Thursday, June 12, 2008

Revival or transformation?

This is a note that I wrote to a young friend who asked what I thought about the Lakeland revival with Todd Bentley. My friend expressed some mixed feelings: grateful for the possibility of some healings, but concerned about the “hype.” Below is my response.

Dear Friend,

I think your concern is a valid one. I too, have had mixed feelings about it.

I never want to be in a position of criticizing the work of God or the Holy Spirit. And it seems to me that God really is at work in the Lakeland revival at some level. Perhaps not everything, but some percentage is genuine -- perhaps a large percentage. This is because God loves to help people who are hurting and he will go to almost any length to minister to those who are in need. He will also use almost anyone who has faith, regardless of their personal merit or character. That is why the ‘charismas’ are ‘gifts of grace.’ We get no credit for our gifts, they come entirely from God. The true measure is character.

In my own opinion, revivals almost never build character. They do raise the level of faith, but rarely do they bring positive transformation, at the individual level or at the societal level. In face, revivals have occasionally done more harm than good in the long run.

In church history, many revivals (but not all) have created a ‘burned-over’ phenomenon. Charles Finney led a remarkable revival in upstate New York in the early nineteenth century. Some towns became so gripped in the presence of God that people passing through the towns on trains would fall down and weep with repentance when the train entered the city limits. Nevertheless today, those same towns are often described as spiritually dead.

Another example was the Welsh revival. I believe it began in 1903, more-or-less, and went all around the world. However, today Wales is economically and spiritual depressed – a ‘burned over’ area if there ever was one. There are not many biblical examples of revivals. What happened in the early chapters of Acts was not a revival -- in no way was Judaism or temple worship revived -- nor was it a 'reformation.' the Old Wineskin would no longer serve. It would be more accurate to describe the events in the book of Acts as a spiritual revolution.

There was a revival of national Judaism recorded in 2 Kings under Josiah that included reverence for the word of God and a re-consecration to biblical worship. Nevertheless, the "revival" only lasted as long as Josiah was king, and failed to turn the Jews outward toward the nations around them as a redemptive influence in order to be a "light to the nations." Judgment and the Diaspora was only postponed, not averted.

I see these revivals like wild fires, that burn out of control and draw the people’s attention to the gifts instead of the giver, to the power instead of the source, to the healinga instead of the divine healer. In my opinion, while God may be truly healing many people and refreshing others, hyping a “revival” often eventually does more harm than good by getting the people focused on the wrong things. Many people become ruined for long term obedience and spiritual formation and just go from revival to revival looking for their emotional “fix” -- their Holy Ghost buzz.

Jesus was faced with a similar dynamic in John 8 (7 or 8, I don’t have it in front of me). Crowds were flocking to his healings and his miracles. He DID NOT want a revival atmosphere … he wanted to attract true disciples who would apply themselves to learning his commands and being a transformative influence in the world. This was a real dilemma because HE DID have compassion for the sick and hurting and demonized, and he DID want to minister to their needs.

This explains for me why he tried to keep his miracles and healings quiet and private – behind the scenes -- the direct opposite of what one sees in Lakeland, and other similar recent revivals. Jesus tried, mostly unsuccessfully, to underplay the supernatural and to rather highlight his ‘hard sayings’ about discipleship and serving. He had the divine fire, but he tried to keep it in proper boundaries of spiritual formation and loving God and one's neighbor -- transformative. He specifically DID NOT want to hype the power of God to draw crowds. He said to those who would follow him: deny yourselves, take up your cross.

When he sent out the 70 to preach the kingdom and heal the sick (there is another difference—he didn’t keep the power in his personal hands—he gave it away), they returned to him ecstatic that “even the demons were subject to them in His name” … he actually gave them a gentle rebuke and said not to rejoice about the power over demons but to rejoice that their names were written in the book of life….

He didn’t launch a revival – the Jewish national religion could not be revived, just like contemporary American Christianity should not be revived – he launched a transformative revolution that changed the world. If you use Jesus as the standard by which to discern the Lakeland revival you will be fine. We must not be critical or cynical … thank God for those who are being healed! And yet, although it may be the genuine power of God, the “administration” of the power may not be wise, or may not be godly. Hold fast to that which is good, and ignore the rest.

There have been religious movements that have been socially and spiritually significant over the long-term. The U.S. Great Awakening is one example. The Methodist movement in England may have spared England from a bloody French-style revolution and possibly led to the ending of the slave trade through Wilberforce. The Pentecostal movement in Azuza street has changed the whole world. But we have to watch out for wild fire, avoid it whenever possible, and rather look for the nuclear power that quietly changes the world. And it begins in our own journey of spiritual transformation.

I hope this is helpful.

jh