WesleyGospel Ministries

https://thestateoftheology.com/

O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called: which some professing have erred concerning the faith.   –1 Timothy 6:20-21 (KJV)

The fool hath said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.   –Psalm 14:1 (KJV)

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.   –2 Timothy 3:16-17 (KJV)

No prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.  –2 Peter 1:20-21 (KJV)

Strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.  –Ephesians 2:12 (KJV)

The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.   –Psalm 10:4 (KJV)

Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.  –Ephesians 4:18-19 (KJV)

The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.  –1 Corinthians 2:14 (KJV)

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R. Albert Mohler, “When the Bible Speaks, God Speaks,” Five Views on Biblical Inerrancy.

John R. Rice, Hell–What the Bible Says About It.

—. The Last Judgment of the Unsaved Dead.

—. Evolution or the Bible–Which?

—. Why Preach Against Sin?

Hugh Pyle, The Truth About Homosexuals.

David Meunier, Why I Can’t Be a Theistic Evolutionist.

Charles Hodge, What Is Darwinism? (warning: rejects evolution, but not young earth).

Ken Ham, “Young Earth Creationism,” Creation, Evolution, and Intelligent Design.

R. A. Torrey, ed. The Fundamentals: A Testimony to the Truth (Baker, 4 vols).

Evan Howard, “Evangelical Spirituality,” Four Views on Christian Spirituality.

Denny Burk, “Eternal Conscious Torment,” Four Views on Hell.

Kerby Anderson, A Biblical Point of View on Homosexuality.

R. Douglas Geivett, “Particularist View: Evidentialist Approach,” Four Views on Salvation.

John MacArthur, Ashamed of the Gospel (against the seeker-sensitive movement).

Josh McDowell, More Than a Carpenter.

—. The New Evidence That Demands a Verdict.

—. A Ready Defense.

—. Evidence for Christianity.

—. Handbook of Today’s Religions.

W. G. T. Shedd, Dogmatic Theology (Calvinist soteriology). NOTE: Useful in lots of ways, but unfortunately he supports theistic evolution. Might be well balanced out by Charles Hodge’s Systematic Theology which is against evolution in all forms.

John Gerstner, Jonathan Edwards: A Mini-Theology (Calvinist soteriology).

Harald Lindstrom, Wesley and Sanctification (Wesleyan soteriology).

Kenneth J. Collins, Wesley on Salvation (Wesleyan soteriology).

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Arianism – of or relating to Arius or his doctrines especially that the Son is not of the same substance as the Father but was created as an agent for creating the world. –Merriam-Webster dictionary

Socinianism – an adherent of a 16th and 17th century theological movement professing belief in God and adherence to the Christian Scriptures but denying the divinity of Christ and consequently denying the Trinity. –Merriam-Webster dictionary

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee. –Isaiah 26:3 (KJV)

I was in the city of Joppa praying: and in a trance I saw a vision. –Acts 11:5 (KJV) (Peter’s vision)

And it came to pass, that, when I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance; and saw him saying unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem: for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me. –Acts 22:17-18 (KJV) (Paul’s vision)

And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. –Acts 1:9 (KJV)

When Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. –Matthew 14:29 (KJV)

Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the Scriptures? –Luke 24:32 (KJV)

The Holy Ghost would take hold of men on the back seat and lift them bodily over the congregation and drop them at the altar. I’ve said to Pentecostals, “If you saw that, you’d run for the door, you’d say its spiritism or something.” –Leonard Ravenhill on William Booth’s prayer meetings (video below: 2:24)

Joan Carroll Cruz, Mysteries Marvels Miracles: In the Lives of the Saints, ch. 2, 12.

Herbert Thurston, The Physical Phenomena of Mysticism, chs. 1, 8.

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. –Hebrews 12:2 (KJV)

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee. –Isaiah 26:3 (KJV)

The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost. –John 14:26 (KJV)

The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. –Isaiah 11:2 (KJV)

The love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost. –2 Corinthians 13:14 (KJV)

When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of Me. –Jesus in John 15:26 (KJV)

He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. –1 Corinthians 6:17 (KJV)

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G. B. Scaramelli, A Handbook of Mystical Theology.

Tommy Tenney, The God Chasers, 1999. (this book might have popularized the expression “seeking God’s face” in Pentecostal and charismatic churches, in reference to contemplation or concentrating on the face of Jesus in worship and prayer. There’s at least 15 references to that expression.)

Teresa of Avila, Interior Castle.

The Cloud of Unknowing (Image Books, 1973: about contemplation of the Holy Spirit).

Arthur Devine, A Manual of Mystical Theology.

Augustin Poulain, The Graces of Interior Prayer.

Adolphe Tanqueray, The Spiritual Life.

Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life.

Jordan Aumann, Spiritual Theology.

Tony Richie, Essentials of Pentecostal Theology, p. 94ff.  (a good section that synthesizes several books on charismatic worship).

Lee Roy Martin, ed., Toward a Pentecostal Theology of Worship.  (Church of God)

Cecil Knight, ed., Pentecostal Worship (Pathway Press, 1974). (Church of God).

Don Williams, “Charismatic Worship,” Exploring the Worship Spectrum. (Vineyard)

Paul Walker, The Ministry of Worship (Pathway Press, 1981). (Church of God)

Robert Fisher, ed., In Spirit and In Truth: A Study of the Concepts of Biblical Worship (Pathway Press, 1985). (Church of God)

Timothy Laurito, Pentecostal Perspectives, ch. 7: “Perspectives on Worship.”

Keith Warrington, Pentecostal Theology, p. 219ff.

Graham Kendrick, Learning to Worship as a Way of Life. (Bethany House)

LaMar Boschman, A Passion for His Presence.

D. L. Alford, “Worship,” The New International Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements.

42:00ff – David Wilkerson shares his testimony of getting baptized in the Holy Spirit at a Pentecostal camp meeting at the age of eight.

47:03 – “When the Holy Ghost comes upon you, he leaves his mark. Oh! There’s no words in any language to describe the glory of Jesus that he brings. The ecstasy and love of Christ. Beloved, the baptism of the Holy Ghost is all about enabling us not only to edify ourselves through Jesus Christ, but to make us the witnesses we should be to the whole world, that they’ll see a change in us. They’ll see something different in us. And it won’t be just your preaching, it’ll be your life that’s transformed by the power of the Holy Ghost.”

I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting. –1 Timothy 2:8 (KJV)

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. –Hebrews 12:2 (KJV)

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)

The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost. –John 14:26 (KJV)

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee. –Isaiah 26:3 (KJV)

The priests could not stand to minister by reason of the Cloud: for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God. –2 Chronicles 5:14 (KJV)

Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost. –Acts 8:17 (KJV)

Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. –Ephesians 4:30 (KJV)

The worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the Word, making it unfruitful. –Mark 4:19 (NIV)

The Spirit also comes to help us, weak as we are. For we do not know how we ought to pray; the Spirit himself pleads with God for us in groans that words cannot express. –Romans 8:26 (GNT)

Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. –Acts 3:19 (KJV)

Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt.  –1 Thessalonians 5:19-20 (NIV)

Covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues.   –1 Corinthians 14:39 (KJV)

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Guy Chevreau, Catch the Fire. (Jonathan Edwards on slain in the Spirit).

Tom Schwanda, Soul Recreation. (Closest thing to Puritan mystical theology).

G. B. Scaramelli, A Handbook of Mystical Theology.

Jack Deere, Surprised by the Voice of God, ch. 17: “Confessions of a Bible Deist.”

Margaret Poloma, The Assemblies of God at the Crossroads. (anti-charismatic attitude).

Jonathan Edwards, The Wrath of Almighty God (ed. Don Kistler).

John Bunyan, Sighs from Hell (ed. Don Kistler).

W. G. T. Shedd, The Doctrine of Endless Punishment.

Don Williams, ed. “Charismatic Worship,” Exploring the Worship Spectrum.

The Cloud of Unknowing. (imageless contemplation).

Stanley Gundry, ed., Five Views on Sanctification, chs. 1-3.

Tommy Tenney, The God Chasers.

A. W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God.

Robert Tuttle, Mysticism in the Wesleyan Tradition.

Daniel Jennings, The Supernatural Occurrences of John Wesley.

Thomas Dubay, Fire Within. (addresses “aridity” and lots of mystical themes).

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Pentecostal experiences, as Jack Deere has pointed out, are at the polar opposite of the Bible based deism that you get in baptistic Christianity. Acts 19:2: “We have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

BIBLE BASED: contained in or relating to the Bible.

DEISM: the belief that God made the world, but there’s no such thing as miracles.

You stiff-necked people!…You always resist the Holy Spirit! –Acts 7:51

All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them…Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.” –Acts 2:4, 13

The peace of God, which transcends all understanding. –Philippians 4:7

The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost. –John 14:26

About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. –Acts 10:9-10

On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet…when I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. –Revelation 1:10, 17

Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief!  –Mark 9:24 (KJV)   (Baptistic deism)

My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.   –Job 42:5-6  (Pentecostal Spirit baptism)

The inward witness, son, the inward witness, that is the proof, the strongest proof of Christianity.  –Samuel Wesley on his deathbed

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Jonathan Edwards, Jonathan Edwards on Revival (Banner of Truth Trust, 1984).

—. The Religious Affections (Banner of Truth Trust, 1961).

Sam Storms, Signs of the Spirit (Crossway, 2007). (explains Religious Affections).

Archibald Alexander, Thoughts on Religious Experience (cf. Lloyd-Jones, Revival, p. 140).

Ann Taves, Fits, Trances, and Visions. (Edwards and Wesley on ecstasy, etc).

Guy Chevreau, Catch the Fire (like Storms, an interpretation of Edwards on ecstasy).

William DeArteaga, Quenching the Spirit (resistance to Edwards; cessationists).

Michael L. Brown, Authentic Fire (on the use of J. Edwards’s writings for ecstasy).

Maria Woodworth-Etter, Signs and Wonders (Whitaker House, 1997).

Daniel Jennings, The Supernatural Occurrences of John Wesley, ch. 4.

—. The Supernatural Occurrences of Charles G. Finney, ch. 5.

All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. –Acts 2:4

While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles. For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God. –Acts 10:44-46

When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues. –Acts 19:6

You do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.  –Matthew 22:29

You stiff-necked people!…You always resist the Holy Spirit! –Acts 7:51*

*Baptistic resistance to Pentecostal Spirit baptism proves the Arminian view of synergism. It is a matter of personal choice to eagerly desire or stubbornly resist the presence and gracious activity of the Spirit of God. And it might be argued that any so-called faith in the cross without the testimony of the Spirit is false, naturalistic, carnal, fleshly, ideological, deistic, and even counterfeit, because it lacks the supernatural (Romans 8:16).

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Definitions of Deism and Deist

Belief in a God who created the universe but does not govern worldly events, does not answer prayers, and has no direct involvement in human affairs. –Oxford Reference

A religious belief holding that God created the universe and established rationally comprehensible moral and natural laws but does not intervene in human affairs through miracles or supernatural revelation. –The Free Dictionary

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Chad Owen Brand, ed., Perspectives on Spirit Baptism: Five Views, ch. 2-4.

Don Basham, A Handbook on Holy Spirit Baptism.

—. Spiritual Power: How to Get It–How to Give It!

John Piper, “Is the Holy Spirit Underemphasized in Evangelical Circles?”

—. “What Is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit?”

Jack Deere, Surprised by the Voice of God, ch. 17: “Confessions of a Bible Deist.”

General Presbytery of Assemblies of God. “Baptism in the Holy Spirit.”

Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Joy Unspeakable.

Guy Chevreau, Catch the Fire.

Jonathan Edwards, Distinguishing Marks of a Work of the Spirit of God. (in On Revival).

When Jesus said, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground. –John 18:6

The priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud. –2 Chronicles 5:14

Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. –Acts 8:17

Peter went up on the roof to pray…he fell into a trance. –Acts 10:9-10

All the men…shall shake at my presence.  –Ezekiel 38:20

— SECONDARY SOURCES —

Ezra Coppin, Slain in the Spirit (1980).

John White, When the Spirit Comes with Power. (1988, Vineyard psychiatrist).

Francis MacNutt, Overcome by the Spirit (1990).

Rodney Howard-Browne, Manifesting the Holy Ghost (1991).

Guy Chevreau, Catch the Fire. (1995, slain in the Spirit with J. Edwards, etc).

Michael L. Brown, High-Voltage Christianity (1995).

— PRIMARY SOURCES —

Jonathan Edwards, Distinguishing Marks of a Work of the Spirit of God. (in On Revival).

Maria Woodworth-Etter, Signs and Wonders.

Daniel Jennings, The Supernatural Occurrences of John Wesley, ch. 4.

—. The Supernatural Occurrences of Charles G. Finney, ch. 5.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. –Romans 12:2

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

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. –Colossians 3:5

According to your faith let it be done to you. –Jesus in Matthew 9:29

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Carol Wimber, John Wimber: The Way It Was.

Finger of God (DVD documentary).

James Goll, The Beginner’s Guide to Signs, Wonders, and the Supernatural Life.

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