Full Introduction
This website is designed to be a workshop for serious seekers of His most worthy mountain tops hidden within the mystery of His Rest. Used diligently, it should provide the guidance you need. This introduction will start your most worthy Berean search with proper expectations. 10 pages by Earnest Seeker
Brief Introduction
This shorter introduction does much the same using selected passages from John Wesley.
3 pages by Earnest Seeker
Defining His Rest and Sanctification
His Rest, of course refers to the Old Testament promise that remained unfulfilled because of the truculence of His "stiff-necked people". Entire (completed, whole, finished) sanctification is the long hoped-for New Testament fulfillment. Sanctification and Entire Sanctification are not at all the same things. Clear definitions compared in a table. 3 page PDFYou may have the idea that Wesley originated this approach to holiness. If so, you are mistaken. This teaching is as old as the Bible itself.......
The History of Holiness Teaching
True and Counterfeit Rest
There has been a perennial problem ever since the days of Wesley. Wesley saw that those who claimed to be sanctified often did not live lives that would confirm their claim.... a 2 page excerpt from John Wesley's "Plain Account of Christian Perfection"
The Old Testament refers to His Rest as a life of near-heavenly physical fulfillment and reward across the Jordan. To obtain this, the Israelites were required to please God with their whole hearts.
Since they failed to do this, this extraordinary promise was left for the people of the New Testament to obtain, not in the physical but in the Spirit.
In the two works of grace (the new birth and entire sanctification) there is the witness of the Spirit. J. A. Wood states it this way: "It is a sweet, inward persuasion of the Spirit that God, for Christ's sake, has either pardoned my sins and regenerated my soul, or -- in a second definite work of grace -- that the blood of Jesus Christ has cleansed it from all sin." There is a spirit-voice to a spirit-ear and the communication is intelligible. To reason ourselves into the belief that we are wholly sanctified in the absence of this witness is common self-deception.
As you roam around the internet, you find theology everywhere. Strictly speaking this website is not about theology. It is about sitting at the feet of seasoned Christians who have gone on before, to actually enter His Rest so that we may follow them into that better state of grace. There plenty of unsanctified writers of theology out there. They cannot help you do this.
They may instuct you in the principles of the wide way- but this is the narrow way...... Even the best theology often falls short here.
"There is a variety of expression in personal experience both in regeneration and entire sanctification. Some are exercised in one way, some in another. Sometimes there is an unusual illumination of soul. Sometimes a sweet resting and sinking into Christ. Sometimes great joy and ecstasy, though this is not the general experience. Sometimes there is an astonishing increase of faith and assurance that all sin is gone. Sometimes an overwhelming sense of the divine presence. Sometimes the cleansing energy comes in a mighty torrent, and sometimes in a gentle breeze. Glory to God! Although there is a diversity of operation both with respect to the divine and human spirit, yet the blessed results are the same. Let us never mark out a way for God, but seek the cleansing power of the Holy Ghost, until it comes, just as He is pleased to manifest it." (Rev. J. A. Wood as quoted in Foundations of Doctrine, p.109)
"Sanctified souls are inclined to name the blessing after their principal sensation, harmonizing with their emotional experience.
"One person realizes principally a marked increase of faith, and he calls it 'the rest of faith.'
"Another is conscious of a deep, sweet resting in Christ, and he calls it 'resting in God.'
"Another is permeated with a sense of the divine presence, and filled with ecstatic rapture, and calls it 'the fulness of God.'
"Another feels his heart subdued, melted, refined and filled with God, and calls it 'holiness.'
"Another realizes principally a river of sweet, holy love flowing through the soul, and he calls it 'perfect love.'
"Another is prostrated under the power of the refining and sin-killing Spirit, and calls it 'the baptism of the Holy Ghost.'
"And another realizes principally a heaven of sweetness in complete submission to God, and he calls it 'entire sanctification.'
"While another may feel clearly and strongly conscious of complete conformity to all the will of God, and call it 'Christian perfection.' If genuine, the work wrought in each case is essentially the same." (Perfect Love, pp.124, 125, quoted in Foundations of Doctrine, p.110).
We noted to begin with that "with great power the apostles gave witness." One of the things absent far more than it should be is this very thing -- the power of our witness to the work of God in our heart. Maybe you are among the many who have never experienced personally a clear witness of the Spirit that He has come to cleanse your heart from inbred sin and to take up His abiding place in your heart. You can have this glorious experience!
To witness to sinners of the saving and sanctifying grace of God within one's heart becomes a burning desire and urgency and to fail in that witness will result in the loss of those saving and sanctifying God given graces.
May it be said of us as it was about the apostles -- "And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all." Parker Maxey
Many today understand "His Rest" to refer a degree of victory that allows one to be relaxed and consistent in their faith. Positive. Out of trouble. Always giving God the glory. Well, I suppose.... but that is hardly adequate. In fact, it so understates the glorious reality as to be actually wrong, and totally misleading:
"The perfection of Christian love consists in its unmixedness or simplicity. A thing is said to be simple when it is not mixed with other substances, as water is simple or pure when unmixed with other liquids or earth. Thus, we speak of pure gold, pure honey, etc., when these things exist in a clarified state. So when the love of God fills the purified heart, it is in a state of simplicity. There is humility without pride mixed with it; love toward God and man without any form of hatred; there is submission without any subtle rebellion; there is faith or trust without any skepticism or doubt; there is grace without the admixture of depravity. Some one may ask, does God put mixed grace into a human heart? No, never. But His grace, which is imparted in regeneration, is choked and impeded by our existing original depravity. So it is not divine grace that needs to be clarified but we ourselves, our hearts need to be entirely cleansed so that God's grace can exist in us in an unmixed clarified condition. More
I was once riding with a friend in a western city, on a bright September day. He wished me to explain the nature of perfect love. I said, "Do you see that sunshine? Is not this a perfect day? What hinders the sunshine from being perfect?" He said, "It would be perfect but for the smoke and dust from the city!" " Exactly," I said, "but there is no dust and smoke in the sun, but that arises from the city and they get mixed, but not amalgamated. The sunshine remains sunshine and the smoke remains smoke, but they exist in the same atmosphere. Now, if a heavy rain should cleanse the air from impurity and then the bright sun should shine out, you would have the sunshine filling the air without dust or smoke and then that would be perfect sunshine. Now," I said, "When you were converted God put His love into your heart, but have you not had much dust and smoke in your experience?" "Oh, yes!" he said. "But where did the dust and smoke come from? " He answered, " Not from God, but from my own heart." "Now," I said, "if you should have a Holy Spirit thunderstorm to wash the dust and smoke out of your nature, then the same love that you received in regeneration could exist in a simple and unmixed state within you." So, sanctification does not impart to us any new graces, but removes from us the antagonism to the graces, More and, thus, all the graces imparted in regeneration can abide in a quiet, peaceful condition. God can make our hearts His quiet resting place, More when all the opposites to His will have been removed." from P. 22 "The Secret of Spiritual Power" by G. D. Watson Complete PDF
There is much preaching against "self" that sounds very excellent, when in fact, it hardly begins to touch upon the above reality. Instead it confuses terms for us: More
In fact, today's authors are in quite a pickle when faced with the many obvious scriptures that refer to "His Rest". Souls who walk in it are virtually unknown today. Few indeed have even heard of the heritage writings of the Great Awakening stalwarts that are featured on this website. As far as most can tell, they already know all there is to be known about His Rest!
The much preached path of "Progressive Sanctification" is an older pickle: it is a confusion of normal spiritual growth and a lesser expectation that cannot substitute for His Rest!!! See the above link to 9 FAQs (8 pages) on the topic from “Perfect Love” by J. A. Wood ( full version near the end of the "Entry Directions” page)
Confused?
Don't be. Read on and be prepared to rejoice with exceedingly gladness! There is another whole dimension of glorious freedom in Him that can be yours. You will find that a fresh frontier of faith is calling you!! As this web site will clearly demonstrate to you, it not only exists, but within it hides the Empire-shaking authority of the primitive church itself!!!
Most of the resources on this website come from the various "Great Awakening" revivals (prior to 1910) when this foundational work of grace was well known and often entered into. Why then? Because it was real and alive in the hearts and was preached that way!!! When they were called to wholly consecrate their hearts and then trust the Father to deliver them from all this disgraceful inward mixture, their religion worked just that way since He responded with His limitless Grace by bringing them into the intimate embrace of His own Rest. Looking back at history, we can see that the Father has always similarly welcomed such prepared souls into this greater fellowship with Himself.
Sadly, such significant exploits in faith have become more often perceived than actual in our heady and presumptuous age that so eagerly runs after being "puffed up". The wide path of acceptable religion was always built upon a mixed and shifting aggregate of shards of The Rock, assorted household idols, favorite toys and common clay. Such personally convenient spiritual structuring has always had such lurid consequences that the media just can't get enough of it. Smut and scandal sells!!! More
This was prominently seen when the famous A. A. Allen looked back and analyzed the ‘era of the vanishing evangelist ten years previously, (in the "Voice of Healing" Days- 1946-1956) he wrote, ‘there were more than two hundred evangelists in America with revival centered healing ministries... and uncounted thousands were healed.’ But, he continued, ‘the devil’s destroyed one evangelist after another...’ Some went after the money. Others were seduced by glory, subtle competition or pride. Some got into trouble with the IRD. (now called the IRS) Others fell into sin. All of them saw a once powerful tent ministry shipwrecked. Let the fear of the Lord be upon all who would walk in this kind of ministry.” Where did this terrible tragedy come from?
These evangelists were empowered to work wonders. If only they would have had pure hearts to go along with the miracles! As it is, they showed themselves to be corrupt users, scumbags and hypocrites. The aged Charles Price tried to warn them. See "The Real Faith"
The distinct post-salvation foundational work of His Rest was the supreme goal of all serious spiritual believers at the end of the 1800's. Obtaining it was the the sermon subject of the "Great Awakening" revivals. In His Rest did multiplied thousands humbly abide and obtain every promise. (see the "Testimonies" section)
Obtaining His Rest involves the Lord removing everything that brings unrest such as pride, lust and jealousy. More These common spiritual infections make our lives miserable and prone to failure. The longer you leave them in place, the worse they get. They are not allowed in Heaven, so why tolerate them here? You don''t have to, you know. Get rid of them before your moment at the Great White Throne Judgment and you will be honored before the Lord for your spotless purity and integrity. But this is neither cheap nor easy. (see the "Enter" page)
Souls within His Rest would be common again if the same age-old price of "all" was paid instead of mere lip service to it. His way to His Rest is so plain that even the young or the unsophisticated may enter in.
On this website some of the best copyright-free resources available anywhere have been carefully edited to guide you to a supernatural child-like trust in Him -to take you beyond all blame and into His very bosom.
When you enter, your portion of anointing will be hid wholly within The Rock and you will enjoy an easy and unopposed exponential growth within the supreme hush of His unshakable Presence just as He always promised. His own radiant royal road to the supreme stable power, anointing and intimacy hid in His very fullness will be made open for you....
There is another whole realm of divine safety and Grace to be found within His Rest. Why? Just because He lives there!!!
Fixed in His Most Glorious Rest;
Earnest Seeker
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"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ" 2Co 5:10. Some are bold enough to ask the great favor to be judged ahead of time. Those who obtain this will wear a "white robe" for the remainder of their natural lives and so when they arrive before His Throne, will be instantly recognized and celebrated with a special welcome.
The Baptism of the Holy Spirit Defined
The "Baptism of the Holy Spirit" is taken by the numerous Pentecostal denominations to refer to a supernatural endowment of power. By Holiness denominations it is taken to be a supernatural endowment of heart-purity. Both will valiantly defend their definition to their last breathe -for that has been their honest experience of Him.
But upon serious consideration all will admit that it takes heart-purity to exercise His power responsibly; and it takes power to effectively communicate the pure living faith to others. He is both. And He is both at one and the same time. His spiritual power is pure and right ( despite obvious flaws in vessels ), and His purity is freighted with the gentle and lowly power of His own love.
The majority of the heritage articles on this website take the older definition which implies “purity” -and which is proper to the topic of this website. Please do not be confused!! Click above for an important one-page discussion that has links to in-depth articles that fill out both contemporary definitions. Earnest Seeker
A Robust Gospel
Our cities and towns are full of churches confidently proclaiming the gospel as they know it, and yet, curiously, saints who manage to enter His Rest are rare indeed. Few even know what it really means!! Outbreaks of sin among the faithful are an ongoing fact of life. How can this be?
All the churches, including those who call themselves "Holiness" churches, do not preach a gospel which is sufficiently robust to do the job of our complete deliverance from both sin and original sinfulness. The answers are seldom found in the seminaries, since they are the official and officious carriers of heritage misunderstandings of this most essential of gospel topics! If we desire to obtain an uncommon intimacy with God, we must read and make real this obscure topic for ourselves. This is a serious and comprehensive view of the whole gospel in two parts that digs right down past our doctrinal assumptions to shed light "where no light has gone before". -by Dr. C.E. Brown. (a holiness seminary professor...)
John Wesley was an Oxford-trained debater with a mind like a steel trap. Here he debates with a man who firmly holds the accepted views of his time. It is foundational writing like this that set his vision for heart-Holiness forth very succinctly, so that the following generations of theologians with the same heart were able to further develop his thoughts after he had departed to his reward. 14 page PDF by John Wesley.
Daniel Steele answers the question so many seekers after holiness through the ages, including John Wesley have been led to ask: "Why has God not set this great blessing above the mists of doubt and the possibility of controversy?". If holiness is of such great importance to Him, why is the way not made plain?
"It is the divine order that truth of every kind should fully reveal itself only to hungry souls. The long research and the hot pursuit whet the appetite, and prepare the discoverer for a proper appreciation of the treasure which he has found. The more valuable the truth, the higher the barriers which hedge it in and appall all timid seekers, leaving the toilsome search to those dauntless souls whose unconquerable persistence makes all opposition bow before them..... This protracted test was necessary to enlarge their faith to its utmost capacity for the fulness of the Spirit. They endured the test, and received the greatest gift that the Father and the glorified Son could bestow." 4 pages written in 1910 by Theological College President, Daniel Steele
Why This Website?
A brief account of the circumstances surrounding the creation of this website, followed by my capsule testimony. 5 pages by Earnest Seeker
Carradine's Three Visits
This website is just a bunch of old books. Right? You could not be more wrong. Most of these books are buried treasure of the spiritual kind that has not seen the light of day for several generations. To bring each one to you has been a matter of great personal sacrifice.
B. Carradine "The Prince of Holiness Preachers" is often mentioned. Here is the story of how Carradine's books were recovered. Rev. D. Maxey 16 pp.
The Second Blessing in Symbol
The mystery of His Rest is too otherly to be described well by any one image. This lengthy work studies many of the images that unfold it for us. I especially appreciate Chapter 17, "The Two Rests": "The types and symbols of the Old Testament evidently contain as deep a spiritual meaning as the parables of the New Testament, and the whole combine in the revelation of the great doctrines of Christianity. The great doctrine of the Book, the doctrine toward which all other doctrines lead, and in which they all center, is the doctrine of holiness. That God wills, provides for, and demands our entire sanctification from all sin, no candid Bible reader will deny." 100 pages by the Rev. Dr. B. Carradine
Beulah Land
is the Land of completed Rest that is found accross the Jordan. A full description of all the joys and fruits that await the seeker at the end of his long journey through the wilderness.
98 page PDF by the prince of preachers Dr. B. Carradine
Notions of Sanctification
A Survey of Sanctification Theories, With Reference to Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Progressive and Holiness Traditions
Did you know that Holiness teachings are in every branch of the church today? This remarkably well researched theological college dissertation successfully describes the ongoing adventure in the development of sanctification theory within most traditions. It has helped me to gain more appreciation for the amazing depth and breadth of this most essential of gospel topics. It will certainly do the same for you! 58 pages by Robert Edmond
Nine Awful Fallacies
Do you consider sin and occasional sinning to be normal for a believer? When the soul enters His Rest, the heart departs this vale of sorrow to be fixed ever in Him. But before that momentous day, the issue of sin must be faced squarely and without compromise. The trouble is that sin is so challenging and slippery that preachers weak in faith are forever inventing unscriptural ways to avoid the central issue. This excerpt exposes the foolishness of nine common deceptions about sin. 11 pages by M. L. Dye
Is Christian Perfection Scriptural?
The nuances contained in the word "perfection" have confused many for centuries. Perfection is not synonymous with entire sanctification. It is wider in meaning, just as the word "cosmos" is wider and deeper in meaning than "sky". Wesley used it while aware of this, but this theologian's penetrating analysis clarifies any remaining confusion for us. 5 pages by the sanctified theologian J. Sidlow Baxter (1967)
Sanctification and The Self
Do you understand the meaning of the word "self"? An astonishing number of people unknowingly relate wrongly to their own souls when it comes to faith. There are quite a few doctrines that we unconsciously carry that sound good and highly devout, but actually are based on myth instead of fact."As a matter of preciseness, the term, ” self‘, is not even good English. It is a truncated form of the noun, ”selfishness‘, and is of only late appearance. It is not Biblical. Nowhere in Scripture do we find such statements as are now common in conferences on the deeper Christian life for instance, ”the self-life must be slain‘ ; ”the selflife is the flesh‘ ; ”the self is the old nature‘; ”in the self is nothing but sin‘. The Bible is misrepresented by such cliches; for it everywhere recognizes that in the basic human self there is both good and bad. It carefully distinguishes between the self and ” the flesh‘, e.g. In Romans 7:18, where Paul says, ” For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing . . . but with the mind [the true self] I serve the law of God‘. Let it be settled once for all in our minds: the ” self‘ is not identical with the ” flesh‘. The ” flesh‘ is only one aspect of the self." 7 pages by J. Sidlow Baxter 1967
Much These Preachers Call Holiness is Only Regeneration
You know how it is. A great many come to an intellectual "belief" in God, but never quite follow through to find faith in God. Others find faith but never seem to really do anything with it. It seems that the earthly often crowds out the spiritual.
As it is with the new birth, it is even more so when completing it with purity in Him. It becomes endlessly put off for tomorrow. That high price must be avoided. As a result, many are easily led by blind leaders into an ersatz (artificial, man-made, imaginary) version of His rest. "Keswick" theology and it's recent variants is but one version. 4 pages by A. M. Hills
Special Treasure
Remarkable Incidents and Modern Miracles Through Prayer and Faith
This website was created to show the way to enter into His Rest. This selection, however, chronicles what one soul in His Rest can accomplish, given enough time and whole hearted application.
He learned prevailing prayer and over the years honed it to become a gift beyond compare. He developed not only a healing ministry, but what you could only describe as a "ministry of everything". Often his was not a mass ministry, but one where the Lord would lead him case by case, and then word would spread. The most amazing story on this website. What is prevailing prayer? It is prayer that does not quit until it receives it's request.
"As soon as I ventured out from the mission work in Cincinnati, where I had spent several years, I began to realize that mine was not a feather-bed vocation. God had called me to labor among the poorest of people, but few of whom ever entered the church. So, from the start, mine was a life entirely of faith. I never took up an offering for myself, nor asked anyone else to, nor made my wants known, only to God." (since the people he worked among simply had nothing to give) 116 adventurous pages by G. C. Bevington
Re 3:18 "I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see."
We Are Here For You
We have been walking in this rare state of grace for over twenty years now. We have stood the test and are seasoned in guiding others into His Rest -each in his own way. But we can only answer questions that make sense. For that reason you must do a fair amount of reading on the website before asking for help. Please be aware that our time is valuable. Tom Plumb: website owner and librarian.
Most of your questions are already answered on the FAQ, "Introduction" and "Central Idea" pages. Also see the prepared question lists in "Pure Love" and "Objections Answered" on the "Entry" page.
For more information on us, see the "Links" page. Our testimonies are on the "Testimonies" page.
Tom Plumb will give you prompt short email answers to your queries. Perhaps a website reference.
helpline805@gmail.com
near Edmonton, Alberta
free website -no copyrightGeorge Delo will give an evangelist's input to help you through to His Rest.
Phone or Skype by appointment.
ggdelo@gmail.com
near Richmond, Va.
free will offerings accepted.
Note: Often, you have to keep digging until the Lord reveals. He does the saving!!
