As my time on earth has continued some years beyond a fifth decade, these recent days have caused me to reflect upon my ordination to the ministry at the age of twenty. At the age of eighteen, the Lord planted deeply in my heart a calling to the ministry through the passage of I Timothy 4:11-16. Two years later, after appearing before a denominational board of leaders, I knelt at an altar in a Sunday morning conference meeting as eight men, including my dear father, placed their hands upon me in acknowledgment of God's call upon my young life. That morning I was given a charge from II Timothy 4 of "preaching the Word." This was accompanied by the following exhortation:
Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us (II Timothy 1:13-14).
Little did I know then where such a charge would lead me or what such a commitment would cost.
The early years of my calling began with academic preparation that eventually led me through six schools and six earned degrees. Two years after my first pastorate, these early years were also marked by a vital exodus, at the age of twenty-four, from a denomination that had been fast leaving its legacy of holiness and biblical separation and becoming a full-fledged part of the Charismatic movement.
This was a denomination to which my grandparents and dear father and mother had given their lives, a denomination that had officially sent me to Canada at the age of twenty to preach for three months in fifteen churches for ninety consecutive evenings, and a denomination that was a spiritual mother from which I had come to know Christ and His Word. Visions, voices, dreams, feelings, contemporary Christian music, and existential theology quickly became the mainstream fabric of belief of that affiliation, an affiliation that no longer was committed to the legacy of its forefathers and to the Word of God. What I was charged to do by the grace of God and what I was called upon to commit to were no longer a necessary part of their desire for my life. The winds of public Christianity were changing, and that denomination believed its future existence was to be found in those changes.
Individuals who fought those changes had to either yield or leave, for there was no alternative given in the pressure to conform to the changes. My dear father, I, and others had tried to be puritans within it, calling it back to a commitment to truth. Nevertheless, there is no antidote for apostasy; one must become a separatist and a pilgrim in order to spiritually survive.
Our pilgrim journey began in 1974 on eleven acres located on Interstate 95, with an independent, Fundamental, separatist ministry known today as Foundations Bible Collegiate Church, College, Seminary, and Academy. At the time we only knew of one movement in the earth that was taking a stand against the apostasy and the changes that were sweeping the public view of Christianity. That movement was known as the Christian Fundamentalist/Separatist Movement. The same year of our exodus from an apostatizing denomination brought to us an introduction to the Fundamentalist movement that at its prime was committed to God and the principles of His Word. The preaching in this movement was strong and dedicated to the separatist position; the music was held to a high standard of biblical conformity with abhorrence for the world's influence and spiritual superficiality. The lingering spiritual powers of the Philadelphia Church Age emboldened men who were willing to stand against the tide of change and publicly declare with the prophet's anointing "Thus saith the Lord." The cry of such leaders pled with the rising generation of preachers to firmly be committed to truth, to the Scriptures, to the Faith once delivered unto the saints, and to the saving of ourselves from conformity to this world in dress, music, lifestyles, philosophy, and academic thinking. Such days and mentor voices surrounded the early middle-age years of my ministry. My own dear earthly father was one such mentor.
But movements, even good movements and organizations, change with their people. A movement's heart is only the heart of those who make up the movement. When its people are given to change, the movement will become what the people want it to become: there is no intrinsic power to resist. Some changes are good and become strength to the life and to the work of God, for they are changes wrought by the grace of Christ.
But there are changes by nature that are innately an enemy, that prompt deterioration to the foundation, inevitably leading to the ruination of the superstructure. This is what is now happening to conservative, Fundamentalist Christianity. The liberal crowd will no doubt welcome such changes. At one time Fundamentalism was the citadel and the bastion of commitment to God and the foundational principles of His Word, while public Christianity forwarded conformity to the world and ecumenicity with Rome and other religions. But a movement can only take so many changes before the powers of erosion alter that tenacious commitment to God and Holy Duty. There eventually comes a time when "second thoughts" will be given as to whether the absoluteness and dogmatism of truth in former days are really necessary anymore. Even men whom God used in the past, with mighty anointing, will slowly be won over by the institutional church at-large and come to believe that such commitment is no longer needed. Once changes begin, time will force manipulative pressures of repositioning and redefining the ways of God with greater accommodating authority to the belief "this is the way we must go in order to exist." Amidst these changes of commitment, there is heard a cry from the remnant today: Where are the men of old who are still consumed by a tenacious commitment to God, to the principles of His Word, and to Holy Duty of life?
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
One of the most carefully guarded privileges in America is found among the sentinels of the Third United States Infantry Regiment. Also known as "The Old Guard," they are committed to keeping watch at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington, D.C. In order to be a member of this elite group, one must be between 5' 10" and 6' 2" tall with a waist size not exceeding 30". After nine months of duty the guard is given a wreath pin that is worn on his lapel signifying he served as guard of the tomb. There are only 525 presently worn.
It takes a sentinel an average of eight hours a day to prepare his uniform for the next day. All off-duty time within his rotation is spent studying the 175 notable people laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery. A guard must memorize who they are and where they are interred. Among the notables are President Taft, Joe E. Lewis (the boxer), and Medal of Honor winner Audie Murphy (the most decorated soldier of World War II).
The Sentinel's Creed must be taken:
My dedication to this sacred duty is total and wholehearted. In the responsibility bestowed on me never will I falter. And with dignity and perseverance my standard will remain perfection. Through the years of diligence and praise and the discomfort of the elements, I will walk my tour in humble reverence to the best of my ability. It is he who commands the respect I protect. His bravery that made us so proud. Surrounded by well meaning crowds by day and alone in the thoughtful peace of night, this soldier will in honored glory rest under my eternal vigilance.
The Third Infantry Regiment at Fort Myer has the responsibility for providing ceremonial units and honor guards for state occasions, White House social functions, public celebrations, and interments at Arlington National Cemetery and standing a very formal sentry watch at the Tomb of the Unknowns.
Many people think that when the cemetery is closed to the public in the evening that this "show" stops. "First, to the men who are dedicated to this work, it is no show. It is a `charge of honor.' The formality and precious vigilance continues uninterrupted all night. During the nighttime, the drill of relief and the measured step of the on-duty sentry remain unchanged from the daylight hours. To these men, these special men, the continuity of this post is the key to the honor and respect shown to these honored dead, symbolic of all unaccounted for American combat dead. The steady rhythmic step in rain, sleet, snow, hail, heat, and cold must be uninterrupted. Uninterrupted is the important part of the honor shown."
In September 2003 the fury of Hurricane Isabel came through that area of Washington destroying thousands of trees and causing power outages. Although erroneously reported that the Regimental Commander of the U.S. Third Infantry sent word to the nighttime sentry detail to secure the post and seek shelter from the high winds, no such command was given: the sentry's measured step continued. One of the soldiers remarked, "I've got buddies getting shot at in Iraq who would kick [me] if word got to them that we let them down . . . . [I] have no intention of spending my Army career being known as the idiot who couldn't stand a little light breeze and shirked his duty." Responding to a female reporters surprise of taking such purposeless personal risk, he said, "I wouldn't expect you to understand. It's an enlisted man's thing." Soaked to the skin, marching in the pelting rain of a storm, they said that guarding the Tomb was not just an assignment; it was the highest honor that can be afforded to a service person. The tomb has been patrolled continuously, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, three hundred and sixty five days a year since July 1, 1937.
When the soldier is on guard by himself, he takes 21 steps during his walk across the tomb of the unknowns, which alludes to the 21-gun salute, the highest honor given any military or foreign dignitary. He then hesitates 21 seconds after his about-face to begin his return walk for the same reason of the 21-gun salute. His gloves are moistened to prevent his losing his grip on the rifle. He carries his rifle on the shoulder away from the tomb. After his march across the path, he executes an about-face and moves the rifle to the outside shoulder.
Over the years I have witnessed the changing of the guard and the sentinel duty several times in my visits to Arlington National Cemetery. There are roped off galleries where visitors can observe the guards "walking post" with measured step and almost mechanical, silent rifle-shoulder changes. Now and then a visitor may jump the rope. When this happens the guard pulls out of step with rifle drawn, giving a loud warning. Yes, he is the protector of the Tomb, and the protector of the brave. In these days of the defamation of national monuments and sacred places, this guard stands truly ready to protect even the honor of the dead.
In Days of Change: The Need of Commitment to God and His Word
What commitment of heart and life these men have given for the dead, for a marble tomb! Presidents come and go, Senators are in Washington for a season and then gone, but the sentinel watch at Arlington has continued every moment of the day and night since 1937. Who is the mind and heart behind such dedication and commitment? What man or men keep the sentinels ever vigilant to this natural, noble calling? Who or what is the inspiration that claims the very existence of these to "guard" a tomb, believing it is the highest honor that could be given to a mortal? Yes, it causes one to weep to contemplate with human admiration such commitment and steadfastness.
How much more God's men should be committed to Him and His Word in protecting the Name and the principles of that Name. Such a commitment should consume heart and life in sentinel duty day and night, even when no one is looking. The latter is the evidence that one takes his stand not for the show of it, but for the love and loyalty to One Whom he believes to be worthy. Have the stands for God in the past by men who are now changing simply been for show? Was there ever a true tenacity of heart and life?
The Fundamentalist/Separatist movement was inaugurated by God in a crucial season of end-time history through men who believed in God's Word and were willing to give their lives in the defense of that Word. It was the biblical voice that rose up against liberalism, modernism, and the public Neo-Christianity. But a movement is fluid; its tendency is to change once inaugurated. The hearts of those leading will dictate the path it flows and the changes that will come. Hearts of men are fragile and influenced easily. The only thing that will keep the heart is communion with God. Even the greatest of men are given to change when communion is lost with God. And then they find other men in the same spiritual condition with whom to talk concerning ways to make the movement more compatible to their change of heart. Once the powers of change take place, and no repentance is forthcoming, light will become darkness and darkness will be viewed as light.
Changes tend to be slow and gradual. Much of change is based on circumstances, and man tends to be governed by circumstances. But though circumstances are constantly changing, we are called upon to preserve God's Word, works, and ways in those circumstances without change. The days in which we live are constantly pressing God's people to neutrality and compromise, which eventually leads to apostasy.
Conclusion
"That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us" (II Timothy 1:14). There are great differences of natural temperament in different men. There are those whose courage is naturally high; their instinct is to brave danger, and to be confident of overcoming it. They do not seem to know what nervousness, sinking of heart, or the devices of timidity mean. Others are of a wholly different temperament; the approach of danger unnerves them. Their instinct is to avoid, not to overcome danger; to shrink from suffering, not to confront it.
There are ever in the Church the bold and dauntless Gideons and the wavering and timid Peters. But the grace of God is able to strengthen the weak hands and to confirm the feeble knees. He can say to them that are of fearful heart, "Be strong; fear not." He can give power to the faint, and increase strength to them that have no might. There is perhaps no more edifying sight than that of the quiet, unyielding courage of those whose natural timidity has been overcome by an overpowering sense of commitment, duty, and love for Christ. Those who have learned, in meditation of the Word and dwelling in the Cross, to endure hardness without flinching, as good soldiers of Jesus Christ. But to yield to fear (and under its influence to be ashamed to confess the name of Jesus Christ) and to repudiate fellowship with those who are suffering for Christ's sake and the gospel's (lest we should fall into the same reproach with them) is sin. It is a sin most unworthy of those for whom Christ died, those who have been made partakers of so great salvation. No plea of natural timidity can excuse such unworthy conduct. It is needful, therefore, for men of a timid and gentle spirit to fortify their faith by frequent contemplation of the Cross of Christ and His Word, and habitually to take up that cross, and by it crucify the flesh with its affections and lusts. Let them think often of their holy calling, remember that they are the servants of Him Who "endured the cross, despising the shame," and look forward to the recompense of reward.
May God enable us in our commitment and holy duty to Him in these days when men are afraid to stand, afraid of the elements of this age, and afraid of the frowns of the carnal and the daughters of Jerusalem. This is the day for men to step forward and be the guardian and the protector of what is right, no matter what it costs them!