A Presentation of Perfection - Media Sabda Org
A Presentation of Perfection - Media Sabda Org
A Presentation of Perfection - Media Sabda Org
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A PRESENTATION OF PERFECTION<br />
By<br />
Dr. Mark Eckart<br />
Chapter 2<br />
Historical Context<br />
As indicated in the introduction, this project has considered both the history <strong>of</strong> God's Bible School<br />
and the broader development <strong>of</strong> the holiness movement. Also, attention has specifically been given<br />
to the College's history as it relates to the God's Revivalist and the articles that have been selected<br />
to study. This chapter provides a brief historical overview <strong>of</strong> the significant developments in the<br />
School and holiness denominations.<br />
Martin Wells Knapp, 1900-1901, God's Bible School<br />
Knapp, a Methodist minister, started God's Bible School in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1900. He had<br />
published the God's Revivalist since 1888 and, for several months, had been advertising the School<br />
before it opened on Thursday, September 27, 1900. At that time the School only <strong>of</strong>fered a one-year<br />
course, and there were seventy-two students that enrolled the first year. The School started as -- and<br />
still is -- an interdenominational school <strong>of</strong> the Wesleyan-Arminian theological persuasion.<br />
In August <strong>of</strong> 1900 this is what Martin W. Knapp said that God's Bible School was designed to be:<br />
A place where Christian soldiers will be drilled in the rules and tactics <strong>of</strong> successful<br />
soul-winning warfare. A coaling-station, where people will lay in a supply <strong>of</strong><br />
spiritual coal, which will enable them to make successful soul-winning trips on the<br />
salvation railroad. A salvation lighthouse, from which warning and inviting light will<br />
gleam to the salvation <strong>of</strong> many, not only in the city beneath, but over the world. It is<br />
God's. He has prompted it. He is leading His people to plant it and water it. [1]<br />
This kind <strong>of</strong> introduction to God's Bible School found in the God's Revivalist showed that from<br />
the School's inception the periodical has had a significant part to play in the life <strong>of</strong> the School. Yearly<br />
since 1900 the God's Revivalist has kept the constituency informed about the events that have taken<br />
place at God's Bible School.<br />
The God's Revivalist, from the School's beginning, has also regularly carried articles about the<br />
doctrine <strong>of</strong> holiness. In fact, Knapp chose to refer to God's Bible School as the "Mount <strong>of</strong> Blessings,"<br />
in part, because <strong>of</strong> its holiness emphasis. In 1900, he wrote in the God's Revivalist,<br />
Another reason why it may fittingly be named the "Mount <strong>of</strong> Blessings" is that its<br />
mission is to mightily magnify the blessings <strong>of</strong> the new birth and the gift and gifts <strong>of</strong><br />
the Holy Spirit, the double work which both saves from sins and sin, and makes<br />
mightily efficient in the cause <strong>of</strong> winning the world for Christ. [2]