Essentials for Salvationism
by Commissioner Wesley
Harris
There are some
things which are essential if the Army is to be effective and
if we as individuals are to be ‘worth our salt’ as
Salvationists.
The first essential is
conviction.
In preparing a book for publication I have been
studying the life of our Founder, William Booth, and have
again been impressed by the strength of his conviction.
As
a young officer I was privileged to have retired Commissioner
George Jolliffe as a mentor.
At one stage he had been on the personal staff of the
Founder and even lived in his house for a while. I asked the
commissioner the secret of William Booth’s drive which made
him such a force in evangelism and was told that it was his
belief in hell. It was his intense conviction that people
without Christ were teetering on the edge of eternal disaster
and that gave William Booth a sense of urgency and led him to
seek to win the souls of almost all he met – including the
taxi driver, the wealthy host or the down–and-out on the
street
William Booth’s
convictions were powerful and helped to fire the impetus which
brought the Army into being.
By comparison, have we become too casual in our
convictions?
T.R.Glover said
of Marcus Aurelius, ‘He didn’t believe enough to be great’.
That judgement may or may not be correct but more to
the point, could it be true of The Salvation Army and
ourselves as individual Salvationists in the twenty first
century? I only ask!
True conviction
should lead to
commitment.
Many of us live in what may be termed an uncommitted
generation.
Sometimes there is a reluctance to be committed to anything be
it marriage or a life-time of service.
But commitment is essential for effectiveness and a
satisfying life.
It is certainly a prime necessity in a movement such as ours.
In The Salvation
Army’s small but noble contingent of martyrs the name of Kim
Lock should be in lights.
He was a Chinese silk merchant who got saved at the
Wellington Citadel Corps in New Zealand.
He felt that he should return to his home province in
China
in order to proclaim the gospel there.
At that time the
province had already come under communist control but Kim and
12 of his friends felt they should hold an open air meeting in
the town square. Townsfolk were impressed but the authorities
were implacable.
The young enthusiasts were arrested but when released they
witnessed again.
This happened several times until they were warned that the
next time they would be executed. And so, it happened.
Kim and his friends witnessed and then were taken to
the square and beheaded in front of a huge crowd. Their
commitment was so great that no cost was too much.
If as an Army we
are to live up to our name and our reputation there is a third
essential to be maintained. It is
compassion. Years
ago in the United Kingdom
the Army had a fund raising appeal with the slogan, ‘For God’s
sake, care’. If some charities had selected such a slogan it
might have seemed sacrilegious but there was general
acceptance that for the Army it was appropriate. For us it is
the way it should be.
If we ceased to
care we would cease to count.
We should not do what we do to court publicity or even
to secure funds for the Army which we love.
It is for God’s sake that we reach out to the last, the
least and the lost.
We care because within us we have the caring Holy
Spirit. That is
the essential secret which must never be forgotten.
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