This is the Truth Network. Coming to you from an entrenched barricade deep in the heart of central North Carolina, Masculine Journey After Hours, a time to go deeper and be more transparent on the topic covered on this week's broadcast.
So sit back and join us on this adventure. The Masculine Journey After Hours starts here, now. Welcome to Masco and Journey After Hours. We are talking about the topic of opening our eyes, God opening our eyes, to warfare. To spiritual warfare.
And so we've been kind of kicking that around on the regular show, and we're going to go a little bit deeper into this. But, Danny, before I go and forget about you for half the show, welcome to the show with us. Thank you. Yeah, we're glad to have you again. We're looking forward to getting you back in the studio when all the stars align and all that stuff, and we get you back in here.
Yeah, I'm looking forward to that myself. Yeah, and then we can pick on you in person instead of over the phone. Yeah, I can more amply defend myself because I can see what's coming. You can. You can't.
Yeah. But we're going to continue. But Andy, you have the first clip of this show. Do you want to set it up or talk about it? Yeah, so Sam started last show just talking about a clip that he saw on one of his Yeah.
first boost camps, I guess. Mine was probably first, second. Maybe third, I don't know. But It made a an imp uh impression on me early on in my boot camp experience. Because here I was, there's a guy that was really looking you know, just to get his marriage back and and And really I was being exposed to a lot through this whole masculine journey and wild at heart.
And the spiritual warfare, I didn't really I wanted to you know, get my wife back. I didn't wasn't really interested in I mean uh It wasn't that I wasn't interested, it just wasn't the top of the list. Wasn't your priority. It wasn't a priority, right? There's always a sneaky priority that gets a guy to a bootcamp.
We can all issue. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, you know, if you had everything together, you probably wouldn't, probably wouldn't come. And probably wouldn't be telling the truth. But anyway, this I had kind of tapped out.
I'd been in. I knew that there was a spiritual war that we were in. I used to put on the full armor of God. Didn't use it that effectively. Probably a lot of it was because of Lack of understanding and identity, and who I was as a son, and being able to fight from that.
But I was weak. And I didn't really want to engage there per se. But it began to show me this clip was is from the Lord of the Rings, the Two Towers. And The king Theoden does not want to engage in war. He wants to keep his people safe.
And you'll hear the dialogue here, and there's a line that speaks to it all, and it means everything. And it really is what brought me back and drew me back into realizing. You know, there is an option of whether we choose to fight or not. Mm-hmm.
So here we go. They had no warning. They were unarmed.
Now the wild men are moving through the westfold, burning as they go. Rick Cotton Tree. Where is Mama? This is but a taste of the terror that Saruman will undish. All the more potent for he is driven now by fear of Sauron.
Ride out and meet him head-on. Draw him away from your women and children. You must fight. You have two thousand good men riding north as we speak. Hammer is loyal to you.
His men will return and fight for their king. They will be 300 leagues from here by now. Ayem cannot help us. I know what it is you want of me, but I will not bring further death to my people. I will not risk open war.
Open war is upon you. Whether you would risk it or not.
Okay.
So yeah, there it says it all right there. And you do have a choice of whether you want to fight or not. I mean They then had that choice. And he made the wrong choice, actually. in in the movie but I want to make the right choice because You know the the The open war is going to continue.
You're still going to be taken out. I might as well fight in this thing. And, you know, we were built for fighting. That's the whole idea of the masculine heart.
So, why not enter into what. God has called me to do as a man, I mean you know, it's like sitting back and being passive is not working. And anything that I want in life through desire that He gives us. Has to be fought for. That's one of the key things that you learn about in the core desires, is you have to fight for these things.
Again, Hmm. This I don't know. This culture that we live in, I don't think it's expressed enough in. In masculine circles, that it is a requirement, particularly in the kingdom of God, that it is a requirement for us to engage in battle. It's who we're called to be.
We're being less of who we are as people if we don't step into that or as men. Absolutely. That that is the case. When I was thinking back about, you know, the times that growing up that you succumb to a bully, you know, were beating up on you or embarrassing you, whatever it is. And every time that happens, you feel lower and lower and lower, and you hide and you hide more.
But just the one time you stand up, it doesn't matter if you get your brains beat out a little bit, if he really wins the fight, but you did something about standing against it. That's right. And you can at least feel better about that, and you start to get some of your hope back. You start to get some of your purpose back. And so, when I look at it with that same clip, am I just going to sit there and let myself get beat up, or I'm at least going to rise up and do everything I can?
And with God on my side, how am I going to lose? Kind of op like the open range clip. You're men, ain't you? Yeah, exactly. Step in and be a man.
There's an aspect of that clip too that um does not get Um portrayed And that is Mm-hmm. There's kind of a. I wished I knew the name of the theory. But it's basically who's going to get shot first. Right.
Um if if there's a bad guy And there's one person that steps up against the bad guy with a gun, he's probably gonna get shot. But if there's 20 guys that step up together, Chances are the bad guy's gonna get taken out, right?
Somebody might get shot, but the bad guy's gonna get taken out. And There is that aspect of it that Theoden has these guys saying look. You got us, you got these other people, you're not doing it alone. We're not asking you to step out there by yourself. We're just asking you to think through this very carefully, and that is.
You can choose whether you fight or not. you cannot choose whether or not the enemy is going to come after you. And that's Christianity. We don't get to choose whether the enemy's coming or not. He's here.
Revelation 12 makes it very, very clear. Ezekiel makes it very, very clear that. when Satan loses the battle in heaven, and is cast down to the earth. The first thing that he we read about is he goes to make war. On humanity.
He goes to make war on the offspring of the woman. And that's where we live, unfortunately. But Here's the other aspect of God opened my eyes many, many years ago as I was, I guess, preparing for. probably doing the Talk, the warfare talk at a boot camp. Um That The Reason We Are Here is for that.
That God literally says to Satan, and you'll read in the New Testament where God will parade in front of Satan. this great procession of saints. And it will basically heap burning coals upon Satan's head, and it will make him. even more appalled with his own behavior. Because he lived with God.
He lived in heaven. He lived and saw the beauty of God and the strength of all the angels and all of those things, right? was one of the greatest beings in in heaven other than God himself. And yet he chose To Rebel. And so God picks these lowly creatures, Sam, Darren, Andy, Jamie, you know, all of us.
who are going to live by faith. We've we've not been to heaven. Yeah. We've not seen all of the things that Satan saw, and God uses us. to fight that battle now and to basically Say to Satan, Sorry, you had your shot And so, when you realize that that's part of your calling, that's part of the purpose that you're here for, it changes your mind as to whether or not, I mean, yeah, there are still mornings I get up and I do not want to fight.
I agree. I call that every day. I mean, seriously. But I don't have a choice. I mean it's either Get your head beat off, you know, beat up, beat in.
Or fight. And sometimes you're still going to get beat up. But you still have to fight, and we've got a God that's willing to help us in that fight. You know, Darren, you're exactly right that we. It sounds like Robby.
Yeah, I was going to say. That was snipping your hat to the NRB guy. Yeah, I'm channeling when I entered Robby. No, you're exactly right. We've got to stand up, but the thing is, we can't be the Lone Ranger.
You know, because it talks about in the story of Daniel, you were talking about it before the show, where an angel talks about the warfare, and it's not easy for even an angel. If you want to tell a little bit more about that, well, in Daniel chapter 10, Daniel himself, the great prophet, has his eyes opened up to spiritual warfare around him because he he's praying, he's asking God to help him that they're in this really difficult time and he's trying to interpret some dreams and trying to help his people. And God sends an angel to answer Daniel's prayers. But Daniel doesn't know that. He continues to pray every day for the next 21 days.
Thinking, where is God? Why isn't He hearing me? What's wrong with me? Why does God not hear my voice? And the angel shows up.
Okay.
Out of breath, literally, and says, Wait, Daniel, no, God heard your prayer the very first day, and he responded to it the very first day. But it's taken me three weeks to fight my way in here, and I couldn't even win the battle by myself. I had to go get the Archangel Michael. to fight against the prince of Persia, who was a Demonic being. um one of the angels that fell with Satan.
And he says, you know, I had to get angel, the archangel Michael, to come and pull rank.
So, in other words, one angel can't even do it by himself. He's got to, he needs help.
So, to your point, If if that angel Who's You know, by all rights, bigger and batter than I am. If he can't do it by himself, there's no way in the world I can do it by myself either. And that's why we need a band of brothers. Yeah, and then there's an adage that I'll probably screw it up: that you know, without God, we can't. And without us, God won't.
Right. We have a role to play, as Andy was saying. And we were created for a specific reason. Yes, in our in our families, in our relationships, but in the battle. You know, we were made to fill a a spot there and if we don't fill it, it just goes unfilled.
You know, and that's a big hole for the enemy to be able to get through. And speaking of war kind of clips, Darren, do you have a war kind of clip that you'd like to share? Yeah, this clip is from We Were Soldiers. um of of the the story how Moore tells about his men and basically the first major battle in in the Vietnam War. in 1965 and And uh How is He's been training.
A new type of warrior. new type of Riding onto the battlefield in helicopters instead of marching or riding horses. And He is on the parade grounds and is addressing those soldiers, their families, their wives, their friends. saying we're getting ready to go into battle and there's some Terms that he uses, and this is a true story. This is actually the speech that Halmore gave.
But we'll play the clip and then I'll kind of highlight a couple of those things. Yeah. Now here in the States, Some men. In this unit. may experience discrimination because of race or creed.
But for you and me now All that is gone. We are moving into the valley of the shadow of death. Where you will watch the back of the man next to you. as he will watch yours. And you won't care what color he is.
Or by what name he calls God. They say we're leaving home. We're going to what home? was always supposed to be So let us understand the situation. We are going into battle.
Against a tough and determined enemy, I can't promise you. And I will bring you all home alive. But this I swear. Before you and before Almighty God. That when we go into battle I will be the first to set foot on the field.
And I will be the last to step off. And I will leave no one behind. Dead or alive. We will all come home together.
So there we have it. The things that Halmore talks about is: you know, there is a determined enemy, and that's the reality of it. Um yeah, Satan has lost the battle. And he knows that the time is getting closer to the end, to his end. But he's not dead yet.
and th that's when the enemy's the most dangerous. when the enemy knows that they're the closest point. to losing the battle. that's when they're the most dangerous and And that's when they're gonna Just let everything fly, right? We see it in human war all the time, which is just indicative of spiritual warfare.
Um But When you listen to that clip and then you read scripture and you hear him talk about this determined enemy that they have, and you hear him talking about he'll lead on the battlefield, and he can't promise that people aren't going to die. In fact, he's pretty much guaranteeing them people will. And that's going to be the same for you. Right? As a Christian man, as a Christian woman, you're going to fight hard, hopefully, and hopefully you're going to have other people fight with you.
That doesn't mean That other people aren't going to lose. It doesn't mean that there won't be casualties. What it does mean, though, is that Jesus is going to be on the battlefield before you, and he's going to be on the battlefield after you. And to your other point, Halmore didn't say, Well, guys Y'all did a great job. I'm going to go take on the Viet Cong now.
I'll let you know when I'm back. Because he couldn't do it by himself. He needed a team of people who were just as determined. As the enemy was, and knew the enemy well enough to know how to fight it.
So that's that's part of our call is to know the enemy well enough to know how to fight the enemy. Doesn't mean You gotta study Satan all day, all day. means you got to study Jesus, 'cause Jesus will educate you on Satan. Absolutely. Danny, we haven't talked to you in a little while.
We talked about a lot of stuff. Is there anything in there you want to talk about?
Well, no, there's good stuff being shared and and the What is it in I think in the warfare talk, and I've done that a time or two, but the that You're you're not getting out of this this life without some wounds. And, you know, because the enemy is is is a formidable foe, But you know, and and you know, we've talked about it through both shows. is he is a defeated foe. That don't mean He got some fight, is it? And So I mean, just thinking of my own life and sharing in between shows, that, you know, th this cancer battle.
you know, be it call it warfare, you know, in in a sense in a fleshly warfare. My body has betrayed me. And, you know, what cancer is, is sales that have committed mutiny basically. And so know but but realizing that and you know realizing that there's a fight to be had And that But one of the things I think the greatest one of the greatest weapons of our warfare. Yeah, the Bible says they're not carnal, but they're mighty through God to carry down strongholds is to celebrate with joy.
that, you know, you find joy in in in the things and, you know, one of the things that, you know, as I began to eat again. And for those that don't know, I mean, there was a series of months that I physically did not eat I've been on this what they call TPN. But now we're back into I'm beginning to eat again, so I have to sustain myself Yeah, 'cause you do eat to live. I used to eat just 'cause it was good, taste good. But uh now as easy to live But to celebrate that, and to celebrate the the victories of Okay, we're gonna get rid of this this bag.
and going to go back to the way things used to be somewhat But to celebrate that, you know, just is a is a shot in the eye of the enemy because He didn't win that battle. And, you know, that we have to celebrate, you know, Count It All Joy is what James said. I I don't like that book 'cause James is just raw. And he's just raw. He just and, you know, Count It All Joy and, you know, that's that's tough.
But there is joy in life and joy is our strength. And so, you know, the joy of the Lord is our strength because knowing that He's in my quarter. He's fought the big battle. And he you know, he when Jesus was on his earth, He poured into disciples constantly. You And you can hear his frustration sometimes.
Oh, you have little faith, you know. They wake him up 'cause there's a stormy sea and they figure they're all gonna die. And he's asleep at the boat. He gets up, calls the storm, and goes back to bed. Actually, it admonishes them a little bit.
Where's your faith? Don't you realize I'm with you in the boat? And I think that's the key to what we're talking about, is to realize that Jesus is in the boat with you. And that he is right there by your side, Steve's closer than a brother. you know, my band of brothers is close.
We're close. But y'all are not as close as Jesus is. Mm-hmm.
And he's right there in the midst of everything. And yet he never leaves us nor forsakes us. Those those are words straight out of the book Darren was talking about that everybody ought to read. And I agree with him. that, you know, um that Those are truths that we have to hold on to because there are days when I feel so alone.
But in reality The reality of it is I'm not alone. I'm never alone. He's right here with me. Thank you, Danny. That was pretty awesome.
You just say amen. That was pretty good. It was. It was very good. Yeah.
Hey, Andy.
So how do we fight the enemy? You have a theory from a clip and how we apply some of it.
So you want to share some of that?
So this clip is from The Patriot, and I was just watching it. Did the spiritual warfare talk. And as I was going through, I knew some points I wanted to make, but this just kind of stuck out to me. You have William Wallace, his middle son, does just not William Wallace. I say William Wallace.
Benjamin Martin. Benjamin Martin. It's Mel Gibson's side. I'm tired tonight. Benjamin Wallace.
Benjamin Wallace. Benjamin Warrior. He's a painter. Benjamin Martin. The Patriot, Mel Gibson.
He, um. Anyway, he H his middle son gets killed by Tavington, the really gruesome uh general in the in the movie and He and his younger two sons Chase them down. and he's providing guidance to these sons that have never been to battle before. Never. And I don't even know that they've shot a gun, maybe a couple times or something, from what I gather.
And he gives them guidance. On how to take out the officers, take them out, but he tells them to. Aim small, miss small. And listen to the clip, and then I'll explain it when we get back.
Sounds good. Yeah. Boy. Listen to me. I'll fire first.
I want you two to start with the officers and work your way down. Can you tell the difference? Yes, father. Yes, father. Uh Samuel, after your first shot, I want you to reload for your brother Nathan.
Yeah. Now If anything should happen to me... I want you two to drop your weapons and I want you to run as quickly as you can.
Now you hide in the brush, make your way home, get your brother and your sisters and you take them to your aunt Charlotte's. Understood? What did I tell you fellas about shooting? I'm not sure if I can do it. Uh Boys.
Yeah. Samuel. Steady. Yeah. Lord, make me fast and accurate.
Yeah. Okay.
The man outside!
Well it's on. Yeah. He didn't tell them how to throw a tomahawk into a guy's face. Yeah, exactly. We leave that out.
Okay.
But um yeah, he Yeah. Just a couple things. Agreements are what we talk a lot about. Agreements, I'd heard something similar in my previous. spiritual life about negative confessions and stuff.
But the idea, a lot of that was you just don't talk negative. You know, you talk positive about your life because God's positive. And there's some truth to that, but I don't think it's absolute in the fact of dealing with spiritual warfare and agreements that we make. You know, the first kin sin came through an agreement. God's holding out on you, Eve.
And that's really what we're fighting. And uh and agreements are powerful. They give a stronghold to the enemy that you believe a lie. And what I Saw in this clip was this idea of aim small, miss small. We think spiritual warfare is we just have this big, huge target, and we just hit anywhere on it.
We're good. But the problem is with that is is to take the enemy out, you have to be precise. And if he's got an agreement that you're making and it's that's the deal that that's really hindering you, you need to aim small. you need to really focus in on your target and really Address what the issue is. It's not this big idea.
Sometimes it's hard to fight a battle when you've got the fog of war and you can't even figure out what's going on. And what I like about that is the Father gives guidance to aim small. Miss Small, but he's given guidance on how to fight, which is to Focus in on the target, which in this case, the spiritual warfare application will be our agreements. Yeah, and an agreement's just a thing that the enemy whispers in your ear, and it's usually a partial truth. And you go, Oh, yeah, that's right, I believe that, which gives him access to your life.
And it feels very, very true. It does, but it's a lie. It is, and he's good at it. You know, he's called the accuser of the brethren, the father of lies for a reason because he's very skilled at doing that. And one of his key things is to get us to buy into what he's saying, which gives him that access.
And so, this aim, small, miss, small is saying, God, how can I focus on the battles I'm fighting within me that the enemy's got me under? Help me see those things because when I can break those, then I can reach out and start to help others. Right? But until then, it's going to be hard to fight for other people. You got to first fight for yourself.
Go to masculinejourney.org to register for the upcoming boot camp. It's coming up March 12th through 15th. Uh
