He served in the army but … “he wasn’t a soldier.” We believe there is a lesson in the following Associated Press report:<\/p>\n
“An Army spokesman said Friday that 15 year old Walter Lee Martin is not recognized as a soldier – despite two periods of serving in Vietnam, because he did not enlist, was not drafted and did not enter the army through any regular means.<\/p>\n
“He was not officially in, did not officially enlist or enter through any normal means,” Barrante said. “He was, in fact, not a soldier.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Two periods of service in Vietnam and was twice wounded in action; yet, no purple hearts, no honorable discharge, and no veterans benefits; he did not legally enlist.<\/p>\n
This reminds us of a host of men and women whom we have observed serving among the soldiers in the army of the Lord. They serve faithfully and even sacrificially. They reject the sins of the flesh and live a pure life. They attend services regularly, give liberally of their money, and are ready for every good work. They often study the Scriptures, defend the truth, and attack error. Often they are outstanding in their performance as soldiers, except that they never enlisted.<\/p>\n
The “Captain of our salvation” knew in advance there would be such individuals. He warned in advance of the fate they may expect: “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity<\/em>” (Matthew 7:22,23). What a pity to spend a lifetime enduring “hardships as a good soldier” only to miss the veteran’s benefits because of a failure to enlist.<\/p>\n
There was no way that the young man described above could have legally enlisted, he was ineligible. But anyone who is a sinner can enlist in the army of the Lord if he is willing to leave his sins. The conditions are simple: “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved<\/em>” (Mark 16:16). “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost<\/em>” (Acts 2:38).<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Sewell Hall He served in the army but … “he wasn’t a soldier.” We believe there is a lesson in the following Associated Press report: “An Army spokesman said Friday that 15 year old Walter Lee Martin is not recognized as a soldier – despite two periods of serving in Vietnam, because he did…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[47],"class_list":["post-55388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-salvation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":56497,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/god-needs-more-foot-soldiers\/","url_meta":{"origin":55388,"position":0},"title":"God Needs More Foot Soldiers","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 1, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Thomas Thornhill At this time our nation is in a conflict taking place mainly in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our uniformed personnel are daily placed in harm's way, facing an enemy which in many cases is often unseen until they strike. This is of course a physical confrontation in which\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/12\/soldiers.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8425,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-pharaoh-die-in-the-red-sea-or-just-his-army\/","url_meta":{"origin":55388,"position":1},"title":"Did Pharaoh die in the Red Sea or just his army?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 11, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Did Pharaoh die in the Red Sea or just his army? Answer: \"And the Egyptians pursued and went after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. Now it came to pass, in the morning watch, that the LORD looked down upon\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":30975,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-jael-morally-right-in-killing-sisera\/","url_meta":{"origin":55388,"position":2},"title":"Was Jael morally right in killing Sisera?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 15, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was wondering about Jael. Was what she did right? It's shocking to our modern sensibilities (or at least to mine) to read the story as presented in Judges 4. And yet Deborah and Barak (who seem to be relatively moral people?) praise her for everything she did in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24650,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-dont-mind-that-you-disagree-with-the-salvation-army-just-dont-write-about-it\/","url_meta":{"origin":55388,"position":3},"title":"I don’t mind that you disagree with the Salvation Army, just don’t write about it","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 27, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I love the Lord with all my heart.\u00a0 In my life, I have been on an adventure with Jesus. I am not perfect (who is?), but I try every day to live a life as a servant of Jesus.\u00a0 I am really hurt that you would advise Christians not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7660,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-is-the-commander-of-the-lords-army\/","url_meta":{"origin":55388,"position":4},"title":"Who is the commander of the Lord’s army?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 29, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Who is the commander of the Lord's army? Answer: \"And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite him with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17066,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-christians-help-support-the-salvation-army\/","url_meta":{"origin":55388,"position":5},"title":"Can Christians Help Support the Salvation Army?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 20, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"by Danny Pettus Christians are at liberty to support many things other than the church of our Lord, but false doctrine is not one of those things. You may have had someone come to your door selling this or that for a certain denomination. You might go to a store\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/12\/bellringer.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55388\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}