Traditionally, The Salvation Army has been a born again evangelical denomination, preaching the pure Truth – the gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ. But in recent years more and more Salvation Army Corps have been joining the apostate ranks of Spiritual Formation, the Emergent Church, and occult contemplative spirituality.
Lighthouse Trails put out an excellent expose of The Salvation Army. I am copying and pasting the entire article below; click here for the original article.
[The proper name for the denomination is The Salvation Army. I have corrected this throughout the article.]
Salvation Army Joins the Contemplative/Emerging Ranks
[The] Salvation Army is now offering a full line of Spiritual Formation. Books “relevant to Spiritual Formation” include Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster, The Barbarian Way by Erwin McManus, Spiritual Classics and Devotional Classics by Richard Foster and Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard. Also being offered is a men’s retreat called Wild at Heart:
“[The Wild at Heart retreat is a four-day quest into the recovery of your masculine soul as outlined in John [Eldredge’s] book, Wild at Heart.] Through teaching sessions, films, guided periods of reflection and journaling, and question and answer, we have designed something far more than a retreat—it’s an expedition of the heart. You will never be the same.”
If men attend this retreat, it is true, they will never be the same. The Wild at Heart retreat (held at a Young Life campus) is put on by Ransomed Heart Ministries (John Eldredge). On the Ransomed website, under [Recommended Reading], recommended books include titles by contemplatives Anne Lamott, Henri Nouwen, Dallas Willard and other contemplatives. [The] Salvation Army is also advertising the Women of Faith conference, which includes contemplative speakers Max Lucado and Sheila Walsch. But if the Wild at Heart retreat and the Women of Faith conference don’t provide enough contemplative/Emerging, [The] Salvation Army is also advertising a Renovare conference with Richard Foster (took place in July). And almost last but not least, [The] Salvation Army is pointing people to the Intervarsity conference called Urbana, which includes Rick Warren as one of the speakers. Intervarsity publishes many books on contemplative spirituality and promotes the emerging church in various avenues. Finally, [The] Salvation Army is advertising The Origins Experience. Speakers at this “experience” include Erwin McManus and his brother Alex. It appears it is a new season for [The] Salvation Army. The questions must be asked, is the gospel not sufficient enough for this ministry that has been around for a very long time, and have they too joined the ranks of Christian leaders and organizations that somewhere along the line began walking the fence and finally fell off on the side of the world, an emerging world … one filled with mysticism, delusion and the occult? It looks as though the Salvation Army is now marching to the beat of a different drummer.
Another point – I always thought the Officers’ Training Schools for the Salvation Army Corps officers were “on the up and up”, teaching biblically sound doctrine. But with all the Spiritual Formation and Emerging teachings in The Salvation Army, I would guess that the Officers’ Training Schools are now teaching this garbage. I hope to do some research on these schools.
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Update – I have located some Internet links describing the use of the New Age-ish prayer labyrinth by various Salvation Army Corps.
1) Salvation Army Central Territory prayer labyrinth instructions
2) Description of prayer labyrinth at Ashland, OH Salvation Army’s communitycenter
3) Prayer labyrinth at The Salvation Army at Wath-upon-Dearne, in Great Britain
I will list more articles about Salvation Army prayer labyrinths, as I locate them.
The Lighthouse Trails website provides a number of additional articles regarding The Salvation Army. I plan to sift through these (there is some repetition of search results):
It appears that the false teachers and false teachings are now overwhelming even the most conservative Churches and leaders minds. And are able to replace the Actual Factual Gospel Message. Sadly the Biblically ignorant, will NOT listen to those who have studied and figured out and exposed these False Teachers lies. And try to show error after error. And when presenting these findings to the Church Leadership and Elders? Are told “well my wife likes it”. And that ends the discussion.The Church and Christians are entering a dangerous time. Where Holy Things Of God are now being mixed with carnal teachings and a false form of godliness. Which closer resembles a hybrid new age crooked Christianity. Which is a sham to the core. These false teachers carnal mystical lies have created a false godliness. They cannot do otherwise because they have never submitted themselves to Christ’s Righteousness and taken up His Cross and followed Him and the message He left mankind; In Holy Scripture. They have ~ scripture-twisted ~ the Bible to fit their false messages and mindset. May we be willing to study and find out what has infiltrated our very Churches and minds with demon dogma we need to get rid of.
Thanks for the great feedback and great comments. I agree with you 100%. God bless you – Dave
I tried to warn Salvation Army leaders that apostasy was being welcomed within their ranks and the dangers. All I got was a HUGE dose of ‘spiritual rape’ !! from a leader. There is nothing else I could call it. I am still suffering a year later. They seem to think it is wrong to refuse to deny our Lord! I have to say (and I hate saying this) but, the most abhorrent, nastiest, unpleasant people I know are Salvation Army Officers. There are some lovely god fearing Officers, but the others outweigh them. Every time I warn about something or ask something spiritual, all I get is a HUGE negative and hurtful answer. Sorry, but I have joined another flock.
Yes, my commanding Officer called me to a meeting with him and his wife. What I got was unexpected. He interrogated me, intimidated me, humiliated me, tried to brainwash me, wrongly accused me, lied to me and had me in tears. All because I told the truth and refused to deny my Lord and because this was standing in the way of his selfish ambitions which I knew were wrong. He saw to it that I had no witnesses, so one of the hardest things for me is to wait for God to work it out. Apostasy is certainly very active in the Church.
Thanks for your feedback, Elizabeth. I attended The Salvation Army in the 1980’s. At that time, it seemed more biblical; I even considered attending Officers’ Training School. Apparently since then, many officers have bought Spiritual Formation (which Richard Foster introduced in 1978) hook, line and sinker. Also, many seem to have bought into Emerging/Emergent teachings (which really took off among evangelicals around 1995). I’m researching Salvation Army Training Schools, trying to figure out what they are teaching now: http://www.use.salvationarmy.org/use/www_use_sfot.nsf/
Thank you. I live in Australia and the Training Colleges here have all those authors mentioned here in their library, for training purposes. A large part of training is Spiritual Formation. The SA is heavily into Spiritual Formation, Contemplative Spirituality, Mysticism etc. Some Corps use labyrinths and some have Taize prayer. Many Corps have taken part in 40 Days of Purpose and other training by Rick Warren. They also seem to promote The Shack. Very, very much into 24/7 Prayer week with ALL the trimmings. Obviously they don’t check out anything or anyone first, just dive headlong in even if it is not Biblical !! Or else it doesn’t bother them !!
Elizabeth
I grew up in the Salvation Army as an officer’s kid and I’ve never seen or heard of any of this stuff going on. My parents taught as the School For Officers Training in Chicago and I know for a fact that they both have no tolerance for this Emergent Cult, New Age Christianity, Rick Warren and any of that other nonsense. I’ll forward this on to them and see what they think, my guess is this is an aberration. Although I don’t know for sure because I’ve been attending a different church.
Thanks for the feedback, Chad. I would be interested in what your parents have to say about this. It does seem to me that The Salvation Army has changed in a huge way since I went there in the 1980s. But since I don’t attend there any more, I’m going by what I can locate on the Internet. Personal feedback always helps. God bless you – Dave
I can very well assure you without any doubt that The Salvation Army has changed and that all what has been said DOES apply to them. It is not only in their Colleges but many Corps have accepted this. I don’t belong there any more. I live in Australia and it is rife here. I will say though that there are some who do NOT accept it, but believe me they are very few. So very SAD.
Elizabeth
The Salvation Army is NOT a Christian Organization. Far from it! It has turned the opposite from what it started out as. I was one of them, but resigned. I told the Leaders I could not be a Christian and serve my Lord and be a Salvationist too.
Elizabeth
Thanks again for sharing, Elizabeth.
I know I’m repeating myself some here, but it’s worth repeating. I used to work at a Salvation Army Corps; fortunately, at the time, we had a fairly biblical church with sound doctrine. Things have gone way downhill since then.
Personally I would not go as far as saying The S.A. is no longer a Christian organization (at least in the U.S. – I don’t know about Australia…). I would say 1) a smaller and smaller percentage of The Salvation Army Corps are biblically sound. 2) A smaller and smaller percentage of each local Salvation Army Corps’ budgets and programs are devoted to church functions.
Following are A FEW of the heresies in The Salvation Army I now see, in no particular order:
1) Joining the ungodly, ecumenical National Council of Churches (interestingly, they don’t belong to the World Council of Churches). See the bottom of the following article: http://www.oikoumene.org/gr/handbook/church-families/the-salvation-army.html
2) Working closely with the ungodly, “antichrist-ian” United Nations:
http://www1.salvationarmy.org/IHQ/www_ihq_isjc.nsf/vw-dynamic-index/48CD7722FAF2E742802578AF0053CE6D?openDocument
3) Increasingly teaching Richard Foster’s Spiritual Formation and its occultish contemplative practices, including the labyrinth. For example:
http://www.usc.salvationarmy.org/usc/www_usc_getconnected.nsf/vw-sublinks/04733F30A97716F5862575E4006843B7?openDocument
See also my list of links re: The Salvation Army and labyrinths in my original blog about The Salvation Army.
If you could see and experience The Salvation Army here in Australia you would agree with me that The Salvation Army is NOT a Christian Organization, it is a Business Enterprise run by (mostly) by Fakers, Takers and Breakers. And within its Officership ranks there are Losers, Users and Abusers. I resigned and told them that I cannot be a Christian and serve my Lord fully and sincerely and be a Salvationist as well.
Thanks for the info, Elizabeth. This is very similar to my feelings regarding the denomination I grew up in – the Evangelical Friends Church International – see http://evangelicalfriends.org/. Most leaders I’ve encountered in the denomination ignore, resist, or even argue when attempts are made to point out heresies entering their denomination.
Back to The Salvation Army in Australia. I located their website: http://salvos.org.au/ Yup, lots of “social agency” emphasis. I am always amazed to find that, here in the United States, many people are not even aware The Salvation Army has ever been a church. They know about S.A. thrift stores, disaster assistance, etc. – but not any church aspects. God bless you. I know He is pleased with you for taking a stand and leaving The S.A. – Dave
Hi, and greetings in our Saviour Jesus. I am the son of Salvation Army Officers trained in the early 1970s. I have held junior and senior positions in The Salvation Army from Junior Soldier Senior Soldier, to Band Sergeant, Youth Group Leader and Local Officer Band Member.
The Army is a different movement now to what it was in Australia. There is NO doubt. Elizabeth, the Army is inheritantly a Christian organisation. GOd through Christ and His Holy Spirit raised it. BUT, man corrupt as he and she is at times, certainly can lead it a stray. In about 1995, the Army in Australia organised a committee for change. If you follow closely from that time, or are a devotee from well before that time , one will be able to see what has happened. The changes have been adopted.
One of the most profound ,significant drivers of change, has been from the Training College. You don’t need to takeover the organisation or influence it from the top, you simply have to change the training basis. Thats the strat of our major change. From “in-house” Salvationist Officer training, we have gone to the Melbourne College of Divinity, and all the believed generic and secular academic problems associated with it.
Let me assure you that I have been involved with the real, (orthodox) Salvation Army for over forty years, and we are NOT going away or conforming to secular “heresy”. We are forming support groups and an organisation aimed at real reformation to Army beginnings and teachings, but you must know we are facing intimidation, bullying, dis-fellowship, (unheard of previously in the Army), and fierce opposition.
One of the main “bones” of contention is the recent, (last 10 years), adoption of the training colleges disclaimer of; The Salvation Army Officer is not contractually obligated to the Salvation Army in any way, or words to that effect. This is a new and troublesome development. When I say new, it has reared its head in the last 10-15 years. If the Local commanding officer, (minister is not obligated to an upper chain of command, (as in previous years), and commands absolutely its subordinates at local Corps, (church level), to whom do they get reviewed, or account to? Subordinates must now unquestioningly obey local commands. Remember, the Corps Council, (Council of Church Elders), is also subordinate to the Officer, (minister). Not only that, but the officer has veto over the local churches council – NOT JUST CASTING VOTE! These are worrying trends, and disquiet is growing.
don.churchresources@hotmail.com
Thanks for the detailed info, Don. I still pray for The Salvation Army, having belonged to the denomination years ago. I have concerns for all born again Christian denominations that are going through negative changes. But I have a heart particularly for Wesleyan Holiness denominations. Surely we are in the End Times. God bless you – Dave
That’s interesting to hear Don. Myself, I’ve been involved with the Salvation Army for many years, I currently work with them (not an officer but at a local church level) and I as well see the problems (practical and Biblically) with their level of authority. I’m a big fan of eldership and I see none of that within my church. There is a group of people appointed every two years (some repeat the process once) who get together and plan this or that, items on an agenda, but the final say rests with the officer. The officers are relaxed and easy to get along with, however I still have an issue with this design. I had never heard the training college issue which you brought up, and how that has affected this process – very interesting!
I am a former Salvationist and I had a question…
In regards to these “Prayer Labyrinths” and “Prayer walks”, I was curious as to whether prayer stations were spiritually and biblically sound. By prayer stations, I mean having a rotation within a room (for example) and as you go “station to station” each one directs you to certain prayer — prayer for the nation, prayer for the body of believers, prayer for the sick, etc… no ritual, just prayer. I cant find any resources online regarding this and I’ve used this practice many times before. However, if it is not right I do not want to continue.
Good question, Marie! Prayer labyrinths, walks and stations are all based on the same principle of contemplative prayer. It seems that since labyrinths have been exposed as New Age in origin, many evangelical denominations have replaced prayer labyrinths with prayer walks and prayer stations.
I’ve seen articles somewhere that explain how prayer labyrinths, walks and stations are used interchangeably. I’ll pass your message on to some of my contacts and see if they can provide links to specific web articles.
Here’s one response I’ve received already, from my friend Manny Silva:
“Prayer stations don’t look so bad as labyrinths, but it’s the same principle. I compare it to the use of marijuana as a stepping stone to cocaine for some people; seems harmless to them, they swear they will never do anything like harder drugs- but then they end up doing all the other forms of it.”
And here is one of Manny’s articles on prayer stations – he does a good job of explaining how they use the same contemplative practices as prayer labyrinths: http://reformednazarene.wordpress.com/2011/06/09/the-prayer-station-did-it-make-you-%E2%80%9Cfeel-good%E2%80%9D-today/
BTW, Maria, I’m glad to read your comment: “However, if it is not right I do not want to continue.” There are too many Christians that – when they are told something is heretical – they dig their heels in, refusing to hear the Truth and give up the practice.
God bless you – Dave
Where I become confused is that the “Prayer Stations” I have created are nothing like what I have read about with Spiritual Formation and Contemplative Prayer. It is little more than a list of prayer requests put on individual sheets of paper and scattered around the room. It is not for “Seeing, touching, feeling, and seeing God” (http://dkazenske.blogspot.com/2009/04/what-is-spiritual-formation-movement.html) but simply directing prayer to where it is needed. Kind of like an intercessory prayer meeting with a little exercise involved.
Again, this “Spiritual Formation” thing is a very recent concept to me and I’m trying to learn as much as I can as to avoid the unbiblical.
Interesting, Marie. Your creation does sound innocent enough – but I’m wondering where you got the idea in the first place. Did you read a certain author? Did you hear about others doing something similar? If so, I would suggest researching those individuals, examining their theology.
There are many prayer practices – such as prayer walks, concerts of prayer, 24/7 prayer, etc. – that seem wonderful on the surface but show heretical aspects when you research the individuals that developed them. Hope that makes sense.
Again, I’ll pass along your comment to Manny and other contacts, to get their thoughts.
God bless you – Dave
I created it for the teen group who had a difficult time staying attentive during prayer meetings. So I took the prayer list and made “stations” so they would be less distracted.
Thanks for the background, Marie. I would have several concerns personally: 1) As pure as your motives were, I would suggest shying away from anything that even remotely resembles the contemplative prayer stations. Paul says, “Abstain from all appearance of evil” (I Thess. 5:22). And 2) I don’t know if you described the project to your teen group using the term “stations.” If so, teens may be led off track at some point in the future. Specifically, they may come across contemplative prayer stations and – seeing the same terminology – not realize there is a difference between contemplative prayer stations and your non-contemplative prayer exercise.
I recall years ago, teaching teens for a long period of time while barely mentioning sin, salvation or Hell. I was not purposely avoiding these subjects – I was just teaching teens the way I had been taught as a teen. I’ll always regret not being more discerning; I hope I did not lead these teens astray. My point is, sometimes we “drop the ball” in what we teach (or don’t teach). I’m not saying this happened for you (I don’t know what else you’ve taught to your teen group) – I’m just sharing my experience.
I’ll keep researching the subject of labyrinth prayers, prayer walks and prayer stations. God bless you – Dave
As I understand the SA’s Western Corporation was offered a $3.5 contract to offer drug treatment, meals, shelter, etc. to the homeless in San Francisco, but in order to get the money, benefits were required to be extended to “domestic partners”, so there’s that.
I also understand (correct me if I’m wrong) that they do not practice the Lord’s Supper at all, reasoning that — “…they might testify to themselves and others ‘against the danger of trusting to any external rite as though it has a virtue in itself’ (SA handbook, p. 188).
That doesn’t make sense. The testimony is IN taking communion together with other believers, that is the virtue of it (1 Corinthians 11.24 “do this in remembrance of me”)
I also wonder at the military hierarchy system they use, this has befuddled me since I was a teen-ager. I think of Matthew 23 (They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others. But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted) There is an egalitarian aspect to Christianity, ie we are all equally sinners and no one is to be above another. I do get the imagery, ‘we are in a war’ or ‘a war for souls’ etc, this hierarchy system though, doesn’t seem scriptural at all.
They do a lot of good works, it can’t be denied, but it seems to me that the thrust of ministry is in doing things for the poor, but not so much in evangelizing the lost. I see the bell ringers out in front of the stores this month, but I don’t see the open air meetings and preaching like there used to be.
It’s not just “one thing”, it’s a bunch of little things, and I’m just a casual outside observer.
You made some great points, Ariel. It’s been years since I’ve had much contact with The Salvation Army, but my impressions of them years ago were very similar to what you’re stating now. Unfortunately, it sounds like their positions are becoming increasingly liberal/postmodern/ Emerging/Emergent. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to do some more research on the denomination’s current situation. God bless you – Dave