Salvogesis

What is an angel? This is a good question that does come up in the scriptures; one such time is when Gabriel visits Mary to announce that she is going to have a son. The Greek for ‘angel’ (ággelos) simply means ‘messenger’:  ággelos  is used 176 times in the New Testament and only the context determines whether it is a human or celestial messenger. We know from elsewhere in the scriptures that there are times when people –like Gideon (Judges 6); Manoah and his wife, Samson’s mother (Judges 13); possibly like Jacob at Jabbok (Gen. 32), and even Abraham (Gen. 13) did not realize they were entertaining heavenly messengers. They didn’t know they were dealing with angels. It is possible that Mary did not recognise Gabriel as a heavenly messenger when he first arrived. After all she was greatly troubled when he appeared (Lk 1:29). Mind you she could have been troubled because she  did  recognise Gabriel as an angel. In our day and age we often think of angels as nice ...

Look out Santa! When St. Andrew's Saltire is hung next to a fireplace, it prevents beings from flying down chimneys. Did you know that? Today is St. Andrew's Day. Do you know who Saint Andrew is? Andrew was one of Jesus' closest disciples. He was crucified in Patras, Achaea, on an X-shaped cross. This is represented on the Saltire (the white x) on Scotland’s national flag. He was buried originally in Constantinople; his skull was later exhumed and returned to Patras in the ninth century by Emperor Basil I. The rest of his body was taken to Amalfi in Italy  by Cardinal Peter of Capua after Constantinople was sacked in 1208. The saint’s bones either first arrived in Scotland when an angel told the Greek monk Regulus to bring the relics to “the end of the earth” in 345 or they reached Britain with an Augustine Mission in 597. One of Andrew's shoulder blades was gifted to Scotland by the Archbishop of Amalfi in 1879 and Pope Paul VI presented further remains to the...

Some people have asked if it matters that traditional Christian Christmas celebrations are disappearing from school and other public venues. What does it matter? Traditions change: Isn’t Christmas just a tradition? No. Christmas is a special time when we remember the coming of Jesus, even as we now are looking forward to his return in the near future. Jesus lived 2000 years ago, and the many documents collected in the Bible and other sources tell us about him. He came to live in Galilee when it was under the control of the Romans. His birth is linked to the time of Caesar Augustus. His life and his death are referred to in a number of ancient manuscripts. His whole life and ministry can be seen in the context of Jewish religious life and history. Although his universal message and ministry broke through the boundaries of Judaism, he did belong to the Jewish/Roman world of the first century. Jesus was an historical person but not merely an historical person because in him, God has ...

If I am going to heaven why do I need to read my Bible? If Christ has saved me why do I need to read my Bible? It is confusing. I can't read that well. It takes time. Abraham and Isaac didn't need to read the Bible to go to heaven; why do I need to read my Bible? My oldest two daughters are taking exams this week. They are their final examinations for grade 10 and 11 respectively. I was speaking with one of them today. She told me that she has 88% going into the exam. The exam is only worth 50% of her mark; so even if she doesn't get a single question right on the exam she will still pass the course. She is still studying for the exam. She wants to know as much of the subject matter as she can. She wants to be able to achieve as well as she possibly can. She wants to know more and she wants to perform well. She wants to do this for herself, her friends, family, and teachers. And the knowledge in the course will be very useful, it will make next year at school easier as ...

Tomorrow we begin hamper registration at the corps. Hamper registration and hamper distribution are always an interesting time in any Salvation Army. We just came from Toronto where Christmas was quite a bit different than it is here. But the other day as I was readying application forms, appointment cards and Angels for the Angel Tree I was reminded of one hamper distribution day we had in Swift Current, Saskatchewan. Our building there is a former elementary school - like it was here for a bit. It is big and at Christmas time it is full of people; so it’s Hamper Day 2010 and everything is going well – we have so many volunteers helping from the community, it is great. In the morning I receive a phone call: someone is asking if he can register for a hamper that day. I explain to him that not only do we not register people for hampers on hamper pick-up day but that the deadline for registering was three weeks ago. He is way too late. He is persistent though. He is bound and det...

B.   What is implied by being altogether a Christian? “What more than this, can be implied in the being a Christian altogether?” Three things: the love of God, the love of one’s neighbour, and faith. One has to love God with every ounce of emotion and action. One must “love the Lord your God with all they heart, and with all they soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength.” One must love all people, friends and enemies, and we must do so with such sincerity that we love them as much as we do ourselves. We must have faith in God. We must have more than a belief in God. We must have a faith in Christ that even ‘purifies the heart’. Only then according to Wesley are we altogether a Christian. This second list is not disconnected from the first. The attributes of the ‘almost a Christian’ are a subset of the ‘altogether a Christian’. Wesley acknowledges that even in his less affluent and less self-focussed times, that this is a difficult teaching. He lets us know as well...

A. What is implied by being almost a Christian? Wesley’s description of the ‘almost Christian’ includes three traits, the first of which is ‘heathen honesty’. Immediately one is drawn into his discussion, for one does not necessarily in our contemporary society equate heathens and honesty whereas Wesley describes them as more honest than many people even in the churches these days. Heathen honesty encompasses refraining from the following acts: being unjust, taking from one’s neighbour, oppressing the poor or the rich, defrauding anyone at all and – insofar as possible – owing anyone anything. The common heathen also acknowledges truth and justice and does not think highly of liars. They can also expect love and assistance from each other: they will feed the hungry and clothe the naked and give away all that they don’t need. One may engage in all these elements of ‘heathen honesty’ and still be only ‘almost a Christian’. The second trait that defines the ‘almost Christian’ is a for...

Review of John Wesley's 'The Almost Christian' Preached at St. Mary’s Oxford, before the University, on July 25, 1741. Sermon 2 by John Wesley launches into his discussion of what defines a Christian from the base of Acts 26:28 : 'Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian' The primary metaphor that Wesley uses to unite the discussion is a description of one whom he defines as the ‘almost Christian’. This is a wonderful vehicle for the discussion; as he compares her/him to the ‘altogether Christian,’ it demands that the hearer/reader pay more attention than if Wesley had merely launched into a discourse of faith versus works. Most readers/listeners, I would imagine, at some point during the description of the ‘almost Christian’ would have cause to ask, as Wesley articulates “Is it possible that any man living should go so far as this, and, nevertheless, be only almost a Christian? What more than this, can be implied in the being a Christian altogether? ” (Outl...

I stumbled upon this old article from armybarmy.com recently: I am a Christian. No big deal, you say? Isn’t everyone? Well, no. In fact, it’s a relatively small group. I know we’ve stretched the meaning of the word so that it includes everyone who goes to church, everyone who’s been baptized, everyone who votes a certain way, everyone born in certain western countries. But it’s nothing like that at all. There are specific fundamentals to which someone who is a Christian commits. These fundamentals distinguish such a person from these other bloated groups. Let’s see if we can narrow down the collection of “Christians” to those who really are. The first fundamental is the infallibility of Scripture.  The Bible is true. It is the inspired Word of God. In its original manuscripts there are no errors at all. And the Bible is the only divine rule of Christian faith and practice. That will exclude heaps of people. Don’t buy any arguments you hear about the Bible changing over the cent...

2 Timothy 1:12: That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day. Today’s thought on 2 Timothy 1:12 is entitled ‘Learn to Suffer’. ‘Learn to Suffer’ is motto of a Scottish Clan. Anyone know which clan? Clan Duncan. The Clan motto is ‘Learn to Suffer.’ Did you know that 2 of the early kings of Scotland were Duncans: One was Duncan I and do you know who was the other? Duncan II. Duncan I obtained the throne through murder and Duncan II lost it the same way. The Duncans would learn to suffer. The Duncans historically weren’t so good at choosing the winning side in important battles. They supported the victorious Robert the Bruce in his wars and received benefits from that. But later they supported Charles I, who was defeated, murdered and his country conquered by Cromwell’s Puritans. In supporting the losing side in this war, the Duncans would learn to suff...

Composed at Swift Current, Saskatchewan for the second annual remembrance of EMS personal who have died in the line of duty, May 25 2014. Our Fallen EMS By Captain Michael Ramsay Some have perished in war zones, And some in times and places of peace; Some have passed from this world to the next, through accidents – Be they in ambulance, aircraft, or otherwise; Some have died due to acts of Nature And all who died have performed acts of service; Some have been ‘Promoted to Glory’ through unforeseen events, And some through uncontrollable circumstance; Some have left small and older children behind, Some have left husbands, wives, and partners behind; They have all left friends, colleagues, and communities behind, And they have all left many fond memories behind; It is through these memories that our friends, colleagues, and family live on We must not forget them and we will not forget them Our Fallen EMS personnel who have given their lives...

What does it mean to walk in the counsel of the wicked and how do we avoid it? Does it mean that we should not spend time with so-called ‘sinners’? Does it mean that we should not be around people who aren’t ‘holy’? Does it mean that we should spend our whole lives either at home or at church and not be around anyone else in this corrupt, fallen world? Is that what it means? I’m sure we’ve all heard the old expression that bad company corrupts good character. Is that what this is talking about when it says that we should not walk in the counsel of the wicked? Not really: let us not forget that it is only when we are around people that need the Lord that we have any opportunity to share the Lord with them. The Lord birthed The Salvation Army through the Booths by doing just this – serving the Lord by helping the marginalized in society and sharing the love of God with others. Consecrating our soldiers from the profane world through our covenant, the Lord is able to use the Army in the...

After Adam and Eve sinned before God, God announced the specific consequences for their sin: one was that the ground would be cursed "To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,' "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life...(Gen 3:17)" Only five Chapters later (Gen 8:21), with divine grace evident, God removes the curse, promising not to curse it again because of our sins,"...'Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done..." He added to this a blessing through a covenant (Gen 9:11-13) "I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth." And God said...

"The Lordship of Jesus, the Gospel, for the Christian, is both political and existential good news. Existentially, we are to be set free from whatever demons are destroying our personal life or our families, whether it be anger, despair, desire, pride, substance abuse or whatever. Politically, we are to be set free from -- and work to set our world free from -- the demons, the idols that sanction ways of organizing human life that stand in the way of God's intention for creation and for humanity. (And those) that stand in the way of justice and treating all humans for what they really are, not commodities, or units of productivity, but God's children and image bearers of God." Bill Blaikie, a former NDP MP, was also a church minister who ran a Winnipeg inner city mission before entering politics. More daily blogs at https://salvogesis.blogspot.ca/ More articles, sermons, and papers at www.sheepspeak.com

Some friends of mine, whom I have been honoured and blessed to serve God alongside in the Downtown Eastside were in the process of writing a book on REVOLUTION (long published now). Among other things, It looks at people the LORD has used in revolutionary ways to further HIS Kingdom. Being who I am, I have lobbied for some CAN CON in the Revolution... Kairos. I mean (C)airos?: After previously approaching the nomadic Montagnais and Algonquians, the missionaries noticed the Huron villages on the Georgian Bay. Being settled, there was an opportunity to disciple the faithful once they had committed their lives to the LORD. It was also a gateway to the vast untouched mission fields of the west. Further, they had already been exposed to Christianity through the Recollets when our hero, Father Brebeuf, with Fathers Daniel and Davost, in 1634, "took up again the challenge of the Cross and re-established the Huron mission near the shores of the Georgian Bay."*1 Charisma: The pers...

On this day in 2014 there were 888 246 ceramic poppies encircling the famous Tower of London in England; they create a powerful visual image to commemorate the centennial of the commencement of the First World War. The 888 246 poppies filled the Tower’s moat. Each poppy represents a military fatality during the war. We Canadians fought as part of the empire; our family members and our countrymen lived, served, and died in the ‘Great War’, the ‘war to end all wars’, the First World War. . When World War One broke out Canada was a very small and sparsely populated country of just over 7 million people. Most were farmers or involved in other primary industries. Many boys and young men left their family farms and businesses here to serve in the war there. I have read stories of bankers and teachers and minors and scientists and athletes and farmers and very young men from across this country and Newfoundland who put their jobs, their careers, their parents, their girlfriends, their ne...

Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends, John 15:13. On November 11, 1918, the armistice was signed to end the Great War, the war to end  all  wars – the  First  World War. Canadians, our friends and our family, in service to God, King, and country, marched overseas to lay down their lives for our friends. Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends. On November 11, 1813, 200+ years ago, Canadians repulsed an horrific enemy invasion, with the help of our friends, the British and the First Nations. We laid down our life for our family. They laid down their life for us, their friends. Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends. On November 11, we remember also our friends and families who headed overseas for World War II, in service to God, King, and country to lay down their lives for their friends. Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends. In t...

Of this passage of scripture Moffet S. Churn writes, “Commentaries often call it the Sermon on the Plain. You may prefer to think of it as ‘the sermon I don’t want to preach.’…Jesus tells them plainly, pointedly, repeatedly, ‘Love your enemies and do good to those who hate you.”[1] This is most certainly an interesting passage to look at in the days leading up to Remembrance Day. It is definitely an interesting one for the Lord to put on my heart as I am at the same time preparing a message on a very different text for our community’s Remembrance Day ceremonies as the local Royal Canadian Legion chaplain.[2] That all being said, I think this passage is as important to our world and our community today as much as it ever has been in the history of civilization. I also think that it is incredibly poignant to examine this on the day prior to the eve of our country rightfully mourning those who were killed by our country’s enemies. I was born during the Cold War. I grew up in an era where ...