This is a very courageous thing to write by an active duty Army Officer...even a Chaplain. NO PLACE TO TAKE A STAND Many places on earth are unsuitable for building. For instance, the dark soils of flood plains may be rich in nutrients for growing. But these flatlands, through which meandering rivers flow, are constantly subject to flooding and erosion. A person would be foolish to lay a foundation, build, or take a permanent stand on such ground. Before the Missouri River had its channel dredged by the Army Corps of Engineers, its surrounding flood plain was impossible to live on. This was because the river constantly changed its course. It would abandon port towns like Weston, MO, and sweep away others that found themselves in its ever-changing path. Even worse are places which spend as much time underwater as they do above water. Consider the small dependent territory of Bassas da India. This tiny atoll consists of only two tenths of one square kilometer. It belongs to France and, like its “mother country,” it bears the motto, “Liberty, equality, and fraternity” and shares the same national anthem, La Marseillaise. Yet tides overflow it every 12 hours, making it impossible for anyone to stay there. These unsteady places are very much like today’s moral ground in the military. The military is fast becoming a place where it is reckless and foolhardy to take a stand on anything – except on the politically popular view of the moment. Almost month-to-month, the ground beneath long-held cherished values, such as faith, marriage, and family, is being swept away by the ever-changing course of political expediency. What was once honorable and sacred yesterday – what we once fought and died for - is suddenly become condemned as narrow-minded and bigoted. More often, what was once considered inappropriate and immoral is now being declared by our military leaders as the “right thing to do.” What was wrong yesterday is celebrated today. And those who don’t join in the celebration are marked for elimination. Is this what our military leaders want – an environment that’s hostile to faith, family, and marriage? Is this what any of us want – an organization where no one takes a stand on anything except for what is politically popular at the moment? Do we want to build leaders who embrace a cherished value one day and gladly discard it the next? Are there no truths that remain true regardless of which way the political current flows? Over 2,700 years ago the prophet Isaiah confronted God’s people because their concept of right and wrong had become twisted. He wrote, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Woe to those who are wise in their own opinion and clever in their own sight. Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine, who are fearless at mixing beer, who acquit the guilty for a bribe and deprive the innocent of justice” (Isaiah 5:20-23). Don’t be deceived. Our culture is hard at work explaining away other critical Army values - such as courage and heroism - as mere chemical processes in the brain. And at the same time it celebrates the cowardly and spineless as heroes. We cannot embrace our popular culture’s values without paying a terrible price. PRAYER: Almighty and merciful Father, please bless the men and women of our Armed Forces and give them success in their world-wide mission. Arm them, O God, with strength and courage for battle. Keep them physically fit, morally straight, and spiritually strong. Bless our leaders and endow them with wisdom from on high. And bless, O Lord, the United States of America. Heal America of its moral and spiritual sickness. Bind up its many divisions and mend its every flaw. Turn the hearts of Americans everywhere to You, in faith and repentance, and to each other in love and reconciliation. Raise America to true greatness and grant her supreme success as Your torch of freedom and Your instrument of peace throughout the world, O God of our fathers. Amen. CH (LTC) David Causey 593rd ESC Chaplain
Posted on: Tue, 24 Jun 2014 22:45:09 +0000
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