Who Cares?
General William Booth
On
one of my recent journeys, as I gazed from the coach window I was led
into a train of thought concerning the conditions of the multitudes
around me. They were living carelessly in the most open and shameless
rebellion against God, without a thought for their eternal welfare.
As I looked out the window, I seemed to see them all… millions of
people all around me given up to their drink and their pleasure,
their dancing and their music, their business and their anxieties,
their politics and their troubles. Ignorant-willfully ignorant in
many cases – and in other instances knowing all about the truth and
not caring at all. But all of them, the whole mass of them, sweeping
on and up in their blasphemies and devilries to the throne of God.
While my mind was thus engaged, I had a vision. I saw a dark and
stormy ocean. Over it the black clouds hung heavily; through them
every now and then vivid lightning flashed and loud thunder rolled,
while the winds moaned, and the waves rose and foamed, towered and
broke, only to rise and foam, tower and break again.
In
that ocean I thought I saw myriads of poor human beings plunging and
floating; shouting and shrieking, cursing and struggling and drowning;
and as they cursed and screamed, they rose and shrieked again, and
then some sank to rise no more.
And I saw out of this
dark, angry ocean, a mighty rock that rose up with its summit
towering high above the black clouds that overhung the stormy sea. And
all around the base of this rock I saw a vast platform. Onto this
platform, I saw with delight a number of the poor struggling,
drowning wretches continually climbing out of the angry ocean. And I
saw that a few of those who were already safe on the platform were
helping the poor creatures still in the angry waters to reach the
place of safety. On looking more closely, I found a number of those who
had been rescued, industriously working and scheming by ladders,
ropes, boats, and other means more effective, to deliver the poor
strugglers out of this sea. Here and there were some who actually
jumped into the water, regardless of all the consequences, in their
passion to “rescue the perishing.” And I hardly know which gladdened
me most-the sight of the poor drowning people climbing onto the
rocks, reaching the place of safety, or the devotion and
self-sacrifice of those whose whole beings were wrapped up in the
effort for their deliverance. As I looked on, I saw that the occupants
of that platform were quite a mixed company. That is, they were
divided into different “sets” or classes, and they occupied themselves
with different pleasures and employment. But only a very few of them
seemed to make it their business to get the people out of the sea.
But what puzzled me most was the fact that though all of them had been
rescued at one time or another from the ocean, nearly everyone seemed
to have forgotten all about it. Anyway, it seemed the memory of its
darkness and danger no longer troubled them at all. And what seemed
equally strange and perplexing to me was that these people did not
even seem to have any care – that is any agonizing care – about the
poor perishing ones who were struggling and drowning right before
their very eyes, many of whom were their own husbands and wives,
brothers, and sisters, and even their own children. Now this
astonishing unconcern could not have been the result of ignorance or
lack of knowledge, because they lived right there in full sight of it
all and even talked about it sometimes. Many even went regularly to
hear lectures and sermons in which the awful state of these people
drowning creatures was described.
I have
already said that the occupants of this platform were engaged in
different pursuits and pastimes. Some of them were absorbed night and
day in trading and business In order to make gain, storing up their
savings in boxes, safes, and the like.
"Who Cares?"
An illustration of General William Booth's vision depicting the
Church's apparent lack of concern over the fate of lost souls. (William
Booth was the founder of the Salvation Army). This oil painting was
commissioned in 1993 by Last Days Ministries (founded by Keith Green).
Read William Booth's "Who Cares?" article. Order a 25" X 17" poster of
this painting through LDM's website.
Many
spent their time in amusing themselves with growing flowers on the
side of the rock, others in painting pieces of cloth or in playing
music or in dressing themselves up in different styles and walking
about to be admired. Some occupy themselves chiefly in eating and
drinking, others were taken up with arguing about the poor drowning
creatures that had already been rescued.
But the thing to
me that seemed the most amazing 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 much and were
in full sympathy with Him in the task He had undertaken – who
worshipped Him or who professed to do so – were so taken up with their
trades and professions, their money saving and pleasures, their
families and circles, their religions and arguments about it, and their
preparation for going to the mainland, that they did not listen to
the cry that came to them from this Wonderful Being who had Himself
gone down into the sea. Anyway, if they heard it they did not heed it.
They did not care. And so the multitude went on right before them
struggling and shrieking and drowning in the darkness.
And
then I saw something that seemed to me even more strange than
anything that had gone on before in this strange vision. I saw that
some Of these people on the platform whom this Wonderful Being had
called to, wanting them to come and help Him in His difficult task of
saving these perishing creatures, were always praying and crying out
to 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 wanted
Him to come and take away various doubts and misgivings they had
concerning the truth of some letters which He had written them. Some
wanted Him to come and make them feel more secure on the rock-so
secure that they would be quite sure that 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 again, into the stormy waters.
Video of the Who Cares? Vision that William Booth saw.
So these
people used to meet and get up as high on the rock as they could, and
looking toward the mainland (where they thought the Great Being was)
they would cry out, “Come to us! Come, help us!” And all the while He
was down (by His Spirit) among the poor struggling, drowning
creatures in the angry deep, with His arms around them trying to drag
them out, and looking up oh! so longingly, but all in vain to those
on the rock, crying to them with His voice all hoarse from calling,
“Come to Me! Come, and help Me!”
And then I understood
it all. It was plain enough. That sea was the ocean of life-the sea
of real, actual human existence. That lightning was the gleaming of
piercing truth coming from Jehovah’s throne. That thunder was the
distant echoing of the wrath of God. Those multitudes of people
shrieking, struggling, and agonizing in the stormy sea, were the
thousands and thousands of poor harlots and harlot-makers, of
drunkards and drunkard-makers, of thieves, liars, blasphemers, and
ungodly people of every kindred, 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 all so unalike in their
outward circumstances and conditions, yet all alike in one thing all
sinners before God all held by, and holding onto, some iniquity,
fascinated by some idol, the slaves of some devilish lust, and ruled
by the foul fiend from the bottomless pit! “All alike in one thing?”
No, all alike in two things not only the same in their wickedness
but, unless rescued, the same in their sinking, sinking… down, down,
down… to the same terrible doom. That great sheltering rock
represented Calvary, the place where Jesus 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 professed to be saved from sin and hell
followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. The handful of fierce, determined
ones, who were risking their own lives in saving the perishing, were
true soldiers of the cross of Jesus. That Mighty Being who was
calling to them from the midst of the angry 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
this 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
sea calling on 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 very spot on which you stand. Leaving the vision, I
now come to 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 the judgment
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? That is, will you go to His feet and
place yourself absolutely at His disposal?
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. In
other words, she wanted to go to His assistance in the sea. As when a
man from the shore seeing another struggling in the water, takes off
those outer garments 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 kept you back for so
long, and rush to the rescue of this multitude of dying men and
women?
Does the surging sea look dark and dangerous?
Unquestionably it is so. There is no doubt that the leap for you, as
for every one who takes it, means difficulty and scorn and suffering.
For you it may mean more than this. It may mean death. He who
beckons you from the sea however, knows what it will mean and
knowing, He still calls to you and bids you come.
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
of human happiness, much clapping of hands and shouting of praises,
very 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 broken in upon 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?
by General William Booth
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