Unmasking the Dark Side of Alternative Medicine with Dr Melissa Rupp

Join me for a discussion with Dr. Melissa Rupp as we dive into the hidden spiritual dangers of alternative medicine practices like acupuncture, cupping, and Reiki.



Dr. Rupp, a deliverance ministry expert, unravels the connections between these practices and various religions and how they can potentially expose us to demonic forces. This episode delves deep into these alternative healing methods, their origins, and their potential spiritual risks. We also touch on the power of prayer and its significance in healing and peace.

 

This episode is divided into key chapters, which include:
1. (0:00:00) - Spiritual Dangers of Alternative Medicine (6 Minutes)
2. (0:05:43) - The Spiritual Dangers of Alternative Medicine (13 Minutes)
3. (0:19:14) - Dangers of Wet Cupping and Bloodletting (4 Minutes)
4. (0:23:00) - Demon Possession and Reiki Healing (6 Minutes)
5. (0:29:17) - Dangers of Reiki and Demonic Attack (8 Minutes)
6. (0:37:42) - Interview With Melissa Rupp (1 Minutes)


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Chapters

• 0:00 Spiritual Dangers of Alternative Medicine
• 5:43 The Spiritual Dangers of Alternative Medicine
• 19:14 Dangers of Wet Cupping and Bloodletting
• 23:00 Demon Possession and Reiki Healing
• 29:17 Dangers of Reiki and Demonic Attack

Transcript

0:00:00 - Speaker 1
God can heal us and we're supposed to look to Him for those things, and so when we go seek out the alternatives, it can be spiritually dangerous. You know people in the occult and people in new age practices. this, this stuff is not new to them. They're taught the side of things. They're taught the supernatural side of things. 

0:00:20 - Speaker 2
Hi, i'm Ruth Hovsepian. Welcome to the Out of the Darkness podcast, where we help you navigate life's trials, based on faith and biblical truths. Have you ever wondered what alternative medicine is all about, what acupuncture is, cupping Reiki, and how they can help you or maybe affect you? Well, today, my guests, dr Melissa Rupp and I, are talking about these and how these alternative medicines come and are based in all kinds of different religions, and how they will open up the doors to the spiritual world and affect your life. Listen in and find out and you will never be the same again. Welcome, melissa, to Out of the Darkness. I'm so happy to have you back, and the listeners won't know, but this is our second round trying to record it. I said that the devil did not want this message to go out when we recorded it, but I also believe in God's timing and I believe that this time around is when God wants this message to come out. So welcome, melissa. I'm so happy you're back. 

0:01:39 - Speaker 1
Thank you for having me back. Yeah, i think my laptop was just a little bit old and wonky and I'm sure there was some demonic interference there too, but hopefully this goes well. 

0:01:48 - Speaker 2
I've been praying it well, so yes, I have to, And today we're specifically going to be touching on the subject. that is actually something that I've been wanting to talk about on the show for a while, And that is about acupuncture, cupping and reiki and how these different types of you know, I don't know medical I'll turn, Yeah, I'll, yeah, that's it. That's a good way of putting it. You know, I don't. I'm very careful when I say I don't refute what it can do, but what concerns me really is what we are opening ourselves up to, And that's what we're going to be talking about. So let's start off by having you tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got to where you are talking about these subjects. 

0:02:55 - Speaker 1
Okay, well, my name is Melissa Rupp. I've been a Christian my whole life, but with being a Christian, you know, we're given spiritual gifts by the Lord and those can develop, as you know, really early. And so I was saved really young and I had the gift of discerning of spirits pretty strong, and ever since I was little I could sense the presence of demonic spirits. And then when I got older and rededicated my life to the Lord, got rebaptized, those gifts really became heightened And then I started to also see things in the spirit and went looking for answers but found them in the wrong place because my church and any churches that I had gone to had never taught about this topic. And so I was kind of led down this bunny trail trying to find the answers. 

But again, you know, found them in the wrong place, then got on the right track and, you know, became connected with a friend who had been involved in deliverance ministry. And if that's a term that's new to any of your listeners, deliverance Pentecostals and Charismatics will call it deliverance. It means the casting of demons out of a person or a place. Catholics will call it exorcism. It's the same thing, just different terminology. But I had a friend who was involved in deliverance ministry got me connected, went through the training, learned the truth, you know, got on the right track with the Lord And yeah, that's just kind of how all this came about, just researching the different things, and the Lord just led me on this supernatural trail now. 

0:04:16 - Speaker 2
So And I like the fact that you said that you learned the truth, and I think, as Christians and as believers and those that profess to be children of God and follow you, know our Lord and Savior, i think we need not. 

I think I know we need to be aware of what is happening around us, and I am not pointing fingers at anyone because, as you said, we are not taught about a lot of these things in our churches or or anywhere, right, because it's these are things that we see all the time We they look very innocent, but, you know, i think we need to be careful on who is carrying out these things and how it's done and what is being done. So I don't want to waste too much time with my ramblings. I want to hear from you about let's just start with acupuncture, and I know that this is a Chinese practice, right, that has been happening And I believe, if I'm correct, it is channeling the flow of energy in the body And that's what they believe is the healing process. But you know, introduce us to this and why, as Christians, we need to be aware of this. 

0:05:43 - Speaker 1
Okay, sure, before we just jump right into acupuncture, i just I really feel like it's important to like just a little bit of a foundation first. And you know that foundation is that the Bible is true, god is real, he loves us, he is our healer And he, you know, he promises in his word that he is our healer, that he supernaturally heals us. That's physical, emotional, mental, it's every area of our lives. God can heal us and we're supposed to look to him for those things. And so when we go seek out the alternatives, it can be spiritually dangerous. You know people in the occult and people in new age practices, this, this stuff is not new to them. They're taught the side of things, they're taught the supernatural side of things, but not that it opens a door to the demonic. You know they're, they're, they're not aware of that part of it And so, but they're aware of the supernatural and that things can happen, but they're not aware that the power is coming from a demonic source. You know God is our healer. One of his names is Jehovah Rafa. It's a covenant name. It means that you know the Lord is our healer And there's, there's just so many things in the Bible that you know Jesus. 

He went around healing the sick and those who are oppressed by the devil. His disciples did the same thing. He told us that we would do the same things that he did. You know, there's different verses in the Bible that say believers will lay hands on the sick and they'll recover. The prayer of faith will heal the sick. So we have all these promises in the Bible that God is our healer and we should really be looking to him. And when we seek the alternative sources other than God, we're going to get the alternative right Because, you know, god's counterpart is. He's not as powerful, but it's the devil. And the devil has his little minions, demons, running around and we can open the door to them and attack by them. You know, we can't be possessed Christians cannot be possessed by demons, but we can be oppressed and we can have them attack us. 

And really, what I feel like one thing is that it's important to stress is that the Bible says that a house divided against itself can't stand. And Jesus was accused of actually casting out demons by the power of Beelzebub, which is a demon, and he said you know, a house divided against itself can't stand. So if I'm casting out demons by the power of demons. This house can't stand Well, these alternative practices, the devil can only counterfeit. 

And so when the devil is helping facilitate some of these healings with his counterfeit practices, all sickness and infirmity comes from the devil. It says that the thief, the devil, is who comes to steal, kill and destroy. And you know the Bible talks about people when they were oppressed by the devil, they were prayed for. Demons were cast out. You know, spirits of infirmity were cast out. And when those spirits were cast out, people were healed. And so a demon brings sickness. And so a demon with these alternative practices isn't going to just heal you and leave you be. It's either going to mask a symptom, it's going to move to a different part of your body, but it's a house divided against itself won't stand. So you know the devil won't divide his house. So it just felt like it was really important to kind of lay that foundation. 

So acupuncture, yeah, it's a Chinese thing, it's counterfeit healing, it's manipulating energy and it's using demonic power and demonic forces to do that. 

I'm going to say that with some of these practices it may be more, it may depend more on the practitioner rather than the practice. 

I'll just kind of say that, and I think every person has a seek the Lord for their own. You know their own truth, their own permission to do things. But yeah, it's, it's alternative medicine. They're trying to balance the flow of your energy or life force. They believe in the Yin and the Yang forces. You know the positive and the negative, and so they will stick a needle into one part of your body and then a needle into another part of your body And it will try to reduce or increase the, the energy flow in those areas to help alleviate pain And a lot of these things. Though people think that they work, there's not a lot of medical sustenance to back that, that these things actually are effective. And, like I said, if you know, if you're using a demon to try to be healed, you're probably going to end up with more shape, or you're going to have pain in a different part of your body when you're done, or you're going to be tormented in another way by the, the demonic spirits that you allow in. 

0:09:49 - Speaker 2
Yeah, and you know, i think that's what it is. You know, when, when you go into this, the alternative medicine, that that world, i think we need to be aware of what it is and who we are seeing on this right And again, i don't know enough about it. You know statistics or whatever whether it works or not. But I just want people to be very aware of these things when you know, if they choose to go, for example, to acupuncture, to be aware what's out there and what can happen. You know, and I have heard some stories and recently I've heard a lot of people say Recently I had a guest on who talked about yoga and her experience as a Christian who went into that, and you know, if anybody's interested they should go listen to that. I'll put it in the show notes. But that too, you know, we need to be aware of. You know what is what's happening. 

0:11:02 - Speaker 1
Yeah, and I always like to include. So I have my own podcast called What's Up with Dr Rupp and we explore the supernatural from a biblical perspective. You know we talk about what's okay, what's not and why, and on my episodes I always like to give case studies and show people like real life stories of things that have happened. And so one of the case stories that I used on acupuncture came from a book. The book was called He Came to Set the Captives Free, by Dr Rebecca Brown, and she was a medical doctor but she also was involved in doing deliverance ministry And she had a patient that had come to her And he was this 35 year old, well built, built man and good physical health, but he was saying that he was dying. He just he wasn't. He had excellent health, no medical issues. He just his strength kept being depleted and he just kept feeling like he was getting weaker and weaker and that he was actually dying. 

And the Lord revealed some things to this doctor while the patient was there And it was revealed that this man had had acupuncture three years before for sinus issues. And during the exam with the patient, the doctor actually felt this evil presence come into the room. And the time that the evil presence was was sensed by her in the room, the patient's heart stopped beating for over a full minute while she was running an EKG And the Lord had revealed to her that this was the spirit of the acupuncturist who had appeared in the room And these doorways had been left open by the holes in the acupuncture needles in the person's body. So these doors have been left open and the acupuncturist was draining the person's life force and taking it to strengthen himself and for his own purposes. 

And you know that can be done through witchcraft, through demonic assistance, possibly through voodoo. You know we see voodoo dolls and the broken holes and people and things happen. But yeah, this was an actual case study, a real, a real life story of something that happened. And so the doctor, you know, rebuked the evil presence when she felt it in the room. The presence left The guys heart started beating again and then the Lord led her on a fasting and prayer journey for this guy and then he got free and healed. But crazy stuff can happen. 

0:13:04 - Speaker 2
Yeah, you know it's crazy, but it's so true. right, this is, this is happening and we need to be aware of it. And I am frightened to hear believers say that there is no such thing as evil or witchcraft or this or that, Because we are ignoring something that is there. you know the evil spirits, i believe in them, but as a believer, i'm not scared of them. I think that there's a difference between that. right, i'm not afraid of witchcraft in my life because I'm not open to it. I'm not. I have the Holy Spirit protecting me, and it's the same thing with all of these things. But what scares me is when we're not protecting ourselves, you know, with the, you know, against these evil forces. 

0:14:07 - Speaker 1
Yeah, christians have been really shielded from these things. But, you know, people who are coming out of the occult and out of witchcraft and becoming believers, they're telling of the secret things that happen in these secret occult practices and these secret societies And they're revealing the truth. But, yeah, i mean, we can't be attacked by witchcraft, but the Bible says that we have authority over that And we can just, you know, break those curses. We can just, you know, take authority over the demonic spirits that are involved. Believers using the name of Jesus Christ have authority over that. And so you're right, you know we're protected by the Holy Spirit. We have no reason to be afraid because we've been given authority over it. 

0:14:39 - Speaker 2
Yeah, and the you know the story that you talked about, this doctor and this the patient. I remember back. You know my dad's, a pastor of the church, and years ago, when I was young, i remember him coming back from church so affected by an experience he had had. He had been with someone in his office and they were possessed, unbeknownst to him, when the person came. And I, to this day, remember my dad's, you know the experience that he, you know the look he had and what he had been through And, when he prayed, that turmoil that had taken place in that office. And I remember my and as a young person I don't remember how old I was, but I was old enough that he allowed me to hear this And that was the first time that I, as someone who was born, say, into the church, heard about this and realized how true it was. 

And it wasn't just, you know, like this hocus pocus kind of oh cutesy little thing. This was serious, it was life threatening And it could have taken my father's life, it could have taken the other person's life. But I believe that when we are covered, you know, in the Holy Spirit, and as you said, and we call out in his name. We are protected. But that is an experience that you know, my dad I don't think will ever forget. He's, you know, 83 years old, but I don't think I will ever forget it because it really it set an example to me or, you know it's it made me very aware of the possibilities of this other realm that Christians tend to just push aside. 

0:16:56 - Speaker 1
Yeah, yeah, and it can be scary. you know your first few times dealing with it if you've never had any training in deliverance ministry or virtual warfare. 

It can be scary, but you know just. That's why it's so important to know the Bible and know the truth of the word, because you know it'll tell you right in there. You know we have authority in the name of Jesus. We've been given authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall be at any means harm us. And so you know we have those promises, we've been given that authority. But if you don't know your authority and you don't know how to use it, it can be scary, and I always encourage people, everyone, no matter. 

0:17:31 - Speaker 2
You know, no matter if we're talking about this kind of a subject or we're talking about some other subject. You need you meaning. Every single one of us need to know the scriptures. We need to know what is in there. We need to understand it for ourselves, because that's where our power comes from. And it's great to listen to podcasts Look, you have one, i have one. There are so many great podcasts out there, but we need to still be rooted in the word of God. You know and spend time in the word. 

0:18:11 - Speaker 1
Yeah, Amen All right. 

0:18:15 - Speaker 2
Let's go on to the next one, because this one here is cupping, and I believe cupping is used not only in Asia, but it comes all the way through to Asia Minor, where my family comes from the Armenians and Middle Eastern people, and I know cupping has been used in our. You know, like my grandmother, i remember using cupping when they had back pain or they had some kind of a sickness. So for me to find out that this came from a different place than I thought was a very eye opening. So please hit the floor's ears. 

0:19:09 - Speaker 1
Yup, yup, cupping is an interesting one, and again it might. There's two different types of cupping. There's dry cupping and there's wet cupping. And the dry cupping, i'm gonna say, may not be bad. It may be more related to the practitioner than the practice. The wet cupping is what the Lord really showed me can be really dangerous And I'll get into that in just a second. But yeah, it does date back Ancient Egyptian, chinese and Middle Eastern cultures is where that originates from. It's been used for many, many years. I think 1550 BC was the first written record of it happening. But people will use it for lots of different things. 

And for those who don't know, you put this cup on your part of your body and you create some kind of a suction force with the cup by using like heat to draw the air out. So the couple suction stick to your skin. That will pull your blood up to the surface of your skin And then it's supposed to help with like inflammation and blood flow and some of these things. But again, it's not medically proven, but just people think it works And so they try it cause. It's an alternative thing And they'll be willing to try anything if they're not getting healed and they're in pain, but so that's all it is. With the dry cupping You're just creating that suction, bringing some of your blood to the surface in different parts of your body. But with wet cupping they'll do the same procedure And then, after they take the cup off, they can either use acupuncture needles along with it or they will take a scalpel And with a scalpel those raised suction spots where the blood has come to the surface, they'll make a cut in your skin and do bloodletting. So they'll release blood from your body. They'll get the blood out of your body in those spots and they think it helps remove toxins from your blood. 

But this is the practice of bloodletting. It's actually it's demonic worship. So I'm gonna get to that in a second. But so in the Bible there was the Gadarine demoniac and Jesus, you know, cast the demons out of him and there were at least 2,000 demons in him and they went into. Jesus allowed them to go to the pigs when they asked. But he, so he had. This man had these unclean spirits in him. They had caused him to have like extra super strength and he couldn't be bound. He could, he would break the chains that were holding him and nobody could subdue him. But it says that day and night, this man, who was tormented with these demons, he would cry out and he would cut himself with stones. So he was actually cutting himself and bleeding and again, that was a process of blood letting. We're not supposed to cut ourselves. 

What the Lord revealed to me is that this bloodletting is a blood sacrifice to demonic spirits. 

It's a form of worship to false gods which are demons, and that when you worship something, you empower it and it gets stronger. 

So when you're doing this blood letting it's blood sacrifice to a demon, you are empowering it, you're worshiping it and it gets stronger and it can then attack you. But we saw it too with Elijah in the Bible, when Elijah went up against the false prophets of Baal and first Kings 18, and they're, you know, trying to say, okay, let's, you know, you call on your God, baal, and you have him. Light this fire for the sacrifice and then, when you're done, then I'll call on, you know, the Lord, god of the Bible. And so they're, they're shouting louder and louder and then they get out their swords and they slashed themselves as was their custom, until blood flowed. So they were offering a blood sacrifice to Baal to try to get him to respond to their request. So you know again, after you have this process done, if there is any relief, it's because something demonic caused it, because of the blood sacrifice, but then you're gonna be attacked in a different area. 

0:22:53 - Speaker 2
Yeah, i mean it. Just it brings to life what you're talking about. You know that we see in the scriptures, right, and to me, i've always been, you know, very intrigued with the story of the man that was possessed by the demons and how those demons were allowed to go into those pigs and what happened to them afterwards. It shows me that the force that was in one human, one individual, and how it was contained in that man, and it's just, it really should be an eye opener for all of us that it happens if we open ourselves. 

0:23:49 - Speaker 1
Yeah, exactly, and two things fascinate me about that scripture, with that, with a band, with the 2000 demons, because I don't know why I say 2000. 

It wasn't necessarily 2000, it could have been more, because the Legion could have been up to, you know, 6000, some people think 12,000 but one man had a legion of demons in him and the Lord told me if one man can have a legion of demons, we can ask him for a legion of angels to assist us. 

So I was like that's really cool, lord, that's awesome. But the other thing that stuck out to me with this verse and I read this verse over and over before I finally saw it and then one day the Lord just like, just open my eyes to it, but it said that this man had been running around naked and living in the tombs, but that when he was delivered from these spirits, he, he was mentally healed. So he'd been, you know, like mentally, mentally not well, mentally, you know, nuts he'd be locked in an insane asylum here, you know. But it said that when he was delivered from the demons, he was mentally healed, because he was then clothed, so he had clothes back on and then he was in his right mind again, his mental health had been restored. 

0:24:54 - Speaker 2
And so when I saw that, i was just like this is so that's a bit of a controversial statement, that where you made it, because, but I agree with you a hundred percent, because when I look around me today, at the environment that we are in socially, and I look at individuals, whether it's in social media, whether it's around us, isn't it true that we are seeing this in people? they are cutting themselves, they are what running around naked, they are crying out, they cannot be restrained and it it, it. I get shivers up and down my spine when I think about this because my heart breaks for the individual that is that has this inside of them and it is a case of, you know, we call it a mental illness, we call it being woke, we call it being, you know, whatever, it doesn't matter what we call it. But as a Christian, i look at them and I say this is a form of demon possession because, as Christians, this is not normal behavior that we are seeing. 

0:26:26 - Speaker 1
People are mutilating themselves and you know, i know people are going to not agree with us on this, but honestly, i don't care anymore, you know yeah, i, i totally agree, and your heart just breaks for those people and you know all we can do is pray for them and pray that the Lord will reveal the truth, because it's the truth that ultimately sets them free. 

0:26:52 - Speaker 2
But, yeah, amen, it's heartbreaking, that's all I can say. I am praying for them, i mean them. No harm I it's not to tear them down when they're already down, but I, my heart, cries for them. You know, i pray for them that each because we can only reach each one individually right, it's not a, it's not something that we can just, you know, reach out to a thousand at the same time. 

0:27:27 - Speaker 1
We need to well, when you true, true that's true, you know. 

0:27:34 - Speaker 2
But again, i pray for each, for these people, because my heart breaks for them. And, yes, we, we need to be very aware of what is happening and, you know, teach our children as well about what is out there and what is of God and what is of Satan and how man has given into Satan and in all shapes and ways. All right. Our final area, and that's Reiki, which I know it as energy healing, and it's, i believe, in Japanese practice. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe it's, i've heard it to be a Japanese healing source. 

0:28:24 - Speaker 1
Yep, it's Japanese and so if anybody's ever seen the karate kid and they've seen mr Miyagi doing the you know the healing over Daniel Laruso that was. That was Reiki that you were witnessing there. But yeah, it's an alternative form of medicine. It's an energy healing. It's manipulating energy again, kind of like Acupuncture, you know, trying to manipulate the energy. So they believe that there is this universal life force that flows through, you know, each person's body and that you can manipulate and send your energy into another person to heal them. But the way people get trained in this, i really have a Actually have a friend who is a good friend and she used to be a Reiki practitioner And now she's a Christian and she's given that up and you know She's come to discover how bad it was. But she, i actually had her as a guest of my podcast But she kind of filled me in and a lot of this stuff. And then I did some other research too and found some different case studies. 

But One of the things that's interesting about this is how this was kind of, i guess, invented or discovered. And it was a Buddhist monk and he was in Japan in the early 1920s And he was fasting, meditating and praying On a sacred mountain and he was trying to find the secrets to how Buddha Did his healing. And so on day 21 of his fast and his praying, he had this experience. So he either had a vision or trance and he saw this flickering white light that came from at him from a distance. It came and it hit him between the eyes and then he was shown these symbols, these Sanskrit symbols, and Shown like the meaning of these symbols and how they could be used to do this system of healing. And so they're using their. Their meaning of these symbols was transmitted to him and then he started to heal people. So it's related to and has origins in Buddhism, it's based in Eastern religions and philosophies and, you know, they don't have the, the one Triune God of the Bible, at their head. 

So it's, it's basically worship of false demons with, you know, satan at the head of that hierarchy. But they use, they use this. What they do with this practice is so the practitioners get trained and There are these symbols, so different symbols, the Sanskrit symbols, from what I understand, they're like drawn in the air and then they're like pushed into and imparted into the person's hands So that when they use their hands and they hover their hands over the person's body and pray for them. There's this power that they've gotten from these symbols that have been imparted to them. And One of the things that a former Reiki practitioner said that I found online. 

He said that Reiki symbols summon the demon Assigned to them. He said that he had been duped, attacked and beaten by these demons. They are genuine and aligned to all people attuned to Reiki. So he said that there are actually demons assigned to the symbols and then it's the demonic spirits that are causing the Supposed healing, which may or may not last, you know, maybe transferred to a different part of your body. However, you know the demons want to do that because they're not gonna leave you in better shape. 

Then, when you came, so they can, they'll also use different things, like stones, and they'll use occult practices to infuse these stones or crystals with power to use along with the Reiki. And so people will use different, like new age practices, like connecting The stones of the crystals to their spirit guides, which are demonic spirits. They'll put them out under a full moon to absorb the moon's power. They'll they'll give them like a sound bath. There's different things that they'll do, but you know, burning incense over them, all these different, like new age, practices that they believe will infuse them with power to help with their I mean, there's, there's so much to to think about and absorb and be cognizant of when we are out there. 

0:32:27 - Speaker 2
And you know, i, i, i remember one time, i, you know, i had been out, i had been at some events, some party, and I came back and and I, for the first time felt, and I was not walking with the Lord. Let me just put it out there, i, i had, i had opened up myself, knowingly, unknowingly, it doesn't matter. I had opened up myself and I was in bed and The presence of someone was in the in the room and All I knew was I, i was scared and there was fear and I went back to what I had been raised to and You know, i prayed, but it was the prayer of someone who's praying in fear, right? Not not because I had been Following the Lord, and you know, you understand what I mean. And I, i have never poo, pooed away Evil spirits that are here. We just need to To protect ourselves and and cloak ourselves, you know, and be fully armed. 

0:34:07 - Speaker 1
Yeah, amen, and there are. You know there's so many practices like these, alternative medical practices. I mean, this is just one category of things where we can open up the door to demonic attack. You know there's so many different categories and I talk about this in my new book. So I have a new book. It's called the war between two worlds. It's a beginner's guide to spiritual warfare. I have an entire chapter in there called gateways and it's different ways that. So gateways are essentially Doorways where demonic spirits can come into your life and attack you. You're giving them a legal right to come in and attack you, And so you know there's lots of things that can do that We, you know we talked about a few of those things here. But you know drug use, pornography. You know some of the things we talked about with the, the people who are Cutting themselves, and you know the things with that. There are things that they can, you know, open the door to with. You know video games or pornography or things like that. Yeah, you know inappropriate sexual activities. 

0:35:00 - Speaker 2
Yeah, that that was my world. You know, that was my world and you know, i think that young people think that When we warn them about certain activities whether it's video games or music or movies that we are just, we just don't understand, we're too conservative. We do, we're not open to things. But I always say Something that changes the way you feel, gives you a high. Outside of the scriptures, outside of prayer, there is a reason why you feel that way, right, because it's that It's Satan. It's Satan that's giving you that feeling. You know, because that's what an addiction does, right? It just, excuse me, it really captures you. You are addicted to this, whether it's porn or drugs or video games. What is one piece of advice that you can share with us today for us to protect ourselves? 

0:36:07 - Speaker 1
Well, one piece with a little bit of a couple different facets, i'm gonna say. I'm gonna say reading the word, having a relationship with the Lord. you know learning to hear his voice, and you know commune with him, have conversations with him, and you know obeying his rules. He, you know he gives us rules for a reason and you know your parents love you and so they give you rules. and God loves us. You know he's our Heavenly Father, he loves us and he gives us rules because he knows what's best for us. He knows that the devil's out there and what he's up to, and so when we, you know, willingly violate those rules, we can open the door to the enemy. 

but really, you know, knowing the word and knowing the Lord, knowing your Heavenly Father, but the other thing is that there's a way out, there's freedom. You know Jesus came to set the captives free, and who the Son sets free is free. indeed, you know, knowing the truth sets you free. So there is freedom. You know you can repent for any of these things that you've done that have opened a door. You can, you know, renounce those things, speak out loud that you're coming out of agreement with those things and out of anything of the enemy that came in. And then, if you're a believer, if you've received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you have authority So you can command those things to go. 

0:37:12 - Speaker 2
Amen, and that is a promise that we see over and over again in the Word of God And I highly recommend that. If you are interested those of you that are listening, you are interested in finding out more. Please, i strongly recommend that you go and listen to Melissa. She has an amazing podcast. I I've learned a lot. She's on social media. All of the information and her books are in the social, in the show notes. 

So, melissa, i want to thank you for joining me today and sharing your knowledge with us and helping us understand just the tip of the iceberg of what is out there and what is happening. And again, i recommend that you go follow Melissa and she. She's a wealth of information and she has some not some. She has amazing guests on as well and interviews. So, friends, check out the show notes on how to connect with Melissa Rupp and please subscribe and share to grow our community. 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.