Chris Howlett

A Heart Strangely Warmed

“I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.” – John Wesley

On the evening of May 24, 1738, John Wesley attended a Moravian Bible Study on Aldersgate Street, in London, England. Apparently they conducted Bible Studies differently in the 18^th century, because the leader was reading from the preface of a commentary on Romans written by Martin Luther. However odd that may sound to us, today, the words impacted Wesley and he felt his heart “strangely warmed” and put his faith in Jesus for salvation. This moment sparked the Methodist Revival.

The revival reached all corners of Britain and jumped the ocean to impact the Americas. Some historians credit the Methodist Revival with saving England from the chaotic upheaval experienced in France due to their revolution. By the turn of the 20^th century Methodism was far and away the largest protestant body in the United States. 

All of this from one heart-warming experience. When asked why God raised up the people called Methodist, Wesley replied, “To reform the nation, particularly the church, and to spread scriptural holiness over the land.” I believe we exist for just such a purpose. Look around. Wouldn’t the world be a better place if we heeded our call to spread scriptural holiness, a heart-felt experience of salvation, and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to follow Jesus in thought, word, and deed?

I hope you feel your heart warmed by God’s love and share his love with others so they, too, can know the transformation of God’s grace.

An Atheist Teaches About Christianity

Christopher Hitchens was a well-known and outspoken atheist. A Unitarian Universalist minister, Marilyn Sewell, interviewed him and asked, “I’m a liberal Christian, and I don’t take the stories of the Scripture literally. I don’t believe in the doctrine of the atonement (that Jesus died for our sins, for example). Do you make any distinction between conservative and liberal faith?”

Hitchens responded, “I would say that if you don’t believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah, and that he rose again from the dead, and by his sacrifice sins are forgiven, then you’re really not in any meaningful sense a Christian.”

“Let me go someplace else,” Sewell replied, steering the conversation in a different direction. She wanted no part of that discussion.

This little encounter demonstrates you can speak all the “God-talk” you want, you can call yourself anything you like, but if you don’t trust that Jesus is the Messiah who died on the cross for our sins, rose from the dead, and will come again to usher in the fullness of God’s Kingdom, then you’re not, in the words of an atheist, “in any meaningful sense a Christian.”

The good news is that Jesus is who he says he is. He is Messiah, Savior, and Lord. He calls us to acknowledge this truth with our beliefs and actions.