Why No Revival!
By Dr. Ken
Matto
Wilt thou not
revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?
(Psalm 85:6)
There seems to
be a call for revival among many Christian churches.
Many of them desire to see a revival, one that is akin to the Great
Awakening in 1741-2 under Jonathan Edwards.
We hear many Christians and churches continually quoting 2 Chronicles
7:14:
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 sin, and will heal their land.
(2 Chronicles 7:14)
This verse is
normally pulled out of its context and used as a verse to seek revival.
2 Chronicles 7 speaks about the completion of the Temple under Solomon
and God gives quite a number of “If’s” in that chapter.
There must be a desire by the people of Israel to amend their ways if God
was going to bless the nation of Israel and heal their land.
If you notice in verse 15 it speaks about God giving heed to the prayers
which would made in the new temple.
Now mine eyes
shall be open, and mine ears attent unto the prayer that is made in this place.
(2 Chronicles 7:15)
This simply
means that if the people of Israel were going to incur the favor of God, then
they would have to make serious changes in their lives.
Vs 14 carries with it the principles that if God is going to bring
revival to our nation and nations of the world then Christians living in those
countries must also make serious changes in their lives first.
If they do not, then revival will not come.
Revival starts with the people of God reviving their own Christian walk
and then their obedience to the truth will begin to filter on to others.
We cannot pray for revival to come to others while we still live any way
we want to. I am going to give 23
ways in which Christians are prostituting their Christian walk and praying for
revival to come would be hypocritical until these things are dealt with and as
long as they are not, Christianity will get weaker, not revived.
Thus saith the
LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the
good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they
said, We will not walk therein.
(Jeremiah 6:16)
God counseled
Judah to seek the old paths because as they progressed in their sin, they were
only getting into more trouble. The
same situation is happening in the modern church, the more they seek to
modernize the further they are walking away from God.
Individual Christians make the same mistake, instead of sticking to what
works, they try and modernize their beliefs and by doing so they are walking
with the world and against God.
Ye adulterers
and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with
God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
(James 4:4)
The more
churches and Christians emulate the world, thinking if we do evangelism and
worship in a modern day setting, the worse Christianity will get and the weaker
individual Christians will get. By
modernizing their lives and techniques, the Christian and the church is becoming
the enemy of God and therefore will lose all blessing.
Counterfeit Bible Versions
One of the most
serious situations in Christianity is the adoption and defense of the
counterfeit Bible versions. These
modern Bible versions are made from inferior sources and they contradict each
other. Here is just one example:
Matthew
18:22
(ESV)
Jesus said to him, “I do not say
to you seven times, but seventy-seven
times.
(NIV)
Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but
seventy-seven times.
(NASV)
Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to
seventy times seven.
The Lord
tells Peter how many times he is to forgive someone.
The NASV states it should be seventy times seven but the NIV and ESV
state seventy seven times. So which
is it, seventy times seven or seventy seven?
What does the oldest and best manuscripts say?
They attack many of the cardinal doctrines of the faith such as the
virgin birth of Christ, his blood, belief on him for salvation, etc.
How can God begin to bless any church when these prostitute versions
permeate almost every church and individual Christian?
Israel takes place of Christ
The modern
nation of Israel has become the golden calf of the Christian church.
The majority of Christians believe this nation is somehow an ally to
Christianity. They hate
Christianity as much today as they did in the time of Christ.
Pastors continue to tell their people to look to Israel as the prophetic
events of the last days will be focused on them.
Israel is one of the largest supporters of Sodomy with its large gay
pride parades, they have state sponsored abortions, sale of baby parts, war
mongering, women imported to Israel for prostitution by criminal groups, etc.
Doesn’t sound like God’s chosen people to me.
Many dispensational preachers promote the lie that if the United States
is going to be blessed then we need to continue to support Israel.
What a croc! Have you
noticed that ever since 1948 when the USA became the concubine of Israel we have
never won a war, our cities have crumbled, our education system has failed, our
cities have been destroyed, homeless people by the hundreds of thousands,
complete unrest among the citizens, the desire for socialism which would be the
death knell to this once great country, the church has become a totally
deteriorated entity and Christianity has become the laughingstock of the world
when once it was the very core of our nation’s greatness.
The bottom line is the blessing of God is off America as long as we
continue to place Israel in a position where she is worshipped in the hearts and
mind of the Christians.
I am the LORD: that is my name: and my
glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.
(Isaiah 42:8) As long as
modern Christianity follows the path of idolatry, she will go further into rank
apostasy. It is time to put the
Lord Jesus Christ back where he belongs which is on the throne of the church and
to take that ungodly nation of Israel off of it.
No Prayer
There was a
time when Christians would go to their church on a Wednesday evening for prayer
and Bible study. The majority of
churches are now dark on Wednesday night and on Sunday night.
How many have a daily prayer time at home?
We are too busy concerning ourselves with America’s got talent or the
Kardashians.
No Evangelism
When was the
last time your church sponsored a time of outreach?
Even if your church does not have an outreach why aren’t you going out to
the streets? With all the churches
there are in the large cities, if they all had outreach programs, the cities
would be reached with the gospel.
Not everyone will become saved but that is not your concern because God is the
one who does the saving, your responsibility is to get the word out to the
world. We have hours each day to
stare at our phones, yet we do not have the time to do gospel outreach.
It is a sad indictment against modern Christianity.
We don’t have time to evangelize the lost so what would you do
differently if revival came to your church?
Rapture Watching
One of the
poisons that Satan has introduced to the church through trance channeling is the
belief in a pre-tribulational rapture.
Christians are sitting around in their churches reading prophecy books
and waiting for the trumpet to sound so they can all go to heaven and get their
rewards for doing next to nothing.
The dispensational rapture belief just creates more unspiritual couch potatoes.
Instead of getting involved in bringing the truth to this “believe any
lie” world we live in, they feel there is no need because now that Israel is
back in the land, the rapture is coming soon.
The Bible is very clear that the rapture is on the last day and that the
tribulation period is a synonym for the entire time between the first and second
coming of Christ. Did not
Christians face persecution from the Roman empire?
Did not Christians face persecution from the Roman Catholic church in the
middle ages? Are not Christians
being persecuted today in Muslim countries plus being murdered?
Since when is tribulation reduced to a seven year period?
Christians have been facing tribulation for two thousand years already.
If you study the Book of Revelation the way it should be studied,
scripture interpreting scripture, instead of believing the evil lies of these
prophecy books you will see it is about the persecution of the church from the
first coming of Christ to the last day.
Churches have become Compromised
The modern
church has compromised its message and no longer is the backbone or conscience
of this nation. It has accepted any
and every teaching which has come out of the publishers and by very questionable
characters. Rick Warren who
invented Chrislam which is an attempted combination of Christianity and Islam
has sold this lie to many churches.
His book “The Purpose Driven Life” has sold 20 million copies.
The Bible gives the purpose of life for the church and the individual
Christian. We do not need another
compromised book to take us off the straight and narrow.
As a result of his book most pastors dress like slobs and instead of
being an example to the flock, they fail miserably.
Teachings are compromised and occult practices are brought into the
church like walking the Labyrinth, Prayer Circles, Soaking, teachings from Roman
Catholic Mystics like Thomas Merton or Teresa of Avila, experience preferred
over Bible study, contemplative prayer, etc.
Church and Christian music is not
biblical music
There was a
time when someone would come into a church and could hear the congregation
singing one of the old hymns like Rock of Ages or Amazing Grace.
Today the music ministries of the church has been reduced to night club
status where a person walks into their church and will hear a full band, just
like the ones playing in a night club both loud and overbearing.
The charismatic movement has taken over the music ministries of many
churches with their 7-11 songs.
That is, 7 words sung 11 times.
Sort of like a Hindu mantra.
But when ye pray, use not vain
repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for
their much speaking. (Matthew 6:7)
Matthew 6:7 states that we should not pray in vain repetitions and that
principle can be easily carried over into the music ministry where a few words
are incessantly sung in a fashion of vain repetition.
Modern Christian music lacks all substance and are just moneymakers for
the authors. If you do a comparison
between the old hymns which are dripping with Bible truths and the songs being
written today, you will see that the modern songs have sinned and fall short of
the glory of God.
Churches and Christians endorsing
Sodomy and other sins
If you look at
most gay pride parades you will see some churches who are marching in favor of
the sodomite lifestyle. They even
have big banners with their church name on it and even if the church is a false
one, the unbelieving world connects it with Christianity and Christ.
This is because the churches have become so weak and are normally run by
unbelievers so they will endorse any sin as along as it makes them look like
good guys in the community. Another
sin that almost every church is guilty of is endorsing adultery among the
congregation. It is done in a way
that looks palatable to the congregation.
The Bible states in no uncertain terms that marriage after divorce is
adultery. Read the following
verses: Matthew 5:31:32; Matthew
19:9; Mark 10:11-12; Luke 16:18, Then read Galatians 5:19 and look at the first
word in the list of fleshly works.
In reality, when you marry a divorced person, you are sleeping with someone
else’s husband or wife.
God is my buddy
One of the
things which is believed among Christians that God is their buddy.
We treat God as though he is just a friend we hang out with on the street
corner. What we forget is that God
is a thrice holy God and is separate from the human race because of sin.
He is treated in a vain fashion and part of the reason that he is treated
that way is the modern versions which all read like novels.
Thou art of purer eyes than to
behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them
that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the
man that is more righteous than he?
(Habakkuk 1:13) Habakkuk
reminds us that God is holy and cannot even look upon any iniquity.
Have you ever heard any jokes with the name of God or the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ being bantered about in Christians circles?
Christians of all people on this earth should realize the holiness of God
and he is not one to treat as common or vain.
Thou shalt not take the name of
the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh
his name in vain. (Exodus 20:7)
The third commandment is not only for those who use the name of the Lord
as a swear word but it is also using his name in a common manner like a joke or
a scenario which is unbiblical.
Pastors doing thinking for their
congregations
One of the
sorriest scenarios in the local church is the situation where the pastor does
all the thinking for the congregation.
Many times a Christian will come into a church and will be escorted out
if they disagree with the pastor. I
am not speaking about bringing in a false teaching or cult material, I am
speaking about disagreeing with the pastor on a theological issue if he is in
error. The problem is that in many
churches the pastor is seen as the fourth person of the trinity and no one dare
challenge him, after all he has a degree.
At that time Jesus answered and
said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid
these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.
(Matthew 11:25) Jesus
thanked the heavenly Father that he did not reveal truth to the wise and prudent
but unto babes, that is, the babes are the ones who do not have a seminary
degree and the wise and prudent are the ones who have degrees and take on an air
of arrogance while faking humility.
I remember once being kicked out of a Baptist Church and three elders surrounded
me with their grievances and not one of them had a Bible.
You see if you step on the toes of the ruling elite in a church, you will
be asked to leave.
Sodomite Pastors
In the time we
live in many congregations are now hiring sodomites as pastors so they won’t get
their 501c3 tax exempt status removed by the IRS.
What can an ungodly sodomite, void of the Holy Spirit, teach a true born
again Christian from the Bible?
Once they get past “Jonathan loved David” what else is there for them to teach.
There is a warning in Psalm 50 about this situation.
{16} But unto the wicked God
saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take
my covenant in thy mouth? {17}
Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee.
(Psalm 50:16-17) Psalm
50:16-17 is very clear that those who are playing church are wicked.
They declare the statutes of God yet they hate what the Bible teaches.
Imagine people sitting in church where the male pastor has sex with
another male or the female pastor has sex with another female.
Would God be the one to place a person like that in the pulpit to teach
the “HOLY Bible?” If there are any
true Christians in those congregations and they do not get out, then they are
taking their biblical lessons from Satan.
Women Pastors
Another tenet
of the charismatic movement which has spilled out on to non-charismatic churches
is the ordaining of women to the pulpit when the Bible strictly forbids it.
But I suffer not a woman to teach,
nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.
(1 Timothy 2:12) This
verse strictly forbids women to teach men.
The word in the Greek for “man” in this verse is the word “anḗr” which is
pronounced “an-ayr.” It is the word
for “male” which means it is stating specifically that a woman does not teach a
man. Men who sit in congregations
where women are pastors are spiritually emasculated like when you watch Joyce
Meyer on TV you see hundreds of men in the audience all because their wives rule
over them. These are feminized men
who are useless for the kingdom of God.
Watch ye, stand fast in the faith,
quit you like men, be strong. (1
Corinthians 16:13) Basically
“quit you like men” means to “act manly” and that cannot happen as long as a man
places himself under the ministry of a woman or allows his wife to rule.
But I would have you know, that
the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the
head of Christ is God. (1
Corinthians 11:3)
Pastors who dress like slobs on Sunday
Morning
One of the
worst trends of the modern church is that the pastor shows up on Sunday morning
dressed like a slob. They dress
like they are ready to go to a football game.
These pastors who dress like this have no concept of the reality of their
calling (if they were truly called at all) that they are delivering the message
from the eternal word of God and not a keynote address at the local Elks club.
Pastors claim they want to reach the youth in the church so instead of
setting an example and dressing appropriately, they dress like a sloppy
teenager. It sounds more like the
youth has reached the pastor. When
pastors marry someone or perform funerals they dress appropriately but it seems
they couldn’t care less about their wardrobe on Sunday morning.
If they cannot take dressing themselves seriously, then it follows that
they are not taking their position seriously.
No more reverence in churches they are
like a sports event
Many times you
will go into a church and the first thing that hits you is that it looks like a
rock concert. The pulpit has been
removed and all you see is a full band with drums and guitars.
When they start playing you think you are in a nightclub because the
music is not biblical, instead it mimics the music of the world.
Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and
reverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD. (Leviticus 19:30)
One of the commands that God gave Israel was they were to reverence his
sanctuary. When I was growing up
and we arrived at church before the service began, it was in a very quiet
setting and you were able to quiet yourself down and relax before the service
began. Now when you enter one of
these modern churches, you have no time to sit quiet before the LORD or even to
pray because the atmosphere is like a football game.
People are walking around, talking, laughing, fooling around, etc., and
they are showing no reverence for the sanctuary of God.
Many of today’s churches are nothing more than stadiums with roofs.
Churches sponsoring Bingo
Something else
which must grieve the heart of the Lord is the sponsoring of Bingo by the church
to raise funds. Bingo is nothing
more than setting a church apart as a casino for a while because bingo is
gambling. Bingo is not just being
sponsored by the Roman Catholic churches but Protestant churches are now
offering the casino atmosphere. I
know this for a fact because the church I grew up in has a big sign “$1,000
Bingo” on the side of the auditorium.
This is the world driving the church when it should be the other way
around.
Prosperity Gospel Permeates
Christianity
All one has to
do is turn on the TV and you will see a mass of false preachers demanding that
you send them money so God can bless you.
They demand $1,000 seed money and then you will become wealthy beyond
imagination. The reality is if you
send them the $1,000, the only thing you will notice is that you have $1,000
less in your bank account. When
will Christians wake up and realize that the false teachers of this system are
riding around in Jaguars and flying in private jets and those who sit in the
audience and watch them at home are riding around in a 10 year old car and
wondering how they will pay their bills at the end of the month.
I challenge one of these false teachers to show me in scripture where the
apostles had extreme wealth.
Instead they had extreme poverty when it came to the things of the world.
Oh you say, what about Solomon?
He had tremendous wealth, more than anyone before him.
Okay, show me where Solomon made a 1,000
shekel seed donation to the temple.
The fact was that God gave him great wealth because Solomon did not ask for it.
He asked for wisdom to rule his people and God included wealth because
his heart was right with God at that time.
The modern prosperity movement sees God as only a giver of wealth.
Do you ever hear any of these false preachers talk about eternal things
and show any concern for the souls of their listeners?
The only concern they have is for the wallets of their listeners.
The prosperity gospel is a false gospel and nowhere found in the
Scriptures.
Homes are run by Children not Parents
One of the
strangest reversals we see in our society is the fact that children now run the
homes and the parents are subject to them and are considered only the bill
payers. Children with attitude
toward their parents can be any age from 5 years old who throw tantrums to the
20 year olds who threaten their parents.
In the Old Testament if a child was disrespectful and rebellious toward
their parents they would pay the price for that attitude.
{20} And they shall say unto the
elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey
our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard.
{21} And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he
die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and
fear. (Deuteronomy 21:20-21)
That was done so the other children who heard about it would change their
ways or maybe they would suffer the same penalty.
One of the problems is that the men of our generation have become
feminized and their wives rule them.
If fathers do not reclaim their position as head of the house, then
things will only get worse. One of
the problems is that fathers are more concerned with sports than they are their
family. They let their wives handle
the decisions and eventually take over the house and the man becomes like a
little church mouse.
Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit
you like men, be strong. (1
Corinthians 16:13) The Bible
tells the men to act manly and be men, not a bunch of feminized wimps.
No Biblical Discernment
Another
characteristic of our day is that many Christians lack biblical discernment.
They are unable to understand simple biblical truths.
One of the reasons is that they have modern versions of the Bible which
all of them say something different.
There is no continuity in their teachings and as a result Christians
become very confused and lack understanding.
If the Holy Spirit did not inspire the writings behind the modern
versions, he cannot bless it and give understanding.
Many Christians walk around in a fog
hoping someone else will give them understanding but that makes them subject to
someone else’s bias. When the
churches and individual Christians were using one Bible, namely the Authorized
Version, the churches and the Christians were much smarter and could discern
situations according to the Scriptures.
With so many counterfeit bibles out there, Christians don’t even know
what the word of God is.
No Personal Bible Study
One of the main
reasons that Christians are so biblically illiterate is because they dedicate no
time for personal Bible study. They believe that by going to church they are
getting enough spiritual food but this once a week idea is causing Christians to
starve. We live life on 7 days and
not 1. This means that a Christian
who runs into problems on Monday will have to wait till next Sunday to get help.
Many fine reference books are available to the believer so they do not
have to go Bible college and can learn the Bible at home at night.
It does not take long to begin to understand the main teachings of the
Bible. Christians should always be
students of the Bible because it is a lifetime learning process.
I have been studying the Bible for 39 years and there is still so much I
do not know. Christians must know
their Bibles as well as a Muslim knows his Koran.
How can one have a personal revival in their life if they are not doing
personal Bible study?
Media Ministries doing thinking for
Christians
One of the
reasons that many Christians do not want to do any personal Bible study is
because they turn on the radio or TV and listen to what the media preachers have
to say and then adapt their teachings if they sound palatable.
The problem with the media ministries and that includes non-charismatic
as well as charismatic is that they are all compromised.
Most of them are free will, those who are not push counterfeit Bible
versions, many of them are story tellers getting you to think that they are such
nice guys, the psycho-babble ministries put all these recordings of whiny women
on their programs so they could prey on the sympathies of their hearers, they
love to keep it humorous, they rarely ever speak about eternal damnation, they
are personal wealth builders, etc.
They do all these marketing techniques to keep your donations coming in.
if you try to build a solid biblical life on media ministries, you will
fail and no doubt become depressed.
There is nothing so joyful as when you are personally studying the Bible and the
Holy Spirit opens a passage of Scripture to you and it becomes as clear as day.
Prophecy Books have ruined the
Christian’s understanding of the Bible
Some of the
biggest lies packed between covers are found in prophecy books.
They make predictions which never come to pass.
I have heard so many rapture predictions since I became saved in 1980 and
guess what, we are still here. It
is a big problem when a Christian reads a prophecy book and then interprets the
Bible according to the prophecy book instead of the other way around.
All these Hollywood style prophecy books are based on one belief system
and that is dispensationalism which has only been around since 1830 when it was
trance channeled in the Glasgow prophecy conferences.
If you look at commentaries written before 1830, you will not find
anything based upon this false belief.
If you read John Gill (1690-1771), Matthew Poole (1685), John Lightfoot
(1658), Adam Clarke (1826) or any other before 1830, you will see
dispensationalism does not exist. Instead
of believers walking in encouragement in the Lord, they walk in fear because of
all the false events written in these prophecy books.
In the 1980s the prophecy pundits had President Reagan believing that
nuclear war with Russia would hasten the return of the Lord.
Today you have professional liars like Jonathan Cahn and John Hagee who
write that certain events will trigger the end time events and guess what?
Not one of the predictions in any of their books have come to pass.
It is time to get rid of those prophecy books and study the Bible for
prophetic understanding and sanity.
Once you do, you will see that nothing written in these prophecy books are
according to the Bible but only according to man’s imagination.
Alcohol drinking among Christians
There is a
great meme on Facebook and it reads “Tell a Christian they do not have an
infallible Bible and they will surrender.
Tell a Christian they should not drink alcohol and they will fight you
tooth and nail.” Many Christians
like to tout the phrase “show me where it says “Thou shalt not Drink?” Well here
is one verse which deals with that very thing.
Look not thou upon the wine when
it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.
(Proverbs 23:31)
Proverbs 23:31 states that you should not even look upon the wine or any other
alcoholic beverage. Looking comes
before drinking so there is the verse telling us to avoid alcoholic drinks by
not even looking at it. Tell me,
can you hold a Bible in one hand and a Budweiser in the other and then tell the
world that you are different from them and that Christ has changed you?
It would be the height of hypocrisy to think so.
Giving to ministry is questioned but
giving to the lottery, cigarette or alcohol companies is not
One of the
hardest things Christians do is to support solid ministries which send forth the
gospel in obedience to the Great Commission.
Whenever a request for funds comes to them, they want to know right away
if their money will be used to further the gospel and in a way that is a good
thing to ask. However, how many
Christians question what the lottery commission does with the money they give to
the lottery? How many question the
cigarette companies what they do with the money after a carton of cigarettes are
purchased? How many question the
alcohol companies what they do with the money after a keg of beer is purchased
for a Super Bowl party? It seems
our reservations and questions are always reserved for the ministry but never
for the worldly things. It is our
responsibility to fund ministry not the evil things of the world.
But put ye on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
(Romans 13:14) We are
not to make provision for the flesh which is what alcohol and cigarettes do.
Putting on the Lord Jesus Christ is what we do at the moment we become
saved. How do you think we enhance
that image with a cigarette and an alcoholic drink?
Summary
I have given 23 ways Christians are prostituting their Christian walk and the forsaking of these need to be done before any revival can take place. What are some synonyms for “revival?” They are “renewal, restoration, rebirth, recovery.” Many Christians today are praying for revival but refuse to give up their corrupting ways of life. True revival starts with personal revival and then it spreads to others. How many are going to give up their booze, modern Bible versions, prophecy books, prosperity seeking, worship of Israel, rapture watching and general laziness? Very few if any. Spiritual revival equals forsaking of seeking worldly pleasures. Once that happens, then things will get going but until that day, it will be business as usual. Once Christians start getting out to the streets with loads of tracts and start invading Satan’s territory, then things will happen. Revival is not jumping up and down in church and speaking in gibberish called tongues. True revival means sacrifice till the job is done or handed down to others to finish it. Revival will never happen until Christians get serious about their lives and commitment.