WEAK AND STRONG

Here is the story of what God was doing right after WW2 on an island off the west coast of Scotland.

God's Spirit was moving and using two unmarried sisters in their 80's, a 15-year-old boy, and an evangelist.  "God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong." 1Corinthians 1:27

The revival was beginning in the years 1949-1952 with the two unmarried sisters, Peggy and Christine Smith, pictured above with Reverend Duncan Campbell.

Lewis (in gold) is the northernmost island of Outer Hebrides.
Pinks are the inner Hebrides and green is Scotland.

Peggy (84) was blind and Christine (82) was bent with arthritis, making them unable to go worship publicly.  Their "church" was in their little cottage.  Both sisters felt burdened because not a single young person came to church on their windswept little island.

They began to pray.  When Peggy had a vision in the night, the sisters sent for the local minister.

Rev. James Murray MacKay was told that in Peggy's vision, their church was crowded with young people and a strange minister was in the pulpit.  A verse was impressed on Peggy's mind from Isaiah: "I will pour water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring."  Isaiah 44:3

The pastor asked what they wanted him to do.  The sister's reply?  "Do?  Petition Heaven so that rivers of blessings will come!"

The pastor convened his elders and the plan was made for the church to pray on Tuesdays and Fridays at 10pm.  The sisters said they also would go to prayer at 10 and would remain on their knees until 4.

The pastor that Peggy "saw" in her vision was a famous Scottish evangelist, Duncan Campbell.  Reverend Campbell had turned down preaching the circuit; the custom was for successful preachers to go to London.  But God spoke clearly and Campbell chose obedience.  He told God that he was willing to go anywhere to preach revival.

Duncan Campbell was sitting in the front row of a conference, waiting his turn to speak when the Spirit of God came upon him.  He turned to the moderator and said "You'll have to excuse me.  God has another appointment for me."

Reverend Campbell got up, walked away, and got on a boat for the Isle of Lewis.  He got off the boat at 4:00 in the afternoon and a mailman was waiting for him.  The mailman said "We knew you would come.  You have just enough time for high tea before the meeting."  "What meeting?" said Campbell.  The islanders had posted notices for a meeting that afternoon to talk about what God was doing on the Isle of Lewis.

It is FASCINATING to read how God touched one heart after another as He brought revival.  What of the young boy?  God was working in a teen's life in the nearby village.  This LINK takes you to his back story.  The young man was Donald Smith, another relative of the Smith sisters.  He was an amazing 15-year-old prayer warrior.

Fifteenth-century church on the Isle of Lewis

You may wonder what fruit came from the Revival?  The bars on the island were put out of existence and the churches were filled with young people.  Church enrollment exploded and people came back to God.  There was a healing of the land.  The revival went on for the next 30 years and God prospered the whole land.

Heaven had invaded Scotland.

But the story continues.  The Smith sisters had a niece that was born on Lewis in 1912, the youngest of ten children.  Mary Anne McLeod lived in a thatched-roof, one-room cottage known as a "black house" on a "croft" (a small agricultural landholding).  The village had one street.

The croft could feed one family of children, but when the children married they had to go somewhere else.

So in 1930, at age 18, Mary Anne set sail for the United States to find a job in domestic service (as a number of her older sisters had done).  Mary Anne was an economic migrant, one of a new generation looking for a new life.

Please know that this story is about the way God moves people toward revival by prayer.  Knowing that the Smith sisters and the 15-year old Donald Smith were related, we can assume that their family held prayer high.

This is not about politics, but about God using who He pleases.

Mary Anne sailed for America and six years later, married Fred Trump.  After that, she no longer lived in a black house.  Perhaps Mary Anne Trump was close to God and perhaps she raised her children to love God.  I don't know.  We all make our choices.  The choices that her son has made in the past would cause you to doubt he knows God personally.

But God will use who He will use.  And it is a fact that His Word does not return void.  That means the same verse that impressed Peggy Smith's mind regarding revival in her town is still in play.  The first part has come true.  "I will pour water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground"  They asked and God watered the dry ground on the Isle of Lewis.  

And what of the rest of the verse?  "I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring."  Isaiah 44:3  God also promises to bless descendants/offspring.

Is God that good?  What about those who don't deserve it?  The folks who don't believe God would use our President to accomplish His purposes...don't understand that we all are sinners.  NONE of us deserve His blessings.

One day we all fall on our faces before Him, marveling in His grace and mercy.

Revival is a move of God in a community.  God works in individual hearts so that the community becomes God-conscious even before a word is spoken.

Shall we ask Him to make our sin known to us?  Shall we pray for REVIVAL?    

TWO MARCHES

January was a month of marches as Americans expressed their First Amendment rights.

One of our five freedoms is the freedom to assemble peaceably and petition the government for a redress of grievances.

There were two back-to-back marches dealing with women's issues which came down Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C. First was the March for Life on Friday and then the Women's March on Saturday.

Contrast is always a good teacher and she taught plenty this time.

*The March for Life was overwhelmingly larger LINK than the Women's March, but it seemed the media primarily covered Saturday's smaller march.

*The first march had a tone of enthusiasm with winsome smiles and fresh faces and prayers that called people to higher ground.

Many of the signs said "LOVE LIFE; CHOOSE LIFE".  Who doesn't love life?

*Rancor, obscene signs, and hats knitted like a woman's private parts characterized Saturday's march as women demanded their way.

*At the March for Life...nobody was marching for themselves; nobody demanded their right to take the life of their child.  Instead, the March for Life defended the helpless and marched for those who could not march.  But Saturday's marchers were so quarrelsome that major factions dropped out this year.

*The Women's March has marched two years, while the March for Life has kept marching each of the 46 years since Roe v. Wade.  They march in January each year, often in freezing conditions.

In the days following those two march days, several states have legislated laws which allow a woman to "choose" to end life even after a baby is born.  People are aghast at how far we've come.

It was chilling to listen to the Governor of Virginia (who is a pediatric neurologist) speak about the process in a calm, dispassionate voice.  LINK  It was as if he were explaining a hangnail procedure.

Then the Governor's supporters were more outraged about a yearbook picture than about his advocacy of ending a life.

The selective harvesting of body parts from an abortion is already a reality; Planned Parenthood subsequently sells the body parts.  Perhaps the parts would arrive in better condition if the child were delivered whole.  This is beyond GHOULISH!

As Americans, we are given rights by our government for the outworking of our lives within the common good.  But as followers of Christ, we lay down our rights so that in all things, our lives would reflect His glory.

KAMALA

The Democratic nominees for 2020 look to be many.  If Americans are swayed by a pretty face, take note that Kamala Harris has jumped into the deep end.

Here's something I like about her.  She has an Indian Mama and a Daddy from Jamaica, but when asked about how she would describe herself, she replied "a proud American".

Her appeal will be multi-faceted.  She's a woman, a pretty woman, a woman of color, and smart.  Well, perhaps you wouldn't put dating Willie Brown in the smart column.  He is thirty years her senior and married, but he did have power to offer.

Ms. Harris' legal career pads her resume, assuming you don't count those 600 dismissed cases and other troubles.  https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/17/opinion/kamala-harris-criminal-justice.html

At age 54, the rest of Kamala Harris' resume is "wet paint".  She is "new" to things such as NEWLY MARRIED (2014), NEW SENATOR (2017), and she had six years experience as Attorney General of CA.

Ms. Harris' campaign schtick will be a line from her opening foray:  "The value we as Americans cherish are all on the line now.  The future of our country depends on you and millions of others lifting our voices to fight for our American values."

So what are Ms. Harris' values?Here's what she is advocating in her speeches:

FOR abortion (100% rating with Planned Parenthood)
FOR gun control ("F" rating from NRA)
FOR free healthcare for all
FOR free college for all
FOR sanctuary cities/DACA
FOR cannabis
OPPOSED to death penalty

Not all Americans embrace THOSE values, Ms. Harris.