Christ for All Holiness Ministry, 2 Cor 5:14

In Defense of Military Chaplaincy

Answering some common arguments against Military Chaplaincy with the facts

This is not an exhaustive list of objections to Military Chaplaincy.  I’m really only barely touching on the subject, but I hope this may help someone who may be considering becoming a chaplain, or quiet someone who may be a longtime critic of those who put on a uniform to provide Spiritual freedom to those who are willing to put their lives on the line for our physical freedom.

Common Objection 1:  You can’t pray in Jesus’ name

Military regulation states that “every chaplain shall minister according to their faith,” and “no chaplain shall be required to minister outside of his or her faith.”  This means that if it is your faith to pray in Jesus’ name at the end of EVERY prayer, you are free to do this.  I have noticed since becoming a chaplain that many of our great men of God who pray in services do not end every prayer in Jesus’ name.  In the same sense, I don’t end every prayer in Jesus ‘ name, but I don’t avoid saying that to keep from offending Athiests.  The reality is that just having prayer is offensive to some.  MY UNIFORM HAS A CROSS SEWN INTO MY CHEST AND A CROSS SEWN INTO MY HAT.

Common Objection 2:  They will tell you what to preach

This is totally untrue.  The only limitations that a Military chaplain faces are those that come with common sense.  For example, if as a chaplain you are asked to pray before a meeting, meal or ceremony, common sense and wisdom dictate that this Is not the time to take a text and preach a 30 minute sermon.  When it comes to chapel services, and times when a chaplain is preaching a chaplain is 100% free to preach according to their faith.  This same common sense exists in everyone’s life.  That’s why you may not see many people stopping their car in the middle of an intersection, blocking traffic and preaching the Gospel to a captive angry audience of people who are stuck behind you.  There is a time and a place for everyone, and even though you may not have thought about it, you too have some limitations to when you will or will not preach.  We could use some more common sense and courtesy in our delivery of the greatest message on earth.  To be bold doesn’t mean that you intentionally offend, but to be bold means that you declare plainly.  There is no shame in delivering a message in a courteous manner.  You don’t have to knock on your neighbor’s door at 3:00 AM and scream and shout at the top of your lungs that Jesus loves them.  There is a time and a place to deliver the Gospel message in a courteous way.  Look at how Paul addressed the nobles in his messages to Felix and Agrippa, filled with respect and courtesy. 

Common Objection 3:  You have to be Ecumenical/ compromise with other Religions

A chaplain’s main function is to protect and ensure the 1^st Amendment rights of all Soldiers in their unit.  In affording these rights, a chaplain’s responsibility is to either perform or provide religious services to support their Soldiers.  To perform means that you actually conduct the services.  To provide means that you help them to find a way to have them.  If a Mormon comes to me and asks to have their bread and water communion, I do not have to do it, I would have to help them find a Mormon place of worship.  This is not endorsing the Mormon faith, or .  This is the area that I struggled with the most in deciding to become a chaplain.  Then I thought about times that, as a part of my job, I had to help gay people enroll in health insurance.  I also thought of the fact that when I went to Iraq, ready to lay my life on the line, and ready to take life if needed, it was to preserve the freedom that we enjoy.  Freedom that is used by some to preach the Gospel, but also used .  You may work at Walmart, or Ford, but I guarantee you that your services help somebody somewhere to do something that the Bible condemns.  Whether that means a Muslim family driving their Honda to a Mosque after you changed their oil, or that you sold Life Insurance to a man who made his “boyfriend” his beneficiary, it is still providing for someone in a way that .  The only thing a chaplain provides is that they provide for the free exercise of religion, what Soldiers do with that is up to them.  Just like someone else may provide an oil change for a family, where they drive their Honda is up to them.  I will tell you that while I help them to find a place to worship I’ve got a great opportunity to share the Gospel with them.  The Commandant of the Chaplain’s School at Fort Jackson addressed the classroom full of Soldiers who were trying to become chaplains.  In his first address to us he said, “We do not want you to compromise”.  He followed that with, “In fact, if you compromise, we don’t want you because you won’t make a good chaplain”.  The message was and is clear, compromising your faith is not a requirement to become a Military chaplain.

Common Objection 4:  How can you be a chaplain when they let gays in the Military?

I don’t have to spend much time here, except to say: they have been allowing gays in the USA for many, many years, so why not have all the Holiness Pastors move to Uganda to preach where it is not legal to be a practicing gay?  The Military did not endorse homosexuality as approved by God, it simply .  Do I agree with their decision?  No.  Do I still have the right to preach against homosexuality as a sin? Yes.  The only people who will have problems is those who have never preached against any sin, and now all of a sudden they are preaching against homosexuality every message.  My first message as a chaplain candidate was 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, and my first message after they repealed don’t ask don’t tell was 1 Corinthians 6:9-11.  I did not target homosexuality but targeted all sin, and tried to point all sinners to The One Savior.  When preaching against homosexuality becomes a hate crime in America, I don’t plan to move to Saudi Arabia, but I plan to be labeled a “hater” as I continue to preach that Jesus died to save sinners, which includes homosexuals, fornicators, liars and gossips.  The message will still be repent, believe and obey.

Common Objection 5:  What if they take away a chaplain’s freedom to minister?

What if the government takes away our right to preach?  What if they take away our right to assemble?  What if it becomes law that nobody is allowed to pray in Jesus’ name in a public setting in America?  What if, what if, what if.  There are endless “what if” scenarios, to which we can respond with the same answer, “It is better to obey God than man.”  Our right and responsibility to preach the Gospel are secured by something far greater than the Constitution.  Long after the Constitution is trashed by the coming dictator, the Word of God will still stand!  Peter and John were pulled aside by the Temple authorities and were instructed not to preach in Jesus’ name any more.  When the authorities sent for them to be brought in from their jail cell, they found that they were missing.  Where had they gone?  After being liberated from the prison, they went right back to the place that they knew they were not welcome.  They were found preaching Jesus in the Temple.  Paul knew that his Gospel was not welcome in the synagogue, yet the first place he went every time he came to a new city was the synagogue.  When he was taken outside the cities of Derbe and Lystra and stoned, after he was raised when the saints gathered around him and prayed the first thing he did was went right back and kept on preaching the Gospel.  While we are hiding in the closet with the message of the Gospel, the homosexuals have come out of their closets bolder than ever.  We act so shocked when we find some pocket or resistance somewhere, but Jesus told us that in this world we would have tribulation.  Paul said they that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.  IT IS HIGH TIME THAT WE GET A HOLD OF SOME HOLY DEFIANCE AND TAKE THE GOSPEL TO THE DARK AND DIFFICULT PLACES AGAIN!!  If this Gospel really does deliver drunks and drug addicts, then why don’t we take the Gospel to the drunks and drug addicts?  If the Gospel really is the answer to all of man’s problems, then why is Islam the fastest growing religion in the prisons?  If there really are people who have never heard the Gospel in our country and countries across the world, then why do our evangelists load up in a truck and trailer or motor home that cost enough to build several churches in third world countries and preach the good news that you can make it through your trial to a church world that plays with the Gospel while BILLIONS of souls sit in the darkness waiting for someone to come to them and point the way?  It’s an easy copout for someone to throw up these objections to becoming a Military chaplain, or to use them to criticize others who do, but I encourage you to examine the facts, study the Bible and see what God thinks of it.