Final Pastoral Encouragement and Prayer

I'm super skeptical about aliens. I'm super confident in the reality of demons. Extra treasure life can exist, and it would not overturn an ounce of the Bible. And many, if not most, alien quote unquote encounters were most likely encounters with demons. Both of those things can be true. That's the main thing. Don't start giving level eight attention to things of level 002 importance. Well hey Live Free Nation, before we jump into the episode, this podcast is recorded right here at Lake Point Church in Dallas, Texas. But the Live Free Nation is spread all over the country and all around the world. So if you've been watching and thinking, man, I wish I could be part of something like this, we want to invite you to take a simple next step, and that is join us for church online. Every weekend we stream our services live on YouTube, Facebook, and our church online platform, and it's more than just watching a service. There are live hosts in the chat, prayer teams ready to stand with you and people all around the world worshiping together in real time. And so whether you're exploring the faith, coming back to church, or just looking for a place to start, church online is a great way to jump in and experience what God is doing here at Lake Point. We would love to see you in the chat this weekend, and now enjoy the podcast. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to episode number 75. What? 75 Chajibati. Carlos, how you doing? I can't look at them. So Carlos is on vacation. Which, hey, this is amazing. Just quick shout out to our buddy Carlos and his precious family. Yeah, I was sent a picture of Carlos from vacation. There he is. Looks like he's having the time of his life. That is a The mannequin looks happier than him. That is actually not Carlos on vacation. That's a picture that someone took of a miserable Carlos who was forced to camp a few years ago and they sent it to me. And I saved it. Uh because I love Carlos. And I like to troll him with that picture. Okay. Uh Chi Balti, we gotta move quick because this is a full episode. Rapido. Rapido. You gotta roll the R. Yeah, I didn't roll the R. My bad. Rapito. Yep. Uh we're gonna talk about um I know this is weird. Just roll with us. We're gonna t first we're gonna talk uh act twenty five, twenty six and some really cool things here. Um we're gonna talk about uh UF UFOs. Uh aliens, UAPs, because of some things that are going on right now that by the way people are keep tagging me in. Um, and then we've got uh Josh McPherson and Ryan Visconti hopping on, I think back half of this pod, um, to talk some major shifts that are happening right now. with pastors politics, how pastors and churches should and should not relate to those things, and some things that are happening sort of behind the scenes. So full episode this can be really interesting. Be fun. Hey man, will you ask me that Oh Okay, wait, before we go on, and then you're gonna ask me the question. I'm ready for the question. Uh we so official count this is I still can't get over this. Um Baptism weekend ended up at seven hundred and forty one. It was it's crazy, man. It's incredible. I never seen anything like it. Seven hundred and forty one people going public with their faith. Um I want to shout out two of 'em. So this first one, this is a guy named Kevin. Um over at our uh is Fourny Campus, right? Fourny Campus. Um, and then show the show the picture of him so comes in a wheelchair and God bends his knee to the Lordship of Jesus. And dude it's I like literally I know, it's like literally out of the gospels. Like, you know, they crack open the root roof and carry him down. And just his brothers in Christ band of brothers right there lowering him into the water. It's like going public with his faith. And then Miss Carolyn, let's go ahead and show her Miss Carolyn right here, same thing from sh now she was from uh was it a a senior center? And I guess through digital ministry. Wow. So shout out Miss Carolyn if you're watching. Um Bent her needs, the Lordship of Jesus. Wanted to go public their faith. Same thing. Same dudes carry her down in the water and get baptized. Crazy. It's awesome, man. It's just I I never get over it. Always brings tears to my eyes. We get to hear stories this week when our staff gathered of just different things that God did. It just blows you away. We really are just caught in the middle of a revival that's hard to put into words. That's right. Dude, I'll I'll I'm always 'cause you've served at other churches. Honestly, after a weekend like that. My biggest fear are for our staff members that are like twenty four and they've never served another church and they think that's normal. Yeah. I'm always like, God bless you. I hope you understand. It's not normal. Like I've been explaining to to people like this is just not normal. And it feels like we talk about sometimes behind the scenes, it feels like there's just a window open right now where God is pouring out his favor. And while that's window is open, we're jumping in with everything we've got. I'm reminded of a quote by Leonard Ravenhill. Great great preacher of the past, great author. And he said that the opportunity of a lifetime must be seized in the lifetime of the opportunity. Great quote. Right. And it's in other words, while that window is open, let's jump in with everything we've got and lean into what God is doing, because it it just blows me away. All gas, no breaks. That's right. Uh hey, uh before we dive in to Acts twenty five, twenty six and start talking um UFOs. Oh the theological term, I'm gonna go ahead and cheat and cut ahead. The theological term is a biblical cosmology. So we'll talk about it in a second. Um before we start talking that and pastors and politics and all this stuff, um I do wanna say we are we are Arthur's keep me in the loop, we are rapidly approaching a million subs on YouTube. All the digital team that's not my thing, man. They all are smarter than me about that stuff. So anyway, what I would say is if this podcast is helpful to you in any way. If you could uh like, comment, share, and then click that little subscribe button and help us push it over the line. Over my shoulder over here, we got the little silver YouTube plaque that Carlos got when we hit 100,000. And there apparently you get a gold one. A gold one? A gold one. I don't know if it's really. I'm honestly afraid right now when we record that's uh out of nowhere confetti cannon is gonna go up. They're gonna like surprise us. When we get to a million. Yeah, we get to a million. So um that'd be awesome. And then you can also um text the word. to the number two zero four one one to get the Lake Point app where um it's all the sermons, all the uh discipleship discussion guides. Actually there's an early release on the pods. They come out there on Sunday before they come out on Monday everywhere else. Um so you can text at two zero four one one um to get that. And then last thing I'll say is because I keep seeing this. Dude, I I don't even know about this. By the way, uh people keep saying this. I don't get any money when we sell hats. I just wanna say that the internet is insane. I'm I get no money for that. It just helps cover podcast costs and all that stuff. But a bunch of people keep saying they want hats and some people think the only way you can get a hat is if you get chosen. Oh no for commenting? No. So you can also text the word hat to two zero four one one and you can just buy one. Yeah, but if you comment hat, we will pick somebody from the comment section on YouTube and uh send you a hat. That's right. So Pastor Josh, I've got a question for you. I will allow it. What didn't make him to the sermon. All right. Uh, first of all, uh, this was awesome. Uh dude, I haven't preached on Mother's Day in probably 10 years. Really? Yeah. So I had a blast. That's awesome. I had an absolute blast. Um We are in the uh uh there's more end game series. So this week, I know it's a little uncharacteristic, we hit two entire chapters. So we hit Acts twenty five and acts twenty six. And the whole deal was about sharing your faith because um what happens in Acts twenty five and twenty six Is w we're gonna go Indiana Jones here in a second and uh show some cool stuff. Yeah. That's some you're gonna see someday. I got no jokes. You're gonna see it someday. It's okay if you do. Uh uh what happens in X twenty five and X twenty six is Paul gets called before three Roman political leaders. Um Agrippa, Festus, and uh who's the other dude? Agrippa, Festus, and Felix. X twenty four is Felix. Twenty five Festus, twenty six, Agrippa. Um, and he leverages that moment to testify to the gospel. Okay. So and he honestly what he does is he gives like it's it's very practical. Yeah. It's like you the a normal Christian can read Acts twenty five and twenty six and go, oh So that's how that's how how I I win one that's how I win one. Mm-hmm. Okay. That's right. Um now real quick because there is some cool stuff in this I didn't have time to do. Um so let's Indiana Jones' thing real quick. This is one of those things in Acts twenty, in the book of Acts, where like you can go there, you can touch all the stuff. So go ahead and toss that first picture up, Trinity. This is it's called uh Cesarea Maritima. Some people call it Cesarea by the sea. This is where all of the events of Axe twenty five and X twenty-six take place. And when we go there. Um, you go here and there's a bunch of stuff that happened here. So let me just uh outline some things real quick. Um, this is where Peter pre when it talks about Peter preaching accessory. Okay. In I think it's Acts eight, somewhere around there. That's where that happened. Um I think it's Acts ten. When Cornelius, the Roman centurion, is in the Caesarea area, that happened in or around this area right here. Um, this is exactly where in Acts twenty three, here's your homework, um, Paul gets brought to uh by four hundred and seventy Roman soldiers. That right there is where he got brought. Like this this right here. Um right at that spot. And then the all of the events of Acts twenty four, twenty five, and twenty six, they happened exactly right here. And then Paul is, people people miss this sometimes. He gets in prison for two years. Um he's in prison for two years at at this place. Um now before I kind of show some things um fr from the uh say a couple things about the passage, let me just point out a couple of things real quick. So But keep looking at that picture. Um what you're gonna see is over on the right, you've got that theater there. That thing you can still go in there and stand there. By the way, Passion did a uh they did a worship uh concert right there. That's amazing. Yeah. Yeah a few years ago. Um seats four thousand. I'm gonna tell you why they did that right there here in a second. If you look up and I'm gonna show this a little more clear, you see that uh if you look um up and to the left of the theater, you'll see that almost looks like a puddle. Yes, that's what I was looking at. Yep. Yep. That was the uh he built a hippodrome there. That was like for chariot races. Like horse races, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, big, big, big deal right there. And then um if you look on that little almost like that little peninsula thingy, that's where Herod's Palace was. Like probably right there. So go to that next one, Trinity, and you can kinda see it. So that's on the Plen peninsula. This is a different angle. So top right of this picture, there's the theater. Paul does something very significant in that theater. I'm gonna talk about in a second. There's the hippodrome on the left. Bible didn't say anything about that. And then down there in the red area. That's where Herod's palace is, upper palace, lower palace. So that that's all Yeah, yeah, I just honestly I never stopped being amazed by this stuff. It's so cool. That's you're standing in the book of Acts when you're standing there. This actually happened. These are real things that happen to real people. That's it. Real Jesus down on a real cross for your real you. If you give me your life, you can really change it forever. So all this stuff happened right there. Okay. So let me let me read a couple things. uh that explains some stuff that happened right here. Um number one, let me read the passage and then I'll show you a picture that we know. Okay. So this was this. Um The next day Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp and entered the audience room. Now bookmark audience room in your head. I'm gonna come back to that. With the high ranking military officers and prominent men of the city at the command of Festus, Paul was brought in. Okay. So this right here is right where Paul gets brought. Now notice it's uh he comes in with a quote unquote audience and it's clear it's a large audience. This is where Agrippa and Bernice, the little royal Mm. Uh he they're there. And then it says they came into the quote audience room. Now go to that next picture at Trinity, the one of the theater. So that theater is almost certainly the audience room it's talking about. They know that for three reasons. Um, from what I understand. There w was not an audience room in the architecture of Herod's palace. Okay. Okay. So you need a room with a large audience where Herod and Bernice would have sat and Paul testifies there. It's kinda interesting. If you go to that theater, I've still I got pictures there. I I couldn't find them. You can barely see it, actually. If you look in the very lower bowl, like dead center, you can see a little shaded spot right there. Yeah. That's is essentially what it was is like today if you go to a Mavs game, there's box seats. That's a box seat. That's where Herod Uh and Bernice That's where they sat. It's almost like in Gladiator, like where they had that section right at the edge of it, kind of that same idea, like where they would sit there and be shaded. They do this and ex that's it. That's it. Okay. So I mean, dude, I want you that's where Paul gives his defense of the gospel before these people. And that's the spot where he says, um, that whole conversation of uh would you in such a short time convince me to be a Christian? The apostle Paul stood right there and testified before all of those people in defense of the gospel. Now, real quick, I didn't plan on doing this right here. Um that's but let me talk about the courage of this real quick. So Paul in Acts one of the people he talks to here is Herod Agrippa. Um this is the kind of thing you just miss if you're just reading real quick. So uh there's two names you get lots of in the Bible. You get lots of Marys and lots of Agrippas, or lots of Herods. So this Herod is different from the other Herods that you would read about. Um so the Herod Agrippa that Paul testifies bef before in that Little spot right there. His great think about the courage of Paul. Yeah. His great grandfather was Herod the Great. That's the dude that's mentioned in Matthew Two that, oh, by the way, orders all of the infants to be slaughtered under the age of two in an attempt to kill Jesus. Yeah. Mania. Okay. Yeah. Not just maniac, but Paul is now testifying to the Lordship of the resurrected Jesus to that guy's great grandson. Okay. Number two, um, Herod Agrippa, that's mentioned in Acts twenty five and twenty six. It's his dad that was uh Uh, what was his name? It was Herod Grip of the F Yeah Herod of Grip of the First is the one that's mentioned in Acts twelve. Yeah. Who trivia who she have killed. James. James. Yeah. And we would have tried to kill Peter as well if he had not been miraculously released. That's right. Beheads James. Improns Peter with an intent to kill Peter. Yes. So do you know what you think about this? Like Paul's standing in front of this guy that's clearly in his namesake proud of his family heritage. And that guy knows, Paul knows, that guy's great granddad tried to kill Jesus. Yeah. That guy's dad did kill James. And I'm standing in front of him telling him that Jesus Christ was resurrected and is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. It's not perfect, but it's almost like imagine if you're a Christian in Iran and you're standing before the great grandson of the original like Ayatollah. And then that one put Christians to death, the next one, and then all of a sudden you're there. That took some courage. Like I mean, just to stand there. Cause you you know there's a good chance if you stand your ground. That's right. You're gonna die. Well he you already know his that's what this guy's family does. Exactly. We didn't talk about this. Uh it's not it's not in my notes. But the Herod that he's testifying before, I I I don't remember the details, but he killed a bunch of his wives. Well there was something on the Well he's just really a moral guy. It's there's because Bernice is here with them, his sister, and it's h widely rumored that they were in a incestuous relationship. Didn't Josephus record that or something like that? It was one it was a couple of Jewish historians, it may have been Josephus, forget the exact names off the top of my head, but a couple of different ones reported the same thing that it was widely rumored they were having an incestuous affair. So this guy would have been reviled. He had a lot of power, but he was known to be a really immoral guy. Yes. But I mean, I just you know, I just want to say that, man, the c I in some ways I feel like courage is a lost Christian conviction. Like Christians don't talk about man, we need to be men and women of courage. Okay. Well, that's Paul. I may ask Paul. Um couple other things that are really interesting. So uh go ahead and show the picture of that little room, Trinity. So this wasn't discovered till a couple of years ago when they were excavating uh Herod's Palace on that little peninsula. So they found this. They've found this room a while ago and they didn't think anything about it. Well then they started uh archaeologists got in and started cleaning things up, and here's what they found. I'm gonna read it. Excavations uncovered inscriptions near the entrance. And again, remember this is in Uh Herod's palace. This is r they're really important. Actually let me read the passage and then let me explain it. So this is verse twenty three. Then he called two of his centurions and ordered them get ready a detachment of two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen, and two hundred spearmen. to go to Caesarea at nine tonight, provide horses for Paul, so that he may take it be may be taken safely to Governor Felix. Governor read the letter. So Felix is the guy by the time all this happened that lives here. The governor read the letter and asked what province he was from. Learning that he was from Cilicia, he said, I will hear your case when your accusers get here. Then the Bible says, verse thirty five. Then he ordered I skipped ahead some verses, then he ordered that Paul this is important, kept under guard in Herod's palace. So Paul was in a prison cell in Herod's palace. So they find this room. It's the only room like it in Harris Palace. They start digging around and you'll notice it's kinda underground. It's clearly dark, no windows, there's only one way in, one way out. This you know kind of looks like a cell. Then they find these uh I think in Latin, these Latin inscriptions near the entrance that read, And I'll do my very best on the Latin. My kids are studying Latin, I'm not saying Latin. Um cus custodarium? Which means custody or prison. And fermentari, which me uh uh nearby, which m uh uh meant both supply and police troops. Okay. So all of a sudden, what they started realizing was this was essentially the PD of Herod's Palace. This was the prison cell that there's only one. One prison cell they kept in Herod's palace and all the weaponry for the PD right there was out right outside this room. So I just again that right there Bro, that's exactly crazy. That right there is where the apostle stinking Paul spends two years reasoning with these Roman political leaders trying to convince them of the gospel. It's nuts. I know it's it's awesome. It's nuts. It's awesome, man. One last thing I'll point out and then honestly, man, I just want to kick it to you if there's anything you want to point out from this passage. Um, you'll notice I think it's in Acts twenty four. Where Paul appeals to his uh rights as a Roman citizen. I just want to point some out here. Then it's in it's at the end of twenty six, I think. This becomes really important. Yeah, yeah, here it is. So Paul earlier in this chapter, he does the whole deal, I appeal to Caesar. Um I talk about this in the sermon where honestly my theory is because Jesus in previous chapters physically appears to Paul and he tells him, You must go to Rome. Paul then, even though it was a bad judicial decision decision, Paul earlier goes, I appeal to Caesar. Now, at the end of this passage, it says this last thing. Verse thirty two and twenty uh chapter twenty six. And Agrippa said to Festus. This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar. Now I'm point two things out. One, it actually It worsened Paul's judicial position to appeal to Caesar. Again, I think Paul's strategy was he wanted to be the photon torpedo down the uh vent shaft of the death star and that he wanted to personally share the gospel with the Roman Emperor, Caesar. I think that was his strategy. Um, but two, what I want to point out is uh so Paul leverages his rights as a Roman citizen. Yep. Number two, right here, he leverages the laws of the Roman Empire and the Roman judicial system to try to stand in front of Caesar. So I do wanna point this out. This honestly there was a little rebuke for me a few years ago from this passage. You remember in COVID when there was like all these cities where it was like uh marijuana dispensaries, strip joints, and abortion clinics stayed open and they c they wouldn't let the churches open. Mm-hmm. And I had pastor buddies. Uh actually McPherson's gonna be on later. Mc Josh McPherson did it. Uh Mark Dever and the guys at Capitol Hill did it in DC. Yeah. MacArthur And uh Grace Church over in California, where they sued the governors. Yeah. And what did he call it? He called it like oh we're peacefully protesting or something like that. Because because people were allowing protest. And no one yeah. So anyways, we're gonna call this a peaceful protest. Honestly, let me talk about that. So yeah he did that. So they were uh uh they were allowing, you know, hundreds of thousands of people to be body to body with no mass during BLM riots, but churches couldn't gather quote unquote space to part with mass in California. And uh it was illegal. So John MacArthur literally said, uh actually this is a peaceful protest against the forces of darkness. Now, I'll be honest, dude, just this was a this passage rebuked me is when those churches started doing that, as a Christian, there was part of me that was like, Man, I don't know if that's a good look for the church. We're suing We're suing governors. Then honestly, you read Acts twenty four, twenty five, and twenty six. Paul throughout the book of Acts, he leverages and uses the laws of the Roman Empire against people, against Roman governmental leaders to work the system to clear away any obstacle to the advance of the gospel. That's right. And honestly, dude, I was like, you know what? Every single one of those churches, A, appealed to God given sources of just authority. And B, they were doing exactly what Paul did. Yes. To leverage their rights for the advance of the gospel. Hundred percent. What you see consistently when you see Paul speak throughout the book of Acts, and especially here is When he speaks to authorities, he is respectful. So he's not he's not basically um dishonoring them by his speech or his tone or anything like that. He speaks very respectfully to them, but he also speaks boldly to them. I mean, like right here, he's sharing the gospel boldly, as we already pointed out he's Lytha's on the line potentially, and he is speaking bold boldly um Jesus to them. But then also he presses his right. So oftentimes we want to choose one of those. And he is able to do all three. He speaks respectfully to them. He honors God given authority while also speaking boldly about the gospel to that God given authority and pressing his rights before them. It's all of those. You don't have to pick one, you can do all three. That's Dude, that's really good. Yeah. And then um, I'm a real quick uh we're gonna do this a little quicker so that we can get to answering all the questions Christians are asking this week about UFOs and UAPs. Aliens. I always feel weird. Where's my tinfoil hat? Yeah. I was researching last night and like the algorithm for my search of the last month with this podcast has been aliens, weed, alcohol. You know, maybe the weed and alcohol goes with the aliens potentially. But yeah, yeah, I'm with you. Sorry, keep going interrupted, you know. So we'll we'll do this quick. Um But the the sermon and the passage were about us like, hey man, uh our job is to win one. Hey man, what do I do? How can I be used by God to win one? So I'm gonna give I've kept an iPhone note. uh for eight years now of we got a bunch of men and women at Lake Point that are just like knocking it down as business leaders, as lawyers, as policemen, doctors teachers. And um a bunch of 'em are like legendary evangelists. They figured out ways to leverage what they do for their vocation for the advance of the gospel. Every time I hear one of those great ways to do it, I've stuck it at an iPhone note. I've got eleven ways. And I'm just gonna rifle through them real quick. I'm gonna do that in a second, um just to to help us as disciples. Is there anything you wanna point out from Acts twenty five and twenty six? Oh yeah, no doubt. Two two two quick things, 'cause we do have to get to the aliens. Um Number one, and I want to double click on something you said earlier. Paul had been in prison for two years. But what's interesting is before that, before he stays in prison for two years, that is where Jesus comes to him and says, You must stand before me, like basically testify to me in Rome. And so basically Jesus gives him a promise, this is my plan. And then he has to still wait two years in prison. That's good. That's really good. And if I'm in prison for two years, I'm like, wait a second. I thought you said uh that this must happen. And it did. But oftentimes when we feel like we get a word from the Lord or a promise from God, we feel like it has to happen right away. Even think about all the way going back to the old testament. God gives Joseph a vision that one day his brothers are gonna bow down to and all that things. And then he spends the next, I think, 17 years of his life in slavery and in prison. Wow. And it's just a reminder, it's been said before, but God's delays are not his denials. That's right. And in fact, often the times while we're in those periods of waiting, God is doing things that are setting you up for your future that you couldn't have gotten to your your future if those things had not happened. I've experienced this myself. Um I went, I did a year of grad school in uh Waco, and this was what I call the BC days before Chip and Joanna. And so and the things I'm about to say, I'm not I promise I'm not knocking Waco, but if you actually live in Waco, you know that everything I'm about to say is true. In the BC days, Waco, I'll just say Wake Hill was a dump, man. It was just there's a reason fixer upper thrived there. And that's because like every house there was a fixer upper. It was a college town, but with like closed down or seven or eight at night, it was just not the best place. I like I go there and I just I'm miserable. And I I'm the kind of guy like if y'all, you know, like said, Paul, hey, we're gonna plant uh Lake Point, Alaska. By the end of the week, I'd be like, awesome. I'd do all the coffee shops, I'd know places to eat. I'd I'd be like, yes, it's gonna be awesome. I was miserable there. Like the analogy that I used to use when I was there is like it was like my year of exile, like the old like the Israelites, but unlike the Israelites, I had a car. And so that's awesome. So I got my first year done, I left. Here's what's interesting though. So I I hated that year. I felt like it was a waste. I was like, Oh, I wasted a year. You know, I felt like you know, got this planned for me, this wasn't it, so on and so forth. Um, what's interesting. is while I was in Waco, I got a part time job doing research for pastors from afar. Uh this new company. Was it Docent? It was Docent. You started with Docent. I started with Dos I forgot that. I started with Doscent and so I'm starting to do research with that. That eventually leads me to my first full time job. Um out of seminary, and which eventually leads me to the next one. I I could go on and on, but literally I can trace being here to my year being there. Wow. I can trace being here, which I believe this is exactly what God was me. My family's thriving here, love it here. This was always God's plan. And yet it took that one year. Another way of thinking about it is sometimes we think of these things as detours, but sometimes it's those detours that are God's plan to get us to our destination. Fact. And so that's just one thing I want to just click on. A little little example of minute detail that you could pass over, but it's actually a really powerful thing to God's plan is perfect, but it does require us waiting sometimes. I'll I'll I'll click on that. Yeah. Uh and then I'll let you go on. But so the times Paul's in prison is Paul's in prison two times in Acts, but three times in church history, if I remember that. Yeah. And I'm sure he's sitting there in prison. I guarantee he was going like, Man, I thought I thought God called me to be out playing at churches and preaching, sharing the gospel. And dude, I bet in a minute he thought, like, man, what a wasted time. But do you think about this? Paul wrote the books of Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon, at least those four New Testament epistles, all in those moments. And so all those moments where Paul probably thought, like, dude, what a wasted time. Mm-hmm. Those actually ended up being the moments that produced the things that have discipled every single Christian for two thousand years. Yes. Those waited season waiting seasons never waste it. Never waste. God has a plan not just for the future, but also that he's going to do while you're there. That's right. while you're there. Um one other thing, and this is so interesting, um, because these verses are back to back. Let me let me read them in kind of then before I before I frame the issue for us. So when Paul is sharing with Agrippa, he says this in this great, great line. Um, Jesus is basically commissioning Paul, and then if you get to verse um seventeen, um he says but in twenty five or two I'm in twenty six. I am sending you to w the the Gentiles to open their eyes so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. Just great lines. That they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by doing a lot of good things for me. No, it's not what it says. By checking off religious like checklist. No, it's not what it says. It says that are sanctified by faith in me. Important. So it's so important. Because even think about who he's standing for. He's standing for Agrippa and Bernice. Ungodly people. I mean, just ungodly people. And their only hope for people like this and for anybody is not anything they do, but only by trusting what Christ has done. Once and for all, we are saved by faith alone. And so, but what we see in the next verse, so it feels like it contradicts it, but it doesn't. It's actually a really important thing to remember. Cause here, if you just stop there and think, Oh, yep, it's faith alone, no works are required. But then he goes on and literally in the next verses it says, um I was not obedient, but I declare first those in Damascus and then in Jerusalem and through all the region of J and to the Gentiles that they should repent and turn to God. But here's a key point. Performing deeds in keeping with their repentance. So sometimes in our my theology class that I'll I'll do for staff or residents or for others, I'll ask a trick questions. I'll say, Do you have to do good works in order to be saved? Yeah, it's yeah. Or for salvation. And at first like, Oh, of course not. I'm like, Well, it depends what you mean. Of course you don't, in the sense of there's not any amount of good stuff I can do to make God love me and save me. On the other hand, what you see in scripture is that those who are truly saved are also transformed. Yes. Always. Always. Those who are saved by Jesus are transformed by Jesus. To kinda put it in a different way. We always uh show the thief on the cross is an example where couldn't do anything up his life. Exactly. Couldn't clean up his life at all. But then I said, Well what if Jesus actually didn't have him enter into heaven that day. What if he said, Actually, I'm gonna spare your life and you're gonna go free today? Well, you know what would've happened to him? His life would have changed. Yeah. He would have been a different man. So there's there's three ways broadly that you can approach this idea of faith and works. One way is called legalism. Yeah. That's the idea that I have to do good works in order to be saved. A second way is the fancy words antinomianism, but it's basically like another thing is easy believism. By the way, what for listeners as he he just used a big theological word. Anti means obviously against and nomas is law. So anti no antinomianism means against the law. Exactly. And so anti-law. Exactly. So whereas legalists think I have to do all these things to get God to love me and to save me. And on to Naomian, or a person again, that's more like easy believism, they're kind they're the kind of person that said, Oh, I'm gonna raise my hand, I'm gonna walk the aisle, I'm gonna go to heaven one day, but in the meantime, I'm gonna live like hell before then. Doesn't matter what I do. Doesn't matter what I do now that I'm saved, I can do whatever I want to do. Neither of those is the biblical way. Neither of those is the way of Jesus. Instead, the way of Jesus is this idea of true salvation. always brings a radical transformation. And um and you're talking about Paul here. And I love in first Corinthians 15, he says, I was the worst of all people. I persecuted the church, but by the grace of God, I am what I am. And then he says that grace is not without effect. I worked harder than any of them. Speaking of the apostles. And then he said, But not me, but the grace of God that was in me. So I just always like to highlight this is it's it's a both in. We are saved by faith alone. That's right. And yet, as the first reformers like people like Martin Luther and John Calvin said, that faith is never alone. That's right. A faith that truly saves is a faith that will truly transform. There you go. Thing go, man. Yep. That's all I had. That's good, man. Well, let me do this. Um, because this passage is all about Paul leveraging he's never in a moment that he does not find a way to leverage for the advance of the gospel. So I just want I wanna do this real quick because 95% we got a whole bunch of pastors that listen. But 95% of people do their they're they're working on a fives. They're getting their hands dirty, they're swinging a hammer, they're running a business, whatever it is. So again, here's what I'm gonna do real quick and then we're gonna talk about uh UFOs and aliens and all the stuff. Uh uh here's what I'm gonna do. This is from the iPhone nut. I've been keeping this for eight years. And I'm gonna use some names and some I'm not gonna use names. Okay but eleven ways. Eleven examples from actual Lake Point. Men and women. They're like, here's a way. that a normal dude has found to consistently share the gospel or advance the gospel as work. All right, so here we go. Eleven of one of 'em. Then I will give a little details on this. This guy was a surgeon. Uh one one of our elders, shout out Chris Martin. Uh he had a medical issue uh on a golf course while we were on Elder Retreat. I love you, Chris Bart. We rushed him to the hospital. He ends I I think he had a burst appendix, if I remember right. And uh and uh and while we're down there in Florida Um it was a Christian. So this isn't a lake point dude. It happened to a lake point dude. It was a Christian surgeon. The surgeon prays with Chris Martin, asks him, hey man, could I pray with you before the surgery? And then calls Chris's wife and praise with her before the surgery. So there's a whole bunch of them that I'm condensing into one, but we got lawyers, doctors, teachers, and counselors that I've got in my iPhone note who if you work a job where you're with people at like a crisis in crisis moments in their life, dudes on the PD. You're in cr you you're with people in a crisis moment. You being able to step in and just say, Hey man, no pressure at all if this isn't your thing. Would it be okay if I prayed with you? That's right. And b tons of people do that. They take you up on that. All right, number two, shout out Eddale. Uh Eddie Dale, we got a guy, he runs a uh travel company. Um over he built a great business travel company, uh runs tours over to uh England. Radical evangelist. That dude shares the gospel. Him and his wife, Brittany. They just they were in our root of group. It was awesome. They share Christ there, but they get in touch with. Um his d tell 'em what you tell me, tell me what his deal is. It was it was him or even like a friend of theirs. We were hanging out, and what they do is is when they go to a city because they're having to travel for work, they'll do they'll Uber. They won't rent cars, but they'll Uber. And when they're there, they'll say, Hey, you know, is is there a good local church that I could go to here? And so it's not like, Hey, can I share my faith with you? It's like, hey, I'm I'm in town. I would love to go to church. Is there a good church I can go to? And then it really is one of two things. It's hey, they're like, Yeah, actually I go to this church, this is a good one, and everything. Then they found a mutual brother or sister in Christ and they can encourage each other. Or they're like, Ah, no, I really don't know much about that. And then that's kind of their end then to begin to have more conversations, kind of a thing. There you go. And so yeah, just an easy, natural question that then can lead into one of kind of two responses. Either way works. I thought that was brilliant. So if you travel a lot, there you go, man. It's Uber. That's honestly that's brilliant. So the the the hack on this is is finding and exploiting ways that don't feel it's not weird, cringe, invasive, pressury. That's what all eleven of these are. It's like oh man, this is an easy way They can feel normal to you know share share my faith. All right. Number three, I won't say this guy's name. We got a guy that runs a very he's built a very a great business uh in the area. And he does this deal with his employees, where you know, that doesn't matter if they're Christians. But he just says, Hey man, uh we wanna be a an organization that cares about making the world a better place. Um, if anybody in his company wants to go on a mission trip. They will help fund the person's mission trip and they don't require them to use vacation time to go on a mission trip. That's amazing. Yeah. So it's like, dude, he's just finding ways to like and dude, it's not pressure. In fact, think about that. Those people feel like I'm getting a blessing. And he was telling me he's had people that aren't Christians. take them up on going on mission trips because they're like, Well, you know, I I like helping hurting people. They go on a mission trip, they get saved. Yeah. Okay. So business owner, that's a killer one. Love it. Number four, shout out uh this guy's name is John Howard. He's actually from my church in Nashville. So this is cheating. This is the only one that's not from Lake Point. Uh John was supervisor very high up. I think he was a VP at Cisco, food distribution company. And uh and he would do this thing. He had a massive downline. And he would record a short uh one to five minute thought from his devotion. And this was back in the day when you could send little, you know, little voice messages to everybody's office phones. And he just told everybody, he was like, Hey, once a week, I'm gonna send a little encouraging thought your way. uh from uh my faith. Uh if you would like to listen to it, I think it'll encourage you. If not, not hurt my feelings at all. And that way nobody feels pressure or anything like that. He's just consistently getting it out. That's before. Number five, very similar. Another dude that was a senior V of a very large company that everyone Yeah, everyone listening to this podcast has heard of. Uh, I think at one point he had like a downline of seventy thousand employees. And he would just do this thing with his direct reports where um he was always coaching them about personal development and reflection. And so he'd be like, Hey man, I want you you he said you you always want to be reading something to grow as a leader. And he here's what I do. Um, I'm always trying to read something. This helped me grow as a leader, and something this helped me grow as a person. And then for his people, he would just nonchalantly just very he would man, here's what I do, here's what I do. Here's some leadership books I'm reading. And then he would just slip this in. And then I read the Bible for ten minutes a day and I read a leadership book for ten minutes a day. And he would just give and he said he would consistently have people who like they'd never been in a personal development pattern before. And they just well I'm gonna start uh I'll do that too. I'll try to I'm gonna read it w and it would spark conversations. Cool. All right, number six. So if you're listening, here's what we're trying to do. We're trying to give you ideas for how you can be on mission wherever you're at. Yep. Is what this is. Number six. Now uh th this one is also uh and I won't use the guy's name. This is another guy that's built a very impressive business. He's actually built like five or six very impressive businesses. Um this guy, uh, you know, I'm trying to omit details not to embarrass anybody in a positive way. Um, this guy owns a company who were you here when we had the big freeze in Dallas and all the pipes burst? No, I don't think you were here. No, I don't think I that was twenty one. I think that was here yet. Um we had I think it was like I don't know, hundreds of millions of dollars. The windmills and things like that got stuck. Oh no, dude. Yeah, okay. That sounds right. Yeah. Well we had that all over Dallas. People's pice pies burst. And it I mean it was it dude, it was a thing. Yeah. This guy's company, and I won't won't say what company, this guy's company does repairs on the type of thing that everyone needed then. What he did is as a Lake Point member, he approached us and our missions department and he said, Hey man, Um He heard about us trying to help everybody in Dallas. And he was like, I will donate my company's services to you at cost. We will take we will make no profit on any person in Dallas. that you guys help with those home repairs. And then all we did is we were able to walk in to all these people who reached out to us and fix what was wrong with their homes because they couldn't afford it. And then we would tell them, hey, man, um, some of the people that did this, uh, they're Christian people and they did this in the name of Jesus Christ. And they just gave them a little here's a little note from that company. That's so great. It was amazing. Yeah. Amazing. Um I'll do this one. Here's another one, number seven. Let me run through these real quick. Number seven, shout out Jimmy Dale. Uh Jimmy Dale runs a plumbing company at Lake Point. Um, pray for Jimmy. His father just went to hug Jesus. Oh man. And I l I love Jimmy. I love his love his dad. Uh Jimmy Dale was just like, Hey dude, you know, I I wanna influence a bunch of Bunch of plumbers, turning wrenches, swinging hammers. And so um he intentionally hired a guy, actually a dude named Bubba Thurman, who was uh a key leader in the student ministry at Lake Point. And he hired Bubba essentially to function as the chaplain of his business. And so essentially it was just like hey, if anybody in our company you got things going on in your life, that guy right there would love to walk with you through a hard season. Love it. So and it wasn't just like, Hey, this guy's gonna preach at you and show the Bible down. It was just, hey, if you're going through a hard season That guy wants to walk with you and your family. And Bubba would get up in her life and hey, man, let me pray with you. Here's a book I'd encourage you to read and just check in with them and walk with our family. I love that one because you you hear a lot of times about chaplains for sports teams. That's right. And so like, yeah, it's like, why couldn't we have one for businesses? And like you said, not not trying to shut down people's throats. We're like, hey, if you ever need anything, we got someone here that their only job is to help support you and your family. That's a good one. That's it. The next ones are a little different. Um, one of them, this one's real quick, and I won't say this guy's name for obvious reasons. Uh there's honestly, man, we got a few of these guys that they have just been blessed by God to make a ton of money. Just to straight, man. J God has just blessed these guys to make millions, millions of dollars. There are people like Lydia in the uh in the book of Acts, who they just decided man, I I think God created me to make money so I can advance the kingdom. And they just that they're gospel patrons. And th here's what they told us. They just came and by the way, You may be listening, you don't go to Lake Point. I'm talking about you doing it at your church. Yes. You do it at your church. But they essentially went came to us and they went, Man, if there's ever a unique opportunity for us to do something that advances the kingdom and y'all need some dollars to make it happen, I I need you to let me know. And dude, sometimes we'll have things come up where it's like Hey, that building became available at pennies on the dollar. And because of one of those guys, we got that spot. And now thousands of people met Jesus because of what that guy did. And they're a part of that story. That's it. Like they are a part of that story. So it's just that guy that goes, When you got a need, you let me know. So and I my family might want to take care of it. So gospel patrons. Uh number nine. Uh, I love this one. Um, we got two guys that own CrossFit boxes. Either they cr did they do or did. I took this note two or three years ago. And uh, dude, here's what they did. They they actually got this idea from each other. They essentially whenever everybody comes, you have a little intro. y the first class you go to, and they tell everybody, they just say this, Hey, we wanna help you in three ways. Your mind, your body, and your soul. And so they just tell them. They just tell 'em that hey man, mind, body, and soul. Um, and they just tell everybody If you ever want somebody to pray for you, we are here and we wanna know. And then they have a little book. They got a little table where they put a little crossfit resources and you can buy your little wristband and stuff. And they're like, Hey, and there's a there's a a book on that table over there. that changed our family's life. That's our gift to you if you ever want to be helped in your soul. And you just think about that. It's not pressury. No. It's totally normal. It's a God that's helping you in your life. And then that what they tell me is the number of people Like the percent they said the percentage is more than fifty percent. So over fifty percent of people that walk in eventually either grab them and go, Hey man, walking through a divorce, would you pray with me? Yeah. And or they go grab the little devotional book and they start reading it. There's a chiropractor that I think we both have gone to at different times, Doctor T. Shout out, Dr. T. Yeah. On a little in the whiteboards in those rooms. It's like hey if you need prayer for something, there's let it be. You don't have to be a Christian to go there. In fact, many people who go are not. But they're like, Hey, dude, if you need prayer for something, put it on the whiteboard and when we're in here, we'll pray for you. Simple things like that. Jana goes to Dr. T. I'm not a chiropractor. Every now and then I'll do it. But the two times I've been, I got a herni at a disc, and so every now and then I get enough. mess. And it's uh to so what he Paul's talking about is when you walk in to Dr. T's office and you're getting treatment, you'll notice on the board every single time there's a prayer request right there. Yep. And he t he tells you it's it's not weird. It's not cringe. He'll just be like, oh, that's what the uh the last person asked me to pray for that. Um, hey, if you're a person of faith, would you pray and it think about how he's saying it. It's non cringe, it's normal. Hey, if you're a person of faith, would you pray for Sarah? And that and then he'll tell him, Hey, could I put something for you on the board? Yeah. And my people are gonna be praying for you. It's dude, it's so normal. And most of the time people are gonna say Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. That's good. Yep. So shout out there. And then uh last two, um, uh these are different. These are different. One guy who again, whose name I I will not say, um, is uh C Suite. Dude, I I think this is a Fortune one hundred company. And uh this guy, uh, especially in two thousand twenty to two thousand twenty two was the era. Uh their company started enacting some organization wide policies that made it hard to be a Christian. You know, it's like, Hey man, we need your pronouns in your bio. Yeah. They were uh there were some other things I won't go into. They just made it hard to be a Christian. And dude, you talk about courage. I g this you know, this you know, this pulls some worship out of my heart. This guy was an ambassador for Christ and an ambassador for the kingdom of God because in the C s sea suite in closed doors and you know, hey man. Fortune one hundred, fortune five hundred company, that's doggy dog. You're you're a gladiator, is what you are. Yeah. And man, he li this was a guy who just gently, respectfully embodied his convictions in those C suite conversations. And no one will ever know this. That guy's advocacy is the reason those policies got removed for hundreds of thousands of employees. And it paved the way for Christians to be able to live their convictions. Wow. That's a bill, man. That's a massive deal. It's a big deal. Yeah, because if people don't realize like It's a doggy dog world to your point. And so part of it is is like if other people find out that's right that he does that, then it's like oh they can do simple things like oh I'm gonna file an HR report and said that he said this and pressured his faith just to try to get him out of the way. So that that's insane amount of courage. Yeah, it's courage. Yeah, it's courage. Christian courage. Yep. And then last one is uh and then if you got anything you can and then we're gonna talk UFOs hard emotional gear every time you say that I'm always afraid this mannequin's gonna suddenly move and I might die if this happens previously that's what I'm saying the the day we're talking about UFOs and extra terrestrials and then you got this besides we have a non human entity Okay. Sorry, Carlos Last one, we got a guy, I love this dude so much, uh owns a bank He's a banker. And pe a lot of people don't know this, and I won't bore this like a church nerd thing. I won't bore you with details. Um, for fast growing churches, it can be really hard to get loans to get buildings. And there's a whole bunch of reasons behind that. Most banks don't trust They they'll like it's not that they don't trust churches. They just like they don't understand how it works. Because churches can't go churches can't go, Well, we sell this many products per year and here's our P and L. And you it's like so a lot of bankers don't understand it. Well, this guy's a he's a a a very committed Christian. And he directed his company. to open up an arm of his company. That works specifically to help churches. Now he always makes sure that it's trustworthy and he's w very, very wise about it, but he understands that world and he leveraged his position in the banking industry to help churches that obviously that they can trust to do their homework. To get safe and wise loans for the advance of the kingdom. That's so good. So Dan again, here's all you're looking at, man. You're just looking every single person everywhere. We're called to go wherever we're at. And how do I help win one more? And these are just so what you need to do is hear those if you're listening. Pra and ask the Holy Spirit, which one of those could I put in place in my life and how? So good. To be Paul in Cesarea Maritima. That's so got what I love is a couple of things. I I'll use one of these to segue into one little tip from mint from me from a story someone told me. Is that some of these are direct. So some of these are things that you can directly do. Some of these are indirect, like the loan thing where say, Hey, as part of our business, we're gonna do this. And it may not be a direct thing we do, but it will through that impact others. And guess what? As we said earlier, you are still a part then of the stories that are being told. Like I believe there's gonna be people one day in heaven in the new heavens and new earth that they're gonna meet and say, I came to faith through that church. And it's because you gave them that loan so that they could continue thriving. And it's just it gives me chills to think about. It's like that's gonna be a glorious day. And so that you have a part in that story. So I love that. Some of those are direct, some of them are indirect. Um a large thing I just want to extrapolate and pull out of a lot of the ones that you mentioned, and really you said this a few times is what so many of these did was let's just be honest, it can feel weird sometimes for a Christian to talk about their faith. And then because of that, they then make it weird or they think that other people think it's weird. But you know how you make it not weird? By just making it normal for us. And talking about it, but in a normal way. And so I I learned this actually when I was up in Washington State. Um a guy named Micah, uh, he gave me this great little thing that he does is, you know, you come back um from the weekend on a Monday and it's very natural as part of the conversation. Oh, what'd you do this weekend? And so you hear people that maybe are from non Christian backgrounds that are saying different things they did. It could be stuff that we did too, you know, the ball field or whatever. Uh, but sometimes they're doing some not so great things. And so when it gets to him, he just he he talked about some of the same things. Yeah, I went, I went to the ball field, we did this, and he's like, Oh yeah, and then I went to church on Sunday. That's right, man. And he doesn't do it in a weird way, he just drops it. And then because the more he just makes it normal to talk about the things of faith, if people talk about what they love to do and he loves Jesus and he loves his church, it should be normal for him to talk about it too. And then the more it's normal, then guess what? It's then normal for them to ask about it. There you go. And so I think that was a great little one. It's just coming back from work on a Monday, if people ask what to do, don't shy away from oh yeah, we went to Lake Point or whatever your local church is and heard a great sermon about X, Y, and Z. Cause it might be that they're going through something in their life like, Oh, I need to hear about that. What they say. And so that that's just a small one, but I think it's really effective as well. Half the battle. is just coming out of the closet for Team Jesus. Yeah. Wherever you're at. That's seriously half the battle. Yeah. Is just coming out of the closet for Team Jesus. Yeah, man. So that 'cause that that's what that hey, I went to church this weekend. That's what that does. It's a non cringe way just to signal I'm I'm on Team Jesus. That's right. Everybody knows it. It's good. Let's talk you about ear shift. Okay. Well hey guys, as you know, Lake Point Church is a movement for all people to know Christ, live free, and change the world for God's glory. But here's the thing, movement by definition, move. And so if you're not moving, then the question is, are you really being a part of the movement? In fact, somebody once said that too many churches are like football games. 22 people on the field in desperate need of rest, being watched by thousands of people in the sands in desperate need of exercise. Hey, listen, we refuse to be a church like that. And so if you call Lake Point Church your home church, and if you have not yet joined a serve team, I want to invite you to take your next step right now. Text the word serve to 20411 and we'll help you find your spot where you can serve in person or online on whichever serve team you are being called to serve. Hey, thank you for being obedient to God's calling in your life, and let's keep doing this together. Let me explain this is uh we're gonna deep dive this thing real quick. Uh let me explain why we're talking about this. Um because I I'm gonna shoot you straight. I don't love talking about it. Actually, let me start with this. Let me talk about why I don't love talking about it. I I don't love talking about it. I'm gonna read you a verse. This is from first Timothy. I I don't love talking about it because um I think one of Satan's greatest strategies is not to destroy you, it's to distract you. And this kind of stuff is the thing that you get cra there's two things in my in my uh experience. End times and aliens. Yes. I'm telling there's two things that weird people get weirdly fixated on, and then they major in the minors and ignore all the majors. So here's what I'm saying. First Timothy one says this, as I urged you when I was uh went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus. that you may command, not suggest, command certain persons not to, listen, devote themselves to myths and endless speculations. Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God's work, which is by faith. the goal of our command. So check this out. He's saying, hey man, quit doing all this thing where you're like you're focusing on all the the weird stuff and all speculating. Don't don't do that. He's like actually fo focus on the main thing, knowing Jesus and helping people know Jesus. Focus on the main thing. Why? Because the goal of this command, the goal of our command is love. that comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Watch. Some have departed from these. Turned to meaningless talk. So honestly one of the reasons we're gonna talk about it because it's Is a big thing this week. Yeah. My spidey sense tells me it's gonna be an even bigger thing in the coming weeks. But what I just wanna give a warning, like as a Christian man or Christian woman, this is not the kind of thing you want to start obsessing on. No. It's not good for you. Kind of even think of it like this in the on our conversation is I tell people, you know, and I think I may have said this before in the podcast, I I I hike a lot and I've never read a story that said, Oh, lost hiker found dead on the main trail. Yeah. Yeah. It's always what happens is they wander off on one of these little side trails and then they get lost because they couldn't find their way back. And then they find them dead because of that. And so, you know, kind of think of it like this is for the next bit, you and I are kind of be like trail guys and like, yeah, we're gonna go off on a little side trail that is interesting and there's some things we need to hit. But then hey, let's go and at the end of that, let's get back on the main trail so that you don't get lost on knowing Jesus. That's right. Helping people to know Jesus exactly no Christ live for a change of world for God's glory. Amen. All right. That's it. Let's talk about it. Uh, all right, let me start right here. Here's what we're talking about, Trinity. Will you throw that thing up, the screenshot. So this broke uh Was it yesterday or two days ago? Two days ago. Um religious leaders told to quote, prepare now for UFO disclosure to unleas bobble changing revelations. I don't have the uh screenshot of it, but the Trump administration said with within about six hours of that. They confirmed uh Trump administration and Cash Patel said, Yep, actually we have, we've delivered the first kind of I th they called it tranche. We've delivered the first tranche of documents. um for disclosure. And so, you know, they're like, Yeah, well you're gonna see some stuff. Um now I will say uh I started digging into this. This was not like some official government meeting though with like uh you know the type type of pastors you would expect. Um but a a meeting like that was called by one specific congressman, if I understand correctly. Okay. With a group of pastors. And they did say something like that. Okay. Um so Uh, this lit the internet on fire and my spoty sense tells me that wave is at the beginning and growing. It's not at its peak and cresting. Uh so you want to talk about real quick? All right. First of all, let's start right here. Yeah. Uh So let me say um A few things. Yep. Uh one, uh if extraterrestrial life were discovered. That does not destroy your faith. Um I'll say a couple of things here. Colossians one says this, he is the image, the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, for by him all things were created, both in and then it says the heavens, and it says it that means plural. The heavens is plural. multiple heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, dominions, rulers, or authorities, all things have been created through him and for him. So this is what we're talking about in the next few minutes is something that's called biblically. It's a biblical understanding of how the universe is structured and the different entities in the universe as a biblical cosmology. In the Bible when it says heavens The biblical writers understood there to be three heavens. That's why if you notice what uh it's in Acts where Paul says no no no, it was in second Corinthians where Paul says he was caught up into the third heaven. Yeah. So the reason it says third heaven, this is a little bobble nerd moment, is in a biblical cosmology, they understood it. Stop me if I start lying here. That the first heaven was essentially the sky where the clouds are. The second heaven would have been where the stars are, what we know as outer space. And then they understood in the biblical cosmology, when Paul says I was caught up to the third heaven, that's like actual heaven throne room of God. Yeah. Yeah. So when Colossians one says that he created all things in the heavens, it's talking first, second, and third heavens. So if there were things that he created in the second heavens, outer space, okay. I got a category for that. Yeah, and and j 'cause people when they say, Oh, it's gonna overturn everything, they think like the Everything's built on, you know, the idea there's not life elsewhere. Where if you actually go through Christian history, there have been people throughout that have posited that there could be other univer other universes, much less other planets with inhabitable life. Like Athanasius at least said, God may have made other universes. Basil, God's creative power, is capable of bringing a greater number of heavens into existence. Cardinal Cusa, who's in the fourteen hundred, says life as it exists here on earth in the form of men, animals, and plants is to be found that is supposed in a higher in the solar and stellar regions. Cardinal Cusa. What era? It's the 1400s. Interesting. And so I'm gonna read some Charles Spurs and quotes here in a second. And and so even to kind of get in the early in the first four or five hundred years, it wasn't talked about a ton, but a few people said it could be. And then you get to the medieval era and there's actually a massive debate. You had some people like, no, it can't be, but then you had others say you're limiting God's power. And of course he can. In fact, Richard Baxter, a Protestant, like wrote the Reform Pastor. Richard Baxter is the dude on last episode that had that prayer. For when you're dying. That's Richard Baxter. Yeah. And he he he says we can't know for sure, but he basically says is it is not you should we shouldn't doubt that the vaster and more glorious parts of creation are not uninhabited, but that they are have inhabitants answerable to their magnitude and glory. So he's basically saying it's there. So it's the basically what I'm trying to say is throughout Christian history, there have been people who've said, Yeah, it could be, and it doesn't overturn their faith whatsoever. Well, I'm gonna cut to the chase. I do not think that's the case, and I'll explain why here in a second. I uh I think there's super na there's some supernatural elements what's going on. But our point is, hey man, if that were to be a thing, it's like do that I that doesn't change anything for me. Um okay, so on yours, I I just discovered these two days ago. So apparently Charles Spurgeon, if you're listening and you don't know your church history, Charles Spurgeon is known as the prince of preachers, ar arguably the greatest preacher in church history since the apostolic era. Uh in Great Britain was pastoring a church like ten thousand people before there were microphones. Okay, I'm gonna read you four Charles Spurgeon quotes. This blew my mind. Okay. Number one, I think it is no stretch of the imagination. So he's right in the late eighteen hundreds, to believe that as this world is only one spec in the creation of God. There may be millions of other races in the countless worlds around us. This is Charles Spurgeon in 1890s. That's great. Okay, here's another one. Number two, Charles Spurgeon, it may be true that all those majestic orbs that stud the midnight sky are worlds filled with intelligent beings. And it is much more easy to believe that they are than that they're not. For surely God has not built all those magnificent mansions and left them untenanted. This is the rare case where I'm gonna go, I'm out on Charles Ferguson on this one. But this is what he thought. Well, and I I didn't think of this to now when you're saying it, but arguably the three greatest preachers ever, obviously, apart from Jesus and the Apostle Paul. Chris Austin, um, Spurgeon, and then Billy Graham. Yeah. All three posited at least the possibility of it. I'm gonna read a Billy Graham quote just like Do you have one? Well, I this might be part of yours, but the I I have a wonder quote that I'm gonna save, but he he just says this. The Bible doesn't tell us whether or not there's intelligent life on other planets, although I find nothing in the Bible exclude the possibility. So he's basically saying in that one, like, hey, it's possible. I got a I got a really interesting quote from him in a second. I'm gonna save it. Let me do let me finish these Charles Spurgeon. N number three on Charles Spurgeon. I cannot tell you how many races of intelligent beings there are besides the hierarchy of angels, but it is not at all improbable that there are as many worlds as there are grains of sand upon the sea sh seashore, and perhaps every one of these teams with inhabitants more than our earth does. This is Charles Berg, eighteen eighties, eighteen eighteen nineties. Last one. It may be that every starry world teems with myriads of intelligent inhabitants. It is much more likely that it should be so. Then that it should not be so. Seeing that God is not in the habit of creating anything in vain. Now, what I will say is I I I feel almost sacral just saying this. I disagree with his theology on that. Because why not? Because what the Bible says is that the purpose of the heavens is to display the glory of God. That's right. I think the reason that the universe is seemingly eternal is to display the eternality of God. So I'm like actually I think that the Bible considerably more leans towards actually no. God created humankind in his image and that I do not expect to find anything else. Uh, I'm gonna cut to the chase and give a tip my hat real quick. I'm super skeptical about aliens. Uh I'm super confident in the reality of demons. Yeah. Well, even before we get there to kinda rephrase something you said is that if the universe r revolves around us, then it does seem like a massive waste of space. If it does not revolve around us, but revolves around the creator and as opposed to point to him in his glory, then it actually is fitting of how massive it is and how glorious it is. It's not pointing to us and revolves around us, but it revolves around the creator of it. And so that I think that's kind of a different way of what you said. That is not a massive waste of space, but actually it's something that even still doesn't capture the massiveness of God. Bingo. And so yeah. Yeah. That's a uh well I won't go. That's Carl what Carl Sagan used to say. Carl Sagan, the famous I think it was like nineteen seventies atheist. His pale blue dot thing. And he would always say that. It's like man, can't be a god. We're this tiny little speck. And I'm like, Well, bro, that's actually the whole purpose is to show us what is man that you are mindful of us. 'Cause the scripturally says oh he just that God pretty much holds the heavens in just the span of his hand like this that it is pointing to the massiveness of the creator of the heavens. So keep going. Uh oh. Because here's what's awesome is um he says That if there are aliens, he says what they're gonna be most amazed by is seeing a forgiven sinner. I'm gonna give you this this is amazing. I this is an amazing quote. Charles Spurgeon, if you range all the stars around, and if it be so that every star is filled with a race of intelligent beings, yet methinks among unfallen existences. There can be no such marvel as a forgiven sinner. At any rate, he is a wonder to himself, and he will never cease admiring the grace which pardoned and accepted him. Even if you disagree with it. I think it's kooky, but that's biblically why I'm gonna give a couple other reasons why uh honestly I'm real skeptical on the aliens thing. Trying, will you show that little heat map? Show this heat map. Okay. So What you're looking at right there is every recorded Uh UFO sighting since nineteen oh six. They seem to really like one country. So j just j uh what I wanna point out to you is it quote unquote just so happens. the the country that is most uh into things like sci fi and all you know sensational media and that kind of thing, it just so happens that that's also the nation where virtually every UFO sighting has ever taken place. Yeah. It's a little weird to me. And it's also weird because in the places where the heat maps are most intense is where we have the most technology to be able to capture them and yet we can never get a clear video of them, I think. No, some people would disagree with that. Some people would, but still anything about all that. Uh so on this this little heat map I think it's funny. So there's a there's a Twitter X account. that I follow this like a it's a humor account. It's called Epic Maps. Epic m epic maps was trolling this reality and they posted this. How aliens see Earth. So it's one. What I'm trying to encourage people is like, hey man, you need to have a healthy skepticism. Don't be like the conspiracy guy that you know is all in on this stuff. And then last thing, dude, I'll just like Elon, it's really interesting to me. Everybody that you would think would be in on the aliens thing, it'd be Elon Musk to me. Because he's like all about space travel, generally a secular worldview. I screenshotted this like a year ago. Musk tweeted this. So this at Doge Designer. He tweeted this quote from Elon Musk in a press conference. If I was aware of the slightest evidence of aliens. immediately post out on X. This would be the most viewed post of all time. We have nine thousand satellites up there. We've never had to maneuver around an alien spaceship yet. And then he retweeted his own quote and he just said, Yep. Yeah. So I'm just saying, like, hey, man, so here's what I wanna say. There is much, much more evidence for the existence of God than the existence of aliens. And if you or somebody that you know is drawn to accepting the one and rejecting the other. You need to ask what's going on in your heart. It's a good way of putting it. So I just want to say that's really good. I just want to point that out You got anything else here before I start talking about. Just briefly having to talk about the demonic demonic part is uh I was doing some research into this over the last day or two as I know we were talking about it. What you see if you actually just go look at reputable scientists like Neil deGrasse, Tyson, like guys like that. Most of them would say, Yeah, surely in a universe this vast, there must be life. Definitely life. But then the idea is it is intelligent life. Yeah, and they would say it must be, but then they all talk about what's called the Fermi paradox. Fermi was, I believe, a physicist. He said same thing. It's like surely with the amount of time that's gone by, there must be out there. Where are they? Because there's no evidence that we have found kind of a thing. And so what they have most of the scientists would say is that number one, the universe is so fat, uh vast, that even if they did exist, they couldn't possibly have gotten here in time. Um, also, if they were destructive in nature, they probably would have already destroyed themselves. So what I'm saying is now again, we're not agreeing with them that it, oh, surely it exists. The their point more is that I gleaned from a lot of them is that yeah, it probably exists, but most likely they have not visited us yet because there's no evidence whatsoever. So again, some of your like this isn't just an us thing or a Christian thing, like you're the brightest scientists who have no faith in Jesus whatsoever have all said, even if it probably they probably exist. they probably could not have gotten here by now. And so that's just something to take in mind too of why we should be skeptical that they're actually here. Not that they exist, but that they're here. That was just another little thing I had found. So yeah. Well let's go let's go there deeper. Because we do as Christians, I think we gotta have like a cosmology that helps us g gives us a category for I don't know how you say it, like seemingly non-human intelligences. Well, hey guys, we have a category for that. They're called angels and demons. That's right. Okay So first of all, before we talk about anything we say here. This is the spot w where we warned about at the beginning. This everything we're getting ready to say is speculation. Yes. Which is something that we're not supposed to quote devote ourselves to. So is it okay to try to make sense of it? Yes. Is it wise to devote yourself to it? Definitely not. Okay. So here's what I would say is uh there's a reason that the Bible says that there is uh that the Bible calls them unseen things. There's a lot we just don't know. And you need to be okay with that. So what I would say is if you start putting, you know, some of these phenomena in a biblical cosmology, hey man, what a lot of people may be calling aliens. Bible might call things like cherubim, seraphim, angels, archangels, thrones, principalities, demons, and powers. We have categories. For strange phenomenon. By the way, I just wanna say this. This is like contra atheism. You are not going to find a human culture in all of human history that doesn't report some sort of things go bump in the night vibes. Like you you didn't you live in a strange A spiritual world. Where there is an unseen realm. Yes. And that stuff is real and really happens. That's exactly right. Um Do you w you ready to get into some of the d demonological part of this? Let me start with Billy Graham. Billy Graham. Let's start with Billy Graham. Okay, so here I'll I'll start with why. So here's where cards on the table. Skeptical white aliens confident about demons. I th I think the majority, vast majority, or all, however you do it, uh uh may be demonic manifestations. Now one, I do want to say this. Um, I think everybody with a head on their shoulders should go, Hey man, if you think that there is not technology that governments have that they don't disclose that they have Uh, if you don't think that stuff exists, um, man, uh I've got ocean front property to sell you in Dallas and I'd like to talk to you. Like so one, I think we gotta have a category for like, hey, dude, there's probably technology that governments have that they don't disclose. That's what governments do. That's right. On the other hand, there's also stuff that that doesn't really explain. So here's one. Uh Billy Graham said this in his book about angels that was written in 1975. Billy Graham quote I am convinced that these heavenly beings exist talking about angels and that they provide unseen aid on our behalf. I do not believe in angels because someone has told me about a dramatic visitation from an angel, impressive as such rare testimonies may be. I do not believe in angels because this is the key quote. Because UFOs are astonishingly angel like in some of their reported appearances. I do not believe in angels because ESP experts are making the realm of the spirit world suddenly seem more and more plausible. I do not believe in angels because of the sudden worldwide emphasis on the reality reality of Satan and demons. I believe in angels because the Bible says there are angels and I believe the Bible to be the true word of God. So here you got you got Billy Graham going, Hey man, there are unseen realms, angels and demons. And some of what people report as UFOs may be that. That's right. Um I'll tell you why I think is very frequently uh demonic manifestation. Number one, Ephesians two refers to Satan as, quote, the prince of the powers of the air. I think that's notable. You got that. Number two, dude, and this is you don't got to agree with anything I say. And again, this is all speculation. In Matthew twenty four, Jesus is talking about what will happen at the end, more towards the end times. This is a little spec this very tinfold hatty. He says, But about that day or hour nobody knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the son, but only the father, verse thirty seven. Because as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Now one aspect of the days of Noah, that's Genesis six. That's when you have the sun the fallen angels, sons of God. Nephilim, you guys did a whole thing on it. That's when you have supernatural beings visiting Earth. Honestly, dude, this is I know this is weird. Go listen to the Nephilim ep episode that they did without me. Uh seemingly interbreeding. Yep. So with humans. And then you end up with hybrid natural and supernatural beings that were walking the earth and visiting the earth in the days of Noah. Some people speculate that some of what Matthew twenty four is saying is that type of phenomenon will escalate again. Now I'm gonna tip my cards. don't think that's what Matthew twenty four is doing because the next verse says that it's really about people were just doing their normal lives and got surprised by coming judgment. Yes. But I don't I don't think it's totally out of the realm to say that might be one thing it means by as in the days of Noah. So there you go. Yeah uh and then let me do this time about kick it to you and uh and then I'm I got a lot here. Oh yeah, keep going. So then dude, this honestly, this shocked me. So JD Vance, have you seen this clip? I don't think I'll do I don't know. So JD Vance is doing his podcast interview. This was last year, and I saved him my little iPhone note. And this lady just asks him as the new VP, uh, what what do you think? Aliance. Bro, listen to what he says here. Play play this thing. Because Tulsi Gabbard says that she believes there are aliens. Do you believe that? You know, I I don't it's interesting. I won't say that I do or don't believe it. I mean, I I'm a big believer that There are things out there that we can't explain. And so if another person sees an alien, maybe I see an angel or a demon. So I'm a big believer that there are like spiritual forces working on the physical world. that a lot of us don't see and a lot of us don't understand and a lot of us don't appreciate. But you know. Is it aliens or is it our guardian angel or is it aliens or is it a not so guardian force that doesn't care about us or in fact actively wishes us harm. I don't know the answer to that question. What I try to do is I try to say my prayers. Lovely, that's I try to be as good of a person as I can be and I try to do a good job. And hopefully So two things. Yeah. One, you got the daggum Vice president of the United States. Even if you disagree with politically, he's a brilliant man. That's right. This is a brilliant man. I think he was Ivy League educated. Yeah, I know, because Who by the way has access to information you don't have access to and has seen things that you have not seen. Mm-hmm and that dude is gone. Where you see a alien, I might see an angel or a demon. That's a vice president of the United States. Got some weight. Got some weight. Got a little weight. And then I'll do one more and then I'm gonna kick it to you and we can talk about some stuff. Uh show that uh show that little screenshot. I didn't want to play the whole video because it's a little weird. So this is a representative, United States representative Anna Paulina. Anna Paulina Luna. Um Now she gave this quote. It was three days ago. Look at the quote. I didn't want to play the whole thing, but I watched the clip to confirm that the quote is accurate. Here's what she said. I don't call them aliens. Now she doesn't talk about angels or demons, but she says, listen to closely what she says. I don't call them aliens. I use the term interdimensional beings. Now on there was a congressional hearing in 2024 where they started, you know, some people were purportedly bringing out UAP stuff. And if you go back and listen to some of that stuff. Which I do not recommend, by the way. I just saw little clips on X. Um, that consistently they veer away from saying extraterrestrial life or aliens, and they consistently use that language, interdimensional beings. Now here's why that's interesting to me as a Christian. Again. All this speculation. I got my tinfull hat on. None of my faith is built on this. I know it sounds weird. Biblical cosmology, what we have is that God created one universe with two realms. There's the scene realm. And there is the unseen realm. Okay. We as humans, we operate exclusively in the scene realm. But throughout the Bible, angels and demons are beings that manifest in both the scene realm. And the unseen realm. I'll just say this, dude. Another way to say that is inter dimensional beings. Or inter to use biblical language, inter realm beings. So dude, now there's a whole bunch more reasons, in my opinion, to go Hey man, there's like some overtly demonic things that surround this. I'm gonna pause here. Is there anything you want to interject right here? No, I was ready to go there. I've got some examples. Both by the way, I've got examples. I was gonna say, hey, first non Christians and what they said. And then what Christians have said. But no, but really what we've said so far in our conversation to kind of extrapolate and bring it down to two things. Number one, extraterrestrial life can exist and it would not overturn an ounce of the Bible. We've said it could. We don't necessarily believe it does, but it could and it wouldn't overturn an ounce of the Bible. And many, if not most, alien quote unquote encounters were most likely encounters with demons. Both of those things can be true. It's really that's pretty much what it is. Is that extraterrestrial life can exist and it wouldn't overturn the Bible. And many, if not most of the encounters that people talk about are probably encounters with demons. This shouldn't surprise us. And what I mean by that is that if you actually go to the Bible, you see in Corinthians where Paul says that um worship given to idols. actually worship in communion with demons. Well, but think about what those idol shape took. The idols would often take the shapes of things like birds, the sun, um, a hawk, a dog, if you're talking about Anubis in ancient in ancient Egypt. In other words, things that were natural phenomena that people would then take and then demons would appear to them in that way or receive worship in that way. It shouldn't surprise and because that was fitting for the culture of that time. It should not then surprise us if in our culture in the last hundred years that this has become a thing if demons would say, ooh I'm gonna lean into that then and I'm going to use this as a method to get in people's hearts and their minds and their souls. Shouldn't surprise us. Is that accurate to what we've been saying? Hude. So let me give you some testimony in terms because you're like, Well, what are you guys talking about? It's demonic. Well, let me just give you some testimony that first non Christians have said and things that they have heard. Um, and then we'll talk about what Christians have encountered as well. So let me let me get a run and start into this. Yeah. So what he's getting ready to do, this is good the honestly, the first time I heard this totally blew my mind. Totally boom on. So let me give you five little fast facts that and this is gonna get a run and start in what you're about to read. That are reasons that I go there is overt demonic activity around this stuff. Number one, there is a high correlation between people experimenting with occult and new age practices and quote unquote alien abductions. That's number one. So you're man, when you're messing with that stuff, that stuff's real. It's really demonic. Okay. Number two. There is and this is some of what you're gonna read. Dude, it's free it's it's freaky and it's weird. People who have had who report quote unquote alien abductions. They consistently report messages from these quote unquote beings that are explicitly anti Christ. Yes. And explicitly reject Jesus. Like sp with specificity. So that's number two. And I'll just remind people, Galatians 1, eight. Even if we or an angel from heaven, or I might add the heavens. appear to you and preach another gospel, let them be accursed. Galatians one eight. Number three, those messages, and you're gonna get into a little of this, that people report receiving often revolve around humanity being prepared for a spiritual ascension process. Number four. claimed messages often encourage a one world government. By the way, you get to revel are you gonna read something about that? No, keep going. I don't know what you're gonna read. So you're coming in blind. I don't know what he's gonna read this great. So so one world government by the way, you get to the end of the book of Revelation What is Satan tried to accomplish in the end before Christ's return? It at least seems like a one world government so you got got there. Um, often to protect the environment. avoid nuclear war. That's a little side note. And then last one. Bro, this is nuts. In multiple claimed abduction experien experiences. People that it happens to specifically say the experience ended when they invoked the name of Jesus Christ. Bro, blow your mind. Now, I don't know what you're gonna read. So we're going into this blind. You do whatever you're gonna do. That's good, because so much what you gave, I'll give some stories to color and and and really hidden a lot of the themes that you just hit. So these first ones are again, these are from non-Christians. I want to say these are from non-Christians. They don't have a bent towards this in terms of faith. These are just non-Christians. So first one is Whitney uh Whitley Straper, this American author known for horror fiction, but also horror fiction, but also nonfiction of count of alleged alien encounters. And he writes, the visitors seem to consistently and profoundly opposed to the idea of Christ. Interesting. Big thing that he quotes. You also got uh John Keel. He is the author of uh The Mothman Prophecies movie that was made, I think, twenty, twenty-five years ago on that. He already John Cusack? No, who it wasn't Cusack. Gir. It's Richard Gear. Yeah, it's Richard Gear. Man. It was made off of a book that this guy wrote. And so and he and basically what Keel was kind of, he kind of takes like mythological things, analyzes them and stuff like that. Um, and so he argued that the entities were often deceptive and shape shifting, and one of his most famous quotes were the UFO manifestations seem to be, by and large, merely minor variations of the age o demonological phenomenon. Bro, he's a non Christian saying this. Wow. Yeah. Um Dr. Carla Turner. So she is she had a PhD in English, had an alleged alien abduction encounter, and begins really diving into this. So again, she's not a Christian, was not a Christian apologist, but she summarized alleged alien behavior in this way. Entities lie consistently. Why that matters is Satan is called the father of lies. And get this, they take control of human beings against their will. Well, that sounds kind of familiar. Yeah. Like the entire gospels where Jesus consistently uh encounters demons who do just that. Wow. The idea of you had I think the example of the person who would be thrown into the fire against his Will. Um, you also find a lot of anti Christ elements from different stories, like Jesus was only a man is what the aliens would say. Christ is not uniquely divine. Humanity is evolving beyond Christianity. All religions are equally true. The Bible is corrupted. Humanity will soon receive a new revelation. All the things that you would find if you read the book of Revelation talking about the Antichrist or his forces. If Galatians one eight Became reality. That's what it would sound like. Exactly. So those are non Christians. Again, saying things that just on hearing them, that sounds a lot like what we would find of what demons and Satan would do. But then in terms of Christians, um there's a group of people who at f well they were used to be into this, but then came to faith and have really started researching it. And what they have found is where exactly what you found. They found that there were a lot of people who, if they invoked the name of Jesus or began singing a hymn, all of a sudden the alleged an alien encounter would all of a sudden stop. And they found that fascinating. For example, one of the cases involved a brand new Christian called Bill Dean. During alleged alien abduction, he cried out, Jesus help me, and the encounter immediately stopped. And so when the person that was doing this research contacted this basically UFO investigation organization to see if they had similar cases, they would only talk to them if it was off record. Really? Because it would ruin their careers if they said on the record what they would go on to tell them. And so the truth was that they all knew of similar accounts of abductions being stopped by people praying. singing hymns or calling on the name of Jesus. But because it was religious in nature, not scientific, the evidence was deliberately ignored and hidden. Fascinating. And so yeah. So really I'm just sharing those stories to say everything that you were saying, because people hear this, oh, you guys, this is just your bit and your opinion, we're sharing these opinions based on the testimony of non-Christians and how they describe these encounters and the entities, alleged entities behind them. And what Christians as they've actually researched into it have found as well. Dude, um I'll I'll give another one that c kinda corroborates. So this is interesting and I'll I won't use the uh the person's name, but but it's uh somebody very close to me. I had some I I shared this story years ago. Um I had somebody very close to me that was going through a season of extreme depression. Like very and a person not given to that. Extreme depression. And they walked into a biblical counselor's office and reported the depression. And this very wise counselor over the years, he had developed a checklist. He was like, Hey, um I think a lot of times what's going on with people is it's not just you know, mental or emotional is spiritual. And she said, would you take this home and um would you check anything that's become a part of your life? And you know, some of it was like what you'd expect, like, you know, overuse of alcohol, drug usage, past uh, you know, past psychedelics and stuff like that. One of them was uh something like um fixation or something like that, like you're basically you're really into aliens and UFOs uh. And he had that on the checklist. And this guy read the checklist and he was like the heck? Like, why is this even on here? And uh sure enough, he was like and nothing weird, but he was just like that guy who when there was something on the National Geographic channel, the underwater alien show, he was like, you know what, that's interesting. And he had been watching a lot of And he's like, Man, honestly, I s I've I had started thinking about it a lot. And so he checked it. And he came into the biblical counselor the next time and the and the guy noticing asked about it. And this biblical counselor said, Hey man, um basically what we're saying, he said, in my experience, very frequently when people have spiritual and emotional issues, there's a high correlation between them getting really into the UFO Alien thing. And he just told him, he said, I'm going to be really honest with you. I think a lot of that stuff is demons and it's demonic. He said I want to ask you during our time to get that out of your life. And then if I remember correctly, he like prayed uh, I don't know how to say it, like almost like a deliverance prayer. I want to pray over you for freedom from any demonic influence. And sure enough, dude, this guy that very, very close to me that had been struggling for months with dark depression, he said, as soon as I got out of that stuff, gone. Wow. Never struggle again. Wow. So that's anecdotal. But it's like it kind of here's where I'm going. It's like, hey, dude, there's too much smoke for there not to be some kind of fire there. Exactly. Cause it oh even when I was doing some reading around some of the people who were not Christians and what they wrote. The consistent thing was in almost all the stories of alien encounters, it's never good. It always leaves the people profoundly harmed and disturbed. Which you would expect if these were encounters with demonic forces of some kind. So again, what we've said, again, just to remind people. And then um I've got a great quote from Billy, I think, uh that that helps. in terms of just not again getting us too caught in the weeds in this little side trail, but getting us back to the big things. But is if for some reason ever came out that extraterrestrial intelligent life existed and that they visit us, it doesn't overturn an ounce of the Bible. Jesus Christ was still raised from the dead. Exactly. And most of the encounters that we hear about most likely are encounters of demonic forces. And so it's not to be trifled. And because of that, I think that's also a warning to people who want to dive into this stuff is like, hey, when you begin dancing with the devil, he'll dance back with you. And so just if anyone who's listening to this or watching this is really interesting, be very careful what you're getting tangled up with, because this is the kind of stuff that the enemy is always looking for a crack is like water. He will find the crack and it'll get in. And this is one. Um I was reading, and this is a great um quote from Billy Graham. And I read the first part earlier where he says the Bible tell us whether or not there's intelligent life or life on other planets. Although I find nothing in the Bible that would exclude the possibility. But if there is life on other planets, then God created that life for God created everything. Furthermore, if there are beings in other planets that have souls and can know God, then God created them in his image, just as he did us. And you can be sure that he has somehow made it possible for them to know him. So he's saying there, hey, not a bit. If it happens, it's not overturning. But I love what he's about to do. He's just so brilliant at this because he's about to do what we started to in this conversation. He says, Don't get sucked into this stuff. Remember the big things. Don't get sucked into meaningless speculation. We may never know for sure if there is life on other planets. The distances to other star systems are almost unimaginably. vast. But we do know this. The heavens declare the glory of God. That's right. The skies proclaim the work of his hands. And we also know that God sees us and knows all about us. As Jesus said, even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Interesting to speculate about life on other planets, but God is concerned about our lives right now. As we should be. Come on, Billy. Have you put your trust in Christ and are you living for Him? If so, someday you will go to be with Him and all your questions will be answered. Come on, Billy. Way to go, Billy. I mean, Billy. Come on. Come on, man. You can't it's hard to beat that. It's hard to beat that. Oh man. Let me before I close this out, I'll do two other just little quick dovetails. It's good. Um these I'm not even sure I'm in on these. But there are the like Michael Heisner's mess with this. There's a couple other guys that mess with this. that um they've tried that what they're trying to do is give people a biblicary for phenomenon around this. I'll shoot you real straight. I'm not sure I'm in on this stuff, but if the if peop peop the questions people end up asking, Well, man, if it is like a demonic thing. What do you do uh with if if it ever comes out that they supposedly recovered bodies or biologics? And then uh you know, what about spacecraft? Like demons don't need ships, do they? Okay, so again, this is super tinful hatty. I don't think I'm in on this stuff. But if you were tr if you were trying, yeah, if you were trying to fit those things into a biblical cosmology. Uh one on the bodies thing. I will shoot you straight. This is interesting. Again, you really do need to go listen to the Nephilim. Put that in the show notes, please. The Neflim podcast. Um, because there's there's no getting around it. As weird as it sounds. Genesis six seems to clearly describe quote unquote the sons of God. And when it says that it's talking about fallen seemingly fallen angels. Yeah. And then the book of Jude specifically refer did you guys mention that? Yep. Yeah. Yep. This book of Jude specifically mentions that those fallen angels that descended and then interbreeded with the human race. Uh, the book of Jude mentions that God judged them. Okay. Um in Genesis six, it just seems to overtly mention that there were fallen evil angels that did intermarry with the daughters of men, is what it says, and may have created like hybrid uh natural supernatural beings. And so if you were trying to dovetail recover like a body into a biblical cosmology, some guys have done that. And they've gone, hey, that honestly could that may be what that is. Yeah. I I don't know if I'm in, I'm just saying. And then this one's even more of a stretch to me, but I'm just gonna say it 'cause people ask. It's on the spacecraft thing. Um, I have seen guys and I you know, I honestly this kind of thing where I'm kinda like, I don't really care. I'm focused on people becoming more like Jesus and a whole bunch of people getting saved. But what some guys have pointed out is if you read the book of Ezekiel and the way the uh you know where I'm going on? I think I do. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. If you read the book of Ezekiel and you start going, Well, how do angels appear in the book of Ezekiel You get in the best that a five thousand or three thousand year old Hebrew language, the best they could do, bro, some of it sounds like some sort of craft. I mean, I'm looking at it right now. I'm I'm just The appearance this is I'm reading it. This is Ezekiel one. As I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the ground beside each creature. This was the appearance and structure of the wheels. They sparkled like topez and all four looked alike. Each appeared to be made like a wheel intersecting a wheel. And as they moved, they would go in any one of the four directions the creature faced. And the wheels did not change direction as the creatures went. The rims were high and awesome, all four rims. So I could go on on. Now again, I don't think this is a thing, but I'm just saying if you were trying to dovetail it, you could go, Well, man, hey man, if that's how angels appear, then why is it so crazy to think that's how fallen angels might appear. And then you sort of stack that on top of, hey man, he's the father of lies. He's gonna create, try to create plausible So anyway, I don't know if I'm in. I'm just saying. That's right. I'm just saying. So it sounds weird. Yeah. Let me give some last pestle or encouragement. So let's shut this down and then I gotta get to this Bro, the conversation with Josh and Ryan is crazy. We're just yeah, it's crazy. Talking pastors politics, all things. Um, so final pastoral encouragements. Uh, I strongly encourage every single person not to get sucked into this deal. Amen, uh the Bible to have nothing to do with deeds of darkness. And if this is what we believe they are, uh, I'm not gonna mess with that stuff. Um Number two, one of Satan's strategies is to get people to devote themselves to myths and endless speculation. Hey man, you're supposed to keep the main thing the main thing. What's the main thing? Um to know Christ, live free, and change the world for God's glory. If you're f if like that's the main thing, don't start giving level eight attention to things of level point zero zero two importance. That's right. So I was I would say that. I already read the first Timothy verse. Hey man, don't mess with that. It's gonna lead to quote departing from these things, the main things, and turn to meaningless talk. The last thing I'd say is, man, if you're a Christian, uh we don't do fear. So many we don't let no matter what happens. Um we don't let stuff w we uh w fear not. That's right. W we don't do fear. So what I would say is, hey man. Maybe you're not a Christian. What I'd say to you about this stuff. You're you're listening to this pod and you're going, dude, there at least seems to be something about what they just said. What I would say to you is, hey, man, if there's a darkness. That means there's a light. That's right. And that light has a name, and his name is Jesus Christ. And the Bible gives us a promise for anybody that bends their knee to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Greater is he that is in you than, and I'll change a little bit, than whatever is in the world. That's our encouragement. Paul Cunningham, would you close your prayer? I'd love to. As father on that note, I do pray that we would always be people who keep the main things the main things. Even thinking back to what we talked about in the first part of this pod, you have the apostle Paul, um, brilliant man, could have gotten sucked into all these different things, but Lord, he lived his life living for you and telling others about you. And Lord, I want to pray that same thing for anyone listening, that we would not get sucked into vain speculation about UFOs and aliens or anything else. But rather, God, we would live our lives before you and every day wake up and say, God, what do you want me to do today? How would you have me live? And so, Lord, I pray that we would do that. And Lord I want to ask that you would guard people getting sucked into this and being influenced by the forces of evil. And I want to ask, God, that rather you would help people see the light that is you and live as light in the world around us, God. And God, I want to pray that you would give all of the men and women and kids and students and everybody else in between listening to this, would you give them courage to speak about you. That's right. Lord, I pray that them speaking about their relationship with you and what they're experiencing at church would just become such a normal thing that it wouldn't be weird for them. And that because they talk about the things that they love, that they would talk about you and about their churches, Lord. And I pray that through the men and women and everybody listening to this, that you would bring a ton, countless one more to know you. So that they could be with them forever, worshiping you, the one who is the creator and ruler of all things. Amen. Amen and live free. Live free. We miss you, Carlos.