Avoid Supporting or Accommodating Evil!

Chaplain-praying-in-the-field

For you, O LORD, are most high over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods. O you who love the LORD, hate evil! (Psalms 97:10-11)

Christians in the Armed Forces will have their faith tested on many occasions. This is important—since Christians are commanded to examine themselves (cf. 2 Cor. 13:5) to see if their professing Christianity is true, or false and vitiated.

True Christianity produces a love for God, a hunger for His Word, fervent prayer, devotion to a local, Bible-believing church, and not a military chapel. The imputed righteousness of Christ that is credited to those who come to Him by faith alone, will enable believers to hate the things that God hates, and love the things that God loves. This does not happen because merit and favor can be earned with God, but only because of the active and passive obedience of Christ.

Counterfeit Christians in the Armed forces will appeal to the Constitution, and not Christ, and they have no local church home—which means they have no accountability for their souls (Heb. 13:17). This is why so many professing Christian service members will say: “We ‘support everyone’s right’ to practice their faith regardless if they worship a god different from ours because the Constitution protects this right.”

Christian service members who openly profess and support the rights of Muslims, Buddhists, and all other anti-Christian worldviews to practice their religions—because the language in the Constitution permits—are grossly in error, and deceived. This article will explain a few reasons why:

First, where in the Bible do the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, or Christ Himself, support or accommodate anti-Christians to give adulation to their false gods or to yield and obey anyone except the One true and living God? There is no exegetical support, and no moral justification for any Christian service member to openly profess or support the alleged rights of anti-Christians. Christian service members must share the Gospel with unbelievers so they can be saved, not support unbelievers to worship their false gods that will lead them to hell.

Second, professing Christian service members must answer this important question: “Do you appeal to the Holy Scripture, or the US Constitution as an ultimate standard to measure your conduct?”

The answer to this question will determine how the service member will conduct themselves, and what is truly the authority for their faith and practice.

If a professing Christian service member appeals to the Bible, all their thoughts, words, and deeds are to be examined and resolved with the Holy Scripture that points to Christ—not the Constitution. Why is it wrong for a professing “Christian” service member to appeal to the Constitution for their faith and practice? If the professing Christian service member appeals to the Constitution and not the Holy Scripture as their ultimate standard—they have no business calling themselves a Christian—since they would have nothing to measure their Christianity upon without the Bible.

Also, appealing to anything except the Bible as an ultimate authority would not only be anti-Christian, it would also nullify their previous argument of professing to be a Christian—since an ultimate authority does not appeal to anything except itself. It is impossible to submit to both the Bible and the Constitution as an ultimate authority—because the Laws of Logic would prohibit this—since two propositions cannot both be right and wrong at the same time. Christ made this clear in Matthew 12:30.

Third, the First Amendment of the US Constitution states that the free-exercise of religion is for all Americans to practice their faith, but does that mean a Christian service member should accommodate or support things that are contrary to their faith? Absolutely not!

Also, is it wrong for a professing Christian service member to say, “I support the rights of all Americans to practice their faith since the Constitution protects their rights?” Absolutely!

Consider this theoretical question: If a young-woman in the military said that she was pregnant and wanted to abort (murder) her child, because she alleges that her faith would necessitate this right, would you accommodate or support that young woman to murder her child since you allege that the Constitution protects her right to have an abortion?

The answer to this question will determine who belongs to the Savior, and those who serve Satan. This is the logic that comes from supporting or accommodating everyone’s alleged rights because of the Constitution.

Lastly, Christians in the Armed Forces who appeal to Scripture alone and do not support anything that God hates, must be ready to give an account for why they are not willing to support or accommodate everyone’s religious requests. This is especially important for military chaplains, since they have a responsibility to assist and advise their commanders on religious liberty. Here are a few cogent points that I pray will help Christian service members and military chaplains:

All service members have taken the oath to support and defend the Constitution. Taking an oath to defend the Constitution, does not require a service member to compromise their own sincerely held beliefs in the process, nor does it force a service member to accept a worldview that is antithetical to their own. According to the First Amendment, there is freedom of religion, and freedom of speech. Therefore, Christians in the Armed Forces should feel free to espouse and practice their convictions, and even deny participating, or accommodating a religion or practice that would cause them to sin—regardless if it offends others or not.

Military chaplains are not forced to do anything that would violate what their conscience dictates, and chaplains are not allowed to conduct themselves in any way that would compromise their ecclesiastical endorsement convictions. This is why it is imperative that Bible-believing military chaplains align themselves with the right endorser that has sincerely held beliefs that appeal to Scripture alone, and will not support or accommodate evil.

Therefore, if military chaplains are criticized by individuals for not accommodating all service members, and are told to resign from the military since they cannot care for all, just ask them this question: “Does the free exercise of religion apply to ‘all’ service members or only service members whose beliefs concur with yours?” If the response is: “Military chaplains must provide for all or they are not fit to serve,” they are now guilty of violating their own criteria of providing for all, since they are establishing a religion that requires every service member to accommodate evil even if their sincerely held convictions prohibit them from doing so. However, if they respond to the question by saying that the free exercise of religion is for “all,” simply tell them: Thank you very much

 Dr. Sonny Hernandez

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