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The Isabel Brown Show
Witches, Demons & Jesus Christ’s Victory: How Christians Fight Evil ft. Matt Fradd
01:09:44
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It has come to the world's attention that Jezebel, a left wing publication, actually hired witches to curse Charlie Kirk just a few weeks before he died. And I don't know about you, but it's incredibly obvious to me that spiritual warfare is so real, we've just forgotten how to fight back effectively against the forces of Satan and demons in our walk in faith. Today on the feast day of St. Michael the Archangel, we're diving in on the Isabel Brown show to understand the full context of spiritual warfare and what we can do to be rooted in good. As I'm sure you guys know by now, because it's been all over the Internet. It came out after Charlie's death that a few weeks beforehand, the horrible, vile, disgusting publication Jezebel, basically the epitome of sa satanic demonic influence, makes meets with postmodern American feminism, in case you've never heard of them, put out a headline that honestly shook me to my very core. And I hadn't seen this because I like to read things that are good and light and based in truth and not garbage all over the Internet. But this all comes out a couple of days after Charlie died because Megan Kelly took to her podcast to say that Erica had shared this with her while she was in Phoenix, Arizona, guest hosting the Charlie Kirk show. So let's just start with how I even heard about this to begin with. But bottom line, Jezebel, the publication, hired witches, actual practicing witches, via an Etsy store. There's a lot to unpack here to specifically put curses on Charlie Kirk and the influence that he was making. Listen to Megan explain this. The witch they reveal promised on August 23rd that, quote, you will see the first results within two to three weeks. This was 18 days before Charlie was killed. Not satisfied with this curse, the amped up one alone, Jezebel reached out to a, quote, third witch priestess, Lillian. Jezebel opined if enough people cursed a single person, would the results be stronger? Quote. When I asked her if she'd noticed more political figures being targeted these days, she said yes. The next day, Lillian sent the Jezebel writer proof of the hex she had cast. Quote, a photograph in flames, the edges slowly curling inward, engulfing Charlie's ridiculous, scrunched up little face. Insane. No words. Honestly don't want to believe that we live in a society that does this just for headlines and clickbait and kicks and giggles, but we do, apparently. So. I heard Megan talk about this on her show, and I had to go find the article for myself because I genuinely couldn't believe that we were living in this crazy of a society. So let's just read it together. Let's read some of this together. Because genuinely, this this blew my mind. This article comes from Jezebel was published on September 8, 2025. Charlie died on September 10. We paid some Etsy witches to curse Charlie Kirk H if the far right misogynist. Interesting how they can slew this language. But you know who's inciting violence with a bad haircut wants to villainize independent women. Jezebel is more than happy to be the hag of his nightmares. Part of the article is incredibly harrowing. They go on to explain this to us. Then I found the crown jewel, said one of these witches that was hired by this publication. The your pants spell review. It really worked. At that point it was clear that I would need to order multiple curses at different security levels and price points to guarantee results. So multiple specific curses put against a person and they claim not to physically harm him in any way. But okay. After placing my first spell make everyone hate him. This is hard to read. I was left with more questions than answers. How long would it take to kick in? Should I have splurged for a pricier spell to make it work faster? Shortly after, the witch messaged me trying to upsell me a fifty dollar spell spell booster. When I asked what it did, she explained that it would amplify the energetic support of the main spell or else I could let it unfold in its natural timing. I decided to trust the witch for the powerful hex spell. This is insane. I had to provide Kirk's date of birth for accuracy. The witch performed the hex, but her response was unsettling. I just completed your spell and it was successful. You will see the first results within two to three weeks. This was hired late August. Charlie died September 10th. However, I did notice disturbances. Dot, dot, dot negative energy. Etc. The article goes on to include a specific portion from one witch, I suppose, that was hired by this publication, asking for one outcome of how they wanted to curse Charlie. Specifically, I believe this is it. Slowly. Oh, this is hard to read. Slowly. Over the course of the coming months, the circumference of Kirk's head will increase inch by inch until he becomes a literal human bobblehead. Or maybe it keeps growing until it eventually pops. Either way, it feels dot, dot dot appropriate. Naturally, immediately after all of this unfolds and the article becomes known to the general public and not just the darkest parts of the Internet, thanks to people like Megan Kelly. Appropriately Amplifying it as demonic, as legitimately evil incarnate. Jezebel, the publication decides to take down the article, but not for the reasons you would think. Listen to Megan explain this. They also made clear that taking down the article was, quote, driven by an abundance of caution for our staff. In other words, they were worried about violence against them by Charlie Kirk supporters. They also, they wrote, wished, quote, to avoid the piece being misused in a tense and volatile environment. A tense and volatile environment. We don't want our words to be taken out of context in a tense and volatile environment. You created the tense and volatile environment. What is wrong with these people? Genuinely, I. I try so hard to give people the benefit of the doubt. I'm done doing that for the media. And frankly, I think, like most of you, all of the people pleasing left my body at 12:23pm on September 10, 2025. But it's like you did that. You created the tense and volatile environment. But, you know, they have to cover their butts. So they take down the article and they end up publishing an Editor's note before they do so, wanting to avoid any sort of liability for this. Read this together with me. Editor's Note. This story was published on September 8. I presume they put this up after Charlie was killed on September 10th. Jezebel condemns the shooting of Charlie Kirk in the strongest possible terms. We do not endorse, encourage, or excuse political violence of any kind. In other words, Jezebel. We do not endorse political violence. Also, Jezebel literally hires multiple witches to curse Charlie Kirk to make his head explode. I don't. I don't even know how that could be more obvious to people that this is very clearly, very clearly a battle between good and evil, between light and dark, between God and the demonic. What else could you possibly say to make this more obvious for people? Now, of course, everyone is pointing the finger at this, saying, this is not okay, regardless of if this even had a link between what happened to Charlie, or maybe it was more than coincidence. This is completely unacceptable behavior in any sort of thriving society at all, or even functioning society at the very bare minimum. So now even the witches that participated in these rituals are coming forward to say they regret it. One gave an interview that was published this morning to the Daily Mail, and this was the headline that they decided to run with. Again, completely inappropriate from the media. Daily Mail exclusive, exclusive interview. I'm the witch who cursed Charlie Kirk. I want to speak to Erica directly because she deserves to hear the truth. Um, hell no. You don't have the privilege of speaking to Erica directly and kindly scurry back to the darkest corners of the Internet from which you came. Yahoo News took some of the segments from this exclusive interview from the Daily Mail with one of these priestesses explaining, just for clarification for the world, exactly what it is she does every day. And I think she was saying this to try to gain sympathy or support for her cause and lifestyle. And it is royally backfiring appropriately. Let's read this together because I still can't believe the words that I'm actually reading. While the scandal has brought her unwanted attention, Priestess Lillian insists her work is not inherently sinister. She said her main practices involve spells for protection and healing. At the same time, she defended the more controversial rituals. Quote I directly quote from Priestess Lillin here. Summoning demons and communicating with spirits were not inherently EV acts. This actually makes me want to throw up. The spiritual community views demons as multifaceted spirits and not one dimensional big bad evils. You're joking, right? You're. You're kidding me. Mediumship, or channeling these demons is also perceived as an ethically neutral practice. Is it effective? Yes. Neutral. Ethically neutral. Going online without ExpressVPN is like leaving your laptop unattended at the coffee shop when you run to the bathroom. Most of the time you're probably going to be okay. But what if one day you came out of the bathroom and your laptop was just gone? Maybe you connect to free WI fi at your local coffee shop or the airport when you're traveling. But here's the thing. Those networks are not secure at all. 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We are talking about encryption that would take hackers with literal supercomputers billions of years with a B to crack. And the best part is it is super simple to use. All you have to do is open the app, hit one button, and you are completely protected. Plus, it works on everything. Your phone, your laptop, your tablet, whatever device you have got and you are connected to the Internet on. So whether you're at home or you're out and about, you are completely covered. And get this, top tech sites like CNET and the Verge have actually rated ExpressVPN as their number one pick. So you know that it is legit. Secure your online data today by visiting expressvpn.com Isabel that's expressvpn.com Isabel to find out how you can get an extra four months. Expressvpn.com Isabel and this is precisely what I want us to focus on here for a moment today. Because honestly, there is no such thing as ethically or morally neutral. And it is way past time for our society to stop pretending that there is. This whole my truth is different from your truth and speak your truth girl and live your life and it's not gonna touch my life thing. That has to be done. We're done with that. In society, there is no such thing as moral relativism anymore if we're serious about just surviving as a society, let alone thriving and flourishing as a society in Western civilization. And this morally gray area, ethically neutral randomness that we've been living in for the past decade or so, make no mistake about it, is exactly how we arrived here, where mainstream media outlets can be applauding the assassination, the violent assassination of a husband and father of two children whose only crime was to want to have conversations with people who disagreed with him. That's it.
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And they're proud of it. And they now then can go an extra step further on the radical left and say that demons, literal demons from Satan, are not inherently evil beings. They're multifaceted. And it's an ethically neutral area for us to channel said demons to wreak havoc and pain and destruction on other human beings in the United States of America and to make a profit off of doing so, selling witchcraft on frickin Etsy. Moral ambiguity gone. Moral relativism gone. We desperately, desperately need moral clarity now more than ever before because it is so obvious to me that this is a battle again. I've said this probably a hundred times in the last week, but it bears repeating over and over again. This is a battle not between left versus Right. Not between conservative versus liberal, not generationally, not American versus other countries. This is a battle between good and evil, period, full stop. And until we can look at actual demonic activity, the channeling of Satan's demons to place curses upon Christian men and women and their families in this country who are daring to speak truth, actual truth to the world, until we can look at that and say that is evil and that has no place in our society, then we can't even have a conversation about any of the rest of it. Because what use is seeking truth? What use is speaking truth? What use is winning cultural battles? What use is trying to change our country if we literally can't look in the mirror and say demons are bad, Satan is bad, placing curses upon people is evil. That has to be point blank, number one. I find it really interesting in the last few days, especially to see this story come out and see how different people are responding to it, because I do want us to say objectively, this is scary. This is scary stuff. And it is absolutely beyond the pale insane that people are actually behaving this way and think it is normal and good and acceptable in our society. So of course it's natural to, to face fear about that, to wrestle with feelings of anxiety or hopelessness or any sort of apprehension about what this might mean for other major conservatives in the movement. You heard Megyn Kelly say there that there are other major political figures that are regularly having these curses placed upon them. They write this in the Jezebel article. They talk about it quite openly. But I don't want fear and apprehension and anxiety around this to stop us from understanding the truth. And that is this, that Jesus Christ has already definitively triumphed over Satan and sin through his passion, his death and resurrection. The war has already been won. And what happens in this lifetime is in this lifetime, it is not for eternity. It is not outside of time and space. And it doesn't impact our walk with Christ into eternal life. Jesus already won, but that doesn't mean, as we've treated it like Christians for far too long in our country, that demonic activity isn't real and that spiritual warfare is something of the past. And we read about it occasionally in the Bible, but it doesn't really impact us today. I hope and I pray that the events of the last few weeks have exposed definitively spiritual warfare is very real and it is impacting every single one of us in our walk in faith every day. So it's up to us to put on the armor of God and to be ready for that. Spiritual warfare to continue doing, advocating for and fighting for good in a world that is every second of every day tempting us to do the opposite. But we can have hope and we can believe that there is an opportunity for us to resist this evil and to fight back against it effectively, because we know our final hope, that Christ has already won. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says this. And if you don't know what the Catechism is, it's basically like an encyclopedia of every single definitive teaching of the Church. It's very effective and very helpful and handy for situations where you're like, what is the Catholic Church's position on birth control or whatever? This is what it has to say about spiritual warfare. The power of Satan is nonetheless not infinite. His action is permitted by divine providence, but it is a great mystery that providence should permit diabolical activity. But we know that everything God, that in everything, God works for good with those who love him. And we know that because in scripture it tells us repeatedly that God is working all things together for those who love him and that the final war is won. This is repeated regularly throughout the Old and New Testament. But I love this verse from the book of Hebrews in particular. This is Hebrews, chapter 2, verses 14 and 15. Christ destroyed him who has the power of death, that is the devil. What does that mean? Foundationally, it means that the devil, Satan, who is a real being with very real influence in the world, no longer has ultimate dominion over humanity the way that he did before. Christ's coming. The sacraments and our walk with Christ allow us to resist against his influence in the world, knowing that the war has already been won. His dominion does not exist over humanity anymore. When we are baptized, we are sealed as believers in Christ with Christ's victory, which frees us from any ownership from Satan via original sin, and we are immediately incorporated into the body of Christ. That's amazing hope to hold onto, and it's one that we can rest on. But it's also not enough for us to ignore that spiritual warfare is real and satanic and demonic influences are real in our society. And I know, I know you're all going to say, oh, Isabel, everybody says everything is demonic. That's so dramatic. Not everything is demonic. I agree. It drives me insane when everybody, especially in the political world, tries to say that everything that doesn't fit their particular immediate worldview or personal preference is demonic. Is everything about dressing your kid up in a princess costume for Halloween demonic? No. Halloween All Hallows Eve is literally a sac or A sacred holiday that we've celebrated as the church for thousands of years to remind us of our death and to pray for people who have died before us. So, no, not every aspect of Halloween is demonic. Taylor Swift music might be annoying to you if you don't like pop. And I frankly haven't cared for the last few albums. Although this new one, they're saying is supposed to be very 1989 reminiscent. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed because that truly was the last great Taylor Swift album. You might not like Taylor Swift, but Taylor Swift music is not demonic, okay? It drives me up the fricking wall when we overuse the term that's demonic. Harry Potter is not demonic, okay? Actually, if you do a close reading of the Harry Potter books, you'll find that there's quite a bit of allegory to the Bible and the war between good and evil. So stop overusing the word. But yes, understand that there is demonic activity in the world. Demons are real. Satan is real. And this spiritual warfare is waging on all around us. So we as Christians need to understand that that is in fact happening 24, 7, 365 and even outside of time and space. And we have to understand how to fight back against it effectively. The Church distinguishes from Satan and demons several different types of demonic influence. And I think this is really helpful because I actually was never taught this until I started doing all of this research for the show today. And I wish that I had been a little bit more equipped going into my adult life with all of this information beforehand. First, there is temptation, and this is something that does indeed happen. And Satan does engage in for every single one of us, and did, even for Jesus Christ, when he was fully human and fully divine here on earth, he too was tempted by Satan. Temptation is the ordinary suggestion or enticement to sin. Every single human being, including those who are baptized and who already are sealed as part of the body of Christ, can experience temptation. And it doesn't imply any loss of freedom. It doesn't change who we are in God's eyes. It doesn't change the fact that we are Christians and walking in faith. Every single one of us is tempted every day, and that might look different for every single person. Some people are tempted to embrace sexual sin and watch pornography or to cheat on their spouse. Some people are alcoholics and they're tempted to continue abusing substances rather than having control over their decisions and their lives. As I mentioned, even Jesus Christ was tempted by Satan before he died on the cross. So this is a very normal part of our walk through spiritual warfare, and it's up to us to make sure that we're vigilant against it. There's also oppression. This is the second oppression and. Or obsession. They're basically the same thing, synonymous terms, which is extraordinary disturbances, physical harm, intense harassment or fixation that are rare but possible to happen to believers that come from outside, and they impact you externally. So it can cause you a physical injury or some sort of physical harm. In that way, you can be constantly harassed by people around you or even face some internal torment because of all of that, et cetera. The Church, to fight oppression and obsession, uses prayers of deliverance. And sometimes an exorcism can help with all of that as well. And then there's a third type of demonic influence called possession. This is when, and I think this is typically what we associate with, like movies like the Exorcist or the more classic concept of demonic activity and behavior. Possession is when a demon exerts control over a person's body, not their soul or their independent free will. And that's an important distinction. We'll get into that in a second. Possession is extremely rare, but it can happen. And the Church's right of exorcism is specifically reserved for these cases. When an exorcist has to come and deliver your body from possession, from a demon. What we associate with movies like the Exorcist, this is what we're talking about here. But as I mentioned importantly, even here, a demon cannot own or have ownership over the decisions of a person's soul. Your soul remains completely free. It is just your body that a demon is controlling in situations of possession. Why is that? Because our souls have already been won. The war over humanity's souls has already been won outside of time and space. So when we are confined to time and space here on Earth, nothing can change that, even if we are impacted by evil in the process. So theology and the church teaching holds that demons can harass and influence believers externally, but they cannot directly control our soul's free will or destroy the sanctifying grace that has been given to us from freely by God out of total love for us. But out of that love, God gives us free will. Right? God doesn't make us little tiny slaves to just do whatever he wants of us. That wouldn't be love, and that certainly wouldn't be creating us out of love and with free will and human freedom. As long as that endures and history continues to unfold, that free will extends to the Devil as well. And he is permitted some activity in the process. We've known this throughout all of the Old Testament and we know this throughout all of the New Testament, and we know this throughout the last 2,000 years of church teaching. This is actually maybe a good thing. I hate to say that. I wish that we didn't have any demonic influence whatsoever or evil that exists in the world. But that's probably the biggest age old question of our faith. If God is good, why does he allow evil to exist? It's honestly a simple answer. Even though we don't like to confront it ever. It allows for our moral growth, it allows for testing of our faith, and it allows us to wake up every day and to practice and exercise virtue, to grow in holiness and become better versions of ourselves than we were the day before. St. Thomas Aquinas says this really beautifully. He writes, it is always under the control of divine providence, which permits the wicked to do evil in order that the greater good may come of it. God works all things together for our good, even when it doesn't make sense to us and it seems evil in the process. And C.S. lewis, one of my all time favorite theologians, said basically the same thing in his walk in Faith. He was shocked to discover that so much spiritual warfare did exist, but that it's important to our walk in faith. He wrote, one of the things that surprised me when I first read the New Testament seriously was that it talks so much about a dark power in the universe. A mighty evil spirit who was held to be the power behind death, disease and sin. Christianity thinks we teach that this dark power was created by God and was good when he was created and then went wrong. Out of freedom. Right? Freedom comes with love. Christianity agrees that this is a universe at war. We forgot that in American Christianity for the last several decades, really century, I would argue, because it's been so normal to be a Christian. We're one nation under God. We go to church on Sundays and then we watch football and eat chicken afterwards and it's great. And everybody in your class goes to your church with you and everybody in your dorm room puts up a Christmas tree every single year. And we all watch ABC Family. It's not ABC Family anymore. Freeform. 25 Days of Christmas every single year. And that's just normal baked into our culture. A general concept of a Christian orientation. But as persecution continues to become more obvious, when we watched the martyrdom, and I don't say that word lightly, of a fearless Christian, a fearless voice for God in a broken world, a few weeks ago when we've watched countless churches more than 500 attacks against Catholic churches in the last few years, and we saw just yesterday the horrifying, horrifying attack against the Mormon Church in Christian that I believe five people have now been confirmed to be killed in. When we watch school shootings like the Annunciation Catholic school shooting in Minneapolis a few weeks ago, as we watch this struggle of persecution against Christians become so much more obvious, it's reminding us that spiritual warfare has always existed, will always exist, and we have a role to play in the process. Because when we don't, our culture does become heavily influenced by Satan and by evil. Webroot Total Protection isn't just another cybersecurity product. It is peace of mind for anyone living in today's digital world. And it shows just how completely vital it is to stay protected online, especially after incidents like the recent TransUnion data breach that impacted over 4 million people. Don't wait for your information to end up in the wrong hands. Webroot gives you identity protection for yourself and up to 10 family members. 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Whatever digital threats might come your way, you can get 50% off their total protection or essentials package when you go to webroot.com isabel that is 50% off either their total protection package or their essentials when you go to webroot.com isabel live a better digital life with Webroot when we've ignored this internal struggle of good versus Evil in our own lives, in our own independent walk of faith. This of course manifests at the societal level too, and we start to see culture that is largely driven and influenced by the forces of evil rather than goodness. What's that famous quote? The only thing it takes for evil to prosper is if good People sit down and do nothing if good men sit down and do nothing. And I honestly think this is such an interesting, interesting reckoning point for American culture after Charlie's assassination to start asking ourselves, where have we sat down and done nothing? And what can we learn from this extraordinary young man in having the courage, the virtue of courage to stand up and fight for what is good? This may come as a shock to you. I don't know that it's a shock to many of us that have been working in the conservative movement or fighting on the front lines of changing culture for the last few years. But there are very specific, pointed examples in American culture today where literal satanic influence has become incredibly obvious and that veil continues to be pulled back. For one example, Charlie spent so much of his career ardently fighting against abortion and he was a true pro life warrior. This last event that he and I shared the stage at a few weeks ago for one of his last speaking engagements on earth was for a pro life event to a large multi denominational church audience. And he was very, very outspoken about how to truly evil and demonic. The institution of abortion is being honest about it and let's make no mistake about it the exact same way Charlie never would. Abortion is the literal sacrifice of children. It's what we've experienced throughout all of human history, but it's just packaged in a new, more sterile, clinicy way for our postmodern society today. We don't often talk about it like that, but there are literally several, numerous abortion clinics operating in the United States today that are run by the Satanic Temple operating under the guise of religious freedom and how it's ritualistic religious sacrifice of children and therefore needs to be protected by the First Amendment of the United States. This is real. I'm not making this up. This all started with one clinic in New Mexico operated by the Satanic Temple. We can look at their website together right now called the Samuel Alito's Moms Making fun of a Supreme Court Justice. Samuel Alito. Samuel Alito's Mom's Satanic Abortion Clinic where they literally advertise for religious ritual abortion. Let's read this together because this is actually insane. The Samuel Alito's Mom's Satanic Abortion Clinic is an online clinic that provides religious medication abortion care. The clinic provides abortion medication via mail to those in New Mexico who wish to perform perform the Satanic Temples religious abortion ritual. They now have these clinics in several states across the country. It just started in New Mexico and this is how they advertise their own services via commercials on their own social media. Watch this with me.
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Can seem like everyone is making decisions about your body. Like you can't be trusted to make your own choices. Everyone except Satan. The Satanic Temple believes in the religious right to bodily autonomy. We believe so deeply that we exercise that right with Samuel Alito's Mom Satanic Abortion Clinic. Our clinic provides safe religious reproductive health care. We partnered with an accredited pharmacy to deliver abortion medication. And best of all, our services are free. Samuel Alito's Mom Satanic Abortion Clinic. To learn more or to receive free reproductive health care, visit our website to support our fight for religious reproductive rights, donate $6.66 a month or more to Samuel's Mom Satanic Abortion Clinic.
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How many times did they say religious abortion? Claire? A religious reproductive care. Meanwhile, actual religious reproductive care, like natural family planning, is actually attacked in society. It's insane. The dichotomy is insane. And it's not just restricted to abortion. Charlie and many of us who have been fighting for good and what is good and true and beautiful in society have pointed out for years that schools and the education system in our country has largely been influenced by evil. It's what has allowed, I don't know, critical race theory to take root in so many classes across the country, telling white children that they will always inherently be evil, while black children, they will always inherently be oppressed by what is evil in society. Uh, it's what has allowed states like Colorado, where I grew up, to pass laws that are actually on the books today saying the state has the right to take custody of your child away from you if one day at school they just decide, hey, I don't want to be a little girl anymore. I want to be a boy. And you, as the parents, disagree with that when they've been groomed by their teachers and nefarious adults in the classroom to believe a twisted demonic lie. And the Satanic Temple has also opened after school Satan clubs across the country in elementary schools nationwide. These flyers are going incredibly viral every few months on social media. This one is coming to Tennessee. The actual Satanic Temple tweeted this. This particular one was in December of 2023. After school Satan club is coming to Tennessee. Hey kids, let's have fun at the after school Satan club with science projects, community service, nature, arts and crafts. Da da da da. Sponsored by the Satanic temple, which they claim is a non theistic religion that views Satan just as a literary figure who represents the metaphorical construct of rejecting tyranny and championing the human Mind and spirit. They claim it's not actively getting you to worship Satan, but it sounds like self worship and making yourself God, which is literally the entire mo of Satan throughout all of human history. So tell me how that's not legitimate Satanic worship. And groups that continue to fight for so called human rights across our country are so influenced by demonic and evil activity that anything remotely associated with Jesus Christ and with the church is labeled a hate group or a terrorist group or something that needs to be rid of from society. Charlie and people who've been fighting with him have known this for years, for a very, very long time, and been incredibly outspoken about it. Uh, we know that under the Biden administration, for example, the FBI was working to secretly spy on and label American Catholics going to traditional Latin Mass as domestic extremists. These radical extremists on the cusp of becoming terrorists, and even investigated groups like Turning Point USA as potential domestic terrorist organizations using the Department of Justice. The Anti Defamation League is another one of these so called human rights championing organizations that for years has labeled Turning Point USA as a horrible hate group, but also back in 2017 labeled anything associated with Christian identity as extremism, hate or terrorism. This is what happens in a society that gets too comfortable thinking it is all good in the hood, it's all normal to be Christian. There is no evil backlash against the things that we believe in. And there is nothing fighting back against what is good, what is true, what is godly, and what we most fundamentally believe in as Christians. Today's episode is brought to you by Instagram. As a new mom, one of the biggest questions that I personally have for my family and one of the biggest questions I get from you guys is what parents can do to keep their children safe online from all of the crazy. And on the note of today's episode, evil content we often see on social media while still letting them navigate social media content and technology that is changing culture for the better. The work is never really done when it comes to protecting teenagers online, but simultaneously, it's so important to be empowering parents to help their kids navigate how to use social media responsibly. Last year, Instagram became one of the first social media platforms to take this work incredibly seriously by launching something called Teen Accounts, which specifically limits the type of content that teenagers have access to in the first place. And really importantly, who can contact them through direct social media messaging. This is a totally reimagined experience for parents that's designed to better support them with the tools that they need to help their kids learn how to navigate to social media effectively and give parents a whole lot more peace of mind. Nearly 95% of parents say that these default protections on teen accounts have helped their teenagers stay safer online. But keeping them safe should actually start way before they ever download an app, and it should start in the home by empowering parents to take more ownership over their families. That's why Instagram specifically is asking Congress to pass new federal legislation that gives parents a lot more control over which apps their kids can download in the first place to keep them safer in the process. Learn more about this incredible work ahead@instagram.com parentalapproval so I think we have to ask ourselves, are we okay living in a society that champions this type of behavior? Are we okay living in a society where the media can excuse witches selling ritualistic spells on Etsy to punish Christians for being outspoken Christians? Are we okay living in a society that hosts after school Satan clubs for elementary schoolers? Are we okay living in a society that practices ritualistic child sacrifice called religious abortion rituals in states across the country paid for by the Satanic Temple? I hope not, God, I pray not. But in order to actively fight back against this in the midst of this awe inspiring, incredible, awesome in the literal sense of the word revival that we're seeing in our country today, this running back towards God with all of our fervor and excitement and joy, it requires our ability every day to wake up and to fight back against evil. There are 8 million different ways to do that. But I think it starts with asking ourselves, what can I do in my independent life to constantly be checking myself against demonic influences, against the temptations of Satan which we know are very real and impact every single one of us even after we have been baptized? And how can I continue to spread what is good and true and beautiful in the world? Joining us on the show today is a friend of ours to help weigh in on that. Please, please join me in welcoming my amazing host of the Pints With Aquinas podcast, Matt Fradd. Matt Frad, longtime friend of mine, host with Pints with Aquinas and just all around amazing human being. Thank you for taking a few minutes out of your day today. I texted you ferociously this morning asking if you would be willing to join us just for the audience's record, because I trust Matt's judgment on this so much and I think he's such a powerful voice of hope and optimism in the midst of so much darkness. So Matt, thank you for being here and excited to hear your thoughts on this this morning.
- [43:29]
B
I am just honored to be with you. And I'm thrilled for the Daily Wire that they have another excellent host. I think I told you the other day that my daughters were watching your episode and you had such a beautiful impact on them, and it made me love you more.
- [43:42]
A
Oh, thank you, Matt. You're so sweet. Okay, so on this note, we've been talking on the episode today about how the church, particularly in America, and I'm curious if you're seeing this in other parts of the world too, has almost forgotten that spiritual warfare is real and that it is supposed to be a part of our walk with Christ and. And in streng, strengthening our faith and practicing virtue. Why do you think we got here with the church acting like that doesn't exist anymore?
- [44:09]
B
Yeah, I think trying to understand Christianity without reference to Satan and the demonic is a little like trying to understand the Lord of the Rings without reference to Sauron. I mean, how would you do it? You'd probably say something like, well, there was this ring and it really wasn't conducive to the flourishing of people, the people of Middle Earth. And so a band of friends got together and they got rid of it and things were better. That's woefully insufficient. I mean, it is what happened, but it is insufficient. And I think likewise, we've just sort of tried to describe Christianity in a way that was palatable for modern man. You know, we say God exists. He loves you. He died and rose from the dead so that you can be with him forever. And that is true. But again, it's woefully insufficient. And I like that quote you just read from C.S. lewis, because I think, you know, sometimes we sit around philosophizing, we might begin from the premise that God exists, that he loves us, that he's given us free will and so forth. Then you start reading the Scriptures, and it can be like a splash of cold water in the face because the scriptures affirm things that we haven't thought a lot about or would rather not think about or would rather that weren't true, like the existence of hell and that it's possible that people go there and the devil. But Black Lewis says, wherever you read the scripture, authors are talking about this reality. First Peter 5, 8. Saint Peter says, Your adversary, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Ephesians 6 talks about the battle that we're engaged in. It's not against rulers or it's. It's you know, it's not. It's. Yes, we have enemies in this world, right, who are against us, who are against the church, but. But primarily we're engaged in a war against, as Paul says, the authorities and cosmic powers. So why haven't we talked about it? I don't know. I think maybe we just haven't been fully invested in living our Christian faith. We haven't been striving to be saints. Maybe instead we've been striving to be nice and have been more interested in other people not making fun of us for our Christian beliefs. And so we bend over backwards to show why they can accept it without supernatural faith. Perhaps that's the reason, but I think increasingly, as people have turned away from God, there's this growing recognition that there are other forces in the world. And Christianity has a lot to say about that.
- [46:38]
A
Striving to be saints. I love that because it does require a struggle that we often just don't experience in our incredibly convenient society. I was talking to a young group of students the other day about this at Colorado Christian University, that it's hard for us to grow in virtue when you can have your favorite pharmaceutical drug delivered to your house in an hour from Amazon Prime. Like, there is no sense of patience or waiting or struggle against something in our society. But if anything, I think the past few weeks have been a really powerful reminder that there is this under the scenes, under the surface, this constant battle between good and evil. And it takes courage, it takes virtue, it takes patience, and waking up every day and trying to be better than you were yesterday in speaking the truth to the world and. And in being brave in the face of evil. So how do young people in particular do that? How do we get up every day and strive to be saints, even when it is very difficult to do so in a very convenient society?
- [47:38]
B
Great point. I think all of us would acknowledge the ways in which the Internet in our pockets and on our wrists, gets in the way of our most cherished relationships. Like, we experience that this is why we have the sayings like go and touch grass, or, you know, don't live terminally online. And if we can, if we can see that, if we can see the ways in which the Internet comes between us and our. Our loved ones who are standing in front of us, we should be able to understand that it will also get in the way of our relationship with the good God who loves us. John Eldridge said that the Internet has made us weary, skeptical pragmatists, because we are just being funneled Information at an alarming rate that we can't possibly verify. And things that we are told through science are certain today might be overturned tomorrow. I mean, just think of the kind of vacillation between the different types of diets there are. My wife now wears nicotine patches for her health. What is happening? How is this possible? And even if she's wrong about that, it's weird that there's a growing subset of people who think this is the case. So I think it just kind of leads us to be tired. Yeah, we have to love God above all things and above ourselves. And so I think the very first thing I would encourage all of your listeners to do, if they don't have a morning prayer routine, to do something easy. Put a crucifix by the side of your bed, and when you wake up in the morning, pick it up and just kiss it and just say, Jesus, thank you, that you love me. I love you. Something that you can do every day that even you, you know, you, not you, but those who are watching, you know, but collectively, like, we're all making resolutions and with great passion, and then we fail to commit to them. We're all in the same boat here. So I think choosing something that's simple and straightforward forward, that you can do, like that is. Is a good start. And then I think we all, and I say this to myself as well, have to treat those serious sins in our life the way we would treat stage four cancer. I often think if I was diagnosed with a terminal cancer, what wouldn't I be willing to do to get rid of it? I mean, I think it would just be my lack of resources that would prevent me from going as far as I could, but that whatever was within my means, I would seek to heal from it. And we just have to become more serious about the fact that sin is a spiritual cancer that robs us of happiness and can isolate us from the good God. And we have to stop making excuses and go to war on our pride. Be more concerned with my own sins than the sins of others. I think that's one of the dangers of political commentary, is that we like to collectively point our fingers at someone who we've decided is the enemy that day. And again, I'm not denying that we have enemies, but so long as the spotlight's off me and on someone else, then I don't ever have to see my own poverty and beg Christ for the grace to grow in virtue and to flee from the vices that are making me less than I should be. So Those would be a couple of.
- [50:45]
A
Suggestions that's so powerful to think about. And I honestly hadn't even conceptualized that in the last few weeks. My head is swirling with all of the, all of the crazy thoughts in the wake of Charlie's assassination especially. But you know, we opened the show talking about how this horrifying publication, Jezebel, who I'm sure you're roughly familiar with, actually hired witches to curse Charlie Kirk a few weeks before he died. And it was because he was that particular public enemy number one that day. And I see that all the time in news cycles and from the mainstream media that there's always a scapegoat or a boogeyman or one particular person that the entire news cycle is focused on because they said one thing that you disagree with or they had a difference of opinion on some major political issue or policy, policy perspective. And that's so interesting. That limits our ability to look within. And I, I think that's so indicative of American society in general that everything is about external praise and an external image of who we are, especially on social media. But we don't take the time to be quiet and to sit in the quiet with who we are wrestling with our own, our own sins, our own perspectives, our own temptations, and so much more.
- [51:54]
B
Yeah, 100%. This is certainly true of me. I walk around judging the blue haired people in front of me while I'm like spiritually desolate. And I just feel the promptings of the Holy Spirit, like you're not called to judge other people actually. Like you're called to love them and like, have a look at yourself, Matt, because there's a heck of a lot that needs working on there, you know. And so there's a great saint, he's a doctor of the church, St. Ephraim the Syrian. And he's got a couple of prayers that I very much like. In one of them he says, help me to see my own sin and not to judge my brethren. And in another prayer, his prayer to the Holy Spirit, he says, if I have made fun of my brother's sins when my own faults are countless, like, have mercy. So, yeah, not a popular thing, is it? To tell people that. It's sort of, it's from Revelation. I don't know where, I forget where it is, but where he says, you know, like you're blind and poor and naked and you say you have everything, you really don't have everything. And I'm also reminded of Jeremiah chapter 2, where God says, My people have committed two evils, they've abandoned me, the font of living water, and they've hewed out for themselves cisterns which are broken and don't even hold water. And I think this is what we do every time we turn to something other than God to satisfy us. Whether that's political commentary or drink or pornography or gossip or slander or self esteem. But it's like, it reminds me of the angel who said to the disciples, why do you seek the living among the dead? You know, that's what we do every time we seek God in sin. It's like that could be asked to us, why are you seeking joy among the ruins? It's not, it's not possible. It will not be found here. And to your point about being silent, Blaise Pascal, he was working, he was a 17th century French philosopher. He was working on a work of apologetics. He didn't finish it, so his students put it together in a book called the Ponces, which means thoughts. And in it there's one thought where he says all of the problems of modern man can come can be boiled down to this. He does not know how to sit alone in a dark room silently, or something like that. And I think that's true of me. And I'd like to get better at sitting alone in dark room silently. My kids won't let me, but that's fine.
- [54:14]
A
Maybe someday when they're all grown up, you might have the opportunity to. No, this, this concept of the not popular thing to do is sitting with me as well. And in the wake of the last few days especially, I keep getting drawn back to this moment. When we were in Phoenix, Arizona for the memorial service for Charlie and Erica Kirk took her time on stage to do the least expected thing that anyone would have anticipated her to say in her speech honoring her husband, to audibly forgive the man who so violently took his life and say, you are exactly the type of person that Charlie devoted his life to try to reach because this world does have so much evil influence, especially on young men. What did that moment mean to you? And how is it something that we can have hope in as Christians, knowing that the final war over evil and the demonic influence of this world has already been wonderful?
- [55:04]
B
Well, I was like most people, really moved by her choice to forgive the man that murdered her husband. And I think as Christians, we have to be careful not to take up the weapons of the enemy and to employ them against our perceived enemies. You know, like that's what you want to do, right? And we justify our anger. We Point to Christ in the temple and say, see? So he got angry, so it's okay. Yeah, anger's okay. But most of the time our anger is irrational. We have to curb that. So I don't know. I mean, my personal opinion is that we have to go to war on our own sin. Obviously there are battles to fight and, and, and justice should be handed out. You're not denying any of that. But you just say okay for the individual person, like me just sitting on my porch, getting a text from my friend Isabelle, like, what am I supposed to do?
- [55:54]
A
Do?
- [55:55]
B
And I think, you know, to, to pray for the, for this person who killed Charlie to want full justice. I'm not denying that. But at the same time, to pray for his salvation, like, that could be an interesting, difficult question to ask ourselves. Like, have I done that? Do I, Do I pray for his repentance and his either union or reunion with Christ the Lord? Like, I don't know, maybe I did that once briefly out of guilt because I thought I should have and realized I didn't or something. But that could be an interesting thing to ask. I think because I didn't meet Charlie, I never had the honor. Everyone I know assures me that he was such a good man, but I have no doubt that. And who am I to say this? You can confirm this if you think it's true. But I have no doubt that as a good Christian man, he would forgive his murderer and from heaven would perhaps be praying for him even now.
- [56:46]
A
Oh, absolutely. I 100% agree with that. And that's exactly what Erica said in her speech too. She knew him better than anybody. I forgive him because that's what Christ did. And I forgive him because that's what Charlie would have done. We are so excited on the Isabel Brown show to be working with Balance of Nature supplements, which are the result of years of research and development. They regularly test their products using independent third party laboratory analysis and their ingredients are 100% whole fruits, vegetables, spices and fibers. The Fruits and veggies supplement contains 31 colorful ingredients of 16 whole fruits and 15 whole vegetables like mangoes, pineapples, blueberries, wheatgrass, mushrooms, spinach, kale, aloe vera and so much more. Their fiber and spice supplement at Balance of Nature is the only one on the market that combines 12amazing spices and four whole fibers. Even with a totally solid routine, most of us just don't meet the very bare minimum recommendation intake of fruits, vegetables, spices and fibers every day. In fact, more than 90% of Americans do not meet the recommended intake of dietary fiber in our day to day diet. You can take the fruits and veggie supplement with water, chew them up or open them up and pour the powder into your favorite food and drink drinks. It's totally convenient and there is no mess whatsoever. And the fiber and spice supplement is the same thing. You can mix it with water or your favorite drink. Balance of Nature's goal is to deliver natural goodness of the ingredients of fruits, vegetables, spices and fibers just as nature intended. And it has been so, so helpful in my personal nutrition journey as a mom where I'm trying to take my health a whole lot more seriously these days. Go to balanceofnature.com and use promo code Isabelle for 35% off your first order as a preferred customer. Plus you will get a free free bottle of fiber and spice. That's balance of nature.com promo code isabel and I'm incredibly hopeful in the wake of all of this evil that has started to bubble to the surface, this witch thing and all of the crazy mainstream media headlines and sound bites we've been reacting to over the past few weeks. People who are taking to their twitch streams to say anyone who agreed with Charlie should be afraid of being killed. I mean, it's really becoming obvious to me that the veil is being peeled back and we're seeing spiritual warfare with the naked eye for the first time in a long time in this country. But I'm incredibly hopeful watching this revival just come out of basically nowhere to to all of the experts that were paying attention, I think we saw it coming for a long time because I've seen this pull back towards Christ and back towards the church and society for several years now. But what can we tap into in your words, in these last few minutes together in the midst of that revival to keep fighting back against evil. This internal war is so important, obviously, but at the societal and cultural level, what do we as young people running back towards the church, running towards our faith and running towards the truth of Christ? What can we do to change American and Western culture across the world to embrace what is good and true and beautiful again?
- [59:37]
B
I don't know. Let me give it a shot. The Second Vatican Council said, when God is forgotten, man himself becomes unintelligible. And as somebody said, this is the horror of modern man because he comes from nothing and ends in nothing. He is nothing. And so I think we all find ourselves within the story of life, sort of unaware of how to navigate it. And without God's revelation to guide us and to teach us why we exist and what we are for. We just seek any narrative to try to make sense of our lives, you know, but at the end of the day, it's not this. This. It's not a game of Survivor like that TV show where the goal is to outlast your friends. It's not. It's not Sex in the City, a show written by post menopausal feminists who are, on account of their feminism, are often husbandless, childless, and brimming with impotent rage. It's not, you know, what is it? It's not. It's not a rom com. We exist for a reason. And so to answer your question, I don't know what to do on the societal level. I know what to do on my level, right? And this is far less glamorous. And so I'll leave it to better minds than me to talk about what to do on the societal level. But I need to love my wife. Well, I need her to know that she's cherished. I need to ask my children's forgiveness when I'm. When I'm rough with them or I snap at them or I don't pay attention to their interests. Like, I need to be kind to people that don't interest me. And I. They should interest me. And it's only. The only reason they don't is because I'm an idiot. You know, like the old woman I meet, you know, maybe at the grocery aisle, you know, and I'm just like, lord, help me to be at awe in this soul that you've created. I don't know, like, you've heard of the circle of control versus the circle of. What is it? Circle of influence, the circle of interest. I'm getting that wrong. The point is, we're all very concerned about many things, most of which we have no control over. And the more we've kind of put our attention into that which we have no control over, the circle of control begins to shrink. But what's kind of interesting is the more we give our efforts to that which we do have authority over, My wife, my children, my. My domain, my friendship, my apostolate, that that circle of. Of control or interest will begin to increase. So, yeah, I. I wouldn't know what to say about that as far as on a societal level, except just to say to every individual lesson, like, repent. Like repent of your sins and believe the gospel and experience, taste and see the joy that Jesus Christ wants to be for you as he is for so many.
- [62:25]
A
Oh, may we all have that perspective every day, Matt, as always, wildly inspirational. And thank you so much for taking a few minutes out of your busy day. Real quick, where can people listen to Pints with Aquinas and follow you if they're new to following along with your story?
- [62:39]
B
Yeah, they could look up Matt Frat on social media or they could follow Pints with Aquinas on YouTube. Thanks.
- [62:46]
A
Easy peasy. Awesome. Matt. We love you. Thank you so much. I can't wait to hopefully see you soon.
- [62:52]
B
Yes, talk to you soon. God bless you.
- [62:53]
A
Bye. God bless you too. I could not have said that any better myself. And I knew Matt had to be on the show today because he's such an optimist and a joyful champion of God. I just, I feel better every single time I listen to his show. I highly recommend if you guys haven't listened to Pints with Aquinas. It has changed my life as a regular listener for sure to check him out. But he's right. It has to start transforming society, fighting back against evil in this eternal battle that has already been won. But we have to take an active role in it. Has to start internally with ourselves, waking up every day and starting our day in a routine of prayer, constantly living a life rooted in the sacraments of regularly going to confession, receiving the Eucharist, going to church, of surrounding ourselves in our society with friends that can influence us with goodness, with virtue, with morality, instead of letting the external influences of evil constantly weigh in on our walk in faith. It requires reading Scripture regularly to put on the full armor of God. And it requires our awareness that there are forces of evil and good fighting on our behalf and we have to tap into that in any way we possibly can. As I shared with you in the intro of the episode today, I planned this whole episode. Not really sure if I wanted to talk about this because it is so heavy and dark but but really feeling called to talk about it on the show today and right before I sat in the chair I found out that today the church celebrates the feast day of St. Michael the Archangel. Totally coincidentally did not know that was on the calendar whatsoever. I love Saint Michael the Archangel. He is my husband's confirmation Saint. And if you don't know anything about St. Michael the Archangel, he is one of the archangels created by God to have a specific role. You might remember Gabriel who announced the announces the coming of Christ to Mary and and asks her if she would be willing to accept that. And of course St. Michael has a different role. He has four specific roles identified by the Church. In fact he is the defender of the Church, the protector of all of the faithful, all of us who believe in Christ, and a warrior against evil. He is specifically the leader of the heavenly army. He goes in front of all of the other angels in leading the war against evil, especially against Satan and his demonic army that goes behind him. He is the wearer of souls. He assists Jesus during our particular judgment and at the final judgment in advocating on our behalf for our particular souls and our salvation. And he is what we call the angel of Death, which sounds really bad, but actually is a good thing. Specifically at the hour of our death. He serves to protect us and offers to reconcile people to God, right to before we die. All in all, these different roles illustrate St. Michael the Archangel's tremendous power under God's command and his place as the guardian of the Church and her members. And so you can remember today, and I hope you remember today and have faith, that God has already triumphed in this war against evil. And there are incredible figures like Saint Michael the Archangel who are fighting on our behalf every single day. We just need to have the courage to ask for that help constantly and to regularly participate in resisting the temptation of evil. A few days ago on the show, we ended everything by praying the Saint Michael the Archangel prayer. And I think it's appropriate for us to do that again today. I got a lot of feedback from you guys that it was really helpful for you just to learn it and continue practicing it. This was a prayer that was written by the last Pope Leo, Pope Leo xiii, as the world was going through tremendous changes culturally of the Industrial Revolution, and we were losing our connection to common, shared humanity. We were losing the flourishing of the human person and the dignity of the human person at the heart of Western society. And gosh, doesn't that feel familiar? Ironically, with a new Pope Leo, Pope Leo xiv, about a hundred years later and in the society that we live in today. So I invite you to join me in praying the Saint Michael the Archangel prayer. If you're new to this, that's okay, you can look up the words and join along with us. But as you start to incorporate this new daily prayer routine into your life, especially if you're new to your walk in faith in the last few weeks, which we are so excited for you to be going on that journey together, this is a good one to incorporate pretty regularly and to know that there's somebody fighting on your behalf against the forces of evil. So let's close out today in prayer. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him. We humbly pray. And do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen. Also remember that when we pray the Lord's Prayer, if you do every Sunday at Mass, or you happen to be reading it in scripture, or you pray it with your family quite regularly, we constantly ask the Lord to deliver us from evil. And there's a prayer given to you directly by Jesus in the Gospels on exactly how we should pray, instructing us to be delivered from evil, entrusting our spiritual walk with God. I am praying for every single one of you as this continued battle between good and evil continues to wage on. Please be praying for me and all of us who have a very public voice in this time. But you can bet we are not stopping any of these battles anytime soon. And we can rest our head at night knowing that the war has already been wonderful.