Why You Probably Don’t Want a Real Christian Revival

NOTE: The verse in its entirety that was interrupted at about 15:10 due to the brief audio glitch is 1 Samuel 12:25: “But if ye shall still do wickedly, ye shall be consumed, both ye and your king.”

Many lament that there are not men to lead God’s people like there were in Bible times.  However, the unconditional security in Christ doctrine which many who make such lamentations hold to now, as well as with many other things regarding how the same live and what they believe, makes it obvious that they would not welcome one.

Along the same lines, the cries which multitudes make for God to send awakening, revival, restoration, etc. are cries for something which could not genuinely happen apart from the expression of an attitude towards sin, and measures taken in accordance with that attitude, which are incongruent with what the masses who pray for revival currently believe and how they live.

The following are all examples of authority figures in the Bible acting and speaking properly in the line of duty within the realm of their jurisdiction, executing righteousness faithfully therein.  If these had been neglectful to take the necessary righteous measures in order to properly confront the sin before them, and to properly instruct others about the sin which they were prone to,  they would have instead displeased God and failed.  They also of course would have failed if they had lost control of themselves; or if they had otherwise acted out of line with their jurisdiction in the particular matter taken into account. 

A real Christian revival also could not happen apart from going back to diligently reading straight from the Scriptures, receiving the Bible’s whole counsel, and acting accordingly.

Exodus 32:19-20: “And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh (near) unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses’ anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and broke them beneath the mount.  And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it.”

A real Christian revival would have to confront the improper, idolatrous views of God which abound in the realm of professing Christianity- including the false concept of “Jesus” being a pacifist hippie with long hair.

Numbers 25:1-9: “And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab.  And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods.  And Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor: and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel.  And the Lord said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the Lord against the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel.  And Moses said unto the judges of Israel (my note- Phinehas, whom we’re about to read about, was obviously one of these judges), Slay ye every one his men that were joined unto Baal-peor.  And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.  And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand; And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly.  So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel.  And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand.”

A real Christian revival would utterly condemn all fornication.  It would confront and go to great pains to root out of God’s house all sexual relations that are not between a man and his wife, to root out pornography, sensuality in fashion and makeup wearing, exposure of body parts which are commonly known to defraud and tempt to lust, and it would confront lack of separation from idolaters in their sensual and idolatrous pursuits as well.

Numbers 32:1-23: “Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of cattle: and when they saw the land of Jazer, and the land of Gilead, that, behold, the place was a place for cattle; The children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spoke unto Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and unto the princes of the congregation, saying, Ataroth, and Dibon, and Jazer, and Nimrah, and Heshbon, and Elealeh, and Shebam, and Nebo, and Beon, Even the country which the Lord smote before the congregation of Israel, is a land for cattle, and thy servants have cattle: Wherefore, said they, if we have found grace in thy sight, let this land be given unto thy servants for a possession, and bring us not over Jordan.  And Moses said unto the children of Gad and to the children of Reuben, Shall your brethren go to war, and shall ye sit here?  And wherefore discourage ye the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land which the Lord hath given them?  Thus did your fathers, when I sent them from Kadeshbarnea to see the land.  For when they went up unto the valley of Eshcol, and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the children of Israel, that they should not go into the land which the Lord had given them.  And the Lord’s anger was kindled the same time (my note- Moses spoke of God’s anger as something which could be kindled and displayed in the present; not just something displayed in the past which we ought to put behind us and not dwell upon), and he sware, saying, Surely none of the men that came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob; because they have not wholly followed me: Save (except) Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite, and Joshua the son of Nun: for they have wholly followed the Lord.  And the Lord’s anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation, that had done evil in the sight of the Lord, was consumed.  And, behold, ye are risen up in your fathers’ stead, an increase of sinful men, to augment yet the fierce anger of the Lord toward Israel.  For if ye turn away from after him, he will yet again leave them in the wilderness; and ye shall destroy all this people (my note- a real Christian revival opposes unconditional security doctrine and Zionism- cutting off all hopes of the disobedient partaking in God’s grace).  And they came near unto him, and said, We will build sheepfolds here for our cattle, and cities for our little ones: But we ourselves will go ready armed before the children of Israel, until we have brought them unto their place: and our little ones shall dwell in the fenced cities because of the inhabitants of the land.  We will not return unto our houses, until the children of Israel have inherited every man his inheritance.  For we will not inherit with them on yonder side Jordan, or forward; because our inheritance is fallen to us on this side Jordan eastward.  And Moses said unto them, If ye will do this thing, if ye will go armed before the Lord to war, And will go all of you armed over Jordan before the Lord, until he hath driven out his enemies from before him, And the land be subdued before the Lord: then afterward ye shall return, and be guiltless before the Lord, and before Israel; and this land shall be your possession before the Lord.  But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the Lord: and be sure your sin will find you out.”

Deuteronomy 4:1-5: “Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you.  Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought (any) from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.  Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baal-peor: for all the men that followed Baal-peor, the Lord thy God hath destroyed them from among you.  But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day.  Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it.”

Joshua 7:10-26: “And the Lord said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face?  Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff.  Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies (my note- this is right after Israel had been defeated in a battle with the inhabitants of Canaan), but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you.  Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow: for thus saith the Lord God of Israel, There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel: thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from among you (my note- there are obviously times when swift action, perhaps even very severe action is required and should be attended to as soon as possible; and praying without taking the necessary action accomplishes absolutely nothing at such times).  In the morning therefore ye shall be brought according to your tribes: and it shall be, that the tribe which the Lord taketh shall come according to the families thereof; and the family which the Lord shall take shall come by households; and the household which the Lord shall take shall come man by man.  And it shall be, that he that is taken with the accursed thing shall be burnt with fire, he and all that he hath: because he hath transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and because he hath wrought folly in Israel.  So Joshua rose up early in the morning, and brought Israel by their tribes; and the tribe of Judah was taken: And he brought the family of Judah; and he took the family of the Zarhites: and he brought the family of the Zarhites man by man; and Zabdi was taken: And he brought his household man by man; and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken.  And Joshua said unto Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession unto him; and tell me now what thou hast done; hide it not from me.  And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done: When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.  So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran unto the tent; and, behold, it was hid in his tent, and the silver under it.  And they took them out of the midst of the tent, and brought them unto Joshua, and unto all the children of Israel, and laid them out before the Lord.  And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses (donkeys) and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them unto the valley of Achor (my note- Achan was probably generally regarded as a wonderful guy among the Israelites; and his family probably was a nice, pleasant looking family).  And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us?  the Lord shall trouble thee this day.  And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones.  And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day.  So the Lord turned from the fierceness of his anger.  Wherefore the name of that place was called, The valley of Achor, unto this day.”

1 Samuel 12:6-25: “And Samuel said unto the people, It is the Lord that advanced Moses and Aaron, and that brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt.  Now therefore stand still, that I may reason with you before the Lord of all the righteous acts of the Lord, which he did to you and to your fathers.  When Jacob was come into Egypt, and your fathers cried unto the Lord, then the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, which brought forth your fathers out of Egypt, and made them dwell in this place.  And when they forgat the Lord their God, he sold them into the hand of Sisera, captain of the host of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them.  And they cried unto the Lord, and said, We have sinned, because we have forsaken the Lord, and have served Baalim and Ashtaroth: but now deliver us out of the hand of our enemies, and we will serve thee.  And the Lord sent Jerubbaal (that’s Gideon), and Bedan, and Jephthah, and Samuel, and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side, and ye dwelled safe.  And when ye saw that Nahash the king of the children of Ammon came against you, ye said unto me, Nay; but a king shall reign over us: when the Lord your God was your king.  Now therefore behold the king whom ye have chosen (my note- that’s King Saul who was right in the midst of the people), and whom ye have desired!  and, behold, the Lord hath set a king over you.  If ye will fear the Lord, and serve him, and obey his voice, and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then shall both ye and also the king that reigneth over you continue following the Lord your God: But if ye will not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then shall the hand of the Lord be against you, as it was against your fathers (my note- the modern pastors would be reminding the Israelites of God’s alleged unconditional love and their alleged unconditional eternal security- you can’t sit under someone like that and receive a faithful servant of God like Samuel at the same time).  Now therefore stand and see this great thing, which the Lord will do before your eyes.  Is it not wheat harvest to day?  I will call unto the Lord, and he shall send thunder and rain; that ye may perceive and see that your wickedness is great, which ye have done in the sight of the Lord, in asking you a king.  So Samuel called unto the Lord; and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day: and all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel.  And all the people said unto Samuel, Pray for thy servants unto the Lord thy God, that we die not: for we have added unto all our sins this evil, to ask us a king.  And Samuel said unto the people, Fear not: ye have done all this wickedness: yet turn not aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart; And turn ye not aside: for then should ye go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver; for they are vain.  For the Lord will not forsake his people for his great name’s sake: because it hath pleased the Lord to make you his people (my note- this was obviously said in its context as a reassurance that God would not destroy them if they obeyed and served Him faithfully- not as a guarantee that they would be in His grace still even if they didn’t do so- but the latter is what most mean today when they talk about the grace of God).  Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and the right way: Only fear the Lord, and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things he hath done for you.  But if ye shall still do wickedly, ye shall be consumed, both ye and your king.”

Note here: I don’t think it’s uncommon for churches to pray for the Lord to raise up men like Samuel in their midst.  Yet in most cases, that is not going to happen until the church changes its doctrine (especially related to unconditional security and Zionism).  And if God were to raise up such a man in the midst of a church in spite of that, the man who was raised up would quickly be rejected by the church.  How could it be otherwise if he were to speak like Samuel spoke?

2 Kings 18:1-6: “Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign.  Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem.  His mother’s name also was Abi, the daughter of Zachariah.  And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father did.  He removed the high places, and broke the images, and cut down the groves, and broke in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan (that is, a thing of brass).  He trusted in the Lord God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him.  For he clave to the Lord, and departed not from following him, but kept his commandments, which the Lord commanded Moses.”

Note: Even though God commended King Hezekiah, to many in his kingdom he would not have been regarded well- not regarded well for doing the very things which he ought to have done in God’s eyes.  The same is so of King Josiah.

2 Kings 22:8-20: “And Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it.  And Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, Thy servants have gathered the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of them that do the work, that have the oversight of the house of the Lord.  And Shaphan the scribe shewed the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book.  And Shaphan read it before the king.  And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes.  And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Michaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asahiah a servant of the king’s, saying, Go ye, enquire of the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found: for great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us.  So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asahiah, went unto Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe; (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the college;) and they communed with her.  And she said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Tell the man that sent you to me, Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah hath read: Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this place, and shall not be quenched.  But to the king of Judah which sent you to enquire of the Lord, thus shall ye say to him, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, As touching the words which thou hast heard; Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the Lord, when thou heardest what I spoke against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith the Lord (my note- God basically told King Josiah here that he was absolutely right to be afraid; and to believe that Jerusalem was ripe to face God’s wrath and be destroyed for their sins).  Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place.  And they brought the king word again.”

2 Kings 23:1-28 (immediately after what was just read from 2 Kings chapter 22- we just read the last verse from that chapter): “And the king sent, and they gathered unto him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem.  And the king went up into the house of the Lord, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the Lord.  And the king stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book.  And all the people stood to the covenant.  And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of heaven: and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel.  And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven.  And he brought out the grove from the house of the Lord, without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people.  And he broke down the houses of the sodomites, that were by the house of the Lord, where the women wove hangings for the grove.  And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba, and broke down the high places of the gates that were in the entering in of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on a man’s left hand at the gate of the city (my note- this all took a lot of planning, time, and hard labor).  Nevertheless the priests of the high places came not up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, but they did eat of the unleavened bread among their brethren.  And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech.  And he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the entering in of the house of the Lord, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the chamberlain, which was in the suburbs, and burned the chariots of the sun with fire.  And the altars that were on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord, did the king beat down, and broke them down from thence, and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron.  And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had builded for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile.  And he broke in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men.  Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he broke down, and burned the high place, and stamped it small to powder, and burned the grove.  And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that were there in the mount, and sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burned them upon the altar, and polluted it, according to the word of the Lord which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words.  Then he said, What title is that that I see?  And the men of the city told him, It is the sepulchre of the man of God, which came from Judah, and proclaimed these things that thou hast done against the altar of Bethel (my note- this is a reference to the events which happened centuries earlier recorded in 1 Kings chapter 13).  And he said, Let him alone; let no man move his bones.  So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet that came out of Samaria.  And all the houses also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the Lord to anger, Josiah took away, and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Bethel.  And he slew (killed) all the priests of the high places that were there upon the altars, and burned men’s bones upon them, and returned to Jerusalem (my note- consider that Josiah had civil authority here which, in ancient Israel, included jurisdiction to punish blatant religious corruption- we don’t have anyone in the same situation now with civil power in religious matters- yet consider still the zeal which is set forth as an example in executing righteousness according to one’s jurisdiction- heed and follow still the principle set forth here by doing what is in your power to remove wickedness from your personal life and to put down evil according to your lawful power in any realm which you have jurisdiction over- such as a father taking the measures he can lawfully take to prevent wickedness from prevailing within his own home).  And the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the passover unto the Lord your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant.  Surely there was not holden such a passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah; But in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, wherein this passover was holden to the Lord in Jerusalem.  Moreover the workers with familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the images, and the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord.  And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him.  Notwithstanding the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal (my note- the people did not generally welcome from their hearts the real revival which Josiah brought through his thorough, uncompromising stances for righteousness as Judah’s king- therefore these measures didn’t continue after his death; and the nation did not continue in the righteous ways which Josiah implemented for the nation while he was king).  And the Lord said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there.  Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?”

Ezra chapter 9: “Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.  For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass.  And when I (Ezra is speaking in the first person) heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down astonished.  Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that had been carried away; and I sat astonished until the evening sacrifice.  And at the evening sacrifice I arose up from my heaviness; and having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the Lord my God, And said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens.  Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day (my note- Ezra obviously did not say this as an excuse to continue in transgression- he actually meant the very opposite- keep reading); and for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to a spoil, and to confusion of face, as it is this day.  And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage (my note- this is after the return from the Babylonian captivity which happened within a few decades from when Josiah’s reign ended; and which lasted for 70 years).  For we were bondmen; yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem.  And now, O our God, what shall we say after this?  for we have forsaken thy commandments, Which thou hast commanded by thy servants the prophets, saying, The land, unto which ye go to possess it, is an unclean land with the filthiness of the people of the lands, with their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another with their uncleanness.  Now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace or their wealth for ever: that ye may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children for ever.  And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such deliverance as this; Should we again break thy commandments, and join in affinity with the people of these abominations?  wouldest not thou be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us, so that there should be no remnant nor escaping?  O Lord God of Israel, thou art righteous: for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day: behold, we are before thee in our trespasses: for we cannot stand before thee because of this.”

A true Christian revival would involve rebuke of the imputed righteousness of Christ doctrine and all false doctrines which give license for sin and imply that people actually can stand before God and escape His wrath while in their sins.

Nehemiah 13:15-31 (Nehemiah is speaking in the first person): “In those days saw I in Judah some treading wine presses on the sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and lading asses (donkeys); as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the sabbath day: and I testified against them in the day wherein they sold victuals.  There dwelt men of Tyre also therein, which brought fish, and all manner of ware, and sold on the sabbath unto the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem.  Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them, What evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the sabbath day?  Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city?  yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the sabbath.  And it came to pass, that when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the sabbath, I commanded that the gates should be shut, and charged that they should not be opened till after the sabbath: and some of my servants set I at the gates, that there should no burden be brought in on the sabbath day.  So the merchants and sellers of all kind of ware lodged without Jerusalem once or twice.  Then I testified against them, and said unto them, Why lodge ye about the wall?  if ye do so again, I will lay hands on you (my note- meaning that he would arrest them- Nehemiah was the Governor under the King of the Persians whom the Jews were then subservient to).  From that time forth came they no more on the sabbath.  And I commanded the Levites that they should cleanse themselves, and that they should come and keep the gates, to sanctify the sabbath day.  Remember me, O my God, concerning this also, and spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy (my note- that’s a pointless prayer if one believes that unconditional eternal security is a true concept).   In those days also saw I Jews that had married wives of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab: And their children spoke half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews’ language, but according to the language of each people.  And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them (my note- these things happened in the context of courtroom proceedings; God gave Israel’s judicial leaders the authority in Deuteronomy 25:1-3 to beat those proven to be wicked at their discretion- yet to not exceed 40 stripes), and plucked off their hair (my note- another judicial punishment- removing another’s beard was seen as away of shaming them), and made them swear by God, saying, Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters unto your sons, or for yourselves.  Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things?  yet among many nations was there no king like him, who was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel: nevertheless even him did outlandish women cause to sin.  Shall we then hearken unto you to do all this great evil, to transgress against our God in marrying strange wives?  And one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was son in law to Sanballat the Horonite: therefore I chased him from me.  Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood, and the covenant of the priesthood, and of the Levites.  Thus cleansed I them from all strangers, and appointed the wards of the priests and the Levites, every one in his business; And for the wood offering, at times appointed, and for the firstfruits.  Remember me, O my God, for good.”

John 2:13-22: “And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple (my note- Jesus resorted to violence to do His duty- He may have even been called unchristlike at this point), and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables; And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence (from here); make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.  And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.  Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?  Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.  Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?  But he spoke of the temple of his body.  When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.”

1 Corinthians chapter 5: “It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife.  And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you (my note- their pride was demonstrated through not dealing with the sin evident among them as it ought to be dealt with- this is the very opposite of what many would say).  For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed, In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus (my note- this is pointless if unconditional eternal security were a true concept).  Your glorying is not good.  Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?  Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened.  For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.  I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world.  But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolator, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.   For what have I to do to judge them also that are without?  do not ye judge them that are within?  But them that are without God judgeth.  Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.”

Note: Many churches do excommunicate people- yet it is commonly done with partiality and only in cases involving people which the church does not see as a threat to complain or sue so that they might lose their 501(c)3 status or suffer loss otherwise.  The Apostle is rather stating the necessity of excommunicating impartially on Biblical grounds.  

Often, churches hold demonstrably false beliefs and allow for wickedness which would be grounds for excommunication if a church were to faithfully keep the truth and hold the lines properly in accordance with the Bible.

2 Corinthians 12:20-21: “For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not: lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults: And lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed.”

Dealing with sin in the way that the faithful men of God in the Bible did is impossible unless an attitude towards sin is taken and held on to which regards sin among God’s people as unacceptable.  

This outlook, and actions in accordance with this outlook, are utterly inconsistent with holding the view of unconditional security which is the norm among the churches today.  That necessitates rejecting unconditional eternal security doctrine then- along with renunciation of all justification of sin and all lightness towards sin as the Bible defines it.

Aaron’s email is: [email protected]

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