Episode 952: Going Deeper - 6/21/2026

All right, let's get started. Get your Bibles open. We're going to look through some verses here in a moment. Not going to take a lot of time. I've kind of decided for going deeper today, kind of changed my methodology about what I found out at 5 this morning. Mr. Malcolm was just-- didn't need to be here, because that's contagious stuff. He said there was about a 48 to 72 hour contingency time. So thank you for not coming, Malcolm. If you listen to this, we love you. In his preface to his book called "Screw Tape Letters," Lewis wrote this. And this is interesting coming from an author. Though I have never written anything more easily-- that's-- he's got your hook there. I never wrote with less enjoyment. That's almost the opposite to the scales, right? Though it was easy to twist one's mind into the diabolical attitude, it was not fun or not for long. The stain produced a sort of spiritual cramp, the strain, not the stain, the strain. The strain produced a sort of spiritual cramp, the work into which I had to project myself while I spoke through "Screw Tape" was all dust, grit, thirst, and itch. Every trace of beauty, freshness, ingenuity had to be excluded. It almost smothered me before it was done. Now, what you may not know is-- and Bo probably does. Bo did a little historical background on CS Lewis for our study that we went through. And by the way, if you haven't gotten a copy of his book, you need to, because he wrote it as if it's a preface, beginning tale of the "Scener Devil" in the "Screw Tape" letters, and it's excellent. It's really good, good read. I had the same feelings as he just expressed. Yeah, exactly. It's hard to twist your mind like that and come out comfortable. Yeah. And in fact, he had hard time publishing it. This was written in 1942. War was going on. "Mir Christianity" was being radio broadcast, which turned into the book later. But in 1942, he wrote "The Screw Tape" letters. And he couldn't get it published because all these-- all these theologians and many high-level pastors in England, he had asked them to read it. His harshest critics were from Christians. I thought I was reading a book on how to start a cult. That's what one theologian said. How could you write something like this? It's like you're promoting devolary. They didn't see the satire in the book. He finally got it published. Someone actually had to help CS Lewis get it. By the way, CS Lewis was kind of like Will Rogers was back in the '30s. I mean, I wasn't alive then. Yeah, Roy, you were. Yeah. Yeah. And you and Will were good friends. [LAUGHTER] But the point is, he was like the voice of BBC outside of Winston Churchill. It was CS Lewis. And they asked him to do all of these different sessions on the radio because it was encouraging the people during the World War II time period. I mean, you're getting shell-acked on the bombing in London. But you got CS Lewis that's actually promoting God and Christianity and that kind of stuff. But anyway, he finally got it printed and it sold out. In fact, they had to run six to 10 production cycles for the rest of the year. That's how many books he sold. And they'll see a lot of gens all back down. They had to eat crow after that. Well, if you haven't read the book, you need to read it. And if you haven't read it in a while, you ought to read it again. And it's a terrific. The classic passage describing this strategy also appears in the book's preface. It is insightful to what Satan is about, about what his methods are, that he and his devilish subjects are about in trying to turn the game into their leader's direction. Here's what he wrote. And this is actually from the book. There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail, a materialistic or a magician with the same delight. Here's how it works. Total disbelief. If humans believe the devil is simply a myth or a primitive superstition, they let their guard down. This allows the demons to operate subtly, influencing thoughts, behaviors, and social trends without being detected. Another way it can work is what is called unhealthy obsession. Conversely if humans become fascinated by the occult, witchcraft or obsess over demons, they can be learned away from the focus on God and born. We see that today. We're seeing both of these in the world today. You know, Jean and I've talked about this. You watch, you know, on TV you'll see a commercial for a movie. How many ways can we do demon movies? You know what I mean? It's just crazy. And it's like the kids want to be more scared and more crazy scared and they just get obsessed with some of that stuff. It's crazy. Stay away from that. Little wisecrackers. Well, the leader, the devil, you know, we have a close up of Satan in Scripture. There's no doubt about that. And I like Mark's sharing of what C.S. Lewis read about when he read the Bible he was surprised at how much darkness there was. And there is darkness in the Old Testament, it's not just a New Testament. In fact, there's a lot more darkness, I think, in the Old Testament because there's more verses. But Saul was full of darkness. That's why they brought David in to play the harp and play music so that the evil spirits would be chased away kind of a thing. We also have a close up view of Satan in Scripture. Let's run down the list of pictures of how Satan is viewed in the Bible that will let's get these knocked out. Someone look up for me. Revelation's chapter 12. We got one, two, three, four, five. So don't be in a hurry. Someone be prepared in just a moment I ask you to read verses 7 through 11. We'll keep a couple of these going at a time. Someone look up first Peter 5 verse 8. And then we'll go one more deep. Someone look up Matthew chapter 4 verse 3. If someone's got revelation, chapter 12 verse 7 through 11. If you why have that, you can read it for us. In the war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down the ancient serpent called the devil or Satan who leads the world whole world of the strife. He was hurled to the earth and his angels with him. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, "Now have come this salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Messiah for the accuser of our brother and sisters who accuses them before our God day and night have been hurled down. They triumphed over him by the blood of the land and by the word of their testimonies. They did not love their life so much as to shrink from death." One of the definitions of the devil is the word accuser. It's interesting that that's being projected there in Revelation chapter 12. He is the accuser. Satan means adversary also because he's the enemy of God. That's in 1 Peter 5/8. If you've already got 1 Peter 5/8, read that to us. "Heal art and of sober mind, you're enemy of the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to bow." In this case, what's interesting, Paul's using that because he's normally associated with something that's powerful like Jesus. In this case, he's making the metaphor there that this lion is really on the prowl for believers. Satan also means adversary, which is an interesting understanding as well. I've got three more sets of verses, but let's read Matthew 4, 3 now. I don't know. I've ever heard a better sermon than I heard today regarding what the entire temptations were for. What was it? What did Mark say? What was it about? Was it about power? Was it about? What was it really about? Identity. Identity. And what do we find with a lot of kids? It's the identity issues that they're struggling with in the schools. They get teased or social online, get called different things. They almost begin thinking that's them, must be them. This is one of the big arguments behind these, a lot of these kids are committing suicide, from just on when they're going to leave the city and get a job. So it is interesting that that's in play here today. All right, now let's go to some new sets. This is one of these will be a complicated one. John 844, the book of John chapter 8 verse 44. And I need someone to, first Peter 5.8, we can read that one again, Esther, if you still got it, if you don't, that's okay. Someone look up Genesis 3, 1. And then someone look up 2 Corinthians chapter 11. And I'll tell you what verses are in a moment. Now we're going to find out some reality checks on Satan. John 844, if you've ever got that, can read that. You belong to your father, the devil. And you want to carry out your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning. Not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, where he is a liar and the father applies. Unbelievable. First Peter 5.8, we've already read. Do you still have that Esther? What was it named? 5.8, a chapter. Down the one online. Sorry, I have the wrong one. Okay, blessed are the Peter and Mark for they shall seek God. No, first Peter 5.8. Oh, first Peter, I thought you'd read. Sorry. The other one was a good verse though. It was a really good verse. I didn't say that right did I? Bless the reading of the wrong verse. Esther, you got it? First Peter. 5.8. Are you wet going to eat? Sorry, okay, be sobering on and be watchful. You're adversaries that devil proudered like a roaring lion seeking someone to give out. Here's what the enemy's, this one's got three focuses on. That's why we've got a little extra time there. He's compared to a lion, okay, in this sense a devouring lion. Now someone read Genesis 3-1. Now Esther, this more kind of thing that any beast of the field, I'll go with that, and he said to me, "Has God in the execution of the great tree of the garden?" So it's cunning, right? All right, and then in that same section for Serpent says Revelation 12-9, I didn't see that right away, so I already real quick. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent who has called the devil and Satan, the seaver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth and his angels were thrown down with him. And then an angel of white, we find this one, this one, maybe the most disturbing to me. Second Corinthians, chapter 11, verses 13-15, so I'll read that for us. For such people are false apostles. The seafoorpers, mass-grading is the apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan itself, mass-grades is an angel of white. Did you say, 15-15? It is not surprising then. If his servants also mass-grade as servants of righteousness, their end will be what they're at actual deserved. I think this is what's so unnerving to me. And I hate to use a political figure, but he doesn't scare me spiritually, I think, like that. But it's the guy that just became the mayor of New York. I've never seen a guy lie through his teeth with a smile on his face the entire time. I mean, if that's not the epitome of how Satan is, I mean, Satan actually is attractive to people. There's an attraction there that some thing in our bodies and our minds, our minds, that just, if we're not, if we don't really have a sure handle on Jesus, I mean, it's amazing what we get tricked into. And that's just a sad case. Well, maybe the worst of the bodge is found in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verses, verse 4. Excuse me, just one verse. 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 4. In their case, the God of this world is blinded to minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel, the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. Man, read that one more time, Deb, let it kind of sink in the honest. In their case, the God of this world is blinded to the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel, the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. I mean, even in the New Testament, Paul is addressing Satan as if he's, he pre-seafem is a level of a God. And I just think it's dangerous. And we're told that, you know, he's the God of this age. I mean, that's, that's, we know the battle is won, but there is one who's trying to take every joy we have away from. The, the, the last thing I want us to hit, there's a couple verses, but I wanted to, if you go back to Ephesians 6, which is where Mark was preaching from. So that, hopefully, you might have had a Marker there anyway. There's one word that, that I might, to me, best explains why we're being led to prepare for the devil's evil attempts. And the word is actually found in the 13th verse of chapter 6, and this is in Ephesians. And let me just read the verse. It says, "Therefore I'm reading on the English standard version. "Therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand firm." The, the word that I, that I, as I was kind of reading and studying this a little bit this week, the word that jumped out of me that had never done, had done that before, is the word with stand. The word with stand in the Greek actually means to remain strong, to remain undamaged, to remain ineffective in the face of a challenging force, pressure or attack. It is an action verb that describes resisting or enduring something successful. Mark read the quote, I love World War II stuff anyway, but I love that story. And the baton, well, I'm not baton best stone. I mean, it's, it's, it's just one of those army stories. If you read an army book of just generalities, generalities, you're going to read the story about that. Because it is, it's incredible. One of the ones I enjoyed, which wasn't quite as decorated as that one was at Bastone, was happened in Korea during the Korean War. So many of you may have, may have heard of this, you'd have to be really be an army nut to really do it. But Chess de Pillar had an interesting quote. He was completely encircled. His soldiers were completely circled by Chinese soldiers. And when it came to there, and when it finally brought in all the reconnaissance said, you know, he said, how do we get out of here? There wasn't an escape route for him. And his reply to that was, well, boys, we finally got on where we want him. Any direction we shoot, you're going to kill blanket, he blank, blanket, he blank of them. And the point is, is that we see that we oftentimes see that with military examples, especially in wartime situations, because it's the more vivid. It's the more, it's truly dramatic in glamorous in that light. But what I'd like for us to think about is, that's what, that's really what Paul is writing here, that we are to take the same stance on that, to a stand. And whether it's a simple temptation of a, of a, of watching or not watching a movie or a TV show to have it a conversation or not having a conversation that go the wrong way with somebody. I don't know, it could happen to any of us. You know, when, when, and Deb, I know, is in her consultant, she's probably dealt with this, and probably some of you have bill, I'm guaranteed you probably did as an education leader. You know, you have these people that just want to challenge everything that we try to do as policies and, and all that kind of stuff. And sometimes we seem to be on the short end of the stick. I know in the last 10 years, last, yeah, almost 10 years, last eight to 10 years, that I had contracts that I wouldn't, I wouldn't sign because they wanted me to sign off on a DEI compliance. I wouldn't do it. And it cut me out of work. And you know what, that was okay. It was okay. Because the bottom line is, is that that, that stands for everything that's just anti-Jesus and anything it does. Genie remember years ago, this would go back a long time, Shawnee Mission School District in Kansas City on the Kansas side and actually in, in Ola, overland park. The Shawnee Mission School District was one of the top, like in the top 10 public school districts in the state and in the country. It had that kind of reputation. This gay group out of San Francisco decided they wanted to dedicate some books. Well, I bought the three books because I wanted to read them for myself. like, you know, so and so has a mommy, what really wasn't a mommy, it was a daddy kind of thing. And to make matters worse, there was a protest, of course, to keep those books in the school system. And so they finally had this open, open vetting session. And but you had to file, you had to file an application to be able to be able to protest. All the TV stations in Kansas City were there to record this. This was Pact House, I don't know, 3, 400 people there. I was the last of seven people who had gotten allowed in to talk. Well, the first four or five people, I didn't disagree with, but they were basically just taking it from a Christian standpoint, the Bible standpoint. I didn't disagree with that at all, but that's not what was going to win the argument. The one before me, so it must have been five of them, the sixth one was a little bit of that, but tried to mix in some school as well. And I strictly took the three W's. Writing, arithmetic, is that right? Yeah, come on, Bill. Yeah. The story was, what I get my letters mixed up, I wasn't very good in English. So the three R's, thank you, the three R, that's three W's, I don't know what I got with that. That's what Oklahoma's winning for, three W's. Yeah, I wasn't very, I'm not good in any of that. And I talked about the fact I had statistics, and I shared the numbers of what was happening in public school districts with the numbers going up for idiots and going down for people who got things. And what was interesting was when I left, we only had three minutes to present our case. So I shared that briefly and quickly, and I just completely took the standpoint, this is not getting us anywhere. I'm a consultant, I work with companies all around the world. I've never once had a president of a company say, you know, when you get somebody who knows all about the gay life, that's who we want to hire. I said, I've never heard that. I've never heard that. What I have heard is, can they do math? Can they speak? Can they write? That's nothing to do. Why are we jacking around with this? It doesn't have anything to do with getting kids prepared for college or work, right, Don? After that was over with, as I'm walking out, they're interviewing. They're the interview one person. It's the guy from the gay association who is there promoting the books. And I got there just about the time when he was asked about, well, what did he think of the response? He saw what was obviously very much in favor of our leaving the books in the system. Well, he was lying. And I got cut right in. I said, you're lying. You're just dad gum lying. I said, are you going to interview anybody else? Cut. I get a call the next day, Gus Jacobs called me the next day. He was a so-shit superintendent. He said, well, I got some good news for you. I said, what do you mean? He goes, well, the committee decided that they're going to return the books to this project-- or the project was a number, a project something. Something's crazy number. But anyway, project, whatever they were called. And I didn't say much. I was on the phone. And he said, you still there? I said, yeah, I'm still here. I thought you'd be real excited about that. I said, Gus, this was a new superintendent. The district had just received. She came from Yuma, Arizona. And I said, Gus, I did a homework on her. She says, liberals, they come. She will override. Oh, no, she's already said she's going to go with whatever. The committee decides on. She overwrote it. And then they had another hearing, which I wasn't able to make. But Jeannie was at. She said it was a joke, Brad. They won, and they kept the books. My point is that we're not going to win maybe any of the fights. We may not win any of the arguments. But we still have to stay true. We know that. To God, what Jesus says, not what the society is telling us. That's the God of the ages. I mean, God of this age. He's pollutant. Everything that he possibly can. He knows he can't win. We have known that. Most of us know that. It's just something we have. Two last verses I want us to read. Turn over. All of you, turn over if you got your Bibles. First John, someone get ready to read. First John 4/4. Then someone get ready to read. First John 5. Versus 4 and 5. First John 4/4, if you've got it, share it. There's no John, you're from God, and there's no overcoming. But he who is in you, is greater than he who's in the war. All right. I think Mark just shared that in sermon maybe last week or two weeks ago. And then someone read verse John 5. This is the last chapter in first John. Versus 4 and 5. For everyone who has been born of God, overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world. Our faith, who has that, overcomes the world, set the one who believes that Jesus is the son of God. Yeah. Gene and I, we're driving to San Antonio Friday to go down and watch the kids swim and then get ready to bring them back yesterday for VBS. And we listened to a mathematician. David, you really would like, have you heard of John Lennox? Boy, some of you really need to listen to this guy. John is probably, John's probably in his 80s now, late 70s, early 80s. Not unless Dave went over to Europe. Lennox is an Irishman. He's on now, Don. Gene and I listened to his debate and his discussion on how he accepted Christ. He says, I realized that I grew up not really a believer at all. And he says, "Most mathematicians in science many times are atheist." And he said, "But I kept it just didn't add up." The numbers that I ran just didn't add up. It defied what the numbers of life were telling me. And it made more sense that if I can't prove God because He's not right there in front of me, I sure say, can prove that without Him, it's even worse than it is today. I mean, that was his argument to a certain extent. And I guess it was almost a little over an hour long and we were just mesmerized by this guy. And the guy has gone on. He's, he's, he's, he spoke to the atheist in UK at a meeting for atheist. And I watched that last night, listen that last night for, it's about 20 minutes long and he goes there and, all these guys there are Tuxedos and this is a gathering of atheists in England. And he is the only one there and he is telling the message of Jesus Christ. And he said, "You may ask me, your past atheist, how can you believe in God? Let me tell you why I can believe in God." And he goes right down the Roman road. He also quotes almost all the first Corinthians chapter 15, which is I've told you all before. That is a great, a great apologetic passage. Because there you have that Jesus was, was, was, was buried fully bodily resurrected and is seen by the disciples, by his brother James, that 500 witnesses see him. So this was based on truth and even the agnostics in the atheists who are doing Bible research will tell you they may not believe it, but they believe that Paul, they like Paul's writing because Paul was a smart guy. They like smart people. And so they give us, they give us credit for having a, the first book of the, the first Corinthians is a book written by Peter or by Paul. No doubts about it from their mind. Yet they won't accept what Paul wrote, but they believe that Paul did write it, which is a concession in itself, I guess in one sense. Well, maybe we all enjoy and restart every day with that reminder from first John. I want us to end on that today because Paul, I mean, Mark didn't take us down that road. But for everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world and this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith and who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. Let's go to a word and prayer and then down I'll let you do the, the prayer stuff. Father God, thank you for the day. Thank you for Mark's message. We thank you for adding maybe just a little bit more to some of the, the, the backgrounds for some of these things. Father, we can't imagine, just can't even imagine what a lion lizard this, this Satan is. We can't fathom to the degree that he will go to, to win somebody or to prevent a Christian from growing in their own practice. Father, we know that it's more than just coming to church on a Sunday. It's more than just listening to a sermon. Father, I pray right now for, for not just men, for the women too, for the reader of the Bible, Father, we have to read your Bible. We have to read your Bible. read your word. And even if we don't understand it, Father, we need to continue to read. And Father, I just pray for your spirit to enlighten people, to give them understanding as they do read and reach out to a commentary or to others if they have a struggle with the passage. Father, thank you for your love. Thank you for your love, especially for our class. I appreciate so much the folks that are here. Father, I thank you. They're a praying group. When we lift up those brothers and sisters this morning, I'm sure there'll be some more Father that we need to lift up. They're going through some tough times. And Father, we just pray for your will to be in place and Father, we would support them. We ask all this your name, amen.