William Booth's Vision

Founder of the Salvation ArmyAdapted by Colin Melbourne from 'A Vision of the Lost'

© 03-08 Born-Again-Christian.Info

William Booth was asked the secret of his great success:

I will tell you the secret. God has had all there was of me. There have been men with greater brains than I, men with greater opportunities. But from the day I got the poor of London on my heart, and caught a vision of all Jesus Christ could do with them, on that day I made up my mind that God would have all of William Booth there was. And if there is anything of power in the Salvation Army today, it is because God has had all the adoration of my heart, all the power of my will, and all the influence of my life.

His description of that Vision

On a recent journey, as I gazed from my carriage window, I considered the condition of the multitudes around me. They were living in open and shameless rebellion against God, without a thought for their eternal welfare.

As I looked out of the window, I seemed to see millions of people bound to their drink and their pleasure, their dancing and music, their business and their anxieties, their politics and their troubles. Ignorant, willfully ignorant in many cases, and in other instances knowing about the truth but not caring at all. The whole mass of them, was sweeping on and up in their blasphemies and devilries to the Judgement Throne of God.

While contemplating this, I had a vision

I saw a dark and stormy ocean. Over it hung heavy black clouds, through them every now and then lightning flashed, and thunder rolled, waves rose and foamed, towered and broke, only to rise and break again.

In that ocean I thought I saw multitudes of poor human beings plunging and floating, shouting and shrieking, cursing, struggling and drowning; they cursed and screamed, and then sank to rise no more.

I saw in this dark angry ocean, a mighty rock with its summit towering above the black clouds. And around the base of this great rock I saw a vast platform. On the platform, I saw with relief a number of the poor struggling, drowning wretches climbing out of the ocean. A few of those who were already safe on the platform were helping the poor creatures still in the violent waters to reach the place of safety.

On looking more closely I noticed some busily working with ladders, ropes, and boats, to deliver the strugglers out of the sea. Here and there were some who even jumped back into the water, regardless of the consequences, in their passion to rescue the perishing. And I hardly know which gladdened me the most, the sight of the poor drowning people clambering onto the rock reaching a place of safety, or the devotion and self-sacrifice of those whose whole being was toiling for their deliverance.

Distracted or Devoted?

As I looked, I saw that the occupants of the platform were a mixed company. That is, they were divided into different sets or classes, and they occupied themselves with different pleasures and employments. But only a few of them seemed to make it their business to rescue the people.

But what puzzled me most was the fact that, though each had been rescued from the ocean, nearly everyone appeared to have forgotten about it. Anyway, it seemed the memory of its darkness and danger no longer troubled them at all. And equally perplexing to me, was that these people did not even seem to have any care, that is any sincere care, for the poor perishing ones who were struggling and drowning right before their eyes, despite being their own husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, and even their own children.

Now this astonishing unconcern could not have been due to ignorance, because they lived right there in full sight of it all, and even talked about it sometimes. Many went regularly to hear seminars and sermons in which the awful state of these poor drowning creatures was described.

Some of them were absorbed day and night in trading and business in order to store up savings in boxes, shares, and banks. Lots spent their time amusing themselves with growing flowers on the side of the rock, others in painting or in playing music, or in dressing in different fashions and walking about to be admired. Some were occupied chiefly in eating and drinking, others were busy arguing over the poor drowning creatures that had already been rescued.

His Call Ignored

But what really shocked me was that those on the platform to whom He called, who heard His voice, and felt they ought to obey it (at least they said they did) those who confessed to love Him, were in full sympathy with Him in the task He had undertaken, who worshipped Him (or who claimed to do so) were so engaged in their trades and professions, their money gathering and pleasures, their families and friends, their theology and arguments about it, and their preparation for going to the Mainland, that they ignored the cry that came to them from He who had Himself gone down into the sea. If they heard it they did not respond. They did not care. And so the multitude continued right before them, struggling, and shrieking, and drowning in the darkness.

Bawling Believers

And strangest of all, I saw that some of these people on the platform, whom He had called to come and help Him in His difficult task of saving these perishing souls, were always praying and crying out for Him to come to them!

Some wanted Him to come and stay with them, and spend His time and strength in making them happier. Others asked Him to come and take away various doubts and misgivings they had concerning the truth of some letters He had written them. Some wanted Him to come and make them feel more secure on the rock, so secure that they would be sure they should never slip off again into the ocean. Numbers of others wanted Him to make them feel quite certain that they would really get off the rock and onto the Mainland someday: because as a matter of fact, it was well known that some had walked so carelessly as to lose their footing, and had fallen back into the stormy waters.

So these people used to meet and get as high on the rock as they could, and looking towards the Mainland (where they thought He was) they would cry out, "Come to us! Come and help us!" Yet all the while He was down (by His Spirit) among the poor struggling drowning creatures in the deep, with His arms reaching out to drag them to safety, and looking up, oh so longingly but in vain, to those on the rock, pleading with them, His voice hoarse from calling, "Come to Me! Come, and help Me!"

The Revelation

And then I understood, the sea was the ocean of life, human existence. The lightning was the piercing truth coming from Jehovah's Throne. The thunder was the distant echoing of the wrath of God. Those multitudes of people shrieking, struggling and agonizing in the stormy sea, were the millions of poor harlots and harlot-makers, of drunks and drunkard makers, of thieves, addicts, liars, fornicators, blasphemers, idolaters and ungodly people of every kind, tongue and nation.

Oh what a black sea it was! And oh, what multitudes of rich and poor, ignorant and educated were there. They were unalike in their outward circumstances, yet the same in one thing, all sinners before God, each held by, and holding onto, some sin, fascinated by some idol, slaves of some demonic lust, and ruled by the devil from the bottomless pit!

"All the same in one thing?" No, in two things, not only the same in their wickedness but, unless rescued, the same in their sinking, down, down, down... to the same awful doom. That great sheltering rock represented Calvary, the place where the Lord Jesus Christ had died for them. And the people on it were those who had been rescued. The way they used their energies, gifts and time, represented the occupations and amusements of those who claimed to be saved from sin and Hell, followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. The handful of fierce, determined ones risking their own lives in saving the perishing were true soldiers of the Cross of Jesus.

He who was calling to them from the midst of the waters was the Son of God, "the same yesterday, today and forever" who is still struggling and interceding to save the dying multitudes about us from the terrible doom of damnation, and whose Voice can be heard above the music, machinery, and noise of life, calling on the rescued to come and help Him save the world.

My friends in Christ, you are rescued from the waters, you are on the Rock, He is in the dark boiling sea calling you to come to Him and help Him. Will you go? Look for yourselves. The surging sea of life, crowded with perishing multitudes rolls up to the spot on which you stand. It laps around your feet.

The Call

Leaving the vision, I now speak of the fact, a fact that is as real as the Bible, as real as the Christ who hung upon the Cross, as real as Judgement Day will be, and as real as the Heaven and Hell that will follow it.

Look! Don't be deceived by appearances, men and things are not what they seem. All who are not on the Rock are in the sea. Look at them from the standpoint of the great White Throne, and what a sight you have! Jesus Christ, the Son of God is, through His Spirit, in the midst of this dying multitude, struggling to save them. And He is calling on you to jump into the sea, to go right away to His side and help Him in the holy strife. Will you jump? Will you go to His feet and place yourself absolutely at His disposal?

The Cost

A young Christian once came to me, and told me that for some time she had been giving the Lord her profession and prayers and money, but now she wanted to give Him her life. She wanted to go right into the fight. She wanted to go to His assistance in the sea. Like when a man on the shore, seeing another struggling in the water, takes off his coat and shoes that would hinder his efforts and leaps to the rescue, so will you who still linger on the bank, thinking and singing and praying about the poor perishing souls, lay aside your shame, your pride, your cares about other people's opinions, your love of ease, and all the selfish loves that have held you back for so long, will you rush to the rescue of this multitude of dying souls?

Does the violent sea look dark and dangerous? Unquestionably it is so. There is no doubt that the leap for you, as for everyone who takes it, means difficulty and scorn and suffering. For you it might cost more than this. It may mean death. But He who beckons you from the sea knows what it will mean, and knowing, He still calls and bids to you to come.

Your Response

You must do it! You cannot hold back. You have enjoyed yourself in Christianity long enough. You have had pleasant feelings, pleasant songs, pleasant meetings, and pleasant prospects. There has been much human happiness, much clapping of hands and shouting of praises, much of Heaven on earth.

Now then, go to God and tell Him you are prepared as much as necessary to turn your back upon it all, and that you are willing to spend the rest of your days struggling in the midst of these perishing multitudes, whatever it may cost you.

You must do it. With the light that is now revealed to your mind and the call that is now sounding in your ears, and the beckoning Hands that are now before your eyes, you have no alternative. To go down among the perishing crowds is your duty. Your happiness from now on will consist in sharing their misery, your ease in sharing their pain, your crown in helping them to bear their cross, and your Heaven in going into the very jaws of Hell to rescue them.

Now what will you do? General William Booth

Soulwinning

Personal Evangelism