Big-Joe-Radio
and Jesus Fight for Us
When Jesus arrived on the other side of the lake, in the
region of the Gadarenes, two men who were possessed by demons met him. They
lived in the cemetery and were so violent that no one could go through that
area.
They began screaming at Jesus, “Why are you interfering
with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torture us before God’s appointed
time?”
There happened to be a large herd of pigs feeding in the
distance. So the demons begged Jesus, “If you cast us out, send us into that
herd of pigs.”
“All right, go!” Jesus
commanded them. So the demons came out of the men and entered the pigs, and the
whole herd plunged down the steep hillside into the lake and drowned in the
water. ---Matthew 8:28-33.
That’s some pretty heavy reading if you ask me. It’s also
fascinating in that most people who bash on religion/Christianity/Judaism, see
Jesus as this week carpenter who had no authority and just talked about doing
good deeds. As seen from this passage here, we see Jesus as being of enough
authority that demons in the ancient world of Israel, begged him not to torture
them before God’s appointed time. They also begged Jesus not to send them into
the abyss, which is essentially God’s spiritual prison for the worst of the
worst. That is what was going on with the pig situation here.
So what’s my point here? I’m trying to figure out a way
to explain my thoughts that dignity and prestige is not merely an outward
appearance thing, it is a spiritual thing. I’m not here to prove the bible is
true. I’m here to argue it’s meaning, and how that might relate to my own life.
The bible says Jesus came from heaven on the ultimate mission to bring humanity
in a right relationship with its creator. There are many names for God,
including The King of Israel. So if
this is true, these lowly demons just recognized the highest King that ever
walked the earth, even if he did walk in the clothing of a carpenter,
surrounded by sinful men like you and me. He came the first time as a
sacrifice. The bible says the next time he comes it will be as the King of kings and Lord of lords. It’s all part of that bazar reading that you will find in
the book of revelation. It speaks of the end times when there will be a one
world government, all men will hate God, and there will be an “Anti-Christ”. He
will be the most charismatic ruler that the world will have ever seen. Nations
will worship him as the world’s leader. There is a war that is spoken of that
will kill off more than half of the world’s population. The sun will turn to
blood turn black and the moon will turn to blood.
Of course this all sounds insane. These things were
written nearly 2000 years ago by the apostle John, while he was a roman
prisoner on the island of Patmos. To his early audience, this must have seemed
even scarier. There was no technology back then. Hardly anyone was educated
back then. I would imagine that maybe 10 percent of the known world even knew
how to read. Now we live in the age of information and technology. Machines are
in the air, on the ground, and in the sea. We can know anything we want about
anyone by the information that travels in millimeter sized fiber-optic cables
that travel along all the information highways of the world. We call it the internet.
We have European Union style governments fighting for more breakdowns in
division in favor of unity so that government means are met while stomping out
the rights of citizens. Movies after movies after movies are made about end of
the world situations. Is it mankind’s way of saying, What if this stuff really could happen?
Well before you decide to get that 666 implant into your
forehead or arm, so that you can buy commerce on the Anti-Christ’s economy, I’d
like to take a look at prestige in another area. I’d like to look at it in the
area of fighting. Just as Jesus was discounted because he came from a poor
carpenter’s upbringing, so I was once discounted for my grappling skills by
some Air Force Special forces troops. In the same way that the demons begged
Jesus not to torture them, I had young men tapping so I would not destroy them
and send them to the abyss as well.
The time was last June of 2014. I was at Fairchild Air
Force Base for what is known as Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape
training. You go through training on all known land survival techniques, as
well as evading the enemy and escaping the enemy once caught. Resistance is
none other than learning how to deal with the most real torture you can
imagine. It was fun. Now for one day out of this training, we were able to all
meet up for the day and learn some hand to hand fighting skills as well as a
little grappling. Now as someone who has studied Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for going
on 6 or so years, I will tell you that the few hours of this training is but a
small drop of water in a vast sized ocean. Yet when you are dealing with young
20 something year old battle-field airman, they get a little chip on their
shoulder. Another thing to remember is that these guys are in the best shape of
their life. The physical requirements of these jobs are very strenuous.
We are all in uniform. There are guys like me, who train
f-16 pilots on evasion and escape techniques, as well as maintain their
equipment. Then you have combat controllers, Tac-p’s, loadmasters, pilots, and
other assorted aircrew jobs from around the Air Force. I’m in the middle of
alpha-male kingdom, and I’m about to show these fools who is superior.
Now let me humble myself by stating that I am not in the
best of shape by the time I get there. I’m also 37. I’m old in these guy’s
minds. I don’t look terribly athletic and I am not a battle-field airman. I am
not Special Forces. That didn’t stop me from arm-barring the shit out of the
first 20 year old who decided to clumsily get into my guard in an attempt to
smash his weight on me. His first words were, “you train don’t you?’ I simply
shrugged my shoulders. I have trained long enough with highly distinguished men
who have beaten me up for years. I felt absolutely no need to explain myself to
this young Airman.
Well my man went and got all his buddies. I could see him
point me out to a couple of the guys. Then he came back to me and we continued
to roll. I wasn’t a dick, and I could tell that my man was much more aware of
the lion that he had in his presence. In fact I began showing him some cool
sweeps and ways I can trap his arms. I train in a school so damn good, that I
was showing him moves that are very difficult to get on the high level
grapplers that I am used to dealing with. Yet here I felt like a cat playing
with a mouse. And that mouse was much bigger than me.
Eventually I got to roll with some of his homies who were
Special Forces dudes. They were supremely more athletic than me. They also had
huge egos that did not like when this old man was able to make them feel
winded. There were a couple times when I rolled with someone that I could feel
by their response, just how fearful they were. I was their Jesus. They were my
Demons and I was wrecking house and telling them to enter the pigs and run
themselves off the cliff. It was good times.
After that day of combative trainin, these guys were
really cool and respectful. They came and surrounded me while we were getting
our debriefings for the day. Afterwards I was being asked where I came from,
how I was doing and they each referred to me as, “Sarge”. These young guys
showed respect for this old and slightly out of shape old man. It was good
stuff. Now on the battlefield, these guys would destroy me with the amount of weapons
training they have and the physical load that they put on themselves every day.
Not to mention the danger that they choose to work under. I guess I can say
that I was surrounded by lions who recognized a baby shark in their presence. I
hope to train Jiu Jitsu later today, and continue to grow into my shark-self
Jissoseph out.
Sources of my
resurrections
1.
http://www.airforce.com/careers/detail/tactical-air-control-party-specialist-tacp-males-only/
2.
http://www.airforce.com/careers/detail/survival-evasion-resistance-and-escape-sere/
3.
http://www.airforce.com/careers/detail/combat-control-males-only
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