Ep 1041 | What Demons Can Really Do to Us & How to Dodge Satanic Traps
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I am unashamed. What about you? Welcome back to Unashamed. I'm in my new studio, Zach, down here at the updated Southern Lair. And I'm in a very tight space here. In fact, our new studio back home is much bigger and roomier. And I've noticed there's a lot of reasons for me to lose weight, but one of them is so I can get in and out of this studio.

because it's a bit of a tight squeeze. So we're going to work on that. I'm glad you're able to talk about yourself in such a way. You know me, Jace. The one thing I am is thick-skinned and honest. We are thick-skinned, so you can save the comments that I'm not reading. So as Maddie said,

Someone asked if you even like Zach. He's my cousin. I love him. We see eye to eye on a lot of things. But you will call me fat, right? You will point out the way you have. I didn't say that. But I hate to tell you all this, boys, because we do two podcasts in one day, and I'm still not clicking on all cylinders because I had this demonic force come in me. No, I'm not sure what I'm saying.

We're going to be talking about spiritual warfare today, so maybe you can ask. That's exactly right. I just had some, exorcist style, and we had mentioned it on the exercise. The whole discussion you were giving made me so glad that the Holy Spirit whisked me away like it did

you know, fill up and some of the early, because it whisked me away from West Monroe down here to the Southern layer. So I would be nowhere near you with this demonic flu. Well, that's not just Jace. It's the whole, it's the, it's honestly that whole area that you live in. It's that street. It's a, it's not that we live about a couple of miles from a paper mill.

And look, I have no facts on this. Most of my friends work at the paper mill, so guess what? We'll die happy in the Lord. But it just seems like if you're pumping a lot of smoke and everybody's going, and it actually stinks. I wonder why everybody's sick around here. I don't know. Maybe all that smoke I'm ingesting. And Jase, you and I are 50 years down the road from when we were kids to

before they actually cleaned a lot of it up because we can remember periods where the river would turn black. They'd dump all the chemicals in the river, but I'll tell you what, I've been sick, really sick,

Twice in the last eight months. And both of those experiences, the family of origin, and I've mentioned this on a previous podcast, it was Willie and Corey. Well, you believe that. How can you prove it? See, let me go a different angle here. Here's what I think happened. I'm trying to be grateful and thankful because that is part of our purpose. I believe 1 Thessalonians says rejoice always, pray continually.

give thanks in all circumstances. And so on the previous podcast, I mean, look, I looked at what my dad's going through and I thought, okay, so I threw up for 24 hours. Could be worse. I'm better, you know? I mean, and so here's what I think it was. I just went duck hunting for 60 days and that's, oh boy, that sounds so much fun. There's a lot of work.

That goes on. It is, it turns into a survival course. I mean, if you haven't noticed, cause I probably don't think y'all would, I've lost weight. I mean, it has been, it was cause I didn't have my dad there with me and I didn't realize how much work he actually does him and his posse. Yeah. And so that kind of fell on me. Well, then we're training the duck boys at the same time. I didn't sign up for that.

Jay just had them lined up like, here are the new recruits. What I misunderstood, Jay, is because I thought the duck boys, part of their job was to make that sort of job, your job, easier, that they were going to be the new labor force, the new posse. Well, that is true. However, that training, it's like when you see a drill sergeant, you think, boy, he's got a good job.

Well, look at what he's having to do. He's working his butt off trying to get these young men whipped up into shape. I didn't realize how much work they're actually doing because I thought this is a challenge. And I will say this, not all the duck boys, one of the duck boys is 50 years old.

Oh, wow. Yeah. So that's a perpetual adolescence. Yeah, and I don't want to mention any names, but that's Jersey Joe. He had never duck hunted before he came down here. You're going to hurt his feelings, man. No, I've already done that multiple times. We're thinking in his skin. Yeah, and it was so funny. He is doing the work. You've got to admit, he's cooked quite a few meals. He's put the work in, I will say. Well, our relationship got started as –

I did not volunteer for this job to train these men in the world of duck hunting. But when I go duck hunting, there's a lot of things that you have to do. And basically, you have to embrace the process. I mean, I've given the Joe Paterno speech that Phil gave me.

Many times when I was a kid, y'all remember the Joe Paterno speech? He's like, when you shoot a bunch of ducks, you don't hoop and holler and act like that's never happened before. Act like you've been there. Act like you've been there. Well, here was my problem. When I started giving that speech, I was getting a puzzled look from the duck boys. And I was like, what's the problem? And somebody said, who's Joe Paterno? Yeah.

Okay. So I realize there's a generational gap. Your pop culture references aren't going to land. You're going to have to, yeah. You got to get on TikTok, Jace. Get you a TikTok and start looking at what they're talking about. It'll help you connect with the kids, with the young people. I'm going to have to.

Reserve that to my dad. See, you can only quote Nick Saban, Jace, when you're talking to this generation. Yeah, I don't do TikTok, nor have I ever been there, and I never got past the name and the origin. But I got a question for you, Jace. Are these duck boys or buck boys or both? Because I'm confused. Zach, you saw a picture of...

of the completion, they were sporting the deer that were killed, not the ducks. I'm confused. Whoever's mentoring them on the deer hunting is doing a fine job, I will tell you that. Okay, now you've got the point of conflict. Everybody's...

Everybody knows in our family, Willie is kind of in charge of the deer operation. Yeah, buck commander. I'm in charge of the duck operation. Duck commander. We put our money where our mouth is and bought the land with my dad with that in mind. You handle the deer. I handle the ducks. Well, there's a lot of differences in that.

The obvious are you look at Willie's body type and look at mine. Well, deer is an all-you-can-eat buffet. A duck is an appetizer. So, okay. Deer is easy. Are you calling – hold on. I just want to clarify. Are you calling Willie fat? I'll stand by what I said.

Deer is easy. And now people say, oh, what is Jake? Deer's easy? That's why Willie does it. You know what the number one prerequisite to being a great deer hunter is? What is the most important thing? Being able to sit long time and be patient. Bingo. Wow. Give him a prize. Let's see. Okay. So think about that.

You're telling your friends and loved ones, you know what I'm really good at? Sitting on my butt for long periods of time, pulling a trigger with a scope that technology has gotten so far. This is what you call clickbait content right here. Yeah. So now look, haven't said all that. I love to eat deer.

And so I used to be a deer hunter, but in a, but you think, you think duck hunting is more sporty is what I don't think it is. It is way more competitive. It brings way more out of you. It's a bigger challenge. These ducks are from Canada. They came from Canada and you have to convince them that your painted pieces of plastic are real ducks with just a duck call and a presentation. Yeah.

Come on. Come on. And I will say, Jase, to buttress your point, when you look at a deer stand, it's very man-made looking. I mean, you just go out there and set it down and it's there, whereas the duck blind has to be the most natural-looking apparatus in the woods. Now, look, if you think I'm hating on deer, I love to eat deer. I may, in part of our arguments in our land...

I don't know what you call it. Partnership. Your joint venture in the land. Yeah, because it's a problem because these things keep coming up. The deer hunters, when they shoot a rifle, they flare off ducks. When I shoot a shotgun at ducks, deer just yawn.

They don't care. They don't even get up out of their bed. The most famous scene we ever had of all duck productions was when a deer crossed our duck hunting area. We had just shot 20 times at two down gadwalls. And five seconds later, a deer came out and said, hey, what's all that racket? And my dad shot the deer.

And he did the flip. Well, we've talked about that many times. And by the way, if you're new and listening and you hadn't listened, you can Google that because it's everywhere on the Internet and watch it. The scene, one of those famous scene in Duckman lore. Yeah. So they didn't like my deer hunting style because I didn't shoot big bucks because they're not as good to eat.

I don't mind watching them. Oh, great. There's a big buck. What a beautiful creation from God. I'm not hating on it. Great. If you want to go out there and watch them. But if you, I'm all into table fare. The greatest deer you can eat is under 50 pounds.

I don't have to take it to a processor. I can clean it myself. There's no tenderizer used. There's zero gaminess to it. You can salt brine if you want. You don't have to. You can just eat him right then, and it's spectacular.

So that makes them nervous because they want to grow big deer. They don't like Jay shooting little deer. And they've convinced our kids that somehow or another that that's not appropriate or sporty. I actually literally with one of the duck boys, his daughter, and I'm calling him a duck boy because his view on deer hunting caused him to be in that camp.

Because his daughter, who's nine years old, called me on the phone and said, Mr. Jase, please quit shooting the little deer. Let them grow up. I thought, you've gotten your daughter to call me and tell me? He let her watch Bambi three times, and then she called me and was like, save the little deer. I was like, no, little girl. I'm going to kill one just for you and eat it and think of you.

So was that extra calisthenics for that duck boy? Well, it was an argument, and I was like, hey, if you don't agree, that's one thing, but don't bring in the little kids and indoctrinate them in this false teaching that you're saying. I eat deer. We have plenty of them, and they're better to eat, and I'm going to do it. So having said all that, I quit shooting little deer, and what they do is they say, just stay out of the deer hunting.

We'll bring you a sacrificial deer lamb when you want it. And they have to be fair. And they have. And it's cleaned. They bring me two or three yearlings a year, and I stay away. And what they do for me is they have to use a silencer or a bow. And it's been a pretty good deal.

So they're deer hunting. I haven't deer hunted in five years. So we've kind of produced this here in our opening discussion, this idea of two sides. I think maybe that's our perfect lead-in to our guest that's about to come on. Except this is much more serious of the discussion. He's going to talk about two sides, good and evil. And so when we come back from our break, we'll introduce our guest we've got coming on today. ♪

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Welcome back. We have been joined by an esteemed guest that we're super excited about, Jonathan Picluda. We're going to call you JP, Jonathan. That'll work. Yeah, just because we shorten names. That's what we do. It's the Robertson way. That's so much better than what Willie called me, so I appreciate it. I'm grateful. So, Willie, that was my next question because I've seen you on Sadie's podcast. That's our sister podcast. Yeah.

But I was wondering your experiences with that wing of our family, because Willie is his own entity. But I was wondering if he'd given you a nickname or probably nothing you can share on the podcast. No, I was sitting in staff. We have a staff meeting today.

Every Tuesday we call staff prayer and I was sitting in there and I got this just random text. It was like, hey, I heard your message of passion. You did a great job. Dash Willie. And I mean, you know, I don't I never talked to Willie. I never met Willie or anything. And I just was like and I looked at that and I was like, who is.

who is Willie? And that, you just summed up my entire life. Like, this is my guy right here. Willie Robertson just texting me. I'm, you know, I'm big, big fan of the whole family. I'll be honest. I've tracked, uh,

I'm a day one-er. I'm an OG, way back, way back fan. And, you know, all the things. I'm in. I'm 100% in. And if you really want to make a young man's dream come true, like let's get in a duck blind or something, I'm ready. Well, Jason, he's the guy now to control it. I've been doing a lot of that. We just, you know, you probably didn't listen to our cold open, but there's a little bit of, what is the word?

Animosity? No, it's not animosity. Conflict. Tension. Tension. Between the deer hunters and the duck hunters. And Willie's kind of the deer hunting aspect of our family.

And I clearly laid out the sides. I'm the duck hunting. Duck hunting is way harder and more challenging. But it just causes a few problems because we're doing two things on one piece of property. Yeah. And so I'm trying to get these young men who we've been introduced to. And, you know, it's not just about duck hunting versus deer hunting. Yeah. We're trying to turn them into...

Jesus men who are out there showing some courage. So the duck blind is a better setting because this was something I didn't say, but in the deer hunting world, they whisper.

It's kind of hard to have a conversation about Jesus when you're whispering. I'm more of a, let's shout it to the world. How have y'all taken to Christian? Is he okay? Is he in the family? Christian is one of the duck boys. He's come a long way since the beginning. He, on the first day...

I guess I can share this. I mean, look, at this point, I've hurt all their feelings, so it's not going to get any worse. Yeah, might as well. But we have a drill sergeant whose name is Jay. He's a...

My son-in-law. He organizes the duck boys. I don't actually do anything other than just when they show up, I'm like, you go here, you go there, don't do this, do this. And then I give them a long sermon about Jesus and family. But on the first day, the drill sergeant, Jay, had an impromptu meeting after the hunt.

And he didn't mention any names, but I just remembered that Christian spent a lot of time on his phone while we were duck hunting. Oh, wow. And he realized that that is a no-go for future endeavors. It's like if we have to have a basket where you turn your phone in, because it's like you're missing the best part of what this offers. Yeah.

And I will admit he's come a long way since then. Like get off TikTok, Christian. I've been training that young man, trying to get him in shape. And so we're just about there. You've been very successful. And if I'm not mistaken, I don't really know all of this, but I know now it's out publicly about the new podcast.

the Duck Dynasty, what do they call it, revival, is a lot about what we're talking about, from what I gather, because it's a lot about the next generation, which includes those ducks slash buck boys. So I think that's

kind of the undercurrent of the show. Zach, you may know more than me. A lot of people are asking about it. That's the reason I wanted to bring it on the podcast because a lot of people are asking what's this show going to be about, but it's still our family, but it's definitely that next generation. Round two. Yeah, round two, exactly. Oh, yeah. I actually talked to Willie about that last night. I actually talked to Willie last night for over an hour. Whoa. That just shows you, even though we had the...

reputation of not getting along deep down he loves me and uh yeah so uh no we had a good conversation but i actually said that i was like can we because i've been everywhere i go i've been seeing them around you know they're it's an army of cameramen and different things and he's like yeah we're gonna need you on some of this duck boy stuff i heard that y'all it's like a military training operation i was like well really deep down you know we're

Trying to turn them into young disciples for the Lord. And he's like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, I know. But we'll need to do some of that stuff. So I guess at some point. I was wondering if they were going to bring the grizzle back in. Oh, they'll bring the grizzle back in. Well, I don't mind. I mean, I think it's a noble thing. I mean, these, you know, you got to remember some young men are, you know, they're in situations where they don't have older men.

Talking to them about life and, uh, you know, the duck blind is a perfect thing to do. And there's an element of danger, which I've always said the most profound things and exciting things you can do if there is an element of danger involved. And, uh, that's been our big major thing is, uh,

Because when you're in a duck blind, you're all together and you all have weapons. Well, these guns in close proximity, I mean, they're more than dangerous. They will kill you. People have accidents every year. So the first day, there was one of the duck boys shot across the blind. Like, we're in a two-way blind that there's like five men on one side and five on the other. And the end man, who was a duck boy, shot across the blind.

The blind. Come on, Christian. Exactly. I wasn't going to say the name. Unbelievable. Well, we had to have JP on to name names. That's what I love. JP's got an incredible ministry going on. I've been keeping up with what you're doing on Instagram.

And you guys have been hitting these college campuses. It's been a while. I mean, I want to hear about this because it looks like old school revivals, mass spontaneous baptisms, which is right up our alley on that one. I'd love to hear like what in the world is going on, man. It's the craziest thing. So I got invited to speak at Auburn University and the event was in six weeks, which, you know, I'm not trying to big time anybody. I just usually...

You have more of a heads up than that. And it was like, can you do this in six weeks? I was like, no, I can't do it. I mean, just there's a process that goes in front of the elders and all that. I was like, nah, I can't do it in six weeks. And then a buddy of mine called and said, hey, this is my mother-in-law. You know, her husband's the coach, assistant coach there at Auburn. And

You know, would you do that? And I was like, all right, I'll do it. And so we get on a plane, go there. And I'm thinking I'm going to talk to 600 college students. That's just kind of what was in my head. And we got there and they filled the basketball arena and it was 6000 college students. And I gave it. She wanted this real specific message on sexual sin is a really hard message. It's not a it's not a feel good message.

And, um, just, I mean, it's, it's first Thessalonians four, it kind of, it, it, it ends with God is the avenger of such things. And so I'm like, you know, I'm teaching that and working in grace and, and,

And, and then Jenny went up after me, Jenny Allen. And so this woman, her name is Tanya Pruitt. And she had just been praying like prayer walk in this campus, just praying for revival, praying that the Holy Spirit would, would just do a work. And she had just was so burdened by some of the stories she was hearing from these college students about their addiction and just being enslaved to sin. And so we, you know, at the end of the night, we did an altar call and this one person,

college girl texted in and said, hey, I've never been baptized. And Jenny's on stage just so organic. She's just having a conversation with the crowd. It's like, hey, is there water nearby? And they're like, the Red Barn. And she's like, all right, we're going to the Red Barn. And then we just all, we thought it was like,

across the street, but it was a half a mile away. And so we all just, thousands of us walked out to the red barn and we started doing baptisms and 350 college students got baptized that night. And, uh, and some of those were like 20 minute conversation. It wasn't just line up and dunk. It was like, man, let me make sure you understand Jesus died for your sins. God raised him from the dead, just really clarifying the gospel. And so we were out till about 2 AM. I mean, we came back after midnight and, and, and just kind of talked through everything, uh,

And it was amazing. And if that was it, it was like, that was one of the most fun nights I've ever had in my life. And we thought it was over. Well, then Alabama called and then Tennessee and then Georgia. And so we just started doing this SEC tour. And that has turned into, we've done 11 campuses and they've all been kind of the same. I mean, different, but thousands come, thousands trust in Jesus, hundreds get baptized, thousands

at every campus we've been to. And so it's really changed my life because I pastor a church full time. And so have a staff and all that, and it really has changed my life and my job description and everything, trying to figure it out. ♪

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Have y'all kept it to God's chosen conference, the SEC? Have you gone out to the nations? We're going to the nations. Like now we're reaching the lost. There we go. It's true outreach now. Did you start out, JP, in campus ministry? No, young adult. So I was raised Catholic and didn't go to church in college. You know, they say drug, sex, and rock and roll.

It's kind of drug, sex, and hip-hop in my case. I was at a club 22 years ago, and someone invited me to church. And I sat in the back row, hungover, smelled like smoke from the night before, and started wrestling with what do I really believe about God? Because I've always said I was a Christian, but I was like, you know, what are the odds I'd be born to the right country? And if I was born in India, I'd be Hindu. If I was born in China, I'd be Buddhist.

If I was born in Israel, I'd be Jewish, you know, and I just started wrestling with this. And so I started looking at world religions, the Hindu faith, the Buddhist faith, the Jewish faith, Islamic faith, Mormons, Jehovah's Witness, Church of Christian Science, Scientology.

And I kept tripping over Jesus in history that somehow 2025 years ago, this carpenter born in Bethlehem reset the calendar. And Bethlehem is a little bitty tiny town smaller than West Monroe that no one would have heard of except for Jesus was born there. And Nazareth is a city that we wouldn't know the name of except for Jesus lived there. So how did this guy become the single most polarizing character in the history of history?

And I realized, you know, in studying that, that it's because he died and showed back up three days later. And Paul says over 500 people saw him. And I, you know, I'm a porn addict at the time, sex addict, drug user, you know, and, and, and not like, and I've got my, you would have thought I had my act together, you know, cause I was trying to be a millionaire before I was 30, was chasing the dollar. It's kind of everything wrong with Dallas and a person. And, um,

And I just realized like this guy paid for my sins. And if he paid for my sins, then I don't have to pay for my sins, you know, and I don't, you know, there's a lot of sins and I don't want to pay for them. And so he paid for them. Then I'm just going to go all in with him. And then as I went all in with him, I thought, you know, if this stuff is true and people can live forever, like we're all going to die and we're going to be somewhere forever. I'm going to tell everybody I've got to tell the whole world about this. And so then went into ministry five years later.

And really was setting out chairs. No one was giving me a microphone like, hey, come speak. They were like, we don't trust him. We're not even sure he's saved. You can put chairs in a circle. And so I did that for a little while and did some announcements. And then one Tuesday, actually, they were like, why don't you teach? It was a young adult ministry. And it grew to be the biggest in the country. And it's still rocking and rolling there. But then we...

And then I became the pastor of that church that I just talked about that I stumbled into, hung over. And then six years ago, we moved to Waco. Wow, that's amazing. It reminds me a lot, Jace, when he was saying that when Jace and I were interns right out of seminary, which I went into full time where Jace never did. But I would say our internship, Jace, the two things that we excelled at were chairs and

how to set up chairs and different configurations and also moving people. We, we became, we could have started our own moving company just out of our experiences for the church. Well, what's weird is we both technically went into full-time ministry. I just didn't get paid for it. And,

And I just barely got paid for it. Which was okay with me because, I mean, I had a similar experience because, you know, you told that story and what stood out to me, which is because I realize I've

I beat to a different drum beat, but is some guy invited you to church at the club. And, uh, yeah, cause that was kind of my role when I first got married. And, uh, you think, well, what does that, what does that have to do with being married? But I had shared Jesus with so many of my friends and people. I just like gone public for Jesus. Yeah. But nobody was responding because it was kind of the same experience you had. They're like,

I mean, you're just some wilderness guy. What do you know? But the first guy that responded was actually one of my best friends from high school. I mean, it took him about three years to respond, but he did because I asked him to be a groomsman. I asked him to be my best man at my wedding. And he was like, well, what happened to this guy?

you know, you share Jesus with, because once I shared Jesus with him, we basically went two different directions. He was like, no, I'm, I'm, I'm, I've got all these things I want to do. And it was pretty much the list you gave. But once he responded, he,

It just started this firestorm of people coming. His friend got his friend, his friend got, you know, and then his sister responded. And it literally our first year of marriage, which was kind of terrible from a marriage standpoint, because I just was going so many places, even a couple of bars. I didn't go in them, but I was outside of them, you know, inviting people, you know, to come be a part of this. I mean, I just went crazy. I was young.

And I realized then that whatever I do, I'm going to have to do it with my wife. Yeah. Because she wanted to do that. And Al mentioned your bio, the way you described your wife, and I thought it was really profound. Yeah, it was actually a dedication in your latest book, which I want to talk about, something called Your Story Has a Villain. And it struck me, JP, because me being –

a pastor for many years and to be quite honest, struggled mightily in my early years, being more passionate about the bride of Christ than my own bride and my kids and kind of left them behind. But you said my wife, Monica is a partner in ministry.

And together, it says in the dedication, they discipled their three children. And then you list your children's names. And I just that struck me right off the bat as being a guy who's been in full time ministry a long time. That one is you. Your wife is right there with you in the ministry. But also your first job is to disciple your kids before you ever do anything about the kingdom. But yet, man, she's a she's incredible. She's I mean, you guys would love her, man. She's your people. One hundred percent. And she's she's from a small town around here.

And so am I born and raised in a small town, South Texas. And she, she is, she just loves the fan. Like I'm, I love adventure and go and do, and I'm an extrovert. And she like her dream date night is just like a game night on the kitchen floor. And I, and I'm, you know, I want to go, I'll get the limo and a hundred roses and write a song and,

And all of that's just lost on her. She's like, no, no, I don't want any of that. Like, let's I'm just going to make I'll make dinner here and we'll just stay here. And why don't we play play, you know, go fish with the kids. And it's like that's her that's her dream evening. So she's a she's awesome. And I couldn't do any of this without her. And in fact, we like where we have to be careful now.

I want to make sure she misses me when I'm gone, you know, because it's like I'm going away. I'm doing these these things. I'm just like, hey, babe, I'm coming back now. Don't you make sure you don't change the locks on me. But yeah, it's been sweet. Your book on spiritual warfare, which, by the way, I think we probably get more.

questions about this topic than almost anything else that we talk about, which is kind of interesting because you mentioned in the book, you know, about a lot of people don't even believe in the devil. They don't even believe in the spiritual realm, even in the church. Why don't we just give some pure talk about what pure talk is? Because the name implies pure talk, right? These guys are amazing. That's the first time I've ever

gone after a sponsor and said, hey, because I'd already switched. I switched to Pure Talk because we had a little thing called a hurricane. All the cell phone coverage shut down. I moved coverages. These guys at Pure Talk, they've got the same most dependable 5G network, same as a big guy, same towers, but only half the cost. You get unlimited talk, Jace, unlimited text, five gigs of data for only $25 a month.

So the average family will save over $1,000 a year on their cell phone bill. It's why I switched. You can keep your phone number. You can keep your phone. Or you can choose from the latest iPhones and Androids. I actually picked a new phone up. I got a new iPhone. Switching is very easy, I know, because I did it. I'm now a proud Pure Talk customer. I love this company, too, because they are supportive of veterans. The CEO is a veteran who served a couple of tours in theater.

They're really a wireless company that believes in creating American jobs. That's why their customer service department is in Covington, Georgia. So here's what you need to do. You need to go to puretalk.com slash unashamed, and you guys will be able to save 50% off your first month. Make the switch today at puretalk.com slash unashamed and join America's wireless company, Pure Talk. I was curious with you coming out of kind of this revival ministry process,

Did that play into kind of this you wanted to dive into the spiritual realm? No, it was it was in the works and I think the Lord went before me because I got into this because I wanted to learn about it because I was you know Catholic background and then I got saved in a non-denominational church and we never really talked about angels and demons and yes, like you have an enemy like you're just you know, Satan this Satan that but I just Here was the deal

It was like this story. Somebody is like, hey, they got up, they got dressed. They're going to go to church for the first time in a while. Sunday morning. They plan to go. They're all in. And they got in their car and they turn the key and it goes, you know, the battery's dead. And they're like, oh, man, spiritual warfare. Well, I'm like.

What in the world did a demon do? Like, did it have to pop the hood? Did it did it leave the light on, leave the door open? Like what? How many demons does it take to run a car battery? And then when you take your car in and they're like, oh, is your alternator like was that a plan for the past six months? Like, were they wearing down a wire? Like what in the world can they do now?

And I realized like there's a whole lot of Christians out there completely okay with not knowing. And just kind of as you heard my story, you realize like, I'm just, I'm kind of like doubting Thomas, you know, it's like, I don't,

I'm not okay. I want to know everything I can know. Like, I understand there's a mystery aspect of God and I respect and honor that. But if it's available to know, I'd like to know. And so as I started just researching, the Bible has more to say about spiritual warfare than it does about marriage. Well, you know, we're happy to teach about marriage and, you know, give the tips and tricks and Ephesians 5 and Colossians 3 and 1 Peter 3.

But there's this other thing of angels and demons, this war happening around us. And I'm just trying to figure out what happened to the car battery, you know? And so that's really how this book was born. And that was before the...

the Unite stuff happened. And I would just say, man, you got to be careful if you want to write a book on spiritual warfare, because I mean, the enemy just came out full force after I signed the contract for this one. But so did God. I mean, there were just blessings all over the place. Also, Unite being one of them. Yeah, I just interacted recently with Michael Heiser's book, The Unseen Realm. And

And it was just eye-opening to think about there is a cosmic battle. And he talks about this Deuteronomy 32 worldview that –

I think it's a little scary for us to dive into that, to think about that. There's like an organized effort on both the side of Yahweh and on the side of this evil demonic realm that's warring over the souls of human beings. I mean, that's a scary thought, but it's comforting too, as you just mentioned, that God shows up.

Even more so, and the Bible says where sin increases, grace abounds all the more. And I just think, man, how amazing is our God that we can rest in that. But it's even to that rise point, because you mentioned, and I had no idea, JP, that you were even a part. I had read about and seen some things about the Auburn thing.

deal because they'd gone on for a while. And it's interesting because I first became aware of it out of negative things.

In other words, the coach had been involved. And so these people from D.C. had come in and said, you can't you can't be involved in these. But immediately there was this like people want to shut this down and attack. And so I immediately thought, oh, man, look at this. Somebody has had an organic situation where people have come to Christ in a college setting where we're always complaining about college kids and how they party and they do this. They do that. They destroy their future. And now we have this good thing happen again.

And all I'm seeing about it is this negative attack, you know, and the badness of it. So it really just highlights, and I had no idea about the other campuses. So it kind of illustrates exactly what you talk about in the book. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Heiser's, you mentioned him, he's another level. This book is kind of for like, if you picked up Michael Heiser's book and then you set it back down, you're like, okay, that's deep waters. This is kind of a layman's guide to spiritual warfare. And so it's,

And it really was a three-year learning journey for me of reading guys like him and others. That's what I liked about it, though. You know, we were kind of the first time, I think it's called Seeing the Unseen came out from Joe Beam. I don't know if you're familiar with that. Yes, sir. Boy, it was like...

Some of that I'd have to put down thinking, I don't know about that. It just took a real technical dive, which I love the book. But I thought, you know, you had an interesting quote, which is a famous quote by C.S. Lewis in your book, that most people, let's face it, either detached. I think you had an ad or some poll that had come out that you mentioned. You can get the details on it because I can't remember. But I think it was like only 56%.

of, you know, Jesus-believing people believed in this spiritual warfare aspect in some capacity. And so, yeah, the C.S. Lewis quote where either people are just like, it's not real, or they're on the other end. They take way too much interest in it, which is the darkness in which they sometimes become, you know, overcome by it.

And I thought that was interesting because, you know, at the end of the day, Jesus is the ultimate victory of this spiritual war. I mean, that's why he's so appealing in your speech that you gave. You're like, you know, he came down here to destroy the devil's work. Yeah. So I was just, I guess, curious about that on how we need, you know, to make this more of a conversation where it's not so awkward for people. Yeah.

Yes, C.S. Lewis says there's two mistakes we make about the devils. One is believing that they don't exist. The other is believing that they are involved in everything that we do. I think there's a third mistake, which is believing that they exist and not caring. Like that belief, like just this idea that there's a devil and he may be devils, as C.S. Lewis says.

And that just having no implications for our lives. And the reality is the spiritual is the eternal. And so the world is temporary. Like the world as we know it, at least, is temporary. The things that we love in the world is temporary. And so I think that's the battle is Satan is trying to keep us from having an intimate relationship, a deep relationship.

closeness with God. That's what he started in the garden in Genesis chapter three. And that's still what he's, that is still what he's doing today is he's trying to prevent us from having a close relationship with God. So when somebody's listening right now or watching says, you know, when I go to pray, I'm just so distracted. All these thoughts come into my mind with spiritual warfare. When I, when I read the Bible, it just doesn't always make sense. You know, the words I'm like, oh man, I don't really know what I'm reading. My mind wonders with that spiritual warfare.

He does not want you growing that relationship with God. What you see in the garden is Adam and Eve. They were able to commune with God and talk with him. And he talked back and they heard him and there was a relationship there. And then the serpent comes in between there.

and says, hey, God's trying to keep something from you. You know, if you eat from this, you're going to be like him. And ultimately, when God comes up and he says, Adam, where are you? Well, God knows where Adam is. He's omnipotent. He knows everything. He

knows Adam's mind. But when he says, where are you? It's not so much disappointment as much as it is distance. And then when we sin, we feel far from God. And so that's the feeling that we have whenever we sin. And so what's the solution? Again, spiritual warfare, it's confession, it's repentance. It's like, hey, I'm gonna turn from this.

I'm going to make it really difficult for me to continue in this sin. And so there's people watching and listening right now. You know, there's some stuff that owns you. You know, there's some things that you keep going back to like a dog to his vomit. And we've got to say, all right, this is the enemy. He's trying to lure me away and hinder me because 2 Corinthians 4, verse 4 says this.

that Satan is the God of this world, the lowercase g, God of this world. But 1 John 4, verse 4 says, greater is he who is in me than he who is in the world. And so I have everything that I need for victory. Satan's not afraid of me, but he's terrified of my God. He's terrified of my Jesus. So the solution is for me to remain close to Jesus and to foster my relationship with God and grow that relationship with God. And that's ultimately what's going to protect me from the enemy. ♪

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LinkedIn, the place to be, to be. How much more effective is evil, is the evil one and the devils if...

We don't even believe that they're there trying to deceive us, but we get into the deceit that Adam and Eve were in, which I love that you mentioned that out of Genesis, that they ran and hid from God. I mean, that is what sin does, is it causes us to withdraw and to hide and to not be known. And I think about all my own anxieties in life and depressions and fears and issues that have come up from this fear of being known. And what if I'm exposed?

And then on the other side of that, because this is a spiritual warfare, that you have the Holy Spirit, you know, who is guiding us into all truth and wants us to come out and to be known and to be seen by God and to be covered by him as God did in the garden. He slaughtered the animal, you know, and made it a suitable covering for them. I think that's so, so important. I mean, what has been your reception with this? Because I guess the book just came out. Yeah, it just came out. It's been out.

Not that long, but I'm sure you shared a dance reader copies like you did with us and maybe with some young people. What's been the reception as people have started to interact with it? It's been really fun. I mean, probably the most significant work I've been a part of. This was my sixth book, but it debuted, you know, top 50 on Amazon on all the books, which is, you know, a milestone for me at least. And then people, you know, I got an email saying,

or a text message rather this morning, just said, I started reading it last night. He goes, thanks a lot. I'm so tired today. I couldn't put it down until 3 a.m. And I think it's because, you know, John 10, 10 says that the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy. But I've come to have to give life that they might. I've come for life so they might have it abundantly.

And, you know, there's a longing in all of our hearts for the abundant life that Jesus offers. And it's, you know, I think that there's just people out there that think there's a bunch of church folks playing games and pretending to talk to this invisible deity and just going and feeling good. And, hey, that's good. That works for you. You sing your feel good songs. It's like, no, man, there's a creator of the heavens and the earth, and you're going to face him. You're going to be with him forever.

Or you're going to be somewhere forever and ever and ever and ever and ever. And he wants to get his children back. And like, yeah, he lost his children to sin and death and disease. But he's, man, he's gone to great lengths to get us back and allowing his one and only son, Jesus, to die for our sins and raise him from the dead. And like, yeah, there's an aspect of the spiritual war that's scary. You know, I mean...

I had in the book, I tell this crazy story of being in a country club and this this guy just going wild on me, you know, and I had never seen anything like that. I'd been in the Amazon jungle three times, have been Africa multiple times, have been to Haiti six times, and I had never seen anything.

what was happening in this country club with this guy. And so I just think Satan's going to show up more and more. He's showing his hands as we're seeing revivals, as we're seeing college campuses and college students come into a relationship with Jesus, as we're seeing revivals in prison.

I don't think the enemy's too happy about it. If we can get somebody to believe in the devil, you know, then they're going to believe in God. And so I think he does his best work in hiding. It says that he masquerades like an angel of light. He's a deceiver. He hides. He tries to stay in the shadows and tries to just convince us that he's this spooky guy. But he's a fallen angel and they're outnumbered two to one. You know, there's more heavenly angels than there are demonic angels.

Well, and I like the way that you really, and you said it earlier, you called it a layman's guide. The practicality of your book, JP, was so good and refreshing to me because this is obviously a subject that

you can get into and it almost feels out of reach to understand. You mentioned John 10. You used the term pattern recognition. And I really related to that as a pastor because you were saying over the course of a couple of decades, you don't really have to look far to see the influence of evil. You can see it in people's patterns and the lifestyle destruction that it causes in their lives. And so I think anybody can relate to that.

Yeah, man, that's true. Yeah, I think it's helpful too, as you mentioned earlier. I think it's very, very helpful. The discussion of what we're having here, if there is a cosmic battle, if there is a spiritual realm and there is spiritual warfare, like what is the war about? Because if we don't know what the war is about, then it's almost impossible. I mean, think about if we go to war as a country with somebody, we have no clue what we're fighting over. What's the win? What's the goal? What's the point? Right.

So I think what you said about earlier about God's presence, you know, that, that, that, that is what the end of all this is. And I think it speaks to the soul of humanity. Like anybody listening to this podcast, whether you're 15 or, or 75 years old, you,

You have a longing to be connected. You have a longing to be in unity with your creator. We all long for that type of presence in our life. And it really is kind of this idea of intimacy that I think is seen in the Godhead, Father, Son, Holy Spirit living eternally together. It's just complete unity. And I think that's what the war is about, is that the devil wants to divide us.

He wants to destroy. He wants to separate. He wants to isolate. And you see that playing out in cultural battles. You see it in the end result. I always use it as a litmus test.

How do I know if it's evil? What does it lead to? Isolation, separation, loneliness, and despair. If it does, I'm like, that's probably not from God. That'll preach. That'll preach. Yeah, no, he definitely. I think Christianity is a communal religion. It's a communal faith. And the greatest commandment is to love God and love people. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.

And right now it's so popular not to. It's like, oh, I don't like people. I don't want to be. And it's like, well, then you're not going to like Christianity. And I mean, I think this appeals. This is part of the appeal of Doug Dynasty and your family and just you guys doing life together and people watching from afar. And they're they long for that. I mean, there's there's people at home. They don't even they've lived in the same house for 27 years and they don't know their neighbor's name.

Like they don't know the guy right next door to them. They don't know their name, you know, and and much less have their phone number or any way to get in contact with them. And so when you start seeing people do life on life, well, that's because we were made for that. Like Christianity is a team sport. We weren't made to go at this alone. And we've got to do life together. And yes, the enemy is constant. He's like a lion.

in the jungle that wants to isolate the gazelle. He can't fight the whole herd of water buffalo, but he can get the one by itself and they can maybe take it down, but he can't fight the herd. And he's constantly trying to isolate somebody to vaping, to cutting, to depression, despair, to suicide, to anxiety.

That's his offense. And if you know that, it's art of war kind of stuff. It's like, wait, if I lean deeper into God's people and I have them, James 5, 16, I confess stuff to them and have them pray for me and I'm going to experience healing.

And that's my story. And it's not just my story. I see it over and over and over again. So to your pattern recognition comment, it's like, yeah, it's like, here's the deal. You, you, there, you, there are things that you do where you fall into a pit and there are things that you do where you find life and you do the things that you fall into a pit, you fall into a pit and you go deeper in the pit and it doesn't work well for anybody. And you do the things that lead to life and you find life and you get laughter and joy and,

You know, it's just like sometimes life is that simple. And I understand there's exceptions to that. I really do. I get that. But but in the grand scheme of things, the 30,000 feet view is just like, man, walk in righteousness and do what God asks us to do. Do the right thing, no matter how difficult it is and seek to know your creator. And man, it's for the most part, it's going to go well for you.

Well, it's a fantastic book. Your story has a villain. It's broken down simply and yet such a valuable type of who the villain is, what the villain does, how to fight back. We love it. We recommend it. Wherever you buy books, go check it out. Grab your copy. It's going to make your life better. JP, thanks for coming on the Unashamed Podcast. You're welcome anytime to come and talk about anything you got going on. Grateful for you, man. Grateful for your families. Blessings to you. Thank you.

Thanks for listening to the Unashamed Podcast. Help us out by leaving a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. And don't miss an episode by subscribing on YouTube. And be sure to click the little bell and choose all notifications to watch every episode.