Leonard Ravenhill

Leonard Ravenhill was one of Britain's foremost

outdoor evangelists of the 20th century. God used him

to help bring thousands of people to Christ throughout

Britain. Unlike the case with many of today's

evangelists, the conversions that Leonard helped to

bring about were generally lasting conversions. That's

because he did not water down the Gospel when he

preached it. Later in life, Leonard and his family

moved to the United States, where he worked with

Bethany House Publishers. In the 1980s, Leonard and

his family moved to a home near Lindale, Texas, a

short distance from Last Days Ministries. Leonard

regularly taught classes at Last Days Ministries, and

he was a mentor to the late Keith Green.

A. W. Tozer, who was a friend of Leonard, said this

about Leonard: "To such men as this the church owes a

debt too heavy to pay. The curious thing is that she

seldom tries to pay him while he lives. Rather, the

next generation builds his sepulcher and writes his

biography--as if instinctively and awkwardly to

discharge an obligation the previous generation to a

large extent ignored.

"Those who know Leonard Ravenhill will recognize in

him the religious specialist, the man sent from God

not to carry on the conventional work of the church,

but to beard the priests of Baal on their own

mountain-top, to shame the careless priest at the

altar, to face the false prophet and to warn the

people who are being led astray by him.

"Such a man as this is not an easy companion. He is

not the professional evangelist who leaves the

wrought-up meeting as soon as it is over to hurry to

the most expensive restaurant to feast and crack jokes

with his retainers. Such evangelists will find this

man something of an embarrassment, for he cannot turn

off the burden of the Holy Ghost as one would turn off

a faucet. He insists upon being a Christian all the

time, everywhere. And again, that marks him out as

different."

I first met Leonard in 1989, when he was eighty-two

years old and in frail health. At first glance, I

would not have thought that God could still use this

fragile, white-haired man. He walked slowly and

unsteadily, and he sometimes needed help to get up and

down from his chair. Yet, as soon as he opened his

mouth, I immediately realized that my initial

impression was wrong. At eighty-two, Leonard still

spoke with fire and conviction, and it felt like his

eyes were piercing right through to my soul.

During the last few years of his life, Leonard

moderated a prayer meeting held once a week (later

once a month), which was attended primarily by pastors

and evangelists. Some of these men made a four-hour

round trip to attend those prayer meetings. I attended

those prayer meetings from 1989 until they ended in

the summer of 1994, a few months before Leonard's

death. During the years that I attended those prayer

meetings, I never once left without being deeply

challenged by what Leonard had said.

One of Leonard's gifts was his ability to

spontaneously create insightful spiritual maxims as he

spoke. These were short, memorable observations about

God, the church, and the world. I always took a

notebook with me to these meetings to write down some

of his observations and maxims. Here are some of

Leonard's spiritual insights from those meetings:

"A popular evangelist reaches your emotions. A true

prophet reaches your conscience."

"The last words of Jesus to the church (in Revelation)

were 'Repent!'"

"A true shepherd leads the way. He does not merely

point the way."

"You never have to advertise a fire. Everyone comes

running when there's a fire. Likewise, if your church

is on fire, you will not have to advertise it. The

community will already know it."

"Your doctrine can be as straight as a gun barrel--and

just as empty!"

"John the Baptist never performed any miracles. Yet,

he was greater than any of the Old Testament

prophets."

"I doubt that more than two percent of professing

Christians in the United States are truly born again."

"Our God is a consuming fire. He consumes pride, lust,

materialism, and other sin."

"There are only two kinds of persons: those dead in

sin and those dead to sin."

[Concerning the darkness that has enveloped most of

Christendom:] "When you're sitting in a dark room, you

can either sit and curse the darkness--or you can light

a candle."

"Children can tell you what Channel 7 says, but not

what Matthew 7 says."

"Some women will spend thirty minutes to an hour

preparing for church externally (putting on special

clothes and makeup, etc.). What would happen if we all

spent the same amount of time preparing internally for

church--with prayer and meditation?"

"Maturity comes from obedience, not necessarily from

age."

"What good does it do to speak in tongues on Sunday if

you have been using your tongue during the week to

curse and gossip?"

"Would we send our daughters off to have sex if it

would benefit our country? Yet, we send our sons off

to kill when we think it would benefit our country!"

"The only time you can really say that 'Christ is all

I need,' is when Christ is all you have."

"The Bible is either absolute, or it's obsolete."

"Why do we expect to be better treated in this world

than Jesus was?"

"Today's church wants to be raptured from

responsibility."

"Testimonies are wonderful. But, so often our lives

don't fit our testimonies."

[Concerning one of the new "movements" in the church

that was causing a stir among Christians:] "There's

also a stir when the circus comes to town."

"My main ambition in life is to be on the Devil's most

wanted list."

"You can't develop character by reading books. You

develop it from conflict."

"When there's something in the Bible that churches

don't like, they call it 'legalism.'"

"We can't serve God by proxy."

"We must do what we can do for God, before He will

give us the power to do what we can't do."

"There's a difference between changing your opinion,

and changing your lifestyle."

"Our seminaries today are turning out dead men."

"How can you pull down strongholds of Satan if you

don't even have the strength to turn off your TV?"

"Everyone recognizes that Stephen was Spirit-filled

when he was performing wonders. Yet, he was just as

Spirit-filled when he was being stoned to death."

"If a Christian is not having tribulation in the

world, there's something wrong!"

[Concerning the fixation that today's church has with

numbers, with growth at any price:] "The church has

paid a terrible price for statistics!"

"Any method of evangelism will work--if God is in it."

"Church unity comes from corporate humility."

"You can have all of your doctrines right--yet still

not have the presence of God."

"Many pastors criticize me for taking the Gospel so

seriously. But do they really think that on Judgment

Day, Christ will chastise me, saying, 'Leonard, you

took Me too seriously'?"

"If Jesus had preached the same message that ministers

preach today, He would never have been crucified."

"You can know a lot about the atonement, and yet

receive no benefit from it."

"If the whole church goes off into deception, that

will in no way excuse us for not following Christ."