I cry out with my
whole heart;
Hear me, O LORD!
I will keep Your
statutes.
I cry out to You;
Save me, and I will
keep
Your testimonies.
I rise before the
dawning of
The morning, and cry
for help;
I hope in Your word.
My eyes are awake
through
The night watches,
That I may meditate
on Your word.
Hear my voice
according to
Your lovingkindness;
O LORD, revive me
according
To Your justice.
Psalm 119:145–149
There is a
cry within Christianity that there is a need for revival. There is! Many speak
of this need for a revival yet go about their business and does little of
nothing. Those that are active in the work to spread the Gospel are often
alone, and have little support. Oh, I pray for them! Good! I send monies! Good!
Then, leave off your concern and be more concerned about this world than the
saving of souls by an active participation, either through the Church, or
through those organization that are sending out men and women to all parts of
the world. We do need to be wise on our support, we are to be wise as serpents;
“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise
as serpents and harmless as doves” (Matthew 10:16). Oh! How pious some
think of themselves because they do those things of philanthropy, good things,
yet do little if nothing in regards to their personal revival. The writer of
Psalm 119 understood well that revival begins with each individual. Revival
begins when a person keep “The testimonies” of God; who “Meditate on”
God’s word, and then listen through their studies for the voice of God who
will speak to them through His word and invigorate your intentionality to
follow Him, to be revived: this He will to according to His justice. In our
studies we must not just focus on those words that are titillating the senses,
they are so good sounding and are so accepted as the feed your desire that God
will give “good” things without remembering that the Bible is not just for our
appetite for good things, it is God revealing how His people are to live. It is
to look at the Bible in this manner, God is speaking to us through His word and
we must then learn from His word. This requires that we read the whole Bible,
Old Testament, New Testament, and even to read the early Church fathers.
Learning of the times and situations that led men away from God is good for us
to learn, and to learn of those things that the people of God did to return to
a worship that is acceptable to God, this is good. We cannot then just focus on
certain Scriptural verses that we cling to because they make us feel good, they
make us feel as though we are worshipping God when this is very self-serving,
extremely ego-centric, and far from having the knowledge that is needed to see
God in all of history.
Before I
move on with the history of those men who have influenced the world and are
having a major influence in this present age I must remind that all we learn is
to be set against the light of Scripture. It is not to just learn something of
those men, their philosophies, and their ideologies, rather to see the truth
and the error and how they have taught those things in contradiction to
Scripture. We do this so we can be revived, if it need be, to a worship, a
life, that is life-changing for you and for all who see the Lord Jesus Christ
in you. Those men of old have affected the world, and it is true of us that
what we do, those things that we hold in priority will affect our children, our
friends, and family, and beyond the first generation from us. Each generation
takes what they learn and either move upward towards God, or downwards away
from God. We as parents, Christians, have a tremendous responsibility, we are
to be a separate people, we are the ambassadors of Christ, and we are to leave
behind this world and all its glamour that is in contradiction to the will of
God. The world practices evil and we are to hate evil, men love their evil ways
and shun the light of truth: “And this is the condemnation, that the light
has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because
their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does
not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the
truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have
been done in God” (John 3:19–21). The question for us is; do men see God in
our life or do they see us as hypocrites? Yes, we do sin, but are we sinning
willfully? Are we studying, listening to Scriptural preaching, Scriptural Bible
studies, or have we succumbed to only hearing what makes us feel good. When you
sin, do you fall on knees because you sinned against a holy God, not just
because you got caught, but truly and heartbroken due to sinning against God,
God who by His mercy and grace came to earth by sending His wisdom clothed in
human flesh to die satisfying the justice of God that man could never do, and
then giving to His children Himself, His Spirit to aid us in our life here on
earth until we come to Him; and does your life become revived to serve Him as
you should? God is Providential working through second causes to fulfill His
purposes; this cannot ever be forgotten, and often when we study things of
history, history, those narratives of history cause us to lose sight of this
fact. Before I move forward, again, I remind you, this is not just a historical
study. This is a study of history in the light of God’s revealed word to us and
how we, once we learn the errors of those men who were opposed to the truth
God, and attempted to bring their light into the world, ignoring the truth
light, can have the full armor of God so that the darts of Satan cannot
diminish our worship of God, our hope in Jesus Christ, and not to extinguish,
in some manner, the work of the Holy Spirit in us. We are not to become Stoic,
nor are we to become ascetic, or be a recluse, we are to live this wonderful
life God gave to us, but we are to live it according to God’s word and not the
thoughts of man who do not believe in the One and Only Creator, and God.
I was going
to begin in this blog with Plato and move onto other men who have influenced
this world, but decided to give some admonition as to why do this study, what
this study can do for us, not just an study of history, rather a means to bring
revival to each of those who will study to be prepared to give a defense for
their faith (1Peter 3:15). Revival begins with each one of us, then it will
spread, that is if we become intentional to spread the gospel, to the world.
Live life; Love God! Put God as your first priority and is your guide for all
you do in life. After learning of those men who have adversely affected the
world, even some Churches, then go and be the light as we have the light in us,
God, His Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Whoever believes that Jesus
Is the Christ
born of God,
And everyone who loves Him
Who begot
also loves Him
Who is begotten of Him.
By this we
know that we love
The children of God, when we love God
And keep
His commandments.
1John 5:1–2
Grace, Mercy, and Peace be with you
Richard L. Crumb
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