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Discussion Forum : Revivals And Church History : A DESPERATE CRY for REVIVAL in 2008 -grady

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 A DESPERATE CRY for REVIVAL in 2008 -grady


[b]A DESPERATE CRY for REVIVAL in 2008[/b]
[i]by J. Lee Grady.[/i]

...Never in my 15 years at Charisma have I known a time of such
intense spiritual turbulence. God is shaking everything that can
be shaken, including our Christian colleges, our megachurches
and our most prominent ministries.

At a time when a U.S. senator is investigating the financial
practices of six well-known preachers, I sense that God has
taken out His holy plumb line to conduct His own detailed
inspection of every church and ministry in this country. He
wants to unleash a nationwide revival, but He must bring His
correction first.

These are desperate times that require desperate measures. That
is why I have joined with the Awakening America Alliance to call
for a solemn 21-day fast that runs from January 1-21. Here’s a
list of the things I’m praying for during the next three weeks:

1. The fear of God. Holiness was so tangible among early
Christians that false prophets were blinded and greedy liars fell
over dead. As a result of God’s judgment on Ananias and Sapphira,
“great fear came over the whole church” (Acts 5:11, NASB).

Where is this sense of “shock and awe” today? How can Christians
be so cavalier about divorce or so flippant about adultery? How
can television preachers sleep at night after robbing God’s people
with manipulative fundraising appeals?

We celebrate His mercy but ignore His severity. We need a
thunderclap from heaven and a display of Elijah’s fire to remind a
wayward church that God will not be mocked.

2. Integrity and purity in the church. Our movement hit rock-bottom
in October when charismatic pastor Donnie Earl Paulk of Atlanta
announced to his stunned congregation that a DNA test had proved
he is not the nephew of Bishop Earl Paulk but is in fact his son.
That such unspeakable depravity was permitted to thrive for
decades at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit is an indictment
against the elder Paulk and all leaders who refused to challenge
his behavior when they first learned about it years ago.

This and other recent religious scandals have so tarnished our
credibility that we have become a curious freak show. Many
unbelievers now associate ministers with wife-swapping, wife-
beating, no-fault divorce, gay affairs and $10,000-a-night hotel
rooms. We need a Holy Ghost housecleaning.

3. A return to evangelism. In the 1970s we were less sophisticated
but so much more zealous for Jesus. We handed out tracts and
witnessed to everyone. Sharing our faith was the priority. Yet
most people in churches today have never led anyone to Christ.

We are no longer contagious. Spirit-filled believers spend more
time chasing “financial breakthroughs” than lost souls. We have
rejected sacrifice and compassion and embraced a counterfeit
gospel that produces bored, selfish spectators.

4. Godly leadership. As we head into an election season it’s
obvious that our nation is facing a leadership crisis. But this
leadership vacuum is not just in the political arena. Many of our
spiritual fathers have disappointed us, either by their own moral
failures or by their refusal to confront sin.

I pray that God does not give us the president we deserve in 2008.
If we cry out for mercy, perhaps He will upset the current slate of
candidates and put someone in the White House who can model
Christian integrity. May He also give us spiritual shepherds who
care more for the flock than for the crowd’s applause.

5. A national spiritual awakening. There were seasons in America’s
past when sinners became so convicted of their sins that they
collapsed under the weight of their guilt. During the days of
revivalists George Whitefield and Charles Finney, huge waves of
conversions led to a widespread transformation of society. Drunks
became sober, prison inmates sang hymns, stingy business
owners stopped oppressing their workers, atheists surrendered
their unbelief and rebellious children returned to faith.

Can such a movement happen again? It must or our country will
descend into its darkest hour. I urge you to join me in this solemn
fast. Pray with desperation for the five topics outlined here. We
can’t settle for anything less than a heavenly visitation.


_________________
SI Moderator - Greg Gordon

 2008/1/2 22:34Profile
ADisciple
Member



Joined: 2007/2/3
Posts: 835
Alberta, Canada

 Re: Blessed are Those Who Mourn

"He cried also in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause them that have charge over the city to draw near, even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand.

"And behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lieth toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man among them was clothed with linen, with a writer's inkhorn by his side: and they went in, and stood beside the brasen altar.

"And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon He was, to the threshold of the house. And He called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer's inkhorn by his side;

"And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.

"And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity:

"Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at the sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house" (Ezek. 9. 1-6).

"And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that they should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.

"And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,

"Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads" (Rev. 7. 1-3).

"For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin AT US..." (1 Pt. 4.17).

...We have heard of the mark of the beast, and getting the mark of the beast in the right hand or forehead.

What about getting the mark of the Lord in our foreheads? Someone once mentioned to me this is the way they used to mark slaves. And so by a certain mark, this one would be openly displayed as belonging to a certain one. And so, whose slave am I? Of the beast, or of the Lord?

Those who are mourning over the abominations they see in the city of God are being marked in their foreheads: in their minds. It will not do us to get a mere definition of what this is, this seal, this mark. We must receive it. And it is a Way of thinking; it is the mind of Christ. The mind of the Spirit, "which is life and peace." It is a transforming in the very way I think, a transforming by the renewing of our minds because we have presented ourselves unto Him "a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God." It is something wrought deeply within by the Man in fine linen with the writer's inkhorn... so that I am no longer thinking in my own carnal ways, but in union with the Christ.

So may I bear on my forehead, and in my right hand-- in all the way I think, and in all I do-- the mark of the Lord Jesus Christ: "this one belongs to ME."

God will clean up His own backyard before He begins on the neighbours.

AD


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Allan Halton

 2008/1/2 23:43Profile
murrcolr
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Joined: 2007/4/25
Posts: 1839
Scotland, UK

 Re: A DESPERATE CRY for REVIVAL in 2008 -grady

by J. Lee Grady

At a time when a U.S. senator is investigating the financial practices of six well-known Preachers, I sense that God has taken out His holy plumb line to conduct His own detailed
inspection of every church and ministry in this country. He wants to unleash a nationwide revival, but He must bring His correction first.

We as Christian should welcome this. It's about time there was a accounting. I say let's checkem all out. Lets look in there closet. It's not enough to preach about God you have to live by his rules.
----------------------------------------------------
by J. Lee Grady

Integrity and purity in the church. Our movement hit rock-bottom in October when charismatic pastor Donnie Earl Paulk of Atlanta announced to his stunned congregation that a DNA test had proved he is not the nephew of Bishop Earl Paulk but is in fact his son.

All have sinned and fallen short of Gods Glory. He was truly exposed by GOD there is no hiding place. God can raise this man up again. We should not fear this but welcome it.
.............................IT'S ABOUT TIME ........................................

------------------------------------------


Revival-------The Challenge of Holiness--------

We say we want revival but at what cost.....

When I speak about Revival I don't mean the hype a special effort or the hype that can go along with it. I mean God stepping down so that nation's are change.

Hoilness=Revival

It's a challenge for honesty and reality in God's people.
LETS' BE HONEST
Where are we?
Are we living victorious Christian Lives?
Are we doing the Greater works Jesus said we would?
Has your life been supernaturally altered?
Does your life make it easy for others to believe in Jesus?
Are we experincing Revival?

Are we a Dead Church?
Are we in a state of unreality, miserable and poor.
Is there doubt discouragemnet and despair.
Do we have a form of godliness put deny the power.

LETS BE HONEST............................

Something is wrong.......................

What is the missing link???????????????????

A LIFE OF HOLINESS THROUGH WHICH GOD COULD WORK

If we want Revival then we must first have a clean heart....>Hoilness


_________________
Colin Murray

 2008/1/15 13:55Profile
Talkn2u
Member



Joined: 2006/12/31
Posts: 196


 Re: A DESPERATE CRY for REVIVAL in 2008 -grady

What a well written, and acurately stated ariticle!
Points l and 5 especially "define" what happens in revival.
It makes me think also of the post that was on the General Topics board earlier this week by one of the members...in his desperate cry for prayer, as he was under the weight of the realization of his sin and the Truth of God's Holiness.

God is Moving by His Spirit...

B.

 2008/1/24 16:27Profile





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