Asbury University

REAL REVIVAL!

(April 22, 2023) S. Sam Selva Raj reflects...

Revival! Over several years we have heard this word widely used regarding refreshing outbreaks of Christianity as Christians find God anew, many new salvations, even healings and miracles.

Recently highlighted was the ‘revival outbreak’ of prayer and worship at Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky… experiences of finding of God and His presence afresh – ‘a deeper sense of connection to God and to each other.’ Healings and miracles, thousands of interested visitors even from interstate lining up in the cold weather.

Unfortunately this meaningful ‘revival’ was short-lived… as were similar Holy Spirit outpourings over the years!

Scriptural?
I searched for the word ‘revival’ in scripture, but could not find it. The closest similarity was the ‘reformation’ brought about by young Josiah – 16th king of Judah. Crowned when only eight years-old, described as a righteous ruler, even as a young boy he ‘did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and walked in all the way of David his father’ (2 Chronicles 34:2).

Josiah means ‘God supports and heals’ and verses 3-5 tells that when he was but 16, ‘he began to seek the God of his father David.’ Only 20 years old ‘he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of high places, Asherah poles and idols… the altars of the Baals were torn down; he cut to pieces the incense altars…’ Josiah instituted major religious reforms by removing official worship of any god other than Yahweh.

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JESUS – LORD HIGH ABOVE ALL ELSE!

(February 20, 2023) Robert and Maureen McQuillan bring a timely challenge …

Happened to watch a recent Abbots Cross Congregational Church service (our ‘old’ church back in Northern Ireland) and heard an outstanding sermon by Reverend Philip Campbell. What a message! So well…

  • Structured perfectly,
  • Strongly principled,  
  • Sensitively preached.

Under an obvious Holy Spirit anointing, Philip clearly spoke convincingly from his heart on Philippians 3.

There was a sense of destiny as Philip – known for his easy-to-listen-to-and-absorb style – reminded his audience of God’s incredible goodness, the Christian’s need to take opportunities to share one’s faith and the gospel of Jesus and, forgetting past hindrances, move on this year under God’s directions into His plans for His spiritual children and church.

It triggered off the heart of this particular article!

Jesus highest
Philip Campbell knows the cost of the challenge of moving on as God declares!

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EXTRAORDINARY REVIVAL AT ASBURY UNIVERSITY

(February 18, 2023) Mark Ellis reports more Holy Spirit fire falling in Kentucky…

As a senior at Asbury University in Kentucky, Joshua Curry, 22, decried his own sense of disquiet about his spiritual condition and the religious atmosphere at the college.

Attendance at chapel is required three days a week at the private Christian university, formally aligned with the Wesleyan-Holiness movement. Many students seemed unenthusiastic, apathetic about the mandatory obligation. ‘There were a lot of people who were just tired of having to come to chapel, people would always groan about having to show up for an hour a day, three days a week.’

‘I was actually feeling very poor spiritually, like a sinking ship. I wrote down in my journal that I’m tired of milquetoast Protestantism. I want liberty from slavery. I want forgiveness of sins. I want a zealous spirit,’ but he felt the world and its current cultural milieu was luring him away from what he desired most.

The revival that hit the school in the 1970s was fading from memory. February 2023 and student Joshua Curry bears witness to the following awakening…

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