WesleyGospel Ministries

Some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the Gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from Heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse!
–Galatians 1:7-8 (NIV)–

All that is, all that’s left behind me
All that once, all that once was tempting
Threatens to, threatens to haunt me once again
To steal my, to steal my mind

Allied unaware
Allied unaware
On this path
On this path toward hopelessness
Helplessly helpless
Cling to what’s been shown
I missed the chance
I could not control the circumstances
Took a hold

Along the way allied with the enemy
Along the way I missed it
Avoiding all repentance
Along the way I missed it
Becoming selfish

There is only one way out of here
There is only one way out of here
In Your presence Jesus
Break away to freedom

Allied unaware
Allied with the enemy
Unaware, allied with the enemy
Unaware of his death grasp

–Living Sacrifice, “Subtle Alliance”–

War a good warfare; holding faith,
and a good conscience;
which some having put away
concerning faith have made shipwreck.
–1 Timothy 1:18-19 (KJV)–

Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
–Hebrews 3:12-13 (KJV)–

Ye shall be baptized
With the Holy Ghost…
Ye shall receive power,
After that the Holy Ghost
Is come upon you.
–Acts 1:5, 8 (KJV)–

Prayed for them,
That they might
Receive the Holy Ghost.
–Acts 8:15 (KJV)–

—

The outstretched arms
Of one word, of one breath
The existence is spoken
The existence will attest
A bond has been made
A plan put in motion
To reconcile and make new
The ultimate sacrifice of your flesh

Self lust will kill
A heart towards God will change
Destiny
Power, unleashed on this void
Onslaught, the only plan of this kind
This is something that cannot subside

The dawn of this day
A decision is made to know and proclaim
The dawn of this day
A decision is made to know and proclaim
The power of God
The power of God is alive
Is alive, is alive

–Living Sacrifice, “The Power of God”–

—

Everything here would reflect a Wesleyan-holiness, Church of God (Cleveland), and Assembly of God view of theology thrown together. I would recommend Clarke’s Commentary, which is totally compatible with young earth creation (YEC). I would stay away from Nazarene theology if you’re a new Christian, because they lean towards theistic evolution; and that’s a spiritually agnostic and dangerous view to hold. Its unfortunate that both the Beacon Hill Commentary (1969) and the Wesleyan Bible Commentary (Hendrickson, 1986) allowed themselves to be swayed by popular science into the teaching of millions of years in Genesis 1. That’s the problem when scientism–the belief that science is equivalent to absolute truth–is allowed to have an influence on sound doctrine. Wesleyan-holiness churches other than AG or COG which affirm young earth would be the Southern Methodist Church, the Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection, the Bible Methodist Connection of Churches, the Evangelical Wesleyan Church, and God’s Missionary Church. Church of God is stronger on young earth creation, but AG has started to slip into theistic evolution in their university science classes–a view that early AG preachers were vehemently against, such as Dr. Otto J. Klink in Why I Am Not an Evolutionist (Gospel Publishing House, 1931), although he might have copied Scofield and Dake in accommodating to old earth views on Genesis 1. Even Leonard Ravenhill had a son that worked in the Smithsonian and appeared to have no objection to it. Keith Green also had a song called “I Can’t Wait to Get to Heaven,” where he took a moderating position on old earth. Today most AG people are young earth in the pew, because of ministries like Answers in Genesis (AiG). This kind of slippery slope into old earth views has been less of an issue in Church of God, but its not totally absent because of the Dake Annotated Reference Bible–which was written by a defrocked AG preacher who was caught in a hotel with some teenage girl in 1936. Such is the fruit of old earth theology. If you won’t trust in Genesis 1, then you won’t trust in the rest of the Bible.

Dr. Adam Clarke, Clarke’s Commentary (Schmul, n.d.).

—. Clarke’s Christian Theology (Schmul, 1990).

Dr. French Arrington, Christian Doctrine, 3 vols (Pathway Press, 1993).

—. Life in the Spirit New Testament Commentary (Zondervan, 2003).

The Complete Biblical Library, 39 vols (World Library Press, 1990).

P. C. Nelson, Bible Doctrines (Gospel Publishing House, 2009).

Dr. Archibald Alexander, Thoughts on Religious Experience (Banner of Truth, 1998).

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Baptism and Gifts of the Spirit (Baker, 1996).

Dr. Jack Deere, Why I Am Still Surprised by the Voice of God (Zondervan, 2022).

—. Surprised…Power of the Spirit (Zondervan, 2020). Has AUDIO BOOK.

Thomas Boys, The Suppressed Evidence (Hamilton, Adams, and Co., 1832).

—

Do not quench the Spirit.
Do not despise prophecies,
but test everything;
hold fast what is good.
–1 Thessalonians 5:19-21 (ESV)–

At the heart of what unites Jack Deere, Archibald Alexander, and Thomas Boys is a deep resistance to the idea that God has become distant or silent since the closing of the Biblical canon. Although they lived in different centuries and belonged to distinct Protestant traditions, each man maintained that the living God still intervenes directly in the personal lives of believers. They rejected the cold rationalism of their respective eras, insisting instead that genuine Christianity involves an active, experiential relationship with the Holy Spirit rather than mere intellectual assent to historical doctrines (e.g., mysticism and charismaticism instead of rationalism, deism, and cessationism). All three theologians shared an unwavering commitment to the supremacy and sufficiency of Scripture. None of them believed that modern dreams, visions, or miraculous gifts add new doctrine to the Bible or carry the infallible authority of apostolic revelation. Instead, Alexander, Boys, and Deere each argued that every spiritual impression or supernatural occurrence must be carefully tested against the written Word of God, treating Scripture as the unchanging standard by which all human experience is judged.

Another thing in common they have is how they all pushed back against cessationist skepticism within the church. In their own contexts, they observed that many Christians dismissed supernatural experiences out of fear of fanaticism, emotional excess, or doctrinal error. Rather than throwing out the genuine to protect against the counterfeit, Deere, Alexander, and Boys argued that denying God’s ongoing work is both unscriptural and spiritually impoverishing for believers. Each figure also brought serious academic rigor and Biblical scholarship to their defense of spiritual experience, refuting the stereotype that openness to the supernatural belongs only to the unlearned. Archibald Alexander was the founding professor of Princeton Theological Seminary, Thomas Boys was an accomplished Hebrew scholar and Bible translator at Cambridge, and Jack Deere served as an Old Testament professor at Dallas Theological Seminary. Their scholarly credentials gave weight to their insistence that careful exegesis of Scripture leaves ample room for God’s ongoing, miraculous activity.

In their pastoral and theological writings, all three evaluated supernatural encounters primarily by their spiritual fruit rather than their sensational nature. Whether examining a providential dream, a healing, or a sudden inner conviction, they looked for evidence of genuine repentance, deeper humility, and a stronger love for Christ. For Alexander, Boys, and Deere, an experience was only worth affirming if it drew a person closer to God and produced lasting obedience. A historical bridge connects the three men through the enduring influence of their books on the continuationist debate. In the nineteenth century, Thomas Boys wrote The Suppressed Evidence (Hamilton, Adams, and Co., 1832) to document how miraculous faith and divine interventions persisted throughout church history long after the apostles died. Around the same time in America, Archibald Alexander published Thoughts on Religious Experience (Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1841; Banner of Truth, 1978), dedicating a chapter to proving that God still uses dreams and visions to awaken sinners and guide believers.

More than a century later, Jack Deere echoed the voices of Boys and Alexander together in Surprised by the Power of the Spirit (Zondervan, 1993), and Surprised by the Voice of God (Zondervan, 1993), and his updated Why I Am Still versions. Having transitioned from a strict cessationist seminary professor to a proponent of miraculous gifts, Deere searched church history for orthodox witnesses who refused to put God in a box. He found in Boys and Alexander two respected, conservative predecessors whose writings dismantled the claim that historic Protestantism universally rejected modern miracles and visions. All three men recognized the danger of spiritual pride and self-deception when navigating subjective experiences. Archibald Alexander warned extensively against mistaking natural imagination or vanity for divine communication, just as Thomas Boys cautioned against reckless enthusiasm, and Jack Deere devoted entire chapters to the practical pitfalls of mishearing God. Their shared pastoral realism enabled them to affirm the supernatural without falling into gullibility.

Each theologian viewed the supernatural activity of God as an expression of His pastoral care and sovereign grace toward His people. They did not treat miracles, dreams, or inner leadings as spectacles meant to entertain the curious, but as merciful tools God uses to comfort the afflicted, rescue the lost, and direct His servants in times of urgent need. In their view, denying that God still acts in these ways meant limiting the very grace and comfort He promises to His church. All three represent a continuous thread of orthodox Christian thought that harmonizes a high view of the Bible with a vibrant expectation of the Holy Spirit’s work. By standing firm against both unbiblical fanaticism and unbelieving skepticism, these three scholars demonstrated that fidelity to Scripture and openness to God’s supernatural voice are not competing ideas, but complementary truths of the Christian life.

Near the top of the list of requirements for the offices of elder or overseer (corresponding to a pastor) is that they shall be “the husband of one wife” (1 Timothy 3:2, 12; Titus 1:6, KJV). In Greek, this reads literally “one-woman man.”

The more common question is whether this passage refers to one spouse at a time or one spouse for an entire lifetime. Does it mean that elders and deacons could not remarry after being widowed, could not remarry after being divorced, or, if married, must be married to one person only (i.e., no polygamy)? The General Council of the Assemblies of God has adopted the interpretation that the “one-woman man” restriction applies to individuals in a heterosexual, monogamous marriage for which divorce is not an option except under specific conditions. If those conditions do exist, remarriage becomes allowable for divorced ministers.

Those conditions must be exceptions that follow Biblical teachings about marriage, conversion, and the value of human beings. This includes the allowance of remarriage when the divorce occurred prior to conversion (because we are now a “new creation”), as a result of the previous spouse’s sexual infidelity, because of abandonment of the believer, due to domestic violence aimed at a spouse or child, or in recognition of an ecclesiastical annulment due to fraud, willful lack of consummation, or lack of freedom or consent in entering the marriage.

–ASSEMBLIES OF GOD, “DIVORCE AND REMARRIAGE”–