Overcoming Trials and Temptations Including COVID-19

We live in challenging times. Due to the pandemic, many have lost their jobs, are forced to live in isolation and the future seems uncertain. How should we as believers deal with these trials and temptations to doubt and worry. Matthew 6: 13 states: "And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil." NASB When we hear the word "temptation" we think of an invitation to do something evil. However, the word "temptation" in verse 13 translates a Greek word that could mean either a trial God puts us through to make us stronger or a temptation of Satan to commit sin. Both translations are academically valid. This post will deal with both situations.

How should we deal with a trial of our faith? Things look bad right now due to the virus that is spreading around our land. People are getting sick, and that includes Christians. The disease is causing some people to question God and also to worry. The Scriptures provide us guidance and direction in facing both trials and temptations.

Below are some Scriptures to read and meditate on:
1. Psalm 119: 11: "I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you." Putting God's Word in your heart is like a medicine to avoid getting sick. In this context, sick refers to doubt and worry. We can come through this pandemic as we keep our eyes on the Lord, and His Word.
2. Matthew 26:41: "Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation." This verse speaks more toward a temptation from Satan to sin. As we watch, which could mean to be still before the Lord and get into His presence, and pray to Him continually and without ceasing, we will be ready to withstand the attacks from the enemy.
3. Ephesians 6: 10-18: These verses speak of putting on the armor of God. They include: the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God, and praying in the Spirit. As we clothe ourselves with this armor, we are prepared for any trial of our faith or the temptation to sin.
4. James 4:7: "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you." Submit means to obey. While Satan has some power, he cannot have victory over you when you have on the armor of God and resist him.

When you experience a trial from God, draw close to Him in prayer and Bible study. It will increase your faith and God will do a good work in you. Don't allow the trial to become a temptation to sin. Know that God is in control of this pandemic. However, it is our duty to be obedient and submit to Him. We will have the victory and defeat Satan as we walk in the light of God's Word.

How They Entered Canaan Rev. John Fletcher Part 2

BLJ: Enjoy the conclusion of the testimony of this saintly man of God.

        The fullest account of how Fletcher obtained this deeper inward experience is given in a letter written by the famous Spirit-filled Hester Ann Rogers. Describing a meeting held in 1781, she says: "When I entered the room, where they were assembled, the heavenly man (Fletcher) was giving out the following verses with such animation as I have seldom witnessed --

"After singing a hymn, he cried, 'O to be filled with the Holy Ghost! I want to be filled! O, my friends, let us wrestle for a more abundant outpouring of the Holy Spirit! 'To me, he said, 'Come, my sister, will you covenant with me this day, to pray for the fulness of the Spirit? Will you be a witness for Jesus. I answered with flowing tears, 'In the strength of Jesus I will.' He cried, 'Glory, glory be to God! Lord, strengthen Thine handmaid to keep this covenant, even unto death!'

"He then said, 'My dear brethren and sisters, God is here! I feel Him in this place; but I would hide my face in the dust, because I have been ashamed to declare what He has done for me. For many years, I have grieved His Spirit; I am deeply humbled; and He has again restored my soul. Last Wednesday evening, He spoke to me by these words, 'Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.' I obeyed the voice of God; I now obey it; and tell you all, to the praise of His love--I am freed from sin. Yes, I rejoice to declare it, and to be a witness to the glory of His grace, that I am dead unto sin, and alive unto God, through Jesus Christ, who is my Lord and King! I received this blessing four or five times before; but I lost it, by not observing the order of God; who has told us, With the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. But the enemy offered his bait, under various colors, to keep me from a public declaration of what God had wrought.

"When I first received this grace, Satan bid me wait awhile, till I saw more of the fruits; I resolved to do so; but I soon began to doubt of the witness, which, before, I had felt in my heart; and in a little time, I was sensible I had lost both. A second time, after receiving this salvation, I was kept from being a witness for my Lord, by the suggestion, 'Thou art a public character -- the eyes of all are upon thee -- and if, as before, by any means thou lose the blessing, it will be a dishonor to the doctrine of heart-holiness.' I held my peace, and again forfeited the gift of God. At another time, I was prevailed upon to hide it, by reasoning, 'How few, even of the children of God, will receive this testimony; many of them supposing that every transgression of the Adamic law is sin; and, therefore, if I profess to be free from sin, all these will give my profession the lie; because I am not free in their sense; I am not free from ignorance, mistakes, and various infirmities; I will, therefore, enjoy what God has wrought in me; but I will not say, 'I am perfect in love.' Alas! I soon found again, He that hideth his Lord's talent, and improveth it not, from that unprofitable servant shall be taken away even that he hath.

"Now, my brethren, you see my folly. I have confessed it in your presence; and now I resolve before you all to confess my Master. I will confess Him to all the world. And I declare unto you, in the presence of God, the Holy Trinity, I am now dead indeed unto sin. I do not say, I am crucified with Christ, because some of our well-meaning brethren say, by this can only be meant gradual dying; but I profess unto you, I am dead unto sin, and alive unto God; and, remember, all this is through Jesus Christ our Lord. He is my Prophet, Priest, and King -- my indwelling Holiness -- my all in all..."

Source: "Deeper Experiences of Famous Christians"

13th Bible Study of the Quarter: Hezekiah's Great Passover

Today's lesson comes from 2 Chronicles 30: 2-10. The Passover was a very important festival in the Jewish economy. The Jews were commanded by God to observe the Passover at the start of each year. Hezekiah's cleansing the temple and renewing the Passover were significant events in the spiritual restoration of Judah. One focus of today's study is the steps Hezekiah took to bring Judah back to the worship of God. Another focus is the invitation which Hezekiah sent to the people of the northern kingdom. Remember, Hezekiah was the king of the southern kingdom known as Judah. The northern kingdom were the separated brethren, yet Hezekiah reaches out to them to celebrate the Passover with him.

The kingdom of Judah had begun to deteriorate in the latter reign of Uzziah, the great-grandfather of Hezekiah. It grew rapidly worse under Ahaz, the father of Hezekiah. The prophet Isaiah warned, rebuked, threatened and urged Ahaz to return to the Lord, all in vain. Hezekiah                                                        bad father. God gives everyone a free will to enable them turn from evil and choose God. Hezekiah reigned twenty-nine years and is considered one of the three righteous kings, the other two being David and Josiah.

The first thing Hezekiah did to effect a revival was to cleanse the temple. Repairs were made. The temple of men's hearts and the temple of the church are defiled by all sinful habits and customs, by errors of doctrine, by worldliness of spirit, by lusts of the flesh, by selfish ambitions, and by sins of every kind. Christ's first work in redeeming the soul is to cleanse away the rubbish of sin that has collected on the outside. Then, He will cleanse the inner sanctuary.

The first section is "A Passover to Be Kept." vv. 1-5 It was necessary that the people should know that there was to be a renewal of the great religious festivals, because they had been neglected for a long time. So Hezekiah sent a notice to all Israel and Judah. He was inviting the northern and southern kingdoms to worship together. Hezekiah had taken counsel. It is always wise to seek the counsel of other godly people. In fact, it is wise to take counsel with many to see things from different points of view. The proclamation was made from Beersheba, the most southern town in Judah, to Dan, the northern boundary of Israel.

The second section is "An Invitation Sent." vv. 6-9 The people of the northern kingdom were warned to "turn again unto the LORD." Their misfortunes had risen from forsaking God and His service. If they would return to God, then He "will return the remnant of you, that are escaped." Some of the tribes of Israel had been taken captive and the Assyrians had overrun the country several times. The proclamation was sent with letters from the king and they contained a warning: "Now be ye not stiff-necked, as your fathers were...." It also contained a directive, "Yield yourselves unto the LORD, and enter into his sanctuary." If they would, there was a promise that they would return again into the land.

The third section is "The People Respond." vv. 10-13 There were two reactions:
1. "But they laughed them to scorn, and mocked them." They threw away their only hope. Three years after this invitation was rejected, Israel's city Samaria was the subject of a great siege and it ended in the destruction of the northern kingdom. They would not turn that they might be saved.
2. "Nevertheless, divers...humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem." Many people did respond to the invitation. Five of the northern tribes were represented. It probably was humiliating for them to leave their country and travel to the southern kingdom to worship. They probably suffered scorn and ridicule from their neighbors. In the same way, we are to carry the invitation of the gospel message to every person possible. Some may reject our message, but there will be some that will accept. We don't know who will accept or reject, so our duty is to preach to all.

The final section is "The Passover Held." The next month a great Passover feast was held for fourteen days with a large number of sacrifices and gladness. During this time, the people were instructed in the ways of the LORD. There had been many years since this had been done. King Hezekiah set an example for the people in giving a portion of his wealth for the support of the priests and temple sacrifices. Immediately after the great Passover, the people went through the country destroying idols and idolatry in every form. In the same way, the destruction of all idols of the heart is one of the sure marks of a true revival. Hezekiah even broke in pieces the brazen serpent which Moses had made in the wilderness. There was great religious zeal for the LORD. In addition, there was a great improvement in the morals of the people.  They obeyed the commandments, gave liberally, and had great joy in God's service.The enemies of Judah were defeated. The Philistines were driven out of the country and the yoke of Assyria broken. Great prosperity followed. In the same way, when we have a real revival, you will see the same repentance from sin, the sanctification of believers, liberal giving and great joy among the people.

The Golden Text is: "As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." (Joshua 24:15) Three points about this text:
1. First, Joshua decides for himself;
2. Second, Joshua decides for his house; and
3. He resolves to do this regardless of whatever others do.

Have you made this proclamation for you and your house? Are you ready to press on in God regardless of what others may say or do? Make the decision today like Joshua did!

My summary points:
1. Your circumstances do not make you good or bad, it is your own choices.
2. It is our duty to take the gospel message to all in our pathway of life.
3. We need real revival and when we have it, you will see the results.

Next week, we begin the new quarter studying the book of Romans. Contact me to obtain your free study materials.

How They Entered Canaan Rev. John Fletcher Part 1

BLJ: Rev. John Fletcher was a right hand man of John Wesley. He lost the blessing several times before he gained a victory that lasted. Read and be encouraged.

JOHN FLETCHER
(Methodist)

         In the galaxy of saintly heroes the pious Vicar of Madelay will ever shine as one of the most conspicuous. Born 1757, in Switzerland, educated at the University of Geneva, he soon became noted for his scholarly attainments, a theologian of marked ability, a pastor of tireless zeal and unmeasured self-denial; but above all, he was one of the most striking examples of the life of Christian Perfection, which doctrine he so ably defended and so forcibly stressed.

It is said that "his presence was a benediction. In his devotions he seemed to enter the holiest of holies; his face shone like that of Moses when he came down from the Mount where he had talked with God. In contact with him, every heart caught fire from the flame that burned in his soul." In his daily living he did not fall below the high standard presented in his writings. Christian Perfection was more persuasively presented in such a life than it could be in any book. "A great company of believing souls in the generation just past have turned their faces and steps to the sunlit heights where he stands and beckons to them; and many who will read these lines, have loftier spiritual ideals, deeper joys, and brighter hopes because this man's experience proved to them that holiness was a possible attainment."

In these days when so many question the instantaneous sanctification of the heart through faith in Jesus, it is well to quote the following utterances from Mr. Fletcher:

If our hearts are purified by faith, as the Scripture expressly testifies; if the faith which peculiarly purifies the heart of Christians, is a faith in "the promise of the Father," which promise was made by the Son, and directly points at a peculiar effusion of the Holy Ghost, the purifier of spirits; if we may believe in a moment; and if God may, in a moment, seal our sanctifying faith, by sending us a fullness of his sanctifying Spirit; if this, I say, is the case, does it not follow, that to deny the possibility of the instantaneous destruction of sin, is to deny, contrary to Scripture and matter of fact, that we can make an instantaneous act of faith in the sanctifying promise of the Father, and in the all-cleansing blood of the Son, and that God can seal that act by the instantaneous operation of his Spirit, which St Paul calls, "the circumcision of the heart in" or by "the Spirit," according to the Lord's ancient promise, "I will circumcise thy heart, to love the Lord, thy God with all the heart." Where is the absurdity of believing that the God of all grace can now give an answer to the poet's rational and evangelical request?

"Open my faith's interior eye;
Display thy glory from above;
And sinful self shall sink and die,
Lost in astonishment and love."

If a momentary display of Christ's bodily glory could, in an instant, turn Saul, the blaspheming, bloody persecutor, into Paul, the praying, gentle apostle; if a sudden sight of Christ's hands, could, in a moment, root up from Thomas' heart that detestable resolution, "I will not believe;" and produce that deep confession of faith, "My Lord and my God!" what cannot the display of Christ's spiritual glory operate in a believing soul, to which he manifests himself, "according to that power whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself?" Again; if Christ's body could, in an instant, become so glorious on the mount; that his very garments partook of the sudden irradiation, became not only free from every spot, but also "white as the light, shining exceeding white as snow, so as no fuller on earth can white them;" and if our bodies shall be changed, if this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump," why may not our believing souls, when they fully submit to God's terms, be fully changed, fully turned "from the power of Satan unto God?" When the Holy Ghost says, "Now is the day of Salvation," does he exclude salvation from heart iniquity? If Christ now deserves fully the name of Jesus, because he fully saves his believing people from their sins; and if now the gospel trumpet sounds, and sinners arise from the dead, why should we not upon the performance of the condition, be changed in a moment from indwelling sin to indwelling holiness? why should we not pass in the twinkling of an eye, or in a short time, from indwelling death to indwelling life?

This is not all. If you deny the possibility of a quick destruction of indwelling sin, you send to hell, or to some unscriptural purgatory, not only the dying thief, but also all those martyrs who suddenly embraced the Christian faith, and were instantly put to death by bloody persecutors, for confessing the faith which they had just embraced. And if you allow that God may cut his work short in righteousness in such a case, why not in other cases? Why not, especially, when a believer confessing his indwelling sin, ardently prays that Christ would and sincerely believes that Christ can, now cleanse him from all unrighteousness?

In speaking of the various ways in which God may reveal himself in sanctifying the soul, he says:

When thy convictions and desires raise thee above thyself, as the waters of the flood raised Noah's ark above the earth; then be particularly careful to throw the door of faith, and the window of hope, as wide open as thou canst; and, spreading the arms of thy imperfect love, say, with all the ardor and resignation thou art master of,

"My heart strings groan with deep complaint,
My flesh lies panting, Lord for thee;
And every limb and every joint,
Stretches for perfect purity."

But if the Lord is pleased to come softly to thy help; if he makes an end to thy corruption by helping thee gently to sink to unknown depths of meekness; if he drowns the indwelling man of sin by baptizing, by plunging him into an abyss of humility; do not find fault with the simplicity of his method, the plainness of his appearing, and the commonness of his prescription. Nature, like Naaman, is full of prejudices. She expects that Christ will come and make her clean with as much ado, pomp, and bustle, as the Syrian general looked for when "he was wroth, and said, Behold, I thought he will surely come out to me, and stand, and all on his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper." Christ frequently goes a much plainer way to work; and by this means he disconcerts all our preconceived notions and schemes of deliverance. Learn of me to be meek and lowly in heart, and thou shalt find rest to thy soul -- the sweet rest of Christian perfection, of perfect humility, resignation, and meekness. Lie at my feet, as she did who loved much, and was meekly taken up with the good part and the "one thing needful." But thou frettest, thou despiset this robe of perfection; it is too plain for thee; thou slightest "the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which, in the sight of God, is of great price;" nothing will serve thy turn but a tawdry coat of many colors, which may please thy proud self-will, and draw the attention of others, by its glorious and flaming appearance; and it must be brought to thee with lightnings, thunderings and voices. If this is thy disposition, wonder not at the divine wisdom which thinks fit to disappoint thy prejudices; and let me address thee as Naaman's servants addressed him: "My brother, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldst thou not have done it? how much rather, then, when he says to thee, 'I am the meek and lowly Lamb of God; wash in the stream of my blood, plunge in the Jordan of my humility, and be clean?' " Instead, therefore, of going way from a plain Jesus in a rage, welcome him in his lowest appearance, and be persuaded that he can as easily make an end of thy sin by gently coming in a still, small voice, as by rushing in upon thee in a storm, a fire, or an earthquake.

In a sermon preached soon after Fletcher's death, John Wesley said:

"I was intimately acquainted with him above thirty years. I conversed with him morning, noon and night without the least reserve during a journey of many hundred miles, and in all that time I never heard him speak an improper word or saw him do an improper action. To conclude: Many exemplary men have I known, holy in heart and life within four -score years; but one equal to him have I not known, one so unworldly and entirely devoted to God. So unblameable a character in every respect I have not found either in Europe or America. And I scarce expect to find another such on this side of eternity."

The following are some of Fletcher's meditations:

"Pray on my knees as often as possible.

"Sing frequently penitential hymns.

"Always speak gently.

"Neglect no outward duty.

"Beware of a fire thou kindliest thyself. The fire that God kindles is bright, mild, constant and burns night and day.

"Beware of relaxing and impotence. God is faithful, but he owes thee nothing.

"Speak only when necessary.

Do not surrender thyself to any joy.

Rise in the morning without yielding to sloth."

He once refused a good pulpit because the work was too easy and salary too large. One word reveals the secret of this marvelous life -- HOLINESS.

Source: "Chosen Vessels" by J. O. McClurkan (July, 1901)

Freedom From Worry

BLJ: The below comes from a small tract. In the midst of the crisis we all find ourselves in, George Muller shares an important message.

FREEDOM FROM WORRY
By George Muller
January 4, 1897

From A Tract

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Digital Edition 07/16/06
By Holiness Data Ministry

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Phil. 4:6-7. BE CAREFUL FOR NOTHING;" that is, "BE ANXIOUS ABOUT NOTHING;" no anxiety ought to be found in the believer. Great, many, and varied, may be our trials, our afflictions, our difficulties, and yet there should be no anxiety under any circumstances, because we have a Father in heaven Who is almighty, who loves His children as He loves His only begotten Son, and Whose joy and delight it is to succour and help them at all times and under all circumstances.

Therefore anxiety should not be found in the children of God, but we should attend to the exhortation given us in this verse; "BE ANXIOUS ABOUT NOTHING; BUT IN EVERYTHING BY PRAYER AND SUPPLICATION WITH THANKSGIVING, LET YOUR REQUESTS BE MADE KNOWN UNTO GOD."

Here notice particularly the following points:

(1) "IN EVERYTHING," that is, not merely when the house is on fire, not merely when the beloved wife is dying, nor merely when our children are on the brink of the grave, but in the smallest matters of life, bring EVERYTHING before God, the little things, the very little things, what the world calls trifling things -- EVERYTHING -- living in holy communion with our Heavenly Father, and with our precious Lord Jesus Christ, all day long. And when we awake at night, by a kind of spiritual instinct again turning to Him, and speaking to Him, and bringing our various little matters before Him in the sleepless night, the difficulties in connection with our family, our servants, our trade, our profession, whatever tries us in any way, speak to the Lord about it. And in like manner, our joys, our easy days, speak to the Lord about them, and ask Him to help. Ask Him to help regarding EVERYTHING.

(2) "BY PRAYER AND SUPPLICATION," taking the place of beggars, with earnestness, with perseverance, going on, and waiting, waiting, waiting on God.

(3) "WITH THANKSGIVING." We should at all times lay a good foundation with thanksgiving. If everything else were wanting, this is always present, that He has saved us from hell. Then, that He has given us His Holy Word -- His only begotten Son, His choicest gift -- and the Holy Spirit. And therefore we have always abundant reason for thanksgiving. Oh, let us aim at this!

What is the result of this?

"AND THE PEACE OF GOD WHICH PASSETH ALL UNDERSTANDING, SHALL KEEP YOUR HEARTS AND MINDS IN CHRIST JESUS." We shall have the peace of God. And this is so great a blessing, so real a blessing, so precious a blessing, that it must be known EXPERIMENTALLY to be entered into, for it passeth understanding. Oh, the peace of God, how EXCEEDINGLY precious this blessing!

See therefore how we get this peace of God, through attending to this exhortation, that in EVERYTHING, in the most minute affairs of life, we let our requests, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, be known unto God. And further, that we seek to the utmost to avoid anxiety. Oh, let us lay these things to heart, and the result will be, if we habitually walk in this spirit, we shall far more abundantly glorify God, than as yet we have done.

How They Entered Canaan A.B. Earle

BLJ: Another wonderful holiness testimony for your encouragement and blessing.

A. B. EARLE

I have learned that a minister may be very anxious for souls, and even weep over lost men, and yet not have a full outfit for his work. He may earnestly believe he is fully in the work, and prepare to lead his flock, and yet not have any real soul-travail himself.

Some years ago I was holding united missions, alternately between the Baptist Church and the Congregational. I visited from house to house, and prayed with the different families, and felt very anxious for a revival; I worked hard, and looked pale from hard work. It seemed to me I would have been willing to die for souls, and yet I found my heart was not thoroughly melted.
I preached quite a number of times to the churches in all earnestness of my heart and tried more earnestly to get them near enough to Christ to have a revival. I wondered why they did not melt down; I was half discouraged. After prayer and fasting and much labor, I went alone before God and inquired what the matter was, and what more we could do.
Then God seemed to speak to me by the Spirit and say, "You are just as cold as the churches to whom you are preaching."

It startled me.
"Am I cold?!" I said.
"Your heart has not really been broken up for years."
I said, "Did I not weep while preaching this afternoon?"
"You did, but it was water running from ice when the sun is on it."

Then I saw it all; I saw the difference between anxiety and soul-travail. I then saw why souls were not saved and God's work revived. The fault was largely with the minister, and in this case I was the minister.

I went to the Congregational pastor and told him what I discovered. After a little, as he looked into his own heart, he said, "I am in the same state." No wonder there was no more done. Ministers had not had the upper-room power; they had but little power with God.

We prayed with and for each other for some days, but my heart did not melt. I knew there was power enough in Christ to break up the fountain of my heart, and there was efficacy in prayer. So I resolved to spend the night alone with God.

What a night it was! I think, twenty seasons of prayer that night, but my heart seemed to rebel and grow harder. After four hours I had used all my arguments with God, and my heart had not melted...I did not detect any immorality in my life, but I lacked the anointing; I needed the baptism of pain, the real birth-pain that brings souls into the kingdom.

Toward morning the fountains broke up; my heart melted as it had not done for years. Christ seemed to breathe on me and say, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost." And oh, what a fulness of love! My heart was full. I said, all alone, "I've got it! The long-sought blessing is mine."
In the morning I went out and said the very words I had used the day before. Now the wicked broke down. I preached a little sermon to the churches, and they broke down, and the work broke out with power.

I found the fault had been with the preacher, and I myself was in the way when I was so anxious and working so hard. I could not say the deacons and members of the churches were right; but how soon they melted when the ministers melted!

For more than sixty years since then I have noticed that, as soon as the pastors have melted down and led the way, the churches have usually followed, and I have worked with about ten thousand ministers in twenty-three denominations over the country. If the pastors with whom I have worked have not melted down and received the baptism of real soul-travail, the work has usually been light and unsatisfactory; but if they have received the baptism of pain, so that they really travailed in birth for lost men, I have never known a failure.
Source: Contributed By L. S. Boardman, Author Unknown

How They Entered Canaan J.B. Chapman Part 4

BLJ: We conclude today our look at the life of Dr. J.B. Chapman. Enjoy and be blessed as you read the conclusion.

The Life of Rev. James Blaine Chapman D. D." by D. Shelby Corlett

My father had removed his family into a new country community. By special appointment, Rev. Albright was preaching at the neighborhood schoolhouse. During the second service I became interested in the man and the message he seemed to have for the people. Addressing my neighbor in the seat beside me, I asked in a low whisper, "What kind of a preacher is Mr. Albright?" The reply, "A holiness preacher." "Wherein do holiness preachers differ from other preachers?" "I cannot answer that. Perhaps you will be able to see the difference if you listen to this man." I listened, but I could see nothing objectionable in what this man said, so I set him up as the standard and reasoned that those who differed from him must be just that much aside from the center. So, although not yet a Christian, I came soon to think of myself as somewhat "bent" toward the holiness people.

It was early spring when I heard Mr. Albright. In September the holiness camp meeting came on. The distance from our house was about six miles, and in those "horse and buggy days," this was an hour's travel. I went the first night, only to be disappointed by the failure of the evangelist to arrive for that first service. I missed a night, and then came again to find the meeting in good swing. The evangelist was R. L. Averill from Texas. Night after night he chose the plainest texts and expounded the doctrine of holiness. He held up holiness as the demand of God's law, the provision of Christ's atonement, and the special work of the Holy Spirit in the present dispensation. He showed that men must be holy to get to heaven, and that they must obtain this blessing in the world. He showed from the Bible, the hymns of the Church, and the testimony of men that men are sanctified after they are justified, and that we are made holy by being sanctified wholly after we are justified, and that on this account it is, as John Wesley said, "a second blessing, properly so-called."

But it was not the preaching alone that interested me. There was a small but happy band of people ever ready to stand and testify to the marvelous manner in which God had forgiven their sins and subsequently sanctified them wholly. They sang joyfully, gave liberally, and worked incessantly. Their religion was manifestly a great boon to them, and I could not resist wishing I had what they said they had, and what they really seemed to possess.

One of the favorite songs was number one hundred in old Tears and Triumph Number Two. It was based on the fifty-first psalm, and the first stanza went as follows:

Wash me throughly, blessed Saviour; Cleanse me from indwelling sin. Bathe me in the sacred fountain; Now complete Thy work within.

Every time this song was repeated it seemed to increase in its meaning for me until at last I found myself saying, "If I ever get religion, I want the kind this song represents."

At the end of ten days the evangelist had to pass on to his next engagement. But the people felt they had not yet had the results they desired, so they decided to run the meeting for a few nights more, such preachers as chanced to come along taking the meetings for them from night to night. And how thankful I am that they had that extra week! For it was during that week that I was brought under conviction for sin and came to the public altar to pray and seek the Lord. That first time at the altar marked the crisis, and Christ came and forgave my sins and gave me a new heart. But I had seen the Land of Canaan before I ever left Egypt, and so pressed right on to get sanctification. So when the camp meeting closed I was clear in the experience of Bible holiness and was already giving clear and definite testimony to the fact that I had found what the preachers had preached and what the Christians had declared.

That was in September, 1899. But today, after these passing years, I am happy in the full grace of heart holiness, and have come to say a few things about this blessed experience to the young people of this day. The majority who read these words will no doubt be older in years than I was when I found this blessed grace, so I feel that I am not imposing upon them the words of an elder who passed his youth in a manner he is unwilling to recommend to others. Rather, I come to say that God has been so real and so satisfying to me from that night when as a lad of fifteen He came into my heart in full sanctifying grace that I can wish for all that they may find Him early, as I did, and that I am assured they will have no regrets with the passing years.

I have called holiness the heart of Christian experience because it is, by way of the full realization of what God had promised to us in the way of crises. Regeneration and entire sanctification are the two crises in which God deals with the sin problem in us and by which He takes us out of sin and then takes sin out of us. After that the Christian life is a way of process and progress, but there are no more crises until glorification comes at the return of Jesus to this world. There is all room for growth after sanctification, but there is no more place for crises. There is no state of grace beyond a pure heart filled with the Holy Spirit. But from such a heart flow forth the passive and the active phases of Christian life as water flows forth from a spring. Holiness is purity -- not maturity. Holiness is the goal only in that it prepares one for whatever there is of Christian life -- it is the "enabling blessing" which every Christian needs.
Source: "Holiness, The Heart of Christian Experience"

How They Entered Canaan J.B. Chapman Part 3

BLJ: We continue to look at the experience of Dr. J.B. Chapman. His story continues to bless me.

Immediately upon being saved, I felt that my great joy would be to be good and to do good and to help others find God. Brother Averill had preached a sermon on restitution in the course of which he had told about a rich man who found it necessary to dispose of all his property that he might return to people what he had taken from them dishonestly. He also told about a judge who was converted late in life, and lived ever afterward to regret that he was not converted early, because all his worldly honor had netted him was a worldly family which he was now powerless to win for Christ. These things had affected me, and I had determined to live my life in such a way that at its end I would have no remorse, even though I might still have regret, for my regret must be free from the sense of guilt in that it was based upon weakness and not on wickedness.

Having been converted in a meeting where the preachers all preached that Christians are sanctified after they are justified, and where the people who had helped me most all testified that they had been sanctified after they were converted, I naturally expected that I would, as some of them said, "cross into Canaan at Kadesh-Barnea," and not wait for the waters of the Jordan to arise before the plains of Moab. I have often said that I got converted so I could get sanctified, and I have held steadfastly to the doctrine that even a sinner can long to be made "every whit whole," and can make holiness his goal from the time he begins to seek God at all.

I gave my brief testimony at the meeting on the next evening after my conversion. Then at the time of the altar service, Bill Cummings, in whose buggy I had come to church, handed me his hat, and made for the mourner's bench. A little later a man came and said, "Now do not allow your new-found love to grow cold. Go on and get that love perfected by getting sanctified. Go right away. Go even tonight." And I did go, and down there by the side of Bill and the others who were seeking to be saved, I went to make my full consecration, and to trust God to sanctify and cleanse me from all sin.
I was not really conscious of holding anything back from God. I did answer yes to every suggestion that God might want to use me in His service or might want to set me aside and leave me without any apparent calling except to wait on Him. After an hour of prayer and searching of the heart, I was able to trust for the sanctifying fullness of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was His own witness, and I was so definitely aware that He had taken full possession of my heart, and had cleansed it from all sin and made it His home, that I asked for no external token at all.

Candles are useful to point one to the hilltop from which to view the sunrise; but when the sun comes up, candles are of no further consequence -- the sun is his own evidence. And that is the way I found it when I was baptized with the Holy Ghost on that night following my conversion.
I know there are those to whom human conditions are so essential that they have a tendency to doubt one can be so concerned to get sanctified so soon after conversion. But, based upon my own experience, I am inclined toward the other view, and believe that as soon as one is clearly justified, he should set in with all his heart and soul to get sanctified. If there is any time in the Christian life when one needs all the help that is promised in divine grace, it must be in those beginning days when the way is new, and when knowledge is so limited. Also, let us not forget that sanctification is purity, not maturity, and that the time element is not important in it. If we are ever sanctified, it must be the grace of God that does it, and if it is grace at last, it might as well be grace at the first. Sanctification is subsequent to justification, not because there is any limitation in God that would require Him to justify and then sanctify, but because the conditions for sanctification are such that no one can meet them until first he is justified and regenerated.
And now, in this year of 1946, almost forty-seven years after I gave my first testimony to the saving and sanctifying power of God, I feel constrained to affirm once more that He did forgive my sins and make me His child on a certain evening in September, 1899, and that on the very next evening He sanctified me wholly. And, to this I add, that He saves and sanctifies me now.

I cannot gather my story about a few epochal incidents, except that my conversion to Christ was such an epoch-marking incident. And it has been pretty much the habit of my life as accounting that for me, "life begins at conversion." I was not a great sinner, as the world a praises sinners, and I am not a saint, as the world and the church appraise saints. But I was a sinner, lost and undone, and I became a Christian in heart and life. The beginning was a crisis, but that which has followed has been simply a "going on." And I am happy also to say, "The end is not yet, praise the Lord!"
Source: "Spirit-Filled --The Life of J.B. Chapman

How They Entered Canaan J.B. Chapman Part 2

BLJ: More testimony from Dr. J.B. Chapman.

The language was of course not discriminate to me, but its sentiments were intriguing, and I found myself hoping that I might sometime come to where I could rejoice in an inheritance as complete as this one seemed to be to those who sang with the Spirit and with the understanding.

Having no basis for opposition and prejudice in any former contacts or training, it seemed to me just the logical thing that there should be in the religion of the Lord Jesus Christ complete deliverance and satisfaction for those who put their full trust in Him.

There was not in my mind and heart any tendency to dub these people extremists or to argue that what they believed was fanaticism. They impressed me as good, sincere, happy people, and what they taught seemed to me to be just about what one should expect from a God who is infinite in power, wisdom, and goodness.

The evangelist had another engagement for which he had to leave on Monday. But the brethren who were responsible decided to continue the meeting for a few days in the hope that the revival which they had prayed for and which had come only in meager measure might fall upon them. The preaching was done by volunteer ministers who chanced to be on hand when the need arose. I do not remember much of what was preached during that week, but I do know the Spirit of God was among the people, and that among about forty I was one to whom the call came. One night I went forward and gave my hand -- but was only partly in earnest, and nothing came of that.

God uses strange providences to accomplish His purpose. As a result of my conviction, I had become something of a champion of the holiness people, and felt that it devolved upon me to resent any evil done to them. One night I stopped to talk with a friendly boy of my own age outside the tent, and then went in and sat with him on the back seat. The seats were wooden frames over which canvas was tacked to make the place for the people to sit, and also to provide for folding the seats when the time came to move the equipment. My new friend was one who thought he should do despite to the people who ran the meeting; so when there was considerable noise of singing and praising at the front, he took out a large, hawk-billed knife, stuck the blade down through the canvas of the seat, and drew it toward him, making a rent a foot and one-half long in the new, strong cloth. He had expected my commendation. Instead I turned on him in strong resentment, called him a coward, and said he would not do that to anyone who was willing to take his own part, but would pick on a crowd who had already publicly announced that they would not resist evil; that if he were really brave he would go to a dance and pick a fuss with the crowd there. I told him that he knew he would get his head skinned there, so he came here and picked on good, unoffending people, and that I had a good mind to take him outside and beat him up for their sakes.

The boy was dumfounded. Finally, he said, "Well, if you think so much of these people, you had better go down to the front and show yourself to be one of them."

I accepted his challenge, and moved down two-thirds of the way to the front; and I account that boy one of the great benefactors (although unwittingly) of my life.

My place well up toward the front was good for the purpose. And that night, on what seemed to be the final proposition, I went up and gave my hand on the promise that I would not be asked to stay at the altar, but that someone would be sent to my seat to pray for me.

One of the very first to come to me was my mother. Mother began by saying, "This boy has never heard me pray for him. O Lord, have mercy on me and on him."
A Christian worker encouraged me to "Come on up to the front where it will be more convenient to kneel and to pray," and I was glad to go.

The plan for altar work in those days was to alternate praying and singing and exhortation, leaving it to the seeker himself to join in the praying and to make his own profession, if one was to be made at all. The service continued until a late hour, and until there were no seekers left except me.

It seemed to me that at last I came up, as it were, to the edge of a precipice, and was being urged to step off that edge. I thought of the ground behind me, and knew there was no peace there; but to step off upon the unknown, with what seemed to be no support for my feet, was indeed a trying requirement. Then the little group of helpers stood about me and sang:

I came to Him, my heart was sad: They're all taken away, away.
He saved my soul, and now I'm glad; My sins are all taken away.

Suddenly, like a revelation, came the realization that my sins would all be taken away if I would but step off the edge of that precipice upon the promise of God. Immediately, and without further delay, I stepped off. There was no perceptible fall at all. For there, immediately under my feet, were the unfailing promises of God. As I stood upon them, there came to my heart a sense of pardon and peace such as I had never known before, and without the slightest hesitation, I arose and said, "My sins are all taken away. I am a Christian." There filled my heart in that moment a joy that was truly unspeakable and full of glory.

I went to the individuals still left in the audience, including the boy with whom I had had the trouble at the beginning of the service, and told them how great things the Lord had done for me and had had mercy upon me; I testified and exhorted with great liberty and blessing. It seemed to me that surely many would come.

They did not come that night, but the next night and the nights following, some did come, and I had the joy of feeling that so soon as that I was beginning to know the joy of helping a soul find God. That first night, while I was in the bliss of the first ecstasy, one friend of the former life, a boy we all called Bill, shook me violently, and said, "Jim, this won't do. You will have to sober up. This will drive you crazy."

In those days it was common to express fear that people would "go crazy over religion," and Bill thought he saw in me indications that I was about to become unbalanced. You don't hear much about that going crazy over religion any more. But not everybody knows that the reason for the disappearance of this word is that the statistics show that the number of people who become unbalanced because of excessive religion is so small as to be negligible in the whole. Honesty now compels men to leave religion out of the list, and give the higher rating in the matter of causes of insanity to alcohol, venereal diseases, maladjustment because of anger and hate, and other such things standing in a category quite apart from religion.

12th Bible Study of the Quarter: The Captivity of Israel

Today's lesson comes from 2 Kings 17: 6-17. Assyria was the dominant world power at this time. Its primary center, with its capital of Nineveh, was north of Israel and Syria. The Assyrians were very aggressive and cruel. Israel and her kings should have taken warning of their impending doom, repented, and returned to God. Instead, they continued on in their sin and rebellion.

Amos and Hosea earnestly warned the Israelites about their sinful practices. They showed them that if they refused to repent, there could be but one end, captivity and destruction from Assyria. These warning lasted a long time, and were reinforced by foretastes of Assyrian cruelty and power. God put every possible hindrance in the downward path of Israel; there were object lessons, warnings, entreaties, promises, lesser punishments, but all in vain. The Israelites were determined to go on in sin, and they were to reap the harvest they had sown. So must all who refuse to repent and meet God's requirements for salvation. 

Consider the ways of the United States of America since the 1960's:

1. Prayer removed from public schools;

2. The separation of church and state taken to extremes. Thomas Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Christians was to assure them that there would be no national religion and they would be free to worship in their faith. Today, God has been removed from all governmental assemblies.

3. Bible reading was removed from schools.

4. Abortion was sanctioned and now even promoted as a national right. The right to kill your baby. Proverbs 8: 36 tells us that "all who hate Me (God) love death."

5. Homosexual marriage which is an abomination according to the Holy Scriptures Leviticus 18:22; Romans 1: 26-27, is now legally recognized in the USA.

Symbolically and practically, we can see the same sins committed by Israel being committed by our nation. As we read this lesson, do not be afraid to apply the principles to our current circumstances.

The first section is "Israel Taken Away Captive." v. 6 Hoshea was an usurper of the throne in Israel. He killed King Pekah and Tiglath-Pileser (who was ravaging Israel and taking people captive), made him king of Israel. Later, Hoshea revolted against the Assyrian king and Israel was invaded and Samaria was besieged for three years. The ultimate fate of the ten tribes, known as Israel, has been a subject of endless controversy. They never returned to Palestine as tribes. Those who remained were poor and few. Many who were carried away captive lost their nationality by intermarriage with the heathen. The more sturdy and religious individuals joined with those who returned with the Jews to Jerusalem under Ezra and Nehemiah. Those representatives of all the tribes that returned to form the Jewish nation was a fulfillment of the promises given by Amos (9: 11-15) and by Hosea (14: 4-9), 

One of the points of this first section is that God does all that is possible to save men from sin and ruin. However, we have the right to make choices. If we refuse to repent and turn from sin, there comes a time that God says, "Enough is enough." Then, the consequences of sin will become manifest.

The second section is "Reasons for Captivity." vv. 7-18 In this portion, we look at the reasons for Israel's terrible calamity. The people had come to a place that it was impossible to destroy sin without at the same time destroying the sinner. This is the state of no hope. God had done all that wisdom and love could do, but without success. There was only one thing left to do, root out the sin by destroying the sinner. The following were the reasons:

First, they forgot their God and what He had done for them. They "had sinned against the LORD their God."They had forgotten what the LORD had done in delivering them from Egypt. The people, broke through all the barriers of the Loveland goodness of God.

Second, they conformed to the world. They "walked in the statutes of the heathen." They adopted the pagan worship of the heathen. The church today is dangerously close to this today. When church services could pass for a night club, something has gone very wrong.

Third, Israel was taken into captivity because of their hypocrisy. They covered their idolatry with the pretenses that it was a worship of God.

Fourth, the nation was destroyed because of its idolatry. They had wooden images carved on pillars of the goddess Asherah. They "wrought wicked things," the vile immoralities connected with heathen worship. Idolatry presented the temptation of novelty, fashion, and worldliness. But perhaps the chief attraction consisted in the sports, revelry, and licentious freedom with which idols were worshipped. They could serve every evil in the name and under the sanction of their gods.

Fifth, they were resistant to good influences. God had sent prophets of every kind. The prophets spoke truth, but Israel "hardened their necks." Israel refused the word of the Lord and continued in sin.

Sixth, they "did not believe in the LORD."They refused His guidance, wisdom, and goodness. So they refused to trust Him and turn away from sin.

Seventh, they were disobedient; "they rejected His statutes." Disobedience is the natural result of unbelief. They rejected "His covenant." Not only did they reject His laws, they followed vanity, that is nothingness. The result was utter powerlessness.

Eighth, they engaged in cruelty and crime. They "caused their sons and their daughters to [ass through the fire." The idol Molech was made of brass, the head was a calf with a crown on it, and was made hollow. A very hot fire was kindled within it. When the arms were red hot, the child was thrown into the hot arms and was almost immediately burned to death. This custom was grounded in part on the notion that children were the dearest possession of the parents who should offer their best to their god.

How could these moral causes bring national ruin?

First, their sins took them from under God's special guidance.
Second, Irreligion brought weakness. There was no longer any high moral devotion to a great cause, which would have brought strength.
Third, Immorality led to degeneracy, it made them weak and divided the counsels of the nation.

We should apply this lesson to our country. We are in the midst of a pandemic known as cornovirus. Churches have been closed. Most businesses have also. I am not saying this is God's judgment, but it may be. Pray it is not too late for our country to return to our Christian roots.

The Golden Text is "Because ye have forsaken the LORD, he hath also forsaken you." I believe most of the church in America has forsaken the LORD. The holy fire from days gone by is long gone. We need national and individual repentance. God will hear from heaven and restore our land.

My summary points:
1. Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you intended to stay, and make you pay more than you wanted to pay.
2. God does all that is possible to save men from sin and ruin.
3. Repent and turn from sin before it is too late.

Next week, "Hezekiah's Great Passover." 2 Chronicles 30: 1-10.

How They Entered Canaan J.B. Chapman Part 1

BLJ: We will look at the testimony of Dr. J.B. Chapman, an early General Superintendent of the Church of the Nazarene. He was a fiery holiness preacher!


JAMES BLAINE CHAPMAN (*2 Items) 1885-1947
(Nazarene General Superintendent 1928-1947)

The incidents surrounding and including the conversion and entire sanctification of Jimmy Chapman, as he was affectionately called, are graphically described in his own words:
I sat in the back of the Fairview schoolhouse one Sunday morning listening to Rev. Albright. His attitude and the content of his preaching arrested me. I asked a man by my side, "What kind of a preacher is this?"

The man replied, "He is a holiness preacher."
"How does a holiness preacher differ from others -- Methodists, Christian and the like?" I asked.
But the man did not want to talk so much during the service, so he closed the matter by saying, "If you listen to him perhaps you can tell."

I listened, but I could not tell. There was just this about it: What he said sounded good to me. In substance he said, "We are all lost and sinful. Jesus died to redeem us and save us. He can fully do what He came to do. He can save us from all sin now and forevermore." That sounded to me like it was either true or ought to be true, and I was glad to hear it.

If one were choosing a place to send a fourteen-year-old boy that he might become a Christian and a preacher, it does not seem to me he would be likely to choose the blackjack sand hills of Oklahoma County as they were in the spring of 1899. The people were neighborly, but there was a rough element that tried to dominate the community life. It was a favorite pastime for the boys and young men to mount their horses at the close of a night religious meeting, and empty

their pistols into the air as they rode away from the place. Often the noise was like that of a sham battle, and to a newcomer there went along with it a sort of sense of abandon and wildness. But these young men were friendly, generous to a fault, and ready to accept a new recruit without asking any questions. The chances were nine out of ten that a young boy of fourteen would find his crowd in such a company as this.

I believe it was the "prevenient grace of God" that kept me out of the whirlpool of worldliness in the community and caused me to find companions and enjoyment among the religious elements of the new country.

This section of the state was known as "Old Oklahoma." It was opened to settlement in 1889, and was therefore just "ten years old" when we came there. The "claims" in the blackjacks were not the most desirable, and so were not taken by the first to enter the state; but finally someone filed on every quarter section. Many of the claimants were young men, just barely of legal age, when they came there. And now, after ten years, there were still many single men (old bachelors by this time) living on the land they had obtained from the government on condition that they make it their home and establish certain "improvements" on it.

One of these bachelor men on a neighboring claim was John Miller, whose acquaintance we soon made, and who was a devoted "holiness man." I used to go to other communities to meetings with John, and found him a very interesting man to talk with. One day John sat under the cottonwood tree down by our well and talked for an hour about God and religion and his own Christian experience. As he arose to leave, he urgently invited me to attend the camp meeting at "the Conley Place," six and one-half miles away, beginning on the first day of September.

Many people said John was "queer," and he was never more so than that day when he sat and talked to me for so long. I say, talked to me, for I think I did not say anything at all for the whole time. John had a "faraway look" in his eyes, and I could tell that when he left he felt he had fulfilled a mission that had been laid upon him -- and I felt that he had, too.

Well, the first service of the camp meeting found me on hand; but the evangelist was not there, and the service was not impressive. I was not so interested as I had thought I would be, and so missed the second day and night altogether. But on Sunday I was there, and R. L. Averill, the evangelist, preached to my full satisfaction, and on from day to day and night to night, it seemed to me that he regularly chose subjects I had been wanting to hear explained, and often it seemed to me that he was just "preaching to me." Averill is an old man now, but I still think of him as the pattern preacher, and judge other preachers by how much they re like or unlike him. I was not converted until after Averill left the meeting, but I have always accounted him my spiritual father.

One of the big factors in the meeting was the singing. There were no special singers, and no experts at all; but the worshipers sang like they meant what they sang, and the music sounded good to me. They used the old Tears and Triumphs, Number Two, and that has continued to be the pattern songbook to me. A favorite with the people was Number 100, in that old book. The title was "Wash Me Throughly." The theme was from the fifty-first psalm, and the lines went like this:

Wash me throughly, blessed Saviour;

Cleanse me from indwelling sin. Bathe me in the sacred fountain; Now complete Thy work within.
Purge me with the branch of healing; Wash me whiter than the snow.
Cleanse, O cleanse my inmost being; Through and through, let Thy blood flow.
Wash me throughly, wash me throughly! For the Master's use made meet.
Purify and make me holy,
Now, just now, Thy work complete.

It was particularly the last stanza that impressed me. I had heard of people's longing for the highest and best in the things of God. This last stanza was an announcement of attainment, which was to my ears something new:

Now I yield my all to Jesus; Now I trust the cleansing blood. Now the work is done within me: Glory, glory be to God!
After singing this last stanza they changed the chorus, and sang it:
Hallelujah, hallelujah,
For the Masters use made meet! Now He sanctifies me wholly; Now I am in Him complete.

How They Entered Canaan. Part 2

BLJ: This is the testimony of John A. Butler from Indiana in the late 1800s. He was saved and sanctified and called to preach. Testimonies are timeless. Have you written yours down? Do you have a testimony of holiness?

JOHN A. BUTLER

I remember being under conviction in the U. B. Church at the age of ten but I was so backward, timid and bashful that I put off my surrender to the Lord till I was about fourteen. In a meeting held in Friends Meeting House in Dublin, Indiana, by David Updegraft and John Henry Douglas, I went to the front seat with others as a seeker and Jesus proved Himself to be the Prince of Peace to me. For months I knew I was a child of God. Through my backwardness to move out in public, I grieved the Spirit and lost ground in Spiritual things till I became condemned and would often resolve and try to live right, doing better for a while, then sin would get me down. This up-and-down life continued till I was nearing my 36th birthday. On the night of December 7th, 1896, the Lord so led that I gave a glad surrender to Him for time and forever. That was indeed a memorable night, when I was so set free from Satan's bondage that I could go shouting down the aisle of the Church and down to my home with Peace and Joy in my un worthy soul. Hallelujah! Jesus Saves. Then prayer and testimony meetings were enjoyed, and to hear close, plain preaching was a delight to my soul.

Up to the time of my conversion, I had never had anything in my Christian experience like those days of being "yoked up with Him," and I must confess, the Justified Life, enjoying the First Rest, was a joyful experience to me. With Victory in my very soul, I made confessions and offered to make restitutions as the Lord led me.

On the 7th of December, 1895, I traveled 10 miles to my County Seat, Newcastle, Indiana, to be in session at the Prohibition Meeting, as a delegate from Dudley Township. I had promised the Lord, the night before, that the first opportunity I had I would go to an altar of prayer publicly and do the last one thing which was to make the full surrender of heart and life to Him. My righteousness had been very much like that of selfish, righteous Lot in Sodom. I was truly displeased with the unrighteous deeds of the liquor dealers but, oh, how I needed the exceeding righteousness that Jesus speaks of in Math. 5:20.

How zealous I was for reformation when really I was in great need of the New Creation. But the Lord of Life and Glory, who sent a servant from Heaven to lead Lot out of Sodom to keep him from being destroyed with the worldly multitudes, sent His Spirit on the 7th of December, 1896, to pull me into the exceeding righteousness of Grace Divine. Blessed be His Holy Name, for He is worthy of all Praise, Honor and Glory forever and ever.

When the sun arose on the morning of December 8, 1896, it shined in on one of the Lord's newborn babes in Dudley Township, Henry County, Indiana. I knew then that, by Grace Divine, He who said, "Him that cometh to Me, I will in no wise cast out," had accepted me into His Kingdom of Love Divine. How little we know of the Great Heavenly Father's dear will when we first break with sin and quit Satan forever. But one thing we do know and that is that Jesus is the Prince of Peace, for all that accept Him as their Savior find Joy in Him and the "Joy of the Lord is our Strength," so we have peace with God through Christ, the Prince of Peace.

Call To Preach

Farming had been my occupation all my life and fishing and hunting were my pastime sports. I was quite well acquainted with parts of Blue River, Flat Rock, Upper and Lower Simon's Creeks, the Conall, Big Pond, West River and Martindol's Creek. I knew where to find bass, suckers, catfish, sunfish, red horse and others too tedious to name, and knew where to find quail, rabbits, fox squirrels and gray squirrels in the day time and what way to go to look for coon and opossum at night. When long nights came in the Fall of the year, I could work all day and hunt for hours at night a few nights in the week. But a little later on, the Lord called me to hunt for souls and be a fisherman, for Him, who said, "I will make you fishers of men.

One evening as I went upstairs to dress to go to Prayer Meeting, kneeling to pray, the dear Lord definitely called me to preach the Gospel of His dear Son, my blessed Lord and Savior. I did not know how a thirty-six year old farmer boy, with but little schooling, (not even a common school education) could preach the Gospel but I knew that God had spoken and that He required of me faithful obedience. So saying "Yes" to His will, He opened doors and filled my soul with Glory and Delight in doing His will, as made known to me, seeing sinners truly repent with "Godly Sorrow unto Salvation, not to be repented of," and backsliders reclaimed, taking the Scriptural way of restitution and Living Faith in the All-Powerful Son of the True and Living God.

Experiences In Bible School

The great mercy of God has been multiplied and manifested to me in many ways. Oh, the Love Divine that filled my unworthy soul! I was a new creature and knew Jesus to assuredly be my personal Savior from all my sins and to keep me, even though unworthy, from sinning day by day through His Grace and Power Divine. My soul delighted in the Lord and His way of Grace Divine when He had set me free from the mere form of "the legal religion," described in the seventh of Romans, by the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus, making me a happy possessor of the delightful experience of Divine Grace set forth in the eighth chapter where Divinity had the supremacy. Yea, where Grace rules for the Glory of God.

In this way, I walked and grew, farming and preaching as the way opened for about four years, while many trials, tests and victories came my way. And Jesus was very precious to me in those days and years. He let me have many of the things of this life that I had planned in my mind

and desired to have such as, horses, cows, chickens and a little home that was so appreciated by my companion and myself, but our Heavenly Father always knows what is best for every one of His children.

So He led us to leave the little farm home and go to Bible School in Cincinnati, where Bros. M. W. Knapp and Seth C. Rees often preached the blessed and glorious gospel of full salvation from all sin. This was one of the great favors that the Heavenly Father showed me in leading me into the close association with His devoted servant M. W. Knapp when he was walking so close in the will of the Lord in those last years of his life on earth, in this holy warfare with Jesus, the Captain of our great salvation. And while dear Bro. M. W. Knapp suffered much false accusation, the Lord was using him to bring the True Light of the full Gospel to many souls. And my heavenly Father gave me the privilege of being one of the many that heard and heeded the call to "tarry until" the Holy Ghost came to abide in my heart on the seventh of December, 1900, just four years after the Lord had saved me from my sins and gave the experience of Justifying Grace before God, the Father. Then He, the blessed Lord of Life and Glory, baptized me with the Holy Ghost and Fire and I consider it a great mercy of God that He so led unworthy me.

Source: "Life Sketch Of John A. Butler" Edited by H. K. Underwood

How They Entered Canaan Part 1

BLJ: We will spend a few days reading testimonies of people's experiences of how they entered Canaan, i.e., their experience of entire sanctification. Enjoy these wonderful testimonies! Do you have a testimony of holiness?


C. W. BUTLER *2 Items (Methodist)
*Item 1
MY FIRST DAY IN CANAAN

In September of the year 1900 I was appointed pastor of the Methodist Church at Perry, Michigan. It was then a three point circuit. A few years before this, under the ministry of Reverend J. F. Emerick, a mighty revival swept over this charge. Bro. Emerick was a definite holiness preacher. As a part of the results of that revival, there were definite living witnesses to the experience of second blessing holiness in each of the three churches. They were truly consistent, holy people. It was through the influence and invitation of some of these people that I attended the old State Holiness Camp Meeting at Eaton Rapids for three days. During that period of time I purchased a book entitled "The Sanctified Life" by Dr. Beverly Carradine. Through the ministry of the camp and of this book, I was led out of my wilderness journey into my spiritual Canaan. The old Jordan did truly divide, and I went over on dry ground. I had been dealing with the Lord in the realm of a perfect consecration and had acknowledged both my need and my pursuit of the blessing to a brother preacher on the train en route from Eaton Rapids to Lansing, Michigan. I had been getting ready for this change for some time. I boarded the train in Lansing for my home in Perry; and somewhere on that old Grand Trunk train, between Lansing and Perry, I truly passed over Jordan and came into my spiritual inheritance in Canaan. I walked from the station to the Methodist parsonage singing,

I'm living in Canaan now,
I'm living in Canaan now,
I'm doing well, I'm glad to tell, I'm living in Canaan now.

The atmosphere was so precious and the experience so delightful that I felt as though I had been living in that clime forever. It seemed literally to fit my soul. It was indeed the native clime for my new life in Christ. There was an immediate change of diet in my spiritual life. Such

illumination was on the Sacred Page. It gave me a whole new Bible. I had been questioning with regard to the method of receiving this grace. How quickly I was enabled to see the two works of grace in the Word! I remember previous to this I had questioned a man who professed this grace, asking him to give me Scripture for the second work of grace. The dear man seemed a bit lost regarding the matter and was unable to give me much light. But, having received the grace, I immediately began to see the whole truth standing out prominently in Scripture. This happened on Saturday evening.

The very next morning I preached from the text, "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire" (Matt. 2:11). I was quick to see the double cure. Here is the record of two baptisms, involving two elements and two administrators; also involving two spiritual results, one symbolized by water, and the other symbolized by fire. I have done very little, if any, serving of manna from that time until now. The riches of grace opened to my soul as never before.
During the years which followed, there were occasions of loss for a time; but from these God graciously recovered me and taught me how to abide. The illumination of the Sacred Page has been one of the marked realities which has now been unbroken in my soul for a great many years. The ability to trust and hold steady in the absence of feeling and in the presence of very deep tests is one of the abiding results.

Entering Canaan involved to me a fixed attitude of loyalty to the Word of God and to the will of God. The result of a daybreak in my soul upon which there has been no nightfall to date has been an abiding evidence of this gracious grace. The consecration then made closed the door of my mind against all doubt of God's Word so that, instead of bowing the knee to what has been called a scientific age, I have continued to bow the knee to a holy God; and by his grace, like Paul of old, "I have kept the faith."

I have served an age of question and of doubt. It has been popular to speak of keeping "an open mind." In my own experience the open mind has been to increase light and knowledge of God and his Word and of the deep riches of his grace; but it has meant a closed mind to every approach to the reality of Christian faith which has raised questions of doubt through the mere speculations of human reason.

I want to bear testimony to the practical and working value of the grace of Christian holiness. I can witness after these many years that not one good word of the Lord has failed. Glory to his name! My faith is more certain, God is more real, and the grace of Christian holiness proves continually to be a working reality in performing service for God, and in meeting the tests of life.

Source: A Holiness Manifesto By C. W. Butler *Item 2

C. W. Butler was born again at age 15 and began preaching as a boy. He was active during his ministry as a campmeeting preacher, revivalist, and writer. During the beginning of his

ministry, second blessing holiness was hidden from his spiritual eyes. Then, while he was attending a holiness campmeeting, his eyes were finally opened to the truth:

I served for a dozen years in the ministry, always seeking souls and preaching the life of holiness; but the secret of the in wrought experience as a definite second work of grace was hidden from my eyes ...I was appointed to the Perry charge...The fervency of God's people at Perry, Shaftsburg, and the Graham churches was blessed...Some of those in possession of the experience were well-taught also in the truth. They knew the doctrine and the way in. While none of them attempted to instruct me, some of them saw in me a Brother Apollos and prayed for me.

Many of the members on this charge were regular in their attendance at the State Holiness Camp Meeting held at Eaton Rapids, Michigan... Dr. Winchester...preached, and for the first time in my hearing associated this "second work" very definitely with the cross of Christ. He associated sanctification with the shed blood of Christ. This setting of the truth greatly enlightened my ignorance; and as ignorance was enlightened, prejudice melted. Praise God for the truth as it is in Jesus!..I was compelled to leave the camp very soon after new light broke in upon me. Meantime I purchased at the book-stand a copy of The Sanctified Life, by Carradine. One chapter in that book rolled up the curtain that had been before my vision and showed me the true reality of the true experience of holiness. It was the chapter on "The Loneliness of the Life."

I had to leave for my Perry home before the Sabbath. On my way to Lansing, where I changed cars for Perry, I was in the company of a brother minister who had attended the camp. I confessed to him my need and my heart hunger. We parted company in Lansing, and I boarded the train for Perry, a distance of perhaps thirty-five miles. On board that Grand Trunk train the thing happened. I truly crossed Jordan and entered Canaan without a spoken word or any outward manifestation; but I stepped off the train in Perry, Michigan, with the blessing. I walked to my parsonage home singing softly,

I'm living in Canaan now;
I'm living in Canaan now;
I'm doing well, I'm glad to tell; I'm living in Canaan now.

The atmosphere of my soul was all love. I breathed for the first time in my life the atmosphere which my soul and yours were created to enjoy. It fitted and satisfied me so fully! I felt as though I had lived there always. It was all new, but so full and complete that it was as though it had always been. The inward revelation of Christ was so rich I feared to go to sleep at night lest my Lord would depart. I learned by blessed experience that He comes to stay. His inward abiding was the most marked experiential manifestation of the experience.

I immediately began both to minister and to witness to the truth. This was Saturday evening. On Sunday morning I preached from Matthew 3:11: "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance; but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear; he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire." Two baptisms, two elements administered, and two administrators; I saw doubles. I preached the "double cure." I have been at it ever since. Glory to God!

Source: "Living Flames of Fire" by Bernie Smith