Wigglesworth’s Birth and Boyhood:
The Salvation Army
When I was sixteen years of age the Salvation Army opened up a work in Bradford. I delighted to be with these earnest Salvation Army people. It was laid very deeply upon me to fast and pray for the salvation of souls in those days, and every week we saw scores of sinners yielding their hearts to Christ.
In the mill where I worked there was a godly man belonging to the Plymouth Brethren. He was a steam-fitter. I was given to him as a helper and he taught me how to do plumbing work. He talked to me about water baptism and its meaning. I can remember that he said to me: “If you will obey the Lord in this, you do not know what He may have for you.” I gladly obeyed the Word of the Lord to be buried with Him in baptism unto death and come forth from that symbolic watery grave to a newness of life in God. I was about seventeen at that time.
It was this good man who taught me about the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus. Again and again when I had a sense that I had failed God, I would be troubled with the thought that the Lord would come and I would not be ready to meet Him. From time to time it was a relief to me to go to work and find this godly man there. Then I knew the Lord had not come in the night and left me behind.
I continued with the Salvation Army because it seemed to me they had more power in their ministry than anybody else at that time. We used to have all nights of prayer. Many would be laid out under the power of the Spirit, sometimes for as long as twenty-four hours at a time. We called that the Baptism in the Spirit in those days. Those early Salvationists had great power and it was manifested in their testimony and in their lives. We would join together and claim in faith fifty or a hundred souls every week and know that we would get them. Alas, today many are not laying themselves out for soul-winning but for fleshly manifestations.
I looked to the Lord, and He surely helped me in everything. When I was eighteen years of age, I went to a plumber to ask for employment. I cleaned up my shoes with an extra shine, put on a clean collar, and applied at the home of this man. He said, “No, I don’t need anyone.” I said, “Thank you, Sir. I am sorry.” The man let me walk down to his gate and then called me back, saying:
“There’s something about you that is different. I just can’t let you go.” He sent me to do a job fitting a row of homes with water piping, which I finished in a week. The master was so amazed that he said, “It cannot possibly be done!” but he went and found the work perfect. He said he could not keep me employed at that speed.
When I was twenty years of age, I moved to Liverpool, and the power of God was mightily upon me. I had a great desire to help the young people. Every week I used to gather around me scores of boys and girls, barefooted, ragged, and hungry. I earned good money, but I spent all of it on food for those children. They would congregate in the sheds in the docks, and what meetings we had!
Hundreds of them were saved. A friend of mine and I devoted ourselves to visiting the hospitals and also the ships. God gave me a great heart for the poor. I used to work hard and spend all I had on the poor and have nothing for myself. I fasted all day every Sunday and prayed, and I never remember seeing less than fifty souls saved by the power of God in the meetings with the children, in the hospitals, on the ships, and in the Salvation Army. These were the days of great soul awakening.
At the Salvation Army meetings the officer in charge would constantly ask me to speak. I cannot tell why he should ask me, for my speech was always broken, weeping before the people. I could not hold back the tears. I would have given a world to be able to speak in a more eloquent way; but like Jeremiah I was a man with a fountain of tears. But as I wept before the people, this often would lead to an altar call. I thank God for those days because the Lord kept me in a broken, contrite spirit. The memory of those Liverpool days is very precious to me.
When I was about twenty-three years of age, I was led to go back to Bradford, and I was strongly led to open up a business for myself as a plumber and give my spare time to helping the Salvation Army. It was there I met the best girl in the world!

The Architecture of Reality: Beyond the Map of Theology

The tragedy of the modern seminary is the man who spends four years refining a blueprint he never intends to build. In the landscape of professional theological formation, a subtle but devastating crisis has taken root: the tendency to mistake the "blueprint"—the systematic loci and taxonomies—for the "architecture" of the reality of God. The distinction is vital: Nobody has ever lived in a drawing. You can study a blueprint for a lifetime without ever visiting the site, and nothing in that study will warn you that you remain outside.

To move beyond the taxonomy, we must engage the "Checkable Argument"—the exactly five sentences in the Johannine corpus where being is predicated of God absolutely: God is Love (twice), God is Light, God is Life, and God is Spirit. Crucially, Love is the only one repeated, once in a negative frame and once in a positive. This repetition is the strongest internal evidence that these declarations were given with a learner in view. Mistaking the map for the territory stalls spiritual perception; the five sentences are not a list to be filed, but a structure to be entered.

The Problem of the Inverted Order

The sequence in which we learn determines the shape of what we know. Traditional formation begins with "Method" or "Prolegomena," attempting to fix the criteria of knowing before stating the nature of the One known. Strategically, this is an inversion: it establishes a "criterion in the dark" by which to evaluate the sun. When we master the map before we see the country, we become "filers" rather than "knowers," and our formation stalls in the lobby.

This inversion is exposed by the "Seam Test." Traditional theology "files" sin in one locus and God’s nature in another, leaving a gap where the two should meet. The Johannine Architecture closes these seams by recognizing that sin is simply the privation of what God IS. The difference lies in what governs the second step of inquiry:

* The Conventional Order: Revelation → Extraction of Propositions → Philosophical Categories → Systematic Organization → Application.
* The Revealed Order: Revelation → Revealed Pattern (The Triad) → Relational Reality → Integrated Understanding → Transformed Life.

The Triad: Light, Love, and Life

In the Johannine framework, God is defined by three co-inherent names: Light, Love, and Life. These are not attributes God has; they are names for what God is absolutely. They are not components, but a single movement where each grounds the next. We must distinguish between three deliberate orders:

1. The Nominal Order: (Love–Life–Light). The name as it rests in the ear, signifying a reality with no first and no last.
2. The Pedagogical Order: (Light → Love → Life). The path of learning for a creature standing outside. We begin with Light because nothing is loved which has not been shown. Light reveals reality; Love reorders the will toward it; and Life embodies it.
3. The Ontological Order (The Circle): The co-inherence of the divine nature where each is the whole of God under an aspect.

In the Ontological Order, the walls are the foundation. Because this is a circle, removing one element abolishes the others. Light without Life is merely "information"; Life without Love is a contradiction. To understand God is to enter the circle where the three imply and contain one another perfectly.

The Diagnostic Reversal: Evil as Privation

If God is Light and in Him is no darkness at all, then evil cannot be a rival substance or an independent kingdom. Grounding the definition of evil in the "Light axis" protects the sovereignty of God and removes the Manichaean threat of a competing power. Evil is not a "thing"; it is a privation—the absence and corruption of a good that ought to be present.

Using the imagery of Jeremiah, we see the contrast between the "fountain of living waters" and the "broken cisterns." Life is the running water; evil is the stale, leaking collection of the cistern that attempts to hold water apart from the source. This framework identifies three particular absences:

* Love Disordered: Desire misaligned and bent away from its proper object.
* Life Severed: The "broken cistern" attempting to hold existence apart from the Fountain.
* Movement into Darkness: The active hiding from the Light to avoid the exposure of deeds.

This necessitates a Diagnostic Reversal. Instead of hunting for "harmful substances," a community is directed to identify "absent goods." When we see evil as the privation of Light, Love, and Life, we move from a defensive posture of "hunting" to an architectural one of "building" the presence of the good.

The Final Provocation: Restoration through Sight

Theological formation is not a matter of habit-building or intellectual accumulation, but the reorientation of vision. Salvation is the restoration of a severed relation: to be loved, to participate in the divine life, and to see God as He is.

"Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." (1 John 3:2)

Likeness follows sight. We do not become like God by cultivating capacities in the dark; we become like Him by looking at Him. The cost of ignoring this order is permanent: a man who waits for clarity before he obeys waits forever. The "map" is for the man who is outside, but once you enter the Architecture, the map is irrelevant. The road is a fact about travelers; it is not a fact about the destination.

The way, the truth, and the life. Nobody has ever asked which came first, and nobody ever should have asked it of the other three.

If you discover that you have been following the wrong direction, don't remain there simply because you have been there for years.

Don't follow a personality into destruction.

Don't confuse a massive crowd with God's approval.

Don't exchange holiness for popularity.

Don't exchange eternal life for earthly applause.

Follow Christ.

Be a sheep under the Shepherd.

And make sure the voice leading you is taking you toward Jesus, truth, holiness and eternity.



A lion leading 10 sheep may accomplish more for eternity than a goat leading 100 lions.

The question is not, "How many are following?"

The question is, "Where are they being led?"

What do you think? Who will win?


https://youtu.be/KEbgJb0bG3g?si=CQFSI4-QwOca_zIB

The Story of Abraham in the Bible

Introduction

Abraham is one of the most important people in the Bible. He is remembered as a man of faith, obedience, and trust in God. His story is found mainly in the book of Genesis, chapters 12–25.

Abraham was originally called Abram. God called him to leave his homeland and go to a land that God would show him. God promised to make him a great nation and to bless all the families of the earth through him.

God Calls Abraham

One day, God spoke to Abram and said:

«“Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.”»

God promised Abram that He would make him into a great nation, bless him, make his name great, and make him a blessing to others.

Abram obeyed God. He left his homeland with his wife, Sarai, and his nephew Lot, and they traveled toward the land of Canaan.

When Abram arrived in Canaan, God appeared to him and promised to give that land to his descendants.

Abraham and Lot

As Abram and Lot became wealthy, their servants began arguing because there was not enough land for all their animals.

Abram did not want conflict. He gave Lot the opportunity to choose where he wanted to live.

Lot chose the fertile area near Sodom, while Abram remained in the land of Canaan.

After Lot separated from him, God renewed His promise to Abram. God told him that his descendants would be as numerous as the dust of the earth.

God Promises a Son

Although Abram was growing older, he still had no child. He wondered how God's promise of a great nation could come true.

God told him that he would have a son of his own and that his descendants would be extremely numerous.

Abram believed God, and the Bible says that his faith was counted to him as righteousness.

God also changed his name from Abram to Abraham, meaning “father of a multitude,” and changed Sarai's name to Sarah.

The Birth of Isaac

Abraham and Sarah waited many years for the promised child.

When Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah was very old, God fulfilled His promise. Sarah gave birth to a son, and they named him Isaac.

The birth of Isaac brought great joy to Abraham and Sarah because God had kept His promise despite the long years of waiting.

Abraham Is Tested

One of the greatest tests of Abraham's faith came when God commanded him to offer Isaac as a sacrifice.

Abraham obeyed and took Isaac to the place God had shown him. Isaac did not understand what was going to happen, but Abraham continued in faith.

Just as Abraham was about to sacrifice his son, an angel of the Lord stopped him.

God provided a ram caught in a thicket as a sacrifice instead.

Through this test, Abraham demonstrated his willingness to trust and obey God even when he did not understand God's plan.

God then reaffirmed His promise to bless Abraham and multiply his descendants.

Abraham's Later Years

Abraham continued to live as a man of faith. After Sarah died, he made arrangements for her burial.

Abraham later married Keturah and had more children, but Isaac remained the son through whom God's covenant promise would continue.

Abraham eventually died at the age of 175. His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him beside Sarah.

The Legacy of Abraham

Abraham's story is one of faith and obedience. He did not always understand what God was doing, but he continued to trust God's promises.

His life teaches us several important lessons:

1. Trust God even when you cannot see the whole plan.
2. Obey God when He calls you to something difficult.
3. Be patient while waiting for God's promises.
4. Faith sometimes requires sacrifice.
5. God is faithful to His promises.

Abraham became known as a great man of faith, and his story continues to inspire millions of people around the world.

The story of Abraham reminds us that when God makes a promise, we can trust Him—even when the answer takes longer than we expected.

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THE EASTERN GATE — WHEN THE DOOR OPENS

I have walked through Jerusalem many times during my archaeological journey, stood among its ancient stones, explored its history, and watched the city change beneath the light of the Judean sun.

Yet there is one place that still causes me to stop.

The Eastern Gate.

Standing across from that magnificent sealed gateway, I have often simply stared at it in awe.

The gate we see today is not the gate through which Solomon walked. Jerusalem is a city built layer upon layer, generation upon generation. Beneath our feet lie the remains of earlier Jerusalems—some excavated, others still hidden in the earth.

And the Eastern Gate has its own archaeological mystery.

In 1969, James Fleming was examining the area outside the present Golden Gate when the ground beneath him gave way. Below the modern ground level, he observed and photographed an earlier arched structure associated with the gateway.

What exactly was it?

How old was it?

Could still earlier phases of Jerusalem's eastern entrance survive beneath it?

Those questions remain debated. Archaeology has not established that Fleming discovered Solomon's gate. Extensive excavation of this extraordinarily sensitive area has never been possible.

And perhaps that mystery is partly what makes standing there so remarkable.

What we see above the ground is only part of the story.

There are stones beneath the stones.

There are gates beneath the gate.

There is history beneath our feet.

But whenever I stand there, my thoughts eventually move beyond archaeology.

I look across the Kidron Valley toward the Mount of Olives. I look back toward that sealed entrance in Jerusalem's eastern wall.

And I imagine a day archaeology cannot excavate.

The coming of the Messiah.

Imagine standing there when Yeshua returns to earthly Jerusalem.

Imagine the sound of the shofar echoing across the valley.

Imagine the King approaching Jerusalem.

Imagine those ancient stones witnessing something greater than all the kings, armies, pilgrims and empires that have passed before them.

And then I remember something Yeshua once said:

“I am the door.”

— John 10:9

Suddenly, the image of a sealed gate takes on another meaning.

A stone gateway may be closed.

But God's Door is open.

Yeshua did not describe Himself merely as someone standing beside the entrance or someone pointing toward it.

He said:

“I am the door.”

The message is profoundly simple.

THE DOOR IS THE WAY

A door separates two places.

You stand on one side, but the door provides the entrance to the other.

Yeshua presents Himself as the entrance to salvation and life with God. Wealth cannot purchase that entrance. Archaeological knowledge cannot unlock it. Religious status cannot earn it.

The invitation is through Him.

THE DOOR IS PROTECTION

The imagery becomes even richer when we remember the shepherd.

In the ancient world, sheep could be gathered into an enclosure where the entrance provided controlled access and protection. Against that background, Yeshua speaks not only about a door but immediately afterward about Himself as the Good Shepherd.

The One who provides the entrance is also the One who cares for the sheep.

THE DOOR LEADS TO LIFE

Yeshua continues:

“He will come in and go out and find pasture.”

The Door does not lead into imprisonment.

It leads to life.

To fellowship.

To belonging.

To walking with the Shepherd.

And that is why the Eastern Gate continues to fascinate me.

As an archaeologist, I see ancient masonry, buried architectural phases, unanswered questions and thousands of years of Jerusalem's history.

As a believer, I see something else.

I see an illustration.

The world can build walls.

Men can close gates.

Empires can rise and disappear.

Stones can be buried beneath metres of earth.

But there is one Door no human being can seal.

Yeshua is that Door.

Perhaps one day I will no longer have to stand across the Kidron Valley imagining the King coming to Jerusalem.

Perhaps those ancient stones will witness the moment themselves.

Until then, the sealed Eastern Gate remains there—silent, ancient and mysterious.

And every time I look at it, I am reminded:

The gate may be shut.

But the Door is still open.

Yeshua said, “I am the door.”

Good morning to everyone. Grace and Peace be with you.

How is everyone doing today? It is early and eventful in my house. Eventful for old, sleepy people, that is. I made coffee, fixed my husband’s meds, recorded his evening, walked the dog and spent some quality time in the alternative office.

Last night I was able to get the middle part of the yard mowed before I lost daylight and today I will finish. Now, normally, my yard is done in one sitting. However, this week, that has not been the case. With borrowing a mower, I had to wait to get it back and because I borrowed it, I did my obligation to his other property first. I could have waited and done mine all in one stint, but I was having fun. Haha.

So, I have a question for you. How do you decompress? Do you go for a walk/run? Do you dive into a good story? Is it television and snacks? Is there a hobby that you enjoy that helps reset your thoughts? How do you deal with the day’s events as they unfold and/or when you are thinking about them at the end of the day?

For me, obviously, writing is one avenue that I take. Another is mowing—another is music. Of course, there are my phone games … little addictive boogers.

Have you considered prayer as a route of decompression?

A quick research of how many times it is recorded that Jesus prayed is over 25 times. A finer search shows that He withdrew at least seven times to pray. Meaning that he went away alone to pray.

Now, if the Son of God, who came to earth as a human to demonstrate what He wanted us to do, left his pals, his family, his associates to pray and ‘decompress’ with God … don’t you think it might just work for us?

Over the years, in order to make prayer sound OVER important, it has been made out that you need to have a large vocabulary of fancy words and beautiful songs of words that float through the air like a cloud. However, if you read about Jesus’ account in Gethsemane … that was not flowery words … that was “Hey Dad, is there another way we can take care of this plan of Yours? If there is, can we do that instead? Hey, but if there isn’t … I understand.” Jesus was on his face, sweating and pouring out his soul to the Father, pleading for a different solution to this problem. He had become very close to His disciples and the weight of what was going to happen fell on him like a ton of bricks. He felt the burden of His assignment in full force. If the Son of man cried out to God on multiple occasions, would it not seem relevant that we would too?

The enemy would have us believe that if we cannot ‘fix’ or ‘accomplish’ something on our own, that we are weak and worthless. On the contrary, knowing that we have an avenue to strength and power, and then exercising that invitation to sit with Him, settles us and empowers us to persevere. I have confessed many times on here that my prayer life has not been the best. It is improving, however, and I can physically feel His presence as I calm from the day’s events or as I enter the day’s events. Coming from someone who routinely falls down, prayer has given me such strength to continue to take one step at a time each day.

As today unfolds, as the events begin to swallow you whole, as the world tries to dictate your mood, remember that there is One who is always there and willing to listen. Go to Him. Pour out your soul to Him. Cry to Him. Plead with Him. And know that if the answer is not what YOU wanted, that there must be a higher cause. Jesus was not released from his commitment to die on the cross; he accepted it and used it as the way to unlock the doors of death and defeat Satan. What powerful use of your turmoil lies beyond your vision that will help someone in the long run? Release your anguish to the Father and embrace your chosen status, knowing that you were picked to set the tone for someone else in a similar situation.

Be blessed.

**My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me. Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will. – Matthew 26:38-39

THROWBACK THURSDAY - Ten years ago I was staying at a friend’s house in western Iowa. We made frequent trips into Omaha, Nebraska. During one of them, I witnessed to six skateboarders hanging out in a parking lot. Three of the guys held hands with me and experienced holy laughter as they got born again. Afterward, two of them wanted a photo with me. Psalm 16:11 says, “In Your presence is fullness of joy.”

Guidelines for living.
August 27, 2026

Why You Should Cultivate Excellence in Your Life

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15



The greatest accomplishments in life - believe it or not - are made not by the smartest people in the world but by those who didn't know enough to quit. They were the ones who kept trying, kept plodding, kept practicing, who kept investigating until they stumbled onto success. That fact was driven home to me when I was studying in the university. There were two men in my classes who were geniuses. Their IQs were way up there. At the end of a class, they slapped their books shut and generally didn't open them. They were smart.

Frankly, I was among those who had to dig it out. People thought I was really gifted; no, I just knew how to work and to study. My parents spent hard earned money and sent me to school to study, not party. I knew why I was there and I made the most of the opportunity.

Learning to apply myself was something I happened to grow up with, but everybody didn't have a dad who cut the handles off of brooms, making them short enough for me to use as a kid, or has you work alongside him. But you can learn to work. You can develop discipline yourself. You can set goals and eventually reach them.

One of my heroes was Sir Edmund Hillary, who along with his Sherpa guide, Tensing, crested Mount Everest for the first time. Awesome achievement, and that before a lot of high-tech gear which climbers use today. When asked how he accomplished this when others had failed, he replied that when he was tempted to turn back, he took just one more step.

William Carey, the father of modern missions, said that his greatest ability was to plod in the face of adversity. When Thomas Edison had tried 10,000 ways to produce an incandescent globe and hadn't succeeded, he was urged to quit. He responded that he had found 10,000 ways that wouldn't work. And he would eventually find one that did. He did! I've sometimes wondered how many determined, stubborn individuals we have today with that same tenacity.

The foundation of our modern achievements was laid by thousands of unknown individuals who lived in obscurity and died unknown, who faithfully contributed to what has enabled us to send men to the moon, to circle the globe with communication, and to accomplish great and mighty things through technology and science. They laid the foundation; we have built upon their research, hard work, and trial and error. Their strength and energy, like a gradually falling barometer, were meted out in hard work, years of often-unrecognized service, and yes, blood, sweat and tears. But they did not quit. They did not look for something with less work and more money attached to it.

I've been told that in an European Cathedral, high in the rafters where no one ever goes, are some intricate carvings of exquisite beauty, done by a master craftsman whose name has long since been lost to posterity. Why did he take time to do some of his finest work, using an abutment of wood that will never be seen by the public? He valued excellence. He took seriously the admonition of the Bible that instructs: "Whatever your hands find to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom" (Ecclesiastes 9:10).

Cultivate excellence. Make it a passion. Refuse to let the world and our culture shove you into the mold of mediocrity. Thank God for teachers who inspire excellence, for mothers who have the patience to bring the best out of their children, for dads who have the patience to teach a little boy how to do something. Do it, friend. Someday, you will be very glad you did.

Resource Reading: Ecclesiastes 9:1-10

Amazing Facts
Daily Devotionals

What does Paul mean when he says “out of the body” and “caught up to the third heaven”?
August 27, 2026
Read Time: 2 min

This text has been used to support the doctrine of the immortal soul, but it has nothing to do with this at all. It is accepted by practically all commentators that the apostle Paul here was describing his own experience, because he spoke in the context of his own revelations (v. 1).

He was concerned he would be taken as glorying or boasting about his visions. For likely this reason, he attributed the experience to a man he knew. Paul’s soul did not leave his body; If so, he would have been dead and nowhere does he make an allusion to his death or his resurrection.

Paul is also speaking here of “visions” and “revelations.” He was not puzzled over whether he had died or not; he was merely uncertain as to how he was able to see paradise in that vision. Although it seemed that his body was taken to heaven, he felt it possible that he was taken there only in vision.

He confesses ignorance as to what actually happened. The physical impressions seemed as though He were “out of the body,” in a manner of speaking. Likewise, he wrote to the Colossian church, “For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit” (Colossians 2:5). No one interprets this to mean that some immortal soul left Paul’s body to be with his friends.

The fact is, only God knows the nature of that spiritual visit to paradise. So we would do well not to base any doctrine on this text. What Paul was interested in “boasting” about was not this unusual experience, but of suffering for Jesus Christ (v. 5).

Key Bible Texts
I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. (2 Corinthians 12:2 KJV)