Chaplain witnesses God's power to calm the storming winds and seas of life

BP NEWS ^ | Apr 8, 2003 | Jerry Higgins

[Dubya]

Thanks Byron

[shaggy eel]

,,, good one Byron - thanx!

BUMP

[Dimensio]

Not too many atheists in foxholes . . . ever.

No smaller percentage than the overall percentage of atheists in the military. The "no atheists in foxholes" line is a tired old lie.

[AnAmericanMother]

Friend, I'll take Bill Mauldin's word over yours any day.

[tracer]

Thanks for the heartwarming post. I was converted to the Gospel while on active duty some 32 years ago, and my life overall has been increasingly blessed as a result of the two good brothers who taught and led me back to the Savior...

[AnAmericanMother]

A similar event happened to my grandfather-in-law.

He had a pretty hard life as a boy and young man, and to support himself (this was back in the 'teens) did all sorts of odd jobs for a living, including cleaning out the old-fashioned "dug wells". He would go down the well with a shovel and grubbing hoe, and an assistant would lower the well bucket for him to put the junk, debris, and silt in.

Anyhow, he was down this well one day, and sent the bucket up with a full load, and recommenced to grubbing up the crud from the bottom of the well. Suddenly he heard a voice say, "Back!" and he felt a hand on his forehead. Naturally he leaped back against the wall in surprise -- and the full bucket whizzed right by his head in that instant. His "assistant" had lost hold of the bucket and dropped it down the length of the rope, if it had hit him in the back of the head it would have killed him instantly or he would have drowned.

He told me this story and said he immediately understood that God was saving him for something. Ultimately he became a Methodist minister (and a U.S. Marshal - he was a full service enforcer) and he really was a saintly man. I was privileged to know him, glad I did, and I hope he's putting in good words for us before the Throne (I have no doubt whatever that he is there! :-D )

[Dimensio]

My statement is based upon atheists who have been in foxholes (and were atheists at the time that they were in the foxhole). On what is Bill Mauldin's word based?

[AnAmericanMother]

Unless you heard 'em say that while they were actually in the foxhole, Mauldin's way ahead. He was there, for an extended period of time, as a correspondent and cartoonist for Stars and Stripes during WWII. You will find his contemporaneous reports in Up Front and Back Home, which I heartily recommend.

I also recommend Sam Johnson's pronouncement on the dog walking on its hind legs - it seems apropos here. ;-)

[Dimensio]

Unless you heard 'em say that while they were actually in the foxhole, Mauldin's way ahead.

And Mauldin is qualified to speak of the frame of mind of every individual soldier who has ever been under enemy fire?

Somehow, I doubt that he has that kind of absolute knowledge.

There have been atheists in foxholes, and the claim that there are none is a tired old lie playing upon fear of death and insulting to the courage of nonbelievers who have risked and given their lives for this country. I won't disparage the faith in which many soldiers find comfort, but it is incredibly arrogant to assert that someone who lacks belief in all gods will instantly decide that one exists just because their life is in immediate danger.

[Dubya]

Thank you for sharing that with us tracer.
Semper Fi

[Byron_the_Aussie]

"....innumerable hundreds – estimated somewhere between 2800 and 3000 young Anzac soldiers – owe their eternal salvation to this great man of God. One night McKenzie was interrupted in his dug-out (on the Gallipoli battlefield) by a young Scottish soldier who had received a Bible tract from his mother at home. The young ‘Jock’ was greatly disturbed, as he spoke with the chaplain.

McKenzie read the pamphlet and said: “It says, ‘which side are ye on?”

“Well, sir,” said the young soldier, “I want to be on the side of Jesus, but I dinnae ken how?”

Opening his Bible the chaplain read some of the great and precious promises of Christ, and thus James McGregor found the Lord. The following night the young man returned to receive instructions about prayer, and how to study his Bible. It was a far happier young trooper from Scotland who left the chaplain’s tent. The young soldier was positively happy and aglow, promising to write and inform his mother back home that her prayers had indeed been answered. Sadly, the very next day, Chaplain McKenzie stumbled across the boy’s mangled body in no-man’s land. He had been killed in a futile charge on the Turkish trenches. His body was only recognisable by the letter to his mother- informing her of his decision made the night before, to accept Jesus as his Lord- still in his uniform pocket. Mac retrieved the letter, and mailed it on to the boy’s mother in Scotland."

Fighting Mckenzie : Anzac Chaplain, by Colin Stringer

[Byron_the_Aussie]

..and Mauldin is qualified to speak of the frame of mind of every individual soldier who has ever been under enemy fire?...

(:^D)

Lighten up, Dimensio.

[Gamecock]

The "no atheists in foxholes" line is a tired old lie. I don't remember to many atheists when I was in Gulf War 1.

[Byron_the_Aussie]

..he told me this story and said he immediately understood that God was saving him for something....

Yes.

Wasn't it amazing, the poor marksmanship of British troops in the Revolutionary War? George Washington, up on his great white horse, leading his troops into battle after battle, yet never touched by a musket ball.

Kinda makes you think, don't it?

[Dimensio]

I don't remember to many atheists when I was in Gulf War 1.

You don't remember 'to many'? Does that mean that you saw at least one?

Were you able to ascertain the religious affiliation of every solder who you met?

[AnAmericanMother]

I think there must be some sort of "key man" approach at work. Despite free will, despite the best efforts of evil men, it DOES seem that some are spared, and spared miraculously. To the extent that, if you have ever had a "near death experience," it may be time to seriously evaluate what you may be called on to do for God.

I've never had a near-death experience (other than the usual stupid stuff that teenagers do), and I have all the spiritual sensitivity of a cast-iron boiler, but I do sometimes dimly see the hand of God working.

[Gamecock]

Were you able to ascertain the religious affiliation of every solder who you met?

Were you able to do so?

[Dimensio]

Were you able to do so?

Why would I need to do that? I'm not making an absolute claim of all people in foxholes, I'm claiming that the claim "no atheists in foxholes" is a lie. I only need one example to disprove the claim, and I've provided more than one example.

[hope]

Beautiful story!

Isaiah 52:7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!

[Gamecock]

I'm not making an absolute claim of all people in foxholes, I'm claiming that the claim "no atheists in foxholes" is a lie.

You made two claims, If you reread and quit being so cranky you would realize I was addressing the following: No smaller percentage than the overall percentage of atheists in the military