They Shall Not Learn War Any More

I brought a sweater up with me because I got cold. Actually, someone left this and turned it on. So if you're missing a block sweater, it's up here. If you get cold during the sermon, you can come get it. Doubt that'll happen. I'll set it down here for you, though.

We had a death on a birth today.

Avery McDonald was baptized in the Mediterranean, so give her a hand. She's joined the family.

It's rare you get the opportunity to get a picture from up here, so I'm gonna take one while I have the chance.

They always want to know who all is here, what this new hall looks like.

I appreciate being with you here. I appreciate all the work that the Italians have done in the last nine months to put this together. It's an amazing effort that they did. No question about that. I certainly respect all the work that they've done. They tell me this fan works, so I'm gonna turn it on. You gentlemen, if you get hot, you can take your coats off. If I pass out, you can prop me back up and take my coat off.

I have had some very warm sermons. The warmest one I had was in Malawi, where the building was air-conditioned. It collapsed. They didn't tell us. They put up a tent that was lower than this. It was about 100 degrees and plastic, and it baked you. They took the flaps down, and I said, no, put the flaps up so we don't all die. There were monkeys swinging in the trees behind me during the sermon. They put the lectern on an anthill, so I was stomping up and down the whole sermon. And then, during the middle of it, a set of goats went through the audience, so we shouldn't have any of that here.

Isaiah 2.4 is scripture you've all read. You all know. He shall judge among the nations. Rebuke many people. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. The nation will not lift up sword against nation. Neither shall they learn war anymore. What's the title of my sermon? They shall not learn war anymore. That statement and the statue is in front of the United Nations. When they came together after World War II, their cause was to end all wars. Their charter notes the United Nations was founded to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war. Tragically, there have been over 250 armed conflicts since that time, and we have one more major one yet to go before Christ returns. The United Nations failed in that cause, as of all of man's efforts for peace. God called you to a cause as well, a special cause, a special calling. It's the cause of peace, the same one the United Nations has. To get there, we have to fight a war now. How do we fight that war? Well, we fight for peace. The cause we began celebrating last night and well throughout this week. The unimaginable promises that the world can't even understand and need so badly. Do you really believe the promise is enough to step out in faith for your cause? Do you believe in these days? Are they worth dying for? Some of the apostles and many people for 2000 years have died over God's truth.

Today, I'm going to tell you the story of a young man, slightly younger than most of the ABC students that I teach now. And I tell this to inform you that you will face trials. Things ahead in your life that you do not expect, and things that you probably even can't imagine. Those who are older in the Church have already gone through many trials, and the young will find out soon enough the things they have to face, that they do not expect, that they don't imagine, and hopefully they'll be prepared so that they don't give up, as many have over the decades. We all have faced challenges in the spiritual body of Christ. Although we're different in actions, your war parallels much of the events and challenges of physical warfare. Although it's spiritual, the warrify is part of God being able to say, now I know. For every one of us, like he did to Abraham, now I know about you, about me. He has to know this before he can make you a spirit being, before he can give you that incredible reward he has in store for you. And these are the battles that we face to help achieve peace.

Your war in this life will not be easy. The young man I'm talking about is named Ted Jomone. Ted Jomone was a French descent born in America in 1925. Like many young men, he had a sense of duty to his country. When the war came, a war that the Italians, the people in Europe, know so well, because they were hurt by it for so many years. At age 17, Ted Jomone joined the army with his two older brothers. He joined what would prove to be the most elite unit of the U.S. Army during World War II in Europe, the screaming eagles of the 101st Airborne Division. He thought it was a great deal. He got 50 extra dollars for hazard pay. And he thought, wow, that's wonderful. He didn't fully know the hazards he would face. They had the saying, well, we'll be home by Christmas. It didn't happen. Eisenhower spoke of the 101st Airborne Division as the only unit awarded the distinguished citation for a whole unit of his stand in Bastogne. First time in division to have been honored. He became a paratrooper. He would be dropped from planes at night, landing, who knows where, at 100-pound pack on his back, 75 pounds of ammunition strapped to his leg. He couldn't swim. I was surprised he joined the paratroopers knowing he could land in water. When I think of my baptism, I didn't really know what I would go through. How heavy a pack I would carry. What would be strapped to my leg? The battles that I would face. But I knew I had to trust and obey my commander-in-chief, Jesus Christ. Did you know what you would face? I doubt it. Only in looking back, usually do we see what we did and how he helped us. When I signed up, was I scared? No, not at all. This was a great... like the young boy listening who didn't want to miss the war. He sought glory that many sought in ignorance. But me, I knew I had to trust God and I wanted to be part of that first resurrection. I wanted the Holy Spirit. I wanted what God offers. And I saw it as a good deal. About 10 rules. Keep those. You mess up, you repent, somebody else pays for it. And besides, number one, some of your older people, we'd be home by 1975. Some 50 years ago. A little off on the timing, obviously.

As life happens, though, will you be scared? At times of testing, yes, you will be. Will God always be there for you? How will He spare you from something you go through? And you may ask, how is God going to save me? Will you always recognize what He is doing in your life? Your duty to Him, no matter where you're dropped. Will you leave things in His hands, follow His orders, trust Him as your commander? Ted Jamal's first duty was Normandy, the Normandy invasion. He was in a plane. The enemy fire hit his plane. He was going to go down, and so the pilot pulled the green light, which said to go out. They were going way too fast. And so he jumped at high speed, far before his target zone. The speed of the jump caused his leg big to rip off before he even went a few feet out of the airplane. He began to feel anti-aircraft, a machine gun fire, all around him. He didn't mind the bullets, he said, but he was worried about the tracer bullets. Every 20th round was a tracer bullet. If a tracer hit your parachute, it caught fire, and you fell like a rock. And many of his friends fell because their parachute burned up, and he watched them plunge to their death as fear ran through his body. He survived the drop, but he landed in water.

Thankfully, it was only waist-deep. I can imagine the fear that went through him when he hit the water. Not being able to swim, even if you could, a hundred pound pack on your back, wouldn't make it easy. But he was able to walk out because it was shallow. God will put you through tests if you trust Him in places where you can't swim, and you may not know how deep the water will be.

1 Corinthians 10, 13. Paul writes some things there. Again, we don't know how deep, but he promises to never try us beyond what we're able. A scripture I've relied on many times. Verse 13 of 1 Corinthians 10, it says, no temptation is overtaken you except such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you're able. But with that temptation, we'll make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it. So if you fail, God didn't mess up.

You did. You were stronger than you thought you were. You could have gotten through it. People die in war. The first man Ted Jomone almost killed was a fellow soldier. It wasn't even the enemy. The army gave each of the men a little cricket that they could click so that they could find out who the noise was from. Well, he clicked his cricket and nobody answered back, and so he drew his gun up to shoot. And he thought something was wrong, and so he yelled out in English. It was another 17-year-old like him who was terrified and didn't click back.

He went over and talked to him, and together they started walking out of the marsh and tried to find where the units were. Sadly, the Germans caught on to the sound of the clickets and could make the same noise with their rifles, causing many to be fooled and killed. We can mistake people trying to help us for the enemy. We might not take someone who's trying to help us, us being our brother's keeper, may get upset.

1 Corinthians 11 13, we find the real enemy. There are enemies out there that want to take away your crown. 2 Corinthians 11 13, for such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. No marvel. Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore, it's no great thing if his ministers are also transformed into the ministers of righteousness, whose ends shall be according to their works. Now, there are many false counterfeits out there. Satan knows our crickets, and he counterfeits them to harm us. Are we close enough to God to see the truth, to patiently wait, to understand where he's leading? We've had those people among us, causing anger and division.

You have to know the difference between a friend who's trying to help and someone trying to drag you away. You'll probably face that choice more than once in your life. We've all faced it several times in the last few decades. Ted DeMone didn't shoot his comrade, and they marched till they found their companies. Ted was in company H, headed by a lieutenant Wazbowski.

They were ordered to take a section of land behind enemy lines. Charging ahead, Lieutenant Wazbowski was shot in the leg and couldn't walk. Ted DeMone grabbed him, dragged him back, saved him. While they were there, though, the lieutenant said, we have to take that. See, they were dropped behind enemy lines. They were expendable to draw the Germans away from the shoreline for the advance of Normandy.

And so he said, Ted DeMone, you're lucky. He says, take that pillbox out. So he walked through a minefield, or ram, rather, and surprisingly nothing blew up. And he took out a machine gun nest with a grenade, and his unit was able to go forward. He was put in for a silver star for that, but he didn't do it for a reward. He was scared, but it was duty. That's what he was told to do, and it was the right thing to do.

I don't know why God protected him. Maybe it was chance, maybe not. His sense of duty was admirable. Will you keep your sense of duty when things get tough, when God has something for you to do? Keep your allegiance to Him? Will you obey when it seems hopeless? Hebrews 12.1 tells us who to look to. Will your cause let you cast aside fear and doubt as it has for others?

Or will you look back and see how many have fallen away? 12.1 he says, wherefore seeing we're compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses. Let us lay aside every weight, the sin which doth easily beset us. Let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Race is often a lot of little things. So many men I've seen over the years want to slay Goliath and be the big hero.

When, frankly, it's the little things you do on a daily basis that God looks at in your attitude. Are you too important to do those little things that people can notice? Will you have a sense of spiritual duty that transcends human ability? We're told in Romans 12.1 Paul says, I beseech you brethren by the mercies of God, present your body a living sacrifice. Acceptable to God, holy. And he says it's your reasonable service.

Verse 2 of Romans 12, be not conformed to the world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is good, acceptable, and the perfect will of God.

Verse 3, I say, though the grace be given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than they ought to think, but to think soberly, according as God is dealt to every man the measure of faith. One of the biggest problems throughout history in the church and the leadership especially has been a lack of humility, something that Christ demonstrated so well as God. Is the cause worth it to you? Do you believe those promises enough to step out in faith? Will you pick up yourself after one battle, ready for the next? From Normandy, the 101st mission was Carrington. June of 1944, the soldiers came to know this as Purple Heart Lane. Colonel Cole of San Antonio was given a medal for this. He saw that they were running short of ammunition, but if they didn't take that hill and the roads there at Carrington, they knew that the soldiers behind them would not be able to get through, and they would die. It was critical to the invasion that they take those crossroads. Instead of hunkering down on safety, he gathered 750 men. They fixed their bayonets on their rifles and they charged the enemy. Of the 750 men, 125 were left standing. Ted Jomone was one of those.

From the archives I read, the Purple Heart Lane Airborne Museum will be located at the northern side of Carrington, in a field where the 101st Airborne Division's first Medal of Honor recipient, Lieutenant Colonel Robert Cole, led his heroic bayonet charge of the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st. I asked him why he survived. I expected him to say luck. Most people say that when something happens. He didn't say luck. He said training. I saw it. Fort Bragg, they trained you? He saw them. No. We had virtually no training there. He said, my father, John Jomone, was in World War I. He saw World War II coming. At the age of 13, he took me and my two brothers out in the yard and showed us how to use a bayonet. I can't imagine doing that for my son. How trained are we for the challenges ahead? There will be those challenges, some extreme challenges. Turn to 2 Timothy 3, if you would. Verse 14 will start. Your training, your history, your faith, again, those are the things that would get you through if you trust God. You've spent years, many of you, learning God's Word. As Paul said to Timothy, verse 14, but you continue in the things which you have learned and have been assured of, knowing of whom you've learned them. That from a child you have known the holy scriptures, which are able to make you wise to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. That's why we need to diligently train our children. The stories of the Bible got me through. And we're told, verse 16, all scripture is given by inspiration of God, profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction, and righteousness. So we can be holy, as we heard in the sermonette, that the man of God may be perfect and thoroughly furnished to all good works. That's our goal. Ted Gemon's training saved in McCarran 10. Your training and your study and your efforts will allow Christ to save you in the things that you will go through.

Have you intensified your training? We're close to those very trials that are going to come when World War 3 starts. Trials only prepare you for the next challenge. I've always prayed, please God, let this be my test and not my preparation for one. Because they get worse. They always do. Stories from the Bible give me the strength in God's deliverance. Ted Gemon's next assignment was Market Gardens, the September 1994 invasion of Holland. I'll read from the World War II database. The plan of Operation Market Gardens was for the largest airborne drop in military history. Three Allied divisions would be involved. The U.S. Army 101st Airborne would drop on Einhoven, take the canal crossing at Big Hill. The Canal Road is also known as Hell's Highway. The airborne units had suffered heavy in Armand Lake Camp. They were still reorganizing in their camps in England when the orders came down. They had returned in early August after 40 days of fighting. Some 40 percent of their members would never leave Normandy, Coast, or Carrington. They would be resting in Allied cemeteries. September 26th, Montgomery ordered the first airborne to break out of Arnheim and rejoin the Allies to the south. Out of 10,000 men dropped in Arnheim, only 2,300 came out. 1400 were dead and 6,000 were taken prisoners of war. It truly was Hell's Highway. It was marked in gardens that the second Congressional Medal of Honor recipient was given, a scout named Joe Mann, who died September 18, 1944. What was special about Joe Mann? He was a young scout who had been shot in the arms and legs the day before. His unit was ordered to attack the German positions the next day. His unit wanted him to go to the hospital, but his fellow soldiers wrapped his wound and stopped the bleeding. He said, no. He said, I'll stay up because you have to attack tomorrow. I'll be fine. So he rested there, awake, watching all night. The morning came. Instead of them attacking, the Germans attacked them first. The grenade landed in the foxhole next to Joe Mann. He simply said, I'll take it. He rolled his body over the grenade and died, saving his fellow soldiers' lives. You may ask what Joe Mann has to do with the story of Tejamon. Tejamon was in the foxhole, Joe Mann.

In John 1512, Christ says, this is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do whatever I command you. Jesus, our friend, died for us to let us have salvation, the plan that these face days picture. You may wonder why I know so much about Tejamon. He was my wife's father.

Without the sacrifice of Joe Mann, she wouldn't be here. I didn't learn any of this. We were married some 30 years before I learned any of these stories. When he had a stroke, we took care of him. He'd never told a war story, never even talked about it. When he had his stroke, all of a sudden, everything came flushing out. The man telling me, he could tell me where every unit landed, everything that happened. He didn't really believe some of it, because it seemed so unusual. We went to the archives. We looked it all up in the archives. Everything he said was exactly as it was. We watched Band of Brothers together. He narrated it. Every time they said the soldiers knew, he'd say, this is Hell's Highway. The soldiers knew this is Hell's Highway. He remembered it, even though he couldn't know what day it was, basically, because of the stroke. The next day, his best friend died in his arms. A friend that had gone to the Fort Bragg with him, gone through all the other episodes. His friend was worried about the enemy and more grenades. As he stood in the foxhole, he kept popping his head up to see if something was coming to make sure they didn't get hit. Tejamon, he finally said, stay down. Don't do this. When he popped up, he grabbed him in his arms to pull him back down the hole. When he did, a sniper's bullet went through the head of his friend. He died in his arms. He cried when he told me about that.

He asked himself, why me? Why was I still alive? Others have asked the same thing. I have. In some way, each of us will ask that question. Why me, God? Turn to Acts 12. We have James' death when Peter's escape. Acts 12 verse 2, it says, And he here had killed James, the brother of John with the sword. Because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to take Peter also, the days on them and bred. When he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, delivered him to the four quaternions of the soldiers to keep him, intending after Passover to bring him forth to the people.

Peter, therefore, was kept in prison. The prayer was made without ceasing of the church of God for him. And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, the keepers before the door of the prison. And behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison. He smote Peter on the side, raised him up, saying, Arise quickly, and his chains fell off his hands. Peter had to think he was going to die. James wasn't spared. He was beheaded. Do you think that he didn't ask, Why me? Why wasn't James delivered? Why was I spared? Do you ever have the Why-me's? If you're so, you're not alone. Good deeds and character often come out in the warfare. Some are recognized, some are not.

Will you allow God's Spirit to bring your deeds out in your spiritual warfare? Will you be willing to take the hits for others and make others look good? Or will ego, pride, vanity get in the way? As they often do. I used to read back to Mr. Armstrong when he asked me about his aid. Later years of life, he was hard to read. He read with a magnifying glass. He was legally blind for the last couple of three years. He missed a lot of keys on his typewriter. He learned in the old days when the heavy typewriter was the only type with four fingers, two on each hand. And he missed a lot of keys. And one day, I was reading the articles back, he'd always type something and give it to me to read back. He said, you're reading really slow. And I said, Mr. Armstrong, you miss a lot of keys on the typewriter. And he grabs the paper and looks at it with his magnifying glass. And he says, I need to die. I'm no good. If I can't type and write, I am no good. I need to die. Well, I may have looked good, but he didn't. I knew I had to read faster, so I memorized the keys he missed. The M's were N's, the L's were semicolons. There's only one key away or so, usually. So I learned to read hieroglyphics.

He actually thought his typing had improved.

When he typed, I'd go to my office because he wanted me there reading, but I was on his blind side. So I'd go back into my office and work. And I would count. Every time he hit the carriage return, the bell would go off. So I'd count the bells and run back in to sit in the chair. And that way, when he pulled it out of the typewriter and gave it to me, I'd be there. So he pulls it out. I run in because it's the bottom of the page, and I run in there, and I sit down, and I look. And his cartridge in the typewriter had run out of cartridge on the third line. The whole page was blank. And I thought, wow, if he thought he was worthless when he couldn't tell he missed keys, what's he going to think if he can't even tell there's nothing on the paper? And so I began reading those first three lines slowly. And as I noticed the heavy bond paper he had, if I tilted toward the window, I could read the impressions that were left on that. And so I read that, and he said, well, you're reading really slow. And I said, well, I'm having a bad day.

He was going to go to lunch in a little bit, so I figured I'd just retype it for him at that point, putting a ribbon in. The students had gone to China for a project, and they had just come in, and they wanted to see him at lunch to present a closing evasive. So thank you for the project. And so I thought, that's fine, he'll do that and go to lunch. Well, he did. He sat down, they gave him the gift, he talked, and he started leaving. He said, wait a minute, Aaron, read that thing. I just wrote something so good, you need to hear this. Well, I had to tilt the paper toward the students, and they wondered why three lines were so important. And then when I kept reading it, after there's no lines left, they thought the force was with me.

I'll tell him that story someday.

I knew it was better for him to feel confident than it was for me to look good. And a lot of times we're all that way. It's better to help someone else than to look good yourself. I didn't want to discourage him. Do we get tired and want to stop? Aye-ho, it is work. Ted Jameau was exhausted after Carrington and after Market Gardens in Normandy, and you would think this was enough for one man. But his next stop was the Battle of the Bulge, the Battle at Bastogne. I'm going to read from the record about Bastogne. Seizure of the harbor at Antwerp with the entitlement or encirclement of the destruction of the Allied armies required the German army mechanized forces to use the roadways in order to maintain the speed of their offensive. All seven main roads in the Ardennes mountain range converged on the small town of Bastogne. Control of the crossroads of Bastogne was vital to the Germans to speed their advance and improve the resupply of their German columns, as poor weather conditions made cross-country travel difficult. The battle lasted from mid-December 1944 to January 1945. The 501st was the first to fight in Bastogne when one of its battalions ran into the enemy near Neff, a few kilometers outside of Bastogne. Thus began the heroic defense of Bastogne, in which the 501st gave up not one foot of ground, and in which the division and its comrades-in-arms stopped cold, everything the Germans could throw at them. It ruined Hitler's offensive, his timetable, and eventually won the 101st presidential unit citation for the unit. All seven highways leading to Bastogne were cut by the German forces by noon of December 21st, and by nightfall the conglomeration of airborne and armored infantry forces were recognized by both sides as being surrounded. The American soldiers were outnumbered. They were lacking in cold weather gear, lacking in ammunition. They were short of food and medical supplies. They were short on leadership, as many of the officers, including the 101st commander, Major General Taylor, were elsewhere. And due to some of the worst winter weather in years, the surrounded U.S. forces could not be resupplied by air or have air support. The most famous quote from the battle came from the acting commander, Brigadier General McAuliffe, when confronted with a written request from the German General Lutzpigs to surrender Bastogne. He simply replied, nuts. The commander of the German interpreter simply interpreted us go to hell.

After the battle, the newspapers referred to the division as the battered bastards of Bastogne. Bastogne was hell, for Ted Yemone. Like others, he suffered from bitter cold. He was hit by shrapnel in his leg from a tree burst. They continually waited for resupply, air support, but the planes, they did drop things, but usually behind enemy lines because they couldn't tell where anything was. Most of the supplies landed with the enemy, and with no help arriving, he said he felt totally alone. Do you ever feel alone? Others have, throughout history, and there are times when you will feel that way. 2 Kings 6, the story I always enjoyed as a child, the servant of Elisha.

This is a story in 2 Kings 6, verse 8, where the king of Syria was at war with Israel. It says he took counsel with his servants. He says, I'm going to camp in such a place. The man of God sent to the king of Israel said, be aware that you don't pass in that place because that's where the Syrians are. And the king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God told him and warned him and saved him there not once, not twice, many times. The heart of the Syrian king was sore troubled. Then he called his servant and said, which of you is for Israel? Who's telling him where I am? Who's the traitor, basically? The servant said, no, my lord, none of us. Elisha the prophet in Israel tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedchamber. And he said, go and spy where he is, that I may send and fetch him. And he was told he's in Dothan. Dothan was a small little village, tiny town. And so he sent hither horses and chariots and a great host, and they came by night and compass the city about. And when the servant of the man of God had risen early and gone forth, behold, a host encompassed the city with horses and chariots. And his servant said to him, Alas, my master, what shall we do? He was probably thinking, hey, he told you where the guy was going to be time after time. Why didn't he tell us he was coming here? Why couldn't we go get away? I'm sure that's what he thought. Elisha answered and said, Fear not, for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. He's probably thinking, you're crazy! This little town and a host of chariots out there? Elisha prayed, and he said, Lord, open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of round about Elisha. In your mind's eye, you have to see the chariots and the horses of God. I wish I could tell you they take a look at the angels around here in the room. I'm sure they're here. Probably spooky if you saw them. But he did. He saw them. You must seek God's help in all the things you do, the small things. It's not only the big things, but the small things that we know God will supply our need. He promises that. Tejamon waited for help at Bastone. He said, Occasionally some supplies landed there, minimal but enough. And I asked him again, How did you survive? Again, it wasn't luck. He said, Socks. He said, Socks? He said, Yeah. He said, They saved my feet. He had gotten a care package from home right up to Cairntan before Market Gardens. His mom, along with the cookies and things, put in a pair of wool socks. He was the only person in his unit that had a pair of wool socks. He allowed cotton socks that held water and froze. He said, Socks, saved my feet. Socks from Mom saved him. Often it's another person that gives comfort, a kind word, a small gift, a pair of socks, a small scripture that carries you through. Will you give that comfort to others? You don't know how many times little things you do may make a difference for people that come through.

You have to choose to give comfort to others. We know in Romans 8, 28, it says, All things work together for the good of those who love God. And God sends people and things to help out at different times in our life. Turn to John 20, if you would.

Every day that I washed and cleaned Ted Gimon's feet, I saw his feet and his toes, mostly black, misshapen toenails, but they still had his toes, about the only person in his unit that did. I remembered Bastogne, the price he paid for his country. And every time in my own mind, I saw Christ washing the disciples' feet, and the price that he paid for you and me to start his plan. And I thought of doubting Thomas in John 20, verse 24. But Thomas, one of the 12 called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples said to him, We've seen the Lord. He said unto them, Thomas backs back, Except I see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. I saw him on the cross. He was dead. He was put in a tomb. I'm not going to believe.

After eight days, began the disciples were with him. Thomas with them, and came Jesus. The door was being shot and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. He just showed up through the walls. Didn't have to open the door for him. And he said to Thomas, because he had heard Thomas. He knew what Thomas said. Okay, Thomas, put your finger here. Hold my hand. Put your hand here. Thrust it to my side. Don't be faithless, but believing. Thomas answered and said, My Lord and my God. Jesus let him do what Thomas asked. He knew. And Jesus said, Thomas, because you've seen me, you have believed. Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. You and I have not seen, but we believe. And we know seeing is believed. It does remind us that you and I must believe without seeing. And when I saw his toes, I could see what happened. If this wasn't enough, the 101st airborne was now ordered into Germany. The next challenge was not being shot at, not freezing, not starving. Ted Gemon had been made a squad leader, and his scouting patrol walked into one of the death camps. He had seen enough of death, but this made him sick. He pulled out some of their talking bars, tried to feed them, but they died. In front of them, they couldn't handle food at all. They were simply too weak, but they clung on to them, begging for help. We are spiritual soldiers. We will help liberate. When we become spirit beings, we will face a population that will just come out of the tribulation. The few remainders that saw it all. The biggest death camp in the history of mankind.

We read the scriptures for our own courage and our own faith, and we should, but we're here to help learn to be able to help others.

James 5, 20 says, let him know he which converts a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death. Hide a multitude of sins. Help others. Zechariah 8, 23. You heard that the other night after Shavu's presentation. Thus says the Lord a host, those days which shall come to pass, the ten men will take hold out of all the languages of the nations. Take hold of the skirt of him that's a jew saying we will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.

They don't ask that now. People in the death camp beg for physical food. People will come to you for spiritual food. Tejamon didn't do it for the reward. He had five bronze stars and purple hearts. True heroes don't brag. They seldom even talk about it. I said I've never known this if you hadn't had a stroke, but there's a lot of fakes. Christ said many will come in my name and deceive many. There are always people that fake.

You can't make yourself a spiritual hero. Simon Magus wanted that. He was baptized and asked, give me the power so I can lay hands and have the Holy Spirit put on people. He wanted to be seen, be the leader, be in charge. No humility. There have always been people who like to be seen, like to be in charge. Turn to Matthew 6. Christ tells us what to do. He didn't teach that. He taught humility. He taught, do everything for God, not for men. Matthew 6 verse 2, when you do your alms, don't sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do, that they may have the glory of men. They have the reward.

Verse 5, when you pray, don't be like the hypocrites. They love to pray standing in the synagogue where people will see them. Verse 6, when you pray, enter the closet. When you shut your door, pray to your father in secret, and your father which sees you in secret will reward you openly. Verse 17, when you fast, anoint your head, wash your face, that you appear not to mend the fast, but to your father, which is in secret. Your father which sees in secret will reward you openly. It's not about laying up treasures on earth. As he says, moth and rust corrupt, and thieves break and steal. Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, neither rust nor rust can corrupt, where thieves can't steal, where your treasure is there your heart is also. Our treasure lies in the meaning of these holy days and being in part of God's family. It may seem like Ted Jameau was a giant and he was a war hero, but he like all had weaknesses, and weaknesses come out in warfare as well. Besides not being able to swim, he was a sleepwalker. In Holland, he said he woke up one day at two o'clock in the morning. He was sitting by a windmill with the Germans on one side and Americans on the other, and if he walked either way, he'd be shot. So he sat there all night waiting, shivering, trying to figure out where do we go. He was stuck in the middle. How many times do our weaknesses, our humanity, making heroes of men instead of God, put us in the middle or we don't know where to go? It was interesting for us to see the VA. We went to him to get help with his stroke. They got us in line, and then when the man came up and asked, you know, who he was and what he had been in, and he told them, they pulled him to the front of the line. They said, wow, he's one of them. There were not many that returned from his unit that fought at Mastone and all the places that he had fought. When they looked at his record, they thought, wow. And again, they took us into a room and they asked him, where were you shot? And he, here, here, here, here, everything but his leg, where he got the purple heart, because he had to go to the hospital to get a purple heart. He was behind the line shot all the time, so he had one purple heart and that he healed over totally, so he didn't even look like he'd been hit in the leg. As we told all these things, they said, we don't doubt anything he said. With his record, that's what happened. But they told us, if it's not in the book, it didn't happen.

It was sad. So many that live and work in covert operations aren't in the book, and they can't get help, even though they were the most in the most dangerous situations of any war. But there's a book that we can be written in. Revelation 17, 8. If you turn there, we can read about that book that God has opened for us to be in. Verse 8, Revelation 17, The beast that you saw was and is not shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, go into perdition, and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life, from the foundations of the world, when they behold the beast that was and is not and yet is. Verse 14, these shall make war with the Lamb, the Lamb shall overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and they that are with Him are able, are called, chosen, and faithful. It's you, and that's me.

Revelation 20, a couple pages over, verse 12, He says, I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, the books were open, another book was open, which was the book of life. The dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. Many will eventually be in the books in later chapters. There are only a few of Jesus Christ's elite core of firstfruits, God's 101st, if you will, His Medal of Honor recipients. Verse 6, Revelation 20 says, Blessed is He that's in the first resurrection, special opportunity that you have and that I have, and all those that He calls now. What will be the reaction to you? I suppose people will light up. They're going to ask you, how did you survive? It won't be luck. It'll be hard work and study of the Word and living like Christ did, where you use what you learned through the years to teach others how to get in the book of life. We're told in Hebrews 5, 8 that Jesus, the Son of God, yet He learned by the things He suffered. You do learn through suffering, and we learn by the things that we suffer in this life at times. We're told in Philippians 2, 3 to let nothing be done through strife and being glory, and then lowliness of mind let each esteem the other better than themselves. Humility. Every morning and every night that I had to help my father-in-law with things that were not of His choosing or mind, all the tasks were tedious. Many of them were unpleasant. Some pay other people to do it. Some refuse to do it. If you take that road, you miss out on the lessons of foot washing, the lessons of Christ's death. You must choose to do it. I tried to give dignity to Him, although it messes me, and I'd try to cover it over. I'd have him in his wheelchair. He'd one hand still work. He could hold the hose, and I'd wash things, let him rinse them off, try to make him feel useful. Things, try to help him in his later years there. Because we're all in the same boat. There but for the grace of God go any of us. And as you do, those things are unpleasant. Those things that are difficult. Those things that may even seem impossible. You have to see it as an honor, not as a punishment. Our spiritual war is a little at a time. God has honored you to be part of His army. It's an honor. You will have your Normandy's, where you're dropped and you don't know where you're going to land. You will have your Carrington's, where you charge the enemy, and all you have is spiritual bullets. You will have your market gardeners, where someone else's courage may take a grenade to save you. The Bible stories save me. I pray that my story and your story helps someone else get through it. We'll all have your bastones, where it seems like you're alone and the enemy and the elements are all around you. And all you have maybe is a pair of socks, your Bible, God's promise to comfort you. And that's all you need.

You will have your finding the world's death camps, held by Satan, trying to liberate them of truth, where many today don't even know they're lost, don't even know they have to be spoon-fed from their spiritual concentration camps. World War II ended with enough strength you can physically stop the killing, one side stronger than the other, and the killing stops. But that doesn't stop the hate. The real war is in the mind, not in the physical. They shall not learn more war anymore can truly happen only when we can teach others to end the hate. And we must be able to end that the only way it can cease. That's why Jesus said, love God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. We are here to let God's Spirit reach our heart, to reach our mind, to reach our very souls. And we're perfected through the trials that we have to go through, and the wars we fight. If you perfect God's love, truly they will not learn war anymore. Maybe no one but God will know the wars that you have fought, but he is the only one that counts. Live or die, you can win. We can help each other. Do you want to be in God's book of life? There's only one way to be in his book, to trust God, serve him. And remember, you can't do it alone, and you're not alone. Philippians 4.13, remember, Paul said, I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. We can do the same thing as Paul. That's what stories, the way you tell them, makes a difference, but even more, it makes a difference the way you see them. It's important how you react to situations, how you react is what counts, how you choose to face adversity, how you choose to face inequity, how you choose to face those who may wish you harm. Many people have left because someone did something wrong in the church, and if that's what it is, I'm out of here. They gave away their crown when their actions have nothing to do with your salvation, unless you let it. You have to go above and beyond, as Jesus said. If you've only done what's expected, the letter of the law, then you're not in the book. Always give God a place in your life, because if you're not in the book, you didn't happen. Our D-Day happens every day. We face the trials in this life. We celebrate these feasts to show God's plan. What is beyond the war, the true peace, the mankind's never been able to happen. If you ignite the spirits in you, you can face any challenge that comes to you. Don't be caught as a thief in the night, or close to the end. Keep fighting. It is soon, and most many people aren't prepared, but you must be. Be urgent in your training. Spend this week celebrating what God has in store for you. God sees your victory already done. In His mind, He knows it's already there.

You will have won your D-Day, and you won't be a 100-year-old man reminiscing with a cane or in a wheelchair, talking about the war. He'll be a spirit being, because you will be in God's book of life. You did happen. Celebrate your victory this week.