Holy. Amen. Grab your Bibles, turn to Matthew chapter number 7. I'm sorry, Matthew chapter number 8. Matthew chapter number 8. What's that? Amen. Matthew chapter number 8. Come on in, grab your Bibles. Matthew chapter number 8. And we're going to read verses 16 and 17 here. When the even was come they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils and he cast out The spirits with his word and healed all that were sick that it might be fulfilled in heaven which was spoken by Elias, I'm sorry, Isaiah, the prophet saying himself took our infirmities and bear our sicknesses. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the opportunity to open it tonight. Lord, we pray that you'd meet with us, that you'd have your way. And Lord, we just look forward to what you're going to do. We we declare and we recognize that you are holy and As we sit here in Your presence, and I stand in Your presence, I pray, Father, that You would speak to our hearts, Lord, that You would deal with the need of every soul. And Lord, as we look here at the nature of devils, Lord, may we remember that the nature of God is holiness. And Lord, we just pray Your blessing on the message tonight. In Jesus' name, Amen. You may be seated. Alright So picking up here on page 775 if you are following the study page 775 in your landmarks of Baptist doctrine book and We are picking up on point number three The nature of devils and we're gonna try to cover that Much of this point as we can. All right, so We're going to begin here at the first point on the point number three. They are spirit beings. You'll notice that we have reference to that in Matthew chapter eight, also in Matthew chapter 17. If you want to turn over there, Matthew 17 and verse number 18 says, and Jesus rebuked the devil and he departed out of him. And the child was cured from that very hour. Again, we're just referring to the fact that these are immaterial beings. They are unseen. They are spirit in nature. Go to Luke. I'm sorry. Mark, chapter nine. Mark, chapter nine. Say again, 775 is the page number. Yeah, 775. And you're a yes, sir. Yes, sir. Oh, yeah. I mean, don't get too excited. Esca. I don't know eschatology could take us a few years. That's it. I mean, you know, we're talking about the end all the way until the end. So we'll see. Um, So Mark chapter 9 verse number 25. Let's look at Oh, we're going here really to reference the fact that that. The devils are spirit beings, OK? I want to read the whole story to you, but I'll let you read it on your own time. But right now we're just going to look here at verse number 25. It says, and when Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit. saying unto him thou dumb and deaf spirit I charge thee come out of him and enter no more into him and the spirit cried and rent him sore and came out of him and was and he was as one dead in so much as many said he is dead and of course he wasn't Jesus picked him up there but You'll find that devils or demons are often referred to as spirits, OK? We know that this isn't. The when we talk about the nature, all we're doing here is we're referring to their their nature, not. Not that there's some other thing like a spirit like an evil spirit that's different than a devil or demon. It's devils and demons are called spirits because they're spirit beings. Sir? Dumb has to do with incapable of speech. We'll talk about that possibly tonight. The letter F if we get there. Yes. They're spirit beings. So that letter A there, you'll see it says they are spirit beings. That's that's what we're referencing right now. So Luke chapter 8 Luke chapter 8. And verse number two. Again, this is just referring to. The fact that the Bible calls them spirits because their spirit beings. There's a certain woman which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities. Mary called Magdalene. Out of whom went seven devils. Now notice there it says spirits and then it says devils. It's referring to the same thing. OK, these evil spirits are devils. They are. There were particularly seven of them. So turn over to chapter 10. And verse number 17. You know, y'all doing your your sword drilling here. Chapter 10, verse number 17, and the 70 returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. Notice in verse number 20, it says, Notwithstanding in this rejoice, not that the spirits are subject unto you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven. Amen. So the point here of pointing that out is he refers to the devils that they're talking about as spirits, right? Again, synonymous in that sense. Now, that's not to say that what people call spirits today are devil. Well, OK, maybe let me let me correct that. Like the. That's not to say that spirits like. Dead people. Are. What we're talking about here, we're talking about devils. Which are spirit beings, right? All devils are spirit beings and whatever, whatever. Whether you're talking about that or some other occult practice, all of these quote unquote spirits are devils. All right, so the spirit realm is the Angelic realm in a sense obviously also God dwells in the spirit realm, right? The Bible says that God is spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth, right? So we recognize that we know we talk about the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost and This is not referring, we've got a messed up view of spirit in the Western world. We think of, when we talk about spirit, we think of like some person who's died and is haunting something or someone or whatever. But the reality is when the Bible speaks of spirits, we're talking about the angelic realm or the spirit realm, the unseen world. Does that make sense? All right, let her be. They are personal beings. Please don't misunderstand that. That doesn't mean that you get one on your shoulder, OK? I'd like like the the I believe that comes from. From. No, no, it comes from another, it comes from like a pagan culture, but it was strongly used with Islam. That you would have a good spirit and a bad spirit, or a devil and an angel. the yin and the yang, or a demon and an angel that would try to tell you, you know, the demon would be on one shoulder, typically it's your left shoulder, and on your right shoulder is the angel, and they try to tell you, they argue about what you should do, and there's this battle of good and evil and all that. That's not what we're talking about when we say personal beings. When we talk about personal beings, what we mean by that is they're not impersonal in the sense that they're some force. Make sense? The devil is a person. Not a human being, but a person. Has personality, right? He's not just some force. Demons are not just some force of evil. They have personality. They're beings. Make sense? Say again? They're individuals, yes. So they have individuality, we could say. They possess personality in a sense. So if you look at Mark chapter number five, remember when he speaks of the maniac there. or the lunatic, Mark chapter number 5 and verse number 10, you're going to notice here, he says, he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country. This is an individual, right? This isn't some force. This is an individual speaking back to Jesus. In fact, we find that the man cried with a loud voice and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus? And this is the devil speaking through the man. Thou son of the Most High God, I adjure thee by God that thou torment me not. Presented to him come out of the man thou unclean spirit now we have the unclean spirit responding and Jesus says What is thy name? And he answered saying my name is Legion for we are many this again You don't give a name to a force now in a sense this large group of devils a force but not a force the way that you would Talk about force right like like may the force be with you kind of stuff, right? We're not talking about Evil force versus good force or whatever kind of crazy stuff that's going on out there with it the Jedi junk what we're talking about is a military force we're talking about a legion of spirit beings in this person a legion of evil fallen angels in this person and anyhow so there's there's reference to that then Luke chapter number four you also have wrong So it seemed that for their particular sake, had he not cast them into something else, then they would have been kicked out of the country. I don't know how that works, but I don't believe that that means that they have to inhabit something, because what happened to the swine immediately? Took them into the water and they died. I mean, they didn't just hang out in the swine, you know, the drowned swine in the water, I mean, or off the cliff, you know. So evidently, there was some rule that we don't understand that they would have been cast out of the country had they been cast out of the person. But I mean, what's in when you really try to think it through, what's the difference? Because the swine died. Yeah. So, I mean, that that is something that people do bring up though they say see he they had to go into the swine because they have to inhabit something it's like but the swine died like right then so who where'd they inhabit after that i don't i don't know i mean yeah that's that's the thing people start speculating well maybe maybe there's a fisherman and they you know got the fisherman or maybe they You know, there's a lot of, yeah, yeah, talk about wrong place at the wrong time, you know. You're just minding your own business fishing and next thing you know, a whole legion of swine come flying at you. We don't know. We don't know what what's going on with that. But the point is that there's there's a personality you'll notice in Luke chapter number four and verse number thirty four that they respond to Jesus here. So look at verse number thirty three. And in the synagogue there was a man which had a spirit of an unclean devil and cried out with a loud voice saying, let us alone. What have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the holy one of God. Obviously, we're not talking about some force, we're talking about a person. in the sense of personality. Make sense? All right, there's there's not a whole lot more on that in this study at this point, but There it is. We talked about that a little bit when we talked about the devil having personality. Let her see here. They are intelligent beings. They possess intelligence. By the way, this is another another point that emphasizes their personality. They have intelligence. They knew who Jesus was right in those passages that we've already looked at as well as Mark chapter number one. Mark chapter number one. Now we're doing a whole lot of jumping around in the Bible tonight. Verse number 24 says, saying, let us alone. What have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? Are thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the holy one of God. So they recognized Jesus, they knew who He was. In Luke chapter number 8, Luke chapter number 8, they're asking favors of Jesus. In verse number 31, Luke chapter number 8, verse number 31, they besought Him that He would not command them to go out into the deep This is your swine here statement. It's the parallel. So you see here, he could have cast them out into the deep or into the bottomless pit. And they said, hey, don't do that. Put us in the swine instead. And then Who knows what happened with them after that? Well, the Lord does. Matthew 8, Matthew 8. I know we're jumping back and forth, back and forth. They obeyed the commands of Jesus. We see that in multiple places, but you'll notice that they asked him like, hey, can you do this? Because they knew that he had authority. In chapter 8 and verse number 16. You see here it says when the even was come, they brought unto him many. I know we already read this, but we're going to read it again that were possessed with devils and he cast out the spirits with his word and healed all that were sick. You notice that they. They didn't have a choice, right? It wasn't like they were able to say, well, hold on Jesus, I don't want to. No, they had to do what he said. Verse number 29 of Matthew 8, they understand the future and their end, their own end. Verse number 28, as we've already seen in other places, it says here that, says when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gadarenes, or sorry, Gergesenes, there met him too possessed with devils coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce so that no man might pass by that way. And behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou son of God? Art thou come hither to torment us before the time? What time? The appointed time of their destruction, of their end. So again, you see this happening multiple times throughout the Gospels. Them asking Him, Hey, are you coming to get us before it's time? Because they know that there's an appointed time that they're going to face destruction. Alright, letter D. They are moral beings. Now, that is not to say that they are righteous. They are moral in the sense that they have morality. They're not amoral. They're not without consequence, we'll say. So what he says here, devils have a moral nature, albeit immoral, right? They're not, they're not, you know, people talk about how certain things are amoral like others. It's neither good nor bad. Well, devils are bad. By the way, all the junk that they do is bad. And the things that they influence you with, those things are bad. Number one here, they are vicious and malicious. Devils are degenerate in character. As we saw in chapter 8, verse number 28 of Matthew, what were they doing? They were exceeding fierce so that no man might pass by that way. Luke chapter number 9, they are vile and malignant. Luke chapter number 9. Let's look at verse number 37. It came to pass that on the next day, when they were come down from the hill, much people met them or met him. And behold, a man of the company cried out, saying, Master, I beseech thee, look upon my son, for he is mine only child. And, lo, a spirit taketh him, and he suddenly crieth out, and it teareth him, and he foameth again, and bruising him hardly departeth from him. That's pretty rough. It's pretty rough. Now, please don't misunderstand this, OK? But that sounds like Tourette's. Now, I'm not saying that everybody with Tourette's has a devil. OK, please don't misunderstand that. But that's what that sounds like there. Just for. Interesting thought, that's all we'll just leave it that stop it. Pastor, he's having tics back there, alright? But notice it says here it teareth him. That he foameth again and bruising him hardly departed from it. That's not that's not a mild case. OK, whatever is going on here. Well, we know what's going on here. There's a devil that's abusing this fellow. They're violent, malignant. They're not looking out for your best interest. Number three, they are foul and unclean. I'm just gonna give you the references, okay? Not gonna go to all of them. We've looked at some of them. Some of them you'll have to look up on your own. Matthew 10, one. Mark chapter one, verse 27. Mark chapter three, verse 11. Luke chapter four, verse 36. Acts 8, verse 7, and Revelation 16, 13. Devils take possession of men in some instances for the purpose of sensual gratification, as you would see also in Luke 8, verse 27. So. No clothes and all that kind of stuff, so. Letter E. Hey, we're moving along pretty good here. We will go to a lot of the passages. I just didn't want to go to every single one of those tonight. You guys can look those up. Letter E. They are subservient beings. They're subject to Satan. Look at Matthew Chapter 12. Matthew 12. Notice in verse number 22, Then was brought unto him one possessed with the devil, blind and dumb, and he healed him insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw. And all the people were amazed and said, is not this the son of David? But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils. This Beelzebub, obviously, is a name that they've made for someone like Satan. It has to do with some pagan philosophy there. Jesus knew their thoughts, said to them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself cannot stand. And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself. How shall then his kingdom stand? And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you." Amen. So, notice here that that they recognize authority there. Yeah, the fans blowing that paper around here. I get it for you, brother. Because it's going to keep distracting me. It just keeps moving closer. I'm like, what's going on over there? Papers coming after me. All right. Mm hmm. Right out of the hand of Brother Bella. All right, so he says here, some criticize the authorized King James Version for the use of the term devils rather than demons. However, devils is a right translation because they represent and do the work of Satan, the devil, giving him the attribute of apparent omnipresence. That's not actual omnipresence, but apparent or appearingly omnipresent. So, letter F here, they are powerful beings. They can cause physical disorders and mental disorders. Now, remember that a couple of sessions ago we talked about, well I guess it was Sunday night, what devils are not. Right? And we talked about how they are not superstitious designation for certain natural diseases. Okay? So, balancing that, they can still cause problems, both physical and mental. Let's look at an example of each of these. Matthew chapter number 9. Matthew chapter number 9. Actually, the one that we just looked at in chapter 12, we're going to come back to. But chapter nine, dumbness, dumbness. Now, as Brother Travis asked about, what does it mean to say dumbness? It doesn't mean that the person is an ignoramus. It means that the person is incapable of speech. OK. Yeah there you go. Matthew chapter number nine verses thirty let's see here thirty two and thirty three says as they went out they brought to him a dumb man possessed with the devil and and this is this is your context how it's defined OK and when the devil was cast out the dumb spake. And the multitudes marveled, saying, It was never seen, so seen in Israel." You know, that's a big deal, by the way. Someone who can't speak. Now, notice here, it does not say deaf and dumb. Oftentimes, you have the two go together. you have you now and I'm not talking about demon possession I'm talking about physical impairment yes so typically someone can't speak because they can't hear now sometimes they can develop the ability to speak even though they can't hear but typically there are some times when you have deafness and dumbness okay now what's that yep Yeah. Yep. So now there's also deaf and dumb spirits. He doesn't bring up deaf here at all in the study. But you'll find that there are other references where there is reference to an inability not only to speak, but to hear, right? We've already Y'all remember we've already gone over some of the, we've gone over verses that refer to it, right? Even in, let's see here. Well, that was blind and dumb, so, but there's another example. Somebody can look it up, deaf and dumb spirit, or just look up the word deaf in the New Testament, and we can refer to that. Number two, or letter B here, blindness, as we just saw in Matthew chapter number 12, this particular person was both blind and dumb. And so they were incapable of speech and also blind. OK. Now, that being said, please understand that not everyone who is blind has a devil. Not everyone who is deaf has a devil. Not everyone who is dumb or incapable of speech has a devil. But some people are. Some people do. How do we know which ones do and which ones don't? We don't know, really. I don't think that we should go around investigating, oh, is that person deaf because they have a devil? I don't think we need to be investigating. We just trust God, and if He makes it clear that that's the case, then either way, we can pray for healing for that person, regardless of what the situation is. You know, we lack faith oftentimes, right? We we think that well, you know, that's they were born that way. I mean, I don't know I think we serve the same God today that That's not to say that we should start going around like with a magic wand or magic hand slapping people and telling them what's that? Or jacket magic jacket. That's why I don't wear a suit coat. So y'all don't think I'm gonna swing it knock some people over I I almost wore a suit coat today, actually. I could have tried it out. No, I'm kidding. Do we have any dumb people in here tonight? I'm just kidding. Anyhow, I'm just jumping on that for you, Brother Travis. But you have here in verse number 22, again, as we read before, this devil was blind, or he was possessed with the devil, blind and dumb. and he healed him insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw." Personal injury. This is not a commercial for a lawyer, all right? Personal injury, yeah. This is not Ken Nunn, all right? So Mark chapter nine, Mark chapter nine. Turning one page at a time all the way from Matthew 12, I guess. All right. Oh, there you go. OK, so let's look at verse 18. Yeah, see, we already read that part, but now let's look here. Notice that. Let's look at verse number 17. One of the multitude answered him, saying, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit, and whithersoever he taketh him, he teareth him, and he foameth and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away, and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out, and they could not. He answereth, Say I'm sorry. He answereth him and sayeth Oh faithless generation How long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you bring him unto me and they brought him? Unto him and when he saw him straightway the spirit tear him and he fell to fell on the ground and wallowed foaming and And he asked his father, how long was it since? How long was it ago since this came unto him? And he said of a child and oft times it hath cast him into the fire. Into the waters to destroy him see the devil's try to cause physical damage to their host It says but if thou can't do anything have compassion on us and help us Jesus said unto him if thou can't believe All things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out and said with tears, Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief. When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him and enter no more into him. And the spirit cried and rent him sore and came out of him. And he was as one dead in some in as in so much as in so much that Many said, he is dead, but Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose." But notice here, this fella, the devil caused him to be deaf and dumb. Yes, yes, there is a massive difference between someone who has a physical impairment and has a devil. Okay, but devils can cause physical impairments. And yes, the way that you find out is, are they foaming at the mouth and throwing themselves in fire? That probably would indicate that it's not just deaf and, you know, inability to speak. Deformities, Luke chapter 13. Again, every single example we're bringing up, please understand that not everyone that has a physical disorder as such is demon possessed. OK, Luke chapter number 13 and verse number 11. It says, Behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity. 18 years and was bowed together and could in no wise lift up herself. And Jesus healed her. And the spirit of infirmity no longer there, right? He loosed her of that bondage. Number two. Mental disorders. Mental disorders. We're just going to keep it to two basic things. Insanity and suicide. Now, could we maybe point out some other things? Yeah, but we're gonna leave that can of worms closed while we're live tonight. What's that? It's a big can. It's a big can, and it makes it difficult sometimes to discern what's what, okay? Luke chapter number eight. Luke chapter number eight. Verse number 26. Now, we've seen in multiple parallels this similar, not this, but similar statements here, okay? So they arrive in the country of the Gadarenes, which is over against Galilee. When he went forth to land, there met him out of the city a certain man, which had devils, long time, and wear no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not. For he commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For often times it had caught him, and he was kept bound with chains and in fetters, and he broke the bands and was driven of the devil into the wilderness. And Jesus asked him, saying, What is thy name? And he said, Legion, because many devils were entered into him. And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep. And there was there and heard of many swine feeding on the mountain, and they besought him that he would suffer them to enter into them. And he suffered them. And when the and then went the devils out of the man and entered into the swine and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the lake and were choked. And they that fed them saw what was done and they fled and went and told it in the city and in the country. My, what a financial loss there. Then they went out to see what was done and came to Jesus and found the man of whom the devils were departed sitting at the feet of Jesus clothed and in his right mind and they were afraid. They also which saw it told them by what means he that was possessed of the devils was healed. You'll find that there are references to folks that are possessed of devils reference using the term maniac, using the term lunatic. These are references to mental illness. All right, when you call someone a lunatic, they're crazy, okay? They are insane, all right? Or a maniac, that's, we're not talking about some 80s song. We're talking about an actual person who is crazy, okay? And this person's crazy because of devils. the particular specific referenced ones there. That is not to say that everyone that's crazy has a devil. That is also not to say that everyone that no one that is crazy has a devil. OK, so understand there's an. We'll talk a little bit after we're off the live feed. OK, but number 37. Am I understanding that they made him leave after he got the devil out again? They wanted Jesus to leave because of what He did. It cost them quite a bit when all those swine died. I mean, think about that. I mean, it's, and then, I mean, really, it wasn't just about the swine. They were scared when they saw that this man was clothed and in his right mind. They're like, whoa, whoa, whoa. I mean, think about it. You show up, you know, this guy, crazy dude, what's that? I mean, sits on his front porch, which happens to be the front of a tomb, you know. And, you know, they chain him up, and he breaks the chains, and he's, you know, yelling and cursing and foaming at the mouth and, you know, running around naked and stuff, and nobody can tame him. And all of a sudden, Jesus shows up, and the guys, in his right mind, they were terrified. Because people don't know what to do with insanity. And they don't know what to do when it's cured because they don't think there's a cure. That's why they lock people up like that and they drug them. What's that? Absolutely, absolutely. Also, suicide. Mark nine. You know, you're going to find many different examples, and we already looked at Mark 922, but you're going to see many examples of. Devils try to talk you into killing yourself or they try to do it for you. Now I. I know that a lot of preachers make a big point to say that they can't touch you. And please don't misunderstand me when I say this. Job, the devil was not allowed to touch Job or take Job's life, but he took all of Job's children's lives. And I'm not saying, I mean, obviously, you know, what do we do? Like Job, we worship God, we stay right with God, and we try to teach our children right. Right? And if Job had done so, we trust that probably he did, then they died young. They were adults, but they died young, and they would have gone to heaven. you know, assuming that they that they were saved, that they that they had trusted God. But still yet, you know, we look at we look at life and and individual. Now, I'm not saying that we don't love individuals. We absolutely love individuals and we absolutely cherish life and we absolutely cherish our children and our loved ones. But we also have to realize, and I was thinking just the other day, when I realized that I was older than I thought I was, that this life's gonna be over soon. It is. And you know, I don't know about you, but every once in a while, the thought comes to my mind that I'm going to die someday. I don't know, maybe I'm the only one that thinks about it. I'm just morbid, right? I'm gonna die someday. You know what? Big whoop, I'm gonna die someday, and I'm gonna live forever. That's right. So, and I was just actually at noon Bible study today. You know, somebody asked about, or I was answering questions, and one of the things that I mentioned was like Ahab, King Ahab. You know, he got right with God toward the end. Now, he ended up still dying. But I mean, what was he going to do? Live forever? I mean, physically? No. I mean, he was going to die. I mean, here we are, what, like almost 3,000 years later? Was he going to make it? I mean, were we going to be able to meet Ahab on earth, alive, today? No, of course he was going to die. I mean, just like everybody else, from Adam to him. And just like everyone from him to Paul the Apostle. And just like everyone from Paul the Apostle to us. So, I mean, it's not the way God designed it. Originally, we were supposed to live forever. But because of sin, we die. We still live forever, but this flesh has to die or it has to be changed to be incorruptible. And so, still yet, right? When we look at these things, we look at, a lot of times, we look at these things so short-sighted, you know? I mean, the next, we just, I sent a picture that was created by AI, I guess. I didn't realize it was when I sent it until everybody started saying, look at their hands. And it's a picture of a married couple. with black and white, a picture of a married couple, and then a picture of the same married couple, supposedly, at like 103 and 101 years old, and they were celebrating their 80th anniversary or something like that. But when you look at the picture of their hands, it's like, that's not real, because AI can't do hands, I guess, yet. So, anyhow, but, Let's see, that would be 60-ish years from now, 60 or so, 61 years, 62 years from now. Hope I live that long, if the Lord tarries. I don't know, maybe I'll regret saying that if I do live that long. I'll be like, man, Lord, take me, please. It's been a long time. Man, it would be 2085 if I lived 102 years. Wow. I don't know if I want to, I don't know if I wanna see what the world's gonna be like in 2085. I don't know if the world's gonna live that long for me to see 2085. But anyhow, we're so short-sighted though, right? That's 60 some years from now, 2085, what's that, 61 years from now? That's not very long, though. Not very long at all. So all of that, taking all of that into account. We just every single message I preach, I always go back to in my own mind, if I don't say it, I always go back to my own mind. We've got to get our sights on eternity and not so much on the right now, although we want to have it on the right now for the sake of eternity. Right? But not just for the sake of right now. Right? Say again? Heavenly-minded. That's right. That's right. And I know people say, don't be so heavenly-minded that you're no earthly good. What they mean by that is that you're looking forward to dying and going to heaven so much that you won't do anything now. And that's not really being heavenly-minded. That's being selfish. being heavenly minded is you're thinking about the fact that you're going to die and go to heaven someday. And that time is getting closer and closer. And so we better get to work so that we can be of some good. Right. As I did a briefing in in in officer candidate school and the IGR. And it was what does the chaplain do? on earth for heaven's sake, right? Like what, do you get it? Like what are we doing? I stole the concept from a creationist evangelist from years and years ago. He said, what are you going to do on earth for heaven's sake? What are you going to do while you're here for the sake of heaven, right? Not just saying it like a saying, but what are you going to do? And so just the same when we talk about these things, we get into some of these things. They can get scary or they can get, you know, concerning. And we we we can get worrying about consequences or the spiritual battle and all these things. But we need to take courage and know that. God has not given us the spirit of fear. And I mean, that's like we could just every single time, but of power and of love and of a sound mind that is every single time we talk about devils. We gotta remember God is not giving us a spirit of fear.