Eventually, a new king came to power in
Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph
or what he had done. Exodus 1:8
T h e ye a r w a s 1 7 3 4 . I m m o r a l i t y,
d run ken n ess an d a co l d ch urch
atmosphere was the norm in the
colonies. The original passion of
religious freedom and worship of the
Puritans who sailed from England was
mostly gone and a form of godliness-
without-power had taken over. The
“Halfway Covenant,” which allowed
church members to assent to certain
doctrines without a lifestyle change
had infiltrated the churches and an
“unconverted ministry” was preaching
a gospel they had never experienced.
Te e n a g e r s b e g a n “ b u n d l i n g ,” a
practice where they would keep warm
by crawling into beds together with a
board between the males and females
and have “visits.”
In Northampton, Massachusetts, one
pastor named Jonathan Edwards
became distressed over the spiritual
condition of his community and began
preaching the personal responsibility
we have to a living God. Conversions
actually began among teenagers, and
one of the most famous sermons,
“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry
God,” was preached with such power
that people grabbed onto the pews
for fear of falling into hell. Along with
the preaching of George Whitfield and
others, the first Great Awakening shook
the colonies with thousands coming
to Christ and would eventually lead to
the Revolution and the establishment
of America.
One would think this kind of
awakening would last forever, but
by 1796 skepticism and rationalism
from Europe had taken over and this
new nation was again challenged by
cold, dead religion. It looked like the
day of the move of God was over. But
the revival of 1800 would lead into
the Second Great Awakening and set
the new frontier on fire for God with
the first camp meetings and spiritual
manifestations of power that had
only been seen in the first century
spread of the gospel. Charles Finny,
a leader during this time, saw a great
outpouring in Rochester, NY. But this
too began to wane and people began
to wonder if awakenings were over.
Then, the Fulton Street Prayer Revival
began in 1857 with Jeremiah Lanphier
in Manhattan, NY, and sparked an
outpouring of the Holy Spirit around
the nation, resulting in hundreds
of thousands coming to Christ. One
would think that trust in God would
keep faith alive, but this too began to
fade, and because of the condition of
the culture, people began to think the
days of revival could no longer take
place. Then in 1906, driven by the
“
There is no doubt we
have hit a moral low in
America.
Solutions • 49