Sunday's Sermon

John 15:1-17: "Remain in Me and bear fruit"

JAC is BACk

JAC is BACk

Issue 59 of The Salvation Army's
Journal of Aggressive Christianity is here:
http://www.armybarmy.com/jac.html

'Death' in my e-mail in-box to-day

A sick man turned to his doctor as he was preparing to
Leave the examination room and said,

'Doctor, I am afraid to die.
Tell me what lies on the other side.'

Very quietly, the doctor said, 'I don't know.'

'You don't know? You're, a Christian man,
and don't know what's on the other side?'

The doctor was holding the handle of the door;
On the other side came a sound of scratching and whining,
And as he opened the door, a dog sprang into the room
And leaped on him with an eager show of gladness.

Turning to the patient, the doctor said,
'Did you notice my dog?

He's never been in this room before.
He didn't know what was inside.

He knew nothing except that his master was here,
And when the door opened, he sprang in without fear.

I know little of what is on the other side of death,
But I do know one thing...

I know my Master is there and that is enough.'

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www.sheepspeak.com

What is real love?

Nipawin Journal, Feb 11, 2009.
By Captain Michael Ramsay
The Salvation Army

This is an important question to which the fourth evangelist, John, ‘the disciple whom Jesus loves’, offers us an answer. He tells us that in Jesus’ farewell discourse, his good-bye talk with his friends (John 14:1-16:33), Jesus mentions love a fair amount. Knowing how important real love is, Jesus tells his disciples to love one another as he has loved them (John 13:34,35; 15:9,12,17).

Jesus tells his friends as he is about to be executed that if they love him, they will remain in his love even after he has gone on ahead (John 15:9): they will keep his commandments, which are always directly from God (John 14:15,21,23; 15:10). He then tells us his primary commandment: love one another (John 15:12). And how can we show that we have this love? Jesus says, while at the same time calling his disciples his friends, that greater love has no one than to lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13). Jesus, of course, proceeds to do just that (John 19:30) and in their turn, tradition tells us that the disciples respond in kind.

John reminds us of Jesus’ words, “ If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me ” (John 14:23-24). And Jesus says, “Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command” (John 15:12-14).

Jesus really does love us. Indeed he was executed for us. He sacrificed his life so that we all may live. This is real love. As he has given his life for us, in return shouldn’t we offer our whole life up to him? For indeed when we do, we share not only in his sacrifice but also in the glory of his resurrection. Let us love God, love our neighbour, and since Jesus gave his life so that we may all live, let us live our lives all for him.


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http://www.sheepspeak.com/

Political and Existential Good News

"The Lordship of Jesus, the Gospel, for the Christian, is both political and existential good news. Existentially, we are to be set free from whatever demons are destroying our personal life or our families, whether it beanger, despair, desire, pride, substance abuse or whatever.

Politically, we are to be set free from -- and work to set our world free from -- the demons, the idols that sanction ways of organizing human life that stand inthe way of God's intention for creation and for humanity. (And those) that stand in the way of justice and treating all humans for what they really are, not commodities, or units of productivity, but God's children and imagebearers of God." - Rev. Bill Blaikie,

Revelation as a Critique of Empire

A great issue of INTERPRETATION: a Journal of Bible and Theology
Volume 63 Number 1
January 2009

This issue of Interpretation focuses on the book of Revelation, also known as the Apocalypse of John, and the issues faced by Christians living in the complicated religious and political environment of imperial power. Together these essays describe the enduring challenges faced by Christians who claim loyalty to the reign of God while experiencing the reign of secular authorities.

Get access to this full issue and all of our back issues online by becoming a subscriber to Interpretation.

We are as Sisyphus

Condemned for eternity by the gods to push a rock to the summit of a mountain, only for the bolder to roll again to the foot of the mountain and wait for Sisyphus to meet it again and continue his everlasting toil.

We all push the rock of our burdens up the mountain of monotony. We use all our strength to struggle with our burdens. We continually push them up the mountain of monotony. Only during our walk to the foot of monotony to meet our burdens do we realise the futility of our efforts. We catch a painful glimpse of what great things we perceived our past to encompass. But even that is soon interrupted as we reach our burdens and have to struggle once again over monotony.

We never pay any attention to the lesson taught to this tragic mythical hero Sisyphus. We should abandon our burdens and flee the mountain of monotony. We have the chance to run from the mountain and leave the rock but unfortunately we seem to be, as Sisyphus, condemned to push our burdens over monotony for eternity.

We must realise the futility of our struggle and live our lives with enjoyment and, more importantly, an always obtainable hope for the future. Only then can we thoroughly enjoy life at the present and leave our burdens at the foot of monotony.

- Michael A.H. Ramsay (Sentire,1989.)

Read more from the Sentire: http://www.islandnet.com/~havelock/Sentire.htm

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www.sheepspeak.com

A Roundtable on Nuclear Issues in relation to Iran

Hosted by Project Ploughshares and Mennonite Central Committee Canada in cooperation with the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Ottawa
March 6, 2008, Ottawa, Canada

This paper reports on the proceedings of a roundtable organized by Project Ploughshares, the Mennonite Central Committee Canada, the University of Ottawa, and the Iranian Embassy in Ottawa. The objective of the roundtable was to deepen common understanding of Iran’s nuclear policies and perspectives, to offer Canadian perspectives on nuclear nonproliferation in general and on Iranian nuclear issues in particular, and to provide a forum for Canadians and Iranians to engage with one another on current nonproliferation challenges. The 24 participants included officials and scholars from Iran and former officials and diplomat...

an interesting read: http://www.ploughshares.ca/libraries/WorkingPapers/wp091.pdf


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http://www.sheepspeak.com/

Communist Theocracy

We will be looking at Marx next week in Comparitive Worldviews.

Here's a question: was ancient Israel supposed to be a communist theocracy?

"The nation of Israel...was a theocracy. God was the Head of the nation. He had chosen Israel and had promised in that period to channel his saving grace particularly through that nation...To Israel he gave his revelation through the prophets. To Israel he gave the order of true worship at the tabernacle and temple. God dwelt in the midst of Israel and at last became incarnate as a Jew of Nazareth. Therefore, in Israel things that we call sacred and profane were mingled together. Before the monarchy much of the secular administration was in the hands of the priests. There was no separation of church and state." - L. Laird Harris. The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Leviticus/Introduction to Leviticus/Literary Form and Classification of Leviticus, Book Version: 4.0.2

"In a sense Israel had a kind of communism. The wealth was partially redivided every few years... This was the communal sharing that works well in a family where all have the strongest ties of love and interest...Israel, like the early church, was a community of people united in worship of the true God and sanctified in him. In times of revival, at least, the bulk of Israel's citizens would have been God-fearing men and women earnest in obeying God's law." - L. Laird Harris. The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Leviticus/Exposition of Leviticus/IX. Laws of Land Use (25:1-55)/B. The Jubilee (25:8-34), Book Version: 4.0.2

Why should I read my Bible?

Nipawin Journal, February 2008.

My five year-old asks us every night if we can read the Bible to her since at Sunday school, not too long ago, the teacher sang with the children, “read your Bible, pray everyday and you’ll grow, grow, grow …” Sarah-Grace took this truth to heart and has been faithful in reminding us to read her Bible.

Reading the Bible has also been very important to me since I was in elementary school. I personally have tried to read my Bible everyday since I was ten or nine. I can’t imagine not reading my Bible regularly. It is exciting. It is transformative.

The very first doctrine of The Salvation Army, of which I am an Officer, states that, “the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments were given by inspiration of God, and that they only constitute the Divine rule of Christian faith and practice.”

In Romans 1:16-17, Paul writes, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes... For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.’”

The gospel is contained in the Bible. The word ‘gospel’ (Gk: euangelion) itself means ‘good news’ or ‘good message’ (cf. Isa 40:9, 52:7). It is the whole Christian message. It is the information, from none other than God, that Jesus, God’s unique Son has become the spearhead of God’s ‘kingdom to come’ and the news that, in this new kingdom all that is bad, even sin and death themselves, have already been defeated.

The Bible is exciting. It is given by the inspiration of God himself and gives us examples and encouragements on how to live a life where we are truly free to serve God. It contains the good news that Jesus died, rose from the dead, and is coming back for us. The power of the gospel contained within can transform our lives completely as we accept the truth of Jesus’ gift of eternal life.

Why should we read our Bible? Well, we should read our Bible because as we do we will indeed “grow, grow, grow...”

Click to read The Salvation Army Doctrines.
Click to read Salvation Story (elaboration upon the doctrines of The Salvation Army)
Click to read Comment on Romans 1:16-17

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www.sheepspeak.com

Happy Robbie Burns Day!

The Journal was in having lunch at our Cafe last year and took this pict of the girls wearing the Ramsay Blue outfits grandma made them and me in my Ramsay Red kilt. (We went to the Burns tea this year and we plan to sport our colours tomorrow for sure!

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Happy Robert Burns Day.

Here is a link to an English 'translation' of some of his stuff: http://www.robertburns.org/inenglish/

To a Haggis

(Haggis is a wholesome savoury pudding, a mixture of mutton and offal. It is boiled and presented at table in a sheep's stomach)

All hail your honest rounded face, Great chieftain of the pudding race; Above them all you take your place, Beef, tripe, or lamb: You're worthy of a grace As long as my arm.

The groaning trencher there you fill, Your sides are like a distant hill Your pin would help to mend a mill, In time of need, While through your pores the dews distil, Like amber bead.

His knife the rustic goodman wipes, To cut you through with all his might, Revealing your gushing entrails bright, Like any ditch; And then, what a glorious sight, Warm, welcome, rich.

Then plate for plate they stretch and strive, Devil take the hindmost, on they drive, Till all the bloated stomachs by and by, Are tight as drums. The rustic goodman with a sigh, His thanks he hums.

Let them that o'er his French ragout, Or hotchpotch fit only for a sow, Or fricassee that'll make you spew, And with no wonder; Look down with sneering scornful view, On such a dinner.

Poor devil, see him eat his trash, As feckless as a withered rush, His spindly legs and good whip-lash, His little feet Through floods or over fields to dash, O how unfit.

But, mark the rustic, haggis-fed; The trembling earth resounds his tread, Grasp in his ample hands a flail He'll make it whistle, Stout legs and arms that never fail, Proud as the thistle.

You powers that make mankind your care, And dish them out their bill of fare. Old Scotland wants no stinking ware, That slops in dishes; But if you grant her grateful prayer, Give her a haggis.

for more works in the original: http://www.robertburns.org/works/

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From the BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4644064.stm

A manuscript of a Robert Burns poem which had been ripped apart has been put back together in time for his birthday celebrations.

The two pages of manuscript for "Holy Willie's Prayer" were separated - for unknown reasons - in the 19th Century.

One half was stored in Burns' House in Dumfries, which bought the other part from a private collector late last year at a total cost of about £6,000.

They have been reunited in a new frame to be displayed at the house.

Alf Hannay, chairman of Dumfries and Galloway Burns Trust, said: "When you have a manuscript and the two pieces have been apart for so many years it is like bringing Burns back into Dumfries itself."

In the poem itself Burns attacks the hypocrisy of Willie Fisher - a drinking and womanising kirk elder from Mauchline in Ayrshire - who complained that Burns' friend Gavin Hamilton had breached God's law by having men working on the Sabbath.

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http://www.robertburns.org/

http://www.clanramsay.org/

http://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/

The Salvation Army: East Scotland Division, North Scotland Division, West Scotland Division

The Resurrection

A neat book on that topic: Surprised by Hope: Retinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church by NT Wright, The Bishop of Durham.

And a neat article from the Jan/Feb issue of Faith Today: Will I See Jesus When I Die? (click to view) by James Peterson.

Sunday's Sermon

Click the Pict. or click here: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/

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A Theology of Foodbank

By Captain Michael Ramsay
Open letter, August - September 2008.

Recently I have heard a number of questions asked about The Salvation Army food bank. People have been wondering why we offer the service and whether it is a good thing or whether it is a bad thing. People have raised legitimate questions to which this letter is reply.

1) Why do we offer the service?
2) Does it do any good?
3) Can’t food banks just trap people in poverty, enabling them to be lazy or take advantage others?
4) How do we help people who have a real need?
5) What about Christianity?

1) Why do we offer the service?
The Salvation Army is a Christian organisation. We acknowledge that Jesus is Lord. There is a parable in the Bible (Matthew 25:31-46) about sheep and goats. This parable is addressed to all the nations of the world. You will notice in this parable there are two groups: those that spend eternity with Him and those that do not (Heaven and Hell). Both groups call Jesus ‘Lord’; the difference between the two groups is quite simple. The group that spends eternity with the Lord takes care of the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the one needing clothes, the one in hospital, the one in prison.... The other group doesn’t. This is a good motivation for helping people as a society and The Salvation Army food bank is one of the tools we in this nation have available for helping in this way but…

2) Does it do any good?
Does it help really people? Can’t food banks and other social assistance programmes hurt people and hurt society? Can’t they force people to become dependant upon others? Can’t they help perpetuate generations of economic enslavement by removing people’s abilities and motivation for employment? Yes. A food bank (and other well-intentioned ministries) can contribute to all of these things.

In Nipawin and Tisdale we are blessed in that there is only one food bank in each of theses centres. In some centres there are many food banks run by more than one organisation and if there is not fluid communication between these centres then those who are trying to help may actually be tempting those in need to ‘take advantage of the system’ and inadvertently hurt themselves and others. In some larger urban centres a person can unaccountably eat seven or more square meals a day free of charge. Friends of mine struggling with addiction in some of these centres have lamented the fact that the only thing that they actually need to buy with the money they receive is their drugs. This is a problem in some – particularly large, urban places.
In the Salvation Army we have a large centralized database with the information from all of our food banks across the country stored on it. As a client hands us her identification we can see where and when in the country she last required the assistance of The Salvation Army. It means that we can better help the person because one cannot simply circumnavigate the procedures by visiting multiple food banks or moving to a new location. It means that if a client was being helped out in a specific town, when they move here we are able to continue assisting them in the same manner as before.

In North East Saskatchewan, the food banks are meant to help out in emergencies. They are not meant to supply a family with groceries for a whole month. We make a point of trying to give people what they need to help them through a short-term crisis. We are not meaning to supply all of their groceries for them. We also have policies as to how often a person can receive assistance at the food bank.

3) The food banks are meant to help people out of poverty rather than trap them in it.
In North East Saskatchewan here we have a policy that a person is only eligible to come to the food bank once every three months. This is intended to break the dependency cycle. We have noticed that some people can certainly be trapped by poverty. If this happens, when they are eligible to come to the food bank every month, they can plan that into their monthly budgets. This only keeps them trapped. We do not want the food bank to be a tool to keep anyone enslaved by poverty. By only allowing one visit every three months, we remove ‘free food’ from monthly planning and really aim to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem.

4) How does this work: what about people who are in legitimate need?
What if a family sincerely needs an emergency food hamper after only two months? It is, after all, very hard to break the dependency cycle. Will we turn away starving children? No. What we will do is attempt to address the problem. If a person comes to the food bank frequently there is a reason. That reason may be addiction. That reason may be budgeting. That reason may be personal. There can be any number of factors that drive a person to require assistance.
When a person shows up at the food bank we attempt to find out why she is here. If she returns after only a month and a half and she admits that she has an alcohol or a substance abuse problem, we will refer her to Alcoholics (Narcotics) Anonymous. If she has a problem with budgeting, we will direct her to a programme in town that can help her with that. If she has problems that require counselling we will facilitate her receiving help in that area as well. If she then shows that she is willing to get help, we will most certainly not deny her a small, emergency supply of food.

Many of us have gone through difficult times in our lives. Many of us have required help from our friends, family, churches, government, and The Salvation Army. It is very important to have the mechanisms in place to help and it is very important that the mechanisms are actually used to help people out of poverty rather than trap them in it.

There is an old adage by Lau Tzu that applies well to our theology of food bank: “give a person a fish and you feed him for a day, teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” This is most certainly a part of our theology of food bank.

5) What about Christianity?
There is one more question that needs to be addressed and that is, ‘What about Christianity’? If we are a Christian organisation are we always proselytizing? No, but everyone must admit that there is no person or organisation that can distance oneself from one’s values be those values atheist, Hindu, Christian, or whatever. To suggest otherwise is not true. We acknowledge this reality. As such in the food hampers, we provide every client with the latest copy of our magazine, ‘Faith and Friends’. In that magazine you will find a bookmark that lists the times and dates of our Bible Studies, Sunday School, children’s programmes, etc. Whenever someone new chooses to join us at one of these, we are excited to see them. Also should you want it, there are New Testament Bibles available free of charge in our ministry centre and we are never adverse to praying for people – all you need to do is ask.
God Bless,

Captain Michael Ramsay

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www.sheepspeak.com

John 3:16 : The House is on Fire!

God loves us so much that He sent His only begotten, his only natural, his only sired Son to die so that we may live. I can’t imagine how much this must hurt God that some of us do actually perish. I am a parent. Many of us are parents here. Think about this scenario for a moment:

The house across the street is on fire; there are children asleep in that house. Your child is able to save them. Your son or daughter – your ONLY son or daughter can reach them so you encourage her “…Go, go, go! Save those people.”

Your daughter goes. She goes. She suffers every peril in that burning house that everyone else in there is suffering (Cf. 1 Cor 10:14; Lk 4). There is the smoke – the deadly smoke, there is the fire, and there are the falling beams. She is successful. She gets to where the children are. She can see them. She is able to make an opening in the wall. She points them to the way out. She yells for them to walk through the opening in the wall. She has made a clear path so that all of the kids can be saved - and then she dies. Your daughter dies so that all these kids can be saved. Your child dies so that none of these kids need to die but – here’s the kicker: the children did not want to be saved. They died. She died so that they could be saved but – on purpose – they died. They did not need to die but they chose not to walk through the opening. They chose to die. Your daughter dies for them and they all die anyway; they refused to be saved.

This is what it is like for God when our loved one’s reject Him. He sent His son to this earth that is perishing. He sent His Son to this house that is on fire – and His Son died so that we may live but yet some still refuse His love for us and some still reject His Salvation. He sent Jesus not to condemn us to burn in the eternal house fire but to save us but like those children some of us refuse to obey Him and walk to safety. Some of us simply refuse to walk through that opening that Jesus died to make. John 3:18: “Those who believe in Him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already…” of their own accord because, 3:19, “people loved darkness rather than light.”

But today for those of us here I want to share the good news of John 3:16-17. Sure the house is on fire, sure Jesus died, but we, as long as we are still breathing have the opportunity to walk through the hole in the wall that He created through His death and resurrection. We can walk through the wall from certain death to certain life. All we need to do is believe in Him, obey Him, and walk through that wall to eternal life with the Father because “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him” (John 3:17). “For God so loved the world that He gave His only [begotten] Son, so that everyone who believe in Him may not perish but may have eternal life” (John 3:16).

read more: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2008-12-24T11%3A30%3A00-06%3A00&max-results=4
most recent sermons:http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com

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Is War Ever Just?

Is War Ever Just?
By Captain Michael Ramsay
The Nipawin Journal, November 2007

Is war ever just? This is certainly a difficult question to answer; brilliant churchmen and theologians (Augustine, Aquinas, More, Grotius, CS Lewis, John Paul II...) like the pagans before them (Plato and Cicero) have wrestled with this question and fought to find various theoretical formulae in order to test for a just war. Though their intent was noble, the results are ambiguous. A prime example of the struggle is Ulrich Zwingli. Zwingli was a brilliant reformer and arguably a pacifist – he died in a battle he voluntarily entered.

Part of the difficulty in addressing the question of a ‘just war’ is, of course, the ‘two Joshuas.’ God used Joshua of the OT to deliver His people into the promised land. War and violence accompanied this conquest. God uses the second Joshua, Jesus, to deliver us into the eternal promised land. Jesus is the Prince of Peace (Isa 9:6) who teaches that one should turn the other cheek and offer our attackers even more than they demand (Matt 5, Lk 6). Pacifists have argued that any resistance is therefore disobedience and placing our trust in ourselves rather than in God.

The Salvation Army, in which I am an officer, is not a pacifist movement. We have both pacifists and national soldiers in our ranks. We have a long tradition of standing up for the weak and disadvantaged. John 15 says that a man can show no greater love than to lay down his life for his friends; we do owe a debt of gratitude to all our soldiers who have died for us and, from my perspective, I think Canada’s peacekeeping tradition of sending our troops to defend civilian populations and stand between warring factions is a noble expression of faith in action.

I further believe that our war here is with principalities and powers and that, as this is the case, officers in the Salvation Army pledge to make the saving of people a primary focus of our lives. It is to this end that I have committed to fight; Jesus saves and when His kingdom is fully realised on earth, there will be no further wars, no more tears. This is most certainly a just war.
This is a cursorily look at the topic.

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For more reading, I have posted a bibliography below.

I invite you to read more and offer me any insights you may have at war@sheepspeak.com.
For further reading:

Captain Michael Ramsay's Remembrance Day address, 2007: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2007/11/greater-love-has-no-man-than-to-lay.html (Comment on that address by the Journal: http://www.nipawinjournal.com/News/354539.html )
An interview with General Shaw Clifton: http://www1.salvationarmy.org/ihq/www_ihq_general.nsf/vw-dynamic-index/87BD3DF62F0F179F802572ED00564052?Opendocument
Hugo Grotius and Just War: http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/philosophers/grotius.html
The Just War Theory: http://biblia.com/jesusbible/joshua3c.htm
Cole, Darrell. The Problem of War: C.S. Lewis on Pacifism, War & the Christian Warrior.
More reading (I have not read all of these):
http://www.newadvent.org/summa/304000.htmhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/ethics/war/justwarintro.shtmlhttp://www.utm.edu/research/iep/j/justwar.htm http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/pol116/justwar.htmhttp://www.progressive.org/0901/zinn1101.html "A Just Cause, Not a Just War," The Progressive http://www.monksofadoration.org/justwar.htmlCatechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 2307 through 2317The Harvest of Justice Is Sown in Peacehttp://www.iraqwar.org/justwar.htmhttp://www.cpjustice.org/stories/storyReader$595http://www.americanvalues.org/html/1b___elshtain.htmlhttp://www.counterpunch.org/parry1.html
Cole, Darrell When God Says War Is Right: The Christian’s Perspective on When and How to Fight (Waterbrook Press, 2002).
Howard, Michael. War and the Liberal Conscience (New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1978).
Hunter, David G. “A Decade of Research on Early Christians and Military Service,” Religious Studies Review 18.2 (April 1992), 87–94; and Louis J. Swift, The Early Fathers on War and Military Service (Wilmington, Delaware: Michael Glazier, 1983).
Lewis, C.S. “Why I Am Not a Pacifist,” in The Weight of Glory, edited by Walter Hooper (New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1980), 33–53.
Ibid., Mere Christianity (Nashville, Tennessee: Broadman & Holman, 1996).
O’Donovan, Oliver. In Pursuit of a Christian View of War (Bramcotte Notts: Grove Books, 1977).
Theology: A Monthly Review, vol. xxxvii, no. 227 (May 1939).

Other interesting ideas on the topic of the World Wars and The Salvation Army:

The Salvation Army position on World Peace: http://www1.salvationarmy.org/can/www_can.nsf/vw-dynamic-arrays/6D015085D510E57F80256EA100723430?openDocument#peace

Canadian Salvation Army in the World Wars (1): http://www.salvationist.ca/about/history/

Canadian Salvation Army in the World Wars (2): http://www.civilization.ca/cwm/salvationarmy/index_e.html
"It would be easier to forget one's name than fail to remember the times without number when the Salvation Army was, in truth, our comforter and friend."
- General Harry Crerar (Former Commander of the First Canadian Army, Second World War)
Read more: http://www.civilization.ca/cwm/salvationarmy/index_e.html

Canada and Nov 11, 1813 - an earlier World War: http://www.havelock-viha.com/FPNov11AmericanInvasion.html

The Salvation Army (Aus / NZ) in the World Wars: http://www.anzacday.org.au/spirit/cross/index.html

The Salvation Army (USA) in the World Wars: http://www.worldwar1.com/dbc/salvhist.htm
Ephesians 6:11-1311Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.12For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.Read whole chapter: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=56&chapter=6&version=9

Are You My Mother? (John 10:1-6)

I am reminded of a story, a children’s book by P. D. Eastman from 1960 entitled, “Are You My Mother?”

In this story, a mother bird leaves her egg in the nest to go look for some food. While she’s gone, the egg hatches, and the baby bird sets off to find his mother but because he was born after she left , he doesn’t know what she looks like. His search leads him to ask a variety of animals and machines. He asks a kitten, a hen, a dog, and a cow, in turn, “Are you my mother?”

They each reply, “No.” Then he sees an old car. This can’t be his mother for sure. Desperately, he calls out to a boat and a plane, and at last, hoping he has found his mother, he climbs onto the teeth of an enormous steam shovel, a power shovel. But he is surprised by this giant machine, as it shudders and shakes and it roars into motion. He can’t escape.

“I want my mother!” He cries. Finally, the machine deposits him back in his nest, where his mother is returning. When she returns, when he sees her – even though she had gone before he was born – when she comes back, he knows her and he loves her because she knew and loved him first.

So it is with our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ: He promises that we will recognise his voice, just like the little bird. We need not be tempted out of the nest by all the false parents. We need not worry, for Jesus promises that when He returns we will indeed recognise His voice. This is the comfort of today’s scripture passage (John 10:1-6). Jesus promises that indeed, we will recognise his voice.


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John 10:1-6: "Stop! Thieves!"

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John 10:1 “I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber."

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Click here to read this and our other recent sermons : http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/
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Sudden Death (Lk 16:1-13)

When Rebecca was just born, I used to listen to hockey every Friday night. You see. Friday night was my night to be home with Rebecca and clean the house. So I would listen to the junior hockey games on the radio as I was doing the dishes, etc.

I remember this one game. I caught the 3rd period. The home team just dominated. It was three or even four nothing coming into the last minute of play. These players had worked really hard, just dominated and they started celebrating the winning of the last game of their season -with one minute left to go. Then the other team scored. Then again; 30 seconds left. Then again; 10 seconds left. It was four nothing less than a minute ago – they were celebrating – now they are up 4-3 with only 5 seconds left and they aren’t so confident – and now there’s a face-off in their own zone. And you know what happens? The away team scores with less than a second left to force sudden-death overtime.

Our team squanders its lead and as a result it faces sudden death. If you’ll turn to Luke Chapter 16, you will notice that the manager we read about also squanders from his position, and now faces sudden death – or sudden unemployment anyway: he is fired.

read more: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2007/08/luke-161-13-sudden-death-overtime.html

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Do you have in mind the things of God or the things of man?

I am reminded of a comic by Bill Waterson: Calvin and Hobbes.[8] Calvin, in his request, thinks he knows what is best for himself. His loving parent however knows different….

Today then we have a choice. We can be like Calvin in our prayers and in our lives and demand that our Heavenly Father give us everything we desire without regard for His will, in which case we will be - Praise the Lord - one disappointed little kid. Or we can approach the Lord and ask him what is his will and pray for that to be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Today, we have a choice, we can choose either the things of God or we can choose the things of man: which we choose?

read more: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2008/03/mark-831-33-do-you-have-in-mind-things.html

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Do you believe?

Do you believe? This is a central question to the gospel according to John, “Do you believe?” In his gospel John mentions belief quite a bit. John repeatedly asks the question and then offers a new way of presenting the idea that we should believe that Jesus is the messiah. Jesus is the one. Here in our text today, however, we run into a bit of a problem...

We read in the previous chapter (6:66) that many of the disciples have left Jesus. These are the same disciples who have been following him around. These are the same disciples who were part of the crowds that were fed miraculously with the fish and the loaves, these disciples were part of the same crowd of people who heard Jesus explain that he was the ‘bread of life’; these disciples were part of the same crowd that recognised him as an important historical-political figure, they tried to seize Jesus and make him King (6:14-15) and now they have left him.

Many of Jesus’ own disciples it appears even don’t believe in him and now in 7:5 it appears that even many of his own relatives don’t believe him. It says that in 7:5: It says, “for even his own brothers did not believe in him” (NIV).

read more: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2009/01/john-71-5-do-you-believe.html
more sermons: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/
sermons off the wall: http://www.sheepspeak.com/sermons.htm

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Is Jesus God?

By Captain Michael Ramsay
Nipawin Journal, May 28 2008.

Is Jesus God? Yes.

Like every Christian, I affirm that Jesus is God. This is a non-negotiable in Christianity and it is an important question. If you go to a church or have someone show up at your door talking about religion, I encourage you to ask her this very question: Is Jesus God? Simply put, if the person cannot answer with an unequivocal yes, then she is not a Christian.

Jesus Christ is ‘truly and properly God’ (TSA Doctrine 4). ‘He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made . . .’ (John 1:2-3). The character and being of God were fully present in the life of the man Jesus, for ‘He who has seen me has seen the Father’ (John 14: 9). In the Gospel of John we read that ‘the Word became flesh and lived for a while among us’ (John 1:14). In Philippians, Paul expresses this truth when he describes Christ as ‘being in very nature God’, and yet ‘taking the very nature of a servant’ (Philippians 2: 6-7). In Hebrews, Jesus Christ is referred to as ‘the radiance of God’s glory and exact representation of his being’ (Hebrews 1:3). A number of names and titles taken from the language of the Old Testament and from the first-century world are brought to the aid of those seeking to express in relevant language the inexpressible mystery of the fullness of God present in Jesus Christ. … At the Council of Chalcedon in 451, a statement was formulated which embraced the twin truths that Jesus Christ is one integrated person, with a divine and a human nature, ‘without confusion, without change, without division, without separation . . . at once complete in Godhead and complete in manhood, truly God and truly man’ (from the Chalcedonian Definition). In the person of Jesus we see humanity fully open to divine grace and we see God revealed to us. (‘Salvation Story: Salvationists Handbook of Doctrine’, pp 37-38).

Jesus is God and as Jesus died and returned to life, he is the Lord of both the living and the dead and sooner or later actually every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (Romans 14:9-11, cf. Isaiah 45:23) for 'Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved' (Acts 4:12).

Click here to read The Salvation Army Doctrines.
Click here to read Salvation Story (an elaboration upon the doctrines of The Salvation Army)

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What is My Responsibility to the Environment?

By Captain Michael Ramsay
The Nipawin Journal, September 2008.

"As people are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27), we have been entrusted with the care of the earth's resources (Genesis 2:15). Stewardship requires that we use these resources in a manner which ensures the well-being of present and future generations. God's instruction to 'subdue' the earth and 'rule' over every living thing (Genesis 1:28) cannot be interpreted to justify abuse or disregard for any life, not only human life. The privileges granted require our accountability to Him and one another" (TSA Canada Position Statement).

God cares about the environment, the land itself. He lays out some important commands concerning it (specifically relating to Palestine; Lev. 25, 26) in a part of Scripture that is – interestingly enough - known as the 'Holiness Code'.

We are directed that the land itself shall enjoy its Sabbath rest (Lev. 25:2, 26:34,35) just as man is commanded to (Exod. 20: 8-11, Deut 5:15), and as God did (Exod. 20:11, Gen. 2:3). If we, as 'tenants' of His land (Lev. 25:23), fail in our responsibility to carry out this duty to take care of the land, then the owner of the land -who cares about His land- may remove us from it.

He did remove Israel from the land as it neglected its environmental responsibilities: "He carried into exile to Babylon the remnant, who escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and his sons until the kingdom of Persia came to power. The land enjoyed its Sabbath rests; all the time of its desolation it rested, until the seventy years were completed in fulfilment of the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah" (2 Chronicles 36:20-21). When Israel neglected the land, the LORD held them responsible. The land is the LORD's. He cares about His land and therefore so should we.

Given that God cares about His land and given the finite resources of our world, its expanding population, and the impact of industrialization, we each need to accept responsibility for the environment by taking practical steps to regenerate and conserve God's creation.

Captain Michael Ramsay
The Salvation Army
www.sheepspeak.com

we're back / do you believe?

We're back from Alberta and back at it...

Do you believe? (John 7:1-5) Sunday's sermon is on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/


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Communion!

nothing like a little controversy...



John 6:22-40: the Bread of Life: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2009/01/john-622-40-bread-of-life.html


John Wesley's Means of Grace Compared with Ulrich Zwingli's as Seen Through a Salvationist Lens: http://www.sheepspeak.com/Michael_Ramsay_History_TSA.htm#Wesley1

Zwingli, Huldreich (Ulrich) - 1484–1531: ‘The Third Reformer’ and the root of the purely symbolic sacramental position in the Reformation: http://www.sheepspeak.com/Michael_Ramsay_History_TSA.htm#Zwingli





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Sunday's Sermon

Click the Pict. for this sermon or click here for the most recent sermon: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/

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Will there ever be world peace?

By Captain Michael Ramsay
The Salvation Army
Nipawin Journal
January, 2008.

Yes. The real question is when? The Scriptures say that the heavens and earth will be made anew or that even a whole new heavens and earth will be made. Jesus is the Prince of Peace and Jesus is coming back. When Jesus returns in the flesh (if not before) there will most certainly be peace on earth. This is important. I think that sometimes we forget that Jesus is actually coming back.

The Salvation Army’s official position on world peace is as follows:

The plan for creation is that all people shall live in a harmonious relationship with God. It acknowledges that only within this relationship can perfect peace be fully known, and that this peace transcends the circumstances of this life. Greed, selfishness and injustice, however, have entered human lives and often result in conflict and, at times, armed aggression.

Therefore, in the light of the Gospel and in obedience to the one who declared, “Blessed are the peacemakers,” The Salvation Army through its ministry around the world confronts the poverty, injustice and the inequalities that so often give rise to disharmony and unrest, and seeks to foster mutual respect and understanding between peoples of all races, ethnic origins, socioeconomic backgrounds, religions and cultures.

Recognizing the appalling character of modern warfare, The Salvation Army urges nations to eliminate all weapons of mass or indiscriminate destruction and divert those expenditures into measures that will benefit society, and especially into providing services that promote the welfare of the poor, suffering or disadvantaged, and bring about a more just society. The Salvation Army is ready to work, alone or in partnership with others of goodwill, to bring about an end to armed conflict and to promote reconciliation between opposing factions. It also undertakes to extend in Christian love its practical care to those who suffer because of war, civil unrest or other forms of violence, without discrimination except on the basis of the need being met and its capacity to meet it.

The Salvation Army calls upon all within its influence – members, friends and fellow Christians – to pray for peace, to love their enemies and to work for the betterment of society, witnessing to God as the source of lasting peace and to a right relationship with God as the only path to perfect peace.

Related:

Is War ever Just?: http://www.sheepspeak.com/is_war_ever_just.htm

More position statements: http://www.salvationarmy.ca/positionstatements/

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Happy New Year!

May you appreciate this new year as the gift from God that it is...

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Daily Bible Readings (DR WAS)

This New Year why not read the entire Bible through.
The Salvation Army still has what we believe was the world's first comic liturgy.

You are welcome to join us as we read through the Bible in a year on-line following the Life Journal Plan.

http://drwas.blogspot.com/

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