The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - Hope in 2020: A New Jesus Movement

Episode Date: July 24, 2020

In times of trial, our faith is often challenged and purified. Today, Jeff looks back at the Jesus Movement of the early 1970s and encourages us to use our current time of social unrest and uncertainty as an opportunity to proclaim Christ and reinvigorate our faith. Snippet from the Show “Raise Jesus up and proclaim him with boldness.” Email us with comments or questions at [e-mail] Text “jeffcavins” to 33-777 to subscribe and get Jeff’s shownotes delivered straight to your email! Or visit ascensionpress.com/thejeffcavinsshow for full shownotes!

You're listening to the Jeff Kaven show, episode 175, is a new Jesus movement coming? Hey, I'm Jeff Kavans. How do you simplify your life? How do you study the Bible? All the way from motorcycle trips to raising kids, we're going to talk about the faith and life in general. It's the Jeff Kaven show. Well, I remember growing up back in the 16. in the 70s, and it was a really, really strange time, politically, socially, music in every way. I remember back in those days so clearly, but the one thing that stands out to me as I think back to the late 60s and the early 70s was the political unrest, not only in our country, but around

the world, and everybody was out marching against the war in Vietnam, and so much, many things were changing. You know, the 60s were really about a lot of change in the world with, we had the technological revolution, sexual revolution, and communications was completely different. And it was at that time that Vatican II in the early 60s came out with a new document, one of the great Vatican II documents called Godiamette Spez, the church in the modern world. and it was really powerful how the church responded to all the changes that were going on in the world. If you haven't read Gaudiom et spes, the church in the modern world, I really recommend that you do that. You get a copy of it and really read it slowly and absorb it because if you took the date off of that writing,

you would think it was today. You really would. And there was one individual who had a part in the crafting and the framing, of that particular document, and that was Carolewitea, Cardinal Carrawaytea, prior to becoming the great Pope John Paul the second. And I think that as we go through difficult times today, socially, just turn on the news, you'll see it not only with COVID-19, but all of the different demonstrations that are taking place and the idea of dismantling the police and the various social movements that are taking place, I think John Paul II is a great one to get acquainted

with, because he was not only acquainted with all of the changes back in the 60s and the 70s, but he was acquainted with the changes that took place in the world in World War II, and the Holocaust that took place and all of the persecution that took place among the Catholics in Poland. So anyway, I really think that he is someone that we need to be paying attention to right now. And I want to talk about the Jesus movement that took place in the 60s and 70s and some of the parallel events that are taking place today. And what was the solution? What did the young people rise up and begin to talk about back in the 60s and 70s?

And what would I recommend that we start talking about today and focusing on none other than Jesus Christ? Hey, if you want to get the show notes to all of my, all of my shows today and going forward, all you have to do is text me at Jeff Kavens. That's Jeff Kavens at 33777. That's Jeff Kavins 3377. The Jeff Kavins is just one word. Hey, I do have an announcement, and you're always proud of the work your wife does.

My wife has been working on getting the new Jeff Kavins.com website up and running, and it's really Jeff and Emily because she's such a part of all of this in my life and I appreciate her so much and she's been working very hard behind the scenes at rolling out the new website, jeffcavens.com, which is a place where we talk about our pilgrimages to the Holy Land and we talk about this podcast and YouTube channel

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and we'll get that read, that PDF will be sent right back to you. So the Jesus movement, what am I talking about? Well, you can Google it and find out a lot about it, a lot about it. it, but it took place really in the late 60s in the early 70s in the United States. And it came on the heels of so much political unrest. In the 60s, we had the assassination of President Kennedy, the assassination of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy. We had Kent State and all of the marching against Vietnam. And we had Woodstock at the beginning of the 70s. There was just so much change going on in the world back in the 60s and 70s.

And as a response to that change, there was an organic movement that took place in the United States that many people just simply called the Jesus movement. And out of that Jesus movement, we had people, particularly young people, who were really turned on to the Lord and were seeking the Lord with all of their heart and started coming together, and there was a boom in evangelization that took place during that time where young people were not afraid to talk about the Lord and read their Bibles, and a whole genre of music grew out of that era, and that was really the precursor to contemporary Christian music. And for some of you who really do like praise and worship music, you're familiar with Hill Song, and we in the

Catholic community have so many wonderful artists today. Well, out of that tumultuous time of the 60s and 70s grew a move and an outpouring of the Holy Spirit that I believe was a response to the craziness and a response to the confusion that was going on in the world. And today, I can't help but see the parallel between the 60s and 70s and what's going on today with the marching in the streets and COVID-19 and people wanting to disband government and disband the police force, which I hope doesn't happen for our sake. But there's so many parallels there, and I'm just wondering if today's young people are going to respond to this chaos by proclaiming Christ, proclaiming Jesus, not ashamed of going

by the name Christian. Back then it was Jesus freak. Maybe some of you remember back in the 60s and 70s, those that were really excited about the Lord were kind of named Jesus freaks, right? And I was myself. And that didn't bother me at all. It's kind of a badge of honor, to be honest with you. But I'm wondering if today's young people are going to rise up and not be ashamed to proclaiming Jesus Christ in the culture today, because I truly believe with all of my heart that Jesus is the answer to the situations that we're facing today. One of the topics that comes up quite often is the topic of justice, and I am actually preparing a couple of shows in the future on justice. I've been doing a lot of studying on justice, but one of the things

that I'm really praying that we don't do today in response to all that we see in the in the street is that we don't change the concept of justice. You know, justice is not giving people what they want. Justice is giving people what is due them. And justice starts with God. And we as the people of God are the ones who walk in justice. And we can't acquiesce and we can't simply give to people what they want and under the banner of justice. That's just not what justice is. And I hope we have the backbone and the strength to stand up and speak truth and proclaim justice and do justice in our society today. You know, I remember so well back in the 70s, and I'll just give you a little story. I too grew up in and out of this, grew up in and out of this entire tumultuous

time of the 60s and early 70s, and it was in my first year of college that I too was looking for answers. I was a young guy with my bell-bottomed jeans and my long hair and my bandana and my platform shoes and my rock and roll music and all of that. I was looking for answers and I was looking for truth. And I started reading, you know, I was raised Catholic, but I didn't really recognize any explicit truth in the church at that age, certainly not anything that I could act on. But I was or make as a foundation in my life. But I started turning to things like Eastern religions and meditation, the Bhagavagita, the Tibetan Book of the Dead, and Zen in the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance,

and a lot of the books that were out during those times. But it was in my freshman year of college that something happened to me as I responded to a lot of these young people who were not ashamed to proclaim the gospel. I went to a junior college. I was supposed to go to California with my good friend Randy, and he went out to California. We were both going to pursue an acting career. He went out there, and I decided to stay back in the Twin Cities and to get some of my college prerex out of the way. So I ended up going to a junior college in the Twin Cities for my first year. It was in that first year that I met a young lady by the name of Emily.

Today she goes by the last name Kavens. She's my wife. I met her in my first year, second semester, and I met her in a class called Cultural Anthropology. And I figured out a way to get her to go out with me finally, and we went out, and of all things, we went bowling. But that night, Emily unashamedly told me about her relationship with Jesus and how much she loved Jesus. Now, I was Catholic. she was Protestant, but she would tell me about her relationship with Jesus, and she would show me the Bible that she had, and she invited me to come on over to her house and spend some

time with her mother who introduced me to Scripture in such a powerful, powerful way. More on that on future shows, I'm sure. But I was intrigued by their boldness to proclaim Christ, particularly during a time when people are doing so much drugs and rock and roll and the political unrest and Vietnam and everything else, here was this beautiful young lady with a smile on her face telling me that Jesus loved me and that he had a plan for my life. Make a long story short, I responded to that and I picked up on the language that they were using like born again and saved and give my life to Christ and he's got a plan for my life. And I remember just a few weeks after meeting Emily, I was going back home to my parents' house

and I pulled over on the side of the road and this 18-year-old kid with a long hair interviewing rock groups, editor of the college paper, pulled over on the side of the road and I began to weep. And I cried out and I said, Jesus, I want what they have. I want that life. I want that purpose. I want that meaning in my life. And that night, in February of 1977, something happened in my life that changed my life forever. And I have this sense inside that I was going to be proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ for the rest of my life. Don't ask me how I knew that. I don't know how I knew that. I just knew that night that I would be spending the rest of my life telling people about Jesus. It was shortly after that, maybe a day or so,

I think it might have even been the next day, I went out and bought a Bible. And now I'm going back to school, and I have this new experience with Jesus, and I have a brand new Bible, and I went back to school, and I discovered this one particular area of the school that was a sunken area surrounded by steps. It was like you had to, you had to, you had to, you had to take four steps down into this sunken area with beanbag chairs. Yeah, we had beanbag chairs. And people would bring their coffee there. And this area of the school was called the pit. And it was probably, oh, I don't know, it was 20 feet by 40 feet, something like that. It was called the pit. Now, the people who gathered there all throughout the day were the Christians.

I'm talking about, you know, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23-year-old, 24-year-old people that gathered there all throughout the day. In between classes, if you wanted to know where the Christians were, you went to the pit. And so I started to go to the pit, and I brought my brand new Bible with me, and I started to talk to these college students about their relationship with the Lord. And I explained to them that I, I too, had this new relationship with the Lord. I think back about that, that time in my life. And I have to tell you that it was one of the most powerful times and the most influential times of my life, meeting with people every day. In fact, some days I didn't even go to class. I'm not recommending it, but I didn't go to class. I went to the pit. And there I learned to read scripture and to share my faith and we would

pray together. It was a transforming moment in my life, to be sure. Well, many of the people who were at the pit were a part of this movement, this Jesus movement that started in the 60s. Now, back in the 60s, there was this tremendous movement, this outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And I want to talk to you a little bit about one meeting in particular that took place in Dallas, Texas, and how that movement had an impact on so many of us today. In fact, there was a meeting in Dallas, Texas, that I'm going to talk about on the other side of the break, that ended up influencing Pope John Paul II, who back then was the leader in Krakow, Poland, Caravoy-Tia. I'll explain that right after this. You're listening to The Jeff Kaven Show. The Saints of the Old Testament would have longed to

see what we see in the new covenant, especially God's presence in the Holy Eucharist. Hi, I'm Dr. Andrew Swoffer, theologian, and co-author of Ascension's newest great adventure Bible study, Hebrews, the New and Eternal Covenant. In this eight-session study on the book of Hebrews, Jeff Kavins and I highlight the movement from the old covenant to the new and show how Jesus Christ fulfills the deepest meaning of the temple and Old Testament priesthood. Through this study, you'll gain a deeper appreciation for the power of the mass, as well as a better understanding of core Catholic beliefs regarding salvation, the sacraments, the creed, and Mary's role in salvation history.

To learn more and discover how you can start this study on your own or with a group, visit ascensionpress.com backslash Hebrews. That's ascensionpress.com backslash Hebrews. Welcome back. Welcome back. We're talking about the idea, is a new Jesus, Jesus movement coming, are the things happening in the news today and in society today, similar to back in the 60s when college students rose up and started proclaiming Christ in the streets and Christian music just blew up, and it was incredible.

The Jesus movement was to the church, particularly Protestant churches, what Woodstock was to music in the 70s. Well, I, too, responded to this Jesus movement in the 70s in my first year of college, and it resulted in me falling in love with the Word of God and falling in love with prayer and just loving to get together with other Christians to fellowship. Well, there was a huge, huge happening in Dallas, Texas, and this big happening that took place in Dallas, Texas was in 1972. It was called Expo 72. Expo 72. And it took place at the Cotton Bowl and in the northern part of Dallas, in the northern part of Dallas, they were constructing a new highway, the Woodall Rogers Freeway. For those of you that are in Texas, you know what I'm

talking about there. And this entire expo went on for over a week. And in fact, Billy Graham spoke I think six times, six nights during this expo. Even Chris Christopherson and Johnny Cash sang at this incredible festival. They had other singers like Love Song and Randy Matthews, The Archers, Children of the Day. And it became, in fact, it was described by Newsweek magazine as a crowd of militant Christians. Well, they were peaceful Christians to be sure, but Newsweek, described him as militant Christians, and the festival was held in this wide open swath of land north of downtown there, and it was just plain powerful. In fact, the statistics tell us that

60% of the young people that attended Expo 72 went into full-time ministry of some kind. They went into ministry, 60% of them. So there was clearly a move of the Holy Spirit. It involved Catholics as well. And many Catholics were filled with the Holy Spirit, spoken tongues, were walking in the power of the Holy Spirit, believing God for the miraculous, believing that God's word would, when it went forth, would accomplish that which he ordained. It was an exciting time. And it did lead to this whole contemporary music scene. You had groups like Larry Norman, and if you come from this era, it's going to put a smile on your face. Larry Norman, Randy Stonehill, Nancy Honey Tree, my favorite, second chapter of Acts, Keith Green, Andre Crouch and the Disciples, the Imperials.

Maybe you remember Barry McGuire, Petra. Dion Diomucci. Dion Diomucci is a great Catholic brother today, and by the way, he's got a blues album coming out. We are friends, and he told me just a few weeks ago, called and told me about this incredible new blues album he has coming out that features an all-star lineup of artists. That's Dion, Dion Diomucci, Phil Kegi, one of my all-time favorite guitar players. In fact, when I was hosting Life on the Rock on EWTN, Phil Kegi was on, I think, I think three times, at least twice he was on the show, and he was considered at one time, and maybe still is the greatest guitar player in the world.

That's Phil Keggy. Well, anyway, these artists came out of this era. But the one thing I want to draw your attention to is this. In that Expo 72, there were a lot of people who were influenced, and you have been the recipient of the fruit of Expo 72. You might not know it, but you most likely are. David Hill Scott, writing for the May 2005 edition of Christianity Today, documents the effects that Expo 72 had on John Paul II. Yeah, it's very interesting.

As a cardinal in Poland, the future pope was heavily influenced toward evangelistic efforts by Joe Loziac. Now, Joe Loziac was a Polish-American student who had attended Expo 72, and Joe Loziac went back to Poland and introduced its concepts to the Roman Catholic officials in Poland, including John Paul II. Of course, wasn't Pope at that time. But later, we see the evidence of this, because when John Paul II wanted to influence a generational, of young people, what did he do? He started World Youth Day. Now, Expo 72, it said on the, on the largest day, had about 200,000 people attending north of Dallas there. Well, I got news for you. World Youth Day with John Paul II dwarfs that by many times. I had the privilege of covering World Youth Day with John Paul II while I was at EWTN for six years. Some of you might not know, but I started Life on the Rock, and I was Mother Angelica substitute

for six years, and I worked with her on her show if she wanted me to accompany her. If she couldn't make the show, I would do the show. But it was during that era that I covered Pope John Paul II in Paris, France for World Youth Day in 98 and 2000 in Rome. and then after that, Toronto. And those three world youth days were so powerful. I remember in Paris, France, I think it was close to four million young people came out to see this old man in white proclaim the gospel.

Now, you can't explain that other than this was a powerful move of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit moving among young people, giving them an alternative. alternative way of living, drawing them close to Jesus, the saints, the Blessed Mother, the Gospels. And I remember covering that, and at times you would just be overcome with emotion as you would look out at the L'Ancheon racetrack in Paris, at four million people. I don't know if you've ever seen four million people before, but it'll put a choke in the throat. It is powerful. And John Paul II was influenced by Expo 72 and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the midst of a culture that was turned upside down. Now, I truly believe, with all of my heart, that we need a Jesus movement.

Now, can you contrive it? No. Can you proclaim it? No, it was a grassroots effort that just rose up in response to the tumultuous times. And there was no doubt that the Holy Spirit was orchestrating this. And today you can see among Protestant churches and Catholic churches, you can see the people who were influenced by that movement in the 60s and 70s. and there's so much fruit that has come out of it.

I believe, my friend, we need such a movement. But as I said, it's not something that you can contrive. You can't just say, well, we're going to do it. It has to grow out of the passion of individuals who raise Jesus up and proclaim him with boldness and tell their own stories of how God has, changed their lives. One of the key markers of this Jesus movement back in the 60s and 70s was the hordes of young people who were addicted to drugs and alcohol, and they were free. You see, it wasn't just apologetics. It just wasn't the, it just wasn't the group talking to

each other. The Christians back in this Jesus movement went out and spoke to strange. on the street. They talked to people in their hometown. They were not afraid to proclaim the corigma, the proclamation of the gospel. And one of the things we saw back then was we saw people who were so strung out on drugs and so wasted with alcohol, they were sobered up and they went straight overnight. Jesus set them free. He set them free. Now our young people today are looking for answers. And they are looking for the answers in a neo-Marxism that I think, frankly, is so dangerous and will recoil upon them and set them in chains themselves. The answer is true freedom. We just got done experiencing the strangest Fourth of July in modern

history, and it's about freedom. It was for freedom that Christ set us free, therefore did not return to a yoke of bondage. Galatians 5-1. People today are looking for answers, and they're not going to find the answers in political movements, and they're not going to find the answers in neo-Marxism. They're not going to find the answers in destroying the political system and destroying the police departments that we have around the country. That is not going to be where the answer is found. The answer is found in truth. Jesus said, I am the way, and I am the truth, and I am the life. And that's where the answer is found, but here's the question that I want to challenge you with this week. Where are the young people today

going to hear about this truth? Currently, many churches don't even meet anymore, and those that meet have just a slice of their former attendance, just a small percentage of their former attendance. I think that we could be facing a move of the Holy Spirit where young people begin to share outside the walls of the church, share Christ with those who are broken and those who are needy and those who are searching and those who are hungering and those who are addicted and depressed. If we don't share Christ with other people and learn to conversantly share the good news of the kingdom of God, where will the answers come from? They will come from neo-Marxism.

They will come from radical groups who are disrupting society. Yes, justice matters. But justice that comes from the throne of God, not a justice that is contrived by groups around the country who simply demand their own ways. If you want your own way, it won't be good. But if you want the way, Jesus Christ, your life will brighten up. And so I want to encourage you this week to pray with me. Pray for a move of the Holy Spirit. Pray for a movement where our young people will provide an answer to the tumultuous times that we are facing. No, the college, the college bureaucrats will not, the university leaders will not provide the answer that is

needed today. They won't. But the answer will come from the kingdom of God. I truly believe that. I truly do. And that movement back in the 60s and 70s had such a powerful influence on my life. And I know that many of you listening, you were influenced by that movement as well. Would you pray with me that young people today would be influenced by a move of God in the midst of this pandemic? I really hope that happens. I really, really do. I want to talk to you in later shows about some other things that took place during that time. But right now I just have a sense of urgency in my heart to ask you to pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit among our young people today. Would you pray for me? Or pray with me rather? Pray with me? Yeah, pray for me too. I'm always welcoming

that. But pray with me. Let's pray. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Lord, I lift up to you today, along with my brothers and sisters listening, I lift up to you the young people today who are in the streets, young people who are seeking justice, seeking meaning in life. I pray, Lord, that there would be an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our nation today that would answer the cry of young people's hearts and longings. I pray, Lord, that you would meet them in their addiction, meet them in their confusion, meet them in their frustration, to them. And life more abundantly, I pray that you would give them, O Lord, a peace that passes all understanding. And those that hear this message today, I pray, they'll pass it on to others

who can pray and spend holy hours before you, O Lord, asking for a move of the spirit in our nation. I thank you, Lord, for doing a great work and what you did back in the 60s, in the 70s, and at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City and in Pittsburgh. Do it again, Lord. Do it again, Lord, I pray. In Jesus' name, amen. Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen. I want you to know, I love you, and I'm praying for you.

And together, we are going to see Jesus doing mighty things in this world. God bless you. We look forward to talking to you next week. Thank you.