Ep. 030 SERE School

Welcome to the Potter's House Salmon Arm podcast. We are a Bible-Believing Church located

in beautiful British Columbia, Canada. We are proudly part of the Christian Fellowship

Ministries with 3,000 churches around the world. We are a church focused on world evangelism,

discipleship and church planting. Here we will share recent sermons from P.H.S.A. Church

and other sermons from throughout our fellowship. I am Pastor David Bigford and I will be your

host for this podcast. I thank you for listening today and we hope these messages are a blessing

to you and bring you closer to God. Good morning and welcome to the Potter's

House Church podcast. So we're the P.H.S.A.s, we're the Potter's House and Salmon Arm. My

name is David Bigford, I'm the pastor at the Potter's House here in Salmon Arm and today's

message that I put together is entitled, Seer School. Seer School is Survival, Evasion,

Resistance, Escape School. So that's what we're going to be looking at. Today is Survival,

Evasion, Resistance and Escape. And kind of going back again through some of my history

in the military, but the text that we'll be using as our jumping off point this morning

is 1 Corinthians 10 verses 1 through 13. And so that'll be where we're going to be spending

1 Corinthians 10:1–13

most of our time today. But with that, I want to jump in. So in late, in February 2000,

I was a private first class, a PFC in the United States Marine Corps. I had just finished

Marine Boot Camp in early November 99. And from there I went home to what we call bootleave.

So bootleave is when you get like about 10 days off to visit your family, flaunt all

your accomplishments of surviving boot camp, and then prove to everybody that you did it.

You made it. Now you're in United States Marines. So when I went into boot camp, I was weighing

about 200 pounds, which is what I've pretty much stayed at for a good chunk of my life

up to this point. But when I left boot camp, I was weighing 167 pounds. I felt great. And

for the only time in my life I had a 29 inch waist. And I remember how amazing, amazingly

weird that felt even at that age. But surviving boot camp, in some ways is like getting saved.

Now, by no means is it the same, but what I but just kind of bear with me with this idea.

The hardships and burdens of life that have beaten you down, are all of a sudden lifted

in an instant, you feel this sense of freedom, that is not unlike, you know, a sinner who

gets set free from the bondage of sin. Even so, life is full of challenges, new obstacles

come to us all. And as a new Christian or an old Christian, life has its way to challenge

us in a new inventive ways. So similarly, after you leave boot camp, now you leave boot

camp on this absolute emotional high, you've done something that very few people can claim

to have accomplished in the US military, the United States Marines are an oddity unto themselves.

It's the hardest boot camp of any of the armed services in the United States. In fact, the

US Air Force will, you know, I've seen videos where their drill sergeants will say, we're

not here to make you Marines. And so it's a very typical thing that I've heard said,

you know, from a lot of the branches is that we're not here to make you a bunch of, you

know, a bunch of stupid Marines. And so they use it as a derogatory term. But we Marines,

we take that as a badge of honor, because we know that we signed up for something that

was hard, something that was not meant to be easily accomplished. So you leave boot

camp with this huge, you know, emotional high. But after boot camp, after your boot leave,

when you come back to reality, which is again, similar to when you get saved, you come, you

give your life to Jesus Christ, you feel this weight, this burden lifted from you, you feel

this exuberance of joy that floods in because all joy comes from the Lord. Now, with that,

that's great. That's fantastic. But there is going to be a time in your life when reality

sets in and you realize there's a lot more road to go on, go down on your walk with Christ.

So similarly, when you leave boot camp, and then you come back, you have two training

centers you're going to go to, you either go to SOI, which is the School of Infantry

where you learn the trade of an infantryman, or you go to MCT, which is Marine Combat Training,

which is a shortened form of the infantry course, you know, for Marines that are not

going to be in the infantry. So I went to Marine Combat Training from late November

to December of 99. And the course is about four weeks long, you're trained in various

warfighting techniques and on various weapons systems. This course is hard physically, but

we're all Marines now. So it's overall pretty fun. And unlike basic training, we do get

time off, you know, at the in the evenings and on the weekends. So it, it has a feeling

of liberty still attached to it. So again, overall, this is, you know, of course, like

the the new believer high things in life are different now, but hey, I can handle it. After

all, I'm a Marine or after all, I'm a Christian. When you're a new believer, you feel like

you can take on the world. Nothing can stop you because you have Jesus. And that is, that

is a great time. And I remember this being a great time in the Marine Corps as well.

At this point of my life, though, I was not saved. I was living a heathen lifestyle to

the fullest. And of course, I was a young Marine. So you kind of expect that I was ready

to fight and die for my country. I wouldn't I would not die, of course, because every

young Marine believes they're invincible. I passed through MCT mostly unscathed. And

now I was finally on my way to my first MOS or military occupational specialty training.

And that next stop was in Pensacola, Florida, and the school of which is called NACAS or

Navy Aircrew Candidate School. This is when life started to become real. But I didn't

understand how real it was going to become just yet. This was just the first of many

storms to come. So let's turn to our text in First Corinthians 10, verses one through

13, the temptations of God's faithfulness. For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers,

that our father were all under that our fathers were all under the cloud and passed through

the sea and are all baptized into Moses in the cloud and then the sea. And all ate the

same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink for they were drinking from

a spiritual rock which followed followed them and the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with

most of them, God was not well pleased, for they were struck down in the wilderness. Now

these things that happened as examples for us so that we could not crave the evil or

that we would not crave the evil things as they also crave. Do not be idolaters as some

of them were. As it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and stood up to

play nor let us act in a sexually sexual immorality as some of them did. And 23,000 fell in one

day nor let us put on put Christ to the test as some of them did and were destroyed by

the serpents nor grumble as some of them did and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now these

things happened to them as examples and they were written for our instruction upon whom

the ends of the age have arrived. Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that

he does not fall. No temptation is overtaken you but such as is common to man. But God

is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able. But with the temptation,

it will provide the way of escape so that you will be able to endure it. The first point

we're going to look at is survival and evasion. And then we're going to so with that let's

look at this next portion of my training when I was in the military. Navy Air Crew Training

School or Navy Air Crew Canada School. A quick description from the internet here is the

US Navy is an expert at training people to serve on air crews. They send candidates to

the Naval Air Crew Canada School. It's located in Pensacola, Florida. It incorporates a very

challenging physical regimen with skills and training to be able to operate the various

systems required for operational flight crews. One of the more difficult qualifications to

earn is the gold wings with the letters AC branded on it. Navy Air Crews are proud to

bear they face a lot of difficulty and daunting challenges when they undergo the training

to earn these wings. The training is a lot like boot camp in its physical intensity but

that is where the similarity ends. Many people envision aircrew school from a distance and

perhaps a mini vacation. They think of Balmy, Florida. They think they will see a little

sun, a little surf and maybe some sunbathing. Well, those thoughts are quickly dashed once

arriving in NACA is to even win the right to attend before even leaving boot camp candidates

must pass a level two swim test. That swim test is is a serious business. When I was

going through swim qual and boot camp, I was really trying to get swim qual one. But the

difference between swim qual two, which I did accomplish in swim qual one is this huge

chasm where I remember being drugged to the bottom of the pool with a and I rate, you

know, drill instructor, Marine drill instructor, putting a choke hold on me. And I'm trying

to reach for the pressure points they taught us. I'm trying to get them to get off me.

I get them to get off me once and then he I'm still underwater and he wraps me up again

and starts taking me back down to the bottom of the pool. Eventually I had to tap out and

I wasn't able to get that swim call one. Luckily I was able to keep the swim qual two. But

I remember how dramatic that event was in basic training. It was one of the most insane

events I'd ever done. It's up to that point. So the physical fitness assessment must be

passed with a satisfactory medium on all different levels for their for their age, their sex.

They also have to pass a flight physical before ever setting foot in Florida at the NACA's

duty station. Attending the Navy Air Crew School is not for everyone. The participants

are all volunteer members of active duty Navy and the competition must or the competition

just to get in is intense. After gaining access to the school and beginning training at any

time sailors can request to drop out for any reason. In this respect, the school is much

like the famed SEAL training. So how some of the highlights I remember from NACA's were

the spin and puke. Now that's that's a very funny name right for for basically the tea

cup ride at Disneyland but much faster and much more intense with some actual like things

that you have to do inside of the container that you're spinning in. That's a not a very

fun fun test if I can if I could say that that makes everybody sick and it's it's less

fun than it sounds. Then the other one that I remember is the hypoxia chamber that was

a lot of fun. That's the one where it simulates you being at high altitude and what happens

at high altitude is you start getting like you know the effects of low oxygen which which

are similar to being higher on a drug or some sort of stimulant. You can't you can't move

you can't think it gets to be a very interesting situation and there you also have the one

mile swim requirement that was that was a pretty fun you know requirement towards the

end of the course to be able to say yeah I can swim a mile no problem. And then lastly

was the dunk tank. The dunk tank is an awesome experience but terrifying where you're in

a simulated helicopter they drop in the water it rotates 100 it rotates upside down and

you have to be able to egress from a simulated aircraft. You do it once with a without a

blindfold and you do it a couple of times blindfolded and pitch black with Navy divers

down there to mess you up if you don't do things the right way. So that was a lot of

fun and very intimidating for a lot of people. In Romans five one through five it says therefore

having been justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through

whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into the grace in which we stand

and we boast in hope of the glory of God and not only this but we also boast in our afflictions

knowing that affliction brings about perseverance and perseverance proving character and proving

character hope and hope does not put to shame because the love of God has been poured out

within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who is given to us. NACAS was a crazy experience

designed to break down our fear of the water being a naval air crewman meant that much

of our time was going to be spent over the water and the and the chance of crashing in

the ocean was high and this training was extremely necessary. Some of our group didn't make it

the water was too much was was too much for them the dunk tank was too much and even those

who made it through this leg of training it was becoming clear that we were in for a very

hard road in the Navy and the Marines. What we didn't know is that our next leg was going

to be the worst yet. I graduated NACAS in February 2000 and now a few Marines and I

were headed off to the dreaded Sears School. We had just learned the basic the basics of

survival in the water at that NACAS but now we had to add other elements to the mix. At

NACAS you were mostly battling your mind your fears and your own perceived limits but at

Sears Sears School you are going to be hunted literally. First Peter 5 8 says be sober minded

be watchful your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone

to devour. So survival evasion and resistance escape school is described this way many people

remember the the movie Black Hawk Down or the situ or the book Black Hawk Down. This

military situation was published in like I said in both book and movie. Well one of the

officers who were involved in Black Hawk Down credits the training he received in Sear for

his return to America after the crash. Chief Warrant Officer Michael Durant crashed as

part of the UH 60 helicopter crew on that day in October 1993. He survived and returned

home 11 days later with honor. The Sear Advanced Survival Evasion Resistance Escape course is

in truth a code of conduct course held at remote locations in the state of Maine. It

is a course that teaches the initial and advanced instruction and training regarding the code

of conduct for soldiers sailors and marines. It teaches the legal and moral responsibilities

of a member of the United States Armed Forces if captured and held by the enemy. But this

is not the limit of what Sear training teaches it goes far beyond the basic principle. We

exist to teach soldiers and individuals what to do when the situation goes from bad to

far worse. The Sear instructor Harry Hogg is a hospital corpsman first class and assigned

to the aviation fleet specialized training group in Brunswick Maine which is the school

that I went to. The students who come here to train are those who have had a greater

risk of being caught behind enemy lines. We accept them and train them to stay alive to

know the values and the code of conduct in real life threat situations stated Hogg. Air

crew members, pilot special forces members, aviators and Air Force recon personnel are

some of the different types of military jobs that require the Sear training school course.

We face a constantly shifting and changing battlefield most of our personnel in the field

are at some time or another at risk of being captured by the enemy said Hogg. We strive

to teach here in the mountains the know how and the courage it takes to survive if ever

they are caught in such a situation. The Sear training starts out meekly in the classroom

and focuses on real world wilderness survival and applications of training. A lot of attention

is given to the military code of conduct and how it affects the morals, responsibility

and legal requirements of a soldier that is captured. They view the code in a whole different

way after their Sear training. Sear school is not a very long course. It was the shortest

course that I took while in the Marine Corps. It is also the course that I have the most

vivid memories from and to this day I still have dreams about this training. The survival

aspect of this course is based on real world skills like trapping, fishing, hunting and

gathering. You learn fire starting techniques, land navigation, shelter building skills.

This is not all you learn though. You focus in on the why. The code of conduct, your reasons

for serving and the way to survive with honor. Don't forget that word honor. Let's read

through the code of conduct real quickly. The first tenet of the code of conduct is

I am an American fighting man. I serve in the forces which guard my country and our

way of life. I am prepared to give my life in their defense. Pillar two is I will never

surrender of my own free will. If in command I will never surrender my men while I still

have the means to resist. Tenet three, if I am captured I will continue to resist by

all means available. I will make every effort to escape and aid others to escape. I will

accept neither parole nor special favors from the enemy. Tenet four is if I become a prisoner

of war I will keep the faith with my fellow prisoners. I will give no information or take

part in any action which might be harmful to my comrades. If I am a senior I will take

command. If not I will obey the lawful orders of those appointed over me and will back them

up in every way. Tenet five, when questioned I should become a prisoner of war. I am bound

to give only name, rank and service number and date of birth. I will evade answering

further questions to the utmost of my ability. I will make no oral or written statement disloyal

to my country and its allies or harmful to their cause. I will never forget that I am

an American fighting man responsible for my actions and dedicated to the principles which

made my country free. I will trust in my God and in the United States of America. When

you put this into Christian context that is living according to the word of God and by

the Spirit you have to ask yourself why do you read the Bible? Why do you study the word

or pray or meditate on the word? You do so because it becomes part of you. You do so

so you can survive no matter what is thrown at you from the world from the enemy you learn

that you can survive so that you can finish the race. So that you can evade the enemy's

traps so that you can walk through life you can avoid the pitfalls that the world puts

in our path and claim victory in Jesus name. In Psalm 124 verses 1 through 8 our help is

Psalms 124 · chapter mention

in the name of the Lord verse 1 starts off, If it had not been the Lord who was on our

side let Israel now say, If it had not been the Lord who was on our side when the people

rose up against us then they would have swallowed us up alive when their anger was kindled against

us then the flood would have swept us away the torrents would have gone over us then

over us would have gone the raging waters. Blessed be the Lord who has not given us to

pray or given us as prey to their teeth who have escaped like a bird from the snare of

a fowler the snare is broken and we have escaped our help is in the name of the Lord who made

the heavens and the earth. This brings us to our next point which is resistance in first

Peter 5 9 says resist him firm in your faith knowing that the same kinds of suffering are

being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. The code in seerschool are not

only about survival it's not only about avoiding or evading the enemy it provides you the tools

to resist the enemy the word of God is our sword and is a tool to help us to battle and

to defend the unfortunate truth about seerschool is that it isn't just a big game of hide and

seek even if you are successful with evading the enemy there comes a point in the training

when you have to let yourself get caught. They blow a horn and you have to come to the

nearest road and wait for the impending abuse you see seerschool would just be camping if

it wasn't for this phase of resistance this is where you really get tested you get stripped

bare you get beat and you get interrogated and locked in a cell and I mean that literally

you literally get stripped down naked you literally get beat and then you get interrogated

and locked in a cell then you get interrogated again and beat some more before you get thrown

back into your cell it's not uncommon to hallucinate during this phase of the of seerschool you're

short on calories because you haven't eaten I went through seerschool in the middle of

winter and so there was still six feet of snow on the ground in Alpine Maine not a lot

of choice food to eat we're eating bark and birch buds just to try to keep something in

our stomach and so you do with that calorie deficit and being abused and being cold and

then you know being interrogated all this kind of stuff happening when you get thrown

back in that cell it's not uncommon to have hallucinations and I did I remember seeing

a dragon I saw all sorts of things in my cell you also get tortured with white noise and

constantly kept awake white noise is any kind of like you know crackling of a stereo but

with other auditory signals in their alarms and different things going off just to make

it so you can never really get comfortable you're also forced to sit in an uncomfortable

position and if you deviate from that position you get caught well then you're going to get

beat again some more a friend of mine had his shoulders dislocated during part of this

course I ended up with a couple black eyes and I almost passed out due to low blood sugar

and dehydration so why would the government put us through this training what would possibly

be the goal of this kind of abuse this is what Christians and non-Christians say all

the time is if God is good why does he allow bad things to happen Job cried out because

of the horrible calamity that befell his life he was destroyed and struck down his friends

betrayed him and his wife didn't make things any easier why did God allow Shadrach Meshach

and Abednego to get thrown into the fiery furnace we can read about that in Daniel 323

or why did Daniel get thrown into the lion's den and in Daniel 6 why must we be challenged

like this God allows us to go through these trials to straighten us up the military has

come to learn that through training service members can go through real life hardships

and still maintain their dignity and honor God also wants to temper us so that we can

remain honorable for his service resistance is the key to this fallen world that we live

in it is by resisting the devil that we can cause him to flee it is by resisting evil

of this world and holding to a heavenly code that we can run the race till the end the

apostle Paul was imprisoned for years before his execution and throughout that time he

maintained his relationship with Christ he was a witness and many were brought to salvation

from the from his humble resistance and James 4 7 it says submit yourselves therefore to

God resist the devil and he will flee you this brings me to a final point which is escape

in first Corinthians 10 13 no temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man God

is faithful and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability but with the temptation

he will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it as always though

our story does not end in captivity in Sears school there is a goal that few are lucky

enough to achieve that goal is escape every once in a while a group can escape the prison

that we are held in and get a respite from the resistance phase of training most of us

are not lucky enough during the training cycle to achieve this one of the hardest parts of

Sears school is that there is no set endpoint the instructors can hold the ending for days

so in your misery there is no end in sight you battle and resist but there's but then

something funny happens all of a sudden the POW camp goes crazy the enemy flag drops to

the ground and the American flag is raised and the national anthem is played everyone

snaps to attention it is over the battle is won the enemy is defeated this is what we

have to look forward to in Christ even though we are here on earth a fallen sinful earth

we have eternal hope in Christ Jesus we also know that at any moment the trumpet can sound

and the battle will be over there is victory in Jesus and we can claim that victory now

and live a life that honors Jesus Christ in second Timothy 2 23 through 26 says so flee

youthful passions and pursue righteousness faith love peace along with those who call

on the Lord from a pure heart have nothing to do with the foolish the ignorant controversies

you know that they breed coral and the Lord's servants must not be quarrelsome but kind

to everyone able to teach patiently enduring evil correcting his opponents with gentleness

God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of truth and that they may

come to their senses escape the snare of the devil after being captured by him to do his

will so with that I want to just you know go ahead and close so if you could if I could

ever have every head bowed every eye closed real quickly I just want to make a quick plea

a quick invitation that if you're not if you haven't given your life to Jesus Christ

and this message is spoken to you maybe you feel like you're in a survival stage maybe

you feel like you're evading the enemy maybe you feel like you're you're stuck just trying

to resist this world and you're not winning the answer is escape in Christ Jesus you can

submit to him you can give your life over to him and he will lift that heavy burden

off your shoulders he will equip you to make to live successfully in this world and to

be able to finish the race and enter into the heavenly kingdom at the end if that speaks

to you if you want that you can signify that with an uplifted hand I can't see it but God

sees it and if you did raise your hand and if God is definitely dealing with your heart

then I want to lead you in a prayer but before I do that I also want to say that maybe you've

backslidden maybe you've walked away from God but God is convicting you now too and

I want you to raise your hand and signify that with an uplifted hand that you want to

turn back to God and God sees those hands too so with that I want to just lead a quick

prayer dear Lord God I know that I'm a sinner but I know that you sent your son Jesus Christ

to die for me I repent in my sin and I accept Jesus as my Savior as my Lord my Savior I

thank you for the salvation that comes through grace in his name and I give you all the praise

and glory in Jesus name I pray amen a simple prayer acknowledging that you're a sinner

acknowledging that Jesus died for your sins and you're accepting him as your Lord and

Savior now with that you have been written in the Lamb's book of life and everything

is great but now there's more to do to dig deeper into that relationship with Christ

get a Bible start reading the Word of God start in the Gospels Matthew Mark Luke and

John pray read the Word find a Bible-believing church to become part of with that we have

like if you live in Salmon Arm I would love it if you came and visited us we're a small

church but we're gonna do big things for God we're gonna touch the world for Jesus Christ

and we'd love to have you be part of that so you can reach out we just meet at the Salmon

Arm Innovation Center in the boardroom on Sundays currently so but and we'd be more

than happy to have you join us if you're not from Salmon Arm and you're looking for a church

then reach out to me we have 3,500 plus churches globally and growing every day and we love

I love to have you lock into a Bible-believing church but that's the most important thing

is to pray read your Bible and find a Bible-believing church to lock into so that you can serve

in the body of Christ and I just give you I just want to thank everybody who's taking

time to listen to these messages and if you if you're still sticking around with us today

please remember to like share and subscribe to the podcast it really helps us get this

out to more people and so I really you know just praise God for the opportunity to share

these messages with you here and I pray that you know he'll go with you the rest of your

week and I can't wait for you to come back next time God bless.