I continue to be disturbed in the spirit regarding what I call “The Great Asbury Quenching of 2023.” One of the reasons that I am disturbed is that the church universal seems to have taken little note of it and has not recognized what has happened. In the great book by C.S. Lewis called the Screwtape Letters, a senior demon, Screwtape, gives advice to his young nephew and apprentice who is called Wormwood. Much of this advice relates to how to keep an individual from coming to know about Christ and when they come to know Christ how to stunt their growth and development. It is easy to imagine that Uncle Screwtape might advise about the need to shut down a revival as quickly as possible so that things do not rage out of control and that many people be saved and renewed. If I were Screwtape, I would advise shutting it down in the name of Jesus so that order could be reinstated, that the neighbors be satisfied (Jesus said to “Love Thy Neighbor”), that education be continued, that laws be obeyed, that the public health be maintained, that the name of Christ be protected from peculiar manifestations of the spirit and further that all of this be done in Jesus’ name and for his sake. As preposterous as all of this may sound, this is exactly what happened at Asbury.
To make things worse (and more hypocritical, in my opinion) both Asbury College and Asbury Theological Seminary, which is located across the street as an independent entity, will eventually profit financially from their association with the “Asbury Revival.” The college will have the reputation of a very special Christian College because it is here where the Holy Spirit fell in 2023. They will be remembered for the outpouring of the Spirit of God despite the fact that even Asbury admits that the origination of the outpouring was a sovereign act of God. In short, this is an example of where you can “have your cake and eat it too.” Asbury gets the credit and good press (at least Christian press) of having the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and yet after having shut it down and “quenched the Spirit” gets to maintain the benefits and be free from any inconvenience to its educational programs.
Hinting that the meetings would be transferred elsewhere off campus or to another part of the state seems to be a puff of smoke or a wisp of a promise which has now dissipated into thin air. In short, the college shut it down and the revival was not officially moved elsewhere.
On the bright side, the law enforcement people of Wilmore, Kentucky can be satisfied that the local occupancy codes are being obeyed and that parking and order has been restored to the Citizens of Wilmore. Street congestion has been eliminated. Further, health concerns have been eliminated. Apparently the local health officials had confirmed that a student with a case of measles had actually attended Asbury’s services on Saturday, February 18. We can all perhaps be thankful that diligent health officials did not attend the services of Jesus especially because he came to heal the sick and not the healthy. I suspect that Satan has learned a few tricks in recent years that health scares can be a primary way of shutting down the spread of the Church and the Gospel of Christ. After all it is much preferable that people burn in hell (I guess that the Gen-X Jesus does not allow that any more) than they possibly catch a communicable disease. Could this be the same Jesus who said it is better to go into heaven maimed than remain in sin un-maimed?
The college officials and professors at Asbury can now return to teaching as normal without disruptions. The theologians and students at the Asbury Seminary no longer have to wonder why the Spirit might fall at the college as opposed to the Theological Seminary next door where the theological experts about Jesus were housed.
Although I am not aware of any bizarre manifestations of the Holy Spirit at Asbury, it does seem that one or two bizarre statements were made by the Asbury President, Dr. Kevin Brown. In his release he says, “I have been asked if Asbury is “stopping” this outpouring of God’s Spirit and the stirring of human hearts. I have responded by pointing out that we cannot stop something we did not start.” This strikes me as a bizarre statement. Of course, you can stop something you did not start. Can you imagine a group of police standing around saying, “We can’t stop this riot because we did not start it” or a group of firemen saying, “We cannot stop this fire because we did not start it.” That is absolutely ridiculous.
He goes on to say piously, “Rather, we are encouraging the continued movement of God through other people, places and ministries.” In short, it has been great but it is time for this circus to move on. This is the phenomenon known as “Nimby.” “Nimby” means it has been great but Not In My Back Yard. The whole problem, of course, is NIMBY. We all want the Holy Spirit but not in our back yard.
My criticism of the actions of the City Officials and Administrators of Asbury is to some degree unjustified, because we quench the Holy Spirit regularly and repeatedly in our churches. And like the good citizens of Wilmore, Kentucky we do it for a number of good and religious reasons. Even so-called charismatic, spirit-filled, and Pentecostal churches lock down their services tightly lest the Holy Spirit come and things get out of control of the Pastor, the Elders and the Church Trustees or Boards. Therefore, I believe that thousands of churches just within my own state quench the Spirit with regularity. Sometimes this quenching is by denying that the Spirit operates at all today. However, it is obvious to most of us that the Holy Spirit is alive, acting and moving today. In other churches, it is the effort to control the Holy Spirit and keeping everything moving decently and in order that things not get out of control and that sermons end promptly in time for Sunday lunch. We are careful to feed the body if not the spirit.
Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians that we are not to quench (stifle or extinguish) the Holy Spirit. The God’s Word translation says: “Don’t put out the Spirit’s fire.” I believe this is what happened in Asbury and this is what happens in most of our churches today. Does not quenching the Holy Spirit mean that there is absolutely no order? I believe the answer is that a spirit of order and the move of the Holy Spirit are compatible. 1 Cor. 14:32-33 says, “The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets. For God is not a God of disorder but of peace-as in all the congregations of the Lord’s people.” While there may be order where the Holy Spirit is, there is generally no printed agenda. An agenda suggests control and the Holy Spirit is not controlled by man except to the extent that believers can allow the Holy Spirit to move under the Spirit’s agenda or they can quench the Spirit and move on the agenda of mankind.
Let’s face it. The issue is simple. It is about “control.” Will man be in control or will the Holy Spirit be in control? If it is man, then we are in the ludicrous position of man having God on a leash . Yet amazingly that is exactly what we do. In our churches, if a prophet has a word from God, then the prophet in many cases is not allowed to speak. If the church allows the prophet to speak then generally, he or she must take their word to the pastor and let the pastor determine if it is OK to speak the word. Otherwise, things might get out of control. Frankly most churches never have the problem of things getting out of control and frankly some might benefit if they did lose control from time to time. Instead, we sacrifice risk and spontaneity and the move of the Spirit for the stale bead of a predictable agenda for their worship service leaving the body of Christ feeling dry and malnourished.
It is our fear of losing control of our worship services which drives us. Ironically most of the quenching in our services is done according to those in control for the good of the faith and in Jesus name. So the Holy Spirit needs to do things orderly to come to our services. This might logically include such things as seeking permission of the Pastor, Board of Trustee and those in authority before moving or speaking. Of course, the Spirit does not want to offend the police, the mayor, the City Council and the health officials while operating. Requisite permissions and occupancy permits must be in order. As you can appreciate, my example goes overboard and is far-fetched. However, the key issue is who is in control, the Holy Spirit or the church authorities or the administrators of this world. We are left with a spiritual conundrum. We do not want the Holy Spirit unless we can control the Holy Spirit. At the same time, the Holy Spirit is part of the Godhead and sovereign. The Holy Spirit will not fall where the Spirit must comply with the requirements of men and jump through the hoops of spiritual and political mandarins.
We fear what we cannot control and we simply cannot control revival or the Holy Spirit. I write this additional edition of Locusts and Honey because the Church is moving ahead with business as usual and is not really addressing what really happened at Asbury or what is happening in our own churches as we regularly and continually “quench” the Holy Spirit of God.
