Showing posts with label Welsh revival. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Welsh revival. Show all posts

Friday, August 10, 2018

COMMENTARY: The Welsh Revival and Love for Israel, Part I - Charles Gardner ISRAEL TODAY

COMMENTARY: The Welsh Revival and Love for Israel, Part I

Friday, August 10, 2018 |  Charles Gardner  ISRAEL TODAY
Amid great expectancy of a renewed outpouring of the Spirit in the land of revivals, my wife and I were profoundly blessed and stirred by a recent visit to Wales.
We sat in the Moriah Chapel at Loughor, near Swansea, where the famous Welsh Revival broke out on October 31st 1904, and had a real taste of those momentous times as we were guided around the premises by a man whose uncle was a close friend of Evan Roberts, the human instrument used by God as the spark of that great movement affecting much of the world including Africa.
I also noted the significance of the chapel’s name as it was Mt Moriah where Abraham was prepared to offer up his son Isaac as a sacrifice and where, close by, Jesus died for the sins of the world at Calvary.
And this was not the only connection with Israel – more of which later.
In recalling the total surrender of those young men (the initial outpouring effectively started with a youth meeting), one of our group prayed “Bend us, Lord!” as she echoed the heartfelt cry of the revival’s 25-year-old leader for God to break their resistance to the Holy Spirit’s power.
It was an awesome moment as we became aware of the great need of our nation (in the UK as a whole) for restoration and reformation. Then we sang Here is love, vast as the ocean, one of the revival’s key hymns – first in Welsh, then in English.
Our visit there was part of a weekend conference of the UK Fellowship of Full Gospel Churches, an international network of ministers dedicated to proclaiming Christ in all his fullness.
The event was hosted at the Bible College of Wales, which has itself been mightily used in world mission and was a product of the 1904/5 revival. We enjoyed glorious worship in the same room where legendary intercessor Rees Howells and his students prayed through to victory for Britain and the allies during World War II and later for Israel’s recognition at the United Nations.
Participants had flown in from throughout the United States as well as from Holland, while others came from across the south of England and Wales – we were the lone visitors from the north.
Although a relatively small gathering with no more than 50 taking part, most of them were men and women of great spiritual stature and faith – at least one had met with U.S. Presidents while others had walked with the likes of Billy Graham and had witnessed God’s miraculous guidance over many years.
Dick Funnell, from New Orleans, shared his extraordinary journey of how God had led him to come and live on the west coast of Wales where he and his Guatemalan wife Gladys now have keys to a small chapel where they have been praying daily for the past 13 years, convinced that revival is on its way.
As we prayed and lifted our hands in worship, we were aware of the crucial part played by Howells and his students who interceded day and night for a nation facing disaster at the time of Dunkirk. Their God-ordained prayers brought us back from the brink of destruction. They also prayed through to victory at the UN for Israel’s recognition in November 1947, having also made provision for Jewish children escaping the Nazi net.
Jewish Connection
A love for Israel was due not only to a proper understanding of the Bible, but also to the part they had played in the founder’s conversion. Howells actually committed his life to Christ in America, where he had gone to seek his fortune, and it had come about through a Jewish evangelist, Maurice Reuben, who had paid a huge price for following Jesus, being disowned by his wealthy family and denied his part-ownership of a Pittsburgh store.
Maurice himself had found the Lord through the witness of a man he had asked – because he always seemed cheerful – if he had been ‘born happy’, to which the man had replied that his happiness only dated from his ‘second birth’.
Rees, who was the same age as Evan Roberts, returned to Wales to help with the revival.
Following a powerful encounter with the Holy Spirit, he lived a radical life of faith as he reached out to drunkards and tramps – cutting down his meals in order to identify with them. And he took on formidable challenges such as praying for – and witnessing to – a village untouched by the revival and healing for sick people doctors had written off.
Evan, meanwhile, was unschooled as, when his father was injured down the mine, he took his place, aged 11, in order to provide an income for his family.
Later, feeling called to pastoral ministry, he left home to acquire the necessary academic qualifications but before long had a deep experience of the Holy Spirit after hearing a speaker from the Welsh equivalent of the Keswick Convention.
He returned to his home village and asked if he could hold a youth meeting to which 16 youngsters turned up. Revival broke out, and services lasted virtually through the night. Miners coming off their shift would join the queues for the chapels; as soon as one was filled they’d tramp off to find the next. Lights would be burning through the night as tens of thousands throughout the principality were convicted of sin by the presence of God and the preaching of the gospel. It is estimated that as many as 100,000 were swept into the kingdom over a four-month period as people couldn’t get enough of being in God’s presence.
It wasn’t the first time Wales had seen revival – Howell Harris and others had led a similar movement in the late 18th century, and even John Wesley had preached at Loughor in those days. Another revival broke out in 1859 – also touching many other parts of the world.
In fact, it was in the midst of the earlier movement that a hugely significant event took place that was to lead to the foundation of the Bible Society through which the Word of God was translated into hundreds of languages and distributed throughout the world.
The event in question was a 26-mile walk over the mountains of North Wales by 15-year-old Mary Jones in order to purchase a copy of the Welsh Bible for which she had saved up for six years. Her extraordinary feat awakened the need for God’s Word to become available to everyone in their mother tongue.
One of the effects of the 1904 awakening of dynamic Christianity was that the police and magistrates had nothing to do except help control the crowds queuing up for the gospel meetings.
The revival spread across the globe, even touching Asia, Africa and St Petersburg in Russia, and it inspired others praying for a similar move in their own localities. This was particularly the case in California, where news of what was happening in Wales galvanised the prayers of American saints and led directly to the Azusa Street, Los Angeles, revival of 1906, the beginnings of the modern-day Pentecostal movement, with a similar outpouring taking place in Sunderland, England, in 1907 led by Church of England vicar Alexander Boddy, who had earlier come to witness the work of Evan Roberts in Wales.
The revival produced outstanding leaders including George and Stephen Jeffries and, of course, Rees Howells who helped spread the blessing to South Africa when he and his wife Elizabeth went out as missionaries under the auspices of the South African General Mission founded by Rev Andrew Murray.
He later founded his world-changing Bible College in 1928. One student, a young German called Reinhard Bonnke, graduated in 1960 and subsequently won millions of people to the Lord through his huge missions across Africa and other parts of the world.
A young Billy Graham also visited the Loughor chapel back in 1946 when he is understood to have had a profound experience of the Holy Spirit. Millions the world over benefited from that!
Part II next week.
Additional material sourced from Rees Howells, Intercessor by Norman Grubb published by Lutterworth Press
PHOTO: Evan Roberts. Picture by Linda Gardner

Charles Gardner is author of Israel the Chosen, available from Amazon; Peace in Jerusalem, available from olivepresspublisher.com; and A Nation Reborn, available from Christian Publications International
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Monday, May 22, 2017

2017: The Year of Acceleration by Lanny Swaim - Identity Network May 22, 2017

2017: The Year of Acceleration by Lanny Swaim


Identity Network  May 22, 2017
 
See that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Ephesians 5:15-16
 
One of the definitions of redeem is to fulfill. Another is to recover or take back.
 
Jesus said that Jerusalem would be trodden down by the Gentiles (nations), until the times of the Gentiles were fulfilled (see Luke 21:24). Obviously, the time that other nations controlled Jerusalem ended during the Six Day War in June of 1967, when Israel took back the old city of Jerusalem from Jordan. After hundreds of years, the ancient Biblical capital of Israel was once again under Israeli control.
 
This happened suddenly, just as did the rebirth of the nation of Israel in 1948, which I believe signified an acceleration of time, speeding us toward the fulfillment of many Bible prophecies.
 
These events took place during the same time period as the Charismatic Movement, which sped the Church toward its destiny, found in Paul's letter to the Church at Ephesus:
 
That he [Jesus] might sanctify and cleanse it [the Church] with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or an such thing: but that it should be holy and without blemish. Ephesians 5:26-27
 
Reintroduction of the Baptism with the Holy Spirit
 
The baptism with the Holy Spirit had been reintroduced to the Church around the mid-nineteenth century with the Welsh Revival of 1859. In 1904 believers in Wales were praying for another revival like the one in 1859. God answered their prayers by raising up a 26 year old coal miner, Evan Roberts, to spearhead a revival that lasted for over two years in Wales, which impacted not only the Church in Wales but society as well.
 
Then, by the time the Welsh Revival was winding down the Azusa Street Revival began in Los Angeles, California. Out of the Azusa Street Revival came Pentecostal denominations still in existence today.
 
However, the Charismatic Movement of the mid-twentieth century crossed all denominational boundaries, with Christians of all persuasions receiving the baptism with the Holy Spirit.
 
Initially, the baptism with the Spirit was accompanied by another baptism, which I think is often, if not most of the time overlooked: the baptism with fire.
 
I [John] indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire. Matthew 3:11 (see also Luke 3:16)
 
The baptism with fire often translates in our lives as tests and trials (tribulation), designed to separate the dross from the gold within us, enabling us to not only operate in the gifts of the Spirit (see 1 Corinthians 12:8-10), but to possess the fruit of the Spirit as well (see Galatians 5:22-23).
 
It seems to me we have majored in the gifts of the Spirit and minored in the fruit of the Spirit for the most part during and since the Charismatic Movement.
 
Dying to Self
 
Since the beginning of this new day (millennium/see 2 Peter 3:8) on the timeline of history, God has been dealing rather severely with a remnant of believers, causing in them a more complete dying to self than experienced in the past.
 
This dying to self, brought about by suffering intense and severe tests and trials, is enabling those of this remnant to experience the fruit of the Spirit, better equipping them to operate in the gifts of the Spirit.
 
If you are part of this remnant, you know exactly what I am talking about. If not, you may be scratching your head about now, thinking I am going off on some tangent that is unnecessary.
 
But I can assure you, I am not only speaking of revealed knowledge I have received as I have studied the scriptures and formed doctrines of truth, I am speaking from experience.
 
Having been subjected to intense and severe tests and trials that literally lasted for years in my life, God has reduced me to nothing, so He can mold and make me into something that He can now use to redeem the time.
 
And, He has and continues to connect me with others of this remnant, positioning us as a first fruits company of many more to come, and as a corporate prophetic voice declaring that which is to come; a redemption of time unlike anything the Church or the world has ever known.
 
It appears that the last 6000 years of the history of mankind, and more specifically the last 2000 years of Church history, have been preparing and positioning us for the redemption of time we are now beginning to experience as we enter this new day (millennium), which is the seventh day of/since creation and the third day of the Church.
 
Jesus prophesied of this day when He said:
 
Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected. Luke 13:32
 
The Third Day
 
Many think Jesus was prophesying His resurrection when He made this statement. But Jesus didn't walk out of the tomb with a perfected body. He still had the scars of the crucifixion in His body.
 
Rather, He was prophesying the third day (millennium) of the Church, when His body, the Body of Christ, will be perfected.
 
During this third day, a great acceleration of time will occur, causing a snowball effect of all the preparation and positioning that has taken place since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden 6000 years ago. That acceleration began with the birth of the Church 2000 years ago but will greatly increase during this third day of the Church.
 
Since the beginning of this millennium, a remnant has been experiencing this acceleration, but the Lord has been saying to me that 2017 will be a year of even greater acceleration, when many more will follow the remnant and begin to experience the redemption of time in their individual lives, greatly accelerating the redemption of time in the corporate Church, propelling the nations toward their destiny, which is Revelation 11:15:
 
The kingdoms [nations] of this world are become the kingdoms [Kingdom] of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign forever and ever.
 
Surely we were born for such a time as this!
 
Lanny Swaim
 


 
 
 
 
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Friday, November 13, 2015

America and World - Ripe for Third Great Awakening - BERT FARIAS CHARISMA NEWS

We are ripe for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

e are ripe for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. (File)




America and World Ripe for Third Great Awakening





The Flaming Herald, by Bert Farias
We have reached a point in time when the world sits and waits for the proverbial "other shoe to drop." Something big is going to happen soon. Christians sense it. Students of Bible prophecy can feel it in their bones. Even the unsaved world senses that something ominous is heading our way.
The Prophecy News Watch says: "We live in the most dangerous time in world history. What's going to happen in the next year or so? Will there be a war in the Middle East around the blood moon time frame? A global financial collapse on the next Shemitah? A nuclear tragedy? Another terrorist catastrophe?"
As a student of revival, I have read about the impact that past revivals have brought to America and the world. The first and second awakenings of the 18th and 19th centuries as well as the 20th-century awakening were so powerful and far-reaching that they changed the spiritual and moral culture of entire nations.
The Welsh revival is a great example of the violent upheaval a Spirit-born awakening can bring down on society. After the initial outpouring in Wales at the turn of the 20th century, the churches were crowded for two years with 100,000 outsiders being converted. Drunkenness was reduced by 50 percent, taverns went bankrupt, crime nearly disappeared that judges had no more cases to judge, and the police became unemployed in many districts.
This outpouring affected all nations. It spread like wild fire through Ireland and Scotland, and into other nations of Europe where meetings were marked by prayer and confession of sin.
That outpouring coincided with others during that same time period, such as the Azusa street revival in Los Angeles, and was not only international in nature but ecumenical as well. It impacted nations and involved major churches and denominations such as the Baptists, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, Anglicans, Congregationalists, Disciple and Reformed churches. The only ones left virtually untouched as in earlier awakenings were the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox communities.
It is recorded that William T. Stead, a London newspaper editor, considered by some to be the most powerful man in Britain at that time, gave this impression of the Wales revival.
"There is something there from another world. You cannot say whence it came or whither it is going, but it moves and lives and reaches for you all the time. You see men and women go down in sobbing agony before your eyes as the invisible Hand clutches at their heart. And you shudder."
When asked if it was all emotion and if there was any teaching, Stead responded:
"Precious little. Do you think teaching is what people want in a revival? These people, all the people in a land like ours are taught to death, preached to insensibility. They all know the essential truths. They know they are not living as they ought to live, and no amount of teaching will add anything to that conviction."
This is where we presently are as a church today.
It takes a man of wisdom and understanding to know the times and seasons of God, and what the Spirit is calling for. Teaching is important, but there are times when people will never abandon their sin and idolatry unless they are aroused and awakened, until they feel an urgent sense of guilt and danger and can no longer contain themselves.
When Christianity degenerates and the church backslides, the nation is further darkened and sucked down into gross immorality, perversion, pride, greed, luxury and idolatry. It takes these mighty awakenings to break that cycle and revive and promote Christianity.
There are two elements that often lead to revival: Spiritual hunger or a great crisis. I see both happening simultaneously right now in their beginning stages. Prayer is often born from these two elements. And the two foundation stones that make it all work are the preparedness of man and the sovereignty of God.
God has always worked throughout history by means of revival. The fallen nature of human beings in cooperation with the devil tend to evil and sliding off into Deism, and God has to often reverse this downward cycle through sudden and mighty outpourings of His Spirit, sometimes preceded by judgments.
"Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Gen. 6:5).
God always looks for a man to stand in the gap and plead for the sins of the people. He found such a man in Noah (Gen. 6:8). This has always been the case throughout Israel's history that God raised up a leader in a time of judgment and brought restoration. From Abraham to Moses to Gideon to Jephthah; from Jehoshaphat to Hezekiah to Josiah, it has always been the pattern.
We are facing the same cycle today as Israel and our spiritual forefathers did before us. In his book on revival, Winkie Pratney states that there is a cycle of change and decay, of reformation and revival and then apostasy, which agrees with the four fold collapse of Israel's history:
1. Israel forgot God;
2. Israel forgot God's laws;
3. Israel made up new gods;
4. Israel made up new laws.
Nations leave the ways of God because of a physical law present in the universe called the Second Law of Thermodynamics. This law teaches that things tend to run down not up; from order and cohesion to disorder and decay and eventually death. This is the reason reforms, revivals and awakenings are mandatory. They create spiritual momentum and violent upheavals in society.
In light of the abominable sins of our modern culture and the widespread deception and apostasy of a backslidden church, oh, how we need a third great awakening right now that will affect not only America, but the nations of the world! May God grant it as His people prepare for it.
If you are sleeping, it is high time to wake up. The battle for the souls of men is raging.
You can no longer be casual. 

Note: At this writing, there is a mighty outpouring that has begun in Branson, Missouri, under the ministry of Mario Murillo. Please visit his site and consider visiting and attending this revival. This type of outpouring is the only hope for our nation right now.
Bert M. Farias, revivalist and founder of Holy Fire Ministries, is the author of several books including The Real Spirit of Revival and the newly released, Prayer: The Language of the Spirit , as well as the highly acclaimed My Son, My Son—a beautiful father-son memoir co-written with his son Daniel for the purpose of training up a holy generation. He ministers interdenominationally and cross-culturally in nations, churches, conferences, crusades, on the streets, and in homes. He and his wife also host The Holy Ghost Forum—a school of the Spirit. Follow him at Bert Farias and Holy Fire Ministries on Facebook or @Bertfarias1 on Twitter.
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