Armybarmy Blog

January 6, 2009.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
He is risen!

How's your soul?
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Have you had a chance to read all of JAC58? (top right) Enjoy. We're accepting submissions for JAC59 up until January 20.
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Have you checked out the new resource and blog on the right side of this page? There is a lot more there to help you in the salvation war. Enjoy.
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The kingdom of God is at hand.
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Welcome to our international readers. As you may have picked up, armybarmy.com is interested in following Jesus closely and helping others to follow Him, too. Here is a verse of interest for you (for more in your own language, check out biblos.com):

Acts 3:19
‎فتوبوا وارجعوا لتمحى خطاياكم لكي تأتي اوقات الفرج من وجه الرب.

所 以 ， 你 們 當 悔 改 歸 正 ， 使 你 們 的 罪 得 以 塗 抹 ， 這 樣 ， 那 安 舒 的 日 子 就 必 從 主 面 前 來 到 ；

Repent, therefore, and reform your lives, so that the record of your sins may be cancelled, and that there may come seasons of revival from the Lord.
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There is no other name but Jesus that will take away your sins. Trust Him today.
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New Year's Resolutions. Here are a few I've heard: a. read a pile of chapters a day; cut out certain foods; fast a set day/week; pray in tongues for a certain time/day; pray for every salvo territory in the world/day; evangelise each week; read as many salvo books as nonsalvo. Maybe one or more of these will strike a chord for you.
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Colonel Munn hopes for landmark Salvo books in 2009 on a number of topics (see our post a few days ago). Maybe you should write one of them. Is God prodding you? Why not give it a go? Or, f not, read one of many landmark Salvo books that already exist.
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Landmark Salvo books. We figure that this might be an opportune time to start a new occasional feature. Here's a landmark Salvo book: Community In Mission, by Phil Needham. This book was a command performance, an appointment to respond to an ecumenical discussion and statement. (Now) Commissioner Needham crafted a Salvationist Ecclesiology that has informed the salvation war since it was printed a generation ago. I'm guessing most training colleges (at least English) study it. It is not too long. It is a great book. Why not give it a read?
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And, revisiting the JAC Most Influential Salvationists List, here are the Preachers (recognising that there are some fantastic preachers that made it onto other categories of the list)
- Allister Smith Jr. – worldwide revivalist
- Gypsy Smith – popular evangelist
- Rhoda Sainsbury –Newfoundland legend; “Miss Salvation Army”.
- Samuel Hurren – ‘wonderful orator’
- Margaret Hay – UK Preacher of Year
- Arthur Pitcher – holiness story teller
- Israel Gaither – craft weds passion
The source is JAC47 (top right) so you can check the complete list before your debate.
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Holy. now.
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Check out Danielle Strickland, the holy blogger.
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Remember the poor.
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Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regrets. Paul confirms it. Why do people have a godly sorrow? For sin. And in the face of a holy God against whom they realise they are sinning. How do they realise? Conviction of the Holy Spirit? How does Holy Spirit convict? Through the disciples (John 16:8 and context). So, let's allow ourselves to be used by God to convict people of their guilt today.
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God is here.
SA Daily Reading: Exodus 1-10.
Much grace,
sec
posted by Stephen Court

Death to Life...

I have a friend who helps us in our community garden (when it's not covered by several feet of snow). He has lived in the DTES for many, many years, and has experienced much of what goes on down here, both positive and negative.

The upshot of this is that he has contracted pretty much every disease you can contract in this neighbourhood. He is living with sickness, is slowing dying in fact.

This is obviously tragic, the result of corruption and sin. But there is a redemptive side. People sometimes throw garbage and used needles (and other used items) into the garden. This is a hazard for those working in the garden; getting pricked by a needle when you're digging with your hands in the dirt is a real danger.

But my friend is unafraid of the needles, and so goes around everyday and cleans them all up with his hands. He is unafraid because he knows, in a way, that he is already "dead". The deadly needles can cause no further harm to him.

How can we go about this world, recognizing all the evil for what it is (not burying our heads in the sand) and not be paralyzed by fear? Well, what have we to fear if we have already died to ourselves? If we have already been crucified with Christ, then fear and death has lost its sting. If we are alive to Christ, we will be alive to his command, to his love (which casts out all fear), to his Kingdom alone.

Easier said than done, I know. The sacrifice of ourselves is real, the cost is significant. There are things we do not want to give up, pieces of us we grasp hold of more tightly than others. We fight against a lifetime of self-centered habit and the whole world screaming it's defiance at the notion that Christ is worth our lives.

But it is the only way. We cannot gain our lives unless we lose our lives.

Grace,

Aaron

January 5, 2009.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
He is risen!

How's your soul?
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Welcome to Aaron back to the salvosphere after a lay-off. Nice story. Because he showed up big today, I'll go light...
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The kingdom of God is at hand.
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Cory Harrison, who starts corps every time you look around, challenges us on our posts last week on furlough:

He quotes:
"The Army does not allow Officers to be absent from their duty merely for pleasure or recreation. The field Officer who could contemplate spending his time for personal pleasure would prove thereby that he had lost the spirit of the war – if he had ever possessed it!"

And again later in the same chapter:

"When on furlough the FO must not take part in such sight-seeing, pleasuring or amusement, or anything else as is unseemly for an Officer. Things may be lawful for others which are not so for him." (this is from 1908 O+R, originally from Andrew Bale's blog).

Cory comments:
"This sounds very similar to the idea that I have heard in the past: "The devil doesn't take a vacation so either will I." Have you heard that before? The problem that I see with that phrase and the above quotes is this: The devil loses.

"Why on earth would we think of following his strategy?

"So many Officers in my Territory do not observe Sabbath due to these very thoughts. And I would contend that those who attend to the above are actually less effective Officers if not ex-Officers due to it.

"There is a reason that the scripture is filled with a 6 and 1 theology. Six days on, one day of Sabbath (which in the purest definition of the word means: refreshing). It is the largest (text wise) in all of the 10 commandments:

"13 For six days you shall labour and do all your work.
"14 But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, or your son or your daughter, or your male or female slave, or your ox or your donkey, or any of your livestock, or the resident alien in your towns, so that your male and female slave may rest as well as you.
"15 Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

"I think that the final verse here is a reminder of Egypt when all the acceptance, promotion, and self-worth of the Jews was wrapped up in how much they could produce. How hard they worked. Bricks in their case. We can not push this mentality that spending time on personal pleasure would insinuate a loss of the spirit of the war for even in actual war furlough is strategic. I would even go as far as to say that if you do not take time for personal pleasure, sight-seeing, amusement and et.al. then you are walking in disobedience to the spirit of God. I know one Officer who said once that that would be like thinking we had on the cloak of holiness but really were wearing the emperors clothes."

Thoughts?
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Cory piles on the verses in this impressive attack on the O+R. Fair enough. Longtime readers here will know, though, that we have a completely different take on sabbath and rest. Without repeating it all here, it goes something like this (and I found this take, by me, in Andrew Clark's blog from October 25, 2005!) :

"Sabbath has a holy place in Church tradition. Often Christians take some liberty on it and enjoy it on Sunday, but, well, it is still SORT OF sabbath (at least Biblical obedience on THEIR terms, at their convenience).

But here is a position most don't consider:

John 5:17 "My Father never stops working, so why should I?"

Romans 14:5 In the same way, some think one day is more holy than another day, while others think every day is alike. Each person should have a personal conviction about this matter.

So, it seems that Sabbath rest might, in the new covenant era, be more a spiritual rest (it seems akin to holiness - certainly that is the writer to Hebrews perspective on sabbath rest) than physical 'day off'. Let's have at it."
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God TOOK His day off. Now He never stops working. And Jesus doesn't stop working. And primitive salvos didn't take furlough. And it seemed to work for them. That's all I'm saying. (Maybe we frogs should check the temperature in the cultural boiling pot on the stove because it seems to incessantly increase).
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Holy. now. (That is, Sabbath Rest now, tomorrow, the next day, and so on, non-stop SABBATH REST).
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Remember the poor.
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Try to get all of your friends saved. Today.
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God is here.
SA Daily Reading: Genesis 41-50 or hit Salvation Soldiers Armoury (at right) or Dr. Was (we blogged below).
Much grace,
sec
posted by Stephen Court

Long Time No Blog...

Over Christmas a number of us chose to do a "slow walk" through a busy mall in Vancouver. We gathered during the busiest time, then walked slowly in a single file line through the mall. We didn't get in anyone's way, but we did get attention. The point was to cause people to stop for a moment, wonder why we were walking slowly, and wonder why they were rushing around so fast.

Within 20 minutes security guards surrounded us, started swearing at us and threatening us, and demanded that we leave. We told them that we were leaving, just slowly. They told us to walk at a normal pace. We asked what normal was. They threatened to throw us in handcuffs and drag us out, and threatened to ban us from the mall for life (Oh no!)

Once all the kerfuffle was over, I asked the teens who were with us why the reaction from the mall guards was so extreme. What threat did we pose to the mall? They figured it was because we were different, because we weren't shopping, and because we were potentially distracting people from shopping. From the perspective of the mall, humans are reduced to nothing more than consumers, so anything happening there that does not further consumption is a threat and must be removed. By just walking slowly, some teens - the target market for that mall - were considered a threat worthy of expulsion.

End of the day, we had a blast, and are cooking up some more fun for next year.

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Here's another Catholic take on the Death Penalty, this time from a Pro-Life stance:

http://www.usccb.org/prolife/programs/rlp/00rljud.shtml


And here is The Salvation Army's Position on the Death Penalty:

"Capital Punishment

The Salvation Army believes in the sanctity of all human life. It considers each person to be of infinite value, and each life a gift from God to be cherished, nurtured and preserved.

The Army believes that forgiveness and transformation are possible for each human being, regardless of his / her past. Christ’'s death is redemptive for all who have faith, making it possible for the worst of offenders to find new life in Christ Jesus if they are truly repentant. Long experience in rendering service within the criminal justice systems of many lands, and in ministering to both offenders and victims, and to their respective families, has confirmed the Army’s belief in the possibility of forgiveness and redemption for all through repentance toward God, faith in Jesus Christ, and regeneration by the Holy Spirit.

Because of these beliefs, it would be inconsistent for the Army to support efforts to continue or restore capital punishment. While agreeing that wrongdoing should be adequately dealt with, Salvationists do not support the death penalty.


Approved by I.H.Q November 1996"

Praise the Lord.

Grace,

Aaron

January 4, 2009.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
He is risen!

How's your soul?
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Every Salvo should be daily with substantial rations. If you're not, start now for 2009. It will change your life and make you useful in the war.
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Cardinal Dulles in a famous defence of the Catholic position on capital punishment in First Things, 2001:

http://www.leaderu.com/ftissues/ft0104/articles/dulles.html
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If someone gets pregnant and is not married, the first thing she should do after prayer is determine not to marry the scoundrel (at least for a long time after they both get their spiritual act together) - I write it now, during a lull, so no one thinks I'm preaching at anyone.
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Let's stand up for the unborn this year.
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London TImes editorial: AS AN ATHEIST, I TRULY BELIEVE AFRICA NEEDS GOD:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/matthew_parris/article5400568.ece
(and read on below about how we can help).
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We posted in the Salvo Hopes/year blog last week about going into new countries. One leader hopes for 120 by the end of 09. I reckon we can get to 130 from African expansion alone. Here are some countries we can invade anytime we can raise the cash, win the favour, and deploy the proven strategies with the sufficient human resources we already have (info from Operation World):

Algeria
Population: 38 million
Language: Arabic, Berber, French, English
Income per person: $1,500 per year
Religion: 97% Muslim
(Evangelical 0.2%)

Benin
Population: 7 million
Language: French
Income per person: $328 per year
Religion:
· Christian 31%
· (4.2% Evangelical)

Central African Republic
Population: 4 million
Language: French, Sango
Income per person: $310 per year
Religion:
· Christian 70%
· Muslim 16%
· Traditional ethnic 13%
· Non – religious / other 0.9%
· Baha'i 0.33%
· (Evangelical 35%)

Chad
Population: 9 million
Language: French, Arabic
Income per person: $160 per year
Religion:
· Muslim 55%
· Christian 28%
· Traditional ethnic 16%
· Baha'i 1%
· Non-religious/other 0.2%
· (Evangelical 13%)

Ethiopia
Population: 79 million
Language: Amharic
Income per person: $100 per year
Religion:
· Christian 65%
· (Evangelical 20%)

Guban
Population: 1.5 million
Language: French
Income per person: $3,950 per year
Religion:
· Christian 77%
· (Evangelical 14%)

Gambia
Population: 1.5 million
Language: English
Income per person: $320 per year
Religion:
· Muslim 88%
· (Evangelical 0.3%)

Guinea
Population: 9 million
Language: French
Income per person: $560 per year
Religion:
· Muslim 85%
· (Evangelical 1%)

Morocco
Population: 32 million
Language: Arabic, French, English
Income per person: $1,260 per year
Religion:
· Muslim 99.85%
· Christian 0.1 %
· Jewish 0.05 %

Niger
Population: 14 million
Language: French, Hausa
Income per person: $200 per year
Religion:
· Muslim 98%
· Traditional ethnic 2%
· Christian 0.4%
· Baha'i 0.01%
· (Evangelical 0.1%)

Senegal
Population: 12 million
Language: French, Wolof
Income per person: $3,410 per year
Religion:
· Muslim 92%
· Christian 5%
· Traditional ethnic 3%
· Baha'i 0.2%
· (Evangelical 0.1%)

Sudan
Population: 36 million
Language: Arabic
Income per person: $290 per year
Religion:
· Muslim 65%
· Christian 23%
· Traditional ethnic 11%
· Non-religious / other 1.2%
· (Evangelical 10.3%)

Tunisia
Population: 10 million
Language: Arabic, French
Income per person: $2,110 per year
Religion:
· Muslim 99.7%
· Christian 0.22%
· Non-religious/other 0.10%
· Jewish 0.02%
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Remember the poor (a lot of them live in those countries. Pray away. And see if God is sending you there to start outposts or to raise up funds to invade).
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The best new year's resolution anyone could make is to get saved. Repent and believe. Follow Jesus. And the best thing you who are saved could do it to introduce some people to Jesus. Try today.
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God is here.
SA Daily Reading: Genesis 31-40.
Much grace,
sec
posted by Stephen Court

January 3, 2009.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
He is risen!
(hb2CY;SL;JE).

How's your soul?
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Strap yourself in - this is going to be another great post...
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This past week we have had the top lists for 2008. Here is a list of hopes for 2009 from Salvos such as Harris, Knaggs, Munn, and Strickland (and me!):
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The kingdom of God is at hand.
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The ARMYBARMY Salvo Hope List - 2009 (in no particular order, and with my comments interspersed).

- In some ways we have to go back to go forward and I am encouraged at indications that young people are rediscovering the zeal for mission which brought The Salvation Army into being. My hope is that this may continue in 2009 so that with the adopting of new methods there may be a re-embracing of old principles.

sc - amen. Holiness and covenant are the keys for us. Let's embrace and advance.

- married woman TC

sc - more than one will be nice so it is not perceived to be a token move (but any is good (the only ones we know of are Emma B - CO-National Commander, and FloBo, who was British Commissioner and not really TC).

- taking justice advocacy to the next level

sc - I think the idea is to actually tackle and not just stand up for something. Change is the measure.

- salvopalooza

sc - let's go big!

- revival

sc - sort of the 'mom, flag, and apple pie' choice. But, bring it on, Lord Jesus!

- That every Salvationist in the world would witness to win the world for Jesus.

sc - amen. And I believe that means more than every Salvationists reading and endorsing ONE THING: Win the World for Jesus (although I fully expect that if every Salvo reads the book we will have a world revolution on our hands).

- 500,000 recorded 1st time seekers for salvation.

sc - amen. Come on, comrades: 1. evangelise like Jesus is coming back on December 31 09; 2. RECORD your statistics!

- Work expanded to 120 countries.

sc - amen. We will very blog soon on a bunch of countries vulnerable to invasion. I reckon that with some intention we could be to 130 by the end of the year. It will take CASH, WARRIORS, and FAVOUR.

- 1500 Cadets world wide.

sc - Amen. There are just under a thousand right now. I know in our territory we are doubling this year. If everyone doubles we crush this goal. But if everyone increases by 50% we accomplish it. Can you do it? Recruit hard. And, if you are so positioned, sign up. Seriously - why not you?

- 10 international strategic married women officer leaders appointed.

sc - this take the married woman TC pick above to the next level. And it is probably the best way forward - this way charges of tokenism won't stick and spotlights will be diffuse.

- International congress announced.

sc - maybe someone knows something we don't. But there was one in 2000. Maybe it will be called SalvoPalooza...

- Global intentional 24/7 prayer movement unveiled.

sc - how about it? We're strategically positioned. The SA Colleges had fronted the vanguard of coordinated international salvo non-stop prayer with 24.7.5 (now in 13 colleges). We could do this. Leaders, step up!

- Kroc-sized multi billion $ donation for IHQ use.

sc - we're all for cash... Bring it on, Lord Jesus.

- Landmark books published on SA holiness, evangelism, sacraments and social justice.

sc - I don't know all the books scheduled to come out, but I DO know some that are in the works. I know of books on holiness, doctrine, prayer, and so on... May God raise up the landmarks!
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Holy. now.
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The Warrior Decree youtube video that we posted earlier this week has the following Youtube "honors":

#14 - Most Viewed (Today) - Nonprofits & Activism - Australia
#91 - Most Viewed (Today) - Nonprofits & Activism - Canada
#16 - Top Favorited (Today) - Nonprofits & Activism - Canada
#45 - Top Favorited (This Week) - Nonprofits & Activism - Canada
#48 - Top Rated (Today) - Nonprofits & Activism - Canada

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=vQ1oYDZ2q7g
decree

Here is an earlier video by the same salvo:

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=NJjsBm457rQ
doctrines

On youtube, "Favorite" them, "rate" them, "share" them, "link" to them. Spread the influence. But be inspired by them - memorise the doctrines, declare scriptural truth over your life and calling. Fight hard. Jesus is strong to deliver.
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Remember the poor.
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New one - A Salvo must be read to preach, pray, blog or die at a moment's notice.
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There's a dying world to save (James Thompson) - evangelise hard.
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God is here.
SA Daily Reading: Genesis 21-30.
Much grace,
sec
posted by Stephen Court

January 2, 2009.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
He is risen!
(ha2K/DC)

How's your soul?
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You see immediately below a short video by a salvo youngster who decrees truth over himself for protection in war. The idea is inspired by Patricia King (extremeprophetic.com) who has had some influence on the Salvos in a few parts of the world. So, hat tip TK/ZSC. It might be a profitably exercise to cobble together a decree of your own.
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Thanks for visiting armybarmy.com. If you have stumbled onto this blog for the firsts time, here is the most important thing that you can read:
John 1:12
واما كل الذين قبلوه فاعطاهم سلطانا ان يصيروا اولاد الله اي المؤمنون باسمه.
凡 接 待 他 的 ， 就 是 信 他 名 的 人 ， 他 就 賜 他 們 權 柄 ， 作 神 的 兒 女 。
But all who have received Him, to them--that is, to those who trust in His name--He has given the privilege of becoming children of God.

If you have any questions regarding this, contact us: revolution @ mmccxx.net.
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The kingdom of God is at hand.
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We pointed you to Bale's blog (at right) on furlough and sightseeing. Here is the pertinent quotation (O&R's for Field Officers, 1908): on furlough (which were only really permitted where ill-health demanded it):

"The Army does not allow Officers to be absent from their duty merely for pleasure or recreation. The field Officer who could contemplate spending his time for personal pleasure would prove thereby that he had lost the spirit of the war – if he had ever possessed it!"

And again later in the same chapter:

"When on furlough the FO must not take part in such sight-seeing, pleasuring or amusement, or anything else as is unseemly for an Officer. Things may be lawful for others which are not so for him."

Bale criticises this position, as nearly everyone reading this blog will. However, I stumbled across this bit from Gariepy's biography of General Burrows:"when Burrows made her first visit to Portugal there was a short break in the schedule and her hosts offered to take her to see some of the historic sights of Lisbon. Burrows responded "I am not here as a tourist, I am here as a Salvationists. I would like to see the work you are doing among the poor and the homeless" (hat tip Campbell Roberts).

Let's not jump to quickly in our attack. I mean, among many other things, they WERE successful.
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Holy. now.
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One of the all-time classic Salvo songs is now available on youtube. It is Bill Cosby covering Jimi Hendrix 'Purple Haze' (with new words) in HOORAY FOR THE SALVATION ARMY BAND. You will want to go there for a listen (audio only):

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=-LoDxh4108U&feature=related
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"Rent hasn't risen in nearly 500 years but you have to pray for the landlord."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123025158419834413.html
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We're accepting submissions for JAC59 until January 20 at revolution @ mmccxx.net.
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From Michael Ramsay (blogs at right):
"This New Year why not read the entire Bible through.
The Salvation Army still has what we believe was the world's first comic liturgy:

http://drwas.blogspot.com/

You are welcome to join us as we read through the Bible in a year on-line
following the Life Journal Plan: http://drwas.blogspot.com/
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Remember the poor.
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"The foundation of religious experience is a clear sense of sins forgiven" (Commissioner T. Henry Howard).

Do you have that clear sense yourself?

If not, repent of your sins right now to God. Put your trust in Him. Ask Him to forgive. Ask Him to regenerate you and to lead you. Promise to follow Him.

If so, may God help you today in your evangelising, compelling other toward godly sorrow that brings repentance and leads to salvaiton and leaves no regrets.
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God is here.
SA Daily Reading: Genesis 11-20; (or Dr. Was above; or Salvation Soldiers Armoury at right under Euroblogs).
Much grace,
sec
posted by Stephen Court

January 1, 2009.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
He is risen!
(hb2CG)

How's your soul?
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The armybarmy blog archives (top right) are complete up to November 2008. Now you can search to your heart's content going back to early 2003. (hat tip Don Grad!)
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There is also a substantive update to the blog roll at right. There are several new bogs added. Why not check them out for fresh voices and fresh perspectives?

There is also a new section called resources. It is distinguished from news and comment so that you can access what you need for the salvation war. You have everything from Bible supports to salvo discussion. We hope that it aids your war-fighting. (hat tip Danielle Strickland)
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The kingdom of God is at hand.
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So, the lists from earlier this week (Top Ten Salvo Stories of 2008 and Top Ten Inside Army events of 2008) are out. What do you think? What did we miss? What did we over-rate? What is your list? (revolution @ mmccxx.net).
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Holy New Year. May it be a holy new year for you. If you are not sanctified yet, today IS the day. What God commands, God enables. You can quote me on it. He commands holiness in us. He enables it. Repent/believe/consecrate.
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Holy now.
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Headline from CBC News: U.S. group wants religion pulled from Obama's inauguration ceremony (hat tip Michael Ramsay).
You have to give these guys credit; they're persistent. This is the third inaugural they've filed in court for to try to remove prayer. It is also apparently a slow news day (Israel, Pakistan, India, the new year don't count, I guess?), because they are also covering the big debate on Rick Warren - will he or won't he? That is, will he pray 'in Jesus' name' or not?

We all want religion back in the public square. We should have been careful for what we asked.
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We'll receive submissions for JAC59 up to January 20. We welcome them! (revolution @ mmccxx.net).
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We've said that holiness and covenant are the two keys to salvationism. Here's an article I stumbled across at Ramsay's blog (at right) that recently ran in The Officer Mag called Til I Die (disclosure - I wrote it):

http://www.sheepspeak.com/SC_Covenant.pdf (yes, the photo is from cadet days)
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Remember the poor.
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What are you resolving? If you haven't made up your mind, why not pray it up a bit? Why not look ahead to the end of 2009 and determine where you want to be spiritually. Maybe you want to know more scripture off by heart. Maybe you want to read the Bible a couple of more times. Maybe you want to get sanctified. Maybe you want to evangelise at least once/week. Maybe you want to take on local officer responsibilities. Maybe you want to become an officer. Maybe you want to befriend your neighbours and evangelise them. Maybe you want to go the whole year without sinning. Maybe you want to disciple a couple of new people. Maybe you want to write an encouraging note to someone every day. Maybe you want to beef up your prayer list (to include every territory/command in The Army; or every country in the world; or every leader in your territory; or all of your friends; etc.). Maybe you want to experiment with some traditional Christian disciplines (e.g. fast one day/week). Maybe you want to read one great Salvo book each week (or month). Maybe you want to write an article for the Salvo press once/month. Maybe you want to start a cell group. Maybe you want to start an outpost. And so on.

I'm not enamoured with new year's resolutions except that they provide opportunity for us to determine to follow Jesus mroe closely. Suggestions are welcome (revolution @ mmccxx.net).
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Last month (December) we blogged on a quote zipping around the salvosphere (December 3 post). Here is a similar quote in the context of criticism of Major Barbara:

"The Army received this with the scorn it deserved, declaring that Barbara's fun was perfectly correct and characteristic. The only incident that seemed incredible to them was her refusal to accept the money. Any good Salvationist, they said, would, like the Commissioner in the play, take money from the devil himself and make so good use of it that he would perhaps be converted, for there is hope for everybody."
http://dialspace.dial.pipex.com/town/parade/abj76/PG/pieces/george_bernard_shaw.shtml

Here is the original quote we provided on the 3rd:

"We will wash it (money from publicans) in the tears of the widows and orphans and lay it on the altar of humanity." William Booth, cited in THE GENERAL NEXT TO GOD, by Richard Collier.
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You could resolve to witness to someone every day of Jesus' saving power. Today's the day to make such a resolution. If that is too much, maybe resolve to do it at least once/week. Either way, today is the day to start. Look for someone to evangelise. Let every conversation go to Jesus. May God help you reap a huge harvest of souls for whom Jesus died.
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God is here.
SA Daily Reading: for the last couple of years at least, we've provided you the same reading plan. If you'd like to continue that, then just check the archives (e.g. for January 1, go to January 08 or 07, top right) to confirm the readings.
We have also linked to Salvation Solders Armoury (EuroBlogs at right) which gives you an old classic Salvo rations).
Armybarmy will offer a different plan this year.
Genesis 1-10.
Much grace,
sec
posted by Stephen Court

December 31, 2008.
Greetings in Jesus’ name, friends.
He is risen!

How’s your soul?
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Thanks to all the faithful thousands of armybarmy blog readers for 2008. We’re grateful for your patronage and hope to serve you even better in 2009. Keep coming back. Invite your friends, too.

If any of you don’t know Jesus and the forgiveness of sins and purpose and peace that accompanies a relationship with Him, well today is your day! Repent of your sins and accept Jesus’ invitation into His life. It is the best resolution you will or could ever make.
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The kingdom of God is at hand.
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The ARMYBARMY Inside Army Top 10 List of 2008
(Earlier this week we posted on the biggest events of 2008 through a Salvo lens. This list includes the most notable insider developments of the year)

1. ‘Return’ of the Lieutenant, Lieut-Colonel, and full Colonel. While this is not earth-shattering stuff that would make yesterday’s list, it does return lieutenancy to its reasonable location within commissioned ranks, and it provides set rationale for the reserved ranks. You know that in The Army there are no perks for promotions. It is normal for a TC to make less than a new lieutenant who has kids. A higher rank is a formal hat tip for good service.

2. Reorganisation of Territories/commands (consolidating in Europe and dividing in Africa). This is administrative recognition of the trends of this past generation, as Europe is acknowledged as a very difficult theatre of war, while Africa continues aggressive advance. We anticipate the birth of more commands and territories in Africa and possibly a couple of more consolidating moves in Europe in coming years.

3. Multiple commissionings of Officers (three in 2008 in AUS Territory). We will guess here that this is unprecedented in the modern era. It is a sign of aggressive leadership. From a larger perspective it acknowledges the exigencies of the war and the requirements of leadership. It is refreshing to see a commissioner commission outside of the system – it suggests apostolic authority (not just system authority).

4. Extension of active service (of several commissioners and one great CS). We have made the argument on this blog many times in the past (check the archives – top right). So we are in favour. You will know that TCs used to retire at 68. It is reasonable to anticipate, with better health regimes and longer life expectancy, the increase of the general officer retirement age. We applaud it.

5. Book publishing contest of IHQ v. AUS (IHQ had more titles but AUS had more NEW titles). IHQ’s most important contribution The Salvation Army in the Body of Christ. AUS’s most important contribution? Tough call (I have horses in that race). I’d be interested in comparing total sales (or books distributed – numbers not available). Either way, The Army wins, as more Salvationists are reading more about the salvation war.

6. The celebrity-status of Captain Paul Moulds in Australia following the national release of OASIS. It is not about the good captain; it is about SA influence in a country. Australia was nearly swamped by Salvomania. It was a record fund-raising year for the Salvos, probably influenced by the non-Salvo documentary on the important warfare of Salvos with homeless youth in Sydney. Hallelujah.

7. Individual developments: General Clifton’s comeback; Rook’s resignation; some key appointments. Important moves like this happen every year. They are a cause of celebration for faithful service and potential future impact. We look forward to the victories to be won by some key appointments that were made this year. May God continue to give our leaders wisdom in this strategising.

8. armybarmy development. More than 35,000 were reached by preaching; eleven coalitions were started/networked; more than 40 partners engaged in mission; MMCCXX expanded significantly into Africa; The War College started a campus in Chicago; more books were published; JAC expanded; and more – all glory to God.

9. Salvo Music: ISB scores a huge recording contract; NZ Salvos score legitimate platinum Christmas hit; several new albums are released around the salvosphere, from Sydney to Chicago. Salvation Army music is a weapon we have not wielded as effectively as possible for a couple of generations, probably. We are so gifted in this area it is hilarious (though the massive decline of music camps and YP music sections in the western world has got to be reversed if we are going to enjoy the potential impact we still have).

10. USA Krocs get going. This is going to significantly change the profile of The Army in USA and make substantial demands on budgets and personnel resources for the next generation. On the upside, we’ll have a bunch of massive centres in strategic locations from which to transform lives by the power of the Gospel. God help us, and particularly those fighting on the front lines in those centres.
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(feedback - revolution @ mmccxx.net)
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Holy. now.
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Here is one top ten Christian book list for 2008. For some reason, no SA titles are included:

http://www.relevantmagazine.com/pc_article.php?id=7708
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Remember the poor.
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Last chance! This is the last day of the year. You may likely bump into some people who don't know Jesus. Try to get them saved. You have a good excuse to knock on neighbours' doors to greet them for the new year and try to get them saved. You can talk to people at new year's eve parties and try to get them saved. Let's bring in the full harvest for 2008. God help us.
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God is here.
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SA Daily Reading: Revelation 19-22.
Much grace,
sec
posted by Stephen Court

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

How's your soul?
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Professor Samuel Huntington died this week. Here is an interesting overview of this influential thinker's impact:

http://www.forbes.com/opinions/2008/12/28/huntinton-political-science-oped-cx_rs_1229salam.html
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The kingdom of God is at hand.
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TOP Salvo List of 2008.
Following up yesterday's Harrison post, Colonel Richard Munn has weighed in with his list in the armybarmy exclusive (with my comments interspersed):

Top Salvation Army Stories – 2008

1. SA work expanded to 117 Countries by adding Namibia, Mali, Kuwait and Mongolia

sc - Mission: We invade four new countries: Mali (The War College gets a hat tip on this invasion – Hallelujah), Namibia, Kuwait, Mongolia. This is heartening news. God continues to work in The Salvation Army. We praise God for the advance. It establishes beachheads in regions that could become platforms for further regional expansion. This is the biggest Salvo development of 2008.

2. Kenya territories double

sc - this did not make my events list, but it made my inside Army list.

3. Salvationists persecuted in Orissa, India

4. The General returns to public service after 6 month health battle

sc - this made my inside Army list, too.

5. Over 500 SA units now registered in 24/7 Prayer movement - more opened in 2008 than in any prior year since the inception of 24/7 Prayer in 1999

sc - a. General’s Calls to Prayer- international days of prayer for peace, and for victims of sex trade trafficking. We like to celebrate the more than a million Salvationists we have. Here the General boldly mobilises us for strategic, extraordinary prayer, the effects of which cannot be easily measured. We look forward for more mobilisation and deployment in 2009.
b. the continued Salvo significant 24/7 presence in the movement (as Munn's stats attest).
c. 24.7.5 – the SA College network of non-stop prayer in 13 colleges already looks like it might extend and deepen the impact of prayer globally (so, as you might guess, this made my list, too).

6. International Social Justice Centre dedicated in NYC

sc - This made my list, too: Justice: International Social Justice Centre opened. This is one of those ‘too-early-to-tell’ events. The ISJC could become a significant influence in the global fight for Christ’s justice. We hope that it avoids getting buried by the mass of competing interests and bureaucracy and politics at the UN. Only time will validate this choice.

7. ICO ministry expanded to include Centre for Spiritual Life Development

sc - on my list, too. Here are my comments: Establishment of Centre for Spiritual Life Development (at ICO – My House shall be called a house of prayer for all nations – Isaiah 56:7). This is more than a statement about priorities. The CSLD becomes the epicentre for world revival and the locus of Salvo prayer and generator of dreams and visions and strategies and divine encounters and provision and power and fullness. This is huge.

8. IHQ releases The Salvation Army in the Body of Christ

sc - It makes my inside Army list. I hope you have read it.

10. ISB secures £1 million Christmas recording contract

sc - That IS a great scam. It fits better on my inside SA list.
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Munn hit all of mine, with two exceptions:

1. Conversions: Tragically we don’t publicly report those statistics (anyone having connections with the Year Book secretary is invited to pressure him/her to restore that important statistic; AND, all of you who soldier at corps that don’t report you conversions, get on it!). However, you have read here that a few years ago there were 153,000 first time seekers of salvation in USA alone. So, we can assume that 153,000 or so were saved there this year. And if you assume that the conversion numbers in Kenya and Zimbabwe are at least that big we’re looking at 300,000. Without hoping too much for the rest of the world we can expect that as a direct outcome of Salvation Army warfare in 2008 at least 300,000 people sought salvation. Hallelujah!

2. Disaster relief in Burma, Sichuan (China), Kenya, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Romania, Georgia, Moldova, Philippines, USA, Pakistan and other regions. Hundreds of thousands of people experienced loving grace from God through The Salvation Army and we hope that there is a harvest of millions to the Kingdom through it.
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What will be the effect of 2008 warfare on the kingdom of God? We advanced in conversions, mission, justice, prayer, service, and spiritual life. Some of these advances will help us win victories for decades to come (should the Lord Jesus Christ wait that long).
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Holy. now.
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Stay tuned tomorrow for the armybarmy Inside Army list for 2008.
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Remember the poor.
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Go for souls.
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God is here.
SA Daily Reading: Revelation 15- 18.
Much grace,
sec
posted by Stephen Court

December 29, 2008. (updated)
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
He is risen!

How's your soul?
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TOP SALVO events of 2008?
Cory Harrison took a stab at them. Here is his list (with my comments interspersed; I am a little sheepish about talking about individuals, as we do below, but I regard them all highly, and, according the list, they are public figures):

1. Return of Lt. / Lt. Colonel Ranks.

sc - is this the biggest event of the year? Returning a rank that we had less than a decade ago? If so, we are in rough shape.

2. Russ Rook resigns as Director of Alove.

sc - This is a big hit to the youth department in UK, I'm sure. Isn't it similar to other big transfers, though, as far as impact on appointment? We could quote some big CO transfers, DC transfers, TC transfers this year (and a big social transfer that left a gaping hole in our territory) that have similar impact. If you are talking about RR leaving the employment ranks of The Army, then we are looking at something of the scale of Phil Wall's similar move some years ago. PW replaced himself with RR. I'm sure RR will have done the same (and both of them remain valued LOs, I understand). I think RR published four books in 08!

3. East Africa Divided.

sc - I agree that this is a big move. It is a sign of aggressive expansionist spirit. Hallelujah!

4. Prominent Commissioners extend their Appointments and Retirement Dates.

sc- This is an interesting move. Is the General raising the Commissioner retirement age back to 68, one commissioner at a time? You will have read here over the past 18 months several posts advocating the increase of retirement age. However, extending the active service of a few officers, in and of itself, is a weak inclusion in the top events of the year, I reckon.

5. General Shaw Clifton announces the re-release and changed versions of Salvation Story: The Handbook of Doctrine and Servants Together.

sc - This is big. This is really big.

6. Captain Danielle Strickland Headlines at Youth Specialties Youth Workers Conference. This the largest gathering of youth workers in the world.

sc - I'm guessing that there are a few other salvo speakers (two mentioned above and maybe a couple of others) who do similar gigs. I doubt that this event would make her top five things of the year so I'm not sure it should make the top salvo list! :-)

Stay tuned and you'll get another stab at a list...
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The kingdom of God is at hand.
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ALL THE WORLD has a good graph of SALVO disaster relief in 2008. Did you know that we built 2,380 in SE Asia? Read it all:

http://www.salvationarmy.org./ihq/www_sa.nsf/fm-issue-contents?openform&publication=All%20the%20World&id=321B4A325C77B833802574D7003FFF7E

And you can download a 2009 Planner celebrating the 125th anniversary of ALL THE WORLD here: www.salvationarmy.org
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Holy. now.
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I had occasion to check armybarmy blog archives (top right) and stumbled up on this entry from December 27, 2003 on Kwanzaa. It is still current, as evidenced by the current commentary on the subject here:

http://townhall.com/columnists/AnnCoulter/2008/12/24/my_triumph_over_kwanzaa!

Anyway, here is the entry:
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"The end of the year is a time to work in a new date book. I noticed during the transfer that today is marked as Kwanzaa. This is a new addition for my date book (I checked last year's and it wasn't there).

Though tempted to give it props like FESTIVUS (December 23) from Seinfeld, I thought I'd better check into it.

First up, before I checked I must say it is a considerable scam to be able to add a holiday to my date book. Congratulations go to Maulana Karenga, who, in 1966, made up a holiday!

Today 13 million people celebrate it. That is a little more than the Mormon's celebrating Pioneer Day, but for some reason Karenga insinuated Kwanzaa into my book.

Aside from the scam part of it, I thought I'd check to see what it is all about (this is going somewhere!).

Here is the official story:
"Maulana Karenga decided that African-Americans needed a time of cultural reaffirmation and devised a seven-day celebration that expressed Pan-African solidarity. That celebration, now known as Kwanzaa, is a compilation of several harvest festivals held throughout the African continent and is a time of fasting, of feasting and of self-examination. Today, over 13 million people of all political affiliations and walks of life celebrate the holiday annually from December 26 to January 1. With its African roots and American influences, Kwanzaa is one of the most popular holidays in the country as well as one of the fastest growing in the world.

It sounds nice and neutral. But, there is more. On the greatest day of the celebration, the focus is the Imani, or, "the spirits of those who represented the virtues of Imani in our communities."

Then they celebrate the spirits of four people. You may not know them all so I've googled them for you:

1. Amenhotep IV of Egypt
Son of the Pharaoh when Moses led the people of God out of Egypt. So he was literally the enemy of the people of God. This guy broke with the traditional religion (fitting to note), worshipped the sun god, changed the capital city, and went to disgrace in the eyes of later kings.

2. Agotime of Brazil
This African queen cum Brazilian slave imported the religion of voodoo to the western hemisphere. "Voodoo practitioners believe in one god, but they communicate with the divine through thousands of spirits, or "Loa," which have power over nature and human existence. The souls of the deceased act as intermediaries between God and the living. The voodoo faithful serve these spirits, which have great powers. To disobey them puts one at risk. Believers have direct contact with the spirit world in a very real sense through the phenomenon of spiritual possession."

3. Bob Marley of Jamaica
Famous Rastafarian reggae star. "The prime basic belief of the Rastafarians is that Haile Selassie is the living God for the black race. Selassie, whose previous name was Ras Tafari, was the black Emperor of Ethiopia... Selassie was not a Rastafarian himself. He was a devout Christian... When a group of Rastas went to Ethiopia to honour him, an official of the palace told them to go away!"

5. Ben Ali Mohamet of the United States
Google coughed up nothing about this person.

So, we've got a sun worshipper, a voodoo queen, someone who thought Haile Selassie was the living God (though Selassie didn't believe that and is now dead), and someone who doesn't show up on the radar screen.

Kwanzaa is not neutral like FESTIVUS. According to content on a main Kwanzaa site, it doesn't seem a noble pan-African solidarity gathering. Aside from the rich traditions it renews, doesn't it sound more like a multi-pronged attack by various false religions? Doesn't it read like dangerous stuff sliding in under the cloak of cultural unity?
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As the article linked above suggests, this event has lost steam, even since we blogged this five years ago. This decline in popularity is a sign that the all is not lost.
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Remember the poor.
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Only three days left to see more people saved in 2008! Take every opportunity. Go hard. Be bold (if you are dead to sin you will be bold, though boldness does not necessarily equal death to sin). Love. Fight. Win.
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God is here.
SA Daily Reading: Revelation 10-14.
Much grace,
sec
posted by Stephen Court

December 28, 2008.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
He is risen!

How's your soul?
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How about a scaffolding post? In this we'll explain the scaffolding of the post. We start with the date and greeting. It is a bit old-fashioned, and so we are playing to stereotype. Then we proclaim that Jesus is risen. He's not dead anymore. This is an eastern orthodox greeting, used mostly around Resurrection day. But we figure, since it is THE fact of history AND eternity, it is really trans-seasonal, it is really perennial. And we use it daily to remind every visitor that JESUS IS RISEN! Hallelujah.

Then we slide into birthdays (none today of anyone we can think to post).

And then we ask how your soul is. That is another old Salvo question. It is a key one. It is one we often slide past with our 'how are you?', 'how's it going?', 'how are you going?' and other regional variations. But what really matters is 'how's your soul?' So we ask that.
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The kingdom of God is at hand.

What is that, anyway? Well, where God reigns, there is the kingdom. He's here and reigning in a lot of people's lives around the world. They have sneaked an early start on eternity (it is open to everyone - the kingdom of God is at hand). We wrote on the subject in the current JAC (58). Enjoy.
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Holy. now.

Why do we stick that in every single post? Is it because we have no imagination and like the clean breaks that these regular comments provide? Well, it is more than that. We're convinced that The Salvation Army comes down to covenant and holiness, or, if you are looking for a single raison d'etre, covenantal holiness. This is what it is all about.

And, though holiness meetings in thousands of corps might soft sell it (I'm just saying 'might'; let's hope that none do), we'll keep harping on about it, post in, and post out, so that you cannot avoid it (unless, God forbid, you choose to avoid your daily dose of armybarmy! -- tell it not in Gath! Proclaim in not in the streets of Ashkelon, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised rejoice, lest the daughters of the Philistines be glad!). While we're on this rabbit trail, why not invite your friends to visit armybarmy for THEIR daily dose of primitive salvationism? You can get as annoying as we do in your consistency, playing it up on facebook, in your bogs, in your SMSs, in your emails, in your websites, on myspace, and so on.

But what about this holiness stuff, anyway? Well, holiness is the solution to every problem. We wrote about it in THE UPRISING: A holy revolution (the second edition came out earlier this year). But, the bottom line is, you should get holy, now.
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Remember the poor.

Well, this is the only thin the council of Jerusalem told Paul when he was brought up before them. So we figure if it is the only thing he had to do (and it turned out to be the very thing he wanted to do!) then it is pretty important for us, too. And, I guess the reminder is important because, for many of us, it is easy to forget the poor.

Jesus loves poor people. He hangs out with them. He brought good news to them (and continues to do so). He's all about the poor. Don't forget the poor.
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Then we always slip in an evangelistic exhortation. Now, e know that not all of you evangelise every day. But, today IS the day of salvation, and for some readers of armybarmy, the day you are reading is a day for your evangelising, so we want to pump you up so you go in with an aggressive spirit against the enemy and loving spirit toward the captured ones. Do that, today.
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God is here.
Well, we learned this lesson a decade ago and stuck signs to that effect all over our building. It helped us remember. And so we like to remind you that God is HERE, too.
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SA Daily Reading - well, some people like to read the Bible in a year, so we give you daily reading to help you do that (Revelation 5-9).

We hope it is all edifying.
Much grace,
sec
posted by Stephen Court

December 27, 2008.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
He is risen!
(hb2LC;DN)

How's your soul?
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Here's a good article on belief in santa claus vis a vis belief in God:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122963990662019887.html
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Here's the world's best blog on the war on Christmas:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123012864528832845.html
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Here is Peggy Noonan on books in '08 and Mother T:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123015583742633517.html
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Reading a biography of Colonel Gauntlett by Coutts inspired me to read a lot of books. Here is an interesting article on a famous person who reads a lot more than you'd think, and an interesting reading list (note the inclusion of the Bible each year and a devotional guide book):

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB123025595706634689-lMyQjAxMDI4MzIwNjIyNTY1Wj.html
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The kingdom of God is at hand.
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As we head into a new year and cobble together some resolutions, here is a look into the future from the past (1974) by General Arnold Brown:

"My father was something of a visionary, a dreamer. I remember his telling me when I was a boy that the day would come when men and women would carry with them a kind of walking stick that would open out into a seat. The individual, once seated, would press a button and would immediately become airborne. He thought the concept marvellous. One would be able to fly anywhere at any time, he said. The stick would be powered by a force that would renew itself and, best of all, would cost absolutely nothing. As a wide-eyed youngster, I also thought the concept was marvellous, though I couldn't escape the vivid pictures that came into my mind of Christmas crowds coming out of the stores loaded with parcels, all deciding to become airborne at the same time. I imagined myself gaining altitude at about the third-storey level and narrowly missing an oversized lady making a hurried descent back to get the parcel she had forgotten!

"Fanciful or not, again, who can tell? It may be a far stranger and perhaps a far more wonderful world than we can envisage. My father often used to say: "My boy, you'll live long enough to see people travelling from Canada to England and back during the weekend." That prophecy, of course, has long since come true. We have even had weekend "specials" from the other side of the Atlantic!

"But it might also be a far more distraught and suffering world than we can bear to think about. If man's inventiveness cannot be stifled, neither, it seems (except by the grace of God) can his greed, his lust for power. These, alas, may bring scourge and sorrow. They could drive humanity to catastrophe and spell his doom.

"So we really do not know. There is no-one with perfect prescience. Our understanding of human weakness makes us fearful for the future. “While people are saying, "Peace and safety," destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape” (1 Thessalonians 5: 3 AV). We know that there will be no final righteousness and glory until Christ's reign. We also know that this is God's world. "He's got the whole world in His hands,' we sing. And we who are Christ's are also in His eternal hand. So that whatever happens to the world, we who trust in the Living God will be safe, eternally safe."
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God, arm us for the present war and help us prepare for the future.
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Holy. now. And, of course, that is the best armour and preparation.
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Remember the poor. That was the instruction to Paul in Galatians, and the instruction for us in 2009. How do we best remember them? Maybe when we spend and invest money, as a start.
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In some parts of the world, you can still work the 'Christmas season' angle in your evangelising. Go hard today. Just like some people are working hard on earnings and profits by year end, there is still time to see some people get saved in 2008. Let's not write off the year.
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God is here.
SA Daily Reading: Revelation 1-4.
Much grace,
sec
posted by Stephen Court

December 26, 2008.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
He is risen!
(hb2SD)

How's your soul?
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What a great resource this is for rations:

salvationarmoury.blogspot.com
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Here are the top 10 religious stories in Time Magazine:

http://www.time.com/time/specials/2008/top10/article/0,30583,1855948_1855958,00.html
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Holy. now.
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They found Jesus in London!

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1866094,00.html?xid=rss-world
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I stumbled on to this little bio (surprising):

http://www.zondervan.com/Cultures/en-US/Authors/Author.htm?ContributorID=CourtS&QueryStringSite=Zondervan
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The kingdom of God is at hand.
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"Mitsuo Fuchida led the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour in December 1941, an event that catapulted the United States into the Second World War. After the war, Fuchida turned to Christianity and became an evangelist. Fuchida's maternal grandmother was a nationalist from a samurai family who resisted attempts by Emperor Meiji to throw off feudalism. Now he is to feature in a Japanese animated film about the love of God and how mutual forgiveness is necessary in order to establish peace. The film, currently titled "From Pearl Harbour to Golgotha", will tell the life story of Fuchida, who was born in 1902 and, despite being shot down during the war, lived until 1976.
Ecumenical News International (hat tip R Munn)
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Remember the poor.
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For a year in review, here's a quick great commission take from The Salvation Army:

http://www.salvationarmy.org./ihq/www_sa.nsf/vw-news/7958C1CCF87904F780257506003F6037?opendocument
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Here's the Junior Soldier Pledge:

http://www.salvationarmy.org./ihq/www_sa.nsf/vw-dynamic-arrays/5685B006CB0C3AC7802573750042401C?openDocument

2009 is a good year to emphasise covenant - and here's a great covenant for the kids.
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Here's the story of the candy cane (It's a Christian story):

http://www.greatcom.org/resources/sharing_in_the_classroom/christmas_sharing/legendofcandycane.htm

Maybe try this in your evangelising today.
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God is here.
SA Daily Reading: 2-3 John; Psalm 117; 119:81-176.
Much grace,
sec
posted by Stephen Court

December 25, 2008.
Greetings in Jesus' Jesus' name, friends.
He is risen!
(hb2LT)

How's your soul?
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Holy Christmas!
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We posted very recently on journalism bias against Christianity. Here is another article on it: http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NGNjODViYTllYjJmNzBhNDJlZjAzNDY2OTU0ZmU1YWE=

In it, Newsweek Editor Meacham writes that to "resort to Biblical authority is the worst kind of fundamentalism".

This is ridiculous on a few levels.
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Noland had a dream! It is a Chrismas dream, in his alternative blog:

http://www.slightlyirreverent.blogspot.com/
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The kingdom of God is at hand.
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The Salvation Army Band got kicked out of a mall:

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24840255-661,00.html
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Here's a Christmas Day greetings from the General:

http://www.salvationarmy.org./ihq/www_sa.nsf/vw-dynamic-arrays/92312A80BB91C08F8025751100412D85?openDocument

God bless The General!
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Holy. now.
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Here's a nice Christian high school football story:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?section=magazine&id=3789373
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And from the UKI Territory:

10 things The Salvation Army will be doing this Christmas

Throughout the Christmas period, The Salvation Army will be:

1) Visiting elderly people who are housebound and lonely at Christmas

2) Holding Christmas lunches for people who would otherwise be spending a miserable Christmas alone

3) Delivering hot food, sleeping bags and small Christmas gifts (such as socks and handkerchiefs) to homeless people

4) Giving shelter to homeless people and the chance of a fresh start in life

5) Delivering Christmas parcels of food and presents to housebound older people and others in need

6) Delivering toys to children from poorer families

7) Helping and supporting the emergency services when there is a major disaster, fire or accident

8) Delivering Christmas boxes to prisoners and their families as a message of hope and goodwill

9) Spreading the joy of Christmas at hospitals and elderly people's homes with a Salvation Army band

10) Offering comfort and companionship to those who are lonely or distressed at Christmas time

The best Christmas presents you could give this year won't come in wrapping paper - can you help us?
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Remember the poor.
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Of course, The Salvation Army will be doing more than that - things like evangelising all of the people listed above; evangelising everything that moves; preaching the full gospel that includes a full salvation; openly celebrating the miracle of the Incaration; unapologetically preaching CHRISTMAS and not some lame and generic 'holiday season'; dusting off some amazing songs; playing Christmas carols for our King (who owns the kettles in a thousand malls); singing Christmas carols; and extending the Kingdom of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Hallelujah.
----
Use the day as a platform to preach the gospel today in your evangelising.
----
God is here.
----
SA Daily Reading: 1 John.
Much grace,
sec
posted by Stephen Court

December 24, 2008.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
He is risen!

How's your soul?
----
There was an anonymous $50,000 in the kettle! More, Lord!

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,470881,00.html
----
The kingdom of God is at hand.
----
Andrew Clark, blogging at right, has just posted on revolutions. He suggests that we need revolution in the following areas:

- discipleship;
sc - amen. I suspect that the best way forward is the universal embrace of soldiers covenant. Let's live up to what we have convenanted. The Army system has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found arcane and not tried. Colonel David Hammond is huge on soldiership=discipleship. Commissioner Ed Read edited a book in 1995 called Discipleship: Vision and mission (it featured the provocative chapter To Be Or Not To Be by Major Geoff Ryan; my chapter Is Every Soldier A Disciple was less memorable!).

- worship;
sc - bring it on. Intimacy is the goal, here.

- mission;
sc - it could be that we all need a splash of cold water across the face to remind us that we are about winning the world for Jesus and that our activities at the corps and for the corps ought to be aimed at that goal. The old Etobicoke Temple Band informal slogan, What's done for the band is done for the kingdom' (hat tip Bob Skinner) ought to be true for everything the corps does (that is, replace band with home league or mainly music or Junior Soldiers, etc. and it should be true). Hey, we've got a brand new book out on this subject - ONE THING: Win the world for Jesus (first print run is just about all gone...).

- prayer;
sc - amen. We can step it up in extraordinary prayer, in our authority, in our spiritual warfare. Praise God for the widespread influence of non-stop prayer through The Army. More, Lord, please!

- holiness;
sc - Obviously Andrew and I agree on most of this stuff (you should read his comments). Holiness is the solution to every problem. If we all got santified, look out! It is the single biggest key to effectiveness in mission.

- justice;
sc - Our social service is God-honouring and commendable. Hallelujah. It is like a key inserted into the lock. All we have to do is turn the key and much of our social service can become social justice. Now that will be revolutionary.

God help us.
----
The Wall Street Journal reviews Paul Marshall's new book - BLIND SPOT: When journalists don't get religion. It makes some good insights and says what many Christians feel intuitively:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123000033860729321.html
----
Holy. now.
----
What a great resource is SALVO AUDIO. You get to hear some of The Army greats. I've got General Arnold Brown on as I type. He was one of the famous voices in The Army. Enjoy him and scores of others, here:

http://www.salvoaudio.com/index.htm
----
Remember the poor.
----
There has been a spike in interest in this Salvation Army doctrines video by a youngster who memorised them all:

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=NJjsBm457rQ
----
Yea, Lord, we greet Thee,
Born this happy morning,
Jesus, to Thee be
all glory given;
Son of the Father,
Now in flesh appearing;
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ, the Lord.

Try that one out in today's evangelising.
----
God is here.
SA Daily Reading: John 19-21.
Much grace,
sec
posted by Stephen Court

December 23, 2008.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
He is risen!
(hb2LB)

How's your soul?
----
Here's another sample of the JAC 110 Most Influential Salvationists list (from JAC47 - top right). Remember that these are representative of great Salvos through our history (and some expected names show up elsewhere on the list - check for yourself):

Evangelism
Lyell Rader Sr. – open-air evangelist
Elijah Cadman – invented uniform
Mary Styles – nurse evangelist in South Africa
Joe the Turk – novelty genius pioneer
Catherine Booth Jr. – ‘La Marechale’
Clarence Wiseman – Evangelist General
Catherine Bramwell Booth – widespread television interview evangelism in her nineties
Frank Bradley – combined love and humility in Central and Southern Africa
Andy Miller – one-on-one evangelist and preacher
----
God, raise up more great evangelists, please.
----
The kingdom of God is at hand.
----
Acts 1:8 ‎لكنكم ستنالون قوة متى حل الروح القدس عليكم وتكونون لي شهودا في اورشليم وفي كل اليهودية والسامرة والى اقصى الارض

但 聖 靈 降 臨 在 你 們 身 上 ， 你 們 就 必 得 著 能 力 ， 並 要 在 耶 路 撒 冷 、 猶 太 全 地 ， 和 撒 瑪 利 亞 ， 直 到 地 極 ， 作 我 的 見 證 。

and yet you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judaea and Samaria and to the remotest parts of the earth."
----
If you speak one of these languages and have happened on to this page from google or some other search, welcome. This is a quote from the Lord Jesus Christ, around 2,000 years ago. It, like every other promise made by Him and every other promise in the Bible, has come true. And Jesus wants it to come true for you. You can have a relationship with Him (He's alive!) today that will kick-start eternity for you, bring you forgiveness of your sins, provide you with purpose, give you peace, and draw you into a larger spiritual family. I can vouch for Jesus' worthiness. You can trust Him. If you want to know Him, ask Him to forgive you, determine to leave your life of independence from Him (and all of the sin and regret that accompanies it), and follow Him. Ask Holy Spirit to fill you, empowering you to obey. If you have questions, let us know (revolution @ mmccxx.net).
----
Holy. now.
----
(excerpt from WARFARE PRAYER, forthcoming book):
God has a ‘greater things’ end-times package prepared from John 14:12 for all of us. Since He raised dead people, it only seems reasonable to expect that He’ll empower those faithful to Him to raise dead people, too. He commanded His followers to raise the dead (Matthew 10:7-9).

And, praise God, there are lots of examples of this happening around the world.

For example:

I know a senior leader in The Salvation Army whose parent stepped out of a three-day-old casket during his funeral (in the western world).

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.

A student at The War College in Vancouver, from Nigeria, was in a meeting not too long ago in his home congregation intended to raise his teenaged friend back to life. The meeting was a success (not in some figurative or 'spiritual' sense- the dead teen came back to life).

A great Salvo evangelist in the wetern world recently prayed for a brain-dead patient to come back to life. He lived, and he now golfs and cruises (not the evangelist, the former dead man).
----
Remember the poor.
----
For a great Christmas preach, check out Noland's blog (at right).
----
Arch Wiggins wrote an Army Christmas Carol, a verse of which Dave Collinson blogs (see his blog, at right):

Not without can I remain,
Not my heart's deep urge restrain,
Trembling 'neath my love and pain,
I come, dear Son of God.
Now I bow me at Thy stall,
Giftless, yet I give Thee all;
Thou art Lord, and I am thrall
To Thee, O Son of God!

Why not try to work that one in to your evangelising today?
----
God is here.
SA Daily Reading: John 15-18.
Much grace,
sec
posted by Stephen Court

December 22, 2008.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
He is risen!
(hb2FS;CG)

How's your soul?
----
Danielle Strickland's blog has a great video on the advent conspiracy. Check it out. And JustSalvos blog has been really raising its game over the last while, with more bloggers and more frequent posts. Meanwhile, Salvo JustGifts could be your best Christmas gift choice (justsalvos.com).
----
Holy Christmas! Have a wonderful celebration of Jesus' birth with family, friends - if they aren't your immediate family and friends, they will be someone's family and people whom Jesus wants to call friends. You know He hangs out with the marginalized.

I wanted to encourage you as you close out the year to ADVANCE. Advance from where you are now. And, for some of you who are not where you have once been, advance from your greatest heights, your most intimate moments, your optimal seasons of impact, your most disciplined schedule, your most strategic lifestyle. Advance.

Advance spiritually. Advance evangelistically. Advance in discipling. Advance in obedience and discipline. Advance in God's plan for your life. Advance in holiness, boldness, compassion, love, and mercy. Advance, advance, advance. Jesus leads us on.

Let's be significantly different - more Christlike - at the end of 2009 than we are today. Let's intentionally make the changes that will enable us to advance. For some it means locking in schedules for evangelism; for others it might mean longer rations; it could be starting up old disciplines again; it might mean chopping off compromising accretions (possibly relationships or unhealthy habits); for each of us it will be checking with God as to His dreams for our future fighting.
----
The kingdom of God is at hand.
----
That post on the weekend from Brengle - we are "glad to believe that men are often better than their creed." It is a great line. Many of you know armybarmy as a pretty straight up-and-down Salvationist set. We believe the doctrines; we celebrate salvationism; all of that. And yet, when we run down the list, we see that many people disagree. Many sincere Salvationists disagree. But we celebrate all the good that God does through them, recognising with SLB that some men and women are better than their creed. So we are connected with some of the most big-name liberal salvos going. We're associated with some small-h heretical salvos. We correspond with some church-going salvos. Even the two of us blogging on armybarmy disagree significantly on some things (though Aaron is very polite and diplomatic about it). Life would be much easier if we all agreed. But praise God for all of the good that these people are and do.
----
Holy. now.
----
Someone was asking about the top JAC 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL SALVATIONIST list. It came our in JAC47 (which you can read in its entirety, top right). Just to get the holiday debates started, here was the music category:

Dean Goffin – 1st grand productions; composer
Eric Ball – composer
Charles Fry – 1st Brass Band
Eric Leidzen – composer
Sidney Cox – song writer
Richard Slater – Father of Salvation Army Music
Bill Himes OF - composer
Arthur Gullidge – composer; bandmaster of 2/22 Battalion Band of Salvationists that died in WW2 battle
Joy Webb OF – Joy Strings
John Larsson – musicals
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Remember the poor.
----
from Angels From The Realms...

Sages leave your contemplations
Brighter visions beam afar
Seek the great Desire of nations
Ye have seen His natal star
Come and worship, come and worship
Worship Christ the newborn King

Saints before the alter bending
Watching long in hope and fear
Suddenly the Lord, descending,
In His temple shall appear
Come and worship, come and worship
Worship Christ the newborn King

How about trying that one out in your evangelising today?
----
God is here.
SA Daily Reading: John 12-14.
Much grace,
sec
posted by Stephen Court

December 21, 2008.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
He is risen!

How's your soul?
----
Here's a quick look at Ethiopian Orthodox Christmas in Melbourne:
http://www.theage.com.au/national/christianitys-diverse-flock-20081220-72q9.html
----
The kingdom of God is at hand.
----
And, we're tiptoeing into political territory just as it relates to Saddleback Southern Baptist leader, Rick Warren's scheduled invocation at the US presidential inauguration:

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZGU0YjE4ZWZhOGI1NjVhMzRjNDhjYzExNWUzZWUzMWI=
----
Holy. now.
----
Here's a handy messianic Jewish site glossary of terms with which you may be acquainted (but want to get familiar):

http://www.newsongministriesonline.com/Glossary.htm
----
Remember the poor.
----
Wesley and Stacey Campbell's PRAYING THE BIBLE book highlights The Eighteen, a set of prayers that Jews use(d) daily. Here is the background:

""Shemoneh Esray" - the "Eighteen" (actually the prayer evolved to a set of nineteen) blessings; also known as the Amidah, the prayer recited while standing. It is the classic prayer which is recited morning, afternoon and evening every day in the life of the Jew. Its structure follows the general principles of courtesy; namely, it begins with blessings whose theme is the praise of G-d, only afterwards does it continue with blessings in which universal needs of individuals are expressed, and it concludes with blessings which express gratitude to the Master of the Universe." (from Judaism 101-
http://www.ou.org/about/judaism/s.htm )
----
Here's another prayer from the forthcoming book, WARFARE PRAYER (we've slipped others in previous posts):

Be Strong In The Lord
(Ephesians 6:10-20)

To the end, Your mighty power will be my strength. I prepare myself in Your armour so that I can stand up to the devil. We are not wrestling against a human enemy. We’re combating demonic principalities and powers and rulers of darkness, against the spiritual armies of evil in the second heaven.

I am donning all of Your armour so that I can persist in the evil day, and when all is said and done, be left standing. I will stand buckled in Your truth, wrapped around my waist, decked out in a righteous chest plate. I am booting up with the preparation of the Gospel of peace. I am wielding faith’s shield to quench every fiery arrow hurled at me by the wicked one. I am helmeted in salvation, and I have unsheathed the Spirit’s sword- the spoken word of God.

You will hear from me today all kinds of prayers and requests. In the Spirit, I will persevere with coverage for all the saints.

Cover me with prayer, from the saints, and, Jesus, from Your intercession, please, so that every time I open my mouth, You feel free to download words to courageously expose the mystery of the Gospel, for which I am (not yet) a chained ambassador.
----
Recruiting Day: Let's use today to recruit officers. Are you a keen Salvationist? Are you under 55? Are you called to be doing what you are doing now? Are you a little spiritually antsy? Are you looking for a challenge? Talk to your divisional candidates secretary today. You can waste your skills and time and energy and passion, and life, on a lot of things, but if you throw it away in officership you will be positioned to optimise your impact and the impact of many others for the Kingdom of God. I'm talking to 20-somethings, out of college, and trying to make it in the work world. I'm talking to 30-somethings with families and mortgages and pressures and not a lot of light/hope/future/vision. I'm talking to successful 40-somethings who are established and settled and comfortable and able.

You comrades are all in our sights. Imagine if a few hundred of you sign up in each territory. Imagine what would happen to each territory. A sudden infusion of experience and ability and skill and wisdom and dreams/visions and networks into the great salvation war - vocationally (that is to say - I know, if you are keen, you are heavily involved in the salvation war on your work fronts and as local officers now on your corps fronts - but as officers you can do it vocationally). I fully expect that revival will break out. Who will lead the way?

I expect the leaders will lead the way. Step up, leaders.

Soldier up.
----
We posted on O LITTLE TOWN last week. Here is a salvation verse from AWAY IN A MANGER:
Be near me, Lord Jesus;
I ask Thee to stay
Close by me forever
and love me I pray!
Bless all the dear children
in Thy tender care,
And fit us for Heaven
to live with Thee there.

You can use this in your evangelising today.
----
God is here.
SA Daily Reading: John 9-11.
Much grace,
sec
posted by Stephen Court

December 20, 2008. (updated)
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
He is risen!
(hb2KM)

How's your soul?
----
WHEN THE HOLY GHOST IS COME by Brengle is one of his classics. Here is a great section:

"Again, the man who is filled with the Spirit tolerates those who differ from him in opinion, in doctrine. He is firm in his own convictions, and ready at all times with meekness and fear to explain and defend the doctrines which he holds and is convinced are according to God's word, but he does not condemn and consign to damnation all those who differ from him. He is glad to believe that men are often better than their creed and may be saved in spite of it; that, like mountains whose bases are bathed with sunshine and clothed with fruitful fields and vineyards, while their tops are covered with dark clouds, so men's hearts are often fruitful in the graces of charity, while their heads are yet darkened by doctrinal error.

Anyway, as ' the servant of the Lord', he will ' not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil' (2 Tim. ii. 24-26).

But when Satan comes as an angel of light he will, under guise of love for and loyalty to the truth, introduce the spirit of intolerance. It was this spirit that crucified Jesus; that burned Huss and Cranmer at the stake; that hanged Savonarola; that inspired the massacre of Bartholomew and the horrors of the Inquisition; and it is the same spirit, in a milder but possibly more subtle form, that blinds the eyes of many professing Christians to any good in those who differ from them in doctrine, forms of worship or methods of government. They murder love to protect what they often blindly call truth. What is truth without love? A dead thing, an encumbrance, the letter that killeth!

The body is necessary to our life in this world, but life can exist in a deformed and even mutilated body; and such a body with life in it is better than the most perfect body that is only a corpse. So, while truth is most precious, and sound doctrine to be esteemed more than silver and gold, love can exist where truth is not held in its most perfect and complete forms, and love is the one thing needful." (hat tip Danielle Strickland)
----
The kingdom of God is at hand.
----
Collo, over at his blog (at right) asserts, after his first day starting a new outpost, that the best way to plant a church with with a uniform on. Great advice.
----
Salvos score a big cheque in Melbourne, here:

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24820934-5012974,00.html
----
You may have heard of the American Humanist Association advertising campaign in Washington - "Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness sake." There is a good response to it, here:

http://townhall.com/columnists/BenShapiro/2008/12/18/why_atheism_is_morally_bankrupt
----
Holy. now. (See Brengle, above, and his books, for help [some of which you can read online]).
----
"This delightful story just came in thanks to getreligion.org: The Saudis have recently asked permission to build a mosque in Moscow, a city where there are only four mosques and 2 million Muslims. The Russians, however, are saying they want, in return, an Orthodox church in Saudi Arabia.

"As we all know, the Saudis have a habit of constructing mosques in dozens of world capitals while forbidding houses of worship for any religion whatsoever outside its Wahabist brand of Islam. They've gotten some bad PR locally for some of the hate language in textbooks at the Saudi Academy in northern Virginia. Not only are hapless Christians terrorized and jailed for daring to hold private prayer services in Saudi Arabia, but God help them should they try to convert someone to their religion. And that's for a fellow People of the Book: One can only guess at what the treatment of Buddhists and Hindus must be like.

"Wouldn't it be so ironic if the Russians were the first Christian body to win acceptance of the right to build a church in, say, Riyadh? (Some of the Russians are calling for a church in Mecca, but the chances of any other religion getting a foothold within walking distance of the world center of Islam is less than zero.) Of course we all know the Saudis aren't about ready to let Bibles or other religious literature, let alone a church, anywhere near their homeland, but all the same, it's amusing to see the Russians give the Saudis a taste of their own medicine."
-Julia Duin, religion editor
http://washingtontimes.com/weblogs/belief-blog/2008/Dec/03/russian-church-saudi-mosque/
----
Remember the poor.
----
Optimise the Christmas season in your evangelising - tell people who don't have a clue what Chat Christmas is all about. Tell them about Jesus coming to reconcile us with God through repentance and faith. God help you in your evangelising today.
----
God is here.
SA Daily Reading: John 7-8.
Much grace,
sec
posted by Stephen Court

From Cindy Graves, Advocate for the Homeless...

If you have any contact today with a person who lives outside, or any contact with people who know people who live outside, please tell them:

A very sweet middle aged woman died last night about 4:30 am at Davie and Hornby.
She had lit some candles in her shopping cart to keep warm. Something in her shopping cart caught fire.
She died a more horrible death than we can imagine.

Please ask EVERYBODY to remind their homeless friends and neighbours NOT to use fire to keep warm.
We had one man die last winter from a little cook stove, and his girlfriend lived but is horribly burned and traumatized.
We do not want anyone more burned.


When people refuse to come into shelter, it often seems they are being ornery. But there are reasons behind the refusal that are not always immediately apparent.

But once you have seen them try to get up the courage to enter a shelter, try to make several attempts to make themselves go through the door - and then turn around and come out again because being in a shelter is unbearable to them…

There are some mental illnesses that are a barrier to entering shelters, among them claustrophobia, social phobia, some forms of autism and some forms of paranoia. When you are speaking with people, this may not be obvious. They do not know they are ill, they feel normal. They do not know that other people do not perceive things the way they do. So to them - it appears that other people simply make other choices.

It is like - when you are 42 and becoming short sighted - if you do not realize that your vision is diminishing and that you need glasses, you tend to think that the books have become less interesting, and that the print in the phone book is too small. The process in a mental illness is similar, to the person experiencing the illness, the problem seems to be outside of them.


Grace,

Aaron

December 19, 2008.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
He is risen!
(hb2NR)

How's your soul?
----
Related to yesterday's post on Salvo collectors being kicked out of the Post Office, I just saw and heard Salvo serenaders at the Post Office closest to THQ, hours, after posting. The Post Office Bell Ringing War is not over!
----
The kingdom of God is at hand.
----
John 1:14
والكلمة صار جسدا وحلّ بيننا ورأينا مجده مجدا كما لوحيد من الآب مملوءا نعمة وحقا.

道 成 了 肉 身 ， 住 在 我 們 中 間 ， 充 充 滿 滿 的 有 恩 典 有 真 理 。 我 們 也 見 過 他 的 榮 光 ， 正 是 父 獨 生 子 的 榮 光 。

And the Word came in the flesh, and lived for a time in our midst, so that we saw His glory--the glory as of the Father's only Son, sent from His presence. He was full of grace and truth.
----
For those of you who read Chinese and Arabic, here is an important verse from the Bible about Jesus, who came from heaven to live among us. He was full of grace and truth. He made it possible for us to have our sins forgiven. He made it possible for us to start all over again and continue with Him into eternity. There is a verse in a famous Christmas carol that gives us the words to respond:

O little Child of Bethlehem
Descend to us, we pray
Cast out our sin
And enter in
Be born in us today.

If you pray that to God right now, and mean it, He will answer the request. He will come down to you, cast our your sin, enter your life, and begin to live in and through you. For more information, email us at revolution @ mmccxx.net.
----
Holy. now.
----
Those of you who follow American college sports know what I'm talking about with recruiting sessions. A coach will scour the country for the best high school athletes and use other recruits to leverage his pitch to each individual. The idea is that if they ALL sign up for his team that team will be stacked.

I feel a bit like that college recruiter. Look at who we've got already. And if you come, and your mate, and So-And-So over there, and her buddies from X, we're going to have a stacked session. We're looking for more stars - you folks who haven't considered officership because you wanted to succeed in the real world first or because your spouse wasn't called or because officership seemed like the fall-back option for those who couldn't cut it. We're aiming for you.

We want the best.
Do you want to prove to yourself that you can succeed? Alright - we'll challenge your socks off. We'll throw you in the deep end and see if you can make it happen. There is no limit to what you can achieve as an officer. Take a corps of eight people and make it 800.
Are you using your spouse as an excuse? No more. Sign up today. We'll sort it out.
Do you see officership as a fall-back option? It is the greatest opportunity on the planet. And it is as hard as any job you'll land in the corporate world.
Do you think you can hack it? Prayerfully consider it. Talk to your Candidates Secretary today (or email me at revolution @ mmccxx.net).
----
Remember the poor.
----
I came across an old Salvo Warrior Covenant that included some interesting intentions, such as;
- to keep my eyes from lustful images such as those seen on signs, television, and in public; keeping my mind free from the devil's poison;
- seek HIs will in our decision-making, and then to be accountable to each other for the action based on that will;
- to evangelise at least one person a week;
- etc.
----
Why not evangelise at least one person today? Tell them the Gospel of Jesus Christ - include God's love, their sin; Jesus death and resurrection. Tell them to repent and believe. Invite them to accepted Jesus' invitation into their life. God be with you.
----
God is here.
SA Daily Reading: John 5-6.
Much grace,
sec
posted by Stephen Court

December 18, 2008. (updated 9:24am)
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
He is risen!
(hb2JG)

How's your soul?
----
Here is a great appeal for funds in the Christmas run by The Salvation Army:
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Salvation-Army-Services-Threatened-Pace/story.aspx?guid=%7BB55B3A19-AE02-461A-A21C-D265216B2806%7D
----
Meanwhile, the LA Times reports that a man insisted that the Salvo bellringer be bumped from a 25 year+ perch by the Post Office, because The Salvation Army is a church:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2008/12/man-demands-sal.html
----
The kingdom of God is at hand.
----
I found this at the Chicago campus of The War College site (thewarcollege.com - and it works for each campus):

The War College Mission is to train warriors to win the world for Jesus.

Why Sign Up?
You may have heard of The Salvation Army's bold foray into radical battle schooling. The War College has been created to train this generation's warriors to win the world for Jesus.

Why should you invest a year of your life at The War CollegE Chicago's Southside campus?

Reasons abound:
1. Teaching. You will learn from some of the best leaders in The Salvation Army.

2. Content. You will be immersed in essential subjects for warfare success, such as extreme holiness, warfare operations, spiritual disciplines, extreme prophetic, spiritual accountability, social justice, and apostolic leadership. You will receive the course content required for success in the future wars to which God appoints you.

3. Training. You will be trained by successful Salvation Army leaders in evangelism, discipleship, intercession, the prophetic and other spiritual gifts, servanthood, cell multiplication, preaching, warfare worship and more. You will find yourself in the thick of the fight, right on front lines. You will also be deployed for four months to another Salvation Army unit for further experience.

4. Community. You will live in close quarters with other slum brothers and sisters (the noble calling of many early Salvationists), manifesting a righteous standard and authentic Christian community to a hungry neighborhood.

This experience will prove to be a sanctifying process.

5. Location. Chicago's south side is where once the commerce and life of Chicago existed. Our home base is located in the City of Blue Island which is surrounded by 8 other communities. We see this as a great place to send out ambassadors to each of those communities.

6. Win The World. God is raising up The War College to train this generation's warriors to win the world for Jesus. The spiritual synergy of the experience will spin off dynamic ministries and warfare on fronts around the world. Warfare that will transform cities and people groups and nations. Compare that to your alternative of post-bachelor degree, entry-level office work or your fourth year undergrad.

7. Wagner Affiliation. The War College is affiliated with the Wagner Leadership Institute (WLI) and phase 2 students can qualify for post-secondary diplomas. This is a bonus to students wanting to continue their study beyond The War College toward associate, bachelor, master, and doctorate degrees.

8. Calling. God's call on your life is the best reason. Maybe you hear Him specifically calling you to come. Maybe you're not sure but you figure that you'll need some of this stuff for the calling you know He has given you. Check out thewarcollegechicago.com pages for more information and an online application.
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Holy. now.
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Have you read JAC58? Classic stuff.
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Colossians 1:28 as a prayer:
So everywhere we go, were telling everyone we can about You, Jesus. We counsel them and exhort them with every ounce of godly wisdom You’ve blessed us with, because we desire to present them to You, perfect in their relationship with You. We are laying it all out to accomplish this purpose, relying on Your stupendous power working within us. Amen.
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Remember the poor.
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"Perhaps, after all, it is prodigals who get nearest to the real Father heart. Having been forgiven much, they love much, and know intimately" (Clarence W. Hall - yet another Salvo quote we lifted from Major Allen Satterlee's NOTABLE QUOTABLES).

Prodigals are going to hell just like every other independent. Why not give one a call or an email or a facebook poke today and urge them to repent and believe?
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God is here.
SA Daily Reading: John 2-4.
Much grace,
sec
posted by Stephen Court

G:\GEN\2008\office administration\graphics and photos\Warrior Covenant photo.jpg

December 17, 2008.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
He is risen!
(hb2SH)

How's your soul?
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If you are up to date with JAC (top right) and current with the blog, you may want to catch up on nine years of JAC archives (go to JAC), five years of daily armybarmy blog posts (top right), or the armybarmy.com resource site. There is tonnes of juicy stuff there. Check it out.
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The kingdom of God is at hand.
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According to the 2000 year book - UKI had 865 corps/outposts (now 754 - amazing in itself, but not the topic of this entry); C+B had 380 corps/outposts (now 331 - also amazing, but not the topic of this entry).

In 1965 C+B had 804 corps/outposts!

So, USE and Noland going for 700 (as we posted earlier this month) wasn't that outlandish, in that UKI has more than that now and C+B used to, as well. Let's get our head out of settling for incremental growth and go for supernatural advance.
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Did you know that there were only 50-60 members of Azusa Street Mission? Yet, it impacted the whole world. Be encouraged. (hat tip RF) Think big, start small go deep.
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Holy. now.
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"As you have thin preaching there is thin spirituality" (Raymond Finger).
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Received yesterday: "Our DHQ sent an email telling bellringers to say Merry Christmas or God Bless You to people, because we have had complaints about our people saying Happy Holidays. People have found it offensive. It is indeed a different world in the (US) South!" (hat tip BDub)

One takeaway? Let's optimise the season in our evangelism.
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Here's a handy reference for you of Salvation Army generals:

http://www.salvationarmy.org.au/SALV/STANDARD/PC_60863.html Generals.
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Here is FloBo on training (edited significantly such that you can't quote her directly form this):

"An organised and specific enterprise, such as our Leader Training in each country, can and should be possessed of one and the same spirit in every land. That spirit should be a manifestation of all that is best in The Salvation Army. How difficult is definition when we come to the things of the Spirit! But surely the spirit which should govern Leader Training is a manifestation of the Spirit of God seen:

(1) in spiritual fervour,
(2) in devotion to principle,
(3) in uttermost consecration to the great ends The Army has in view. I think if we claim these three initial factors as being the inner impulse of our Leader Training we shall not be far wrong. It will be your highest aim to inspire, maintain, and cultivate that spirit."

"It is imperative that this spirit should capture your disciples and manifest itself in them. Indeed, that to which all your work for them should lead is to inspire them with this same spirit. How vital the spirit of life is to all our work! I appeal to you, my dear comrades, to do everything you can to help us in this matter."
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Remember the poor.
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1.
Thou didst leave thy throne and thy kingly crown
When thou camest to earth for me;
But in Bethlehem's home was there found no room
For thy holy nativity.
Chorus
O come to my heart, Lord Jesus;
There is room in my heart for thee.

2.
Heaven's arches rang when the angels sang,
Proclaiming thy royal degree;
But of lowly birth cam'st thou, Lord, on earth
And in great humility.

3.
Thou camest, O Lord, with the living word
That should set thy people free;
But with mocking scorn, and with crown of thorn,
They bore thee to Calvary.

4.
When Heaven's arches ring, and her choirs shall sing,
At thy coming to victory,
Let thy voice call me home, saying: Yet there is room,
There is room at my side for thee!

And my heart shall rejoice, Lord Jesus,
When thou comest and callest for me.
Emily Elizabeth Steele Elliott (1836-97)
SASB101 - a good Salvo Christmas Carol.
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"Forgiveness is as natural to love as fragrance is to flowers" (Bramwell Booth).

Let's spread the fragrance today in our evangelising, and help others to pick up the scent.
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God is here.
SA Daily Reading: 2 Peter; John 1.
Much grace,
sec
posted by Stephen Court

December 16, 2008.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
He is risen!
(hb2LD)

How's your soul?
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We're happy to concede our daily space today to the General, though we want you to remember that the kingdom of God is at hand (oh, and get holy. now. And remember the poor...).
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PASTORAL LETTER ELEVEN

MONEY

Dear Fellow Salvationists,

This Pastoral Letter comes to you close to the time when Christians everywhere are rejoicing in the birth of the Saviour.

With my wife, Commissioner Helen Clifton, I send you warmest good wishes and Christmas greetings. May the miracle of the coming of Jesus into the world fill us all with new wonder and new love as we go on witnessing to, and serving, others in his sacred name.

It may seem strange to use the title 'Money' for a Christmas Pastoral Letter. Let me explain. Our news bulletins and newspapers are filled these days with reports of a global financial crisis.

We hear about the worldwide 'credit crunch', caused by lenders failing to be self-restrained when lending to over-keen borrowers who could not afford the repayments. We hear about governments, who often refuse to spend a few millions on good causes or human need, suddenly being able to spend billions to prop up failing financial institutions and large businesses.

For most of us it is all baffling, but also deeply disturbing. Ordinary people are losing their jobs, and some are in danger of losing their homes. Despite this, we do not hear of many financial or political leaders accepting personal blame or apologising or offering to withdraw from public life because their economic policies have led to global recession and hardship for countless millions of people. Of course, it would take very great personal honour to shoulder the responsibility in this gracious way.

When Jesus entered the world he had nothing. His parents were not rich. His father, Joseph, worked with his hands, with wood and nails. When Jesus died he still had nothing. He was not at all interested in materialism, and yet he was immensely wealthy for he knew the meaning of true wealth. He told us that it is incredibly hard for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, and he held up, as a shining example for us, the widow who gave all she had, a tiny coin, for the work of God.

During the recent presidential elections in the United States of America, both candidates were interviewed by Pastor Rick Warren and were asked to 'Define rich'. Despite offering sincere responses, neither really got it right, completely missing the point that true and lasting riches have nothing whatsoever to do with cash. Neither mentioned that the Lord Jesus Christ has told us to store up riches in Heaven where moth and rust do not corrupt and where thieves do not break in and steal. There is no 'credit crisis' there!

This Christmas, let us not go deeper into personal debt. Let us be restrained in our spending. Let us remember that in the 117 countries where the Army has been called to serve most people are poor and that there is absolutely nothing glamorous or sentimental about poverty.

This Christmas, let us remember that we follow in the steps of a matchless Saviour who came into and who left the world penniless.

This Christmas, as we anticipate an upsurge in the number of those seeking and needing the Army's help, let us remember that even a cup of cold water given in his name is given as unto him, and that we are going to have many, many more opportunities to share Christ with others as they turn to faith, abandoning the false god of material security.

This Christmas, let us rediscover true riches: forgiveness in Christ, a sanctified life in the power of the Holy Spirit, obedience to the will of God, and our days spent in living for others.

You remain always in my prayers.

May 2009 be filled with blessings from God for you and all whom you love. May you be fruitful for the Kingdom of God.

I commit you to the perfect love of Christ.

God bless you.

Shaw Clifton

General

http://www.salvationarmy.org/ihq/www_ihq_general.nsf/vw-local/pastoral-letters
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I did crack out an old compilation called Preaching the Gospel: The Holy Blues (hat tip Jim Mancuso) and was struck again by W. Phillips's Denomination Blues (all of which is bloggable) and this verse:

"You can go to the college, you can go to the school
but if you ain't got Jesus you a educated fool
and that's all, I tell you that's all
You better have Jesus, I tell you that's all."

You can try that line out in your Evangelising today.
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God is here.
SA Daily Reading: 1 Peter.
Much grace,
sec
posted by Stephen Court

December 15, 2008. (updated 5:17pm)
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
He is risen!
(hb2CE;AM)

How's your soul?
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Did you see the "Christian hoodlums" stuff in yesterday's post? There is more NY Times SALVO stuff below. Also, we republished an October 3 post on women as presented by Lieut-Colonel Janet Munn at ACC, directly below.
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The kingdom of God is at hand (read about it in THY KINGDOM COME in the JAC58, top right of this page).
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James 1:5
وانما ان كان احد تعوزه حكمة فليطلب من الله الذي يعطي الجميع بسخاء ولا يعيّر فسيعطى له.

你 們 中 間 若 有 缺 少 智 慧 的 ， 應 當 求 那 厚 賜 與 眾 人 、 也 不 斥 責 人 的 神 ， 主 就 必 賜 給 他 。

"And if any one of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask God for it, who gives with open hand to all men, and without upbraiding; and it will be given him."

All kinds of Chinese speakers and Arabic speakers and English speakers are interested in getting wisdom. Jesus is the key to wisdom. This verse and those surrounding it (go to biblos.com for the context) explain how you can get it.
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Holy. now. (yes, you can be holy now if you repent/believe/consecrate your whole life to God and allow Holy Spirit to neutralise your natural inclinat