In the 1990's I was privileged to witness something very extraordinary up close and personal...It's what some in the Christian Church call a "Revival" that is to say a spiritual awakening of Christian believers moved to draw closer to God and His Son Jesus. I'm not a Theologian, just a Sax Player so I don't know the history of these movements called revivals, I'll leave that to the Church Historians and Theological Professors...
What I do know is that I was a Musician in a Band (actually three Bands) that performed what is known as Worship Music at Stadiums across America for three straight years starting in 1995-1997. I've never experienced anything like it since.
The Christian movement I was playing music for was known as "Promise Keepers" and we performed music in a myriad of Football Stadiums from The Los Angeles Colosseum, to Chicago's Soldier Field, and Texas Stadium as well as my hometown's Mile High Stadium in Denver Colorado. Every one of these events were packed full of men who wanted to draw closer to God and learn more about the God of the Bible.
I'm not sure of the exact numbers, but during this time period we (the Bands) performed for probably a Million people (or more) at these events leading stadiums full of men in what is known as Worship Music, or music that is designed to draw people that believe (and some that may not believe) in Jesus Christ's atoning Blood and sacrifice into a closer Communion with their maker.
As I stated I'm not a theologian, but I'm pretty confident that a spiritual movement that draws at least a million people to repentance (and that's a key operating word here) or, turning men away from their lives of sin and corruption to a new life that is free from these things can be safely called a Revival in the historical sense.
I'm so glad you asked why I bring this esoteric stuff up not well known outside of Christianity, because starting today, January 28, 2013, I'm starting 40 days of straight prayer for a Revival in our Country, a non stop (well except for Coffee Breaks, Lunch and hopefully a few Gigs of course) Prayer session for a spiritual awakening in this Land of the Free and Home of the Brave of ours.
Someone may ask "Why are you doing that? our nation is doing just fine" And to that I would say, no, we are not doing just fine. Our Country is in Massive debt for one, almost 17 Trillion and counting, and any economist will tell you that even the greatest most powerful Nation the Earth has ever seen is not excluded from the laws of finance and debt. At some point, our economic fault line will rupture much like the San Andreas Fault in California will someday rupture.
We are also as a Nation becoming more and more morally bankrupt...think about it for a minute. We now condone and finance the morally corrupt practice of abortion on demand. You may call it "Choice" or "Reproductive Freedom" but what it boils down to is the destruction and annihilation of tiny human beings, even after being partially born. The old Testament (if you read the Bible) talks about a generation of people who were so decadent and corrupt that they had actually began sacrificing their OWN children to false gods. These people burned their OWN son's and daughters in sacrificial fires burning them alive. Disgusting right? Did you know that a saline abortion is doing exactly that?, burning a tiny living human being in it's mother's womb (which should be the SAFEST place a tiny human being could be) with salt burning the baby alive?
I know a little about this issue because my own son was born 20 years ago at 2 pounds 2 ounces, and was supposed to be deformed (he is not). The main doctor told us we had the option of abortion to which I replied that is unthinkable and was angered that a professional that took the hippocratic oath to save lives, was telling us we had the "option" to kill our own child. My son now attends Colorado Christian University on three scholarships...
I took my two boys to the Aurora Century 16 Theaters probably 30-40 times to see movies as they were growing up. It was a great place and less expensive than some other theaters in the area to take my kids to see current films. And then the unthinkable happened...A psychotic College student dressed in Black with orange hair walked into that theater I took my kids to and systematically murdered and wounded a large group of movie goers. A former band student of mine was at that Theater that night and was thankfully not hurt.
14 years ago two psychotic deranged High school students walked into Columbine High School and murdered at point blank range 13 of their classmates not 20 minutes from where I worked as a musician at a large Church in Littleton, Colorado.
How can anyone say with a straight face we are doing fine as a Nation? If you believe that, either you are incredibly deluded ignoring what's right in front of your face or you're not a truthful person...
And so that's why I'm starting (already started actually) 40 days of prayer for Revival, for a spiritual awakening that is paramount if we are to turn things around in this Country. You're welcome to join me if you're so moved to. Thanks.
Remember, I'm just the Sax Player...
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