- Well, former Air ForceChaplain, Curt Cizek,

joins us down by Skype.

And, Chaplain, thanks somuch for being with us.

- Thank you.

- Let's follow your career.

You went to West Point,and so how does somebody

from West Point then end up in seminary?

- So, God called me out of the military

and ended up going back to my hometown,

went to my home congregationand the pastor there said,

"I think you should be a pastor."

So I enrolled and absolutely enjoyed it.

And after planting achurch, God called me back

into the military to serve those people

who are the bravest menand women in America.

- Okay.

What got you into the Air Force then?

- So I had been in the Army.

It was basically theministry of the Armed Forces

for our church body.

The secretary was thereand she convinced me

to go back into the Air Force.

- Okay.

Well, let's take it fastforward then to the complaints.

So, somebody complained about your sermon,

and what did they allege that you said?

- Yeah, so since she misquoted me,

I'm gonna quote her directly.

She wrote in her complaint that I said,

"If you are homosexual,you're going to hell."

Now, a friend of mine, her unit chaplain,

explained that chaplains preach and teach

according to their religious beliefs.

And so she understood.

The problem was that wealso had a lesbian commander

working in basic training.

And here's what she isquoted as saying about me.

She quoted me as saying that"Homosexuality was a sin

"and that homosexuals would burn in hell."

So she didn't actually hear the sermon,

but I don't know whereeither of them are getting

what I said, 'causethat's not what I said.

The story clip that you already showed,

basically says what I already said.

- Well, the old Mark Twain adage,

"The lie gets to go around the world

"before the truth gets its pants on."

So that seems to have happened to you.

And it's one of those that, you know,

as soon as this is out there,

you start getting poorperformance reviews.

You then get passed over for promotion.

Were you ever told that itwas because of that sermon?

- Well, starting three daysafter I preached the sermon,

all the chaplains in my chain of command,

my boss, his boss, his boss, and his boss

verbally counseled me about the sermon.

So clearly they had anissue with the subject

that I was talking about.

Sexual immorality, basically,do not commit adultery.

And then when I was inAfghanistan, a few weeks after

I was removed fromworking in basic training,

that's the first time thatI really connected the dots.

I had received a phonecall from a First Sergeant,

who was removed fromworking in basic training

by the lesbian commander,because he would not agree

with her on disciplining amilitary training instructor.

And then when I got back from Afghanistan,

I went and talked to mynew supervisor's boss,

Chaplain McCain, who letthe cat out of the bag

that the reason for myremoval was the sermon.

And then another Chaplain had been removed

for the same thing, whileI was in Afghanistan.

- Did it cross your mind thatthe writing was on the wall

and you might wanna startlooking at leaving the service

and at least walkingaway with your pension?

I assume at this point intime, you already had 20 years.

Did that ever cross your mind?

- So I assumed that whenthe military said that

we can preach and teach accordingto our religious beliefs,

which is not onlyConstitutional Amendment,

but is also laid out for usin Air Force regulations,

that they actually meant itand that I would be exonerated.

There's a lot of administrative remedies

and I've gone through all of them now.

I thought for sure thatsomebody would say,

"Well, what was done to him was wrong."

Obviously that hasn'thappened, but I'm thankful that

at least Department ofDefense Inspector General

is re-looking into everythingthat happened to me.

- Well, when it finally came down to it,

you weren't permitted to retire.

And so it seems like thisis some kind of vengeance

that they want to deny your pension.

They wanna deny your health benefits.

They wanna claim involuntary discharge

so that you don't get any of that.

Is that your view?

Is this some kind of vengeance?

- Absolutely.

When the Obama-BidenAdministration had repealed,

"Don't ask, Don't tell",they assured us that

conservative Christians,conservative other religion

chaplains would be protected.

And so they made my case go away.

Senior Master Sergeant Phillip Monk,

and another Chaplain,Rashaundra Singleton.

They made all of our cases go away.

That's three people inone unit in six months

that all got removed forbasically the same thing.

So the Obama-BidenAdministration made it clear

that they didn't want their

"Don't ask, Don't tell" repealed.

They wanted it to go off without a hitch,

so they swept everythingunderneath the rug.

- Are they trying to makean example out of you,

so that other chaplains sortof tow this new party line,

don't speak against sexual sin?

Is that your view?

You're the shining example?

Here's what's going to happenif you cross this line?

- Yes, so there are some strong forces

in the former administrationand in the Pentagon.

When the President talksabout draining the swamp,

he doesn't just mean Washington, D.C.,

he means the Pentagon as well.

So he has fought back againstsome of their transgender

and homosexual agenda push

and the preventing of freespeech that has occurred

under the previousadministration, Obama-Biden.

- Do you think there's anythought that this might

actually hurt recruitmentand, specifically,

hurt trying to have morechaplains come into the service?

- Well, they're trying to get rid

of all of the conservative chaplains.

I think that's clear, or to silence them.

And so, yes, so it'sgonna hurt recruitment

for conservative Christians,conservative other religions

as well, for coming into the military.

Because it's clear that wedon't stand on equal footing

when it comes to ourFirst Amendment rights.

- Well, we've got a viewer question.

This one comes in from YouTube.

Were you aware of thepushback you would receive

from speaking the truth?

How has this situationchanged your view on the Lord,

yourself, and the church today?

- I didn't expect thereto be any pushback there.

The Air Force's guidance to us was

absolutely perfectly clearthat we would not be censored

in any way when speakingin a religious service

or in religious instruction.

The experiences I've gonethrough have gotten me closer,

I would say, to some figures in the Bible

that went through some difficult times.

People like Job, the storyof Joseph, have been really

near and dear to my heart, aswell as the story of Esther,

standing up for the truth when,

sometimes we call itspeaking truth to power.

Sometimes it doesn'talways go well for the

prophets of old and also Christians today.

- Well, thank you forstanding, Curt Cizek.

Thank you also for being with us.

I know your case is up on appeal.

And so, as viewers, if youwant to know how you can stand

with Curt and make yourvoice heard and help him

in his appeal, you can go to our website,

CBNNews.com for more information.

We also have it on theCBN News Channel app,

so download that.

And again, Chaplain Cizek,thank you for standing

and thank you for being with us today.

- [Curt] Thank you so much.