There is a wave of so-called revivals happening right now. One in particular is gaining a lot of attention. It is happening at the Asbury University chapel in Wilmore Kentucky. It started after a chapel service on Wednesday Feb 8th.
I want to start out by saying that I really hope that this revival is real. I would love to see more people come to a saving faith in Christ. I pray for true revival and believe that there have been some genuine revivals in the past and that we could really use one that swept the globe now. I believe however that it is more likely for us to see a great falling away than a true revival. I of course am super cautious when people say revival. I have seen the devastating effects of so many false revivals. The wake they leave is horrendous. I would love to say this is a true movement of God and it very well could be. However there are some troubling things that I have come across since looking into this “revival”. First off the sermon that supposedly sparked this revival is a questionable one. In days of true revival the message that sparked the great revival was one of sin and repentance. One where the law and gospel were on display and the central focus. Where Christ and him crucified were front and center and unfortunately that isn’t what we are seeing at least not from the sermon I watched.
Watching the sermon that was given that supposedly started this revival Reverend Zach Meerkreebs who gave the sermon starts off at the 3:15 mark quoting Daniel Fusco who is a TBN pastor with a show called real. He is one who I would be very cautious of.
Romans 12:9-21 is what he is preaching on. So, the whole message is about love. He keeps asking them how they are doing, how they are feeling and if they have experienced the love of God.
It really seems like he is building the room. Guiding them into feeling and emotion. At one point he asks what people are feeling, people answer in a host of ways and he says;
“I know the heart of God is not one who would heap guilt or shame on us right?”
I found that odd. Is that true? Would God not allow us to feel guilt or shame? Would he not heap that on us to guide us out of it? Is that not often part of conviction?
He goes on about hypocritical love and being hurt by what others call love and how people need to experience the love of Jesus and says.
“I have nothing until this afternoon. I have coffee with a dude, I am happy to sit here and pray with people. If you have experienced that kind of love, there are leaders on this campus that will stay in these seats and pray for you. If you need to hear the voice of God, the father in heaven who will never love you that way. That is perfect love. Gentle and kind you come up here and you experience his love don’t waste the opportunity.”
Still building the room. Almost like he is manufacturing a reaction. He continues to pull the heart strings guiding people to want an encounter or experience. Towards the end he says
“All right, let’s pray. Alright Jesus if there are people in this room that literally feel the weight of that perverted thing that one person called love would you just alleviate that weight right now. Holy Spirit move through these rows, move through these rows and love on these people. Jesus if there’s people who have experienced hypocritical love in the church, holy spirit move through these rows and alleviate that. Heal them Jesus and show them your true self. Would they be bold and courageous to ask for further healing and further prayer in Jesus name amen.”
It is really a build up to something. It is suggestive and manipulative. As you listen, he talks about people not being loved well and guess what? Most all of us can say we have been loved poorly or poorly loved others at one time or another. He keeps building the emotion telling them that they can’t love properly until they experience the love of Jesus. Sappy music plays in the background as he continues to guilt them. Telling them they must EXPERIENCE Jesus’ love in order to rightly love others. They just can’t do it without the experience. He says “some of us need to sit in the love of God, some of us need to taste and see, experience the power of the Holy Spirit, because if you want to become love, if you really want to become love in action you start by prostrating yourself before the love of God.”
Where is this call to repentance that starts a revival? People are saying the revival is repentance and testimonies, people coming to Christ. However, the law and gospel were not preached. No call to repentance, just a call to experience. This is a problem in the churches today. It no longer is a saving message when it is a message of experience.
This is not what we see in scripture. Nowhere in scripture are we told that we must experience the love of God to be saved but in this sermon he says “you can’t earn your way to heaven, you can’t blow peoples hair back by our love and your leadership you have to experience the love of Christ in your life.” doesn’t that imply that you can do those things if you experience the love of Christ?
Amid this ”revival” in Asbury I have heard Todd Bentley saying he is on his way. He has made multiple posts on it and says
If he gets there, is welcomed and finds a place at this revival that in and of itself will tell if it is a false revival or real. The spirit within Todd Bently will not be at peace in a real revival.
We are seeing “revivals” break out in places like Hope Centre in Brisbane, Australia. Revival nights was said to have started on Feb 5th and continues. You see people claiming that it is breaking out all over the United States and even the world. If there is a true Revival that would be amazing, it would be beautiful and oh so needed. It would also be a place that could so easily get corrupted by movements like the NAR in which revival is key to their push on world dominance.
Unfortunately, more troubling things are coming out. Alisa Childers did a short video on this revival which was very loving and well done might I add. In the comments after being shared on Holly Pivec’s page however someone asked a question about contemplative practices being done there and Alisa responded saying this was in the back of every seat when she attended. (She was in the area and went in to take a look at what was going on)
This would be from the university itself. This is not found in scripture. This is relying on self and feelings, your experience and your senses. Alisa gave a wonderful assessment to which she so wisely tells people this isn’t some experience that you have to go seeking. you can pray and seek God at your local church and at home. essentially don’t strive for experience. Get in your bible and seek Gods face in that.
Louisiana awakening which is a tent crusade is happening just starting its 14th week of revival. In the middle of this we see people like Lance Wallnau giving his stamp of approval as well as Brian Simmons who says revivals are breaking out all over the place though you can’t actually find these revivals he is talking about. Again, time will tell.
If this is a genuine revival, we ought to be praying for protection from the ravenous wolves who are pouncing on it. We should be praying that truth prevails and God is glorified in all of this because it really could go either way.
We see more and more people talking about it and as it gains momentum it tends to be more and more NAR leaders. Either it is genuine, or the wolves are circling.
The super bowl was yesterday and of course this group has come out of the woodworks saying that this is what Bob Jones predicted. The chiefs would win the super bowl and revival would break out. My question is “which time that they win the Superbowl?” I remember them winning only a couple years ago and the same thing was being said. This prophecy will apparently be brought out every time the chiefs win. A piece from Charisma magazine from 2020 said,
“Following the Chiefs’ win, Bolz wrote on Instagram, “I am not sure what it means when Bob Jones said, ‘when the chiefs win the Super Bowl revival is going to break out,’ but I sure am excited. We haven’t been able to find any recordings of him saying this, but he said it often to us. He often prophesied about sports teams and prophetic symbolism. He said when the chiefs win God is raising up His apostolic chiefs around the nation and one time he said ‘nations.'”
In comments beneath the post, Bolz said Jones made these claims in 2003-2005.
This is not the first time Bolz has mentioned this prophecy. On Jan. 19, prior to the AFC Championship Game (in which the Chiefs played against the Tennessee Titans), Bolz wrote on Facebook, “Bob Jones had heard from God that the chiefs would go to the Super Bowl and win it. He shared that when they won it would be a sign of upcoming and end time revival. He explained that God is raising up His chiefs to be apostolic leaders in many spheres of influence. Today if you follow football, you will see that the Chiefs have their first chance for 50 years as they are going to the Super Bowl! This could be the time! Let’s pray!”
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Is this a move of the Holy Spirit? That would be amazing. We can only wait and see what comes out. If good lasting fruit comes from it. I think that we should all pray that God is working through this to bring people to himself. That he squashes the wolves that try to pervert his word and his people. I think it is way too early to say if this is revival and the fact that people are hyping it up is not helping the emotionalism going on. I really hope that people come to a true repentant saving faith in Christ and that isn’t just another show of the false signs and wonders movement.
We see the ability for a real genuine revival but only time can tell us if it actually is or not. I will be following along and doing as we are told, testing every spirit by the word of God. I say we should pray for this movement whether it is of God or not he alone knows and is working either against it or for it we do not know. Let us rejoice if it is a true revival and call out the falsities if it is but a stumbling block.
-Take Me To Eternity
The battle between flesh and spirit. Living Blessed in a fallen world. 