The actor revealed that he adheres to no religion in an interview with the UK’s Telegraph on Saturday. Pitt told the paper that he was raised in a Southern Baptist household in Missouri, “with all the Christian guilt about what you can and cannot, should and shouldn’t do.”
The Hollywood mega-star elaborated on the Christian guilt he was raised with in a 2007 interview with Parade.
“I’d go to Christian revivals and be moved by the Holy Spirit, and I’d go to rock concerts and feel the same fervor,” Pitt told the magazine. “Then I’d be told, ‘That’s the Devil’s music! Don’t partake in that!’ I wanted to experience things religion said not to experience.”
Still, Pitt said he learned the value of hard work from his father, who reportedly ran a trucking company in Missouri.
“He could be a softie,” Pitt told the Telegraph of his father. “But one thing my folks always stressed was being capable, doing things for yourself. He was really big on integrity — and that informed a lot of what [we] try to do now.”
Pitt also revealed that he and his wife and By the Sea co-star, Angelina Jolie, originally wanted double the number of children they currently have.
“Listen, Angie and I were aiming for a dozen, but we crapped out after six,” the actor said, adding: “Everyone talks about the joy of having kids — blah, blah, blah. But I never knew how much I could love something until I looked in the faces of my children.”
Pitt’s collaboration with Jolie, the moody marriage drama By the Sea, is in theaters December 11.
Editor's Note: Pastor Roger Barrier's "Ask Roger" column regularly appears at Preach It, Teach It. Every week at Crosswalk, Dr. Barrier puts nearly 40 years of experience in the pastorate to work answering questions of doctrine or practice for laypeople, or giving advice on church leadership issues. Email him your questions at roger@preachitteachit.org.
Dear Roger,
Do angels leave feathers when they visit? Some people are telling me this and I don’t know what to believe.
Sincerely, Genebeth
Dear Genebeth,
I do not believe that angels leave feathers to let people know that they have been there. There's nothing in the Bible about this, so I would discount what people are telling you. Nevertheless, the Bible tells us that angels have very special ministries both in heaven and on earth.
We seem to know very little about the existence and ministry of Angels. To most of us angels are more decoration than the reality. Angels appear on tombstones, the walls of nurseries, jewelry, Renaissance art, ordination certificates, Christmas cards, and Valentines.
Angels are usually fat and naked and have little bows and arrows with wings on their backs!
These caricatures are so unfortunate. Angels have a lot to do, especially for those who have eyes to see. I believe that most of their work goes on behind the scenes where they are usually not noticed.
I would imagine that very few of us will have a dramatic encounter with an angelic spirit. But if we do, it will be a marker point in our lives that we will never forget.
One of my professors from Southwestern Seminary told a story in class about a missionary friend of his. The missionary was driving through a terrible rainstorm in southern Louisiana. He was on his way to a preaching engagement and was struggling deeply with the future of his life and ministry. He was praying, “Oh, God, please speak to me. I need your guidance.”
Just around the corner, he noticed a person hitching a ride in the blinding rainstorm. He pulled over and invited the person to get in. They began a conversation and he discovered that the person was a Christian. They had great fellowship. In fact, his newfound friend helped him sort out some of the future issues with which he was struggling. When they came to the turning point where the man had to go his way and the missionary his, they stopped for a brief cup of coffee.
As the missionary drove off he realized that he hadn’t even gotten the man’s name so that he could thank him for the advice. He returned to the cafe and asked the waitress if she had noticed which way that the fellow had gone. She said, “What fellow? I wondered why you had ordered two cups of coffee.”
The missionary got back into the car and realized for the first time that when the man had originally gotten into the car, he was not even wet.
The word, “angel,” means “messenger.” For example, Hebrews chapter two tells us that the Angels were the messengers who delivered the Ten Commandments to Moses. I believe that my professors missionary friend enjoyed an angelic encounter that night.
Genebeth, your question is an important one; therefore, let me give you a short Biblical primer on the nature and work of angels.
1. God created the angels before He created anything else in the universe.
The angels watched God work and shouted for joy at the results of the creation (Job 38:4-7).
2. All of the angels were created simultaneously.
They are unable to procreate. (Matthew 22:28). The number of angels has always been constant.
3. The number of angels is incomprehensible.
Revelation 5:11 records the number of Angels: “Ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands and thousands.”
4. Some angels rebelled against God.
Lucifer, who was in charge of guarding the throne of God and with bringing God praise and worship, and who was apparently co-equal with the angel Michael, chose to rebel (Isaiah 14).
A huge number of angels rebelled with him. Fallen angels (demons) live in one of two places today: (1) On earth, attacking and discouraging humans; and (2) In Tartarus, a prison cell in the lowest hell, waiting to be released during the Great Tribulation.
5. Angels are powerful.
Only one angel was needed to wipe out 185,000 Assyrians in a single night (2 Kings 19).
6. Angels were created to praise and worship God around His throne.
Revelation 5:11-12: “In a loud voice they sang, “Worthy is the Lamb, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!”
7. Angels are charged with the responsibility of guiding the affairs of nations.
We learn from Daniel 10 that angels are intricately involved in guiding our heads of state. Every nation also has a demon charged with the responsibility of bringing that nation to destruction (Ezekiel).
8. Angels fight Satan and his demons until the victory is won at the end of time.
Revelation 12:7-9: “And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back...”
9. Every church is assigned an angel to watch over it and to help protect it.
Revelation 1:20: “The mystery of the seven stars… the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.”
10. Angels will separate the wheat from the weeds at the final judgment (the saved from the lost).
Matthew 13:38-42: “The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.”
11. Angels minister to those who believe in Christ.
Jacob’s dream of a ladder, by which angels ascended and descended between heaven and earth, is a beautiful picture of their incessant activity for us (Genesis 28:12).
12. Angels provide for physical needs of believers as in the case of Elijah under his juniper tree (1 Kings 19:5-7).
After a Wednesday night service several years ago, a lady told me of an angelic protection. Driving on a lonely desert road in her VW with her children the car’s engine caught fire. She stopped and tried to open the hood. She couldn’t; it was too hot. Suddenly, another car pulled up behind her. She thought that this was strange because she’d seen no other cars on the road.
He pulled out this big pair of asbestos gloves, opened the hood and used a fire extinguisher to put out the blaze. She turned to thank the man and he was gone. Both he and the car had disappeared.
13. Angels protect believers from danger as in the case of watching over the three Hebrews in the furnace (Daniel chapter 3), or by watching over Daniel in the lions’ den (Daniel chapter 6).
Once when Brianna, our oldest daughter, was just learning crawl, Julie heard me yell from the back bathroom. “Julie, come quickly!” At the same time I heard Julie call from the back bathroom, “Roger, come quickly.” We both ran quickly to discover Brianna about to tumble headlong onto the tile of our three-foot-deep sunken tub. We grabbed her just in time.
Julie said, “I’m sure glad you called me to get back here quickly.”
“I didn’t call you,” I said. “You called me.”
“I didn’t call you,” she said.
We had an angelic visitation from Brie’s guardian angel!
Experiences like these make Psalm 34:7 come alive: “Angels of the Lord encamp around those who fear God and deliver them.”
14. Angels sometimes reveal the Lord’s plans, for example to Daniel (Daniel 9:21-23), to Cornelius (Acts 10:3-6), or to Mary at the birth of Jesus (Luke 2).
15. Angels Minister To Us At Out Time Of Death.
Luke 17:22: “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side.”
A cold chill runs up many of our backs to think that sometime in the future, and perhaps in the very near future for some of us, the Death Angel will be dispatched from Heaven to Earth.
If we are Christians, we need not be afraid of the Death Angel. They may be our rod and staff which brings us through the Valley of the Shadow of Death.
16. Not all angels are good.
Galatians 1:8-11: “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned… I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.”
17. Have you ever wondered about guardian angels?
Matthew 18:10: “See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.”
I pray often for my guarding angel. I pray for him/her (it?) to be “strong” on my behalf in the spiritual battles that I fight. When I am praying for someone about to undergo surgery, I never fail to pray for their guardian angel, assigned to them at birth, to help guide the hand of the surgeon for a successful surgery. I want him/her (it?)and me to be good friends. I am looking forward to seeing him/her(it?) in heaven.
So, Genebeth, I hope that this short primer on angelology is helpful to you on understanding the work and ministry of angels.
Sincerely, Roger
Dr. Roger Barrier retired as senior teaching pastor from Casas Church in Tucson, Arizona. In addition to being an author and sought-after conference speaker, Roger has mentored or taught thousands of pastors, missionaries, and Christian leaders worldwide. Casas Church, where Roger served throughout his thirty-five-year career, is a megachurch known for a well-integrated, multi-generational ministry. The value of including new generations is deeply ingrained throughout Casas to help the church move strongly right through the twenty-first century and beyond. Dr. Barrier holds degrees from Baylor University, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and Golden Gate Seminary in Greek, religion, theology, and pastoral care. His popular book, Listening to the Voice of God, published by Bethany House, is in its second printing and is available in Thai and Portuguese.His latest work is, Got Guts? Get Godly! Pray the Prayer God Guarantees to Answer, from Xulon Press. Roger can be found blogging at Preach It, Teach It, the pastoral teaching site founded with his wife, Dr. Julie Barrier.
Each week, Mr. Reed will relate the stories of people whose choices and actions make them heroes. See the table of contents for previous installments.
More than a century ago, in his collection of lectures titled Life and Destiny, professor and ethicist Felix Adler reflected on what the lives of the deceased can teach the living:
Let us live truly while we live, live for what is true and good and lasting. And let the memory of our dead help us to do this. For they are not wholly separated from us, if we remain loyal to them. In spirit they are with us. And we may think of them as silent and invisible, but real presences in our households.
All across Poland, more than 30 years since his murder by the secret police of the communist dictatorship that then ruled the country, the life and words of Father Jerzy Popieluszko still resonate strongly in millions of households, as it does thousands of miles away in mine.
Readers may wonder if Poles are a little overrepresented in this series on heroes. I’ve written about Stanislaw Lem and Witold Pilecki. Elsewhere on FEE.org, I’ve written of my time with the Polish anti-communist underground in 1986, and of my appreciation of the crucial role that Poles played in the unraveling of the Soviet empire. I admit that I’ve had a 30-year love affair with the Polish people, especially with the seemingly endless roster of courageous opponents of tyranny they have produced.
I first visited Father Popieluszko’s St. Stanislaus Kostka Church in Warsaw on a chilly Sunday in November 1986, just two years after his death. It was an oasis amid a desert of communist oppression, a place where Poles renewed their strength by recalling the man who had led them not so long before. The walls of the church were adorned with pictures of him — offering communion, boating with his dog, encouraging steelworkers, comforting children. Though I am not Catholic, the memory of those few awesome hours evokes powerful emotions to this day.
Jerzy Popieluszko, born in the small village of Okopy in northeastern Poland in September 1947, seemed a very unlikely hero in his early years. He was short, frail, sickly, introverted, and of average intellect. At 17, he traveled to Warsaw intent upon studying for a quiet life in the priesthood. He would only live another 20 years, but before he died, he was seen by the regime as the most dangerous man in Poland. To millions of other Poles, he had become a beacon of hope; his only weapons were the truth and his courage.
After one year at seminary, Popieluszko’s studies were interrupted by compulsory military service, a two-year requirement of all young men at the time. It wasn’t pretty. The communist regime segregated seminary students within the military to diminish their influence. They were routinely mistreated and subjected to humiliating ridicule.
Popieluszko demonstrated a remarkable resilience and a steely defiance that surprised even those who knew him best. Prayer and Bible study were strictly prohibited, but that made little difference to Popieluszko, who openly disdained the army’s coercive atheistic indoctrination. Obedient he was — but not to communist authorities.
For refusing to relinquish the cross he wore around his neck, he was ordered to stand all night at attention, barefoot in the snow. From such frequent cruelty, he emerged with his health permanently damaged, but his spirits higher than ever. The experience reinforced his life’s mission: to serve God by resisting evil, to comfort and encourage victims of oppression, and ultimately to free his country. He returned to the seminary, and in May 1972, at the age of 24, he was ordained.
In the 1970s, the Soviet Union seemed to be winning its battle with a demoralized West. Its Eastern European empire, though occasionally restive, was cowed by the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia. At the close of the decade, the Soviet army rolled into Afghanistan. Reeling from the Watergate scandal, the Vietnam fiasco, and the crippling effects of stagflation, American leadership wilted as the Soviets boasted that communism represented the world’s future.
Then, in 1978, the first non-Italian ascended to the Papacy. Cardinal Karol Józef Wojtyła of Wadowice, Poland, became Pope John Paul II. The news merely surprised the world, but it electrified Poland.
Before the end of his first year in Rome, the Pope returned triumphant to his native land. Communist authorities were at first hesitant to allow the visit. They relented in the mistaken belief that they could limit its effects and turn them to the state’s advantage. For men who arrogantly believed themselves capable of “planning” society, it was a profound miscalculation.
Poles turned out by the millions to welcome John Paul. They heard him declare, “Be not afraid!” and they knew what his message was. Father Jerzy, who assisted in the planning for the visit, took it personally. He resolved to step up his public opposition to the regime, declaring one Sunday, “Justice and the right to know the truth require us from this pulpit to repeatedly demand a limit on the tyranny of censorship!”
The Pope’s historic visit led directly to the legalization of the Solidarity organization, which Popieluszko endorsed and assisted — publicly and privately, legally and illegally. The visit proved to be the galvanizing moment when Poles by the millions began to lose their fear of the regime and contemplate the real possibility of freedom from their oppressors.
Poles had put up with communism since the Soviets imposed it on them after World War II. The tyranny of a one-party political monopoly was compounded by the stifling effects of socialist central planning — environmental destruction, stagnant living standards, inflation, long lines for simple foodstuffs and toiletries. It was a dreary, claustrophobic existence, producing cabin fever on a national scale. In clever and sometimes subtle language, John Paul II told them they could and should resist.
In the months that followed, Poles ventured into dangerous, open opposition. Workers increasingly went on strike with demands that pertained not simply to wages or working conditions, but to political, economic, and social freedoms as well. The world watched as rumors grew that the Soviets might put an end to it all with an invasion, just as they had done to Czechoslovakia a decade before.
In 1980, Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski was the revered Primate of Poland, the highest-ranking Catholic in the country, with a long history of antagonism toward the communists. When striking steel workers begged him to send a priest into the huge Huta Warszawa steel mill, he chose 33-year-old Jerzy Popieluszko.
It was a daring move, the first time a priest even entered a state-owned enterprise of such size, let alone one who so openly denounced the government. From that moment until his death, he was known as the favorite priest of both Solidarity in Poland and John Paul II in Rome. Perhaps he already knew it, but his life was on the line. In The Priest and the Policemen, biographers John Moody and Roger Boyes write,
He was stalked like a game animal in the last years of his life, hunted by agents… who knew that the priest had to be silenced. Murder was not the only solution. It would have been enough to persuade the Church to transfer him to an obscure rural parish, or bring him to Rome.
It would have sufficed to put him on trial and sentence him to prison for his political preaching, or to strain his delicate health (exacerbated by a diagnosis of Addison’s disease) to the breaking point, so that his death could be passed off, in the words of one agent (of the secret police), as “a beautiful accident.” The police tried all these methods but found it was impossible to silence the priest, who declared modestly, “I am only saying aloud what people are thinking privately.”
All through 1981, Poles pushed the envelope, forcing the dictatorship to grant basic liberties and daring the state to take them back. The world watched the unfolding events with mixed emotions — hopeful for freedom in Poland but fearful of a backlash. Then, on December 13, Moscow’s puppets in Warsaw removed the threat of a Soviet invasion by doing the dirty work themselves.
In a massive crackdown, martial law was imposed. Thousands of dissidents were rounded up and jailed. Solidarity and other pro-freedom groups, like the one that organized my visit, Freedom and Peace, were officially banned. Poland descended into a long, dark, eight years of renewed persecution.
Father Jerzy didn’t fold or retreat. He summoned every ounce of energy his ailing body would allow. He denounced martial law and aided the underground resistance. His sermons were routinely broadcast by Radio Free Europe, making him famous throughout the East bloc for his uncompromising stance against the communists.
The secret police planted weapons in his apartment, then staged a raid for the television cameras to “prove” on national television that he was a subversive revolutionary. He was arrested several times, but pressure from the clergy helped each time to secure his release. Without skipping a beat, he would then renew his pleas for freedom.
St. Stanislaus Kostka Church was routinely jammed as people traveled from all over the country to hear him speak every Sunday; they even packed into the nearby streets by the thousands to hear his words broadcast over loudspeakers. He was granted permission to leave Poland to visit a beloved aunt in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and then went right back home to resume the struggle.
“It is not enough for a Christian to condemn evil, cowardice, lies, and use of force, hatred, and oppression,” he once declared. “He must at all times be a witness to and defender of justice, goodness, truth, freedom, and love. He must never tire of claiming these values as a right both for himself and others.”
A visiting Western journalist asked Father Jerzy in 1984 how he could continue to speak so boldly without fear of retaliation. His reply was, “They will kill me. They will kill me.” But, he went on, he could not remain silent as members of his own congregation remained jailed, tortured, and were even killed for nothing more than wanting to be free. “We must conquer the bad through the good,” he often implored.
In 1984, the communist secret police contrived a scheme to take out the young priest in what would look like a car accident, but the plot failed. Less than a week later, while riding with his driver back to Warsaw from priestly duties in Bydgoszcz, Father Jerzy was ambushed. He endured torture so fierce that one of the secret police agents would later remark, “I never knew a man could withstand such a beating.”
Tied to a heavy stone, the mangled and lifeless body of Father Jerzy was tossed unceremoniously into the Vistula River, where it was recovered 11 days later. Poles were heartbroken, and copious tears were shed, but in keeping with the spirit of the martyred priest, the fight for Polish freedom only gathered steam.
In early 1989, the communist regime announced to the world that “Poland had become ungovernable.” Hardly anyone paid much attention any more to its edicts and decrees. Even many of the government’s own employees were thwarting their bosses and joining the underground. Free elections were scheduled for June, for the first time in all the decades of communist rule. The communists lost every seat, bringing to fruition a prophecy of Father Jerzy of a few years before: “An idea which needs rifles to survive dies of its own accord.”
I returned to a free Poland in November 1989, just as the rest of the East bloc was unraveling. At St. Stanislaw Kostka Church, where Father Jerzy’s grave is marked with a massive stone cross, I stood with the parishioners, lit a candle, and cried with them — not so much because he was gone and in a better place, but because of that for which he gave his life.
The Joke About Mrs. Ben Carson’s Appearance Is No Laughing Matter
The meme circulating on social media comparing Michelle Obama, the wife of President Barack Obama, with Lacena “Candy” Carson, the wife of Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson
Instagram
There’s a particularly mean meme about presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson and his wife, Lacena, aka Candy, circulating around social media. In the meme, President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama are striking at the China state dinner Friday. President Obama is dressed in a well-tailored tuxedo, and the first lady has long, side-swept hair and an off-the-shoulder, custom-made Vera Wang gown.
The contrasting picture of the Carsons was taken in May, on the day Carson officially announced his candidacy for president in Detroit. He is dressed in an unremarkable but still presentable blue suit. It’s Candy Carson’s appearance that makes the meme funny to some (but not me). She is wearing a hairstyle and patriotic ensemble that is unflattering, ill-fitting and dated. The meme caption is a play on a popular DirecTV commercial that clowns its cable competitors for being subpar.
This is what my P.C. mind thinks: I’m no fan of presidential candidate Ben Carson. I don’t like his politics. He receives his fair share of ire from potential voters, but he asked to be dissected in the media, traditional and social, when he announced his bid for the presidency. Candy Carson did not. There are plenty of exceptionally valid reasons to rage about Ben Carson without adding his wife to the mix.
I hark back to the time in 2008 when Obama, then just a presidential candidate, appeared on Good Morning America to defend his wife from undue attacks for her alleged lack of patriotism.
“I’ve been in public life for 20 years,” he explained. “I expect them to pore through everything that I’ve said, every utterance, every statement. And to paint it in the most undesirable light possible. That’s what they do.”
He added: “But I do want to say this ... if they think that they’re going to try to make Michelle an issue in this campaign, they should be careful. Because I find that unacceptable ... I think it is just low class.”
I loved how Obama stood up for his wife. He was the candidate running for office, not his wife. And Michelle Obama didn’t deserve to be ripped apart because of his political ambitions. Her being attacked wasn’t right and was “low class.” Period.
But then there’s also the un-P.C. part of mind, the side that gets me in the most trouble as a writer. That untamed part of my brain? It’s mature enough not to laugh at Candy Carson’s expense, but it’s still asking why she came out of the house looking like that when her man is announcing his presidential bid. She didn’t just join him onstage to say, “Congrats, boo!” and go on her way. Candy Carson, an accomplished violinist, performed that day, too, playing the national anthem as her husband’s intro music. Come on!
Well-meaning sympathizers of Candy Carson have excused her appearance as a result of her religious beliefs. She is a devout Seventh-day Adventist, a religion that discourages women from wearing makeup and jewelry and emphasizes a modest appearance. OK. But religion and modesty are not synonymous with ill-fitting and unflattering and out-of-date. Also, there’s a Seventh-day Adventist church on my block, and on Saturday morning, the women I see look well put together for service. Candy Carson’s look can’t be blamed on religion.
Let me tell you a story: I recall, when I was a kid, maybe 10, I attended a family event with my mother. A male family member, who had always been praised for his looks and appearance, showed up looking dapper, as always. His wife? Not so much. Pretty lady, but she looked as if she hadn’t put in much effort for the occasion of seeing all of her husband’s family, when she should have.
My mother leaned over to me in my seat and offered me a dose of grown-lady wisdom: “When your man is looking like something, you make sure you look like it, too. Don’t show up looking like the help.” I never forgot that.
Is that shallow? Maybe.
But let’s stop pretending that appearance never matters, when there are times that it absolutely does. It’s because appearance matters that when she was plucked out of the Alaskan wilderness and thrust into a presidential campaign, vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s handlers spent $150,000 at Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus to dress her for the campaign trail. It’s because appearance matters that over the last eight years, first lady Michelle Obama has transformed from a rather stiff and conservative look popular among politico wives to that of a glamorous and designer-wearing fashion icon. It’s why black women still have serious debates about whether to wear their hair natural or straightened for work.
Are there sexist and, in this case, racist underpinnings that make appearance matter more in certain circumstances? Absolutely. But until those “isms” are dismantled, women absolutely need to look as if they at least tried, especially when they’re up for a role they really want.
I won’t drag Candy Carson. I’m sure she is a lovely woman, and she has endured her husband’s politics for 40-plus years. But I will say that I can’t help noticing that as a presidential candidate, Ben Carson always shows up looking like the position he wants to have. I want the Mrs. to look the same.
She doesn’t have to slay in off-the-shoulder, hip-hugging ball gowns, but it would be helpful if the team that works with his presentation, if he has one, would add a little oomph for her. And if there is no team, Candy Carson would be well-served to enlist the help of a glam squad. Not because social media has no chill, but because appearances matter, and when it comes to running for president, her husband needs all the help he can get.
Demetria Lucas D’Oyley is a contributing editor at The Root, a life coach and the author ofDon’t Waste Your Pretty: The Go-to Guide for Making Smarter Decisions in Life & Love as well asA Belle in Brooklyn: The Go-to Girl for Advice on Living Your Best Single Life. Follow her on Twitter.
Every individual is buried in the shadow of his decisions. This fact was never more glaring to me than when I stood with some of my family members a number of years ago at the graveside of Alvin York, noted World War I veteran. I had learned that he had come to the difficult decision to leave his pacifistic scruples behind him while struggling with the issue on a mountainside that cradled his small community of Pall Mall, Tennessee. The locals knew the yellow door-like rock formation where Alvin had gone to make his decision as the “yalla durs.” From Sergeant York’s graveside, it is yet possible to see that formation. The life of Sergeant Alvin York remains one of the most endearing and enduring in the pages of American history.
His Early Life
As is true of much of America’s true history, the story of America’s greatest World War I soldier has also been tragically forgotten. Alvin Cullum York was born in a two-room log cabin near Pall Mall, Tennessee on December 13, 1887, the third of eleven children born to Mary Elizabeth Brooks York[1] and William Uriah York. The York family descended from English and Ulster Scots ancestry. To help supplement the farming efforts of his impoverished family, William labored as a blacksmith. Needing his sons to help work the family farm and hunt for game to feed the family, William withdrew his sons from school after only nine months.
When his father William died, Alvin helped his mother shoulder the responsibility of raising his younger siblings, since his two older brothers had married and relocated out of the area. Alvin supplemented the family income first through working in railroad construction and then as a logger. Overshadowing his benevolence for his family was his alcoholism and aptitude for violent fighting in saloons, which was the cause of several arrests against him.
His Conversion
Though influenced by a godly Christian mother, Alvin resisted his mother’s persuasive efforts. Within the community, the local Methodist Church exercised influence over the spiritual life of Pall Mall and Alvin in particular as a result of a revival held there. Despite his reputation for drinking and fighting, Alvin attended church regularly and often led the signing, but his state of spiritual duplicity experienced a radical change in late 1914 and the beginning of the new year. At the end of 1914, the local Methodist Church welcomed Rev. W. W. Loveless, a minister with the Churches of Christ in Christian Union (CCCU), to hold a revival in their church. During the course of the revival, Alvin was saved on New Year’s Day 1915, and because of a subsequent exemplary life, became known as the “singing elder.” The life of Alvin York was radically changed for good by the grace of Jesus Christ. This revival was the beginning of a new life for Alvin and the beginning of a new local church for the Churches of Christ in Christian Union. Alvin and his family supported Rev. Loveless in his efforts to start a new CCCU congregation, and support of the York family for this local congregation has continued until the present.[2]
Most historians and admirers of Alvin York neglect to call attention to one important theological fact that has been a formative influence in the life of America. In the mid- and late-eighteenth century, John Wesley began to send Methodist ministers and missionaries to America whom he obligated to preach the message of forgiveness for and cleansing from sin. In the nineteenth century, the Methodist Church became the largest Protestant denomination in America, proclaiming that the grace of Jesus Christ not only forgave sin (justification), but Christ could also cleanse the heart of the root of bitterness (sanctification). As a result, the message of purity of heart and life was a leavening influence upon all America. Both the Methodist and Churches of Christ in Christian Union churches of which Alvin York had been a part were, in his generation, advocates of this message, as was Alvin himself. Alvin’s support for this truth was reflected in the fact that his son, George Edward York, became a long-time minister in another denomination (Church of the Nazarene) that also preached the necessity of purity of heart and life.
World War I
With the advent of World War I in July 1914,[3] Alvin experienced a crisis of conscience. With other young men from 21 to 31, Alvin registered for the draft on June 5, 1917 at the age of 29. When registering, he answered the question “Do you claim exemption from draft (specify grounds)?” by writing “Yes. Don’t Want To Fight.”[4] When his claim for conscientious objector status was rejected, he appealed the decision, and while the application was being considered,[5] he was drafted and began his service at Camp Gordon in Georgia (November 1917).[6] The thought of being called to fight and kill in the war deeply troubled him: “I was worried clean through. I didn’t want to go and kill. I believed in my Bible.”[7] Even the most casual studies of his life reveals the fact that Alvin York was not a casual Christian. He took Scripture seriously, applying its principles to the practices of his life.
The Argonne Forest
Having received a ten-day leave to return home to settle the issue of killing in war time, Alvin resolved the matter in the “yalla durs” of the cliffs surrounding his rural village. Coming to the conviction that it was God’s will that he fight, Alvin entrusted himself to divine protection for what laid ahead of him.
Promoted to corporal, he was sent to the front lines in France where he quickly distinguished himself in a vicious struggle for life and the safety of his fellow comrades in arms. Alvin was part of the U.S.-led portion of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in France, masterminded by Marshal Ferdinand Foch to breach the Hindenburg line and force the Germans to surrender. The entry of his diary for October 8, 1918 records the events that culminated in Alvin’s heroism. He recounts the action during an attack by his battalion on German positions near Hill 223 (49.28558°N 4.95242°E) along the Decauville rail-line north of Chatel-Chéhéry, France:
….there was 17 of us boys went around on the left flank to see if we couldn’t put those guns out of action. So when we went around and fell in behind those guns, we first saw two Germans with Red Cross bands on their arms. So we asked them to stop and they did not. So one of the boys shot at them and they run back to our right. So we all run after them, and when we jumped across a little stream of water that was there, they was about 15 or 20 Germans jumped up and threw up their hands and said, ‘Kame rad!’ So the one in charge of us boys told us not to shoot; they was going to give up anyway. (These prisoners included a major and two other officers). By this time some of the Germans from on the hill was shooting at us. Well, I was giving them the best I had, and by this time the Germans had got their machine guns turned around and fired on us. So they killed six and wounded three of us. So that just left 8, and then we got into it right by this time. So we had a hard battle for a little while, and I got hold of the German major and he told me if I wouldn’t kill any more of them he would make them quit firing. So I told him all right if he would do it now. So he blew a little whistle and they quit shooting and come down and gave up. I had killed over 20 before the German major said he would make them give up.[8]
I covered him with my automatic and told him if he didn’t make them stop firing I would take his head off next. And he knew I meant it. After he blew his whistle, all but one of them came off the hill with their hands up, and just before that one got to me he threw a little hand grenade which burst in the air in front of me. I had to touch him off. The rest surrendered without any more trouble. There were nearly a 100 of them. We had about 80 or 90 Germans there disarmed, and had another line of Germans to go through to get out. So I called for my men, and one of them answered from behind a big oak tree, and the others were on my right in the brush.[9] So I said, ‘Let’s get these Germans out of here.’ One of my men said, ‘It is impossible.’ So I said, ‘No; let’s get them out of here.’ So when my man said that, the German major said, ‘How many have you got?’ And I said that, ‘I have got plenty,’ and pointed my pistol at him all the time. In this battle I was using a rifle and a .45 Colt automatic. So I lined the Germans up in a line of two’s, and I got between the ones in front, and I had the German major before me. So I marched them straight into those other machine guns and I got them. So when I got back to my major’s P.C. (post of command) I had 132 prisoners.
Battlefield Investigation
Alvin’s actions that day near Hill 223 in the Argonne Forest silenced the German machine guns and enabled the 328th Infantry to renew its attack to capture the Decauville Railroad. Throughout the investigation that followed York’s fight in the Argonne, he consistently played down the importance of the action. When he marched his prisoners back to the battalion post of command, Brigadier General Lindsey said to him, “Well, York, I hear you have captured the whole German army,” to which York replied modestly, “No, I only have 132.” He appeared almost apologetic for bringing in a mere handful of prisoners.
The next morning twenty-eight dead Germans were found at the scene of the fight. York says that is the number of shots he fired. They also found thirty-five German machine guns and a lot of other small arms and ammunition. In their official report General Headquarters, the officers of the 82nd Division highly commended Corporal York:
The part which Corporal York individually played in the attack (the capture of the Decauville Railroad) is difficult to estimate. Practically unassisted he captured 132 Germans (three of whom were officers), took about thirty-five machine guns, and killed no less than twenty-five of the enemy, later found by others on the scene of York’s extraordinary exploit. The story has been carefully checked in every possible detail from headquarters of this division and is entirely substantiated. Although York’s statement tends to underestimate the desperate odds which he overcame, it has been decided to forward to higher authorities the account given in his own name. The success of this assault had a far-reaching effect in relieving the enemy pressure against American forces in the heart of the Argonne Forest.”
Recognition of His Heroism
Corporal York was promptly promoted to sergeant––the first of many rewards and awards to follow. After further investigation, he was presented with the Medal of Honor, presented to York by General John J. Pershing, the commanding general of the American Expeditionary Force. Eventually he received fifty decorations for his heroism, including the Croix de Guerre and the Legion of Honor from the French Republic and the Croce di Guerra al Merito and Montenegro and War Medal from Italy. History would remember him as America’s most highly decorated veteran of World War I. But his European accolades where only a foretaste of that which he would receive from an appreciative and admiring American public.
Returning Home
America, though belated, ecstatically celebrated the return of its new hero. More than six months passed before America awakened to the fact that it had a battlefield-hero in Alvin York. Not until the April 26, 1919 edition of the Saturday Evening Post was America made aware of what had transpired on October 8 of the previous year. Journalist George Patullo, in his article “The Second Elder Gives Battle,” set forth the features of Alvin York that have characterized him ever since. Some Tennesseans living in New York City arranged for the city to greet York, including a for a five-day furlough for him to get to see New York City and Washington, D.C. He arrived on May 22 at Hoboken, N.J., stayed at the Waldorf Astoria and attended a formal banquet in his honor in New York before touring Washington.
Following these festivities, he proceeded to Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia where he was discharged from the Army. Arriving home in Tennessee, he was greeted with more celebrations. Barely home a week, Alvin married his sweetheart Gracie Loretta Williams on June 7, 1919 in a ceremony performed by Tennessee Governor Albert H. Roberts in Pall Mall.
In the years that followed his return home, Alvin refused hundreds of thousands of dollars in endorsements, believing they might compromise his Christian convictions. He traveled the nation seeking to raise money as a public speaker to support interests in his community and county. Actor Gary Cooper helped to perpetuate and ensconce the legacy and influence of Alvin’s life through the making of the classic Hollywood film, Sergeant York (1941). Alvin’s royalties from the film were used to advance his community. He became owner of a grist mill in Pall Mall, and started a Bible Institute there as well, but his most enduring legacy was to the education of youth through York Institute in the neighboring city of Jamestown, which continues today.[10] Though the Bible Institute has long been abandoned for use of its original intention, it remains a vivid witness to Alvin’s devotion to advancing the principles of Jesus Christ.
Conclusion
Had Alvin York been self-serving, he could have died a wealthy man, but instead, he desperately struggled to give to his county a brighter future. Alvin lived his Christian convictions. Years earlier, he had determined to live for God. From Alvin York’s grave, visitors may see the “yalla durs” where he made the decision to follow his Christian convictions. Just as Alvin York now rests in the shadow of his decision, every individual will rest eternally in the decisions they make in time. Alvin left behind a legacy of Christian influence that has been apparent in the lives of his children and succeeding generations of Yorks–one that has brought blessing to his community and to many far beyond the village of Pall Mall, Tennessee.
Related Articles
[1] Mary Elizabeth Brooks York was the great-granddaughter of Coonrod Pyle, an English settler who settled Pall Mall. William York and Mary Brooks married on December 25, 1881. The order of their eleven children were as follows: Henry Singleton, Joseph Marion, Alvin Cullum, Samuel John, Albert, Hattie, George Alexander, James Preston, Lillian Mae, Robert Daniel, and Lucy Erma. “Alvin C. York,” Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_C._York, November 11, 2013).
[2] At the date of this writing, November 11, 2013, the York family continues its involvement and support of this local Churches of Christ in Christian Union congregation.
[3] World War I was centered in Europe, beginning on July 28, 1914 and ending on November 11, 1918. In America, Veteran’s Day is observed annually on the day the WWI Armistice was signed––November 11.
[4] [Christopher Capozzola, Uncle Sam Wants You: World War I and the Making of the Modern American Citizen (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008), 68]; quoted in “Alvin C. York,” Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_C._York, November 11, 2013).
[5] At this point in American history, conscientious objectors were still required to serve, though not required to serve in assignments violating their principles.
[6] From the day he registered (June 5, 1917) until his return from the war on May 29, 1919, Alvin maintained a diary of his activities. He recorded that he had refused to sign documents presented to him by his pastor seeking to be discharged from the Army on religious grounds and he had refused to sign documents presented to him by his mother claiming exemption from service on the grounds he was the sole supporter of his mother and siblings. His diary also disclaims the fact that he was ever a conscientious objector. “Alvin C. York,” Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_C._York, November 11, 2013).
[7] [Christopher Capozzola, Uncle Sam Wants You: World War I and the Making of the Modern American Citizen (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008), 67]; quoted in “Alvin C. York,” Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_C._York, November 11, 2013).
[8] German First Lieutenant Paul Jürgen Vollmer, commander of the First Battalion, 120th Landwehr Infantry, had tried to kill York, emptying his pistol at him while York was engaged against the machine guns. Failing to hit or injure York and weighing his own mounting losses, Lieutenant Vollmer submitted his surrender of his unit to York in English.
[9] All the non-commissioned officers except York had been killed or severely wounded, leaving him in command.
[10] Kostlevy, Historical Dictionary of the Holiness Movement, s.v. “York, Alvin.”
Dr. Stephen Flick earned his Ph.D. from Drew University in theology and church history, studying with well-known theologian, Dr. Thomas Oden. He served as professor of theology and church history at Wesley Biblical Seminary for 12 years and has over 30 years of ministerial experience. He has authored numerous articles and is a strong proponent of the restoration of historical Christian values to American culture. More...
Since I began reading the Bible, I have been fascinated by the story of Jesus' encounter with two of his apostles on the road to Emmaus, a village close to Jerusalem, in one of his resurrection appearances.
The two men were despondent because Jesus, who had been crucified and buried just a few days before, had died without delivering Israel from its enemies. How could this have happened? He was supposed to be the promised Messiah.
Jesus began walking and conversing with them, and at first they didn't recognize him. When he asked them what they were talking about, they were amazed that he seemed to be the only one in the area who hadn't heard about this Jesus and the terrible fate that had befallen him.
The Gospel of Luke records that he then "said to them, 'O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?' And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself" (Luke 24:25-27).
It wasn't until they were eating with him a little later that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and then "he vanished from their sight."
"They said to each other, 'Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?'" (Luke 24:32).
This is a gripping story. Their hearts burned within them as he unveiled to them the Scriptures — i.e., the Old Testament, the only Bible Jesus had and read. The New Testament, obviously, had not yet been written. But why do you suppose they were so moved by his words?
Well, because they realized that they had just spoken with the living God, who gave them the best Bible lesson that would ever be given. He took them through the Old Testament and showed them how every bit of it pointed to him.
At once, they understood that he was the Messiah and that he had not failed in his mission after all. He turned their world upside down. How could they have worked closely with him and not seen what was right before their eyes? They were utterly blown away.
This story has special significance for me because it parallels my own spiritual journey. I found Jesus Christ mainly by way of the Old Testament.
Before that, my eyes were closed, too, but the many detailed and intricately fulfilled messianic prophecies in the Old Testament finally pierced through my spiritual fog and convinced me that the Bible is true and that Jesus Christ is Lord — fully God and fully man.
The more I studied the Old Testament the more I realized that it is abundantly Christ-centered — that he is on every page in one way or another. The entire Bible is about Jesus Christ and God's plan of redemption for mankind through faith in his son.
Given my own Emmaus road epiphany, it frankly surprises me that so many Christians seem to have a dim view of the Old Testament. They are intimidated by its arcane names and places and the supposed differences between the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament.
But God tells us in Scripture that he does not change, and he is quite clear that all Scripture — not just the New Testament — is divinely inspired.
There is no difference between the eternal, perfect and omnibenevolent God of the Old Testament and the one we worship today. And he sovereignly arranged that our Bible include the Old Testament, as well as the New Testament.
For years, I have wanted to write a book to share my enthusiasm for the Old Testament and explain how it is foundational to the New Testament as the first act of a two-act play. I have wanted to show the many ways Christ is foreshadowed in the Old Testament.
My new book, The Emmaus Code: Finding Jesus in the Old Testament, is the culmination of a project I began some 20 years ago. In the book, I try to demonstrate that the Christ-centeredness of the Old Testament is the key to understanding all of Scripture. The book is a primer on the Old Testament. I take you through each period of Old Testament history, introduce and discuss all the threads and themes pointing to Jesus in the Old Testament, and finally give you an overview of each book of the Old Testament and detail how each one prefigures Jesus Christ.
My goal is to increase the reader's appreciation for the Old Testament and for its Christ-centeredness, for once we have a better handle on the Old Testament and understand that Jesus is its focus, the Bible will come alive for us in ways we never anticipated and our faith will be strengthened and energized. That is certainly my experience, and I pray the same thing happens for you.
David Limbaugh is a writer, author and attorney. His latest book is "The Emmaus Code: Finding Jesus in the Old Testament." Follow him on Twitter @davidlimbaugh and his website at www.davidlimbaugh.com. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.
Dr. Roger Barrier retired as senior teaching pastor from 
