David Lingstone/John
(1) DAVID LIVINGSTONE
1813 - 1873
David
Livingstone was born the son of deeply religious but humble parents, who lived
near Glasgow,
Livingstone
pushed two hundred miles north of Moffat's assigned
station and founded another mission station, Mabosta. Livingstone continued on the
mission field and advanced fourteen hundred miles into the interior in spite of
the hardships. His purpose was to open the door of
Many felt no single African
explorer had done so much for African geography as Livingstone during his
thirty years' work. His travels covered one-third of the continent, from the
It's hard to imagine Africa once being called the "dark
continent." Yet this is exactly what it was to the outside world less than 150
years ago. However, thanks to the relentless efforts and commitment of David
Livingstone, Africa became a land open not only to civilization but to the
Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Mrs. J.H. Worchester writes in her book, David Livingstone: First To Cross
Africa With The Gospel, that "as a missionary explorer, [Livingstone] stood
alone, traveling 29,000 miles in Africa, adding to the known portion of the
globe about a million square miles, discovering lakes N'gami, Shirwa, Nyassa,
Morero and Bangweolo, the upper Zambesi and many other rivers, and the wonderful
Victoria Falls. He was also the first European to traverse the entire length of
Lake Tanganyika, and to travel over the vast watershed near Lake Bangweolo, and
through no fault of his own, he only just missed the information that would have
set at rest his conjectures as to the Nile's sources."
After hearing of his death, Florence Nightingale said: "God has taken away the
greatest man of his generation . . ."
Livingstone was born on March 13, 1813, in Blantyre, Scotland, where he spent
the first twenty-three years of his life. His parents, devout Christians, played
an important role in his life by introducing him to the subject of missions.
As a young man, he worked in a local mill, but refused any thought of this
becoming his destiny. By the time he turned twenty-one, Livingstone had accepted
Christ and made up his mind to become a medical missionary.
He heard of Robert Moffat, a missionary to South Africa, tell of the work going
on in Kuruman. Within eighteen months, he saved enough money to continue his
education. After completing medical school, he accepted a position with the
London Missionary Society in South Africa. And on December 8, 1840, he set sail
for Kuruman.
A Coast-To-Coast Venture
However, upon his arrival he was disappointed by the small population of
Africans living in the region. He was determined to reach a larger population. A
year later, he was granted permission to move 700 miles into the African
interior to establish another missionary station. Livingstone wasted no time
setting things up at Mabotsa.
In 1845, he returned to Kuruman where he met and married Robert Moffat's
daughter, Mary. Their marriage lasted eighteen years and witnessed the birth of
four children.
Livingstone often took his family with him while crossing the African
wilderness. Still, there were many times when they could not be together. The
longest period of separation was for three years between November of 1853 and
May 1856. Livingstone completed one of the most amazing journeys ever
undertaken—a coast to coast venture that covered four thousand miles of
unexplored land, most of which was located along the Zambezi River.
Sorrow And Victory
After an extended visit to England, Livingstone and his wife began their last
journey together. It was during this adventure that Livingstone faced the
severest trial of his life; Mary died in 1862 from complications related to
African fever.
Sorrow and discouragement plagued Livingstone: "It was the first heavy stroke I
have suffered, and quite takes away my strength. I wept over her, who well
deserved many tears. I loved her when I married her, and the longer I lived with
her I loved her the more."
After several failed attempts to set up mission stations in the interior and
along the coast, Livingstone concluded God was leading him in another direction.
No European had ever ventured into North Africa. This would be his next goal and
his greatest accomplishment for future missionary work. The charts and maps he
left us changed the way we view Africa.
"I am a missionary, heart and soul," wrote Livingstone. "God had an only Son,
and He was a missionary and a physician. A poor, poor imitation of Him I am, or
wish to be." In this service I hope to live; in it I wish to die." No other
person has done more to further mission efforts than David Livingstone.
Marching inland in 1866, Livingstone reached Lake Nyasson on August 8 and began
journeying north toward Lake Tanganyika. He wrote: "O Jesus, grant me
resignation to Thy will, and entire reliance on Thy powerful hand . . . The
cause is Thine. What an impulse will be given to the idea that Africa is not
open if I perish now! . . ."
Livingstone was often weakened by bouts of African fever. Months rolled by and
then years without the outside world knowing where he was. This is when a New
York reporter, Henry Morton Stanley, accepted the challenge to "find
Livingstone."
On November 10, 1871, Stanley's caravan, loaded with supplies, reached Ujiji,
Africa. A thin, frail Livingstone stepped out to meet him as Stanley bowed, took
off his hat, and spoke the now famous words, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume."
Beloved The World Over
Livingstone was beloved and honored by the world. Yet when Stanley found him, he
was weak and undernourished. The two quickly began a friendship. After
Livingstone's death, it was Stanley who diligently worked to see missionaries
serving in the land his friend had opened.
Death came to David Livingstone on April 30, 1873, after a long illness.
His African companions
reported they found him kneeling beside his bed where he had said his last
earthly prayer. His
body, along with his belongings—papers and maps—was transported to Bagamoyo on
the coast and then sent to England, where he is buried in Westminster Abbey.
Henry M. Stanley, a newspaper
correspondent sent by The New York Herald, set out to
find Livingstone after he had not been heard from for a long period of time.
Stanley was so impressed with Livingstone that after his death he carried on
mission work, leading the king of
(2)
JOHN NEWTON
1725 - 1807
John Newton was the son of an English sea captain. His mother, a deeply pious woman, gave him spiritual instruction until she died when he was only 7 years old. At the age of 11, John went to sea and spent the next twenty years as a sailor engaged in slave trading. His life was spent in the lowest sort of wickedness. At one time he himself was the property of an African woman who fed him only that which she threw under her table.
He was nearly killed several times during terrible storms at sea. During one of those storms his wicked life passed before him and deep conviction caused him to cry out to God for salvation. The next several years were spent in preparation for the ministry. He learned Latin, Greek, and Hebrew; and studied the scriptures intensively.
In 1764 he was appointed pastor
in the parish of
His greatest fame came from his
work as a writer of hymns, the most familiar was
"Amazing Grace" which depicts in its verses the life story of John
Newton.
(3)
LOUIS
S. BAUMAN
1875 - 1950
LOUIS SYLVESTER BAUMAN, pastor, missionary statesman, Bible conference speaker, and author was born on November 13, 1875, died on November 8, 1950 and was buried on his 75th birthday. He was the son of an itinerant Brethren minister and evangelist, William J. H. Bauman. He yielded to the call of God to the Christian ministry in young manhood. After a period of successful ministry, he learned from his mother, "Son, before you were 2 hours old I lifted you in my arms and dedicated you to the Lord for the Christian ministry.
Dr. Bauman
served in pastorates at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Mexico; Roann,
Indiana; Long Beach, California; and,
Early in his pastorate in
His intense desire for the Word
of God led him into a demanding Bible conference ministry along with his
growing church. He credits Drs.
His gifted pen contributed many
articles to the Sunday School Times, King’s Business,
Moody Monthly, and The Brethren Missionary Herald. He authored many booklets
but is best known for his books: The Faith, Light from Bible Prophecy,
Russian Events in the Light of Bible Prophecy, The Time of Jacob’s Trouble,
Philemon, An Exposition, The Modern Tongues Movement, and The
Approaching End of this Age.
(4)
DAVID BRAINERD
1718 - 1747
Missionary to the American
Indians DAVID BRAINERD was born
His formal education consisted
of three years at Yale where he was an excellent student until ill health
forced him to return home. He completed his studies privately until he was
fitted and licensed to preach by the Association of Ministers in
Brainerd did his greatest work by prayer. He was in the depths of the forests alone, unable to speak the language of the Indians, but he spent whole days in prayer, praying simply that the power of the Holy Ghost might come upon him so greatly that the Indians would not be able to refuse the Gospel message. Once he preached through a drunken interpreter, a man so intoxicated that he could hardly stand up, yet scores were converted through that sermon.
Plagued by ill health and the
hardships of the primitive conditions, he died at the early age of twenty-nine
at the home of Jonathan Edwards, to whose daughter he was engaged. After his
death, William Carey read his diary and went to
(5)
JOHN BUNYAN
1628 - 1688
English
Baptist preacher and writer, John Bunyan was born in Elstow,
Soon he began to preach there and also in the surrounding villages which caused the people to recognize in him elements of leadership as well as ability as an expositor of the scriptures. Continuing in his trade as a tinker, he witnessed wherever he went. He spent his holidays and Sundays preaching in barns, shops, village greens, as well as in the open air. Such great crowds began to follow him that it led to his arrest and imprisonment in 1660 for conducting a "conventicle," a religious meeting without the permission of the state church. When offered his freedom if he would promise not to preach, he refused and chose jail. While imprisoned he studied, preached, wrote, and supported his family by making and selling shoe laces.
It was while a prisoner that he
wrote his immortal "Pilgrim's Progress." In 1672 he was released and
immediately resumed his ministry. During the last sixteen years of his life he
was active as pastor, writer, helper, counselor, organizer, administrator, and
pastor-in-chief to a multitude of churches and young ministers. Bunyan was a
champion for the cause of religious liberty and freedom of conscience in
spiritual matters. One who knew him well wrote, "The grace of God was
magnified in him and by him, and a rich anointing of the Spirit was upon him;
and yet this great saint was always in his own eyes the chiefest
of sinners and the poorest of saints." He died in 1688 after riding forty
miles in a driving rain on horseback to
(6)
PETER CARTWRIGHT
1785 - 1873
Peter Cartwright was born in
Amherst County, Virginia. His father was a colonial soldier in the War of
One year later he was licensed as an "exhorter" and began riding a circuit of his own. His appointments were few and far between, and he preached wherever people would open their homes, because "meeting houses" were few. This was the beginning of his long career as a circuit-riding Methodist preacher. Cartwright was a "hellfire and brimstone" preacher after the style of Wesley, and his character and personality often matched his sermons. Often he personally thrashed the "rowdies" who disturbed his camp meetings, after which he saw many of them "get religion."
His fearlessness is described in
an incident which took place in
In over fifty years of traveling
circuits in Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, Cartwright
received ten thousand members into the Methodist Church, personally baptized
twelve thousand people, and preached more than fifteen thousand sermons. He was
strongly opposed to easy religion, education and culture in the ministry. His
equipment consisted of a black broadcloth suit and a horse with saddlebags,
while his library was composed of a Bible, a hymnbook, and a copy of Methodist
Discipline. He was the epitome of the Methodist circuit riders who firmly
planted the "old time religion" in the frontier of the infant
(7)
JONATHAN EDWARDS
1703 - 1758
American theologian and
philosopher, Jonathan Edwards, was born in
He served pastorates in
Edwards is perhaps best known for a sermon he preached entitled, "Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God" during which "strong men fell as though shot and women became hysterical." Through his preaching thousands were converted to the Lord Jesus Christ.
(8) JAMES HUDSON
1832 - 1905
Pioneer missionary, James Hudson
In 1858, after working in a
hospital for four years, he married the daughter of another missionary. He
returned to
In 1870 his wife and two of their
children died of cholera. He remained in
(9)
CHRISTMAS EVANS
1766 - 1838
Welsh Baptist minister, Christmas Evans was born near the village of Llandyssul, Cardiganshire, on Christmas day, 1766. His father, a shoemaker, died soon after and Christmas grew up as an illiterate farm laborer in the care of a godless, cruel uncle. At the age of seventeen, he became a servant to a Presbyterian minister in whose church he was converted during a revival meeting. He began to learn to read and to write and to take an interest in spiritual things which caused his former companions in sin to beat him severely and to put out one of his eyes. The Baptists of Llandyssul influenced him greatly, and he joined the Baptist church there.
In 1790 at the age of
twenty-four, he was ordained and began to travel the entire country of
In spite of his early
disadvantages and personal disfigurement, Christmas Evans was a remarkably
powerful preacher. To a natural aptitude for this calling he united a nimble
mind and an inquiring spirit; his character was simple, his piety genuine, and
his faith fervently evangelical. His chief characteristic was a vivid and
affluent imagination, which under the control of the Holy Spirit, earned for
him the name of "the Bunyan of
(10)
GEORGE FOX
1624 - 1691
George Fox, founder of the
Society of Friends (Quakers), was born at Drayton-In-The-Clay,
In my very young years I had a gravity and stayedness of mind and spirit not usual in young children: insomuch that when I saw old men behave lightly and wantonly toward each other, I had a dislike thereof raise in my heart, and I said within myself, "If ever I come to be a man, surely I shall not do so, nor be so wanton."
At the age of nineteen he gained
deep personal assurance of his salvation and began to travel as an itinerant
preacher seeking a return to the simple practices of the New Testament. He
abhorred technical theology and preached a faith born of experience, freshly
fed, and guided by the immediate presence of the Holy Spirit.
Fox was persecuted almost daily, yet his power of endurance was phenomenal. He was beaten with dogwhips, knocked down with fists and stones, brutally struck with pike staves, hard beset by mobs, incarcerated eight times in the pestilential jails, prisons, castles and dungeons: yet he went straight forward with his mission as though he had discovered some fresh courage which made him impervious to man's inhumanity.
He undertook as far as possible to let the new life in Christ take its own free course of development in his ministry. He shunned rigid forms and static systems and for that reason he refused to head a new sect, or to start a new denomination, or to begin a new church. He would not build an organization of any kind. His followers at first called themselves, "Children of the Light" and later adopted the name, "The Society (or Fellowship) of Friends."
Fox
preached and travelled for forty years throughout
England, Scotland, Holland, and
(11)
JONATHAN GOFORTH
1859 - 1936
Missionary
to
During the Boxer Rebellion of
1900, the Goforths barely escaped with their lives
though suffering severe wounds. They returned to the Orient and helped start a
revival in
Although Goforth
was blind the last years of his life, he and his wife promoted missions until
they went home to be with the Lord.
(12) EVAN ROBERTS
1878 - 1950
Evan Roberts, leader of the
Welsh revival, worked in coal mines, but he walked in the heavenlies.
Never without his Bible, he prayed and wept for eleven years for revival in
Evan did
not preach, he led the meetings, praying, "Plyg ni, O Arglwydd!" -- "Bend us, O Lord,"
and urging, "Obey the Holy Spirit...Obey!" The Calvinistic
Roberts' life ministry was
burned out in the short months of the 1904-05 Welsh Revival. Broken in health,
he retired from public view for the remaining half-century of his life.
(13)
CYRUS INGERSOLL SCOFIELD
1843 - 1921
Born in
As a boy, Cyrus had a thirst for knowledge and was exceedingly thorough in his investigations. Whenever he came upon a person or event of which he knew little, he would pursue the subject until he became knowledgeable concerning it. This prepared him to become a competent scholar later in life. Although his parents were Christian and the Bible was read in the home, Cyrus didn't consider it a book for investigative study but one to enjoy merely for its stories. His religious experience prior to conversion was superficial.
The Civil War prevented him from
entering the university and he never did receive a formal collegiate education.
At seventeen he entered the Confederate Army, and because he was an excellent
horseman he became an orderly. He frequently carried messages under gunfire.
The Confederate Cross of Honor was awarded him for bravery at
When the war was over, Scofield studied law in
Scofield immediately became active in
Christian work. He was ordained in
Through the influence of private
talks with Hudson Taylor of the China Inland Mission and also a book by a
brilliant journalist traveler, William Eleroy Curtis,
Scofield felt God directing his attention toward the
Central American region for missionary activity. The church at
Concerning the Reference Bible,
he asked himself this question: "What kind of reference Bible would have
helped me most when I was first trying to learn something of the Word of God,
but ignorant of the very first principles of Bible study?" This was a tremendous
undertaking and took a great deal of tedious work and genius. He and his wife
made trips to
In reflecting upon his own
lifetime Scofield recalls the two great epochs of his
life: "The first was when I ceased to take as final human teachings about
the Bible and went to the Bible itself. The second was when I found Christ as
Victory and Achievement." Scofield died on
Sunday morning
(14)
THE UNKNOWN CHRISTIAN
This Christian never made the headlines as a great theologian or a silver-tongued orator. He (or she) is a faithful, consecrated, born-again layman. The foot soldier in the Gospel army. He (or she) is a Sunday School teacher, an usher, a singer, a bus worker, a nursery helper, a parking lot attendant, or a prayer warrior. His (or her) service is unheralded but vital in the cause of Christ. His (or her) testimony adorns the Gospel as he (or she) faithfully witnesses daily "in the temple, and in every house," sacrificing time, talent, and tithe to the Lord.
Having served the Lord in the home, the church, and the world, this Christian will one day hear the Master say, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord." (Matthew 25:21).
(15) Pandita Ramabai
by David Smithers
Fire kindles more fire. In 1904 one of the most
significant revivals of the modern Church age swept through
Pandita
established a center for young widows and orphans called "Mukti" meaning - salvation or deliverance. She longed
to see a powerful revival among the neglected and helpless widows of
Lessons were suspended and the women gave themselves to continual prayer.
During these days of heart-searching repentance many girls had visions of the
"body of sin" within themselves. They testified that the Holy Spirit
came into them with holy burning, which they called a baptism of fire, that was almost unbearable.
Another reporter of these revival incidents stated, "the
girls in
G. H. Lang after spending some time at Mukti
observing the revival wrote, "little girls were lost for hours in the
transport of loving Jesus and praising Him. Young Christians were counting it a
rare privilege to spend many successive hours in intercessory prayer for
strangers never seen or known . . . In one meeting we were seventeen hours
together; the following day more than fifteen hours passed before the meeting
broke up with great joy." "Dr. Nicol MacNicol, the scholarly biographer of Pandita
Ramabai reported that these who seemed to have such
emotional blessings at the time of the revival were still living steadfast,
godly lives twenty years later."
The life of Pandita Ramabai
is a strong encouragement for us to apply ourselves diligently to the word of
hope. This precious young woman armed only with a God given vision and the news
of Christ's fresh work in
(16) William C. Burns
by David Smithers
In September of 1840
William C. Burns, like M’Cheyne, was not
merely a man of hopeful theories and empty words. Through his fervent praying
and preaching, literally thousands witnessed the tangible glory of God. From an
early age, William C. Burns heart was broken for a
lost and dying world. The story is told that when he was seventeen he was
brought by his mother from the quiet town of
The spiritual eyes of young William Burns had caught a glimpse of
the everlasting horrors of a Christless eternity. This vision no doubt help shape this young man who would
later become one of the key instruments in the great Kilsyth
Revival of 1839. He often found himself being driven to his knees in almost
constant intercession. "He wept for hours in deep soul agony on behalf of
a backslidden church and the lost souls going to hell." His ministry was
consistently marked by a divine urgency and intensity. As a result, his
preaching produced extraordinary results.
Mr. Burns recalls a time during the Kilsyth
Revival when strong men fell powerless under the power of the Gospel hammer.
"During the whole time that I was speaking, the people listened with the
most solemn attention. At last their feelings became too strong and broke forth
in weeping and wailing, tears and groans, intermingled with shouts of glory and
praise from some of the people of God. The appearance of a great part of the
people gave me a vivid picture of the state of the ungodly in the day of
Christ’s coming to judgement. Some were screaming out
in agony. Strong men fell to the ground as if they were dead. Such was the
general commotion even after repeating for some time the most free and urgent
invitations of the Lord to sinners."
Later, William C. Burns learned that the night before this powerful
meeting a group of believers had gathered to labor in prayer for the lost and
ungodly. During those wonderful days of revival glory it was not uncommon for
Mr. Burns and many others to fervently pray and travail throughout the night.
As a result the glory of God fell day after day. Again, William C. Burns
describes for us the miraculous affect of the Spirit of revival. He writes,
"At the conclusion of a solemn address to some anxious souls suddenly the
power of God seem to descend, and all were bathed In
tears. It was like a pent-up flood breaking forth. Tears were streaming from
the eyes of many and some fell on the ground crying for mercy... The whole town
was moved. The ungodly raged but the word of God grew mightily and
prevailed."
Even after being used of God to turn
In 1855, William C. Burns unexpectedly met a young missionary in
"We were in the habit of leaving our boats, after prayer for
blessing, at about
William C. Burns was driven by an all-consuming passion for the Lamb
of God. In Burns, God found a man who truly cared. He cared enough to listen,
obey, and stay on his knees. William Burns recognized that shallow and
superficial praying was one of the greatest hindrances to the
In Ezekiel 22:30,31, the prophet warns us
of what happens when God cannot find true men and women of broken-hearted
prayer and obedience. - "So I sought for a man among them who would make a
wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not
destroy it, but I found no one. "Therefore I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire
of My wrath; and I have recompensed their deeds on their own heads, says the
Lord God." Whom among us will STAND In the gap
and pray, and then pray again until heaven comes down to earth?
(17) John Sung
The Apostle of Revival
by David Smithers
The modern Church, much like ancient
One of the most unique prophetic men of the Twentieth Century was
the revivalist, John Sung. He operated as a true apostolic evangelist, with
countless signs and wonders following his ministry. Unlike any other modern
saint that I have ever studied, John Sung epitomizes that rare combination of
New Testament purity and power. His life and ministry were powerfully marked by
a genuine prophetic anointing. He was the embodiment of a burning zeal,
unquenchable passion and an unrelenting fearlessness. Some called him the
"John Wesley of
John Sung was born on
On
After finally being discharged, John boarded a ship on
He always emphasized repentance and the need for complete
restitution where it was at all possible. He fearlessly denounced all sin and
hypocrisy wherever he found it, especially among hardened ministers. Yet he
also moved audiences with the message of Christ's tender and unfailing love,
like few others could. Dr. Sung's meetings were
always accompanied by a tremendous amount of conviction and brokenness over
sin. It was not uncommon for hundreds of people to be seen with tears streaming
down their faces and crying out for mercy. Convicted sinners frequently would
rush forward to openly confess their sins before the whole congregation.
"In the course of his preaching, Dr. Sung often received the gift of
prophecy." On several occasions he pointed out the sins of some backslidden
pastor with an incredible and fearful accuracy. Leslie T. Lyall
writes, "Sometimes he would single out an individual, a pastor or office
bearer in the church, and say, 'There is sin in your heart!' And he was always
right."
When John Sung was not actively preaching or organizing a new
evangelistic team, he usually could be found writing in his diary or adding to
his ever growing prayer list. He carefully prayed over an extensive list of
people's needs, which was accompanied by dozens of small photographs. John Sung
was a faithful intercessor and always requested a small picture of those
desiring prayer in order to help him intercede with a deeper burden. Everywhere
he went, he urged the people to give themselves to prayer. "The fact that
the
Because it was evident that John Sung was a man of great power in
prayer, the sick and crippled increasingly came to him to receive prayer for
their bodies. John Sung always made time to tenderly pray for their needs.
"Dr. Sung usually had one meeting in every campaign at which he would give
an address on healing and the necessity for sincere repentance before inviting
the sick to come forward." Hundreds were instantly healed of every kind of
ailment and disease. The blind received their sight; the lame walked, and the
deaf and mute were all wonderfully healed as John Sung cried out to Jesus in
prayer. Sometimes he would personally lay hands on and pray for as many as
500-600 people at one time. In spite of the fact that so many marvelous
healings followed his ministry, he suffered for years from intestinal
tuberculosis. This disease consistently plagued him with painful and infected
bleeding ulcers in his colon. Nevertheless he still continued to fervently
preach, sometimes in a kneeling position to lesson the terrible pain. Finally
after years of suffering with this affliction, he died at only 43, on
John Sung was a true revival pioneer. He lead multiplied thousands
of Chinese and Southeast Asians into new realms of spiritual power and reality.
The call of revival, is a call to be a pioneer! If we
are serious about revival, we must be willing to go places were the modern
Church has never been or has long forgotten. Therefore we must stop looking to
contemporary Christianity for the steps to our revival dreams and visions. We
cannot afford to let the Church's present weakness and failure steal our hope
and faith for a future revival. God is not calling us to imitate the weak
things around us. He is inviting us to believe Him for the power and purity of
the Church as seen in the New Testament! Our seventy years are finished, and
it's time for us to stop listening to Sanballat and Tobiah and get busy rebuilding the House of Prayer (Dan
9:1-3, Ezra 1:1-5).
(18) William Bramwell
by David Smithers
"For thus says the Lord...'Seek Me and Live'." (Amos
5:4). The life of William Bramwell is a vivid
picture of one who followed hard after God and as a result truly lived.
Motivated by a fervent love and a haunting view of eternity, William Bramwell sought the face of Jesus with all his heart.
"Mr. Bramwell's love for God was always
increasing. The beauties of holiness inflamed his soul with an intense desire
to be like God and in all things to glorify Him."
It is in a letter written by Mr. Bramwell in 1807
that we get a glimpse of the driving passions that motivated his life and
ministry. He writes, "Pray, O pray, my brother! never,
never quit your hold of the fullness of God; for time is nearly over, and if
this fullness be lost it will be lost forever. I am astonished that we do not
pray more, yea, that we do not live every moment as on the brink of the eternal
world, and in the blessed expectation of that glorious country."
Again he writes, "I grieve that my love is no stronger, and that I am no
more like Him. I wonder at His glory, and sink before Him with shame. How is it
that the soul being of such value, and God so great, eternity so near and yet
we are so little moved?"
William Bramwell sought to redeem every moment for
the
Like all who enjoy such intense seasons of prayer, Mr. Bramwell
exchanged his cares for the cares and sorrows of Jesus Christ. The weight of a
lost world and a struggling Church time and again brought him to his knees in
travailing prayer. "The Holy Spirit awakened in his heart a deep sympathy
for perishing souls. He saw multitudes around him in the broad way to destruction, and longed to snatch them as brands from the
fire."
"He wept over the impenitent and labored to convince the gainsayers. He
brought the terrors of the Law and the mild persuasives
of the Gospel to bear upon the hearts of his hearers and thus urged them to
flee from the wrath to come."
Year after year Mr. Bramwell's ministry of prayer and
preaching produced lasting results. Churches were revived, the sick were healed
and sinners were saved to the uttermost. Mr. Bramwell's
success, without question was the fruit of his ever growing hunger for more of
Jesus. By faith he reaped the rewards of his earnest and constant seeking.
Are we as believers truly hungry for more of Jesus, or are we merely claiming
the revival blessings of God, while never meeting the covenant conditions of a
seeking heart? Proverbs 2:3-5 reminds us to cry out and lift up our
voice for the riches of Christ. To seek the ways of God like silver and hidden
treasure, and THEN we will be rewarded with the fear and knowledge of God. If
we are serious about seeing a real and lasting move of the Holy Spirit, we must
follow Mr. Bramwell's example and commit the BEST of
our time and energy to seeking the face of Jesus in prayer.
(19) Stonewall Jackson
by David Smithers
"And I sought
for a MAN among them, that should make up the hedge,
and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but
I found none. - Ezek. 22:30.
The future of a nation is directly dependent upon the choices of
its men. It is here that the men of
In General "Stonewall Jackson", God found a true man who would stand
in the gap. Both strong and tender, the motto of his life was, "Lord what
wilt thou have me to do?" As fervent in the field of battle, so was
"A friend was once conversing with Jackson about the difficulty of obeying
the scripture injunction, 'pray without ceasing,' and Jackson insisted that we
could so accustom ourselves to it, that it could be easily obeyed. When we take
our meals there is the grace. When I take a drink of water, I always pause, as
my palate receives the refreshment, to lift up my heart to God in thanks and
prayer for the water of life. Whenever I drop a letter into the box at the post
office I send a petition along with it for God's blessings upon its mission and
upon the person to whom it is sent. When I break the seal of a letter just
received I stop to pray to God that He may prepare me for its contents and make
it a message of good. When I go to my classroom and await the arrangement of the
cadets in their places, that is my time to intercede
with God for them. And so of every other familiar act of the
day." Though a man of superior abilities,
As a general in the Confederate Army, "Stonewall Jackson" had a
profound influence over his men. It was his holy and prayerful example that
contributed to the great revival among the Southern troops. By midsummer of
1863, revival had spread to all the Confederate armies. A chaplain of the 26th
Alabama Regiment said that his unit alone averaged 100 converts a week for
several weeks. During this same time another chaplain declared that, 'modern
history presents no example of an army so nearly converted. A third of all
soldiers in the field were men of prayer and members of some fellowship. J. W.
Jones suggested that 150,000 conversions took place in Lee's Army alone. It was
this revival that no doubt prepared the South for the humiliation that was to
follow their eventual defeat, but best of all the revival prepared thousands of
young and old alike to meet Christ in eternity. Truly, General Jackson impacted
our history through the power of prayer.
What is our greatest need today in our morally fallen nation? We need a
tenacious, tender, tearful and Holy Ghost bold army of true MEN! Oh God, make
us MEN!
(20) James Caughey
by David Smithers
J.
A. Stewart has rightly said, "Apart from the mighty enduement
of the Spirit of Pentecost, all our Gospel services will be in vain. The
natural, unregenerate man cannot comprehend the things of the Spirit. His
darkened mind can only be enlightened by the divine intervention of God, the
Holy Ghost. He cannot be argued, fascinated, bullied or enthused into accepting
Christ as Savior. It is not enough that we clearly expound the Gospel. It must
be given in the demonstration and power of the Spirit and then applied by
Him." It was this burning revelation that radically transformed the
ministry of a young Methodist preacher by the name of James Caughey.
James Caughey was born in
"(1) The absolute necessity of the
immediate influence of the Holy Ghost to impart power, efficacy, and success to
a preached Gospel.
(2) The absolute necessity of praying more frequently, more
fervently, more perseveringly, and more believingly for the aid of the Holy
Spirit in my ministry.
(3) That my labors will be powerless, and comfortless, and
valueless, without this aid; a cloud without water, a tree without fruit, dead
and rootless; a sound uncertain, unctionless and
meaningless; such will be the character of my ministry. It is the Spirit of God
alone which imparts significance and power to the Word preached, without which,
as one has expressed it, all the threatenings of the
Bible will be no more than thunder to the deaf or lightning to the blind. A
seal requires weight, a hand upon it in order to make an impression. The soul
of the penitent sinner is the wax; Gospel truth is the seal, but without the
Almighty hand of the Holy Ghost, that seal is powerless . . .
(4) No man has ever been significantly useful in winning souls to
Christ without the help of the Spirit. With it the humblest talent may astonish
earth and hell, by gathering into the path of life thousands for the skies,
while without the Spirit, the finest and most splendid talents remain
comparatively useless . . ."
From this time Mr. Caughey's labors were
more fruitful, but not so as to distinguish him above many other Methodist
preachers of the day. He pastored and occasionally
evangelized in the
Mr. Caughey's ministry consistently left
an intense impact on all those who attended his meetings. Often his services
were filled with the sounds of hundreds of hungry souls simultaneously sobbing
and crying out for more of Jesus. In the autumn of 1843 in
On occasions the manifestations accompanying Mr. Caughey's
ministry went far beyond the accepted norms usually associated with modern,
English Methodism. As we have already noted, extended seasons of intense
weeping and piercing cries were quite common in Caughey's
meetings. However, there were also some occasional instances of a more drastic
nature. In
Those who were closest to the revivalist were often asked how Mr. Caughey managed to consistently flow in the power of the
Holy Spirit. The answer was almost always the same. -Knee work! Knee work! Knee
work! This was his secret! James Caughey was a man
committed to faith-filled, travailing prayer. "He spent many hours of each
day on his knees, with his Bible spread open before him, asking wisdom from on
high, and beseeching a blessing from God on the preaching of His Word. This was
his almost constant employment between breakfast and dinner." Caughey's anointed ministry was merely the outward fruit of
a lifestyle of constant praying in the Holy Ghost.
Mr. Caughey's lengthy revival ministry in
Revivals are seasons of intense and rapid spiritual growth, and such
growth always involves change. Growing children demand new and larger garments,
just as growing trees need room for their expanding roots. The sincere seekers
of lasting revival must be willing to change and yield to the Spirit's control.
The wind, water, and fire of the Holy Ghost are ever moving elements that
require plenty of room to breathe. We must beware of quenching and smothering
the influence of the Holy Spirit by our predetermined preferences and stiff
religious traditions. True revival will not come through our fleshly might or
organizational power, but ONLY by God's Spirit! Have we given the Holy Spirit
permission to change US?
(21) Gilbert
Tennent
by David Smithers
"It is good for me that I have
been afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes."
Psalm 119:71
It was upon the bed of affliction that Gilbert Tennent
was taught of God. In approximately 1728 this young gifted
Presbyterian minister become extremely ill. Uncertain if he would
recover, he entered into a deep vision of eternity and time of repentance. He
writes, "I was then exceedingly grieved I had done so little for God . . .
I therefore prayed to God that He would be pleased to give me one half year
more. I was determined to promote His kingdom with all my might and at all
adventures."
Mr. Tennent's prayer was answered, and he was revived
in both body and spirit. He labored as never before to, "Sound the trumpet
of God's judgment and alarm the secure by the terrors of the Lord." He was
a man literally consumed with a vision of the holiness of God. As a result he
urgently warned the stubborn sinner and hypocrite of a final judgment and
eternal hell.
The anointed George Whitefield writes of him, "Hypocrites must soon be
converted or enraged at his preaching. He is a son of thunder and does not
regard the face of man. He is deeply sensible of the deadness and formality of
the Christian church in these parts, and has given noble testimonies against
it." Gilbert Tennent preached as if "never
sure to preach again, and as a dying man to dying men."
His preaching was far from typical of his day. A historian of the "Great
Awakening" describes the average minister's methods, "The habit of
the preachers was to address their people as though they were all pious and
only needed instruction and confirmation. It was not a common thing to proclaim
the terrors of a violated law and insist on the absolute necessity of
regeneration."
Mr. Tennent himself describes this kind of popular
preaching. "They often strengthened the hands of the wicked by promising
them life. They comfort people before they convince them; sow before they plow:
and are busy in raising a fabric before they lay a foundation. These foolish
builders strengthen men's carnal security by their soft, selfish, cowardly
discourses. They have not the courage or honesty to thrust the nail of terror
into the sleeping souls!"
From 1736 through the 1740's, Gilbert Tennent's
ministry was greatly blessed in promoting revival among the middle colonies in
It must be remembered that the American church in the 18th century would
probably have died of dry rot without the Spirit-filled ministry, of Gilbert Tennent. During one of Bostons
most severe winters, people waded through the snow night and day for the
benefit of hearing the fiery Tennent preach.
"You could criticize him; you could praise him; but you could not ignore
him!" No one slumbered peacefully when he was around; not even the church.
Gilbert Tennent was in truth, the voice of one crying
in the wilderness - REPENT!
He could boldly warn men of the wrath of God because he had boldly agonized and
travailed for their souls, "Often his soul wept in secret for the pride
and obstinacy of those who refused to be reclaimed." Throughout Tennent's ministry he kept his zeal and love for Christ
fervent through constant prayer. "He made prayer his chief and most
delightful employment."
Proverbs 27:1 says, "Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what
a day may bring forth." We have no promise of another day or even another
hour, yet we too often live and breathe for the things of this world. What we
desperately need is a revelation of eternity, of a real hell, and of a God who
is to be loved and feared! If we truly had such a vision, we would not let one
day go by without urgently warning the sinner and backslider. We would not let
one hour go by without fervently praying for a true heaven sent revival.
(22) E.M. Bounds
by David Smithers
E. M. Bounds in his book "Prayer and Praying Men", wrote
"Elijah learned new and higher lessons of prayer while hidden away by God
and with God . . " This statement is certainly
also true of its author. E. M. Bounds was a man hidden away by God and with God
in prayer. During his lifetime he never attracted a large following or gained
the success and reputation that one might expect. After forty-six years of
faithful ministry he still was virtually unknown. Out of the eight classics on
prayer he wrote, only two were published during his lifetime. Though hidden and
unrecognized while alive, E.M. Bounds is now considered by most evangelicals as
the most prolific and fervent author on the subject of prayer.
E. M. Bounds was born on
It became increasingly apparent that E.
M. Bounds was gifted in building and reviving the Church. This prophet of
prayer often made preachers uncomfortable with his call for holiness and his
attacks on lusting for money, prestige and power. "His constant call for
revival annoyed those who believed that the Church was essentially sound . .
." God gave him a great prayer commission, requiring daily intercession.
He labored in prayer for the sanctification of preachers, revival of the Church
in
W. H. Hodge, who is responsible for putting most of Bounds' writings into
print, gives us some personal insights into Bounds' life. He writes, "I
have been among many ministers and slept in the same room with them for several
years. They prayed, but I was never impressed with any special praying among
them until one day a small man with gray hair and an eye like an eagle came
along. We had a ten day convention. We had some fine preachers around the home,
and one of them was assigned to my room. I was surprised early next morning to
see a man bathing himself before day and then see him get down and begin to
pray. I said to myself, 'He will not disturb us, but will soon finish', he kept
on softly for hours, interceding and weeping softly, for me and my
indifference, and for all the ministers of God. He spoke the next day on
prayer. I became interested for I was young in the ministry, and had often
desired to meet with a man of God that prayed like the saints of the Apostolic age. Next morning he was up praying again, and for
ten days he was up early praying for hours. I became intensely interested and
thanked God for sending him. 'At last,' I said, I have found a man that really
prays. I shall never let him go. He drew me to him with hooks of steel."
In closing let us consider some of E. M. Bounds' remarks on revival,
"Revivals are among the charter rights of the Church . . . A revival means
a heartbroken pastor. A revival means a church on its knees confessing its sins
- the sins of the individual and of the Church - confessing the sins of the
times and of the community."
(23) Andrew A.
Bonar
by David Smithers
Truly great men, seldom recognize their own worth. Such a great man, was Andrew Bonar. His diary is a virtual text book on
the qualities of brokenness and humility. Almost every page seems to be filled
with expressions of his transparency and sense of unworthiness apart from Jesus
Christ. For the true saint, the path of brokenness leads straight to the throne
of grace. Andrew Bonar was no exception to this divine rule. Majory Bonar, Mr. Bonar's daughter, describes his diary as
a "revelation of one who prayed always and who prayed everywhere."
John J. Murray wrote of Andrew Bonar, "He did not believe in any shortcut
to holiness and usefulness in the work of God. He knew that the one and only
way to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ was daily
and hourly communion with the Father and the Son". Andrew Bonar, himself
wrote, "There is too much time taken up with active work for the Kingdom.
Surely if God's servants are to speak and preach in the power of the Holy
Spirit they must again give themselves continually to prayer. . ."
Andrew Bonar was just one of many Scottish ministers used of God during the Kilsyth Revival of 1839-1840. The ministers most honored by
Christ's presence during this time of refreshing were W. C. Burns, Robert
Murray McCheyne, Alexander Moody Stuart and Andrew
Bonar. All of these men were close friends who encouraged one another in the
practice of constant prayer. Soon after the decline of the Kilsyth
Revival, Andrew Bonar Said, "I have learned by experience that it is not
much labor but much prayer that is the only means to success." Mr. Bonar
was able to accomplish much with men in public because he spent much time with
Jesus Christ in private. The daily entries of Bonar's diary testify of this
fact. He wrote on
In a letter to a close friend Andrew Bonar wrote, "Oh brother pray; in
spite of Satan, pray; spend hours in prayer, rather neglect friends than not
pray, rather fast, and lose breakfast, dinner, supper and sleep too - than not
pray. And we must not talk about prayer - we must pray in right earnest. The
Lord is near. He comes softly while The Virgins Slumber." Andrew Bonar
lived in a time of revival and yet he was always praying for more of God's
revival power. His diary again makes this clear. Wednesday, 21st, -
"Enabled to spend nearly the whole day in prayer, praise and confession. I
was led to deep humiliation for our church, and prayer
for the outpouring of the Holy Ghost on my people. I spread out several
promises before the Lord, and my heart was sore with desire and yet glad with
expectation of what this day may obtain for me. But I find true what Samuel
Rutherford wrote: 'A bed watered with tears, a throat dry with praying, eyes a
fountain of tears for the sins of the land are rarely to be found among
us.'"
Andrew Bonar was a man who was intimately acquainted with Jesus Christ. As a
result he saw what Jesus saw and therefore cared, wept and prayed like Jesus.
Far too often our own eyes are dry because our eyes are blind to the needs
around us. Many of us have become blinded by the temporal, till we can no
longer see the eternal reality of the holiness of heaven and horrors of hell.
Lord draw us back to the prayer closet where blind
eyes see and hardened hearts are broken. Lord, have mercy and bring us to
brokenness!
(24) Mordecai Ham
by David Smithers
"What is the secret of the anointing of the Holy Spirit? Does
God endue men in a sort of haphazard way? Has He favorites? Certainly not!
God's difficulty is to find men who are willing to pay the price."
Mordecai Ham was a man who was willing to pay the price and as a result was
powerfully anointed by the Holy Spirit. Early on in his ministry he had some
striking experiences with the Holy Spirit that helped prepare him for the
prophet-revivalist role he would later operate in. Mr. Ham writes, "I had
an overwhelming experience of the Lord's presence. I felt so powerfully
overcome by the nearness of the Holy Spirit that I had to ask the Lord to draw
back lest He kill me. It was so glorious that I couldn't stand more than a
small portion of it." As his spiritual life deepened, his success as a
revivalist increasingly spread. An early example of the fruitfulness of Mordecai
Ham's ministry is seen in a
Mr. Ham's success was not the result of traditional evangelistic methods, but
the fruit of Apostolic power. Often he would seek out
the worst of sinners in the community and then proceed to pray and plead with
them until they were surrendered to Christ, resulting in a great in-gathering
of the lost. At other times he faced down stubborn opposers
of the gospel, declaring he would pray to God to either convert them or kill
them. In Mr. Ham's biography there are several incidents recorded where those
who resisted and opposed the Holy Spirit were brought to swift judgment.
"The evangelist recalls with great reluctance that deaths took place
during many of his great campaigns. Ambulances would have to come and carry bodies
away from our services." "Many persons that openly fought a Ham
meeting met with some form of violent death soon after." (Acts 5:1-11).
So, as the Holy Spirit was being poured out, some were visited with judgment
while others were saved and even physically healed.
Charles Spurgeon rightly said "that a church in the land without the
Spirit is rather a curse than a blessing. If you have not the Spirit of God,
Christian worker, remember that you stand in somebody else's way; you are a
fruitless tree standing where a fruitful tree might grow." Mordecai Ham's
clear understanding of this spiritual principle helped him develop an effective
strategy for reaching the lost. On this point he writes, "There are a lot
of Christians who are halfway fellows. They stand in the door, holding on to
the Church with one hand while they play with the toys of the world with the
other. They are in the doorway and we can't bring sinners in. And, until we get
some of God's people right, we cannot hope to get sinners regenerated. Now they
always accuse me of carrying around a sledge hammer with which to pound the
church members. Yes sir, I do pound them, every time I come down, I knock one
of the halfway fellows out of the doorway, and every time I knock one out I get
a sinner in." It was this kind of bold Biblical preaching that brought a
young 16 year old boy to Christ by the name of Billy Graham. It should be
emphasized now that Mr. Ham was always a man of zealous prayer. "Sometimes
he spent hours in his room wrestling with God." He often encouraged all
night prayer meetings to be attended for several consecutive nights in order to
lay the proper ground work for the moving of the Spirit. He learned early on
that human wisdom could not do the work of the Holy Spirit.
In closing let us consider some of Mr. Hams thoughts
on the hindrances of true revival. "One of our troubles is we are not
willing to humble ourselves. We are not willing to give up our opinions as to
how things should be done. We want a revival to come just in our way. You never
saw two revivals come just alike. We must let them come in God's way. People
are ashamed to admit they need a revival. If you are not willing to take the
shame on yourself, you then let it remain on Jesus Christ. You must bear the
reproach of your sinful state of indifference, or the cause of our Master must
bear it."
(25) J.H. Weber
by David Smithers
Are we truly Spirit-filled Christians? Does the term
"Spirit-filled" describe our doctrine or our devotion? Samuel
Chadwick described the fullness of the Spirit in the following way:
"Spirit filled souls are ablaze for God. They love with a love that glows.
They serve with a faith that kindles. They serve with a devotion that consumes.
They hate sin with fierceness that burns. They rejoice with a joy that
radiates. Love is perfected in the fire of God."
The revivalist J. H Weber is a true example of this burning Baptism. His life
was distinctly marked by the Holy Spirit's urgency, zeal, and compassion. Yet
the most striking feature of Mr. Weber's ministry was not so much his message
of methods, it was the fact that he had actually become the message. He warned
the sinner and saint alike of the eternal danger of rejecting the love of Jesus
Christ. His life was literally a burning trumpet call to repentance toward God.
J. H. Weber's ministry brought men to the valley of decision. His plain
preaching forced men to choose between "death and victory," the
self-life or the Christ-life.
On one occasion when Mr. Weber was preaching on the Judgement
Seat of Christ, "the people became terrified and some came very near
rushing to the altar before the sermon was done. When the invitation was given
it seemed a race as to who should get there first. The altar and front seats
were crowded with earnest seekers. The presence of God filled the
place..."
Rev. Bennett Mitchel describes another revival scene:
"The entire community was greatly stirred. The house was packed from the
first to the last service. The devil raged. Men got mad. Some wanted to whip
(Mr. Weber), others to tar and feather him. Others stood aghast with mute
astonishment, while many came to the Lord and were saved. For the first week
his preaching was directed to the church, and he scored the Christian people
almost unmercifully. This was fun for the irreligious. They greatly rejoiced
while he exposed hypocrisy and denounced the sins in the church. But he
suddenly turned attention to them. Some of them were maddened, some slunk away
in shame, while many were subdued and brought penitently to the cross. In the
congregation men would threaten to strike him, when he would calmly look them
in the face and say, 'You dare not do it, I am in God's hands,' and then put
his arms around them and pray for them. Women would threaten to spit in his
face, but he heeded it not, and persisted in pleading with and praying for
them. He visited every family in the town and prayed in nearly every
home."
Like all true revivalists, J. H Weber's ministry transformed whole communities.
Often in the midst of a revival he would march through the town with hundreds
of believers following him singing and praising God. "Saloon keepers
trembled, businessmen feared; but God was in it." When Mr. Weber led left
the town, the church was revived and the last saloon was closed.
In 1884, Mr. Weber wrote in his journal: "Began this year as the previous
one, on my knees in the he house of God." J. H Weber was a man who knew
the necessity of fervent knee-work. He fasted often, spending whole nights in
travailing prayer. When Satan raged or people resisted, Mr. Weber's solution
was always the same, to cling to Jesus in prayer. At times he would lay in his tent and pray by the hour, often resulting in a
wave of salvation prostrating entire congregations. Because God found a man who
would pray, literally thousands were brought to Christ, broken and crying for
mercy.
Who among us has seen such glorious events and how many of us yearn to see such
things? Have we become content with a nominal and entertaining Christianity? If
not, then let us give ourselves to true travailing prayer. For
until we get on our knees, we are nothing less than unconcerned and insincere
regarding revival. God have mercy and help us to see our great need for
a genuine move of the Holy Spirit.