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Debate Night: Spiritual Warfare
13 Plays1 day ago
Logan and Brendan debate Spiritual Warfare!
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Podcast theme music by Transistor.fm
Edited by Brendan
Sounds and background music from Zapsplat.com
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Transcript
Introduction and Merchandise
00:00:03
Speaker
Hello and welcome to From Dublin to Cleveland. I am Logan Howard and I'm joined by the one and only Brendan Thomas Merritt. How's it going, Brendan? I'm Greg Broski, always great.
00:00:15
Speaker
Good. I am glad you're always great. I am doing well as well. ah I have for us today our brand new hats. I received mine in the mail a couple weeks ago and we've got a nice beautiful blue one with the logo right there. And I'm wearing the red one, of course. So there's multiple different ones you can choose from. You can get yours today ah at the From Dublin to Cleveland store, which link should be down in the description below. so we'd love if you'd support us that way. There's also other things that should be in the links in the below. We've got Brendan's book. Two books that he's done are there. and Almost three.
00:00:57
Speaker
We're getting there. <unk> Almost three. If you're like one of those people who's like, I just don't want to shop online, send us an email. We'll figure out a way to get it to your house. So you can send us an email from Dublin to Cleveland at gmail.com. But we'd love if we'd, if we'd love if you'd be able to support us in that way.
What is Spiritual Warfare?
00:01:17
Speaker
So with all that being said, today's title you've seen is a debate episode. We are going to be debating,
00:01:25
Speaker
Spiritual warfare. So, um Brendan, when you think of spiritual warfare, ah how would you define it? What is your like, what is a defining trait of spiritual warfare?
00:01:38
Speaker
Sure. so we have an evil enemy hu who does not sleep, who is restless, who is hungry for the blood of humanity.
00:01:53
Speaker
And this enemy is vast. It is numerous. We are talking billions and then some. And the rebellion of these creatures began in the world of heaven.
00:02:11
Speaker
They were cast down to the earth. And we were always created to do battle against them. We were always created. I'm talking back to Adam and Eve.
00:02:25
Speaker
Genesis 1-3. We're put on the earth to take dominion of this earth, to rule and reign in accordance with the good, perfect, pleasing pleasure of the Lord and the prompting of the Holy Spirit to kick these lions, to trample on these snakes, to crush these scorpions.
00:02:49
Speaker
And even for Adam and Eve, when they were in their garden on top that mountain in Eden, I believe that they were doing this too. They were not just sitting around all day chewing grass, but actually with their eyes wide open, their spiritual eyes, 100%, they would have seen these spiritual creatures around the Garden of Eden and been rebuking them and cursing them and declaring the will of God against them.
00:03:16
Speaker
um And the same... onus than them, the state dominion of the earth is on earth today.
00:03:24
Speaker
Indeed. um And, of course, there's biblical precedence throughout the Bible of spiritual warfare going on. um You have ah Jesus at the beginning of his ministry runs into Satan who tempts him to not do what Christ came to do.
00:03:44
Speaker
And so we get quite a glimpse shot in Matthew of Jesus' response to some of Satan's temptations that for a lot of us, we faced those same temptations before um of wanting to be more than we actually are, of wanting all of all the things that are in front of us. Maybe we don't get offered that, but um those kinds of things. You have it happen in the Old Testament. You have um Elisha talking when there's the Syrians were trying to invade Judah and his assistant is very worried that, oh, the Assyrians are going to take us out. And Elisha prays that his eyes would be opened and that he'd be able to see the heavenly host that is there supporting them. yeah heaven um me
00:04:31
Speaker
And completely opens his eyes to a world that we don't see. um That's kind of what the spiritual warfare is. It's not something that we can always see or notice it's, it's in the spiritual realm.
00:04:45
Speaker
We are spiritual beings as well as physical beings. That is one of the gifts that God gave us that the devil and his followers hate so much is the fact that we have a weird blessing of being both spirit and body at the same time.
00:05:03
Speaker
But that ah is mentioned the Bible.
Misinterpretations and Realities of Spiritual Warfare
00:05:06
Speaker
You also have where ah Paul encourages us to put on armor because we are going to fight. um Our Christian faith is not cakewalk.
00:05:17
Speaker
It's not a um a party bus. It's not just enjoyable all the time. We have to actually put our armor on because there are attacks and there's fiery darts that the enemy is always launching at us to get us away from what we should be doing. Okay.
00:05:36
Speaker
So that's why the armor of God is such a big part of this. But um I know Brendan has made a presentation and we'll work through some questions, but that's kind of where we're going as we start with this spiritual warfare. Amen.
00:05:51
Speaker
Amen. Yeah, Logan advertised this is as a debate, but you know what? It might be like our last debate where we agree in like 1990. Yeah.
00:06:03
Speaker
Who knows? Maybe we'll have some disagreements. the Logan's name of this meme like 20 minutes ago. That was hilarious. and Multiple life-altering difficulties. Is this spirit to a warfare? But the really funny thing is when he first said it to me,
00:06:22
Speaker
he was having bad internet connection and the whole uh inscription was covered by you know no internet connection the spiritual warfare and i'm like yes i've had those moments
00:06:36
Speaker
yes i of running an international online ministry Yes, there there is. um i think with spiritual warfare, sometimes you can see everything is spiritual warfare or nothing is spiritual warfare.
00:06:50
Speaker
It's two opposite sides of the coin is you go to two extremes. You either go, well, everything is normal or everything is completely spiritual warfare. And it's. That is a lie from the devil to get you to believe one of the two sides. It's somewhere in the middle, um and we trust the Holy Spirit to give us guidance on what is it that is that is attacking in that moment. so Yeah, absolutely, because you've you' got people who have their fingers in their ears and their hands over their eyes, and they do not want to acknowledge anything spiritual at all.
00:07:29
Speaker
um In Ireland, most people when they hear that will be like, oh, the Catholic son
Dangers and Forms of Spiritual Warfare
00:07:34
Speaker
the Baptist. Well, I spent most of my life going to Pentecostal churches, and let me tell you, they're just as guilty in an Irish culture setting.
00:07:43
Speaker
um Like my church, um the very first meeting we had, God impressed me to share two things as a foundation of where we'd be going.
00:07:57
Speaker
One was the Gospel of Grace which helps, you wanna see people get saved. hu And the second was acknowledge the reality of the existence and operations of the Empire of Darkness.
00:08:10
Speaker
Satan, call me by name, and demons. So it wasn't something that I was going to, you know, 16, once down the line, be like, this is a thing they say, gang.
00:08:21
Speaker
But actually from the get-go, train people up to pray against the darkness. um And then the flip side, yeah, you've got people who are like, my 30 year old washing machine broke today. i'm under spiritual attack. I'm like, no, you're not love. It's at a guarantee of 10 years and the Lord bless you So ridiculously abundantly get a new one You deserve it. You owe it to your utility room to get a new washing machine. You deserve this, Barbara. You deserve this. You go girl. Yeah.
00:08:56
Speaker
But yeah, people fluctuate between extremes. But there's a healthy middle where you're not giving glory and honor and awe the darkness. Nor are you pretending it doesn't exist because they know you exist. So you ignoring them does not make them go away.
00:09:15
Speaker
This whole thing of, you know, um if you're on the front lines of ministry, you'll be attacked by the darkness. But the Christians are doing nothing. Well, the devil doesn't care about that. Bull crap.
00:09:27
Speaker
The devil has one assignment in three stages against every human ever. To steal, to kill, destroy. Your positioning might affect the kind of attacks you get or the regularity attacks you get or the style or the techniques the enemy employs, but no human is actually immune and to being despised and targeted by the darkness.
00:09:56
Speaker
Yeah. i So, yeah, we've got three questions, which we'll discuss in some amount of detail um in this session. So, as with the first one, Broski, is what forms can spiritual warfare take?
00:10:13
Speaker
Or what forms have you seen spiritual warfare take in your life? And I'm just going to kick us off with one of the Well, when I was growing up, it was one of the most popular Bible verse. I don't know if it still is. But I think that's like the third Bible verse I ever learned.
00:10:35
Speaker
Genesis one one John three sixteen John 10-10. And most translations phrase this, the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy.
00:10:47
Speaker
But I, Jesus, have come to give them abundant life or everlasting life or full life. I looked this verse up in Greek couple years ago.
00:10:59
Speaker
This is how it's rendered in the Greek. The thief comes to steal secretively and with stealth. To sacrificially offer on an altar by burning.
00:11:14
Speaker
To butcher completely. To cut off entirely. To violently perish. You. To cause you to be, interesting background tune while we're devil. To cause you to be lost by experiencing a miserable end.
00:11:36
Speaker
To abolish, to ruin, blot out, to vanish away, to cause the loss of everlasting life.
00:11:50
Speaker
That is the enemy's goal for every person on earth. Jesus, conversely, says, but I have come that they may have, is the Greek now, an unending existence with a quality of life that is abundant and fulfilling.
00:12:13
Speaker
A life that is characterized by a relationship with God's That they would have God's self-existent life. I love, love, love, love this one.
00:12:25
Speaker
A super added life. Not two words I ever would have put together before. ah That they would possess a life that exceeds expectation and goes past the expected limit.
00:12:40
Speaker
Wow.
00:12:43
Speaker
Continuously have it all around. More exceedingly. sufficiently, vehemently, and advantageously.
00:12:54
Speaker
That is the life that Jesus came to give people. That is the life of the enemy is coming to steal, kill, and destroy. So, again, the question is, what forms can spiritual warfare take? So, Logan, give some examples that, you know, you've seen or that you're familiar with, experientially or biblically.
00:13:17
Speaker
Go for it. Yeah. um I mean, we sort of talked about it in the opening and even you talked about a little bit about, um you know, how there are people who think that because they don't do anything actively in the church or they're not connected, that they escape spiritual warfare. In reality, they've just been taken out without the devil having to try anything.
00:13:41
Speaker
Like literally his His warfare is just convincing you that he either doesn't exist or that you're not important enough for him to mess with. So that's where you're taking off right there. When you choose not to fight, when you choose, when you hear something that isn't correct and you don't say, here here's my opportunity to share the gospel or here's my opportunity to, um you know, we you hear somebody ah degrading Christ or God, that's your opportunity to say, you know what?
00:14:11
Speaker
Here's my chance. Put on my armor. Put on my sword of the spirit. but like thing This is your chance to beat the living day. No, no, no, no, no. Here's an opportunity to fight for what's right. So...
00:14:26
Speaker
so there there's an element where I think there's a lot of Christians, even in my circles that are taken out before there's even a fight. Yeah. wow They're, they're either taken out by laziness. They're taken out by, um you know, pornography talking about taken out by things that they're stuck in their sins, you know, um, things they're watching, things they're looking at, things that they're thinking of. Um, They're taken out by busyness. You know, if they're just too busy to either go to church or to read their Bibles, um,
00:15:02
Speaker
And too busy to spend time hearing from God or praying or talking to God. Those kind of things get taken off right at the at the beginning. um So I think there's a ah way in which Satan likes to, if he can get you to um not fight, then hey, he's he doesn't need to worry about you because you're not going to do anything. Um, his, his big thing though, that I've seen is when you are willing to fight and you are willing to, to try and grow is he buried you with things, with stuff, with busyness. He just tries to pile on you so that you have all this stuff on top of you and you're not actually wisely deciphering what is the thing that I need to address here and what is the thing that doesn't require my attention. He makes you so busy that you're worried about the stupidest, littlest things that don't actually matter. You're getting A's in things that are not important.
00:16:04
Speaker
Maybe you're getting A's in your video games. You're getting A's in your sleep schedule, but you're failing in your marriage. You're failing as a parent. You're failing as you're getting into God's word. You're failing your relationship with God. He tries to get you to focus on things that aren't important.
00:16:21
Speaker
And by burying you with so many different things, um, So those are just some of the more natural things. um There's, of course, times where you are actively trying to share the gospel with people and something will – distractions will come up right in their way so that they won't listen to you. That is where the devil is actively trying to get you to not share the gospel with somebody or to not um not be effective in your communication. um
00:16:52
Speaker
Those kind of things happen. ah There's, of course, um like I said, distractions are a big ah big part of it, especially in our day and age, um is is that distraction thing where...
00:17:07
Speaker
you might go, well, this is my opportunity. I'm going to read the Bible and I'm going to sit down and I'm goingnna spend the next two hours doing that. And then you're like, hmm, but somebody just sent me a text. And that yes you're on your map then you're like, oh, that was a funny meme. And now I'm going to go look at all these other memes. And then the next thing you know, ah it is 11 o'clock at night you're like, oh, I'm just so tired.
00:17:27
Speaker
read my Bible tonight and then right to bed um because you're distracted. um We try to do too many things nowadays than we ever did before because we have so much things that we're able to connect and emulation we just are overstimulated. So there's there's just distraction um and that kind of end of that warfare of trying to get you distracted, trying to make you useless, make you fruitless. for the kingdom.
00:17:58
Speaker
There is, we have probably 100 or so that come, maybe 120 that come to our church, and less than 10% actually are active in their faith.
00:18:12
Speaker
People come, they're members, but in terms of day by day, living it out and doing it and being willing to do things and being willing to serve, um that is rare and far between, especially in our day and age. um So that's something that I think as we go forward in the church, it has to change. You have to get to where you're equipping people, but the people then have to have to embrace it as their own and start doing it. And that's the part that you can't change people's hearts. You can't, you can't make, ah you can force people to do things, but you can't make people love God. Like God, God has to, God has to to get into their hearts, but he doesn't force himself upon us. You actually have to choose it.
Church Engagement and Spiritual Implications
00:19:06
Speaker
And so that's where that is pretty rare, even in our Christian churches, because there are a lot of people who go to church for the wrong reason.
00:19:16
Speaker
They go to make themselves feel good. They go to, you know. Look for a spouse. For a spouse, whatever. I've done that no No, never done that.
00:19:29
Speaker
So those are some of the things that I've seen. What about you, Brendan? What are some of the things that that you see spiritual warfare in? Sure. and Yeah, we're going to do a video on this very soon, guys, on yoga and Reiki. um So I'm going to play more generally false religions.
00:19:45
Speaker
and They are massively a wicked and sinister in their entrapment of the masses, including the God's kids. In fact, um lo and i were sharing recently about the that doing church Christian yoga was a good idea.
00:20:05
Speaker
when you're in deliverance ministry like I am and you have to cast the demons out of people please don't pastors please do not bewitch and benevolent your congregation I'm the one that has to deal with it afterwards and I'm fed up with it stop ah um the occult Luigi boards a even you know reading and watching um shows like the Vampire Diaries originals Harry Potter people get under spiritual attack and spiritual warfare and bedeviled and possessed by these shows.
00:20:43
Speaker
um You might think, oh, but, you know, it's just entertainment. Yeah, but imagine what you call entertainment. If a word entered into you, would it be okay?
00:20:54
Speaker
Think of it that way. um And especially, like, you know, certain TV shows, which have, know, witches and warlocks. A lot of these...
00:21:06
Speaker
Storywriters and directors will actually bring in practicing witches and warlocks in the making of these shows to make us you know more authentic, you know reflect real lived experience.
00:21:19
Speaker
And actually the spells and curses that they're casting in the show are real. So you could literally be texting and vexing yourself or those who share the same space as you by watching these things. And...
00:21:37
Speaker
Dreams another one. You know, the enemy attacking people through dreams. And then, you know, there are moments when might look a little bit exorcist-like. You know, people start getting, you know, um their bed starts shaking or objects are in their house or their room beginning being moved by demons.
00:21:57
Speaker
and Another one is putting your trust in the wrong people. um I met a guy in Australia couple years back, and wasn't even his fault. He was just a baby.
00:22:15
Speaker
But his mother couldn't con conceive. oh I don't think she was a Christian at the time. Her husband went to a monk in a temple.
00:22:26
Speaker
It wasn't a Buddhist temple. It was, forget what it was called, but i had this big statue of a dragon demon the outside of it. um and handed the, you know, kind of prayed, know, to the quote-unquote ancestors, demons, that, you know, his his wife get pregnant. She had a son, and then he handed the son over to the monk who was there, and the monk breathed on the child, and in the monk's mind, his idea was to infuse his soul in the baby, so he would live on forever, he'd be immortal.
00:22:57
Speaker
and But the monk, you know, was demon-possessed, and actually breathed demons into the child, and the baby. And now, I mean, he must be in his 20s now, but he's deformed, disfigured, demons were beaten, the living daylights out of him, it was just grossly sad to see.
00:23:16
Speaker
a And offense is a major one. And that is especially rife in the body of Christ. um The enemy sowing division and consternation between God's people.
00:23:32
Speaker
ah Fear is a major one. You know, the Bible says, I've not given you a spirit of fear. Why would it say that? Because spirits of fear exist. um it's fit Spirits of fear of intimidation to make people feel so small and insignificant.
00:23:47
Speaker
um So, yeah, it can happen in many, many ways. can happen in the spirit realm. can happen experientially, circumstantially to other people. And there are times when someone has dabbled with something or sat under something wicked and nefarious that God hates.
00:24:06
Speaker
And they've had a hand in the enemy's plans of destruction against them.
00:24:18
Speaker
right, man. So, not if, but when if we go through spiritual warfare. i Again, a lot of Christians think they can sit it out, sit on the sidelines, put their fingers in their ears, cover their eyes, and, you know, laddy, laddy, laddy, laddy. It doesn't work. You're going to get attacked one way or the other.
00:24:36
Speaker
Um, how do we fight back?
Armor of God and Spiritual Tools
00:24:39
Speaker
How do we fight in the spirits? How do we fight the spirit realm? What did that look like? Give some examples. Yeah.
00:24:46
Speaker
Um, So one of the things that I think even some of the stuff that we just talked about, it can it can make you afraid, right? Make you fearful that, oh, I'm going to get possessed or I'm going to get this or I'm going to have that happen. And um there's an element of that that is healthy to – um Prepare yourself against. Now, there is also you can get too afraid because really God is in control of all of this. Right. um This a lot of this stuff that even Brendan was talking about is based off of choices.
00:25:20
Speaker
Yeah. Bad choices, choices of choosing the wrong things and allowing things into your life that you shouldn't. um And so that's why we we preach.
00:25:32
Speaker
We need Christ. You need Christ to come into your life because Christ doesn't put up with that stuff. he He gives you the Holy Spirit who wipes it out um because that's what God does. God, ah darkness and light can't coexist in the same same person. So when Christ comes in, he will start...
00:25:53
Speaker
removing that. It might be a slow process. It might not happen instantaneously, but that's what Christ does. So our armor and our um all of our battle weapons, it comes from God. We have we have to be connected to the power source. um When we try to fight any of this kind of thing on our own, of our own strength, um like you see that happen even in the New Testament of people who are like trying to cast demons out Who didn't even know what they were doing. And they ran into some huge problems because it's really in Christ's name that we have the power. It's not because of ourselves or what we can do. um
00:26:31
Speaker
And so that's where we see in Ephesians 6, we see the the armor that we need to be putting on. And this is a daily thing. This isn't a one time, well, now I have all my armor on, so um we're good.
00:26:45
Speaker
um But this is what it says here in Ephesians 6. It says, finally brother and be strong in the lord and in the power of his might So where is our strength? It comes from God. It doesn't come from us. Put on the whole armor of God that you will be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, against what the devil is trying to do. Because...
00:27:05
Speaker
um I'm sure Brendan has felt this. I have felt this at times. There are sometimes voices or thoughts that we have in our head that say we should do something. And we're like, where did that come from? That is not right.
00:27:17
Speaker
Why should I do that? Like, who's saying that? And that's that is the devil trying to get us to follow his rules. Instead of God's rules, because we don't wrestle against flesh and blood. We're we're not out stabbing people left and right. This isn't a a fleshly.
00:27:34
Speaker
It isn't an always fleshly battle. This is against principalities, against powers, against rulers of the dark age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Yeah.
00:27:47
Speaker
evil is something that isn't a thing by itself. It's corruption of something good. Um, and so that's where this has come from was that Satan and his minions have chosen evil.
00:28:06
Speaker
Morally, they are completely corrupt. They, they are still created by God, but they're morally corrupt. Um, So as we go forward, it continues here by saying that we war against principality, against powers, against rulers of this dark age, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. So against Satan in the heavenly places. So take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day. and having done all to stand stand therefore. So if you've seen, as we've gone through this, it's a lot of standing. This isn't a sitting around on our couches and lounging around and um just bad posture. This is think military think Romans think Roman armor think, um, being in the military where they're standing for hours and hours upon time. This is a battleground. um I think there are a lot of Christians who like to move around and pretend that this is – that we get a get-out-of-jail-free card when we get saved. Yeah.
00:29:15
Speaker
Yeah. I want. I can, um live however I want. I can spend my money on whatever I want. I can have whatever I want. And then God will let me in at the end because I don't have to do anything. No, this is a battleground. This is not our home. This is, we are, uh, we are walking on this earth and preparing for heaven.
00:29:37
Speaker
That's our ultimate home. This isn't our home because if this was our home, be pretty bad. Um, So here we are standing, therefore girding our waist with truth.
00:29:49
Speaker
So we have to have truth. Where do we get truth? Um, It doesn't come from CNN. It doesn't come from even Fox News sometimes. even Even the best Republicans or the best liberals don't always have the truth. Truth comes from God.
00:30:09
Speaker
God is the one who speaks truth. God is the one who creates truth. God is truth. So when we start to think about things, we need to start going, what is actually true? um when you have difficulties or situations in your life that come up, start to question, what is true about this?
00:30:27
Speaker
Not how do you feel about it? Not what do you think about it? What is actually true about the situation? um And I think this is where we get a little bit messed up in our time and day and age, especially when we get to identity. What is true about us is we are created by God.
00:30:45
Speaker
We are created in his image. We are image bearers. Every single person that i am speaking to right now, if you are listening to this right now, you are an image bearer of God. That makes you a beloved creature of God. No matter what you've done, whether you've sinned, whether you've lied, whether you've cheated, whether you've lusted, whatever it is,
00:31:07
Speaker
You are created by God. You are created his image, and you were created in his image at birth as a little baby. That's why a lot of um us as conservatives are so adamant about abortion being evil and wrong is because it kills human lives.
00:31:25
Speaker
Um, so as we, as we're looking here, we want truth. We're, we're looking at truth. Truth has to be around us. It comes from God. It can't come from just nebulous things. And there is absolute truth. There are things that are true 100% of the time that it doesn't change. It doesn't, um, doesn't move. God is all powerful. He's all good. He's eternal. That is truth that you can depend on.
00:31:53
Speaker
Um, it isn't relative. ah One of the things that we have nowadays is relativism where everything's relative. It's just some days it's true. or Some days it's not true. What's that? My truth. if it's my Yes. My truth.
00:32:07
Speaker
My truth is better because, you know, I, I want to believe that this is true. You can want to believe it's true all you want, but doesn't make it true. Truth is rooted and founded in God and in his creation and what he's created. That's where our truth comes from.
00:32:21
Speaker
And so we have to put on as our belt, the thing that's right around our middle, our core, the thing that a lot of people, ah when we start to pass away, the things in our core is what starts going bad.
00:32:36
Speaker
Our heart goes bad. um If you end up falling or breaking a hip or any of the things internally, you're not going to survive very long. Truth, it has to be at the core of ourselves.
00:32:49
Speaker
um And then we put on the breastplate of righteousness, again, covering the core part of us, where our heart is, where our all of our arteries are, the things that make our body go. We have to have righteousness, and that is what is right.
00:33:02
Speaker
So not only are we talking about truth, we're now talking about what is the right thing to do. um And that's where discernment, that's where the Holy Spirit comes in to help us. When we know Jesus Christ, our Savior, we're able to, with his, with the Holy Spirit within us, to be able to to know what is the right thing to do. But we're also given, even as humans, things that we know are wrong and and things we know are right. For instance, any atheist will tell you, yeah, sure, it's wrong. I shouldn't murder people.
00:33:33
Speaker
They know that. They're an atheist. Right? But they, for some reason, know, I probably shouldn't murder somebody. That would be too far. um They'll lie and they'll do all the other sins, but murder is too far. That is something that God has given us. So righteousness is this doing the right thing.
00:33:52
Speaker
um And we need to have righteousness on us. Right. ah Then we have to put on our feet, which is ah the preparation of the gospel of peace, um having peace. We need to have peace as we go um because we in and of our flesh and in and of the world, it's violence and it's war.
00:34:18
Speaker
And one of the ways that, uh, war and peace are opposites. If the world is all about war, it's all about violence. It's all about this. Peace is the logical opposition to that. That is the tool that God has given us to combat it. And it covers our feet because it's, as we go, we're peaceful. We're gracious to people as we live in this day and age. Um,
00:34:42
Speaker
And taking the shield of faith, ah taking on a shield, again, to protect us from all the fiery darts that Satan is going to lob at us. Because in a daily basis, I don't know about – that's for you, Brendan. um I would say probably – in the 50 to 100 times a day there is either a temptation to think something wrong an ad that'll come up to ah get your mind in somewhere you shouldn't be it is constant all the time of these fiery darts being lobbed at us and we need this shield of faith the faith in jesus christ to be able to combat it we have to be able to go you know what
00:35:25
Speaker
I see that picture of that woman that I want to lust after. I'm not, that's not what I actually need to go for. That's not what I need. I need Christ because he's what's going to save my actual soul. That woman is just going to lead me down a path that I shouldn't go down.
00:35:42
Speaker
It's a active choice in the moment. Some of us, we are so lulled to sleep by our culture and by what's going on around us and our distractions that we don't actually make that choice and we fall for sin continuously. We have to choose that faith and to realize our faith is in Christ and I i need to protect myself from that. um And you have to be on guard because it's constant 100 or more times a day of those attacks coming at you. And it's sometimes your own brain. Sometimes it it's not even something you see. It's just your brain just goes, oh, let me start thinking about that. and you're like, where is this going? I should not be thinking this way.
00:36:20
Speaker
um So we need our shield of faith to stop all of those temptations that will be lobbed at us. And then we need our helmet of salvation. This is the thing that takes us into heaven. We need our helmet actually on. um I don't know if you've ever watched any kind of war movie or even like a Roman war war movie, but if you don't have your helmet on, you get decapitated pretty quick. um Just saying you're you're you're done.
00:36:42
Speaker
um You need a helmet. You need your helmet of salvation to be saved, to put your faith and trust in Christ and to know that he is, um He is with you. Now, that being said, if we have put our faith in Christ, ah we always have our helmet on.
00:36:59
Speaker
Once we have put our faith, we have our helmet on. We actually have to actively put on this other stuff to be able to pretend there are a lot of Christians who are running around with their helmets on and naked running around trying to live for Christ.
00:37:15
Speaker
And it's not going to work because you didn't put your armor on. You got to put your clothes on guys. You can have the helmet of salvation, but you need everything else. with it Yeah. and Put on your Dublin from Dublin to Cleveland clothes. You need, you need your helmet. Um,
00:37:35
Speaker
And ah then you need your sword. You need God's word with you. um I know this is something that that I struggle with. I'm sure every single one of you struggles with is being into God's word even more than we probably should be. um That we spend so much time conversing with other people. We spend so much time doing things that are distracting us from hearing from God. Even church things.
00:38:05
Speaker
What's that? Even church things can be even church things. Yeah. Even good things. um Even good things that God has given us, but we distract ourselves and put our Bible time as the last priority on our list, that that's not important.
00:38:20
Speaker
It's more important that we work out. It's more important that we spend time with people. It's more important that we do this. And our Bible is like dead last. And if we have time, we'll do it. If we don't, oh, well, there's always tomorrow.
00:38:33
Speaker
Um, But it's it's our life. this is where we need This is our weapon. This is the thing that we pull to, again, go on the offensive. um Every single one of these things we've talked about before is all defensive. It's all to protect ourselves from what's being thrown at us.
00:38:49
Speaker
God's word is what we can use to go on the offensive, to actually win more people for Christ, to bring more into the army. um So we need God's word with us. It isn't just an experiential faith. It isn't just all these other things. We need the rooted truth of what's in in God's word. So we need that sword. um And he continues saying, praying always with all prayer. We have to be in constant connection with God. So even if you have all your armor on, if you're not communicating with the person who gives you the power to the armor, what's the point? You're not connected to the power source. So we have to be conversing with him. We have to be realizing that he's the one who is sustaining us and giving us the energy and the things we need to combat this so that we can have the perseverance in all of that.
00:39:35
Speaker
And so that's ah that's kind of Paul's conclusion as he starts to wrap up Ephesians is we need the whole armor of God to be able to combat what is coming our way because um truthfully, in and of our human flesh, when we're faced with things like you're going to die because you follow Jesus Christ, there are probably – I don't want to even put a number on it. There are probably most, a majority of Christians, if we in America or even the Western culture, if we were faced with execution because we believed in Jesus Christ, people would walk away from following Christ.
00:40:12
Speaker
A majority of Christians. They would walk away. They would say, you know what? It's not worth my life. That's insane to say, but that's reality of where we're at is that there are a lot of people who claim to know Christ. They follow, they come to church, but if persecution came in their life, they would go, they don't want to face that.
00:40:33
Speaker
But that's really what, what God is calling here is that we should be able to face those things and face it in faith. Because we know where our future is. It doesn't really matter what happens to our physical bodies, what happens to us. um It doesn't.
00:40:48
Speaker
Our faith is rooted in Christ. And that's what he's talking about with this whole armor of God. So really, when we're talking about this question of how do we fight, how do we combat, it's all about this this armor stuff. And we have to have it all on and prepared every day. Because the darts don't stop. There isn't a time where Satan just goes, you know...
00:41:10
Speaker
Brendan's just had a really rough week this week. You know, he just had some crazy conversation with some guy on a, on a Saturday or a Friday and, you know, a weekend.
00:41:22
Speaker
He just needs a break. You know what? We'll just give him a break. Let him enjoy his sauna. Let him enjoy his his weekend. No, Satan doesn't do that.
00:41:34
Speaker
He never does. um So it is, it is a continuous fight, but, All the power comes from God. He's the one who's sustaining us and carrying us. And so when we're lockstep with him, life is where it should be.
00:41:49
Speaker
When we're trying to run ahead of him or we're or he's trying to drag us along, ah it's it's a struggle. So anyway, that was my long-winded answer.
00:42:02
Speaker
Go ahead, Brendan.
Community Support and Personal Experiences
00:42:04
Speaker
na it's itpa It's thorough. And the only God is necessary people to know. yeah You put it on, friends, and you don't take it off. Nope.
00:42:16
Speaker
Yeah, no, I forgot the question was, hang on. Oh yeah, how do we find the spirit in the spirit realm? Yeah, the armor god's amazing, and prayer is essential. You you also need to have the right people around you.
00:42:35
Speaker
Logan shared earlier, church fellowship has 120 and
00:42:42
Speaker
only a small percentage are actively involved in church life. My fellowship is multiple times smaller than his. Up until a couple hours ago, it was 36, myself included. And I told about a month ago, I'd say, guys, we have events on Wednesdays, we do discipleship, church on Sundays, and then you know occasionally will do day outs, you know, kayak and walk and hike and picnic, whatever.
00:43:16
Speaker
And I just said, some people genuinely have not shown up in a year and half. They're still in group chat. They're not attending any of the fun days. They're not attending any of the Bible teachings.
00:43:32
Speaker
They're not attending worship. um If prayer requests go up in the group chat, no one's praying. Well, I say no one. These people aren't praying.
00:43:43
Speaker
um So about six weeks ago, i said, guys, a big cut is coming, and some of you are on the chopping block. Harking to the sound of my voice.
00:43:55
Speaker
And after a few... instances of giving them a heads up to a parent Sunday, I specifically said, okay, guys, Thursday, heads are going roll.
00:44:06
Speaker
um Because sometimes people work shifts on a Sunday. day i get that. um Wednesday evenings do actually suit some people better than a Sunday. It's a bit mad, considering Sunday is globally seen as church day.
00:44:21
Speaker
um But I would typically rake out bigger numbers on a Wednesday. So I just said, okay, that'll be people's last chance. And if I don't see them by then, adios amigo.
00:44:34
Speaker
And the reality they weren't, we're going to realize they've been kicked out the dash because they clearly had the thing on mute. And then today i just went to the list and I was like, got rid of 13 of them because you need to have the right people in your corner.
00:44:52
Speaker
And... There has to be an element of a shared destiny, shared a support that when you're going through something, these people to stand with you and pray and intercede and speak words of life. Yes, people are at different stages in their journey, but there still has to be a general sense of agreeing go somewhere.
00:45:12
Speaker
i
00:45:15
Speaker
yeah Another way that the enemy can attack people, for instance, would be health. My family had a cancer diagnosis this week. But you know what? I didn't need those 13 people in a church fellowship.
00:45:30
Speaker
Who, if I had posted that, Johnny wouldn't have read it, let alone prayed. So got rid of those and left the ones that actually I know will pray, will intercede, will stand in the gap.
00:45:46
Speaker
And that's a major part of spiritual warfare. um But we also have heavenly help available to us as well. We're not actually in this alone. You know, heaven has an army.
00:45:59
Speaker
They're given many names in the Bible. Luke 2, 13, they're called the heavenly host. That's what I normally call them. And Psalm 29, 1-2, they're called the sons of God.
00:46:12
Speaker
a Job, in chapter 38, verse 7, called them the stars of the morning. Psalm 82.1, depending on the translation, might call them the divine council, the great assembly, heaven's court, heaven's own congregation.
00:46:31
Speaker
the ho They're called the hosts of heaven in 1 Kings 22.19. 1 Kings two later, them spirits.
00:46:42
Speaker
jeremiah twenty three eighteen calls in the council of yahweh And 1 Samuel 1.13 refers to everything that has the breath of life in it more generally and call them hosts.
00:46:54
Speaker
But a host is an army. This is literally the angelic army of heaven. And yeah, when in
00:47:07
Speaker
the example that Logan gave earlier, you had Gehazi, who was a member of the Prophet's Guild. And he did not have faith in God's a ability to save him and the city.
00:47:22
Speaker
And then the prophet said, open your eyes. And suddenly saw the fiery heavenly host and their fiery steams all around. And... You have an instance, let's say in Revelation 19, when Jesus comes back at the end of the Great Tribulation to kill the Antichrist, the false prophet, the ten kings, the armies under them to rescue Israel. um You know, he comes back leading the heavenly host, heaven's army.
00:47:54
Speaker
Jesus comes in a tempest of fire on a white horse with a double-edged sword in one hand, iron scepter the other. but he's leading Heaven's Army. and So Heaven's Army, you're also there fight on behalf.
00:48:08
Speaker
a In fact, the number of attacks that people are actually saved from in a daily basis, it would make your head If people forget one day or one hour,
00:48:29
Speaker
saw the full totality of these spiritual operations around the up operations of heaven and the operations of the empire darkness they would probably go white as a ghost and not leave the beds for a week but but but that even when you do get afflicted by the enemy and it lands It's just the overflow of what's actually coming against you because you've got Heaven's army protecting you and standing in the gap, fighting battles for you when you don't even know it.
00:49:04
Speaker
And so even when I hear an ambulance siren, I'll very often say, Father God, send your heavenly host to make toast of every sickness and affliction and demon coming against that patient right now.
00:49:18
Speaker
May all the traffic lights be green when the ambulance is coming along. And may the gurneys the hospital and the nurses and the doctors be ready. You can pair that over all the emergency vehicles. Another way that I, in particular, tend to do a lot of spiritual warfare is in prophetic dreams.
00:49:40
Speaker
This is something that, to be honest, I've been doing for most of my life. It terrified me when I was younger, though. So actually asked God to make it stop. and he did And he did. then in 2017, I said, OK, God, going be a big boy.
00:49:54
Speaker
Let's do this. Let's do this properly. So, for instance, there are people, you know, who will have dreams of army tanks or soldiers. And yeah, OK, God might be speaking about a literal war coming up in the natural world.
00:50:06
Speaker
But oftentimes he's speaking about spiritual warfare. um And then in that case, you can actually pray, Lord God, I pray that that word be null and void. That the attack of the enemy be stopped.
00:50:20
Speaker
That every demonic blacksmith who's fashioning weapons against me and those in my world, that those weapons will not only not prosper, but they will be dissolved.
00:50:32
Speaker
And the blacksmith's with them. And... Lord God, send your heavenly host to flatten, decapitate, dismember and vanquish every demon coming against me.
00:50:45
Speaker
You can't kill demons, but my goodness, you can make them hurt.
00:50:49
Speaker
i remember when I began prophetically dreaming, I used to dream of snakes a lot. and wolves, and foxes. And in the dream, they would bite my legs.
00:51:00
Speaker
a And I would wake up absolutely terrified, shaking, shivering, covering that ugly, disgusting bed sweat. And I would literally have massive, big, orange, blistery bubbles on my legs where I'd been attacked in the dream.
00:51:17
Speaker
They'd burst, and they would sink deep into the flesh. In the end, one of my legs, on my right leg, actually got infected and my blood turned black from my kneecap down to my toes.
00:51:29
Speaker
um And I did not know what was happening. And then very fortuitously, providentially, one of my aunts sent me a video on getting your soul healed. And I didn't even think I'd told her about this. It was just the hand of God because that would not have been my kind of topic at all. I don't know why she sent it, but I did. It was Holy Spirit.
00:51:53
Speaker
But I couldn't rationalize why it she send to me, of all people. And am this woman was called Katie Suda. She's still alive. She's big in deliverance ministry. And she was speaking about, you know, when the soul is wounded, how the enemy can afflict the soul to afflict you bodily.
00:52:13
Speaker
And the basis was when the Apostle John writes, I pray that your soul prospers. So your physical health prospers and everything in your life prospers. So she went into how you get your soul healed.
00:52:27
Speaker
So I began to pray that, hoping it would work, but maybe thinking, God, is this even normal? This just feels stupid. This is not my normal prayer language at all.
00:52:38
Speaker
And by the grace of God, it worked. And it healed the soul massively and also physically. You can also be attacked by witches and other occult practitioners in dreams.
00:52:55
Speaker
um Because they'll enter the spirit realm. Because the soul has layers. You know, in Daniel, you have... He has a vision of Jesus, the Ancient of Days, sitting on a throne in the end times.
00:53:12
Speaker
And Jesus, the Son of Man, talking to Jesus, the Ancient of Days, about how to kill the Antichrist. You got Jesus talking to Jesus. And both of them are 100% layer of Jesus.
00:53:26
Speaker
In the same way that Logan has a 100% layer of Jesus and Holy whisper Spirit in him, as do I, but they're both still in heaven, they're both still all in you, and they're all around the world, looking for those who are ready to be saved.
00:53:38
Speaker
So in the same way, the human soul has layers. So when you dream, a layer of your soul and spirit can enter into the spirit realm to do spiritual warfare. that We do it as per God's decree and God's initiation, exclusively.
00:53:53
Speaker
But witches and warlocks... do it magically. They do it using the power of the darkness. They will them self themselves into the spirit realm. They call it astral projection.
00:54:07
Speaker
and I remember also having dreams the past um where I saw witches in my workplace speaking against me. And I have to say...
00:54:19
Speaker
It was an absolutely rotten time to be in that job. Now, this is the one that I left back in February. um After years of Logan telling me to, I went until was offered a redundancy package.
00:54:35
Speaker
okay But when first started in it, God would give me these dreams. And ah again, I didn't know what to do with this. I was like, all right.
00:54:46
Speaker
Okay, well, that happened. um And then one morning I said, okay, God, you know what? Screw this. I am leaving that place. So i was on the bus to work, fell asleep.
00:54:59
Speaker
And as I slept, I saw myself holding like a witch corpse. It's not sin i'm saying God killed the woman per se, that's what I saw. And I threw her into the sea.
00:55:11
Speaker
And Holy Spirit said to me, if you say to this mountain, be moved. It will move, it'll be cast into the sea, and it will drown. So I woke up and i was thinking, oh, okay.
00:55:27
Speaker
So was like, in the name of Jesus, I speak to the mountain of witchcraft and that place against me and the spirits of evil that were there before I came. And and I say, I prayed for a job and God gave me this one. Now I was happy to leave it in 2026, but that was beside the point. And before I stepped foot in that foyer, all those demons were gone in Jesus' with name. And I'm glad that no one was sitting down the back the bus with me looking at me. Just put it that way.
00:55:56
Speaker
When I got off that bus and I walked into that foyer, that school, I could tell in the atmosphere something was different, that those demons were gone. that they'd been removed through prayer. And it comes from knowing and using the identity that you have in Jesus Christ.
00:56:19
Speaker
I know of another woman who had a dream, and in her dream, she saw her son driving a car, and the next thing, he lost control, the car is sped off, ah the motorway crashed, and he died.
00:56:32
Speaker
she woke up, she prayed, I think in the dream, I think she... there There was something, maybe either she saw the time it was going to happen or something on the the the speedometer or whatever it was.
00:56:47
Speaker
And he was on that road in the physical driving next day and she prayed for him. And he said at one point he began to lose control of the car. am But the car stopped just before going off the motorway or or the cliff or whatever it was. And his life was preserved.
00:57:08
Speaker
But whether it was his watch or the speedometer, something that he saw was the very same as which his mother had dreamt the night before. And of course she had prayed against it. That it would not end in death.
00:57:20
Speaker
It would end in life for the glory of God. Another one about the armor, which Logan mentioned. i remember being the bus to work. a lot of these dreams were on the bus to work.
00:57:34
Speaker
um And I had a dream and in it the bus driver stood up holding a life jacket. And he just shouted at me and said, four o'clock, put this on.
00:57:47
Speaker
I woke up thinking that bloody cheeky. ah fuck Now i quickly realized that it was an angel because God sends angels to minister to people in dreams and visions. He did the Bible. The Bible never said it stopped.
00:58:00
Speaker
a Some people are like, you know, but that was done. It's not. Find me one Bible verse that says God stops speaking to people. Find me one. hey Job 33 verses 14 to 18 said for God does speak.
00:58:14
Speaker
Sometimes in one way, sometimes in another way. For instance, in a dream, a vision of the night when men are asleep in their beds, um he terrifies them with warnings to turn them from their evil path. That's just one example.
00:58:29
Speaker
And i just said, okay, right. Clearly something's going to happen about four o'clock. So at four o'clock I was in the classroom teaching and I kind of, you know, put on my invisible but but real and life jacket, which of course was the armor of God with the breastplate of righteousness that covers your chest cavity.
00:58:52
Speaker
And nothing happened at four o'clock exactly, which I thought was strange. But at 4.20...
00:58:59
Speaker
One student had a grammar question for me and didn't like my explanation. Well, the day, the work day ended at 4.45. When I tell you, it was the tiniest spark, it ignited a forest fire.
00:59:20
Speaker
And I basically, think I had a room of 15 I think 13 of them, screamed their heads off at me at the top of their lungs For 25 minutes.
00:59:31
Speaker
From 4.20 to 4.45. I have never been happier. To see people walk out of a room. When the working day was done. I fell onto. The chair I was on.
00:59:42
Speaker
And just said. Oh my gosh. What the actual hell was that? And. I almost quit. Over it actually that's how much it disturbed me.
00:59:56
Speaker
But. 20 minutes earlier at 4 o'clock, I'd put on the armor, I'd put on the life jackets, I'd put on the breastplate, and I said, okay, thank you, Dobbs. You did that to preserve me. did that because you want me here.
01:00:13
Speaker
i can face another day. i can do this. um So yeah, for me, a major one for spiritual warfare is dreams. Without either giving heads up or actually warring in the spirit realm.
01:00:28
Speaker
And just know that whether you're praying against the demons or you actually fight them in the dream and you stick a sword in their belly or whatever, they feel it. You cannot kill a demon, but there is no healing for demons.
01:00:40
Speaker
I had another one a few years ago. i One night I'd watched something I shouldn't have watched. And that night i had a dream. and in that dream, I thought I was on a mountain, like a really weirdly shaped mountain.
01:00:53
Speaker
and Kind of like a coiled pattern. But the higher up I got, the mountain began to move. And I was thinking, oh no. So I looked up. It was, do not know how many thousands of meters long.
01:01:07
Speaker
It was actually, was on the body of the snake. And its mouth could have swallowed hundred of me whole in one gulp. But on the snake, there was a phone. You know those old dial-up phones you have to twist the thing around?
01:01:22
Speaker
it was blind. So I knew it was a God thing. So it goes, you know what? So I picked it up and i was like, you know, hello. And a voice says, hi, you that Brandon Thomas Marish? And I said, yes, this is he. Who am I speaking to? Well, Jakers.
01:01:40
Speaker
I just heard, this is the Archangel Michael. Never do that again. And hung up. And even in the Bible, you never see Michael talking to people.
01:01:51
Speaker
Angels talk about him or people catch glimpses of him. You never actually see the Archangel Michael interact with a human. Other angels do. Other angels look like people do. Gabriel does. You never see Michael talk to a human. And I know why. you doesn't have people skills.
01:02:05
Speaker
He's about the army and butchering demons. Loving Jesus, that's basically where his personality ends. um So then I just add all right.
01:02:17
Speaker
And it cut myself on. So with spiritual warfare, you, when you are, when you when you're sinning, let's just call a spade a spade. Let's just use the dirty less word.
01:02:29
Speaker
When you're sinning, you are opening yourself up to all manner of spiritual attack. And infestation. and If you create space for the enemy in your soul, because the soul has layers, the enemy is going to latch onto you.
01:02:50
Speaker
And especially, you know, with strongholds, that's when the enemy throws cement brick at you, and then you add the wet cement, and the enemy throws another brick, and you add more wet cement,
01:03:04
Speaker
And because you've collaborated in the building of stronghold, which means a fortress or or a prison or a castle, demons will dwell in there. And even Christians aren't immune.
01:03:14
Speaker
Your spirit man is 100% saved. Your soul still has issues. That's where sanctification comes in. And the daily outworking of your salvation of your faith.
01:03:27
Speaker
Some Christians don't want to hear that, but here's the thing. You can be a Christian and have a physical ailment. You can be a Christian and get cancer. You can be a Christian andng go blind. You can be a Christian and only have nine fingers. You can be a Christian and have 11 toes.
01:03:43
Speaker
You can be a Christian and funky things can happen. How much more so in the soul, which has so many layers, and especially when you are complicit with darkness through sin.
01:03:56
Speaker
Pornography. Unforgiveness. Hello. No one wants to talk about it, but it's a major one. Being easily offended. Dating the wrong person.
01:04:09
Speaker
um Some people who are just addicted to the drama. And another way that we can fight against the enemy is by using the weapons of warfare that the Bible speaks of.
01:04:26
Speaker
We're told that our weapons are not carnal, but they're powerful, they're mighty, they're amazing. They're are fashioned by the Lord for the tearing down of the Empire Darkness. You know, Isaiah 66, 15 refers to chariots of God.
01:04:43
Speaker
When was the last time you prayed and said, God, send your chariots to assist me? Deuteronomy 28, 28 refers to the Lord and striking the enemy with madness, blindness and confusion of the heart.
01:04:57
Speaker
When was the last time you prayed that against and your spiritual enemies? In fact, my church had an incident recently. where someone was in a court case over something he did not do We knew he was innocent.
01:05:11
Speaker
And we said, God, send madness and confusion. we didn't pray to go blind. he said madness and confusion over the people. Turn the people making the accusations and our barristers and our legal team against each other.
01:05:28
Speaker
Isaiah 14, 23 talks with the broom of destruction. I must declare that one every week. The light of Jesus in John 1, 4-5, because the darkness has not overcome it.
01:05:45
Speaker
Isaiah 11, 4, the breath of God. and Isaiah 30, 20, the waters of affliction. Exodus 9, 9-11.
01:05:59
Speaker
When the last time you prayed that God would strike your spiritual enemies with boils?
01:06:05
Speaker
Judges 3.16. Daggers. a Genesis 3.24. We see the cherubim with the flaming sword. A sword whose blade is made of fire.
01:06:18
Speaker
I pray that one all the time. a lot of people think that the sword or the spirit that they have is just you know pointy spiritual metal. God is not limited to that. He's very creative.
01:06:29
Speaker
I love this one, 2 Kings 13, 17. Lord God, release the arrow of deliverance. Deuteronomy 32, 35. The vengeance of God.
01:06:43
Speaker
Not used against you, but engaged on your behalf. and Similarly with Psalm 59, 13. The wrath of God. That God would guess i would have a holy, righteous anger on your behalf and move on your behalf.
01:06:59
Speaker
Psalm 1813, the frequency of the voice of the Most High God. Psalm 116, I don't know why didn't just put these and order the books they appeared in, just random, that's okay.
01:07:10
Speaker
um The Burning Wind, pray that God sends a burning wind into scorch and torture spiritual foes. Psalm 9111, God's got his spiritual angels all around you, in front, behind, right and left, above, below.
01:07:27
Speaker
Revelation 12, 11, the blood of Jesus is the weapon. Logan already spoke about Ephesians 6, 17, the sword of spirit, which is the word of God. Revelation 4, 5, lightning.
01:07:41
Speaker
i was once doing a deliverance on a woman and I literally asked the demon, you know, Are you one who fell with Lucifer when Jesus threw to heaven him with lightning bolt? Yeah.
01:07:54
Speaker
I said, you got five seconds to leave this chick, I'm going to declare that that lightning bolt comes back to get you again. Five. It just looked at me. Four. No response.
01:08:05
Speaker
Three. It began twitching. Two. began freaking out. One. It screamed. Before I said zero, it left her. Job 9-6.
01:08:18
Speaker
Earthquakes. Sea quakes, air quakes, wherever you think the demon is. Job 9-7. God stops the sun and stars from shining. Declare that that creature lives in darkness and can't see it, can't get you.
01:08:34
Speaker
There's a blanket of invisibility over you, your property, your family. It can't come anywhere near you. Ephesians Prayer. Isaiah 59, 17 refers to wrapping yourself in garments of vengeance, more spiritual clothes, and a robe of divine passion. Logan spoke about how disheartening it is you've got a congregation that passes the 100 people mark and only the faintest, smallest fraction are actively involved.
01:09:07
Speaker
ah You want to declare warfare against the darkness? You need to be passionate about it.
01:09:13
Speaker
Jeremiah 5120. This is one of my favorites. The battle axe of the Lord. Romans 1220. Burning coals. Pray that they get buried beneath a big pile of steaming hot 100 degrees Celsius coals.
01:09:31
Speaker
Or Fahrenheit. Whatever is hot for you guys. 1 Samuel 26, 12, a deep sleep. There are three instances in the Bible I can think of off the top of my head where God would put human humans, whether Adam or and his men, to Holy Spirit's sleep into a slumber. and Why not pray that God does the same to your spiritual enemies?
01:09:56
Speaker
um There are times in Psalms when we're told about the nets of the Lord. You know, Lord throws big nets over them, puts them in fetters, So we have a whole vast artillery of spiritual weaponry.
01:10:11
Speaker
And yet most Christians I know either limit themselves to the armor of gods. In fact, not you even all of them do that. ah Or they just, you know, have...
01:10:23
Speaker
Two fingers in their ears, two their eyes, and walk through life eyes wide shut, basically, pretending that air if they just ig ignore it, they'll all go away.
01:10:41
Speaker
Do you want to weigh in there, Logan, before I give the third question? rest i was thinking I was thinking of two things that I think that maybe people caught. And I think both of them we addressed in our dreams one that we did of this. So um if you haven't watched that, I recommend go back and watch that because it will answer.
01:10:59
Speaker
But i will I will fill in the gaps hopefully here. um the The first thing I thought of was just because every dream that you have does not mean that every dream is from god or is a demonic dream sometimes it you ate pizza and it just messed with you and all of a sudden you started seeing purple cheese or something like that you know it's not it's not always it's not always that way um and with that point i would say not everybody has the gift of dreams and dream interpretation or even having dreams so Just because you have some crazy dream does not necessarily mean that you are under a demonic attack. um I think the way to differentiate that is when you have that fear or the horror or any of that kind of stuff.
01:11:44
Speaker
That's where you might want to consider is this because those those feelings don't come from God. Right. If it's just was like I just had this wild, crazy dream that I can't even remember.
01:11:55
Speaker
Probably wasn't a demonic attack, but if it's something that was sticking with you um for me, I had one where my, I was thinking or dreaming about my friend and I woke up in the middle of the night and I prayed for him and he was at some kind of party because his friend. or he wasn't at the party, but he had to go get a friend from the party and there was guns and knives at the situation. The exact time I was praying, those kinds of things do happen, whether you have the gift or not, because sometimes the Holy spirit will wake you up and go, Hey, there's something you to pray about.
01:12:26
Speaker
ah So that, that, that was the first thing. The second thing, um one of the things that maybe people would misinterpret is thinking that we as Christians can be possessed by demons. Right. And it's not that we are possessed and we are now controlled by demons. It's that by our sin nature, we are afflicted by our sins and the demons will afflict us more and try to beat us down. One of the things that um is such rampant in our culture, even in our Christian culture, is anxiety.
01:12:56
Speaker
Anxiety is not from God. That is not something that comes from God. um That is something that is a complete lie on what is true. And so anxiety, um like you said, it latches to us. it comes into It comes in our sin nature and then it physically starts to mess with us, whether it's by stress or any of those kind of things that we start to be anxious about stuff.
01:13:21
Speaker
um it's It's stuff that we then have to look at our lives and go, okay, is this something I need healing from? Is this something that I need to confess of? Is this something that I need to um repent and give over to God? Because the Holy Spirit will will show you when you start to ask those kinds of questions. um So I don't want you to think that, well, ah you can, the the demons will just take over you and you'll just do all these crazy things like that. And you'll have to go to Brendan for deliverance because, you know,
01:13:53
Speaker
you've got this demon that you're just slapping yourself left and right with. No, no, that's not when you truly have put your faith in Christ, you're not going to be possessed by demons, but you will be afflicted by them. You will have, especially if you're living in sin and you are choosing against what God wills, the demon will get in there and he will make sure he he will do his best to make sure your sin never goes away.
01:14:15
Speaker
And the more agreements and the more, um, big one ah confirmation you make with lies, the more that is entrenched and it's harder to pull out. um Everybody gets hurt by things. we We all have stuff that have been hard. um It's what how we respond to it is really what shows us our character and it shows us where we're at in terms of our walk with God.
01:14:41
Speaker
um When we respond to hurt and we turn to God and we welcome him into it and we embrace him, that's where we can healthily start to overcome some of these issues. When we instead turn to um sin and we turn to pornography, we turn to all these other things that we try to replace with God, that's where that affliction comes from. So I wanted to make sure those distinctions, because ah i I felt like you did a good job of explaining, but that might be some nuanced points that somebody might come back and be like, well, this means this and this. Every dream I have is going to be, ah i am to spiritual battle. There was a giant cheese monster slapping me.
01:15:29
Speaker
That is a great plug for for the show. like you know Go back and watch. We've already split this. I like that. yeah there go life yeah got know it i sure I'm sure we covered it there. No, no, no. It's it's important and it is a good distinction to make. and yeah The enemy wants to oppress you.
01:15:47
Speaker
the person is 100% under the thraw of the enemy and has no sense of their will remaining, And they might call themselves a Christian. They might go to church on Sundays, but that's a person you kind of just sit them down and remind them what the gospel of grace is. Yeah. Yeah. So they're not going get possessed the point where they're totally taken over, but they can absolutely be oppressed.
01:16:10
Speaker
And on that front, let's be honest, a lot of Christians don't want to hear this. And they're like, you know, m demons cannot exist inside the body of a Christian. Well, they shouldn't remain there. I agree with you at that point.
01:16:22
Speaker
But the reality is, you know, you can be a Christian, like I said, and be afflicted in the body, in the natural, the physical. And why not? Might even be what Paul wrestled with, you know? He might have had... Thorne.
01:16:35
Speaker
Yeah, there there was some – there was a one interpretation was that the thorn was – somebody thought. It's a theoretical, but it's putting kind of the way we think nowadays into that. But maybe it was guilt of all the people that he ended up killing or throwing in prison. sentence yeah And that that was the thorn that was latching on to him saying and is accusing him of those kind of things. And that what he would struggle with and say, Lord, take that away. Mm-hmm. And God was like, no, i want you to have that so you can remember who you are and where you came from. Because if you got rid of it, you might start going, well, I'm Paul. I'm an apostle. like I'm the best.
01:17:15
Speaker
So that was some theory I have heard on it. not ah We don't know. And we won't know until we meet him in heaven. but yeah People have different ideas, but i i would think that is one of the likeliest of the suppositions I've heard.
01:17:32
Speaker
um And he just came to me there. I mean, when do you first see thorns in the Bible? In the Garden of Eden, as soon as Adam sinned, Jesus said, I'm cursing the world of the land right now and thorns going to grow up.
01:17:44
Speaker
And so the thorn represents man's shortcoming, man's rebellion. And he... had already been made in the image of Jesus. Then he decided to remake Jesus in his own image. He wanted to be God on man's terms, which, hello, is religion in a nutshell.
01:18:06
Speaker
i You later see thorns on Jesus' head when he took the punishment for every wicked thought that people conjured against him. um So the facts here refers to, of all the things he could have said a thorn in my side,
01:18:22
Speaker
Well, why was he killing Christians? Where can he with Saul? it was religion. It was this religious idea. well I'm a religious... I'm going to say a zealot. I don't mean he was part of the terrorist organization, Zealots and Jesus Take. No, no, no. But I mean he was he was zealous for God as per his Pharisaical understanding. um And he heard other people talking about God differently and couldn't tolerate it.
01:18:49
Speaker
Or wouldn't. So it would make sense that it was a thorn aside based on those religious notions that actually led him to to murder. Yeah. That even a demon was provoking such such thoughts.
01:19:01
Speaker
um But, you know, a lot of Christians don't like the idea that Christians and who can have a demon. um i would like to say i agree, but I've seen far too many Christians with them to do as dispute at this point.
01:19:15
Speaker
But the reality is even in Psalms, you know, David writes, if I descend to shale or shoal, however it's pronounced, which should would be paradise and hell, both of them, there was a collective word, you are there.
01:19:29
Speaker
So Holy Spirit, okay, he's not speaking to people in hell. He's not blessing them. He's not giving them you know spiritual gifts while they burn. But while he's not experientially, tangibly, relationally there,
01:19:44
Speaker
Holy Spirit right now is still in hell. He is in, he's he's everywhere all at once, at all times. i' Not shining his face on them, but it's right there in his arms. So if even he can be in hell while he's everywhere else as well, in the vastness of the macrocosm of reality, how much more could spiritual things latch onto our soul?
01:20:11
Speaker
i and especially with the likes of them strongholds. We're told not to give the enemy a foothold.
01:20:21
Speaker
Why not? Because becomes a stronghold very easily. And what is a stronghold? It's when yeah the enemy throws cement bricks at you, attacks, words, lies, bullying, and accusations, and you, by having bad doctrine,
01:20:41
Speaker
by not knowing or using the authority that you have in Christ, and by being carnal, by living fleshly, soulishly rather than spiritually, you have your cement mixer and you're applying the wet cement and effectively you're collaborating and building a stronghold, a fortress for the enemy, me and it's not neutral. The humans move in. and then And they have their permission to stay there because you are complicit in building it.
Beliefs, Strongholds, and Overcoming Darkness
01:21:10
Speaker
and That can look like your parents tell you that you're good for nothing. You tell yourself, yeah, you're right. I am crap.
01:21:22
Speaker
I am a waste of space. Other people tell you, you know, I hate you. And you're like, no one likes me. People say i was fine before you. I'd be better off without you You get a job and you think, okay, I'm going to start making money. This will change everything.
01:21:37
Speaker
You're fired. You lose the job. And you become friends with someone and then they abandon you or they use and abuse your heart. People say that no one likes it, yada, yada, yada.
01:21:49
Speaker
And you develop this prison gets built up within you for I've had this. I had it for years and years and years. It was based on rejection. I rejected of my life, wherever wherever I went, when I went looking for it, when I didn't.
01:22:04
Speaker
When people wanted to accept me, I rejected myself and distanced myself because I didn't believe that they could love me, that the love could be sincere, could be legit.
01:22:16
Speaker
Um... If God sent people to me to be a blessing, i had one foot out of the relationship before they could push me out. That way I could kind of cushion the fall or say, which is a lie, well, I didn't need them anywhere and and and I don't even care because because because good cause because youre because you cause cause you're you're stupid.
01:22:36
Speaker
All the while I was bleeding on the inside. And then what can also happen is one stronghold can lend itself to another stronghold.
01:22:48
Speaker
A lot of Christians i meet believe that most of their sins have been forgiven. But not all of them. They believe that the easy to fix one, the easy to explain, the easy to sweep away. Wow.
01:23:01
Speaker
Okay, fair enough. Maybe Jesus took them on himself. But actually the ones that when you think about you still cringe. When you think about them you still struggle to fall asleep at night.
01:23:13
Speaker
When you think about them you say, oh my goodness, I could never share that with anybody. When you think about them, you hate yourself, you hurt yourself because you feel you deserve to be punished.
01:23:25
Speaker
You don't actually believe that your sin has been hidden in Christ Jesus. And you actually think that there's like a... It's still recorded in the Book of Deeds in heaven on the Day of Judgment. God will be reading it out for everybody.
01:23:41
Speaker
and These are people who don't believe in the finished work of the cross. They believe in the resurrection, the crucifixion to an extent. not in its totality. And if you're a Christian who does not believe in the finished work of the cross, what will happen?
01:23:59
Speaker
Well, if you don't believe literally the thing that saves you, you're going to find it pretty darn easy to read the word of God and find other things not to believe in. Your unbelief will become very, very well, as I will,
01:24:13
Speaker
can um become very liberal and extensive. Suddenly anything you read that you don't like, that's not true. didn't apply to me. Well, I prayed that didn't happen.
01:24:26
Speaker
And then because you have distrust in the Lord, what happens? People start doubting their identity in Christ. If you can't trust this one thing, well, then maybe the old is not gone and the new has not come.
01:24:42
Speaker
Maybe God hasn't really mediated me to himself through Jesus Christ. Maybe my name is not written to man's book of life.
01:24:54
Speaker
If you do not know who you are in the Lord, you will settle for every single intrusive thought that Logan spoke about that the enemy sends your way. When you do know who you are in Christ, you will fight against it. You will say, bind that in the name of Jesus. I don't tolerate that. I rebuke that. I refute that. Get behind me, Satan.
01:25:14
Speaker
But actually, if you don't know who you are in Christ, you'll just say, well, this this is who I am. they love it is what it is.
01:25:24
Speaker
Then what happens? Well, when the enemy speaks because you're not fighting against it, you're going to give in to it. Whether that's a pornography addiction. I know we you probably heard the word pornography more in the last hour than you've ever heard of your wife. But the reality is it affects most men and women that I've ever met. So let's just call spade a spade being and be honest.
01:25:46
Speaker
Or people will turn to ah substance and they'll use, misuse and abuse it to try to nullify the pain and make the pain go away. That doesn't happen, so people will still crave that spiritual experience. That's when they turn to the occult.
01:26:05
Speaker
The enemy might lay off that person superficially while they're serving in the occult. When they try to get it back away from it, that's when the fear comes.
01:26:17
Speaker
What's the biggest fear people have? Premature death. And all of a sudden, your soul looks like hell. All of a sudden, your soul you're walking around all these layers upon layers upon layers of strongholds.
01:26:32
Speaker
And the enemy is not neutral. And, you know, you feel like you've got a heartburn. Hello. I wonder why. um you feel restless, like you can't sleep, like there's no rest. and There's no relief.
01:26:47
Speaker
And that's because you're carrying all these things around, and every single one of those buildings is housed. So... Spiritual warfare, it's no joke. It's deadly serious, and I mean deadly serious. It is a matter of life and death.
01:27:03
Speaker
And even if you're not, even if you don't want to be in the fight on account of being a human being, you are in it. And God is love.
01:27:15
Speaker
And love is kind. Love keeps no records of wrong. All the wedding Bible verses in 1 Corinthians, love always trusts. God is love. God trusts you to win.
01:27:29
Speaker
God trusts you to push back the empire of darkness in your world, in your time. But despite the trust God has you, question three. hu There's still a lot of Christians who don't want to go there.
01:27:47
Speaker
So Logan, based on your experience of church culture and fellowships, Why has there been resistance, and I'm talking and got to God's kids now, to spiritually warring?
01:27:58
Speaker
And what have the consequences of this been?
01:28:03
Speaker
So why do you think there's resistance to spiritual warfare in the body of God's mind? think there there is an element of lack of training.
01:28:15
Speaker
okay I think there is't there is a there's a that is a heavy problem. I think... um I think there there was a generation 40 years or so ago that I think we talked about salvation as a get out of jail free card. And that's the way most people see it.
Church Resistance and Christian Training
01:28:36
Speaker
you know i we I ran into one of um my mom's cousins. And um even in our conversation, he brought up, well, I got saved when I was seven back at this church because we were just talking about stuff.
01:28:51
Speaker
He doesn't live for Christ. Like, that this guy yeah votes Democrat. Not saying Democrats are all sinners. That's not what I'm saying, but... but Approves of the life approves of the of the evil lifestyle kind of stuff. And all of this. And so i think that's why even as you were talking about, it's called a walk of faith because it is step by step following what God wants, not what you want.
01:29:23
Speaker
Once we start to remove that cornerstone, the cornerstone that is the gospel of Jesus Christ, that he died for you, that you can trust him with your life. Once you remove that cornerstone, that's where the devil will try to fill every single thing into your life.
01:29:40
Speaker
And that's where you build all of those strongholds is off the fact that you remove the cornerstone. Even as as you watched, if you were watching this on YouTube and you were seeing Brendan walk through each of those things, it that's what it is. It's removing that foundational piece. You remove the foundational piece The thing crumbles.
01:30:00
Speaker
with without Without Jesus Christ and what he did, there is no way we can stand against any demonic force or power that comes into our lives. yeah Period.
01:30:10
Speaker
Without him. So that's where, um why is there such a resistance to it? Why is there, why are people not? fighting spiritual warfare, it's because they don't have the cornerstone. They don't have Christ as their cornerstone. They don't have it rooted in their faith. um One of the things that I'm going to try to do, and I'm not sure ah what group I'm going to do this with, but i'm hopeful hopefully I'll be able to do it with our youth group, is this, it's a three stages. And it starts with, it's a training program of what do you need to know about being a Christian?
01:30:48
Speaker
what do you What is the knowledge part? um And I think i think that's not something that's something, for the most part, the church has done really well, is that we have explained, here's the things you need to know.
01:30:59
Speaker
Now, there is a difference when we're talking about knowing. It actually has to sink a little further than just right up here. There are a lot of people who are unbelievers who know a lot about Jesus, they know a lot about the Bible.
01:31:14
Speaker
They know and can answer all the questions and can tell you exactly what the story is about. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about what is the things that you actually need to know to follow Christ.
01:31:27
Speaker
What is the steps? What are the lifestyle? What is the walking? How does that even look? What is it even... feel like? How do you even do that? I think that's the stuff that um on Sunday mornings we give glimpses of, right? We give on on our messages, whether it's Sundays or Wednesdays, we give glimpses of what walking like Jesus does. We give these these pictures and we maybe give a step or two, but there's never a time where we fully go into
01:31:59
Speaker
this is everything that you need to get there because a lot of people, they don't need to know everything. They need to know a step at a time. However, if you don't go to church or you miss, you miss a lot. that's That's true. so um But this this thing goes through knowing is the first book is, what are the things I need to know to truly be saved? What are the things I need to know about God? I need to know about the universe. I need to know about me. What is my identity? um The things that we have to to know that is actually true and is from God's word.
01:32:31
Speaker
And then it moves from not just knowing, now you need to grow. What are the things that need to change in my life? What are the things that are wrong What are the things that are bad? What are the things that are good that I need to encourage? Why um why is it that these desires I have may be for um ah alcohol substance or pornography or any of these desires I going say in porn again. I was trying to dance around it, but I was like, we'll just go there.
01:33:02
Speaker
and No need to dance around it. Everyone knows where I'm going. But why are these desires and coming from? And what is – because like we've talked about, evil is not a thing in and itself.
01:33:14
Speaker
Where are these desires coming from that I – that's the thing I need to actually redeem, I need to fix? Because there is a good desire that you are not currently being fulfilled, and so you're trying to fulfill it with something that's bad.
01:33:27
Speaker
um So that growing section. And then the third part, and this is the part that I think a lot of Christians, but we have a lot of baby Christians. um They're either, a they're they're saved and they've lived for 40 years and they've learned nothing and they've done nothing and they've grown nowhere.
01:33:48
Speaker
My thinking when I see those, I question whether they're actually saved, but I don't get to answer whether you're going to get into heaven or not. That's not me. But um a lot of baby Christians in terms of they don't feel confident enough to be able to go.
01:34:02
Speaker
And that's where the third part comes in is going. Because your next step is not now you are the person who are encouraging and influencing another person.
01:34:12
Speaker
You are the person who's going and sharing the gospel. You are the person who um has to fight the fight every day. You have to go now. It's not just that you get to sit and soak under Logan's teaching or Brendan's teaching or any of those.
01:34:28
Speaker
You are now responsible to go and teach someone else. It's the passing of the torch. um And that's the part that is completely lacking in our day and age. um I know you've talked about it. I've talked about it.
Faith, Persecution, and Church Growth
01:34:40
Speaker
There is a lot of things that I have learned that no one ever taught me.
01:34:46
Speaker
I had to learn the hard way to do it. Yeah. And that's in ministry. And um I had to learn how to do it because nobody came along and said, Hey, Logan, you shouldn't do it this way. In fact, there are some people who who, when they did that was later on. And I wish they would have just told me at the beginning that said, Hey, don't do it this way.
01:35:07
Speaker
um Because there's, there's a lot of that, that there's not enough people going that they can train more people. And so that's why it's so imperative that with Brendan's ministry and with any ministry I've done is we try to do our best to help that going process work to enable and equip people so they can actually go and do the same thing. Because at the end of the day, this is this is the brutal, honest truth.
01:35:33
Speaker
Logan and Brendan are not gonna be here forever.
01:35:39
Speaker
Do that in Jesus' name.
01:35:48
Speaker
And just when he said that, he froze. It's almost like he just died that moment of God raptured. In
01:35:58
Speaker
the name of Jesus, come back, Logan. but Hey, he's back! I should probably continue where I left off. No, that that was the really ominous part you just said.
01:36:10
Speaker
What did I say? When Logan won't be here forever. And then he just disappeared. It was like you got Rob Strader died. Yeah. yeah Anyway, connections. youine Connections working again. Brandon wants to do some editing there, but we're not go be we're not. Yeah. I should have just ended it right there. That's the end of the podcast. We're going be here forever. Beep. No. Uh, we're not going to be here forever. We're not, we're not, we're not, our, our physical bodies aren't going last forever.
01:36:38
Speaker
Our eternal beings will, but we're not going to be here on earth at forever. And so
01:36:44
Speaker
we, there are people who will come and they will do what they, they will carry the scriptures forward. And so our job is to always be equipping the next generation, no matter what we're doing, always helping the next group to be able to share the gospel. Because it doesn't stop with Brendan. It hasn't stopped with Logan. It won't stop with either of us. This is this is a message that comes from the God and creator of the universe.
01:37:10
Speaker
It is a message that has gone on for thousands of years and will continue as long as he wants it to continue. Great, Zach. It doesn't end. It doesn't end with us. um One of the things that I was really, this is one of the things we were talking before about how I sort of kill group chats. And this was, this was a specific topic that I killed a group chat on. There was a guy who was like, man, if we just run into this world where ah the government can just view you all the time and they just can hear you talk about the scriptures and then all of a sudden you're on a jury and then you could be executed for preaching the gospel and maybe we should just move to a different country right now because we don't, I'm afraid of that. And I was just like,
01:37:54
Speaker
No, I'm not moving. Dude, I got a podcast. I'm screwed anyway. So if they if they want bad words about following Jesus Christ, I'm done. I'm cooked already. All right, it's over. But regardless, I'm not running away from a place where God has called me to live and to share the gospel with people because the gospel won't die out with me.
01:38:17
Speaker
It won't. It isn't about me. It has never been about me, and it will continue to not be about me. It's about Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ lives. And even if it comes through um my testimony on a, on a trial and I'm going to be executed, people will see my faith and have seen people's faith in execution that they accept Christ after that.
01:38:43
Speaker
So there are people around the globe where the church is growing, where persecution is happening. Persecution doesn't stop the church. Technology isn't going to stop the church.
01:38:55
Speaker
None of Satan's schemes are going to stop the church from growing. The only person who can stop the church is Christ and he's not going to stop it. So it it doesn't end with us. So, um but at the same time, our goal is to to make ourselves replaceable and to treat, to train people so that it keeps going.
01:39:14
Speaker
um Because The Holy Spirit will convict and work in hearts and lives and he will grow it. Our job is to be faithful in sharing it and to do our best to train.
Conclusion and Future Content
01:39:26
Speaker
um And i I think just to to wrap up the question, I think that's the the crux of it is it's a lack of training and it's a lack of faith. And um both of those things make me wonder if that group of people are even truly believers.
01:39:45
Speaker
If you can go your life and not really believe in Jesus and and it not move you to change or to grow or to do anything and just sit around, I would question that you're just there for getting out of jail free card and you are there.
01:40:03
Speaker
Jesus says multiple times. Many will say to me, Lord, Lord, in that day. um And I will have to say them, I i didn't know you. know who you are or when he says um that there are are some who i will say ah you cared for me when i was naked and sick and afraid and all of these things and they say lord when did we do when did you do that when when were you there and he said when you did it to the least of these um and there are some that never did it to anyone because it was all about them and so i think that faith part is is important i think um
01:40:44
Speaker
I think it's always contagious when we live by faith that people start to see that. And there will be people who will cling to that and go, you know, they're right. I need to live that way.
01:40:55
Speaker
And that's the Holy Spirit working in them. So I think that's really the reason why the people don't fight in spiritual warfare. It's it's distraction. It's busyness. That's what people say on the on the face of it. But it's really about faith and it's about not not being confident or Reliant on God and not being willing to take a risk because spiritual warfare is risky um and it is difficult and it is hard.
01:41:21
Speaker
um But God gives this grace and the sustaining for it. So anyway, that that's my long winded answer. the Good answer. a Good answer.
01:41:33
Speaker
Yeah, no, I would agree with that. Great deal. That's I would say.
01:41:40
Speaker
In my experience, there are churches who they don't want to be messy. They like the control. And I'm talking
01:41:55
Speaker
talking about Pentecostal churches now. The charismatic churches. The ones who are all like, you know, oh gifts of Holy Spirit, fruit of Holy Spirit, who Holy Spirit, those are spiritual things happen.
01:42:08
Speaker
And Yeah, maybe it's some of them. But I've found far too many leaders of such fellowships for my liking to respond to other Christians with the harsh lash of the tongue whenever spiritual warfare comes up or it comes to people being set free and free indeed.
01:42:31
Speaker
And a lot of people, no matter what denomination they call themselves, no matter what label they slap on themselves, No matter what the organization they belong to, um who they're relying on for tithes, offerings, gifts, or support,
01:42:50
Speaker
a a lot of them don't actually want mess. If you start talking about demons in a way, you know, casting them out or praying for people or to see people set free, even if it's set free from, like, you know, physical ailments, you know, spiritual warfare,
01:43:07
Speaker
It's not always the oogity-boogity, the la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la, vomiting and puking up pink and orange stuff. Sometimes it's just that someone has been given a bad diagnosis or a lie was told about them and now they're in a court case being accused of things that are shameful to even speak of. and All falsely.
01:43:28
Speaker
That's spiritual warfare too. And there are churches who, they don't actually have any faith in prayer, not really, in the power of prayer. and And a lot of them are afraid and and they'll say, oh well, you know, to be very careful with door you open.
01:43:43
Speaker
Well, that's good advice. But if your motivation behind saying that it's fear, don't say it to me. We're supposed to be people of faith. a a lot of people just don't want the mess. They don't want the chaos.
01:43:59
Speaker
They know how many worship songs they want sung and they know what minute on the clock they want worship to end. They know how many Bible verses they want to give in their sermon.
01:44:12
Speaker
and Sorry, motivational speech. Motivates nobody. and But the one or two Bible verses just kind of Christianizes the motivational speech. um They know the kind of things that they're okay with praying at their front and how they want to pray for them.
01:44:29
Speaker
They know how they've not wanted people praying. They know what gifts they want in operation normally. pastoring and generosity you know from the the tithers but um but nothing really beyond that um unless it's you know um people who've been generous with their time enjoying the cleaning team or kids church and ministries that no one else wants to do but um yeah i a big part of it is is
01:45:02
Speaker
people have a bid for control for the optics. They like the man-made control far too much.
01:45:13
Speaker
And once you bring the Holy Spirit into it, things are going to go, conversely, to your plan. think it was just two Sundays ago, maybe three, i had a Bible teaching prepared on Absalom and was breaking his story into four parts because there's so much in it and i remember it was going to part three which I think I have i think I mislabeled this on him the Zencaster platform as Absalom part two or four but it is part three and someone began sharing a testimony and I just said you know what
01:46:00
Speaker
I actually feel no Holy Spirit impression to pigeonhole the sermon into the Sunday. And next thing, someone when else had a testimony. Someone a testimony. Someone else had testimony. These four praying. These four are praying. Another testimony.
01:46:12
Speaker
And I just said, God, what you're doing right now is far superior to how I could remotely make this look. If I just tried to like, it's a Sunday. We're going to do what we do every Sunday. If you do the same thing every Sunday, as something's wrong.
01:46:30
Speaker
Put that way. Will the Holy Spirit give you certain divine strategies and formulate? Yeah, sure. But the needs are different every time you meet. the um The people are different to some degree.
01:46:44
Speaker
And therefore what he wants addressed and how wants it addressed, it's going to change. There'll be some amount of sameness. But if you're literally following the same protocol all the time, something is way off.
01:46:56
Speaker
He should surprise you and you should be open to being surprised and open to letting him lead the meeting however you want to do it. So, yeah. I think another big one is man-made control.
01:47:08
Speaker
Yes, definitely. Yeah. yeah i think we're going to have to stop calling these debates because we agree on that. We'll start a Bible discussion. Yeah. and Might have to be just discussions. Or or we just say debates and then they have to watch because they're like, what do they know each other about? all different side All of a sudden, they realize we didn't yell at each other. But we got them to click, so... and then the camera goes off.
01:47:37
Speaker
When you said that, what did you mean? Were you speaking against me, you twerp? but Yeah. Now, guys, listen, we appreciate you tuning in, and if you're still here to the end of the video, we especially appreciate you.
01:47:53
Speaker
ah We know that this is a big topic. It's a vast topic. It is so multi-layered. don't know how long we've been recording for now, but obviously we could have looked at this another 10 or 20 ways.
01:48:07
Speaker
But let us know what your thoughts are from Dublin to Cleveland at gmail.com or if you're watching this on YouTube in the chat box. and What are your thoughts? a Have you had any experiences of this?
01:48:20
Speaker
When the enemy comes against you, how do you pray? This all something that is so utterly, incredibly brand new and you've never heard people talk like this before. And it's something you'd like to hear us talk about it again.
01:48:34
Speaker
In more detail, actually know breaking it down with no assumption that there's a presumed baseline of knowledge out there already, but to start from scratch. um Are there any other topics best that you think are really meaty and juicy and controversial in the body of Christ that ah you would like us to touch today? Let us know all your thoughts. We don't hear from you as much as we would like to, but when we do hear from you, you always have fun observations and questions, which we appreciate. So, um yeah.
01:49:08
Speaker
You want finish us off, Broski? Yeah, definitely. Thank you all for listening. You'll hear from us again soon. It might not be next week. I will be away at a board game convention. So that will be, ah if you have any prayers, that's also my shout out. We're going to a board game convention, so it's going to be great fun. um And yeah, it's it'll be good. So that's that's where I'll be next week, but we'll probably be back the week after. i will make one this week, actually, because of what's happening in Battle House at the moment. That's true. So you're burning people. So I will and not because it's the summertime because, well, can't do it the winter when you'll find it in the next video.
01:49:49
Speaker
but but yeah I'm not going to go on a run. I will just tune into the next one. yeahp Yep. Yep. To the next one. So Brendan will be in between and then I'll be back after that. So we'll.
01:50:03
Speaker
My intention is to get into a ah better flow of what where we've been. um i f we have high numbers to be able to commit to it a little bit more. And yeah, we can't be any worse. So thank you for sticking along for the ride with us. We don't deserve anybody listening to us anymore. um In fact, these should probably be things that we just are saving for our children so that we can be like, here, we don't have to talk about it to you in person. Just play.
01:50:33
Speaker
as they're in their crib or something. I don't know. But, uh, yeah. Okay. Yeah. They'll go right to sleep. Hey, even Sam a says that the infant can chase the way to phone the Avenger. I declare it yes lords Yes, indeed. So, um so yeah, thank you so much for listening. um Again, if you want to continue to support us so that we can continue to do this more frequently, um and maybe even doing live shows and stuff, we would love if you would buy hats and buy those kind of things because that really helps us to be able to know... that there is a market for this and that people want to keep listening to us. So that's the kind of stuff that you can do to help us to make these more frequently. Cause there's, there's a ton of technological stuff that we have to upgrade and do better. I know my camera probably looks terrible. If you ever watch this on, on YouTube, but all of these kinds of things that we could do and upgrade, we just need the money for it. So if you're willing to to donate or buy hats, that's a ah great way to support us. So, Thank you all for joining. Thank you all for listening. Hopefully we've been encouraging to you and also challenging that you might want to be thinking about some of the spiritual warfare and walking by faith because that's really the the key thing that we want you to do is if you don't know Christ, to know him. If you do know Christ, to walk with him and grow more like him every day.
01:51:56
Speaker
So thank you all for listening. We'll see you all next time. Bye, friends. There you go, guys.