Today was the first of a three day Drill Weekend for me. I spent the majority of the working day in Pigeon Forge building relationships with Soldiers in Det 1 / A Battery / RFS 278th ACR. It was a good time. There were a few Soldiers there who I remember from Annual Training and one who I had deployed to Iraq with in 2004.
One of the coolest things for me was while I was standing in the Drill Hall upon my arrival. The Unit has a deployment wall where pictures of recent deployments are hung. In one of those pictures, I found the platoon that I was in during our OIF III tour. There is was with “The Double Deuce” and my rugby ball! It was really funny to find that photo in an Armory in which I had never been.
One of the coolest things for me was while I was standing in the Drill Hall upon my arrival. The Unit has a deployment wall where pictures of recent deployments are hung. In one of those pictures, I found the platoon that I was in during our OIF III tour. There is was with “The Double Deuce” and my rugby ball! It was really funny to find that photo in an Armory in which I had never been.
As is typically the case with currently serving Soldiers, the subject of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was breached numerous times. I think the majority of the questions directed to me simply ways for Soldiers to justify their own beliefs one way or the other. Who knows? Other than to share with you the largest subject matter talked about … that’s all I’m going to do with that topic. The issue I wanted to share with you today stems from an extended conversation with a few Soldiers that went from DADT to religion to world view.
Ultimately, one Soldier brought up the lyrics from John Lennon’s, “Imagine.”
Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one
(John Lennon)
This particular Soldier actually said something that I had been thinking about for some time but had found no one else – until this point – who agreed with me. John Lennon’s word on the surface seem so liberating but, just like every other lie, it’s got enough spark to make it look like it really shines … but it doesn’t. Think about it! “Imagine there’s no heaven. It’s easy if you try.” Guess what folks? That’s exactly what the enemy is making happen in this day and age.
I definitely don’t sit around and look up facts all day long – and maybe I should – but I’d bet that right now – during this generation – we are being bombarded harder, faster, and more efficiently with the idea that God is nonexistent. The lie has been perpetuated for so long and so effectively that the worldview of most of this generation has no real concept of who God is, much less, that He exists. And you know what Beatles fans (and I’m one) … John Lennon helped perpetuate that worldview.
Now, wait a minute Chaplain. Lennon was only saying how we should all just let down the walls that separate us and become one, unified people. He isn’t saying don’t believe in God. Wake up! Lennon is saying every bit of that. Why do I make that statement; because he knew that religion divides no matter how much smoke and mirrors are involved in the act of pulling the wool over people’s eyes?
Jesus made that clear. “Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me”” (John 14:6). Talk about separating the chaff from the wheat (Matt 3:12; Luke 3:17)!
Now don’t get me wrong … I’d love to imagine the world without wars. I’d love to imagine us all living in peace … well, at least my peace. Everyone would be a Steelers fan (yeah right, in the middle of Tennessee). Everyone would play rugby on Saturdays instead of going to UT football games (same sentiment as before). Everyone would eat red meat and still be healthy. Ted Nugent would be President. (Can you see where I’m going with this?) Every morning we would have a little Blue Bird on our shoulders singing, “Zip-a-dee-doo-die, Zip-a-dee-day. My, oh my, oh what a wonderful day!”
But that’s not the reality of our lives. “For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven” (Ecc. 3:1). Read the rest of that passage and you’ll know exactly where I’m coming from but more importantly, where God is coming from on this issue.
Now imagine this, everyone doing what God calls us to do:
Love Him with everything you’ve got (by loving, that means being obedient)
Love others as much as you do yourself
That’s how you get your “utopia” Mr. Lennon!
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