Revivals and Halloween

The word revival means bringing back from death or from the dead. It assumes that someone or something has become dead.

 

Halloween is from ‘All Hallows Eve’, which is from ‘All Saints Day’. Since Catholicism teaches that folks must be dead before they can be considered saints, Halloween is the celebration of the dead.

 

 

 

Some denominations practice scheduled ‘revivals’, during which guest speakers come to give special messages designed to bring new commitment to the faith. Rarely do churches that schedule ‘revivals’ consider themselves or their congregants dead. Yet that is exactly what they are admitting. They schedule the revivals, hoping that ‘Providence’ will back them up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A ‘dead church’ is a congregation, the majority of whose folks have no working faith, and are therefore not Godly. It is like visiting a funeral parlor in which a dead person’s passing is mourned: remembering the dead person and how he lived is the main occupation. All giving is in memorial rather than for new life and growth.

 

Ephesians 2:1 And you were dead in trespasses and sins 2in which ye walked in time past according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience.

 

Messiah Yeshua preached one sermon to a dead congregation:

 

1 Peter 3:18 For Messiah also hath suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the Spirit 19by which also He went and preached unto the spirits in prison 20who formerly were disobedient when the longsuffering of God once waited in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared in which few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

 

This sermon took place in Sheol (Hades) in the heart of the earth.

 

The Bible speaks of revival:

 

Psalms 85:6 Wilt Thou not revive us again so that Thy people may rejoice in Thee?

 

‘Thy people’ refers to the people of Israel.

 

Hosea 6:1 “Come! And we shall return unto Yehovah! For He hath torn, and He will heal us! He hath smitten, and He will bind us up! 2After two days He will revive us! In the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight! 3Then shall we know! We shall follow on to know Yehovah!”

 

This is also speaking of the Israelis in the future. They are guaranteed a revival at that time. Folks with a Biblical, living faith desire to see Israel come to life through faith in the God of the Bible.

 

What causes a group to become dead, in need of a revival? The Biblical writer Jacob (whose name was recorded as James) wrote,

 

James 2:26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is also dead.

 

Faith that is not accompanied by works is a symptom of a dead faith and a dead congregation.

 

 

 

 

 If the faith is in the wrong object, that faith will also eventually go dead.

 

If folks claiming to hold a faith do not truly hold it, that faith will go dead among them. Traditions related to that faith often continue much longer. This is the most common reason for a congregation going dead. Children who are ‘brought up’ to go to church, pray, do what is expected, and participate usually assume with their family that they hold that faith. They rarely do, instead holding to that tradition. When they are adults, they continue in the tradition, and speak as if they hold that faith. Many are fooled.

 

 

 

 

 

A ‘revival’ is supposed to bring an end to the deadness of a congregation by replacing it with life. Yet nearly all churches that have had revival speakers return to the same deadness they had before the failed attempt at resuscitation. Why?

 

If congregations were mostly made of Saints, they would be living and not dead, and would never need a revival. Saints have a faith that works, not a dead faith. They love life; they don’t celebrate deadness, but abhor it.

 

Congregational leaders are normally as alive or dead as their congregations. They are often responsible for the state of their congregations (though some attempt to bring change). If a leader has a living faith, he will call his followers to that faith and will individually help them understand and pursue that faith if they desire life. If a leader is dead (though physically alive), he leads just like the ‘saints’ (ghosts) lead their imitators on Halloween: it is only a ‘dress-up’ occasion.

 

Some Church leaders are very well educated. Some understand philosophies, and others are able to rally their members to vain pursuits of numbers, deceiving their members into thinking they are doing a great work for the kingdom of God (when they are only helping the church’s budget improve and are enhancing their leaders’ vain reputations). The Bible warns,

 

Colossians 2:8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world [manmade religious rules], and not after Christ.

 

Such leaders are very active, but are just as dead as they can be. They “are like unto whited sepulchers that indeed appear outwardly beautiful, but are full of dead men’s bones within, and of all uncleanness” (Matthew 23:27).

 

Messiah’s Disciples never needed a revival. The Spirit of Yehovah was sufficient. Revivals are for the dead.

 

Next time you see a sign indicating that a revival meeting will take place at a church, remember what the congregation is admitting. That church might find greater profit if it has a Halloween celebration before the speaker comes.

 

 

 

 

 1 John 3:14 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren [referring to the Israelis].