The God of revival is waiting
Recently a trusted mentor and friend suggested I read what is known as the “Templeton Address,” delivered by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn in 1983. I was familiar with his name but knew nothing of him personally nor of his words, which have proven prophetic for our country while offering a sober warning to any American willing to listen with an open mind.
Expelled from the Soviet Union in 1974, Solzhenitsyn sought to warn the West, in general, and the United States, in particular, that we are on the same destructive path his homeland followed, from a once “pious” culture to a place where “tens of thousands of priests, monks and nuns were pressured to renounce the Word of God, were tortured, shot in cellars, sent to camps, exiled to the desolate tundra of the far North, or turned out into the streets in their old age without food or shelter.”
Additionally Solzhenitsyn recalled, “For tens of millions of laymen, access to the Church was blocked, and they were forbidden to bring up their children in the Faith. Religious parents were wrenched from their children and thrown into prison, while the children were turned from the faith by threats and lies.”
In Russia, just as was true in Nazi Germany, the atrocities did not come suddenly. They were preceded by lesser developments that grew increasingly evil over time because little to no resistance was offered.
To those who have eyes to see, the future that was subsequently foretold by Solzhenitsyn is now on the brink of becoming dangerously real in our country and we are seeing developments we could not have begun to imagine even as recently as 10 years ago. The pattern of increasing evil becoming the norm is now clearly evident in our own culture.
Our nation has fallen so far from its Christian roots that our government, schools and media are now operating unabashedly in open rebellion against God. And so, the truth of Solzhenitsyn’s warning rings true, now more than ever. “While I was still a child. I recall hearing a number of older people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: Men have forgotten God; that’s why all this has happened.”
Surely the foundational institutions of our nation serve as clear evidence of what it is now true of America, just like Russia and just like Nazi Germany, “men (and women) have forgotten God.” How could this happen in a land founded by men who had reverence for God, with an estimated 350,000 churches now operating freely coast to coast? The hard answer is simple. The American Church does not resemble the Church of the Bible and has become powerless in the spiritual battle for the soul of our nation.
What do you suppose the next 10 years will look like in America? How long before rampant evil turns into heinous atrocities? Five years? Ten years? More? How will the tide turn if the Church continues to ignore the warning and maintain business as usual as if nothing is seriously wrong? Solzhenitsyn concluded, “If we perish and lose this world, the fault will be ours alone.”
If there is to be any hope for our nation and for our children, it is the hope that God would revive His people and spare our nation from the judgment it deserves. And history shows that God brings such revival only in response to His people gathering to pray in a spirit of repentance. Yet still, in the face of this grave threat, Churches in America show no inclination to repent, no need to reorient their weekly activities to make devoted, fervent, united prayer their highest priority.
In the midst of this, the age-old adage rings true, “If we do not learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it.” And so it is that we are now in a perilous time in the history of our nation that requires something extraordinary of our churches.
What kind of resolve will be needed? Let’s look back to the commitment demonstrated by the founders of our nation when they lived in a perilous time. This is how they concluded the Declaration of Independence: “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.”
It was no idle pledge. Many did lose their lives. Many did lose their fortunes. Are you willing to show such resolve? Are you willing to go “all in” to serve your Lord with obedience to His call? Will you pledge your life, your fortune and your honor to create a better future for your children?
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Step one is to prioritize prayerfulness, get on your knees and repent, specifically inviting God to reveal how you must grow in obedience to His Word. Step two is to call others in your church to do the same and join with those who are willing. No revival has ever begun any other way.
The God of revival is waiting. Will he find men and women determined to become catalysts for fervent prayer and repentance in their churches or will the next 10 years bring a new wave of unimaginable evil to our communities?
Jim Ash served twenty-five years as the publisher of the Main Street Journal in Marlborough, MA, a local newspaper he founded in 1997. He retired from that post in 2021 and is currently working on three faith-related books that are in various stages of development, as well as faith-related short stories and commentary. He can be reached by email to [email protected].
