EVANGELISM AND MYSTICISM

John Wesley' Mysticism and its Results on Evangelism

Abstract

The paper discusses the concept of mysticism and enthusiasm as given by John Wesley. It discusses the man's suggestions of the importance of mysticism in our life and the need for every Christian to aim for getting closer to the God. For this purpose John Wesley gave two important techniques of induces mysticism of Watching and The Presence of God. Both these techniques are used to heal the love for the pride, heal pride, heal self-will and heal atheism. All these are diseases and illnesses that impede a person's ultimate goal of achieving mysticism. The paper talks of John Wesley's evangelism and how evangelism was inherited in the Pentecostalism and the Nazarenes.

Table of Contents

Introduction1

John Wesley's Mysticism1

Healing Atheism3

Healing pride3

Healing self-will4

Healing love of the world5

The means of grace6

Evangelism in the Methodist church8

Evangelism in Pentecostalism10

The Nazarenes12

End Notes15

John Wesley' Mysticism and its Results on Evangelism

Introduction

John Wesley was born on June 17, 1703, after his parents reconciled on his father's return from Convocation held in London. He was the second son of Susanna Wesley and Samuel. He was the descendant of a big family and had twenty five siblings. His brother Charles who was the eighteenth child in the family and Charles became household names in their later lives. John Wesley is the king of the eighteenth century theology, social landscapes and ecclesiast. His brother Charles was gifted to write poetry. He wrote mystic poetry that touched the heart of everyone who read it. The brothers were tremendously talented. They were intimidating when it came to the Church in England. John was a clergyman and an evangelist. Along with the support of his brother, he pioneered the Methodist movement.

John Wesley's Mysticism

John Wesley is the master of mysticism. He gave the concept of induced mystical experience whereby a person could experience something mystic if he so volunteered. The Buddhist notion of this kind of mystic notion is called pseudo-nirvana. The technique of induced mysticism as given by John Wesley is called Watching. This technique meant that in order to protect oneself from sinful ideas, a person may observe the contents of consciousness. This technique worked in combination with another technique given by John Wesley. This technique was called the practice of the Presence of God. The purpose of this technique was similar to the Watching technique in that it was meant to bring the volunteer a state of reverie. The underlying purpose of this mysticism and reverie was to let a person achieve oneness with God. This means that the person is so close to God that he feels a part of it. When a person achieves this oneness he truly becomes a realist from a mystic. Hence, for those who believe that oneness is far from reality, the achievement of reverie is a testament to the fact that the union between God and his man is possible on earth. John Wesley had very good understanding of the notion of Christian ...