by Joe Culbreath
Over thirty years ago, he raised
his right hand and repeated the United States Army Oath
of Enlistment:
"I, Edward Flippen, do
solemnly swear that I will support and defend the
Constitution of the United States against all enemies,
foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and
allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders
of the President of the United States and the orders of
the officers appointed over me, according to regulations
and the Uniform Code of Military Justice,
So help me God." Thus Ed
Flippen began an exciting, spirit-filled, God blessed
military adventure with the Army that not only was
beneficial to him but also to those with whom he came in
contact. Before we get ahead of ourselves let’s find
out what transpired before he pledged those words of
enlistment.
Ed and his four sisters were born in Richmond, Virginia
into a Christian family very active in the Pentecostal
church. While in the Pentecostal church, his dad was a
very active deacon and his mom taught a 100 member Bible
class. Some years later his parents became Baptist.
“We were so poor we couldn’t afford the holes in our
pockets,” says Ed. He continues, “But no matter what,
everything else always came second to the Lord Jesus
Christ. We were blessed because our needs were always
provided.” To help put food on the table Ed had a job
delivering newspapers and taking care of the cow,
chickens, hogs and the hunting dogs. He loved to hunt
and being an avid sports fan he also enjoyed playing
baseball and softball, but his favorite was football.
Later that focus on football would transform him into a
dedicated “Gator” fan
even though he never attended that university. On a
Sunday morning while in church, when Ed was only five or
six, he blurted out for all to hear, “I wanna’ be a
preacher.” He laughs as he admits, “I didn’t even know
what all a preacher does.” It was Ed’s Sunday school
teacher who led him to the Lord. “I knew from a very
early age I was called to be in the ministry,” Ed
disclosed. In high school, he became a licensed
Methodist minister. During his four years at the
University of Richmond, he felt the Lord calling him to
major in Sociology with a minor in Bible, which turned
out to be quite beneficial in later years. From the
University of Richmond, he enrolled at Southwestern
Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. Lest we get ahead of
ourselves let’s bring Peggy into the picture since it
was while he was attending the University of Richmond
that he met this wonderful lady who was to become his
endearing and devoted wife.
Peggy was born in West
Palm Beach, Florida and her father was a Baptist Pastor
in a small church. Peggy’s mom was a Bible study
teacher for over forty years. Her dad had a passion for
working with the handicapped. Due to the depression,
her father had to leave his pastorate in West Palm Beach
and they moved to Peg’s mom’s hometown in Allentown,
Pennsylvania. She affectionately remembers, “I was
saved at eleven years old at a summer camp for girls at
Mountain Brook in the Pocono mountains.” Contracting
Rheumatic Fever at an early age did not stopped Peggy
from learning to play the piano at age five and then
later at fourteen, she played the organ in church. Her
love of music led her to play in her high school band
Ed
and Peggy Flippen
and then she played in the University
of Richmond band where she majored in Psychology.
Peggy recalls, “I met Ed in church. We double dated
together, but at that time we were both dating different
people. I remember on one of our double dates my date
was Charles Stanley, later to become a nationally known
pastor.” Peggy tells of the time when Ed finally came
to his senses and started dating her. She says,
“When we were dating we devised a savings plan so we
could afford to go out to dinner. It went like this –
Every time that Ed used an improper tense of verbs like,
‘He done it’, he’d put a nickel in a designated can.
Don’t laugh. We eventually had enough nickels for Ed to
take me out to an 85 cent Spaghetti dinner.” Therefore,
God’s precious plan prevailed, as it always does when
folks follow His directions, resulting in Ed and Peggy’s
marriage in 1954.
Ed and Peggy have a daughter, Shelley, who has a
doctorate in nursing and is the Dean of the college of
Nursing at Baylor University in Dallas, Texas, which is
one of the top ranked Christian universities in the
nation. Their son, Lee Edward, was a missionary with
the Southern Baptist International Missions Board.
While on assignment in Burkina Faso, West Africa, he
started to feel weak, then faint. Lee contracted
Malaria over ten times in spite of taking all kinds of
medicine with no results. Later he came down with
Typhoid Fever. But through those terrible illnesses, he
insisted on completing his missionary assignment. Upon
his return to the states, he again came down with
Malaria while at the International Mission Board Mission
Center near Richmond, Virginia. There he met a
volunteer nurse named, Julie, who introduced him to a
doctor who had a revolutionary treatment for Malaria.
Through her caring efforts and the doctor’s miracle
medicine, he was cured with no reoccurrence of Malaria
since. Oh, there is another happy ending to Lee’s
story; he fell in love with Julie and they were
married. Today Ed and Peggy have four grandchildren and
two great grandchildren.
Now let’s get back to when
Ed enlisted in the Army. After graduating from
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1960, he
became pastor at the Westhill Baptist church in the
Richmond area. Then in 1962, he joined the Army where he
was commissioned as an officer and appointed to be a
Chaplain. The following twenty plus years were quite
busy for the Flippens. In 1964, he became an Airborne
Green Beret and in 1966 was transferred to Vietnam.
From Vietnam, he returned to Fort Ord in California with
a promotion to Major. In 1970, while serving in
Germany, he was the Assistant Division Chaplain for the
First Armored Division. Also during his Army career, he
was the 82nd Airborne Division Chaplin. His
final overseas assignment was in Japan where Ed was the
Senior Staff Chaplain for U. S. Army, Japan. There he
met and coordinated visits with numerous dignitaries in
Japan including Okinawa. In 1975, he earned a Master’s
degree in Education at East Carolina University in
Greenville, North Carolina. Later he taught Humanities
for ten years at Nova University in Fort Lauderdale,
Florida. Throughout his military career, Ed has always
been recognized for his active commitment to serving his
Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. His military career is
full of his outstanding accomplishments and honors that
are totally due to his unswerving devotion to his Lord.
All during his Army career Peggy has been his all out
loving support and strength. She has been a social
worker, choir director, very active in various women’s
groups and has been instrumental serving in women’s
groups such as the Protestant Women of the Chapel at
numerous military bases. In February, 1982, Ed was
discharged from the U. S. Army at Fort Rucker in Alabama
with full honors and the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He
and Peggy then moved to their retirement home in
Kissimmee, Florida. Ed and Peggy love to play Golf.
However, you might not want to try to compete with Peggy
on the links, the word is she’s a remarkable golfer and
president of the Nine Hole
Ladies Golf Club.
Thirty some years ago Ed took a
military oath to serve America and obey the words of the
President of the United States, the Commander In Chief
of the Armed Forces. But rest assured that even before
that particular oath he took on a life changing
spiritual promise to obey another more powerful
Commander In Chief, God Almighty. Those words of
promise sound very similar to these words from a noted
Christian writer of motivational poems;
I am a soldier in the army of my God.
The Lord Jesus Christ is my commanding officer. The
Holy Bible is my code of conduct. Faith, prayer, and the
Word are my weapons of warfare. I have been taught by
the Holy Spirit, trained by experience, tried by
adversity and tested by fire. I am a volunteer in this
army, and I am enlisted for eternity. I will either
retire in this army at the Rapture or die in this army;
but I will not get out, sell out, be talked out, or
pushed out. I am faithful, reliable, capable and
dependable.3 Ed affirms,
“All through my life, no matter how difficult the
situation, I always heard God telling me over and over,
‘Trust Me, Trust Me, Trust Me!!”. Ed
continues by affirming, “God has been always been our
strength and guidance to handle whatever the situation
might be.”
No matter what the circumstances the
Flippen’s first and main priority has always been
serving the Lord Jesus Christ. Ed’s scripture of
strength lies in Ephesians 2: verses 8 and 9;
For by grace are ye saved through faith;
and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not
of works, lest any man should boast.
That’s a prominent scripture used in Evangelism
Explosion, the witnessing training program
4. He speaks
highly of the Presbyterian Minister, the late Doctor
James D. Kennedy the E. E. creator, saying that Kennedy
always cared enough to share the Truth. While serving
as a Deacon at First Baptist of Orlando, Florida, Ed
began EE training and later became a trainer. Upon
moving to the Tampa Bay area, they joined Bell Shoals
Baptist church in Brandon, Florida where Ed continues as
an E. E. trainer. E. E. has a special meaning for Ed as
he recounts the time when his sister, Estelle, was in
poor health living in a nursing home. Estelle had a
great deal of anger resulting from some events in her
earlier life. One afternoon with much prayer asking for
God’s guidance, Ed went to visit her hoping to share the
Gospel. The prayers paid off as Ed asked his sister,
Estelle, if he could talk to her about the Lord. She
immediately responded, “Yes, please!” After Ed had
finished he asked her if she would like to accept the
Lord and His gift of Eternal Life. With tears in her
eyes, she said, “Yes, I do” and prayed to accept Jesus
into her heart. It was just a week later that Estelle
went to be with Him in Heaven.
As
the Flippen’s story is told it seems appropriate that
the words of the hymn, Onward Christian Soldiers
marching as to war, with the Cross of Jesus going on
before, personify Ed and Peggy’s lifelong love,
commitment, service and allegiance to their Commander In
Chief, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Jesus
Christ. Now in keeping with the military verbiage of
their story we won’t say, the end, more rather,
DIS-MISSED AND CARRY ON, CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS!!!
3 - Excerpt
used with the kind permission of B. J. Morbitzer from
his motivational poem, I Am A
Soldier In The Army Of God
4 -
Developed by the late Dr. James D. Kennedy, a
Presbyterian minister at Coral Ridge Ministries in Fort
Lauderdale, Florida
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