The Hidden Dangers of Yoga for Christians: A Spiritual Battle Unveiled with STEPHANIE PAVLANTOS

In this eye-opening podcast episode, we dive into the controversial subject of yoga within the Christian community. 

With over twenty years of Bible study experience, our guest Stephanie Pavlantos emphasizes the importance of understanding the roots of various practices, like yoga, which originates in a multi-deity religion. We also explore the dangers of pagan practices, the reality of demonic spirits, and finding joy in holiness. 

Lastly, we discuss the importance of having a personal relationship with the Lord and seeking wisdom directly from His Word. Don't miss this enlightening conversation that will challenge your beliefs and encourage deeper engagement with God's Word.




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Chapters

• 0:00 The Spiritual Battle Behind Yoga
• 12:31 The Dangers of Pagan Practices
• 21:15 The Reality of Demonic Spirits
• 32:01 Finding Joy in Holiness
• 40:51 Encouraging Deeper Engagement with God's Word

Transcript

0:00:01
But as I'm exercising, now I've never done yoga in my life and they certainly no one ever used the word yoga. No one ever said we were gonna do anything like that. So as I'm doing these, I hear the holy spirit really just kind of trouble me in a sense with, do you realize this is yoga? You know, it's kind of like the thought that came into my mind. And I'm like, oh, no, it's not. No one's ever used that word. This can't be yoga. The pastor's wife is over there. The the director's wife planned this, you know, I'm I'm giving all these excuses and and and I I kind of just ignored him. And then again, this is yoga. You need to stop. And I'm like, Lord, everybody else is doing this. You know, this kind of mindset and Hi. I'm Ruth Hovsepian.

0:00:59
Welcome to the Out of The Darkness Podcast, where we help you navigate life's trials based on paid and difficult truths. Stephanie Pavlantos is passionate about getting people into God's Word. She has taught bible studies for twenty years and has spoken at ladies retreats. She is an author and has a podcast called Grafted, Jewish roots of Christianity, and co hosts a show on messianic Lam Network TV called Living Waters falling deeper in love with God's Word. She is ordained with messenger fellowship in Nashville, Tennessee. Stephanie works for Bisera Institute for Judeo Christian studies in the student services department and teaching online courses. Welcome, Stephanie. I am thrilled to have you on out of the darkness today and I am excited to talk about this subject. I cannot wait and it is quite a controversial subject in the church community and that is the subject of yoga. Should Christians practice yoga? Can you Christians practice yoga? Why and why not? And all of those questions sell, let's Let's let's do it. Okay. Thank you. Let's go. Thank you for having me on. So I appreciate your help. Pleasure. I cannot wait to to have this discussion with you and pick your brain a little bit on this. But let's start off giving the the listeners a little bit of a background Well, in a general sense, I've been studying the bible for many, many years.

0:02:42
The Lord in my early thirties kind of got me really just led me down a path where he was instructing me almost. It was like he would lead me to different resources. So I really got excited about bible study and word studies and all of that. And then throughout my growth and throughout this journey, the Lord has put us in with different teachers, you know, different churches and and different teachings. So as my knowledge increased in the sense that I started to just learn more about very specific things, and very specific, the character of God, let's just say that as I became more aware and understand his character and what he sees as right and what he sees as wrong.

0:03:32
It's That's a very subjective topic in our culture. And to god, it's not subjective. It's it's either right or wrong. And so as I delve more into that in understanding this word, I began to teach. So I've been teaching bible studies for over twenty years and then recently started my own podcast and and have been teaching online and teaching in person. So, you know, so I'm just I call myself a student of the bible because I'm first a student and then I'm a teacher. So Yeah. And it's interesting that you you said that about the the it's it's either right or wrong. It's black or white. There's no gray when we are talking about what's god wants from us. There's no that in between. And I find that this is one like, yoga is one of those subjects because I remember back, gosh, in the early eighties, and hearing about yoga and churches.

0:04:36
Now I didn't know anything about it in my mind and what I had seen portrayed in in media was that it was an east eastern religious practice. That's how I thought of it. So Even in a young teenage mind, I always thought am I aging myself here. But in my mind, there was something off about yoga and it being practiced by questions or even being promoted by churches as something to do collectively. So I I used to get into these discussions and I want you to talk about this, but I always heard people say to me or people said to me. Oh, but Ruth, it's just an exercise. We're not doing all of these things or whatever.

0:05:33
When I'm doing yoga, I'm meditating on the word and I'm I'm focusing on the lord, but something about that never sat well with me. Mhmm. So let's start off with that end of it. You know, like, where do you think about that? Well, again, if I start back in a general sense because I feel like you need to start at a part and work up and working into.

0:06:01
But the reason I say that is because The bible is full of trees and roots. I mean, if you look at different parts, I mean, God is always using the example of the tree and the roots in the water. And the roots into good things and and the roots into bad things. And what we cannot change are the roots. You know, my husband, when we moved into the property, we're at, he cut down two thousand trees. And And a lot of times, he would leave the stump because it was so difficult and laborious to remove the the roots. But then he would end up having to go back and remove the roots because he would have new branches coming starting to form new shoots. So he would go back, rent the proper equipment to get rid of those roots. So I say that because in our own spiritual lives, roots can take hold in our heart and take hold in various areas of our life. And if we don't remove the roots, then new sprouts just keep keep going, you know, keep springing up.

0:07:06
So when we look at different things in our own lives, even if you talk about something like rejection, the rejection stems from a root somewhere like of injustice or abandonments somebody rejected you and that has taken root in your heart. So yoga has its own roots because it came from you know, Asia. It came from this type of religion that had many gods, many deities. And as we know, as believers, God wants to be it. He's a zealous. He's a jealous God who says, nope. I'm the only one. There's no more. There's no others. It's me. Or it's nothing. And so when we when we look at the roots of yoga, it is rooted in a multi deity religion. And that is hard to remove those roots. No amount of scripture or prayer or thinking about god necessarily removes those roots from yoga. Now God could remove those roots if he wanted. It's not a problem for him, but we can't remove those roots.

0:08:22
From its original of religion. I mean, even the name is. Right? I mean, even the name yoga means union or to to yoke with the universe, if I'm right. Remembering correctly? So just the name itself is -- Mhmm. -- is saying what goes against our teachings -- Right. -- biblical teachings. Right? Right. Yeah.

0:08:48
And there are many when you start getting into the different positions, of yoga and understand that they are all a form of worship to a specific deity. It was just kind of like take the story of of Moses and the exodus. The ten plagues had to do with the different deity and God punished each God in a sense God. I say that in quotes -- Yes. -- that they worshiped. Would they plague. And we actually see that even more throughout scripture when you really understand, like, even I'm not trying to get off track here, but even Daniel, when he was in the Lion's den, that was a direct spiritual warfare attack because the Persian god wrote a lion. So if you didn't bow down to their god, then they let the lion attack you, the lion consume you. So here's God saying no, I'm more powerful than your deity and I will close their mouth and prevent my servant from being attacked by your god. And so we see this battle going on throughout scripture when you really start digging. Yeah. And and it's the same thing with yoga. If you don't search out the roots and understand what it is all about, then you're going to be sucked into the fact like you said. It's just good exercise. Yeah. Yeah.

0:10:22
And when I read that each position of yoga was opening And please correct me if I'm wrong, but it's opening yourself up for that deity to enter you with that position. It just you know, I I believe that as Christians, we cannot be possessed by demons. But I believe that we can be oppressed by demonic spirits as Christians, you know, whether it's fear or depression, you know, lust. We can just name them off. But it just as a believer, it scares me the fact that we are opening ourselves with yolked or Christians are opening themselves up with yoga emptying their minds of thought But what fills that. Right? To me Something has to. Something has to, you know. And, yeah, I'm I just I don't understand, but this is why we have to have these discussions in the church and we're not. Mhmm.

0:11:36
I don't know what what it is that we are afraid of defending people when we and and and I think it goes along something you said that really struck home was understanding the roots of, you know, what we are doing. And I know this is off topic, but one of those for me and for our family has always been the celebration of Halloween. And, I mean, I've been in the church all my life. So I have heard all the arguments, right, that that comes with all of these. Acts that we have. Mhmm. And I always wonder how we can always find a way to justify what we're doing. Mhmm. And but but you're right. We need to go to the root of of where something is coming from. Yeah.

0:12:31
Even even Easter, you know, obviously, the the Easter bunny and the eggs have nothing to do with you. As far as we actually Christmas at Santa Claus. Yes. Right. It has nothing to do with biblical events or God's word and God's son. So we have to take a look at that. And and it is, you know, and people who say, well, you can't just pick on yoga if you're not willing to explore Halloween. You're not willing to explore the Easter bunny in Santa Claus. Understood. Yes. Right. They have a very good point, and we have to take that all in consideration.

0:13:08
And and I don't mean to burst people's, you know, happiness or their bubbles of thinking that these are fine family traditions. But there are some beautiful traditions that scripture has that we could have just as much meaning in the bible, just as much meaning in it within our families when we practice those. And they're God given. You know, we're not changing anything to fit our American culture. And so we have to be careful because there's things in our culture that are not rooted in scripture.

0:13:44
I mean, you know, and we can't get so bogged down. Burned burned by them all. You know, celebrating your birthday. It may not be in scripture, but, you know, is there anything wrong with that? No. There's nothing wrong with that. So we just have to be wise, and we have to be discerning of where the roots lie. If the roots are in a pagan god, then we don't need that. We don't we don't we don't we need we need to get rid of it. So we just have to be discerning.

0:14:16
And everybody grows at their own pace and everybody learns at their own pace and god doesn't reveal everything to us at one time. So it's it's being open and allowing the holy spirit to speak. And then be willing to listen and hear and obey. You know? It's like, okay. I I hear you and I know what you're saying. But And then there comes a point in your life where God might say, so now what are you gonna do about it? You believe me. You've heard me. Now what are you gonna do about it? And that is for each person and their relationship with the Lord. So Yeah. And and I think that you know, once you open yourself up to different practices as a believer, and we're talking to believers today, you know, I I really want that to be on the table that this is for believers that But sometimes and this is something new that has come out in the last into the mainstream society. Are crystals. Mhmm.

0:15:18
And using crystals in in our homes, in worship, there's so many things that I've seen and heard recently about it. And these are all practices that are Hagan. Mhmm. And what are we introducing to our our relate into our relationship with god. Right. And into our homes and into our homes -- Mhmm. -- and to our children. Mhmm. And how do we explain all these things to our children? You know? How can I say to the younger generation? I I put my faith in god. I put my faith in him for everything. And yet, I have crystals in the home for this, for clarity, for whatever else -- Our icons.

0:16:11
-- our icon yes, our icons. Mhmm. Yeah. We had to get a whole rid of a whole lot of icons when my mother-in-law died. They had all sorts of icons in their homes. And, you know, and my husband is kind of like, what do we do with these? And I go, we throw them away. They're not They're not what we believe. They're not what we -- Right. -- it's not what we worship. So -- Yeah. -- we need to toss them. Yeah.

0:16:37
I remember I remember you know, I am surrounded. I was surrounded as a young child with a lot of Greek orthodox families in the area. And I remember moving into my apartment, and there had been a Greek orthodox family living there. In every threshold in the house had across etched not well, they have been doing it for so long that it looked etched in with the smoke of a candle. Right, to protect their family. Right?

0:17:17
It's funny what we put our faith in when we have the creator of the universe who is stronger and more powerful than anything else. I mean, stronger than witchcraft, stronger than Satan. No matter what he does, God is able to undo it or stop it. Yes. And it's just amazing how earthly minded we are because we do put our faith in things that we can see instead of what we can't see. Mhmm. And and it's just I mean, we all do it in one way. None of us are call us, so we do it in one way or another.

0:17:58
I might put my faith in what my husband can provide instead of what God will provide. And or, you know, many of us put our children on pedestals and even make idols. Of her children, you know. So so there's always that temptation. And I know when I started asking the Lord, what are my idols? You know, he didn't hesitate to start showing me. You know? He was he was like, oh, there's an idol. You know, every time something would come up, you know what? That's an idol. Like, oh, shoot. Yeah. You don't if you don't want answers to your prayers, don't pray them as what I say, you know. Yeah. But I think you have a story and experience with yoga. Could you share that with us I went to a Christian conference.

0:18:46
They they actually had a women's afternoon. So we went to this little boutique and we had, like, little snacks. And then they said, well, again, do some exercises. And anybody who wants to take part can take part and And so we I thought, well, that'll be fine. You know, we're sitting all day. It'll be nice to kinda move around and exercise a little bit.

0:19:10
But as I'm exercising, now I've never done yoga in my life, and they certainly no one ever used the word yoga, no one ever said we were gonna do anything like that. So as I'm doing these, I hear the holy spirit really just kind of trouble me in a sense with, do you realize this is yoga? You know, it's kind of like the thought that came into my mind, And I'm like, oh, no, it's not. No one's ever used that word. This can't be yoga. The pastor's wife is over there. The the director's wife planned this. You know, I'm I'm giving all these excuses and and and I I kind of just ignored him. And then again, this is yoga. You need to stop. And I'm like, Lord, everybody else is doing this, you know, this kind of mindset.

0:20:02
And so I finished and got back in the car, went back to the conference, couple you know, day or two later, we went home, and I was struck with terrible pain. In my abdomen, and it moved around a lot. It didn't stay in one place, so it wasn't as if I could say, oh, this is my, you know, gallbladder or, oh, this has gotta be, you know, my pancreas or, you know, like, I could start naming, like, these different organs. Like, this is where it is. Because it didn't stay in one place. And and it it just kinda moved around in a circle, really. I mean, it was high up under my ribs, and then it would be really low. And and so finally, it would be worse after I ate. So then I started doing some fasting, but then that didn't get rid of it. So I'm trying to my husband and I do a lot more of homeopathic types of medicine. So I was trying a variety of things. I was trying to get rid of any inflammatories out of my diet. So I was trying different things thinking maybe it's my coal and, you know, not to be TMI, but maybe it's that, you know.

0:21:15
So many people will say, why didn't you just go to the doctor? Well, I wasn't like a constant pain in one place, so I couldn't ID it. And so then I finally had gone out to eat with a really good friend of ours, and it happened in the car. I was doubled over in pain. And I said, dinner I need you to pray for me. And and so we actually we have a prayer team at our church, so we set up a time that we would basically pray with the prayer team.

0:21:52
With a day, came and I was terribly sick and in pain. And I told the Lord, I don't know how I'm gonna get there. Because I want this prayer team praying over me, but I don't I can't get there with this pain. I can't even leave my house. And the Lord just said, I want you there. I want you to do this. And I said, well, then you need to subside. Help the pain subside. So he did, and I was able to go.

0:22:22
And so then while they're praying, my friend didn't say a whole lot other than praying for me, but afterwards, she just simply said, this is not physical, Stephanie. This is spiritual. And you need to ask the Lord where it came from. She goes, I have an idea of where it came from, but I want the Lord to reveal that to you. And so I come home and a friend was asking me about it. How are you feeling? And suddenly the Lord just gave me the understanding It was from the yoga you did. This is a spiritual attack.

0:23:02
And it was a very specific spirit because then actually there was a man in our church who is Indian and who had studied yoga before he came to Christ, so he knew all about it. And so he started explaining to me that there is a spirit and it's like a snake And when it gets in you It makes me feel special. I know. But it that's why the pain kept moving around because it's snake like. And so the and I I should say that when my friends prayed for me, I was healed instantly. The lord removed it, but I still had to confess my own sin in not listening to the holy spirit. And and and going along with it. So I did all of that, and I felt totally restored, totally healed. And but he taught me a lesson that that this is a very real thing. And the spirit was a very real spirit that I had allowed in. I had opened the door for it to come in and wreak havoc in my system. And it was very eye opening.

0:24:14
It was it was a hard way to learn a lesson. It was a hard way to learn to be obedient. So but I did learn that lesson quite well. And now I know that when the Lord says no, he means no. It's he's and It's not to ruin my fun. It's to protect me. Yeah. He wanted to protect me from this, but I wouldn't allow him by being obedient. I would not allow him to protect me. And I think that's important to understand that that's what you know, what we see as rules or laws in the bible, they're meant to protect us from one thing or another whether we understand what that is. And I have been learning more and more about that. What else have you been trying to protect me from Lord that I wouldn't listen to you about. And and boy did he start showing me? You know, and that's again, you ask those questions and he is faithful to reveal them to you.

0:25:17
And but it was it was quite a lesson, and I'm a writer. So, obviously, he'll there was another purpose, I believe, in allowing this all to happen because I did write about it. And and, you know, and I had people I had a very well known magazine picked it up. And they they actually put it on in their magazine online. And I had a great deal of readers, viewers And I got some feedback, you know, some pushback from and I had one or two people actually stocked me stocked me online and give me a really hard time about my article. But others were very interested and very their hearts were soft to the holy spirit in wanting to learn. And I actually had an Indian woman contact me and asked me all about this because she sees it going on all the time. Down the street, all the parks are filled with people doing yoga. And she's like, I didn't. You know, I've never had a good feeling about it. And so she's like, thank you for explaining what's going on -- Mhmm. -- to me. So so, you know, I think it was a big experience.

0:26:33
It was it was something that I'll never forget, but it was also critical to learning about the roots of evil, the roots of paganism, and how we can mask them. Because in this little boutique, She had bible verses up all over the walls. She had Christian music playing, but that didn't keep this demonic spirit from entering into my body. I've I've had a very dark journey, and and I have seen a lot of things. And and people used to say to me, you know, prior to that. You know, there aren't such things as a demonic spirits that is not pertain it doesn't pertain to those of faith and those who believe. Mhmm. I've heard that too. Yeah. And and that scares me. I don't I don't know Stephanie, but that scares me because that means they are not protecting themselves from these demonic beings, spirits.

0:27:49
And, you know, in the darkest, my darkest days, I saw those spirits, you know. And and I felt them and I felt them the day that I came down sobbing on my knees. Lord, I don't know what to do. I felt them and I know people have you know, I've I shared this only with a few people. Now everybody's hearing it, but I was told, Ruth, that's all hocus you know, hokey dokie, whatever. I didn't even think about it. But, you know, they they just pushed it aside. And I said, no. I felt their presence. I felt them touch my body. You know, like, the presence was real because I was there crying out to the Lord. I was crying out to God And I that that was a huge change in my mind as well.

0:28:55
But there are these demonic spirits that are waiting for us as Christians? To just become lazy. Right? It's a good word. Mhmm. Yeah. Like, it's a good Yes. Let our guard down. That's what it is. Right? Put on the full armor of God. Be prepared. Be on guard. But we let go And sometimes it is innocently, you know, you said that.

0:29:23
Sometimes we just don't know any better. But shouldn't we question something new that we are introducing into our lives? Right? Right? I agree with you. And, I mean, and I think probably between the two of us, we could we could take well over an hour talking about the stories that we have and the things I've seen even in my own house holding when other people brought in spirits that, you know, I was unaware of until they manifested themselves, and I'm not saying that. It was like this big ugly monster. I'm not saying that. It's just a darkness. And And I mean, my daughter is twenty six years old, and she still remembers from the time that she was three of a dark presence in her room. And, you know, and and I think kids are more susceptible to it because they are young and they are innocent and they are I don't know how to say it, but they're they're more in tune with spiritual realm. We become less in tune with his spirit to Rome as we grow older -- Yeah. -- if we're not staying close to the lord. Right.

0:30:42
And but there's so many things I have seen in my own life that I could talk about and that proved to me that Satan is alive and well he is not bonded in bondage at this point in time. He is allowed to he has a certain let me just say it this way. He has a certain freedom given to him by the lord. And and I wanna make a point of saying, that spirit just can't enter you without your permission. I gave a permission when I failed to listen to the Lord. But the Lord was faithful and he was gracious and he removed it -- Yeah. -- when I repented and when and when we sought prayer to remove it. So he is gracious and he is good. Yeah. But there is also evil and he's trying to protect us from that evil, but he also also wants us to be aware of the evil. And I've heard what you have said where people are like, Jesus conquered sin. He conquered death. He conquered evil at the cross. So we are free from it. We are not susceptible to it. It is correct. He conquered all of that at the cross.

0:32:01
But a story if I can share this real quickly, please. When you think of the Vietnam prisoners, POWs, when many of them were set free in a sense. They they they the enemy was overrun and driven out and they started releasing prisoners. A lot of those prisoners wouldn't come out of their cells because they had been so used to being in the cell. The door's unlocked, the door's wide open, but they wouldn't come out. We are no different. Mhmm. Jesus has freed us. But if we don't come out of our cell, if we don't walk out of the cell, into his freedom that we are going to be in a cell. We will stay there.

0:32:55
And I think that's important to understand he has freed us. Jesus has ever has freed us for eternity, but we still have strongholds within our own lives. We still have trauma, abandonment, betrayal, wounds, and the Lord's able to heal those wounds and release us from the prison that they keep us in. My mom's ninety years old. She's still in prison in many ways from the abuse she suffered. And all my life, all my adult life, I've been trying to help her see the freedom, but she won't step out of herself. Yeah. And I can't do anything about that. I can only tell her that Jesus has set her free.

0:33:40
And it all starts with repenting and for giving those who have heard us, who have traumatized us. That is amazing. Forgiveness is amazing, and it's not for that person who heard us. It's for us. It's to free us. Yes. And it it's it's as you said, it's for our own good, for our own protection. There is a reason that the lord is giving us this this particular message. And, yeah, it's it's a tough one. You know, speaking up about subjects that, you know, people sit on the fence with is is really hard. And you know yeah. Sometimes we just don't wanna be that person. But And we're all growing. And learning.

0:34:34
And the idea is to not stop. Don't think you've arrived because none of us have. I I I mean, even when Jesus talks about be becoming holy, the type of verb that it is, it's it's a futuristic. It's a it's an ongoing futuristic tense in a sense that you're not stopping. You you're becoming. You are you are growing in holiness. You are becoming more and more holy. It's not a one time thing. And that's what we have to understand. We're all at different places on that timeline. And the timeline will stop at one time. At some point, in the future, right, it's going to stop time as we know it is going to end. And we won't have any more chances to become holy. You know? That is another -- But -- part. So We're gonna live with Jesus for eternity and he is our holiness, but he wants to be our example at this time in our lives And I think I think what we miss out on by becoming holy And just like you mentioned, yes, not everybody's going to agree with you, and some are gonna speak out against you, some are going to criticize and ridicule you.

0:35:57
But there are blessings for staying on course and taking that narrow path to holiness, he just loads you down with blessings. And and they may not be material blessings, but they are blessings. And -- Yeah. -- and even the beatitudes, you know, we think of those as blessings. Like, why is it a blessing to mourn? But it's more than that. It's it's actually happy are those. That's what the word actually means in the Hebrew. Happy are those. Who mourn and that is who mourn over their sin. Not just mourn in general, but mourn over their sin because because there are promises for mourning over sin. He will comfort us. Yeah. He won't leave us there. He'll comfort us when we mourn over our sin. And as a result, we'll be happy. You know, I mean, all of those beatitudes are way to be happy, but they're very very specific in walking the narrow path with Jesus. Yeah. Amen.

0:37:05
Before we end this, what is one piece of advice that you can share with my listeners today. That's really easy. Get your nose in your bible. You know, study it for all of its worth. The Bible is is not is one big redemption story. Every story is not in its own little box. It relates to something else. It relates to the big picture. And there's layers upon layers upon layers of richness in the bible. And if you find it boring, dig deeper, and you'll find something that will excite you. Keep digging. Keep digging. Keep digging.

0:37:50
And the Lord told me, you know, I don't wanna say, like, he sat here. We have this conversation, but obviously, in prayer, we do have these conversations. And when I was praying, because Being holy is gonna set you apart. You are not gonna be like the world. You are not gonna be like everybody else. Mhmm. And not everybody's gonna like you when you're holy. And and I certainly have experienced that.

0:38:16
But I remembered the Lord just reminding me of the parable that Jesus told when he said there was a man who found a treasure buried in a field, and he sold all that he had. So he could buy that field. And when I was asking the Lord, like, what does that mean to me? Why are you reminding me of that? And he said to you, Stephanie, that treasure is my word. Yeah. And to you, you pull out these gyms. And you just wanna show people.

0:38:59
And it gets me more it gets me emotional because he knew exactly who I was he knows exactly what meant the most to me. And he put it in me. I didn't ask for it. He put it in me. Yeah. But he's like, you show people these gyms that you find when you dig and when you work at studying my word. And I'm not seeing that to be boastful. I'm saying that because he identified me. He showed me who I am. He showed me my purpose and he showed me who he wants me to be to others. And so I took that to heart and and it's like You're right. I do enjoy digging. I do enjoy showing people what I learned, telling people, of course, what I learned. But showing them in the bible where it is. And there can be so much joy in that. And and we've we're in a culture now that accept so many things. And this goes with the yoga. It goes with abortion. It goes with whatever.

0:40:07
Whatever the big hot topics are out there, there are many Christians who go along with the world and accept those. And because they're not in the word of god. They're not buried in the word, having it be well, let's just say, hungry and thirsty and after who God is and hungry and thirsty after his word. That is where we get fulfilled. That is our fulfillment. I get so much fulfillment out of teaching and studying. And having that relationship with the lord where he gives me these nuggets of wisdom that I would have never gotten otherwise.

0:40:51
So I just wanna encourage people. You know, devotionals are great. But God's word is so much better. Just open your bible. Get good resources, people you trust that will take you deeper. Not just tell you what you already know, but take you deeper. And teach you what god's word says and who he is. Yeah. Amen.

0:41:18
Well, Stephanie, I wanna thank you so much for joining me today and sharing your story and your knowledge and your wisdom with my out of the darkness listeners and to my friends. Please check out the show notes on connecting with Stephanie Pavlantos and please subscribe and share to grow our community. Thank you, Stephanie. Thank you, Bruce. I appreciate your time and and willingness to let me tell my story. Thank you for joining me to stay connected Follow me on Instagram and Facebook. If you like this podcast, can you help me find new listeners by leaving a rating and review. This small step takes only a moment, but really helps grow the listening audience. So let me thank you in advance. I hope you have a wonderful day and until next time. Let's continue on our journey as followers of Jesus Christ. I am Ruth Hovsepian.