Fire in our hearts - The Jesus Army

FIRE IN OUR HEARTSON THE MARCHreleased through Christians, like us, who were deeply committedto one another in love.‘Their existence,’ he wrote, ‘is a prophetic witness to thechurch which has, by and large, rejected radical obedienceto God’s word. Therefore the Christian establishment findthem a thorn in the flesh.’ 87We would not be ashamed of our cutting edge. Breakthroughsare made by breakaways! As we realised this wefound renewed vigour and vision. The beauty of Zion blazedup afresh in our hearts and the courage of a Gideon’s armyinspired us. The religious had rejected Jesus, but ‘the commonpeople heard him gladly’ (Mark 12:37). We addressedourselves to the need. The poor in spirit would welcome God’smessage of love, equality and justice.‘Rough is the sea that we’re sailing, and the storm cloudsburst 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 ofevil flourished amongst us. We issued a regular leaflet, JoinUs! We were so fed up with the taunt of ‘recruiting’ that wetook the idea aboard. Yes, we would recruit an ‘army’ of zealousdisciples. Like David on the run, we received ‘all thosewho were in distress or in debt or discontented’ who weregathering to us (1 Sam 22:2).Booth had encouraged his soldiers to go for the worst. Welooked for vagabonds and hoped to turn them into a force forGod. As Jesus had remarked, it was the tax-collectors andprostitutes 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, Jesus271