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| Soupkitchen outside Parlament - July 27
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| Does Power Corrupt? - July 20
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One of the unfortunate byproducts of any society of humans is that power corrupts and that absolute power corrupts absolutely.
In my media career I have had both the fortune and misfortune of dealing on an intimate basis with the powerful of many kinds - politicians, celebrities, popstars, movie stars, sporting heroes. I have seen firsthand the power (either perceived or real) corrupting over and over again.
It is rare to find an organisation which has not been effected by the powerful ones who seek to “settle old scores”, crush innovative non-conformists with a wet blanket of conservatism, take personal credit for the toil of others, unfairly practise nepotism, impede the advancement of outstanding young people and bully more junior staff, send nay-sayers to “Coventry” (or “Back of Beyond” as we say in Australia) or other equally cruel, selfish, non-edifying acts of destructive indulgence."
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A group from U.K. will spend a week in Latvia this summer helping with practically and spiritually. The Former Salvation Officer Fellowship is setting up the trip and several UK-corps are paricipating.
Several reports will be posted here on www.rupeba.se the coming week.
Here are the links to two of the firts reports:
Arrival...
The work has begun...
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On the web-page "Send the fire" you can find a modern version of William Booth´s "I´ll fight"-proclamation:
"I’LL FIGHT
-While guys and girls snort, swallow, sniff, shoot and smoke drugs like they do now, I’LL FIGHT
-While young punks swarm, curb stomp and bully others like they do now, I’LL FIGHT
-While kids, teens and young adults cut and self-injure as they do now, I’LL FIGHT
-While cliques are more concerned with their appearance and making money than caring for others, as they do now, I’LL FIGHT
-While adults physically, emotionally, verbally & sexually abuse youth, as they do now, I’LL FIGHT
-While sex is freely given away to boyfriends & girlfriends,
-While teens check out porn & young adults are sexually promiscuous,
-While getting drunk, partying and clubbing is a generation’s choice and source of fun, while there remains one young dark soul without the light of God, I’LL FIGHT… I’LL FIGHT to the very end!"
You can listen to William Booth´s original here.
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| The world is trying it's best to change the face of Christianiune
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I recieved a mail with a thougt-provoking article:
Are there dangers in being 'spiritual but not religious'?
"I'm spiritual but not religious."
It's a trendy phrase people often use to describe their belief that they don't need organized religion to live a life of faith.
But for Jesuit priest James Martin, the phrase also hints at something else: selfishness.
"Being spiritual but not religious can lead to complacency and self-centeredness," says Martin, an editor at America, a national Catholic magazine based in New York City. "If it's just you and God in your room, and a religious community makes no demands on you, why help the poor?"
Read more>>
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PASTORAL LETTERS FROM THE OFFICE OF THE GENERAL TO SALVATIONISTS ACROSS THE WORLD
This is the 19th in a series of Pastoral Letters from the General to every Salvationist across the world.
Read the letter>>
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| The New Atheism and the Christian Mind - June 3
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 In connection with the Cape Town Congress 2010, the Lausanne movement invites to a global conversation about different topics. Here is one of the papers. You are invited to take part in the conversation.
The New Atheism and the Christian Mind
God is a delusion – a ‘psychotic delinquent; invented by mad, deluded people.” So believes Dr. Richard Dawkins. On the BBC radio, speaking of God he said, “This infantile explanation belongs to an earlier, superstitious era in the history of humanity. We’ve outgrown it.” Dr. Dawkins believes that Christian belief is “a persistently false belief held in the face of strong contradictory evidence.” These are strong statements and they are public. The New Atheists, and those influenced by them are secular missionaries. They are sincere, they are motivated, and in many cases, they are passionate. The trickle down effect of their ideas, books, blogs and influence are seen in movies, TV, and are picked up anecdotally by any who need a convenient excuse to avoid what Socrates called “the examined life”. How to respond?
Read more>>
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Terry Camsey writes on Rubicon:
"When it came out, the Crest Book “Come Join Our Army’ by R.G. Moyles led me to contact the author. I was privileged later to enjoy some insightful conversations with him over the internet. In that book he points out that, towards the end of the late 1880’s and early 1890’s, Salvationists were becoming aware that the Army, as they had known it, was beginning to change. They were “now being asked to become as actively involved in charitable work as previously they were in red-hot revivalism.” And they were being popularized for that. Dr. Moyles suggests that they then became “less frequently hailed as soul-saving revivalists and more often as social reformers known less for their aggressive evangelism than for their good deeds.”
Comments >>
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From the SA international web-site
From FSAOF blogsite
From FSAOF website
Telgraph.co.uk:
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 Do you want to take part in a prayer chain for Latvia? Many things are happening in Latvia now. Both in the nation and in the Salvation Army. We need prayer support.
If you want to join in the prayer for Latvia, please send an e-mail with the text "Prayer for Latvia" to info@rupeba.se and we will put you on our sending-list for our monthly prayer letter. We need your prayer support!
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World Youth Convention 2010
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July 30
Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
(
Mark 10:21 NIV)
Devotion:
The young couple were setting off on their honeymoon – to a faroff place. The parents drove them to the airport and joked about them having forgotten their passports at home. But no, they produced and checked them. The man’s passport looked bright and almost unused. The young wife’s passport appeared to have been laying in the shower for a week, and the parents became a bit concerned due their knowledge regarding the strict restrictions for arriving passengers in the chosen destination country.
When the travel documents were examined on check-in the parents drew a sigh of relief when the wife’s document inspection was completed. Even more surprising though was when the journey suddenly appeared grounded due a small error in the young man’s passport. One page was not secured properly. It was a quick dash to the police and an hour-long anxious wait until the couple finally boarded their aircraft seconds before the lift-off.
It can be the same in our lives, that a disheveled exterior can appear totally OK; while life on the outside appears attractive and well ordered, the inner life is lacking something essential. ”One thing you lack”, it says in today’s verse. One – is too much…
Prayer:
Lord, help us to watch over our lives in order that we not fool ourselves to believe that
All is well while still lacking something in our inner being. Help us dare give our lives over fully to You and allow You to heal and repair that which is broken.
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