THE FINAL INSPECTION

[handymanherb]

THE FINAL INSPECTION

The soldier stood and faced God,
Which must always come to pass.
He hoped his shoes were shining,
Just as brightly as his brass.

'Step forward now, you soldier,
How shall I deal with you ?
Have you always turned the other cheek ?
To My Church have you been true?'

The soldier squared his shoulders and said,
'No, Lord, I guess I ain't.
Because those of us who carry guns,
Can't always be a saint.

I've had to work most Sundays,
And at times my talk was tough.
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.

But, I never took a penny,
That wasn't mine to keep...
Though I worked a lot of overtime,
When the bills got just too steep.

And I never passed a cry for help,
Though at times I shook with fear.
And sometimes, God, forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.

I know I don't deserve a place,
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around,
Except to calm their fears.

If you've a place for me here, Lord,
It needn't be so grand.
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand.

There was a silence all around the throne,
Where the saints had often trod.
As the soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.

'Step forward now, you soldier,
You've borne your burdens well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell.'

Author Unknown~

It's the Military, not the reporter who has given us the freedom of the press.
It's the Military, not the poet, who has given us the freedom of speech. It's
the Military, not the politicians that ensures our right to life, liberty and
the pursuit of happiness. It's the Military who salutes the flag, who serves
beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag.

If you care to offer the smallest token of recognition and appreciation for the
military, please pass this on and pray for our men and women who have served and are currently serving our country and pray for those who have given the ultimate sacrifice for freedom.

 

[justpassingthru]

Herb,

I say this with respect for your beliefs and with compassion and tenderness of heart, but this is a smoking meat forum (and personally I don't feel it's the place for chain letters) and the danger of the the implied "truth" in this poem has far reaching consequences which are much worse than disregarding the 40°-140° in 4 hours rule we use here.

I recognized and appreciated what the military has and is doing, when my number was picked I stepped forward instead of running to Canada like many, but it's the Constitution of the United States of America that guarantees the rights and freedoms of the people...

Respectfully,

Gene

 

[handymanherb]

Oh I thought this section was for all the above,sorry and God Bless you too.

 

[nwdave]

Excuse me, JustPassingThru but you're off base.  It has been determined that this is the correct forum for such a submission.  You might want to take a closer look at the types of forums here.  By your standards, the posting today of somebody who announced he's going to be a daddy is also not appropriate for this site.  The effort being lead in another forum for "CARE" packages to our young troops serving would also not be appropriate, because once again, we're not talking about smoking meat.  In case you missed it, this is afterall, a family oriented site.  We discuss all sorts of topics.  Even some which might be non-smoking related.  Oh, you did mention the constitution didn't you?  You might reread the section on freedom of speech and freedom of religion.  Now, you try and have a nice Christmas or whatever you want to call the winter season.  Some of us aren't ashamed of our beliefs and get rather tired of somebody jumping up and down and trampling on our rights and beliefs, which are also mentioned in the constitution.

 

[shooterrick]

While I love the poem and have zero problem with the post may I make a point. 

While our rights are enumerated in the constitution and it is the Soldier who takes the oath to defend and protect the constitution,  these rights are "endowed by our creator".  The constitution is a great document but to place security of your rights in a document written by men is dangerous.  To do so invites action which could alter or eliminate your rights.  We see governments change almost daily now.  If this could happen then they are not really rights are they?  They become little more than privilages like a drivers liscense or the many other things that in todays secular world are "called" rights but are actually privilages not enumerated even in the constitution little on endowed by a higher intellegence.   

Regardless of what the future holds for the written words in our constitution, our rights are not governed by the whim of men but endowed by a higher power.  Our forefathers understood this and made it clear that the constitution and the bill of rights are simply an attempt by man to place into the written word what they inherently understood to be the will of their creator.  If we accept this then regardless of man made doctines and changes to the written word we still are endowed with these human rights and have the capacity and obligation to insist they be preserved.     

 

[justpassingthru]

There was a recent thread about the cooking techniques of certain TV personalities which attacked the person, the owner of this board stated the policy at SMF was to not attack the poster but if we disagree to give our personal beliefs as to the problem of the technique in question, that is what I will attempt to do here.

The "implied truth" (doctrine) of the poem is that there will be a final inspection and man can enter God's Heaven at the time of this inspection (implicated in the poem to be at the time of death) by his good works. 

While the soldier confesses that he has "faults" it is not a humble confession from a contrite heart that he is a "sinner" in the presence of a holy God deserving to be cast into Hell, on the contrary, in his pride he "squared his soldiers, in hope that his "works," shined shoes and brass, would impress God.

God said in His Word, and it is impossible for God to lie, that He resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble, ...this poem negates this principle and presents God as a liar.

God's Word says all of our righteous acts are as filthy rags, ...this poem says they have merit.

The poem misrepresents the character of God Almighty in that He is some wishy-washy Creator that can be cowered by His creation and is a cruel, mean and despicable Father in ignoring the plea of His Son when He prayed in the garden of Gethsemane, "Father, if there be any other way let this cup pass from me,"(in other words, Jesus was asking the question if there was any other way sinful man could enter Heaven other than by His torture and death on the cross) and allowing Him to suffer needlessly, ...this poem negates the finished work of Jesus Christ on the Cross and allows this "soldier" in to Heaven by his good works.

The poem says there will be a "final inspection" when and where our destiny for eternity will be determined, while the New Testament teaches 'today' is the day of salvation and those that accept God's free gift of grace will be "born again" and therefore there is no (final) condemnation (judgment) of those that are in Christ.

The "final inspection" spoken of in the New Testament is the Great White Throne Judgment by the Lord Jesus Christ, the books will be opened and everyone will be judged from their works as to how they matched up with the character and works of Jesus Christ (He was sinless, all fall short of the glory of God) and the judgment of all present at this tribunal, without exception, is to be cast into a lake burning with fire ...this poem presents this "soldier" to be as good as or equal with Jesus, ...blasphemy!

This poem uses patriotism to diminish the authority of the Word of God, please don't be deceived.

There are many more examples of false doctrine in this poem, but I think I have covered enough for anyone to be able (to take their Bible and look up these verses, ask their pastor concerning their veracity, or PM me) to see it's fallacy.

As for the consequences of passing on this chain letter I'll leave it to you to decide with the warning written in the Revelation, "If anyone takes away any words from this book, God will take away his portion of the Tree of Life and the holy city that are described in this book.

These are my personal beliefs and I will respect the rules of this board and not debate with anyone about them.

I hope you can see my fellow smokers, I'm just trying to warn you of the disaster in believing the doctrine of this poem, no different than any of you would warn someone about following the 40°-140° principle in smoking.

Gene

...

 

[handymanherb]

How do you know what was in the man's heart, was he was saved, but troubled by what a war made him do and not feeling worthy, since he had to kill and do stuff that he was taught not to do in the name of the Lord.

But it was just a simple story and it was supposed to make you remember those gave all, those still fighting,and not being home with family's during the holidays.

We at the church just filled a bunch of boxes for the troops, just a little something to remind them , we will not forget what they do for us and give them a little joy, knowing that complete strangers care and are praying for their safety.

 

[justpassingthru]

First off let me say that what I have written is spoken in a loving tone and from a heart of compassion, I say that because in this electric medium of communication often times the tone and inclination doesn’t come through…, what is written is viewed in black and white and the intention and interpretation is left up to the reader, and often times they are mistaken or it's taken the wrong way.

May I reiterate that my purpose is to expose incorrect doctrine and I do so because it is a subject that causes me great consternation and heartache, I talk to people daily that put the trust of their eternal souls in simple little stories like this and not Biblical truth, when I come here to relax and try to escape from the reality of the world around me and read the same thing, …I kinda snapped.

Herb I commend you for the love in your heart that caused you give, to serve and to participate in what your church is doing to brighten the lives of soldiers, it is better to give than receive.

Now you have asked a legitimate question so can we discuss this together in the love of Christ without any contention so that anyone that is following this thread and might have questions or doubts might learn (if the mods permit)?

First off we all must agree we are prideful, I’ve done things in my pride that I’m ashamed off, and if we are honest with ourselves we will all agree we have done things we are ashamed of, …it’s the pride that we are all born with that causes that and it’s this same pride that separated Lucifer and the demons from God, that separated Adam from God and separates us from God.  That was one of my points; this man was prideful and standing before God, God is Just and in His Justice God could not allow him to enter Heaven, if He did, that would set a precedent and satan and all of the demons could use it to enter Heaven too, they could say, you let him in, be just and let us in too, so you see God must be just even if it breaks His heart to send the soldier to Hell.

As for being a soldier and having to follow orders, orders that might go against our conscience or moral beliefs, Paul in the book of Romans teaches that we Christians are to obey the authorities that rule over us (even if they are corrupt) and we are to obey the laws of the country we are living in, so God respects every man and women that has been put in this position for obeying His Word. As for any person, myself included, who might be troubled in their conscience by the acts or deeds they have done, let me say with full assurance there is cleansing at the Cross by the blood of Jesus, once these acts or deeds have been confessed God says (1) He wraps them in a box and throws them into the deepest part of the ocean, (2) He throws them into a sea of forgiveness never to be remembered by Him again, (3)  He separates us from them as far as the East is from the West (we can go East all day and never arrive at West), so for these incredible promises given to us by God (and it’s impossible for Him to lie) there would be no reason for this soldier to feel  unworthy if he was saved (or any other dear brother or sister that is still suffering from what we were ordered to do).

We must realize and believe that God doesn’t judge us here on earth by or for what we have done or are doing, David was a violent man, he was going to kill Nabal, but God sent Abigail to correct him and he repented of his intentions, after he took Bathsheba, when Nathan confronted him by recounting a story, in his anger David ordered the man killed, then Nathan said you’re the man David and he repented of his actions and asked for forgiveness, there would be the same grace and forgiveness for the violence of this soldier in his lifetime if he had chose it.

David was man of war, he committed adultery and then had the husband killed, and when he wanted to build a temple for God, God  said his hands were too bloody to build it, and then He commend David for being a man after His own heart and promised him the Messiah would be his grandchild.  Again, God is just so if He cleansed and accepted the soldier David into Heaven He could have cleansed and accept this soldier into Heaven if he had followed David’s example and finished his business with God before he died. 

David had a personal relationship with God and was absolutely certain of his place in Heaven, and since this soldier was uncertain and without assurance this shows he didn’t have a personal relationship with God, when David died he went to the good side of Hell called Abraham’s Bosom-Paradise, since the resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ Paul teaches in 2 Corinthians that every saved person that dies is met by and is with the Lord Jesus Christ, their Savior-Redeemer-Lord, …not in front of  God that will at that moment decide their eternal destiny, …what would have actually happened when this soldier died (since the poem doesn’t speak of the joyous reunion of the soldier meeting or being with Jesus) is he would never have seen or been in the presence of God, but rather, as taught by Jesus  in Luke 16, the Angels would have carried his soul to Hell to await the final judgment .  

I’m convinced, and hope all can see, we can use the lives of the characters of the Old Testament in conjunction with the application and appropriation of the doctrine of the New Testament, with certainty, to evaluate the condition of this soldier’s soul and all those that think like him, and unfortunately …he waited too long.

The good that I pray for, that will come from this poem, is the people that think this way will repent and receive Jesus as Lord and Savior now and not wait until it's too late.

Gene