Disciple: Holy Living
Major Anita Caldwell served as the director of curriculum for the Evangeline Booth College for the past several years, her final appointment as a Salvation Army officer before her and her husband’s retirement in June 2024.
Growing up, Major Anita’s father, a Free Methodist pastor, would often preach on holiness. The idea of a “holiness tradition” is Wesleyan, brought to importance by John Wesley who is known as the father of the Methodist Church. Their movement was founded on the belief that with the Holy Spirit’s indwelling, a Christian is granted the freedom to live their life wholly sanctified and without sin. The Salvation Army grew out of the Methodist movement, developing from that same tradition of holiness.
Major Anita went on to attend a Christian high school and then Kentucky Mountain Bible College, and in both schools much emphasis was placed on holy living. “I think as you get older, you get passionate about what you’ve learned as a child. And there was just no doubt.”
During their time of ministry, Major Anita and her husband Brad served overseas for 13 years, mainly in the Eastern Europe Territory, working in Romania, Moldova, Ukraine, the Republic of Georgia, and Russia, and finally International Headquarters in London, before returning to the United States.
While in Russia, Majors Caldwell oversaw education for the territory, organizing local officer training and continuing education opportunities as well as teaching cadets.
Major Anita found that “holiness” was a different concept to the people of eastern Europe than in the U.S. Specifically in Russian culture, normal, everyday people could never be considered “holy.” That concept was reserved for the Saints and Icons blessed by the Orthodox Church.
The Caldwells saw within the people they led and served a desire for the Holy Spirit to become real, not just part of some unattainable sainthood. And this, in turn, inspired Major Anita to follow what God was prompting her towards all along: “This is what my calling is—to write about holy living.”
Major Anita has now written three books on holiness: “Holiness Alive,” “Holiness and the Hymns,” and “Sarah the Cat… and Jesus.”
“We tend to think that holiness is a dos and don’ts list. It is not a do’s and don’ts list at all. I think when we’re fully surrendered to Jesus, it is a joyful journey. I want people to be excited about holy living.”
“Holiness Alive” was a four-year journey collecting and coalescing many years of articles written for The Salvation Army in various capacities. Her first book includes topics such as dancing in the joy of holiness, how there is freedom in surrendering, and even a full Bible study on holiness which she found to be a successful ministry tool with her Home League group in Moscow, Russia.
For her second book, “Holiness and the Hymns,” Major Anita pulled about 100 hymns from The Salvation Army Songbook. She took prayerful time reflecting on each, and God gave her stories and thoughts to share about them.
Her book “Sarah the Cat… and Jesus” came when she recognized a need to teach children early on about listening for the voice of Jesus and the promptings of the Holy Spirit. She feels that if they learn this at an early age, they will carry that forward in their lives. “Young people are hungry to know more. And if we would just take the time to invest in them, they will.”
Throughout her writing, Major Anita works to break a few myths of holiness:
- Holiness is a list of dos and don’ts -- “From my point of view, holiness, once you really surrender to Jesus, you just love doing what Jesus wants you to do.”
- Holiness is only for the saints -- “No! The Holy Spirit is so excited to engage in our life, but he also won’t barge into our life.” We must be willing to invite him and be open to hearing his voice.
- It is impossible to be like Christ -- When you spend a lot of time with someone, they start to rub off on you. “And if you walk along with God, you’re going to love what He loves. That’s good. It just wears off. It just becomes part of your life.
- Holiness is perfection - once achieved, you will never sin again. -- “We’re still human beings. We’re still going to make mistakes. We can and probably will sin in our life, but we don’t have to.”
“When we’re talking about holy living, Scripture is full of it,” Major Anita advises. “Open the Word of God and begin the journey of what He has to say.”
“Be bold. Believe that the Holy Spirit is able to work in us a Christlike life and walk that mirrors Jesus in our day-to-day life.” When we invite the Holy Spirit to dwell within us, we are granted freedom to live without sin. And even when we fail, the Spirit is there to guide us back into right relationship with God.