(Letter to the local Veterans of Foreign Wars Chapter [6683] of Enterprise, AL, September 2015)
In 1945, a movie was released by Warner Brothers entitled, God is My Co-Pilot. It is the story of Col Robert L. Scott who flew The Hump with the Flying Tigers in World War II under General Chenault. The title is charming and well-intended; however, God takes a second seat to no one. He is either our Commander, our Master, our Lord, our Pilot-in-Command – or He is nothing to us.
There is another similar slogan that is foisted about on posters and bumper stickers which read: “Jesus Died For Your Soul And The Soldier Died For Your Freedom. I hate to be an iconoclast, but this, too, regardless the commendable motive behind it, is also not true. Regardless the esteem earned by the American soldier, there is no freedom apart from that granted in the redemptive blood of Jesus Christ. Isaiah the prophet, in describing the coming Lord, says: “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.” Isaiah 61:1 (KJV)
To the synagogue, on the Sabbath at Nazareth of Galilee, Jesus confirmed and fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” Luke 4:18-19 (KJV) The Lord came to heal, to save, and to set free. No mortal can do any commendable work apart from that which mirrors that redemptive work of the Lord. A good and Godly soldier, just as a minister of God, imitates that good work of the Lord in fighting for Liberty, Freedom, and Justice for all alike.
Jay Kim, the first Korean elected to Congress, tells this story of MacArthur’s liberation of Seoul. The North Korean occupiers were evacuating the city ahead of the leading elements of MacArthur’s invasion force. But they had demanded that the city be destroyed along with personal possessions, setting homes and buildings afire. Jay Kim was just a little boy at the time. There was smoke, and the sound of gunfire, everywhere. He was helping his father and other siblings salvage what little possessions they owned from their burning residence. Suddenly, there was an eerie silence as the last elements of the North Korean Army fled the city. Jay looked down the smoke filled street to see the largest soldier he had ever seen emerge from the smoke and chaos. It was a US Marine bearing his weapon at the ready. He came to the boy, stooped down and put his arm around his shoulder, gave him a stick of gum, and directed him to seek cover inside the building since there was still sporadic sniper fire in the area. From that moment forward, a little boy named Jay Kim resolved, someday, to become an American! And so he did! That is what Freedom is about – and perfect and true Freedom only comes as a gift from God though enforced and perpetuated by his appointed minister – the Godly soldier.
“Prenez en Gré”
In Christ Alone during TRINITY,
† Jerry L. Ogles, D.D.
Presiding Bishop
Anglican Orthodox Communion Worldwide & Chancellor, Faith Theological Seminary
“Metus improbo compescit, non clementia.” – Syrus, MAXIMS: Fear, not kindness, restrains the wicked!
Archbishop Thomas Cranmer – HOLY SCRIPTURE:
“If there were any word of God beside the Scripture, we could never be certain of God’s Word; and if we be uncertain of God’s Word, the devil might bring in among us a new word, a new doctrine, a new faith, a new church, a new god, yea himself to be a god. If the Church and the Christian faith did not stay itself upon the Word of God certain, as upon a sure and strong foundation, no man could know whether he had a right faith, and whether he were in the true Church of Christ, or a synagogue of Satan.”
