Evangelism and the Journey Outward by Harold Okenga 01-11-26

Summary

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Faith of Our Fathers: “Evangelism and the Journey Outward” by Harold Ockenga (01-11-26)

Episode Airdate: January 9, 2026
Podcast: Faith of Our Fathers (WDAC Radio Company)
Featured Speaker: Harold Ockenga (with references to Billy Graham and other theologians)

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Overview

This episode of Faith of Our Fathers features a compelling, historically-rooted sermon delivered by Dr. Harold Ockenga, influential pastor of Park Street Church, Boston, and a key figure in the American evangelical movement. Addressing “Evangelism and the Journey Outward,” Ockenga explores the twin emphases of Christian experience: propositional truth/revelation and subjective encounter. With urgency and compassion, he calls the church and nation to repentance, renewal, and unity, drawing from biblical example and Christian history to challenge believers toward active faith and societal impact.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Tension and Balance: Objective and Experiential Faith

• Ockenga, referencing Billy Graham and fellow conference speakers, laments the historical division between objective theologies (doctrine, revelation) and subjective experiences (personal encounter, social gospel).
  • “When I was listening to one speaker, I sort of felt that we were so subjectivistic that we almost bordered onto heresy. When I listened to another speaker, I felt we were moving very definitely into the area of the right.” (Billy Graham, 03:56)
• He illustrates past approaches:
  • The “circle” approach: Social Gospel/Liberal theology versus conservative, propositional, individualistic piety.
  • The “ellipse” as a model for evangelical balance—holding together propositional truth and subjective encounter.
    • “In an ellipse you have two points... one is that great truth of divine revelation... and the other is the subjectivistic, the personal encounter... both are absolutely essential to the Christian faith.” (Billy Graham, 06:20-06:42)

2. Scripture Foundations: 2 Chronicles 7:14

• Ockenga anchors his call in the famous revival verse:

  "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked way, then will I hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land." (10:19–10:34)

• He connects this Old Testament model of national dedication, repentance, and renewal to the present call for church-based transformation.

3. The Conditions and Promise of Divine Intervention

• The pattern illustrated: Repentance → Prayer → Seeking God → Turning from wickedness → God’s healing response.
  • “You see, we don’t have to have a vast number of people praying. All we need is a remnant of God’s people... God’s remnant and who are ready to seek his face.” (14:15-14:49)
• Connection to contemporary American crises: racial strife, moral decline, addiction, and violence.
  • “What a promise that is to a nation that’s torn by racial strife, a nation that’s facing revolution from within, a nation that’s rocked by violence and crime and by all kinds of addictions…” (16:43–17:05)

4. National and Ecclesial Self-Examination

• Ockenga details the indictment against both nation and church:
  • Hypocrisy in equality, societal pride, fragmentation within the church, moral decay, materialism, and social injustice.
    • “When it comes to the matter of lawlessness... we do every man what is right in his own eyes... there is a rejection of that which is the traditional viewpoint of Western civilization and also of Christian history.” (20:39–21:13)
  • Modern prodigality and affluence set against global poverty.
  • The prophetic biblical call to repentance, echoing Isaiah, Jeremiah, Micah, John the Baptist, and Jesus.
    • “Jesus came saying, repent, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (24:06)

5. The Call to Repentance and Confession

• Metanoia (to think again) as the heart of biblical repentance.
  • “To bethink yourself is to think again... when we think again, we repent. That’s the translation of that word. We change our minds.” (25:55–26:13)
• Ockenga emphasizes identifying with the sins of the people, not just individual failings, citing Daniel’s prayer as a model.
  • “This man who was one of the three most holy men of the Old Testament... said, O Lord, he said, we have sinned. And then he confessed the sins of the people. And he confessed them as his own sin, identifying himself with that sin.” (27:49–28:11)

6. God’s Consistent Readiness to Intervene

• Through biblical and historical review, Ockenga underscores God’s willingness to act in response to genuine repentance.
  • “Remember that God is the same yesterday, today and forever... God offers today if we’ll meet the conditions that are involved, that he will undertake for us once again with that omnipotence and with that goodness and with that grace. He is still exactly the same.” (29:02–29:39)
• He likens spiritual renewal to waves in history: periods of decline precede revival, which comes in sudden, powerful bursts.

7. Components of Preparation for Revival

• Ockenga urges four steps:
  • United Confession: “What’s represented here in this group needs united confession of our divisions, our unbelief, our fragmentization, our suspicions, all of these things which have marked the evangelical cause.” (34:23–34:45)
  • United Praying: Drawing from historical revivals, he emphasizes corporate, persistent prayer as the engine of renewal.
    • “We need to have united praying in order that there can be the release of power.” (35:27)
  • United Believing: A shared belief—more than mere faith for salvation, but expectant, corporate faith for revival.
    • “If we can unitedly believe that God will do this... revival is possible even until the advent of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (36:13–36:32)
  • United Action: Coordination and unity to multiply impact: “That’s what takes place in the great campaigns of Billy Graham and others. We need united things, united confessing, united praying, united believing and united witnessing for Jesus Christ.” (37:05–37:20)
• He notes the demonstration of such unity and faith among contemporary student movements and evangelistic crusades.

8. Revival’s Broader Effects on Society

• Historical revivals have led to societal renewal: abolition, improved morality, societal reforms.
  • “If we can have revival today, it will not only infuse radiance and power and life in the individual... but it will mean that the masses of men will be moved. And out of the masses which are the reservoir of the antisocial actions of the day, will come those great movements that can be for the glory of God and for the transformation of society itself.” (38:11–38:29)

9. A Closing Warning and Invitation

• Ockenga ends with urgency, warning that time is short—using the “Doomsday Clock” and the fate of Pompeii as metaphors.
  • “Oh, the time’s later than you think... The day may come when we too will find that if we keep on as usual, that there will come that Holocaust, there will come that conflagration, that will come that final denouement.” (38:58–39:53)
• Final invitation: personal and communal humility, prayer, seeking God, and turning from wickedness for God’s promise of healing.
  • “If my people... will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked way... then will I hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land.” (40:08–40:28)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Balancing Truth and Experience:

  “In an ellipse you have two points... one is that great truth or that great point of divine revelation and propositional truth... And the other is the subjectivistic, the personal encounter... both of these are absolutely essential to the Christian faith.”
  — Billy Graham, 06:20–06:42

• On National Accountability:

  “God looks at us according to Scripture, according to the light that we have... we have had a great philosophic heritage... written into the warp and woof of the constitutions and of the charters... All this is our heritage... and we’re going to be judged according to the light that we’ve had.”
  — Billy Graham, 19:23–20:39

• On United Confession and Revival:

  “Whenever we as a group got on our knees and confessed to God our sin, our abandonment of biblical objectives, our failures to pray, our lack of love for one another... the Spirit of God came upon us in a remarkable way.”
  — Billy Graham, 33:58–34:23

• On Urgency:

  “Oh, the time’s later than you think. That bullet in the atomic scientists in 1950 went to three minutes to 12. It’s back to eight minutes of 12 now. But when I read of what’s happening... I say the time is short... The day may come when we too... will find that if we keep on as usual, that there will come that holocaust...”
  — Billy Graham, 38:58–39:48

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Important Timestamps

• [03:56]: On the tension between subjective and objective emphases in Christian theology.
• [06:20] – [06:42]: Introduction of the “ellipse” model as a corrective for evangelical engagement.
• [10:19]: Introduction of 2 Chronicles 7:14 as the scriptural touchstone.
• [14:15] – [14:49]: Assurance that a remnant can bring revival; God’s people praying.
• [17:14] – [18:26]: Indictment of nation and church; moral shortcomings defined.
• [21:13] – [23:08]: Specific social, moral, and ecclesial failings of the contemporary church and society.
• [25:55] – [26:13]: Biblical foundation of repentance (metanoia - to think again).
• [34:23] – [34:45]: Call for united confession as first step in revival.
• [38:11] – [38:29]: Societal transformation as fruit of spiritual renewal.
• [40:08] – [40:28]: Final scriptural promise and benediction.

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Summary Flow/Takeaway

Dr. Harold Ockenga, in a profound and passionate sermon, critiques the all-too-common splits within evangelical Christianity, bargains for a holistic faith combining truth and humble encounter, and grieves the moral drift of both church and nation. With clear-eyed diagnosis and stirring biblical precedent, he urges corporate repentance, united prayer, and believing, culminating in genuine social transformation. His words resonate with gravity and hope, asserting both the reality of coming judgment and the steadfast promise: “If my people will humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn… I will heal their land.”

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Transcript

[Harold Aucingay]

Welcome to Faith of Our Fathers. Today's evangelist is Harold Aucingay. He was a long standing pastor of Park Street Church in Boston from 1937 till 1969. After graduating from the Methodist Taylor University in 1927, Aucingay enrolled as a student at Princeton Theological Seminary but did not complete his theological studies there. In the midst of the fundamentalist modernist controversy, he and many concerned conservative classmates followed J. Gresham Machen, Robert Dick Wilson and Cornelius Van Til, who withdrew from Princeton to establish the Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia in 1929. Aucingay's message is evangelism and the journey outward.

[Billy Graham]

Billy Graham is one of those individuals, few in number, from whom I'm very glad to take directions. He's most generous in what he says. I know it comes out of a very warm and loving heart. And I want to say that I think you are one of the most responsive audiences that I've ever listened to or participated in. I've never heard quite so much clapping as I've heard here this week. I'd like to just suggest one or two things in the beginning. One is a word of appreciation. As I listen to these addresses, I've been profoundly moved. I've been moved emotionally, moved to tears on one or two occasions, moved to real a vicarious indignation on other occasions, and with a sense of sympathy for the things which are being espoused here. I especially felt moved by that address of Leighton Ford, in its balance and in its burden. I admired more than I can say the beauty and the academic quality and the turning of a phrase of that address by Dr. Paul Reese, our longtime friend. I felt the passion of Tom Skinner's address. And so I've entered into each one of these addresses this week with a great deal of understanding and sympathy and empathy. And they've moved me profoundly. I'd like to say one other thing. I've never seen a chairman enjoy chairing a meeting like this any more than Dr. Oswald Hoffman has done. He just seems to enjoy every moment. This can be a great burden to someone, you know, but I don't think it's been any burden to him. And as for Billy, I can't add much to what you all feel, but I certainly believe that this is one of God's great of the ages. Now, The second word I'd like to say is a word of admonition. We have had different emphases here and.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

They have been in balance.

[Billy Graham]

I don't suppose any of us can espouse everything which has been said by any means at all. We've held our reservations on some occasions.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

We've felt the thrust, of course, of.

[Billy Graham]

The great propositional truth given to us in divine revelation.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

And we felt the thrust of the.

[Billy Graham]

Experiential that's been given to us through encounter and through the personal experience of the individuals who've been involved. It would be very easy, you know, to move into one area or into the other. When I was listening to one speaker, I sort of felt that we were so subjectivistic that we almost bordered onto heresy. When I listened to another speaker, I felt we were moving very definitely into the area of the right. Now, there has been a time in American history when we have considered Christian.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

Thought and Christian action in two ways.

[Billy Graham]

But each one of them has been.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

In the interpretation of a circle.

[Billy Graham]

If we take a center point and.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

Then construct a circle round about that.

[Billy Graham]

Point, one has been the left wing movement of theology and sociology in which.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

The social gospel has been the center.

[Billy Graham]

The sociological need has motivated the action.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

And the circle would include largely the.

[Billy Graham]

Application unto all of these problems.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

We called it the social gospel, we.

[Billy Graham]

Called it the liberal movement, we've called.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

It by other names, modernism and so on.

[Billy Graham]

And oftentimes some of us have criticized it.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

Then, on the other hand, there's been that movement whereby we place propositional truth, divine revelation, the content of theology, the person of Christ in the center emphasized.

[Billy Graham]

Regeneration, personal piety and the transformation of individual lives.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

This was the center of, and our.

[Billy Graham]

Whole relationship revolved around that center.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

I don't think that either one of.

[Billy Graham]

These is an exact interpretation of historical Christianity. I think we evangelicals, for a period.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

In reaction against the social gospel of.

[Billy Graham]

Walter Rawson Bush and those who followed him, like Harry Ward and many others we might mention, reacted a little bit.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

Too far to the right in this and made ours a circle which was self contained. And that probably lasted for several decades. But some time ago there was the enunciation of what was called the new evangelicalism. And I think this could best be illustrated by an ellipse.

[Billy Graham]

And in an ellipse you have two points on which you construct your ellipse.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

And one is that great truth or that great point of divine revelation and propositional truth and theology and the integration of one's faith around the objective.

[Billy Graham]

And the other is the subjectivistic, the.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

Personal encounter, that which is involved largely in the horizontal relationships. Both of these are absolutely essential to the Christian faith. And it's only this week, as we've had the objective balancing the subjective, that we can guard ourselves from those errors and aberrations of Christian history. It's only as we have divine revelation and propositional truth as the object of our faith centering in the person of Christ, and then the encounter and the experience as our own knowledge and our own entering into the existential realization of it, that we can possibly adapt both.

[Billy Graham]

Of these onto the whole realm of life and every area, whether it is economics or family life or education, educational life or entertainment or politics or diplomacy, or what it may be.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

Because we do not preach our gospel in a vacuum.

[Billy Graham]

It has to do with every one of these areas. And I am so glad that this conference has blazed a trail to emphasize both phases of our Christian truth and our Christian life. I'd like to say one other brief thing by way of introduction, a word of apology, because I feel a little bit like I was sitting here and seeing these lights. I think there are six or seven of them burned out in the course of this week. And I rather judge most of us feel just a little bit burned out from a good many of the things that we've gone through in the course of the week, from early morning to late at night. If my voice gets a little bit raspy today, I hope you'll realize that this is the cause of it. And the second phase of apology is that I would like to say that the address which will be given to you in just a few moments when you go out will not be the address that I'm going to give this morning. As I've been listening to these addresses and the encounter that has taken place personally and in group action more and more, I've come to feel that I wanted to say something different. You're perfectly willing or able and pleased to take that. I was going to talk about evangelism with a definition and then a description and then something of differentiation in it, and then state that the moral incumbency.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

Stands of the Great Commission. It is unchanged.

[Billy Graham]

It will stand as long as the age stands until Jesus comes. That the outward look is going to.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

Reach into the future by our expectancy, inspiring us in the hope of the advent of Christ, which is an eschatological.

[Billy Graham]

Hope and an eschatological experience and an eschatological action. Jurgen Mokman, in his book, you know.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

Tells us how that those of us who have that hope will be the.

[Billy Graham]

Ones who take the pioneering action in the evangelical and sociological field. And then finally the equipment enables in the person of the Holy Spirit and the unction that falls upon us from him for this age and that I believe Dr. Linsell has adequately covered this morning. And so it's in the paper, and you may have it there.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

But I'd like to turn your attention.

[Billy Graham]

In these few moments now, by way of conclusion of this conference and the positional papers, to a text of Scripture that I think is particularly appropriate to us. It's in Second Chronicles, chapter 7 and verse 14.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

If my people, which are called by.

[Billy Graham]

My name, shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked way, then will I hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

This text is in a passage of Scripture that describes the dedication of Solomon's temple.

[Billy Graham]

If there was any occasion in the Old Testament where there was a national occasion and a national dedication, a national prayer, and a national relationship of a people unto God, it certainly was this time. And surely, if anything, this conference has had national, if not worldwide, significance.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

Let us remember, as we see, this whole passage of Scripture that David had prepared for the temple.

[Billy Graham]

Solomon had erected it at an enormous cost. That cost, if computed in modern values.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

Would be somewhere around $4 billion, which.

[Billy Graham]

Would make it one of the wonders of the ancient world.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

And when it was done, Solomon made.

[Billy Graham]

His brazen altar, which was seven and.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

A half feet high, or rather wide.

[Billy Graham]

And long and four and a half feet high.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

He mounted this in the midst of.

[Billy Graham]

The representatives of the people.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

And then he bowed down and made.

[Billy Graham]

A magnificent prayer in 2nd Chronicles, chapter 6.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

In that prayer, he used the word.

[Billy Graham]

If nine times and then dismissed the people after feasting and the giving of.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

Gifts and the recognition in worship of.

[Billy Graham]

The Lord later in the night seasons.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

Chapter seven tells us that God appeared.

[Billy Graham]

To him and told him that he.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

Had heard his prayer, that his eye would be upon that place. And then he said, if my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray and seek my.

[Billy Graham]

Face and turn from their wicked way, then will I hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land. Now let us remember that in the.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

Old Testament, the presence of God was.

[Billy Graham]

Symbolized first by the tabernacle in the holy of Holies, which was symbolically the dwelling place of God above the mercy.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

Seat later in the temple that was erected by Solomon. And the condition that Solomon put in.

[Billy Graham]

His prayer, which was a biblical condition.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

Was that if they would pray toward that place, that is, toward the present day dwelling place of God with repentance and so on, that God would hear.

[Billy Graham]

And that God would forgive and that God would heal.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

And it is illustrated, I think, by Daniel. When Daniel was in the Captivity in Babylon, you recall, it says that he opened his window toward Jerusalem and bowed down and prayed toward Jerusalem, because that was the symbolic dwelling place of God. Since of course, the veil of the temple was rent from top to bottom. And since Jesus by his own flesh entered into the temple, not made with hands, and now the shadows have been done away with and those that have.

[Billy Graham]

Been forerunners of the true have been abrogated.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

We enter into the presence of God immediately through our Lord Jesus Christ. And he has given us the great.

[Billy Graham]

Promise that where two or three are.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

Gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them. Therefore, we don't pray to Jerusalem, we don't pray to the East. We don't have any specific place of.

[Billy Graham]

The dwelling place of God.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

But we know that God is present now where two or three are gathered together, and much more in the great congregation where multitudes are gathered together in his name. 17,000 last night were gathered together and it was in the name of the Lord. And in a sense that was a true church there in the armory. This is a true church here. And wherever you have husband and wife and child kneeling at a family altar, there is the true church. Now you see, the condition that was given there was that if my people will pray toward this place, it says now, that meant that they accepted that God was there, that he existed, that there was certain revelation of a self existent God manifested in symbolic ways before the people. And in our day, unquestionably the condition laid before us is that we will seek the presence of God in and through the Lord Jesus Christ in His church, wherever that manifestation of the church may be now, when that is given, then the promise stands. I will hear, I will forgive and I will heal. You see, we don't have to have a vast number of people praying. All we need is a remnant of God's people. That's all that was needed in the days of Elijah. That was all that existed in the days when the Lord Jesus Christ came. There was a remnant that looked for redemption. That's all that existed in the days of St. Paul, according to Romans 11. And that's all that's necessary today. That if there's a remnant of God's people who will pray, who are encouraged, that when they pray according to his will, they know that God hears them. And when he hears them, that he will answer and he says, I will hear. What a remnant is represented in this group this morning. What a tremendous group of people we've got in America who are believing people. God's remnant and who are ready to seek his face. Then to know that he will forgive our iniquity. As the promise is, let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let them turn unto our God, for he will have mercy and will abundantly pardon. God will forgive. And then to know that God will heal. What a promise that is to a nation that's torn by racial strife, a nation that's facing revolution from within, a nation that's rocked by violence and crime and by all kinds of addictions to.

[Billy Graham]

Things which are ruining individual life.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

To know that God promises that he will heal. This is the promise that we have.

[Billy Graham]

Before us this morning.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

Now, I should like to suggest to.

[Billy Graham]

You here very briefly in these few.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

Moments, this Are there things from which we should repent? Is there a divine indictment which may be drawn against us today as could be drawn against Israel of old? Then is there an invitation for us to repent and to turn unto the Lord?

[Billy Graham]

And then will there be a divine intervention? Now, we could move into great detail.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

In this, but it's going to be impossible. So I'm only going to suggest certain.

[Billy Graham]

Things that have become to me very deep matters of conviction.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

The first thing is that there is an indictment that might be drawn against us as a nation and as a church. And I think that indictment has partially been drawn in this conference this week. Let's not for a moment compare ourselves with other nations or with other periods of history. It is perfectly true that if we did that, then America would still be on a very high level.

[Billy Graham]

If we, for instance, compared America with.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

Germany between 1914 and 1918, those years, or rather from 1918 to 1933, those.

[Billy Graham]

Years of shame and of disgrace in the German nation.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

Or if we compared ourselves to certain aspects of the communist nations and what they do with their brutality and sadism. But you see, that's not the way that God looks at us. God looks at us according to Scripture, according to the light that we have. Remember, he that did things worthy of stripes and knew it shall be beaten with many stripes. And he that knew not to do things worthy of stripes and did them shall be beaten with few stripes. Jesus said, this is the biblical law, that according to our light we shall be judged. Now we have had a great philosophic heritage that has come into this nation.

[Billy Graham]

From the early times.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

This has been the view that God is there, that God has revealed and written his law into the warp and woof of nature and of human nature and of history. And that man has been made in the image of God and is of infinite value. And that man is responsible to God according to that law. And that this has been expressed in the community relationships. And as a result, we've had in our background what has been called Christian civilization. And, well, might it be called Christian civilization. All of this is our heritage. We've had a heritage of great physical and material resources, of people that have come out of Europe seeking freedom, of ideology, of these movements. And they've been. They've been written into the warp and woof of the constitutions and of the charters of the early colonies and then the constitutions of the states and then the Declaration of Independence and then into our own constitution. All this is our heritage, and we have it. And we're going to be judged according to the light that we've had. Now, that means this, that when we're examined today and there's injustice and we say we believe that all men are created equal.

[Billy Graham]

And.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

And then we shut them out of housing areas and employment and education and other areas, that we ourselves are inviting judgment upon ourselves because we're acting inconsistently with the light that we have then when we talk about pride and we say we are the people. Now, I admit that I belong to that group that they call the WASPs, you know, and that they say, still have control of America. And there's a certain comfort that lies in that. But we have to recognize these minorities and their rights and their privileges and all that ought to come here. And we could be indicted along this. As far as our church life and our American life is concerned. When it comes to the matter of lawlessness. Today we have, even in the theologians of the church, the attitude, not that we have an authority under which we walk as the aegis that controls our intellectual and moral and social judgments. But we do every man what is right in his own eyes. And this reaches not only out of our intellectual and our moral concerns, but it reaches now into all the activities of life itself. Until you talk about the new morality and the new theology and the new sociology and all of these things. And there is a rejection of that which is the traditional viewpoint of Western civilization and also of Christian history. Then there's the modern means of drunkenness and inebriation. The Scripture speaks about this. And these people shall not inherit the kingdom of God. And yet you go where you will today. And this is a way of life. It's a way of life in society, in the clubs, in all of the organizations, in the diplomacy, in government, in every way. It's a way of life. Then there's the promiscuity that's manifested in the new morality that time won't permit us to go and is causing this wave of infection of venereal diseases that the head of the contagious department of the government says is like a great flood that's going over the great metropolitan areas of America today. And there's the prodigality. Look at the dinners that we eat day after day and throw this away because we can't possibly eat half of what they serve as. And then the whole world, two thirds of the world, is hungry. As Frank Laubach says, they live underneath a glass platform and they look up and they see what we're doing up here. And they no longer are willing to stay down there being deprived and without.

[Billy Graham]

They're going to revolt against these things.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

There's an indictment that can be drawn against us in the church and in America in this particular day. And you see, when that indictment is drawn, then we turn to scripture and read the prophets and read John the Baptist and read Jesus and what do we find? Isaiah 1 describes, as you're familiar with it, how that the whole head is sick and how that the body is sick from the sole of the feet to the top of the head, that there's no soundness whatsoever but wounds and sores and putrefying running sores. And then he says, as he pleads with them to turn from their anti social acts and says, come, let us reason together. Though your sins be of scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Jeremiah says, turn from your iniquities. He said, I'm married to you as a backslider. Say not the temple, the temple of the Lord, but let righteousness flow down as a river. Micah, the same John the Baptist you know, says, what shall you do? Turn, he said, turn. If you have two coats, give to him that hath none. Be content with your wages, do no violence. And so on. Jesus came saying, repent, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And then told men what to do. And you see this passage of Scripture says to us that if thou be angry with us and thou deliver us over in Solomon's prayer, then says God, if they turn and if they bethink themselves, and if they confess, hear thou.

[Billy Graham]

From heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

What it simply means is that we too, as Butterfield has said and John Bailey has said and Walter Cunyth of Erlangen University has said and others in their books, that we will stand under the judgment of History and stand under the judgment of a holy God who has written his moral law into the warp and woof of history, as Berlin did and Germany did, as England did, in a measure, as Russia did. That we will also so suffer if we do not turn and repent and think again about these great things. This is the challenge which is put before us in an hour like this. It's an indictment which is drawn against us because God is angry. He hath whet his bow, he hath drawn his sword. And judgment is certainly imminent for our nation. If we do not turn. Is there invitation? Remember what it says here. If my people nine times Solomon said it, six times in the response, God said it. If my people will bethink themselves.

[Billy Graham]

Now, to bethink yourself is to think again.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

And to think again is the New Testament word meta after a nous knowledge, metanoia to think again. When we think again, we repent. That's the translation of that word. We change our minds. And of course, sometimes it's catastrophe and it's sorrow and it's suffering that makes us change our mind. That's the way it was with the prodigal. That's the way it was in Germany after World War II when it lay in ruins. That's the way it is in many areas. It's this that brings us to repentance. But you see, the Scripture says to us that if now we'll change our minds about these things. Thomas Jefferson, writing at Harpers Ferry his history of Virginia in those days, said, I tremble when I think that God is just considering the slave. And he also added that he thought that every drop of blood that had been drawn by the lash would be drawn by the sword. This is a reflection of the justice of God. Let's remember then that in this hour when we change our minds, we change our minds for the better. And we seek to turn and to do those things that are right both individually in our repentance and as the church in our repentance. And also we need to do it within the nation to turn. And then Solomon said, and confess we have sinned.

[Billy Graham]

We have done amiss, we have done wickedly.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

Confess one's evil, his wrongdoings and his sin. I don't take responsibility for many of the things that have happened in this nation. I find it very difficult to find personal guilt about some of the areas of race condemnation. I find it difficult to find responsibility in many of the other things because in many ways I made no conscious.

[Billy Graham]

Contribution to many of those ills.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

But take a look At Daniel again for a moment as his prayer is recorded in the ninth chapter of Daniel's prophecy. There you remember he prayed. And this man who was one of the three most holy men of the Old Testament with Noah, Daniel and Job, it said, remember, Daniel said, O Lord, he said, we have sinned. And then he confessed the sins of the people. And he confessed them as his own sin, identifying himself with that sin. And he cried out, oh God, hear, O God, have mercy. O God, forgive. Because it was his sin he felt, as he identified himself with the sins of Israel that had driven them into captivity. If my people will bethink themselves, repent, if they will turn, that's convert for the better. If they will confess, identify themselves with the sins of the day and of their people and confess them unto God, Then he says, I'll hear and I'll.

[Billy Graham]

Forgive and I'll heal.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

Now, because time's going, I'm going to leap very quickly onto what I believe is the. The proffered involvement, the undertaking that God has said that he would give. Tracing your studies, what he did through Abraham, what he did through Moses in dividing the Red Sea and overcoming the Egyptians and the 10 plagues and the mighty leadership through the wilderness. Think what he did through Joshua. Think what he did in the days of Hezekiah, which Dr. Linzel mentioned, or in the days of Elijah, opening the eyes of the young men to show them that the powers that were with them were far more than those that were against them or those in the days of Jehoshaphat. Just remember for a moment what God has done. And then remember this. Remember that God is the same yesterday, today and forever. And that God offers today if we'll meet the conditions that are involved, that he will undertake for us once again with that omnipotence and with that goodness and with that grace. He is still exactly the same. It's interesting that in history progress is made by waves.

[Billy Graham]

Never comes, just steadily moves in waves.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

When the waves come, you have the gathering of momentum. And then there's the backwash that comes from the trough in which is all the debris and all of the flotsam and jetsam of the beach. And then finally the swell comes, and then the wave breaks upon the beach and then it withdraws and there's a trough again that takes back all of that flotsam and Jepson. And then once again comes another wave with a swell and it breaks. And underneath it all the tide moves in. That's exactly the way history moves. It never moves steadily and consistently. It moves in waves. And that's the way the church moves on and will move on to that glorious climax that is yet to come in the advent of our Lord Jesus Christ. And those waves that come are the waves of spiritual quickening. Now, let's remember that there are providential preparations for them. And those providential preparations are negative and positive. Before the swell comes, the negative one is that there's a time of doubt, a time of unbelief, a time of sin and indulgence and despair, a time of satiety with the physical and the material things of the world. And if I know anything about our day, this is the kind of situation we're in. Nations don't keep their covenants and words. There's a building up in business now of credit associations to find out if men mean what they say and can be depended upon in their word. Individuals are breaking their moral standards and doing what is right in their own eyes. This is the condition in which we are everywhere with our crime and violence and promiscuity and inebriation and drug addiction. These things are there. Then let's remember there's a positive preparation, that there comes the swell before the wave breaks. And that swell is the satiety that men get with materialism and earthly pleasures, the hunger that comes out of the depth of a man's being for God. For deep calleth unto deep, the resort unto prayer and groups for Bible study and the seeking of God's presence. Until finally there's a mighty rising swell on the part of men in their expectation of what God's going to do. And then there comes the mighty wave that crashes in. Now, if you know anything about history, it broke in the 12th century under Francis of Assisi and others. It came in the 15th century in part under Savonarola, in the 16th century with Luther, Calvin, Knox and others. In the 18th century with Wesley and Whitefield and Toplady and those. And it came in the 19th century with Moody and Sankey and also in a measure, with Billy Sunday. And the question is, will it come today? Will there be the swell? Will this come? Now, I'd like to suggest to you just a few things as we draw to a close this morning that we can do to prepare for a quickening that can turn us back to those areas of truth and experience which will.

[Billy Graham]

Revive our Christian faith and experience. What are they?

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

Well, the first thing that I would.

[Billy Graham]

Mention is united confession. Some 26 years ago, we organized the NAE and I stumped the country for two years in reference to that met with hundreds and even thousands of ministers. And those were days of acrimony and days of division, fragmentization, days of bitterness in the evangelical or the fundamentalist modernist controversy. And whenever we as a group got.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

On our knees and confessed to God our sin, our abandonment of biblical objectives, our failures to pray, our lack of love for one another, our unwillingness to bear the burdens of our brethren, the spirit of God came upon us in a remarkable way. I believe today that what's represented here in this group needs united confession of our divisions, our unbelief, our fragmentization, our suspicions, all of these things which have marked the evangelical cause. You know, we divided even then, 25 years ago into the American Council and the NAE. And if that hadn't happened, there could have been a united front that would have taken in perhaps all of the evangelicals. And what we need today is for the Lutherans and the Southern Baptists and the evangelicals in the great denominations and all of these to come together. And we need a re examination of that division. And those leaders now that are outside, like myself and like others, need to recognize. That there ought to be a framework today for the continuation of that which is carried on right here in this conference.

[Billy Graham]

And it could be done. But we need unity. We need confession, united confession. And that ought to take place in.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

The grassroots level as well as in.

[Billy Graham]

An area like this.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

We need united praying. We need to lay hold, as the Herrnhut people did in 1727 that started the modern missionary movement. We need to lay hold of Sidi Lampiere and the noonday prayer meetings did before the Finney revival across this nation. We need to have united praying in order that there can be the release of power. We should command him concerning the work of his hands. For the gift of the Holy Spirit is faith.

[Billy Graham]

And we ought to believe that we can have revival. We need also united believing.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

Now, there's a difference between the kind of faith that we exercise to be.

[Billy Graham]

Saved and the kind of faith that's.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

A gift of the Holy Spirit.

[Billy Graham]

And if we can unitedly believe that.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

God will do this and take the Scripture teaching that revival is possible even until the advent of our Lord Jesus Christ. As Peter said in Acts 3:21, repent and be converted, and he shall send you Jesus. And times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. We can have those times of refreshing right up to the time of the.

[Billy Graham]

Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

Don't think that the days of revival are past.

[Billy Graham]

And then there's united action where together we can stand and where not the.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

Mathematics but the geometry of Scripture occurs. Where one shall chase a thousand, two shall chase five hundred, or one shall chase one and two. Five hundred and one, a thousand and two, ten thousand. That's geometrical increase.

[Billy Graham]

That's what takes place in the great campaigns of Billy Graham and others. We need united things, united confessing, united praying, united believing and united witnessing for Jesus Christ. That's what we're finding in the student movement of Bill Bright in Crusades for Christ. They believe, they really believe today that they can evangelize the world through having these people and the nations disciple others. Now, what will happen?

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

Well, you know, if you know history, what happened after all the great revivals? What happened in Europe after the Reformation.

[Billy Graham]

Was the birth of the modern era.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

What happened after the evangelical revival? You had John bright and the 8th Earl of Shaftesbury and Wilberforce, and you had the movement against slavery and long hours and child labor and all of these things that took place. What happened was the coming of the Victorian era and morality. And if we can have revival today, it will not only infuse radiance and power and life in the individual, so it will be an antidote for our.

[Billy Graham]

Loneliness and for our isolation.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

But it will mean that the masses of men will be moved. And out of the masses which are the reservoir of the antisocial actions of the day, will come those great movements.

[Billy Graham]

That can be for the glory of God and for the transformation of society itself.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

That's the repository of your future ministers. That's the repository of missionary work for the incumbency stands for the day that's out of which we'll get our Christian.

[Billy Graham]

Education leaders and the support of our Christian education institutions.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

It will come out of this kind of turning unto the revealed truth of God, centered in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the encounter of experience with him that's translated into horizontal relationships to men.

[Billy Graham]

Oh, the time's later than you think.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

Later than you think. That bullet in the atomic scientists in 1950 went to three minutes to 12. It's back to eight minutes of 12 now. But when I read of what's happening along the Nile, when I read of what's happening over in Southeast Asia and what could happen when I realize all of these things that are coming to pass in the fulfillment in this day.

[Billy Graham]

Of prophetic word, I say the time is short.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

And just like those people in Pompeii have been dug up today by the archaeologists and you see them in their various positions and their homes and their businesses and everything that were inundated by the ash when Vesuvius overthrew them, although they'd been warned. The day may come when we too.

[Billy Graham]

Will find that if we keep on.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

As usual, that there will come that hollow caste.

[Billy Graham]

There will come that conflagration that will come that final denouement, that apotheosis of judgment upon us in a day too. Therefore, remember, God says, if my people.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

And that's you.

[Billy Graham]

If my people will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked way, individual and social, then will I hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land.

[Unnamed Theologian or Conference Speaker]

Oh, God, heal America today.

[Harold Aucingay]

You've been listening to Harold Auchingay. Listen to Faith of Our Fathers each Saturday and Sunday to hear more great 20th century preachers.

[Billy Graham]

It.