Armybarmy Blog

July 25, 2008.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
He is risen!
(hb2RL)

How's your soul?
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Graeme Smith blogs (at right) on the 21st of July about holiness books (Coutts, Brengle, and Wesley get a mention) on his way to picking the best book on the subject he's ever read. Check it out for his choice.
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The Kingdom of God is at hand.
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"That's the problem of the last 20 years - it's stage-driven worship" (David Collinson). He is lamenting the loss of participation, once a hallmark of Salvo worship (e.g. testimonies; different Scripture readers).
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Speaking of Collison (blog at right) he gives his choice of movie of the year - SALUTE. The post is interesting to all who don't know about the subject of this documentary - Peter Norman. I am guessing Peter Norman is one of the more important silver medalists in Olympic history. And I wonder if he is the best Salvo athlete of all time. Do you know of others we should consider in such a conversation? (revolution @ mmccxx.net).
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Remember the poor.
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I am wondering which of the recent topics we've posted on recently is the most offensive?
- miraculous (some seem to love to disbelieve that God can do what He did);
- harm removal (some seem to demand that we sin by facilitating someone else's sin as a sign of our compassion for them/ on the flip side some seem to deny the power of God to deliver from sin and addiction);
- evangelism (some seem very offended that we should evangelise people - actually tell them the Gospel persuasively with the aim that they repent and believe);
- holiness (some seem offended that they don't have to drag out their sanctification process for the rest of their lives [without ever getting holy] and conversely seem to want to limit Holy Spirit's power such that death can accomplish that for which they they want Holy Spirit to be impotent);
- raising the retirement age (we have officers who retire in their 40s and one who actually formerly advocated the lowering of the retirement age);

My pick is evangelism.
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And, on that note...

"There are many who are interested in the cause of Christ, and who are pleased to see it prosper in their corps, their chrch, their city, their country. But there are but few who bear the burden of the world upon their souls day and night, who make His cause in every clime their very own, and who, like Eli, would die if the ark of God were taken; who feel it an awful shame and a consuming sorrow, if victory is not continually won in His name" (Samuel Logan Brengle).

May you win victory in His name today in your evangelising.
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God is here.
SA Daily Reading: Isaiah 43-45; 1 Peter 4.
Much grace,
sec
posted by Stephen Court

July 24, 2008.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
He is risen!
(hb2MG)

How's your soul?
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JUSTSalvos has just made its first audio prayer CD, 'Just Scripture', now available on iTunes; or, visit

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=284072974&s=143460

It features officers from a handful of countries and includes names like Burrows, Knaggs, Nottle, and Strickland...
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You can now download all of the songs from Phil Laeger's first two solo albums (they are sweet) from saytunes.com. Thanks, Phil. And, thanks to the saytunes.com crew for this handy resource.
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The kingdom of God is at hand.
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You can be sanctified today (I heard 15 kids at a meeting yesterday wanted to get sanctified - Hallelujah).
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Rabbi Eliezer: (from Avot R. Nat vers. A chapter 15)"Repent one day before your death!"To which his disciples replied, "What man knows when he will die?" "All the more," declared Rabbi Eliezer, "let him repent today lest he die tomorrow, let him repent tomorrow lest he die the day after, and so all of his days should be spent in repentance?" (hat tip Cory Harrison)
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Mark Hood heavily samples Leslie Condon's Call Of The Righteous (Tustin Ranch Band) in I'll Fight (featuring Shallem) in the I'll Fight album we posted on earlier this week.
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Remember the poor.
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"Breakfast at Sally’s is the inspiring new hard-cover book written by a once-successful businessman, Richard LeMieux, that describes his fall into homelessness and how The Salvation Army sustained him and transformed his life."

"Published by a New York publishing house, Breakfast at Sally’s paints a riveting picture of loss, regret, acceptance, and transformation as it shows readers how The Salvation Army helps those in need." (hat tip M)
http://emailer.mspdc.com/users/sreed/BASTSACONTACTS_7jul2008.html
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"He that is anxious about his dinner, and eager to get to bed at a reasonable hour, or concerned about his salary, or over solicitous about his health, or querulous about his reputation and the respectability and financial condition of his appointment, or is afraid of weariness and painfulness, and headache is not a great soul-winner" (Samuel Logan Brengle).

Whew! You can re-read that. And then set out to be a great soul-winner, today.
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God is here.
SA Daily Reading: Isaiah 40-42; 1 Peter 3.
Much grace,
sec
posted by Stephen Court

July 23, 2008 (updated).
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
He is risen!
(hb2GB;JI)

How's our soul?
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On the heels of yesterday's post on I'LL FIGHT, there is more good news on the SALVO justice/worship front. Three Salvos will be featured in the upcoming Micah Challenge worship/justice album. Songs by Nathan Rowe, Michelle Kay, and Phil Laeger were chosen to this special project. Hallelujah.
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The Kingdom of God is at hand.
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The Naracoorte Herald (17 July 2008) has a piece on an upcoming event that includes a quotation that a Major was used by God to raise a dead person back to life. All glory to God!

Now, I know some people get a bit uptight at this. And I recognise that we shouldn't believe everything in the newspaper. But, Evangelist Heidi Baker puts it this way: "Did God forget how to do the impossible? You believe that a doctor can make someone well, but when God does it you want videos before you'll believe it. Haven't you read the book?"

Amen, Heidi Baker.
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The Major, quoted in the newspaper, confirms, "I have seen the lives of men and women changed by the power of the Holy Ghost; people with cancer healed..." (there is no indication in the article as to the timing).
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Remember the poor.
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To recap a few recent points advocated in this space: raise the retirement age to 75 (get Noland an appointment); commit to a pro-life stance (not a fence-sitting stance); exclusively offer harm removal; preach the Gospel (that is, present the Gospel persuasively - give people a chance to repent and believe); get holy (don't just teach people how to behave as if they were holy); promote Salvo justice/worship; get incarnational; nail apologetics; evangelise all the time.
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"But standing here in spirit on Mount Calvary, we see and feel that to be like Him we must spend outselves as unreservedly in His cause as the worldling is spent in the cause of self; that we must toil for Him as the miser toils for himself; sacrifice for Him as the explorer does for science" (Emma Booth-Tucker).

I expect that as we do that today in evangelising scores of people will get saved (if every reader evangelised like this today and we experienced conversion rates that Campus Crusade for Christ experienced for Four Spiritual Laws presentations [which are lower results because they are typically cold-call] we could expect to see between 150-200 conversions today, and EVERY DAY we all evangelise[in case you are tracking, that is at least 54,000 each year]).
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God is here.
SA Daily Reading: 2 Kings 20; Psalm 75; Isaiah 38-39; 1 Peter 2.
Much grace,
sec
posted by Stephen Court

July 22, 2008.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
He is risen!
(hb2GN;AS)

How's your soul?
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Danielle Strickland has a GREAT quote from Major James Barker (father of SA social work?) on her blog (at right). And it is a great reminder for the Salvos who seem pressured at leaving his evangelistic focus.
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Here's a WB quote I've not noticed:

"I should be a man possessed of the Holy Ghost. When men hear my name they would think about God. I should seek to be filled with the Spirit and aspire, like the apostle of old, to go about the world imparting the Holy Spirit, and breathing forth light, and hope and power on the souls of men" (Singapore War Cry, July 2008, from THROUGH BLOOD AND FIRE by Trevor Yaxley).
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The Kingdom of God is at hand.
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Just yesterday I was conversing with two prominent Salvo worship leaders who were lamenting the paucity of justice songs in the worship repertoire (They did comment positively on a few exceptions here and there, including The Army). Then we received our copy of I'LL FIGHT (hat tip LBS). It is the USA Western Territory's worship/justice compilation album that includes 14 tracks by nearly that many Salvos, all with celebrating the "hope on the frontlines of the battle against injustice around the world." A whole album of Justice worship that is Salvo! Hallelujah (and hat tip to Captain Lisa R. Smith and Mark Hood).
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Andrew Bale has an interesting blog on the official status of an Officer as Office Holder (at right). Years ago in Canada, the determination was that an Officer was an 'independent associate evangelist' (the legal bit was to clarify the non-employee status of the individual in relation with the organisation). I like the independent associate evangelist tag.
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The Pope visited Australia for World Youth Day. He drew the biggest Aussie crowd in history, Sunday morning (here are two takes - one from within Aus and one from without):

http://www.theage.com.au/national/pope-draws-biggest-crowd-australia-has-seen-20080720-3i8z.html

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1824759,00.html?xid=rss-world
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We've been on about apologetics a bit recently and here is short piece that follows up a debate between Dinesh D'Souza and Christopher Hitchens:

http://townhall.com/columnists/DineshDSouza/2008/07/21/an_absentee_godD'Souza ----
Remember the poor.
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God is here.
SA Daily Reading:
Much grace,
sec
posted by Stephen Court

July 21, 2008.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
He is risen!
(hb2WLC;KW)

How's your soul?
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The Salvation Army was represented by 45 delegates from 20 territories and commands and International Headquarters at the 33rd International Council of Welfare Global Conference in Tours, France. Read more about the discussion and outcomes, here:

http://www.salvationarmy.org/ihq/www_sa.nsf/vw-news/1E730FB02898D9508025748900536858?opendocument
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The Kingdom of God is at hand.
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Larry Ashcraft (blogging at right) just posted on legalistic v. liberal Christianity, placing the early Salvationist leaders and some today squarely in one of the two. You might be interested (his blog sometimes gets a good comment discussion).
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Holiness is the solution to every problem. Hallelujahweh!
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The apologetics post yesterday caused a ripple and here is a follow up from Christianity Today for those interested:

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/july/14.29.html

The article talks about the wave of apologetics sweeping university campuses in UK and USA and the best seller lists. Here is a bit on one of those affected:

"One of those people was Evel Knievel, the motorcycle daredevil who died in November 2007. Earlier that spring, Knievel called Strobel after a friend gave him a copy of The Case for Christ. Knievel said the book was instrumental in his conversion from atheism to Christianity. Strobel, a motorcycle fanatic since childhood, and Knievel became friends, speaking weekly over the telephone."

""He just transformed in amazing ways," Strobel says. "I know his last interview was with a macho men's magazine, and he broke down crying, talking about his newfound relationship with Christ. He was so grateful. He knew he had lived a very immoral life and regretted that. He told me many times how he wished he could live his life over for God, and yet God reached down in his last days and dragged him into the kingdom. He was so overwhelmed by God's grace. Here was this macho daredevil who became this humble, loving, and sincere follower of Jesus. It was an amazing thing to behold.""
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Remember the poor.
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"When did I last speak to someone else about my faith?" Members of the Holy Club asked themselves this question every day. Why not ask yourself today, and then go out and evangelise?
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God is here.
SA Daily Reading: 2 Kings 18-19; 2 Chronicles 32 (see v7-8); James 5.
Much grace,
sec
posted by Stephen Court

July 20, 2008.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
He is risen!
(hb2MP)

How's your soul?
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I know some people get a little irritated when the salvosphere turns miraculous and here is a story that will get them going:

Commissioner Kay Rader, the first American-born international leader of The Salvation Army’s women’s ministries, was dead, “like a stone in a white bed,” confirmed without a pulse by the attending doctor. Then a warrior of Jesus, Mariah LaSane, stepped into the room and prayed down some glory and the girl was restored to perfect health. (Carroll Ferguson Hunt. IF TWO SHALL AGREE. 2001. Beacon Hill Press. p23).
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Rader was raised back to life by God in immediate response to the faith-filled prayers of a mighty warrior. Hallelujah. And there are many others. Let's trust God in our warfighting.
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The Kingdom of God is at hand.
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We recently pointed you to an article in Christianity Today by William Lane Craig called God is Not Deat Yet ( http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/july/13.22.html ). He makes the argument against the existence/influence of postmodernism better than I have in the past:
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"...some might think that the resurgence of natural theology in our time is merely so much labor lost. For don't we live in a postmodern culture in which appeals to such apologetic arguments are no longer effective? Rational arguments for the truth of theism are no longer supposed to work. Some Christians therefore advise that we should simply share our narrative and invite people to participate in it."

"This sort of thinking is guilty of a disastrous misdiagnosis of contemporary culture. The idea that we live in a postmodern culture is a myth. In fact, a postmodern culture is an impossibility; it would be utterly unlivable. People are not relativistic when it comes to matters of science, engineering, and technology; rather, they are relativistic and pluralistic in matters of religion and ethics. But, of course, that's not postmodernism; that's modernism! That's just old-line verificationism, which held that anything you can't prove with your five senses is a matter of personal taste. We live in a culture that remains deeply modernist."

"Otherwise, how do we make sense of the popularity of the New Atheism? Dawkins and his ilk are indelibly modernist and even scientistic in their approach. On the postmodernist reading of contemporary culture, their books should have fallen like water on a stone. Instead, people lap them up eagerly, convinced that religious belief is folly."
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I totally agree. We have been distracted more within the Church by postmodernism that without. And we're losing a grip on the apologetics that are so helpful in knocking the delusions out from under the seeker's mistaken worldview.
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Remember the poor.
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Maybe this is a good time to plug good apologetic sites such as Craig's reasonablefaith.org or Hugh Ross's reasons.org to arm you in your evangelising today.
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God is here.
SA Daily Reading: 2 Chronicles 29-31; James 4.
Much grace,
sec
posted by Stephen Court

July 19, 2008.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
He is risen!
(ha2J/PT; hb2VS)

How's your soul?
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Breaking news in the salvosphere: David Collinson says, "I'm with the Pope"! (read more on his blog at right).
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The Kingdom of God is at hand.
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Throughout the world, militant Christianity is expressed through various parts of the Church, via the Spiritual Warfare movement, The Cause, Extreme Prophetic, Generals of Intercession, The War Room, The Final Quest, 24/7 Prayer Movement, various Watchmen ministries, the Jesus Army, Blood ‘N Fire Ministries, The Salvation Army, and many other movements.

Western Christians are recognizing like possibly never before that we are engaged in a spiritual war with eternal consequences. All of the corporate metaphors are legitimate and enrich our understanding of the people of God. But in these days, the Army of God is being mobilized and deployed to fight the forces of evil and to claim souls for Yahweh!

This is not new doctrine. The basis is entirely Biblical. And Biblical experiences and prayers both inform and buttress our own warfare. And when we pray Warfare Prayers, we join the voices and hearts of the seventy disciples, Paul, Josiah, Hezekiah, David, Elijah, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Moses, Deborah, Joshua, and Jesus Himself.

The most quoted Psalms in the New Testament are 2, 110, and 118- warfare prayers!(a) Why? Eugene Peterson explains:

"Massive engines of persecution and scorn were arrayed against them. They had neither weapons nor votes. They had little money and no prestige. Why didn’t they have mental breakdowns? Why didn’t they cut and simply run? They prayed. (b)"

And Sunder Krishnan shows that they prayed the warfare prayers. (c)

These are battle-tested and proven prayers, from the pages of the Old and New Testament to the streets of some of our hardest neighbourhoods today.

(a) Sunder Krishnan, THE CONQUEST OF INNER SPACE. 2003. p129.
(b) Eugene Peterson, REVERSED THUNDER: The Revelation of John and The Praying Imagination. 1988. p87.
(c) Sunder Krishnan, THE CONQUEST OF INNER SPACE. 2003. p130.
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Stay tuned for a new book called WARFARE PRAYER coming to Christian Bookstore, armybarmy bookstore, or Trade near you (soon, but not yet).
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Remember the poor.
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News is that Phil Laeger's in Melbourne - it seems he's leading worship at everything you can shake a stick at. Check your schedules and hit something tonight, or three events tomorrow, etc. while the going's hot.
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Jesus died to save sinners from hell (I know that this is not popular with most people, including - shockingly - some Christians/Salvos). Why waste the sacrifice? Compel someone to repent and believe today.
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God is here.
SA Daily Reading: 2 Kings 17; 2 Chronicles 28; Psalm 46; James 3.
Much grace,
sec
posted by Stephen Court

July 18, 2008.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
He is risen!

How's your soul?
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We're excited to announce an addition to The War College Board of Reference. Joining the august group of leaders that includes Generals Clifton, Burrows, and Gowans, Commissioners Harris, Noland, and Needham, Colonel Robinson, Lieut-Colonel Copple, Stacey Campbell, and Wesley Campbell at Lieut-Colonel Janet Munn and Lieut-Colonel Richard Munn.

Janet Munn is the Secretary for Spiritual Life Development and Richard Munn is the principal, both based at the International College for Officers.

It is not too late to catch a place at the Chicago campus or the Vancouver campus of The War College (see thewarcollege.com).
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The Kingdom of God is at hand.
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Holiness makes most of the 'how to live a Christian life' stream of preaching irrelevant.
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LOVE HAS FEET is the award-winning video biography of Michael Collins by Regan Lipsett. You can watch it here:
http://www.armybarmy.com/library.html (under Love Has Feet).
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Remember the poor.
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While we're remembering the poor, hat-tipping Michael Collins, mentioning The War College, and referencing the armybarmy library, I'll note that I just watched the 57 second - night-time time-lapse shot of Main And Hastings again. You can watch it here:
http://www.armybarmy.com/library.html

What is most notable to someone who knows the neighbourhood is how normal it is. The centre of the pictire (right and behind the street light) is a sidewalk that used to be wall-to-wall people (more than a hundred on that little slab to the right of the street light to the alley) at all hours of every day (possibly excepting 4-5am) buying, selling, and using drugs out in the open. In the photo, there is NO concentration of people at all (there used to be a needle exchange on the alley corner, too - now gone - praise God). This is due to the prayer and faithful action of some committed soldiers. Hallelujah (the daytime video is similar).
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Of all the things you might accomplish today nothing compares with getting someone saved. So, if that is the most important thing, focus on it while interacting with people (or, even, make a point of going out evangelising [or even going IN evangelising]).
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God is here.
SA Daily Reading: Isaiah 32-35; James 2.
Much grace,
sec
posted by Stephen Court

July 17, 2008.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
He is risen!
(hb2BD, KR, JN)

How's your soul?
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Commissioner Christine MacMillan has become spokesman for the World Evangelical Alliance on issues of human trafficking. Read about it at Christianity Today:

http://www.christiantoday.com/article/world.evangelicals.salvation.army.unite.to.speak.out.on.human.trafficking/20402.htmCMac
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Prophetic word from the 1880s on Salvo worship (cited Catherine's book on The SA in relation to the Churches):

"The second of these further utterances praising Salvationist innovations comes from a "pastor" who "went back to Paris from our Congress opening (which [she notes in passing] so offended some people), saying, The worship of the Salvation Army [i.e. its absence of liturgy] is destined to become the worship of the future."
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And it did! Only, in some places, we reverted to what we had left. Ironic.
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The Kingdom of God is at hand.
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From Wall Street Journal:

God Bites Man "A man says he was so consumed by the spirit of God that he fell and hit his head while worshipping," the Associated Press reports from Knoxville, Tenn.:

"Now he wants Lakewind Church to pay $2.5 million for medical bills, lost income, and pain and suffering.Matt Lincoln says he is suing after the church's insurance company denied his claim for medical bills. . . . Lincoln says he has fallen from the force of the spirit before but has always been caught by someone. Presumably the church's defense will be that it was an act of God."
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I'm sure most of your corps don't have those problems.
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Remember the poor.
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hat tip to RR for years of warfare.
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JN is seventy-one! Whew! Extend retirement to 75!
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Two comrades at my outpost received a gift of tongues yesterday. Good times. Praise God.

There was also some talk about order in worship and how too often people go off in a prophecy or tongue without permission in meetings.

I'm sure most of your corps don't have these problems. Ours doesn't (we have rules! Bounce it off the leaders; And, things must be understood - which means, if you are praying in tongues, God understands, but if you are speaking in tongues, let's all ask God for the interpretation [it also means that we explain strange things like glory fits so that people don't get too freaked out]).
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Why not try tears today in your evangelising?
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God is here.
SA Daily Reading: Isaiah 29-31; James 1.
Much grace,
sec
posted by Stephen Court

July 16, 2008
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
He is risen!
(hb2EC;JL;FK)

How's your soul?
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The Five Books That Shaped My Life feature in JAC to which we referred recently is issue 26 (top right). Enjoy. And think about contributing to the next issue (revolution @ mmccxx.net).
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Following up a comment in a recent post on harm reduction, I'm wondering if sometimes some people are more offended by the consequences of the sin than the sin itself (e.g. AIDs, or drug use). And I wonder, when some people decide to sin (in facilitating the sin of drug use) to mitigate negative consequences of sin, if God might be more offended by the sin (and the sin of facilitating the sin) than He is by the consequences.
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The kingdom of God is at hand.
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Major Harold Hill weighs in on the crisis/process argy-bargy:

"...It’s a false antithesis and wastes a lot of energy better spent on actually doing it, and causes a lot of people who should know better to speak disparagingly of their betters, whether of Coutts, or of Brengle, or of Chrysostom. Every single phase of the Christian life must consist of both aspects, otherwise there’s nothing happening at all. Every time God gets through to us about anything, that precipitates a crisis of whatever dimension, and whatever we then do with it, however we respond to prevenient grace, is process."

"That’s the way we humans function. And that’s the case whether my theological construct requires a second blessing or a hundred blessings. The value of the theory – of any of the theories – is that they tease out the truth into bite-sized chunks that we can manage a bit better and relate to our experience. What fits for us will depend on a myriad of factors, most of them beyond our control or too all-encompassing to be noticed, like our personality type, our religious tradition, people who have influenced us, the state of our digestion…"

"Any theological formula "proved" or even illustrated from the scriptures by proof texts is a way of trying to grasp the infinite – and ends up like the several blind men of Hindoostan all giving their various accounts of the elephant – like a rope, like a hose, like a wall, like a tree trunk etc. They’re all wrong and all right. As long as it works – and the proof is in the living and nowhere else – it doesn’t matter too much. (Even Plato was right: the most important question is how we are to live.)"

"As CS Lewis said, he didn’t think any simple soul would be eternally lost through believing that God the Father actually had a beard. No single theological proposition – including any only worked out over the past 250 years – can claim exclusive right to having the only way of expressing the Good News all sewn up. God does not fit in our boxes – though for our sake he graciously allows us to sit in them from time to time since it’s helpful to us, because we get nervous without some boundaries."
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Remember the poor.
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"If I thought I could win one more soul to the Lord by walking on my head and playing the tambourine with my toes, I'd learn how." (William Booth)

Why not try that today in your evangelising?
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God is here
SA Daily Reading: Isaiah 25-28; Hebrews 13 (verse 1 is nice).
Much grace,
sec
posted by Stephen Court

July 15, 2008.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
He is risen!
(hb2JB)

(now playing - Glorifico, NYSB)

How's your soul?
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Phil Laeger has written a great new song called PRAISE BELONGS TO YOU based on Revelation 7 and Acts 1:8 for The HUB that you can listen to (and download the sheet music to) at sayhub.com (under hubbub). Enjoy (and use it on Sunday!). It is typical of good Salvation Army songs in that it glorifies God and aims at the salvation of the world. It would fit well in the warfare section of a new edition of the Song Book.
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This Thursday night at the Training College in Melbourne Commissioner Brian Morgan delivers his FAMOUS LAST WORDS. Book it on your calendar and bring ten friends.

If you are from out of town, feel free to borrow the idea on your own front. It works.
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Noland is blogging on the Barbarian Way (McManus). He compares it to primitive salvationism. Check it out (at right). And, someone, get this guy an appointment!
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I heard recently from a soldier who was very excited about a 12 year-old in her corps who was called to be an officer. She was explaining how what they needed for the youngster was some kind of a training programme that would help the child grow in her knowledge of the Bible, in her evangelism and discipleship, in her prayer and worship, in her Scripture memory, in her other warfare disciplines to help prepare her for officership.

I suggested...

CORPS CADETS!
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Bale keeps bringing us HoD teaching on Sanctification (at right).
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"If you cannot go to the rescue one way, go another." (William Booth)

Try to get some people saved today.
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SA Daily Reading: Isaiah 22-24; Hebrews 12.
Much grace,
sec
posted by Stephen Court

July 14, 2008.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
He is risen!

How's your soul?
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This story by the CBC related to Hope For The Nations is one of many and indicative of the continuing danger that many missionaries place themselves in to follow Jesus:

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/07/11/kenya-missionaries.html
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Here is a very young-looking Aaron White with a good article in SALVATIONIST:

http://www1.salvationarmy.org.uk/uki/www_uki.nsf/vw-issue/B163CD6454C450FF80257475002DC520?opendocument&id=AF382ADDDAB4F77F80257475002D3998
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SALVATIONIST also has a good Call To Soldiership here:

http://www1.salvationarmy.org.uk/uki/www_uki.nsf/vw-issue/56659E7248F8916280257475002E03B2?opendocument&id=AF382ADDDAB4F77F80257475002D3998
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And, still more from SALVATIONIST (which, by the way, is linked at bottom right):

http://www1.salvationarmy.org.uk/uki/www_uki.nsf/vw-issue/C9DA0B2DD073A16380257475002ED4EC?opendocument&id=AF382ADDDAB4F77F80257475002D3998
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The kingdom of God is at hand.
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You've read in this space that too many churches preach to the symptoms of sin instead of sin itself. They teach you how to act like you're holy instead of teaching you to become holy. They deal with symptoms of sin instead of causes.

I wonder if that same mistake takes us down the road of harm reduction? Instead of dealing with the cause of destruction (e.g. drug use) we attempt to mitigate the negative consequences of the symptoms (e.g. HIV).

The loving and compassionate interaction involves teaching people to get sanctified (and they end up acting right). The loving and compassionate interaction involves dealing with the cause of destruction and we end up also dealing with the symptoms/effects.
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Remember the poor.
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"People are worth saving from their wretched surroundings; from themselves; above all, from their sins." (Catherine Bramwell-Booth)

Let's get the priority right in our evangelising today.
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God is here.
SA Daily Reading: Isaiah 19-21; Hebrews 11.
Much grace,
sec
posted by Stephen Court

July 13, 2008.

July 12, 2008.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
He is risen!

How's your soul?
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"My business is to get the world saved. If this involves the standing still of the looms and the shutting up of the factories and the staying of the sailing ships, let them all stand still. When we have got everybody converted, they can go on again. (William Booth, in answer to his own question, “Are all to be officers?” in Norman Murdoch. THE ORIGINS OF THE SALVATION ARMY. p141)

Two things here:
1. If you're able to be an officer, be one. That's what General Booth thinks, anyway. You can go back to your old job once we get everyone saved.
2. Aside from the officership issue, how's that for perspective? Forget the economy. Go soul-busting.
----
The kingdom of God is at hand.
----
Commissioner Railton wrote this:

"We are revolutionists. We know that we have passed from death unto life, and we insist on the necessity of the same sweeping change in every human being. With cries of 'Death unto sin' and 'Life unto righteousness,' we go on, determined to turn the world upside down. We are not philosophers or the theorists of revolution; but its agents. Merely to recommend revolution is contemptible. We must make it. Glad indeed would we be if any word of ours could go forth to slumbering Christians and slumbering churches, and awake them to the fight; but it is only what is done by direct personal effort that can be called sure work, in a revolution." (G.S.R., compiled by John D. Waldron. Originally appeared in the Christian Mission Magazine, January 1873)

Did you hear that bit in the middle? "Merely to recommend revolution is contemptible. We must make it." Ouch. So, we're in a tough spot. We've discussed it. We recommend it. And so far, it is merely contemptible. So, we've got to start it.

Let's start it then. How? Live the covenant. If you are a soldier, then live out the articles of war. That is as revolutionary as anything else in history. How does it look in practice? I don't know for sure yet, but here are some thoughts...

DOs - give 'til it hurts;
- fight like you are headed to heaven in a few hours;
- love everyone;
BEs - holy
- humble
- uncompromising
- zealous
- generous Practicals
- mix with warriors (two ways of doing that include attending the year-long War College or the fortnight -long Booth-Tucker Institute in Vancouver- thewarcollege.com).
- wave the Flag (wear your uniform to work once in awhile; do open airs now and again; do cold-call evangelism regularly).
- pray more (that will go for most of us, myself included- if you're doing an hour- pick it up in intensity and duration; listen more; pray strategically; pray the Bible out loud to God...).

I guess it is a start. More to come, definitely. "We go on, determined to turn the world upside down."
----
This Thursday night at The Army's oldest Training College outside of London is the second edition of FAMOUS LAST WORDS, featuring Commissioner Brian Morgan. It is a 7:30pm kick-off with the best city view money can buy (and it's free - contact your candidates secretary for details on the two-year lease plan). Bring ten friends.
----
Remember the poor.
----
Who needs an evangelistic exhortation after WB and GSR?
----
God is here.
SA Daily Reading: Isaiah 11-14; Hebrews 9.
Much grace,
sec
posted by Stephen Court

July 11, 2008.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
He is risen!
(hb2RF)

How's your soul?
----
Here's hotlink Friday for you.

First up, an expose on persecution of Christians in Iraq:
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MmZjMmE4ZDUxZDQ4ZjE1YTEzMmU1MDFhOTQ1ZmM1NDQ
----
Second, Captain Paul Thistle receives an honourary doctorate from University of Windsor:
http://www.salvationist.ca/2008/captain-dr-paul-thistle-receives-honorary-degree
----
The Kingdom of God is at hand.
----
Third, here is an interesting obituary of influential Christian philanthropist John Templeton:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121555947008937415.html?mod=opinion_main_review_and_outlookstempleton
----
Here is General Clifton's letter to the Anglicans meeting at Lambeth (and an accompanying letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury):
http://www.salvationist.org/intnews.nsf/vw_web_articles/76B7F3596F8C84CE8025747A00368727?opendocument
----
Remember the poor.
----
Colonel Bosshardt OF gets a commemorative stamp in The Netherlands:
http://www.salvationist.org/intnews.nsf/vw_web_articles/61528DE125F2E97A80257466002D0D07?opendocument
----
Here is speculation of another split in Anglicanism (this one on women clergy) that could affect more than a thousand leaders in England moving to Roman Catholicism:
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1821374,00.html?
----
And, JUSTSalvos Blog has a great post on children in the Salvation War. Check it out and see if you might not dust off your Junior Soldiers, Corps Cadets, YP Company, and Directory curricula:
http://www.justsalvosaus.blogspot.com/
----
General Clarence Wiseman (the Evangelist General) made this observation: "It is significant that Christian character and compasion thrive most vigorously in the lives of those who seek to lead others to the Lord."

That will inspire your evangelising today.
----
God is here.
SA Daily Reading: Isaiah 8-10; Hebrews 8.
Much grace,
sec
posted by Stephen Court

July 10, 2008.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
He is risen!
(hb2JK;EB;ZS)

How's your soul?
----
From a mate:

"I was watching a documentary on the Japanese military. A prominent Japanese politician was commenting on the need to maintain naval vessels in Japan's territorial waters, because of an ever-encroaching China that attempts to claim dominion over smaller islands. This line rang in my heart:

"Unless you constantly show your presence, you will one day lose your territory."
----
The spiritual application is simple. Recently I was conversing on losing your sanctification and I think that this quote sums up one solution. "Tell the world."
----
("Tell the World" leads us into this next item) Souls N Justice was a live DVD/CD recording last night at Melbourne City Temple that included some prominent Salvo worship names. It was a sweet evening and you can look forward to the resources that will be produced from it. Hat tip to Brendan Nottle, Brad Ellis, and 614 Melbourne.
----
The kingdom of God is at hand.
----
And in an interesting (for me) coincidence here is an article by philosoper William Lane Craig in Christianity Today called God Is Not Dead yet:

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/july/13.22.html

Yesterday I posted on Morgantaler. Back in college days Campus Crusade for Christ organised these big debates in Convocation Hall and the two classics were HM v. WLC. Craig blew him off the map both times and we saw some people saved (and changed the tone of discussion on campus, and had lots of people to follow up, and so on). And now they turn up back-to-back on armybarmy (one in a negative spin, the other, positive). (Hat tip Laurie Robertson for the article)
----
Remember the poor.
----
Responding to yesterday's post on the Bridge to Life, here is a mighty warrior:

"I can see it being really effective with kids but have you seen it work with adults? Specifically with an addicted population of people? And I mean on a broad scale not like works every once in a while?

"This community (current appointment) has caused us to rethink all of the methods. For instance the, "If you were to die today would you go to heaven?" question isn't even that practical because death stares them in the face so much that they they have become numb and void of its implications.

"We have started to ask: "If you truly want to live today, will you live the life of heaven [salvation, holiness] now? See, that kind of life doesn't stare them in the face. That makes the question about what I do today and not about what happens at sometime in the future.We have found that when we changed the conversation to make today important, it actually changed their vision of afterlife." (hat tip CH)

Why not try that out in your evangelism today?
----
God is here.
SA Daily Reading: Hosea 5-7; Hebrews 7.
Much grace,
sec
posted by Stephen Court

July 9, 2008.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
He is risen!
(hb2SO)

How's your soul?
----
Sometimes you just have to love the Catholics. It turns out that a Cahtolic Group returned the Order of Canada awarded its founder in protest of the Order also being awarded to Dr. Morgantaler (a well-known abortion advocate in Canada).

"The medal had been awarded to the organization's late founder in 1976. "It is only after much prayer and consultation with our community, as well as with heavy hearts, that we are undertaking this action," Rev. David May, one of the Madonna House directors, said in a news release."

"The order has been devalued in recent days, and we are confident that Catherine (Doherty, the 1976 recipient) is spiritually present with us, affirming this gesture of love for our country and for the values which alone can sustain it. Without absolute respect for the gift of life, no society can survive," he said." You can read about it here (hat tip Michael Ramsay):

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/07/08/morgentaler-order.html
----
This is a fitting time to suggest you check out the prolife page on the front of armybarmy.com or at least http:abortionno.org/GAP/gap_signs.html
----
The Kingdom of God is at hand.
----
While we're on links, why not check out the Primitive Salvationist site, particular campaigns,
http://www.primitivesalvationist.com/campaigns.html
and, prayer,
http://www.primitivesalvationist.com/prayer.html
----
Remember the poor.
----
We're always looking for ways to get people saved. I cut my evangelistic teeth on the Four Spiritual Laws ( http://www.godlovestheworld.com/ big hat tip to Bill Bright who, with the 4Laws and the Jesus Film and the global network of Campus Crusade for Christ, has cemented himself in the top five outside the Bible).

I'm a fan of the Bridge to Life( http://www.navigators.org/us/resources/illustrations/items/The%20Bridge%20to%20Life hat tip The Navigators).

But what every Salvo should consider is William Booth's HOW TO FIND GOD. And you can download your free version here:
http: www.armybarmy.com/pdf/7stepsBrochure.pdf (hat tip Jonathan Evans). Why not try one of them out today in your evangelising?
----
God is here.
SA Daily Reading: Micah 1-4; Hebrews 6 (more imitation exhortation - v12).
Much grace,
sec
posted by Stephen Court

July 8, 2008.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
He is risen!
(hb2JO)

How's your soul?
----
People want testimonies of sanctification. Here's one from back in the day (early 90s Easter War Cry) that we picked up in an old post:
----
The Resurrection means everything to me. It means that instead of having just a dying Jesus, a Saviour from my sins, I also have a living Jesus, a Lord for my life. Without the Resurrection I would be limited to following a body of teachings from the righteous Christ. With the Resurrection I also have a vital relationship with the reigning Christ.

If Jesus' history ended on Good Friday He would be one among many great philosophers and founders of religion. As His history continued beyond Easter, Jesus is distinguished from not only every philosopher and every founder of any religion, but from every mortal who has, in his or her own way, vainly sought God.

By His bloody propitiation Jesus is able to relieve us from the penalty of sin. By His glorious Resurrection, He is able to relieve us from its power. Therefore, I have received salvation from the dying, sacrificial Christ; and sanctification from the living, victorious Christ. HALLELUJAH
----
The Kingdom of God is at hand.
----
Well, believe it or not, after the long debate here on raising the retirement age, there is still no news from IHQ about a move to 70. However, we've learned that the life expectancy of officers in UKI is ten years more than the rest of the population (hat tip JC). It's just another piece of evidence that our Officers are alive and kicking and could be intentionally, officially, and productively fighting as active Officers until 70 (or more!).
----
We've seen the new BOUNDLESS SALVATION DVD series (four episodes) by John Cleary and Corey Baudinette and we can recommend it. It is good quality and full of good teaching. It will fit in your DVD shelf at home, at your corps, in your training college. It will fit in your cell group, in your soldiers meeting, in your history class. You can order yours from AUS Territory Trade or Corps Programme department.
----
The fourth edition of SALVATIONISM 101 is near completion. Stay tuned for the best version yet.
----
Someone tried to rob a Salvo Store in USA:
http://www.dailytribune.com/stories/070708/loc_localn05.shtml
----
This shouldn't be blogworthy, but tragically, it is. The Salvation Army is taken to task here for not wanting to help people sin:
----
"The New Hope Centre is not exactly a willing participant in harm reduction. The beliefs of the Salvation Army give people refuge with a place to sleep and eat, but not other essentials such as condoms, needles or crack-pipe cleaning kits. Clients can't even swear on the premises, but can get religious instruction."

http://www.canada.com/nanaimodailynews/news/opinion/story.html?id=7dc098dc-5de6-46e1-82ba-2ec8876e557b

Hallelujah. (I heard recently from a Salvo, heavily involved in 'salvo' programmes that do participate in harm 'reduction', who basically testified that he is favour of straight abstinence approach but that it is too difficult these days because there are too many drugs available. How weak an argument can we get!?)
----
Remember the poor.
----
"The penitent form worker is like a doctor; he must make a right diagnosis to be able to point out the cure which God wants to effect" (William Burrows). That goes for the penitent form at the front of the hall as well as the one across the table at the cafe and the one in the train seat beside you and the one on the other side of the doorway.
----
God is here.
SA Daily Reading: Hosea 13-14; Psalm 100, 102; Hebrews 5.
Much grace,
sec
posted by Stephen Court

July 7, 2008. (updated)
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
He is risen!
(ha2E/WC)

How's your soul?
----
The Salvation Army is a revolutionary movement of covenanted warriors exercising holy passion to win the world for Jesus. It is characterised by emphasis on holiness and covenant that empowers the fighting of its soldiers.

If this doesn't sound like the corps near you, be the revolution you want to see.
----
Have you scoured the armybarmy.com site recently? There is heaps of stuff there, lots of resource for the Salvation War. And there's even a store. So, knock yourself out.
----
The Salvation Army is featured in an article on the "All-Out Bid to Emancipate the Nation's Sex Slaves." Which nation? Australia:

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/allout-bid-to-emancipate-nations-sex-slaves/2008/07/05/1214951110445.html
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The Kingdom of God is at hand.
----
We are receiving submissions for JAC at revolution @ mmccxx.net. We're noticing increased traffic to the JAC archives - we're glad of that, since many of the older articles are worth a much wider readership than the two month 'current issue' focus provides. Read up on the current and back issues at JAC (top right).
----
Here are two responses to a robbery of Salvo mission-trippers:
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20080705/lead/lead1.html
----
Here's an early warning of a couple of rations books I've heard are coming out next year. One is aimed at teens and tackles throws the Word at them every day along with some O+R and HoD and other propaganda. The other is aimed at your typical 10 year-old warrior and apparently will give 365 days of revolutionary training through rations. So save up your extra dollars and get ready.
----
I heard from a mighty warrior this weekend who is upping intentional investment in mmccxx. I think at one point this soldier promised 100 of the targeted outposts of mmccxx in 2,000 cities, in 200 countries, in 20 years. We're a few years in already, so don't you hold off in partnering with us (revolution @ mmccxx.net).

I posted about one such outpost that scored Corps status in five months as God blesses it. They are not all that prosperous. But I heard of another new one that saw eight conversions in the first half of 2008. Is that record-breaking stuff? No. But it is transformative for those eight, and their families. Hallelujah.
----
Remember the poor.
----
I know some of you can testify to this note by GSR (whose birthday we've celebrated this weekend):

"The life of a soul saver is the grandest, merriest, strangest life that can be lived on earth - the life of Jesus lived over again in us. It will cost you all, but it will be a good bargain at that!" (I know it is a popular one, but not everyone has read it, and it is a nice reminder for the rest of us)

Keep that in mind during your evangelising today.
----
God is here.
SA Daily Reading:
Much grace,
sec
posted by Stephen Court

July 6, 2008. (updated)

July 5, 2008.

July 4, 2008.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
He is risen!
(hb2TH)

How's your soul?
----
Our American readers are celebrating today and here is a short article by Chuck Colson on the Source of Liberty for the occasion:

http://townhall.com/columnists/ChuckColson/2008/07/03/the_source_of_liberty
----
Eleanor Burne-Jones (see her blog at right) suggests that we honour Founders' Day by finding someone near us who is in a loyalty versus faithfulness dilemma in The Army today, and help them and/or The Army to find a way out of it.
----
Evelyn Clark (blog at right) has stumbled on to an old JAC issue on the Five Books That Shaped My Life - a great issue that heard from interesting warriors (including the current General). And she blogs (the first?) one of those lists in a recent post. Enjoy.
----
The Kingdom of God is at hand.
----
Remember not to teach people how to act like Jesus by working on demonstrating certain fruity characteristics in their lives ("this week I'm really working on the fruit of patience") but to teach them to get sanctified so that Holy Spirit nuetralises their natural inclination to do what is selfish and grows the fruit of patience in them.
----
Andrew Bale (blogs at right) is still providing us with the old Handbook of Doctrine chapter on sanctification at his blog.
----
I had occasion to hit thewarcollege.com site recently. The new Chicago campus looks like a great place to go (as does Vancouver). AND, they have a great coat of arms. Check it out. And maybe apply for the Conquerors Session (starts in September).
----
I read in ON FIRE (it is blogrolled at right but this article might not be available there) that scores of AUS soldiers responded to the call to officership at a recent candidates weekend. Praise God. The number given was 65. We could use 65 Cadets in January. If you haven't signed up yet, you'd best get your application today!
----
Remember the poor.
----
"To save a soul is better than to command an army, to win a battle, to rule an empire, or to sit upon a throne" (SLB). So, have at it today in your evangelising.
----
God is here.
SA Daily Reading: 2 Kings 15-16; Hosea 1; Hebrews 1.
Much grace,
sec
posted by Stephen Court

July 3, 2008.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
He is risen!
(hb2HM)

How's your soul?
----
It is still Founders' Day for many readers so here is a jolt in the arm from each of the founders:

'The Army, by its very success, is ever in danger of drifting away from the great ungodly mass for whose salvation it was expressly raised up, and to whom it is essentially sent. The only remedy is attack. The gulf must be crossed, and re-crossed, and crossed again. Aggression is the key to the indispensable, nay, the only means of conquest.... We must go to the
people.... New methods must be invented if the old ones do not bring us into contact with the godless crowds. For, no matter what the cost, we must get at them. We must attack.' (William Booth)

'There is no record since the Apostles of a body that has so
encompassed the Divine idea, all its members being taught to make all the other objects and aims of life subservient to the one grand purpose of preaching the Gospel to every creature and striving to win every soul with whom they come in contact to its salvation.... I believe that this Movement is to inaugurate the great final conquest of the Lord Jesus Christ.' (Catherine Booth) - from Eastern Victoria Divisional newsletter, hat tip Cilla B.
----
The Kingdom of God is at hand.
----
The May OFFICER just arrived (!) and there are some gems. I'll share a few over the next few days.

"Sensual, dishonest, sanctimonious and hypocritical scoundrel," "brazen-faced charlatan," "pious rogue," "tub-thumper" and masquerading hypocrite." Major Jonathan Roberts indicated these are just a few of the accusations aimed at William Booth in the press.

Roberts concludes that in response to Bramwell's attempts to persuade William to defend himself, Booth replied, "Fifty years hence it will matter very little how these people treated us. It will matter a great deal more how we dealt with the work of God."
----
Remember the poor.
----
"Without personal dedication to soul-winning no one can be a good Salvationist" (The Salvation Army - it's origin and development).

Now, I know we feed you some classic lines most of the time and it is easy to take them for granted and scan on down to the bottom before hitting the blogroll on the right. But today how about reading that one-line assertion one more time.

Having re-read it, look in the mirror.

And act appropriately in your evangelism today.
----
God is here.
SA Daily Reading: 2 Chronicles 26-27; Isaiah 6-7; Philemon
----
Much grace,
sec
posted by Stephen Court

July 2, 2008.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
He is risen!

How's your soul?
----
Holy Founders' Day!

Now, you'll note that the apostrophe is after the S in Founders. It used to precede the S. And then people realized that there were two founders (not one - William, and not three - as the Year Book strangely suggests - can't someone correct that Year Book mistake? If BB must be included then GSR must be). So the apostrophe moved (hat tip Commissioner Wesley Harris).

Commissioner Harris showed me a photograph of a dedication stone for a church in Ninfield, Sussex from 1871 that notes, "this stone was laid by Mrs. Catherine Booth, assisted by her husband Reverend William Booth, founders of the Christian Mission" (for those not up on their dates the Christian Mission became The Salvation Army in 1878). It is nice to see that "assisted by her husband" bit, too.

The date marks the first preach at Mile End Waste (try googling "Mile End Waste" with "Salvation Army" for more; or, for an alternate take, "Mile End Waste Blessing"). And, I'm led to believe, Founders' Weekend is becoming a big deal in some cities. What are you doing this Sunday to advance the Salvation War by playing up the big date?
----
The Kingdom of God is at hand.
----
"You must make the children understand that God expects them to do their share of the fighting, and encourage them to do it" (William Booth, The Training of Children).
----
"Children should be taught that there is an inseparable connexion between goodness and happiness." (WB). My Dad (and his dad) always say, "Life is more fun when you're good!" They are on the same page (hat tip GNP).
----
We're big on the Junior Soldier war. Let's train them up and deploy them. I know some pre-JSs (they are a bit young to be JS yet) who are memorising the doctrines and JS pledge and evangelising their school mates and seeing results. Hallelujah! Let's not wait until they get old. And, God forbid that we don't promote Junior and Senior Soldiership for our children (which, believe it or not, I've actually heard about - secondhand, of course - most don't drop that type of mutinous scandal on me firsthand).
----
The Army seems to be pressing more books these days. IHQ is on a publishing rampage. AUS Territory is not far behind. And others are producing titles as well. I look forward to the day when the average Salvo anticipates the next title by Major ______ as much as the forthcoming album by HillSong or Matt Redman. There is good stuff out there. Read some of it.
----
Remember the poor.
----
Eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially prophecy. I have an old article on this - The King's Gifts and the Emperor's Clothes (I'd try JAC archives if you are intrigued). Anyway, the suggestion there is that if you are 'open' to the most whacky gifts, that is a sin, since we're meant to eagerly desire them and not just be open to them.

I stumbled on to a 1978 book called Scriptural Light on Speaking in Tongues by Lt.Colonel Wesley Bouterse. It is interesting that The Army in the States produced a pretty balanced take on things in that high-charged era (there was a lot of controversy in the 70s around this kind of thing. I'm suggesting balanced because it provides guidelines in use of tongues in meetings. One is that there needs to be an interpretation. This is a cart-before-the-horse issue in that there is not necessarily any guarantee to the tongues speaker that the person to whom God will give the interpretation will have the guts to obey and provide that interpration and not leave the tongues speaker out hanging. But that is another issue).
----
"The world of godlessness is never won by being ignored; it needs to be invaded and captured for Christ" ("The Salvationist at Work", Brown). Keep that in mind during your evangelising today.
----
God is here.
SA Daily Reading: Isaiah 4-5; Psalm 115,116; Jude.
Much grace,
sec
posted by Stephen Court

July 1, 2008.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
He is risen!

How's your soul?
----
In Canada it is Dominion Day! For appropriate blogging on Dominion Day and its origin in the Psalms, check previous July 1 blog posts at the armybarmy blog archives (top right) or check Michael Ramsay's blog tomorrow (when it is July 1 in Canada) woh can be relied on to come through on these kinds of topics.
----
And tomorrow is Founder's Day (July 2)...
----
The Kingdom of God is at hand.
----
I heard recently the take that The Army is the Christian movement most naturally characterised by servant leadership because every leader is submitted to someone else (the General is submitted to God and accountable to some extent to the High Council). For many this is a counter-intuitive perspective because the militant reality of The Salvation Army manifest structurally in a command and control structure seems to lend itself to other kinds of leadership. I'll buy the servant leadership angle (and I don't have much against command and control, trusting God to provide godly leadership in the roles of command and control). Hat tip Genevieve Peterson.
----
General Orsborn:
'I regard the officer as the mind and soul of our work. He is also the main target for Satan's attack. The Founder was aware of changing values in the minds of his officers: "I see our principal danger is in our very best agents settling down... They constantly need stirring up and setting on fresh tracks. Lord help us!' And then he goes on quoting General Bramwell: 'Is the Army going to be ruined like everything else, by its priests? No! Not if we can help it!"
----
So, Officers, stir it up! Don't settle down! Live up to what you have already attained - your most pure season, your most compassionate episode, your most powerful battling, your most effective evangelism, your most important discipling, your most inspired dreaming, your most disciplined praying, your most transformative teaching, your most compelling preaching, your most consequential strategising, your most faith-filled hoping. And don't be unaware that you are a main target of satan's attack. Get/stay holy. Get/stay accountable. Don't be flippant with temptation. Immerse yourself in prayer and the things of the great Salvation War.
----
Remember the poor.
----
Brengle on holiness: "It does not produce a perfect head, but rather, a perfect heart!"
----
All Black legend Wilson Whinnevay has this advice on leadership: "Surround yourself with innovation and competence." These sounds like good components for building a Corps Council.
----
"The Salvation Army is an Army for the purpose of carrying salvation through the land. It is neither more nor less than that" (William Booth, in SALVATION SOLDIERY). Nice definition. And it is consistent with Anthony Castle: "If we are a metaphorical army in a metaphorical war, then we are not really an army and this is not a war." Of course, I like this definition: The Salvation Army is a revolutiona ry movement of covenanted warriors exercising holy passion to win the world for Jesus.
----
Hat tip to Andrew Bale for his daily Salvation Soldier's Armoury reprints (this was a classic daily dose of rations for the average warrior), available here:
http://salvationarmoury.blogspot.com/
----
And your daily evangelism plug:

"Too long at ease in Zion
I've been content to dwell
While multitudes are dying
And sinking into hell
I can nomore be careless
And say there's naught to do
The fields are white to harvest
And labourers are few.

(W. Walker SASB)
Bust some souls.
----
God is here.
SA Daily Reading: Isaiah 1-3; Titus 3.
Much grace,
sec
posted by Stephen Court

June 30, 2008.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
He is risen!

How's your soul?
----
Brengle Institutes have a great history in The Salvation Army. They annually call Salvos to the holy life. They are normally intense affairs. While they are aimed at Officers, by invitation. I know of exceptions that include Soldiers Brengle, and Youth Brengle Institute (YBI). Both are fantastic ideas that could be replicated the frustration of the enemy in every territory.

Related, there is a shorter but equally Kingdom-effective tradition in The Army of Booth-Tucker Institute (BTI). It draws leaders from various countries to live in slum-conditions for a week of intense spiritual warfare, goodnetworking, and stretching experiences. So far it is exclusively available in Vancouver. If you are interested, see thewarcollege.com. If you are interested in starting another campus, contact revolution @ mmccxx.net.
----
The Kingdom of God is at hand.
----
Tonight is the long-awaited launch of BOUNDLESS SALVATION, a four-DVD introduction to The Salvation Army by John Cleary (with video work by Cory Baudinette). Did you know that if you type boundless salvation into facebook, you get this prompt: 'did you mean painless salvation?' While the launch will be painless, the Salvation which it celebrates caused our wonderful Saviour, Jesus, much pain, for which we are eternally grateful to Him (hat tip SA).
----
Big news is that there is a new Anglican Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans within the Anglican Church. This has been developing for some time but is now a reality, following the Jerusalem Declaration:

http://timescolumns.typepad.com/gledhill/2008/06/theologian-call.html#more

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article4231023.ece

"The new fellowship will return to the 1662 Book of Common Prayer and the 39 articles of religion, train its own priests and insist on more orthodox practices in its churches. Although the instigators claim they are focused on reform from within it is said to represent the worst blow to church unity in the West since the Protestant reformation of the 16th century."

"Central to the announcement was a "Jerusalem declaration", which will form the basis of the new fellowship. In the declaration the archbishops and bishops said: "We reject the authority of those churches and leaders who have denied the orthodox faith in word or deed." It accused the leaders of the Episcopal Church of the United States and the Anglican Church of Canada of proclaiming a "false gospel". The fellowship's first task will be to create a new Anglican body in North America."

Theologian James Packer is even calling for the Archbishop of Canterbury to resign:

'I would say with great respect Archbishop, I believe that the way of wisdom is for you to resign. Now that of course is very bold and tough talk and if I wasn’t in my 80’s, I might not feel that I had the gall ... but that is what I would like to say to the Archbishop and I believe that it would be the kindest thing to say to him. He really is over a barrel on this matter.’

(background) http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=53442

So, this is an item for prayer - that God will use this for His glory and for the purification of the Bride. And, for Salvationists, let this be a cautionary warning of what happens a generation after people write off the Authority of Scripture (ie behaviour associated with 'false gospel'; and potential rip in the fellowship). The solution to this process, which has already begun in The Army, is a universal embrace of Soldiers Covenant. Seriously - read up on your Articles of War and your Handbook of Doctrine and your Orders and Regulations.
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On a lighter note, here are two lists:

Top 10 religious treats:http://timesonline.typepad.com/faith/2008/04/my-sweet-lord-t.html

To 20 religious t shirts: http://timesonline.typepad.com/faith/2008/03/httpwwwilmwearc.html
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Remember the poor.
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Titus 2:11 is on about the grace of God that offers salvation to all people (not my point, but the 'all' must not appear in the limited atonement folks's Bibles). But it isn't just GRACE and salvation. The next verse connects that grace to self-controlled, upright, and GODLY lives and away from ungodliness and worldly passions. As Jesus, said, Repent and Believe.
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Some people appear to have it together. This some times can disincline a would-be evangelist. Again and again I am reminded by others or personal experience) that most of these people, once you scratch the surface, are as fragile and uncertain and confused as the more obviously messed-up in our society. This should offer you confidence in your evangelising today.
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God is here.
SA Daily Reading: Amos 7-9; Psalm 104; Titus 2.
Much grace,
sec
posted by Stephen Court

June 29, 2008.

Christian Non-Violence Continued...

Some excellent must-read thoughts on Christian non-violence (and Hiroshima) over at the War College blog (to the right, in the Canadian section). Here's a teaser:


"The professions and trades of those who are going to be accepted into the community must be examined. The nature and type of each must be established...brothel, sculptors of idols, charioteer, athlete, gladiator...give it up or be rejected. A military constable must be forbidden to kill, neither may he swear; if he is not willing to follow these instructions, he must be rejected. A proconsul or magistrate who wears the purple and governs by the sword shall give it up or be rejected. Anyone taking or already baptized who wants to become a soldier shall be sent away, for he has despised God." - Hippolytus, 218 AD

"We ourselves were well conversant with war, murder, and everything evil, but all of us throughout the whole wide earth have traded in our weapons of war. We have exchanged our swords for plowshares, our spears for farm tools...now we cultivate the fear of God, justice, kindness, faith, and the expectation of the future given us through the crucified one...the more we are persecuted and martyred, the more do others in ever increasing numbers become believers." - Justin, martyred in 165 AD

Grace,

Aaron

June 28, 2008.

June 27, 2008.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
He is risen!
(hb2JHE)

How's your soul?
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Major Nigel Bovey breaks down the Mercy Seat for us - 14 years ago he wrote a book on it and he is planning an update:
http://www1.salvationarmy.org.uk/uki/www_uki.nsf/vw-issue/23A334EB3B2798748025746E00488F73?opendocument&id=1590A95CD9F7ED378025746E00477633
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N.T. Wright Responds to Richard John Neuhaus, here: http://www.firstthings.com/article.php3?id_article=6253

Recently I was describing John Fletcher's Checks to Antinomianism (classic, blistering polemic from the man Wesley called the holiest guy he'd ever met). And then I stumbled upon this current exchange between N.T. Wright and Richard John Neuhaus. This is a modern day taste of what Fletcher used to do...

Major Harold Hill, in Clericalisation in The Salvation Army: Whence and Whither? paper presented this month in New Zealand, has this from E.L. Mascall on the Reformation: "What Protestantism did to the religion of Western Europe was simply to substitute a clericalism of the Word for a clericalism of the Sacrament."

So with Wright and Neuhaus, you have grandchildren from each of these clerical lines duking it out.
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The kingdom of God is at hand.
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Here are some Year Book stats on AUS Territory:
1968 - 727 active; 63 cadets; 208 corps; 322 outposts
1978 - 565 active; 54 cadets; 186 corps; 231 outposts
1988 - 659 active; 178 corps; 52 cadets; 36 outposts
1998 - 586 active; 179 corps; 28 cadets; 24 outposts
2008 - 466 active; 161 corps; 39 cadets; 18 outposts
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From June 24, 2008 WSJ.
"But Does God Believe in Atheists? The Washington Post reports on a shocking finding from a new Pew Research Center poll: "Twenty-one percent of those who describe themselves as atheists expressed a belief in God or a universal spirit."

"How can you be an atheist and believe in God? Gregory Smith, a Pew research fellow, speculates that "some people may identify with the term atheist or agnostic without fully understanding the definition." But maybe the culprit here is the ambiguity of the term believe.

"The finding reminded us of a 1980s song, "Dear God," by a band called XTC. It's a petulant protest of suffering in the world:

"Dear God, Hope you got the letter And I pray you can make it better down here I don't mean a big reduction in the price of beer But all the people that you made in your image, See them starving on their feet 'Cause they don't get enough to eatFrom God I can't believe in you.

"The lyrics also complain of sectarian "fighting in the street," "disease," "wars," the drowning of "babes" and "those lost at sea and never found." The narrator repeatedly asserts his unbelief in God--but the entire song is in the second person. If he doesn't believe in God, who's he talking to?

"The obvious answer is that the XTC atheists' attitude toward God is like the Arabs' attitude toward Israel. They don't deny that God exists, but they blame him for all their problems, and they refuse to recognize his right to exist."
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Remember the poor.
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Here's a word from a very old armybarmy blog:

"My buddy lives in South Africa and laid this one on me: "The British Army suffered one of its greatest defeats at Isandlwana. More than 1500 soldiers died at the hands of the Zulus. A combination of pride, arrogance, and foolishness led to this defeat. They thought the Zulus would line up and play fair when the invaded Zululand. Word got back to a mission station at Roarkes Drift that the Zulus were coming. A small group of people held off the Zulus through the night and 14 victoria crosses were handed out because of that battle. It remains the battle that has had the greatest number of victoria crosses handed out. I could not help but wonder if God wanted me to learn something from that history. I have see arrogance in The Salvation Army and I really believe that as a result we have seen some defeats. Perhaps we have in someways faced our Isandlwana - or perhaps we are still facing it. I wonder if we are heading to our Roarkes Drift. If we in The Salvation Army will face a battle in our future where only heroes will survive. Ultimately the British did win the war with the Zulus, but they had to go through both kinds of battles before they did win the war. I have no doubt of our ultimate victory, but neither do I have any illusions about the challenges of the road."
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Here's an Officer's covenant - pray about signing it:

CALLED BY GOD to proclaim the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ as an officer of The Salvation Army
I BIND MYSELF TO HIM IN THIS SOLEMN COVENANT to love and serve him supremely all my days,
to live to win souls and make their salvation the first purpose of my life...
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And, from Xander Coleman's blog, William Booth writes on the doctrine of entire sanctification:

"Holiness to the Lord is to us a fundamental truth; it stands in the front rank of our doctrines. We inscribe it upon our banners. It is with us in no shape or form an open debatable question as to whether God can sanctify wholly, or whether Jesus does save His people from their sins.

He goes on to say,

"In the estimation of The Salvation Army that is settled for ever: and any officer who did not hold and proclaim the ability of Jesus Christ to save His people to the uttermost from sin and sinning, I should consider out of place amongst us."
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Bust some souls.
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God is here.
SA Daily Reading: 2 Kings 13-14; 2 Chronicles 25; 2 Timothy 3.
Much grace,
sec
posted by Stephen Court

June 26, 2008. (updated!)
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
He is risen!
How's your soul?
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Several Training Colleges are networking together for 24/7/5 (non-stop prayer in all five Salvo zones). New Zealand just joined Pakistan, Zambia, UK, USS, and AUS. If you are a Cadet elsewhere and are interested in parntering, we can hook you up (revolution @ mmccxx.net).
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There aren't too many testimonies to sanctification floating around these days. A couple of warriors pointed one out to me from an article in an old JAC issue (#2). The deal was gnawing frustration at a lack of consistency between Acts and SLB on the one hand and the testifier's life on the other. Six months of reading and praying and consecration culminated in a picnic table sanctification experience (what the scholars called crisis - preceded and followed by process) that was tipped off from the human perspective by total consecration and capped by Holy Spirit in neutralisation of the natural inclination to do what is selfish and in filling the person up. According to the testimony, friends and family affirmed a big change in the formerly shy introvert who became somewhat gregarious, inwardly frustration was washed away by peace, satisfaction, and confidence, and there was a lot more fruit in terms of conversions. Praise God.
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Anthony Castle wrote the definitive word on this issue in a fairly recent JAC: ARE WE A METAPHOR? You can google it (use quotation marks). It's worth looking up as I'm continually surprised by the Salvos who don't buy it (and some who are flabberghasted at the thought of someone even thinking it possible!). We are not a metaphor, or this is not an army, and we are not in a war. And this would be all make-believe, pretending. That's fine for six year olds. But is is embarrassingly pathetic for anyone much older.
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The Kingdom of God is at hand.
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I was recently in a formal discussion about the future of The Army. A point was made about the politics of power and 'the loudest voice wins' (sounds a bit like a recent post on s/he who believes most wins). So we asked what the loudest voice - that is, the winner - is, and one voice in the salvosphere asserted that it was that with "the most skewed view of our history'. When asked which one, Primitive Salvationists received a backhanded complement when it was clarified to be Primitive Salvationism.
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Hallelujah. I'm not sure he's right. The loudest voice might still be a squeak against the massive movement called The Salvation Army. We'll see (and all you PSs out there need to work on your vocal chords!). Primitive Salvationism = charismatic-flavuored, mission-focussed heroism.
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And don't forget, I put the 'fun' back into fundamentalism.
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Some new Officers in the North are being commissioned and heading to their first appointments in several territories. Here are a few pieces of unsolicited advice:
- stay close to Jesus;
- you are not your appointment;
- you are not your rank;
- live up to what you have already attained;
- training college is the easiest time you'll ever have (so said General Wickberg's Training Principal). So get fighting.
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Remember the poor.
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Sin. It sucks. Don't gloss over it in your evangelising today. People need to REPENT and believe.
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God is here.
SA Daily Reading: Jonah; 2 Timothy 2.
Much grace,
sec
posted by Stephen Court

June 25, 2008.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
He is risen!
(hb2DE;TGT)

How's your soul?
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I heard some good teaching recently and here is its summary regarding the way forward:

Episcopalian: We will want to emphasise this truth in our structuring for mission to understand the manifestation of it in practice and to optimise its strengths. That is, local Corps do not stand alone. They are components of a Division. And Divisions do not stand alone. They are components of a Territory. And Territories do not stand alone. They are components of the international Salvation Army.

Catechistic: We need to reclaim the important strengths of our training programmes such as Directory, YP Company, Junior Soldiers, Corps Cadets, SAGALA, and even Home League (teaching life skills to the single, unemployed, addicted, young mothers, amongst others) - not to mention League of Mercy (which kicks when stripped of its cultural baggage). This will deliver to God a spiritually-committed, practically-trained, doctrinally-sound, and theologically-informed Soldiery and Officer Corps in the next generation, should we take longer than that to complete the mission (see following point).

Missional: Doctrinal laxity has led to missional drift. Our mission is to win the world for Jesus. That means we evangelise and disciple. We preach holiness towards that end. And as a means of our evangelism and a (super)natural overflow of our divine compassion, we help people in various ways. These helping activities are not our mission though they help it immensely. But it is more difficult to save and disciple people than it is to feed and house them. And it is easier to sleep at night if you can tally up a number of meals served or beds filled than if you are forced to count the numbers saved and discipled. And our doctrinal laxity has facilitated a drift in mission from being SAVED TO SAVE, which is William, Catherine, and Bramwell Booth's intention with the Ss, to SAVED TO SERVE, the illegitimate liberal cousin of the original Ss. The destinations are completely different. We must be SAVED TO SAVE.

Vanguard militancy: There was unanymous support at this event for an emphasis on vanguard militancy, whether described as SAS elite fighting corps or God's Commandos or the Fist of the Body of Christ. This is a return to our prophetic calling. Prophetic trumps relevance. That is, it is more important and effective to be prophetic than to be relevant and we need to get up off the altar of relevance and return to our prophetic role.
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The kingdom of God is at hand.
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I've heard that in a few Territories single Candidates who have been accepted are sent a list of the other single Candidates of the opposite gender.
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Remember the poor.
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Do you ever get someon on the verge of respentance and faith and leave them, undecided? Frustrating. But is amazing what God can do in a short period of time. I've heard of people gettign converted in teh fast food line and in the elevator. You never know how close someone already is, how much work Holy Spirit has already completed. Take every opportunity today in your evangelising and try to avoid the frustration of the undecided.
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God is here.
SA Daily Reading: Joel; 2 Timothy 1.
Much grace,
sec
posted by Stephen Court

June 24, 2008.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
He is risen!
(ha2A/JN;R/J-CC)

How's your soul?
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There is a news feed that provides headlines for The Salvation Army. Here are the top three from yesterday:

Commentary: Salvation Army takes its mission to people in need
Local business hopes to help Salvation Army, Red Cross
Salvation Army taking applications for summer camp

These are probably not above the fold! But, praise God.
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The Kingdom of God is at hand.
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Ravi Zacharias is a great one. Here is a taste of his teaching:

http://search.everyzing.com/viewMedia.jsp?dedupe=1&index=5&col=en-all-public-ep&e=19554154&il=en&num=10&s=PZSID_pods_pod5_3_9_0002;Let+My+People+Think+(RZIM)&mc=en-all&start=0&expand=true&match=query,channel&filter=0&y=0&x=0----

In this podcast is the following quote from Andrew Fletcher, the eighteenth centuries political Scottish political activist:

"Let me write the songs of a nation and I don't care who writes its laws."
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Amen. Our culture today reflects the efficiacy of Fletcher's position. And, not to get to provincial, the paucity of SA songs in the weekly worship repertoire is an indication of a partial abdication of our Salvationist mission and doctrine.

So, sing Pearson and Orsborn and Gowans/Larsson, and the others. And sing Laeger and Rowe and Mikles and Hood, and the others.
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Remember the poor.
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"The worst man who ever lives will go to heaven if he obtains it (salvation) and the best man that ever lived will go to hell if he misses it. Oh, publish it abroad!" (William Booth).

Publish it abroad today.
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God is here.
SA Daily Reading: 2 Kings 11,12; 2 Chronicles 25; 2 Timothy 6.
Much grace,
sec
posted by Stephen Court

June 23, 2008. (updated)
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
He is risen!
(hb2JR)

How's your soul?
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Have you read JAC yet? Have you considered contributing to the next issue?
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“A set of nine postage stamps has been produced in The Netherlands to celebrate the life of the country's most famous Salvationist – and one of its best-loved citizens – Lieut-Colonel Alida M. Bosshardt OF. The Colonel was Promoted to Glory in June 2007 after a lifetime serving the poor and needy.

"She is particularly remembered for her work in Amsterdam's red light district. The nine stamps, each worth 44 eurocents, feature a variety of photographs or illustrations of 'De Majoor' ['The Major'] – as she was known even after promotion to Lieut-Colonel – in her famous Salvation Army bonnet. Royal TNT Post, the main mail delivery service in The Netherlands, has also produced a special booklet which includes the new stamps and many more photographs of Lieut-Colonel Bosshardt through the years. A biography of the colonel is included in Dutch and English and makes it very clear that her inspiration to work with the poor and dispossessed came from her love of God.

"The front cover includes – again in two languages – the motto by which De Majoor led her life: 'To serve God is to serve people and to serve people is to serve God.'” (hat tip Robyn Clinch)
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There are many other worthies that have faithfully fought in anonymity and so we give glory to all of them represented by the Colonel. Paul said, "Imitate me as I imitate Christ."
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I saw five new Junior Soldiers enrolled this week - Hallelujah! The Cause advances. (hat tip Reservoir Salvos).
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The Kingdom of God is at hand.
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On the retirement age thread, hat tip to Major Harold Hill for news clipping coverage of Commissioner Ross Kendrew, retired and now reinvented as a free budgeting advisor in New Zealand with great opporutnities to meet ordinary people at their point of need. Praise God.
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Obviously believing a bit in the real thing is spiritually better than believing a lot in something not worthy of the belief. But from a human standpoint it isn't so much what you believe but how much you believe. And s/he who believes most, wins. And by 'most' we include longevity - the longest. This goes for clash of civilisations as well as differences of Salvo philosophy and mission (the keeper quote - s/he who believes most, wins).
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mmccxx is recruiting partners to network to see new outposts in 2,000 cities in 200 countries, in 20 years. Are you compelled (revolution @ mmccxx.net)?
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Don't forget to pray for the General at lunch today.
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Remember the poor.
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"Here is the greatest truth o