Where
Did This Website Come From?
Thoughout history there have been souls rise up that were not
content
with what passed for religion in their day.
They were given no guidance or help in their struggle to obtain true
faith because everybody else thought what they had was the full extent
of God's provision for redenption.
Any written help they could find was so burdened with fable that they
most often had to just start from scratch and do their best. Some
of those that succeeded to some recognizable degree were sometimes
honoured and called "Saints" -a
good while after after their demise.
It became the practice of seekers of a better faith, to read the
memoirs of these "Saints" in the hope that they
could emulate their success.
England of the 1700's was a putrid place that was oppressed under the
brutal heel of cheap Gin and cruel tyranny. This disgusting
environment
made
John Wesley want much more than his father's venerable Church of
England could provide. He searched for Holiness even
before he was
saved!
He was a brilliant scholar at Oxford that studied all the lives of the
Saints throughout history to look for clues of true holiness -without
knowing you had to enjoy an explicit expereince of salvation
first.
He met with members of the Moravian Church,
and travelled to Germany to have talks with them about Holiness.
In response, they came to England and started holding meetings together
with Wesley's associates.
Making a
long story short, Wesley found that after he became fully acquainted
with them, that their characters were not consistent with their highly
exalted
words. For that reason he started holding meetings
of his own while relentlessly seeking to complete his understanding of
these things. (Now this is all criminally brief -if you want to
review this momentous history in detail -read from the History page:
Wesley 1741 88 page PDF) (I would
give you a page reference, but the treasure is scatterd throughout this
rich source.)
Wesley was a fully ordained Minister of the English state Church, and
so when he preached, it was officially sanctioned. And when he
came to preach to believers about Holiness, strange things began to be
reported among them. Certain of these faithful redeemed Anglicans
declared
that the Holy Spirit had come to them and made their hearts clean and
pure!!! As the numbers of these multiplied, Wesley began
interviewing them systematically to see if their experience was
consistent with everything he had come to know and understand of this
experience that came to be known as "entire sanctification" as distinct
from the initial (and partial) sanctification received at salvation.
This follows the
Old Testament type of "entering His Rest" (a settled peace with their
enemies and fullness
of blessing in the Promised land and His favour) after the people of
Israel crossed the
Jordan.
Wesley rode the length and bredth of England on horseback for years,
and preached to great acclaim -and vollies of rotten eggs. Most
of
the eggs came from local hired toughs from the pub sent by the local
Anglican
priest for some sport! No, the Anglican church was not very
supportive.
The Archbishops were fully supportive after they understood what he was
preaching, but most church dignitaries and clergy had no wish to be so
enlightened. Many were unsaved themselves.
For this reason,
Wesley was forced to organize in order to protect his appointed
itinerant preachers from their vindictive jealousy. Over time
this became formalized
as The
Methodist
Church.
As Wesley slowed down with age the fires of faithfulness in Methodism
gradually
started to
cool. When he passed on the many unsanctified people within
gradually came to provide a fifth column within the Church. Methodism
became a large denomination, and by 1850, it had become
so backslidden that
souls who were entirely sanctifed no longer felt welcome there.
(the devastation of Ichabod!) Many Holiness evangelists found they had
to
depart in order to
continue in their calling.
The National
Holiness Association was formed by the unsupported itinerating
preachers to
assist and coordinate their work. The great and the
small
evangelists would meet to keep the fires burning and their doctrines
pure.
Also, The
Church of
the Nazarene was formed and over the years spread with the
stated purpoose to create a place that was welcoming
for these spiritual refugees.
But over time that original purpose of the church, was in turn
gradually
submerged by ordinary church work (another layer of the devastation of
Ichabod!!). And, in time so many people joined churches such as
the
Nazarenes for reasons of their own that they gradually diluted them
toward
the point of meaninglessness since they were not committed seekers.
After the debacle of Asuza Street and resulting schism, the
deadly wine of confusion was drunk wholesale by many those who were
claiming to be
seeking His Rest, and so the Holiness Movement as a whole gradually
shrivelled for lack of attention. ( see: Signs and Wonders) But
there is a clear reason for all this stunning reverse: His Rest,
costs
your all, while
the
Holy Spirit that is
received at the New Birth only needs to stirred up
in an instant for the price of sincerely asking in faith. And the
results are spectacular and for all to see!! It seemed to be a
quick and easy alternative to the narrow way to those who were not yet
clear that the two works were both distinct and necessary regardless of
cost.
With declining numbers and remorseless institutionalization
the great Holiness Movement gradually split into small groups.
Although holding the name "Holiness" and the
intellectual beliefs, actually obtaining the work of grace that results
in a pure heart has became virtually unknown these
days. (even another layer of the devastation of Ichabod!!!!) All
the publications found on this
website are available because they are out of print, and have been
gathering dust in attics for
many decades. The fully sanctified Sulu Kelley scanned
numbers of these musty old books and put them on CD
for distribution. Yours truly bought his CD, and then obtained
permission to place some of the heritage excerpts and books online in
an understandable context for your edification.
And there you have it.
I have been saved as an independant
charismatic (starting in the old Latter Rain movement) now for almost
40 years. I entered into His Rest (obtained a pure heart) in 1988, but
did not know the experience I had
entered into had a name or a history. I did not know enough to
explain it to my friends or family until 2000 when I bought the
Wesleyan Holiness Library Cd from the now late authour Sulu Kelley, and
started the research that has resulted in this free website. My
testimony is at: Tom Plumb
More recently I also bought CDs from the very active Dwayne Maxey of
Holiness Data
Ministries. Dwayne was an irrepressible Holiness preacher
sidelined by years of crippling illess. Much of Sulu's material came
from Dwayne's years hard work also.
So who wrote these doctrines? The revered
departed row upon row
that walked this land before the death-grip of suffocating
"Higher Criticism"
ushered in by Darwin and others took hold. (see the long list of
testimonials
on the "Testimonies" page).
Only a very few claim this grace these
days, but the material on this website is now allowing many to seek the
age-old spiritual cleansing that brings purity of heart using the
tested
principles
and wisdom faithfully accumulated by countless generations of the
devout who have gone before.
So if you are not content with what passes for religion today -take
heart!!! God has preserved a proven
path to a much better way for you.....
Yours in His Most Excellent Service;
Tom Plumb (aka Earnest Seeker)
Note:
The purpose of this website is to promote His Rest. Nothing else.
But I cannot help but notice that in every case above, an institution
ushers the devastation of Ichabod back onto the scene! ("Ichabod"
is
from I Samuel 4:21 "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". )
The following is taken straight from Wikipedia without comment or edit:
Institutional
Syndrome
In clinical
and abnormal
psychology, institutional syndrome refers to deficits or
disabilities in social and life skills, which develop after a person
has spent a long period living in mental
hospitals, prisons,
or other remote institutions. In other words, individuals in
institutions may be deprived (unintentionally) of independence and of
responsibility, to the point that once they return to "outside
life" they are often unable to manage many of its demands;[1][2]
it has also been argued that institutionalized individuals become
psychologically more prone to mental health problems.[3]
The term institutionalization
can both be used to the process of committing an individual to a
mental hospital or prison or to institutional syndrome; thus the
phrase "X is institutionalized" may mean either that X has
been placed in an institution, or that X is suffering the
psychological effects of having been in an institution for an
extended period of time.
Background
In Europe and North America, the trend of putting the mentally
ill
into mental hospitals began as early as the 17th century,[4]
and hospitals often focused more on "restraining" or
controlling inmates than on curing them,[5]
although hospital conditions improved somewhat with movements for
human treatment, such as moral
management. By the mid-20th century, overcrowding in
institutions,[6][7]
the failure of institutional treatment to cure most mental
illnesses,[6]
and the advent of drugs such as Thorazine[7]
prompted many hospitals to begin discharging patients in large
numbers, in the beginning of the deinstitutionalization
movement (the process of gradually moving people from inpatient
care in mental hospitals, to outpatient
care).
Deinstitutionalization did not always result in better
treatment,
however, and in many ways it helped reveal some of the shortcomings
of institutional care, as discharged patients were often unable to
take care of themselves, and many ended up homeless or in jail.[8]
In other words, many of these patients had become "institutionalized"
and were unable to adjust to independent living. One of the first
studies to address the issue of institutionalization directly was
Russel Barton's 1962 book Institutional Neurosis, which
claimed that many symptoms of mental illness (specifically,
psychosis) were
not physical brain defects as once thought, but were consequences of
institutions' "stripping" away the "psychological
crutches" of their patients.[1]
Since the middle of the 20th century, the problem of
institutionalization has been one of the motivating factors for the
increasing popularity of deinstitutionalization and the growth of
community
mental health services,[2][9]
since some mental healthcare providers believe that institutional
care may create as many problems as it solves.
Issues for discharged patients
Individuals who suffer from institutional syndrome can face
several kinds of difficulties upon returning to the community. The
lack of independence and responsibility for patients within
institutions, along with the "depressing"[6]
and "dehumanizing"[7]
environment, can make it difficult for patients to live and work
independently. Furthermore, the experience of being in an institution
may often have exacerbated individuals' illness: proponents of
labeling
theory claim that individuals who are socially "labeled"
as mentally ill suffer stigmatization and alienation that lead to
psychological damage and a lessening of self-esteem, and thus that
being placed in a mental health institution can actually cause
individuals to become more mentally ill.[10][11]
And Note:
A small group under a dominant leader can also be a very strong
institution. Jesus preached in the open and prayed in quiet
outdoor places. The disciples were tutored in the streats and by
observing the Master at work.
---and early captives such as John Bunyan and St. Patrick served
under the lash as galley slaves....