Early Sunday morning in Riga January 29

Winter came at last to Riga. We have had a couple of days with minus ten degrees.

It has been an intensive week. It started with a two day gathering for all Officers and other leaders in Latvia. It was the third time we started the year with two Leader´s Days in Skangale. We looked back what happened during 2011 and looked forward to what will happen during 2012.

Here are more pictures from the Leader´s Days in Skangale

The first day after Skangale we received the first truck with humanitarian aid to our new Storage in Riga. It came from the Salvation Army in Lidköping, Sweden, and they sent 19 ton of clothes and other things.

 Here are more pictures from our storage in Riga

The work week ended with two days of teaching at the School for Officers Training with the first year cadets.

Now it is Sunday morning and in a few hours we will go down to Iecava for a soldiers enrolment. Last soldiers enrolment in Iecava was many years ago, so that will be a very special event for the corps in Iecava.

Have a blessed week
Peter Baronowsky

Headlines week 4

Defending Truth Without Compromise
Charisma News - "The most frequent objection of those who fear the presence of believers in government is, "What right do you have to impose your morals on us?" Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council tells them, "The same right you have to impose your lack of morals on us."
Someone's values will always be reflected in public policy. Almost every government policy decision is a value judgment. In this postmodern world, where moral relativism is the philosophy of choice, these value judgments are often based on the conditions of the moment rather than objective, transcendent, biblical truth. This is where the two sides diverge."

About uniforms

Patrik Oltermann in FSAOF - "The uniform has been defined as a prophetic robe (the prophetic view of ourselves and others that we have made ourselves available in the war). The uniform has also been described as a sacrament (an outward sign of an inner grace). These aspects are vitally important and should not be lost. But they are only meaningful aspects of uniforms (whether it be a parade, work or field uniform) if it is worn outside the corps’ walls. Moreover, it is only meaningful if the uniforms as a external sign is followed by an inner grace."


The "Right Time" Is Now
Greg Laurie, devotion - "Though she was raised in a Christian home, my mother rebelled against God for most of her life. And whenever we got into any serious discussion about life or its meaning or the afterlife or God, she would always say, "I don't want to talk about it."
One day, she was very ill, and I felt especially impressed to go and have a conversation with her. So I went to see her. I said, "I want to talk to you about your soul, and I want to talk to you about the meaning of life and what happens after we die."

Words of William Booth 2

My ambition is the souls of men

William Booth meeting King Edvard VII.
The King asked William Booth to write in his autograph album. William Booth wrote:

"Some men´s ambition is art
Some men´s ambition is fame
Some men´s ambition is gold
My ambition is the souls of men"

From Words of William Booth by Cyril Barnes

Early Sunday morning in Riga January 22

Weekly review from my point of view

It is Sunday morning in Riga. The first snow has been falling. Not much snow. Only a little snow covering the ground. After two cold winters with lots of snow I cannot say a long for more snow.

The past week we have had some business meetings and something so unusual as time to work in the office.

This week we have decided the theme for our coming congress in Riga this summer. In airports and in major train stations you can often see a sign showing a meeting point. We will use that sign and call our congress "Meeting Point Riga 2012". If you want more information about our congress you can send a mail to iveta.rasa@pestisanasarmija.lv. Soon we will also post more information about our Congress on our website: www.pestisanasarmija.lv.

During the past week Ruth and myself have also made our visiting plans for this semester. We plan to have three gatherings in all corps and outposts. One Sunday meeting, and after the meeting we will invite soldiers, adherents and other interested to a gathering called "Open Microphone". In this gathering we will inform about what is happening in the Salvation Army and also be available for questions and comments. We also plan to have a corps review in all corps.

  Tomorrow, Monday we will go to Skangal together with all officers, other Leaders and cadets for the first Leader´s Days for this year. There will be a full program in two days.

This weekend our three sons will meet each other. They live far away from each other and they have been travelling from Stockholm, Borås and Moss to take part in the the Slavation Army floor ball cup in Drammen, Norway. They will play in the Swedish team.

But now it is Sunday morning and soon time to go down to the Sunday morning meeting at Riga 1 Corps.

Have a blessed week
Peter Baronowsky

Baptism's purpose...

Major Jostein Nielsen, Norway
Translated from Norwegian; Sven Ljungholm

"I will speak at the Salvation Army today (on Baptism). Those who know that the Salvation Army does not practice the baptism ritual may wonder where I’m headed and might be anxious about some of these introductory words, but I'm not on a collision course with either the Bible or the teachings of my church.

In the church calendar today celebrates the Feast of Epiphany, where the texts of Jesus' baptism is in focus. If baptism is necessary for salvation, it may seem absurd that Jesus had to be baptized. John the Baptist said so and many others have come down on the same side. But perhaps there is a key to understanding this in the book of Hebrews?

If you've followed my blog over the last couple weeks, have you noticed how Jesus for a brief time was made lower than the angels, and that he truly had to be as 'the children of flesh and blood'. This complete identification with humans was further confirmed further through baptism. Baptism signifies the transition. Jesus is ready to complete the mission: to save the world. His baptism was the gate to the road to Calvary.

Therefore Jesus’ baptism was necessary, not for his own salvation, but for that of the whole world. I think he saw it as a foretaste of death and resurrection. His comments to John: "We need to do to fulfill all righteousness" is a confirmation of that.

For me to be righteous before God, I must also die with Christ and rise with him. It is this that is 'baptism', and that ‘baptism’ is necessary for salvation. The rituals can symbolize this in a good way, but if it does not happen on the inner level, they are external actions only in conjunction with religious ceremonies. Piety concerned Jesus. The ‘inner’ characterizes the ‘external’ and not the opposite. Therefore, the Army opted out of the external rituals without thereby saying that it is wrong to exercise and take full advantage of them.

In order to live a sacramental life, it is necessary to be 'baptized'. How it happens is a mystery, and in the expository lesson later today I will testify to the mighty 'experience' I had when I recognized and became aware of what it meant to be dead with Christ and raised with Him in this life

Today's 'manna':
I'm dead and risen with Christ."

The General after six months

Interview with General Linda Bond after six months in office.

Headlines week 3

Preaching what-ifs
Wesleyan Life - "What if preachers developed a deep reliance upon the Holy Spirit like we did when we preached our first sermon?
What if the words of preachers painted inescapable, unforgettable, and compelling pictures of God's kingdom in the hearts of people?
What if preaching was so brutally honest about the bad news that people craved the good news?"

Martin Luther King Jr.: A Letter to American Christians in 1956 (and Today)

Ed Stetzer - In a 1956 message, Martin Luther King Jr. reads an imaginary letter from the Apostle Paul. I've excerpted it below, but be sure to read the whole message.
"I am impelled to write you concerning the responsibilities laid upon you to live as Christians in the midst of an unChristian world. That is what I had to do. That is what every Christian has to do. But I understand that there are many Christians in America who give their ultimate allegiance to man-made systems and customs. They are afraid to be different. Their great concern is to be accepted socially. They live by some such principle as this: "everybody is doing it, so it must be alright." For so many of you Morality is merely group consensus. In your modern sociological lingo, the mores are accepted as the right ways. You have unconsciously come to believe that right is discovered by taking a sort of Gallup poll of the majority opinion. How many are giving their ultimate allegiance to this way."

Have I grieved thee with an ill kept vow?

Andrew Bale on FSAOF - "Every Salvationist publicly states at the time of their enrolment that they ‘believe and will live by the truths of the word of God expressed in The Salvation Army’s eleven articles of faith.’ In addition every soldier solemnly declares that they “will be true to the principles and practices of The Salvation Army, loyal to its leaders, they will show the spirit of Salvationism whether in times of popularity or persecution.
TSA in the UK has a hard-core clique of Officers and soldiers who are openly dismissing (in both practice and public preaching) the following Army beliefs:
    Doctrine 5 – Original sin
    Doctrine 9 – The possibility of back sliding
    Doctrine 10 – Holiness
    Doctrine 11 – The general judgment and eternal punishment of the wicked"

Franklin Graham about Rob Bell