The Asbury College Revival?
Like wildfire, news services across the country have become infatuated with a revival that is occurring on the campus of Asbury College in Kentucky. I have been sent numerous links and articles regarding the phenomenon.
So, you want to know what I think? My answer is “I don’t know.”
Asbury College is a fairly conservative Methodist College that has openly stood against the same-sex agenda that is taking hold in broader Methodism. The school has been in the news for firing LGBT-affirming faculty members.
The main article about what is going on is found here, but there are many more circulating.
I am not sure what is going on, and I will not affirm or condemn if I do not have reasonable knowledge. I will say this. True revival has some unmistakable characteristics and we must consider these.
True revival is a response to sin.
In every revival, there has been an overwhelming response to a predominant sin in the culture. Whether it was the drunkenness that permeated the early 19th century United States and led to the Prayer Revivals of the 1850s or the thievery that led to the great East African revival, there has usually existed a cultural sin that brought down the judgment of God upon a people which is then followed by repentance and turning to God.
The predominant sin of 21st Century Western Culture is the sexual revolution that has thrown off the bands of traditional marriage for a sexually deviant society. I cannot imagine any revival that could occur in the United States today that would not include confession of sexual sin, repentance, and turning to God in true faith not only for the salvation of souls but also in obedience to God’s commands regarding sexual behavior. This would not only include sexual behavior but also a return to biblical truth on the nature of sexual relationships and sexual sin.
True revival is not just emotional.
Make no mistake, sin, its consequences, and repentance produce emotional responses. But fake or mimicked emotion is the hallmark of sham religion, not genuine. People can be emotionally manipulated to do or believe almost anything. The last 60 years of charismatic confusion around the world have proven that. The test is in the life transformations that follow. The test will also be in obedience to the word and theological faithfulness.
True revival is a work of the Spirit that transforms.
As people repent and turn to God in faith and dependence, He produces an inevitable change in the life of the believer. If the Holy Spirit isn’t sweeping the heart and life clean, He is not in residence. We have had enough emotional worship services in this country to last for a thousand generations. Enthusiastic but hypocritical worship is a stench in God’s nostrils. God save us from the “laughing revivals” and other such events that only serve to make a mockery of Christ and His church.
To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?” Says the LORD. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams And the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls, Or of lambs or goats. When you come to appear before Me, who has required this from your hand, To trample My courts? Bring no more futile sacrifices; Incense is an abomination to Me. The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies— I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting. Your New Moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; They are a trouble to Me, I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. (Isaiah 1:11-15)
True revival must be based upon sound doctrine.
No true work of God is based upon a false gospel. He cannot contradict Himself. Theological liberalism cannot produce a revival unless there is a repudiation of the doctrinal deviance that is the foundation for the original problem to start. This was clear in the revival that swept through theologically dead Baptist Churches in Myanmar more than a decade ago. These Baptist Churches along with the old Northern Baptist Convention that spawned them had long abandoned the fundamentals of the faith and the gospel of Christ. As people finally submitted themselves to the Word and to Christ a miraculous work of God ensued. These people didn’t get just get right with God. They were confronted with the gospel and got saved. False doctrine produces false revival. A return to sound doctrine can produce a true revival.
True revivals always attract hijackers.
Satan always plants tares among the wheat. There are always the Simons among the group that seek to game the true work of God for their own advantage. Whether it’s Ananias and Saphira (Acts 5) who turn the sacrifice of Barnabas and others into self-aggrandizement or Simon who wanted to monetize the work of the Spirit (Acts 8:20-25). Beware of the hijackers.
God’s people have prayed for revival. We already know that God is doing a work in the Muslim world that is supernatural and remarkable. We have prayed that God would do it here too. It is not our prerogative to tell God with whom, where, and how He must work. However, we must be discerning as we seek miraculous work from on high.
Our hearts must not long for some sort of mysterious experience, but rather for His glory to be revealed in us.
Amen