WesleyGospel Ministries

Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.   –Titus 1:9 (KJV)

I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolator, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.   –1 Corinthians 5:11 (KJV)

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

Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck: Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.  –1 Timothy 1:19-20 (KJV)

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

—, Why I Am Still Surprised by the Voice of God. Zondervan, 2022.

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

Robert Graves, ed. Strangers to Fire. (596 pages; refutes cessationist texts).

Dan Corner, The Believer’s Conditional Security. (801 pages; refutes OSAS texts).

The Shunning (Hallmark movie, 2011). An Amish girl gets shunned by her family and church, because she gets into acoustic rock music and wants to wear normal clothes. Baptists are distantly but spiritually related to the Amish and Mennonites.

Charles Spurgeon, “The Danger of Carnal Security.”

Regular Baptist Ministries, “Shunning.” There is absolutely no Biblical support for IFB people to shun Pentecostals, either 1. for the cause of upholding cessationism (deism and unbelief, 1 Corinthians 14:1), or 2. for the cause of eternal security (usually with a no-lordship cheap grace and antinomian idea, 1 Timothy 1:19-20). But it seems that these are still the two main reasons why IFB people shun Pentecostals. They conclude that its all supported by Romans 16:17 (KJV): “I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.” But again this doesn’t stand up to contextual Bible interpretation: “For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple” (Romans 16:18). In other words, the Bible teaches here exactly what it teaches in 1 Corinthians 5:11: that antinomian preachers with morally lax attitudes are the ones who are supposed to be shunned. There’s absolutely no support in Romans 16:17 for a Baptist to shun a charismatic or a person who believes you can lose your salvation if you stop walking in the Spirit. That’s really bad hermeneutics and just plain rudeness and intolerance to other members of the true body of Christ: especially if you have reason to believe that those charismatics are godly people. Shunning godly people who have different theological views than you: not Biblical at all.

S. Hassan, “Shunning: The Trauma of Being Cut Off,” Psychology Today.

If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream.  –Numbers 12:6 (KJV)

God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed.   –Job 33:14-15 (KJV)

It shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.  –Acts 2:17 (KJV)

I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.   –Acts 26:19 (KJV)

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YouTube said I couldn’t keep the film clips because they broke copyright. So here’s the movies I was referring to:

Jeremiah. Lux Vid, 1998.

St. Patrick: The Irish Legend. Fox Family, 2000.

A Diary of Revival. Vision Video, 2008.

A Man Called Peter. 20th Century Fox, 1955. A movie about the pastor that Dr. Deere refers to at 35:00.

People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.                                             –2 Timothy 3:2-4

When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him in public, because he was clearly wrong. –Galatians 2:11 (GNT)

This indicates that not everything the apostles did was infallible and deserving of our imitation as Christians. Willingly running headlong into situations to develop a rap sheet or a criminal record for the sake of the Gospel is not prudent, especially if there’s other more legal ways to evangelize. Employability in the business world will be greatly hindered for husbands and children who follow in the footsteps of their dads’ unlicensed and misdemeanor-laden street preaching. Its normal for employers or hiring managers to do criminal background checks on people applying for jobs to try and get interviews. Having a super-long rap sheet of disorderly conduct violations is not going to make you a very attractive person to a human resources manager. I say, unless you’re absolutely “clean” with the cops to preach in some place, then don’t preach anywhere. Its not worth it. Paul once said, “I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge” (Romans 10:2). Paul got a rap sheet for all his street preaching, but he had none of the responsibilities of a family man, and he was celibate. If unrestrained street preaching means tons of jail time, then you can count me out of it.

I will have to do evangelism another way. You don’t hear about Billy Graham, David Wilkerson, or even Leonard Ravenhill doing street preaching to the point of getting arrested all the time for “disturbing the peace” and “disorderly conduct.” So, going forward, my approach to evangelism will still center around the state university, but always in cooperation with the Student Activities Center, scheduling an event slot on the student activities calendar, and preaching either to 1. Do a presentation in the Student Center, or 2. Do actual street preaching on the campus with the full permission of the Student Activities Center; and a printed out permit slip that I can wear on my person to avoid arrest by troublemakers. The best thing in the Bible akin to this would be Acts 17:22: “Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: ‘People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious.’” –J. B.

Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.           –Jeremiah 6:16 (KJV)

Don’t pacify spiritual
Teach me to be me in Christ
Origin of consciousness
Spiritual
I am not what meets the eye

–Living Sacrifice, “Something More”–

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Jeff Doles, Miracles and Manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the History of the Church, ch. 7.

Jack Deere, Why I Am Still Surprised by the Voice of God, ch. 3.

Bernard McGinn, Mysticism in the Reformation.

Stanley Burgess, The Holy Spirit: Medieval Roman Catholic and Reformation Traditions, Part 7: “The Radical Reformers.”

GEORGE WISHART (1513-1546).
Scottish reformer and martyr. Wishart preaching against Mariolatry. Oil on canvas, English, c1857, by Sir William Fettes Douglas (1822-1891)

Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die. But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips. –Job 2:9-10 (KJV)

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Chariots of Fire. 20th Century Fox, 1981.

William Mathews, Getting On in the World, chs. 14-15.

Larry Burkett, The Word on Finances.

Catherine Swift, Eric Liddell.

You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another. –Leviticus 19:11 (NKJV)

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Entrepreneur, “10 Small Business Marketing Strategies That Actually Work.” Notice, cold email was at the top of the marketing strategies list in 2022. Two years later its obsolete. Once you remove cold email from the list, the next best thing becomes Google Ads.

A. Berman, “Is Cold Email Dead In 2024?” YES, BERMAN AND HIS TEAM AFFIRM THAT USING COLD EMAIL IS DEAD. His next marketing strategies have been to, 1. GOOGLIZING the marketing strategy. Although he didn’t mention Google Ads, he did mention SEO optimization methods for his website, like “lead magnets” and other SEO strategies to improve Google positions. If this sounds mysterious to you, a program like Semrush can hold your hand through things like that. 2. Only use cold email programs for opt-in emails, like Constant Contact and Mailchimp will do. In other words, appointment setting with previous or current customers by email. That’s not cold email. That’s not spam emailing new people to book an appointment: that whole thing is just DEAD!

Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. –Ecclesiastes 1:2 (KJV)

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Julia Loren, Shifting Shadows of Supernatural Power, p. 29.

Jeff Doles, Miracles and Manifestations.

Morton Kelsey, The Christian and the Supernatural.

—, Encounter with God.