The founder of the Salvation Army, William Booth, received an urgent message from a lieutenant in a distant city. “Sir, we’ve encountered severe persecution. Some of us are in the hospital. Some are in jail. The rest of us are just hanging on. What should we do?”
Booth replied, “Keep doing what you are doing. The devil is upset. Don’t quit until he bows his knees to the lordship of Jesus Christ.”
America Christianity needs men with fire in their bellies. Men like William Booth and Peter Cartwright. Men who are willing to take a righteous stand and care not what the consequences of their convictions may cause them. Men who are willing to get their noses bloodied, eyes blackened and hands dirtied. Men who are willing to stay on the battlefield until Satan has been put on the run in our nation’s cities.
Where are these men?
Well, they certainly aren’t sitting in pews. Statistics show that Sunday after Sunday, most men do not attend traditional churches. And as for men standing behind pulpits, half of them want to quit, stating that they are burned out. Not much help in churches.
Where are these men?
Most will be found in the same places that Booth looked for his men: in cesspools of alcohol, opium, perversion and other deep sins. These men will be like the woman who wept and wiped Jesus’ feet with her tears. Though their sins were many, they will love much and have a passion for winning souls and seeing Jesus deliver others like themselves.
So, San Francisco, get ready. The Deliverer is on His way.
Swimming Upstream appears at this blog site on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. It’s a little of this and a little of that, all written to encourage and exhort believers in their Christian jouneys.
Larry Who 
You might be right about the pews. That’s why we have chairs.