Dancing With Ichabod

"Then she named the child Ichabod, saying, 'The glory has departed from Israel!' because the ark of God had been captured and because of her father-in-law and her husband." (read the instructional story of Eli the high priest and his corrupt sons in 1 Samuel. Ichabod is the final outcome in I Samuel 4:21)

The page title "dancing with Ichabod" - means courting the spiritual devastation (declension/loss of His Life) that Ichabod was named after. The purpose of this page is to answer the question that so easily arises in reading this website, Where did this Holiness Movement and the experience of His Rest go to? If it was so glorious how could this be even possible?

The answer is simple, but gets more complex the more one examines it, for it penetrates to the very root of how we relate to the gospel enterprise itself. This topic is more complex than the main topic of how we can enter His Rest since, you either know the way to His Rest or you don't. In either case there is only one appointed way to it; a way that is narrow. Off the narrow path of faith, there are countless diverse ways to lose your way, but they all stem from leaving that O so narrow path for both you as an individual or as part of the body of Christ. It is simple in principle:

"It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. But there are some of you who do not believe. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him. And He said, "Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.
From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. Then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?" John 6:63-67

"But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." 1 Corinthians 2:14

There has always been warfare in the church between truth and deception. John Wesley certainly saw his share in the raw! See this excerpt from The Life and Times of John Wesley

Fallen Shepherds Need Fallen Sheep

The New Testament gives two reasons why the church strayed from the organisation and function taught by the the apostles. First there were leaders like Diotrephes "who loved to be first among them". This is still commonplace today. Second, there were believers who loved to be lorded over by men and who rejected Jesus as the personally present head of the church.... "For ye bear with the foolish gladly, being wise yourselves. For ye bear with a man, if he bringeth you into bondage, if he devoureth you, if he taketh you captive, if he exalteth himself, if he smiteth you on the face." 2 Cor. 11 19-20 This practise is all too common today if you have eyes to see.

"And He spoke a parable to them: "Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into the ditch?" Luke 6:39

Without an example and experience of the "pure-hearted religion" lived in New Testament times, many sincere and seeking believers have difficulty relating to the scripture teaching that refers to that church. Our gatherings today fall so far short of the level of grace that was commonplace in the early church that it has become very difficult for us to even imagine. What we experience as "church" today is indeed very far removed from what we read about in the New Testament.

So here we are in the ditch. We have been camping here for centuries now. How did we get here?? Well, if you examine how life works, you will notice that quality outcomes often become the first victim of rapid growth -especailly in times when the pressure is off -such as when persecution against the faith ended so long ago.....

1. When the Circle is Broken

Can you imagine a time when the saved do not gather, and do not help others get saved? Perhaps you can, but if there was nobody to pray for you or open the way to salvation for you, would you have even been saved?

Some would still get saved because God is still on His Throne and hearts are full of need, but it would have been hard -and there would be few indeed that make it.

That's exactly how it is these days for believers who want to obtain a pure heart from God. A clear message to guide a seeker into purity of heart is rare. This website should not be at all necessary. Crowded and joyful churches everywhere should be leavening every sermon and song with allusions and teachings about this glorious supernatural Holiness. But they don't. And they can't because they don't have it -and in most cases have not even heard of it. And if they have heard of it, they have not obtained the reality of it. Theory does not live because it is not mixed with a completed faith.

However it was not always like this, because God planned an easier way to enter His Rest. When those in His Rest engaged in siege-prayer as a group nothing could be refused them. What is siege-prayer? It is aggressively laying heaven under importune siege ("harass with persistent requests") until the request is granted -no matter how long it takes.

From: Scriptural Death-Route Holiness by L. W. Boardman- "When the “death-route” emphasis died in the holiness movement, the intense pattern of fasting and prayer which characterized so many of the early holiness people, tended to die with it. We are told that those early holiness folk, as a systematic pattern, used to fast two days a week until after three o’clock in the afternoon. Then, when revival efforts would fail, they would fast two full days as a group, and then eat for two days. They would follow that pattern, with intense intercessory prayer sometimes for several weeks until the Holy Ghost would begin to move upon sinners all over the area with tremendous Holy Ghost conviction, and revivals of heart-Holiness would break out. Multitudes of the hardest sinners (such as “Bulldog” Charley Wireman) would get soundly saved and gloriously sanctified in such revivals. Many of those converts became mighty preachers of Holiness, and ardent soul-winners in their turn."

Not now.

Why has the holiness movement abandoned the revival pattern which our forefathers found to be so successful? Is it not largely because the majority of our pastors and people (leaders and followers) have never died out to themselves, and have only the doctrine of holiness in their heads, but do not have the experience in their hearts? Even when they are sincere and try to be honest, they would make less regrettable blunders which injure the Kingdom of God if they were Spirit-led -using God’s judgment instead of their own.

When was this time when the pure in heart would gather together and pray in whole districts? It happened in the early church -under the apostles who were certainly pure in heart. But their ways were lost since so many were martyred because of this empire-shattering faith.

It appeared again in England during the time of Wesley. They held "class meetings" for this purpose. But the Methodist Church was not created with this sole purpose in mind. It was more created to defend the followers of Wesley in the Anglican Church, from the majority of clergymen who only wanted the status quo. Often there was vigourous persecution -and it was not Wesley's purpose to start a new church -he only preached to bring souls into heart-purity. But so many entered His Rest, that some organized care for their well being became necessary.

And it came into being again in the chaos that followed the Civil War in the wilds of the American Southwest (especially Texas) and spread like wildfire from there.

Pioneer Days of The Holiness Movement in The Southwest By Charles B. Jernigan 16 page PDF (on the History page)

A more recent example involving just two sanctified sisters in prayer is: Revival in the Hebrides (1949) 12 pages by Duncan Campbell (on the "Charismata" page)

But where can you find a larger group of sanctified souls to pray like that today? I really don't know. We need to get more into His Rest the hard way first. That's what this website is for. And that's what George Delo is preaching for. -and Marc Adams is teaching for. (see their testimonies and contact info on the "Testimonies" page)

2. Procrastination's Payday

"The old-time holiness people used to urge their new converts to seek holiness without delay. True conversion should cause people to desire to press on into the sanctified experience until they know beyond a shadow of doubt that the work is done. It was unbelief that kept the carnally-rebellious Children of Israel from entering Canaan Land (Heb. 3:19). Unbelief will cause people of our day to feel that their need is not as great as God describes it, and that holiness is not entirely necessary, and that God’s command: “Be ye holy” (I Peter 1:15-16), is not imperative. Such people will disregard the warnings of Heb. 3 and 4 and will die in the spiritual wilderness.

Any unnecessary delay in getting sanctified is always a bad risk. When God convicts one of his carnality, that soul should start at once seeking to be sanctified. Any needless delay is dangerous because the sense of urgency will die down while the issue is cooling. In the meantime Satan will take every advantage of the carnality in one’s heart, and use it to cause the converted one to feel defeated, become discouraged, and give up. Then the devil has him. Procrastination has its perilous payday.

The old-time holiness people used to talk about dying like a yellow dog under a back porch. By that expression they meant for the “dying to self” to be without delay, quickly accomplished, and with a finality akin to the death of a dog. The true holiness people have always believed in the crucifixion of self, and anyone who did not believe in it was considered a heretic.

God will never assume the controls of your life until you relinquish them unconditionally to Christ.

That is what self hates to do. God would be pulling one way and self the other. God would never accept such mockery. God is a gentleman, and will not take anything away from you which you will not give up, nor will He force anything onto you which you don’t want. The only safe course is to die out in full surrender, and do it without delay." L. S. Boardman

“Few have understood the seriously deleterious effects of keeping the carnal former man (”the old man”) in the believing heart for any length of time. The special honeymoon glow of the “first love” fades and the heart begins to show signs that complete spiritual freedom from sin has not yet been given. And so the battles with sin and sinwardness begin. You pray it down -and it pops up again later. You grit your teeth and resist. You repent. You cry in frustration and repentance. You walk free for a while and then the temptations return.

Nor is growth a lasting remedy, since as the new man grows within, so does the old man secretly do likewise, so that when you least expect it, your old temptations will come roaring back to claim you when you least expect it. One does not grow weeds out of a field: he violently uproots them. Uprooting them one at a time does not work either because one weed or another will come back when you are not looking. Let Him uproot the weeds for you -all of them at one stroke.

You can easily see that any church that institutionalizes the acceptance of unsanctified carnal men as "normal" cannot help but go on to minimize and then avoid this work of grace. This has happened within the Methodist Church and all the “Holiness Churches” -and continues even to this day. The righteous fruits of a pure heart are so seldom seen that they cannot be recognized, even while presumptive boasts of Godliness abound.

Only with great difficulty does an unsanctified man lead others into something he does not himself enjoy! Success is not impossible, but it is unlikely. But sometimes the preacher gets so convicted by his own preaching that with tears he is sanctified on the floor, and then others follow right after him.

The easiest time to enter His Rest is shortly after salvation. At this time right after their act of “saving faith”, their horror of sin and “first love” are still fresh, and so when they are informed that their pardon now needs to be completed with purity, it does not surprise them. Instead, they quickly see the deficiency in their new work of grace and throw themselves upon Him and implore for Him to sanctify their hearts. He quickly hears their whole-hearted cry and does so. This is how the early church did it.

In this way, they make themselves virtually immune to most of the temptations and weaknesses that beset those in Christian life and ministry. Being a seeker of a pure heart is good. Being a possessor is infinitely better.

Those who enter His Rest have fulfilled in their lives the promised foundational works of reconciliation promised to mankind since the very beginning. They have been given a heart that cannot help but fulfill the Ten Commandments. It is the ground that they stand on -and have no heart to vary from it. God hates sin in any measure -and so He cannot be truly intimate with those who have retained some hidden sinwardness. This is true religion that you can grow like a weed in -since the hidden unrighteousness is no longer within to hinder and turn you aside.

And despite the unbroken fellowship and favour with God, there is still plenty to do. Not everybody is full of health and youthful vitality. (I am short of both) Not everybody is endowed with wonderful spiritual gifts. Not everybody has the had the years to build wisdom in. Since you are still human, human mistakes can be made -even without sin.

This is supernatural blamelessness -a work that is quite distinct from all the ministries and gifts that are proclaimed at every turn these days. It is the jewel at the top of the “narrow way” “the path that is less traveled”. But this was the intimacy with Christ that was very bedrock of the early Church. They were called “enChristed ones” for a reason.

However, having sanctified souls guide new believers to enter His Rest right after salvation has been almost universally neglected in our day. How can they follow if there is no leader?

Carnal ministers then naturally create churches after their own marred image.......... And so we wonder why our churches are carnal and holiness languishes while our leaders are kept so busy with peripheral concerns that quality preaching is seldom heard. Nor are quality hearts available to hear since the carnal people are likewise too busy with the carnal affairs of this carnal and fallen world.

But can you teach an old dog new tricks? Absolutely. Its just harder and it takes much longer. Very few of the testimonies quoted on this website describe an experience of obtaining His Rest right after salvation. They did it the hard way. So can you. However, remember, this page is explaining why His Rest has become so rare. Dogs are supposed to be trained properly. Its a puppy owner's responsibility. Not the puppy's. Earnest Seeker

3. Wesley’s Groaning Gospel

Records show that many of Wesley’s preachers, in the early days of the Modern Holiness Movement, followed Mr. Wesley’s injunction to “ groan after holiness.”[5] There is evidence that when Wesley’s “groan emphasis” began to die, the depths of true holiness began to shallow out proportionately. For this reason a great deal of the power and purity of true Bible holiness has been lost from the holiness movement, and has never been brought back to its original state.

4. They Detested Depravity

Mr. David Updegraph, a sainted Friends (Quaker) minister of great spiritual power, in relating his search for a clean heart, says:

"I hated pride, ambition, evil tempers, and vain thoughts, but I had them, for all that, and they were a part of me. Not as acts to be repented of and forgiven, but as dispositions lying behind the acts, and promptings thereto, natural to the “Old Man” and inseparable from his presence in my being. I began to ask God, with a measure of faith, to “cast him out.” Along with this desire there came a great hunger and thirst to be “filled with all the fullness of God.” I longed for a clean heart and constant spirit.[8]

In this same connection, Adam Clarke affirmed: “This, indeed, is the sum and substance of the religion of Jesus Christ. We have partaken of an earthly, sensual, and devilish, nature; the design of God, by Christ, is to remove this, and to make us partaker of the Divine Nature, and save us from all the corruption, in principle and fact, which is in the world.”[9]

“Break off the yoke of inbred sin,
And fully set my spirit free!
I cannot rest till pure within
Till I am wholly lost in thee.”

The negative dying must precede the positive purity in order for the purity to be valid.

Some poet, unknown to us, who evidently knew from experience what he was talking about said:

“Oh my life was incomplete;
Partly bitter, partly sweet;
Until I let the Old Man die.”

5. A Regrettable Retreat

One very tragic lost art is the old-time Methodist Class Meeting. It was a layman’s movement, and greatly helped to keep the church spiritually alive and on fire for a century. And then the “band” meeting was humanly and carnally originated. The class meeting was a confession meeting. ( a "support group" for seekers of His Rest that builds faith) The band meeting was an accusation meeting. (exposing where each had fallen down in their seeking -that builds guilt and self-righteousness ) The band meeting, like weeds in a garden, killed the class meeting.[2] And as a result, both of them died, leaving very little hope that the class meeting, with its original effectiveness, would ever be resurrected. There have been, in recent years, a few feeble attempts to revive the class meeting, with its original pattern and power, but little has ever come of it. Another lethal blow to the heart of the class meeting was the increasing number of backslidden class leaders who tried to lift others spiritually, when they themselves were down. The pulpits also became cursed with the same malignant malady, and still are!

6. Time’s Tragic Trend

In recent years, the trend is toward short revival meetings, many of which go from Wednesday night or Friday night through Sunday night. These short meetings differ greatly from the “siege-type” of revivals which were frequently practiced by the holiness people a few years back. The results from these short revival meetings are usually much less far reaching also. Neither the carnal leaders, nor their equally carnal followers are allowed time enough to get under deep enough conviction to adequately search their own hearts, or to get sick enough with Holy Ghost conviction, to die out completely. Only a few individuals can see the awful depths of the corruption of their own carnal hearts clearly enough in a short revival meeting to become willing to face their own crucifixion.

One of the great weaknesses of modern revivals is due to the fact that too many pastors and people alike would prefer to sit back and enjoy the services, and pray for sinners, rather than to search their own hearts, confess their own backslidings, make their own restitutions, dig out their own carnality and become sanctified “Holy” and “wholly.”

When it is considered more important to get new members into the church than it is to get the old ones sanctified, both the ministers and lay members are getting the whole revival pattern in reverse order. Christ wants all born again converts to first tarry until they are endued with power from on high (Luke 24:49), before they go out to be witnesses to the world (Acts 1:4, 8).

When the modern, short, so-called revivals are designed to “happify” rather than convict, entertain rather than expose sin and carnality --then the pastor and people alike will veer off into the ditch and either become worldly on the one hand or legalistic on the other.

7. The Perilous Problem of the Pampered People

When the time comes in any holiness church where the PEOPLE will not go along with an extended, siege-type, “death-route” revival because of the length of time required as well as the added expense or because they fear getting “snowed under” (overwhelmed) and “dug out” (exposed) --that church eventually will be filled with uncrucified and unsanctified people. When this tragedy occurs, then the human and carnal handling of the affairs of the church will result. Satan is thus made happy, and God is grieved, while the malignant disease of depravity in the hearts of pastor and people remains unremedied. When the “death-route type” of revival meetings are abandoned, the church becomes like a hollow tree --decaying at the heart, with only a thin exterior remaining, until a carnal storm hits and it goes down.

8. The Evangelist’s Easygoing Effect

When the EVANGELIST shies away from the ‘’death-route type” of revivals because of fear of their length or his lower average pay or of upsetting people, his meetings will fail to dig carnality out of its pastors or people, and very soon will grieve the Holy Ghost out of his evangelistic ministry.

As he leaves church after church, they may be fooled into thinking they had a revival, when all they really had was a few sermons which carnal people enjoy. When an evangelist loses his purity of heart and the human takes over, he then must resort to emotionalism and psychological gimmicks instead of holy unction and utter dependence on genuine Holy Ghost conviction. In his desperation to get seekers and make a showing, he learns that the evangelist that has the most seekers at the altar, and creates the most excitement, will naturally get the most calls for ministry. As a result, “seekers” become more important than “finders.” Oh, the subtle temptations toward a professional ministry!

9. The Pastor’s Precarious Predicament

When pastors do not want the “death-route type” of revivals, it may be for one of several reasons.

They may have their carnal church running smoothly and realize the danger of their controlling members getting somewhat upset with conviction and failing to “face up” and “die out” and pray through to victory. His congregation could become like a stirred-up nest of hornets, and the pastor might wind up with the whole swarm launching a deadly attack on him.

Some pastors, on the other hand, either know or fear that they don’t have the blessing of a pure, sanctified heart, and are unwilling to run the risk of exposure before their people. Hence, they carefully avoid the evangelists which they fear might zero in on their own heart’s need. This tends to keep the “death-route” evangelist from getting meetings.

As long as the short shallow revival meetings with a splash of sentiment at the mourners’ bench --taking it by faith--without proper groundwork for faith --is the accepted pattern in the holiness ranks, one may expect many more seekers than finders when it comes to genuine holiness of heart and life.

When the “death-route” evangelists are forced out of the evangelistic field, the true “death-route” emphasis soon phases out of their church. This trend is tragic! The next exodus or withdrawal would be the grieved Holy Ghost Himself. This is deadly serious!!! Just as there are some sinners when faced with the need for faith to get saved, just cannot succeed. The price is just too high for them. Sometimes they then become hardened to the gospel and persecute those who before brought conviction to them. This same dynamic can also occur when faced with the need to be sanctified and obtain -or keep a pure heart. The Results of Rejection

10. Guidance is Essential

Thre are many today who are seeking a bogus Rest of spiritual; relaxation. But those who never took the “death-route” never really took the “faith-route.” What they thought was faith, was presumption, because it was out of harmony with the Word of God. These deceived ones took the “presumption-route” and it led them up a dead end street and into the fog of endless confusion. It is utterly impossible to become sanctified by presumption. But remember --those who try to take it by faith when they are not on believing ground are like a train that tries to keep on going after it has jumped the track.

If one were to travel to a far distant city, would he not want a map to chart out his route? Surely he would not simply get into his car, and start driving, and “Take it by faith!” Without a road map, faith is foolishness.

When Abraham struck out “not knowing whither” he was going, God, who did know the way, was with him and that was all that was necessary. No one needs a map when he has someone with him who knows the way. So, in seeking a pure heart, God leads us step by step to the promised land of ENTIRE sanctification. “And the very God of peace sanctify you WHOLLY; and I pray God your WHOLE spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Faithful is He who calleth you, who also will do it” (I Thess. 5:23-24).

(these first ten points (except for #2) are exerpts from "Scriptural Death-Route Holiness" by Rev. L. S. Boardman -Chapter 11, "The Founding or Floundering of Faith"

Secondary Decay

As soon as the above factors are operating, a secondary cascade of problems occur:

1. As certain as death and taxes are superstitions, fantasies and enthusiasms.

As orthodox and informed as you may consider yourself to be, "you don't know what you don't know" about the basic gospel. There many layers of protection for us against error, but as a rule we don't take proper advantage of them, and the human ones are inevitably full of holes, while it seems that we perversely give greater honour to those who lead us astray from the true path toward His Rest! The long history of the church is loaded with examples of this, and so we foolishly continue to follow their honored but harmful precepts. Merely one example is modern Calvinism which is found in almost every corner of protestantism. (Note: These good and well-informed people do not have an adequate grasp of sanctification as their ancestors in the faith often did..)

The primitive gospel was designed to be taught much more by living example than by abstract precept. Of course, this requires lowly daily application while living as one body... Our weekly polite passage through the church foyer is just not up to that job!

2. Are the spirit of holiness and the spirit of the world antagonistic?

(the following is point # 201 from "Perfect Love" by J. A. Wood)

"They are. Virtue and vice, truth and error, light and darkness, are not more so. The Spirit of God and the spirit of the world can never harmonize. Sin is an offensive, abominable thing, which God hates, and “the carnal mind is enmity against God.” There is no sympathy between sin and holiness, and no middle ground for anyone to occupy. Jesus said: “No man can serve two masters.” “He that is not with Me is against Me, and he that gathereth not with Me scattereth abroad.” The two grand divisions with respect to moral character, the “saint” and the “sinner,” the “believer” and the “unbeliever,” the “righteous” and the “wicked,” the “just” and the “unjust,” the “godly” and the “ungodly,” are as emphatically true to their names and natures now as they ever have been.
God can never compromise with wicked men, and by nature and of necessity wicked men have no sympathy for God. God, in infinite mercy, has instituted a way of salvation by which wicked men may be redeemed from sin, but never in sin. Those whom God has saved hate sin and love holiness.
A state of salvation involves sympathy with God, and a state of sin involves sympathy with the world.
This is the reason why reform always involves conflict and war. Luther found it so. John Knox was in a constant conflict. Wesley was bitterly opposed not only by outsiders, but by dead, formal church-members. Whitefield, Edwards, Haven, and all aggressive reformers, have fought their way through opposition. Wicked men want to be let alone. A man freezing to death does not like to be disturbed.
The more fully the children of God are possessed of the Spirit of Christ, the more vigorous is their contest with the world; and vice versa. The opposition between Christians and men of the world can never cease. “Marvel not,” said Jesus, “if the world hate you; it hated Me before it hated you.” “If ye were of the world, the world would love its own; but because ye are not of the world, therefore the world hateth you.”
Martin Luther said: “I find it impossible to avoid offending guilty men for there is no way of avoiding it but by our silence, or their patience: and silent we cannot be, because of God’s commands; and patient they cannot be, because of their guilt.” P. 120 "Perfect Love"

And in the past during the time of the Great Awakening when the blessing was much better known than now, the reality of this fearsome battle was not at all less real. In ordinary times few enter His Rest. and of those who do, few preach it. And those who do preach it, too often convey an unclear message. On this website you are benefitting from only the very best of the famous preachers. In those days such quality was rarely available, unless the message was turned aside with confusion from competing preachers:

3. Is it not the fact that many persons lose perfect love several times, before they become established therein?

(point # 207 in "Perfect Love")
"It is at least no more so than the same fact in regard to justification is against the seeking of that blessing. It is a common thing for converts to lose the witness of justification many times before they become fully established therein. There is, however, no necessity of losing either; and we think there is much less danger of losing perfect love (other circumstances being equal) than justification.
Doubtless, if the light of justification were more general, and more clear in the church, converts would be less likely to lose their justification during their early experience; and if the blessing of perfect love were more generally sought and obtained by the ministry and membership, and more clearly and faithfully preached and exemplified in the pulpit, those who seek and obtain it, would be less likely to lose it during their early experience.
Is it any wonder if a person lose the witness of perfect love, if he be located where he finds but little sympathy for it, and where he does not hear more than a sermon or two a year on the subject, and those made up of indefinite generalities, such as are usually preached by those who do not enjoy it, or are not earnestly seeking it. Those possessing perfect love need encouragement and the “bread of life” from the pulpit as much as others.
The principal reason why many lose the clear light and experience of purity, is for the want of practical sympathy and wholesome instruction from the pulpit. The best of God’s children have a right to expect encouragement and help from the pulpit in this most precious experience. That there is a vast amount of seriously defective and contradictory teaching on this subject, is beyond question.
The pulpit is the main place for the presentation of gospel truth; but the diluted, confused, and anti-evangelical notions to which many of our congregations are obliged to listen as gospel preaching, is a sickening shame. It is not surprising, in view of the instructions given, that some lose the blessing of perfect love, when whole churches are starving spiritually for want of the bread life.
It is a deplorable fact, unwelcome as may be the statement, that many Christian people are withering and sinking under pulpit teaching composed largely of short intellectual essays – scientific, metaphysical, and speculative – full of almost everything except plain gospel truth. (or these days -presumptuous, and prophetic words that "puff up" rather than edify) It has become a serious question of how long the church of God can live on such pulpit matter. It certainly is not the “bread of life,” such as is given to nourish strengthen, and establish the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty.
It is believed by many of the most devoted and thoughtful Christians, that unless there be a change in this regard, more gospel truth preached, the church will suffer deplorable reverses. Unless our bishops, presiding elders, and chief ministers take a more decided stand against the course pursued by some of our overly smart young ministers, who lead off in this kind of pulpit instruction, and reject and ignore much of experiential godliness, in a few years this matter will be utterly unmanageable, if it be not already. Instead of petting, dignifying their importance, and hastening these precious young men into city churches; and then transferring them from city to city to gratify worldly, popular churches, who desire anything preached to them rather than plain gospel truth; they should be sent out into circuits with good, practical preachers, to learn how to get sinners converted and saints sanctified.
These, very largely, are the men who discard the precious doctrine of Christian holiness as taught by the great and good Wesley, the devoted and gifted Fletcher, and the learned and evangelical Clarke and Watson; and who substitute for it culture, development, nobility, and manhood, and leave the whole subject of holiness confused and indefinite, making nothing clear, scriptural, or practical; and we are sorry to add, often ridiculing and making light of perfect love as taught by those great and good men.
Let sympathy in the church become as general in its favor as it is for justification, and let clear witnesses for entire sanctification become as numerous in the ministry and membership as they should be, and you will hear of but few losing the blessing. P. 123 "Perfect Love"

In today's churches we are used to hearing about a God of blessing , and of course, He is so. But, in fact, He is also a God of judgment. He expects us to also fulfill our half of the gospel.bargain: He gave His life on the Cross that we could receive the blessings of pardon and salvation from sin. But He now expects us to honorably return the favor. He expects us to give our lives as a living sacrifice to Him that we might be made WHOLLY His: not only forgiven, but also supernaturally made empty of all things that are not approved by Him - so that there is room for the glorious fullness that is ours in His Rest....

But how can we preach this to congregations that do not want to recieve anything that requires discomfort, effort or cost? People have always loved to hang onto their pet darknesses, and under the guise of orthodoxy repel greater light...

In Wesley"s "Plain Account of Christian Perfection" we find that in answer to this he commends a wise sensitivity:

Note: Most of the preaching quoted on this website occurred in special meetings where those who were seeking or interested in Holiness gathered. Later, with the rise of special "Holiness churches", the congregation would nominally profess to "believe in" holiness, but were not necessarily seekers of it. They would attend these churches for many reasons such as: friends were there, parents were there, because they were saved there, curiousity, a church-going or social gathering habit or because they sent their children to Sunday school there. No longer were these crowds gathered for the single paramount reason of hearing about how to enter His Rest; and to the degree this was true, they were violating the above principle within their saved, but still perverse hearts. So, in dutifully listening to wonderful holiness messages they were not ready for, they gradually grew calluses upon their hearts to avoid conviction and so fell into a deadly spiritual slumber. ZZZZZZZZ.....

4. Organization

The entirely sanctified ministers of the past, although pure in heart, were still men. Ministry is not conducted in a vaccuum, but to other men, so there needs to be a worthy and Godly infrastructure. "We esteem it our duty and privilege most earnestly to recommend to you as members of our church, our FORM OF DISCIPLINE, which has been founded on the experience of a long series of years; as also on the observations and remarks we have made on ancient and modern churches." Examine the enclosed The Doctrines and Discipline of the Methodist Episcopal Church by Thomas Coke and Francis Asbury 1798. (181 page indexed PDF -long download) But this worthy infrastucture was not able to be fully put into practice due to an inadequate supply of educated and sanctified ministers in a broad frontier land that was still quite hostile to the mother land of Methodism: Great Britain. There were also some other seeds of destruction that were built right in to the.. Holiness Churches

The early promotion of Holiness that was carried out so successfully was initially done by the faith and zeal of individual men, but most of them related directly to each other, or through the old "National Holiness Association". This non-denominational fellowship of itinerant Holiness ministers helped them to work together, solve problems and stay on track regardless of deficiencies in their respective churches. However, as churches gave rise to Holiness denominations, the NHA increasingly began to splinter. It began to focus on many issues instead of exclusively upon the paramount issue of getting souls fully sanctified and safely into His Rest. For this reason Carradine left the NHA in 1913: you may wish to read these six pages about this great organizational failure: Holiness Associations

The few remaining Holiness churches that remain today as a rule revere Holiness in their traditions, but do not preach it, and those who do, preach a watered down and theoretical variety. As we might expect then, few indeed obtain it. Today's few Holiness writers mostly re-hash moldy old ideas of years gone by, trying to prove that one dead preacher had better theology than another dead preacher. Seldom anymore does His Rest shine forth to attract others into it...

You are priveliged indeed if you can hear this preached well from a sanctified vessel.

It is the goal of the various sanctified servants that belong to the Holiness RoundTable , to restore His Rest to today's church, if she will but heed her Master's voice. (press your SHIFT key while opening)

5. Ersatz (imitation) Holiness Doctrines

With the American Revolution, ties with Britain were tenuous for many years while inventive theologies that played fast and loose with proven principles became entrenched. Their influence became so widespread that it deprived the whole movement of much of its vitality and effectiveness. Their beguiling approaches are still popular today -so much that I had to work to find authours free enough of their baleful influence to be useful in guiding souls into His Rest without confusion. Four Trouble Makers is a 4 page excerpt from "A Presentation of Perfection" by Dr. Mark Eckart To get the real understanding, you will need to read the additional articles (enclosed further below on this page) on these figures in order to understand why they are trouble, since this excerpt does not provide a critique, but just provides a survey of their basic positions.

But the consequences of these were immeasurably dire, and remain a source of division in some circles until today. In merely one tragic instance; even though Dr. R. A. Torrey, the revered first president of Moody Bible Institute of Chicago managed with great difficulty to be filled with the Spirit as well as to be wholly sanctified, hindsight has shown that he spent his fruitful years diligently spreading tangled and confusing doctrines with a Calvinistic flavour to uncounted thousands. He succeeded in this so well that a clear Scriptural presentation of "How to Enter His Rest" that actually worked in objective reality became rare indeed within his wide sphere of influence.

Other spiritual descendants of the followers of these troublemakers went on to form the popular "Keswick" movement, which in retrospect again, was marked by many claiming they were sanctified when they were not. These, of course could not shew forth the fruits of something they did not have, no matter how much they self-righteously testified to the purity of their hearts, giving much disrepute to the work of sanctification. Today's holiness circles seem to be dominated by this "more reasonable" approach which departed from the effective, clear, simple and practical fundemental principles that came down from antiquity ( see The History of Holiness ) and were first confirmed and recorded in an orderly manner by John Wesley.

"Oberlin Perfectionism does not hold, as Wesleyans do, to the cleansing of sin in the heart of the sanctified believer. This teaching by Mahan and Finney is, for the most part, taught today by a group called the Keswickians (they have met since 1876 at the Keswick Convention in England). This [28] quote explains what they believe:
"For this school, (the Holy Spirit) does not cleanse the heart from sin; it is only empowerment for victorious living and effective witness. While their teachers deny the possibility of sin’s destruction prior to death, they do advocate the possibility of a life of victory over “the old nature” for those who put themselves under the direction and control of the indwelling Spirit. But as long as Christians inhabit this mortal body, they must contend with the sin nature. [29] The Oberlin position contends for the work of the Holy Spirit, but more emphasis is put on power than purity." from: A Presentation of Perfection by Dr. Mark Eckart

After these troublemakers had done their work there were two holiness movements. A minority remained true to Wesley after 1850 or so (those featured on this website -mostly from the South), and held to his assumptions, while most found an easier way presented to them that mixed just enough flesh into the pot to make it seem so much more sensible. These soon lost their way, and found that very few in their midst would go on to enter His Rest, even though many decieved themselves and presumptuously claimed it. They had the words, but not the fruits...

Their tangled teaching has unecessarily left untold millions to suffer under the cruel but often hidden dominion of The Old Man This slippery compromise with the pit cannot continue for it contains the seeds of spiritual death within..... This website is the labour of one who finally escaped from the foreshortened gospel. In mercy, it is my purpose to spare you those tear-stained unsanctified years which I had to bear because I ignorantly mixed unfaith with my faith.

The spiritual descendants of Finney and these others went on to hold the famous annual Keswick Conventions starting in 1875. Ostensibly, the goal of these meetings was to promote their brand of holiness, but in actual fact they were held to edify those pilgrims of the wide path who claimed to believe in holiness while justifying any teaching that avoided the crucifixion required to actually obtain it. They believed in "growth" while denying the instantaneous purification of the heart. Growth is obvious, while purification takes a huge and deliberate investment of faith.

In ignorance, early Pentecostal leaders took this enthusiastic gathering of old deceivers and made it their own. They took the teaching to be high truth and used it in as the source of many of the major assumptions behind most of our "higher life" and "Kingdom" teaching today. But Keswick teaching is just plain wrong and brings forth only more vain words: Much These Preachers Call Holiness is Regeneration 4 pages by A. M. Hills ( a bright and devout student of Finney at Oberlin who went on to see his teacher's errors.)

He is greater than knowledge. Those who conveniently slide around this fact must beware!.

"I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom:
Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry." 2 Timothy 4:1-5 NKJV

It is my observation, that although this day has not fully matured yet, the above passage is sounding only too familiar already.....
This global internet spreads information without discrimination..... Blessed is the one who can discern trash from treasure!!!

Obviously, the net result of all the above is to gradually degrade the various means that the Lord has of bringing believers into full communion with Himself, until even the vision of the goal itself becomes lost in the smoke and mirrors, leaving behind only an impotent myth of "saints". The goal of this website is the reverse of this. We find and present to you the most effective guidance available. We want you in His Rest with us!!! There is no reason for you to continue your alternating seasons of darkness and light of the mixed experience any longer. We have endured quite enough years of this ourselves to understand. Think about it: those who choose to not to effectively contend for a pure heart put themselves into the same category of those who happily believe in "eternal security", in that they are blithely dwelling on the common but slippery treadmill of always sinning and repenting. There is a better way!!!

The next section contains frank supporting articles that examine the interaction between the forces that bring spiritual life (revival) to any group of believers and those that bring spiritual death (declension). The faithful authors have direct experience with the topic since their beloved world of faith was fading before their eyes to a mere shadow of it's former glory- so that it came to pass that only a few souls were entering the glorious blamelessness of His Rest. Today, such happy souls are rarely to be seen anywhere. Wisdom and guidance is given by the Lord in deadly seriousness. Poor stewards place many in serious jeopardy, and will have much to answer for on that Day.

See our section on Getting The Most Out of This Site for instructions on how to best view these articles. Your FREE Acrobat Reader is enclosed.

Challenge Of Our Age
The testimony of the Word and of those who have been mightily used of God is that souls are won only as Heaven is stormed. When Zion travails she brings forth. Her leaders must agonize for souls. This small but very punchy article further confirms the above article. 6 pages

Given the removal of the essential foundations described in both articles above, many other opportunistic infections were able to establish themselves in the debased body of faith..... Enclosed below are articles that I have been able to find that describe some of these. The essential observation is the astounding erosion of distinctives between the "the world" and "the church" observed across every denominational wall.

Andrew Murray (1827-1917) had this to say about his day: "People talk about the curse of sin, but they do not understand that the whole nature has been infected by sin, and that the curse is on everything. My intellect, has that been defiled by sin? Terribly, and the curse of sin is on it, and therefore my intellect must go down into the death. Ah, I believe that the Church of Christ suffers more to-day from trusting in intellect, in sagacity, in culture, and in mental refinement, than from almost anything else. The Spirit of the world comes in, and men seek by their wisdom, and by their knowledge, to help the Gospel, and they rob it of its crucifixion mark. Christ directed Paul to go and preach the Gospel of the cross, but to do it not with wisdom of words. The curse of sin is on all that is of nature." from the Chapter "Dead With Christ" in "The Master's Indwelling". (1896)

“Theology has been taken captive by the modern spirit. The theory of evolution has relegated everything sudden and supernatural to the limbo of superstition…. We can understand culture, but distrust conversion. Growth appeals to our sense of reason, but a sudden elimination of inherited tendencies is not in harmony with the processes of Nature. That is why so much modern preaching is of the sheet-lightning sort; it shines but does not strike. Glittering generalities may dazzle, but they accomplish nothing.”

Samuel Chadwick
Late Principal, Cliff College, Sheffield, 1937

Yes, those with this persective, will find an endless evolutionary "progressive sanctification" makes sense, but not His costly way that does the whole job in a moment of time, so that it becomes a supernaturally established fact rather than an afar-off misty hope.....

But first to provide a clear "before" picture, you may wish to read a well written and entertaining account from the History section of the vibrant life to be found before this terrible slide..... Pioneer Days of The Holiness Movement in the Southwest 20 pages. I just love this account of the wonders of salvation seen when those preachers who were in His Rest worked informally together in faith and sacrifice.

Much These Preachers Call Holiness is Regeneration
Since time immemorial there has been something "Teflon" in the hearts of unsanctified men and women that will not stick with true Holiness teaching. For thirty exciting years the annual Conventions held in Keswick, England were a hotbed of quality Christian teaching. But, as A. M. Hills explains, there was little real Holiness to be found there!! And so it is today, almost everywhere.... 4 pages A. M. Hills

Azusa Street Timeline
A summary of the strange events after 1905 that led up to the Azusa Street outpouring, together with curious events that followed. For more information on this related topic see www.spirithome.com.

Choose Ye This Day
There is a radical distinction between diligent seekers after God and regular Christians. (2 pages)

Transition Deceptions
A cunning and deliberate deception has been wildly successful in removing most of the scriptural single pursuit of perfection from our century. It effectively did much to usher in our age of the cozy lukewarm. This brief but shocking article explains much about the absence of serious holiness teaching today. (5 pages)

How Freud Got Under Our Skin
Much of the the decline in Holiness relates to a general decline in humble faith that followed after Darwin, Freud and "Higher Criticism". A stunning up-to-the-minute story from the "Observer" newspaper. "In the near future (by 2010), it seems, the Self will enjoy its own unencumbered space. If you run a society based on the satisfaction of desire, then, of course, there should be no surprise when conventions based in part on duty, such as marriage, begin to collapse." 4 pages

The Great Dream
This penetrating internet extract is the first two chapters of a very thought provoking article on the state of theology today. 21 pages

Why I Don't Go to Church Anymore
This thoughtful believer frankly answers questions posed to him about his rather unorthodox church attendance habits. Be patient: this file contains a full page graphic that takes time to load. 5 pages

A Pastor Speaks Out
Arrogance within modern-day self-proclaimed prophetic types too often leaves a leader with a puzzling catch-22. 2 pages

Sex Rampant in The Church
Something huge is devouring our youth right now. This recent collection of disturbing E-mail reports from parents uncovers the facts; but what is the cause? How should we react? What can be done? Perhaps the hard answers to these questions are to be found right on this web page. 10 pages extracted from Andrew Strom's ANZAC Prophetic List by Tom Plumb
April 2004:
I may have found a key to the puzzle posed by his article! I heard a speech on PBS by the social psychologist Dr. Gordon Neufeld on the theme of his new book. His thesis states that our children gain an unnatural primary attachment to a peer group, and kids do not function well in such close attachments since there is competition. This often leads to a “Lord of the Flies” situation. Peers cannot replace parents.
Modern “child-centered” punishment strategies involve the withdrawal of privileges. This in turn leads to withdrawal of trust in the relationship. Instead, we as adults need to “court” our children and put focus on relationship rather than on behavior. We must “prime” their attachment to us and fulfill their attachment hunger and invite their dependence, so that later they can successfully individuate.
I cannot attempt to do justice to his clear and cogent theme in a few sentences here, but the essence of it is that children must be “imprinted” and oriented to the adults in their life. Their adult “village of attachment” must deliberately set out to win their hearts. They must be allowed to know us...
Get the book : "Hold on to Your Kids: Why Parents Matter" by Dr. Gordon Neufeld ( ISBN 0676974716 and Published by Knopf Canada) It is secular but homeschoolers love this book since it clinically vindicates everything they believe in!!

A Churchless Faith
These extracts are from a couple of very interesting articles published by the Bible College of New Zealand. The journalist who wrote them was very surprised at his findings. Why had people stopped attending church and how was their faith now? 3 pages by journalist Alan Jamieson

Why Save The Nuclear Family?
"After the French Revolution had nationalized marriage and unfettered divorce Sir Walter Scott thundered, “If fiends had set out to discover the most efficient way of destroying whatever is venerable, graceful, or permanent in domestic life., they could not have invented a more effectual plan than the degradation of marriage into a state of mere occasional cohabitation or licensed concubinage.” It took most of two centuries to develop, but “licensed concubinage is what marriage has devolved into sterile, brief “incompanionate unions disconnected from the past and uninterested in the future. Now homosexuals, who think in similar terms, want to be licensed too. Well, why not?" As we know, every soul that draws breathe and needs the Lord comes from the union of a man and woman. So just what is going on here? 3 pages by Kevin Michael Grace

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