Saint Martin's Cloak

For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. (Psalm 139:13-14) Physical training has always been a part military training to "be all you can be." Now the Pentagon wants to inject soldiers with drugs to make them more than they can be by nature alone. The Pentagon is playing god. The Pentagon has proposed testing the testosterone levels of all service members over the age of 30 and offering testosterone "therapy" to those who fall below a certain level. The test is not addressing a real medical issue. Absent symptoms that would cause a doctor to suspect a significant hormonal problem, drawing blood to test testosterone levels is invasive and medically unnecessary. According to the Harvard Medical School, taking testosterone carries medical risks for cardiac issues, prostrate cancer, fertility impairment, and blood clots. So, the Pentagon's proposed universal testing o...

“I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. (Matthew 10:16) After the 2003 invasion of Iraq toppled the strong-arm government of Saddam Hussein, the country fell into a chaotic and violent insurgency. Multiple factions fought against each other, the coalition forces, and the emerging government. The U.S. military transitioned to stability and counter-insurgency operations shortly after the Ba’athist regime fell. Service members patrolled the streets, worked to restore essential services, and tried to create an effective government. In this context, Marine General James Mattis is reported to have told his Marines, “Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet.” That might be understandable in the midst of a violent insurgency when it’s hard to tell friend from foe, but it is a horrible way to live your life. The phrase my colleagues used during this time was, “Keep...

The Misuse of Psalm 33:12 The first half of Psalm 33:12 is yet another biblical passage misappropriated by some who claim that the United States is a Christian nation. Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD This verse does not apply to the United States or any other nation on earth. The second half of the verse identifies which nation the Psalmist has in mind. Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he chose for his inheritance. (Psalm 33:12) The blessed nation is biblical Israel, whom God chose in Abraham. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. (Genesis 12:2) No nation on earth has the right to claim God’s blessings to Abraham. The Old Testament consistently contrasts the nation ( goy ) of Israel with the nations ( goyim ) of the world. Abraham and his offspring will be a blessing to the nations of the world, but the nations themselves are arrayed in opposition to God and his ...

In a previous post I described the problem with existing religious preference codes and affirmed the idea of reorganizing and streamlining the list. I also criticized the revised list published by the Pentagon.  Some of the new labels are specific denominations, some are groupings of denominations with similar names, and some are theological orientations. For many, the labels will continue to overlap.  Most importantly, the religious requirements of people in each group vary widely. Southern Baptists and American Baptists (USA) and and National Baptists are all Baptists, but they will not necessarily practice their faith in the same way. The previous list contained 29 Baptist labels, The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod are both Lutherans, but the latter church's rules make it impossible for them to commune together. The Chaplaincy of Full Gospel Churches and the Coalition of Spirit Filled Churches are both Pentecostal, but couldn't...

Religious preference codes only exist to give commanders and chaplains a big, one-over-the-world view of the religious needs of the unit as a whole. They reside in the big Army database of personnel records as useful data points for generalized planning. They are not terribly useful for individual religious support where people don't always fit their labels. There, chaplains need to get to know their soldiers personally.  Soldiers entering the Army are overwhelmed by an avalanche of administrative requirements. It’s a normal human response to proceed through that process without much thought.  I found that Soldiers had often chosen their religious preference codes hastily, and the religion coded in the personnel database did not accurately reflect their religious identities.  The previous list of religious codes was long (5 single spaced pages) and not logically organized. It was a jumble of institutional identities and religious categories, most of which were going to be...

On April 29, the White House released a statement commemorating commemorating the erection of a cross on Cape Henry in 1607 by the founders of Jamestown, Virginia. I’ll return to that statement in a moment, but first I want to talk about the Christian mythology and the false narrative that has grown up around that event. Facts and Myths Here’s what we know about that event and how we know it. George Percy was one of the settlers who at the Virginia coast on April 26, 1607. In 1608 he wrote, The nine and twentieth day we set up a Cross at Chesupioc Bay, and named that place Cape Henry. So that’s all we know. That’s the only contemporaneous witness to the event who wrote about it, and that’s the entire description in a very word narrative about the first days of Jamestown. We don’t know who was present on Cape Henry on April 29. Most of the settlers were living on the ships while landing parties searched for a suitable place to settle. We don’t know what was said or done as the cross was...