History2

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The twentieth century brought in a new experience. There had been some earlier instances where it was said that people spoke in tongues, but none were as clearly documented as that of Agnes Ozman, a young college student at Bethel Bible College in Topeka, Kansas on January 1, 1901. She was a student of Charles Parham who had been studying the Baptism in the Holy Spirit as recorded in Acts chapter two. The news of this event began to spread throughout Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. Soon this Pentecostal message spread to the west coast to Los Angeles, California. There at the Azusa Street Revival lead by an ex-slave, William J. Seymour, the Pentecostal movement was off and running. Pentecostalism spread widely throughout urban and suburban areas of America. Because it began in services with both black and white believers, it did not discriminate. Because of the racial lines that divided the nation at that time, the churches began to flourish separately in both black and white communities. The Assemblies of God also felt deeply about spreading the message of salvation into the world. A primary reason the General Council (of the Assemblies of God) was formed in 1914 was to create cooperation in Pentecostal missionary work. In the following century, this movement that began at Azusa Street would be a dominant element in the global Christian landscape.
Could the Pentecostal movement be called a Second Reformation? Let’s compare our criteria of the First Reformation to the Pentecostal movement. First, there is a connection with mass communication and technology. Because of the invention of the radio and television, programs like Revival Time radio broadcasts and numerous television programs broadcasting Christian television ...

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...tional and global appeal, and spread rapidly through relevant communication or technology. Many of these events were not salvific in nature, but equally as transforming in nature.
Anyone at anytime could deem something the Second Reformation, and many have. With the religious culture so divided as it is today, I feel for certain that we could never come to a consensus in that term. However, our religious and social culture is due for another event that would equal the Reformation in scope. All it would take is for God to reveal it to a man or woman who through diligent study could proclaim that message boldly. It might be a reformation of social justice, or cell groups, or a reformation of the Spirit in the hearts and souls of mankind. But it will have to be initiated by God to man. It might not even be called a Second Reformation… it might just be called Revival.

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