When is it right for Christians to take a stand against evil?

[Nancy]

Here I am right in the midst of what people have in the past named the "Bible Belt", but it has been years since I saw a tent meeting set up in my neighborhood. Before responding to you I read @Willie T post about the tent meeting around St Petersburg. I surely hope they are better than the last one I attended which was probably in the early 1990's. The primary speaker was an old acquaintance, a native American preacher, whose messages I had always loved. He was still a dedicated man of God, but the lady introducing the meeting was wearing shorts and a lowcut top exposing way too much for me to be comfortable. She was supposed to be a pastor and a preacher, but not for me. [I am not against women preachers. On the contrary it was a pair of women evangelists preaching the Word of God when I came to the Lord in 1976.]

I have not so much as seen another tent meeting in our vicinity since then...

I have NEVER seen one in my neck of the woods

 

[amadeus]

I have NEVER seen one in my neck of the woods

Yes, they have gone the way of small town circuses. When I was a small child a small circus came to our little town of population around 1000 people. I loved it and the idea of it, but even then they were on their way out. They could not compete with everything else the world already had to offer. The circuses could not make a profit any more.

What is it with the tent meetings for people wanting to serve God? It certainly relates to the physical comfort which people are used to... "If I cannot be comfortable [my flesh], I will simply stay at home or go somewhere where they will make me comfortable". The real Comforter would more than compensate, but it seems that not many are interested in that kind of comfort... or?

 

[Nancy]

Yes, they have gone the way of small town circuses. When I was a small child a small circus came to our little town of population around 1000 people. I loved it and the idea of it, but even then they were on their way out. They could not compete with everything else the world already had to offer. The circuses could not make a profit any more.

What is it with the tent meetings for people wanting to serve God? It certainly relates to the physical comfort which people are used to... "If I cannot be comfortable [my flesh], I will simply stay at home or go somewhere where they will make me comfortable". The real Comforter would more than compensate, but it seems that not many are interested in that kind of comfort... or?

He is The God of ALL Comfort...I am with you here John. You know the Spirit of a place whether it be tent or building. Comfort level, and truly feeling comfortable and welcomed within the congregation is huge to me. And like yourself, if that is not available to me then, yes...I too would stay home. I get many, many teachings online...I also re-listen/watch my own pastor's (we have many) previous Sunday's message. I am really starting to love my new place of worship more and more. Fellowship means allot to me and, there is plenty of warm people there. :)

 

[Willie T]

We also had not seen many in a lot of years...….. So, we made it happen again in St. Petersburg. Things done for God don't "just happen" as we sit and wait for someone else to do them.

 

[amadeus]

We also had not seen many in a lot of years...….. So, we made it happen again in St. Petersburg. Things done for God don't "just happen" as we sit and wait for someone else to do them.

Well my friend don't you ever let up on your walk with God without regard to what others about you may or may not being doing. We can wish for the horses so that the beggars may ride, but only God can provide enough horses to get the job done.

 

[bbyrd009]

2019 Tent Revival
2019 Community Tent Revival Meetings

 

[amadeus]

2019 Tent Revival
2019 Community Tent Revival Meetings

Thanks for this old friend. One appears to be in Ontario, Canada while the other is in New Jersey. Neither one is close enough to run right over there from Oklahoma. I guess not belonging to Facebook has its disadvantages, but I quit that place several years ago and have seen nothing to convince me I should ever go back.

 

[bbyrd009]

Thanks for this old friend. One appears to be in Ontario, Canada while the other is in New Jersey. Neither one is close enough to run right over there from Oklahoma. I guess not belonging to Facebook has its disadvantages, but I quit that place several years ago and have seen nothing to convince me I should ever go back.

ah, fwiw i only posted those bc i cant post Google searches from an ipad; there were several other hits for "christian tent meetings" that were not FB, which i pretty much avoid myself lol.

 

[Willie T]

Without FaceBook, we might have had 35 kids at our Fall-O-Ween. Jesus walked to where the people who needed Him were, and we need to implement the communication mediums the people who need Jesus use. I don't like FB either..... and I also don't get a thrill of going door-to-door in the ghettos to advertise a local neighborhood Tent Revival. So, how do I explain to Jesus that I didn't feel comfortable doing some things for Him?

 

[bbyrd009]

Without FaceBook, we might have had 35 kids at our Fall-O-Ween. Jesus walked to where the people who needed Him were, and we need to implement the communication mediums the people who need Jesus use. I don't like FB either..... and I also don't get a thrill of going door-to-door in the ghettos to advertise a local neighborhood Tent Revival. So, how do I explain to Jesus that I didn't feel comfortable doing some things for Him?

yeh, it has basically superseded Craigslist now too, i notice. Its seems to be kinda like the RCC or Walmart, a juggernaut that we have to patronize bc all the other options disappear?

 

[amadeus]

Without FaceBook, we might have had 35 kids at our Fall-O-Ween. Jesus walked to where the people who needed Him were, and we need to implement the communication mediums the people who need Jesus use. I don't like FB either..... and I also don't get a thrill of going door-to-door in the ghettos to advertise a local neighborhood Tent Revival. So, how do I explain to Jesus that I didn't feel comfortable doing some things for Him?

I really don't see Facebook as a 'bad guy' any more than many other things we have today. It is simply presently not for me. I also don't watch or pay attention to football and watch very little television. There is simply only so much time in a day. As God directs me I try to use it... and will He not guide me rightly if I'm paying attention?

 

[Soverign Grace]

Last month, we just finished seven straight nights of revival in eight separate locations around St. Petersburg where we set up eight different tents and staffed them with members from 43 different local churches. That's 56 nights of preaching and feeding crowds of hundreds in one week.

https://www.google.com/search?sourc...nUS810US810&q=7+x+7+revival#spf=1572788184356

That's really great to hear! I haven't seen them / heard of them in my area lately. I was hoping for a Revival. I leave tracts around wherever I go. I hand them out as I feel God shows me. I've read accounts of Revival from the old-time pastors - I think Ryle or one of them back in his era - and they really spread like wildfire and were very encouraging. I would love to see something like that in our area. I'm going to share what your church did with the pastor of our bible study. Maybe it will spark a flame in our area as well.

 

[Soverign Grace]

Here I am right in the midst of what people have in the past named the "Bible Belt", but it has been years since I saw a tent meeting set up in my neighborhood. Before responding to you I read @Willie T post about the tent meeting around St Petersburg. I surely hope they are better than the last one I attended which was probably in the early 1990's. The primary speaker was an old acquaintance, a native American preacher, whose messages I had always loved. He was still a dedicated man of God, but the lady introducing the meeting was wearing shorts and a lowcut top exposing way too much for me to be comfortable. She was supposed to be a pastor and a preacher, but not for me. [I am not against women preachers. On the contrary it was a pair of women evangelists preaching the Word of God when I came to the Lord in 1976.]

I have not so much as seen another tent meeting in our vicinity since then...

Neither have I. They used to hold them near a shopping center - we went to one of them one year - but I've not seen them for a number of years. You have people out there saying this isn't a Christian nation anymore - that should motivate churches to hold them as Willie's church has done.

I grasp what you're saying about the woman dressed provocatively. We went to a "now" church one time when younger; the pastor had long hair and they put off the vibe of being "cool" - they had a young girl dressed in skin tight clothes get up and writhe on the stage - I was really turned off. It felt wrong in a church. I think church should have an air of reverence. We're in the presence of the Holy One.

 

[Soverign Grace]

Give God the glory my friend. Hopefully it accomplished some of God's purpose for those attending.

I remember back in the late 1970's attending our very first non-Catholic church the pastor started holding prayer services daily, 7 days a week. They were held every night starting at about 7:00 PM. For those who due to work or other obligations could not make the evening meetings there was also a prayer meeting every morning from about 6:00AM so that no one could honestly say they simply could not attend. At first, attendance was sporadic among the membership and I really found it difficult myself to make it every day... but I did. Attendance, poor at the beginning, improved as the weeks went by. At the end of about 7 weeks without a single day off from it I was looking forward to the gatherings and the real connection with God. When our pastor, apparently pressed hard by some, ended the meetings, I for one was disappointed. We were approaching God as a group in a way I have never experienced any where else before or since. That some did not appreciate it or attend regularly probably points to where the pressure originated for the pastor to put an end to it. I was very young in the Lord, but I still recall what was happening to us who attending regularly and seriously...

Where are prayer meetings like that today?

If you read of some of the old-time pastors like Ryle - there are more but their names escape me - they talk of Revivals and how they spread and many were saved. It sounded so good that I wonder why more pastors don't do it. Our church had a thing years ago where they went out onto the streets and handed out tracts. I think this is an untapped area, as are Revival meetings.

 

[Windmill Charge]

I read another horror story this morning about a man tortured in a restraint chair while cops laughed as he died. I can't understand that level of sickness:

WATCH: Cops Torture Mentally Ill Man in Restraint Chair for 2 Days, Laugh as He Dies in Front of Them

I tried to get my pastor and friend involved in contacting legislators over issues and they're disinterested. I asked the pastor at bible study and he said that's a copout. I'm seeing that some Christians believe that we're to do nothing - they have a fatalistic view that we're told things are going to get worse so they feel no need to take action.

Then there are others who believe that it is our duty to act.

Why do Christians feel so differently about this if we all have the Holy Spirit guiding us? Do you take action or not - and why or why not?

It is Always right for Christians to take action about injustice.
May I suggest you ask him about the parable about the parable of the sheep and the goats in Matt25:31-46 and does that apple to us today?

 

[Willie T]

That's really great to hear! I haven't seen them / heard of them in my area lately. I was hoping for a Revival. I leave tracts around wherever I go. I hand them out as I feel God shows me. I've read accounts of Revival from the old-time pastors - I think Ryle or one of them back in his era - and they really spread like wildfire and were very encouraging. I would love to see something like that in our area. I'm going to share what your church did with the pastor of our bible study. Maybe it will spark a flame in our area as well.

Our church didn't start these revivals, but if you contact our preacher, I am sure he can put you on the right track for doing it yourself.
[email protected] <[email protected]>;

 

[amadeus]

Neither have I. They used to hold them near a shopping center - we went to one of them one year - but I've not seen them for a number of years. You have people out there saying this isn't a Christian nation anymore - that should motivate churches to hold them as Willie's church has done.

I grasp what you're saying about the woman dressed provocatively. We went to a "now" church one time when younger; the pastor had long hair and they put off the vibe of being "cool" - they had a young girl dressed in skin tight clothes get up and writhe on the stage - I was really turned off. It felt wrong in a church. I think church should have an air of reverence. We're in the presence of the Holy One.

Well, in a real way we are always in His presence, but if and when we gather together supposedly to be in His name together, we must be wanting to set our flesh and the things of the flesh aside. We cannot do this alone certainly, but neither should we purposely do things which put additional obstacles between us and God. More then to overcome!

 

[amadeus]

If you read of some of the old-time pastors like Ryle - there are more but their names escape me - they talk of Revivals and how they spread and many were saved. It sounded so good that I wonder why more pastors don't do it. Our church had a thing years ago where they went out onto the streets and handed out tracts. I think this is an untapped area, as are Revival meetings.

For it to work there must be people on both sides who would seek God's help to make it work. The evangelists need to allow God to work through them and the people to whom the evangelists speak must be hungry for they know not what from God. There were undoubtedly charlatans among those old time preachers, but there were some really sent by God as well. The tent meeting and the brush harbor are old things, but the heart of them need not be found only in physical tents and brush harbors.

They can be found in church buildings today... and other places, if the people on both sides are really seeking God's help to accomplish His purposes.

 

[Heavenbound]

Whereas I have not said anything of the sort, on the contrary, just the opposite...I must assume you suffer from some form of diminished capacity, and therefore I will no longer answer your replies.

Scott man I love you as a brother
Chill
Give God room to speak