Transcript
A (0:00)
There's a war against our children. It's happening in your neighborhood right now. I hope you'll forgive me because I'm going to get emotional during this program as we talk about the shattering of innocence this week on Skywatch tv. Welcome to Skywatch tv. I'm Derek Gilbert, sitting in his chair this week for Joe Artist Horn. And let me tell you, it is an honor to do so this week. And as I said in the opening, be prepared. I am. Because the subject matter this week is going to get emotional. But it is the reason that we do what we do at Skywatch tv. The reason we partner with ministries in this same fight as we try to stand for those who cannot stand for themselves. Children in foster care, statistically at great risk of being exploited for various things. We'll talk about that this week. Our guest, the CEO of Skywatch tv and normally the gentleman you see sitting in this chair week after week and the author of the brand new book Innocence Shattered, dismantling the insidious war against our children, Joe Artis Horn. Joe, Derek, This I know, is something that's very close to your heart. It is something that we've talked about over the past 10 years of Skywatch TV. And as you know, the mission of Skywatch TV is why Sharon and I are here right now. This book has been years in the making. I know. Why did you write Innocent Shattered?
B (1:53)
Well, Derek, like you and a little bit of history for those that don't know. Before the Gilberts agreed to come and work at Skywatch tv, their original vision for that journey here to Missouri was born out of an ATV ride that you all took with me. I want to say in 2013, 14, 2014, we went out to what was going to become the Whispering Ponies Ranch, which now today is Skywatch Television's charitable ministry where children that have been pulled out of sex trafficking, these are wards of the state, many still in foster care. Go every year for Christ centered rehabilitation programming where we're able to offer amenities that set them up for success and teach them values and affirmation and, you know, poise them to overcome obstacles and learn that they themselves have value. It is a program that is the most treasured thing that all of us share. This is why we're here. We love what we do at Skywatch tv. But at large part Skywatch Television, the ministry exists to make sure that what happens at Whispering Ponies Ranch takes place every year. But beyond that over the years, and we can get into some of this if you wish. I've Become a very serious child advocate, like so many that came before me, you know, following my parents by their lived example. My father and mother, who founded the Whispering Ponies Ranch when I was off training dogs. And eventually I had to play catch up. But there was a driver behind that process. And we can talk about some of that in just a moment. I look into the eyes of children every year that have been completely destroyed. Their innocence has been entirely shattered at the hands of malevolent abusers that have done things to these children that most normal, sane, rational human beings can't even fathom how this is possible. We're talking about hands being held on stovetops as a form of discipline, children locked in dog cages, and much, much worse things we can't even really talk about on the air. And I look into those eyes and I want to put a stop to that. I don't want to do child rehabilitation anymore. What I mean by that is I want to cut the head off of the evil that's responsible for it in the first place. So we don't need programs that rebuild children from the ground up. And until we do that, we will continue to serve these children until the day that we die. But I want to put a stop to it. And some of the things that I've gleaned over the years are the root causes for why this malevolence is taking place in the first place. And why we have a foster care system that's completely overburdened and why children come up missing annually with no chain of custody and nobody looking for them, mostly classified as runaway. I want to put a stop to that, Derek. And I believe that the way we're going to do that, and we'll unpack this over the next couple of weeks, is to awaken the body of Christ. Because the government is not doing this for us.
