Chapter -1 The Converted Rabbi joins the Army
The Chaplin was in the hanger waiting for the military plane to load. As he looked around, on this first assignment, there seemed to be about two-hundred soldiers, split into small groups. They were designated as Company 538 and most were, at the moment, talking and laughing with men they had just recently met. Their travel bags were from half a dozen different U.S. bases scattered among the states. Moments later the Major, who had been given ORDERS as the newly assigned Company Commander, stood on a small step ladder and blew a whistle. All the men became silent and looked toward him. He gave then the lowdown on the activities that would take place including their travel schedule. He introduced the four platoon commanders, the communication team, even the cooks. The last person mentioned was the Chaplin. Yosef was motioned toward the ladder as the Major continued, “Men, some of you are still in your teens, some of you are in your thirties, like me; we’re all going to have different moods or thoughts while we are deployed in our enemy’s war zone. The Chaplin is just one man, but while we are gone he is your therapist and your spiritual counselor.” He told them that fighting a war was about being on the right side of justice, then he nodded toward Yosef.
He motioned by hand for Yosef to step up on the 4’ step ladder, as he, the Major, descended the last step. Yosef stepped up; he stood on the second rung and looked from his right all the way to the left where the soldiers were standing. He said, “You are invited to stop me anytime you need to as I make my daily visit to the four platoons. I’m not like you, you are warriors that have been selected by your country to battle an enemy. My calling is to the Lord; it is a spiritual calling. Remember we are all, in a sense, the same [mind, soul, body, and spirit] so when your spirit has a need, let me know.” He said a short prayer for the safety of the men while they were deployed to the war torn country.
Yosef had prepared for this stint; it was his first as a Chaplin in the Army. It was just slightly less than a year earlier that he had talked with a recruiter. It came after his grandfather, who was old, had told him of an incident, from long ago that had happened to him. He had been a civilian in Europe as a twenty year old and was only a heartbeat away from his death from an evil enemy, when an American soldier had saved his life. Then, as he was being pulled into a jeep the soldier was shot and had died just minutes later. Grandpa had told Yosef that God had provided, mercy to him that day, “The soldier smiled at me as he took his last breath; I still recollect that smile on his face; it is etched in my memory.”
Yosef had prepared ever since that time, to become a Chaplin. He had been advised to know what he believed and where to find the answers in scripture. An old retired Chaplin had told him that soldiers had been brought up with many different beliefs, mostly they differed from what scripture teaches. Who is God, where is HE at now, what is his PLAN, or when did he create earth and mankind OR did he? And other questions you might need for answers along that line; these were a few of the comments the old Chaplin had told him prior to him joining the military. Yosef had studied the NT scripture and liked some of the names describing the Lord. He liked ‘the Word’’, ‘the Vine’ was also an amazing illustration. He was even ‘the Mediator’ on occasion; that is, our mediator. He liked ‘the Lamb’ but along that same line was ‘the goat’. Then there was ‘Wisdom’, spoken of in Proverbs; now it was also a favorite of his.
Yosef was not sure what time frame the Major would allow him to have with the troops. Tolerance and non-tolerance were words being used in society. There were those for and then some against certain forms of religion outside the church walls. One thing, Yosef wanted to talk with the Major, prior to the plane landing overseas. He got his chance just slightly over an hour into the flight. Major Cox made the rounds and motioned Yosef to an empty spot near the rear of the plane. He said to the Chaplin, “Don’t on your own, just out of the blue, start some sermon on sin and damnation. You can answer any question asked but you can’t say one religion is the only way. This new world, especially here in the military, won’t tolerate hate or division over Mohammad or Jesus. Got it?” Yosef answered with a Yes.
The Chaplin now knew that he would have to be careful about being proactive with some of his comments; he would learn, as he lived day-to-day, on how to get the most out of being reactive and ready for the soldier’s questions when they had one or more.
The plane landed just after sunup on a dirt runway; an hour later the two-hundred soldiers were walking into what was called ‘base camp’. There was already several hundred soldiers split out into groups along with several canvas tents, which were along a tree line. Later it was explained that different companies of men would be sent out for up to thirty days, maybe up to forty, then come back to base camp for a few days; at least that was what they were told. Three days later the Major got orders for his four small platoons to relieve a group who had been fighting on the enemy’s southern perimeter. As they approached a large hill the troops could see sheep and goats wandering toward the top, most likely munching on greenery.
A couple of things came to Yosef mind as he thought of the word scapegoat; it was a term the rabbi’s used when he was younger attending the synagogue. Once a year a scapegoat would be set loose into the wilderness while the other selected goat shed blood for the sins of the nation Lev.16:1-10. Then he thought about the Lamb of God who also shed blood for ALL John 19:34. He also thought of the shepherds watching their flocks by night Luke 2:8; then he remembered that at judgement the Lord would separate the sheep and the goats Math.25:32. He sent a quick prayer heavenward for the men marching toward the enemy; that the majority, if not all, would call upon the Lord and fall into the sheep category.
It had taken eighteen hours of walking before they heard the sound of a battle raging. The four scouts moved a hundred yards further up the trail and the troops fell into walking single file toward the men they would eventually replace on the front lines. It would be dark in an hour; the company they were replacing would leave after noon the next day; after giving the enemy a barrage of firepower to make them think their manpower had doubled.
The Chaplin was in prayer by himself. As he often did, he brought his sisters name to the Lord. He had been the first of the family to become a Christian and both parents snubbed him as was the custom. A year later when his twin sister was converted their mother cried for several days thinking she had lost both twins. Grandpa Jesse had been the one to bring them all together; then love prevailed once again. Yosef smiled inward as he thought of his beautiful sister now living in Israel as a Christian missionary.
His thought was, “The Lord has a plan for all; if only we would listen.” What is the plan?
Does scripture answer some of the questions?
Attachment.
IF the Lord has devised a PLAN for our lives, THEN shouldn’t we know it and follow it,
ELSE suffer the consequences of our actions?
John 3:17…the plan
Mark 1:14-15…trust the plan
Romans 10:8-10…trust, then confess
Lev. 16:1-10, Now the Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they had approached the presence of the Lord and died.2 The Lord said to Moses: “Tell your brother Aaron that he shall not enter at any time into the holy place inside the veil, before the mercy seat which is on the ark, or he will die; for I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat. 3 Aaron shall enter the holy place with this: with a bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. 4 He shall put on the holy linen tunic, and the linen undergarments shall be next to his body, and he shall be girded with the linen sash and attired with the linen turban (these are holy garments). Then he shall bathe his body in water and put them on.5 He shall take from the congregation of the sons of Israel two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering. 6 Then Aaron shall offer the bull for the sin offering which is for himself, that he may make atonement for himself and for his household. 7 He shall take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the doorway of the tent of meeting. 8 Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for the scapegoat. 9 Then Aaron shall offer the goat on which the lot for the Lord fell, and make it a sin offering. 10 But the goat on which the lot for the scapegoat fell shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make atonement upon it, to send it into the wilderness as the scapegoat.
John 19:33-34, 33 but coming to Jesus, when they saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. 34 But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.
Luke 2:8, In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night.
Matthew 25:32, All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; 33 and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.
John 3:17, For God did not send the Son into the world to judge [condemn] the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
Mark 1:14-15, Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
Romans 10:8-10, But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, 9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.