Heroism in the War Zone

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. The trafficker was going through the village and he saw this kid that had these skills was able to do these things and he talks him into taking a job. He's like, oh, you've already got these great skills. I can dig you across the border. I can get you more money. You'll have your own money. You can start your own life. And what he was actually going to do is sell him into forced labor, not a job, not, and he's 15 years old also, you know, so that the money is tempting. You know, you can send money back to your family, the same song and dance we hear all the time.

So, but he was intercepted and he was prevented from being sold to a labor trafficker. 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. It is great to be back on Lantern Rescue today.

And I think we have a whopper of an update for you. There's a lot going on right now, isn't there Rem? Yeah, there's a lot going on overseas.

Unfortunately, we were not able to make it overseas recently to help one of our teams out. And there's been some extreme violence in one of the countries that we work in and a lot of members of the police force were lost last week. Yeah, I, in some kind of horrible, you know, from what I've seen of that, Mark had a video and it was quite graphic and how the police are being treated there. Yeah, that video was delivered really as a warning to law enforcement, which includes us, to stay away, to stay out of that area that because it's a narcotic controlled area, they don't want people there. And as Ren, you know, she can probably give us even the latest update. This is a current situation that's changing daily and getting worse by the moment.

She can kind of share with the number that's been lost and a little bit of what happened. Yeah, so basically what had happened is this country, it's run essentially by gangs. There's a lot of violence in this nation and we've always known that working there. And on Saturday, the president gave the order to go arrest a gang leader and the unit that went in to do the arrest is one that we've worked with. It's not our primary unit, but we've worked with them in the past and they, whether there was a rat that pulled them ahead of time that this police unit was coming or they saw them coming, somehow the gang found out the police unit was coming and they had, you know, some form of a sniper, the best that they had, ready and they ambushed the police unit when they got closer and, you know, the team has seen the videos and our team over there, we work primarily with his, reach out to us, we've been talking with them and it's some pretty graphic, pretty nasty stuff. The gang stopped the vehicle. The team inside fired for as long as they could, but they ran out of ammunition and they were overtaken by force.

They were dragged out of the vehicle and the last count that we know of, eight were killed, five were maimed pretty severely, missing limbs and there's still a couple that are missing. So there's a lot of work that needs to be done in this nation. There's a lot of training. Situations like this can't be entirely avoided all the time, no matter how well trained you are. However, just watching the videos and seeing what happened, you know, we see some areas of improvement that could have potentially helped to prevent this, but in countries like this, you know, they're fighting to stay alive every single day. The fine-tuned training that, you know, we want to provide and that most people, law enforcement officials here in America have is just not on the radar for them. They're just trying to survive the day.

So, you know, it's a huge hit to morale for the team here and for the team over in that country to see this stuff happen and it really highlights the situation that we're in and the violence in these nations. And when there's so much violence and just indiscriminate, just nasty, brutal stuff going on, it's almost impossible to do our work and to actually help the victims of human trafficking. You know, these people, the police force, they're barely staying alive every single day. The people of just regular civilians of this nation are hiding in their homes. They're barely able to survive the day. So they don't have the time or the mental capacity to stop and think about how they can help someone else when they're barely staying alive themselves. Yeah, you know, Mark showed me this video and as I was watching it, I was shocked.

I mean, I really wasn't. Anybody could hate anybody as bad as clearly these people are hating this policeman that they're abusing. And essentially they're abusing his dead body at this point in time and screaming and yelling and screaming and yelling. And I looked at Mark and I said, what is it that they're so mad about? What are they screaming about? And he said, well, think about it, Robbie, in this country, what you said was chilling. People hate the police.

Can you see the people important in doing this to a policeman that if they caught him and it's a scary, scary thing for all of us to be praying, right, that God realizes that the righteous are extremely critical, you know, the law enforcement. We jumped right in on this topic because we want our listeners to engage with us in this show. And where we're going with this is that all of us have encountered riots and stops in this country, particularly. And if I close my eyes and think of this country beyond just the children and victims that we rescue, the second thought that comes to my mind are all the smoke burning buildings and tires and riots in front of us while we drive around this Capitol, you know.

And you're talking about this country not being the United States. Right. Yes. Yes. I'm sorry.

The country that we're referring to. Yeah. And so I'm so thankful that that's that God protects us. I'm thankful for the prayers of our listeners. And I'm thankful for the expertise of my team and all of us and the way we are able to maneuver through those things and do it calmly. And I'm grateful that we haven't suffered an encounter like that, because it is very real for us that that could happen at any moment, any time when you're in foreign countries and you are the only Americans, you know, at least outside of the embassy, you know, a lot of us, you know, working and operating in these situations. Man, I tell you, God's protection in favor is so critical. That's just a thought that was on my mind. So, Alan, with all this violence going on, my immediate reaction is, why don't you guys get in there and why don't you do something?

But what do you perceive as actually holding you back at this time? Because your team could make such an impact with what's going on. Yeah, actually, I want to touch on a couple things. Actually, it was a Lord that prevented us from being there. Originally, we were scheduled to be there the week that happened to work with the units there. And for whatever reason, obviously, we're seeing the outcome of it.

We weren't there. And prior to that, this unit had requested us numerous times to assist them in training and that we were working on doing that. But since our primary goal is, you know, anti-trafficking, this unit is a specialized unit, basically like a SWAT team.

In the United States, they're called out to disturbances of many natures. But we were trying to work on a relationship where this unit would come in support of the unit we're working with in the anti-trafficking. So those relationships there would be informed and looked at to aid our primary goal over there, which is, you know, anti-trafficking. So I guess, in short, the Lord kept us from going there, but now the Lord has opened our eyes to see what the need is in the country. So when we do go in, we'll be better prepared to train that unit in the way that could best benefit us in the support element and benefit them in their primary duty, which is obviously the SWAT tactics that they need to deploy in that country. So hopefully that answered the question and try not to get too technical there, but that's really what it was about.

The Lord opened our eyes and he protected us all in the same moment. Alan, what do you see as the next step? Right now, we have started the plans for the training that we would like to provide for the units called BRII over there. So the training we want to provide to them, along with the joint training with the BPM. So moving forward, hopefully in the near future, we'll be able to go over there and facilitate at least a week-long training for both the units in a joint fashion so that they know how to support one another. So that's the next move, is just getting over there and facilitating the training. When we do the training, usually right after the training, we'll engage in an operation.

So in this case, that may or may not happen. When we go over there, we may not be able to go into the operation to assist them, but at least we'll have the training prior to the next engagement, hopefully. Robby, our listeners hear us talk about training a lot, and Alan is our director of training and his expertise in this field is the best. You know, this is a service, this is something we offer at no charge to our foreign partners, and it's a commodity, really, that they're receiving in exchange for us setting up that counter-trafficking task force in that country. But as Alan was kind of indicating there, there's a great overlap of the training that we provide them. One is for counter-trafficking, the extraction of children and victims, the interception of victims from smugglers, girls and boys alike from smugglers. But the reality is they eat this training up.

I mean, they absolutely can't wait for it because it is life and death for them. Life and death, you know, as you just saw in some of those images. And so that interaction that Lane and Rescue has and that capability and that lane of effort that we provide in those countries is so vital because it is life and death.

And I tell you what, when you become an instructor for someone who is most likely going to use this and encounter it very quickly, man, you pour into them and you care about them. This is also part of the ministry. This is where we create the friendships and the bonds and the trust. And this is where we evaluate, you know, team members, foreign team members to decide, hey, that's the guy we want leading this unit, this team.

This is the guy we want to do this, you know, and we could collectively decide that. But this is where this is our missionary work, really. I mean, you know, I know people like to hear about rescue operations and we love all of that, but we love what we do and being able to spend all day with these men and women who are standing for what's right and just in their country and being able to pour into them so that it helps them not only do the task of counter trafficking, but also just, you know, all the other things that's thrown at them. You know, that's why we do it and that's why we love to do it. Yeah. You can't help but see that, wow, if the police aren't safe on the street, right?

That obviously you've got to create that environment or we can't have any kind of law enforcement. So, you know, what a beautiful opportunity through such tragic circumstances. It's really unbelievable, but you can see God's hand clearly, as Alan described. So when we come back, you're going to find there's more ways that you can connect with Landon Rescue. You're going to hear about some neat opportunities. So we've got so much more Landon Rescue coming up on this really action-packed adventure. Landon Rescue is a USA-based organization that conducts international rescue operations for people suffering from human trafficking. Landon specializes in sending former US 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 non-profit 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 dollars 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.

So welcome back to this episode of Landon Rescue. We're talking about what the violence that has been going on in this country that really is kind of critical to your whole operation based on how much trafficking goes on for the whole world through this. So the times are critical, Alan, and you guys are anxious to get back there.

Absolutely. You know, one of the unique things, and there's listeners out there that have trained in their life or given presentations or whatever, usually those are done back here in the United States in a safe environment. You know, it's a controlled atmosphere. They're able to conduct their training and what were the presentations without interruption. Where we go, we're actually working in basically a war zone. So the training is really affected greatly by the environment we're in. Sometimes we're training and the units are deployed during the middle of the training, or sometimes the violence is going on around us as we're training. And then a lot of cases, you know, the training is during the operation. You're trying to guide them in the right direction during an actual operation where lies are in danger. And when we do the raids on the brothels and the clubs and all those things, a lot of times, you know, the training we gave prior to is coming to play within that operation. And during that operation, we're trying to correct mistakes made. And it's not the normal training that most people are familiar with.

It is moment by moment, and things change instantaneously sometimes over there and in the areas we go. So the train has to be adapted and made ready for them in the environment they're in. So I can say this, that the prayers that go out for the team and go out for those we work with have been heard. I mean, in this case, you know, obviously there was an incident that occurred that life was lost, but a lot of lives may have been saved as a result of that too. So I just ask that the listeners continue to pray for not only our well-being, but the well-being of those we're working with. Robbie Allen and Wren and I were actually discussing this, that how critical training is because in the current situation where these men lost their lives, looking at the video footage and understanding the situation, what happened, it all, it really resolved down to not only a leak, but also their route into the operation and their exit strategy.

And it was very clear they had no exit strategy. And I know that in these countries you get dead ends a lot and you get in tight spots or what you thought was an open street is not open because there's two burning vehicles or it's, you know, rubble in the way, all of those situations. And so in this particular video footage, it's really clear that they pin themselves in, right? And so we as instructors and trainers look at that and we go, man, they just need our support and advice, you know, to do these type of things, whether it's, you know, counter-trafficking or whether it's their own work in the country, you know, chasing gangs down and dealing with drugs and all those things.

They really need our training and their lives would have been spared with some simple tactics that, you know, we initiate. And that's that's one of the things that we do. I've got other video footage of our operations in country and, you know, I'm thinking of you, Alan, right now giving a brief the way it should be done prior to the operation that night. And then I'm also thinking of, you know, you holding an AAR, an after action review, where after we do an operation all night, we bring all of those team members together, the unit that we're working with and our own cells. And we gather it, you know, 4 a.m. and we cover what we do that was good, what we do that was bad, you know. And I know Alan can probably comment on that further.

Right. I mean, and what we take for granted here, you know, we have pre-operational planning. We have informational briefings prior to the operation. We have the operational brief. We have all those things. Those things don't really exist.

They work in the moment without any prior planning. And we touched on it a little bit when we were there, trying to get them to do some intelligence gathering prior to an operation, identify those routes of travel, identify the egress routes, rally points. We went over all that. But this has made it abundantly obvious that we need to stress that this time over there, get their planning in order so that they're not just knee-jerk reactions to an incident. They actually have a game plan to address each incident as it arrives to, you know, help ensure their safety as much as possible and their safe return. So, Wren, you, as this whole violence, you know, scales up, it really tightens up your whole operation. Is this from a cause standpoint?

Yeah, it's these little things that make a huge difference in operations. Like, you know, what we're talking about, we aren't able to post pictures from this. And honestly, I wouldn't want the listeners to see this stuff anyways. But you can very clearly tell that the vehicle, they couldn't get out. They didn't have an egress route. They couldn't turn around.

They got stuck. And that's not as simple, oops, like I'm trying to back out of my driveway and I accidentally bumped a car. Like, there are eight people dead because of something that could have been mitigated. And we try, we do our best when we're over there to mitigate these situations, because if we're out of the fight, then no one's coming for the victim. And sometimes that means, you know, we're only two blocks away from a point that we need to hit, and we know that has victims inside. But it might take us an hour to get there, because we need to go down the right road that we're able to, you know, if stuff gets hot, we can keep going. We have a way out. We have an exit strategy. And, you know, that stuff happens time and time again.

It's the little stuff. You can't just go in blind and just hope for the best. That's why training is so important in these planning. And all the time, you know, for a 10-minute operation, we might have been planning that for two, three months, training for years. You know, there's a lot that goes into this. This isn't just something you can, you know, buy a plane ticket, go overseas, and do tomorrow.

There's a lot of work that goes into this. And when there's so much violence, like I said earlier, the team is not able to focus on helping the victims. They're just trying to stay alive. So we have to, and what we want to do, is to help train the police force as a whole better in these countries so that they're able to mitigate the violence so that we can continue our operations, because we can't—if we go down there and we get killed within the first couple days, we're not going to be able to save any more victims. We're not going to be able to train any more teams.

It'll take us out of the fight. So we have to mitigate this violence before we're able to continue operating in these areas. Yeah, so Mark, this whole—you know, God always provides. You know, he seems to, when things, you know, escalate like they are, he provides in unique ways, a unique provision. And one of the ways he's done that, really, you know, is through the listeners here, praying and supporting, because the needs have become, you know, a lot more costly.

Right. Yeah, I mean, with violence adds cost, because we have to cross every T and dot every I, and we have to increase our capabilities and maybe move a little slower, which requires more meetings, more time, more, you know, resources and more people, more everything, you know, and so the cost goes up. And I can't stress enough that in today's environment with COVID, with the pandemic, we're already adding days and time to deal with testing and, you know, figure out what country wants what and who wants how and when and all this stuff. We've already, you know, lengthened our time in country, out of country or in that country. And then we have the cost of dealing with greater violence. And so, you know, I know some listeners may hesitate to give their $20. But listen, that $20 adds to your neighbor's $20. And everybody else who continues to just give sacrificially to I can't thank you enough for for what it's worth.

I want to comment to rent an element also may want to comment on this. And if TC jumps on here in a second, he can. The heroes of those countries, I admire them so much because they're already dealing with the threat of dying at every stop, stop light, stop sign, there's no stop lights, but stop sign, because they get shot in the back of the head just because they're wearing a police uniform just because of the car that they're in that happens every week in the judicial system, a judge will die all the time. It seems like I've got so many texts this judge did this judge did it. The same thing happens with cops. And so there's that threat already. And then we come into the country and we say, hey, listen, we want to increase your work.

Or we want you to focus also on this crime activity, which is human trafficking. And some of them don't accept the challenge. Okay, they don't there in this particular country, there was one team member who was begrudgingly joining us at everything. He was going to the training only because he had to he didn't. In fact, when we went on operations, he would not get out of the vehicle. He stayed in the vehicle because he just wasn't going to do it.

He didn't want to expose himself to one more thing. And sometimes we see the struggle in the minds of those who join us because they're scared to death, they're scared, they're going to get shot, they're scared, we're going to get shot. But it's so admirable that they make that choice to join us to go on the race and to work and to operate and to take on this crime. And really the the hearts of those those folks is so it's not perfect, but I admire it.

I admire it very much. And, you know, Alan, what do you think? Well, I would say this. You know, a lot of times people sit back and they see this type of stuff and they go, well, why doesn't God intervene?

And if you're asking that question, you probably got an answer to it, or at least a part in that answer. You know, our part don't think that we don't get anxious and fear come upon us, knowing that we want into those environments. But, you know, that's what we're able to contribute. God has equipped us over all these years to do these type of things. But he's equipped everybody in their own special way to manage it. So if you're hearing God, or that question of why God doesn't just take care of us, well, he's probably looking at you and saying, why are you not using what I've given you to aid or to support or to help?

Yeah. And when I think about what you do, Alan, what you described earlier in the show is you're coming in and you're providing them with life-saving strategies and tactics, I guess you guys call them if you need to know. But in doing that, it creates a relationship where they begin to trust you, accept your values, and begin to see the value of stopping, you know, human trafficking. That, you know, that guy who's waiting by, but when all of a sudden he goes, wow, these guys saved our lives, these guys are teaching me how to do my job better, then all of a sudden you get this shared mission.

And once again, God is providing through just an amazing ministry, from my perspective, Mark. Yeah, it's different. It's a different way of clothing the unclothed, feeding the hungry. It's different, right?

But essentially it's the same principle. We're coming into a country and using our skills and resources of what we have to give them what they need. And we do it in Jesus' name. And it's a testimony that builds. So we come in and we're like, this is who we are, this is what we can do, this is our background, and this is what we want to accomplish.

We're talking to the government, and that's what they care about at that moment. But then as, you know, Allen and TC and Rin and I, and all of us start to interact with the selected few, and we start to train, and they start to take on the risk of fighting this criminal activity with us, and they just shoulder up with us, and then they learn from us, and they learn about our faith. They hear us pray. They watch how we interact with stressful situations, that we're not perfect. They watch us come free of charge, leave our families, leave our wives, come and stay in their environment. What they know is, you know, nothing like what we live in or stay in America, right? And all of that matters because what they begin to see is not Mark, not Allen, not TC, not Rin.

They begin to see Jesus. Absolutely. And your prayers and your support for Land and Rescue make such a huge difference.

I mean, I can see it in the short time we've been doing this. In the lives that are being changed, the emails that are being sent in, your connection to the ministry is so important to us. So please, continue to send us lines to let us know what you're thinking out there. And we bless God for you, and thanks for listening. Thank you for listening to Lantern Rescue, lighting the way to freedom. Would you consider a gift of any amount to support this ministry, to light the way of freedom for a young person trapped in the clutches of human trafficking? Help us with any gift of any amount at lanternrescue.org. At the website, you can also learn about previous programs. You can listen to this program in its entirety and forward it to a friend. Thank you for listening. Join us next time right here for Lantern Rescue. This is the Truth Network.