With the old year in the rearview mirror, we greet the new
year ahead with optimism. Life will be better. Our country
will be better. I will be a better person. That is the intent.
But how many good intentions end up like crumpled metal
on some apocalyptic landscape? Turning over a new leaf
seldom works.
More than good intentions are needed. What we
need is not something new but renewal. The Bible calls it
revival. For revival to be real, it must be God generated. There is no computer
program that will take all our tragic mistakes and sins and repackage them into
an outpouring of God's Spirit. But the Bible does outline what has to happen.
First, there is confession and ownership of our sin. Not that they have
sinned but that we have sinned. In an age of individuality, too many Christians
feel that if they as individual believers are doing okay, that's all that matters.
But we stand or fall together. If anyone in the body of Christ is living an unholy
life, it is not just their responsibility to do something, but ours.
Once we accept our responsibility in grieving God there must be
repentance: a wholehearted and unreserved turning away from what is sinful.
If the computer is the gateway to sin, it must be shut off. If the shows we
watch bring values into our homes that are contrary to the righteousness of
God, they must be abandoned. If we have trifled with sin, we must tear down
the idol, grind it into sawdust and cast it into the fire.
Then we must cleave to the Lord and like Moses say, "If your Presence
does not go with us, do not send us up from here" (Exodus 33:15). We will
tarry in this spot, we will hold this ground until God moves, until God acts, until
God leads in a way that is clearly and only His. Then rising from our knees,
we must obey. Obedience always brings blessing,
but it also brings opposition. But obey we must or
we sink back into the murky shadows of spiritual
twilight.
4
The War Cry | JANUARY 2013
William Booth FOUNDER
Linda Bond GENERAL
William Roberts NATIONAL COMMANDER
Paul R. Seiler Central Territory Commander
Israel L. Gaither Eastern Territory Commander
David Jeffrey Southern Territory Commander
James M. Knaggs Western Territory Commander
Allen Satterlee Editor�In�Chief
Amy Reardon Assistant Editor-in-Chief
Jeffrey S. McDonald Managing Editor
Roger Selvage Art Director
Henry Cao Graphics Designer
Cynthia A. Edelen Production Supervisor
Gloria A. Hull Production Co ordinator
Judith L. Brown Editorial Assistant
Esther M. Satterlee Circulation Man ager
Sandy Dossey Publications Officer
Rob Reardon Publications Officer
The War Cry (ISSN 1550�5286) is published 14 times a year at
615 Slaters Lane, P.O. Box 269, Alexandria, VA 22313.
Single copies $1.00. Subscriptions $15 a year USA, $15.50
Canada, $16.50 overseas (U.S. currency). Periodical postage
paid at Alexandria, VA 22314 and additional mailing offices.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The War Cry,
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To subscribe by credit card call 1�800�725�2769, or
send check to Circulation Manager, Publications Department,
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�The Salvation Army 2013.
Member � Evangelical Press Association
133ND YEAR
WITH ISSUE AVERAGE OVER 288,000 COPIES.
www.thewarcry.com
National Publication of
T H E S A L V A T I O N A R M Y
January, 2013
Volume 133 | Number 1
Contact the Salvation Army National
Publications Department by email at:
O U R M I S S I O N
The Salvation Army, an international move-
ment, is an evangelical part of the universal
Christian church. Its message is based on the
Bible. Its ministry is motivated by the love
of God. Its mission is to preach the gospel of
Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in His
name without discrimination.
January: derived from Janus, the Roman god of beginnings
and endings, of gates, doors and time. Janus had two faces,
one forward, the other to the rear, so he could look to the
future while at the same time viewing the past. Hence the
name of the first month of the year, when we have the
unique perspective of looking behind and also ahead.
Our own hindsight is 20-20; we can see clearly what
has gone before--if we can even remember that far back,
that is. However, our view forward is much less clear, much more clouded. In
fact, despite all our plans and good intentions, we have
little idea what lies ahead for us in this new year of 2013.
We make resolutions (and whatever happened
to all those we made last year?), fill our calendars in
anticipation, make dates for next week even, knowing full
well that not only are we control�less over them, but that
events may (will?) happen which are not only unexpected
now, but not even envisioned.
Given all that, because of all that, it only makes sense
at the beginning of the year, to commit ourselves to the
loving and faithful God, in the full and certain knowledge
that He alone knows perfectly what lies ahead, and we
can trust Him.
A MESSAGE FROM THE NATIONAL COMMANDER
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Printed on recycled paper produced by
industry leader that has achieved carbon
neutral status. www.futuremarkpaper.com
The poet says it like this:
My times are in Thy hand,
My God, I wish them there;
My life, my friends, my soul I leave
Entirely to Thy care.
WC_02-10_Jan13_FIN.indd 4
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