Modern evangelism finds its roots in the 1820s under the leadership of Charles Finney (1792-1875), often called "father of modern revivalism." Raised and educated in upstate New York, Finney pursued a law degree and commenced his practice in Adams, New York in 1820. The following year an intense, emotional religious experi­ence induced him to relinquish his law practice to study for the ministry. He was ordained as a Presbyterian pastor in 1824. For eight years he led revival meetings in eastern states, especially up­per New York state. From 1832-1836 he served as pastor of Chatham Street Chapel (Presbyterian) in New York City, and then became professor at Oberlin College in Ohio where he remained for nearly forty years until his death in 1875. Throughout these years he continued to hold protracted revival meetings.

Finney invented the so-called "New Measures" for revivalism. These in­cluded both the "protracted meeting" and the "anxious bench." The pro­tracted meeting was an intensive evan­gelistic campaign lasting three or four days in which Finney preached at least twice each day. The anxious bench re­ferred to a front pew(s) left vacant dur­ing sermons to where "the anxious might come and be addressed particu­larly." Near the end of his sermon, Fin­ney would typically say, "Here is the anxious seat; come out, and avow de­termination to be on the Lord's side" (cf. Revivals of Religion, chapter 14).

Today's mass evangelism crusades obviously are an outgrowth of Finney's "New Measures." Billy Graham's evan­gelistic campaigns are polished, Fin­ney-style, protracted meetings; his altar calls to come forward and confess Christ is a modem version of the anx­ious bench. Today we are so accus­tomed to evangelism of the modem type that we scarcely understand the approach of biblical evangelism.

Finney and modern evangelists err fundamentally in numerous areas of scriptural truth, of which I will mention only four:

First, there is unbiblical teaching. Though elements of moderate Calvin­ism may be sprinkled over their doctrinal teachings, Finney and modern evangelists are essentially Pelagian and Arminian in their gospel presentation. Finney was a self-confessed Pelagian. He denied that fallen man is unable to re­pent, believe, or do anything spiritually good without grace. He affirmed that all men have the ability and freedom of will to turn to God at any time. A sinner can always resist grace. The Holy Spirit's role in converting a sinner is reduced to "moral persuasion" — that is, the Spirit only presents to a sinner's mind reasons for making surrender to God, but the sinner is always free to reject or accept this persuasion. Finney openly stated, "Sinners can go to hell in spite of God."

In short, Finney and modern evangel­ism deny all five points of Calvinism: total depravity (Gen. 2:17; Ps. 51:5; Jer. 17:9; Rom. 3:10-12; 8:7-8; Eph. 2:1-3), uncon­ditional election (Ex. 33:9; Jn. 15:16; Rom. 9:11-16; 1 Cor. 1:27-29; Eph. 2:10; 2 Tim. 1:9), limited atonement (Mt. 1:21; Jn. 10:14-15; Heb. 9:28), irresistible grace (Ez. 36:26-27; Jn. 3:3-6; Acts 16:14; Rom. 8:30; Phil. 2:13), and perseverance of the saints (Is. 54:10; Mt. 18:14; Jn. 6:37-39; 10:27­-29; 1 Cor. 1:8-9; Jude 1, 24-25). The movement as a whole runs directly con­trary to John 3:5, "Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."

Secondly, there is an unbiblical degree of pressure laid on the human will. Since a sinner's will is both able and free, Fin­ney and many modern evangelists reduce preaching to little more than a battle of wills between themselves and their hear­ers. Every means of persuading the sinner to "accept Christ" becomes right and proper for evangelistic meetings, includ­ing excessive excitement, emotionalism, and commotion. Since every man, if he will only rouse up his "dormant moral powers," can at any time yield to God and become a Christian in his own strength, it is the evangelist's work and duty always to preach for immediate de­cision, to tell men that it is their duty to come to Christ that instant. Finney writes: "I tried to shut them up to present faith and repentance as the thing which God required of them: present and in­stant acceptance of His will and of Christ" (Autobiography, p. 64).

How contrary is this dependence of salvation upon the human will to the testimony of Scripture! "Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (Jn. 1:13). "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast" (Eph. 2:8-9).

Thirdly, there is an unbiblical reduction of time involved in the process of conver­sion. Through "free will" doctrine and its evangelistic practices, Finney and modern evangelists seek to reduce conversion to a matter of hours or even minutes. One book of modern evangelism explains how to convert sinners in less than ten minutes! This is possible for Finney and modern evangelists because regenera­tion is really placed in the hands of man: the more skillful the evangelist is, the more numerous and quicker the conversions will be. Salvation is no longer the mysterious, miraculous work of a sovereign God, but the cal­culable work of man, contrary to John 3:8, "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit."

Finally, there are unbiblical fruits that follow in the wake of such evangelism. Studies have proven that the majority of Finney's "converts" returned to their formerly worldly lifestyle. Similarly, most moderns evangelists no longer ex­pect more than a small percentage of their "converts" to survive. In The Pas­tor's Dilemma, Errol Hulse detailed a study of those who made "decisions" under Billy Graham's ministry and found that less than five per cent main­tained a regular church life in sub­sequent years. This is contrary to the biblical fruits of using the means of grace and of godliness: "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together" (Heb. 10:25a). "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law" (Gal. 5:22-23).