The following post is from 2018:
There's no specific day that I can remember when I came to faith in Jesus Christ.....but O what a time period it was! The gospel was everywhere. I was a coal-fired power plant operator and if I wasn't covered with coal dust then I was ankle deep in lime slurry. New Christians seemed to be everywhere. We had prayer meetings after working a midnight shift! Christian bookstores were everywhere. Billy Graham crusades were on television.....and the books.....the books actually addressed the mind. (and preachers had an unction back then)
One major weekly magazine named 1976....'The Year of the Evangelical.' Our President said that he was 'born again.' Charles Colson....one of the Watergate conspirators....became born again. The 700 club was a force with which to be reckoned. R.C. Sproul was introducing the church to the holiness of God which had a transforming effect on Bible study. Sound biblical ministries were everywhere on the radio. An astronaut (James Irwin) who walked on the moon could only see God's glory in the heavens....and one of the best and most fanatical basketball players ever to play the game....(Pete Maravich)....after coming to Christ....regretted that his life up until then had been more basketball than the Bible. Christians were actually reading and studying John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress....I've read it a dozen or more times and listened to it on cassette an equal number of times....Charles Spurgeon read it 100 times in his day! David Wilkerson preached the glory of Christ like George Whitefield. Christian music was simple yet profound. A wonderful and humble man was our President. (today we have a narcissistic nightmare) Nightline type of television shows would choose Jerry Falwell to interview....and he would keep his head up....smile confidently....look straight into the camera....and proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior! (today it's his son....and that apple rolled down the hill)
I remember that time period.....and I came in late....I remember it as Jews must have remembered their temple......and I often feel like weeping at what has become of America since those wonderful days. No longer are there Christian bookstores in just about every community....no more Billy Graham crusades.....no more R. C. Sproul......Bunyan's book is never read....but we're really not aware of any of this....and when you're not aware of something.....you don't know what you are missing.
How had all this started? Well I don't know....but I know this....God started it....and if it happens again....then it would be He that starts it again. I know what we need though. We need an unction in our pulpits.....tears if necessary.....we need to dust off our grandparent's books if they are still stored away somewhere. We can still listen to Billy Graham and R. C. Sproul on our computers....but there is one thing that we must understand.....our beloved nation is crumbling fast.....chaos is everywhere....our enemies are taking advantage of it....and politics cannot save us!!! If we could only see the mist from the falls that are just ahead....and hear the roar of the water that will soon crush us....then we might look to what is our only hope....cast off our unbalanced dalliance with politics....and call out to Him whom we have presumed upon....."Have mercy on us Lord.....for thy name alone....and for thy glory alone!"
There's no specific day that I can remember when I came to faith in Jesus Christ.....but O what a time period it was! The gospel was everywhere. I was a coal-fired power plant operator and if I wasn't covered with coal dust then I was ankle deep in lime slurry. New Christians seemed to be everywhere. We had prayer meetings after working a midnight shift! Christian bookstores were everywhere. Billy Graham crusades were on television.....and the books.....the books actually addressed the mind. (and preachers had an unction back then)
One major weekly magazine named 1976....'The Year of the Evangelical.' Our President said that he was 'born again.' Charles Colson....one of the Watergate conspirators....became born again. The 700 club was a force with which to be reckoned. R.C. Sproul was introducing the church to the holiness of God which had a transforming effect on Bible study. Sound biblical ministries were everywhere on the radio. An astronaut (James Irwin) who walked on the moon could only see God's glory in the heavens....and one of the best and most fanatical basketball players ever to play the game....(Pete Maravich)....after coming to Christ....regretted that his life up until then had been more basketball than the Bible. Christians were actually reading and studying John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress....I've read it a dozen or more times and listened to it on cassette an equal number of times....Charles Spurgeon read it 100 times in his day! David Wilkerson preached the glory of Christ like George Whitefield. Christian music was simple yet profound. A wonderful and humble man was our President. (today we have a narcissistic nightmare) Nightline type of television shows would choose Jerry Falwell to interview....and he would keep his head up....smile confidently....look straight into the camera....and proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior! (today it's his son....and that apple rolled down the hill)
I remember that time period.....and I came in late....I remember it as Jews must have remembered their temple......and I often feel like weeping at what has become of America since those wonderful days. No longer are there Christian bookstores in just about every community....no more Billy Graham crusades.....no more R. C. Sproul......Bunyan's book is never read....but we're really not aware of any of this....and when you're not aware of something.....you don't know what you are missing.
How had all this started? Well I don't know....but I know this....God started it....and if it happens again....then it would be He that starts it again. I know what we need though. We need an unction in our pulpits.....tears if necessary.....we need to dust off our grandparent's books if they are still stored away somewhere. We can still listen to Billy Graham and R. C. Sproul on our computers....but there is one thing that we must understand.....our beloved nation is crumbling fast.....chaos is everywhere....our enemies are taking advantage of it....and politics cannot save us!!! If we could only see the mist from the falls that are just ahead....and hear the roar of the water that will soon crush us....then we might look to what is our only hope....cast off our unbalanced dalliance with politics....and call out to Him whom we have presumed upon....."Have mercy on us Lord.....for thy name alone....and for thy glory alone!"
