Chaplains are noncombatants.
That means we
are not allowed to carry a
weapon because our focus is
not on combat, it's on the
spiritual care of our Soldiers.
This can be seen in our Corp
Motto; “Nurture the living,
Care for the wounded, Honor
the dead”. Our physical
protection it up to those
around us.
The truth is though...we are
combatants. We're up to our
necks in the fight of our lives
and for the lives of those
around us.
And so are you, Soldiers and
Spouses – whether you carry
a weapon or not!
The Apostle Paul knew he
was a combatant. Here's how
he puts it: " The weapons we
use in our fight are not the
world's weapons but God's
powerful weapons, which we
use to destroy strongholds.
We destroy false arguments;
we pull down every proud
obstacle that is raised against
the knowledge of God; we
take every thought captive
and make it obey Christ"
When he says, “We destroy
false arguments; we pull down
every proud obstacle” one of
the things he means are the
lies of the enemy that we are
tempted to believe. The truth
is that so many of us believe
lies that limit us, that hold us
back, that limit the freedom
and life that Christ intended
for us to have.
Lies like “You're not good
enough to do anything for
God”, “You'll never be free
from that...”, “Everybody is
afraid of things - living in fear
is just part of being human”,
“You've missed God's
purpose for your life”, “You've
done too much to be forgiven”
These are simply lies – this
week in our study of God’s
word we came to realize who
the disciples were. In the
traditions of the Jewish faith
those that excelled in school
would go on to study more
and then the best of the best
would have continued on to
become the disciple of a
Rabbi. In Matthew 4:18-22
we see Jesus calling His first
disciples, just fisherman, boys
who were not good enough to
continue in their studies and
had returned home to learn
their father’s trade
Jesus, the greatest of all...