Coming to you from the Morning Star Mission sponsored studio. This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
Man, it matters more than anything. Okay. I hinted around my big old sled dog, Alaska. I got to tell the story, and then I'll tell the rest of the story. Because there's a great spiritual principle. Whenever you whenever you watch a dog, you can learn a lot about the spiritual life.
Carl. So when we asked recently on social media, I asked people to share what is their favorite Carl Alaska story. This story that you're about to tell about Alaska, about this is your favorite story, about that Carl tells about his Alaskan adventures, the story about Alaska. The sled dog was the number one vote getter. Yeah, this was the one that is the favorite of the boom crew. Okay, so go ahead and tell it.
So I'm finishing up the last. I had 70 miles to go on the Yukon River and it was tough. I was going right into the wind. I was so sleep deprived. I'm tying myself to the sled handle bar sleeping, standing up. I mean, I was I was a hurting young man. I'm 18 years old. Came sliding into the village of Caltech at about 3 a.m., and I look around and like, there's no checkers there. This is like
six years into the Iditarod, guys. It's hard for me to remember that I ran that race back in 1979 when it was just it was just new, you know, and back then it felt like it had been going on forever. But it was just six years. So it was wild. I get into the village checkpoint and I couldn't find any checkers anywhere, so I put in my emergency brake, which is a Snowhook, stomped it into the ground, told the dogs, I said, hang on guys, I'm going to get you fed up here in a moment. But
I got to get checked in. You talk to your team after a while when you're out with dogs only for a couple of years, pretty quick. You're carrying on conversations with them and they've amazingly, they know exactly what's going on.
Of course.
So I'm looking around. I see a light in this cabin and I knock on the door. I get inside and the minute I get inside, I hear all hell breaking loose outside with a dog fight. And I'm like, no. And I knew it wasn't my team because they didn't fight with each other. And I come out and by this time, by the time I get back outdoors to the team, the aftermath is there. Some dogs in the village had been loosened off their chains and out of their kennels, and they saw these, my team infringing on
their turf, and they had attacked my team. But I had one dog in the wheel, which is right next to the sled. His name is Alaska and he decided to defend the whole team. He's big, strong, beautiful, white haired, blue eyed, husky, beautiful man. And I looked down in the snow, guys. And it's just the snow is running red with blood. And I'm like, no, no. And Alaska looks up to me and he goes, I defended him dead. I took care of him. So I grab up Alaska
and I take him inside. Now I've got a veterinarians awake and he's looking them over and he says, oh, man, he's chewed up. They went after his belly and went after his hind legs. And I said, I'm going to stay here for seven hours. I'm going to feed my team, and I'm going to try to try to get him because I need him. He's my muscle. I got to have him, especially when I get on to the Norton Sound coast of the Bering Sea. Man, I got to got to have my dog. He's my muscle. Waited seven
hours and I should have known it. I think the vet knew it and he didn't want to break it to me at the time. But Alaska had gotten so seized up from his wounds he couldn't even get up to walk, let alone Won't run. And I'm looking at him. I said, Alaska, I got to drop you here, man. And he let out a couple little whimpers like, come on, man, don't tell me my race is over. I gave him to the checker and I said, hold him here. And they put him off in a kennel that had he's
on a he's on a restraint. And then he's inside a fenced area really secure. And I pulled the snowhook after seven hours and gave my team the command, and they were all down a little bit. We rounded this corner. They looked left, saw the last guy, couldn't even look left, and he's up trying to stand up and he's. Going, hey, hey, you're leaving me. As heartsick, we climbed up out of Caltech over pretty steep paths. And I'm like, man, do I need Alaska? Took me 24 hours to make it
99 miles. I had to get out in front of my team several times and put on snowshoes. And they don't have to do that anymore. And the Iditarod. It's pretty groomed relative to what it was. And I got I mean, I was it was a long haul to Unalakleet, got into Unalakleet, got there, got my team staked out. Now I'm focused on the race in front of me, and I go into a home that invited me in for a big old bowl of like, caribou chili, and
I'm sitting on this bowl. I've still got my bark on, but my fox mittens are off and my beaver hat is off. And, you know, I got sweat pouring off my scalp. I mean, it was quite a sight. Knock at the door, they open it up. There's a young girl from the village of Unalakleet. Is is musher number seven in here? And I said yeah, I'm number seven. That's my bib number. Says you're your dog got loose from your team out here. One of your dogs got loose. And I walk outside and I walk around the corner
and look at my dogs and they're all here. I said, what do you mean? She said, because we got a dog. And I walk around the corner right near the the checker station where the ham radio operators are and everything. And about that time there's Alaska. I said, oh, hold it here. The ham radio operator, he's watching all this go down and he gets on the horn and he says, hey, Caltech, Caltech,
this is Unalakleet. Yeah. Go ahead. Unilaterally. He says, hey, uh, if you had any planes come out of there because they transport dogs that are dropped to bigger towns villages like Unalakleet. They transport them in small planes like 180 or super cubs. They said, no, we've not transported any dogs out of here in the last 48 hours. Too much cloud cover. But we have had a dog that we lost and we can't find them. A ham radio operator says from team number seven. Yeah. Team number seven.
My dog Alaska, my wheel dog, somehow chewed his way or broke his way free from a chain, jumped the fence and probably crawled a good bit of the way, but did everything he could to follow me 99 miles all the way to uniquely.
Oh, man. Wow.
And when I saw him. It was quite a reunion. I'd already officially dropped him. He'd walked off most of his wounds, guys, so I had to leave him in late. But to this day, I'll never forget the tenacious love of my wheel dog, Alaska. What a dude. What a dude. So that's all you're getting today about my dog, Alaska?
That is just one of the most epic stories ever.
You could retell that story again and again, and it's just fine.
It needs to be. I mean.
I love that story.
I mean, how did he.
The reunion of the two of you. So many.
How did he track you for 99 miles?
Well, I mean, there's one trail and they've got a good nose.
But yeah.
How to get free? How do you walk it off? How do you walk it off?
How do you jump a fence?
I mean, I had an image in my mind of him dragging his hindquarters on his front legs, and I'm assuming he had to do that a little bit. I mean, he had a little bit of kind of giddy up in the back legs, but not a lot.
How far behind you do you think he was?
Well, he caught up to me, so I don't, you know, it took him 24 hours or. I don't know how long. We don't know how long it took him to cover that ground. Yeah, no one will ask. He probably made it in 8 to 10 hours, man.
And then to leave him again? Oh, man.
Yeah, but he knew then what was going down. Yeah, he knew then what was going down. He he's just taking a long shot on rejoining the team.
Like hey, how much he loved you.
Yeah, he loved me, man. He loved me. He loved me. Goodness sakes. I'm sorry, I'm in Unalakleet right now. Well, sorry about that.
If you want that story in written form, if you want to see it, if you want to read it again or share it, we do have that for you. You can just text the word Alaska to 800 555 78, 98. If you want to share that or read it again, just text Alaska to 800 555 7898.
I think I think we got misty eyes super dry in here right now. Kind of.
Good.
Doesn't it? Oh boy.
Someone just texted and said, I'm not crying with my coffee. You are.
No, I'm crying, I admit it. Yeah, I admit it.
He's a good guy. Every once in a while, I cry about my dogs. When I think about them, I don't cry, but I get a little misty eyed.
Of course.
Yeah. Get that story. Just text the word Alaska to us. I didn't know you had that handy there. Okay. Our number here (800) 555-7898. It's a good one to read to your kids or grandkids, right, Ali?
Yes. Yeah. I'm going to read this one to my kids. I told them about it before and they were like, how? What? I'm going to tell them again. Yeah.
That story made it into a 50th anniversary of the start of the race called Iditarod, the early years or something like that, a big old hardback book. And when I submitted it, they texted me. They emailed me back and said, Holy cow, this is epic. And there's epic stories in there, but this has got to be one of the better ones for sure. I'm a little biased. All right. Coming up in a few minutes. Have we got a treat for you? Right, Ali?
Another story that might make you a little teary eyed, but this one is one of absolute rescue a unique ministry will introduce you to. Coming up.
A basketball mom who's mastered the dad joke. Ali is in the crew. It's Karl and crew on Moody Radio.
One of the toughest things that I ever encountered, and I don't mind sharing this. Here is I had a teacher that said something about me when I was in high school, and she actually printed it in the yearbook. It was one of these things where I'm supposed to get this, this life statement underneath my photo, and I'm busy training for the Iditarod Trail Race. And the last thing in my mind was a life statement. It's like,
run to Nome. I said, what I probably would have put or who knows what I put, but she put one in for me because I didn't get mine in. And she said, after all is said and done, there's a lot more said than done. And that etched its way onto my heart and mind, and I know that it did, because I remember I can quote it to this day, Ali.
And it was back in.
Senior year of high school.
Yeah. You know, and it's it's wild how you can hear 50 positive things in a day. But if someone says something to you that's critical or hurtful or negative, boy, you go home thinking about one thing, that one thing and not the 50 others.
It brands you. So what happens? You get grown up in Christ. And now I got a way to process that because I know who I am in Jesus. And that's certainly not my life moniker. In fact, it's the opposite of that. But what happens when you get something physically that's just like, shh. This is who you are. We got one of the most crazy ministries going. If you sit there and you go, well, let's think of a ministry.
You ain't thinking of this one. There's no way you're thinking. No way you're dreaming this one up, Ali.
No, no, but one guy did. Chris Baker, founder of Inc. 180. For those who are new listening, tell us what is Inc 180?
So Inc 180. We started in 2011. I've been a tattoo artist for 31 years, and when I found Christ at 38, I was really looking for a way to serve and just prayed. Prayed a lot about it. And the answer I got was go do what you love to do more than anything else, and do it for free to help people that are trying to change their lives. And I was like, well, I love tattooing more than anything else, but there's enough people that give me a hard time about that, and I don't really know that
that's doing God's work. But, uh.
I.
Kept praying.
Testament passages at.
You, man. Yeah.
Amen. Yeah. All day, every day, brother. Yeah. But it's all. It's all good. I kept praying, and the Lord was like, hey, I told you what to do and stop questioning me and get to work. And we started in 180 to start removing gang tattoos in 2011 for free. And just trying to help people live as a new creation. Like Second Corinthians 517 says, you know the old is dead
and the new has come. But it's pretty hard to live out that new life when you're wearing the evidence of your old life all over your face, neck and hands every day.
Yeah.
Explain that a little bit more. This idea that there are physical markings that would identify you with a certain gang, or a lot of times in the world of trafficking, there are tattoos that are used in a really destructive way. Explain that for people who that's that's brand new information to them.
Yeah. You know, so when when people are in gangs, they're proud of that. That's their whole identity. That's what that's their family. And they're very proud to wear those markings of the gang, whatever it is, pitchforks or crowns, whatever. Different gangs have different symbols that they use to identify themselves.
But of course, when they want out of that life, it's the first thing they want to get rid of is those visible, in-your-face kind of markings, because they want to now get out of that life and fly under the radar. The trafficking stuff, really, it just disgusts me.
I mean, when I learned about sex trafficking through a meeting I had with Homeland Security back in 2011, they started showing me pictures of of these branding tattoos that pimps and traffickers would put on their victims to symbolize them as a piece of product that could be bought, sold, traded, or thrown away at any, any given time we saw things like barcode tattoos or property of tattoos. Right? We see a lot of we see a lot of gang tattoos also forced onto them, because gangs, of course, are
very prevalent in the world of trafficking. So when they get out of that life, you know, a lot of people tell me they're like, well, what's the big deal there? Aren't they just happy to be out of that life? Well, of course they are. That's a silly question. But, you know, you don't want to walk around with these tattoos. They're often vulgar, disgusting words tattooed against their will onto their face,
their neck, their hands. They're always in very prominent, very visible areas because those traffickers also want it known that, hey, this is my property. And, you know, for the second time in modern world history, I saw the art form that I love so much used in such a disgusting way. Of course, the other was the Holocaust.
Yeah. Chris Baker is our guest right now. Chris, I when you. Yeah, it was State Department or the feds basically got Ahold of you and said, hey, can you help us out here? Right? I mean, you ultimately had at least a stretch of time. I'm sure you get called out from time to time still. What was that like the first time you did? Is it a cover up or is it. Can you actually take that and artistically kind of totally rename. I mean, I'm curious how does that work?
Yeah, a lot of times, you know, we offer free removals or free cover ups. So a cover up for those that don't know, basically you're just putting a different tattoo over the old one to blend it out, to disguise it so that it can't be seen anymore. And all you see is the new design. And quite often that's what survivors want to do. They want to cover it up because they do like tattoos. They just hate the one that they were forced to get. And, you know, I'll ask them, hey, what do you want to cover
this with design wise? And they're like, you know, just black it out, just put black ink over it. I just don't want to see it. And I'm like, well, I want to give you something beautiful that gives you hope. Yeah, yeah, I've been doing this for a minute. So, you know, I always offer, I offer up ideas, things that symbolize transformation or hope or change. Things like butterflies or floral designs.
Phoenix tattoos, Lotus blossoms are a very popular option because they're beautiful, vibrant flowers that grow out of mud and swamps. So they symbolize something beautiful growing out of something not so beautiful.
We've got Chris Baker with us right now, founder of ink 180, a phenomenal ministry that offers cover up tattoos and tattoo removal. This is a ministry. Give us a story that stands out in your mind. That's kind of like, this is why I continue to do this.
Yeah, I was in the Super Bowl this year down in New Orleans, removing covering tattoos for survivors and helping our federal, state and local law enforcement partners look for other victims. And, you know, we had a number of of cover ups and removals. I did 212 of them this year at the Super Bowl.
My goodness.
Yeah. There was one young survivor that just really touched my heart. She was a 12 year old African-American girl. And on her lower back, her trafficker etched property of daddy into her skin. And I removed that tattoo for her. But the beautiful part about that interaction with her and being able to help her with that was not really the tattoo itself or the tattoo removal. It was the conversation and holding space for these survivors and letting them
talk if they choose to. Never really asking them questions. But I had a beautiful conversation with her about just the the idea of this property of daddy, and we see that on a lot of these trafficking survivors, unfortunately. But we had a really great talk. She grew up in the church, uh, Southern Baptist Church with her, her mom and her grandma. And we were really starting to talk about what a father really is. And daddy, what that represents and her foundation in Jesus. And that's the
only father she needs to really look up to. And these others that try to tell them that's what they were and who she was and what she was were wrong, and that she's rooted in Jesus and he was going to restore her fully in this situation. So just to be able to to have those conversations and be present for people, you know, I used to be a person that would very quickly hear part of somebody's problem and
throw like four solutions at them. And what the Lord's taught me over the last 14 years is, you know, I'm not about the solutions. Jesus is about the solutions. And just having those kind of conversations with folks is the best part of my job.
Chris Baker, the numbers from the Super Bowl. Does that shock you, Ali?
Very much so. How many did you say you did? 200? Over 200.
I did 212 cover ups and removals. And then, um, as far as the search goes, we were able, as a huge group of people, we were able to find 519 victims and turn them into survivors.
You know, I think we hear stories like that. And I think the question is, what can we do? And we're going to have a link for you in a little bit here. The Spirit of God convicted me that we need to get Chris, who's a great communicator, as you can tell, into as many churches across the United States and youth ministries and collegiate ministries as possible, because there is an appetite nationally that is growing to address this need. There is a bit of an appetite growing,
isn't there, Chris? I mean, if you get the I mean, if you get the federal government and state and local governments asking you to pitch in, they see the need. They might not even know the spiritual component behind it, but they see the need to to remove this mark, right?
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I travel all across the country and beyond. I was in Kathmandu, Nepal last year, which was a tremendous blessing. But yeah, you know, the need is great, unfortunately. We're always trying to add other tattoo artists and tattoo removal companies across the country to set up a network. But, you know, I was just down in Austin, Texas last week at South by Southwest, speaking about what we do. And you know, I love the educational side of of what we do because people can't
help fix what they don't know about. And trafficking is one of those things that the media has done a much better job over the last few years of educating folks, but I just feel anything I can do to educate a parent or a child about things like social media safety or just trafficking in general will help keep them safe and out of my tattoo chair getting something removed.
Yeah, this is one of those stories that you hear, Ali, and I mean, it grabs you by the throat and it won't let you go. If you if you got a spiritual pulse at all and and but the hope in this is that Chris Baker. And that's cool that you're building a network of of tattoo artists that have the same heart as you, bro. That's unbelievable. So when you hear this, you're like, oh boy, what do we do with this? I feel prompted by the spirit that we need to get Chris on your campus, at your church.
And I don't care if you got a church of 15,000 people. People need to hear this. And I don't care if you got a youth group of 40 kids. Kids need to hear this. And so we set up a link today that goes to his website. There's ways to donate on there too. So make no mistake about it because some of you are like, hey, come on man, we're going to give this guy some money for this. He's doing this for did you hear the price he's charging? Free. Free. So come on man. You want to link to find
out more about Inc One-eighty and Chris Baker? We got it for you right now.
Just text ink to 800 555, 78, 98. Ink, ink to 800 555 7898. You can check out the website. There's some cool pictures. You can find out how to book him to speak, how to contribute to this great ministry. Inc. to 800 555 7898.
He was running from God, but God's love brought him home. Carl is in the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
Good morning, I'm Jonathan and hey, let's get you updated with your top news story for the day. This story from Fox News. The cease fire between Israel and Hamas is over. As Israeli fighter jets began striking the Gaza Strip after Hamas refused repeated hostage deal extension offers. Officials
have said. Defense Minister Israel Katz made a statement saying, quote, the decision comes after Hamas repeatedly refused to release our hostages and rejected all proposals presented by the US president's envoy, Steve Witkoff as well as the mediators. Israel will intensify its military actions against Hamas moving forward. Authorities have said. I'm Jonathan and that is your update.
I saw this breaking news last night. It's it's not just in Gaza Strip against Hamas. I mean, there's been strikes in Lebanon and Syria and actually, uh, Iran dispatched a lot of their air force. They got a little jittery. I instantly thought, I got to get Michael Roy on here. Not only get an overview of what's going on right now with this attack and kind of where we stand, but also talk to some of the theological angles here, specifically just war. Uh, Michael, thanks for ducking in here
this morning. So early. Appreciate you, brother.
Good to be with you. Thanks.
Okay. What what is going on? There's so much misinformation, quite frankly. Yeah. Um, what's what's going on?
First of all, the cease fire is actually officially been over for about two and a half weeks. Uh, whatever March 1st is when it officially ended. The phase one of it. Uh, the there there have been repeated attempts to extend it by Steve Witkoff, our negotiator from the United States. Uh, Israel has been trying. They they've held quiet even though the cease fire has been over. Uh, they've been quiet at this point. Hamas, if they are
just going to continue like Israel was continuing, continuing. Nine more hostages would have been released, but they have just been obstructing because the only reason they will release hostages is if Israel surrenders, which is never going to happen on this. So, uh, the United States president, President Trump, pretty much has said, uh, if if Hamas doesn't release hostages, then he said that there will be a very serious consequence for Hamas. And and this looks like it's begun now. Uh, the, uh,
there there have been strikes. Israeli air force strikes in Gaza. A lot of the leaders of Hamas have been taken out or been eliminated. Yeah, yeah. Overnight. And then the attacks in Syria and and in Lebanon are like in Lebanon, they took out two Hezbollah terrorists that were, uh, practicing surveillance, uh, in southern Lebanon, which is against the cease fire that they have. They were taken out. Assad's military stores in
southern Syria were taken out. And the reason Israel, I believe, did this, I am I don't have any special insight, but just looking at it in the past, Hezbollah and other countries have tried to get involved. So when Israel was going to start this up, I think there was a real clear message sent to Hezbollah and Lebanon and to the new regime in Syria, this Al-Qaeda leader that has become the president is don't get involved in what's going to happen.
Abu Mohammed al-Qahtani Abu Mohammed al-Qahtani, who ironically, had a $10 million bounty on his head for his affairs with the al Qaeda. He's a he's a he's a bad dude. Um, I want to shift gears here a little bit, Michael. Uh, I got up early this morning and was studying just war theory, and I was curious who in the world invented this. It's actually Thomas Aquinas who had originated with 13th century. And he has three stages of the of
this legitimate authority. It can't just be individuals or groups. It's got to be a declared waged war by a proper authority, sovereign, ruler or government. Just cause a war must be waged for a morally right reason such as self-defense, the punishment of evil, or the protection of the innocent. And he has tons of biblical citations for these. And then the third one is right intention. I love that one. A primary objective of war should be to achieve justice
and restore peace. You know, it's really weird. We live in this soundbite age today, Michael, that's so bizarre. It's like we don't want. And I understand this. This is the great dilemma. Because there are going to be innocent lives that are lost even when you're. But the attempt is to stave off.
Yeah.
A more intense massacre. Pour out your heart on just war theory.
Well, I think that a simple thing to understand. People have a hard time with. War is always wrong. Know when you read Romans 13 four, which is talking about secular government. It's not talking about a theocracy, a government by God. This is secular government. And in Romans 13 four Paul writes, for government is God's servant to you for good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, because it does not carry the sword for no reason. For government is God's servant and avenger that brings wrath on
the one who does wrong. So twice in this passage it says that secular government is God's servant. God's going to use it. There's a responsibility that governments have to punish the wicked and protect the innocent. And that's right there in that verse. It's God's servant as an avenger that brings wrath on the one who does wrong. And it's been given the sword. It does not carry the
sword for no reason. I think that's so important to remember that the sword in first century talking here about the Roman government, for example, that would be the assault weapon of the first century. The sword wasn't just anything that was like the M-16 of that day.
And Peter carried one, by the way.
Yeah. And so the point of that is, yes, it has to be for the right reason, against the right enemy, for the right purpose. Yeah. But it is something that God has ordained, and that's hard for a lot of Bible believers to accept. But, you know, in Ecclesiastes chapter three, there's a time for war and a time for peace, and there are reasons to go to war. Yeah, that's a wisdom principle. That's not just, you know, something that happened in the past.
Doctor Michael Riedel, our guest. Right now, I'm going to ask you for a little bit of advice, Doctor Rydell. I hope that this is okay. I have a I have a high school student who goes to a public high school here in Chicago. And because of how a lot of the narrative of this conflict has played out, we've seen a rise in anti-Semitism. It's it creeps into a lot of different spaces. How would you advise young people who are trying to talk to their peers who
are very anti-Israel? How would you advise young people and anyone who wants to navigate this, trying to explain why we stand with Israel in the face of growing opposition. Give me some advice.
I'm not sure that I always have to convince my peers. You know, it's just like anything you have to kind of evaluate do. Do I need to change their mind or do I not? Are they open or are they closed? That's those are some of the issues. But if I'm asked why I stand with Israel, I would say that the media doesn't always present the facts as they are, particularly where young people are getting their facts. Not usually from school, but really from reels on on their phones.
You know, they're watching little minute videos and that's not a trustworthy source. If you are looking at at Instagram, that's not where you're going to get your information. And to me, I think that's one of the most important things to say that there's I would say if there's no context of history, there's no listen, they they have forgotten October 7th. Yeah, I think that that's amazing.
Michael, let me let me jump in here and say that here's what's wild. We live in such a soundbite culture, we can't even remember. Back to October 7th this morning, I spent 40 minutes reading the forensic report that has come out recently on the massacre on October 7th. Michael, I could not read every sentence.
No you.
Can't. I couldn't.
Take it. It is so unbelievably evil. And yet we live in a world soundbite culture. Allie's right man. These kids are getting these reels, man. They're getting these clips. And it's like, okay, do we have the broader context here? And you know what's interesting, Michael? You just you really can't talk people into this because for some behind this thing there is a spiritual component. Right, Allie. I mean.
Yeah.
It's like it's like trying to convince people that we're made with intelligent design. Some people are going to that's a spiritual blindness issue. Isn't that in play here? Sometimes, Michael, let's get real.
I do think I was listening. I was talking to a young person, a follower of Jesus loves the Lord, and he has been talking, like you say, to peers, Allie. And when I mentioned the massacre of October 7th. He basically repeated the Hamas propaganda that it was massacre, denial, that it didn't happen, that it that it was a false flag, that Israel did it to give them a reason, a justification for going to war with Hamas.
You can't argue that. You can't argue that.
That's that's that's denial of facts. But what are you going to do?
What are you going to.
I think we have to stick to the facts. By the way, there is a new movie. I haven't seen it yet. I'm planning to see it called October 8th. It only has seven minutes about the seventh and the rest of the movie. This documentary is about the explosion of anti-Semitism, and it just was released this past weekend and I'm going to go see it. I think we need to get facts like that into the minds of people. Hopefully this movie would do a good job with it. I'm going to go look.
And.
We pray. Um, we're going to do that. Michael, I want you to pray for peace in Israel right now. Would you do that?
Yeah, sure. Father in heaven, we pray for peace Through deliverance. Lord, we ask that you would bring this terrorist group to its knees and bring them to a point where they would surrender, that they would give up the hostages, and they would see that this is a lost cause. Lord, I pray for the protection of the innocent Palestinians who just want Hamas to go away. Lord, I pray that that you would, uh, keep them safe. I pray God you'd give great skill to the IDF as they target Hamas.
That they would be able to avoid civilians. And, Lord, also, I pray for Israel now that you would give wisdom to their leaders as they they are compelled to carry out this just war. Lord, I pray for our culture and our young people that they wouldn't succumb to the falsehoods, TikTok and Instagram and things like that, but would really know the truth of your word.
And.
The truth of the facts in the world, and I pray this in Jesus name. Amen.
Amen.
Michael, I love you, hot dog. You're a good man. And thank you for popping in here this morning.
Yeah.
My pleasure. Thanks for having me with you.
Yeah.
Tough stuff. Ali.
It is.
Tough stuff. Good question. You asked, by the way. I mean, it's just like. It's just amazing, man. It's what's crazy about our. The way we process information now is October. Might as well be in a Holocaust time period. It's. You know what I'm saying?
Yeah.
October 7th. Might as well be 40 years ago. It's a spiritual battle, man. And we pray. Okay. Coming up here in a few minutes. I'll tell you what's up here today. Bottom line, guys, is our God is on the throne. The tomb is empty. Jesus is alive today.
She's a choreographer extraordinaire, and everything is Greek to her. Super dei is in the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
I don't know how.
You quantify spiritual growth. What are the ways we quantify spiritual growth? That's a good question. There's a lot of good ones. I mean, there's a lot of ways I mean good fruit being born. But what's your favorite fruit, Allie. Spiritual fruit.
Spiritual fruit. Are we talking the grape watermelon variety?
Yeah.
Let's go. What's. What's your favorite fruit? I'm going to go. I'll start so that you get time to cogitate. Mine is self-control. The last fruit listed in Galatians five. It's a great fave. It's my fave.
I'm going with peace.
Peace. Good one.
I'd say patience.
Good one. Especially when working with me.
It's going to say not.
Hey. No. What do you mean you were going to say no?
Not that specifically, but it is just in general. One of the ones that I feel like I need the most.
Super die.
They're all so good. Kindness. because I think there's such a lack of it today. It's just true. Pure kindness.
I thought you were going to say bear hugs.
Well, it's in there.
Coming up, what does Dallas Willard say? The ultimate evidence. Hang on.
He's a sports fanatic with a stat for anything you can think of. Young Thunder is in the crew. It's Karl and crew on Moody Radio.
So, what is it? The evidence of being a disciple. There's a lot of them. I mean, it's not just one, but when a guy like Dallas Willard, who's kind of like the modern day father of spiritual formation, helping get our lives aligned with Christ, I just love this guy. My goodness. Divine conspiracy. If you if you want a thick book that will change your heart with regard to
spiritual formation. Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard. But I saw one of these crazy short thingies and on social media and it popped up and I'm like, oh my goodness, how come I never heard that one before? He's being interviewed or something. And somebody asked him the question, Dallas, how do you know when you're really biting on the edges of real discipleship? He says, well, that would be when you let me try to do a Dallas Willard. That would be when you. That's a bad Dallas Willard.
Um, tell us.
That would be, uh, coming up in 90s. I'll tell you about.
Uh, get.
There. Dallas Willard said it's when you are unoffendable.
Wow.
And I'm like, yeah, I did what you did. I'm like, oh, boy, that is so convicting. And I want you to think about that for a moment. Unoffendable. And then I started because I'm like, I want to test this with the word Jesus. Was that this guy was maligned, mocked, beaten, crucified, and abandoned by all of his disciples except for a few brave women. You know what I'm saying?
Yes.
And he was unoffendable. Oh, oh, somebody else's opinion or the way they say something or this and that and or a position they take. And if we can get to the point of being unoffendable what a rich life we're going to live. And by the way, it just makes things a whole lot sweeter.
But we know it doesn't happen apart from the power of the Holy Spirit.
Oh, no.
This is because, oh boy, offense comes easily.
Oh, yeah. This is spirit driven. This is this is vertical, constant awareness of God's presence in my life. Oh, cogitate on that one for a couple of days. Boom! Crew.