“We believe that it is the privilege of all believers to be wholly sanctified, and that their whole spirit and soul and body may be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
(The 10th Doctrine of The Salvation Army) 

We are certainly a unique ministry of Jesus Christ are we not?  

Those who become members of our ecclesia whether they be adherents, volunteers, soldiers or officers make up many different demographics.  Some are educated, some are not, some are young, some are old, some are wealthy, many are not…but they all make up this army of salvation.  I do not want to assume anything within our army but from what I have seen there are many of whom we minister to that are “the walking wounded”.  

What do I mean by walking wounded?

Circumstances of life whether by extreme poverty, illiteracy, abuse have left wounds upon some of our soldiers in this army.  Some of these wounds are emotion, some are physical, some are psychological…all have inflicted wounds, some very, very deep.  

Many of the walking wounded may struggle with identifying with a “Heavenly Father” because their earthly father was far from heavenly.  Many of the walking wounded struggle with the concept of forgiveness because this was a foreign idea at home.  Some of the walking wounded have lived within deep trenches of depravity and habits that seem to always linger in their lives.  

Frustration:

It would be easy to become frustrated with those who are walking wounded…sometimes we may not know that they are wounded at all.  Many times the wounds and scars are carefully hidden away and are scarcely revealed or acknowledged.  As an Officer, I have caught myself uttering words under my breath, words like “Why can’t this person see what they’re doing with their life?”  or “I just taught this subject in bible study and five minutes after nothing has changed and nothing has sunken in.”  

Be careful, fellow teachers of the gospel.  Be patient with those you instruct, some are walking wounded and you may not know it.  It is easy to become frustrated with those who seem to make little to no progress.  Yes, we should keep the standard high, and at the same time be distributors of God’s grace and loving mercy.  I do not wish to imply that we allow sin to remain in the lives of those we serve and love.  We should confront sin when we have the opportunity to do so, but may it be done in a loving, caring manner.  I believe that the Holy Spirit can certainly transform lives.  Sometimes He transforms lives immediately, while other times it is a gradual, slow process.  We, who are very temporal, want to see immediate change.  We, who are teachers of the gospel, long to see the “fruit of our labor” and yet is that our place?  Is that our right?  Sometimes the walking wounded may only make incremental progress towards becoming “wholly sanctified”…yet I believe in a God who dispenses such an amazing grace that goes beyond our understanding.  Again I do not wish for us to give up or to settle for mediocrity within our soldiery, but sometimes I wonder if certain members of our body are capable of attaining the measure that we as humans set for them?  

Love, Grace & Sanctification:

When it comes to ministering to the walking wounded (this definition of “walking wounded” anyway) we as soldiers and officers of our army must love as Christ first loved us.  All of us are unworthy of His grace and yet His unmerited favor has fallen upon us.  May we in turn make every attempt to reciprocate that grace upon those we serve and love.  

They may not attain “our level” of sanctification (and even saying “our level” seems arrogant and pretentious) and thank goodness we are not the measurement of holiness – Christ is!  Instead of focusing on “our level” perhaps we can all attempt to instruct and teach personal holiness to those we serve and love.  Personal holiness begins at home, in the heart, soul and mind.  Personal holiness is prodded by corporate holiness but has the capacity to transform and shape a person’s life in their time and by the Holy Spirit. 

We are all called to be “wholly sanctified”…and in so living it may we administer love and grace to those who are walking wounded among us…perhaps, quite possibly, that includes ourselves as well.

-Something more for our army to ponder today. 

For those unfamiliar with this phrase, let me clarify:

The Blood – 
Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross is not glamorous.  He bled and died for our sins and for the sins of the “whosoever”.  His blood covers our iniquity, our sinfulness, our fallen selves.  The blood of Christ provides a way for us to stand before God because Christ has redeemed us and reconciled us to Him.   

The Fire – 
The Holy Spirit fell upon the disciples of Jesus as they waited and prayed.  His Holy Spirit provides us direction, insight, inspiration and guidance.  It is the fire of the Holy Spirit that prods us to live sacramental holy lives.  It is the fire of the Holy Spirit that requires more of us…more than we ever thought possible…more than we ever knew could exist within us.  It is the fire of the Holy Spirit which demands us to surrender everything, to lay down our lives as a living sacrifice so that we can get back up and serve the Risen Savior and do it with every fiber of our beings.  

Dear Salvation Army, 
how are you living Blood and Fire today?  
I don’t mean wearing the uniform and hoisting and waving the flag, for these are simply outward expressions of that inward change…but how are you truly living ‘Blood and Fire’ in your communities and to ‘the whosoever’?  

To the Blood and Fire Salvationists – You keep up the fight!  Keep waging this war, keep fighting in Jesus’ name for those who are still blinded and lost in sin.  Keep pressing onward.  Do not quit…we need you!  Do it all in love, be love and grace and compassion to people who have never felt the kindness and grace of Christ.  Be reflections of Christ in not only word but most importantly deed, because eyes can perceive far faster than ears can understand.  Continue to be that witness not only in your corps’ and homes but in the streets and in the parks and in the schools.  We must not allow that fire to dwindle or burn out.  Satan would love nothing more than for this army to become weary and ill-equipped and bogged down by the drudgery of it all.  Dear Salvation Army, the World still needs you!  The world still needs fighters and soldiers and officers and volunteers to administer God’s grace and hope.  The world still needs YOU!  

To the Weary Tired Salvationist Who Is Ready To Quit  – DO NOT!
There are times when people will fail us.  There will be times when even leadership may succumb to the ravages of this war, for whatever reason, but do not quit.  We need you!  You may be tired.  You may be burned out by seemingly stodgy politics and meaningless banter.  You might have witnessed professions of Christ yet seen little evidence of Christ in others, but do not become disillusioned and walk away!  You are vital!  You are needed!   I have walked that tired and heavy burdened trail.  Many a time I have considered leaving as well.  Many a time I imagine a far simpler life…in fact that “many a time” is very, very recent for me.  I still walk with these burdens and my heart is not yet healed…but I know the Lord will provide!  Stay the course, rest, but fight on!  

To the “Soldier” Only By Rank Or Name…
If you have no passion to live “Blood and Fire”…if you only acknowledge Jesus with your lips but do not serve Him in your hearts consider these words – Either fall on your face at the Altar and pray for forgiveness and seek His healing in your life or Step Away from the front lines!  The world has seen its fair share of falsehoods and phonies, it can sense insincerity and half-truths.  There are already vipers in the grass, do not become another for other soldiers and would be soldiers.  I only use these harsh terms to indicate that this is no game.  This is life and death to souls of men and women everywhere and the business and ministry of Christ is not to be trifled with.  I hope and pray there are very, very few remaining of the mere “Solider” by title alone.  I am also confident that in time the Holy Spirit will reveal those who must be removed from our ranks or reconciled (if possible) those who are not living Blood and Fire.

BE BLOOD AND FIRE! 

Dear Salvation Army – It is not just a flag that we wave, it is freedom, redemption, grace, peace, hope and love to many who have understood or received this unmerited gift.  Continue to live Blood and Fire!  Continue to declare God’s redemptive love to all who will hear.  Be His holy hands, provide His holiness in both word and deed to this world around us.  

To God be the Glory!  
More for our Salvation Army to ponder today!   

Before I begin, I must say to those who might remark “why would we worry about our current culture?”  That it isn’t the Army’s place to become so immersed in our culture that we lose our mission…however, having said that, there is something to be said about being culturally relevant and engaging of those immersed in it while still preaching the relevance of Christ, salvation, holiness and His wondrous grace!  Do not misunderstand me here, I do not long for an Army fully immersed in culture, but I do long for an Army who understands modern culture and is continually equipped to engage souls who live within modern culture.

While it is true that some of our Founder’s methodology from Victorian England might not work today in terms of evangelism, the mold of modern day evangelism is still very much intact!  William and Catherine Booth began a movement that addressed the current needs of their day while engaging the souls of people for Christ.  Their methods were edgy and risky, many “high churches” would never have dreamed of embarking on such methods, yet it met people where they were at and many joined its ranks and the movement swelled.

Today, dare I say, the employment of Victorian era evangelism techniques may not work the way it once did.  I don’t mean to say that we should give up or that we have become an obsolete army, but that we need to modernize and become equipped to engage modern culture.

Questions: 
How do we do this?  What sort of methods do we employ? Which should we avoid?  What are the needs of “the lost”?  Who are the lost?  How do we become more engaged in this culture yet maintain the holy principles and godly purposes?

3 Easy Steps To Becoming More Disconnected With Our Culture:

1) Stay In The Corps And In The Facility And Never Venture Outside Its Walls.  
Long gone (at least in the West) is the use of open-air services and even bar sales of “The War Cry“.  If we wish to become more disconnected with this modern culture then we should further insulate ourselves within the walls of our community centers and corps while we pine for “the glory days” which will inevitably forever be behind us!  

We should also continue to complain about the fact that our attendance is steadily decreasing while we never seek to venture outside the building and into the neighborhoods and downtown streets…in this way we might as well place blinders on our eyes just as horse riders do to prevent the horse from looking around…why should we look around when all we seem to do is look back into the past?  (insert sarcasm here)

2) Pursue More Constricting Federal Dollars, it’s all about the money anyway!

We have become very good at modernizing our social services and our national images, so much so that we are recognized as the most respected charitable organization…but is that all we are? A charity?  Do fight for souls of men, women and children?  Or do we simply run to the next fund raiser and spend countless dollars on better social services programming?  I understand we must do both.  I understand that without one we cannot do the other, however is it unequally balanced?  Can we pull back from the “pursuit of money” cliff and say “enough“?  

Have our hands become more and more bound because of the red ink we have placed on federal and local agreements to service?  Are these agreements now preventing us from engaging spiritually those with whom we serve?  If we desire to become more disconnected with modern culture, we should continue to chase those federal dollars.  We should also continue focusing so much of our efforts on increasing social services programs and inflated staffing while decreasing the size of our worship spaces and perhaps some day leave the bibles and penitent form out of the chapel because we “wouldn’t want to offend or bite the hand that feeds us”.  Again, if we want to become further disconnected from culture…and even worse disconnected from God and His purpose for us, we will push for these things and strive to become the best social service agency in the nation when being a social service agency was never the sole mission of The Army.

3) Forget About The Long-term Needs, Focus Only On The Immediate Needs Of People…And DON’T Offend!

As stated at the beginning, our Founder’s methodology was to engage culture, change lives and win souls for Christ.  William and Catherine Booth didn’t just stop at the “Soup & Soap” of immediate needs, NO!  The souls of people, “Salvation” were the primary targets!  We will cease to be a movement and an Army of Salvation should we lose the focus on “Salvation”!  If we become more concerned with offending people than we do with loving them and longing for their hearts to be changed as well as their physical conditions, then we will have become disconnected!  “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:12 NIV) I don’t propose that we go looking for fights, but we must engage society and that of modern culture if we are to win souls!  We cannot simply worry about offending people because we ask about their spiritual well being…this will (on occasion) take time and trust, but we mustn’t shy away from the long-term needs of those with whom we serve!  We will have done a great disservice to those we are commissioned to serve as well as the Holy Spirit if we merely hand out the immediate “bread” of the day without the lasting impact of His Living Bread!  But…if we wish to disconnect from culture, the world and most importantly our mission for Christ, just hand out bread and food boxes and forget to pray and discuss spiritual things with those we serve.

Finally…
We need to continue to fight!  We must be engaged in culture so that we not only understand culture but we can have the tools to reach those who are lost living in that culture!  We must continually evaluate our “modern methods” and how effective they may or may not be.  We must be willing to take risks, to, at times, throw caution to the wind.  We, as an Army, should not be so bound by governmental constrictions that we place gags on the gospel.  Get out of the corps buildings.  Get out and love others.  Get on with evangelism, relational connections and its vital importance to the lost.  Do not hold back, dear soldier!  We will face opposition.  We will face those who will seek to silence the gospel…but fight on with the power of the Holy Spirit as your guide!  We need holy leaders, holy soldiers, a holy Army if we are to avoid the allure of disconnecting from our mission field!  Go for souls, and go for the worst!  To God be the glory!

-Something more for the Army to ponder today!