Skydiver stuntman Anthony Martin is locked in a casket and thrown out of a plane, for real!

exhilarating music, loud heartbeat, sound effects fast. Camera edit cuts different angles. You see someone skydiving, someone bungee jumping someone deep sea diving, someone water skiing, snow skiing. What is it? Of course a double oh seven James Bond movie, what else? Right wrong, juicy fruit gum commercial, Ladies and gentlemen, why in the world would we see such things connected to of all things chewing gum? Because those who are marketing chewing gum too, you know that there’s something in the human heart that loves adrenaline rushes. Ray comfort and Mark Spence here, who are adrenaline junkies are gonna tell us about the most exciting adrenaline rush activity. You can never participate in seeing my wife. You just scored some points. Yes. Guys, look obviously, you know where we’re going with this, Those watching may not, they’re thinking that is the stupidest opening we’ve ever seen in our lives. But there’s a point. Yeah. Mark you agree, obviously. Yes, but but there’s a point to that. And Ray actually, you always talk about this one of my favorite sermons that you share. You talk about the things that people do to get an adrenaline rush and then you challenge them on something that’s going to give them a far greater rush than anything they could ever talk about skydiving and how dumb it is and how everything within you says don’t do this and people think it’s exciting, they overcome that fear, that fear is to protect you. It’s your friend that’s saying this is crazy. But they do it anyway. But if you want a great adrenaline rush. That’s a little safer step on a soapbox and a local university and preach the gospel. That’ll scare the living daylights out of you and something good will be done rather than you get a little buzz as you float toward the earth 120 mph. What you’re gonna hit on your face if that parachute doesn’t work. Oh, that’s what I love is what you always share with people is, and you’ll do this when you’re speaking in a church. It’s like, how many of you want to skydive? How many want to bungee? Jump, hands go up and you ask them, why do you do it? What is it that makes you want to do it? Isn’t it? Isn’t it? That sense of fear, that adrenaline that hits you? Well, why not do it for an eternal purpose? And mark, you’ve had a few of those rushes in your lifetime. You know, there’s nothing that gets me as nervous as knowing that I’m about to preach the Gospel, right? It’s not like people are lined up, please share the gospel with me, right? You’re about ready to talk about something so intimate that they don’t even think about it themselves often times. So you open up your mouth, you let the Gospel come out and it’s a nerve wracking task. A member of a navy seal. You know? Um, and he said it was easier for him to jump out of a plane than it was to get him on a soapbox for the first time. And I agree with that, I was utterly mortified the first time ever did or even whatever comes above mortified. Yes, well you have that spiritual element involved too. That the enemy of the souls of men and women does not want us to proclaim the gospel of everlasting life, but friends in evangelism, there is risk involved in life, there’s risk involved, we risk on various levels. But when it comes to the Gospel that risk has purpose, we want to look at a good friend of ours who’s actually a graduate of our Ambassadors Academy who understands a little bit about risk. Want you to watch what he has to say and watch what he does on a regular basis. My name is Anthony martin And I’m a professional escape artist. My interest in escapes actually began through the art of magic. I received a magic set at the age of 10 for Christmas and I played with that for a while. I quickly became disappointed with the fact that everything was a trip. It really wasn’t what it appeared to be. And I wanted to be able to do something for real. And that’s how I became interested in locks and how to open them without keys and I found that it really is possible to open real locks and handcuffs just by simply understanding how they work. The distinction I make between a magician and an escape artist is a magician makes things appear like they’re happening while an escape artist a true one anyway, actually can escape from real handcuffs, locks and straitjackets just by using skill. Well, this is part of my handcuffs and jail lock collection by understanding how the locks work and the handcuffs. If I’m ever put into a situation where I need to escape from a pair of these, I already understand the lock been called upon to escape from ropes, chains, handcuffs, straitjackets, jail cells, safes, vaults, I mean you name it anything you can put a man in. I’ve escaped from a couple of jail doors from escapes that I performed. This would be a solitary confinement cell. These are all high security handcuffs from All over the world. This is one of the panels from the box out of the airplane stunt that I did back in 1988. The skydiving escapes tend to be the ones that I like the best because the fact there’s no margin for error. You have to be on your a game the entire time. There’s no second chances. The scariest memory I have performing escapes was when I was locked in a water filled barrel and it took over three minutes for me to escape. Normally that same escape only takes about one minute. But I had underestimated the lock and I was also quite young at the time. So inexperience was really the cause of that at the end of Houdini’s life, he tried to answer the question what happens after we die? Well, as a young boy growing up, I found the answer in finding that I was a sinner as exposed by God’s loss or his word and finding salvation. Through the finished work of christ death, burial and resurrection of jesus christ, I found the answer to what happens after we die and the scripture says that death has been abolished by the Lord jesus. I know the truth has revealed to me through his word. I have to share that with other people. I’ve been a Sunday school teacher for over 15 years, adult Sunday school and I found the living waters materials to be an excellent resource in order to teach people how to share their faith. It’s doctrinally sound, it’s easy to understand. I found it to be invaluable. The method I deal with fear when performing escapes is the same method that christians can actually use in their fear of witnessing paul. And speaking to timothy said the study, to show thyself approved not only will studying God’s word, help you to rightly divide the word of truth, but it will also help to build your faith because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God and faith will give you boldness and then make it a habit or a custom when I do escapes, I perform them over and over again, so that I become desensitized to those fears. The same is true with evangelist. If we go out and evangelize and make it a habit or a custom, we can squash those fears beneath our feet until we get to the point where we fearlessly and boldly go share our faith. Fear can be conquered. And perfect love casts out fear and we have the perfect love as demonstrated at the cross of calvary. I was sweating buckets, watching what he was doing. Unbelievable. I believe with them not to do it when when he wants to jump out of a plane or something in a box. I said, don’t do this. You know, it’s, it is, you know, I think there are certain people that are just, they’re just different. You know what I mean? They’re they’re they’re almost otherworldly when they do stuff like this, I don’t get it. But on the other hand, I love what he said about how we can conquer fear. That fear is not something that can dominate and rule our lives indefinitely. But there’s the opportunity for us to overcome it by God’s grace. He said something specific. In fact, he said, we can become desensitized to fear. And that’s interesting because you don’t usually hear desensitization connected with fear. Usually you hear it in a negative sense. We’re becoming desensitized to uh, profanity or becoming desensitized to violence or whatever. But but that’s so interesting, desensitized to fear, step out of your comfort zone so often, that fear becomes kind of like, oh yeah, I feel it, but whatever. Well, I totally agree. I don’t know how he gets out of a straitjacket whenever they put one on me. It’s just so difficult. It’s so difficult to get life. I have been in a straitjacket but it was a gimmick straitjacket and I still couldn’t get out of it. And I had a panic attack when we were in Italy or someplace and it was so difficult. So fear can be very real. You know that sort of fear. And there’s uh I get fear every time when I get a witness to someone, but I’ve learned to do what he said, What Anthony said, overcome your fear. Just ignore it. Take no notice of be desensitized to that fair because it’s going to happen, Ray, how do you do that? Do you just push through it? Do you tell yourself something? No, love casts out all fear. Perfect love casts out all fear. So what I do is I don’t think about myself, I think about that person’s eternal fate. Here is someone who is in terrible danger. They’re holding a hand grenade with the pin pulled out and they don’t realize it. And my job as a christian is to warn every man may present, every man perfect. Wherefore knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. So I know what my agenda is. It isn’t too win an argument or convince somebody that genesis is true. I want to see, I want them to see they’re in terrible danger and they need to save you and then you get right with God today because they may not have tomorrow. Let’s not forget that a nervous man is a praying man. So we’re not, let’s go past the area of being fearful and just having a healthy um, I don’t know. Your nerves start rattling there. Ray, you had shared with me before I got up to preach, you said, are you nervous? And I said, yes, he said good. A nervous man is a praying man. You know, let’s stop being self sufficient and rely upon him for our strength. Amen. You know, one of the prayers I often pray when I feel a sense of nervousness and anything I’m gonna do is Lord, please take away from me any sense of unnecessary nervousness because I think there is a degree of necessary nervousness. We need to keep us dependent on the Lord. So Mark real quick. I’d love you to speak to something martin touched on. And that is the role that the word of God plays in helping us to overcome fear. Being a people of God’s word. What role does the word? Well, listen, a lot of people go through God’s word, but that doesn’t mean God’s word goes through us. So when we approach the word of God, let’s approach it with reverence. Let’s Spurgeon said, I will study myself to death and then I will pray myself alive. Get it inside of you. Right. I think I read like five or six chapters today and on the way to work today, I was listening to God’s Word. Just getting it in me. So I want to get it in me and God can get it out of me. And it becomes second nature that when somebody asks you a question, scripture just comes out of your pores. If you would because that’s what people need. People need God’s word. It’s our ultimate sanity. It’s the place where we come to a level playing field where we can make sense of what’s happening in life. And when you get those exceeding great and precious promises into your heart, you have faith in God. Your faith grows as you hear the word. And then when you go to witness to someone, you’re trusting God to help you to speak through you. It’s like trusting a parachute. If you totally trust the parachute, you’re not gonna have fear. If you don’t trust the parachute, you will have trust in the Lord with all your heart. Amen. And you’re reminded of God’s character, you’re reminded, like you say of his promises of what he’s going to do in the midst of it. Even the great commission remembering. And lo I am with you always even unto the end of the age. And that gives confidence. Well, unfortunately friends. Many people today don’t find value in the word of God because they’ve listened to the same old adage, that ongoing lie, that God’s word has been rewritten time and time and time again. So therefore it’s not accurate and it’s been changed. Well, some time ago we went to Israel and we were on location at a special place that tells a different story. It was in this very place. Back in January of 1947 that a young bedouin Shepherd was searching for some lost goats, he noticed two small openings and what looked like a series of caves. He threw a rock into one of the openings and heard a crash. And without even trying, he had managed to break all popular notions about the old testament. He and a friend returned to the cave searching for treasure, but instead found a few bundles wrapped in cloth greenish with age. The Bedouin boys had discovered something more precious than gold. They had found what would prove to be the greatest manuscript treasure ever discovered. The first seven manuscripts of the Dead Sea scrolls. Many of these scrolls were written more than 100 years before the birth of jesus until their discovery. The oldest manuscripts of the Hebrew scriptures were copies from the ninth and 10th centuries A. D. But these scrolls about 1000 years older were found to be nearly identical to the scriptures we have today, proving once and for all that the bible has not been changed since the time of its writing. See before the discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls, Skeptics would try to discredit the bible by saying that it’s been rewritten over and over. So you can’t really know what the authors of the bible really said the Dead Sea scrolls put to rest any false claims about the bible being rewritten. But amazingly, many are still saying the same ridiculous things today. Hope you enjoyed that commentary by my younger brother, Shamil Swain or something like that point. That was ages ago. But but the Dead Sea scrolls, I mean, there are certain things that have been discovered archaeologically that excite me, but not very many as much as the Dead Sea scrolls. And so Mark speak to that. I mean, again, skeptics constantly pitch that line. The bible’s been rewritten. You know, there’s no evidence that it’s what it was in the original and so forth. So how do you know when somebody brings up that objection? The first thing I say is hasn’t been changed. They say, absolutely. I go, what changed? What, what did it originally say? And what do we now have? What wasn’t supposed to be there? See what happens is we give people too much leeway and they need to think through their position because the fact of the matter is that we don’t have any of the original autographs. That’s the original letters. Um, we know with great certainty that 99.5% at least Is accurate back to the original autographs. We have something like more than 6000 new testament manuscripts that authenticate the fact that no, this is real. This is legit. And when we looked at the Dead Sea scrolls, the earliest manuscript we had was 1000 years after the Dead Sea scrolls. Well, that is quite extraordinary. So when somebody says, you can’t trust the bible because it has changed down through the years, just like you’re playing the game telephone, you start with one person. When you get to the last person, it’s gonna be different considerably. But what you need to throw into the equation is God and God knows how to preserve his word. And when we look at God’s word, it tells us everything we will ever need to know about him and about life in general. Yeah. You know, we’re gonna go to a clip of Ray witnessing to someone another skeptic, bringing up things they don’t agree with. But before that Ray, I want you to touch on what you call the axiomatic Xia Matic, that sounds smoother. Nature of scripture. I love that analogy you give. You know what I learned from Israel? It’s hot there and there are a lot of stones. That’s why I don’t want to Yeah. I don’t want to, that’s why I preach to Huntington Beach. There’s no stones. Yes. Xia Matic. Yeah. The analogy I use is a little kid was looking at a heater and the father said, don’t touch the heater, it’s hot. And the kid says, okay, I believe it’s hot at that point in time. He has an intellectual belief that heat is hot. Dad goes out the room, kid says, I just want to find out if it’s hot, so reaches out and touches the heater bar. The second is flesh burns. He doesn’t believe it’s hot. He now knows it’s hot. He’s moved out of the realm of belief in the realm of personal experience. And that’s what God promises to all those who repent and trust in jesus. You’ll receive power when the holy spirit comes upon you, God reveals himself to you. So you don’t know about God, You actually know him. Experience. Yeah, his word is living, it’s active, It’s sharper than any two edged sword. So now unto our friend Roland, do you think you’re a good person, I believe? Yes. How many lies have you told in your whole life? Like how many? I don’t know, But I have your life. Have you ever stolen something? Even if it’s small in your whole life? Yes, I have ever used God’s name in vain. I believe. Yes, I heard you awhile ago during this interview and now jesus said if you speech like, you know, it’s like it just means nothing. It rolls off your tongue with no due respect and it’s called blasphemy when you do that and when you replace it for a cuss word, it’s very insulting to God. Now, jesus said, whoever looks upon a woman to lust for her has committed adultery already within his heart. Have you ever looked at a woman with lust? So Roland? I’m not judging you, but you’ve just told me you’re a lying thief, a blasphemer and an adulterer at heart. If God judges you by the 10 commandments on Judgment Day, you’re going to be innocent or guilty. Well, like I said, I with all due respect, I do not believe in your in your in jesus. I know that that’s why I’m talking to you. I’m sorry, that’s why I’m talking to. And that wasn’t the question was, would you be innocent or guilty on judgment day of God judges you by the 10 Commandments. I would be innocent because my death, because I I do not believe in your with all due respect. I do not believe in your So, so according to Roland, you’d be guilty like the rest of us, you’re a lying thief, blessed fema, and an adult at heart. And I use the word if as a qualification, you’d be guilty. If God judged you by those commandments, you’ve got a conscience, you know right from wrong? It’s wrong to lie and steal and lust and and blaspheme God’s name. How do you know there will be a judgment there. Well, we’ll get back, we’ll get to that in a minute. So if you’re guilty on judgment day, would you go to heaven or hell? Um, because I don’t believe they exist. Yeah. I love how people throw in that line with all due respect when they were extremely disrespectful. I want to kill you. I want to destroy you with all due respect. But I liked Roland. You know, there’s just, it’s funny because sometimes people have this perception that when someone is contentious there unlikable, but there’s something about him that I really like, but Ray, I want to pitch it over to you and I want to ask you, how do you respond to what he said there at the end where he said, I won’t go to heaven or hell because I don’t believe they exist. Yeah. I I usually give an analogy which Mark is probably very familiar with doing editing and listening to our videos almost daily. Um, if you stand in front of a judge and you admit your guilt and he sends electric to the electric chair and you say back to him, Judge, I don’t believe in electric chair, it doesn’t change realities. They’ll just take him away. Exactly. The same applies with God. Doesn’t matter what we believe or don’t believe if I believe the sun is square comes out at night, it’s made of ice. It doesn’t make it, but nothing changes about reality. So that’s usually the default that most non christians go to when they realize their guilt, they say, I don’t believe in hell doesn’t matter that’s so important. And but mark, you’ve seen this so time and again, people will use that as though it really does make it like as if though it’s a valid argument, but but I don’t believe heaven, hell exists. So I’m good. You know, I often at that point I’ll ask is truth important to you. Yeah, I mean, if truth is not important to you, then why are we even talking? Right? So if truth is important to you, well then hell and hell, heaven and hell will matter to you. So let’s stick to the subject at hand. If truth is whatever you want it to be. Well then we’re just arguing ice cream flavors. You like vanilla. I like chocolate. Let’s go about our merry way. Yeah, that’s good. Alright, well we’re gonna continue. So let’s get Roland on Roland. I’m not a criminal. Never, never been to jail criminal in God’s eyes, A lying thief. A blasphemer and an adulterer at heart, you violated his law. He’s a judge and he’s righteous. And he gave you a conscience So you’re without excuse, Your mouth has stopped. How can you justify yourself to disagree with you on your belief? No, no, no, it’s not tell you why God has given you a witness. It’s called a conscience. Conscience means with knowledge, there is a witness to your crimes against God. Every time you’ve lied, you’ve had an inner knowledge that it’s wrong. When you steal, commit adultery, rape, commit murder. There is the judge on the court, courtroom of your mind, that impartial judge that says no, this is wrong. So without excuse. Have you got a conscience? That is the failure of religion and extreme religious folks. Regardless of you? For example, I may not be a religious person, but I tolerate. And I’m willing to sit down with you and listen to your to your to your ideas, to your faith, uh, with an open heart. But you’re already judging me just because I don’t fit into your in many ways twisted way of religion. I gotta back up and I gotta just find myself there. Please let me say this and I’m not about No, no, no, no. I’d never do that. But you did. You call me a criminal? I’ll never do that. You’re making me you’re making me based on your on your let me say something. Okay, I wouldn’t judge you because I don’t know you. All I know about you is that you’re a self admitted liar. A thief. A blasphemer and adulterer at heart and it’s terrible, but I wouldn’t judge you. But I’m saying, okay, let’s go back and just ask again. Have you lied stolen? Yes. Have you used God’s name in vain. You looked at women with lust, your self admitted. I’m not judging you. A lying, thieving, blasphemous daughter at heart. Now let me, let me just say something. It’s very important to qualify this if I was a doctor and you had cancer and I could see the symptoms, okay, I could see the symptoms on your body, Everything you’ve got. And I tried to point them out to you and you became offended and said, what are you talking about? I’m a healthy person. You’re never going to receive the cure. I’ve got in my pocket. As long as you don’t face the truth and Roland, you’ll never ask God for mercy while you think you’re a good person and the reason you think you’re a good person is because you have your own definition of good. Why does the word stickler come to mind when I watch that? Witnessing encounter Ray, look and witnessing, we know it’s very common for people to get off track to go in this direction. That direction, what have you. But but what’s the key to doing what you did with Roland sticking with bringing him back to the commandments, bringing him back to the law. I know exactly where I’m going. I’m going with the cross. That’s where I’m hitting. Sometimes you go down valleys over mountains to get to the cross. But I’m hearing from the cross. I’m always aware that people want to go down rabbit trails to get away from that because of spiritual and we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against Principalities and powers. Spiritual wickedness in high places. So I’ve got to keep focused and head for that cross because Roland could die that night. And I want to share the gospel with him. I want him to realize he sinned against God. Death is going to seize upon and could come today. And God’s offering everlasting life. So there’s that urgency in that agenda always amen. Well, it got intense, but let’s see how it wrapped up. I may not believe in your religion and I will not convert, but I really enjoy talking, talking, talking to you. Uh, and you know, I think what you’re doing is fantastic. You know, you will eventually talk to someone who perhaps really needs some sort of help to find whether to religion. I’ve just talked to someone who really needs it. You’re a lying, thieving blasphemous adulterer at heart. Yes, you are in God’s eyes, you are, Your heart is desperately wicked. And and you know, the epitome of wickedness is not admitting your own sins. Like Hitler. If I talked to him now, he would say I’m a good person. The bible actually says that it says, it says every man will proclaim his own goodness. And yet we’re not good and that will come out on judgment day when the secrets of every heart will come out and I so want you to be saved. So will you at least think about what we talked about. I will, I will, I will very, very nice meeting you. Well, Roland was overtly desperate to not be labeled a bad guy. You know, but you know Ray, what intrigued me about this is it got intense more than normal. I would say in a lot of your encounters, there’s usually more of a cordial tone. But look at how it ended. And I wrote down some of the things he said, really enjoyed talking to you. What you’re doing is fantastic. Very nice meeting you. I didn’t expect it would end that way. It cost me a lot of money where you slipping handbills. But but what’s the key to ending there, Ray where things get intense? How do we get to that place where it ends well with the person realizing we do care and love them because that’s what you’ve answered your question. That’s, that’s when the person realizes we’re not out to get a notch on the belt. We’re not out to get money. We’re not saying join a church. The essence of what I’m saying in that message is I care about you, deeply care about you. And that comes through in tone and in the message, once they realize what you’re saying. Alright, Mark, wrap us up with telling us how you would witness to someone like Roland. How do you then bring in the Gospel and well listen, um, we don’t get to choose what is true. We, we only get to choose what we do about it. You know, Ray is beautifully gone through the law with the individual and once you get to that situation, that position where they’re ready for the gospel. I might say something like this, you know, God has made God our salvation and he did it at the cross and by doing so, we run from God’s wrath by running towards his Grace, which is found in jesus christ alone. Grace, God’s unmerited favor. We didn’t deserve it. We didn’t earn it, thomas Watson said, every time we take a breath, we’re sucking in the mercy of God. And what we are in need of what you’re in need of is God’s mercy and grace. Grace giving what you don’t deserve mercy. God holding back that what you do deserve. So that justice will not come down upon you, but upon jesus, getting exactly what you deserve. So jesus christ, he paid a debt he did not owe because we owed a debt we could never pay when jesus died on that roman give it and he rose again from the dead. Three days later he gained us access to get to the father. We had no way to get there. But jesus made a way where there seemed to be no way we broke God’s law and jesus paid the fine rose again from the dead and he defeated the grave. We must repent and place their trust in, Jesus christ alone Amen. So friends, if you love adrenaline, there’s no greater adventure than the christian life, it’s full of all kinds of bumps and dangers, but christ is with you throughout it all. And if you know him then indulge in the adventure and adrenaline rush of sharing his gospel. Thanks for joining us on the way, The Master, we’ll see you next time. We hope this episode of Wave, the Master has inspired you to share the message of eternal life. You can watch our award winning movies such as the Atheist Delusion freely on our website, where you’ll also find articles, videos and audio messages, as well as books, dvds, gospel tracts and other resources to help you share your faith biblically and effectively make sure to visit Living Waters dot com today.