In late September of 2021 I learned that my ASAC, that is Assistant Special Agent in Charge, was a professing believer in Christ. After that time he and I developed a much stronger relationship, both professionally and personally. I thought so at least. I haven’t heard from him since before I left the FBI’s Kansas City Division, and therefore since before I was suspended. To say I’m disappointed by that is an understatement. One of the first conversations we had about our mutual faith was about the “armor of God” as his church, up in the Kansas City, MO, area and our church, in the Wichita, KS, area happened to both be in the middle of a sermon series on that section of Scripture (Ephesians 6:10-17).
Heidi and I mentioned that ASAC during conversation this week and I brought up my abject disappointment with his response, or lack thereof, regarding my suspension. In my humanness [sinfulness], I was angry at him and his lack of standing firm; or what I perceive as his lack of standing firm. In writing this I even want to put his name on blast. But what purpose would that really serve and how glorifying to Christ would that be? I think we all know the answers. It also is not lost on me that some Christian in a Chinese prison right now would rightfully scoff at me for my pitiful comparison on what “standing firm” is. As “coincidence” [which I hope by now you know I believe is myth] would have it, I stumbled into another sermon by Canadian pastor James Coates this week, who I mentioned in the first iteration of Internal Comms. YouTube now has him in my algorithm it seems…I decided to listen to it because of the name of the sermon which is “The Church at War.”
War. That has been a large part of my life. In some ways, many even, war has shaped me into the person I am today. I joined the US Army infantry in a time of war, knowing full well, and even planning on the fact that I would be deployed to war while in the quintessential MOS (military occupational specialty) for waging war. During my first deployment, I reenlisted for a unit that had a high likelihood of deploying to the other war zone that I had not yet deployed to. Within 11 months of returning from one war zone, I was off to the other.
I didn't realize it then, but physical warfare like that is truly only half the battle. Retired Navy SEAL turned author, business coach and podcaster, Jocko Willink, has said, “Combat is reflective of life, only amplified and intensified.” That is perhaps the best definition out there, in my opinion at least. Before the lying Leaking Leakers leaked my name, I testified that this experience, whistleblowing, being suspended in the manner I was and all the things which have since transpired, has been harder than actual war; and that’s true. It has been harder. What I didn’t account for was the spiritual war that is waging however, and how that is truly the crux of this trial. Or any trial we may face for that matter.
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist on the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14 Stand firm therefore, having belted your waist with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having strapped on your feet the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” -Ephesians 6:10-17
As I did in volume 1, I’ll pull some of the pertinent parts of the sermon, from my view and relate them to some of what is going on in my life or even current events.
“Satan is at work in every sphere of human life. He's at work in the health system, he's at work in the educational system, he's at work in the academy or Academia, he's at work in the media, he's at work in the entertainment industry, he's at work in law enforcement, he's at work in the judicial system, he's at work in politics and he is most definitely at work in government. In fact government is one of the chief spheres of Satan's operation and has been since its inception in Genesis, and not only is that evident throughout both biblical and secular history but even Antichrist himself is depicted as one who emerges from within government. And if that's true we should expect to see the spirit of antichrist already at work in government, and we certainly see it alive and well in our government not only because it implicitly denies that Jesus is the Christ 1 John 2:22. But also because it has usurped His authority. It has redefined marriage, it has redefined sexuality, it has redefined murder, it has redefined gender and has done so effectively making itself out to be God by redefining creational norms.”
If you’ve been following the substack since essentially the beginning, you may remember some information on Nimrod as a tyrant king from one of the early posts. Satan certainly has been using government since the beginning in his continual effort to battle against God. I think Coates has done an exceptional job in this portion summarizing most of the ways the Canadian government, and if we look around the world, most others too, have revolted against God’s ordained mechanism for how government is to function. Society in general has also turned into a post-truth and anti-Christ entity as well. Coates said the above quote as part of his introduction in order for those listening “to ensure that we grasp both the substance and scope of the spiritual war so that we would do what? Stand firm. Stand firm.”
The focus on standing firm in the truth of the Bible resonated with me a lot this week, and recently in general. Last Saturday I watched some of the NCAA men’s wrestling championship. A wrestler for Penn State named Aaron Brooks won the championship for his weight class for the third time in his collegiate career. In his post win interview, Brooks stood firm. He stood firm on the truth of his faith perhaps more than just about anyone I’ve seen in recent memory. Watch the minute long interview below.
Cancel culture immediately came for Brooks. Remember, your right to speak freely is only acceptable if it is on their terms. If you speak outside of what the woke mob has decided is acceptable speech, you no longer have a right to speak. Your ability to think for yourself and speak openly about your beliefs is only authorized if your beliefs are their beliefs. It is encouraging to see such boldness from anyone, yet alone a young wrestler like this who certainly has much to lose for standing firm. But, he puts it on the line anyways because he knows the truth of the Gospel is more important than anything this earth can offer. I'm ashamed I'm not always as bold as this young man; and certainly wasn’t at his age. Here’s just a few of the headlines concerning Mr. Brooks and his post win comments.
Another poignant example about standing firm in a post-truth, anti-Christ society comes from a girl’s high school basketball team in Vermont. The girl’s varsity basketball team from Mid Vermont Christian School decided to forfeit a playoff game to a team that has a biological male on it, rather than forfeit their convictions. Since they refused to bend the knee to the growing anti-female ideology, since they refused to bow to the tyranny of allowing males to pretend to be female, they have been punished. The Vermont Principlals’ Association’s (VPA) executive board voted unanimously that no team from Mid Vermont Christian School, which is a K-12 school, can participate in any athletic or interscholastic event under the VPA’s control.
The VPA’s executive director, Jay Nichols, said that, “if you don’t want to follow VPA rules, that’s fine, but then you're just not a VPA member. It’s fairly simple. That's really all we're gonna really say about it." So you see it’s a simple matter of rules. You don’t have to follow those simple rules, but then you can’t play. Tyranny is so often masked as a matter of “following the rules” isn’t it? When in reality it’s a matter of doing whatever you are told by the rulers. Oh you have beliefs, religious or otherwise, that go against what the rulers want? Too bad. Do what you are told, or else.
Another quote from Coates’s sermon that stood out to me was this:
“The ground of that righteousness must be one who is committed to Spirit empowered obedience. The kind of obedience that is resolved to obey in the face of any and all opposition regardless of the outcome or cost; and so standing firm in the context of spiritual warfare demands that you be committed to obedience, that you have been cultivating obedience and it actually expresses itself in what? Obedience. The call to stand firm is a call to obedience. And just draw on the imagery of a soldier for a moment. This demands executing the orders of the commanding officer. Who's the commanding officer? It’s the Lord Jesus Christ.
“We are soldiers for Christ and we have a commanding officer and he is the one that sends in the orders, and when the orders come we don't get to modify the order we don't get to tweak the order. Adjust, even the method. We have a responsibility to execute the order as given. And so when it comes to obedience we don't get to pick the hills we die on. We don't get to decide when it's time to obey. We're called to obey and as we obey the hill picks us. Christ picks the hill. We just obey. We stand firm. And so this is calling for obedience. The cultivation of practical righteousness on the ground of the imputed righteousness of Christ. We need to follow through on the orders that come to us from the commanding officer, the Lord Jesus Christ. Our job is to obey; to stand firm.”
When I started whistleblowing I had arrived to a point where I could no longer sit back and see things that were wrong happening inside the FBI and do nothing. I’ve told people before that it is my faith in Christ that brought me to that point. I don’t think most people understand that. They wonder things like how could you give that career up, you worked so hard to get there, you had job security, benefits, a cool job, etc., etc. Yeah, I know. That is all true. I didn't want to give all of that up. I’d rather not have had to. But at the same time I could not sit back and stay quiet when I saw things occurring which fall into the five categories of wrongdoing under whistleblower protection law and guidelines. Obviously the FBI and the government don’t mind violating those laws too.
The ASAC I mentioned in the beginning of this once texted me and said, “you also have to account for the fact that doing the right thing is also caring and providing for your family and it also teaches your kids something about self sacrifice when you’re struggling through something for them.” I don’t think there is much truth to that. I think it is cowardice manifested as care. Of course we have to take care of and provide for our family, but not at the cost of going against God. At the end of the first Internal Comms I included this from a different sermon, “We have to repent of our shame, of our being ashamed of God’s truth and God’s wisdom, we’re ashamed of it. We don’t want to bring it because we are fearful of what people will think of us; and we must repent of our cowardice as a people. We love our lives too much. We’re too afraid to bring the truth…Cowardice. You know what’s right to do and you refuse to do what’s right. Cowardice is something that will be judged by God.” The girl’s basketball team from Mid Vermont Christian School and the wrestler from Penn State, Aaron Brooks, are living these principles and it is encouraging to see such people standing firm.
Others too are living these truths out daily. Another example that has been on my mind of late is that of this exchange between Attorney General Merrick Garland and Sen. Josh Hawley. The first five and half minutes or so, the two have an exchange regarding a guy named Mark Houck. Mr. Houck was arrested by the FBI for an alleged FACE Act violation. This came after the local police did not arrest Houck, the local District Attorney declined prosecution and a civil suit failed against Houck. Then, the FBI decided to arrest him on federal charges anyways. Houck took the case to trial. The jury deliberated for an hour. One hour. They found him not guilty. From about the 5:30 mark to the end of the video, they discuss an internal FBI document that came to light a few weeks ago.
Garland himself says, “I saw the document. It’s appalling. It’s appalling. I am in complete agreement with you. I understand that the FBI has withdrawn it and is now looking into how this ever could have happened.” I agree with Garland that the document is appalling. Yet, the public would never have known about it if it wasn’t for someone who was willing to ensure that it was visible to the public. As with the girl’s high school basketball team above though, ensuring that document could be seen publicly violates the FBI’s rules. Again, it’s a matter of rules you see. The FBI’s grotesque targeting of Catholics was allowed and permitted inside the agency. But then someone stood firm. They saw something that was wrong on every level and they held to their convictions. Garland said the FBI “is now looking into how this ever could have happened.” That’s a lie. They are establishing a witch trial for whoever got the document out. That person will be found, and the regime will ensure that they pay for dare speaking out about their gross abuse of authority.
I will close with one last piece from “The Church at War” since it touches nearly every aspect of the things I, and others have faced recently.
“Faith functions as a shield and extinguishes all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And the shield pictured here is not a small shield, it's a massive shield that the soldier could hide his entire body behind. He could crouch behind and receive complete protection. And when you take a stand for Christ, the enemy is going to fire at you from every and any angle especially when it's a public stand. He'll fire at you from the government, he'll fire at you from the media, through your extended family, through your friends, through your co-workers and he'll even attack you through the church. And so you need to have faith. The shield of faith because that will give you courage to render all of that to no effect. With the shield of faith in hand, when you get that opposition, it will actually be validation. You will know that that opposition is validating, that you are taking the exact stand you're supposed to be taking and so when the war wages you will need to believe on the promises of God to stand firm. The church needs to be a believing church that is believing on the truth of the word of God and holding the promises of God tightly and bringing them before the throne of grace, and then as the arrows come in, they will be extinguished. They will have no effect.”
Hold the line. Stand firm.
Garret- Absolutely great post today. I loved the focus on the spiritual aspect this week, which really was such a joy to read knowing your situation over the past few months and the conversations we’ve had. May God continue to bless, protect, guide and direct you as YOU STAND FIRM! 💪🏻
Garret, amazing truth! Such a charge for all of us as believers!! You are a good and faithful servant❤Stand firm