The Arminian Magazine--Spring, 1990

A BIBLICAL CONCEPT OF A JUST GOD --Robert L. Brush

In studying the attributes of God, we conclude that God has natural and moral attributes. Besides being omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, He is also holy, good, and just.

A just God! God always does what is right and good toward all men. It is true, we cannot understand God and our minds cannot grasp the greatness and power of God. Nor can we understand all that is involved in the fall of man or the curse of God upon the human family because of Adam's sin. Even though these are mysteries that we cannot understand, we are assured by the word of God, as well as logic, that God is just and has no respect of persons in assuring all have opportunity to be saved (Acts 10:34- 35).

When the subject of salvation comes up, it cannot be understood without some consideration of the doctrine of total depravity. Some scriptural references that John Wesley used to support this theory were Genesis 6:5, Psalms 14:1-3, and Romans 3:10-18; the sum of which is that the heart of man is only evil continually. Of course, this is the natural unregenerate man.

The Wesleyan view of total depravity is that an unregenerate man can do nothing to save himself, unless he is aided and led by the Holy Spirit; that man left to himself would never seek after God and of course, never find Him. God then must take the initiative and call the sinner to repentance or he would not and could not call upon God (John 6:44-45).

This can be resisted or accepted (Acts 2:37-41; 7:51). Even repentance and faith are impossible without the help of God (Acts 11:18; Ephesians 2:8; Hebrews 11:1).

Why are not all men saved Does God call everyone If He does why do some resist and others respond favorably It would have to be that God not only calls the sinner to repentance, but enables that sinner, by the power of His Spirit restraining the depravity of his soul, to make a choice for God. This is called "the day of salvation" (Isaiah 55:6).

We speak of sinners in this state as under conviction or "under the law" (Acts 2:37-38). While in this special condition a sinner is greatly concerned about his soul and during this time he is enabled by the Holy Spirit to repent and believe the gospel. He may, however, choose to resist the Spirit and by so doing, the Spirit my begin to withdraw from him leaving him lost in his sins, from which he has not desire to forsake until the Spirit once again deals with him. Accordingly, our will is only "free" while the Spirit is offering us salvation.

The Wesleyan view of total depravity is, then, a somewhat modified form of the Calvinistic version, which teaches that God's offer of salvation is irresistible and irrevocable and only for the "elect."

The Bible, as well as Wesley, teaches that all men may be saved; that the atonement is universal. The Lord is "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9). God, then, must offer salvation to all people. It is obvious that all men do not hear the gospel message about Jesus Christ, His life, death, and resurrection.

How can the atonement be said to be universal, when it is limited to only those who have heard the gospel message We understand that infants and mentally handicapped are saved by the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, even though they do not actually, knowingly believe explicitly in the gospel message. Yet who doubts that they are saved

The Scriptures declare, "For as by one man's disobedience [Adam's] many [all mankind] were made sinners; so by the obedience of one [Jesus Christ] shall many [all mankind] be made righteous" (Romans 5:19). The "many" that were made sinners and the "many" that were made righteous would have to be the same ones. The previous verse (verse 18) makes this exceedingly clear.

A logical extension of this truth is that even infants and mentally handicapped persons would all be doomed to everlasting punishment, were it not for the merits of Christ's death and resurrection. The whole human family is under the curse of God, but for the grace of Jesus Christ removing this curse from all men!

The only logical conclusion that fits the Bible is that all men are saved through the merits of Christ's blood until such a time in their life they knowingly, deliberately reject God's just claim on their lives. "For there is not respect of persons with God" (Romans 2:11; Acts 10:34-35).

There is not shortage of biblical illustrations of people who were, no doubt, accepted with God before they heard the gospel message. I mean New Testament examples under the gospel dispensation.

The most obvious one is Cornelius. He was devout (Acts 10:2). He feared God with his whole house, gave much alms, and prayed to God always. His prayers and giving were a memorial before God (verse 4). He was a just man (verse 22). Peter in verses 34-35 tells him that he is accepted with God and preaches Christ to him (verses 37-47). Upon believing this message, Cornelius became a New Testament Christian and received the Holy Ghost and Christian baptism.

Apollos, an eloquent preacher, mighty in the Scriptures (Acts 18:24), instructed in the way of the Lord, knew only John's baptism, obviously had not received Christian baptism, and was not a New Testament Christian at that time. After Aquila and Priscilla heard him, they took him aside and explained the way of God more clearly to him, after which he mightily convinced the Jews from the Scriptures that Jesus was Christ (Acts 18:28).

Lydia was also a woman of prayer who loved God before she heard the gospel message. Acts 16:14 states that she worshipped God before she heard the gospel. When she heard the message, she believed, was baptized, and became a Christian (Acts 16:15).

God told Paul that He had much people in corinth even before the gospel was preached to them (Acts 18:9-10). Paul persuaded the Jews and proselytes to continue in the grace of God (Acts 13:42- 43). This was apparently before they had fully believed in Christ. They seemed only to be awakened to Christ. Acts 13:42-52 is interesting reading.

It would seem from these accounts and from Romans 2:14-15 that even those who have not heard the gospel message can come to a saving knowledge of God before they hear the gospel message. "For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified" (Romans 2:13). "For when the Gentiles [heathen] which have not the law [Bible] do by nature [i. e. God's Spirit revealing Himself through nature, Romans 1:19-20] the things contained in the law [Bible]; these having not the [written] law are a law unto themselves [Romans 2:15] which show the work of the law written in their hearts" (Romans 2:13).

This brings us to an important question. Why preach the gospel to the heathen or anyone else We conclude that since the atonement is universal, those who rebel against God as they know and understand Him are lost. God has commanded all men everywhere to repent. The first message to lost people should be repentance toward God and then faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ.

This preaching under the power of the Holy Spirit will cause men to repent who would not otherwise repent. This is not to say that they could not be saved if they had not heard, but that they probably would not. All men have the opportunity to be saved, but can we say all men have an equal opportunity to be saved I think not. This is not to say there are many roads to heaven and all sincere people go there. There is only one Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. All men who are saved are saved through Him. Let us therefore preach the gospel to all as if they have never heard. Which of us know whether they will repent or not!

References for further reading:

Adam Clarke, Commentary, 6:49, 75. The Works of the Reverend John Fletcher, 1:555-556; 3:166-179. The Works of John Wesley, 8:337. Samuel Wakefield, Christian Theology, 2:626.

THE NEW BIRTH: RICHARD WATSON --edited by Vic Reasoner

Richard Watson (1781-1833)

Richard Watson was born in Lincolnshire, England and began preaching shortly after his conversion at age 15. He was ordained at 19, but then dropped out of the Methodist Conference under the suspicion of being an Arian.

At 31 he returned to the Conference and served as an itinerant preacher, 14 years as missions secretary, and as president.

In 1823 he published his most important work, the two volume Theological Institutes. This was Methodism's first systematic theology and was required reading in the course of study for American Methodists from 1825 to 1876.

John Fletcher Hurst called Watson "the greatest theological thinker of his day." Robert E. Chiles said he "had not serious rival for theological leadership in the first half of the nineteenth century."

Watson also wrote a biography of John Wesley, a theological dictionary, and after his death his published writings were collected in thirteen volumes. He was a scholar and an apologist for Wesleyan Arminianism. He appealed to reason and logic and his style was not dogmatic. He had not time to engage in unprofitable theological arguments. His final authority was not tradition nor philosophy, but the Word of God alone. He made no association between the baptism with the Holy Spirit and entire sanctification. Instead, he held regeneration to be a high state of grace.

Watson was sick nearly all of his adult life, but this did not dampen his missionary zeal. He was an eloquent preacher whose extemporaneous messages endeared him to his congregations.

In a circular letter sent to Methodist missionaries he reminded them not only to preach, but to persuade and "to subdue a revel world to the obedience of faith and love. He preaches best who saves the most souls."

Watson was a rare blend of careful scholarship and evangelistic zeal. Here is an edited version of his sermon "The New Birth," sermon #113 from his Sermons and Sketches of Sermons.

The New Birth John 3:8

Jesus spoke to the Jews in parables. Since they were often careless about the truth or prejudiced against it, it was hidden from them. But he always received sincere inquirers with the utmost kindness. This was the case with Nicodemus.

He came to Jesus by night. That seemed to imply considerable doubt about his mission and personal fear about his reputation. But Christ did not respond with displeasure at these infirmities. He saw that his heart desired to be right. Therefore at once he unfolded thy mysteries of his religion. He spoke of his own personal claims and the purpose of his coming.

The Jews were not unfamiliar with the phrase "born again." They supposed that though it was necessary for heathen to be born again before they could be entitled to the blessings of Moses' kingdom, that they themselves were entitled to those blessings by virtue of their natural birth.

The three propositions which Christ had just laid down were to him very astonishing. First, that the Jews had not title by natural descent to the blessings of Messiah's kingdom. Second, that to enter the kingdom they must renounce their Judaism by Christ's baptism. Third, that men must be brought under a divine influence. Their former ceremonial religion would avail them nothing.

Our Lord cautions Nicodemus against arguing from the difficulty of the subject to its impossibility. We shall briefly consider:

I. The Nature of this Moral Change.

1. This change is from darkness to light. I do not mean to say that when a person comes to a knowledge of the doctrines of Christ by study that this knowledge is any proof of his being born again. He may be led by curiosity or another such motive. The knowledge of which I now speak is that knowledge of ourselves, of God, of Christ, of religious experience, of our own accountability, of a future state, and a final judgment. It is demonstrated by God's Spirit to the soul. Whatever other knowledge we possess, unless we have felt the truths of the gospel exerting their sanctifying influence on our hearts, we are not "born of the Spirit."

2. This implies the utter destruction of sin's power in the heart. We are told that "he that is born of God sinneth not." "He keepeth himself and the wicked one toucheth him not." "Sin shall not have dominion over you who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." If there be any truth in the declarations that we who are born of God do not commit sin, then all our sinful habits must give way before the powerful agency which works this mighty change in us.

3. This change introduces us into new connections and relationships. We were "aliens from the common wealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise." We were connected with those with whom God is angry and whom he will finally punish. But when we are changed, we are introduced into intimate connection and union with a new society. We become connected with God's people, by whatever name they are called.

4. The change implied in being born of the Spirit supposes the creation of new principles. Faith is now inspired so that we now have an object for which to live in the present world. There is love, both to God and to all mankind for his sake. There is hope, teaching us to despise the world and labor for eternity. We now have new enjoyments arising from the presence of God and the practice of devotion. Our one great principle is a holy desire to do the will of God.

II. The Agency by which this Change is Effected.

We are "born of the Spirit," by the direct influence of the Spirit of God on the soul. All earlier editions of true religion were dispensations of the Spirit to the extend it pleased God to pour out his influence. John, however, especially designated the dispensation of the Messiah as the dispensation of the Spirit. "He shall baptize you with the fire of the Holy Ghost."

I cannot think that the gospel ministry can be faithfully exercised without success. What is called "the gospel" has often been preached with no results. But when the whole gospel of doctrines, experience, and duties is faithfully preached, the promise of Christ is, "I am with you always."

This is an agency that is to be sought and obtained by prayer. The Spirit of conviction comes when men neither seek nor desire him. Christ said, "I was found of them that sought me not."

After being convinced of sin, we obtain additional supplies of the Spirit in answer to prayer. By prayer we obtain the Spirit of faith - the power to believe. By prayer the Spirit of adoption is brought from heaven and fixes his residence in our hearts, enabling us to call God "Father."

The Holy Spirit does not leave the new birth to the operation of some natural power. If God gave the first Christians his Holy Spirit, enabling them to repent and believe and if that Holy Spirit is not given now, then religion has lost its saving power. We are just as corrupt and helpless as were the first Christians. We need the same assistance that they needed. Every man who wished to experience the blessing has only to ask for it in the way God has appointed. "How much more shall your heavenly Father give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him"

III. The Difficulties Associated with this Doctrine.

1. Our own inaptitude. The natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God. A life of vanity and worldliness renders the mind unfit to grasp spiritual things like hard labor callouses a man's hand until the hand loses its sensitivity to touch.

2. Our confused notions. Some men exaggerate the difficulties in order to excuse themselves. Wherever there is a bad heart, which refused to do the will of God, there will always be found a confused head.

3. Our finite nature. Religion that could be explained by our limited intellect would be poor indeed. We find many still say with Nicodemus, "How can these things be" They want all the details pointed out. But even if God has not granted an answer to every question, the doctrine is not to be rejected on that account.

Tell us, if you can account for those mental struggles before the commission of sin or those pangs of conscience afterward. You have not control over them. You cannot account for them except that they are visitations from God.

Here is a person who feels the guilt of sin pressing on him like a heavy load. He is seeking pardon and is believing, as fully as he can, that Jesus Christ has died for him. He derives no comfort from all he does until the love of God is shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Ghost.

There is a power which visits the human heart and works upon it. Whether we can fully explain it or not, we are taught it is the Spirit of God.

1. Our ignorance of these things is a great reproach to us. Nicodemus was ignorant of the meaning of his own Bible. It is possible for you who hear so much of the Spirit to remain in real ignorance of these important truths.

2. Anything which leaves us short of this great change is of no use to us. I dare say that Nicodemus was as good a man as Saul of Tarsus before his conversion and both of them lived as good as we do. Yet "except a man be born again he cannot enter the kingdom of God."

3. A man cannot enter heaven without it. What is required to be ready The renewal of the whole nature in the image of God. How shall you be made perfect in holiness if the work is never begun in you

THE OBITUARY OF DISPENSATIONALISM: 1830-1988 --Vic Reasoner

In 1830 Margaret MacDonald had a vision about the end of the world and when she came out from under her trance, she wrote it down. This account attracted the attention of Edward Irving and his church later claimed Margaret has one of their own prophetesses. Irving is regarded as the forerunner of the charismatic movement because of his emphasis on healing and tongues. Irving also had an interest in prophecy and held prophetic conferences. The historian of Irving's church claimed that Margaret was the first person to teach a two stage second coming of Christ.

The Birth of Dispensationalism John Darby traveled to Scotland to visit the MacDonald home. Darby was a lawyer until a year after his conversion when he was ordained a deacon in the Church of England. Soon after entering the ministry he became disillusioned with the institutional church and started the Brethren movement in Plymouth, England. Darby became known as the father of dispensationalism, the first eschatology to incorporate the "prophecy" of Margaret MacDonald. Darby continued to develop this new view by becoming the first to make a radical distinction between Israel and the Church. Darby taught that God has two special groups of people (or two brides) and a separate plan for each of them. This meant Christ would have to return twice.

Darby had a pessimistic view of the Church, teaching that it would end in apostasy. Only a remnant would be secretly raptured out (namely those who followed Darby). Of course, this secret rapture was so secret that no one had ever heard of it for 1800 years! The Church was a parenthesis in God's original plan because of the supposed failure of Christ to set up His kingdom while He was on earth. When He comes again to set up the kingdom, for some strange reason, the temple will be rebuilt and animal sacrifices re-instituted. By the time Darby had finished dividing the Word of Truth there were seven dispensations, five judgments, two brides, two new covenants, two kingdoms, two advents, two resurrections, a 2000 year gap in Daniel's seventy weeks, and eight separate Plymouth Brethren denominations.

The Influence of Dispensationalism

Darby made eight trips to America to promote his new teaching. Daniel Steele interviewed him and was not impressed. As Darby tried to distinguish between all the judgments, Steele was so amused that he could hardly keep from laughing in his face. Steele wrote, "May I never see another man, manifestly of so great genius and learning, compelled to crawl through orifices so small." It is an irony of history that the holiness movement canonized Daniel Steele, but adopted the teachings of John Darby!

While other dispensational scholars find as few as three dispensations or as many as eight, Scripture never uses the word "dispensation" to refer to a period of time. It is made up of two words: "house" and "law" meaning management or administration. When C. I. Scofield, a converted lawyer, visited at the prophetic conferences he did not have the theological background to properly evaluate Darby's teaching. He was indoctrinated and in 1901 first published his reference Bible. This book did more than anything else to make Darby's teachings popular in America.

Dispensationalism also infiltrated the American church through the rise of the Bible School movement. As early as the 1930's dispensationalism was firmly established as a foundational doctrine in most of the new schools. In time a minister was not considered orthodox unless he adhered to this new doctrine. It is another irony of history that dispensationalists would be intolerant of anyone who held one of the major historic views taught for nearly 1900 years. No real Wesleyan scholar has ever subscribed to dispensationalism because they recognized that is was based on Darby's own Calvinistic presuppositions. However, genuine calvinists also reject Darby's conclusions as "watering down solid Calvinism."

As early as 1887 Daniel Steele recognized that dispensationalism belittled the Christian agencies in operation by asserting that they were inadequate to convert the world. He feared the system would end in embarrassment just as it happened to William Miller and the Seventh Day Adventist movement who first said that the Lord would return in 1843, then 1844. Steele warned that the attention of the Church would be diverted from evangelism to speculation.

The rapture came to be anticipated as an escape from responsibility. At the turn of the 20th century there was a move to finish the task of world evangelism, but dispensationalism shifted the emphasis away from social responsibility to that of rescuing the souls of a few before they were out of time. Never in the history of the Church has so large a percentage of professed Christians had so little influence. The Roman Empire caved in to Christian influence when only 10% of the population was Christian. Today 34% claim to be born again.

The history of dispensationalism's negative influence is traced in Less Than Conquerors with Douglas W. Frank concluding, "The appeal of dispensationalism might well wane, with post millennial optimism taking its place." The Church has only recently gained some of the earlier momentum and emphasis on world evangelism. Of course, this, too, must be interpreted by dispensationalists as a delusion since the Church is in ruin. Darby declared that "the yearbooks of history are the yearbooks of hell." Much later Lewis Sperry Chafer wrote in his eight volume magnum opus of dispensational theology that God gave us no commission to convert the world and "enterprises based on that sort of idealism are without His authority."

Decline of Dispensationalism

False prophets attempting to predict the outcome of both world wars hurt dispensationalism's credibility. they were always confident that Bible prophecy was being fulfilled right before their eyes, but the subsequent events always forced them to continually re-evaluate what was being fulfilled. Bible scholars had either grown silent or abandoned the viewpoint after the mid 1960s. Then there was a revival of interest when Hal Lindsey published the best selling book of the 1970s: The Late Great Planet Earth. In it Lindsey declared that "no self-respecting scholar who looks at world conditions and the accelerating decline of Christian influence today is a post-millennialist." Lindsey wold have saved himself much embarrassment if he had interpreted world conditions in light of Scripture, instead of trying to read into Scripture his understanding of current events. Lindsey helped bury dispensationalism with his unfulfilled predictions and there were plenty of post-millennialists around to attend the funeral!

The decade of the 1980s came and went without any armageddon despite Lindsey's forecast in The 1980's: Countdown to Armageddon. It was not The Terminal Generation. Getting married three times did not help his credibility either. Scofield also had to cover over the fact he had deserted his first wife.

With the establishment of Israel as a nation on May 14, 1948, dispensationalists taught that there would be only one more generation of the Church. God would rapture it out and the tribulation would begin, according to their view of Matthew 24:34. All this was to occur within one forty year "generation." While dispensationalists have never agreed among themselves as to whether the rapture was to be partial, pre-tribulational, mid-trib, or post-trib, time has proven them all to be wrong. The year 1988 ended with an awkward silence from their scholars. If Israel is "God's prophetic clock," then dispensationalists do not know how to tell time.

Dispensationalists tried hard to hang on to life with such sensational attempts as UFO's and the rapture, studies of Egyptian pyramids, the alignments of the planets, hidden messages in the Psalms, a revival of the old Roman Empire, 666 on Social Security checks, 666 on the Universal Products Code, or 666 on anything! Edgar Whisenant was the latest to play the dating game. He sold 4.5 million copies of a book proving the Lord would return between September 11-13, 1988. He later updated it to October 3, then January, 1989, and finally to September 1, 1989. He finally admitted, "I guess God doesn't always do things the way man thinks he will." Constance Cumbey had earlier given up a seven year effort to expose a conspiracy to introduce the Anti-Christ. At one point she claimed it might even be Pat Robertson. She return to practicing law (too bad Darby and Scofield didn't). No wonder several dispensational seminaries moved away from their earlier positions altogether.

The Death of Dispensationalism

Although the Church was supposed to be in ruins, it experienced the greatest revival since Pentecost during the end of the 20th century. Peter Wagner declared, "We are in the springtime of missions." In 1900 the ratio of non-Christians to Christians worldwide was 27:1. In 1989 that same ratio was 7:1. Although there were repeated attempts to connect the year 2000 with something cataclysmic, "wolf" had been cried too many times. Nothing could revive the old theory and it passed away leaving a host of red-faced prophecy expects and a huge surplus of obsolete books and charts.

For Sale: The Collected Works of J. N. Darby, 1867-83, 32 vols.

Systematic Theology, Lewis Speery Chafer, 1947-8, 8 vols. (Out of print with a two volume abridgment schedules. Dallas Theological Seminary is embarrassed with their founder).

Scofield Reference Bible, 1909, Original Recipe.

The New Scofield Reference Bible, 1967, New and Unimproved.

Dispensational Truth, Clarence Larkin, 1918.

Red Terror and Bible Prophecy, Dan Gilbert, 1944.

When Your Money Fails, Mary S. Relfe, 1981 (But I still have checks left!)

Kissinger: Man of Peace Salem Kirban, 1974.

Gorbachev! Has the Real AntiChrist Come Robert W. Raid, 1988.

The 1980's: Countdown to Armageddon, Hal Lindsey, 1980. (Everything else by Hal Lindsey. Don't feel sorry for Hal; he has his book royalties in long tern real estate investments).

88 Reasons Why the Rapture is in 1988, Edgar Whisenant.

Hidden Prophecies in the Psalms, J. R. Church, 1988.

Guardians of the Grail, J. R. Church, 1989. (What will he come up with this year)

Peace, Prosperity, and the Coming Holocaust, Dave Hunt, 1983.

Everything by Constance Cumbey.

Contact: I. C. Betternow Terms: Cheap!

A RIGHT CONCEPTION OF SIN --C. Marion Brown

Richard S. Taylor states in his book A Right Conception of Sin that the doctrine relating to sin forms the center around which we build our entire theological system. A faulty concept here would lead to various harmful and deceitful, if not destroying practices.

With open alarm expressed by numerous church leaders concerning creeping worldly mindedness, declination in attendance, and a lack of fervency in devotion; perhaps we should re-examine our doctrine of sin as practiced and taught by example. It is one thing to stand behind the pulpit and declare war on sin and yet another to demand that these principles be carried out first in the life of the speaker and then in the hearers.

The application of the message was what caused the officials at Oxford to refuse to allow Wesley to speak again. He simply asked the question of who was a Christian under the shining light of the gospel.

We are warned about being only hearers of the Word, deceiving ourselves. A battery of excuses have been mined away from us in recent years, with major moved of God being reported in the uttermost parts of the earth, the de-clawing of the Bear, and a host of other facts that prove God is still very operative in the earth today.

A few years ago, when the ill fated space shuttle was determined to be veering off course and had severe problems, the command central had not choice but to self destruct the whole mechanism. The word was that it was done to protect potentially thousands from the danger of an out-of-control spaceship.

It is my firm conviction that the conservative evangelical movement as we know it in America has set in motion the concepts that will cause it to "self-destruct."

Mr. Wesley laid a biblical cornerstone for the doctrine of sin: "A willful transgression of a known law." Mr. Fletcher followed with his in-depth "Checks to Antinomianism." Watson, Clarke, Field, and a host of others held tenaciously to this concept. These men taught and practices that the atonement of Christ dealt squarely and fully with the sin question.

Somewhere a drift began, perhaps during the great controversies that followed the Civil War. Richard S. Taylor wrote his book A Right Conception of Sin to try to correct what he perceived to be errors concerning the doctrine and understanding of sin.

Today we are in a position where thousands give mental assent to so-called principles of Wesleyan interpretation of the Scripture, but in practice deny them. The impetus of the doctrine has been taken away. Leaders bemoan the fact that their base is eroding. The problem transcends our stand on outward adornment, structure of church government, or specific positions on a variety of subjects. Statistics show us something we ought to consider.

We should re-examine our doctrine of sin, not in theory as much as in practices - practices we tolerate in our lives and allow to freely operate in our ranks. The sin of gossiping and backbiting is always listed in the Scripture along with the sins of murder and adultery. Jesus stated plainly that "no murderer hath eternal life." He clearly linked together the sin of murder and anger. Where does that place a host of professors of religion who engage freely in this common place sin of the twentieth century

For a while we tolerated it, now we embrace it as a necessary evil in our ranks. It seems to be practiced freely and without much wounding of conscience even among professing evangelical Christians.

This is a sad hour and an hour for genuine repentance and turning from sin. Christ came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. As long as we see ourselves and our peers in self-righteous robes of profession and exceptional knowledge and not in the revealing light of the Scriptures, there is no hope of turning the tide of sin and ungodliness.

The right concept of sin is always demonstrated in a clear rebuke of its practice wherever it is found. Sin nailed Jesus to the cross, not just the gross, heinous sins, but all sin - even the ones practiced by so-called holiness people today.

So far have we drifted from the mindset of John Newton when he wrote,

I saw one hanging on a tree in agony and blood He fixed his languid eyes on me as near his cross I stood sure, never till my latest breath can I forget that look; it seemed to charge me with his death tho' not a word He spoke.

Oh, for a revival of owning up to our sin, no matter how palatable or how hard. It is the only path to revival and awakening!

GUIDELINES FOR WESLEY-STYLE CLASS MEETINGS --Elmer Long

1. The first step is for the leader to state his own spiritual condition, giving those in the class the right to ask him any question concerning his state.

2. If this is a meeting of those who have not been in the class before, then he should ask questions to each person one at a time. The questions should be suited to each need. These questions should start with the beginning of the Christian life, then leading up to the more advanced stages of Christian experience.

3. If the class consists of those who have been in such meetings prior to this one, then the questions should be concerning their progression in Christian life.

4. These classes should consist of twelve and not more than fifteen (this was the rule of the Methodist Church. If there were more than fifteen, then a second class was formed).

These questions are designed for class meetings and not for "soul clinics." The distinction between class meetings and soul clinics is that in soul clinics the questions are asked to the group rather than to individual persons.

1. The first series of questions should be aimed at those just started on the Christian way.

A. Have you the forgiveness of sins B. Have you peace with God C. Have you the witness of the Spirit D. How is your relationship with your neighbor E. Have you a love for spiritual things F. Any questions relating to Christian experience.

2. The second series should be directed to those who have been professing Christians for a time.

A. Are you walking in the light God shines on your way B. Are you experiencing the conviction for entire sanctification C. Are you progressing in your walk with God D. Is there progress in your field of labor E. Have you desire for a fuller fellowship with the Savior

3. The third in the series should be directed to those who are increasing in the love and knowledge of the Lord or at least should be.

A. Is your holiness increasing B. Have you an increase in mercy, compassion, humbleness of mind C. Do you have an increase in faith and labor of love