WesleyGospel Ministries

Now, brethren, concerning the COMING OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST and OUR GATHERING together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that day will not come unless THE FALLING AWAY COMES FROM FIRST, and THE MAN OF SIN is revealed, THE SON OF PERDITION, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
–2 THESSALONIANS 2:1-4 (NKJV)–

The above passage is a revealed doctrine, based on a prophetic vision of future events; and it tells us the following things:

1. The Lord Jesus Christ will come back to earth.

2. True Christians will be raptured up to be with Jesus when he returns.

3. The Church will experience a worldwide apostasy or backsliding.

4. There will be a personal Antichrist: here called the Man of Sin and the Son of Perdition.

5. The Antichrist will sit in the Jerusalem temple and call himself God.

6. Steps 3, 4, and 5 happen (Antichrist): then Steps 1 and 2 (Advent and Rapture).

Then there will be GREAT TRIBULATION, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but FOR THE ELECT’S SAKE those days will be shortened. Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. For FALSE CHRISTS and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders TO DECEIVE, IF POSSIBLE, EVEN THE ELECT…Immediately AFTER THE TRIBULATION of those days…they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven…And He will send His angels with a great sound of a TRUMPET, and they will GATHER TOGETHER HIS ELECT from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other…Then two men will be in the field: ONE WILL BE TAKEN AND THE OTHER LEFT…Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.
–MATTHEW 24:21-24, 29-31, 40, 42 (NKJV)–

The above passage is a revealed doctrine, based on a prophetic vision of future events; and it tells us the following things:

1. The Great Tribulation is the time when the Antichrist tries to deceive the elect.

2. After this, that is, POST-TRIBULATION, Jesus will return on the clouds.

3. After this, that is, POST-TRIBULATION, the angelic trumpet will blast.

4. After this, that is, POST-TRIBULATION, the gathering or rapture will happen.

5. The elect living in the time of the Antichrist won’t know the exact time of the rapture.

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St. Irenaeus, “The Fraud, Pride, and Tyrannical Kingdom of the Antichrist.” (180 A.D.). “They [the ten kings] shall…give their kingdom to the beast, and put the Church to flight…But he [John] indicates the number of the name [Antichrist, 666] now, that when this man comes we may avoid him, being aware who he is.”

St. Hippolytus of Rome, “On Christ and Antichrist.” (202 A.D.). “Concerning the tribulation of the persecution which is to fall upon the Church from the adversary…That refers to the one thousand two hundred and threescore days (the half of the week) during which the tyrant is to reign and persecute the Church.”

George Eldon Ladd, The Blessed Hope (Eerdmans, 1956). Shows that the early church fathers taught that there will be a post-tribulation rapture. The appearance of the Antichrist was the first aspect to be expected in the end-time process; and not a sudden and unexpected rapture like in the Left Behind films. The Omen films, as worldly as they are, come much closer to the Biblical and early church view of the last days.

Robert Gundry, The Church and the Tribulation (Zondervan, 1973).

Douglas Moo, “A Case for the Posttribulation Rapture,” Three Views on the Rapture (Zondervan, 2018).

Consumed with memories that preceded today
Given a chance to bereave life that’s slipping away
Suffered through tragedy of my slow decay
Deceptive tendencies dragged my soul away

All that I know, there was no God for me
Force that shatters all, absence of mortality

Revive all my fears
Revive wasted tears
Revive void within
Revive once again

Forsaken by destiny, forsaken by my own mind
I must remove my skin to see belief in your eyes
All that I know, there was no God for me
Force that shatters all, absence of humanity

Revive all my fears
Revive wasted tears
Revive void within
Revive once again

Reach for the sky
Touch the sky
Revive a hope
For mankind

–Fear Factory, “Resurrection”–

An evil spirit from God came forcefully on Saul. He was prophesying in his house, while David was playing the lyre, as he usually did. Saul had a spear in his hand and he hurled it, saying to himself, “I’ll pin David to the wall.” But David eluded him twice.
–1 Samuel 18:10-11 (NIV)–

Transgenderism is a mental health crisis from a classic pre-1970s psychiatric point of view. Remember Norman Bates from Psycho (1960). He was a homosexual as the last scene clearly shows. I believe in strong, bold, preaching against sin; and I believe its impossible to set people free from sinful addictions without it. But seeing that there’s been a recent wave of trans-related homegrown terrorism and copycats related to this subject: I urge EXTREME CAUTION when it comes to preaching about the trans issue on college campuses for awhile, at least until this trans school shooting scare wears off. Other venues are probably safer for such preaching, but I’d say the state universities are definitely a heightened security risk when it comes to the trans issue. The last two school shootings with national media exposure were from trans sympathizers: both Robin Westman and Tyler Robinson. If you’re going to do “anti-trans evangelism,” for lack of a better word, please wear a bulletproof vest, and please consult with a security specialist. Speak indoors; and maybe consider getting bulletproof glass. –J.B.

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BBC, “The Motive Behind Charlie Kirk’s Killing.” (IN SEPTEMBER 2025). Authorities released messages between Robinson and the roommate from the hours after the shooting. Officials have said the unnamed roommate was a “biological male” who was transitioning from man to woman and was in a romantic relationship with the defendant.

New York Post, “Minneapolis School Shooter Robin Westman Confessed He Was ‘Tired of Being Trans’: ‘I wished I never brain-washed myself.’” (IN AUGUST 2025).

—. “Covenant School trans shooter targeted elementary class.” (IN MARCH 2023).

ABC News, “Teen sentenced to life in prison.” (IN MAY 2019).

Dr. Hugh Pyle, The Truth About the Homosexuals (Sword of the Lord, 2000).

David Wilkerson, Hope for Homosexuals (Teen Challenge, 1964).

ACT, The Gay Plague: Homosexuality and Disease (Alert Citizens of Texas, 1983).

Click here for John Wesley’s version.

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Dr. Thomas C. Oden, John Wesley’s Scriptural Christianity (Zondervan, 1994).

The Works of Jonathan Edwards, 2 vols. (Banner of Truth, 1981).

Leonard Ravenhill, Why Revival Tarries (Bethany House, 1979).

Charles Finney, Lectures on Revivals of Religion (Alethea In Heart, 2005).

Dr. Jack Deere, Surprised by the Voice of God (Zondervan, 1996).

Dr. Sam Storms, Understanding Spiritual Gifts (Zondervan, 2020).

Jeff Doles, Miracles and Manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the History of the Church (Walking Barefoot Ministries, 2008).

That they should seek the Lord,
if haply they might feel after him, and find him,
though he be not far from every one of us.
–Acts 17:27 (KJV)–

They were all filled with the Holy Ghost,
and began to speak with other tongues,
as the Spirit gave them utterance.
–Acts 2:4 (KJV)–

On the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. 
For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God.
–Acts 10:45-46 (KJV)–

When Paul had laid his hands upon them, 
the Holy Ghost came on them;
and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.
–Acts 19:6 (KJV)–

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Dr. Guy Chevreau, Catch the Fire (HarperCollins, 1995). The whole book is about comparing the Holy Spirit outpouring at Jonathan Edwards’ church in Northampton, Massachusetts to the Toronto Blessing. Just before the poop hit the fan with New Age influences the following year. Endorsed by John Wimber.

Dr. Jack Deere, …Power of the Spirit (Zondervan, 2020). Has an AUDIO BOOK.

Dr. John R. Rice, Great Soul Winners Were Filled with the Holy Spirit (Sword, 1949).

E. S. Williams, Systematic Theology, vol. 3 (Gospel Publishing House, 1953), chs. 6-9.

P. C. Nelson, Bible Doctrines (Gospel Publishing House, 1948), ch. 8.

Harold Horton, The Gifts of the Spirit (Gospel Publishing House, 1934).

John Sherrill, They Speak with Other Tongues (Chosen Books, 2018).

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¹⁸ “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: ¹⁹ When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. ²⁰ The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. ²¹ But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. ²² The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. ²³ But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”
–Jesus in Matthew 13:18-23 (NIV)–

Holding on to faith and a good conscience, 
which some have rejected and so have
suffered shipwreck with regard to the faith.
–Apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 1:19 (NIV)–

⁴ It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, ⁵ who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age ⁶ and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.
–Hebrews 6:4-6 (NIV)–

²⁶ If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, ²⁷ but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. ²⁸ Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. ²⁹ How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? ³⁰ For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.”
–Hebrews 10:26-30 (NIV)–

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Dr. French Arrington, Christian Doctrine: A Pentecostal Perspective, vol. 2 (Pathway Press, 1993), p. 184.