(pic credit: Pharisee With Bird ©2021 by Dick Robinson. Used with permission of the family of Dick Robinson. [little note: Dick painted this in my living room in the late 70’s… I know he’s still laughing about it…)

The One-Name Revival [2]: No-Celebrity No-Branding

Celebrity: (definition) 1. the state of being celebrated and famous, as in “The actress lived a life of celebrity”. 2  a famous or celebrated person. Many celebrities attend the awards ceremonies and seek media attention.

Branding: (definition) The marketing practice of creating a name, persona, symbol or design that identifies and differentiates a product from other products. An effective brand strategy gives you a major edge in increasingly competitive markets.

[thanks to www.merriam-webster.com]

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REVIVAL FESTIVAL (a story^^)

         © 2021 by crisbaj

It was a perfect day for the Revival Festival.

In a large field, there was a large stage.

There was a powerful sound-system.

There were hundreds of stage-lights.

Thousands and thousands of people came.

The Festival started in the daytime. Famous people stood on stage and delivered well-rehearsed words. Famous preachers and TV personalities preached passionately.

Well-known musicians and their groups performed, or led in singing popular songs.

Thousands and thousands of people were stirred and moved.

Many bought shirts and books and music product from the row of vendors.

After dark, the Revival Festival increased in greater fervor.

The better-known personalities preached expertly.

The everybody-knows-them musicians performed passionately.

Thousands sang the well-known songs. The sound and lights and smoke intensified the experience.

Then ‘it’ happened.

A high-profile personality was introducing the next super-well-known band. The crowd was full of anticipation. The music was swelling and swelling. This was the big moment everyone was waiting for…

Ker-thuddd!!

Suddenly, the entire stage and lights and smoke and sound… dark and silent.

Darkness covered the thousands, like a thick blanket.

Stunned silence slowly came over the crowd.

A subtle panic arose, once it became clear that flashlights and digital devices were fully inoperable. The event staff tried to erect a temporary sound system, but nothing worked.

Silence.

Then, unexplainably, a supernatural ‘hush’ came over the thousands.

It was then that the audible prayers of a couple hundred on the outskirts of the crowd could be heard, passionate prayers, crying out to God to save His people. Weeping and the sounds of mourning could also be heard, the pain of deep grief, anguish, and repentance.

Slowly, amongst the thousands, dozens began to pray out loud, joining the heart-cry for the Living God. Some began to weep. Others began to wail and cry, in anguish and travail.

The sound of the Saints grew and grew.

Then.

At first, the thousands thought the Festival had overcome the ‘technical difficulties’, because there was a sound, unlike any sound heard on earth in many years.

Was it music? Was it instruments? Was it voices singing? Was it chanting?

The glorious Sound continued to rise, grow, and ring out. It rose above the passionate outcry of prayers and repentance.

Then.

A strange glow.

It didn’t come from anywhere, it just… glowed… everywhere.

With the glow, there was a strong breeze.

Then.

Mouths in that field found their Voice. Something had now filled their hearts, and there was a growing roar… prayers, petitions, tears, repentance, Scripture, new songs, laughter, joy… pent-up hearts were set free to cry out to God.

Then.

A small thread came down from the sky, reaching out from heaven to earth, glowing and bright.

Those in the center of the thousands pulled back, seeing this sign and wonder.

The glowing thread touched the earth, and began to twist and dance and twirl and spin and grow… now a cord, now a tree-trunk, now a… the glow leapt into flame… now a pillar, a pillar of fire, churning and turning in the midst of the thousands.

Then.

The Sound became a Voice, dissonant at first, but finding a common pitch and rhythm and tempo… it grew louder and louder as the thousands became the Congregation…

“King Jesus!”

“Behold the Lamb of God!”

“Holy, Holy Holy!”

“Praise God! Praise God!”

Many on their knees, some with faces in the dirt, some with up-lifted hands.

The previous glow gave way to the brilliance of the pillar of fire.

Then.

There were shrieks as evil spirits departed, leaving behind their human hosts.

There were cries as bent bodies were straightened, and diseases left.

There were grateful shouts as addictions were instantly broken.

There was deep sobbing and weeping as minds were healed, broken spirits and wounded souls were fully restored in hope and health.

Marriages and families were brought back together.

Every healed and restored person lifted their Voice, joining the Sound of praise and thanksgiving to a merciful and grace-giving God.

Then.

Many in the crowd of thousands were angry, bewildered and not wanting ‘this’. They began to walk away into the night.

Many in the crowd tried to raise their voice in criticism and accusation and, when they opened their mouths to speak… nothing could come out.

As well, they began to walk away into the night.

Many on the stage, and behind the stage, not wanting to be associated with… ‘whatever’… packed their instrument or gear and walked away into the night.

Some of the Revival Festival preachers and musicians perceived what was happening, left everything behind and joined the Congregation.

Then.

There are few earthly words to describe… Presence. Glory. Visitation. Emmanuel.

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Days later, what was a field with thousands became tens and tens of thousands.

Pillar of fire by night, cloud by day.

Local, state and federal officials were shocked, bewildered, perplexed.

Each time there were military attempts at a show-of-force to stop ‘the Anomaly’, they were invisibly repelled and weapons frozen.

Some came out of the ‘Anomaly Zone’, healthy and well and declaring they had encountered God face-to-face.

Others have never left, days and days after ‘Revival Festival’ broke out.

The world didn’t know what to do.

 ‘The Anomaly’ continued.

It spread in size, and to other places around the globe.

Every people and nation and ethnic group and language group were touched.

Tens of thousands of villages, towns, hamlets, cities, nations.

Millions of people.

Billions of people.

True Revival.

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TAKE-AWAY:

The One-Name Revival will be a ‘No-Celebrity No-Branding’ Revival.

Jesus said, “I am GOD, and that is My Name. I will not give my Glory to another, or my praise to idols… and new things I now declare…”

Isaiah 42:8-9b

written by crisbaj

© 2018-2021 by crisbaj/AdoreTheLord.blog  All rights reserved.

All Scripture references from New International Version unless otherwise indicated.

^^REVIVAL FESTIVAL by crisbaj is copyright ©2021 by crisbaj. All rights reserved. No reproductions, reprinting or reposting without express permission of the author.

REVIVAL FESTIVAL is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

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