Posted on 06/01/2020 9:02:03 AM PDT by Kaslin
A senior Army chaplain earlier this month emailed other chaplains the text of “Coronavirus and Christ,” a brief book by famed author, podcaster, and pastor John Piper. The command chaplain of U.S. Army Garrison Humphreys in South Korea, Col. Moon H. Kim, wrote in his email: “This book has helped me refocus my sacred calling to my savior Jesus Christ to finish strong. Hopefully this small booklet would help you and your Soldiers, their Families, and others who you serve.”
This email and the attached book have led to complaints from 22 other chaplains, who’ve enlisted the help of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF). The MRFF, which consistently targets theologically conservative Christians, wrote a letter to Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, saying Moon must be “officially, swiftly, aggressively, and visibly investigated and disciplined in punishment for his deplorable actions.”
Since then, Moon’s comments have come under review, prompting a letter from 20 members of Congress — including Republican Reps. Louie Gohmert of Texas, Andy Biggs of Arizona, and Steve King of Iowa — calling for the Army not to buckle to this agenda-pushing third-party organization. The letter also outlines several other recent attacks of the MRFF on theologically conservative Christian chaplains.
If you read the entire text of Piper’s book, which is available for free, you will see its most incendiary idea is not the single paragraph about homosexuality. This short book ruffles feathers because it affirms the most offensive message in the history of the world: the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
For those complaining about the book and calling for Moon to be disciplined, the primary issue comes from a single paragraph. After a theological explanation of who God is and why he commands our trust even in such a difficult time, Piper outlines six answers to the question, “What is God doing through the Coronavirus?”
One of those answers is to send “specific divine judgments.” He clarifies, “Some people will be infected with the coronavirus as a specific judgment from God because of their sinful attitudes and actions.” In that chapter, he gives two examples. First, he cites Acts 12, wherein King Herod is immediately struck down by God for exalting himself and allowing others to treat him as a god. In other words, pride is a sin meriting God’s judgment.
The next paragraph reads, in its entirety:
Another example is the sin of homosexual intercourse. In Romans 1:27, the apostle Paul says, “Men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.” That “due penalty” is the painful effect “in themselves” of their sin.
As Piper clarifies shortly after: “The coronavirus is, therefore, never a clear and simple punishment on any person. The most loving, Spirit-filled Christian, whose sins are forgiven through Christ, may die of the coronavirus disease. But it is fitting that every one of us search our own heart to discern if our suffering is God’s judgment on the way we live.”
For today’s average American, Piper’s words are shocking. Even for Christians who ascribe to Piper’s theological views, it can be stark to see those words in print. We are inclined as humans to downplay the effects of sin. What’s more, if someone else’s arrogance or homosexuality merits divine judgment, so does our greed, gluttony, lust, or selfishness.
Here’s the thing: Most of the words in that paragraph aren’t Piper’s — they’re the Bible’s. Ultimately, the book is offensive because it preaches the message of the Gospel. Piper is not letting us off the hook with some neutered, hippie-drum-circle Jesus telling us, “You do you.” He’s saying there’s something fundamentally wrong with us that only God can fix.
As Piper writes:
The very sovereignty that rules in sickness is the sovereignty that sustains in loss. The very sovereignty that takes life is the sovereignty that conquered death and brings believers home to heaven in Christ … His infinite power rests in the hands of infinite holiness and righteousness and goodness — and wisdom. And all that stands in the service of those who trust his Son, Jesus Christ. What God did in sending Jesus to die for sinners has everything to do with the coronavirus.
Piper is telling us what the Bible says: God is a righteous judge whose goodness demands he judge our sins. But he also sent Christ to pay for our sins if we are willing to accept him. It’s no surprise our self-satisfied culture is offended that part of God’s purpose for the coronavirus is to rebuke unrepentant sinners and draw them to Jesus.
A command chaplain sets the tone for the Commander’s religious program, and as the rater of other chaplains who will rate chaplains, his words have an impact. His recommendation to read any particular book is just a recommendation. Commanders also have reading lists, and those are for the most part recommended. Obviously, those who read from his list are able to engage him on that reading. But the bottom line is that a following a recommended reading list never appeared on any Officer Efficiency Report I ever had in my entire Army career. The bottom line, especially from a chaplain within a technical chain, is that a recommendation is simply that.
Chaplains sit and discuss things all the time. Books come up at times. Someone will say that this or that is a great or an awful book. Theology comes up and they discuss their differences. It just happens. None of these things are other than folks having conversations. Trying to make them more than that is an overreach.
“Michael L. “Mikey” Weinstein, Esq. – MRFF Founder & President
Mikey Weinstein is the undisputed leader of the national movement to restore the obliterated wall separating church and state in the most technologically lethal organization ever created by humankind: the United States armed forces. Described by Harper’s magazine as “the constitutional conscience of the U.S. military, a man determined to force accountability...”” - from his website.
“Weinstein is often mistakenly characterized as an atheist, a charge he and his defenders vociferously deny on the basis of him being “a Jewish agnostic who still prays three times a day in Hebrew ... definitely not an atheist.”” - wikipedia
So, we have Mikey’s national movement to “restore the obliterated wall separating church and state” and Mikey as “the constitutional conscience of the U.S. military”.
Um, Mikey — the “wall of separation of church and state” is not in our COTUS. Duh.
When was the wall “obliterated” ?
bkmk
“When was the wall “obliterated” ?”
In Mikey’s progressive Jewish mind...who knows!
The left has built that unconstitutional wall, on a foundation of an out-of-context and then twisted snippet of Jefferson’s letter to a church.
Wonderful and truthful article; thank you for posting it.
The author is correct, it’s about Jesus, it’s about the Bible. And everything quoted by John Piper in this article is 100% correct because it is according to the Scriptures.
2 Timothy 3 talks about the people of the “last days.” We are living in the last days right now. The last days will end when the Lord Jesus Christ returns, and judgment will follow.
The writer of the book of Hebrews said in 1:1-2: “in these last days God has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.” Hebrews was written before 70 A.D.
Going back to 2 Timothy 3, the apostle Paul describes the people of the “last days,” v. 1-9, 13. These are people who are faithless—without faith—in God or His Word, the Bible. Read the list of around 28 things that describe these people.
Then there is the contrast in v. 10-12 and 14-17 of people who are saved by the grace of God through faith, who know God, and who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus.
V. 15-16 say that all Scripture (the Bible, OT & NT) is inspired by God, which means that it is God-breathed, not man-made.
I have been studying this book of the Bible, 2 Timothy, for a few weeks with a group of other people who love to study God’s word. Reading this article brought this week’s lesson on Ch. 3 to my mind because the controversy mentioned in this article is an application of what God is saying about two kinds of people in our world—the faithless, who are described as opposed to the truth, of depraved mind, and rejected as regards the faith—and the faithful, who are described as those who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus (true Christians).
The character of both is very evident in these last days of difficult times.
John 3:16
Romans 1:16
1 Corinthians 15:1-8
Exactly. Anyone above a single digit IQ should know that “establishment” in the Constitution applied explicitly to the federal government in that the President wouldn’t serve as the head of a particular sect of Christianity as a “national church”, a la the King of England. That’s all it meant and all it ever did. Our country was meant for God-fearing Christians (and Jews), not their purge.
What we see today is the result of radical atheists and Satanists (those the radical atheists empower) driving God out of our schools, our institutions, our culture.
Piper bttt
Anally Injected Death Symptoms: AIDS.
It was a homo disease and remains a homo disease. Were it not for homos, this disease would not even be worth mentioning because of how miniscule or obscure it would be (example: prion disease).
But in America we create our own parallel reality if we don’t like something, and so AIDS is something ‘everyone’ can get... BS. 67-70% of all new infections come from a 2% segment of the population. Near 20% of the urban homo population is HIV or AIDS positive.
Certain behaviors (screwing people in the ass is a behavior and not something you must do) carry with them natural consequences. Not all behaviors are equal in what they pose in risk and benefit... AKA outcomes. Seems pretty obvious, but apparently that is a complex idea for university educated PhDs in sociology, psychology, and ethicists to understand. In this country Hollywood defines everything.
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