Welcome to Our Christian Heritage. My name is Randy Melchert, and we're here today with Bill Federer. Bill Federer is the author of America's God and Country, Encyclopedia of Quotations. And today we're going to start talking about William Booth, the Salvation Army. What was William Booth? Where did he come from? Why was he impacted in such a way that he started a worldwide movement? Well, William Booth was born in 1829, and he was a pawnbroker. He was in England and would go to the poor neighborhoods and see the poor. He became a Christian and wanted to minister to the poor. Then he began reading Charles Finney's lectures. Charles Finney was a lawyer in America who then became a preacher. He would say things like, there's no honorary members. In other words, if you're a Christian, you have to show it. And so this gave birth to different movements. And so here is William Booth saying, I want to do something. And so he marries Catherine Booth in 1855. and they decide to start a ministry called Christian Mission, and they worked to get young girls out of sex trafficking. Lo and behold, the evil people that would go to a poor family and say, well, you have a daughter, we can give her a nice career, and we can give her... help her up and this and that and the parents would say really really really promise you know and they go yeah well as soon as they would give the girl to her she'd be in a brothel somewhere and um hard terrible stories uh and so katherine booth said i felt as though i must go and walk the streets and besiege the dens where these hellish iniquities were going on to keep quiet seemed like being a traitor to humanity. So here's this Catherine Booth going into these smoky inner city dens and rebuking these deceitful, ugly criminals. And so then William and Catherine Booth decide that they're going to rescue a girl out of sex trafficking. And so they actually buy a girl. Well, guess what? The people in the government that were participating in this traffic decided to prosecute the booths. for sex trafficking. And they have to defend themselves. It ends up becoming front page news. It works its way all the way up the courts. Finally, they're vindicated. But now the evil of this sex trafficking of underage girls is public knowledge. And with the help of a Josephine Butler, they pushed through the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885, which raised the age of consent, where before it was like 13 years old. And so here, the Booths decided we're not just going to be honorary members, we're going to do something. And they literally changed the laws in England to protect these young girls. And then they set up 117 homes. The first one was called White Chapel for these girls to escape to. They were like shelter homes. William Booth said, while women weep as they do now, I'll fight. While little children go hungry, I'll fight. While men go to prison, in and out, in and out, as they do now, I'll fight. While there is a drunkard left, while there is a poor lost girl upon the streets, where there remains one dark soul without the light of God, I'll fight. I'll fight to the very end. So you get an insight into the motivation behind William and Catherine Booth. And so they, in 1880, learned about sweat shops where they would have businesses and make people work, you know, in terrible conditions. But one of the issues was Fosse Jaw. What's fossey jaw? They would make matches, the kind that you could strike anywhere. And so it was a little stick piece of wood with the little flammable stuff and at the very tip was a little drop of phosphorus. And the way they made these was the people would take the sticks that had the flammable stuff there, but they would touch it to their tongue and dip it in a little dish full of phosphorus and then set it in the tray to dry. And they would do this over and over again. Well, sure enough, at some point the phosphorus began to be in their mouth and it would eat away the calcium and eat away their teeth, eat away their jaw, and it would glow green at nighttime. and just horrible disfiguration. And so the booths championed matches that only struck on sandpaper. So if you've got a, you know, a pack of matches or something and you need that little brown piece of sandpaper to rub it on, that goes all the way back to William and Catherine Booth and solving this terrible situation with Fossey job. Well, they ended up by 1879 having 1900 voluntary speakers. They had 75,000 meetings and they were invited into the the palace there, and they met King Edward VII and Winston Churchill. They were awarded the badge of honor there in London, and then they began to open up branches in other countries. We're talking Australia, India, Switzerland, Canada, Jamaica, Hong Kong, and in 1885, the United States of America. And so they had a semi-military form of government with a structure, and it has stood the test of time. While so many other organizations over time, they end up getting infiltrated with people that want to de-emphasize the gospel and move in a secular direction. the Salvation Army has stayed true to the mission of the founders, William and Catherine Booth. Well, William Booth corresponded, he met Teddy Roosevelt and wrote letters back and forth and In 1903, he writes a letter to Teddy Roosevelt saying, you know, thank you for what you're doing in America and may the blessings of him who maketh rich and addeth no sorrow be on the White House and the nation it represents. William Booth was invited to open a session of the U.S. Senate in prayer. But it's interesting, even Booker T. Washington, who founded the Tuskegee Institute. He was the black president of Tuskegee. He said, I'm very glad to hear the Salvation Army is going to undertake work among my people in the southern states. I've always had the greatest respect for the work of the Salvation Army because I have noted that it draws no color line in religion. Wow. So in other words, if you really want to get rid of the race problem, Christianity is the answer. All the other ones that they want to keep some type of class structure, that's the Marxist strategy is you get people to identify with subgroups and then you pit the subgroups against each other to bring out a social and domestic riots and crises and then that's an excuse for the communist governments to take over. 45 countries felt the communism that way. The British did the same thing when they took over India. They would go to one kingdom and give them guns, another one give them guns, and then incite animosities, and then they would fight each other, and the British would take over both. It's Proverbs 6 where it talks about things that God hates, and the last is, he that soweth discord amongst the brethren. And so it's really only the gospel that says you see people for their heart, and they're made in the image of God. I tell people it's software, not hardware. Right? Imagine somebody coming and saying, well, you know, red computers are better than blue computers. It's like, really doesn't matter what color the computer is. It's what software, what apps do you have running on the thing? It really doesn't matter what somebody's skin color is. It's what software do they have running on their brain? Is it a selfish, a me first, or is it the gospel that you love one another and be willing to give your life for one another? Anyway. So the Booths ended up making this great impact across the nation. And it all started with this guy that was a pawnbroker. And he got touched by the Lord and then decided... Now in America, Evangeline Booth, the daughter of William and Catherine, she becomes the head of the Salvation Army in America. and she gets recognized by President Woodrow Wilson and many of the leaders, and then she becomes the leader internationally. So again, women rise up in the leadership. This is a Christian organization. And disaster relief, they helped out during a San Francisco earthquake in 1906. There was no FEMA. There was no federal emergency when there's a crisis. It was just volunteer organizations. The Salvation Army was one of these important ones. Then during World War I, they would be over in Europe behind the army. They would be ministering to the soldiers and giving them coffee and soup kitchens and so forth, and taking care of those that were sick. So you have Franklin Roosevelt acknowledging the work of the Salvation Army, and even Lyndon Johnson, and he says, you know, when other armies put down their guns, you know, and leave the front lines, I hope the Salvation Army stays on the front lines. So here's a quote from William Booth. Here's a line that's attributed to him. It says, Most Christian organizations would like to send their workers to Bible school for five years. I would like to send our workers to hell for five minutes. That would prepare them for a lifetime of compassionate ministry. Wow. It's like, oh, okay. And then William Booth said this, What are you living for? What is the deep secret purpose that control and fashions your existence? What do you eat and drink for? What is the end of your marrying and giving in marriage, your money-making and toiling and planning? Is it the salvation of souls, the overthrow of the kingdom of evil, and the setting up of the kingdom of God? If not, you may be religious, but I don't see how you can be a Christian. So, again, just a story of someone, that humble pawnbroker, and how he's touched by the Lord, and 150,000 people came to his funeral. I mean, just a tremendous impact that William and Catherine Booth and their daughter, Evangeline, had on the world. That is incredible that one person has this impact. Yeah, and it's almost like to the same degree that there's evil, God's looking to raise up somebody that's good. If there's general evil, you'll have a general good, but if it's terrible, terrible evil, there'll be fewer and fewer that have the courage to stand up until finally there's just the one. And obviously the one was Jesus. He personally was the only righteous one, you know, it says all have sinned, but Jesus was the spotless Lamb of God. But you look at it, God loves to raise up Christians and to stand up and encourage. Matter of fact, It's almost like he likes it when the odds are stacked against us. If you remember the story of Gideon, there's 100,000 Midianites, and Gideon gets 30,000 Israelites. And God says, too many. Tell everyone that's scared to go home. Then he's whittled down to 10,000. Still too many. Go drink from a creek. Whittles it to 300. And then God rolls up his sleeves and says, now watch this. In other words, God likes it when it looks hopeless, and he can find somebody with faith and courage that stands up. Now, another one is George Williams. People say, who's George Williams? Well, he lived at the same time as the Booths. He's over in England, and he reads Charles Finney's lectures on revival, and he decides to start the YMCA. Young Men's Christian Association. And one of the quotes from George Williams, he actually got knighted, so it was Sir George Williams, founder of the YMCA, he said, My lifelong experience as a businessman and a Christian worker among young men has taught me that the only power in this world that can effectually keep one from sin in all the varied and often attractive forms is that which comes from the intimate knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ as a present Savior. George William continues, and I can also heartily testify that the safe guidebook by which one may be led to Christ is the Bible, the Word of God, which is inspired by the Holy Ghost. So here the founder of the YMCA says the only thing that can keep men from sin is the gospel, is a relationship with Jesus Christ. So the Young Men's Christian Association has membership in the millions in 124 different countries. The original emblem for the YMCA was a triangle, and it was spirit, mind, and body. And it had a scripture, John 17.21, right there. You can look on the internet and see the old... John 17.21 says, "...that they may be one as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me." In 1885, the words Spirit, Mind, and Body were added to the triangle, and underneath was the letters XP. Now, for those that are familiar, XP is the Chi Rho, the letters in Latin that are the first two letters of the name Christ. So, the letter that makes the K sound is called the Chi, and it's written as an X. Christ, the R sounding letter, is called Rho, and it's written as a P. And so you'll see this in a lot of, you know, fourth century Christian writings, the X and the P, and it stands for the Chi Rho, the first two letters of the name Christ. Like we abbreviate states with two letters. Back then they would abbreviate names with the first two letters. Now, in the Middle Ages, it got shortened just to the Chi, and it was called the Christ's Cross, or they would pronounce it Criss-Cross. The very term Criss-Cross comes from Christ's Cross, and it was a form of a written oath. And so you'd court, you'd put your hand on a Bible, swear to tell the truth. Well, if you were going to swear upon a document, you would sign at the Christ's Cross. That's come down to us as sign at the X. And then they would kiss it to show sincerity. And so that's come down as the X's and the O's on the bottom of a valentine, that you're swearing before Christ to keep your pledge and you're kissing it to show sincerity. Anyway, but on the emblem of the YMCA, it said Spirit, Mind and Body, John 17, 21, and the Chi Rho, the XP. And anyway, so the YMCA, a lot of things came out of that. And one of them was over in Switzerland, a guy named Henry Dunant, and he led the Geneva YMCA. And when there were different wars going on in Europe, he would minister and organize taking care of the wounded on the battlefield. And he ended up starting the International Red Cross. And one of the people that came over from America to help was Clara Barton, and then she went back to America and started the American Red Cross. And by the way, Henry Dunant was at the very first organizing meeting for the Jews to take back The Holy Land. It's interesting that they began to minister in Turkey and in Muslim countries, but they were offended by the cross, so they changed it to the Red Crescent, so their ambulances would have a Red Crescent on it. But that came originally from the Red Cross, so the founder of the Red Crescent was really Henry Dunant, who supported Israel. And then we see D.L. Moody. He was a shoe salesman in Chicago, and I'll tell some more about him later, but he ran the YMCA in Chicago. And in the 1871 Chicago World's Fair, you know, he raises the money to rebuild it, but... Because of the Chicago Fire. The Chicago Fire. Mrs. O'Leary's cow. allegedly was the one who kicked over and started the Chicago fire. Yeah, and the ash of that fire blew across the lake and was burning up all kinds of areas that were hundreds of miles away. So again, here we have George Williams starting the YMCA. Now another interesting person started the YWCA and her name was Mary Jane Kinard. And she started the Young Women's Christian Association. And she helped work with Florence Nightingale, one of the pioneers of nursing. And then she built hospitals over in the areas of India and so forth. And so the founder of the YWCA, You see the ripple effect, you know, the Charles Finney, the Sir George Williams, and now it's Mary Jane Kennard. She started an international prayer movement. And one of the quotes that she did, she said, we need to unite in prayer in reference to the condition of the Jews, Mohammedans, and the heathen world. And she said, prayer awakens such strong opposition from the world of flesh and the devil. Hence, the power of prayer went to one God and Father through one Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, by one Holy Spirit, the prompter of prayer. The multitude of them that believe appeal for strength to fight the good fight of faith." Now, again, a lot of these organizations over the years would have people donate money. And sometimes people with a lot of money have agendas that are not as biblically motivated. and the leadership of organizations would say, well, we want to accommodate this person because they gave so much, so we'll de-emphasize a little of the gospel message here, a little there, there, and before you know it, you've backed away. And instead of it being a spirit, mind, and body, it's a community service, it's this, that, and the other, but you've backed away from the gospel. Because today, most of the time, when you think of a YMCA, you think of an athletic gym. But originally, its purpose was so much more. Right. And so there's a need for us to try to reclaim some of these organizations. And when they, again, get the big boards and those that give lots of money, that have an agenda that's not biblical, they will help pull the organization in an anti-biblical direction. A similar situation happened with the Boy Scouts. You read Lord Baden-Powell, and he actually printed pamphlets, and he says, the Boy Scouts is applied Christianity. you know, to do a good turn daily and all this. But then, more recently, the organization grew with a tremendous overhead and in debt, and they decided to cave to those pushing a radical alternative sexual agenda, and the membership has dropped off to significantly less than it used to be as a result. But one other person, now that we're talking about social impact organizations, is Goodwill. Now, people think of Goodwill as a place where you can donate stuff and get used up, but Goodwill was actually founded as a Christian ministry. Rev. Edgar James Helms. He was a United Methodist minister. The year was 1902 when he founded it. He insisted that they have prayer every morning. He said, if we ever stop praying, this organization will not be what I intended it to be. But he wrote this in 1918. Again, this is Edgar James Helms, founder of the Goodwill Industries. He says, if the Spirit of God is to dominate the whole social order, then must he be manifest as much in the family and industry and state as he is in the church. the church has a greater task of evangelism than to secure individuals who will lift their hands for prayer, or sign a card, or shake hands with an evangelist. So you can see some of that Charles Finney ripple effect, that it's not just going to church and shaking hands with the evangelist after the service and thinking, well, I did it. He goes on, he says, no. Employer and employee must shake hands in mutual respect and cooperation. The era of exploitation and competition between nations and races must end in mutual helpfulness and goodwill. Jesus Christ and his gospel must permeate industry and every human interest as well as preaching and education. the church of his divinely appointed agency for this task. So again, these organizations, you see their signs and you see their stories, they had a Christian beginning to meet the needs of people, but it was a manifestation of their Christian faith, going all the way back to the Charles Finney Second Great Awakening revival. that the gospel impacts every area of life, that it doesn't just affect what you do on Sunday, it affects seven days a week. It does. Now, the importance is speaking the gospel, because once these organizations say, well, we're just going to meet the needs of people, we're going to not emphasize the gospel, what happens is it loses its vitality. And so with this movement, It was, okay, you're a Christian, but you also do the works. The next step was, you just do the works. And so you have these organizations that say, we're just going to do the works and we're not going to share the gospel. And then the next step after that is the social justice, is liberation theology, is we want to do riots and even kill people to push our agenda that we think is going to bring heaven on earth. And that always is opposite of what Jesus intended. I walk people through the steps. So let's say somebody becomes a Christian, and they're telling everyone about how their life has changed, and they are now living a godly life. and they rise up in church leadership and after a while they don't talk as much about their conversion experience as they had and there's a new person in the church and they say hey I want to be like that older respected Christian leader and he's doing living a good Christian godly life I want to live just like him hmm and so he ends up trying to follow all of the outward things and it more or less turns into works And then he goes home to his kids and he says, kids, you got to go do this, do this, do this, do this, do this. And his kids are growing up thinking this Christianity is legalism. And they end up saying it's impossible to live up to all these rules and standards. And they end up getting rebellious and they end up leaving the church. And then some of them try to say, well, there's no God, and they back away. And then you're back to somebody getting saved again. And so the disconnect is speaking the gospel. And so if the Lord changes your life, you get involved in church and you rise up and you say, you know, okay, I'm just going to live a godly life. Yes, but tell people. that you're living the godly life because Jesus changed your heart, because you're a sinner saved by faith. It's not just what you're doing, it's telling why you're doing it. Right, right. So you want to live the godly life, but at some point you need to put the gospel in there. Otherwise, even the ones that like you, they're going to try to model after you, and then it's going to turn into works. So it's not just with individuals, but it's with organizations. So an organization that's founded, they need to continue to stay true to the gospel message as well as minister to the needs of the poor. That's a fun challenge, trying to weigh both things that are important, but it's so easy to let go of the one. Right. But the Lord gives us the ability to do it as long as we seek Him. If you're excited about something, you're going to talk about it. And so if you have a personal relationship with the Lord, you need to spend time with Him in prayer, spend time in His Word, and that keeps the intimacy and the fire burning. Now, the Finney ripple effect continued. And you had someone that went to his church in New York, the Marble Collegiate Church, and his name was Jeremiah Lamphere. And he decides to put out a sign in front of his store in New York, inviting people in for prayer. The year is 1857. There's a financial collapse in New York. And this is a serious financial collapse. You have hundreds of businesses closing. You have banks failing. Railroads went bankrupt. 900 mercantile businesses in New York City went out of business. 900? There were over 30,000 out of work in the city of New York. So this is a crisis time in the city and Jeremiah Lamphere puts out this sign like one person comes to pray, but the next time maybe half dozen. And by the end of the week, you have a hundred. And then the next week, several hundred. Next week, several thousand. Until pretty soon, it began to spread across the country. And vice crime decreased, and people returned stolen money, and saloons closed down. And there were 50,000 praying in New York. Every day at lunchtime, Utica, New York, daily prayer. Albany, New York, Newark, New Jersey, 3,000 came to Christ. Boston, all the leading businessmen, publicans and sinners were awakened. Haberville, Massachusetts, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, 4,000 met. At James Hall, philanthropists were giving money. One philanthropist is John Price Cozer. He says, I have never, I think, been present at a more stirring and edifying prayer meeting. The room was full and divine influence seemed manifest. So it was a layman's prayer revival. There was no church organizing it. It was just spontaneous. And then it was out of this that you had a businessman in Chicago named D.L. Moody, a shoe salesman, and in 1858 is when he began a Sunday school for inner-city poor kids. In other words, he is now going to do something with his faith. Wow. We're going to pick that up after this break. This is Randy Melchert, and this is Our Christian Heritage.