Is Revival the Answer for America's Problems?

Larry Nevenhoven

Copyright 2012 by Larry Nevenhoven

All rights reserved. This booklet is protected by the copyright laws of the United States of America. Written permission must be secured from the publisher to use or reproduce any part of this book, except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles.

Unless otherwise specified Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, copyright 1960, 1062, 1968, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, by the Lockman Foundation.

Published by Larry Nevenhoven

Author's Note
I first wrote Is Revival the Answer for America's Problems as a prophetic/teaching series on my blog: www.larrywho.wordpress.com. Except for a few grammar changes, it is the same series. Larry Nevenhoven

Chapter 1

A great conflict loomed on the national horizon in 1857 because of slavery issues. Yet, unlike other times when America faced dangers, people did not flock to churches. God no longer seemed relevant, especially to businessmen. But then, without warning and almost overnight, an unexplained financial panic hit America. Banks closed. Railroads declared bankruptcy. Thousands of workers were laid off. Many families faced starvation. In New York City, where 30,000 men were out of work, Jeremiah Lamphier felt God wanted him to begin a noon-time prayer meeting for businessmen. The forty-six year old businessman printed a pamphlet entitled, How Often Shall I Pray, handed them out to the local businessmen, and invited them to prayer meetings. The first meeting was held on September 23, 1857. Lamphier prayed alone for the first half hour, but six men joined him for the second thirty minutes. On the following Wednesday, twenty men showed up for prayer. One week later, forty showed up. By October 14, 1857, more than one hundred attended the meetings. It was soon decided that weekly assemblages were not enough. So, they met on a daily basis. Pastors who visited the gatherings opened their own churches for prayer times. Before long, young, old, rich, and poor crowded into prayer meetings. Within six months, ten thousand businessmen attended over one hundred and fifty different prayer meetings in New York City on a daily basis. Across the nation, similar gatherings sprang up in Boston, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Richmond, Louisville, Charleston, Savannah, New Orleans, Memphis, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago, and countless other cities. The prayer meetings were quite simple in structure. A leader started the hour by announcing a hymn. All stood and sang one or two verses. Then, the leader said a brief prayer, and the service was then turned over to the assembled members. Any person was free to speak or pray for no longer than five minutes. The leader rang a bell if any man overextended his time so that others could have a turn. Prayer requests were made for family members and others. Many just asked prayer for themselves. Still others exhorted the men to pray more fervently and to live holy lives. Over the weeks, testimonies were given on answered prayers and all praised the Lord for them.

Promptly, at the end of one hour, the leader rose and ended the meeting with a closing prayer. The members filed quietly out of the buildings. This move of the Holy Spirit is known as the Businessmans Prayer Revival, the Prayer Revival of 1857, or the Third Great Awakening. Few have heard of it today because there were no famous preachers or great preaching involved with it. It was strictly filled with earnest prayer by nameless men. Yet, the results were greater than those of the First Great Awakening with John Wesley, George Whitefield, and Johnathan Edwards or the Second Great Awakening with Charles Finney and Lyman Beecher. It is estimated that 6.6% of America converted to Christianity in the wake of this revival. Dwight L. Moody, the noted evangelist, and Fanny Crosby, the blind hymn composer, were two of the more notable converts.

A powerful revival, right? Somewhere between 1.5 million and 2 million were saved. But yet this great revival did not detour America from plunging itself into a bloody Civil War which began in April, 1861. Total casualties of the war: 1,030,000 with 620, 000 dead soldiers. Based on 1860 census: 8% of all white males between the ages of 13 and 43 died in the war. Did the war stop the revival? Actually, no. The revival continued in army camps, especially in the Confederate Army where it was estimated that 150,000 soldiers were converted. They fought during the day and held prayer meetings at night. If you check other revivals, you will soon discover that revivals seldom settled a nation's problems. It changed people and they were enthused about God once again, but the nation's problems still had to be worked out in one way or another. So, if revival is not the total answer for America, what is?

Chapter 2

All of which seems to put the responsibility directly upon each of us who has a personal relationship with our Savior much as we like to blame the immorality of others for the precipitous rate of decline. But the responsibility is ours, and it always has been. When Solomon Stoddard once challenged Increase Mather on this very point, pointing out that the covenanted Christians in seventeenth century New England were only a fraction of the population, Mather retorted that, nevertheless, that fraction was sufficient to stand for the entire land and redeem the whole. (The Light and the Glory by Peter Marshall and David Manuel, Revell Publishing, 1977, pp. 356)

In 605 BC, the teenager Daniel and his three teenage friends, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, were taken as captives to Babylonia. There, because of their good looks and intelligence, the four were chosen to be advisers at the royal palace to King Nebuchadnezzar.1 Sadly, according to the historian, Josephus, the four youths were castrated and made eunuchs.2 This was a Babylonian policy at the time to insure that Hebrew leaders had no offspring and could never set up a line of succession. Ouch, huh? But even more than the pain and the loss of masculinity, another problem arose for Daniel.

He who is emasculated by crushing or mutilation shall not enter the assembly of the LORD. (Deuteronomy 23:1)

Under the Law, Daniel could not enter the Temple in Jerusalem. He was an outcast, much like a leper. The Jewish priests in Babylonia would have known this fact about him and they probably shunned him and thought of him as unclean. Yet, who did the Lord pick to be His chosen intercessor to end Israel's Babylonian captivity?3 The nearly ninety year old eunuch: Daniel. It is my strong belief that Daniel's example and his prayer in Daniel 9:3-19 holds answers for us Americans.

1 2

Daniel 1:4-6 http://is.gd/uzIqbD 3 Daniel 9:2

First, I believe part of the answer for America's problems is:

Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. (Daniel 9:3)

Like Daniel, we American believers need to bow down and mourn our sins. We need to quit pointing our fingers at politicians, gays, abortionists, atheists, the media, and whoever else, and weep over our own mistakes. You see, we Christians have surrendered our prophetic roles and have submitted ourselves under today's culture in the name of tolerance and peace. We should be ashamed and unable to even look at ourselves in mirrors.

Then, I believe we need to pray like Daniel did:

O Lord, we American believers have sinned and done wrong. We have rebelled against You and scorned Your commands and regulations. We have refused to listen. Lord, You are in the right; but as You see, our faces are covered with shame. This is true of all of us believers in America. O Lord, our leaders are covered with shame because we believers have sinned against You. Therefore, the Lord has brought upon us disasters You prepared for us. The Lord our God was right to do all of these things, for we did not obey You. O my God, lean down and listen to us American believers. Open Your eyes and see our despair. We make this plea, not because we deserve Your help, but because of Your mercy. (Daniel 9:5-18 paraphrased)

No one can guarantee that God will send revival to America. At best, this is an iffy hope, one which we believers have clutched with iron like grips for over thirty years. If revival comes to America, great! But what if it doesn't, then what? All through the Bible, the one act which has tugged on God's heart and changed His mind about extreme judgments for nations has been repentance. Can we afford to do anything less than that right now?

Consider joining with us on Tuesdays as we fast, pray, and mourn for America's sins.

About the Author

Larry Nevenhoven is a businessman, an author, and a former real estate agent, living with his wife, Carol, in Temecula, California. They are the parents of four children and the grandparents of six grandchildren. Two ferocious cats round out their immediate family. Connect with Larry at his author's website: www.larrywho.com Or his blogs: www.larrywho.wordpress.com www.temeculavalleysurvival.wordpress.com Or Facebook: Larry Nevenhoven Or by email: mr.larrywho@gmail.com