Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 1262 | Are Demons, the Devil & Spiritual Warfare Real or Just Symbolic?

Episode Date: February 4, 2026

As the world feels increasingly dark and chaotic, Jase, Al, and Zach argue that what we’re experiencing isn’t just cultural or political—it’s spiritual. They discuss why evil thrives when it goes unchallenged, how desire can quietly turn destructive, and why fighting the wrong enemy leaves people trapped in confusion. The conversation ultimately points to hope, reminding listeners that Christ came to destroy the work of evil and that true joy is made complete through union with Him and participation in His life. In this episode: 1 John 2, verses 3–6; 1 John 2, verses 7–8; 1 John 2, verses 15–17; 1 John 3, verses 6–8; 1 John 1, verse 4; Ephesians 2, verses 1–5; Ephesians 2, verses 4–6; Ephesians 6, verse 12; 2 Thessalonians 3, verse 5; Jude, verse 21 “Unashamed” Episode 1262 is sponsored by: https://ponchooutdoors.com/unashamed — Get $10 off your first order and free shipping! ⁠https://rocketmoney.com/unashamed ⁠ — Join Rocket Money and let them help you reach your financial goals faster. ⁠https://myphdweightloss.com⁠ — Find out how Al lost 80+ pounds. Schedule your one-on-one consultation today by visiting the website or calling 864-644-1900 and mention "AL" ⁠https://ruffgreens.com⁠ — Get a FREE Jumpstart Trial Bag for your dog today when you use promo code Unashamed! ⁠http://unashamedforhillsdale.com/⁠ — Sign up now for free, and join the Unashamed hosts every Friday for Unashamed Academy Powered by Hillsdale College Check out At Home with Phil Robertson, nearly 800 episodes of Phil's unfiltered wisdom, humor, and biblical truth, available for free for the first time! Get it on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, and anywhere you listen to podcasts! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/at-home-with-phil-robertson/id1835224621 Listen to Not Yet Now with Zach Dasher on Apple, Spotify, iHeart, or anywhere you get podcasts. Chapters: 0:00 Surviving the ice storm together 4:30 Duck blinds, tough talks, and legacy lessons 10:10 Finally moving the blind — and being right 16:00 From Louisiana ice to frozen New York 22:45 When fans recognize you in unlikely places 29:45 What 1 John really means by “life” 36:50 Obedience, desire, and walking in the light 44:40 Spiritual warfare is real — and active 52:50 Joy made complete in Christ — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? Welcome back to Unashamed, the last episode we were talking about the ice apocalypse because we're just kind of, we're still coming out from under. Zach, you guys left today. We were supposed to do some, some filming and some work here along with your duck hunt experience. And so, and then Melissa came with you, your sister. And so we enjoyed, we had her, dear, in the storm and enjoyed her and Paisley, her daughter. But you guys got back, and then you went to New York, which was like they had had a big storm up there. What a culture shock.

You go from North Carolina to Louisiana in the Ice Storm, which the byproduct of that was bear. He'll never forget that because he got in on an epic hunt. He loved it. We had a good talk about it. He got in with old Uncle Jays. We had a very good spiritual conversation after he left. Very, very good.

So, and then you go to New York. Tell us about it. Yeah, what happened there? Well, he told me on the way home. I said, what do you think? He said, I really, he said, Jace really spoke into me. That's what he said.

And he re-capped y'all's entire conversation. And it was in that moment, Jay said, I had a moment of gratitude for you. Well, I appreciate that, but it's not me. It's a little. I mean, I've just gotten to where, I guess maybe two, since, Our dad died out. I mean, I feel like somebody's got to have the tough conversations, and there's something about a duck blind,

especially in tough conditions. Because we had a moment while we were duck hunting, because my dad, we had about a 15-year argument, I guess, on where to put the blind. We had a pipeline come through our land. Well, it actually, as much as my dad didn't like, that and fought it for years. I mean, they paid him to do this, but you know how that was.

He was against it for. He was like, I don't care what you're going to pay me. There's no pipeline coming through here. But, you know, they had this clause for the good of the people that it had to be done. And so they paid him. But we put, it actually helped us because, you know, you can, it's under the ground. Right. And it's like a big open territory.

So we just. Well, the way. The way they worked it out was they allowed him, which most people don't want to maintain or do anything with the pipeline, but they allowed him to do what he wanted to do, you know, with the area. So we plant crops on it and the ducks come. But along that pipeline, we argued about where to put the dug blind. And I always thought that we were about 70 yards to 150, too far north on it. And the ducks kept lighting about 100 yards to the right. And he famously would say,

I heard this argument. You've got to move where the ducks are. So one of the first things I did, now that I'm kind of taking over the land, I moved that blind. And so about five days ago, I guess, we saw some ducks hit that because finally the water got on it.

And I said, let's go hunt there the next morning. So it was an inaugural line. We got in there, Al. And I have a picture that I'll post of our ducks. It was epic. And they came right to that spot. Right in the decoys. And so after the hunt, everybody was just like, this was unbelievable.

And I was like, well, I'm going to have to ask y'all a favor. And everybody kind of looked at me because it's like, I don't usually say. something like that. I was like, why I had to ask you a favor? I said, when we all get to the next life and our new bodies, I don't think I'd bring this up that I was right because we killed six limits of mallards and off dugs in that new hole. I mean, it was epic. We don't really know what happens in the in-between stage and others debate on it. it. Phil always thought you fall asleep. But there is that scripture that says we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. So if that's true and Phil is witnessing, he actually may know

and he may be up there right now or wherever. Well, and one thing I know about that is, if you, once he sees the truth for the truth, he'll say, you know what, old Jay's, he was right. He was right about that one. You know, it's crazy as we put another blind on the other end of the pipeline, never had hunted and we hunted it two days before it closed we shot a limit of ducks in less than an hour 30 ducks and jay had his crew i called him up because we had a guest and i said y'all need to come up here and he said when i said now get your stuff and then they got in and they killed 30 ducks before 10 o'clock wow we killed the first time it had been hunted so we had two blinds that were just think about it brand new blinds water never got on them the whole year until the last week and we hunted them each once and killed full limits and in the one we killed two full limits in one morning which was incredible we're here he'd say yeah now everybody's shooting and high fiving and it's happy happy happy everybody's you know because we're killing some ducks around here he talks about the morale change all right zack we hijacked your new york what what happened there what did you do

Well, New York was shut down, too. So we got up there. It was about zero degrees, four degrees. I went up there for a conference that our church, me and one of other pastors, went up with our wives, went up to a prayer conference at John Tyson's Church, Church of the City. So that's the guy. You listen to it, Jay. Yeah, I do.

I like his passion. Very powerful. It was passionate. It was a great time. We went up there, and we survived in the, you know, the, the freezing cold was, you know, going from where we went to New York was kind of funny. It's quite the contrast, you know what I mean? But we had a good time and we had some good food while we were there.

New York was kind of, nobody was there, though. It's too cold. Nobody's getting out. Even up north, even up north. But they move around a little bit better than we do. We do have trouble getting back in the town because while we were there, it snowed in Asheville. He had the bomb cyclone is what they call. Oh, it was.

Bomb cyclone. That sounds bad. What's crazy is yesterday I came in here to, I was going to use a dumpster at Doug Commander because we had a clean out of refrigerator. And when I was pulling out, I saw a car pulling in. Of course, it's closed. It's Sunday and it's an ice storm. But I saw it on their faces that they were not from around here and they recognized me. So they stopped, turned around, and pulled into the little.

store out here, not Duck Commander, and rolled down the windows. And so I was waiting to get out because traffic was terrible. And I said, what's going on? I rode down my window. What's going on? They went to hollering and screaming. And I could tell by their accents they weren't from around here. I said, where are y'all from? I mean, we're hollering.

They're like 30 yards from me. They said, we're from New York. And I was like, are y'all lost? But they said, no, we just came to help. You know, with the storm. Oh, that's awesome. And we wanted to see Duck went. He's like, we live right on the Canadian border.

And I said, well, tell Canada hay from us. I know tensions are a little tight. But thanks for sending us the ducks. And then I looked up, nobody was coming. I blew the horn. But I thought, what in the world? You know? We were in this little town in Illinois.

And we were speaking that day. stopped this little diner downtown. This is just kind of old Americana downtown area, and this little cafe was there. And so we go in. I saw some people looking. And I guess you just, in a small town, especially, somebody shows up new,

and everybody's kind of looking anyway. But two or three people, I thought, recognized who we were. But we order our meal, and we're eating. The final little girl comes over. I saw them all on their phones over there. I said, uh-oh, they know who we are. And the little girl comes over, and she said, are you who I think you are?

And I was like, who do you think I am? And she said, were you ever on the show, Duck Dynasty? I said, I was on that show. And I said, but who do you think I am? And she wasn't sure which one I was. That was what was funny. And then all of a sudden everybody starts taking the pictures. But you know, these you go places, you know, Illinois is considered, you know,

we would call it a blue state because of their democratic, you know, know, establishment and government and all this stuff. But that's all up in the northern part in Chicago, because down south, literally, it's just like I was in West Monroe or wherever. You know, it's just rednecks and hunters and everybody's got camo on. And people came to the event. They were just, you know, our kind of folks. And so I always felt kind of bad for them because you're living in a place that, you know,

the values are so different. And so you're kind of under that tier. They have to live under that. So that was real strict gun laws. And New York's the same way. Those people up in the northern part of the state, they're just hunters and everything. But they got to live with the laws that are set more for New York City or Chicago or wherever. And so I always just feel bad for them.

And I feel like when we go somewhere like that, it's almost like, you know, these are our people. And it makes them feel good about it. So I always enjoy that. So there's always that one shirt that you keep grabbing because it works for everything. And for me, that's been poncho. I got my poncho shirt on. You guys are wearing yours too. We are.

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the Unashamed we sent you. Well, we need a reset of first Sean. It's been a while. We do. We do. It's been a minute. And we've had a lot of gas zone, which is great. By the way, when I was in St. Louis on my trip, I got to spend a couple of days with Phyllis and Tony because that's where they live now. and she's working, Zach, with your dad on finishing up the book. And they were doing some, you guys have responded great when she was on the podcast, and we appreciate that with her pre-sales and stuff. And the book is really, really good.

You're going to love it. Of course, we read some excerpts from, you know, dad's kind of lead into it. So I think that's going to go really well. But we haven't been in first time in a while, so I think we kind of need to reset ourselves to get back. We left off in two, two. which is that first opening section. And, you know, people outline it differently. I kind of use the faith, fellowship, and forgiveness,

the alliteration in my outline, because we talked about faith in the life. Remember, it was the eternal life, that word. Was it, what was it, I, and I? I kind of broke it down as in, it starts off talking about this life. Yep. And then it does a section on light,

and then a section on love. Yep. And then it kind of finishes back with the life that we're a part of. Right. Yeah, I did faith, fellowship in the light, faith in the life. So I was kind of like you used both. And then felt and forgiveness. And in that section of 1-7 through 2-2,

we talked about, Jay, she spent quite a bit of time about the idea of the advocate and the atonement. Those are sort of the two thoughts that they're in there the most, is that the Holy Spirit walking alongside us, but the same word is used for Jesus Christ, the righteous one, this idea of an advocate. And then he's also the one that atones, and we spent quite a bit of time to talk about that. And that's where we went through the book of Hebrews

and this idea of that. Well, I think it kind of changes the narrative. Most people kind of have this narrative of the Bible, where it's like, you know, you start off with God and man and, you know, sin. happens and there's a separation and then Jesus comes and then if you put your trust in Jesus you either go to heaven or hell but really it's a you know the Bible is more about God choosing this nation of Israel because yes he created man in the first 11 chapters of genesis

and but it just it kind of goes wrong yeah and so he he chooses this nation of Israel, which would ultimately bring the Messiah, Jesus, the Son of God. And then his death and resurrection becomes this historic moment in time where a new creation is launched. And through the nation of Israel, producing Jesus, all nations could be blessed. And I think a lot of that, that particular view, I think is more consistent with the narrative of the Bible. And I think you see that when you start talking about what Jesus is doing now at the right hand of God. And we talk so much about heaven and earth coming back together and kind of overlapping.

And even when we talk about life, the way they defined it was more about the different agents. The present age and the age to come. And you really see this in Ephesians. So we went through Hebrews, but I think you see this same storyline in Ephesians. And then John has his version of it. But it's like you can have a glimpse of new life and new creation now, which is where we're fixed to get to when he starts talking about the light is already shining. Because you remember when Jesus died, it was like darkness covered the land. and this light and darkness is a theme showing how God is not just up there a million miles away and doesn't care.

No, Jesus is at the right hand of God right now. Yeah, and even the fact that he went through the darkness of that period of when he was abused and beaten. And even then, while on the cross, you remember that eclipse happens, or even worse, I mean, just supernors. natural darkness that was, and just imagine what that would have been like. And all that showed that, because he's, he's going to say in this next section, starting in verse three, we know that we have come to, we know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, I know him, but does not do what he commands. There's a liar. The truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him. Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did. So he immediately makes this shift into that we are now imitators of Christ. Yeah. And, Zach, we're studying C.S. Lewis on the Hillsdale part of our podcast. But I was listening to this professor talk about C.S. Lewis's points about suffering and pain.

And he made a really strong point about, C.S. Lewis kept talking about that. Remember the utterance of that? on the cross, you know, why I got my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And the idea of going through that on the cross. And he said something really interesting I had never thought about before. He said, a lot of times, because we know about the resurrection, we just kind of go quickly across the crucifixion and say, yeah, but he's resurrected. And so therefore it's all good news, you know, because, you know, he went through that. But he said, C.S. Lewis made the point, you have to take the crucifixion for what it was before the resurrection.

resurrection, that Jesus went through that and that he was actually buried for three days. And I had not really thought about that. In other words, it's easy to say, well, Jesus knew exactly what was going to happen. He knew God was going to raise him from the dead because he had predicted it. But that didn't lessen what he went through. That's been awesome, though, as we've gone through the CS Lewis course, because he talked about, you know, and this is, we've discussed this in great detail. But, you know, Lewis's work was always about, like, dissent, the sin lower. and then ascend, then coming up.

And so that's what Christ did. He becomes human. He suffers death and dies literally. So he descends, descends more. And then God raises him from the dead. And then he ascends even higher where he enters into that heavenly tabernacle. But I think why that matters is because when you think about probably what James was kind of alluding to this earlier, most of us grew up in a Western evangelical, if you grew up in a Western evangelical tradition,

You grew up with thinking about the gospel simply as I got saved from my sin. Jesus paid for it, and now I get to go to heaven. And that's kind of where it sticks. And so the rest of our life, what do we do? We spend the rest of our lives trying to tell other people that same story and get them to do the same thing we did. And that's our whole point. But the problem where I think that falls is that it's missing this key part of the gospel,

which is union with Christ. It's participation with Christ. it misses out on that. And so you read a verse like what you just read in 1 John 2 when it says, and by this we know that we have come to know him if we keep his commandments. So I would read that verse 15 years ago and think, well, what that means is if I don't keep his commandments and I don't know him, which means that I'm not doing the thing I'm supposed to do. So I would try to end up.

So one minute I'm in love with him and the next minute I'm not. That's why I brought up the story of Israel. and I brought up the book of Ephesians because I think we're so westernized in our approach of the Bible we're missing what this is saying. Yeah, absolutely. And when he gave the commandment, we all remember, well, that's all about the story of Israel,

which is why this whole debate about election and predestination just went off the rails, because when you read Ephesians 1, it's pretty clear that he chose a nation. Israel. And when Abraham came on the scene, which I would argue is more of the narrative of the Bible, he said, I chose you. And he was just some pagan guy going out there, you know, living his life. And all of a sudden, he starts giving him all this, here's how you're going to bless the entire world. You know, all nations will be blessed by you. And so.

And the only thing that really made him special was that when God told him to go, he went. He went. Which, look, when God has a conversation with you, kind of like Paul Saul slash Paul. You say, well, because that was all about light. Then when the light bulb came on for him, when you're having a conversation with Jesus while he's at the right hand of God, guess what? Illumination happens. So bright that it would blind you physically.

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Predestination. I'm like, you're missing the whole point. Like, if you're in the debate, I don't think that's what Ephesians is, it's not the point that Paul's making. No, you're right. The main point that Paul, this is an eschatological argument of the kingdom coming, and God is taking two people. groups, Gentile and Jew, this is the mystery. He says it very clearly. This is the mystery. He's taken two people groups, and he's bringing them into one family, one cohesive family. So to reduce it to just this what's called satirology of just salvation of getting justified and just reducing

the whole, like Paul's whole, writing to an argument on one side of the other about justification, I think it's to miss the much broader category of what and story that Paul is trying to illuminate for us, which is this, that Christ is inviting us through the illumination of the Spirit into a participation into the inner life of God. And you know it when you read that text that we were just reading in 1st John. He says, if you don't keep his commandments, it's because you don't know him. This isn't prove that you know him by keeping the commandments. That's not what he's saying. if you keep the commandments, then you will show and you will finally earn the fact to know God.

That's not what he's saying. He's saying that to know God, to actually know him, is to believe in his revelation that this is the good life, which would lead you into obedience. And to the degree that we obey the commandments of God is the degree to which we actually get to participate into his life. It's not a proving or an earning of salvation. it's a participation in salvation. And when we take the gospel and we reduce it only to a conversation about justification,

here's the problem with that. It reduces it and it has nothing to say about what about right now? What about the life I'm in right now? Yes, I've been saved for my sin, but what about now? I want transformation. And I think that's what is being offered here in this text, primarily through the spirit as we abide in Christ, right? And I think the timing of the book, we've mentioned this before, of when John writes this particular letter, shows you exactly what you just said.

Because you've got to imagine, I'm sure the anticipation was, and especially once the temple was destroyed, it's like, you know, I mean, we're going to all be lifted out of here pretty quick. I mean, this is the end of, their thing and the end of everything. Yeah. And they were only 60 years into this thing. And now here we are another 2,000. That's why all these things have risen up, because everybody is still waiting. for the end. But the newness of it was just what you described.

And he illustrates just what you said, Zach, in verses seven and eight. Listen to what he says, dear friends, I am not writing you a new command, but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. Remember, he's talking about love of God. This old command is the message you've heard. Then he says, yet I am writing you a new command. And what's changed? Jesus, its truth is seen in him and you, because the darkness is passing.

and the true light is already shining. Well, that was my point. This light is already shining in people via the Holy Spirit based on what Jesus did and what he's doing now. Right. Which is why I brought up Ephesians when he said, you know, he starts the letter off. He kind of doesn't explain it. I mean, I know we went through Ephesians, but when he gets to chapter three, he kind of explains the letter that he's revealing. Yeah.

And that word is apocalypse. You know, when people think that, they think, oh, scary imagery. No, he was just revealing what Jesus' death, barrel, and resurrection means, which to Zach's point is that all ethnic groups can be one. And where does John go with this? He's talking about, well, we shouldn't hate like they did in the days of Cain when Cain killed Abel. And the world was filled with violence. Remember that verse in Genesis 6?

You said, well, why did all that happen? Because man's sin and all of a sudden they weren't imaging God. They were spilling blood. They were filling the earth with other people's blood because they hated each other. And God's love is sitting there saying, well, what about this? Why not trust me? And so here God chooses a nation that would eventually bring himself to the earth in Jesus, which that is really what the predestination was all about.

It was bringing Christ in that if you're in Christ, you get to participate in that predestination and election in him. Well, because Paul also says in Romans 8, I believe, that the predestination is to be conformed into the image of the sun. Well, what is that? That ain't something that happened one time. That's a process of becoming. That's an ongoing process of sanctification that I'm, again, union with Christ being conformed

into the image, transformed, into the image. My will comes underneath his will and then over a lifetime of walking with him and abiding in him. Guess what? My affections change, the things I want change, my desires change. That's why you read in that text in 1 John, what does he say at the very end of the John about the desires of the world? He says, man, those things are fleeting.

He said, the world is passing away along with its desires. So you want to know, man, how do I know if my desires are aligned with the will of God? Well, ask yourself this question. Is it taking more and more like stimuli to get you amped up in your desire? If so, that's a worldly desire. Or are you able to actually, are your desires becoming more sensitive? Are you able to find joy and satisfaction and pleasure with less stimuli? that's an affection that's from the Lord.

And as our desires are renewed and come underneath his role and reign, it's like we can enjoy small, mundane things and find immense pleasure in things like gardening or walking or eating a meal. You know what I mean? Or even making it through the ice. So essentially you said that because remember the phrase, make my joy complete. We looked at that in previous podcast because Jesus said that quite a few times. And we kind of watched the evolution of the complete.

joy Jesus would have through his suffering and then through his resurrection and his ascension. And then John just drops a new phrase in here that's only used in John. It's used about four different times. And that's make my love complete. So he takes the same Jesus idea, what you were just describing, Zach, of what it looks like when our joy is made complete. That's when Christ is in us. Now he takes at another level in the idea of our love being made complete. And again, that only can happen through Christ. It's used in 1st John, 2, 5, 4, 12, and 417. It's the only time the phrase is used in the New Testament. John used it in this book, in this letter. And so I thought it was interesting because you do go back and look like Deuteronby 6, Leviticus 19, Matthew 22,

even James mentions the royal law, this idea that you love God and love your neighbor. And that's why he says it's not new. I mean, the idea has been. been here all along. But what is new? The new is that Jesus came and Jesus in his spirit. And now we're a part of it. And that's why he puts it in the next context about back to light and dark, Jay. He says, anyone who claims to be in the light, but hates his brother, he's still in darkness. In other words, how do you, how do you exhibit the love of Christ if you're living a life that's still in darkness? It would be like, Zach, when you were describing about looking at it from a Western perspective of the in and out, it would be like getting married.

And unfortunately, people do this. And then every day, the status of your marriage is decided by how well things went or what your wife or your husband did do or didn't do for you. And at the end of every day, you would have to re-decide whether you should stay married or not. Now, that sounds like hell. That doesn't sound like heaven at all. And yet that's what a lot of marriages are. Why? Because they haven't come together in the union that was designed by God.

Union. It's all about the union. Yeah, and then over years, it gets better, not worse. Well, one thing to think about that's just kind of a scary thing, but it's hit me when I was in New York at this conference. And John Tyson started off the entire conference with kind of a shocking sermon. I mean, I was not expecting him to say what he said. I think I had, you know, if you like listen to someone enough, you feel like I know what they're going to say. I kind of know their material.

and I was expecting a lot more of a conversation on spiritual formation and the practices and, you know, renewal, revival. I mean, this is a lot of what he's written about, talked about. And he, and he's, I would say, I mean, Jay, you've listened to John quite a bit. I mean, I had him on the Not Yet Now podcast. I want to have him on this podcast to probably talk about this actually. Yeah, that was my idea two years ago. And you hijacked. Oh, yeah.

Well, to be there, I sit in an invitation and the time slot he had, we couldn't make it work on unashamed, but I want to have had a lot. It's a time slot issue. Yeah, time slot issue, but I do want to have him on to talk about this because he said, he said that he has sat in a lot of theological study, which we do too. I love all that, but he said, man, he said, there's one area, and I'm paraphrasing what he said, but there's one area that he has become incredible. increasingly aware of in the last year, which is a spiritual warfare. And I don't, when he began to talk about this, the darkness that has, really is so pervasive over our land, that there is a demonic realm of principalities. And this is, you know, again, this is in the scriptures, right? There's principalities that rule that have actually real power that are not, they don't have our

best interest at heart. There's there's principalities ever things like lust and pornography and, and just the political outrage culture and like all the, or the anxiety that's gripped our land, gripped our nation, gripped our young people. And his point was, we need to start contending and take serious what is happening in the spiritual realm. And look, we, one of the scariest books I read was the one that Joe Beam wrote. How many years ago was that, Al? Probably 20-plus years ago. 20 years ago, but he had come out of, I mean, he had come out of extreme darkness. Yeah.

And almost lost his soul. Yeah. And when he came out of that. And did lose his family for a while and then. Loss his family. Our fight is not against flesh and blood. And we have to remember that as we are, as we're moving into this conversation of what we're talking about right now, this is not about our theological, you know,

understandings and our great philosophical inquiries. This truly is about getting out of participation with the evil demonic realm, which is real, and getting into participation with Christ through the Holy Spirit. I mean, that's the contrast, and the stakes are extremely high, and that's the only way we're going to find real illumination. As you know, I lost a lot of weight last year on the Ph.D. Weight Loss program, so I've gotten thinner, which this winter has made me much colder. And I'm married to a woman having hot flashes. So it's been an interesting winter to say the least.

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No more guessing, just answers. Call 864-644-1900 and say, Al. That's 864-644-900, or you can visit my PhDw weight loss.com. I want to read a couple of passages to this point about this idea of love and how it's tied into Christ. And one of them is second Thessalonians 3, 5. And this is a context of prayer when Paul is writing to the Thessalonians. He says, may the Lord direct your hearts into God's love and Christ perseverance. And I like that he puts those two things together. See how that's this idea of this walking in the light. The love and the perseverance are together.

And then listen to what Jude and Jude 21 says. And again, it was about prayer. But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. And there's that same word we've been talking about the life again. And two different authors with the same exact thought that John is putting forth here in 1 John, too, is the idea that in that walk is that light and the, that love, and when you go through things, it only makes you stronger, not weaker.

And so the evidence that it's not working is if you can't get along with your brothers. John makes that point. He says, look, obviously he's dealing with something where they're having these factions and these cessationists and they're backing away from the faith. And he's like, you can't live like this. You can't, and the ultimate argument we're going to get into the end of chapter two is you can't claim these things that are wrong. about Jesus and somehow still be right with what he's doing here on earth.

And so it, to me, it's just so clear, and we've made it about the obedience part and much less about the love and the light part and being in it. Well, I think y'all bring up some good points, because this is not necessarily a letter, which is different, a different format. It's kind of a sermon to the house church here that John's writing. And there are some people. Why keeps repeating the themes over and over? Well, right.

So if you're, you feel like, well, why you are jumping all over the place? Because he basically says the same thing about 17 different ways. That's right. And, but I think Zach really hit on the spiritual warfare because, you know, we're talking about darkness at this stage. Darkness, darkness, darkness, dark. There's no fellowship with light. You're either in the light, which, which I have so many confrontations with people in duck blinds

and on the side of the road. And it's always confusing. Like when you ask somebody about their life and the first default setting is, well, I'm confused. And I usually say there's nothing confusing about it. You're either following, you're either all in for Jesus

or you're all out. And it's amazing when you just make blanket statements like that and say, am I right or wrong? And they're like, oh, you're right. It just clears up all the confusion. Right. Because there's darkness. There's a lot of sin.

The evil one and all these powers that Zach mentioned. Well, he's going to bring that up. If you just kind of, at this point, he's telling them about, okay, there's a sin problem. I'm writing this, say that you won't have sin. You need to obey the commands, you know. And Jesus died for your sins. Stay out of darkness. What fellowship is there in darkness?

Well, then when he gets to chapter 2 in verse 15, which we're going to get to, he starts talking about don't love the world. And it's confusing in the Greek language because there's four different words for world. And if you look them all up, you're going to be more confusing when you started. But you start to look at other passages

where this kind of thought line is seeked out. And like Ephesians 2. And I'll just read the first couple of verses when he says, as for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world. Same world that 1 John 2 is going to say, do not love the world or anything in the world. But that's also the same verse that says, for God to love the world that he sent his only son.

So people think, well, what is the world? We have one word for world, and we view it as creation. but it's a little different here. Within this world, there are those who are held captive by the evil, and that's what Ephesians 2 says. And we do have, to your point, Judge, we do have other uses because we would say, we understand the world as you described it, but then you'll hear somebody say, well, you know, in my world, and then they'll describe something in their little centric family.

So we even have different expressions of the world. So God made the world. We all agree. He loves the world. Right. We all agree. but we did something to the world because I think a key verse, Zach and I were talking about this in the dope blind another day,

I pointed this out when it says verse 16 of chapter 2, for everything in the world, the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes, and the boasting of what he has and does, which eerily echoes Ephesians 2, where it says verse 3, all of us lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by association objects of wrath.

But because of his great love for us, God who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ. Well, back to 1st John 2, it says that these things, the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes, and what he has and does, here's a key little phrase, comes not from the father. You're like, well, I thought he made the world. I thought he did all this.

And some people, once again, with the wrong narrative, are like, oh, yeah, God, he made evil so that somehow he could be glorified. No, it doesn't come from the father, but it comes from the world. Well, you said, well, what did we do or what happened to the world that was kind of apart from the father. Oh, I got a good idea. We started worshipping and serving the created things and making idols of the created things

in cahoots with the evil one who guess what? And quit giving thanks. I mean, think about what they did. They did not thank God. That's why their hearts became darkened. That's why their thoughts became futile is because they looked around. They started participating with the demonic realm

and giving their dominion over to the creation itself to have dominion over them. And as a byproduct of that, you just quit thanking God. You quit thinking him. And then you can't live in the participatory life. That is what we're called to. That's such a good point when you brought this up,

the duck line, by the way. Look, and then when, so when he gets to chapter three, that's why this sermon is kind of difficult to wrap your head around. He's going to where we're jumping ahead and going because it's such a profound statement. when it says chapter 3 in verse 6 it says no one who lives in him keeps on sinning

no one who continues to sin is either seen him or known him so we're like well wait a minute I thought you started out saying we can't claim we don't have sin yeah it's like well maybe there's something wrong with your narrative is why you're having a hard time wrapping your head around this because then he explains it he says dear children and this is the whole point of his sermon. Don't let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous just as he is righteous. He who does what is sinful. Now look who he brings up here. Talking about spiritual war is of the devil, which echoes Ephesians 2 when it says you follow the ways of this world and the ruler of the kingdom of the earth. Not only that, Jace, but Ephesians 612. For our struggle

is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm. Exactly. So then he echoes in chapter 3 and verse 8, he who does what is sinful is of the devil. So when you read that or just say that to a person in a duck blind, he's saying, I'm just confused. So let me clear this up. You're on the wrong team.

Even though you don't see him, you don't see God either, right? You don't see the evil one. Yeah. But by association, who are you running with? I mean, I think there's a rock and roll song that says that. I mean, they were proud of it. Running with the devil. Well, let me know how that works out for you.

Yeah. Because I know it doesn't have a good ending. No, it always ends poorly. Yes. Because the devil has been sending from the beginning, beginning of what? Well, you go back to Genesis 3 and you see what happened in our beginning. We have, there's a battle of spiritual forces. We inherited that.

So we've been talking a lot about the ice apocalypse here lately. And, you know, it's also, Jay, you don't think about it, it's not just hard on us. It's hard on our little pets, too. It's tough. Yeah, it's tough for everybody. I mean, they have to go outside, you know, to go to the bathroom. And you've got to remember to feed those guys and keep them warm. And we all know as pet owners, right?

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never have to make. Go to roughgreens.com. Use the promo code unashamed to break the cycle today. Greens.com, promo code unashamed. And it's just passed on, and you make the same decision as Adam and Eve. You say, oh, well, I didn't. I mean, it looked good to me. Yeah. It was their fault. What, my fault, I didn't do anything.

It looked delicious. It looked like I would gain some wisdom. Why wouldn't I? Why wouldn't I? And so we just set our own agenda as far as morality, which is what that was described as, as the knowledge of good and evil. Do you want to trust God in those things, or do you want to make your own plan? Yeah.

And we make our own plan. But here's the profound statement, that back half of 1st John 3.8, the reason the son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. So forget the debate on who's at fault, who's it more at fault. We're in cahoots with the wrong spirit, which is the spirit of the evil one. No one who is born of God will continue to sin. So he's looking at it from a different perspective on. what you're participating in.

That's why he's so big on, look, he's atoned you, he's cleaned you, he's made you new. Ephesians 2 says he made you alive and seated us, he raised us with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus. That's why when you move through the rest of this letter, that this, even this idea of atonement when you get to, and you get to chapter four, it is. not disassociated from abiding with Christ, living with Christ, which is participatory. And I think this idea of the spiritual realm, like we have done a disservice by not focusing on this because it's a real active force and power that's coming against the sons and daughters of God. But at the same time,

we also have one who is greater in us, right? The Holy Spirit. And so the call here is to yield back to the Spirit, but when you think about the idea of what's happening, when you mentioned that, where does sin originate? That is a key point. It does not originate with God. And any theology that would lead

you to believe that, that's just not true. It's not in the sin is our problem. God does not sin. It is impossible for God to sin. It is impossible for God to lie. Sin does not come from the Father, but from the world. And the world, here's the

contrast is passing away along with its desires. So when you think about how do you know if what you're being sold is a lie and it's from the devil and it's demonic and it is part of witchcraft and it is something that is meant to destroy you and kill you and evaporate your soul and rip the life out of you, how do you know? Look at the fruit. Look at the fruit. The fruit of the spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, self-control.

Is that what it's yielding? Or is it yielding something that you've got to keep taking more of it and more of it and more of it to stay afloat? I can take you right now to downtown Asheville where I live, and it's not just in Asheville. Our country is an epidemic of drug addiction right now. Any major city in the U.S., I don't remember this when I was a kid growing up. I don't remember driving through Atlanta or Charlotte or Asheville or any city and just seeing encampments of people who are addicted to fentanyl. and all these tranquilizers and just the posture of these people, when you see them, they're like on the side of the street,

needles everywhere you think, man, what is this? And, Zach, I just was in St. Louis. And on every, at every red light that I would stop at, there was a person there that obviously was on drugs. You just tell from there where they were staggering around walking, trying to get money to buy more drugs. And look, it never got above 15 degrees. These people were in 15 degree to 5 degree temperatures with a foot of snow on the ground at every red light.

So the question is for money to get some drugs. I mean, but how do you get to think about this? How do you get to that point? Because I mean, I'm walking around New York City. It's literally two degrees. And there's a guy on the concrete. He's covered up in a quilt like a blanket. It's like two degrees outside.

And this guy's out of his mind. to stay warm as he could but i mean he literally he was addicted to drugs and i'm looking at this this young man and man i just felt this compassion this guy has gone down this road and and what he has done is he is he has chased the the desire that is fleeting it's the one right here that listen the world is passing away along with its desires those desires are waning and you got to keep amping that thing up you got to keep i mean this guy you know he didn't start on the streets of new york city living under a blanket in two-degree weather.

This guy started as an eight-year-old kid. And somebody's home getting exposed to something that he abused, trauma, pornography, whatever it was. And that turned into maybe partying with his friends a little bit. Maybe he got drunk for the first time. Someone said, hey, you ever smoked weed? And then this just keeps on and on. And then you fast forward 10 years.

Now he's 18 years old. And he's literally living under a blanket in New York City completely out of his mind. Why? Because he kept having to amp up the game to keep up with a desire that was fleeting. That is not the Spirit. That is not the Holy Spirit. That is a death work that is demonic and it is rooted in witchcraft. And we have to take this serious. And I think the people of God have to come up underneath the rule in the reign of Christ. And we got to be calling on a higher power. Thankfully, we do have one that is a higher power. And that desire won't flee over time. That desire will actually increase every time as we submit the Spirit. That's why I brought up Ephesians, reading this parallel with this, because when he made that statement in the transition in chapter 2 and verse 4, when he said, because of his great love, God who is rich in mercy made us alive when we were dead in transgressions. And what the fascinating apocalypse that's revealed that he would talk about in Ephesians 3 is that that mystery of Christ, him coming, God coming to earth, human form and dying, somehow made it available for us to die not only in a world and die to

the world and being raised and then in essence overcoming the world, which he's going to get to in 1st John 5, overcoming the spiritual forces of evil. He did all that for us so that we can participate in that and you can move into the light. All of a sudden the light can start shining. I like that you're continuing to go back to Ephesians, and we're about out of time. But I've mentioned this before, but I want to keep bringing up this. Why the context of Scripture is so important. John was, you know, traditionally recognized as being an elder at the church in Ephesus. That's where he spent most of his time.

So he would have been very familiar with this letter. Well, and I think this was somewhere around Ephesus where this house church was if you go down the rabbit hole. And so now he's writing this much later. as a look back. Wrap it up. Yeah, two things real quick. Think about the end of that, though, Jace. He took you out of the world,

redeemed you from the world. But what are we going to be doing now as spiritual agents of God? We're going to redeem the world. Yeah. Like God's going to redeem the world through the work of, through the church,

going back to Ephesians, the manifold wisdom will be made known. And so the whole thing can be just wrapped up and the whole purpose of the letter from the very beginning, which I want to just end with this. This is first.

1, John 1, 1, 1, 1, 4. I read this this morning. I was like, why write on this? Like, what is the point that he's getting to? Here's the point. Here's why he read it. We are writing these things. 1, 1st, 4th.

We are writing these things for this purpose, so that our joy may be complete. The purpose of the letter here is that our joy may be complete, and our joy will be made complete by our participation in the life of Christ, by union with Christ himself. And love as well. So we'll pick it up here next time on Unashame. Thanks for listening to The Unashamed podcast.

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