Veterans Day at Faith Temple, 2020

 

   In the United States, Memorial Day (the last Monday in May) honors those who died while serving in the military. Veterans Day (Nov. 11) honors all American veterans — living and dead — who served during wartime or peacetime. 

Veterans Day occurs on November 11 in the U.S. in honor of the “eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month” of 1918 that signaled the end of World War I, known as Armistice Day. “Armistice” means “truce.” President Eisenhower officially changed the name from Armistice Day to Veterans Day.

In Nov. 2003, Ms. Esther Rosella Wood Thompson’s funeral was held. She was the mother of late Pastor James H. Thompson, founding pastor of Faith Temple. Ms. Thompson, born in 1902, died at age 101.

Pastor Thompson’s father, the late Lawrence Thompson, served as a WWI U.S. soldier in France. Pastor Thompson recalled his mother’s description of Nov. 11, 1918, the day the Armistice was signed. “My mother and her family were in the cotton fields when they heard the Greer mill whistles (announce the war’s end),” he said.

At least 50 military veterans’ bodies are buried in Faith Temple’s cemetery. I won’t list all whose remains rest in our church’s graveyard, but a few veterans I personally knew or knew of are these: 

Ronnie Alexander (Army, Vietnam), Charles Anderson (Army), Grady Atkins (Army, WWII), Ray Burrell (Army), Joesph Burrell (Air Force),
William Troy Burrell (Army, Korea), Paul Butler (Army WWII), Frank Collins (Army, Panama), Bill Collins (Navy), Rayford Crumley (Army, WWII), Benny Few (Air Force), James Few (Army), J.T. Few (Army, WWII), John Few (branch unknown), Charles Fleming (US Army, WWII),  Paul “Pete” Forrester, WWII), Henry Hawley, Jr. (Army Air Forces, WWII), Eugene Hawley (Air Force), Pauline Hawley (Army Air Forces, WWII), James “Jimmy” Henson (Navy), Glenn Knighton (Army, WWII), David Lynn (Air Force, Korea), Douglas Lynn (Army), Bergin Mosteller (Army, Vietnam), Harold Pettit (Navy, Korea), Clayton Pitcher (Army, WWI), Leo Porter (Air Force, Korea), Millard “M.B.” Robertson (Army, WWII prisoner of war), Rev. Dan Smith (Army, Nat’l Guard), David Taylor (Army), and Billy Thompson, Sr. (Navy, WWII, grandfather of the Rev. Trey Thompson). 

Four living military veterans, as I know of, now attend Faith Temple: Don Lollis (Nat’l Guard), Perry Yoder (Army, Germany), George Hembree (Army, Vietnam), and me (Army, Vietnam). Mr. Perry Yoder, a retired career soldier, served 21 years in the U.S. Army. 

Some may ask if Christians should serve in the military when their country goes to war. 

Dr. Darrell Cole, author of “When God Says War Is Right,” says there are “just wars.” A “just war” is “a war that is deemed to be morally or theologically justifiable,” sources say.

Cole says the just war doctrine held by the Church does not view all use of force as evil. It states that war can actually be a positive act of love entirely consistent with the character of God.   

“Love of God and love of neighbor impels Christians to seek a just peace for all, especially for their neighbors, and military force is sometimes an appropriate means for seeking that peace,” Cole writes.

Ambrose of Milan (339-397 A.D.), a “church father,” formulated ideas about church-state relations. “In Ambrose’s eyes, the Christian who stands idly by while his neighbor is attacked is no virtuous person, and perhaps not even a Christian,” Cole says. 

“The Bible distinguishes between unlawful killing and lawful killing. The Bible prohibits murder, which is the unlawful taking of a human life, but the Bible permits lawful killing as in war or when carrying out capital punishment under the authority of the state” (from “Verse by Verse Ministry”).
 

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PASTOR BURROWS SPEAKS OF 'LOVE' AND HIS DEPARTED SON AT THANKSGIVING BANQUET

Faith Temple’s Thanksgiving Dinner evening celebration was held on Wed., Nov. 13, 2024, in Fleming Hall. Mrs. Amanda Campbell organized the event; Mrs. Cindy McCall and Mrs. Anna McCall decorated; Pastor Raymond D. Burrows recognized servers before blessing the food; and Mrs. Ann Burrows led in songs, accompanied on the piano by Mrs. Sandra Martin.   “Dear ones, as a church family, if I could have one of my dreams come more fully true, it’s this: that we learn to, or grow into, appreciating our church family more and more,” Pastor said, as he spoke after the meal. “That we not take each other for granted — not in the least.” If we want to appreciate another person and not look down on anyone, we should realize that each person we meet knows something we don’t know, he said.    “That person’s been somewhere you have not been, no matter who you are or where you came from,” he said, adding that such an attitude should “escalate” here in the church family. “It can only happ...
Read more

Mr. JIMMIE LELL HAS 'BEEN BLESSED'

   Mr. Jimmie Lell, 89, born June 2, 1935, is married to Mrs. Sarah Good Lell; they live in Travelers Rest, SC. They joined Faith Temple Church in 1970 and have always belonged to the Willing Workers Sunday School Class. “I remember teachers Emily Reynolds, Connie Bishop, John Few, Jon White, Don Lollis, and Beatrice Whitman,” Jimmie says. “I get a lot out of Sunday School.”     Jimmie’s parents were the late Mr. Lee Roy Lell and Mrs. Carrie Lou Bell Lell. His two brothers have passed on. His sister died at birth.     “Mother died at 54 due to a gall bladder operation,” Jimmie says. “Dad died at 64 from cirrhosis. He drank when younger but quit. After Mother died, he remarried and drank again, socially. I talked to him, but it didn’t do any good.”    Jimmie recalls World War II.     “I remember President Roosevelt. I was seven, and they were going to draft my dad,” Jimmie says. His father worked at Slater Mill (Slater...
Read more

I Know This To Be True -- LINDA TRAMMELL, as told to Jerry Martin

Image
  Ms. Linda Trammell Ms. Linda Trammell gives this testimony for today:  “When I wake up, I thank the Lord for letting me live through the night!” she says. “That is a special blessing. Another day of surprises; I’m just glad to be here to experience whatever comes my way.”    She’s thankful for God’s awesomeness.    “When I go outdoors, I thank Him for the beautiful blue skies, the sunshine, the different trees (this time of the year they so pretty; the different autumn colors), and the flowers that are still blooming. These are things that I am grateful for every day, and I thank Him over and over for them. I can’t help it because it is so awesome. God is awesome! He made all the beautiful things for everyone to enjoy. Simple things, but yet so important.”    She says an occasional rainy day is nice because we usually need the rain and we have a tendency to slow down and read a book or do something that needs to be done that we h...
Read more