The Clearing Podcast - Where Eagles Fly

John Newton –

While power and might Christians championed the institution of slavery, spiritually awakened Christians began to sense that God wanted to use them to destroy this institution, as had St. Patrick in Ireland during the fifth century. John Newton, who had been pulled into slave trafficking in Africa as a young man, devoted the latter years of his life to opposing the slave industry. After that, Olaudo Equiano and William Wilberforce, among others, managed to turn the tide of public opinion against slavery for the first time in world history. As a result, the British Navy was converted into a force to rid the world of this evil institution. Spiritual awakening has to do with the conflict between good and evil—and not just personal salvation.

The Great Awakening –

Beginning in 1735, the concept of spiritual awakening went to a whole new level. God showed that He could awaken several nations simultaneously! An extraordinary downpouring of the presence of God in Northampton, Massachussetts spread to dozens of other communities in America. Then, as several pastors in the region of Cambuslang, Scotland prayed for a similar outpouring, the Spirit of God came with another “time of refreshing from the presence of the Lord.” Almost simultaneously, a gathering of Moravians drew down the presence of God at Fetter lane in London, and a group of Anglican clergy—in particular, George Whitefield and the Wesleys—devoted themselves to advancing the awakening.

Protestant Persecutions –

The spiritual awakening of Scotland could not go unopposed. As King James VI of Scotland became (also) King James I of England (thus creating a new entity called Great Britain), he championed the Divine Right of Kings—meaning, he considered himself—not Jesus—as the de facto head of the Church. In doing this, He opposed the awakening of both Scotland and England, while claiming the name of Protestant. The Stuart dynasty he initiated became one of the great champions of “power and might” Christianity—opposing every spiritual awakening to come down the line in Britain. In this way, huge numbers of awakened Christians—Presbyterians, Pilgrims, Puritans, Quakers, Baptists, Methodists—were forced to migrate to America.

Scottish Awakening –

The Lollard movement also went north, to Scotland, where it eventually produced the Scottish Reformation. Leaders in Scotland, called into the prayer of faith in God’s word, were to experience spiritual regeneration on a scale not known for centuries. During the time of George Wishart, John Knox, John Welch and Andrew Melville, Scotland would experience successive waves of spiritual awakening, providing a new paradigm. The concept of spiritual awakening is replacing monastic revival at the center of God’s plan.

Moravians!

In the 14th century, there emerged in England a grass-roots movement known as the Lollard movement, resulting from translations of the Bible into English at Oxford. John Wycliffe became associated with this and provided some leadership for it. This back to the Bible movement was picked up by John Hus in Bohemia, leading to a new church, the Bohemian Brethren. By the 18th century, these Brethren found a home at Count Nicholas von Zinzendorf’s estate in Saxony, where they became a fire-starter for spiritual awakening. Out of this Herrnhut community came the first modern 24/7 Prayer watch, the first modern missions movement, the first modern Messianic Jewish community and the influence that produced the English Great Awakening.

God’s Track Record –

What we are tracing here is not Church history, but the track record of the mighty deeds of God over the last 2000 years. However, there have been four movements that have tried to cover up those mighty deeds, making it difficult for us to see and acknowledge them: Roman Catholicism, Protestant cessationism, Enlightenment philosophy and secular atheism. Each of these movements comes with its own distinct motives for covering up the track record of God. If you don’t believe God did any deeds in the past, you are unlikely to pray for him to “renew them in our time” (Habakkuk 3:2).

Mediaeval Mercies –

During the Middle Ages, God reached out to the Roman Catholic Church with two monastic movements, to remind people of the original “by my Spirit” vision. The first was the Cistercian movement (led eventually by Bernard of Clairvaux), which sought to revive the original Rule of St. Benedict, which was based on John Cassian and the Desert Fathers. The second was the Franciscan movement, which grew out of Francis’s early involvement with the Celtic monastery at Bobbio, Italy, a sort of time capsule of the ancient Celtic Church, planted there by Columbanus in 614 A.D.

The Middle Ages –

Power and might Christianity corrupted the Church of the Middle Ages, until the whole concept of “Christianity” became unrecognizable.  Control of the Papacy fell to a few Italian families who vied for control of vast wealth and influence.  In the end, a second “Vatican” was established at Avignon in France, with each of two popes claiming to be “the one true pope.”  Both popes were equally corrupt, and the entire witness of the Church was consumed with sin.

The Next 700 Years.

The advance of the Kingdom of God can be seen as a conflict between two versions of Christianity.  During the first 700 years, “by my Spirit” Christianity prevailed in the West, up to the Synod of Whitby in 644 A.D. “Power and might” Christianity prevailed during the Middle Ages, leading to vast corruption even in the monasteries, up to the highest levels of church officials.

The Triumph of Rome.

For fifty years, there were two contrasting Christian churches in Britain: a “power and might” church and a “by my Spirit” church, growing side-by-side.  This unstable situation was resolved at the Synod of Whitby in 644 A.D., in which the Roman Church edged out the Celts, who began the slow and painful process of disappearing. The triumph of power and might Christianity did not bode well for the British Isles.