How Can Christians serve with LGBT service members in the Armed Forces?
A Military Chaplain’s Practical Perspective, Part 2
by Sonny Hernandez
The lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) movement is drifting the military culture away from the Lord and into lewdness. An observer may wonder if patriotism is being replaced with perversion, or honorable service is substituted for homosexuality, and if serving with integrity is now sexual immorality, based upon the current policies that are manifesting themselves in the Armed Forces.
The military ultimately reflects the culture from which it is drawn, as demonstrated when Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced transgender individuals will be able to openly serve, which will result in transgender training for service members in the future. The full policy will be completely implemented no later than July 1, 2017. An observer may also deduce that this will add to the woes for Bible-believing Christians that are serving in the US military.
LGBT advocates will demand that they be “treated with love and acceptance,” but will threaten with lawsuits and abhor anyone that disagrees with them. Are LGBT advocates coming out of the closet while attempting to place Christians into one? Given the fact that former Navy Chaplain Wes Modder was attacked for his faith expression for counseling a homosexual, I would say yes.
How can Bible-believing Christians serve with LGBT service members? Here are a few ways:
First, practice your faith as your conscience dictates. The US Constitution protects your right to exercise the irreducible tenets of your faith, and it also protects your rights from government interference. This means a Christian serving in the US military can evangelize and profess Christ publicly as their conscience dictates, regardless if an angry LGBT mob becomes offended, complains, or makes threats. There are no laws or policies that prohibit Christian expression in private or public. This is why you do not ever need to omit your Christian faith out of fear, or when an ill-advised superior tells you to be silent about your faith, as that would be an unlawful order. According to First Liberty Institute, the “government may only deny your religious expression when it can show military necessity using the least restrictive option.”
Second, always remember that LGBT service members are made in God’s image to reflect and mirror the character of God. God created mankind to be holy, not homosexual, and God made male and female to be united in a monogamous, indissoluble union that is pure, not perverse. As a result of original sin, sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all have sinned (Rom. 5:12). This is why you need to love LGBT service members by telling them the truth: They can be reconciled to God if they forsake their licentiousness and affirm Christ alone (Acts 4:12).
Third, take the opportunity to engage them in respectful dialogue. Sadly, it is not uncommon for many LGBT service members to have been raped or even molested as young children. It is imperative for you to be an effective listener and be willing to dialogue respectfully, as this will be helpful to your soul-winning endeavors by showing them that you care about them.
Otherwise, professing LGBT service members may not speak with you, but may go to liberal, apostate chaplains or others that have no moral accountability who will encourage moral decadence because they are willing to listen and accept perversity. Christians in the US military need to let those who identify as LGBT know that they care enough about them to tell them truth that can conquer homosexuality, and not lies that condemn into hell.
Furthermore , investigate their epistemological claims of absolute truth. Christians can account for objective truth because of general (Ps. 19:1) and special revelation (2 Tim. 3:16). For example, Christians should kindly ask LGBT service members if rape or molestation is wrong, and if they say yes, now they will need to explain why it is wrong which will expose an indispensable fact that they are borrowing from the Christian worldview since human law is conventional, while God’s law is unequivocally just and irrevocable.
If an LGBT service member says, “You believe what you want, and I believe what I want,” they are violating the law of contradiction, because two statements cannot both be right or wrong at the same time. Continually exposing their viciously circular arguments about truth will show LGBT service members that they will only be left with absurdity when they deny the inerrancy and sufficiency of Scripture.
Moreover, you must provide the remedy for all of their miseries. If you are silent about your faith, or if you feel that LGBT service members are inferior to you, or if you feel their soul is not that important by not evangelizing the lost, then you have abandoned your responsibility as a Christian. If Christians do not tell LGBT service members the good news (Gospel), then death is inevitable (Is. 66:24), the same way a patient would die if a doctor failed to diagnose a patient out of fear that they would be offended. How else are they going to hear the diagnosis and cure (good news) if you do not tell them?
The good news is that Jesus Christ came to earth and lived a perfect obedient life (sinless), which is something no one else has ever been able to accomplish (Rom. 3:10-18). He was tormented by His persecutors, and was nailed to a cross as a substitute for His sheep. When God crushed His Son with an inexpressible rage, the Lord Jesus Christ died and was buried. He was miraculously and gloriously raised again for the justification of sinners. As a result, God’s wrath was exhausted, the curse was removed, the penalty was paid, Christ destroyed the power of death, procured reconciliation and imputes His righteousness to those whom He justifies by faith.
This is why LGBT service members must forsake their love for homosexuality, and lavish the Holy Scripture which can save them (1 Cor. 6:11) if they repent and believe (Mark 1:15).
Finally, do not fear. If you practice your Christian faith, you could be threatened by superiors who will demand that you omit Christ, and you could be threatened by Mikey Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF). The MRFF hates Christians and may attempt to besiege you with legal threats if the mere reference to God, Jesus, of the Bible is mentioned. If these things happen, immediately consult with First Liberty Institute, the Becket Fund, Liberty Counsel, or even contact us for assistance in getting help protecting your religious liberties.
Unfortunately, some military leaders are more concerned that someone will complain than they are the protections provided by the US Constitution, and Mikey Weinstein only attacks because he loathes Christianity and makes a fortune doing so, despite never winning in court.
If you suffer for Christ, count it worthy, just as the apostles did (Acts 5:41).
Read Part 1: LGBT Agenda in the Armed Forces: The Transgender Policy.
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, and in May 2016, he was selected as 445th Airlift Wing CGO of the Quarter, first quarter. 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.
ADVERTISEMENT