What appears to be a dramatic revival movement among Christian young people on various campuses throughout the United States and beyond, is catching widespread attention and provoking considerable discussion, both inside and outside the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
I am speaking here of what is being called the Asbury movement, or the Asbury revival, which appears to have begun on the campus of Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky, and subsequently spread to other Christian campuses [1]. Though the university in question is non-denominational so far as sponsorship, faculty and administration, and students are concerned [2], it is strongly affiliated by heritage and tradition with the Wesleyan Methodist movement launched in the eighteenth century by John and Charles Wesley, among others [3].
The revival appears to have begun on Wednesday, February 8, 2023, when a group of students at Asbury remained in the University chapel following a regularly scheduled service [4]. The atmosphere seems to have quickly changed when one of the students proceeded to openly confess certain of his sins to the group [5]. Within a week the hashtag “asburyrevival” had over 24 million views on TikTok [6]. Within three days, that number had blossomed to 63 million [7].
By February 17, 2023, ten days after the movement’s start, the Asbury campus saw attendance at meetings connected with the revival expand to at least four other local venues beyond its original site at Hughes Auditorium [8], including Mr. Freedom Baptist Church [9]. A significant number of students from at least five other universities have joined the movement [10], with representation from Baptist and Episcopal groups as well as Methodists [11].
Some observers are comparing this phenomenon to the Jesus movement of the early 1970s [12], while certain reporters in our own denomination have compared it to various past revival movements among Adventist young people [13].
True and False Issues Distinguished
When we consider the state of things just now in American Christianity—the cultural and political polarization, the lure of nationalism, rampant scandals of sexual abuse, and so much more—one can see why youthful Christians might be drawn to the promise of revival and a more genuine, practical religion. One is fascinated how “some commentators have noted the absence (in this movement) of many of the features of contemporary worship” [14]. This would imply a level of seriousness that many, including theologically conservative Adventists, would find welcome.
So how, in fact, should Seventh-day Adventists respond to this movement?
Let’s be very clear from the outset that we are not discussing, or seeking to assess, the genuineness of anyone’s spiritual journey or experience with Christ, in connection with the Asbury movement or otherwise. The Bible speaks of a light “which lighteth every man that cometh into the world” (John 1:9), and declares that humans are judged by God based on the volume of light and truth of which they are aware (Acts 17:11; Rom. 2:14-16; James 4:17). Speaking of God, the Bible states elsewhere, “Thou, even Thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men” (I Kings 8:39). Thus it is God alone who can rightly assess the sincerity of anyone’s faith profession.
No one, certainly not the present writer, is questioning whether or not God is working outside the Seventh-day Adventist community, or doubting that God can use Christians—or non-Christians, for that matter—who believe and live differently from members of the movement Seventh-day Adventists hold, on the basis of Scripture, to be the remnant church of Bible prophecy (Zeph. 3:13; Rev. 12:17). No devout Seventh-day Adventist can rightly deny that genuine children of God can be found in every faith community on earth, as well as among those who profess no faith at all. This has been the conviction of classic Seventh-day Adventism from its beginnings.
What we are in fact discussing, however, is how Seventh-day Adventists should relate to what is being called the Asbury movement. Should we—our young people in particular—participate in this movement, or at least seek its guidance as to how such renewal might be brought to our own churches and campuses? Should we, at the least, attend their meetings and see what we might learn?
A number of Adventists, according to online reports, have gone to the primary site of this revival to hand out GLOW tracts and copies of The Great Controversy, and to pray with the students. Let us keep these contacts and pieces of literature in our prayers. But the question of seeking spiritual enlightenment from the movement in question, or similar phenomena, is a separate issue, to which we now turn.
Avoiding the Mixture of Truth and Error
Too many Adventists across the decades who think (or have thought) to see greener spiritual grass beyond the church’s borders, have failed to take full advantage of what God has already given us in the course of our own denominational journey. The Bible itself, first and foremost, has often gone unstudied, when in fact so many of the questions being asked relative to modern and contemporary spiritual topics have been plainly addressed in its pages.
Then there are the writings of Ellen G. White, often called the Spirit of Prophecy, an inspired treasure in which detailed, time-transcendent plans for addressing the most practical issues of our day are laid before the reader. Basic questions of spirituality, revival and reformation, daily Christian living, health restoration and maintenance, relationship building, evangelism, ministry to the community in every form—all are addressed in depth, yet simply, in those writings. But as one prominent Adventist pastor said many years ago, those writings shouldn’t be called the “red books”—a term used for some time by older Adventists—but rather, the “unread books.”
Unlike many other Christians, Seventh-day Adventists build their doctrinal and moral beliefs from the entire Bible, giving no primacy of authority to either the Old or the New Testament. The key tenets of our faith—such as the Sabbath, the law of God, salvation, what happens at death, the sweep of Bible prophecy through the ages, Christ’s ministry in heaven, and His second coming to this earth—all are established by consultation with the Biblical consensus. This is what makes our doctrinal message unique in the Christian world, and embodies the reason why, though we respect the spiritual journey of other Christians, our beliefs and practices differ so markedly from theirs.
Seventh-day Adventists believe the Holy Scriptures to be “the supreme, authoritative, and the infallible revelation of [God’s] will” [15], and while believing Scripture to be the ultimate Source of divine revelation in the human experience, nevertheless affirm that the writings of Ellen White “speak with prophetic authority and provide comfort, guidance, instruction, and correction to the church” [16]. This is because the ministry and writings of Ellen White fulfill all the requirements set down in Scripture for a true prophet (e.g. Isa. 8:20; Jer. 28:9; Dan. 10:17; Matt. 7:16-20). Speaking of her writings, Ellen White declares: “There is one straight chain of truth, without one heretical sentence in that which I have written” [17].
In light of this, whatever value may be gleaned from the experience and writings of those not of our faith, only Scripture and the writings of Ellen White can be trusted by Seventh-day Adventists to be error-free. Thus, when we seek for revival and reformation in our ranks, when we look for ways to effectively reach our neighbors with God’s last-day message, the place to start is the Bible and the writings of the Spirit of Prophecy. The faithful, discerning Seventh-day Adventist has considerable difficulty understanding why non-Adventist sources or movements should be consulted when the Lord’s unerring standard of truth and integrity is so seriously neglected by so many among us.
Warnings from the Prophet
Deficient spirituality inevitably leaves the soul hungry, leaving it vulnerable to both ideal and less-than-ideal means of fulfillment. Ellen White noted this problem among Seventh-day Adventists in her day, and warned against seeking refreshment from certain sources:
Through a lack of faith, many who seek to obey the commandments of God have little peace and joy; they do not correctly represent the sanctification that is to come through obedience to the truth. They are not anchored in Christ. Many feel a lack in their experience; they desire something which they have not; and thus some are led to attend holiness meetings, and are charmed with the sentiments of those who break the law of God [18].
There is no safety, much less benefit, for our people in attending these popular holiness meetings; let us rather search the Scriptures with much carefulness and earnest prayer, that we may understand the ground of our faith. Then we shall not be tempted to mingle with those who, while making high claims, are in opposition to the law of God [19].
In another statement she gives an even stronger warning, which should give pause to any Seventh-day Adventist tempted to visit any alleged revival meeting where false doctrine and unscriptural practices are upheld and witnessed:
If God has any new light to communicate, He will let His chosen and beloved understand it, without their going to have their minds enlightened by hearing those who are in darkness and error. . . . God is displeased with us when we go to listen to error, without being obliged to go, for unless He sends us to those meetings where error is forced home to the people by the power of the will, He will not keep us. The angels cease their watchful care over us, and we are left to the buffetings of the enemy, to be darkened and weakened by him and the power of his evil angels; and the light around us becomes contaminated with the darkness [20].
Notice how she doesn’t forbid us without qualification to attend such gatherings, but rather, says God is displeased with us for going “unless He sends us.” There may be a time and place for some to investigate meetings such as these. But mere curiosity is never sufficient cause for doing so. That’s what got Mother Eve to the forbidden tree in the Garden of Eden.
The Counterfeit Gift of Tongues
According to online reports, the various earmarks of charismatic neo-Pentecostalism are attending this Asbury revival. One report has noted the presence of “’prophesying,’ speaking in tongues, ‘casting out demons,’ and ‘faith healing’ at the chapel” where the revival is based [21]. Another report has likewise documented the involvement of these elements, in particular the modern charismatic gift of tongues, in this new movement [22].
The Bible is clear as to the substance of the true gift of tongues, what the apostle Paul in listing the gifts of the Spirit identifies as “diversities of tongues” (I Cor. 12:28). The book of Acts is clear that this gift constitutes the divinely-imparted ability to speak a formerly unknown human language for the purpose of communicating the gospel. The story is well known to us, but as it represents the only time in the New Testament where the nature of this gift is explicitly spelled out, it is worth recounting the story as it is found in Acts chapter 2:
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were with one accord in one place.
And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.
Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and they were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.
And they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans?
And how hear we every man in our own tongue wherein we were born?
Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia,
Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes,
Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God (Acts 2:1-11).
At no time in Scripture is the Holy Spirit’s gift of diverse tongues ever defined or described as the ecstatic gibberish found in modern Pentecostal/charismatic circles. Such confusion stands entirely at odds with the apostle Paul’s declaration that “God is not the author of confusion, but of peace” (I Cor. 14:33), and his admonition in the same context: “Let all things be done decently and in order” (verse 40).
In the early years of Adventism, this ecstatic counterfeit of the Biblical gift of tongues appeared on various occasions [23]. It was for this reason that Ellen White offered the following warnings against this false gift:
Some of these persons have exercises which they call gifts, and say that the Lord has placed them in the church. They have an unmeaning gibberish which they call the unknown tongue, which is unknown, not only by man, but by the Lord and all heaven. Such gifts are manufactured by men and women, aided by the great deceiver. Fanaticism, false excitement, false talking in tongues, and noisy exercises, have been considered gifts which God has placed in the church. Some have been deceived here. The fruits of all things have not been good. “Ye shall know them by their fruits” [24].
Some of these have much to say upon the gifts, and are often especially exercised. They give themselves up to wild, excitable feelings, and make unintelligible sounds which they call the gift of tongues, and a certain class seem to be charmed with these strange manifestations. A strange spirit rules with this class, which would bear down and run over any one who would reprove them. God’s Spirit is not in the work, and does not attend such workmen. They have another spirit [25].
Some rejoice and exult that they have the gifts, which others have not. May God deliver His people from such gifts. What do these gifts do for them? Are they, through the exercise of these gifts, brought into the unity of the faith? And do they convince the unbeliever that God is with them of a truth? When these discordant ones, holding their different views, come together and there is considerable excitement and the unknown tongue, they let their light so shine that unbelievers would say, These people are not sane; they are carried away with a false excitement, and we know that they do not have the truth. Such stand directly in the way of sinners; their influence is effectual to keep others from accepting the Sabbath. Such will be rewarded according to their works. Would to God they would be reformed or give up the Sabbath! They would not then stand in the way of unbelievers [26].
In the early 1970s, as the modern charismatic movement began to sweep across Christendom, a few Adventists again got interested in the ecstatic counterfeit of the Biblical gift of tongues. One such person paid a visit to a leading denominational editor during that time, asking the editor what he thought about the neo-Pentecostal gift of tongues. The editor recounted the following comments from the visitor:
I’ve been speaking in tongues now for almost six years. Got the gift at a Pentecostal meeting in Indianapolis. I’m still an Adventist, however, and I believe the time has come to bring the gift to the Seventh-day Adventist Church [27].
One wonders what drew this man to a Pentecostal meeting in the first place, but the editor spoke of how his conversation with the man began with the subject of ecumenism [28]. Though his exact thoughts on that subject are not mentioned, it would appear this brother found ecumenism more welcome than most Adventists have throughout our history. The editor proceeded to inform him of the intrusion of this so-called gift into early Adventism, as noted in the Ellen White statements cited in the present article [29].
The ecumenical impulse seemed even more pronounced in another Adventist, cited by the above editor in his book on the charismatic movement. This individual “reported that he had broken ‘down the barriers of denominationalism,’ and, as a consequence, on Eastern Sunday, March 29, 1970, ‘sang in the beautiful language of heaven’” [30].
But as we have seen, Ellen White, under divine inspiration, informs us that the incoherent language mistaken by such persons for the gift of tongues “is unknown, not only by man, but by the Lord and all heaven” [31]. Whether the editor was able to convince him of his danger by citing the Ellen White warnings his book contains, the book doesn’t say. But Ellen White leaves us in no doubt as to the origin of this alleged “gift,” and the perils it poses for any who embrace it.
In light of the above inspired warnings, no revival movement in which such chaotic—frankly, demonic—demonstrations are found can receive endorsement from faithful Seventh-day Adventists. We can only pray that Seventh-day Adventist young people will stay away from these gatherings, and that those responsible for their guidance and training will not encourage them to go.
LGBT Acceptance
The Bible contains unqualified condemnation, in both Old and New Testaments, of any same-gender sexual intimacy (Lev. 18:22; 20:13; Rom. 1:26-27; I Cor. 6:9-10; I Tim. 1:10). Though Asbury University has affirmed its stand for Biblical principles of sexuality [32], it has been reported that “LGBTQ activists have expressed support for the [Asbury] revival on social media” [33]. One commentator has written the following regarding the revival and its impact on “queer” students, in language more likely to raise questions than answer them:
There is outright prayer over the harms committed by the church. I learned that a few days earlier, a student wrote a prayer for acceptance of the sacred worth of queer students that was anonymously and harshly rubbed out, only to be rewritten on the board by someone else later in the night [34].
All Christians, of course, can and should affirm the sacred worth of all human beings. The question arises as to what in fact was meant by the student who wrote the prayer cited above. If the student meant that Christians should extend the love of their Lord to those engaging in a lifestyle condemned in His Word, we can all agree. But if “acceptance of the sacred worth of queer students” means affirming and making room for this lifestyle within the fellowship of faith, such a proposal merits loving but firm rejection. No revival truly inspired by the Holy Spirit will lead anyone to accept as an appropriate Christian option any practice identified in Scripture as sin.
One cannot but be troubled by one observation of the commentator cited above, who asked someone connected with the Asbury revival who was in charge, and was told, “No one is” [35]. This sort of chaotic spontaneity is fertile ground for the disregard of Biblical guardrails, which can easily leave such a movement vulnerable to any number of doctrinal and moral aberrations. Again we recall the apostle’s statement that “God is not the author of confusion, but of peace” (I Cor. 14:33), and his admonition: “Let all things be done decently and in order” (verse 40). Any movement or endeavor where leadership and accountability are ill-defined or essentially non-existent is very much out of step with the Biblical model for the faith community. The early church at the time of Pentecost is described in the book of Acts as an organized body, with delegated authority and duly chosen leaders (Acts 1:15-26). The absence of such order is a recipe for spiritual disaster.
The Genuine Article
Seventh-day Adventists need not look far, nor cast their eyes beyond their church’s borders, to learn what a genuine youth revival looks like. The movement that began in 2002 as the General Youth Conference, now called Generation of Youth for Christ (GYC), has for two decades impacted thousands of Adventist youth and young adults with a spiritual agenda rooted in the Bible and amplified in the writings of the Spirit of Prophecy. Scripture-based preaching, reverent worship, seminars dedicated to theoretical and practical instruction, have marked from the beginning its annual gatherings, whose attendance nearly every year has numbered in the thousands. Though a youth-led grassroots phenomenon, it has welcomed the guidance of older, experienced voices; though not governed directly by the organized church, it remains—and has consistently been—fully supportive thereof.
Certain Adventist commentators on the Asbury movement have recalled particular revivals among Adventist young people within the past century [36]. But none of these bear any substantive resemblance to GYC, especially as one considers the enduring Biblical faithfulness and longevity of the latter. A grassroots revival lasting twenty years, with hundreds (even thousands) of new accessions to the movement each year even as others—for whatever reason—cease to attend, may well be a unique experience in the entire Seventh-day Adventist narrative. Speaking as one who has been privileged to attend every GYC conference since the movement was launched, I have seen for myself—despite occasional shortcomings—the Biblical integrity and steadfast purpose there present.
The task of GYC remains unfinished, to be sure, and rough waters lie ahead for its acolytes young and old—indeed, for all in Adventism who continue to seek true revival and reformation. But neither the young in Adventism nor those not so young need stray beyond our borders in search of true spiritual revival. God has given us a glimpse of the genuine article within our own ranks during the first two decades of this century—a youthful movement whose momentum neither heresy, extremism, apathy, betrayal by prominent mentors, criticism, COVID, nor length of years have succeeded in slowing its momentum or blurring the clarity of its witness.
A Glimpse of the Final Conflict
The ultimate, long-looked-for revival within God’s remnant church has been foretold in the following inspired statement, together with a sober prediction of what will precede it:
Before the final visitation of God’s judgments upon the earth there will be among the people of the Lord such a revival of primitive godliness as has not been witnessed since apostolic times. The Spirit and power of God will be poured out upon His children. At that time many will separate themselves from those churches in which the love of this world has supplanted love for God and His word. Many, both of ministers and people, will gladly accept those great truths which God has caused to be proclaimed at this time to prepare a people for the Lord’s second coming. The enemy of souls desires to hinder this work; and before the time for such a movement shall come, he will endeavor to prevent it by introducing a counterfeit. In those churches which he can bring under his deceptive power he will make it appear that God’s special blessing is poured out; there will be manifest what is thought to be great religious interest. Multitudes will exult that God is working marvelously for them, when the work is that of another spirit. Under a religious guise, Satan will seek to extend his influence over the Christian world [37].
Several points emerge from this passage:
1. The true revival being depicted here takes place when the Loud Cry of the third angel is given, and the final call to come out of Babylon is delivered (Rev. 18:4). This is why Ellen White describes many, both ministers and laity, separating from the false churches and accepting God’s truth for the last days. According to Ellen White, this will take place following the establishment of the image to the beast through Sunday legislation, and in the context of the final test between the seal of God and the mark of the beast [38].
2. The false revival precedes the true. While the collective witness of Ellen White’s writings on this point is clear that the true and false revivals will eventually occur alongside each other, the above statement is clear that the false revival will come first, before the onset of the final test described above.
3. The false revival will come in a religious guise, not a secular one. Those today who are looking for Satan to use secular ideologies and overt attacks on Christianity as his primary means of deception have overlooked the very clear predictions of the inspired pen. “Great religious interest” and multitudes rejoicing that “God is working marvelously for them” are not descriptions of “godless global elites” setting Christianity aside in favor of one or another form of atheism.
Witnesses to the Asbury revival have reported “miracles and healing” among the events attending the movement [39]. But the Bible is clear that signs, wonders, and miracles will attend the workings of Satan and his followers during the last days (Matt. 24:24; II Thess. 2:9; Rev. 16:14), which is why Ellen White warns that miracles are not to be regarded as a test of God’s favor [40]. Moreover, Ellen White is clear that miraculous signs will accompany both the labors of God’s people and those of their enemies during the final conflict. Describing the Loud Cry of the third angel in the giving of God’s final warning, she writes:
Servants of God, with their faces lighted up and shining with holy consecration, will hasten from place to place to proclaim the message from heaven. By thousands of voices, all over the earth, the warning will be given. Miracles will be wrought, the sick will be healed, and signs and wonders will follow the believers. Satan also works with lying wonders, even bringing down fire from heaven in the sight of men. Revelation 13:13. Thus the inhabitants of the earth will be brought to take their stand [41].
So the fact that miracles are seen in a certain setting, among certain individuals, offers no proof that they or the movement of which they are a part is from God. The only way we will know who is and is not of God will be through the testimony of God’s Word. Again, from the pen of the modern prophet:
The last great delusion is soon to open before us. Antichrist is to perform his marvelous works in our sight. So closely will the counterfeit resemble the true that it will be impossible to distinguish between them except by the Holy Scriptures [42].
Conclusion: How Should Seventh-day Adventists Respond?
This new revival movement, like so much else around us, should drive us to the Bible and to the writings of the Spirit of Prophecy. Again, it is not our purpose to challenge the spirituality or sincerity of anyone who might be following God and His Word to the best of their knowledge and ability. But the inspired warnings contained in the present article about popular holiness meetings [43], being “charmed with the sentiments of those who break the law of God” [44], and venturing “to have [our] minds enlightened by hearing those who are in darkness and error” [45], offer decisive evidence that such gatherings as we are presently witnessing in connection with the movement in question are not where God’s remnant people should be going—except, perhaps, to distribute truth-filled literature.
Some may object to including the Asbury movement among “those who break the law of God” and “those who are in darkness and error.” We can’t repeat it often enough that these dear souls may be following the light of the Christian message to the best extent they know. God alone can judge them, as He alone knows their hearts (I Kings 8:39). But the fact remains that they stand in violation of God’s Fourth Commandment, keeping a false day of rest as a substitute for the divine memorial of creation (Gen. 2:1-3; Ex. 20:8-11). The so-called gift of tongues that appears prominent in their ranks is unscriptural both in content and the confusion and spiritual chaos it brings in its wake. And if indeed this movement is so loosely guided that acceptance of such sins as homosexual practice are being urged within Christian circles by its acolytes, it is difficult if not impossible to see the God of Scripture as honored in such a revival.
Some of the online discussions among Adventists regarding this movement in which I’ve participated have included warnings against putting limits on the work of the Holy Spirit. But never can we forget that the Holy Spirit and the inspired Word stand in full accord with each other. Isaiah 8:20 is still in the Bible: “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” Ellen White declares as follows regarding the consistent harmony between the divine Spirit and the written Word:
The Spirit was not given—nor can it ever be bestowed—to supersede the Bible; for the Scriptures explicitly state that the Word of God is the standard by which all teaching and experience must be tested. [I John 4:1 and Isa. 8:20 then quoted.] [46].
When the Savior imparts His peace to the soul, the heart will be in perfect harmony with the Word of God, for the Spirit and the Word agree. The Lord honors His Word in all His dealings with humanity. It is His own will, His own voice, that is revealed to them and He has no new will, no new truth, aside from His Word, to unfold to His children. If you have a wonderful experience that is not in harmony with the expressed directions of God’s Word, you may well doubt it, for its origin is not from above. The peace of Christ comes through the knowledge of Jesus whom the Bible reveals [47].
For decades now, too many Adventists in the developed world have fostered a subjective spirituality that views a “personal relationship with Jesus”—rarely spelled out—as distinct from, and superior to, doctrinal and moral clarity. The quest for an experiential comfort level has been allowed to transcend the imperative of faithfulness to the written Word. Such persons are exquisitely vulnerable to whatever passes for the “Spirit’s moving” at a given time and place.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, those Adventists who allow cultural grievance and political polarization to drive them into the arms of conservative evangelicals will find the distinctives of their Adventist faith increasingly less compelling than causes championed by their newfound ideological bedfellows outside the church. Such may find an apparent revival among the latter more appealing than the consecration of fellow church members who fail to press the cultural hot-buttons that currently ignite such passion in their hearts.
Seventh-day Adventists should never cease to thank God for the inspired Word He has given to guide our steps and direct our journey through the abundant minefields that await us as we near the final crisis. We close our study with the following inspired admonitions as to where our focus belongs as we prepare to meet our Lord:
Only those who have been diligent students of the Scriptures, and who have received the love of the truth, will be shielded from the powerful delusion that takes the world captive [48].
Men may get up scheme after scheme, and the enemy will seek to seduce souls from the truth; but all who believe that the Lord has spoken through Sister White, and has given her a message, will be safe from the many delusions that will come in these last days [49].
Believe in the Lord your God, so shall she be established: believe His prophets, so shall ye prosper (II Chron. 20:20).
REFERENCES
1. “2023 Asbury revival” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Asbury_Revival
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid.
10. Ibid.
11. Ibid.
12. Ibid.
13. Michael Peabody, “A Spiritual Revival is Happening at Asbury University,” Fulcrum7, February 16, 2023 https://www.fulcrum7.com/blog/2023/2/16/a-spiritual-revival-happens-at-asbury-university
14. “2023 Asbury revival,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Asbury_Revival
15. Seventh-day Adventist Church Manual (2015 edition), p. 162.
16. Ibid, p. 168.
17. Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, vol. 3, p. 52.
18. ----Evangelism, p. 599.
19. Ibid, p. 364.
20. ----Early Writings, pp. 124-125.
21. Samuel Sey, “Is the Asbury ‘Revival’ a Real Revival?” https://slowtowrite.com/is-the-asbury-revival-a-real-revival/
22. Andy Roman, “The Counterfeit Revival is Spreading Across America,” Advent Messenger, February 15, 2023 http://adventmessenger.org/the-counterfeit-revival-is-spreading-across-america/
23. Roland R. Hegstad, Rattling the Gates (Washington, D.C: Review and Herald Publishing Assn, 1974), pp. 101-113.
24. White, Testimonies, vol. 1, p. 412.
25. Ibid, p. 414.
26. Ibid, p. 419.
27. Hegstad, Rattling the Gates, p. 101.
28. Ibid.
29. Ibid, pp. 102-108.
30. Ibid, p. 23.
31. White, Testimonies, vol. 1, p. 412.
33. “2023 Asbury revival,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Asbury_Revival
34. Laura Levens, “What I witnessed this week at the Asbury revival,” Baptist News Global, February 16, 2023 https://baptistnews.com/article/what-i-witnessed-this-week-at-the-asbury-revival/
35. Ibid.
36. Peabody, “A Spiritual Revival is Happening at Asbury University,” Fulcrum7, February 16, 2023 https://www.fulcrum7.com/blog/2023/2/16/a-spiritual-revival-happens-at-asbury-university
37. White, The Great Controversy, p. 464.
38. ----Last Day Events, pp. 197-214.
39. “2023 Asbury revival,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Asbury_Revival
40. White, Selected Messages, vol. 2, pp. 48-55.
41. ----The Great Controversy, p. 612.
42. Ibid, p. 593.
43. ----Evangelism, pp. 364,599.
44. Ibid, p. 599.
45. ----Early Writings, p. 124.
46. ----The Great Controversy, p. vii.
47. ----From the Heart, p. 299.
48. ----The Great Controversy, p. 625.
49. ----Selected Messages, vol. 3, pp. 83-84.
Pastor Kevin Paulson holds a Bachelor’s degree in theology from Pacific Union College, a Master of Arts in systematic theology from Loma Linda University, and a Master of Divinity from the SDA Theological Seminary at Andrews University. He served the Greater New York Conference of Seventh-day Adventists for ten years as a Bible instructor, evangelist, and local pastor. He writes regularly for Liberty magazine and does script writing for various evangelistic ministries within the denomination. He continues to hold evangelistic and revival meetings throughout the North American Division and beyond, and is a sought-after seminar speaker relative to current issues in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He presently resides in Berrien Springs, Michigan