Articles
and Letters Published in the Local Saskatchewan Media
Is War Ever Just? - Nipawin Journal,
November 2007
Not an Atheistic Society - Tisdale
Recorder, November 2007
Why do I turn to substances for help? - Nipawin
Journal, December 2007
I just want to be a sheep! Address to Canadian Mental Health
Association, May 25, 2010
More articles and letters published in
the Local Saskatchewan Media
Return to Michael
Ramsay's Opinion Page
www.sheepspeak.com
Is
War Ever Just?
By
Captain Michael Ramsay
The Nipawin Journal,
November 2007
Is war ever just? This is certainly a difficult question to
answer; brilliant churchmen and theologians (Augustine, Aquinas, More, Grotius,
CS Lewis, John Paul II...) like the pagans before them (Plato and Cicero) have
wrestled with this question and fought to find various theoretical formulae in
order to test for a just war. Though their intent was noble, the results are
ambiguous. A prime example of the struggle is Ulrich Zwingli. Zwingli was a
brilliant reformer and staunch pacifist – he died in a battle he voluntarily
entered.
Part of the difficulty in addressing the question of a
‘just war’ is, of course, the ‘two Joshuas.’ God used Joshua of
the OT to deliver His people into the promised land.
War and violence accompanied this conquest. God uses the second Joshua,
Jesus, to deliver us into the eternal promised land. Jesus is the Prince of
Peace (Isa 9:6) who teaches that one should turn the other cheek and offer our
attackers even more than they demand (Matt 5, Lk 6). Pacifists have argued that
any resistance is therefore disobedience and placing our trust in ourselves
rather than in God.
The Salvation Army, in which I am an officer, is not a pacifist movement. We
have both pacifists and national soldiers in our ranks. We have a long tradition
of standing up for the weak and disadvantaged. John 15 says that a man can show
no greater love than to lay down his life for his friends; we do owe a debt of
gratitude to all our soldiers who have died for us and, from my perspective, I
think Canada’s peacekeeping tradition of sending our troops to defend civilian
populations and stand between warring factions is a noble expression of faith in
action.
I further believe that our war here is with principalities and powers and that,
as this is the case, officers in the Salvation Army pledge to make the saving of
people a primary focus of our lives. It is to this end that I have committed to
fight; Jesus saves and when His kingdom is fully realised on earth, there will
be no further wars, no more tears. This is most certainly a just war.
This is a cursorily look at the topic. For more reading, I
have posted a bibliography (below) on www.sheepspeak.com.
I invite you to read more and offer me any insights you may have at war@sheepspeak.com..
For further reading:
Captain Michael Ramsay's Remembrance Day address, 2007: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2007/11/greater-love-has-no-man-than-to-lay.html
(Comment on that address by the Journal: http://www.nipawinjournal.com/News/354539.html
)
An interview with General Shaw Clifton: http://www1.salvationarmy.org/ihq/www_ihq_general.nsf/vw-dynamic-index/87BD3DF62F0F179F802572ED00564052?Opendocument
Hugo Grotius and Just War: http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/philosophers/grotius.html
The Just War Theory: http://biblia.com/jesusbible/joshua3c.htm
Cole, Darrell. The Problem of War: C.S. Lewis on Pacifism, War & the
Christian Warrior.
http://www.newadvent.org/summa/304000.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/ethics/war/justwarintro.shtml
http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/j/justwar.htm
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/pol116/justwar.htm
http://www.progressive.org/0901/zinn1101.html
"A
Just Cause, Not a Just War," The Progressive
http://www.monksofadoration.org/justwar.html
Catechism
of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 2307 through 2317
The
Harvest of Justice Is Sown in Peace
http://www.iraqwar.org/justwar.htm
http://www.cpjustice.org/stories/storyReader$595
http://www.americanvalues.org/html/1b___elshtain.html
http://www.counterpunch.org/parry1.html
Cole, Darrell When God Says War Is Right: The
Christian’s Perspective on When and How to Fight (Waterbrook Press,
2002).
Howard, Michael. War and the
Liberal Conscience (New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press,
1978).
Hunter, David G. “A Decade
of Research on Early Christians and Military Service,” Religious Studies
Review 18.2 (April 1992), 87–94; and Louis J. Swift, The Early Fathers
on War and Military Service (Wilmington, Delaware: Michael Glazier,
1983).
Lewis,
C.S. “Why I Am Not
a Pacifist,” in The Weight of Glory, edited by Walter Hooper (New
York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1980), 33–53.
Ibid., Mere Christianity
(Nashville, Tennessee: Broadman & Holman, 1996).
O’Donovan, Oliver. In
Pursuit of a Christian View of War (Bramcotte Notts: Grove Books, 1977).
Theology:
A Monthly Review, vol. xxxvii, no. 227 (May 1939).
The
Salvation Army position on World Peace: http://www1.salvationarmy.org/can/www_can.nsf/vw-dynamic-arrays/6D015085D510E57F80256EA100723430?openDocument#peace
Canadian
Salvation Army in the World Wars (1): http://www.salvationist.ca/about/history/
Canadian
Salvation Army in the World Wars (2): http://www.civilization.ca/cwm/salvationarmy/index_e.html
"It would be easier to forget one's name than fail
to remember the times without number when the Salvation Army was, in truth,
our comforter and friend." - General Harry Crerar (Former Commander of the First
Canadian Army, Second World War) Read more: http://www.civilization.ca/cwm/salvationarmy/index_e.html
Canada
and Nov 11, 1813 - an earlier World War: http://www.islandnet.com/~havelock/FPNov11AmericanInvasion.html
The
Salvation Army (Aus / NZ) in the World Wars: http://www.anzacday.org.au/spirit/cross/index.html
The
Salvation Army (USA) in the World Wars: http://www.worldwar1.com/dbc/salvhist.htm
Ephesians
6:11-13
11Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles
of the devil.12For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against
spiritual wickedness in high places. Read whole chapter: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=56&chapter=6&version=9
Not
an Atheistic Society...
By
Captain Michael Ramsay
Letter published in
the Tisdale Recorder, November 2007.
Re: Not Attending Ceremonies
Dear Editor,
It is too bad that one of the readers of this paper has decided not to attend
the Remembrance Day ceremonies because their religious beliefs will not be given
pre-eminence. The reader who had the compulsion to write, while still lacking
the conviction to sign their name, did raise an interesting point. The writer
claimed that less than 15%, or even less than 10%, of 'those that served' did
not believe in the 'Judeo-Christian' God. It seems to follow then, that those
who are religious Atheists make up an even smaller number of that population
(accounting for other religious beliefs) - perhaps even less than 3 or 4%.
My questions then is this: why wouldn't you mention God? Why should the 96% of
the population that are Theists be subjected to the Atheistic religious point of
view in a public ceremony? If the bulk of the population in a democratic society
recognises the sovereignty of God, then certainly this is the point of view that
should be acknowledged in the public arena.
In recent public events the small vocal religious minority Atheists have been
dominating ceremonies. In the ceremonies marking the SwissAir tragedy, the
Christian clergy were banned from mentioning Christ in the ceremony. In the
official Canadian 9/11 ceremonies, only the non-theistic viewpoint was
recognized. Why, in a predominantly Theistic society, should the public be
subjected only to Atheistic prejudices in our public ceremonies? This does not
make sense.
While I am sorry that the writer will not attend the ceremony, I think it would
be much worse to honour only the religion of a vast minority (possibly 4% or
less are Atheists) at the expense of all others and in the process to possibly
even insult the memory of all those who actually did lay down their lives for
God, King, and country.
God bless,
Michael Ramsay
www.sheepspeak.com
Why
do I turn to substances for help?
By
Captain Michael Ramsay
Letter published in
the Nipawin Journal, December 2007.
Why do I turn to substances for help?
This is a question that I have actually heard quite a bit in my life. I was
privileged to be invited to a birthday party at AA recently and at these
celebrations one hears, among other things, the remarkable stories of success as
the Lord delivers people from our addictions.
Prior to coming here we served in Winnipeg’s North End, Stony Mountain
Penitentiary, and Vancouver’s downtown eastside with The Salvation Army. There
are many stories. Some are of wonderful successes as the Lord transforms lives
and some are of daily struggles that continue for a lifetime.
I think of friends from our time on Vancouver Island. The day she and her
husband accepted the Lord she stood up sober and never turned back. He has
fought almost everyday to defend his sobriety: It is a struggle.
To some of us, substances possess a Siren-like song: this song has such a
powerful draw. In Greek mythology, the Sirens are creatures with the head of a
woman and the body of a bird. They live on islands and with their irresistible
song lure mariners to their destruction as they crash on the rocks near their
island.
We have seen people as young as elementary school age who have been tempted
by this Siren song to a slow (or quick) slide into ‘skid row’ and many of my
friends from prison wound up there, in part, because they succumbed to substance’s
Siren song; for them the Siren’s song ended in the song of sirens coming to
take them away.
Myself even, I confess, there are days when a part of me would really like
the temporary release that substances seem to offer but, with the Lord’s help,
I will continue to persevere and I will finish the race – clean.
I have a friend who continuously asks me if it ever gets easy; I have another
friend who reminds me that it is just one day at a time. One thing that I have
noticed about substances and other struggles in our lives is that the more we
turn to the Lord, the easier it becomes to resist temptation and on the days
when we lose the battle with temptation, it is very important that we don’t
surrender the war. With the Lord, our walk truly is one day at a time.
Captain Michael Ramsay
I
Just Want to be a Sheep
By
Captain Michael Ramsay
Presentation to the
Canadian Mental Health Lunch in Swift Current, May 25, 2010.
Matthew
25:31-40:
31"When
the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on
his throne in heavenly glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and
he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep
from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34"Then
the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my
Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation
of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty
and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I
needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in
prison and you came to visit me.'
37"Then
the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you,
or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and
invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or
in prison and go to visit you?'
40"The
King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of
these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
This is an important pericope for The Salvation Army. There is even more like
this in the Bible as well that frames why we do what we do in The Salvation
Army.
Deuteronomy 15:9 tells us that when we give food to
the poor, then God counts it as though you had given it to him. And Proverbs
19:17 states, “Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord and will be paid
in full.” This brings us – I believe – quite
nicely to our topic for today: the local mission of The Salvation Army here in
Swift Current.
For
I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me
something to drink: in Swift Current we are in a wonderful position to provide
this service to the Lord. It is a real blessing. There is only one Foodbank in
town and it is a Christian ministry – Praise the Lord. I have seen cities that
have two or more foodbanks or foodbanks that are run by secular or other
religious viewpoints and it is not the same at all. It is a real blessing that
there are not competing foodbanks here and that everything done through that
ministry can and should be for the glory and honour of God – particularly
since the numbers of people in need in this community have been way up over the
last year. So that many more people can come for food both physical and
spiritual.
Many
people in our community contribute to the foodbank in Swift Current on a regular
basis and Ray here is one of our very important volunteers. How long have you
been one of us Ray? One of the
strengths of our community foodbank is that we are connected provincially via
our community services computers to every TSA foodbank in the province. We are
able to communicate quickly to see if people who are transitioning from
community to community are in legitimate need, and how to best help them. We can
see when they came in last and what their needs usually are. Our Foodbank
director is a professional social worker and an active Christian. When someone
comes in for food or water or whatever else their need, Betty (and now John; he
will be taking over for very her soon!) can discern if that really is their need
and see how we can best help them.
Our scripture that we read from in Matthew mentioned
people in need of shelter; in this community did you know that there is a lot of
homelessness? Its not like the West Coast where we are confronted with people
living on the streets daily, it is much more subtle. There is something called
couch-surfing homelessness where one person who has become evicted brings their
immediate family and sleeps on the couches / floors of their extended family or
friends – and often times those friends really can’t afford to support them
and are clients themselves. We can help. Swift Current has been able to serve
the Lord through the Foodbank by discovering and helping those who need shelter
too.
Other things as well come up through the foodbank
ministries. I have personally taken people down to AA meetings and sat with them
as a part of the group, if alcoholism led to their needing our assistance at the
foodbank. I know more than one person who began their sober walk with the Lord
in and around local Salvation Army foodbanks.
A new problem is really starting to identify itself
through our local foodbank – gambling. We have had people come to our foodbank
now that are dual income, good wage earning families that don’t have enough
money for food because they have gambled it all away at the casino. In response
to this, recently I went down to the casino with Betty, our CFS director, and we
spoke to them about ways we could work together to help people out of their
addiction.
I want to share two more of
the many, many stories we have here. Shortly after I arrived in Swift Current, a
fellow was waiting for me when I arrived at work on a Friday. He wanted to see
Betty and I. We are closed Fridays to the public so I explained that to him and
he asked me to pass this message onto everyone. He had arrived in Swift Current
a week or two before and he had nothing – no food, no home, no job – God
helped him through us and today he stopped by just to thank us and – he has
food, he has a home and he has a job. We prayed. He is all right now. Praise the
Lord.
Another story: two Christmases ago
as I was handing a single mother her Christmas hamper, she cried. She said
without The Salvation Army, she and her children would not have had Christmas at
all. They are believers now. There are so many stories from local missions…
Did you know that we are also a part of the community of
Swift Current’s Emergency Disaster Response team? Our building is fully
equipped for an event such as struck Chile and Haiti recently. We have staff
trained in food services, emergency shelter provisions, emotional and spiritual
care. I personally have experience counselling people and debriefing emergency
personnel after disasters have struck in Saskatchewan here as well as around the
world – some other time I can share some of the testimonies from that ministry
with you if you like. I am also The Army’s only Emergency Disaster
preparedness trainer in Saskatchewan so if that is something you would like to
learn more about let me know. This is all a part of the local mission. If you
would to be involved in helping out in local emergencies, let me know, I can
have you all trained, certified and activated as soon as the Lord permits.
Matthew 25, that we read from says, “I was a stranger and you invited me in, I
needed clothes and you clothed me”: You probably know as well that we are able
to provide clothing to those in need – both through our family services
department (our foodbank) and also through the Thrift Store. The Thrift Store
– this is a very good ministry and I praise the Lord for our manager there.
The Lord has blessed her ministry greatly. At the Thrift Store we offer quality
pre-owed items at incredibly low prices and there are some good items there both
for people in need and others who would like to help out the ministry. From this
ministry we not only finance some of our other ministries but we are able to
keep clothing and furniture on-hand so that those in need can come and speak
with us and we can make sure that it gets to where it is most needed. This is
very good because it means that no other service agency should ever need to
advertise for furniture (for example, as it is very hard to store) or other
items that we sell and as they contact us we can work together to share the love
of Christ with those in need in the community. As we all work together we can be
used a lot more effectively for God and His ministry. People have certainly had
their lives turned around for the better volunteering or working there.
The Thrift Store provides a wonderful opportunity for different groups to
volunteer from time to time as well – I am not sure whether any from your
group is willing or able but I know other group’s have donated some of their
time to serve Christ at our Thrift Store and our manager there, Lori, has been
excellent at sharing our reason for that ministry – the Kingdom of God.
One more thing about the Thrift Store – it, as well as our other ministries,
accepts volunteers and our manager enjoys mentoring people who wind up there
through the courts (fine options, CSOs, etc.) and we have had more than one
testimony of people not only being blessed through this ministry but continuing
to serve the Lord through the Army long after their allocated time is finished.
Praise the Lord. I could go on about the Lord’s ministry at The Salvation Army
Thrift Store …
Matthew 25 records the Lord telling us that, “I was sick and you looked after
me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” Like most churches in this
community we minister to people in the seniors’ residences and the hospitals.
Richard and Irene from our congregation spearhead this ministry. As far as the
prison is concerned, I was personally involved in that somewhat in Vancouver and
quite a bit in Winnipeg but we don’t have a prison here.
In Swift Current, we have the honour of administering the Alternative Measures
Programme for SW Saskatchewan. This is a very important ministry. Many people
can be helped out of serious problems without being burdened with a criminal
record. People can experience a real life object lesson of the restoration and
reconciliation that we all can have with God as we confess our sins and throw
ourselves on His mercy and I have certainly celebrated with our coordinator as
people have received through this social justice ministry a saving relationship
with Jesus Christ. I can’t possible share all the miracles that God provides
through this ministry but the opportunities are amazing. Harvey shared a couple
of stories with me. He says,
“I
was doing an intake interview with a shoplifting offender in a small town in
southwest Sask. It became apparent
that the offender had a problem with alcohol. I would need to ensure that -as
one of the consequences for his offence- that counselling was arranged for him.
As our interview progressed I felt a nudge of the Holy Spirit to share my
faith story with the man. I asked
his permission and when he agreed, I shared what God laid on my heart.
As a result, he came to faith in Christ. Later that afternoon we moved to
the next phase of the mediation. The
offender (now a new believer) asked to have counselling with his wife's pastor.
This was agreed to along with some other consequences.
The
next day, I called the pastor of the church to make arrangements with him for
counselling with the man. He was
shocked when I told him the circumstances and who the man was that had asked for
counselling and that he had been led to Christ.
Here’s the thing: this church had been praying for this man’s
salvation for YEARS.” Praise the Lord. He is faithful and He uses our prayers
to do His work!
Another story
from Harv:
There
had been multiple break-ins at this business over a period of time and it had
nearly put the victim, the owner into bankruptcy. At the meeting the victim gave good advice to the youth and
assured him that the path he had taken led to a dead end and a very steep cliff
with not a pretty landing at the bottom. He
spelled this out in terms the youth could easily grasp: the victim MADE IT VERY
CLEAR that the youth needed help for addiction issues AND more importantly that
the youth HAD to stay in school and … the victim wanted to see each of his
report cards.
As the youth was part way through grade ten, this was a long process
with many report cards. The young offender was faithful. In March of his Grade
12 year, he approached me for a reference letter for post secondary education
and scholarships. His marks had
improved from 60's when the break-in occurred to mid 80's by the time of
graduation. The result was that he
got two scholarships to a technical training class and is headed toward a
journeyman's certificate. The Lord changes people.
We also have the Pro Bono free Legal services that operate out of our building
and often, if I have time, I enjoy being available for those in need who are
attending court, to speak with their lawyers, the prosecutors, or just to sit
with them for support. Even when you haven’t done anything wrong, court can be
a very intimidating place! Personally I have spent a few hours advocating for
people in a variety of difficult situations. It is great to be doing a job where
God leads you by His Spirit. It is
a great reward to see first hand the eternal results of the work that we do for
the Lord in the lives of individuals in local missions like the sheep in the
parable of the sheep and the goats.
There is so much we do at
the Army. If you would like to know more, feel free to ask. If anyone would like
to volunteer and help out like Ray does, just let me know. In The Swift Current
Corps of The Salvation Army, like the seep in the parable of the sheep and the
goats, we really try to live out the reality of our salvation on a day-to-day
basis. Amen.
More articles and letters published in
the Local Saskatchewan Media
Return to Michael
Ramsay's Opinion Page
www.sheepspeak.com