The Great Bewitching in the End Times

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Hey, welcome to Renewed Mindsets.

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I'm Rick, and I'm so glad you're here.

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Today I want to talk about a slow poison that's in the world today.

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The slow poison of deception, really.

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The devil is not in a hurry.

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He never had to be.

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While generations have chased pleasure and comfort and acceptance, he was busy rewriting the definition of sin.

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And what was once unthinkable has become normal.

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What at one point was condemned is now celebrated.

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What was once called witchcraft is now called manifesting or self-love or energy work.

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Our culture has been conditioned to smile at sin.

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We laugh at it, we share it, we defend it.

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Television taught us to normalize darkness.

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Music opened the door to rebellion.

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The internet finished the job by making every forbidden thing instantly available.

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But the same spirit driving this cultural rebellion is also at work inside our churches.

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The line between sacred and profane has blurred.

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Witchcraft no longer hides in dark alleys or behind candles and spells.

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Sometimes it stands behind a pulpit wrapped in charisma.

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Sometimes it sings on stage with a microphone in hand, moving hearts, but not lives.

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The spirit of witchcraft does not always look evil.

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It looks empowered.

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It looks confident, enlightened, it looks appealing.

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That's how deception works.

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But today we're exposing it.

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Let's talk about the great bewitching in the end times.

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Deuteronomy 18 says, Let no one be found among you who practices divination or sorcery, who interprets omens or engages in witchcraft.

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That warning still stands, even though it's in the Old Testament.

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The methods have changed, but the spirits have not.

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In the ancient days, people visited mediums to hear from the dead.

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Today, they visit psychics online and call it entertainment.

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In Israel, idol worship involved sacrificing children to Molech.

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Today, millions of children are spiritually sacrificed by being raised on content that glorifies darkness.

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They're taught to identify with witches and warlocks and monsters.

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It's not just fantasy, it's formation.

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Every generation has been taught to laugh at the very things that God hates.

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But this generation has gone further.

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Now they celebrate them.

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Schools fill their libraries with books about spells and hexes.

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Teen influencers teach millions of followers how to cleanse their energy or speak to ancestors.

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The devil no longer hides because he doesn't have to.

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And here's the part that should break your heart.

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Many believers think that they can flirt with it and still walk in the spirit.

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The same deception that seduced Eve in the garden whispers in pulpits and in your small groups today.

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You can know what God knows.

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You can control what happens next.

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Paul said in 2 Corinthians 11 3, I fear that somehow your pure devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the serpent.

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See, every modern deception begins with that same ancient lie.

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You can be like God.

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That is what manifesting is.

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That's what energy alignment is.

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That's what false positivity movements are.

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It's the same rebellion wearing trendy clothing.

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I know a woman, I went to high school with her, and she told me that she found Christian witchcraft.

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She said it felt powerful and freeing.

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She mixed scripture with spells and prayers with crystals and astrology with Jesus.

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She said it felt right.

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But what she found was not freedom.

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It's bondage wearing the mask of spirituality.

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When people substitute the power of the Holy Spirit for their own will, that is witchcraft.

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When they seek to control instead of communication, that's rebellion.

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And when they bend the truth to fit comfort, that's deception.

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Paul wrote in Galatians 3:1, O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?

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That word bewitched means to cast a spell or captivate through deception.

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He wasn't talking to unbelievers, he was talking to the church.

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The early church started in the spirit and tried to finish in the flesh.

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That's the same trap the modern church is caught in today.

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We start with surrender and end with systems.

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We start with worship and we end up with performance.

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Legalism is witchcraft because it controls people through guilt instead of freeing them through grace.

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False grace is witchcraft because it convinces people that they can sin without consequence.

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Both of those are rebellion dressed as religion.

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In Revelation chapters two and three, it shows us churches filled with compromise.

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Pergamum tolerated false doctrine.

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And Laodicea became lukewarm and self-satisfied.

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Those churches were real, but they also represent us.

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The same spirit that seduced them still works today, pulling believers toward comfort and control.

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The devil doesn't need to destroy a church that he can quietly direct in the direction he wants it to go.

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You see, witchcraft always has three fingerprints manipulate, intimidate, and dominate.

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Now that pattern appears anywhere the Spirit of God has been replaced by the spirit of control.

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In 1 Samuel 15, 23, the prophet told Saul, Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft.

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Saul's rebellion didn't look dark, it looked religious.

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He disobeyed God and then used worship as his excuse.

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That's exactly how witchcraft works.

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It uses spiritual language to justify spiritual rebellion.

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Manipulation happens when leaders twist scripture to get results.

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Intimidation happens when they use fear to silence questions.

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Domination happens when loyalty to a man becomes more important than obedience to Christ.

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It happens in churches all the time.

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The same pattern extends beyond the church, though.

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Governments manipulate through fear.

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Media intimidates through outrage.

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Corporations dominate through dependency.

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It's all the same spirit preparing humanity for one final ruler, the beast, who will control through deception and worship.

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Revelation 13 describes a world mesmerized by power.

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It says, Who is like the beast and who can fight against him?

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Humanity is already being conditioned to follow without questioning.

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This is the great bewitching at work.

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Jesus said in Matthew 7 22, Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name?

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But I will tell them plainly, I never knew you.

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That verse doesn't describe unbelievers.

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It describes people who thought they were right with God.

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The greatest deception in the end times will not be witchcraft outside the church, but witchcraft inside it.

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It will look like revival, but lack repentance.

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It'll sound like worship, but it'll lack surrender.

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It'll have emotions, but it'll never transform hearts.

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I watched a church service once online that went viral.

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The people shouted and cried.

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The music was powerful, but not one time did I hear the word repentance.

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No one opened the word of God.

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It wasn't read from.

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They called it revival, but it's performance.

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It was performance.

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True revival produces humility and holiness.

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Counterfeit revival produces hype and hierarchy.

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Ezekiel 9 shows God marking those who grieved over sin.

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Everyone else kept singing and dancing, but the glory of God lifted from the temple.

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Now that same pattern is repeating today.

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The presence departs when the people prefer the show over surrender.

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Revelation 13 says the false prophet will perform signs to deceive the world.

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For the first time in human history, we have the technology to make that possible.

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The algorithms that shape our attention are modern spells.

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Every scroll, every video, every suggestion trains our minds what to believe, on what to desire and what to fear.

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This is digital witchcraft.

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Mind control at a global scale, wrapped in convenience and entertainment.

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Artificial intelligence can now create entire preachers who never existed.

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It can write sermons, mimic voices, and craft worship songs that move emotions without any spiritual power behind them.

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Machines can now simulate what used to require the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

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That's scary.

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The beast system is not coming, it's being coded.

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Romans 1 says, they exchange the truth of God for a lie.

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Every time we replace conviction with comfort, we feed the system.

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Every believer who trades discernment for distraction becomes another willing participant in the great bewitching.

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The Holy Spirit is the only power that breaks witchcraft.

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You cannot out-argue deception.

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You must out-discern it.

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First John 4 1 says, Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God.

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That means every sermon, every dream, every word, every trend, every podcast.

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Discernment is not suspicion.

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It's alignment with truth.

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Holiness is not legalism.

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It's protection.

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Obedience is not bondage.

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It's freedom.

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We have to repent of mixture.

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The mixture of light and darkness, truth and error, or truth and lie, flesh and spirit.

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Second Corinthians 6 7 says, Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord.

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That means separate from compromise, separate from entertainment that glorifies sin, separate from teachers who profit from prophecy, separate from any system that replaces the presence of God with the personality of man.

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Separate from holidays that glorify evil.

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Yeah.

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The great bewitching is not coming.

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It is here.

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But so is the remnant.

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Ezekiel 9 describes a mark placed on those who mourned over sin.

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God still knows how to mark his own.

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If you feel grieved by what you see in the world and in the church, that grief is not weakness.

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It's evidence that the Spirit of God is alive in you.

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Do not be afraid of what is unfolding in front of us.

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Don't be scared of what you see on the news and in the internet.

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You need to be aware.

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You need to be holy.

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You need to be ready because the beast will rise.

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But so will the bride.

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Romans 12, 2 says, Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

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That is what this show is about.

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Renewed mindsets in the end times.

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Pray with me.

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Father God, expose every counterfeit spirit around us.

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Teach us to recognize manipulation, intimidation, and domination for what they are.

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Cleanse your church of compromise.

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Fill us again with your Holy Spirit, the only power that brings truth and freedom.

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God, mark your people for righteousness.

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Give us courage to stand in truth, even when the world bows to lies.

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In the mighty name of Jesus Christ.

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Amen.

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That was one of the most popular episodes of last year, so you knew we had to come up with something even bigger for this year.

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I love you.

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See you next week.

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The executive producer of Renewed Mindsets is Christy McCurry.

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That's all for today, but I'll be back with more unfiltered biblical truth and undeniable prophecy.

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The time to wake up is now.

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If today's episode challenged you, don't keep it to yourself.

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Tell someone, please.

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Text them a link.

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Share the truth while they're still time.

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Visit renewedmindsets.com to stay connected and to listen to past episodes.

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And check out our merch at renewedmindsets.store.

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Jesus is coming soon.

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Stay watchful.

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Stay holy.

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Stay renewed.

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Until next week, I'm Rick.

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Be an encourager, not a discourager.

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I love you.

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See ya.

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The intro and outro music for the Renewed Mindsets podcast is Are You Ready by Floodgate.

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From the album Are You Ready?

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Copyright 2002 Offbeat Ministries Incorporated.

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Bloodgate can be found on Apple Music and iTunes.

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Music Used with Permission.