The Ten Greatest Revivals Ever - Elmer Towns
The Ten Greatest Revivals Ever - Elmer Towns The Ten Greatest Revivals Ever - Elmer Towns
After several months, a young deacon rose in the meeting one evening and began reading from the Scripture: “Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart” (Ps. 24:3-4). He paused, closed his Bible, and began to speak. “It seems to me so much humbug,” he said, “to be waiting and to be praying, when we ourselves are not rightly related to God.” Then, lifting his hands toward heaven, he prayed, “O God, are my hands clean? Is my heart pure?” The words had barely come out of his mouth when he went to his knees and fell into a trance. Some observers mark that night as the beginning of the New Hebrides Awakening. Even so, Pastor MacKay knew he needed help. He considered inviting Duncan Campbell, an experienced Scottish revivalist, to preach in his parish. Then MacKay received word that Peggy Smith wanted to see him again. God had told her in prayer, she informed him, to have Pastor MacKay invite Duncan Campbell to preach. “God is sending revival to our parish,” she insisted, “and he has chosen Mr. Campbell as his instrument.” So MacKay invited Campbell for ten days of meetings. This evangelist, who had been raised in the Highlands of Scotland and spoke fluent Gaelic, had a burden for the Gaelic-speaking people of the Highlands and the islands. Yet, even though he was willing to minister in Lewis, he had other commitments. Campbell thus declined the invitation but agreed to come a year later if the invitation were still open. MacKay wasn’t sure what to think when he received Campbell’s response. He believed that God was about to send revival to the area, and wanted Campbell to be a part of it, but as a Calvinist he also believed strongly that God would work his work on his own schedule, quite apart from the involvement of Campbell or anyone else. The difficult task that now faced him was communicating the bad news to Peggy. “That’s what man says,” Peggy replied when the pastor told her Campbell’s response. “God has said otherwise! Write him again! He will be here within a fortnight!” Unaware of these events in the town of Lewis, Campbell was beginning to wonder whether he’d done the right thing in turning down the invitation to preach. He felt strongly impressed by God to accept the invitation he’d rejected, but the decision had already been made. About the time Peggy Smith and her sister began praying for revival, God began preparing Duncan Campbell for the revival. At home he was preparing a sermon in his study when a granddaughter asked him, “Why doesn’t God do the things today that you talk about in your sermons?”
The child’s question brought deep conviction on Campbell. He shut the study door and fell on his face before God, praying, “Lord, if you’ll do it again, I’ll go anywhere to have revival.” A little time later he sat in the front row getting ready to preach at the famed Keswick Bible Conference. It was the opportunity of a lifetime, a place Campbell had always dreamed of preaching. Nevertheless, the Holy Spirit told him to leave immediately and go to the New Hebrides Islands to accept the invitation he had previously turned down. Turning to the moderator, Campbell excused himself, saying, “Something has come up; I must leave immediately.” He left the building and went to catch the next boat to New Hebrides. As Campbell stepped off the boat, he didn’t look well. Crossing from the mainland to the island on a choppy winter sea had left him sick. The church elders who met him wondered whether he’d be able to preach that night. Yet preach he did, drawing from the parable of the ten virgins (see Matt. 25:1-13), challenging Christians concerning their responsibility toward those who were “asleep in sin.” “There’s fire here,” thought one of the elders. So instead of going home that evening, he walked across the moor to pray by a peat-bank. The next night, according to one report, “a solemn hush came over the church as Campbell preached.” After the benediction, the people left. As Campbell stepped out of the pulpit to leave as well, a young deacon raised his hand, moving it in a circle. “Mr. Campbell,” he began, “God is hovering over us. He is going to break through. I can hear already the rumbling of heaven’s chariot-wheels.” At that moment, the door opened and the clerk of the session (the church elders) beckoned to Campbell, calling, “Come and see what’s happening!” When he went outside, he discovered that the entire congregation had remained outside the church. Others had joined them as well, drawn from their homes to the church by some irresistible force they couldn’t explain. The faces of more than 600 people in the churchyard were marked by deep distress. Suddenly, a cry from within the church pierced the silence. One young man, agonizing in prayer, had felt such intense anguish that he fell into a trance and lay prostrate on the floor. The crowd streamed back into the church, filling the building beyond its capacity. A witness later recalled: “The awful presence of God brought a wave of conviction of sin that caused even mature Christians to feel their sinfulness, bringing groans of distress and prayers of repentance from the unconverted. Strong men were bowed down under the weight of sin, and cries for mercy were mingled with shouts of joy from others who had passed into life. A mother was standing with her arms around her son, tears of joy streaming down her face, thanking God for his salvation.” “Oh, praise the Lord!” she cried out. “You’ve come at last.”
- Page 52 and 53: followed is thus a story of God’s
- Page 54 and 55: Finally, a revival in the Dutch col
- Page 56 and 57: With time, each preaching point bui
- Page 58 and 59: praying was “shouting,” as when
- Page 60 and 61: The following year Cartwright was g
- Page 62 and 63: they had begun to embrace. Among hi
- Page 64 and 65: Most preachers would long to have s
- Page 66 and 67: the faculty sought to discourage st
- Page 68 and 69: drive home the evangelistic message
- Page 70 and 71: One of the most remarkable revivals
- Page 72 and 73: In the course of six months, 1,200
- Page 74 and 75: Without even consulting the mission
- Page 76 and 77: The Hilo church adopted the Bible a
- Page 78 and 79: had experienced many outpourings of
- Page 80 and 81: contrast to the Calvinistic perspec
- Page 82 and 83: CHAPTER FIVE The Laymen s Prayer Re
- Page 84 and 85: conducted at the World’s Expositi
- Page 86 and 87: Twenty minutes after the prayer mee
- Page 88 and 89: Adults critical of the movement cal
- Page 90 and 91: was traveling on to another town. A
- Page 92 and 93: a hot, dry summer in 1871, and his
- Page 94 and 95: “Who do you think preached this m
- Page 96 and 97: the revival; he once preached to mo
- Page 98 and 99: World War II brought a vast multipl
- Page 100 and 101: “Don’t!” he cried out. “Bef
- Page 104 and 105: Peggy and Christine Smith, though s
- Page 106 and 107: That night Hamblin attended, but he
- Page 108 and 109: new homes, and the largest generati
- Page 110 and 111: The generation that had rejected th
- Page 112 and 113: When attendance at Chuck Smith’s
- Page 114 and 115: The pastors of various Saskatoon ch
- Page 116 and 117: the Lord Jesus walked into Hughes A
- Page 118 and 119: God of the Universe made his way to
- Page 120 and 121: In 1964, missionary Johannes Ratuwa
- Page 122 and 123: There can be little doubt that the
- Page 124 and 125: were marked by their financial inte
- Page 126 and 127: Eventually, the work of God burst t
- Page 128 and 129: A burning torch ignited the dry str
- Page 130 and 131: Savonarola’s soul was deeply trou
- Page 132 and 133: many enemies in Florence. The peopl
- Page 134 and 135: Before the Protestant Reformation,
- Page 136 and 137: would be on his terms. He reorganiz
- Page 138 and 139: ecorded only a few chapters later:
- Page 140 and 141: A New Kind of Revival The last of t
- Page 142 and 143: oots. Pentecost was so extraordinar
- Page 144 and 145: that I do he will do also; and grea
- Page 146 and 147: colleagues were probably crude copi
- Page 148 and 149: 5. Revival can be released when one
- Page 150 and 151: and the work of the Holy Spirit cal
After several months, a young deacon rose in the meeting one evening and began<br />
reading from the Scripture: “Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand<br />
in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart” (Ps. 24:3-4). He paused,<br />
closed his Bible, and began to speak.<br />
“It seems to me so much humbug,” he said, “to be waiting and to be praying, when<br />
we ourselves are not rightly related to God.” <strong>The</strong>n, lifting his hands toward heaven, he<br />
prayed, “O God, are my hands clean? Is my heart pure?”<br />
<strong>The</strong> words had barely come out of his mouth when he went to his knees and fell<br />
into a trance. Some observers mark that night as the beginning of the New Hebrides<br />
Awakening.<br />
Even so, Pastor MacKay knew he needed help. He considered inviting Duncan<br />
Campbell, an experienced Scottish revivalist, to preach in his parish. <strong>The</strong>n MacKay<br />
received word that Peggy Smith wanted to see him again.<br />
God had told her in prayer, she informed him, to have Pastor MacKay invite<br />
Duncan Campbell to preach. “God is sending revival to our parish,” she insisted, “and he<br />
has chosen Mr. Campbell as his instrument.”<br />
So MacKay invited Campbell for ten days of meetings. This evangelist, who had<br />
been raised in the Highlands of Scotland and spoke fluent Gaelic, had a burden for the<br />
Gaelic-speaking people of the Highlands and the islands. Yet, even though he was willing to<br />
minister in Lewis, he had other commitments. Campbell thus declined the invitation but<br />
agreed to come a year later if the invitation were still open.<br />
MacKay wasn’t sure what to think when he received Campbell’s response. He<br />
believed that God was about to send revival to the area, and wanted Campbell to be a part<br />
of it, but as a Calvinist he also believed strongly that God would work his work on his own<br />
schedule, quite apart from the involvement of Campbell or anyone else. <strong>The</strong> difficult task<br />
that now faced him was communicating the bad news to Peggy.<br />
“That’s what man says,” Peggy replied when the pastor told her Campbell’s<br />
response. “God has said otherwise! Write him again! He will be here within a fortnight!”<br />
Unaware of these events in the town of Lewis, Campbell was beginning to wonder<br />
whether he’d done the right thing in turning down the invitation to preach. He felt strongly<br />
impressed by God to accept the invitation he’d rejected, but the decision had already been<br />
made.<br />
About the time Peggy Smith and her sister began praying for revival, God began<br />
preparing Duncan Campbell for the revival. At home he was preparing a sermon in his<br />
study when a granddaughter asked him, “Why doesn’t God do the things today that you<br />
talk about in your sermons?”
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