Why God Used Sam Jones — E.A. Johnston

It's important to study men of God and to see how God has moved in former times, in times of revival, in the churches of the land. Sam Jones was a broken down alcoholic who God saved and God used him in powerful revivals.

Sam Jones’s Stand Against Alcohol

Sam Jones knew the evils of alcohol. It cost him his law practice and it cost him almost his family and he preached hard against the liquor traffic in his lifetime. Often Sam Jones would leave a town and the saloons and taverns had to close their doors for lack of customers because they'd been converted.

Sam Jones’s Warnings About Drinking

Sam Jones was quoted as saying, In my time I have got a hundred thousand men to quit drinking. And Sam Jones had some pithy sayings about booze such as, There ain't a four-legged hog that'll drink beer but lots of two-legged hogs will.

Nobody but an infernal scoundrel will sell whiskey and nobody but an infernal fool will drink it. Every bar room is a recruiting office for hell. The biggest fool God's eyes ever looked upon is the woman who stirs the toddy for her husband.

Prayer, Surrender, and Evangelistic Labor

God used Sam Jones because he was a man of prayer and he lived on the full stretch for God. He lived a life of surrender to the Holy Spirit and he lived to save the souls of men. He was away from his family eleven months of the year preaching to the citizens of America.

Sam Jones Reaches Millions With the Gospel

Sam Jones was an evangelist in the second half of the 19th century and he preached the gospel to 25 million people in America, which represented half the population at the time. That means Sam Jones reached one out of two Americans with the gospel in his lifetime.

The Public Impact of Sam Jones’s Preaching

He became so famous, babies were named after him, candy bars were named after him, and streets were named after him. When Sam Jones came to town, he'd fill the largest halls in the biggest cities, preaching to more than a quarter of a million people in those cities.

Crowds Gather for Revival in Chicago and Cincinnati

Tens and tens of thousands had to be turned away because there was no building large enough to contain them. In Chicago in 1886, at the invitation of D .L. Moody, Sam Jones preached to 350 ,000 people when the population of Chicago was only half a million at the time.

He reached more than half the population of the city with the gospel. God shook entire cities under Sam Jones preaching, like Boston, Baltimore, St. Louis, Memphis, and Nashville, where the most famous convert of that time period was saved by the name of Captain Tom Ryman.

He would build the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, home of the Grand Ole Opry. In 1886, in Cincinnati, the auditorium held 10 ,000 people, and 40 ,000 people had to be turned away one evening when Sam Jones was preaching.

The whole town seemed to want to go hear him. His ministry reads there like a chapter out of the book of Acts. It's incredible, friends. God not only shook cities in revival under Sam Jones, but wherever Sam Jones preached, entire communities were transformed.

Reform, Alabama, Transformed by Revival

Listen to this incredible story, friends. Reform is a city in Pickens County, Alabama, and it is located between Columbus, Mississippi, and Tuscaloosa on Route 82. The city records state it was named Reform after a visit by an evangelist.

Reform, Alabama was named after the evangelist Sam Jones conducted revival meetings there. Sam Jones came into town and preached for eight weeks, and when he left, there was nobody in the jail. The theaters were closed.

Nobody played cards, and the liquor stores were run out of business. There wasn't anything questionable left, and when men would curse in the streets, they would lower their voices so nobody could hear them.

Sam Jones’s Final Sermon and Sudden Death

Sam Jones died on a train at the age of 58 after preaching to a men's meeting in Oklahoma City on the sermon entitled Sudden Death out of Proverbs 29 .1. And when he finished his sermon to those 4 ,000 men, he gave them a warning.

He said, men of Oklahoma City, look out before my voice has died out in your ears. There will be deaths following this meeting that will shock this city and state and maybe this nation. And incredibly, as if an explanation point to his sermon, Sam Jones died a few hours later by sudden death while traveling on a train bound for Georgia.

Learning to Pray for Revival Today

Listen, friends, we need to read and study about men like Sam Jones. We need to see how God has moved in former times in revival so we'll know how to pray for revival in our day. There's a new biography that I wrote on Sam Jones, and it's available on Amazon and Barnes Noble and other Internet sites.

It's entitled Sam Jones, A New Biography, and it has rare photos never before published. Get your copy today.