Don't Arm the Enemy — Shane Idleman

The title of the message is, Don't Arm the Enemy. Don't arm the enemy. And I'm gonna give you a quick synopsis. Do you know what that is? A synopsis is a sentence or two on what the story is about. If you look at the trailer of a movie, that's a synopsis.

It tells you what you're about to get into. The synopsis for this message is this. They have been disarmed. Well, I'm talking about the demonic realm. Has been disarmed. But, we arm them again. We have the power to win, but we often lose.

And many times, we sing that song about being delivered and set free. I'm set free, but then we're worshiping going, but Lord, why am I in bondage? Why do I keep falling in this area? Why can't I get this under control?

Lord, I don't understand. I'm free in the sun, but I'm bound in sin. There's an enemy there that I feel, that I can sense. Verse 13, then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists, I don't know if you know what that is, but they would travel around, apparently, held to the Jewish religion, they would travel around and they would try to perform exorcists on people.

Exorcisms. We see that sometimes in old movies and even maybe new movies now. I don't know. I'm not up to speed. But, it's not a good thing to play with, for sure. So they would travel around and supposedly do this.

They looked upon themselves. Oh, they took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits. Now, this is funny. They're traveling around. They saw clearly, clearly that God was moving.

Jesus was healing. The demonic realm was being crushed. And they say, okay, we're going to cast out demons in the name of Jesus whom Paul prays about or talks about. So here's what they said exactly. We exercise you by the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches.

That's like saying, you know, now, you know, if a friend of yours is praying, I'm praying. I'm praying in the name of Jesus at that church that Martha goes to. There's no relationship there. And also, there were seven sons of Siva, a Jewish chief priest who did so.

And the evil spirit answered and said, think about this. The evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you? Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you? Now, you can speculate a lot into this, but obviously, this person knows who the seven sons of Siva are.

They know the demonic realm. It's not saying, well, who are you? I've never seen you before. He's saying I know Paul's power, and I know who Christ is, and I know they have the authority to cast me out, but who are you?

You're nothing to me. You actually have no authority over me. You are on my side. You can't command me to be removed from this person. But who are you? Then the man in whom the evil spirit was, he leaped on them, overpowered them, prevailed against them, so they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

Now, when a person, and I've talked about this before, and I don't want to get into a long thing on it, but the Bible really, possession is a word we use that wasn't in the original language of the New Testament.

And we think of this word like possessed, like a robot, right? I'm possessed by the devil. I've got to do it. And really, he has a demon is what they would say. He's demonic. He has a demon. There's something influencing that person.

He's lost his grip. It's a stronghold. This demonic realm now is controlling this person. So, in this area, they often lash out, right? When they're confronted by light, they lash out. Now, this is sometimes why people are scared, because there are, I just talked to a lady that drove to Bakersfield and visited somebody in the hospital there, and a friend of his was there, and she talked about being also involved in the satanic church.

And when she had deliverance, deliverance, you hear about the foam in the mouth, and she felt like throwing up and violently throwing up and screaming and yelling, and this thing was taking place inside her soul.

And that is real. That's real. If you've seen and if you know, especially, talk to missionaries in Africa or different places, the Middle East, when the demonic realm exposes itself, there's a fight. They don't want to leave the battle.

There's a screaming. So that's why Christians are a little taken back. You know, I don't want this to happen. I don't want to run out of here naked. I don't want to run out of here wounded. But the difference is, they had no power, no authority.

The believer in Jesus Christ has the power and the authority in the same way that Jesus did because it's the same Holy Spirit. Now, sometimes it took, like this lady I talked to, I think she said she sat in the church or praying with the people for six hours.

Six hours praying for this release in her heart. But let's think about this for a minute. Naked and wounded. This is exactly what happens when the demonic realm wins. We feel shame and pain. When the demonic realm wins in a certain area, don't we feel shame and pain?

That's what happens. There's shame. Lord, how could I let this happen? There's pain in our lives. Now, I'm going to get to where the rubber meets the road. Are you ready? Not very encouraging. I think the 9 a .m. is pretty sleepy.

Nobody had any coffee this morning, right? Very important fact. This is undisputed, but it's important. Very important. It appears that the kingdom of darkness had much more power and authority before Jesus' ministry than it does now.

Than it did after Jesus' ministry. They were running havoc. They were creating a lot more turmoil. Well, Shane, that's a wonderful idea, but do you have scriptural support? Yes. Are you ready? Here we go.

Matthew 12, 28. But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. So Jesus is saying the kingdom of God that you've been praying about is here. I am the kingdom of God.

The kingdom of God has come upon you and actually as a believer it is within you. So now the demonic realm who's running crazy, they can do whatever they want. Now there's a kingdom here that's going to fight them.

There's a kingdom there that's going to bind them. The kingdom of God has come upon you. Now you can cast out and remove the demonic realm. Matthew 10, seven. As you go, heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead.

I forgot about that one. Cast out demons freely. You have received freely give. And basically what that means is give freedom, give hope, give deliverance. This power of the Spirit has been given to you freely.

Now you go out and you do these things. See, there wasn't believers in the Old Testament. They couldn't go out and do these things unless the Spirit of God came upon a person, they could not overcome the demonic realm.

That's why you would read in the Old Testament and the Spirit came upon Samuel and the Spirit of God came upon Elisha and the Spirit of God came upon such and such Samson for a particular task. But now in the New Testament, the enemy is running for cover.

The enemy, he's coming against authority he never came against before. One more in case you're not convinced. Colossians 2, 15. Jesus, having disarmed the principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them.

So He just disarmed them. So what happens? Satan will try to minimize or counterfeit those things that are most important. For example, your authority in Christ. Who you are. And actually it's who the Holy Spirit is residing in you.

Now if you just think about this for a second, I know it gets discouraging because we get defeated a lot, right? But if you have the Holy Spirit in you, that's biblical teaching, and the same Holy Spirit that's in you was in Christ, the Bible talks about the same Spirit is in you that raised Christ from the dead, that same authority, that same power, that same unction, that same boldness, that same, it's the Holy Spirit, then now you can confront the demonic realm.

But He'll want to hide that, right? And make it timid. We think, and I knew I grew up this way, and sometimes it's still a struggle. You think of God and the devil, you know, who's going to win here? You know, they're kind of competing against each other.

We already know who won the battle. We already know that Satan is a defeated, he's already defeated. He's already defeated, so Satan will try to hide that from us, or he'll use phony healings. He'll want you to avoid application of the Word.

Don't fast and pray. Don't be filled with the Spirit, right? All these things that are so important, he actually, he doesn't care if you read your Bible, as long as you don't apply it. He loves the man who reads his Bible, and yells at his family, and doesn't go to church, and curses, and has illegal business practices.

That's, he's part of his plan, to cause hypocrisy and deception. So you have spiritual authority over the demonic realm. And I'm going to talk about, as I get into the message, it's a sobering message.

I'll just let you know up front. The reason is, I believe the enemy, as you do, is sent to kill, steal, and to destroy. So when I look around, and I see the mayhem that is taking place, I see the debauchery that is taking place, the perversion that is taking place, and you see the enemy is shooting and winning often, there should be a righteous indignation that rises up within you.

That he's stealing, he's killing, he's destroying. This isn't reading a comic book. This is real life. You cannot arm and entertain the devil and expect to win. You cannot arm him and expect to win. What we do here has enormous spiritual ramifications.

I want you to think about that for a minute. What we do here has enormous spiritual ramifications. How we conduct it, how we live actually affects the spiritual realm. You must fight. I know some of you didn't want to hear that this morning.

We get this idea of following Jesus is like laying in the grass meadow and looking up at the clouds and waiting for heaven. But it's not. I challenge you to look at what the Bible says about warfare. It's the strongest language it could use.

If we wrote it today, it would be like, and grab your nuclear bomb, and your stealth fighter, and your navy battleship, and go to war. It's the strongest thing you can bring to this. And this is why many fall back into sin.

They've lost the battle. So let's talk about this for a minute. Don't arm the enemy. Let's start at the bottom of the foundation from verse 15. And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know and Paul I know, but who are you?

Believing and thinking about him now and then because of what others have told you is not enough. Now, call me naive, call me ignorant, but I'm one of those types of preachers. When I go into an audience, I'm pretty convinced that not everybody sitting there is saved.

There's a good chance. Because many people know about Jesus. That's why they don't have the power. That's why they don't have the authority. They know about Jesus. Let me give you a good example. My younger daughter, I won't say the name, a while back we got cast iron pans.

And do you know they can stay hot for a while after the flame is turned off? Right? So the flame is off, you know, just sitting there and I'm like, no, don't touch it. It's still hot. Hot. They're okay.

But you know what kids, once you tell them no, right? I should have just said nothing. Well, a couple minutes later, I hear the crying. And I said, you know, what happened? Well, I touched it. I touched, I grabbed it.

And I realized she believed it was hot. But it wasn't until she touched it, she experienced the heat. See, many people can believe. I believe there's a Jesus. He's, you know, he lived, right? And there's a God.

I mean, look at this. And I believe and they think, they believe they're good. They'll come to church. Yeah, I believe. They'll go through life. I believe, but they've never touched the iron. They've never experienced God.

They've never repented and embraced that gift of salvation. So that has to be the foundation. Believing and thinking about Jesus is not enough. James 2 .19 paraphrase. I love this scripture. You say that you believe there is one God.

Good for you. Even the demons believe in God and tremble. Good for you. When you say in the name of Jesus, see, when you say in the name of Jesus or pray in the name of Jesus, there must be a relationship.

You're saying in the name of my Savior, in the name of my King, in the name of my Deliverer, in the name of King of Kings and Lord of Lords. That's what I'm proclaiming. That's not in Shane's strength, not in your strength.

You're proclaiming it in the name of Jesus because I have that relationship. See, not only do I believe I've touched the iron. Oh my goodness. If I touch the iron, that it set me free and redeemed me and guides me and comes back and holds me when the enemy is beating me up.

That's the Christ I know. So I come with that power and that authority. That's what it means here. I mean, do you know we sing a lot His name is victory. His name is actually victory. His name is deliverance.

His name is the Alpha, the Omega, the beginning, the end. His name is Wonderful Counselor, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. He carries all these names that denote authority and power and ruling and reigning.

So you come in that name. That's why you can walk into something and you can preach or you can speak or you can pray in the name of Jesus and the demonic realm has to take note of what you're doing. Now, people will say the devil is after me or the devil is this and I've been there myself too.

But I don't know if it's actually him because he's not omnipresent. He's not everywhere. He's not omniscient, all-knowing, all-powerful. He's not everywhere. He has a demonic, that's why they're called demons.

That's why so many of them went into the swine. So what you're facing many times are demons. Now, truth be told, I'll just be transparent, I don't like this topic. I just wish they didn't exist. I wish that life just is hard and I don't like the idea that there are little minions trying to influence my children, trying to influence me, trying to break apart the church, trying to come into your lives, trying, I don't like that.

And so one aspect of not liking it is sometimes I don't want to talk about it. I don't want to preach about it. I don't want to give them any type of recognition. But on the other hand, if the Bible talks about it, I mean, we have to come to this realization.

I'm reading the Scripture this week, I came to this realization. Either we're supposed to cast out demons and I don't mean some weird stuff you see on TV, but just go and help somebody get through their bound by Satan.

Either we're supposed to or we're not as believers. Either we're supposed to go and heal the sick or we're not. See, sometimes like, oh, I know it says that, but you know, 2 ,000 years later, I mean, it doesn't really.

How can you live like that? We can't live like that. Either the Bible, it means what it says or it doesn't. And there's nowhere in Scripture where it says, now these things are going to wane. These things are not going to occur anymore.

Now, granted, I don't have a perfect picture of what this looks like. I know when I get involved in ministry and traveling around and for example, the hospital homes, you'll look demonic, you'll look the demonic realm straight in the face.

Tell you to get out, spit at you. Where's that come from? That's just not a bad day. I've had bad days and I don't do that. There's something there. If you don't know God, like I just said above, if you don't know God, there is nothing you can do.

You can try willpower, you can embrace positive thinking, you can hope for karma, but you will never be set free. So depressing. Well, I only depress you to show you where the light is, to show you where the truth is.

What kind of pastor would I be if I offered false hope? Just offered false hope. There's nothing you can do to fight the demonic realm. You must start here. Repent and believe. This is the first step in disarming the satanic realm.

You must walk out of the darkness and into the light. Crystal clear on that, right? We just, that's the first step. That's what happened here. That's why these men were defeated. So I'm going to give you some things to help you.

How do we arm the enemy? Now, granted, nothing is new, right? If it's new, it's not true. If it's true, it's not new. A lot of this I picked apart over the last year or so here, but I'm going to put it all in one sermon.

How do we arm the enemy? Anybody think of that? Don't arm the enemy. Okay, well, Shane, how do we arm the enemy? Here's how we arm the enemy. We give the enemy ammunition. To arm somebody or something, you give them the ammunition.

You give them the weapons. You give them the things that are trying to destroy you. We give them the ammunition. That's exactly what happens. So let's talk about how we give them the ammunition. I know you're curious, right?

Number one, three things, and I'll be done. You can go eat lunch. What we allow in the mind. Now, of course, I've mentioned this before, but it fits perfectly in with arming the enemy. What we allow in the mind.

A stronghold or a fortress cannot easily be broken down. So if the enemy has caused something in your life to be a stronghold, okay, this is not coming out, right? Except by prayer and fasting. It's reached that level.

This is, there's a fortress. There's a stronghold. I'm bound. I can't come out of this. 2 Corinthians 10, 5 says this. You cast down arguments, which is an argument is yourself excusing yourself. No, you don't need to work on that.

You don't need to. And all these wrong ideas that are coming into our mind. And every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. So when something exalts itself against what God has proclaimed, the media is a big one on this one, right?

They come up and they say, no, this is what we say. God says, no, that's not true. You need to come against those things, those high things that exalt themselves against God. Bringing every thought into the captivity to the obedience of Christ.

And the brain is very interesting. Study something or online neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity. It means the brain. They used to think the brain was like a computer, right? Pre-programmed. Pre-programmed to live a certain way.

Pre-programmed to die a certain way. Your environment. There's nothing you can do because you're pre-programmed. Now they're understanding the brain neuroplasticity means it can be changed. It can be altered.

It can be renewed and restored. Verses come to mind on that one. Do not conform to this world, but be renewed or be restored by the renewing of your mind. So the mind is being renewed. So it really changes how...

I think personally, if we really thought about how powerful our thoughts were, we would change our thoughts. Because sometimes, well, that's just a thought. That doesn't really matter. No, that's where he's coming in.

That's where he's firing those darts. The Satan hears, we give the demonic realm too much influence in our lives. We act on the thoughts they plant. For example, you remember when Jesus said, get behind me, Satan.

What did Peter do? He said, Christ, Jesus, you will not go to that cross. One of the most blasphemous, worst statements a person could ever make. Jesus rebuked Peter. Have you ever thought about that?

Peter, that's not, you know, you'll see. I know you don't know right now. He said, Satan, you get behind me. Now with Satan planting thoughts in Peter's mind to try to demotivate Christ. I mean, who knows?

We know that Jesus said, get behind me, Satan. You don't know the thoughts of the Father. So Satan will say, get back to that relationship. Go back to that relationship. Click on that site. Take that drink.

Pop that pill. Take that hit. Prove yourself right. Show them how great you are. Elevate yourself. My favorite, get the last word in. Now, this is why it's challenging. Not only is the devil against me, my flesh isn't my friend either.

That's why most, if you even theology many hundreds of years ago talks about, especially if you read the Puritans, that we're coming against the flesh, the devil and the world. Those are really what's coming at us because the devil, the demonic realm cannot maybe plant any thoughts and just my flesh will want to go somewhere because the world is influencing me, right?

Try fasting and driving by a Carl's Jr. Smelling it. Seeing the signs. Oh, see just the flesh and the pull of the world. That's enough, right? And then like, no, I'm going home. And then those thoughts.

Why? Come on. Now, I know I'm minimizing this but I could really elevate this. This is why a person goes back to alcohol. This is why they'll go back to medication. Back to now certain things that, no, now they're legal.

I guess it's okay. They go back to bondage in this area because he starts planning thoughts. It's really in the thought life and in the music people. That's why I talk about music and entertainment. Here's something you need to understand.

Because especially young adults, they're listening to music. Why just enjoy it? I mean, it's not really. But see, enjoying it and allowing it is changing your mind. To enjoy and to allow it, it actually is affecting you.

You can't supposedly enjoy something and it's not affecting you because our enjoyment comes in what we're enjoying. If I'm enjoying the things of the world, those things are starting to shape my mind.

If I'm enjoying the things of God, that's directing me in that direction. I don't know some of you, you're not, there's not a lot of young adults in here but there was a person by the name of Chester Bennington who recently committed suicide.

He was a lead singer for Linkin Park. I don't know how many of you knew that. But they released a statement, the band did. Talking with you about the years ahead together, your excitement was infectious.

Your absence leaves a void that can never be filled. A boisterous, funny, ambitious, creative, kind, generous voice in the room is missing. It's not for that I read this. Wait until you hear this next paragraph, sentence.

We're trying to remind ourselves that the demons who took you away from us were always part of the deal. This isn't a statement. A statement his band made. The demons were always part of the deal? After all, it was the way you sang about those demons that made everyone fall in love with you in the first place.

You fearlessly put them on display. You don't think that's why there's a spirit of suicide in our young adults? You don't think that's why there's cutting and drug abuse? Because he made a deal with the devil.

That's possible. If you've talked to people coming out of the satanic church or anything, they'll tell you there's a point in their life where the demonic realm was so strong, the darkness was so strong, they had power and authority.

They, the fake kind, right? Maybe some type of could read into mind something. But they gave, they said, Satan, I'm yours. I make a pact with the devil. I'm, I'm, I'm, and then, and then Satan can elevate you.

He might know some people in Hollywood. He might, he might get you that record deal. You know, and he can just, I mean, who puts a statement like this out? We try to remind ourselves that demons who took you away from us were always part of the deal.

And I talk to people who listen to this stuff. Listen to this music. I know Christians who are listening to this hard, gothic, demonic music, and they're finding enjoyment in that. If you find enjoyment in that, something's wrong with your heart.

That should not entertain. That should, you should not, I mean, those change your thoughts. I remember 20, 30 years ago, I still remember Metallica, those lyrics, darkness imprisoning me, absolute horror.

That's what I'm singing in my 20s. I can see that they're planting those thoughts. That's the, that's how he enters. Wake up, folks. That's how he enters. Well, too bad for young adults. No, too bad if you're older too.

That's still how he enters. Entertainment and allowing these things in are basically you're giving approval. Hi, my name is Shane and I approve this ad. And just this week, God showed me so many Scriptures, just reading through the Old Testament too as well.

And it really stuck out. I wrote it down yesterday, I believe, when he, like he told Hezekiah, do not listen to those men who are coming. Elisha, do not listen. Do not listen. Do not listen. Do not listen to those people who are trying to get you to go astray to the other gods.

Do not listen to those Hittites, Persites, Ammonites, all these ites that are trying to get you to fall. Do not listen. Do not listen. See, that goes before do not do. Do not listen. Woe be to the rebellious children who take counsel, but not of my spirit, who devise plans.

Do not listen. See, it opens right here. Now, there's a difference because I will read books that like from different religions and things to try to get, you know, learn better for apologetics. But the mind's not open to what they're serving.

It's open to what God's Word says and showing the inconsistencies. And you can't just watch an R-rated movie and say, I'm just trying to watch it, just to see if it's good for my kids. Five minutes into it, you already know it's not.

And when it says R right there, that's just a good thing right there. Well, what about the Passion of the Christ? Oh, you got me on that one, I guess. But just, and I just went online. What is trending on Netflix?

All the, what is trending? Okay, I want to see what's trending. A saw. This movie Saw. There's a head inside of a scale. They weigh something. The Dead Zone. Jigsaw. Happy Death Day. The Evil Within. Resident Evil.

The Snare. Seven Witches. That's trending. In a society that is a so-called Christian society with millions attending church. I'll tell you what, it's not just unbelievers putting that on the trending list.

Come on, church, wake up! Where's the Christian who has fully surrendered to God, full of the Holy Spirit, who wants to denounce these things, who wants to fight the darkness, not embrace it? Where are they at?

Because that's what a true follower of Christ is. I'm not getting legalistic, I'm getting narrow. The narrow road. And I didn't even get into the, I didn't even get into the, I just picked the horror films.

You should see the sexual perversion ones. It's just amazing. Now, conviction comes in, it's a wonderful thing. This might be what, I mean, without fail, without fail, when I talk to people about suicide or severe anxiety or fear or whatever it is, and I say, tell me about your mental diet.

Let's see if it's got to do with anything. What you're allowing in. If a physical diet changes this, right? A mental diet changes this. I mean, I know, I do silly things. I don't even know why I did it.

Went on Facebook and I liked a Antle Valley scanner report. Why did I do that? Let's go on like that. I don't need to know every single crime and every single car crash and every single robbery and every single shooting.

It's like, what am I doing? Did that build me up spiritually? Now I'm ready to come and preach. No, now I'm like, come on, family, let's get out of here. But we allow, because see, here's the battle, here's the battle.

The weapons of your warfare are not carnal. You're not going to fight the devil with something like this. Pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.

You bring that thought into captivity. You stop it here before it gets to here. All the time. Right, it's right here. Right here. This is where the battle, this is where you're arming the enemy. It's interesting too, I read this week, Mark 5, it's where Jesus cast out the demon in the man with a legion of demons within him.

And I always find it interesting that the city actually asked Jesus to leave. Would you get out of here? They were comfortable with the demonic in their area. Many of you have grown comfortable with the demonic.

Because it's not, you don't just walk out and see Halloween decorations with a guy hanging. Or exorcism and all these. We forget that He's an angel of light. It's the demonic realm that comes in and it's an angel of light.

He presents. He's like, well, it's not that big. I'm comfortable. Listen, I don't even know how many. For argument's sake, I say there's a dozen people right now that I'm trying to help with alcohol. And in every case, it's like, but now it's legal.

See, what they don't realize is they're comfortable now, supposedly. But the end result is, it doesn't look like where you start. When the enemy starts you there, his goal is to destroy everything. So that's the direction it's going.

That's, I'll just be truthful with you. Right now, that's the direction it's going. If you're hooked to something, if you're addicted, the enemy's got you bound. That's one of the great deceptions is to get you comfortable.

I remember reading a book, I believe it's by Russell Moore, Tried and Tempted. He talks about how cows now, they're just, you know, they're just at the slaughterhouse and they're just on the conveyor belt or whatever it is.

They're just, you know, looking around and before they know it, boom, a big heavy piece of metal. They were comfortable. They were walking because they found out they take them away from seeing the death of other animals.

They take them away from all this chaos and confusion and blood and gore. They make the animals enjoy it because then, I mean, I could get into that more, but how it affects the meat because all these toxins are released, adrenaline, cortisol, that gets into the meat, into the food.

They want the animal relaxed. Guys, this is where my heart really is because I see people, I see people start a medication for an injury and then a year later, it's destroying their house. That's always what happens.

427, do not give the devil a foothold. Give him no opportunity at all. And I've mentioned quite a while ago, but it might help a little bit. You know what a foothold is, right? It's when your teenage daughter's mad and she goes to close the door and you just put your foot in.

See, it's not closed. I have an entry point. There's something, there's this area. That's why in these type of subjects, you've got to guard off of it. Guard off these areas. You can't give him a foothold.

What about family patterns? People call this generational curses. And I've always just kind of strayed away from that because I don't think that a certain family is cursed, you know, from here on out.

Now, I think we're all trying to say the same thing, but it's just not terminology I use. What I refer to it often is entry points. If there's something in a family that is often passed down, whether it's sexual perversion, alcoholism, anger, you know, right?

I'll never be like my father. And then you realize I'm just like my father. So there's entry points. There's entry points where the enemy will be able to work. And this is why the home needs to be a holy sanctuary.

See, what you do affects your family. We forget this. We forget this. That drink you're taking, that website you're looking at will affect your children. It will affect your marriage. It will affect your family.

These are entry points the enemy is looking for. And then the third point, what we allow in the mouth. Back to the point of a legal isn't always good. Marijuana, pills, alcohol, alter how you think you're no longer in control.

Now, this is an interesting topic because this is probably one of the number one reasons where I just talked about the thought life, the entertainment. But this also allowing these things because what they do is they alter your mind.

And when your mind is altered, where does it start? So when it's altered, then you open the door. And you'll do things you'll never do. You never thought I'd do. Ask somebody the next morning after a busy night.

They open the door to that. There's also people I'm talking to, they don't go here, but hooked on marijuana now. But it's medicinal. Yeah, but you lost your mind. You can't even keep... It's not just medicinal.

Now, disclaimer, I'm not against certain medicinal uses for things. I believe God has given us wisdom in these areas. But medicinal use of anything is about this much. And abuse is about as long as America.

And we use the medicinal excuse to continue in our addiction. Anytime somebody who's addicted says that, I say, uh-huh, that's your excuse. I don't say it just like that, but that's obviously their excuse, right?

So here, think about this. It changes how you think. And I personally have never met anyone who is walking in the power of God, doing the will of God, filled with the Spirit of God who is a user. I'm hooked to anything.

Because it alters the mind, alters the mind. I remember reading about a year and a half ago, just reading the interactions or the warnings on Xanax that you take for anxiety. And after reading what can happen from taking it, that it's worse than what you're dealing with.

Under a doctor's care to go off can result in seizures, possible death, hallucinations, panic attacks and anxiety. Aren't we taking it for that? Read it. Go online and study what these things are. It's you're opening the door.

Now, somebody needed something for three days while they're coming off of alcohol and withdrawals. And, you know, there's a little bit of freedom there. But overall, you have to be careful because many people, we like how we feel, then we want to keep going back to it.

Right? And the world is absolutely ready to feed this addiction, isn't it? I remember, I told you before, I got a root canal a couple years ago. He said, I went deep. It's going to hurt. Here's a Vicodin description for a month.

A month? A month. Yeah, if you need more, if it's still hurting. And it was bad that day. Oh, my goodness. It was bad. Next day, it was hurting. I'm like throwing these things away. We don't need to use these.