THE PRICE OF FREEDOM

“Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.” --- Romans 13:1-2

Recently, I was listening to the show, “Adventures in Odyssey” on the radio with my children. It’s a real fine series featuring spiritual messages as learned through the lives of running characters in a made-up town. This particular episode (probably from about 20 years ago) dealt with a boy whose father had died before the boy was born in the Vietnam War. Thanks to his mother, he had a real healthy memory of his father as a war hero that vicariously came out in the boy’s patriotism and eagerness to “celebrate” past wars of this country and their heroes. That is until he ran into a stick in the mud in the form of a teacher whose opposition to the war was so great that he considered those who fought in the war murderers. His mother’s reaction was typical of the error that all Christians have from time to time on this earth --- She thought she could protect her son from that hate by living in the idyllic town of Odyssey. But, as we all figure out, there’s no escaping the strong hand of our enemy while we’re here on this earth.

I bring this up, as we enter into our yearly celebration of our independence and freedom in this country, because I see the enemy building a stronghold on this subject that has only increased since this particular episode of “Adventures in Odyssey” first aired. Since Vietnam, the opposition to any and every war effort, save the short “Desert Storm” campaign, has met with stronger and stronger opposition and outrage --- A far cry from the way such campaigns as the World Wars brought this country together.

Now I’m not going to try to argue that any of these war efforts since the Vietnam War are nearly as noble as World War II, for example, because to me that argument is irrelevant. We’re a sinful nation run by sinful leaders of a sinful populous. Mistakes and ill-advised efforts have been and will continue to be forged. However, this fact must be separated from the fact that those who have received the high call of serving this country in the military during this time are every bit the hero as those who fought in every campaign this country has ever been involved in going back to the noblest of all --- Our War for Independence!

The deception the enemy has put out there on this front is so strong that now there is a growing sentiment that with our health care and economic crisis, veterans who have fought and been injured in these war efforts should be paying their own medical expenses. What an outrage!

I recently read an account by the son of a man depicted on the famous Iwo Jima Memorial of what happened to the six men depicted on the famous statue which pictured them laying an American flag on top of a hill on that island during a World War II battle. He talked about his own father and the others, who all became heroes in everyone else’s eyes, but he also talked about the tortures each of them went through as a result of their experience and sacrifice on behalf of this country’s freedom. Can you imagine what those who fought in Vietnam, who were making the same sacrifice, felt like when they got back with the same tortured memories but who were called murderers instead of heroes?

It brings to mind another who paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom, but was reviled by those He came to save. When Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends (John 15:13),” it squarely fits what each and every veteran of this country has done on our behalf to preserve our freedom. To me, each and everyone are both a friend and a hero --- Especially those who literally laid down their lives!