“…[William Booth] knew intuitively that alleviating the suffering of the poor would prevent society from falling into chaos. This was not his primary motivation for preaching the gospel but an outcome of that preaching. Booth was primarily an evangelist and a revivalist pressing the hope that spiritual regeneration would manifest itself in social stability.”
–Dr. Roger J. Green-
William Booth firmly believed that true regeneration started on the inside and worked its way out. He knew that if regeneration was to manifest itself physically it must first happen spiritually. Christ worked this way and William Booth followed his example. His physical ministries were simply a manifestation of the spiritual ministries which preceded them.
In today’s Army our approach is much different. We seek to minister to the physical needs of mankind in hopes opportunities to minister spiritually will present themselves. Our success is nowhere near that of William Booth’s because there is a serious flaw in our logic. While our doctrine and theology claim to recognize the complex areas of a person as being fundamentally interconnected our actions address them as if they were separate. Instead of leading the lost to Christ when we minister to physical needs as separate we are actually enabling them to remain in sin.
A person with both physical and spiritual needs must be ministered to both physically and spiritually. When their needs are met physically alone they learn that the dimension for having their needs met is physical. Totally depraved, people will seek to have their needs met anywhere other than Christ. This means that spiritual needs seek fulfillment on a physical level. While satisfaction is impossible to achieve this way, it is more than possible for those needs to be supressed to a level at where they can be ignored. When we minister to physical needs alone we facilitate this type of superficial healing and ignore the root of the problem. Physical needs must be met physically and spiritual needs must be met spiritually.
Salvation of the eternal soul is not a physical matter. The things of this world will soon pass away. It is the spiritual dynamic of a person which has eternal consequence. On Judgment Day it will not matter whether a person is hungry or not. A feast is already prepared. It will not matter whether a person was homeless. They will be given a home in glory. All that will matter come Judgment Day is whether or not the blood of the Lamb is painted over the doorpost of their heart.
My friends, if our goal as an Army is to affect the kingdoms of this world than we need only continue what we are doing. But if we hope to affect the kingdoms of eternity we must focus on those kingdoms. If we make his name known He will make ours known. Long after this world is dead, gone and forgotten.
“Not every man who asks for a drink thirsts for water.”
–The Transparent Man-
6 comments:
In reading your posts, it seems you do not agree with the Army. Aren't you in training to become a Salvation Army minister? If you disagree with them, maybe God is not calling you to officership. Maybe He is calling you to full-time ministry someplace else, not associated with the Army. Just an observation.
Or maybe God is calling you to ruffle the feathers and help the Army get back to the basics of why and where it started.
To anonymous,
I would find ministry somewhere else if that were the example Scripture gave. However, nowhere do I see Christ being disobedient to the Father's commands because he saw weakness. The example I see Christ set is to intentionally work to strengthen those areas of weakness.
I firmly believe that The Salvation Army's calling was primarily prophetic in nature and that somewhere along the line we got lost in the whole "incarnate" aspect of it all. That incarnate living has sense shifted from means to goal. But that is an entirely different matter. You're good at getting me off topic anonymous.
Throughout the New Testament Paul didn't go around to churches saying, "If I disagree with a way you are doing ministry, I am not going to work with you. I work only with the "denominations" that I believe have it all together." Rather, he came in love and in the Holy Spirit hoping to bring unity and renewed vision based on Christ's ministry to those that may have forgotten a few things. Right? :)
AND, though I agree with Anonymous #2, I also think it's more than just "ruffling" feathers... but rather restoring vision and truth :).
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