At the turn of the century I received invitations from the Millennial Celebration Steering Committee in the county I minister, and the Director Associate Evangelists’ Ministries to attend a Presentation Meeting concerning a potential Billy Graham Evangelistic Association Crusade in our area. When I looked at the “steering committee” and saw that it was made up of liberals, modernists, charismatic’s, and yes a conservative or two, my mind went directly to a question that the old prophet Amos posed, “Can two walk together except they be agreed” (3:3)? These fellows don’t even agree among themselves much less do they agree with God. The liberal, who thinks he is smarter than God, doesn’t believe the Bible to be the Word of God. The charismatic thinks that if you don’t have the “gifts” you don’t have it. The conservative believes the Bible to be verbally inspired, but denies much of the inspired doctrine. So where are we going? No one in the county desires a God sent “revival” greater than I do-- living here all my life. I hesitate to use the word revival; I prefer the word “awakening”, commonly used until the turn of the 20th century to describe a supernatural visit of the Holy Spirit. The history of revivals shows that great awakenings of God did not come by committee planning, advertising and ecumenical ventures. God moved when it pleased Him to do so during the normal course of the preaching and teaching of “sound” doctrine. A great awakening in our day is much needed, but it will not come until sound doctrine is recovered in the churches. All sound doctrine is interrelated. The doctrine of the gospel is in three parts basically answering the questions: Who is God? Who is man? and What is salvation? Who is God? He is God: not trying to be, or wishing we would let Him be, or wishing we might help Him be. He is God! Who is man? Man is the special creation of God as seen in the account of creation in the first chapters of Genesis, but man fell; so fallen is man that nothing but sovereign grace and the substitutionary work of Christ at Calvary can save him from the damnation of hell. And what is salvation? It is grace--in its concept, in its accomplishment at Calvary, and in the grace of the Sovereign Spirit of God regenerating men to know the grace of God. Why the Billy Graham Association? Why not an unknown, a nobody? Because men by nature think big; notoriety and high esteem makes a great impact on people and draws the crowd. Yet a study of the history of revivals will show that God always starts His fire with small things, with the unheard of (See Zech.4:10 &I Cor.1:27). Plans were big and religious enthusiasm created; a great campaign was pulled off; large crowds and thousands of decisions. But in six months when all the smoke of this man-made fire settled we as a community were right back where we were, a little more religious and just as sinful.
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