July 26, 2024
WOODSTOCK, Ga. - Steve Hale serves as staff evangelist of Woodstock’s First Baptist Church and has been recognized as one of America's most gifted preachers. His sermons are penetrating, passionate and powerful. With a degree in journalism from Murray State University in Kentucky, he is also an extraordinary and skillful writer.
A two-volume set of books, “Awakening: Now or Never," by Dr. Hale has just been released. These volumes focus on “America’s State of Emergency amidst the Church’s State of Complacency.” He admits that this publication is the result of 3 and ½ years of research, writing, praying, reading hundreds of books and articles, and (most importantly) diving into God’s Word.
These volumes are obviously the product of endless exploration, examination, and investigation. Hale leaves no stones unturned in finding out what is going on in America’s governmental, judicial, educational, commercial, religious, and health care institutions.
Hale emphatically declares that the future of America hangs in the balance and if we are to remain the land of the free and the home of the brave dramatic changes must take place quickly. He leaves no doubt about the urgency of the situation and insists that the crisis must not be ignored.
His chapter on “Crickets in the Pulpit” places great responsibility on the preachers and pastors of America. He expresses his love and respect for pastors and makes no effort to throw them under the bus, but quotes Wayne Grudem, prolific author and theologian, who stated, “If pastors say, ‘I am going to be silent about the moral and ethical issues that we face as a nation,’ that will leave a moral vacuum; and it will not be long until the ultimate adversaries of the Gospel -Satan and his demons - will rush in and influence every decision in a way contrary to Biblical standards.”
Hale reminds all preachers and teachers of the Word of God that Adrian Rogers, former Southern Baptist Convention president and honored pastor, said, “It is better to be hated for telling the truth than to be loved for telling a lie. . . It is better to stand alone for the truth than to be wrong with a multitude.”
If America is to recover her lost values and principles the men of God who occupy our pulpits and the churches they pastor must rise to the occasion. Hale points out that there are 340,000 churches in America or an average of 6.800 per state. That is one church for every 900 people. Imagine what would happen if a spiritual awakening swept across the nation and these churches became healthy, Christ exalting, Bible teaching, evangelistic churches.
I am glad to endorse Hale’s two volume masterpiece because it is the church’s duty to confront the powers of darkness, to defend the unborn, the challenge the advancing Marxist ideology and enter the fray with the spiritual weapons of prayer, Gospel truth, love, and sacrifice. Silence, sloth and slumber are not an option.
In Washington Irving’s short story about Rip Van Winkle he writes about a man who imbibed too much liquor, fell into a deep sleep in the Catskill Mountains, and slept through the American Revolution. The church must not sleep through the tragic changes that are taking place in our nation; and we dare not be silent when we see the faith of our fathers trodden under foot and Biblical principles ignored or dismissed. Hale’s volumes constitute a clarion cry for the church to wake up.
The volumes are saturated with Biblical truth and conservative principles, but I think every preacher needs to purchase these volumes or every church needs to purchase these volumes for their pastor. Furthermore, I would suggest that churches set aside an hour each week to study the chapters of these volumes in some kind of discipleship/ethics/values format.
The back cover of the volumes explains: “While at times the information contained in the book may be painful to read, the pain is therapeutic and necessary to drive us to our knees in crying out to the One who alone is our healer. Our unchangeable God of the past is still God of the present.
To secure this two-volume book containing almost 800 pages go to: www.stevehaleministries.com
