Calling for a Return to the Doctrinal Ideals and Kingdom Ethics of the First Reformation
Wesleyan Methodists (and the related body known as God's Missionary Church) teach:
"That second, definite, instantaneous work of grace, subsequent to regeneration, wrought in the heart of the justified person through faith, by the baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire, whereby the heart of the believer is cleansed from the original sin, and purified by the filling of the Holy Ghost."
This story received some press in rural Pennsylvania. It certainly caught my eye as I'm very familiar with the area, located near the Venango County airport and the small community of Franklin. And as expected the reporting is somewhat sketchy on the exact theology of these people. But in truth Christo-Trumpism, the growing hybrid religion (of Right-wing Trumpite extremism with elements of Christianity) is able to both defy and transcend traditional labels and categories. Whether Catholic or Charismatic, Confessional, Evangelical or something else, it doesn't matter all that much. The religion is (in the end) a form of hyper-nationalism with a mythology and messiah to accompany it. We've seen this sort of thing before - these monsters are born of collapsing societies.
Confessionalists and Evangelicals, (the two dominate groups in my Judah- Southern Kingdom analogy) don’t quote their own prophets as do the Charismatics but they do rely on alternate word-authorities. Evangelicals frequently quote the Founding Fathers or the founding documents treating such words as inspired or the very least deutero-canonical.
https://www.christianpost.com/voices/reformed-cessationists-should-not-quote-church-history.html
I have no wish to provide comfort or aid to a false teacher such as Michael Brown, but on this issue he has a point. The Church History argument (taken by itself) is not really on the Cessationist side. This however does not mean that so-called Continuationism wins the day – it simply requires a different reading.
Under the banner of co-belligerence, Evangelicals continue to deepen their ties to Roman Catholicism and openly work alongside elements within its larger order in pursuit of their political goals and aspirations. As Catholicism represents a spectrum every bit as broad as what is found under the definition of 'Protestantism', it is the Traditionalist Catholics (so-called) who are the natural allies of the Evangelical sphere – as they too labour to turn back the cultural clock. And while their conceptions of 'Christian America' or Christendom are different, they are united with Evangelicals in opposing secular humanism.
https://www.crikey.com.au/topic/god-in-the-lodge/
The Crikey series is worthy of
consideration and yet typical of such journalism it offers a secular assessment
that deals with issues that at times the authors and editors clearly don't
understand. Given that the name of the publication is tantamount to blasphemy,
one must expect a degree of hostility to the Christian faith. But it shouldn't
scare us or cause to dismiss the reporting out of hand.
(updated and amended)†
Taking in all the drama and pending procedural battles over
the Amy Coney Barrett nomination I was struck by the numerous ironies that are
at work. Given that the background has grown rather complicated it's something
that few outlets bother to probe or pursue. And yet there's an interesting
story and both political factions come out looking pretty bad.