Veterans Of War

INTRO.- ILL.- When Dwight D. Eisenhower was President from 1953 to 1961, he received a letter from eight-year-old Keith Aiken of Trumbull, CT. Kevin wrote, “After listening to the news about the cold war, I am worried about the people in the world. In thinking it over, I have a plan. Get all the leaders together who want war, put them in a ring and let them fight it out.”

I’m sure that many veterans of foreign war feel this way about war. Just let those who want to fight, do the fighting! Don’t involve everybody else in it!

Most vets who’ve been war don’t want to have any part of it again. Period. War is a terrible thing and yet it seems that war is inevitable in our world.

Matt. 24:6 “You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.”

Most Bible commentators believe, however, that Jesus was talking about the coming destruction of Jerusalem, which took place about 70 A.D. But could it be that wars are also a sign of the second coming of Christ? Many people believe so. Wars do seem inevitable.

ILL.- Gen. Sherman once said, “You don’t know the horrible aspects of war. I’ve been through two wars and I know. I’ve seen cities and homes in ashes. I’ve seen thousands of men lying on the ground, their dead faces looking up at the skies. I tell you, war is hell!”

I don’t question Sherman’s feelings and convictions about war. If you’ve never been there you just don’t know. However, I have heard it put this way. WAR IS HELLISH, BUT NOT HELL! Based on Scripture, I would say this is true.

ILL.- WWII qualifies it as perhaps the greatest war, or the most hellish war in history. In all, 61 countries with 1.7 billion people, three-fourths of the world’s population, took part.

In terms of money spent, it has been put at more than $1 trillion dollars, which makes it the most expensive war of all.

The human cost of lives, not including the 5 to 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust, is estimated to have been 55 million dead – 25 million of those military and 30 million civilian.

War is indeed hellish!

ILL.- Andy Rooney of 60 MINUTES wrote these words recently…IF I WERE BUSH’S SPEECHWRITER… Rooney basically writes a letter of apology to the American public for going to war in Iraq. But I feel like many Americans do: RIGHT OR WRONG, WE ARE THERE AND WE MUST SUPPORT OUR ARMED FORCES!

Some aspects of war are never right, regardless of the war, but we must support those are willing to go and give on behalf of their country!

ILL.- Someone wrote: IT IS THE VETERAN

It is the VETERAN, not the preacher,

who has given us freedom of religion.

It is the VETERAN, not the reporter,

who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the VETERAN, not the poet,

who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the VETERAN, not the campus organizer,

who has given us freedom to assemble.

It is the VETERAN, not the lawyer,

who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the VETERAN, not the politician,

Who has given us the right to vote.

It is the VETERAN, who salutes the Flag,

Who serves under the Flag.

Today we want to honor all our armed service veterans. I want to have all our veterans stand, tell us what branch of service in which they served, where they served, and what war if any.

To you, veterans, we owe a debt of gratitude because you were willing to go, to serve and to give on behalf of the United States of America! God bless you!

PROP.- Now I want to talk about how to become a veteran of the faith.

1- Obey the Commander

2- Engage the enemy

3- Fight to the end

I. OBEY THE COMMANDER

ILL.- A blowhard Air Force major was promoted to colonel and got a new office. The first morning he was in his new office an airman knocked on the door and asked to speak to him. The colonel, feeling the urge to impress the young airman, picked up his phone and began talking.

“Yes, General, thank you. Yes, I will pass that information along to the President this afternoon. Yes, goodbye, sir.” Then, turning to the airman, he barked, “AND WHAT DO YOU WANT?”

“Nothing important, sir,” said the airman, “I JUST CAME TO HOOK UP YOUR TELEPHONE.”

Some people have authority and some just pretend to have authority. Some people have authority and some just “wanna be” in authority.

President George W. Bush has authority. While we may not agree with everything he does or says, he is still our Commander-in-Chief. We must support him in prayer.