Catholic Priest: “The Asbury Phenomenon is Pure, Definitely of God, Definitely of the Holy Spirit, and Setting Catholics on Fire”

Asbury University is a Methodist-connected university that employs Roman Catholic professors. This is the home of the Asbury Revival, a so-called religious awakening that has begun at this university and has since spread across the nation as thousands of visitors have come to participate in the 24-hour prayer and praise service. Norman Fischer, a Catholic priest who serves as both the pastor of St. Peter Claver Church in Lexington, Kentucky, and the chaplain of Lexington Catholic High School, went to the Asbury Revival to assess the spiritual “phenomenon” taking place there.

The Detroit Catholic, the digital news service of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit, published an article titled “Jesus was Right Next to Me: Asbury Revival sets Catholics on Fire with the Holy Spirit.” The Detroit Catholic reported on Catholic Priest Norman Fischer and other Roman Catholics who attended the Asbury Revival:

“Father Fischer told OSV News he visited Asbury after celebrating Sunday Mass Feb. 12, and saw several current and former Lexington Catholic High School students there. ‘Hands were raised, people were singing, and all were in one accord,’ said Father Fischer, adding he was reminded of Psalm 133:1, in which the psalmist declares ‘how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell together as one’.” [1]

“Father Fischer, who wore his alb and stole while at Asbury, told OSV News he ‘got into praise mode’ during what he called the ‘modernized Taizé experience,’ and found himself ‘filled with love.’ The Asbury phenomenon is ‘pure’ and ‘definitely of God, definitely of the Holy Spirit,’ he said.” [1]

“The fruits of the gathering are already apparent, said Father Fischer, who has heard confessions and has offered healing prayers for some attendees — including one young man struggling with addiction, whom the priest said has since been able to maintain several days of sobriety.” [1]

“I think there is truly a way to tie this to the Eucharistic Revival, but there’s got to be a willingness to be open to the Holy Spirit, who can say, ‘I don’t want to be finished at 8 p.m.,’ said Father Fischer. Can your church handle that? Is it willing’?” [1]

Christel Broady, an associate professor and Roman Catholic who teaches at Asbury University, expressed the following:

“People are coming from all over — as far away as Hawaii, Mexico, New Zealand, Indonesia, everywhere,’ Christel Broady, associate professor of English as a Second Language at Asbury, told OSV News. Broady, a Catholic, said the sight of students ‘suddenly kneeling together … arm in arm’ brought her to tears … ‘To see all these young people in reverent worship, quiet and … giving God the glory, made me so happy, as a Catholic, as a mother, as a teacher,’ Broady told OSV News.” [1]

Katie Reynolds, a Catholic youth leader, said the following about the Asbury Revival:

“Katie Reynolds, a volunteer youth coordinator at Pax Christi Catholic Church in Lexington, has been to the Asbury gathering three times so far with her four children, ranging in age from 6 to 18 years … ‘You could feel the Holy Spirit in the building … She also said the Asbury awakening is a call to all Christian faith communities, including the Catholic Church, to ‘roll out the red carpet to young people,’ especially after the lingering sense of isolation from COVID-19 lockdowns, which stifled in-person youth ministry.” [1]

The following are the words of Roman Catholic Deacon John Brannen regarding the Asbury Revival:

“Deacon John Brannen of Pax Christi Catholic Church admitted he was ‘kind of jealous’ of the Asbury renewal, wondering how to ‘make this happen in our church’ … ‘I’m glad some of our faithful have attended Asbury,’ he told OSV News. ‘Maybe they’ll bring it back, and maybe that’s been the Holy Spirit’s plan all along … If people fully understood what was going on in the Eucharist, we would have another Asbury.” [1]

Here, we observe how various religious doctrines, customs, and traditions join together to welcome the Holy Spirit and unite as one. It’s ecumenism on a grand scale. Roman Catholics and Protestants are worshiping and praying together, even as their practices and beliefs conflict with each other. In other words, core biblical teachings are not being preached or emphasized. Instead, in order to adjust to the new cultural and religious environment for the new generation of young people, this new “revival” is simply concentrating on areas where all the various faiths can share common ground.

This kind of unity will eventually compromise the integrity of God’s truth and result in the demise of real biblical evangelism. The emphasis being expressed at the Asbury Revival is all about the need for greater unity and cooperation through the Holy Spirit. They are arguing that by working together, the churches can have a much more significant impact on changing the world than they could if they worked separately. The Asbury Revival is receiving praise from the rest of the world because young people are leading this effort, making this an effective witness to the rest of the world.

The big problem with all of this is that nobody changes a single doctrine or teaching. They all come with their errors, and the so-called Holy Spirit doesn’t correct their heresy. They all continue to hold contradictory views. This is not how the Holy Spirit works. Even though the end-time deception will be overwhelming, we don’t have to fall for it. God has revealed to us how to tell the difference between genuine and counterfeit revivals:

“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” (Great Controversy, p. 464).

“In many of the revivals which have occurred during the last half century, the same influences have been at work, to a greater or less degree, that will be manifest in the more extensive movements of the future. There is an emotional excitement, a mingling of the true with the false, that is well adapted to mislead. Yet none need be deceived. In the light of God’s Word it is not difficult to determine the nature of these movements. Wherever men neglect the testimony of the Bible, turning away from those plain, soul-testing truths which require self-denial and renunciation of the world, there we may be sure that God’s blessing is not bestowed” (Great Controversy, p. 464).

“In the truths of his Word, God has given to men a revelation of himself; and to all who accept them they are a shield against the deceptions of Satan. It is a neglect of these truths that has opened the door to the evils which are now becoming so widespread in the religious world” (Great Controversy, p. 465).

“The sanctification now gaining prominence in the religious world, carries with it a spirit of self-exaltation, and a disregard for the law of God, that mark it as foreign to the religion of the Bible. Its advocates teach that sanctification is an instantaneous work, by which, through faith alone, they attain to perfect holiness. ‘Only believe,’ say they, ‘and the blessing is yours.’ No further effort on the part of the receiver is supposed to be required” (Great Controversy, p. 471).

“The desire for an easy religion, that requires no striving, no self-denial, no divorce from the follies of the world, has made the doctrine of faith, and faith only, a popular doctrine” (Great Controversy, p. 472).

“If men feel no weight of the moral law, if they belittle and make light of God’s precepts, if they break one of the least of these commandments, and teach men so, they shall be of no esteem in the sight of Heaven, and we may know that their claims are without foundation” (Great Controversy, p. 472).

Sources

[1] https://www.detroitcatholic.com/news/jesus-was-right-next-to-me-asbury-revival-sets-catholics-on-fire-with-holy-spirit