Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you? –Psalm 85:6

Asbury University has had several prayer revivals in its history and recently had another one. I’m glad to hear about this. Unlike Duke University, which is controlled by the United Methodist Church, and has a devil for its mascot. The Global Methodist Church also splintered off last year because of the gay marriage issue in the UMC. Asbury on the other hand, has always been a non-denominational Wesleyan college, with an evangelical emphasis. I’ve been greatly impacted by Harald Lindstrom’s Wesley and Sanctification (1984), and Kenneth Collins’ Wesley on Salvation (1989), both of which were published by Francis Asbury Press under the leadership of Dr. Dennis Kinlaw from Asbury. Revivalism has always come from evangelical holiness Wesleyanism: and never from the mainline liberal element in the Methodist Church. My writings for an upcoming John Wesley on Money have received a much warmer reception from Dr. Keith Drury of Wesley Seminary at Indiana Wesleyan University. This might be because this school is more conservative than Asbury, being that its entirely guided by The Wesleyan Church.

The sudden appearance of revivals at Asbury might actually be the result of evangelicals and liberals in conflict over there; and then experiencing sudden but rare bursts of divine intervention and evangelical fervor. But dramatic revivals like this are not needed where the true faith is already being maintained. I don’t say this to slam the Asbury revival by any means, but simply to point out that like the Great Awakening under Jonathan Edwards, and John Wesley’s Methodist revivals, all true evangelical revivals are marked by the felt presence of God, and restoration of the fundamentals of the faith, in the midst of an agnostic, progressive, liberal Christian crowd. I’m personally aware of several very liberal United Methodist professors who have worked there. Compromise is a word that has entered my mind more than once. But Asbury is a mixture of liberals and conservatives: much like the whole United Methodist Church has been for the past 50 years. It is my prayer that the spirit of compromise would not overtake those individuals in these meetings after its all over with. But that Wesleyan-holiness ministry would be revived and that liberalism, now called progressive Christianity, would be utterly rebuked by them and not ever tolerated by a new wave of fiery Wesleyan preachers who are bold to preach about Hell, repentance, and the blood of Jesus.

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UPDATE: 2/21/23 – The reason why History Channel Bible skeptics, demythologizers, and agnostic, progressive liberal theologians, and unbelieving Bible scholars exist in our state universities, and mainline Protestant seminaries, is because they’ve distanced themselves from serious thought about the supernatural. They have no room in their minds for the theology or experiences of Roman Catholic, Puritan, and Wesleyan mysticism. This is why they’re so spiritually blind. –1 Cor. 2:14; 2 Cor. 4:4; Matt. 15:14