“The church has been drawn away from true revival and is being seduced by those who advocate the popularization of Christianity. Tragically, most Christians seem oblivious to the problem, satisfied with a Christianity that is fashionable and highly visible.”
– John MacArthur
“The revival our nation needs so badly will not occur unless we as individuals repent. Authentic repentance involves a change of heart, not merely a change of public policy. And the first to repent must be the people of God—Christians who know and love Christ but who have fallen into a state of spiritual lethargy or indifference and have left their first love (cf. Rev. 2:4). We have diverted our efforts and energies and strategies from evangelism. We need to repent of that.
Unfortunately, the church today is at war with the culture, and many Christians think that by opposing moral decline through protest and politics, they are doing all they can do to redeem society. They have begun to view their unbelieving neighbors as the enemy rather than the mission field. As the rift widens between the Religious Right and the rest of society, the gospel message is being lost in the din of conflict. The tender love of sinners has been replaced by bitter rivalry for influence. Thus the only truth that can ultimately draw people to sincere repentance is too often being set aside in favor of political rhetoric and partisan squabbling.”
– John MacArthur
“No national revival has ever occurred because of political strategizing or legislative initiatives. Revivals don’t occur when the people of God protest and demonstrate against the sins of unbelievers. Revivals aren’t the fruit of boycotts or debates about public policy. Revivals occur when the Word of God is proclaimed and people are called to repentance. This was true in Nineveh, when an entire city of pagans responded to the preaching of Jonah by repenting in sackcloth and ashes (Jonah 3:5–10). It was true at Pentecost, when thousands in Jerusalem suddenly repented. They were the very same people who had demanded the crucifixion of Christ a few weeks earlier.”
– John MacArthur
“A very great portion of modern revivalism has been more a curse than a blessing, because it has led thousands to a kind of peace before they have known their misery; restoring the prodigal to the Father’s house, and never making him say, ‘Father, I have sinned.’ How can he be healed who is not sick, or he be satisfied with the bread of life who is not hungry? The old-fashioned sense of sin is despised. … Every thing in this age is shallow. … The consequence is that men leap into religion, and then leap out again. Unhumbled they came to the church, unhumbled they remained in it, and unhumbled they go from it”
– C.H. Spurgeon, 1882
“Have you noticed how much praying for revival has been going on of late – and how little revival has resulted? I believe the problem is that we have been trying to substitute praying for obeying, and it simply will not work.”
– A. W. Tozer
