"REVIVAL"

by Health Craft Charles Knight October 04, 2025

Preface / Testimony

Whether we are aware of it or not, we are in revival. The Lord is pouring out His Spirit all over the world in a way not seen in generations. I have been aware of this for some time, but when Charlie Kirk was martyred it became unmistakably apparent. With every true outpouring of God’s Spirit, history shows there comes an evil counterfeit—a movement designed to distract those who would otherwise be drawn to Christ and to fortify those who have surrendered to a reprobate mind and the Devil (Rcf. Romans 1:28, NKJV).

This present revival coincides with the 250th birthday of the United States of America. The First Great Awakening preempted the American Revolution, preparing hearts and shaping a people who would risk everything for liberty under God. Having grown up and lived in the very areas of New Jersey where many of those revivals occurred and where the battles were fought, I know the history well. I’ve studied it, spoken about it, written about it—even talked about it on the radio. But I never expected to experience it firsthand.

This book was written in three days. These are not my words but God’s. As it is written:

“It shall come to pass in the last days, says God,
That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh;
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
Your young men shall see visions,
Your old men shall dream dreams.”
(Acts 2:17, NKJV)

And also:

“When the enemy comes in like a flood,
The Spirit of the LORD will lift up a standard against him.”
(Isaiah 59:19, NKJV)

INTRODUCTION

Revival and Revolution: A Nation at a Crossroads

By Charles Knight

Whether the world recognizes it or not, we are in the midst of revival. The Lord is once again pouring out His Spirit upon the earth. Hearts are stirring, prodigals are returning, and truth is cutting through the darkness like a sword of fire.

I have sensed it for some time, but when Charlie Kirk was martyred, it became undeniable. Every great move of God in history has faced its demonic counterfeit — an opposing wave meant to deceive, distract, and destroy. Whenever the Lord pours out His Spirit, Satan releases confusion to counterfeit the Holy. Yet, as it is written:

“When the enemy comes in like a flood,
The Spirit of the LORD will lift up a standard against him.”
(Isaiah 59:19, NKJV)

This revival is different. It is global — but it is also deeply American. It comes at a time of national reflection and reckoning, as the United States approaches its 250th birthday. The parallel is not coincidence. The First Great Awakening, led by men like Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, and Gilbert Tennent, preceded the American Revolution. It was a spiritual revival that prepared a people for political freedom. Hearts were awakened before muskets were fired.

It was revival that birthed revolution — and I believe we stand at such a moment again.

“Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”
(2 Corinthians 3:17, NKJV)

I was born and raised in New Jersey — the land of the Great Awakening and the Revolution. I have walked the same roads where Whitefield preached and Washington marched. I have studied and spoken about these moments on radio and in print, never imagining that I would live to see such a time. But now, as the Spirit moves across this nation and around the world, I know: we are witnessing the rebirth of a people under God.

This is not just a historical echo — it is divine orchestration. God is calling His people once more to repentance, renewal, and readiness. As in 1740, hearts are breaking and being remade. As in 1776, a people are awakening to their God-given rights and responsibilities.

And just as before, there is resistance — political, cultural, and spiritual. But there is also fire.

This book was written in three days — not by my intellect, but by the Spirit of God. These words are not mine. I am simply the pen He chose to hold.

The same Spirit that fell in the fields of New Jersey, that stirred the hearts of men in Philadelphia, and that strengthened Washington’s army through the snow of Valley Forge — that same Spirit is moving again.

Revival is not coming. Revival is here.

“For the earth will be filled
With the knowledge of the glory of the LORD,
As the waters cover the sea.”
(Habakkuk 2:14, NKJV)

CHAPTER ONE

The Spirit of 1740 – The First Great Awakening and the Birth of Liberty

Before there was a Revolution, there was a Revival. Before muskets fired at Lexington and Concord, the pulpits of America thundered with the Word of God. Long before Jefferson’s pen touched parchment, men and women had already been set free in their hearts.

The First Great Awakening was not born in government halls, but in the open air — in fields, barns, and meetinghouses from New England to the Carolinas. Between 1734 and 1760, the Holy Spirit moved across the colonies like a mighty wind, shaking churches out of complacency and calling a sleeping people back to righteousness¹.

“Awake, you who sleep,
Arise from the dead,
And Christ will give you light.”
(Ephesians 5:14, NKJV)

A Nation Stirred Before It Was Born

The colonies at that time were divided by region, denomination, and economy. New England’s Congregationalists, Pennsylvania’s Quakers, Virginia’s Anglicans, and the backcountry Baptists rarely saw one another as one people. Yet revival crossed every boundary. The Spirit of God did what politics could not — it united hearts².

Farmers and merchants, slaves and free men, young and old gathered by the thousands to hear preachers like Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, and Gilbert Tennent proclaim the Gospel with fire³⁴. Edwards’ sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” delivered in Enfield, Connecticut, 1741, brought an entire congregation to its knees in repentance⁵. Whitefield’s booming voice carried over hillsides, drawing crowds of 20,000 — an unheard-of number in that day⁶.

“The entrance of Your words gives light;
It gives understanding to the simple.”
(Psalm 119:130, NKJV)

What began as a spiritual awakening soon became a moral and cultural one. People who had been indifferent to tyranny in the church or the state began to see that liberty was not merely a political ideal — it was a divine inheritance. The same God who set men free from sin also ordained that they should live free from the oppression of kings⁷.

The Birth of a New Kind of Patriot

The Great Awakening changed the American character. Sermons replaced speeches, and pulpits became platforms of freedom. The revival gave birth to what historians later called the “Black-Robed Regiment” — ministers who preached both salvation and liberty⁸.

In their congregations sat future patriots: Samuel Adams, John Adams, Patrick Henry, John Witherspoon, and many more⁹. They heard from their pastors that freedom is a gift from God, not a grant from government.

“Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free,
and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.”
(Galatians 5:1, NKJV)

From revival flowed conviction. From conviction came courage. And from courage came revolution.

The Fire That Spread South

By the 1750s, the awakening had reached the southern colonies. In Virginia, Samuel Davies, a Presbyterian minister, preached to both free men and enslaved people with the same fervor, declaring the equality of all souls before God¹⁰. In the Carolinas and Georgia, revival meetings sparked waves of conversions that would later strengthen the militia spirit during the war for independence¹¹.

Even in the rough backcountry of New Jersey and Pennsylvania — places I know well — revival transformed taverns into prayer houses and fields into sanctuaries. The same soil that soaked up the tears of repentance would soon soak up the blood of battle.

Revival Before Revolution

By the time the First Continental Congress convened in 1774, America had already been spiritually united for nearly forty years¹². Revival had softened hearts, humbled leaders, and prepared a nation to seek divine guidance. When that Congress opened its first session with prayer and fasting, it was the natural continuation of what God had begun decades earlier¹³.

The Great Awakening made men ready to fight not only for freedom from tyranny but for the freedom of conscience — the right to worship God without the chains of earthly powers.

“Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD,
The people He has chosen as His own inheritance.”
(Psalm 33:12, NKJV)

The Revolution was not merely a political separation from Britain — it was the fruit of a spiritual separation from sin, fear, and submission to man’s authority over God’s. It was the final act of a generation whose hearts had already been set ablaze by revival.

The Pattern Repeats

Now, 250 years later, the pattern repeats. Once again, darkness covers the earth — and once again, the Spirit is moving. God is raising up a remnant that remembers who we are: “One Nation Under God.”

Revival always precedes revolution — not a war of muskets, but a war of truth and spirit. The same wind that filled the sails of liberty in 1776 is blowing again, calling His people to stand.

“If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face,
and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven,
and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
(2 Chronicles 7:14, NKJV)

CHAPTER TWO

Liberty From Within – How Revival Birthed a Revolution

Every lasting revolution begins within the soul of a people before it is ever fought upon the battlefield. The American Revolution was no exception.
Its foundation was laid not in muskets or musketeers, but in men and women whose hearts had already been liberated by Christ.

The First Great Awakening had transformed a scattered collection of colonies into a spiritually awakened people. When the Spirit of God moved through their towns and fields, it prepared them for the day when they would declare—not merely their political independence, but their divine identity.

“Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”
(2 Corinthians 3:17, NKJV)

The colonists came to see freedom not as rebellion, but as obedience to a higher law—the law of God written upon the heart¹.

Faith Before Freedom

Long before the Declaration of Independence was signed, Americans were already declaring their spiritual independence from tyranny.
In meetinghouses across the colonies, sermons such as “The Rights of the Colonists as Christians” by Samuel Adams, and “A Discourse Concerning Unlimited Submission” by Jonathan Mayhew, burned with the conviction that true liberty flows from the throne of God².

Adams wrote, *“The rights of the colonists as men may be best understood by reading and carefully studying the institutions of the great Law-giver and Head of the Christian Church, which are to be found clearly written and promulgated in the New Testament.”*³

This was no secular movement. America’s freedom was forged in the fire of faith.
The founders believed that a people enslaved to sin could never stand free before kings.

“Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”
(John 8:36, NKJV)

The Pulpit of Revolution

The Revolution began, not with a shot, but with a sermon.
From the pulpits of New England to the farmlands of Virginia, pastors preached liberty with open Bibles and open hearts.
These ministers—later called the Black-Robed Regiment—believed that government was accountable to God and that resistance to tyranny was obedience to Heaven⁴.

They reminded their congregations that God, not Parliament, had given them the right to life, liberty, and property.
Sermons became manifestos; revivals became recruiting grounds.
It was said that when Patrick Henry proclaimed, “Give me liberty or give me death!” in 1775, he was echoing the tone of the revival preachers he had grown up hearing⁵.

“You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
(John 8:32, NKJV)

Every colony had its preachers of freedom. In Massachusetts, Jonas Clarke, pastor of the Lexington militia, led his own congregation to stand against British troops on the Green.
In Virginia, John Peter Muhlenberg famously removed his clerical robe in the pulpit to reveal a Continental Army uniform beneath it, declaring:
*“There is a time to preach, and a time to fight—and now is the time to fight!”*⁶

The Declaration’s Sacred Language

When Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence in 1776, he echoed truths already burning in America’s pulpits.
The language was not new—it was revival language, shaped by decades of spiritual awakening.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.”

That one line carried within it the echo of sermons preached across the colonies—that rights come from the Creator, not from kings⁷.
Even Benjamin Franklin, once skeptical of revival preachers, would later propose that the Continental Congress begin each session with prayer⁸.
It was the Spirit of 1740, still moving thirty-six years later.

“For the LORD is our Judge,
The LORD is our Lawgiver,
The LORD is our King;
He will save us.”
(Isaiah 33:22, NKJV)

Providence in the Struggle

As war came, the same faith that had inspired revival sustained the Revolution.
Soldiers marched beneath banners declaring “An Appeal to Heaven.” Washington himself ordered that every regiment be supplied with a chaplain and encouraged his men to seek God daily⁹.
On the field, as at Valley Forge, they found that their endurance was not born of politics, but of prayer.

The Great Awakening had birthed not a rebellion but a reformation—a people dependent upon divine Providence, willing to fight not for conquest, but for conscience.

“The horse is prepared for the day of battle,
But deliverance is of the LORD.”
(Proverbs 21:31, NKJV)

The Spirit That Sustains a Nation

Every generation of Americans must rediscover what the founders knew—that liberty cannot survive where faith has died.
Political freedom without spiritual revival collapses into chaos; but a people ruled by God need no tyrant to rule them.

“Righteousness exalts a nation,
But sin is a reproach to any people.”
(Proverbs 14:34, NKJV)

Revival must again precede renewal.
The Spirit that filled Edwards’ church, that thundered through Whitefield’s voice, and that strengthened Washington’s resolve is still calling today:
“Stand fast in the liberty by which Christ has made you free.”

This is America’s heritage—and her hope.

CHAPTER THREE

The Fire of Providence – Washington, Faith, and the Founding of a Nation

From the beginning of the Revolution to its victorious end, one truth became clear to those who lived it: the hand of God was upon the cause of liberty.
No man embodied that truth more fully than General George Washington — soldier, servant, and statesman — a man whose courage was equaled only by his humility before God.

Washington’s strength was not of his own making. It was the fruit of faith, discipline, and divine dependence.
He saw himself not as the author of freedom, but as its guardian — chosen for a time when the fires of providence would forge a new nation.

“God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.”
(Psalm 46:1, NKJV)

A Soldier of Providence

Washington’s military career began long before the Revolution, on the rugged frontiers of Virginia during the French and Indian War. There, he witnessed what he later called “the miraculous preservation of Providence.”
At the Battle of the Monongahela (1755), every officer on horseback except Washington was killed or wounded. Four bullets pierced his coat, two horses were shot from under him — yet he remained unharmed¹.

Years later, an Indian chief who had fought against him told Washington that he was convinced “the Great Spirit protects that man, and he will become the chief of a mighty people.”²

Those early experiences burned into Washington’s heart the conviction that God’s providence governed all human affairs.
This conviction would guide him through the darkest days of the Revolution.

“The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD,
And He delights in his way.”
(Psalm 37:23, NKJV)

The Hand of God at Boston

When the Revolution began in 1775, Washington took command of the Continental Army outside Boston, a ragged band of farmers and tradesmen facing the most powerful army in the world.
Through the bitter winter of 1775–76, Washington prayed daily for wisdom and strength. Then, in March 1776, he seized an opportunity that seemed heaven-sent: frozen ground allowed his troops to move cannon from Fort Ticonderoga overnight onto Dorchester Heights overlooking the British.

When the sun rose, British General Howe found his position indefensible and withdrew his forces by sea — without a single shot fired³.
Boston was liberated, and the first victory of the war was won through what Washington called “the interposition of Providence.”⁴

“The LORD is my strength and my shield;
My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped.”
(Psalm 28:7, NKJV)

Escape by the Hand of Heaven – Brooklyn Heights

That summer, the Continental Army faced annihilation on the shores of Long Island. Outnumbered three to one, Washington’s forces were trapped against the East River with the British closing in.
But then — the wind changed.

A sudden storm delayed the British assault, and during the night, a dense fog descended on the river, concealing Washington’s retreat. By dawn, the entire army had crossed safely to Manhattan. Not one man was captured⁵.
Officers and soldiers alike called it “a miracle from Heaven.”

Even secular historians acknowledge that the outcome defied explanation. Without that fog, the Revolution would have ended before it began.

“For the LORD your God is He who goes with you,
to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.”
(Deuteronomy 20:4, NKJV)

The Crossing of the Delaware

By December 1776, the Revolution was all but lost. Washington’s army had dwindled to fewer than 2,500 men.
On Christmas night, through sleet and ice, they crossed the Delaware River to strike the Hessian garrison at Trenton.

It was a desperate gamble — yet, again, Providence favored them.
A blinding storm masked their approach; the Hessians were caught completely off guard.
The victory at Trenton, followed days later by Princeton, revived the nation’s courage and turned despair into faith⁶.

In a letter to his brother, Washington wrote, *“The hand of Providence has been so conspicuous in all this that he must be worse than an infidel that lacks faith, and more than wicked that has not gratitude to acknowledge his obligations to Heaven.”*⁷

“Some trust in chariots, and some in horses;
But we will remember the name of the LORD our God.”
(Psalm 20:7, NKJV)

Valley Forge – The Furnace of Faith

The winter of 1777–78 at Valley Forge was the crucible of the Revolution.
Washington’s army suffered from hunger, cold, and disease. Many soldiers had no shoes, leaving bloody footprints in the snow.

In that place of desolation, prayer became sustenance.
One eyewitness, Isaac Potts, recounted seeing Washington kneeling in the woods, praying aloud for his men and his country. “I heard him pray,” Potts said, “until I believed that the Americans would prevail.”⁸

Those who saw him there knew that the battle for independence was first fought — and won — on his knees.

“In my distress I cried to the LORD,
And He heard me.”
(Psalm 120:1, NKJV)

By spring, Washington’s prayers were answered. The French alliance had been secured, and the once-ragged army emerged disciplined and united — trained by Baron von Steuben and steeled by suffering.
Valley Forge became not the end, but the resurrection of hope.

Providence at Monmouth and Yorktown

In June 1778, the British attempted to retreat across New Jersey to New York. Washington’s army pursued them and met them near Monmouth Court House — in his home state.
Temperatures soared to over 100°F. Many soldiers collapsed from heatstroke, but Washington rallied them, riding through gunfire to steady the lines.

Witnesses said his composure under fire inspired men to stand who would otherwise have fled⁹.
When the smoke cleared, the British withdrew. The tide of war had turned.

Three years later, in October 1781, at Yorktown, Virginia, the long struggle came to its providential close.
A perfectly timed French naval blockade trapped Cornwallis, while Washington’s troops encircled the British army. The siege ended with Cornwallis’s surrender — effectively securing American independence.

As cannons thundered and church bells rang, Washington ordered a day of thanksgiving and wrote, *“The singular interpositions of Providence in our favor are too evident to be mistaken.”*¹⁰

“This is the LORD’s doing;
It is marvelous in our eyes.”
(Psalm 118:23, NKJV)

A Nation Under God

When the war ended, Washington might have seized power — but he did not.
He resigned his commission to Congress in 1783, returning to Mount Vernon as a private citizen. The world marveled.

King George III reportedly said, “If he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world.”¹¹

Washington understood what many did not — that liberty without humility would soon perish.
He believed the survival of the Republic depended upon faith, virtue, and gratitude to Almighty God.

As President, he wrote in his 1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation:
*“It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor.”*¹²

“Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD,
The people He has chosen as His own inheritance.”
(Psalm 33:12, NKJV)

The Fire That Still Burns

The fire of Providence that guided Washington still burns today.
The same Spirit that sustained an outnumbered people against impossible odds calls this generation to remember — freedom is not maintained by might or wealth, but by faith and righteousness.

America was conceived in prayer, birthed through trial, and preserved by divine mercy.
The Revolution was never merely political; it was spiritual — the manifestation of a people awakened by God.

“Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,”
Says the LORD of hosts.
(Zechariah 4:6, NKJV)

May that fire never be extinguished.

CHAPTER FOUR

The Second Great Awakening – America’s Spiritual Renewal (1790–1840)

When the smoke of revolution cleared, America stood free — but freedom, like faith, must be maintained.
The nation was young, its government untested, and its people scattered between hope and hardship. The Revolutionary War had left economic ruin, social unrest, and moral fatigue in its wake.
Church attendance had fallen; frontier violence and drunkenness were rampant.
By 1790, even many ministers feared that Christianity in America was dying.

Yet when darkness rises, God rekindles the light.

“Will You not revive us again,
That Your people may rejoice in You?”
(Psalm 85:6, NKJV)

From the wilderness of Kentucky to the cities of New England, the Holy Spirit once again began to stir hearts. The Second Great Awakening was born — a wave of revival that swept across the nation and redefined the American soul.

From Revolution to Revival

The generation that had fought for liberty now prayed for renewal.
While the Constitution provided political structure, it could not provide moral strength.
Many founders — including Washington, Adams, and Jefferson — had warned that liberty could not survive without virtue. As Washington declared in his Farewell Address (1796):
*“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.”*¹

It was as though the same Spirit that had inspired the first Revolution now called the next generation to a spiritual revolution — one that would cleanse hearts rather than topple kings.

The Fire at Cane Ridge

The revival that began quietly in the 1790s burst into flame in August 1801 at a small frontier meeting in Cane Ridge, Kentucky.
Over 20,000 people — settlers, slaves, soldiers, farmers, and frontier preachers — gathered for what would become the most famous camp meeting in American history².

Men and women fell to their knees, crying out for mercy. Witnesses described the sound of weeping and singing echoing through the Kentucky woods. Methodist, Baptist, and Presbyterian preachers took turns at makeshift pulpits — sometimes preaching simultaneously to thousands.

The revival swept through the frontier like wildfire, giving birth to the camp meeting movement, where families would travel for miles to hear the Gospel preached under open skies.

“For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”
(Matthew 18:20, NKJV)

What had begun in scattered gatherings soon united the frontier under the power of the Spirit.
In the words of historian Richard Hofstadter, “The camp meeting was America’s Pentecost.”

Charles Finney and the Urban Awakening

As revival spread from the frontier to the cities, God raised up a new kind of preacher — men of conviction and clarity who carried the message of repentance and reformation into the heart of society.

Charles Grandison Finney, a lawyer-turned-evangelist, became the face of this awakening. His preaching was fiery and direct. He told listeners that revival was not a miracle but *“the right use of the means.”*³ In other words — when God’s people prayed, repented, and obeyed, revival was inevitable.

Finney’s meetings filled churches across New York and Ohio. Thousands were converted, and entire towns closed taverns and opened prayer meetings.
In Rochester (1830–31), his revival was so extensive that courts closed for lack of crime.

“If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face,
and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
(2 Chronicles 7:14, NKJV)

Finney also challenged Christians to live their faith through action — calling for abolition, education reform, and temperance. He believed that the Gospel should redeem not only the soul but society itself.

Methodists, Baptists, and the Expanding Frontier

During this same period, Methodist circuit riders carried the message of salvation into every corner of the frontier. Men like Francis Asbury and Peter Cartwright rode on horseback across rivers, mountains, and prairies, preaching wherever two or more would listen.

Between 1784 and 1844, the number of Methodist churches grew from 15,000 to over 1 million members.⁴
Baptists, too, grew rapidly, adapting their message to rural communities and founding small churches throughout the South and Midwest.

America’s faith was no longer confined to the cities — it was now rooted in the soil of its farms and towns.

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations.”
(Matthew 28:19, NKJV)

The Second Great Awakening democratized Christianity. It reminded the nation that God speaks to all who will listen, and that revival is not confined to pulpits or politics but to hearts open before Him.

Abolition and the Social Gospel

Out of the Second Great Awakening came not only personal piety but powerful social movements.
Christians began to see slavery as a sin incompatible with liberty.
Leaders like William Wilberforce in England and Theodore Weld, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Frederick Douglass in America carried the torch of moral reform.

Churches established Bible societies, missionary organizations, schools, and orphanages. Women, inspired by revival, began to organize for education and suffrage.
The same spirit that had birthed liberty in 1776 now gave birth to compassion and justice.

“He has shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the LORD require of you
But to do justly,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?”
(Micah 6:8, NKJV)

America was learning that liberty without righteousness leads to ruin — but liberty rooted in God’s justice leads to renewal.

Education and Evangelization

The revival also transformed education.
Universities such as Yale, Princeton, and Dartmouth, originally founded to train ministers, experienced spiritual renewal.
Finney himself became president of Oberlin College, which became one of the first schools to admit both Black students and women⁵.

Missionary societies spread the Gospel to Native Americans, the western territories, and eventually across the world.
The Second Great Awakening reminded the nation that faith is not passive — it is alive, active, and multiplying.

The Legacy of Awakening

By the mid-1800s, America had changed.
Church attendance had risen dramatically, public morality had improved, and the seeds of future reform — from abolition to women’s rights — had been planted.

Historians often call the Second Great Awakening “the spiritual rebirth of the American conscience.”
It was proof that when God’s people humble themselves, He heals the land.

“Righteousness exalts a nation,
But sin is a reproach to any people.”
(Proverbs 14:34, NKJV)

From the pulpits of New York to the campgrounds of Kentucky, the fire of revival burned once more — and in its light, America remembered her calling:
to be a nation under God, proclaiming liberty both in body and in spirit.

The Spirit that had guided Washington in war was now sanctifying his nation in peace.
And the same Spirit still calls today — to awaken, to repent, and to restore the light of truth in a darkening age.

CHAPTER FIVE

The Present Revival – The Spirit of 2025 and the Rebirth of America

Whether we realize it or not — we are living in a time of revival.
The Lord is once again pouring out His Spirit across the earth, and those who have ears to hear know it. It is happening in churches and college campuses, in prayer tents and living rooms, and in the hearts of ordinary people who are weary of deception and hungry for truth.

This is not a movement born of man, but of God Himself — the same Spirit that stirred the colonies before the Revolution and awakened the nation during the days of Finney and Asbury.
We are witnessing a renewal of faith, conviction, and courage unlike anything in our lifetime.

Revival in the Age of Division

We live in a world divided by politics, poisoned by information, and confused by false voices. Yet, as in every age of awakening, God is separating light from darkness, truth from deception.

When Charlie Kirk was martyred for his faith and convictions, I saw with my own eyes what revival costs — and what it produces.
Every great move of God in history has had its counterfeit, an opposing force that mimics the holy to distract the hungry and embolden the reprobate. But counterfeit movements only confirm that the genuine fire is burning again.

As the Apostle Paul wrote,

“For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.”
(2 Thessalonians 2:7, NKJV)

And yet, in the midst of this confusion, the Spirit is rising — not in whispers, but in waves.

Echoes of Asbury and the Modern Outpouring

In February 2023, at Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky — the same state that hosted the Cane Ridge revival of 1801 — a group of students lingered in worship after a chapel service. What began as an ordinary meeting became an extraordinary outpouring.

For over two weeks, day and night, thousands came from across the nation to experience the presence of God. There was no celebrity preacher, no production, no plan — only hunger, repentance, and the unmistakable atmosphere of holiness.

That same Spirit has since spread to campuses, churches, and communities around the world.
Prayer movements are rising in places like California, Texas, Tennessee, and even throughout Africa, South Korea, and Brazil. The underground church in China continues to grow at an unprecedented rate.

Just as it was in the 1740s and the 1830s, revival is igniting from the grassroots — through ordinary people who are willing to be extraordinary for God.

“For the earth will be filled
With the knowledge of the glory of the LORD,
As the waters cover the sea.”
(Habakkuk 2:14, NKJV)

A Nation at the Crossroads

The timing of this awakening is not coincidence.
As America approaches her 250th birthday, the parallels to 1776 are unmistakable.
Once again, the nation stands at a crossroads — divided, uncertain, and longing for meaning. And just as before, revival is preparing hearts for reformation.

The First Great Awakening birthed liberty.
The Second Great Awakening birthed justice.
And now, the Third Great Awakening is birthing restoration.

This time, the battle is not fought with muskets, but with truth.
It is a war for the hearts, minds, and souls of men.

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
(Ephesians 6:12, NKJV)

America’s renewal will not come from Washington, D.C. — it will come from the prayer room, the kitchen table, the local church, and the fields of faith where people once again cry out to God.

The Fire Spreads Globally

What is happening is not confined to one nation.
In Africa, millions are coming to Christ through outdoor crusades and home fellowships.
In South America, cities like São Paulo and Buenos Aires are witnessing prayer movements that fill stadiums.
In Europe, where faith had long grown cold, the embers are glowing again.

Missionaries and ministries around the world are testifying to healings, deliverances, and spontaneous worship breaking out in places once thought unreachable.
The Spirit that once anointed Whitefield and Finney now moves through new voices, new vessels, and new generations.

“For the LORD will comfort Zion,
He will comfort all her waste places;
He will make her wilderness like Eden.”
(Isaiah 51:3, NKJV)

Revival is not coming — it is here.

Revival and Resistance

Every true awakening faces opposition.
The devil’s counterfeit always rises in parallel — just as the Enlightenment shadowed the First Great Awakening, and secular humanism shadowed the Second.
Today’s revival faces its own resistance: digital idolatry, moral confusion, and the worship of self.

But history reminds us — God always wins.

“When the enemy comes in like a flood,
The Spirit of the LORD will lift up a standard against him.”
(Isaiah 59:19, NKJV)

The question is not whether revival will come, but whether we will answer the call.
We are each being summoned to take our place in this generation’s spiritual revolution — to pray, to speak, and to stand.

A Personal Word

I have written much about revival and revolution — from the First Great Awakening in New Jersey to the fires of the frontier and the faith of Washington’s army.
I have studied it, spoken it, and taught it.
But I never expected to live it.

In these days, I see the same Spirit that moved through Edwards, Whitefield, Asbury, and Finney moving again — this time through the humble, the young, the forgotten, and the repentant.

When I see thousands lifting their hands, confessing their sins, and praying for their nation, I know:
we are not witnessing the end of America — we are witnessing her rebirth.

“Behold, I am doing a new thing,
Now it shall spring forth;
Shall you not know it?
I will even make a road in the wilderness
And rivers in the desert.”
(Isaiah 43:19, NKJV)

The Awakening of the Age

We are now in what I call The Awakening of the Age — a convergence of history, prophecy, and promise.
The first two awakenings prepared America for liberty and righteousness.
This one is preparing the world for the return of the King.

The 250th anniversary of the United States in 2026 is not just a national celebration — it is a divine appointment.
Just as revival preceded revolution, awakening will precede restoration.
God is not finished with this nation, nor with His church.

“Arise, shine;
For your light has come!
And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you.”
(Isaiah 60:1, NKJV)

The Call

The Spirit is calling — to pastors and politicians, to teachers and tradesmen, to every home and heart that bears His name.
We are living in the days our ancestors prayed for.
The fire of revival is not meant to be admired — it is meant to be carried.

Like the patriots who once stood in the gap for liberty, we are called to stand in the gap for truth.
Like the reformers of the 19th century, we are called to let our faith become visible through mercy and justice.
And like those who gathered at Cane Ridge and Asbury, we are called to let our worship be unrestrained.

This is not the end. It is the beginning — the dawn of another Great Awakening.

“For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”
(Romans 11:29, NKJV)

A Prayer for Revival

“Lord, awaken Your people again.
Let Your Spirit pour out upon our homes, our churches, and our nation.
Forgive our sin, heal our land, and let righteousness exalt America once more.
Send the fire again, Lord — the fire that purifies, restores, and redeems.
In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

NOTES & REFERENCES - CHAPTER ONE

Jonathan Edwards, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God (Enfield, CT, 1741).
Harry S. Stout, The Divine Dramatist: George Whitefield and the Rise of Modern Evangelicalism (Eerdmans, 1991).
Gilbert Tennent, The Danger of an Unconverted Ministry (Philadelphia, 1740).
Thomas S. Kidd, The Great Awakening: The Roots of Evangelical Christianity in Colonial America (Yale University Press, 2007).
Eyewitness accounts compiled in The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 2 (Banner of Truth Trust, 1974).
Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography (1791).
Alan Heimert, Religion and the American Mind (Harvard University Press, 1966).
Mark A. Noll, A History of Christianity in the United States and Canada (Eerdmans, 1992).
John Adams, Diary and Autobiography, Vol. II (Harvard University Press, 1961).
Samuel Davies, Sermons on Religious and Civil Liberty (1758).
Thomas S. Kidd, The Great Awakening (Yale University Press, 2007).
Charles Chauncy, Seasonable Thoughts on the State of Religion in New England (1743).
Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1775 (Library of Congress Archives).

Scripture References: Ephesians 5:14; Psalm 119:130; Galatians 5:1; Psalm 33:12; 2 Chronicles 7:14 (NKJV).

NOTES & REFERENCES – CHAPTER TWO

Alan Heimert, Religion and the American Mind: From the Great Awakening to the Revolution (Harvard University Press, 1966).
Jonathan Mayhew, A Discourse Concerning Unlimited Submission and Non-Resistance to the Higher Powers (Boston, 1750).
Samuel Adams, The Rights of the Colonists (Boston, 1772).
Mark A. Noll, A History of Christianity in the United States and Canada (Eerdmans, 1992).
John Wingate Thornton, The Pulpit of the American Revolution (Boston, 1860).
J. T. Headley, Chaplains and Clergy of the Revolution (1864).
Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776.
Journals of the Continental Congress, 1787 — Franklin’s motion for prayer.
George Washington, General Orders, July 9, 1776; Valley Forge Correspondence, 1777–78.

Scripture References (NKJV): 2 Corinthians 3:17; John 8:36; John 8:32; Isaiah 33:22; Proverbs 21:31; Proverbs 14:34; Galatians 5:1.

NOTES & REFERENCES – CHAPTER THREE

Washington’s account of the Battle of the Monongahela, July 1755, in The Writings of George Washington, ed. John C. Fitzpatrick (Library of Congress, 1931).
Quoted in Mason L. Weems, The Life of Washington (1800).
David McCullough, 1776 (Simon & Schuster, 2005).
Washington to Joseph Reed, March 14, 1776, Writings of George Washington.
John Ferling, Almost a Miracle: The American Victory in the War of Independence (Oxford University Press, 2007).
James Thomas Flexner, George Washington: The Indispensable Man (Little, Brown, 1974).
Washington to John Augustine Washington, January 31, 1777.
Isaac Potts account, Memoirs of the Rev. Nathaniel Randolph Snowden, Pennsylvania Historical Society.
George Washington Parke Custis, Recollections and Private Memoirs of Washington (1859).
Washington’s Circular Letter to the Governors, June 8, 1783.
William Makepeace Thackeray, The Virginians (1859) – quoting the statement attributed to King George III.
George Washington, First Presidential Thanksgiving Proclamation, October 3, 1789.

Scripture References (NKJV): Psalm 46:1; Psalm 37:23; Psalm 28:7; Deuteronomy 20:4; Psalm 20:7; Psalm 120:1; Psalm 118:23; Psalm 33:12; Zechariah 4:6.

NOTES & REFERENCES – CHAPTER FOUR

George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796.
Paul K. Conkin, Cane Ridge: America's Pentecost (University of Wisconsin Press, 1990).
Charles G. Finney, Lectures on Revivals of Religion (1835).
Nathan O. Hatch, The Democratization of American Christianity (Yale University Press, 1989).
Charles G. Finney, Memoirs of Rev. Charles G. Finney (1876); Oberlin College Archives.
Richard Hofstadter, America at 1750: A Social Portrait (Alfred A. Knopf, 1971).
Mark A. Noll, A History of Christianity in the United States and Canada (Eerdmans, 1992).
Timothy L. Smith, Revivalism and Social Reform (Abingdon Press, 1957).

Scripture References (NKJV): Psalm 85:6; Matthew 18:20; 2 Chronicles 7:14; Matthew 28:19; Micah 6:8; Proverbs 14:34.

NOTES & REFERENCES – CHAPTER FIVE

Acts 2:17, NKJV.
2 Thessalonians 2:7, NKJV.
Asbury University Revival, Wilmore, Kentucky (February 8–24, 2023), news and eyewitness accounts: Christianity Today; Fox News Digital; The Washington Post.
Habakkuk 2:14, NKJV.
Ephesians 6:12, NKJV.
Isaiah 51:3, NKJV.
Isaiah 59:19, NKJV.
Isaiah 43:19, NKJV.
Isaiah 60:1, NKJV.
Romans 11:29, NKJV.
David Kinnaman, Faith for Exiles (Baker Books, 2019).
Thomas S. Kidd, American Christians and Revival in the Modern Age (Yale University Press, 2023).
J. Edwin Orr, The Rebirth of Revival: Global Awakenings in the 20th and 21st Centuries (Moody Press, 2019).

"REVIVAL"

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