WOFOYO SHORT: Little Games Lose Big

Start with the warning nobody wants to hear: what’s covered will be revealed, and what’s whispered in the dark will be shouted from the rooftops. From there, we follow a straight line through modern church scandals, the temptation to turn ministry into a performance, and the subtle ways hype replaces holiness. We read Luke 12 on hypocrisy and the fear of God, then hold it up against a fresh controversy over data-mined “prophetic” insights and the wider culture of chasing constant spiritual fireworks.

We don’t just name names and move on. We dig into the psychology of platform pressure, why some leaders feel forced to have a “word” every time they hold a mic, and how technology can become a crutch when the heart grows impatient. Along the way, we share hard-won lessons from mentors—what shaped us, what we had to unlearn, and why “little games lose big” remains a compass for character. If you’ve ever wondered how to tell the real from the staged, we walk through practical discernment: testing words by scripture, sensing the Spirit’s witness, and refusing to confuse goosebumps with truth.

The path forward isn’t complicated, but it is costly. Step away from the noise. Get alone with God until the silt settles and the water clears. Return to people as a witness, not a performer. Integrity over optics. Obedience over applause. When the lights go down and the smoke fades, the genuine presence of Jesus still changes lives. 

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Transcript

A Mentor’s Warning And Failure

Scandals And Data-Mined Prophecy

SPEAKER_00 0:15

He everybody, welcome to another WoFo Yo Short. This is C Dub. We are probably going to step in a little bit here, but first let's get in the word for ourselves. This is Luke 12.1. In the meantime, when an innumerable multitude of people had gathered together, so that they trampled one another, he began to say to his disciples, first of all, Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known. Therefore, whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed on the house tops. And I say to you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you whom you should fear. Fear him who, after he is killed, has the power to cast into hell. Yes, I say to you, fear him. He's talking about God here, who to fear. We had a family friend uh named Bobby. Uh Dad was in business with him, uh, did some business stuff uh myself associated with a friend, mentor, had a brother Bill, worth tons of money. I've seen Bill give altar calls for Christian business people, and matter of fact, he was given a message that that was the guy that said, Hey, if you want the baptism of the Holy Spirit, you need to pray for it and just ask the Lord for it and believe you received it. And and I was baptized with the Holy Spirit over in Knoxville, Tennessee on a Sunday morning. That being said, Bill had a saying, which I'm gonna bring full circle here. Yeah. And Bill had a saying, and I'm gonna bring this full circle here. He used to say, People that play little games lose big. And I've heard that dude say that more times than I can count. That being said, uh, toward the end of his life, Bill messed up, had an affair, and almost cost him everything. That being said, I don't condone the affair and all that, but up until that point, there's a lot of good things I learned, and just like I've said concerning many people, there's a lot I learned from them. There's a lot that I had to unlearn. And I'm still very thankful for some of the lessons learned, uh, especially with his brother Bobby. Anyway, so 2025 had its share of scandals, especially with the Western Church. I've said several times I don't believe that's the end of it. Well, here we are, 2026. And so we have something brewing up out here in California. There is a scandal involving a guy named Sean Bowles, and he's affiliated with uh the church over there, Bethel, Bill Johnson, all that crew. And the scandal evidently is that he was using some data mining techniques to pass off or quote unquote enhance uh prophetic words. So this information is coming out, and here's the thing. I remember listening to Sean Bolton. I go, What's the big deal? I don't dislike the guy. Let me say it like this there's people that get addicted to prophetic words. There's people that get addicted to church. You're like, is that a bad thing? Can be. My favorite pastor, Pastor Jones out in Colorado, had a big-time deliverance ministry. And he said, the big thing about getting people delivered is if you don't have that relationship with Jesus develop, then all of a sudden they're just addicted to church rather than knowing the Lord, and they've passed it off. They're happy that there's this deliverance, but all of a sudden, it's church, church, church, church, church all the time. And as soon as something doesn't go their way, there's a big danger of relapse. And you have people like that with the uh prophetic community, and you see them, they're they're the prophecy addicts. And I'm gonna write this down, I'm gonna write this down. Well, you done the last word you got. And don't get me wrong, I have friends in there, I have friends in that community, and I highly respect them. This ain't raining on their praying any, but I will tell you this when you get familiar with the real, it ain't too hard to figure out what ain't up to snuff. I'm not saying everything that I don't like is a fake or anything like that. No. You'll know there should be a witness in your spirit when you hear a prophetic word. It should be something that the Lord maybe couldn't put your finger on it, but when you know it, the Holy Spirit should be letting you know this is the truth right here.

SPEAKER_01 5:11

But here's the deal. Why?

Performance Pressure And Showmanship

The Remedy: Know Jesus Deeply

SPEAKER_00 5:16

Why play the why play the games? And this guy had a big platform. Maybe that was the reason why. Maybe it's somebody that started out with some legitimate gifting, and now you're going to try and just improve the consistency. We we wrote in our book, the Christian self-defense manual. The thing that I've seen ruin more ministers that have a pulpit traditional ministry is this, especially if there's some kind of prophetic or apostolic thing. But I've seen even seen this with teachers and pastors. You ain't always got to have a word. It's the pressure to perform and the pressure for the fire to fall and lightning to hit. And all of a sudden we start resorting to theatrics and showmanship, and we start resorting to technology to fill those gaps of what happens when there's a legitimate encounter with Jesus Christ. And Bones and I, we always harp on the light shows and the smoke machine and all this stuff and the big sound system. We do, but that's just technology for trying to imitate what the spirit does legitimately. I've seen it done legitimately, and data mining to try and have an accurate prophetic reading on somebody is no different. So, what's the solution? Know Jesus.

SPEAKER_01 6:49

Don't just say you know Jesus, like really know Jesus.

Integrity, Discernment, And Parting Words

SPEAKER_00 6:54

Get alone from all the distractions, all the BS that's coming at you. Make sure that you have some time. I'm telling you, make sure you have some time away from your family. Make sure you have some time away from your friends. Isolate yourself for a period of time. Get out in nature, get in your prayer closet, let them know I ain't doing nothing but getting alone to know the Lord. And then you got to come back and then you gotta lead. You have to come back and then make sure that you're a good witness for that relationship that develops. Because there's nothing done in the darkness that's not going to be made known and not going to come to light. So let's not play little games. And let's not try and hype up everything to say, oh, this is so anointed, and that's so annoying, and oh, isn't that great, brother? And uh because one of the things that had me and bones on the outs when certain friends of ours, people we loved, hey brother, ain't that great? And we're like, no, what's the big whoop? You know, you're supposed to say, Yeah, yeah, this is great, that's great, everything's great. And we weren't towing that line. And and maybe there was some pride and ego involved in the way we did it. That that could be a very accurate criticism of how we handled things. But at the same time, when we were calling balls and strikes, we weren't off on that very much. So learn to get along with the Lord, learn to get so familiar with what is legitimate and true and real because Jesus is the way, he is the truth, and he is the light. And he's gonna expose by his spirit, he will expose all the junk, your issues, my issues, where we've fallen short. And if you think you're gonna get away, or if I think I'm gonna get away with playing little games in the dark and they not have come out the light, ain't no way. So maintain your integrity, pray, listen, develop that relationship, and then also make sure that you are obedient to what you hear, and when you don't have that witness by the Holy Spirit in your spirit, let's put it to the side. Wofoyo. Hey everybody, thanks for listening. We hope this challenges you and causes you to grow. You can always check us out at wofoyo.org. Find out how to contact us there, or subscribe on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or Audible, or check us out on YouTube. For Bones of Myself, this is C Dub, reminding you that if you're going to grow, you got a Wofo Yo. Get in the word for yourself.