We can learn so many important lessons from history.  The one lesson we have a hard time learning is from the mistakes of past generations. I want to let you know about a past generation in a far away country that was changed for the good when everything seemed hopeless.  The country was England and the time was the 18^th century.  I have studied about England during this time and have learned it was a very dark time morally, politically and socially.  It was a nation rife with crime, addictions, corruption in politics with corrupted elections. But everything changed for the better over a period of a few decades and this improvement lasted for over 100 years.  I will try to share what happened that brought about better days for England. It is what we need in our generation.  We desperately need to see some better days ahead for Canada and the United States.  Our nations of freedom and democracy are rapidly sliding into the abyss of moral and spiritual darkness and if something does not happen soon, we are going to be in big trouble.  Well, actually, I think we are in big trouble already but most people do not realize it and when they do it will be too late.  I want to share a very encouraging intervention by God and a few godly people that God used to bring the needed change to England.  

In 1738, a Bishop Berkley declared that religion and morality in Britain had collapsed “to a degree that was never before known in any Christian country.”  Many other authors and historians shared similar sentiments about that same period of English history.  Donald Drew makes a few observations from his article “England Before and After Wesley.” The man and movement that changed England was John Wesley and the movement became known as the Methodist Movement. What happened was really a revival of the Christian religion that is recorded throughout the Bible book of Acts.  Acts is the record of what Christianity in our time is supposed to be but few churches and Christians experience anything close to it.   I recall that, after I became a Christian and after resigning my flying job, I went to Bible College to study the Bible. One of the courses was a study in the book of Acts.  I remember thinking that what I saw in our church and in others was nothing like what was happening in the book that records the beginnings of the church and outlines what the church should resemble.  

Acts is a record of multitudes of people repenting and being converted to Christianity from pagan and Jewish religions in the Roman Empire. This all happened with great opposition against both the men and the movement.  The Christian religion was referred to first as the religion of “the Way”, then later in Antioch was referred to as the “Christian” religion because the converted people became followers of Jesus Christ, thus the name Christians has been the label for followers of Christ ever since.   It is like Acts ends with a “to be continued” at the last verse.   Acts is meant as a blueprint for churches today to follow and experience but, sad to say, very few churches or Christians have experienced anything close to the book of Acts Christianity. The Acts period of history radically changed the Roman Empire to better days but it took 300 years of the church being severely tested and persecuted.  In the early part of 300 AD the Emperor Constantine made the Christian religion a recognized Roman Empire religion for the first time.  Now and then throughout history since then the book of Acts type of religion and life repeats itself and with the same substance and power leaves in its wake changed people, changed churches, changed communities, eventually changed nations and a changed generation.  England in the 18^th and 19^th centuries was one of those times and one of those nations to experience such a change.    

During the 18^th century the government of England was passing act after act that were designed to pierce at the very heart and soul of Christianity and the Protestant church of England, similar to what is going on in our nation today.   Drew states, “The overall result was the near extinction of biblical thinking and conduct amongst most clergy.” Following these dark years of passing acts and laws designed to silence and deaden the Christian church, “the dead hand of worldliness settled upon the church.”  It seemed that every political leader was worse than the one before and that England was to breathe her last religious breath of true Christian religion.  But God was preparing to bring new life into a few key people who would then be used to bring new life to the nation of England in a powerful and lasting way for the glory of God. 

There were several key personalities during this time who made an impact and lasting effect upon England. Two of these were John Wesley and his brother Charles.  Before the Wesleys there was George Whitefield, a powerful preacher who shook England and America with his powerful sermons mostly preached to outdoor crowds.  Benjamin Franklin was quoted as stating, “you could here George Whitfield clearly one mile away from him with no amplifier system. 

John and Charles Wesley were raised in a Church of England minister’s family of 19 children.  John, along with Charles, became a Church of England missionary to the new American colonies. They dreamed of bringing the gospel to the native people of America but it did not go well for John, especially, in America. The bishops sent him back to England as unfit to minister in the colonies.  On his return home the ship encountered a severe storm on the Atlantic Ocean that lasted for several days and John was filled with the fear of dying. He noticed a group of Moravian Christians on the ship who were singing in the storm.  Even their youth did not seem to have a fear of death.  He thought to himself, “Why am I so afraid of death?  I am a missionary and have served God with zeal for many years and yet I am afraid and these Moravians are not? What am I missing?”  Fortunately, they all survived the storm and finally arrived in London but the experience left a profound effect on John Wesley.  It shook his religious confidence and caused him to question the matter of eternal life.  He realized that what the Moravians had was a personal experience of salvation and he did not, even though he was a “missionary.” Fortunately, he soon discovered the salvation taught in the New Testament and his life would be changed for good.   

Following their arrival in England, both he and Charles started attending Bible studies led by Moravian Christians in London.  John and Charles had lots of questions about salvation. They were muddled up in their Bible theology and the Church of England doctrines.  Thankfully, a true salvation experience did come to both brothers through the clear simple teaching of the Moravian Christians.  One night, May 24^th, 1738, John Wesley testified while attending a Moravian Bible study and described his experience as “I felt my heart strangely warmed.” He continued, “I did trust Christ only; Christ died for my salvation and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine…I testified openly to all there what I now….felt in my heart.” John Wesley was at last a true born again convert to Christ.  His heart was warmed with the love of God shed abroad his heart by the Holy Ghost (Romans 5:5). It was a defining moment, which now began to clarify his life purpose.  What happened that night in his heart was the beginning of a fire that would set England ablaze with the salvation and love of God touching every corner of England. The truth of the matter is that what happened to John Wesley was described by Jesus (in John 3:3-8) as the new birth that everyone must experience to enter the Kingdom of God.   The new birth is a biblical doctrine but it is also a biblical experience of something supernatural that God himself does in the soul of someone who repents and receives Christ. I can truly relate to that experience which happened to me in 1977.  John and Charles Wesley both became Christians with changed transformed hearts.  It was change that eventually change England, then spreading to America.   

John Wesley was shaken up in an Atlantic storm that started him doing some soul searching about his eternal life issue with God.  After the storm, he had to ask himself if his faith was really real. The testimony of the Moravian Christians affected him powerfully.  He set out on a quest to settle the issue of eternal life. Did he have it, and if not, could he find it, were questions that plagued his mind and heart for weeks. 

Our world has gone through two years of a pandemic storm.  Thousands of lives have been lost.   There is another storm now in the Ukraine where thousands of lives are being snuffed out with a brutal and needless war that could have been avoided, I believe.  Over 6 million over the last three months have had to flee their homes in Ukraine with only the cloths on their back. The cold, sullen cloud of death hangs over Ukraine for both Russian soldiers and the Ukrainian population.  There is only one way to prepare for these storms of life and that is to be eternally ready.  Matthew 24:44 reads: Therefore, be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.  Are YOU ready?

To be continued…..

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The content of this article is solely the personal opinions of the writer and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Prince Albert Shopper.