When You Step Away, The Enemy Steps In

Heaven beckons with a promise beyond our imagination. What if those fleeting moments of perfect peace in your life are just tiny glimpses of what awaits? In this deeply personal episode, host JD opens his heart about the spiritual journey that has shaped his ministry and perspective on faith.

Through raw, unfiltered testimony, JD shares his experience of walking away from God after devastating losses - his mother's passing, career setbacks, broken relationships, and financial strain. With remarkable candor, he describes sitting in a bar, deliberately abandoning his faith, and the painful consequences that followed. This vulnerability isn't for shock value, but to illuminate the gradual process through which spiritual disconnection happens and the path back to wholeness.

Drawing on the powerful biblical image of Lazarus rising from the dead still wrapped in grave clothes, JD explores how we need each other to remove our spiritual "bandages" - the lingering effects of past wounds that restrict our freedom in Christ. Our personal struggles, he suggests, aren't meaningless suffering but preparation to minister effectively to others facing similar battles. The person who has overcome addiction or managed anger issues possesses unique insight that theoretical knowledge can never provide.

The episode challenges listeners to recognize their true identity as heirs in God's kingdom while acknowledging ongoing struggles with unwanted thoughts and temptations. With intimate, conversational warmth, JD creates a judgment-free space for spiritual reflection and growth. Whether you're solidly grounded in faith, cautiously exploring, or feeling spiritually disconnected, this episode offers both comfort and gentle challenge to move toward authentic connection with God.

Subscribe to the 421 Show for more spiritual insights and personal testimony that bridges the gap between biblical truth and everyday experience. Your journey of faith doesn't have to be walked alone.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to the 421 Show
• 8:54 Reflections on Heaven and God's Peace
• 13:24 The Importance of Connecting with God
• 16:14 Personal Testimony of Walking Away
• 21:14 Taking Off Each Other's Bandages
• 25:13 Dealing with Thoughts and Authority in Christ
• 27:32 Growing the Ministry and Support Appeal

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:06

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. People come and go. One thing I know Jesus never leaves you, no.

Speaker 2: 0:33

Glory to God. This is your host, jd. You're listening to the 421 Show. Hey, go check out our website at hor421showbuzzsproutcom for all your latest content and information. And if you'd like to listen to the show, you can listen to it on apple spotify. Whatever platform you're choosing, hey, remember tune in to bible talk once a week with sister deb osborne. You can also find her show on wic 88.1 christian radio station. That's local here in harlem k, kentucky. Also, remember tune in once a week with the Cavewood Church of God. Sunday service Live recorded. Sunday service Praise the Lord. And if you'd like to support the show, you can support it through PayPal slash HOR421 or you can go through our website at HOR421showbuzzproutcom. Shows are recorded here at the 421 studio. For contact information for all of your studio needs, you can email at hor421ministries at gmailcom phone number is 239-849-1502.

Speaker 2: 1:51

Praise the Lord, glory to God. God is good. It is great to be alive, and it'd be even greater when I make it to heaven. God is good. I can't get heaven off my mind here lately. It's just like. It's just what is it going to be like? And uh, it's going to be truly, truly amazing. Just uh.

Speaker 2: 2:11

And just the other day, uh, you know, I was, I was, uh, the Lord just kind of said it in my heart and he says James, I give everybody just a little bit of heaven and what it's going to be like in our everyday lives. You were all at peace, though, you know, and when everything's going good and everything's smooth and you know you don't have no mechanical problems, you don't have to fix your house, you don't have to cook dinner, you don't have to go to the hospital, you're not sick, whatever it may be in your life, you know, and you've got that peace, like everything's okay, you know what? Enhance that by 10. And that's what heaven's going to be like, and I thank God for it. I thank God for just. You know, he, he just touches me and he speaks to me in a way that I can understand him. I'm not perfect, I'm far from perfect, but you know I do my best and I do it out of love. You know, out of love of my heart, what Christ has put in me and I thank God for it.

Speaker 2: 3:09

I might not be the best speaker, you know. I, you know um, and but I thank God that he did place his word down in me. And you know, and as I go on and I do speak, and the more I speak, the more boldness I get, you know, the more that I see that you know that God's in me and his knowledge and his understandings in me, you know, and and it just it truly, truly amazes me. You know, they told me just to go ahead and just graduate, you could walk with your class and we don't want you here, no more. And you know, somebody never succeeded in life when it comes to, you know, you know, book stuff and knowledge and stuff like that. I, you know, I've, you know I got kudos on a few other things I'm pretty smart at. But those are life situations and those are things that everybody should know and I do understand a lot.

Speaker 2: 4:14

I just sometimes I don't know how to word them and sometimes I don't know how to bring it out and I thank God that he's showing me how to, and he's showing me how to express myself and express who I am in him and the words that he presses, you know, presses in my heart to speak and I thank God for it. And I thank God for everything that he has done. I thank you for the listeners. You know, here in the States and overseas. You know. I thank God that everything that you have done for me, god, is so good.

Speaker 2: 4:47

I don't know how to express that, as you know as much, and, and you know, and if you're listening and I've ever hurted your feelings, you know, and I apologize, but I promise you, you know we'll make it right, we'll do what we have to and uh, you know we'll make it right, we'll do what we have to and uh, cause that's the only way that I know to do it. You know, and uh, and, and I promise you, if I've ever offended anybody when it, you know, not through the Bible or through the word of God or anything like that, you know, not through Jesus, but I'm talking about it myself. If I've ever offended you in any way, you know I've laid hurt upon you physically or, you know, mentally or whatever. I apologize. You know from the depths of my heart, you know that love of Christ has put in me. I deeply am sorry and I just kind of felt like to throw that out there. You know, hopefully somebody out there that does know me in my past is listening and you know and and and knows who I was in the past and knows who I am now. And if you'd like to know who I am now, just you know, look me up and, uh, I thank God for everything that he has done for me. I can't say it enough and I don't think you could say it enough.

Speaker 2: 6:03

You know the Lord talks about. You know the world couldn't contain all the books that are written. You know God's writing a book about you. You know we've got books of Moses and Daniel and Peter and John and Matthew and Mark and Luke and Paul. You know, and it's just, there's so many books out there and I always wondered you know what would my book speak? You know what would it read? And I keep a journal and uh, and the Lord told me one day says James, this is your book.

Speaker 2: 6:41

You know there's things in there that God moves up on me just to speak to myself, and then there's things that you know I'll start typing out or, and I'll start writing out, and there's things here on this show that I write in my journal, that I talk about. And there's things you know I got a little thing that I do on Facebook try to interact with everybody as much as I can. And, uh, you know thoughts from my journal and you know, never in a million years that I'd ever thought that I would be sharing. You know some of my. You know some of my thoughts, you know, cause, you know, be honest with you or judged, and, and it's sad to say, but people judge and they judge wrongfully or they only hear what they want to hear, they only read what they want to read or see what they want to see.

Speaker 2: 7:31

And you know, and, and I put myself out there with my you know thoughts from my journal and little passages that I write and uh, and I hope you know, and if you, if you do, go to my Facebook and you read them, or you hear this stuff on, you know, and I, I promise you, if you take it to heart, you know, and just listen and take in the whole content instead of just reading it halfway and um, and I believe that's what a lot of our society's problem is is we're only tune in to what we think that we hear and we're not tuning into the whole message.

Speaker 2: 8:02

And that's what I'd be honest with you, I think that's what's wrong with a lot of the churches today is we're not tuning in, you know, to everything that God is saying. If we would just sit back and listen and see, when I keep that journal and I talk, and, uh, when I, when I, when I'm writing down my thoughts in that journal, I start to hear God and he starts to speak to me, it's because I'm getting quiet and I'm listening to this, to my inner, my spirit, and I'm listening to God because, see, that's what connects. It's not this flesh Don't connect to God. This flesh ain't nothing but dead weight. What connects to God is this inner man and seeing and I was going to talk about that a and Eve. But I tell you what you know.

Speaker 2: 8:47

Let's see, uh, let's pull up some of my notes. If I can find it, Well, I guess I'll go ahead. And if I can find it, let's praise the Lord. I tell you what I got outside. I psyched up here. Um, you know, um, uh, let's see. Praise the Lord, glory to God.

Speaker 2: 9:03

I guess I can just speak about this, but it you know it. It's this listen to God, set yourself aside, see, and that's what God means. To get into your closet, it's not necessary. I mean, yeah, you know, you can physically get into your closet. You could physically shut the door on your home when nobody's around, you can go in your room and shut the door, get in your car. You know, when I first got saved in the nineties, I gave my heart to God and when I did, I get in my car and it seems like that was where me and God was at. You know, when I spoke to him and I would pray because there was nobody around, I'd check my back seat, make sure nobody was listening no recording devices or anything like that and me and God would just go at it. You know he would speak to me, I would speak to him and he would just bless me tremendously. You know some of the best shouts that I've had has been in my car when it was just me and him.

Speaker 2: 10:01

But you know what it is to get along with God is to um, to set aside all this fleshly desires and wants and needs. You know the flesh desires companionship. The flesh desires action and desires touch. But you know your inner man also desires all of this. Your man desires, you know, the, the touch of god, the voice of god. You know that and that's what. And seeing that the enemy knows this and seeing if he can grab your attention away from the voice of god and put your attention up on the television or put your attention upon the sporting event, you know I'm not going to sit here and tell you that all television is bad and all sporting events are bad, or any recreational ATV. You know mudding or whatever you want to. You know whatever you want to do, you want to go out to the shooting range.

Speaker 2: 11:02

But the thing is is are you putting it before God? Are you putting it before God? And that's what it's all about. Is you know it's you and God. That's why we were created for him. That's, you know, companionship and saying God gave us that choice. We could either serve him, and what it means to serve him is to commune with him.

Speaker 2: 11:29

You know, um, anybody that's been into supervision, authority type stuff, if you don't connect with the employees, the employees start to rile up against you. They start to wonder why is he connecting with me? Does he not think that I am good enough? See, no, that's not what God is. God wants to connect with you because, see, he realizes that spiritual need inside of you, that needs, you know, that needs the contact. And if you would just just get along with God, you know, and if you, like I said, if you physically want to shut the door and get in there, hey, do it. I'm not going to hold you back, but when you set yourself away from God, the enemy comes in and he comes in strong. I know I've done it.

Speaker 2: 12:18

I walked away from God, you know, back in 2013,. I can remember it like it was my, my birth, you know, I remember the day that I, I just walked completely away from god because, see, there was a, there was a transition there, everything that god does. He's got a transition and he gives you time and he gives you plenty of space to work out you. You know everything inside of you and all your, your, your, your shortcomings and all of that. And, and seeing, god gave me a space there. See, I was trying the world, you know, I was doing this and doing that and, just and little by little, it was tearing me apart. You know I back out away from church, you know I. You know I'd find myself, you know, sleeping all day, and then I would wake up. And then I'd find myself, you know, sleeping all day, and then I would wake up and then I'd find myself sitting.

Speaker 2: 13:09

One day I found myself sitting in a bar room. I found myself sitting on a stool ordering a pitcher of beer and I drank that beer and I'm going to be honest with you, it felt good, you know, cause? I had just lost my mother, lost this job, that I had a career, didn't have long to pay on my car and lost the fiance and all of this. Just like this was, this is my life in the span of six months lost, lost, lost, lost, lost. Well, I look back when I and the Lord had showed me, when I started to kind of back away from God, when, when I allowed things, you know, started to uh, eat at me, the world started to eat at me and break that connection between me and God.

Speaker 2: 13:59

And uh, and again, I always go back to the scripture, because this is one of those scriptures to God that showed me and he said it's the little foxes that spoil the vine. We are precious, precious in the sight of God, like she talks. You know, our vines are precious. You know, um, and, and I remember the day that I completely said I'm, I'm, I'm just, I'm not going to do it, no more. I can't live this double life. I can't live his life as a Christian. And I'm not even going to church, no more. I'm not even praying like I'm, you know, I'm not even seeking God, I'm not even reading my Bible. And uh, and then, and I remember I walked into the bar room again and and I said I'm done, and you know, and I just gave up, and I remember it like it was yesterday, and it haunts me and, and, and if it does haunt me until the day that I die and I leave this world and I go to heaven, then so be it. I don't like it, I don't like to put it on a pedestal and I don't like to say I'm a bigger man because I did this or I've got problems that you don't understand. You'd be surprised what I understand. You'll be surprised what your neighbor understands. You'll be surprised what your own pastor understands. And uh, that's why God puts us in the position that he had. That he does, you know, and I always. You know one of my favorite scriptures in the Bible or one of my favorite passages in the position that he had. That he does. You know, and I always.

Speaker 2: 15:29

You know, one of my favorite scriptures in the Bible or one of my favorite passages in the Bible is when God calls forth Lazarus. It's great, you know, when you, when you give your heart to God, you, you, you know, god calls you to the altar and you give your heart to God and you raised from the dead, from that old, dead flesh. But you know you're still packing baggages Lazar, the dead, from that old, dead flesh, but you know you're still packing baggages. Lazarus was packaging, you know, packaging bandages, death. He was in a death shroud and saying that's what sin is, it is a death shroud. And saying that's what the devil is trying to do to you. It keeps wrapping you and wrapping you and wrapping you until one day he's got you completely covered and saying I was completely covered.

Speaker 2: 16:08

And when I gave my heart to God, but you know, there was a. There was a very special woman to me, she was a spiritual mother to me and it was a. There was somebody else that I reached out to a spiritual brother. But that spiritual mother gave me, gave me comfort and talked to me, stern and talked to me straight, gave me comfort and talked to me stern and talked to me straight, just told me like it was.

Speaker 2: 16:34

And see, that's what we're here to do for each other, and you know we're to take each other's bandages off. See, that's what God puts us in positions that he does. That's why we go through the things that we do, because there's somebody out there that's been molested and you might know what it feels like to be molested and you might be able to help them. There's somebody out there that's an alcoholic and you was an alcoholic and you don't know how to help them. There's somebody out there that deals with anger issues and you're you're an angry person and uh, and you know how to help them. You know how to help them from not being brutish. You know how to help a bully, not to pick on people. There's something in your life and it's all not for our bane and our glory, it's for the glory of God. It's the testimony.

Speaker 2: 17:42

See, god went through everything that we went through that we're going on this earth, everything. I believe he went through cancer. I believe he went through a cough. I believe he went through a sneeze, a hurt, a pain, a joint pain, a headache. I believe he was taunted constantly by the enemy and he takes captive of his thoughts. God's been teaching me about that here lately, you know, because the enemy taunts me a lot with my thoughts. He's taunted me since I was a child. You know just everything you can possibly think of anything that would keep me, my thought process upon God, my communion with god. He, he, just he, bombarded me with every filthy, lucrative, hateful, perverted thought that he could throw.

Speaker 1: 18:41

He did he's thrown at me.

Speaker 2: 18:43

And there's days when I get up out my bed and I ain't up two seconds, not even that. It's like a blink of an eye. I could just, all of a sudden, I can hear the enemy just taunting me with the thoughts but see, that's all he could do to you. And see, and that's what the authority of god is, that's, that's why god died on the cross for our sins. That's why we do what we do, because, see, that's the, that's part of the authority of god. And see, the last time I spoke, I spoke on the authority of god. What is the anointing of god? It's through the anointing we attain strength. And saying, that's, that's part of the authority. You are a prince, you are an heir, you are a princess in the kingdom of god. You know, he first come to the jews, now then the gentiles, and now we are all drafted in, we are all one family and um, and if you could just grasp that of who you are in christ, I mean, you're still going to have your problems, you're still going to struggle.

Speaker 2: 19:49

I struggle every day. Um, I can't be a deacon in a church One, I'm not married, but another is. I got anger issues, you know I got a temper. Uh, I get mad. You know, uh, road rage, you know, uh, things don't go right. I puff up. You know I get brutish. You know Lord's been dealing with me and I, I've, I've went leaps and bounds with it. I still got a long ways to go with it. You know I don't like stupid people, and it's the truth. I don't like stupidity. And, um, you know, uh, growing up, you know, somebody used to always tell me, you know, he'd look at me and he'd go Keith, you know, uh, he said, do you know the difference between stupidity and ignorance? And I said, uh, no, sir, I don't. Or, when I did find out, yes, sir, but he said you're being stupid right now. Stupid. Stupidity is knowing ignorance is not stupid. Stupidity is knowing ignorance is not. And, uh, and I believe a lot of, and seeing, I don't want to get off on left field, you know, but it, it is what it is, but I thank god for everything he has done.

Speaker 2: 21:00

I didn't know what I was going to speak about. I had this thing that I was going to talk to you, everybody about. You know, adam and eve, you know. And you know Adam and Eve, you know. And about. You know, why did they eat the fruit of good and evil? Well, I'll tell you what. We'll leave that for next show.

Speaker 2: 21:16

And um, you guys keep me in prayer and um, you know, I I'm trying to find, you know, the, the right time. You know how long to speak, know, and and and just the just enough to where I can, you know, help somebody or, and it's not, it's not me, and so you guys pray for the show I've got and um, and it keeps reaching out, it's growing, it's uh, it's growing. It's not as fast as I wanted it to grow, but I thank God for that and there's reasons why it's because if it had grown fast, maybe I would have got into myself, and I see a lot of that in YouTube Christian YouTube or Christian just YouTube in general. You know, and everybody's looking for that one or you know 15 minute fame, and I'm not looking for that. God knows my heart. Don't get me wrong, though. I'd like to for this to grow and I believe it is going to grow and I believe it is going to succeed.

Speaker 2: 22:24

And you guys keep continuing to pray and you know, reach out, you know and uh, and if, if you guys like to support the show. Hey, please, you know, um, you could find it on PayPal. You know you can type in PayPal, slash HOR 421. You can go there and and send a love offering. You know, and, uh, I hate reaching out cause you know a lot of people's over the years and years, years, is ruined. The love offering thing Cause that's one of the number of things that you hear from anybody that evangelizes, anybody that preaches or holds anything authority, and you know, in a pulpit, is I'm not giving my money to the preacher, I'm not giving my money to the preacher, I'm not giving my money to that ministry. You know.

Speaker 2: 23:10

I don't know where it's going. Well, I tell you what. You use your own judgment and it's once. You give your money to somebody or something you know to to like it's not up to you, no more. They'll have to answer to God for it. You know, and if I go out and I wrongfully use the money that is given to me, I'll answer to God for it.

Speaker 1: 23:31

And it's just plain.

Speaker 2: 23:32

And simple and um, but you know, uh, I try to limit that. You know that type of you know reaching out to people, cause I don't want people to think I'm just out here for money grabbing. I don't want to be truthful with you guys here. I don't think I've ever said this on the show. I don't. I've been at this almost two years a little over two and some months years. I've not once got paid for this. I've not once been sponsored. I've not had no money. I've never been monetized. Everything comes straight out of my pocket, not my pocket, god's pocket.

Speaker 2: 24:05

I do this out of love of my heart. I do this for the people because a few years back when I, when I rededicated my heart, god gave me you know the story of Nineveh and short version when I've seen the story. Short version is when Nineveh looked at the wall and he seen it destruction. He cried out, he rallied, the troops got his people and they started to rebuild it. That's a short story. And see, from that I started looking at the church and I looked at myself first, but then I started looking at the church and all the problems that the church has got and they've got problems and we could sit here all night and name them and since then God has a a burning inside of my heart to cry out to the churches, just not to the church, but also to the sinners, because you know, I was one of those people, you know, that helped tear down the walls of the churches. You know, um, I didn't go to minister to people, I didn't minister to to little Sally or little Johnny over there across the street when I should have, or I just didn't go over there and give them a hug, or I didn't tell them Jesus loved them. That's part of destroying the wall. It is what it is, and but again, we'll get off of that.

Speaker 2: 25:25

But if you guys like another way, you guys can support the show. You could support it through the website. It's on Buzzsprout. It's HOR421showbuzzsproutcom and there's a little support link, I believe. The last time I looked you can. You can donate monthly from $3 to $10 monthly. Most of you pay that in a subscription to some type of a movie platform.

Speaker 2: 25:52

And uh, the truth is, you know I do it and and um, so, and uh, it is what it is. You know I, I just call it as it is. You know I'm guilty to. I've done it. You know'm guilty too. I've done it, you know, uh.

Speaker 2: 26:08

But um, again, though, if you don't know christ, please, I pray that you, um, you give your heart to god. I don't care where you're at. You're sitting in a car, you're on a bicycle, you're jogging, you're sitting in a terminal, at an airport, I don't care where you're at. You got your headphones on, you got your earbuds in. Say just cry out to God, just say Jesus, that's all you got to do. He'll do the rest, and that's all you got to do. But that's not saying you're not going to have no more troubles. But I tell you what, though. But that's not saying you're not going to have no more troubles. But I tell you what, though the rides a lot better. I tell you what it is Um, it is. It is so much better. Give your heart to God. I pray it has been real.

Speaker 2: 27:05

Folks, you'll be listening to the 421 Show. Hey, go check out our website, hor421showbuzzsproutcom, for all your latest content and information. If you'd like to support the show, you can support it through Apple, spotify, whatever platform you're choosing. Again, if you'd like to support the show, you can support it through PayPal, slash hor421, or you can go through our website at hor421showbuzzsproutcom, all shows recorded at the 421 studio. For contact information for all your studio needs, you can email at HOR421ministries at gmailcom. Phone number is 239-849-1502.

Speaker 1: 27:54

We'll keep you cool. Yeah, Trip the storm as you put the line. Jesus died and he did not rise. I'll tell you a man that he's loving well. Not a storm or sin, not a shell. So take your money from the wishing well and put your faith in hell. J-e-s-u-s Means my dearest. All you've got to do.