Shining Armor

Victor's men restrain Luis inside the radio station and demand to know who sent him. Luis insists that he acted alone. Jason arrives and orders them to release the boy, but Victor assumes Jason has used a child to do his work. He has both trespassers taken to jail while violence intensifies throughout the village.

During the rebel attack, Manuel and Celia search desperately for their son. Santo reports that the fighters are mobilizing for an assault on the capital and may burn the village to display their power. An explosion destroys Manuel's church, leaving little more than rubble.

Victor finds the frightened congregation and tells Manuel that Luis is in jail with Jason. He portrays Jason as a corrupting influence who has abandoned his followers during their greatest need. Victor also points out that his own building still stands and invites everyone to worship there. Even Santo wonders whether Jason might have directed Luis's break-in, though Celia refuses to believe it.

In jail, Jason praises Luis's courage but tells him that breaking the law was wrong. Even so, Jason still speaks as though he must defeat Victor personally. He considers the arrest another reason to fight harder and starts planning how to make the rival ministry collapse.

Victor unexpectedly declines to press charges. When Manuel arrives to free Jason and Luis, he explains that the church has been destroyed and rebukes Jason for chasing a rivalry instead of praying with his people. Manuel believes the congregation needed the founder who had taught them about Jesus, not a hero filling Luis with ideas about revenge. Their trust in Jason has been badly wounded.

At the ruins, Luis discovers an unused stick of dynamite and a detonator hidden nearby. Since the rest of the village is untouched, Jason concludes that someone targeted the church deliberately and accuses Victor. His desire to strike back grows stronger. Manuel warns that retaliation would pull the church into another war, and Santo blames Jason's public attacks for provoking the destruction. Disgusted by Jason's revenge, Santo renounces the church and walks away.

Manuel tells Jason that words spoken in anger can only cause more damage. Convinced that no one wants him, Jason packs to leave. Celia gently explains what has truly gone wrong. The villagers loved him because he introduced them to Jesus, gave them hope, and taught them to serve. This time, he spoke far more about how he would rescue everyone than about God. They began looking to Jason as their savior, and Jason began relying on himself. When their shining hero failed, their faith was shaken.

Jason decides not to flee immediately. He returns to the church ruins and humbly asks Manuel for work. Instead of leading, he begins piling stones with everyone else. An explosion suddenly tears through Victor's radio station. When Manuel notices that the dynamite from the church ruins is missing, he and Jason rush toward the blast.

They find Luis unconscious near the station. He has suffered a concussion and burns on his arm, but the doctor expects him to recover. In the hospital, Luis proudly admits that he destroyed Victor's building and expects Jason's approval. Jason is horrified. The boy has imitated the bold, vengeful hero he admires and nearly died doing it.

Jason apologizes to Luis for setting such an example. He has spent the crisis acting as though he could save the village and has never allowed God to lead. Luis needs a better hero than the man Jason has been. Manuel later prays that everyone will stop concentrating on radio stations and rivals, depend on God, and serve like Jesus. Jason accepts the message and apologizes to Manuel. Though Manuel affirms his courage and determination, he hopes Jason will learn to use those qualities properly.

Jason leaves the next morning and continues his missionary travels. Later, while working in Costa Rica, he receives a letter from Manuel. The village has rebuilt most of the church and resumed services. A later rebel assault destroyed many homes, including those of several people in Victor's congregation.

Maria, who had trusted Victor's promise of personal control, loses the only photograph she had of the grandmother who raised her. Victor responds by blaming her suffering on insufficient faith. Maria rejects his cruel explanation. Manuel, Celia, Luis, and other church members then arrive with water, shelter, and volunteers to rebuild her home. Over the course of a week, they help five families from Victor's congregation, demonstrating Christ's love to people who had rejected them.

Manuel reports that Victor's followers finally turned against him when his teaching could not explain their losses. Victor has apparently fled the country with both the station's funds and his followers' money. The village no longer needs Jason to defeat its enemy. As its Christians pray, rebuild, and serve their neighbors, Victor's lies collapse without Jason's heroic battle. Reading the news, Jason recognizes that the victory had nothing to do with him.