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April 30, 2003.
Greetings in Jesus’ name, friends.

Oswald Chambers says that,

Abandonment is to refuse yourself the luxury of asking any questions.

That sounds innocuous enough. But how about if God is prompting you to stand up in the middle of your meeting and speak out a tongue?

According to Chambers, it means that you don’t have the luxury of asking whether or not the timing is appropriate, or if it will go over well and be accepted, or if the person given the interpretation will be gutsy enough to stand up and not leave you hanging, or if ‘they’ll’ still like ‘me’ afterward.

We talk loosely about reckless abandonment. But it is a lot more extreme than getting a little rowdy on a Sunday night.
posted by Stephen Court, April 30, 2003.

April 29, 2003.
Greetings in Jesus’ name, friends.

I borrowed a book recently that is an abridged version of a longer, older book. As an old book the copyright is owned by one of those Christian literature trusts.

The foreword to this abridged version makes an astonishing admission:

The Trustees (of the book trust)… were concerned about certain aspects of (the book) as originally published. First and foremost they felt that they could not endorse the teaching that a born again, Spirit-filled Christian can at the same time be demon-possessed; and also found themselves unable to accept some of the teaching given concerning the ‘baptism of the Holy Spirit’, and the aggressive warfare against the powers of darkness, either as a means of promoting revival or of hastening the coming again of the Lord Jesus Christ.

These guys decide that they want to reprint the book without the meat of the content! They changed the work of some fairly well-known, influential, powerful people (there were two authors).

And let’s look at what they decided to omit. They don’t like the fact that Christians can be demon-possessed. Well, too bad. Admittedly, the term ‘possessed’ isn’t helpful. But it isn’t accurate, either, in that the Greek suggests ‘demonized’, or subject to demonic influence. Certainly Christians need teaching to warn them of this danger. Second, they don’t like the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Hmm. Finally, they aren’t in to attacking the devil.

The content they decided they’d leave in goes on and on about deception by the enemy and how we are to be very careful about false teaching. It seems that they editors followed this part of the teaching closely, in that they accepted it while shaving off all of the combustible, incendiary, revolutionary, revival-inciting content that disagreed with them.

Anyway, I found the whole exercise shocking. I wonder how much other old dead stuff is neutralized by pathetic editors?
posted by Stephen Court, April 29, 2003.

April 28, 2003.
Greetings in Jesus’ name, friends.

So get this- this is a good one. Derek Prince, in SHAPING HISTORY THROUGH PRAYER AND FASTING, is on about power and prayer.

He assigns to Zion this meaning, the place of assembly of God’s people (based on Hebrews 12:22,23).

Now, Psalm 110:2 notes that, “the Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion; rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.”

Rod represents the ruler’s authority in Scripture (see Moses, David, Aaron, etc.) (p43,44, and part of a more complex argument of priesthood and kingship).

So when the believers are assembled in unity to pray, that is when we have authority.

And for what shall we pray? 1 Timothy 2:1- kings and all those in authority.

It is God’s will, teaches Prince, that we enjoy good government. It is on us to pray it in. Good government provides great conditions for great commission fulfillment. Free speech, free assembly, secure transportation and communication, and freedom of religion all protect our means of communicating the good news.

Let’s gather at Zion and exercise the authority of Christ in raising up good government.
posted by Stephen Court, April 28, 2003.

April 27, 2003.
Greetings in Jesus’ name, friends.

Bonhoeffer, in LIFE TOGETHER, the book our cell leaders cell is tackling, makes this statement about poverty:

Not until one person desires to keep his own bread for himself does hunger ensue (p69).

He raises the level from the acceptable, though challenging, standard of keeping his own bread, to desiring to keep his own bread.

Now, just keeping our own bread is something of which most of us are guilty. Tack on the desire behind it and even some of our charitable actions of sharing are defaulted by wrong heart motivation.

According to DB, the cure for world hunger is simple. It just appears that it is going to be immeasurably difficult to apply, seeing that the cure must be applied to every Christian’s heart first, and then to the hearts of all of those with bread, and then, finally, to the hearts of all of those imminently on the receiving end of shared bread.

God help us.
posted by Stephen Court, April 27, 2003.

April 26, 2003.
Greetings in Jesus’ name, friends.

Another thing you can pray for the Army and for the General is the Bible.

Those familiar with us or armybarmy.com know that we’re into praying the Bible. It is there that we have power in prayer because we know we are praying God’s will. So, for the Army and for the General I suggest praying apostolic prayers, prayers by Paul the Apostle for his people.

Some suggestions include Ephesians 1:15ff;3:14ff;6:18ff;   Phil 1:3,4;9-11;   Col 1:2-4;9-11;   1Thess 3:9ff;5:23-25;  2Thess 1:3,11,12;  Titus 2:11-13;3   John 2;   Jude 24,25; 
2Corinthians 13:11-14.
posted by Stephen Court, April 26, 2003.

April 25, 2003.
Greetings in Jesus’ name, friends.

Yesterday I challenged you to pray at noon for our international Army and for the General.

What should we pray?

Good question. Here are some suggestions:

For the International Army
· Holiness
· Aggressive evangelism
· Intimacy
· Community
· Love
· Mercy

For the General
· Favour
· Anointing
· Increased influence
· Energy
· Wisdom
· Love
· Power
· Intimacy
· Protection

There are many more things, but that is a good start.
posted by Stephen Court, April 25, 2003.

April 24, 2003.
Greetings in Jesus’ name, friends.

It is a long-honoured tradition in the Army to devote some time at noon to pray for The Salvation Army and for the General.

It is an excellent tradition.

In my small circles it is a forgotten tradition.

If we can mobilize Salvos around the world to lift up the international Army and the General to God, then it and he are getting ‘round the clock’ coverage by more than a million people every day (taking the time zones into account). Whew! That is some serious prayer coverage!

So, are you up to using the influence that you have to challenge salvos to build on the tradition? Can you speak to people, stick it in email signatures, chat it to them online, insert it in corps bulletins, write it in letters to the editor, preach it to your friends, comrade soldiers, leaders, and followers?

Can you imagine the accumulated blessing accruing to the General and to our Army daily?

We can make an enormous difference just by doing this. Are you for it?
posted by Stephen Court, April 24, 2003.

April 23, 2003.
Greetings in Jesus’ name, friends.

We all know about salt. We’re the salt of the earth. We give flavour. Derek Prince writes a bit about it in SHAPING HISTORY THROUGH PRAYER AND FASTING:

We give flavour to the earth. The one who enjoys the flavour is God. Our presence makes the earth acceptable to God. Our presence commends the earth to God’s mercy. Without us, there would be nothing to make the earth acceptable to God.

Is that the coolest thing you’ve read today, or what? Let’s get at making the earth acceptable to God.
posted by Stephen Court, April 23, 2003.

April 22, 2003.
Greetings in Jesus’ name, friends.

You may have heard of a movie coming out called THE PASSION. It deals with the last 12 hours of Jesus’ life. Have I captured your attention yet?

It is produced by Mel Gibson. The whole movie is in Aramaic and Latin and the plan now is that there be no subtitles.

Listen to this interview excerpt with the producer, from crosswalk.com:

What's particularly interesting is the way God seems to be working in incredible ways through miraculous situations on the set. "There is an interesting power in the script," Gibson notes. "There have been a lot of unusual things happening on this set, good things like people being healed of diseases, a couple of people have had sight and hearing restored, another guy was struck by lightning while we were filming the crucifixion scene and he just got up and walked away. There was even a little six-year-old girl (the daughter of a person connected with the crew) who had epilepsy since she was born and had up to 50 epileptic fits a day. She's doesn't have them anymore for over a month now." He marvels at how this movie has effected or touched most of the cast in some deep and personal way. "And they really give you a lot of hope. It's like wow! I mean, we're not kidding around about this. It's really happening."

Jim Caviezel plays Jesus.

He says his performance is inspired. "Truthfully, it was never up to me." He humbly continues, "My answer was always that I'm interested in letting God work through me to play this role. I believe the Holy Spirit has been leading me in the right direction and to get away from my own physical flesh and allow the character of Jesus to be played out the way God wants it -- that's all I can do." Is Aramaic an intimidating language to learn? "Sure it is. But I asked God to help me and I was able to learn it in a quick amount of time, more than I normally am able to learn things."

The devoutly Catholic Caviezel takes his role seriously, often praying and softly quoting scripture while in character.

In addition to spending 15 days filming on the cross, Caviezel was scourged and whipped in chains and ropes. "Mel likes to put violence in his movies. But the fact is, they represent truth. That's all Mel cares about is making it look true to the text. No time has a film of our Lord ever been shown like this one. Believe me when I say this to you, when people get to the crucifixion scene, by that time I believe there will be many who can't take it and will have to walk out. I guarantee it. And I believe there will be many who will stay and be drawn to the truth."

It sounds like a movie I want to see.
posted by Stephen Court, April 22, 2003.

April 21, 2003.
Greetings in Jesus’ name, friends.

I live in British Columbia. It has some of that laid-back west coast vibe characterized by mountains and oceans, healthy lifestyles of hiking and climbing and ‘ultimate’ and cycling, more marijuana than you can shake a stick at, and so on.

But God does have plans. The new BC license plates have a new slogan: supernatural. And the provincial motto is ‘splendour without diminishment’.

The only source for both of those promises is Jesus. So we are welcoming Jesus in without even knowing it. But, bring it on Lord Jesus!
posted by Stephen Court, April, 21, 2003.

April 20, 2003.
Greetings in Jesus’ name, friends.

A sensational, fabulous, fantastic, amazing, awesome, wonderful, astounding, marvelous, thrilling, breathtaking, overwhelming, splendid, tremendous, remarkable, incredible Resurrection Day to you.

I dusted off this old thing I wrote in response to a War Cyr Easter request about the resurrection, back before I went to training college.

The Resurrection means everything to me. It means that instead of having just a dying Jesus, a Saviour from my sins, I also have a living Jesus, a
Lord fro my life. Without the Resurrection I would be limited to following a body of teachings from the righteous Christ. With the Resurrection I also have a vital relationship with the reigning Christ.

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

By His bloody propitiation Jesus is able to relieve us from the penalty of sin. By His glorious Resurrection, He is able to relieve us from its power.
Therefore, I have received salvation from the dying, sacrificial Christ; and sanctification from the living, victorious Christ. HALLELUJAH

Well-read salvos will note a debt to Major Allister Smith in style. And you’ll have to forgive the academic vibe as I was in school at the time. But, praise the Lord! He is risen!
posted by Stephen Court, April 20, 2003.

April 19, 2003.
Greetings in Jesus’ name, friends.

John 5:19 remains one of my key verses. And from it I pray, “Help me to see what You’re doing and do what I’m seeing.”
Amen.
posted by Stephen Court, April, 19, 2003.

April 18, 2003.
Greetings in Jesus’ name, friends.

It is Good Friday. Hallelujah. Let’s try to avoid the ‘happy Easter’ greetings. ‘Happy’ is too watered down to get even close to what Easter means to those of us who’ve recognized our sin and are/were searching for a way out.

My only suggestion is a string of adjectives that might begin to convey what we feel and what we feel others should feel on this holy weekend.

Here’s an option: “Sensational, fabulous, fantastic, amazing, awesome, wonderful, astounding, marvelous, thrilling, breathtaking, overwhelming, splendid, tremendous, remarkable, incredible Resurrection Day.” Have you any suggestions?
posted by Stephen Court, April 18, 2003.

April 17, 2003.
Greetings in Jesus’ name, friends.

Did you catch this story in the ocean of special interest reports regarding the war? It is from the Chicago Sun-Times.
Onward Christian soldiers, cynically to war
April 11, 2003
BY CATHLEEN FALSANI RELIGION WRITER

At Camp Bushmaster near the town of Najaf in the Iraqi desert, American soldiers who haven't been able to bathe in months can take a dip in a 500- gallon tub, courtesy of U.S. Army Chaplain Josh Llano.

But there's an unusual entry fee: Conversion by full submersion.

"It's simple," Llano told a reporter for the Miami Herald last week. "They want water. I have it, as long as they agree to get baptized."

What a deal! One bath for the low, low price of your eternal soul.

Before the soldiers can wash off some of the filth of desert warfare, they also have to sit through Llano's 90-minute sermon. And then comes the hourlong baptism/bath.

"They do appear physically and spiritually cleansed," said Llano, who is a Southern Baptist. "Regardless of their motives, I get to take them closer to the Lord."

The only place Llano is taking these guys is to the spiritual cleaners. And I don't mean that in a cute, evangelical way.

They're tired. They're far from home. Sand gets EVERYWHERE. And in the middle of a desert water shortage, Chaplain Sneakypants has a big tub of relief. But it'll cost ya.

That's the kind of thing that, as Annie Lamott says, "would make Jesus drink gin out of a cat dish."

What is it that makes some Christians feel Jesus has to somehow be sold, like a health club membership, or sneaked into allegedly altruistic humanitarian efforts like protein powder into a double-thick chocolate shake?

Do we cheer or cry? It sounds a little like forcing guys to sit through a meeting to get lunch.
posted by Stephen Court, April 17, 2003.

April 17, 2003
Greetings in Jesus’ name, friends.

AND CAN IT BE? Is coming out next week. It is the seventh and best-produced Salvos Songs CD.

Like AWAKEN THE GIANT and SALVO POP, it is a Biblical Prayer CD, featuring speakers from Roots praying on their preaching texts (Ezekiel 37).

Tony Campolo, Phil Wall, Janet Munn, Danielle Strickland, Sandra Ryan, Russell Rook, and Lee Graves all pray faith-filled prayers. Mark Hood and Tom Freeman create an excellent soundtrack of original songs and music. There are also five music-only tracks to support your Bible praying and that of your prayer groups.

I encourage you to check it out (sample available at armybarmy.com).
posted by Stephen court, April 17, 2003.

April 16, 2003.
Greetings in Jesus’ name, friends.

The current JAC has a feature on RATIONS. I asked a bunch of people what their daily, scheduled, private time with God.

Did you check it out, yet? There is some challenging and stimulating stuff there. I am particularly blessed in knowing each of these people personally.

How are your rations? I am not talking about your grandmother’s Daily Bread. Are you getting close enough to God that you are preparing to change the world?
posted by Stephen Court, April 16, 2003.

April 15, 2003.
Greetings in Jesus’ name, friends.

I read this at firstthings.com:

Newsweek, Time, and US News have long known that Jesus on the cover is a real sales-booster. Now here is Popular Mechanics with a cover story, “The Real Face of Jesus: Forensic Science Reveals the True Image of Jesus.” Never mind that it is a journalistic scam. According to Cover Analyzer, an outfit that measures single-copy sales on three hundred consumer magazines, Jesus on the cover results in an average 45% increase in sales. The Bible is the next best thing, while any mention of God on the cover also does the trick. The one thing that doesn’t sell is scandal. Cover stories on the Catholic sex abuse problems consistently underperformed against average sales.

What a novel idea- Jesus on the cover! Our SA periodicals ought to get a load of this!
posted by Stephen Court, April 15, 2003.

April 14, 2003.
Greetings in Jesus’ name, friends.

ATLANTIC MONTHLY has discovered religion in the public square. David Brooks noted that spiritual things are pervasively influencing world events. He concludes that secularism is, “yesterday’s incorrect vision of the future. This realization sends us recovering secularists to the bookstore or the library, in a desperate attempt to figure out what is going on in the world.”

This is another opening for us. Get out your best books- Ravi Zacharias, Michael Green, Bill Bright, C.S. Lewis, Peter Kreeft, and so on- and loan them out to recovering secularists.

SALVATIONIST Online had a report in last week’s issue about a related evangelistic method. You leave books lying around with a little sticker that asks the reader to post his or her comments on the book at bookcrossing.com. Apparently tonnes of people are using it and some are getting saved!

Look out, secularists.
Posted by Stephen Court, April 14, 2003.

April 14th, 2003
Hi. I figured I’d try to get a few words in…. J

I was up one night this week – unable to sleep and so thought I’d take the opportunity to spend some extra time with God (I’m sure it was at his invitation – cause normally I can sleep!). So I put on a CD that is the Song Of Songs set to music…. I listened to the words of one track in particular and God really spoke to me – I figured I’d share it with you - perhaps it will be helpful.
The words of the scripture and the song take place after the Lover (Christ) has come to the Beloved (the church/us) and knocked on her door – but she is too lazy and tired to get up… by the time she bothers to get up he is gone! But now her heart is ‘awakened’ and she is desperate for her lover… the words are:
I get up now (God was reminding me that I should never lose my zeal serving Him and longing for Him and searching for more of Him… sometimes you just have to GET UP).
And go to the city – to find the one my heart loves (this is where she went to look for her lover… obviously it struck a chord in me because I came to the ‘inner-city’ to look for the one my heart loves)

She looks everywhere and can’t find him (sometimes I feel that exact same way… I wonder where on earth God is when I see people that are beaten up by the enemy with no hope and no help….)
Then she’s about to give up but turns back and realizes that he’s behind her… she missed him and turns back to find Him… (this is pretty self-explanatory),

A few quick things:

1. I want to do what I do out of a deep longing and desire for intimacy with my LOVER… I don’t want to every lose my first love.

2. I want to get out of bed faster – I want to GET UP NOW…

3. He’s in the midst of the places that seem the most unlikely for Him to be in…. He’s in the bustle and traffick and hopelessness, and despair, He’s in the middle of need – busy places, He’s tucked in the midst of our lives and I don’t WANT TO MISS HIM – open the eyes of my heart Lord.

Heartsick with Love,
Danielle Strickland
posted April 14, 2003

April 13, 2003.
Greetings in Jesus’ name, friends.

Statscan came out with the latest on Canadian earnings last month. The average annual earnings topped $30,000 for the first time (that’s about $20,000 usd).

That said, the number of people making less than $20,000 a year is about 6.7 million (about 45% of the people). Only 20% of this group worked full-time, year-round.

"To put this in perspective, $20,000 represents less than one-half of the average earnings of all Canadians working full-year, full-time [$43,231],"
Statscan said.

"Or, to put it another way, $20,000 in earnings is the equivalent of a wage of $10 an hour for an earner working 50 weeks a year and 40 hours each week."

At the other end of the spectrum, ranks of the $100,000 plus club swelled by more than two-thirds in the 10 years ending in 2000.

Meanwhile, the average single welfare recipient makes about $517/month. Minimum wage out here is $8/hour, giving you $16,000, if you catch on full-time.

God grant us creativity and ability to generate jobs for people. God show us how to steward your money that your entrust us with most effectively, covering the starving nations and investing in the great commission for optimal impact.
posted by Stephen Court, April 13, 2003.

April 12, 2003.
Greetings in Jesus’ name, friends.

We’re not the best-understood movement in history. We’ve done heaps and influenced multitudes, but most people still have a foggy view of our purpose.

Many Salvos have an incomplete comprehension of what it is we are.

"Salvationism means simply the overcoming and banishing from the earth of wickedness" (William Booth, THE OFFICER. 1893).

Hmm. That is pretty broad. I guess that includes all of the social justice stuff in our past, fighting for older prostitutes, good labour laws, fair pay, cab horse charter, and so on. I guess it includes fighting today for unborn babies, liberating oppressed peoples suffering under dictators and religious persecution, caring for the orphan and widow, and feeding the starving.

But I am not comfortable with all of that as part of our mission, which is to win the world for Jesus. I know many define ‘winning’ and ‘salvation’ more widely than the divergence between Khrushchev and Kennedy but I really believe that what God is getting at is that everyone gets saved. He is, after all, not slow, but patient, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance.

So, as good as those endeavours are- feeding the starving, liberating the oppressed, protecting the unborn, and so on- while they may be broadly characterized as salvationism, they are not narrowly, components of our mission.

Does that makes sense? It can be accurately said that banishing the wickedness of abortion, starvation, and oppression is characteristic of Salvationists and so is an element of salvationism. But all the while the mission of salvationism involves banishing the wickedness in people’s hearts from the world.

I know you can’t exegete it from this one line by the Founder, but it does play out in the rest of the Salvo dogma.
posted by Stephen Court, April 11, 2003.

April 11, 2003.
Greetings in Jesus’ name, friends.

The exigencies of the war are such that in our recruiting maybe we should resurrect and adapt St. Jerome's fourth-century incitement to children to join monasteries;

"If your father blocks the door, knock him down."

I don’t counsel potential War College students to try this at home, but the rest of you…
Posted by Stephen Court, April 11, 2003.

April 10, 2003.
Greetings in Jesus’ name, friends.

Reading one of my favourite news sources online recently, I came across the following story:

Didn’t quite know what to make of the recent Lotto/Salvation Army story. A guy who hit the jackpot tried to donate 100 grand to his local Salvation Army chapter, in Florida. The chapter’s head said, “No, thanks˜ on grounds that these were gambling winnings, and that the Army was having to deal with families on the verge of becoming homeless, because of the breadwinner’s gambling problem. Acceptance of the check would’ve felt hypocritical.

I suppose my first reaction was, “Good grief, man, take the money where you can get it, and use it for good!” My second reaction was: Not so fast. Where do we draw the line (thinking about drug profits, prostitution profits, etc.)? I thought that the Salvation Army chief had been rather spunky.

Spunky, yes. But I’ve heard of much worse repercussions than a ‘Good Grief’. And, I’d probably take the money. But the bottom line, is that if neither of us asked God, we’re both wrong (not to cut up the person who said ‘no’, as I don’t know if he asked).
posted by Stephen Court, April 10, 2003.

April 10, 2003
Greetings in Jesus’ name, friends.

This is a big day. It is Williams Booth’s birthday. Impregnated by the Holy Spirit in classic virgin Mary fashion, William and Catherine Booth gave birth to The Salvation Army back in the 19th century.

What a day of rejoicing that day must have been for the forward-thinking angels on patrol!

The Salvation Army applied a spiritual shock and awe campaign to the devil wherever we found him lurking to great Kingdom impact. Even today, in our dotage, we exercise an impact that dwarfs our size.

I know that God needn’t be finished with that Army He dreamed up. I know that He can do the unprecedented and breathe fresh fire through our veins, regenerating the fist of the Body of Christ.

Maybe He will do it today.
posted by Stephen Court, April 10, 2003.

April 9, 2003
Greetings in Jesus’ name, friends.

My friend is a missing person.

I mean, I think he is one of the missing persons that The Salvation Army attempts to ‘find’ every year. I talked about it to him tonight.

He complains that he is lonely and alone.

I asked if I could identify him as the missing person and he refused. He’s been missing for 43 of his 48 years and yet he refuses to be found.

It is exactly the same way spiritually. He’s been lonely and alone for at least those 43 years. Jesus has put out an all points bulletin, missing persons alert for him. But he refuses to be found.

Frustrating. God, keep calling, please.
posted by Stephen Court, April 9, 2003.

April 8, 2003.
Greetings in Jesus’ name, friends.

I’m still on about Bonhoeffer’s LIFE TOGETHER. This one is for any leaders out there who are reading.

“A pastor should not complain about his congregation, certainly never to other people, but also not to God.”

Did I catch your attention? I am looking in the mirror as I type.

“A congregation has not been entrusted to him in order that he should become its accuser before God and man.”

If you read yesterday’s as well, you’ll note that DB had a knack for cutting to the chase. He keeps landing at accusing God. I don’t want to accuse God.

“Let him guard against every becoming an accuser of his congregation before God. Let him rather accuse himself for his unbelief. Let him pray God for an understanding of his own failure and his particular sin, and pray that he may not wrong his brethren. Let him, in the consciousness of his own guilt, make intercession for his brethren. Let him do what he is committed to do, and thank God” (all from pages 29,30).

All of us who’ve every criticized our congregations before them, before others, or before God, have our work cut out for us.
posted by Stephen Court, April 8, 2003.

April 7, 2003
Greetings in Jesus’ name, friends.

Our cell leaders cells are working through LIFE TOGETHER by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, starting tonight. Since our goal as a medium to winning the world for Jesus starting in the downtown eastside is authentic Christian community expressed through cells, we figured this might be a spiritual elixir.

Watch this: “God hates visionary dreamers.”

Ouch.

DB obviously hasn’t read any of the latest, greatest books on leadership.

“It makes the dreamer and proud and pretentious.”

Two characteristics I missed in the fruit of the Spirit.

“The man who fashions a visionary ideal of community demands that it be realized by God, by others, and by himself. He enters the community of Christians with his demands, sets up his own law, and judges the brethren and God Himself accordingly.”

I don’t remember God setting up judges as one of the four-fold offices in Ephesians 4 (I know- everyone says there are five, but the grammar is pastor and teacher, as one, making the total four. And one of them isn’t judge).

“When his ideal picture is destroyed, he sees the community going to smash. So he becomes, first an accuser of the brethren, then an accuser of God, and finally a despairing accuser of himself” (all from pages 27,28).

It’s enough to make you ask God to refrain from giving you dreams.
posted by Stephen Court, April 7, 2003.

April 6, 2003.
Greetings in Jesus’ name, friends.

I am thinking that the stats we looked at yesterday must be very old or for a very short period of time. The reference to 10,000 hours of evangelistic television programming wouldn’t even get you out of one year in America, where there are round-the-clock Christian television stations and then hour shows on different channels.

It’s been said many times before, but how about sliding that money into Turkey or Saudi Arabia? I mean, you could support an army of under cover intercessors warring against the Princes of those territories. They could repent, battle, and bind, weakening the enemy for when the evangelistic invasion hits the borders.

Or, I guess, we could watch the prosperity boys living off the welfare cheque widows…
posted by Stephen Court, April 6, 2003.

April 5, 2003.
Greetings in Jesus’ name, friends.

I just read in HORIZONS about some stats on church growth in America.

Since 1980, there has been no growth in the proportion of the adult population that can be classified as ‘born again’ Christian. The proportion… has remained constant at 32 percent despite the fact that churches and para-church organizations have spent billions of dollars on evangelism. More than 10,000 hours of evangelistic television programming have been broadcast, in excess of 5,000 new Christian books have been published, and more than 1,000 radio stations carry Christian programming. Yet despite such widespread opportunities for exposure to the Gospel, there has been no discernable growth in the size of the Christian body” (George Barna, cited in HORIZONS, March 2003).

Aside from the repentance toward God and our brothers and sisters in poor and oppressed countries and the unbelievers blinded by the enemy in typically dark countries, we might think about another tactic. How about cultivating authentic Christian community?
posted by Stephen Court, April 5, 2003.

April 4, 2003
Greetings in Jesus’ name, friends.

My friend Geoff sent me the following letter from General William Booth that ran in The War Cry 119 years ago. While the combatants are different, some of the same issues are a stake.

Without getting all argumentative about various positions, let’s heed his injunction to pray.

The General’s Letters 1885
General William Booth, Founder of The Salvation Army
A reprint from The War Cry of letters to soldiers and friends scattered throughout the world

THE POSSIBILITY OF WAR WITH RUSSIA
(On the 9th of April 1885, the Prime Minister, Mr. Gladstone, made a statement in the House of Commons which was generally regarded as a precursor of war between England and Russia, on account of differences about the frontiers of Afghanistan.)

My Dear Comrades, -
My heart is sad beyond measure. I cannot finish the letter which I had well-nigh completed. I feel, in spite of myself, I must say something, although only a few words, on the topic that is uppermost in my mind: and that is the terrible possibility of a dreadful war between Great Britain and Russia.

Everybody is talking about it. The newspapers are full of it. It seems to be taken for granted that it must be. People only deplore or condemn it in a milk-and-water sort of way. They say it must come sooner or later, and therefore we had better have it now. It is a necessity.

This, to me, sounds awful. It makes my flesh creep. Do they know what they say? Can they have rightly guessed the awful calamity such a contest must prove? Two of the mightiest nations on earth to be rushing at each other in deadly hatred, and for months, perhaps for years, exerting all their tremendous strength in doing each other all the damage possible.

It would mean the shedding of oceans of blood. Tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, directly or indirectly, being slaughtered on the battlefield, or perishing by disease or famine.

It would mean the making of thousands of heart-broken, prospect-blighted widows and orphans, many of whom would die of their misery, while the sorrows of multitudes more would stretch out to generations, yet unborn.

It would mena the waster of millions of money, involving multitudes in hunger, poverty, and shame.

It would mean the letting loose in the hearts of millions of men, many of them only half-civilized, the vilest passions of human nature. Oh, what vice, what blasphemies, what cursing, what devilries of every kind accompany and follow in the train of war!

Such a war would mean a hindering of the work of Salvation in the most calamitous manner. Now we find the chief obstacle to our work is the preoccupation of the people. Men’s minds are full of business, or pleasure, or of the anxieties of life, big and little. But here will be another topic that will absorb the thoughts and engross their feelings. A topic most unfavourable to Salvation. A theme which will not only fill up and engage the attention of the unsaved, but the very nature of which will be opposed to the very essence of real religion.

What is the duty of Salvationists at such a crisis? I cannot answer such a question fully now, but I can give a guiding word. One thing is plain - EVERY TRUE SOLDIER OF THE SALVATION ARMY SHOULD CRY NIGHT AND DAY TO GOD TO AVERT SO DREADFUL A CALAMITY. Let him shut his ears to all the wordly, unscriptural, unchristian talk about war being a necessity. It cannot be a necessity before God that tens of thousands of men should be launched into eternity with all manner of revengeful passionate feelings in their souls, and too often, according to the testimony of those who know all about it, with dreadful blasphemies on their lips. Whatevr may be the right method of settling human disputes and preventing earthly calamities, this cannot be the Divine plan. This cannot be the will of God.

Anyway, my comrades, let us cry to God to interfere on behalf of these nations. We can talk the matter over another time. This is the TIME TO PRAY.

I am asking you all, and all who read this number of the Cry, to set apart the Monday following the date of this paper as a day of humiliation, fasting, and prayer to beseech God of His great mercy to spare the world this great calamity.

Join me, my comrades; nay, let us present our intercessions day by day and hour by hour. On this subject we will all pray without ceasing.

Believe me, your affectionate General,
WILLIAM BOOTH
Posted by Stephen Court, April 4, 2003.

April 3, 2003.
Greetings in Jesus’ name, friends.

I’ve been intrigued by the relationship between holiness and manifestations for a while now. It seems that some of the holiest greathearts were well acquainted with what is normally considered whacked Christianity.

A classic case in point is the father of the holiness stream in which The Salvation Army swims, John Wesley.

What had Wesley to do with manifestations? More than most of us realise! Throughout his entire Christian life, Wesley enjoyed great times of revival, and accompanying these, various physical phenomena. "He had a relish for wonders and supernatural stories which most educated contemporaries dismissed as superstitious and 'old wives' tales, no longer fit for an age of reason."

In one of his meetings, "some sunk down, and there seemed no strength in them; others exceedingly trembled and quaked; some were torn with a kind of convulsive motion in every part of their bodies."

This was not rare at all. In another meeting:

Immediately one, and another, and another sunk to the earth: They dropped on every side as thunderstruck. One of them cried aloud... One was so wounded by the sword of the Spirit, that you would have imagined that she could not live a moment.

One worshipper was;

so overwhelmed with the love of God, that she sunk down, and appeared as one in a pleasant sleep, only with her eyes open; yet she had often just strength to utter, with a low voice, ejaculations of joy and praise; but no words coming up to what she felt, she frequently laughed while she saw His glory.

We understood that many were offended at the cries of those on whom the power of God came. One of these was a physician who was afraid that these cases might be fraud... One whom the doctor had known for many years was the first who broke out in strong cries and tears. The physician could hardly believe his own eyes and ears. He went over and stood close to her, observing every symptom, till great drops of sweat ran down her face and her entire body shook. He did not know what to think... but when both her soul and body were healed in a moment, he acknowledged the work of God.

These accounts can be multiplied through Wesley's Journals,

These and similar manifestations accompany revival of all sorts. There is clear Biblical foundation for most of what takes place. Wesley Campbell documents everything from trembling and shaking (Dan.10:1-11), to bouncing (Ez.2:2; 3:24), blowing (Jer.20:22), being pinned to the floor (Dan.10:9,17), through laughing (Psa.126:1-3), crying and weeping (Rom.2:4; Heb.5:7), an inability to talk (Ez.3:26; Dan.10:15; Lk.1:22), to being drunk (Act.2:15) and having trances (Act.10:10;11:5;22:17). Wesley experienced most, if not all, of these manifestations in his meeting through his broad preaching history.

Now, there is nothing inherently godly or even attractive about ‘shake, rattle, and roll’ (although there is little inherently negative either). But it seems to be a necessary accompaniment to revival. And I don’t want to oppose revival because I oppose its trappings. And it seems a normal accretion to extreme holiness. And I want my holiness as extreme as possible. You?
posted by Stephen Court, April, 3, 2003.

April 2, 2003.
Greetings in Jesus’ name, friends.

For all of you ROOTS fans out there, the AND CAN IT BE? CD, prayers from Roots, has just been completed. Musical wunderkinds Mark Hood and Tom Freeman have wrapped up the finishing touches on the album that will be released in time for UK Roots this spring.

Pray-ers include Tony Campolo, Janet Munn, Phil Wall, Russell Rook, Sandra Ryan, Lee Graves, and Danielle Strickland. We’re pretty psyched about it (we think that it is even better than AWAKEN THE GIANT and SALVO P.O.P.).

Stay tuned to armybarmy.com to pick up copies.
posted by Stephen Court, April 2, 2003.

April 2, 2003
Greetings in Jesus’ name, friends.

There were some big moves announced in The Salvation Army today. Next to Russia, it seems like Canada had the most senior changes.

These appointments will change the Army in the next decade. They are important. They deserve our prayerful support.

My favourite appointment was our current DC as the DC of the reconstituted BC Division. In other words, he didn’t get transferred. Praise the Lord.

The battle continues.
posted by Stephen Court, April 2, 2003.

April 1, 2003.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.

You may or may not know that the new issue of Journal of Aggressive Christianity is now up at armybarmy.com/jac. It is chock full of challenge and inspiration. We're particularly happy about the feature on 10 warriors and their experience with rations, and our exclusive interview with Michael Collins. There are heaps of articles included, probably two months worth (how convenient, since the next issue won't be here until June 1!).

So, don't read this blog today. Instead, surf on over to JAC!
posted by Stephen Court, April 1, 2003.

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Captains' Blog is a regular feature on armybarmy.com.  These web logs are posted a couple of times a week by Captains Danielle Strickland and Stephen Court.  You can respond with comments to: sixonefour@lightspeed.ca