Dear Friend,

Recent extended, extraordinary encounters of God's presence at Asbury Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky, and several other Christian colleges and seminaries, have spread revival fever through the nation. And I for one am praising God! Joyfully! But also soberly. May I explain why?

When God genuinely visits us, with all the salient features of true spiritual awakenings - conviction of our sins, eager repentance of our sins, abandonment of our lives to Jesus, and hunger to know, walk with, and serve Him – it brings sweet, rejuvenating joy to our weary hearts. Especially so when we’ve been long grieved and vexed by our sinful culture and lukewarm churches. But with this joy come two distinct dangers, "revivalolatry" (not in your dictionary) and premature celebration. Let's examine each.

"Thou shalt have no other gods before me" boomed God’s voice from the holy mount (Exodus 20:3). And "no other" means no other, including those we Christians are inclined to go after. How dare I say this? Because it is true.

An idol is anything or anyone we love more than God or trust in more than Him. The more overt idols - of wood, stone, and metal - are easy to recognize. But the covert ones, that rule virtually undetected in religious circles and hearts, pose the real danger. Why? They distract us from God Himself by their very nearness to Him. And the nearer the idol to God, the more power it has to divert us from Him.

Our Catholic friends are a prime example. What could be closer to Jesus than Mary! So vast amounts of Catholic doctrine, confessions, rituals, miracles, and even prayers are directed at, or credited to, Mary. But the “mother of God” is not God. She is merely the human being closest to Christ during His earthly sojourn. Yet by praying to her, claiming she, too, was born sinless, and asserting she intervenes in our lives, Catholics have raised her to godlike status. How could they do this!!??

Just like we Protestants have done it. Yes, we Evangelicals, Pentecostals, and Charismatics have our own carefully crafted, well-preserved, oft-lauded gods.

Many Evangelicals, especially intellectuals and apologists, have lifted up certain doctrines above personal fellowship with Jesus. They imagine any believer who does not agree with their pet doctrines, spiritual rebirth notwithstanding, will never grace the pearly gates. When they arrive, they expect banners to proclaim, "Only Calvinists here, thank you!" Or, "Only Cessationists here, please!" Or, “No tongues-talkers admitted!” Now while not praying to their doctrines, claiming they intervene in our lives, or asserting their advocates are sinless, many surely trust or glory in them as much as or more than the Savior. So, heaven could justly indict them for idolatry.

Many Pentecostals and Charismatics have idolized revival, or the spiritual awakenings that have occurred down the centuries to breathe new life and power into Christ’s withering church when it was apathetic, sinful, heretical, and close to death. While wonderful, even necessary, these visitations have merely been new beginnings - never ends in themselves. They have awakened us and prompted us to get back into the race Christ set before us. But they’ve never been the finish line! 

When we witness God’s amazing mighty works - conversions, baptisms, fillings with the Holy Spirit, miracles, healings, demonic deliverances, lives and families redeemed, churches revived - firsthand, some of us simply get too excited about it, as the 70 did when they returned from their highly successful ministry tour. Christ’s wondrous works are wonderful, but not more wonderful than Him. So, we should rejoice and thank God - but not make mental shiny new golden calves or blessed virgins of them. Though close to our blessed Reviver, they are not Him. Their glory will pass; His endures … forever!

If, however, we admire them excessively, we enable the old sin - idolatry - to make a new start. Not among pagans, who are without truth, or Catholics, who are ensnared in heresy, but among us who profess the fullness of God’s Word and Spirit. If not checked, revivalolatry spreads like a virus, distracting us from the only One we should remain in love with and focus all our worship upon. But that's not all.

Revivalolatry mistakes the end for the beginning. Pentecost began the church's history and the spiritually mature, tested church's Presentation to Christ in heaven after the rapture will end it. And nothing short of that is “the end” in God’s sight, or cause for unchecked celebration. So, we must understand, while wonderful, revivals merely restart us on the road to glory. They are never the finish line.

"Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof" (Ecclesiastes 7:8). Or, "It is better to finish something than to start it" (NCV). Do we know what the "finish" looks like for individual Christians and the body of Christ?

In His high-priestly prayer, Jesus prayed we would be sanctified, unified, and filled with Him, and the Father's love (John 17:1-26). Paul prayed Christ’s people would be "strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering [endurance] with joyfulness; giving thanks," and "stand perfect [mature] and complete in all the will of God” (Colossians 1:11-12; 4:12). He prophesied we would become like tabernacles indwelt by God’s Spirit (Ephesians 2:19-22), as mature in faith and knowledge as Jesus (Ephesians 4:11-13), as deeply cleansed as a virgin bride (Ephesians 5:25-27), and as unmoved by Satan’s wiles as an army of spiritually militant intercessors clad in God’s impenetrable, spiritual armor (Ephesians 6:10-18). That is our finish line - a church that has been thoroughly taught, trained to consistently obey God's Word, tested by Satan's infernal hatred and worst attacks, and has emerged mature, proven, transformed into Christ's image, and ready for translation and presentation to Christ in heaven. At no time short of this “end” should we celebrate as if all has been won and we are forever safe and at rest.

Do you see now that I’m merely reminding us that what we see occurring in the present revival scenarios, while wonderful and cause for much thanksgiving, is not the end? Wondrous and refreshing as it is, it is but a beginning, a restart of the race set before us. To be unexcited by it is un-Christian and wrong-spirited. But to be too excited by it is to celebrate prematurely. And possibly be a revivalolatrist.

Even wicked King Ahab warned an opposing king not to boast before he had won his battles: "Let not the one who puts on his armor boast like the one who takes it off" (1 Kings 20:11), or, "like a warrior who has already won" (NLT). But our culture isn't as smart as Ahab.

We haven’t learned Ahab’s proverb. We often mistake potential for performance. Some rookies are praised as if they’re Hall of Famers before they've played a game, much less a season! Some politicians are hyped as savior statesmen before they've even won an election! Some graduates of boot camp imagine they’re distinguished veterans of Iwo Jima when they’ve never tasted combat! Some young ministers think studying Evangelism or Homiletics has made them Billy Graham or Charles Spurgeon when they haven't even started a pastorate or an evangelistic tour. And like our culture, Christians are too often blind, and unable to tell the end from the beginning.

So, many will flock to these meetings out of curiosity - and gain little from going. Others will go, saying they want to be "where God is" - forgetting that He is everywhere, including the quiet, humble room where they seek Him daily. Some will go hoping to enhance their ministerial stature, so afterward they may boast that they were at the Kentucky, Ohio, or Tennessee Revival, or wherever else it may spread. Others may go in unbelief - eagerly searching for evidence to disprove, discredit, and mock whatever God is doing. And some may go because God says to them, "Go," so they may serve His will in going - to show them firsthand how His Spirit moves and works, to forge lasting friendships with other committed believers, to make kingdom ministry connections, or for a thousand other reasons known only to our sovereign Sender.

In light of this, let us remember, going does not make us spiritual, nor does staying make us skeptical. To each I say, "Whatever He saith unto you, do it" (John 2:6). And, oh, be sure you don’t pass judgment on others for doing what they feel He is leading them to do.

Wrapping this up, let us praise God profusely for visiting these precious young people, and others not so young, on our college campuses. So be it, Lord! Increase it, Lord! But all the while, let us remember this beginning is not the end. Our earthly Pentecosts are one thing; our heavenly Presentation is another. And let us not be so thrilled and carried away by something very close – so gloriously close! – to God that we forget it is not Him, and succumb to revivalolatry.

Closing, I seriously doubt you will make an idol of this piece. Corrective messages are usually endured, and only rarely celebrated. And to clarify, yes, this piece has now reached its finish line.

Against revivalolatry,

Greg Hinnant
Greg Hinnant Ministries