The spirit of God is at work at Asbury College. Or so they say. And who is to say really? While many miraculous reports are coming out of Asbury, there are voices of caution even within the movement. These voices of caution, while good, still lend credibility to the movement as a whole. There's a tendency in Evangelicalism to have a sort of All Press is Good Press mentality when it comes to this sort of thing. The ends justify the means. If it's not of God, it'll sort itself out, but the lives that will be changed will be because of God, so why make a fuss about the means of getting there.
My own experience of revival is that it is shallow, leaves people changed for a time, but largely becomes more about what was experienced than what was accomplished in the heart. People talk about "What God is doing", yet nobody can really ever tell you what he's doing. Revivalism at its heart is a movement of emotion. Of group dynamics, a sort of group psychosis. The revivalists of the 18th and 19th century spoke of stirring the believer to repentance. We see the seeds of this is John Wesleys talk of his heart being "strangely warmed".
The concept that the Holy Spirit pours out his spirit at specific times and specific places seems to originate in this 18th century movement of revival. Prior to this, one would be hard pressed to find this phenomenon happening in the annals of the Church. And that's precisely because it's a new paradigm produced by the assumptions being made about how God acts and moves in history that strongly leans on a certain type of Old Testament interpretation.
How should we understand the outpouring of Gods Holy Spirit and how does it happen today? From the traditional perspective I would say this.
Just like Christ coming and acting for our salvation in a final and definite way, the Holy Spirit also comes in a final and definite way at Pentecost. In salvation we act in accordance with the gift that has been given. We take up our cross and work out our salvation with fear and trembling. In the same way we respond to Pentecost through prayer, through participation in the sacraments of the Church and through almsgiving, in hopes of acquiring the fruits of the spirit in our lives. The outpouring of the spirit need not be repeated because it has already come, just as Christ need no longer die for our salvation. We simply need to respond.
The revivalist paradigm replaces the sacramental nature of the Church with the experiential nature of the altar call.
Be careful out there.
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