INTRODUCTION:
Branch Isole and I are here to teach you about the crucifixion of Jesus and what it means for you. This is especially special as we roll into Easter weekend. Jesus is the core of this podcast and it brings me much joy to spend a couple hours talking about Him. 🙂
He, like me, is a former drug dealer, he’s been to jail, he’s been homeless, and like myself he understands his mission is to do all he can to help others now that he’s been given a second chance. Branch is a poet, a storyteller and the author of 22 books! Branch was born in Osaka, Japan (my favorite country) and has the traveled the world extensively! Branch graduated from Texas State Univ. B.S.Ed., did post graduate work at the University of Houston, M.Ed Adm., and holds an Oxford M.A. Theology degree from Trinity Bible College and Seminary. Branch shares how strength of choice can change consequences and this man is known worldwide for his contemporary short story prose that reveals emotions and issues often experienced, but not always voiced.
Author of twenty-two books Branch Isole shares “how and why” strength of choice can change consequences. He’s known worldwide for contemporary short stories revealing issues and emotions often experienced, but not always voiced.
Storytelling is either about ‘what has been’ or ‘what can be.’ The story of “what can be” encourages us to embrace the duality of what is and more importantly, what is possible. Podcast program audiences tune-in to learn if your guest can help fulfill their aspirations and ambitions. My efforts are to help you produce a show with takeaways that benefit your listeners. The topics I share impart elements for personal, career and/or spiritual self-reflection. I believe we will give your audience a show they’ll receive, use, and thank you for.
I share edifying and entertaining self-development topics offering information and takeaway steps listeners can use after hearing our episode. These topical conversation starters provide audiences with identifiable grounding and growth elements for contemporary life issues.
Spiritual Christianity:
Life 101: Albatross or Millstone?
The ‘Bucket List’ Item Many Ignore
Third Act Specs; Rose Colored or 20-20?
Relationships:
7 Steps of Relationship Repair
Change Your Response, Improve Your Relationships
Work-Life Balance:
12 Key Lessons
Religion:
Bible Prophecy: Warnings or Promises?
These ‘today topic’ discussion starters are designed for seekers, searchers, the fallen away and disillusioned. Those who question, wonder or are ready to explore self-reflectively their lives and relationships. You’re invited to book one today!
Previous engagements and upcoming shows- https://www.manaopublishing.com/bookings.html
INCLUDED IN THIS EPISODE (But not limited to):
· A Detailed Look Into The Crucifixion Of Jesus
· C&E (Christmas & Easter) Christians – WTF?
· Why Do Believe What You Believe?
· The Negotiable Nature Of God
· Why It’s OK To Be Feel Weak Sometimes
· How To Read The Bible
· Hypocrites AKA Republicans
· YAY ALCOHOL!!!
· Graduating From Church
· Spiritual Understanding
· The Simplicity Of The Lord
CONNECT WITH BRANCH:
Website & Other Books: https://www.manaopublishing.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/podcastguestbranchisole
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/branch-isole-851433201/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzN66BkAUAemYX76Smnn0GA
CONNECT WITH DE’VANNON:
Website: https://www.SexDrugsAndJesus.com
YouTube: https://bit.ly/3daTqCM
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SexDrugsAndJesus/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sexdrugsandjesuspodcast/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TabooTopix
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/devannon
Email: DeVannon@SexDrugsAndJesus.com
DE’VANNON’S RECOMMENDATIONS:
· Pray Away Documentary (NETFLIX)
o https://www.netflix.com/title/81040370
o TRAILER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tk_CqGVfxEs
· Upwork: https://www.upwork.com
· FreeUp: https://freeup.net
· Disabled American Veterans (DAV): https://www.dav.org
· American Legion: https://www.legion.org
INTERESTED IN PODCASTING OR BEING A GUEST?:
· PodMatch is awesome! This application streamlines the process of finding guests for your show and also helps you find shows to be a guest on. The PodMatch Community is a part of this and that is where you can ask questions and get help from an entire network of people so that you save both money and time on your podcasting journey.
https://podmatch.com/signup/devannon
TRANSCRIPT:
[00:00:00]
You’re listening to the sex drugs and Jesus podcast, where we discuss whatever the fuck we want to! And yes, we can put sex and drugs and Jesus all in the same bed and still be all right at the end of the day. My name is De’Vannon and I’ll be interviewing guests from every corner of this world as we dig into topics that are too risqué for the morning show, as we strive to help you understand what’s really going on in your life.
There is nothing off the table and we’ve got a lot to talk about. So let’s dive right into this episode.
De’Vannon: Hello? Hello. Hello, Oman, beautiful listeners out there. God bless each. And every last fucking one of you. I love you to the core, my soul. So this week here, we’ve got branchy Solei back again, and we are here to teach you about the crucifixion of Jesus and what it means for you. And this year, the specially important as we roll right on into this Easter weekend.
and look, Jesus is the core of this podcast and it [00:01:00] brings me so much joy to be able to spend a couple hours talking about him. And of course, that’s the reminder of my new book, sex, drugs, and Jesus, a memoir of self-destruction and resurrection. It’s out. I started taking notes on this book back in 2013, and then it took me two years to finish it.
Once I got started around the beginning of the pandemic almost two years ago. So I’m very proud of it. Please check it out. Sex drugs, and jesus.com. I hope you enjoy this episode and happy Easter, everyone. Well, welcome back to the sex drugs and Jesus podcast. Everyone. We have a branch Easter laid back with us for like the fifth, the 1000th time. I don’t know. He’s like a resident guest at this point. So expect to be seeing a more from him and hearing more from him. The man has like about a thousand books, which you can see it as website Manoj.
Oh, publishing.com. I will put all of it in the show notes as I always do. [00:02:00] He’s an incredible author. He’s an incredible podcast guests. And today we’re going to be talking about the sweet baby Jesus as we were coming up on the crucifixion day which is also known as the one day in the year. Some people go to church.
Hello, branch, how are you doing? That’s how I feel. So I love the Lord and I know you do too. And like, I’m not that I wouldn’t say that those of you who only go to church once a year on Easter, you know, I kind of, I would like for this, I would like for one of you to reach out to me and tell me why you only go one day out of the year, is it out of guilt, out of a sense of obligation?
Is that your one trip up to the sanctuary to repent? Like they did back in the old Testament. So I would be curious to know and no judgment. I’ve just always found it to be particularly titillating. What do you think about that brand? [00:03:00]
Branch: Yeah. You know, I grew up as a C E Christian, Christmas and Easter. And I don’t know whether my parents thought that’s all we needed or they were just too busy. You know, that, that was the obligation of the year. I can understand that I am in agreement with you. I’m not sure why, but you know, we all make our choices.
At least at least we’ll go at Easter, go and, you know, and recognize the importance of that day and, and its symbolism and that connection with the Lord.
De’Vannon: Hallelujah tabernacle and praise. This reminds me branch. The when I was at Lakewood church in Texas, before I got kicked out for not being straight, but it’s an image that will always be plastered my mind because I got up into this thing in the adult choir [00:04:00] at Lakewood. And the first Sunday that I sang was an Eastern. Good initiation.
they haven’t got an initiate until the church has always packed. Like big of a church with every seat filled. I was like, so in the fucking zone. And so I rocked out with my cock out was probably part of the reason why I got kicked out,
you know you know, I used to shake it for the Lord up in those cars thing. I will loop
several people. Look, they can find some YouTube videos of their cameras did love me. So anyway, we’re not here to glorify me. We’re here to glorify Jesus. And so. The show that receipt at this one has to do with the Eucharist and communion. We’re going to touch back on that a little bit later in this episode.
So the way it [00:05:00] went according to recorded Hebrew history is that Jesus came was on the earth. He did all those miracles starting as, from what we know with turning the water into wine at the wedding in Cana of Galilee, which is why I keep me some red wine on stock at all times to honor my savior.
Hallelujah. And then he did these miracles. He worked with people, he stirred up controversy just by being himself. He made the religious leaders mad and angry and he hurt their feelings. And then so they wanted to kill him off. You know, people don’t like it. They just want to kill you. This is the way the devil works.
And so we see he’s now at communion Washington’s disciples feed. The breaking, the bridge, drinking the sweet, sweet, and wine or bitter bitter. Why? I don’t know, I probably would have served bitter wine considering what was about to happen. And so so Jesus has, is a snitch, a criminal informant, a CAI, a confidential [00:06:00] informant.
His name we have learned is Judas, Iscariot and main wish he’ll ever be marred. The Bible tells us that at some point, the devil entered into Judas and begin to turn him against The Lord that scripture has always stuck out in my head because that means that Judas wasn’t always against the Lord at some point, some sort of thoughts, some sort of emotion, some sort of influence came over him that made him feel this way.
He did not counter this influence or question that he went along with it and made the deal to sell what he does out for. The legal was 30 pieces of silver. And you know, I had my own informant back when I was dealing drugs. I wouldn’t say gee, now we’re in the exact same business when we had our informants, but cops work the same way then as they do now, they want to get to the head of the organization.
They get a snitch, a weak link in the chain and they send a man find out where you’re going to be on a certain day at a certain [00:07:00] time. Then they come NAB you that much. I do have in common with the Lord. We both got sold out. So what do you think about Judas?
Branch: Well, you know you, you made an interesting comment just now about. Being, none of us are originally against the Lord. You know, we come into this life as babes, obviously, and we know nothing, and we are brought up in a family and a community, whatever that may be religious or not. And none of us is against the Lord.
And certainly the Lord is not against any of us that are our transition from being ignorant to being neophytes, either on the spiritual path or not on a [00:08:00] spiritual path, you know, is a result of who we are and how we grow. So Judas was not against the Lord to begin with. Obviously he was one of the original 12 disciples.
And like you say he was tempted and then coerced or bribed to go against the Lord and then similar or the same kind of fashion we today are often tempted or bribed by the world and things of the world to a go against the Lord, or even worse than a lot of cases is just be indifferent or ignore the Lord.
So we have that in common with Judas Iscariot.
De’Vannon: Okay. So then this beckons [00:09:00] beckons us back to what, how I always say to pay attention as to why we believe what we believe and why we think what we think and not to accept every thought that comes to us. So it might not be a group of jealous religious people coming to, to NAB your soul, to get you to fill out for 30 pieces of silver.
It could be betraying, thought, feeling and emotion. I don’t know of anyone out there ever. Just, you see somebody in a wave of disliked comes over you towards this person. Suddenly you just feel like you don’t like Felicia or Pam or Jim or whoever. And you even know why you don’t like them. You just don’t like them.
I’ve heard people say that before that they’re like, say they just have this problem against somebody. I’m all like, what’d they do to you? I don’t know. I just don’t like them. I’m like, well, that’s okay. You can just, you know,
Branch: Well, you know, we see that in evidence every day in our day and age with just to name a few labels, racist homophobes, [00:10:00] phobes, misogynist, you know, they dislike other people’s. Because of their skin because of their color, because of their beliefs or their actions. And yet they have really no foundation for that hatred or that dislike other than in most cases, just the way they were brought up the environment that they grew up with and the biases that they grew up with.
You know you might’ve found an idea certainly in, in the military when you’re thrown in with a bunch of different kinds of people, with different beliefs and backgrounds, from different parts of the country you have a tendency, you know, to kind of go with your own to begin with, but it doesn’t take long in the military for me to realize.
You know, the value that others bring into your [00:11:00] unit or into your company. And a lot of times, you know, we’re able to and motivated go look beyond those initial bias that we might’ve come into the military with. I think it’s a real good experience for people to give them an opportunity to grow as people doesn’t work for everybody, but certainly worked for the group of guys that I was with back in the Vietnam era.
De’Vannon: I think everyone. Wait tables or a few months and go to the military. But for a few months, I think some countries do have like a mandatory military thing. And I really think it makes all the difference. I ain’t saying it eliminates all the foolishness and people, cause some people are just going to be foolish no matter what, no matter what, but certainly grant some perspective when you have to deal with bitchy, Karens, and shit, coming in to make unreasonable demands at restaurants and then they won’t even tip.[00:12:00]
And then you go up to go, then you go to the military and your life is on the line and you’re, and you don’t have a choice. You’re going to participate and get along with people no matter how, unlike you, they are. So you don’t have this luxury of being like, well, I just don’t like him, so
Branch: life, life, life, and tasks can make a big difference in one’s attitudes.
De’Vannon: right. And You know, when we all grow in tour for different reasons the life and death has made a difference in my attitude. And I’m because I’ve been exposed to so much of death in my time, which I appreciate. And so I find myself having to make myself be patient people who haven’t been exposed. I had to grow up fast like I did, because I went to the military at 17.
So, you know, I’m like, okay, you got some more experiences go through. You are mature and your time. I hope
Branch: Okay.
De’Vannon: [00:13:00] so. Let’s see here. So there’s this time. Okay. So Jesus went into, I believe it was the garden of gets Semini to pray as he was nearing this crucifixion. And he knows that this is what he was called here to do. He knows this is what it’s. Now he’s the son of God, God manifested in the flesh, but he had some trepidation leading up to this.
And I believe that he chose to be vulnerable and transparent in this moment as a guide for us. Now, he didn’t call the Legion. Legions of angels were coming to rescue him when he was tempted by the devil. You know, he didn’t exercise his power in a way to save himself specifically. And so he, he toiled with this, you know, we asked the Lord, we ask God, you know, is there like a, is there another way, you know, let this cup [00:14:00] pass for me now.
I know God to be very negotiable. There’ve been times I’ve been in a lot of trouble and, you know, he chose to bring me out of it. Whereas, you know, others might’ve been in probably surely would have been ensnared. And who knows. Sometimes we ask God, you know, God will say like one thing in. And we may be like, okay can we do that another way?
For instance. So like when I was growing up in church, my profit has evangelists Nelson. You know, when I say prophetess, I mean, someone to whom God speaks like Isaiah, Jeremiah, somebody who’s really, really has their ear, the mouth of God gifted in all gifts of the spirit she was and all of their prophecies, you know, like came true.
And so, and there’s a litany of people who are, you know, across the world who will testify to that. So there’s one woman, you know, here in the south, they would stand you up in church. The profits of stand you up and, you know, whenever God gave them a word and they would minister this word on to you. And so she told her that the Lord gave the church [00:15:00] member who she was talking to or had given this woman a vision of who her soul made it. Now evangelists, Nelson and her clairvoyance see other people’s visions that God had given to other people, even if they didn’t tell her what that vision is. And so, and so she told us a woman, you know, God gave you this vision of your soulmate, but this woman, the church member didn’t want this man. She wanted a different person.
And so now one would think that God would be like, okay, no bitch. I already told you who the is going to be. That that’s my story. And I’m sticking to it, but that’s not the way it was. The Lord worked with her in the Lord, shifted in and created her soulmate into this other person that she wanted. And then, then let the other one go. And and so God has. A very negotiable way. Some stuff is from like that stuff. I went through, like being homeless and done all of that, that had to happen. That was like foretell than prophesied. I had dreams about it. [00:16:00] I didn’t know what, you know, what, what the bad stuff was, was going to happen, but there’s no way that I could have gotten around that.
You know, that, that, that was a permanent thing in my life that was fixed. But trouble, other troubles and stuff like that, we were able to negotiate around. So when we talk about it, when we pray, understand you’re talking to a being who has a very reasonable mind, you know, and he’s, he has all power, he can do anything he wants to do. Okay.
You don’t want that soulmate if he feels like it’ll just give you another one, you know, you know, you can do whatever he wants to all about your faith in what you believe. That woman that charged me would probably had enough faith to believe that God was able and willing to shift it for her. But it’s probably played a lot of part into that. And so. Jesus asked, you know, can this cup pass from me? What do you think about what was going on with the Lord while he was, while he was going through in sweating and all of this going on, going through all these [00:17:00] changes.
Branch: Well, we have to remember that Jesus was a man, you know, he was man and God. So he experienced and felt and had the emotions you know, the successes and the highs, as well as the depression and the lows from living among men and women in his day and age, so that, you know, he is part. He is the, he is the reflection and the connection for us as humans to the spirituality of God, father and spirit.
So in experiencing what we experience as human was, he understands us and he understands, you know, what we’re going through and what we’re struggling with. That’s an interesting statement. He [00:18:00] makes about, you know, when you take this cup from me, that’s the one time in Bible scripture that we actually see his humanity in evidence as it applies to both him and to us and in him asking that, you know, that’s that human response.
I don’t want to die. I don’t want to give up what I have right now in my life and in the next thought and the next breath he says, but not my will, your will be done. And that’s what kind of, what you’re describing with within lady is he wants us to recognize God wants us to recognize and acknowledge and have competence that we can accept his will [00:19:00] for us.
Because as a loving father you know, he wants what’s best for us. Most of the time he wants what’s best for us, even more than we want what’s best for us. He has our best interest. Always at heart and therefore his actions on our behalf, like the changing of the man for that lady his actions on our behalf can be made to align with our wants, but we have to be willing to make that surrender just like Jesus did not my will Lord, not my will father, but yours be done.
So in that moment of his humanity and his response, similar to what our response would be, I don’t want to die by so rendering [00:20:00] in order to fulfill his design and his purpose, he chose to. The father’s will accept what was coming at the end of that night. And so we’ve got the surrender of my will to his will.
We’ve got the acceptance of my deaths for his purpose, but that’s a great, great example of his humanity. You know, that you bring up about the, the garden of gifs 70 event.
De’Vannon: Look, so thank you for that breakdown brain. So look, y’all, it’s okay to feel weak. You know, this, this is something that I struggle with is trying to be too perfect and too precise and too good, like all the time. I get a lot of that from military. I get a lot of that from the Pentecostal church, this idea that you must be [00:21:00] perfect and especially in the millet, well, both of them are kind of like if you put one toe at a line, then bad things are going to happen.
And in the military is the air force is all about protection. Everything has to be perfect. Perfect. Perfect, perfect. Perfect. From the way you folded your socks to the way you fix a part of him playing at the beach down to the last step, down to the period dot everything. And I was very impressionable in my teens and stuff like that.
And I internalize too much of that. I didn’t filter it at all. And so I still struggle with being like to right all the time. And then Bible talks to us about the, the, the dangers of trying to be over righteous, you know, and not accepting the fact that you’re gonna mess up and that you’re going to feel weak.
The Bible tells us that in his, in our weakness, that God’s strength is made. Perfect. So he’s designed us to have this humanity in these weaknesses and these shortcomings, and he’s also giving us, given us Jesus to have a way out. So, so it’s okay for us to have these garden and get so [00:22:00] many moments, You know, and stuff like that.
And, you know, but in this garden, Jesus is praying is like my evangelist Nelson used to say all the time. And the name of her show that she had was called prayer changes things. And so know, Jesus did, did you know his, his, his share of praying and I’m reminded right now, as, I’m talking about the the Mount of transfiguration I don’t, I don’t really know necessarily that this ties directly into the crucifixion. It was one of those moments when, you know, Jesus was you know, off praying and everything. And he had taken two of his disciples with him. I do believe. And I do believe while he was praying, then they were appeared unto him. I think it was Moses and Elijah, maybe. I think it was those two that appeared to him in spirit. So, so what does this tells us? Jesus needed encouragement. You know, this was the, see his [00:23:00] humanity. There really was no one. Fit on this earth who could like say encourage Jesus, you know, you know, he’s pretty much as high as it gets, you know? So the Lord had to sin people from eternity to talk to him is something that I would think about, say like with my evangelists, you know, really high spiritual people in this earth, you know, like who in the hell can counsel them when they’re counseling everybody else all the time.
And so so even Jesus needed a good talking to, you know, some encouragement. He needed a couple of homeys that look, he didn’t have 50,000 friends, you know, I don’t care what your social media tells you. You don’t have that many true friends. So he, God sent two people to hold people
to come and cheer him up. Go ahead, branch.
Branch: You know, as, as usual you’ve, you’ve said [00:24:00] lots of different triggers for me. Yeah. That the, that instance of transformation was evidence to the disciples who were there of his holiness and Moses and Elijah coming to stand there, be with him was a real important vision for a couple of reasons. Number one, Moses and Elijah will be the two witnesses who come during the first half of the tribulation to warn the world.
Of what’s about to come and the events that are unfolding during that first three and a half years in the tribulation, they will be the two witnesses who come and physical form and stand on the steps of the third temple in Jerusalem, prophesizing about the end of the world. The second thing [00:25:00] that, you know, you said that’s important is about the discipline in the military and keeping your socks in a certain way.
And everything you do in the military is discipline. Well, you know that, of that word discipline, that’s where we get discipleship. So someone who is a disciple is practicing discipline. And for us as believers, you know, our faith is the practice of discipline. In our obedience to the word of God. So all of these things have a connection.
You know, one of the great things about learning to read the Bible is you discover literally in sentences and paragraphs in stories. So many aspects of life, that if you reflect on what’s being told [00:26:00]and, and expressed, you can see it taking place in your own life. And I just wanted to comment about that.
Discipline in the military discipline in any job situation, you know, every career you’ve got has a certain discipline to it. There are certain rules that need to be followed in order to be successful in that endeavor and discipleship or obedience to the word of God. Isn’t the same thing. That’s what discipline is all about.
It’s having self control to listen and see and understand, you know, what you’re experiencing and how it applies to your everyday life. So I just want to comment about that discipleship and discipline relationship.
De’Vannon: You better preach. Hallelujah, tabernacle and praise. So you mentioned read the Bible and when you said that I, I, I believe that I understood that I should [00:27:00] give this warning to people do not try to rush through and read the Bible in a year and do not read it from Genesis to revelation. I’ve heard it said that it can actually like hurt your mind to try to read the Bible from front to back.
I’ve I’ve heard that said I did it. I think I read the Bible from front to back like two or three times. And I tell you though, Do it do not hurt yourself that way. So this is my older self telling my younger self, this advice. If I was talking to my younger self or my kid, or if I could transform one of my cats in the real humans, I’ve tried, it didn’t work.
And I would be like, okay, look, look, look a little motherfucker. You don’t take this Bible in parts. Now the whole reason you’re reading it in the first place is to try to get closer, to know this God that you, that you’re thinking about serving, or you decided to serve. Now, you live in an age where you have the internet, so you [00:28:00] can Google things.
You don’t have. You know, you don’t have to go to a library. You know, like I had to when I was a kid. So first thing you want to do is understand the structure of the Bible. The thing doesn’t go in chronological order from front to back, it skips around, and then there’s some overlap some in some intersectionality in there and understand you’re reading a historical book.
That’s given us snapshots of what writers deem to be important, what God deemed to be important and have collected record from the middle east. You know, like people from back in the day, and we’re going to glean the themes and the, from, from the lessons that God clearly wants us to learn through these readings about how other people handled it.
I would tell my younger self or my newly trans mutated cat to human kid, that everything is not in the Bible. I’d say a [00:29:00] lot of stuff is in the Bible, but not at a hundred percent of everything. Because the world has changed. It’s changing all the time. And I would say go at it in pieces. I might tell you to start in the new Testament before you get in the old Testament, I probably would tell you to start with grace before you talk about all those rules and laws and stuff so that you don’t get confused and start to think that you try to, that you have to live like a Hebrew in the old Testament, which is how I was, you know, that’s what I would say.
So what do you think about that?
Branch: Great summary. You know, we need to think of the Bible as sort of the cliff notes version. The Bible, the canonized Bible that we have today is it’s a story about one person basically, but it’s not a novel and you’re right. You don’t read it from front to back. It’s divided up into two different sections, the old Testament and the new Testament, the old [00:30:00] Testament is about God’s relationship with the Israelites, the Jews, and the new Testament is about his relationship.
With everyone, but particularly the Gentiles, the Christians, the non Jews, non believers in Christ. There’s two different focuses about Jesus, you know, as spirit and as man there’s lots of books you left, you made it a good point. There’s lots of material. That’s not in the Bible. You know, there’s the Apocrypha, which is a collection of writings and books that are not in the Bible.
We have to remember that the Bible, like you said, is a historical record that goes back about 3,500 years. So there’s no way, you know, everything could be in there. The Bible is a compilation of books and letters from people over that [00:31:00] 3,500 year period. And much of it was passed down orally. Especially the Jewish part was oral tradition, not written records.
And the Bible books that we have was a compilation decided by a council of church leaders, our elders in the third century, you know, they, they couldn’t have everything in one book. So they decided these are the things that are most important to have textualized for people, you know, coming after us. It’s just like the encyclopedia.
There’s no way you can have everything. Not all knowledge can be found in one book. So you take the highlights and you know, the things that can. Have a correlation to other important things. And then that’s the tech [00:32:00] we have. So there’s lots of things outside of the Bible itself that we can read and gain knowledge from.
So think of the Bible as sort of the cliff note version of this history of the world and civilizations, but with the focus on the most important person who has an effect on our lives and that’s Jesus Christ.
De’Vannon: Right. I concur. And then now as you all the reading through it, it doesn’t contain everything, but I’m going to say you, you want to When you come across the part that that might be controversial to you, you want there’s these things called commentaries, which is like other people have made within archeological research or anthropological research and different things like that.
And they’re giving you a more historical context to it. You can get concordance to this, which are these really thick books that actually write [00:33:00] down each word in its original Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic pencil, how deep you want to get with it. You don’t have to launch it right into all of that from the get go, you know, take your time and just have baby steps that if you come across something that you felt like it might change your life.
So you’re not straight. And you come across in there where it’s talking about, man shall not lie with man. And you’ve heard people use these scriptures to try to tell you that you’re wrong. Okay. Well, we know that the word homosexual, for instance, wasn’t added to the Bible until sometime in the middle of the last century.
So humans have taken. Some liberties with certain certain phrasiology within here. I think that within the Bible, and I think that that’s abundantly clear the Waze wouldn’t have a thousand different translations of the same texts. You know, somebody got creative somewhere, you know, I really don’t understand why we have to have so many translations, but at the same time I do, because people want to, they have people have different agendas in certain, certain translation.
So if the [00:34:00] Bible had been written in Spanish and say, we were going to say El Gato S Moya Flocko, which is how you say the cat is very skinny in Spanish. L means the Gato means cat S means is Moines means very Flocko means skinny. You don’t need a whole college of, of spiritual people. That archeology is and everything to give you 50 different translations of that.
So, so, so Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic. Are not what would be considered simple or like romance languages. They’re just not, they’re very complex in order to interpret them. It’s a very subjective template that you employ, which means that a person’s biases, prejudices and the way they feel about shit certainly comes into play.
When they are interpreting ancient languages. Now they feel like they’re smarter than YouTube, because most people they’re not going to go and dig up these old [00:35:00] languages and stuff like that. But I’m going to tell you, you don’t have to do it for every word in the Bible, but when you come across certain scriptures that make you raise an eyebrow and make you question yourself, then go and get a second and third opinion by doing further research, which is now readily available at your fingertips on the internet.
Don’t read through there. And get somebody’s take on something or let a preacher tell you something’s wrong with you before you go and do your research yourself. I let them influence me that way. And they cause me to doubt myself. They had me thinking masturbation was wrong and wine was wrong. And me secular music was wrong and everything was wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, based on their reading of this Bible.
So we got to read it for ourselves and be patient and just take it easy when you’re doing it. When you come across something that may or may make you think something’s wrong with you, or something’s the matter with you, I want you to stop and pray and do further research before you just internalize that. [00:36:00] Now, even though this book was written by people and it didn’t have everything in it, there’s still power in the word of God. I, when I’ve been reading through the Bible, there’s been times where I may have felt like a chill pass over me and I knew God was healing me or something like that. Or I’ve had like spiritual experiences.
I don’t know how God is going to deal with each of you out there. But I do know that if you reach for him, that he will reach back to you and reading your Bible and trying to learn is certainly a way of you reaching out God. So I’m not saying expect chills to pass over you, but what I do pray, so the Lord to manifest themselves to each and every last one of you in a way that you’re going to know that it’s him and what does cause he did that with me.
He got all kinds of things he could do. So I would just say be open-minded to your own unique experiences, because I can’t expect somebody to, you know, follow a God that doesn’t present himself to them, you know, in some way. And I think that that’s fair. [00:37:00]
Branch: Hey, man. Couldn’t agree more,
De’Vannon: Oh,
Branch: but I don’t know of, we talked about this before or not. I think we probably have, but for those people who want to get into scripture, what read the Bible. Here’s my suggestion. And I’ve made this before. Get a red letter version of the Bible. That’s where Christ’s words are printed and read star in the book of Matthew.
You’re going to read Matthew, mark, Luke and John. The four gospel books and all you read is the red letters. Anything that’s printed in red, if it skips from one paragraph to the next that’s okay. You just read the red letter. And what that will do is number one, it will give you an exposure to Jesus, his thoughts, his words, and his [00:38:00] deeds.
Number two, that will help you establish that base of relationship that the advantage just had mentioned. And number three, it will open your eyes to what the Bible is and what its purpose is and how it relates to you in your life. If you just read that part, you’ll be able to start from there and establish that relationship with God through Christ.
You know, that’s been the desire of your heart. We all feel that we’re missing something. And that missing part of us is not being spiritually grounded. If you want to get spiritually grounded, I have found, and I often suggest to people who ask me, you know, this is the easiest way to sort of jumpstart that relationship.
Red letter version, [00:39:00] just read the red letter text, and then go from there.
De’Vannon: Right. And in terms of the, all the different sorts of translations and stuff they have out there.
Bible gateway.com is a pretty easy to use website and app. They have it very organized and you can pick, you know, just kind of go through and get something that, that you can understand that it’s not. Make you feel intimidated.
It’s a lot of people don’t fuck with the king James version for that reason. You know, however for whatever it’s worth, the king James version is maybe like one of the closest versions that actually where the people actually worked hard to give you somewhat, it’s a little bit more accurate, you know, although all of them are quite subjective.
So, but you got to pick a version that, that, that, that that’s gonna appeal to you. You mentioned the word canonized. When you talked about this, I want you to tell people what that means exactly in the, in the way that you’re [00:40:00] using it. Because I don’t think you mean it like so.
Branch: No, no. Yeah, no. The Canon is the label that’s used for the Bible. You know, the Catholics have their own version of the Bible. Not that it’s completely different, but they’ve got some things added. Into, you know, their holy book for their catechism, which is instruction. So the cannon refers to the old Testament and the new Testament books, the 66 is sort of the quantified or the, this is the final version for the lay people to read.
So Canam simply means that it’s the approved version. It’s the one that all the deciders got to get. It’s like the constitution, you know, when they sat down to [00:41:00] drop the constitution, everybody had an opinion as to what would be in it. And so after all of the back and forth and discussions in the meetings, they all finally agreed, okay, this is what the cost tuition will say.
And this is what the bill of rights would say. And they all signed off. So you could say that the constitution was canonized, it was the final version. And so that’s what the Canon means is the official version final form.
De’Vannon: All right. Good enough on that. So, so do you get sold out in a, you know, Judas does his thing, the guards come, Peter shanks. One of them slices in ear off, you know, as we do. And so Jesus is so nice. He picked his ear up and stuck it back on the, on the food’s head. I bet you, that had a lasting impression on that guard.
[00:42:00] Now he just received a miracle while he’s going to arrest the person who gave him a miracle. So now Jesus is bought before religious leaders of the day and well put putting, you know, it, the religious leaders know exactly what’s right, that the man hadn’t done anything, but they chose to put the what other people want, what their constituents want over, what they know is right. I’d be willing to say that these people were probably Republicans.
I’m just going to allow myself that bit of shade here. Cause it’s my show and I didn’t do what the fuck I want. And so that wouldn’t, you know, it, that religion in front of politics, you know, I think the two of them make strange bedfellows. And so go ahead, branch.
Branch: Well, instead of Republicans, we might say hypocrites, you know, that’s what Jesus called them. That’s what he called the, [00:43:00] the leaders of the Jewish community and the religious leaders of his day. There was the farracies, which were the scholarly. And official religious leaders. There, the Sadducees, which were the sort of the next group down, they work, they were religious people.
They’re like Christians today versus versus, you know, the priest and the Pope. So the priest and the Pope would have been the Pharisees and the people who attended church would have been the Sadducees. They were also a lot of the merchants in the more wealthy in society of that day. And then you had, you know, all the mass of people who were the workers and the downtrodden and the poverty stricken, and Jesus addresses the leaders, the rich, the powerful as hypocrites simply because they say one thing [00:44:00] and they do another.
And so. You know, if you look at our day and age, we have a lot of hypocrites also in our time that say what we should be doing and then turn right around and actually do the same thing. So he called them hypocrites. And not necessarily all Republicans, certainly they’re sitting the Democrats, but if we think of them as hypocrites people who are, you know, telling us how we should behave and holding up the Bible as their evidence of how we should behave and then behind closed doors or in our world today, blatantly in the media, in front of everybody, they continue to behave the exact ways that they’re declaring that others should not behave.
So [00:45:00] hypocrites of Jesus. Hypocrites of our days. Same people, different time, you know, different label and different clothing.
De’Vannon: Facts. And the thing is not, it’s not be fitting for us to waste emotion, being angry at the hypocrites of the day because these things are ordained of the Lord. You know, if everybody was acting right and everything back in the day, then the crucifixion wouldn’t have never happened. You know? So even the evil, they see the Bible says that God creates the evil and the good, you know, but he uses them all according to his purpose.
So once we understand and accept that, then we stopped being angry. Like say, when kids die, when crazy shit like Donald Trump happens, you know, you know, when the Corona virus happens, you know, as bad as these things are. Good still comes out of them in some way. But at the end of the day, the Lord is ushering this world towards its inevitable end.
But until that [00:46:00] time comes, there are certain things that God wants to happen. And he’s using all of these people. I would never want a public high position like that because you know, all authority belongs to God. And if you have something to do with charting policy, that changes literally the course of history and the whole world, you, you know, God was like, just so has its fingers on you.
Like, I look at them just like. I think it was on a chess board. So it doesn’t matter if you’re the president, the vice-president a Congressman or whoever public servant you. I mean uh, you’re you have your accountability before the Lord is like very, very, very, very high, you know, in my opinion, because what you do affects like everyone, you know, and nothing you do is done in a corner.
And therefore and I do believe the Bible says something about like judgment will start like at the church, you know, you know, it’s, it starts with those who have to do with the rendering judgment. And it’s so easy to fall into being a hypocrite. The [00:47:00] moment you start to nitpick at somebody else for not living the way you think they should.
I do believe that you’ve become a hypocrite because we all sin every day. And the Lord says all sin is the same. So where the not you stole a toothpick or a woman went to go get an abortion. You, you, you toothpick thief cannot stand there and pull it up. You know, the pictures of the gross babies outside the abortion clinic with a stolen toothpick in your pocket, thinking that it’s going to be all right for you when you stand before the Lord.
So I’m going to say this again, people, we were not put on this earth to straighten everybody else out. We were not put on this earth, the fuck with other people. Some people go in here and change brands. Some people are just gonna be so caught up in their own insecurities and inferiorities that they just can’t help, but try to demean and belittle other people so that they can feel better about themselves, but leave people alone.
Our God said it. If you show mercy, you will receive mercy. But if you show judgment, then you will receive judgment [00:48:00] without mercy. So which one do you want? But you can’t, you can’t do nothing but reap what you saw. And so it doesn’t matter how good stuff is for you now. Everything is subject to change.
You don’t know what tomorrow holds or not even what a day may bring. So you might have money and procedure and position. You don’t know that these times are changing so fast. You know, everyone was talking about the cocaine or do you use with, I think Kevin McCarthy and his little friend who decided to snitch last week and the Republican party, you know, and Kevin McCarthy didn’t have nothing to say about, you know, You know, Lauren and Barbara and all this crazy ass people, but the mama, they started talking about cocaine or these where he may have been involved.
And all of a sudden he’s available to speak,
not judging you, anyone for having cocaine or these I’ve done it myself. However, you don’t, you don’t see me telling people what they’re not supposed to do either. You know, I’m leaving everybody alone. So [00:49:00] I’m trying to get into heaven myself. So,
oh Lord Jesus. So, so the, so the politicians of the day I knew believed the Bible said that, you know, they didn’t want to cause a stir amongst the people. So they just gave them what they want. We do not hold public office. Branton. I don’t have the platform that we have to just do what the fuck we want.
You know, we have a mandate in our, we have a great responsibility to people. So these leaders weren’t praying, they didn’t, I didn’t read and there we need them prayed, you know, what should I do? You know, or anything like that? They let the voice of the people sway them. They didn’t go into their prayer closet.
They didn’t reach out for the Lord. You know, I didn’t see any of that, you know, you know, and these are the things that are shared Jesus onto the cross. So he’s onto the cross. They didn’t flatter the thorny crown, slap them, spit on him. One person helped him, [00:50:00] everyone else just looked. And so, so so now he’s up there on this cross.
I believe he has like a murder and a thief on either side of him. He actually wasn’t crucified by himself. So, this is where we get this whole cross from. So you see crosses hanging around with people’s necks on the back of their fucking cars next to the fish in all of these different Christian symbols and so on and so forth.
So what was it, all this Jesus stuff about? Why did he come here one earth? How does seem dying all them years ago? Do anything for me? You know, this is the, this is like the meat of why we’re having this whole discussion today and why Easter is such a big deal. Take it away brand.
Branch: well, let’s back up a minute demand because you said something about the crowd there. And I don’t know if we had talked about this before. I don’t think so because of the crucifixion, Passover is the [00:51:00] celebration that the crucifixion takes place. There’s a weekend three day weekend. We call it Easter. The Jews call it Passover.
And what it is is celebrating the. Jews and the Israelites leaving Egypt getting out of bondage would Moses led them out of Egypt towards the promised land. And so Passover symbolizes them symbolizes and recognizes. And it is a celebration to acknowledge that Moses taking the Jews out of bondage in Egypt, when Jesus entered Jerusalem for Passover, Passover happens obviously every year and same weekend.
What we call Easter Christians call Easter and in Jesus’s day, [00:52:00] virtually everyone in the country who could travel to Jerusalem. Orthodox Jews and practicing Jews would travel to Jerusalem for this festival for the celebration. And when Jesus entered the city he had the entire route into Jerusalem, was lined with people, celebrating his, coming into the city for that celebration jump forward.
Two days later, when he’s standing before the CEP two agenda, which is the 70 members of the Jewish high order both political and religious, primarily religious, the religious leader for also the political leaders. He’s standing before them in sort of a trial situation. And they’re condemning. To [00:53:00]death for being a rebel, a zealot who they believe is going to overthrow their authority, because he’s got so many of the people supporting him, they think he’s going to cause a rebellion and they’ll get thrown out of office.
And so they have a trial, they condemn him to death, but because they have no authority to actually put him to death, they send him over to the Romans, to just pilot, the governor of Judah and Jerusalem at that time, governor of the province. And they send him over to stand trial a second time, a pilot listens to, it says he’s not guilty.
Sends him back to the Septuagint and. They refused to hear it. And they sent him back to Pontus, pilot, Pontus pilot says, you know, [00:54:00] I’m not going to condemn him to death. So I’ll let you, the Jews decide, you know, what he does. He gets a prisoner out of the prison cell or Rabis and brings him around in the stage and brings Jesus out on the stage and then asks the people who are assembled below, you know, who they should save and who they should put to down.
My point is the number of people who were there at that time at the death sentence time was certainly less than the people who were lining the streets two days prior, celebrating Jesus’s entry into the city. And you’ve got to probably imagine that the crowd who was at the was hearing. Was probably made up of some hand-picked people you know, sort of like the religious or political people, getting their shells to [00:55:00] be in the crowd.
So when pilot says who you all made it release, but rabbits or Jesus, you know, they all cry out Barabis and that’s how it comes to pass that the death sentence is actually decided now because the Jews can kill anyone. The Romans had the duty and the honor to actually put Jesus to death. So there’s a, there’s the big difference in the crowds and their demeanor towards Jesus.
Just kind of you know, the fix was in, so to speak much like we, we experienced today and so. Situations that we are part of, or we are part of as observers, the fix was,
De’Vannon: Yeah, shouldn’t be being. And
Branch: the system [00:56:00] was rigged.
De’Vannon: as it was then, so it is now, but it looks, it looks a rig to us, but the Bible says that the lot may be cast in the lap, but its every outcome is of the Lord. His stuff is not random to him. But do you see is not isn’t that required for us as humans to understand that every freaking thing, you know, God understands everything and all of the random stuff it’s his will.
It is so, so Jesus is on the Kraus. Scott hanging out, you know, it’s not like, you know, he, then they’re challenging him, you know, Hey, if you’re really the son of God, you just get yourself down from there, you know, making a mockery of him while he’s up there, he’s got two homies on the right and the left, one-to-one throwing shade at him.
And the other one’s like Hey, I believe. And so and so they [00:57:00] mix vinegar with gall, but it on a sponge, they extended up to Jesus’ mouth, all these hanging out here on this Crouse. And I think he held him well, was it from the show? I can’t remember. I think it was about three hours. So that maybe he wasn’t up there on that, on that cross that tells you specifically in the gospels, but it wasn’t like.
I like that super quick death or anything like that. It was like in my opinion, a long drawn out, slow, miserable death. And so they mixed this vinegar with gall and they put it up to his mouth. He tasted, he spits it out. I think some Bibles might call it wine. I think some might call it like a mixture of concoction.
And so I wanted to talk about the difference between a NAZA right and a Nazarene, because I do believe that there are those people who would use a scripture like this to try to further condemn the consumption [00:58:00] of alcoholic beverages. Okay. I want to be, I just want to say that there’s nothing wrong. If you want a drink, you a Cabernet Sauvignon or some damn Jack Daniels.
I mean, for what it’s worth. I mean, the liquor is a derived from fucking plants and all this Scottish shit, you know, but the Bible does warn us against excessive drinking. Again, God’s rules and laws and principles are there to help us. When you think about them, they kind of make sense. Common sense.
Wouldn’t want to over-drink anyway, you get all fucked up. You spend way too money. He may wake up in jail or thinking body parts and shit. And I’ve been through enough drunken revelry in my life. I think God had the right idea, you know, a sip or two will do. And so So I’m just going to read this. So in the Hebrew Bible, a Nazarite is one who voluntarily took a vow.
These vowels are described the [00:59:00] numbers, chapter six, verses one through 21 Nazarite comes from the Hebrew word Nasar meaning consecrated or separated. Those who put themselves under NAZA right vial, which is how like Samson was in the book of judges. That’s why he, you know, his strength was in his hair and he wasn’t supposed to cut his hair.
Those who put themselves under Nazarite vow do so by adding onto themselves a degree of sanctity, as it says for some length of time. So they do things like they abstained from all wine and anything else made from the great vine plant, such as cream of tar, tar, GrapeSEED oil, et cetera. They refrain from cutting their hair. And then they, they, and they, then they do not become ritually impure by contact with corpses or graves, even though it was a family member. So Jesus has raised people from the dead touch, plenty of corpses, you know, turn the water into wine and everything like that. So he was not a, I don’t see him as a NAZA right now.
A Nazareen is simply [01:00:00] somebody who’s born in the city of Nazareth. And so it was fascinating to me when I came across as this difference here. And I really wanted to point that out. But what do you, what do you think about that?
Branch: While you’re talking about people who are fundamentalists or, you know, like the people we see in Jerusalem and Israel today in the garb, there has Siddiq, is there sort of their sector, their label, and they are fundamentalist Jews. They are you know, practicing old Testament kinds of rituals and lifestyles.
And that’s like the fundamentalist and any religion, you know, have sort of a set of rules that they adhere to pretty stringently. One thing we have to remember, especially in Jesus’ day, but literally up until [01:01:00] at least the 19th century and into the 20th century. Most people drank alcoholic beverages, beer, and wine being, you know, the, the core of alcohol not because they wanted to get drunk, but because the water was not good to drink so much water, they didn’t have any purification systems or methods.
So all the water that they drank came from Wells and streams and rivers, and most of it was contaminated, you know bacteria, all kinds of things growing in the waterways. So it was not the best health conscious thing to do to drink the water. And that’s why people would drink wine and beer because it had been through a fermentation process that helped cleanse that water that was being [01:02:00] used in it.
So it wasn’t so much. A cultural thing. It was a health issue. And you know, like say this was all up until at least the 19th century and 20th century, most water systems were not running with Predix or pure water. So there was a health factor involved. So if you abstained from drinking beer or wine, except in a ritual or worser situation, that it would be like a fasting scenario where you were, you know, keeping your body from indulging orient by being in something that the common man or the common person did on a regular basis, drank wine and beer.
Because they couldn’t, or wouldn’t drink for water. And so as a fundamentalist, you would only partake in those things that had to do with your worship [01:03:00] service or, you know, your religious traditions or doing it for religious purposes. You wouldn’t just go out and drink wine or beer. And that may be what the common person was doing simply so they could be hydrated.
So there’s a couple of different ways to look at that, but the fundamentalists there, their whole intent is to stick as closely as possible to what their principles and they’re gone. And their liturgies describe as a holy life.
De’Vannon: Right. And so was the Pentecostals who. tried to drill that into me. You know, that drinking wine is, you know, like the devil and everything like that. And I think they meant well,
but at the end of the day, what they told me, wasn’t the truth, you know? And it was founded in, in a, in a gross [01:04:00] misunderstanding of the word and how to look at it, which is why I’m such a big proponent of reading and studying the Bible for yourself in, and I’m not really so much for denominations anymore anyway, about growth in those.
But but you know, it was a good start, some good training wheels. I love new churches as training wheels, you know, use them as you need to, but you know, you got to graduate from college at some point, you know, I don’t see why people shouldn’t need a church to teach them how to reach God that he died for the rest of their lives.
At some point you should get the. You know, you should, you should learn. So, okay. So he’s nailed to the cross. His blood is flowing, so to take the spear, shanks him in like his rib and some water comes down. And so oh, wait a minute. I, wasn’t going to talk about Daniel. Cause you’ve mentioned about taking a [01:05:00] break from wine.
So Daniel, there’s a book of Daniel in the old Testament. This is probably my second favorite book in the Bible. Second, only to the book of revelation because they talk so much about the same stuff in revelation or these angels and all this stuff going on. And I just love, love, love, love, love. And so angel was gone, the angel Daniel was going through some changes baby.
And when he was in Babylon and, and they, and, and they say that he took a break from wine, you know, for like three weeks. To fast for the deliverance of his people. And so I believe that that was stated for a reason, you know, why did, why did the Lord want us to know that he took a break from wine because Daniel was turning up and he was drinking wine for all the reasons brands just said.
So we have precedent that it is okay. To have you some wine, he took his fasting break, like you were just saying for spiritual purposes. And that’s when the angel Gabriel came and flew to him with his visions and everything. And we have all, all of the [01:06:00] beauty of the book of Daniel. And so so we’re up here on the cross.
Jesus is bleeding. So branch, if I’m new to Christianity of I’m considering this, but explain to me how this guy hanging on a cross, getting killed and bleeding with this water coming out of the side and mixed with blood. What, what, what does it do for me today? I don’t understand, like how does it, what does it do for me?
How did they even help me?
Branch: wow. Well, the, the innocent, I pulled out one Ephesians one. Verse seven says very simply in the ham, meaning Jesus, we have the redemption, meaning the path of spiritual reconciliation to God, the father, through his blood for the forgiveness of sins. And so [01:07:00] what the blood of Christ does is release us from our sins that we’ve committed.
So in him, we have redemption through his blood for the forgiveness of sins, and that’s what that whole blood flowing represents. He gave himself as a sacrifice for us so that we could Or not experience death. And that’s what the blood of Christ is. It’s covering our sins so that we don’t have to die and be separated from God.
De’Vannon: So, yeah. So when he says the death, y’all, he means like a spiritual death as opposed to physical. ’cause we all got to die physically once, you know, as the scriptures [01:08:00] say, so in the old Testament, if somebody wanted to be forgiven of sayings, they used to have to go to the priest. And there, you know, it’d be a lot of animal butchering.
You know, this is a principle. This is where human understanding. You just, at some point, once God has said something, he’s ordained structured, it is what it is. Now. God does not have to explain himself to us. And so us as humans, we got to gain some humility about that and understand who has the power and who doesn’t.
God is the ultimate. One of authority, not the president, not ourselves, you know, no, nobody but him. He requires a blood sacrifice. This is the way it’s always been. I didn’t ask him why it is what it is. And so Jesus was the like last sacrifice. So we don’t have to do, like they did in the old Testament and take a bull and a Ram or a dove or whatever, and go down there and chop it up for the blood to flow.
You know, it’s something about when God sees the blood, [01:09:00] you know, it changes, you know, he goes from being angry to cool. You know, that’s just the weight that this does, that is just an ordinance that just exists. And so and, and, and the buck stops there. So Jesus, his whole purpose. He’s this bloody sacrificing on this cross from this point on no more animal sacrifices needs. We don’t have to make a trip to the temple we can. And so when we say we call on the sacrifice that we call on the blood of Jesus, we’re not asking him to pour blood all over us. What we’re saying is that we would like to take God up on his offer of what the sacrifice represents to forgive us. Now, I was listening to somebody having to do with the war on Ukraine, a lady who was Ukrainian, she was saying, she’s not afraid to die.
Jesus. She’s just afraid to die because she hasn’t had a chance to make it to confession yet. Okay. And I’m listening to her and thinking, [01:10:00] I get what you’re saying, lady, and I’m here for your strength. You’re kicking some serious Russian ass over there, but this concept that we have to wait to go to a confession, to talk to a human before we can get right with God defeats the entire purpose of Jesus. And so by that that’s so wholesale, the practice is going back to the old Testament and being like, Well, I can’t get right until I leave my house and go talk to this person so they can mediate for me. Jesus, didn’t done that. And so he released you from this whole thing. And when I heard her say that I’m thinking, Hmm, wonder she’s Catholic.
And I don’t know, there’s other religions out there that still make you go through a person to get absolved of your sins, but babies y’all, don’t have to do that wherever you’re at. You can just be like, Jesus, I thank you for that sacrifice. I believe that you exist. Please forgive me my sins. And it’s done the [01:11:00] moment you believe in you, even if you can’t speak, just believe it in your heart.
I don’t know. I’m just going to be quiet. I just cannot with this whole going to a pre thing to get forgiven, I just can’t. I can’t.
Branch: there’s, there’s two scriptures. People should keep in mind. Right? Describe and answer all that. You’ve just said, number one, Matthew seven, verses seven and eight. If you want to know how you get that relationship with God through Jesus Christ started Matthew seven, seven, and eight describes that when you’ve gone there, then go to Romans 10, 9, 10, and 17.
And that will give you what Davanon was just trying to describe. [01:12:00] It gets you, you invited Christ into your life. He’s responded and Romans 10, 9, 10, and 17 describes what that woman in Ukraine needs to do instead of waiting to see an Orthodox priest. To get right with God for possible demise. That’s how simple a relationship with Christ is.
And that’s how easy it is to get to God when you pass away. Yeah, there’s, there’s a lot going on and there’s a lot of people, you know, who are confused and frightened about, well, what happens when I die and am I going to get to heaven? And those two scriptures will answer all those questions.[01:13:00]
De’Vannon: Yeah. And you know, the Lord hasn’t given us a spirit of fear. He doesn’t want us to be afraid. One of the main things that Jesus has critics got on him about was the fact that he talked with me. The Bible says, Jesus taught with such simplicity. You know, his, his, his cool demeanor stood out to, to the religious leaders of the day because they were so extra, you know, and they didn’t really have authority.
You know, when when a dude really has authority and he knows he’s got authority, he don’t have to do too much. It is what it is, you know? And and Jesus taught was Implicity. He made it simple. The whole point of him coming was to take the complications out. And so, because they had all the rituals and although that before, so I don’t get these religions today that still have all the rituals and all, all of that.
I’m like, no, you know, so I can’t, you know, I can’t do nothing about them, but people listening this whole, I know you’ve [01:14:00] seen God presented in a complicated manner, but I’m telling you, that’s just one approach. You do not have to go through all of that. Bullshit. I’m going to call it that I don’t care. You just don’t because people are turned off by that.
They’re like, I’m not going to go there and go through all of this 50 different steps and all of this. And I, you know, people got lives to live and you can do that and you can live your life and totally have Jesus and totally go to heaven. And you don’t have to wait to talk to a fucking man in a booth before you can feel good about yourself. I would never give somebody power over me like that. And so okay. So Jesus is up on the cross. And there’s a guy who wants to go to heaven. If you all know he had like a murder and a thief, I don’t know which one, but one of them was like, Hey, I believe in you. Jesus told him this day, will you be with me in paradise?
Now Jesus is a part of a tri human being. God, the father, God, the son, God, the holy ghost. So the way that man could literally be with him in paradise, if he went to be. [01:15:00] You know God and the holy ghost in heaven, or unless there’s some other paradise that Jesus may have. I don’t know. But so that man didn’t have time to get filled with the holy ghost.
He didn’t have time to go and volunteer in the new world missions. He didn’t have time to stand on stage and preach and tell everyone else that they’re doing wrong. The only thing he had time to do was to accept Jesus and then kick the bucket at the end. But he didn’t have time to go find a priest to confess to
Like that.
And none of it was necessary. He had his faith, he went straight to the head of the organization to Jesus. He didn’t deal with any fucking middlemen like these priests down here on this earth. And he was able to get into heaven that day. That to me is the penultimate example of the simplicity of salvation.
You, this in was directed at hurting other people. And Jesus was like, all right, you believe with me? Cool. I’ll wash it all the way done. That’s too easy for some people to accept. [01:16:00]
Branch: Sure. Yeah. Every organization has its rules and its principles. And out of those two things come, all of the, you know, the methods how they’re gonna operate. And once you get into that realm, then you’re talking about power control and manipulation. And then that’s, you know, what organized religion is all about, you know, make making God eternal.
And so far away that you can’t get to him unless you come through us. And of course, if you’re going to do that, that’s going to cost you something. And if you’re willing to pay that, then perhaps we will speak on your behalf and get you where you want to go. And like you’ve said, none of that is necessarily.
Jesus came for each one of us [01:17:00] who simply believe that he is who he is. And he came for the reason that he came here and that was for salvation. And once we’ve accepted that and believed that to be true in our hearts and speak it with our mouse, just like the guy on the cross, then there’s nothing else, nothing else that needs to be done.
You’ve done all you’re required to do, you know, it’s interesting. You said something about the sacrifice and this is a real difficult concept for some people to understand, you know, God wants us to accept him and voluntarily desire to be with him. And until we do that, he requires a sacrifice for us to make, to show that.
We believe this relationship as possible. And that’s [01:18:00] what happened in the old Testament. Like you said, they used to sacrifice animals, the spilling of blood, because you know, the most feared thing on earth for humans is death. So knowing that death is final, you know, there has to be some relationship, some symbolic relationship about the power of death.
And that’s of course the spilling of blood, you lose enough blood and you’re dead. So the sacrifice represents that death, that transition to death. And so the Jews, the Israelites would sacrifice animals, spill their blood. Of course when enough blood ran out, the animal would be dead or instantly dead, but that represented the sacrifice [01:19:00] instead of death.
And that’s what, you know, God had these Israel lights and the Jews do was sacrifice an animal in order to take the place of death for them. The new Testament explains that Jesus is that sacrifice for those who want that connection and that, you know, skirting up death that eliminating the possibility of death and in making the sacrifice available to us and him giving us his own son, which is the ultimate.
You know, paying for a parent is to lose a child. So in God, the father giving us Jesus as that sacrifice to spill that blood on our behalf so that we [01:20:00] wouldn’t have to experience death because he experienced for us. Then we are reinforcing that desire and that connection that we want to have with God, the father and God, the spirit, and certainly by accepting Jesus as our sacrifice, we then have that third piece of the connection with Jesus.
So there’s, there’s an old Testament value to it and there’s a new Testament value to it. And as you’ve said, it’s very simple. It’s very easy. God never intended anything to be difficult for us to understand. And for that reason, he’s made it easy for us to understand directly with him without having to go through priest, pastor, Pope, rabbi, IE, mom.
We don’t have to go through [01:21:00] somebody here to get the God. We just have to go through Jesus Christ get to God.
De’Vannon: Right. That’s very beautifully stated. And now, yeah. So in case of some preacher, want to be preacher false prophet, false breach, or whatever tries to use, there’s a scripture that says that, you know, how can someone hear, you know, like, but by a preacher or something like that. So then. When you’re looking at that sort of scripture, then you have to get into a, what does the word here really mean?
If you’re looking at it from an ancient context, you know, for me, it’s like hearing implies a sense of understanding or a greater knowledge an expanded grip on some concept or something like that. But the Bible doesn’t say that how can one come to Christ or have salvation, but by a preacher, but it’s okay if you couldn’t have a meeting of the minds, which is what, you know, the word on a [01:22:00]Sunday morning in churches is, you know, it was more like there was supposedly meeting of the minds, but lately it’s just hearing one person speak what they feel about stuff for however long.
But preaching is in many formats. This podcast is a form of pre. Commentaries you read research people have done on the Bible as a form of preaching. Concordance is, is preaching. All preaching is, is declaring the gospel of Jesus in, in when it says that how can one here except what, by like by a preacher or something like that, all that means is, you know, it’s okay to use churches or preachers to gain understanding on certain topics or parts at times that has nothing to do with your personal relationship with God.
That’s two different things, gaining an understanding as you learn as one thing with being close to God and getting forgiven, forgiven for your sins, they got shit to do with preacher. So.
Branch: You know, you mentioned, you mentioned being able to hear in the book of revelation and the very first part in the [01:23:00] letters to the seven churches, each one of those ends with let him who has ears here. And that sort of the simplification of what you’ve just described is that when you have that relationship, you know, being in church and listening is one thing being in church and actually hearing.
It’s a total different reception. So if you have ears, let them hear means if you’re a tenant and you want the word that you will understand the word when it’s heard.
De’Vannon: And so. Oh, and I want people to pray for spiritual understanding. The Lord says in the book of Proverbs and all you’re getting to get understanding, and there’s an earthly [01:24:00]understanding. And then there’s a spiritual understanding and that when it comes to the point in your walk with God, you, you, you cannot apply earth and earthly mind to these spiritual concepts and expect to grasp what’s going on.
And so when it comes down to hearing what you want to be doing is praying for the Lord to open your spiritual ears. So you getting here, but he’s really really saying, so I can get down into your heart. Do you want to learn how to listen with your heart? You know, so we can’t, you know, trying to get logical about stuff that God is doing because God’s wisdom and his might extends beyond his realm.
So I don’t care how much money is behind science. And I love me some science and everything like that, but it has his limitations. God, however, is unlimited. So some stuff, some stuff is going to take us outside of earthly comprehension. So pray for spiritual understanding people because that’s what you need in order to really get close to God. [01:25:00] So.
Branch: John eight 40 John 8 47 tells us John 8 47 says the reason you don’t hear God is because you don’t belong to God. When you belong to God, you will hear what God has to say.
De’Vannon: then there’s that? I do understand that not everybody’s going to be a Christian and I do not look down upon anybody who worships any other being or deity or whatever like that. I don’t mind going to the Buddhist temple and worshiping. I mean, I don’t worship there, but I like to go and listen to what they have to say.
and have a meeting of the minds of very wise, people are baldheaded like I am, and I really feel a unique sense of community since I’m not the only ball bitch running around, you know, which is hard to come by because every fucking body I know has hair.
I’m not mad or anything. I’m just saying they have [01:26:00] phenomenal vegetarian food. At the Buddhist temples. And so, Hey, I get it not everyone’s going to be a Christian. And so, and so, and then let’s just, it is what it is. I’ll be friends with anyone I don’t care. And I don’t look at them as like they’re broken or filthy or dirty, or they need to be converted, you know, but I like to speak about religion and science and everything that we talk about.
Everything. I don’t believe religion should be swept under a Royal. Let’s talk about God too, but we’re not talking about it in a way that we’re suggesting that you should be a Christian or you have to, this is another option and we’re putting it out there and whoever God wants and he will speak to them through this podcast or through his word.
Very easy. But I’m just saying that we’re going to talk about who we fucking and the Kardashians and the drugs we’re doing and the alcohol. And I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that. I’m just saying, talk about Jesus to. Talk about it all. So, so, so now he’s up on this cross, he finally dies. They say it was a great [01:27:00] earthquake.
They say the veil of the temple, which I think maybe it was like maybe laws are written on a wall or something like that was like rent and it was broken and there’s all kinds of symbology there. Some say that earthquake was Jesus’ spirit, descending into hell. Some believe that hell was the center of the earth.
There’s a scripture that says that Jesus’s spirit was in the belly of the earth for three days. Now. Good Friday is the Friday. He was crucified on Easter. Sunday is the day that he ascended from hill from, from, from death. And he came up out, the grave angels were hanging out of his, the poetry are chilling, waiting on Mary Magdalene and you know, oh girl to arrive and show up and totally freak them out.
And so whether or not hill was really in the center of the earth. The, the point is wherever Hale is God isn’t exactly like there. So you don’t want to go there whether or not some people don’t want to believe that it’s fiery there or not, whether it is or isn’t there’s no Jesus. [01:28:00] So you don’t want to go, period. personally, I don’t see why it couldn’t be in the center of the earth. I don’t think we’ve been able to drill down to the core, you know, you know, and then in the book and then it, and when the bottom was pit and all of these things are talked about, like in revelation, it sounds like those things are here.
You know, it wasn’t like when the devil was thrown into the bottom was pit and all of this, I don’t get the sense of these discarded, you know, into some other planet or some other realm. It almost sounds like it’s here. And and then, you know, this earth is set to pass away because in the revelation we see a new heaven and a new.
So this one here was the be consumed than some sort of fire and turns into hell I, That’s not really a far reach for me to imagine, but at the end of the day, I don’t care. Just, I don’t want to be there because there’s no God there, wherever it might be. And so Jesus, perhaps you know, was in the center of the earth, then he got up and he said, all power [01:29:00] is given into my hands that they said, he said he had the keys of life and death or, you know, or something along those lines. I feel like he was busy for those three days. But where do you think, where do you think this was from, from that Friday when he was crucified and died and the earthquake and the clouds and all of the, all of the drama habit to where he popped up on Sunday, like, Hey, all I’m back.
Branch: That’s a hard one to answer. You know, the, the Bible describes Hades as a place of death or a place of rest. Not. And not life, not earth. So a lot of scripture explains that his spirit went to Hades. You know, Hades, you used to describe the place where believers have died. [01:30:00] The Catholic, see it as that purgatory in between life and death, but not L not a place of punishment and, you know, damnation, it’s sort of a holding place for those who’ve died and having an ascendant, either tale or to happen.
So the Bible describes the spirit. You know, his body was put into the, into the cave and, and the rock rolled in front of it to ensure that his body wouldn’t be stolen. By his disciples because the, the leaders, the religious leaders thought that if they, if they stole his body, then, then they could claim that he had been resurrected or his body had been taken away.
So they put this rock and some Roman guards in front of the cave where his [01:31:00] dead body was, but his spirit descended into Hades to, you know, to experience for us this pathway to death. And then of course, on the third day he was being a rose and was, was resurrected again within, within the body. That was in the cave.
I don’t know if that helps clarify it a little bit.
De’Vannon: Right. You know, then, you know, that’s one of those things that, you know, across the body price that we’re not necessarily an agreement on. I love that we’re not all in agreement on everything because it keeps things interesting. And then it also re-establishes, God’s permanence as the only one who absolutely knows everything, you know, we don’t.
Branch: Exactly. Yeah. We’re just conjecturing what we think could be possible.
De’Vannon: right. Which is why I have a real big problem with [01:32:00] people who, who preaches though. They know the absolute truth on everything and it’s not negotiable except for their way of thinking. And I’m all like new, like you’re not God, you just, you just don’t get to have that you just dealt with. So Okay.
So he gets back up and he’s, you know, and he didn’t just get back up and hung out for like an hour or two.
He stayed here for, I want to say about like a good month, you know, and he was hanging out with his disciples and everything showed him the scars and everything like that. And then he pieced out when they were out on the shore, you know, he disappeared in the clouds and he said in the same manner I leave.
So will I return one day? And so, So
this is where we get this. He is risen, hallelujah, the whole Easter Sunday thing, glory. Now, I don’t know where the fucking bunny rabbits and the Cadbury eggs and you know, the color chickens and all of that came from. But fuck it. I like it. You know, fuck Easter candy is great, but I don’t know what the fuck it means.[01:33:00]
It’s there, there are no bunny rabbits and Cadbury eggs and chicken, egg hunts, and like,
Hmm. I know dice. And they thought like the brown eggs. I don’t think that was a go well with color.
Branch: every everyone’s reward is different.
De’Vannon: Oh, someone gets a dark chocolate bunny or some get a white chocolate bunny. That’s
the same way that white chocolate has so much sugar in it. I like the bright color, my white coat, the white chocolate, but oh my God. All the sugar though. Anyway, so, so that pretty much concludes what I wanted to cover about the crucifixion about Easter and everything like that. And hopefully give somebody a different.
take on this whole [01:34:00] Jesus and the cross thing.
Hopefully we’re in tonight. I have simplified it for you. Also. So I have in my notes here, I just, I just want to throw a little bit of more shade at the Catholic church, because they’re one of my favorite people to be shady towards. You mentioned the word catechism and before we had talked about, or you had mentioned, or I heard it some damn whereabouts, how in catechism, you can’t get baptized, like until you’re a certain age. And I don’t know if it was you brands, you said that baptism baptism as an infant doesn’t count. Is that a statement you would agree with? I don’t know if that was you or somebody else that I heard say that.
Branch: Well, it doesn’t count towards the concept of born again in terms of understanding a baptism as an infant, in my opinion, and my reading is to bring you into the community of belief or church [01:35:00] you know, that your parents belong to, or a scribe to, you know, for our CME, Christians of the baptism is an acknowledgement that you as a baby now have.
And there’s a desire to have you as part of that community. And for, for me NAS infant baptism is in John three. We’re told by Jesus. When he’s talking to Nick of Amos, who’s one of the religious leaders of the day. He’s trying to explain to Nicodemus. You know, what being born again is all about. And nickname says, well, you know, how can a person be born again?
How can they reenter the womb to be born again? And Jesus says, no, you’re misunderstanding. It’s a spiritual rebirth. It’s not a physical rebirth, but you can only [01:36:00] experience the spiritual rebirth. If you understand what the spiritual. Is, and what it’s about and what its purpose is. And the spiritual rebirth is so that we have an understanding about Jesus Christ, who he is, why he came, what its purpose is, what his role is, what his mission was all about, what we have that understanding and have that relationship with him.
Then we have been born again spiritually and as such, because we are now part of him and his holy spirit. When we die in our mortal flesh, you know, is non-existent anymore. Our spirits still leave lives and we’ll leave our body to continue to be with him in the spiritual realm. And so it’s necessary. And in that instance, For us [01:37:00] to be rebaptized or baptized as an adult or in the Jewish terms, you know, bar mitzvah at age 13, the Bible describes age 13 as that passageway from child to adult.
And so that’s what a Jewish child is. Apartments are back misfits for the, for the female at age 13, bringing them into the religious community, full fledge. So for Christians, you know, being baptized as an infant, brings us into the community, into the church, into the religious community, but being baptized.
Say it 13 or as an adult after 13, then we should be mature enough to understand what the process is all about. And that it’s a [01:38:00] spiritual rebirth and rebirth being born again with new knowledge of who Christ is, you know, and his purpose and roles and all of those things dealing with his ministry. So that’s, that’s born again, it’s a spiritual thing as opposed to baptism as an infant being part of the community.
De’Vannon: So basically make it personal, you know?
Branch: Yeah, yeah, exactly. You could only make it personal if you have, you know, age and maturity enough to understand. What a personal relationship is. Child has no understanding at all about a personal relationship. It knows its parents going up, but outside of that experience, you know, as children, we know very little about the world and about our lives in the world.[01:39:00]
De’Vannon: You know, and you would think, you know, someone gets close to God, even if they were baptized as a baby, they don’t even remember it. You know, that they would probably want to get baptized again. I was, I think I’ve been baptized like two or three times in my life. Sometimes people go through a whole lot of changes and they want to do like a renewal sort of symbolic baptism.
And I think that that’s totally fine. There’s nothing. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that, especially since it’s coming from such a pure. Desire to connect with God and did kind of like reset yourself in a big way. So I don’t know, you got baptized as a baby. There’s nothing wrong. If you want to do it again, the Bible does mention something about one faith in one God and one baptism.
But I think that might be like a collective. There may be more like a collective, like whole thing there, the way that’s meaning, buddy.
Branch: well, that’s that, that resets a great word to use because you know, that one [01:40:00]baptism is not that childhood baptism, that one baptism is speaking about is this adult acknowledgement of a spiritual connection? You know, that’s the baptizing, that’s the baptism that it’s referring to. So it’s like John at the river, Jordan baptizing, all of those adults who are coming to know Christ and coming to understand.
What his divinity and his deity men, as they were seeing the miracles, you know, before their very eyes, that’s not something that can take place, you know, among us as human beings, that’s special. And when you see that miracle in his day and age, that was new information. So you want to, you know, if you believe what you’ve seen, you want to be close to the person or [01:41:00] people who can make that happen.
And if they can make that happen, then perhaps what they’re talking about has validity beyond just words. So, you know, those were, there are no infants being baptized in the river, Jordan, by John the Baptist, those were all free thinking, adults who were discovering and learning new things in their lives.
About their lives and about these new teachers in their lives. So they were consciously pursuing it’s like you said, this reset of new understanding and new life and new expression of who I am now, because now I understand what that relationship with God really looks like and what it really means to me personally.
De’Vannon: So, [01:42:00] you know, the baby baptisms, all cute when you put them in their little white outfits and take them out. So the priest, whoever can dab them in the forehead water, but you gotta get. Body dunks, baby, you know, you know, so re-explain to that kid. And once they get older, what the whole purpose of it was because I know people who got baptized as a baby, they didn’t know what the fuck it was for.
They don’t know what the whole point was. It was just one of the church things that’s not going to stand before the Lord child. You need to know why you do what you do and why things happen. And so let’s get away from so much ritual and get back to, to the T to true religion, which is our personal relationship with God.
You know, let’s let, let’s get some head knowledge, all.
Branch: Well, Jesus and Jesus explains to Nicodemus. You know, you have to be cleanse, you have to be baptized with water. You know, you need to be dumped in that water so that you can wash [01:43:00] away symbolically all the sins that you’re leaving behind. By becoming a new creation by becoming a new creation in Christ.
And so we have to be washed of those sins physically as the symbol that we’re being washed of those sins spiritually. And he says, you have to be baptized in water and you have to be baptized in spirit. So our physical body is baptized with the water. When we die, our spirit will be baptized by the fire or by refining of our spirit passing back under his spirit, that passage into the realm of heaven or being with Christ and subsequently being with God, the father
De’Vannon: So [01:44:00] what.
Branch: Go ahead. Nope, water and water, water and fire, you know, body and spirit.
De’Vannon: Absolutely. So some people don’t go to churches and everything like that. So they want to get baptized. How can they do it? I’ve seen, I’m thinking about it doesn’t happen. And people’s like pools at their houses. Of course, people go down into the rivers in do with I like if I knew somebody and they wanted to be baptized, I would do it for them.
You know, I have enough faith to do it. I don’t know that you ha I don’t, I don’t know that I would go so far as to say you have to be an ordained minister of though. I am, you know, I do, you know, I did go through that process. So somebody is listening and they might want to get baptized, but they’re like, there’s no way they’re going to go to a church.
Do you think two people with enough faith in a, in a tub full of water could get together and make it happen? Or what do you recommend.
Branch: I think that certainly can happen. John, the [01:45:00] Baptist, John, the Baptist was not ordained and he baptized Christ himself. So the ordination is not, you know, the necessity, the necessity is the belief and the face that, you know, baptism is a symbol or a symbolic action that we take for the world to see about a commitment that we’ve made.
You know, so yeah. Any, anyone, I think anyone can baptize anyone else if they have. Have that relationship and be, have that understanding, you know, the few people that I’ve been involved with and baptizing we’ve always met beforehand and discussed what the procedure is all about and why it’s happening.
And again, this can all be found in John chapter [01:46:00] three, the baptized, the person who’s requesting baptism should go through some discussion about, you know, what it is we’re doing and why we’re doing it, what the purpose is. And then the explanation like we’ve just been having about this transition between flesh and spirit.
And the reason we’re going in is because this transition after death is going to take place with our spirit and his spirit. So I think a little bit. You know, edification a little education, a little explanation where both people understand, okay. Yeah. Now I know why we’re doing it. And the purpose of the reasons behind it.
And I still want to do it. I’m entrusting you to be that conduit for me to help me, you know, go through this process. And I [01:47:00] think once that’s established both parties can feel really, really good about what they’re doing and the Lord’s day.
De’Vannon: Amen. Amen. Amen. So I want to read this, the last thing we’re going to talk about. We’re going to revisit the Eucharist for just a second, which is when our previous conversation. And I was on a read this, which is a part of what something you had sent to me. And it says relationship between the risk for, by the believer and the believers pre uterus commitment by born again, baptism that ends that sentence.
Then the second sentence says outward expression of one spiritual commitment. Baptism equals inward commitment of one’s outward expression Eucharist by Eucharist. We mean convenient, the break. What did you mean?
Branch: well, the, you, you know, again, [01:48:00] symbol symbol symbol, the Eucharist, the breaking of bread and the taking of wine, right. Is our outward or physical or hearing now expression. Of an inward belief that we now have a connection with Jesus Christ and his purpose as our sacrifice and the covering of our sins, so that we don’t have to experience death, spiritual death.
At the end of this life, the Eucharist is that symbol of our belief. Likewise, you know, baptize, baptism, whether it’s as an infant or as an adult, a free thinking freewill free accepting baptism is our outward [01:49:00] expression to anyone who may see it or be watching or enjoying it with us, that outward expression of this new understanding of our spiritual.
The physical things. We’re going through here to express to the people in our community that are preaching it, and that love it as much for us as they did for them. Those are physical expressions, human expressions of the new spiritual me who now exists with Jesus Christ and with God father and spirit.
De’Vannon: I love. I don’t know, I just love all of this. And so there’s a, the, the, the, you know, Jesus Christ is a world of wonder and amazement and [01:50:00] just pure energy and true life. It’s this, you know, some say it’s the greatest story ever told. I just love the fact that it’s a story that, that, that will never end. You know, you read a good book or you see a good movie.
You just hate when it’s over, then you have The whole book hangover thing, and it’s like a whole emotional roller coaster, and it’s all fucked. You know, I’d be late. I think I subconsciously delayed ending some books and some series of, cause I don’t want to have that feeling when it ends, but this Longwood crisis something that’s, that’s going to continue forever.
And to all eternity, you never stop learning about God. This is a joy that you have that never has to stop.
Branch: The great thing about this relationship with Christ is the sequel is going to even be better than the original.
De’Vannon: When God’s children get together. [01:51:00] My favorite song by the Mississippi mass choir from their album. I’ll see you in the rapture. I love that song. It’s a rocking song too. It’s not, it’s not a slow him though. Or you can like get your tambourine out and your dancing shoes for that one. So I’m just going to speak life.
I’m not going to pray for pray on this episode. I’m just going to say, I just speak life, speak life, and I just speak life. And with that, you can say whatever you want to say, and we’ll close this thing out.
Branch: Well for your listeners who have been listening, but haven’t pulled the trigger yet. What davana just described is how your heart will leap with joy when you have that relationship you know, so hard to express to people who aren’t in that place yet what they’re doing. But the further down the spiritual path that you walk [01:52:00] with Christ, he shows you new things every day in your world, where you begin to appreciate him and his power and his desire to help us live better and more productive lives in his name.
So give it a shot, you know, consider what you haven’t been considering before, because you’re sort of been blinded by the ways and the things of the world. There’s a different path. And once you’re on that path, your life is going to change dramatically and your life is going to get better dramatically.
Amen.
De’Vannon: That’s the that’s some drama I can get on board with. Amen. Thank you so much. Branchy Solei Manoj. Oh, publishing.com. Of course. All this will go in the showy notes and I’m sure it won’t be long for branches [01:53:00] back on again. Thank you so much for coming and blessing us with your knowledge.
Branch: All right, buddy. Thank you for having me always a pleasure and honor to be with you.
De’Vannon: Thank you all so much for taking time to listen to the sex drugs and Jesus podcast. It really means everything to me. Look, if you love the show, you can find more information and resources at sex, drugs, and jesus.com or wherever you listen to your podcast. Feel free to reach out to me directly at DeVannon@SexDrugsAndJesus.com and on Twitter and Facebook as well.
My name is De’Vannon and it’s been wonderful being your host today and just remember that everything is going to be all right.
