Memorial Day Archives

May 27, 2024May 26, 2024

Memories of War Pt. 1: Harry “Robben” Ledeker

Memorial Day is the day we remember and honor our fallen soldiers—the men and women who gave their lives for our freedom. This is the story of a World War II soldier who never made it home.

Memories of War

Harry “Robben” Ledeker

¹³Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

John 15:13

He was killed four days before his nineteenth birthday, May 11, 1945 Okinawa. He was only 18 years old when he gave his life for his country and for our freedom. There are many sad and heartbreaking stories like this one of soldiers who fought for our freedom. Soldiers who were asked? No, they were ordered to run boldly into the face of certain death. And courageously, they obeyed the orders, knowing fully well they would never again see their loved ones. Never again get to go home. Some would never be married nor have the blessing of having a family. They knew that this was the end of their short life. A life given so that many would live in freedom and enjoy their families.

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A Day of Remembrance

This Monday is Memorial Day. A solemn day of remembrance for our fallen soldiers who gave their lives for our freedom. This freedom is often the subject of debate. Many believe that their sacrifice, along with the Founding Father’s desires, was to keep Church and State separate, but is that true? What freedom did they die for? And are those freedoms at stake today? Join Reverend Kenny Yates as he brings an eye-opening, somber message on the state of our world today in his Memorial Day Message, A Day of Remembrance.

Malachi 3:16-18
Malachi 3:13-15

A Day of Remembrance

¹³“Your words have been hard against me, says the Lord. But you say, ‘How have we spoken against you?’ ¹⁴You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts? ¹⁵And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape.’” ¹⁶Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before Him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed His name. ¹⁷“They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. ¹⁸Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.”

Malachi 3:16-18

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Why Memorial Day Should Be Important For Christians

Only one day a year is dedicated to remembering our fallen soldiers that gave their lives for our freedom. Many of us don’t even realize or truly grasp what we get this one day a year off for. Others of us aren’t 100% positive we, the Church (Christians/Disciples of Christ), should be honoring and commemorating this day at all. So, where does that leave us? Join ArieRashelle as she opens our eyes to the importance of this day, especially for Christians, in her video Why Memorial Day Should Be Important For Christians.

John 15:13

Why Memorial Day Should Be Important For Christians

The Greatest Act of Love

¹⁰If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in His love. ¹¹These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. ¹²This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ¹³Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴You are my friends if you do what I command you. ¹⁵No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, He may give it to you. ¹⁷These things I command you, so that you will love one another.

John 15:10-17

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Always Remain Grateful

¹³ Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. ~ John 15:13

Today, as we enjoy our barbecue and family time, let’s not forget what we’re commemorating. We enjoy constitutional freedoms that no other country has the liberty of enjoying. We have the freedom to evil burn our flag and run down our nation without fear of being arrested or executed. This freedom that we have isn’t free. It wasn’t just thrown onto our laps one day out of nowhere. Our freedoms were bought and paid for at the highest price, the lives of many young and old male and female Americans. They paid for our physical freedom with their lives so that we didn’t have to. Let’s not forget their sacrifice. Their ultimate act of love, laying down their lives for us.

They bought and paid for our physical freedom here in America with their spilled blood, just as Jesus bought and paid for our spiritual freedom with His spilled blood. There is no such thing as free freedom, so don’t waste it. Don’t let it slip away. Don’t let their sacrifice be for nothing. Always remember and never forget all who came before us, paving the way for us to have the lives that we do.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Always Remain Grateful.

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They Died For Freedom

Every year we celebrate Memorial Day in honor of our fallen soldiers who gave their lives for our freedom, but is that freedom slowly being taken away? Are those with power and authority in our government looking out for our best interest? Are we repeating mistakes of the past? How do we differentiate between good and evil? Join Reverend Kenny Yates as he opens our eyes to the true destination our current course is leading us to in his Memorial Day message, They Died For Freedom.

Matthew 7:13–27
Matthew 10:14–15
Matthew 11:20–24
1 Thessalonians 5:2–3
Matthew 15:12–14
John 3:16

They Died For Freedom

Standing Up For Freedom

There are some who don’t believe that we should honor those who died for our freedom, but according to Jesus, this is no greater love than to die for another.

¹³There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

John 15:13

It’s because of their sacrifice that we are able to enjoy the freedoms we have today. It’s because of their sacrifice that we aren’t murdered for our faith as the early Church was. It’s because of their sacrifice that we don’t have to live in fear that we will be killed for our faith, as those in different parts of the world are today. They died for our freedom so that we can freely make a stand for Christ without the fear of punishment that Peter and John endured.

¹⁸So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. ¹⁹But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, ²⁰for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”

Acts 4:18-20

So, this Memorial Day, don’t forget the fallen men and women that gave us the freedom we have today in America. Honor their memory by standing up for freedom. Honor their memory by making a stand for your faith.

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Can Christians Celebrate Memorial Day?

Freedom comes at a cost, usually bloodshed. But is it worth it? Is it right? Should Christians memorialize those who gave their lives if they also took a life? Join ArieRashelle as she searches through Scripture to find the answer to the question, Can Christians Celebrate Memorial Day?

Exodus 35:16-17
1 John 3:14-15
Ephesians 6:10-12
2 Corinthians 6:14-16
Matthew 26:13
John 15:12-13

Can Christians Celebrate Memorial Day?

Freedom Comes at a Cost

¹⁹Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, ²⁰for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Remember Past Sacrifices

When Jesus went to Bethany, a woman anointed His head with expensive ointment. Because of her sacrifice, He said her story would be told in memory of her. He memorialized her.

⁶Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper,⁷a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at table. ⁸And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? ⁹For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.” ¹⁰But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. ¹¹For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. ¹²In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial. ¹³Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.”
Matthew 26:6-13

This is what we are doing for our fallen soldiers. We are remembering them and honoring their sacrifice.

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