Editors note: This article was updated with new information.
You can’t share books anymore with people or be part of a book club in the US Army.
Col. Moon H. Kim is a command chaplain stationed at Camp Humphreys in South Korea. He made a mistake by sharing an e-book by theologian and pastor John Piper called, Coronavirus and Christ, via email.
It did not bode well with fellow chaplains.
Mike Weinstein, the founder and president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation received complaints and sent a letter to Defense Secretary Mark Esper that said Kim needs to be “swiftly, aggressively and visibly” disciplined for sending an email about the book, Faithwire reported.
Defending Col. Moon H. Kim | First Liberty’s Response
John Piper’s Book
Kim’s email to 35 of his fellow chaplains was the following:
“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.”
Piper used homosexuality as an example of sin against God, setting off a verbal storm.
“The entire world is being ravaged by COVID-19, and he has endorsed a booklet claiming that this is the punishment of God for people who have sinned, which includes gay people,” said Weinstein in an interview with The Christian Post.
Piper never explicitly linked homosexuality with the spread of coronavirus, as Weinstein suggested. Piper explained the “earth’s calamities as God’s preview of what sin deserved and will one day receive in judgment a thousand times worse.”
A wakeup call in Piper’s opinion.
Added Weinstein, “This is not only in violation of the EEO provisions of the Department of Defense, but a ton of other DoD and US Army provisions.”
There goes freedom of religion or books for that matter, according to Weinstein and those chaplains offended by an email and the distortion of facts.
The 112 pages of the book talked about the repentance of the church, for all believers and the world during this global pandemic.
-Corine Gatti-Santillo
