Are Spiritual Powers Still Influencing Nations Today? What Scripture Shows

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The Bible doesn’t treat nations as just politics and human decisions. Scripture shows real spiritual powers — called principalities, powers, and rulers — that were given authority over nations after Babel and are still active today through deception.
In this episode we walk through the key passages: Deuteronomy 32, Psalm 82, Daniel 10 (Prince of Persia), Ephesians 6, Colossians, and more. We’ll see how these spiritual beings operated in the ancient world, what the “opening of the mouth” ceremony reveals about idols, and how the same framework helps us understand deception and human responsibility in our own time — especially in the little season.

Full length videos here https://youtube.com/@archivedrift1?si=Fpm2cuvpVCQ42-fr

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:18

Most of us uh probably looked at what's going on in the world at at some point, and I've thought it many times, and I know you have too, that you've thought there's there has to be more to things like than just politics and money. And our leaders make decisions that affect millions of people, and you see these patterns that keep and they they do, they happen over and over again across history, and you know, you know, know something bigger is going on behind the scenes. Um the the Bible talks about this a lot. It does not, it doesn't paint the world as just humans going along and and doing human stuff with no other forces involved. Um, there are spiritual beings, um, and these are called principalities, uh, powers or rulers that have influence over nations and events. And these are non-old myths, they're they're very active. I want I want to be upfront about what we're doing in this video. Um we're not here to spin wild theories or connect every heading to some secret spiritual map. Um, what what I am going to do is try to look at what the scriptures say about these powers and how how they relate to the nations. And we will work through the main passages and and see the patterns that um that are there. And and also, of course, talk about what this means for how deception works and um and how people still make real these these choices. And both of those things matter in the Bible, and they have that thing has been repeated a lot. And a lot of us, we were in churches that didn't really talk about the side of this side of things very much, and we're we're used, I mean, very used to thinking about spiritual stuff on a personal level, like temptation or prayer. But when it comes to nations and bigger structures of power, it often gets left out or explained away with just politics and economics. And so the biblical writers did not think that way, though. Um, for them, the seen world and the unseen were connected, and spiritual powers played a huge role in what was happening on the earth. So, in this video, I'm we, I are going to slow down and look at the framework, the things that build everything on top of it, which, and that's what we usually do here. Um, so when the Bible talks about spiritual powers that influence nations, it does not always use the same words, it uses several terms that all point to the same basic idea, okay? That there are real spirit, like real spiritual beings who have authority and influence in the unseen realm, and that this influence shows up in our own human human affairs and and things we have going on right here, right now. Um, the the most common, I think the most common words that we see in the New Testament are principalities and powers. And and in Greek it they usually mean a ruler or someone who has a starting uh um a starting place of authority. And uh there's a it carries the same like a weight as like a delegated power, or they they can act with authority in a certain area, and then and the new old and new testament, or the new testament puts them together like a in a painting of most of us have probably looked at what's going on in the world at some point and thought there has got to be something more to this than just politics and money. We all watch these leaders make decisions that affect millions of people. You see patterns that keep repeating across across the whole timeline. And you know absolutely that there is something going on that is way bigger behind the scene that we don't that we we can't really see. And the Bible talks about this. It does, it doesn't paint the world as as just humans just kind of trudging along doing human stuff with that when there's other forces involved. So there are spiritual beings, and these are sometimes called principalities, powers, or rulers, and they have influence over nations and events. And these are not old myths, these are true, and they are active right now, even. Now, I I do want to be out upfront about what we're doing in this video. We're not here to spin wild theories um or connect every headline to some secret spiritual map. Um, we we will look at what the scriptures say about these powers and how they relate to the nations. And we will work through the main passages and we see the patterns that are there, and then we'll talk about what this means for how um deception works, and I've done that at length, but um, and we'll also talk about how people still make these choices alongside that deception. And both of both of those things matter in the scriptures. So, like a lot of us, a lot of us grew up in churches that didn't, I mean, I did, didn't really talk about this kind of stuff very much. And we were used to thinking about spiritual stuff on a personal level, kind of like temptation or prayer. But when it comes to like when it comes to nations and bigger structures of power, it it often gets left out or explained away with just like politics and economics. Like that's those are the only two games in town. The biblical writers did not think that way. So for them, the seen world and the unseen world were connected, and spiritual powers played a huge role in what was happening on the earth. So, in this video, in this video, we're gonna slow down and look at that framework that that is undergirding everything. And that's what we usually do here. You guys know that. So, when the Bible talks about spiritual powers that influence nations, it does not always use the same words, it uses several terms that all point to the same basic idea, and that there are real spiritual beings, not fake ones, not false ones, like they don't exist, but they do have authority and influence in the unseen realm, and that this influence shows up in our own human affairs and the things that we and and things that we have going on right here, right now. And the most there are words that we see in the New Testament, like the word principalities and powers, and in the Greek, um it basically means a ruler or or someone who has a like a starting place of authority. Um, there's another one that carries the idea of a delegated power or uh or the right to act in a certain area, and when the New Testament puts them together, it paints a picture of spiritual beings who have been given given authority by God and who operate in structured ways, or at least they're supposed to. And you see this language in several key places key places, and one of those is in Ephesians, another one so like Paul tells believers to put on the full armor of God because we do not, he says that we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but but against principalities, powers, against rulers of the of the of the darkness of this age. Um, he also goes on to say that against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. And that is a pretty direct statement. He didn't beat around the bush here. Paul is not talking about personal temptation at all. He he he's describing like organized spiritual opposition that has has bones to it, it has structure. Another one is Colossians 1, and it says something pretty close. It says Paul, so Paul writes that all things were created through Christ and for him, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. Now everything that exists in the unseen realm was made by him, and it ultimately, and it is ultimately under his authority. Though I believe these powers um, though these beings have a functional authority where they actually ruled and still rule that land, and this tells us that these beings are not equal to God, okay? Though God has granted them this functional authority, as I call it, they are created, but they still have real power and they still have influence in this world as it currently stands. Romans 8, it it it also mentions this category when it says that nothing, and it means nothing, but it says not even principalities or powers can separate us from the love of God. And again, Paul is treating these as actual forces that have some ability um to affect people's lives. Hopefully that makes sense. But the New Testament did not invent this idea out of like thin air, it like it didn't just come out of nowhere, it it's picking up language and and concepts that were already present in the Old Testament, even when though, even if the wording is kind of different. In the Old Testament, you see, you see references to the to the sons of God who it says who were given authority over the nations after the incident at the Tower of Babel. And so you see, you see spiritual beings who are assigned to specific territories or peoples, and you see God's people dealing with opposition that um with this opposition that clearly has a a spiritual element behind it. What is important to notice here is that these powers are not pre, they're not, I mean, merely presented as as equal, they're not presented as equal to God or as ultimate forces. They they are real and they and they have influence, but but they operate under limits. And they can deceive, they can oppose, and they can affect the the direction of nations, but they're still created beings. And that distinction matters a lot. A lot of people today either either they ignore this language completely or or they treat it like it's just like a, I don't know, like a um, like a poetic way to talk about human governments or or evil systems. Like but when when when the passages in the text are read in it in their context, it's pretty it is very clear that the biblical writers are talking about actual spiritual beings. They're not just using fancy language for politic for political structures, they're describing a real like a reality that includes both the unseen and the seen. And now at the same time, we have like we we have to be careful not to go too far the other way and start seeing a demon behind every bush. So the Bible gives us the this framework, but it also keeps pointing us back to human responsibility here. So these powers they can influence, absolutely, they can deceive, absolutely, but they and they can even possess people, but but people still make choices, and we'll talk about that um that balance later in the video. But for now, the main thing I want you to see and remember is that the Bible uses very specific language to describe these spiritual rulers, and that this language shows up in both the Old and the New Testaments. Make sure that thing was still on, it always shuts off on me for some reason. But anyway, it's it's not a minor side note, and it's part of how the biblical story explains what the heck is going on in the world. Okay, so when we when we look at specific passages, we start to see, we don't start to see, we see that these powers aren't just floating around randomly, they they have assigned areas of influence, and and that's what we're going to look at next. Like how the Bible, how the Bible describes territorial, like territorial, I can't even say that word, assignments and heavenly courts in in the Old Testament. So when we look at the Old Testament, we see spirit, these spiritual powers are not floating around with no structure. They have that they seem to have been given specific assignments and territories. Okay. Now I've talked about this before, but the this this idea shows up in a few key places. And one when you see it, it should change how you read a lot of the Old Testament story. And one one of the Mount Everest huge and clearest passages of this is in Deuteronomy 32. In in verse 8 specifically, it says, like when the when the most when the most high divided the nations and separated the sons of Adam, um, he set boundaries, the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God. And then and then right in the next verse, it says, and that the Lord's portion is his people, and Jacob is the allotment of his inheritance. End of quote. He divided up the nations and assigned spiritual beings called the sons of God to oversee that, to oversee them. And is but Israel was different. Israel belonged directly to the Lord, and the other nations were put under the authority of these other spiritual beings. Okay. Now this was not temporary, this was not a temporary arrangement. It set up a long-term reality, like where um spiritual powers were were connected to spirit to specific peoples and territories. And this helps explain why the Old Testament talks about other nations having their own gods and that that had real power behind them. So when Israel went into the land of Canaan, they were not fighting just human armies. There was a huge, huge, huge spiritual dimension to this conflict. The gods of those nations were not carved statues, they were real spiritual powers operating behind the armies of their own nation. And those powers have been given territory and influence over these people. They affected them every single day. So these statues were a point of contact with real spiritual beings who had once belonged to the divine council, but had rebelled and been allotted to the nations. Or they a lot they were allotted to the nations and then rebelled. And after the craftsmen finished shaping the idol in the work in their workshop, priests, their own priests, would perform the solemn, uh, it was called the opening of the mouth ceremony. And it was a carefully prescribed ritual that included washing, they washed the statue, and then presented it offerings, recited these incantations, and then they used special um instruments to symbolically open its eyes, ears, and mouth. And and through these rites, these incantations, the image ceased to be regarded as just a human artifact. Instead, the the deity was believed to come and take up residence inside of the thing. And this enabled the God to see its worshipers, to hear their prayers, smell the incense, and eat the food laid before it and actively rule over the territory assigned to it. You think about everyone had an idol in their home, right? So in this way, the idol was net was never the god itself, but a consecrated vessel and like a um like an earthly representation of a genuine supernatural power, but inside everyone's home, you see. So one one once the the Bible identifies it's not just empty myth or imagination, but it it it was a fallen member of the heavenly host that was still operating behind the scenes of the nations, okay? Um, and there was something there was something similar um in Psalm 82. This is another big one, Mount Everest type thing. Now, this this psalm describes God standing in the divine council and then pronouncing judgment on on the gods. And he says that they have judged unjustly and shown partiality to the wicked. And then he tells them that even though that they even though they are called gods and sons of the most high, they will still die like men and fall like any other ruler. The psalm then ends with a call for God to rise up and then judge the earth, because all of the nations ultimately belong to the one who basically rented the lands out to squatters, so to speak, um, meaning the the sons of God who were over those lands. And the passage is important because it it shows that these spiritual beings were given, they were given a legitimate authority over the land, but they were also accountable to their own actions. They were not not not supposed to use their power however they wanted. They were supposed to rule justly as God had commanded them to do, and when they didn't, God held them responsible. So um probably the clearest example of uh territorial territorial spiritual powers in in action is in Daniel chapter 10. And I did an entire episode on this in on this very passage, but but this is one of those passages that um that really I think really brings the idea, this idea to life. So Daniel had been praying and fasting for three weeks for three weeks, and finally an angel shows up, and the angel tells Daniel, he said, that his prayer, he said that his prayer was heard from the very first day, but the angel was he was he was delayed because he had to fight against the prince of the kingdom of Persia. And so right after that, then he so it he says that um that Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help him, and then he had to leave the prince of Persia to then deal with the prince of Greece who was coming next. And this is pretty remarkable when you think about it, because so here's an angel, here's an angel who was sent to uh he was sent in response to Daniel's prayer, but he got held up in some kind of supernatural spiritual conflict with this other spiritual power that was assigned to Persia. And there's another, and then there's another one assigned to Greece. These are not human. They the text is showing them as real spiritual beings who have this territory and who are who are then actively um opposing God's messengers. And what's really interesting is that this conflict is happening while human events are unfolding on the earth. It's real time. The angel is is talking to Daniel during the time when Persia was the dominant empire, and um, and I think Greece was rising in um congruence with that. So, like the spiritual conflict in the unseen realm was connected to what was happening with actual nations and kingdoms, and that the pattern, the pattern can help, and I mean it does, it helps understand why certain nations in the Old Testament seemed to have such a strong spiritual opposition to God's people. It wasn't, it wasn't just that like their kings were stubborn or they were just wicked on their own accord, uh, or that their their cultures were just you know merely different. There were spiritual powers behind those nations that had been given real authority, like absolute real authority from on high, and then used that authority to resist what God was doing. I mean, why do you think, why do you think God was so was so strict? We I mean we we see that as being strict, but uh when when God commanded his people to not be like the other nations, right? Think about that. Like at the same time, you have we have to remember that these powers were still limited. They it look just like Satan in the Job story, like they they could delay an angel for a time, but they couldn't ultimately stop God's purposes. I mean, Michael showed he Michael showed up to help, and the angel eventually got through to Daniel. Remember, we know that we know that um the rest of the story, that God's plans for his people move forward, even when there was spiritual opposition, it didn't make it easy, but it definitely made it hard. There was a um there was a spiritual layer to what was happening, and then and then that that spiritual layer had also had structure and territory. And when when we move, we sort of graduate into the New Testament. We see these same ideas continuing. It didn't stop or change. Like even if the language language shifts a little bit, like the New Testament writers were still operating with this mosaic, with this, with this basic understanding that spiritual powers have real influence in the world, and that this influence shows up in how nations and peoples and cultures ultimately behave. And now before we before we get there though, I want to um I want to make sure we're clear on something. So like just so just because these spiritual powers have territory and influence does not mean that they're in control. In essence, they are, but these bees, these beings can oppose, they can deceive, and they can create real evil, but but they still are operating within boundaries that God has set, right? They that balance between spiritual influence and God's ultimate authority is important to keep in view, um, always. And when we move, and it doesn't always make things necessarily easier, but when we move from the Old Testament then into the New Testament, the language it, like I said, it shifts a little, but the basic picture stays pretty consistent. And the the New Testament, they write, they write and they talk about spiritual powers that have this influence, and and they they they connect these powers to nations and law and much larger structures that are in the world. One of the one of the clearest places that we see this is in the book of Ephesians. So in chapter, I think it was chapter six, um, Paul tells the church in Ephesus to put on the full armor of God because their struggle isn't against other people. He says, and that this has never mind. He he says that we wrestle against principalities, against powers, and then and the rulers of the darkness of this age, and against spiritual spiritual hosts of wickedness. In um, and I think it wraps up with saying in the heavenly places. So if you notice that Paul doesn't say that this struggle is only personal, he he says that like there is organized spiritual opposition that has structure and um has structure and it has reach. And I covered this in another I also covered this in another episode in the Satan's little series that I did. But the the fact that Paul mentions the rulers of the darkness of this age shows that these powers have influence over the current world, uh, like over the current world system, and not over not merely individual believers or individual people. And earlier in Ephesians, um, Paul also talks about how God, how, how these powers in relation to what Christ has done. So in chapter one, he does he says that God raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, which was far above all principalities and power and might and dominion and every name that is named. And so Christ's authority is above all of these spiritual rulers, and they're real, they're not, but they're not ultimate, right? And as Paul goes on in chapter, he gets to chapter three, he mentions that the church is meant to make known the manifold, like the manifold wisdom of God to the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places. So we see here like that what what God is doing through the church and his people is actually being observed by these spiritual beings, they are watching what's happening all the time with God's people, and somehow the church is demonstrating something to them. Okay, um, it's it's it's pretty amazing, right? But so another another book has similar similar language. You have Colossians, um, where Paul says that all things were created through Christ and for him, uh, things that are in heaven and uh I think it says earth, visible and invisible. And it basically talks about if there's like thrones, dominions, or or principalities or powers, everything that so like everything that exists in the unseen realm was made by him. Um, and then he he goes on to and I want to say it's the next chapter, but he says that Christ just disarmed the principalities and powers and made a public like humiliation or spectacle of them. And and Christ triumphed, he won over them because the dark powers thought that by offing Jesus they would they would inherit dominion over the earth, they would defeat God Himself. And this that is important. The New Testament does not say that these powers exist, it says that Christ has already defeated them in a decisive way. At the same time, we know from other passages that their influence does, it hasn't been completely removed yet. And that's where I've argued we are at within the little season of Satan in the book of Revelation. There is still a war between what Christ accomplished on the cross and the the full removal of their power at the end of the age. That same language is in Romans, Romans 8. That Romans 8 is huge with this, then where Paul says that nothing can separate us from the love of God, um, not even principalities or powers. And and I think I can't remember which book of Corinthians of Corinthians it's in, but Paul he talks about the rulers of this age who crucified the Lord of glory. He he says that if if they had understood what what God was doing, they wouldn't have um they wouldn't have crucified him. I mean, think about this. Why do you think Satan asked the questions that he did to Jesus during the temptation? Go go back through your Bible and read those questions and think about that. I won't spoil it for you, but um, but anyways, we we see here that these spiritual rulers can be deceived themselves and can make decisions that work against their own interests. That whole thing with Jesus blew up, it literally blew up in their face. I mean, why does the New Testament talk so much about deception? If there are organized spiritual powers that want to oppose what God is doing, it makes sense that they would use deception as one of their main strategies. Um they can still create confusion, they can still lead people astray, they can still steer the direction of nations and cultures, and I do mean steer. At the same time, the New Test, the new, yeah, the New Testament never treats people like they're helpless victims of these powers. Um, Paul, it is replete with human responsible responsibility, and Paul tells believers to stand firm, to put on the armor of God and to resist. There is real spiritual opposition, but there's also real human responsibility to respond, to do what we're supposed to do in light of that. So for now, the main point is that the New Testament continues the Old Testament picture where the spiritual powers, um, or the spiritual powers have territory and influence. And so they operate in structured ways, and they're connected to what is happening with nations and with uh the peoples that are in those nations. And that very that very framework gives us a way to think about um why certain patterns keep showing up over and over again throughout history in a refrain and why the deception seems to have such power in in certain seasons. It's not just human failure or or bad ideas, there's a spiritual layer to what's going on. Um and and that layer, that layer has structure and purpose. It always has. And when we when we put that together with what we've seen so far, a clearer, a clearer and clearer picture starts to form. So spiritual powers have very effective influence over nations and territories. They've been they've been crafting this for a long time. They had they operate with um with struct with it's crazy how much structure and purpose they have. And one of the main ways that they work is is through lies and deceit, especially since we are in a little season. Now, the Bible shows us that um that these powers do not always come with obvious force. They I would say most of the time in this day and age, work they work by twisting truth, um, uh creating confusion and leading people in false ways of thinking. And and this shows up again and again in the scriptures. Like nations and leaders, they get um they get pulled into patterns that go against what God has said and and his desire for them. And behind those patterns, there are there's often spiritual deception at work at all at all times. And we see this in the old testament when nations they turned to idols and false gods, and the Israelites did it too. Now remember, those those were not just empty statues that we talked about earlier, they were real spiritual powers behind them, and those powers used trickery and lies to keep people in bondage. And this was the this is the same thing that shows up when Israel kept falling into the same cycles that those nations did of disobedience. It was not only human weakness. Um, there was spiritual pressure and deception involved here. Absolutely. It was replete with it. In the New Testament, Paul talks about this, um, he talks about it directly. He says that he says that the God of this age has blinded the minds of those who do not believe. He he also he describes like he talks about like a spiritual ruler who actively works to keep people from seeing the truth, and that's not about individual sin. It's about like um a larger system of deception that affects that affects how um how nations and people think and and act. And we also see this in how the Bible talks about the last days. There are warnings about strong deception that will come upon uh the world, and people will out, they will believe lies, they'll turn away from the truth, and that and this deception is not presented as just a bad idea spreading around. It has a a spiritual source behind it always. At the same time, the the Bible never treats people like they have to, like they have no choice in the matter. Like even when there is spiritual deception, even when the spiritual deception is strong, human beings are still responsible for how they respond, for how we respond. So God, He still speaks clearly, He hasn't changed that. He still gives warnings and people still have the ability to turn toward Him or away. And that's where the balance becomes really important here because these spiritual powers, they can put, they can push so much pressure on us and they can exploit our weaknesses. They've been studying us, studying us for a long time. They can use, I mean, ever since creation, they can use deception to make lies look like truth and weaving truth in the lies, and it's hard to see. But they don't, but they don't remove the responsibility for a person to choose. So God holds people accountable for their response, their responses, even when deception is present. In the um, in the last, yeah, in the last episode that I did, we see this uh this pattern in the story of Cain. Uh God spoke directly to him after his offering was dire was it was it was rejected. He gave him a clear warning and a clear choice. Cain still had the ability to choose what was right, even though anger and jealousy were rising in him. And the these um the spiritual reality around him did not take away his personal responsibility to do the right thing. I mean, could he have been influenced by demonic oppression? Of course. But Cain was still the one who was arbiter of what he was gonna do, he was still the one who decided. So that the accountability was on Cain. It was on him. The same, that same very thing shows up in other places, and people are are warned and given opportunities to respond. This happens to us on a day on a daily basis. And when they refuse, when we refuse, we're held we're held accountable. Spiritual powers can influence the situation situation, but they don't get to make the final decision for a person's heart. We do that, and this matters a lot when we think about how uh how deception works on a larger cosmic scale. Um, where you have you have nations and cultures are pulled into false ways of thinking, and leaders can be influenced, like we said earlier. Whole societies can start believing things that are not true. You but even in those situations, the Bible keeps pointing back to the to the fact that people are still making choices, divided hearts, a divided house, whatever, a divided heart will always become more and more vulnerable. When someone's heart is already compromised, a deception has an easier time taking root. It's on the other side, when people stay close to God and keep their hearts whole, they're they're in a better place to recognize deception when it comes. You can see a fake a mile off when you're doing that. The armor of God that Paul describes in Ephesians is is about staying grounded in truth so that that deception, when it comes and it will, it doesn't get the same foothold. Okay. Uh what so what what we are seeing is that those spiritual powers and human responsibility, it works together in the biblical picture. But what people are never presented, but people are never presented as like powerless. Does that make sense? He God still calls people to respond and he still holds them accountable for what they what they do with that call. So what I mean, the the million-dollar question is what do we do with all of this? We we've seen that um we've seen that spiritual powers are real, they have influence over the nations and territories, they they use deception as one of their one of their main tools, and and yet people are still responsible for how they respond. And that that is the biblical picture. Now, the question is how we actually live in light of that, in light of it. The the first thing is to stay grounded in the scriptures. That this whole framework only makes sense when we keep reading the Bible for ourselves. When we stay in the word, we're better able to recognize deception um like when it shows up. We're also better able to keep our heart soft towards God instead of letting them um instead of letting them get divided or hardened. Now, a lot of that, a lot of the vulnerability we talked about earlier starts when with people when they they're drifting away from the truth and they almost always drift slowly. And because a person drifts away slowly, it's harder to detect. Staying in scripture and being grounded in prayer are are two of the most practical things and important things that we can do. Um, on the second hand, uh, we need to keep our hearts whole. We have seen how a divided heart makes someone more open to demonic oppression and deception. Um, and that's that's why the Bible keeps coming back to the idea of loving God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your all of your strength, all your mind. When our hearts are are split between God and other things, we we become um we become easier targets, I think. When when our hearts are fully given to him, we're we're we're in a much stronger place. We have we have to stay close to God and let him keep leading our hearts, right? And we should take the armor of God seriously here. Paul, he didn't give us that list in Ephesians, like just a sound spiritual or churchy, I don't think. You know, uh truth, righteousness, the gospel, the gospel, faith, salvation, the word of God, and prayer, all those, all the things. The these those they help us be about the business when spiritual opposition is real. You have to put that stuff on. Putting on the arm that armor isn't complicated, but it does require daily attention. We cannot, we you can't treat it like something that we only think about when things get intense. It doesn't work out in our favor ever when we do that. We have to be careful not to become obsessed either with with spiritual warfare, um, or like I said earlier, when you start looking and seeing a demon behind every bush. The Bible gives us the framework to so that we can live wisely, but it not so that we can live in fear or paranoia. And uh and I know some people get so focused on the unseen realm, and I'm subject to it too, that they stop living normal, faithful lives, and that's not what God wants at all. Um, we but we are to stay aware without letting it take over. Does that make sense? Um, and that that truth should give us confidence and not anxiety, and we don't have to figure out every single um spiritual dynamic happening in the in the dang world. We we just need to stay faithful where God has placed us. So um, yeah, it just and it's and it's tough. It's it's really tough sometimes, but there's so much, so much blessing in being obedient and loving the Lord with all of your heart. So um I I wanted to just quick quick reminder you guys, remember the the Telegram group, um, there'll be a link in the description. And uh I think we have like I don't know 17 or 18 members in there for small beginnings, but if you're interested, uh just just just hop on and uh or if you have trouble, send me a send me a message um in the comments and I will get back to you. So may the Lord bless you, may the Lord keep you, may the Lord make his face shine on you, he praises to you, may the Lord lift up his capital.