Death of a Revival: More Noise, Less Anointing

By David Ryser

Maybe the less you have, the more you are required to boast (John Steinbeck).

“The power is increasing!”

This claim was made from the platform during a revival service.  The move of God had been ongoing for more than four years.  The “fire” had broken out in a small rural town.  It had attracted people from all over the world.  They came to see what God was doing.  They received powerful ministry as God restored them to wholeness according to their individual need.  Over time, the small-town church facility couldn’t hold the crowds. 

It was time for a change.  What should we do?

The decision was made to move the church to a much larger city 100 miles away.  There would be plenty of land on which to build a suitable facility.  There was a major airport in the area, so people from out-of-town could more conveniently access the church and experience God’s power.

It was a good plan.  But was it God’s plan?

The leaders of the church began to receive e-mails and other correspondence from supporters of the revival who were concerned that a move to the big city would adversely affect this precious gift from God.  Rather than be grateful that these people cared enough to share their concerns, the church leadership interpreted these misgivings as criticism.  Their attitude was, “We are the experts.  We know what is best.”

It hadn’t always been that way.

In the early days of the revival, God had come powerfully into a small church located in a small town.  The atmosphere in the services was charged with the presence of God.  Signs and wonders were a routine part of what He was doing.  The congregation humbly welcomed God into their midst.  They were grateful every time God was present…and He always showed up.  They never took Him for granted.  They were awed that He had chosen to abide with them.  As time went on, the presence and power of God increased.

Then we moved.

The revival services continued.  First we met in temporary facilities, and then in a beautiful church building.  God continued to come powerfully into the services.  But something was different.  Something was wrong.  Although people were still coming to the services and receiving ministry, there was a noticeable diminishing of His power.

“The power is increasing!”

This declaration was met with a shout of agreement.  But I knew it wasn’t true.  I felt it in my spirit.  I could see it in the eyes of my fellow congregants.  We knew God’s presence and power was waning, and we didn’t know what to do about it.  We praised louder.  We worshiped more vigorously.  We put more effort into everything we did.

The harder we worked, the less of God’s presence and power we experienced.

Revival is not a place.  It is the work of God in His people that renews them and makes them fully alive in God again.  Even so, many times God moves among a people in a particular place for His own purposes.  The Bible is full of stories of God moving in power among His people in the place of His choosing.  The ongoing story of the Israelites following the cloud and the pillar of fire during the Exodus is perhaps the most well-known of these.  When the cloud/fire would move, the people would move.  When the cloud/fire would stop, the people would stop…and they would stay for as long as the cloud/fire stayed.

The Israelites followed the cloud/fire.  We followed the money.

It wasn’t that simple, of course.  Oh, we did follow after the money.  We also chased the adoration of the crowds.  We pursued fame.  We sought acceptance with the leaders of the very religious system we felt called to reform.  Their flattery was effective, and we ended up seeking the approval of men rather than God.

And the power continued to wane.

The farther we wandered from God, the less we experienced His presence and power.  He slowly withdrew Himself.  We could’ve run after Him.  We didn’t.  We continued to go through the motions of revival while experiencing less of God.  We chased grand visions of ministry.  We pursued notoriety through a variety of media--newspapers, magazines, radio, television, etc.  Our services were animated, but less alive with each passing day.

Revivals, like people, rarely die all at once.

God in His mercy continued to meet people in the services and ministered His love and power to them.  But the spontaneity of the Spirit began to be replaced with conditioned behavior and church programs.  Over time, our church began to resemble the religious system we had lampooned.

We became what we had fled.

I suppose there are a great number of reasons revivals die, just as there are many causes of physical death. 

1.  A move of God can die out because the people begin to become so familiar with the presence and power of God that they no longer esteem and honor it…or Him.  We begin to go through the motions.  Our worship is more akin to the performance of a trained seal than the heartfelt worship in spirit and truth that it should be. 

2.  Sometimes the congregation wants to remain in a place, a system, or a methodology after God has moved on to something else.  Like Peter, wanting to build tents on the Mount of Transfiguration, we contend passionately for what God was doing long after He has left the building. 

3.  Other times we chase after things that are not God.  Shiny things.  Things that glitter and dazzle us.

Crying, “The power is increasing!” the whole time.

And sometimes a revival dies a dignified, natural death.  God moves on.  It is then that we discover whether we fell in love with Him or with His stuff.  When He goes on, will we follow Him?  Or will we stay camped in the old place and pretend that the cloud and the fire are still with us?

Selling religious souvenirs and trying to recapture past glories.

Or, worse yet, occasionally digging up the decaying body of something that once was living and vibrant…and parading the rotting corpse on television as a fresh move of God.

Responses to this article are welcomed.  You may contact the author at drdave1545@yahoo.com

Modern Prophets: Lessons from My Grandfather's Dunghill

By David Ryser

“Sometimes gift is just another word for curse.”  (Lisa Jackson).

A man was attending his first Pentecostal church service.  He listened and watched as prophetic utterances were given and manifestations of speaking in other tongues with the interpretation following were in evidence.  After the service, the man was visiting with the pastor.  “Was that God speaking during the service?” he asked.  The pastor proudly assured him, “Yes, it was.”  The man replied, “Well, if that was God speaking, why didn’t He say anything of consequence?”

That’s a good question.  And it deserves a good answer.

Some time ago, I was reading an e-mailed prophetic “list” named after a famous Old Testament prophet.  It was a compilation of prophecies given by the most recognized prophetic voices in the world.  I was astounded by what I was reading…not positively astounded, mind you, but astounded nonetheless.

As I read through this “prophetic “ newsletter, sifting through the mire and searching for the golden nugget that might or might not be buried deep within, I was increasingly reminded of my grandfather’s dunghill.

My grandfather was a dairy farmer.  Twice a day he would milk the cows and then muck out the barn.  He would shovel the cow waste into a wheelbarrow and then push the wheelbarrow to the back door of the barn where he would dump the waste onto the ground below.  Because the barn was built into a hill, the drop from the back door to the ground was about two stories tall (or seemed so to a young child).

Over time, the dunghill grew taller and taller.  Eventually it grew so tall that my grandfather was able to place a plank from the back door of his barn onto the top of the dunghill.  Then he could wheel his wheelbarrow out to the edge of the dunghill and continue to dump the cow waste.  Thus, the dunghill grew greatly in size.

Before I read the “prophetic list,” my grandfather’s dunghill was the biggest pile of crap that I’d ever seen.

As I consider the sad state of modern prophecy and prophets, I find myself greatly conflicted.  Prophets are in danger of becoming irrelevant.  And they have an important job to do in the Kingdom of God.  One part of their job is to encourage and edify the people of God as they proclaim the word of God (Acts 15:32).  They are also charged with declaring the mind of God as He reveals the future to them.  The prophet Agabus is a New Testament example of this (Acts 11:27, 28 and 21:10, 11).

And Agabus declared the mind of the Lord without giving any advice to people about what to do with the revelation he gave to them.  Unlike many modern prophets, he knew when to speak and when to shut up.

Perhaps the most important part of the prophet’s job is to equip believers to do the work of the ministry and build up the Body of Christ (Ephesians 4:11, 12).  They accomplish this by training the people of God to hear the voice of God for themselves.  If they do not do this part of their job, they are not New Testament prophets.

And if they don't do their job, their gift becomes a curse.

Because if they retain the ability to hear the voice of God unto themselves, it is not long before they begin to use this God-given gift as a platform for doing Christian fortunetelling in front of crowds of people in order to receive their admiration, their adoration, and their money.  They can easily forget that their gifting is not about them.  It is not a means to show off their spirituality.  And it is not given so they can put their “word” on a prophetic list that is little more than a Christian version of the children’s game, “Mine is bigger than yours!”

Who needs this?  A part of me just wants to tune out the whole prophetic thing.  But I can’t.

Shutting off prophecy because it has become more of a curse than a blessing has already been tried.  It was done in Thessalonica at the first century church located there.  Why?  Probably for the same reasons churches all over the country have either shut down or actively curtailed prophetic utterances in their services.  It just doesn’t seem to be worth the trouble. But in 1 Thessalonians 5:20, the apostle Paul commands the church to “Stop despising prophecies” (literal Greek translation).  Then he tells them to test the prophecies (and other spiritual things) and hang onto what is good (verse 21).

In other words, have the sense of an old cow.  Eat the hay and leave the sticks.

So I have determined to honor the true prophetic in the Body of Christ…when, and if, I can find it.  I have connected myself with people who possess the eyes, the ears, and (most importantly) the heart of God.  They are not well-known as yet because they are going lower in Christ at the moment.  And the lower they go into Him, the greater their power.  God is preparing them, and we will be hearing from them.

They are at the bottom right now, but God is about to turn His Church upside-down.  Where will they be then?  For that matter, where will you be?

To the other prophets I would suggest that this is a good time to judge, and police, yourselves (1 Corinthians 14:29, 30).  Or else.  You can, and will, be replaced if necessary.  Please take your rightful place in the Body of Christ.  Become the gift and blessing you were intended to be.

We really do need you…or at least your gifting.  But if your gift becomes a curse to us, we will do without you until God raises up your replacements.  We are willing to wait awhile, if we must, for the real thing.

But in the meantime, I’m not going to read your stupid newsletter…even if it does remind me of my beloved grandfather.

Responses to this article are welcomed.  You may contact the author at drdave1545@yahoo.com

"Pay No Attention to that Man Behind the Curtain!": Church Leadership in Oz

By David Ryser

“Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!” (The “wizard” in the movie, The Wizard of Oz, just prior to being exposed as a fraud).

“These people don’t need to attend three church services per week.  They need a 12 Step Program.”

Looking back, I can see that the person who said this was right.  I wasn’t able to accept it at the time because, whether intentionally or unintentionally, she was talking about me.

God was moving.  The church services were powerful, and the presence of God was so thick as to be almost tangible.  The congregation was excited to be a part of what God was doing on the earth, and we threw ourselves into what we thought was God.  We enthusiastically gave our hearts, souls, strength, and treasure to pursue after Him.  Imagine our disappointment when some of us finally realized that--rather than pursuing God--we were enabling a religious system that was being built to contain, control, manipulate, and merchandise the move of God.

We were being led astray by the church leaders from Oz.

In the movie, The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy and her friends are sent on an adventure by a “wizard” who claims to be all-knowing and all-powerful.  He promises to grant their requests if they are able to perform a suicidal quest to prove their worthiness…without his help.  (Take another look at Luke 11:46 and Matthew 23:4 sometime.)  Unbeknownst to our heroes, the wizard is a phony who is hoping they will fail in their quest so that his cushy gig as the wizard in Oz will be preserved.

And he doesn’t care whether they live or die.  Just so they fail.

After succeeding in their quest, Dorothy and her friends go back to the wizard to receive what has been promised to them.  The wizard tries to put them off to another time.  When this doesn’t work, he resorts to intimidation and threats in order to dissuade them from pressing their demands.  In the midst of his rant, Dorothy’s dog Toto exposes the wizard as a fraud.  The wizard blusters out his final bluff:  “Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!”  But it’s too late.

Game, set, and match.  What does this have to do with church?

In Ephesians 4:11-16, the apostle Paul lists 4 or 5 (depending upon your theological persuasion) ministry gifts and describes their function.  Although the gifts vary, they have a common purpose.  The function of the apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher is to equip the people of God for the work of the ministry and building up of the Body of Christ.  This equipping is to continue until the saints are fully matured.

Any apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, or teacher who does not equip the saints is a fraud.  “But wait a minute,” you say, “I don’t know any of these people who are equipping the saints!  Are they all frauds?”

Bingo!  (Church leader, if you only have gifting, you are a fraud.  A phony.  A humbug.  You are not called to be gifted.  You are called to be a gift.)

And these phony ministers are not, typically, even bad people.  When Dorothy accuses the humbug “wizard” of being “a very bad man,” his response is:  “Oh, no, my dear!  I’m a very good man.  I’m just a very bad wizard.”

Wow.

These church leaders are not bad people.  They are needy people.  They are insecure people.  They are fearful people.  But they are not bad people.

They are just bad leaders.

It is an obscenity when good, gifted people are co-opted by a bad religious system to take the spiritual gifts God gave them to equip others, and use these gifts to perform spiritual tricks for money in a religious dog-and-pony show.

And we pay them to do it while we watch!

Attending the average church service, or watching Christian television for that matter, typically amounts to little more than Christian voyeurism.  It is a kind of porn.  But instead of watching people copulate, we watch them worship or dazzle us with their gifting.  We get our thrills by watching something that someone else is experiencing.

And so we go along on the church treadmill being neither equipped nor transformed.  Yes, we are changed from what we were, but we are not becoming what we have been called and anointed to be.  Even in a move of God, we are hounded by our sins, failures, ambitions, selfishness, wickedness, and personal demons.  We come time and time again for prayer to overcome the same problems.

And in the end, we are little better.

If God is moving, and if we are growing in Him, shouldn’t we be getting better?  Shouldn’t we be experiencing some deliverance and healing over the things that torment us?  Instead, we get just better enough to be useful parts in the church machine, but never truly whole in Christ.  And the entire time our “wizards” hammer home the same message:  “God’s good.  You’re not.  Try harder.”

What a mess!

So we go to multiple church services and do other religious gymnastics, believing that doing the same failed thing more often will bring success.  Hence, my friend’s observation:  “These people don’t need to attend three church services per week.  They need a 12 Step Program.”

Even AA groups don’t usually meet three times a week…and they actually accomplish something worthwhile.

Too many of us, under the supervision of our leadership from Oz, find that in the end we’ve merely exchanged one form of addiction for another.  Where we once pursued whatever it was that bound us, we now just as vigorously pursue religious activities.  We seek to be accepted, admired, and valued based upon our devotion to the church system.  We think we are growing in Christ when in reality we are merely becoming useful cogs in a religious contraption.

I have an idea.  How about we admit that we have a problem? (Step 1)

Let’s pursue God and a personal, intimate relationship with Him.  Let’s run after Him until He catches us.  He wants us more than we want Him.  He desires to deliver and heal us from the things that are keeping us far from Him.  And let’s seek out godly and gifted leaders who will equip us to become what God made us to be.  We’ve submitted ourselves to leaders who have taken advantage of us and abused us.  How hard can it be to submit ourselves to leaders who will love us and be concerned about our welfare?

And, please, do pay attention to that man behind the curtain.

Responses to this article are welcomed.  You may contact the author at drdave1545@yahoo.com