Romans 13:4 says, “For he is God’s servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.” I believe that as a member of the military I am part of that sword. Psalm 20:7 says, “Some boast in chariots and some in horses, But we will boast in the name of the Lord, our God.” I do not put my confidence in my physical ability, my skill with a rifle, or the Marines in my squad. I instead trust that God will use me for His will, and I hope that God allows me to glorify him more in life than through death.

—Marine lance corporal Ian Smith, College Hill (Beaver Falls, Pa.) RPC

I try to remember in those moments that I am a citizen of heaven first and a U.S. citizen second. I am a soldier of God first and a U.S. soldier second.

—SSG Michel Sauret, Providence (Pittsburgh, Pa.) RPC

My brother is a Marine, soon to join the armed forces serving overseas. Most service members are cooks or chaplains or clerks, with “prosaic jobs that are just like civilian jobs except for funny clothes, bad hours, low pay, and long family absences,” as one chaplain put it. He continued, “Only about one in ten American soldiers is a bullet-launching, havoc-wreaking infantry grunt.” Only that ten percent aims to conquer with one shot, one kill. My brother is among those few, and I worry a little about the nasty business of actually killing other human beings.

My concern should be alleviated by Scripture, you would think. John the Baptist, in Luke 3, never told soldiers to avoid their military duties, but rather to “not extort” and “be content.” Jesus and the apostles never asked God-fearing centurions to abandon their professions, but rather encouraged them to use moderation and righteous conduct. Moreover, the Holy Spirit actually commended Old and New Testament soldiers, as Chaplain Jonathan Leach reminded me, for their “faithfulness, even aggressiveness, in pursing their calling for the glory of the Lord.” And that, of course, was in the days when Caesar’s soldiers wore red for a reason. Nonetheless, I still wonder about the Christian duty of a soldier. War is messy. Chaplain Kelly Moore commented, “There are always errors in war….There is a saying that the best plans usually go to scrap after the first bullet is fired. It is not a Hollywood script that people are following. It is lethal chaos.” Our service members, then, are often caught in the paradox of serving a just God in an unjust society. So how can we know that, whether cooking or driving or firing on the enemy, the Christian soldier is actually doing something that furthers God’s kingdom? Will the lethal chaos of combat overwhelm the witness of a Christian?

No. On the contrary, “In the darkness of out-of-control combat, the Christian soldier’s application of the gospel light shines,” one chaplain asserted. In an environment that screams, “Vanity! All die, and fighting has no end,” the Christian soldier has purpose and direction. Despite the apparent senselessness of his or her situation, a believer trusts in the sovereign Lord of history. A believer has confidence in the character of the almighty God, whose good purposes will be fulfilled. And that sense of purpose and direction is a powerful witness,” says Chaplain Moore.

Although a soldier has no control over his or her orders, and although my brother may be required to carry out duties that strain his spiritual wellbeing, he can trust that God is the ultimate authority who elects and preserves every institution. He can trust that the God will redeem every square inch of His creation. He can trust that the bullets he fires, with prayerful accuracy, will reach their predestined targets to fulfill God’s perfect aim, rather than the government’s or his own.

Likewise, civilians should have confidence in the sovereign control of our lives. Really, “the soldier’s working environment, whether in the garrison or the field, peacetime or combat, is no more ‘meaningless’ than that of the chemist, the call center representative, the teacher, or the burger flinger,” Chaplain Leach reminds us. Moreover, the temptation to sin is in most people’s daily jobs just as it is in the military. Thus Chaplain Moore usually shies away from identifying his occupation as special or different. His point: “Aren’t we all reading the same Scripture and trying to live out the same gospel?”

Though we civilians may never “march in the infantry, ride in the cavalry, shoot the artillery,” as the child’s song puts it, we are still in the Lord’s army. Staff Sergeant Michel Sauret commends us to “serve God’s army by professing the gospel. That is our fight. We put on the armor of God as described in Ephesians 6…. We are all soldiers of God—we are commanded to be. We all wield the sword of the Spirit by reading our Bibles, and we keep that sword sharp by accepting solid preaching.”

Isn’t it obvious? I do not want my brother to die, nor other sisters’ brothers. Therefore, both my brother and I must preach the gospel—preserving eternal lives—while trusting that our sovereign God will fulfill His good purposes through our sometimes-senseless actions.

–Rebecca Delivuk

Retired Chaplain Stan Copeland Recalled to Active Duty

In response to a significant need for chaplains who are family therapists, the U.S. Army has called some chaplains back to active duty. This includes Pastor Stanley Copeland (Minneola, Kan., RPC), who retired as a chaplain 7 years ago.

Pastor Copeland will serve as an active-duty chaplain for at least three years. He is assigned to Grafenwoehr, Germany, the location of the largest Army base in Europe. His wife, Marilyn, will be following him there once he is settled.

This return to active duty forced Pastor Copeland to resign as Minneola’s pastor effective the end of September. He also had to resign from the board of the Presbyterian & Reformed Joint Commission on Chaplains and Military Personnel, since he will once again be serving as a chaplain in connection with that commission.

Pastor Copeland requests prayer that he would be an effective evangelist in marriage counseling and an effective pastor in visitation in the Army community.