The Great Revival<\/a>,” Cane\nRidge Meeting House].\n D. This was common among the meetings. They would generally start out<\/p>\n
\n“A typical meeting began in a low-key, almost solemn way. A preacher gave a sermon of\nwelcome and led a prayer for peace and community. This was followed by the singing of several\nhymns. Then there would be more sermons. . . .\n
\nThe next day, and the day following, the sermons grew increasingly sensational and impassioned,\nand the excited response of the crowd grew more prolonged. By the second or third day, people\nwere crying out during the sermons, and shouting prayers, and bursting into loud lamentations;\nthey began grabbing at their neighbors and desperately pleading with them to repent; they sobbed\nuncontrollably and ran in terror through the crowd, shoving aside everybody in their path\n
\nAs the preachers ranted without letup, the crowd was driven into a kind of collective ecstasy. In\nthe night, as the torches and bonfires flared around the meeting ground and the darkness of the\ntrackless forests closed in, people behaved as if possessed by something new and unfathomable.\nAs Finley wrote: “A strange supernatural power seemed to pervade the entire mass of mind there\ncollected.” “ [Lee Sandlin, “Wicked River: The Mississippi When It Ran Wild.” Pantheon\nBooks, 2010, p. 92-93].\n E. Paul warned about “empty chatter” or “babbling” and how it will cause people to\nstray – I Timothy 6:20-21\n F. Charles Finney (1792-1876), a Presbyterian minister in New York, became an\nactive revivalist during the years of 1825 to 1835.\n 1. He purposely sought emotionalism as a means to gain converts. “that God\nhas found it necessary to take advantage of the excitability there is in\nmankind to produce powerful excitements among them before he can lead\nthem to obey. Men are so sluggish, there are so many things to lead their\nminds off from religion and to oppose the influence of the gospel that it is\nnecessary to raise an excitement among them till the tide rises so high as to\nsweep away the opposing obstacles” (Charles Finney, “Lectures on\nRevivals”, p. 9).\n 2. He had an “anxious seat” where people considering becoming a Christian\nwould sit up front to receive prayers and be lectured about their sins. (i.e.\npeer pressure)\n
III. By the late 1800’s there was a shift in the Holiness Movement churches<\/p>\n A. The idea of a second work of grace that the Methodists saw as an indication of\nbeing cleansed from sin shifted into being viewed as a gift of power for ministry.\n B. There continued to be an emphasis on a spiritual crisis experience that came some\ntime after a person’s initial conversion, which they called the baptism of the Holy\nSpirit. But this led people to believe that speaking in tongues was a part of that\nexperience.\n
IV. Azusa Street Revival<\/p>\n A. In 1903, William Seymour was a student in a Houston, Texas, Bible school taught\nby Charles Fox Parham. \n 1. He became convinced that people needed to received the baptism of the\nHoly Spirit and that such baptism would be evident by speaking in tongues\n B. Seymour was invited to work with a small holiness group in Los Angles,\nCalifornia.\n 1. On the way, he stopped in Denver, Colorado and visited Alma White’s\nPillar of Fire movement. \n 2. Alma was not impressed with Seymour. She later said, “I had met all kinds\nof religious fakers and tramps, but I felt he excelled them all.” \n 3. Upon arriving in Los Angeles, William Seymour preached only one\nsermon at the church who had invited him. The group then rejected him.\nSeymour continued his meeting though, preaching about Holy Spirit\nbaptism in a warehouse on Azusa Street.\n
C. There is difficulty in commenting about what happened on Azusa Street<\/p>\n 1. It is had to locate reliable witnesses. You would expect those who accept\nthe events as real to be biased in favor of what happened. Those who reject\nthe events would be biased against them. \n
2. There is a problem of terminology. <\/p>\n a. For example, the Bible defines speaking in tongues as speaking in\nanother language\n b. But Pentecostal writers will include speaking in no language\n(gibberish) as tongue speaking by claiming that it is a heavenly\nlanguage. \n c. Actions which would be rejected by many are glossed over in\nPentecostal writings because they are seen as normal events. Yet\nwriters from non-Pentecostal denominations will focus on these\nsame actions.\n D. There is a book titled From Holy Laughter to Holy Fire <\/i>by Michael L. Brown\nwhich quotes five respected Bible scholars from that era who witness the events\nthat occurred on Azusa Street. \n 1. Mr. Brown quoted them to say they were wrong, but these men were\ncontemporaries of the events and Mr. Brown, an Assemblies of God\nminister, is not. \n a. Since his denomination evolved from the events of Azusa Street,\nhe also has strong motivation to put its origins in the best light that\nhe can. \n
b. I do appreciate the fact that he was willing to quote his detractors.<\/p>\n 2. G. Campbell Morgan described the activities on Azusa Street as “the last\nvomit of Satan.” \n 3. R. A. Torrey declared that this movement was “emphatically not of God,\nand founded by a Sodomite.” \n 4. H. A. Ironside said in 1912 that the movement was “disgusting …\ndelusions and insanities … pandemonium’s were exhibitions worthy of a\nmadhouse or a collection of howling dervishes,” causing a “heavy toll of\nlunacy and infidelity.” \n 5. W. B. Godbey saw the movement as a result of spiritualism and that the\nparticipants were “Satan’s preachers, jugglers, necromancers, enchanters,\nmagicians, and all sorts of mendicants.” \n 6. Clarence Larkin said, “But the conduct of those possessed, in which they\nfall to the ground and disgraceful scenes, is more a characteristic of demon\npossession, than a work of the Holy Spirit. From what has been said we\nsee that we are living in ‘Perilous Times,’ and that all about us are\n‘Seducing Spirits,’ and that they will become more active as the\nDispensation draws to its close, and that we must exert the greatest care\nlest we be led astray.” \n 7. It is clear that these biblical scholars were not pleased with the events at\nAzusa Street.\n
8. It reminds me of another warning by Paul – II Timothy 2:16-17<\/p>\n 9. Christians were commanded to pray for a life of (semnotes<\/i>) gravity,\nlevelheadedness, or an evenly controlled emotional state – I Timothy 2:2 \n
E. Seymour’s teacher, Charles Parham, visited the revival in October of 1906. <\/p>\n 1. David McCloud, in his book The Strange History of Pentecostalism<\/i>, said\nof this visit that “even he was shocked by the confusion of the services. He\nwas dismayed by the ‘awful fits and spasms’ of the ‘holy rollers and\nhypnotists.’ He described the Azusa ‘tongues’ as ‘chattering, jabbering and\nsputtering, speaking no language at all’ (Synan, p. 102). \n 2. The Azusa Street meetings were so wild that Parham condemned them\nwith the term ‘sensational Holy Rollers.’ He testified that the Azusa Street\nmeetings were largely characterized by manifestations of the flesh,\nspiritualistic controls, and the practice of hypnotism (Sarah Parham, The\nLife of Charles F. Parham<\/i>, Joplin, MO: Tri-State Printing, 1930, p. 163).\n 3. According to Parham, two-thirds of the people professing Pentecostalism\nin his day ‘are either hypnotized or spook driven’ (Parham, Life of Charles\nF. Parham<\/i>, p. 164). \n 4. In his writings about Azusa Street, Parham described men and women\nfalling on one another in a morally compromising manner.” \n 5. It should be noted that the following year, 1907, Parham was arrested and\ncharged with sodomy in Texas; so, he is not necessarily a highly credible\nwitness.\n F. The revival on Azusa Street lasted seven years, during which time thousands of\nmissionaries went forth to spread Pentecostalism. \n 1. Many believed that with their gift of tongues they could teach in foreign\nfields. \n 2. It wasn’t long before they realized that they were unable to speak in other\nlanguages and so the movement changed to state that the Holy Spirit\nrequired interpreters for the tongue speakers. This continues to this day. \n 3. I know of no first-hand accounts of people speaking in languages they had\nnot learned. Yet, most in the Pentecostal movement will claim to speak in\na heavenly language (though to everyone listening it sounds like\ngibberish).\n
G. The events at Azusa Street match none of the events in the Bible. <\/p>\n 1. The conduct of the participants, even when saying the “nay-sayers” are\nstretching the truth, appears to be completely opposite to the conduct\nrequired of Christians in the New Testament. – II Peter 3:11-14\n
2. Jesus told us there would be false teachers – Matthew 7:15-23<\/p>\n H. Since those who speak glowingly of the events of Azusa Street teach doctrines\ncontrary to those found in the New Testament, such as the continuance of\nmiraculous gifts or that Jesus is the only person of God, I must conclude that the\nevents at Azusa Street were deceptions – II Thessalonians 2:9-12\n
V. Groups founded<\/p>\n A. Four denominations which were founded in the late 1890’s: the Church of God in\nChrist, the Pentecostal Holiness Church, the United Holiness Church, and the\nChurch of God, took on Pentecostal beliefs as a result of what happened on Azusa\nStreet. \n B. From these groups came further divisions, the largest being the Assemblies of\nGod, which divided from the Church of God in Christ in 1914\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOrigins of Denominations\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Download Audio Text: I Corinthians 14:6-12 I. As we continue our tracing of how various denominations came to be, A. We examined how the Pietiest influenced the beliefs of John Wesley and the Methodist societies that he established. 1. In particular was an emphasis on the need for a personal experience to become…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[119,32],"tags":[143,726,300,429,142],"class_list":["post-5773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio","category-sermon","tag-charismatic","tag-church-history","tag-denominations","tag-pentecostalism","tag-speaking-in-tongues"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":30327,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/origins-of-denominations\/","url_meta":{"origin":5773,"position":0},"title":"Origins of Denominations","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 12, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Over the years, I've done lessons that look at various issues that caused the rise of the various denominations that we see today. Rather than leaving them scattered, I'm gathering them up on a single page so that they will be more easily found. Where Did\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17430,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/miraculous-gifts\/","url_meta":{"origin":5773,"position":1},"title":"Miraculous Gifts","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 1, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Download Audio by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Acts 3:1-11 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0For decades many of the traditional denominations have been in decline. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The more liberal the beliefs, the larger the decline. Those espousing conservative views show some growth. But the ones showing strong growth are the charismatic groups \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Name the largest\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35587,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/explaining-born-of-water-and-spirit-to-charismatics\/","url_meta":{"origin":5773,"position":2},"title":"Explaining “Born of Water and Spirit” to Charismatics","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 6, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Darrell M. Hamilton","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":69371,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-churchs-one-foundation\/","url_meta":{"origin":5773,"position":3},"title":"The Church’s One Foundation","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 18, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Warfel Download Audio","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":42343,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/just-a-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":5773,"position":4},"title":"Just a Church?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 25, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Brian Faulkner On Being a Christian","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":68150,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/agrippas-statement-and-common-beliefs\/","url_meta":{"origin":5773,"position":5},"title":"Agrippa’s Statement and Common Beliefs","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 19, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Warfel","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5773\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}