The Other 6 Days

Spiritual Warfare | The Other 6 Days | Episode 37

• Southwest Church • Season 2 • Episode 37

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In this episode, Pastors CJ McFadden & Ricky Jenkins engage in a conversation around the topic of spiritual warfare. What it is, what it entails, how much power does Satan really have and how we can engage in the battle. We offer some biblical insights and wisdom on these matters and provide some helpful information & resources to help navigate spiritual warfare.

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Speaker 1:

Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Other Six Days podcast, where we chat about life outside of Sundays and what it means to live from our gatherings, and not just for them. I'm your host, cj McFadden, here again, as always, with Pastor Ricky Jenkins, and today we're going to discuss the unseen battle that has been raging since the fall the battle for your affections and the war for your heart spiritual warfare. We talk about what it is, what it's not how we as believers can show up ready to combat it, and culture. But let's obviously kick things off on a little bit lighter note to get started and have some fun. Ricky, tell me what are some of your favorite, or tell our listeners what are some of your favorite card games and board games growing up.

Speaker 2:

Sure, so we'll get into some of this later, but we weren't big board game people. Yeah, I literally I don't know how to play. Monopoly people. Yeah, I literally I don't know how to play monopoly, yeah, oh okay, like I know the concept, but I don't know how to play.

Speaker 1:

I've never played a whole game of monopoly ever all right.

Speaker 2:

So we just weren't board game folks, so we and, and we weren't card game because you couldn't play cards in my house. I, I can't play. I learned solitaire when computers came out, yeah, but I don't know how to play blackjack. Poker, yeah, spades yeah gin rummy all that I'm lost on it, don't. I don't know how to play blackjack poker, yeah, spades. Yeah, gin rummy all that I'm lost on it, don't?

Speaker 2:

I don't know what people are talking about me too so we had uno yep, and you had boggle, boggle oh yeah, boggle, I forgot about boggle.

Speaker 1:

Those were your two, those were your go-tos. Yeah, how were you at uno? Were you the? Were you the uno master?

Speaker 2:

you know, I was when I was young. But my kids, they just know what it means so fast, like they just get it and they're strategic. So they're way better than me. Yeah, so, but I'm okay, I'm fair, you can hold your own. Yeah, yeah, can't play dominoes either. No, dominoes. Dominoes were not allowed. Oh, I didn't think about that as well, couldn't play dominoes, skinny like uh-uh, yeah, anything that looked like the club uh-uh not. In my mama's house we don't play the devil's games we, we did monopoly, we had uno go.

Speaker 1:

I did go fish. Okay, uno, actually it's funny, we played that. We started picking up uh card games a little bit and recently but I'm the same as you, I wasn't allowed to play, I didn't know blackjack any of that kind of stuff when I growing up um. We played checkers a little bit.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah hungry hippo candyland oh, you know what? We had that too. Yeah, because little hippos grabbed a little. Yeah, those are fun that's fun.

Speaker 1:

Anything you could just smash yeah, totally totally, totally, uh. And then jenga right, did you get to? I mean, that wasn't growing up, right?

Speaker 2:

that's a newer game it was a new game. I never, I've never, played jenga. I'm doing a Jenga illustration this Sunday and I've never, ever played Jenga. You know it's a game. Have you ever played balderdash? You know I've seen the kids playing a kid's version.

Speaker 1:

I've never played it, dude, you would like that?

Speaker 2:

one Really Okay yeah.

Speaker 1:

It's funny. It's like they call it fictionary as a joke as a correlation, but it's like I uh, I I might be messing up the how, but how we played it was basically that you pick some words and then you pass them out and someone gets to make up. You get to make up what you think the word means and you try to get everyone else to guess your word. That that's the definition.

Speaker 2:

Oh, you would be really good you give the definition. Yeah, they have to come up with the word.

Speaker 1:

Well, no, so the word, the word is there. I believe on it it. I should have looked it up before. I haven't played in a while, but you, but what happens is the word that you pick, you make up a definition for it. So, whatever you draw everyone, there's a real definition and then there's a made-up definition for it oh and so whoever guesses right gets points, but you have um you get to make if you, if really actually if you're really good at like kind of fibbing on what words might mean sure, you're saying the set.

Speaker 2:

It's a word invented in the 1700s by a settler who and people are like that's got to be it, yeah, and then you win.

Speaker 1:

Sadly, I would be pretty good at yeah, I know, as I said, I said it's like a line game almost, which is horrible, but we had a lot of fun. Kelly was really good at it, so I always lost, but anyway, uh, yeah, it's fun. Um, so today we're gonna jump in uh and attempt to attack the topic at hand, and I think it's important. We start probably again by defining what we're referring to when we say spiritual warfare today, what it is, how it shows up and maybe it works a little.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so you know, there's so many traditions, so many angles, so many good Christians who have different senses of what we talk about it, but fundamentally you can understand spiritual warfare in almost a self-explanatory sense.

Speaker 2:

Right, this presumption, right, as we understand scripture, as we understand even life itself, that there seems to be and it's not a seems to be that there's inherently this ongoing tension, battle right Between God's kingdom and God's way of doing things and a kingdom of darkness and evil's way of doing things and its subsequent effects on the human race.

Speaker 2:

And so scripture is helpful. I think this is a first John, one of the first Johns. For this purpose was the son of man manifested that he might destroy the works of the enemy, indicative of even this notion that God's purposes for sending his son into the world was ultimately to vanquish the threat of evil and the onset of ulterior motives against God's way of doing things on his creation, image bearers, the human race. So purist warfare, regardless of if you call it this or call it that, or it's praying in the spirit or it's doing that or doing it's doing that all this stuff, at the end of the day, bible speaks to this reality that we are all engaged on the Lord's side with his purposes in the world through his son, jesus Christ, to vanquish all evil everywhere. And how that comes to play in my life.

Speaker 2:

and how that comes to play in my marriage and how that comes to play in my marriage and how that comes to play in my country and how that comes to play in my world. So spiritual warfare we may kind of neatly kind of size it up as that way. When we read the Bible, though, right, we see evidences of this reality, this tension, this ongoing battle Right, and also, what seems to be obvious, intentional, satanically fueled spiritual attacks against God's kingdom, his way of doing things Right. So, in X 16, paul cast out a demon out of a slave girl. Mark five the gutter rings. There's a demoniac man who was possessed with what seems to be thousands of devils.

Speaker 2:

Luke four Jesus calls out a demon out of a man in the synagogue in Galilee. Matthew 12, there's another demon, possessed man. And so we see these evidences in scripture, even as Jesus is walking throughout the gospels, that there's this obvious darkness and evil, and we understand that as the person of Satan and fallen angels, as the Bible speaks of in Isaiah and as Jesus speaks to how he saw Satan falling out of heaven. And it speaks to this moment in history, right Then, in the kingdom, the heavenly realm, that some of God's creation rebelled against God, yeah, and now those agents have agency Right In this world and are thwarting God's progress and are thwarting god's creation through temptation, through lying and through spiritual attack, which we're going to talk about today.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, no, I love that's such a great way to set that up because, like, I think that's important and the reason why we're talking about this today is this is this is going on? Yeah, right now it has been going on, uh, you know, for all of history and I think, like we see it a little bit different. We feel, I feel like, you know, in current culture, we sense it, but we're removed from what we see, sometimes the way that it's manifested through scripture, maybe, specifically, and so we need to talk about what does that look like today? How do we engage with it? How do we see it show up in culture where we're at now and what do we do?

Speaker 1:

What do we do with it and I think it can be a scary thing for a lot of people to a lot of unknown Right.

Speaker 2:

Sure.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I think there's different polarities of how Satan works out his agenda. It could be on an individual level, and so I'm going to whisper lies to CJ's heart or to Ricky's heart, I am going to induce this particular person to be subject to alcohol abuse and I will now have a headway of lies into his family and his posterity. Right, so there's individual things, but there's also institutional realities, right? Witchcraft, um, quite honestly, any religion that is not the Christian faith as we see expressed in Christian scripture, um, uh, different sorts of, um, astrology, spiritualism, uh, any kind of new age ism that is trying to kind of reappropriate, uh, what I might best understand, might best understand as a pantheon of gods and deities. Right, let's see we've got here anything of occultic belief, right, supernatural beliefs like Kabbalah, and this list is as long as the day is long. We're going to get emails about this, get emails about this, but you know yoga and how that is a product of, I think that's mostly Hindi.

Speaker 2:

If I remember correctly, it's mostly a Hindi thing, which has a pantheon of God. Any Hindu priest in his worth will tell you that there are millions and millions and millions of God, and yoga was a practice to gain some sort of intimacy in this connection with the gods, and so they would put themselves through these poses and chants, right? So when you go and do those poses even though your heart may be nowhere near you know all that kind of stuff you are literally doing what they were trying to do to get in contact with the gods, right? Which is why I don't do it so, anyway. So I'm trying to have no gods on me, but anyway.

Speaker 1:

No other gods than the one true God.

Speaker 2:

I got it. I got it. I got to. Let you keep going, CJ. But when I first got here, like second week on the job yeah, Maybe it's Natalie, but some gal on staff there was a group that wanted to do yoga at the church and they asked if we could do yoga. And I'm fresh, I don't know anything, but I did know, I did believe Californians are crazy. And so here I am, my Mississippi self, walking around and this lady on staff says hey, Pastor such and such wants to have yoga, Is that okay? I said no, no, oh, really no. And they said oh okay. I said oh, okay. And that was the last of the conversation.

Speaker 1:

But you know, I got home, I was like girl, I don't know where we didn't move. Tell me they're okay. I've heard people you know they're trying to call it something different, but yeah, like Christian yoga, yeah, try to redeem it, I guess.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I'm not saying there's not room, by the way, I'm just saying I ain't doing it. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, Well, we'll get into that. We're going to talk about it a little bit too. Is we're talking about where it came from? That's right, what the original intent was of some of these things in history, but also the dangers of that. Some of that right, Uh, just associating yourself with it, engaging in it, Um, you know uh setting up strongholds that allow Satan to get a foothold in your life um and open you up to demonic attack.

Speaker 2:

That's it. That's it, and I think what I want our people to hear at this juncture is that, if it's not God in the Bible, be very careful. Yep, be very, very, very careful. Everything God wants you to be about, he has written expressly about in his word, and anything else is usually almost always trying to be some kind of cheap interpretation of who God is.

Speaker 1:

So yeah, and we've seen, like, when you mentioned Kabbalah, that's a you know Jewish mysticism. We see it with Gematria or Gematria, I think is the nameah. That's a you know jewish mysticism. We see it with, uh, gematria or gematria, I think is the name. It's a new, uh, numeric numerological system, uh, but you kind of astrology kind of idea, um, but, um, you see, basically, first, peter 5, 8 says be sober-minded, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.

Speaker 1:

Um, I think like we just need to be on guard as we start to have a conversation about these things, and that's what we're talking about here today. So let's kind of talk about you know some good to knows, just some other things you know around. This whole idea of temptation, maybe, maybe touch on that, the distinction between trials, tribulations versus lies and temptations.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, so I think you know paradigmatically when we understand scripture and what scripture has to say about these two things. So trials and tribulations, right, problems, pains I forget the other P Right, and then just lies and temptations from the evil ones. Well, what's the difference with that?

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Well, there is. There's the reality of a fallen, a reality of what I would call fallenness, and there's also the potential for falling deeper, and I think that's a good way to help people understand the difference. Right, there's the reality of fallenness, which means the world's broken, the world's not working the way it's supposed to, it's not the way God intended it to in the garden, and because sin has entered into the world, right, that means that, now that there's just a reality of things, one, I'm going to die someday.

Speaker 2:

To the Lord, terry, I'm going to die, that's because it's a fallen world. I'm going to get sick because it's a fallen world. There's going to be natural disasters, because it's a fallen world. And so it's just a reality in this fallen world that I'm going to experience trials and tribulations.

Speaker 2:

Trials, meaning that God and his sovereignty, has allowed the reality of fallenness occasionally to fall my way. Right, my body is sick, my child is wayward, my church is in a bad spot, but God has sovereignly allowed that trial keyword trial right as a test to strengthen my faith and my resolve for him. Tribulation more so. God has allowed, hey, the fallenness of the world to bear impact upon my life Natural disaster, crime, the decisions, bad decisions that people make. So trials and tribulations is all in that fallenness.

Speaker 2:

But Satan comes to try to twist the knife even further and get us to fall even deeper. Right. And so the reality is this because I'm in a fallen world, I'm going to go through some stuff, but Satan comes to lie and to tempt us so that not only am I going to go through the stuff I'm already going to go through, I'm not going to go through even more, because I've believed on the lies of the evil one, and so lies and temptations is what Satan has been doing from the very beginning. That's why the Garden of Eden is so helpful. Satan didn't have any strength with which to force Adam and Eve to disobey God. He didn't have any money. He didn't have any resources. What?

Speaker 2:

he did have is a great lie, and almost every lie Satan says is a twist of God's truth. Yeah, right, so did God really say that you could eat of it? God really said that because of this. And so Satan is always getting us to believe not the truth of what God said, but the lies of what he wants us to believe about God that are not true. And so, anyways, that's how I would explain that yeah, to believe about God that are not true.

Speaker 1:

And so, anyways, that's how I would explain that. Yeah, no, that's great. Yeah, trials and tribulations, uh, have, they can draw us to God, and lies and temptations are meant to lead us away from God or, like you said, to fall away. And so, uh, yeah, I think that's a great description of what you said. Um, and we even see you know I mean, and Matthew, mark and Luke 40 days.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I'm preaching on that next week. Oh you are Nice, can't wait. Oh, good timing. We knew about it. You gave me a heads up.

Speaker 1:

I remember it's so funny, one of the things that kind of got me thinking about this. I mean, obviously it's always been on my mind, but, um, I watched a movie called the usual suspects and I heard, uh, kaiser soze and that's somebody else said this, obviously, but it's what one of the ones that kind of put it on the map. But it said the greatest trick that the devil ever pulled was to convince the world that he doesn't, that he didn't exist.

Speaker 2:

True and so I was like man.

Speaker 1:

for me that was like so profound because I was like how better than to hide yourself, um, and create kind of mess with things behind the scenes? Yet people don't really know what's going on and you don't see the culprit of it. You know something's going on, but in that he is able to do you know, I would say that he's he. He effectively renders people's lives useless by meddling and doing things through lie and temptation to pull them away from god and so I was like man that's such a such a, uh, you know such a thing it's so true.

Speaker 2:

Well, they said, the greatest warfare happens before the shots are fired oh yeah, right, and so that was a, I think this old sun tzu art of war stuff.

Speaker 1:

But anyways, um we could jump into. I don't know if you want to jump a little bit into uh, we'll probably touch on this in another episode, but ancient hebrew cosmology is helpful, you know, in understanding heaven, hell and spirituality. But you kind of touched on, you know, the garden fall and um, but I thought I thought there was a little interesting thing in there because we talk about. We'll get into this a little bit. But like, how much power does satan really still here on earth? You know his influence and I think you know the power of the prince of the air, ephesians 2, 2. What does his rule and power look like here on earth? Like, how far does that go? Like what do we have to be worried about?

Speaker 2:

maybe, yeah, that's such a good question. I think it's important, especially for I don't even think new believers ponder that I think mature believers ponder that, especially when you start to go through more trials and tribulations.

Speaker 2:

And so scripture does speak to this. You said some great passages the prince of the power of the air. Scripture calls him the accuser of the brethren, the father of lies, right. So when scripture speaks of Lucifer was his original name and it's the idea of light bearer, right. And so we, you know, some scholars have kind of pontificated, we don't really see it Right, but Lucifer meaning light bearer, so they've kind of, you know, even Jesus said that you were, you were up there, or something that Jesus says about Lucifer. So the idea is that a lot of scholars believe that Lucifer in heaven was somewhat of a magnifier of God's light in the eternal realm. And so here's the glory, shekinah, glory of God, and it was Lucifer's job to be somewhat of a bounce that light back.

Speaker 1:

High position, exactly, very high position.

Speaker 2:

Very high position of all the created order, and so still is figuring out. Now, instead of bouncing that light back, he's trying to absorb that light, for he's trying to absorb that light for himself, right? So, um, um, anyways, saying all that to say, like any attack, that Satan's kind of working in your life, he's trying to get something back from you that you're supposed to be giving to God, right, right. So you know, that's kind of a good way to kind of understand some things.

Speaker 2:

I would say too, man, I had a thought being powerful, never having all power, we see him as being deceptive, but never being fully, 100% effective at it. And so we understand Satan well when we first understand God. Well, because there's only one God. God is omniscient, he knows everything, god is omnipresent, he's everywhere, at all times. God is omnipotent, he has all power, he knows everything. God is omnipresent, he's everywhere, at all times. God is omnipotent, he has all power. And so we can safely deduce then from that that, although Satan may have a bit more influence than us, he's not around you all the time because he can't, he doesn't know your thoughts until you say them, and he just happens to be there because he's not God.

Speaker 1:

Right.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, he can't overpower you we understand this from Job unless God sovereignly allows him to do that. And so Satan has power, but that power is checked by a sovereign God. Yeah, and that's what we can have confidence that when we pray, jesus hears us and Jesus has the power to overcome the evil one. And Bible says it's Jesus that he has crushed the head of the servant with serpent with his heel. So yeah, Satan is very powerful, but he's not all powerful.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, no, that's a good word. He, um, I was uh, uh, I had wrote down on here uh, could a hyper focus on good things potentially distract us from the most important things? And I think that's what Satan does. It's a tactic of the enemy and so, even like so, Paul was talking about this right In first Corinthians 15, even he was addressing there was maybe not eschatological doctrine in there, but spiritual gifts and other things that he was addressing and I think it was taking their minds off of what the most important things were.

Speaker 2:

That's what Satan's been doing from the beginning, right, did he say? That Is that questioning God's authority. Well, think about the number of denominations there are in the world today, right, and think about the fact that it's 2,000 years later. The church of Ephesus is not here, like they're not meeting.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

So in every century, churches are born and churches die, and I think it has a lot to do with what you're saying and how Satan gets us to make the good thing, the all important thing, right. And so just look at the Baptist church, right? Southern Baptist, free will Baptist, independent Baptist, baptist, missionary Baptist, full gospel Baptist, and that's just the ones I know, right, and all of them are evidences of contentions surrounding good things. Yeah, right, yeah, yeah. So I think you're so wise to really talk about the craftiness of the evil one.

Speaker 2:

A lot of us are going through spiritual warfare we're not even aware of, because these conversations over in and of themselves very good things, and so it's important, I think, to talk about a conservative witness that appropriates scripture and politics. I think that's good, but I think we'll talk about that more than we talk about the real politician, jesus Christ and his will and what he wants done in the earth. I think that's a ploy of Satan. I think there's a lot of great Christians right now who ain't even thinking about God, but thinking a whole lot, and Tony Evans used to say be careful when you think about what's going on in the White House more than you think about what's going on in your house.

Speaker 1:

So that's good. Oh man, so we've talked a lot about. You know what it is and what it looks like, you know from a biblical, historical standpoint. But what is it? What is, what isn't it? You know, so there's some, some things, I think, that we commonly assign a spiritual attack and that we often do, and this is especially for Christians. Yeah, I don't know if you want to Sure.

Speaker 2:

I heard Crawford Loritz was the first pastor I heard that say that. He said it this way we are not unaware of the devil's advances. We are not unaware of the devil's advances. Nonetheless, we do not look for him under every rock. Yeah. Right and so I think Christians and I'm guilty of this, by the way.

Speaker 2:

I think we Christians who have a desire for the good life and we want to see things happen, and we want to see the seeds we planted in our lives and in our ministry and our families come to harvest and man things go bump in the ministry and our families come to harvest and man things go bump in the night and the rain doesn't come. And so we are predisposed sometimes to this, like we want to question, we want to answer the question why? Why is this happening? And so we end up looking, for, you know, satan becomes like the blame guy for everything, and maybe sometimes he is. But be careful, though, when the frivolous starts to become spiritual attack.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Right. So IE, the number of people I talked to man late for work got pulled over, got a speeding ticket. Man, satan's so busy Working hard. Yeah, I don't think Satan was busy. I think you were speeding, that's what that was. I speeding, that's what that was. I think that's what that, and I think a police officer was doing his job to pull you over and give you a ticket for speed.

Speaker 1:

That's not satan, that's god's justice on your face that's good, this guy giving you, giving you what you earned, what you asked for. Things were working the way they're supposed to.

Speaker 2:

But you see it right, I'm late on my bills and man, they keep calling me yeah, you shouldn't have spent. You're late on your, that's you. And sometimes we're blaming stuff on Satan. Satan's like ah yeah, that wasn't me, Sorry, I'm over here in Madagascar.

Speaker 1:

You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, my Starbucks order was wrong.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so he's, he's busy, he's working, yes, but we extrapolate into real spaces, right? Um, there is a weight of oppression that the evil one can incur on the mind and on the heart, right. We've seen. We've seen evidences of that in scripture. We see evidences of that in our life. However, man, the reality is we know more about the brain and psychology and treatment than we ever did. Some people just got a couple of hormones that ain't connected with the other one and some folks got a neuron that's missing over there and they need a good old pill or they need to see somebody a couple of times a month and be careful when all of psychological and mental stress becomes demonic and satanic. Right, I'm not saying it's not in there sometimes, but I'm just saying, man, there's different ways to be sick.

Speaker 1:

And sometimes it's just not the, not the lies and temptations as much as it is the trials and tribulations. Yeah, no, that's a good word. I was going to ask you about that was the kind of false assumptions around some mental illness. Stuff is always that it always is a marker of possession or demonic activities so and you know when you get into stuff like multiple personality disorder, schizophrenia bipolar, like that's tough because you know people look crazy and they're really struggling. That's right.

Speaker 2:

And so like how do you show it's easy to assign it then a lot of power to Satan in that and say, like you know, that's demonic activity and that's what's happening, and then we can kind of just say, well, we don't really know what to do with that Well, you and I know a brother in our church we're not obviously going to protect his name but a wonderful man of God, loves Christ, loves the scripture, wonderfully nourished his family and nurtured his family, and great man of God but is but wrestles with depression all the time, all the time, you know, just has dark days where he's just alone and stays isolated because of the weight of that depression. He loves Jesus and going to be in heaven with me. He ain't no different than me. Now, my sickness is that I love catfish Can I get a witness?

Speaker 2:

And I love fried chicken. I love baked beans with chorizo sausage crumbled up in there. I love anyways. You see what I'm saying. But I'm sick, like I need to stop. And some people have a predisposition for certain things just because of reality. They're just sick in that regard and God loves them through it and it's going to be all right. But it's not demons, it's not Satan, you know right, like sure, satan may be using that for his purposes, but God is sovereignly allowed in his life.

Speaker 1:

And, like you said, to drive deeper fallenness there but that we would get caught up in that as well too, and our call as believers to come alongside those who are, you know, hurting, and uh, of Jesus healing power, and so I think, um two that leads in, then. What power do we have access to as believers, and in what ways can we engage in this battle, then, of spiritual warfare attack?

Speaker 2:

Well, you know um Jesus says in Matthew 28, 18, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. This is what I want our folks to hear. The devil can't do nothing. Jesus didn't say he could do. And so Mark 5, verses 1 through 20, the demoniac and the pigs Jesus calls the demons. After he says the demons say we are legion, for we are, for they were many.

Speaker 2:

Jesus come out of the man, you unclean spirit, you know, and the. There's two things I want us to understand. The demons say, lord, do not send us out of the territory, which I think exposes to Christian people that although he's not all powerful, Satan is all committed. And it's interesting that the demons they say, lord, we know that we got to go, but don't send us off of our assignment. I thought that's very interesting passage.

Speaker 2:

They wanted to stay in their territory where they wanted to cause a muck, and then the Bible says and he granted them permission. Jesus them permission is the Greek phrase epitreison, epitreison. Epitreison is only used when someone who has higher authority gives permission to someone with lower authority, which means, no matter your satanic attack and spiritual warfare you're battling, jesus has the authority in that situation and so pray to him. So I would say a couple of more things here, and then I want you to add something to this. Number one don't play around with tools of the enemy. So stay away from psychic interactions. Stay away from tarot cards and hypnosis. Stay away from vibrations and frequencies. Stay away from tarot cards and hypnosis. Stay away from vibrations and frequencies. Stay away from from witchcraft.

Speaker 2:

Ok, watch what to do when it happens to us, when Satan is working out his lies in my soul and you know you think you got to always tell young guys this. I always tell young guys this and I wish someone would tell me. But I always say, when the devil tempted Jesus, he fought back with scripture and the devil Jesus could have snapped his fingers and the devil had to flee, but he was being a model for us. It has been written that you shall not tempt um, you tempt the Lord, that God and all these sorts of things. And once he fought with scripture, the devil was gone.

Speaker 2:

And everyone's who's listening how often, when Satan is lying to you and tempting you, do you say scripture out loud. So there's a young guy now, right, listening, and it's a good chance. Porn is your problem, okay, and you're picking up your phone and man just want to, you know, act out in that way and look at those pictures. And look at those images. Imagine literally quoting scripture in that moment Right, yeah, just try it. You know what I mean. And I always tell young guys have you done it? And they always say no, it's like, do you think if you did it it will work? And you know what they always say CJ, yes, it's like you just got to. Yeah, it works, yeah anyways.

Speaker 1:

Well, romans 12 too, right right, do not be conformed to the patterns. This world would be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what the will of god is, but washing the scripture over your mind. Renewing your mind by focusing on the word of god, which has all power and authority and strength, because it's the living word of god that's exactly right um, I'd say, uh, understand it. And call it out is one of the things I wrote down.

Speaker 1:

Many live in fear to engage in these things, because they're so foreign or you're not comfortable. But, like you said Matthew 28, 18, authority has been given to me on heaven and earth. Jesus has all power. So you, through Jesus, have power to engage in these things because Satan will not prevail.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah. And you know Jesus said uh, the old Testament says, above all, I would that my house be a house of prayer. Yeah, and people will talk to me about man. I just feel like I'm under satanic attack and there's so much going on and this and that I was like man. I get that, I get that and they always say nobody. Yeah, I said I wouldn't have an attack this heavy without having 10, 12 believers that I know can get a prayer up, knowing what's going on, and sometimes you got to give people permission to stop being secretive and stop holding all their cards so close. It's a child if you're, if your child out there, wayward and on drugs and struggling and in jail and out of jail and all that comes, you better get 10 prayer warriors on an email thread with the quick and have them calling on God. Prayer changes things. It really does.

Speaker 1:

Well, I wrote down. The ancient conception of illness was not a physical state separate from the spiritual. It was from the spiritual or supernatural state of affairs. And so we read that in Ephesians 6, 12. So, in James, is anyone among you sick, let him call on the elders of the church who will pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up. And so I'd say other ways that you can combat the spiritual attack is fasting, laying on of hands, anointing of oil attack is fasting, laying on of hands, anointing of oil.

Speaker 1:

And you've talked about this. So praise and worship, of course, but you've mentioned this before is confession Amen.

Speaker 2:

Amen. So yeah, there's a passage in James that talks about confession. Doesn't it Like? Um, how does it go? Um confess your faults one to another?

Speaker 1:

so that you may be healed.

Speaker 2:

And we confess our faults to God to be forgiven, but we confess our faults to our Christian community to be healed and we confess our faults to God to be forgiven, but we confess our faults to our Christian community to be healed, which is this notion that bringing confession and vulnerability to bear upon the Christian community brings the strength. So I talked to and we've messed this up. In evangelicalism we don't confess at all, we don't ever talk about confession, so we got to fix that. But anyways, the whole idea is that man, when I sin, jesus, I'm so sorry, will you forgive me. Most people stop there. But when I'm struggling with lies and temptation, but to tell my brother CJ, man, can you pray for me? Man, I'm just confessing, I'm struggling right now. I feel so strong after that moment. Why?

Speaker 1:

Because the beginning of the end of the enemy's attack is exposure, and once it's exposed, it loses its power over you in Jesus name.

Speaker 1:

Oh, that's so good, oh man, uh, second Corinthians, four, 18, uh, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen, for the things that are the scene are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. And so that's why we say, even in this, it's not just as physical, uh thing that's separate from the spiritual nature of all of it, and that's why we do battle in these ways. Right, that's right. Um, so they, so they seem a little foreign maybe to us here in Western culture, but these are the things, yeah.

Speaker 2:

I heard a book. I heard a preacher. He's blowing up this guy named Philip Mitchell, I think, out of Atlanta, Very prophetic, and he said he's just talking about railing against sin and confessing sin, all this kind of stuffilly accent, you know. So he talks like with a Philly accent, you know, and he says the problem is that we're reading an Eastern book with Western eyes.

Speaker 2:

And what you said is so true, right, like we do have Western eyes, western civilization is, we are more isolated than communal, we're more individualistic than corporate Right, and so, man, but the book is not written to that context. So we've got to stretch ourselves and get in that small group. We've got to stretch ourselves and confess our sins to our accountability partner and, by the way, we've got to have an accountability partner and all those sorts of things.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, because you know, for we read it in Ephesians right For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against rulers and authorities and against cosmic powers of the present darkness. So it's really that tension right Of saying like that there is power there but, like you said, not all power. So we can't give too, don't give too much credit where credit's brother right there.

Speaker 2:

Like, be careful when you resist the remedies that scripture affords you. Yeah, and still go on complaining that I'm under spiritual attack Attack. Yeah, there you go, because you're not actually under spiritual attack, you attacking yourself, yeah. So when you don't want to hear, get in the small group.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

And if you don't want to hear, let the elders pray over you. And if you want to, don't. Don't want to hear. Have you sinned? Do you need to confess?

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Then you don't get to say a spiritual attack anymore, yeah, you. Not to say it's disobedience on your part, yeah, that is elongating this oppression you're under in your life, and so that's a whole nother thing. Because here's the thing, man, I have to obey him. I don't get to say, hey, lord, I'm not going to follow those Ten Commandments things, but would you help with this depression.

Speaker 1:

Well, he's like here's the remedy and you swat it away. Literally Do you want to be healed? Amen?

Speaker 2:

Oh, okay, preacher, All right, that's good, All right guys.

Speaker 1:

Well, as always, we want our conversations to be entertaining and engaging, but we want to make sure to provide you with helpful resources as well. What are some things that you'd like to point people to that they might find helpful?

Speaker 2:

Guys really check the show notes on this stuff. We've got a lot of articles, a lot of books, um, love, armor guide, bible study with Priscilla Priscilla Shire. It's actually pretty good. David Jeremiah is excellent. I've heard about this one for years, hadn't read it. But the spiritual warfare answer book by David Jeremiah. We've got a whole bunch more here. There's one I'd add to it guys. It's an old book but a goodie. It's called um tape letters. Oh yeah, cs lewis, yeah and um, essentially it's a a fictional tale of cs lewis talking about or explaining how satan works. Yeah, and he does it through the guise of an uncle demon and a nephew demon and the uncle's name screw tape and screw tapes writing these letters teaching him how to tempt mankind.

Speaker 1:

Yep.

Speaker 2:

And he talks about politics and money and sex and power and ends up helping you see how Satan gets us. It's it's one of the best books I've ever read. I need to reread it. It's been too many years since I read it.

Speaker 1:

I just downloaded on an audible like two months ago.

Speaker 2:

So it's on my list. Okay, just downloaded on an audible like two months ago. So it's on my list. Okay, great audible. Yeah, yeah, because it's kind of I wonder who reads it. Oh, I don't hopefully got a british guy, yeah, or scott or whatever, yeah, yeah, oh my god I have a guy who's reading right now.

Speaker 1:

I'm doing uh the or I'm reading uh, orally reading uh the or rating the. Um, okay, esv bible you are, yeah. So I got it on audible and I was like man, I I'm let me tell you, genesis comes alive Like never before when you listen to it on audible.

Speaker 2:

I've never listened to the someone else read the scripture to me and.

Speaker 1:

I'm like this is fascinating. Like I'm, having to pause it and take notes and all kinds of stuff.

Speaker 2:

It's really good. Every night I'm trying to listen to my West wing and I'm over there, and then God said and she over there snoring. And then God said let there be light.

Speaker 1:

I love that you're watching West Wing and she's listening to the Bible.

Speaker 2:

There's serious issues in our home. We all know that. We all know April's the better half. We all know this Spiritual tech.

Speaker 1:

Yes, as always, guys, we have a ton of other resources in there I want you to check out. We got Michael Heiser stuff if you want to jump into some unseen realm and world stuff, bible study tools, all kinds of fun stuff. But we also want your questions, comments and feedback, as always here. If you have questions, especially about spiritual realm, warfare, attack, all of that, we'd love to hear what you guys have to say. Leave us a comment on YouTube or, if you're just listening, you can email us at theother6daysatsouthwestchurchcom. That's the number six.

Speaker 2:

Any last comments, ricky, before we wrap this up, no man, just know that God loves you and that God's bigger, god's better and God's more powerful, and you're going to be just fine in Christ.

Speaker 1:

Amen, thank you. Well, there you have it, guys. Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Other Six Days podcast. Be sure to hit that subscribe, follow, share and like, spread the word and, as always, take what you've heard and turn it into something that you can do to further the gospel and the world around you. Until next time, peace.