"William Booth's Army?"

It is amazing to me to hear different peoples takes on what our “Army” is. It is also equally amazing to hear what they would like it to become or not to become. I have had discussions about this with the “Elders” of our church (corps). One Major that I had this discussion with actually told me that we are still the same “Army” of William Booth’s time. I have to totally disagree. While I know there are numerous salvos out there carrying on the good fight, the majority of corps (at least in the USA south) are still so entrenched in a tradition of “easy believism”. I borrow this term from author David Bercot.

It is so fitting for the corps that I grew up in and I would say also for the majority of American churches. I think others have called it cheap grace also. The popular American Church says all you have to do is believe and you are saved. John 3:16 is the verse that they use as their scriptural basis. We all know what it says, but what a lot of churches fail to teach is what the word believes actually means and stands for in this context. We have stopped teaching that repentance and regeneration are the next steps towards salvation. We as a church also fail to emphasize that we must endure till the end. True belief is followed by action and love. Love for not only Christ but our neighbors as well. If we truly believe then we truly love our Savior. If we truly love our Savior then we will keep his commandments and in so doing our lives will look totally different from what they were and from the rest of the worlds’. The world should be able to look at us and say, “oh, those people are Christians.” How much more powerful would our witness be if that were the case? If we actually start living what the Word teaches us? I know that this is not the case in every corps, but it is the case in a lot of corps. It is easy to tell just test the fruit.

I think when we go out into the world to win souls for Christ the world is looking for something different than what they already have. A lot of us “professing Christians” lives are mirror images of those that are still of the world. When we start critiquing our lives we need to ask ourselves what has Kingdom value and what has worldly value. It is easy to distinguish from the two. One is eternal and the other will die with the rest of the world. Lets concentrate on those things that are eternal!! That is what William Booth’s Army was like. They were all about the Kingdom’s business. God Bless all that you do!!