From Barcelona Streets to Ephesians: Faith, Fear, and the Armor of God

A dead end in Barcelona forced us straight through a roaring protest, and that ten-minute walk became a mirror for a much bigger battle. The streets were peaceful, but the messaging was not. No counterpoint, no conversation—just a single, surging narrative. Back in Bordeaux, staring out over vines and stone, I kept hearing Isaiah’s warning about calling evil good and good evil. It clicked: we’re not just debating policy or headlines. We’re living through a marketing war for the moral imagination—one that plays out on TikTok, in marches, and in the quiet spaces of our minds.

So we go to the text. We read Ephesians 6 and break down the armor of God in plain terms: truth that keeps you steady, righteousness that protects your heart, gospel peace that guides your steps, faith that shields you from manipulative outrage, salvation that guards your mind, and the word of God as the only offensive weapon sharp enough to cut through slogans. We add prayer—not as a formality, but as supply and strategy—to stay alert without becoming angry, bold without becoming harsh. And we wrestle with Paul’s confession in Romans 7, because the war inside is real. If the apostle who wrote much of the New Testament fought against the pull of sin, then our flaws don’t disqualify us from speaking clearly and standing firm.

Along the way, we talk about why Israel faces not only a geopolitical fight but a digital and narrative one—and why Christians do too. If hate can trend, truth can spread. That means telling better stories, showing our work with humility, and refusing to take the bait that turns neighbors into enemies. The resurrection settled the end of the story; our part is to live like it now—calm, clear, and covered. If you’re ready to trade outrage for armor and confusion for conviction, press play, share this with a friend, and leave a quick review so more people can find the show. Then tell me: what truth are you willing to speak this week?

We trace a tense walk through a Barcelona protest to a vineyard in Bordeaux and reflect on how an upside‑down world turns slogans into scripture-sized tests. We read Ephesians 6 and Romans 7, name the marketing war shaping minds, and commit to truth, prayer, and courage.

• pivot to faith and spiritual battles
• eyewitness account of anti‑Israel marches
• personal ties to Judaism and support for Israel
• Isaiah 5:20 as a lens for cultural confusion
• Israel, Christians, and the marketing/TikTok challenge
• clip criticism and media-driven division
• Ephesians 6: the armor of God explained
• Paul’s boldness and Romans 7’s honest struggle with sin
• practical steps: word, prayer, community, restraint
• closing call to resist bait and stand firm

This is the Buddy For Junior Show — where faith, truth, and courage come together. Join us as we explore life’s deeper purpose and carry the torch of conviction. The show begins now.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Pivot to Faith and Spiritual Battles
• 1:16 Travel, Protests, and a Rising Movement
• 2:56 Witnessing Anti‑Israel Marches in Spain
• 5:27 Personal Ties to Judaism and Israel
• 8:59 Crossing the Protest and Processing Fear
• 12:16 Generational Indoctrination and No Opposition
• 14:19 Israel’s Marketing and TikTok Problem
• 16:32 Framing It as Spiritual Warfare
• 18:12 Don Lemon Clip and Cultural Division
• 21:11 Respecting Others While Speaking Truth
• 21:54 Reading Ephesians: The Armor of God
• 25:11 Paul’s Call to Pray and Speak Fearlessly
• 27:23 Paul’s Conversion and Boldness

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:13

Welcome. Welcome to the Body Four Junior Show where we're doing a little bit of a pivot and we're talking about faith. We're talking about spiritual battles. We're talking about an upside-down world since Charlie Kirk's death and how we're seeing a movement in this nation finally and in this world, frankly. Let's give credit to other countries of truth and people being honest and outward with their faith. Doesn't make us perfect. It just makes us God-fearing people that we believe in Jesus Christ. We've decided that Jesus Christ was a Lord and Savior, which I have, my wife has, my two daughters have. Praise the Lord, praise God, the King of the universe, the Alpha, the Omega. And just praise Jesus for his his sacrifice at the cross and the blood that he shed for us. Now I'm working on it. And today, what I want to go over, or what we've talked about in the past couple episodes since the relaunch here, is spiritual battles. I want to go over that today. And I'm sitting here in Bordeaux, France. I'm in the country at Saint Estef, which is the left bank of Bordeaux, my favorite region, sitting here staring at a vineyard. And we are having a great time. And I just got news of Israel and the hostages and the negotiation of what's taking place. And it just reminds me of how biblical this all is. We're in Barcelona, France. I'm sorry, Barcelona, Spain, about six days ago. And there were anti-Israel marches where I actually saw visually uh Israel flags with a schwa sticker in the center of it. I saw signs of uh pro-Palestine and anti-Jewish. I saw hate signs, hate America, hate Israel. And I actually was right there. I was in front of our hotel the day before we were leaving. Tens and tens of thousands of people marching and shutting the streets down. I had a permit. It was all legit, so to say. As well as the fact that our first day that we took a walk down by the waterfront, there was uh a march, that same march going on further down from us. And I I was a little uh nervous. Uh my heart was pounding. For those of you that don't know, I actually wear a Star of David a lot around my chest with my cross because Jesus is lineage of David. David is Old Testament. Uh he is somebody that is incredible in the Bible, in the Old Testament, his journey, his faith, his sin, his fall from grace, uh, the human nature of David and the divinity of him. David was a man made in an image of God, yet he was so imperfect. So I have an affinity towards reading uh scripture with David, and I do wear the cross of David around my neck to show my support for Israel, to show my uh connection to the Old Testament. And I'd say five, three out of my five best friends are Jewish, and one of them is a devout Jew. The other two better get to the synagogue. I'm gonna I'm giving them a hard time a lot. Uh one I'm gonna start giving a whole lot more time to, as far, I'm sorry, a hard time to. And these are very three very dear friends of mine. They're the first ones I I call when I have milestones in my life. They're the first ones I call when I have advice I need. And I respect and admire them dearly. So I definitely have a Jewish connection, not only because my Christianity, but because of my three of my five best friends are Jewish. Now, for my Gentile friends out there, you're probably saying, all right, who are we? Do we fall in the top five? Oh man, too much. But that's not what this podcast is about as far as my friendships. However, I do have an affinity, I have a bias towards the Jewish culture. Uh, I worked in it, I have a lot of friends in it that are Jewish. I was around it. It's heavily influenced in my biblical life and my own journey of my faith, which I've journaled immensely about. And um I like I said, I put a Star of David around my neck with my cross, which makes for interesting conversations when I'm out. So being in the middle of this parade, this anti-Israel march, a lot of things came up. All right, and I keep going over it, and I don't mean to laugh, I'm just blown out of the water. It's not a laugh, it's a I guess I'm just trying to take it down a notch because I'll start screaming and yelling on this podcast. Isaiah 5.20 and 21. And I keep saying it every episode, but I'm sorry, someone tell me I shouldn't, someone tell me I'm wrong. Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight. Isaiah 5.20 and 5.21. I'm gonna read 520 again. Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. I thought of that as I'm what as I witnessed this march, this protest, this anti-Israel protest, pro-Palestine protest. And now picture this. Jen and I are in a foreign city, we don't speak the language, and I'm a big guy. For those of you that don't know, I lift weights a lot. I'm a fighter, I'm a multi-national state champion, junior Olympic champion. I'm a tough dude. South Detroit, New York, and it's just it's just the way it is. So picture us being in Spain, Barcelona, getting to the waterfront, and there's no way to escape this march. And they're screaming, you can hear them blocks away. Next thing you know, we're trying to take detours in the back roads and the alleyways and those tall buildings, and we're trying to evade what's going on. And we can't eventually we get to a dead end. We have to cross over in between and through the march. And my wife is like, let's turn around. So we can't turn around. It does take us another hour just to get home where we started from, and my personality, we complete what we finish, and she really wanted to go to the waterfront. And we're we're literally 10 more minutes from the waterfront. And I got my app, we're at a dead end. There's construction. We have to cross over through this march. Now my heart is pounding, okay? And I don't know what's going to happen. I don't want to endanger my wife, so I go up to it, to the sides where people are standing watching them walk by, and I don't see any violence, I don't see any risk. And then I see people crossing the middle like we are, because we all had to. We were at a dead end. And they're making their way through, and they did, without harm, without incident. So I grabbed my wife's hand and I said, Let's go. And I walked fiercely through the crowd, and I moved, and I'm moving forward because I can't go backward. I'm moving forward as you like you do in any crowd to eventually get through it. And as I'm doing it, I'm obviously my alert, like antennas, a skyscraper of Manhattan, and my heart's pounding. Now, I don't want any trouble, but I'm certainly not going to put up with anything. And now I have a hard time with the stance of pro-Palestine. I'm not anti-Palestine, I'm just pro-Israel. So I am anti-terrorism, I'm anti-Hamas, and we're going to talk about all that right after this conversation. Here's the deal. As I'm pulling my wife, she says to me, You're going too fast. I'm going, man, just let's get out of this thing. So we get through it. And to my surprise, there was a lot of young people marching through or marching, marching to the pro-Palestine beat with flags and megaphones. Young. When I say young, I mean 18, 17, 22. And the next day, we saw them, or sorry, two days later, we saw them up by our hotel, and we were warned it was going to happen. So if you've got to leave, you'll be flying out, make sure you leave early and just be aware of what's going on in front of the uh hotel. And this time I took more time to observe. It was a wider street, and there was a lot more people. And as I'm seeing these young kids with Palestine signs, like I mean in a crib and a walker, and then you know, they're strollers. And I'm seeing other ones that are six and seven and are marching with these anti-Israel, these hate symbols. I just thought to myself, boy, what is gonna happen when these kids are older? Because there's a generation in America, in Spain, and all around the world that's being trained to be anti-Israel. So, what does that look like in 20 years? I think it looks frightening. And my wife went into Safara to get something because we're leaving that day, and I'm sitting there watching the aftermath, the people who are still around strolling and getting back to their homes, going down to the subway, and I'm seeing all these signs. And my wife comes out, she goes, You're alright, you alright? And I just said, Hun, I'm blown out of the water. By the way, there was no violence, it was peaceful. I gotta give credit where credit's due. However, there was also no opposition. Like there was nobody with a pro-Israel sign or pro-America sign walking around. I certainly didn't have one. There was no opposition whatsoever, which probably is why it was peaceful. I gotta imagine if it was a pro-Israel march, shit hit would have hit the fan, but that's a conversation that we can't have because I didn't see it. And here I am observing this, and I'm just saying to myself, Israel has a marketing problem. Israel has a marketing problem. They have a marketing problem, they have a social media problem, they have a TikTok problem. Because the only way you can indoctrinate all these young kids that are marching and these young families is if you have established some type of online presence to manipulate minds away from truth. And they did. Hamas did. They literally must have an office filled with people who are online creating content for people to hate Israel. And it's working. Uh so Israel has a battle to fight digitally, and believe it or not, they have a marketing battle. And I think Christians also have a marketing battle. I think God marketing is going to be something that we must lean into and not be afraid of, talking about our faith to reverse the trend that I witnessed. And what I did witness is those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for better, marching for pro-Palestine, anti-Israel, Israel from the river to the sea is a Hamas executed marketing program. And it's scary. And let's dive into that. Let's dive into the spiritual warfare. This is a spiritual warfare. This is the devil's work. And let's play a click, uh, a clip from Don Lemon, who's just an idiot. Let's just be real. He's an idiot. Let's do some truth telling. Listen to this clip. When you do, think about what I've been saying. What's right is wrong, what's up is down, what's black is white. It's just an upside-down world. So here's a clip where I am as I played this earlier. I'm on a vineyard staring at a beautiful chateau in these beautiful vines in my heart. I want to work through the pardon me, Jesus, pardon me, God. I want to work through the phone and grab Don Lemon. Here we go.

SPEAKER_00: 12:21

White men, something is broken. Something is cracked deep inside when so many of you believe the answer to fear, to loss, to change is violence. Are you listening to me? I hope I'm saying it loud enough for the people in the back. Wake up, white men! What the f is wrong with you? Because you're lazy and sitting in front of a computer or a phone and you're just eating it up. Oh my god. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01: 13:03

This guy's out of his mind. That's Don Lemon talking about white people into violence and laziness at her computer. I mean, listen, the devil wants racial warfare, the devil wants political warfare, the devil wants vaccine warfare, the devil wants society warfare, the devil wants Democrats and Republicans going at each other. This is all the works of the enemy. He's here to kill and destroy and to lie. That's Don Lemon talking about white people, Republicans. Meanwhile, his lovers are from what I can see online were white. His relationships are with white people as well. So I'm assuming he's talking about conservative white people. This man is the devil. That is an example of a kingdom destroyer of heaven and a kingdom builder of hell. If I've ever seen one. So listen, why do I say that? And by the way, I'm talking a little slower, a little quieter, because I am at the vineyard, and there are people relaxing and enjoying their days, and I want to upset them. I uh mainly because I was at a lunch with my wife, and there's a table next to us in Saint Emilion, Bordeaux, and there were two Asian gentlemen with an Australian gentleman. The Asian gentleman, one lived in China, one lived in America, and one and the Australian gentleman lived in Australia. Only because I was eavesdropping do I know this. And they're having conversations about X, Y, and Z politically and Trump, etc. And I just had to sit there and just shut up. And I was annoyed. It ruined my lunch. Ah, no, it didn't. I didn't give them that much power. I got to look at my beautiful wife across the table, enjoy some great uh Cine Million right bank wines and a great goose dish. So it really didn't ruin my day. However, it would have been great if they just didn't have that conversation right next to me. So I try to have the same respect to people. Now listen, let's go to what is a spiritual battle. So again, I'm talking a little lower than Buddy usually talks because I want to show respect to anyone that might be, you know, 50 yards away from me, because you can hear me 100 yards or two miles away. Anyone knows me knows that. Okay, finally. So here's I'm gonna read to you Ephesians 6, 10, through, I believe it's 25, I believe. I'll uh we'll summarize it when I get there. This is the armor of God. Finally, this is Paul writing to uh this is the letter to Ephesians, so it's Ephesians 5. I'm sorry, Ephesians 6, 10 on. Finally, be strong in the Lord and his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that we can make, so that we can take your strong stance against the devil's schemes. So this is something that I've learned in reading the Bible and attending church and going to Bible studies and being around biblical scholars, the armor of God, right? So I'm gonna read that again because it's a big deal, the armor of God, and we're gonna get into what exactly does the armor of God look like. And visualize yourself living in the times when Paul was writing this. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, and against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Folks, right there. This is what I've been talking about for the past two or three episodes. What is the spiritual battle? What is a spiritual battle you've been hearing from Christians since Charlie Kirk's death at Charlie Kirk's uh services that were viewed by over a billion people, that Don Lemon also made fun of and called the national Christian, uh nationalized Christian movement, a call to arms. Yes, it is. It's a call to faith, it's a call to speak out. And I'm gonna look for that clip as well. But right now, let's focus on what is a spiritual battle. Finally, be strong in the Lord and his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can make your stance against the devil's schemes. For your struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground. And after you have done everything to stand, stand firm then with the belt of truth. Right? Hear that gang. Stand firm then with the belt of truth buckled around your waist. Okay, that's the Bible, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fit it to the readiness that comes from the gospel's peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, and pray in spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people. Pray also for me, whatever I speak, that whatever I speak, words may be given to me, so that I will be fearlessly make them knowing the mystery of the gospel, for which I am the ambassador. In claims, and chain, I am the ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare fearlessly as I should. Pray that I may declare it, that I may declare it fearlessly, fear fearlessly as I should. I mean, this is Paul. Let's go over the part where he's saying, Pray for me again. Pray in the spirit on all occasions for the with all kinds of prayers and requests, with this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people. Pray also for and whatever I speak, so that the words may be fearless. Make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fiercely, fierce, fearlessly, as I should. Ephesians 10 through 18, we just read. So this is Paul, a man of God, who the who used to be a hunter of Christians, of Jewish converts to Christianity, these Jesus lovers. Paul would hunt them down. He was a biblical scholar. He is on the way to go get Christians and imprison them, kill them, drag them on a horse, whatever he did. And Jesus knocks him off the horse after Jesus is his Holy Spirit's now among us. He's been crucified, he's raised from the dead, now he's living in the kingdom. So now Paul sees him on the road to Damascus, and Jesus blinds him. And that's once I was blind, now I see. Well, that's a Paul, Apostle Paul reference. So Paul was Simon, he becomes Paul after uh his instructions and his his encounter with Jesus Christ as a spirit, and then becomes the largest writer of the New Testament on fire for the Lord. So here's a man who had an encounter with Jesus saying, pray for me, that I may declare it fearlessly, fearlessly. So obviously, fear of declaring the war the Lord's word is a real thing. Charlie Kirk did it fearlessly, fearlessly, and it's something that more of us have to do in order to beat this dark demonic realm. And we in order to do so, we're being instructed by Paul to put on a full armor of God. He's telling us, put on a full armor of God. I highly recommend you dive into 610 through 618. Now listen, we're at 21-minute mark. I don't like to have these things go much longer. So let me just read something else to you that I really hit me in my studying of the Bible. Because I always feel like I'm not good enough. I'm not good enough to talk about the Lord. I'm sinful, I have a sinful nature. And why would I want to embarrass God by being one of his people? Okay, so let me let me just see if I can find something that really hit me. Okay, here it is. I'm gonna read you Romans 18. So this is Paul writing to Romans, writing uh his writing in Romans to Rome. For I know that for I know that good itself does not dwell in me. That is, in my sinful nature, for I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out, for I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do. This I keep doing. Now, if I do what I do not want to do, is it no longer I who do it, but it is the sin living in me that does it. Let me read that again. This is Paul, the Apostle Paul, the largest author of the New Testament, a righteous man doing a work of God, talking about his imperfections. Let me read that again. For I know that the good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, I but I cannot carry it out, for I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do. So he's doing the evil that he doesn't want to do, and he's not doing the good that he wants to do. One second, do one just knock that over. Okay, for I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do. This I keep doing. Now, if I did what I do not want to do, is it no longer who I who do it, but the sin living in me? So I find this law at work. Although I wanted to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being, I delight in God's law, but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am who will rescue me from this body that which I am subject to death, thanks to God who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but my soul's nature but in my sinful nature, a slave to the law of sin. So the point is we're not perfect people. We are in a spiritual battle. We need to be reading the Bible, listening to worship music, being in community, and we need to be praying for not only ourselves, but for our spiritual leaders, for our rabbis, if you're Jewish, for our priests, if you're Catholic, for our pastors, for our ministers, for our group leaders, for our Bible worship leaders, for our Bible reading leaders, for anyone doing the kingdom-building work, we need to pray for them. We need to pray for ourselves because we give in to our sinful nature, and that's the hypocrite um the hypocrite within us. I mean, read Genesis 6, chapter 6. Uh, it's pretty mind-blowing on the sin that we are and how disgusted God was with us because everything we said and thought and did was pure evil. And then he found favor in Noah, the flood, the flood came, etc., etc. My point is, I start this podcast off with sharing examples of the spiritual battle that's upon us. Isaiah 520, 59, 519, 520, 521. What's sweet is bitter, what's bitter is sour, what's right is wrong, what's good is evil, what's evil is good. We're in an upside-down world. We've got the media completely on board with the spiritual battle that the devil has invaded, taken over, and has become in and of itself, the devil is be in front of us with the news that we consume in the division that's being created. Anything or anytime we want to divide, we want to hate, we want to criticize, we are in a battle and something's taken over us that is evil. Those of us in the word can identify it. The more we read, the more we escape it. It doesn't mean that we escape it. Paul says it right there in his letter to the Romans, chapter 7, verse 18 and on. It's a spiritual battle. But without participating in, without diving into the word, we lose this battle. But in the end, no matter what, the devil loses. Okay, we know that Christ's crucifixion and resurrection solve the devil's problem. Now, where do we stand in this journey? Where do we stand? What are we doing to combat evil? What are we doing? Get to church. And as hard as it is, as it is, don't take the bait. Because this Don Lemon, boy, do I want to take the bait and just wring his neck. But that's the demonic nature in me. I have to prevail with the kingdom building behavior. God bless. Get to church. We'll talk next Wednesday.