Semper Fi

Note: The following excerpt is from Sergeant Greg Doyle's new book on faith due for release on June 20, 2009, called The Stinging Salve. Greg is a 28-year veteran with the Upland Police Department, Upland, California.

The Marine Corps Model

As a formerly trained Army bullet-catcher (Company B, 2nd Battalion, 60th Mechanized Infantry Brigade, 9th Infantry Division), I can honestly say I do still profess to be a soldier, after thirty years since my honorable discharge from the service. First and foremost, I am a soldier in Christ in the midst of a spiritual war being waged by an evil Enemy here on Earth. In my capacity as a police sergeant, I am a soldier of my trade dealing with battles on the streets with violent lawbreakers and criminals. At home, I am an old soldier at my post, guarding and protecting my family to the best of my abilities.

But the truth remains, because I never had the opportunity to serve my country in a war zone, I am a American veteran, but not a combat veteran. I have a deep and abiding respect for any man or woman who wore or still wears an American military uniform, especially those who have served in combat zones, and particularly those who came under fire in combat zones. Who cannot be moved at the assembly of U.S. war veterans at a military memorial service? Who can fully recognize and understand the burden of freedom they shouldered for the rest of us by stepping into harm’s way?

I mention the United States military and my former affiliation to illustrate a principle that most folks would recognize, but rarely discuss openly. For the purpose of discussion, I will call this particular concept The Marine Corps Model. It has a direct application to faith and helps to explain, in part, why Christianity is what it appears to be.

I have a great affection for the Marine Corps, though I have never served in that uniform. While all of the military branches have some form of basic training, the ground-fighting branches (namely the Army and the Marines) have the most rigorous and intensive physical training standards among the five branches of service. I have never witnessed a former American Army soldier stand up in a crowded movie theater and salute when the Army theme song, “The Caissons Go Rolling Along,” was being played as part of any particular movie. But I swear I have been privy to observe old marines leap to their feet at the first few bars of “The Halls of Montezuma,” throw a salute, and suffer cat-calls and ridicule through the entire song (especially from movie-goers who were seated directly behind them).

The principle is quite simple: once a marine, ALWAYS a marine. Semper Fi (short for Semper Fidelis) in Latin means always faithful. And to what or whom are marines always faithful? To the Marine Corps and the country they serve. The spirit of camaraderie and of belonging to the best of the best (from the marine outlook) is what makes the Marine Corps one of the most respected and fearless fighting forces on the face of the planet; ever.

As one might rightly guess, not everyone who enlists in the U.S. Armed Forces completes the training or earns the right and privilege to wear the uniform. Fewer still make it through Marine Corps training to call themselves marines. Of course, there are those in non-military circles who don fatigue shirts or camouflage pants or combat boots, but no one in their right mind would mistake them for military personnel, let alone real marines.

That is the point I wish to present to you concerning Christianity. While there are many detractors these days concerning the issue of whether or not God exists (while they are generally very loud, rude, and obnoxious about their opinions) they are NOT among the
majority who have some inkling there must be a higher power. Those unbelieving detractors disqualify themselves from membership in the family of God because they refuse to enlist and participate in the exercise of faith.

Then there are those who believe there must be something out there (spiritually speaking) but are unwilling to make a commitment as to what that something might be. Perhaps they pray to that something on occasion, but in reality, it is more out of habit (as a superstition) than a real exercise of faith (much like wearing a military insignia, having never been in the service.) Spiritual bench-warmers never get picked to play on either team. Much like a vehicle transmission, which is perpetually stuck in neutral, non-committal types never get in gear to go anywhere with their faith.

Christianity draws some of its greatest criticism from those who have other belief systems. If, as he has declared, Jesus is the only way to God, then where does that leave everyone who does not believe in Jesus? Again, I refer to The Marine Corps Model.

You can bomb an objective on the ground from an airplane with precision accuracy and inflict casualties. You can bombard an enemy’s defenses and weaken them with the biggest artillery shells (known to mankind) from a ship offshore. You can even drop paratroopers in hundreds of sticks from the sky into enemy-controlled territory to disrupt communication and delay reinforcements. But you will never establish a viable supply line to make any serious gains into enemy-held territory until you establish a beachhead. And if you want a breakthrough in the first line of the enemy-held defenses (to hold and secure that beachhead), you send in the Marines. A well-trained Marine regiment is a force to be feared and reckoned with.

By comparison, mankind has been held in enemy-controlled territory since Adam and Eve fell from grace and sinned in the Garden of Eden. And, in this spiritual war between the forces of Heaven (God) and the forces of Earth (Satan), God has selectively bombed His objectives from the skies (through His Word), and God has bombarded Satan’s strongholds using some pretty big guns (the Law of Moses.) God has dropped messengers (the Prophets) behind the lines to disrupt communications between the Enemy (Satan) and those trapped by the occupation (us.)

But when God needed to establish a beachhead He sent the best; He sent the toughest; He sent the most respected; He sent the fearless; He sent the force to be reckoned with; God sent Jesus. Unlike the Marine Corps motto, Jesus is more than a slogan. Jesus is Semper Fidelis incarnate. Jesus is the I AM! Faithful to the Father and to the mission God assigned to him, Jesus stormed the beach to rescue you and me from sin’s captivity.

Because of the spiritual beachhead, the breach in the Enemy’s defenses on Earth was established and held secure through Jesus’ death on a cross and by his divine resurrection from the tomb in victory over Death. If you are content to remain a captive, then believe what you will. But Christians stand and sing our tributes to Jesus because he is our liberator. We love Jesus to the core!

Oo-rah! Jesus! Oo-rah!

(excerpt from The Stinging Salve, by The Gadfly, (2009) Publish America, Baltimore Maryland, pp 25-29, reprinted by permission.)