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John Wesley* is credited with being one of the greatest heroes of
faith in the holiness movement. Church of God 7th seal advocates
point to him for the restoration of the teaching of sanctification.
It was through the life and labors of he and his brother, Charles,
that the message of holiness was greatly heralded in both Europe and
the United States. The advocates of the 7th seal teaching believe
that in 1730 A.D., the 6th seal was opened by the ushering in of the
message of holiness.
Wesley was born on June 28, 1703 and died on March 2, 1791. He was a
lifelong member of the Church of England. In 1735, John and his
brother sailed to Savannah, Georgia to assist in establishing a new
church there. On his way, his ship got caught up in a severe storm
and it seemed as though all would be lost. In the midst of the
chaos, there were some Moravians (followers of the teachings of
Count Zinzendorf) onboard and John took particular notice that they
stayed absolutely calm and looked to God for help. It was through
this experience and discussions with the Moravians afterwards that
Wesley later came to realize that while he had been very religious,
he was not righteous. After his return to England, he began to
associate himself with these Moravians and in 1738, while listening
to a reading of Martin Luther's preface to the Epistle to the
Romans, he experienced true salvation and penned the now famous line
"I felt my heart strangely warmed". After this experience, he
dedicated himself to the cause of Christ, at much personal expense.
Wesley is largely credited with founding the English Methodist
movement which began when he took to open-air preaching in a similar
manner to his friend George Whitefield. Unlike the formal Anglican
Church, Methodism encouraged people to experience Jesus Christ in a
personal manner. His greatest theological achievement was his
promotion of what he termed "Christian Perfection", or holiness of
heart and life. Wesley held that in this life, in most cases shortly
before death, Christians could come to a state in which the love of
God, or perfect love, reigned supreme in their hearts. Wesley
claimed such a state shortly before his own death although he
waivered in this claim on more than one occasion.
The four foundational doctrines which Wesley emphasized in his
sermons and writings are prevenient grace, present personal
salvation by faith, the witness of the Spirit, and sanctification.
Prevenient grace was the theological underpinning of his belief that
all persons were capable of being saved by faith in Christ.
Unlike the Calvinists of his day, Wesley did not believe in
predestination, that is, that some persons had been elected by God
for salvation and others for damnation. He understood that Christian
orthodoxy insisted that salvation was only possible by the sovereign
grace of God. He expressed his understanding of humanity's
relationship to God as utter dependence upon God's grace. God was at
work to enable all people to be capable of coming to faith by
empowering humans to have actual existential freedom of response to
God.
Wesley defined the witness of the Spirit as: "an inward impression
on the soul of believers, whereby the Spirit of God directly
testifies to their spirit that they are the children of God." This
doctrine was prevalent among the Moravians and was closely related
to his belief that salvation had to be "personal."
He described sanctification in 1790 as the "grand depositum which
God has lodged with the people called `Methodists'." Wesley taught
that sanctification was obtainable after justification by faith, but
before death and he often used the expression "perfect in love" to
best describe this death to self.
Secondly, to be made perfect in love meant, for Wesley, that a
Christian could live with a primary guiding regard for others and
their welfare. He based this on Christ's quote that the second great
commandment is "to love your neighbor as you love yourself." In his
view, perfect love would cause a person to avoid any number of sins
against his neighbor and was "a fulfillment of the law of Christ."
As noted, the 7th seal advocates point to John Wesley and 1730 A. D.
as the opening of the 5th seal, however, as Wesley himself
confessed, he was not even saved in 1730 A.D.! To further complicate
the matter, the experience that many of them attribute to
sanctification (as a second work of grace), Wesley attributed to
Justification. For instance in 1763, John Wesley stated with regard
to the standing of a justified person:
“We allow that the state of a justified person is
inexpressibly great and glorious. He is born again, "not of
blood, nor of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." He
is a child of God, a member of Christ, an heir of the kingdom of
heaven. "The peace of God, which passeth all understanding,
keepeth his heart and mind in Christ Jesus." His very body is a
"temple of the Holy Ghost," and an "habitation of God through
the Spirit." He is "created anew in Christ Jesus:" He is washed,
he is sanctified. His heart is purified by faith; he is cleansed
"from the corruption that is in the world;" "the love of God is
shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Ghost which is given unto
him." And so long as he "walketh in love," (which he may always
do,) he worships God in spirit and in truth. He keepeth the
commandments of God, and doeth those things that are pleasing in
his sight; so exercising himself as to "have a conscience void
of offence, toward God and toward man:" And he has power both
over outward and inward sin, even from the moment he is
justified."
While it is doubtless that the roll of John Wesley and the teaching
of holiness were crucial to the first Great Awakening, once again we
see evidence of a miscalculated Revelation timeline date based on an
assumed end date of 1880 A.D. As with other
dates, there is no significant historical event or evidence to
support the claim that the opening of the 5th seal was in 1730 A.D.
Further, the method used by early 7th seal advocates to calculate
the prophetic opening and closing dates associated with the 4th,
5th, 6th and 7th seals is seriously questionable. We will take a
look at this in our next article.
*Much of
the historical info in this article was taken directly from
Wikipedia.
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