This isn’t an attack on the supernatural. It’s a call to integrity, accountability, and making sure what we call freedom actually looks like Jesus. Deliverance is real. And so is the damage that happens when zeal outruns discernment. In this Sponsors Only conversation, Brandon and Lindsy talk with Dr. Merrill Greene about “exorcistic abuse,” the history behind exorcism language, why “unclean spirits” mattered in the Second Temple world, and how fake manifestations, celebrity culture, and bad theology can wreck vulnerable people.

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Timestamps:

00:00:48 Brandon frames the episode redemptively not anti supernatural

00:03:02 Why Merrill started writing The Cost of Casting Out

00:04:10 A sham deliverance meeting eyes flashing and peer pressure

00:06:10 Leg lengthening and the danger of staged miracles

00:07:39 The Winger /Bolz /Bethel tension and how discernment gets weaponized

00:08:50 Deliverance vs exorcism why Protestants changed the language

00:10:55 Brief history of exorcism from ancient world to early church

00:13:20 Divine council worldview and territorial powers without obsession

00:16:37 Unclean spirits vs demons Second Temple context and 1 Enoch thread

00:18:44 What exorcistic abuse looks like in real cases

00:23:25 When people mean well but bad theology turns lethal

00:25:47 Accountability without becoming a heresy hustle culture

00:28:04 Fake manifestations Munchausen dynamics and ministry incentives

00:30:23 Zoom deliverance social pressure and manufactured demons

00:32:41 Theology has consequences why what you believe shapes what you do

00:34:58 Practical markers character accountability and fruit not theatrics

00:37:20 Covering concerns disciple making movements and lone wolf danger

00:39:48 How common is real possession and why proof matters

00:42:02 Celebrity church culture performance pressure and entertainment

00:46:44 Ignorance training gaps and trauma created by careless labels

00:49:02 Character integrity humility and community as a safeguard

00:56:09 Charismatic realism wanting the real without the spectacle

00:58:20 Closing word and why this matters for judgment and witness