Baptist or Protestant Revivals
Good Morning,
2 Corinthians 11:3 “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.”
Most have read about the great revivals of George Whitefield. His revivals were spectacular in the number of people coming to hear the preaching and in the number of people getting saved. Basic information about these eras of revival with Charles Finney to Billy Sunday can be easily accessed among Protestant groups. Any caring believer would love to hear and rejoice in the results of those meetings. Unusual things were associated with these early revivals, things the world might call crazy: people shaking, passing out, running outside into trees, and many other odd behaviors. Although I do not doubt that God can use anything He wants in any way He wants, those results were never recorded in the Bible conversions. (Historical note: few Baptists attended these meetings; the Protestants were the very people who persecuted the Baptists and dissenting churches.)
One more element accompanied these revivals was that the converts were sent back into their own churches, much like the more recent Billy Graham and Harvest revivals.
One reason for the great number of converts was that these Protestant churches preached a vague Gospel; they did not make it clear, and they did not make it attainable as Whitefield did. George Whitefield preached “ye must be born again” hundreds of times, while the various Protestant churches were telling people to “pray through” (an unbiblical term), to “hold out” at the altar, or to “get right with God.” Bible conversions were always immediate!
The thief in the cross with Jesus was not told to pray through or hold out “until he got it.” The jailor in Philippi was told, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” (Acts 16:31) The people heard, they believed, and they were saved– period! Likewise, when Whitefield preached to be born again, thousands of church members did that very thing; he made it clear! The Gospel was not often made clear in the Congregational, Presbyterian, and Methodist churches; they believed it, but made salvation a process, and a difficult one at that.
Contrast that with the colonial era Baptists who went soul winning and started churches; the Baptist soul winner did not send people back to their old church that allowed members to go to Hell, they started new churches. The Baptist revivals were grounded upon soul winning, baptizing converts, and starting churches (thus the Bible Belt). The Baptist revival meetings were winning, not church members, but the unchurched people of their area. There were no recorded “spectacular” side effects, like barking, rolling on the ground etc.; people got saved, baptized, and joined churches. Why were church members not getting saved as in the Protestant revivals? Because the Baptists made salvation clear every week and door-to-door.
I love to hear about a revival where folks got saved. Without criticism, most soul-winning Baptist churches see folks saved out in the streets every week. I would guess that in a church like ours, there are as many people saved every month of the year as there are in some city-wide revivals that take place once every few years (whose roots are in the same Protestant religious philosophy as early America). I would like to repeat that I am happy for every person who places their faith in Christ.
The testimonies of revival meeting where folks are getting right with God are wonderful, but it is a rare week in Baptist churches where folks are not on their knees, at the altar getting right, or better yet, staying right with God. The message is more clear and the work is day-in and day-out.
Baptists tend to make the Gospel clear and simple. The mega churches of our area have allowed the Gospel to be clouded, vague, and difficult to find. I cannot begin to count the number of people we have met while knocking on doors, who were faithful church attenders, but also had no idea if they were saved – but they were “trying.”
The Gospel is to be SIMPLE! We must keep it that way! We rejoice in every soul that gets saved in any church or in any type of meeting, as long as they are trusting Christ alone.
2 Corinthians 11:3 “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the SIMPLICITY that is in Christ.”
Remember the conversion of the Jewish man from Ethiopia?
Acts 8:36 “And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?”
vs. 37 “And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
vs. 38 “And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.”
Hear, believe, be saved, and be baptized; quick, simple, and no need for anything spectacular. (The baptism was UNDER WATER, not sprinkling.)
Pastor