Towards the end of this recording, I resolved to change my statement of faith to a 100% pro-Wesleyan view of sanctification:–if and only if it can be proven that all it means is the breaking off of sinful addictions by commitment to the Word of God and baptisms in the Holy Spirit; in other words, a moral and spiritual high that can be maintained by spiritual disciplines, but which is also susceptible to backsliding from it; and never comes close to any notions of eradicating the original sin nature within the human body. This seems to be Finney’s understanding of Christian perfection. However, Clarke’s Christian Theology, ch. 12, seems to suggest an eradication of the sinful nature within the flesh; and also seems to express it in terms of emotional, mental, and psychological deliverance from constant sinful thoughts; almost to the point that spiritual warfare is unneeded from now on. Such an idea I completely reject. I don’t think it is ever possible for the armor of God in Ephesians 6 to be discarded. But I also think this: Wesley, Clarke, and Finney are probably trying to explain the breaking of sinful habits and addictions, but all with words, terminology, and semantics that only the King James Bible will allow them to use. The words “addiction” and “habits” are not in the KJV; and this might have played a role in preventing this doctrine and experience from being understood, received, and spread more effectively. If Christian perfection, or entire sanctification, is only meant to be understood in the Teen Challenge sense: that commitment to Christ and Spirit baptism is enough to break drug addiction, that is, in the sense that David Wilkerson’s The Cross and the Switchblade takes it to mean, then yes I can accept that. I can accept such a view of Christian perfection. But I can never accept the view of “angelism,” which is a word that implies angelic levels of sinlessness: a view that Wesley said he completely rejected:

“Christian perfection has its limits. For one thing, it is not spiritual infallibility. Wesley made it plain that the Christian is still liable to sin and does not possess absolute knowledge, absolute judgment, or absolute performance. Wesley termed such notions ‘angelism’ and felt that to make it appear so high was to effectually renounce it. Wesley constantly maintained that Christian perfection is for real people in this life” (see Steve Harper, The Way to Heaven, p. 82).