Armybarmy Blog

November 29, 2003.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.

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

Two things here:
1. If you're able to be an officer, be one. That what General Booth thinks, anyway. You can go back to your old job once we get everyone saved.
2. Aside from the officership issue, how's that for perspective? Forget the economy. Go soul-busting.
posted by Stephen Court

November 28, 2003.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
We've recently been wrestling with Michael Brown's JESUS MANIFESTO (from REVOLUTION). It is incendiary stuff.

He's neither the first nor the last to stir people up about revolution. Commissioner Railton wrote this:

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

Did you hear that bit in the middle? "Merely to recommend revolution is contemptible. We must make it."

Ouch. So, we're in tougher spots now we've read Brown than before. We've discussed it. We recommend it. And so far, it is merely contemptible. So, we've got to start it.

Let's start it then. How? Live the covenant. If you are a soldier, then live out the articles of war. That is as revolutionary as anything else in history. How does it look in practice? I don't know for sure yet, but here are some thoughts...
DOs
- give 'til it hurts;
- fight like you are headed to heaven in a few hours;
- love everyone;
BEs
- holy
- humble
- uncompromising
- zealous
- generous
Practicals
- mix with warriors (two ways of doing that include attending the year-long War College or the fortnight -long Booth-Tucker Institute in Vancouver- thewarcollege.com).
- wave the Flag (wear your uniform to work once in awhile; do open airs now and again; do cold-call evangelism regularly).
- pray more (that will go for most of us, myself included- if you're doing an hour- pick it up in intensity and duration; listen more; pray strategically; pray the Bible out loud to God...).

I guess it is a start. More to come, definitely. "We go on, determined to turn the world upside down."
posted by Stephen Court

November 27, 3003.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
A traditional Zulu greeting is “I see you.” The proper response is “I am here.” It is the recognition that makes us truly human (http://www.nmmle.org/Essay.html). It is the simple act of not looking away from deformity, from ugliness, from repulsiveness, that is the simplest act of compassion.

At a gathering of a school for the disabled, a distraught father stood up and cried,

"Where is the perfection in my son, Shay? Everything God does is done with perfection. But my child cannot understand things as other children do. My child cannot remember facts and figures as other children do. Where is God's perfection?"

"The audience was shocked by the question, pained by the father's anguish and stilled by the piercing query. "I believe," the father answered, "that when God brings a child like this into the world, the perfection that he seeks is in the way people react to this child. (http://web.ukonline.co.uk/ddlg.uk/story1.htm)

Let's see Shay. Let's go for perfection.
posted by Stephen Court

November 26, 2003.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.

I sometimes dream as to how to win the world. I pray for strategy. I stumbled on this line from General William Booth:

“Under ordinary circumstances a daring, reckless, determined Commanding Officer can make himself known to 30,000 people in less than three days” (ORDERS AND REGULATIONS. 1879? Section 1:17).

Now, note, this is written in the first year of the revival, not when things were up and running and well established.

Not only that, but they were written before the wi-fi, Internet, television, movies, DVDs, radio, airplanes, and automobiles. Man, they were practically pre-train.

And yet the expectation is that an officer can contact 30,000 people with the Gospel in three days.

At that rate, we only need 200,000 officers to answer the great commandment by this weekend. Or, with the 25,000 officers we have now, we only need three and a half weeks.

Two caveats: one, preaching to them all is not necessarily winning them all, of course; and two, these warriors must be daring, reckless, and determined. Once we nail that down, we win by Christmas (to tag a line from Railton to Booth from the era of this order- 'win' only in the sense of completing the Mark 16 assignment). Surely many of the 6 billion to whom we preach in the next 24 days will repent (I've heard 4% repent).

What's on tap for 04? Discipling the converts.
posted by Stephen Court

November 25, 2003.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream! Amos 5:24

‘Justice’ embraces the related ideas of laws (Exodus 21:1; Leviticus 18:5), rules (Numbers 9:3), regulations, the same laws for natives and aliens (Leviticus 24:22), case and complaint (Numbers 27:5; Job 23:4), a claim on what is properly due (Deuteronomy 18:3), what is deserving (Deuteronomy 19:6), what is just (Deuteronomy 32:4), the cause of disputes (Judges 4:5), and judgment (Psalm 1:5).

God even allows us to hold Him accountable on this issue. When contemplating the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham challenged God on the point of justice, asking, “Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:25). And from this concept of justice being what is right emerges the notions of rights (as in Exodus 21:9). And yet He will not tolerate our tilting of His priorities to make Him out to be unjust in light of the rights of people: “You have wearied the LORD with your words. "How have we wearied him?" you ask. By saying, "All who do evil are good in the eyes of the LORD, and he is pleased with them" or "Where is the God of justice?"” (Malachi 2:17).

It is a lack of justice that angers God. Where, “truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey… The LORD looked and was displeased that there was no justice” (Isaiah 59:15). He specifically looks for instances where justice is denied (Lamentations 3:36). Let's join Him.
posted by Stephen Court

November 24, 2003.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.

"The United States boasts the highest percentage of professing evangelicals in the industrialized world, with more than 36% of Americans – meaning more than 90 million people – classified as born-again. Yet America has:
The highest percentage of single-parent families in the industrialized world
The highest abortion rate in the industrialized world
The highest rate of sexually transmitted diseases in the industrialized world (the rates of syphilis and gonorrhea transmission are almost 500% higher than the highest rates in the other industrialized nations)
The highest teenage birth rate in the industrialized world (by far!)
The highest rate of teenage drug use in the industrialized world (Michael Brown, REVOLUTION).

As a propagandist, I understand the pliability of statistics (and, out of interest, I include the Webster definition for propaganda, with its surprisingly Christian roots: Main Entry: pro·pa·gan·da
Pronunciation: "prä-p&-'gan-d&, "prO-
Function: noun
Etymology: New Latin, from Congregatio de propaganda fide Congregation for propagating the faith, organization established by Pope Gregory XV died 1623
Date: 1718
1capitalized :a congregation of the Roman curia having jurisdiction over missionary territories and related institutions
2:the spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person).

Pollster George Barna (Barna Research) did some research on 'born again' Christians (which I will identify as BA in this blog) in America. They are pretty pathetic. 
85% of born again Christians believe “the Bible is totally accurate in all of its teachings.”
Almost half of born again Christians (45%) agree that Satan is “not a living being but is a symbol of evil.”
About one-third of born agains (34%) believe that if a person is good enough they can earn a place in Heaven.
28% of born agains agree that “while he lived on earth, Jesus committed sins, like other people.”
15% of born again Christians claim that “after He was crucified and died, Jesus Christ did not return to life physically.” 
About one out of four (26%) born again Christians believe that it doesn’t matter what faith you follow because they all teach the same lessons.
21% of born again Christians are actively involved in a discipleship process.
Three out of five born agains (60%) have read from the Bible in the past week.
61% of born agains attended church in the last week, compared to 29% of non-Christians.

Now, we've recently had some discussions about what you have to know to be saved. I am not suggesting you have to hold a MDiv from an evangelical seminary (as all who know me will 'amen'). But, come on. Almost half of BAs don't believe in satan (intentional lower case). One in three BAs think that if you are good you get to heaven- totally negating the crucifixion. Nearly a third of BAs think Jesus sinned like they do. More than one in four BAs figure it doesn't matter what you believe. 

Not coincidently, only 21% are being discipled. Only three in five read their Bible even close to regularly. And a sizeable minority don't regularly attend church.

WOW! So, 36% of Americans claim to be born again. From their self-described beliefs and actions, generously, let's assume that a third of those really are saved. So, about 12%, or one person in eight or nine, is saved. 

It appears that we've sugar-coated the Gospel in America, so that many have heard it and many, at some time or another, have prayed some prayer asking Jesus to come into their lives. For the majority of these people, they've not followed Jesus. They've not repented of their sins. They lack actions expected from repentance. They have no fruit. Their lives are worldly. Their worldview is human. They have bad teaching and haven't sought anything better. 

They are worse than admitted sinners because, 1. they pretend they are saved; 2. they smudge the line; 3. they are an awful example for sinners; 4. they can't enjoy the world (because they know there is something wrong with sin and something missing in it) and they can't enjoy God's kingdom (because of the sin they are carrying). And nearly half of Americans, (we're looking at 44%) are in this sinking ship.

That explains some of the ghastly statistics presented at the top. And it makes our warfare all the more difficult. So let's use discernment and and an uncompromising Gospel of the Kingdom.
posted by Stephen Court

November 23, 2003.
Greetings in Jesus’ name, friends.
I just read an assessment of President Ronald Reagan by President George W. Bush:

“A president’s job is to define the spirit of the nation. And to help define the soul. And Ronald Reagan knew that… And he brought a nation that had… fallen into a malaise out of its so-called malaise by the pure strength of his leadership. He defined a vision and he carried out a vision, he defined a philosophy and he stuck by a philosophy… Plus his disposition was such that he brightened America and its hopes.”

Those of us who are leaders can do a self-assessment. How do we define the spirit and soul of our people? What is our vision and philosophy? Do we buy into them enough not to be distracted or dissuaded by circumstances? Do we brighten our people to hope and dream and fight?
Posted by Stephen Court

November 22, 2003.
Greetings in Jesus’ name, friends.
The talented writer Peggy Noonan recently explained,

“The immature are always finding new truths, and the cynical are always discovering new philosophies to claim to believe in.”

We have to balance that with the truth that God is taking us from glory to glory, from revelation to revelation. But in the river of God’s grace we have to ensure that we’re not just transferring from eddy to eddy, swirling around in squalid, old water. God does new things.

His new things are revelatory, not trendy. They are characterized by new wine and new wine skins, not new styles.

The challenge is to run on more than youthful enthusiasm that can fail from immaturity, and to protect our maturity from descending into cynicism.

Optimistic wisdom founded on lasting truth is almost a supernatural characteristic. Let’s exercise it toward world conquest.
Posted by Stephen Court

November 21, 2003.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.

theooze.com is a trendy Christian that is on about postmodernity and the emerging church. I'd never been until yesterday when a friend forwarded me an article. Full marks to the site for running a piece that puts their entire enterprise into question.

James Smith wrote a piece this week on THE ECONOMICS OF THE EMERGING CHURCH.

He refers with disgust to THE QUARTERLIFE CRISIS, a book detailing the challenges of being 20-somthing. In his words, "Story after story went something like this: “After Ashley [sic!] graduated from Stanford, she just wasn’t sure what to do with her life, so she explored her options by finishing an MBA at Harvard. Now that’s come to a completion and she’s facing ‘the real world.’ Sure, it would be fine for her to become the vice-president of her father’s multi-million dollar corporation, but she’s looking for more than that. Now she’s beset with postmodern Angst.”

And then he goes on to ask, stealing Brian McLaren's catch-line, "What’s the median income of a ‘new kind of Christian?”

(I don't know if you read the engaging book called A NEW KIND OF CHRISTIAN by McLaren, about following Jesus in postmodernity).

It's hilarious. His disgust at the 'postmodern angst' of the rich Stanford and Harvard grads is shifted to the emerging bandwagoners.

He argues that people in his community don't have time to ask the kinds of philosophical questions the bandwagoners ask (such as "What does the emerging church have to say to these (poor) communities—with horrible public schools trapped in cycles of family disempowerment because of drugs and incarceration?"). They are too busy dealing with questions, "like how to pay the rent, how to keep our children safe, who will pay for groceries."

It is such a different world for me that I can only dabble in it for short periods. The questions some of our people deal with are even more brutal: "Can I get a blanket because it is going to be a freezing cold night in park tonight, can I sneak back in line for a second plate of that warm mush they're giving out, can I scam enough money to pay back the drug money I owe before I need another fix?"

Forget the trend-setting emerging church for a minute. That is too far away for me to see. What do I have to say to these people? Man o man (and yes, I recognize that I've just exercised the privilege of asking a philosophical question the luxury of which our people lack. I'll argue that for us, the question is tactical, not philosophical). That's the challenge.

Of course, what we say- we're looking for a friend, let's pray for that right now, come on over- sometimes works for a people that has been ripped off several too many times. Trust in authentic Christian community is tough slogging, but, barring a steady stream of signs and wonders, it appears the one thing we can say to the down and out, the only means of winning the world for Jesus.
posted by Stephen Court

November 20, 2003.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.

For many Salvationists this is the busiest time of the year. We're more visible in many places than at any other time. We enjoy great favour that accompanies the great responsibilities we've accepted.

Let's determine to do a few things over this season:

1. Let's determine to live up to what we have already attained. Let's not let disciplines or standards slack during this period. If schedules must be pared down, let's pare down coffee break, magazine reading, the football game, and our favourite show before we slip up on our rations, discipleship, or evangelism.

2. Let's make the most of every opportunity. We're in the papers and radio and newpapers more in the next month than the rest of the year combined (I'm guessing). We as an army are seen by millions and we get to speak with many who we'd otherwise never meet. Let us preach the word in season and out of season. As, in most cases, we are already meeting the expressed needs of people during this month, let us not neglect to offer the fulfillment of the eternal needs.

3. Let's celebrate one of the most magnificent events in history (right up there with the crucifixion and resurrection). Let's embrace the wonder of 8 pounds, two ounces, of the Creator of the Universe shrinking down from all of His fiery, thunderous, explosive Presence to a little baby in some cloths. Let's delight in the manifest love of such an intrusion into our lives. Let's be contagious in our joy. Let's not let up.
posted by Stephen Court

November 19, 2003.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.

You know, you cannot really control your reputation. It cannot be done.

People who haven't been around Williams Lake or 614 Vancouver figure that it is helplessly old-fashioned, stuck in tradition, and obsolete. Some who see it up close and personal figure that it is a little too freaky and over the edge. We're too conservative and too radical; too tradition-bound and too radically extreme. Hmm.

Mark Steyn wrote this today in UK's Telegraph about America, which seems to have a similar problem:

"The fanatical Muslims despise America because it's all lapdancing and gay porn; the secular Europeans despise America because it's all born-again Christians hung up on abortion; the anti-Semites despise America because it's controlled by Jews. Too Jewish, too Christian, too Godless, America is also too isolationist, except when it's too imperialist."

We're told to do what we can to live at peace with everyone but with all these different perspectives it is difficult to accomplish. And when you get down to it, it doesn't totally matter.

Coaching legend (and Christian guy) John Wooden, advises:

"Worry more about your character than your reputation. Character is what you are, reputation merely what others think you are."

God make and keep our character godly. Neutralise the natural inclination to sin so that our default relex is to please You, please.
posted by Stephen Court

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

I’m not hammering Booth-Tucker Institute on you or anything, but we just nailed down some details for BTI that I thought might be of interest to some of you.

The first two-week session is scheduled for May 23-June 5 2004.

There are 15 spots.

The cost is $290 Canadian.

BTI is intended for leaders- officers and soldiers. It is an intense plunge into incarnational warfare in Canada’s poorest postal code.

What a great opportunity for iron to sharpen iron! For more information, see the BTI pages at armybarmy.com or thewarcollege.com.

And while we’re at it, I know that some people are looking for a challenging conference for next year. Book your 2004 conference early for FULLNESS: A Prayer And Fasting Council with Majors Janet and Richard Munn (from USA East). For more information on that event, contact me at info@thewarcollege.com.

Stay close to Jesus. Keep fighting as a hero. Grace.
Posted by Stephen Court

November 17, 2003.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.

While not our mission, it is part of our moral responsibility (and sometimes a means of accomplishing mission) to spread mercy and justice around the world.

There are tangible consequences for our failure on this front. President Dwight D. Eisenhower asserted, "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed" (President Dwight D. Eisenhower April 16, 1953, cited in costofwar.com. November 17, 2003). Look at the recent war in Iraq. 

The Congressional Budget Office estimate for the cost of the war, on November 17, 2003, was $85 billion (this doesn’t count the approved $87 billion for rebuilding. Costofwar.com. November 17, 2003). President Eisenhower’s statement, applied to this war, means that this money could provide 26 million children with a year’s worth of health care, 871,000 affordable housing units (costofwar.com. November 17, 2003), or 28,333 missionaries for 100 years! (based on the estimate of $30,000 usd cost of a missionary/year). If the missionaries had been deployed, then maybe the guns would have been irrelevant.   
posted by Stephen Court

Hi- I meant that "I am NOT blowing it out of proportion."

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

Our guys were cursed and spit at again this week. They’re not complaining (if anything they follow Booth’s advice to leave it on as it is a medal of honour), and I’m blowing it out of proportion.

But in this increasingly hostile environment against Christians, we have got to expect people to attack us. And, picking up on November 7’s blog, we’ve got to expect it as part of the job. We’re just doing what we’re expected to do, and that includes receiving poor treatment.

Much more eloquently is the point, with a slightly different perspective, made by Peggy Noonan (I am currently reading a book by her) as explained in the June/July FIRST THINGS (firstthings.com).

* “Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle complains that conservative talk show hosts are dangerous. Some of them criticize him a lot. “The threat level goes up,” says Daschle. Similarly, columnist Anna Quindlen writes frequently about the hate mail she receives, underscoring the courage required in keeping the liberal faith. Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan, employing that fine Irish phrase of exasperated patience, says enough is enough already. “Well Anna, and Tom, I have never written of this or even spoken of it, but let me tell you something. My political philosophy is conservative. I am pro-life. I live in New York City, surrounded by modern people. They are mostly left wing, they are all pro-choice, many of them passionately and even furiously so. I have written books saying Ronald Reagan is a great man and Hilary Clinton is a bad woman. I know something about being a target, and I know something about hate mail. I have received not hundreds but thousands of the most personal and obscene denunciations: I have received death threats; I have been threatened with blackmail; I have been informed that I do not deserve to live; I have received a three-page typed, double-spaced letter with perfect grammar and syntax the first sentence of which was ‘Dear Ms. Noonan, Let me explain to you why you are a . . . ’ and here I cannot suggest the word used. But damned if he didn’t make a good case. I used to hear regularly from a woman who’d tell me she hopes I have a brain hemorrhage. I have never talked about this because I would consider speaking of it both self-pitying and self-aggrandizing. But there’s another reason. I’m a grown-up. I know you pay a price for the stands you take. It’s a disputatious world. Rocks get thrown. I could make myself safer by changing my views, but why would I abandon what I think is true so that people I think are wrong will like me? That doesn’t make sense. So I stand where I stand and pay. And you know what? Too bad. Tough. That’s life. Nothing is free. If you hold a controversial position you will draw controversy and its cousins: denunciation, dislike, etc. It’s the price you pay. And unlike Tom Daschle, I pay it without a taxpayer-funded security team to keep me safe.” What about that don’t you understand?

Wow. And so, I want us to stand in line with Noonan, not making a big deal of this kind of stuff, to avoid both ‘self-pitying and self-aggrandizing.” And also, in Noonan’s words, each of us wants to be able to say, “I’m a grown-up. I know you pay a price for the stands you take.” And any price we pay here pales to nothing compared to the prices paid by comrades in difficult countries (prices like martyrdom, beatings, electric prods, starvations, imprisonments, slaveries, persecutions…). And, I hesitantly suggest, those prices pale in comparison with the joy set before us.
Posted by Stephen Court

November 15, 2003.
Greetings in Jesus� name, friends.

For those of you who are not soldiers or have friends who are fighting soldiership�

Covenant has a tough time in millennium three, during which apologetic soldiers, burdened by spiritual inferiority complex, figure that we cannot challenge anyone to sign her life away in covenant with God through the Army. This attitude completely misses the mystery and power of covenant.

Unapologetic, romantic, revolutionary warfare remains as attractive and captivating today as it was 130 years ago with the primitive salvos or 2,000 years ago with the 33 AD salvos. The crazy thing is, when we�re living it, it is not a garment that we put on; it is rather a passion that oozes out of us.

But that sounds like drivel to the uninformed and uninitiated. Listen to one covenanted revolutionist:

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

Who are the most effective revolutionists in history? The covenanted people. Why? They are already dead. They�ve been cut. And God can trust them with all of Who He is. The Nazirites, the Rechabites, and the Salvationists are the most dangerous people in history.

Described to us in Numbers 6, Nazirites, which means �separated�, took a special vow before God. Look at the Biblical Nazirites:

Samson (Judges 13ff) led the revolt against the Philistines.

Samuel (1 Samuel 1:11,28) dragged a rag-tag collection of tribes into nationhood.

John (Luke 1:15) lived a fasted, prophetic lifestyle that ushered in the way of the Lord.

Paul (Acts 21:23-26) took a truth from a hidden corner of an empire and made it into the largest religion in the world.

The Rechabites were an undistinguished clan notable for only one thing- covenant (Jeremiah 35:6,7). Their most famous son, Johonadab, (2 Kings 10:15), aided Jehu in overthrowing two evil kings.

All were revolutionaries. Space doesn�t permit me to go on about Salvationist revolutionaries such as Fakir Singh, George Scott Railton, John Dean, Kate Lee, and others.

The key is covenant. Don�t be afraid of it. Don�t think you are bigger than it. The term �covenant� is from the Latin (con venire), which means coming together. Come together. Embrace it. Cut a covenant with God through The Salvation Army. Join the revolution.

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

For those of you who are not soldiers or have friends who are fighting soldiership…

Covenant has a tough time in millennium three, during which apologetic soldiers, burdened by spiritual inferiority complex, figure that we cannot challenge anyone to sign her life away in covenant with God through the Army. This attitude completely misses the mystery and power of covenant.

Unapologetic, romantic, revolutionary warfare remains as attractive and captivating today as it was 130 years ago with the primitive salvos or 2,000 years ago with the 33 AD salvos. The crazy thing is, when we’re living it, it is not a garment that we put on; it is rather a passion that oozes out of us.

But that sounds like drivel to the uninformed and uninitiated. Listen to one covenanted revolutionist:

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

Who are the most effective revolutionists in history? The covenanted people. Why? They are already dead. They’ve been cut. And God can trust them with all of Who He is. The Nazirites, the Rechabites, and the Salvationists are the most dangerous people in history.

Described to us in Numbers 6, Nazirites, which means ‘separated’, took a special vow before God. Look at the Biblical Nazirites:

Samson (Judges 13ff) led the revolt against the Philistines.

Samuel (1 Samuel 1:11,28) dragged a rag-tag collection of tribes into nationhood.

John (Luke 1:15) lived a fasted, prophetic lifestyle that ushered in the way of the Lord.

Paul (Acts 21:23-26) took a truth from a hidden corner of an empire and made it into the largest religion in the world.

The Rechabites were an undistinguished clan notable for only one thing- covenant (Jeremiah 35:6,7). Their most famous son, Johonadab, (2 Kings 10:15), aided Jehu in overthrowing two evil kings.

All were revolutionaries. Space doesn’t permit me to go on about Salvationist revolutionaries such as Fakir Singh, George Scott Railton, John Dean, Kate Lee, and others.

The key is covenant. Don’t be afraid of it. Don’t think you are bigger than it. The term ‘covenant’ is from the Latin (con venire), which means coming together. Come together. Embrace it. Cut a covenant with God through The Salvation Army. Join the revolution.

November 14, 2003.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.

Last night I watched a video on Iris Ministries co-founder Heidi Baker. I've heard her speak- mind boggling. She seems to be a bit of a mix of Jackie Pullinger, Mother Teresa, and David Hogan- a supernatural combination.

She and her husband are fighting in Mozambique. I used to be about numbers. I am not all about numbers anymore, but I recognize their importance.

Here are some numbers:
8
500
12
5,000
5

These are the numbers of orphans they've personally adopted, the number of orphans living with them in their children's home, the number of dead people who've been raised to life by leaders in their churches, the number of churches they've started and the number of years during which they've started them all (at last count- all the numbers are probably different now- oh, and, these numbers weren't trumpeted in the video or book...).

I praise God for His boundless love and enormous power flowing through her! He is using her to shake a country. Hallelujah!

And I pull up my bootstraps, recognizing that the God of Heidi Baker is also the God of Stephen Court. How much more does He want to accomplish through my life! And yours...
posted by Stephen Court

November 13, 2003.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.

My friend has been reminded a few times this week of Philippians 3:16:

Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

Now there is enough preaching for the year. In one town where I fought we had no Bible study groups. We figured people knew enough of the Bible already (yes, even the converts, since they were reading daily and being discipled). The big challenge wasn't to ask people to study the Bible more but to live up to what they already knew.

If we'd just live up to what we already know. And going beyond 'know', if we'd only live up to what we've already attained!

Hearken back (yes, I just used the world 'hearken' in a sentence) to the most intimate you've been with Jesus. Recall the largest amount of faith you've exercised. Think of the love you best represented to one in need. Remember the boldest victory you've won over the enemy. Bring to mind the most persistent you’ve been in your obedience to God.

See what you’ve already attained. If you take the highlight reel of your life, the mountain top ‘performances’ in the areas of love, intimacy, faith, obedience, boldness, warfare, persistence and so on, and live up to what you’ve already attained, you may be looking at a dangerous warrior who puts the fear of God into demons.

It could be that God is holding back on releasing even more into your life until you own each of these things. Until you possess the gifts you already have, until the fruit is consistently ripe, maybe He is reticent about dumping more on you.

It is a big challenge for me. I hope that it is for you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained. God help us.
Posted by Stephen Court

November 12, 2003.
Greetings in Jesus’ name, friends.
I just read the news that the Vancouver safe injection site ($2 mill cdn a year of tax payer money that could go toward other things in the downtown eastside to solve the problem of addiction, like, say, oh, here’s an idea off the top of my head- how about spotting us the cash to take back the old Vancouver Temple of The Salvation Army at Hastings and Gore, or, or hiring 100 workers and have them live and fight down here and, through relationships with people bring them to freedom- or, and this is a novel one- a rehabilitation programme!!!!?!) is up to 450 injections a day.

Capacity is 600 and they are way ahead of schedule. Of course, this is a microscopic portion of the injections everyday down here. And nothing is solved, except that the people who inject exclusively at the government site will probably not pick up germs and get diseases or miss a vein or overdose. Yahoo.

Jesus can rescue every addict.
Posted by Stephen Court

November 11, 2003.
Greetings in Jesus’ name, friends.
I just read that REVOLUTIONS had the biggest international box office opening weekend in history. I guess it blew away Spidie by $50 million. And, it is restricted.

THE MATRIX was an easy preach at several levels. The Wachowskis packed it full of Christian allusions.

I’ve not seen REVOLUTIONS yet, but apparently everyone else has. I’ve read some reviews and it seems that critics are unanimous in panning it.

One critic made an interesting point:

“As was true of its predecessors, this film is something of a mishmash of symbols and myths. It mixes a superficial dash of Eastern or Jungian opposites, as in the Oracle's assertion to Neo that Mr. Smith "is you, your opposite, your negation," with a bit of the blind-seer theme from Sophocles's Oedipus — or was that lifted from the pedestrian Minority Report ? But what is surprising about Revolutions is the clear ascendancy of Christian imagery: the suffering servant, the One who conquers evil by enduring it, light overcoming darkness, and especially the cross (Thomas Hibbs, who wrote an essay in THE MATRIX AND PHILOSOPHY: WELCOME TO THE DESERT OF THE REAL).

The Hollywood smorgasbord of philosophies and religions usually tries to relegate Christianity off the menu. We get marginalized either into B-movies or into stale stereotypes (with a few exceptions- this, of course doesn’t slow us down, if you read a series of blogs last month about engaging the world through cultural windows).

So what is notable is the prominence of, “the myth that begins with the audacious proclamation of the Word made flesh. That this story should continue to haunt Hollywood is more instructive than any lesson contained in The Matrix trilogy” (Hibbs, http://nationalreview.com/nr_comment/hibbs200311100853.asp).

As long as Hollywood insists on tackling the grand myths and great issues of our lives it must accept the inevitability of running across the Cross. I love that.
Posted by Stephen Court

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

There is a new book out, THE FAITH OF GEORGE W. BUSH, that, among other things blows the whistle on the personal faith of George Bush.

One of the big revelations is that Tony Blair and George Bush actually prayed together!

One commentator wonders, “why does it seem that the irreligious left is more horrified by a pair of Christians who lead democracies praying together in private than by radical Islamic mullahs openly praying for the deaths of Jews and Americans?”

A good point that misses the larger point: Whatever is not with God is against God, whether dressed up in turbans or political stripes.
Posted by Stephen Court

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

“The Army of the Revolution is recruited by the Soldiers of Despair. Therefore, down with any Scheme that gives men Hope. In so far as it succeeds it curtails our recruiting ground and reinforces the ranks of our Enemies. Such opposition is to be counted upon, and to be utilized as the best of all tributes to the value of our work. Those who thus count upon violence and bloodshed are too few to hinder, and their opposition will merely add to the momentum with which I hope and believe this Scheme will ultimately be enabled to surmount all dissent, and achieve, with the blessing of God, that measure of success with which I verily believe it to be charged.” (William Booth, IN DARKEST ENGLAND AND THE WAY OUT, chapter 9)

The good news isn’t good unless it is contrasted against the bad news. And it is big news, too.
Posted by Stephen Court

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

Here’s something I imagine you didn’t know. After the Bible the most read book in the world is __________.

I’m preparing a course called Extreme Warfare Survey, in which we study various incendiary texts throughout history. We’re looking at stuff from Wesley (a sermon and Plain Account), Booths, Brengle, Railton, Fletcher (Sixth Check), Edwards (Sinners in the hands…), and so on.

But one book we’re considering is written by a pretty anonymous fellow born around 1380 in the Netherlands. It is basically a spiritual diary. He was an ordained priest with the Brethren of the Common Life (there’s that community thing again).

Alright, if I give you his name, will you know the second most popular book of all time? Thomas Kenerken of Kempen, aka Thomas a Kempis.

He wrote a little volume called THE IMIATATION OF CHRIST. And excellent idea.
Posted by Stephen Court

November 7, 2003.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.

I am a blessed man, in a lot of ways. One of them is through my friend who passes on to me his used Sports Illustrated magazines.

So, though a couple of weeks behind, I keep up with some of the less important things in life.

I read Rick Reilly's October 27 'warm fuzzy' on American soldiers who worked up a diamond and play baseball in the middle of the Iraq hinterland while waiting to come home.

The implicit point goes something like this: Aren't these young adults something else? While we're all here, safe at home, enjoying baseball at the park or on the big dish, there they are out in enemy territory, crafting some semblance of home, wishing they were here.

And it is compelling, to a point.

But as I was doing a little computer work today it struck me that the soldiers are supposed to be there. That's what they do for a living. They get paid to fight wars and defend their country. It is their calling and vocation. It is what they signed up for.

It's just like that for spiritual warriors. Some people over-rate the whole thing. They play up that our students at The War College, for instance, are sucking up and living close to the vest and living in the slums and winding their way around needles and condoms on their way to the one shower in the whole tenement and lacking a phone and sharing a slum room and so on and so on. Aren't they something else! While we're here safe at home, playing our games and watching our dish, they they are out there on the front.

Yes. True. And compelling, to a point.

But the reality is that they are warriors. That's what warriors do. It's their calling, their vocation, their joy, their fulfillment. It's what they are supposed to be doing. It's what they signed up for.

It reminds me a bit of Jesus (well, they often do), when He explained, "When a servant comes in from ploughing or taking care of the sheep, he doesn't just sit down and eat. He must first prepare his master's meal and serve him his supper before eating his own. And the servant is not even thanked, because he is merely doing what he is supposed to do. In the same way, when you obey Me, you should say, "We are not worthy of praise. We are servants who have simply done our duty" (Luke 17:8-10).

Our front is not the only front (don't hear that I am suggesting it is). I guess the thing is to be each doing our duty, whatever it is.
posted by Stephen Court

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

At our knee drill tonight, Carlos prayed from the Bible, ‘unless the Lord builds the house,’ we labour in vain.

It reminded me of a recent apostolic injunction:
‘Just build slowly.’

In the rush to relieve the burden Jesus gives us it is tempting to build quickly and get outside of Jesus’ building plan.

Back in the day I operated a student-painting business during a summer. One of my talented but unmotivated painters cut some corners by skipping the scraping part of the preparation for the paint.

While he ‘built quickly’ we laboured in vain. We had to go back and do the job over again, correctly.

I followed Carlos’s prayer with one that we will not skip one brick that is supposed to be in the foundation and in the base of the walls. God keep me to that.
Posted by Stephen Court

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

In the heat of the battle, in the midst of the war, it is helpful for me to remind myself of the point. Salvationists aim is to win the world for Jesus. We’re looking for everyone getting saved (repentance and faith).

William Booth’s definition seems even broader:

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

Do you remember when that guy asked Jesus how to get eternal life? Jesus told him this long story about a good Samaritan. What did the Samaritan do? He went to the beaten man. He took pity on him. He put himself out to help (he went out of his way, lost time in his schedule, lost money from his wallet, to care for the beaten man). Jesus finished the story with this instruction: Go and do likewise.

How do you get eternal life? Go and do likewise.

Wow. This throws me. It is not a replacement of the Gospel as we know it. I know that. But it also not an addition to the Gospel, as we may have presumed.

We’ve got our work cut out for us. But let’s make sure we don’t waste energy and resources on efforts that don’t move us toward this end (I’m speaking to myself as much as to everyone else).
Posted by Stephen Court

November 4, 2003.
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.

Introducing: BOOTH-TUCKER INSTITUTE
BTI


Roots

The Salvation Army was birthed in the deprived east end of London. One of the Army’s keys to success was incarnational warfare. We became poor to reach the poor with the Gospel of the Kingdom. Some of eternity’s greatest unknown heroes are the selfless slum brothers and slum sisters of our history. Our movement celebrates these warriors with nicknames like ‘the Angel Adjutant’ and ‘the Saved Chimney Sweep’.

General William Booth deployed Commissioner Frederick St. George de Latour Booth-Tucker to India curtly: “Go to India. Dress like the Indian.” “These are our people,” he taught his son, Bramwell.


Booth-Tucker: An Appreciation

Tucker invaded India, barefoot and begging for food. He gave up his comfort and his identity, becoming Fakir Singh. And, as with many heroic endeavours, Tucker’s adventures captivated a generation. So many people offered to join him that he set these conditions to quell the tide:

Service will be a matter not merely of being willing to go anywhere, but of wishing to live and die for the particular race to which you are sent. You will be absolutely alone and under close scrutiny. It will be essential to learn at least one Indian language. You must leave entirely and forever behind you all your English dress and habits. Officers will be barefoot. You will avoid the English quarter, but will always live among natives – sometimes in a cave, a shady tree, or someone's veranda – or in a mud hut 16 by 10 feet. You will cook as they do, and wash your clothes in the stream with them. You have nothing to fear from the climate. The people are different and intensely religious. . Find out what their thoughts are before you share yours. And if you are planning to return, don't go. We would not think of sending anyone out who did not plan to make it a life work (Ervine, God's Soldier , Vol I, page 576).


Tension

Colonel Herbert Rader points out the enduring image of The Salvation Army’s "heart to God and hand to man." General Booth’s heart was with God. But he also performed a ‘Twister’ game’s gymnastic manouevre with one hand out to the rich to resource his other hand plunging deftly into the needs of the poor, the orphan, the alien, and the widow. It was too difficult a move for one even this spiritually dexterous. Booth admitted:

I have been trying all my life to stretch out my arms so as to reach with one hand the poor and at the same time keep the other in touch with the rich. But my arms are not long enough. I find that when I am in touch with the poor I lose my hold upon the rich, and when I reach up to the rich I let go of the poor.

It is a tension all of us who are Salvation Army warfighters have felt. Or should feel.


Brengle to Booth-Tucker

The Brengle Institute celebrates Commissioner Samuel Logan Brengle's strongest suit, holiness, and brings leaders together for short, intense times of sharpening and refreshing.

55 years after the birth of the Brengle Institute comes BTI, the Booth-Tucker Institute, celebrating Commissioner Frederick St. George de Latour Booth-Tucker's (aka Fakir Singh) strongest suit, incarnational warfare, and bringing together leaders for short, intense times of sharpening and refreshing.

Officers and other leaders will descend on another east end, Vancouver’s downtown eastside, for two-week stints at a tenement hotel and SA meal programme to experience the slum warfare first-hand, deploy and debrief, and return to their home fronts sharpened and refreshed.

BTI delegates will be immersed in the Biblical, historical and practical aspects of incarnational/guerrilla warfare. Facing the obvious need for infiltration, integration, and invasion by the power of the Holy Spirit, delegates will be challenged to explore their own incarnational imperatives in light of the realities of their home fronts. For more information and applications, visit thewarcollege.com or contact info@thewarcollege.com, soon.
posted by Stephen Court

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

I was walking down the street today, all Sallied up (cap, high collar, Guernsey, and all) and waded through a crowd on the sidewalk. It was the site of another filming project (movie and television companies use our neighbourhood regularly).

A guy shouted out of the crowd, “Are you real, or are you in the movie?”

I assured him I was real, and he reminded me that God blesses me.

I am real. We’re not Halloween party costumed soldiers out here. We’re the real deal, warriors of Jesus Christ.

And God blesses us. It was a nice reminder.
Posted by Stephen Court

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

George Whitefield was 25 years old and preaching about nine times a week. Every preach would be followed by an offering for the orphans. In a two-week period I totaled offerings equivalent to $158,000 usd (2002 dollars).

The great evangelists were committed to the poor. Are we?

Answer to yesterday’s skill-testing question: Bono.
Posted by Stephen Court

November 1, 2003.
Greetings in Jesus’ name, friends.

Guess who said this:

“Well, you know, I am not a very good advertisement for God. So, I generally don't wear that badge on my lapel. But it is certainly written on the inside. I am a believer. There are 2,103 verses of Scripture pertaining to the poor. Jesus Christ only speaks of judgement once. It is not all about the things that the church bangs on about. It is not about sexual immorality, and it is not about megalomania, or vanity. It is about the poor. 'I was naked you clothed me. I was a stranger and you let me in.' This is at the heart of the gospel. Why is it that we have seemed to have forgotten this? Why isn't the church leading this movement?

I’ll tell you tomorrow. In the meantime, let’s take it to heart.
Posted by Stephen Court

October 31, 2003.
Greetings in Jesus’ name, friends.
Where I used to live we decided we weren’t going to pass up the year’s best opportunity to get into someone’s doorway, and retreat from the world during October 31’s activities. Having read about it in a magazine, we started Operation Halloween.

We gathered heaps of Christian kids, all dressed like angels, for a big party. Then we sent them out to the streets in pairs (with adult accompaniment). They prayer-walked between houses. Then they knocked on doors.

The kids took no candy. Instead they blessed each family and home, gave them a blessing card (with a Bible verse and prayer), offered to pray with them, and evangelized as possible.

One father figured he’d try to give out Bibles. He quickly learned that Gideons’ insists that you be a Gideon to give out Gideon Bibles. So he joined. He orchestrated the distribution of heaps of New Testaments that night. We wrote an account of it to Gideons and the following year chapters in various parts of the continent were doing it.

Streets were blessed. Families were prayed for. At least one person got saved (that night). Many received Bibles. And, for the first time in memory, no arrests were made in the city that night. We took on the powers of darkness and won.

Hallelujah!
Posted by Stephen Court