Speaker 1: Hey, this is Adler from the Rick Burgess Show. You
Speaker 1: are about to hear the premiere episode of Strange Encounters
Speaker 1: with Rick Burgess. It's a brand new show and the
Speaker 1: folks at Blaze Media wanted to give you a taste
Speaker 1: of what's to come. Come along as we search for
Speaker 1: the truth, hear stories from people with first hand experience,
Speaker 1: and use the truth of the Bible to win the
Speaker 1: spiritual war going on all around us. To hear future episodes,
Speaker 1: you just need to subscribe to this brand new show
Speaker 1: from Rick Burgess and the folks at Blaze Media. Just
Speaker 1: search for Strange Encounters wherever you get your podcasts and subscribe.
Speaker 1: And now here's the very first episode of Strange Encounters
Speaker 1: with Rick Burgess.
Speaker 2: Welcome to Strange Encounters. I'm your host, Rick Burgess. This
Speaker 2: is our first episode. So let's talk about what this
Speaker 2: podcast will be all about. Okay, first of all, I
Speaker 2: want to clarify what the podcast is not. We are
Speaker 2: not going to be talking about ghost We're not going
Speaker 2: to be talking about Bigfoot. We're not going to be
Speaker 2: talking about space aliens from another planet. I know those
Speaker 2: things are popular, and I know they get a lot
Speaker 2: of views, but what I would like to talk about
Speaker 2: is something that is supernatural. It is very serious and
Speaker 2: it is very real. Angels and demons and a lot
Speaker 2: of the things that people talk about when they talk
Speaker 2: about space aliens, when they talk about I think I
Speaker 2: thought I saw the ghost of a loved one. There's
Speaker 2: some sort of ghost haunting this or haunting that I
Speaker 2: believe that I, you know, saw some sort of monster
Speaker 2: or creature. Most of this, I do believe that people
Speaker 2: have experiences. Don't misunderstand me. I have talked to I
Speaker 2: have seen interviews of very credible people, and I believe
Speaker 2: that they're telling us the truth. Now, we first have
Speaker 2: to weed out all the people that are just making
Speaker 2: stuff up to get attention and know that they're out there.
Speaker 2: I'm talking about people that have experienced something, and they've
Speaker 2: experienced something that I do believe them that was supernatural.
Speaker 2: That's really not the question. Do we encounter the supernatural? Well,
Speaker 2: the answer is yes, But does that mean that we
Speaker 2: are encountering space aliens, ghost, bigfoot monsters fill in the blank.
Speaker 2: I'm going to tell you, I would say no. I
Speaker 2: don't believe that any of those things are real. I
Speaker 2: believe it all falls under what we know to be
Speaker 2: true if you have a biblical worldview, and I do
Speaker 2: and so do many others, is that it really isn't
Speaker 2: up for debate whether the supernatural exists, because we know
Speaker 2: that it does. So. I spent thirty one years hosting
Speaker 2: a show called The Rick and Bubba Show. Thirty one
Speaker 2: years that we did that. It was a wonderful run,
Speaker 2: loved it. I'm currently hosting a daily show called The
Speaker 2: Rick Burg Show. And I remember back when I was
Speaker 2: doing The Rick and Bubba Show, we had a very
Speaker 2: popular segment called the Thirteen Working Days of Horror, and
Speaker 2: it was all in good fun that we would start out,
Speaker 2: you know, talking about ghost stories, and then we would
Speaker 2: send members of the team out to investigate those ghost stories.
Speaker 2: And there's tons of shows that do that now and
Speaker 2: they're very popular. But it didn't take long because I
Speaker 2: was so new to the faith. I had not been
Speaker 2: redeemed very long, so I didn't know much about spiritual warfare,
Speaker 2: and I thought, well, what's the harm. You know, we're
Speaker 2: doing these things. Everybody seems to like them. We all
Speaker 2: like being scared fill in the blank. But I will
Speaker 2: tell you that from the time I was a little boy.
Speaker 2: I had a very strong, you know, a strong feeling
Speaker 2: about horror movies and haunted houses. I didn't like them
Speaker 2: at all. I sensed, even as a child that there
Speaker 2: was something wrong with this, and there was an oppressive
Speaker 2: spirit with it all, and I didn't want any part
Speaker 2: of it. But as I grew up, I still didn't
Speaker 2: care for it all that much. But I didn't take
Speaker 2: it very serious. And this was one of those occasions,
Speaker 2: and it became a very very popular series on that
Speaker 2: show that I did for thirty one years. But as
Speaker 2: I began to grow in my faith, I began to
Speaker 2: be more and more uncomfortable with the thirteen working days
Speaker 2: of horror Horror. It bothered me. I started being in
Speaker 2: a dilemma on whether we should be doing this or not.
Speaker 2: And the more I studied some of the things we'll
Speaker 2: talk about today, the more I realized that what we
Speaker 2: were doing was very, very dangerous. It was very dangerous.
Speaker 2: Were we at times just telling ghost stories and there
Speaker 2: really was nothing to it, sure, but things begin to
Speaker 2: happen when, as you can guess, if you keep doing
Speaker 2: it for multiple years, what happens you start pushing the envelope.
Speaker 2: And we kept looking for stories and looking for experiences.
Speaker 2: And it didn't take very long for me to understand
Speaker 2: that these men that we were sending out, who were
Speaker 2: dear friends of ours and we'd worked with for years,
Speaker 2: that we were sending them into very dangerous situations. And
Speaker 2: I'm going to give you some of the facts behind
Speaker 2: that today in scripture. Because I didn't even know the
Speaker 2: spiritual condition of the members of our team that we
Speaker 2: were sending out. Some of them I did know were
Speaker 2: men of faith, but I didn't think they were very
Speaker 2: mature in their faith. Then there were some that I
Speaker 2: didn't even know if they had ever been redeemed before.
Speaker 2: And as we started pushing on these investigations again, like
Speaker 2: a lot of the popular shows you see now, they
Speaker 2: started encountering things that could not be explained. I remember
Speaker 2: one particular, we went in to do an investigation of
Speaker 2: the ghost of an old site war This is where
Speaker 2: they would keep people that were mentally ill, and they
Speaker 2: shut it all down. And when they shut down this
Speaker 2: high hospital, they just kind of walked out of the
Speaker 2: hospital and left it as is. So there were you know,
Speaker 2: office desk everywhere, there were chairs everywhere there, and they
Speaker 2: were the phones that were pulled out of the wall.
Speaker 2: The bell phones. You know that some of you are
Speaker 2: so young you don't even know what I'm talking about.
Speaker 2: But we had landline phones at one time, and they
Speaker 2: had bells in them, and it would it would that's
Speaker 2: where the ring would come from. Uh. And they were
Speaker 2: they had been pulled out of the wall. They were
Speaker 2: laying around in all these rooms. And as our guys
Speaker 2: were investigating these ghosts of this mental hospital, the phones
Speaker 2: started ringing, and they would ring at different parts of
Speaker 2: the hospital. And when they would go to the floor
Speaker 2: where they heard the rings, it would then start ringing
Speaker 2: on another floor. Uh. And these things were happening, and
Speaker 2: they could not be explained. Now. At the time, I
Speaker 2: wasn't fully aware of what we were doing. But but
Speaker 2: I believe now, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that
Speaker 2: these men that we sent into this hospital were experiencing
Speaker 2: demonic activity. And I came under so much conviction from
Speaker 2: the Holy Spirit that we set down and I just
Speaker 2: had to tell the guys. Into their credit. They all degree,
Speaker 2: I mean agreed, some not as much as others, but
Speaker 2: all of us finally agreed because I said, now, if
Speaker 2: we're going to continue to do this. I can't be
Speaker 2: part of it. We must stop doing this. I'm under
Speaker 2: conviction because we are tampering with darkness, and we are
Speaker 2: tampering with evil spirits. They are real and we should
Speaker 2: not be doing this. We are placing these people and
Speaker 2: our audience in danger. Now what do you mean by
Speaker 2: you replacing the audience in danger? Well, I'll tell you why.
Speaker 2: Because what happens when you're listening to something like this
Speaker 2: and you're watching something like this, now you want to
Speaker 2: go out and do it. And we were encouraging people
Speaker 2: to go on ghost hunts or go after the fill
Speaker 2: in the blank monster. A lot of it was just
Speaker 2: fairy tales and it didn't mean anything, but there were
Speaker 2: things that were quite real. And now here we are
Speaker 2: with this platform, we're not only sending out people that
Speaker 2: shouldn't be doing this. Now, we're encouraging total strangers to
Speaker 2: go and do this. And I just couldn't. I just
Speaker 2: could not do it any longer. So when I was
Speaker 2: approached about doing this, I want to make it perfectly clear.
Speaker 2: This is not me revisiting that. There might be some
Speaker 2: pressure to do that, but I'm not going to do
Speaker 2: that because it's dangerous. What I am going to do
Speaker 2: is to be sure that we stay inside the realm
Speaker 2: of spiritual warfare. Spiritual warfare between angels and demons is
Speaker 2: extremely real, and it is going on. It's real. Simple.
Speaker 2: Paul talks about this in his letter to the Ephesians
Speaker 2: in Ephesians chapter six. Some of you may be familiar
Speaker 2: with this. Some of you may be hearing this for
Speaker 2: the very first time. It's not up to debate, up
Speaker 2: to debate, because scripture says it very clear. Look here,
Speaker 2: the apostle Paul. You might be familiar some of you
Speaker 2: with the armor of God. These are those scriptures where
Speaker 2: you put on the full armor of God. But you
Speaker 2: may not know why we're supposed to put on the
Speaker 2: full armor of God. You may not know why. Maybe
Speaker 2: you've been thinking about, well, you know, it's persecutions. I
Speaker 2: need to do better with my sin nature. Now, what
Speaker 2: Paul's specifically talking about is you must be prepared for
Speaker 2: spiritual war. That's his main point, and that's not my opinion.
Speaker 2: He tells this this. Listen to this, he said. Finally,
Speaker 2: this is in verse ten of chapter six of Ephesians.
Speaker 2: Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of
Speaker 2: his might, put on the whole armor of God, that
Speaker 2: you may be able to stand against the schemes of
Speaker 2: the death. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood,
Speaker 2: but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic
Speaker 2: powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of
Speaker 2: evil in the heavenly places. So how do I know
Speaker 2: that demonic activity exists? How do I know that every
Speaker 2: day I'm entering into a spiritual war? Because the scriptures
Speaker 2: make that clear. I've said this on my day job
Speaker 2: many times. I don't need Bigfoot. I don't need space
Speaker 2: people from another planet. I don't need ghosts haunting some area.
Speaker 2: I don't need to worry about bigfoot. I don't need
Speaker 2: any of that. The scriptures tell me all I need
Speaker 2: to know. When I know that spiritual forces are existing
Speaker 2: in another dimension and are allowed to come into my dimension,
Speaker 2: and I'm warned in scripture that there's demonic activity all
Speaker 2: around me, and there are angels and demons waging war.
Speaker 2: I got plenty on the table, and that's what this
Speaker 2: podcast is going to take on. And we hope to
Speaker 2: educate you because you know, some of you may have
Speaker 2: seen the posts that I put out promoting episode one.
Speaker 2: I fear that, especially in the Western Church, that this
Speaker 2: topic is not a topic to obsess over. And we'll
Speaker 2: talk about this, but it's also not a topic to ignore.
Speaker 2: And I'm afraid that many times in the Western Church
Speaker 2: that the local church, which I love the local church
Speaker 2: because Christ loves the local church, that we don't talk
Speaker 2: about these things. But yet we send people out of
Speaker 2: our congregations out into a spiritual war that we have
Speaker 2: not prepared them to fight. So there is a balance.
Speaker 2: So I want to take that on. Yes, we're going
Speaker 2: to delve into this going forward on strange encounters. Yes,
Speaker 2: I'm going to share with you stories about encountering demons.
Speaker 2: I'll share a brief one with you. Even on this episode.
Speaker 2: We will be interviewing people, we will be talking about
Speaker 2: these things. But I want to be real cautious here,
Speaker 2: yellow flag waving. This is not to cause you to
Speaker 2: obsess over the spiritual realm. We should not obsess over it.
Speaker 2: That The goal is not to have you looking for
Speaker 2: demons around every corner, looking for Satan around every turn,
Speaker 2: you know, having people that can mislead you and say,
Speaker 2: oh I can see the spiritual rem I've got some
Speaker 2: sort of touch from God. Be careful of these people, okay.
Speaker 2: It it's dangerous to ignore spiritual warfare, okay, but it's
Speaker 2: also dangerous to obsess over it. That's not the intention either.
Speaker 2: You don't want to bring any glory to Satan and
Speaker 2: his demons by obsessing over them and having an unhealthy
Speaker 2: obsession with seeking them. That's problematic too. The goal of
Speaker 2: this podcast is to educate you on this so that
Speaker 2: you're aware of what's going on and you will be
Speaker 2: able to go into the battle prepared. Okay, that's our goal.
Speaker 2: So let's look at one thing when you talk about Satan,
Speaker 2: Satan's real You know, there's a question I get quite often,
Speaker 2: why did God create the devil? Well, he didn't. God
Speaker 2: created an angel called Lucifer. Lucifer was a beautiful angel,
Speaker 2: a very high ranking angel that decided that being a
Speaker 2: high ranking angel was not good enough for him and
Speaker 2: he and he convinced a third of God's angels, all
Speaker 2: created beings by God for an overthrow to take God's
Speaker 2: throne from him. God will share his glory with no one,
Speaker 2: And of course Lucifer was expelled from heaven or from
Speaker 2: the presence of the Lord with a third of the demons,
Speaker 2: and then of course the war started. But here's one
Speaker 2: thing I want you to know about Lucifer is, and
Speaker 2: I've already mentioned it once. Lucifer is a created being. Okay,
Speaker 2: he is. This is not star wars, This is not
Speaker 2: Ying and Yang that that that you know mystical Eastern religion.
Speaker 2: It's not that at all. God created the angels, who
Speaker 2: then became a third of them demons. He created Lucifer,
Speaker 2: who then became the devil because he became our accuser,
Speaker 2: he became Satan, but because he became our adversary. But
Speaker 2: it is Lucifer that we're dealing with, the angel, created
Speaker 2: being by God. Now why rick is that important? I'm
Speaker 2: will tell you why that's important. He's not God, he's
Speaker 2: not the dark version of God. He's not the Force.
Speaker 2: He's a created being, which means there is a there's
Speaker 2: there's a substantial gap between Lucifer and the God who
Speaker 2: created him. Now, is he stronger than a human being?
Speaker 2: You better believe it. We'll give you some examples of this.
Speaker 2: Are there demons that went with Lucifer that are stronger
Speaker 2: than some of the angels of God? Yes, not stronger
Speaker 2: than all of them. Not stronger than than the Son
Speaker 2: of God, and not stronger than God, the Father, the Son,
Speaker 2: and the Holy Spirit, of course not. But I want
Speaker 2: you to take comfort in that. And here here's here's why.
Speaker 2: I know many times I've been guilty of this too,
Speaker 2: that we will be in a situation and we throw
Speaker 2: around these terms. I've done it. Okay, So I'm not
Speaker 2: talking down to you or talking at you. I'm talking
Speaker 2: with you and we'll say, well, I'll tell you, Satan's
Speaker 2: really given me a hard time right now? Well, probably not. Okay,
Speaker 2: let me just go ahead and say that because Lucifer
Speaker 2: is not omniscient. Lucifer is not omnipotent. Lucifer is not omnipresent.
Speaker 2: Unlike God, Lucifer cannot be in multiple places all at
Speaker 2: the same time. Lucifer, in order to come after you
Speaker 2: and me, has to leave wherever he is and come
Speaker 2: to where we are and not be there anymore. I'm
Speaker 2: just gonna say I like to think that, you know,
Speaker 2: I'm devoted to my Lord and Savior. I want to
Speaker 2: be about his business. I want to have impact for
Speaker 2: the Kingdom of God. But I don't quite think that
Speaker 2: I rank Lucifer coming after me. Now his demon's coming
Speaker 2: after me. Sure, but Lucifer, I just find it unlikely
Speaker 2: that he's going to leave some of the places where
Speaker 2: he's battling right now and say, well, I've got to
Speaker 2: go find Rick Burgess, you know, on whatever street he
Speaker 2: lives on, because that guy is so devoted to God
Speaker 2: that he's really hurt me. Probably not Now, a third
Speaker 2: of the angels being demons, yes, I've experienced them. I
Speaker 2: have not a lot, but it has happened, and we'll
Speaker 2: talk about that through in future episodes. Okay, But James
Speaker 2: tells us in The Powerful Book of James, he kind
Speaker 2: of gives us a little bit of a Hey, let
Speaker 2: me give you some clarity. Maybe come down from you
Speaker 2: thinking that you're so impactful for the Kingdom of God
Speaker 2: that Lucifer has decided that he's coming after you. James says,
Speaker 2: most of the problems we get into, really it's just
Speaker 2: our sin nature. I mean, when I get up and
Speaker 2: pray every day, I do pray against these cosmic forces
Speaker 2: that God would put a protective headge around me and
Speaker 2: around my family and around our business and around my friends.
Speaker 2: I do all that, Sure, but the prayer that I
Speaker 2: probably pray. That's the most important, as I pray to
Speaker 2: God protect me against my biggest enemy, myself, my sin nature.
Speaker 2: James talks about this, and he says, but each person
Speaker 2: is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his
Speaker 2: own desire. Then desire, when it is conceived, gives birth
Speaker 2: to sin, and sin, when it is fully grown, brings
Speaker 2: forth death. So I'm headed down this road of sin,
Speaker 2: James says, not because Lucifer Satan, the devil is tempting you,
Speaker 2: Not because God's tempting you, Not because the demons are
Speaker 2: tempting you. Most of us find ourselves on a bad
Speaker 2: road simply because of our own wicked desires. So I
Speaker 2: hope that brings you some peace, and you're going to
Speaker 2: see some of the things that we talk about about.
Speaker 2: The We're not sitting here like sitting ducks every day.
Speaker 2: Oh no, you know what's going to happen to me.
Speaker 2: I'm at the mercy of whatever the demons or Lucifer
Speaker 2: wants to do today. Now, if you have not been redeemed,
Speaker 2: if you're not under the authority of Jesus Christ, do
Speaker 2: you have something to fear? Yes, yes you do, because
Speaker 2: you don't have the protection. You're not under the authority
Speaker 2: of Christ. You are a sitting duck. You are easy pickings.
Speaker 2: I don't think you're going to rank Lucifer as I said,
Speaker 2: but for those demons, because and I'm going to show
Speaker 2: you an example of that before we're done today. How
Speaker 2: important that is. So now let's talk about who's in control.
Speaker 2: I mean, can can Lucifer? Can the demons just do
Speaker 2: whatever they want to do whenever they want to do
Speaker 2: it to a person who is redeemed? The answer is no,
Speaker 2: that they can't. Now one of these things, you know,
Speaker 2: this part of the Bible seems to bother people more
Speaker 2: than it comforts people. But I hope today it'll comfort you.
Speaker 2: It's the Book of Job. We're currently doing the Book
Speaker 2: of Job in a Wednesday Bible study. You can also
Speaker 2: find on our website, Rick burgesshow dot com. We do
Speaker 2: it every Wednesday. We're in Job. Now. I want you
Speaker 2: to see this moment when we learn something else about
Speaker 2: demons and Lucifer. Okay, this is in chapter one of
Speaker 2: the Book of Job and it starts in verse six. Now,
Speaker 2: there was a day when the sons of God, that's
Speaker 2: the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and
Speaker 2: Satan Lucifer also came among them. The Lord said to Satan,
Speaker 2: underline that Satan hasn't said anything. The Lord says to Satan,
Speaker 2: from where have you come? So can Satan, Lucifer, the
Speaker 2: devil and his demons? Can they move around the earth?
Speaker 2: The answer is yes. Satan answered the Lord and said,
Speaker 2: from going to and fro on the earth, and from
Speaker 2: walking up and down on it. So yes, they are
Speaker 2: among us here on earth. Scripture tells us that. And
Speaker 2: the Lord said to Satan. The Lord said to Satan,
Speaker 2: Satan doesn't bring up Job. The Lord said to Satan,
Speaker 2: have you considered my servant Job. There is none like
Speaker 2: him on earth? A blameless and upright man. That doesn't
Speaker 2: mean sinless. It just means he had no sin, that
Speaker 2: he had not repented of, who fears God and turns
Speaker 2: away from evil. Then Satan answered the Lord and said,
Speaker 2: does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not
Speaker 2: put a hedge around him? That's what I was talking about.
Speaker 2: And his house and all that he has on every side.
Speaker 2: You have blessed the work of his hands, and his
Speaker 2: possessions have increased in the land but stretch out your
Speaker 2: hand and touch all that he has, and he will
Speaker 2: curse you to your faith. Listen verse twelve, and the
Speaker 2: Lord said to Satan, behold, all that he has is
Speaker 2: in your hand, only against him. Do not stretch out
Speaker 2: your hand. So Satan went out from the presence of
Speaker 2: the Lord, who sets the boundaries for what Lucifer could
Speaker 2: and could not do the Lord, God Almighty. He couldn't
Speaker 2: do anything that the Lord did not allow him to do. Now,
Speaker 2: if you want to get that's a whole nother discussion
Speaker 2: on why God allowed him to do it. I can
Speaker 2: certainly go down that road, but for this podcast, that's
Speaker 2: been explained in the Bible study. I'm happy to answer
Speaker 2: that for you. But right now, the purpose of these
Speaker 2: scriptures is to show you that Lucifer and his demons
Speaker 2: have to appear before the Lord. The Lord sets the
Speaker 2: boundaries on what they can and cannot do to the redeemed,
Speaker 2: not to the lost, but to the redeemed. God sets
Speaker 2: the boundaries. Now, a lot of times we focus too much. Well,
Speaker 2: I don't like the fact that God was allowing anything,
Speaker 2: but don't miss the fact that it has to be
Speaker 2: allowed that are to bring you peace. Okay, that are
Speaker 2: to bring you peace. So we know that Lucifer is
Speaker 2: not omnipotent, he's not omniscient, he's not omnipresent. We also
Speaker 2: know that the Lord God Almighty sets the boundaries for
Speaker 2: what he can and he can't do. We also know
Speaker 2: that most of the trouble we get into is because
Speaker 2: of our own sin nature, not because we're under attack
Speaker 2: from Satan and his demons. Okay, we got that. So
Speaker 2: what are some things that we need to do that
Speaker 2: would prepare us for the spiritual battle. Well, let's go
Speaker 2: back to the beginning. Let's go back when all of
Speaker 2: mankind fail because of a deception from Lucifer himself appearing
Speaker 2: to the woman as a serpent. Let's go back to
Speaker 2: the fall, Genesis chapter three. This is crucial, okay, And
Speaker 2: Genesis chapter three we're learning. We're educating ourselves on how
Speaker 2: Lucifer and his demons, how do the enemies of God work? Okay,
Speaker 2: So we look here and we see that the serpent
Speaker 2: Lucifer has now approached the woman and the serpent. This
Speaker 2: is chapter three. And now the serpent was more crafty
Speaker 2: than any other beast of the field that the Lord
Speaker 2: God had made. He said to the woman, did God
Speaker 2: actually say you shall not eat of any tree in
Speaker 2: the garden? Now that that's that strategy that you need
Speaker 2: to know. What what what the adversary and the demons
Speaker 2: are going to test is how well we know the
Speaker 2: promises of God? Do we really know what God said? Lucifer,
Speaker 2: if you rank him, probably won't, but his demons follow
Speaker 2: his instruction. The demonic forces that will come against you
Speaker 2: always are going to take the gamble that you and
Speaker 2: I don't really know what God said, so they can
Speaker 2: deceive us with false prophets, false teachers, false theology, because
Speaker 2: we don't know any better. What would you agree with
Speaker 2: me that it is impossible to discern false teaching if
Speaker 2: you don't know pure teaching. I would yes. So so
Speaker 2: many times we do foolish things that allow these demonic
Speaker 2: forces to come into our homes, which we're going to
Speaker 2: cover on future episodes about spiritual house cleaning, come into
Speaker 2: our lives. The reason why they're coming into our lives
Speaker 2: is because they've been invited. And how were they invited?
Speaker 2: Because we did not know the scriptures well enough to
Speaker 2: recognize when we were being deceived by a person that
Speaker 2: was sent to us by a pastor that was sent
Speaker 2: to us by a praise song that we shouldn't have
Speaker 2: been singing. And before we know it, we're under deception
Speaker 2: because we don't know the genuine article. Now, years and
Speaker 2: years ago, had a great opportunity to interview someone in
Speaker 2: Secret Service. Now, Secret Service also is in the counterfeit industry.
Speaker 2: You know, they go, that's who you sin if there's
Speaker 2: a counterfeit ring running false currency. Well, when they're training
Speaker 2: the Secret Service to recognize the genuine article, they never
Speaker 2: show them examples of counterfeit money. They never see those
Speaker 2: those very wildly. What they do is they make sure
Speaker 2: that they're familiar with the genuine article. They're so familiar
Speaker 2: with the genuine article that they recognize the counterfeit immediately
Speaker 2: because they know the original, they know the standard that. Well,
Speaker 2: I'm going to just ask you, do you know the
Speaker 2: word of God and do you know the promises of
Speaker 2: God to the point that you can you can call
Speaker 2: on them when you're being deceived or you're under attack. Well,
Speaker 2: i will tell you from the very beginning, the demons
Speaker 2: and Lucifer have been using the is that what God
Speaker 2: really said? And they've been quite successful. With it because
Speaker 2: too many times the person they're attacking doesn't know the answer.
Speaker 2: So make sure that you know the answer if you
Speaker 2: we always make sure that we're experts on so many things.
Speaker 2: You better make sure that you're an expert. This is
Speaker 2: a warning on the word of God because the demons
Speaker 2: and Lucifer are hoping and they're betting that you don't.
Speaker 2: So let's turn to Second Corinthians, chapter eleven. This is
Speaker 2: important too on deception because so many times these demons
Speaker 2: will present themselves as angels of light. We have to
Speaker 2: know the difference. It has happened so many times when
Speaker 2: somebody you're going with, this person seems like they're okay. Well,
Speaker 2: why is that important? Because demons that this goes back
Speaker 2: to this ghost thing. Demons love to pretend to be
Speaker 2: your grandmama that died and you're sure went on to glory,
Speaker 2: And what they want you to do is to think
Speaker 2: that your grandmother has come back to you. Are your mama,
Speaker 2: are your daddy, or you're your child. You know, I
Speaker 2: have a child that is in heaven, and it certainly
Speaker 2: would mean a lot to me if somehow I thought
Speaker 2: I could visit my child again, and I will one day.
Speaker 2: But you know, a demon would love to convince me
Speaker 2: that I could now through some person that claims they
Speaker 2: can conjure him up or I thought I saw him
Speaker 2: in our home or something like that. When these things,
Speaker 2: if these things are happening to you, these are not
Speaker 2: your relatives, these are not angels, these are demons. It's
Speaker 2: all about deception. And you're sitting there going with they
Speaker 2: don't look like a scary mom. They look like my grandmama.
Speaker 2: They look like me, mam. Well that's what they're hoping,
Speaker 2: you think, Okay, and you'll say, well, what if it's
Speaker 2: an angel, an angel, this is important Episode one. Let's
Speaker 2: get this on the record. An angel throughout scripture will
Speaker 2: always identify themselves. They'll always tell them tell you they're
Speaker 2: from the Lord, and then they move into why they
Speaker 2: came to see you. Okay. You never find an angel
Speaker 2: appearing like some kind of mist, you know, saying I'm
Speaker 2: your grandmother, I'm your mama, I'm this person, this friend
Speaker 2: of yours, I'm real mysterious. I moved through the room.
Speaker 2: And see, that's all chaos, that's all attempt to fear
Speaker 2: and intrigue in the supernatural with no clear understanding of
Speaker 2: what they're doing and why they are there. I don't
Speaker 2: care how wonderful they may seem, Paul warns us in
Speaker 2: chapter eleven. And he warns us in verse fourteen when
Speaker 2: he goes on to say that that we need to
Speaker 2: understand that many times they will appear to us as
Speaker 2: angels of light. He and here he's talking about false prophets.
Speaker 2: In thirteen, he says, for such men are false apostles,
Speaker 2: deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ fourteen And
Speaker 2: no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel
Speaker 2: of light, so it is no surprise if his servants
Speaker 2: also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Therein will correspond
Speaker 2: to their deeds. He said, Look, false teachers always appear
Speaker 2: like they're wonderful human beings, and they always act like that,
Speaker 2: their apostles from Christ and teachers of Jesus. And he said,
Speaker 2: no wonder because Satan is who really sent them, and
Speaker 2: Lucifer always he's been known to present himself and his
Speaker 2: servants do the same thing as angels of light. We
Speaker 2: did an interview with a guide man. Anytime you hear
Speaker 2: these things. Oh, I've got somebody. Angels have been appearing
Speaker 2: to this god. Oh, we can't wait to hear from him.
Speaker 2: And I'm going to tell you many times. Well, every
Speaker 2: time that I've ever dealt with I go to these
Speaker 2: verses and usually tell the person. You may think you're
Speaker 2: talking to angels, but you're not. You may think you're
Speaker 2: talking to space people, but you're not. You may think
Speaker 2: you're talking to a ghost, but you're not. You're talking
Speaker 2: to demons, because this is exactly how they work. But
Speaker 2: if I can't recognize that, if I don't know, I
Speaker 2: can't recognize this if I don't know. Okay, so you
Speaker 2: start thinking to yourself, well, I think about the story
Speaker 2: of Job. Is there anything after that where I can
Speaker 2: see that there's demons or Lucifer once again being used
Speaker 2: by God to test those that he loves and loves him. Yes,
Speaker 2: the apostle Paul staying in Second Corinthians, if you go
Speaker 2: over to a Second Corinthians chapter twelve, you may read
Speaker 2: something that you go, I, I don't know about that.
Speaker 2: That's a little that's a little alarming. It has to
Speaker 2: do with Paul and the thorn in his flesh. You
Speaker 2: may have heard of this before. Paul's been talking about
Speaker 2: all the things he suffered because of his devotion to Christ, which,
Speaker 2: by the way, we're allowed. And so he says this
Speaker 2: verse seven of chapter twelve Second Corinthians, So to keep
Speaker 2: me from becoming conceited. So there's the why to keep
Speaker 2: me from becoming conceited. Because of the surpassing greatness of
Speaker 2: the revelation, he was allowed to see the third heaven.
Speaker 2: A thorn was given me in the flesh. Listen to this,
Speaker 2: a messenger of Satan to harass me. Here comes the
Speaker 2: why to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I
Speaker 2: pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me,
Speaker 2: but he the Lord, said to me, my grace is
Speaker 2: sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.
Speaker 2: Now again, I know that may trouble you, but I
Speaker 2: wanted to bring you peace. Because here's what's happening. Paul
Speaker 2: is being humbled, and the Lord has decided that this
Speaker 2: thorn in his flesh, whatever it was, was allowed because
Speaker 2: he could get Paul to where he wanted him to be.
Speaker 2: And he was even willing, just like Job, to use
Speaker 2: a messenger of Satan to accomplish his goal of keeping
Speaker 2: the Apostle Paul humble so that the Apostle Paul would
Speaker 2: be more dependent on him, thus becoming more powerful by
Speaker 2: being weaker and being totally dependent on Jesus once again,
Speaker 2: Satan and his demons are simply tools that God uses
Speaker 2: when he wants to. But he is completely in control
Speaker 2: for the redeemed, for the redeemed, And I know that.
Speaker 2: You say, well, I don't like the thought of God
Speaker 2: sicking them on me for for lack of a better term,
Speaker 2: but remember, he's gonna always be part of it. He's
Speaker 2: in control. It's like I don't like the I don't
Speaker 2: want to think about a pit bull getting after me.
Speaker 2: And the guy comes in and he's got a pit
Speaker 2: bull on the chain. Well, I don't want this pit
Speaker 2: bull here at all. I understand that, But isn't it
Speaker 2: great to see if somebody's got him on the chain.
Speaker 2: So unless that person lets out enough chain, he can't
Speaker 2: get you. He might be barking at you, he might
Speaker 2: be scaring you, but unless the owner lets loose of
Speaker 2: the chain, he can't kill you. Well, that's the way
Speaker 2: you got to see the spiritual realm for those that
Speaker 2: are redeemed. Are demons real? Yes? Is Loocier for real?
Speaker 2: You better believe it. Are angels real? Yes, Well, we
Speaker 2: talk more about them, we will, But today I want
Speaker 2: to establish that this spiritual warfare is real. It should
Speaker 2: not be ignored, it should not be obsessed over. But
Speaker 2: you got to know how it works. That's what this
Speaker 2: podcast is all about. Okay. So to kind of get
Speaker 2: us down to the end of our first episode, I
Speaker 2: want you to go to Acts nineteen because this is
Speaker 2: a warning that I want to leave with you until
Speaker 2: the next time we're together. Everything I've been telling you
Speaker 2: today only applies to the redeemed. If you are not redeemed,
Speaker 2: if you are not under the authority of Jesus Christ,
Speaker 2: then this spiritual warfare that's going on is something you
Speaker 2: should be gravely concerned about. So in Acts chapter nineteen,
Speaker 2: we see something very very interesting involving these sons of
Speaker 2: a very well known Pharisee. He had seven sons, the
Speaker 2: apostle Paul had been doing miracles, and they were jealous
Speaker 2: of Paul. He had been casting out demons, and we're
Speaker 2: going to talk about that in future episodes. You're gonna
Speaker 2: hear me interview people that have cast out demons. Okay,
Speaker 2: that's coming. But in this case they wanted to also
Speaker 2: cast out demons. Okay, so this is verse thirteen of
Speaker 2: chapter nineteen. Now they are jealous of Paul. That's their
Speaker 2: whole motivation. Okay. So in verse thirteen, the scriptures tell us,
Speaker 2: then some of the Jewish exorcists undertook to evoke the
Speaker 2: name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying,
Speaker 2: I call on you by the name of Jesus, who
Speaker 2: Paul proclaims seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Skiva.
Speaker 2: We're doing this. But when they called on an evil
Speaker 2: spirit to come out of a man Verse fifteen should
Speaker 2: be very troubling to anybody that is listening to this
Speaker 2: or watching this that is not redeemed. Listen, but the
Speaker 2: evil spirit answer these men, Jesus, I know this is
Speaker 2: an evil spirit, a demon. Jesus I know, and Paul
Speaker 2: I recognize demotion for Paul, but he makes it. But
Speaker 2: who are you? Let me tell you, whoever is listening
Speaker 2: to this and watching this, you don't want to hear
Speaker 2: that these evil spirits recognized Jesus because they used his name.
Speaker 2: They recognized Paul because he belonged to Jesus. He did
Speaker 2: not recognize them, or it didn't recognize them. Now what
Speaker 2: happened next? Rick Well and the man in whom the
Speaker 2: evil spirit had possessed leaped on them, mastered all of them,
Speaker 2: overpowered them so that they fled out of the house,
Speaker 2: naked and wounded. They used the name of Jesus. Why
Speaker 2: didn't it work? It didn't work. I'm gonna say that again.
Speaker 2: It did not work. Why when Paul used the name
Speaker 2: of Jesus it worked. Why because the apostle Paul belonged
Speaker 2: to Jesus. The apostle Paul was redeemed, so the power
Speaker 2: of the name of Jesus was available to Paul. These
Speaker 2: other pretenders just wanted to see a show. They wanted
Speaker 2: to go play games with evil spirits. They wanted to
Speaker 2: play games with demons. They wanted some notoriety that they
Speaker 2: were able to cast out demons. So they thought that
Speaker 2: they would just do what Paul had done. That they
Speaker 2: would roll up against an evil spirit. They would say
Speaker 2: to that evil spirit, in the name of Jesus, that
Speaker 2: Paul calls upon come out of this man. But they
Speaker 2: got a much different result. The reason why the evil
Speaker 2: spirit did not leave the man. Not only did it
Speaker 2: not leave, it inhabited the body of a man, which
Speaker 2: is real. This does happen, and it jumped on seven men,
Speaker 2: seven grown men. And these trust me. These demons when
Speaker 2: they possess somebody, they have magnificent strength, okay, and they
Speaker 2: have rankings just like the angels do. Some are stronger
Speaker 2: than others. And strip these seven guysnaked. Now why do
Speaker 2: they strip people neked? Have you ever noticed that? You know?
Speaker 2: Anytime someone is deranged, and many times they are just
Speaker 2: possessed of a demon. Mental illness is real. I'm not
Speaker 2: saying it's not, but in many cases this is just demonic.
Speaker 2: When you see the evil of the world today, why
Speaker 2: did this person slaughter all these innocent people in cold blood?
Speaker 2: Because they're likely possessed with the demon. This is evil,
Speaker 2: is what it is. Okay. All they do is destroyed, murder,
Speaker 2: kill still, and so you'll see a lot of times
Speaker 2: when someone is possessed of a demon, or they've allowed
Speaker 2: a demon in through allow themselves, their mind to be
Speaker 2: altered by drugs or alcohol, whatever the case may be,
Speaker 2: and they've opened themselves up to demonic forces. What happens
Speaker 2: a lot. They strip themselves naked, These demons strip these
Speaker 2: guys naked. Why because of the original fall in the garden. See,
Speaker 2: you know that at one time, the original man and
Speaker 2: woman that God created, they were naked and unashamed. But
Speaker 2: when sin came into the garden, what happened. Clothe ourselves,
Speaker 2: hide our shame. And what these demons are doing is
Speaker 2: they're trying to present you as shameful and naked right
Speaker 2: before God. You see that all the time. It is
Speaker 2: a trait to look for if you want to see
Speaker 2: demonic forces. Did the people strip themselves naked? Are they
Speaker 2: running around naked? And usually it has to do with that.
Speaker 2: They're once again taking what God called pure and they're
Speaker 2: exploiting the fall of mankind. And how naked this now
Speaker 2: is something to be ashamed of. It's not something that
Speaker 2: we're comfortable with anymore because of our sin. And they're
Speaker 2: revealing that again. They're accusing here you are naked before God.
Speaker 2: So the name of Jesus had no power in the
Speaker 2: hands of these sons because they didn't belong to Jesus.
Speaker 2: If you don't belong to Jesus, you can shout Jesus's
Speaker 2: name in your house all you want to when it's
Speaker 2: under demonic attack, and it's not going to accomplish anything
Speaker 2: because you don't belong to Jesus. These demons will look
Speaker 2: at you when you're hollering that out when you've waited
Speaker 2: too late and they've over they've taken over your home
Speaker 2: or taken over your life, or they've taken over your children,
Speaker 2: or they've taken over your marriage, and you'll start shouting Jesus, Jesus,
Speaker 2: in the name of Jesus, leave my family along, leave
Speaker 2: us alone. And if you don't belong to Jesus, those
Speaker 2: demons are going to say, Jesus, we know, but who
Speaker 2: are you. You don't belong to Jesus and they're not
Speaker 2: going anywhere. So if we're going to prepare for this battle,
Speaker 2: we must prepare ourselves by first making sure that we
Speaker 2: belong to Jesus, because without the protection of Jesus, you
Speaker 2: are sending yourself out day after day into a spiritual
Speaker 2: battle that you cannot win. And it's real. I mean,
Speaker 2: if you could see the cosmic war that is going
Speaker 2: on around you on a daily basis, if God allowed
Speaker 2: you to see it, you could not handle it. I
Speaker 2: could not handle it. So are there supernatural forces all
Speaker 2: around us? The answer is yes. Is it Bigfoot, is
Speaker 2: it space aliens? Is it ghost? No? But that didn't
Speaker 2: make it any less real. So I hope that you'll
Speaker 2: go on this journey with us on episodes that are
Speaker 2: still to come, and become educated and understand the seriousness
Speaker 2: of these strange encounters.
Speaker 1: You just heard the premiere episode of Strange Encounters with
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