Saving Lives at a Cost: A Sobering Update From The Nazarene Fund

April 13, 2017

WRITER

More than 6,000 Christians and Yazidis have been removed from the clenches of ISIS thanks to donations made by Glenn Beck listeners and Mercury One rescue teams on the ground in the Middle East --- but it's dangerous work. One recent mission took a scary turn a few weeks ago. Following multiple --- and ultimately successful --- rescue attempts to free a captured Yazidi mom and her two children, two local team members went missing. Glenn gave the details on radio Wednesday, asking listeners to pray for everyone involved.

Listen to this segment from The Glenn Beck Program:

GLENN: One of our rescues took a scary turn a couple of weeks ago. A Yazidi mom who had been kidnapped with her two children somehow or another gained access to a cell phone. And she immediately called a friend and she knew where she was being held, and she said, "You've got to get us out of here. We're being held at this location. Please send help."

This friend happened to know about us. I guess in some places Mercury One is really starting to be known as a savings grace. And they reached out to us and said, "Can you help us?" We reached out to our partners in the Middle East. And we verified the report. Made sure that it was true. We set a plan into action to get her and her children to safety and bring them to a safer place than where they were.

Once the rescue had been approved, all the communications -- and this happens every time, go dark.

We don't communicate. Once we know what's happening, no one speaks to each other. It's a precaution for safety for everybody involved. So it is not uncommon for us to green light something and then not hear anything for a couple of weeks while the operation is going on. And we sit on pins and needles as we wait. In this particular case, everything went as planned. The women and her children got out. And they got out with the members of the team.

And then unfortunately, they were recaptured by the bad guys. Two of our local team members, of our partner's network went dark at that point. We didn't hear anything from them for two weeks.

Finally, the mom reached back out. Reached out to her family again and said, "We were recaptured. We were, you know, escaping and then they -- then they captured us again."

We had to go, start from the beginning. This time, we were much more cautious because we were worried that ISIS was trying to kill our team and they were on to us and we needed to, you know -- this was a setup. They were going to kill the mom and the children, and they were going to kill the members of our team as well.

Mom, the children, two members of the team, missing. We learned earlier this week that the information was valid. We green lit another rescue. It is nothing short of a miracle that they were rescued a second time. Mom and her children are now safe, and they are free. They are going to now our counseling center, which we should tell you about is an amazing thing. In the Middle East, women cannot go to seek counsel. And so we work through another organization there that is doing some amazing things. And going into women's houses disguised as something else and then providing the women and children with counseling, so nobody in the neighborhood knows, especially none of the neighborhood men know.

Anyway, they're going to be receiving the counsel. And they will be back with their family by Easter.

This is the light in the very, very dark situation in the Middle East. But we need you to pray for some more light.

The two members of the first rescue team that went in have not been found. And they have not been in contact. There is no evidence that anything has happened to them.

We hope and pray that they are just in hiding right now and are going to be able to return safely to their families in the Middle East very soon. But we have also reason to have real concern. And we would ask for an Easter miracle to happen. And if you would please pray earnestly for your family. These are remarkable heroes that are not doing it to write a book. Not doing it for the praise and the glory. They're doing it because these children are caught in slavery. And it's -- they are really, truly in the jaws of hell.

Please pray for them. So you know, Mercury One never pays a ransom. These rescues are risky. They take sometimes a team of up to 20 people to bring them back into safety. They are comprised of ex-military, counterterrorism professionals. They volunteer their time. They sacrifice their lives for other human beings. And we sure would like to celebrate their rescue and their safe return this Easter. Please pray for them. And thank you so much for everything that you have done to help two projects that are very near and dear to my heart. And I know they are to yours. The Nazarene Fund and operation OUR. Ourrescue.org.

The Biden admin has let in MORE illegal aliens than the populations of THESE 15 states

GUILLERMO ARIAS / Contributor | Getty Images

There are currently an estimated 16.8 MILLION illegal aliens residing in the United States as of June 2023, according to the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). This number is already 1.3 million higher than FAIR's January 2022 estimate of 15.5 million and a 2.3 million increase from its end-of-2020 estimate. Even Democrats like New York City's Mayor Adams Mayor Adams are waking up to what Conservatives have been warning for years: we are in a border CRISIS.

However, this isn't the same border crisis that Republicans were warning about back in 2010. In the first two years of the Biden administration alone, the illegal alien population increased by 16 PERCENT nationwide, imposing a whopping net cost of $150.6 BILLION PER YEAR on American taxpayers. That is nearly DOUBLE the total amount that the Biden administration has sent to Ukraine.

This isn't the same border crisis that Republicans were warning about back in 2010.

These large numbers often make it difficult to conceptualize the sheer impact of illegal immigration on the United States. To put it in perspective, we have listed ALL 15 states and the District of Colombia that have smaller populations than the 2.3 MILLION illegal immigrants, who have entered the U.S. under the Biden administration. That is more than the entire populations of Wyoming, Vermont, and South Dakota COMBINED—and the American taxpayers have to pay the price.

Here are all 16 states/districts that have FEWER people than the illegal immigrants who have entered the U.S. under the Biden administration.

1. New Mexico

Population: 2,110,011

2. Idaho

Population: 1,973,752

3. Nebraska

Population: 1,972,292

4. West Virginia

Population: 1,764,786

5. Hawaii

Population: 1,433,238

6. New Hampshire

Population: 1,402,957

7. Maine

Population: 1,393,442

8. Montana

Population: 1,139,507

9. Rhode Island

Population: 1,090,483

10. Delaware

Population: 1,031,985

11. South Dakota

Population: 923,484

12. North Dakota

Population: 780,588

13. Alaska

Population: 732,984

14. Washington DC

Population: 674,815

15. Vermont

Population: 647,156

16. Wyoming

Population: 583,279

POLL: Should the Government control the future of AI?

The Washington Post / Contributor | Getty Images

Earlier this week, tech titans, lawmakers, and union leaders met on Capitol Hill to discuss the future of AI regulation. The three-hour meeting boasted an impressive roster of tech leaders including, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and others, along with more than 60 US Senators.

Tech Titans and Senators gathered in the Kennedy Caucus Room.The Washington Post / Contributor | Getty Images

The meeting was closed to the public, so what was exactly discussed is unknown. However, what we do know is that a majority of the CEOs support AI regulation, the most vocal of which is Elon Musk. During the meeting, Musk called AI "a double-edged sword" and strongly pushed for regulation in the interest of public safety.

A majority of the CEOs support AI regulation.

Many other related issues were discussed, including the disruption AI has caused to the job market. As Glenn has discussed on his program, the potential for AI to alter or destroy jobs is very real, and many have already felt the effects. From taxi drivers to Hollywood actors and writers, AI's presence can be felt everywhere and lawmakers are unsure how to respond.

The potential for AI to alter or destroy jobs is very real.

Ultimately, the meeting's conclusion was less than decisive, with several Senators making comments to the tune of "we need more time before we act." The White House is expected to release an executive order regarding AI regulation by the end of the year. But now it's YOUR turn to tell us what YOU think needs to be done!

Should A.I. be regulated?

Can the government be trusted with the power to regulate A.I.?

Can Silicon Valley be trusted to regulate AI?

Should AI development be slowed for safety, despite its potential advantages?

If a job can be done cheaper and better by AI, should it be taken away from a human?

Do you feel that your job is threatened by AI?

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Glenn wrote this essay on September 12, 2001. Are we the same people now?

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Twenty two years ago today on September 12th, 2001, Glenn wrote an essay called "The Greatest American Generation." These were his visceral thoughts immediately following the 9/11 attacks. This beautiful essay calls upon the American spirit to rise to the occasion to pull us through what was one of the darkest days in our nation's history. He called us to unite around the common vision that unites us as Americans.

Yesterday, Glenn revisited this essay, wondering if we are the same people who could have pulled through that dark hour. Do you still believe the things that he wrote in this essay? Or have we become a people too divided to overcome a tragedy of the magnitude of 9/11? Consider these questions as you read Glenn's essay below, "The Greatest American Generation," published on September 12, 2001.

I've always believed that the greatest American generation is the one that's living, in the here and the now. The question is not if this is the greatest American generation. The question was when were we going to wake up? I remember staying at my grandparents' house in the summer when I was small. Every morning my grandmother would open the attic door and call up, "Kids, time to wake up." For me she'd have to do this a couple of times before I'd lumber out of bed and cross the cold, squeaky wooden floor. But finally, I would. And she'd be there in the kitchen ready with breakfast. My grandfather was already outside in the henhouse because there was work to do. They were hardworking, good and decent people. Seemed to me that they were from not only a different time but a different place. They weren't.

The spirit of our parents and our grandparents isn't from some foreign place. It hasn't died out. It's a flame that flickers in all Americans. It's there and it's ready to blaze to life when we're ready to face the challenges that now lie at our feet. It's what sets us apart. It's what built this country. It's why our borders still teem with the poor and the tired and those yearning to be free, burned with zeal in the hearts of millions of immigrants from every corner of the Earth who came here in search of a better way of life. The flame that Lady Liberty holds is the American spirit which burns deep within all of us, no matter what our race, gender, our religious background. And today the world is watching us. It's really nothing new. It always has.

Since the dawn of man people dreamt of a better life, dreamt of a better way, of freedom. But it was Americans that finally found a way to build it. And out of all that we've built, the powerful machines, the computers, the weapons of mass destruction, hardware and software that we spent millions on every year to protect and keep the plan secret, our biggest seeming secret, the one the world wants most of all, isn't a secret at all. It's something we freely give to the rest of the world. And while it seems self‑evident to us, for some reason it can't be duplicated. Yet it can be passed on from person to person, torch to torch. It's the American spirit.

If you weren't trapped in one of those towers or on a plane or in the Pentagon, then you have great reason to humbly give thanks today, not for our lives but because we're the lucky ones. God hasn't forsaken us. He's awakened us. Standing at the bottom of the stairs, he's gently called out, "Kids, it's time to wake up! We've been given another chance."

Thousands of years ago in Babel, the great civilization in their arrogance built a tower that reached the sky. It crumbled and they were scattered. Our heart and steely symbols of power and wealth may have crumbled, but we have not been scattered. Americans aren't ever going to scatter. Let the world recognize through our actions today that those firefighters in New York are not the exception. They are the rule. Americans don't run from burning buildings. We run into them. It was a beautiful fall morning on the edge of the land created through divine providence. Coffee shops were open. Children were on their buses and people easing into another typical workday when America's greatest generation heard the voice: "Kids, it's time to wake up."

Several times we've ignored the voice. We've drifted back into twilight sleep muttering, "I know, I know, in a minute." But finally we are awake and out of bed, for there is much work to do. The task before us is much more daunting than what our grandparents and parents faced, but we are stronger, a more prepared nation. The torch has been passed. We are the greatest American generation. The American spirit is alive and well. Our flame has not burned out. It had just been dimmed while we were asleep."

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