A time for change?

Are you a Christian? Then there's something dreadfully wrong with you. You're unthinking; you're unscientific; you can't see how badly Christianity botches morality. You represent a deeply defective culture that's been getting all the most important things wrong for a hundred generations.

Did you know that?

 So says an American writer, tongue in cheek no doubt, but illustrating a point. The Christian is the odd man out in society, the barrier to scientific advancement, the hindrance to human enjoyment. Or so they would have us believe.

When they start calling good evil, and evil good, watch out.

Recently I have been studying the subject of revival; listening to tales of things that have happened during such times, particularly during the 1904 Welsh revival, when churches were packed to suffocation daily, tavern keepers went bankrupt and thousands of lives were transformed.

 The revival started in South Wales. I have been in the chapel in Loughor where Evan Roberts worshipped and where the revival largely began. It spread throughout Wales.

In Anglesey, in North Wales, a policeman was standing on duty outside a courtroom. He heard the sound of singing inside the court. He went in to see what was happening. The accused had broken down, confessed he was a sinner and asked his lawyer not to defend him any more. The judge adjourned the court.

"Now," he said to the accused, "may I speak to you, not as a judge, but as a Christian? You have sinned against society, but first, let me tell you how to get right with God." The accused was converted to Christ then and there. The jury burst into a spontaneous Welsh hymn of praise, and the policeman joined in.

Lord, revive us again!