A Call to Renewal: Part Three

II Chronicles 7:14

On three occasions before America has been lulled into the sleep of a spiritual slumber.

In the early 1790’s, as this young nation was emerging, a poll was taken at Harvard and could not find a single believer.

At Princeton they found only two. There they found only five who were not members of the “Filthy Speech Movement.” 

The Chaplain of Yale opened his Bible and a deck of cards planted there by students fell out in the chapel.

At Dartmouth, students conducted a mock communion service.

With a national population of only 5,000,000 there were over 300,000 alcoholics. The Whiskey Rebellion was so destructive that President Washington had to call out the national guard.

The churches were so decadent that Chief Justice John Marshall wrote to Bishop Madison of Virginia: “The churches are too far gone to be redeemed.”

In 1797, a godly Baptist named Isaac Baccus called upon America to wake up. God’s people practiced II Chronicles 7:14 and a great spiritual awakening resulted.

WHAT ARE WE TO DO?

A few believers, there need not be many, need to get themselves right with the Lord.

If you are a parent of a young child and are a nominal Christian, only casually active in the practice of your faith, now is the time to reassess your values and commit yourself and your family to the Lord as never before. That includes getting actively involved in the local church.

My dear young friends, if you are fighting against the tenants of loving Christian parents and inclined toward rebellion, now is the time for your own sake to change. Involvement in the rebellious segment of the youthful society has proven over and over to be self-destructive.  That means something beautiful is destroyed. From the vantage point of admirable youth it is impossible to imagine what a beautiful life that destroys. Those of us who have lived it and enjoyed it appeal to you for your own sake “don’t blow it.”

Let them bind themselves together to pray for spiritual awakening. Here is the dangerous step.

Let them put themselves at the disposal of God to be used in turning others to Him.

Part of this involves working to elect responsible people who hold the view of George Washington as expressed in his Farewell Address: “Virtue and morality is a necessary spring of popular government.”

WAKE UP AMERICA. There is a great civil war of values being waged and we dare not sleep through it. If we attempt to, we will die in our sleep.