Insight on the News

Serving Two Masters

“Chaplains are at the corner between God and the Army,” said a civilian employee during the 207th anniversary of the US Army Chaplain Corps, as reported in The New York Times. The problem, of course, is which way to turn. Or, in the words of one army chaplain: “What we’re dealing with is a situation in which we have two professions and we have to remind ourselves to pay attention to both.”

In Vietnam, says the report, there were chaplains who “supported the war and at least one who crossed the line between man of peace and combatant.” A chaplain who took part in combat said privately: “I didn’t take an oath to God that I would never shoot anybody.” Then he added: “It was the only way I could be with my troops. I make choices and pray to God it’s the right thing.”

Another chaplain who served in Vietnam said: “I’ve never found the chaplaincy corps having the guts to speak out. We should be asking ourselves, ‘Are we willing to risk telling the U.S. Government and the Army that the chaplaincy corps should be about things ethical and things pastoral?’” Many of them seriously question whether they can live up to their motto, Pro Deo et patria (For God and country).

Thus, the chaplains have put themselves in a position that one chaplain describes as “sheep in wolves’ clothing.” And the dilemma facing them may remind some Bible readers of Jesus Christ’s words: “No one can slave for two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will stick to the one and despise the other.”​—Matthew 6:24.

Miracle or Fraud?

When a priest unlocked the doors of the Basilica of Saint John of God in Granada, Spain, one morning, he found four lines of blood-red tears on the face of the statue of the Virgin of the Tears and a stained handkerchief in her hand. The news got around quickly, and 130,000 of the city’s deeply religious Catholics flocked to the church, snarling the city’s traffic.

After one week of tumult, the statue was taken away to Madrid for scientific study. The result? Nearly complete silence​—except for one brief statement by the archbishop of Granada: “There was no indication of anything supernatural.”

That, however, seems to have made little difference to many in Granada. Miracle or not, they still come to the empty display case of the statue in order to offer their prayers and flowers. But does God’s Word support this kind of blind reverence? No; rather, the Bible counsels, “Flee from idolatry.”​—1 Corinthians 10:14.