(Blog) Asbury Punished For Believing The Bible - Part 2 - Ep. 935 - June 30, 2026

Asbury Seminary and the Cost of Biblical Conviction

Faithfulness to Christian teaching can cost an institution its standing with the very denomination that helped shape its history. The discussion around Asbury Theological Seminary asks whether churches, schools, and individual believers will hold to their convictions when public approval disappears.

For the hosts of The Smith and Rowland Show, the issue is larger than one seminary or one denominational decision. It is a test of whether revival, biblical authority, and gospel preaching can remain central when cultural pressure rises.

Asbury's Break With the United Methodist Church

The episode centers on Asbury Theological Seminary's separation from the United Methodist Church's approved-school structure. Although the conversation sometimes uses "Asbury College" and "Asbury Seminary" interchangeably, the reported dispute involves Asbury Theological Seminary, which has historic ties to Methodism.

Christianity Today's report on the decision states that the United Methodist Church removed the 103-year-old seminary from its list of approved schools following disagreement over traditional marriage. The seminary's stated position is that marriage is God's covenant between one man and one woman.

That position now places the school outside the denomination's fellowship in a practical and public way. The hosts view the decision as more than an administrative disagreement. They see it as evidence that Christian institutions can face opposition from religious bodies that retain Christian language while moving away from historic Christian doctrine.

A Legacy Connected to Revival

Asbury is widely associated with revival in American Christian memory. The discussion points to revivals reaching back to the early 1920s, a significant spiritual movement in the 1970s, and the widely reported 2023 campus gathering that drew students, pastors, and visitors from around the country.

For many Christians, those moments give Asbury a particular spiritual identity. The school is not only an academic institution. It is connected, in the minds of its supporters, to prayer, repentance, worship, and the hope that God still brings renewal to people and communities.

That history makes the present conflict feel sharper. A school known for revival now faces exclusion because it refuses to change its teaching on marriage. The hosts argue that the very convictions that may bring institutional consequences are also the convictions that preserve a clear gospel witness.

No Backroom Compromise

The episode highlights a statement attributed to David Watson, describing the seminary's position as open rather than concealed. The school did not attempt to hide its beliefs, negotiate around them in private, or rewrite its language to satisfy denominational expectations.

The central claim was straightforward: God's design for marriage is not something institutional leaders may redefine. That is a firm position, and it carries a direct consequence. Asbury lost recognition within a denomination with which it has long-standing ties.

Christian institutions often face their hardest test when agreement requires them to treat a settled conviction as negotiable.

The dispute therefore raises a difficult question for every church and ministry. When a governing body asks for a change that conflicts with conscience and Scripture, what does obedience require?

When Faithfulness Has a Price

Jesus never promised that obedience would earn applause. The Christian life includes comfort, joy, fellowship, and hope, yet it also includes rejection when a believer's convictions challenge the values of the surrounding culture.

The hosts return to this point throughout the discussion: faithfulness has a price. That cost may appear in a local church, a workplace, a family relationship, a college, or a denominational structure. It can mean lost influence, broken partnerships, criticism, or financial strain.

For Asbury, the cost came through separation from a denominational system. For an individual Christian, it may take a less public form. A person may lose social acceptance after speaking plainly about Scripture. A pastor may face pressure to soften a sermon. A church may be told that it can remain welcome only if it stops treating biblical teaching as authoritative.

Obedience Cannot Depend on Applause

The discussion frames the question in personal terms: Are believers willing to pay the price for a legacy of revival? Many Christians say they want revival, but revival has never been a comfortable project. It calls people to repentance, humility, holiness, and a willingness to obey God when obedience is inconvenient.

That is why public enthusiasm for revival can fade when conviction becomes costly. Prayer for spiritual awakening sounds appealing. However, awakening also exposes sin, confronts compromise, and requires people to surrender desires that conflict with God's commands.

The hosts argue that a school cannot preserve the fruit of revival by abandoning the biblical convictions that revival calls people to obey. In their view, Asbury's decision did not create the conflict. Its decision made an existing disagreement visible.

An Open Door Can Carry Responsibility

The episode also treats the seminary's loss as a possible open door. The hosts do not celebrate the break with the United Methodist Church. They call it painful. Yet they believe that God can use a difficult separation to give a ministry greater clarity, influence, and spiritual focus.

An open door is not always easy to recognize because it may first appear as a loss. A closed relationship, a public criticism, or a removed credential can feel like defeat. Still, the hosts suggest that an institution can respond by speaking with greater confidence and depending more fully on God than on organizational approval.

This view comes with a warning. Influence brings accountability. If Asbury receives greater attention because of its stand, its leaders and supporters must remain faithful, humble, and committed to the gospel. Visibility without spiritual integrity accomplishes little.

The Pressure to Compromise From Within

The conversation argues that the strongest challenge to biblical truth does not always come from secular universities, entertainment, or government. Sometimes it comes from institutions that still use Christian names while rejecting Christian convictions.

That concern is not limited to one denominational conflict. A church can keep its building, staff, traditions, and public identity while losing confidence in the authority of Scripture. Once Scripture becomes optional, the hosts argue, cultural approval can begin to determine doctrine.

They cite the principle that churches do not grow stronger by lowering biblical standards to match society. Instead, they become more dependent on each passing cultural trend. The question then shifts from "What does the Bible teach?" to "What will avoid offense?"

Cultural Issues Become Political Issues

The hosts believe the church's silence has allowed cultural conflicts to move into government and public policy. They connect debates over sexuality, education, religious liberty, socialism, and communism under a broader concern about ideas taking root within American institutions.

Some of the political claims in the discussion are stated forcefully, including claims about coordinated ideological movements and their motives. Those claims should be weighed carefully and supported with evidence rather than accepted because they fit a political narrative. The central spiritual concern remains clear, however: a church that refuses to teach its convictions leaves its people without moral guidance.

The internal pressure described in the episode can show up in several ways:

• Church leaders may avoid difficult biblical topics because they fear conflict or loss of attendance.

• Schools may revise long-held standards to maintain institutional recognition.

• Believers may begin treating cultural acceptance as the measure of compassion.

• Political loyalty may become more important than the gospel itself.

Christians can oppose error without making political anger their message. The gospel calls for truth and love together. It does not permit cruelty, but neither does it permit silence where Scripture speaks plainly.

Public Figures and Personal Cost

The hosts mention Little Richard as an example of a public figure whose life included a major shift in spiritual testimony. They recall his later identification with Christian faith and his rejection of elements of his earlier life. Whatever a person's public history may be, the Christian message holds that repentance and new life are available through Christ.

They also discuss Jordan Peterson and Charlie Kirk as examples of people who have faced severe public pushback after addressing religious, cultural, and political issues. In Peterson's case, the hosts offered personal speculation about the causes of his health problems. No evidence was presented for that claim, so it should not be treated as established fact.

The stronger point does not require speculation. Public disagreement can carry real consequences, and Christians should not be surprised when controversial stands bring criticism. Yet public figures are not the center of the church's hope. The church's hope is Christ, and its message must remain larger than any personality or political movement.

The Church Must Fight on the Right Battlefield

The hosts compare the modern church's struggle to the biblical account of King Josiah. Josiah was a reforming king who sought to restore obedience to God in Judah. Yet he died at age 39 after entering a battle he did not need to fight.

Their application is direct: Christians can spend so much time fighting the wrong battle that they lose sight of the mission God gave them. Cultural debates matter, laws matter, and institutions matter. Still, the church cannot allow political conflict to replace evangelism.

A church may become highly skilled at identifying problems in society while failing to preach the message that changes people. Criticism of cultural decay does not save anyone. Political victories do not produce repentance. Only the gospel addresses the human heart.

The Gospel Is the Church's Central Work

The hosts point to earlier spiritual awakenings in places such as Chicago, Hammond, and Corpus Christi. Their argument is that such moments did not come through public relations campaigns or refined cultural arguments. They came through preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ and calling people to repentance and faith.

That message still matters because every generation needs to hear it. Older believers cannot assume younger people know the gospel merely because they live in the United States or attend religious events. Many people have heard fragments of Christian language without hearing a clear explanation of sin, grace, the cross, resurrection, repentance, and faith.

The church must speak to people honestly about their lost condition. That does not mean treating people with contempt. It means refusing to offer a shallow message that promises comfort without confronting sin.

Before people can understand their need for salvation, they need to understand why they need a Savior.

The hosts call for preaching marked by the Holy Spirit's power rather than empty religious talk. Their concern is that eloquent speeches, institutional statements, and cultural arguments cannot substitute for the proclamation of Christ. The church's task is to announce the good news, call people to faith, and disciple those who respond.

Conviction and Compassion Belong Together

Biblical conviction should never become an excuse for pride. Christians who defend traditional marriage must also demonstrate patience, mercy, and personal holiness. The church loses credibility when it speaks loudly about public sin while ignoring greed, bitterness, sexual sin, dishonesty, racism, cruelty, or abuse within its own ranks.

Asbury's situation challenges believers to examine their own consistency. It is easy to praise a school for standing firm when the cost falls on someone else. The more difficult question is whether a local church or individual Christian will remain faithful when it affects relationships, reputation, or security.

A Christian witness must be clear enough to be understood and loving enough to be heard. Both parts matter. Truth without love becomes harsh, while love without truth becomes vague and powerless.

Faithfulness Is Worth the Cost

Asbury Theological Seminary's separation from the United Methodist Church has become a public example of the cost attached to biblical conviction. For supporters of the seminary, the issue is not whether controversy can be avoided. It is whether obedience to Scripture is worth the consequences.

The discussion's strongest point is also its simplest: the church must not confuse institutional approval with faithfulness. Revival requires more than public excitement. It requires people and institutions willing to obey God when that obedience costs them something.

The lasting work of the church remains the same, preach Christ clearly, call people to repentance and faith, and hold convictions with humility and courage.

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