In 1970 the Youth Sparked a Revival - Here's How

Revolution! This word, maybe, stares at us from the newspapers and magazines of today, more than any other word.

The world, at this very moment, is in the middle of one of the greatest cultural and moral revolutions it has ever known! This revolution is mainly noticeable and particularly prominent amongst my own age-group—the younger generation.

As I have travelled for the past two and one-half years, throughout the United States, Scandinavia and my own country of Great Britain, I have been able to observe various aspects of that revolution. In Sweden, it took the form of a "moral" revolution, where 'free-love' was the 'in-thing' and marriage was the 'out-thing'; in Great Britain, it was a 'fashion-revolution', where the name of Carnaby Street became famous all over the world for its 'mini' and 'maxi' fashions and in the United States it took the form of a 'youth-culture' revolution, in which thousands of young people, "plugged in, switched on and dropped out" and as a result a new race of youth was born - 'Hippies'. As we now know, only too well, Hippieland has had its own "Babel" and is now split into many other 'tribes'!

Although these revolutions are very real and are still asserting their influences upon many nations of the world, there is a greater and a far more universal revolution being born and becoming very active at this time! It’s a spiritual revolution! I have viewed with equal measures of excitement and astonishment at times, at the way this revolution is sweeping, not just North America and Europe, but its dynamic influence is at this moment being felt throughout the whole world! From the reports of Richard Wurmbrand and others, it is also active behind the Iron and Bamboo Curtains! The power of God, as a result of the baptism in the Holy Spirit, is now evident and is being experienced by hundreds of students in universities and colleges throughout North America, Scandinavia and Europe! An awakening out of a centuries-old, spiritual slumber is now taking place and young people are playing a decisive part in that awakening! God’s revolution is very much underway!!

The church at the beginning was a revolutionary church! Stimulated, energized and empowered by the Holy Spirit they turned the then-known world upside down (see Acts 17:6)! The cultures, courses and destinies of scores of nations were influenced and changed by these revolutionaries for Christ! It is an historical fact that before the end of the first century the church was so moving in the power of the Holy Spirit that its influence and its message of a living, resurrected Christ had reached to the remotest provinces of the Roman Empire! God’s successful missionary program!!

Christ had given to his disciples the commission, "Go ye into all the world..." (Mark 16:15) and they simply obeyed and "they went forth and preached everywhere. The Lord working with them, confirming His Word with signs following" (Mark 16:20)! Christ gave to His disciples the authority of His Name, "In my Name... (see Mark 16:17,18) and the disciples simply used it, this is plainly evident in the Acts of the Apostles!! He gave to them also the power of the Holy Spirit, "But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you..." (Acts 1:8) and this they received for "they were all filled with the Holy Ghost" (Acts 2:4) and then "with great power, they gave witness unto the resurrection of the Lord Jesus" (Acts 4:22)!!

-They utilized all at their disposal and the phenomenal message of a living, resurrected Christ swept the world! Taking into consideration the fact that they did not have all the modern conveniences of travel and communication that we have access to today, this was some revolution!!! They carried on their lips a living message which burned in their hearts! Nothing and no one could stop them for they were moving with God! If one of them perished in the arena of the Coliseum, then ten more seemed to appear from nowhere to carry on! Such was the fervour and such was the boldness of God’s revolutionaries!!

However this revolution began to be hindered, then it was slowly halted and finally it was stifled altogether by the cunning subtlety of the devil! He began to channel into the church, men, whose carnal influence slowly exerted itself until finally they took control of the church and the Holy Spirit was first grieved, then quenched and finally "locked out" of the church completely and subsequently, instead of the church being a living, dynamic and powerful organism, it slowly became a formal and ritualistic institution - the revolution seemed to be suddenly dead and past.

Now, there is again an "arising and a shining, for the light is come and the glory of the Lord has arisen" (Isaiah 60:1) and another revolution has broken out!! This time the revolution will not die but will grow and grow till the Lord Jesus returns. It is at this moment beginning to sweep throughout the world, through governments, through universities, colleges and schools, EVERYWHERE!!!

God foresaw all the events that are taking place before our very eyes today - the corruption of society, the landslide of morals, the unsettling and taking over of governments by atheistic influences and the frantic search for life and fulfillment by today’s "bored" generation - God saw all of this and that is why He is activating His young people and empowering them again with the Holy Spirit, in order that they might once again carry this "spiritual" revolution to the four corners of the earth!!

He is revealing to us that we are Ambassadors for Christ (2 Cor. 5:20); we are His Representatives on this earth, to demonstrate and show to this world in the power of the Holy Spirit that God is NOT dead and that the Lord Jesus Christ is the "same yesterday and today and forever" (Hebs. 13:8)!! We must realize that we are NOT presenting another philosophy or another ideology for "the Kingdom of God is not in word, but in power" (I Cor. 4:20) and Jesus said "You shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you" (Acts 1:8)!!

As Christian young people, called by God, "for such a time as this", we must first allow Christ to be absolute Lord and Master of our total personality and life and then we must truly identify ourselves with Paul’s words and "take unto us the WHOLE armour of God, that (we) may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil" (Ephs. 6:11) and realize fully that "the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds" (2 Cor. 10:4)! The battle is not a natural one, but a spiritual one for "we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" (Ephs. 6:12)!!

As God’s young people, let us become active in the revolution, God’s revolution, by appropriating and using the authority, the weapons and the power provided by the Lord Jesus!!!