Is The Salvation Army Pentecostal?

Philip Cairns wonders if the Army was the first Pentecostal movement.


H
ere is a description of an early Salvation Army meeting recorded in General Bramwell Booth’s autobiography Echoes and Memories:

‘At night Corbridge led the hallelujah meeting till 10 o’clock. Then we commenced an All-Night of Prayer. Two hundred and fifty people were present till 1am; two hundred or so after. A tremendous time. From the very first, Jehovah was passing by, searching, softening and subduing every heart. The power of the Holy Ghost fell on Robinson and prostrated him. He nearly fainted twice. The brother of the Blandys entered into full liberty and then he shouted, wept, clapped his hands, danced, amid a scene of the most glorious and heavenly enthusiasm. Others meanwhile were lying prostrate on the floor, some of them groaning for perfect deliverance ….’

This happened in 1878 - 22 years before the official start of the Pentecostal movement. Was The Salvation Army Pentecostal, or did it at least begin that way?

‘But we cannot have what Peter obtained on the day of Pentecost’ wrote someone to me recently. However, Peter himself, in that great sermon which he preached that day, declared that we can, for he says: ‘ Ye shall receive the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you’ - Jews, to whom I am talking - ‘and to your children,’ and not to you only, but ‘to all that are afar off’ - nineteen hundred years from now - ‘even as many as the Lord our God shall call,’ or convert (Acts 2:38, 39).’

In recent days, some people have challenged The Salvation Army by referring back to its early days and suggesting that it has moved away from its Pentecostal roots. Are they right? Was Brengle really a Salvationist Pentecostal?

Read more from Rubicon>

Words Have Power

Stephen Court writes on Armybarmy Blog:
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
He is risen!

How's your soul?
----
Are the roots of bitterness gone?
----
Have you been to Boston Common?
----
The kingdom of God is at hand.
----
We admit that it maybe comes up too often for everyone's comfort, but it has been a few days since we went on a rant, so, here goes:

Words have power. Yes, that is usually used in the context of either speaking life instead of death (classic verse - Ephesians 4:29 - Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen) or of the prophetic (see the creation account of God speaking things into being).

But it also goes for semantics - the meanings of words.

When we use certain words we imply and apply certain meanings. When these words enter the general vocabulary they shape the meaning of the things they describe. Words have power.

We (The Salvation Army) have been using some words and terms far too carelessly. Here are some examples:

lay (as in 'lay people'): this refers to people who are not ordained and otherwise qualified to participate in Christian service. It is carelessly applied to everyone who is not an officer. This is poor theology and terrible history. Despite the mistake of the late 1970s and the 'ordination' of officers at commissioning, there is not some mystical abracadabra 'ordination' that accompanies commissioning (follow the ongoing fight on the exact words that have to be said during this exercise to catch the heated disagreement on this non-salvationist perspective of ordination). None of our generals and the vast majority of our commissioners (in all of history) have not been 'ordained' in the mistaken sense that the relatively recent commissioning exercise has appended. By the loose use of the term 'lay' that means Booth, Railton, Booth-Tucker, Higgins, Carptenter, Orsborn, Kitching, Coutts, Wickberg, Wiseman, Brown, Wahlstrom, Burrows, Tillsley, Rader, Gowans, Larsson, Clifton, and Bond were/are ALL 'LAY PEOPLE'. The term is ridiculous in a Salvationist context. There are no 'lay people' in The Salvation Army. There are converts, recruits, soldiers, and officers. That's it. Please stop using this term -this goes for official SA publications, generals and commissioners - everyone who has picked up this incorrect and inaccurate language.
Read more>

Headlines week 22

Are Americans Getting Comfortable With Immorality?
Christian Post - "While the majority of Americans believe that the country’s morality is poor and lacking, the gap between those looking for the moral high ground and those who believe we are already morally good is closing."

Course Teaches Christians Biblical Entrepreneurship
CBN.com - "Living as a Christian in today's society can be a challenge. But mirroring Christ in any business venture can be even more of a challenge,"

Church leaders say false prophets hurt the Christian message
TimesFreePress.com - "As it turns out, it’s not the end of the world as we know it.
However, Family Radio International preacher Harold Camping, who predicted 200 million Christians would be taken to heaven a week ago Saturday before global cataclysm struck the planet, has a backup date."

Missionaries in hostile environments
PilotCatholicNews. com - "A movie that I learned about only recently, and too late to see before it left local theatres, depicts a true story involving Cistercian monks in Algeria who were killed by Muslim extremists in 1996. According to reviews, ''Of Gods and Men,'' a French film, captures the essence of the decisional difficulties faced by those who are advised to abandon hazardous mission work in hostile environments. What does one do when one's message is resisted?"

Early Sunday morning, May 29

May is soon over and summer is already here..
The summer is the time for open air meetings and here is a picture from an open air meeting in Daugavpils in the south east of Latvia...

…and here are some more pictures from Daugavpils

Below you can see a film clip from the open air meetings in Riga. This is a must see! I ran out of space on my memory card, so I did not get the entire song, but you can experience the feeling in the park:

It has been a different week. We have been on vacation and we took a car trip southbound from Riga. You can read the first report from Katowice here.

After Katowice we went on through Poland, the Czech republik, Slovakia, Austria och Italy all the way to the Mediteranian sea in Bibione, east of Venice. Almost 1.000 km in one day.

We have been in Bibione before. Almost 25 yearss ago. The boys were small and we went by car from Norway. The youngest son had not learnt to swim yet, so we thought that this should be a good occasion for improving his swimming skills. We gave a promise that the day the youngest son would be able to swim ten meters the boys should receive 50 SEK each. The thought behind that was that the older bothers should assist the youngest brother in his learning process.Obviously there is power in money for the first day in the pool the youngest brother swam ten meters, and the boys received 50 SEK each.

Now, 25 years later, we had three and a half wonderful days in Bibione, with temperatures above 35 degrees.

Then it was time to return through Italy, Austria, Slovakia, the Czech republik, Poland, and now on Sunday morning we are in Kaunas in Lituania with only four hours driving left to Riga.

And after that a new exciting week will start.

I hope it will be a blessed week for you.
Peter Baronowsky

Message from William Booth

A man, regularly coming to our meetings in Riga 1 corps, sent me this e-mail:
"Thought you might like to see why I come to your church and outreaches"
And attached this video-clip:

Heading south

We have vacation this week!
After the open air meeting last Friday Ruth and myself started to go south in a rental car with free miles...

The first night we slept in Kaunas in Lithuania. The next day we drove 740 km all through Poland and slept in Katowice. Then I suddenly realised that I have been there before. That was about 35 years earlier. Spånga/Järfälla Brass Band was doing a tour in Poland and they needed one cornet player and one trombone player from the Salvation Army. I was the cornet player.

This was during the Iron Curtain ages and every step we took was carefully supervised by the police or secret agents. We visited small pentecostal congregations, gathering in small apartments and it was not always easy to fit in a Brass Band in an average size living room.

During the trip we slept in private homes. Me, together with three other bandsmen were invited to sleep in the home of a family consisting of father, mother and daughter. During supper we tried to speak to each other. They could speak Polish and Russian and we could speak Swedish, English, German and French. We could not make ourselves understood to each other. The only way we could communicate was through Bible verses. We made a joke and gave them the verse about having angels as guests in their home. Looking at us they understood that it was a joke and laughed.

After the conversation of few words it was time to go to bed. The mother showed us to a room with a small double bed. We guessed two of us should sleep in that bed, but when she smiling backwards left the room and closed the door we suddenly understood that the small bed was where we were supposed to sleep all four of us. I do not remember more of that night. We probably fell asleep very fast exhausted of all impression from the day.

That band trip happened some time 1976-1978. It was shortly after we had experienced the charismatic renewal and got all our lives totally changed. We eagerly testified to everybody that wanted to listen and often also to those who did not want to listen. During the band trip we were supposed to preach in English so I brought my big English Bible together with my big Swedish Bible and my pocket Bible. At the customs I was taken into a room to answer questions about all my Bibles. I had to wait while they sent for a translator and then came all the questions about the big books I brought. In the end of the books they found maps of Israel which made them still more suspicious. I guess that the purpose of all this questions was to help me understand that it was not acceptable to speak loudly about the Bible in this country.

After half an hour they started to understand that I really enjoyed the situation. It gave me good opportunities to answer their questions telling them about Jesus, and they realised that I loved doing that. When they got that clear they did not want to speak to me any more. They just let me enter the country with all my books.

That was just a flash back that hit I me when we now, 35 years later, came back to Katowice. That was about Poland and Katowice. The next day we went on south in Europe. I will tell you more about that another day./PB

Headlines week 21

Harold Camping Breaks Silence, Predicts October 21 Rapture
Christian Post -"An unapologetic Harold Camping made a new prediction Monday: the rapture is actually on Oct. 21, not May 21 as he originally proclaimed."

5 questions about Obama and Israel
CBSnews - "So, now U.S. President Barack Obama can't understand what all the fuss was about last week."

An open letter to the church
WorldNetDaily - "As the pastor of an evangelical church in the Seattle, Wash., area, I am amazed at the lack of unity of the church in the United States."

Early Sunday Morning

Sunday morning. Another week full of impressions.

Tuesday we had our monthly Leader´s day in Riga. Our Officers, Cadets and managers for the social institutions come together one day per month for information and sharing. But this day was historic! Leaders from the other Baltic states took part. It was a very positive day. The day sarted with Isabel Beckett leading us in worship. The Regional Commander in Estonia, Daniel Henderson, did the morning devotion and told about the Salvation Army work in Estonia. Joakim Storck from Lithuania told about the growing work in the only corps in Lithuania, which is situated in Kalipeda. I told about Latvia and Norm Beckett had a great Bible study.
The rest of the day we shared in language groups and prayed together.

Leader´s day in Riga. See more picutures here.

This week we also received the monthly report from our new Social Center in Riga. The report included several touching stories about the families they visited and some statistics about what they have accomplished during that month:.
-During March 777 people have visited the center
-Consultation was given to 48 people;

-In the soup kitchen 400 soup portions were served;

-90 people had showers;

-50 people used the laundry machines;

-42 families were visited in their home;

-Food packages to families: 64;

-Small groups in Avotu centre: 60 people;

-Saved: 4 people;

-We interceded for the health for 14 people.

Let us keep on praying for the center and those working at the center.

Friday we had our Open Air meeting in Vermanes Parc in central Riga. The pictures below was sent to me from a person who attended last Open Air meeting. Picture from the Open Air meeting this week will come later next  week. It was a great meeting! The worship group from Riga 1 sang. Irina and Andrejs sang. Two dramas were performed. One from Riga 2 and one by the cadets. The sun was shining and many people were gathered. The soldiers handed out flyers with invitation to the meetings at the Riga corps.

Open Air meeting in  Vermanes Parc. See more pictures here.

You can expect more pictures and film clips from the meeting. It takes some time to download the films.

Have a blessed week!
Peter Baronowsky

Camping Trembles As May 21 Judgment Day Looms

Harold Camping is confident it's the end of the world as we know it. He's prophesying the rapture of the Church on May 21, 2011 at 6 p.m.
If Camping is right, that gives us less than two days to eat, drink and be merry—and, of course, preach the gospel to the lost. But few are buying into the “Judgment Day in May” hype as Camping has presented it—and some in the Body of Christ are vehemently calling him out as a false teacher.
The hype—which has spread via radio, billboards and websites like WeCanKnow.com—has scared many, including Camping himself.

CONTINUE READING ARTICLE

Support from Across Spain

"THE Salvation Army in Spain has stepped up its response to the earthquake that caused widespread destruction to the town of Lorca, Murcia, on 11 May. The team of seven people from Alicante Corps (Salvation Army church) which arrived in Lorca on 12 May was joined the next day by teams from Barcelona and Madrid Central Corps. The team from Barcelona took a van-load of food and clothing."
Read more from TSA webpage>

Days of Amos

Days of Amos
By R. Loren Sandford

What’s coming in the next few years? There’s bad news and there’s good news. The prophet Amos in ancient times brought a set of indictments against Israel that read very much like the sins of America and the Western world.

1. They rejected God’s law (Amos 2:4). In many ways too numerous to list here, so have we.

2. They believed in lies concerning false gods and demonic philosophies (2:4). The list of deceptions in modern times is long and spans a range of doctrines and philosophies, from open theism taught in the church to post-modernistic philosophy dominant in the world around us. The former denies the foreknowledge of God and, by extension, the fullness of His sovereignty; the latter writes God out of the equation altogether. And those are just two examples.

3. They had fallen into an economic self-focus that led to abuse (2:6-8). This is the America and the West that I have known all my life. Even in the church we have been obsessed with material prosperity and a focus on self.

4. Sexual immorality and perversion ran rampant. This occurred in more forms than Amos mentioned in this passage (see 2:7). The same is true today.

5. They had become arrogant in a way that led to abuse of those who stood before God in humility (2:7). Many Christians in America are increasingly viewed as a threat to society because we who stand on the Word refuse to join the approval of practices the culture regards as normal and acceptable. When in our history, until recent times, was it ever possible to lose a job over the issue of sharing your faith openly?

6. Their polluted and compromised devotion to God led to pressure on the Lord’s devoted ones to compromise (2:12). And so it is today.

What is sown must be reaped. "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap" (Gal. 6:7). This principle applied under the old covenant, and it applies under the new. Judgment, the reaping, begins in Amos 2:14 and reads very much like the current state of America and the West.

Read more>

More about "Cold Facts" and the Salvation Army

Sven Ljungholm writes on the webpage of TV4:

"Cold Facts’ incredulous activities could easily be swept under the ‘old news’ carpet. But that would be a too easy ‘out’ for them. Doing so means acting similarly to members of the TV4 team who sidestepped their obligations to act honorably and observe their ‘residual responsibility’; to take responsibility in representing their industry, as I must respect mine; responsibly sharing ethics lessons.

Attempting to re-establish trust is not as easy as simply saying ‘we’ll do better in the next program’ or next ‘season’. Nor is it a matter of replacing one ‘guilty’ reporter with a fresh face.

When a few of those working under the same ethical banner step out from under the shared protective cover (ethical obligations) and get dirtied, the principle of "you break it, you own it" applies. And in order to protect the industry the inherent instinct AND obligation is to distance oneself as the larger media organizations are doing. It’s no wonder the media is up in arms! And it’s no different than the simple expectations one places on membership anywhere, including on those wishing to become SA soldiers.

And here too I feel obliged to return to the subject of thepersonal, private ethics of the TV4 crew. Surely there must have been moments during the planning, the time spent in the field, during filming, interviewing,
editing when that still small voice of conscience said: hold on- this doesn’t feel quite honest- it's not above board, It's not who I am…

see WWW.FSAOF.BLOGSPOT for the entire column.



DO NOT LET THIS STORY FADE. INTEGRITY MUST BE UPHELD AND PROTECTED!

Headlines week 20

Hamas Prime Minister: Pray for an end to Israel
The Jerusalem Post - "Hamas PM says group will not recognize Israel; Erekat calls on Netanyahu to "say the numbers 1-9-6-7" if he is serious about peace."


The Failure of the Pizza and Video Game Gospel
worship.com - "Leadership Journal has a tremendous, much-needed commentary on the lack of depth in many youth ministry groups.
It still seems pretty obvious to us:  if you love Jesus, you’ll love him whether it’s fun or not.  And if you aren’t interested in Jesus unless it’s all fun and games, you don’t love Jesus…you love fun and games.  No wonder many kids “leave the faith” in young adulthood.  They were never really in it."

Evangelical Pastor David Wilkerson Honored for 'Well-Lived' Life
The Christian Post - "Thousands belonging to the immediate and spiritual family of David Wilkerson celebrated his life, legacy, and love for Christ at a memorial service Saturday at Times Square Church in New York City.Speakers, including leadership of the church Wilkerson had founded and his relatives, honored the evangelical pastor for a life "well-lived" through personal testimonies and songs rejoicing that he is now in heaven."

Early Sunday morning, May 15

Review of last wek from my personal viewpoint

Just a normal week at work

Monday
Arriving by boat to Stockholm for a meeting with the Latvian council. In the evening we even got time to hug our second youngest grandchild living in Stockholm together with her parents.

Tuesday
Airport bus to Skavsta (1,5 hour south of Stockholm) and a flight back home. We arrive at Riga airport at 14.00 and go directly to a meeting with the Finance- and Property Board 15.00.

Wednesday
Early departure for Skangal for a meeting with the Skangal Board with several positive reports.
During lunch break we had time to go over to the neighbor village Sarkani to see the "Children´s house", which will be finished soon.
We also had time to see the ongoing work with the earth heating system for the dormatory in Skangal. In Sweden you go deep down for the earth heating, but here they go hundreds of meters horisontally only 1,5 meters deep. The heating is then free expect for the pump system. Impressing! We plan to reduce the running costs very much through this new system.
After lunch we had a meeting about the future of Skangal and after that we went to Liepa to look for new facilities for the corps. The corps have had its meetings in the Library in fifteen years, and the Library is only available for the salvationists three hours every Sunday.
While we were in Liepa we also had an informal meeting with representatives for an organisation within pharmacy. They want to cooperate with the Salvation Army to create work opportunities for people outside the labour market.

Thursday
Thursday we had an interesting meeting. It was the first meeting with our Advisory Board. The board consists of prominent people from different areas of the society who are willing to give of their knowledge, experience and their advices to the Salvation Army in Latvia. We had a very positive starting meeting with the board consisting of three business men, one politician, a lawyer, an Ambassador and two people from media. We also want to increase the board with somebody from the academic world and one person from the cultural sector.

Friday
Friday morning we had a meeting with an NGO working with health issues. We plan to apply for EU-funding for a project together.
In the afternoon we had a meeting with our Education Board.

I did not spend many hours on my office chair this week and the piles are growing. .

A glimpse from the personal sphere: Our children and grandchildren met the other weekend in the southern part of Sweden. We did not have opportunity to participate, but they sent us a picture of all grandchildren just to comfort us.

 

Now it is Sunday morning and soon time to go down to the service at Riga 1. Today Ruth and myself are responsible for the meeting.

Have a blessed week
Peter Baronowsky

From Stefan Swärds´s blog

Today, May 12, 2011 I discussed TV 4’s program on Sunday about the Salvation Army with the (Swedish) Review Board for Radio and Television and the Union of Journalists.

I will now file a complaint accusing TV4 and Cold Facts with the Board of Professional Ethics of Journalists. I want to investigate if Cold Facts used sanctioned journalistic practices. As a journalist one may use a hidden camera, but only as a last resort but there are special rules for this. Is it allowable to use hidden cameras against Christian congregations; I want to get the matter tested in accordance with professional ethics.

I would also consider whether it is permissible to use hidden cameras in fake counseling sessions. It is the professional board in the Journalists' Union that will resolve these issues. It would be devastating for the whole profession, priests and pastors, if this is a permissible method of journalism.

I take it for granted that TV4 will be convicted for this, but it will take time for the ethics committee at the Journalists' Union to examine this issue. (I) Expect a ruling sometime in the autumn.

I hope that the Swedish Christian Council also makes a similar accusation.

(Translation from Swedish: Dr. Sven Ljungholm)

More about "Cold Facts" and the Salvation Army

Sven Ljungholm writes on the webpage of TV4:
"Cold Facts’ incredulous activities could easily be swept under the ‘old news’ carpet. But that would be a too easy ‘out’ for them. Doing so means acting similarly to members of the TV4 team who sidestepped their obligations to act honorably and observe their ‘residual responsibility’; to take responsibility in representing their industry, as I must respect mine; responsibly sharing ethics lessons.

Attempting to re-establish trust is not as easy as simply saying ‘we’ll do better in the next program’ or next ‘season’. Nor is it a matter of replacing one ‘guilty’ reporter with a fresh face.

When a few of those working under the same ethical banner step out from under the shared protective cover (ethical obligations) and get dirtied, the principle of "you break it, you own it" applies. And in order to protect the industry the inherent instinct AND obligation is to distance
oneself as the larger media organizations are doing. It’s no wonder the media is up in arms! And it’s no different than the simple expectations one places on membership anywhere, including on those wishing to become SA soldiers.

And here too I feel obliged to return to the subject of the
personal, private ethics of the TV4 crew. Surely there must have been moments during the planning, the time spent in the field, during filming, interviewing,
editing when that still small voice of conscience said: hold on- this doesn’t feel quite honest- it's not above board, It's not who I am…

see WWW.FSAOF.BLOGSPOT for the entire column.

DO NOT LET THIS STORY FADE. INTEGRITY MUST BE UPHELD AND PROTECTED!

TV4 and integrity

Dr. Sven Ljungholm writes on fsaof.blogspot.com:

There are three areas of focus in this, the 3rd article relating to what most blog visitors to the TV4 web site deem was a poor attempt at exposing what must correctly be termed a 'non-issue'; Can a sexually active homosexual be accepted as a Salvation Army soldier (full member of the church). While I believe that this (homosexuality) is an important issue, I do not think it is a defining one.

For me, a more urgent issue is, did members of the TV4 use ‘inside’ knowledge in entrapping SA personnel to 'demonstrate traditional spiritual means in helping people to deal with their psychological and spiritual concerns'?

Were unethical means used by TV4 in snaring naïve or less articulate SA representatives?  They were confronted by a slick TV4 undercover team who asked questions to garner responses they knew could be ridiculed, and they were.

One would expect two of the TV4 team to have demonstrated greater respect for the army. They are reported to be, or have been active members in the Pentecostal Church, and the other in the Covenant Church. Both denominations share historical views on what constitutes life styles that traditionally disallowed a person full membership in the church.  Personally disappointing to me is that they would be well versed in long time methods of spiritual counseling commonly used within their own denominations and recognize that they are identical to the army’s. Yet the SA, a sister church sharing similar fundamentalist Biblical positions, was singled out for intentional ridicule.

This was further compounded through the additional, pre-arranged interviews with two admitted homosexual Church of Sweden Pastors, ‘enlightened’ in comparison to SA pastors (officers), to further demonstrate the army’s antiquated and outdated beliefs.  I wonder if in fact the viewing public didn’t find their inclusion as simply silly, disparaging ‘clips’ intended to do nothing further but to mock the army and as ‘time fillers’.

Critics of TV4's fumbled attempt at professionalism run about 20 to 1 against their unethical, underhanded methods . Granted, some respondents voiced in more than once. Nonetheless, even the professional media watchdogs wonder if TV4 will survive this breech of professional conduct and why the network management hadn't stepped in to save the network’s face!

More pictures from the Open air meeting in Riga

Last Friday we had the first open air meeting in Riga for several years. Here are some more pictures from the occasion.

More pictures can be found here>
And here is an earlier blogpost from the occasion - here>

TV4 and integrity

Dr. Sven Ljungholm writes on fsaof.blogspot.com:

There are three areas of focus in this, the 3rd article relating to what most blog visitors to the TV4 web site deem was a poor attempt at exposing what must correctly be termed a 'non-issue'; Can a sexually active homosexual be accepted as a Salvation Army soldier (full member of the church). While I believe that this (homosexuality) is an important issue, I do not think it is a defining one.

For me, a more urgent issue is, did members of the TV4 use ‘inside’ knowledge in entrapping SA personnel to 'demonstrate traditional spiritual means in helping people to deal with their psychological and spiritual concerns'?

Were unethical means used by TV4 in snaring naïve or less articulate SA representatives?  They were confronted by a slick TV4 undercover team who asked questions to garner responses they knew could be ridiculed, and they were.

One would expect two of the TV4 team to have demonstrated greater respect for the army. They are reported to be, or have been active members in the Pentecostal Church, and the other in the Covenant Church. Both denominations share historical views on what constitutes life styles that traditionally disallowed a person full membership in the church.  Personally disappointing to me is that they would be well versed in long time methods of spiritual counseling commonly used within their own denominations and recognize that they are identical to the army’s. Yet the SA, a sister church sharing similar fundamentalist Biblical positions, was singled out for intentional ridicule.

This was further compounded through the additional, pre-arranged interviews with two admitted homosexual Church of Sweden Pastors, ‘enlightened’ in comparison to SA pastors (officers), to further demonstrate the army’s antiquated and outdated beliefs.  I wonder if in fact the viewing public didn’t find their inclusion as simply silly, disparaging ‘clips’ intended to do nothing further but to mock the army and as ‘time fillers’.

Critics of TV4's fumbled attempt at professionalism run about 20 to 1 against their unethical, underhanded methods . Granted, some respondents voiced in more than once. Nonetheless, even the professional media watchdogs wonder if TV4 will survive this breech of professional conduct and why the network management hadn't stepped in to save the network’s face!

Nothing is impossible

Danny Maloney knows the miraculous power of prayer
I am a volunteer at the Salvos’ family stores in Manunda, Cairns, Qld, and a recovering alcoholic.
Thanks to the Salvos’ Bridge Program, which I had to go through four times, I am sober today and loving it!
I wanted to share some amazing instances where I believe the power of prayer has saved my life.

In 1975 I had a car accident, breaking the C2 vertebrae in my neck. My mother was told I would not survive 36 hours—she prayed for me and here I am!

In 2001, I went fishing with two mates. I was as drunk as a skunk. After jumping from a rock, I fell, hitting my head as I sank to the bottom. My mate told me that they rang the police and ambulance and could not find me for about 14 minutes. When I regained consciousness in the hospital, the doctor told me that by everything
scientific I should be dead or a vegetable. He also told me he rang my mother in Melbourne and asked her to come and switch off my life support machine. But my mother prayed for me!

From TSA website Australia
Read more>

Let's hope that the trailer was a rush job.

The Cold Facts dishonest attempt to portray the Salvation Army (From fsaof.blogspot.com)

EMANUEL KARLSTEN on
JOURNALISM, RELIGION AND THE CHURCH

So it’s now clear what the Cold Facts’ scrutiny of Salvation Army will be about. Homosexuality. How very original. What's next? A disclosure that the Pentecostal church thinks that premarital sex is a sin? The Catholic Churchs’ displeasure with condom use?

It's obviously a good thing that Cold Facts examines society and especially the Salvation Army, which benefits immensely as a recipients of funding and often becomes the municipalities; and the state's extended helping hand.

I have blogged a few times before about how the Salvation Army effectively pared Cold Facts - as they perceive the reporting - ‘suspect’ scrutiny. The Salvation Army has responded openly to all business matters and did not want to agree to a interview (not necessary) and which was subsequently clipped together.

In the trailer that Hard Facts has now released the program gives the Salvation Army cause for concern; On any given point. The trailer dramatizes, of course, but the editing is effectively and deliberately pastes together a very false image.


They claim that gays are victims of exclusion from the Salvation Army's help. This obviously a direct error, which a quick check would confirm. An anonymous Salvation Army representative with a distorted (but still clear Jönköping district dialect) voice explains that the Salvation Army's basic view is that homosexual sex is a sin, a textbook answer from the fully open ethic’s document the Salvation Army has on its website. Then, in the middle of everything, two Malawian clergy comments are edited in, from a completely different faith community, continent and context, saying that homosexuals can be equated with dogs, pigeons and chickens. Finally, it appears as though someone is ejected from the Salvation Army "because they are not members". However, if you are familiar with the various ‘free’ churches (in Sweden) you will see that it is instead Stefan Gustafsson, Chair of the Ecumenical umbrella organization Swedish Evangelical Alliance (SEA), who ask the Cold Facts representative to "leave the building" because they "are not members" (the SEA).

If this is some sort of measure of honesty relative to the Cold Facts’ report, it is truly, truly sad.

Clearly, one is free to review the Salvation Army's position on membership. There is much that can be considered questionable there. There are two levels of fellowship (membership), one of which is "soldiership" – where one renounces much (eg alcohol) and one enters into a lifestyle (where, as an example, cohabitation, or sex before or outside marriage is not allowed) - and the other is "civilian membership", where, briefly, likes and supports the Salvation Army's work, but where one is unable or unwilling to be part of such lifestyle transformation.

This means that a homosexual can be a member – a civilian member (adherent)- of the Salvation Army. In the sense that anyone who ends up under the definition "sin", as in the Salvation Army's view of soldiership would be; whether you live in a homosexual relationship or, for example, drinking alcohol.

For more than two years I worked for the Christian newspaper THIS DAY and where I wrote untold column inches in which I tried to challenge the church in its views on homosexuality. We can and should continue to do so. But somewhere one must however also maintain a reasonable respect for the church's general decision to place limits on its own membership, how one chooses to see and interpret the Bible and one’s faith. If it extends to deciding whom we choose to help then it ought to be condemned. But if there is anything the Salvation Army does better than all other churches in the world it is to see and help the person, and not seeing him as a sinner - no matter what the Salvation Army or your own definition of sin is.

It would be more honest if that image were fitted in the Cold Facts report. Because, the aim of journalism should be to ensure that the truest and most realistic picture is presented. Not the one with the most tantalizing appeal.

Let's hope that the trailer was a rush job.

(Transparency: I'm not active, but I grew up in the Salvation Army where my parents are active as corps officers)

Early Sunday morning in Riga, May 8

Good morning!
This week we started our series of open air meetings in the central park in Riga. Here are a couple of video clips and pictures from the park.

Irina och Andrejs, corps leaders at Riga 2

The cadets presented a drama about the battle between good and evil

Here are some more pictures from the preparations for the meeting and from the meeting. The staff songsters were also singing, but I have no pictures from that since they let me sing in the songsters. But more people took pictures so more and better video clips and pictures will come during the week.

Testimony by Janis

Testimony by Aldona

Scripture reading by Irina

During the week we also visited Liepa and Sarkani for building discussions and Skangal for lunch and a talk.

This week we have put up cameras in different locations in our main building in the center of Riga. Now I have to dress  properly and comb my hair when I go to work so I look good on the pictures.

Now it is Sunday morning and soon time to go down to the meeting at Riga 1. Later this afternoon we will take the boat to Stockholm for a meeting on Monday.

Have a blessed week
Peter Baronowsky

Tribute to Rev. David Wilkerson

Tribute to Rev. David Wilkerson from World Challenge on Vimeo.

TV4 and the Salvation Army

"Cold facts" on Swedish TV4 will send a program on The Salvation Army view on homosexuality (see earlier articles on this blog).

Cold Facts has released a trailer promoting the program about the Salvation Army, to be broadcast on Sunday. It is a phenomenally poor introduction to the program.
-It opens with a lie that homosexuals can not receive help from the Salvation Army.
-It follows with a priest from another denomination in Malawi saying something unfavorable about homosexuals.
-It ends with someone being excluded from a SA hall because they were a non-member. The photo is not taken from a Salvation Army site but instead from a completely different location.

It appears that the Cold Facts (production team) did not find sufficient sensational revelations about the Salvation Army. As a consequence they therefore created a false picture of the Salvation Army and then point to the photo. Why does one (they) insinuate that images from very a different context are about the Salvation Army?

/PB
(Translation into English: Dr. Sven Ljungholm)

Cold Facts examines the Salvation Army - Version 7

From TSA web-site in Sweden:
After our offer to allow Marie Willermark to be interviewed in connection with the Cold Facts investigative report by the Salvation Army, she had three days notice to know the methods to be used and when it would occur - see e-mail conversation below.

Earlier articles on this topic

Cold Facts examines the Salvation Army Version 6
Cold Facts examines the Salvation Army version 5
Kalla Fakta Review Version 4
Kalla Fakta vetting Version 3
Cold Facts examines Frälsingsarmén
Media show great interest in the Salvation Army - including Cold Facts

2011-04-29 09:36 from Cold Facts

Hello
I have not received any reply to my email of last Tuesday about Marie Willermark’s response to an interview. The program will be broadcast on Sunday, May 8th and the interview with Willermark must be conducted on Tuesday morning next week. I’d like a response today if you agree to be available.
Regards

2011-04-29 10:06 from The Salvation Army

Hi,
Ok, I will come back to you during office hours today.
/

2011-04-29 10:31 From the Cold Facts

Fine, thanks!

2011-04-29 10:43 by The Salvation Army

Hello again,
However, I can’t get hold of Marie Willermark until later this afternoon. Hope it goes well if you get word later this afternoon.
2011-04-29 10:43 from Cold Fact

That's fine!
Kind regards,

2011-04-29 16:30 From Salvation Army

Hi,
returning here about the interview with Marie Willermark. Marie agrees to an interview under the conditions I have described earlier.
·      Namely, that she can see the recorded story in its entirety
·      then confer with other members of leadership who will be present during the visit. This will be 3-4 people
·      You then interview Marie and broadcast the interview unedited
·      .
In that you say yourself that your ambition is to broadcast the interview in an unedited condition, I believe, in relation to the duration, it’s possible to assign a time frame in advance and limit the time for questions and answers.
Lars Beijer kommer att bevaka min e-post under nästa vecka.
Vänliga hälsningar
With regard to the time of the interview, Marie can make herself available on Tuesday morning, provided it (the interview) is completed by 11:30 AM due to another engagement that can not be changed.

Next week I will be unavailable, so please email details of the time and place of the meeting, directly to
marie.willermark @ fralsningsarmen.se with a copy to me and lars.beijer @ fralsningsarmen.se


Lars Beijer will be monitoring my e-mail over the next week.
Sincerely,

2011-04-29 16:58 from Cold Fact

Hello
Excellent! That sound like a good approach. To think we are in time.
At 8:30 play/view the report-broadcast. You will then have the opportunity to talk with each other.
10:00 am Makeup of Marie Willermark
At 10:30 Interview of Marie Willermark in Cold Facts studio. Interview time: 3 minutes
The interview will be conducted by our program director Cicci Hallström.
It would be good if you could let me know on Monday who is going to accompany her so I can notify the front desk.
Sincerely,
****************************
The program content

We have still not been told what the Cold Facts’ program will focus on but the Cold Facts site states:

Salvation Army's views on gays reviewed

Sunday, May 8th, 2011 at 18:00

Cold Facts examines the attitude towards homosexuals in the Salvation Army, which is Sweden's second largest faith based solicitation organization. They receive millions of Swedish Kronor each year in donations and contributions from, among other sources the state, to help the vulnerable, but one group is excluded, the homosexual community.

In tonight's program the Salvation Army's attitude toward homosexuals is scrutinized. A hidden camera is employed and one of the Salvation Army Pastors tells Cold Facts that the organization's basic position is that homosexuality is a sin. Another Pastor tries to "liberate" the reporter from homosexuality through prayer.

Homosexuals are not allowed to become Salvation Army soldiers and their rights are restricted politically (supported) by the Salvation Army throughout the world. In particular, in Malawi, the Salvation Army wants them imprisoned because of their sexual orientation.

The cold facts teams - Jonas Alsgren, Michael Funke and Phil Pöysti - has for four months examined attitudes towards homosexuals in the Salvation Army, the second largest religious fund raising organization (in Sweden). The question is whether it is contrary to the rules granting government funds to religious groups.

Source: http://www.tv4.se/1.2029638

(TRANSLATION FROM SA WEBSITE SWEDEN:
Dr. Sven Ljungholm)

Headlines week 18

Bin Laden death: LAPD increases patrols of religious institutions, 'high profile' terrorist targets
Los Angeles Times - "Local authorities are increasing patrols at religious institutions and other potential terrorist targets in the wake of the death of 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden."

Time. . . Don’t Waste it.
Greg´s blog - "So let’s deal with reality. Someone who really does love you very much deposits into your bank of time 86,400 seconds every single day. That someone is God. And the condition is that you must spend it. You can’t save up time today and apply it toward tomorrow—there’s no such thing as a 27-hour day. Each and every day, you have the opportunity to invest your precious commodity of time."

Listening to Those We're Losing
Wesleyan life - "While sitting around the after-service bonfire at a Wesleyan family camp, a seasoned pastor asked me: “Jack, what is your impression of how the Christian church is doing in North America? Are we gaining ground, losing ground, or holding even?” I don’t presume to have an adequate answer to such a complex question, but as I continue to ponder the question I think about three groups of people with whom the church clearly is not doing very well. With these three audiences, we are losing ground rapidly:"

Early Sunday morning - May 1

I wake up an early Sunday morning in Moss at the Salvation Army School in Jelöy in Norway. 25 years ago we lived here. For nine years this was our work place. This is where our children grew up. Today one of our sons lives here with his family and is working as teacher at the school. We arrived yesterday evening and we will go back tonight. A few hours together with our youngest grandchild who will be two years old in a month. We have not seen here for half a year so that is really worth the trip. And, of course, it is nice to meet her parents too.

This week we have had an disaster course in Riga. Robert Tuftström, with experience from Haiti and many other disaster areas, have been in Riga to teach  a three-day course. We plan to set up an emergency team to be prepared for future disasters that we pray will never happen.

 

 Robert Tuftström...

...and the learners

We have also received encouraging reports that people have been saved different places in Latvia. One of the corps had a soldiers enrolment of two new soldiers last Saturday.Two months before the enrolment one of the recruits was taken by the police. The police called the corps leader and said that the man claimed to be a recruit in the Salvation Army and that he had asked the police to call the corps. The corps leader asked what kind of crimes he was accused of and the police told him that is was about something that happened five years ago. The police also said that they have known this man for many years but that he now seemed to be a totally different person. And then the police asked: "Do you think we can just let him go since he seems to be so much changed?" The corps leader answered that his opinion was that they should let him go and last Saturday he became a soldier in the Salvation Army.

We also received another encouraging message during the week. Our application for having open air meetings in Riga is approved!! In the main park on the big stage we will have six open air meetings Friday evenings in May and June. Riga Staff songsters will sing, there will be testimonies, Irina and Andrejs will sing, the cadets will perform a drama and we will hand out flyers inviting to our services in Riga. You can expect a report in next week´s "Early Sunday morning".

Until then I wish you a blessed week
Peter Baronowsky