A Third Awakening? by Rose McCormick Brandon

In 1821, Charles Finney, a twenty-nine year-old lawyer, had a longing for God so intense that he retreated to the woods to pray in private. What he experienced transformed him. "The Holy Spirit seemed to go through me, body and soul," he wrote, “like a wave of electricity, going through and through me. Indeed it seemed to come in waves of liquid love, for I could not express it in any other way."*

Finney left law for ministry. He became the first to urge people to make a public commitment to Christ by coming to the front of the church following his sermons. His preaching style was direct, more like a lawyer’s argument than a refined sermon. His descriptions of hell caused his critics to accuse him of using scare tactics.

In 1830, against the advice of his friends, Finney followed the Lord’s leading to Rochester, New York where he preached for seven months. A heavy conviction of sin settled over the city. Home and public prayer meetings created a stir. The Spirit of God rested so heavily that Christians couldn’t walk down a street without weeping over the lost. 

The poor welcomed Finney’s message first, but a deep sorrow for sin penetrated all levels of society. A majority of Rochester’s city leaders came to Christ. Doctors, lawyers and business people flocked to Finney’s meetings to repent and give themselves publicly to God. 

Once, Finney was invited to preach to the workers of the New York Mills cotton factory near Utica. About 500 workers had already been converted. That day, as he preached 3000 employees wept. So great were their tears the owner closed the mill for the day. Almost all gave their lives to Jesus. Many miraculous events like this occurred during Finney’s lifetime of preaching. This period became known as The Second Great Awakening. It changed the moral fabric of the eastern coast of the United States. Its influence carried through the nineteenth century and into the twentieth. 

Today, we find ourselves in serious need of a third awakening. Is Jesus speaking to us, as he did to the Ephesian believers: "I have this complaint against you. You don't love me or each other as you did at first" (Rev. 2:4). Are we standing on God's side? Do we court the favour of unbelievers by compromising His Word? What is our spiritual condition? As individuals and as the body of Christ?

Before the first and second awakenings, Christians had lost their love for Christ, their zeal for telling others about Him, their trust in the Bible. They were seduced by pleasure, prosperity and rising atheism. Much like today. 

Some signs point to a coming third awakening. If it comes it will be through united prayer. And through Christians who refuse to compromise the Bible. Only they can speak for God to throngs marching closer to the day when time will run out. Jesus said, "You know the saying, 'four months between planting and harvest,' but I say wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe for harvest" (John 4:34). 

May all believers everywhere unite in prayer for a world-wide harvest of souls.

*Finney, Charles G., The Autobiography of Charles G. Finney, Bethany House Publishers, Minneapolis, 1977 (p.21)