Radical Mercy: Why Protecting the Vulnerable is a Spiritual MandateUntitled Episode

"What does a suicide bombing in Tal Afar, Iraq, have to do with the safety of your grandchildren in Georgia? Everything.

Join Austin Gardner and special guest Stephen Underwood (Black Flag Innocence Foundation) for a raw look at the reality of child sex trafficking in America. This isn’t just about statistics; it’s about the spiritual and physical mandate to be ‘sheepdogs’ for those who cannot protect themselves.

Key Highlights:

• The PTSD Cure: Why ‘getting outside of ourselves’ and focusing on others is the ultimate path to healing for veterans.
• Vigilance vs. Paranoia: Practical advice on probing questions to ask your children and the importance of digital accountability.
• The Gideon Strategy: A biblical deep-dive into how God looks past our fear and sees the ‘mighty man of valor’ inside of us.
• The Reality Check: Why ‘denial’ is the greatest weapon predators have against our families.

Stephen reminds us that God doesn’t see us for who we are, but for who we can become. Whether you are a veteran struggling with your past or a parent worried about the future, this episode offers a roadmap for turning mercy into action.

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Transcript

Welcome And Why This Matters

Austin Gardner 0:26

I am very excited to be with you again today on Followed by Mercy. And we have been having a time of our lives talking with wonderful people about hurting people. They need the mercy of God. And God's mercy is following him because he follows us, all of us, and everyone, but he needs people to get involved. And so we've been learning about that from Stephen Underwood. And then we had Alyssa with us last time. And I just hope and pray it wakes all of us up to help people. So, Stephen, we have discussed veteran stuff, but at the same time we discussed children. So explain how that works together and you can make a greeting or however you want to get started today.

Iraq Market Bombing And Calling

Stephen Underwood 1:13

Sure. Well, I'm glad to be back with you. Thank you for this opportunity. And um, you know, if if all it does is help one child or help one family to be able to recognize the patterns that exist to protect them from child sex trafficking, then it's worth it. Um I've never met a veteran that was not, did not consider himself a sheepdog. There's something that's ingrained into us to protect the innocent. And that's why organizations like Black Flag Innocence Foundation are primarily made up of veterans because we're willing to lay down our life to protect the innocent. Of course, being Christians, we know that our greatest example of that is Jesus himself, who willingly laid down his life for those that didn't love him. And so we just want to follow his example and do everything within our power and ability to protect these innocent people from having to live such a horrific life. I remember in Iraq, it was towards the end of our deployment. We were already starting to shut down and turn our mission over to the unit that was replacing us. We were we were at Fob Sykes, just outside of Talifar, again, within a couple hours from the Syrian border, when the largest suicide bomb of the entire war took place. These terrorists, what they did was they filled these two dump trucks up with explosives, and then they took a torch and heated up the sides of the dump truck beds so that when it exploded, instead of exploding upward and out, it would explode downward and out and use the metal beds to create more shrapnel. And then these terrorists drove these dump trucks straight into the busiest market in Talifar. They weren't targeting military targets, they weren't targeting combatants, they were targeting innocent people. And that's the reality in which we live in today, even with children, these predators, that's who they're targeting is the innocent. One thing that was burned into my mind, that blast happened about five miles away from where we were. And uh I remember in a two-ton up Arbored Humvee, the ground shaking us like we weighed absolutely nothing from the explosion. As we got closer, we were the first ones to respond on scene. And eventually the combat engineers came in to fill in the craters and all of that. But I remember something that was burned into my mind. You know, most people run from danger. Most people will go the opposite way of danger. But I remember seeing these parents and even children that were coming out of their homes and they were running towards the blast. They were going towards the danger and they were crying out for their loved ones that they knew were in that market that day. They were searching for them. They were um calling out their names. And I remember as we got there and we saw the carnage that had taken place and uh the people, the the people that were already dead, there were 130 people killed at one time in that blast. Whoa. Many, many others that were that were hurt, injured, maimed, some that were taking their last breath. And I remember this. They were crying out to a God that could not hear them. They were asking to be saved by a God that could not save them. And I think about the opportunities that I had growing up here in the south of the United States, where there's a church on every corner, and from a young age I was able to hear the gospel. And I had the answer that they had never had. I didn't have to fear death because I knew that I was saved, that I was going to heaven, and that whatever happened to me, that in the end, as it was already stated, we win.

Austin Gardner 5:10

But they didn't have that hope. They didn't have somebody to tell them about Jesus. They had no one to rescue them.

From War To Child Rescue

Stephen Underwood 5:21

And they were praying to a a phantom. They were in agony, they were hurting, they were afraid, and they closed their eyes in this life. And they awoken into a life of torment, into an eternity of torment. And it was from that point on that I decided at whatever capacity, whatever role God could use me, that's what I wanted to do. I wanted to give my life to a purpose that was beyond myself. I wanted to give my life to a a cause that was more important than just what I could gather for myself. And uh if I could just help one person not experience eternity in hell, then it would all be worth it. And by the grace of God, uh we saw several folks that were saved when we were missionaries and church planters. And now the battle is that's still the goal. The battle just looks a little different because we're dealing with these children, these victims of child sex trafficking, but the the mission is still the same.

Austin Gardner 6:30

Basically, everything y'all do has to do with child trafficking and children's victims. So let me just before I move on, I want to make sure that's correct. And I want to understand what about veterans in PTSD, or do you work on that?

Stephen Underwood 6:47

So I I do partner with another organization to help veterans that deal with PTSD. It's called Hill on Wheels. Shiloh Crane is the CEO. He was the second platoon, platoon leader. He retired as a major, but served with him in Iraq. And so he uses motorcycle therapy as his means of helping veterans dealing with PTSD to be able to get the help that they need. Uh, you know, I I recently uh got a Honda NC 750X. We're planning a fundraising trip in the future from Key West, Florida up to Fort Kent, Maine, which is a mile from the Canadian border. Last year he did a trip from Atlanta to Alaska and raised around $15,000. And that those funds go to help uh fund a week of therapy at a retreat for veterans that are dealing with PTSD. Maybe in the near future I can get Shiloh to take a few minutes and come on the on the podcast. But he credits the therapy that he received to helping save his marriage. You know, I I had a support system in you and um and and others that when I was going through junk that I was able to talk to, but there's a lot of veterans out there that they have no one to turn to. And one of the things that I think is most important in that battle against PTSD and fighting those memories and thoughts, those intrusive thoughts, is having a purpose to invest yourself in.

Austin Gardner 8:16

Getting outside of ourselves. Anytime I focus on me, anytime I focus on me, I'm gonna get deeper in me. And that's gonna, but others, others focused. Right.

PTSD Help Through Motorcycle Therapy

Trafficking In Small Town America

Stephen Underwood 8:27

And so when we see that, you know, in all reality, we don't have it that bad, our problems are not that severe, and we start focusing on what a real problem looks like. I mean, can you imagine your granddaughter being snatched away? No, I no, I cannot imagine that. Many times they'll they'll forcibly get them hooked on drugs in order to sedate them to get them to comply. And eventually, when they're hooked on that, they're they're addicted. And their only desire at that point is to do whatever they have to to get that feeling because their b body body literally starts to be dependent upon that substance. And so going back to the veteran thing, I think that we have a a double-edged sword here where we have an opportunity to rescue these innocent children from from that torture, but we also have an opportunity to to draw that focus away from what we experienced in in war and in battle, and it helps to heal us. It helps us to be able to focus ourselves on on being who we were trained to be, and that's the guardians and the sheepdog of those that can't fight for themselves.

Austin Gardner 9:40

I like that. I like that very much. But I I don't think, now I'm just being honest with you, I don't think most of us think much about this unless we're watching a movie. I've already mentioned that to you yesterday. But I don't think we know what it looks like. So I'm in little old ball ground, Georgia, Canton, Georgia. Ah, it doesn't exist here.

Stephen Underwood 10:04

Well, the the sad reality is that it does exist. Um, one of the statistics that was mentioned was that roughly 28 million people around the world are sex trafficked. Uh another one is that 79% of those victims are made up of women and children. And so it is happening. I mean, 80% roughly of those that of that 28 million are the people that most men, well, I'd say most men, hopefully most men, would say that they would want to protect. You know, we always say women and children first, when the ship is going down, who do we say women and children first? But 80% of them are the victims of sex trafficking. And so we have an opportunity in front of us to do something about it. And what that looks like in Ball Ground, Georgia, is you know, if if your granddaughter is on social media or if she's playing video games, who is it that's talking to her on the other line? Who is it that's on the other side of that computer that's engaging with her? What are they saying? What kind of images are they sending her? What kind of images are they requesting of her? It we live in a very dark world, and we know that because the Bible tells us that. We know that because in the last days, it's only gonna get worse. Men are gonna be lovers of the own selves, and it goes through a whole list, and a lot of that list is having to deal with fornication and and and uh and and and sex, and pornography is one of the biggest money-making industries in the United States, and it's legal, and it's and it's starting younger and younger. Children are being exposed to pornography on average around the age of six. It's it's true. I mean, I remember as a as a kid myself, during the summers, you know, mom and dad were working. I was at home by myself. My buddy down the street had a stack of Playboys, but now it's on your phone. You know, used to you'd have to go somewhere and they'd have to have it in order to be exposed to it, but now it's at your fingertips. You can't look at Facebook Marketplace now without having to be careful about what ads are being shown on there. You can't you can't go to Instagram without seeing provocative images that you didn't search for that just show up. It's everywhere that we turn, it's constantly in our face. So being vigilant on what our children are looking at, what they're being exposed to is the first step in fighting this battle. And so it it does happen in Ballground, Georgia, just like it happens here in Dalton, Georgia. It happens in small town rural America, where these children are being exposed to these pedophiles that only have one thing, one um one goal in mind, and that's to entrap them. And uh you would just be amazed at uh for instance, one of the most recent successful missions that Black Flag ran was this man willingly after a few days, few weeks of communication with what he believed to be a 15-year-old girl, showed up to try to have sex with her. And Black Flag was there building the case, gathering the evidence, and there with local law enforcement to make the arrest and prosecute. And so it takes men like us, it takes regular people like you to be able to get involved for us to fight that battle. If we try to pr close our eyes to it and pretend like it doesn't exist, then it's only gonna get worse. If we really care about protecting our own children, if we really care about protecting our own grandchildren, then we can't ignore the ones that are already in it, that are already exposed to it, that are already entrapped by it. Um They have to see that we eat, sleep, and breathe, protecting others that can't protect themselves.

Austin Gardner 14:33

So what are the warning signs that they're messing with my kid or my grandkid?

Stephen Underwood 14:38

One would be, you know, through those social media apps, through video games, things like that, those are the methods that they use. But if you start to notice that your child is withdrawing, that they are not engaging in conversation, if they're completely obsessed with, you know, being on their phone, being on the computer, being on the video game, they're disassociating themselves from reality, there's a good chance that they're being targeted. And that's how it starts is a simple disassociation from reality, not being engaged in the things that they used to enjoy. And so we have to be careful. You know, Alyssa had talked about being a helicopter parent. I would not consider myself that. But because of the knowledge that I now have on the reality of what these victims are going through and what they look like and the starting points, you can believe that I'm taking more of an interest in what they're doing in their spare time. We have live through sit for our family. So I want to know where they are. I want to know who they're with. I want to know who they're talking to. I want to know what kind of conversations they have. So we set aside time to ask questions, probing questions. Tell me about your day. Tell me about who you're who it is that you're you're talking to. Is there anything that you have questions about? Is there anything that you're dealing with that maybe you're afraid to talk to us about? Right now is uh is a free pass. So if there's something you're dealing with, you don't have to worry about being in trouble. I want to help you. Now, if I find out and you withheld it from me, then there's going to be consequences. But right now, you have an opportunity to talk to us without the fear of getting in trouble because I want to help you. And just having those difficult conversations with our children, with our grandchildren, that's step one in fighting this battle. Step two is taking the initiative to check those things yourself. Don't just take their word for it. Kids lie. My boys lie. I lie. So that accountability has to be in place. We have to be able to get in there and see what kind of conversations they're having. Now, things can be deleted and all of that, but honestly, if it's ever been put on the internet, it can be it can be recovered. A good friend of mine, John Hughes, that I work with, he used to be on counterdrug, a task force in the state of Georgia. And they had an entire team that their entire mission, their entire job was to extract social media. And so they would have a target. They would send the name, birth date, and any information they had on this target, and they would run a social media extraction and figure out who they were talking to and what they were talking about. And you would be surprised at how much information people put on the internet. If you think that you can hide, you can't, not in this day and age of technology. Law enforcement has the flock system or even the clear system that you drive by, it takes a record of your tag, and it can pull up any information that they need to figure out if you have warrants, if you have a criminal history, if you have tickets, or anything like that. So we can't disappear anymore. You literally have to go completely off-grid, change everything about you, your lifestyle, and everything if you want to try to disappear. And even then, you're eventually going to get caught. You know, Timothy McVeigh was one of the ones that ran and hid the longest, but he lived like a rat in the woods and didn't have any contact with anybody. He turned himself in because he was dumpster diving for a meal and he got tired of having to do that.

Denial Myth And Long Recovery

Austin Gardner 18:08

And that's how he eventually got caught. Uh podcast. What myth? What is it that why do we have such a hard time accepting that this is a problem that affects us? Denial.

Stephen Underwood 18:25

We don't want to believe that it that it could happen. We don't want to believe that it could be our kid that's being groomed by a predator to fall into the to the servanthood, to the enslavement of sex trafficking. And so if we deny it and we ignore it, then maybe it won't happen. But that's a that's a complete myth. It is happening. Your children are being exposed to it. In one way or another, they're being exposed to that lifestyle. And without having a strong parent, a father figure, a mentor in their life, they just become so much more susceptible to falling into that trap and that system. And before they even realize it, they're slaves to it. And by the time that they become slaves to it, so much damage has been done that it takes a lifetime of therapy, of mentorship, of investment to help pull them out of that mindset of trauma. And, you know, I'm not a proponent of a victim mentality. We're more than conquerors in Christ, but the majority of these people that we're talking about have no idea who Jesus even is. And so, yeah, they are victims and they're not conquerors yet because they don't have the answer that we have. They don't know Jesus Christ as their savior. And so being able to, when we were serving as missionaries, one of the greatest tools that I had at my disposal was helping these young guys that didn't have families. They had families, but they weren't raised by their parents, a two-parent system. They might live with one parent, they might live with a grandparent, they might live with an aunt or an uncle. But because they were living in poverty, I could help them with just simple things like hygiene products or tennis shoes, some clothes, t-shirts, whatever. And I would meet them at a physical need, excuse me, to help them with a spiritual need. And so we don't just stop when we kick in a door and pull these children out of that situation. We continue to invest in them so that we can give them the answer of what really matters, and that's knowing that where they're going to spend eternity.

Austin Gardner 20:32

Well, I think this has been a really a very good segment to find out what's going on and how we can help. Now, I want to let Stephen have just a minute here to close us out, but before I do, you may question why this is on Followed by Mercy, because it's surely goodness and mercy to follow us all the days of our life. And uh, and I'll dwell in the house of the Lord forever. And you say, What's that got to do with these children? Well, see, I really believe that this initiative and what they're doing is God's way of putting surely goodness and mercy on the trail of these children and these victims. They need love, they need help. And I thank you, Stephen, that that's what you and this entire group. It's Black Flag Innocence Foundation. And I'm so grateful for what they're doing. And so I hope you understand that's why, followed by mercy, we we want to help people. It's not just theory, it's practical. This comes down from the I love Jesus and Jesus is taking care of us. It comes down from that to right now, right where we are, people are hurting. Let's get involved. Go ahead, Stephen. Kind of close out our session today.

Stephen Underwood 21:47

Sure. Well, we see all throughout the scripture where God meets physical needs to answer spiritual need. The book of Judges, the children of Israel find themselves in captivity. What does God do? He raises up a judge to rescue them out of their captivity. In the prophets, he raises up a man that takes to them the message that changes not only their life in this life, but their life for eternity. So even in their captivity, God has mercy on his people. And I really believe that that's why we exist today is God has raised us up to go in and rescue these victims out of their captivity, not just to meet the physical. Need and the temporal need of this life, but so that they can have an opportunity to receive the spiritual need of salvation. And so we see that example all throughout scripture where God raises up normal men and women. My favorite judge is Gideon, because when God comes to him, he's hiding and afraid, and he's scared, and he says, Who am I to go and fight these people who are taking my people into captivity? And God, the angel of the Lord, speaks to him and he says, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valor. And it's in that moment when Gideon is hiding and afraid, and he's looking at himself as scared and maybe not having the ability, not having the courage. But when God looks down at his people, he doesn't see us for who we are, but who we can become. And that's when Gideon says, you know what? I may not have much to offer, but I'll offer myself. And God uses him. And then he does all the work. Uh at the end of the story, Gideon is there with his 300, and they hold up a trumpet and they break a pitcher, and then the enemy is so confused and bewildered that they turn the swords on themselves, and Israel doesn't even have to lift a finger to win the battle. God does the battle, God finishes the battle.

Austin Gardner 24:03

But it took Gideon being willing and obedient and saying, Here am I, send me.

Stephen Underwood 24:15

And so that's that's exactly what we're trying to do. We're just trying to be used.

Austin Gardner 24:19

Well, I really appreciate what you're doing. I hope that those of you listening have gotten a blessing out of this and it's helping you. And I think that you can get involved. So in the memos that come with the podcast and with YouTube, we will put links. And I want you to get involved. And we'll be back tomorrow. So share this with other friends. And if we can help you help others, that's what we're going to do because you make a difference. Your life counts. Come be a part.