The Parking Lot Moment That Split Everything Open

A powerful conversation about the choices that shape a man’s life, spiritual transformation, Bible prophecy, and the moment that split Joshua “Branch” Isole’s life in two.

Joshua “Branch” Isole is an author of 22 books, a theologian, and a man whose life took a radical turn after a decade‑long search for truth. His story is raw, honest, and deeply relatable — especially for men who know what it feels like to stand between who they’ve been and who God is calling them to become.

In this episode, Branch shares the moment that changed everything: sitting in a parking lot between a Christian bookstore and a topless bar, facing the kind of choice every man knows deep down.
We talk about spiritual transformation, the pull of the world, end‑times prophecy, moral decision‑making, and the daily choices that determine who we become.

If you’re a man trying to walk the path of truth, integrity, and spiritual strength, this conversation will hit home.

✚ THE FIVE STEPS TO A TRUE WALK WITH CHRIST

(With the scriptures Branch cited)

1. Invite Jesus into your life  
Matthew 7:7–8
Ask, seek, knock — and He responds.

2. Receive the Spirit of Truth  
John 16:13
The Spirit guides you into truth.

3. Call on His Spirit daily  
John 14:16, 26

The Counselor is with you forever.

4. Follow the way Christ would respond  
John 14:6
Truth and love become your compass.

5. Believe and confess Jesus as Lord  
Romans 10:9–10, 13, 17
Salvation is secured by faith and confession.

✚ THE SEVEN STEPS OF REPAIR & RECONCILIATION

(For healing relationships and rebuilding trust)

1. Responsibility  
Own what you said or did — without excuses.

2. Remorse  
Feel the weight of the harm you caused.

3. Recourse  
Take action to correct the damage — make amends.

4. Regret  
Acknowledge the emotional impact on the other person.

5. Repetition  
Commit that the behavior will not happen again.

6. Repentance  
Demonstrate changed future behavior — prove it over time.

7. Rebuild Trust  
Walk out the new pattern consistently until trust is restored.

BRANCH ISOLE - WELCOME

Branch Isole - YouTube

Want to be a guest on The Valiant Forge Podcast? Send Mark Osborne a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/17432638464878159623a121d

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

We went for lunch and I pulled into this small strip center. And there was only one parking space and the whole parking lot, literally one space. And I pulled in and I was directly between a Christian bookstore on the left and a topless bar on the right. And I thought, man, I'd really like to have a beer and a sandwich and look at naked women. And I sat there and I looked at those two build those two businesses, and I thought, I'd really like to have a sandwich and a beer and look at naked women.

SPEAKER_03 0:40

Welcome to the Valiant Forge Podcast, where we help men overcome life's battles, show up better in the world, and become a valiant warrior for God. This is a place where we feel practical strategies that will equip you on life's journey to help you become the man coming up to the people. Are you ready to overcome the doubt and fulfill your purpose just by gide? If so, let's go.

SPEAKER_00 1:06

Welcome back to the Valiant Forge Podcast. I'm Mark Osborne, the host of the podcast. Today I'm going to be sharing a conversation I had with Branch Isall. He is an author, a theologian. He's written 22 books, I believe it was. He's a man whose life took a radical turn after a decade-long search for truth. His story is raw, it's honest, and it's all about the choices that a man takes that shape his life. Let's get into it. Branch, welcome to the podcast. Happy to have you on.

SPEAKER_02 1:36

Mark, thanks for the invitation. I've been looking forward to our time together and hope everything is well at your end.

SPEAKER_00 1:43

Yes, everything's well. So I gotta ask, I know you do a lot of different things. You've written 22 books, you're a podcast host. When someone asks you now, what do you do? What do you what do you say?

SPEAKER_02 1:57

Well, believe it or not, I say I share with people who are interested God's word about the end times and last days. Awesome.

SPEAKER_00 2:08

Yeah, I have some questions around the prophecy thing, but let's get into your story a little bit first. What what led you to where you who you are today?

SPEAKER_02 2:17

Well, I grew up in the 50s and 60s and um grew up in a military household. So we traveled every three and four years, we were someplace new. And uh I was born in Japan and lived in Canada. Uh then I lived in Virginia and California, and then I went to high school in Germany, uh, got back from overseas, finished high school in California, went to uh college in Texas, got out of college, and uh I had a teaching degree. I was a uh middle school teacher for a very short period of time, and then I was a middle school assistant principal for another short period of time, and then I went into textbook sales. I worked for one of the large publishing houses selling textbooks to teachers. Did that for about 15 years and uh discovered that the corporate world really wasn't for me, it had turned me into somebody that uh I didn't like very much. I was very successful, had all the toys and the accolades and the titles and all of those things, and basically uh ruined my personal life. And so I knew I had to change, I knew I had to get on a different path. So I decided that I was going to pursue truth, whatever that looked like, and wherever it took me. And what it ended up taking me was on a five-year kind of not a sabbatical, but a search for truth. And what I discovered in a nutshell was I grew up in a Christian home, but but what I call C-En O, Christmas, Easter, and occasionally.

SPEAKER_01 4:08

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 4:08

So I wasn't very familiar, you know, with with Christianity beyond the the surface level, but what I discovered uh by studying other religions and spiritual systems and mysticism and far east philosophies, it brought me back to Christianity because I discovered that the foundation of all of those spiritual belief systems was grounded in the same two principles love God first and most, treat others the way you want to be treated. So that brought me back to Christ and brought me back to the foundation of Christianity. And I thought, okay, well, now I know which way I'm going, but my life didn't change. You know, I was still struggling with all the holes of adversity that I had dug for myself, and so after that five years, uh I had an epiphany, the Lord called to me, and I responded, and I thought, okay, now we're now we're cooking, right? And nothing changed. And for the next seven years, I continued to struggle, but I stayed on the path, and and I just kept searching, you know, and and trying to learn more about who I was and how I was responding to the circumstances and events in my life. And at year seven, when I thought, well, this is not going anywhere, uh, the Lord reached out to me again, and uh I had decided when I got on this new path that I would change my name. And I knew I wanted my last name to be I-S-O-L-E, which means I serve only Lord Emmanuel. But little little did I know at that time that it's a real word. In in French, it means solo or alone, and in Italian it means a single island or an aisle. But I I thought, well, okay, I know that, but I couldn't decide on a first name. And I always liked Joshua, but for two years I didn't do anything about the name change. And then one day I was I was living in Hawaii at the time, and I was doing a Bible study with a young couple, and I opened up the Bible and I looked down, and I was at Zechariah 3:8, which says, I will raise up Joshua, my branch. And the Lord reached out to me a second time and told me that's my new name. Wow. So I spent the next three years uh studying the Bible and and learning scripture. Uh, and then on the tenth year of this journey, where I still hadn't gone anywhere really, I'm just you know working on myself and trying to figure out who I am and what I'm doing and why I'm doing it. Uh, I was at a um I was at a computer class, actually, and we broke for lunch and we we went for lunch and I pulled into this small strip center, and there was only one parking space and the whole parking lot, literally one space. And I pulled in and I was directly between a Christian bookstore on the left and a topless bar on the right, and I thought, man, I'd really like to have a beer and a sandwich and look at naked women. And I sat there and I looked at those two build, those two businesses, and I thought, I'd really like to have a sandwich and a beer and look at naked women. And I got out of my car, I went into the Christian bookstore, I pulled down a Bible off the shelf and opened it up, and I was at Proverbs 16:9, which says, In his heart a man sets his course, but the Lord determines his steps. Yes, and at that moment I could read and understand scripture, and I knew that I was, you know, on the path finally. So after 10 years of struggle, I was at square one and knew that you know my life was going to be different, and that that's the direction I was going to take. Wow. So I went back to school. Uh I had a bachelor's of science in education. I was taught to be a teacher and an administrator. And I went back. My midlife crisis was I went back to back to school. I went back to college at uh 52 and got a master's in theology, and out of that came the direction from the Lord to write a book. So I wrote my first book, and it's called God, I believe. And it's sort of a comparative analysis, comparative study of the world's religions, and it asks this the same 10 questions to the world's religions, and that's how it compares them. Because I often used to have people tell me, Well, I want to be a Buddhist, right? And I'd say, okay, well, what is Buddhism all about? And they'd say, Well, I don't know, I just want to be a Buddhist. So this book compares different religions. So that if a person is trying to decide what path they want to get on, it gives them some breakdown fundamentals between the different religions, and that way they have a better opportunity to make a more informed choice. I thought, okay, well, the writing's done, and and that's okay, and that's it. And one day I was sitting out on my gazebo looking over at the big island. We lived on the very east side of Maui, and I could see the big island of Hawaii across the water. And I thought, what would happen if you were lost at sea and realized that you probably wouldn't survive or be rescued? And all the things that would go through your mind. And from that came my first short story. And 26 years later, 22 books later, here we are.

SPEAKER_00 10:19

Wow. Man, your story reminds me of Paul in a lot of ways. Because you got the name change and you had some time searching, trying to find the truth. You know, when Paul first had his encounter, he was in, I think it was Damascus or wherever he was at. It was for two or three years. He spent that time learning. And you you had your time learning the same. I had to let my assistant out. No worries. Yeah, I can edit that out later.

SPEAKER_02 10:57

I yeah, I I was blind, you know, and uh it's it's uh it's hard to explain to people, you know, when they're struggling, what that difference can be when you finally surrender and allow the Lord to come into your life. And the interesting thing we all find is it's not overnight, you know, it's it's not a one and done. And then that's often a fallacy or a misconception a lot of people have. You know, we we are exposed to the Lord in a lot of different ways growing up, but until we're ready to pull that trigger and make that leap and stick to it, you know, stay on the path and see what happens. Yeah, it's a it's a difficult jump to make.

SPEAKER_00 11:45

Yeah, my audience knows my story a little bit. I have a similar story. My father, you know, when he got saved, it was an instant turnaround. And I I had an uh instant turnaround for a weekend. And then for for 40 years, I was back and forth until about six years ago, God finally got a hold of me. And I finally started trying to walk the path instead of just living that easy Christian life. So, yeah, I don't, you know, my audience knows my story, but that's we're here to for you. So you've written extensively about choice and consequences. Can you share a moment in your own life where a single choice shaped the direction of your faith or calling?

SPEAKER_02 12:31

Wow. Um well, yes, I can actually. It's interesting. My my my walk with the Lord is really it's one of those things where you, you know, until you look back on it, you don't recognize the links at each one of those forks in the road. That, okay, well, I I'm gonna step out in faith and go in this direction, right? And then, and then because the Lord is with you in spirit, and his spirit is there to guide you, you know, any any adjustment that you make, you automatically sort of have that confidence that, okay, you know, I'm willing to step out and try this. And so for the first, like you said, for the first 10 years, man, I just struggled. I, you know, I was like you were talking about, you know, I'm what kind of a Christian am I? And I'm being pulled back to the world. And how do I hand how do I balance, you know, what I'm trying to understand about my walk and still be part of the world's ways and those kind of things. And for that first 10 years, you know, I struggled and and doubted, you know, I was like Thomas, and but I stayed on path and I stayed on course. And then the next 15 years, I spent, you know, writing and reading and researching and trying to develop my craft and on the path that he had me walking in terms of sharing uh you know the word. And then in 2015, he moved upon my heart to somehow I started looking at prophecy and end times and last days, and for the last 10 years, step by step, that's where he has had my focus. And before COVID, I used to do in-person talks and uh workshops and things, and when COVID came, everything shut down. So at that point, I decided, okay, I'm going to look into this podcasting guesting situation, and so I became a guest um through Podmatch and uh Matchmaker in London with other podcasters, and I was a guest on about 200 different programs, and I just I loved it. I loved sharing, you know, the story and the word and all the thing, all the different kinds of podcasts that I was a guest on. And all of a sudden, this group out of New York contacted me and they said, Hey, you know, we heard you're talking about Bible prophecy, and we'd like you to do a show about Bible prophecy. So I said, Okay, so I did a podcast for two years with 85 episodes that are still available, you know, on all the podcast channels called Small Changes, Big Diffidends. And it was basically about personal and career and spiritual growth and sustainability, but a large portion of it was about end times prophecy. And so for the last 10 years in studying prophecy, then I had that opportunity to actually share it, you know, with with people who are interested. So that was probably of all the big changes and all the forks in the road that the Lord has had me on. And like you say, now that I look back, I can see the connect you know, the dots being connected. Right, right. Right. But but that one is probably had the greatest impact for me because it's such an important subject for us today, you know, living in in this time in this generation. So that was the my big break was when they said, Hey, you know, you're talking about something we haven't heard anybody else talking about. Let's do a podcast. And so I did that podcast, and that podcast ended last spring, and I started my new podcast, which is called Patient Zero. And it's it's still about personal career and spiritual growth, but a lot of it is focused on uh people who are interested, you know, in end times.

SPEAKER_00 16:59

Yeah, I was gonna ask you questions about it later, but since we went there, let's let's ask now. So I've heard you say Bible prophecy isn't about fear but recognition. So, what signs today do you do you see as precursors that we shouldn't ignore?

SPEAKER_02 17:18

Well, first of all, prophecy is is not about scaring the bejeebers out of us, right?

SPEAKER_00 17:25

Right.

SPEAKER_02 17:25

Prophecy is both a warning and a promise, right? It's God's word informing us and sharing with us his plans for the second coming of his son Jesus Christ. And so prophecy for unbelievers or non-believers or doubters or you know, most people is a warning. It's you know, God's a loving parent, and sometimes he tries to get our attention with love and compassion and mercy, and sometimes he tries to get our attention with a two by four. And that's what prophecy is for the believer, it's God's promise of where we're going and where we're gonna end up with Christ in the millennial kingdom and hereafter, and for the non-believer or others who doubt, it's a warning as to uh events that are gonna continue to happen with more and more increasing frequency and uh sad to say, death and destruction, because he's trying to get people's attention that this is important times, and we need to be aware that there's a choice coming for every one of us. We can either believe in God's word and follow his son, or we could continue to believe in the ways of the world and follow the prince of this world and his son, and so prophecy is it's about warnings and promises, it's not about trying to scare you into believing something that you don't want to believe.

SPEAKER_00 19:08

So, how can we prevent getting lost in the speculation of prophecy and use it to strengthen our walk with Christ?

SPEAKER_02 19:17

Well, we have to be cognizant, first of all, of what the big events, the ones that everybody knows the term or the label, you know, Antichrist, 666, Third Temple, Second Coming, the ones that uh Hollywood makes movies about, right? But there's a lot of things that have like any other unfolding of history, there are many other things that have to happen in order to build up to each one of those big events actually taking place. And I'm a believer that we are in the end times, and the end times started in May of 1948 with the fulfillment of the Ezekiel 37 prophecy of the re-establishment. Right, and um so there's there's incremental small steps that are taking place in our social life, our economic life, our political life, our religious life, all of the factors of our daily living are being affected by these incremental steps that are building up to the big events that that everybody has heard of, but you know, known so little about as to actually move them to consider maybe I better think about what this path with God actually looks like, what repentance is about, and how can I change my life.

SPEAKER_00 20:51

Yeah, I just think sometimes we tend to focus more on the prophecy instead of the love of God, you know, loving God with our whole heart, strength, and mind, as you talked about earlier. But this was my story in the beginning. I talked about this once before. My first Sunday school experience, it was at a Baptist church, and they were showing all the sins getting burned into the lake of fire, and then they had an altar call. I raised my hand because I didn't want to go to hell. Not because I knew about the love of Christ, not because I loved God with all my whole heart, strength, and mind, is because I was scared to go to hell. And so when we talk about end times prophecy and how we're getting closer, and I I agree with you, we're definitely in the last days. But I've heard people recently say that we've been in the last we've been hearing about we've been in the last days for hundreds of years now.

SPEAKER_02 21:48

Which two thousand years.

SPEAKER_00 21:50

Yeah, right. But so how can we get our our focus off of oh my gosh, Jesus is coming back soon, I need to be ready. And onto I need to love the Lord thy God with all my heart, soul, strength, and mind, because that's what it's all about.

SPEAKER_02 22:09

Amen. Here's the thing. Yeah, the prophecy portends a lot of scary events for its purpose is to, you know, get us to wake up. But God, as a loving parent, cares about our well-being and our understanding that He has made His way very simple to do. And so, you know, I read the news every day and I see the things that are happening that I think feed into these end times that uh are revealed and realized in especially John, but even Daniel and some of the other prophet books. I encourage people to do two things. Number one, all the theology that you as a lay person need to know is Matthew 22, 37 through 40. Love God first and most, treat others the way you want to be treated. These are the moral imperatives of morality and ethics. And morality and ethics are the character of God through his truth and love. So, how can we come to God easily and be prepared for whatever may happen, whether we live to see these events or not, or whether, like Mr. Kirk, you know, our life is cut short. The idea is to be prepared because none of us know when we will take our last breath. So, how can we prepare? Five steps, five simple steps. And I'm gonna tell share the steps, and I'm gonna tell you the prophecy and scriptural verse that will you'll be able to go and check these steps. Okay, number one, invite Jesus into your life, Matthew 7, 7, and 8. When you ask him into your life, he will send his spirit, the spirit of truth, to be with you. John 16, 13. Once you have his spirit with you, you then, as a child of God, as a reborn child of Christ, have the opportunity to call upon and use his spirit anytime you want, no matter what situation you find yourself in. And when you do that, his spirit will guide you into truth. So you'll know the moral andor ethical response to that person, circumstance, or event. Once you've got his spirit, you can call on his spirit anytime you want. John 14, verses 16 and 26. He says, I will send my counselor, my advocate, my teacher to be with you forever. Once you've got his spirit and you've got that spiritual strength, and you call on his spirit, he's going to reveal to you the way that Christ would respond in the same situation you're facing. John 14, 6. If you do those four steps, from the moment you do those four steps, you will have God's active spirit through Christ living again within you. And the fifth step is Romans 10, verses 9, 10, 13, and 17. Believe in your heart that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, and confess with your mouth that he is the Christ. And that will guarantee your pro his promise of eternal salvation. When you do those five things, you don't have to worry about when your last breath will come, or if you see the end times events or not, your soul and your spirit will be covered and you will have God's promise of eternal life. That's the only five things you need to do. And those are the scriptures that these are Christ's words, not mine. So that's the that's the synthesis of having a relationship with the Lord. And once you have that relationship and you start to listen to his spiritual direction every time you ask him in this situation, you know, what should I do? His spirit's going to respond to you and show you A, what you should do, and show you B, the consequences of not doing what he's sharing with you. He's going to show you the consequences of going back to your old way, your old response. And then it's for you to decide. And that's the step you take on the path. And the longer you're on that path, asking and answering him, guided by his spirit, your life is going to change. It's going to change in every possible way that it could. And that's simply your choice to continue to listen to his spirit in you, or you know, turn your back on his spirit. But you and I both know, Mark, that you know, once you're on that path, you start to see the Lord working in your life. Right. And once you start to see those things, things start to make sense because when you have his spirit active in your life, you now see the truth in your whole world, in your all your relationships. And that's the eye-opener, is now you have the spirit of truth as your advocate, as your counselor. So you recognize the truth in everything. And as soon as you recognize the truth, you start to recognize the untruths and the fabrications and the falsehoods. And then it's again, then it's a pivotal point because which path am I now going to walk?

SPEAKER_00 28:10

Right. Yeah. Those are those are fantastic steps. And I totally agree. And I love number five. We just went through a whole study on the book of Romans, and and Paul just lays it out nice and clear. As long as you believe on the Lord your God with all you, you know, and confess with your mouth, it's it's amazing.

SPEAKER_02 28:32

Yeah, that's how that's how great the love of God is. If you do those five steps, then you have a choice to make immediately, starting in your life, in every relationship you have. Right. But his love is so great for you that in taking those five steps and believing in your heart he is the Messiah and confessing that with your mouth, if you don't change anything else in your life, if you continue to walk the world's path and embrace the world's ways and still be, you know, the person you used to be, your eternal life is still promised. That's how great his love is for you. You only have to do step five, you don't have to change anything else in your life. But now, knowing those steps, why would you not want to change? Because as soon as you start those new steps, you're gonna see blessings and protection in your life in the smallest and the biggest things, you're gonna see him working in your life, and he's going to prove to you his spirit is with you, and you have now been redeemed and reconciled to him forever if you choose, but every day if you choose.

SPEAKER_00 29:45

Amen. So, on a practical level, I've you've said every consequence either brings us closer to the truth or further from the truth. How can men discern the difference in their daily life in their daily life on a practical level?

SPEAKER_02 30:01

Yeah, simple. Is the response to the person or the event or the circumstance you're about to give, is it one that is moral and ethical or not? That's that's the that's the dividing point. If it's not moral or ethical, and because you now have the spirit of God, you're gonna know immediately if it's moral and ethical. And if it's not, then that's the choice you make, then you're embracing the world's ways. That's what the world is all about. Not being moral and not being ethical. Everything in our daily life is to draw us away from making the moral and ethical decision. See, morals and ethics are the actions of truth and love, and truth and love are God's character and nature. So if you respond morally and ethically, then you are responding the way Christ would respond if he was facing the same situation you are standing next to you. How do we know that? Because he came to be our example of truth and love, or moral and ethical responses. So you'll know immediately where your heart is. And if you if you want to walk with the Lord and have the Lord's spirit active in your life and the blessings and protection that his active spirit will give you and provide for you, then you respond morally and ethically. And you already know what that is because as a creation of God, you have his spirit within you. We each come into this world as a soul in that is enveloping and holding our spirit. We're told in scripture God is spirit, uh, John 4, 24. Well, if he's spirit and he manifests as spirit, then everything alive is in its essence spirit. So we came into this world as a spirit, housed by a soul, combined with a mind and a body and a consciousness to be a complete being in this reality. But the essence of who we are is still spirit. So we when we come into this world, we have that spirit pilot light still on, but it gets buried under layers and layers and layers of the world's ways, because that's what we grow up learning and embracing and knowing. See, nobody comes into this life knowing about God and religion, and from our first breath, all we know is about the world. So that's what we do. We embrace the world's ways. Well, when we when God reaches out to us in whatever way he does, and we respond, however, we do, and we do those five steps, his spirit comes in and starts feeding fuel to the pilot light. And all of a sudden, we are spiritual again, we are reborn again, as he described to Nicodemus. And when we're reborn again, that spirit is now active and alive, and so now our choice is you know, are we gonna walk the world's way like we have been our entire life? And just like you and I, you can look back on your entire life of embracing the world's ways and the world's things and where that's brought you to today, good, bad, or ugly. But once you have the spirit of Christ burning and alive again within you, you now see truth in your relationships, at home, at work, in your neighborhood, in your community. You see it in your entire world. It's so obvious because you've got the spirit of truth within you. So you automatically now recognize and see the spirit of truth operating or not in the events and circumstances and people in your life. So you make a simple choice. Am I going to respond morally and ethically, the way Christ would, the way he did, the way he would if you were standing here next to me or not? And if you want to know, you ask yourself, what would Jesus do? Right. And when you ask yourself that, his spirit will answer you. Amen. It's that it's that simple. Respond morally and ethically, and you'll be Christ-like. You will truly be Christian then. If you continue to turn your back on the moral and ethical response and respond the world's way, or the way you used to respond, or the way you're still tempted to respond, okay, that's your choice. You already know the consequence of that response. You know, good, bad, or ugly, you're gonna start digging a hole. It's that simple. That's what the world's ways are, they're designed to keep you away from God through Christ, and that's that's the choice. That's what life is about. Making that choice. Am I going to respond truthfully and lovingly, morally and ethically, or not?

SPEAKER_00 35:15

Right. Yeah, it's it's all about choice. I want to share an example kind of similar to your story where you were at in front of the two buildings, the Christian bookstore and the strip club, or whatever it was. I remember, you know, and I'm gonna get be a little vulnerable here five years ago. Because you get you kept talking about morally and ethically, and there was a time in my life where, from my point of view, me responding morally and ethically was what I did in front of people. It didn't matter as much what I did on my own because in my immature mind, I wasn't hurting anyone. So and I'm saying this in case a man needs to hear this, because it would have been a blessing for me to hear this at that point in my life. I remember times being alone in my room with my phone in my hand, having to make the choice of do I look at something that I shouldn't look at on my phone, or do I respond morally and ethically when no one's looking? And as far as from my point of view, I wouldn't be hurting or bothering anyone. But what I knew in the back of my mind, which was God telling me, I'm cheating on my wife by doing this, even though she doesn't know, and it's it's not gonna affect her. I was cheating on my wife. That's the moral response. So I had to make I had to make a decision at that point, and that that was five years ago, and that's when things started turning around. So I just wanted to, you know, it have this have that encouragement out there for anybody who's listening. It's like, oh, I make all the moral, ethical decisions. I don't cheat, steal, lie. But what you do when you're alone is still how you respond morally and ethically.

SPEAKER_02 37:13

Look, every one of us faces that dilemma every day. That's that's why Christ said you have to take up that cross every day. It's not a one and done thing, it's not easy. Temptation is difficult. It's its whole job is to keep you off of the path right that's lighted by the light of Christ. That's the whole, that's the whole gig. You know, every every listener out there is struggling with something. It's and you're gonna struggle with things your entire life until your last breath. That's the way it is. That's it's a it's a choice between embracing truth and love or embracing the little god of self. Yeah, and that's where the dilemma comes. We grow up, especially today, being bombarded with that it's all about me, right? Whatever I want, whatever I have to do, no matter what it causes. If I want it, I can get it, and I should get it because I deserve it. All right. Well, that's that's what the world teaches us and trains us to believe from first breath, right? And that's why we all struggle in life, regardless of how that struggle manifests itself in your life. Everyone has got this struggle with drugs, sex, rock and roll, you know, criminal activity, whatever your struggle is, you're not alone. Right, and everyone who is where Mark and I are now, once, were where you are, right? It's just manifested in different ways in life. And life is designed to beat us down so that we give up, so that it can crush us, so that it can make slaves of us economically, socially, politically, and religiously. That's its purpose. Its purpose is to force you to make a choice. That's why this end times information is so important, because we are coming to a point where that choice is going to affect and determine your entire eternal life if you have one. And the easiest way to get on that path now is to start with the small steps, right? And trust me, when you decide to take these five steps that Mark and I have been talking about, the devil is gonna redouble his efforts to keep you away from seeing and embracing truth. That's his job. He knows how the story ends, and he knows he has very little time now left to gain as many followers and worshipers as he can, you know, and he uses the little God of self trials, tests, temptations to keep us away from truth. Well, if you haven't taken those five steps, then your life is full of stress, struggle, pressure, and conflict by design. But you have the opportunity right now to change your entire future life, to change your relationships at home, at work. If you're a man out there and you want to be a leader in your family or your career, now's the time to take those five steps. Step up and lead by doing those five steps. If you do it when you hear us, as soon as we're done, do those five steps. Your life will change. I promise and guarantee it. You keep focused on being the most loving person you can be and coming from the truth in your life. Respond to every situation, every person, every event, every circumstance, morally and ethically, and your life will change as you never thought it could, and you'll never go back because you're gonna start to see God's love and his protection and his blessings poured out on you.

SPEAKER_00 41:40

Amen. Do you have a book that you wrote where you go you break these five steps down further? I do not.

SPEAKER_02 41:48

No, I share them all the time on my podcast, but I got you. I've got I'm I'm I'm working on two books right now, but that's not part of it.

SPEAKER_00 41:58

Okay. I was gonna ask if you're okay with it when I put this episode out. I'm gonna write those five steps down and put them in the show notes. That way guys can copy and paste and they know where to look in the scriptures and they can do their own study on it. Please, yeah, perfect. So I'm gonna segue a little bit because I know you talk about relationships a little bit. So you if you you teach that if we change our response, we change our relationships. Can you unpack that with the real real world example?

SPEAKER_02 42:33

Yeah, sure. Um what you know, here in relationships, it's not always roses and cream cheese, right? Right. There's speed bumps and there's there's things that come up, and and you know, we don't have know how to respond. And a lot of troubled relationships, or a lot of relationships that are in pain, get to that place where one party could be your spouse, your your partner, your teen, even somebody at work, right? Somebody says or does something that the other person is harmed by or is deems inappropriate action, right? And all of a sudden we're at an impasse, and in most cases, we're back in that same cycle that we have resurfaced, you know, a pain or manifestation that causes pain. And what happens is, okay, we go through our gyrations, and one person who has done the harm finally says, I'm sorry, right? Or says, I'm sorry, again and again, and they finally say, Can't we just move on? Right. Well, the question is, okay, move on to what? And here's the issue people don't know what the next step is after can't we just move on? And so what happens is In a certain amount of time, they're likely to fall back into that pattern where that issue resurfaces and they go through the whole cycle again, right? And the worse it gets, the worse the relationship gets. And then the worse the relationship gets, it compounds with all of those kind of problems that come out of struggling relationships. Well, the question is, how come we don't know what the next step is? Well, if you think back to when you grew up, who were your role models? And what were the actions and words that you saw and heard when people in your family were fighting, when there was discord, when there was pressure and tension and abuse, you know. Well, that's what we grew up learning as our example. And so, unless we've learned something different, that's the natural place we go to. The problem is we're now going to that place with somebody new in our life, or the next relationship in our life, or the next relationship, right? We never get out of that cycle, right? So, how do we break the cycle? Well, there's seven steps of repair and reconciliation that you can do at home with your partner, the one you're struggling with, right now. Now, before you do those seven steps, you have to understand that there are three levels of pain with every one of those inappropriate actions. Right? The first level of pain is manifested in the action itself. You did something that harmed or hurt your partner, and their immediate reaction is to that action, to that manifestation. The second layer, however, is betrayal. And this is where the knife really cuts, right? They have enough trouble dealing with the action, but then the acknowledgement of the betrayal sets in, and then the pain really becomes emotionally grounded, and that's why it's difficult to can't we just move on, right? But even deeper than that is the layer of broken trust, and when you get to that place, it's very difficult to repair and reconcile and move on, you know, fresh and new. And that can take years. I mean, depends on the dynamics of the relationship. But as long as you understand that the your partner who you have harmed is going to be mad about the action, what was said, what was done, and then they're gonna be felt felt like they've been betrayed. So the emotional destruction is gonna set in. And then the trust, the breaking of the trust sets in. And and unless you can repair the trust, the likelihood of coming out of it successfully in the future is really tough. But if you understand that the pain is that three levels deep, then you understand that, well, I'm sorry, can't we move on? Isn't going to cut it right now. That you understand those three levels, you have to have a process where you can rectify and start to repair. And that process is seven steps. Number one, you have to take responsibility for what you said or did. You have to understand that you caused harm, even if you don't think you did, you know, even if when you grew up, your father or your mother, whomever was your example, said or did whatever, and you know, they got away with it, or whatever the consequences were they were, that was then, and this is now, and this is you. So you have to take personal responsibility for what you said or did. Okay. Second, you have to have remorse for what you said or did. Then you have to have a recourse for what you said or did, right? And the recourse, first of all, remorse is basically for you, right? I'm you have to really feel sorry for causing this pain. And then the recourse is you have to come up with a way to correct it. You've got to do something that will make amends and and correct it. So you've got to take responsibility, you have to have remorse, you have to have a way to correct it, and you have to have regret. Now, regret is uh just like remorse is you dealing with your emotional damage, the regret is that you did something to them that caused their emotional damage. Okay, those are the the functioning the gears and the mechanism. The next one is rep repetition. You have to agree that it will not happen again in the future. Kind of like you know, your recognition of the phone situation, Mark. You know, you have to understand I can't go back there. No matter what it takes, I'm done with that behavior. Yeah, is it gonna be hard? Yeah, it is gonna be hard, you know, because you've been talking yourself in and out of that action for however long you've been talking yourself in and out. Right. So you have to bite the bullet, you have to, and this is why the five steps is so important. If you've done the five steps, you now have the strength of God's spirit within you, and he will give you that strength not to go back to that place. It's that simple. And every time you refuse to go back there, God smiles and he blesses your obedience as a loving, obedient child. You know, in the old testament, he rewarded Israel when they were obedient, and he let Israel suffer the consequences of their own choices when they weren't. Right. And he does the same thing with us. If we're obedient, he will bless and protect us. If we are not obedient, especially now that we know what obedience looks like, okay, you know, you're on your own. He's always well ready for you to come back. But in this instance, if that's where you're going, you're back in the world's way, so you're gonna get whatever the world's consequences, good, bad, or ugly, come with that choice. So no more repetition. Is it gonna be hard at first? Yes, yeah, can it be done? Yes. How do we know Christ did it every day of his life? If he can do it, we can do it because we have his spirit now actively living within. Wow, and the last the last step is repentance. Okay, what is repentance? Repentance is changed future behavior, right?

SPEAKER_00 51:15

You're not just saying I'm sorry, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 51:18

You're you're you're gonna prove the words are true, they ring true because you're not going to go back to that action, that inappropriate word, that inappropriate response, right? You're not going back there. You have repented. That means no more of that action, only future change response. So if you understand the three depths of pain that you're causing, but you now know that there is a way out, there is a process you and your partner can take. Doesn't cost you anything except time and energy and love and care. Uh, this is such a great process because you know, if if you if somebody when we get in trouble, what does people on our lives say to us? Get professional help, right? Go to see, go see a therapist, go to see a counselor, go to have somebody else. Okay, nothing wrong with that. But if you don't have the time or the money right now to do that, here's steps that you can use on your own at home without costing you a penny. And if you still need, you know, then you want to go, good, go get professional help. But what happens if you've already been through these seven steps is when you go for professional help, you'll already have answered the therapist's first 20 questions, you'll already know what the real issue is, and you'll already have worked on it. So the therapist can jump right in and you know help you where you need help. But you can do this on your own. You do those seven steps. Now, there's only two caveats. You both have to agree to go through all seven steps. If one doesn't want to do the seven steps, then you already know the relationship is probably terminal, so you need to you know take that into account. If you do the seven steps, you also want to keep track of the seven steps for your own benefit. Because in the future, again, if things don't work out, you need to have things written down of who said what, who did what, who promised what, who broke the promise, so that if you go to the therapist, you've got information for them, or if you have to go to uh you know an attorney, you've got information for them. You have to protect yourself either way, because you know, transgressors have a way to fall back into being transgressors, and unhealthy relationships are unhealthy for a reason, and what you don't want to be is in an unhealthy relationship. And this is not easy stuff to deal with, obviously, but it's the only way to get out of the cycle you're in. So when they say I'm sorry, can't we just move on? You say, sure, under these conditions, right? You have to understand you've hurt me three ways, and we have seven steps that we can do together to attempt to correct, repair, and reconcile. And if you're all in, then we do the seven steps, and you start. And does it take time? Yeah, every relationship is different, every relationship's got different dynamics, but you stick to your guns, you stick to the seven steps, and like I said, it's tough, but you can do it, it's been done before by other people, you're not alone in whatever your situation is, and just like Mrs. Kirk stated yesterday, you know, everything is forgivable. Amen. You know, there's nothing that you've done in your life that somebody else hasn't done and has been forgiven for. So you just gotta man up, you know, be the adult, be truthful, be loving, do the seven steps. And you know, when you've done the seven steps, you'll be back at square one to start again.

SPEAKER_00 55:21

Yep, amen. I'm so glad I asked you that. Well, I have it's probably the first time I've really talked about relationships on this podcast, and I know men they had they have a hesitant hesitancy to even bring that up in their lives because you know they want to act like they got it all together, and when we don't, you know, and I think that's one of the first steps is just admitting you don't got it all figured out, you know.

SPEAKER_02 55:50

If you did, you wouldn't have to be here.

SPEAKER_00 55:52

Right, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 55:53

You know, that's the that's the whole point. If it was all easy or it was all predetermined for you as an individual in your life, you wouldn't need to be in this existence going through it. We're here to learn the lessons of life, we're here to make a decision of whether or not we are going to believe that God exists and that believe that he loves us enough to have prepared a way for us to return to him. And if you believe that is true, then he has prepared a way for you. Five steps to get on track, seven steps to repair your relationships. Your life is going to be different, but you gotta, you know, you gotta man up. You gotta admit you don't know it all. You're not God's gift to the world, and we all make mistakes, but you can overcome and you can be forgiven, but you have to be truthful and you have to be loving. That's the essence of who you are inside as part of God's creation, as part of the universe. This is your life opportunity to make that so, and don't embrace the world's ways. You've lived your whole life and you already know what struggle that looks like in your life. It doesn't have to be that way any longer.

SPEAKER_00 57:12

Amen. You've answered this numerous times already, but I gotta ask the question. I could listen to your wisdom all night, by the way, but I don't want to keep you all night. I want to respect your time. There's a question I ask every man that comes on the podcast. David in the cave of Adulum, 1 Samuel 22. He was hiding from Saul. He was honoring Saul by hiding from him. He proved that by not killing him when he had numerous opportunities. The men in the kingdom were disgruntled, disheartened, discouraged with what was going on. They came to David in that cave. David said something to them. We don't know what happened. The Bible doesn't give us context exactly. But later these men became David's mighty men. So he led them in some way. Modern day, you got a bunch of men in front of you. What would you say to them?

SPEAKER_02 58:08

Well, as a writer, and an author, I have to quote another writer, an author, William Shakespeare, in Hamlet, Polonius turns to his son Laertes and says, To thine own self, be true. And that's what I would say to your listeners. If you will be true to yourself and embrace God's truthful spirit within you, you will change your world and lead in your world.

SPEAKER_00 58:47

Awesome. I love it. Now I can say Hamlet has been quoted on my podcast. Branch, thank you very much for coming on. I'm gonna have everything in the show notes. Is your podcast on your both of your podcasts on your website? Because you have the the prophecy one.

SPEAKER_02 59:06

Uh yeah, actually, the easiest way to find them is on my YouTube channel. Okay. They're both there um on one of my YouTube channel links. Uh I'll send you that link and and you can post that and they can see uh both podcasts. There's 85 episodes in the first one, and uh we're doing episode 20 this week.

SPEAKER_00 59:30

Okay, all right. And I'm just gonna tell the audience to make sure you look at the show notes because I'm gonna have the five steps and the seven steps in there so you could copy them and put them in your own notes for you to study to you know to take take action on these because I haven't talked much about it, but I've had to do this and I didn't even know the full seven steps.

SPEAKER_01 59:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 59:56

And me and my wife and I went through some counseling and we went through a lot of that. So I I know I know it works. So thank you very much.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:05

Yeah, that's why that's not why it's so important to have the seven steps, so that when our our men take responsibility and finally break down and say, you know, okay, I'm ready. How can we move on? Now they've got some steps to work with.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:19

Amen. Thank you very much for coming on, Branch. God bless you.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:24

My pleasure, Mark. Thanks so much for the invitation. Uh, God bless you and all the men, all the people, all the women listening to your program. I hope you just keep growing like crazy.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:35

Amen. Transformation doesn't happen in a weekend. It doesn't happen because you had one emotional moment or a spiritual high. It happens in the quiet, unseen choices. The ones nobody applauds, the ones only you and God know about. Branch's story reminds us that every man is being shaped into something. The question is whether you're growing towards truth or bending back towards the world. Every day you stand at that same crossroad, the world's way or God's way, comfort or calling, who you've been or who you are becoming. And the truth is, your life is shaped by the choices you make when no one is watching. I've been talking about this for a number of weeks now. The renewing of the mind. It all starts with your decisions. The mind is where you make your decisions, and that's where you shape your life. So here's my exhortation to you this week. Choose the moral, the ethical, the Christ-like response. Not because you're trying to earn anything, but because the spirit in you is calling you to be the man you were meant to be. Now, if this episode hit you or stuck, struck out to you in any way, please share it with another man. And if you can, leave a review on whatever platform you're listening on. If you're watching on YouTube, I would really, really appreciate it if you left a comment. There's something that us, I've talked to a lot of podcasters, something we all kind of desire more than anything, more than followers, more than likes, is engagement. We don't know how to get engagement. So if you're watching this, just leave me a quick comment. Say, hey, I enjoyed the episode. That is enough for me. That is engagement. And that just shows me and you know other people that this content is helping them. Because really, that's my goal since the beginning of this thing. And I'm gonna continue doing it because God's telling me to. Until God says you don't need to do this anymore, then I'll stop. But I'm gonna continue doing it. But I would love to see some comments on YouTube or on the platforms where it says send a text here, you can send a text, and I can respond back. I think Buzz Brown is making it to where I can come just we can actually have a conversation back and forth. I believe that's set up now, but regardless, I would love to see engagement. Remember, this Monday I will have another episode coming out. I'm still talking about Romans 12.2. I'm gonna be talking about the final part of Romans 12.2. We've already talked about the renewal and the transformation. This Monday I'm gonna be talking about what the renewal and the transformation, what the result of those things are. So I will see you on Monday, or I'll see you next Thursday for another interview episode. Stay strong, stay valiant, keep foraging your path, and be blessed.