No Revival Without Reformation - TOZER

The Book: "Keys To the deeper life" is a great work by Tozer. here are a few excerpts from the chapter "No Revival Without Reformation":"I believe that the imperative need of the day is not simply revival, but a radical reformation that will go to the root of our moral and spiritual maladies and deal with causes rather than with consequences, with the desease rather than with symptoms.""It is my considered opinion that under the present circumstances we do not want revival at all. A widespread revival of the kind of Christianity we know today in America might prove to be a moral tragedy from which we would not recover in a hundred years.""Prayer for revival will prevail when it is accompanied by radical amendment of life; not before. All-night prayer meetings that are not preceded by practical repentance may actually be displeasing to God. 'To obey is better than sacrifice'.We MUST return to New Testament Christianity, not in creed only but in complete manner of life as well. Seperation, obedience, humility, cross-bearing: these all must again be made a living part of the total Christian concept and be carried out in everyday conduct. We must cleanse the temple of the hucksters and the money changers and come fully under the authority of our risen Lord once more. And this applies to this writer as well as to everyone who names the name of Jesus. Then we can pray with confidence and expect true revival to follow."

This is one area that I take exception with Tozer's teaching. It is NOT "reformation" but "recovery" that is needed. Anyone who studies Church history can easily tell that the "Reformation" accomplished very little in relation to God's full intention. There may have been an outward break with Rome but very little inward break. Rome still holds sway in the hearts and practices of most Protestants. However, throughout Church history there has been a consistent line of testimony by the faithful who have always been "outside" of Catholicism or Protestantism. There are three very good books on this subject that can be purchased. The Torch Of The Testimony - John KennedyThe Pilgrim Church - E.H. BroadbentMiller's Church History - Andrew MillerThere are a couple more but I cannot recall them right at the moment."Recovery" is a totally different principle than "reformation". In reformation you are trying to clean up and change that which is "corrupt". The institutional Church is dead and I think should be buried. Christ spoke of this very thing when he addresses the Pharisees in Matthew 23: 27-29 "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto white sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchers of the righteous,"Institutional Church "appears" good on the outside BUT inside it is FULL of dead men’s bones. "Recovery" on the other hand is NOT trying to fix and clean up that which is corrupt BUT it is a returning to God's initial thoughts in relation to His testimony, or the testimony of Christ, in this world. The Reformation, although an improvement over Rome, never went far enough. Most of the pagan traditions and practices introduced by Rome still exist in most every single Protestant group today. God wants "recovery" to His original intention and to true body life as it existed in the early church. That means "every" member functioning under the headship of Christ. It means no more clergy/laity distinctions that have kept the body from being what God intended. J.B. Stoney rightly said that the "point of recovery is the point of departure". If we want true and full recovery of God's thoughts we will have to leave all these man-made ideas and institutions, get on our faces before God, seek His Word afresh, and go back to the very beginning where the Church departed from God's thoughts almost 2000 years ago!Who is up to the task? Who has the guts to leave the systems that take up the name of Christ and are just tombs with dead men's bones inside? Do you?Kevin

The other books I mentioned in the above post are:The Christian Testimony Through The Ages - T.W. CarronPagan Christianity - Frank ViolaRethinking The Wineskin - Frank ViolaWill the Real Heretics Please Stand Up - David W. BercotNone of the books mentioned are for the weak or for those content in their pews. These books will change your entire perspective of what we call "Christianity" today. What takes up Christ's name today does not even resemble the early Church at all and yet we call ourselves Bible believers! (:- (:- (:-(Kevin