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So Demon Slayer is one of those animes that I feel has a ton of moral lessons behind the crazy fight scenes, the heartbreaking plot, and fun character designs. For me personally, whenever I watch any show or movie, I immediately start thinking what lesson the author's trying to communicate to me. And for Demon Slayer, I actually think that Christians could be better followers of Jesus if they applied these lessons that are in the show that I'm about to tell you. And before I get started, I do want to say that many Christians watching this will be like, what? Demon Slayer? How dare you promote Demon Slayer. You're gonna stumble a bunch of believers. And to you, I'd say, yeah, yeah, I get you. This anime definitely isn't for everybody. For one, it's gruesome, and the first episode is pretty graphic. And on top of that, there's quite a few characters that I believe should be wearing more clothes. And I also don't get why one of the characters has three wives. So really fast. If sexual immorality is something that you're currently struggling with, or if you're sensitive to blood and graphic scenes, then I do not recommend this anime to you. But that aside, if you have the spiritual and emotional freedom to watch the show, then the first lesson that every Christian should honestly apply to their life is one found in episode one of the Mugen Train arc. And this episode highlights one of my favorite characters of all time, Rengoku. So, quick little backstory for all you non Demon Slayer fans. The show is basically about a kind of military group that are Demon Slayers, thus the name of the show. And their goal is to essentially eradicate all demons because they're evil. And the Demon Slayers have key leaders known as Hashira. And the word hashira in Japanese is. Is pillar. So the Demon Slayers are essentially held up and supported by these captains like Pillars. And Rengoku is the flame Hashira, with a fiery personality. He's always smiling and almost comes off as a little obnoxious at first because he's loud and yells delicious over and over again. But let's get back to the lesson. So in the first episode of the second season, I can't say stand the girl selling bentos. Yes, this girl right here. And the reason why is because she didn't believe in demons, despite the fact that they're real. So in the Demon Slayer world, demons are the main enemy, and they roam the world and kill off people in horrible ways. But this girl here, living in, I guess the feudal era of Japan, did not believe in their existence. So her mind was just this blissful utopia where I guess nothing bad happens. And this right here is where I'm going to talk about something that I cannot stand in the American church. I remember there was this one time I was in Bible college and I was giving a practice Bible study. And as an illustration slash, attention getter, I said, what if there was a shooter that started to open fire and shoot people in the main sanctuary? What would you do? And the reason why I said this is because I was trying to drive home the idea that in the same way that there should be urgency to eliminate the threat, there should be a similar urgency when we preach the gospel because people are actually going to hell. And you know what someone said as constructive criticism, my analogy was unrealistic. So, honestly, I don't know what kind of bubble some believers live in, but we live in a demented world where real people actually get hurt. And I think that a lot of Christians live exactly like this ignorant girl in this episode and think life is this happy go lucky place where church is this dainty place that you go to on Sundays and you look all holy because you're listening to a Bible study and you sing some rendition of Amazing Grace and you go home and maybe post some Bible studies on Instagram where the reality is that following God looks dirty. Sometimes it looks like us confronting our sin, us trying to reach people who want nothing to do with God, and us getting back up again and again after we fall to our flesh. And honestly, that's why I love Rengoku, because here's the lesson. If you didn't catch it, demons should be understood to be real and they should be fought. And Rengoku was someone who saw legitimate victims who were in need of saving, and he smiled in the face of danger and then used his strength to protect them. And if that's not a hero, I don't know what else is. And something that I think is so accurate to real life is that in the demon slayer world, there are only a few, few that are demon slayers because only a few of them have the strength to fight them. And in my opinion, I think the same is true with followers of Jesus, where most Christians either ignore people's need for salvation and will live this content life of them doing their own thing. And then there's the few believers that fight the front lines and they regularly pray for the salvation of their unsaved family and friends. And they make efforts to spread their faith in an effort to speak to save them from hell. So that's the first lesson. And before I get to the second one, I guess I should mention really fast that if you have not watched Demon Slayer yet, I'm gonna hit some pretty big spoilers. So stop right here now, if you're not caught up with the second season, which you honestly should be. All right. So the second season comes from, again, my favorite character, Rengoku. And spoiler alert, he dies. Why did you have to die, Rengoku? And man, I cried so hard when I watched him the movie theaters. It was. It was horrible. So again, for those of you who don't know, in the Demon Slayer world, there are higher ranked demons that are much stronger than typical demons. And Rengoku, being the only one capable of facing this higher ranked demon, died a heroic death trying to fight this really bad dude. But even though he lost his life, Rengoku won that day. Because other than him, not a single person died that night. And Rengoku's sacrifice led to him inspiring the next generation of Demon Slayers, which I love. And his death. Right here is where I got the second lesson, which is a true hero is one who lays their life down. And you know, you can't get more biblical than that. Jesus set the standard and died on the cross so we wouldn't have to die in hell. And as simple as laying your life down sounds, it's difficult. We as people are naturally selfish. We want to be noticed and recognized. And a lot of times we want things done our way. And when I saw Rengoku lay his life down, I was reminded of who God calls me to be. Someone who is willing to live and die if need be for my fellow man. And this idea is a tough one to apply because life is not as dramatic as this anime. But at the same time, it doesn't mean that we can't make small sacrifices. I think dying to self can look like us waking up early to pray and read our Bibles, or us taking ownership and apologizing when we mess up, or us being sensitive to other people's needs and making it a point to meet them. But no Rengoku. Why? All right, now to our final lesson, which comes from season five, the Hashira training arc, where the main character, Tanjiro, as well as the rest of the Demon Slayers are given this special training led by the Hashira to help them with future fights. And the reason why they're holding this special training is because the leaders sensed the need for their entire group to grow in strength. So they gather all the Hashira have them set up their own stations to teach specific lessons to the Demon Slayers. And they essentially work together to help them all grow. And this reminds me of an analogy that I heard from a preacher that I love, Alistair Becky. And he said something along the lines of this. Imagine you were in the military and you were about to start basic training, which, by the way, has a lot of strength training and conditioning. And your commanding officer said, all right, you're in the military now. Now, I know some of you might be uncomfortable leaving your homes, and I know some of you are expecting to do some training, which we will get to. But for now, let's begin by getting to know each other first. So we set up some pizza stand stations and we have some donuts here, and we have some fun games and icebreakers that you can play as you get to know each other. And in the next few months, if you feel like it, and only if you want to, then you could join us in the fight. And Alastair went on to say that as absurd as that sounds, that's exactly how many churches treat our youth. You see, if the Bible is true, which I believe it is, then shouldn't the church do everything in its power to equip the rising generation to overcome addiction and sin and to come alongside them, to teach them to pray, read their Bible, serve in ministry, identify their spiritual giftings, and help them walk in their God given calls? But I think many times youth groups focus more on entertainment as opposed to equipping them for their next battle in life. Which is why I love season five in Demon Slayer, because in these episodes, I saw all these leaders give very specific training to their subordinates so that they, as a group, can be stronger. And it makes me wish that churches would do something like this, where pastors themselves had seminars on how they themselves study the Bible and how they get close to God, you know. So anyway, I know that for a lot of you, Demon Slayer is just another anime to binge, but for me personally, it's a consistent reminder that spiritual warfare is real. And that while many Christians shy away from the fight, it's my job to encourage believers around me to keep fighting. That way more people can hear this truth. Jesus loves you. Okay, so this is a different kind of video that we made. And the reason why I wrote this is because I think we can teach people who love Demon Slayer more about God. So if you are not a Christian, I want you to know that there is a God and his name is Jesus and he died on the cross for your sins, and that if you have faith in him that he died for you, then by faith you can have eternal life with him in heaven. And if you have any questions regarding Christianity, please check out the rest of the videos on our channel. Also, if you're already one of our subscribers, please let us know in the comments below whether or not you like this kind of video. And honestly, any constructive feedback is appreciated. And also, I really just want to give a quick thank you to all of the artists and editors that all worked really, really hard to make sure that this video released by the time or around the time that the Demon Slayer movie came out. So again, thank you so much for watching and we'll see you guys next time. God bless.