For these rules were only shadows of the real thing, which is Christ himself. (Colossians 2:17, NLT)
Memories of my conversion in 1970 at an Asbury College altar during the spontaneous revival are a blur. So last week I called the only person I knew was there. Steve Seamands was a senior at the college and remembered it well.
He said he could never forget it- 53 years later- because it was his first experience watching a baby being “born-again.” I told Steve that I barely remembered the details. “Of course not,” he said. “Babies don’t remember being born.”
But for Steve, this was unforgettable since he was a young spiritual father in God’s delivery room. A spiritual son named Timmy was being re-born. It was dramatic and painful. God’s neo-natal birthing room can be a bloody mess!
In the wake of this 2023 revival, some professional Christians are analyzing whether the revival is ‘real.’ I cringe at some of the commentary on social media by people who have never been anywhere near Asbury.
So how do I know it is “real?” When I stood up from the altar, I loved the people I hated the day before. Next, the incredible burden of sin was gone. It was like a caddie carrying a 100-pound tour bag full of thirty clubs and junk up a hill to being a ‘tour player’ with God Himself on the bag, carrying all my burdens for me.
But foremost of all the signs of reality was the bold spirit that invaded me. I wrote letters to old friends. My younger high school brother Danny came to Jesus, along with four of his pals. Boys named Ben and Norm, and Jim and David are still talking about 1970 to this day. Our old public high school talked about nothing but Jesus and His revival. There was nothing the ACLU could do to stop it.
Witnessing seemed normal. Why? We were merely telling a real story about a real God.
Imagine this- “I went to the Masters last week, and let me tell you what happened. I saw Tiger Woods carve a four iron around a tree (blah blah blah).” Of course, you’re going to tell someone what you saw. Or how about your first hole-in-one? Did you tell anyone?
How can you keep quiet when a real story about a real Christ is living inside of you? Multiply the Tiger Woods or the hole-in-one illustrations a thousand times, and you begin to get the picture.
Asbury had lots of rules in the 1960s. They seemed quite silly at the time (and often were). But the revival that God sent us was not a revival of obedience to rules. It was just the opposite. The entire campus understood Paul’s words to the Colossians were true for Asbury too. “For these rules were only shadows of the real thing, Christ himself.” (Col. 2:17, NLT).
Artificial or man-made rules became irrelevant when we all agreed that Christ himself was the real thing! When the Spirit comes, you want to obey his commands!
So Jesus Christ was real, and my story was real. No worries about someone asking a God question too hard to answer. This was just my story- that’s all, and it was true.
In February 2020, I returned to the Asbury campus to speak about the 1970 revival. Click this link below for audio of the chapel on that day. https://www.asbury.edu/podcasts/63765/ We prayed that day that God would do it again. And He did.
Prayer: Oh God, thank you for sending revival to this generation! Amen