by Sonny Hernandez

As a military chaplain, I have been privileged and blessed to serve the nation’s finest men and women who have endured laboriously for the defense of freedom. There is an exponential amount of men and women from around the world who have coalesced to serve selflessly and honorably against all enemies foreign and domestic. The sacrifice of family separation, elongated deployments, and all of the cataclysmic experiences of spiritual warfare can lead to many adversarial effects. Some of those aggravated effects are: depression, anger, sadness, hopelessness, family troubles, divorce, drunkenness, sexual immorality (bestiality, adultery, fornication, and homosexuality), attempted suicide and even death. This is why competent, Bible-believing military chaplains are imperative to provide Gospel-centered preaching and counseling to those who serve in the Armed Forces.

There are always going to be incursions on military chaplains who believe in the power of the Gospel and actually put their faith into practice. To make matters worse, there are military chaplains who assimilate psychology into their theology and use Scripture for theoretical or illustrative purposes only. Here is an important question: what is your authority? If a chaplain does not profess the Bible as the “sole source” of authority that is inerrant, then that chaplain is not a Christian because they have nothing to measure their Christianity upon. All of the conglomerated efforts of psycho-therapy, behavioral science, empirical and socio economic data will not and cannot save anyone. The Gospel will!

The Gospel is the culmination of everything that is unveiled in Scripture about God, the sinfulness of man’s wretched estate, the person and work of Jesus Christ, salvation, the eternal inheritance that Christ purchased and the consummation. The Gospel is not the ABC’s (admit, believe, confess), or “say this little prayer,” or “walk this aisle” at church, or “let Jesus into your heart.” Why? Because salvation is entirely of the Lord (Jonah 2:9), and Christ is the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2).

The Gospel is not the Jesus who came to bring peace, not division, doesn’t rebuke anyone for their sins, but tolerates, doesn’t care about holiness, but happiness, and if you question that, you are judgmental, mean spirited, and a legalist. That example is not the Savior, but Satan. The Gospel is the good news!

The Gospel is the indisputable, irrevocable, and efficacious power that articulates the judicial righteousness and legal declaration of God in justifying sinners. Telling Marines, Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen that Jesus loves them and has a wonderful plan for their life is not the Gospel.

Military chaplains need to be cautious of teaching a truncated or garbled gospel because they are more worried about offending others instead of God, and treating the Bible as a collection of antiquated and inconsequential words. If military chaplains abandon the Bible as their authority and they become wise in their own eyes, they are putting others at risk of becoming twice the sons of hell as they are (Matthew 23:15) and will one day be judged (Galatians 1:8-9). Here is an outline that I pray will help chaplains become Gospel competent:

I. Examine Mankind’s Sinful Disposition & Falling Short Of God’s Glory

The sinful disposition of mankind is an indisputable fact. Everyone is aware of their sinfulness. Here is the sin test: take a piece of paper and write down every vile thought and wicked deed you have committed in your lifetime, (remember, there is not enough paper to cover all of your iniquitous actions and thoughts) and put the paper into an envelope and send to the police department with your return address. After you have completed that test, here is a question you must answer: If you actually completed that sin test, is it probable that you would have a SWAT team outside your house with orders to detain you because of how vile the information was that you provided on that piece of paper? There is a reason why everyone is a sinner. Here is an excerpt[1] that will explain:

MAN, as he came from the hand of God, his creator, was upright and perfect. The righteous law which God gave him spoke of life as conditional upon his obedience, and threatened death upon his disobedience. Adam’s obedience was short-lived. Satan used the subtle serpent to draw Eve into sin. Thereupon she seduced Adam who, without any compulsion from without, willfully broke the law under which they had been created, and also God’s command not to eat of the forbidden fruit. To fulfill His own wise and holy purposes God permitted this to happen, for He was directing all to His own glory (Gen. 2:16,17; Gen. 3:12,13; 2 Cor.11:3).

By this sin our first parents lost their former righteousness, and their happy communion with God was severed. Their sin involved us all, and by it death appertained to all. All men became dead in sin, and totally polluted in all parts and faculties of both soul and body (Gen. 6:5; Jer. 17:9; Rom. 3:10-19,23; 5:12-21; Titus 1:15).

Sin should never be mitigated; it must be denounced. If Marines, Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen are not Christian believers, they will not understand the hazardous effects of sin (1 Corinthians 2:14) and are capable of extenuating their sinful disposition by saying: “we are not perfect,” “we are human,” “we make mistakes,” and “everyone does it so live a little.” According to Scripture: everyone by nature is wicked (Genesis 6:5); has a bad heart (Jeremiah 17:9); spiritually blind (John 3:3); loathsome and mutinous against God (Romans 8:7; John 3:19, 36); spiritually dead (John 5:25) and incapable of saving themselves (John 6:44).

Without the Holy Spirit’s effectual work that propels the Word of God, a person can never please God (Romans 8:8) and does not belong to Christ (Romans 8:9). If a Marine, Soldier, Sailor, and Airman becomes offended after hearing this, remind them: now they know how God feels when they sin, and also remind them that you would rather be hated by them for telling them the truth than solace them with fabrication because you love them enough to lead them away from the punishment[2] that awaits them eternally:

Question: What are the punishments of sin in this world? Answer: The punishments of sin in this world are either inward, as blindness of mind (Ephesians 418), a reprobate sense (Romans 1:28), strong delusions (2 Thessalonians 2:11), hardness of heart (Romans 2:5), horror of conscience (Isaiah 33:14), and vile affections (Romans 1:26); or outward, as the curse of God upon the creatures for our sakes (Genesis 3:17), and all other evils that befall us in our bodies, names, estates, relations, and employments (Deuteronomy 28:15-18); together with death itself (Romans 6:21, 23).

Question: What are the punishments of sin in the world to come? Answer: The punishments of sin in the world to come, are everlasting separation from the comfortable presence of God, and most grievous torments in soul and body, without intermission, in hell-fire forever (2 Thessalonians 1:9).

After Marines, Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen learn about the indisposed nature of human contraventions, it is probable that many perplexing questions or contemptuous arguments could arise such as: “why would God inflict misery upon Adam and all of his posterity just because he ate a piece of fruit?” Here is an illustration I used at a conference in Milton, Florida that will explain: If you are in the military and your commander tells you to do something, you do it or you could be disobeying a direct order. If you have strict parents and they tell you to do something, you do it or you could be dishonoring your parents. If you are pulled over by a law enforcement officer and he or she tells you to do something, you do it or the officer could arrest you for not being cooperative or obstructing justice.

When God told Adam not to eat from the tree which He commanded him not to eat, Adam and Eve transgressed the law. When a person sins they must be reminded of the One whom they are sinning against. When a person sins, they are not disobeying an order from their military commander, their parents, or a police officer. They are disobeying a lawful order from their Lord!

Military chaplains need to be reminded that there are many Marines, Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen that do not take sin seriously because they do not take God seriously. There are many who view God like a seatbelt violation: they know that it is against the law to not wear a seatbelt the same way they know it is against God’s law to sin. However, many are not that afraid of receiving a ticket just as many do not fear God.

Unfortunately, professing Christians will also embrace gimmicks and clichés as their theology when their sin is confronted by saying: “I’m a good person,” “you are unloving,” “that’s your interpretation,” and “you’re so judgmental.” Here is how military chaplains should respond: if someone is harmed as a result of you driving recklessly, a law enforcement officer will arrest you to be indicted on charges of transgressing the law. Remind them that their clichés (I’m a good person, you’re unloving, that’s your interpretation, and you’re judgmental) will do nothing to help them at the time of judgment because the judge will say, “you are right, I am judgmental, this is my interpretation, and I am going to show my love by ensuring that you will harm no one else because of your reckless acts of breaking the law.” Christ will do the same (Matthew 7:21-23), which is why military chaplains need to educate the Marines, Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen they serve about the attributes of God. The Westminster Longer Catechism (Question 7) provides a wonderful example:

Question: What is God? Answer: God is a Spirit (John 4:24), in and of himself infinite in being (Exodus 3:14), glory (Acts 7:2), blessedness (1 Timothy 6:15), and perfection (Matthew 5:48); all-sufficient (Genesis 17:1), eternal (Psalm 90:2), unchangeable (Malachi 3:6), incomprehensible (1 Kings 8:27), every-where present (Psalm 139:1-13), almighty (Revelation 4:8), knowing all things (Hebrews 4:13), most wise (Romans 16:27), most holy (Isaiah 6:3), most just (Deuteronomy 32:4), most merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth (Exodus 34:6).

II. How Can A Perfect God Grant Clemency On Imperfect Sinners Without Violating His Own Standards Of Justice?

If the Bible states that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), then how can a perfectly Holy God who governs all things according to the free and immutable counsel of His Will, pardon the sins of people who are laden with iniquity, yearn for the affection of evil, and devise modes of devilish works that do not merit the Father’s favor but His wrath? The answer to this question is not a lesson on psychology, it is not a lesson on religious pluralism, and it is not a lesson on tolerance or accepting of everyone else’s beliefs; the answer to this question is Jesus Christ and Him alone! God would be perfectly just to rid the earth of every foul person by propelling everyone into hell because the human heart is adulterated with all of the hellish misconduct that He scorns.

There are always going to be a multitude of Marines, Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen who struggle with the justice of God. How could a father send anyone to hell? This question always reverberates in discussions when I am witnessing to the Airmen I serve. My response is always: because God is just. Here is why: every appointed or nominated judge has a responsibility to procure justice. If a judge acquitted every rapist, murderer, and terrorist, then that judge would not be procuring justice, he would be perverting it with injustice! As a result of wicked and unjust judges, the wicked would be set free to continue their rampage of sin down the unbridled path that leads straight to hell. Because God is just, He must punish the wicked that are deserving of His wrathful rebukes and unfathomable torment.

Martin Luther, during the times of the Protestant Reformation, was a man who once wrestled with the justice of God. Luther once felt exasperation against the justice of God and was bewildered of how God could ever pardon the sins of those who are from the offspring of Adam and are blaspheming children of wrath. Luther was eventually subdued by the Scriptures, and he reveled in the majesty of God’s righteousness which is found in Romans 1:17: for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” This will now be explained:

GOD freely justifies the persons whom He effectually calls. He does this, not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins and by accounting them, and accepting them, as righteous. This He does for Christ’s sake alone, and not for anything wrought in them or done by them.

The righteousness which is imputed to them, that is, reckoned to their account, is neither their faith nor the act of believing nor any other obedience to the gospel which they have rendered, but Christ’s obedience alone. Christ’s one obedience is twofold-His active obedience rendered to the entire divine law, and His passive obedience rendered in His death. Those thus justified receive and rest by faith upon Christ’s righteousness; and this faith they have, not of themselves, but as the gift of God (John 1:12; Rom. 3:24; 4:5-8; 5:17-19; 8:30; 1Cor. 1:30-31; Eph. 1:7; 2:8-10; Phil. 3:8,9).[3]

Here is a cogent exposition: while we were reprehensible creatures who hate the law, we break the law, committing a multitude of felonies against our Lord and deserving of the full weight of the Father’s indictment which includes a sentence of death. Jesus Christ (descendent of Adam) took upon himself human nature. Christ is the second person of the Trinity (begotten, not made) and of one substance equal with the Father, was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin (pre-existed Adam) which created an inseparable union between God the Son and His human nature (joined together in one person), yet without sin and perfectly obedient to the law which is something no one else is able to accomplish.

Christ received the imputation of (His elect) Adam’s sin willfully and then voluntarily submitted himself to be desecrated by wretched men. He received afflictions that are unfathomable to carnal reasoning. His appearance was so marred beyond human semblance and His form beyond that of the children of mankind. Christ suffered the pangs of hell that everyone deserves.

Here is an outline of His sufferings: Christ was scoffed at by men with vile and malevolent intent. Wicked men degraded Him by slapping and spitting at the face of God. His bruised and lifeless body was forced to carry the tree from the praetorium to the place of skull. He was publicly beaten and lacerated by people with inflammatory hearts who practiced defamation and conceit. His bloodied body was stripped of life as wicked men stapled His hands to wood which caused the weight of the body to rest on a peg with His feet nailed to it which greatly increased the chances of asphyxiation and cardiac arrest. His perfect sinless life was trampled by the inexpressible weight of God’s wrath, as the Father doused His Son’s spotless face with the full cup of divine judgment.

Christ did not sip the full cup of divine wrath. Christ had the full cup of wrath splashed in His spotless face as God the Father pulverized His son with His fierce and torrential rage. The dead body of Christ was placed in the tomb and was miraculously and gloriously raised again for the justification of sinners.

Anyone who is justified will not rest upon their own righteousness but the righteousness of Christ that He imputes as a gift of free grace. What does free grace mean? It means that salvation could never be earned or deserved because it is “freely” given “by His grace” (Romans 3:23-26). Here is an explanation: God promised salvation by grace to Abraham before He gave the law (Genesis 15:16), not because of works (Galatians 3:10), but faith (Romans 4:1-5; Ephesians 2:8-10). It is impossible to receive salvation by choosing to accept God or by keeping the law (Romans 3:11-12; John 1:13). Salvation is entirely a work of God (John 6:63-66).

Salvation is not a result of human ability to keep the law and satisfy the Father’s wrath, it is because Christ was perfectly obedient to the law and because He satisfied the Father’s wrath. Salvation is a testimony of God’s infinite love by sending His Son to be the propitiation for sins (1 John 4:10). Abraham offering up his son Isaac (Genesis 22) is an example of sacrificial love: Abraham was tested, by receiving the commandment to take his only son whom he loved (Isaac, whom all his offspring shall be named) and slaughter him with a sharp object because he believed God was preparing a burnt offering for Himself. As Abraham raised his hand to butcher his son, God interceded through the angel of the Lord who cried out from heaven, not to kill His son because God was going to kill His.

The Lord halted Abraham from offering his only son whom he loves to be a sacrifice, because God was going to offer up His only Son whom He loves as a substitute. The Lord commanded Abraham to cease his hand from puncturing his only son with certain pain and death as a test of faith, because God was going to smother His only Son with hell so believers can be justified by faith. Abraham did not have to sacrifice his only son because God forsook His by sending Him in the likeness of human flesh, and was marred beyond human semblance and walloped by savage men. He was nailed to His death and forsaken by all who knew Him. Christ suffered the weight of His own Father’s judgment so all the elect who come to Him by faith can be accounted and accepted as righteous. This is the greatest testimony of love.

Conclusion

Military chaplains, or aspiring chaplain candidates, if you are going to serve in the Armed Forces you must be able to articulate the Gospel passionately and extemporaneously. There are an incalculable amount of Christians that are serving in the military that have a constitutional right to exercise their faith! If you omit the name of Christ in prayer, and act more like a psychologist than a pastor, and rely on savvy relevance and not special revelation, then how can you provide spiritual care and the opportunity for Armed Forces members, their families, and other authorized personnel to exercise their constitutional right to the free exercise of religion? Christians in the Armed Forces matter. Preach the Gospel and make no excuses (Romans 1:16)!

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[1] 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith, Chapter 6, the Fall of Man: Sin & its Punishment (1 &2). Retrieved from Founders website on March 18, 2016 from: http://founders.org/

[2] Westminster Larger Catechism, (Question 28 & 29).

[3] 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith, Chapter 11, Justification (1). Retrieved from Founders website on March 18, 2016 from: http://founders.org/

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BIO:
Chaplain (Capt) Sonny Hernandez is a US Air Force Reserve Chaplain assigned to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. In April 2015, he was selected as the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center Individual Mobilization Augmentee Company Grade Officer of the Year. Hernandez earned a Doctorate from Tennessee Temple University in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

The opinions expressed here are solely his and do not necessarily represent the views of any government, military, or religious organization. Sonny Hernandez wrote this article as a civilian on his own time on an issue of public interest.

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