WE'VE GOT IT WRONG SINCS WE BEGAN... PART 1

Street corner bands, trucks collecting repairable items, red kettles, ringing bells at Christmas time, and soup lines are well-known marks of the internationally publicized Salvation Army. This is an organization that is hailed as a paragon of virtue by most religious people.

The Salvation Army is widely acclaimed for its charitable trust. It operates hostels for homeless men and women, employment bureaus, general hospitals, dispensaries and clinics, leprosaria, homes for unwed mothers, children’s homes, boarding schools, and hotels. It publishes periodicals in many languages and serves meals to the hungry. Many would conclude, therefore, that such an institution is worthy of the highest praise. And we would be unfair if we failed to point out that there is much to admire in the humane disposition that characterizes those of the Salvation Army.

However, it is a fact that is undeniable to any informed student of the New Testament that the Salvation Army is a human organization unauthorized by the Bible. Many of its doctrines are totally contradictory to New Testament teaching, and therefore cannot be ignored. The welfare of eternal souls is at stake.

The Origin of the Salvation Army

The founder of the Salvation Army was William Booth. Booth was born in Nottingham, England, in 1829. As a young man he joined the Methodist Church and shortly thereafter, about 1844, he allegedly had some sort of “conversion experience” which led to his becoming a revivalist preacher a couple of years later. In 1862, he left the Methodists to “evangelize” among the poor. Booth started the East London Christian Mission in 1865; the name was changed to “The Salvation Army” in 1878.

According to its charter issued in New York State in 1899, the Salvation Army is an organization “designed to operate as a religious and charitable corporation” whose paramount purpose “is to lead men and women into a proper relationship with God”(What Is the Salvation Army?, pp.8-9).

The Organization of the Salvation Army

The organizational structure of the Salvation Army bears not the slightest resemblance to that of the church revealed in the New Testament. Rather, it is more akin to the hierarchical system of Roman Catholicism. The international headquarters is in London and is under the authority of the international “General.” The General operates through a “Chief of Staff” into various overseas departments where limited administrative decisions are made.

“In the United States, the Army is divided into four Territories, with headquarters in New York, Chicago, Atlanta and San Francisco. Each has its own commander with rank of Commissioner or Lieutenant-Commissioner. There is also a National Commander with headquarters in New York. . .” (What is the Salvation Army?, p. 10).

The Doctrine of the Salvation Army

The official creed book of the Salvation Army is The Salvation Army Handbook of Doctrine, published by the International Headquarters in London. The “General Order” which prefaces the book states:

“This volume contains an exposition of the principle Doctrines of the Salvation Army as set forth in its Deed Poll of 1878.”

“These Doctrines are to be taught in connection with all Salvation Army Officer’s training operations, both preparatory and institutional. It is required of officers of all ranks that their teaching, in public and private, shall conform to these eleven Articles of Faith.”

Their claim that the Scriptures constitute the only “divine rule of Christian faith and practice” is therefore, misleading (Article 1). The doctrines and practice of the Salvation Army give evidence that they do not have a correct view of the authority of the Scriptures, which leads one to ask this question: What is the virtue in filling a man’s belly with bread and beans, if, at the same time, you are poisoning his soul with false doctrine? The good deeds of the Salvation Army are not to the glory of God, for Jehovah is to be glorified through the church for which Christ died (Eph. 3:21). Indeed, their publicized charitable works only compound their potential for doing eternal harm to innocent souls.

About the Author

Wayne Jackson has written for and edited the Christian Courier since its inception in 1965. He has also written several books on a variety of biblical topics including The Bible and Science, Creation, Evolution, and the Age of the Earth, The Bible on Trial, and a number of commentaries. He lives in Stockton, California with his dear wife and life-long partner, B