Ultimate Conclusions Intro
In September 2009 I began a study I had long-before decided to call “Ultimate Conclusions.” It must seem like quite a lofty title. I would like to say that they are ultimate conclusions that I have arrived at personally, so they might also be called, “William’s Ultimate Conclusions.”
For years I had grown restless with the current state of the Western Church. I had also grown dissatisfied with the spiritual results I was seeing in my own life, and began to question whether some of the beliefs I had assimulated over the years, as well as some of the ones being passed off to me by some of my peers were really true. Fueled by a desire for real answers for myself and my peers, with the view to present the answers I found to all who might be receptive to my findings, I decided to embark on a quest for truth. I sought to find it in Church History, with a specific aim of ascertaining, summarizing and re-presenting some of the core messages of some of the better-known voices (saints) of the past, following the time of the apostles.
What had God spoken through these persons He had raised up? What has He been emphasizing throughout Church History? And, in light of these things, where did we sit with regards to doctrine and practice? How did the current Western Church measure up in her doctrine and practice to the standards that God had proclaimed through His servants in past generations?
Starting with a broad overview of the Church from the days of the early apostles through to the 20th Century, I began to compile a list of what we might call “big names” throughout Church History. “Saints,” influencers, leaders, spokespersons, apostles, prophets, monks, bishops, hermits, “fathers,” etc. In the first 500 years, the list would entail men like Polycarp, Justin Martyr, Iranaeus, Tertulian, Aurelius Augustine, Patrick, and Basil. In the last 600 years, the list would entail men like Martin Luther, George Fox, John Bunyan, John Wesley, John Fletcher, Charles Finney, Peter Cartwright, and Derek Prince.
The conclusions were arrived at during a time of hundreds of hours of study, investigation and research.
As I sifted through the list, some names fell into the background, and some came to the foreground. Theologians, historians and scholars have their favorites. Popularity, I’ve found, isn’t necessarily the mark by which we should judge of a persons character and message. Eventually a list of over 130 persons was arrived at. I decided to try to come up with gleanings, core messages, and take-aways from 50 of them. During the course of the study, through research, reflection, and dare I say revelation, I came up with 7 Ultimate Conclusions.
I also came to what I’ve now classified as Secondary Conclusions, some of which I may post here at a later time.
William’s Secondary Conclusions (in progress)
I also came to some Personal Conclusions, some of which I may post here at a later time.
The articles made available here by no means represent the entirety of the study. A larger work, a book, will hopefully come at a later date.
Various articles and studies grew out of Ultimate Conclusions and are available in PDF on the following page:
