The Cult

From breaking up an occult coven to falling into a cult, this is the last chapter in my series of my own story about how I developed my full spectrum understanding about reality; this normal paranormal existence in the unseen war. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

So Chad got back in his car after you know like attempting to have some sort of small talk. Chad just gave it up and blurred out. Dude, you're in a cold. Through the last several episodes, I have been providing evidence to the uh paranormal as a basic element reality that is not uh just an you know ad normal but part of our normal, normal paranormal. My mission with this podcast is is to talk about life but in its full spectrum. And when I'm doing this is because while I'm I am so appreciative of the works of many podcasters and authors and others who have uh such a mastery of the subject, and I I could not have done you know a quarter of the work they've done, and honestly, I am who I am uh because of who they are. But often I would find that many of their conclusions and assumptions would would would fall flat, as though they kind of needed to, you know, I gotta move that point out. Or they took out major plot points to make the story brief or sellable, more like. And I'm kind of left lost on the point of it all. Then I just kind of get all upset about it, and I just feel impelled and I have to write about it and then talk to my friends about it and and unload on my wife and even making these part of student discussions. So and I think why is everyone so afraid to just honestly allow life to speak on its own instead of apologizing for it? Let the evidence speak for itself and allow the story to be told. So there is a logical progression from my own experiences to place clear parameters on what reality is and is not. And if you've listened to this podcast from the beginning, you'll understand why I say existence is not merely material. Uh in fact, um d in basic physics uh and chemistry, matter is not made from matter. Material comes from non-material, and to say otherwise is false. Not an opinion. That's reality. And if surveys are of any value, uh they point to about 75% of the people is having personal encounters with the paranormal. 73 to 75% of the people, and about 95 of the people believe in the supernatural or or paranormal or spiritual, depending on on how you refer to it. So already almost every individual has had or currently are living a normal, paranormal life. So why not talk about that? Why not allow that element to become part of the story? So I'm going to make assumptions, I'm going to make educated guesses and hypotheses, and I'm going to argue for my position because that that's how it works. But before I can comment on like the events of today, which I really want to, I really need to, I I really need to walk through my proofs of my thesis as any good composition or presentation should. My thesis being we live in this normal paranormal, in this spiritual quagmire between two warring parties. That's the full spectrum of the reality we exist in. Our material life is but a sliver on this spectrum, much like visible light is a sliver of light, uh the electromagnetic spectrum. And before anyone needs to try to define it or make any claims, the first set of this premise is that it exists and it's happening constantly, even if you have no idea what it really is. Like uh gravity or or quantum physics, you know, to a physicist. We don't know, or they don't know, I'm not saying they're a physicist, but they don't know what gravity is, but it is. And they don't know why quantum physics does what it does, but it does. So this pursuit may at times fall into face. I'll admit it. But at least I like to be falling forward than following back. Alright. So I'm going to conclude my origin story with this last chapter in my childhood at the very end of my senior year. One that destroyed my faith in Christianity. Stay with me. It's not what you think. It starts right here. We're in the Bereen bookstore in the Bay Area in California. It's 1990. I met Chad and Ron here because they had the best supply of paranormal paraphernalia. Books on occult, Synia cult, etc. And since our success with the satanic coven at the high school, we felt compelled to make this into our mission, our ministry to help people out of cults and the occult. And this story is a classic tale of Doctor, heal thyself. I was busy looking at some books I'd already owned and read. I was showing them to Ron while our mutual social butterfly friend Chad was talking to all the prowlers around. And as we're going through this, Chad comes up. Says, hey guys, hey, and we broke into our conversation. You gotta meet these two. And he he introduced me as like some sort of celebrity to these strangers, and then told us how these two had a ministry in getting people out of cults and the occult. I'm like, oh cool, yeah. It was interesting, I was interested. And the two introduced themselves as uh Athena and Joshua. And during this encounter, I had actually mistaken Joshua as either her son or was like a co-worker or something, but later on uh she referred to him as her husband. Like, hmm, okay. Well, the conversation in the store and out in the parking lot ranged into the hours. Before leaving, they invited us all to go to their apartment later that evening, uh, where they were holding a Bible study, but I declined, and then Chad and Ron and I split and went off. Well, Chad and Ron actually uh did go, but I didn't know that until a few days later after Chad uh tracked me down at the school, and then he asked me what I thought about them. And I'm like, well, you know, I wasn't too impressed, and uh kind of told him my concerns and you know, just the red flag. Well, Chad didn't jump in and say, No, no, dude, no way. These these two are are right, man. They're they're good, trust me, man. I'm like, oh, oh, okay. Let's be and he starts telling me how they went to the Bible study over the last few days, and then he's like, now, you know, come on, man, go with me tonight. You know, we're going to a Bible study again. Like, uh when he tells you these things, he's not really asking permission, he's kind of forewarning you what you're gonna be doing that night because you weren't going to get out of that. That's just the way he was. Now I need to be brief on this story because the whole story would would make for a book. In fact, uh Ron wanted to write it, but I declined at the time. It was uh it was way too soon to have you know, I was still processing at the time. At this Bible study that evening, in short, they she basically took my theological sweater and kind of pulled it apart. And my theology that I was taught since birth were all kind of tied together like that. So one string pulled off and started another until the another followed, until the whole sweater falls apart. Well, that's what that's what she did. And I wasn't ready for that. You know, that you know, the chair was kicked out from underneath me, and I had nothing to fall on. Yeah, I I fell into this endless cognitive dissidence pit and lasted like throughout the whole weekend. It got so bad, I even decided I had to go back just to get closure or something. Um, because everything my church denomination taught me did not hold up the biblical text. Uh, and I assumed they were all the same. That is what exploded my mind and kind of really it set me up for this deception. This was not really the hook, though. This does the hook into the group was set was after an incident when Athena told Chad's girlfriend her most secret dark sin in front of everyone. No one, not even, not even her family knew about this. And Athena knew it like she was there. She described it. Uh uh Chad's girlfriend freaked. Now, let me emphasize, she freaked. For the for the group, it was you know a little uncomfortable at first to listen to someone give this word of knowledge, like you know, the old prophets, thus saith the Lord. Kind of a moment, you're like, oh, what's going on? I mean, we had plenty of these, you know, growing up, you know, and an emotionally charged woman in my church would would do these things, you know, without any substance. Um, you know, we were led by the spirit, which in English is we were led by our emotions. Well, the difference here was Chad's girlfriend's reaction. It was confirming, I'll say the least. She jumped up from the couch, and just in in horror and in a rage, she pointed at Athena and swore, cussed her out, calling her a witch, and and pushed her way through and ran out of the apartment and almost out onto the street. Uh Chad took off and chased her down, and and he finally came back and told us to take her home. Well, that was the hook. She obviously had a spiritual gift. I mean, there's no question, right? It wasn't a fortune-telling trick, you know. Uh it was time, date, activity, detail. Um, and on top of this ability, she obviously had that, you know, superb biblical knowledge. So, according to my emotionally driven charismatic Christianity upbringing, uh, she was the real deal. Only a few weeks later was graduation, and I decided to dedicate myself full-time to this ministry. And at this time we were talking to people, uh, she was telling them their sins, and it and it looked like lives were being changed. Uh, but during this time, my family, as well as were, you know, Chad and Ron's families were were getting an earful of all this, and we were, you know, what we were learning, what we were doing, and they were voicing their concerns. So one night I was asked to join my family for dinner with some uh guests from a church, and Mike, a uh a youth pastor, um, and he was our worship band leader. In fact, he was a uh a music producer, so he was kind of like a important guy. Um and when that night uh we came together, well, it turned out that it was an intervention. So my family first voiced their concerns, you know, if you don't understand how those interventions work, um, and and they pointed out the changes in my personality and their concerns, and and Mike came in and started questioning the ministry and and and this woman. And we went back and forth until I finally just asked him to show me in the Bible where she is wrong. And I told him from what I have witnessed and what she has told me and taught and I've seen, she's either has to be the demonic or holy. She can't be both. Well, he stated, uh, well, she's not demonic. And I said, Well, then she must be holy. And because there was no other explanation. Well, finally, after you know this circular talking going around, he he kind of threw up his hands and turned the group and now said, Yeah, we're not going anywhere. And pretty much said that the intervention failed. Well, in fact, it had the opposite effect. This intervention really confirmed my resolve and led me to commit myself totally to the ministry. I got hooked even deeper. During this time, the Bible studies didn't turn into more than just a study, uh, but a literal tour of the spiritual realm in the spiritual world, so to speak. So the first time that she did this was very disconcerting. So she happened is she asked us, okay, now you know, to sit back, you know, hey, sit back, guys, and and and and close your eyes. And so we did and and remained quiet. And then she told us to tell her what we saw. Like, what? And and she said that. Well, I I started to see stuff. I'm like, oh wait, what's this? Like, you know, like you're daydreaming, but you're seeing stuff. But if at first assuming this was some sort of like power of suggestion gimmick, where I'm looking for something, I'm trying to make something up to see, until Ron described details that I also was seeing, and I'm like, whoa, actually, I'm seeing that and this, and I'm adding more detail. And Chad jumped in with even more, and we realized we were all seeing the same vision. It was bizarre. And I won't get into all the visions we had and and what was in them, but in short, it painted this dark picture of a large dragon consuming victims and sacrifices. We were like knights to fight them, and the more it was worship, the more powerful it was getting. So our job was to pull you know his servants away from you know from his service, basically. You know, that's that was the battle. Um, and it wasn't limited to visions. We were also having these shared dreams. And and then she, Lithina, would uh use them. She seemed to know all of them, and she would use them as part of our Bible study or our teaching um about you know the supernatural. And she wouldn't do this with just everyone. Uh, she she actually kind of just put us three um together um because in her mind we had reached kind of like a new level in the ministry. We were being given hidden knowledge. So all these things really only increased our curiosity on who was this lady? I mean, really, we felt we're we're into something more than just a ministry. I felt like we were part of something big. Eventually, we actually had come come to the conclusion that she was the human embodiment of the Holy Spirit, and that Joshua was uh a sort of a like an early form of Jesus' return. That's how they portrayed themselves, that's how they saw themselves, and we were telling them who they were. Basically, I think we just followed, uh simply followed the breadcrumbs that these you know visions and dreams are leading us, but we came to the belief that they were the two witnesses of revelations who were here to usher in Armageddon, and we were their disciples. I'm moving along the story, but many things are happening. I just need to get to the evidence, my point here. But one evening, um, as we were getting dinner ready, uh, some men had burst into the apartment and had grabbed Ron and then stormed out, dragging him behind. These these were big dudes, man. They were bigger than Ron. And and, you know, of course, you're intimidating, but they were kidnapping him. Fdina rushed over and grabbed one of them by the shirt and was pulling at them when they were going downstairs. And he just picked up this, he had uh in his hand like one of those big Omega flashlights and swung at her. And she, of course, she he let go and and missed her. And then we just kind of followed them down the stairs, and they ran and rushed to a waiting car in the side of the street. So we were sitting on the sidewalk as they were yelling at Athena and yelling, and Athena was yelling at them, and she starts like cursing them, like, you know, I bring down heaven and earth, aren't you? She was cursing them, and I'd never seen her so mad. Well, as she was doing this, a few of us were on the sidewalk where she was standing, and the sidewalk slab moved, it shifted. And myself and the others felt it like lit, like something was underneath, trying to get out, like lifted and fell down as she was cursing them. We looked at each other, completely forgetting about Ron and this whole kidnapping thing, and Athena you know, stormed back into your apartment, and we just kept like asking each other, like, did you did you feel that? I was like, Yeah. And we're like, who is this person? A while after Ron had left, uh, Chad, he had to go to England. It was a pre-arranged thing because he had to go, and he couldn't explain why he had to go, but he had to go. He was gone for a couple of weeks. Um, and so yeah, he left, but he said, Yeah, I'm gonna go out and and and overseas, I'm gonna fight the devil and all that stuff that goes with that. Um, and I'm I'm oversimplifying all this again for sake of time. But um after he left, we began to like visit graveyards and all sorts of questionable, questionable locations, and eventually my paranoia um increased and you know, along with everybody else's. We didn't trust anybody, the devil was everywhere, you know, that whole ordeal. People who would say, I love you, was a curse. That was a curse to us, yeah, like a satanic curse. It was oh my gosh, so bizarre. But um, but in that paranormal, it it made me believe that we were being watched, and I noticed a painting van with a ladder on top. It was uh parked right um next to the apartments, and had this mirrored windows in the side, and it it didn't fit, if you know what I mean. And so then I remember looking into the window and just kind of staring at it in suspicion. Behind that glass was the police, it was Tom and another officer, and he would joke about this encounter later. Um, he said that I stared right into the eyes of one of the officers who who about pissed his pants. He said um it was it was the spookiest thing he had ever encountered. So we were walking past the van and I stopped and slowly turned and looked right into his his eyes. We had eye contact. Um I didn't know it, but uh, we had eye contact. They literally thought their cover was blown. Well, what threw me off of the van stuff is actually in the apartments, we met a guy who just moved in and he happened to be a painter. Um, but that kind of threw me off the scent, and so I just thought, okay, and maybe that's it's not that after all. But we carried on. Um, but now we were really heavily involved in other people's lives. Uh, she was telling people of all their sins, giving prophecy about things that were were going to happen to them and stuff like that. And um, one girl new to the group ran away from her Christian husband, uh calling him a servant of Satan. Um, she wasn't a Christian, actually, until she came to our group, which was interesting. And so Athena actually called the police to report abuse and asked for a restraining order to be put on him. A day or two after this call, she made there was a knock at the door. And so I went up to look out the peephole, and I saw a police officer, you know, standing outside. So I told Athena that there's someone at the door, a police officer, she's oh yeah, okay. Um so she threw a bathrobe on, she was in the in the shower, and and uh and she ran up to the door because she was expecting, you know, this um to fill out a form. And so I sat back down, and as I as she unlocked the door and began to open it, it just burst open. And a rush of police officers, gun-drawn, flooding into the room, grabbing each member and and either pinning up us up against the wall, like me, or throwing us down on the ground. And the moment after that, with my head pinned on the on the wall facing the door, I see Tom walking in. I'm like, what? Tom? I said, What are you doing here? You think this is a cult? Do you think this is a cult? Tom didn't answer and kind of looked around to make sure no one noticed that I knew him. And he took over from the officer and then told him quickly, no, this is a this is our informant. And so the officer, you know, moved over and aided into the uh Athena's arrest. I was not booked, but um, he took me right out, right away, as though I was like one of them. And uh so I sat in an interrogation room, uncuffed, and uh, you know, as though I was an undercovered uh as an informant. Um and so my name was not to be included. And that was that was not entirely untrue, just not for this event. Um, Tom finally got to me, you know, did a list and waited, and uh, you know, he brought in the her file or their file, and it was pretty thick. So he laid out everything about these two. They had warrants in several states. Um, they've broken parole, they're um they've For burglary, which it turned out that they were actually moving electronics out of a house to cleanse it of evil, and then it rained. So I guess that's what that was about. But none of those facts even mattered to me. Um at that point, I was in true deception. Which is different than just deception. When you're fooled and you find out, well, you're mad, and you you turn back to normal, you go back on track. But true deception happens after they have primed the pump enough that you continue to deception on your own. Zealot into this into this weirdo sh we weirdo ocean of whatever this was. Um and I was willing to die for it just to prove I was right. Which doesn't, by the way, suicidal devotion. It's demonic. There's a good hour of stories that followed this, but again, I'm I'm trying to provide evidence rather than just give you a bunch of facts. So basically, to rush through this, I went on the run. Um, I refused to test five, and I had not been served, so I hid. Uh I got into contact with Athena and she suggested I I take off to Hawaii and kinda it was like she had some members there apparently and and just kind of disappear, lay low. But everything fell through. Uh her contacts fell through, my ride fell apart, um, and through a series of events, I I ended up pretty much a block away from the police station. And so Frank it was at Frank's place, who was a uh member of the group, and but he wasn't there all the time. And he wasn't there at the time of the raid either, so the police was even approaching him. Um he had uh hid us in their storm shelter, kind of turned into a guest room type of thing. And during this time, I was having vivid dreams, um everyone having a similar theme, which was significant because I had come to look at dreams and visions very seriously. It was like on the level of of scripture, this was God talking. Um but now these dreams were saying something completely different to what Athena talked about. So we're having con I was having contradictory dreams now. The last dream I had, and the last moments I had in that hideout, uh is what really began to break the spell. I want to tell you that dream. Um in a dream, I was in a small boat uh in a smooth ocean, which was uh like colorless, um, or you know, drab colors, and the water was black and and still, and a wave came up from like the horizon and came all the way up to the my little boat and tipped me over, throwing me into the water, but I was able to stand up, it was only a waist deep. Now I looked around, kind of panicking, and I saw this castle island. It wasn't too far from me. I'm like, oh my saved. So I I climbed up to the shore, and when I looked up, um, I saw there was like four steps to go inside, and of course, right beside the stairs, there was a uh uh stone dragons, you know, carved stone dragons that's that set on each side, and the doors, these like arch, um, you know, these arch medieval arch castle doors were wide open, and uh and I felt just kind of this draw to go inside, and it was like a you know frightening but leering draw to go in there. Just as I walked inside, I saw a group of people. They were walking down this kind of narrow hall, so I quickly ran over to join them. Uh, and just as they entered into a room they called the storyteller's room, I slid to the side to keep myself separate from the group and looked around. The whole room was red. The walls were all covered in this uh kind of darkish red velvet curtains, and on the middle there was this table with red cloth over it, and on the table was this huge fortune teller's you know glass ball. And behind it there was this witch, and she was she was telling the the group, uh talking about hell and talking about doom and all that, but she sounded familiar. So I kind of moved over so I can get a look at her face, and it turned out to be Athena. She was the witch. Well, that startled me, and you know, the people turned around, they left the room. So I I I followed after them and decided, well, see where this goes in the room. Um, they went off to a different room, which you know, as we got on there, it was a massive, you know, amusement park. It was one big huge roller coaster. Um uh so they climbed onto this roller coaster and had like the front car was empty, so I climbed onto that. And as soon as I got in and clicked in, it just took off like fast, and of course, startled me. And it quickly turned and went up fast and went down. As it crested for its descent, I saw it was going to go through this, look like a scene. And there in the scene, there's like animatronics and like this big scene. There was this huge dragon fighting something, and immediately I recognized it. This was one of our visions. In fact, uh, throughout the whole ride, I saw every one of my visions and dreams being played out, and it was all fake. I realized, like, wait a minute, these are all fake. Let's just pretend. But the people behind me were terrified, they they thought this was all real. And I turned around, I remember turning around and telling them, no, no, this is fake. The ride is making you think they're real. But they wouldn't listen to me. And so then the ride came to a stop back to it started, and I jumped out and they went off to a next place, but like, I know I gotta get out of here. I have to leave this. This place is evil, haunted. It's just it's wrong. And so as I ran back to the entrance, laughter was echoing throughout the castle. It's a it's a very familiar, demonic laugh, and it couldn't like it couldn't hold back itself. And so when I ran up to the doors, they were closed this time. So I grabbed them and and with all my might, figuring it's gonna take forever, you know, take all my strength to open them. I opened them, but they flew open. They were like made out of plastic, they were hollow, they were they were fake, fake doors. And so then I stepped out to the steps, and there once was four steps to the water, and now when I got out, there was four hundred steps, long trail of steps, and so I flew down those steps to get away. And I remember as I was nearing the bottom, I noticed that one of the dragons was gone, and the one that remained uh had moved, and it was now sitting in the middle of the path of the stairs to block my way. And as I'm going towards it, I was getting that ferocious courage that I got. I just charged the dragon and it kicked it and it shattered completely. It was nothing more than a thin-shelled statue, and it shattered these many billion pieces, you can say, and I ran to the edge of the water, and and then I feared I might die if I go in, but then I felt I would certainly die if I didn't. So I jumped into the water, and just as I jumped got below the surface of the water, I was seeing what looked like a ceiling of the storm shelter I was in.

SPEAKER_03 29:48

The truth comes out.

SPEAKER_02 29:52

And I was actually waking up at the same moment, and then I sat up where I was sleeping uh to someone yelling outside, and the other member was uh who was hiding there with me. She was actually um about to wake me up when I woke up and told me Frank's mom was telling us to come out. So uh kind of still dazed what was going on, the dream still in my head. I okay. We I stumbled out, and and as I we came out of the door, she then padlocked it, and then she went back inside and then locked that door. Just like that. We were locked out and a block away from this police station. So I had to move. So we said her goodbyes, and I think I gotta get out of here. So long story short, I went to the only person I knew close by, which was uh several hours walk away. Uh I had no money, nothing but to close my back. And so when I got to him, um eventually I I talked him into taking me up into the mountains because I knew I could survive up there, not in the city. I I I'm I'm a mountain kid. So he he was my best friend, you know, in in high school. And so he he reluctantly agreed. He knew what I was into. And so he took me up to my house. I asked him, hey, stop at my house for us and grab my gear. And then I went out and grabbed my gear and I came out, he was gone. He left me, he abandoned me. Wow. Then I panicked. It's like I I can't be here. My dad's gonna be home. Like, oh, the gig is up. So I took my stuff and I ran into the forest or on the other side of the mountain, and and then made my little you know hideout out there real quick, and then sat down. And as I was sitting down, you know, just these gnats, or you know, the gnats getting your eyes and your ears and mouth, and then mosquitoes were everywhere. And I've never had, we never had this bad of mosquitoes in the in this area. Um, it was like Tatandra, it'd be everywhere, and then bees, like bees everywhere. I'm like, man, I'm being swarmed by every insect out here, and it was just frustrating. Like, there's no way we'll survive out here. I was just knowing, I was going nuts.

SPEAKER_03 31:52

When the truth comes out.

SPEAKER_02 31:55

I'm like, okay, I'd rather go to jail than sit out here in the forest. So finally I decided, alright, I'm going back in the house. I'm I'm going back in. I'll call my dad and I'm gonna tell him this, you know, I'm gonna tell him a few things, you know, I'm gonna tell him who's boss. And so I grabbed my stuff, I went back in, and then I called my dad. And as I called my dad, I was like, Dad, you know, I'm I'm here at the house. He said, Oh, okay, yeah, that's good. And um, and then uh, you know, just an average casual conversation, never asked about the cult, nothing. It was kind of like uh just letting him know I was home and you know going to feed the animal or something. Uh it was weird, and he goes, Oh yeah, I I I won't be uh I'll be going down to Ventura this weekend, so I won't be around, but um uh you know um I I I don't have a lot of food up there. I'll I'll grab some groceries. Brought this bag of groceries? He brought a bag of groceries of every favorite food I had. I mean it was everything, and he's pulling out, putting it away, and like, yeah, you can here you go. I'm looking like this food. This is my favorite food. I was I was almost freaking out in a sense like wow, he doesn't even know my favorite food. He how did he pig all my favorite foods? But so he grabbed that, he says, Yeah, don't let anybody uh stay up here, you're fine, but uh we'll take care, we'll we'll I'll talk to you when I get back, and you know, took off and left. Very corrigible. Like, I wasn't in this cult, well, no, I didn't think it was a cult at the time, but like nothing was going on. So I was like, wow, I'm relaxed. And there's no demons in the house by this time, it's comfortable, so man, I just passed out, slapped like I hadn't slept for a long time. I got back in contact with Athena and gave her my phone number. I don't know why I did that, but I gave her my phone number, and so she called me constantly, and she kept making these commands like, oh yeah, you gotta leave here, gotta go there, you need to go to this place, you know, get away from the enemy. And I'm thinking, no, I can't. My food. And it told her that I'm like, I'm not leaving my food. What are you nuts, woman? I've got food. I got Rocky Road ice cream to eat. I'm not leaving it. Well, Armageddon can wait. I have ice cream in the freezer. So this this kind of you know back and forth started as a little bit of rebelliousness in me. And and I was getting a little upset as as it was anyhow, because you know, I'm all about the ministry. 100%. I'm in, man. You know, stab me with your sword. I'm going all the way. But Athena didn't change the mission and said, now okay, everybody focus on me. It's now all about me. I'm like, what? It's all about you? What are you talking about? I'm thinking, you know, two witnesses, don't they die and come back to life? I mean, hello? What what are you what are you talking about? I felt it was like this was this was selfish, it was contradictory. Um, I didn't agree, but I mean, she was the Holy Spirit, right? And I made a plan that the the next time she was gonna call, I decided to actually lie to her and see if she caught it. I mean, if she's really the Holy Spirit, she will know, right? If she is, uh, and if I'm wrong, that's it. I'm through, we're done. But logically, she had already violated truth, therefore, she couldn't be the Holy Spirit, I think. So now I just needed to test it out. And so as she was going about on something, I I I relayed to her a completely fabricated lie, and she bought it, swallowed it whole. I'm like, what? I wasn't saying to myself, like, wait, what's going on here? So I did it again, and then again. So then I started becoming obstinate. And she wanted me to go, you know, take this people and bring them to your house. I'm like, oh no, I can't. I have dust, dust, and thus. I mean, total lies. And she bought it! Like, whoa, what is going on? So then Chad called. I haven't heard from for a couple of months, and he just called Elda Blue and he wanted to meet that day at the high school parking lot, or senior high parking lot, so I said, sure, why not? And I haven't heard from him, so I kind of was interested, wanted to talk to him. And then I hung up the phone, the phone rings again, like almost instantly, and of course, it's Athena. So I told her Chad called, and then she immediately opposed it. Uh forbid it! And so I lied and said, No, no, God is wanting me to do this. I foresaw this in dreams or visions or whatever I said, and so she thought about it and it's like, okay, I approve. Um, but then she says, But I command you, make him get into your car and you do all the talking. So I said, Yeah, sure, you know, I'll do that. Of course I was lying. Um, but this really, really pissed me off. So if I remember driving down there, so when I got to the parking lot, I parked next to Chad's car, and Chad got out and began to walk over to my car, but I got out and jumped right into Chad's car instead. So Chad returned to get back in. And I was going to just sit there and say nothing. I'm gonna let Chad do all the talking. I was so obstinate to Athena by now that I had to do nothing she commanded me to do. So Chad got back into his car, and after, you know, attempting to have some sort of small talk, Chad just gave up and blurted out, Dude, you're in a cult. I stared at him. I almost responded, but then I remembered my obstinate. So I just was like, nope, let you talk. And he was, you know, talking and he started telling me about his time in England, about how he spent the first week fighting the devil until he realized he was actually fighting God. And the second week, God took him through all the scriptures to show him everything where Athena was wrong. And then he handed me this thick stack of typed notes, front and back, that he put together, filled with those scriptures, showing me where Athena and his group were wrong. My mouth dropped. He just he just did what I asked Pastor Mike to do, and and Chad had not even known about it. Well, I flipped through the pages and and didn't even read it. I just the whole deception was was collapsing, it was disintegrating. And then I remember stopping Chad in mid-sentence, like, dude, you're right. I'm in a cult. I need out. And Chad could have stopped. He stared at me, he's like, look at me like, are you being sarcastic? Are you mocking me? I'm like, no, I wasn't. And he had only been like talking for like, well, not even a minute or so. It's like, no way. This this this is not happening, he thought. He prepared too much for me to just give up so easily. So when I then had to convince Chad that I was being sincere, uh I I'm pretty sure he gotta sit up to sermon. I'm pretty ready, rehearsed it with this huge meeting, and and and just after the intro, the job was done. He's thinking, no, no, no, no, no. Oh no, you don't. I have more points to make. You will stay in until I'm good and ready. He's like, I I I put so much work into this. Don't do this to me, man. But so yeah, I had to interrupt him. I was like, no, no, listen. And I told him what I what I told Pastor Mike and how he had just done this, and I already known that he that he knew nothing about that. So then I realized that God gave him all of it just for this very moment. Then I started walking through my last several weeks that you heard about, from the from the raid to being on the run, the dreams, and finding myself at home with a big bag of glorious food, uh, even my obstinates with Athena, how I had to rebel against everything she commanded, how this very meeting at this very moment with me getting into his car and me shutting up was really only there to piss Athena off. God had orchestrated this whole escape route just to free me, and I was free. My Christianity was shattered. My whole perception of it melted. The only thing left was my relationship with God, and I think it was entirely one-sided. He loved me, and and this event, this this whole demonic affair, did one major thing. It stripped me of everything false, leaving with only the one thing, my relationship with God. Even after I I falsely thought I was actually fighting the devil, he never abandoned me. In fact, he was shaping me in spite of me. Paul says in Romans 8, we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose, for those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, in order that he might be firstborn among many brothers, and those whom he predestined, he also called, and those whom he called, he also justified, and those he justified, he also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? What I have tried to provide in these episodes is is evidence towards my conclusion that the full spectrum of reality includes the paranormal, the supernatural, the you know, the spiritual, whatever you label it. In it, there is an establishment, and in it there is a rebellion. God created all things, and the devil doesn't even deny that. And Jesus came to gather all mankind back to God according to that satanic high priest. They don't deny it because God established us to be his shadow, his image on earth, giving humanity dominion over all creatures, something the devil wants to have for himself. And to do that, he needs to usurp our authority by deceiving us to serve him. It is evident that he has come to steal, to kill, and destroy. And that's just what I witnessed. And I'll testify as evidence to my understanding about reality.