The Hand of God in Lantern Rescue!

This is Stu Epperson from the Truth Talk Podcast, connecting current events, pop culture, and theology, and we're so grateful for you that you've chosen the Truth Podcast Network.

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Thank you so much for listening, and please share it around with your friends. Welcome to If Not For God, stories of hopelessness that turn to hope. Here is your host, Mike Zwick. What a show we have for you today on If Not For God.

We really do. I mean, what a joy for me to introduce my good friend and, you know, clearly the host of Land and Rescue, you know, Mark, our team leader, and he gets to meet If Not For God, Mike Zwick. And so, wow. I like being upstaged in this case because, you know, Mark is fresh back from West Africa. Some neat operations, and so you get to hear it first on If Not For God.

Absolutely. And if one of the things that came to my mind is James 1 22 through 25, where it says, But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror, for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.

But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. And so, Mark, what's going on in West Africa? Hey, first of all, Mike, it's awesome to collaborate our shows in this way and crossover. And that's pretty cool.

Thanks for Truth Network doing that. And then second thing, man, a little bit prophetic. I was thinking of that exact verse driving in here, man. And I was thinking of it out of a little bit of frustration of reaching out to people who are, you know, supposedly in the fight against trafficking and asking for some help. I was saying, you know, but it's hard to find doers.

There are a lot. And I'm not I'm not putting down the planners out there. OK. And we plan and we do our best to.

But there are a lot of just planners and planners and planners who don't ever do. So what we're taking time to do right now, the beginning of this year is really talk about how amazing God is in a particular area of the country, of the world that we've got to work in. And that is in West Africa. And I really appreciate the time on your show to share about it. Two years ago, I walked out of a high politician's office who was a direct report to Donald Trump at that time. And the concern from that meeting was concerning West Africa, the fall of the Anglican Church, the rise of Boko Haram and the issues that were at hand, the suffering of the Christians. And when I left that meeting, I mean, I had proposed a couple of things, but when I left, I was frustrated because I knew that I wasn't sure anything would be done that should be done, you know. And I went home to my wife. And just like other things from Iraq and Syria, if you've heard other of Lanter's show, I went home to my wife and I said, man, I wish I had the money. I would just go over there.

You know, I would train some tribal people. We'd divide a line and we'd make sure their kids were safe, right? That was two years ago. Well, jump forward. A few months ago, less than a year ago, I get a text of an individual who's trying to rescue a kid on the border in a conflict area there. And at first I'm like, is this real?

Is this guy just trying to dupe me to come over and my team and take us kidnapped and hostage and something? But it became apparent he was valid. And then what occurred was we were supposed to be in Asia Pacific just recently. And what occurred was they closed up because of the new strain of COVID from UK.

So even the government agencies that we're going to work with, we couldn't work with. So we had to put that trip off. Well, literally three days later, we make plans. We're headed to West Africa.

Right. And so we get there and we meet a guy who I mean, I just want to share his testimony and got through him. This guy, his sister's three children were taken by a book of Rome that was sold in the sex slavery.

His sister died of a stroke from the agony of it. He said, I got to do something. So he starts going to the border every day and every day he gets arrested.

They say, no, you're not supposed to be here. We'll take care of this. And they literally arrest him and take him back to this country's capital, drop him off and say, don't come back. Well, what's he do? The next morning gets up and he goes to the border again.

Right. And in his persistence, he meets a friend and they become great friends. And it's a tragic story. His great friend dies on a motorcycle trying to get to the border one day. He has to go and pick up. He tells me about picking up the body of his friend and taking it back. Just laying on the side of the street. They called him, said, your friend's dead.

Come get him. What does he do the next morning, though? He goes back to the border again.

Nothing deterges. For four months, he gets arrested every day and sent back. After four months, someone from the inspector general's office reaches out to him of that country and says, why are you doing what you're doing? And he tells them why. And they say, OK, in our Constitution, we've never allowed this, but we're going to do this now. You're in charge of trafficking, anti-trafficking.

You have full authority of all of our borders. Right. Right. They tell this guy this. And he is so like you. You're kidding.

So overwhelmed. What does he do? You don't know what to do. So he tries to recruit some pastors and other people to go to the border and help him. Right.

To gain intelligence. He he he starts doing all this because the inspector general gives him this authority. He's now got policemen under him. The very policeman. The very policeman that used to arrest him now works for him. It is one of his closest police friends.

And so we are you know, we're we show up. So he finds out about us. He says early on, you know what to do. He's trying to take care of this border. He reaches out through a U.N. policeman who knows us from another country we work in.

And that guy says, you need to talk to these guys right here. You know, we don't go by lantern rescue overseas. We go by something else. So. So you need to reach out to them. He reaches out to us.

So Asia Pacific closes. We show up in country. Here's this guy I've never met. You know, we're meeting at the airport first time. And in the very first day, he has us meeting with every full authority of two countries.

I mean, usually that takes a year to develop. Usually I have to go overseas multiple times. Me personally, build the relationships within the government, explain the parameters of our work, tell them that it's free of charge. This is what we're going to do. This is not what we're going to do. And this is how this is going to work. You know, and trying to get authority to do those things here in the first 48 hours, we have all of that with this individual. This is how God this has how much God cares about children. This is how much he wants them rescued. Two years ago, he puts this in my heart. He works through the life of this individual in country who gains authority, gets in place to rescue kids who somehow miraculously meets us through a U.N. police officer. Right.

You know, in a to a country that we haven't been in yet, you know, in West Africa. And now closes another opportunity that we might show up and be with this guy. This is how this is how God always works in our our team. I mean, always. It's always this way.

I have so many stories like this. And so we show up. We have full authority now of the border. We train 18 more police officers. We train seven intelligence officers. We get to work.

Yeah. And we start controlling border border crossings. And these are border crossings of where like five countries are sneaking smuggling kids.

You know, day one where they were intercepting child brides. Christian girls, nine years old, 15 year old. One girl's 15 has as is pregnant. Her Muslim husband puts her away because he can't afford the child. She's sold into domestic slavery. The smugglers take her into a slave life. Her and her unborn child.

Right. Nine year old girl is tattooed from because there's voodoo in this region, too. You know, heavily tattooed, just like we've seen in other countries. You know, boys, girls, boys who are promised, hey, you're going to go you're going to learn how to be a bricklayer. You know, and they have bought this kid and the parents don't know. And they think the child's going to go and, you know, have a career of some sort. Well, we intercept and we know we know this guy's a smuggler. We know this kid is going to a brickyard to be a slave all day long, 12 hours a day, 13 hours a day to also, just like the females, be sold at night as a sex slave.

That's what they're used for. You know, so it's a great work. We're excited about it. And the other thing is that we have committed to. So we've already bought a vehicle for him. We bought motorcycles for them. We're getting them gear that they've never had before. We've given them the training that they need.

We've set up the border stations themselves with them, improved what they had. And now we're out there trying to fund it. OK, I mean, and it's under. By the way, if you wanted to help support it, it's lanternrescue.org.

And let me say this. Some things cost a lot to be in some operations part of the world. This whole operation for a little under 50 grand, we can run it for a whole year. And we will rescue thousands of kids. Well, and somebody listening may not be able to give 50 grand, but even if it's 10, 5, 10, 15, 20 bucks. I'm just putting it out there because God always has a plan. You can do 50 grand, do it. And that's how much I believe the Lord, because I feel like if I just say it, somebody's going to show up and go, OK, here it is.

Here it is. Let me tell you, everything has been in God's control up to this point. He sure hasn't got us here to do all of that to see this end.

Well, and when you when I hear you talking, I'm reminded of John one five, where it says the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. And also the story about that other guy where you said he didn't necessarily know what was he didn't know what was going to happen. He just kept going to the border. Right. And all he knew was I might get arrested.

Yeah, he was just going and trying to stop cars, trying to stop motorcycles, trying to intercept. Proverbs 24, verse 16. For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again, but the wicked shall fall by calamity. So in other words, when you fall down, Mark, you just keep getting up. Yeah, yeah, that's right.

Yeah. So, you know, he was he's he's inspiration of my team. I mean, I know my team, Robbie's inspiration, a lot of people, but I wish I could take him in the life of some of the pastors and the people that we meet and work with, you know, overseas who risk so much. I've said that in the past. And and this guy is an inspiration.

I mean, he is he's just trying to serve the Lord. You know, he's trying to change the life of a child. And it's a beautiful thing because within that country, we also have a great facilitation of aftercare. OK, we're improving that as well, you know, for them. And one of the things that we're setting in place is that every victim is going to get a immediate like we do in other countries. They're going to get immediate backpack with care items.

The gospel, the gospel in their language, everything. Right. And then in this particular region, they go into a protection facility while investigators do further investigation. We've arrested the suspect, handed them overdue, whether it's immigration or law, whatever. And then at this point, the child is getting further investigation and determination of bringing the parents. Did the parents sell the child? Do they know where the child was going? Were they duped as well? Or are there no parents?

And this is a straight up, this kid's been trapped for for several years type of situation. And what is the NGO placement or social services? You know, what are they looking at? So we try to help all of that. You know, we facilitate the aftercare.

I say this a lot. We're a tactical unit. We train, we operate, we raid, support those people there. But we facilitate the aftercare because we are Christians.

We want to make sure every child gets the gospel and gets the care that they need. And Robbie, Robbie, you you've been involved in the in the radio show. Well, I just get to host like, you know, like see what God's been doing, you know, over the last year or so. And the stories. Because you see the work, but what I get to see is the heart of the team. You know, because it's not just Mark. I mean, Mark is clearly a big part of that. But man, here's these dudes that, you know, clearly could clear a room, you know, but that their hearts are soft.

And you're seeing that. And then you've got Ren, who is this just brave young woman. I mean, it just is is taken on this mission. And so it's really a beautiful thing to see how God, you know, answered this man's prayer.

And he sent him essentially the A team. I mean, you know, as I picture this scene like, man, I I can see these guys walking in and he's like, oh, my prayers have been answered. The day we showed up, he said, this is the best day of my life.

Yes. And we're like, what? He goes, this is the best day. He goes, I didn't know if you were real. Because I was and we're like, we aren't sure you were real either. You know, he's like, I didn't know y'all were real.

But here you all are. I mean, this guy is just amazing. Just amazing how God works. Mike, when you think about this guy's heart just breaking like every day, he's lost his sister, he's lost his nieces.

I suppose that that would be the way that it would be. And and then and there he is on his own, standing there with God. And God hears that and and.

Mobilizes the entire country because you think of what you just heard. Right. That they gave him this authority and. You know, I just honor the people that did that, that saw righteousness and right in front of their eyes. You're the guy. You're the guy.

I mean, in that beautiful that we were the show we just did. I mean, it's like, you know, God does not qualify the call. I mean, you know, he I mean, he does qualify the call. You know, he doesn't call the qualified. So this guy doesn't have a clue.

And this stuff is wrong and something's got to be done about it. And he was willing. He was willing.

Right. He was willing to put himself on the line. And when you were talking, I was looking at Matthew 24, because this is what we said before the last show. Robbie, if we're real Christians, we've got to be willing to put our lives on the line, our lives on the line.

Matthew 24, nine. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you. And you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will be offended. Will betray one another and will hate one another. Then many false profit profits will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.

But here it is. But he who endures to the end will be saved. Yeah, man, you just read a passage concerning the persecution of our faith. And that is what I see in this part of the region of the world. One thing that we're so excited to be intercepting and involved in is that it is it's 90 percent Christians who are being trafficked there.

OK, whether it's labor, slavery, sex, slavery or forced bride situations, it's it's just Christians, you know, who are being taken. And we we in America are so blessed that I know everybody's feeling the pressure. You know, we're feeling the persecution and we see it for sure. This is a form coming at us.

But where we live today is our freedoms are so far greater than any place else in the world, in the world. So let's don't give those up either. You know, yeah, let's don't give those up. Yeah.

I mean, you know, when I think about this and Robbie, we were just talking about this before in the last show. Heard a story about Napoleon Bonaparte and there was a they were losing them. They were in a battle. They were in a fight and they were losing the battle. And Napoleon said, all right, get the guy to blow his horn.

We're going to retreat. Sent a guy. Ten minutes later, the guy came back and I never blew the horn. He sent another guy. The second guy went there, came back.

The guy never blew his horn. So this time, Napoleon says, I'm going to go down there and tell him myself to blow the horn. We need to retreat. So he goes down and he sees the kid and he says, look, I don't know what's going on here, but we've told you twice you need to blow the bugle.

We need to retreat. The young man looks up at Napoleon and he says, sir, you've never taught me how to retreat. And Napoleon said, I never taught you how to retreat. Kid said, no. He said, all right, then blow your horn to charge. God has never taught us to retreat.

Is that right? Amen, man. And I'm telling you, when that moment in your life comes that you feel like you should retreat.

Boy, be careful. Make consideration. I'm all about taking a knee. Don't get me wrong, like catch your breath, take a knee.

But you're right. Retreat is not something we should do when it's a God sized purpose, you know, because that's when you that's when you see miracles. That's when your faith is exercised. That's when you overcome doubt. That's when you overcome fear, you know, and you step into those environments.

And God always does something miraculous. There are so many times I've gotten on a plane. I thought I may die this time. You know, I'm having that feeling.

What am I? Now I'm going to have this horrible feeling, you know, getting ready to do, you know, a section of the country that is extremely volatile. Everybody's got a gun and I'm already wanted there anyway. Our team's already in an exposed situation.

You know, this could go really bad. But that's when you see miracles. You know, that's when God always comes through. Yeah, I mean, there and Robbie, I remember you used to say that your dad had a favorite quote and it was by Theodore Roosevelt. And it says that the credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best, if he wins, knows the thrills, thrills of high achievement. And if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.

Now, I heard you talking about it a little bit before. Is it exciting when you go out and do this? You know, before we talk to Mark about that, I just wanted to comment that I've read recently in an actual Jewish publication that to become a Jew meant that you are willing to lay down your life for righteousness. OK, the way that Jews look at another Jew is, are you willing to lay down your life for righteousness? And I think about this man out there, right? I mean, this is a great line that was in the movie Camelot. You know, there's a peace that only comes on the other side of war. And there's a time where good men have to stand up and actually say, no, you're not coming any further with this.

This is going to stop. That righteousness needs to come forth. And, you know, there's military for that reason.

And, you know, God's been training up this team at Landon Rescue for this very righteous act. And I think it's so beautiful that I, to my, all the stories I've never heard, you guys have never killed anybody. Right. The motivation, there's times we could have, times we wanted to, you know. But we try, we use, you know, less lethal. And we're pretty big people compared to foreigners, you know.

We can handle a room pretty well. And guns are no guns, you know. So, what I will say is, what we're talking about here is the driving motive. Roosevelt's inspiring quote and statement is one that I've definitely grasped in my life, too. And, you know, you take that and you clench your fists and say, man, this is inspiring. And it is, especially inspiring if it is integrated with your faith and knowledge that God is going to protect you and He's going to take care of you. And that if I die, it is completely 100% God's determination of that. And that I don't have to be worried or concerned that it is an early death.

There's no such thing. There'd be a lot of people say, yeah, we knew Mark wouldn't make it long. He's over there, you know, he's been shot at and running around and everything. He's going to die. You know, that's not how I look at it. And I'm pretty sure when I meet my Savior, that's not how it will be. I don't think I'll show up and go, whoa, whoa, whoa.

You know, not at all. Because we're all called by God to do this. And He continues to open the doors. He reveals Himself to us constantly. He provides for it. He funds it. He gives us favor.

Everything that has to be in place. I simply have to have the faith to go into the dark place, to lead a team, lead a foreign team. We have to have that to lead them into danger themselves. I mean, trust me, we work in a lot of places where they're like, we're not coming. You know, we don't want to go there or, you know, all the guns are drawn and any number of moments we could have all been shot.

But God's given us favor and He's called us to do it. We're not adrenaline junkies. You know, honestly, you really know, Rob, you know Alan and TC and Wren and the calmness of their spirit, right? I have seen, they're so calm in the most violent moments.

If I pulled up some video and showed you guys where it is just such a volatile moment. And they're just like, they're just so relaxed. And I think that's God in them because they're there for the right motive.

They're not, we want to bring justice, don't get me wrong, and we bring it. But we're there to rescue a girl, okay? And it's just, it's beyond cool that God has literally been training TC.

He's been training, in other words, this wasn't something that happened, you know, in five years. These people, you know, God has raised them up for this moment because, you know, He hears the screams of those little girls. He hears the screams of the little boys. He understands the taskmaster, even if they're making bricks, you know, seven days a week this little kid, you know, that's doing nothing but making bricks.

It's unbelievable. Yeah, God hears every one of them, every one of them. And how often in Scripture He talks about the oppressed and He's cared for. I can't, you know, Isaiah chapter 1, what an awesome.

If you haven't read that, everybody listening, get your Bible read Isaiah chapter 1. When you were talking about that peace that they have, I was thinking about Philippians 4, starting in verse 4. It says, Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say, rejoice always. Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Is that the peace that you have when you do it?

It comes at different times. We live at peace because we are at peace with God. We have, you know, we are justified, those of us who have accepted Christ. But peace in those moments, too, is a real thing, okay? I have been at an unrest, I have been in fear, and I have felt alone. And then in a moment, the Holy Spirit gives a reminder of who He is and all that He's done and His promises in God's Word, and there is a peace that passes all understanding that comes over you. And it doesn't matter if you're going into the most terrorist-infiltrated area, the most gang-violent area, you are at peace.

But I don't get it unless I continue in faith, you know, unless I just move forward. And the audience of The Truth Network plays its role, because they have been praying for these guys. Yeah, that's right. They've heard the stories, you know, they've supported them financially, and the beauty of it is this isn't just a team. Right. You're on the team, you're listening right now. And so, you know, tomorrow when you go to pray, man, God guide these people in West Africa, help them step up, you know, provide for them, help, you know, Mark and the team, you know, do what they need to do and be able to communicate, because you're crossing language barriers, cultural barriers, this isn't just like, oh, I'm going to go teach the guy, you know, how to clear a room.

Right, yeah. And if they want to be able to get involved or if they want to donate, they just go to lanternrescue.org? Yes, sir, lanternrescue.org. There is a volunteer portal there. We ask for patience from our volunteers because we're a small outfit and we're working constantly overseas. But, you know, we find a spot eventually over time, somebody may come to mind, you know, in that volunteer portal. And to donate to, you can go to lanternrescue.org.

You can give, you hit give and it goes to National Christian Foundation, because they'll handle our tax receipts for you and all that. So, like Robbie said, I mean, man, the number of prayers that have been uttered on our behalf is, I can't imagine, I can't wait to find out when I get to heaven. And then I also love meeting people. I just met a guy this morning who, like he said, hey, I listen to your show and then I listen to the show y'all do.

My wife, so Mike and I took a picture together. You know, he's like, my wife would love to see you two together. And so, you know how it is, too. Like, I mean, the outpouring of responses from people to say we're praying for you and then to meet somebody and go, so you're that mark on lantern risk? Like, you know, they open up how they prayed for you.

You know, it's a pretty cool thing. And you hear this again and again and again on our show. Just take the first step and God will take care of the rest. If not for God. If not for God.

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