Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Last Call "Devotion with Emotion" (Links Only for 2/17/2010)

http://calvarylastcall.blogspot.com/)">Last Call "Devotion with Emotion"
Links Only

LastCall: the connection between grace and good works -Bob Hoekstra

Posted: 16 Feb 2010 12:52 PM PST

 

40 Days: Day Twenty-four -Rick Warren

Posted: 16 Feb 2010 12:38 PM PST

 

Leviticus 1:1-3:17 ~ Mark 1:29-2:12 ~ Psalm 35:17-28 ~ Proverbs 9:13-18 -One Year Bible Blog

Posted: 16 Feb 2010 12:29 PM PST

 

ClassicWorshipVideo: We Are The Reason

Posted: 16 Feb 2010 12:26 PM PST

 

LastCall: We walk by faith, not by sight." -Mike MacIntosh

Posted: 16 Feb 2010 12:24 PM PST

 

LastCall: Abram emerged from Egypt a wiser man -Jon Courson

Posted: 16 Feb 2010 12:21 PM PST

 

SINsational "i" zed: U.S. Department of Peace: Healing the Soul of America? (BPT)

Posted: 16 Feb 2010 12:17 PM PST

 

One Thousand Years: Genesage "The Lesson" (Chp3:12a)

Posted: 16 Feb 2010 12:04 PM PST

 

Chuck Missler - Learn the Bible in 24 Hours - 15 The Gospels

Posted: 16 Feb 2010 11:35 AM PST

 

LastGenReport: Global Warming Fraud, the Bible, and Politicians (BPT)

Posted: 16 Feb 2010 11:33 AM PST

 

LastCall: if you only sat still and longed for Me, -God Calling

Posted: 16 Feb 2010 11:24 AM PST

 

LastCall: Pass the Salt! -Melody Green

Posted: 16 Feb 2010 11:17 AM PST

 

LastCall: giving us what we don't deserve -Bob Coy

Posted: 16 Feb 2010 11:13 AM PST

 

LastCall: "I have learned, in whatever state I am, therewith to be content -Spurgeon

Posted: 16 Feb 2010 10:49 AM PST

 

LastCall: not live our lives according to the culture, -Raul Ries

Posted: 16 Feb 2010 09:48 AM PST

 

Virtue* Women's Bible Study Fall 09 Lesson 6

Posted: 16 Feb 2010 09:44 AM PST

 

LastGenReport: Russia Tells Netanyahu It Will Hold off on Iran Arms Deal (BPT)

Posted: 16 Feb 2010 09:35 AM PST

 

ClassicWorshipVideo: I Waited For The Lord

Posted: 16 Feb 2010 09:27 AM PST

 

LastCall: "In waiting, I waited, for the Lord" -Streams In the Desert

Posted: 16 Feb 2010 09:18 AM PST

 

LastCall: five purposes in mind: worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, and missions. _Daily Hope

Posted: 16 Feb 2010 09:15 AM PST

 

LastCall: Communication -Chuck Smith

Posted: 16 Feb 2010 09:08 AM PST

 

LastCall: Either make the tree sound or make the tree rotten -Joyce Meyer

Posted: 16 Feb 2010 09:04 AM PST

 

LastCall: "Golden Thread of Grace" (Genesis 26:1-16) -Bob Caldwell

Posted: 16 Feb 2010 08:56 AM PST

 

One Thousand Years: Genesage "Class Begins" (Chp3:11)

Posted: 16 Feb 2010 08:53 AM PST

 

LastCall: Jack Kelley Revises His Rapture Prediction (again) -Grace thru Faith

Posted: 16 Feb 2010 08:09 AM PST

 

Michael James Stone

Fair Use Notice

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work herein is archived under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in reviewing the included information for personal use, non-profit research and educational purposes only.

Last Call

‘Your Devotion with Emotion’

This material was brought to you by Broadcast(B.C.)Christianity. Last Call Digest, is a ministry of Michael James Stone, volunteers, and people dedicated to the Love of God and Salvation of Souls. It is an aggragate of Christian Material selected to Bless you and Prepare you for each and every day you read them. May God Bless You as You Do!! Reading these Devotions will help you to prepare daily for life, living, and your Lord. You will hear God Speak To You thru them.  Jesus  is Coming Very Soon.

Last Call Digest

“the simple format”

Broadcast(B.C.)Christianity, operates by you, with you, and for you. “Freely you have received, freely give”  Pass this on, everywhere you can, anytime you can, anyway you can. You will be blessed if you do.LastCallDigest@michaeljamesstone.com

Last Days of the Last Generation                                                           “Last Generation”

                                      The simple format                                                                                      “the prophecy site just about prophecy”

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner.

The material is being made available in an effort to understand scripture, news, technology and society especially as it relates to God and Jesus. It is specifically for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. This is a completely non-commercial site for private personal use. No fee is charged, and no money is made off of the operation of this site. Nor is any implied reciprocal gratuities implied or construed.

Posted via email from The Last Call Digest

LastCall: When the Spirit of God comes to us-My utmost for His Highest

Taking the Initiative Against Depression

Arise and eat—1 Kings 19:5

The angel in this passage did not give Elijah a vision, or explain the Scriptures to him, or do anything remarkable. He simply told Elijah to do a very ordinary thing, that is, to get up and eat.

If we were never depressed, we would not be alive—only material things don’t suffer depression.

If human beings were not capable of depression, we would have no capacity for happiness and exaltation. There are things in life that are designed to depress us; for example, things that are associated with death. Whenever you examine yourself, always take into account your capacity for depression.

When the Spirit of God comes to us, He does not give us glorious visions, but He tells us to do the most ordinary things imaginable. Depression tends to turn us away from the everyday things of God’s creation.

But whenever God steps in, His inspiration is to do the most natural, simple things-things we would never have imagined God was in, but as we do them we find Him there.

The inspiration that comes to us in this way is an initiative against depression.

But we must take the first step and do it in the inspiration of God. If, however, we do something simply to overcome our depression, we will only deepen it. But when the Spirit of God leads us instinctively to do something, the moment we do it the depression is gone. As soon as we arise and obey, we enter a higher plane of life.

Michael James Stone

Fair Use Notice

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work herein is archived under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in reviewing the included information for personal use, non-profit research and educational purposes only.

Last Call

‘Your Devotion with Emotion’

This material was brought to you by Broadcast(B.C.)Christianity. Last Call Digest, is a ministry of Michael James Stone, volunteers, and people dedicated to the Love of God and Salvation of Souls. It is an aggragate of Christian Material selected to Bless you and Prepare you for each and every day you read them. May God Bless You as You Do!! Reading these Devotions will help you to prepare daily for life, living, and your Lord. You will hear God Speak To You thru them.  Jesus  is Coming Very Soon.

Last Call Digest

“the simple format”

Broadcast(B.C.)Christianity, operates by you, with you, and for you. “Freely you have received, freely give”  Pass this on, everywhere you can, anytime you can, anyway you can. You will be blessed if you do.LastCallDigest@michaeljamesstone.com

Last Days of the Last Generation                                                           “Last Generation”

                                      The simple format                                                                                      “the prophecy site just about prophecy”

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner.

The material is being made available in an effort to understand scripture, news, technology and society especially as it relates to God and Jesus. It is specifically for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. This is a completely non-commercial site for private personal use. No fee is charged, and no money is made off of the operation of this site. Nor is any implied reciprocal gratuities implied or construed.

Posted via email from The Last Call Digest

SINsational "i" zed: Angry All the Time (BPT)

In the Prophetic Perspective:

In news there is often a Shill game of “we need an article and we need it now” so hashing out a “story” is done according to a Hook and a biased base for the audience and a few facts with a lot of diatribe. On the Surface, the Hook is to get you, but the Story wears you out and soon you realize there was nothing prophetic, nothing Christian, no real reason to read it.

In the Prophetic Perspective:

Distortion of facts, even when done to agree with is still distortion and a lie. Christians are told: Do not Lie. Adding to facts is also a lie if it is used to peddle influencing of a political agenda rather than Jesus, salvation or the salvation of souls. This post is obvious as to no value in the End Times Scenario - the Prophetic Perspective

(I suspect Jack is angry all the time)

Angry All the Time

By Jack Kinsella
The Omega Letter

The Iran nuclear crisis is now seven years old - that is a long time to stay in crisis mode. Since the crisis erupted in 2002, the UN has imposed three ineffective and watered-down rounds of sanctions aimed at forcing Iran to give up its nuclear program.

Despite the baloney being served up by the slice at the UN, Iran's nuclear program isn't seven years old - just the crisis.

The Iranian nuclear program is nearly as old as the Islamic Republic, dating all the way back to the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War. There were high hopes in the West when 'reformer' candidate Mohammed Khatami was elected in 1997.

As it turned out, Khatami was really a shill; it was during his watch that Iran's nuclear standoff began. In 2004, Khatami concluded a deal with the EU under which Iran agreed to suspend most of its uranium enrichment.

The following year, Khatami was defeated by hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, former mayor of Tehran and believed to be among those who took over the US embassy and took its staff hostage in 1979.

Ahmadinejad was elected president in June, 2005. The following month, Iran announced it was resuming nuclear enrichment.

In 2006 as the UN negotiated, Ahmadinejad hosted an international conference on the Holocaust under the working title, "A world without America or Israel".

The purpose of the conference was to deny the Holocaust ever occurred.

In 2007, with the rest of the world hammering the Bush administration for allegedly 'cooking the books' in its effort to make the case for war against Iraq, the US intelligence community issued a joint threat assessment concerning Iran.

The consensus opinion of the gun-shy intelligence agencies was that the threat posed by Iran's nuclear program was overblown. Oddly, this report gets even MORE criticism than did the report that concluded Iraq had a WMD program.

By then, the Bush administration was so tainted by the constant hammering from the Left that nobody wanted to risk anything controversial.

Thoroughly beaten down by this point, the Bush administration was just marking time until the end of their second term. Obama had made rapprochement with Iran the centerpiece of his international foreign policy during his campaign.

So let Obama deal with it.

The genie is now out of the bottle. The horses have already escaped from the barn. Pandora's Box now stands wide open. We've crossed the Rubicon.

Iran has passed the point of no return and America will soon be up the creek without a paddle.

(I'm running out of metaphors, but I think you get the idea.)

I often wonder if we'd have been up the same creek today if the Bush administration hadn't been so totally delegitimized by eight years of constant opposition on ideological grounds, irrespective of the threat.

I mean, let's be real. On the very eve of war with Iraq, several Democrat representatives, including Jim McDermott of Washington State and David Bonior from Michigan appeared on CNN live from Baghdad!

Speaking from the heart of the enemy capital in time of war, they viciously attacked their own government.

McDermott sided with Saddam in opposing what McDermott calls the ``coercive stuff'' - inspections backed by force, which were the only kind that had even a remote chance of being productive.

Parroting Saddam's line to perfection, he said ``Iraq did not drive the inspectors out, we'' - actually, the U.N. - ``took them out. So they should be given a chance.'' His implication was that America, not Iraq, foiled the inspections.

Bonior's contribution from Baghdad was to charge that ``a horrendous, barbaric, horrific'' number of cases of childhood leukemia and lymphomas have been caused by ``uranium that has been part of our weapons system that was dropped here during the last war.''

"These weapons," he said (from Baghdad!) ``are coated with uranium that atomize and cause these serious health problems."'

During the election campaign, Obama's pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright made headlines when he said September 11 attacks were the result of "America's chickens coming home to roost."

The Obama administration's crisis with Iran is more a case of the Left's chickens showing up at their door.

I was struck by the familiar tone taken by Iran's Foreign Minister, Manucheher Mottaki in response to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's call for increasing the sanctions against Iran.

Mottaki said his government no longer takes Mrs. Clinton seriously, saying, “Mrs. Clinton’s efforts to take America back to the failed policies of the Bush administration era will not benefit the people or the government of that country,” Mottaki said.

Note to liberals, Democrats, communists, Marxists and other US administration officials: Our enemies can read. So don't act so surprised when you hear the enemy justify its actions against America by quoting your own words. Elections have consequences. (So do speeches running down your own government during wartime.)

Honestly, I can't quite identify the 'failed policies' of the Bush administration in context, since the Obama administration's efforts to 'right the ship' have all collapsed - because the 'failed policies' of the Bush administration remain the best options available.

Gitmo is a 'failed policy' of the Bush administration that Obama promised to make right. Gitmo is still there and still occupied. It is his alternative policy of bringing them to America is the policy that is failing.

Iraq was a 'failed' policy. However, it attracted jihadists like flies to honey. But since the jihadists were in Iraq fighting well-armed and well-trained US forces, they weren't in America killing unarmed and untrained American civilians.

So too, was the war in Afghanistan a failed Bush policy. But Iraq also distracted the terrorists away from Afghanistan. Once the Iraq War was lost, they reconverged on Afghanistan - and Obama wasn't ready.

The fact is that the 'failed Bush policies' kept America safe from attack upon her shores right up until the day Bush left office.

Obama reversed the 'failed' policy of treating terrorists like enemy combatants and ordered the military tribunals closed. Since then, there have been several attacks inside the United States, including the Fort Hood Massacre - and the Christmas Day bombing that only failed because the bomb failed to detonate properly.

When one gets right down to it, the division between the Left and the Right is only partly political. I believe it is primarily rooted, not so much in politics, but rather according to worldview.

The Left is primarily anti-Christian. That will make some of them howl, but our ideological divisions are what they are - and they split along religious lines.

The Left is pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage, anti-religion, heck, you can argue all you want to the contrary but the fact is that the ACLU represents the views of the Left and the Rutherford Institute represents the Right.

The ACLU is an atheist organization; the Rutherford Institute's focus is protecting Christian civil liberties from ACLU lawsuits.

America was settled by the Puritan Pilgrims, founded on Christian principles and testified to a national belief in a Creator-God as part of the Declaration of Independence. Over the course of America's history, it has been blessed accordingly.

But over the course of the past half-century, Americans have increasingly polarized along Christian, (not merely 'religious') lines. One can criticize Christianity today and win an election. If one dares to criticize any other religion, (except Judaism), and one is immediately labeled 'a bigot'.

Jesus said, "Whosoever therefore shall confess Me before men, him will I confess also before My Father which is in heaven." (Matthew 10:32)

For almost all of her existence, at least until this generation, America was not shy about confessing Jesus Christ. And it is obvious that Jesus confessed America's name before the Father.

No nation in the history of the world, before or since, has come close to reaping the abundance of blessings showered upon America. It is equally obvious that over the course of the past few decades, those blessings have become further between.

Because Jesus ALSO said, "But whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father which is in heaven."

"Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household." (Matthew 10:33-35)

One can track the increasing 'variance' without too much trouble. A recent poll showed that America is more 'at variance' than at any time in her history. Especially since Obama's election.

Obama is the most polarizing president in American history, according to a poll released by the Gallup organization on the occasion of the administration's first year anniversary.

The average difference in Obama's approval ratings between Democrats and Republicans turned out to be 65 percent - the highest first-year gap of any president so measured.

"The extraordinary level of polarization in Obama's first year in office is a combination of declining support from Republicans coupled with high and sustained approval from Democrats," Gallup's Jeffrey Jones reported.

But the polarizing of America didn't begin with Obama. It began with Ronald Reagan. who, as it turned out, was both a Bible believer and student of Bible prophecy. Things have only become more polarized in the years since.

The reason is because the Bible is true. Jesus is real and He is alive, which is why nobody can be neutral concerning Him. Not the Left. Not the Right. Not even the Middle.

Look around. They know as well as we do, whether they choose to acknowledge it or not. They know He is coming again. And that He is coming again soon.

That's why they seem so angry all the time.

Related Links


 Clinton on Iran: US not considering anything except sanctions - Ynetnews
 Why Sanctions Won't Beat Iran's Revolutionary Guards - TIME
 Dismal Dithering On Iran Is Dangerous - FOX News
 Russia delays delivery of S-300 advanced air defence missiles to Iran - Times Online
 Iran: We will never give up enrichment at any price - Times Ha'aretz
 Iran: The Coming Crisis: Radical Islam, Oil, and the Nuclear Threat - Times Mark Hitchcock (Book)

 

The Prophetic Perspective

Prove All Things knowing that all Prophecy is about Jesus and God revealing His Son…To us..for our…Salvation. We post material that is questionable, objectionable, and in the opinion of the Editor of the Prophetic Perspective, valid to use as God chooses to. Sometimes that is highly suspect as material setting “dates” of the Rapture is, but often these posts, may have pieces that are correct to futher study.  

“Rarely is anyone ALL RIGHT or ALL WRONG”

Michael James Stone

Fair Use Notice

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work herein is archived under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in reviewing the included information for personal use, non-profit research and educational purposes only.

Last Days of the Last Generation                                “Last Generation”

                                      The simple format                                                                                      “the prophecy site just about prophecy”

This material was brought to you by Broadcast(B.C.)Christianity. Last Call Digest, is a ministry of Michael James Stone, volunteers, and people dedicated to the Love of God and Salvation of Souls. It is an aggragate of Christian Material selected to Bless you and Prepare you for each and every day you read them. May God Bless You as You Do!! Reading these Devotions will help you to prepare daily for life, living, and your Lord. You will hear God Speak To You thru them.  Jesus  is Coming Very Soon.

Broadcast(B.C.)Christianity, operates by you, with you, and for you. “Freely you have received, freely give”  Pass this on, everywhere you can, anytime you can, anyway you can. You will be blessed if you do.LastCallDigest@michaeljamesstone.com

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner.

The material is being made available in an effort to understand scripture, news, technology and society especially as it relates to God and Jesus. It is specifically for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. This is a completely non-commercial site for private personal use. No fee is charged, and no money is made off of the operation of this site. Nor is any implied reciprocal gratuities implied or construed.

Posted via email from The Last Call Digest

LastCall: Are you leading change through personal change? (106-5) -Barry Werner

Are you leading change through personal change? (106-5)

If a leader is to make changes in their work environment, the change will start within them and then spread to their environment.

Read 2 Kings 22:10-23:25.

John Maxwell discusses how Josiah created public reform in Judah by first starting with personal renewal.

Throughout his 31 years of godly leadership, King Josiah wholeheartedly followed the Lord and devoted himself to leading the people well. His own spiritual passion soon began to influence Judah and eventually brought about public reform.

Even today Josiah remains a vivid example of a key biblical principle: Outward reform begins with inward renewal. The leader must experience personal change before he or she can implement public change. Leaders make impact the same way an atomic bomb does: They implode before they explode.

How did the young king “implode” before he “exploded”? After ten years on the throne, while he was still a teenager, Josiah sent several men to the high priest to reenergize the process of repairing the temple. While cleaning up the rubble, the high priest found the “Book of the Law” (2 Kings 22:8). Shaphan the scribe read it then reported its contents to the young king. And how did Josiah respond?

He imploded: “When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law… he tore his clothes” (22:11).

His tender heart and humility prompted him to embark on a national program of spiritual reform. The cycle worked this way for King Josiah: Personal renewal Personal change occurs Public change implemented Public reform occurs.

Josiah is a perfect example of the truth that outward reform begins with inward renewal.

Psalm 51:12-13 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you.

·       

Tags: Reform, Renewal

« Are you humble and teachable? (106-4)

Do you lead with purpose, vision and integrity? (107-1) »

Michael James Stone

Fair Use Notice

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work herein is archived under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in reviewing the included information for personal use, non-profit research and educational purposes only.

Last Call

‘Your Devotion with Emotion’

This material was brought to you by Broadcast(B.C.)Christianity. Last Call Digest, is a ministry of Michael James Stone, volunteers, and people dedicated to the Love of God and Salvation of Souls. It is an aggragate of Christian Material selected to Bless you and Prepare you for each and every day you read them. May God Bless You as You Do!! Reading these Devotions will help you to prepare daily for life, living, and your Lord. You will hear God Speak To You thru them.  Jesus  is Coming Very Soon.

Last Call Digest

“the simple format”

Broadcast(B.C.)Christianity, operates by you, with you, and for you. “Freely you have received, freely give”  Pass this on, everywhere you can, anytime you can, anyway you can. You will be blessed if you do.LastCallDigest@michaeljamesstone.com

Last Days of the Last Generation                                                           “Last Generation”

                                      The simple format                                                                                      “the prophecy site just about prophecy”

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner.

The material is being made available in an effort to understand scripture, news, technology and society especially as it relates to God and Jesus. It is specifically for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. This is a completely non-commercial site for private personal use. No fee is charged, and no money is made off of the operation of this site. Nor is any implied reciprocal gratuities implied or construed.

Posted via email from The Last Call Digest

Aggressive Christianity - Catherine Booth (Edited by Keith and Melody Green)

Aggressive Christianity - Catherine Booth

Edited and paraphrased by Keith and Melody Green


"And He said to them, 'Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to all creation.'" -Mark 16:15

"And I said, 'Who art Thou, Lord?' And the Lord said, 'I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But arise, and stand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the things in which Iwill appear to you; delivering you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you, to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, in order that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me."' -Acts 26:15-18

I was thinking, while I was reading these passages, what ifwe could erase from our minds all knowledge of the history of Christianity from the close of the period described in the book of Acts - and then looking at the book of Acts, sit down and try to calculate what was likely to happen in the world. We would most likely expect very different results - a radically changed world as the outcome of it all. A system which started with such power, under such promises and declarations on the part of its Author, and producing, as it did in its first century, such gigantic and monumentous results! We would have thought (if we knew nothing of what has intervened from then until now) that the whole world would have fallen long ago to the influence of that system, and would have been brought under the authority of its great Originator and Founder. I say from reading these Acts, and from observing the Spirit which moved the early disciples, that we should have anticipated ten thousand times greater results - and in my opinion, this anticipation would have been perfectly rational and just.

We Christians profess to have in the Gospel of Christ a mighty lever which, rightly and universally applied, would lift the entire burden of sin and misery from the shoulders (that is from the souls) of our fellow man - a total remedy for all the moral and spiritual woes of humanity. We all profess to believe this - Christians have professed to believe this for generations - and yet look at the world, look at so-called "Christian England and America." The great majority in these nations utterly ignore God, not even making a pretense of remembering Him even one day a week. And then look at the rest of the world. I have often become so depressed with this view of things that I have felt as if my heart would break. I don't know how other Christians feel, but I can truly say that "My eyes shed streams of water, because they do not keep Thy law." (Psalm 119:136) And because it seems to me that this dispensation1 compared with what God intended it to be, has been, and still is, as great a failure as the one that preceded it.2

Now I ask, how can this be? I do not for one moment believe that this is in accordance with the purpose of God. Some people have a very convenient way of hiding behind "God's purposes," and saying, "Oh! He will do His own will." I wish He did! They say, "You know, God's will is done after all." I wish it were! He says (in the Scriptures) it is not done, and over and over again laments the fact that it is not done. He wants it to be done... but it is NOT DONE! It is of no use to stand up and state theories and theologies that are in conflict with things as they really are. There has been far too much of this, and it has had a disastrous effect. We see the world is in this terrible condition... nearly 2,000 years have rolled by and here we are! How little has been done, comparatively. What little change has occurred in the habits, attitudes, and choices of the human race.

But some of you will say, "Well, but there has been a great deal done." Thank God for that! It would be sad if there were nothing done; but it looks like a drop in the ocean compared with what should have been done. Now I cannot accept any theory which so tarnishes the love and goodness of God in people's eyes, so as to make Him to blame for this lack of vitality and power in Christianity. And so far as my influence extends, I will not allow the responsibility and the blame for all of this to be rolled back upon God, Who so loved the world that He gave His only Son to suffering and death in order to redeem it. I do not believe it for a moment! I believe that the old arch enemy has succeeded in bringing about this state of things - in retarding the accomplishment of God's purposes and keeping the world largely under his own power and influence. And I believe he has succeeded in doing this, as he has always succeeded before - by deceiving God's own peopleHe has always done so. He has always conjured up a look - alike of God's real thing, and the closer he can get it to look like the original, the more successful he is.

He has succeeded in deceiving God's people:

First, as to the standard of their own religious life.

And secondly - he has succeeded in deceiving them as to their duties and obligations to the world.

He has succeeded first in deceiving them as to the standard of their own religious life. He has gotten the church, nearly as a whole, to receive what I call an "Oh, wretched man that I am" religion! He has gotten them to lower the standard which Jesus Christ Himself established in His Book - a standard not only to be aimed at, but to beattained - a standard of victory over sin, the world, the flesh, and the devil - real, living, reigning, triumphing Christianity!Satan knew the secret of the great success of those early disciples. It was their wholehearted devotion, their all-encompassing love for Christ, their utter renunciation of the world. It was their entire absorption in the salvation of their fellow man and the glory of their God. It was an enthusiastic religion that swallowed them up and made them willing to become wanderers and vagabonds - for His sake to dwell in dens and caves, to be torn in two, and to endure persecution in every form to the ends of the earth.

It was this degree of devotion which Satan saw he had no chance against. Such people as these he knew would ultimately conquer the world! People could not resist that kind of spirit, that amount of love and zeal, and if Christians had only gone on as they began long ago, then the glorious prophecy would have already been fulfilled - the kingdoms of this world would have already "become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ." (Rev. 11:15)

Lowering The Standard

Therefore the arch enemy said, "What must I do? I will be defeated after all. I will lose my supremacy as the god of this world. What can I do?" No use bringing in a gigantic system of error, which everyone will see to be error. Oh dear no! That has never been Satan's way. His plan has been to get a hold of a good man here and there who will, as the apostle says, creep in unaware and preach another doctrine, and who will "mislead, if possible, even the elect." (Matt.24:24)And he did it! He accomplished his design. He gradually lowered the standard of Christian life and character. And although in every revival in church history God has raised it again to some extent, we have nevergotten back completely to the simplicity, purity, and devotion set before us in these Acts of the apostles. For every time God was raising the temperature in the church so that people were once again on fire with the Holy Spirit - in every age Satan has gotten someone to oppose and to show that this was too high a standard for human nature. It was altogether beyond us, and therefore Christians must sit down and just be content to be "Oh wretched man that I am" people, to the end of their days. He has gotten the Church into a condition that sometimes makes one positively ashamed to hear professing Christians talk. It is no wonder that thoughtful, intelligent men are being driven from such Christianity as this. It would have driven me off too, if I had not known the power of godliness. I believe this kind of religion has made more atheists than all the "atheist books" ever written.

Yes, Satan knew that he must get Christians down from that high pinnacle of wholehearted consecration to God. He knew that he had no chance till he tempted them down from that blessed vantage point. And so he began to spread those false doctrines, to counteract what John wrote in his epistles - for before he died, John saw what was coming and sounded the alarm down the ages - "Little children, let no one deceive you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the devil." (I John 3:7-8) Oh Lord revive that doctrine! Help us afresh to put up the standard!

Oh! The great evil is that dishonest-hearted people, because they feel it condemns them, lower the standard to their miserable experience. I said when I was young (and I have repeated it many times in my mature years) thateven if it sent me to hellI would never pull the standard down. Oh, that God's people felt like that! There, in the Bible, the glorious standard is placed before us, the power is offered, the conditions laid down, and we can all attain it if we are willing. But even if we are not willing - for the sake of the children and for generations yet unborn, do not let us drag the standard down, trying to make it meet our weak and failing Christian experience. LET US KEEP IT UP! That is the way to get the world to look at it. Show the world a real, living, self-sacrificing, hard-working, toiling, triumphing Christianity, and the world will be influenced by it; but anything short of that, they will turn around and spit upon.

Duties And Obligations To The World

Secondly, Satan has deceived even those whom he could not succeed in getting to lower the standard of their own lives, concerning their duties and obligations to the world. I have been reading the New Testament lately with special reference to the aggressive spirit of original Christianity. And as far as I can see, we come infinitely short by comparison. "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to all creation."Look at what is implied in this commission. I believe that no generation since that first century has yet fathomed the meaning of this divine commission. Look at it! Would it ever occur to you that it really meant, "Go and build chapels and churches, and invite the people to come in, but if they won't - leave them alone"? "GO!" To whom? "To all creation." Where am I to get at them? WHERE THEY ARE. "All creation." This is the extent of your commission. Seek them out, run after them, wherever you can get at them. "All creation" - wherever you find a creature that has a soul - there go and preach My Gospel to him. If I understand it, that is the meaning and spirit of this commission.

In another commission to Paul, God says "...I am sending you to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God." (Acts 26:17-18)They are asleep - go and wake them up. They do not see their danger. If they did, there would be no need for you to run after them. They arepreoccupied. Open their eyes, and turn them around by your desperate earnestness, intense persuasion, and moral force. Oh! It makes me tremble when I think of how much one man can do for another! '"Turn from darkness to light, and from the dominion of Satan to God." How did Paul understand this? He says, "We persuade men."(II Cor.5:11) Do not be content with just putting it before them, giving them gentle invitations, and then leaving them alone. Paul ran after the poor souls, and pulled them out of the fire. Do the same! Take the blindfold off their eyes which Satan has bound them with; knock and hammer and burn your words into their poor, hardened, darkened hearts with the fire of the Holy Ghost, until they begin to realize that they are IN DANGER! Go after them. If I understand it, that is the spirit of the apostles and of the early Christians.

Sure it's okay to build churches and chapels; we should invite the people to them. But do you think it is consistent with these commissions to rest only in this, when three-fourths of the population utterly ignore our invitations and take no notice whatsoever of our buildings and of our services? They will not come to us. That is an established fact. Jesus Christ says, "Go after them." He says, "Go outinto the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, that My house may be filled." (Luke 14:23) Iwill haveguests, and if you can't get them in by nice, civil measures, use military measures. Go and compel them to come In.

Oh! People say you must be very cautious. You must not push religion down people's throats. What! Should I wait until an unconverted, godless man wants to be saved before I try to save him? Am I to let my unconverted friends and acquaintances go quietly down to damnation, and never tell them about their souls until they ask, "If you please, I want you to preach to me!" Is this anything like the spirit of early Christianity? No! Therefore we must make them look, and if they run away from you in one place, meet them in another, and let them have no peace until they submit to God. This is what Christianity ought to be doing in this land, and there are plenty of Christians around to do it. Why, we might give the world such a time of it, that they would get saved in self-defense - if we were only aggressive enough and determined that they should have no peace in their sins.

An Example

I had been speaking in a town in the west of England on the subject of the responsibility of Christians for the salvation of people's souls. The gentleman with whom I was staying had winced a bit under the truth, but instead of taking it to heart in love and having it enable him to better serve God, he said, "I thought you were rather hard on us this morning." I said, "Did you? I should be very sorry to be harder on anyone than the Lord Jesus Christ would be." He said, "You can push things to extremes you know. You were talking about seeking souls, and making sacrifices. Now you know that we build the chapels and churches and pay the ministers - and if the people won't get saved, we can t help it!" I said, "It is very heartless and ungrateful of the people, I agree. But my dear sir, you would not reason this way in a serious physical matter. Suppose a plague were to break out in London, and the Board of Health appropriated all the hospitals and public buildings for the treatment of the disease. And suppose they were to issue proclamations saying that anyone who came to these buildings would be treated free of charge - and best of all, that the treatment was guaranteed to cure them. Now what if the people were so blind to their own well-being, so indifferent and uncaring, that they refused to come, and consequently the plague increased and thousands were dying. What would you say? 'Well, the Board of Health has done all they could, and if the people will not go to be healed, they deserve to perish - let them alone!' What? Let the whole land be depopulated? No! If the people will not come to them, they must go to the people and make sure that everyone had the necessary treatment to be saved from the plague."

I did not have to explain any further... he understood perfectly, and I believe, by the Spirit of God, he was able to see his mistake, to take it to heart, and determine to get to work for perishing souls.

What We Must Do

Men are preoccupied with many things, and we need to bring this subject of salvation powerfully to their attention. There is some one soul that you have more influence with than any other person on earth. Are you doing all you can for their salvation? Take them lovingly aside and say, "My dear friend, I have never spoken to you closely, carefully, and prayerfully about your soul." Let them see the tears in your eyes, or if you can't weep, let them hear the tears in your voice. Let them realize that you feel their danger, and are in distress for them. Then God will give His Holy Spirit so they can be saved.

It is a bad sign for the Christianity of this day that it provokes so little opposition. If there were no other evidence of it being wrong, I could tell from just that. When the Church and the world can jog comfortably along together, you can be sure there is something wrong. The world has not compromised - its spirit is exactly the same as it ever was. If Christians were equally as faithful to the Lord, separated from the world, and living so that their lives were a reproof to all ungodliness, the world would hate them as much as it ever did. It is the Church that has compromised, not the world. You say, "You're implying that we should be getting into endless conflict with the world!" Yes- "Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword" (Matt. 10:34) There would be uproar, yes!The Acts of the apostles are full of stories of uproars. One uproar was so great, that the Chief Captain had to get Paul over the shoulders of the people, otherwise he would have been torn to pieces. "What a commotion!" you say. Yes, and bless God, if it was like that now, we would have thousands of sinners saved.

The Dignity Of Love

"But," you say, "wouldn't that be inconsistent with the dignity of the Gospel?" It depends on what you mean by "dignity. " It was a very undignified thing, humanly speaking, to die on a cross between two thieves. The Pharisees spat upon the humbled sufferer and shook their heads and said, "He saved others, He cannot save Himself." Ah! But He was intent on saving others. That was the dignity of everlasting, unquenchable love, baring its bosom to suffer in the place of its rebellious creature - man. It was incarnate God, standing in the place of condemned man - the dignity of LOVE!

Oh friends! Will you get this baptism of love! Then you will, like the apostles, be willing to stuff your body into a basket and be let down by the wall, if need be - or suffer shipwreck, hunger, peril, nakedness, fire, or sword, or even beheading (II Cor. 11:23-33) -ifthereby you may enlarge His Kingdom and win souls for whom He shed His blood. Oh Lord, fill us with this love and baptize us with this fire! And then the Gospel will arise and become glorious in the earth, and men will believe in us, and in it. They will feel its power, and they will yield to it by the thousands, and by the grace of God, THEY SHALL!

Catherine Booth (1829-1890) and her husband William founded The Salvation Army in 1865 in heir home country, England. Together they raised eight dedicated Christian children and preached the Gospel worldwide. Intent on saving others to the end Catherine stepped out boldly in ways that many women (even in our day) are reluctant to go. And in the Army William and Catherine led, men and women worked side by side for the salvation of the world. Her life made such an impression that at her death over 50,000 people flocked to Congress Hall in London to pay tribute to the "Mother of the Salvation Army.' More than 36,000 attended her funeral, and at the invitation to give their hearts to God, hundreds rose to their feet.

Catherine authored six books as well as various pamphlets and articles. Her biography "Catherine Booth," written by her granddaughter, is published by Hodder & Stoughton.

Catherine Booth

Edited and paraphrased by Keith and Melody Green

Michael James Stone

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