CrossPolitic Show

Pharmakeia — Show Notes: Fight Laugh Feast Documentary

In this Fight Laugh Feast documentary, CrossPolitic traces a single Greek word — pharmakeia — from Homer's Odyssey through the book of Revelation to argue that the ancient world never separated medicine from sorcery, and that the modern West's attempt to draw that line may be its most consequential mistake. The film follows materialism's promise from the Big Bang to the therapy couch, tracks the ladder from prescription pharmaceuticals to ayahuasca retreats in Peru, and asks why the men who most loudly deny the existence of demons are increasingly found in dark rooms communing with named spirit entities. Along the way it draws on C.S. Lewis, Aldous Huxley, Peter Hitchens, and the testimony of a man who sat in fifteen ayahuasca ceremonies — and what finally set him free. The answer is not another ceremony. It is guilt, repentance, and the One who drank the cup fully awake so we wouldn't have to.

Timestamps

0:24 — What is a woman? What is a human being? — and why getting the answer wrong collapses everything

1:04 — The materialist answer: evolved apes, accidental universe, cosmic soup — and why it can't hold

2:06 — Materialism as a religion — no God, no soul, just chemicals and atoms colliding

2:39 — The swept house: materialism cleared out demons and filled the room with diagnoses and serotonin levels

3:36 — Ayahuasca retreats, psilocybin therapy, and $7,000–$20,000 luxury ceremonies in Jamaica and Peru

4:00 — Pharmakeia — one Greek word from Homer to Revelation meaning both medicine and sorcery

4:40 — The ladder: prescription → marijuana → ecstasy → mushrooms → the dark room in Peru

7:52 — Huxley's 1962 Berkeley lecture: the controlling oligarchy will get people to love their servitude

8:43 — Peter Hitchens and the Uvalde shooter — the marijuana detail that disappeared from the New York Times

11:12 — Attacker Smoked Cannabis — the man with a laptop building the file the national press unpublished

12:08 — Orwell's jack boots vs. Huxley's chains — drugs and sex as the state's soft bribe

13:20 — Dominion Wealth Strategies — sponsor read

14:41 — CS Lewis: the materialist magician — science and magic as twins, one that worked better

16:39 — Lewis's nightmare: magic returning in a lab coat, using the language of forces and energies

17:31 — The swept house revisited — Jesus's words and the seven demons worse than the first

18:06 — Henry's Demons — marijuana at 11, madness at 14, and the father who named it correctly

20:26 — Pharmakeia in Homer, Exodus, Galatians, and Revelation — nations deceived by one word

22:38 — The seam we drew — medicine on one side, sorcery on the other, and the line beginning to blur

24:00 — PhDs communing with Mama Ayahuasca — named entities, published journals, and credit cards accepted

25:57 — Demons allowed in as aliens — keeping God out while keeping the master narrative intact

27:29 — Lewis in Screwtape: the greatest evil is conceived in carpeted offices by quiet men with smooth cheeks

28:51 — Deuteronomy 18 — the law against consulters with familiar spirits, and the modern retreat that crosses every line

29:38 — King Saul, the demonized boy, and Legion — the man in the tombs clothed and in his right mind

31:04 — 2020: churches closed, pot shops open, abortion clinics essential — and how few said no

33:03 — Nepho — morally alert: Peter's word before warning that the devil prowls looking for someone to devour

34:29 — Red Balloon Recruiter — sponsor read

35:09 — Thomas Szasz and therapy culture — the inversion of personal responsibility

36:13 — Trauma culture in the church — the failure of biblical counseling and the endless loop of buried pain

37:47 — The man who sat in fifteen ceremonies: what finally changed him was guilt

38:25 — You are not evolved slime — made in the image of God, body and soul, homesick and lost

39:34 — Circe's cup and Odysseus's men — forgetting home, waiting to be turned into pigs

40:09 — The trade runs backwards: when Jesus showed up, the demons went into the swine

40:32 — One more cup — Christ at Golgotha refusing the narcotic, drinking the wrath fully awake

42:02 — The cure: a renewed mind, a household, a book, the discovery that responsibility is the greatest pleasure

43:39 — The real hero's journey — available for free, already paid for by another

Fight Laugh Feast 2026: Holy Wars

Join us October 1–3 in Franklin, Tennessee at The Factory in Franklin for the Fight Laugh Feast Conference. This year's theme is Holy Wars — Just War, the Crusades, and the Christian Life. Featuring Doug Wilson, Joe Boot, George Grant, Jared Longshore, Joe Rigney, Ben Merkel, and the CrossPolitic crew. Early Bird pricing ends July 1st — nearly halfway sold out.

Tickets: https://tickets.flfnetwork.com/holy-wars-conference

This Episode's Sponsors

Dominion Wealth Strategies

How you handle your money is not a neutral act — it is not separate from your walk with Christ. Dominion Wealth Strategies helps families think biblically and act wisely about what God has entrusted to them: budgeting, saving, debt management, life insurance, estate planning, and multigenerational financial vision. Not about chasing wealth. About faithfulness. Schedule a complimentary consultation today.

Website: reform.money

Red Balloon Recruiter

An engaged, aware employee can grow your company's performance by 5, 10, or even 25%. Red Balloon's personalized source-and-screen process connects you with top talent — people who show up sober, think in straight lines, and take responsibility before anyone asks. Revenue up, costs down.

Website: redballoon.work

About CrossPolitic

CrossPolitic exists to put Jesus over Politics and reclaim the public square through bold, joyful, biblically grounded media. We confront the chaos discipling America and build the next generation of Christian media infrastructure. Our mission is simple: all of Christ for all of media for all of America.

Mainstream media is collapsing. Eighty-seven percent of journalists identify as progressive, and even many conservative outlets prioritize profit over principle. Meanwhile, billions of hours of digital content are discipling the world every day. CrossPolitic stands in that gap, producing courageous, entertaining, truth-filled media for households, churches, and leaders across the nation.

Become a CrossPolitic Club Member

Support the mission and unlock exclusive content, behind-the-scenes shows, and theology series.

https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/menu/checkout

Subscribe & Share!

Every like, comment, and share helps push Christian media back into the algorithm where it belongs.

Follow CrossPolitic

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Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NRBTV, DirecTV, Dish, and everywhere podcasts are found.

#CrossPolitic #Pharmakeia #FightLaughFeast #Drugs #Ayahuasca #CSLewis #ChristianMedia #Materialism

CrossPolitic One-on-One — Show Notes: China Update with Missionary Ben

On this episode of CrossPolitic One-on-One, the Waterboy sits down with Missionary Ben — host of China Compass on the Fight Laugh Feast Network and himself a deportee from China — for an update on the underground church. The conversation covers Pastor Ezra Jin's miraculous July 4th release from prison (and the eight still behind bars), the latest crackdown on Pastor Wang Yi's church network, how Christians should think about doing business with China, and what the American church can learn from brothers and sisters who are forced to make hard decisions for their faith every single day.

Timestamps

03:35 — Intro — Fight Laugh Feast conference update and Business Makers Network

07:06 — Meet Missionary Ben — deported from China, host of China Compass

08:11 — Pastor Ezra Jin: from Tiananmen Square to Zion Church — and his July 4th release

10:32 — How Zion Church grew and why it became a target — the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and Xi Jinping's crackdown

12:22 — October 2024: Jin's arrest, the simultaneous network raid, and the eight still in prison

13:04 — Did Trump broker the release? The May meeting with Xi and why this one worked when others haven't

14:45 — Jin's Wall Street Journal op-ed: "I'm Free Now. Pray for China." — Hebrews 13:3

16:19 — Zion Church splits into house churches — and may now be larger than before the arrest

17:22 — Why not just join the state-sanctioned church? — a stopgap, not a home

18:16 — How should Christians think about doing business with China?

21:05 — What can ordinary believers do? — going to China, sharing the gospel, meeting the church

23:32 — How should Trump engage Xi? — befriending, influencing those around him, holding cards close

26:46 — What the American church can learn from the underground church in China

28:43 — Pastor Wang Yi update — seven and a half years in, sentence nearing end, no word from him directly

30:01 — Recent crackdown: 50 SWAT officers at a Wang Yi church plant, 20–30 arrested

32:22 — Missionary Ben's book Unbeaten, Mission Catalyst, and the Malaysia conference for Chinese house church leaders

Connect with Missionary Ben

Podcast: China Compass (weekends) & Prison Pulpit Series (midweek)

Network: Fight Laugh Feast Network — available in the FLF app

Book: Unbeaten — $4 on Amazon

Ministry: Mission Catalyst International — training indigenous pastors and missionaries

Give: mci3.org

Fight Laugh Feast 2026: Holy Wars

Join us October 1–3 in Franklin, Tennessee at The Factory in Franklin for the Fight Laugh Feast Conference. This year's theme is Holy Wars — Just War, the Crusades, and the Christian Life. Featuring Doug Wilson, Joe Boot, Pastor Toby, Ben Merkel, Jared Longshore, and more. Pre-business makers conference Thursday 1–5 PM. Pastor/church leadership luncheon Friday. Business luncheon Saturday. Booths are nearly full — sponsorship opportunities still available.

Tickets: https://tickets.flfnetwork.com/holy-wars-conference

Sponsorship inquiries: [email protected]

Also Mentioned

Business Makers Network

A network for courageous Christian business leaders — building a Christian economy for the good of businesses, churches, and America. Over 100 members, quarterly CEO calls, and a national conference each May.

Website: businessmakers.network

Contact: [email protected]

About CrossPolitic

CrossPolitic exists to put Jesus over Politics and reclaim the public square through bold, joyful, biblically grounded media. We confront the chaos discipling America and build the next generation of Christian media infrastructure. Our mission is simple: all of Christ for all of media for all of America.

Mainstream media is collapsing. Eighty-seven percent of journalists identify as progressive, and even many conservative outlets prioritize profit over principle. Meanwhile, billions of hours of digital content are discipling the world every day. CrossPolitic stands in that gap, producing courageous, entertaining, truth-filled media for households, churches, and leaders across the nation.

Become a CrossPolitic Club Member

Support the mission and unlock exclusive content, behind-the-scenes shows, and theology series.

https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/menu/checkout

Subscribe & Share!

Every like, comment, and share helps push Christian media back into the algorithm where it belongs.

Follow CrossPolitic

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CROSSPOLITIC

X: https://x.com/CrossPolitic

Facebook: https://facebook.com/crosspolitic

Instagram: https://instagram.com/crosspolitic

Join our Email List: https://crosspolitic.com/

Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NRBTV, DirecTV, Dish, and everywhere podcasts are found.

#CrossPolitic #ChinaChurch #UndergroundChurch #PastorEzraJin #WangYi #MissionaryBen #ChristianPersecution #ChristianMedia

CrossPolitic — Show Notes: America's 250th Birthday Special

On this Fourth of July special, Gabe, Pastor Toby, Knox, and Steve Deace gather to mark America's 250th birthday — not with blind celebration, but with honest reckoning and confident hope. Gabe walks through 15 ways America has been conquered not by guns but by cultural war, from forgetting its Christian founding to pastors who preached niceness over faithfulness. Steve calls for revival-or-bust thinking and eulogizes Charlie Kirk's missional courage. Knox opens Nehemiah and calls for four months of mourning, fasting, and repentance before the wall gets built. And Toby reminds us that the same God who marched slaves out of Egypt with Pharaoh's chariots sinking behind them is still Lord of armies — and he doesn't need our numbers.

Timestamps

00:00 — Intro — America's 250th birthday and the CrossPolitic crew

02:47 — Gabe's 15-point thread: how America was conquered by cultural war, not guns

03:20 — Starting point: forgetting the Christian founding and pretending all religions are equal

05:25 — Majoring in the minors — bald eagle eggs, 60 million babies, and government fraud

07:57 — Pastors who preached faith out of politics and handed government the church's job

09:56 — The 11th commandment — thou shalt be nice — and the feminization of Christianity

13:44 — Steve responds: two things can be true at once — and we're in revival-or-bust territory

16:06 — The window is closing: worldview steel cage match, and the check coming due

18:08 — Knox: we are subsidizing our own destruction — the church and Christian schools teaching socialism

21:13 — Toby on the Matt Chandler church-closure clip: worship skipped for construction

23:43 — Stonewall Jackson writing from the battlefield about the Confederacy running mail on the Sabbath

29:03 — Gabe preaching through Judges: 3,000 men of Judah handing Samson to the Philistines

33:34 — Sponsors — Patriot Mobile and Dominion Wealth Strategies

35:57 — Steve: repentance + reformation = revival — and being worthy of the bullet Charlie Kirk took

40:11 — Christian donors, media, and why the other side outspends us on missions they believe in

44:01 — The church has zapped masculine ambition — where are the parable-of-the-talents sermons?

48:48 — Knox: you can't outsource to the church what the home isn't doing — father hunger and the three governments

52:51 — Toby: family, church, and state — and how the magisterial Reformation recovered each government's lane

57:44 — Steve's close: dominion without permission — act on behalf of the Father regardless of consequences

1:00:05 — Knox: they don't matter — stop acting like false-god worshipers determine what God's people do

1:00:18 — Knox's three things: mourn for God's name, fast and pray, repent — the Nehemiah math

1:06:09 — Gabe: 300 men repenting — Gideon's army and what a small faithful remnant can do

1:07:20 — Knox: COVID was a grace — trouble wakes people up when comfort puts them to sleep

1:10:21 — Toby: the arc of history is every knee bowing — God will do what it takes to glorify his name

1:13:05 — The colonial army had no business winning — ragtag Presbyterians with psalters for musket wadding

1:16:15 — Conference announcement: Fight Laugh Feast 2026, Holy Wars — early bird extended

1:19:06 — Toby on Exodus: Israel is called the armies of the Lord — Pharaoh just has chariots

Fight Laugh Feast 2026: Holy Wars

Join us October 1–3 in Franklin, Tennessee at The Factory in Franklin for the Fight Laugh Feast Conference. This year's theme is Holy Wars — Just War, the Crusades, and the Christian Life. Featuring Doug Wilson, Joe Boot, George Grant, Jared Longshore, Joe Rigney, Ben Merkel, and the CrossPolitic crew. Kicks off with Beer & Psalms on Thursday, pre-business makers conference Thursday afternoon, and closes with a live CrossPolitic show Saturday. Early Bird pricing has been extended — get your tickets now.

Tickets: https://tickets.flfnetwork.com/holy-wars-conference

This Episode's Sponsors

Patriot Mobile

America's only Christian conservative wireless provider. Exceptional nationwide coverage utilizing all three major networks — with U.S.-based customer support and dollars that fund religious freedom, constitutional rights, the sanctity of life, and veterans and first responders. Keep your number, keep your phone. Get a free month of service with promo code CROSSPOLITIC.

Website: patriotmobile.com/crosspolitic

Phone: 972-PATRIOT

Dominion Wealth Strategies

Financial strategies aligned with biblical principles — budgeting, saving, debt management, insurance, legacy planning, and multigenerational vision. Dominion exists to equip Christians to take the dominion mandate seriously: build wealth, protect it, and use it to further the kingdom. Book your free consultation today.

Website: reform.money

About CrossPolitic

CrossPolitic exists to put Jesus over Politics and reclaim the public square through bold, joyful, biblically grounded media. We confront the chaos discipling America and build the next generation of Christian media infrastructure. Our mission is simple: all of Christ for all of media for all of America.

Mainstream media is collapsing. Eighty-seven percent of journalists identify as progressive, and even many conservative outlets prioritize profit over principle. Meanwhile, billions of hours of digital content are discipling the world every day. CrossPolitic stands in that gap, producing courageous, entertaining, truth-filled media for households, churches, and leaders across the nation.

Become a CrossPolitic Club Member

Support the mission and unlock exclusive content, behind-the-scenes shows, and theology series.

https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/menu/checkout

Subscribe & Share!

Every like, comment, and share helps push Christian media back into the algorithm where it belongs.

Follow CrossPolitic

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CROSSPOLITIC

X: https://x.com/CrossPolitic

Facebook: https://facebook.com/crosspolitic

Instagram: https://instagram.com/crosspolitic

Join our Email List: https://crosspolitic.com/

Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NRBTV, DirecTV, Dish, and everywhere podcasts are found.

#CrossPolitic #America250 #FourthOfJuly #Revival #ChristianNationalism #ChristianMedia #HolyWars