Spiritual Warfare Pt. 1

[00:00:08] Speaker A: Welcome to that's a Good Question, a podcast where we answer questions about the Christian faith in plain language. If you or someone you know has questions, please submit them at peacechurch cc. Questions? Hey, welcome to that's a Good Question. My name is John. I serve as host and I'm here with my friend Logan. [00:00:29] Speaker B: Good to be here. [00:00:31] Speaker A: And today we are talking about a topic that I think many Christians want to talk about but is often avoided because it feels like one of those things that's kind of unscientific, kind of mystical, kind of unclear, A little heavy. A little heavy. [00:00:45] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:00:46] Speaker A: The topic is spiritual warfare. [00:00:49] Speaker B: I think even in that title, you know, topic spiritual, which sometimes is used as a word that's like mystical, like not fully understood. Yeah. And then warfare, which is a very heavy word to kind of drop in there. So, yeah, I get why people are intrigued and want to want to engage in it, but don't really know how to start. [00:01:11] Speaker A: Yeah. And in my experience, people end up at two very different ends of the spectrum when it comes to this topic. One end is they talk about nothing. But this topic that everything is a conversation about Satan and his work and the work of demons and spiritual warfare. On the other end is people who don't talk about it at all and just. Yeah, they just don't want to talk at all about spiritual forces at work and their impact on us on a day to day basis. Yeah. [00:01:36] Speaker B: I have, in preparation for this, I looked up the C.S. lewis quote from Screwtape Letters. There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. So what can, what can people do to kind of fall into error? One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. Kind of that same idea that's like on the back of my first copy of Screwtape Letters that was written down, I was like, that's so good. It's like we want to have a healthy, accurate biblical view of these things that isn't ignoring it, neglecting it, but also isn't calling it and placing it where it shouldn't be. [00:02:16] Speaker A: Right. Aware but not obsessed. [00:02:18] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:02:18] Speaker A: One way it's been said, I think that's a good way to say it. [00:02:20] Speaker B: Be aware of the battle. [00:02:22] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, totally. So that's what we want to do is we want to talk about it, we want to answer some questions people have about it, and most importantly, we want to go to the Bible and see what the Bible has to say. About it, not end up in kind of some unclear, murky areas, but just be really clear about what the Bible says and doesn't say and try to understand what we can as Christians about. [00:02:41] Speaker B: Right. [00:02:41] Speaker A: This important thing, this battle that we are in, and that's the first thing I'll say, is that we are in a battle. And if you don't know that you're in a battle, then you're inevitably going to lose. [00:02:49] Speaker B: That's good. [00:02:50] Speaker A: We are. It is. Yeah. Spiritual warfare is real. We're in it. And so let's talk about what in the world that means how to be part of it. So let's talk about this. [00:03:01] Speaker B: Logan set it up for us. [00:03:02] Speaker A: Are we in a spiritual battle every day? Are we in a spiritual war? Or is that just dramatic language? I just used it, but you can call me dramatic if you want. [00:03:10] Speaker B: Yeah, well, I. A question for you that I have is, like, is. Is this conversation going to be different given the context? Like, is this a unique conversation for us as Americans to have versus if we were living in like a Third World kind of situation? [00:03:28] Speaker A: What. That's a really good question. [00:03:29] Speaker B: How does this change based on where we're at in life or in the world? [00:03:32] Speaker A: Yeah, so I have thoughts. I do want to preface them by saying that I don't have a ton of experience in Third World countries. I live in America, so I. That is my, you know, my primary experience. So I can't. So I can only speak from what I have heard from missionaries and, you know, people like that. Okay, so what. What I think immediately is that, I think, you know, Satan is smart. Right. He's strategic. I think at first. Peter 5 that says he's like, you know, a line prowling around, seeking to destroy, to devour. So he's, you know, he's. He's very smart. He's very clever. He's been doing this for a lot of generations, all the length that humanity's been on the Earth. Right. So I think he knows that for us here in the Western world, the United States of America, for example, we are a very scientific culture. We tend not to believe in or to even discard proof of supernatural things. Whereas I think people in Third World countries are much more open to that idea. You know, we've had missionaries that we support as a church come here and tell us about experiences that they're having, you know, kind of battling it out with the local witch doctor. [00:04:39] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:04:40] Speaker A: Right. So I think it makes sense that Satan would work in a different way in a culture like Ours versus a culture like that. [00:04:45] Speaker B: Right. And it seems like a simplistic way of laying out the battlefield. Right. Like, look at the map, the battle map. It's a pitfall that someone in a rural third world area, or something less modernized and less scientific kind of culture, a pitfall for them would be that they fall for things they shouldn't. [00:05:06] Speaker A: Sure. [00:05:07] Speaker B: But a pitfall in our modern scientific, you know. You know, we're prideful and boastful of our own understanding of things. And we're all experts. Right. Google at our fingertips. We're all experts. Our pitfall is to dismiss things that ought not be dismissed. Yeah. And become unaware of the true stakes of the battle. [00:05:29] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, totally. I think that's what we're quick to do here, is to say, even when confronted with real proof that makes sense, we kind of say, well, no, that doesn't fit into what we would call a scientific worldview. [00:05:40] Speaker B: Yeah. Do you think most people listening have had a type of spiritual experience that's hard for them to explain, rather positive or negative? [00:05:49] Speaker A: I think so, yeah. And that's just anecdotal from my own conversations with people. Yeah. I think. I think probably a majority of people have had some kind of experience like that that they're like, I don't know what that was. I'm probably not going to talk about it much to a lot of people, but I don't know what that was. That was. That was different. [00:06:04] Speaker B: Yeah. I remember my 8th grade language art or my 7th grade language arts teacher when the topic of ghosts got brought up, she was like, oh, I believe in ghosts. And we were like, what? And it was like, she like took the moment to be like, when I was a child of like, I knew the name of the ghost and he would turn the light on and off without me doing anything. I was just like this weird. Like, I don't know what to do with that now. I don't know if I should think differently of you or just. [00:06:34] Speaker A: But I actually think, well, that's right there. That's why people don't talk about it because they're like, they instantly get put in the crazy. [00:06:39] Speaker B: I actually think it's somewhat common to have some story like that where it's like, oh, yeah, what was that? And for con, like, for our. In our culture, like, I think we all know someone that is an atheist but will say that they are spiritual, like he or her, like, they're like, well, I'm. I don't believe in God, but I'm a spirit. I'm I believe in. [00:07:02] Speaker A: Sure. [00:07:02] Speaker B: You know, something spiritual, something supernatural. Yeah. Because there's something supernatural about our lives. Like there's something spiritual about existence. You know, just thinking metaphysically about the lives that we live, we. We know deep down that there is something. There's a spiritual aspect to life. [00:07:18] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:07:18] Speaker B: And we've had experiences that are hard to explain. And I. But I. My point is, I think she said she thought ghosts because just in our culture, that's the best thing to grab without also attaching the. The stakes that come with a divine being. [00:07:35] Speaker A: Yeah. We know that she's probably most likely talking about a demonic experience. [00:07:39] Speaker B: Right. [00:07:39] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, you're. Basically, Your options are either that didn't happen and, you know, she. She's making it up, or that was. [00:07:46] Speaker B: Some kind of demonic experience or technically angelic. Yeah, could be angelic, but that sounds like. [00:07:51] Speaker A: Well, less likely that. But yeah, could be. [00:07:54] Speaker B: Yeah. No, I remember there's, like, in any given experience. [00:07:56] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, totally. I mean, yeah, there's forces of good and evil. It's all. Both are possible. Yeah. I remember a time a good friend of mine, we were in college and he. We were in a class. I can't remember what the context was, but he shared a story about that when he was a kid, he basically had. He experienced a. Yeah. An encounter with demons. I remember everybody afterwards kind of thinking he was crazy. And I was like, I don't think you're crazy. I think that, you know, I don't know if it's exactly as you described it and, you know, what our, you know, correct interpretation of that all is and all that kind of thing, but I. But no, it makes total sense in a biblical worldview that, yeah, angels and demons are at work. And, you know, sometimes we're aware of their work, sometimes we're not. [00:08:38] Speaker B: And because I'm. I'm a pastor and I've interacted with a lot of different people and counseling settings and whatnot. I. I just know that what. What a lot of people thinking of is gonna be like, paranormal activity, like horror movies. And like, I. When I think of demonic forces, I don't think of something crazy like that. I think more of, like, people being twisted in on themselves and just like, totally taken over by sin and a slave to sin and distracted by the true stakes of their lives and ignorant to the truth and believing lies. Like, that's the kind of stuff that I feel like demonic forces are primarily doing to us. That. That's. That's what the spiritual battle is. It's right Are we being led toward God or away from him? [00:09:28] Speaker A: Right. [00:09:29] Speaker B: Are we being more like living into our purpose he has for us or away from the purpose he has for us? Are we rejecting Christ or accepting Christ? [00:09:36] Speaker A: Right. I think that's important to state right now is that it would be a mistake to think that the only time that we encounter angels or demons is when we have some kind of strange supernatural experience that, that we can't explain. That's not. That's like, that's something that can happen. But I would say things that feel very every day are also encounters with. [00:09:59] Speaker B: Yes. [00:09:59] Speaker A: Angels and demons. You know, I think, you know, so you look at the Bible and the ways that it describes Satan's work, and a lot of them sound quite normal. So I've got like a short list I made here just, Just, you know, a few minutes ago. Here's. So Revelation 12:10 calls Satan the accuser. Okay. So anytime that you're, you know, sort of feeling or experiencing that accusation and that guilt that comes with sin and that, you know, you experience it to a point that you're, you know, like, does the blood of Jesus really cover all my sins? I'm feeling, you know, I'm not trusting fully in that good news. You know, that's. [00:10:37] Speaker B: That's an attack or excusing God is not good. And Satan, the Hebrew word means accuser. [00:10:42] Speaker A: Yes, that's what it means. Right. Think of the way that Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness in Matthew chapter four. I think not in the same way, but I think a lot of the temptations that he faces, there are temptations that we face every day. Again, that's. So the Bible would say that's in the category of things that Satan is promoting, pushing towards us. There's other passages like in 1st Corinthians 14 or in 2nd Corinthians 2, talk about confusion or even discouragement as being results of Satan's work. So I just. There's a lot of things that are, you know, it doesn't have to be this, this wild supernatural experience to be demonic activity. [00:11:19] Speaker B: I kind of want to hold on to those two things of a passage I want to read. Yes. To There are times where demonic forces are going to be supernatural, scary, kind of horrific things. Because if he can get you distracted and get you, lead you from God through those means, he will. [00:11:42] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:11:42] Speaker B: I think of Acts 19, you know where I'm going. [00:11:45] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:11:45] Speaker B: It's crazy. [00:11:46] Speaker A: Paul, I know Jesus, I know you. I don't that one. [00:11:50] Speaker B: I'm just going to read some of It God was doing incredible things through the apostles. And then it says, and there were some itinerant Jewish exorcists, which is crazy to think of, but they undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits. [00:12:07] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:12:08] Speaker B: Saying I command you by the Jesus. By the Jesus whom Paul proclaims. Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this, but the evil spirit answered them. Jesus I know. And Paul I recognize, but who are you? And the man in whom the evil spirit leaped, leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. Insane. [00:12:30] Speaker A: Yeah, insane. [00:12:31] Speaker B: And you see Jesus casting demons out of people that are, they have like supernatural strength or they're able to do these crazy things. Supernatural things. If, if, if Satan, if demonic forces can trick you and lead you away by those means they will. And yet like we said already in, in our context, we don't need that. Or like, at least sometimes we would be like more turned off towards a claim of that. And what there's even a line. So is what you were saying is like being distracted and being led away even in your sinful. Our sinful flesh hardly even needs the nudging sometimes. [00:13:08] Speaker A: Sure. [00:13:09] Speaker B: We can't just blame Satan for everything. And yet I think he understands sinful human nature better than we do. Right. Because he's seen it by generations. Like you were saying. [00:13:19] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:13:19] Speaker B: And so both the supernatural side of things and kind of scary, horrific stuff, but also the how you were describing it as like normal, sad, sinful experiences that yeah. Are heartbreaking to you know, broken marriages, tweaking the knife into those wounds and accusing you of being a sinner, not loved by God, lying to you. [00:13:44] Speaker A: There's even a line in Screwtape letters, isn't there where they talk about, I think the protege asks, you know, should we reveal ourselves directly to the humans? And the answer is eh, you could. But that's not maybe the best strategy right now. I feel like there's a conversation like that. I think that's kind of what we're saying about at least people in our culture. That's probably the best strategy of the enemy seems to be working for them. So. So one thing that you said there about it's not always or we shouldn't see everything as a specifically Satan oriented work, you know. So like, so traditionally Christians, we've said that there are basically three enemies to us, the world, the flesh and the devil. That's how we've said so you know, there's temptation in the world around us, people and. And, you know, an atmosphere that is not aligned with God's design. And so that tempts us away from God's design that there's our own flesh. We have a sinful nature that lives inside of us and that wants very much to sin. And then, of course, there is Satan working. And so, yeah, you don't want to, in every single thing, be like, wow, Satan made me do it. Or, you know, you don't want to oversimplify in that way. But you also don't want to underestimate the enemy's ability to be involved in all of those kind of situations. So when your sinful nature is tempting you, when you're tempted by the world, you know, Satan may be involved in some way trying to, you know, push that rock right over the edge. [00:15:09] Speaker B: Right. So what. How would you describe the weapons at play in spiritual warfare? [00:15:15] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, I think some of the ones we've talked about already. Satan uses accusations, Satan uses temptation. Satan uses confusion, discouragement. I think there's so many weapons that he has at his disposal to try to lead us towards sin. And we see those played out in different places in scripture. And I think he works alongside of, you know, his allies, if you will, our own sinful nature, which is kind of like, you know, the. The enemy behind our own lines that he can work with. Then you've got the world and its temptations that we can experience. Revelation itself gives a pretty big and broad, I think, picture in symbolic forms of the way that Satan and the world work together against us. So, yeah, I think he has lots of weapons at his disposal. And then, of course, we have our own weapons. Yeah, that Ephesians, chapter six lays out. [00:16:07] Speaker B: Yep. Yeah, I guess I was. I was hoping to go there next, even. Yeah, I'll read it. Yeah, I'll just read it. Yeah, go ahead. Ephesians 6. And if you've ever read the Pilgrim's Progress, I think that he has such beautiful imagery to things like this, but I'll just read it. All right. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day. And. And having done all to stand Firm stand. Therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness and as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace and in all circumstances take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Of God praying at all times in the Spirit with all prayer and supplication. [00:17:20] Speaker A: Yeah. So there's a very explicit, very clear word from Scripture about how to fight. Yeah, about how to fight against Satan and his schemes. God gives us armor. I know some, I, I, I can think of one person, at least in my life, who I know who has said that they every single morning get up and they pray through Ephesians, chapter six. They would call that putting on the armor. Yeah. Because that's what Paul tells us to do, is to put on the armor of God. And so that's his way of applying that is to, to sit with that passage of scripture and to pray through each item in the armor and say, lord, please put this on me. You know, help me to carry this through the day to fight against Satan's attacks. Yeah. The Lord gives us weapons to fight the battle. [00:18:01] Speaker B: You and I were both at a conference once where a preacher said, don't take it off, sleep in it. Yeah, that's a funny. Yeah, it's like that's, this is what we got. Yeah. And it is more than enough and easy to see. It's obvious. But it's worth pointing out that the only weapon we have is the sword. [00:18:22] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:18:22] Speaker B: The rest of it is defense, defenses for us. And he, the Lord's given us his righteousness, his peace. Like all these things are for us to withstand in the evil day. And yet our weapon is truth, to combat the enemy's lies. Right. [00:18:41] Speaker A: And as I think about him saying that, it's funny that he says that, and he's totally right that we should never take it off. But I would say it's almost like, yeah, we never take it off on purpose, but it's like it sort of falls off. [00:18:53] Speaker B: Yeah. I don't even know if this is a real quote by Martin Luther, but I heard someone say once that he said this, and so it's always dangerous. But I heard the quote was, martin Luther was asked, why do you preach the gospel every Sunday? And he said, because you forget it by the end of the week. [00:19:09] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, right, exactly. Yeah. We never mean to take off the Armor of God. But it just kind of happens. [00:19:14] Speaker B: Right. [00:19:14] Speaker A: And so you have to keep putting it back on. [00:19:16] Speaker B: Yeah. I think of how many. All the lies that you can hear in a day. And in our. We were talking about this a little bit before we hit record, but just in the AI world we live in, the real question that we all should be asking is, what is truth? Because the lines have never been more blurred. [00:19:35] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:19:35] Speaker B: Because there's never been more lies. Like, I saw a video today that was, it was this huge news. Like it was this news story saying, like, Israel is shooting into Gaza, breaking the ceasefire. And I was looking at it and I was like, this is all. These are all fake videos. But it used to be like, hey, if it's true, then show me the video evidence of it. And now that, like, there is no. The only thing we got is to like, be there. [00:20:03] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We were just saying this. Yeah, we were just having that conversation. Is. Yeah. [00:20:08] Speaker B: The. [00:20:09] Speaker A: One of the, one of the dangers that I think isn't being talked about enough right now is the. Is the threat to truth that. That AI is or can be. [00:20:16] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:20:16] Speaker A: It can be an ally if used the right way, but it's also can be a huge threat because we just don't know what's true anymore. [00:20:21] Speaker B: And that's not like, that's not a new battle. The battle has always been a battle for truth and against lies. And yet there's. It's just so unprecedented. Like what we have right now is this giant lie making machine, you know? [00:20:34] Speaker A: Sure. [00:20:35] Speaker B: And our hearts are quick to believe those lies. [00:20:37] Speaker A: Yeah. And it's designed to tell you what you want to hear. Yeah. [00:20:41] Speaker B: And then the algorithms we get in that will just tell us what we want to hear. Like Satan's obviously going to be using that. [00:20:47] Speaker A: Yeah. This is a part of this conversation I did not foresee us getting into. Here we are talking about AI and its role in spiritual warfare. [00:20:54] Speaker B: Over our head. [00:20:55] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:20:56] Speaker B: Yep. I guess one verse that then comes to my mind in this world with, with the same battle against lies. And yet unprecedented tools are being used. And I just think of Philippians 4, 8. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise. Think about these things. [00:21:19] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:21:20] Speaker B: So with all that we've said, I think a good shift here is to think of what are some other resources out there for us if we want to dig deeper. There's a lot of, A lot of authors. A lot of thoughts out there. We don't want to waste our time reading bad blogs and bad books. Right. So what. What do we got? [00:21:35] Speaker A: That's right. [00:21:35] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:21:36] Speaker A: There's plenty of bad information out there on this topic. Yeah. Some ones that we've already talked about and that we would recommend. C.S. lewis, the Screwtape Letters. It's a beautiful book that kind of describes like a senior demon writing letters to a junior demon and talking about their strategy against us. [00:21:52] Speaker B: That's one of those books. [00:21:53] Speaker A: Powerful. [00:21:53] Speaker B: Look, I'd actually put that in. I don't know about top 10, but, like, top 25 books that, like, Christians should read. It's one of those. It's a phenomenal. Easy. A phenomenal book and easy read. [00:22:05] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, totally. And then maybe selfishly, I'll say myself and Pastor Ryan, our lead pastor at Peace Church, wrote a book called Withstand that talks about. We actually walk right through Ephesians, chapter six and talk about how the armor equips us to fight the spiritual war. So that is available on Amazon and out there, and you can get access to that. One other one that I would recommend is Martin Lloyd Jones wrote a book called the Christian Warfare. I think that's just a fantastic book. I quote it a few different times in Withstand. [00:22:32] Speaker B: I actually never read it, but Martin L. Jones is one of my favorite. Yeah, Old dead guys. Oh, yeah, is what we say, but sounds disrespectful. One of my favorite theologians, pastors, thinkers. So I assume it's great stuff. [00:22:43] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, really good stuff. Very formative for me. All right, so should we talk about some listener questions? [00:22:50] Speaker B: Yeah, that'd be awesome. [00:22:51] Speaker A: All right, we're gonna have another episode to cover this topic as well. So we'll keep going more in the next episode, but let's answer some listener questions. [00:22:59] Speaker B: There's more. [00:23:00] Speaker A: That's right. Stay tuned. All right, here we go. Why does God allow the spiritual battle to continue if he could stop it right now? [00:23:09] Speaker B: You know, I got to actually give you a shout out because when I was in the membership class at Peace Church a couple years ago, you were teaching, and there was. I don't know how young she was, but a young girl in the class, her family was had taken it, and she wanted to then go through it. And so she was paying attention, but also kind of doodling. And then she, like, you were like, any questions? And she rose, shot her hand up and said, why? Why not? Like, why is this still happening? Like, why doesn't God just fully redeem everything? Like, why hasn't he done something? Was in essence what she asked. And you were like, I love that question. Because he has. I mean, that's what. That's the promise of God. That's the power of the gospel. That's what he is actively doing in the world. He's redeeming all things. He is working all things together for good, for those, according to his purpose. So that, I mean, that's. That is what he's doing. [00:24:00] Speaker A: Yeah. Nice. I like that. I feel selfish saying that. [00:24:08] Speaker B: I mean, it was a leeway in the gospel and that's where we're headed. And it was perfect. [00:24:12] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, that is. That's the answer. Right? So what? So, so to. To take it. Yeah, absolutely. So God has done something, right. When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, the beginning, I mean, the original spiritual warfare, right. Is the snake comes to the garden and deceives Adam and Eve. They fall for it. They sin. You know, God could have just ended all right there, you know, and smoke and fire. That could have been the end of the human race and the end of Satan. [00:24:34] Speaker B: And we get it. [00:24:35] Speaker A: And I'll be totally jealous. [00:24:36] Speaker B: God does, like, he does bring justice through that way. That's the flood. Sure. [00:24:43] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:24:44] Speaker B: He is right to do so. [00:24:46] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. God continues to bring justice. Yeah. The flood is another example that. But also grace and that he didn't kill the entire human race. And he even lets, you know, Satan, you know, continue in the warfare. [00:24:59] Speaker B: You see God's character immediately. I mean, he. He makes them clothes. [00:25:03] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:25:03] Speaker B: Like he's. You see grace immediately. [00:25:05] Speaker A: But. But this is the story, right? Is that God does intervene. [00:25:09] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:25:10] Speaker A: And we're very thankful for that. Most importantly in Jesus, Right. He sends Jesus to. To live, die, and rise to take away our sin. But he could. Yeah, yeah, it's true. So he could. So the question ultimately becomes not just could God defeat Satan right now, but could God bring the world and history to its end? I think that's really kind of the question. Right. Is. And. And that's the thing, is that God has. God tells us that he's waiting patiently. He's given the opportunity for more humans to put their faith in Jesus and receive salvation. [00:25:40] Speaker B: There is an end to all things, as in there's a purpose to all things. And he has made promises. And so one reason that he won't just flip the switch off is because he's made promises to a certain end, to a certain. [00:25:55] Speaker A: I'm not gonna lie. When you just snapped your fingers, I Thought of Thanos, because you're talking about the end and you snapped your fingers. [00:26:00] Speaker B: God has made certain promises, and so that's why we can be confident that he's not gonna just pull the plug on anything, but he will bring things to their end, their purpose, to their consummation. [00:26:12] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I get. I mean, I think the other way to say this is like, all throughout the Bible, the saints are saying, how long, O Lord, you know, until Jesus returns? Until, you know, the pain, the suffering, the sin is all gone and done with until Satan is gone and done with. And, yeah, we all really long for that. But God, in his grace, is waiting patiently for more and more people to put their faith in Jesus and receive salvation. So, yeah, it's. It's hard to wait right now. But ultimately, what we're saying is we want Jesus to come back. [00:26:37] Speaker B: I think of Elijah suicidal in the woods, you know, in the wilderness, and just. He's done with it. And after having one of the most incredible victories described in the Old Testament. [00:26:47] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:26:48] Speaker B: And then he. He's just saying, God, end it. Like, end me and end this. And God basically says, like, no, wait, wait, I'm doing something this. I'm moving, and you're a part of this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. [00:26:59] Speaker A: Aslan's on the move. [00:27:00] Speaker B: Yeah. Oh, nice. [00:27:02] Speaker A: Oh, we're talking about C.S. lewis. It was right there. All right, next question. Do Christians have authority over demons, or is it Christ's authority only? [00:27:12] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, I'm not an expert in demonology or anything like that, but I do think that it's. You can't really say we have any power apart from Him. Right, right. So the answer. The question is a little confusing just because, like, well, any Christian. Any power a Christian has is Christ. [00:27:34] Speaker A: Right? [00:27:34] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:27:35] Speaker A: Yes, totally. Well, I think it goes back to what you read in Acts 19. You know, everybody casting out demons does so in Jesus name. So, no, as Christians, we don't have our own independent authority over demons or anybody. It's given to us by Christ. So we can only fight against Satan and his power in Jesus name. By his power. By his authority. Yeah, like, that is the answer. Yeah. [00:27:57] Speaker B: I feel. Yeah. I feel like we'll get more deeper into this kind of line of thinking in the next episode. Yeah. Yep. [00:28:04] Speaker A: All right. Does Satan know who the Antichrist is? [00:28:09] Speaker B: What a fun question. [00:28:10] Speaker A: I know, right? [00:28:11] Speaker B: Man, I feel like a series on Revelation would be really cool to do. I actually, last night, from young adults in our church of, like, questions on Revelation and Antichrist stuff. And God's sovereignty. [00:28:23] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. [00:28:23] Speaker B: So the whole book and any prophetic literature in the Bible is so fun. I mean, it's. [00:28:28] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, yeah. Well, I'm not gonna lie. When I. So I was, you know, going through the list, grabbed this question, put it into the script, and I did shout across the hall at one of our staff members. I said, hey, on the count of three, who is the Antichrist? They gave me an answer. I won't tell you who. They said. [00:28:45] Speaker B: Yeah, I kind of think of. I think of a few things when I think of this question. I think that Does Satan know? Was the first part. Satan, I think, knows exactly what he's doing, and yet I, I do think that he overplays his cards. And you see that in the Bible with Jesus and the crucifixion of the son of God, thinking that was a win and learning it was actually the biggest death blow possible to Satan, his, His regime, you know, and his, his plans. And so I do think that Satan knows what he's doing, but more than any of us know what we're doing in some ways. You know, like, he knows human nature. He knows how to, how to, how to fight on his side. And yet does Satan know? Like, God knows? No. And does Satan have the, the power that to. To stop God? No, Absolutely not. And then on the second part of does Satan know the Antichrist? I'm thinking a whole host of things is Antichrist. I'm pretty sure it's always plural. [00:29:52] Speaker A: Ah. [00:29:52] Speaker B: When it's mentioned. [00:29:53] Speaker A: Well, so this. So I got to preach when we did a series. What was that on First John, going through First John. I got to preach on the part where he says antichrists have come. [00:30:04] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:30:05] Speaker A: And an Antichrist Christ will come. [00:30:06] Speaker B: Okay, okay. [00:30:07] Speaker A: So he does, he does talk about it singularly in the future, but he also talks about plagues, plural. That many, he says, many have come and there is one yet to come. So we do got to understand, like, there's a spirit of the Antichrist. You know, I mean, a lot of people looked at things like Adolf Hitler and are like, boy, the amount of evil in this man and in this moment in world history, and yet we know now, you know, the world continues that wasn't, that wasn't the end. So I think it makes sense that many Antichrists, people who are against Jesus, who are evil, who are working on the side of Satan, many have come. And yet they're, you know, I think the sense we get is that there will be one final and ultimate one but he will be one in a long line. So do we encounter people who are demon possessed today? [00:30:51] Speaker B: Yeah, I think, I think the word possession is just such a strong word. I was actually thinking of this recently, not even thinking of this episode. It's such a. It's such a strong word. And to back up a little bit, do we interact with demons and people influenced by demons? Absolutely. Is the answer to that Because Hebrews tells us, be kind to everyone because you might wind up being kind to an angel. It's like, oh, wow. You know, like demons are. Angels are just active in the world. And I think the truth, something that same can be said for demons, that they're most likely pretty active in the world and that we interact with them not knowing. And then certain. Certainly we interact with people that are tempted by demons and we see their work. Yeah, but the word possession is such a strong word. And I was thinking of recently, I don't really fully know what it means to be possessed by a demon. I'm pretty confident that a Christian can't be possessed by a demon because we are possessed by the Holy Spirit. Like we are the possession of God in that sense. [00:31:48] Speaker A: That's what I would say for sure. Yeah. I think the other word that is often used is oppressed. So I would distinguish between some possessed by a demon and somebody who's oppressed by a demon. Yeah. Possession is an extremely strong word. Somebody is possessing you, owning you, you know, really ruling over you versus oppression would be somebody is, you know, the demon is really attacking you and having a big impact on your life, but not necessarily ruling over your life. [00:32:15] Speaker B: And the lie, the oppressive lie would be, I own you and you are my slave. And you can't be free to be oppressed. But to believe you are possessed would be a lie. And especially to a Christian who can't be because you're, you're, you're God's possession. And then to a non believer, for someone who doesn't know the Lord to the lie to be, I own you and there is nothing that can save you. You know, there is nothing that can bring you out of these chains I have you in. But we know the truth is that God can bring us from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. That's what he does. The gospel is. [00:32:52] Speaker A: Yeah, totally. So I think kind of a short answer to the question is, can it happen? Yes. But is it always that? No. Especially when you're talking about a Christian. [00:33:02] Speaker B: Yeah. Yep. Yeah. I want to get more into the kind of nitty gritty of like. And we touched on some of it with these listener questions. But what is this? What is, what does spiritual warfare look like in the trenches when you're in the middle of it when bullets are flying? [00:33:13] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:33:13] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:33:14] Speaker A: So next time. [00:33:14] Speaker B: Yeah, let's get into it next time. [00:33:16] Speaker A: Awesome. Well, hey, thanks for joining us. Look forward to next episode. Hope you have an awesome week.