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There has been talk of a revival at Asbury College, but is the Holy Spirit really moving? If you scour the Internet for answers, you will find positions on every side. On one hand, the students who are showing up for a multi-week service are choosing to go there instead of parties, gaming, or other things that have lesser impact on their eternal lives than a church service. For that, it is good what is happening. But on the other hand, we have seen many unbiblical things at the Asbury college revival including female preachers (but not the word...), strange tongues, casting out of demons, and most importantly, a lack of preaching, no Gospel, and a non-stop string of music. What is the best reality for this event?
1 John 4:1 tells us to test every spirit. The sad reality is that many people look to some event like this and say, “Look, they are gathering under God...it MUST be a revival!” The problem is there are many spirits in this world. So we need to not look at this at face value. We must examine everything, hold fast to that which is good, and abstain from every evil thing (1 Thessalonians 5:21-22). So let us test the spirits here.
First, we must look at Asbury itself. The theological foundations are the same as the roots of the Pentecostal movement, and likewise, they look non-critically for any “movement of the Spirit” and then proclaim it as a revival without any examination. They even have a page on their website dedicated to the number of revivals they have had.
Next, what is the content. The Word is not being preached. People are not hearing the Gospel, nor hearing clear teaching from the Bible. It is entirely driven by modern music, making it effectively a several day long free concert. In between the music (which some is being performed by members of the LGBT community), there are testimonies, casting out of demons, but no expositing of scripture.
Ultimately, if people come out of this event with real repentance of real sins, if they come out spending time in the Word of God, if they cast off the old Gentile ways and turn to Christ without spending their lives turning to signs and wonders for emotional verification of their salvation it will be a good thing. But what I see is not a lot different from the Toronto Blessing and many other Charismatic events we find in recent history. I imagine this will be yet another event where people are stirred up emotionally, but never see a single change in their life. That, by definition, is not a revival.
We need not a revival, we need people to turn to Christ with sober hearts and minds, turn to the Scripture (1 Corinthians 15:34). The instant gratification in our culture wants to see massive change at once, but that is not how God works. He will call us one by one, work on our souls separately, and bring us together united by knowledge of Scripture. That is the mark of God really working.
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Teachings this Month
In case you missed our videos and podcasts this month, here is the update. You can find our videos on Youtube, Rumble, Odysee, and BitChute. The full list of podcast links is on the website.
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