WesleyGospel Ministries

24:05 – Ah, not so fast Charles. Remember that Samson “wist not that Lord was departed from him,” and “the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him,” and David prayed, “Take not Thy Holy Spirit from me” (Judges 16:20; 1 Samuel 16:14; Psalm 51:11). We’re also told to “resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you” (James 4:7-8). And believers are told 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). –J.B.

God do You hear me cry?
Do You hear me crying?
Do You hear me cry?
Do You hear me?

Out on deep water
With nothing to hold onto
I’ve been attacked by storms of disillusions
Vessel of isms that was my security
Has now become a wreck

Waves of indifference
Forcefully they crush my hope
I see no point in struggling for survival
But in the distance
There is a light so bright
A glimpse of hope in sight

Lighthouse, shines
Salvation is at hand
It is the Saviour my light
His name is Jesus Christ
It is the Saviour it is the light
It is the Son of God

There is a lighthouse
That shines to guide my way
So I may find the harbour of salvation
The Son of God is
Reaching out His hands to me
Saved by the Trinity

–Extol, “Storms of Disillusions”–

—

⁴² “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea. ⁴³ If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. ⁴⁵ And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. ⁴⁷ And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, ⁴⁸ where ‘the worms that eat them do not die, and the fire is not quenched.’”
–Mark 9:42-48 (NIV)–

¹⁰ The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: ¹¹ And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
–Revelation 14:10-11 (KJV)–

—

MARTIN LUTHER

These words clearly say that the punishment of the wicked is eternal,
just as the life of the righteous is eternal.
–Sermon on Matthew 25–

JOHN CALVIN

The wicked shall be raised to dishonor,
that they may be perpetually tormented with the devil and his angels.
–(Institutes, Book III, ch. 25)–

They shall be driven away into everlasting destruction,
where they shall feel the wrath of God without end.
–(Institutes, Book III, ch. 24)–

Their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched;
by these expressions Christ means a punishment which shall never end.
–(Institutes, Book II, ch. 12)–

JOHN KNOX

The wicked shall be cast into everlasting fire,
where they shall be tormented day and night forever.
—Scots Confession (1560), Chapter 25–

—

Dr. Robert Peterson, Hell on Trial (P&R Publishing, 1995), p. 190.

—, ed. Hell Under Fire (Zondervan, 2004).

Dr. John R. Rice, False Doctrines Answered (Sword, 1970).

—. Hell: What the Bible Says About It (Sword, 1945).

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

Maurice Rawlings, M.D. “To Hell and Back: Documentary.”

The same shall drink of the wine of THE WRATH OF GOD, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of HIS INDIGNATION; and he shall be TORMENTED WITH FIRE AND BRIMSTONE in the presence of the holy angels, and IN THE PRESENCE OF THE LAMB…THE SMOKE OF THEIR TORMENT ASCENDETH UP FOR EVER AND EVER:
and THEY HAVE NO REST DAY NOR NIGHT.
–Revelation 14:10-11 (KJV)–

—

You have a new way
Is it a better way?
Once I saw you proclaim
Now there’s slight disdain
Why keep that title, what has changed? Is God so different?
Why keep that title, what has changed? Is He not the same?

Love is present, grace abounds
What happened here? Was the world so enticing?
Denial is treachery hard to reconcile
Call it for what it really is
Don’t make excuses
Call it for what it really is
Go ahead apostasy

Tepid waters do not run
Stagnation breeds disease
Flies surround
Multiply maggot parasites
Why keep that title? Why redefine?
Lord of the flies
Apostasy, Apostasy

Love is present, grace abounds
What happened here? Was the world so enticing?
Denial is treachery hard to reconcile
Call it for what it really is
Don’t make excuses
Call it for what it really is
Go ahead apostasy

Do not conform to one man
God is clear on who you are
Love, grace and mercy are there
Do not pretend apostasy

–Living Sacrifice, “Apostasy”–

—

Dr. John R. Rice, Hell: What the Bible Says About It (Sword, 1945), pp. 12-13.

Dr. Robert Peterson, Hell on Trial: The Case for Eternal Punishment (P&R, 1995), ch. 9.

—, ed. Is Hell for Real or Does Everyone Go to Heaven? (Zondervan, 2011).

Bill Wiese, Hell: Separate Truth from Fiction (Charisma House, 2008).

John Owen, Apostasy from the Gospel (Banner of Truth, 1992).

THOU SHALT NOT lie with mankind,
as with womankind: IT IS ABOMINATION.
–Leviticus 18:22 (KJV)–

God gave them up unto VILE AFFECTIONS: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is AGAINST NATURE: and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, BURNED IN THEIR LUST TOWARD ONE ANOTHER; MEN WITH MEN working that which is UNSEEMLY, and receiving in themselves that RECOMPENCE OF THEIR ERROR which was meet.
–Romans 1:26-27 (KJV)–

DO NOT BE DECEIVED: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, NOR MEN WHO PRACTICE HOMOSEXUALITY, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers WILL INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD.
–1 Corinthians 6:9-10 (ESV)–

Thou hast loved righteousness,
and HATED INIQUITY.
–Hebrews 1:9 (KJV)–

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, their deeds are vile;
there is no one who does good.
–Psalm 14:1 (NIV)–

¹⁸ The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, ¹⁹ since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. ²⁰ For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
–Romans 1:18-20 (NIV)–

I had a dream that made me afraid.
As I was lying in bed, the images and visions
that passed through my mind terrified me.
–Daniel 4:5 (NIV)–

¹¹ I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the Gospel I preached is not of human origin. ¹² I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.
–Galatians 1:11-12 (NIV)–

The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit 
that we are God’s children.
–Romans 8:16 (NIV)–

—

The contempt it puts upon the honour of God: for there is something of practical atheism at the bottom of all sin. The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. We are sometimes tempted to think, “Surely there never was so much atheism and profaneness as there is in our days;” but we see the former days were no better; even in David’s time there were those who had arrived at such a height of impiety as to deny the very being of a God and the first and self-evident principles of religion. Observe, [1.] The sinner here described. He is one that saith in his heart, There is no God; he is an atheist. “There is no Elohim, no Judge or governor of the world, no providence presiding over the affairs of men.” They cannot doubt of the being of God, but will question his dominion. He says this in his heart; it is not his judgment, but his imagination. He cannot satisfy himself that there is none, but he wishes there were none, and pleases himself with the fancy that it is possible there may be none. He cannot be sure there is one, and therefore he is willing to think there is none. He dares not speak it out, lest he be confuted, and so undeceived, but he whispers it secretly in his heart, for the silencing of the clamours of his conscience and the emboldening of himself in his evil ways. [2.] The character of this sinner. He is a fool; he is simple and unwise, and this is an evidence of it; he is wicked and profane, and this is the cause of it. Note, Atheistical thoughts are very foolish wicked thoughts, and they are at the bottom of a great deal of the wickedness that is in this world. The word of God is a discerner of these thoughts, and puts a just brand on him that harbours them. Nabal is his name, and folly is with him; for he thinks against the clearest light, against his own knowledge and convictions, and the common sentiments of all the wise and sober part of mankind. No man will say, There is no God till he is so hardened in sin that it has become his interest that there should be none to call him to an account.

—MATTHEW HENRY’S COMMENTARY ON PSALM 14:1–

Joseph Stalin, the leader of the U.S.S.R., that is, communist Russia, had a daughter–her name was Americanized once she moved to the United States: she took the name of Lana Peters. She had mixed up feelings about her family and Russian patriotism while growing up; but she became a poet and writer; and made friends with other writers. Much to her frustration she found that being a writer in the Soviet Union wasn’t all its cracked up to be. She came to feel depressed, isolated, controlled, as she and her friends lived in constant fear of arrest by the KGB and getting their manuscripts confiscated because of Russia’s anti-free speech laws. Because of her position among the political elite, she was fortunate enough to have a Russian passport and travel outside the country. Most Russians were not allowed to. Her father died in 1953. She finally made up her mind in 1967 and moved to America at the age of 41. “I came to the rejection of communism totally,” she said (34:09). Stalin and his Russian communist leaders were Antisemites. In her opinion, Russian antisemitism grew out of Stalin’s rivalry with Leon Trotsky, who was Jewish, and whom Stalin had assassinated. Stalin believed that “all Jewish people were against him,” because they were fans of Trotsky–in Russia, they simply came to be viewed as political enemies of Stalin (43:15). Her impression was that “millions of people feel very much discontented with the regime…I don’t believe in a combination of freedom and communism…generally these two things do not go together” (50:12). Coming out of atheism and into Russian Orthodoxy and then Catholicism was explained by her in the following way: “It was based on some inheritance of religious feeling, which I had from my grandmothers; and then the conditions of life, when life becomes difficult: then the inner life becomes very important for a human being. The moment comes when you feel you just cannot exist in this…YOU JUST FEEL THAT THERE IS GOD, I cannot explain to you how you feel that” (55:25). Its what Wesleyans call the witness of the Spirit: this is what brought Stalin’s daughter out of atheism; and emphatically not rationalizing through C. S. Lewis type arguments. –J.B.