Welcome to the For the Gospel Podcast, where we are all about sound doctrine for everyday people. My name is Kasti Hinn, and I am your host. And on today's episode, I want to dig into the topic of spiritual warfare and help you better understand it and think through it in some ways that maybe you've never thought about it before. Whatever your stage, when we dig into key doctrines and key theological topics like this, it is for the purpose of strengthening our faith and enhancing our view of God so we can better worship him and better bring him glory. And I want to start off with a question. When it comes to spiritual warfare, did you know that spiritual warfare is a battle for your mind? People often think that spiritual warfare is the devil showing up at the foot of your bed one night with a pitchfork and red horns and a pointy tail, you know, saying, Here I am to deceive you, or it's built like a horror film scene and you're going to be scared out of your mind, and that is spiritual warfare. But I want you to think about this critically for a moment. He's smarter than that. So are his demons. They're much more subtle than that. Think about this. Do you really think the enemy would rather scare you like a horror film? Or wouldn't he rather enter your life unnoticed, infiltrate your thinking, control your habits, build your worldview and shape it through the culture, and even control your emotions without making a big deal about the kind of demonic influence he's having over your mind and therefore your life. Like the snake that he is. The devil's strategy is to lie unnoticed and camouflaged and then, like a snake, strike over and over and over and over again in ways that paralyze people. The solution to his mind games is first to realize that spiritual warfare is a battle for the mind. He knows that the way you think is linked to what you will believe, and what you believe is going to lead to convictions and dictate how you live. And so he goes for the way that we think. The Bible says that he blinds the minds of the unbeliever. Time and time and time again, the Bible calls Christians to be sober-minded because a sober mind is the key element to winning spiritual warfare. And so, first to understand what spiritual warfare is, we've got to go to God's word and see what it says about what Satan is trying to do. Think of this Romans 12, 1 and 2 says, basically, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercy of God, to present your bodies as living holy sacrifices. Paul then calls it our spiritual service of worship, but verse 2 is really what I'm driving at here. Do not be transformed by the world or conform to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. The Bible calls Christians to have a renewed mind, because that is the key element that Satan is trying to attack when it comes to spiritual warfare. And so the enemy's way of thinking is lies, gossip, sin, fear, calamity, horror, not dwelling on what Paul calls in Philippians 4, 8, and 9, whatever is true and right and pure and lovely and good. The Christian's way of thinking is to reflect the wisdom of God. That's why Colossians 3.16, we're told to let the word of Christ dwell within us richly. Why? Because when God's word is flooding our lives, we have a fighting chance when it comes to spiritual warfare because there's not really a lot of room left for Satan's lies. And this is really different than what self-proclaimed spiritual warfare experts are going to tell you. A lot of times you'll hear people say that there is a spirit of this and they need to cast it out of you, or a spirit of this and they need to cast it out of you. And so you've got different kind of silly names for different spirits now. I'm not sure. Maybe you've heard some of this, but there's a squid spirit. I'm not being funny. There really is people that say there's the squid spirit. There's the spirit of Jezebel, they call it. There's the spirit of Ahab. I remember that one really well. Anytime somebody was being divisive or like a husband and wife in the church were causing trouble growing up, uh, there was we would uh declare that they had the spirit of Ahab and Jezebel, and we needed to cast it out of them. Well, there was one that was really discouraging and downright grieving to my heart recently. I was looking at some different teaching and what different people in certain uh theological streams like the New Apostolic Reformation teach about spiritual warfare. And there was one teacher who recently said, if you are grieving for years over the loss of a loved one, you have a spirit of grief and you need to cast it out. I, as a pastor, took that personally. I thought, what a heaping load of spiritually abusive garbage. I just thought of it as a trash pile of information that is so abusive to the thinking of genuinely hurting, grieving people. And the reason I took it so personally is because we've just buried two kids at our church this last year, ages 12 and 13. Just up the road, a pastor we know lost his five-year-old son. I've got a dear friend who lost his wife just a couple years into their marriage recently. And some of these precious saints are gonna grieve for years, even their whole life. My friends who have lost children say it's like losing a limb. You never really get used to it not being there. You just sort of learn to live with it for now. It still feels like it's there many days. You even try to use it or acknowledge it many times. They wake up uh imagining that their child or their loved one is still there. Grief may go on for your entire life when you lose a precious child. And so, for someone to attribute grieving over the loss of a loved one for a very long time to having a demonic spirit, you need to turn that person and turn that thinking off. People make money trying to gain authority as an expert on spiritual warfare by making things up. So episodes like this are necessary so we can go back to the Bible and see how simple spiritual warfare is. It's a battle for your mind. And interestingly enough, it is spiritual warfare when people teach crazy things like that because they are trying to infiltrate your mind, and whether they know it or not, if they're preaching falsely, they're being used by the enemy to infiltrate the minds of people with poisonous lies, which is why the devil is called in the Bible the father of lies. That's what he breeds. So when you hear someone teaching falsely, they are doing what the enemy wants them to do. Go back to the Bible. That's what we need to do. And so a Christian protects their mind, knowing that is really where spiritual warfare is fought. But this presents uh a massive turn in our episode, and I have to address it. I was thinking about this as I was preparing for this episode, and how much people don't protect their minds. And I want to address three things that are huge attacks on the minds of our generation, and surprise, these are nothing new. The enemy has been using these areas of life and culture to assault people for millennia. I'm talking about the influence of darkness through controlling people's minds, and I'm not talking about silly sci-fi mind control or some conspiracy theory. I'm talking about three key areas. They are number one, the abuse of alcohol. It alters the mind, it alters the body, it poisons the thinking. I'm talking about the use of drugs, and I'm talking about sexual immorality and the abuse of things like pornography. When it comes to spiritual warfare, there is an element of mystery per se, in that you can't see what is happening in the unseen realm. But there's no mystery when it comes to this truth. If you give your mind over to the influence of some other power outside of God's power and God's word, you are trading in your sober-mindedness and you're playing Russian roulette with Satan's influence, period. This is again why the Bible calls people to be sober-minded, including pastors and church leaders to be sober-minded, because how can you lead and love and teach and protect the flock of God if your mind is constantly under the influence of other things? Peter tells Christians in 1 Peter 5, 8 and 9, be sober-minded, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him firm in your faith. This isn't some boogeyman, you know, scary, doom and gloom episode where I'm threatening you and saying, well, if you don't, the devil's gonna get you. The Bible says this: protect your mind because the devil is looking for inroads to it. So resist him by being firm in your faith. Titus 2.12 says it this way that we need to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and live self-controlled. Self-control in the mind is so key. Titus 2.6, Paul tells uh the younger men that they're gonna need to be self-controlled and tells Titus to urge them to be self-controlled. This is why sober-mindedness is one of the qualifications of elders in the church, as I've already said, church leaders must be sober-minded. Ephesians 5.18, we're told don't get drunk with wine, but be filled with the spirit. Why? Well, because the influence of alcohol and drunkenness is going to cause you to open your life up to dark ways of thinking and dark behaviors. And that's not rocket science. Look around the world. Even unbelievers will say drinking alcohol excessively and doing certain things leads to crazy behaviors. This is why there's even phrases like people will say, you know, I got I know some guy likes to booze it and lose it. People get drunk, they drive, they hurt people, people get in fights when they're drunk, people say things when they're drunk. There is a reason why drunkenness is associated with those types of behaviors because the mind is no longer under control in a proper way. It is under the control of a substance that is causing it to do harm. This is why it is not legalistic for me to touch on these three areas alcohol, drugs, and sexual immorality. Things like pornography. It's not legalism to tell someone to steer clear of getting drunk, it's love. It's not legalism to tell someone that smoking weed and hitting their mind with the effects of THC removes sober-mindedness. That's love. I was looking at a study done recently by the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. So this isn't like a theological uh pontification, some hypothesis I'm throwing out there. These are actual studies done by unbelievers that proved it only takes about seven milligrams of THC to alter your mind and get high. And since the average joint contains about 300 milligrams of marijuana, which leads to inhalation of at least 12 milligrams and more if you go through a bong or a vaporizer, getting high is pretty much guaranteed when you're smoking marijuana. And getting high is not harmless to your spiritual sober-mindedness or even your physical sober-mindedness. Your body, your mind are being altered. You're altering your mind, and now you're under the influence of something else. Paul is so serious about this in the New Testament, again, Ephesians 5.18, pressing in that we should be filled with the Holy Spirit. He wants Christians to be sober-minded, living spiritual lives fixed on Christ and the Holy Spirit and God the Father and his attributes to fight the spiritual war that is waging, to go to God's word. Anything that gets you high or drunk or alters your mind to the degree that you're not thinking clearly is outside of God's design for your health. And which leads to obviously a point about pornography. There are also studies that have shown the effects of pornography on the brain and on the body. Actions of violence, actions of sexual abuse linked to the use of pornography. Do you think that that is God's design? Do you think God's design is for his daughters, for women made in his image, to act out pornographic behavior and to be abused at the hands of men? No. And this is something that is common to our culture and every single person right now who's listening. We have all been touched by the effects of pornography. And Satan is having his heyday when we downplay it, excuse it, or we don't confess it. That is something that plays with the mind. And going back real quick to marijuana, just to make sure this point is clear, there's some people now that say, well, since it's legal, Costi, you can't say that this is a sin issue. This is just a Christian liberty issue. No, it's not, because my point isn't really about legalities. And the point of any study that's been done is not about legalities. It is the point of THC and the chemical process that takes place when you do what you do to create a joint. Did you know that no one's really arguing about going out and eating a plant that's in the wild? The people that are really having this debate are people that are talking about marijuana with its active ingredients. Ingredients like THC, CBD, CBG, that don't naturally present themselves in marijuana, but they come as a result of a chemical process. And so to say that, you know, well, I'm just gonna do the edible argument, well, nobody puts marijuana in brownies to make them taste better. Otherwise, all the restaurants would be serving those and everyone would prefer that for their dessert. People engage marijuana in order to alter their state of mind or their state of feeling with their body. And there's lots of nuance and arguments that people like to make about medicine and this, that, and the other, and their depression and their anxiety. And so we need to go back to the Bible on that. You don't go to drugs to deal with anxiety, you don't go to drugs to deal with your pain. You go to the Lord and his word. That's not to say that you can never take an ibuprofen or an advil for a headache. I'm talking about deep pain, the kind of pain that people go through when they say, I need strong drugs to escape the mental agony I'm going through. I don't want to think right now. And so they give their lives over to drugs in order to not feel any longer. First Peter 5 7 says, Cast all your anxieties on him, for he cares for you. Jesus wants those burdens. He wants you to hand them over to him, not hand your mind over to drugs to escape what he wants to come in and do spiritual heart surgery on. And so people turn to alcohol, they turn to marijuana, they turn to pornography over and over and over again. And what's happening is what even science has proven, which is basically what God has already said he's designed and made clear in the way that our bodies function, science just keeps proving over and over and over again that God was right and that we are made incredibly by an intelligent designer, not a big bang theory. Neuroscience studies have shown that the transmission of dopamine and an oversaturation of that brain chemical facilitates depression and anxiety. Well, guess what? Dopamine is released and activated in heavy quantities through pornography, drugs, getting high. And dopamine was actually designed by God in our bodies to occur naturally through healthy things like eating protein or exercise or sleeping well, listening to music. That's why sometimes you hear a song, you're like, oh yeah, I love this song. Makes me feel so good. Well, that's because God designed music to lift the spirit or and sometimes express yourself. Just look at the Psalms. Even sunlight exposure releases dopamine, all beautiful things that God designed to keep our body healthy, to keep us worshiping, getting outside, and focusing on what He's wanting us to focus on. But artificially, dopamine is being activated through drug abuse, pornography, alcohol abuse, time and time and time again. These are not things that God has designed for us to engage in regularly to release feelings. And so our system gets overloaded and unnaturally or artificially stimulated again and again and again. And then addiction sets in, and the brain chemical that God designed to function in a healthy way is on overdrive because of sinful behaviors that need to be repented of. Porn consumers, in one study, reported greater depressive symptoms, lower quality of life, and poor mental health compared to those who do not watch pornography. That was a secular study, not a Christian one. The world is agreeing even now with what the Bible already teaches: that unbelievers and believers should stay away from pornography, that addiction to it and addiction to drugs will destroy your life and your marriage, your bodily functions and more. And so what the world eventually has to come to realize is that Christ is the solution, their mind is under assault, and the only way to be free is to identify their battle as one for the mind. And what does their mind need? It needs the healing power of the gospel in the truest sense of healing. Healing for the soul. It needs a new way of thinking, a transformation, a complete renewal. Eyes that no longer look to drugs and to pornography and to alcohol to soothe their hurts and to soothe their wonderings and their fears and their anxieties. Oh no, not even for their own pleasures, but they begin to look to Christ. That's why this world needs the gospel. That's why spiritual warfare is really a battle for the mind because Satan is trying to keep people from thinking, hearing, and considering the power of something that has to do with Christ. He wants them turning to those things. And so, what is spiritual warfare? A battle for your mind. How does the devil try to take over people's lives by showing up with a pitchfork or uh, you know, you got to kick over every rock in your life looking for the spirit of Jezebel or the spirit of whatever? No, he wants to go for your mind. He's gonna do that subtly. He's gonna make it look good, sound good, and feel good to try to draw you in. He wants to engage you with temptation so that you engage in acts that alter your sober-mindedness. And so be on guard, Christian. What is spiritual warfare? A battle for your mind. Fill your mind and your life, your habits, your whole existence with the word of God, the people of God, and you will watch the power of God enable you to resist the devil, and he will flee far from you. You don't need another horror movie filled with exorcisms, exorcisms, and a you know, a Bethel conference that telling you, come on into our healing rooms and we're gonna cast all the spirits out of your life. You don't need any more of that. You need the gospel, you need God's word, you need to confess Christ is Lord and surrender your life to Him. And guess what? The Holy Spirit, he doesn't do roommates. And so when he fills you all the way, there's no room for demons. When you fill your mind with all that God is, and you fill your life with Christ, there's no roommates allowed. He doesn't share your temple with idols, he crushes them. And so understand that, and it will prepare you for where we're going. In the next episode, I want to talk about how to win at spiritual warfare. I've already talked a little bit about some of the truths you need to internalize to be ready for that battle. But this episode will have helped you understand what it is. And in the next episode, I want to lay out a full battle plan because, at least if you're one of our listeners, we do not want you to be a casualty for lack of knowledge. It's not going to happen on our watch, and so we want you to be equipped on this topic. For now, this week, guard your mind, fill it with God's word. Be careful what you watch, be weary of anything that is going to lead you down a pathway into sexual addictions and sexual sins. Be careful with things like alcohol and be especially on guard of this culture that says, you know, smoke weed, it's not a big deal. Steer clear of anything else that the Lord may bring to mind as something you need to be careful of when you're protecting your mind. Thank you guys for being with us today on the For the Gospel podcast and listening. Don't forget free video teachings and short gospel clips are available on our YouTube channel to give or for articles and more about our ministry team, go to furthegospel.org. We'll see you on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, and be back next Monday with another episode. Keep on living for the gospel.