Chaplains are spiritual representatives of Christ commissioned to work in mostly secular institutions. We are expected to serve both the spiritual and emotional needs of others through listening, prayer, Scripture reading, and being God’s hands and feet in the organization we are privileged to serve in. This podcast is designed to equip chaplains and those training to be chaplains with the resources and encouragement they need to carry out their calling in life.
Our Ordained Chaplains Scripture Verse for today is John 13:34 which reads, “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.”
Our Ordained Chaplains quote for today is from Martin Luther King Jr. He said, “The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: ‘If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?’ But the good Samaritan reversed the question: ‘If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?’”
In this podcast, we will continue discussing the book “Out of the Depths” by Anton T. Boisen. We continue today with “The Call to the Ministry: Years of Wandering” (Part 19):
When World War I began, I at once applied for a position as secretary with the Overseas Young Men’s Christian Association and I was among the first to be sent to France, arriving there in September, 1917. I was immediately assigned to the machine-gun battalion of the First Division’s Sixteenth Infantry. Though I did not know it at the time, I was with the same regiment which my mother’s grandfather Richard Dennis had commanded in the War of 1812. In May, 1918, I was transferred to the Forty-Second, or “Rainbow” Division. Here I met with an artillery regiment from my own home state of Indiana. They were shooting over my head all the time we were in the Baccarat sector of France. When we left for the Champagne defensive, the boys from Indiana University asked to have me assigned to their battery. Throughout the rest of the war I traveled with Battery F of the 150th Field Artillery, seeing action at Chateau-Thierry, St. Mihiel, and the Argonne, and marching with them to the Rhine. Norman Nash, the regimental chaplain, later bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, to whom I am so deeply indebted, was my associate during the twelve months I spent with this Division.
When the Forty-Second left for home, I went with my old chief, Warren Wilson of the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions, to start a school for our soldiers not far from Coblenz. Dr. Wilson, who had come to Germany under the auspices of the Young Men’s Christian Association on an educational assignment, had conceived the idea of helping the boys to understand and interpret, with minimum reliance upon textbooks, the experiences with which they were being confronted. In accordance with that idea he himself undertook a sociological survey of the village of Grenzhausen, where we were billeted.
I had a class in history in which, under the guidance of an elderly German forester, we began by visiting the old Roman front-line trenches, the “limes,” which resembled so strikingly the trenches with which our boys were familiar. We inspected the old Roman watchtowers, which had been reconstructed by the University of Bonn. We visited a castle on the Rhine and examined the coats of mail there on display, and from this castle we gazed at the factories and cities of industrial Germany. Our guide piloted us also through the communal forest. After each of these trips we met and discussed what we had seen, and considered its meaning. After some ten days of fascinating exploration, I was “called on the carpet.” It had come to the attention of the commanding general, Johnson Hagood, that I was teaching the boys German forestry. He wanted it clearly understood that I could teach all the French forestry I wanted to, but no German forestry.
Upon my return to America in July, 1919, I found a job awaiting me. American churchmen at that time were dreaming great dreams. The world was to be made safe for democracy. President Wilson’s hope was to become reality. To that end, they had organized the Interchurch World Movement, and as a first step a worldwide survey was to be made. I was offered the position of director of the North Dakota Rural Survey.
In our next podcast, we will continue with part 20 of “The Call to the MInistry: Years of Wandering”.
—PRAYER—
Now, if you have come across this podcast, and do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour, allow me to show you how.
First, accept the fact that you are a sinner, and that you have broken God’s law. The Bible says in Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”
Second, accept the fact that there is a penalty for sin. The Bible states in Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death…”
Third, accept the fact that you are on the road to hell. Jesus Christ said in Matthew 10:28: “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Also, the Bible states in Revelation 21:8: “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”
Now this is bad news, but here’s the good news. Jesus Christ said in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Just believe in your heart that Jesus Christ died for your sins, was buried, and rose from the dead by the power of God for you so that you can live eternally with Him. Pray and ask Him to come into your heart today, and He will.
Romans 10:9-13 says, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Until next time, my friend, please keep in mind these reasons to believe. God bless!
Daniel Whyte III has spoken in meetings across the United States and in over twenty-five foreign countries. He is the author of over forty books including the Essence Magazine, Dallas Morning News, and Amazon.com national bestseller, Letters to Young Black Men. He is also the president of Gospel Light Society International, a worldwide evangelistic ministry that reaches thousands with the Gospel each week, as well as president of Torch Ministries International, a Christian literature ministry.
He is heard by thousands each week on his radio broadcasts/podcasts, which include: The Prayer Motivator Devotional, The Prayer Motivator Minute, as well as Gospel Light Minute X, the Gospel Light Minute, the Sunday Evening Evangelistic Message, the Prophet Daniel’s Report, the Second Coming Watch Update and the Soul-Winning Motivator, among others.
He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Theology from Bethany Divinity College, a Bachelor’s degree in Religion from Texas Wesleyan University, a Master’s degree in Religion, a Master of Divinity degree, and a Master of Theology degree from Liberty University’s Rawlings School of Divinity (formerly Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary). He is currently a candidate for the Doctor of Ministry degree.
He has been married to the former Meriqua Althea Dixon, of Christiana, Jamaica since 1987. God has blessed their union with seven children.
BCNN1 WP 