Pilgrim Soldier

Luke 4:18 is a verse that is really speaking to me at the moment on one particular subject. From my own life this has been my experience in terms of The Salvation Army and I fear that I am not the only one to have experienced this.

As much as I would like to keep out of the debate there is a stream within this Army of ours who are feeling extremely persecuted at the moment. I can understand the anger, frustration and bitterness that is theirs, and part of me feels this as well. Over the years I have been a secondary victim of unjust reactions by various levels of leadership within the Army due to the way my parents were treated as officers. To see some of these unjust ways still prevalent makes part of me want to shout from the rooftops that this is unfair, yet God is showing me a different way and in the process is opening my eyes to the ways I have treated people myself.

Is there an element within The Salvation Army that is being persecuted at the moment? Yes, I think there probably is. But I think that the way they respond to this persecution will be the real test of what they are saying. I have written the following as a comment on one blog:

I’ve been re-reading the experiences of the early church in Acts. Here we see those who were speaking a new way [against the established religious authorities] being imprisoned and even martyred, yet the fledgling church responded in the only way it could.

They prayed and then got on with being the people God called them to be!

It could be said that we are seeing people both martyred and imprisoned at the moment because they were advocating doing away with the old. Just like then I think we should respond in the same way.

We should pray and then get on with being the type of people God wants us to be!

This might be seen by some as a cop-out and I understand that view. However, the majority of early day Christians fought against the structures in this way. It was only the select few who were called to speak out verbally against the structures. At the same time, each time these were placed in prison the followers of the way came together to pray. When people were martyred God raised up new voices to carry on the fight.

God does not call us all to the same ministry, yet He does call us all. In this situation there will be prophetic voices who must stand up if that is what God is calling them to do, but at the same time have to accept that not all are called to do the same thing.”

I believe that if God is wanting to see change He has and will continue to call forth prophetic voices who will speak out against injustice within the Army. I have been there myself and fought more than one battle on this front.

However, I also believe that outside of the limelight will be the rest of the faithful who are called to pray for those who God calls to speak out prophetically. These fellow believers may not be called in the same way, but are just as valuable. They speak out and make their stand by living the life that God calls them to live and by making sacrifices in many different ways.
One final point, and this is probably my single biggest concern. Satan loves this sort of infighting because it can divert our attention from the real battle that is being fought. God continues to use The Salvation Army despite the failings of some of its leadership. We just have to look at the success we see across the world (and even in western cultures there are successes).