WesleyGospel Ministries

To him who sits on the throne and unto the Lamb
To him who sits on the throne and unto the Lamb
(Blessing and glory)

Be blessing and glory and honor and power forever
Be blessing and glory and honor and power forever

He is exalted the King is exalted on High
I will praise Him
He is exalted forever exalted
And I will praise His name

He is the Lord
Forever His truth shall reign
Heaven and Earth
Rejoice in His holy name
He is exalted the King is exalted on high

They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Bezer, who loved the wages of wickedness. –2 Peter 2:15

Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion. –Jude 1:11

There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality. –Revelation 2:14

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Hank Hanegraaff, Christianity In Crisis: 21st Century (Thomas Nelson, 2012).

Dave Hunt and T. A. McMahon, The Seduction of Christianity: Spiritual Discernment in the Last Days (Harvest House, 1990).

Andrew Strom, Why I Left the Prophetic Movement (The Revolution, 2012). This stands out to me as the best pro-charismatic critique of prophetic ministry; that and Art Katz’s The Prophetic Call: True and False Prophets (2009).

Archibald Alexander, Thoughts on Religious Experience (Banner of Truth, 1967).

Jack Deere, Why I Am Still Surprised by the Voice of God (Zondervan, 2022).

James Goll, Hearing God’s Voice Today (Chosen Books, 2016).

Walter Martin, The Kingdom of the Cults (Bethany House Publishers, 2003).

Harald Lindstrom, Wesley and Sanctification (Zondervan, 1984).

Robert Peterson, Hell on Trial: The Case for Eternal Punishment (P&R Publishing, 1995).

P. C. Nelson, Bible Doctrines (Gospel Publishing House, 2009).

E. S. Williams, Systematic Theology, 3 vols. (Gospel Publishing House, 1953).

R. A. Torrey, ed. The Fundamentals, 4 vols. (Baker Books, 1994).

Charles Carter, ed. A Contemporary Wesleyan Theology: Biblical, Systematic, Practical. 2 vols. (Zondervan, 1984).

—. The Wesleyan Bible Commentary. 6 vols. (Hendrickson Publishers, 1986).

Vic Reasoner, Fundamental Wesleyan Systematic Theology. 3 vols. (Fundamental Wesleyan Publishers, 2021).

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

Dr. Hugh Pyle, The Truth About the Homosexuals (Sword of the Lord Publishers, 1978).

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

Banner of Truth. The “Puritan Paperbacks” Series.

The Works of John Wesley, 3rd ed. (Baker Books, 1996).

Thomas C. Oden, Pastoral Theology: Essentials of Ministry (HarperOne, 1983). This used to be a standard textbook on pastoral ministry in the conservative Wesleyan churches. Throw out those goofy John Bevere books and read this instead.

—. John Wesley’s Teachings. 4 vols. (Zondervan, 2014).

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P.S. I would personally recommend spiritual severance from Dr. Michael Brown’s ministry because of his heterodox tendencies to Messianic Judaism (kosher law) and Annihilationism (the rejection of eternal punishment). I also think that Patricia King’s teaching could benefit from some correction about positive confession (see Hank Hanegraaff’s Christianity in Crisis). But I still generally feel that James Goll, like R. Loren Sandford, has consistently maintained an orthodox evangelical theology while at the same time teaching thoroughly on the gift of prophecy. See James Goll’s A Radical Faith: Essentials for Spirit-Filled Believers (Chosen Books, 2011), which teaches the doctrines of salvation and has a chapter on Hell–ch. 12: “Eternal Judgment.” Sam Storms is another well known charismatic teacher, who has extensive prophetic ministry experience, and firmly believes in eternal conscious punishment. See Sam Storms’ Tough Topics 1 and 2 (Crossway, 2013; Christian Focus, 2015), which addresses most of the important doctrinal and practical issues of charismatic Christian life. With Dr. Brown’s doctrinal deviations, Leif Hetland’s cheap grace sonship gospel, and John Crowder’s universal salvation: charismatics couldn’t be at a more DESPERATE THEOLOGICAL CROSSROADS than right now! –J.B.

Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you. –Hebrews 13:17 (KJV)

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THE WRONG WAY. Ronald Enroth, Churches That Abuse (Zondervan, 1992).

THE RIGHT WAY. Thomas C. Oden, Pastoral Theology: Essentials of Ministry (HarperOne, 1983). This was a standard textbook on pastoral ministry in the conservative Wesleyan churches.

Let forth the hateful
The murderous
Let their malignant prayers resound
The reverberant
Odious request
The wish of death abound
So enticing
The retaliation–chords of man
The all deafening
Oscillation of the damned

–Meshuggah, “Break Those Bones Whose Sinews Gave It Motion”–

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John Hayward’s Hell’s Everlasting Flames Avoided (1696) – click for text.

For the Lord is marching on
And His army is ever strong
And His glory shall be seen upon our land
Raise the anthem, sing the victory song
Praise the Lord for the battles won
No weapon formed against us shall stand

For the Captain of the host is Jesus
We’re following in His footsteps
No foe can stand against us in the fray
For the Captain of the host is Jesus
We’re following in His footsteps
No foe can stand against us in the fray

We are marching in Messiah’s band
The keys of victory in his mighty hand
Let us march on to take our promised land
For the Lord is marching on
And His army is ever strong
And His glory shall be seen upon our land

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The Jesus Trip, “Free Will & Hell.”

Randolph Foster, Objections to Calvinism As It Is, ch. 8: “The Will.” (Wesleyan).

Gospel Coalition, “The Battle of the Will, Part 4: John Wesley and Jonathan Edwards.”

P. C. Nelson, Bible Doctrines (Gospel Publishing House, 2009), pp. 42-43. “The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit cooperate with the sinner in salvation…In regeneration, we become partakers of the divine nature, enabling us to ‘escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires’ (2 Peter 1:4).”

Westminster Confession 10.3-4. “Elect infants, dying in infancy, are regenerated, and saved by Christ, through the Spirit, who worketh when, and where, and how he pleaseth: so also are all other elect persons who are uncapable of being outwardly called by the ministry of the Word…Others, not elected, although they may be called by the ministry of the Word, and may have some common operations of the Spirit, yet they never truly come unto Christ, and therefore cannot be saved: much less can men, not professing the Christian religion, be saved in any other way whatsoever, be they never so diligent to frame their lives according to the light of nature, and the laws of that religion they do profess. And, to assert and maintain that they may, is very pernicious, and to be detested.” For Scripture proofs, click here and go to page 48.

Dr. Robert Peterson, Hell on Trial: The Case for Eternal Punishment (P&R, 1995), ch. 12.

Dr. Thomas C. Oden, John Wesley’s Teachings, vol. 2 (Zondervan, 2012), p. 180ff.

—. John Wesley’s Scriptural Christianity (Zondervan, 1994), p. 269ff.

Dr. Kenneth J. Collins, The Theology of John Wesley (Abingdon Press, 2011), ch. 2.

John Wesley, “Original Sin.”

—. The Doctrine of Original Sin.

Jonathan Edwards, A Careful and Strict Enquiry Into the Modern Prevailing Notions of That Freedom of Will (London, 1754).