Personal Warfare After Hours

This is Stu Epperson from the Truth Talk Podcast, connecting current events, pop culture, and theology. And we're so grateful for you that you've chosen the Truth Podcast Network.

It's about to start in just a few seconds. Enjoy it, and please share it around with all your friends. Thanks for listening, and thanks for choosing the Truth Podcast Network. 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 Masculine Journey After Hours, and that always catches us off guard. The show's getting ready to start, like, oh, there's the music. But yeah, here we are. Danny, you actually have the topic for this week.

If you want to remind us what the topic is that we just talked about in the regular show, but I don't know, it's your topic. We're talking about warfare. We're talking about personal warfare. And then, you know, if you don't think you have any, then you're probably in the midst of it anyway.

And just, you know, laying that out, because we talk a lot about it at bootcamp and, you know, how we deal with it in processing and the things we've learned along the way, good and bad, I guess. Yeah, if you don't think there's warfare, go back, and I don't know that this number's accurate, but I had heard in the past that about a third of the time Jesus is talking about things, he talks about warfare, right? And so it's important to know, let's say it was a fourth, right?

Let's say it was not quite a third. It was significant enough that Jesus talked about it a lot. So if Jesus is going to talk about it a lot, what makes us think we don't have to talk about it? He also talked a lot about money, which is a source of considerable warfare.

It is, it can be, yes, especially between spouses and family and everything about governments and governments and all that kind of stuff. Yeah, and the Apostle Paul writes about warfare all through his writings, all through the, was it two thirds of the New Testament? Yeah, I don't know that figure either. Yeah, it's random numbers we're just throwing out there.

But yeah, it's somewhere in that general ballpark. Go research yourself. Yeah. So I think I actually have the first clip.

You do. All right, so what this clip is from, it's from the movie The Matrix, and I know there are three Matrix. I only watched two. The first one I liked a lot. Second one didn't like it all. Never watched the third because I didn't like the second one. And so the third one may have been great, can't really say. But the first one, what I liked about it was it was very unexpected. There was a lot of spiritual references in it, you know, and then later I learned that, you know, they were trying to do that.

But it was really pretty cool. There's still some really cool God moments in that movie, and some standalone kind of quotes, some things that are in there. You know, talking about warfare, this is a clip that always comes to mind. Because I remember watching the original Matrix movie.

In this particular scene, no one else would probably remember. But it just jumped out and spoke to my heart. And it was years and years ago that I saw it. And I still think of it quite often.

And it is one of the keys that I use in battling warfare. But as you listen to this clip, what's happening is you have, what's the count of Reeves is Neo. And he's getting ready to get in a car with Trinity and a couple other people, I can't remember their names. And it's raining out. So you're gonna hear the rain and they get it, he gets in the car. And one of the ladies points a gun at him right away, you know, and so then he decides he wants to maybe get out of the car and listen to the interchange between him and Trinity that they have.

That's the final female that's talking at the end of this particular clip, and then we'll come back and talk about it. Listen to me, Coppertop. We don't have time for 20 questions.

Right now, there's only one rule, our way or the highway. Please, Neo, you have to trust me. Why? Because you have been down there, Neo. You know that road. You know exactly where it ends.

And I know that's not where you want to be. Okay, so the rest of the story, it says I'm watching this movie and this particular clips just kind of knocks my socks off, not literally, but you know, figuratively. And I couldn't figure out why, you know, and then I spent some time with God.

That's always a good thing to do. And something brings emotion to you. It's something you're not expecting. So God, you know, what was that about?

Right? And as we talked about it, as God and I talked about it, you know, he reminded me of all the times that I would listen to the enemy and I would, and my old self and my old ways. And I would slip into sin habits or, you know, battle pornography or whatever that might be. And I would end up at a predictable place.

Right. You know, and, and for me, God was saying, there's a lot of roads that you continually go down. Why? Well, you don't like the destination. Why do you keep going down them? And so it's really became key. This, this little part of it is where's that road going to lead me? You know, what's the fruit of this decision, right? What's going to be the outcome and, and knowing where it's led me in the past keeps me from wanting to go there again. You know, okay, I know that if I start down this road, I'm going to end up in a destination. That's not going to be great for my heart. It's not gonna be great for relationship.

It's not gonna be great for whatever, fill in the blank, but it's a road I got to avoid. And so when I'm looking at things that I'm constantly saying, okay, what's that destination going to look like? If I follow my emotion, if I follow how I'm feeling, if I follow this or what I think I'm hearing, what's going to be the fruit of that, that decision. Right. And we don't know for sure, but some things are pretty predictable. Right.

If I say certain things to a friend, we're no longer going to be friends. You know, that's predictable. Right. And so why would I be surprised if, if that happened? And so most of what we battle, at least for me is avoidable. If I just take time and say, okay, God, let me lean into you first.

Right. God, where do you want me to go in this? How do you want me to react? What do you want me to do? It helps me end up at a different destination that I would definitely get on my own because I've been down those roads a lot and they don't end well.

You know, they don't typically end well. And so the question I'd have for you is, you know, the destinations, you keep finding yourself and how do you not get there? Right.

How do I, how do I make a different decision earlier on? Make a right turn instead of going straight or make a left turn or do something different that I can end up at a different destination. Right.

And I can do that. And it avoids a lot of warfare for me. Jim, I hadn't really thought about it until right now, but God kind of put it on my heart. One of the roads I always try to go down is towards what I see as peace. And sometimes those wind up in the biggest warfare. And I know there, the peace is going to come, but if I'm pursuing it, then as opposed to trying to make it, uh, the being a peacemaker is a active warfare position.

Being a peace seeker is trying to put your head in the sand. And that's often what I've been. I remember God helped me out a lot on a couple of situations.

Um, I remember when I had to tell my mom when she was alive about, uh, molestation stuff that happened to me as a kid and I really didn't want to do it, but I know God was, was telling me to tell her. And I'm like, you know, it's, it's going to break her heart. It's going to do this.

And, and, uh, news bullet. No. Um, breaking news as, uh, as God told me, he said, you know, sometimes I need people to be there emotionally so I can reach them. You know, I remember another time of not wanting to have a conversation cause I knew there would be anger that came out of it, but I feel like, I felt like I really was supposed to have it.

And God told me very clearly, I need them angry right now because in their anger, they may seek me. Right. You never know what's going to cause them to move towards him.

He does. And so walking with him in a, in trusting, cause I, I very much the same way. I like to have peace. You know, I will avoid sometimes conversations cause at the helping to have peace. Oh, that explains a lot. Yeah. Well, except for with you, I have a pretty straightforward with you. I think he has me on do not disturb now.

He's like, Oh, Dave, it's gone. No, ignore. Yeah, no, it, uh, but sometimes that's what God needs us to do. You know, sometimes war is needed, right?

He called them to war sometimes. You know, one of the, um, past that I find myself on a lot that I'm still working through and I didn't again, like Jim said, I didn't realize that that was going to be something we were to discuss, but, um, is I feel like the enemy uses output get put down a path where I always have to feel like I have to figure out the solution to whatever that problem is in my, in my way, whether it's finances, my marriage, my daughter or work, whatever the case may be. Um, and I've gotten pretty better at that now. Um, cause I see it for what it is. And so I just more have a more of a, you know, it is what it is.

I'm going to go with God in it and try to get through it instead of stress myself out of it. But, you know, for, for most of the fellows in the room, y'all have had a lot longer experience with those battles and, you know, Sam especially can, you know, um, see it, see it clearer, clearer than that. So I had a question for you.

I didn't get a chance to ask it yet was how long did it take you to get to the point where you started recognizing, you know, as Robby called them, the check engine lights are going down the path that you want to avoid. Uh, it's, uh, not to put an age on you. No, no. Um, well, that's a maturity level and that doesn't always come with age. Right. I think, uh, when I got tired of the outcome, when I got tired enough of the outcome and said, okay, God, I just can't be here anymore.

I can't do this again. And, and, you know, because, uh, like most people in this room or everybody in this room, you know, we like to have solutions. You know, most of us are paid in our career to find solutions.

Yeah. You know, we're rewarded for finding solutions, you know, and, and people come to us and our families for answers a lot of times, but, you know, we, we tend to leave that hat on when we're talking to God, you know, and that's the only time we really don't need it, you know, is to lean into him. And, and so when I finally started realizing that you're doing now is I don't have to figure all this out.

I just need to lean more into him and let the chips fall where they fall part of the maturity. And I thought of this military, but also I was a police officer and we had an expression for guys that were in their fifth or sixth rookie year. You can make the same mistakes over and over and not learn from them.

And you never really become a veteran, but you become a veteran of life by seeing the mistakes you have made learning from them and trying to avoid those mistakes again. Yeah. Those are great teachers. Yeah.

The pain is a great teacher, you know, so you don't want to have the pain anymore. Danny, I think you're actually next with your clip. Are you? Yeah. The it's from Batman Begins. And I love the clip that you play because it, it kind of segues into this one because Bruce Wayne is, is going to confront this mobster in Gotham, I guess. And so not that familiar with the movie, but the, the scene spoke to me when I saw it, because this powerful mobster guy who would play the Satan character in this role for me would be, he just belittles Bruce Wayne all through this and, you know, calls out his character and, you know, you don't know what you're doing and, and all this kind of stuff. And, and all the while you, you see the anger and the frustration in Bruce Wayne.

And, you know, obviously this is the birth of, of Batman, basically. And, you know, based upon a lot of revenge and, you know, who doesn't like a good cup of revenge every now and then. And, but, you know, it's, it's just that, that point that the enemy just comes after you and knows what strings to pluck just to play the right tune. And because, you know, I heard Jonathan Helser, who I love some of his music, he says, you know, there has to be tension in the world. That's what music comes from.

Just tension on strings and drums and I think certain amount of tension, but it has to be God controlled. And so, you know, just listening to this clip and, and I've got a story I didn't know I was going to share, but the, just listening to the interchange of how we agree with the enemy. And that's the whole point of this thing is we agree with these things and just, he just, somebody said it earlier, he's looking to isolate you so you can become lion fodder.

And so you play the clip, we'll talk about it. Now I wouldn't have a second's hesitation in blowing your head off right here and right now in front of him. Now that's power you can't buy. That's the power of fear. I'm not afraid of you because you think you got nothing to lose, but you haven't thought it through. You haven't thought about your lady friend down the DA's office.

You haven't thought about your old Butler. People from your world have so much to lose. Now you think because your mommy and your daddy got shot, you know about the ugly side of life, but you don't, you've never tasted desperate. You're Bruce Wayne, the Prince of Gotham.

You'd have to go a thousand miles to meet someone who didn't know your name. So don't, don't come down here with your anger, trying to prove something to yourself. This is a world you'll never understand and you always fear, but you don't understand. All right. Yeah, you got spirit kid, I'll give you that.

More than your old man anyway. In the joint, Chill told me, uh, told you about the night he killed your parents. They said your father begged for mercy, like a dog, a jacket. Okay. Let me have some nice coat carefully.

Seize you with that. We're going to come looking for me, everyone. The, I think what I'm learning in this, this season of my life is, you know, had some difficult family situations and stuff like that. And a few weeks ago we were at a, at a wedding and, and some, some things kind of hit me like you were talking about. And I was like, and so after coming home the day after, you know, just kind of processing some stuff and, and, and I heard the scripture and I think Andy alluded to it earlier, but you know, in Ephesians where he's talking about the armor of God, he says, when you've done all you know to do basically to stand and my prayer became God, I don't know how to stand. I know how to go try to fix something and usually make it worse sometimes when it comes to this relationship thing.

I know how to do this. I know how to isolate away from those things I know are good for me. You know, I know that's a sign of depression. I've had to admit a little bit that, you know what, I deal with some depression at times, but so my prayer became, Lord, just teach me to stand.

Don't mean go do anything. And, and you know, some of the things that come out of this is that, you know, the enemy was playing the streams of, you know, well, you screwed up this, you know, you've been divorced. You've been, I mean, he can play all the tunes.

Well, what I chose to do would just go, God, just help me stand. And, you know, shared some stuff with some folks that I dearly love. And, you know, I've got you guys and I go to church Sunday. So people you dearly love and you have us. Yeah.

And I've got you. He probably goes, I was with my friends. Yeah.

He probably goes to other places for friends. Sorry. I was at church Sunday and the pastor preached on, you know, when the battle with Joshua chose some men and fought with the Amalekites and Moses was up on the hill with Aaron and her. And that's his name. Okay. I didn't know who it was. Okay. That was before pronouns. Okay. But so it wasn't Ben. No, Ben, Ben, her, Aaron, her.

Okay. Anyway, but the reality of it was, is that nobody in that situation was, could fight without the other one. You know, Moses got tired. As long as he held his hands up, the battle was in favor of the Israelites, but he got tired.

He could, he'd done all he could do. So Aaron and her held his arms up and got him a rock to sit on. So nobody could do anything without the other. And none of them could do anything because the reason that everything was going that way was because of God.

And that was a symbol of the staff in his hand. And I got to thinking, you know, Lord, thank you for the Aaron's and hers in my life. You know, you guys that hold my arms up when I can't hold up anymore. When I, you know, those kinds of things that, you know, what a deal that the, that that's warfare and it's best that, you know, cause when I can do nothing else, God goes, okay, good. Now we can take care of some things. And I, and I know to stay strong and, and what has happened in this season is I haven't isolated.

I haven't gone down that road. So, and I know that, you know, situations haven't really changed, but I've changed and I've learned some things. So, you know, and, and I think we're coming out of the Valley, so to speak, but that's the, that's the deal is that, you know, cause you know, God had to tell me, you know, not everything's your fault.

I mean, these whole clips have just kind of played the whole deal for me today. And it's just been kind of cool that it's, is that, you know, you take on ownership of things that you don't own. The Hebrew says, lay aside the sin and the weight that so easily was sent to you.

The way it isn't necessarily sin, it's just stuff you're toting that you don't need that you picked up along the way cause you were going to fix it. And so you have to clean out the buggy every now and then. Or the porch. Or the porch. So I came across this phenomenal truth.

It really is phenomenal. And the more I think about it, the more phenomenal it is that, you know, of course, if you were a little Jewish guy right now and you, you know, before you went to bed at night, you would say, Deuteronomy 6, 4, what's called the Shema. If you left your house, you would kiss the, you know, door post because it had the Shema on it. And before you laid your head on the pillow at night, you would say that. And when you say it in English, you know, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Really, it says that it would be that important that you should pray it all those times. But actually, Jesus in Mark chapter 12 says it's the number one commandment.

Actually, before love, the glory of God and with all your heart, with all your soul and all your strength, what he says is what the Shema is, is hear, O Israel, the Lord, your God, the Lord is one. Well, as I studied that word Ahad, which is one, all of a sudden I became like, oh, my gosh, look at that. The root of the word Ahad is brother. In other words, the first two letters of that word is brother. And when you put the actual last letter on it, you get the idea of Jesus is your big brother. But more than that, that the Lord, if you think of 1 John, right, it's all about unity. And how important it is to realize that we all should be brothers, and the only thing that's keeping us from being brothers is warfare, right? As Satan has figured out a way to create misunderstandings or whatever, but having a band of brothers, like if you belong to this group, and I hope you belong to one like it, but you know, you couldn't do anything.

I don't feel like I could do anything that would, you know, extract me from, in other words, you guys love me regardless of the fact, you know, what a shenanigans, you know, I really am. We have church to prove it. Right, right, right.

You've all been down the Robby Road at whatever point in time, and you still choose to go that way. But nonetheless, you know, that's a critical aspect to me of standing, is just what you described. You know, I'm not saying you're not saying you're standing. It's just what you described, is to literally be locked arm in arm with your brother in unity, because in doing so, you know, who's there right with you? As he was talking about that, I was thinking about, I don't even know how many times it's happened, where we've had to have a rescue attempt at boot camp, because someone's in the middle of a huge attack, right?

You know, to where if it wasn't for the brothers around, you know, that God chose to have us around to help one another. I've been under attack. You've been under attack. I mean, it's happened to Danny's been under attack from me.

When I forgot to invite him out. I think we've all been under attack from you, the staplers, binders. You in a little bit. Yeah.

Yes, I have a temper problem. I mean, I encourage anybody that's listening that doesn't know a lot about spiritual warfare, they've heard it in conventional churches that may beat around the bush on it or sugarcoat it, to come to a boot camp, because that's how I grew up. And I mean, honestly, we've talked about it on the radio before, and Sam uses it quite a bit. Like, I thought these guys were nuts. When I first met them, I grew up in the church. I had no, I mean, I was like, this is like, see, I mean, in fact, my mom texted me.

She's like, what did you get yourself into? And now this group of guys are like my best friends, but they, whether they know it or not, and I'm sure they do, they rescued me at my first boot camp, regardless of whether it was a full on like, rescue mission in front of the entire boot camp. No, it wasn't like that necessarily, but slowly but surely I started to realize it. And then even now, several years, what, two, maybe three, close to three years now?

Yes, three years. After my first boot camp, I still see it. And they still rescue me. And so do the boot campers when I go to a boot camp. It's not just about the campers coming out there. It's also boot camp for us as well. So I encourage anybody listening to definitely sign up for a boot camp and email Jim if you need help funding it. He'll take care of you. But definitely come.

Yeah. Jim, go ahead. Well, I was just going to jump in because I was afraid I wasn't going to get my clip. Well, you're next on your clip. That's why it's on you.

Go ahead. This is from one of my all time favorite movies, Outlaw, Josie Wales. And he is a minor character in this clip. Josie has avoided being possibly ambushed, lone waddy, and sneaks up behind him. And this is the exchange after that.

And just listen to the story of lone waddy because Josie is not listening. They sneaked up on us and they told us we wouldn't be happy here. They said we would be happier in the nations. So they took away our land and sent us here.

I have a fine woman and two sons, but they all died on the Trail of Tears. And now the white man is sneaking up on me again. Seems like we can't dress the white man.

You bet we can. The war of this uh truck cooked in Washington before the war. We wore them because we belonged to the five civilized tribes. We dressed ourselves up like Abraham Lincoln. You know, we got to see the Secretary of the Interior and he said, boy, you boys sure look civilized. He congratulated us and he gave us medals for looking so civilized.

We told him about how our land had been stolen and our people were dying. When we finished, he shook our hands and said, endeavor to persevere. They stood us in the line. John Jumper, Julie McIntosh, Buffalo Hump, and Jim Buckmark and me.

I'm Lone Waddy. They took our pictures and the newspaper said, Indians vow to endeavor to persevere. We thought about it for a long time, endeavor to persevere. And when we had thought about it long enough, we declared war on the Union. Well, we're gonna have to go. That's the end of the show. Go register for bootcamp. This is the Truth Network.