The Confessionals - RELOADED | 657: Lilith Comes Calling

Episode Date: February 16, 2026

In episode 657: Lilith Comes Calling, Justin from Appalachian Intelligence Podcast and Joel Thomas from Free The Rabbits Podcast, dive into their eerie woodland encounters, discussing strange phenomena and the possibility of encountering demons. They explore the legend of Lilith, her connection to Bigfoot, and their personal experiences with sightings of a woman in white. They then navigate the complexities of Lilith's role across cultures and mythologies. Meanwhile, Joel shares a little about his personal journey from the occult to Christianity, examining the allure of forbidden knowledge, the dangers of the occult, and the significance of redemption and God's grace in overcoming past mistakes.Please pray for Tony's wife, Lindsay, as she battles breast cancer. Your prayers make a difference!If you’re able, consider helping the Merkel family with medical expenses by donating to Lindsay’s GoFundMe: https://gofund.me/b8f76890Become a member for ad-free listening, extra shows, and exclusive access to our social media app: theconfessionalspodcast.com/joinThe Confessionals Social Network App:Apple Store: https://apple.co/3UxhPrhGoogle Play: https://bit.ly/43mk8kZThe Counter Series Available NOW:The Counter (YouTube): WATCH HEREThe Counter (Full Episode): WATCH HERETony's Recommended Reads: slingshotlibrary.comIf you want to learn about Jesus and what it means to be saved: Click HereBigfoot: The Journey To Belief: Stream HereThe Meadow Project: Stream HereMerkel Media Apparel: merkmerch.comMy New YouTube ChannelMerkel IRL: @merkelIRLMy First Sermon: Unseen BattlesSPONSORSSIMPLISAFE TODAY: simplisafe.com/confessionalsGHOSTBED: GhostBed.com/tonyCONNECT WITH USWebsite: www.theconfessionalspodcast.comEmail: [e-mail] KiserYouTube: @appalachianintelligence1924Apple: ai-appalachian-intelligenceJoel ThomasLinktree: linktr.ee/joelthomasmediaMAILING ADDRESS:Merkel Media257 N. Calderwood St., #301Alcoa, TN 37701SOCIAL MEDIASubscribe to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/2TlREaIReddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/theconfessionals/Discord: https://discord.gg/KDn4D2uw7hShow Instagram: theconfessionalspodcastTony's Instagram: tonymerkelofficialFacebook: www.facebook.com/TheConfessionalsPodcasTwitter: @TConfessionalsTony's Twitter: @tony_merkelProduced by: @jack_theproducerOUTRO MUSICJoel Thomas - MissingYouTube | Apple Music | Spotify

I guess it's time to go back in time. Are you telling me you built a time machine? Out of a Dolion? Time is but a stubborn illusion. I have a lot of memories of the past. People are time traveling within themselves. Time travel is possible. Merkel.

Media. This was all circulating around the base. that a giant had to kill but no one was supposed to talk about it. Wingers reach up underneath the door, curl up to grab it, and then disappear. When he came over to me,

dude, he slithered over to me. And this giant comes out of the cave and they're all frozen. And he starts running and firing at this giant. With a giant moves, he's got a spear in one hand, and he's running really fast, and spears

Dan holds him up like this. somebody else shoot them in the face shoot them in the face they basically decapitated feel something pulling at my leg and I look over and there are two small gray in the teeth and they're literally I'm getting pulled off the bed I reached my hand into this bush and I touch air couldn't breathe and it couldn't move because I know I'm seeing a monster okay I reload it welcome to the show everybody you're listening to the confessionals podcast I'm your host Tony Merkel thanks for being here if you've a crazy wild experience, you want to share with me on the show, go ahead and shoot me an email. My email address is contact at theconfessionalspodcast.com.

That's contact at the confessionalspodcast.com. Over the website, the confessionalspodcast.com, hit the contact section, and you can reach me that way as well. Other words from me, just get a hold of me. If you want more shows on a weekly basis, go to the website, hit the join button, become a member, get extra shows, Tuesday shows ad free,

and overtime segments when they're available. And you can have that stuff, all that good, good on the YouTube channel as well. Become a member there. if you like consuming your content on YouTube. Also go ahead and check out Merklefilms.com. That's Merkelfilms.com. We have two documentaries on there now.

We're coming out with our third one very soon. By the time you hear this, maybe it's already out. It's called Sasquatch and The Missing Man. Go ahead tomerklefilms.com and see if it's there when you hear this. All right. Today we got Joel and Justin in the show. I'm sick and tired of being. surrounded by guys with Jays.

I got Jack, Justin, and Joel. We got Joseph. We got Joe, the camera guy. Like, I'm really getting tapped here with the Jays. And it's driving me nuts because I will inevitably mess up people's names during this recording. So just bear with me. But, yeah, so we got Justin from Appalachia Intelligence. And we got Joel from Joel.

Last night, we had a good time. You weren't here, Justin, but I was like, you know, I want to go hunt a monster. And I knew you were coming down. And I was like, Joel, you want to come down and hunt a monster with me? And then hop on with Justin to talk about stuff. And he's like, yeah, sure, I'm already going to South Carolina to, you know, steal books from my dad. So his dad's got a whole library of, like, books that. great for research.

Really? Yeah. And he's like just loaded up in his car and take it home. His dad's not going to know it's gone. It's like a bandit. Yeah, it's like a bunch of theology and he's got like old Aquinas stuff and Josephus and all this, all this stuff. So I'm going down there, not specifically for that, but I know he's been compiling these

collections. And he's been, he's already giving me a lot of like Hebrew dictionaries and stuff. and I'm trying to get some of this other stuff off of it because he doesn't really want to get rid of it. I'm like, well, just give it to me and stay in the family. And I can use it. I don't know, son. I don't know if you can handle it yet. It's like, Dad, I'm over 40 years old.

Funny story, though. He actually used to tell me that when I was a kid. So in his church library that he had, his personal library, in the back, it was massive. There was a section I was not allowed to touch. Really? I would go in there, and he's like, you can't read those. For years, he's telling me. that. It was like all this occult stuff about the occult and then like...

So he pushed you into it. No, it, they weren't like occult books, but it was, it was, uh, breakdowns on how the occult is attached to, uh, you know, demonic entities and all that. Some of it was like exorcism stuff, just different, you know, literature, but you would let me read it. And I remember, I think I was either junior in high school or I was a senior. And I hadn't asked him in a long time. And I remember I was like, hey, dad, you care if I was like, go ahead, boy. Boy, the term of it. That's that term of endearment, you know?

Go ahead, my boy. Yeah. You're ready. It's like you just graduated, you know? You're ready for the master class. Master class. This is going to carry you for the rest of your life. Yeah.

Yeah. for many reasons, but we actually were out there last November, right? It was November. And it's the same place that we were charged at by something that came running right up on us and have you ever had something run right up on you

and it's completely invisible? No. No? I thought that happened to happen to everybody. No, it's never happened. I mean, I could imagine the effect that it would have, you know. Yeah.

It's never happened. So I'm just like, that happened and we were able to catch it on camera. They'll come out on a documentary sometime in 2025. But when that happened, it was like, you know how, so I talked to these people and over the years you're like, you start seeing the patterns where sometimes people have experiences and it pushes them away from the topic. They're just like, oh my gosh, like, what was that? I don't want anything to do with it. And then other people, it's like, I got to know more. Yeah. I had that experience with Joel

and I'm in the woods and as soon as we make it out to the main the main trail like that switch clicked in my head because I felt like I was back at safety for whatever reason which I wasn't but the switch clicked in my head and I was like oh I'm coming back here

and I can't help myself like I just I'm in love with the area and so we actually used the same area for the Sasquatch and the missing man documentary to shoot the reenactment of West Gerson experience. And while we were there, Jack and Joel were assisting with the production of it.

And Ward was the camera operator, and we had two actors. And so I had nothing to do. So I was sitting in a warm truck. I had the seat heater on. I was bored, called my parents. I was like, hey, guys, how you doing? I haven't talked to in a while. And they're like, oh, we're just doing. We're just sitting around hanging out alone together. That's, I guess what you do when you're old and married and just kids are gone and you just hang out. I was sitting there talking to my parents and I hear something outside and it's like this sounded like a clicking. I'm like, what the heck is that? And so I told my parents, it's hang on, hang on, hang on, hang on, hang on. And I told them to quiet down, you know,

it's getting serious now. And I, because mind you, I had the experience a few months back where we were charged by something we couldn't see. And I'm hearing this clicking noise that I'm like, does that sound like the predator? And so I cracked the window. And it sounds like it's right there and it's just like clicking. I was like, and I was like, you guys hear that? And my mom's like, close your window right now. She might as well added a young man, you know. Boy.

Boy. And so I did. I'll listen to Mama. And I said, all right, guys, I got to go. I got to figure this out. And so I waited for a lull in it. And I got out of the truck and I walked up to the guys. And I could still hear, but it was down towards my truck.

And, you know, we all at some point throughout the night heard it. We don't know what it was necessarily. But Justin, I contacted Justin from Curtis of the Corn. You know, it's nice to have a friend that's a biologist. Oh, absolutely. I use him all the time. I know. It's just like, hey, what's this?

He's like, it's a bug, dude. It's a bug. Chill out. Yeah, chill. You know. But he's been sending me videos of different sounds from East Tennessee. And we haven't found anything that was in the videos that were close. last night we were out there

and we heard a bunch of frogs that were making similar sounds but I just I don't know I go back and forth on it I mean could it be a frog let's just err on the side of caution it was a frog right

but I know what I heard that night and even last night what we heard wasn't identical at all yeah but in the process of trying to discover this Justin said to me maybe it's a shoe bill I'm like what's a

shoe bill? Like, is that like, you know, somebody still owes on a pair of shoes? You know, like, what is that? You know? And he tells me that a shoe bill is an African bird. I guess they're very endangered and they're from like the dinosaur era. And he said there's like a known number of like around 2000 in the wild. They have like two or three in captivity. And he believes that there's actually more sold on the black market than there are in the wild. And he said that there's a real like market for these things on the like the illegal pet trade. I'm like illegal what? You know, like? And he said, maybe somebody got a shoe bill bird and let it go into the wild. And I'm like, okay, so like, we're looking for a little sparrow or something. He's like, oh no, these things get five and a half,

six feet tall. I'm like, what? Sends me a video. And it was the closest thing I had heard to what I heard in person other than the pitch. So what the shoe bill, it's like it does the clicking. It lists his head back. It does the clicking, but it's a deeper sound. And what I heard was a much more higher pitch, very much like the predator. And he said, if it is a shoe bill, like I think Justin wanted to be a shoe bill. And he goes, if it is a shoe bill, maybe it's a juvenile. Maybe their pitches higher. I think he was guessing he wasn't sure. And so I was like, I said to Joel and said, man, why don't you come over here? We'll go out. We'll look for either the predator or shoe bill. Either way, we're looking for something that shouldn't be here, you know? We did have some activity, though. We did have

some activity. We thought we were running up on a landing spaceship at one point. Okay, that was, that was interesting, but that was a false alarm, I think. It looked like two lights out there. At first sort of like orbs maybe and then it looked like well man they kind of grouped together and i think jack was like could be a craft and then i kept saying every time they would say something i was like in three little grays and then they were like why you keep saying three little grays i was like because that's the worst case scenario we walk up but there's three grays there's so here's the thing like we're coming down this trail and it's going to open up into a big open field and that's where these lights are and i'm like man like what because like we're like a mile away from the truck and

And I'm thinking myself, if there's a landed craft here and there's three grays and they're just like, come on in. What am I going to do? Run? It's downpouring rain. It was pouring last night. We were out there for like three or four hours and pouring down rain, hiking through mud. I'm like, yeah, I'm going to run up and down these hills from aliens who just pierced the veil. They're like, where are you going?

They're going to pop up in front of me. Like, stop slipping and sliding. Just get in. we're going to do some butt stuff. Yeah. It's just going to be like, yo, I don't want to be probed tonight, guys.

We've already telepathically prepared you. You don't even know. So come on. Stop resisting. Yeah. So. I fortunately, I think it was more of like an optical illusion.

The lights were even further off in civilization somewhere else. We didn't keep walking. We got to the field. We saw the lights. We're in the field. We don't want to follow the lights anymore. Yeah. Okay, we're tired and wet.

But what's interesting about going out last night is Jack had gone out with our friend Derek the night before down there. And they had heard some things. And Derek had gone, you know, and decided to let out a howl or something. And Jack, are you hooked up to a mic? Yes. Why don't you tell us what happened? Because I don't really remember exactly. So we went out

And then he we got to the first or second knoll Second hill and Derek let out a little whoop And we I'll preface this by saying we had been hearing hoots from owls the whole way up the trail And as soon as he did that then we heard these wolves just let out these howls So he heard one and it lasted about five to six seconds and we heard another right after that little bit higher pitch Another five to six seconds and then I started filming and it was about another 10 seconds

because I thought we thought we missed them and then three held right at the same time all different pitches and that was the moment when we were like, yeah and you got that on video it's real faint but you should see if you can plug that in and let people hear if you can mess with the audio and stuff

to make it more pulled through that'd be kind of cool so yeah the night before he has wolves going off in East Tennessee mind you Now, there could be, I think it's called a Red Wolf that they introduced here, tried reintroducing here, and they say it didn't take, but I got a guy coming in next month

who has 80 acres here in town, or not in town, on the outside of town, and he has Red Wolf on his game trail cam. So, game cam, trail, am I saying that, am I saying it right? Doesn't matter. I can't, I still can't remember that word. Let's not go back to that. Let's not go back to that.

Go back, it'll kill the whole process. I'm going to kill the whole thing. But, so, These wolves go off when he was there, but last night, on the way back is when activities started kicking up. And it's like this area is a very special area. And things happen here and a lot of things. And so we're walking back. And that's when something is happening.

And it's happening to all of us at the same time. I'll let you start that because you're the one that first had it. Yeah. So the first thing that happened was a like a thump on the left behind me and we all kind of turned around there like what was that?

And it was like, you know, it could be a tree branch or something. I mean, you don't know, right? Then we kept walking. And something like shot behind me. I could feel it and touched my hoodie. he was in mid-sentence, too, talking to it. Because, like, when you're out there, you, like, you're not, I don't know.

Like, maybe other people are more professional than me, but like, like, but we have the philosophy of just existing environments, right? And the Browns out in Washington, they say that the more human you act, the more they'll just come in if you just do you. In a preface, we weren't in a forested area at the time. So it wasn't like I was walking through trees and something, you know, a tree branch touched. Well, we were walking between trees. We were on a big path. Right. But we were in a forested area.

Right. It was not like we were downtown. We weren't walking between trees and thick air. We weren't chopping down trees to make a path. Right, right. But so like we were just talking. And when things happen, as soon as it calms down, we can just go back to talking. Because it's like, well, what are you going to do?

And so he's in mid-sentence and he just goes, huh. And he just spins. And his lights go on. and he's like, something just ran behind me. And I was like, all right, here we go. And I'd say probably what, in a five minute, ten minute period. I don't remember the exact order of everything, but we heard it runs across the trail,

and then we hear it on the left side, and then we hear it on the right side. Well, the one time it got so close on the left side, we all drew. That was the last time that we... Yeah. But I think that's when it got so close on the left side, like it was right in the tree line and you hear a big like snap.

Like it was just like boom. Like not like a stepping. Like it was something like like it was like a tree branch that's going like a big, you know, right like up high. And we all spin, wow, you know, lights on, drawn out. And we're not saying anything. But then that's when we hear the canines. I'll just call them canines going off in the distance. And they weren't they weren't coyotes.

Like you know the coyotes sound. These were more howls like, like what he heard the night before, but further back, like further away. And so we're like, what the heck's going on here with that, you know? So we just keep going and we're going through. And there's a lot of down trees.

We had to go around and everything. And this one, it's kind of weird because we've all concurred at the same time on this one too. Excuse me, my voice. Still trying to wake up. There we go. Back to the good radio voice.

So we Going out to that field It's like let's just say it's a mile You know how long it took Like you feel it but coming back The trip just went like that But that wasn't the big thing right I know I know go go

So the big thing that happened was on the way up There's this giant tree branch And I'm going to see branch more like a like a tree Like a piece of a tree I don't even know if that was a branch really because we were looking around to see if it would have felt falling off of something. It was too big. It looked like it had been like broken off, like a piece that was part of the trunk. Like it just seemed like it was broken off. And it was laying in the middle of the path, which isn't unusual there because stuff will fall.

And there was something right after it that had fallen that we saw where it was it bent over. It was fallen. We actually had to crawl under it or move under it. there was a big branch here. Jack had been out there the night before. It wasn't there when he was out there. That doesn't mean anything, you know, whatever. It could have fallen.

We didn't think much about it. We walked down there and on the way back, like he said, I even mentioned it. I was like, guys, you feel like this is, the trucks right here, it really didn't seem like we walked as long back as we did there. Guess what? On the way back, we never saw that brand, that giant tree. Because like that's a mark.

It's a marker. Like, like, you're running through your head. Like, how, so Jack was the first one. He's like, we're back at the truck. It's right over there. And I'm like, and when he said that, I thought he meant like, oh, we have to go down that one hill, up another hill, go down to one hill, go around that one tree where that branch was, then go down a few more hills and then it's there. Like, I thought we're like half a mile still, you know? He's like, well, we're kind of close. I'm like, okay, bro. No, he was like, when I shine the light, like, we saw this, like, we're right there. And I'm like, where the heck? Where the heck did that branch? Like, we didn't. past it. We went, I remember going under the tree and never going around that other tree. It wasn't there. And it's like, it disappeared. The whole way back, it's a marker in my brain because I'm like, once I hit that spot, I know I'm getting closer. And I never hit that spot, which is why I didn't think that.

You thought you were still half a mile. Yeah. I was like, I'm still running away from the, the, the, the, the, the, the graze. Yeah. Yeah. And so I don't know. It was interesting. It was interesting.

And I think that's the first time that we went out in the downpouring rain like that. Yeah. And I was excited about it because, like, one, I know we wanted to get out there earlier, which I'm kind of glad we didn't. We should probably remember that for next time. Just to plan for late ones. But because Joel hit a lot of traffic and he was late. I think you rolled in here, what, 930 at night? Almost 10.

Almost 10? By the time we got out there. there was like 11, 1130. And we didn't leave until like three or something like that. But, or I got home at 330, so whatever that was. Anyways, so we're out there for a while and it's downpouring rain, down pouring rain. And I'm thinking, you know, we're not going to hear anything coming in on us. And I was excited about that. I was like, let's see how this goes, you know? Like, we're out there. We hear crunching leaves a lot of times and things that kind of, I'm telling you, like, we, like, all you hear is the rain. Yeah.

And then these large branches snapping. And I'm just like, yeah, yeah, this is actually a good move. This is actually a good move. So, yeah, interesting night for sure. And I, dude, I wake up this morning. My wife tells me she's like, hey, I just read an article that they're saying that there's this new disorder. I think the abbreviation is PMO. And it's like this long word that she can't even pronounce.

And if she can't, I definitely can't. And so like, but she's like, they say that the people who have this disorder have, the disorder is that when they look at somebody, their face changes and looks like a demon. And like they said, I'm telling you. It was in CNN. And yeah, yeah, it was a CNN article. A disorder. I know. That's what I'm saying.

So she said that what people are saying they're describing is that people are saying they're describing is that people. faces look like dragons. Their ears get pointy. Their eyes start going real wide. They start getting like almost like the one, because they showed like computer images of like the person was saying, like this is what the person looks like. And they kind of like made the person somebody's face look like what the person's saying

and he's seeing. Like the one looked like canine. They would see the third eye in the middle of the forehead. They would see, I'm telling you, bro. And so, and they're like, we discovered a new disorder. a new disorder. So anytime you, anybody who says that, you know,

the person's face change in front of them and they're like, this person's demonically possessed because their face, like literally transformed in front. Oh, no, no. That's not a them problem. That's this.

It's a you problem. And you just have a disorder and you need to be put on medication. The other thing that... Hold on a second. They're gearing up. They're gearing up for more of that. Oh, yeah.

And they're laying the groundwork for the excuse train. The other piece that you missed that she told us this morning, Tony, was that if they looked in the mirror at themselves, it also changed how they looked. That was the other one she mentioned. That's right. That's right. So, like, when they're looking in the mirror, right? Yeah.

And what are mirrors? Portals. All together now. So, yeah. That's crazy. That's, well, I mean, again, just initial thought. That's what they're doing. They're gearing up for, okay, look, a lot of this is going to be happening.

You're going to be seeing more of this. some of you are going to be more sensitive to the fact that, you know, you can kind of see these things, call out these things. But that's just a disorder. Don't worry about it. It's a big deal. So along with that, there goes the other thing that they just broke out earlier, probably like a few months ago, where they said that people who have, who had severe cases of COVID-19 are four times more likely to develop schizophrenia. And so you have that as well. And so there's laying this groundwork for these medical disorders for people who are hearing voices, seeing faces change. And I personally feel like they are laying that groundwork because

we're, like I told Joel on the way in here, he's like, something's going to happen this year. And you mentioned aliens at first. I'm like, bro, I think people are going to start seeing demons everywhere. Yeah. I think, I think it's going to be like crazy. And there's going to like, oh, no, no, no, no. We just have a really mentally sick society. That's not correct. You can't say that, you know, only if it's on their agenda and their terms, right? Yeah. So, yeah, so speaking of demons, though, what about Lilith? How's what's going on with Lilith these days?

You guys may have encountered her last night. Yeah. Coming out into today, she likes to be a little tricky. She likes to be a little tricky. I know that almost every time that I've went in to talk about her or to share some stories or research. stuff will start getting really weird. So when you messaged actually last night and we're like, hey, you know, we're just now getting in the woods, you know, and I knew y'all would kind of go. And I was like, oh, man, I'm going to be in prayer for these dudes.

And not for the fact because I know that y'all can't handle yourselves and take care of yourselves. We can't, but yeah. But she gets tricky again. Like she'll, I mean, it gets weird. It's really weird. So I was like, coming into today with this level of illumination and expanse. that we're bringing this way, these guys better watch out.

There's going to be some stuff having. When I laid down last night, I was like, well, I know some stuff's going to happen. I just don't know what. So they're going to have a pretty fun night anyway. But when I got that, when I woke up and I got that message, you know, I think it was like 327,

said, we survived. I was like, who, thank God. I was getting ready. I was kind of winding down the night. And I was like, let me just text him before I forget. So he noticed when he wakes up, he's driving down here that he should still come. Yeah, they weren't eaten by a dogman. They're captured in some kind of portal realm and just not being able to lay it out.

Yeah. Yeah. So the whole, I mean, I don't know how long we've been talking, probably about 20, 30 minutes about just fun stuff. And my mind's fun. So we talked about it. But I wanted you to come down and talk about Lilith and stuff. I recently had a conversation with Bo from the Bump podcast. And he talked about Lilith with me.

and I had over the years heard about Lilith from different people. And I told Bo, I said every time it's one of those topics that I'll go on the good old YouTube. And I'll be like, what is Lilith or who is Lilith? And you have, you know, a hundred YouTube videos of everybody's opinion on what's going on. And I've watched these videos or listened to these videos. And I always walk away saying I don't know what I just listened to. Yeah. And I told Bo that.

I was like, so hopefully you can illuminate me or else you're just going to give me a dud of a recording or something, you know. But he did. He did a great job talking to me about Lilith. And, you know, from his perspectives and what I gathered with him is that, and I think this is often the case, when I walk away from a topic and I'm trying to learn about something, I feel like I didn't learn anything. I'm like, what did I just listen to?

I think it's because those topics usually have so many branches to go off that people who are presenting the topics may either do a poor job of acknowledging that and showing that so that you're not trying to be singular minded with something that you should be thinking of several different instances. But also just the fact that it's so complex and so many branches that you can't cover it all in one sit down. And so if somebody doesn't understand that going in, they're going to be left confused. Like, wait, what did we actually accomplish here? Yeah. And so that's why I kind of feel like, in little Lilith does a lot of times.

And when I sat down with Bo, the conversation went really well. And I felt like I walked away having more of an understanding as maybe at least the roots of Lilith. And I know when I was talking to him and you, like you guys share a lot of notes and communicate a lot about this stuff. What I found interesting was how Bo has his own. personal connection to Lilith. And I want to get into that here.

I'll let him tell that story on his recording with me. But you do as well. And I'm starting to wonder how many people have experiences with Lilith and don't even know it. I think a lot. I think that you have a woman in white story in all cultures, all across the world, everywhere. And sometimes that's what this appears as, I believe, as a woman in white. Sometimes it's surrounded by other events and other, you know, paranormal things that are going on or whatever. But I think a lot of people encounter this entity and have no idea.

You know, they don't know anything about the background. And, you know, kind of like what you were talking about with getting in and researching and, you know, going to YouTube and typing in who is Lilith or what is Lilith. it's kind of the same way that it started for me, you know, getting into this realm after, you know, you were talking earlier about, you know, some things kind of steer you away from the paranormal. That's what happened to me. I had a whole lot of experiences when I was younger. And I was just like, look, I'm done with this. I'm not watching a horror movie.

I'm not listening to anything paranormal. And then just over the years, I was like, you know what? I need to share my story. I want to get back into this. So as I did, you know, especially in my area, in central Appalachian. you know, the hills and the hollers. You keep, I kept every story that I was here or every piece of media that was kind of, you know, even semi-local, I would always hear about, you know, this, this horned forest deity.

And I would hear about this female bird-like deity and all these little things that would surround them, you know, and in the area, more commonly known as Pan and Lilith. So I started kind of diving into it and looking into research and doing a lot of this different stuff. And I got started noticing the more that I would dive in, the crazier things were getting in my own personal life. Really? You know, there were like mimic encounters that I would have. I would go out to my truck and be getting something late at night or whatever. And I would hear my wife call for me from.

the house from like the porch. I would look, nobody there. Go back inside, she'd be dead asleep. Wow. You know, my youngest daughter, she saw me. That wasn't really me. Kind of like a doppelganger situation that was going on. Just weird thing.

I heard these notes one time, like these three specific notes from like a, you know, like a recorder that kids get in music class, you know, when they're in school. I heard these three notes on this recorder and it was just me and my son home. So there were a lot of different, like, little bitty things, but nothing that's like, ah, you know, this ain't even going to create an episode. You know what I mean? Like, it's not a big deal.

Well, I kept going in researching, and again, crazy things are happening, and I'm tying a lot of these different stories in. And I know that Bo talked to you and brought up kind of like, you know, his Lilith and Bigfoot connection and all this different stuff, I'm sure. But, He actually brought that up towards, like, I would say, the middle to end.

Anyways. Oh, I'm sorry. Sorry. Anyway, just trying to talk. But you start hearing stories about people seeing this woman in white and having these wild men or these hairy men or these bigfoot creatures, Sasquatch, around the area. And they're kind of like, you know, almost like they're working together. It's what it sounds like, what do these stories sound like? You know, I heard from a friend of mine, his grandparents had passed on this legend, like in an area close to the breaks, Interstate Park, that his grandparents had had a settlement there, like a little house seat.

And, you know, every year during that time, you know, they raised a garden. They pretty much, they were self-sufficient. They took care of themselves. And around the same time, every single year. They would start hearing these whoops and these calls and all this stuff from the woods. And they kind of had this agreement that there was this portion of their garden that they wouldn't touch. Was it like a sacrifice? I'm guessing.

Because they said as long as they would leave this stuff out there and leave it alone, these things wouldn't bother them. But the first couple of years, they said it was terrible, you know, pounding on the side of the house at night and screams and whoops and hollers and all this different stuff. Well, they also started finding these three-toed footprints. I mean, there's not a lot of things out there, you know, turkeys and stuff, but they know, I mean, they know the wildlife. They know the signs. There's these big three-toed giant, three-toed footprints. And then they start seeing this woman in white.

So you start hearing these stories and you start seeing these things and you start looking at connections. So I went into my research and I was like, you know, I keep hearing about this horned male deity. this forest god, you know, and I keep hearing about this female bird-like deity, and they keep kind of just crossing paths and coming together. So I started looking into, you know, just ancient civilizations, and their gods and goddesses all through history, you know, from Sumer to now. And all through history, you always have, you know, there are different names,

but you always have these gods and goddesses that are just, arrived in the same way. You know, they look the same. They have the same symbology. They bring about the same kinds of things. So as I was looking into that research, and again,

you know, a bunch of this crazy stuff was happening. I would take breaks and come back. And, well, even one day, my family, you know,

my wife and kids, they were in Dollywood, you know, right here next door. I've never even been there yet. Oh, Tony, you gotta go.

I'm a local. Yeah. It's Dollywood. I got to get. I first have to take a big. vacation and figure out how to do that. Dolly is the matron saint of Appalachia here, Central Appalachia. But anyway, they're in Dollywood that day, and I was like, I don't remember what the

revelation was, but I just had like this revelation. And I was on the phone with somebody, maybe Lance, you know, my co-host Lance. I was on the phone with him, and I was like, dude, you got to hear this. And I'm talking all this stuff. Well, my wife calls in the middle of that. I answer the phone and she's like, you know, almost panicking. I said, what is going on? Is everything okay?

She said, we just sat down to eat lunch and a tree branch fell out of the tree here and fell on my youngest one, like scratched up the side of her face and hit her arm and all this different stuff. So I was like, man, I mean, I know coincidence has happened. Yeah. I know accidents happen, especially with kids. But the timing of some of these things was just so weird. So all this is going on, you know, all these crazy things are. happening, just these small little things. And I had came home one evening, you know, I'd been, I think it was like a Friday evening, it had been a long work week. And I got my redneck inflatable hot tub

about back on the patio. So I was like, dude, I'm going to go out here. I've got the kids to bed. I'm going to boil some water. Yeah. I'm going to boil some water. Take out there out back and heat it up a little bit. It's got jets. I mean, it works. I've got a pump. I wouldn't have to boil water if they remember to put the pool in the sun. They forgot to move the pool today. Yeah. I put a roof over it. It's dumb.

But anyway, I go out there and I'm like, I'm just going to relax for a little while. So I go out there. I'm getting my jets going, you know, I've got the heat cranked up. I'll go put my swimming trunks on, come out, got my towel, got my phone set up beside of me. And I'm listening to some podcast. Probably the confessionals. Probably the confessionals. Let's be honest.

Probably the confessionals. But I get in there. I kick back. I'm relaxing. And, you know, I'm in that kind of like, I'm leaned back. My eyes are closed. You know, I'm relaxing. I'm in that weird, like, you know, liminal state of I'm not asleep.

I'm not really awake. So I remember hearing something, just a break or a crack or a twig snap something that kind of startle me back up because, you know, it's the middle of the night. I'm in my backyard, which gives me the creeps anyway every time I'm out there. And I'm, you know, pretty vulnerable in my skivvy's in the water. So I open my eyes. I look across the way and I have two outbuildings in my line of sight. And on the outbuilding, on the left, I see this lady.

This lady with dark, dark, dark, dark. black hair that's kind of draped down beside of her face. She's wearing a white shift, not really like a dress or like a formal anything, but almost just like a shift that she's wearing. And she's kind of down, like on the backside of the hillside, just enough that I can really only see her from like the knees up. But she kind of just leans out from behind the building and we make eye contact. And there was probably a couple seconds that I was like, you know, in this, am I still asleep?

Like, what's going on? Until it finally, he's like, this ain't good. I mean, I don't know what I'm seeing right. You know, I knew what all this is coming to me at, you know, at once. Are you connecting Lilith dots on this? Not initially. Initially, it's just that, holy crap. Something is happening.

And I'm out here all by myself. Yeah. You know, completely vulnerable. I'm here in this water. Like, I got to get out. I got to do this. I got to do that. So I'm looking at her and the panic sets in.

And then it starts clicking. Like, no, I know who this is. I know exactly what this is. So I jump at. But still, you know, I'm getting the heck out of there. Like, I'm done. We ain't having a staring contest. I'm not having a staring contest with Lilith all night long.

But it was almost like one of those things. There was this initial panic. And then all this starts coming to me. But I never had this sense of, like she never did anything that you would take as menacing or as, you know, this is some kind of evil entity. And we'll kind of get into this a little more. It was almost like if I hadn't have been doing the research that I was doing, I would have been so curious and so intrigued, you know, would I have tried to communicate? Maybe. would I have stayed around a little longer just to see what was going on and maybe been drawn to that.

Did she look real? Like a real human? So like when you said communicate, like if you weren't studying what you were studying, you would have thought this was an actual woman? Yeah, it would have been really easily to say, well, this is just somebody here. I mean, I know Goodwellers not. Yeah. I mean, I'm way off to myself. nobody's going to be in my backyard

behind one of my outbuildings in a shift. And again, What is a shift? I don't even know that it is. It's just like a, one of those like thin, under garment dress kind of things. Yeah.

Women's underwear, under your dress kind of thing. Yeah. Something like that. Gotcha. Okay. That's what she was wearing. But it was solid white. Okay.

Super dark hair contrasted with the solid white shift of a dress. And skin color pale? What was the skin color? Here's the crazy. I don't remember her face. I do not remember a face. I can't recall it. I'm picturing that the girl.

Wow. So these depictions in these movies of like the girl crawling out of the screen. What was that movie? Like on the ring? The ring. And was it grudge? Grudge. Grudge.

Grudge. Grudge. Grudge. Like those are white gown, black hair. Japanese lilies. Let me say something here. This is like really struck me and it hadn't until he broke that down, how she looked. You remember that story?

I tried to tell you last night on the trail and you were like, stop talking. I want to hear that right now for a lot of things. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Tell that story. I want to tell that now because I honestly think that's the same thing that happened to me. And this is the, okay, so this is the rare occasion that I tell somebody to stop telling me a story because I usually am like, save it for the show. we're walking through the woods and weird things are happening.

He's about to tell me what he's, what he looked in the eyes of. And I'm like, I don't want to hear this right now, bro. Yeah, I don't blame. It's funny because what you say that is that, just this morning when I was getting ready, I was like,

you know, I told them to remind me when we get in the truck to tell me that story, and they never did. I'm glad you're doing it now. Well, real quick, and not to just, what confirmed this whole situation for me

is as I was busting it back into the house, you know, towel flapping by, behind me, my whole body saying don't look back. Don't look back. Don't look back. Don't look back. You did. I've never been the smartest person ever. And my... He's writing a book, by the way. Too, actually. I mean, you know, it'll be small words. A lot of pictures. Lots of pictures. I'm so glad. I didn't drink my drink. I was second sooner. I went spraying. That's funny. But anyway, I look.

back, you know, because I'm an idiot, and she was gone. But on the roof of the outbuilding, I bet you can't guess what was there. An owl. An owl. Staring me right in eyes. Wow. Wow. Well, we heard out was last night, too, by the way.

Oh, I'm sure. I knew coming in today you'd be here in an house. I saw one this morning before I lived. Of course you did. Sucker. So I want to preface the story with the era that I was in. in because like I think

like that'll help with just you know tell them this tell them the story a little bit because it's messing you up already man

a little bit so this was a is this affecting you because of the thoughts you're connecting right now a little bit and just

I think it's tough sometimes talking about you know where I came from and just, you know, you know, what I was doing at the time and, you know, it's, you know, it's good to look back

sometimes and know, you know, what you came from, sometimes it's tough too. Because you're just like, man, this is like, you know, I was, you know, heavily involved in the occult. Definitely, you know, trying to, contact, you know, entities and stuff at the time. And for me, it was just this whole journey of,

you know, trying to, you know, sell my soul to achieve, you know, what I want to achieve in life. You know, I tell people a lot that when I went through that era, it was for, you know, money and fame and stuff like that. That's just the easy answer, I think, for people. I don't think that that's really the true answer. For me, it was more of a search for knowledge and really just power. I think that was more really what it was. I think in retrospect, when I'm able to go back to that, I think that's, you know, really what it was. Because those are the most enticing things. I mean, what did Solomon want? Wisdom, knowledge. What was his downfall? What was. What was his downfall? He wanted more.

You know, I think that that was my whole thing is, same thing I said earlier about my dad's books. So it was the hidden knowledge, right? So I think that during that period of time, you know, I definitely had tons of interactions with entities. You know, we talked about the, I'm sure this will get some nice comments, but I already know, You know, a lot of the meditations I was doing at the time were definitely opening up these chakras. They definitely exist,

you know, but I don't think they come from a good place. And I know people argue the opposite of that. But I can tell you specifically for me, it wasn't a good thing. I used them specifically to contact entities to go into another realm. Did it happen? Yeah, of course. But a lot of times these things would happen

when I didn't expect it. And I think that's when I had, the most surreal or visceral moments, you know, with these things. And, you know, this particular instance, I was asleep. And again, I can preface it with no drugs, no drinking, no nothing. This wasn't, and this wasn't a quote unquote sleep paralysis state either. So it wasn't one of those moments where you could say, well, maybe it was in some sort of lucid dream or something like that. I had real visceral moments with entities when I was awake. So I can tell you that this stuff is real, like for sure, especially if you're trying to contact it.

And I wasn't, you guys, I wasn't trying to contact these things in a way that was good at all. Like this wasn't the, oh, I'm doing this stuff and I think it's good. And then these things are happening. And I'm wondering why they're happening. We have to happen with a lot of people. They'll tell those stories. It wasn't like that. This was solely for purposes that weren't good.

You're being nefarious from the start. Absolutely. And I knew what I was doing. And so this particular night, I want to say, you know, my roommate at the time wasn't there. I think it was by myself. And I say that because, you know, a lot of times when you're alone is when some of the most, you know, crazier things happen. I'm wrongful. I woke up and I was on my side and I was looking to my right.

and there was an old lady in white laying next to me that looked like my grandmother who had died. So spoke to me like my grandmother sounded like her. And she said, I don't know. Hey, baby, something like that. How are you doing? Now, you got to understand this period of my time. Like, I am actively seeking these entities. I know this isn't my grandmother.

I'm not delusional to think that this is what she is. And I'm, you know, especially during that period of time, I'm definitely, you know, I'm kind of off my rocker anyway if people know me. So I'm definitely, you know, the, you always jokes about me jumping in the portal and stuff. I mean, he's not joking. Like, it's a joke, but it's not. I don't really fear these things. And I didn't even when I was seeking this, you know, evil energy, whatever you want to call it.

And when she said that, I literally looked at her and smiled and laughed. And I said, no, you're not. I said, show yourself. She laughed back. But as she's laughing, the vocalization, the octave dropped. And the face started changing into something evil. But the white dress did not. The white, and it's very what you said, it was like a slip, almost like,

this nightgown type of thing. And she laughed and I laughed back. And she said, basically, you know what I am. I said, yes, I've been waiting for you. Like, that's pretty much, you know, what I, stuff for me too. Yeah. Yeah. And then she laughed again and body slid off the bed and stood at the bed and stood at the

end of the bed. And I don't remember what I yelled back at that moment. Um, because during that period of time, I, you know, wanted to, uh, wanted to achieve like something that, you know, whatever it was. You know, so bad I was, you know, willing to engage with these things. And, uh, I looked Back on it now, a lot of it was them toying with me, too. They know I wanted it so bad. It was them trying to get me to a place where I would give it all up, which, you know, hopefully I didn't. But that was, when you said that, though, it hit me like, that's what it was. Like, I never, until this moment, you know, thought about it, like, that was Lilith.

That was who that entity was. Yeah. Well, and that's the thing. Like, that's what she wants. that obsession because you were in this spot in your life, yeah, that, that, you know, is bringing about these emotions just even thinking back to. But I mean, when I'm doing this research and I'm looking into all this different stuff on my end, you know, I'm, I'm a Christian.

I lead a youth minister. I lead a teen ministry. Like, I'm in the word almost every day. I'm in prayer throughout the day. I like to think that my walk with Christ is, I mean, obviously not where it needs to be. It never is. But, you know, I'm in a pretty good spot. I feel like, you know, Christ may think totally different.

But there's still this sense of obsession there. Like you get drawn into, I want to learn more. I need to know more. I want to. And so on my end, I thought about a lot. Like, did I draw her to me? Did me asking so many of these questions in my own mind and looking for all of these answers and talking about it so much, you know, on my podcast and within a bunch of different conversations with other people and really trying to tie into what is this entity? Who is she?

You know, where did she come from? Why is she here? That was always my biggest thing. Why is she so prevalent here? Why do I hear so many of these emo teenage girls talking about Lilith? Why do I hear, or the media that I'm taking in, why are the people, these covens of witches that are practicing, you know, in my area, why is everybody talking about Lilith? So that's the rabbit holes I'm going down. And in my own mind, that's what I thought.

There was an almost obsession there that I was like, well, you know, did, am I the reason that she showed up? Is she saying like, okay, you want to know. So here I am. In my instance, it definitely felt like the entity was very happy that I knew it wasn't my grandmother. It was like you're graduating. Yeah. It was very thrilled that I was able to spot out something so easily.

And then it was almost like, she wasn't luring me away. It was almost like an enticement of the knowledge. Like if I kept going down this path, that eventually I would achieve what I wanted to. And I've told my story a lot on different podcasts and things. But, you know, for me, there was that crossroads. And I can look back on it now and know that I had a decision to make. It really was over my kids, like whether I was going to continue to take care of my family or I was going to discard them to achieve what I wanted to achieve.

The road was there, but there was a lot of roadblocks that I'm positive got through in my way to like shake me up to where I had to make that decision. And it was, and listen, I wasn't. On a path to God at the time, it actually took me probably four or five years after that. But I started down the path of responsibility and deciding not to do that. Because to me, it was, I couldn't, I could not sell my family for it. And I think that was what they wanted. The fault sacrifice.

Yeah. I mean, it's interesting you say that because just yesterday I was listening to, you know, I've said it throughout the years. I love NBA basketball. I just love it. I can't. I mean, like the people, the things that are going on in the sports world, it's becoming part of the entertainment industry, the music industry, Hollywood. The same stuff that we talk about in the show. It's happening in the sports industry. I love basketball. And LeBron just started a podcast with JJ Rec, the very first episode. The first thing I saw was, I was like, why is LeBron wearing a blue U.N. hat? That's peculiar. I was like, he's a blue hat. Like, what's going on there? And then like literally as I was thinking that, they were talking about what it takes to be successful. And he goes, something like, and I'm paraphrasing, you need to sacrifice your family. He literally said that. And then he went into like the time that you spend on your family and stuff like that. But like he literally was saying that. It's kind of in the vein with what you're talking about. You came to a conclusion apart from the idea of God, help. you that you weren't willing to do that ultimate sacrifice. And that's, I mean, I guess that's what they're looking for, the ultimate loyalty. I mean, you hear about Juice World and what he did. And, you know, before he died, he was very vocal about what he was doing and what he did.

I just saw yesterday, you can say it was a Freudian slip, but Usher was accepting award. and when he was talking, he's like, I just want to thank the devil, I mean, all the hard devotion or something like that. He kind of recovered, he literally said devil, and you heard,

he cut the L off mid-L. And, you know, you and I were talking about P. Diddy on the way over here, and I want to get in the raunchiness of that. But, you know, the industry is dark. Yeah.

And here's something that, and you guys probably would be able to help me with this. But if I recall, all, it makes sense to me that the music industry would be so filthy with this, because wasn't it like Lucifer's job to, like, didn't he like, wasn't he like the worshipping angel in heaven or something like that? When he walked, his timbrels, which are music instruments moved. So his literal movement is music. He was music. He was the embodiment of music. So why wouldn't he? He takes something that God gifted him with and then turn it into a form to control our minds.

And listen, music is easy to manipulate people. You get caught up in it. Half the time you don't even know what you're listening to. It just sounds good. And before you know it, these words are guiding you down a path that you didn't even realize that you're doing. Listen, a lot of these pop stars and I'll listen to their songs. And it's so fascinating. I was listening to Pulse Malone the other day, and there was a song he was singing.

And it's almost like these guys make songs where they're battling within themselves over this selling their sole topic. Like they've done it. They don't really want to do it. A lot of these songs are odes to Halel or Lucifer. It's written in where it seems like it's a song to the opposite sex, but it's really not. It's more of an ode to Lilith a lot of times because the spirit of Lilith and the spirit of today, this, this, what we're talking about. It's her spirit. It's her spirit because her, she is the whore, quote unquote, and that's what she's been presented as.

And her whole ideology is to lure people into this over-sexualized agenda. that's ultimately what Halel or Lucifer is doing with music. And you see that time and time again. You know, the lyrics are triple-layered a lot of times. The most simple lyrics can be. I'll listen to songs that are pop songs, and people are like, oh, I can write it at my sleep. No, you can't.

Because those three sentences you heard that were so simple, they meant so much more when you look at the layers of who they're actually talking to, who they're praising. And you'll see this all the time. You'll see this with athletes, too, when they talk, what God are they talking about when they say, I praise God or whatever. You got to look at between the lines of what these people are doing. And I think, you know, during my journey, I knew all that stuff. Like, that was something that I actively understood and I sought out because that was attractive to me. And again, I think it was honestly knowledge and power.

I really do. I don't think it was ever the fame or the money. All that just came with knowledge and power. That was just a byproduct. I think for me, the attraction was always having some sort of elite knowledge that no one else had. What I didn't realize, though, as I progressed in life and I started, you know, following God. And I got to that point where I, you know, really had a big shift where I'm like, you know, I'm going to follow God. And listen, it didn't happen overnight. It was definitely a process. I've been witness to the process.

Right. Like since I've met you. Right. You've changed so much. And I think I should, as a person, we should always strive to continually change too. But the one thing that I realized with God was that I can have all the knowledge anyway. Like it was never like not there. It's definitely there. But I can look at it from a lens. that's different. I can understand all this weird occult stuff going on around me, and it's nice to be able to present that to people and say, hey, this is what's going on. It's nice to be able to dig into the Bible and be able to say, hey, these are what these verses possibly could mean or do mean when it comes to the Hebrew. The Bible's a fantastic book where it's like, man, this is like riddled with so many great epic tales that are... That's why, dude, what you're saying right now is why you hear

pastors, pastors say, I've been reading the Bible my whole life and I've never read that verse before or I've never understood that verse the way I understand it now. It's because it's layered and it's, and the sooner you realize that, the more exciting the study becomes. Justin and I were joking the other day on the phone. We're talking about how that he and I could spend an hour in the Bible a day apiece reading the exact same chapters and get completely different things out of it. And I'm not talking about saying that, hey,

this scripture means this when it clearly doesn't. What I mean is what it means to us. And in saying that, there's a lot in these scriptures that aren't talked about that we use other suppositions from other texts

to try to glean what's going on because the Bible's just written for us. Like at the end of the day, it's written to show us how to have a closer walk with God. it doesn't tell us about all the other crazy fantastical stuff. That's why we go to all these other things and try to like pick the pieces together. But that's also why we get on these shows and we say these are theories, these are thoughts.

These aren't facts because we're just trying to figure things out, especially with Lilith. Nobody has the answer on Lilith. There's so many different ideas. And he and I ping pong ideas off each other about Lilith. I've got some crazy ideas too. He does as well. And it's, I think that as we dig deeper in the Bible, not only do we get closer to a guy, but we also get closer to the truth. And I realize that too,

where, man, I can still find the truth. I can still find the knowledge. And I'm having way more fun doing it now than I ever was before. Because the other way, I really just felt constantly just oppressed, depressed, attacked, you know, as much as I felt like I was getting closer knowledge and power was selling like bits of me every day. And, and, you know, And that never pans out okay. I don't care how much money you get. It really doesn't. And these guys will also tell you that. You look at these guys that have money and power towards the end of their lives. Dude, Alster Crowley, towards the end of his life, he did not want to be called the evilest man in the world anymore. He actually was like not wanting that moniker. And he went deeper and deeper into recession and hiding because, listen, man, he knew the end was coming. And that's what happens. All of these guys find that. happening towards the end of their lives where you're on top, man, when you're in your prime, when that prime leaves and you realize that the end's coming. And that's generally when people have that shift and that realization of that fear of what's,

you know, across the other side. Yeah. No such thing as an atheist in a foxhole. I mean, listen, and even if you, like, these guys that sell their souls and dabble with all that and, like, you were trying to go down that road. I mean, you might have been getting pretty close, to be honest with you. And it's only by the grace of God that you were pulled out like that. And even in the moment, like, I have my own stories with that kind of stuff. And not selling my soul, but never that crazy. But like, I've been crazy as in like that into it. But I, my thoughts on the whole selling your soul thing is like, I don't think it's yours to give away. Right. And so the people that are doing what you were going down with and, all these musicians in the industry that do this stuff,

like I think they're literally living under a lie. And they, and you were talking about Post Malone. And I forget how you said it, but it made me feel like whatever song you're referring to, almost as if like there was this thing. It's like, I did this and I almost wish I didn't. I wish there was a way to undo it.

And listen. There is a way to undo it. That's the thing. And a lot of these guys don't realize it. You know, Kanye West is another good example where it seems like he's constantly battling, right? He's in back and forth. But I think what happens is they get very comfortable with the life that they live and the money they have. And then maybe there is that decision to have to make that turn.

Well, maybe you have to give all that up to come back to God. And maybe that's where that battles at. It's that, you know, you know that story in the Bible where the rich man came to Jesus and ask him, you know what he needs to do and Jesus is basically like you got to give it all up yep yeah yeah and he couldn't do it couldn't do it and that's where the statement it's easier for a it's easier it's easier for a rich man to get through the eye of a needle than it is enter the kingdom of heaven exactly you know what i love about the bible and about scripture the very next chapter maybe the very next verses is the story of zakias what is the key is the key

is an absolutely filthy rich tax collector that Jesus goes into his home, says, Zakias, come down from there. Today I'm going to be eating with you. And by the end of that conversation, Zakeas is saved. He's given all of his wealth back to all these people that he's wronged. He's quadrupling it. So Jesus shows I'm making this statement, but I'm showing you that everything is possible through me, through God.

Let me just Let me just say Anybody listening right now that maybe has done that Whether you're You know Kanye West Post Malone I don't think they're listening to my show Or just a normal person

That you know Feels like they maybe went down the path That Joel was going down earlier in his life You didn't You're living in a lie that you did sell your soul And I don't believe you did And I don't think it it's irreparable.

And so if you can just let go of that lie that you've been force-fed and understand it's a lie, that is probably the launching pad into redemption. And so I think it's important for you to understand that whether you believe me or not. Yeah, it's never too late. I don't think, I think what you're describing with Kanye, I think some of these guys that are in it, like they don't, they may not even believe it. They might be like, I don't believe that.

I'm too far in. There's no redemption. Yeah. And that right there, if you can break through that lie. Well, it's so easy to get to that spot, just as human beings for anybody. You mess up real bad. You hurt the people around you. You fall short of, and sometimes it's even harder after you've already received this grace of salvation.

That you fall off away from that, from that, you know, you were walking this train track with God. And y'all were eye to eye and everything was going great, man. And you were in the ministry and everything was just so good. And you were seeing these blessings in your life. And all this stuff. And then all of a sudden, you mess up because we're human and we mess up. And you end up hurting the people around you. And you end up tarnishing this reputation.

And sometimes it's even the cases of people that you've ministered to and shared your testimony with. Well, how are they looking at you now? Oh, well, if this guy's doing this, you know, what does that mean? We get into a lot of these situations, and it's so easy to just want to say, okay, I'm done. I'm not worthy enough to ever be in the spot that I was with God again. So if it can happen to people that have been legitimately saved, you know, bought by the blood of Jesus Christ, how much easier is it for people that have never experienced that, that moment of salvation, that relationship with the creator of the universe.

It'd be so much easier for them. So, and I'm speaking on this out of experience, I know how hard it was for me at one point to make my way back into this relationship with Christ because I felt like I wasn't worthy. So I've got the enemy in my ear the whole time saying, well, you're not, you're not worthy enough. He's never going to accept you again.

I've experienced salvation. I've experienced this relationship with Christ. So you have to bring, you know, you have to bring yourself to a point and realize that, man, the grace of God is sufficient, period. It's sufficient. No matter what you've done, what's happened, where you've been, where you're at, again, your soul is not yours to give. So if you're listening to this lie that, oh, I've sold my soul, I'm so far away, there's redemption for you. There's never a gap too big for Jesus Christ to bring you back to him from. And here's the thing.

He's running after you the whole time. You don't even got to, all you got to do is turn around. It's it. You don't have to run back for him. All you got to just turn around. And he's going to be right there face to face. You just got to say, hey, look, I'm done with this. Ready for you.

Yeah. And I think sometimes the tough thing is for people, is to deal with the core of a public opinion a lot of times. And it's sad that the Christian, quote-unquote, realm is so judgmental to people who are trying to change a lot of times. I'm not saying all. Yeah. But I saw this girl the other day. She was an only fan's model.

And I remember she was on the whatever podcast. They'll have a lot of these come on and talk. There's been a lot of, you know, Candace Owen's been on there. A lot of different people have been on these shows. And this girl came on there. This is maybe a year ago or so. And, you know, she was touting how, you know, Only Fans was great and all these things. And recently, she got saved.

And the whatever podcast put it out as like a good thing. They were like, you know, listen, you know, people can change all this. People were so awful in the comments. People were just lighting her up. Like, you know, and it's so sad. that that's how people are. And I think for me, that happened a lot with me too. It still happens to me now where people are like, free Mason, he can never change. He's done the blood oaths and all this stuff, which actually they have no idea what any of that stuff is. So the best part is,

it's not even close to that. But at the end of the day, you know, people will say that. They'll hear me say things they don't like about the Bible and they say he's deceiving, seized, whatever, but that's not true. The truth is that I came back to God and God let me in unconditionally. And fortunately for me, I'm built to have a lot of thick skin. Different. I'm built, different.

I can deal with a lot of that. But there's a lot of people out there that can't. They change. And then everybody around them is throwing darts at them. Why didn't do that? Why are you allowed? That's the problem. It's not up to you.

Let me say something. I was thinking about this today, too, and we'll get back to Love eventually. I see it. And let me use you the example, because you're talking here and using yourself as an example. We've been friends for three, four years. Not four? Four? Four years.

And since I've been friends with you, I've seen dramatic changes for the better. you study a lot, a lot. You're constantly studying almost every Sunday or every other Sunday. You're shooting me a text message in the morning. Hey man, my pastor this Sunday said this and it really rang true here. And I've seen the growth in your life, right? Dude, we've done plenty of podcasts with people who aren't Christians. I don't disavow what they're saying.

there will be things I won't agree with, but it doesn't mean there aren't things I won't agree with either because I can't discredit someone's time and energy they've done into research as well. You know, you could say that the Ananaki were these aliens and they created us, and I don't necessarily think you're wrong on some parts of that because I think there was something a little different than aliens,

but that's where we disagree. But at the end of the day, I see where you're coming from. And I can't say that your five years, ten years of research is null and void. Irrelevant. That's ridiculous. And that's the problem with Christianity today. There's no bridge or gap that we're able to create with other people to be able to have that line of communication because we come off as a bunch of really idiots acting like we know everything.

You know, I saw somebody say something the other day that really made a lot of sense to me. People who actually research and study are the first people to want to learn what you're saying that's different because they don't tell you that you're stupid. You don't know what you're talking about. Oh, you quoted the Talmud. Oh, the Talmud. You know what I mean? So it's like they want to know what that is. What is the Talmud? Let me go look at that. Oh, is there some validity there? Oh, man, these are rabbis that studied for thousands of years. It's probably something there that could be true. Maybe not all of it. You know, it's things like that where we find as humans, the more we research, the more we look into things, the more we're open-minded. Now, I'm not saying that there won't be things where you come across and say, you know what, I researched that thoroughly. I don't believe it. That's me personally. It doesn't line up with my belief system and my worldview.

That's fine. I'm totally fine with that. But those people will generally not get mad at other people for things and something differently. They're very open-minded of letting you speak. but this this culture that's been created on social media, this culture that's been created around anything that's different than what you think is very detrimental honestly to what the Christian movement should be. We should be very open to letting people speak and talk and speaking their minds.

You know, at the end of the day, I don't have to agree with you, but I can totally respect you. And that's a very important thing I think we need. need to have. Speaking to my pastor, he said this in on the pulpit. He's like, you should have friends from other religions and everything. He said, because they will give you something that you don't have a different perspective. He's like, you may believe differently than them. He's like, but I have friends from all different walks of life. He's like, they're great people. He's like, do I think that my worldview is the way that, you know, I'm led to?

believe that it is yes. He's like, but that doesn't disavow someone as a person and as a human being. That's our problem right now. We're dehumanizing each other left and right. And Christians are the absolute worst at dehumanizing each other and always screaming about hell. The reason that we should want to be with Christ is not to not go to hell. That should be the last thing we're thinking about. That's just a byproduct. That has nothing to do with why we should actually be connecting to our neighbors in the first place. Well, the thing is, and don't get me wrong, you need to have a close group of brothers and sisters in Christ to share life with. Absolutely. You need that. It's great for your spiritual growth. It's great for everything.

And the Bible tells us that we need that. Iron, sharp, earth iron. Absolutely. But at the end of the day, what is our job as Christians? What commandment did Christ give to us as disciples? to go and create more. Well, how do we do that? Well, yeah, one of those ways is iron sharpening iron and those people, those only fans models that are getting blasted on social media, we're supposed to come around and say,

no, you know what, don't pay any attention to this. This is what you need to do. These are your next step. You've now been made whole. You have, absolutely. And then again, at the end of that, now, don't get me wrong, God can do whatever God wants to do.

If he wants to come to each and every individual person in this huge divine way of salvation, fantastic. But we're here for a reason. We have a job to do. And how are we going to be doing our job as creating disciples of all nations and baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit? If we're not even willing to have conversations with people that think differently than we do, we have to do that. That's our job. You can't just walk up to me. We're not Jesus.

We're not walking up to people saying, hey, follow me. Okay. All right. I'm right after you. And even again, the people that he went to and told, hey, follow me, they stood on the river and watched his cousin, Crazy John, baptize him, and the skies open up. And the spirit of God come down like a dove and rest upon him. And an audible voice from heaven says, this is my son.

with who I'm well pleased. They watched a miracle. There's your sign. So if you saw a guy and that happened to, and he come up and said, hey, follow me. Absolutely. I bet.

I'm going wherever you go. But it's our job. It's our job as Christians, as followers of Christ, of people who have experienced that moment of salvation and sweet, sweet, sweet forgiveness and grace and mercy

and love and compassion and joy that moment from salvation until we leave here from salvation to sanctification. Our job is to create disciples. And you can't do that without having conversations. And part of that conversation is also just leading by example. It's not what people think that it is, that you're beating someone over the head with the Bible and pointing out all their flaws and telling them they're wrong. That happens so much, especially with social media.

You didn't read that verse right. I mean, tell you how to read it. Because if you read it like this theologian said, it's the correct way. Dude, you just ran everybody off. That is not how that we live Christ's like. Living Christlike is living. It is actually the embodiment of it. So that is us.

It could be as simple as, I don't know, somebody in the line at the grocery store can't afford something and you got the money to do it. Something as simple as that. It's not even bringing up God sometimes. It's just the way that we walk. Yeah. I tell my teens all the time, spreading the gospel is not always standing on a pedestal and Bible thumping. Right. It's seeing somebody drop a can of Campbell's chicken noodle soup in a grocery store out of their buggy and picking it up and giving it back to them and putting a hand on the shoulder and saying, God bless you, have a good day. that's spreading the gospel. That's showing somebody,

I mean, you don't know what kind of day that person's having. You don't know their history. You don't know where they've been. That one act of kindness, God bless, may stick in their head. And I want to know more about this. You know, I tell them all the time,

like, the worst possible thing that I experience on a day-to-day basis, to me, I mean, in my spirit, in my core, are these absolutely miserable Christians that are just, the epitome of why nobody wants to come to faith in Jesus Christ. These people that you walk in on Sunday morning and you sit down in a different place and somebody comes up behind you and pictures of the church, this is my seat.

I've sat here for 27 years. Yo, it's like the church is like the only place that they don't do assign seats, but everybody hasn't assigned seats. Everybody has an assigned seat. Like these miserable kids, like I want to be the guy. I want to be the guy that people are. looking at and saying, what is wrong with that dude? Yeah.

And whatever he has, I want it. So what you're talking about, I did, oh, man, every time there's this guy, I had just started going to church for real, for real. And there's this guy, and he was just the meanest person, like, just mean. And I wound up, it was when I was driving truck, and I wound up doing a delivery to this one place, and he was my receiver. And I was like, let's see how this goes, you know, because he was just so mean at church that, like, I avoided him, right? And he was really mean at work, too.

And, and I, I, I, uh, I, I wound up having that as a route. And so I went in there all the time. And, um, I started talking to other people that worked in there. I forget the guy's name. But, uh, they're like, yeah, he's miserable to everybody. He's just a mean, mean. mean, mean person. And I started going, I go to church with him. And they're like, he goes to church. Like, oh, yeah, he goes to church. I started blowing his cover. And I started. And I went there for like a couple years. And I started like being overly nice to him. Like, like, overly nice to him. And like acting like, I didn't realize how mean he was. And I'd go over him and say, hey, man, how you doing this stuff? And just start talking to him. And like, just trying to like, just forcing conversation with him.

he started cracking smiles with me. I'd never saw that guy smile in my life. And he was mean, by the time I was down there, he was mean to everybody but me. Breaking down the barriers. He was so nice to me. And like, I don't know what made that we go down that road, but he was one of those mean Christian. He's just mean, mean, mean, mean, mean.

Yeah. And I was just like, why are you such a mean person? He was nice to me, though, after a while. And I started telling me, I'm like, you just got to be really nice to him all the time and just, like, forced yourself into his life. He'll start liking you. Kill it with kindness.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's just crazy. But, well, that happened. I don't know how we. We just had church. That's what we called church. Like that, Lilith. Yeah.

That's what we were talking about, Lilith. Before we do move on, I just want to say really, really quickly that what Joel or what these entities are Hallel, Lucifer, what they didn't know, Joel's been carrying a Trump car this entire time. He's a ginger. have a soul to sell. It's not that his soul is not his own. He doesn't have one. People listening right now, you're a ginger too.

That's why I guess you have license to say it. I can say that. Man, man, man. Listen, how do we make that hard transition? Well, I'll tell you one thing. Before we transition anywhere, I got transitioned into a restaurant because I go to a bathroom.

So let's take a break. And when we come back, maybe we'll either be here or we won't. If we aren't here, it's because it's an overtime episode. and we decided to making it overtime. So if you don't, if you're not a member and I don't come back, I'll just say it right now. Thanks for listening to this most ADHD episode that we've ever done.

I appreciate you guys listening and watching on YouTube. We laugh. We cried. We had a great time. We talked about journeys, hunting monsters, running from everything. Hopefully something grabbed you on this one. And until next Tuesday, stay safe, take care, remember. The truth is such a free, but first, it'll piss you off. And if there is more, members, you know where to go. Thought my old motto was a VA.

I was working for a cylinder, staph. You go balking for my soul for a mansion and a couple billboards, no less. Yeah. Thank God for a couple roadblocks. I don't know. Years on the sidelines trying to be the highlight with no lifelines. Yeah. Screaming, I don't need you.

Neon lights make a path for my breath like smoke in the cold every weekend. I'm missing.