The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and

let us put on the

armour of light. - Romans 13:12

ISSUE: 4
VOLUME: 9
OCT - DEC 2023

From Desiring Revival

The expression, “desperate times call for desperate measures” is said to have been coined by an
ancient Greek physician, Hippocrates. As we continue the downward trend of society, America, and the
major geo-political events unfolding before our very eyes, we are reminded that we live in a sin cursed world,
and the only answer for this world is to go back to what that early church did in Acts 1. They were obedient
to Christ, cleaned house, spent days in agonizing prayer, in waiting for the Baptism of power to go and
proclaim the gospel, not in word only but in power. They had the master teacher Christ Himself teaching
them, saw the risen Christ (Mark 16:14), had the coming of the Comforter indwelling them (John 20:22,
Acts 1:2), but it was not enough. Thy needed supernatural power to break through the religious, political, and
THOUGHT TO PONDER
philosophical powers of their day. And they didn’t have a Bible, or a degree in Theology. Our inability to
discern the times, even to be able to ask the questions of why that early church turned the world upside down
You cannot organize a
and we live in a world where the church is drowning in theology, programs, finances, and activities, but no
power, our unwillingness to be honest with ourselves is the detriment of Christianity in America. "Revival"
Would it be wrong to examine ourselves? Are we are in the place of God’s enablement or are we
playing church to a people who made decisions but don’t know anything experientially what it means to feel
the conviction of sin, the burden lifted, and encountering the living Christ. The reality that prayer actually
“No Revival that has ever
affects the outcome in a manifest way has been lost to the ritual of prayer and prayer meetings, while the been experienced in the
common man sees nothing supernatural in our services. We have a form but no power. Are we brave enough
to ask hard questions in placing the book of Acts in front of our church and asking why the place was shaken
long history of the church
by prayer and they were filled again with the Holy Ghost (Acts 4:31), why Ananias and Saphira were struck has ever been an official
dead by God (Acts 5:1-11), why daemons trembled (Acts 16:18), why the world was afraid to join the church movement in the church.”
(Acts 5:13), why the world took notice (Acts 4:33, 17:6), and so forth.
Dear reader, we are in desperate times, we need desperate measures. Big enough to shutdown our
churches that just exist for a name, throw away anything that has become a crutch, cookie-cutter - Martyn Lloyd-Jones
methods, seek God in repentance, fasting and prayer, and seek the power that only God can give. Such
measures will provide what only God can give, but it will accomplish what only God can do. To be able
to do more in a few days what the church could not accomplish in a hundred years. Are you willing?
Dated: October 20, 2023 Reflections on Israel at War

A
[any emphasis in the Scriptures used are mine]

mong the myriad of voices that clamor for justice on either side, there is the deep-rooted
anger of generational hatred that is evident on both sides. While seeing from a pure
political perspective, actions taken may seem to have justification by both parties, the
cause is much deeper than that. Destroy Hamas, which is the cry of Israel and her allies, seems to be
commendable after the horrific and brutal attack that took place by the terrorist group on October 7, but the
end goal of their elimination is impossible. Hamas or Houthis or Hezbollah or any other old or new groups
that springs up is not about a people group, rather it is an ideology, a cause motivated by hatred that is
engrained from birth until death. And ideologies cannot be destroyed by weapons.

The plight of those who are losing lives in Gaza as collateral damage does nothing to deter future generations from becoming
Hamas themselves, instead it has guaranteed the creation of more terror groups in the future, since the real issue is the problem of the
heart. Israel (through Abraham) which was chosen, by the only true God, to bring the gospel into the world, but they took their
Messiah, Jesus Christ, and crucified Him on the Cross. Today Israel is blinded by their ancestry not realizing that salvation is only
through Jesus Christ, as Paul (a Jew who opposed Christ, hated and killed Christians, later converted to Christ) under the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit wrote (in love), "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every
one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek [non-Jews]." - Romans 1:16. Today the mainstream followers of Judaism still
reject Christ just as they did over 2000 years ago. Many still spit on the faces of those coming to share the gospel of Christ in their
lands or their own who convert to Christianity. In reality, they have no special access to God because of being a Jew, similar to a
follower of Islam or a Hindu. Those who die without Christ (Jews or gentiles) face the judgement and the wrath of God in the place
called Hell, for there is no respecter of person with God (Psalm 7:11, Romans 2:11, Revelation 20:15).

While religion vainly tries to reach God by personal moral excellence, God reached down to man since man is fallen and can
never satisfy God's standard of holiness. Thus, Christ did not come to form a religion, but to bring us to a right relationship with our
Creator. And only Divinity can satisfy divine requirements for sin. God, who is Holy, gave shadows of a future event, declared that
an innocent lamb must be sacrificed for the Passover and its blood applied to the doorposts, in Exodus 12, the fulfillment done in
Christ, "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." - Romans 5:8. This was
earlier prophesized in Isaiah 53 with statements such as, "But he [Jesus Christ] was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised
for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." - Isaiah 53:5.

In the Qur’an, which was written 600 years after Christ, Jesus (Isa) is given the status of a prophet who will die and rise
again (Surah 19:30-34), and that He speaks the truth, is righteous, will be born of a virgin (Surah 3:45-47). Should they not obey Christ
when He declared, "I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture." - John 10:9?
All of mankind goes the path of death and destruction, where Jesus said of eternal life, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man
cometh unto the Father, but by me." - John 14:6. "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven
given among men, whereby we must be saved." - Acts 4:12. Only one mediator between God and men, Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5).
His Godhead has been declared from Genesis to Revelation. "For in him [Jesus Christ] dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead
bodily." - Colossians 2:9. John 1:1-14 records how God (Word) became Man (flesh and blood). It is the Person; not about philosophy,
moral teachings, religion, family history, good works, or any other means, but a personal turning point, being convicted of sin to call
upon Christ for personal salvation from sin. “For all [you] have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” - Romans 3:23.

Though God is not finished with Israel, He judges sin, no matter who does it, or under what name. While we pray for the
peace of Jerusalem (Genesis 12:3, Psalm 122:6), the same God who judged the sins of the Canaanites through Joshua after giving them
400 years to repent, this same God destroyed Israel and scattered them all over the world when they sinned against Him (Isaiah 63:10,
Luke 19:43-44). Babylon, Assyria, and Rome stand as witnesses. And God (Jesus Christ) who is the Creator of all things seen and
unseen (Colossians 1:16), calls men everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30). To His children (Messianic Jews or gentiles) Jesus says,
"Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God." - Matthew 5:9, and furthermore, "But I say
Continued...
unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which
 CONVERSION OF

S
AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

uddenly (when he was in the garden) I

heard the voice of a boy or girl chanting
over and over again, “pick it up; read it; pick it up,
read it.” (Translated from the Latin “Tolle Lege,
Tolle Lege” and pronounced “tol-lay lah-jhay”— it
means “take up and read.”) So damning the torrent
of my tears, I got to my feet, for I could not but
think that this was a command to open the Bible
and read the first passage I should light upon: “go
and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and
thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.” (Matthew 19:21)…. I quickly
returned to the bench…snatched up the apostle’s book…and in silence read the paragraph on
which my eyes fell: “Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in
strife and envying, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh, to
fulfill the lusts thereof” (Romans 13:13-14)…. I wanted to read no further, nor did I need to. For
instantly, as the sentence ended, there was infused in my heart something light the light of full
certainty and all the gloom of doubt vanished away.”

despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh
Continued...
his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." - Matthew 5:44-45.

Jesus while dying on the Cross for the sin of the world said, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" - Luke
23:34. Many have taken up that call when they received a heart change, when they were born-again of God. People like Corrie ten
Boom, who forgave her captors during her imprisonment by the Nazis in WW2; the wife of Graham Staines, the Australian Christian
missionaries, who lost her sons aged 10 and 6 along with her husband (1999), working among the leper colonies of India, being burnt to
death by Hindu Nationalist Group Bajrang Dal; she stated, standing by the coffins with her 13 year old daughter, "I've no hatred for
anyone. I've no anger." The desire of Christians facing persecution to respond in love that their persecutors might know the love of
Christ, has been the hallmark of true Christianity from the Waldensians in Italy, Perpetua in the Roman empire, Sadhu Sunder Singh
of India, to the Messianic Jew Richard Wrumbrand who experienced imprisonment and torture by the
then-Communist regime of Romania.

Coming back to the ideology of Hamas, how then can this be defeated? it will be defeated the same way the
hatred of Jews to their enemies should be defeated, a heart change, that God does in the heart of man through
regeneration, as it was in the life of Saul who became the Apostle Paul. Thus, Paul preached, "Testifying both to the
Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." - Acts 20:21. "For we wrestle not against
flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness
in high places." - Ephesians 6:12. Evil will always exist as long as sin is present. Yes, justice for crimes perpetuated must be sought, and
one's defending of life is warranted, but this conflict will not be solved by war. While a disproportionate response may be seen as
justifiable in the eyes of some, God values all lives equally that "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." - John 3:16. The message on that blessed
dawn, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men" in Luke 2:14, still rings today for all
who will hear and heed the call to Repent and Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for eternal salvation.
 The Deeper Life - Experiential Witness.
The Baptism of the Holy Spirit
from The Works of Jonathan Edwards: Volume I & II

“Once, as I rode out into the woods for my health, in 1737, having alighted from my horse in a retired
place, as my manner commonly has been, to walk for divine contemplation and prayer, I had a view, that for me was extraordinary, of the
glory of the Son of God, as Mediator between God and man, and his wonderful, great, full, pure and sweet grace and love, and meek and
gentle condescension. This grace that appeared so calm and sweet, appeared also great above the heavens. The person of Christ appeared
ineffably excellent, with an excellency great enough to swallow up all thought and conception — which continued, as near as I can judge,
about an hour; which kept me the greater part of the time in a flood of tears, and weeping aloud. I felt an ardency of soul to be, what I
know not otherwise how to express, emptied and annihilated; to lie in the dust, and to be full of Christ alone; to love him with a holy and
pure love; to trust in him; to live upon him; to serve and follow him; and to be perfectly sanctified and made pure, with a divine and
heavenly purity. I have several other times had views very much of the same nature, and which have had the same effects.”

Effects of the 1904 Welsh Revival in India

A little known quarryman in Wales
Watkin R. Roberts was born on 21 September 1886 at Brydenly, Dinorwic Street, Caernarfon to a middle-class
family. Brought up by his devout Christian parents he learnt to read at an early age, a sign of his ability and determina-
tion which were to serve him well in later life. His reading of the sermons of R. A. Torrey had a profound impact on
his life. Although still engaged in slate mining, he became increasingly aware of a call to serve the Lord full time. He
devoted his free time to reading the Scriptures and various theology books written by well known scholars of his time.
The 1904-1905 Revival greatly affected him and further contributed to his transformation from a man concerned with material
prosperity to one dominated by the desire to reach those who had never heard the name of Jesus Christ.

Called to India
Between 1906 and 1908 Roberts attended the Keswick Convention which proved to be a turning point in his life. He dedicated
himself to God for missionary service at the 1906 Convention. He sold up his business interests and went to Liverpool for intensive
training in pharmacy and dispensing. At the 1907 Convention one of the speakers reported on the needs in India by saying, ‘Hundreds
of tribes in Assam and North India are in utter darkness. They need Jesus to save them from their heathen darkness’. Moved by God,
Roberts was now clear in his missionary calling and was determined to spend his life proclaiming the good news of salvation to the
tribesmen of Northeast India. The 1908 Convention finally opened the way for him to fulfill this calling when he was introduced to
Dr and Mrs Peter Fraser. The Frasers were newly appointed by the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists Foreign Mission Society to work at
Aizawl in Mizoram as medical missionaries. They invited Watkin Roberts to help them establish a clinic at Aizawl. He accompanied
the Frasers when they sailed for India on 14 October 1908, reaching Aizawl on 9 December. Roberts was still only twenty-two years old
and having quickly gained the peoples esteem was given the nick-name, ‘Pu Tlangval’ (Mr. Youngman).

In 1909 Roberts received five pounds as a gift from a Miss Emily Davies. He was deeply touched by this gift and used the
money to purchase John’s gospel, translated by the pioneer missionaries J.H. Lorrains and F.W. Savidge into the Lushai language. He
sent the copies as gifts to the village chiefs in the Lushai Hills and the adjoining areas. One of the booklets was sent to Chief
Kamkhawlun of Senvawn village, the biggest Hmar village in the southern part of Manipur State. Roberts and a small number of new
believers were praying that these gifts would yield results. Some months later, three men brought back a message from Chief
Kamkhawlun written in broken Lushai saying, ‘Sir, come yourself and tell us about this book and your God’. He made up his mind to
visit the Chief, accepting the invitation as a Macedonian call. At the close of the 19th century, the British branded the Hmar people of
northeast India as "the most brutal headhunters". In 1871, that tribal group beheaded over 500 tea plantation workers and some British
soldiers. Despite being warned by British officials at Aizawl that the tribes people of southern Manipur were fierce and likely to kill
him, Roberts was determined to go.

After a week of teaching, the chief and four other Hmar men announced that they wanted to make peace with the God of
the Bible by believing on Jesus Christ. Though Roberts only spent a total of five days with the Hmars, the converts grew in faith and
became leaders of a new, energetic church. Within two generations, the entire Hmar tribe had been evangelized. Headhunting
stopped. One of the sons of the tribesmen, Rochunga Pudaite, translated the Bible into the Hmar language and founded “Bibles for the
World.” His organization has allowed distribution of the Christian Bible to millions of people around the world, by mailing Bibles in
different languages to them.
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