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The first Great Awakening had plenty of fiery leaders stoking the [Fork stoking a fire]

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flames but there definitely were two VIPs the first was a guy named Jonathan

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Edwards he was a young yale graduate and a valedictorian to boot so yeah his

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mother was oh so proud Edwards power came from the fact that he [Edwards graduating and mother screams]

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had a very persuasive religious message for the people what was it that they all

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suck and God was mad at them basically Edwards told people that God was [God points finger at crowd of people]

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seriously ticked off at them for their horrible sinfulness and here's a fun

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quote Edwards said that God was dangling the people over the pit of hell much as [God dangling man over pit of fire]

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one holds a spider or some loathsome insect over the fire Wow what did that

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spider ever do wrong that quote came from Edwards famous 1741 sermon sinners

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in the hands of an angry god in this sermon and in other Edwards came up with [Sermons appear]

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many horrific descriptions of Hell that caused many listeners to cry and well

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generally go nuts Edwards goal was to awaken people get it [Spirit of woman appears from casket]

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to the danger of torment that he believed awaited those who hadn't

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accepted Jesus as their Savior some might say well sounds horrifying why

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would anyone want to listen to that well in an age when any type of passion was [Man riding a horse]

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viewed as ungodly people were pretty excited about hearing a preacher who put

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so much emotion into his sermon also if a person became convinced that eternal

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damnation was real and it was a pretty strong motivator people were so moved by [Spirit trapped in cage and devil woman appears]

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Edwards terrifying images that they flocked to him like teenyboppers to

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a Justin Bieber appearance or should we say be Berenson no we should not say

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that our second VP of the awakening was mr. George Whitefield like Edwards he

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was a younger guy and he quickly became a popular revivalist leader in his [George in church and girls wave arms aloft]

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native England over the course of several trips to the American colonies

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Whitefield gained a massive following his ideas were not necessarily new but [Whitefield in a boat and people following behind]

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his unique preaching style drew crowds so big they couldn't fit in a church so

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Whitefield took his act outside and began outdoor camp meetings where people [Whitefield camping with people in black costumes]

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sang songs a little fiercer than kumbaya

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Whitefield's camp meetings were a sight to behold

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crying fainting rolling on the ground all this stuff went down [People crying and rolling on the ground at camp meeting]

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why pay to go to the theater when you could go to these dramatic performances

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for free a Whitefield was one of the founders of the Methodist Church but [Whitefield plants flag at church]

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American religion in general is still feeling the impact of his camp meeting

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we think about them every time we roast a weenie [Man roasting a sausage over camp fire]

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well sinful weenies anyway

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