As president George W. Bush said via satellite, on June 13, 2007 to Southern Baptist Convention members gathered for the Southern Baptist Convention's 2007 annual meeting  in San Antonio, Texas, "Just like our troops, you have the gratitude of the Commander-in-Chief as we do the hard work necessary to defend our country, and at the same time, lay the foundation of peace.".

The SBC's new Army Head Of Chaplains, Douglas L. Carver, no doubt believes he is laying the foundation of peace too, but Carver may feel that foundation will be laid via the Apocalypse and Armageddon.

On July 13, 2006 Carver told a Gadsden Alabama SBC church congregation "I'm not an end-times preacher, but I think something is up", cited the apocalyptic scripture of Daniel 12:1-3, then told the congregation, as reported by Alabama Baptist, " "This is our time, our destiny," just as Esther was placed in a certain position at a specific moment "for such a time as this"". Some of Carver's statements can be seen as suggesting the US invasion and occupation of Iraq amounts to the playing out of Biblical prophecy.

As reporter Leigh Pritchard, described Carver's Gadsden speech, the Army's new Head Of Chaplains appears to feel America is riding a fast track of burgeoning immorality, straight to hell:

"In his message that day, Brig. Gen. Douglas Carver, U.S. Army 22nd deputy chief of chaplains, enumerated some of the many distressing circumstances around us -- the war in Iraq, the start of hurricane season, the constant attempt to chip away at the moral fiber of the nation."

That Gadsden July 13 2006 Jeremiad wan't Douglas L. Carver's only public utterance mentioning the alleged immanence of the end-times. He's whacked the drum of  coming apocalypse more than once.

Recounted November 9, 2006 in the Sierra Vista, Arizona Sierra Vista Herald, Chaplain Carver spoke at a November 2006 Fort Huachuca Thanksgiving Prayer Breakfast before a crowd of over 400 and, as Sierra Vista Heraldreporter Bill Hess described:

"As a minister, Carver, an ordained Southern Baptist preacher, talked about the main problems facing America in Iraq.

There is a biblical aura when it comes to the Iraqi situation, something written about in the Book of Daniel, the chaplain said.

It was to what is now Iraq that the Israelites were taken.

Babylon, a place that exists today in Iraq, was mentioned in the Bible, and its leader, Nebuchadnezzar, ruled with an iron fist. Carver said it is strange Saddam Hussein believes he is the reincarnation of Nebuchadnezzar."

Douglas L. Carver likes to tap the prophetic drum too, sometimes, with a lighter, defter stroke. As chaplain to the 101st Airborne, Carver seems to have had a special zest for coming up with specialized military prayers for the paratroopers of the 101st, such as the following (note the end-times reference - " We are approaching the time that We Stand at the Door"):

Paratrooper Prayers            
101st Airborne Division, #3, Chaplain Douglas Carver

O Lord our God, thou who art powerful, thou who strengthens the righteous  person with courage and faith, who blesses the humble and lowly, I confess  O Lord my fears and my sins before thee. O Lord, be merciful and loving to  me thy servant. Be with me, my God, and give me wings like eagles so I can  run and not be weary, walk and not faint. We are approaching the time that we Stand at the Door. Give me the wisdom to know and the courage to  believe that thou art always with me and so I have no fear. I ask these  things in all humility in your holy name.  Amen.

Source:  LTC Douglas Carver

On on June 12, 2006, just prior to the SBC 2007 annual convention in San Antonio,  Chaplain Carver emphasized the special, divinely ordained role of Southern Baptists, in an address to over 100 SBC  chaplains enjoying a luncheon at the Sheraton Four Seasons in Greensboro, North Carolina. Bobby Welch, SBC President in 2006 and author of "You, the Warrior Leader: Applying Military Strategy For Victorious Spiritual Warfare" was at the Greensboro Sheraton luncheon prophetic luncheon, along with Carver, and this picture, from a piece by Mickey Noah entitled "U.S. Army official encourages SBC chaplains at luncheon" shows Carver and Welch chatting with Peter Sharber, Director Of Evangelism at the North American Mission Board.

Addressing the luncheoning Southern Baptists, Douglas Carver said: "Times are dangerous and difficult. But God has raised you up for a time such as this", and went to wield the rhetoric of absolutist apocalyptic religious war :

"I believe that this long war we're in - against violent religious extremism - is a war contending for the future of humanity as you and I know it. We're living in challenging and distressing times.

But as chaplains, this is my time and your time, your destiny. Like Daniel, you've been raised up to speak light into the darkness. Like Moses, you and I have been made shepherds to walk people from the darkness into the light of Christ Jesus. Like Caleb, we have been given a mountain and a vision to claim for the glory of God. Like Gideon, we have been given an army to lead."

Ding Ding Ding ! ! Brigadier General Carver's rhetorical sledgehammer rang the bell to win the "apocalyptic religious warfare rhetoric" competition. Was his kewpie doll the career promotion to be Army Head Of Chaplains ? Or was that a gift from God ? None but Micky Noah can say. Noah, who has covered Douglas Carver's career in some depth, stepped out of his journalistic role, into a prophetic one, with the following rather blunt assertion, in a May 17th, 2007 Baptist Press hagiography, that Army Chaplain Head Carver has been singled out, especially, by God for his new command position:

"WASHINGTON (BP)--For the first time since President Eisenhower and the Korean War, a Southern Baptist has been nominated to command the U.S. Army's 5,000 commissioned chaplains.

Based at the Pentagon, Brig. Gen. Douglas L. Carver, 55, has been tapped as the Army's next Chief of Chaplains. If his nomination is confirmed by the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee and the full Senate as expected, Carver will be promoted to major general and awarded his second star during July ceremonies at Fort Belvoir in northern Virginia.

Why has God chosen Carver? And why now, during Iraq and Afghanistan, the longest wars America has fought in the 20th and 21st centuries -- longer than World Wars I and II, Korea and Vietnam?

"The Scripture talks about how God is the One who raises up leadership," Carver said in an interview. "For such a time as this, it has appeared that God has raised me up as a Southern Baptist chaplain to provide spiritual leadership for our chaplains in the Army."

Douglas Carver's career advance has been rapid, to say the least. It was only last September 2005 that Carver became the Army's Deputy Chief Of Chaplains. Now, in 2007, Carver has advanced to be Head of Army Chaplains. There are very roughly 2,860 chaplains* in the active duty US military and, as of 2005 according to Alan Cooperman writing for The Washington Post, over 450 of those were chaplains from the Southern Baptist Convention, a denomination whose Vice President, Wiley Drake, has endorsed domestic terrorism. Prominent SBC leaders have rhetorically attacked, and encouraged Baptist parents to pull their kids out of, public schools and the SBC officially bars women from serving as SBC pastors. For articles on the Southern Baptist Convention go here.

"Lord, we know  that you will not forget us in our aircraft or under our canopies. Neither  will we forget you on the drop zone or back at home. Thanks for going with  us all the way. Amen. " - LTC Douglas Carver, 101st Airborne Chaplain, from 101st Paratrooper prayer #5

*A correction : originally, I listed the smaller figure of "roughly 1400" for the number of active duty chaplains in the US military. That figure was incorrect. The larger figure - 2860 - is from Dan Cooperman's August 29, 2005 Washington Post story linked to in this article. As an additional factor that makes it difficult to ascertain the "real" number of active duty US military chaplains, the Bush Administration's use of national guard units as de-facto active duty units, for the war in Iraq, suggests that the chaplains of guard units used as active duty US military units should be included in the final tally. That can make a substantial difference when calculating such figures. For example, the USAF head of chaplains, Charles C. Baldwin, has authority over 2,200 Air Force chaplains in active duty and guard units.