RUINED in ROMANIA!!

RUINED in ROMANIA!!
by Andrew Strom

I am writing this in one of those squat concrete Communist apart-
ment buildings where I spent the night last night. But despite the
Communists' best efforts, Romania is still a beautiful country
and this has been a very interesting trip.

Above all, it has been so refreshing to be in a 'European'-type
country where convicting Holy Ghost preaching is actually
WELCOMED instead of being shown the door. I cannot count
the number of Romanian leaders who have begged me to come
back to preach the same kind of heart-searching "clean conscience"
message again. I have grown so used to the West - where I am
"NIB" - Never Invited Back - almost without fail. Even when they
see people repenting all over the place. So discouraging. The last
10 years have been something of a nightmare - except in places
like Africa which also welcomes this kind of piercing word. Many
times I have felt like a complete outcast.

Here it is the opposite. People love the word - and have actually
been praying for piercing Holy Ghost preaching that convicts and
cleanses. They don't care about "feel-good". They want the word
of the Lord - and they recognize the heavy presence of the Holy
Spirit when they witness it. -So refreshing.

Prayer is uppermost in the Pentecostal churches here. Even on
Sunday mornings there is an hour of prayer before the main
meeting - and the room is packed. They truly believe in "agonizing"
prayer. And these are big churches. To be sure, Western eyes
might see them as being more "traditional" than we are used to.
Romania is still modernizing, and still coming to terms with the
flood of Western influences - not all of them good. But at least they
have kept out a lot of the "junk". So not every tradition is "bad".

It seems to me that many parts of the West have now completely
lost the things that made them open to God's great Awakenings
of the past. A comfortable, consumerist culture is unlikely to want
to hear about piercing repentance - even in the church. We have
come so far that I question whether many nations are open to a
true Revival at all any more. A fake shallow one like Lakeland - yes.
But a true "repentance" Revival? Not likely.

The dry "kindling" in peoples' hearts that God always used to start
Revivals in the past is now utterly lacking. In many places a piercing
word of the Finney/Wesley type has not been heard in a generation.
We are so used to "marketing-speak" and consumer hype - so used
to having our ears tickled - that Holy Spirit conviction is most unwelcome.

Sadly if this is so, we can kiss our Awakenings goodbye. They
don't come out of "nowhere", as some people think. Every
Awakening needs "kindling-wood" to start and to spread. In the
West this has virtually disappeared in the great rush to satisfy
"self". A sad day indeed.

And so I look forward to visiting Romania again. Maybe so should
we all.

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