also has been influential in my knowledge of revival. He saw Revival personally at Prairie Bible College in Canada, and he's extremely knowledgeable about the subject and I had access to the Ted Randall library in Memphis, Tennessee where he personally led me to the best books on revival in that marvelous library.
Lastly I would say that the late J .I. Packer was very influential to me in the study of the theology of revival. We would have long discussions on the New England theology and its debasing. Dr. Packer wrote the foreword to my definitive work on Whitefield.
I sure miss him as far as formal education and seminary concerning revival. My PhD dissertation was on the revival of religion in Great Britain during the 18th century under Wesleyan Whitefield. It's a British endorsed PhD as I did all my research for it in England.
It's a published work. Let me see here. This is a rather lengthy question, but I'll try and tackle it. Dr. Johnston in one of your published quotes on revival you write and I quote in 1740 when God moved through New England it was called the Great Awakening.
Revival has often been referred to as an awakening at Gethsemane. Jesus faced the Crisis point of his earthly ministry and his disciples slept right through it today. The church is in a crisis point and we are sleeping right through it.
Why do you feel the church is asleep? Well, that's a deep question friend but a obvious answer the modern church is in a sad Spiritual declension as she soundly sleeps on pillows of conformity and Compromise.
We also have a large unconverted ministry in our day where professionals Occupy our pulpits and sadly our denominations lie on the very verge of apostasy. Charles Fanny Commented that when there is a worldly spirit in the church There is need a revival and Finney was right but the church is clearly backslidden.
When Christians conform to the world and their attitudes and daily living it shows they are far from God and need awakening and that's where we Are today that the church is fast asleep and needs awakening in a move of God in revival see next question.
How many books? Have you written on the subject of revival and can you tell us a little about them? Well, we don't have time to get into all of that because I've written 18 books on the subject of revival.
But I'll say my personal favorite is my biography of the evangelist Rolf Barnard. I was completely Unfamiliar with him before I began my research and the book is a real corker. Barnard was used in some remarkable revivals and his life story fascinates me how he Was the president of an atheist group at his Christian Baptist College and then how God finally dramatically saved him and how he began a ministry in a Texas oil boom town by preaching on street corners and in saloons and in Gambling houses and even in brothels.
It was said he was the means of bringing a hundred thousand souls to Christ. During his 40-year itinerant preaching ministry, and I believe it He had a powerful ministry based out of revivals. That's my favorite.
I would say the two-volume Whitfield biography Was the hardest to write? Because of all the existing material I had a labor through and then travel throughout Great Britain. Conducting research as well as going to each location in America from Savannah and Charleston to New York and all of New England.
The Nettleton biography was painstakingly hard. Because of the primary research I had to conduct in three states. Where he labored during the second great awakening I had to visit the campuses of Yale Hartford seminary and Union College up in Schenectady and I personally visited 60 scenes revival that occurred under Nettleton's powerful ministry.
Most of my books are here. But what books you can't find here you can order online. All of the prophets from them go straight to the furtherance of the gospel. I've never taken a dime from them. Well, we are running out of time friends, so let's see I will field one more question.
Let's see. What is the difference? between evangelism awakening and other types of evangelism. Well, that's a good question because there is a vast difference. I was a senior trainer for Evangelism explosion and I trained teams to go out and share that methodology of Evangelism which is more of a step-by-step Plan of salvation.
I'm sure some of you are very familiar with it. The trouble was I Couldn't find it in my Bible and the converts we made were nowhere to be found on Follow-up calls you'd go to their house and you'd see a light on Behind the curtains and you'd hear a TV, but they wouldn't answer the door.
I thought there has to be a better way to share the gospel with more lasting effects. So I designed evangelism awakening on the gospel of the Puritans which is a God-centered gospel that brings glory to God in the Salvation of souls.
I teach a system of promoting the gospel by Preaching it in its purity and proper order. I believe a sinner must be awakened to his lost condition and first see his need of a savior from sin Before he gets to the Savior from sin and it's opposite to our modern evangelism which is mainly Man-centered and has spurious conversions.
A Train of men to preach the full consulate God and proclaim the great doctrines of rune redemption regeneration and repentance. Evangelism awakening is not only a teaching Institute, but an outreach ministry as well, and I intend to continue Distributing Christian life New Testaments throughout this community if you want to be part of that campaign.
You can go to my home page on Sermon audio and click on the give button right below my name to make your donation. I need to buy several cases of these New Testaments to hand them out in the neighborhood.
I live in the hood and work among the homeless and down and out. Any donations would help further this work? Well that pretty much wraps up this Q &A time. Friends will have to prepare for our next session.
I want to thank you for enduring the heat and enjoy the rest of your time here in sunny, Florida.