Physician, Heal Thyself – #105

Leave No Man Behind

Leave no man or woman behind, the fallen are a reflection of the life that might have been our own. ~ Lee Hiller London

“Leave No Man Behind” is a creed and ethos often repeated and adhered to by various units and soldiers. The interpretation of the phrase is applied to the treatment and extraction of the seriously wounded, the recovery of the body of military members killed in action, and the attempts to rescue or trade for prisoners of war.

As found by a study captioned “Combat Motivation in Today’s Soldiers,” by the U.S. Army War College, the motivations among soldiers have not changed in the war over time. They fight for one another, and this is built through the bond of shared misery, loyalty, and love. It is not surprising then that soldiers would go to such lengths to never leave a man behind, despite the risks and possible failure.

In the field of medicine, I have also observed in one of the major hospitals how medical practitioners take care of a fellow doctor, who has taken ill. The concern, the special ward, the special care, the visits are overwhelmingly overwhelming. 

 Jesus Christ demonstrated the “Leave no Man” behind principle when he left the 99 sheep in search of the 1 sheep that was lost (Luke 15:1-7) He further made a similar point in the narrative of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-31). Note, in the story of the lost sheep, it didn’t matter whether the sheep was stubborn, wanted to have its own way, etc.; – the reason for the sheep getting lost was not the issue to Jesus. Once it was lost it had to be found. 

Now, you tell me! the minister who has faithfully served his or her church for 30 years, 20 years, 15 years, etc. and is involved in a scandal, what is the attitude of the church towards this person? How do the people he served faithfully for those number of years treat him or her? Do we just leave them in the woods or we draw closer and give them the needed social and spiritual support for recovery?

Most often as history has shown us “this church” people who want to be treated with compassion and mercy are not interested in extending the same courtesy to membership or leadership. In some situations, leadership is also very kind to their congregation but when it has to do with one in their own ranks involved in a scandal, they can sometimes be ruthless…

Tell me!!! The young man studying to become a pastor or a church leader and is discovered to have a scandalous trait, for example, homosexuality, how does the church handle it? Obviously, He cannot be a leader in the church with that tendency. However, we forget he is still part of the body of Christ, and like the lost sheep, he needs to be found. So what do we do? We just uproot him, write him off and throw him into the jungle of life and leave him there? Is there any provision for counseling, therapy, rehabilitation, social support systems, so that if he cannot be a leader in the church he will function well as an individual elsewhere and a good Christian? If He is really what you say He is, why wouldn’t you touch him like Jesus touches sinners but you just uproot him and throw him into the world? To do what? …Continue his acts of homosexuality?

What is our attitude toward the ministers and church members who have moral failings that we consider serious, do we just gossip and laugh at them or we put concrete measures in place to help them become a better edition of themselves?

C.E.O’s can have moral failings, rebound and run the company, but when the clergy are discovered in moral failings, they are too often permanently destroyed. … sometimes it’s so sad, the very ones who lead the crusade to make the poor soul extinct are his own brethren in the clergy that he used fellowship with. What follows then is little or no spiritual life support, only the slow, torturous drop of an insidious IV of annihilation. Instead of being the first to receive treatment so that they could in-turn administer aid to patients with similar needs, these church professionals are deemed unfit and quietly whisked away and buried beneath a layer of preposterous posturing and pretentious power.

As Danny, the Judge said: – “he would rather see innocent men rot in prison than for the British Legal system to be ridiculed.”

Danny puts pomp and ceremony before the principle itself. And I believe that’s what some of us are doing now. It seems some leadership in religious circles tends to care more about the power, fame, and the material accumulation of stuff, than the teachings of Christ namely love, mercy, forgiveness, and compassion for all mankind.

Tell me! Why do we find it difficult to administer to our own folks, the prescription of healing and forgiveness that we almost are in a hurry to administer to others?

The “place” called the church often kills its own kind whenever they fall outside of the socially and culturally prescribed code of conduct befitting its members. Can you imagine the number of brothers and sisters we have sidelined and segregated because we feel they couldn’t make it to become “proper Christians” or ministers of the gospel? What about those who due to one or two reasons have had the courage to leave the ministry or have left our churches for other Christian sects, how do we treat them when we meet them head-on?

Or have we forgotten how Jesus treated Peter when he fell outside of the prescribed code and conduct of being the Rock on which the church was going to be built? Even before the denial, Jesus said “but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you turn back to me, you must strengthen your brothers” – (Luke 22:32).

I am just imagining Peter in our modern-day betraying and denying the church and its Masters not just once but three times. I am imagining what the current leadership and members of Christendom will do to him…

The philosophy now seems to be, you must appear and act healthy no matter how sick you are or we will get rid of you. Meanwhile there are countless men and women of all ages, races and socio-economic levels who remain desperate to have their health restored but are denied such care in the very place where it should be the only priority.
God have mercy on us.

As a result of the above philosophy, people would rather keep their physical, spiritual, emotional, and psychological wounds to themselves rather than risk bringing it out for colleagues and church folks to make a jest out of it. 

So we have many wounded people in the church, whose wounds are getting deeper, infected, and worse with the passing of each day instead of getting it treated.

So, what happens to Jesus’ words “I have come not to call respectable and righteous people but sinners and outcasts” – (Luke 4:23) 

Time will tell…

TO BE CONTINUED…

Shalom and God bless you

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