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Wesley's responses in the 1700's
John Wesley interviewed hundreds who entered His Rest to
discover the common elements in their experience. He then used
this wide experience to provide seekers with quality answers which have
since become classics. His findings also confirmed what he came
to teach any earnest seekers he found regarding His Rest as he
travelled far and wide.
Responses in the 1800's
The many Holiness evangelists in the "Great Awakening" preached both
salvation and entire sanctification. In their travels they were
asked many challenging questions which were later compiled and printed
in various books...
Contemporary Questions
Why is His Rest so seldom found today?
There are perennial objections that raised against anything to do with
Holiness. These strong objections are very effective deterrents. See
" Objections
Answered" in the "Entry Directions" section and " The Church in the Wilderness"
in the "Dancing with Ichabod" section. Many other forces were
also at work to change the spiritual climate and reduce the numbers
entering His Rest. These forces are explored in this challenging
section.
Where did the Holiness people go?
They are still out there! Most loyally hold to these
teachings as being true, but have not yet entered His Rest.
Please
understand that His Rest is difficult to enter for all. He keeps
His standards so impossibly high that only direct supernatural
intervention
allows a soul entry.... This has always kept such blessed souls
in
a minority.
The descendants of this formerly powerful movement fill these
churches that have their roots in Holiness..
The Wesleyan Church
The Church of the Nazarene
The Free Methodist Church
Christian Union (Ohio)
Anderson (Indiana) Church of God
The Salvation Army (came out of British Methodism)
The Missionary Church
The Evangelical Church of North America
Evangelical Methodist Church
The United Methodist Church (especially the Good News
Movement within that church)
and others….
The huge United Methodist Church has an established charismatic
movement within it. The "Objections" mentioned
above took their victory among them while others were moving in the
"Great Awakening". Many of the great revivalists of that time had to
leave it in order to become successful. (Several accounts of this may
be found within)You may view some revival material from the "Good News"
movement within the UMC in the "Other Articles" section. This material
gives an excellent current view of their spiritual approach. UMC Charismatic Movement
Where does His Rest fit in my spiritual
life?
If you enjoy your spiritual life and want it to expand exponentially
beyond imagining, this is the narrow way to that glorious end!
Is all this properly supported by
scripture?
Yes. Abundantly throughout the Word. See "Pentecostal
Sanctification", Selected Scriptures of Rest" and "The Double Cure"
amongst many others in the "Entry Directions" section.
Did the Apostles enter His Rest? If so,
when?
Yes. They entered His Rest at the same time as they were filled with
His Spirit at Pentecost. See "The Double Cure" Chapter 7. Paul had to
take some years in the desert for cleansing, education and consecration
before entering in later on.
What does Holiness bring in the Spirit
realm?
It removes the inherited tendency towards sin, and replaces it with a
natural affinity for Him. This unleashes the vast potential of intimacy
already there. This is no small thing: the church age was -and still is
a confusing transitional age of mixture; of short revivals and long
confusing declensions.
At this point many authours like to wax rhapsodic regarding the
possibilities that unfold under His sole rule. Personally, I feel
that the reality will be far greater than any of these visions can
possibly describe.
Isn't using the word "Sinless" going a
bit far?
Well, I would certainly have thought so myself, until I found myself
there. In that state, I find myself so very transformed by the
consummate purity and clarity of His graces that the very notion of
doubt and sin is foreign:
"5 And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. 6 Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. 7 Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. 8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. 10 In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother."1 John 3:5-9
The above is certainly not to say that those who live in His Rest
are without flaw. They are still quite human, and so still capable of
many mistakes and inadequacies. They are not blamed by God for
being merely human! However, this capability means that the pure soul
must always guard his heart carefully in this fallen world.
Do you believe in "Progressive
Sanctification"?
Well, yes and no. I believe that this commonly used term is based on
some confusion of definitions as this passage clarifies:
"Entire sanctification involves two items, viz: entire consecration, and entire purification. It is our duty to consecrate, and God's work to purify our hearts. God cannot consecrate for us; neither can we purify our hearts; but God will purify our hearts, if we consecrate our all for that purpose, and trust him to do the work. Every sanctified Christian has reached the experience in this way. He may not have had sufficient light to recognize the steps by which he came, but there was a blessed period when he gave his all to Christ as never before, and, "simply trusting he was blest." Page 27 "Inheritance Restored"
Consecration is something we do in faith during an unspecified "blessed period" of time. Entire sanctification is something that God gladly performs in a moment as a response as soon as His righteous conditions are fulfilled. A completed consecration is one of the pre-conditions He requires.
"The two-fold work of consecration and purification is embodied in this Scripture: "I beseech you, therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God." (Rom. 12:1, 2) Here we see, that consecration must precede transformation, and transformation must be accomplished in order that God's will may, in all things, be to us always, good and acceptable, and perfect."Page 30 The Inheritance Restored in the "Entry Directions" section.
After you read the resources with understanding you will see for yourself how your seeking may be brought to a more timely completion. This wealth of quality resources was not available to most in the Great Awakening, consequently ignorance or deception had many of them take many long and futile detours before entering in. I also squandered many years for lack of knowledge.
My many devout years while still in the mixed state made me understand that not every successful sanctifying prayer results in "entire sanctification". They are two different but related things. For instance, say your inward house is infested with termites. In the former case of sanctifying prayer, God answers specific prayer and turns one termite into a happy and harmless ant, while the rest are left to happily breed and communally devour your inward house. In the latter, God answers a much more costly prayer and "civilizes" every termite. To finish the job, He also returns the structure of your house to its original condition, and termite-proofs it. Now there is nothing left to pray for on that line since the entire situation has been answered.
This prayer is so costly, however, that the survival instinct of the ancient Adamic termite colony cannot abide it. So, whenever this prayer has been preached in history, the first human-sized prayer is extolled, while the last is reviled and swiftly diluted by the impure into pious jargon for safety.
What are the "Conditions" for entering
His Rest?
These are clearly discussed in most of the documents in the "Entry
Directions" section. As a result of different personalities and
experiences, their answers do vary somewhat. Everybody is a unique
person, so how they come to salvation and sanctification is also
unique. Some testimonies
in the "Entry Directions" section give intriguing accounts of "tests"
they were put through by the Lord, while others received no such
special
tests. The longer documents usually have the best organised accounts,
since they were just too good to edit much out. I edit to remain within
the mandate of actually helping people into His Rest. Otherwise, our
focus
would be lost in the great wealth of material available.
If we carefully analysed the material available, I believe we
would find
two lists of conditions: one that applies to all, and another that only
applies
to some. For instance, not everybody has a heavy religious background
to
die to...
How mature of a Christian do you have to
be to enter His rest?
"The wildest errors have grown out of confounding
purity with maturity. More confusion has grown out of this mistake,
perhaps, than any other. Entire sanctification does not necessarily
include maturity; neither does maturity necessarily include entire
purification. There are many Christians matured by long experience, who
are perfectly conscious of indwelling impurities; while others, in the
childhood of Christian experience, are just as clearly conscious of
complete cleansing in Jesus' precious blood. Bishop Morris was
certainly a mature Christian, and yet he sought and obtained complete
purity in the very last years of his life.
Grace Paddy, who was sanctified, as Mr. Wesley
says, a few hours after her conversion, was certainly not a matured
Christian. When will intelligent Christians distinguish between the
enlargement or growth of the soul, and its purification? Is it
difficult to understand the difference between the growth of a hill of
corn, and the destruction of the weeds that hinder its growth? How
long, O Lord, how long will thy children grieve thee by attempting to
substitute their own works for thy all-cleansing blood?"
Page 32 "The Inheritance
Restored" in the "Entry Directions"section.
What is Truth?
Well, think about it! Spiritually speaking, truth is embodied in
words that lead to life, or greater measures of it. To put it in a
primitive context: if I use words to send you to where there is food or
help, and there is food or help to be found there, then they were words
of truth.
If you find starvation or a spear in the back, they were not
words
of truth. It's as plain as that!
FAQ's - from other church eras...
Do you have a question?
Do you have a question on entering into His Rest that you cannot find in the resources?
Please E-mail to register a question. We will cover significant objections so that wise seekers may enter into His incomparable Rest with as little delay as possible. Is this library website helping you? Do you have some suggestions? Email: type earnestseeker and then the at sign. Follow by enterhisrest a dot and then org This long way should prevent the numerous web robots from swarming my inbox!
Yours in His Service;
Earnest Seeker
Time truly is a factor as this parable of His Rest clearly warns....
Matthew 25:1 - 13
Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish.
Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.
And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’ Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. "And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’
But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ 10 "And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut.
Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.
(Note eternal darkness is not described as a consequence for the five foolish virgins. They are merely virgins that miss out on the greatest celebration of all eternity. He still comes to know them. Edit.)
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