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|  by Rev. Wallace Schulz
LHF Evangelist
Civil War generals faced a very serious problem: desertion! 103,000 Confederate soldiers deserted by dropping their guns and fleeing into the forests. The Union army deserters numbered 287,000. Military leaders tried to prevent desertion. Some first-time offenders had their head shaved. Others were forced to wear a board with the inscription, “Coward.” Still others were painfully branded with a letter “D” burned deeply into their buttock, hip or cheek. Military regulations stipulated the letter had to be at least 1 ½ inches high and it had to be burned on with a hot iron or cut in deep with a razor. The wound was filled with black powder to cause both irritation and indelibility. The Scripture likens Christians to soldiers. Followers of Christ are in an endless battle (Ephesians 6:10-17). As soldiers in our Master’s army, each of us fails daily. We often even desert Him. But, does Jesus torture us each time we fail? Does He brand us as eternal failures? The psalmist writes: “If Thou, LORD, shouldst mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with Thee” (Psalm 130:3-4a). The prophet Ezra says: “All that has come upon us for our evil deeds and our great guilt . . . [Yet] you our God have requited us less than our iniquities deserve . . .” (Ezra 9:13). No, God has not branded you as an eternal failure. In Christ and His forgiveness, live every day with the assurance that even when you stumble the Lord does not label you as a deserter of His grace. Every time the devil tries to “brand” you as an eternal deserter, let the Holy Spirit illumine your heart with the hope-giving example of how Peter deserted Jesus when Jesus was on trial; and, how Jesus responded. Matthew writes: “Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard and a certain servant-girl came to him and said, ‘You too were with Jesus the Galilean.’ But he denied it before them all, saying, ‘I do not know what you are talking about.’ And when he had gone out to the gateway, another servant-girl saw him and said to those who were there, ‘This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.’ And again he denied it with an oath, ‘I do not know the man.’ And a little later the bystanders came up and said to Peter, ‘Surely you too are one of them; for the way you talk gives you away.’ Then he began to curse and swear, ‘I do not know the man!’ And immediately a cock crowed. And Peter remembered the word which Jesus had said, ‘Before a cock crows, you will deny Me three times.’ And he went out and wept bitterly” (Matthew 26:69-75). For his desertion of Christ, Peter certainly deserved to be branded deeply and painfully with a letter “D.” However, instead of condemning Peter, Jesus restored him: “Jesus said to [Peter] . . . You follow me” (John 21:15-19). In every hour of your life, Satan will tempt you to desert your Savior. Do not be afraid. By the power of God’s living Word and the Spirit, cling with confidence to Christ by the faith He gives you. Do it with confidence and certainty, saying with St. Paul: “But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:37-39). This is Good News for you and, we know you, like us, want to tell this Good News to others. Through translating and distributing Luther’s Small Catechism (a brief summary of the basic saving doctrines of the Bible) and other Christian literature, the Lutheran Heritage Foundation seeks to tell this good news, in 85 different tongues, in 70 countries. As God enables you, please pray for and financially support this worldwide work of Lutheran Heritage Foundation. With your help, millions can hear, again and again, that Jesus has not branded them as eternal failures. Rather, through His forgiveness, Jesus wants to claim them as His own and save them, so that they may live with Him forever in Paradise.
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