Turning Our Nation Back To God Through Historic Revival
By Brigitta Tedja
Watch Ps Che Ahn preaching here
In the 1860’s, attorney and missionary to China, J. Oswald Sanders, stated, “It is doubtful that any soul is saved apart from the believing prayer of some saint.” Pastor Ché received his salvation on May 25, 1973 due to his parent’s prayers after years of rebellion, drugs, dropped out of his junior year of high school, and even gave himself to eastern religion (Zen Buddhism) for a year. Once he was saved, he was completely off of drugs within 2 weeks and was radically changed.
He stated he was asked by God to begin a revival tour in April and is beginning with CBC Walnut. Pastor Ché asked Winkie Pratney, “How do you stay on fire for Jesus Christ? Winkie Pratney stated, “I read biographies of great men and women of God. I just read about church history.” Pratney sent him many books from Texas and his comment completely inspired him to eventually write a book entitled, Turning Our Nation Back to God Through Historic Revival with what he has learned.
Acts 1 and 2 functions as the springboard text where we see the first revival coming to the Ekklesia—the 120 in the Upper Room. Dr. Luke wrote the gospel of Luke and Acts and is the only Gentile contributor to the Bible. He was well educated so his Greek was very sophisticated. Luke became a disciple of the Apostle Paul, traveling together with him. Luke was a physician and historian and he compiled the gospel in ways not found in the other gospels because he conducted many interviews of their personal encounters.
Acts 1:1-3
“The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach (Jesus was first a doer and then He taught), 2 until the day when He was taken up to heaven, after He had given orders by the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom He had chosen. 3 To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of things regarding the kingdom of God.
1 Corinthians 15 indicated that Jesus appeared to the 500 after His resurrection for 40 days before His ascension.
Acts 1:4
“4 Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
Jesus gave them a radical command to not leave Jerusalem, but not all 500 obeyed. Only 120 people stayed as commanded. We know now that it took 10 days from His ascension to the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descended.
Acts 1:14
14 All these were continually devoting themselves with one mind to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.
The significance of this verse is that they waited with one mind and prayed as they waited, not knowing when the Holy Spirit would come. In John 7, his brothers did not believe Jesus was the Messiah until the scales fell off their eyes after the Resurrection. We now see them present in the Upper Room. James became the leader of the church in Jerusalem by Acts 15, alongside with Jude.
We find the 120 gathered and waited in one accord, with one mind. The Greek word for one mind is homothumadon. Homo means “same” and thumadon means “passion.” Those who waited shared the “same passion,” they were of one mind and in one accord. This word appeared 12 times in the New Testament and 10 of those appear in the Book of Acts alone. This is important because it is part of the conditions for revival.
Conditions for Historic Revival:
Radical Obedience
Extraordinary Prayer
Unity (homothumadon)
Throughout revival history, when you are in revival, you do not know you are in revival and can only look back after that revival lifts. Pastor Ché provided the history of revival movements, specifically in California. He was part of the revival called The Jesus People Movement (1967-1977) that started in Costa Mesa with Chuck Smith (a Foursquare Pastor) who founded Calvary Chapel.
Jesus People Movement: Chuck Smith (1967-1977)
Jack Hibbs is an overflow offshoot of the main Calvary Chapel.
Lonnie Frisbee was a hippie radically saved in San Francisco who moved in extraordinary signs and wonders within the Calvary Chapel circuit. He brought the fire to Vineyard.
Vineyard Movement: John Wimber wanted more of the supernatural and was blessed by Chuck Smith to start that beginning in 1983. Wimber invited Frisbee as first speaker and fire broke out as the Spirit of God manifested in the meetings.
Toronto Blessing in 1994 (Vineyard) Holy laughter that was experienced here was already written in Wesley's journals from the 1700's.
John Wesley wrote a prayer journal and was part of the “Great Awakening of 1738,” with George Whitefield. Whitfield was 22YO and was the “Billy Graham” of his time as people would fall under the power of the Spirit when he preached. Wesley was his professor and he was 28YO. When Whitefield spoke, people fell down in the power of the Holy Spirit. He had a heart for the poor and the uneducated and preached to the coalminers outdoors in Bristol. Whitefield loved drama and incorporated that into his preaching and was able to project his voice clearly among a crowd 30,000 as witnessed by Benjamin Franklin. Whitfield preached daily and thousands came to hear him because of easy accessibility. Wesley (Whitefield’s mentor) took over after Whitefield left for Georgia. Wesley wrote about holy laughter, weeping, falling on the ground, shaking, etc. The two, with Charles Wesley, founded the Methodist denomination because they were so disciplined.
Characteristics of Historic Revival:
1.The Church is Revived
Judgment and repentance (return to first love) needs to occur within the Church first.
1 Peter 4:17 "For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?”
Chronicles 7:14 “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
Romans 13:1-5 “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. 4 For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. 5 Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake.”
Our tax dollars are paying for abortions, and over 60 million babies were murdered since 1973—that is one in every 20 seconds. God established all governments and if they are doing good, we are good citizens, but if they are doing evil, God is the higher authority in whom we need to obey. It is time for the church to be strong and courageous.
Joshua 1:9 “Have I not commanded you to be strong and courageous, for the Lord your God is with you?”
2 Timothy 1:7 “God did not give us the spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind.”
The fear mentioned here is not the word phobas (phobia), but the rare Greek word deilía which means cowardice. We are not called to be cowards. The only other time it is mentioned is in the Book of Revelations chapter 21 whereby cowards will be thrown into the lake of fire alongside murderers and adulterers. This is how God sees cowards. The good news is, we overcome him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony and in Revelations 12:11, we love not our lives even unto death. To be followers of Jesus is “All or Nothing,” not 50% like a layaway plan. The moment Jesus calls you, it is 100% and you are willing to die for His cause.
Pastor Ché stood up for righteousness and his case went up to U.S. Supreme Court. There was a complete reversal of the discriminatory restrictions against churches in California during COVID-19. His case established a precedence and perpetuity for the nation. Obey God, not man. We have lukewarm churches because of lukewarm pastors.
2.The Harvest Comes In
Whitefield made seven trips by ship to America and each time he came, he rode horseback from Georgia to Maine and went a different route so that he could visit different cities. It is estimated that 80% of America heard the gospel through Whitefield. This was before the Revolutionary War, before the Declaration of Independence (1776), and he died in 1760. The founding fathers consisted of 56 signers, 40 of them went to some form of seminary school and had a Christian worldview.
We believe in liberty. We were given free-will, a freedom to choose, so we need to choose good. Our conscience tells us that taking another life is wrong. We are sometimes too seared in sin, so deceived because in 2 Corinthians 4:4 states, “ . . . whose minds the god of this age has blinded . . .” This is spiritual warfare. We need to pray to God for those in office to be either saved or removed. We have a choice. Select public servants who are pro-family, pro-life, and pro-liberty. The Church has been so passive, we need to mobilize the Church.
There is no separation of Church and State. The mandate was given in Genesis 1.
Genesis 1:28 ”Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
To fill the earth is a family mandate. We cannot change society without the family institution. Then we are called to subdue and rule. To subdue in Hebrew means kabash (subdue evil, subdue the enemy). It is a governmental term. We are to subdue evil and to rule. All government is from God. We were given the authority to rule. He is Lord over everything.
Thousands of people received salvation during the Great Awakening, the Welsh Revival had 100,000 who were saved in the first 6 months, and The Jesus People Movement had millions who were saved.
3.The Society is Transformed
We have been praying for His kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven for 2000 years. There is no injustice in heaven. There is no abortion in heaven—the greatest injustice in society now. Psalms 89:14 states that the foundation of God’s throne is righteousness and justice. Justice is society’s social/corporate responsibility but it begins with righteousness in our hearts. Seek first God’s kingdom and do what is right and all your needs will be added and met (Matthew 6:33).
Galatians 1:10 “Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.”
We are not to please man but to serve Jesus. Whatever is contrary to the Word of God, we need to make a stand against it.
A landmark study of millennials by George Barna indicated that only 6% of them have a biblical worldview and 40% are struggling with LGBTQ+ issues when it used to be 1%. This happened because the Church has compromised and refused to preach the Word of God. We need to go back to move forward. Go back to the Word of God in order to move forward in society and in life. We are eternal, the kingdom of God is eternal, and so is the Word of God. We are transformed by the renewal of the mind. Sound judgment comes when we renew our mind with the Word of God. He gives us a sound mind as we read His Word. Love God first and then love others.
Prayer Points:
Pray that as we fast this week, we humble ourselves before God and seek Him
Pray for repentance, a return to our first love (judgment begins with the Church)
Pray that the holy reverential fear of God come upon us
“When someone forgets to believe in GOD, they open themselves to believe in anything.”Pray against lukewarmness
Pray for a renewed and sound mind
Pray to have radical obedience
Pray to have extraordinary prayer
Pray for the unity of Spirit (same passion, of one mind/accord)
Pray for personal revival and in the family, ultimately for church, state, nation
Pray to be strong and courageous (cowardice)
Pray for the Holy Spirit to mobilize us to stand up for righteousness and justice (do good and what is right)
Be the Salt & Light:
Pray for California:
Pray that AB2223 and all the abortion bills will be dead on arrival. (See https://www.judeochristiancaucus.com/bills-and-resolutions for the list of abortion bills currently in progress in Sacramento)
Bills and Resolutions - Judeo-Christian Caucus
The mission of Public School Exit is to facilitate an exodus of American children and families from government-controlled education by educating the public and helping families. We are more than an organization, we are a movement.
Pray for Holy Spirit to move in Sacramento, to bring "Saul to Paul" conversions to our lawmakers.
Pray that the churches in California to rise up and unite to pray and take action to bring California back to Christ.
Pray for America:
On May 23rd, 2022, Biden’s administration plans to end Title 42 which has played a role in limiting the number of migrants coming in from our southern border. When Title 42 is ended, CBP (Custom & Border Patrol) expects there will be an increase in the number of migrants coming in from the southern border:
Pray for wisdom upon our leaders to enact and enforce a just and lawful immigration policy.
Pray for our CBP agents to not be overwhelmed by this increase and pray for their safety.
Gas prices are still high, inflation is still rising. Pray for wisdom and strategy upon our leaders to get things under control.
Pray for Ukraine:
There have been reports of mass civilian casualties in Ukraine, including children, by Russian’s armies.
Continue to declare peace upon this region.
Pray that the international communities keep the pressure on Russia to end this war.
As we pray and fast this week. may the Holy Spirit give us the courage to stand up for righteousness and justice!