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Editorial
Introduction
by
Captain Stephen Court
Greetings in
Jesus' name, friends. Welcome to Journal of Aggressive
Christianity's 42nd issue. Happy seventh birthday to JAC! Wow.
42 issues with about 500 articles by nearly 200 contributors,
all for the glory of God (you can explore JAC through the
years at the bottom of the JAC contents page).
We're leading with Major JoAnn Shade's 'Godly Ambition' (Shade
is in Ohio, USA), a spiritual sequel of sorts as it is to last
issue's controversial 'Rant' by Captain Strickland, in which
Shade honestly considers future leadership and ambition to
give it in The Army.
Both unsettling and funny, it threatens to take the
international waves of discontent stirred by the Rant to the
next level (we're hoping that it goes to cabinet level, where
it would be nice to see 30-40 married women appointed globally
by year's end, as a start of an honest response to the
sentiment expressed here and felt nearly everywhere).
Captain Grant Sandercock-Brown of Sydney, Australia, asks 'Who
Are We?' and then proposes an excellent answer. it is an
excellent follow-up to Godly Ambition. Please read this
article. It leads smoothly into the following article, "Are We
A Metaphor?'
War College warrior Anthony Castle of the Holy Session (an
Aussie training in Canada) tears into the military metaphor
debate currently raging in the blogosphere with an
intriguingly new perspective guaranteed to shake your mind and
maybe even rattle your prejudices (if you have any against the
military metaphor).
Captain Charles Roberts of New York, USA make the argument
that the more our congregations look like the subway, the more
our celebrations will look like heaven.
Captain Amy Reardon of Washington, USA, considers one plank of
Bertrand Russell's critique of Christianity and suggests that
an embrace of good old holiness teaching will solve the
problem and help save the world.
Major Doug Burr of Maine, USA, teaches through spiritual
experience 'Knowing God's Voice' in a manner sure to both
inform and equip.
This is a very useful article for those hungry in this area.
Cadet Tim Watson of Australia analyses The Army from a
mission-ready standpoint, and suggests that we too often
'outsource mission'. He also identifies mission-centred,
mission-focussed, and mission-controlled corps. This is a
helpful article for those involved in leading a local corps.
Erin Wikle's 'Revolution in the Walls' (Wikle is in
California, USA) follows Cadet Watson's article smoothly,
offering a personal perspective on what he has addressed
theoretically.
Commissioner Wesley Harris of Australia digs into his Salvo
treasure chest yet again with parts five and six in his tasty
series, Souvenirs of Salvationism. This issue is about a cup
and a songbook.
Enjoy.
John Cleary of Australia (wow, we're an Aussie-heavy journal,
aren't
we?) delivers the heavy of the 42nd issue of JAC.
'Salvationist
Worship: A Historical Perspective' will bring everyone up to
speed on our roots and our development through the decades. It
should be read by everyone who has ever weighed in with
two-cents worth in the sadly named 'worship wars'.
Andrew Bale's article, STILLBORN OR STILL GLORIOUS holds The
Army up and analyzes it in the light of Commissioner Samuel
Logan Brengle's prophecy. Bale breaks it down into four
components:
* Soup and soap but little salvation
* Music for the mind and not the masses
* Rotarians instead of radicals
* Empty training colleges
It is tough medicine. But if you take it first, it might make
the rest of the issue more palatable.
Finally, there has been quite a stir in a few territories over
Primitive Salvationism. So I take a stab at debunking Eight
Myths of Primitive Salvationism in hopes of bringing clarity
to the discussion and winning converts to the philosophy.
We've always liked to say that we have a small but influential
readership. That's you! Thanks for your patronage. But we'd
like to change it, the former descriptor, anyway. We'd like to
continue to grow in readership and influence (we're psyched to
see one of our early articles by my co-founding editor leaned
on in a recently published, theological book). So, please feel
pressured to spread the good news of this current issue and
literally scores of previous issues, all available on this
site, for free (and when you're finished that, dig into our
armybarmy blog, on the top menu bar, updated frequently, and
going back a few years).
This is all aimed at winning the world for Jesus. May it
encourage you toward that end. God help us.
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