A senior Army chaplain stationed at U.S. Army Garrison Humphreys in South Korea is facing backlash for sharing Coronavirus and Christ, a book written by a former pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, with several other military chaplains.

In late March John Piper, who currently serves as Chancellor at Bethlehem College and Seminary, wrote Coronavirus and Christ, a short book to encourage believers amidst the unknowns of COVID-19. After reading it, Senior Chaplain Col. Moon H. Kim passed a PDF of the book along to several of his fellow chaplains. In his email he wrote, “This book has helped me refocus my sacred calling to my savior Jesus Christ to finish strong. Hopefully this small booklet would help you and your Soldiers, their Families and others who you serve.”

Although there was nothing out of line in Kim’s actions, he is now facing calls for disciplinary action to be taken against him. Michael “Mikey” Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation penned a letter on behalf of 22 clients who have chosen to remain anonymous describing Kim’s email as “shocking” and calling his choice to send Piper’s book to other military chaplains “egregious and deplorable.” Weinstein writes that MRFF “demands that Army Chaplain (Colonel) Kim be officially, swiftly, aggressively, and visibly investigated and disciplined in punishment for his deplorable actions...” He told the Christian Post that he is calling for Kim to be subject to general court-martial.

Mike Berry of First Liberty Institute said that,

The MRFF is not only going overboard, it is showing its true colors by asking the Pentagon to punish a chaplain for engaging in constitutionally protected activity. Congress has recently and repeatedly taken actions to protect chaplains to share their religious beliefs.

Berry also stated that First Liberty would be happy to offer Kim legal representation if actions are taken against him.

The 22 clients being represented by Weinstein object to Piper’s affirmation of God’s sovereignty over all things, including viral pandemics, as well as Piper’s refusal to embrace the LGBT agenda. In Coronavirus and Christ, Piper calls Christians to hope in God in the midst of suffering. He also points out that physical suffering is a picture of the moral horror of sin, and thus a call to repentance, and that “God sometimes uses diseases to bring particular punishments upon those who reject him and give themselves to sin.” One of the examples in Scripture that Piper points to of God sending specific judgments on specific sins is Romans 1:27.

Kim did not require anyone to read Piper’s book, nor did he demand that anyone agree with him, he simply shared a book that he had found encouraging and edifying in hopes that it would build up others as they ministered to families during a difficult season. It is not Kim who is out of line, but those calling for him to be disciplined.

(Image Via Desiring God)