The Asbury Revival and a Word of Caution

What began at Asbury and has now spread to campuses across the country is nothing short of remarkable.  Unlike the revivals of yesteryear, these have, at least thus far, centered not on a distorted mindset of sin consciousness or the poorly understood need for ‘repentance’, but on the lavishly supplied love of God, the hearts of children turning to their ever-approachable Father.  The embers of His unconditional love have been fanned afresh, resulting in the Refiner’s fire blazing white-hot in the hearts of millions.  No matter your views on corporate revival generally, or how the Finished Work of Jesus Christ makes revival accessible to the individual every moment of every day, seeing the flame grow within a generation of young people is cause for celebration! 


But as someone who has studied and taught church history for over two decades, let me give a word of caution: 


Genuine revival spreads ORGANICALLY.  Like a spiritual virus, it spreads from person to person, infecting with a greater awareness of God, His care for His creation, and their having been enveloped into His family.  It cannot be duplicated through the synthetic means of human effort, ambition, or organization.  Once that occurs, what transpires is no longer revival…it’s a reproduction.  Sure, they may look the same temporarily.  But the fruit from each will produce after it’s own kind.  And the fruit of reproduction will be painfully obvious.  Don’t believe me?  Try paying your taxes with counterfeit money.  Let me know how it goes. LOL


[PS: If you enjoy these musings, please like, share, and be sure to scan the QR code to subscribe to the No Exceptions Ministries, Inc. page.  With so much destructive info out there, let’s share the real Good News!] 




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sometimes Certainty is the Greatest Sin of All

Image
One of the more offensive beliefs espoused by western evangelicalism (and there are many) is the notion that all expressions of the Christian faith preceding it - Catholicism, Orthodoxy, Reformed, et al - were in such gross and debauched error as to render them outside the familial participation of Jesus Christ and indeed worshippers of ‘another Jesus’ altogether.  They espouse this without really considering the ramifications of what they are saying.  If these traditional veins are indeed disconnected from the one true Vine of the church, that would mean that the assembled family of God was absent from the earth for over a thousand years.  Taking it a step further in logical progression, it would be asserting that all of the voices informing our current understanding of the nature of God and His Church are irrelevant as why would we rely on those worshipping ‘another Jesus’ for guidance of any kind?!  So that would mean… The doctrine of penal substitutionary atonement which evangelica
Read more

Deconstructing Too Far

“Deconstruction”, when done correctly, is a refiner’s fire burning away that which is faulty or harmful, a gardener’s pruning cutting off those elements contributing to pain and death.  It should never consume the whole nor should it attempt to disconnect the branches from the vine.   While much needs removed, much warrants preservation.  Indeed, like pulling weeds from among the flowers, the purpose of subtracting the faulty is to enable the healthy multiplication of the pure.   A deconstruction process that burns the whole edifice to the ground isn’t healthy and it isn’t helpful.  It’s a form of mass suicide that, by inflicting the same fate on the wheat and the chaff alike, results in the same end as would have been obtained had we never deconstructed at all: misery and death.  (Note: I’m aware there are other, far better terms for the healthy form of ‘deconstruction’.  But I am equally aware that this is the word most commonly used and have adopted it above for the sake of clarity.
Read more

The God of the Illuminated Journey

Image
The God of the Illuminated Journey The faith we experience is not our own or somehow under our manipulative control, to expand or shrink based on our effort or will, but originates from the Source: Father, Son, and Spirit.  As that faith grows, changes, and matures, it remains HIS faith at work in-and-through us.  We cannot multiply it or enlarge its borders.  We cannot order its comings and goings as if it were our subject, obliged to obey our command.  We simply discover it a little bit more each day.   We have, through the fear and intimidation of fundamentalist evangelicalism, substituted the journey with a destination.  By centering the argument on the false dichotomies (or, stated more accurately, false dichotomies as evangelicalism understands and articulates them) of heaven vs hell, saved vs unsaved, right vs wrong, the sunrise has been forfeited for a light switch.  Rather than experience Father, Son, and Spirit through a gradual unveiling of wonder wherein His luminance grows
Read more