Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 685 | Phil’s Redneck Rebuke of Satan & Jase Clearly Watches a Lot of Scary Movies

Episode Date: May 19, 2023

Phil’s got something not-so-nice to say to the evil one, and Jase’s knowledge of scary movies applies quite well to the subject matter of demons. The guys explore scriptural clues that tell us more about what Satan’s powers might actually be, while Jase cautions against over-spiritualizing life’s circumstances. Al uses biblical text to guess how Jesus himself felt about demons during his ministry on Earth.  In this episode: Luke 3, verse 21 through Luke 4, verse 13; James 1, verse 13; Hebrews 2, verse 14; 2 Corinthians 11, verse 13 https://philmerch.com – Shop now for your “Unashamed” mugs, shirts, hats & hoodies! "The Blind" hits theaters on 9/28/23. Get sneak peeks, updates & insider exclusives: https://theblindmovie.com — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? I found it a little bit interesting after looking at Luke chapter 4 yesterday. We were talking about the temptation of Jesus and the Satan making all these claims, which was in redneck language, which was a bunch of bull. Lies. It was all lies. What is that in the Greek? I think, is that the bunch of bull? But over in 2 Corinthians chapter 11, the heading in my Bible says Paul and false apostles. In other words, 11, verse 4, if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached,

or if you receive a different spirit, just kind of keep that back in your mind, a different spirit from the one received, which is the true spirit of God, are a different gospel. He's pretty well right in our wheelhouse. We preach Jesus, Him crucify and raised from the dead. And Jesus of Galilee, Jesus is the one who has all authority in heaven and on earth, he said. Therefore, go make disciples of all nations, baptize them.

So you get to reading that. They change to a different gospel, 2nd, Corinth, Chapter 11. But I do not think I am the law. least inferior to those super apostles. I may not be a trained speaker, which it made me feel good, but I do have knowledge. So he's not an idiot. But the Apostle Paul said he wasn't a great mic man, you know.

There wasn't any mics, but he wasn't one of these fiddling in the gaps. You know, I know it all, you know, biblically. We have made this perfectly clear to you in every way. and then he speaks of was it a sin for loving him and all that, but he gets down to the bottom. So this is the question of the day, based on yesterday's podcast. You run upon people, such men are false apostles. 2 Corinthians 11, verse 13, false apostles.

Now, you got people trying to talk Jesus into some ungodly, situations, you know, deceitful workmen, you're going to run across some of these. I would say the bunch of the, it said Satan himself when he was talking to Jesus. He was masquerading big time on what he could do and not you, Jesus. Well, so he's an apostle of Christ, no wonder. And then he says this, which is my question for the day, for a long time, it's a tough to answer. For Satan himself, now you read about, they went upon the mountain, they're looking, he hasn't eaten any food for 40 days, and you say it's a moment of weakness as far as being

human. No wonder Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It's not surprising then, If his servants, so he's got a gang, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness, it's all a lie. You're going to run into people who are going to make claims, and he is warning the Corinthians, their end will be what their actions deserve. So then he says, I repeat, let no one take me for a fool. But if you do, yeah, you're a fool there, Paul. then receive me just as you would a fool so that I may do a little boasting.

So he's just speaking clearly and truthfully that there's a lot of stuff going on and a lot of people who are claiming to be real religious or blowing smoke. They're not messengers of Jesus at all. They're masquerading as messengers of Jesus, but either they didn't get the gospel on straight, that's mentioned. And they were, he was questioning, you know, what spirit do they have? Because they sure don't have God spirit. I just thought it interesting that when Jesus was tempted himself, that there's no, there's

no, he will try literally anything to bring one down. And false, the last thing you want to be is a false apostle. Right. I mean, we believe that Jesus died, was buried and raised from the day. That's what he told the Corinthian. You better stand on that and you better not budge for what I received. I passed on to you as the first importance. You better get Jesus on the right that he died on the cross was being raised from the dead.

You better not mess with that at all. Right. And there's a lot of people messing with it now, Al. I've listened to them. So you bring up an interesting question because we talked about this before. do people who are serving Satan's wishes, his agenda, maybe as a way to put it, do they fully understand they're even doing it? In other words, because if you think about it in the context, in the context of what you talked

about, these people think they're doing what they should be doing. But Paul says, no, they're actually serving the one who's the master's worried life. So I thought it was interesting because we talked about this before, Zach, that a lot of people that follow Satan, even that aren't believers, aren't like these people or know anything about Christianity or Jesus. Do they really know that's who they're serving? I mean, they think maybe just they're having them to do with God, but that's the really key to Satan's success is to get people to follow them who don't even know they're following it. In other words, they're not like Satan worshippers. You know, it's more of a

blind thing. universities are full of them. Yeah. And I think this idea of manipulation and how Satan operates, that's why this text is so important. Jay said at the beginning of the podcast before we started, he said, man, we really could talk about this for two weeks. I mean, there's just so much here and the strategy of the enemy that we can learn from, you know, and how he attacks.

And I think that's a great point. I mean, most of the time, yeah, it's not the blatant evil that you see in the end. I don't know if it's ever that. I don't know. I think about like a crystal, you've seen the pictures of people on crystal meth, and it's like before and after. Have you seen those pictures?

And it's like incredible, just the, you know, how someone could be so well put together and beautiful. And then literally just about two years later, I mean, they just ravaged. Physically just,

just ravaged. You can see the effects of sin all over their body. And you think when nobody enters in that way, they don't, they don't say, man, that's what I want to be in two years, you know,

I want to be that guy. and just completely wigged out and living homelessness. I mean, that's what I'm going for. Nobody starts that way. And I think that's the nature of said. It's just that it's always masquerading as an angel of light. It's twisting the truth just enough to get you off course. And then it just continues to take you down that spiral.

And then you end up at a place where you're like, how did I get here? And I can't get out. And that's what ultimately what Satan wants to do is, is destroyed and kill. Phil said it yesterday, you know, the verse that said he's a liar. Yeah. Also said he's a murderer. And that's his ultimate goal is death and mayhem.

So I think it's, it's, uh, I think it would be good for us to, to recognize, you know, these strategies of how he slides in there. Yeah. And it's, it's all these different tactics. And so the context of what dad was talking about was definitely acting like he's doing something for your good. I mean, that would be what an angel of light would do. But it's actually something.

and this destructive. So you got that manipulatism. He pretty well tried that type of scheme, Satan himself, when he started baiting Jesus in that Luke chapter 4. Right. The bait started when he tempts him. But you know, it's interesting, Dad, because... You can say no at any time if you want to.

Right. Or you can say, you know... But you were reading 2nd Corinthians 11, if you keep reading into 12, Paul talks about having some sort of malady. And he said he asked, we don't know if it's physical, emotional what, but he said he asked three times for God to remove it. And he called it a messenger of Satan. Yeah. That was sent to torment me.

Yep. So now that's a whole other range of Satan's abilities. Which tells you he's quite powerful. He's very powerful. And we know that from the Job story, which we mentioned in the last. He uses two extremes. when temptation, he tries to build you up. If you notice in the three temptations, it's like,

I mean, look, you're greater than this. He's smoozing him. You haven't eaten in 40 days. You know, you're... Eat something. Come on. Well, you're the son of God. Come on. I mean, it's like, you deserve all these kingdoms.

You're so great that if you threw yourself down, angels are going to catch you. They would have to catch you because you're the greatest person in the world. When you think about why people, you know, go have affairs. And I'm talking about people who you respect. And, I mean, you're shocked that you're like, how did this smart, you know, wealthy guy, you know, a leader in the church?

All victim to this. Yeah. Well, because this is how this works. You think, oh, I've worked so hard and I've done so many things. All the little temptation boys. You know, there's a lot of verses, Jay. I deserve this, you know. They say be self-control.

and alert. Some of these texts say, you better be self-control and alert for what you'll run into as you'll journey with the human race. One of those was from First Peter Five, and then the next thing he said was because your enemy, the devil,

prowls around like a roaring line, seeking whom he may devour. And that's the whole thing about, well, I don't want to scare you, I'm thinking, I do. Yeah, but he's too crafty. Fears are pretty good fears. Well, you got to have a lot.

He's coming in a deceitful way, which I think you don't recognize it as such, because that was only the first extreme. Well, the other extreme is then he's like, well, you're worthless. You're terrible. You know, once you, so it's like that's the slander, the accusation part of, I mean, you know, the word devil comes from, what is that, Diablo, I think, where we get diabolical. It's like, so he takes the two extremes. He puffs you up.

Because he's not doing anything that you're not already on the road to do. I think there's a key thing that you read all these verses about this. He's not making a good person bad. He's just taking your impulses that are not right and making them worse. And you always have the luxury of saying no. Yeah, that's what I mean. Because you have other passages to say each one. He's tempted one by his own evil desire.

Yeah. So, and what I was going to say is I think people, C.S. Lewis said this somewhere, but he's like the problem we have with the evil one is we take two extremes on it. And he meant two as in two and two as in two, T.W.O and T-O-O. Which is we either think in superstition where the devil does everything. He's everywhere at all time. And I've heard people close to me say, you know, I was late. I mean, the devil was cutting me off in traffic.

And I was like, oh, you saw the devil. No, people were pulling in front of me. The devil was just attacking me all the way here. Then it started raining. He threw a rainstorm out. Oh, that could go on it. I'm in hell. So you got that extreme.

Then you have the other, you know, extreme, which says, oh, there's no. Yeah, that's nonsense. They're equivalent to the devil is, what was that maybe, with the head spinning around and the vomiting. If you're not, if your head doesn't spin all the way around and green vomit coming out of your mouth, then it's not real. A lot of people make what Jesus experienced in Luke 4, you know, a lot of people say, oh, so you're telling me the devil made me do it. I'm like, yeah. Well, that's what I'm saying. I think we're somewhere in between.

You have your own, I mean, selfish ambition has to be in the list of what causes sin. It has to be there. There's too many passages, James 3.6. Yeah, you're participating with him. He's not forcing you to do these things. No, I think he's enhancing your wants and desires that are wrong. I think you come first because you can't, that's, It's a cop out then because I think you're taking it too far to extreme.

Well, the devil made me do it. No, he didn't. You did it by your own choosing. He just made you feel better about it through a lie. That's right. I mean, I think that's what he does. He lies and he slanders and he accuses. There's a whole cadre of people, millions and millions and hundreds of millions,

that basically do what you say. They choose to follow Satan, but claim there is no Satan. Well, yeah, I think there's, I think Seals Lewis is right. Creeping around out trying to destroy people. We've got a lot of verses that say that, say, well, see, that's a bunch of bull. Well, I think the craftiness of the evil one was, is when you take one of those two extremes, he can work with either one of those.

That's a good thing. If you either overestimate him or you underestimate him or you underestimate him, I think you're putting yourself in his wheelhouse for a lot of reasons. That is a great point. I mean, yeah, because we over spiritualize it and we do that. I know why we do it is because we want to avoid our own responsibility, right? And or on the other side of it, if you don't acknowledge them in awe, then you're overestimating your control and your power. And it's in that middle space.

But I love what you said earlier, though, that I mean, think about a strategy. because he is called a liar. He's called a murderer. Revelation 1210 says he's an accuser, calls him the accuser. And in my own life, the way it's worked, and I think this is true for all of us, is that he starts with the dripping of the lie. He drips the lie in there to tell you that you can experience some kind of freedom or pleasure or something that's, it looks good.

And then you engage in whatever the sin is that he had dripped in front of you, and then you get deeper and deeper into it. And I think that he actually will protect you at times. He'll protect you from being exposed until just the right moment. And then he'll expose you. And as soon as you're exposed, that's when he's pointing his finger and say, look at you, you're horrible. And then he just unleashes the accusations of shame against you.

And it just shows you. I mean, he's just the ultimate gas slider. And, you know, I think that that's why we, why so many people, like you, you talk to some people that are fearful to, come to Christ because they think I've gone too far. I've done too much. You know, well, no, there's nothing outside the blood of Jesus that Jesus's blood can't cover. No one's gone too far.

But the devil's going to lie to you and try to keep you from coming by pointing this finger at you and accusing you. A good analogy of that is the first time I watched the Silence of the Lambs, which I think it was the TV version. Maybe not. I don't know. I can't remember. But if you want to watch it, you know, watch the TV version.

It was powerful. So, you know, I found myself. I tried to look up the quotes while ago, but of course I couldn't find it on a worldly device because it makes them look bad. But I found myself right at the beginning agreeing with the monster because the FBI agent, this movie's foggy in my head.

I know it pretty well. It just hit me. But when she came in there like, what caused this? Because this Hannibal Lecter was like the greatest monster ever. I mean, he's eating people. Cannibal and all this. Yeah.

He's like, well, what happened? But he heard her say that. And so then they get into this discourse on behavior patterns or whatever. But he basically at the end, the gist of what he said, which is so weird that the world made this seem like crazy. But I found myself agreeing with him. He was like, well, maybe I'm just evil. Yeah. And that's like, oh, can you believe how crazy this guy.

is he's like maybe it's just evil and I want to do it yeah I was like no I think he pretty much got it right there that that is you want to kill people and eat them I'd say yeah that's probably the point I'm making in that context because I may be misremembering some of that but is that the world has a hard time making sense it's there always has to be some other calls besides God you know the evil one And so they're trying to say, well, he just, he grew up poor or he was abused. There has to be a call. It can't be just that he just decided to be evil. Jesus.

And when he said maybe that's what it is, that seemed crazy. Jesus has called the truth. And he said, Satan is the father of lies. That's the wordage. He's the father of lies. The father of murder and the father of lies. He said, but you take those two things and you take those out of human beings, take those things out. Satan goes, well, that's what goes with him, lies and murder.

Yep. And if you look at the lying going on just in the United States, go worldwide with the liars, and you say, and the murder rate, you would have to say, my goodness, where is all this coming from? to be a source. Well, you read John chapter 8. Satan is the one you're looking for. Well, he's the one that tried to bait Jesus, the son of God, who's going to die to set the humanity free from all this,

and Satan's working on him. He went after the source of good love. I mean, that's the source. He got after the source. Right. And lost, fortunately for us. Jace, when you were making that last point, I was thinking about a conversation I had with a guy who's a marriage and family therapist in Louisiana that we all know, very successful practice, one of the bigger practices in the area, super sharp guy. And I remember we had lunch one time a few years ago, and he said, he's just kind of out of the blue said this, but it stuck with me.

And I think it drives home to the point you were making. He said, he said, everybody that comes into my practice, he said, they all want. the same thing. And he, I mean, he was a really good therapist. He said, they all want the same thing. He said, you know what they want? And I was like, no, what do they want? He said, they all want to know the one, that one reason why they are the way they are.

Like, what is the one thing that caused them to be in the, in the, in the, the issue that have the issues that they have or whatever the issue they were coming to him for? And I don't know why I just said, because, you know, I was, you know, preaching at the time at the university church. And so I'm just thinking scripture. And I said, and I said, sin? That was my, that was my answer. He said, no, no, no, no.

Although that's true, he said, I have to, he said, I have to come up with something outside of the patient because they could never accept that. And I know there's like causes for things like in the Bible. I'm a big believer in therapy. And I think that there are issues. People have a lot of issues and things that happen in abuses and whatnot. But when we talk about like, our own, like, a lot of times our own inner turmoil is, I mean, we have, the only thing we

can control is our response. And, um, and I love the therapies like the, the ones that like the emotionally focused therapy that focuses more on, like let's get down to the root of you and, and, and finding out who you are and then finding affirmation there. But I, I, to me, I think that's true. We look for something outside of ourselves because it's too painful to look inside of ourself and say, you know, maybe, maybe my issue's here. And it's not, I'm not saying everything in our life. I'm not saying that. But there are a lot of things in our lives that are caused by us that we don't want to, we just don't want to see it. It's too painful to admit. It's too painful to say, yeah, I'm a sinner. You know, I messed up here. You know, I'm not,

I'm not following God's will here. And, yeah, there's, you know, Satan can help drag that along. But, I mean, if we're going to find real healing, we're going to have to get to that place or at least our own life. We say, I'm a sinner. I mean, that's the precursor. I mean, that's the precursor. or to understanding the gospel is understanding you are a sinner. And then we can receive the grace of God that He offers freely once we admit and see our own sin. Then that points us to the cross because it's only when we see our desperation that we see the need for the death of Jesus and his sanctifying and justifying blood. But it is interesting because Jay's made the point. I looked it up, Jay, it's the old English word, which comes from Latin but also Greek, Diablos.

you're right. But the old meaning, it kind of comes from the ancient idea, which is quite a bit different now than how people view Satan. Accuser and slander. Yeah. That was the original. You go back. When you read about him here, that's what his name meant. But through the years, we've softened that to the point you said, because now I was looking under the English.

And, of course, one says, you know, the devil, meaning, you know, what we, that's evil spirit. But then others are like, you know, a mischievous, clever, self-will person, that cunning old devil. You know, so you see how they begin to lighten that out. Or it's a bad situation. You're going to have a devil of a time dealing with it. But you see how the word has broken down through time? Well, it became almost comedic. Yeah.

Yeah. Because people just, they don't want to, they don't want to believe that. But I'm saying Christians are contributing to that. that by saying all this, well, the devil made me do it. Do you realize if you say that, the only way you're going to escape whatever said issue is that the devil made you do is to convince the devil to change his mind? If you're putting all the blame on him, well, how are you ever going to get out of it? You're going to have a good consultation with him and get him to change courses?

Well, everybody's like, well, that's ridiculous. Well, quit being ridiculous and taking it to an extreme. Right. That's why I feel like I want to read this James 1. I mentioned it the last podcast, but this is pretty clear in James 113. Hang on for you to read that. Let's take another break. We're talking about temptation.

James said, when tempted, no one should say God is tempting me. For God cannot be tempted by evil. I mean, he cannot be tempted by evil. So it's not him. nor does he tempt anyone. So you think we're going to interject a part here where here comes the devil. But it says, but each one is tempted when by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Now, the evil one may come in there, as we said, if you read all the verses about what he does,

you will always find words like, don't give the devil a foothold. don't let him outwit us we're not unaware of his schemes even Ephesians 6 when it talks about spiritual warfare it's like our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the spiritual forces evil that's why i think when jesus this was a i think it was a spiritual thing this same evil one he housed a snake so i think it was in the spirit and it works in your thoughts and I think the same thing about demons and all that, because you remember the story where Jesus said over the matter of what happens if you've been married seven times,

who's going to be the husband and wife in heaven? And he's like, well, you don't know the power of God. You'll be like the angels. But it said, to God, all are alive. So, you know, even the dead people that are not going to make it, their spirits or whatever you want to call it. These are all factors in the supernatural world of angels. I mean, God made angels.

Some of them fell. I think we all agree with that. God made humans. All of them fall at some point. So we're living in a world where people make mistakes. So we've got to deal with that. we're going to make mistakes you got to deal with that and we have this world of everyone else that god views us alive in the supernatural world some are cursed and some are blessed but they're

causing mischief and mayhem in the spiritual mind in the spiritual world i mean to me that's just obvious so he's like but here and you don't have to look very far to find it exactly you don't have to search for it oh it's all around you well you look around everybody always said, what's wrong with this world? I'm concerned. You know, the world just seems to be no, you're just recognizing what I just laid out. There's evil in the world, and we're contributing to some of it by sinful behavior. I've always thought one of the movies that intrigued me about the way the evil one operates, it was called the Devil's Advocate. And kind of like you were talking about earlier, Jayce, I would say you probably need to watch

a censor version if you can because the other ones kind of raw. But it's really, it really shows, because his deal in that one, it was a young attorney, Keanu Reeves, and now Pacino is the devil. But at the very beginning, it's all about his pride and his vanity. And so it all goes to this whole thing about him just appealing to that. And at the end, you know, it's like, you know, they start having this debate about the whole, you know, but you said this and you know i didn't say that you know he's like you know you made the you you made every decision i just opened the door you know but it just really was a great visual way

to show how he operates and of course at the end it was death and mayhem you know and and so you know i want to end the you know ruin the end him for you but in the end it just he keeps going and so it's really interesting because we talk about different forms because dad you said was he looked like before we came on air we were talking about from our past discussion he's definitely a spirit because we know he can indwell there's cases of that we see in the bible we know that some of his minions are evil spirits now who they are i'm not sure but they endwell and they were talking to jesus and they had names and of course we talked about nefarious that was the whole idea but then also there there are times when we see angels because he was an angel and he even masquerades as an angel of

where they had some sort of form because they were seen, you know, so when they would appear. They could be seen. Yeah. Yeah. So there was a form there. So I'm assuming he could do that. There are other cases in the Old Testament where the angel of the Lord would show up but look like a person.

They'd be talking to them thinking they were just a man. Then they look up and they're gone. So we see some instances of that. So all of these are things I'm assuming he has the capacity to do. I think in the spiritual world, he can, he can. project thoughts in your mind. Right. You know,

everybody goes through this process. I brought up this couple podcast ago, that we all have a standard of behavior that we expect as a human, whether you're a believer or not. And you can,

now people who say, there just shouldn't be any rules and we should all just go out there and do whatever as long, you know, as you don't hurt anybody. Well, that's just the dumbest thing you've ever heard.

And the illustration I think I use is like when, you know, you could say that. There's no right or wrong. But you get on an airplane and somebody sitting in your seat. And what does anybody do? Hey, you're in my seat. And if that person doesn't get up, there's going to be strife here. Because not only do we have a standard of human behavior that we also have a standard that everyone else should comply with.

If you say, hey, you're crazy, I don't follow rules. I'm sitting in this seat. Just watch how that goes. And my point is, we all have a standard, and we all don't live up to it. Even in our own, whatever the standard, we all, because all people are sinful. Right. So there I think you find, you know, the one, as Zach said earlier, the place to look for Christ. because you realize in that moment,

something is pressing on you from an outside agency to give you that standard. Because we all have it. It's really an evidence of God, this tug of war over what I ought to do. That's really what separates humans from every other thing on the planet. Dad used to use the illustration when he talked about this in his speeches.

is dad, you'd use the illustration, you'd say, you know, you had, say, indigenous Indians, and they're out on the plains. And, of course, they're serving the great spirit of the sky and all this, and they have visions. And so, you know, it's not like they're following the Bible or somebody came up with a law. But then why do the, why do the young ones sneak in to steal horses from one tribe to the other? Why are they sneaking? Yeah. If there's not a right and wrong, where does that come from?

You know, it's crazy. My daughter and I are still. studying the CS Lewis book, Mere Christianity. So we had a couple hours session last night that she initiated, which was awesome. But, and she, you know, she's a lot smarter than me. Just when you read a book, you know, I have to read it like three times before I get it, you know. I mean, it's not the most easy thing to read. And so that's why I tend to hang out in the Bible.

I have a little easier time. Fifth grade. You get somebody like, Lewis, I'm like, well, that's, I'm going to read this three times.

But she was just dropping, you know, nuggets. I was just like, hmm, that's deep, that's deep. But we were talking about that

because somehow it got brought up about this deal about as long as I don't hurt anybody. But there was an illustration that I hadn't noticed that he pointed out in that book. He's like, here's how humans think.

If you were getting off a train and someone accidentally tripped you and you fell and hurt yourself. You wouldn't, you might be mad for a second that you fell and it happened, but you saw that it was an accident. You saw the intent played out. Well, it would, let's say you keep walking and then someone tries to trip you just for meaning it. And you can tell it's an attempt to trip me, but you, you don't get tripped up.

well, why are you mad at the one who didn't hurt you? Yeah. If it's all about, well, just as long as no one get hurt, because that's a lie that the evil one told you. That's right. It doesn't matter in the end. The intent and how others view you are, it's going to make you mad. Whether you're a believer or not,

if you're walking down the street and somebody tries to trip you, all people are going to get mad of that. It's happening every day in America, up and down. every city and the country. So the million dollar question is, where does that come from, that commonality of humans? It's coming from somewhere or someone.

And the idea to cover what you know is truth, which is an interesting point. Let's take another break. I was talking about this situation recently with this, there was a guy in the subway in New York, and he wound up, he was, you know, he was harassing people,

and he had a long, you know, issue with this. and these people restrained him in particular like a Marine did, but there were other people there there. And you watch it, it seems pretty clear that everybody there was saying, we've got to get this guy's a threat to everybody. But there's a whole narrative that goes out about it, that he was just,

you know, he was just a guy who was acting like Michael Jackson, these people, random strangers decided to attack him and kill him. And people believe it. So much so that they take to the streets, they're protesting. And you look at that and,

To me, it shows what Jay's was just talking about, something that's so clear, and yet some people just can't view it that way because of something. Yeah, I think that's where it becomes deceitful. So to answer your question, Phil, you said, what does the devil look like? To me, it looks like when I have these thoughts of rationalization or think, well, I got all these other things right, I mean, you know, I deserve this or that, you know, these are the beginnings of. going down a path that's going to be utterly destructive in your life. When you feel like you're high and mighty or you've accomplished things to where you should have some me time or have a break or whatever, all these thoughts are, that's what leads to destructive behavior.

It's a justification, rationalization. That may be something positive or maybe how you respond to something that did happen to you. you know, out of fear or neglect or abuse. So you're like, well, I mean, I'm messed up anyway. So I think on the other side, the slander or whatever, you know, that the way these thoughts come to mind like, well, I'm too far gone. Or, you know, God has to forgive me. I'm going to go do this because, I mean, God's a God of love.

And I'm better than somebody else. I mean, you could, I'm just trying to think of these off the top of my head. but all these justifications are really lies that we tell ourselves so we get enough gumption to go out there and do something that we know is wrong. So when it all starts, you pick any sin, and it's not necessarily what we did was bad. It was just we did it at the wrong time, the wrong way, and for the wrong reason. And so I was talking to that.

my daughter about that last night. I was like, when you think about it, a lot of these things are not wrong. You think sex. As soon as you said it, you're like, oh, that's wrong. Well, of course it's not wrong. God invented it.

Yeah. That's how we're populating the earth. You know, you and the wife. That being part of our purpose, yeah. So I saw her looking at me because, you know, I could tell, I don't think she had thought about it like that. I was like, so what happens? We have these little voices.

We have these little conversations and these deceits and these lies and the justification, which I think is coming from the evil world, and we want to, we don't want to wait, we don't want to be patient, we don't have, so we just do it. And then what happens? We know that it's wrong. We have a guilty conscience. You know, it wasn't that it was a bad thing. It was just we didn't want to do it God's way and trust him. So that's why you're going to see a lot of things, even in chapter 5 when, you know, Peter said, because you say so, we'll do it. I mean, there's just some things early on. in your faith that you're having to trust God, even though it may not make sense to you because your mind has become twisted because you've lived a life for so long. It's interesting you mentioned that point because right after that, he says one of my favorite things that Peter ever said. He said a lot of good and bad things, but he said when he recognized the greatness of Jesus and the not greatness of Peter, he said, go away from me, Lord, I'm a sinful man.

Well, yeah. I hate I jumped ahead because that is a strong. That is so strong. And it's just the opposite of what you described. I thought your description was really good about Satan. Think about him as an accuser telling you're either way better than you think you are or you're way worse. I like that. That's the extremes.

And I think our temptation is to view the evil one as an extreme. Either it's something comedic not to be taken seriously or he's literally around every corner, everything that. And I'm not saying that. to be funny. I know a lot of people that they'll say in one paragraph, you know, the devil was just, I mean, you're like, how's your day going? Oh, the devil is, he's around every corner. He's lurking. I mean, I went over here and I did, and I'm thinking, are you sure that's the devil? Or is that just life? Maybe this is a bad area. You see what I mean? It's like, I think both extremes are, are causing you to make very poor decisions. Which is, let's take her last break.

Which is why I think as he takes different tactics to different areas and different cultures, even on planet Earth, because things are going to work different in an African village than they're going to work with us here. You say, well, no, it's all the same. Not really. I mean, Satan has different tactics. Some people are much more willing to believe in him for who he is. And so he may be way more direct with them because you're hearing much more about demon possession and those things. They're out of their mind scared. Here, we're just, I don't know, mental illness.

You know, we start just attaching things that are non-spiritual. Give them pills. That's right. Well, and look, some people in some cases... They need Jesus. I think that's part of it. I mean, people do have mental disorder. You know, I think that's what I'm saying.

If you just look at the way we used to view this, there may be, you know, a moral issue that you feel guilty about or anger. Okay, let's... You made a... poor choice and you're having trouble. That may be the, you know, I read something somewhere. It was like written 100 years ago. It was like the four anchors of depression. And it was like, you know, morality and psychological.

And it was, you know, mental disorder. But the fourth one was like demon, which we would never have that in there. You know, now. But 100 years ago, they were just looking at it like, in some cases, we don't really have an explanation, and so it just seems to be some kind of power, you know, of evil. But I was looking at that as kind of being insupportive because I think it's not an extreme view.

It's a combination of a lot of things that can contribute to that. But the bottom line is you say, well, how do we combat this? I think you recognize that the evil one first tried this with Jesus. He built him up. and tried to tempt him. My theory, because I don't know this for a proven fact, but later on, the next time he tries, because this section ends and he was going to wait for a more opportune time,

is when Jesus is all alone and all his disciples leaving him, he's in the garden and he's praying, you know. He's asked him to pray for him and be with him and they all went to sleep. Yeah, is there any other way? And I think then it's like, look, these thoughts, you're all alone. ain't nobody love you because I think the evil one wanted him dead

that's what he did he he's a murderer from the beginning so he's like yeah yeah yeah but he didn't realize that it was you know the Lord's will

for him to do that but it was still difficult because Jesus had the weight of all our sin that was that was but I think the evil one was tempting him in that I want to read this text because I think it goes right along

with what you're saying I just turned over here to Hebrews 2.14, since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared Jesus in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death. That is the devil and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. So that's to your point, is if Satan, according to the Hebrew writer, held the power of death up until this moment, then of course he thought that Jesus' death would be something. something that he empowered that would be a good thing.

He thought I got him. I got him. But that's what you should be. Instead of saying, you know, the devil's around every corner, look, we don't want to be unaware of his schemes because we believe the devil is real. Yeah. I mean, that's clear to me in here. There's no doubt.

There's a supernatural power of evil out there that if you give it just a little crack in the door of your heart. Who has a network of minions that. Yeah. That assists. It will beat you down and chew you up and spit you out. But the point is that Jesus conquered the evil one. He won the victory. He beat Satan head to head.

And by his death, he gave us a way out from under our sin. And he gave us a way out from under death, which are the two things the evil ones the most interested in. Lying to give you the justification for sinning. And then in the end, he'll just kill you. Right. And so Jesus conquered him. So I'd rather people view it from that, from what we have through the Holy Spirit of God

and what Jesus conquered for us instead of this just panic lifestyle, thinking he's going to swoop you without your consent. You know, he's literally trying to grab you at every five seconds. Right. No, and I think that's why that passage is so powerful when it tells us about being freed from a fear, we don't even have to fear it in the sense that, because we know it's been overcome. So it really did change everything. Well, it's respect, but it's also, you know, when James said at the end of that chapter

in chapter five, he said, resist him. Right. I mean, that's used, and what does Ephesion 6 say? What is you put on a full armor of God and you stand? You stand your ground. That is, we're not running over him in a vehicle. We're not running from, you know, from, we're standing in our. gospel chariot. We're standing our ground in Jesus is what we're doing. And I think the best

defense is always an offense for Jesus. I mean, Jesus' name, when we're, you know, the next two paragraphs we're going to get to after his hometown visit. But after that, you see his power over the demonic world. I was surprised that every time you see Jesus casting out demons, they all know who he was immediately. Yeah. Which is what I'm saying. There's a lot about the demonic world. We don't understand, but they knew who he was immediately.

And look, they listened to him. And when he said shut up, they shut up. So I just think it's interesting, too, that, you know, Jesus was always compassionate toward people, but not demons. He basically said, shut up, get out of the way, leave them. And it was very careful, carefully written that, like, when a demon would leave someone, they wouldn't be injured. The human would.

I mean, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John is a constant drumbeat of removing the evil spirits. I mean, just would know just do it. Get them out of there.

And it looks like there were a lot of people. They endwelled them. They dwelled in them. Well, that's what I was talking about. If it's all about you, you're never going to battle. We've sort of said that's back then and when Jesus was here, but now the evil spirits are not running around in human beings. I don't know. Y'all, y'all can come up with what you

think about that, but I believe they're still here. Well, there's no doubt there. No, and I've always thought the reason, my theory is the reason you see so much activity when Jesus was here is because everything was upside down because he was here. Yep. You know, but over time, that may or may not be effective, but no, I mean, what reason will we have to think that they wouldn't still be active? He's still active. Yeah, I do think he's limited. When did he say, when did God say, you know, and you never had to worry about evil spirits again? No. Right. Well, I think once the Holy Spirit was poured out, he did provide security for those who will trust him. And I do think it's different in that way. You know, he's not going to come

howls you without you allowing that to happen. That's a good point. If the Holy Spirit, he gave us a shield. Right. Well, that's what I mean. Now, if you go out there and want to be some kind of, whatever they call them these days, and you give your life to the evil world, I'm sure you're going to get messed up. Oh, yeah.

But you make a good point. I never really thought about it. If the Spirit of God lives in you, I would say it would be impossible for an evil spirit to live. That's what I'm proposing. Yeah. I mean, I mean, he said that. The Bible didn't say that directly, but. When you take the Lord, it said they can't dwell together, the spirit.

Well, that's true. Yeah, that's First Corinthians. Yeah. What do they have become? They can't coexist. Remember when Jesus said about the Beelzebub, they can't coexist. You got to tie the, remember the illustration he said. Yeah.

You want to, if you want to burglarize the house, you got to first tie up the owner of the house. Well, well, the owner. the owner of this house is the Lord God Almighty, the Holy Spirit. So good luck with that. So I think that was his point. And that's why I do think it became more limited. But that's not to say when I see something drastic happen, especially that involves violence, lies, and murder.

I'm pretty sure I know what realm that came from. And this is called this Bible right here. It's called the Sword of the Spirit. it. It's a weapon. Right. If it's a weapon, and it's a sword. Well, that's why Jesus was quoting it. To take up the shield of faith so that you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one,

helmet of salvation. You just go through that list, you say, oh, there's a way to combat him, but you better be well-versed in this and carry it with you. Which, by the way, is another lie. I mean, because if you shoot an arrow that's on fire, it'll go out for it hits. Yeah. But he's giving you an illusion that that's a spiritual thing. He's shooting flaming spiritual arrows.

Yep. Darts that hit. So we're out of time, but we'll continue this discussion over in our overtime. If you want to follow us, blaishtivy.com slash unashamed is where we do our bonus segment. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed podcast. Help us out by rating us on iTunes. And don't miss an episode by subscribing on YouTube. and be sure to click that little bell to get notified about new episodes.

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