New Visions

Our readings in this series are from the book, The Church Captive. Here is a brief excerpt from page 45:

“During the Awakening, those coming under the influence of the Holy Spirit began experiencing new visions of Christian possibility, of Christ working to advance His Kingdom in new, enlarged, and exciting ways.  The pastors to whom Edwards wrote were suspicious of this, and he called them to think again about the greatness of our salvation and Christ’s Kingdom: ‘Such is our nature, that we cannot think of things invisible, without a degree of imagination. I dare appeal to any man, of the greatest powers of mind, whether he is able to fix his thoughts on God, or Christ, or the things of another world, without imaginary ideas attending his meditations? And the more engaged the mind is, and the more intense the contemplation and affection, still the more lively and strong the imaginary idea will ordinarily be; especially when attended with surprise.’

“I will mention one other aspect of the Awakening that gave these status quo church leaders pause: They objected to preaching about sin, hell, and the Law and fear of God. They wanted preaching that presented God as loving, and Christians as forgiven and in the process of being healed. But Edwards insisted that the kindest thing any preacher could do for one who was dying in sins and heading to eternal damnation was to scare the sin out of him, so as to launch him into the loving arms of his heavenly Father.”

Now, and for a limited time, you can order The Church Captive together with the next book in our Read Moore series, Revived!, at no cost. Order copies for yourself and for a study group or companion. A free discussion guide is available as well.

T. M. Moore.