The Eric Metaxas Show - JP Pokluda

Episode Date: April 1, 2025

JP Pokluda: Your Story Has a Villain: Identify Spiritual Warfare and Learn How to Defeat the Enemy. https://www.amazon.com/Your-Story-Has-Villain-Spiritual/dp/1400341175

Noble gold investments is the official gold sponsor of the Eric Mataxis show, a company that specializes in gold IRAs and physical delivery of precious metals. Learn how you can protect your wealth with noble gold investments. That's noble gold investments.com. Welcome to the Eric Metaxus show. It's the show featuring Go Go Go The Chimp. Nothing like a chimp to liven up the radio show. Easy there. Go go, go, go. No, go, go, go. No, go, go. Hey there, folks. As I have mentioned, and I am so excited, we are this month, March, 2025, doing our campaign, our annual campaign with our friends at food for the poor. Look, we do this every year, and I say this, why do we do it? Because we know that there's suffering in the world, and we always want to know where or how can I help.

And one of the ways we can help is to give. to an organization that we know is doing God's will that is going to stretch the money we give dramatically. That's why every single year, we on the Eric Metaxis show, partner with our friends at Food for the Poor. And I thought, maybe we can get somebody from Food for the Poor on to help you, my audience, understand what you are doing when you help. So Paul Jacobs, Welcome to the program. It's great to be with you, Eric. Thank you. Well, you could tell them excited about this because it's, I think so many times people feel like, you know, their money's being wasted or what's the point?

A lot of people have been stunned at the waste. I mean, you pay taxes and you think, oh, the American government is doing it. And you find out, no, it's bloated bureaucracy, it's waste. And it makes people cynical. So that's why I get excited about organizations like Food for the Poor, because we know the trash. record. So what is the need right now? I know that we're focusing this month on helping hungry children in El Salvador. Most of us find it hard to believe that they're hungry children, like really hungry, not just sort of like really suffering with malnutrition. What's the focus

of food for the poor as people give? Well, I want to touch on something you just said a moment ago. You talk about track record. And for those of you that are just watching and hearing the name, Food for the Poor for the very first time, this is new to you. but it's not new to the four decades that Food for the Poor has been ministering to those in need in 15 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Just, you know, Salem Radio News, SRN has been working with Food for the Poor for the last 20 plus years, helping those same families, working with pastors on the ground. And when you talk about the need, the urgency of why we're here right now, there is one in four children. One and four children. So maybe you're a big family.

You've got about four kids of your own. Maybe you have a few more. Look at one and four of those children and just put them aside and say, and just look at them and think that in El Salvador, that child is chronically malnourished. Now, that's chronically malnourished. That's acute malnutrition where children are not getting the food, not getting the nutrients that they need.

And unfortunately, with something as simple as a common cold, because they don't have the immune system to build up in their bodies to fight back those things, it could cause death. And the other three, well, the other three are not. far behind. And why you're needed right now is beyond just making sure that these children get nutrition in the schools where it's going to help them get educated and thrive. But it's also going to make sure that those children and their bodies and their future is put back on track. I mean, I have to say, I want to keep speaking the action point. Folks, we're asking you to go to

metaxis talk.com and you'll see the banner at the top of the page. And we're going to be brutal on this. I'm going to be brutal throughout this month. I'm going to bug every single one of you to give something. We're asking $100 that that's kind of the basic because that's the amount of money, $100 U.S. dollars that can help feed a kid for one year. Think about that. Think about how efficient food for the poor is, that they're asking you for that and saying, oh, for that, no, this doesn't provide a week's worth or a month. This is a year. This is a year. How do they do that? Now, I should ask you, Paul, I know the answer, but how does food for the poor operate that they're able to take $100 U.S. dollars and stretch it this far? Because this is why I partner with Food for the Poor, because I know the work they're doing. It is effectiveness and efficiency at its finest. Working with Food for the Poor means that you're working with a network of pastors and local ministries, partners that are vetted on the ground in El Salvador, that are making sure that they are doing the work.

and very many of those ministries are doing the work at no additional cost. There's no taxes, no tariffs. There's no government involvement in El Salvador that is going to basically get in the way of your compassionate giving and those children that are in need. And here's the best part of all of this. And that is, well, it's local farmers. Local farmers that are being supported. It's not food being shipped in. It's food already being grown in the country of El Salvador through over 500 local farmers that are growing.

the products needed for this product to be able to feed and give nutrition to children in schools? I mean, I was, I'm reading my notes here. So think of this, folks. And again, the action point is go to Metaxistalks talk.com. At the top of the page, you'll see the banner. You click on that and you can do everything. But imagine that food for the poor is supporting local farmers and food producers to strengthen the local food production so families can stay in El Salvador so they can exist where they have grown up so that they don't think to feed my kids I have to migrate to the United States of America. I mean, this is basically what Americans should be trying to help. This is long term. I should also say there's a phone number and if anybody wants to text,

you can text my last name. We should get this changed to my first name so it's easier. but my last name metaxus, M-E-T-A-X-A-S. You can text Metaxus to 5-1-555-5-5. If you text Metaxus to 5-1-55-5-5, they'll send you a link to this campaign. I can't believe, I mean, again, I'm reading the notes that kids in El Salvador under five years of age face hunger an anemia rate of 25%. Can you imagine, folks? And I think that that's the bad news. The good news is we have it in our power for very little. Maybe you can't give $100. You can give $20. Maybe you can get your kids involved and say, hey, kids, these are the values we have as a family. We believe what the

Bible says about helping those who are suffering, feeding the poor, and we've chosen to give as a family this much. Maybe you can give a little bit out of your allowance and we can pool together. It's a beautiful opportunity to teach our kids. How do you live out your faith? You don't just talk about it. How do you live it out? If there are children that are hungry in El Salvador, that's where we're focusing on, I mean, it's a lot of Central America and South America, but right now we're focusing on El Salvador, how can we help them? What can we do? How can we give out of how we've been blessed to give a little bit. So as I said, every $100, it's a one-time gift provides life-altering nutrition for a whole year. So you can text my name Metaxus, M-E-T-A-X-A-X-A-S, to 5-1-5-5-5. Again, text Metaxus to

5-1-55-5. Or you can go to Metaxis talk.com. You'll see a banner that, you'll see a banner That says feed their future. Metaxistalk.com. That's my radio website. Or if you prefer to call, some of you, you can call right now. You can write this down. I hope you'll do it. We, the need is urgent, folks.

I don't know how else to put it, when you have little kids that are hungry. This is as basic as it gets. Let's live out our faith together. The phone number 844-4-4-8-6-3-4-4-6-3-4-6-6-3-4-6-6-4-6. 6, 7, 3, 844, 8663, 4673. We hope that you will be generous. I also wanted to mention that we talk about education a lot on the program and how our nation's public schools have been taken over by lunatic ideologues. You know, just like corporate America, I was saying like Target, well, Target has reversed course. We need to take back our schools as well, which is why.

I'm exhorting you to visit our friends at the Herzog Foundation, Herzog Foundation.com. They are the trusted source on American K-12 private education. They have a remarkable suite of free resources for parents and grandparents. Think about making the switch from public schools to a Christian education or to homeschooling, which is the best of the best. They have an online publication, The Lion, sorry, you can go to Read Lion. com, R-E-A-D-L-I-O-N.com.

They have a podcast called Making the Leap. These guys are heroes, folks. If you've encountered them, you already know they're on the same page as we, and I want to say that it's important that we're aware of them. And again, they're there to help. Herzogg Foundation.com. Numbers don't lie. The impact that Balance of Nature makes every single day is astounding.

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so don't wait. And don't forget the best-selling standard MyPillow, now just 1798 plus orders over $75 ship for free. Go to MyPillow.com. Use promo code Eric or call 800-9778-3057.com. Promocode Eric or call 800-9783057 to order now. Mypillow.com. Hey, folks. Welcome back. You know, I travel a lot. I get around. I have a lot of friends in places like Dallas, Texas, and I mentioned that I was at a wedding this past week in Dallas. And when I say a wedding, I mean, what the heck? Like a wedding, wow kind of wedding, one of those weddings. And you're thinking, what pastor are they going to get to perform this ceremony? You know, I know the family is the Trout family.

And I know that their first five choices could not make it. And unfortunately, they had to go with my current guest. His name is J.P. Pucluda. JP, welcome. Well, it's a rent-a-rev. I have a website at www. rent-a-reve.com for anybody who needs a stand-in last-minute pastor for a wedding. You know, maybe you don't know this, but my highest compliment is to bust your chops publicly.

You are a wonderful pastor, and I was so delighted. I want to say this, because you're here to talk about your new book, which I'm excited about, frankly, and we'll get into that in a minute. but I'm actually very excited about the title and the subject of your book. But I was blown away that I was at this amazing, amazing wedding, my friends, the Troutson invited us, and that the pastor performing the ceremony was you. And now you're on my program. You can vouch for the fact that we didn't plan this, right?

That's right. We didn't plan this. No, I went up. It was, you know, as you said a little while ago, and I went up and said, hey, I, you know, I think we're, doing a podcast. And I just heard yesterday. And he said, well, I haven't heard yet, but here we are. A recording. Here we. Here we are. I know. I didn't know. You didn't know. But can we just say, what an extraordinary wedding. What a beautiful wedding. And I can brag on you, JP. You're a pastor.

You're the lead pastor of Harris Creek Baptist Church in Waco, Texas. You were for a long time at Watermark in Dallas. I've spoken at Watermark many times. And I just have to say that when you go to a wedding where the pastor, in this case, you is really beautifully evangelistic to the folks. So you've got a captive audience. You get all these people there for this happy thing. And theoretically, we're there in the presence of God. But a lot of people are just showing up.

And you really let them have it with both barrels in the best sense of like what is the meaning of life and why are we here and do you care about this stuff and a lot of people at a wedding it's like at a funeral they're they're really prepped to hear about the bigger questions and i just want to congratulate you on doing that so beautifully so so so beautifully it was it was it was absolutely wonderful so anyway i don't want to go off on that too much more but it was it was wonderful and it was great to meet you uh and i'm glad finally to get you on the show to talk about the book now i will let you say the title of your book. This is kind of a big deal title, big deal subject. Yeah, so your story has a villain. It's about spiritual warfare, and, uh, which is not, you know, just for your audience.

I didn't come from a Pentecostal charismatic background. I, you know, deliverance ministry is not a part of my story. I was raised Catholic, uh, so Catholic school. And that did impact me and, and, and kind of, uh, expand my horizons on this. But then becoming a, uh, you know, really taking my faith serious at Watermark now as attending, not as pastoring, but as attending at Watermark that, you know, I just, I didn't have a grasp on spiritual warfare. So I'm growing in this amazing Bible-based church where I'm learning the Bible, but when I'm reading an ax and seeing, you know, people being possessed by demons and this being such a big part of Jesus' ministry, I think of the back of my mind, I really thought, hey, there's something

that probably is very different today than was then. And I never sought to reconcile that. And so now I'm pastoring a church, a 150-year-old Baptist church in the country outside of Waco. And when we moved to Waco, I kept saying, man, there's a stronghold here. Like, there is something spiritually heavy here in this city. And if you know anything about Waco, Texas, it punches way above its weight in national news. And so whether it's David Koresh or Tornado in the 50s or One of the last public lynchings in America or one of the last red light districts in America. I'm not in America in Texas. It just punches way above its way.

Or Chip and Joe Fixer Upper, one of the biggest TV shows on television once upon a time. I'm like, there's something about this city. We have this huge Baptist university as kind of the solitaire stone on the engagement ring of this city and trying to figure that out. People were like, what do you mean by that? When you say Stronghold, what do you mean? And I was a little bit like, I don't know. I'm not sure what I mean. I should find that out.

And so that was a three-year research project on spiritual warfare, which turned into this book. Your story has a villain. Okay. So the full title of the book, folks, and again, I'm talking to Pastor Jonathan J.P. Pekluda. But the full title of the book is, Your Story Has a Villain, identify spiritual warfare, and learn how to defeat the enemy. So this is a big deal. I've talked about this a lot when I was born again at age 25. I immediately was exposed to this.

It's not like, you know, I thought this is whatever, whatever I, it's almost like a pay one price. I thought, okay, I'm in. What do I get? And then they're like everything, the gifts of the spirit, deliverance from demons, healing, all the stuff that, you know, And so I thought that was normative. And I've told my story many times as I moved on in the faith, I found there are a lot of people that I respect as Christian leaders who do not talk about this or they shy away from it or they openly dismiss it. They say, oh, this is not for today. They're so-called cessationist. Cessationist. They have a cessationist theology. And I, and then you, or then you have people like Jordan Peterson. I had him on the program and he's talking about evil. And, but I said, wait a. minute. Let's be clear, Jesus did not cast out metaphors. These are actual demons. This is a reality. And so people shy away from that. You're talking about it as a reality, which is why I'm excited about the book.

So what is the, yeah, go ahead. And I was the people you're talking about. I mean, candidly, I was very much the pastor who never talked about this. I mean, I would teach the Gersian demoniac. And I didn't think it was a metaphor. I mean, I thought Jesus literally cast it out demons. But I couldn't bridge the gap from what he was doing then based on what we do today. And so C.S. Lewis says there's two mistakes that we make about the devils. I always think it's ironic or interesting that he says the devil's plural. And he says one is to give them too much credit and authority to believe too much about them.

and the other is to not believe they exist at all. I think in 2025 there's a third mistake that we make, which is to believe the devils exist, to believe in the demonic, but that that belief has zero implications on how we live or view our theology or orthopraxy. And that's where I think most people in kind of evangelicalism, that's where most of us exist,

and certainly where I existed. My story was not like yours. When I came into the faith, I wasn't thinking about the demonic. I was thinking about how do I get free from my sexual addiction and perversion, addiction to pornography, and along with alcoholism, materialism, greed, narcissism, all these other things that marked my life. And so it became just around about confession and prayer, confession and prayer, which I do think is the baseline of what, you know, some would call deliverance ministry.

I think confession and prayer is a starting place of that. And I think we have to deal with the fact that the Bible says more about spiritual warfare than it does about marriage. So if we're going to preach honestly throughout the manifold wisdom of God, then we would probably do a 10 to 1 sermon series on spiritual warfare to marriage because it's a really big topic in here, starting in Genesis chapter 3 all the way through Revelation. and spiritual warfare is a pretty heavy topic in there. I know that that's true, and I'm excited that you, of all people, would have written a book about it. So what do you talk about in the book? Now, have you experienced deliverance ministry?

Because when I saw it finally, because I know it's real, but when I finally saw it in front of my own eyes, I thought, how can anyone doubt that this is real? But I think they're people that they never get themselves anywhere near this kind of stuff. Maybe think, oh, that's weird, or I want to be a respectable Christian. If you want to be a respectable Christian, folks, you don't really want to be a Christian. If you don't understand what we're dealing with here, it's not respectable. It's true.

But what did you see, JP? Yeah, you never want to, just to give credence to what you just said to, you never want to go into a war, assuming that you're playing paintball, you know, and all of a sudden you get hit with a real bullet. And you're like, oh, man, I thought this was one thing and it's very much the other. I think that describes what a lot of people, how we approach Christianity. It's like, oh, man, Jesus and heaven, that sounds great. I can live forever. He came back from the dead. That sounds great. We forget the narrative that there's an enemy that he's defeating and he's still here. And I, you know, I have a love, hate relationship with the subtitle of the book, identify spiritual

warfare and learn how to defeat the enemy. I wish it was learn how the enemy was defeated because he is defeated, and yet he's running this scorched earth strategy where he knows that he loses in the end, and he's just trying to terrorize. Go ahead. Okay. I want to come right back to that. Going to a break, folks, do not go away.

Welcome back. I'm talking to my new friend, Jonathan Pekluda, J.P. Pocluda, who has written a book on one of the most important subjects there is. Say what you were just saying, because this is a really key piece, that Jesus defeated sin and evil and death, that the enemy, capital, E, was defeated on the cross, and yet, and yet what? Yes, so Jesus defeated sin, death, and disease, and we live in this middle space where Satan is still here. He's not in hell. People, you know, you ask people trivia questions like, where is Satan? Oh, he's in hell. No, he's not. He's here on earth. He's roaming around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. First Peter 5 tells us he is

understands. His theology is better than ours. He knows the Bible. He knows about God. He's, he's existed in the presence of God in the past. And so he knows he, his ultimate destination is the lake of fire. And so he's running a scorchurching. Earth strategy. What I mean by that is because he knows he lost, but he still hates his enemy. He's trying to burn everything to the ground. And so he wants us to despair. He wants us to sit in depression. He wants us to feel defeated. He wants to discourage us. That is to remove our courage. And here's what I would tell you. He's not omnipresent. He's not everywhere. He took one third, Revelation 12 says one third of the angelic realm with him. So one third of the angelic realm is here on

earth as fallen angels, demons. That means they're outnumbered two to one. Two-thirds is still God's army. And he's trying to hurt Christians. It's not once we come into the faith that we have the Holy Spirit. Now we're completely protected from him that he can't do anything to us. He still can. He's not afraid of me or they are not afraid of us. But he's terrified of our God. And this is why in Psalm 23, he says, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down and green pastures. He leads me beside white waters. He restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. For his name's sake, for even though I walk through the valley of the shadow death, I will not fear for you are with me, your rod and your staff. The pronouns change

there because there's an intimacy that when we go through the valley of the shadow of death, when we are attacked by the enemy, we want to draw near to the shepherd who the enemy is afraid of. The enemy's not afraid of the sheep. The wolf is not afraid of the sheep. The wolf is terrified of the shepherd. And so our greatest strategy against the enemy is to remain close to the shepherd, to walk by the spirit, to live out the disciplines, to pursue the things of God, and to know the things of God. And that's our greatest protection, what Ephesians 6 calls the shield of faith. Our faith is our shield. As we increase in faith, we increase in protection. You asked Eric, have I encountered deliverance ministry, not before I started writing the book.

And so I'd been to 86 times, have been to Africa, multiple times, I've been to the Amazon jungle three times. And everyone has a crazy story of some demon-possessed person. But I had not seen it firsthand. I'm writing this book. I'm in a country club, one of the nicest country clubs in America in Utah. And there I am. And a guy comes off the golf course, titleless visor, polo tucked into his game. khaki shorts, his golf cleats on, and, you know, tells me he's having a hard time praying.

I go to share the gospel with him, and he's like, yeah, I'm a Christian, but I can't pray. And I ask why. He says, man, there's just something, there's something that happens to me when I try to pray. I said, man, this sounds demonic. And I go to pray over him. And when I do a demon manifest there in the country club of all places. Hold on, JP. Hold on.

A lot of times we Christians, we use these terms. Yeah. I get this a lot, right? You say a demon manifest. We use that term manifests. Yep. So what you're saying, in case anybody's not tracking, I want everybody to be tracking what you're saying, you're in a country club talking to a very buttoned up dude, just kind of the golf course. Yep.

And you start praying over him. Yes, sir. Something happens, something visceral. Yeah. What did that look like to you? What did it sound like? What, I mean, you know, what exactly happened? What do you mean when you say something manifested?

He started coughing and he doubled over and then he began almost what you would think of like seizing, convulsing, if you will. Okay, see, this is exactly what I have seen. Yeah. So folks, there's patterns here. This is not just like we're making it up. Many people, I've had my friend Ken Fisch on the program over and over and over. He describes this stuff. People kind of convulse.

They cough. They wretch. Sometimes they actually vomit. And there's no explanation. You're looking at it thinking what is happening. And so this is a demon that has somehow attached to the person. And we've got to be clear on this, folks, you cannot be possessed. If the Holy Spirit lives inside you, a demon or the devil cannot possess you,

but they can attach to you. So this is clearly a little complicated. But you're saying that in the country club, this was happening. So keep going. He starts to convulse. What happened then? Yeah, so he almost contorts, and I don't want to make, I mean, I want to give you the full visual. His arm kind of flies behind his back and then up in the air.

And as he's doubled over and he's just like, and the cough almost turns into a grouse was like, you know, that terrible noise. And I'm, you know, people were like, were you scared. I'm like, I was terrified. I wish I would, I'd love to say I wasn't. And I know now that I should be. If you're new to this stuff, you're going to get scared. But if you're not new, if you've experienced it, you're, it's no big deal.

But when the first time it happens, you're not expecting it in a country club. Yeah. Yeah. So I know now I shouldn't be. First John 4, four, four, greater is he who's in me than he who's in the world? I know that. He's given us authority, Matthew 28 and Matthew 16. And so I'm, I'm praying over him.

And I get, he gets louder. I get louder. And then he begins to calm down. And I'm just like, I'm sending. I'm like, Lord, you know, would you, would you, whatever this is, would you bring it out? Would you bind it in Jesus name? I'm saying things that I've heard other people say, because I don't. I don't, haven't read this book yet, you know.

And he, and he, and he calms down. And I, and I say in Jesus' name. And he's just kind of left there standing hunched over lifeless. And he just turns his head to look at me. And he was like, well, I wasn't expecting that. I said, well, that makes two of us. You know, I'm like, I wasn't either. We're going to another break.

Folks, this is real. This is real. Don't go away. Folks, welcome back. I'm talking to Pastor J.P. Pocluda, J.P. Pekluda, the book. This is about spiritual warfare. And you're telling this story, JP, this is your first experience with this. You're seeing this as real.

And so keep going. And I'll just say my first that I was aware of. I mean, looking back now, I mean, there's probably a lot of times I thought I was dealing with schizophrenia. A lot of times I thought I was dealing with different things that we, and I'm not saying that all of those are simply demon possession or oppression. The word that the New Testament uses is actually demonized is probably the best English translation. I'm not saying all of that was demonization, but probably a lot of it was, you know, in hindsight. But this is the first time that I'm dealing with it, that I'm aware of. And so I pray for this guy.

And, you know, I pray up. He gets, it gets, he gets louder. I get louder. He gets softer. In Jesus name, amen. He looks at me. He's like, I wasn't expecting that. I was like, man, that makes two of us.

And I'm still kind of shaking. I mean, I'm not kind of. I'm shaking. I'm literally shaking at this point. And we part ways. And I forgot to say, by the grace of God, my friend walked up right before all of this. I said, hey, pray with us. So he was there.

And I said, man, you know, and he was just like, you know, if you're exposed to it, like you said, it's a Tuesday. He was like, oh, yeah, that was for sure demonic activity. And I was like, oh, man, okay, that's what I thought. And so I was like, what do we do now? And so I started calling, you know, my charismatic friends. I'm like, what do I do? And so we pray.

And then they're like, did you share the gospel? I'm like, oh, I didn't share the gospel. So I go back and I find him. And I just walk him through, hey, I want to make sure, can I go, you know, finish where we started? Because that's what I first engaged him to share the gospel is like, hey, what do you believe about Jesus? And I walked him through trusting in the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins. And I was like, what you want to do now is, you know, plug into a healthy Bible teaching church and get, believers around you and begin to grow in this faith. And so that's that's kind of the

end of that story. But it was just ironic that I was two chapters into a book on spiritual warfare before I actually encountered something somewhat called deliverance or exorcism. Well, listen, it thrills me to hear that you, knowing what I know about you, are into this because there is, you know, it's like discovering the cure for cancer and thinking, oh, is there anybody out there with cancer? Oh, yeah. Like a lot of people, let's go to it. Let's bring healing. Let's bring deliverance. What a wonderful thing that we now know that God has given us the tools to deal with this because there are so many people I know in the Christian world. They're just dealing with this without, they don't know anybody that can help them. The church they go to. Most people are going to churches that don't have a clue. How pathetic. That's, that's, you know, that's, they don't know. the Church of Jesus Christ, which is the place you're supposed to go to get spiritual healing, many churches, they would be like, I don't know, when you get counseling. Yeah, you're going to go to some secular counselor. They don't have a category for this. I mean, the first time I really

encountered this was before I came to faith, I was really asking the larger question, because I'm asking about God and I'm thinking about this stuff. And I thought, they're demonic evil. If that's real, then I know God is the answer. And I read a book. by M. Scott Peck. He's dead now, but he wrote a book called People of the Lie, which is not nearly as well known as his book, The Road Less Traveled, which was a zillion seller on the New York Times best selling the seller list for the years. But he wrote a book called People of the Lie where he gets into this thing of actual evil. He's a Harvard psychiatrist, and he is seeing stuff in his practice that he doesn't really, he doesn't have a category for what is this? He's seeing really weird stuff. And so he writes a book about it called People of the Lie. And reading that book really led me to faith ultimately. It was part of God's plan for me because I think that when you see demonic evil, maybe initially you're frightened, but then you go, wait a minute, God has an answer for this.

He has a cure for this. Let's get to it. Let's get people free. So it's just exciting to me that you wrote this book. I want to say again, folks, the title of the book is Your Story Has a Villain. So I think a lot of times people, JP, they kind of, they just shy away from this. They don't want to deal with evil because they're scared because they don't understand. Jesus crushed evil.

And he's given us the tools by the power of the Holy Spirit in his authority to crush evil. But there are a lot of people that are like, nah, I don't want to go there because they themselves are not walking in the authority that God means for us to walk in. Right. Yeah, I think that's absolutely right. And I think there's, I think we hide behind the mystery. We think, oh, we can't know. We can't really know what's the enemy and what's not. And the reality, the scripture has a lot to say about this.

You have the whole book of Job, which is a case study of what the enemy can do. And what you see in the New Testament is like Jesus effortlessly freed a man of presumably thousands of demons. And it wasn't hard for him. And so I think as he, and you see so much of an authority transfer, he says that to us. He's like, all authority has been given to me under heaven and earth. And he's like, listen, as you follow me, you're my disciples, my followers, you can do this greater things that you've seen me do. You will do.

And so, yeah, we walk by the authority of Jesus. And we can do a lot of ministry, a lot of effective ministry. So if people get a copy of your book, your story has a villain, what will they find in that? Who do you write it for? And we've just only got just about a minute or so left. Go ahead. Yeah. Yeah, I'll just say briefly, it really is, for.

For anyone out there that's like, hey, I sense that there's more of God. I read acts and I see these amazing stories, but I'm just not experiencing those myself. Maybe I am just distracted by the world. Like maybe I'm stuck in my 76 years here under the sun and I'm not realizing that I'm going to die and be with God forever and ever, never, never, never, never. And that everything that I do under the sun has eternal implications. And so how do I find? he says the thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy, but I've come to that they might have life and have it to the fullest.

How do I find the full life that God has for me, the ministry, Eric, that you're talking about. That's the person I wrote this book for. And so there really, it's a, you know, chapter after chapter, it's pulling you deeper into the full life that Christ has for us, which is one that has authority over the demonic, over what the enemy can do. And I always say to people, you know, folks, you were born for this. This is not like, oh, it's extra credit. I don't want it. It's kind of like when you're talking to a young man and he's like, oh, I don't know if I could be a father.

It's like, hey, dude, let me break it down. You were born for this. God made you to be a husband, to be a father. God made you to step out in faith in every area of your life. And this one is when people go, oh, I don't know. God made you for this, folks. This is like why you're on the planet. So you should not, this is the last thing I'll say, and then we're done here. But folks, you shouldn't be scared of the devil. The devil should be scared of you because you walk with the authority of Jesus. Jesus longs for you to know that and to walk in that. It is a glorious thing. JP, great to talk to you.

The book, folks, is your story has a villain. Great to see you, friend. Thank you so much. Folks, a lot of news to share right now. Okay, real quick, remember I was telling everybody to boycott Target because of what they did. You know the whole story. I think it's time to reverse engines. Target, you need to reward people when they do the right thing.

Target made a huge decision to blow off their whole DEI thing, which is amazing that on a corporate level, a company that's been sort of progressive would totally change their tune and say, we are no longer going to play the DEI game. That is big news. They are being boycotted by all kinds of radical Marxists. there's some insane leftist megachurch pastor calling for a boycott on Target. I am here to say we should reward them. When somebody totally changes their tune, we need to reward them.

So I am today going to buy a TV at Target. Not making that up. Got to get a TV for my mom. I'm going to do it at Target today. We need to reward them. God bless them for changing what they've done. By the way, I wanted to talk more about Donald Trump's ultimatum. in Israel. It's just amazing. The evilness of Hamas, I can't talk about it because I get

so upset. But I wanted to say that portions of this program are sponsored by the Israeli Ministry of Tourism on behalf of the government of Israel. But that's not why I talk about Israel. I just want to mention that. But I'm asking you specifically to visit goisrael.com for more info on visiting Israel. Obviously now is not the perfect time to go, but to think about it, everyone I talked to who's been to Israel, they all say the same thing.

It's like funny. They go, oh, it was life changing. It was life changing because that's where it all went down. That's where it actually happened. And when you see those things, I was just there briefly a number of years ago, I guess it was seven years ago. And even though it was there briefly,

I was moved to tears by realizing that Jesus walked here. And so it's a life-changing event for everyone I've talked to. So it's important that we stand with Israel and pray that the horror is going over there end soon. So I look forward to going back there when I can. In the meantime, visit go-israel.com for more information. Also wanted to mention that we talk about education a lot on the program and how our nation's

public schools have been taken over by lunatic ideal. You know, just like corporate America, I was saying like Target, well, Target has reversed course. We need to take back our schools as well, which is why I'm exhorting you to visit our friends at the Herzog Foundation, Hertzog Foundation.com. They are the trusted source on American K-12 private education. They have a remarkable suite of free resources for parents and grandparents. Think about making the switch from public schools to a Christian education. or to homeschooling, which is the best of the best.

They have an online publication, The Lion, the Lion, sorry, you can go to readdlyon.com, R-E-A-D-L-I-O-N dot com. They have a podcast called Making the Leap. These guys are heroes, folks. If you've encountered them, you already know they're on the same page as we, and I want to say that it's important that we're aware of them. And again, they're there to help. Herzogg Foundation.com.

Before we end our one, I want to mention that we've got a lot of Socrates and the stuff, Socrates and the city stuff coming up. I've done a whole bunch of Socrates and City interviews in London. We're going to be airing those soon. One is with Ian Hersey, Ali, buckle your seatbelt. So that's going to be all on. Go to Socrates and the city.com. Sign up for Socrates Plus on our YouTube page.

Most of the stuff is available. We're doing an event in Lexington, Kentucky with Hillsdale President Larry Arne, very excited about that. That's April 16th, Palm Beach, March 21st. I'm interviewing Senator, Josh Hawley, but there's so much stuff at the Socrates and the city website. And then finally, plug for my store.com. You can get most of my books and especially the Donald, the caveman books, at my store.com. Be sure you use the code Eric at my store.com. Donald drains the swamp is there waiting for you. Donald drains the swamp. Discount code Eric at my store. com.