The WOFOYO Podcast
The WOFOYO Podcast
When Real Authority Walks In, Counterfeits Collapse
What happens when real authority walks into a room built on manipulation? We follow Paul and Barnabas from Antioch to Cyprus, where a politically connected magician bends power for influence—until the Holy Spirit exposes the crooked path and straightens it with truth. The temporary blindness that falls isn’t cruelty; it’s a mirror of Paul’s own journey and a sober lesson in reciprocity: what we use to control others eventually controls us. The proconsul believes, not through theatrics, but because the teaching of the Lord cuts through the fog.
From there, we trace another collision in Acts 16. A slave girl cries out accurate words with a wrong spirit, proving that content alone doesn’t certify the source. Paul’s holy annoyance breaks the spell, and the backlash drags them into a jail cell—where midnight worship turns a prison into a pulpit and a family finds salvation. Threading these stories into today, we confront modern mysticism, soulish Christianity, and ministry brands that trade reverence for reach. Accurate predictions without accountability, fundraising disguised as intercession, and platforms built faster than character—all of it hinders the mission and harms the people it claims to serve.
We share our own wilderness lessons: how God dismantled ego, re-ordered our loves, and taught us to choose kindness without surrendering truth. We talk about why the name of Jesus and the power of the blood still confront darkness, including those unsettling nights when oppression presses in and breaks the instant His name is spoken. The throughline is simple and sharp: the way of the Lord is straight, narrow, and free from manipulation. Surrender outruns technique. Mission outweighs personality. And when Jesus is named, counterfeits collapse.
https://wofoyo.org/ #wofoyo
This episode of the Woe Foyo Podcast has been brought to you by Ichabod Seminary in Bible College. You're on fire for the Lord. The preacher calls you out during the altar call and announced to the whole congregation that you have a call on your life. Well, we hate to break it to you, but none of that matters unless you have the right theology. That's where we come in. We're Ichabod Seminary in Bible College. At Ichabods, we'll get you bogged down in Greek and Hebrew before you learn how to apply the word in English. Learn to appreciate the quagmire of theological debate. Discover how to excuse sin if the party committing it is viewed as oppressed or marginalized. Imagine the relief and fulfillment you'll deceive yourself into feeling as you learn to use homiletics to make the word say what you want instead of what God originally intended. Know true fulfillment by submitting your God-given gifts to denominational authority. Why heal the sick and prophesy when you can be in submission to your pastor? At Ichabod Seminary and Bible College, we'll educate the Holy Ghost right out of you. Remember, at Ichabod's, we do our part to help the glory depart. Amen. In our last couple episodes, we were talking about the interaction between Philip the Evangelist and then John and Peter and Simon the Sorcerer. And we really got down to some brass tacks about pride, ego, uh having a system rather than a relationship, because when you break it all down, all magic is some kind of manipulation or system rather than a relationship with the living Christ. And so that story was in Acts 8, that account.
SPEAKER_04:And in my reading today, got a couple chapters in in the book of Acts, and oh Saul and Barnabas got sent out. Which which is interesting because they Saul is in the desert.
SPEAKER_05:Not the desert and wilderness, he's actually over in Tarsus, but this is his wilderness period. This is his discipleship period alone with the Lord, to where even the twelve and what was left of the twelve, they go, holy cow, this guy's got it, even though he meets Jesus on the road, he meets the resurrected Jesus on the road to Damascus. And then he gets called up. Gets called up to go help teach at the church in Antioch. The folks from Jerusalem sent Barnabas down to Tarsus to bring Saul up to Antioch. This is this is how things have gone down. So now you're at chapter 13. And they get sent out. Paul and Barnabas get sent out from Antioch, and one of the first places they land is we're going to start in chapter 13, verse 4. So being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they, which is Paul and Barnabas, Saul and Barnabas still at this time, went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews, and they had John to assist them. Now, this is not John the Apostle, this is John Mark. And when they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar Jesus. Okay, so Bar Jesus simply means son of Jesus, which would be Joshua's boy today, the son of Joshua. He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus. So he's influencing the Roman politician in charge of the area, a man of intelligence who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. But Elimus, the magician, for that is the meaning of his name. What Elimus translated into would be trusted one.
SPEAKER_04:Look that up today.
SPEAKER_05:It implied a position of trust.
SPEAKER_03:Okay.
SPEAKER_05:For that is the meaning oppose them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. And here's how all us good Christians act in love today. Verse 9 But Saul, who was also called Paul, the first time he's mentioned as Paul is right here. Filled with the Holy Spirit. This is going to bother you, church mother, so. But Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time. Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand. Then the proconsul believed when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord. Couple more episodes after this, and John Mark leaves and heads back to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_01:You guys are crazy. I mean I'm out of here.
SPEAKER_05:It was a good primer. Sometimes we can bring people along that aren't ready.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_05:But but it's not bad to get them at that initial exposure, let them know they aren't ready. I still got some growing to do. There's nothing wrong with that. Uh they end up splitting up uh on their second missionary trip. Uh Paul takes Silas, Barnabas takes John Mark. And guess what? It works. Covered twice the territory, man. It works. Everybody, oh, it was a great church break. Well, the Lord kind of made that work out. Funny how that happens. Yeah. So this is interesting because you had a Sumerian guy practicing magic, you know, manipulation. Here we have a Jewish false prophet. So I would venture to say that he's probably using some form of Jewish mysticism and using that for manipulation and political favors and to influence people. Kabbalah. Yeah. It's one of those things that if you read about it, you go, this can be used for good purposes. It can also be used for bad purposes if you're trying to manipulate it. So that's probably what he's doing. He's probably a student of the Kabbalah and manipulating that in a bad way to gain influence and favor and probably wealth.
SPEAKER_01:Some type of philosophy.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah. The way of the Lord is straight. It's simple. It's narrow. And you got him bouncing all over the place. You've done made it crooked. You know, you're making this thing more complicated because it gets you more influence. You're full of deceit and villainy. You will not stop. Will you not stop making the crooked, making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? Here's an interesting thing, too. So I'm seeing that he's probably engaging some spiritual power to assist him. And they turn against him with this mist. And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time. Immediately, mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand. You're trying to influence, and you're trying to use false prophecy, you're trying to use your system of mysticism to be a person of influence, to be the power behind the throne in a way.
SPEAKER_04:Right.
SPEAKER_05:And so you're enlisting this spiritual power to do it. And now when the real power of the Lord shows up, those things turn against you.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_05:And I think Paul was perceiving what was being done. I think also Paul, being a student, when he was Saul of Tarsus, was a student, and he knew these systems. He knew what was going on. And this is something he was bought out of. What I also find interesting here is what happened to Paul, what happened to Saul of Tarsus when he meets Jesus?
SPEAKER_04:He goes blind. He's blinded.
SPEAKER_05:And because he has walked in that and come through that, he has the authority to proclaim this.
SPEAKER_04:Because he recognizes it.
SPEAKER_05:It's definitely not from a lack of empathy, because Paul's been there and done that.
SPEAKER_01:Some things that I see I find interesting. Another intelligent person, uh another intelligent, influential person, uh well liked, so on and so forth. Um but I would agree if we were to if we were to say what would we call what what would be some things that we would point at today and say, that's like that guy in Acts 13. Uh what about mental mentalists, mentalism, um psychics, uh lobbyists. Uh anybody who's exerting some kind of um deceitful influence. Uh now, what I think is interesting here is yeah, you see here where immediately mist and darkness came upon him and he groped about seeking someone to lead him by the hand. You notice Paul doesn't say, and God caused mist and darkness to fall on him. He never said that. Yeah. Could it be simply that as uh as the presence of God increased, the demonic realm, the demonic powers turned, like you said, turned against him, turned on him, and that's what caused uh the the uh the the blindness and and everything. That's the uh the mist and darkness that that came upon him. Now, some people would say that well, that's not love. And I said, Well, you're damn right that's not love because that's demonic.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, and and so he's probably exerting some kind of system, he's using a system to exert control over these spirits so he can help them to you know use them to get his influence and all these other things and make things go right for him, no matter whose else's expense it might be at. And so he's you, you know, the ends justify the means. And so he's doing this, and so when the real power shows up and he breaks that off of him, actually, then those spirits turn against him, and you see this blindness coming up on him. And and Paul recognizes it for what it was because probably Paul's probably been through it, you know. He he recognizes what's going on.
SPEAKER_01:Some would say, Well, you mean the demonic is more powerful than God here? No, not at all. It's simply the fact that um this particular person, Elamus, had not surrendered to the Lord. That's why that's that's that's I think that's why the the demonic powers uh are able to to still work on him and and cause him to go blind. That's why that's why they have power and influence because he hadn't surrendered to the Lord. If if Elamus would have surrendered to the Lord right here, uh then when the mist and the darkness came, they would have had no power over him because the power of God had been on him now.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah. And so so you break those chains of manipulation, and and you find out that the things you were manipulating, they weren't your friends. But you're not surrendered yet either. You weren't manipulating them as much as they were manipulating you. And now you go, oh, there's a price to pay for all this stuff I've been doing. There's always a price to pay. And the the fact that the irony here, though, not even mentioning Paul, here's the guy seeking to steer or guide or lead Sergio uh Sergio Paulus, the pro counsel. He's seeking to lead him by the hand and direct him, and now he's blind, and he has to be led by the hand. There's there's definitely when you see the judgment of God, there's always some level of reciprocity that that that just happens, you know. Um in the book of Revelation, oh Lord, thou art just. They're crying out, says they have they have filled the earth with with the blood of your saints, and you've given them blood to drink.
SPEAKER_01:Set those under the altar you're talking about?
SPEAKER_05:So something very, very similar. Okay. And and I'm I'm probably butchering her, I might be combining, but they're saying, righteous and just are you, O Lord, because they're saying everything that they just got is coming back in reciprocity for what they've done.
SPEAKER_01:I I like the way you point at Paul and Paul's blindness when he uh encountered the Lord. Um because I think that's important. That maybe in uh in the in the the some of the some of the hard times that we go through. Uh some of those hard times we go through and and those things that we have to deal with that are not so savory, uh they're very unpleasant and difficult. Um maybe there's a reason for those those hard times um to so that we can demonstrate uh compassion and and grace later down the road. Um and even though we may not see we may not see the compassion and grace in Paul here, um I would venture to say that Paul has no animosity in his heart here uh towards what's happened. He's he has I I I I think he has righteous indignation. Uh very much so, you know, but I don't think he hates Elamus. I think he he probably feels very much um compassion for Elamus because he's now he he knows what he feels like uh because he's been blinded before too. And um, so there's usually a reason when we go through our hard times. Uh it's not easy to see. Well, it's almost impossible to see most times when you're going through it. Um we hate it, we don't want to go through it. We pray that God takes it away from us when we should pray for him to take us through it. Um, but at some point in time, I I like to think that God's gonna bring that full circle and have someone right in front of us that's gonna be going through the very same thing if we're mindful of that and can can show that compassion uh that I think Paul's showing here. Um, even though, like I said, it probably doesn't look like the compassion we might think of, or we've been told what compassion looks like uh in in in modern society today. But uh I'd venture to say Paul Paul wasn't judgmental, he was just simply pointing at he was pointing at sin. Yeah, but then the same fact he he wasn't hating on him because he knows what he feels like.
SPEAKER_05:If somebody was trying some garbage in your church and the Lord struck him blind, how would you deal with it? Oh yeah. I guarantee you, 90%, 99% of modern churches would go, Well, that's not love, that's not a right spirit, that's not this and that. That man went blind, and you proclaimed it on him, too. Oh my, oh my gosh. You know, and for all the doctrinal junkies, all prophecy is meant. Inspiration, exhortation, and comfort. Well, did it inspire them? Did it well some exhortation are inspired and comfort? Yeah, so so like all your prophetic etiquette in the modern church is being violated right here. I'm just letting you know. All the things that the prophetic community would would teach is being violated right here. And I'm not saying that to denigrate, I'm just saying maybe, maybe every now and then it's more got a mess with your theology just to prove that he's God and you're not, and that you ain't got them figured out as much as you think you do. It's true, yeah. But Paul's over here, man. No, you're gonna be blind. Yeah, that's uh you're gonna be blind for a time. You'll be able to see the sun. You'll you'll get over it. I've been through it, but but yeah, here's what's going on with you, buddy. So uh you you're trying to pervert the way of the Lord. And another thing that I found interesting here is we've talked about this, but it's been a few years since we talked about this. And when we wrote the book, I made sure that I put it in. It was like one of my first revelations after stepping into the wilderness on my way in. The man or the person, it's not the man that I that God honors as much as it is the mission. We had the thing we would hear all the time Touch not mine anointed, do my prophets no harm. Quoting the Psalms. He rebuked kings for their sake, is the way the Psalm reads. And he's referring to the patriarchs, is who he's talking about in the if you take it in context. So if you read the Bible, I lay this challenge down to you, is not as much about the man. Jesus said, Say what you want about the Son of Man, and it shall be forgiven you. But he who blasphemes the Holy Spirit is in danger of hellfire. In danger of basically said doing something that will never be forgiven. Right. And so so that's a big thing. Now, everywhere you see these judgments coming upon people, and I'm talking about New Testament. It's not because, oh, I don't like Paul. It isn't because they gossiped about Paul. It isn't because they badmouth Peter or John or any of this other stuff. It's because now they're trying to hinder the mission. Right. And have I seen some people badmouth preachers and get handled? All of a sudden things go to crap for them? I have. Why? Because those were the preachers that were on the mission. There ain't no protection just because you're a preacher, just because you're a minister, have that title. Because you're not better than Jesus. Jesus even says, you know, they came against me, they'll come against you. Right. So that's to be expected. But when they start hindering the mission, you really start to see the Holy Spirit show up and these manifestations of your this thing that was especially, I wouldn't say in its infancy by now, but it's in the toddler stages. Man, this thing's starting to walk, you know, as far as the body and the expansion and starting to get some legs of its own, and you're coming against it, and the Lord will deal with you about that. Got one other account. This is Acts chapter 16. Verse 16. As we were going to the place of prayer, just a footnote here. Anytime you see we, it means Luke is accompanying Paul. A little tidbit. Verse 16. As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination. Other translations say a spirit of python. And brought her owners much gain by fortune telling. Verse 17. She followed Paul and us, crying out, These men are servants of the most high God who proclaimed to you the way of salvation. And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, I love that part. He's annoyed, he's perturbed. He got pissed off as well. Turned and said to the Spirit, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And it came out that very hour. But when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. And when they had bought them to the magistrates, they said, These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city. They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice. The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods. And when they inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in stocks. Angels come deliver them out. The jailer's getting ready to kill himself. And Paul says, Don't do it, we ain't left. We were delivered. And the jailer and his family get converted, and Paul ministers to him, and he ends up ministering to Paul. As far as like taking care of his wounds and different things like that, feeding him. Here's yet another thing that a lot of people would be saying, Amen. Oh man, she's preaching it good. It's not the right spirit. You mentioned something about, you know, what before we went in the wilderness, that what happened was, you know, and toward the end of our last episode, that what was happening when we started knowing all this stuff is really started building up our souls. It started building up our ego. In the book, The Spiritual Man, long read. Good read. Parts of it get repetitious, especially toward the that that last third of it. He's already restating some things he's already said. But he talked about spiritual believers, carnal believers, but he said the most dangerous of them all is soulish believers, because you're under the illusion that you're spiritual and your flesh hasn't been crucified, and you're going on your own unction rather than the unction of the Holy Spirit, rather than the leading of the Holy Spirit, rather than re leading a crucified lifestyle where your ego is put on the cross. Now it's about what you like rather than what the Lord is saying.
SPEAKER_01:But I had to chew on that for so long. Because it was it was there's it was there was so much truth in that. Um I d I got to a place where I was almost scared to move forward because I but I didn't know if I was moving forward soullessly or spiritually. And uh, but I'm glad that I read that part because man, that'll that'll make you scared. Uh it it should. It should make you scared.
SPEAKER_05:It well well, I'll tell you what it did with me. It did piss me off.
SPEAKER_01:It can do that too.
SPEAKER_05:No, it's because it's because here's where I was at. And I was I was dead wrong. But it pissed me off at the time. And the reason is because I was a big fan of certain preachers, and I go, well, this don't apply to them. The hell it didn't.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it did.
SPEAKER_05:We just didn't want to say it. It 100% is exactly who he was talking about. And my ego, uh, I wouldn't, I didn't want to admit that maybe I've been wrong. Now I will say this, I just still believe that the Lord caused me to come across those ministries. And and because I knew the Lord had led me across those ministries and to hear from them, I just didn't discern my I wasn't, I was soulish. Okay. And it's my pride and my ego, and it wouldn't be that the Lord's teaching me what not to do, or it wouldn't be that the Lord is showing me, hey, if if we don't let this wilderness process happen, here's what you're gonna end up doing. You'll you'll get you a following and you'll ruin yourself. Oh man. And it'll be public for everybody to see. Ain't that something? You know, I'm gonna cause them wheels to come off at 75 miles an hour down the interstate. Um there was a Robert Earl Keene song called Copenhagen, and he was talking about he was talking about being in the rodeo, said uh riding Bronx, said riding Bronx. He said it's about like driving down the interstate at 70 miles an hour and just chucking the steering wheel out the window. Well, and that that that would have been the comeapon. Because a look at well, let's look ego, greed, uh, the pride in the doctrine, pride in gifting, thinking you can show your ass on a stage in front of a pulpit, and it'd be okay because you're anointed. Oh man. Yeah. Seriously. And I got to looking, it was surely not these people, and there was something deep down going, yeah. Yeah, this this is but but they're anointed, Lord.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. But they're anointed. And I'm just like, you know, and Lord show me, yep. They were called, but they got a big stage before the Lord did the work completely.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, this and they were marketable, and so when one of them that was all the rage for about five years, and not saying I didn't learn some good things from that ministry, to be fair, the Lord just opens my eyes and I go, Oh my. And I go, Yep, that is manipulation, that is witchcraft as a female preacher.
SPEAKER_04:And um not only that, but when let me tell you what happened.
SPEAKER_05:The Lord done delivered me, the Lord done delivered me. You don't know about deliverance, Lord done deliver me, and it done delivered me from lust and being, you know, uh, I can't remember exactly how the lady said it. But basically from being promiscuous, having direct marriages, whoring around, yeah, probably didn't use those terms, a big following with the women's ministry. Let me tell you, there was a Jezebel spirit following that ministry.
SPEAKER_01:I know what you're talking about.
SPEAKER_05:Big time. Yeah. That was why I need a bike talking about. And again, not that I didn't learn a few good things from that ministry. But let me tell you, all these women start following that ministry, and next thing you know, they're exhibiting a Jezebel spirit, spirit of manipulation, want to throw temper tantrums and thinking they're being spiritual as a way of manipulating you or manipulating their men or manipulating the church. Why? Because they saw it done and nobody held them accountable, even though they were bragging about how under submission they were to whatever their authority was. But there was free back. So let's fast forward.
SPEAKER_04:What happened there? Oh, I've done found a man.
SPEAKER_05:They hawked, they were hawking the videotapes of the wedding, the wedding of the century. This dude and most people hadn't even heard of, might have been popular in them circles, but you know, he had been divorced, so now we've healing. And a year after they get married, they're writing marriage books and they're selling them in the Christian bookstores. One's been through multiple divorces, other one's been through a divorce. Yeah, they're married, and not that I didn't want them to succeed, but now everything's public. They got cameras on them, they got all this stuff. It's ego, ego, ego.
SPEAKER_04:And then there's a ho they're selling a marriage book less than less than a year, maybe just after a year.
SPEAKER_05:Oh my god, did you hear about this? Well, evidently there was some domestic issue, domestic violence issue.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:And I don't know exactly what happened. I have a good inkling.
SPEAKER_01:Ahab smacked down Jezebel having.
SPEAKER_05:You got the the right thing was said to provoke the right response. And now you can play the victim. And I remember I remember what radio written, man, if she is a prophet, is she thinks she hasn't seen it coming.
SPEAKER_01:He did say that.
SPEAKER_05:Anyway, and and definitely don't condone domestic violence at all. Less than a month and a half later, they had her on Daystar. Talking and giving a message, not preaching, but sitting down, interviewing, and the Lord's really sharing with me during this time of it. And I just hear the Holy Spirit go, they're protecting their product.
SPEAKER_00:Yep. This is a battle damage assessment right here.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah. And you know, here's here's the issue. Who does that hurt the most? It hurts a lot of people, actually, in the body. It hurts those that we're following. But the person that's gonna hurt more the most, it's probably hurt. Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_04:That's the sad thing. And and you know, I just see a couple other things that were happening, and and I'm I'm I'm gonna have a prayer room over in this.
SPEAKER_05:We're gonna have we're gonna have gold plated names on the wall. And if you send this donation in, we're gonna line the walls of gold. So when I'm in intercessory prayer for you, you're gonna huh?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, so you tell me how that's different than the girl with the spirit of divination. Or let me tell you something else, uh quote my Bobby Boucher.
SPEAKER_05:Maybe by keeping their predictions vague, they don't have to be held accountable.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I'll I'll quote Obi-Wan Kenobi. Who's the who's the more foolish? The fool, the the fool who follows? Well who follows them. Because here's the thing. Yeah. If if you can be sold because someone promised you a name on a piece of gold on a wall, on a gold plaque on a wall, that they'll pray over it. And I mean, I'm sorry. You gotta be foolish. Um there's a there's a certain level of ownership that you have to take there. Um because like you said, the people that get hurt are definitely her, them too, that they're involved in that. Um, all the followers, all the people that that believed in what they were saying and and following everything, uh, regardless of how foolish they were. Um, there's there's a lot of fallout from all of that. Um but uh who's the more foolish, the fool or the fool who follows? Um, because if you're reading your Bible, if you're reading God's word and you have a relationship with Jesus, you'll see you'll see through that stuff. Uh you'll see it for what it is. Um, and that's really what it comes down to. Um now I like what you said. It's not to say that they didn't have a good word every now and then. Hell sun shines on a dog's ass every now and then. You know, but it's not to say that some of the stuff they said wasn't true. But it was well packaged. Uh and and and that's what that ill intent of the heart is what got them in trouble. And and like what you said uh earlier, too, when you get in the way of the mission, that is when things start to pop off. That's when things start to pop. And I really think that's probably what happened for them is that they were starting to they were starting to interfere with the mission.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, it it's well, it's a couple different things, and not sound like a broken record, but it always goes back to the ego because your ego allows these other things to happen because there's a certain amount of gratification and pride that wells up in what all you are accomplishing for the Lord. And you're focusing more on what you are accomplishing than for the Lord.
SPEAKER_01:Um for the Lord is uh is is uh a caveat uh more than anything.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah. Well, it's all affecting the kingdom properly, you know, positively. Yeah. Well, you know, and and to be fair, the Lord's going to get the glory out of it no matter what. You also have to realize that part of the Lord not being mocked is, or part of the Lord getting glory is the Lord will not be mocked whatsoever a man soweth, that will he also reap. Yep.
SPEAKER_00:Yep.
SPEAKER_01:It was the wilderness and recognizing how dangerous it is to be a soulish person. Uh because you don't recognize the fact that you're a soulish person. Um understanding all of that and seeing that, that is what led me. That that's really what got me on the uh kindness versus being right, being kind and being right.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Um, because there's a whole lot of times where my ego and my soul has wanted me to prove myself right to somebody. Uh and the Holy Spirit has whispered in my ear, no, now's not the time.
SPEAKER_05:In all of these, whether it's Peter or whether it's Paul, uh, whether it's Peter confronting Ananias and Sapphira, or Peter confronting Simon the sorcerer, or it's Paul with uh Bar Jesus or Elemus, or with the slave girl with the spirit of divination or the spirit of python. Nobody is claiming their own name. Matter of fact, Peter Peter goes, You ain't lied to me. You ain't lied to men. You've lied, you've tried to deceive the Holy Spirit. Paul's always bringing it back to the name of Jesus. You know, and we mentioned a couple episodes ago, you know, you go to these churches and it's God, God, God. Well, that's a very general idea. You get to Jesus Christ, that's a very specific idea.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:And uh very specific person.
SPEAKER_01:And why is it so hard to say that name sometimes? Because there's a spiritual battle going on.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, it's just like, well, one of the before before they stop mentioning the name of Jesus, let me tell you what I remember the discussion, and it wasn't happening in my neck of the woods. Therefore, I thought they were being a little bit alarmist when I heard him say it. In the early to mid-90s, there was a push to stop preaching about the blood.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_05:Stop having songs about the blood. Yeah, and I remember uh Benny Hen was one of those guys that man, one of the guys that uh I think it might have been Derek Prince. Might be wrong, but he had one of his the guys that taught him, and he goes, said he'd just walk in, he said, walk in place, and he goes, The blood, the blood, the blood, the blood, the blood. It said all of a sudden these demons would start manifesting and coming out of people. And they know the power in the blood as well as in the name of Jesus.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:Both have authority.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. There's there's power in those words because of what they are attached to in the spiritual realm. And if we find it hard to say those things, there's a reason. And that reason is is is is the spiritual warfare uh surrounding it.
SPEAKER_04:Two things.
SPEAKER_05:When the Lord brought us into the wilderness, the on-ramp that was used that we still talk about and reference all the time was an overweight man making about twelve thousand dollars on social security in the early two thousands, running a food pantry, morbidly obese, nothing to look at, had uh say morbidly, but he he he was actually making improvements during that time and getting from being morbidly to not morbidly obese. But dirt poor, yeah, roof leaking, and you walk into it and hosting a Bible study a couple times a week in the morning, we get off work, go in there, and the love of God just knock you down. Almost it was unreal. And the most, you know. There was no appearance, there was no flare, there was no any of this. It wasn't even great phenomenal delivery and exhortation of the word. No, let's do just let's read our Bibles and you know what the Lord showed me in this, and then you know, I I think the Lord would would hey Lord saying something to you, brother.
SPEAKER_04:Oh man. Pick that out too.
SPEAKER_01:It didn't matter how bad your night was at work when you showed up there.
SPEAKER_05:Oh that bullshit got washed off.
SPEAKER_01:I mean you couldn't you you couldn't be mad, you couldn't be sad, you couldn't be none of that, but you could sure be glad.
SPEAKER_05:And there's some nights we dealt with nasty.
SPEAKER_01:Oh man.
SPEAKER_05:Spiritually nasty, physically nasty. You know, um, there was a couple times I went over to my mom and dad's, which was closer on his way rather than head home, and just took a shower just to get the the grime and all the the nastiness that you can do in that job, you know, um thing get into it. Just I don't want to give the glory to the Bob I'm just saying, man, you'd be in some nasty situations in that in that line of work. Um a lot of biohazard stuff, but then it was spiritually nasty too. A lot of a lot of demonic and manipulative uh activity. And there was, I'll say this, a lot of it was just mean people, but there was two or three. Evil was welcome there. So yeah, yeah, and it fed off each other. Evil fed off evil there. Um, but no, you go you go over to Brother Frank's, that was off of you. Yep. It was off of you. The other thing I'm gonna tell you, talk about the power and authority of the name of Jesus is I know I'm not the only one that's had this. I remember waking up, and when I knew I was growing in the Lord, because this didn't happen no more, you'd wake up and something's trying to hold you down, and you're almost paralyzed. Oh yeah. And you're you and you're awake. And if you could tell that thing to stop in the name of Jesus, even if your teeth were clenched, instantly done.
SPEAKER_04:You're good.
SPEAKER_00:Wake right up and be free.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. And the more that happened, it used to be a big struggle. Ain't no struggle.
SPEAKER_05:Just saying so. Any of y'all ever have that happen? Uh ain't just you.
SPEAKER_01:No, it's not. And you can Google it all you want to, and they've got some nice uh clinical names for it. Uh, but it's spiritual warfare. You won't you won't find that uh in Google hardly. Uh but uh yeah, there are there are those those nights where you you feel that weight on you and you can you're paralyzed and you can't move. Uh whether it's whether it's sleep paralysis, dream paralysis, whatever clinical name they give it, it is spiritual warfare. Um and it's it's real. It's real.
SPEAKER_05:Feel like several hands just pulling you down or pushing you down.
SPEAKER_01:It feels like um I've had it feel like like someone's hand over my mouth. Um or or my tongue just gets stuck to the roof of my mouth. I can't talk, I can't speak, I can't, I can't physically say or speak uh the name. And it just it just takes so long, so hard to to finally get that name of Jesus out. But when you do, boom, you just you're done. You wake right up. Uh you're you're free. Most times I wake right uh wake up, sometimes I don't wake up, but it in my dream I'm I'm back to uh being free. I'm not uh oppressed or paralyzed.
SPEAKER_05:Here's the thing that I noticed is that on the days following, because I would get up and pray. You know, when I woke up, woke up. I pray I do warfare. Usually within a couple days of that, the Lord imparted some big revelation, some, some, some epiphany that, hey, you know, here's what I'm doing in your life, and I'm gonna show you this principle in my word, and I'm gonna allow you to kind of see this and walk this out. And I really, you know, I'm just kind of thinking out loud right now when I look back on that. I think a lot of times what was happening is the enemy was trying to keep me from walking in this new revelation or this new uh aspect or this greater victory that I was getting ready to start stepping in.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. This happened to me a lot before I finally realized what was happening. Uh before I even tried to call on the name of Jesus. I was just trying to yell or scream or move anything. Um, but it finally dawned on me. Um next time it happened, I'm gonna have to I had to look at the clock, see what time it is.
SPEAKER_00:Because I bet you I know what time of night it it's gonna it's happening to.
SPEAKER_04:3 a.m.
SPEAKER_00:2:30 to 3 a.m.
SPEAKER_04:Yep.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And there's a reason for that too.
SPEAKER_04:Oh yeah. So there's some more articulate people to talk about that.
SPEAKER_01:Maybe we'll get into that.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, we have we'll have to do a little bit of homework and and make sure we deliver it right. Everybody, thank you for listening. We hope this challenges you and causes you to grow in your relationship with the Lord and also gives you some discernment about things that are going on now. But most of all, we love you and have a Merry Christmas. Bofoyo.