Our Corps (Church) Is Our Ranch

Our Corps is Our Ranch

Kelly Durant 8-11-19 Re 3-30-25

Acts 2:46

So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart,

2. How many of you here have ever seen a vacation Bible School with the theme of a ranch? In the past we have had the theme of a Ranch, like that of Cowboys, and the kids had fun. Kids love the idea of being outdoors with the animals and it is a healthy lifestyle. The work on a Ranch can be very hard but it is rewarding when you see the animals grow and the crops bring you food. It is a rewarding lifestyle.

I have a Ranch joke for you. There was a German farmer and a Texas farmer that happened to meet at an International Fair. The German boasted, “My tractor is so powerful and fast it can go from one end of my property and back in 2 hours!” The Texan, somewhat jealous responded, “My tractor is as powerful as yours but to go from one end of my property and back you need a full day to do! There was a pause, Then the German farmer responded, “I feel sorry for you, I had a tractor once that was slow like yours!” (The German didn’t know the Texan had a farm the size of Berlin!)

So today let’s compare our Christian work to a Ranch. All things that God makes have multiple messages, and people at the beginning of creation started in a garden, which was sort of like a Ranch as Adam named the animals and took care of gardening the crops. Farmers and ranchers have provided food for all people ever since the beginning! We must appreciate them! And recognize that it is hard work!

3. Today there are many Christian communities that still farm and live on Ranches. Have you seen some of the Mennonites or Amish people in the stores that live in towns not far from here? To have food, production, and success, there needs to be as many people as possible doing many different tasks. It appears that God has protected and prospered them, right? 

In times past, couples aspired to have at least 10 kids so they would have enough help to work their land! To accomplish anything, you need to work as a team and when one finishes his job, he doesn’t just go take off and go fishing by the river, he goes to help his brother or sister who needs to finish feeding the cows, watering the plants, or putting up a fence, etc.

Ranch work involves each person having a variety of skills, one needs to know the seasons and when to plant, another needs to know about breeding the animals, another needs to cook in the house where everyone meets and talks and has fellowship at the end of the day. On a ranch you work hard, and you eat healthy, and ranch folks are almost always healthy! You might in the evening even sing some songs together around the guitar or piano.

4. Most usually farms are made up of people other than just family members who live together, and hired servants work as well. We can compare this to our work here, there is the Corps (Core) family, the local leaders who plan and do most of the work, there is the staff and volunteers who also carry the load, and there is the community that contributes and benefits from the work we produce. And what is our main focus of production? Souls, it is to win souls for Jesus! It is to take broken lives and give them a new start!

Did you know The Salvation Army was also into farming in the beginning? If you read William Booth’s famous best-selling book, ‘In Darkest England and The Way Out’, you will find that some farm colonies were established as a means to employ people coming to us who needed a job to survive. These farms served a purpose for their time, but our emphasis has most usually been in the cities, where people need shelter, food, resources, and children and adult programs (Christian and educational) which are always lacking. 

Today most ranches and farms are not run by individual families as they once were when this land was pioneered. The farms and ranches are mostly run by huge food companies and sadly, few people ever in their lifetime get to experience working with animals and crops. God’s nature is beautiful but 90-95% of the people live you and me live in the concrete jungle where crime and demons run things; we have a different mission, that of exposing the weeds and replanting, so the good folks can flourish doing good works to improve their selves and help those who are suffering.

5. So, imagining us as on a ranch, what is our mission? What was the mission of the disciples? That of spreading the good news of Jesus to the whole world! Acts 2:46 So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart.

Here our Salvation Army church Corps you could come every day to volunteer if you wanted to! That is what this verse says, that they showed up daily in the temple. My wife and I used to be accustomed to that, in Atlanta, and often in Miami, where there were folks that would just show up daily to help with whatever was needed, to clean, to plan activities, or to sort donated food. 

In large cities there are more people and sadly, here in this city, not enough people show up.  I know all of us have many personal commitments but those that serve the Lord on His ranch are rewarded and do get filled with inspiration!

6. Today this is an invitation; you should have a desire to want to show up and do some work sometimes! And why should you want to be here in fellowship serving and helping? Because there is something special about the unity of being with other brothers and sisters as much as possible as it brings on God’s blessings of happiness! When you are at “one accord” with fellow Christians you get recharged, and doing the mission fills your spirit up.

The verse also says they ate with each other. With some of you we have eaten quite a bit! And with others of you not very often and we need to get together. After the service we do often share a meal together. Sharing food makes the Lord be pleased, we need to be with each other because ‘iron sharpens iron’.

Also, the verse mentions to “house to house” and my wife and I have been in hundreds and hundreds of homes of people we have met sharing the gospel. Let us know when we are going to your home! And in our home, we have guests pretty often. Here you are always invited! Just let us know so we can ‘break bread’ and share a coffee. Just think, Jesus didn’t even have coffee, but He did share in conversation over food with sinners and followers!

7. Jesus Himself makes the comparison of sharing a meal with a person as the same as letting Him into your heart. Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.

But once you let Jesus in, He will put you in fellowship with His followers so you can support one another in the mission of shining your light doing good works and most of all.

Mark 16:15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

Before there were the 12 close to Jesus, then there were 70, then there was the 120 men who got the Holy Spirit (but with a whole lot more women present as well), then Peter preached and won 3,000 one day and 5,000 the next, so this is how God multiplies the harvest of souls and gives us a mission to train, teach the Bible, and put to work all those who come to Him.

8. Our work is like being on a ranch or farm. Each person must do their part or the whole work suffers. When one teacher is absent, the kids miss their Bible lesson that day. When kids are absent, they miss out on learning an import life lesson they will need to combat against sin and evil.

When the songsters don’t show up, the quality of the praise suffers, when the drivers don’t show up people miss out on coming, and should I go on? Do you see how as a team we must work with ‘one accord’ to make things happen? 

So, comparing our Corps to a ranch, do people drive by and see a beautiful place with everything in order? Or do people see crops unharvested on the field where someone dropped the ball and did not do their part? Luke 9:62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” Are you being faithful? Each person here has a unique skill and God needs you!

9. I pray you are convicted today to show up more and appreciate the love, fellowship, and food we share together as a Corps. My wife and I are here almost every day, already for 30 years in fellowship with good Salvation Army friends and Christians. I already tried the world’s other systems, as most of you, and I got very disillusioned. The world’s systems are like ranch owners who use you as slave labor and then they ‘throw you under the tractor’ when you are no longer useful or when another costs them less money!

Have you experienced as I have the stupidity of hypocritical people that you thought were your friends but instead were just self-interested, narcissistic, ordinary, ugly fake friend users? In the world you and I never experience unity, or a ‘one accord’ harmony with others because each one is seeking his own thing and not the will of Jesus. Renovate your life, come and see how serving others and doing God’s work fills up your spirit!

When we obey the scriptures we know, when we decide to follow Jesus (no turning back!) then we get blessed as never imagined! Give more of yourself to Him today! Be in one accord with your Christian family! Help, serve, and love! God needs you and me more than ever as the rottenness of the world is destroying souls that could be harvested for His glory. PS We are in the business of herding God’s sheep, and we reap souls, as the fields are ready to harvest!

Samuel Brengle: He taught us what Holiness is!

Brengle: He taught us Holiness!                    Major Kelly Durant. Re 3-9-25

I Peter 1:13 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14 as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; 15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”

2.You have heard of Prengles, right? Well, at the CFOT in Chicago we had Brengles! (show can) Ha! Actually, most of us remember by association and this helps, right? Well, you do need to take in, or digest, the holiness teachings! And then practice them!

It has only been about a few years since a talented Major Eddie Hobgood did reenactments at a commissioning on the life of Samuel Logan Brengle. I was reflecting on that and realized some of you who were not there may not have a clue who this man was that the Salvation Army honors for his teachings. When I told everyone that I was going away to a sabbatical at the Brengle Institute in Chicago everyone was like, well okay have a good time, not knowing anything about him and his writings on holiness. The two weeks there were like a refresher course, a refilling of the Holy Ghost, a resting and a calling to live my life in holiness; to live full of the Holy Spirit! Do you want a life full of God’s spirit as well?

3.Samuel Brengle lived in the time that the Salvation Army was at its beginnings in the late 1800’s. He had gone to the University in Indiana and was so well educated that he enjoyed showing off his college education to his colleagues. He was a circuit preacher for the Methodists here in the U.S. and learned about holiness in Boston studying with them. He wrote in those days of his holiness experiences of how the Holy Spirit would touch him praying and he would end up just crying for joy over God’s love and he just wanted to love the lost souls in the world! 

He came to the Salvation Army in an open air in Boston and decided to join the Salvation Army but he wanted to travel to meet General William Booth himself in London.  And as all godly men would do, General Booth evaluated well how to use the young willful Samuel Brengle. Instead of placing him in authority for his university education as Samuel Brengle had pridefully expected, he asked him to first be in charge of shining the shoes of the Cadets that would go out daily to preach in the streets. In other words, he had an idea that he was a cut above the rest and for sure he was not ready to just serve God. Have you ever met people like that? 

4.First, consider what kind of mud and gunk there was in the streets of London at that time? Most people threw away their bedpans in the streets, horse and carriages passed by leaving their business behind, and the smell and appearance of the mud on the shoes was not pleasant at all!

Samuel Brengle was told he could have the job of shining the approximate one hundred shoes every day, day after day. While he would shine them, he would ask himself, what is God showing me? Why can’t others see my value to use me in a better way? How long will I have to do this ridiculous and humiliating job? Shouldn’t I just quit the Salvation Army? Is it worth it? But God showed him that if Jesus washed the disciples feet, he could also do his job with joy. He made the right choice and persisted and God did use him in a way he did not expect! 

5.The next life event that happened to him brought Him close to God for sure. He was sent back to Boston after training and while out in the streets coming from on top of a building someone threw a brick right on top of his head! It was such a serious injury that he needed one year and a half before he was fully recuperated.

That was a horrible attack and injury from Satan, right? Imagine, this man was already giving his all to God, and now this? Well, it was in that year and a half that God came to him in a marvelous way because he became more and more connected to the Holy Spirit because day after day he was taking time for prayer and the study of God’s word and a transformation of holiness occurred in his life. 

6.He experienced a new level of a connection with God that he never knew, holiness and purity beyond the usual and he felt like he wanted to love everybody, even the dogs in the street! After spending much time with God, as he describes it, colors were brighter, things were unexplainable more beautiful and different! This was His authentic experience that he had a burning to share!

In the end, by reaching a higher level of victory against sin, or what we define as living the holy life, he became inspired, being empowered to his maximum potential and he wrote more than 10 books on the subject of holiness. He researched Wesley’s original contributions and practiced staying pure and his writings and contributions have continued to be a great guide for every Christian who has the duty to go deeper with God in their Christian walk.

Some people never in this life experience the bliss of gaining the blessings of the great joy and peace the Lord wants to give! Any Christian can have joy no matter what is happening in their lives. While there I heard the life testimony of over 72 Officers and you would be surprised how many have dealt with recent deaths in the family, cancer and long term sickness, horrible broken-nesses from substance abuse, abandonment, or even sexual abuse when they were children, or some were opposite having grown up protected and blessed in a Salvation Army home and dedicating their lives to Jesus at age 14. Each story was fascinating, and each person was dedicating their life to Jesus as a calling with heavenly rewards disregarding the cost of the earthly sacrifice. “The Holy Spirit, dwelling within, turns our eyes from that which is temporal to that which is eternal; from the trial itself to God’s purpose in the trial; from the present pain to the precious promise.” —Samuel Logan Brengle

7.How many of you want more of Jesus so much so that the Holy Spirit fills you moment by moment to experience God’s love as never before? It makes you happy inside, full of love, and so thrilled about life that you just overflow it from your heart onto others in pure love!

In the future we must study on how to gain more holiness because you and I have an immense need for it, but for today, I will just give you a few illustrations to make it more understandable. 

God is holy and he commands that we be holy. (see verses of sermon) What does that mean? It means that we must obey, and we must work at renewing ourselves with the Holy Ghost deepening our relationship with The Lord day by day. Think of all the muddy shoes, they are ugly and undesirable and they had to get cleaned from day to day, but afterwards they shined as new, as if they had never been dirty! You and I and the Lord need each other otherwise you just remain dirty full of your own self filthy and undesirable. But God makes us shine His glory!

8.Think of your faith as a glass of water. You were dry and empty but when you invited Jesus to come into your life, you were full and felt satisfied. But left alone without refilling, the water evaporates; this means you must refill it with your connection to God by worship (not just on Sunday but daily), reading and absorbing His word, and by obeying his commands to love Him with all your heart mind and soul and love your neighbor as yourself. Let’s review doctrine 9 and 10 that reflect on this.

We believe that continuance in a state of salvation depends upon continued obedient faith in Christ. We believe that it is the privilege of all believers to be wholly sanctified, and that their whole spirit and soul and body may be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

9.How many of you are saved and have Jesus in your lives? (hands up) Great! There was given to you a prevenient grace, you could think of it as a special gift of illumination in your heart and mind from God, a Holy Spirit pull on your heart, and you accepted it and had an experience that made you feel a warmth or peace. 

When a person accepts Jesus, they gain a small measure of holiness (which is like a touch of the breath of God), like getting a seed planted, the first getting to know Him meeting took place and the spirit provoked in you or in the person accepting Jesus a will to want to be clean, to not sin anymore, and know more about God and become like this pure loving being… Jesus, God’s Son, to save you from your sins or destructive habits that separated you from God.

Then over time what happens? Well, as you know with the parable of the seed that Jesus told, the seed can either grow up partially, fully, or just die. You are the one who decides. If you water it with God’s word and pray to obey and grow in faith, the product of holiness takes root in the love relationship that grows. You grow and mature and you produce fruit for God. His grace in you then becomes prevalent.

You then have passed on to the phase of having a prevalent grace, a continuing grace, a Holy Spirit power that helps you in the process of growing even closer to God, of helping you to be like Jesus himself! It is a second measure of God’s spirit!

10.Imagine yourself right now as being a pure holy person, a person full of love and Jesus’ love, a person that has lost all desire to sin because you are free from sin, a person who lives every moment guided by God’s spirit. Imagine now a happiness and joy which is more than anything you have ever experienced! 

I know some of you have experienced the Holy Spirit, and felt so wonderful you thought you could fly off to heaven! The infilling of the Holy Spirit which occurs when your heart and mind are clean for the Lord is an amazing experience but it is one that lasts only while you keep the connection alive. Renewing it every day will mean to be faithful until the end! 

Holiness and purity are possible with God and everyone should pray for it, accept it, and allow the lead of the Holy Spirit, and then live moment by moment hearing from the Lord!

The fullness of God comes from abiding in Jesus, God’s word, as the vine in John 15. Imagine every person is comparable to a plant, or the vine that grows, but some give fruit and some don’t. The scripture says, the ones without fruit are thrown away to be burned, but the other ones that stay connected to Jesus absorb all the nutrients and over time mature to grow many grapes. Some of you here have little green grapes, and some of you have large grapes, all of you are in different phases of growth.

11. What does the fruit imply? We know from Gal. 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,²³ Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

If you mature in pureness and holiness you will have these qualities for your continued working at being close to God.  And holiness just keeps on progressing and you feel much less temptation to sin, and you are holy because you have been passing time with the one that is holy! But if not you become lukewarm and neither hot nor cold for God and useless.

You are commanded to be holy by the scripture we read today. Do you think you are prideful and need to improve? Well, just tell God you’re sorry and repent and start right now with a new dedication to Him! Pray for a lifestyle change so you have time for God daily. Pray for a change in character too! I know you and some of you do not yet have the fruits mentioned here in Galatians.  

12. Ask yourself, could I pass the test of shining shoes all day for Jesus? He may have a task for you of helping here, a humble job others will not do. God wants to use so many of us, but we are not cleaned up in holiness as much as God would like. 

Pray Psa 51:10-12 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.   Remember it is a command to be holy as He is holy! Trust and obey, seek holy living, and discover a joy you have never known!

Honor the Women: Mothers always need support!

Honor the Women: Mothers always need support!  5-18-14 Re:3-9-25  

by Kelly Durant

Titus 2:3-5 The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; 4 That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, 5 To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.

2.It is a sad truth that women in general are not respected by 80% of the world’s people today and it is a fact they never have been! Investigate for yourself how other major world cultures, religions, and communists treat women, and you will be outraged and appalled! There is a current war on women in our culture! Modern music has progressed from Elvis that would sing he was “All Shook Up’ in love with a woman to our current music which refers to women as “Bs” and sex objects only, something to own and exploit as property! Denounce it when heard!

The quote many men have lived by was what Plato voiced: “'I thank God, that I was born Greek and not barbarian, freeman and not slave, a man and not woman”. Why? The usual case is women live with zero rights, zero respect, and still women are considered property slaves in many countries! 

Some people always want to complain of the discrimination of women in the U.S. but here it is minimal compared to other places! Abortion of girls in China is so extensive that already 34 million young men will not be able to find a wife! What a manmade crisis from atheistic abortions! Many in several nations fear that the frustration of these men will lead to aggression and war, internal and external. 

Have you ever heard that one should judge a society by how it treats its most vulnerable members? How are the unborn, the babies, the elderly, the children, and the impaired getting treated? And of great importance, how are the women treated? 1 Peter 3:7 Likewise, husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered. (God will not hear the prayers of those who mistreat women!) Identify and condemn those who are to blame for making women into just sex objects and slaves for labor exploitation. Our job is to love, esteemed, respect, and value women as intelligent industrious essential co-collaborators in the home and community! 

3. The verse of focus begins in Titus 2:3 highlighting that God expects women as they mature to be strong influencers with their wholesome (holy) values, living a pure life. Women are exalted in the verses here inferring they are important and useful as teachers and mentors expected to share their acquired knowledge over the years about life and of the word of God with other younger women and to their children (and to the men as well).

Mothers always impact their children profoundly! Many single young men in jail or on the battle front when facing a breakdown or crisis have been known to cry out for consolation from mommy! We all recognize that the woman who incubated us and gave us life 9 after months and raised us for 18 + years is important to our emotional and physical wellbeing! 

Every mother must recognize that they are very important influencers and leaders in society creating either embittered monsters or sacrificial saints! Each person reaps what they sew, and the boomerang of actions does come back to haunt. I knew one young Mexican man in prison and when I offered to bring his mother there to visit him as a favor, he told me “No, I don’t want to see that whore”! Sad, right? She had a history of living with different men, and he had suffered from the hand of many of them. We must teach this modern culture to get back to purity and holiness.

4. In history we observe that it has only been the word of God in the Bible practiced correctly that has brought women out of the darkness, of the depths of slavery and debasement, to being equal to the man in position in spiritual gifts and abilities. Jesus, by honoring his women followers, influenced many and eventually as the Bible got translated in many languages; it sparked a Renaissance and enlightenment of respect for women that we benefit from in our modern society today. It is a pity that the primitive church, and still in some churches today, that they never matured in doctrine as the Salvation Army did to esteem women as equals ordaining them as ministers honoring them highly. Sadly, very few churches today ordain and respect women as equals, so you can be thankful that William and Catherine Booth got it right! Women have full rights here! Help us spread this good news!

Did you know when the Salvation Army was founded in 1865 that 60 to 70% of the initial members were young mothers and they were valiant preachers too! And today in this Corps, we expect the women and mothers to be leaders, not just to their children, but leaders in society being influential winning many over to the faith: souls saved for Jesus! Everyone listens when a wise woman speaks!

But I wish women today would start passionately speaking up more against social injustices! Help expose crimes such as rape, child-abuse, sexual trafficking, labor exploitation, domestic violence: women must demand that the people adhere to the standard of family values in the churches, schools, and city halls! If women are not defending the weak and family causes in their role, then they may fall for useless causes wasting time on popularized trends and standing up for people who later become back stabbers to them. The causes that foment hatred towards men creating division and controversy in the community are against nature; truth is very few agree even though the media lies and says it’s the majority. The truth is the majority are sick of controversy from people demanding rights for lustful selfish desires and not for rights of the truly defenseless abused innocent ones.   

5. Men and women have different roles in life. If a burglar is in the house at midnight, it is the man’s role to handle it, right? Or women, do you love a good fight and enjoy tackling 6’ masked men who have guns or knives? Raise your hand, women, if you would say, “Honey, I’ll get it”! Sadly, today in a few so-called developed nations, some people due to the confusion of laws (non-Biblical) are supporting gender reversals. Such confusion sews the seeds of frustration, and proven statistically, it foments suicidal tendencies! Women have gained substantial respect here in the U.S. in the workplace but concerning crimes committed against women, much more needs to be done, in particular abroad as in Arab, Communist, and non-Christian nations or in about 4/5ths of the world!   

Again, referring to how women are commended to be holy and sober, what happens when women are not holy but rather become loud and self-serving? The progression (as observed in Hollywood children) of the character slides downhill from disrespect on into total chaos! Each person is the principal player in the forging of their own reputation. Those seeking to take advantage of men usually ironically find men with the same nature (birds of a feather...) seeking to take advantage of them! Trying to take advantage of another pretending love (either sex) is nothing new, and everyone gets burned! Many women have a disadvantage though because of their more sensitive emotions and smaller physical size.

In the 90s in Miami, we had a nice Peruvian friend in her 50s that was depressed and sad due to a recent divorce. The judge awarded her the house of the ex-husband and she sold it. In the meantime, a new boyfriend, who was supposedly a rich man of a rich Spanish family said he would help her by storing her $100,000 cash in his personal safe. We soon found out she had never even been to his house! It soon came to light (after we encouraged her to go to the police) that he had played her and about 5 other women for their money and she felt horribly shamed! He went to jail, she lost it all, and she had to go on with life working minimum wage having nothing being too embarrassed to even talk to her family! 

6. Today many people complain about the disappearing family unit but who is to blame? Where is the fighter spirit of couples of, “we will get through this”? Do we blame the deadbeat dads? Or the deadbeat moms? Both sexes share blame in being irresponsible! Take note, young deadbeat fathers were boys who grew up under a mother (or father) that influenced their attitude about women. How the mother treated the child affirmed obedience and good behavior, or rebellion and disrespect. Kids imitate the parent’s example and values, or the lack thereof; values are caught and imitated and must be taught. Parents reap what they sew and get payback for their sins often multiplied through those closest to them.

Sad as well, some girls and boys have grown up seeing abusive fathers degrade their mothers verbally or physically (or vice versa), and when a guy or gal imitates this horrible behavior, he (or she, as a victim to this) thinks that this is just normal life! They imitate this abuse even though they already know this behavior brings about hurt feelings, much suffering, and even divorce. No one should tolerate abuse ever because you are God’s child and of high value and esteem!

7. Here is where the breakdown begins begging the question, have the older ladies been faithful to teach the young girls at home, in the churches, and in the school’s high standards and values? Are the women mentors teaching the girls to dress and act like princesses aspiring honors and achievements? My concern is this, lately women and mothers are letting girls dress too risqué, even 12-year-olds use short shorts, unaware of the dangerous provocations that put the girls at risk for rape and abuse? Some women dress so crazy while picking up their kids in school that the schools are now enforcing dress codes for parents! 

By the time a girl is in college, an estimated 1 in 4 have been raped already! I have also known of many mothers that have prostituted their own daughters for money as well! Take into account that before the 60’s themes of “burn your bra” and be liberated messages, only 2 main STDs existed, now there are dozens that are very serious causing cervical cancer, HIV, and destroying the normal desire and pleasure that God intended to last a lifetime between married couples!

8. How sad today as well that in a majority of so called “developed” cultures women are choosing to not be mothers or married wives protected by the law. This lack of security for kids causes both men and women to miss out on many laughs and beautiful emotions, and a needed maturity. Romans 1 :27 “In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.” A few societies worldwide, due to misinformation and feminist influences are sadly not supporting women in their roles as mothers and wives. Remember, young pregnant girls need support from us and everyone! Pre 60s and ‘the pill’, The Salvation Army had many clinics nationwide for delivering babies! Everyone must always support families because we need one another to survive and to provide for what is needed! 

So, these verses of today go against the grain of what the world promotes, and it is up to Christians to be very vocal to support women! (I love counter-culture challenges, don’t you?) In general, both sexes without faith and obedience to God are horrible abusers of their own bodies and others wreaking havoc going against nature. I thank God again and again for the Christian values taught in the Bible that inherently invoke respect and exalt the women as of great value! And when ‘mama is happy, everyone is happy’! See Proverbs 31

The Bible has inspired women to become the liberated, dedicated, wise, good, and fun-loving creatures God made them to be! We must spread this good news!

9. One disturbing part of verse Titus 2:3 is, “not false accusers”, what does this mean? To invent a lie to muster sympathy and harm someone is punishable by law! In today’s language it could also imply not falsely exaggerating a contentious item being a “drama queen”, spouting out foolish words just for manipulation or revenge. All of these recent TV shows of marriage boot camps and counseling showing the women yelling and red in the face is not helpful in modeling better alternative communication methods to help us solve common relationship issues! Men and women always will accuse each other of their faults but the factor is both often forget to factor in their own irritating provocations usually started with sharp accusatory words. Everyone is always right in their own eyes, but to God we are all in great need of maturity and to be more in control of our words!

False accusations from the woman may be that of accusing the man of having another woman. If the accusation is a true one, then what is she doing with him? She needs to stop thinking that she is going to control him and fix a broken sin nature that does not want to be fixed. Only Jesus changes hearts!

The man a woman chooses as a husband must first of all be a man that has proven himself worthy and faithful to God not living an addictive abusive or adulterous life. Never should a woman ever have the need to “falsely accuse” him of having a lover fishing for information to know if an affair is happening. How many men here have had to hear their wife accuse them of liking or cheating with another over and over? (Don’t raise your hands!) These and other types of accusations scar relationships, avoid them! Over time the man might erroneously conclude that he might as well have a lover, since he is going to suffer verbal abuse whether he has had one or not! Don’t accuse and be guilty in words or in deeds! 

10. One more interesting part, “not given to much wine”. Well, in our case, we are not given to any wine, but this implies that many young women have the tendency to be party girls, right? It is human nature for the youth to want to have fun but if having fun includes alcohol and the starting motherhood due to being drunk one night, this is something to seriously think about and avoid! 

Because the body mass of women is smaller than that of men, women get drunk easier than men. They also get addicted to drugs easier as well. This is a warning to women to not let their selves be exposed to any excess as it will create more consequences. Date rape happens often to young girls that are high or drunk and it has always been a problem for millennia not just a recent societal problem. 

Alcohol is a serious problem in this country as an estimated 1 in 10 people are addicted! People who drink or get high are forcing their brains to imbalance and expend in a few hours the pleasure serotonin chemicals and later normal for them is a personality state that is bored, edgy, and violent. Be careful of what may happen to you: drug or alcohol abusers need serious help!

11.  Continuing on to the last part of today’s study, “obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed”. What does it mean? Today, after the feminist movement from the 70s, many people think that the woman being obedient to the husband is heresy! After all, the woman has rights! This is true, but each couple needs to decipher each other’s strong and weak points to keep a balance and common sense. Most women follow the man’s lead anyway unless she perceives a danger or threat, or if he is being totally anti-god and cruel. 

Here is an example of how a man may lead, if the woman gets very excited about getting a nice new car with a $680 a month payment with another $200 in insurance, and the man says, “Oh no, babe we can’t afford that, it would be almost half our income,” then the woman should understand and just trust the man’s judgment on the matter! This is the essence of the idea of being obedient. It does not imply absolute blind servitude as some Christian defamers want to imply! But a woman who demands her way may make the man angrily upset and blaspheme!

12. I love and respect my wife that has for 47 years has been a great fighter for justice defending me and her children and helped a few thousand others in need. She woke up all hours of the night, learned new languages to communicate with us (English, Portuguese, ASL, sign language) and tolerated moving from place to place doing God’s work. I love and admire her as only 1 out of a million would do this! How fortunate (all for God’s plans) that I could meet her and count on her!

What did the scripture teach us? Respect the women! Both women and men should study and research what makes the other spouse be secure, stable, and happy. What kills any relationship is a self-centered insecure jealous controlling person who demands that their needs be supplied not considering the needs of the other one. Relationships are always ‘give and take’ and that must be done in love! Men also own up to responsibilities but that’s a talk for later!

13. If a woman or wife claims to be a Christian but she is harsh with her tongue and punishes the man when she doesn’t get what she wants, with addictive or unfaithful behaviors, then the man might conclude that her faith, that her Christian God must be flawed and unjust! This works vice versa, men must also be loving examples gentle proving their dedication to their family or their faith on God will be criticized as useless and hypocritical!

It is the pure, powerful, and holy women, often mothers, throughout history that have been the ones to bring about a real change in society, starting in their homes with their own children and then out in the community! Remember also that countless women are renowned professionals! 

Let’s pray the Lord brings us more women to organize and defend the weak, minister to the suffering, and putting into practice God’s word! Let’s pray for the women here to have the strength they need to accomplish great things for their families, church, and friends. We must denounce, expose, and encourage correction for those fallen into weakness, but honor the noble, pure, and wise and holy women! If we do not support them, then more men, women, and children around the world will continue to suffer more and more injustices! Women, and mothers with Jesus and the Holy Spirit are powerful teachers, healers, and influencers: love and support them!

The Damocles Sword: What Dangers Do You Live Under?

The Damocles Sword: What Dangers Do You Live Under?  By Kelly Durant   

6-9-13 Re 3-2-25  2 Corinthians 11:24-26),   2 Corinthians 1:3-11

2.The Sword of Damocles is an anecdote (but probably a real story) of Dionysius II of Syracuse,  a 4th century BC tyrant of Syracuse, Sicily. Damocles exclaimed to his king, Dionysius, that, as a great man of power and authority surrounded by magnificence, how blessed and fortunate he truly was. Dionysius offered to switch places with Damocles, so that Damocles could taste that position with privilege firsthand. Damocles quickly and eagerly accepted the king's proposal. Damocles sat down in the king's throne surrounded by every luxury, but Dionysius arranged that a huge sword should hang above the throne, held at the handle only by a single hair of a horse's tail. Damocles finally begged the tyrant Dionysius to let him get up from the throne, because he no longer wanted to be so fortunate!

Dionysius had successfully illustrated the sense of the constant fear in which the great ruler lived, as he was always in danger of death by treason. Dionysius made it clear that there can be nothing pleasant for the person over whom some fear always looms! Over each one of us is a danger that could harm or kill at any moment!

3. In life, most every one of us while on the earth is threatened by a continuous danger. These dangers could be present as a medical problem, risks involved in work, even in the traffic! Some of these dangers could be from violent family members or by thugs in the neighborhood. Some dangers come from geographical phenomena like tornadoes, floods, and hurricanes, and yet other dangers are from spiritual attacks playing on our fears; voices from our spiritual warfare of good vs. evil, of the devil and his demons attacking you & I who have a Christ-like mind. 

I was there for hurricane Andrew in 1992! That upset our lives for almost a year! Some people, as seen in the Bible, believe destructions are permitted by God to purge people from their sins, so in their weakness they repent and look to God. God may reveal to you or may not reveal to you His purpose in these trials. But, either way, our mission is to serve suffering humanity!

 I was thinking about my past, places where I have lived and the different dangers that I faced and the ones each of us face from day to day. I grew up in Oklahoma with tornadoes and the danger of losing everything, even my life; it was a real danger during certain times of the year. 

Some people crack easily under pressure (usually the faithless) while others just keep on going. How strong are you? Want to be stronger in the face of danger? Just be right with God, you could be called at any time! I thought I was going home when a second tornado hit near our hotel in OKC when I was on disaster service back in 2013! Several times I have been near death!

4. People respond to life threatening dangers in different ways:  One by irrational actions due to their fear, or by living in denial that the threats are real. Another way is by becoming obsessed by their fears and to their own harm inappropriately get sick and worried. But then there is God’s way of conquering danger and fear: by having faith and trust in Him!

We all have seen some people have a faith crisis over intimidating outside forces not in their control. Some people not knowledgeable of God’s Word might conclude that God must be cruel to allow suffering. They get angry. (This is Satan’s means of getting people to misjudge and blame God, (so they do not worship and honor Him), But if any one of us does not honor God as the Creator, we are by default honoring ourselves as God and we are not gods, and the obvious is we control almost nothing! Our adversary Satan, steals worship by this influence. 

Others might deduct that God must not be there to stop nature’s fury, or man’s wars, or resolve their personal problems, since He must have made the universe like a wind-up toy and abandoned it (The Deist view). And there are others that conclude God is not in total control and therefore He is imperfect. He is a lesser God from a higher God. (The Gnostic views) 

5. It is true, God does allow suffering and death at times but there is a greater purpose for it beyond our understanding!  One day in heaven God will reveal to us all things and we will know and understand why, but for the moment, too many factors are present that we are unaware of to understand His final purpose. It is like trying to solve a complicated math problem when you only know values for X,Y, & Z, but no values are known for A,B, & C.

I’ve met many people after having lost all still had their faith. Would you keep it if you lost all? Let’s look at a man that went through a lot and did not let his faith be shaken, the apostle Paul.

2 Corinthians 11:24-26  Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. 25  Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26 In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;

 

Paul had experienced it all and he lived through all the pain caused by evil men and by nature. 

I can’t even imagine the horrendous pain of a lashing! Or of floating in cold dark waters shipwrecked! Possibly many of you have lived through dangers. You might even still live in fear of the next danger that might assault you. In Miami people have the Damocles sword over their heads from the threat of massive hurricanes. Each place proposes a distinct threat, each life of ours involves us facing different dangers.

 

6. The question today is: What fears do you have? What threats do you have over your head? 

I contemplated sharing some of the dangers I have been in and how I have had to grow my faith in God consoling myself even speaking out-loud to myself the comforting Scriptures of the Bible while walking down the street! Most of you like myself have lived with the dangers I will discuss here, and again I ask you, how are you dealing with your fears and trials right now?

In Brazil I was always worried about getting attacked by thieves in the street and 3 times I was chased and forced to be running away fast and hard from thugs escaping by catching a moving bus. I was also fearful of being deported, and when our resident visas were denied, we had 8 days to leave.  It is hard but we must accept God’s will over our will for our desires. He controls all. Sometimes the thing we do not want the most is what He allows for a good we do not see.

In Bolivia I arrived in 1977 right after a Military Coups and some snipers had shot about 200 people from the tops of the downtown buildings. During my time there I often lived under Marshall Law and saw democracies and dictatorships come and go by the half dozen. I often breathed tear gas as protesters were dispersed. The threat of imprisonment was always present. What I loved though was I could preach the gospel with freedom almost anywhere!

In Chile, in 1981, jail time and disappearances were common under Pinochet’s dictatorship. I made the mistake of having home Bible studies, which was a gathering of people in your home prohibited by law, and some of the youth from the universities I had over I later discovered were Communist sympathizers. At 5:00 am one morning 6 police with machine guns raided our home only to discover that we only had Bibles as our propaganda! Our phone from then on was tapped and we were watched, so feeling too uncomfortable with that we decided to return to Bolivia.  The fact that I had nightmares of being hung by barbed wire by the police did not help either!

In Colombia the Guerrillas were not too far away from where we lived just outside of Bogota in Subachoque. The people in the local markets would tell us all about it. As you know the FARC or others would always kill a few innocent farmers in order to scare people to be able to take over an area. Kidnapping was common as well and I heard a few dozen stories of this happening amongst my friends and students. A gringo was always a target and several times for no reason Soldiers showed up to our doors just to see what we had in our house. I always was friendly and open. I was informed later they were not soldiers, but guerrillas disguised as soldiers.  Thank God we were just poor missionaries with kids and we were not worth kidnapping for a ransom! One neighbor beside us did get robbed though of $10,000 dollars! I did not ask that couple how they acquired that much money because too many questions can get you killed.

In Venezuela I had friends that told me stories of their experiences of gangs of thieves showing up at their homes to rob and rape their wives! God stopped us from getting residence there as well as the visas were approved and sent to Bogota, but the Consulate wanted money under the table we did not have, so we ended up getting resident visas in Colombia instead!

7. When you think about it…dangers are always present, and we could become a victim of anything at any time! But God’s protection is ever present as well, so we have peace in the midst of the storm! 

Here in the U.S. many dangers prevail but the risk depends on the area you live in. In the Metro cities, theft and crime is a way of life:  in Chicago dozens get shot weekly. Forest fires, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods are just a few of the threats we all live with in this nation, not to mention extortionists, mafia, the sex trade, drugs, and even the abusers in our families cause great harm. It is a miracle that day to day we are so well protected!

So what can stop our worries and calm our fears? Only the Word of God! I use to repeat several verses to myself to overcome these fears and take note of them so you too can to gain strength when you need it!

Philippians 4:6, 7 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." 

Isaiah 26:3 Thou will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusts in thee.

Psalm 119:50 This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me. (made me alive)

Psalm 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

8. And when we see others suffering as you and I have seen in our past, here is a verse that come to mind of what our mission is:

2 Corinthians 1:4 Who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

Our task as a true Holy Ghost filled Christians is to console our own spirits from the worries, threats, and fears we face daily! And after that, you are to console others who are going through trials that have left them disoriented and weak.

I don’t think God is unfair to allow us to live in a fallen, imperfect world where nature or people can ruin us in an instant. We are in a school to prepare us for eternity where everything will be perfect. Maybe one lesson is you need to be ready to trust God and also be ready to leave it all behind (even your life) at any time! 

I think God knows that without dangers all of humanity would forget Him and go the way of the Satanic self-centered, prideful, perverted, and narcissistic wealthy people who think they are gods. The reminder of dangers remains for us all: you and I have a sword over our head! 

What is the sword over your head? What do you most fear? Bad health? A tornado?  A violent relative? An armed thief? Poison in our food, air & medicines? An economic implosion, depression, and collapse of the system? Have you learned to live with it by placing it in God’s hands? Let’s pray for peace of mind! Let’s pray that we learn to trust God no matter what happens!

Old Age & How It Brings Blessings!

Old Age and Blessings                                                 Kelly Durant    2-23-25

Lev 19:32

32 Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honor the face of the old man, and fear thy God: I am the LORD.

 

2.There is a quote in English that says: No wise man ever wished to be any younger! There are a lot of benefits to growing old, but I am referring to growing mature in the Lord! But like they say, wrinkles should be on the face, not on the heart!

Let’s look up Titus 2:2-4

2 That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.

3 The aged women likewise, that they be in behavior as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;

4 That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,

 

That scripture tells the elderly to be serious, temperate, strong in faith, love and patience. The youth can learn a lot from the more mature.

What is old really? Consider in different countries people die at different ages.

 

3. It is the job of the young to learn from the aged and experienced and the older ones should be teachers! That is if they are close to the Lord! You lived all those years and all you know can benefit many people, so all the elder here need to consider they have a job in our Corps, they should be mentors to the younger. 

 

That is what the Word commands us to do and we need to retain the old mentality of respect for our elders! It is Biblical.

 

Today we have a generation of kids that disrespect the elderly and their parents, and according to the 10 commandments to honor your father and your mother, if a child insulted his parents breaking this commandment, he was to be stoned to death! God is serious about us respecting those that are older, especially parents!

Deuteronomy 21: 18 “If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and who, when they have chastened him, will not heed them, 19 then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city, to the gate of his city. 20 And they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ 21 Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones; so you shall put away the evil from among you, and all Israel shall hear and fear.

 

4. There are many articles about how we age and most of them state how people often get more mellow, more friendly, happier, and even more productive. KFC was started by after Col. Sanders retired from the military. Many people of 55 plus years go on to accomplish great things in business, in writing, in service to the community. Old age is a blessing! 

 

And let’s look at the way God has acted throughout the Bible history. He called Abraham and Sarah when they were old to raise their anointed son. He called Moses when he was 40 but he was still too young and impulsive. Then God didn’t call him again until he had watched sheep for another 40 years, and he went to free the children of Israel at age 80! 

 

Many of God’s prophets were not used by God until they had become aged men. I think some people at age 40 are still not yet mature. It is not the age of the body that matters as much as the age of the spirit and how much you have learned. 

 

5. It is God’s plan that we grow more mature in Him. There are some people that get older and still make the same mistakes over and over though, and that is because they are not seeking God every day. Some people just get older but not wiser.  Let’s look up…Proverbs 16:31

31 The hoary or gray head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness.

 

In other words, if you are old with gray hair, and you are close to the Lord, living in righteousness, you are wearing a crown of glory! But the older ones must live in the path of righteousness, and that is a purity that comes after years of practicing righteousness and holiness. 

 

Here, and in other cultures, gray haired people are usually taken to be wise, but wisdom does not always come with gray hair. So why is it that some people hide their age? My mother wore a wig that was the color of her hair when she was 40, so even though when she was 80, she appeared to be about 65. That is what she chose, but natural is fine too. It is the heart that is what matters!

 

6. Sometimes, some people may equate old with slow and useless. In my time here with the Salvation Army I have met many older and retired Officers and what I have seen is amazing. They are a sharp productive group of people! I have seen some retire at 65 and keep working in some form for another 20 years! And like some of you here, your memory of Bible stories and of life experiences is lucid. 

 

I’d say the average life span of a U.S. Officer right now must be at least between 85-90. Even though we live a busy stressful life for the Lord, it is as though the Lord blesses us with length of days for serving Him. Look up

Psalms 92:13‑15

13 Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God.

14 They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing.

15 To shew that the LORD is upright: he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

 

I want to tell you; in my 54 years of ministry, I have gotten to know thousands of people. There are elder ones I know right now that have looked for the Lord most all of their days, come to church or spread the gospel somehow, and lived holy lives and they have prospered in usefulness. On the other hand, some people I have known that have been slow to get close to the Lord, I have seen them over time be the same but even worse in condition than what they use to be! Age will regenerate you and you will feel young when you live for the Lord, or age will kill you, when you are not on the right path spiritually!

 

7. The U.S. is made up of people of all races that are getting older! It is our job to bring them into fellowship and love! Many of them have solitary lives and they pray every day to keep their health so they can get around to walk to buy food. And we always need to thank our church drivers who pick up these weaker ones here who do not drive due to their age or heath. 

 

We need to thank those who visit the elder in the Community Care ministries too. Remember, the people out in the world, those that have not known righteousness and our loving, life filling renovating Christian way of life, are not anywhere near as happy as we are in this Christian life in the fellowship of our brothers and sisters. We can see the effects of time on earth without God in the rude and dull people that are in the retirement centers, who often are not so old, yet they are characters that challenge your patience. 

 

One time when Regina was in a hospital, there was an elderly lady beside her that had had an operation to cut out a cancer, but it was too advanced, and she was going to die within a few weeks. Despite that she cussed like a sailor and had no reverence to God; she was old but not pure or righteous in any form or fashion. It was not pretty with her family nearby. Sad, right? Righteousness in old age is everything according to scripture! Righteousness is within the same as category as holiness, which we always proclaim and preach, and it induces respect.

 

8. Will you be energetic, in love with the Lord, and with life, and blessed because you planted in His house and won souls to Jesus? I have met many older people in my time and isn’t it true that we see amazing things happen in the Salvation Army? 

 

Most teachings of service, generosity, and encouragement, all come from the older faithful ones! My question to you who are younger is, how is it going to be for you when you are older with gray hair?

 

Will you be old and bitter about how you don’t have what you wanted out of life? Will you complain how others treated you unfairly, how you should have been richer, or blame how your family held you back!? Age & time is a collection of what was lived day to day and only you answer to God for all things! Daily living in God’s word and in His praises will always be renovating your Spirit even though the outward body is wasting away.  But we as humans with our mistakes and sins and with our own carnal minds, tend to degenerate and discourage, so counter it and live in God’s word and strength from day to day! 

 

9. Here is some reality news…each of you (and me) are dying! So, if we are dying no matter what we do, and some of us will pass on to glory before others do, why not live out our glory in Jesus Christ? Paul said he died daily, and that implied that he, and we must kill the bad in ourselves that is preventing us from being holy and right with God. 

 

2 Corinthians 4:16 Therefore, we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. Our internal spirit can be renovated! Each one of us is responsible for the effect of what we are feeding our minds and spirits. 

 

With age we get better or bitter. Like wine that gets more fine, or like vinegar that gets more tart!  Let’s respect and pray for those that are elderly here today and let us make plans to grow old gracefully, full of His grace, and His love, and His righteousness, and His wisdom, and His patience, and His faithfulness! Pray for those you know who are elderly…today!