TO AND FOR PEACE KEEPERS OF THE MILITARY AND ALL LAW ENFORCEMENT
AT ALL LEVELS AND ALL OF THOSE IN THEIR SUPPORT SYSTEMS AND ALL
WHO CARE ABOUT THEM AND THEIR WELFARE.

CHAPLAIN CORNER IS DEDICATED TO ALL PEACE KEEPERS, CURRENT AND
RETIRED, THOSE LIVING NOW... AND THOSE WHO HAVE PRECEDED US AND
PASSED ON FROM THIS EARTHLY SCENE. MY TERM PEACE KEEPER COVERS
ALL SECURITY, JAIL AND PRISON ATTENDANTS WHATEVER THE TITLE; LAW
ENFORCEMENT AT ALL LEVELS INCLUDING JUDGES AND PROSECUTORS;
MILITARY IN WHATEVER BRANCH; AND
THE SUPPORT SYSTEM PERSONNEL FOR ALL CATEGORIES IN WHATEVER
COUNTRY OF THIS WORLD YOU HAPPEN TO BE. YOU ARE VITAL TO OUR
WORLD AND MY COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF AND I CARE GREATLY FOR AND
ABOUT YOU. YOU ARE THE MINISTERS OF RIGHTNESS IN THIS WORLD...
AND THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT COULD NOT EXIST WITHOUT YOU!!!

IN ADDITION IT IS FOR THE PEACE MAKERS OF THIS WORLD. SOMETIMES
THESE ARE THE SAME PEOPLE AS PEACE KEEPERS... SOMETIMES THEY ARE
NOT... BUT PEACE MAKERS ARE JUST AS IMPORTANT AND NECESSARY AS
ARE PEACE KEEPERS NECESSARY AND IMPORTANT. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<+>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>

GIVING...
is something with which all Peace Keepers are very familiar...
Giving time in ways that most do not understand...
Giving up pleasures and presence of family to patrol streets, conflicts and battlefields...
Giving up comforts that most take for granted...
Giving companionship to a fellow Peace Keeper because you are together in the same endeavor at home and on foreign fields...
Giving support to those in need of assistance...
Giving life and limb, risking injury or death, so that the people they love and care for may continue to live in peace and safety in their world.

Peace Keepers are all volunteers... Voluntarily signing on for the job or the tour. Each one evaluated the circumstances... Evaluated their own abilities... Each saw the need... Saw themselves as a vital part of the answer to the need. "Greater love has no man than this... that he lay down his life for his brethren..." Today that applies to all Peace Keepers no matter their gender.

Giving what they have to give and giving themselves has always been the life and goal of the Peace Keeper.

There would be no good life in this world as we know it today if it were not for all of the Peace Keepers, past and present, that have taken their place in the line and engaged in the battle to defeat evil where it raises it's ugly head.

Some Peace Keepers do it alone in rural areas... in towns... in cities... We call these Peace Keepers Law Enforcement.

Some Peace Keepers do it in groups, both large and small... We call these Peace Keepers the military.

Both groups are Soldiers for Peace!

In all of this mixture of Peace Keepers, some are warriors, doing the actual fighting and enforcing...
some are medical people to bring mending to the injured and broken...
some are the commanders and supervisors who make the decisions and issue the orders...
some are planners who handle logistics and supply...
some are spiritual ministers, there to bind up the wounded spirits and apply encouragement...
some are builders... some are in ships... some are in flying machines... some are in jeeps, Humvees, tanks and other military vehicles... some are in patrol cars... some
are in ambulances... some are in fire trucks... some provide security for courts... for shipments... for people... for facilities... for every need from individuals to nations...
some handle the support that we all need and without them this whole system of peace keeping would not work...

Peace Keepers come in every size... both sexes... many colors... different personalities... varying ages... but they all have the same heart... They give their best for the life, liberty, peace, safety and the right to pursue happiness to the rest of the world.

Sometimes Peace Keepers make the ultimate sacrifice and we receive them home one final time in the deepest of grief and honor.

These are the Peace Keepers... These are my Parish...

We are in a season of good wishes and good cheer for most of us. Peace Keepers have to be just as vigilant this season as in any other season. Evil and tragedy do not take the day or the season off... but indeed they are ever present... and must be resisted at all times.

Peace Keepers you do all of this for all of us. I give to you my prayers and the deepest, most powerful respect that I am capable of giving. I know you for I have been one of you for a very long time. By the Grace of my Commander-in-Chief and my Eternal Captain I serve with you and I serve for you. I serve you with the joy of knowing who you are and what you do... with the security of knowing that while I sleep some of you are awake and vigilant... knowing that if one of my loved ones needs anything that you can provide that you will be there doing your best... being your best...

I can live in the world that I live in because you and others like you have given to me the right to live in peace and prosperity as best that I can by my own choosing and industriousness...

Peace Keepers you have loved me without even knowing that I existed... You have loved to the highest degree of which the human being is capable... You have laid your life and being on the line of defense between good and evil and you do all that you can to stop evil where you are... and rush to the scene when you are not already there...

I am part of you by the call to service and by my response... and I know of no other more honorable place to be this day than here among you in spirit, even if I cannot be with each of you in presence. I send to you an warm hug of comradeship; a snappy salute of respect; a strong handclasp of friendship; the fullest of blessing; and the most powerful of well wishes and prayers for you wherever you are at this moment...

Thank you for the greatest gift that you could give to me... You have given your service for the good of us all... I receive your gift with a humble heart and deepest of thanks giving.

"BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!" Take the very best possible care of you while you care for the rest of us.

As it has always been... So it still is... THERE WOULD BE NO PEACE ON EARTH WITHOUT YOU BEING WHO YOU ARE AND DOING WHAT YOU DO!!! My Eternal Captain came to give us peace within the heart of individual man. The Peace Keeper functions in their position to secure peace among men. I GIVE THANKS TO HIM AND TO YOU IN THIS SPECIAL SEASON!!!

Call or write if I may be of any assistance.



"VICTORIOUS WARRIORS WIN FIRST...
AND THEN GO TO WAR,
WHILE DEFEATED WARRIORS GO TO WAR FIRST...
AND THEN SEEK TO WIN." Sun tzu

ONLY LIVE PEACE KEEPERS SEE THE VICTORY!!!
THEY SEE IT ONLY BECAUSE OTHERS HAVE MADE THEIR ETERNAL
PAYMENTS OF SWEAT, BLOOD, TEARS AND LIFE FOR THAT VICTORY!

WITH THE DEEPEST OF APPRECIATION AND RESPECT...
BE BLESSED (A CONDITION TO BE ENVIED)...
BE SUCCESSFUL... BE SAFE...
[My injunction to be safe means doing all you know to do as you do your job... it means
doing the best you can with what you have where you are using all your faculties to get
the job done well and with good results conquering evil and keeping or restoring peace...
it does not mean to avoid duty and honor... it does not mean to cower or allow anything
to hinder you in the process of duty according to rules, law and ethics... it means that if
the demand takes your earthly life you destroy as much evil as possible in the process.
That is my definition of being safe... doing the best you can and leaving the rest to God
or whomever else is responsible... being best employed for the sake and protection of all
the things and people that we hold dear.]

I represent, write for... and give the credit to:
God the Father (my Commander-in-Chief),
Jesus Christ the Son (the Eternal Captain of my life) and
the Holy Spirit of God (my Eternal Teacher, Keeper and Guide).
In Christ I live... with Him and for you I serve...
And I rejoice that you are there whether you are Christian or not...


D. R. (Don) Staton, Chaplain to Peace Keepers,
VIRGINIA STATE POLICE ALUMNI,
RETIRED Police Officer, Certified Police Instructor,
757-431-2190, chpln1@verizon.net
3709 Beacon Lane, Virginia Beach, VA 23452
=================================================
Copyright: CHAPLAIN CORNER (DRS) 2006. All rights reserved.
May not be duplicated without permission, except to be forwarded
with copyright and all source information for any quotation intact.

To subscribe to this free e-mail message for Peace Keepers,
write to Chaplain D. R. Staton at chpln1@verizon.net or at
3709 Beacon Lane, Virginia Beach, VA 23452.

If you are a Peace Keeper you may subscribe to
the BLACKWATER TACTICAL NEWSLETTER by going to the
website at BLACKWATER USA.

BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS

Editorial
September/October, 1986
Volume 21, Number 5

A "peacemaker" is one who seeks to bring harmony and reconciliation between those who are estranged. Peacemaking seeks to produce right relationships between persons. God hates those who sow discord and stir up trouble (Proverbs 6:19). Vet every community and every local church and many homes have people who thrive on divisions and conflict and unrest.

Peacemakers are needed in our churches. Holding grudges and evil speaking are common sources of conflict among believers. Busybodies and slanderers and disagreeable persons can cause havoc in a congregation.

Peacemakers are needed in our homes. Quarreling and disagreements and unwillingness to respect God's order of authority, often lead people to treat the worst those who really love them the most -- intimate family members.

Peacemakers are needed among nations. Christians should face the nuclear question squarely, doing all they can to prevent nuclear war. We are to seek to live at peace with all persons (Romans 12:1. Our faith requires that we love God and our neighbors and pray for our enemies.

The greatest need is to carry to people the message of "peace with God" (Romans 5:1). God has promised a destruction worse than a nuclear holocaust for those who are rejecting the atonement provided through faith in Jesus Christ(Matthew 25:41; Romans 5:9). As individuals on a massive international scale come to know Christ -- to that extent, the world will experience a greater or lesser degree of peace.

One who has experienced peace with God should intentionally cultivate the art of peacemaking. Each regenerated individual should strive to bridge gaps and to heal breaches. The article featured in this issue of the BRF WITNESS is written to encourage and to challenge us to keep moving more and more in the direction of developing the craft of peacemaking. The message published here is one unit of study in a Correspondence Course on the Beatitudes found in Matthew 5. See here for ordering information.
--Harold S. Martin
Blessed Are the Peacemakers

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God" (Matthew 5:9). What is the meaning of these words for us? How does peacemaking affect our witness for Jesus? In a day when much emphasis is being placed on peace, the Christian needs to most seriously contemplate the meaning of this Beatitude.

1. WHAT IS PEACE?

We must begin with a proper understanding of what is included in this key word. The Greek word for "peace" ("eirene") is a beautiful word, full of meaning. The word is a picture-word, calling to mind specific mental images when heard. The word means tranquility, and is used to describe a boat sailing on a calm sea. It means harmony and describes a song in which all notes and cords blend in perfect agreement. And it conveys the idea of an absence of strife, calling to mind two people walking hand-in-hand along the road. (Our English word "peace" comes to us from the Latin "pax" from which we derive "pact." A pact is a treaty between two parties/governments).

The Hebrew equivalent is the word "shalom." This word is also rich in meaning and was, for the Jew, the common word of greeting. It means all of what the above Greek word means, yet adds another aspect. Not only does shalom convey the negative -- the absence of strife and evil -- but also the positive, the presence of all good things. To wish shalom on another was in essence to say, "I wish for you not only the absence of all that may harm, but also the presence of everything that makes for a person's good."

From the above definitions we see that the word "peace" has to do with the state of harmony, tranquility, and unity as it exists between two parties. However, there are some things that peace does not mean:

a) For some, being at peace is the same as having a truce. A "truce" is "a suspension of fighting especially for a considerable duration by agreement of opposing forces" Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary). During the Vietnam War, a truce was drawn for Christmas Day. For that one day there would be no shooting, even though the sides were not at peace with each other. The hostility still existed; the hatred was still present. This is the difference between a truce and peace. When there is peace, the issues have been dealt with; the hostilities cease; the war is over.

b) For others, pursuing peace means evading the issues. Some see peace as simply ignoring that which causes the hostilities among us -- a sort of sweep-them-under-the-rug-and-hope-they-go-away approach to problem solving. However ignoring reality is not peace. True peace never evades the issues, but rather deals with them, building the right bridges and moving through the pain until harmony is established.

c) For still others, peace is sought at the expense of truth. Peace is paramount and it is "peace at any price." Most persons want to avoid needless strife, but there are times when standing for the truth will stir up strife. Sometimes the way to lasting peace includes addressing issues which will be painful to work through. Truth and righteousness are just as important as peace, and these factors cannot be compromised. For example, Jude wrote his epistle encouraging the believers "to contend for the faith" (verse 3), an

activity which undoubtedly caused some turmoil. Jesus taught that at times faithful discipleship would place a "sword" between loved ones (Matthew 10:34), indicating that following Him could cause strife. And Paul implies that not all strife can be avoided when one is following Christ (Romans 12:1, although we are to do all that we can to live at peace with everyone.

d) And for still others, peace is the essence of the Gospel. The ideal of living at peace with all becomes the thrust of Christianity for certain believers. Peace needs to be seen as a vital part of the Gospel message, but it must be given its rightful place. It is a fruit of the Gospel - a result of experiencing the grace of God (see Romans 5: and Galatians 5:22-23) - not the Gospel itself. Paul outlines for us the essence of the Gospel in 1 Corinthians 15: 1-8.

So then, this is peace -- what it is, and what it is not -- but what is a peacemaker?

2. WHO ARE THE PEACEMAKERS?

Notice at the start that the promise of this Beatitude is to the "peacemaker" and not to the "peace lover." Passivity is not the answer; activity is. "Peacemaking" is an action word, implying that the Christian' is to be busy making peace in this world. There are many who love peace and few who work for it. (It should be noted here that we are not condoning a peace activism which ignores other important biblical principles).

The call to peacemaking implies the presence of contention. Indeed the world today is full of conflict and strife. What is the cause of this hostility? In order to know how to go about establishing peace, we need first to know something about why individuals are at odds with themselves.

James says that evil desires within are the source of conflict (James 4:1-2). People are at war with their neighbors because they are not at peace with themselves. And they are not at peace with themselves because they are at war with God. The heart of the peace issue is the spiritual condition of the human soul. Any peacemaking effort which does not take seriously this truth is at best merely a "truce tactic."

If the Scriptures teach that the hostilities which exist in the world are results of the strife between God and His creation, then it is logical to believe that it is this aspect of peace which concerns Jesus in the Beatitude. Also, the nature of the Beatitudes is spiritual and personal, not political and global. In light of this fact, biblical peacemakers have a three-fold agenda:

Blessed are the Peacemakers

Eight United Methodist bishops, other leaders, speak against war with Iraq Oct. 14, 2002
Eight United Methodist bishops, other leaders, speak against war with Iraq

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BringThemHomeNow.org