Spiritual War: What The Chaplain Saw

How coming face to face with radical evil strengthens this pastor's faith

The Cross found in the ruins at Ground Zero

Hello all, normally I wouldn’t come back to you with another post so soon, but I had an extraordinary thing happen today, and I want to share it with you. I’ll probably put it on my blog tomorrow, but I wanted to share it with you all first, because it is primarily a spiritual story.

I mentioned to you earlier that I am at a pastor’s conference. Yesterday I gave a talk in which I mentioned my upcoming book, and the topic of Christian re-enchantment. Later, I got to talking with an older pastor who told me about how his faith has been deepened at times by encounters with radical evil. Why? Because they remind him that the true battle we all fight is spiritual at its core. I finally asked him if I could record our talk for my book. He agreed as long as I didn’t identify him, for his safety. I have his name and verified that he is who he told me he is, and does what he said he does.

The pastor is a longtime chaplain for law enforcement agencies, at various levels, including state, local, and national. He was at Ground Zero serving in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attack. A combat veteran of Vietnam and an ordained minister for decades, because of his training and experience, he is sometimes called in to minister to law enforcement officers who are dealing with especially traumatic cases. I am going to call him “Chap,” for “chaplain,” in this account. The message of his story is that there is evil afoot in this world so vile and uncontrollable that the only defense against it is a strong faith in God. Here’s the transcript of our conversation: