- 2 days ago
John and Christian discuss how “loaded language” within cults and charismatic movements creates communication barriers, spiritual elitism, and moral confusion. They explore how words like faith, doubt, spirit-filled, and Jezebel spirit carry entire doctrines that alienate others and discourage honest inquiry. Drawing from their experiences leaving high-control religious groups, they show how language can shape identity and restrict thought—turning simple words into tools of control.
Together they examine how even well-meaning Christians can drift into self-righteous rhetoric and “church-speak” that isolates them from both outsiders and fellow believers. The conversation connects biblical examples, psychology of cult speech, and cultural references like Harry Potter to show how prideful communication dehumanizes others and undermines the gospel’s inclusivity.
00:00 Introduction
01:00 Language Barriers in Pentecostal and Branham Movements
03:30 The Problem of “Exalted” Christian Language
06:30 Miscommunication and the Charismatic “Season”
09:00 Loaded Language and Cult Control
12:00 The Anti-Christian Nature of Exclusionary Speech
15:00 “Touch Not God’s Anointed” and Other Silencing Phrases
19:00 Pride, Hierarchy, and the Abuse of Spiritual Authority
21:00 Faith vs. Doubt: The False Dichotomy
22:00 “Spirit-Filled vs. Religious” and the Canon Fodder Mindset
25:00 “God Told Me” — The End of Honest Discussion
28:00 Language Drift Between Denominations
33:00 Charismatic vs. Biblical Language
36:00 When Christianity Becomes Esoteric
38:00 Paul’s Example: Meeting People Where They Are
41:00 Harry Potter and the Real Lessons About Prejudice
45:00 Jezebel Spirit and Misused Bible Terms
50:00 The Cost of Poor Communication
53:00 Dehumanizing the “Outsiders”
56:00 Conclusion and Reflections
______________________
Weaponized Religion: From Christian Identity to the NAR:
Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1735160962
Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DCGGZX3K
______________________
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Together they examine how even well-meaning Christians can drift into self-righteous rhetoric and “church-speak” that isolates them from both outsiders and fellow believers. The conversation connects biblical examples, psychology of cult speech, and cultural references like Harry Potter to show how prideful communication dehumanizes others and undermines the gospel’s inclusivity.
00:00 Introduction
01:00 Language Barriers in Pentecostal and Branham Movements
03:30 The Problem of “Exalted” Christian Language
06:30 Miscommunication and the Charismatic “Season”
09:00 Loaded Language and Cult Control
12:00 The Anti-Christian Nature of Exclusionary Speech
15:00 “Touch Not God’s Anointed” and Other Silencing Phrases
19:00 Pride, Hierarchy, and the Abuse of Spiritual Authority
21:00 Faith vs. Doubt: The False Dichotomy
22:00 “Spirit-Filled vs. Religious” and the Canon Fodder Mindset
25:00 “God Told Me” — The End of Honest Discussion
28:00 Language Drift Between Denominations
33:00 Charismatic vs. Biblical Language
36:00 When Christianity Becomes Esoteric
38:00 Paul’s Example: Meeting People Where They Are
41:00 Harry Potter and the Real Lessons About Prejudice
45:00 Jezebel Spirit and Misused Bible Terms
50:00 The Cost of Poor Communication
53:00 Dehumanizing the “Outsiders”
56:00 Conclusion and Reflections
______________________
Weaponized Religion: From Christian Identity to the NAR:
Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1735160962
Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DCGGZX3K
______________________
– Support the channel: https://www.patreon.com/branham
– Subscribe to the channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBSpezVG15TVG-lOYMRXuyQ
– Visit the website: https://william-branham.org
– Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WilliamBranhamOrg
– Follow on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@william.m.branham
– Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/wmbhr
– Buy the books: https://william-branham.org/site/books
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:30Hello, and welcome to another episode of the William Branham Historical Research Podcast.
00:36I'm your host, John Collins, the author and founder of William Branham Historical Research at william-branham.org.
00:43And with me, I have my co-host and friend, Christian Thomason, host of Saintem Artifact on YouTube.
00:50Christian, it's good to be back and to talk about culture shock.
00:55You and I were chatting a little bit beforehand, and I was struggling not to laugh because I remember this culture shock that we're about to talk about.
01:03We talked previously about language, and we talked about music, and somewhat we talked about culture.
01:10But in the cults, we had loaded language, and it was a language that only we knew.
01:17And often, if you're in a group of people who weren't in your particular movement, they had no idea what you're talking about.
01:25It was funny.
01:26And even – so we're in – I came out of the Branham sect.
01:30We were in a Pentecostal-type religion.
01:33But I could be – I had the experience, actually, a couple times of being in a room with other Pentecostal people,
01:39and our language just made this communication barrier.
01:43They had no idea what we were talking about in some circumstances.
01:46And we also had very insulting language that – I look back, and I think this was not a Christian way to talk.
01:54This was – if you take the position that many take that cuss words are evil, what we said was so far beyond worse than a cuss word to a person.
02:04We had – I don't know if you knew this or not, but we would call people who weren't in our movement cannon fodder.
02:12And what this means, basically, is during the war, you had – back during the olden days when they had cannons and muskets,
02:21you would send this initial round of troops forward because the enemy would fire their cannons and just obliterate whoever was sent first.
02:30And those people didn't matter.
02:31It was the second round that came through to win the war.
02:34So the first round of people literally were lives that don't matter.
02:37We don't care about you.
02:39Go in and die.
02:40You're the cannon fodder.
02:41We don't care.
02:42That is how we called other Christians who weren't in the movement.
02:46What a nice way to describe your fellow Christians.
02:49It really makes you want to join the movement, doesn't it?
02:52Yeah, absolutely.
02:53So anyway, this language thing – I know we talked about language before, but the culture shock of language and not just that, but even – so after I've left this, I've been part of different churches, different organizations, denominations.
03:08And even within those, they have their own language, so that when you're in a crowd of people who aren't Christian, you're talking one language, they're talking another, they don't understand what you're saying.
03:19And I look back and I think, you know, some of the conversations that we've had, we could have really appealed to those who are outside of the Christian community if we just simply spoke the same language.
03:31Yeah, we talked about it in our very first interaction, our very first video, because I see this becoming a problem in the future.
03:43It's already developing and becoming a huge problem here in Germany because there's a huge difference between the languages of each denomination they are using to describe their faith, their works, their righteous deeds, their moralistic behavior, what being a good person means, what experiencing God means.
04:09Yeah, they're using exalted or special language, like it's not even something special.
04:16If you are in a working environment, there's a special terminology to that environment because people need it to describe steel, how to work with steel, how to work with computers, how to work with plastics.
04:32That's totally normal.
04:35So there is a Christian language already derived from the Bible, derived from Christian education, derived from Christian academic discourse, I would say.
04:46I'm not talking ivory tower language.
04:48I'm talking serious Christian language to be as precise as possible, to be as nuanced as possible and to be as honest as possible describing your faith.
05:01That should be a normal thing, but it isn't.
05:05And that's becoming a huge problem for me.
05:07Just today I had a discussion and that's like the kicker for me, wishing myself, boy, I have to talk about this.
05:16It's unbelievable to me.
05:18Over and over again, I am in dialogue with Christians that are using the most exalted language to describe basic things,
05:28or they are thinking that using terms like, I'm a born again Christian, I'm part of the body of Christ, connected to all the Christians in the world.
05:39I'm not exaggerating.
05:40That's the language these people are using.
05:42And they really think they are making an argument, an intrinsic inherent argument that has a value, but it hasn't.
05:52Saying you're the Wizard of Oz isn't an argument.
05:55Saying you're the Red Power Ranger and have the power of Greyskull isn't an argument.
06:00If you talk like that to a non-Christian from outside of the Christian world, they would think you are crazy if you are using this kind of language.
06:09So, you are using this kind of language to make yourself seem like you're professional, like you're moralistic, but there is no intrinsic argument to it.
06:22It's just framing.
06:23It's just qualifying.
06:25I am an academic.
06:27Okay, so what you're saying is, I am an academic.
06:31Yeah, but what do you want to say?
06:32I am born again.
06:34So, that's the problem we are having.
06:36Christians are talking like that without the understanding of how to describe their faith, how to describe their beliefs, how to describe their worldview without using this kind of hyperbolic, exalted language that has no intrinsic value.
06:58Please, don't use it.
07:01Absolutely.
07:02You know, I was in a conversation recently in a group of people with one person who was, I guess, charismatic Christian, another person who I don't think they were even Christian at all, and me, who has experienced all of this weird mess that I have experienced.
07:18Well, the lady had just gone through some severe trauma.
07:22Yeah.
07:22I won't describe what it is she went through, but she said something to the effect that I was in a season of whatever was the trauma.
07:32And I looked at the person who's not a Christian, and they're scratching their heads, season, is she some kind of a tree?
07:38What kind of a season is she talking about?
07:42In the message, in the Branham cult, we didn't have that language.
07:48So, for me, it's kind of funny.
07:50This goes back to our music conversation that we had.
07:53The first thought to come into my head is the bird song, to everything, turn, turn, turn.
07:59That's what came into me.
08:01And that probably is the more biblical meaning of what she was saying.
08:06However, her interpretation came from loaded language that she was literally parroting her pastor.
08:12You're in this thing.
08:13You're going through this trauma.
08:15It's for a season.
08:16Have faith, and you will be brought out of this thing because your faith will help you out of it, which is good.
08:23That's not that bad.
08:24But if you're in these charismatic-type movements, what if you have a dehabilitating disease that is going to last the rest of your life?
08:33This is not a season.
08:34This is something you must endure.
08:36They don't have allowance for this.
08:38So, her language of season, to her, meant she was going to faith her way out of it.
08:43To me, meant the birds is one of the greatest songs ever, turn, turn, turn.
08:47And to this person who doesn't understand the language thinks, this woman is a tree.
08:51What is she talking about?
08:54And it all comes down to this.
08:56There's two things going on.
08:58Number one, when people are in these movements, they get so caught up in it that even their language begins to shift and change.
09:06And they start parroting what they hear from the minister.
09:10And they don't really – the other thing, the other big thing, they don't consider their audience when they're speaking.
09:16So, yes, you can have a language.
09:19But if somebody is in your audience who doesn't understand your language – for example, if I speak English and there's a person who doesn't speak English in my audience, they can't understand what I'm saying.
09:29They have no idea what I'm saying.
09:30Well, we are – in these Christian movements, especially in the charismatic movements, when they have loaded language, this turns into a huge problem because now you can even have – I've seen the case where charismatic Christian from one group is talking to charismatic Christian from another group.
09:49Their language comes from their pastor.
09:51Their pastor has different loaded language.
09:53Well, now two worlds have collided, and they can't really speak to each other, and it becomes two towers of Babel.
10:01Yeah, good example.
10:02What you were describing is some kind of private talk.
10:09So, there's a Christian sister.
10:12She is not well-read.
10:13She is not well-educated.
10:15And if she starts to describe her feelings, her well-being in pictures or loaded language, still everybody understands what she wants to express.
10:32Right?
10:33But if you do this in a bigger setting, on a stage, presenting yourself as the big teacher using this kind of language, that's very deceptive.
10:44At least it's not professional, but you could also say it's deceptive, intentional deceptive.
10:52If you use language that's open for interpretation, right?
10:57Even more than deceptive.
10:58So, I've been in – what's a good example?
11:01In technology, I have a client who has a thing that they are specialized in, whatever it is.
11:08Yeah.
11:08And they have language that they have evolved and created within their organization to talk about specific business processes related to their organization.
11:18So, this becomes common language within the organization.
11:22And whenever the term is used, people understand that this term refers to this entire policy, operation, function, whatever it is.
11:31But then when they hold a meeting that involves another company, and the other company comes in, if the employees start using this specific language that only they have and only they know, and that they realize and recognize that only they have and only they know,
11:49it becomes almost as if they – the outsiders are inferior.
11:55We know this process.
11:56Yeah.
11:56We're using this language.
11:57And we're not going to even give you the benefit of telling you what it is we're talking about.
12:02We're just going to continue using our verbiage and leave you in the dark so you can't understand our speech.
12:08And if you're in a meeting like this, this meeting doesn't go well.
12:13I've actually been in meetings like this.
12:15When you're in a good, healthy meeting where both sides are collaborating, both sides are learning, when a term is used, they will pause and say,
12:24now we just said this, this is referring to our process, which includes X, Y, and Z.
12:29Yeah.
12:29Yeah.
12:29So, it's more to the fact of being courteous to the other side.
12:34Yeah, good point.
12:34So, that's anti-Christian already.
12:39So, if you're not interested in the other person that doesn't speak your language, if you don't ask questions to specify,
12:47did you understand what I just mentioned, stuff like that, that's anti-Christian.
12:52It's not Christian to use language that people can't understand.
12:56That's anti-Christian.
12:58That's like, yeah, these people are not worth it.
13:04On the other hand, what I'm experiencing is, if we are using this kind of language, maybe in an environment that is common to this language,
13:15if we use it over and over again, describing basic things of life in this exalted, huge, hyperbolic language, we are de-evaluating our own language, our own culture.
13:31And in the end, there's nothing left we can say, if we want to precise.
13:36I don't know if there's the story of Peter and the wolf in, yeah, like the kid that's always shouting wolf, wolf, wolf, to a point where his wolf doesn't have any meaning to it.
13:50There's no way to it.
13:51Nobody reacts.
13:52It's worthless.
13:53Him shouting wolf, wolf.
13:55And the same is happening to our language.
13:59So, we have to be very careful about our culture, about our language, about our outward behavior, especially in front of the world.
14:09If we are explaining us to the world, describing the gospel to the world, giving a picture of God and all his holy attributes in this language that we are using.
14:23We are far too careless, on the one hand, in using words that are too loaded, as you explained.
14:34On the other hand, we are de-evaluating our own culture and language.
14:42There's a balance to it.
14:44There is, and, you know, some of the language, and I'll give some examples here for people who aren't familiar with this concept that we're talking about.
14:53Some of the examples of the loaded language have the full intention of keeping the people in a cult-like mindset.
15:03And what I mean by that is there are specific terms that are used that have the full intention of corralling the people that include a full doctrine or a series of doctrines that they claim come from the Bible.
15:19Touch not God's anointed.
15:21So, if you're in a room of people and there's some person who's…
15:25The Sean Feucht method.
15:26Yeah.
15:27Well, and it was the Branham method, too.
15:29But if you were in a group of people and somebody who's not a Christian, or even somebody who is a Christian but has never came in contact with this,
15:38they are behaving like a normal human with curiosity and questions.
15:44And then suddenly the person says, no, touch not God's anointed.
15:47Well, that means to the charismatic Christian, shut up.
15:51You can't talk about the leader.
15:53You can't question the leader.
15:54He has authority, and you must submit to him like you would obey a king or a monarch.
16:00That's the loaded language, right?
16:02But the person who's outside has no idea.
16:04And yet, at the same time, it is used as a condemning mechanism so that the person saying it can condemn the person who is hearing it, even if they don't understand what it means.
16:18Yeah, yeah.
16:19The opposite of this is spiritual covering.
16:22So, a person goes and does something really stupid and gets injured.
16:27I don't know what it is.
16:28And they're in a group of people in the hospital, and they're in the waiting room, in the emergency room, and somebody says, I'm under the spiritual covering.
16:38Well, in the context of an emergency room and the context of spiritual covering, I am under the leadership of a person who claims that he can divinely heal me.
16:49So, therefore, it's okay that I'm in the emergency room.
16:52That would be the weird context of this.
16:54But to the other people in the waiting room, they're like, how does spiritual covering apply to your broken leg?
17:00This doesn't make any sense to me.
17:02And there are several terms like this that spirit of rebellion.
17:07So, if you ask questions, if you're genuinely filled with questions about the movement because you're interested in joining it,
17:16asking those questions, in many cases, will lead you to a convert of the movement who says, you can't ask these questions.
17:23You have a spirit of rebellion.
17:24Well, then they're just going to walk away.
17:26You're never going to gain this new convert.
17:29So, these words and these phrases, while they have an entire doctrine or series of doctrines behind them,
17:38often they're used as offensive terminology to offend the person you're saying them to.
17:44Look where we are as Christians.
17:48This is exactly what I meant when I was saying, I'm the Red Ranger.
17:52I have the power of Greyskull.
17:55How devout are people, excuse me, how stupid are people to fall for that kind of language, for that kind of behavior?
18:05But that shows that nuance, precise use of language is so important.
18:15And here I am already struggling.
18:18Every time we both are talking, I am struggling, thinking, oh my God, that was way too general.
18:26My expression was way too general.
18:28Okay, it was funny, but it was general.
18:30And in this generalistic sense, it was funny.
18:33Oh my God, I was missing some nuance there.
18:37We have Christian brothers and sisters out there with various YouTube channels.
18:41And it doesn't, let's not talk about their agenda or their worldview.
18:46I won't name names, but there are Christians out there struggling with every word on their channel
18:54because they know how important words are, how important it is to describe some things very nuanced,
19:03very precise, very respectful.
19:08This should be everyone's approach to the Christian message.
19:16Everyone's approach to the Christian message.
19:18It's not a problem if you can't, if you're not that well-read, if you're not that well-educated.
19:24Yeah, okay, then you shouldn't become a preacher.
19:27But that's not a problem.
19:29What we are talking is people presenting themselves out there on a stage using this kind of exhorted language.
19:36People out there in the comments section of any random YouTube video telling others what to believe,
19:43what to know, what to read, lifting themselves up with their rhetoric,
19:50putting other people down with their rhetoric.
19:53They are not saying, I'm up here, you are down there.
19:56But that's the rhetoric they are using that makes you feel like you are less of a person than them.
20:04They have the power, you have no power.
20:06They have the Holy Spirit, you don't have the Holy Spirit.
20:10Please, watch their language.
20:11Watch your own language.
20:14It's so important.
20:15It is important.
20:16And there's so many, like I could go off into a tangent talking about examples of what you just said.
20:22But they create these barriers that are just really offensive.
20:27If you're not in the movement, if you're not into the collective movement,
20:32they just, number one, they don't make sense if you're outside.
20:35But number two, they're really offensive.
20:37An example would be faith versus doubt.
20:39A person might say, if you question this, you're in doubt.
20:44What these movements have trained people to do is make everything really black or white.
20:50You're either a believer, you're either in faith, or you're in doubt.
20:53And what this does, this belittles anybody who might have questions.
20:58If you have questions, you are doubting.
21:01But that's not the case.
21:03It's not that black or white.
21:05To form an opinion, people have questions, inward questions.
21:08And that's how opinions are formed, right?
21:10And isn't that the very first thing, or isn't that the most important thing that we want to infuse our children with?
21:20Be out there, ask questions.
21:22That's the most important skill that you can ever develop in your life.
21:26Ask questions.
21:28Ask everything.
21:31Also, stell alles in Frage.
21:34I can't describe it in English.
21:36But basically, Aya, take everything into question.
21:41Everything.
21:42Really, everything.
21:43That's the most important skill you can ever develop in your life.
21:46Ask questions.
21:48Absolutely.
21:49Another example.
21:51We're spirit-filled, but they're religious.
21:55The loaded language behind that is so offensive.
21:57What it means, basically, is we, in this collective group, we have the Holy Spirit, but all other Christians who aren't in the spirit-filled unity that we're in, they're in a dead religion.
22:10Their religion is dead.
22:12Basically, they're Christians, but they're lesser Christians.
22:15And that is one of the – we had different phrases for this, but essentially, that comes down to the same verbiage as the cannon fodder that I mentioned earlier.
22:25Yeah.
22:25It takes the person who's not in the same agreement with your doctrines that you have, and it puts their opinion on your doctrines as though their opinion is no longer Christian.
22:40And you're, in essence, taking all other Christians and you're saying they're just – they're not spirit-filled.
22:46They're religious.
22:47They're making a joyful noise unto the Lord, but they're noise God is not listening to.
22:53Yeah.
22:54As you mentioned, there's one aspect is they are raising barriers to normal – quote marks, yeah – normal Christians.
23:04So, they are – if we say there's one – someone on the stage using this in a deceptive way, this kind of language intentionally in a deceptive way, then they are describing things that are so huge, so big, so otherworldly, that there is – that normal Christians can't find them in their own life.
23:31So, they start questioning themselves, questioning their own beliefs, like, he has all this experience, he's seeing all this thing, describing all the things, I don't have that in my life, maybe I'm not Christian enough.
23:47So, there's – they are raising barriers between themselves and God.
23:51The other problem is, of course, the misleading difference between religious and spiritual persons, and that's exactly what I was experiencing today, because the person I was talking to was framing everything in the most pious and moralistic words you can find.
24:13Qualifying themselves before they would make any intrinsic argument, permanently, repeatedly, qualifying themselves as moralistic, superior, pious, you name it.
24:31And it's – it's – yeah, it's just – I don't know the word – Selbstbeweihräucherung, we call that in Germany, like when you're – ah, anointing yourself.
24:48You're permanently anointing yourself.
24:50Yeah, and that leads me to the other thing that I've noticed, and this is odd.
24:58I would have expected to see this more in the Branham religions because they're more cultish, but I actually see this more on the charismatic side.
25:06So, the ones that are not as destructive as the Branham cult, I'm seeing this one, but when two people get together, if they get into an argument,
25:14and one side starts to feel like they're losing the argument, then if they're in a charismatic – if they're in a charismatic church,
25:24the person losing the argument will say, well, I don't care what you say, God told me.
25:29Well, that halts all conversation, because if God is the one speaking through them, God can't be wrong.
25:36I must be wrong.
25:37I must be quiet.
25:38I must listen to what they say.
25:40And it halts an argument, and you really have to ask the question, did God really speak to them,
25:44or are they just trying to make the other person shut up?
25:48And I have to believe that in some of the cases that I have heard, it was literally just to quiet the other side.
25:55Yeah, that's what we call in, like, the rhetoric fear, the argument from power, or the argument from authority, right?
26:05So, if you are somewhat educated, you wouldn't fall for that.
26:10But that doesn't count for most of the Christians out there, even more for Christians that are starting their journey, right?
26:20They are impressed by that kind of language.
26:23They are impressed by that kind of outward behavior, this habitus, we would call it in Germany.
26:33People presenting themselves with that kind of authority might be impressive for very young, very unexperienced Christians,
26:43but in the serious theological and philosophical arena, you would be a clown.
26:50The problem is that arena is very small, and most of that people don't care about themselves posting in the comment sections of YouTube,
27:00or making big videos on YouTube.
27:05And that's why it's so important to have these kind of conversations, like you and I have.
27:10It's so important. We need that.
27:13I just was made aware of that.
27:17Because of our conversations, I became aware of the fact that there's nothing like this in Germany.
27:25It's really missing. People are craving for it already.
27:30Some of them reached out to me like, man, I felt so alone with all of that.
27:35I was feeling like I'm the only person ever experiencing this kind of deception from the NIR, charismania, call it whatever.
27:47People are starving for honest, well-meaning, down-to-earth conversations.
27:56Have you ever wondered how the Pentecostal movement started,
28:00or how the progression of modern Pentecostalism transitioned through the latter reign, charismatic,
28:06and other fringe movements into the New Apostolic Reformation?
28:09You can learn this and more on William Branham Historical Research's website, william-branham.org.
28:17On the books page of the website, you can find the compiled research of John Collins, Charles Paisley,
28:23Stephen Montgomery, John McKinnon, and others,
28:26with links to the paper, audio, and digital versions of each book.
28:31You can also find resources and documentation on various people and topics related to those movements.
28:37If you want to contribute to the cause, you can support the podcast by clicking the Contribute button at the top.
28:44And as always, be sure to like and subscribe to the audio or video version that you're listening to or watching.
28:51On behalf of William Branham Historical Research, we want to thank you for your support.
28:56Whenever I was making my transition out of the cult and into the churches,
29:01the thing that really bothered me is I recognized the loaded language,
29:06because the moment I started attending new churches,
29:09I could use phrases that we would say after service in the Branham cult,
29:14and they had no idea what I was talking about.
29:16Even though we're kind of talking the same language, the language barrier was harmful.
29:22But then after attending one of the new churches for a period of time,
29:26if I attended a different denomination, like you said,
29:29each denomination sort of has their own language.
29:33And a lot of that, again, is tailored to the pastor.
29:36The people will hear it over and over and over.
29:39And it's human nature.
29:41You start to pick things up from other people.
29:43In fact, I won't mention names, but some of the podcast hosts that join me,
29:50I've noticed them starting to use phrases that I use just because they're in conversation with me,
29:55and that phrase resonates with them, right?
29:58So that part of human nature is normal.
30:01What's not normal is if a person were to pick up a phrase that I use for whatever reason,
30:08and we're in conversation, and that makes sense,
30:11and we can collaborate on our conversation with it.
30:14And if they were to start having a conversation with another person and use the same phrase
30:20and watch the person's expression change and pick up on the fact that they didn't understand what I just said,
30:27they would have halted and used a different phrase that the other person could understand.
30:32But when you are in a religious setting, in a religious context,
30:38the people not only pick up on the language, but they pick up on any hint of pride that the minister has.
30:45If the minister is a very prideful person, and the minister is saying these phrases that he has in his loaded language,
30:55the people pick up on that and associate with the pride,
30:58then they, too, mimic the pride to other people.
31:02And you can read through the New Testament.
31:05You can find all of the examples where Paul is preaching in his letters against pride,
31:10as this is one of the greatest sins, because if you're prideful,
31:14how can you attract other people to Christianity?
31:17Yet, when you're picking up the language and you're using it in a prideful way where people can't understand it
31:23and not sensitive to the fact that they don't understand it,
31:27what you're doing, it goes beyond just a failure to communicate.
31:31It's really a breakdown in conversion.
31:35How are you going to convert somebody to Christ if you can't even speak a language that they understand?
31:40Yeah, just in our last talk, I think we ended up talking about Paul's speech at the Areopark.
31:51And from there, we developed a contrast in or talked about how important it is to see your audience as they are.
32:05If Paul was preaching to Jews, he would start with the history of Israel.
32:09If he was preaching to Gentiles, of course, he wouldn't start with the story of Israel.
32:19They wouldn't care.
32:20There was no connection to it.
32:22He would start with God, the creator of the universe, the creator of the world, the creator of the human race.
32:31The human race stood based on one blood from two parents, etc., etc., etc.
32:38So, of course, he would recognize his audience.
32:42He wouldn't make his preaching about himself in that kind of way, but he would care about the people he was preaching to.
32:49Yeah, and the other thing you mentioned, the language barrier.
32:56If I was to wrap up my 10 to 15 years experience in Christianity, the topic of language would be in my top three,
33:09especially because I see the problem that the difference in language between the denominations,
33:18especially between, I'm sorry, charismania and every other denomination is so different that there is no more common ground.
33:30And I will explain what I mean by that.
33:36Over the years, I talked to many charismatics in a loving, caring way, both engaging, friendly.
33:46Everything was okay.
33:47But as I grew up or matured in my Christian faith, I read the Bible, I read Christian books, I was Christian educated,
34:01I became firm with academic discourse and the language used there.
34:06Again, I'm not talking ivory tower language.
34:09I'm talking basic Christian language derived from the Bible.
34:15Okay, so over the time, I realized that charismatics aren't using that language anymore.
34:24They have developed some kind of, in Germany, we call it Kikisprache, like baby speech, softening everything up.
34:32The problem in the end and the problem that I see for the future of Christianity is that we, Christians like you and I,
34:41become the strangers, become the strange ones, the harsh ones, the unloving ones.
34:49But we are using basic, common Christian language to be as precise, as nuanced and as honest as possible.
34:57The problem is not.
34:58The problem is, they are using language that is worldly, esoteric, hyperbolic and very interchangeable in all of its compositions.
35:09That's a huge problem.
35:12We can't reach them anymore.
35:14The language barrier grows higher and higher.
35:19And there's so much explaining to do.
35:22And just to make sure, I'm not talking about the Holy Spirit touching someone to be in the presence of God.
35:32I'm talking about truth here.
35:37I'm talking about worldviews here.
35:39I'm talking about the Bible itself.
35:43There are already German translations of the Bible that are outrageous.
35:51We even have a gossip language Bible, a transgender Bible.
35:59And the language there is not a Christian language anymore.
36:03It's a worldly, obscene language that has nothing to do with Christianity.
36:10And I see that, I am sorry, with Charismania.
36:15They are drifting further and further apart from the truth because they can't express the truth anymore.
36:25In its basic, precise, honest form.
36:29Because they don't have the language for it anymore.
36:32They are using kikisprache, babysprache, esoteric, hyperbolistic language that is of no use.
36:39That is interchangeable and worthless in itself.
36:44You know, and a lot of it really comes down to not just the language, but the false worldview that emanates from the doctrine surrounding the language.
36:54Yeah, of course.
36:56It's a world of angels and demons.
36:57And it's either right or wrong, black or white.
37:00That's really how the cults, that's the cultish mentality, a black or white mentality.
37:04Picture, if you will, a minister in the charismatic movement who goes to a college of people who are studying, I don't know, say they're studying literature, and he's speaking to an audience that is not Christian.
37:23Picture a charismatic minister doing this and quoting Harry Potter in his speech to them.
37:29Every charismatic person in a charismatic church would roll over and say, this is heresy.
37:37You can't do this.
37:38You can't speak Harry Potter.
37:40But yet, Paul, there's a famous verse.
37:44What is it?
37:45I think it's 1 Corinthians.
37:46He says, to the Jews, I become a Jew.
37:48To those outside the law, I become as one of the law.
37:51I have become all things to all people so that he could save people.
37:56That's a quote from the Apostle Paul.
37:58And he did this, as you mentioned, not only with the example you gave, but even in his linguistic style and his letters.
38:08There are letters, and it might have been from that passage.
38:13He says, for, how is it?
38:16For in him we live and move and have our being.
38:20And that phrase actually comes from a pagan poet.
38:24It's not actually something that he came up with originally.
38:29He also said, what is it?
38:32One of the other quotes is, we are his offspring.
38:35I think that's from Aretas.
38:36He uses verbiage and language that was familiar to the people who he's writing or speaking to.
38:43And that language may not have came from a Christian circle or Judaism or anything like this.
38:51He's speaking in common terms that they can understand.
38:55And in today's world, especially in the charismatic movement, you can't do this.
38:59I cannot picture a sermon – I'm laughing as I'm giving these examples because I can't think of a sermon where a minister will speak in the language of those who are in his audience if his audience is not the collective church that he's usually speaking to.
39:16I have been in situations where the minister has invited people from outside or he's out speaking at an event, and the loaded language that's used comes straight from the Bible.
39:27It's not taking into account the audience that's being spoken to, and he's not following Paul's example.
39:34Paul's example is to find common ground, show them how the common ground matches what you're trying to say, then give them the message, and they better understand that message.
39:44Yeah, good example.
39:44One thing I want to mention, J.K. Rowling is so often misunderstood.
39:51We should be glad that she was writing her books for an audience, for an especially young audience, because – and that's the main point – she would introduce the horrors of German Nationalsozialismus to a young audience.
40:13That's the essence of her books.
40:18She is describing how people are bullying other people that are different from them, and later on, as the story develops, the story develops around all the – let's say, I'm sorry for my basic English – all the magic people against the Mughals,
40:41the lower Mughals, the lower Mughals, they hate them, they want to erase them, because they are different.
40:47She is introducing a young audience to an emotional rollercoaster drive of what it means, what German Nationalsozialismus really means, being a Nazi really means.
41:06That's what her books are about, and if you want to criticize her for using magic as a kind of device, it's a literary device in the end.
41:20It's interchangeable, but let her tell a story of what it means to – I hate that I don't have the language – to really marginalize people that are different in your society.
41:42You have just put into words what I have tried to put into words with Harry Potter now for – I can't tell you how many different episodes – you hit the nail right on the head.
41:52Because if you are outside of these movements, and you are familiar with the literature, but not just the literature, the meanings within the literature, and the literary styles like you mentioned.
42:06If you're outside of the charismatic Pentecostal circles, and you're watching one in those circles condemn you for reading these books, but you have a deep understanding of these books, you take a step back and you just kind of laugh.
42:21Because while they're falsely accusing you of all of this demonology just simply for reading the book, many of the things that is mentioned from the magical standpoint, from the demoralizing standpoint, from dehumanizing the moguls like you mentioned, many of these things are actually happening in real time in these charismatic Pentecostal circles.
42:47So the person who's reading it, they're thinking, wait a minute, you're condemning me, and you're practicing this type of magic, you're demoralizing these people, you're condemning the outsiders as inferior.
42:59How are you not the subject of this book?
43:02Brother, I'm really outspoken right now, because I think it's – I don't filter my language, okay?
43:08People that are struggling with a, in my view, really simple Ken Follett novel, right?
43:18People that are struggling with a Ken Follett novel want to explain me what Harry Potter is about?
43:24And these are the same people, their lace art, their way of reading, they are applying the same way of reading to the Bible.
43:33People that are thinking that Harry Potter is about witchcraft, how wrong can you be?
43:40Harry Potter is not about witchcraft.
43:43Witchcraft is just a literary device.
43:45It's interchangeable.
43:46Harry Potter is about marginalizing minorities in a society and how that develops into the horrors we have already seen all over human history.
44:01It's not about witchcraft.
44:04That's the same, like saying Ken Follett novels are about raping, because he's describing – I mean, he's describing most of his books about medieval history.
44:17So, of course, there's raping, but his books are not about raping, are not glorifying anything medieval, right?
44:26But it's so stupid.
44:28Excuse me.
44:29It's so stupid.
44:30And the same people that are talking like that, like Harry Potter is about witchcraft, they don't even – they don't understand a Ken Follett novel.
44:38I'm sorry.
44:39People that can't understand a Ken Follett novel can't tell me they know how to read the Bible.
44:44Reading the Bible is about nuance.
44:46It's about precision.
44:48It's about honesty.
44:49It's about truth.
44:50It's about – is it biblical or not?
44:52And if you are not that well-read, please shut up.
44:55Stop talking.
44:57That leads me, actually, to one of the other terms that's used.
45:01There's different variations of this, but they'll say they have a Jezebel spirit, or they have a religious spirit.
45:08Ah, yeah, the famous Jezebel spirit.
45:10Yeah.
45:11Not understanding – so, the Jezebel spirit.
45:14This is one of the things that I studied extensively, because this was a phrase that we use often.
45:19And I was a little surprised when I first began to understand the deeper meaning behind that section in the Bible.
45:27It wasn't that Jezebel was doing any of the things that they applied Jezebel spirit to.
45:32Jezebel was literally bringing idolatry into Israel, which included human sacrifice.
45:38She did one of the lowest forms of evil that can possibly be done, brought this idolatry that included human sacrifice.
45:46And she was eventually put to death, right?
45:50Well, they apply this Jezebel spirit even to somebody who might be forming a question in their mind.
45:56You have a Jezebel spirit.
45:57Or especially if you're female and you don't dress according to the dress code, they have a Jezebel spirit.
46:03But in Branhamism, it was so ridiculous, Branham would say that anybody who is female who wears facial makeup, they have a Jezebel spirit because Jezebel is the only person in the Bible who painted her face, which actually isn't true if you read the book of Esther.
46:19But that's what he said because he apparently had never read the book of Esther.
46:24But I could go off into a tangent with this like you did.
46:28The terms Jezebel spirit, they apply it to people who might be questioning.
46:34And other examples they might use, they have a spirit of deception.
46:38They have a religious spirit, not a faith-based spirit.
46:42And they apply this to, ironically, to even theologians.
46:47Let's say this theologian, he just has a religious spirit.
46:51And what they're saying is a person who actually studies the deeper meanings of the Bible and understands it like you do the Harry Potter books, which that puts us on the same page, interestingly.
47:02So a person who has a deeper understanding of the Bible, we're going to use insulting language against them.
47:08So, therefore, anybody who's in the church who sees this, they suddenly think, oh, my gosh, when I read the Bible, I must read it superficially.
47:17Because if I get the deeper meaning of it, I might catch that Jezebel spirit.
47:22I might become one of these religious zealots.
47:25And so people actually are not reading the Bible to understand the deeper meanings.
47:31They just read it superficially.
47:32And in doing so, you're missing the entire meaning behind each book.
47:37I would understand if we introduced a wording or a deduction, no, a literary device in that form, like Jezebel spirit in a way to describe, like, make it a common thing to describe someone who is misleading people into something.
48:01So we just printed the term, like, I don't think printing is the right word, but we just printed the term Jezebel spirit.
48:11Another example would be, a good example would be Calvinism.
48:16If I were to use, if I were to describe to you the foreseeing of God, his almightyness, and so on to you without using the word Calvinism, you would say, yes, yes, that's true.
48:38That's from the Bible.
48:39But if I used the word Calvinism for it, you were just like, oh, no, that's witchcraft, that's, that's bad.
48:47So there's the problem again, the problem of language.
48:51Sometimes we use deductions to describe things in a very easy way.
48:57Again, your example of a working environment, we are talking computer language, we are talking plastic language, whatever, engineer language.
49:05And we want to, yeah, deduct, I don't know, like, one word describes a whole concept, yeah?
49:19So we have people like that in Germany as well.
49:22We have words like Heilsgeschichte.
49:26If we talk all the, it doesn't matter.
49:29People come to me like, there is no Heilsgeschichte in the Bible.
49:35Of course not.
49:36Trinity is also not in the Bible, but it's a specific terminology we use in theology to describe things without having the need to explain the entire concept again and again as, again and again as we are speeching.
49:51It's just a specific term.
49:53So that's a problem of language, again, if people don't define the terms correctly, yeah, or demonize certain kinds of languages without being very well read, very well educated in them, and very superficial about it.
50:13Then it's easy to demonize everything into a that's bad, that's not Christian.
50:18Some of it even goes beyond dehumanizing their verbiage and loaded language that is used for implications of spiritual warfare.
50:28So this concept of spiritual warfare, which even that in and of itself, if you're speaking to a person who's not Christian, they won't understand what does this even mean, the spiritual warfare.
50:39But they have brought forth this idea that we're living in a world filled with angels and demons, and if I stump my toe, it's because a demon was around the corner, but thankfully I had an angel who helped my toe not to break.
50:51That's the kind of worldview that has been created.
50:55And then this idea of spiritual warfare augments it, and they have a whole set of language that surrounds just the spiritual warfare and the battles you face in it.
51:05So if you're talking to a person outside of the group and you say, I just had a breakthrough, well, the person who's listening who's not part of this movement, they think, oh, my gosh, did you invent something?
51:16Are you going to file a new patent with the copyright office?
51:19And it just simply means I have had a spiritual warfare victory, and my victory has helped me not stump my toe, whatever is the example.
51:29There are words like this, like you said, the word itself has this entire doctrinal meaning that if you were to take a person who's outside of your group and try to explain what the single word breakthrough meant, it would take you probably an hour, because you would have to transfer the indoctrination in your head to their head.
51:51And here's where it gets interesting.
51:54This is the most interesting for me part of the conversation that we've had.
51:58The people who are indoctrinated like this, many of them have no desire to be a teacher, are frustrated with the thoughts of being a teacher.
52:07And if they were told that they had to sit and explain the doctrines of that single word to a person who's not in their movement, they would simply refuse to do so.
52:16I'm not going to teach him.
52:17He can learn for himself.
52:18And so, there's no desire to even teach them the meanings behind the word, yet at the same time, I don't think many of them could, because they themselves don't even understand what is the doctrines they're supposed to believe.
52:32Yeah, it takes time, it takes care.
52:38Sometimes it's not even enough to explain a concept, because behind the concept, there's already a worldview.
52:45Like talking Christianity, atheism, new atheism, translating into, we are already at the point where humanists realized that atheism or humanism can't be a serious argument anymore.
53:08So, we are translating into a post-humanism or transhumanism.
53:14So, entire concepts, entire worldviews on the table to explain.
53:20Just a few words I used need hours to be explained, fairly nuanced, honest, you name it.
53:30So, what I want to say in the end is there's a consequence to all of this we just described.
53:39There's a huge consequence to it.
53:42We are devaluing other people if we don't see them as they are, use language they can understand, and that's not Christian.
53:56If you take it even further, what a great point from you, we are dehumanizing them.
54:03They are not from us.
54:05They don't talk the same language.
54:08And because of that, it's so important that we as Christians, the entirety of Christianity, starts to use not only a common language, biblical language again,
54:24not a traditional language, not a religious language, not the language of your denomination,
54:31but biblical language to explain the gospel and to explain the holiness of God to the world.
54:39And if we don't do that, then we slowly start to dehumanize everyone that's an outsider.
54:50And therefore, in the consequence, we miss to see the image of God in them.
55:00The gospel is not for religious persons, is not for persons that think of themselves they don't need of God.
55:09Of course, the gospel is for them.
55:10But the point I want to make is the gospel is for the people that don't have the truth, that don't understand the truth.
55:19For the people outside of Christianity, for them is the gospel.
55:24But if we dehumanize them because they are lower than us, they don't have the language, they don't have the expressions,
55:31they don't have the right clove, etc.
55:36We are dehumanizing them, and therefore, we are missing the point in that all of them are made in the image of God.
55:46And we are, in effect, treating them like the muggles.
55:50So, thank you so much for doing this.
55:52Exactly, yeah.
55:55Yeah, there's so much more I could get into.
55:57And I'm just, I'm really happy that you were able to put into words what I've been thinking about the Harry Potter books.
56:03Interestingly, I've not read them, I've watched the movies, but the concepts behind it,
56:08when you watch the movie and you understand the deeper meaning, it's just like you said,
56:13we should not treat people this way.
56:15They should not have treated people this way.
56:17And if you understand the deeper meaning behind this,
56:21it's saying many of the same messages that you will actually find in the Bible.
56:25It's just using a different verbiage and a language that appeals to a different crowd.
56:29This appeals to a younger crowd of people.
56:31And I sometimes wonder, does not many people in the charismatic movement and Pentecostal movement
56:37who have not yet learned the deeper meanings of the Bible,
56:42do not they need something that is lesser and simpler for them to understand like this?
56:49It's written for them!
56:51It's written for them!
56:53It's so ridiculous.
56:54First, J.K. Rowling is attacked nowadays by LGBTQ people.
57:02And that shows that these people never understood the novels and never understood they were written for them.
57:10They are the minorities J.K. Rowling wanted to make a story about.
57:15Like, you are made in the image of God.
57:18You are very, like, you have a worth.
57:22You're a soul.
57:23You're a living being.
57:24You're my human.
57:26You're my fellow human.
57:27That's her message.
57:29These people don't understand it.
57:31And on the other hand, every...
57:35It's again like Paul.
57:38Meeting people where they are.
57:39Every one of these stories, fantasy novels, whatever, introduces some kind of lesser messianic figure.
57:49Being it Superman, being it Spider-Man, being it Harry Potter in the end, saving everyone.
57:58Every one of these stories is about Jesus in the end because Jesus was the original Messiah.
58:04Every other story than the Bible just tries to explain what a Messiah is, what it means to save people, what it means to sacrifice yourself for the good of other human beings.
58:21Well, thank you so much for doing this.
58:22Like I said, I could go off for a tangent for hours, and I'm sure you could too.
58:27But hopefully people get the deeper meaning of our conversation.
58:30Well, if you've enjoyed our show and you want more information, you can check us out on the web.
58:36You can find us at william-branham.org and Sanctum Artifact on YouTube.
58:41For more about the dark side of the New Apostolic Reformation, you can read Weaponized Religion,
58:45From Christian Identity to the NAR, available on Amazon, Kindle, and Audible.
59:00For more information, you can find us at william-branham.
59:03For more information, please visit Weaponized Religion, visit Weaponized you or analyze Granny Matthe.
59:07For more information, visit Weaponized whoevercommerce is healthy.
59:10For more information, visit Weaponized.com if you just feelings of exploration, finding us more information and pages out about your importance to help us learn from our history.
59:20We also describe our Eleven Lessons.
59:24Some things present to you today.
59:27We'll see you next time.
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