With more than seven and a half million downloads, The Exorcist Files has topped Spotify charts for more than 40 weeks.  The creators of the show recently launched a Kickstarter to fund Season 2 with a goal of raising $40,000. They hit that number within four hours of the Kickstarter being live, and have since raised more than four times their goal. Loyal listeners include an array of Catholics, Protestants, and horror fans.  

The creator, Ryan Bethea, told CBN News he first got into this when he was hoping to do a podcast on miracles, but God instead led him down a very different path that included understanding evil, the demonic realm, and modern-day spiritual warfare. 

“Half-jokingly, I actually didn’t want to do this,” Bethea explained. “I had no intention of doing a docuseries on spiritual warfare, the demonic, any of this.”

Bethea says during a 2018 trip to the Vatican, he was connected to one of the leading authorities on spiritual warfare.

“I got introduced to father Carlos Martins, the exorcist on our show, and I said, ‘Hey, tell me a story,’ and you know, when you meet an exorcist, you got to say, ‘Hey, tell me a story,’ and he did,” recalled Bethea. “And I went, ‘oh man, we all need to hear these stories’ – and that is how the show was born.”
 
Father Martins is often called to help with some of the world’s more serious and difficult cases of demonic possession.

“When you see a chair levitate for the 83rd time, it gets old, but confronting the mind of the devil, the source of every perversion, every sin, every wickedness, every bad thing, that’s scary,” Martins explains in a trailer for the show. 

The show depicts dramatic recreations from Father Martins’ experience battling the devil to free people from demonic possession. Some of the cases show the potentially dangerous side effects of unknowing victims casually dabbling in things like Ouija boards and psychics, while other episodes give accounts of modern-day witchcraft and generational curses. 
 
Bethea refers to it as redemptive horror because it uses these real-life stories to educate people about Christ, and God is using it to teach the program’s diverse audience more about him. 

“There are thousands of reviews on Apple specifically, and you can see people saying, ‘Hey, I grew up Catholic, and I wandered away but wow, this has awakened me to the reality of evil. I can’t afford not to have God in my life,'” explains Bethea. “And then others were like, ‘I appreciate this, too. I’m still not sold on God, but if this is at all possible that there’s demons, I want to be with God.'”

Instead of spreading fear, the podcast intends to bring the realities of spiritual warfare and victory in Christ to light. 
 
“It opens your mind to say, ‘What if?'” says Bethea. “If these things are an actual reality, then that’s actually great news because it means that if that’s real, and God is so much more real, and that means that we have absolute authority.” 

“If we are facing demonic forces, and that’s a thing, and we are right with Christ and we’ve dealt with whatever, you know, has opened the doorway, then nothing to fear, no spirit of fear, but of power, sound mind and love and you can take care of it,” he continued. 
 
Bethea, a Protestant, tells CBN News even though the show is told from a Catholic perspective, it’s designed to appeal to all Christians.
 
“Obviously, there’s a huge division, that’s historically established, and there’s a lot of theological divergence but especially when it comes to the topic of spiritual warfare, there is tremendous overlap,” he explained. “There is a shared Savior, there is a common adversary, a great evil that plagues humanity, and there is one way to deal with it – which is that Savior.”  
 
As Bethea works on season two, he tells CBN News the number one question asked about the show is if listening to it will open a door to the demonic, which Father Martins assures the audience is not the case. 

Related video:

Source: CBN, Author: Abigail Robertson

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In Acts 17:1-3, Luke explained how Paul and his companions journeyed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, eventually reaching Thessalonica. There, they entered a synagogue, and for three consecutive Sabbaths, Paul engaged in discussions with the Jews.

With copious scriptural inferences, he presented a compelling case, setting forth and proving that it was necessary for Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead. But here’s the most beautiful assertion Paul made. He told them that Jesus, whom he proclaimed and preached unto them, was indeed the Christ.

That was His message—that Jesus is the Christ! This is too important; never underestimate the power of this truth. Jesus is Christ, the Son of God. If you would believe that, all the blessings in Christ will be yours because that is what He said.

However, to believe that Jesus is the Christ, you must first believe that Jesus came in a physical body. In 1 John 4, the Apostle John in his writings warned against false teachers, having encountered some who came up with a strange doctrine, denying the reality that Jesus came in the flesh.

Therefore, He emphasized that Christians should test the spirits to determine whether they are from God. But here’s a key criterion: “Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God” (1 John 4:2).

In the verses above, the translators erroneously assumed “Jesus Christ” should be used instead of the actual original rendering, which is “Jesus as the Christ.” The New English Translation got it right; it says, “By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses Jesus as the Christ who has come in the flesh is from God.”

Every spirit that confesses Jesus as the Christ who has come in flesh is from God. So, Jesus as the Christ came in the flesh, in the physical body. And we know that His body died—He was crucified, buried but gloriously resurrected. This is important for salvation. Praise God.

PRAYER OR CONFESSION:

Blessed Lord Jesus, you’re the Christ who came in the flesh, died, was buried and resurrected to usher us into a life of righteousness, victory, excellence and glory. You’re the complete embodiment of Deity. I worship and thank you for revealing yourself through your Church. Your glory is everlasting. Amen.Acts 17:1-3; Luke 9:20 NKJV

FURTHER STUDY:

Acts 17:1-3; Luke 9:20 NKJVLuke 4:1-13; Deuteronomy 18-21

1-YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN:

Luke 4:1-13; Deuteronomy 18-21Romans 1:24-32; Psalm 89

2-YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN:

Romans 1:24-32; Psalm 89

Source: Rhapsody of realities, Author: Pastor Chris Oyakilome

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2 Corinthians 5:18-19 (ESV)

We are on mission to call all people back to God. In international diplomacy, the ambassador is the keeper of the goodwill and interests of the leader and people of the country he or she represents. The ambassador protects and draws citizens in the diaspora to their country. When citizens are held captive by foreign oppressors, it is the ambassador’s duty to work for their freedom from the oppressor. Jesus came from heaven to redeem us and now he has made us to be his sent people. God in Christ reconciling the world to himself, redeeming us from the oppressor of this world, so he can prepare us for Our country-Heaven. He has committed the ministry of protecting Heaven’s interest to bring back its estranged citizens. Christ does not point accusing finger at us but draws us to himself. We are to draw all people to Christ through how we live, showing God’s kindness revealed through Christ Jesus to the world. Are you a reconciler or an accuser of God’s people? Do it like Christ.

Meditation And Prayer:

Lord, make me a channel of peace and reconciliation.

Further Reading: John 17:13; 1 Peter 3:18

Key Lesson:

We must reconcile like Christ so that everyone could experience God’s love and peace.

Source: The Word Daily Devotional by the Global Evangelical Church; Posted: Rashida Yakubu

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The Jerusalem Post reports that Pluristem Therapeutics Inc., an Israeli medicine company that specialized in cell therapy products, treated patients at three different Israeli medical centers for one week.

Those patients treated with its allogeneic placental expanded (PLX) cells saw improvement with severe symptoms, like respiratory distress. The company’s preliminary data showed a 100 percent survival rate for all seven patients.

Pluristem CEO and president Yaky Yanay said, “We are pleased with this initial outcome of the compassionate use program and committed to harnessing PLX cells for the benefit of patients and healthcare systems.”

“Pluristem is dedicated to using its competitive advantages in large-scale manufacturing to potentially deliver PLX cells to a large number of patients in significant need,” he added.

And the company is reviewing its options for an international clinical trial for treating patients with symptoms related to the coronavirus.

Pluristem is working with authorities in the US and Europe to “define our clinical strategy for COVID-19,” Yanay said.

“We have a lot of evidence that a good portion of the mechanism of action is the anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory capability of the cells. It seems to be like a perfect fit. We are very confident in the safety profile of the product,” he added.

Source: Cbn.com

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