To mark the five-year anniversary of his 8/28/2010 rally in Washington D.C., Glenn Beck held an 8/28/2015 rally in Birmingham, Alabama. Beck, a Mormon, called this year's rally "Restoring Unity." Following the rally, on 8/31, Beck reported on his website that David Barton, the founder of WallBuilders, thinks the "Third Great Awakening has now begun." According to Beck, on the flight home from the Birmingham rally David Barton told him "matter-of-factly" that a great awakening had begun, as was evidenced at the rally by "people of all different faiths walking together."
In my humble opinion, when you get people of different faiths together, including false religions and cults of Christianity, you're not spawning a spiritual awakening, but slipping into apostasy. I'm sorry, but David Barton couldn't be more mistaken. The late Vance Havner once warned that false revival, like Barton and Beck are trumpeting, with false gospels, false teachers, false converts, and false promises are more to be feared than no revival at all. According to Havner, "Many church leaders will endorse it [and] other good people will be afraid to oppose it, for fear that they might be fighting against God." In the end, Havner warned, "it will seem so genuine that it will deceive, if possible, the very elect."
When thousands of Americans gather at the call of Beck and Barton to pray for revival in America, what god are they praying to? And what is at the heart of their prayers? Is it the salvation of souls for the glory of Christ or the salvation of our country for the good of its populace?
To rally people for the purpose of returning America to belief in Christ is one thing, but to rally people to turn America to belief in any god whatsoever is another thing altogether. Will any generic god do, just as long as some god is believed in? Can it be the god of the Muslims, the god of a cult, one or more of the Hindu gods, or even an imaginary god conjured up in an individual's mind and tailored to their personal liking?
Do you know what is the most condemned sin in the Bible? Idolatry, which is the worship of any god apart from the one and only true God. What is the first of the Ten Commandments? It is, “You must not have any other god but me” (Exodus 20:3). It was the worship of false gods that brought God’s judgment down upon ancient Israel. Far from bringing revival, idolatry always brings divine retribution. Yet, in today’s America, many believe that bowing before false gods will bring down God’s blessings upon our nation.
Make no mistake about it; revival only occurs when men are seeking the one and only true God, not national salvation or some other thing. When it occurs, God alone will be glorified by it. No nation’s flag will be unfurled over it; no, not even the Stars and Stripes. Although revival can result in the transformation of a nation, it is never to be seen as a means to this end, but rather as a side effect of men turning from their sin with broken hearts and to the one and only true God with all of their hearts!
Pray that America will repent of its idolatry and turn with all of its heart to the one and only true God, Jesus Christ!