But God Would Still Be Glorified!
Some of those reformed leaders took hold of His remnant, forming them into an institution of yet another kind, where, rather than a Pope, there were Bible scholars, doctors of religion who reasoned and wrangled God’s word by their own understanding. The strong arm of Calvinism soon wrestled most of Protestantism to the floor, and once again, dissenters were persecuted – some, even to death.
Then, in 1534, while the Reformers were still in the throes of spiritual (and physical) warfare with the Goliath of Rome, King Henry VIII took it upon himself to form his own church – one where he was the self-appointed head, ensuring that his own lusts were not to be rebuked ever again.
Thus, the Church of England was born by a man – and an ungodly one at that, who, by the way, adopted most of the religious liturgy, rules, and order of the papacy that he rebuked.
Like Wandering Bedouins
For all these generations, like wandering Bedouins seeking refuge among the hills from a sudden storm, true believers escaped one cave only to be forced to rush and find shelter in another. There was hardly a glimpse of daylight in between, and certainly no time for growing into spiritual maturity that would reveal the fullness of Jesus Christ. That is the finished work which, according to the Apostle Paul, will not come until the end.
So, the devil had God’s people on the run.
Yet after centuries of spiritual warfare, Jesus was still building His Church. It could not be stopped, nor can it be. Amid the devil’s schemes, God always preserves a remnant, even among the Gentiles!
A Battle for Truth – and Liberty!
The flickering flame of truth and liberty in the immediate years after the Reformation began was held tightly by a precious few who refused to let it go out.
Determined to abide in that light, those brave, scattered souls marched onward and upward in their perilous journey with an eternal hope. Like the early shepherds guided by a star, they traveled toward a promise far beyond the understanding of their day.
They left the organized religious forms of Rome, Luther, Calvin, and even King Henry VIII to seek higher ground; and even though they were fiercely pursued by powerful religious adversaries, they continued forward, recalling the challenging words of their Master who declared, “The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force!” (Matt. 11:12). They endured hardship as good soldiers (II Tim. 2:3), perhaps remembering Paul’s declaration after he miraculously recovered from being stoned in Lystra, saying, “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22).
Even though the reformers’ new worship forms were not evil in and of themselves, neither were they satisfying to the soul. While some in the community were content with the new status quo, others longed for something more authentic and meaningful than repetitious doctrinal dissertations.
They sought the kind of freedom in Christ that was born in a lowly stable and an upper room, whose early descendants gathered in simple houses where God was evidently in their midst. It was something that could not possibly be duplicated in institutional buildings, prestigious schools of higher learning, elaborate cathedrals, or through the pomp and circumstance that accompanied them all.
Their search was not for anything material, nor for anything transmitted through material things, no matter how religious. These descendants, like millions before and after them, wanted to experience authentic worship in a corporate setting where God was clearly present. No different from millions of scattered sheep today! Thus, many saw the new religious order, Protestantism, as another set of chains. And to some great degree, they were right.
The remnant of every generation has always pursued fellowship with God and with one another in a genuine “koinonia” (brotherly love and sacrifice) that demonstrates a real familial community. But tragically, some who dared to defy the pioneers who helped break the shackles of Rome paid the ultimate price, becoming martyrs at the hands of those earliest reformers who restricted the truth that they permitted only to the limits of their own interpretation.
As a result, those who had found freedom through Jesus Christ were denied the privilege of thinking outside the strict confines of the reformer’s new religious order.
Truth through Jesus Christ, as they explained it, was, to a great degree, binding again. Yet Jesus said He is Truth, and in Him we are free indeed.
“Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed” (John 8:36).
“Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage” (Gal. 5:1).
“Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (II Cor. 3:17).
Despite all, by God’s grace and their unrelenting faith, God maintained His remnant.
He would be glorified again!
What a great work God had done, but the end was not yet, nor was the glorious church Paul had envisioned yet realized!
Evangelicals, a New Breed of Spiritual Men
Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, God moved to usher in the final chapters of these Last Days with a new breed of men, filled with conviction, who feasted on the Word and prayer – men who followed in the footsteps of the earliest modern Evangelical fathers: John Wesley, George Whitfield, Jonathan Edwards, Gilbert Tennet, Samuel Davies, and others.
Through newcomers, beginning with Charles Finney, and later, Barton Stone, Peter Cartwright, James McGready, and many more, God began to invade the world with new spiritual fervor and Holy Spirit fire once again! These were followed by an army of fire-brand preachers who shouted from the housetops the things the Holy Spirit whispered in their ears, including D. L. Moody, Charles Spurgeon, Charles Finney, Andrew Bonar, George Muller, A. T. Pearson, John (Praying) Hyde, and many more!
In the same way that He had sovereignly raised up judges in some of Israel’s darkest spiritual hours, God sovereignly raised up Spirit-filled evangelists, pastors, and teachers, making way for the greatest spiritual revivals the world had ever seen! Through them, the word of God was rediscovered in a new light, much like it was when Ezra read the Torah aloud to the congregation, resulting in real conviction, tears, and genuine repentance.
Some evangelists were truly “giants” in God’s kingdom work on earth. And praise God for them, despite the rough edges of some of their theology. The Word was being proclaimed like never before, masses of people repented of their sins, souls were saved, multitudes were filled with the Holy Spirit, cities were shaken, and churches became a staple in every community, not only in America and the UK but throughout much of the world!
From this fresh spiritual fervor of evangelism came the modern missionary movement, beginning with pioneers like William Cary, Lottie Moon, Adoniram Judson, David Livingstone, Amy Carmichael, and Hudson Taylor, who founded the China Inland Mission, which, after 161 years, still operates in 40 countries with some 2,500 workers!
With the invention of air transportation and mass electronic communication, even the darkest corners of the earth could not shut out the gospel flame bursting from the Spiritual gift of the Evangelist!
As the twentieth century drew us ever closer to the end of this age, God raised up even more gospel proclaimers – thousands more!
The world-famous evangelists are too many to name, but among them were Gipsy Smith, Evan Roberts, Duncan Campbell, Jonathan Goforth, Billy Graham, Billy Sunday, and T. L. Osborn.
No one should ever deny that it was God who platformed His gospel in an unprecedented way through those many years. Some shortsighted theologians have been very critical of the surge in the proliferation of the good news, usually because those who proclaimed it loudest were not in their strict theological camp. They claimed that to “invite Jesus Christ” into one’s life was not doctrinally sound preaching, and that, by doing so, the Church was being filled with people called by men rather than by God. But those modern-day Pharisees could not see the forest for the trees, or the plain gospel for their pompous, puffed-up pride!
Their religious learning made them spiritually stupid. They could no longer see that God usually calls people through men!
When true, heart-stirring repentance and forgiveness of sins through faith in Jesus Christ are preached, the gospel is preached. God will sort out the weeds from the wheat in His time. He commands us to call!
Our Lord Himself declared:
Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:14-15).
The Apostle John wrote:
“He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:10-13).
The Apostle Peter proclaimed:
Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call” (Acts 2:38-39).
The Apostle Paul pleaded with King Agrippa, saying:
Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You almost persuade me to become a Christian.”
And Paul said, “I would to God that not only you, but also all who hear me today, might become both almost and altogether such as I am, except for these chains” (Acts 26:28-29).
Again, Paul said:
Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized (Acts 16:29-33).
With the simplicity of the gospel open to all through the newly discovered gift of the Evangelist, repentance from sin, and the Savior was proclaimed “out in the highways and hedges,” so that all could come in!
They were fulfilling the servant’s role outlined by Jesus in His parable found in Luke 14:16-24:
Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper’ (Luke 14:23-24).
The Holy Spirit raised up men and women all across the globe, in every nation and tongue! Evangelical preachers were on every corner of the globe, on radio, and television too, as technology came of age!
This new spiritual era did not immediately produce the kind of glory that comes through spiritual maturity, but it was a spark of glory indeed – and more than a spark! It was a flame, and its embers are still burning!
Also, there were those God called to speak correction to the Church during this time, too, such as A. W. Tozer, Leonard Ravenhill, Vance Havner, and David Wilkerson, among others.
For more than 200 years, God shouted through His servants across the highways and byways, and even deep into the darkest jungles of the Amazon. He suddenly awakened the world to the knowledge that there is still a God in heaven who rules in the affairs of men. He made clear that He would visit earth when He pleased and where He pleased, showing up loudly, outside the narrow thinking of religious orders of the day. True revivals produced true repentance, resulting in lives that were truly changed!
Seldom ever did God start a mighty work through a local church, though local churches loved to participate. In almost every case, God raised up men who had to work outside the camp. The accepted religious order, evangelical or not, would not usually lead the way. He broke religious rules and shocked local churches and seminaries, too, going around them to visit the darkest alleys, find the hungriest souls, and fill them to the brim!
Once again, there was renewed hope for those who truly sought Him as He really is, especially for those who didn’t measure up to stiff-shirt religion!
