WesleyGospel Ministries

DUMPSTER FIRE.
–J.B.–

²⁵ I rebuked them and called curses down on them. I beat some of the men and pulled out their hair. I made them take an oath in God’s name and said: “You are not to give your daughters in marriage to their sons, nor are you to take their daughters in marriage for your sons or for yourselves. ²⁶ Was it not because of marriages like these that Solomon king of Israel sinned? Among the many nations there was no king like him. He was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel, but even he was led into sin by foreign women. ²⁷ Must we hear now that you too are doing all this terrible wickedness and are being unfaithful to our God
by marrying foreign women?”
–Nehemiah 13:25-27 (NIV)–

When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?”
–John the Baptist in Matthew 3:7 (NIV)–

¹³ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. ¹⁵ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are. ¹⁶ “Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’ ¹⁷ You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? ¹⁸ You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gift on the altar is bound by that oath.’ ¹⁹ You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? ²⁰ Therefore, anyone who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. ²¹ And anyone who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. ²² And anyone who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it. ²³ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. ²⁴ You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. ²⁵ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. ²⁶ Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. ²⁷ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. ²⁸ In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. ²⁹ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. ³⁰ And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ ³¹ So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. ³² Go ahead, then, and complete what your ancestors started! ³³ “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to Hell? ³⁴ Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. ³⁵ And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. ³⁶ Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation. ³⁷ “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. ³⁸ Look, your house is left to you desolate. ³⁹ For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
–Jesus Christ in Matthew 23:13-39 (NIV)–

You stiff-necked people! 
Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised.
You are just like your ancestors:
You always resist the Holy Spirit!
–Stephen in Acts 7:51 (NIV)–

May your money perish with you,
because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money!
–Peter in Acts 8:20 (NIV)–

You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right!
You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery.
Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord?
–Paul in Acts 13:10 (NIV)–

Because you are lukewarm,
and neither cold nor hot,
I will vomit you out of My mouth.
–Rich Laodicea Pastor in Revelation 3:16 (NKJV)–

—

Dr. John R. Rice, Why Preach Against Sin? (Sword of the Lord Publishers, 1985).
An Independent Fundamental Baptist (IFB) evangelist.

Leonard Ravenhill, “Be Ye Angry And Sin Not” (Last Days Ministries, 1985).
An independent Wesleyan holiness evangelist. He’d probably affiliate with the InterChurch Holiness Convention (IHC) if he were around today.

—. Revival Praying (Bethany House, 1962), ch. 14: “Be Ye Angry.”

John Gill, Commentary on Ephesians 4:26: “Be ye angry, and sin not.” There is anger which is not sinful; for anger is found in God himself, in Jesus Christ, in the holy angels, and in God’s people; and a man may be said to be angry and not sin, when his anger arises from a true zeal for God and religion; when it is kindled not against persons, but sins; when a man is displeased with his own sins, and with the sins of others: with vice and immorality of every kind; with idolatry and idolatrous worship, and with all false doctrine; and also when it is carried on to answer good ends, as the good of those with whom we are angry, the glory of God, and the promoting of the interest of Christ: and there is an anger which is sinful; as when it is without a cause; when it exceeds due bounds; when it is not directed to a good end; when it is productive of bad effects, either in words or actions; and when it is soon raised, or long continues: the Jews have a like distinction of anger.

Adam Clarke, Commentary on Ephesians 4:26: “Be ye angry, and sin not.” We can never suppose that the apostle delivers this as a precept, if we take the words as they stand in our version. Perhaps the sense is, Take heed that ye be not angry, lest ye sin; for it would be very difficult, even for an apostle himself, to be angry and not sin. If we consider anger as implying displeasure simply, then there are a multitude of cases in which a man may be innocently, yea, laudably angry; for he should be displeased with every thing which is not for the glory of God, and the good of mankind. But, in any other sense, I do not see how the words can be safely taken.

Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity;
therefore God, even thy God,
hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
–Hebrews 1:9 (KJV)–

³ But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; ⁴ neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. ⁵ For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. ⁶ Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. ⁷ Therefore do not be partakers with them.
–Ephesians 5:3-7 (NKJV)–

⁵ Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. ⁶ Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, ⁷ in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them. ⁸ But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. ⁹ Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, ¹⁰ and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, ¹¹ where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.
–Colossians 3:5-11 (NKJV)–

—

PURITAN BOOKS ON HOLINESS (The Banner of Truth Trust).

WESLEYAN BOOKS ON HOLINESS (Schmul Publishing).

Where will I return my misgiven motions
Quell and subside the quivering vigour
The inevitable thrust
That swells inside
And drives me off the edge
The bleeding ill that breeds me on mercy
Ruthless and sinister
Obsessive beyond my reach

Metamorphosis
Release me from fury
Metamorphosis
Transforming energy

Will I tread on broken glass
And undisguised
Set atrocities aside
Scrape the surface
Clean from abominations
With a single word
Conquer wrath

Disposed to the evils that haunt me in sleep
They shake the break of dawn
Careless and free
And spear me down
Relentlessly
Smitten with burns
They pierce my mind
They all own their own place in darkness
Light as they may seem as day

Scrape the surface
Clean from abominations
Let go the calamities
And respond to the streams of emotion

–Extol, “Scrape the Surface”–

—

The men, leaving the natural use of the woman,
burned in their lust for one another,
men with men committing what is shameful,
and receiving in themselves the
penalty of their error which was due.
–Romans 1:27 (NKJV)–

—

American Cancer Society, “Cancer Facts for Gay and Bisexual Men.”

Dr. Hugh Pyle, The Truth About the Homosexuals (Sword of the Lord, 1978), pp. 8-13.

Dr. John R. Rice, Adultery and Sex Perversion (Sword of the Lord, 1978), p. 21.

I am the way, the truth, and the life:
no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
–Jesus in John 14:6 (KJV)–

The devil that deceived them
was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone,
where the beast and the false prophet are,
and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
–Revelation 20:10 (KJV)–

Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging:
and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.
–Proverbs 20:1 (KJV)–

Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts,
but rather that ye may prophesy.
–1 Corinthians 14:1 (KJV)–

Now bring me a minstrel.
And it came to pass, when the minstrel played,
that the hand of the Lord came upon him.
–2 Kings 3:15 (KJV)–

—

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
(HarperCollins, 2009), pgs. 208-209–

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–

Why do I struggle so much with the Biblical concept of Hell? Maybe it’s because I don’t like to see my comrades suffer. You have trouble with Hell? I do. I cannot enjoy contemplating for one minute any human being in Hell. A lot of times people say to me, “Do you believe that Hell’s a lake of fire, literally?” I say, “No.” And they say, “What do you think it is?” I say, “‘I think it’s separation from God.’ And you know what their usual response is?…‘Whew, man am I glad to hear that.’”
–R. C. Sproul, “The Problem of Hell.”–

The lady said, “Oh no, nobody here drinks. We’re Christians.” I came so close, so close. I didn’t, but I wanted to order somethin’ like a double scotch on the rocks.
–R. C. Sproul–

I’ve never felt the presence of God.
I don’t even know what that means.*
–John MacArthur, “The Promise of the Holy Spirit, Part 2”–

—

Dr. John Gerstner, Repent or Perish: With a Special Reference to the Conservative Attack on Hell (Soli Deo Gloria, 1997).

Dr. John R. Rice, The Double Curse of Booze (Sword of the Lord, 1960).

Dr. Jack Deere, Why I Am Still Surprised by the Power of the Spirit (Zondervan, 2020).

* I disagree with MacArthur’s deistic view of the Christian life. I have always hated and will always absolutely denounce the cessationist conclusions he’s drawn in The Charismatics, Charismatic Chaos, and Strange Fire, while at the same time admitting that he also did a really good job at pointing out charlatans and false teachers in the charismatic camp. His book The Gospel According to Jesus was also a really important book that defined a Biblical gospel presentation in a day and age when most evangelicals have gone the way of Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life. I’d say that the Wesleyan counterpart to it would be Harald Lindstrom’s Wesley and Sanctification (Francis Asbury Press, 1998). Dr. MacArthur also exposed Warren’s Purpose Driven Church ideology in his book Ashamed of the Gospel. He’s written some really important and useful theological books, but I’ve also seen other things I just can’t agree with, like his views on psychiatry and church discipline. All of this is to say that we just always need to MAKE THE BIBLE NUMBER ONE; and make teachers, preachers, dreams, visions, books, and words of knowledge SUBORDINATE to the Bible as the Word of God. –J.B.

I want you here with me.
But you’ve been keeping other company.
You can’t sit still, it’s plain to see.
You love the world and you’re avoiding me.

My Word sits there upon your desk.
But you love your books and magazines the best.
Prefer the light of your TV.
You love the world, and you’re avoiding me.

You used to pray, you were so brave.
Now you can’t keep even one appointment we’ve made.
Oh I gave my blood, to save you life.
Tell me, tell me is it right?
Will you leave me here along again tonight?

Well I love you, still more and more.
But you’re fighting everything I’m working for.
You’re acting like my enemy.
You love the world and you’re avoiding me.

These other loves, they’re hurting you.
If you end up losing me, then what will you do?
Oh, I gave my blood, to save your life.
Tell me, tell me is it right?
Will you leave me here alone again tonight?

Well, I want you, here with me.
But you’ve been keeping other company.
Prefer the light, of your TV.
You love the world, and you’re avoiding me.
You love the world, you love the world,
You love the world and you’re avoiding me.
Oh, you love the world.
You love the world and you’re avoiding me.

–Keith Green, “You Love the World”–

Deciphering screamed Spanish lyrics is definitely not my forte, especially when I’m unable to find them written out online. But I think in the song “Mire Niño” by Puya, he’s ranting about leaders in Puerto Rico enchanting the people a whole lot; and then everyone giving them a pass. –J.B.

Rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, 
so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.
–1 Peter 4:13 (NIV)–

I have been crucified with Christ 
and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
–Galatians 2:20 (NIV)–

I rejoice in what I am suffering for you,
and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, 
for the sake of his body, which is the church.
–Colossians 1:24 (NIV)–

Because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
–2 Corinthians 12:7-9 (NIV)–

Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, 
because we know that suffering produces perseverance.
–Romans 5:3 (NIV)–

The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar:
and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen,
and his body was wet with the dew of heaven,
till his hairs were grown like eagles’ feathers,
and his nails like birds’ claws.
–Daniel 4:33 (KJV)–