RIRO from Army Barmy

The following is from Army Barmy's blog:

Rubbish In Rubbish Out...

There is a term in computing (look at me, such a nerd) called "RIRO". It means if you code rubbish into the computing, rubbish will be the result. Rubbish in Rubbish Out.

I read recently that in the average US home the television is being watched over 8 hours a day. This contributes to the average of 3500-5000 ads a person in the US sees every day. The numbers are lower for Canada and Australia (Go Commonweal!), but still not very good.

Watching over 8 hours of tv a day has to have an impact on your thinking. The average busy father gets to spend less than 1 minute of quality interaction with his children per day. He's competing with 8 hours of tv watching! Who's going to win out there?

I'm not saying all tv is rubbish. Hockey is pretty good. But tv does exist for the purpose of advertising, which exists for the purpose of making us feel inadequate and wanting things we don't really need. Ads are designed to tell us who we are, who we aren't, and who we should be. (The head of one prominent tv label once said "we don't seek to impact teens, we own them.")

God also wants to tell us who we are, who we aren't, and who we should and can be.

We should consider going television free for Lent / Self denial. But fasting isn't all about saying "no" to the world, it is about saying "yes" to God (see Isa 58). So why not let's try and spend as much time in Scripture and prayer in this time before Easter as we would have wasted in front of the tv? It's worth a shot. And I suspect that it might lead to "WIWO" - Word in Word out.

Grace, Aaron, www.armybarmy.com

Poverty Blog links

Here are some links to accompany the earlier poverty article / blog:

The new face of Poverty
http://renewnetwork.blogspot.com/2007_01_01_archive.html#37119133344175244

If you feel poorer, you probably are and you're not alone
http://renewnetwork.blogspot.com/2007_01_01_archive.html#5940360734636654597

Be a Hero Stuff
http://renewnetwork.blogspot.com/2005_12_01_archive.html#113502200702877662

Poverty in Canada
http://renewnetwork.blogspot.com/2005_12_01_archive.html#113605581076522404

Community vs. Market Economy Pt. 2
http://renewnetwork.blogspot.com/2005_12_01_archive.html#113469692579219466

In the news...

Want to save money - don't dwell on yourself, think of others (hey remember J.O.Y)
Last Updated: Friday, February 8, 2008 11:18 AM ET
CBC News

Feeling blue and self-focused? Watch your wallet, says a new study into consumer behaviour: http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2008/02/08/spending.html

The Archbishop of Canterbury calls for Islamic Shariah law in Britain?
last Updated: Friday, February 8, 2008 11:10 AM ET
CBC News

The Archbishop of Canterbury has triggered a fierce debate in Britain after calling for a limited application of Islamic Shariah law for marital or financial matters: http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/02/08/sharia-law.html

Religious sects face discrimination in the new Russia.
JANE ARMSTRONG
From Friday's Globe and Mail
February 8, 2008 at 4:22 AM EST

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080208.wsects08/BNStory/International/home

February Pastoral Letter from the General

http://www.salvationarmy.org/ihq/www_ihq_general.nsf/vw-dynamic-index/DFC30D4A38178B36802573D4004F39F1?Opendocument

PASTORAL LETTER SIX
ONWARD

Dear Fellow Salvationists,

I send you warmest greetings in Christ as we move onward into 2008. You are held daily in my prayers. I am deeply conscious of your prayers for me and my family at this time of health concerns. Your prayers are making a difference and I express thanks to God for your love and faithfulness.

For those of us glad to be called Salvationists there can be no standing still in the war against sin and darkness. By ‘standing still' I do not refer to taking needful rest, or to finding time to reflect and strategise. I have in mind instead the temptation to rest on our laurels, to settle for less than the best for Christ. We hear the trumpet call: ‘Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war!' The cross of Christ leads us onward.

Onward also means outward, widening our sphere of influence. Taking new ground for Christ means first moving onward in our personal faith and trust even in the hardest times. Every cloud has a silver lining put in place by God to provide new opportunities. I am finding, for example, that when we are disrupted by illness chances to witness come thick and fast. Many of you have discovered this for yourselves.

Each of us holds in his or her heart a sacred longing to be as useful to God as possible. We want to see his holy Kingdom grow, moving ever onward. Thus we move onward in our personal service, offering ourselves sacrificially for God in the world according to our gifts and abilities so that each is fully used.

As we think of service, some of us are called to full-time service away from secular settings. Some readers of this Pastoral Letter are presently candidates for officership or are now cadets in training. We need even more candidates and cadets. I hear very encouraging reports from across the world about candidates. Is God calling you to be an officer in the Army? If so, let me urge you to choose the sacred path of holy obedience. Obedience is the key to moving onward in our walk with the Lord.

All of us can move onward in our understanding of the Scriptures so that we might use more and more skilfully the ‘sword of God'. Also we must move onward, you and I, in deepening that gentle spirit of loving-kindness that comes only from Jesus, growing in tenderness toward all, being changed more and more to become like our Saviour. This is at the heart of the holy life.
Let us ask God also in our prayers to plant within each of us a strong desire to move onward in our passion for souls, in our longing to win others for Christ, feeling more keenly the dreadful consequences of remaining unsaved. Heaven awaits us when we belong to Jesus. It is our natural destiny as children of God.

So my prayer for you is that 2008 will be a year of progress in every way, a year of moving onward under God's guiding hand.

I send you my love in Christ and my constant encouragement.

I commit you to the perfect love of Christ.

Shaw Clifton,
General,
February 2008

(hat tip: http://www.armybarmy.com/)

Galatians on discipline...

5:1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

13You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. 14The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."15If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

16So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.

19The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

Read the whole chapter and Chapter 6: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians%205-6&version=31

Daily Rations with a Smile for February 07/08

The four Norsemen of the 'Apocka' ship.

Click to read today's scriptures: Leviticus 4-6 and Acts 14

Complete comic liturgy: http://www.drwas.blogspot.com/

Barmy Army Training College Idea...

From Armybarmy.com blog
Monday February 06/08

General Wickberg (ITPC - see early posts) exhorts, "If you as Training Principal fail to... train (your Cadets) to become EVANGELISTS, you have failed indeed" (emphasis his).

The same can be said to Corps Officers - if you fail to train your soldiers to become evangelists, you have failed indeed.
----
Wickberg goes on to assert, "THe Salvation Army operates Training Garrisons or Training Schools and NOT Colleges of Education" (emphasis his). But that is for another post, maybe, sometime.
----
Back to evangelism... This is what it comes down to. Feeding people is good. Clothing them and detoxing them and housing them, too - all good. Befriending, counselling, aiding, supporting, resourcing people - these are all blessed activities. But we need to try to get them all saved. The best expression of love to each of them isn't the feeding or counselling or (fill in the blank) but the means of rescue from sin and hell.
----
Let's evangelise someone today - a lot of people are using the Super Bowl as an excuse. But whatever your angle, work it.

-sec

from http://www.armybarmy.com/

As Christians do we have a responsibility to take care of the poor?

Nipawin Journal
January 2008

Little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them. Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.

Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?"

"Why do you ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied. "There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments."

"Which ones?" the man inquired.

Jesus replied, " 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honour your father and mother,' and 'love your neighbour as yourself.'"

"All these I have kept," the young man said. "What do I still lack?"

Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. Then Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, "Who then can be saved?" Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible" (Matthew 19:13-26).

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (Matthew 6:19-21).”

Canada is one of the richest nations on earth; one in six Canadian children live in poverty. Do I have a responsibility to share my wealth with those who are poor? Yes.

Hi Jim and Deb!

'Get your shorts and T-shirts': Canadian groundhogs predict early spring
Last Updated: Saturday, February 2, 2008 6:29 PM ET
CBC News

Canada can look forward to an early spring, according to two of the country's famous weather prognosticating rodents, but one of their American cousins predicted those south of the border may not be as lucky.

Wiarton Willie makes his annual winter weather forecast in Wiarton, Ont., on Saturday. The groundhog did not see his shadow, predicting an early spring. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)
Wiarton Willie, Canada's most well-known groundhog, and Nova Scotia's Shubenacadie Sam both failed to see their shadow as they were roused Saturday, heralding an early spring that many across the country will welcome.

read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/02/02/groundhog-day.html

The JAC is BACk:

http://www.armybarmy.com/jac.html

Happy Belated Burns Day!

The Journal was in having lunch at our Cafe and took this pict of the girls wearing the Ramsay Blue outfits grandma made them and me in my Ramsay Red kilt.