WesleyGospel Ministries

How the Chinese atheistic communist government still treats Christians.
–J.B.–

How the Russian atheistic communist government treated Christians.
–J.B.–

Blessed are THE PURE IN HEART:
for they SHALL SEE GOD.
–Matthew 5:8 (KJV)–

I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was IN THE ISLE that is called Patmos, FOR THE WORD OF GOD, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I WAS IN THE SPIRIT on the Lord’s day, AND HEARD BEHIND ME A GREAT VOICE, as of a trumpet.
–Revelation 1:9-10 (KJV)–

At that time THE WORD OF GOD CAME
to John son of Zechariah IN THE DESERT.
–Luke 3:2 (GNT)–

THE SPIRIT LED JESUS INTO THE DESERT to be tempted by the devil…Then Jesus answered, “Go away, Satan! THE SCRIPTURE SAYS, ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve only him!’” Then the devil left Jesus;
AND ANGELS CAME AND HELPED HIM.
–Matthew 4:1, 10-11 (GNT)–

—

Bernard McGinn, The Foundations of Mysticism (Crossroad, 1991), pp. 100-101, 133.

Ronald Kydd, Charismatic Gifts in the Early Church (Hendrickson, 1984).

Jeff Doles, Miracles and Manifestations of the Holy Spirit In the History of the Church (Walking Barefoot Ministries, 2007), chs. 1-4.

Eddie Hyatt, 2000 Years of Charismatic Christianity (Charisma House, 2002), chs. 1-5.

Cecil Robeck, Charismatic Experiences in History (Hendrickson, 1986).

Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho 4. Old Man: Is there, then, such and so great power in our mind? Or can a man not perceive by sense sooner? Will the mind of man see God at any time, if it is uninstructed by the Holy Spirit?

Justin: Plato indeed says that the mind’s eye is of such a nature, and has been given for this end, that we may see that very Being when the mind is pure itself, who is the cause of all discerned by the mind, having no color, no form, no greatness— nothing, indeed, which the bodily eye looks upon; but It is something of this sort, he goes on to say, that is beyond all essence, unutterable and inexplicable, but alone honourable and good, coming suddenly into souls well-dispositioned, on account of their affinity to and desire of seeing Him.

Old Man: What affinity, then, is there between us and God? Is the soul also divine and immortal, and a part of that very regal mind? And even as that sees God, so also is it attainable by us to conceive of the Deity in our mind, and thence to become happy?

Justin: Assuredly.

Old Man: And do all the souls of all living beings comprehend Him? Or are the souls of men of one kind and the souls of horses and of asses of another kind?

Justin: No. But the souls which are in all are similar.

Old Man: Then, shall both horses and asses see, or have they seen at some time or other, God.

Justin: No, for the majority of men will not, saving such as shall live justly, purified by righteousness, and by every other virtue.

Old Man: It is not, therefore, on account of his affinity, that a man sees God, nor because he has a mind, but because he is temperate and righteous?

Justin: Yes, and because he has that whereby he perceives God.

Old Man: What then? Do goats or sheep injure any one?

Justin: No one in any respect.

Old Man: Therefore these animals will see [God], according to your account.

Justin: No; for their body being of such a nature, is an obstacle to them.

Old Man: If these animals could assume speech, be well assured that they would with greater reason ridicule our body; but let us now dismiss this subject, and let it be conceded to you as you say. Tell me, however, this: Does the soul see [God] so long as it is in the body, or after it has been removed from it?

Justin: So long as it is in the form of a man, it is possible for it to attain to this by means of the mind; but especially when it has been set free from the body, and being apart by itself, it gets possession of that which it was wont continually and wholly to love.

Old Man: Does it remember this, then [the sight of God], when it is again in the man?

Justin: It does not appear to me so.

Old Man: What, then, is the advantage to those who have seen [God]? Or what has he who has seen more than he who has not seen, unless he remember this fact, that he has seen?

Justin: I cannot tell.

Old Man: And what do those suffer who are judged to be unworthy of this spectacle?

Justin: They are imprisoned in the bodies of certain wild beasts, and this is their punishment.

Old Man: Do they know, then, that it is for this reason they are in such forms, and that they have committed some sin?

Justin: I do not think so.

Old Man: Then these reap no advantage from their punishment, as it seems: moreover, I would say that they are not punished unless they are conscious of the punishment.

Justin: No indeed.

Old Man: Therefore souls neither see God nor transmigrate into other bodies; for they would know that so they are punished, and they would be afraid to commit even the most trivial sin afterwards. But that they can perceive that God exists, and that righteousness and piety are honourable, I also quite agree with you.

Justin: You are right.

Irenaeus, Against Heresies 4.20.7. Therefore the Son of the Father declares [Him] from the beginning, inasmuch as He was with the Father from the beginning, who did also show to the human race prophetic visions, and diversities of gifts, and His own ministrations, and the glory of the Father, in regular order and connection, at the fitting time for the benefit [of mankind]. For where there is a regular succession, there is also fixedness; and where fixedness, there suitability to the period; and where suitability, there also utility. And for this reason did the Word become the dispenser of the paternal grace for the benefit of men, for whom He made such great dispensations, revealing God indeed to men, but presenting man to God, and preserving at the same time the invisibility of the Father, lest man should at any time become a despiser of God, and that he should always possess something towards which he might advance; but, on the other hand, revealing God to men through many dispensations, lest man, falling away from God altogether, should cease to exist. For the glory of God is a living man; and the life of man consists in beholding God. For if the manifestation of God which is made by means of the creation, affords life to all living in the earth, much more does that revelation of the Father which comes through the Word, give life to those who see God.

Strong message with plenty of dark humor: I love it.
–J.B.–

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree,
that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.
By his wounds you have been healed.
–1 Peter 2:24 (ESV)–

²¹ But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. ²² This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. ²⁵ God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— ²⁶ he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies
those who have faith in Jesus.
–Romans 3:21-26 (NIV)–

¹¹ And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. ¹² And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
–Revelation 20:11-12 (KJV)–

—

John F. Johnson, “Luther on Justification,” Concordia Theological Monthly 38, no. 43 (1967): 417-419. Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana is a school for the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS), and is currently the online publisher of this theological journal. But the original print versions came from Concordia Seminary in Saint Louis, Missouri.

Uuras Saarnivaara, Luther Discovers the Gospel (Concordia, 1951).

Ewald Plass, ed. What Luther Says: An Anthology, 3 vols (Concordia, 1959).

John Wesley, “The Scripture Way of Salvation” 1.3. We are at present concerned only with that salvation which the Apostle is directly speaking of. And this consists of two general parts, justification and sanctification.

God be in my head
And in my understanding

God be in mine eyes
And in my looking

God be in my mouth
And in my speaking

God be in my heart
And in my thinking

God be at mine end
And at my departing

–Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, “God Be In My Head”–

In the beginning
God created the heaven and the earth
That’s what the Word of God says
On the very first page

But then I went to school
And the science teacher taught me
That the world was formed by itself
Over millions of years

And so the animals began to come about
From different kinds of animals that came before
And starfish turned into dogs and cats
Hedgehogs and monkeys turned into people

The teacher showed us a painting all about it
And that means that it’s the truth
Because dinosaur fossils were found in the ground
That means the world is billions of years old

I was told not to believe in God
And the Bible’s just a fairy tale
That the paintings in my science class were true
And that people are just really smart monkeys

The paintings in my biology book
The pictures in my geology book
The verses in Genesis chapter 1
Some people said to just mix ’em all together

–“Millions of Bones and Years”–

—

God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
–Genesis 1:24-26 (NIV)–

Casting down imaginations,
and every high thing that exalteth itself
against the knowledge of God.
–2 Corinthians 10:5 (KJV)–

Keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called: which some professing have erred concerning the faith.
–1 Timothy 6:20-21 (KJV)–

The fool says in his heart,
    “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, their deeds are vile;
    there is no one who does good.
–Psalm 14:1 (NIV)–

¹⁸ The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, ¹⁹ since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. ²⁰ For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. ²¹ For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²² Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools ²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
–Romans 1:18-23 (NIV)–

I use that trust to effectively brainwash them…our teaching methods are primarily those of propaganda. We appeal–without demonstration–to evidence that supports our position. We only introduce arguments and evidence that supports the currently accepted theories and omit or gloss over any evidence to the contrary.
–Dr. Mark Singham, Physics Professor–

—

Dr. Henry Morris, “The Scientific Case Against Evolution.”

Dr. John R. Rice, Evolution or the Bible–Which? (Sword of the Lord, 1963).

The Bible: In the Beginning (20th Century Fox, 1966).

Wikipedia, “Qurna.” Local folklore holds that Qurna, Iraq is the specific location where the Garden of Eden used to exist in Genesis 2:10, 14.

The Encyclopaedia Britannica, 12th ed. (London, 1922), p. 563. “Qurna, the legendary site of the Garden of Eden.”

Iraq: A Tourist’s Guide (State Organization for Tourism, 1975), p. 47. “Al-Qurna, where the Tigris joins the Euphrates. It is the legendary spot of the Garden of Eden.” Smartraveller: “We continue to advise: Do not travel to Iraq, including the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, due to the volatile security situation and the threat of terrorism, armed conflict, kidnapping and violent crime.”