There have been 2 “Great Awakenings” recorded in American History. These events were initiated by men that saw a need. They rallied, and others followed in mass!
The first “Great Awakening” was initiated by Jonathan Edwards and George Whitfield, two ministers that saw a need to reacquaint New England with their Christian foundations. At the time, from about 1740 to 1745, the total population of New England was 300,000 souls. Through their evangelistic efforts, they added 50,000 to churches in their area. At the time, this was considered a great success!
The second “Great Awakening” happened around 1790-1845. It was lead by many, most notally Pastor Charles Finney. These were the Wild West days, where Christianity was in crisis. Many people were abandoning their faith and simply trying to survive in the wilderness of the west. Itinerate preachers went out, set up tents with sawdust for floors, and preached the message of the Lord. This resulted in many tens of thousands of settlers coming to the Lord, with most communities establishing churches for the faithful.
This leads us to our present situation. 67% of our population now identifies as Christian. That is down from almost 80% in the 1960’s. There are many cultural reasons for the decline, including new generations becoming less and less interested in embracing the faith of their parents, driven by media, education pushing Marxist ideology, and the thought that Utopia can actually be had on earth. In coming years if nothing is done, Christians quite likely will be a minority in our country.
As in previous centuries, it takes a leader to reverse the tide. Charlie Kirk and his followers appear to be that catalyst! TPUSA has been on many high school and college campuses, but since Charlies untimely death their has been a surge of new membership requests. There are currently 3,500 Turning Point chapters operating as of today. Charlie’s dream was to eventually have 20,000 chapters. Right now there are applications in for 120,000 more chapters, and there are over 350,000 inquiries from students on how to join a chapter. Its looking like the beginning of a new “Great Awakening” starting in High Schools and Colleges throughout our country, and its projected that every High School nationwide will eventually have a chapter. As previously stated, the decline in Christian popularity can be firmly placed on the new generation but we seem to have started on another path!
TPUSA integrates our Constitution with Christian principles. In fact, the founding fathers were deeply religious and when forming our Constitution, those principles were in their minds as they put the Constitution together. That has been lost on many, and our country was founded as a Constitutional Republic, not a Democracy. This was done to protect the individual, and to eliminate the possibility of mob rule. Many still refer to our government as a Democracy, even though it is not. In fact, founding fathers were deeply afraid of Democracy, and the Constitution does not mention Democracy anywhere in its body! TPUSA ensures that their membership understands this, and also understands that our basic rights are God given, and not given by any government body.
We will see where this movement goes, but it does not appear to be losing steam anytime soon! Right now not only is Turning Point growing exponentially, but Jesus tent Revivals are springing up all over the country! Yes America, it’s not too late to save our country!