William Booth, a Methodist minister, left the traditional church in 1852 to take the message of salvation directly to the poor of London’s worst neighborhoods, establishing mission stations to feed and house the poor.  He and his wife, Catherine, began training evangelists throughout England to preach the gospel on the streets of English cities.  Originally called The Christian Mission, they had over 1,000 evangelists by 1865. Soon, Booth changed the name of the group to The Salvation Army in 1878.  Their first converts were thieves, prostitutes, drunkards, and gamblers, and they in turn were soon singing and preaching about the saving grace of God through Jesus Christ on street corners.  Between 1881 and 1885, they converted 250,000 in England, spreading then to America, where my own great grandfather served as a Salvation Army evangelist, and eventually to Canada, Australia, France, Switzerland, India, South Africa, Iceland, and Germany.  Today, the Salvation Army serves in 131 countries around the world, working to meet spiritual, physical, and emotional needs of all people, regardless of race.

The Mission Statement of the Salvation Army is this: “The Salvation Army, an international movement, is an evangelical part of the universal Christian Church. Its message is based on the Bible. Its ministry is motivated by the love of God.  Its mission is to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in His name without discrimination.”

Most of you are most familiar with the Salvation Army’s red buckets in front of stores at Christmas time, giving you an opportunity to contribute to their work.  But while the original focus of Booth’s Salvation Army was to win converts to Christianity, the modern-day Salvation Army does far more.  In fact, they preach the message of salvation through Jesus and operated thousands of evangelical centers, social welfare institutions, hospitals, schools, and other agencies. Its international headquarters is still in London, England. 

The Salvation Army has historically followed the same basic principles as other evangelical organizations.  Services are filled with joyous singing, hand clapping, personal testimony, and always an open invitation to repentance. The Salvation Army has always believed as the Bible teaches that God is no respecter of persons.  Thus, they were firm supporters of the equality of blacks.  The first Salvation Army ministry that has been documented in the U.S. was in 1872 in Cleveland, Ohio when immigrant and Salvation Army convert James Jermy joined with James Fackler, a black Methodist minister to preach the Gospel.  The official Salvation Army of the United States was organized in 1880 at which time Salvation Army commissioner, Frank Smith, denounced the color line that had worsened with the withdrawal of Union Troops from the Democrat South.  He said the Army “must be among the first Christian communities of America who will faithfully and wholly break down the wall of partition separating the white from the colored, whom the Lord has brought from a common captivating bondage.”

But this year, forgetting its long-standing colorblindness, the Salvation Army has succumbed to the “woke” crowd and adopted Critical Race Theory teaching to its “Salvationists.”  The teaching document entitled “Let’s Talk About Racism,” defines institutional and systemic racism and argues that real or perceived “inequities” (differences in one’s success in life) have nothing to do with individual effort or circumstances, but with discrimination in society.  Topics such as police brutality and black unemployment are given as examples of inequity.  Whites are encouraged to “Lament, repent and apologize for biases or racist ideologies held and actions committed.” 

Thus the Salvation Army which has always been color blind, rejects the idea of colorblindness.  Instead it offers several challenges which its white evangelists should address and overcome. 

These include:

“Denial of racism.”

“Education about racism and inequality.”

“Defensiveness about race.”

“Little or no exposure to People of Color.”

“Become aware of your bias.”

“Stop denying that White privilege exists and learn how it supports racial inequity.”

“Racism is not an individual act, it is systemic and institutional.”

“Stop trying to be ‘colorblind.’”

Greg Koukl, a longtime donner, wrote a letter to The Salvation Army informing them that he would no longer be contributing to their organization and why. They have, he says, “made common cause with an ideology that is openly hostile to Christianity. . . .” He quotes Proverbs 25:26.  “Like a trampled spring and a polluted well is a righteous man who gives way before the wicked.”

Alas, this was a wonderful Christian organization which began with the fervent desire to take the Gospel to the most wretched among those in England, and which started in the United States with a White man and a Black man preaching together, brothers in Christ, equal in the sight of God. But now, it has become itself a racist organization, arguing that all White people are born to oppress non-White people, and that they must spend their lives repenting of this evil.  This is so contrary to the teachings of the Bible, so contrary to Philip in the Bible (a White man) and the Ethiopian Eunuch (a Black man) who explored the salvation of God through Jesus together.  

Greg Koukl is not the only one who will stop donating to The Salvation Army.  I will ignore the red buckets and the volunteers (who rarely are members of the Salvation Army anymore) who ring the bell in the winter cold.  I will give my money to those who preach the Gospel without the hatred that is endemic in Critical Race Theory and in The Salvation Army’s teaching tool, “Let’s Talk About Racism.”  Although racists do exist, the vast majority, about 96% of Americans, are not racists, based both upon a poll of racism in countries around the world and upon those 4% of Americans who in 2008 said they would not vote for a black presidential candidate.  A better teaching tool for the Salvation Army would be “Let’s Talk About God and the Plan of Salvation.”

William Booth would surely be sad to see what his Salvation Army has become.  Like many churches they have become like the Church of Ephesus that God speaks to in the book of Revelation who have forgotten their first love to follow false teachers and to become embroiled in the evil of this world.  God continues his warning to the Ephesians:  “Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent” (Revelation 2:5).