Solo Flights, Priceless Pilots, and Pope Leo’s Search Engine Struggles

 Welcome to another episode of the Carpe Feade podcast where if the shoe fits, you wear it. And if the truth hurts, you bear it. I am Justin Gruber and I am Jesse Gruber and today we hope you will seize the faith. Hey everybody and welcome to another episode of the Carpe Feade podcast. I don't even know what episode to call this. It's sort of just a special episode. I'm flying solo. One of the things that we are trying to do at Carpe Feade is figure out how to become sustainable just because, well, there's back-end costs all the time. So this is just an example of a type of episode that maybe you could get as a midweek extra if we ever launch a Patreon. But there's always so much to say that me and Jesse have in our hearts and minds when we see stories that are happening or we come across particular Bible passages. And there's just a connection that we are often making. But we just don't have the time to do it. So this is kind of like a little episode that maybe is similar to that. And maybe someday it will be the exclusive content of a Patreon. Maybe someday who knows. Regardless, I don't know what Jesse is going to call this episode. I don't know if we'll just put a number on it. If we'll just call this special episode. But this is an episode of the Carpe Feade podcast where I am by myself. It will not be as long as an apocopacarpatefeade podcast because I don't have my wingman to kind of throw his ideas out there and you know sharpening each other with his ideas. I'm kind of just going to give you some thoughts. There's two stories that I probably have maybe different connections to than you know some people are making. And I just want to get it out there. And hopefully they can be encouraging you and help you see some maybe something that you've already listened to or heard about or read about. Just maybe a little differently. That's the goal of this podcast. So without any further ado, I'll just kind of jump in. Most of you know that an F-15 strike eagle was taken down on Iran. It was kind of a big deal. And the two pilots of the F-15, we know now are both rescued. But initially the first one was rescued very quickly just within hours was rescued. But the second pilot, he was not rescued so quickly he was rescued well, well later. It was actually I went out on Friday and wasn't rescued until Sunday. So it was a very just kind of a tense time just praying for and hoping that this this airman was okay and was able to be rescued. And what's come out about the mission? I don't want to go into too much detail. I'm sure many of you have heard much of the detail and undoubtedly it will be its own movie at some point just given the clear just Hollywood-esque nature of it involving CIA subpoena. And involving CIA subterfuge spreading misinformation, creating a drone safety net around the airman. But being careful not to create it too early just because obviously that'll let the enemy know. Well if they're keeping us from this area that's where he is. The fact that the colonel that was the senior pilot of the mission was injured pretty bad and actually scaled 7,000 feet into a crevice so that he was safe. The fact that I mean my goodness many people have been making the Easter connection as it happened over Easter weekend. That he went he was they were down on Friday. He spent Saturday on the run making this this large climb finding a place of safety away from the enemy of aiding capture. And then was rescued Sunday much like much like Christ who went into the tomb Friday. Remain their Saturday and resurrected Sunday and even that and of itself has this crazy Easter message. Yes if indeed that is that would be God's will God is that sovereign. This is how he works history. It is all directed by his hands man plans his steps but God directs his pets. So nonetheless I mean even the message the crazy message he sends when he had had intermittent communication through their special technology for a pilot who's down. And he sent back the message that God is good which is just awesome. And all of these pieces came together in order for him to be rescued just massive amounts of men. We're talking special opt troops Navy Seal Navy Seal Team 6 over 155 aircraft all these resources being used to rescue this one man. And that's not necessarily the thing that I want to focus on one of the things that came out. And there were Twitter posts and Facebook posts X sorry X post and Facebook posts about it showing an image of planes. And basically the premise of the the post was on repeat. We sacrificed all of this for one man and many of them were actually kind of sarcastic they were almost implying that. We were giving up too much to rescue the life of one man. But one of the things I thought was amazing is that the Christian nature of Western civilization particularly the Christian founding of America has led us to value life. In fact that's why me and Jesse ran so hard against abortion and the need to abolish it because it is a devaluing of what we know in our culture is the invaluable nature of God. Given human life that got his knitted life together in the womb that he knows us before we are even present in the womb that this is there is something so tangible that you can't put a price on in life. And so we lost we lost a couple of aircraft we we actually sent in two C 130s which are in fill X full transports particularly not massive ones they're just ones that are used particularly for hostile. Engagements to get certain numbers of troops in and out quickly into a you know potentially dangerous situation and two of them you know got stuck they were unable to take off again it actually pushed again the Hollywood nature even pushed the rescue even longer. But we actually ended up destroying our own aircraft because they were stuck and we don't want them falling in the enemy hands. Unlike necessarily what happened in Afghanistan but neither here nor there. One of the things I just thought was so clear is people don't understand even in our own culture let alone in the world why we would sacrifice these pieces of tangible hardware to sacrifice this much effort for one pilot and that is because there is no amount of money you can put on a human life. There's no there's there invaluable image bears of God and I was so encouraged as I saw these absolutely foolish posts just chucking to myself like you don't get it we we were willing to invest and sacrifice these things because we were rescuing a life the life of one of our armed force servants and we were rescuing him because there was no way to put a price on his life. And we brought him home and that is truly amazing and a testament to to indeed that that Christian founding that despite our best efforts at sin and evil and hatred still cling they still cling to this day we are not willing to to let a an injured servant that this man was this colonel who who is down this pilot who is down we weren't willing to let him go just because it was going to call us. We just because it was going to cost us resources the resources were we're almost the second they were not even question of course we're going to do all of this to get him back and it was truly an epic rescue mission because there's no value that we could have placed on his life that would have said it's too much we can't do it of course not we pulled out this daring rescue this really quite miraculous rescue of this man who himself just showed such dedication fortitude and perseverance to evade the enemy. So we could bring him home and yeah so we lost we lost some planes it who cares the fact that anyone would even compare that as a value to the life that was saved is just absolute volitioness and I wanted to see that and actually we're just rejoice because that's what it says it says that man's life was worth more than any amount of resources we were going to lose a planes munitions drones it didn't matter what mattered was rescuing the life because the life was invaluable I don't think that was just really encouraging. And that's just one story I just wanted to kind of maybe kind of twist it a little bit so you could see something glorious inside of it which is not what's going to happen with this next story this next story will will definitely be much more of we we have a real problem a problem of biblical ignorance in our culture and it's it is a biblical ignorance across the board and it's sad it is it makes me sad it makes me frustrated. I came across I don't know if you saw these posts at all many people were snipping and cutting Pope Leo's Easter message the Easter message he gave to the world if it is first Easter address to big deal the Pope is going to give an Easter address because it's the truly the greatest holy day of the of the church calendar the liturgical calendar the day we celebrate the resurrection of Christ and indeed we celebrate the resurrection of Christ all the time because there's no point in actually opening your mouth. To talk about the Bible without mentioning the gospel that couldn't use the Jesus died and resurrected for us so nonetheless this is a big holiday the Easter Easter Sunday is a huge holiday what will the Pope say on his first Easter address. And he made he made some comments one of the problems and this just goes totally separate and really Catholics if you want to help me understand this every time the Pope speaks he spoke and he speaks in Italian. And then they translate it I'm always told by other Catholics like oh no that's not what he said I'm like eventually we just have to understand some people know Italian and they can tell us what he said and Italian and you can tell me that's not what he said but it's kind of what he said so nonetheless he's his comments have been have been snipped they've been cut and and they've been shared and there's some there's some problems there's definitely and this is why I mean there's a definite lack of a biblical literacy. And I know I'm so how dare I talk about the the pontiff this way there's a lack of biblical literacy knowing what God's word actually says his Easter Sunday message he said many things it was all focused on war and it's always this sideways everything is about the biggest geopolitical things that they can we can all stick our noses into you know when we have a microphone in front of us which is kind of sad. I want to say generally Pope Leo seems to just really want peace and I'm all about that but peace comes with the spread of the government of Christ that's what it does the ruling of Christ that's what brings peace and when you when a government spreads it often finds itself in conflict with the other governments in this case particularly the governments of man nonetheless and that is just a that's just the war between righteousness and unrighteous unrighteousness constantly and ever and it will be a great deal of peace. I mean we have clear battles outlined in the scriptures God God commands his people to go to war against those that hate him in many different instances and situations God demands each individual believer to be warring daily that's why he gives us armor to warring daily against sin that is both present inside and outside of the body and this is not a call to be a person who is given to fighting and violence this is a call to a person to uphold a righteousness no matter what the cost there are times when it will sacrifice our own lives there are times when we'll have to defend others righteously and save them from death which may result in other other people's harm that's what the war truly is about and and that's what his message was generally about it's a piece message there needs to be peace so he said things like this quote let those who have weapons lay them down that those who have the power to unleash wars choose peace not a peace imposed by force but through dialogue no I don't know if it's just like wishful thinking on his part I don't know if there's like a base level lack of understanding about anthropology here biblical anthropology and the sin nature of man he goes on not with the desire to dominate others but to encounter them I hate phrases and terminologies like that to encounter them I mean that's what a battle is it's an encounter that's what war is it is an encounter he would want to say things like the power with which Christ rose is entirely nonviolent which really kind of totally cuts out I guess the cross all together weird totally weird he goes on this is the true strength that brings peace to humanity because it fosters respectful relationships at every level among individuals families social groups and nations there's again it's a it's just a biblical a biblical illiteracy there's a lack of understanding what the scripture is actually saying Christ violently went to the cross and Christ rose from the dead victoriously because he defeated sin and death and Satan that's what Christ did he defeated them his battle did have violence this shedding of blood was clear one of the one of the things that got sniped that really kind of bothered me he said brothers and sisters this is our God Jesus king of peace who rejects war whom no one can use to justify war he does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war but rejects them and I saw that quote that that post on a couple of you know people that I'm acquainted with I mean we can't use friends on social media there some people are just acquaintances and in hearing it I was just like that is like there's there's whole sentences here that are blatantly blatantly wrong Jesus Christ the king of peace who rejects war will indeed wage war and destroy all of his enemies until they are made as foot stole this is exactly what Jesus will do and then he will bring his kingdom of peace and spread it everywhere that's what Christ does that's what he does no yes certainly maybe no man can use Christ directly to justify war but it's not really an argument that we're talking about debating just worth theory as it's biblically understood that would be fine we could have that discussion that's not what he's saying and particularly one of the this sentence really bothered me it bothered me so much because it's the most obviously biblically illiterate sentence that you could say he does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war but rejects them I'm just telling you Christian that is biblically illiterate that is not acknowledging that God does listen to the prayers of those who wage war he does not reject them in fact God answers them and answers them with intent and purpose that's what God does and so for and this is where we're talking about the and this is where it bothers me this guy is supposed to be the the spiritual leader of the Roman Catholic Church you have to be clear and you have to be careful you cannot follow the religion of man and when I say that I know full well that there there I have friends that are Catholic I have talked to them about this before many times there is such a connection to the dogma that is present in the man made written catechism of the Catholic Church that they don't even know the scriptures and I'm not saying pope Leo doesn't know the scriptures I'm just saying that what he just said is biblically illiterate and he is wrong he's not just kind of wrong or somewhat wrong he's absolutely wrong he just echoes he echoes what first us onions five says so first us onions five starting in one in verse one says this now as it as to the times an epoch spreader and you have no need of anything to be written to you for yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night while they are saying peace and safety then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child and they will not escape that's according directly from Jeremiah and Ezekiel this phrase peace and safety that so many will cry peace and safety and they'll look for this paradigm of peace and safety as if peace and safety is is what can happen outside of the rule and reign of Christ that's not the case it is only with Christ that these things come about and is only when Christ rules and reigns as he has destroyed his enemies that that will spread and there will be no end to the spread of his kingdom of peace as Isaiah tells us but particularly this particularly again this quote and I'll read it again for you just so that you can keep it in your mind he does not Pope Pope Leo says he does not listen God does not listen to the prayers of those who age war but rejects them and then I'm going to take you to just one this is one person in this scripture I will ignore all of so many other passages because we don't need all of it we can we can just take one and one is enough I will take you first to Psalms Psalm 144 some 144 don't go far some 144 verse one this is a Psalm of David some 144 once is this blessed be the Lord my rock who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle who trains David's hands for war who trains his fingers for battle God the Lord the L.O.R.D. all caps Lord trains his hands for war his fingers for battle and that takes me to the first time David gets introduced to Saul and many of you might not necessarily realize this but one of the intriguing things about David is that David is known in the scriptures by a specific character and actually follows him through his life I'll take you to first Samuel 16 and I'll just start in verse 14 and in this in this particular passage we have David being introduced to Saul for the first time and how he described his very interesting this is actually the moment when the spirit of the Lord leaves Saul and another spirit and evil spirit comes to terrorize him so that's exactly what it's going to start off here in first Samuel 16 verse 14 here's what we read now the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul and an evil spirit from the Lord terrorized him Saul servants then said to him be hold now an evil spirit from God is terrorizing you let our Lord now command your servants who are before you let them seek a man who was a skillful player of the heart and it shall come about when the evil spirit from God is on you that he shall play the harp with his hand and you will be well for 17 so Saul said to his servants provide for me now a man who can play well and bring him to me and then one of the young men said be hold I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehem of Bethlehem up words are hard man I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehem I look I said it who is a skillful musician a mighty man of valor a warrior one prudent speech and a handsome man and the Lord is with him and you might ask yourself what does this mean who who is this this person in fact in some of your translations it actually may have a mighty man of valor and a warrior as a man of war and this is our first introduction to David king David but before he's king this is our first introduction of him king David was a man of war a man who waged war that is who David was and I know you're maybe you're not familiar with when this falls chronologically this is what I'm going to say this is before he kills Goliath that's right David was a man of war before he killed Goliath and this takes us following following through David's life towards the end of David's life and one of David's desires in his heart was that he might construct God a place where God could dwell David for for his sin as all men of God have have sin great sin and small sin God works beyond the world God works beyond our sin for his glory when we're able to get out of the way and allow the spirit to work through us and God's glory to go forward but despite his sin David referred to as the man of God's own heart desired to build a house for God and it was one of the desires of his life and if you go to first chronicles 22 here is what we read in verse six then he called for Solomon his son and charged him to build a house for the Lord the God of Israel David said to Solomon my son I had it in my heart to build a house to the name of the Lord my God but the word of the Lord came to me saying you have shed shed much blood and have waged great wars you shall not build a house to my name because you have shed so much blood before me on the earth behold a son shall be born to you who shall be a man of rest Solomon would build the temple because Solomon was to be a man of rest again somebody who the wisest man the wisest man never left not the greatest Jesus tells us who the greatest is it was done about it but the wisest man to ever live because he saw wisdom from the Lord instead of riches or fame and yet Solomon himself we know had his own problems but Solomon would be a man of rest we could even argue that some of the things he did he does to be a man at rest they weren't even great things they were bad things nonetheless it's Solomon who would build God's house because he was not a man of war David was we look at again in first chronicles twenty eight three but but God said to me you shall not build a house for my name because you are a man of war and have shed blood this phrase on repeat now this this particular verse is important but God said to me this is this is God answering David this is David heartfelt desiring praying seeking God to build a house for him that he might have a house to dwell in Jerusalem where he was temple could be built and God could dwell with his people and God answers him and what's particularly important here is God answers him and calls him a man of war a man who has shed blood there is no more clear way to undo a sentence like he does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war but rejects them that is not true God listens to the hearts of warriors God listens to the hearts of men of war men who wage war men who have shed blood he does not reject them God hears them whether they cry out in repentance when they seek him for wisdom and it's an absolutely foolish crazy statement to make in the light of Bible verses that explicitly show God hearing a prayer directly answering the prayer with great intent and giving in that prayer the hope that though this is not your role this was not how I called you to lead for me that's not how David was called to lead for the Lord David was called to be a man of war a man who wage war a man who shed blood that was going to be the role of Solomon who is going to be a man who was at rest and when we read that the statement is obviously biblically illiterate it's just foolish how can we how can we how can someone stand up there and pretend to be the leader of the church and not know what God says or at least seek what God says before he speaks and that's this is where it gets so gross because it feels like you're just trying to speak into some current geopolitical like situation instead of actually saying what does God actually say what is it that God would want to be done what is it that God has God does not have a desire for peace at all cost absolutely not God has a desire for his glory at all cost and that means that unrighteousness must be dealt with and when unrighteousness is unwilling to be dealt with through repentance on it will be dealt with through judgment just as an indeed war it's just so crazy like just take five seconds to read a Bible just to a Google search I mean if pope Leo had somebody with a computer he could just done a Google search what does it say about Ben who wage war what does it say I feel like someone was called a man of war what does it say about that in the Bible like five seconds like five seconds and boom boom also don't search on Google use like dog while use anything this is the same thing just stop using Google and being get away from the big ones go to the small ones but nonetheless we must be a bit bigger literate and we must know what God has said why we can't do what God has called us to do we can't do what God has said to do if we don't know what God has said and say it was like this or so frustrating but this was one of them was frustrating enough and I felt like I knew the person that I actually had to answer like I actually had to answer like I don't have a lot of time I don't have a lot of time I said but this is blatantly false and disgusting and then they said like you know I don't get it whatever so then I said all right here just go to first crackles twenty twenty two God listens to men who wage war God listens to men who shed blood God answers them this is an ignorant biblical a literate statement come on people and that's why you need to crack a Bible open one of my favorite funny t-shirts ever saw was crack a Bible and get high on Jesus and you should do it crack a Bible the Lord is good he makes joyful warriors joyful warriors men who wage war against Santa destruction for the glory of God let us do that dear Christian I don't have my co-host here to say it with me but the end of every podcast you know what we say we hope that you this day would seize the faith