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IN LIGHT OF ETERNITY
The Life of Leonard Ravenhill
Mack Tomlinson

OUT OF PRINT AT THIS TIME - NOT SURE WHEN IT WILL BE BACK

IN LIGHT OF ETERNITY: The Life of Leonard Ravenhill

A.W. Tozer said of Ravenhill, "Those who know of Leonard Ravenhill recognize in him the religious specialist, the man sent from God to battle 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 insists on being a Christian all the time and everywhere. That marks him out as different. Why do we have men of such fiery swords as Ravenhill? They are sick inside when they see the children of heaven acting like the sons of earth. To such men as these, the church owes a debt too heavy to pay."

Paul David Washer said recently, "I was introduced to Leonard Ravenhill at the very beginning of my Christian pilgrimage and the impact of his life upon mine remains until this day. He lived as one who dwelt in the shadow of the Almighty and he preached as one sent from God. He knew God's presence, wore His mantle, bore His burdens, and spoke His truth. He was the rarest of commodities in his day and ours - a man of God."

David Ravenhill said the following about his beloved father, "My father lived daily in light of eternity, always seeking to please the One who enlisted him as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Before he ever stood in the pulpit, he stood before God. He was a man of prayer. Prayer was his life and his preaching reflected the fact that he had been alone with God."

Ravi Zacharias wrote, "The truth is, even though I am known now as an apologist for the Christian faith, dealing with the intellectual issues of Christianity, I really owe my passion for God, for prayer and for true revival that initially began in me, to Leonard Ravenhill. He, by God's grace, was the catalyst that has caused the passion to know God to continue to this day."

Al Whittinghill wrote the following in the Foreword, "It was my privilege to know Leonard for over twenty-five years and to have him as a prayer partner and mentor. He became a father in the faith and in the ministry to me. Only heaven will reveal the colossal influence he had on the kingdom of God by his passionate desire to encourage preachers and to propel them into the arena of God-sent revival."

Mack Tomlinson, the author, wrote the following: "My prayer is that the record of such a man of God will glorify the Lord Jesus Christ today among a new generation. The kingdom of Christ still needs men and women who have the godliness, passion, prayerfulness, zeal, seriousness, self-denial, and divine unction that possessed Leonard Ravenhill. His example can stimulate godliness, prayerfulness, and a high view of God and the gospel among Christians of today and tomorrow."

LEONARD RAVENHILL (1907-1994) was born in Leeds, in Yorkshire, England, and was educated at Cliff College in England, sitting under the ministry of Samuel Chadwick. He was a student of church history and an expert in the field of revival. His meetings during the war years drew large crowds in Britain, and as a result many converts devoted themselves to Christian ministry and the world's mission fields.

Ravenhill was a Christian evangelist and author who focused on the subjects of prayer and revival. He is best known for challenging the modern church and his most notable book is 'Why Revival Tarries.' God used him to help bring thousands of people to Christ throughout Britain. Unlike the case with many of todayÆs evangelists, the conversions that Leonard helped to bring about were generally lasting conversions. ThatÆs because he did not water down the Gospel when he preached it.

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Leonard Ravenhill was a Christian evangelist and author who focused on the subjects of prayer and revival. He is best known for challenging the modern church and his most notable book is Why Revival Tarries. 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.

Born in Leeds, in Yorkshire, England, Ravenhill was educated at Cliff College in England and sat under the ministry of Samuel Chadwick. He was a student of church history and an expert in the field of revival. His meetings during the war years drew large crowds in Britain, and as a result many converts devoted themselves to Christian ministry and the world's mission fields.

In 1939, he married an Irish nurse, Martha. The Ravenhills had three sons: Paul, David, and Philip. Paul and David are themselves ministers of the Gospel, and Philip is a teacher.

In 1959, Ravenhill and his family moved from Great Britain to the United States. In the 1960s they traveled within the United States, holding tent revivals and evangelistic meetings.

In the 1980s, Leonard and his family moved to a home near Lindale, Texas, a short distance from Last Days Ministries Ranch. He regularly taught classes at LDM and was a mentor to the late Keith Green. He also spent some time teaching at Bethany College of Missions in Minnesota, and some time in Seguin, Texas.

Among others influenced by Ravenhill were Ravi Zacharias, Tommy Tenney, Steve Hill, Charles Stanley, Bill Gothard, Paul Washer, Dan Brodeur, Sean Cabral Myers, Brett Mullett, and David Wilkerson.

Through his teaching and books, Ravenhill addressed the disparities he perceived between the New Testament Church and the Church in his time and called for adherence to the principles of biblical revival.

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.

When he passed on in November 1994, Ravenhill was interred in the same cemetery as Keith Green.

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.”