Fire in our hearts - Jesus Army

FIRE IN OUR HEARTS
ON THE MARCH
released through Christians, like us, who were deeply committed
to one another in love.
‘Their existence,’ he wrote, ‘is a prophetic witness to the
church which has, by and large, rejected radical obedience
to God’s word. Therefore the Christian establishment find
them a thorn in the flesh.’ 87
We would not be ashamed of our cutting edge. Breakthroughs
are made by breakaways! As we realised this we
found renewed vigour and vision. The beauty of Zion blazed
up afresh in our hearts and the courage of a Gideon’s army
inspired us. The religious had rejected Jesus, but ‘the common
people heard him gladly’ (Mark 12:37). We addressed
ourselves to the need. The poor in spirit would welcome God’s
message of love, equality and justice.
‘Rough is the sea that we’re sailing, and the storm clouds
burst overhead! Rebels, we are rebels. We’re the outcasts,
the outcasts of hell!’ So growled Steve ‘Zealous’ in his song.
The concept of being ‘Jesus rebels’ against the powers of
evil flourished amongst us. We issued a regular leaflet, Join
Us! We were so fed up with the taunt of ‘recruiting’ that we
took the idea aboard. Yes, we would recruit an ‘army’ of zealous
disciples. Like David on the run, we received ‘all those
who were in distress or in debt or discontented’ who were
gathering to us (1 Sam 22:2).
Booth had encouraged his soldiers to go for the worst. We
looked for vagabonds and hoped to turn them into a force for
God. As Jesus had remarked, it was the tax-collectors and
prostitutes who made it into the kingdom before the religious.
1986 was a hectic year with Operation Mark, Fire Teams,
Beachfire, Jesus Street Teams, Marquee Missions, Jesus
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