the asbury revival, jesus freaks and anarchy

Some may find this post controversial. I’m not trying to be controversial. I’m just offering up how I view the revival at Asbury by asking some difficult questions and pointing out hypocrisy.

Over the past few years some of you regular readers may have been able to suss from my writing that I hold some Christian Anarchist views. Apart from mentioning Christian Anarchism in last weeks post (the protagonist in that ongoing novella is a Cristian Anarchist) I haven’t written specifically about that topic. The Asbury revival has presented a golden opportunity to change that.

In case you haven’t heard, Christian social media has been abuzz about the “spontaneous revival" that began on Wednesday, February the 8th, after the Wednesday morning sermon by pastor Zack Meerkreebs and the confession of a young man at Asbury Christian University. The revival has drawn a lot of interest and people have been flying in from all over the US and around the world to be a part of it.

Because I grew up a very conservative, Bible thumping, hell-fire and brimstone Baptist church that held revivals on a regular basis, I’m no stranger to them. So when I heard about this one at Asbury I was immediately curious. While I’m certainly in favor of anything that brings people closer to God, especially in these times when Satan seems to be running amok upon the earth like never before, it occurred to me that the backstory for this event required a closer look.

As we all know, there are a myriad of different forms of Christianity. Everyone from Catholics to Baha’i to the numerous types of Protestants, all call themselves Christians. According to the 2020 US religious census, white Protestants make up the largest percentages of those who claim to practice religion, white Evangelicals are ranked #2, Catholics #3.

If you are in Switzerland or Germany, being an Evangelical likely means you are Lutheran.

For those unfamiliar, Evangelicals generally believe that Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sins and that by being ‘born again’ one accepts Jesus Christ as your personal savior. Of course, even among the various Evangelicals that believe that, there are many nuances on that theme. Asbury Christian College is Evangelical. To be more definitive, Asbury is Wesleyan, a liberal form of Evangelicalism.

Before I go any further I should explain that even as a kid I questioned why our church held so tightly to certain doctrines and dogmas that were repeated over and over at such revivals. This and other revelations have led me to no longer see any need to debate strictly held doctrines and dogmas, which is why I tend to distrust any institutional form of Christianity, prefering the early Christian practice of meeting in peoples homes to discuss Scripture. More on all that shortly.

I’m now completely at ease letting people determine for themselves how and what form of cosmology they accept in their life. If their chosen cosmology wakes them up to the darkness now ruling the world and moves them away from that Satanic realm into alignment with God, then I care little about what doctrine and dogmas they or their church may think they need to lean on. However, if their chosen path doesn’t budge them from their ensconced worldly positions that keep them aligned with the tyrannical, authoritarian darkness now ruling their lives through the state and its globalist actors, then I would have to question their chosen faith.

This brings us to the revival at Asbury. I largely see it as, and here I have to inject a caveat, ‘potentially’ a good thing. To explain why I find the need to use that caveat, we have to understand what a revival is. There is some debate online right now about that and, rightfully so.

Let’s consider some official definitions of revival. This is one I found here online.

Revival refers to a spiritual reawakening from a state of dormancy or stagnation in the life of a believer. It encompasses the resurfacing of a love for God, an appreciation of God’s holiness, a passion for His Word and His church, a convicting awareness of personal and corporate sin, a spirit of humility, and a desire for repentance and growth in righteousness. Revival invigorates and sometimes deepens a believer’s faith, opening his or her eyes to the truth in a fresh, new way. It generally involves the connotation of a fresh start with a clean slate, marking a new beginning of a life lived in obedience to God. Revival breaks the charm and power of the world, which blinds the eyes of men, and generates both the will and power to live in the world but not of the world.

Adrian Rogers (former president of the very large Southern Baptist Convention) puts forth this conveniently nebulous definition - “Revival is when God comes down”.

Not impressed with those definitions? Neither was I. Let’s turn to the ultimate arbiter, the Bible. Opps. My KJV doesn’t have the word revival in the concordance. Ok, let’s check online with Strongs concordance. Opps. It doesn’t exist there either. Hhmmm. This doesn’t bode well for Asbury.

Is the concept of a revival simply another convenient, dogmatic construct by institutional forms of Christianity to further university enrollment and fatten the bank accounts of the churches and universities that are jumping on this revival band wagon (for donations)?

To be fair, Acts 3:19 does talk about a “refreshing”.

17 And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers.

18 But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled.

19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.

This seems to be the only Biblical mention of anything resembling a revival and… it’s somewhat nebulous. Apparently the concept of revival was not very important to early Christians. Was this because they had no need for revivals because they chose to live life aligned with God and had no need to be revived? Especially when compared to how most Christians live today? That makes the idea of a revival seem more like a dogmatic construct of modern Evangelicalism than a teaching of Jesus.

As the passage from Acts seems to indicate, we are to overcome our ignorance and that of our rulers and repent so that we do not succumb to sinful ignorance again. If we don’t succumb again then there should be no need for another revival, right? To be honest, if one has repented, I’m a little confused about why one needs be prepared for “when the times of refreshing come”. Does this mean we will no longer need refreshing? Perhaps someone can explain that in the comments.

The upshot is, this sounds nothing like the hyped-up version of what’s been happening on mans technological social media regarding Asbury. This leads me to question the use of mans hubristic technology to drive a revival. In my mind a true revival would require no technology. The Hole Spirit would directly enter great numbers of people without the need for technology or, without the need to go to Asbury. What’s the difference between using technology to hype fear about a virus to get people to take highly profitable bioweapon jabs and using technology to hype a revival to get people to come to Asbury that ultimately, serves to increase enrollment and donations to the University?

But let’s run with the idea that a revival is needed. According to that passage in Acts we should ask, has the “presence of the Lord” arrived? Have those in attendance at Asbury forgiven themselves for the “ignorance” of following the “ignorant” agenda of the state? Or are they merely attending because of the feel good, kumbaya vibe that often accompanies events like this? How many of these students and participants are going back to their normie lives after this revival and fulfilling the agendas of godless corporations and the godless state - continuing in their ignorance? How many people at the Asbury revival have stood up and said: Enough! I will no longer serve the Satanic agenda of my corporation and state.

If I had to guess, none have done the latter. Why? Again, if I had to speculate, I would say that’s because this revival has been more of a massive social media campaign than a coming to terms with ones ignorance about the Satanic agendas being promoted by this university (explained shortly) and the ignorant state.

Nowhere in the Bible are we directed to be dependent on “revivals”. We are, however, directed in many other ways. One of those is when Jesus clearly spells out that we are not to put the state and our jobs before God. If we do, we are worshiping those Satanic establishments, not God.

Matthew 4:8-10 (KJV).

8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;

9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

When the vast majority of people stand up and say “Enough! I will no longer put my job and the state above God”, that’s when we’ll see a true revival and marvel as the dark veil is lifted from earth.

Not surprisingly, as a typical liberal Wesleyan University, Asbury bought into the federal and state mandates for masks, social distancing and vaccines. What follows are the official positions Asbury took - copied and pasted from their website - that imposed the godless state’s agenda to mask, social distance and vaccinate its student body and staff. We begin with a letter from the Asbury University President.

August 6, 2021

For questions relating to the COVID-19 Pandemic and Asbury’s Procedures, please email: covidquestions@asbury.edu

Dear Asbury Community,

Over the next ten days, we look forward to welcoming new and returning students and are proactively preparing for Fall 2021 to begin. We remain vigilant in our continual review of plans to “Return to Regular” in light of rising COVID-19 positivity rates, many of which are identified as the highly transmissible Delta variant.

As of Monday, August 9, all employees, students, guests, and vendors are required to wear a face covering while inside campus buildings. For groups of 10 or less in a space that allows for 6-foot physical distancing, masks may be removed as long as all are in agreement, remain stationary, and maintain physical distance; otherwise, the mask mandate remains.1 Students and employees who have medical issues or disabilities that hinder wearing a face covering may request an exemption through Academic Accessibility Resources (students) or Human Resources (employees). 

While the requirement to wear face masks is consistent with other public and private Kentucky colleges and universities at this time, we want to be clear on the following:

Our commitment to “Return to Regular” has not changed, and it is our intention and hope to make that determination based upon three primary criteria:

Jessamine County COVID-19 Rates: We are monitoring the Jessamine County COVID-19 positivity rates. Currently, Jessamine County is considered a “red zone.” We will monitor this from week to week as the metric is based upon a 7-day average.

Student/Staff/Faculty Contraction Rates & Sickness:  We will continue to monitor COVID-19 rates and transmission on our campus.

Proportion of Vaccinated Community Members: Recent data tells us hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19 are primarily concentrated among non-vaccinated individuals. Moreover, while there are “breakthrough cases” (vaccinated individuals who contract COVID-19), hospitalization rates are strikingly low (.0004 as of July 26) and sickness is generally experienced as less severe. Therefore, the proportion of vaccinated individuals in our community will matter.

There are many variables to consider when we assess campus safety, but we will always put students first to both maximize their safety AND their experience as effectively as we can.

Whenever possible, our desire is to avoid “segregating” members of our community based upon COVID-19 related elements (e.g., vaccination status, masks).

Although not required, students are strongly encouraged to vaccinate against COVID-19 to protect themselves and all members of our residential learning community. To determine whether or not a student must quarantine if exposed to COVID-19, students are asked to upload a picture of their vaccination card at their earliest convenience.

A free vaccination clinic will take place on Asbury’s campus on Thursday, August 19.  

Our COVID-19 FAQs will reflect these new adjustments by early next week and will continue to be updated as we monitor COVID-19 developments. Please refer to this page frequently so you can know what to expect as you prepare for the upcoming semester. You may also direct questions to covidquestions@asbury.edu.

As you may imagine, I am disappointed to move to a mask requirement for our campus community. I want students to have the full Asbury experience in every possible way. Our PREP team and I will continue to monitor the Jessamine County rates, Asbury’s transmission rates, and campus vaccination rates so we can be released from masks as soon as possible. I long for the day when we speak of the COVID-19 pandemic and its threat in the past tense—and my eager hope is for that to be sooner than later.

For now, I am reminded of the “godly wisdom” described in the third book of James: “17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy.” 

At this time, I humbly ask for our responses to be moderated by care for our students, our love for each other in the community, and our desire to embody “godly wisdom.”

I look forward to a healthy, safe, and successful academic year.  

Sincerely, 

Kevin J. Brown, Ph.D.

President, Asbury University

This does not apply to public gathering spaces such as the Student Center, Kinlaw Library common areas, and residence hall lobbies where masks are still required at all times.

Next is something called overall guidance.

Updated: 8/16/2022

Overall Guidance

Each Asbury University community member has an individual responsibility to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. 

Students who are studying on campus are strongly encouraged to vaccinate against COVID-19 to protect themselves and all members of our residential learning community.

 Asbury University is adjusting the masking requirements on campus to Masks Optional. This means that masks will be optional in most areas of campus, including chapel, with the exception of Health Services. If a professor chooses to continue with masks required in their specific classroom, they may do so.

MASKS ARE REQUIRED, if students/employees are symptomatic or have been exposed to COVID-19, even if vaccinated/boosted.

All students are required to follow Health Services procedures and direction regarding COVID-19 symptom reporting, testing, quarantine, and isolation.

Students are encouraged to quarantine or isolate at their permanent residence, if they are able, as there are limited isolation spots on campus.

Students who do not follow Health Services COVID-19 procedures and direction may be required to withdraw from the University without refund of tuition, room, or board.

The University reserves the right to modify or add to these protocols as deemed necessary or in case of change in COVID-19 cases in our community, state, or region

This link is to a page boasting Asbury’s success at vaccinating 95% of Asbury community residents with the Satanic bioweapon jabs and includes a scroll of photos of about 100 people holding cards saying they’ve been vaccinated.

All of this confirms that Asbury Christian University willingly participated in the “ignorant” corporate and state sponsored authoritarian tyranny of the past few years. In fact, they imposed their own form of it at Asbury University.

Folks, this ain’t Christian. This is lickspittle worship of the Godless state, putting Jesus and God somewhere down in third and fourth positions after the state and the corporate, medical-industrial complex. So how does Asbury University justify calling itself a Christian University? I have no answer for that. Perhaps President Kevin J. Brown can try and make sense of that in the comments. If any of you readers have any connections at Asbury, perhaps I can you to forward this post to them. It would warm my heart to see Asbury undergo a real revival.

Some of you may know that a similar revival occurred at Asbury in 1970 during the era of the Jesus movement. Given their godless imposition of the Satanic covid policies and the bioweapon jabs, it appears that revival was not very genuine and that they were in need of another.

A challenge for Asbury.

Have you learned your lesson? Will you repent for imposing those godless covid policies? Will you apologize for the evil in which you participated? Will you denounce the godless state and corporations you emulated and helped enrich? Will you do the Christian thing and compensate those who, due to your dark persuasion tactics, were either injured or died from the coivd jabs?

jesus freaks

As longtime readers know, in 1971 I took a mandatory flu shot as a freshman at Faith Baptist Bible college in Ankeny Iowa, got a severe case of pneumonia from it and had several close calls with death before recovering. Needless to say, I felt betrayed by my religion and didn’t return to that school or any Baptist church. In case you’re wondering, yes, that is how I originally came to question institutional religion, modern medicine and the state.

In fact… I rebelled. After all, it was 1971/72 and rebellion against the war in Viet Nam and many other atrocities of that era was palpable in the air. I began smoking Cannabis and hanging out with long haired, hippie types.

Around late 1972 I was hitchhiking across the country and got dropped off near Pueblo, Colorado after dark. There was little traffic. I stood on the on-ramp under a street light for hours and watched bats catch bugs drawn to the light. A van finally stopped to pick me up. As I climbed in I noticed the van was full of Cannabis smoke and five long haired hippies. My first thought was, this may be interesting. The ensuing conversation went something like this. “Hey brother, how long ya been waiting” someone asked. “Maybe three hours” I replied. “Want a toke?” “Not right now”. I wanted to keep my wits about me around people I didn’t know. Then I noticed an open Bible on the console over the engine. One of them said, “Do you know the Bible?” I said, “Some”. “Do you like the New Testament and the teachings of Jesus?” I said, “More than any other part of the Bible.” By now everyone was listening. “Did you know Jesus was an anarchist?” I mumbled something about not knowing that because in 1972, at 18, I wasn’t exactly sure what an anarchist was. Then they all began quoting various sayings of Jesus from the New Testament, explaining why Jesus was an anarchist. I questioned them about some things they said and they became even more energized. Bibles appeared from all over the van and I was impressed to see that they were all as adept at finding passages as I was. Over the ensuing hours and miles I learned they were part of the Jesus movement (aka Jesus freaks), headed to a gathering of Jesus freaks in Southern California where the Jesus movement first began in the late ‘60’s.

They also talked about the mentions of kanabosm (numerous spellings) in the Bible, which is Hebrew for Cannabis. They pointed out that the combination of ingredients in holy anointing oil (used in the Temple and much later more diversely by Jesus) were mildly hallucinogenic. The ingredients can be found here - Exodus 30:22-25. Cana, in the KJV, is believed by some Hebrew scholars to be kaneh bosem or Cannabis. Apparently the Pharisees/Sadyousees thought the holy oil should only be used in the Temple, but Jesus, thought by some to descend from the priestly line of Melchisedec (Hebrew 7), thought it should be made available to everyone.

These guys also talked about how corrupt and how far off-base most institutional religions were. I had come to that same realization over the previous 1.5 years and agreed with them.

I don’t remember all the verses they quoted and read, but I do remember that by the end of the ride I knew I had to give a lot more consideration to Christian Anarchy.

I’d never heard of Jesus freaks before, but it didn’t take long to realize that I liked these guys. They asked me to go with them to the event but I had to decline because I was headed to Phoenix to see old family friends. As I recall, they took me all the way to Phoenix.

After getting dropped off, my immediate reaction was… whoa, that was a bit much to take in for an 18 year old boy fresh from the farm. It made me realize how naive I was. Little did I understand at the time that a seed had been planted and how that seed would grow and evolve over the coming decades. It was like someone had shown me a whole new Bible. It made me realize how easy it is to manipulate what the Bible says into institutional forms of religion. I began questioning everything. I came to distrust the state, institutional religions and their ‘educational’ universities more than ever. In an attempt to get at its deeper truths, I dove headlong into the Bible and read it several times over the next few years. It was like reading it for the first time.

Over time, I came to embrace Christian Anarchism. As Paul Harvey used to say, now you know the rest of the story.

christian anarchism

To the uninitiated, upon first consideration, the term Christian Anarchism may sound like an unholy oxymoron. Alexandre Christoyannopoulos points this out in the introduction of his book Christian Anarchism - A Political Commentary On The Gospel.

Christianity and anarchism are rarely thought to belong together. Surely, the argument goes, Christianity has produced about as hierarchic a structure as can be, and anarchism not only rejects any hierarchy but is also often fervently secular and anti-clerical. Ciaron O’Reilly warns, however, that Christian anarchism “is not an attempt to synthesise two systems of thought” that are hopelessly incompatible, but rather “a realisation that the premise of anarchism is inherent in Christianity and the message of the Gospels.”[1] For Christian anarchists, Jesus’ teaching implies a critique of the state, and an honest and consistent application of Christianity would lead to a stateless society. From this perspective, it is actually the notion of a “Christian state” that, just like “hot ice,” is a contradiction in terms, an oxymoron.[2] Christian anarchism, therefore, is not about forcing together two very different systems of thought — it is about pursuing the radical political implications of Christianity to the fullest extent. (sic)

A generic “theory” of Christian anarchism, however, has yet to be enunciated. Several writers have adopted a Christian anarchist position, and some of these writers are aware of some of the others who have come to the same position, but a detailed and comprehensive synthesis of the main themes of Christian anarchist thought has yet to be produced.[3] That is, an overall theory of Christian anarchism has yet to be outlined. The central aim of this book is to do just that — metaphorically-speaking, to weave together the different threads presented by individual Christian anarchist thinkers, to arrange into a symphony the similar melodies played by each of these theorists. In other words, this book delineates Christian anarchism by bringing together the main insights of individual Christian anarchist thinkers.

I’m not so sure Alexandre C. succeeded in that and, I’m not so sure he could have. As I’ve pointed out many times, we are - fortunately - all different, which is why there can be no such thing as a one-size-fits-all jab, prescription drug or diet. What we provide for our spiritual being should be equally malleable to the individual. Therefore, I’m of the belief that Christian Anarchists cannot all be lumped together in one definitive description.

Having said that, since I’ve not heard any of you readers mention anything about this topic, I’m working on the assumption that most of you know little about it. So, in a further attempt to paint a picture of what Christian Anarchism is about, I offer up this Wikiversity definition. I don’t agree with all of this, but it provides a starting point.

Christian anarchism is a movement in political theology that claims Christianity is fundamentally anarchistic. It is grounded in the belief that there is only one source of authority to which Christians are ultimately answerable, the authority of God as embodied in the teachings of Jesus, and thus rejects the idea that human governments have ultimate authority over human societies. Christian anarchists denounce the state as they claim it is violent, deceitful and, when glorified, idolatrous. Christian anarchists hold that the proper relationship between God and people is the "Reign of God" in which human relationships would be characterized by divided authority, servant leadership, and universal compassion rather than the hierarchical, authoritarian structures normally attributed to religion.

Many Christian anarchists are pacifists and reject violence, pointing to the sermon on the mount as their reason (Mathew 5).  Leo Tolstoy's The Kingdom of God Is Within You is often regarded as a key text for pacifist Christian anarchism.

Personally, I’m a little uncomfortable trying to pigeon hole Christian Anarchy. Much water has flowed beneath the bridge since Tolstoy and views and philosophies about it are becoming increasingly diverse as more people gain a broader understanding of the evil we are all being subjected to.

Although not a Christian Anarchist, Darren Allen writes about anarchism on Substack.

Like many anarchists, he believes that democracy, which is held sacred by so many, is nothing more than a means to organize and control the masses to generate profit. He calls democracy “dictatorship of the 51%”. He defines anarchy as freedom from control that is coercive.

He sees technology as highly problematic because it needs a massive structured system to create it, that technology reduces us to machines and requires a massive bureaucratic organization to run it.

In an interview with Russell Brand he points out that the universe is inherently anarchic. He also points out that the supreme example of human anarchy can be found in our ancient ancestry. For 99% of our existence we have been tribal hunter-gatherers with no form of democracy or governance.

When discussing diet and herbal remedies in earlier posts, I’ve pointed out that because of this very long history, this is how we are best adapted to live. Allen points out that freedom is also our historical, natural state. I call it our God given state. He believes that when things go south, as they inevitably will, going back to a primitive state will likely happen anyway. Allen calls that state “anarcho primitivism,” or “primalism”.

Some Christian Anarchists see a need for justice to be imposed on those who commit atrocities. Still others are not averse to sounding the trumpets to bring down the walls of Jericho. All can find solace in the Bible.

I find myself more aligned with these latter groups than I do with the Tolstoy pacifist’s. Hence, Revelations chapter one and two.

revelations - empire

revelations - rebels