Notice I said good thief.
Think about it: What is a criminal’s greatest fear? Being imprisoned for his crimes.
Why would a good thief risk everything he’s worked so hard to achieve by acting on impulse? In every documentary I’ve ever watched about actual career criminals, especially jewel thieves, they were men of great precision. I remember watching an exclusive on a jewel thief who robbed expensive homes in Florida. He went into great detail discussing how he would narrow down his search for families who had expensive jewels. He would research jewelers, find one who would take a bribe to give up information, and then get to work making a plan.
After watching the home for weeks, he would approach the cleaning staff and offer a staffer a huge amount of money for information on when the family typically ate dinner, when they were using one part of the house over another, and other minute details. Once he had the staff on the payroll, he would plan the heist.
He would actually access the house from the ocean! He would paddle in on a skiff to remain silent, much akin to a Special Forces operative.
Think for a second about the sheer magnitude of this guy’s discipline. He could have been a super executive. I could see him thriving in honest work as a chief operations officer of a major corporation.
Consider what it must take to investigate the background of a family, their staff, their habits, where they hang out, when they eat, and what times they leave and return home.
Think of the talent this thief possessed to be not only willing but also able to traverse the ocean in a skiff.
All of that energy, all of that creativity, all of that discipline—all poured into one idea: taking something of worth from a mark.
From that same interview, I remember how it struck me that the thief was incredibly risk averse. The one thing he said he wanted to avoid at all cost was contact with people. He was a burglar, not a rapist. He wanted to be in, out, and gone while leaving absolutely nothing to chance that might get him caught.
The devil is the master of setting you up over time for a battle that comes when you’re weak.
So he took his time and chose his jobs based on risk.
When it comes to wrecking people’s lives, Satan is typically not into smash-and-grab jobs on the front end. He saves that for the finale. He plots. He plans. He sets you up time and time again. Then when he does strike, I’ve noticed it is often loud and fast.
In most cases, obsessions cause us to act rapidly with intensity and drive, but that’s not how the devil operates. His obsession, while fully fueled, is often steady and slow. He is the master of setting you up over time for a battle that comes when you’re weak.
THE SETUP AND HOW IT’S DONE
When I first started turkey hunting, I didn’t know anything about killing a turkey. Now, I’d been a hunter pretty much since I was able to walk, but when I was growing up, turkeys were almost an endangered species in the South. The National Wild Turkey Federation began efforts with state wildlife agencies to bring the turkey back, but I was out of high school before I started frequently seeing flocks in the woods.
Needless to say, in those days access to information was beyond limited. When I started turkey hunting, our version of Google came in the form of a big brick building called a library!
This meant that if you wanted to learn to turkey hunt, you had to want to learn really, really badly—badly enough that you’d seek out wisdom. So that’s what I did.
The single greatest resource of turkey knowledge I found, or have ever found, came in the form of two men from Kentucky: Harold Knight and David Hale.
David was a farmer, Harold was a barber, and both lived in the Cadiz, Kentucky, area.
In the 1970s David wanted to kill a turkey, and he heard about this barber who, if you’d go to his barber shop, would make you a turkey call out of plastic prescription bottles and latex. What happened after that truly changed the hunting industry forever. Knight & Hale became the hunting equivalent of Proctor & Gamble in terms of a powerhouse of game call products.
For me, however, the grandeur of Knight & Hale wasn’t in their legendary turkey calls. It was in the dispensation of their knowledge.
David and Harold hosted a television show called Ultimate Hunting. Yet even before that, they produced all sorts of magazines, cassette tapes, and eventually VHS tapes, not merely on how to kill a turkey, but also on how to grow as a turkey hunter. It was literally hunter discipleship.
I could write page after page on what I learned from those two giants during that time of my life. I bought every tape they had, listened to anything they said, and took it to heart.
What I valued most from David and Harold was how they helped me get into the mind of a gobbler.
If you’re not a hunter, you’re probably questioning my sanity on many levels about now. So pick your own poison to ponder what I’m saying here….
If you’re into investments, think about meeting a guru like J. Mark Mobius on Wall Street and talking about emerging markets. If you’re a golfer, think about how giddy you were the first time you read Greg Norman’s book Shark Attack!, in which he exposed his pathway to playing great golf.
Now imagine you grew up in the ‘80s and you actually got to play golf with Greg Norman. That very out-of-body experience happened to me when I got to hunt with David Hale for the first time.
That’s me with David Hale on our first hunt together. To this day I can remember walking through a cut cornfield on one of his properties, and all I could think was, I sure am glad it isn’t daylight so that he can’t see my face, because if he knew that all I can do is stare at him in disbelief that I’m actually hunting with him, he’s going to think I’m a stalker.
While I gained layers of knowledge from Knight & Hale, I can remember to this day when David told me, “If you’ll listen to a tom, he’ll tell you what he wants. Most hunters never pick up on that, Jason.”
He told me, “If you yelp to a tom and nothing happens, and then you cluck a few times with a yelp, and he hammers back, keep doing that. So many guys will, let’s say, cluck at him with no response, and the first time they yelp at him on a box call and he gobbles, they go right back to clucking on a slate call. Well, he just told you by his gobble that it was the sound of that hen yelp on a box call that stroked his ego…so stay with that.”
The secret to killing a tom, or at least putting yourself in a better position to kill him, is simply to give him exactly what he wants. Right up until the moment you shoot him in the head.
OF TOMS AND DEVILS
What I’ve learned about the enemy is that more often than not, he doesn’t come at you with what you don’t want. He comes at you just as David taught me to go after a tom: by giving you everything you want.
The devil will have others tell you what you want to hear. He will put you in positions that fill your heart’s desire when your motives are tainted but hard to discern. All along in that process, you are being set up.
Remember my buddy Brian Hinkle?
I asked him, “Where did all this start going bad?” His answer was immediate: “Five years ago. About five years ago I wanted to be the man, so I started buying really expensive bourbon and collecting it. Ultimately I began to let people into my life who had no business being in my circle.”
For Brian it was the stroke of the ego.
I’ve found it’s different for every man. The key is knowing that your enemy is in pursuit.
Never forget: the thief comes.
Never forget: the thief comes.
5 : BRUTAL FACT #5
IT’S CRITICAL TO KNOW WHY YOU ARE A WANTED MAN
Before you read any further, watch “Brutal Fact #5: It’s Critical to Know Why You Are a Wanted Man” at JasonCruise.com/WantedMan.
They called him the Working Man’s Poet.
Merle Haggard sang real country music—the kind I wish would come back to Nashville, but that’s for an entirely different book altogether, I suppose.
Ha
g’s famous song “Branded Man” tells the story of a former prisoner turned legit. Yet no matter where he went, he had a number attached to his name. No matter what this man did, his identity was “branded.”
I can think of nothing more accurate to describe who you are in the eyes of this “thief” Jesus talked about in John 10:10.
If you are “in Christ,” then you are a branded man. Branded by the enemy as someone worth pursuing.
Have you ever stopped to consider why?
Is it because the devil is evil? Sure.
Is it because the devil enjoys inflicting harm? Sure it is, but that’s not all.
If you are “in Christ,” then you are a branded man.
There’s more to it than his evil nature being the driving force.
I don’t think most Christ-following men have taken the time to think through their branded nature. I know I didn’t for a long time.
The issue comes down to motive.
What would cause this enemy of yours to want you so badly? What would cause him to possess such an obsession with ushering into your life those things that steal, kill, and destroy?
While I am sure many reasons exist, the following come to mind immediately.
YOU BEAR THE IMAGE
Consider what is true about you now as opposed to what was true about you then—with “then” being the time before the Spirit of Christ inhabited your very being.
The scriptures have a lot to say about you, both then and now:
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
EPHESIANS 2:1–7
Here Paul is talking about the “sons of disobedience,” the tribe that once held your membership. Look at how the scriptures, the very breath of God, describe you.
Old Life: Dead. Trespasser. Sinner. Child of wrath.
New Life: Made alive. Saved. Seated with God. Object of rich grace.
Another one to ponder:
We all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
2 CORINTHIANS 3:18
Because Christ has ransomed the bodies, souls, and spirits of believers, we are the recipients of His glory, both now and in the life to come.
The devil cannot have that. He bears the image of evil. He has no redemption, nor will he ever.
He’s much like a prisoner who only looks to do harm, for harm is all he has to offer. There is no hope left for him, and he knows it.
And one more:
Now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
EPHESIANS 2:13
The believer is brought near, while the enemy was banished and pushed outside God’s favor forever. He has no access to the King, but you do.
I could go on and on about this image-bearing idea, for the New Testament is saturated with the understanding that the Christ follower has been born again in the image of Christ.
Hundreds of adjectives describe how God sees you, and every time the enemy looks at a believer in Christ, he is reminded of everything he can never, ever be.
You bear the image of Christ, and being an image-bearer means you are a branded man. And that’s why Satan hates you so much.
Study this concept and see how the devil is described throughout the New Testament. You will find that Jesus knew exactly who Satan is and the nature of this enemy we face.
You are everything Satan can never be, and for that reason alone you are hated. And hunted.
You are everything Satan can never be, and for that reason alone you are hated. And hunted.
YOU ARE THE LINK TO OTHER PEOPLE HE CAN HARM
I genuinely believe the simple truth that you are the link to other people Satan can harm cannot be overstated. Even still, I have found it is something that none of us seems to consider in the heat of the moment.
The devil is a master networker. He is not just after you; he’s after anything or anybody he can get to through you. Your life is a conduit of opportunity if he can infiltrate your daily grind.
Let’s think about that saga from King David’s life when he committed adultery with Bathsheba and then ordered the death of her husband (see 2 Samuel 11–12).
David’s personal life wasn’t the only thing affected by his sin. From one short-term affair came a domino effect of tragedy: David had Uriah killed. The child born from the affair between David and Bathsheba died. A kingdom and a nation were left to watch the outcome.
Read between the lines and see what you can see.
David had buddies—men he drank coffee with or hunted with at times. He had employees who were close to his heart. What about those guys? How were they affected by all that their spiritual leader had done? Imagine how incredibly hurt they must have felt over this affair.
Then there was Bathsheba. She also immediately felt the damage. Being David’s mistress didn’t change the fact that she still had to go to the market and buy groceries. Imagine the whispers, the stares.
The domino effect of sin reaches amazingly far and can deeply touch the lives of people who are not even involved.
I suppose none of us would ever sin if the consequences were immediate and obvious. The nature of sin is, at first, to stay hidden, but you can be sure that all of your clandestine excursions off the path of Christ will eventually go public.
The domino effect of sin reaches amazingly far and can deeply touch the lives of people who are not even involved.
CONSIDERING THE COST
Jesus talked often about being a disciple. He was trying to get His listeners to understand just how critical it is that a man knows what he’s doing if he decides to follow the Nazarene. He asked, “For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?” (Luke 14:28).
This one simple practice has helped me many times: when faced with any decision, I ask myself, Is this a short-term gain for a long-term loss?
I cannot tell you how many times that single question has revealed an impure motive residing in my heart.
Sin has a catastrophic footprint that imprints people anywhere near the tread point. Being in ministry since the 1990s, I can tell you that I’ve had a front-row seat to watching the effects sin has on the lives of people who were just on the periphery.
I know a guy who just a few months ago was sentenced to several years of prison for white-collar financial crimes. Hundreds of unsuspecting employees lost their careers and were left without a paycheck because of his endeavors. Their wives, their husbands, their children, their parents—all were hurt because of one man’s disobedience.
The bigger picture is immediately brought into view when you consider the cost, and, my brother, costs must be considered, for the stakes of the game are so very high.
You have your own stories, too. Some of those stories you’ve lived out personally. You have the scars to prove it.
Keep the idea of longevity in front of you as you trek through life outside the wire. It will force you to maintain clarity in a foggy land.
Short term versus long term is a sobering concept. The bigger picture is immediately brought into view when you consider the cost, and, my brother, costs must be considered, for the stakes of the game are s
o very high.
A LYRIC TO CONSIDER
God has given me several men in my life who have proven to be true sages. They are men of righteous intent who keep me moving forward in my walk with Christ. One of those men is Steve Chapman. He’s half of the musical duo of Steve and Annie Chapman. Steve is a singer-songwriter who has also written several books. He’s also a hunter, and we hunt together often.
Like many of those musical freaks of nature walking around the greater Nashville area, he has an amazing knack for turning common phrases into lyrics.
Many years ago we were on a turkey hunt and we began to talk about marriage. He started telling me of a song he was writing about the cost of what appear to be short-term gains but are truly long-term losses.
He said, “I’ve got this phrase about what I wouldn’t give for a chance to stray just a little from Annie.” The first few lines of the song are:
She gave that signal, she had that walk.
Something inside me began to talk.
Said, “Ain’t she fine?” I said, “I agree.”
I felt the danger when she looked at me.
I started thinkin’ how she would feel;
I started wonderin’ how I might close the deal.
I could say I didn’t when I really did.
If I could have her, what I wouldn’t give.
Ooh, what I wouldn’t give.
My wife. Her smile. Our memories. The miles.
Our children. Their trust.
And everything that God has given us.
That’s what I wouldn’t give for her.1
And in the same vein:
Do not give your strength to women,
A Wanted Man Page 5