A Roman Catholic theologian said recently that America is on the verge of the greatest religious revival in its history. I agree. The secular press and television are now full of it. Cover stories have flooded our leading magazines. Whole hours on television are given to coverage of the “Jesus phenomenon” sweeping our young people.
What the secular media are just now finding out has already been going on for several years. Various organizations working with young people already knew that young people were turning to Christ by the thousands throughout the nation. During the past five years our crusades in America have become youth crusades. At our crusade in northern California this past summer, 70 per cent of the audience every night was under twenty-five, and we had the greatest response to the Gospel I have ever witnessed in my years of evangelizing in the United States.
This highly encouraging development comes at a time when other thousands of American young people are involved with permissive sex, drugs, and violence on a scale that staggers the imagination. The “wheat” and “tares” are growing together. The devil is at work, but so is God. Time magazine recently ran twelve pages on the spiritual awakening. It said, “There is a morning freshness to it all, a buoyant atmosphere of hope and love along with the usual rebel zeal. Most converts seem to enjoy translating their faith into everyday life.”
While some of these young people look upon Jesus as “the first hippie” or “a revolutionary hero,” or have transferred their “drug trip” to “the Jesus trip,” for thousands of others it is a genuine spiritual experience. Many of them are devouring the Scriptures—one former Black Panther has already memorized most of the New Testament. Scores of new young evangelists are emerging. There are extremes here and there that receive undue attention in the press and TV, but by and large it is a genuine movement of the Spirit of God that is affecting nearly every denomination and every social and educational stratum, and is causing discussion from the editorial room of the New York Times to the dining room of the White House.
There are dangers. There are pitfalls. There are fears. And there are critics. Some say it is too superficial, and in some cases it is. Some say it is too emotional, and in some cases it is. Some say it is outside the established church, and in some cases it is. But even in the early Church such problems were encountered. I have tried to study this movement and have found that several commendable features stand out.
First, the movement thus far centers in the person of Jesus Christ. Look magazine declared, “All the Christians agree that Christ is the great common denominator of the movement.” During the last two years our country has suffered through reports of the gruesome murder orgies of a self-styled messiah by the name of Charles Manson. The leading witness against Manson was Linda Kasabian, who had previously claimed Manson as her messiah. She had adored and worshiped him before disillusionment set in. Recently she announced her conversion to Jesus Christ. Her husband, from whom she was alienated, has also been converted to Christ, and this brought them back together. She says, “I have found my true Messiah.”
Second, the Jesus movement is Bible-based. Life magazine says, “These new Christians see the Bible as the irrefutably accurate Word of God, solving all their problems from the cosmic to the trivial.” Another magazine says, “Bibles abound. Whether the fur-covered King James Version or scruffy back-pocket paperbacks, they are invariably well thumbed and often memorized.”
A third characteristic of the Jesus movement is the demand for an experience with Jesus Christ. Time magazine says of these new Christians that “their lives revolve around the necessity for an intense personal relationship with Jesus and the belief that such a relationship should condition every human life.” One of the more spectacular conversions has been that of the son of the late Episcopal bishop James Pike. After several years on drugs, studying Eastern religions, Chris Pike met Jesus Christ, and his life was transformed. He was quoted in Time magazine as saying, “One day I heard a Christian speaking at Berkeley. He was the first intelligent Christian I ever saw. Soon afterwards I made a commitment. I just said, ‘Jesus Christ, I’m going to give myself to You and nobody else.’ Nothing happened, but I knew. I knew He had reached down and I was saved. The old Chris Pike died back there. I’m a new creature.” He was at our Northern California Crusade night after night.
Fourth, the young people of this movement are putting a renewed emphasis on the Holy Spirit. I remember asking Dr. Karl Barth a few years ago what the new emphasis on theology would be during the seventies. He replied without hesitation, “The Holy Spirit.” Little did I realize that it would come through a youth revival in America.
Fifth, these young people have found a cure for drug addiction, which is increasingly captivating and enslaving the youth of America. A man who is perhaps the nation’s foremost drug expert gave me a 2½-hour briefing about a month ago. He said there is absolutely no cure for a person who is hooked on hard drugs—except a religious conversion. Leading authorities, quoted in the American press, are amazed and startled to find that a religious conversion to Jesus Christ has apparently cured many hard-drug addicts.
The sixth characteristic of the spiritual movement is the contribution it is making to the American churches. The average American young person today is “turned off” by the Church. I have four points that I give after asking people to make a commitment to Christ. I tell them to read the Bible, to pray, to witness, and to get into a church. I see them nodding their heads and often smiling when I give the first three, but when I give the fourth, I can sense that I have lost many of them. They just don’t want to be identified with the established church. In our crusades we are increasingly trying to bridge the gap between young people and the Church.
I believe that the message of the Church never changes but that its methods do. Many American churches have doubled, and some have tripled, their membership and attendance during the past year as a result of this new spiritual movement among young people.
I’ll give you one example that I just witnessed in California. Only about a hundred people would attend Sunday-evening services in this particular church. Then the pastor changed the “format” of the evening service to a time of sharing of needs and gifts for the people. He began every service with the question, “Where are you hurting?” It was slow getting started, but soon a climate of honest realism began to prevail. When that was noised abroad, without any particular invitation or advertising young people began to appear. Many were long-haired, barefoot, and bizarrely dressed. The numbers increased by leaps and bounds. Now the church auditorium that seats 750 is jammed to overflowing. A sense of quiet excitement prevails. Love and acceptance are so strongly felt at times that they seem almost visible. The service is called “The Body Life Service.”
Evangelism occurs so naturally it is almost taken for granted. In less than one year’s time, almost 200 university students have been baptized—all reached through the personal witness of new Christians—and community problems have notably diminished. When people get right with God they begin to get right with their neighbors.
The seventh characteristic of this movement is an emphasis on Christian discipleship. One could almost say a new puritanism is sweeping in among many of the young people. It may be partially a backlash and a reaction to the permissiveness of the past ten years. Time magazine says, “They all insist that premarital sex and drugs are out, and many have quite strict rules.”
An eighth characteristic is evidence of social responsibility. The movement is entirely inter-racial. Even in our crusades we are drawing far more black young people to our meetings than we did five years ago. These young people are solving the problem of materialism and the deification of technology by their commitment to one another. It has been a commitment as well to help solve some of the pressing social issues of the day. All kinds of new social projects are being started by these new Christians. In my own community, where a rather large group of so-called hippies have recently been converted, not only are they spending their time studying the Bible, but they are looking for projects in the community where they can witness by their service.
The ninth characteristic of the movement is great zeal for evangelism. One church in California has seen 15,000 youth make commitments in two years. Another in Texas has had 11,000 in two weeks, and one in Florida had 500 in one week. Even hundreds of ministers are joining “the Jesus revolution.” These young people go everywhere preaching the Gospel—into dives, slums, ghettos, theaters, record shops, even the underground.
The tenth characteristic of the movement is a renewed emphasis on the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. It is refreshing to see a major American magazine article entitled “The New Rebel Cry—Jesus Is Coming,” and to read, “There exists a firmer conviction that Jesus’ Second Coming is literally at hand.”
Yes, nearly all observers agree that a major spiritual phenomenon is taking shape in young America. What its ultimate impact will be I do not know. Will it last? It is too early to tell. I can only report what both the secular and religious press are now full of and what my own eyes have seen and my own heart has felt.
I believe there is a scriptural basis for expecting a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Church before the end of the Age. Peter spoke of Joel’s prophecy of the outpouring of the Spirit before “the great day of the Lord” as having been fulfilled at Pentecost. This prophecy has a double fulfillment. The first came at Pentecost; the second will occur just before “the great day of the Lord.” The Holy Spirit began his outpouring at Pentecost and continues his outpouring in spiritual renewals from time to time throughout history. But there will be a “grand finale” just before the Lord returns.
This article is from Mr. Graham’s address to the European Congress on Evangelism, held in August in Amsterdam.
