Bad Lands

We visited the passion play set in the 'bad lands' around Drumheller. The
set and the scenery were quite realistic. I am curious though, why is
Israel's 'promised land' so similar to Alberta's 'bad lands'?

Opportunity?

We were in the Heritage Village in Calgary the day before yesterday. It was
great. There is an old church there - THAT NOBODY IS USING!

We saw a play there (outside and on-going) about a temperance movement lady
interacting with her (sometimes mostly) reformed man and his old friend, a
professional gambler and con. It was amusing.

So I was thinking... there must be thousands (okay hundreds or at least
dozens) of these forts or heritage villages across Canada. Maybe we
could have 'booming missions'. Maybe we could have soldiers in primitive
Salvo attire come on holiday to these villages, hold historic open-airs
every day, boom the pubs, engage in some street combat... and add to
everyone's holidays and get some people 'saved' at the same time?

Just one of a million thoughts...

Pre-incarnate?

I was reading Hosea 12. To me, on this time reading through, it seems to
discount the theory that Jacob wrestled with a pre-incarnate appearance of
Jesus. A question has been raised for me through my meditation on this:

1) if there were pre-incarnate appearances of the Christ in full bodily
form, why did he need to bed born of woman?

2) Was God (Christ) overcome by 'the deceiver' (AKA Jacob)?

---
Michael Ramsay
The Salvation Army's Renew Network
www.renewnetwork.net

Billboard in Edmonton

"Increased exposure to the Son decreases chances of burning" - Billboard of
an Edmonton SA Corps

Post-modern world struggles with ancient sins...

Romans 7:1-3 (NIV)

1 Do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to men who know the
law—that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives? 2 For
example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is
alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage. 3
So then, if she marries another man while her husband is still alive, she is
called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law
and is not an adulteress, even though she marries another man.

Romans 6:17-18

17But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you
wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted.
18You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

Hosea 4:6-9

6 my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.
"Because you have rejected knowledge,
I also reject you as my priests;
because you have ignored the law of your God,
I also will ignore your children.

7 The more the priests increased,
the more they sinned against me;
they exchanged their Glory for something disgraceful.

8 They feed on the sins of my people
and relish their wickedness.

9 And it will be: Like people, like priests.
I will punish both of them for their ways
and repay them for their deeds.

How many ministers, priests, officers reject knowledge and ignore the law of
God pertaining to marriage and by doing so cause the people to be slaves to
sin rather than righteousness? What will happen to the modern adulterers?
What will happen to the priests who encourage that sin through adulterous
marriages? Will the consequences of Hosea 9 apply to many of us in the
western church today?

---
Michael Ramsay
http://www.renewnetwork.net/sheepspeak.htm

From General John Larsson

Story from General John Larsson

While leader of The Salvation Army in the United Kingdom I took part in a
radio phone-in during which the interview tried his hardest to persuade
members of the public to offer criticism of the Army as well as praise. But
without exception, caller after caller, spoke appreciatively, in the warmest
possible terms, of our work.

In desperation, the interviewer made one last appeal for a more critical
response. But when the final caller came on, it was a woman who said: ‘I
just want to tell you that my son was a drug addict and if it wasn’t for The
Salvation Army he still would be.’

The interviewer said, ‘I give up!’

The confidence of the people is a precious trust. We mustn’t let them down.

Tolstoy 3

Nowadays, after so many centuries of fruitless efforts to make our life
secure by the pagan organization of life, it must be evident to everyone
that all efforts in that direction only introduce fresh dangers into
personal and social life, and do not render it more secure in any way.

---
From 'Repent ye for the Kingdom of Heaven is near' by Leo Tolstoy

Tolstoy 2

Are you doing what he demands of you who has sent you into the world, and to
whom you will soon return? Are you doing what be wills? Are you doing his
will, when as landowner or manufacturer you rob the poor of the fruits of
their toil, basing your life on this plunder of - the workers, or when, as
judge or governor, you ill treat men, sentence them to execution, or when as
soldiers you prepare for war, kill and plunder?

---
From 'Repent ye for the Kingdom of Heaven is near' by Leo Tolstoy

Long Tolstoy

Whatever names we dignify ourselves with, whatever uniforms we wear,
whatever priests we anoint ourselves before, however many millions we
possess, however many guards are stationed along our road, however many
policemen guard our wealth, however many so-called criminals,
revolutionists, and anarchists we punish, whatever exploits we have
performed, whatever states we may have founded, fortresses and towers we may
have erected - from Babel to the Eiffel Tower - there are two inevitable
conditions of life, confronting all of us, which destroy its whole meaning;
(1) death, which may at any moment pounce upon each of us; and (2) the
transitoriness of all our works, which so soon pass away and leave no trace.
Whatever we may do - found companies, build palaces and monuments, write
songs and poems - it is all not for long time. Soon it passes away, leaving
no trace. And therefore, however we may conceal it from ourselves, we cannot
help seeing that the significance of our life cannot lie in our personal
fleshly existence, the prey of incurable suffering and inevitable death, nor
in any social institution or organization. Whoever you may be who are
reading these lines, think of your position and of your duties - not of your
position as landowner, merchant, judge, emperor, president, minister,
priest, soldier, which has been temporarily allotted you by men, and not of
the imaginary duties laid on you by those positions, but of your real
positions in eternity as a creature who at the will of someone has been
called out of unconsciousness after an eternity of non-existence to which
you may return at any moment at his will. Think of your duties - not your
supposed duties as a landowner to your estate, as a merchant to your
business, as emperor, minister, or official to the state, but of your real
duties, the duties that follow from your real position as a being called
into life and endowed with reason and love.
---
From 'Repent ye for the Kingdom of Heaven is near' by Leo Tolstoy n

Aggressive Christianity 2005

"The biggest evil we have going on today comes from Christians! They sin and confess and sin and confess and feel guilty about the whole thing, and then invite us to join them in their pitiful experience. I said it when I was young and I say it even louder now, if it sends me to Hell I will never water down the standards of God. I wish you felt like I do. We have am amazing standard put before us. the power has been extended to you, the conditions have been laid out for us, and all of us CAN grab hold of it. If you don't want to raise your life to the standard of this righteousness, fine, but for the sake of the children, and for the children not yet even born, don't drag it down and try to make God's standards meet your little, insignificant, confined experience. (Catherine Booth, with Cory Harrison Aggressive Christianity 2005 update)"

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www.renewnetwork.net

Baptism

This isn't a blog about whether or not churches, denominations, orders, or movements SHOULD or SHOULD NOT baptise. It is just a question:

Denominational issues aside, why is it MOST of us Christians (whether we call ourselves Baptists, Anglicans, Roman Catholics, Pentecostals, Salvationists, or whatever) have never baptised anyone if it is part of great commission from Jesus that is recorded in Matthew 28?

18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."(New International Version)

Shouldn't the debate not be whether or not a particular Christian organisation baptises but rather whether an individual Christian baptises?

Just another question (NOT A POSITIONAL STATEMENT) from one who has a lot of questions...

Batman Begins...

We saw Batman begins. To quote Susan (with permission) "something about the movie troubled my 'Spidey senses'"

Re: Home schooling?

Re: Home schooling / private schooling?

"What if, instead of trying to save our families and our homes, and in the
process losing them (statistically, divorce, incest, youth delinquency seem
to be more or less the same regardless of whether a family is Christian or
not, thereby validating Christ's words in Matthew 10:39), we would be
willing to lose them for the sake of mission, for the cause of Christ."

"What if our children and our houses turned out to be God's secret weapon
for impacting our communities and reaching the lost?" - (Captain G.Ryan,
2004)

---
Michael Ramsay
The Salvation Army's Renew Network
www.renewnetwork.net

Is it okay to bow down before idols?

2 Kings 5:15 Then Naaman and his entire party went back to find the man of
God. They stood before him, and Naaman said, "I know at last that there is
no God in all the world except in Israel. Now please accept my gifts."

16 But Elisha replied, "As surely as the LORD lives, whom I serve, I
will not accept any gifts." And though Naaman urged him to take the gifts,
Elisha refused.

17 Then Naaman said, "All right, but please allow me to load two of my
mules with earth from this place, and I will take it back home with me. From
now on I will never again offer any burnt offerings or sacrifices to any
other god except the LORD. 18 However, may the LORD pardon me in this one
thing. When my master the king goes into the temple of the god Rimmon to
worship there and leans on my arm, may the LORD pardon me when I bow, too."

19 "Go in peace," Elisha said. So Naaman started home again.
-

Naaman asked for permission to bow before a false God and was granted
permission. Why? How does this contrast to Daniel's three friends (S, R and
A) in the 'fiery furnace'? How does this contrast to the golden calf
incident? Can / will we be granted permission to bow down to idols?

Susan said that God may grant special privileges but there would be a
greater reward if you follow / stand up for him.

Any thoughts? ramsay@havelock-viha.com

---
Michael Ramsay
The Salvation Army's Renew Network
www.renewnetwork.net

Jude

Jude 17 But you, my dear friends, must remember what the apostles of our
Lord Jesus Christ told you, 18 that in the last times there would be
scoffers whose purpose in life is to enjoy themselves in every evil way
imaginable. 19 Now they are here, and they are the ones who are creating
divisions among you. They live by natural instinct because they do not have
God's Spirit living in them.

20 But you, dear friends, must continue to build your lives on the
foundation of your holy faith. And continue to pray as you are directed by
the Holy Spirit.[f] 21 Live in such a way that God's love can bless you as
you wait for the eternal life that our Lord Jesus Christ in his mercy is
going to give you. 22 Show mercy to those whose faith is wavering. 23 Rescue
others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. There are still others
to whom you need to show mercy, but be careful that you aren't contaminated
by their sins.[g]

---
Michael Ramsay
The Salvation Army's Renew Network
www.renewnetwork.net
www.havelock-viha.com

Timeline of Canadian History

http://www.canadahistory.com/timelines/timeline.htm

---
Michael

Happy Canada Day!

Happy Canada Day!

BNA / Constitutional Act, 1876 http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/const/

---
Michael

Thank you everyone (2)

It has been an honour and a privillege to serve God in the downtown eastside
with 614. Thank you.

Michael

---
Michael Ramsay
The Salvation Army's Renew Network
www.renewnetwork.net
604 254 6144

Thank you Everyone

Sarah-Grace seems to be doing all right. Yesterday she had a serious of
(temperature related?) seizures; as far as I am aware, she hasn't had any
since. Praise God. Thank you for your prayers.

Michael

Sandra Ryan quote

"That's why we have a lot of the problems we do in this world, the people
with choices choose not to help the people who have no choices." - Captain
Sandra Ryan

---
Michael Ramsay
The Salvation Army's Renew Network
www.renewnetwork.net
604 254 6144