Lantern Rescue - Body Language

Hello, this is Matt Slick from the Matt Slick Live Podcast, where I defend the Christian faith and lay out our foundations of the truth of God's Word. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just a few seconds. Enjoy it, share it, but most of all, thank you for listening and for choosing the Truth Podcast Network.

This is the Truth Network. Previously on Lantern Rescue. We also this week encountered and worked with a young man, a little boy, nine-year-old boy. His very young mother was chained into the chair, leaving for the day and coming back. And it is just shocking that a mom would do that, maybe out of just complete hopelessness, or she didn't know what to do.

But fortunately, they're quarantined here with the father, and they have that child care, and they're reaching out to the mom. Welcome to Lantern Rescue, a ministry program dedicated to bringing light into the darkness of human trafficking. It's time to light the way to freedom. This is Lantern Rescue. We tell the stories, we talk about rescues, and we empower you to do something about it.

William Wilberforce once said, let it not be said I was silent when they needed me. This is Lantern Rescue. Well, I am for one just really glad that you're listening today, and God continues to work with Lantern Rescue, and the progress that we're hearing and what God's doing is really encouraging to me against such a horrific foe. And Mark, there's progress being made on what we talked about last week. Of course, we all hoped it would end and be already done, but there's a lot of work to be done, right?

Hey, good morning, Robbie. There is. You know, progress sometimes in some cases unfortunately takes quite a bit of effort, and it takes potentially months to determine who the perpetrator is and who's involved in certain aspects of the abuse. And so in the case of one of the cases of last week that we were out of country for and were undercover, that case is progressing. We have eliminated one individual. That individual is innocent, but there's still a great concern who is in cahoots, who's working with the main perpetrator who we know and have identified and trying to wrap him up on different charges.

So that case will probably see revolution. It's probably gonna take about another month because it's requiring our investigators to do some work on that end that we've worked with, and then it's also requiring us to go back and to do another step. So it is progressing.

I wish, like you just said, off air, I wish it was like a microwave. We just pop it in and boom, it's all done. But some things take a great deal of effort, time and energy from more than just our team. And speaking of that, today's show, I'm really excited to kind of get the inner workings of God's, I guess, multiplying your efforts through allowing you guys to train teams all over the world. And we're gonna talk a little bit about that today, right, Mark?

We are. One of the things that is an identifier about Land and Rescue is that we work with the country we're in. And to do that requires us to train them. Most often when we first come, there is, we're gonna go through that in the show, and I look forward to Alan kind of sharing his viewpoint as being the director of our training.

But, you know, it is exciting. Most recently during COVID that our team there that we train were able to go out and do an operation. It was for a eight-year-old and a 10-year-old, and they were being held in labor slavery within this country. They were orphans. They had not, you know, known their parents.

They had been swept up on the street, moved through different homes, and then unfortunately were in a position with a business that they were using them as slaves, which also, you know, as we know from experience, rarely is any child that is in labor slavery not also being sexually exploited, and that was the case of these two. And, you know, these agents that work with us and train with us, they're like our, in many ways, they're like your child, you know, when you raise your child and support everything you can into them, and then you have to let go and hope that what they do is right and they do it well. And we've had great results, and this is an example of a great result, that the team was able to go and extract those two and bring them to safety. And even also to talk to them during that last month and realize that they said, yeah, hey, we used the techniques that Alan taught us, you know, and that's exciting because we're producing something in that country that is long term. We're not just coming into the country working, doing our work, and we can do great work with Americans in countries, but it cannot skip the training process of the locals. Yeah, that's absolutely amazing. So, Alan, as you go in there, can you kind of give us the rundown on a little bit of what you get a chance to do without disclosing any of the, you know, secrets, obviously?

Sure. Usually what happens and what happened in the case with this country is you go in and you got to kind of feel each other out. Obviously, they are law enforcement or work with law enforcement agencies or some variants of that, and so they have in their own mind ways of doing things. And often those ways that they use are just passed down to them from the officers that they work with. So it's not necessarily sound tactics.

It's just what they've been doing for a while, and they don't really have any means to differentiate good from bad tactics. So when we go in, in this case, we went in and had that warm-up period where we got to know each other a little bit, and then we started to show them tactics that have been utilized for many years by various teams, whether it's in law enforcement or military. But so the initial training started out, and the language barrier is always a challenge, but we had a great interpreter. He was able to tell them exactly what we were looking for, and then there's the visual part where we actually show them. So part starts off with, you know, explaining the tactics and how you do them and why you do them, and then you actually start doing them with them and then allow them to move onto their own accord and do them independently without us.

We're just kind of observing them. So it's kind of how it starts, and it sounds simple, but there's a lot that goes into it. The individuals themselves, you know, you'll find during the training that some individuals comprehend it and can do the various tactics, whether it's with weapons or movement or team efforts, and then you'll find their shortcomings. So you've got to kind of gauge that around each individual operator there. So it's kind of what we did as we moved forward in the training. You start to evaluate the individuals and how they're performing. So a lot of it, you know, you can give people tactics. How they apply them is another variant. So it's kind of like if I were to give you a plane with no manual or no instructions and all the instruments were in a foreign language and said, there you go, Robbie, go ahead, it's yours, take off. You have the plane, but you really don't know how to use it or how to fly it. So that's part of the training effort where we just give them the tactics and we then school them and how to use them. Does that kind of make sense?

Yes, yes. But I'm curious, like I'm sure most of the listeners, you know, can you give us example, none of your top secret stuff, but, you know, just one of those tactics and maybe an example of how you've used that in a rescue at some point in time or perhaps in your prior? Prior to our full training program that's in place in that country, we did some operations with the team and, you know, it was fortunately we all lived. That should be the bottom line because when we first did some rescue operations with them and some raids, like Alan just mentioned, they had in their mind how it will be and they applied how they applied how they should do things and it was not at all the way things should be done.

And there was on their part really a hesitation because in this particular country, they come through the academy, they're lucky if they have, you know, even shot a weapon more than a half a dozen times or they're fortunate they even come out of the academy with a weapon, you know, and or with any protection, you know, pieces on their body. And so that's part of the evaluation that we do as an organization and we come in and we're evaluating all that and seeing their needs and understanding and then we bring, you know, the team member, you know, Alan and others who are expert trainers who do this in so many other countries and come in and they can make that evaluation and pick it up at that level. And the progression of their capability, you know, it's training is going to continue. Obviously, we before we go in, we have to train.

We do refreshers before we do anything. But the progression of where they are today versus where they were, let's say, we're going to take, you know, two years ago, a country two years ago, it would be it's significant, very significant. And it's and it's exciting.

And it's exciting for their government and their law enforcement and their capabilities to fight trafficking. Wow. So Alan is getting back to the question I asked a minute ago, just to give our listeners a little feel because you guys use tactics and you all know what you're talking about, but we actually don't. And so, you know, what would that like entail in something really simple that perhaps you saw really useful to them?

Well, here's an example. One day, we did a train specifically geared about how to go up and down stairways or ladder wells, whatever you want to call them. And so we instructed them in that, you know, and showed them a good solid way to do it, protecting each other and protecting those around them. And that night, right after that training, and they all did well with that, they got it and they understood it.

And that night, one of the raids we had, we went into this very first club, I believe. And there was a stairwell right in front of us. And as soon as we hit it, a few guys went to the right and a few guys went to the left. And then I had a team that went right for the center stairwell. And as soon as we hit the stairwell, all that training, we showed them that that day kind of went out the window. They just kind of went right back to their old way. But halfway up the steps, they realized, oh, that probably wasn't the right way to do it. So then they regathered themselves in their composure. I was right there with them at the time. And then they were able to perform the tactic moving up the steps and they were able to do it safely. But on the, we actually were like GoPros.

They have audio on there. And you can actually hear me as soon as I hit the steps. And I said, and that's exactly how we don't do steps. And it must have been at that point, they realized that they looked back at me and then we kind of regrouped and went up the steps. But so there's various ways to do things.

Some are more sound than others. But we always do a minimum of two individuals going anywhere. Nobody really ever goes anywhere by themselves. So if we go into a room, two individuals will go into a room, which was new to them. So throughout the operations, you could see where they would stray from that. And as soon as they'd stray, they'd feel something was wrong and be able to readdress it and get their partner with them so they could go into the room. Or in this case, it was a stairwell and how they maneuvered through the stairwell. Yeah, I don't want to get into a lot of details as far as the tactics. But you know, it's something as simple as walking through a door. Sounds really simple, but what you do once you go through that door, whether you go left or you go right, you move into the room, those are all things that we discuss and we tell them why we do what we do. And it's the overall safety of the team and the individuals in the crisis site that we're about to take down.

That's very helpful. And we've got to go to a break. You know, we're listening to the Landon Rescue team as they're preparing to go on another operation here in the middle of September. We're really excited about what God's doing with that.

And we're going to find out more of the spiritual aspects of that when we come back. A lot more Landon Rescue. Landon Rescue is a USA-based organization that conducts international rescue operations for people suffering from human trafficking. Landon specializes in sending former U.S. Special Operation law enforcement and intelligence personnel to partner with host nations and assist them in creating specialized units to combat ongoing security problems such as genocide, terrorism, and human trafficking.

As a nonprofit charity, they offer services free of charge to their host nations. Human trafficking has grown into the second largest criminal activity in the world, reaching an estimated $150 billion in annual activity. Landon Rescue has developed rapidly to combat trafficking. Landon operates through a trained international network in order to rescue women and children from sex and labor slavery and facilitates holistic aftercare services. They're gearing up for operations right now, and you can go to LandonRescue.org to see how you can support them financially.

Welcome back to Landon Rescue. Today's episode we're digging into, you know, some of the specialized training that the Landon Rescue team does with other countries and their teams and being able to sort of multiply what God's doing in the way of rescuing people from human trafficking. And the team's language expert, so to speak, you know, you know, you've studied Russian and all these things, so this language barrier is really, you know, part of what you guys experience. Yeah, it's definitely something cool and kind of interesting about how we work is when we do these trainings and we're able to be at the compound and do trainings in a safe environment, we do have a translator with us and he helps the more technical parts, but a lot of this training is very body language oriented and you start to just learn people's habits and their techniques and that's so helpful because once we get into these clubs, it's dark, it's loud, and we don't even speak the same language as these people. We might have some words here and there, but we don't speak the same language and you get in an environment like that and everything you know goes out the window except for your, you know, major motor skills. So it's really interesting to be able to do these operations and just clear a whole club and rescue victims and go into these crazy places and not even speak the same language as the people that you're with. So that's how important the training is, is it's so vital and it's so instrumental to just being able to do these operations because you know what they're going to do because you guys all got the same training together. Yeah, that's really, you know, I'm sure every minute you guys get a chance to share, it's kind of like discipleship training, right? But Mark, as you, you know, get to see the overall picture of what God's doing with Land and Rescue here, it really is a beautiful thing, isn't it? It is because that interaction that Wren just talked about. The other thing that we seem to cross over in the language barrier is that we share the love of Jesus to these guys and these girls.

I mean, we love on them, we care for their families, you know, we care about their children. They know that, they sense that, they understand that, they know we're different when before and after a raid we stop and have a word of prayer, you know, with them. And there are times where we've went through scenarios, whether it be training or operationally, that I look back and think, how did that work?

Because none of us, none of us can speak the same language. How did that all work? You know, because I know my grunt's a little bit different than Alan's grunt, but it all works out, you know. And we have God on our side and I tell you, when he wants a course of action taken, he wants something done and gets done, something done and gets done. You know, one thing that is great about Lantern and the training that the curriculum that Alan and TC and our team lays out, that it's also very specific to the rescue operation. So there's a whole lot of basic tactics that have to be covered and trained and taught, but then where we're very specialized and unique to a country and the services we provide is that we help them in the extraction process. So, you know, Alan is, if anybody ever met him, he's a big strong guy and TC has a huge martial arts background, but the techniques that they train and teach can be utilized by the girl who's a law enforcement agent on this unit and can do the same things to release a girl, free her, and then to bring her to safety. And so it's really great that we've laid out that curriculum and that we teach that into these countries and how to keep a victim safe once we've rescued them, how to move them through a hostile environment back to a safe vehicle, all of those types of scenarios. And I'm just thrilled with what Lantern is doing and how we're so specialized in being able to really attack this problem internationally. That's an amazingly beautiful thing that God has been training up all you guys with such specialties throughout your life. And even now, Ren is getting further training in law school so that you'd be able to help in future ways. But Alan, as you think about this training, but there's a real spiritual side of Alan, and can you kind of share with us what you're sensing there in what God's doing?

Absolutely. You know, a lot of times when we pray or when we try to be with God, we're the ones that talk a lot. In most cases, just listening or seeing is the part that really moves you forward in your relationship with God.

If you're the one who's talking all the time, how can you ever hear? So in relation to what we do with the teams over there, a lot of it is visual. A lot of it, the training revolves around hand and arm signals or movements of the individual. Once you see how they're moving, you know which direction they're going, what the objective of that individual is.

And the same is true with the Lord. He puts you on a path and, you know, if you just keep your mouth quiet and look at the path that he has before you, he guides your steps. And it's the same in training when we know we're doing it from the entry point, you know, and once we get in there, we know we're doing it in the search procedures, and once we get done with that, you can see the people moving to the potential rescuee. And then once that occurs, then the next movements take place. So all those things kind of flow together if you're just watching and not talking and seeing how things progress. So I guess the spiritual side of that is just, you know, stay quiet and let God do the talking a lot of times, and he talks loudest sometimes without words. Oh yeah, and somebody told me once you've got two ears and one mouth, you know, God was trying to give you, you know, a way to figure these things out mathematically at least twice as much as you thought. So Ren, you've got something with COVID that's kind of applicable, right?

Yeah. So, you know, our plan was always to train these teams and to give them the tools to help themselves and to help their countries. And we never, I don't think anyone ever predicted this COVID and this restriction on traveling and all that stuff. So when it hit, you know, and we weren't able to leave the country, that was devastating for us, but it was such an eye-opening moment because even though we weren't able to go overseas, our work never stopped. The team was still doing rescues, we were still getting messages from them all the time about, you know, we rescued this kid, we rescued that kid, we found these victims, all this stuff, and the work never stopped. And that's because they were given these tools and given this way to really help themselves and help their countries. And that's the end goal for all of this is someday we want to be out of a job.

We want these teams to be, and they are right now, some of them, some of the ones that are more trained, fully independent of us and able to do this work when we're not there and to rescue victims around the clock. And that's just, that's really important. And that's the model that we've built. And it really came to fruition with this restriction on traveling the past six months or so. Yeah, that's phenomenal.

It really is. And as Alan had mentioned, you guys care deeply about all the members of these teams, and you guys are really suffering a loss recently, right? Yeah, so unfortunately, someone, they're not directly on the team that we trained, but they are with the unit that we work with. He passed away due to violence in this country.

We can't really disclose anything beyond that. But if everyone could just be thinking and praying for him and his family, you know, these people struggle enough in these countries, and he put his life on the line doing good work, and he unfortunately lost his life yesterday. Wow, wow. And it just highlights the need for prayer, you know, for all these teams that you guys have around the world, as well as you guys, as you are looking at going out in a couple weeks. And I know Mark, you were thinking about a, you know, spiritual side to all this as well. You know, in our lives, as we start with our physical bodies, how critical it is to train our bodies and to stay in shape and to do all of those things. And, you know, nobody more than Paul, the Apostle Paul, made those applications from our physical exercise and our physical effort to train our bodies. He translated that over to our spiritual side. And it always impresses upon my heart that as much as we make effort to train these teams, you know, in their movements and things, that we also look for opportunities to train them spiritually.

And I want people to know that about Lantern. Right now, one thing we're looking at, we're having with, especially with one team that we've trained for quite a while now, we're getting ready to do a larger training this fall with them. And hopefully in an environment where we can begin to incorporate even more spiritual lessons into them. Because just because this foreign agent learns how to move through a door and how to handle his weapon and how to extract children and how to keep us all safe. He also, his character is vitally important because outside of the office, we want him to be a loving father, husband, and a man of character. And that is something important to Alan, TC, myself and Wren. That's what we want for these individuals. And, you know, for us to put into them, we have to put into ourselves. And our listeners probably know from just being Americans and going to church, how critical it is that we do more than just go to church.

You know, we have to read our Bibles, we have to be on our knees, we have to pray, we have to make consideration of our spiritual sides. And so I'm excited that we as a team take that serious. And I'm really excited that we as a team take it serious for those we train also. Yeah, and just having a chance to spend some time with these guys.

I could share with listeners that, you know, this side of them is primary in their lives. And as a result, you think of, you know, teams of disciples that are going out there doing rescues, but in doing so, they're actually being rescued by God, you know, in the process, kind of like he rescued us, right, Mark? Right, right.

Yeah. And so, you know, I want to say to even last week's episode, I know we were out of country, it's kind of hard to hear and the gentleman that was with, you know, sharing about the transition team, you know, and they're going through training, they're, they are, you know, always preparing themselves for the victim and how to provide the best therapy and how to, you know, show the love of Christ, that individual, but how to take care of everything from, you know, social services to the doctor to the therapy, everything that entails their, you know, they're busy training to, you know, people don't realize how much of the aftercare partners that we facilitate take it serious, and they enter into a whole new level of training for themselves and their team. Well, so, I hate we're out of time, but as always, we would, you know, ask for prayers for Ren, for Alan, for Mark, for TC, and for these teams and for the families of those who suffered this particular loss, and I know there's a whole lot of stuff going on, but God, I'm so grateful God has given us this show and a chance to hear what he's doing around the world with Land and Rescue. Thank you, guys. This is the Truth Network.