Newsletter
Tim Scott
Ashes

There is a particular quality to the air in a place that has been through fire. Not the romantic fire of a hearth or a campsite — but the kind that consumes entire cities, that levels what generations built, that leaves a landscape so altered it is almost unrecognizable to the people who once called it home. Vietnam knows that kind of fire. Walking through this country today — through the streets of cities that were once reduced to rubble, past a countryside that absorbed some of the heaviest bombardment in the history of modern warfare — you are walking through what came after. You are walking through the after-ashes.

And what you find is not what the logic of destruction would predict. You find life. You find rebuilding. You find a nation that absorbed one of the most devastating conflicts of the twentieth century — a war that consumed Americans and Vietnamese alike, that shattered families on both sides of the Pacific, that left an entire generation carrying wounds that no government program and no passage of time has ever fully healed — and kept going. The question that this place forces on every honest observer is not simply historical. It is profoundly personal. How does anything — a nation, a soul, a life — rise from ashes? What makes the difference between the ruins that stay ruins and the ruins that become something new?

Ashes
Newsletter
Tim Scott
Flow

There is a posture that God invites every believer into — and most of us spend our entire lives fighting it. Not because we are wicked or faithless, but because the world has trained us, from our very first breath, to grip things tightly. To scheme, to strive, to press, to worry, to manufacture outcomes through sheer force and anxiety. The world calls this wisdom. And it has produced in the hearts of God’s people a deep, chronic, soul-wearying strain that was never part of His original design for us.

Jesus said it plainly, without qualification, to people living in conditions far more precarious than most of us will ever face: “Do not worry about your life.” — Matthew 6:25.

Flow
Newsletter
Tim Scott
Outsider

There is a thread that runs through all of Scripture — a pattern so consistent that once you see it, you cannot unsee it. It is not the pattern the world expects. It is not the pattern even the religious establishment of any given era expected. It is this: God does not choose the way man chooses. He does not select the powerful, the credentialed, the connected, or the ones whose résumé impresses the room. He reaches past the inner circle, past the halls of influence, past the people who have built their identity on being in — and He finds the one standing at the edges. The outsider. And He changes the world through them.

Outsider
Newsletter
Tim Scott
Boldness

Here is a hard truth that must be spoken: a large portion of the modern church has grown deeply, profoundly, tragically ashamed of the gospel. Not ashamed in so many words. No one stands at a pulpit and announces that they find the cross embarrassing. But the evidence is visible in what is preached — and far more in what is not. The blood of Christ has been quietly removed from the vocabulary of too many congregations. Sermons about sin, judgment, and hell have been replaced with messages designed to comfort, entertain, and above all, not offend. The thunderous warning from 2 Timothy is being fulfilled in real time: “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.” — 2 Timothy 4:3.

Boldness
Newsletter
Tim Scott
Warfare

The battle we face is not primarily political, social, or economic. It is not fought with weapons that can be seen or measured by human instruments. The conflict that defines the Christian life takes place in a realm invisible to the natural eye — a dimension where principalities and powers, thrones and dominions, wage war against the souls of mankind. Scripture pulls back the curtain on this invisible conflict with startling clarity in Ephesians that our struggle is “Not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” — Ephesians 6:12. Notice the plural — not one enemy, but organized forces. Not localized skirmishes, but systemic warfare across a spiritual geography that spans “the heavenly places.” This is not a metaphor. This is not poetic language meant to inspire. This is literal spiritual reality. Every believer lives embedded in a war zone. Every decision, every prayer, every step of obedience either advances the kingdom of darkness or advances the kingdom of light. There is no neutrality. There is no middle ground. Jesus Himself confirmed this reality when He addressed the seventy disciples upon their return: “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” — Luke 10:18. The adversary was not defeated by human strategies or institutional power. He fell because of the authority delegated by Christ Jesus.

Warfare

Iguazu Falls

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3X7iYEgF8os&rel=0] These mighty falls are the dividing line between Argentina and Brazil.  The area around the falls was once controlled by Guarani indians whom the Jesuits ministered to beginning in 1609.  Watch movie The Mission to see events of jesuits in area.

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Crossed border into Argentina after a look around the falls.

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Monsters Lurk at Night

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6p1sIo3fBI&rel=0] [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PblrQHB4_X4&rel=0]

Once again on our journey along the Amazon food must be hunted. This Croc we caught alive, so we shut the snout with a rope. Just before this video was taken the massive reptile lashed at me (Tim). This area of Brazil has been a blessing to travel as there is such a movement for the Holy Spirit.  We also came across an Assemblies of God in Tefe that was building a new church the size of a small stadium. The shocking thing is Tefe is only 80,000 in population. This must mean a large percentage of people attend regularly. Praise God!

The croc was cooked later in the day and fed 15 people. We were on river for 4 days at this point. No showers, hot sun, but good food. Praise God!

Lab Destroyed!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0_SIDQUZtA&rel=0]

Explosives set, and safely from the LZ we blow the lab. Blackhawk descends to extract team.

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From the air you can see the magnitude of blast. Also near end of video you can see the second team blackhawk circling below. Mission was successful and all members back safe. Three days before this operation, three eradicators team members were killed on a mission we were supposed to be on.

Day Hunt - Into Jungle for more food.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABG4pDay4PM&rel=0] Five mouths to feed and long distances to cross. We needed food for our journey because we would float at night.  We stalked the jungle for two hours before we had our first opportunity.  Then we got it!  Praise God!  One interesting story we were told from our guide was when we came to a mysterious small clearing in the jungle.  The guide got spooked and we asked him what was up.  He said, "this area is where a demon lives."  Then he told us the story of what the locals believe.  He said the demon will appear to people and trick them as he takes a familiar form.  Like someone you might recognize.  He will tell you to follow and then take you far into the jungle.  Once you are good and lost he disappears.  The guide also said if people say something bad the demon will tell the animals to go away and you wont have any food to hunt.  Strange thing is even the Christians hold onto this story and fear the demon.  Well, we all prayed to ourselves as we passed the area and rebuked the demon.  Let´s see what the greater will inside of us will do we thought.  One hour later we got a monkey, and then immediately after the monkey shot, a group of wild pigs came near us, which is very strange because after you fire everything runs.  Our guide thought that was very odd, but we all praised God for the harvest of animals and food to eat.  No demonic power can stand to the power of the Almighty!  Back at camp, after returned with our kills a small storm rolled through and a bolt of lightening struck 10 feet from us!  It was the loudest noise we had ever heard, everything went white, and smoke billowed out of the ground.  It gave us a scare, but we laughed about it and ten minutes later and packed up for our night float.  Brings to mind the scripture where Satan was cast out of heaven like a bolt of lightening.

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Monkey meat very chewy.

Night Hunt on the Amazon

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksMeZK_iVDQ&rel=0] Expedition down river will take you through some remote parts before you emerge to another village so hunting for food and basic survival takes a large part of your day.  (The follow videos of hunts took place in between villages and along the most isolated parts of the small river/creek.  This is a view into every day life between ministry efforts and what it takes to get to remote peoples, or even to the next major city along the Amazon.)  As we passed through this area we were two days from any village so hunting for food was necessary.  You cannot see much in this video, but the moon was full and as we floated down river it was so peaceful.  We spotlight hunted on this long float.  The most dangerous parts to doing this type of float at night are slamming into fallen trees on the small creek, running aground, and low hanging poisonous snakes that dangle over the creek on tree branches (we encountered two on this journey and it gave us all a scare).

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQKKtI-Enpg&rel=0]

Shot the Cayman, but body went under water.  We thought it was dead but the once it came back up we had to lance it with a spear.  It shook violently and not until we practically cleaved the head off with a machete did it stop thrashing.  We were all happy to get this meat and as it turns out it was our favorite meat on the whole journey.  Think Chicken texture with a faint fish taste.  Really good stuff.  Cooked next morning for breakfast.

Piranhas for Dinner

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Journeying down river we had little food because you can only bring essentials. Caught a few after this video was taken. Piranhas are mean little fish and two days later our guide caught a huge one that made us glad we never took a dip in the water.

Hillsong in Spanish

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Recognize this song?  Yep that is Hillsong in Spanish.  The influence of media is amazing. To see how far even a simple song can reach shows how media can reach and impact the lives of others.  We need more Christian Media!  Because it can go to the ends of the earth and make an impact.