The Philadelphian Age

[rockytopva]

6. The Philadelphian Candlestick: The Revived Church Age (John Wesley)


I am also familiar with this age. On a summers visit to spend the summer with Granny I fell in with the Pentecostal Holiness church and there received the witness of the Spirit. One note about Philadelphians is they don't know... nor care to know... on how they got to where they are at. The people were very contented to be Pentecostal and Virginian. I would venture to say that many of the Saints I knew thought that they were dropped off of Noah's ark to their Virginian home where everyone has been shouting happy ever since. To mention anything at all about these church ages would not register in their mentality. It would make no difference whether you were Baptist, Catholic, or Jewish, they would treat you the same respectful manner. As most people had an eighth grade education they simply did not know how to harbor the spirit of variance (to be argumentative). As I have showed myself on occasion on this board argumentative shows that I am not 100% Philadelphian church age. If I were 100% Philadelphian church age I would find more humor in some of these posts.

I would say the earliest fires of the Philadelphian church age began with John Bunyan, the author of the Pilgrims Progress. As he continually angered, and was at odds, with the Sardisean Anglican Church spent a good bit of his life in jail. In the book the Pilgrims Progress we find the foundations of Methodism...


Justification - The faith to make it out of the City of Destruction....
The slough of despond - Brought about by religious melancholy
Legalities mountain - Brought about by religions that dwell on the Old Testament
Beelzebub castle - Satan's last effort to intimidate those seeking salvation
Salvation - At the Wicket Gate... Jesus is the gate! Believe on him and you will be saved!
Sanctification - Begins at the Porters House where the pilgrim gets godly counseling
The Cross - The burdens and the weights fall off when the pilgrim understands the meaning of the cross.
Difficulty Hill - Difficult trials for the new believer
The Arbor - Can loose your spiritual good's in life's comfort zones if one is not careful!
The Baptism in the Holy Ghost - At the Porters House - Also met with Discretion, Piety, Prudence, and Charity.
Valley of Humiliation - Time for some testing
Valley of the Shadow of Death - Time to battle with the devil!
The Religious Giants - Avoiding the evils of the religious giants.
Befriending Faithful - Befriending those of like faith help the journey along the way!
Vanity Fair - Time to take that mature Christian walk of yours and witness to the world!
Plain of Ease / Lucre Hill - Can get bogged down and unprofitable real fast here! Keep going mate!
Giant Despair / Doubting Castle - Remember the promises of God are the keys that open the door!
The Enchanted Ground - The Devil will try to vex you intellectually to make the wrong decisions.
Beulah Land - Mature Christians faith shines brightly day and night! Has a good glimpse of the Celestial City from here!
Oh My! On My! Sweet Beulah Land! With my light (faith, hope, charity) and energy (motivation) I will shout home from here!
The Great River - Symbolic of death.
Celestial City - The place of perfect light and energy.

From this book is the foundation of the Methodist / Pentecostal faith. Which also is full of scripture by the way.The characters in this book who had the brightest light (faith, hope, and charity) and energy (motivation, warmth) fared a lot better than those who did not.

The man therefore read it, and looking upon Evangelist very carefully, said, "Whither must I fly?" Then said Evangelist, (pointing with his finger over a very wide field,) "Do you see yonder wicket-gate?" Matt. 7:13,14. The man said, "No." Then said the other, "Do you see yonder shining light?" Psalm 119:105; 2 Pet. 1:19. He said, "I think I do." Then said Evangelist, "Keep that light in your eye, and go up directly thereto, so shalt thou see the gate; at which, when thou knockest, it shall be told thee what thou shalt do." So I saw in my dream that the man began to run. Now he had not run far from his own door when his wife and children, perceiving it, began to cry after him to return; but the man put his fingers in his ears, and ran on crying, Life! life! eternal life! Luke 14:26.n

During the early years of John Wesley many Protestants headed to America to escape the persecutions that were arising in Europe. John Wesley was a priest in Savannah, Georgia until angry colonist drove him out. Upon returning to England in 1738 he went to a Moravian meeting in London where he felt his heart “strangely warmed.” Thus was the beginning of the Philadelphian Church age which began with what John Wesley would call Methodism. The four main methods that would lead to revival and the great awakening were as follows:

1. Justification The acquiring of faith.
2. Salvation Very easy! Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved! -Acts 16:31
3. Sanctification Replaces the love of this world with the love of heavenly things..
___ The Methodist would not let you claim sanctification if you had not a sweet spirit.
___ It is the spiritual experience of light that dispels the darkness born in every heart.
4. The Witness of the Spirit Pentecostals believed this came with tongues (Seymour cautioned that this is not the only evidence).

“He that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God and he shall go no more out.” Rev 3:12... The big disadvantage with Philadelphian churches… the ability to stay in revival. The Azusa Street revival lasted roughly a year with the mission shutting down in 1931. There can be a terrific lack of elegance and planning within the Philadelphian church, we Philadelphians must guard against becoming overly backward in our ways. So even though I claim to be Philadelphian, I think it wise to have anchors in other church ages as well.

So to travel from Sardis to Philadelphia means to lighten up!

 

[rockytopva]

The Philadelphian way to the Baptism in the Holy Ghost...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SID1FZZDtPw

 

[rockytopva]

More on the Philadelphian Church Age...

“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth; I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.” -Revelation 3: 7-13

The hour of temptation that would try the world was the great depression, the onset of communism, followed by World War II. The open door allowed for the gospel in this church age to circle the world fulfilling the prophesy in Matthew 24:14 that the Gospel would be preached “in all the world.” It is with regret and a sigh that the author has seen the Philadelphia Church age come to an end and a new church age begin. With those of the old church age we find sanctification in its truest form. These folks who were truly sanctified had a sweet spirit, a working ethic, a natural charisma, and were folks who possessed the gift of sainthood. With the change in times we see the coldness and lukewarmness which throws us into Laodicea. But God has not left us totally in the darkness, for in Laodicea we will see the rise of the mega church. The Philadelphian Church age can be summed up by an unknown old time Tennessean preacher, who said these words…

“I like the old paths, when moms were at home, Christians rejoiced because they had victory, preachers preached from the bible, singers sung from the heart, and sinners turned to the Lord to be saved. A new birth meant a new life, salvation meant a changed life, and following Christ led to eternal life. Now being a preacher meant that you proclaimed the word of God, and being a deacon meant that you would serve the Lord, and being a Christian meant that you would live for Jesus, and being a Sinner meant someone was praying for you. Now the laws were based on the bible, people read the bible, the church taught the bible. Preachers were more interested in converts than in new clothes and new cars. God was worshipped, Christ was exalted, and the Holy Spirit was respected. Churches were where you found Christians on the Lord Day, rather than out in the garden, on the creek bay, on the golf course, or being entertained somewhere else. I still like the old paths best, sisters got married before having children, crime did not pay, hard work did and people knew the difference. Moms could cook, dads would work, and children behave. Husbands were loving, wives were supporting, children were polite. Women wore jewelry and men wore the pants. Women looked like ladies and men looked like gentlemen, and children looked decent. People loved truth and hated a lie; they came to church to get in, not to get out. Hymns sounded Godly, cursing was wicked and divorce was unthinkable. The flag was honored, America was beautiful, and God was welcomed. We read the bible in public, prayed in schools, and preached from house to house. To be called an American was worth dying for, to be called a Christian was worth living for, and to be called a traitor a shame. Sex was a personal word, homosexuality was not mentioned, and abortion an illegal word. “– As heard from Dr. Lowell Davey’s “Perspectives” on bbnradio.org.