The Marks of Genuine Revival

"There is much emphasis among charismatics today on seeing angels and communicating with them." J. Lee Grady

In the latest installment of "Fire In My Bones", a weekly commentary by J. Lee Grady, he is effectively comparing the current circus in Lakeland to the results of what genuine Holy Spirit activity looks like by recounting the story of Julia Ruibal and his evangelism legacy in Cali Colombia. During this "Revival" hundreds of thousands of people were converted to Christ, with the evangelical population of Bolivia having grown to more than 11 percent.

The point of the article is obvious. Grady is citing a legitimate work of God, which often resulted in very dramatic conversions and ultimately the transformation of the culture to the fruit of Lakeland: obsession with angels and manifestations; false doctrine, and ecstatic and emotional experiences.

Through an interview with Ruibal's wife, Grady highlights several hallmarks of genuine Holy Spirit activity:

A true conviction of sin which led to the dramatic conversion of people, which then led to the conversion of multiple other people.

In Bolivia's case, it affected the entire nation, not just one church. As a result the nation experienced its first economic boom; churches sprang up everywhere; poverty was diminished; and first ever president (who opened up the country to the gospel) stayed in power for 8 years.

Jesus always has a way of confirming the preaching of the true gospel with the miraculous, which causes people to be consumed with Jesus and not obsessed with angels, signs and wonders, or being entertained by the bizarre and weird.

The title of Grady's post brings up an excellent issue: Is the current cultural concept of Revival even Biblical? For a word that doesn't even appear in the Bible, it is one of the most widely used words in some circles, perhaps even more so than the name of Jesus, Himself. To ask the question "what are the marks of a genuine revival?" we would first have to measure it in scripture. Don't get me wrong, I'm not at all trying to insinuate that God does not move by His Spirit and that He doesn't do unusual things at times to "confound the wise". However, how can we build a doctrine around something that doesn't exist in the Bible, at least the way many define it today?

Does the Bible speak of end-time revival or end-time apostasy?

Virtually every verse in the Bible that deals with "the end times" paints a very different picture than "a massive world-wide revival that will usher in the return of Christ". Here are just a few:

• Matthew 24:12
  12 And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.
• Matthew 24:24
  24 For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.
• 2 Timothy 3:1-5
  3:1 But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.
• 2 Timothy 4:3-4
  
• 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound [1] teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

Based on these scriptures and many others, will there be a massive end-time revival that usher's in the return of Christ? Probably not one that any true Christian would want to be a part of; however, this still doesn't address the fact that God does at times move in strange and unusual ways, so how do we test to see if it is genuinely an act of the Holy Spirit? Like all things, we look at the fruit! Acts 19:11-20 provides a really good example of what genuine Holy Spirit activity looks like:

• God began doing extraordinary (out of the ordinary) miracles through Paul (vs. 11).
• Great fear fell upon the people, which caused them to be focused upon and worship the name of Jesus (vs. 17)
• True repentance which was evidenced by a turning of sin and a public display of burning their occult books and items (vs. 18-19).
• At the end of it all, "So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily (vs. 20)".

So what is the fruit of a genuine move of God? People are focused upon Jesus and His name, and the word of God increases and prospers! If in a "revival" people are preoccupied with the strange and unusual, and the word of God is being assaulted, then as my mother in law likes to put it: "God aint in it!"