Into the Fire

Before I say anything else: Jesus loves you. This is not meant to be a trite statement given in Christian-ese. Rather it is a fact. In fact, truer words could not be spoken. He loved you enough, whoever you are, as an individual to give his life in your place. You, and the rest of us humans, are a sinner. No good that you have done without Jesus Christ in your life is worth the price of a soiled, filthy rag. In other words: worthless, foul garbage. Yet, in spite of who we are with all of our deceptive, evil, manipulative, and ungodly, unrighteous, unholy, and repugnant sinful ways: Jesus loves us. Consider that as you read the following because I know that statement to be true in the most powerful sense. After all, he redeemed me with His terrible, torturous death and His marvelous, miraculous resurrection.

Having said that, sometimes we are called to share a warning. The trumpet shouts of danger must be blown. The opportunity to see the evil and rise up to work and war against it must be explained and hopefully acted on. “If God is for us, who can be against us.”

At the inception of this nation, brave people were required to set out to find new hope, new life, new freedom. In the course of their endeavors, many of them died. Of starvation, exposure, disease, and other painful ways of death. I’m sure their stamina was tested beyond what they thought they could endure, and certainly many did not survive. As new opportunities were borne out of their perseverance and sacrifice, those who could pressed on and began a new life, which in spite of the deaths and unspeakable hardships gave them a new life built on a new and very real freedom from religious tyranny as well as excessive government control.

How strange that hundreds of years later in the great nation where people came to escape religious and governmental tyranny by giving their lives to form the foundation of freedom both in the salvation of Jesus Christ and in the structure of life lived more in accordance with the Word of God, that same tyranny is present in THIS nation where the founders of old and our veterans of wars fought to keep us free. There has never been an option in this nation to sit back and enjoy the bounty of this country without the fight to preserve the freedom to partake of the great offerings and opportunities available here. At some point throughout our history, men and eventually women have had to take up and bear arms to fight for whatever has been necessary to keep this nation “free”.

I am not a history buff. In fact, I’m terrible at history. It didn’t interest me: I did well enough to get good grades in the subject in school but retained very little of it. However, people interest me. And man’s inhumanity to man breaks my heart and makes my soul ache. The atrocities committed in our country as a result of racial prejudices both then and now to people of different color or culture is inexcusable, and those who truly know God will not tolerate such despicable conduct. An enormous number of lives were given when this great country raised up soldiers to defy and defeat the barbarism of slavery. No one who truly knows God can condone what happened to our native Americans.

But today I want to speak to you about our current world. About our volunteer armed forces. About the men and women who have and are giving their lives to defend against terrorism successfully making its way to our shores again. I want to honor those who are fighting in a foreign land for the freedom of others who’ve never known anything but a vapid religion which maims and mars anything in contrast to it. I want to praise their bravery and courage and reiterate to all of them that there is no more noble way to die than to give up one’s life for the freedom of others.

Sometimes I think people forget that we all have to die. Whether it’s at the hand of a murderer or in the peace of slumber, short of the rapture, we will eventually die. The conditions of sin. No escape. And even with the wonderful redemption of our Savior, these decaying “tents” we live in are doomed for burial.

I want to thank Aaron who did two tours in Iraq and came home believing in what we were doing over there. I want to thank his younger brother Nick who is there right now in his first tour. Both of them have put their lives on the line for you and for me, though you will never meet them. In the process of their service, their young wives couldn’t stand the separation and found others to replace them. I know many of you have relatives, friends, associates who maybe didn’t make it out with their lives either in Iraq, Afghanistan, Viet Nam, one of the World Wars. Your heart aches, and perhaps always will at your terrible loss. Words fall so short and often give no comfort. Nevertheless, how noble to lay down your life in the pursuit of freedom.

Many will argue about Iraq. Rage over the death of our troops. The miserable plans gone haywire. But who could really know all the challenges.? We were not mislead as to how long it would take–the timetable was left open. I did learn from history that it takes at least 5 years to restructure an entire government. President Bush said it would be a long and hard fight.

The liberal left (and if you’re bristling by now: go read my first paragraph) would try to convince us of lies, misdeeds, poor leadership, and needless deaths. They cry out about the lives of our soldiers and wring their hands about bringing them home now. But these same liberal left bleeding hearts champion the cause of the slaughter of unborn children at every level of their development and don’t bat an eye at the appalling number of deaths, casting them aside just as they do the fetuses in the garbage dumpsters outside abortion clinics. And now they want to harvest these babies for stem cell research even though real science has shown that adult stem cells are the only cells which have proven effective in possible healing measures.

Our country is in serious trouble with the issues of courage and bravery and morality and honor. With the election results being what they are, we as Christians are facing severe uphill battles in a nation gone crazy with calling good evil and evil good. Woe to us if we comply. We will always be the minority, but we will always have the power of prayer. “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.”

Today I want to salute every man and woman who has worn the uniform and taken the oath to defend this country and what it has stood for in this world. Yes, it has been sinful, but more often than not, it has been the one nation who has fought on behalf of others besides ourselves and brought the strengths of freedom and righteousness to those who’d either lost it or had it stripped from them. And more often than not, it has received little in return. Allegiances have shifted, some have remained firm, others are teetering, but the military of the United States of America has always fought hard and laid down their lives for the freedom that should be accepted as a God-given right. Unshrinking, unshakeable. The best fighting forces in the world. The truly noble profession of a soldier . . . I honor you.

This is not a politically correct post today, and I’ll be honest with you: I don’t want to hear if you disagree. If I’ve alienated any of you today, I am so sorry. That is not my heart to do so, but I cannot speak in favor of anything that demeans or degrades our military. It’s wrong to do so. This is their day of honor, and I want to lift them up.

Heavenly Father, we have all wept about the atrocities of wars, past and present. We have grieved and mourned personally for those who have given their lives in battle. We ask for your mercy upon our soldiers, that you would fight for them, go before them, be on all sides of them, and be their rear guard. I pray, Lord, that you would give them supernatural insights on the battle field, leading them out of harm’s way. I pray you would rescue them from evil places. I pray you would find the way to the hearts of those who don’t yet know you and save them. I pray, Lord, that you would comfort those who’ve lost loved ones on the battlefield as only you can do. I pray that those who must give their lives would know you and in their death rise to the better place at your side. Our days are numbered, Lord, so I pray you would send your Spirit to the hard places and the hard hearts and rescue our soldiers from the tyranny of sin and introduce them to true freedom in your Son Jesus Christ. Please bless and care for those families who are missing their loved ones. Give them renewed strength to carry on and affirm those who war for our freedom and protection. Lord, turn the tides of evil in our country. Hold back your judgment and extend your mercy yet again to us, please, oh God. We are desperate for you. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.