"I think you ought to be very liberal in watching over your Cadets. The normal routine in the Training Garrison must not be unalterable. If a Cadet is 'enthused' about any particular work, is, e.g. moved to raid the drinking saloons, or to shout the claims of God in the cinemas or in the theatres between the acts, or to break out in some other 'disorderly' way in the right spirit, do not 'sit' on him. Say, rather, 'I would like to hear about this. Have you prayed about it? Take Smith with you next time, and see if you can infect him and then report back to me again'." - Bramwell Booth
--
"I know that here I am asking much. Some of you are dealing with cold, self-centred, democratic people, self-confident, acknowledging but few loyaltie. It is difficult to convince them that they should be submissive and humble. But the standards which God has set up cannot be changed because we find that the times have changed. It is still one of the conditions upon which His blessings are given that there shall be submissiveness, humility, tenderness... I say to you in all seriousness that it is the humble in spirit whom God delights to honour. When from his heart, without show, a man says, 'O God, I come and submit to Thee,' then God says, 'Very well, I will
make use of you.' That is what we want with the Cadets." - Bramwell Booth
Monday, December 31, 2007
2 Quotes from General Bramwell Booth
Saturday, December 29, 2007
READ THRU THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
Have you ever wanted to follow one of those read through the Bible in a year plans?
Are you on-line almost every day? Why not dedicate some of the cyber-time to worshiping through reading the Word of God?
We have a number of options for those who are interested...
1) Dr Was: We have been doing this for a number of years now and we believe that we were the first ever on-line daily Bible readings with accompanying comics! You are welcome to visit our web site ( http://www.sheepspeak.com/drwas.htm ) and spend some time reading the Word on-line.
2) E-Rations: This is an easy and popular way to read thru the life-journal readings by having them mailed directly to your e-mail inbox. These daily 'rations' will be accompanied by an original DR Was comic each time. you can subscribe my e-mailing us at erations@sheepspeak.com
3) The MacFarlane Plans. We introduced these plans last year. If you choose to read through this plan, you even get some days off - to catch up, read ahead, or study something else (http://www.havelock-viha.com/mcfarlane.htm).
Friday, December 28, 2007
Hi...Praise the LORD.
In Nipawin a new cell group started. This is exciting. We are all signed up for the 2008 cell talks. One or two new families come into the church for our Christmas meetings and performances. The Corps also hosted a big community meal on Christmas Day (in conjunction with Oasis) that saw 80 or so people and many first time attenders as well. The Thanksgiving meal previous was a great success and new people joined our ministry here through it. I anticipate the same from this celebration meal and our Easter one. A number of people expressed an interest in the corps and the Church from the hamper programme; this was a blessing for sure.
It is exciting to see how the Lord is blessing these communities and we are happy to be a part of it.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Christmas Concert in the Holy Land
"We are the last and only entirely Christian village in the Holy Land," proclaimed Father Raed Abusahlia, parish priest at Latin Patriarchal, speaking shortly before the concert began.
"We were evangelized by Jesus Christ Himself."
read about it in the Toronto Star: http://www.thestar.com/News/article/288220
Churches come tumbling down...The death of Christian Canada
MICHAEL VALPY
From Saturday's Globe and Mail
December 22, 2007 at 12:00 AM EST
...It is a textbook crisis scenario for Canada's churches, beginning to fall like bowling pins in the aftershock of institutional Christianity's implosion in the 1960s, a cultural and spiritual derangement still not fully understood.
It has moved at least one scholar of religion, Stuart Macdonald at the University of Toronto's Presbyterian Knox College, to ask — in the journal of the Canadian Society of Church History — if Christian Canada is dying.
Prof. Macdonald and others, looking beyond the 40-year steep decline in regular worship attendance, cite the unprecedented growth in the census of those who identify themselves as having "no religion" — from 1 per cent in 1961 to 4 per cent a decade later, to 16 per cent in 2001 (and a whopping 35 per cent in B.C.) — as well as those self-identified as unaffiliated Christian, or "Christian not included elsewhere": now 700,000 Canadians, double the number in 1991.
read more from the Globe and Mail: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071222.wcoessay1222/BNStory/specialComment/home
Luke 2 (vv. 1-39)
In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to his own town to register.
So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favour rests."
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."
So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise him, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he had been conceived.
When the time of their purification according to the Law of Moses had been completed, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, "Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord"), and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: "a pair of doves or two young pigeons."
Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:
"Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
you now dismiss your servant in peace.
For my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared in the sight of all people,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel."
The child's father and mother marveled at what was said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: "This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too."
There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.
When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.
Matthew 2
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."
When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. "In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written:
" 'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.'"
Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him."
After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him." So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called my son."
When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
"A voice is heard in Ramah,
weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because they are no more."
After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child's life are dead."
So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, 23and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: "He will be called a Nazarene."
Friday, December 21, 2007
Matthew 1:17-25
Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ.
This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"-which means, "God with us."
When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
Read more: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew%201&version=31
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
The King
One day he was dressed in very old clothes and was going by a place known as Cramond Brig, when he is attacked by robbers who don't know who he is. There is a fierce struggle and he is nearly overcome when, at just the right moment, a poor farm worker - Jock Howieson - hears the commotion comes to the disguised king's aid.
Now Jock, the poor labourer, who works on this portion of the King's land, known as Cramond Brig, now Jock unawares takes the undercover king home and gives him a dinner of broth and Jock - as the king is recouping – naturally asks the man who he is.
The King responds, 'Ach, I'm a good man of Edinburgh.'
'And where do you live in that city and where do you work?'
'Well,' says James, 'I live at the palace and I work there too.'
'The palace, is it? I'd like to see the palace; if I could see the King, I'd tell him a thing or two…'
'About what?' asks the man.
'I'd tell him that I should own this land that I am on. I work it every day and he never comes here & gets his hands dirty working this land'
'You're right enough', says the man. You come tomorrow to the palace at Holy Rood and I'll show you around. Come at two.'
So the next day at two o'clock, Jock Howieson, is washed, dressed and at the palace to meet his new friend at the back door. The good man, whom Jock had saved the day before, shows him around the kitchen, the dining room, the bedrooms – the whole place. Then, at last, the two of them come to the great rooms of the State.
'Do you want to see the King?' the man asks Jock.
'Oh yes indeed', says Jock, 'I do. I do want to see the King.'
So they enter the great hall and as they come in, men bow and ladies curtsey. It is really quite a thing to see.
So Jock whispers to his friend, 'How will I know who the king is?'
'He's the only one who keeps his hat on'
Jock says, 'But… there's only us two with our ...hats…on....' and Jock immediately takes off his hat as he realises that James is indeed the King of Scotland.
And so it is with us today. Jesus is King. He is walking around with each of us showing us his domain here on earth and just waiting for us to take off our hats as we realise that indeed Jesus is the one to come and he has arrived (and he's coming back too, soon!)
If there are any of us here today who have not taken off our hats and lain them before the Lord, I invite you to do just that – acknowledge, in prayer and action, the truth that Jesus Christ is Lord.
Monday, December 17, 2007
New Sermon On-line
http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2007/12/are-you-one-to-come-or-should-we-expect.html
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
From the Nipawin Journal
Why do I turn to substances for help?
This is a question that I have actually heard quite a bit in my life. I was privileged to be invited to a birthday party at AA recently and at these celebrations one hears, among other things, the remarkable stories of success as the Lord delivers people from our addictions.
Prior to coming here we served in Winnipeg's North End, Stony Mountain Penitentiary, and Vancouver's downtown eastside with The Salvation Army. There are many stories. Some are of wonderful successes as the Lord transforms lives and some are of daily struggles that continue for a lifetime.
I think of friends from our time on Vancouver Island. The day she and her husband accepted the Lord she stood up sober and never turned back. He has fought almost everyday to defend his sobriety: It is a struggle.
To some of us, substances possess a Siren-like song: this song has such a powerful draw. In Greek mythology, the Sirens are creatures with the head of a woman and the body of a bird. They live on islands and with their irresistible song lure mariners to their destruction as they crash on the rocks near their island.
We have seen people as young as elementary school age who have been tempted by this Siren song to a slow (or quick) slide into 'skid row' and many of my friends from prison wound up there, in part, because they succumbed to substance's Siren song; for them the Siren's song ended in the song of sirens coming to take them away.
Myself even, I confess, there are days when a part of me would really like the temporary release that substances seem to offer but, with the Lord's help, I will continue to persevere and I will finish the race - clean.
I have a friend who continuously asks me if it ever gets easy; I have another friend who reminds me that it is just one day at a time. One thing that I have noticed about substances and other struggles in our lives is that the more we turn to the Lord, the easier it becomes to resist temptation and on the days when we lose the battle with temptation, it is very important that we don't surrender the war. With the Lord, our walk truly is one day at a time.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
from the General, Shaw Clifton
PASTORAL LETTER FIVE
HUMILITY
Dear Fellow Salvationists,
This fifth Pastoral Letter comes to you from my office at International Headquarters with special greetings in the Lord Jesus Christ for the holy season of Christmas and with my prayers for you as we enter together into a new year.
Humility marks the manner of our Lord's entry into the world as a tiny child and therefore is a natural theme for this Letter. It is good also if we can find grace to allow us each to enter 2008 with a spirit of Christ-like humility. We seek a humility that will govern our interactions with others, that will be the basis of all we plan for the year ahead, and that will spring from our humility toward the One who has given himself for us in dying at Calvary.
Through the prophet, the Lord has said, 'I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit' (Isaiah 57:15). I need his presence. I need him near, hour by hour. We share that humble need. As I write to you I am conscious of my own need and am identifying with you in my heart just where you are around the world.
Many of you will know that recently I have encountered new problems in my health. My sense of personal need is thus intensified. Grace becomes very, very real when this happens to us. God's people rise up in prayer for us. Their messages encourage and lift us. How grateful I am, with my wife and family, for the countless beautiful messages reaching us every day. All of this brings added humility for sometimes we are rendered simply helpless. Suddenly everything seems stripped away except for the grace of God, shown in the love offered by others. It is very humbling.
So this Letter reaches out to every Salvationist in the world, but especially on this occasion to those in circumstances that are hard and therefore humbling.
The English word, 'humility', comes from the Latin, humus meaning 'earth' or 'soil'. It refers to something lowly, something beneath our feet. It thus becomes an antidote to pride. Before Jesus was born, the Romans and Greeks were scornful of humility. It was something found only in slaves and in others of low station in life, so low that they could exercise no influence upon public affairs. Yet Jesus embraced it. Because he did so, humility was transformed from a mark of social degradation to an essential Christian virtue.
In the sixth century St. Benedict taught that to ascend the spiritual ladder is to descend into humility. What a wonderful, life-changing paradox this is. The great Reformer of the sixteenth century, Martin Luther, said that humility is the very foundation and fruit of faith.
In the celebration of the birth of Jesus, will you focus with me on the humility of it all? Read again the words of Paul in Philippians 2:5-11. Our perfect Saviour refused to cling to divine status. He was silent when falsely accused. He was forgiving. I long to be like him. He cared about the poor and washed the feet of others. I long to be like him. He has shown us that true life comes forth from death, that the humble will be exalted, that the first will be last, and that to find your life you must first of all lose it. I long to go deeper and deeper into these truths.
I know that this same longing is shared by fellow Salvationists everywhere. Our hunger will be satisfied: 'Blessed are those who (in humility) hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled' (Matthew 5:6). He will teach us as humbly we sit at his feet: 'Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls' (Matthew 11:29).
The secret of a humble heart is to be close to Jesus. We see his perfection to know we are flawed. We see his obedience to know we are rebellious. We see his love to know we are hard of heart. We see his patience to know we are intolerant.
I am asking him in prayer to humble me, whatever it costs. I am asking him in prayer to keep his Army humble, whatever it costs. That cost may be a high one. General Bramwell Booth wrote: 'Do you expect to understand all God's ways with you? Do you want a reason and explanation for every mystery before you can trust him? It is the darkness which makes humble faith a reality. It is the ignorance of the future which proves the committal of the soul.'
I commit you to the perfect love of Christ.
I offer you my lasting gratitude and constant encouragement.
Shaw Clifton
General
December 2007
Sunday, December 09, 2007
Economic restructuring schemes must consider rights of poor, says UN expert
25 October 2007 - International financial institutions and wealthy States imposing structural reform programmes on poor countries or executing debt repayments should ensure that when doing so they do not undermine basic cultural, social and economic rights, an independent United Nations human rights expert said today.
read more: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=24426&Cr=financing&Cr1=
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Who is in the foreground of your Christmas?
Who is in the foreground of your Christmas?
Friday, December 07, 2007
Christmas Message from the General
From http://www.salvationist.org/
Thursday, December 06, 2007
Prolepsis in Romans 13
How can our salvation be both now and still to come? How can it be both near and here already. This is an important concept to understand (theologians refer to this concept as a 'prolepsis') because our Salvation, as it is, has indeed already been achieved. It was achieved when Jesus died and then won the victory through rising from the dead. Paul himself acknowledges this in other places in the scriptures: 2 Corinthians 6:2, 1 Corinthians 15:2, Ephesians 2:8 and the Apostle Peter talks about just this sort of thing in 1 Peter 1. So then Christ has already won the victory but the final reward of Salvation is yet to come.
It is very much like our Roughriders game here. The other weekend the Riders won the Grey Cup. I don't know if you remember but in the last couple of minutes of the football game, right after that interception near the end, you could see the anticipation as the cameramen zoomed in on the players' faces. They knew the game had won already but it wasn't over yet. The game had been won, they wanted to celebrate but it wasn't over yet. The game had been won already and it took everything for the coach to keep the players on the sideline and staff off the field because the game wasn't over yet. They knew that it had been won but the game wasn't over yet. The anticipation was written on the Riders' faces as they knew that the game had been won but it wasn't over yet.When the player went down on one knee to run out the clock at the end there was no way that they could be defeated. The Rider nation, as it were, the Roughrider fans were already victors with the team, just like we are already victors with Christ.The Game is won but the final whistle has not been sounded yet and the great cup is still be presented.
When Christ died on the cross and then rose from the grave, Death was dealt its deathblow, so to speak: Christ intercepted the pass and ran for the final touchdown to put the game out of reach. There is no way now that sin and death can ever come back and win the game but the thing is that that final whistle hasn't gone yet and this is exactly what Paul is speaking about in our text here today.
In Romans 13:11-14, Paul is speaking about salvation as if it were that final whistle. Sure the Riders had won the game with 20 seconds left to go but they did not get to hold the Grey Cup until after the final whistle had sounded.
read more: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2007/12/victory-final-whistle-romans-1311-14.html
reas more sermons by Captain Michael Ramsay: http://www.sheepspeak.com/sermons.htm
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Make Poverty History (or buy a new chair)
Sask. MLAs getting $1,700 chairs
Last Updated: Monday, December 3, 2007 | 5:47 PM CT
CBC News
They've already won their seats, but now Saskatchewan MLAs are getting new ones - about $125,000 worth.
The Saskatchewan government will be spending that much to outfit the legislative assembly with 70 new chairs.
read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/saskatchewan/story/2007/12/03/chairs-legislature.html
Be an Environmentalist - Keep Your Covenant
Divorce is Bad for the Environment, Researchers say
Married households use resources more efficiently than divorced households: author
Last Updated: Monday, December 3, 2007 | 6:22 PM ET
CBC News
Soaring divorce rates around the globe are taking a toll on the environment, American researchers suggested in a study released Monday.
read more: http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2007/12/03/divorce-environment.html
Monday, December 03, 2007
Victory: The Final Whistle (Romans 13:11-14)
