56. | Shark Attacks, Heart Attacks and Short Term Missions

Published: Feb. 2, 2021, 8 a.m.

Admiral James Stockdale, after being shot down over Vietnam and spending 7 years in the infamous Vietnamese POW camp known as \u201cThe Hanoi Hilton\u201d, was asked how he had persevered while incarcerated by the enemy. He replied:\n\n\u201cI never lost faith in the end of the story. I never doubted not only that I would get out, but also that I would prevail in the end and turn the experience into the defining event of my life, which in retrospect, I would not trade.\u201d \n\nHe was then asked who the people were who didn\u2019t make it out of the famous prison:\n\n\u201cThe optimists. Oh, they were the ones who said, \u2018We\u2019re going to be out by Christmas.\u2019 And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they\u2019d say, \u2018We\u2019re going to be out by Easter.\u2019 And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart.\u201d\n\nAdding to that, he said:\n\n\u201cThis is a very important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end - which you can never afford to lose - with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.\u201d\n\nIn the 1999 Sci-Fi / Action film \u201cThe Matrix\u201d, the main character is given a choice: to have his eyes opened to the reality of what the world really is and what is going on around him (symbolized by taking the \u201cred pill\u201d), or stay in his current state of life and deny what he knows to be true by refusing to look at it for what it is (symbolized by taking the \u201cblue pill\u201d). He hesitates, but in the end takes the red pill, after which he is \u201cunplugged\u201d from The Matrix, and suddenly sees the world for what it really is. He sees that the world he\u2019s been living in has all been a facade, and he has been willfully ignorant of it his whole life.\n\nThese days are tough for Christians, because we know that what we see happening to our world and especially our nation is evil, and there is no other explanation for it other than supernatural warfare. There are many times when Amber and I have said to each other that we wished we could go back to living in oblivion - not facing the brutal realities of the world we\u2019re in every day - because it seems like it would be easier to just not know. Of course, we know that\u2019s a lie, but it\u2019s endemic of the fear and confusion that we all feel every day.\n\nTaking the \u201cRed Pill\u201d is a catch phrase that can mean many things, but today more than ever it seems to symbolize the deliberate act of unplugging from the evil influences and distractions of the world. Social Media, TV News, Television, Online Distractions. Why do we continue to allow ourselves to be trapped by these meaningless things of the world? Christ told us to be in the world, but not of the world. Being of the world means being entrapped by it and being indistinguishable from those around us who do not have Christ. \n\nTake the challenge of unplugging from the world for 30 days, and see what it does for your spiritual walk with the Lord. Turn off social media and television. Every minute that you would have spent on those distractions, spend it reading the Word. Watch what it does for your relationship with Christ, and you will never go back to your life in the world.\n\n************************\nMENTIONS ON THE SHOW\n************************\n\nCRIMES OF THE EDUCATORS: How Utopians Are Using Government Schools to Destroy America's Children Paperback \u2013 January 21, 2021\nhttps://www.amazon.com/dp/1637580568/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_DZQTG4K7HE68NE172R6P\n\nARK ENCOUNTER in Williamstown, Kentucky\nwww.arkencounter.com\n\nTWITTER SUSPENDS MAJOR CHRISTIAN GROUP ON MIND-BOGGLING GROUNDS\nwww.wnd.com/2021/01/twitter-suspends-major-christian-group-mind-boggling-grounds/\n\nSTORY OF KING NEBUCHADNEZZAR\nDaniel 4:28-37\nwww.bible.com/bible/111/DAN.4.NIV\n********************\nYou can help make a difference when you partner with us in making this ever important documentary film, "The Mind Polluters". Visit www.fearlessfeatures.org to learn more!