The Charlie Kirk Show - God is Awakening an Entire People ft. Pastor Allen Jackson

00:00:00.000 Hey, everybody.

00:00:00.000 My conversation with Alan Jackson at Dream City Church for Freedom Night in America brought to you by TPUSA Faith.

00:00:05.000 A phenomenal conversation.

00:00:07.000 Check out alanjackson.com.

00:00:09.000 Thanks to Alan Jackson Ministries for your continued support.

00:00:12.000 And the book that we talk about is Angel, Demons, and You that you can find at alanjackson.com.

00:00:17.000 That is alanjackson.com.

00:00:20.000 Email me as always, freedom at charliekirk.com and subscribe to our podcast.

00:00:23.000 Happy Sunday, everybody.

00:00:25.000 And text this episode to your friends if they have questions about angels and demons.

00:00:29.000 Text it to your friends.

00:00:30.000 I think you're really going to enjoy it.

00:00:31.000 Buckle up, everybody.

00:00:32.000 Here we go.

00:00:33.000 Charlie, what you've done is incredible here.

00:00:35.000 Maybe Charlie Kirk is on the college campus.

00:00:37.000 I want you to know we are lucky to have Charlie Kirk.

00:00:40.000 Charlie Kirk's running the White House, folks.

00:00:43.000 I want to thank Charlie.

00:00:45.000 He's an incredible guy.

00:00:46.000 His spirit, his love of this country.

00:00:47.000 He's done an amazing job building one of the most powerful youth organizations ever created, Turning Point USA.

00:00:54.000 We will not embrace the ideas that have destroyed countries, destroyed lives, and we are going to fight for freedom on campuses across the country.

00:01:03.000 That's why we are here.

00:01:06.000 Noble Gold Investments is the official gold sponsor of The Charlie Kirk Show, a company that specializes in gold IRAs and physical delivery of precious metals.

00:01:16.000 Learn how you could protect your wealth with Noble Gold Investments at noblegoldinvestments.com.

00:01:23.000 That is noblegoldinvestments.com.

00:01:25.000 It's where I buy all of my gold.

00:01:27.000 Go to noblegoldinvestments.com.

00:01:31.000 Hello, everybody.

00:01:32.000 How are we doing tonight?

00:01:35.000 Please take a seat.

00:01:36.000 We have a very special guest tonight, so I'm not going to talk for long.

00:01:40.000 Author of this incredible book, Angel, Demons, and You.

00:01:43.000 It's very important to understand there is an invisible spiritual battle happening around us every single day.

00:01:50.000 And that spiritual battle manifests in many ways in politics, in the culture.

00:01:54.000 And I've gotten to know Pastor Alan Jackson over the last couple of months especially.

00:02:00.000 I've been very impressed by his Bible teaching.

00:02:03.000 In fact, I learned from Pastor Luke that he came to one of Pastor Tommy's trainings, what, 25 years ago?

00:02:11.000 Pastor school, 25 years ago, and has been faithfully teaching the Word.

00:02:16.000 And he said, I learned so much from that seminar and that event.

00:02:18.000 Just amazing how much Dream City impacts the world.

00:02:21.000 You don't even know about it until 25 years later.

00:02:23.000 And so this is just a remarkable testament.

00:02:27.000 And I'm going to be short here at the beginning because I also want to make sure we get to questions because there are always questions that people have that we are not able to get to.

00:02:35.000 So I'm going to just get right to it.

00:02:37.000 Join me in welcoming our guest tonight, Pastor Alan Jackson, author of Angel, Demons, and You.

00:02:42.000 Thank you, guys.

00:02:48.000 Here it is.

00:02:48.000 Thank you.

00:02:49.000 Thank you.

00:02:56.000 Pastor Jackson, welcome to Dream City Church.

00:02:58.000 It is an honor to be here, Charlie.

00:03:01.000 Thank you.

00:03:01.000 What an amazing legacy, this place, and the impact you have made and you are making.

00:03:07.000 I love that.

00:03:08.000 So, Pastor, introduce yourself.

00:03:10.000 We can tell you're kind of from the South.

00:03:12.000 People are already trying to decipher that.

00:03:14.000 How South are we talking here?

00:03:16.000 Not quite Louisiana, right?

00:03:18.000 No, I'm in Nashville.

00:03:22.000 It's an authentic hillbilly, you hear in my voice.

00:03:26.000 I studied at Gordon-Conwell for a while in Boston.

00:03:29.000 My nickname was Gomer.

00:03:33.000 So yeah, I've got a little bit of an accent.

00:03:35.000 So you run a church?

00:03:37.000 I do.

00:03:37.000 I serve a congregation.

00:03:38.000 It's World Outreach Church.

00:03:39.000 It's actually in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

00:03:42.000 Come on.

00:03:46.000 I have been there 40 years.

00:03:49.000 I was seven years old when I came.

00:03:52.000 You can do the math, okay?

00:03:53.000 So I was a prodigy.

00:03:55.000 No, the Lord's been very good.

00:03:57.000 We started with a tent.

00:03:58.000 My parents had a Bible study in their home for a dozen years.

00:04:03.000 We went to church every week and we weren't Christian.

00:04:05.000 You know, you can do that.

00:04:07.000 Then when I was seven, the doctors told my mom she had six months to live.

00:04:11.000 And the pastor that came to visit didn't believe in heaven or hell.

00:04:15.000 The problems in our churches today are not new, folks.

00:04:18.000 We've been building this for a long, long time.

00:04:21.000 And in route to Mayo Clinic for some really dramatic surgery, she said a prayer that if there was a God, she could know the truth before she died.

00:04:27.000 So she could leave that as a legacy for her sons.

00:04:30.000 I have two brothers.

00:04:31.000 And after a four-day workup at Mayo Clinic, a doctor came in and said, you had cancer, we have pictures, but we can't find it.

00:04:37.000 Go home and raise your babies. 0.97

00:04:42.000 And a few weeks later, she's washing dishes, and she heard a voice, and we were Methodists, and Methodists don't hear voices.

00:04:49.000 And the voice said, you asked to know the truth before you died.

00:04:52.000 And she said, yes, I did.

00:04:53.000 And he said, I'm the way, the truth, and the life.

00:04:56.000 And she knew it was somewhere in the Bible.

00:04:57.000 She went and got a Bible and looked until she found John 14. And so my parents became Christians, and it changed our whole home. 0.78

00:05:04.000 And out of that, a Bible study.

00:05:05.000 And decades later, a church.

00:05:07.000 So I understand a church that is an extension of faith in a family.

00:05:12.000 So there's something about this place, I think, that feels like home to me.

00:05:14.000 But we're still doing that, serving Middle Tennessee.

00:05:18.000 As technology's changed, now you can sit in Middle Tennessee and talk to the world.

00:05:22.000 And then we meet people like this that have more courage than 99% of the pastors I know.

00:05:30.000 And so we said if there's anything we can do to stand with Turning Point and Turning Point Faith and what Charlie and Lucas and their teams are doing to add momentum to that, that we're in.

00:05:40.000 So we're in Phoenix for a day.

00:05:42.000 Well, thank you.

00:05:43.000 And we are honored to partner with you.

00:05:44.000 And so I want to talk about this book because it is a...

00:05:48.000 Topic that we at Freedom Night have really not touched on, I'm thinking over about a year, year and a half, which is the spiritual battle.

00:05:54.000 And sometimes there's a lot of, let's just say, conjecture when it comes to the spiritual war, where some people think that there's a demon under every pillow or an angel around every corner.

00:06:05.000 I think it's really important to go back to Scripture for all answers, but especially when it comes to these complicated topics.

00:06:14.000 When I see Angel and Demons, I first think it's a novel, but it's not.

00:06:19.000 It wasn't the author of Dan Brown, didn't he write Angel and Demons?

00:06:22.000 The Da Vinci Code?

00:06:23.000 Yes. Am I right about that?

00:06:25.000 Yeah. Don't watch that movie.

00:06:26.000 It's terrible.

00:06:27.000 This is the much better Angels and Demons than you.

00:06:30.000 Amen. And so, let's get back to foundational scripture.

00:06:34.000 What does the Bible, the Word of God, say about angels?

00:06:37.000 What does it say about demons?

00:06:39.000 Are they real?

00:06:40.000 Is it biblical to say that there is...

00:06:43.000 I think it's not only biblical, I think it's essential.

00:06:49.000 And I agree completely, we want to come from what Scripture tells us plainly and clearly.

00:06:55.000 And I would submit to you, it's a thesis that spiritual forces impacted your life today.

00:07:00.000 And if you're not aware of that and you're not intentionally engaged with that equation and that formula, then you're just being buffeted by whatever.

00:07:09.000 And I don't think that's the best way to navigate life.

00:07:12.000 I prefer to be more intentional.

00:07:13.000 And I like this.

00:07:15.000 I want to start with the angels because I think that's more important.

00:07:17.000 Too often in the church world or the part I've been a part of, we want to focus on demons.

00:07:21.000 But Jesus'life in ministry was impossible apart from the angelic help and support.

00:07:26.000 I mean, it started with Zechariah and Elizabeth, with Gabriel in the announcement to Zechariah that there's going to be a child.

00:07:33.000 And then Mary and Joseph without the angel's engagement.

00:07:40.000 Jesus, after his baptism, and he's tempted in the wilderness, the angels come and minister to him.

00:07:44.000 In Gethsemane, the angels minister to him.

00:07:47.000 Satan said to Jesus at the temptation, the angels will keep you from harming yourself.

00:07:53.000 Satan was aware of the angels' involvement in Jesus' life and ministry.

00:07:57.000 And you follow it into the book of Acts, and there is no book of Acts without the angelic intervention.

00:08:03.000 They're a part of that narrative.

00:08:05.000 You know, I come from a world where Acts chapter 2 is a big deal, and I don't want to diminish that, but I also don't want to diminish the angelic intervention in that, and we've been pretty much pacifist about that.

00:08:17.000 You know, if you have a passive attitude towards God, you'll miss the kingdom of God.

00:08:21.000 If you say, if God wants me to go to heaven, he'll get me there, you'll go to hell with that attitude.

00:08:26.000 You have to personally choose to believe and accept Jesus into your heart.

00:08:30.000 You don't have to join a church.

00:08:31.000 No church has got a headlock on the whole truth.

00:08:34.000 Well, I believe the same is true with spiritual engagement.

00:08:36.000 You have to make a decision and begin to use your words and your minds, the tools God's given you.

00:08:42.000 I've developed the habit, particularly since working on this project, of every day beginning by asking God to release the angels for the help, for the tasks and assignments I have for the day.

00:08:54.000 And it's changing what's happening in my life.

00:08:56.000 So I don't think it's a frightening book.

00:08:58.000 I think it's a liberating book.

00:09:00.000 So in Hebrew and in Greek, an angel means a messenger.

00:09:04.000 And so sometimes people would think of an angel as a being with wings that will fly around.

00:09:11.000 What does scripture tell us about the essence of an angel?

00:09:15.000 Is an angel more than just a messenger?

00:09:17.000 Because we can go into the book of Ezekiel and we can see that the angels have a lot more dimension than just communicating with human beings.

00:09:28.000 Separate fact from fiction and scripture from folklore.

00:09:32.000 What does Scripture say about what an angel actually is?

00:09:35.000 Well, there's a lot.

00:09:36.000 Angels are warriors.

00:09:37.000 In the book of Daniel, if we're going to go to the Hebrew Old Testament, there's these pictures of angels bringing messages to Daniel, telling him he's highly esteemed by God.

00:09:47.000 Now, Daniel is a eunuch serving his whole life as a slave in a foreign court.

00:09:51.000 That does not feel like a position of great favor.

00:09:55.000 We have to recalibrate.

00:09:57.000 You see, we tend to think God blesses us if everything's going our way and our lottery ticket won.

00:10:01.000 Sometimes you can be living in the midst of the favor of God and paying a steep price for being a truth teller.

00:10:08.000 Now, Daniel prospered in many ways, but he was falsely accused.

00:10:12.000 But the angels are an integral part of that.

00:10:15.000 And Daniel was so trustworthy that God gives him a revelation of the end of the age far beyond Daniel's life.

00:10:22.000 If I could give you an invitation, be such a trustworthy component of what God is doing in the earth during your life.

00:10:33.000 It's a different attitude.

00:10:34.000 But you get to the book of Revelation, and the angels are central players.

00:10:37.000 They're essential in the judgment of God at the conclusion of this age.

00:10:42.000 And they're referred to in many ways.

00:10:43.000 There's mighty angels.

00:10:44.000 So there's a difference in the strength of angels.

00:10:46.000 You wouldn't designate one as mighty if they all had the same strength.

00:10:49.000 So I believe there's as much differentiation amongst the angels as there are amongst human beings.

00:10:54.000 They're created beings.

00:10:55.000 And God seems, if to be anything, he's creative, so I think there's a great deal of diversity amongst the angels.

00:11:02.000 And there are angels that are very engaged in the judgment upon the earth.

00:11:05.000 When Jesus told the parable of the wheat and the tares, remember that?

00:11:09.000 He said that at the end of the age, the field was the world, and the angels would be the harvesters.

00:11:17.000 So it's really against Scripture to imagine that we're going to lead our lives without angelic It says that we entertain angels and we don't recognize them, so I don't think they have wings and feathers or smell like cookies,

00:11:32.000 if you remember the John Travolta movie.

00:11:36.000 Not that I watched it, but I have friends who did, and they told me about that.

00:11:42.000 But I think it's really, it's not the only step, but it's a step in.

00:11:47.000 To the reality of spiritual things.

00:11:49.000 I don't believe you can understand what's happening in America today if you try to understand it only in terms of politics or ideologies.

00:11:56.000 There's a spiritual conflict for our nation.

00:11:59.000 And it's what makes the church so essential.

00:12:01.000 It's what makes a night like this so essential.

00:12:04.000 If we think because Trump got elected and J.D. Vance is the vice president, we can go sit back in our recliners and quote our favorite verses, we will forfeit the opportunity that God gave us last November.

00:12:19.000 So you said something very operative.

00:12:21.000 So there's a temptation then to pray to angels.

00:12:25.000 Can you reconcile how we are supposed to deal with angels?

00:12:29.000 They are not God.

00:12:31.000 They are created beings.

00:12:32.000 So they're below our creator.

00:12:34.000 But are they above human beings?

00:12:36.000 Are they former human beings?

00:12:38.000 What does the scripture say about that?

00:12:40.000 Especially as we must, under all conditions, defend monotheism.

00:12:47.000 We are not a polytheistic faith.

00:12:49.000 We do not believe that angels are divine.

00:12:52.000 So help us make sense of that.

00:12:55.000 It's a very interesting point.

00:12:58.000 Human beings in Scripture are set apart from any other aspect of God's creation.

00:13:03.000 We're the image bearers.

00:13:05.000 We get to that in Genesis chapter 1. Those opening chapters of Genesis give you the big rock ideas for the whole rest of the Bible.

00:13:13.000 By the time you get to Genesis 11, you've been introduced.

00:13:16.000 To the big ideas of Scripture.

00:13:18.000 And human beings are set apart from all the rest of creation.

00:13:21.000 We're not just the highest rung of the evolutionary ladder.

00:13:25.000 In fact, we're told to exercise dominion and authority over all creation.

00:13:30.000 And in those opening chapters is the fall when we rebel against God and reject all that He's given to us.

00:13:37.000 And God announces in those early chapters His plan for redemption.

00:13:41.000 Well, a portion of the angels rebelled against God.

00:13:44.000 Satan is a fallen angel.

00:13:46.000 And there is no redemptive plan for the angels.

00:13:51.000 So when we talk about God being a God of infinite grace and mercy, which is a common fallacy, I believe, in so much of the messaging today, there is an end to the mercy and grace of God.

00:14:02.000 God's grace and mercy is intended to bring us to repentance, not to bring us to greater license.

00:14:10.000 And the evidence of that is the angels.

00:14:12.000 When the angels rebelled, there's no plan for their restoration.

00:14:15.000 When human beings rebelled and fell, God's put in place the incarnation.

00:14:20.000 My son will become one of you.

00:14:22.000 He didn't become an angel.

00:14:24.000 Hebrews talks about this in more detail than probably we want to hear.

00:14:28.000 The angels have a different role.

00:14:30.000 I don't believe we direct the angels or command the angels.

00:14:33.000 But they are busy with God's assignment to help us, support us, strengthen us.

00:14:37.000 They fed Elijah after his victory over Jezebel and Ahab and the fire on Mount Carmel, and he's fled to the desert. 0.92

00:14:45.000 There are these multiple places where the angels have assignments.

00:14:49.000 And there's an almost unlimited number.

00:14:53.000 We have one scene in the book of Revelation where there's 100 million angels in one scene.

00:14:58.000 Well, the U.S. population is 300 million people roughly.

00:15:01.000 Imagine one scene where you could see a third of the population of the U.S. Obviously you can't put them in one room.

00:15:07.000 It's a drone flyover.

00:15:08.000 It's a group that disappears into the horizon.

00:15:12.000 So I mean there's a significant force of messengers, warriors, agents about the business of God active in the earth today.

00:15:21.000 And I don't believe we can live our lives just completely unaware of that.

00:15:26.000 So can angels take human form?

00:15:31.000 Yeah, the Scripture seems to suggest that, certainly.

00:15:34.000 You know, I mean, in many respects, we have pre-incarnate appearances of Christ.

00:15:40.000 You know, and the real honest answer, and I'm really comfortable with this.

00:15:43.000 If this bothers you, I'll apologize on the front end.

00:15:46.000 There's a lot I don't know.

00:15:51.000 I know that's a shock to you because you all thought there was nothing I didn't know.

00:15:56.000 I'm at peace with that, and I've been reading my Bible for a long time.

00:16:01.000 I came to pastor school 30 years ago, and I'm still very much a learner.

00:16:06.000 And I don't think there's any question that angels can appear in human form.

00:16:11.000 It's why we have to have...

00:16:13.000 We need an awareness of spiritual things that is dramatically different than what we've been coached to up to this point.

00:16:20.000 I think for the most part, we just don't attach much value, strength, or authority to spiritual forces.

00:16:28.000 And it's the reason the church is so close to impotent.

00:16:32.000 I mean, political power, economic power, military power, they're all real things, but they are very much a weak imitation of the power of God.

00:16:42.000 Jesus spoke to wind and the waves and he raised the dead to life and he turned water into wine.

00:16:48.000 I mean, Jesus was never intimidated or threatened or frightened.

00:16:51.000 He stood with Pilate, the most powerful political figure in Israel at the time.

00:16:56.000 Pilate's getting a little agitated with Jesus' lack of cooperation.

00:16:59.000 And he said, do you know who I am?

00:17:00.000 I have the authority to crucify you or turn you loose.

00:17:05.000 And Jesus said, the living Bible, actually, unless my dad gave it to you, you don't have any authority.

00:17:11.000 Well, the church needs to live with an awareness of the authority that's been entrusted to us.

00:17:17.000 And it doesn't mean we're in control.

00:17:19.000 We're not.

00:17:20.000 We're servants of the king.

00:17:22.000 But we serve under the authority of that kingdom and we're supposed to reflect that authority.

00:17:28.000 And that's more than sermons and church services.

00:17:34.000 The battle between good and evil seems to be escalating.

00:17:37.000 It is easy to blame politicians, government, or poor leadership, but behind all of that is a spiritual battle.

00:17:44.000 Pastor Alan Jackson's new book, Angels, Demons, and You, We don't need to be afraid,

00:18:08.000 but we do need to be aware and prepared.

00:18:11.000 Angels, Demons and You provides valuable insight Get your copy today at alanjackson.com slash angels.

00:18:28.000 Hear from people whose faith directly impacts our culture on Pastor Alan's Culture and Christianity podcast.

00:18:35.000 Find it wherever you get your podcasts.

00:18:40.000 So now to the second component, which is demons, and you mentioned this.

00:18:43.000 They are fallen angels, as described in, I believe, the book of Ezekiel, where they rebelled against God.

00:18:50.000 And this is predating the creation, is that right?

00:18:54.000 It's inferred, if I'm not mistaken.

00:18:56.000 So demons are one-third of all the angels rebelled, is that right?

00:19:02.000 And so if we are to, again, I don't want to ever read something that's not in the text, but...

00:19:08.000 Essentially what is being described was a pretty insane civil war in heaven.

00:19:14.000 A mutiny that then got basically dealt with.

00:19:19.000 An insubordination of the highest celestial order.

00:19:23.000 Is that a fair reading of the text, or am I giving a little bit too much liberty into what the scriptures say?

00:19:31.000 Well, the information we have is limited, in my opinion.

00:19:34.000 I'm not one that likes to extrapolate.

00:19:37.000 Very far beyond the plain reading of the text.

00:19:39.000 And I don't believe the Bible really gives us the ultimate origin of demons.

00:19:44.000 My opinion, and I'll put that this way.

00:19:46.000 My opinion, I don't think demons are the fallen angels.

00:19:51.000 There's a variety of opinion on that.

00:19:55.000 You could disagree with me.

00:19:55.000 We could both go to heaven.

00:19:56.000 I'm good with that.

00:19:57.000 It's okay.

00:19:58.000 I don't think demons behave like angels.

00:20:01.000 You know, angels have a place of authority.

00:20:05.000 They're a part of a structured...

00:20:07.000 That demons exist is very clear.

00:20:10.000 A prominent idea, certainly not unique to me, is that the demons would represent perhaps the disembodied spirits of a pre-Adamic race.

00:20:18.000 Something happened before Genesis 1-2.

00:20:20.000 That's opinion.

00:20:21.000 That's not hard Scripture.

00:20:23.000 But what is very clear in Scripture is that Jesus believed in demons.

00:20:29.000 Mark chapter 1, first chapter, he's in the synagogue in Capernaum, and there's a man there who's demonized.

00:20:35.000 The Greek is very helpful here.

00:20:37.000 Not demon-possessed.

00:20:38.000 It says literally he's demonized.

00:20:40.000 He's influenced by a demon.

00:20:42.000 We get caught up in these debates about words.

00:20:45.000 And he disrupts the synagogue service.

00:20:48.000 Jesus tells the demon to leave the man.

00:20:51.000 The demon says, I know who you are.

00:20:54.000 Nobody else knows yet.

00:20:56.000 So that unclean spirit Which is a really good translation for that word demon.

00:21:02.000 That unclean spirit has more spiritual awareness than the rabbi or any of the senior leaders in that gathering of people of faith. 0.97

00:21:11.000 Jesus renounces the demon, tells us to leave, and the man gets to stay in the synagogue. 0.78

00:21:16.000 Current practice, and I mean, I've spent my life in church, if somebody disrupts us, we remove the person and leave the demons in the people.

00:21:26.000 Because we have so little comfort.

00:21:29.000 With the whole notion of an unclean spirit.

00:21:32.000 So what we do know is demons torment.

00:21:34.000 They tend to inhabit living things or torment living things.

00:21:41.000 And I don't like to focus on that.

00:21:45.000 I much prefer to focus on what the Holy Spirit is doing and the purposes of God than to spend my time focused on the unclean, the dark.

00:21:52.000 But I think any aspect, short answer.

00:21:56.000 Any aspect of your carnal nature that you give license to, you can get unclean spiritual support for.

00:22:04.000 If you choose to give yourself the luxury of giving expression to your anger and you don't discipline yourself, I think you can come to a place where you'll get spiritual support that makes it hard for you to control.

00:22:16.000 I've sat with hundreds of people who said, you know, I know whatever this behavior is is destroying me, but I cannot stop.

00:22:24.000 The easy way to tell between a clean and an unclean spirit, a holy and an unholy spirit, the Holy Spirit will never dominate you, manipulate you, or control you.

00:22:34.000 I've never heard anybody say, you know, I can't stop being holy.

00:22:38.000 I don't want to be holy.

00:22:39.000 I can't stop being holy.

00:22:42.000 It's overwhelming me.

00:22:44.000 But I've sat with hundreds of people that describe some self-destructive behavior that they feel powerless to stop until they meet the authority of Jesus.

00:22:53.000 And then they can be free.

00:22:54.000 It's not a power encounter.

00:22:56.000 It's a truth encounter.

00:22:58.000 You don't have to shout and scream.

00:23:00.000 So I got one more kind of wonky theological question that I think the audience will appreciate.

00:23:06.000 And I think it's Genesis 3 or 4. I think it is 3. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the scriptures say the angels came down and actually bred with mankind.

00:23:16.000 Am I wrong in that reading?

00:23:18.000 And do you touch on the Nephilim in your book?

00:23:22.000 And what are we to make of this idea that the angels, these celestial beings, procreated with image bearers?

00:23:31.000 I think your description is the generally accepted reading of the passage.

00:23:35.000 Correct me.

00:23:36.000 No, no, I think that is.

00:23:39.000 I never want to read anything that's not in the text, so feel free to correct me.

00:23:43.000 For theologians, you'll have 11 opinions.

00:23:47.000 But I think that is the generally accepted, and I don't disagree with that.

00:23:52.000 To me, what's intriguing with that is the insight he gives us into the character of God.

00:23:57.000 He creates beings and he gives them freedom.

00:24:01.000 Again, it's the difference between the Holy Spirit and an unholy spirit.

00:24:06.000 Even the angels, God gave them freedom.

00:24:10.000 And there's this mistaken people who stand outside the kingdom of God.

00:24:15.000 And have not given Jesus that preeminent place in their life.

00:24:19.000 They think he's going to take something away from them, diminish their life.

00:24:23.000 He'll take away pleasure or joy or happiness or something.

00:24:26.000 And it's a perversion of the gospel.

00:24:28.000 It's like the perversion of the truth that's so prevalent in our culture right now.

00:24:33.000 The exact opposite is true.

00:24:34.000 The more you will yield to the lordship of Jesus, the more freedom, the more joy, the more happiness, the more pleasure, the more liberty that will come to your life.

00:24:44.000 Even the angels, God gave that privilege.

00:24:46.000 It's an intriguing insight to me into the character of this omnipotent, omniscient God that we worship.

00:24:54.000 I have nothing he needs, but he has made a way for me to participate in his eternal kingdom.

00:25:00.000 Yes, is my answer.

00:25:03.000 Absolutely. You know, people say to me, I don't want to go too far.

00:25:08.000 I do.

00:25:10.000 I live in Middle Tennessee.

00:25:11.000 The only thing that stays in the middle of the road long term is a possum.

00:25:14.000 It's roadkill.

00:25:17.000 I'm not looking for the middle of the road.

00:25:19.000 I want to find the edge, build a ramp, and hit it full speed.

00:25:23.000 Huh? So that brings us to today, and you touched on this.

00:25:30.000 The church needs to recognize that so much of their messaging is a byproduct of a hyper-materialistic, secular worldview.

00:25:40.000 We are the first people, and really that species in the West, to not believe in the spiritual dimension.

00:25:46.000 Even the Aztecs believed in a spiritual dimension.

00:25:49.000 The Incans, the Mayans, the Egyptians, the Indus River Valley.

00:25:53.000 We are the first generation of secular atheists.

00:25:57.000 Kind of post-1900s, this idea really started to grow.

00:26:00.000 And so much of the church, without realizing it or not, has embraced this secularism within their messaging.

00:26:08.000 Because they're afraid to talk about the spiritual aspect of it.

00:26:11.000 They actually have a hyper-technical materialistic gospel when you bring it down to it.

00:26:17.000 It's very technical.

00:26:18.000 If you do this, you will get that.

00:26:21.000 If you take this, you will get that.

00:26:23.000 Very cause and effect.

00:26:25.000 When, in reality, the spiritual world is very humbling because there are forces around us that we don't quite always understand.

00:26:33.000 There's an invisible dimension.

00:26:38.000 Well, I've spent my life in the church.

00:26:54.000 I love the church.

00:26:56.000 So I have some opinions.

00:27:00.000 You know, I think the church has moved so far away from the authority of Scripture.

00:27:05.000 In my lifetime.

00:27:07.000 My lifetime coincides with perhaps the most precipitous decline of Christian influence in the history of the church.

00:27:15.000 So that's unsettling to me.

00:27:19.000 And, you know, I think when we push Scripture aside, what we've watched in modern education amongst our elementary and high school children started in theological education a hundred years ago.

00:27:34.000 You know, critical theory dominates most of the elite theological schools today.

00:27:40.000 And it takes all the authority out of Scripture.

00:27:43.000 We sit in judgment of Scripture.

00:27:44.000 It doesn't sit in judgment of us.

00:27:47.000 And so if you want to get an elite education theologically and you go to these institutions so that you get the best paying jobs in the more traditional church settings, our most influential and celebrated leaders have been trained that there is no authority in the Scripture.

00:28:05.000 So we become systems for social causes.

00:28:09.000 We become civic clubs that have a little ecclesiastical language.

00:28:14.000 And that's not the church.

00:28:17.000 The church is an expression of the power of God in the language of Corinthians through a bunch of broken people.

00:28:24.000 We weren't very noble, it says.

00:28:27.000 God recruited a bunch of cracked pots from the wrong side of the tracks. 0.99

00:28:32.000 So that anybody who saw the outcome would know it had to be the power of God.

00:28:37.000 Now, what gives me great hope is that since 2020, God has begun a sifting and a shaking and a realigning, and there's new voices coming forward.

00:28:45.000 There's so much truth being spoken in our culture right now, but predominantly it's not coming from pulpits.

00:28:52.000 And it's coming from a younger generation of people with the courage to say there is good and evil, right and wrong.

00:28:57.000 They're giving an expression to a biblical worldview.

00:29:01.000 It very much looks like an awakening, or at least the embers of an awakening.

00:29:06.000 And I have grieved a bit that it didn't come from the places I would have preferred.

00:29:10.000 But that's not mine to call.

00:29:12.000 I just see it happening, and I'm going to go get in line and help.

00:29:17.000 You know, a building in religious language does not make us the church.

00:29:25.000 Honoring Jesus of Nazareth as Christ, Lord, and King does.

00:29:30.000 And that's what you're watching for.

00:29:32.000 That's where you want to engage.

00:29:33.000 That's where you want to give your time and your money and your attention and your efforts.

00:29:37.000 That's where you want your children to be.

00:29:41.000 Because that's where there is life and power.

00:29:44.000 That's what will bring another generation liberty and freedom for all.

00:29:49.000 You know, to the degree that our founding documents and founders had ideas that extended liberty for a few generations, it's only a reflection of the degree to which they cooperated with principles that are embedded in Scripture.

00:30:01.000 And when the church stopped talking about that, when we no longer had the courage, it hasn't been very long.

00:30:08.000 I read, coming on the plane today, I read something to Kathy, my wife.

00:30:12.000 It was a quote from Dr. King.

00:30:13.000 He said, the church is an assignment to be the culture of the, the conscience of the culture.

00:30:18.000 And when we lose that, we forfeit much of our role.

00:30:27.000 It was the authority of Scripture that thundered against the sin of our nation.

00:30:31.000 That's very different than DEI.

00:30:35.000 DEI is not thundering with the authority of Scripture.

00:30:39.000 It's thundering with demonic manipulation of human beings that judges us by our appearance and not our character.

00:30:50.000 We used to teach our children in school from the Bible.

00:30:54.000 Congress ordered a printing of the Bible so that as the colonies were breaking away from England so that there would be enough copies of Scripture in our schools for the training of our children.

00:31:05.000 Now we're teaching them social emotional learning and that's every bit as demonic as DEI.

00:31:11.000 We've taken away discipline and an idea of right and wrong and we've turned our schools into a large therapy session.

00:31:21.000 Now I'm meddling.

00:31:22.000 You asked me a question about the church.

00:31:23.000 No, you're doing great.

00:31:24.000 So, why is it that the church, and just more broadly, we can broaden it up more.

00:31:32.000 The church is failing in its current duty.

00:31:35.000 The church is failing, and of course we must say Dream City is an exception.

00:31:40.000 Pastor Allen, your church is an exception.

00:31:42.000 We work with the exceptions at TPUSA Faith, right Lucas?

00:31:45.000 We specialize in the exceptions.

00:31:47.000 But if we are honest with ourselves, the rule, not the exception, is a church that has grown silent and has been trembling and sometimes traitorous.

00:32:00.000 And I believe part of it, Pastor Allen, ties into your book and your thesis, which is if you ignore the spiritual dimension, I think it's one of many problems.

00:32:09.000 I don't think it's the only problem.

00:32:10.000 But I would put it top five.

00:32:12.000 If you ignore the spiritual dimension and you don't talk about...

00:32:16.000 How there is a demonic realm.

00:32:18.000 Because think about it.

00:32:19.000 If you talk about a demonic realm, then very quickly you could talk about sin and hell and eternal judgment.

00:32:26.000 Demons are scary.

00:32:27.000 Not many pastors want to talk about demons because they think people will leave their church.

00:32:32.000 Instead, they'll just say, angels and you.

00:32:36.000 That will be the title of the modern church, right?

00:32:39.000 Angels and you and how you can get rich or something.

00:32:42.000 But demons are like, woo, really scary.

00:32:47.000 So, we know the church is failing for multiple reasons.

00:32:51.000 By its fruit, you will know it.

00:32:53.000 That is a biblical principle.

00:32:55.000 And church attendance has been going down steadily the last 30 years.

00:32:59.000 It's actually plateaued and gone up one point in the last year and a half.

00:33:02.000 I think that's only a COVID recovery.

00:33:04.000 I don't even think that's a revival.

00:33:06.000 So I think we have to be very humble in the way we look at that data.

00:33:09.000 But the data is the data.

00:33:10.000 But it's been a 30-year slide.

00:33:13.000 More and more young people.

00:33:15.000 ...or identifying as not religious or, at very best, as spiritual, and what has been the prevailing Christian, let's just say the prevailing church methodology.

00:33:27.000 Number one, we must be more sensitive, and we must water down Scripture, and when we do those two things, we will then be able to bring more seekers into our church, and the less truth that we tell, the bigger we'll be able to expand.

00:33:44.000 That's basically been the formula.

00:33:47.000 Has it worked, Pastor Allen?

00:33:48.000 Last question, then we'll get to some Q&A.

00:33:51.000 Well, I want to disagree with you on one point, and it's a semantic thing.

00:33:56.000 I don't believe the church is failing, because Jesus is the head of the church, and the church is triumphant.

00:34:02.000 I think the institutional church...

00:34:04.000 No, that's fair.

00:34:05.000 The institutional church in the way we've known it.

00:34:08.000 The mechanical church.

00:34:09.000 Yeah, I think that there's definitely, I think there's a tremendous decrease in its influence.

00:34:13.000 I think that's good.

00:34:14.000 If they've rejected the authority of Scripture and the uniqueness of Jesus, I want their influence to diminish.

00:34:18.000 That's exactly right.

00:34:19.000 It's ungodly.

00:34:20.000 And you could make an argument they're not actually even the church.

00:34:23.000 Yeah. That's an easy argument.

00:34:25.000 I think the order of march is really important, and it's not complicated.

00:34:29.000 Jesus entered the kingdom of God.

00:34:31.000 He didn't say you needed to be sensitive.

00:34:33.000 He said you needed to be born again.

00:34:36.000 And it confused the man who'd come to see him.

00:34:38.000 It's in John 3. There was a confusing discussion.

00:34:41.000 And he was a scholar.

00:34:43.000 And he said, I'm old.

00:34:44.000 I don't understand the logistics.

00:34:45.000 And Jesus was a bit chagrined by that.

00:34:48.000 He said, how can you, a leader of my people, not understand that there has to be a birth of the Spirit?

00:34:53.000 And only the power of God can do that.

00:34:56.000 But if we're willing to acknowledge Jesus of Nazareth as Christ, as the Messiah, and then you're willing to accept him as Lord of your life, there's something supernatural that happens to you.

00:35:07.000 There's a spiritual birth that takes place in you.

00:35:10.000 The Bible describes it as becoming a new creation.

00:35:13.000 And that message has lived in American evangelicalism pretty well.

00:35:18.000 But we haven't taken much beyond that and talked about now the necessity of growing up in our faith.

00:35:25.000 Of running our race as if we want to win the prize.

00:35:29.000 I've been invited to the hospital hundreds of times to see new arrivals.

00:35:33.000 And there's grandparents and pictures and all this stuff.

00:35:37.000 But nobody imagined the story's done.

00:35:39.000 It's just the promise of a life to be led well.

00:35:43.000 So your entry into the kingdom of God comes with that simple thing.

00:35:47.000 It's not controlled by a church, a pastor, a priest, a denomination.

00:35:50.000 You can do that by yourself.

00:35:52.000 You can do it in the grocery store, in the produce section, or in the parking lot of the Dream Center, or at the altar of a church.

00:35:59.000 It's the beginning point for every life.

00:36:01.000 And we have to go with that message.

00:36:03.000 There will be good people in hell.

00:36:06.000 There'll be kind people and generous people and pretty people.

00:36:10.000 There'll be people who sit in churches.

00:36:13.000 All of those things.

00:36:14.000 It's our relationship with Jesus that determines our destiny and opens our lives to that new birth.

00:36:20.000 And we have to care enough about our families and our friends and our neighbors and the people that we work with to share with them the good news.

00:36:28.000 There's a God and you can know Him.

00:36:30.000 And He will change your life.

00:36:32.000 He doesn't need anything from you.

00:36:35.000 And if you will take that simple step of faith, it opens an entirely new realm of existence to you.

00:36:42.000 And the church has lost our passion for that.

00:36:46.000 And we think we can fix our problems with an election or a dynamic leader or more seats in Congress.

00:36:54.000 And I'm not against any of those things, but if those things are to happen, they will be because the church is awakened and we took our values back into the marketplace.

00:37:03.000 Thank you.

00:37:08.000 you you

00:37:10.000 I want to make sure you guys know that YRefi is there for any private student loan reconciliation needs that you have.

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00:37:58.000 That is Y-R-E-F-Y.com.

00:38:00.000 They make the entire campus tour possible.

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00:38:06.000 Pastor Alan, I just want to thank you for your boldness.

00:38:10.000 It is so refreshing to have someone that has a platform as big as yours.

00:38:15.000 And I hope you understand, Pastor Alan Jackson is heard by millions of people every single week.

00:38:20.000 It's one of the largest ministries out there and really teaches the word verse by verse and chapter by chapter.

00:38:26.000 Thank you for that.

00:38:27.000 Okay, well, we want to get to some questions here.

00:38:30.000 Let's try to keep it around the genre we're talking about, but of course, we'll take whatever we possibly can.

00:38:35.000 Which side is ready for us?

00:38:37.000 Which one?

00:38:38.000 Right there?

00:38:39.000 Yes, sir.

00:38:39.000 Just to get it straight, I'm not an angel, so just...

00:38:42.000 I've chosen to be one of God's warriors.

00:38:52.000 And I was mad at God in Vietnam, and now I know why. 0.99

00:38:56.000 I believe we're at war between Satan's marionettes and God's warriors.

00:39:03.000 And there is no middle ground.

00:39:07.000 You can't be in the middle and be for God because you're more for Satan than you are for God.

00:39:14.000 And I believe in the Bible it might say God will spit you out if you try and stand in the middle. 0.98

00:39:21.000 And I think the message should be that if you Have chosen to be one of Satan's marionettes.

00:39:28.000 You need to cut the strings.

00:39:31.000 Do you agree with me or do you think I'm sending a wrong message?

00:39:37.000 Well, I think my message is if you've chosen to this point to be one of Satan's marionettes, there's a better way to live your life.

00:39:44.000 And I continue to extend that invitation.

00:39:48.000 So being angry and resentful and bitter isn't our goal.

00:39:52.000 Our goal is to extend an invitation.

00:39:55.000 We have good news, you know, that freedom is available to any human being.

00:40:00.000 And I think if the church would embrace that with a greater enthusiasm, we almost apologize for it now.

00:40:06.000 You know, we apologize that we believe in Jesus or we apologize that we believe in right or wrong or good or evil.

00:40:13.000 And I think the world is waiting for the church with the strength to tell the truth.

00:40:20.000 I don't apologize for believing in God or believing in Jesus Christ.

00:40:24.000 No, I don't believe you do.

00:40:25.000 Thank you, sir.

00:40:26.000 Thank you.

00:40:27.000 Who's next?

00:40:29.000 This great group of patriots.

00:40:31.000 I love that.

00:40:32.000 Look at that.

00:40:33.000 They're probably all homeschooled.

00:40:36.000 Hi, we're the Trump Club.

00:40:39.000 And my question is, what is the difference between angels and archangels?

00:40:46.000 Charlie. Nope.

00:40:54.000 Well, I think the simplest answer to that is there's a structure and a hierarchy in God's kingdom.

00:40:59.000 If we look at creation, it's very clear that we serve a God of great order and precision.

00:41:05.000 And I don't believe his kingdom is random.

00:41:09.000 And so there is a structure to the angels and the authority that they have.

00:41:13.000 So an archangel is an angel with more authority than another angel.

00:41:19.000 And one in particular is the angel Michael, who in the book of Jude, I think it's Jude 1-9, talks about being the angel of battle.

00:41:28.000 That is not just folklore, but there is scriptural evidence to show that.

00:41:31.000 So thank you guys.

00:41:33.000 God bless you.

00:41:33.000 Thank you.

00:41:34.000 Good question.

00:41:35.000 I guess you could say that the archangels are like the five-star generals of angels.

00:41:40.000 You could say that.

00:41:41.000 There's a little bit of a hierarchy there.

00:41:43.000 Yes, sir?

00:41:44.000 Welcome, gentlemen.

00:41:45.000 Welcome. My question has got to do with DEI and the military.

00:41:50.000 I'm a maggot lifer, retired Air Force, and I never had that problem, that situation, because I was put in a lot of different jobs that had a lot of responsibility.

00:42:04.000 So what do you guys think about President Trump and Secretary Hedge Smith?

00:42:08.000 First of all, thank you for your service, sir.

00:42:16.000 Very much against it.

00:42:17.000 I'm against any sort of DEI measurement in corporate life or in schools, but especially in the military.

00:42:24.000 The military is a place where, to be perfectly honest, the military does not exist to accommodate all people.

00:42:31.000 The military does not exist to make people feel good.

00:42:33.000 It's to be excellent and lethal and to protect the homeland against threats that want to wish us harm.

00:42:43.000 Not only am I against DEI, I'm very much in favor of what Secretary Hegseth, who's doing a phenomenal job, by the way, he's just doing a great job, of what Secretary Hegseth issued yesterday, where he said, look, combat is hard, it's difficult, people's lives are on the line,

00:42:58.000 and if you want to serve in combat, if you're a man or a woman, you have to have the same physical fitness standards.

00:43:05.000 One in particular is that in 2015, they said that women in combat... 1.00

00:43:09.000 You only have to be able to deadlift 210 pounds.

00:43:12.000 A man has to be able to deadlift 320 pounds.

00:43:15.000 And to put that in perspective, an average soldier that is a man with his pack and his ruck will weigh about 220, 230 pounds.

00:43:24.000 That means that a female Marine or a female individual in the U.S. Army, if all of a sudden a male Marine would have his leg blown off, that female would not be strong enough to be able to carry him on her back.

00:43:37.000 We'll give him necessary medical attention that could save his life.

00:43:41.000 That is not a military, that is a social experiment, and that ends, and is ending right now, thanks to President Trump at BDXF.

00:43:47.000 No place in our country.

00:43:48.000 And let me just go a step further.

00:43:51.000 You know what I think is awesome is that you served in a time of military where everyone knew that you earned it and that you were qualified.

00:43:58.000 DEI unintentionally introduces racism and prejudice where it otherwise did not exist.

00:44:03.000 Where then people wonder that if black Americans are in a certain role, are they there because they were the best or because there was some sort of accommodation?

00:44:11.000 In fact, it's insulting to people as yourself if you would have to reapply in the military under those standards.

00:44:17.000 And so God bless you.

00:44:18.000 Thank you for your service.

00:44:19.000 and I'm glad we're bringing merit back to the finest fighting force on the planet.

00:44:23.000 Thank you.

00:44:28.000 No, I mean, I think the church muddied that conversation.

00:44:31.000 Excuse me.

00:44:32.000 Because we wanted the approval of the culture, so we came up with some other tortured explanations of Scripture to try to make diversity and equity and inclusion look like they were biblical principles, not in the way they were being pushed through our educational systems and the military.

00:44:48.000 Thank you.

00:44:48.000 And that's exactly right.

00:44:50.000 And you could always go back to where does this idea originate?

00:44:53.000 For example, natural rights, human equality, freedom of speech, all started by Christians and people that adhered to Scripture.

00:45:01.000 Diversity, equity, inclusion, 2AT, were all the outgrowth of secular philosophers like Derrick Bell and Kimberly Crenshaw and Herbert Marcuse and Michel Foucault.

00:45:11.000 None of them were believers.

00:45:12.000 That is a great test before we go any further.

00:45:15.000 When an idea is pushed to you on the culture, ask yourself, are the people who theorized this, who authored it, are they Christians and people who believed in the authority of scripture, or are they secularists?

00:45:26.000 That does not mean that secularists cannot have good ideas.

00:45:29.000 However, it's a very good beginning and starting point of what is the origination.

00:45:34.000 I would go a step further and say that a lot of the impulses of DEI is anti-Scripture and against our faith.

00:45:41.000 Yes, sir, what's your question?

00:45:42.000 Thank you for that, Ellen.

00:45:43.000 What are your thoughts on Greek gods?

00:45:46.000 Do you think they're fallen angels?

00:45:48.000 I know there is only one true God, but how do you think as a kid in public school who is taught about all of this and many generations have been taught?

00:45:59.000 That's a really good question.

00:46:00.000 Thank you.

00:46:00.000 What's your name?

00:46:02.000 Javen. David, thank you for that question.

00:46:05.000 Javen. Oh, Javen.

00:46:06.000 I'm sorry.

00:46:07.000 Yeah, I'm sorry.

00:46:07.000 I misheard you.

00:46:08.000 Well, I think the Christians have been way too passive. 1.00

00:46:11.000 When they told us to take, you know, prayer out of the schools or our faith out of the schools, we rather meekly said yes.

00:46:16.000 When they said you could pray at school, but only if you pray at the flagpole outside, we said thank you.

00:46:24.000 Anyway, that's another day.

00:46:25.000 I'll come back for that one.

00:46:27.000 But what we didn't acknowledge is in the schools, they're teaching worldviews and religions.

00:46:32.000 I've walked through the public schools.

00:46:34.000 There's all sorts of Egyptian gods and expressions of their faith that are a part of the education.

00:46:40.000 I'm okay with that, but they need to tell how Christianity has shaped this nation.

00:46:45.000 I think the Greek and Roman mythology are an ancient expression of the way we have worshipped demons and false gods throughout human history.

00:46:57.000 And they've been a part of the education, but you don't have to be afraid of it.

00:47:00.000 If you know the truth, you don't have to be afraid of something that's false.

00:47:04.000 Two very quick additional thoughts.

00:47:07.000 Number one is that the Bible does talk about repeatedly, you have to be very careful using the word gods because we are a monotheistic faith, but forces that could be interplaced with the word God, like Molech, for example.

00:47:21.000 That are pagan manifestations of demonic and spiritual forces. 0.95

00:47:25.000 Lucas is writing a book on paganism right now.

00:47:27.000 And if you want to really have a breakthrough, and I think everyone needs to really dive deep into this, the more you realize that we don't live in an atheistic country, but more in a pagan country, things start to make a lot more sense.

00:47:39.000 And finally, understand that the early Christians were given what was conceived to be a very good offer by the Romans.

00:47:48.000 The early Christians were humming.

00:47:49.000 They were starting to win converts.

00:47:51.000 And the Romans said, hey, look, we have this thing called the Pantheon.

00:47:55.000 Okay? Where you could be one of many religions.

00:47:58.000 We'll add you, okay?

00:47:59.000 We'll have Hermes.

00:48:00.000 We'll have Ra.

00:48:01.000 We'll have the sun god.

00:48:02.000 We'll have the dirt god. 0.98

00:48:03.000 We'll have, you know, the air god.

00:48:05.000 We'll put you amongst many.

00:48:07.000 You'll be one amongst equals.

00:48:09.000 And the early Christians, to their credit, said, no. 0.98

00:48:12.000 There's only one true god.

00:48:13.000 We are not going to acknowledge all these fake pagan manifestations. 0.87

00:48:18.000 And the courage of the early church to do that as they faced martyrdom, as they faced extreme exile, is one of the great acts of courage that to this day led us to the truth of our faith.

00:48:32.000 If they would have accepted that deal, a lot of the persecution would have stopped.

00:48:35.000 A lot of the massacring of Christians in the early couple hundred years would have ceased.

00:48:40.000 But they said, no, we will go through the persecution, but we refuse to ever say that Jesus is on the same level as Zeus.

00:48:47.000 That is heresy, and we will not put up with it.

00:48:50.000 So I hope that's helpful.

00:48:51.000 So thank you.

00:48:55.000 Hi, Pastor.

00:48:57.000 Last summer there was some testimony in Congress about UAPs, what we used to call UFOs.

00:49:04.000 And that our government has biologics.

00:49:08.000 Just wondering your opinion, wisdom on that.

00:49:13.000 I'm not familiar enough with what the government has.

00:49:17.000 I think what I can say today is I'm convinced that for far too long our government has been deceitful, dishonest, lied to us, and manipulated us.

00:49:26.000 And one of the very uncomfortable things that has come forth in my life since COVID is that...

00:49:34.000 I'm going to borrow Reagan's line.

00:49:35.000 I have to trust but verify.

00:49:37.000 You know, my father was a veterinarian.

00:49:39.000 I grew up in the sciences.

00:49:40.000 I trusted the CDC and the NIH and all of those people until about April of 2020.

00:49:49.000 And I'm a veterinarian's assistant informally.

00:49:53.000 And my training said this isn't science anymore.

00:49:56.000 And so on that particular topic, I haven't seen enough data.

00:50:00.000 I've listened to a lot of information.

00:50:02.000 But I don't really have anything beyond that.

00:50:05.000 To imagine that there's aspects of creation that we don't know about makes complete sense to me.

00:50:11.000 Every time we get a telescope and we can see further into the universe, our last theory has to be changed because we were incorrect.

00:50:18.000 Or every time we learn more about this physical world we're in, we're adapting what we said was absolute fact.

00:50:26.000 So I'm completely comfortable saying there are aspects of creation that we just don't know.

00:50:32.000 I had a mentor in my life.

00:50:34.000 He said that miracles were not Jesus using some extra power.

00:50:37.000 He was just taking advantage of aspects of creation that we don't understand.

00:50:42.000 And so the discussion doesn't bother me, but I don't trust the source.

00:50:49.000 Thank you.

00:50:50.000 Next question.

00:50:55.000 Oh my goodness, I just want to say this is my first time ever doing this, but I just want to tell you that I love you all and I definitely appreciate your ministry.

00:51:02.000 Mr. Charlie Kirk, to God be the glory and pastor.

00:51:06.000 Um...

00:51:08.000 So I wanted to ask about demons because I find myself, you know, feeling to pray for people.

00:51:17.000 And I have had a conversation or people sometimes have tried to almost make somebody feel like they should be afraid to pray if somebody is, say, demon possessed or dealing with some kind of demonic spirit.

00:51:30.000 And I love what you said about the authority because we have authority in Christ Jesus.

00:51:38.000 So why is it or what would you say if someone maybe knew to say, wanting to say cast a devil out of someone or cast a demon out of someone who is demonized?

00:51:50.000 Like what could they...

00:51:58.000 And also for someone who might be new to that, maybe they're not so used to that, how do you think they should approach that when they see, you know, someone who's like casting out devils or if they feel led to cast out demons and devils out of people?

00:52:11.000 It's a good question.

00:52:12.000 I think the simplest way to imagine it is it begins with repentance.

00:52:18.000 If a person wants to be free, that's a very simple path.

00:52:22.000 You acknowledge.

00:52:23.000 Repentance means you change your thought and you change your behavior.

00:52:26.000 So there's a simple, Lord, I'm sorry.

00:52:28.000 I've been thinking the wrong way about something and behaving the wrong way.

00:52:31.000 And if there's some unclean spirit that's involved with that, if you repent of the sin and renounce your involvement with that, if you were involved with the occult or whatever it may have been, you can be free.

00:52:45.000 It's a truth encounter.

00:52:46.000 It's not a power encounter.

00:52:48.000 And so it doesn't have to be frightening.

00:52:50.000 It makes it...

00:52:51.000 Hollywood can sell more tickets if it's dramatic, but I don't think it has to be dramatic at all.

00:52:59.000 I simply think you need to acknowledge that you want a different outcome and where the power and the authority is for that freedom, and then you can help people walk through that.

00:53:08.000 There's a couple of simple books.

00:53:10.000 Neil Anderson's written on this really well.

00:53:12.000 The Bondage Breaker or Freedom in Christ, and he'll give you 10 steps to freedom that anybody could pick up and walk through with someone else.

00:53:21.000 And it's a very straightforward, biblically sound way to process it.

00:53:25.000 And I will just add, far being from an expert, that demon possession is real.

00:53:32.000 Some people who say they are demon-possessed are probably not.

00:53:38.000 I am not a Catholic, but I will say the Catholic Church, to their credit, has the most robust, thorough documentation of possession.

00:53:46.000 And if you guys ever want to go into that, it's...

00:53:50.000 That'll make you believe in the spiritual dimension very quickly of what the Catholic Church has documented through their process of exorcism and what they have found and what Protestants that have gone into this have found.

00:54:01.000 You don't just get possessed by walking down the side of the street.

00:54:04.000 It does not just zap.

00:54:06.000 You must actively seek it.

00:54:08.000 And it almost always comes in one of three ways.

00:54:10.000 The occult, tarot cards, or playing some sort of a witchcraft game.

00:54:16.000 So otherwise, stay out of Sedona, everybody.

00:54:18.000 Right? That's basically...

00:54:19.000 Do not go there at all.

00:54:24.000 And if you keep on driving, do not go to any of that New Age stuff. 0.93

00:54:29.000 The point being, the most famous exorcisms of the 20th century, of course, the most famous was Emily Rose.

00:54:35.000 Don't watch the movie.

00:54:36.000 I mean that seriously.

00:54:37.000 It's awful.

00:54:38.000 And you're just inviting dark stuff.

00:54:39.000 But reading the transcripts of both Catholic priests and Protestants who kind of dealt with that, It is eerily similar to what the scriptures tell us of the contortion of bodies, of other voices going through that individual that are not their own,

00:54:55.000 and also the quoting of scripture back at the exorcist.

00:55:01.000 All that to say, I'm not an expert in that, but it did do one thing the more I researched it.

00:55:07.000 It made me believe more and more in this invisible dimension.

00:55:11.000 That atheists must not just grapple with the existence of God, They also must grapple with the existence of evil and the demonic as well. 0.75

00:55:19.000 It's a very important point that if you have an atheist in your life, that not only they must deal with this idea of the eternal that created everything, but also, I think, in a very backwards way, possession can also make some people second guess that maybe there is an invisible dimension.

00:55:36.000 And by the way, if you don't also believe me, talk to missionaries that have gone to Haiti, and they will rock your world about the idea of possession.

00:55:45.000 Why is that?

00:55:46.000 Half of Haitian culture still practices witchcraft. 0.93

00:55:49.000 Actively, witchcraft and the occult is the most active per capita in the country of Haiti.

00:55:55.000 So, thank you.

00:55:59.000 If you want to make sense of the change and the chaos happening around us, you're going to need God's help.

00:56:04.000 That's why Alan Jackson Ministries, a friend of mine, created the Culture and Christianity Podcast, the Culture and Christianity Conference, and their weeknight news show, Alan Jackson Now.

00:56:15.000 Millions of people also listen to Pastor Alan Jackson's powerful sermons each week I do on radio, television, satellite, and online.

00:56:23.000 In today's world, there's desperate need for truth, and Alan Jackson Ministries feels a sense of urgency to deliver God's truth and a biblical perspective to anyone who will listen.

00:56:35.000 We can't afford to be complacent.

00:56:37.000 Their mission is to help people become more fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ, which is the most important thing, giving your life to the Lord, including here on The Charlie Kirk Show.

00:56:46.000 Go to alanjackson.com slash charlie.

00:56:50.000 That is alanjackson.com to find recent podcasts, shows, and sermons.

00:56:56.000 Be informed.

00:56:57.000 Find encouragement.

00:56:58.000 Hear the truth delivered in a way that just makes sense.

00:57:01.000 You'll also find books, studies, prayers, and other tools to help you grow in your faith.

00:57:06.000 Again, that's alanjackson.com.

00:57:09.000 This is our time to make a difference.

00:57:12.000 Check it out right now.

00:57:15.000 Hey, man.

00:57:16.000 How are you?

00:57:16.000 You keep growing up.

00:57:18.000 Hi, I was just wondering, you touched on before creation.

00:57:23.000 I was just wondering if you could tell me more about that, like what your opinion is on what happened before creation.

00:57:30.000 That's a good question.

00:57:31.000 I don't really think we have the information.

00:57:35.000 You know, when Genesis opens, it says that there was chaos, really.

00:57:40.000 There's two Hebrew words used there that are used a handful of times in the Old Testament, and they almost always describe something chaotic where there's been some destruction.

00:57:50.000 So I don't think Genesis begins with the original creation.

00:57:54.000 It says, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and then it says, and the earth was void and without shape, and the Spirit of God is hovering over the face of the deep.

00:58:02.000 And then God begins to bring order out of that.

00:58:04.000 What the Bible is, is the story of an almighty God.

00:58:12.000 His creation of an environment for human beings to live in and how we can have a relationship with him.

00:58:19.000 It's not the complete story.

00:58:20.000 We don't know where God came from.

00:58:21.000 It's not there.

00:58:24.000 And so what we have the opportunity to do is to take the design manual and accept that truth and get to know this almighty God.

00:58:32.000 Or we can establish ourselves as in charge and we can figure it out.

00:58:37.000 So I'm not trying to avoid it.

00:58:38.000 I just don't think the information's there, and my speculation isn't overly helpful.

00:58:43.000 Thank you, man.

00:58:44.000 Appreciate it.

00:58:45.000 This will be the last question, and then, Pastor Allen, I'm going to have you lead us in kind of an informal altar call, if that's okay.

00:58:53.000 Great. Final question.

00:58:54.000 Thank you.

00:58:55.000 So the demonic always seems to know where to attack and attempt me, and probably all of us.

00:59:03.000 So do...

00:59:05.000 Are our thoughts being read?

00:59:07.000 Are they keying off behavior?

00:59:10.000 Or the words we speak?

00:59:12.000 How does this always seem to know?

00:59:14.000 So I think the question is centering around the intelligence of unclean spiritual forces.

00:59:24.000 Personally, I don't think it's prudent to make fun of the devil.

00:59:28.000 He's been pretty effective against most of my heroes.

00:59:32.000 You know, Moses and David and Abraham, and you can take the list.

00:59:36.000 So I don't mock him or make fun of him.

00:59:39.000 You know, the story's told of Martin Luther, I don't know that it's true, that he woke up in the middle of the night and he saw the devil standing at the foot of his bed.

00:59:45.000 And he said, oh, it's just you, and he rolled back over and went to sleep.

00:59:49.000 I like the approach.

00:59:52.000 My experience is the devil always overplays his hand.

00:59:56.000 He goes too far.

00:59:57.000 I think we've seen that culturally.

00:59:58.000 He goes to the point that it's so absurd.

01:00:01.000 The marginally aware people go, wait a minute, that's too far.

01:00:05.000 And I think as far as that individual nature, I think we all have vulnerabilities.

01:00:11.000 We're not all tempted on every point.

01:00:13.000 So my favorite sins to preach against are the ones that aren't temptations for me.

01:00:19.000 I mean, I can drop the hammer on poaching elephants because I haven't been tempted to do that in a long time.

01:00:26.000 You know.

01:00:27.000 I'm eating too much chocolate.

01:00:29.000 I try to stay away from gluttony because that's a little more personal.

01:00:31.000 The reality is we all know we have some points of vulnerability.

01:00:38.000 And I think that having that self-awareness then gives you a game plan.

01:00:44.000 I don't put myself in places where those points of vulnerability are exposed.

01:00:50.000 I won't give my discretionary time.

01:00:52.000 I don't have a great deal of discretionary time, but I will not give it.

01:00:56.000 To people that don't encourage me in godliness.

01:00:59.000 Because the struggle's too real.

01:01:00.000 The challenge is too great.

01:01:02.000 You know, I find my friends that have excellence in some area, they spend their free time with people that help them be better at what they're trying to learn.

01:01:09.000 And if you want to be more godly, spend your discretionary time with people that will encourage you in the Lord, not discourage you.

01:01:16.000 So I don't spend a lot of time worried about the enemy.

01:01:19.000 I try to spend my time getting closer to the Lord and living in the strength and the truth that He's given me.

01:01:25.000 And I don't find...

01:01:26.000 I don't spend a lot of time worrying about viruses and bacteria.

01:01:30.000 I just try to get healthy.

01:01:33.000 Thank you.

01:01:34.000 Pastor Allen, would you lead us in kind of a conclusion here and a call to the Lord?

01:01:41.000 I would.

01:01:42.000 I give you the same invitation that my mom asked for, to know the truth.

01:01:46.000 And that's not about being Baptist or Catholic or Jewish.

01:01:50.000 Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.

01:01:53.000 And wherever you come into your journey tonight, you may be a veteran of decades in the church.

01:01:59.000 I came to this building decades ago, and the Lord met me in this place.

01:02:04.000 And I'm sure he's still meeting people here, and tonight would be a good night simply to say to the Lord, I want to take another step with you.

01:02:12.000 I don't want to come presumptuously and imagine that I know it all.

01:02:17.000 And if you stood on the outside as a skeptic, I would invite you simply to say, Jesus, be Lord of my life.

01:02:24.000 It doesn't take a genius to be a skeptic.

01:02:25.000 It's not hard to find the frailty in Christians, folks. 1.00

01:02:29.000 Our weaknesses are on display most days.

01:02:33.000 But sitting in the seat of the skeptic is a lonely place to stay.

01:02:36.000 It's more fun to be engaged with what God is doing.

01:02:40.000 And so I would invite you, whatever brought you here, to say to the Lord, I want to give you a greater place in my heart and life.

01:02:47.000 I want to give you a greater place in my priorities.

01:02:49.000 I'm going to say that little prayer.

01:02:51.000 And to the degree that that makes sense for you, you just say, yes, Lord.

01:02:54.000 I want to stand for that, if you will.

01:02:55.000 I'm pretty sure if the Lord came in the room, we'd stand.

01:02:59.000 Before we put our face in the carpet, I think that would happen really quickly, but I think we would start by standing.

01:03:05.000 He deserves our respect and our reverence.

01:03:08.000 God's not like us.

01:03:10.000 He can make me out of a dust ball and not exert any effort.

01:03:16.000 There's nothing hidden from him.

01:03:17.000 He knows the ending at the beginning.

01:03:18.000 The greatest problems and challenges we have today do not cause God any anxiety.

01:03:24.000 The church is way too anxious.

01:03:27.000 If we would be more aware and closer to the Lord and stand more in his authority and power, we would be a much greater help to this nation than any elected official.

01:03:36.000 And I'm grateful for all those people that are making sacrifices to provide leadership to our nation.

01:03:41.000 But I believe that God is awakening a generation of people who will tell his truth.

01:03:45.000 So what if we said tonight, I want to be one of those people?

01:03:49.000 For some, it's a first step.

01:03:50.000 For some, it's another step.

01:03:53.000 For some, it's a reprioritization of your life and your time.

01:03:58.000 Life is no brief candle to me.

01:04:01.000 In fact, it seems kind of long.

01:04:04.000 But there's no do-overs.

01:04:07.000 And I want every season of my life to reflect my very best effort for the kingdom of God.

01:04:15.000 Father, I thank you for these men and women.

01:04:18.000 They've made a sacrifice to be here tonight.

01:04:20.000 And you've said that you're the rewarder of those who diligently seek you, and so I lift them before you.

01:04:26.000 For those who are standing apart from you, I pray that they will simply say, Jesus, be Lord of my life.

01:04:34.000 Lord, give them the courage to take that step to move beyond indifference.

01:04:40.000 There are many of us who have known you and walked with you.

01:04:43.000 But we've been distracted by many things and we come tonight to say we're sorry.

01:04:47.000 We give you first place.

01:04:49.000 Forgive us for our ambivalence.

01:04:52.000 Forgive us for imagining that something beyond you would bring contentment and joy and peace to us.

01:04:59.000 Jesus be Lord of our life.

01:05:01.000 May your truth grow in our hearts.

01:05:04.000 May your name be exalted and your kingdom extended in our generation that will cause the nations of the world to stand in wonder.

01:05:12.000 We thank you for it.

01:05:13.000 In Jesus' name.

01:05:15.000 Amen. If you prayed that little prayer with me and you've never prayed it before, I'll be around here.

01:05:21.000 I want to see you before you go, okay?

01:05:22.000 God bless you guys.

01:05:23.000 Give it up for Pastor Alan Worth.

01:05:25.000 Thanks so much for listening, everybody.

01:05:27.000 Email us, as always, freedom at charliekirk.com.

01:05:29.000 Thanks so much for listening, and God bless.

The Charlie Kirk Show - April 13, 2025

God is Awakening an Entire People ft. Pastor Allen Jackson

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