Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee? Ps. 85:6.

We are seeing two types of religious revivals today: first, that which looks to and depends upon the claims of men and churches to encounter directly the supernatural in what seems like miraculous and unexplainable manifestations. And second, that which depends entirely upon the revealed word of God in Scripture and is tested by it.

The shifting emphasis in modern revivals from God's Word to the claim to personal contact with the supernatural tends to silence God's claim to our obedience to His commandments. Under the glow and excitement of a supposed contact with and direct sign from God, people tend to become a law unto themselves. For these individuals the call of obedience to the truth of God's Word becomes a rather cold, intellectual affair.

We have no wish to pass judgment on the claim of other people to have experienced a relationship with God. But it must be tested as to its truth or falsity. Only the truth from God can determine that. This does not disparage the deep feelings we experience in our devotion to God. Any swing of the pendulum toward the sensational and the spectacular in relation to the spirit world should be halted at the Word of God and tested by it.

Neither Christian faith nor experience emanates from within ourselves. It rests on and proceeds from God's Word. Genuine Christian experience is never divorced from the teachings of the Bible. It is dependent upon that Word for which God alone is responsible. The truth from God carries more power for the life than a million human experiences of the supernatural. No religious revival is true that ignores or departs from obedience to the law of God. The religious experience of all peoples in the world can never become the center of authority or of spiritual power. In this direction deception lies.

Unrestrained emotionalism, spiritistic sensationalism, are manifest in almost all the pagan religions of the world. We need that inner poise and calmness of the Holy Spirit, the peace of mind so essential to understanding truth and committing ourselves to it.