Archives for November 2022

Good morning,

Afterwards you will understand!

(James Smith)  Play Audio!  Download Audio

“You do not understand now what I am doing, but afterwards you will understand.” John 13:7

We are to walk by faith, not by sight.
We are to trust His heart, when we cannot trace His hand!

We are to believe Him, when we cannot understand His mysterious workings!

The Lord is now working in nature, providence, and grace–and He does many things which we do not understand at present. But when His work is complete, and it lies stretched out before us in the light of eternity, we shall then. . .
  comprehend His design,
  admire His wisdom, and
  adore His divine workings!

Beloved, is God cleansing you by fiery trials, or causing you to pass through deep waters? Are you at a loss to know what His design is, or where the present affliction will end?

Be still. Wait His time.

There is a divine working time, which is the present;
and there is a divine revealing time, which is to come.

The wisest Christians are often in the dark now, but the simplest Christians will see all things clearly by and by.
A little more patience, a little more faith–and all will end well.

“We know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God, and who are called according to His purpose!” Romans 8:2
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Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001 chaplain@alaskaseniors.com

Good morning,

Veterans Day is an official United States public holiday, observed annually on November 11, that honors military veterans; that is, persons who served in the United States Armed Forces. It coincides with other holidays, including Armistice Day and Remembrance Day, celebrated in other countries that mark the anniversary of the end of World War I; major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, when the Armistice with Germany went into effect. The United States previously observed Armistice Day. The U.S. holiday was renamed Veterans Day in 1954.

This week I will tell you about some of those veterans.

98-Year-Old WWII Veteran Finally Honored for Fighting Japanese in Philippines

Daniel Crowley receives Combat Infantryman Badge nearly eight decades later

by Aaron Kassraie, AARP, January 6, 2021

Nearly eight decades after defending the Bataan Peninsula from invading Japanese forces and subsequent years suffering as a prisoner of war, WWII veteran Daniel Crowley, 98, finally received his Combat Infantryman Badge for his service with the Provisional Army Air Corps Infantry Regiment.

“The event that is happening here today is nearly 76 years late in coming,” said Gregory J. Slavonic, acting undersecretary of the Navy during the Jan. 4 ceremony at Bradley Air National Guard Base in East Granby, Connecticut.

Crowley was assigned to Nichols Field (today’s Manila Ninoy Aquino International Airport) in the Philippines in 1941 as part of the U.S. Army Air Corps. Soon after the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, Japan also launched offensives against U.S. military facilities throughout the Pacific. Armed with an antiquated machine gun, the untrained Crowley was made a provisional infantryman and asked to help defend the base against the Japanese advance.

After being forced to abandon the airfield, the surviving ground crew and airmen were made members of the Provisional Army Air Corps Infantry Regiment on Bataan.

‘Slight technicality’

“He was a combat infantryman, but he didn’t sign up with combat infantry — he signed up with the Army Air Corps — and that was the slight technicality which kept him from getting the award,” said Kelley Crowley, Daniel’s wife.

The Combat Infantryman Badge, awarded to infantrymen and members of Special Forces with the rank of colonel and below who served in active ground combat, is something Crowley never thought he would receive. Until recently, though, the Army had resisted giving the award to provisional soldiers who fought on Bataan. Crowley made his last attempt at obtaining the honor a few months ago.

“I wasn’t the only one, remember — there were thousands like me who were designated something else. When the war started, they suddenly had to become infantryman, without any training,” he said.

After the Bataan Peninsula was overrun by Japanese forces in April 1942, Crowley’s unit made its way to the town of Mariveles to surrender. But in a bid to avoid being captured, he and a number of soldiers hid in the breakwater near shore until nightfall, when they swam three miles to Corregidor Island in Manila Bay. There Crowley fought alongside the 4th Marines, but he became a prisoner of war when U.S. forces surrendered in May.

From POW to sergeant

As a prisoner of war, Crowley was subject to forced labor by his Japanese captors. He was sent from the Philippines to Japan aboard a “hell ship,” where approximately 300 men were held in the dark, made to lie in their own waste, with little food or water for 11 days. In Japan, Crowley was forced to work in some of the country’s most dangerous copper mines.

“It takes a very special person to continue to persevere through the most haunting of circumstances; it takes certain depth of character to put yourself in harm’s way for your fellow warriors and for your country,” Slavonic said before also awarding Crowley with the POW Medal.

There was yet another recognition awaiting Crowley as the ceremony continued.

“When the Army began digging into Dan’s history and service, they uncovered that Dan was promoted to the rank of sergeant,” said Slavonic.

Crowley was made a sergeant in 1945, but he had been given an honorable discharge before the order reached him. 

“I have to say that to be able to do this today is a rare and humbling opportunity for me as the undersecretary of the Navy. To be able to recognize Dan for his many sacrifices and accomplishments,” Slavonic said. “He truly represents the members of the greatest generation who did so much and asked so little from their country.”

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Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001 chaplain@alaskaseniors.com

Good morning,

Veterans Day is an official United States public holiday, observed annually on November 11, that honors military veterans; that is, persons who served in the United States Armed Forces. It coincides with other holidays, including Armistice Day and Remembrance Day, celebrated in other countries that mark the anniversary of the end of World War I; major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, when the Armistice with Germany went into effect. The United States previously observed Armistice Day. The U.S. holiday was renamed Veterans Day in 1954.

This week I will tell you about some of those veterans.

Sons of Tuskegee Airman Recall Father’s Lifelong Passion for Flying

Herb Jones Jr., a pioneer in aviation, could be found at the airport well into his 90s

by Aaron Kassraie and Emily Pickren, AARP, Updated February 2, 2022

It wasn’t until Herb Jones III and Rodney Jones got older that they understood the impact of having a father who was a Tuskegee Airman.

“He never really talked about it in the context of the historical significance of the Tuskegee Airmen, which we found out about a lot later on in life,” said Rodney Jones. “When the Tuskegee Airmen finally started to receive a lot of long-overdue recognition and accolades from the country and the rest of the world.”

The Tuskegee Airmen consisted of young Black men like Herb Jones Jr., born in 1923, who enlisted during World War II to become the country’s first Black military pilots. They trained at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama. Despite racism, segregation and doubts over their abilities, the Tuskegee Airmen went on to fly missions during the war. Their success ultimately contributed to the desegregation of the U.S. Armed Forces.

But rather than representing the pinnacle of his aviation career, being a Tuskegee Airman was just the beginning for Jones, who turned his passion for flying into a string of accomplishments over many decades.

“That’s been a recurring theme throughout his lifetime as it relates to his Tuskegee Airmen experience, [which was] a springboard to almost 70-plus years of a wonderful aviation career,” Rodney Jones said.

One of their father’s early mentors was Chief Alfred Anderson, the primary instructor at the Tuskegee Air Field. The pair originally met when Anderson gave Jones some of his first flight lessons in Arlington, Virginia, during his teenage years. Jones grew up in nearby Washington, D.C.

“My father was a protégé of Chief Anderson and remained friends with Chief Anderson throughout his 70-year career in aviation,” said Rodney Jones, “which he really attributed to his Tuskegee experience that led to other ventures, all in the field of aviation.”

Career takes flight after WWII

Despite their military service and training in the U.S. Army Air Corps, a precursor to the U.S. Air Force, Tuskegee Airmen were denied the opportunity to become commercial pilots for major airlines upon returning home after the war.

“So rather than, you know, mope on that, my Dad moved to the next step,” said Jones III.

Jones Jr. spent three decades training aviation cadets at the Columbia Air Center while working for the Civil Air Patrol, from which he retired with the rank of lieutenant colonel. He eventually became a co-owner of the Columbia Air Center, the first Black-owned and operated airfield in Maryland.

Retirement from the Civil Air Patrol didn’t leave him grounded. In 1972, Jones and four others purchased a 100-passenger DC-7 aircraft and created the International Air Association, a Black-owned airline. It offered flights to New York, Houston, Miami, the Bahamas and Trinidad.

“My brother and I have fond stories of that. We were the baggage handlers, we were the food providers,” said Jones III. “Nothing like that had been done in the States by African Americans, and we were very proud of that. We thought it was just something cool. We didn’t understand the history that we were involved in at the time.”

The airline’s board of directors consisted of the brothers’ father, aunt and some neighbors from their community in Washington, D.C. The airline operated out of National Airport in Washington and later Martin State Airport outside of Baltimore.

Training the next generation

“In his later years, his whole focus was on young people, exposing them to the field of aviation and allowing them the opportunity to fly,” said Jones III.

In 1987, his father, then in his mid-60s, opened a private flight school of his own, Cloud Club II, where he trained approximately 200 students, many whom did not know he was a Tuskegee Airman.

“I think my father was probably most proud that there were a number of women who he had trained, who ended up with careers as military pilots, commercial pilots, air traffic control individuals and folks who actually had long careers in aviation,” said Rodney Jones.

Even after he truly retired once and for all, Jones still went to the airport every day — sometimes two times a day — well into his 90s.

“Like clockwork, from 11 o’clock to 2 o’clock, you could go down to the airport, and you would see his car parked there,” said Jones III. “He watched folks flying, landing, taking off, talking to the folks. Each and every day up until he was 95 years old, driving himself to the airport every day.”

When the brothers expressed concern about their father driving at his age he would reply, “I’ve been a pilot for decades, and you’re going to tell me that I can’t drive my car? How many accidents have you had?”

Lt. Col. Herb Jones Jr. passed away on Aug. 26, 2020, at the age of 96.

Aaron Kassraie joined AARP.org as a staff writer and associate editor of veterans’ content in 2019. He previously covered U.S. foreign policy as a correspondent for Kuwait News Agency’s Washington bureau and worked in news gathering for USA TODAY and Al Jazeera English.

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Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001 chaplain@alaskaseniors.com

Good morning,

Veterans Day is an official United States public holiday, observed annually on November 11, that honors military veterans; that is, persons who served in the United States Armed Forces. It coincides with other holidays, including Armistice Day and Remembrance Day, celebrated in other countries that mark the anniversary of the end of World War I; major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, when the Armistice with Germany went into effect. The United States previously observed Armistice Day. The U.S. holiday was renamed Veterans Day in 1954.

This week I will tell you about some of those veterans.

Civil War Surgeon Only Woman in History to Receive the Medal of Honor

The story of abolitionist, prisoner of war and physician Mary Edwards Walker

by Aaron Kassraie, AARP, Updated March 4, 2022

In the 161 years since the country’s most prestigious military decoration was instituted, the Medal of Honor has been presented to over 3,500 service members but only one has been a woman, Mary Edwards Walker, M.D.

At the start of the Civil War, Walker, one of the few practicing female doctors at the time, arrived in Washington, D.C., seeking a position as a surgeon for the U.S. Army. She went to meet with Secretary of War Simon Cameron wearing a bloomer-style outfit, which incorporated trousers and represented her interest in equal rights for women.

“She did not present herself looking the way a very traditional 19th-century woman would look. So that I think doubly startled Cameron,” said Theresa Kaminski, professor emeritus of history at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and author of Dr. Mary Walker’s Civil War. “He refused her right away. He said that women didn’t belong in the Army. He could barely tolerate the notion of women as doctors.”

Instead of returning home to upstate New York, Walker went from hospital to hospital in Washington to volunteer her services. She finally found a doctor, J. N. Green, M.D., at the Indiana Hospital (located in Washington’s Patent Office Building), who accepted her proposition. Green offer to pay her out of his own salary, but she declined and only asked for a place to sleep.

“The soldiers seem to hold her in pretty high regard. And the officers that she encountered generally felt the same way, as long as they weren’t military officers,” Kaminski said. “She had more trouble with the male doctors than she did with the regular officers of the U.S. Army.”

A closer look at Walker’s tour of duty

As a person who believed in gender equality, not a widely held opinion at the time, Walker’s clothing was not just a statement but a form of convenience for the work she wanted to do. The uniform that she made for herself mimicked what a commissioned union medical officer would wear.

“I think part of it was the practicality. And maybe another part of it was a way of her pushing gender equality, saying that men and women should be able to pretty much wear what they wanted to wear without clothing being labeled,” Kaminski said.

While Walker was able to successfully push boundaries with her style of dress and occupation, she was never able to become a commissioned officer within the Army. However, she did secure a paid position as a civilian-contracted assistant surgeon.

In the spring of 1864, Walker was stationed at Lee and Gordon’s Mills in Chickamauga, Georgia, an area held by U.S. troops that was very close to Confederate territory.

“She was encouraged to go out and treat southern civilians who hadn’t had access to medical care in a long time,” Kaminski said. “She would go out into the countryside, often on her own, knowing how dangerous it was to treat civilians who were in need.”

While out on her own she would listen for any information on troop movements and brought the intel back to her commanding officer, who presumably passed it up the chain of command.

During one of her forays into enemy territory, Walker was captured by Confederate soldiers and held as a prisoner of war at a female military prison in Virginia. Her imprisonment caused negative effects on her health, including problems with her eye, which prevented her from continuing to perform surgery after the war ended.

Receiving the military’s top honor

Walker and her supporters brought her desire to be a commissioned officer to the attention of President Abraham Lincoln. However, after Lincoln’s assassination, President Andrew Johnson did not feel that it was in his power to provide her a commission in the military. Instead, he awarded her a Medal of Honor.

“The grounds upon which the Medal of Honor could be awarded were broader than they are today and rather ambiguous in a number of cases,” said Ed Lengel, chief historian for the National Medal of Honor Museum. “It did not necessarily have to be combat service to qualify for the award, i.e., not just wartime service, but service actually under fire. Although, in many cases, Mary Walker came close to that.”

After the Civil War, many service members wrote their congressmen stating that they deserved the award, which pushed the military to tighten its eligibility parameters on who could qualify to receive the top military decoration.

“Pressure could be applied within the military to get a medal awarded to them simply by pulling strings. So there were quite a few egregious cases,” said Lengel.

By the beginning of the U.S. entry into World War I in 1917, a review of Medal of Honor awards resulted in 911 individuals being stripped of their award, including Walker. However, she was among the few who refused to return the medal and continued to wear it until her death in 1919.

Behind the scenes, a campaign was launched in the 1920s to get Walker’s medal restored. The efforts intensified in the 1970s, including a local campaign in her hometown of Oswego, New York. Eventually, the reinstatement of her medal was supported through a bipartisan effort in Congress and posthumously restored by President Jimmy Carter in 1977.

Aaron Kassraie writes about issues important to military veterans and their families for AARP. He also serves as a general assignment reporter. Kassraie previously covered U.S. foreign policy as a correspondent for the Kuwait News Agency’s Washington bureau and worked in news gathering for USA Today and Al Jazeera English.

Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001 chaplain@alaskaseniors.com

Good morning,

Veterans Day is an official United States public holiday, observed annually on November 11, that honors military veterans; that is, persons who served in the United States Armed Forces. It coincides with other holidays, including Armistice Day and Remembrance Day, celebrated in other countries that mark the anniversary of the end of World War I; major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, when the Armistice with Germany went into effect. The United States previously observed Armistice Day. The U.S. holiday was renamed Veterans Day in 1954.

This week I will tell you about some of those veterans.

Centenarian Julia Parsons, who spent war deciphering German messages, refuses to accept limitations

by Aaron Kassraie, AARP, March 1, 2021

A parade in Pittsburgh on March 2 celebrated the 100th birthday of native Julia Parsons, a World War II veteran who for decades maintained that she worked a quiet, ordinary desk job during the war. In reality, her job was anything but ordinary.

Parsons was one of thousands of women whose little-known story of deciphering encrypted messages sent by the Japanese and German forces played a pivotal role in helping the Allies win the war.

From college to code breaking

Fresh out of Carnegie Tech (now Carnegie Mellon University) in 1942, Parsons read in the newspaper that the Navy was accepting women for a unit called Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service, or WAVES. After joining and completing three months of general training, Parsons was sent to a communications annex in Washington, D.C.

When her group was asked if anyone spoke German, Parsons responded that she took two years of German in high school.

“That hardly qualified me for much of anything in the translations line,” Parsons told AARP, “but they sent me right off to the section where I worked decoding the German submarine traffic, which is what I did until the end of the war.”

Because the premise of WAVES, established in 1942, was to fill certain military roles to free up more men to fight overseas, almost all of the service members who worked decoding enemy messages were women.

“Although we did have four or five men in the office, most of them were mathematics professors,” said Parsons. “They were very nice, but they were not regular Navy people.”

Using one of the first computers, called the “Bombe,” Parsons assisted in uncovering messages that the German High Command sent to its submarines. Decoding would reveal where submarines planned to meet, their mission destinations and the weather conditions. More mundane personal messages that would have typically been sent by mail related to family deaths, new babies and upcoming weddings were also decoded.

Parsons, in her early 20s at the time, got an apartment in Washington with another woman who worked in the Japanese section of the WAVES. However, despite their curiosities, the two would never talk about their respective work with one another.

“Everybody was united against Hitler,” Parsons said, so no one pried each other for information.

When the WAVES weren’t decoding messages for the Navy, Parsons recalls going to Hains Point, a park in southwest Washington, where people would ride horses, rent boats, fish and enjoy picnics. On other occasions she remembers going to the theater, parties and dances.

“I loved Washington. It was so nice. And there wasn’t much traffic then either,” she said. “Our lives were so simple compared to now.”

Decades of secrecy

Parsons credits the war with bringing women into the workforce. But after serving in such a fascinating job, she found it difficult to return to normal life.

“I couldn’t believe I was back in a kitchen,” she said.

Nonetheless, the WWII code breaker remained tight-lipped about her time in Washington for over 50 years until a trip she made back to the capital in the late 1990s to visit a friend she had made while serving.

The pair visited the National Security Agency’s (NSA) National Cryptologic Museum in Maryland, where, to their surprise, they saw the machines they used to decode messages on display.

“We were just shocked because we had no idea it had been declassified,” she said. “For 30 years we could have been talking about it but we didn’t because we knew we weren’t supposed to.”

According to Parsons, the Navy told her that it didn’t keep track of where anyone was after the war so it was unable to tell the former code breakers that the program had been declassified.

Today, the retired lieutenant is a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. She lives alone and tends to her house with “no problems at all.”

As a member of the Veterans Breakfast Club (VBC), a nonprofit dedicated to creating communities that listen to and share veterans’ stories, she has spent the past year attending Zoom calls with veterans from different eras living all around the world.

“There have been veterans on (Zoom) talking, which we would not have if we were still meeting in the restaurants. So, this has been an advantage of this year of the pandemic. It’s been really great for me,” she said.

As a result of her service, she was able to get her second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospital and recently went to the supermarket for the first time in about a year.

“Everything was still the same. A whole year later. It’s still the same and the lines are just as long. Nothing has changed,” she said.

The significance of becoming a centenarian – there are fewer than 100,000 in the U.S. — didn’t register until her birthday approached.

“The 100 struck me. I thought, ‘For heaven’s sake. How did this happen?,’” she said. “You live day after day, and all of a sudden, you’re 100. I’ve been very fortunate. I’ve never had a serious illness. It’s an odd feeling. It’s really odd.”

She said she doesn’t feel 100 at heart and still thinks the way she always has throughout her life.

“Don’t ever admit you can’t do anything if you haven’t tried to do it,” she said. “Old people just kind of accept their limitations and drop out. My whole theory on my longevity is that I just kept telling people, ‘I can still do that.'”

Aaron Kassraie writes about issues important to military veterans and their families for AARP. He also serves as a general assignment reporter. Kassraie previously covered U.S. foreign policy as a correspondent for the Kuwait News Agency’s Washington bureau and worked in news gathering for USA Today and Al Jazeera English.

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Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001 chaplain@alaskaseniors.com

Good morning,

Veterans Day is an official United States public holiday, observed annually on November 11, that honors military veterans; that is, persons who served in the United States Armed Forces. It coincides with other holidays, including Armistice Day and Remembrance Day, celebrated in other countries that mark the anniversary of the end of World War I; major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, when the Armistice with Germany went into effect. The United States previously observed Armistice Day. The U.S. holiday was renamed Veterans Day in 1954.

This week I will tell you about some of those veterans.

Vietnam Era Veteran Roger Ross, now 79 years old living in St. Louis, enjoys the VA benefits he earned as an Air Force cook and recalls fond memories serving his country. “I enlisted when I was 18. I wanted a better life for myself, to learn and get experience for a better job after service. I got to travel, see places that I’d never been. Overall, I have lots of good memories. I met good friends and served under exceptional sergeants and officers. I wouldn’t trade it for anything,” says Ross. Though he and a friend enlisted together in May 1961, they never saw each other after bootcamp at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. He earned a Small Arms Expert Marksmanship Ribbon yet says the only time he ever shot a gun was during basic training. “I had good eye and a steady hand.”

Ross left active duty in 1965 and remained in the Air Force Reserves from 1966-67. He returned to St. Louis, married and had two children, Rozlyn Elaine and Gary. After working several jobs including at department store Famous Barr, he had a longtime career and retired from the City of St. Louis. His wife Curlie B. Ross passed away January 21, 1999.

Ross did travel as he intended and lived on many bases including Walker AFB, formerly Roswell Army Airfield, in New Mexico known for the Roswell UFO incident, an event that occurred long before he was there. He was also stationed at Travis AFB in California where he was released from active duty. Once, Ross was even part of an airman’s vocal group that won a base talent show, singing, two songs made popular by the Turbans, “When You Dance” and “Let Me Show You Around My Heart.” Alas, the group didn’t advance at the next competition but Ross had fun nonetheless.

There were also sad, tense and challenging times. He recalls around the Cuban Missile Crisis in Fall 1961. The crisis in Cuba centered on conflict between the United States, led by John F. Kennedy, and the Soviet Union, led by Nikita Khrushchev, and Soviet ally Cuba, led by Fidel Castro. The Soviets were arming Cuba with missiles equipped with nuclear warheads ready to fire on the United States. In retaliation, Kennedy ordered a blockade of Soviet ships bound for Cuba. Roger Ross and his fellow air force cooks worked 12-hour days from 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. to support airman and their many flying missions. “We did what we had to do to serve pilots, ground crews and guys guarding planes working all hours of the night coming into the mess hall,” says Ross. Most of Ross’s active duty was at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam where he cooked with other airman and some local Filipino civilians who were hired to work in the mess hall. He was there November 22, 1963 when President Kennedy was shot and killed. “All the guys were really sad, black and white guys alike. Kennedy was a popular president especially among blacks who saw Kennedy furthering civil rights.

Serving as an Air Force cook earned Ross the Air Force Good Conduct Medal and VA benefits. 

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Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001 chaplain@alaskaseniors.com

Good morning,

Tuesday, 8 November, is Election Day. We will be exploring our five responsibilities as Christian citizens. They are to pray, register to vote, become informed, get involved, and vote.

5. Vote! 

Only when you cast your vote do you fulfill your Christian responsibility in government. Exercise the influence that God has given youthrough our unique system of self-government. If you fail to vote conscientiously for godly rule, evil will increase in our nation. “When rulers are wicked, their people are too” (Proverbs 29:16). 

It is commonly believed that decisions in America are made by a majority of the people. This is not so. Decisions are made by a majority of those who voted in the last election. 

In making your decisions, let the Word of God be your guide. “Godliness exalts a nation” (Proverbs 14:34)., so it is important to prayerfully seek God’s will in all political decisions. 

Remember, a candidate’s principles are far more important than his party affiliation. To place confidence in unworthy candidates is a miscarriage of Christian stewardship. “Putting confidence in an unreliable man is like chewing with a sore tooth, or trying to run on a broken foot: (Proverbs 25:19). Therefore, vote your Christian convictions over your party loyalty. 

Do your Christian Duty. View your vote through God’s prism. Vote Biblical Values. Vote GOD! 

Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001 chaplain@alaskaseniors.com 

Good morning,

Tuesday,8 November, is Election Day. We will be exploring our five responsibilities as Christian citizens. They are to pray, register to vote, become informed, get involved, and vote.

3. Become informed 

The uninformed Christian cannot prevail against evil forces in the world of politics. Knowledge is essential to effective action. “The wise man is crowned with knowledge” (Proverbs 14:18). 

Gather information from the various ministries and organizations that provide summaries of current issues and pending legislation. Some ministries and organizations publish the voting records of office holders and voter guides showing the candidate’s stands on various issues of importance to Christian voters. This website will post a compilation of various voter guides before the November election. 

4. Get Involved. Help Elect Godly People 

Righteous rule brings rejoicing. “With good men in authority, the people rejoice; but with the wicked in power, the people groan” (Proverbs 29:2). The most effective way to restore righteous rule and rejoicing in America is to elect godly people to positions of authority. 

The Word of God gives us the basic qualifications of a good candidate. “Find some capable, godly, honest men who hate bribes, and…let these men be responsible to serve the people with justice at all times” (Exodus 18:21,22). 

Strongly urge, and, if necessary, personally assist all who favor Godly candidates to vote on Election Day. Do your part to Get Out The Christian Vote (GOTCV).

Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001 chaplain@alaskaseniors.com 

Good morning,

Tuesday, 8 November, is Election Day. We will be exploring our five responsibilities as Christian citizens. They are to pray, register to vote, become informed, get involved, and vote.

Your 5 Duties as a Christian Citizen 

William R. “Bill” Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, the world’s largest Christian ministry, is the author of the booklet entitled The Four Spiritual Laws, which has been printed in over 200 languages and distributed to more than 2.5 billion people. 

Bill Bright also authored Your 5 Duties As a Christian Citizen, outlining your relationship as a Christian Citizen with the great system of self-government that assures every Christian a voice in the affairs of the nation and enables us to bring a heavenly perspective to the earthly realm. 

America is one of the last strongholds of freedom on earth—and citizens who are dedicated to God are the only resource for the preservation of our freedoms… including the freedom to serve Him. 

Noah Webster said, “In selecting men for office, let principle be your guide. Regard not the particular sect or denomination of the candidate—look to his character…It is alleged by men of loose principles, or defective views of the subject, that religion and morality are not necessary or important qualifications for political stations. But the Scriptures teach a different doctrine. They direct that rulers should be men who rule in the fear of God, able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness… 

“When a citizen gives his vote to a man of known immorality, he abuses his civic responsibility; he sacrifices not only his own interest, but that of his neighbor; he betrays the interest of his country.” 

Charles Finney, who helped introduce half a million Americans to Christ, wrote in 1835: “The time has come that Christians must vote for honest men and take consistent ground in politics, or the Lord will curse them… God will bless or curse this nation according to the course Christians take in politics.” Finney’s words are no less true for us today. The course of our nation, state and local governments are up to us. 

To protect His people, God warns against ungodly leaders. The rule of the wicked is a direct violation of His will. “The wicked shall not rule the godly, lest 

the godly be forced to do wrong “ (Psalm 125:3). Instead, God’s plan is for us to have leaders who know Him and will rule according to His Word. “He who rules over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God” (2 Samuel 23:3 NKJ). 

Voting for and supporting moral candidates who support moral public policies is the minimum required of Christian citizens in a system of self-government. Godly people must vote for godly rulers. 

Your Five Duties as a Christian Citizen are: 

1. Pray 
2. Register to Vote 
3. Become informed 
4. Get involved 
5. Vote 

1. Pray…unceasingly.  

“If my people will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear them from heaven and forgive their sins and heal their land (2 Chron 7:14). 

Pray for God’s wisdom and discernment. Pray that God will change the hearts of, or remove from positions of public leadership, those officials who are godless, worldly, and disobedient to Him. As King Solomon said, “A wicked ruler will have wicked aides on his staff.” (Proverbs 29:12). 

Pray that men and women of God will be elected to public office at all levels of leadership—local, state, and national—so that righteous rulership is restored. Then our land will be healed and our country will experience the abundant blessings of God. “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.” (Psalm 33:12). 

Pray “for kings and all others who are in authority over us, or are in places of high responsibility, so that we can live in peace and quietness” (1 Timothy 2:2). Pray that leaders will be filled with godly wisdom and stand firm for what is right and true. 

2. Register to Vote 

Be registered as a qualified voter so you can practice your citizenship with accountability to God. 

Voting is a matter of stewardship under God, yet millions of God’s people throughout America are not even registered to vote. How can we as Christian Citizens expect God to restore righteous leadership through us, unless we take the few minutes necessary to register to vote? Only a registered voter will be in a position to help elect godly officials. 

3. Become informed 

The uninformed Christian cannot prevail against evil forces in the world of politics. Knowledge is essential to effective action. “The wise man is crowned with knowledge” (Proverbs 14:18). 

Gather information from the various ministries and organizations that provide summaries of current issues and pending legislation. Some ministries and organizations publish the voting records of office holders and voter guides showing the candidate’s stands on various issues of importance to Christian voters. This website will post a compilation of various voter guides before the November election. 

4. Get Involved. Help Elect Godly People 

Righteous rule brings rejoicing. “With good men in authority, the people rejoice; but with the wicked in power, the people groan” (Proverbs 29:2). The most effective way to restore righteous rule and rejoicing in America is to elect godly people to positions of authority. 

The Word of God gives us the basic qualifications of a good candidate. “Find some capable, godly, honest men who hate bribes, and…let these men be responsible to serve the people with justice at all times” (Exodus 18:21,22). 

Strongly urge, and, if necessary, personally assist all who favor godly candidates to vote on Election Day. Do your part to Get Out The Christian Vote (GOTCV). 

5. Vote! 

Only when you cast your vote do you fulfill your Christian responsibility in government. Exercise the influence that God has give you through our unique system of self-government. If you fail to vote conscientiously for godly rule, evil will increase in our nation. “When rulers are wicked, their people are too” (Proverbs 29:16). 

It is commonly believed that decisions in America are made by a majority of the people. This is not so. Decisions are made by a majority of those who voted in the last election. 

In making your decisions, let the Word of God be your guide. “Godliness exalts a nation” (Proverbs 14:34)., so it is important to prayerfully seek God’s will in all political decisions. 

Remember, a candidate’s principles are far more important than his party affiliation. To place confidence in unworthy candidates is a miscarriage of Christian stewardship. “Putting confidence in an unreliable man is like chewing with a sore tooth, or trying to run on a broken foot: (Proverbs 25:19). Therefore, vote your Christian convictions over your party loyalty. 

Do your Christian Duty. View your vote through God’s prism. Vote Biblical Values. Vote GOD! 

Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001 chaplain@alaskaseniors.com