WesleyGospel Ministries

Bombs rain down like heaven’s tears
The Earth shall die and disappear
And today, we wish the skies were grey
For now they’re just black and empty

Ripped and turn from inside out
Things too dark to think about
No miracles
No bleeding hands
God has parted

Bombs rain down like heaven’s tears
The Earth shall die and disappear
And today, we wish the skies were grey
For now they’re just black and empty

And when the end, she comes
Rains down on everyone
Fire from the sky
And when the end, she rides
Breathing out
Life and death are one
And when the end, she comes
Rains down on everyone
Fire from the sky
And when the end, she rides
Breathing out
Life and death are one

As a flame burns to touch the sky
So it shall be with man’s cry
And this night all will pass away

And when the end, she comes
Rains down on everyone
Fire from the sky
And when the end, she rides
Breathing out
Life and death are one
And when the end, she comes
Rains down on everyone
Fire from the sky
And when the end, she rides
Breathing out
Life and death are one

–Zao, “The Rising End (The First Prophecy)”–

—

(Long live!)

Receive my fate
Receive my fate
Receive my fate

Long live the ghost
Long live the ghost

Make your mistakes
No more
While other men try
No more

Long live the ghost
Long live the king

As we step right behind the beast
Hand in hand, love
Love is easier made than kept
We hide behind the dream

As we step right behind the beast
Hand in hand
Hand in hand
Love is easier made than kept
We hide behind the dream

Receive the burden
Receive the burden and it shows
Receive the burden
Receive the burden and it shows

Long live the ghost
Long live the ghost
Long live the ghost
Long live the ghost
Long live the ghost
Long live the ghost

Define
Define
Define
Define
Define
Define

–The Chariot, “Mrs. Montgomery Alabama III.”–

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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)–

Dear children, THIS IS THE LAST HOUR; and as you have heard that THE ANTICHRIST IS COMING, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.
–1 JOHN 2:18 (NIV)–

⁵ THE BEAST was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months. ⁶ It OPENED ITS MOUTH TO BLASPHEME GOD, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. ⁷ IT WAS GIVEN POWER TO WAGE WAR AGAINST GOD’S HOLY PEOPLE AND TO CONQUER THEM. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. ⁸ ALL INHABITANTS OF THE EARTH WILL WORSHIP THE BEAST—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.
–REVELATION 13:5-8 (NIV)–

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George Eldon Ladd, The Blessed Hope (Eerdmans, 1956).

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

David Bercot, ed. A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs (Hendrickson, 1998).

C. S. LEWIS’ UNIVERSALISM, SYNCRETISM, AND PAGANISM

There are people who do not accept the full Christian doctrine about Christ but who are so strongly attracted by Him that they are His in a much deeper sense than they themselves understand. There are people in other religions who are being led by God’s secret influence to concentrate on those parts of their religion which are in agreement with Christianity, and who thus belong to Christ without knowing it. For example, a Buddhist of good will may be led to concentrate more and more on the Buddhist teaching about mercy and to leave in the background (though he might still say he believed) the Buddhist teaching on certain other points.
–C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, p. 178–

God said in the Bible that “we were ‘gods’ and He is going to make good His words. If we let Him–for we can prevent Him, if we choose–He will make the feeblest and filthiest of us into a god or goddess, a dazzling, radiant, immortal creature, pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we cannot now imagine.”
–C. S. Lewis, Words to Live By, p. 218–

I have therefore no difficulty in accepting, say, the view of those scholars who tell us that the account of Creation in Genesis is derived from earlier Semitic stories which were Pagan and mythical.
–C. S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms, p. 110–

I believe, Christ…fulfills both Paganism and Judaism.
–C. S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms, p. 129–

I have the deepest respect even for Pagan myths,
still more for myths in the Holy Scripture.
–C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain, p. 66–

No one ever attempted to show in what sense Christianity fulfilled Paganism or Paganism prefigured Christianity…In the midst of a thousand such religions stood our own, the thousand and first, labeled True. But on what grounds could I believe in this exception? It obviously was in some general sense the same kind of thing as all the rest. Why was it so differently treated? Need I, at any rate, continue to treat it differently? I was very anxious not to.
–C. S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy, p. 62–

The question was no longer to find the one simply true religion among a thousand religions simply false. It was rather, ‘Where has religion reached its true maturity? Where, if anywhere, have the hints of all Paganism been fulfilled?’…the intellect and the conscience, as well as the orgy and the ritual, must be our guide. There could be no question of going back to primitive, untheologized and unmoralized, Paganism. The God whom I had at last acknowledged was one, and was righteous. Paganism had been only the childhood of religion, or only a prophetic dream. Where was the thing full grown?…There were really only two answers possible: either in Hinduism or in Christianity.
–C. S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy, p. 235–

Religions of the Earth-Mother have hitherto been spiritually inferior to those of the Sky-father, but, perhaps, it is now time to readmit some of their elements. I shouldn’t believe it very strongly, but some sort of case could be made out.
–C. S. Lewis, quoted by Mark Freshwater, C. S. Lewis and the Truth of Myth, p. 14–

C. S. LEWIS’ HIGHER CRITICISM OF THE BIBLE

The Book of Job appears to me unhistorical…unconnected with all history or even legend…the author quite obviously writes as a story-teller not as a chronicler.
–C. S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms, p. 110–

C. S. LEWIS’ DARWINISM

Man is “an animal; but an animal called to be, or raised to be, or (if you like) doomed to be, something more than an animal. On the ordinary biological view (what difficulties I have about evolution are not religious) one of the primates is changed so that he becomes man; but he remains still a primate and an animal.”
–C. S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms, p. 115–

For long centuries God perfected the animal form
which was to become the
vehicle of humanity and the image of Himself.
–C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain, p. 72–

C. S. LEWIS’ PURGATORY

I hope that when the tooth of life is drawn and I am coming round, a voice will say, ‘Rinse your mouth out with this’ This will be purgatory.’
–C. S. Lewis, quoted by Kathryn Lindskoog, C. S. Lewis: Mere Christian, p. 105–

C. S. LEWIS’ DEPRAVITY AND PERVERSION

I cannot give pederasty anything like a first place among the evils of the Coll. There is much hypocrisy on this theme. People commonly talk as if every other evil were more tolerable than this. But why? Because those of us who do not share the vice feel for it a certain nausea, as we do, say, for necrophily? I think that of very little relevance to moral judgment. 
–C. S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy, p. 109–

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William Perkins, A Discourse of the Damned Art of Witchcraft (Cambridge, 1610).

Kathryn Ann Lindskoog, C. S. Lewis: Mere Christian (Regal Books, 1973).

David Cloud, C. S. Lewis and Evangelicals Today (Way of Life Literature, 2000).

C. S. Lewis, ed. George Macdonald: An Anthology (Macmillan, 1947).

Discovery Institute, “C. S. Lewis: Not On Our Side Exposed As a Heretic and Occultist.”

North American Anglican, “The Salvation Theology of C. S. Lewis.” “It is not possible to ignore the urgency and necessity of George MacDonald and his universalist ideas in the development of C. S. Lewis’ theology. While it did not force Lewis into a total belief in universalism, it is certainly the case that it broadened Lewis’ theology of salvation, to the point that it differs considerably from orthodox, traditional beliefs within both Protestantism and the Roman Catholic Church. It is likely, as can be seen in The Great Divorce, that Lewis leaves open the possibility of universal salvation, limited only by our own innate ability to deny God, even in death. This results in a reality that renders the possibility of universalism unlikely, even within Lewis’ expansive theology of salvation. We must again acknowledge his fairly unorthodox belief that other religions contain truth that points back to God. This is a very large leap of faith on Lewis’ part because it flies in the face of many accepted and traditional beliefs within the universal church. Again, however, in choosing to argue for this possibility, Lewis is ultimately arguing for the supreme sovereignty of God to act in any way God deems fit. Lewis does not outright reject the idea of universalism. Instead, Lewis makes provides explicit and detailed examples that together show salvation, while not being universal, is much broader, merciful and understanding than the church has often taught.”

Paul Kerry, ed. The Ring and the Cross (Fairleigh Dickinson, 2011). About LOTR.

The following Christian books currently exist in George Washington’s personal library at his Mount Vernon estate. He was an Anglican just like John Wesley was. In recent years, the last conservative evangelical Anglican theologian was J. I. Packer; and before him, it was J. C. Ryle. Being that George Washington was a contemporary of Wesley within the same Anglican denomination, it is probable that Washington had Methodist leanings and was Arminian in his theological views. I wouldn’t endorse every book in this list, because some are heretical. But so far as I can tell, I’m okay with the KJV, The Book of Common Prayer, Hammond, Law, Beattie, Spangenberg, Langdon, Wesley of course, and Brown. –J.B.

1. The King James Bible.

2. The Book of Common Prayer.

3. Sermons on Various Subjects by Rev. Laurence Sterne.

4. Sermons to Young Men by Hugh Blair.

5. The Works of William Tillotson.

6. Discourses on Various Subjects by Rev. Samuel Clarke.

7. The Whole Duty of Man by Henry Hammond.

8. A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life by William Law – This man personally knew John Wesley; and this book played a major role in Wesley’s view of Biblical holiness.

9. Contemplations Moral and Divine by Matthew Hale.

10. Evidences of the Christian Religion Briefly and Plainly Stated by James Beattie.

11. An Exposition of Christian Doctrine by August Gottlieb Spangenberg.

12. Observations on the Revelation of Jesus Christ to St. John by Samuel Langdon.

13. “The Almost Christian” and “A Sermon on Original Sin” by John Wesley.

14. The Necessity, Nature, Means, and Marks of True Faith in Jesus Christ by William Dodd.

15. A Collection of Devotional Tracts by William Law.

16. Peace and Joy: Being a Brief Attempt to Consider the Evidences of the Truth of the Gospel by Shippie Townsend.

17. Remarks on Several Very Important Prophecies by Granville Sharp.

18. The History of the Old and New Testament, Interspersed with Moral and Instructive Reflections, Chiefly Taken from the Holy Fathers by Joseph Reeve.

19. The Self-Interpreting Bible by John Brown.

20. Dissertations on the Mosaical Creation, Deluge, Building of Babel, and Confusion of Tongues by Simon Berington.

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This recording is a collection of extracts from the other Charles Spurgeon recording on “Christ’s Connection with Sinners the Source of His Glory.”

And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.
–Isaiah 66:24 (KJV)–

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.                                                                                    –2 Timothy 3:16

Some Christians and pastors seem to emphasize grace and love so much, that when they see someone who is bold in confronting sin or sinners in their sins, rebuking, correcting, instructing in righteousness, as Scripture says, they reply, “You are prideful. You have spiritual pride. You’re like the Pharisee who thought he was better than the tax collector. You should just judge yourself, and not judge others.”  

I have a problem with this mentality. For several reasons: 

1. You usually hear this coming from pastors or youth pastors; and I suspect that the ulterior motive behind this “humble” non-judgmental concept is not really humility, grace, and love—as they make it out to be. I suspect it really comes from a spirit of diplomacy, tolerance, latitudinarianism, and political correctness usually espoused by both business and church leaders. It’s a cop-out, in other words, to keep everybody happy—and to avoid controversy.

2. It is a wrong definition of pride and humility. From what I see, humility is dependence on God, as taught in Andrew Murray’s book Humility. While pride is saying, “I can do it. I’m a self-made man. I don’t need God’s help for anything. I’m self-sufficient.” This is strongly rebuked and warned against in Deuteronomy 8. Humility says, “I am a wretched sinner. I’m a worm. Who shall rescue me from this body of death! Thanks be to Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 7:24-25). Humility always has original sin in view; and the need for the supernatural grace of the Spirit to assist and guide us in all our thoughts, words, and actions.

3. I think pastors just say, “You’re prideful” to people who expose false prophets, rebuke sin, and preach against sin—because it makes them look bad, because they DON’T preach holiness and righteousness. It makes the “grace and love” pastor look like a compromiser who is not doing his job by preaching and teaching morals.

4. It is not prideful to rebuke sin, so long as it’s done with grace in view. It IS prideful for a self-sufficient Pelagian to rebuke and preach against sin, because then he’s doing it with the view of “I’m holy and I can do it all by myself…without God’s help.” Perfectionism IS prideful. Perfectionistic sin-rebukers ARE prideful; I have no argument with that. But again, it’s not the sin-rebuking part that is prideful—it’s when a preacher thinks he’s holy all by himself, and by his own natural ability.

5. As I mentioned in the John Bunyan article, “The Pharisee and the Publican,” the Pharisee was not at fault for judging the sins of others or the sins of the tax collector. Judging and condemning sin helps us to distance ourselves from temptation and vice. The sin of the Pharisee in the parable was that he did not judge himself in his prayers. He saw himself as “having it all together.” The Pharisee was a perfectionist. 

Don’t be deceived by compromising “all grace and all love” pastors who actually try to discourage people from taking a strong stance against sin and unrighteousness. Proverbs 27:5: “Better is open rebuke than secret love.” The word REBUKE means to CORRECT or CHIDE: or to PREACH AGAINST SIN. 1 Timothy 5:20: “As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear.” Titus 2:15: “Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you.” 2 Timothy 4:2: “Preach the Word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.” James 5:20: “Let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.” Finally, Jesus said in Luke 17:3: “Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him.”

Don’t be deceived by these anti-rebuking pastors. They are either confused or outright compromisers. All of the Old Testament prophets, John the Baptist, Jesus, the New Testament apostles, the Catholic saints, Martin Luther, the Puritans, John Wesley, George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, Charles Finney, Leonard Ravenhill, David Wilkerson, and countless other saints REBUKED and PREACHED AGAINST SIN BOLDLY and FEARLESSLY, regardless of being called “prideful.” You are NEVER wrong when you preach against what is WRONG. It is illogical to assume the opposite. Just make sure to preach the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15); and with the grace of God in view.

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The Church of America needs to WAKE UP! Sin runs rampant; and the time for lukewarm faith is over with. God’s judgment looms, yet mercy still waits for those who turn from rebellion and embrace holiness. Its time to PREACH BOLDLY AGAINST SIN, call people to REPENTANCE, and not shrink back from PREACHING THE TRUTH, because only a holy, awakened Church can stand in the gap for a nation that’s obviously teetering on the edge of destruction. Pastors–stop delaying, procrastinating, excusing, and rationalizing your lukewarmness with hyper-gentle and hyper-humble theology–ITS OBVIOUS TO ALL OF US AND WE’RE TIRED OF IT—sound the trumpet, CONFRONT EVIL, and live as a people set apart, so maybe REVIVAL will come and the hand of God won’t bring wrath from heaven against our country!

David Wilkerson, Set the Trumpet to Thy Mouth (World Challenge, 1985).

Leonard Ravenhill, America Is Too Young to Die (Bethany House, 1979).

Dr. John R. Rice, Why Preach Against Sin? (Sword of the Lord, 1985).

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

Dr. Jeff Amsbaugh, Pay-Per-View: The Double Cost of Pornography (Sword, 2008).

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Made yourself into more than a man
The anointed one by your own hand
Speech is perfect, masked vulgarity
Sight is straight, dark rigidity
All is copacetic
Projected, unaccepting

Everyone is hurt
Everyone is broken
Everyone is bleeding
Inside
I’ve lived enough to know
Everyone has suffered
Suffered inside

Who would even need to see?
Who would even seem to care?
What you see is shallow
Who would even need to see?
Who would even seem to care?
These is no room for despair

That mask is so deceptive
Despite this life
Try and hide, try and hide
From down low, so much darkness
Casts a shadow on your broken halo
I’ve lived enough to know
So much darkness
Seeds are sown

–Living Sacrifice, “Mask”–

Oh, my job keeps getting easier
As time keeps slippin’ away
I can imitate the brightest light
And make the night look just like day
I put some truth in every lie
To tickle itchin’ ears
You know, I’m drawing people just like flies
‘Cause they like what they hear
I’m gaining power by the hour
They’re falling by the score
You know it’s getting very simple now
Since no one believes in me anymore

Oh, heaven’s just a state of mind
My books read on your shelf
Oh, have you heard that God is dead?
I made that one up myself
They’re dabbling with magic spells
They get their fortunes read
You know, they heard the truth but turned away
And then followed me instead
I used to have to sneak around
But now they just open their doors
You know, no one is watching for my trick
Since no one believes in me anymore

Everyone likes a winner
With my help, you’re guaranteed to win
Hey man, you ain’t no sinner
No, you’ve got the truth within
And as your life slips by you’ll believe the lie
That you did it on your own, but don’t worry
I’ll be there to help you share
A dark eternal home
A dark eternal

Oh, my job keeps getting easier
As day slips into day
The magazines, the newspapers print every word I say
This world is just my spinning top
It’s all like child’s play
You know, I dream that it would never stop
But I know it’s not that way
Still my work goes on and on
Always stronger than before
I’m gonna make it dark before the dawn
Since no one believes in me anymore

Well, I used to have to sneak around
But now they just open their doors
You know, no one is watching for my tricks
Since no one believes in me anymore
Well, I’m gaining power by they hour
They’re falling by the score
You know, it’s getting very easy now
Since no one believes in me anymore
No one believes in me anymore
No one believes in me anymore

–Keith Green, “No One Believes In Me Anymore (Satan’s Boast)”–

—

Pharaoh called in his own wise men and sorcerers,
and these Egyptian magicians did the same thing with their magic.
–Exodus 7:11 (NLT)–

The Wicked One will come with the power of Satan and perform all kinds of false miracles and wonders, and use every kind of wicked deceit on those who will perish. They will perish because they did not welcome and love the truth so as to be saved.
–2 Thessalonians 2:9-10 (GNT)–

The rest of the human race, all those who had not been killed by these plagues, did not turn away from what they themselves had made. They did not stop worshiping demons, nor the idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which cannot see, hear, or walk. Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic, their sexual immorality, or their stealing.
–Revelation 9:20-21 (GNT)–

The cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.
–Revelation 21:8 (NIV)–

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Becky Fischer, The Truth About Magic and Witchcraft (KIMI, 2024).

Melissa Harrington, A Study of Conversion Processes In Wicca (King’s College, 2005), p. 129. There was a strong trend toward an early interest in operative magic. People reported using it instinctively or making up their own spells before they ever knew witches existed outside story books, and being delighted to find that not only was magic ‘real’ but there were groups of people out there who could teach them all about it. Many had been performing ‘funny little rituals’ of their own as far back as childhood. There were cases of finding bits of old furniture in attics and using it for rituals, keeping discarded family objects that would turn out to be excellent bits of Wiccan regalia, and hesitantly trying out bits of spells from books or film and TV.

AG, “Christian Illusionists Take On the World’s Greatest Deceiver.” In what may seem like an incredible coincidence, David’s father, Duane, himself an amazing illusionist, is also an author who writes about using illusions effectively in ministry. In the 1990s, he began a magazine devoted to that endeavor, and the first people he highlighted in his magazine were David and Mary Boyd. David is now the Assemblies of God national director of Children’s Ministries.

According to the list of preachers chronologically presented on page 21, a Bible believing type of Arminianism could be traced from the early church fathers, through the Catholic Church, the Lutheran Church, the Anglican Church, and finally the Methodist Church. To pick up from where he leaves off, I would add all of the churches from the holiness movement and the Pentecostal movement. It is specifically to be found in their books on doctrine, theology, and catechism–and specifically in the soteriology sections of those books: the parts that teach about salvation. In terms of modern day church attendance, I suppose I could recommend the following Arminian denominations: the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS), the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), the Global Methodist Church (GMC), the Christian and Missionary Alliance (CMA), the Church of the Nazarene, the Free Methodist Church, the Wesleyan Church, Church of God (Anderson), the Free Will Baptist Church (FWB), Church of Christ, the Bible Methodist Church, Church of God (Holiness), God’s Missionary Church, the Southern Methodist Church, Assemblies of God (AG), and Church of God (Cleveland) (COG). Although I personally lean in the direction of these last two more than any of them; but after that, maybe the CMA, the Southern Methodists, or the Bible Methodists. A lot of the other ones are into evolution, third way, seeker-sensitive, and worldly compromise, even the ones I chose; so you would have to look for smaller old school churches out in the country.

Really, Church of God (Cleveland) is my favorite: specifically small Churches of God out in the country, in the South, where the preacher makes a point to break a sweat during his fervent preaching of repentance and hellfire sermons. When it comes to the issue of young earth creation (YEC), which I would consider absolutely essential for sound doctrine, homeschooling, Christian academies, and Christian education, the independent Baptists (IFB) are the absolute strongest, so I would suggest some level of cooperation with them, especially because some of them are Bapticostal. They are only half Arminian though; they’ll eventually teach once saved, always saved. The Southern Methodists and the Bible Methodists are likely 100% young earth creation (YEC) churches, but there’s not very many of them. Although I prefer COG and AG churches, young earth creation (YEC) is not pushed very strongly in those churches; and there’s some evolution people mixed in there. But of the two, Church of God (COG) is probably the strongest on YEC. Now, when it comes to the subject of persecution from the Antichrist and post-tribulation rapture, the Southern Methodists and the Bible Methodists are the strongest on that. The two strongest Wesleyan Arminian churches are probably the Southern Methodist Church and Church of God (Cleveland)–in that order–but seeing that I’m a tongue talking Pentecostal, I always land on Church of God as my final choice. They’ve got about 1 million members in the USA and 8 million members worldwide. Their college is Lee University. –J.B.