Vestiges of Revival

I do not know whether, like me, you wonder why it is the superficial elements that remain after a revival.

Do you also wonder why transformational aspects of the revival do not last long?

Why do we only associate past revivals with habits and gimmicks that leave the core of the revival outside?

I know someone will challenge me to substantiate. And I will.

I will start with the two recent ‘moves’ of God that I know quite some about since I am a witness or beneficiary of the same.

Remember the East Africa Revival of yore?

What else, apart from tukutendereza do you remember about it?

Those who were around in the eighties remember Reinhard Bonnke and the movement he was part of.

Again, what, apart from the choruses (I call them chants) can you remember about it?

That the singing of a foreign tongue one does not understand is treated as the evidence of being part of a revival movement is sad.

That a German accent is treated as evidence of having received the touch of God is again very sad.

Just like in the past when having a foreign name, speaking a foreign tongue, stopping drinking, smoking and divorcing legal wives to remain with one was treated as the clearest evidence of conversion, we are even today repeating the same mistake.

And that is disastrous to the advance of the Gospel because it leads people into wrong pursuits, resulting in wrong diagnoses and treatments of spiritual ailments.

We even declare invalids healed because they are ticking our self-made boxes.

Revival is not external though it manifests externally.

There are many unbelievers who do not use drugs or have two wives just as there are a few believers who are struggling with drugs and have complicated marriages.

Cosmetic assessment can therefore be misleading.

Allow me, however, to touch one very raw nerve.

Remember the Pentecostal/ charismatic movement? Remember the Azusa Street awakening?

Again, what is the evidence of the fullness of the Holy Spirit on someone?

How scriptural is that?

How can we accurately evaluate it?

Nobody has any capacity of assessing an unknown tongue, not even the speaker.

Not only that. The Holy Spirit is not the only One who can release that gift since even demons do.

Having been raised in that environment, I can also say that I saw seekers being taught to speak those tongues if the ‘spirit tarried’ in releasing them. Meaning that someone can speak manufactured tongues.

But that is not the purpose of this message.

When the evidence of a move of God is tied to the externals (allow me to call them cosmetic), we expose ourselves to two clear dangers.

The first is that we set our bar too low.

Allow me to give an example.

As I have said, I was raised in charismatic circles and so participated in all their activities since childhood.

One day in a fellowship, a mad neighbour to our church who was trouble all the time came into the church and proceeded to babble in tongues for a long time.

I do not know about the others but my young mind was confused.

If unknown tongues is the evidence of the filling of the Spirit, what does one make of a mad man speaking them?

Could it have disturbed me if it had been a mad man we never knew who had spoken those tongues?

Suppose it had been a possessed man nobody in the fellowship knew? Suppose it was a witch or wizard?

That is what I mean.

If a suit and tie are the evidence of a ministerial calling, what will one make of a conman donning the same?

If an expensive auto is the evidence of success and blessing in ministry, what do we say of the drug dealer driving an even bigger and better one?

Reminds me of Samuel in Jesse’s home.

We have transferred transformational assessment to the cosmetic.

And that means that we lose the capacity to assess anything.

But it is worse because we then leave too much slack to people having those externals even as we dismiss the validly qualified should they lack those externals.

Do you speak in tongues? Becomes the baseline as far as spirituality is concerned.

We will dismiss a mature believer who does not speak in tongues even as we accept a fornicator who can manifest that gift.

Jesus said that we will know them by their fruit, not their decorations. Yet that is what these externals are.

Setting the bar too low is catastrophic to our faith because we then will lack any real motivation for growth and maturity.

If tongues are the only requirement for walking with God, why waste my time in the disciplines of growing up yet I have the manifestation? Why spend so much time in reading and studying God’s word yet they do not increase the gift?

No wonder in those circles immaturity is endemic.

The second problem is that we open ourselves for deception.

Like in that experience I had in a fellowship long ago, it is very possible for someone having the wrong spirit to be not only accepted into our fellowship, but even allowed to lead it. And that is something I have seen all too often.

Remember that king Saul prophesied even under demonic control?

That is why we have so many bleeding believers; simply because they used the cosmetic to identify leaders. Then those leaders produced after the spirits leading them.

You see, if only speaking in tongues is the qualification, a witch can very easily qualify because demonic spirits also manifest unknown tongues.

If prophecy is the gift that can earn leadership, backslidden Saul could easily have become a pastor or even bishop. Because rebellious spirits can also prophesy.

That is why hundreds died recently following such a prophet after following his prophesying that they starve themselves to death. That is why people are buying everything, from soil to nails, to be able to access the spiritual. That is why people are travelling from all over to have someone praying to bring back their stars. That is why some are even leaving their marital responsibilities, even their marriages, to be able to follow these charlatans.

That is why cults are exploding.

We have used the cosmetic, the externals, to gauge spiritual potency instead of what the Bible clearly instructs us to do.

We are leaving the stable for the dramatic, because we deceive ourselves that drama is where the reality is.

The clearest example we can get in almost any church you encounter is in the looking for elders.

Though the Bible is very clear about the age and maturity factor, and the fact that the person should be a long-practicing believer without reproach, most churches will look for flamboyance, charisma and wealth in choosing elders.

Some will even appoint shady people because they are public figures, even unreliable politicians, to serve in spiritual positions with immense spiritual impact to appear relevant and inclusive.

Those same churches will continue to wonder why their outreach is barren.

And it is the same when churches are looking for pastors. The externals take centre stage.

The comedy, eloquence, education, as if they are looking for a PR officer for the church

Then they will wonder why spiritual growth is stunted in their church.

They will wonder why nobody seeks counsel from their man.

They wonder why their relationships are always superficial.

We must get back to the scriptures if we will have the right spiritual impact.

We must follow scriptural instructions if we must please God.

We really have no choice.