By Victor Sholar
After a week of hearing reports of what was happening at Asbury University, a pastor friend sent me a text message asking for my thoughts. My initial response was, “if my children were spending an unusual amount of time in prayer and praise, I would be praising the Lord!” But as I heard more reports that Todd Bentley, a false teacher, was endorsing this movement, I began to have reservations that this was really the work of the Spirit.
Since I only live twenty minutes from the Asbury campus, my pastor friend and I decided to attend services on February 16th. The line to get into the chapel was more than a block long, and we stood outside in the pouring rain without umbrellas for an hour and a half.
Once we entered, we were given some “house rules” regarding behavior in worship. The campus leader, who was credited with the sermon that sparked the revival, read Luke 18:10-13, prayed, and then the band played songs for the entire hour we were there. Students and visitors who had traveled from miles around stood singing with their hands raised. Some came to pray in front of the stage.
As I left, I worried about the students, thinking about how they will view Christianity when this is all over. On the one hand, his vision of revival will be that the Holy Spirit moves in unusual ways that will leave you excited. And two, the Holy Spirit will prompt you to act in inexplicable ways, to do things you normally don't do.
But the Bible gives us a criterion to discern between the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error. In 1 John 4:1-3, we are commanded to “test the spirits to see if they are from God.” We further learn in 1 Corinthians 12:1-3, that when the Spirit moves in the church the results will not be inexplicable or unusual.
From verses 1-2, Paul gives us two marks of the spirit of error: 1] he will keep you ignorant of how the Spirit of truth moves and 2] he will lead you astray. The central means by which the spirit of error leads a believer astray is by impersonating the Spirit of truth: “No one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus anathema” [v. 3].
Let me apply this truth in the context of the Asbury revival. Any revival led by the Spirit of truth will begin with the preaching of the gospel. There must be a focus on the truth about Jesus. But the spirit of error always seeks to distort or minimize Christ. I went back and heard the sermon that was credited with starting the revival, there was no clear presentation of the gospel. No one speaking by the Spirit of God will diminish Christ in any way.
Every true revival begins with the Spirit of truth putting the spotlight on Jesus: “and no one can say, Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit” [v. 3b]. It was the late Dr. Stephen Olford who put it simply: “Jesus is revival.” The statement “Jesus is Lord” is the oldest creed of the early church. It was a statement that affirmed what the church believed about Jesus and his response to Jesus.
First, “Jesus is Lord,” the Greek word for “Lord” (Kyrios) is equivalent to the Hebrew name Yahweh. Therefore, to say “Jesus is Lord” is to affirm that Jesus is truly God and truly Man. Second, “Jesus is Lord” is a Spirit-driven desire to dedicate one's life to His Lordship.
So what we can learn from the Spirit of truth is that He moves in a sovereign way, but not in an inexplicable way. His purpose is to draw people to Christ. This is how Jesus explains the ministry of the Spirit when he comes: "He will glorify me" [Jn. 16:14]. Therefore, when you hear more about what people perceive the Spirit to be doing in Asbury, rather than about Jesus and the truth of the Lordship of him, there should be some red flags. Because when you read the book of Acts, you will realize that the power of the Spirit was always manifested in connection with the preaching of Christ. In other words, when Jesus was preached, the Spirit moved. When Christ was the central point, the Spirit acted. Therefore, it is not music that produces revivals, but the preaching of Christ.
Honestly, he was hesitant to go to Asbury after hearing the initial reports of revival, because he did not want to go as a critic or skeptic, but as a fellow believer encouraged by seeing the students worshiping the Lord. But now, after witnessing what I witnessed, I am praying that you will not be led astray, but that you will have a true and living encounter with Jesus as Lord.
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