Thursday, November 1, 2012

They changed their world





                                "WE MUST  HAVE OFFICERS!"


"Drunk for threepence:dead drunk for sixpence" such were the signs outside the grog shops and gin palaces in London's East End in the mid 1800's.

This was where William Booth decided to pitch his tent and begin his mission of redemption.

He had been an evangelist with the Methodist Church and was disciplined for employing unorthodox methods in his goal to gain converts. Not willing to recant he and his wife Catherine branched out and founded the Salvation Army.

Their first flag was planted in Mile End London in 1865, and the battle cry was sounded.

No preaching within the safety of the four walls of a building.
Their gospel was loud, strident, in-your-face and in the streets!
As converts came from the "worst" of society they were taught to play in the Army bands and give out copies of the "War Cry" to hand out in the public houses.





William took upon himself the title of 'General' and conferred ranks of colonel, major and captain, on his veteran troops. His motto was  "BLOOD AND FIRE"
In twenty short years the movement grew to be a social force, emptied the gin palaces, reduced the number of inmates in the jails and filled the Salvation Army citadels with transformed souls.

This Christmas when you pass the "Sally Ann" kettles ask the bell ringer if he knows who founded the movement and, if he gives the right answer, pass on a couple of bucks for a worthy cause.

The General will be pleased!

Jubilate.

Ian

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

They changed their world







It is hard for us to believe, in days when the adoption process is so slow and ponderous, that in Victorian England thousands of children were orphans and longing for a family of their own.

Dr Barnardo was one of the instruments that God raised up to bring help to the homeless hordes on the streets of London.
Barnardo was the son of a rich merchant in Ireland, he intended to become a medical missionary to China but his life passion became the rescue of orphaned children.

He was ably assisted by his wife, Sylvie. Together they raised four of their own kids, one of whom was a Downs Syndrome child.

The year they were married they moved into their mansion, situated on 60 acres of land and gave shelter to two children from the London streets. Forty years later they had provided refuge for over 100,000 children, girls as well as boys, and had fifty branches of their ministry in different parts of England.

Not only did Barnardo and his wife give succour and shelter to their children, but religious instruction was also mandatory in all their homes. If their little charges did not know their own parents, then Bernardo was determined that they should come to know their heavenly father before they left his care.

Be encouraged all you good people who work with children in any capacity. There is no greater reward than putting your life investment into kids. Put money into a bank account, you get 3 or 4% back at the most. Impart your resources, love and prayers into children and you will have a never ending return both here and for eternity. Jesus said:
 "In so far as you have done it unto them you have done it unto Me"

Jubilate.

Ian




Tuesday, October 30, 2012

They changed their world






When I was around the tender age of five or six one of my aunts, for a birthday present, gave me a copy of "The Water Babies", by Charles Kingsley,

As my elder sister Anne read it to me, impressions were laid into my tender mind and memory that remain with me to this day.

Kingsley used his considerable skills as a writer to champion the cause of the child chimney sweeps. These diminutive people were forced to crawl up the broad-breasted flues of the large houses in London and brush down the ash and soot from the brick faces. It was truly a taste of hell for them. They were bruised, scarred, gassed and burnt. Numerous were the times when these poor mites suffocated  above the hobs of the kitchens, their bodies pulled down with the ropes attached to their ankles.




It took an intellectual country preacher to turn the tide of their misfortunes. He inveighed from the pulpit, wrote scalding letters and penned books like the Water Babies to rouse the social conscience of Victorian England. And he succeeded. Before his death the last of the chimney sprites was liberated and sent to a worse fate.......  school!

Jubilate.

Ian.

Quotation from Kingsley about a fellow intellectual.

"He possessed almost every gift, except the gift of the power to use them."

Monday, October 29, 2012

They changed their world.






Where is the best place to get a room, three nutritious meals a day, dental and medical care, wonderful companionship with the other guests and all FREE of charge?

Why, an American jail of course.

It wasn't always the case.

In the 1700's the jails of England were filthy,over-crowded, rat infested and breeding grounds for vice and violence.

The Fleet prison, Newgate and the Bedlam lunatic asylum are names that live in infamy to this day.

When the holding cells were at capacity on land, the overflow of inmates were rowed out to verminous rotting ships moored in the Thames.

Stirred to her soul by the plight of these unfortunate prisoners Elizabeth Fry began her life mission of prison Reform. Coming from a wealthy banking family there were other ways that "Betsy" could have spent her time. However, she was greatly moved by the preaching of an American Quaker, and from that moment gave herself and  her resources to improve the lot of prisoners incarcerated in the London jails.

By the time she died in the 1845  she had enlisted the help of Queen Victoria, Prime-minister Robert Peel and a host of her husband's rich friends and seen prison improvement acts passed in parliament.

All this she did whilst raising eleven kids.

If you ever have the misfortune to finish behind bars, thank Betsy Fry that you won't be sharing gruel with rats and cockroaches.

Jubilate.

Ian

Want to get involved with prisoner help? Talk to my sister Anne, she has spent years walking in the footsteps of Betsy.


Sunday, October 28, 2012

They changed their world







Both the presidential candidates are promising change: Obama is vowing that "further change" will be forthcoming if he is re-elected while Romney is campaigning on the slogan "BIG change."

This week I'm featuring five people who, with the help of God, really did bring huge change to their world.

William Wilberforce was born in 1759, the year of the great spiritual awakening in England. He was largely unaffected by any spiritual influence in his early years except that of a godly uncle and aunt. When he attended Cambridge university he spent much of his time in a "Hedonistic round of gambling, drinking and late-night revelry".
Although slightly built he had astounding gifts of oratory. One person gave this description of a speech he made in the House of Commons:

"I saw a shrimp mount upon a table, but as I listened the shrimp grew and grew until it became a whale."

This "Shrimp" underwent a profound conversion experience in his twenty fifth year and shortly afterward felt a great inward call to work with others for the abolition of slavery within the realms of the British Empire.




From that moment the emancipation of slaves became his life-long mission. It was a successful one. In July 1833 the British parliament gave its final assent to the abolition of slavery bill. The following day Wilberforce died, mission complete.

If Barack Obama wins another term as America's first black president, he can attribute part of his success to the efforts of William Wilberforce, the "Shrimp who became a whale" on behalf of black slaves.

Jubilate.

Ian