General Shoffner Remembered
General Dutch Shoffner Remembered
When I was a young pastor in Bastrop, Louisiana, one of my hunting and fishing partners was John Shoffner. John and his wife Barbara often visited in our home and we always saw them at church where he served as a deacon. John often mentioned to his Baby Brother. Years later, I got a phone call from John in which he asked me if I could preach the funeral sermon for Barbara. I would not have missed being with John and I was honored to be asked to preach the funeral message. During the service, as I looked out over the congregation there was a man who stood out from the crowd, not only because he was a tall man, but because of his interest in every word I said. Afterwards, at the cemetery, I met John's Baby Brother, Wilson (Dutch) Shoffner.
Since John was terminally ill and Dutch was responsible for his business and funeral plans, he and I were often in touch with each other. Once when John was in a hospital in Alexandria, Louisiana I went to see him and had a good visit with him. I called John regularly to check on his condition. He wore a bracelet with a call button and if he fell he had to press the button and wait for a deputy sheriff to come and help him up. We often spoke of Dutch, who was taking care of his business matters at the time. Dutch and I spoke on the phone from time to time and my son John helped them with some legal issues.
One day while talking with John, I said, "I know Dutch was in the Army. What was his rank?" John replied, "Oh, he was a three star general." In time, Dutch became my "go to" person in anything military. He explained the difference between strategy and tactics and when I was preparing the series on The Exodus Experience (posted on SermonCity.Com under Articles) his son, COL Andy Shoffner, helped me make an application of what his father had taught me earlier. Both Dutch and his wife were committed Christians, and from our communication I know their son Andy shares that faith. Dutch and Beverly Shoffner encouraged their sons, COL Andy Shoffner and General AL Shoffner to place their faith in the Lord.
Dutch bought a WordPerfect program and installed it on one of his several computers so he could convert my commentaries and sermons from WordPerfect to Word before mailing them to Dr. Mike Minnix, creator and editor of SermonCity.Com. General Shoffner commanded the Third Infantry Division during the Cold War in Germany for some time. He was our man who looked the Soviet generals in the eye to see who would blink first. He also had a unit that concentrated on "How the Russian Generals Made Their Decisions." He would make some small move and his men would study the Soviet response. In time, he could predict with appreciable accuracy what the Soviets would do in response to his move.
Before the end of the Cold War and the fall of "The Wall" in Berlin, he was asked what would happen if the Soviet Union collapsed and the military took over. He contacted their top generals admirals and asked them. They had no idea, so they invited him to fly to Moscow and lead a seminary on How the Military Functions in a Democracy. He said, "I flew - without permission -toMoscow" and led that seminar. He flew back many times to Russia to meet with people. During one of those visits he asked Soviet Generals why they made certain decisions. He told me that when they answered, "I thought, 'Got you!"
General Dutch Shoffner and his wife Beverly were buried in Arlington National Cemetery on August 27, 2014. Actually, as COL Andy Shoffner explained to me, they were both cremated and both urns were buried in his father's grave. He also told me that his father's burial was with appropriate honors.
General Shoffner and I not only communicated frequently by telephone and the Internet, we had a number of personal visits. I gave him a number of registered day lilies and he came to my home to get them twice. I drove him to Bastrop and showed him where his brother John lived, where he went to church, and where we fished years ago.
I asked Dutch about a general who was interviewed on a major television news show. His response was what I came to expect from Dutch - brutally frank! He said, "Johnny, he was well trained, but he is not brilliant." Dutch was brilliant, and I have every reason to believe his sons are brilliant. They are wise enough to acknowledge Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. When COL Andy Shoffner was in Afghanistan in the first half of 2014, we exchanged Scripture verses. Andy said his father's favorite was Romans 8:28: "We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28, HCSB) That verse was important to his sons.
MESSAGE FROM COL. ANDY SHOFFNER ABOUT HIS FATHER (RESPONDING TO SOMETHING I HAD SENT TO HIM)
Sir,
Thanks for sending. Yes, Dad had a tremendous mind and would often mull over thoughts and issues for a long while before making a final determination. That's not to say he couldn't be quick and decisive, but on issues he knew were significant, he was always very thorough and researched things completely. The message above reflects that.
V/R,
Andy
THIS WAS IN RESPONSE TO A NOTE I HAD SENT TO HIM CONCERNING HIS FATHER:
On Sat, Jul 12, 2014 at 12:44 AM, Johnny Sanders <jsanders37@bellsouth.net> wrote:
Dutch and I exchanged a lot of messages over the years. I thought you might like to see this one because it speaks of his spiritual depth and his study of the Word of God.
Dutch Shoffner wrote:
Johnny your notebook on James is catching my attention. I am about halfway through and have already had more than one occasion to change a course of action during the day because of what I had read in your notebook. The other morning I got up very early to write a message to a person that had offended me. Beverly had told me the night before to sleep on it before I sent the message. Got up at 0300, worried about how to write the message and picked up your notebook on James and opened it up to p75, to 3:6 regarding the tongue. Two hours later, my attitude toward the message was turned 180 degrees, thanks.
This morning as I worked my way through your superb notebook on James, your comments regarding the interpretation of 4:5 on pages 94-96 ““He jealously desires for the Spirit which He made to dwell within us.”” reminded me of a radio interview of Joseph Epstein I had listened to not long ago regarding his recent book on Envy.
His contrast between jealousy and envy caused me to pause a bit; I had never thought through the specific differences as he described. I am sending you a review by the Washington Magazine I took off the internet (you will have to pardon the liberal source) of his book on Envy. I do not know whether or not you have read this book, if so then pls ignore the review. The real distinction Epstein makes is that one is jealous of what one has, envious of what other people have. I find that a helpful distinction.
We are jealous when we suspect someone of aiming to deprive us of what we dearly prize; unhappy because we think they might take something or someone that we love away from us.
If you take the connections with the church and the bride, you made earlier in your discussion on pages 91ff, then given a bride who has the propensity for adultery, it should follow that jealousy, as defined above, is the appropriate concern. To jealously long for the bride to recommit her spirit (or Spirit?) that was the special gift of creation seems to me to be the appropriate follow on thought.
Have I oversimplified this point or did I miss your argument completely?
Dutch
(Submitted by Dr. Johnny L. Sanders)
