David Sliker is a leader at the International House of Prayer and in 2020, he released a book called The Nations rage: Prayer, Promise and Power in an Anti-Christian age. I know that Sliker is faithfully seeking to declare what he believes to be truth. Many Pentecostals, including myself, would be disagree with his eschatology that is the basis for the book, we also would find common ground on the need for intercession in the last days of the age of the Holy Spirit. (Church age.)
Personally, I look past disagreement on the timing of the rapture in most cases. I have many friends on both sides of the discussion. As long as you are Pre-Mill, you are good to go in my book.
On page 96 he says,
There is an unknown and profoundly sovereign dimension to revivals of any kind. No one can make God move or pour out His Spirit upon a region or a people….
This raises a question about the nature of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believers and corporately in the life of the local assembly. Is God letting people go to hell and keeping freedom from the believer waiting for a “good time to send revival” or is the issue on our end? If the problem is on our end, we can change that. If it is on His end, we can not.
As a student of revival, especially American revival; I believe the bulk of the evidence would point towards revival is not a sovereign move of the Lord but it is a response of free will to do what the Spirit has purposed all along.
Considering the Revivalists of Pentecost
I have on my desk books of revival from Reinhard Bonnke, Rod Parsley, Stanley Horton, Alton Garrison, David Wilkerson, Steve Hill, Michael L. Brown, Cecil Robeck, and John Kilpatrick. (There is over 150 books in my library on revival!) All of them seem to hold a similar view that revival is man’s response to own our sinful state than God saying, “I better show up, there has been enough to go to hell now.”
The Holy Spirit is able to make the Word as successful now as in the days of the apostles. He can bring in souls by hundreds of thousands as well as by ones and twos. The reason why we are no more prosperous is that we have not the Holy Spirit with us in might and power as in the early days. (Oswald J. Smith, The Revival we need, p. 33)
Smith was not a Pentecostal but understood the need for the mighty baptism of the Holy Spirit. He spend much time with a prophet of his day, A.W. Tozer who lived for the outpouring of the Spirit. He knew that the problem with revival was on our end; not the Lord’s.
There has been many voices that contend the revival is a result of man’s hunger for the things of the Spirit, not the Spirit saying, “Enough is enough.”
The Azusa Street Revival testimony
William Seymour stayed with Edward and Mattie Lee while waiting for finances to return to Texas. It was here that the prayer meetings started until they grew too much that they had to be moved to Richard Asberry’s house on Bonnie Brae Street. After that, it ended up on Azusa Street thus, the Azusa Street Revival.
There is something fundamental about the Azusa Street Revival that is important. Prayer was the driver. Prayer is not about changing the will of God but about bringing our will into line with the will of the Spirit. Revival is not about the Spirit coming alive; it is about men becoming dead.
The focus was on dealing with the flesh and becoming sanctified (as the holiness movement understood it), not waiting on God to say “It’s time.” They understood that prayer was the venue to death of the self so they could receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
The testimony of the people of the Azusa Street Revival is the same today. Prayer is about your death and coming into agreement with the will of the Father. Living in a place of prayer is living the repentance based lifestyle of denying yourself and picking up your cross daily.
The story of the revival on Azusa Street is the only example. Revival has come time and time again when people rend their hearts and not their garments (Joel 2:13) willing to die to themselves so the Spirit is come in them, on them and through them.
So is David Sliker’s book any good?
The simple answer is YES! I do not agree with the eschatology of it but I think he does a good service to the faithful but discussing the parrells of coming trouble with revival. Before the rapture, there will be some hard days ahead. It won’t be signs, wonders and miracles every day all day even in the final moments of the age of the Holy Spirit. Martyrdom will increase. Suffering will increase. Corruption will increase.
Since at least the 1970’s, we have been warned that we will see serious struggles in light of the great end time harvest. A prophet named David Wilkerson gave us the stories of his open visions as early as 1973 that come in agreement with much of what David Sliker has to say.
Trouble is ahead between now and the rapture. Revival will over take the trouble but there will be some of both. (There is ALOT more trouble after the rapture too!)
The focus is on revival and the the best has been saved for the last. The ending of the age of the Spirit will be the greatest outpouring we have seen in the history of the Church. It will be one billion souls harvest and healing and deliverance will be at the center of it all. No disease will stand against the anointed Holy Ghost baptized anointed ones.
It is coming. It is close at hand. So is purification.
